30 Day Project (Kiba Inuzuka)

Day 21: The Truth

Last night, I did wake back up. Kiba was still there, holding me. I looked up at him and he wiped my eyes. I must have been crying in my sleep. I didn't talk and he didn't make me. I feel bad he had to force feed me dinner. I wasn't in the mood to eat. When I went back to sleep, I didn't hesitate to go back the way I was. Curled up on top of Kiba.

I needed some dog therapy. I went and spent some time with Akamaru. He nuzzled and cuddled with me. Without me telling him, he just knew. Twenty minutes later, I come back inside.

I turn the corner and walk into Kiba. "Hey." He softly smiles. "Hi." My voice comes out soft. "Whatcha doing?" He casually asks. I shrug my shoulders. "Why don't you come with me to run some errands." He softly smiles. I know he's trying to make me feel better, but I don't think going outside will help. "I dunno." I look down and hug myself. "Are you sure?" He asks. "I'll be fine. I've got a book." I feel a hand on my shoulder. I flinch but can't bring myself to pull away. "Alright. I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone, but I won't make you." I can hear the worry in his voice. He gently rubs my shoulder before dropping his hand.

Maybe I should go with him. I want space, but I don't want to be completely alone. I'm assuming all I have to do is just be there. I peer up at him with doe eyes. "I, I guess I'll go with you." I try to smile. "Alright. We'll go in a few minutes." He said.

Kiba brings out Akamaru for the trip. This time, I sat in front. Kiba had an arm wrapped around my waist and the other holding onto Akamaru. I lean into him to keep from falling off. We get into town and he helps me get off.

Once I'm on the ground, I take a deep breath and sigh. "Relax. I'm gonna be with you the entire time." Kiba says  reassuringly by my ear. I nod and walk closely by his side. I followed along as Kiba ran his errands. When we exited the shop we were in, I grabbed onto his jacket. He doesn't say anything, but I'm sure he felt it. The shop people never said anything, but I'm sure they were curious about my closeness to Kiba.

At home, I'd be able to get away with not wanting to be around him. But out in public, I can't help but want to be close to him. For the most part, I kept quiet and to myself. "What's up, Kiba?" I hear a familiar voice. I turn my head to see Naruto and Hinata walking in our direction. Oh no. They're gonna know something's up.

I reluctantly follow Kiba over to them. "Not much. Just running some errands." Kiba happily responds. They get to chatting about different things. I vaguely listen as I stare absent-minded. I don't know if I'm ready to talk. I haven't even fully told Kiba how Neji and I broke up. I clench his jacket tighter in my palm.

"You're not very talkative today Maki." Hinata reaches for my hand. I flinch without thinking. "S-Sorry. I'm fine. Just a little tired." I attempt to fake a smile. But Hinata's no fool. She frowns and crosses her arms. I didn't mean to worry her. "Maki..." She then turns her attention to Kiba. "I, I uh..." He stammers, not knowing how to answer her. He sighs. "Sorry Hinata, but I don't think it's my place to say. Honestly, I don't know the full story myself." "I understand."

I bite my lip. "Come here, Maki." Naruto tries to pull me into a hug, but I'm still gripping Kiba's jacket. I stumble and fall into Naruto. I perse my lips as my face heats up. He places his hands on my arms. "I won't make you, but what's the matter?" He gently asks. "Neji bro-" I start but can't finish the sentence. "Neji what?" Naruto's eyes widen, lost. I feel my hand being pulled on. "Come with me." I hear Hinata say. She leads me to a bench and we sit.

I fidget with my hands in my lap. "What did my stupid brother do?" She doesn't even try to sugarcoat it. I've said it once, tried to say it twice, and now I have to attempt to say it a third time? A lump forms in my throat. "H-He, he-" I can't even get the words out. My face gets really hot and tears sting in the corners of my eyes. I tried to stop them, but nothing worked. I start crying hard. I feel Hinata hold me. Seems like she figured it out.

