Title: Perfectly Acceptable Oddity

Pairing: HinaKibaShino

Summary: Team 8 operates in odd ways.

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Team 8 operates in odd ways.

Kiba fusses and bickers enough for all three of them, but no one bothers to argue back.

Shino is silent and composed, hidden and way too mysterious, and it takes too much effort to coax a reaction out of him.

Hinata is fragile and shy, and she deserves better than she gets. She's sweet and too careful, and sometimes Kiba thinks that he'd like to drop kick Naruto to kingdom come for being such an idiot and not noticing her blindingly obvious feelings.

Shino does, too, but you'd never be able to tell unless you could read his insect-infested mind.

And somewhere along the line, Hinata has started to think that Naruto is brave and kind and tenacious and everything she has ever strived to be, but it's not so bad that she's learning to love the ones are there for her, too.

So maybe it's not so odd that they sit like this - Shino with his back against a tree trunk, both long legs splayed out across the ground, Kiba leaning against his shoulder, Hinata with her head in Shino's lap because Kiba's is occupied by Akamaru - as they stare at the canopy of stars and Kiba argues with himself over why he should be the 'leader', not Shino...

Then again, maybe it is. But no one is complaining.

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Fin.