“Hinata’s getting married soon…Kiba, when you get married I’ll end up finally being alone. When you do get married, leave Akamaru to me. The reason is that he is the only one who understands me without words…”
“Excuse me? I’ve got no clue what you’re saying! What do you mean you’ll be alone?!”
As Kiba was barking in a fluster, Akamaru looked up at his owner and barked too.
“Woof!”
“What the- Akamaru?! Why’re you saying stuff like that, too?! And leave my goatee out of this!”
Even though Akamaru had only given one bark, it appeared he’d conveyed a long string of words. Kiba was ranting back, his face going crimson all the way to his ears.
Was his face red because of anger or embarrassment? Shino silently thouhght. Most likely both.
Kiba suddenly gave an exasperated shout. “Arggh, that’s enough! Let’s just keep going without getting into stupid conversations like this!”
He turned his back on them both, stomping ahead.
“Seriously…the strong smell of bamboo makes finding things hard, ugh!”
It looked like he was much more irritated now that he’d been a while ago.
But, Shino was pleased to see it, because Kiba was far easier to understand when he was like this. Of course, while he might’ve been pleased now, that was only ‘now’.
When he’d first met Kiba, there had been many times when he’d gotten irritated at his personality that was the complete opposite of Shino’s.
During break time at the Academy, Shino would let his bugs take walks on the top of his desk, while Kiba would run around the corridors and playgrounds with other classmates, yelling loudly. In class, Shino would silently listen to the teacher, while Kiba would either be asleep or making a racket.
To sum it up, Kiba was second to Naruto when it came to…forget second, after all, the boy in question had never been the type to be content if he wasn’t first place…Kiba was at Naruto’s level when it came to causing a ruckus. He had been a complete problem child.
Back then, Shino had wanted to be assigned to a team with anyone but him.
But now, Shino went on missions with that same problem child.