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“What…what am I supposed to do with this?”
“It’s a goldfish, Hinata. Dump it in a bowl and feed it!”
Hinata holds the clear plastic bag up to her eyes with a wide frown on her lips.
Ino had jokingly given her, her last ping pong ball to bounce into the cups of water that circled around in a tub. To Hinata’s dismay, she had successfully sunk one in a cup that contained a goldfish, and now she was the (not so) proud owner of a carnival goldfish.
“Don’t you want it?” Hinata asks weakly, holding it out towards Ino, who immediately throws up her hands in protest.
“Hell no!” Ino turns her nose up, gently pushing the plastic bag away. “I don’t do fish.”
“Then why did you…” Hinata trails off, recognizing the futility of the question before she finishes it, then brings the bag back to her chest. “I have to take it home now, then.”
“Wait, what? Whyyy?” Ino whines, shoulders slumping as Hinata begins walking past her. “Hinataaa~”
“It’s cruel to keep it like this!” Hinata declares as Ino follows after her.
Ino huffs, pouty, crossing her arms as she stops behind her. “Boo! Boo you!”
When Hinata gets home, she immediately follows Ino’s brief instruction to put it in a bowl with some extra water, then sighs out through her nose at the realization she doesn’t have fish food. She doesn’t even know what fish eat, much less how to take care of one. So, she grabs a lid for the bowl, punches a few holes in it (does it need holes? She has no idea), covers the bowl and sets out for the one person who she trusts to help her figure out how to take care of another life form.
“Why me?” Shino asks when Hinata presents the fish to him. “I am not particularly…fond of fish.”
“I just thought, since you take care of so many bugs—”
“Kikaichū.”
“—kikaichū, yes—that you know best how to care for it?”
“My beetles are chakra-eating insects,” Shino deadpans, not moving a muscle. “A completely different regiment of care is required for them versus…goldfish.”
Hinata deflates, feeling foolish now. Shino’s demeanor softens. “I’m sorry…I shouldn’t have assumed.”
“I recommend going to Kiba,” Shino responds, nudging his head sideways. “Why? Because he actually has experience caring for a fish.”
“Really?”
Hinata’s genuinely surprised. How did she not know Kiba had kept fish? With that, she gives him a slight bow and he waves her off.
The way Kiba busts into laughter upon her silly plight frustrates Hinata. Why is no one taking the life of this fish seriously?
“Kiba, please,” Hinata sighs out, turning slightly as if to shield the fish from him, or maybe her hurt feelings.
“You know those things die in like, 24 hours, right?” Kiba gestures towards the bag as a sign he wants to take it from her, but it only makes her shield it more.
“It’s been 18 hours!” Hinata declares, frowning deeper now at his dismissal. How can so many people be so callous towards a living thing? She’ll admit that maybe the little fishes life is small, but she could never forgive herself for not at least making a solid attempt to keep it alive.
“Listen, Hinata.” Kiba places a heavy hand on her shoulder and she looks down at it, tries not to think that he’s just patronizing her. “Carnival fish are plucked, packaged, shipped, and dumped in standing water. Sick before you even get ‘em.” Hinata’s shoulders slump and she feels him squeeze one a little tighter. “A lil sad but that’s how it is.”
“Does it have to be?” Hinata asks weakly, turning her body back to him while holding the bag a bit further up now. She see’s Kiba’s face visibly soften, his hand sliding from her shoulder to his side, as if to concede. She bites her lip, widening her eyes a little bit because she knows he has a hard time talking back to her when she moons them at him. He clicks his tongue, one side of his lips tugging upwards in his trademark smirk and she knows she’s got him.
“Gimme a sec.”
Hinata smiles as he turns to grab his sandals, then snatches up his keys and wallet. He pulls the door shut behind him and locks it up like a good son and brother, then nudges his head.
“C’mon. There still some time before the pet store closes.”
“Thank you, Kiba,” she says it with genuine gratitude. She’s relieved because honestly, she needs someone to help her with this. Ino was never going to, Shino would if pressed but wouldn’t be much help, and her last resort would have been Hanabi, who would have found it funny to try out some weird experiments with the fish, like if it could survive in the lobster tank at the local seafood restaurant.
“Mhm,” he hums, guiding her down the pathways.
They get to the store and he already seems to know exactly what he wants her to have. He checks with her multiple times to ensure she’s got enough money to pay for it all, because, in his words, “gods know I don’t.”
In the end, they’re lugging around a far larger glass tank than she ever imagines having, loaded with fish food, cleaning supplies, an electric lamp, gravel and rocks, and multiple decorations Hinata thought would be cute to put inside. And somehow, another fish. Kiba said he thinks the little guy would like a buddy if he’s gonna survive this, and Hinata couldn’t say no.
“What’re you gonna name ‘em?” Kiba asks when they get inside and finally relieve their tired arms of the supplies.
“Names?” she asks, dumbly, stepping back. He looks at her with a smirk and nods.