Through the tears, I feel her petting my hair. I just sit there as she lets me cry it out. My crying soon lowers to dry sobs. "I'll understand if you don't want to come over for a while." She hugs me tight. I nod. I dry my eyes. "Why did he break up with you?" She asks when I've calmed down more. "H-He, He said we drifted apart."" It's still hard to talk about. "What do you think?" A question I don't a hundred percent know the answer to. "Maybe... I, I don't know." I start swinging my legs on the bench. "But it doesn't mean we couldn't have tried to work it out first before coming to that conclusion." "Maybe he was worried it would do more hark than good." She rubs my arm. "Think of it this way. I won't feel guilty about stealing you all the time." She softly smiles. I faintly chuckle.

After talking for a little while longer, we head back to the guys. "Be careful with her, Kiba. She's a little broken but still good." Hinata says as I walk back to Kiba's side. "Don't worry, Hinata, I'll take really good care of her." I feel his arm wrap around my shoulder. "Well, we should probably get going now. See you later." Hinata touches my shoulder and lightly squeezes it. I crack a smile for her. "Feel better, Maki." Naruto grins as he ruffles my hair. I watch as he then stops to whisper something in Kiba's ear. Huh? His cheeks flush slightly. "I won't." "W-What?" "Just guy stuff." Naruto chuckles and quickly kisses my cheek. I blush and touch my cheek. Grrr. He always does that when he wants to distract me.

Kiba keeps his arm around me as we leave the scene. "Three more stops and we can go home." He says like nothing happened. "Okay." I reach over and start holding onto his jacket again. Before I know it, we're on his last errand. I soon see the flower shop come into view. I don't think too much about it. We walk in and start looking at the flowers.

I glance over at the red roses I wish Neji got me. I feel tears start to sting, but none come out. I tighten my grip on his jacket to calm myself down. Kiba turns and we walk in the direction I was looking. We stop in front of the roses.

I watch as Kiba picks up a bouquet of fresh red roses. He then walks over to the counter to pay. Ino must not be working today as it's her mom on the other side. I try to step to the side and hide behind Kiba, but his arm is still around me. They idly chat, but I'm not brought up at all surprisingly. We leave the flower shop and make our way back home.

Once at home, Kiba doesn't open the door right away. He drops his arm from my shoulder and hands me the roses he just bought. I blush bright red. "These are for you." He scratches the back of his head with a nervous toothy grin. I take the roses and hold them close. "T-Thanks. I love them." "You're welcome." He then opens the door for us to head inside. Kiba helps put the flowers in a new home.

I walk upstairs into mine and Kiba's room. I sit on the bed and stare at the floor. I feel the bed dip. I sigh. I think I'm ready to tell him. "K-Kiba?" "Yeah?" He answers. "N-Neji broke up with me b-because he said we d-drifed a-apart." I finally tell him the rest of the story. I feel a lump in my throat and hot tears forming in my eyes. Kiba wraps his arms around me. I touch his arm with my hand. I start softly crying. Kiba sighs and doesn't let go. "I'm really sorry Maki."

A short while later I've stopped crying. "I, I think I wanna sleep by myself tonight." "Are you sure?" He asks, surprised. I nod. "Okay." He sounded a little sad.

At dinner, Hana inquired about the roses. Kiba, knowing I'm not in the mood, told her I picked them out for the house. To him it seems she bought it. I doubt she really did but at least she didn't dig any deeper into the subject.

I was getting ready for bed when Kiba hugged me from behind. My skin shivers at his touch. "Come back if you get cold." "O-Okay." I get a little flustered. By getting ready, I meant grabbing my bear. I had already grabbed a blanket and changed clothes. He hugs tighter and I gently rub his arm. I know he's just trying to make me feel better but I feel like some alone time will be good for me.

He lets me go and I head downstairs to my makeshift bed on the couch. I get underneath the blanket and try to settle down. I hold on tightly to my bear. While I admit it does feel weird sleeping without Kiba, I just don't want to worry him more. I've worried him enough today.