Work Text:
the night that everything changes, hinata is weeping quietly and kiba is listening.
she doesn't know, in truth, why exactly she cries. she has not loved naruto in years. perhaps it is only painful to be reminded of what she does not have. beauty, for one. love, for another. she says all of this through blurry tears and sad, sniffling sighs.
kiba has been silent for most of the conversation, but now he speaks.
"you are," he says fiercely, "the most beautiful thing in the entire fucking world."
hinata is stunned for a moment before she lowers her head, feeling shame. "you don't have to lie to me," she reminds him, voice small and dejected.
he takes her face into his hands, gentle yet firm, and stares seriously into her eyes.
"i would never lie to you. listen. hinata. there are a lot of things i don't know, but this is the one i am certain of: you are precious, and beautiful, and good. if i forgot everything, i think i would still somehow know that."
fresh hot tears in her eyes spill over the edge and run down her cheeks.
"kiba," she says brokenly. "i didn't ever realize. i'm sorry."
he drops his hands to his sides and looks away, face reddening. "don't be sorry to me."
she reaches out, hand shaking, and traces the triangular tattoo on his face. "you're beautiful too. you're... *you're* precious."
she means it. her body shakes with the force of her feeling.
kiba looks up to stare at her with bright, hopeful eyes.
the rest, as they say, is history.