“C’mon, give ‘em a better chance at life. Give it a name like you care about ‘em.”
“Names…” she repeats, quietly, tapping her lip as he gets to work unloading their supplies and setting it up. “You said this one’s a betta?” Kiba nods confirmation and she twists her lips. “I like Momo.”
“Momo,” he snickers, bobs his head slightly while he untangles the wires that will plug into the tank. Hinata starts cutting open the plastic of the decorations, what she thinks will be the most exciting part. “What about the man himself?”
“The goldfish?” she asks and he nods again. “Hmm…what do you think?”
“How ‘bout…Kotobuki?” Hinata tilts her head attentively at his suggestion. “Give ‘em all the good juju for a long life, right? ‘Cause you bought all this stuff.”
“Oh!” She makes a happy noise, her smile overtaking her face at his consideration. He’s so hardheaded and rough around the edges that Hinata sometimes forgets how thoughtful he can be.
Even if he’s destined to die, at least Hinata tried to make his last days a little brighter. That’s what she thinks when she carefully sets up a little castle inside of the tank, right next to a little plastic scuba diver. She looks at Kiba and smiles big. He double takes at her and returns it, pausing his task to reach over and ruffle her hair. She’s happy so she doesn’t even bat his hand away, instead leans into the touch. She doesn’t even notice the way his cheeks turn red when he pulls his hand back, but does see him wipe a hand over his mouth. He turns to the fish.
“Momo and Kotobuki,” Kiba says as he pushes the two little fishbowls together. They both swim to the edges of their bowls to come face to face and Hinata feels her heart grow inside of her chest.
One year passes and Kotobuki is huge.
Momo is still just a little guy, swimming along the tank while Kotobuki dominates the scene of the tank.
Kiba regularly visits, says he’s grown attached to them.
About one month in, Hinata got to do her “I told you so” sing song and dance. He thought it was cute and decided to let her have this win, knowing she was in for a lot more than she prepared for if the little fish survived this long.
Years.
He watches her happily tap only the best of fish food into the tank for the (not so little) fish. He leans on the doorway and watches her with a goofy look on his face that she doesn’t notice immediately. His arms are crossed and he just basks in her happiness. Makes him happy, too.
When she turns to look at him, she stops and her eyes crinkle. In a way that makes Kiba all mushy, because he thinks she’s too good for this world.
“I told you~” she sings in her soft voice and, even if that was the only thing she ever said to him ever again, he’d die happy.
Sure, when she first turned up on his doorstep with this stupid fish, Kiba thought it would be as simple as telling her to give it mercy and flush it.
But things are never simple with Hinata and Kiba likes it that way. So, he put on his little show of begrudging compliance with her whims and took her to the pet store to help the dumb little fish out.
Akamaru nudges his calf when he’s been staring too long and he lets out a little chuckle.
“Yep, sure did. Happy with yourself?”
“Honestly?” Hinata turns back to the tank and bends over, face to face with the goldfish. “Yes. I am happy.”
“Good,” he says, in all honesty. If a dumb fish makes Hinata happy, he’s happy. He pushes himself off the wall and comes to her side, bends over, too. Lines his face next to hers to look at Kotobuki. “Glad you gave him a shot at life.”
“You did, too.”
He blinks at the fish, who abruptly turns to look right at him. He tilts his head. “I just bullied you into getting a big tank and another fish.”
In his peripheral, he sees her face turns towards him and now both Hinata and Kotobuki are looking at him. He scrunches his eyebrows together before she speaks again. “It’s like you’re his papa.”
Kiba can’t help but laugh. Papa to a fish. Akamaru whines and—
Hinata’s hand wraps around his cheek and pull him sideways so that her lips can plant a kiss on the other cheek. Kiba freezes, eyes going wide as he stares right into Kotobuki’s eyes – nay, his soul.
“Thank you, Kiba.”
Her hand leaves him just as quickly and he can practically hear the panic in how she runs away.
Still, he stares at Kotobuki.
Akamaru growls quietly, a playful one.
“That just happened, huh?” he asks Akamaru without tearing his eyes from the damn fish.
Don’t be stupid. He feels it in the way Akamaru lets out a huffy breath and walks away.
Four years and Momo has passed.
Hinata feels it right in her guts. Kotobuki’s buddy is dead. The fish she adopted with her now-long term partner is dead. It feels so wrong.
“He lived longer than most of his species of fish,” Kiba tries to comfort her as she holds the plastic bag their dead fish is now in. She’s staring at the lake they’re about to put him in, where other fish can feed on his body, because that’s how nature is and they both agreed it would be best not to waste their efforts by flushing him in the damn toilet. It’s just not right.
“I know…” Hinata whispers as she feels him press a kiss to her forehead.
Kiba moved in about two years ago. Neither of them can really explain how their domesticity happened, they never officially established titles but they both know they’re monogamous to each other. Kiba jokes that the fish made them closer, but Hinata believes it. She got to see Kiba’s most tender self when he noticed an injury in Momo’s side, a cut. He frantically told Hinata to call the vet while he grabbed the net to get fish out, almost grabbing him out without somewhere to go.
He was so panicked about it, he did everything wrong, but Hinata saw the genuine concern in him.
He’s being strong for her right now.
They’re fish. It’s ridiculous to be so down about it and they both know it. But, Hinata really thinks this is why she’s fallen so deeply in love with Kiba. His tender, loving nature.
Akamaru, now an old dog, huffs next to her and presses his side into her leg. He’s never been fond of the fish, seemed to think it took too much attention from him. Kiba tells him that he should really be blaming Hinata, and he always bites at Kiba’s hand when he says it. Her hands shake as she kicks off her sandals and begins walking into the water. Kiba stands back.
It just feels so wrong to dump him out like this. Kiba can tell how hard it is on her because she’s not moving and several minutes have passed. He steps behind her and gently takes the bag from her hands.
“Let me do it.”
“People say fish can’t feel pain,” Hinata blurts out randomly, looking up at Kiba with glassy eyes. He raises his eyebrows at her but leans in to listen. “But I don’t believe that. Do you?”
“Nah,” Kiba responds, shaking his head. “I don’t.”
“Do you think he was in pain?”
She searches his face for answers because he’s gotten so good at schooling an expressionless face. He opens his mouth, closes it, then opens it again. “I really dunno, Hina.”
He’s being honest, she can tell. He doesn’t want to lie to her and say no, but also would never say yes. So she lets him take the bag from her hands, carefully from the opening, even if the fish is dead. He steps into the water and lowers it in, letting the plastic open up. Hinata feels tears in her eyes as she watches Momo’s lifeless body slowly pour out into the lake and she covers her heart with her hands. It feels so much worse than she imagined.
A moment passes before Kiba straightens out, twists the plastic into a rope and tucks it into his jacket pocket. He steps backward until he’s next to her again and rests his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in. Her head rests in the crook of his neck and it almost feels like he’s absorbing all of her bad feelings.
Kotobuki is suspicious of his new friend days later, hides behind the castle that is not nearly large enough to actually conceal his giant body. Hinata had been discouraged, thought Kotobuki would never learn to love another fish again. But a few weeks go by with the baby fish prodding at the big goldfish and Kiba tells her she was worrying for nothing.
Another year passes and Kiba can’t believe he’s a part of a family that just owns fish like it’s nothing. Close to the one year anniversary of Momo’s passing, Hinata tells him she’s pregnant and now Kiba has to come to terms with his future children growing up as both dog, cat, and fish lovers (Hinata had adopted a stray cat between when Momo passed and now). Kiba always thought wherever he ended up, he’d just have a yard full of dogs, both ninja and regular, that they’d surround him while he sleeps and it would always be loud with a house full of them and kids.
But now, he lays with a pregnant Hinata draped over his body, an old Akamaru on top of his feet, the stray orange cat tucked in a ball into the back of his knee, and Kotobuki looking at him from the tank. He thinks it’ll just be a matter of months before they end up with another cat or fish, even if he thinks it’s a bad idea to get another pet before the baby comes.
Because of the pregnancy, Hinata gets extra emotional when she thinks about Momo. It’s inevitable, every time she looks into the tank, she gets this little far-away look in her eye, and she probably doesn’t realize her smile fades. She still feeds the fish every morning and night and speaks sweetly to them, but Kiba’s taken over the task of tank cleaning. He didn’t realize how terrifying pregnancy could be for the man. Hinata hobbles around as if everything is perfectly normal and he nearly had a heart attack when he saw her trying to lift the 100-pound tank herself. Berated the shit out of her and forced her to sit back on the couch, deciding it was high time he learn how to clean the damn thing himself.
But otherwise, Kiba’s pretty damn happy. Outwardly, he seems like a grump.
Kiba feels Hinata’s nose nuzzle into his neck and he sighs, not because he’s tired, but because he’s content.
The day the babies come home for the first time, Akamaru insists on showing them to Kotobuki. Akamaru’s like the big brother at this point, overly excited to have little humans to push around and play with. It’s been a while since Akamaru’s interacted with human babies so Kiba has to give him a stern reminder that they’re not like puppies.
He hears Hinata giggle behind him when he stops in front of the aquarium and leans over with a baby in each arm. Kotobuki wiggles his way over and Kiba can never really tell what’s going on the dumb fishes brain, but he does seem at least curious.
“Akamaru thought the fish should see ‘em first,” Kiba tells her over his shoulder, smirking as she comes up behind him. She kisses his cheek and he turns his head quickly to catch her lips with his before she can pull away. Her giggle vibrates through the kiss and he wonders how this damn fish landed him in his position.
“I’m going to go shower,” Hinata says, quietly, leaning up to put another kiss on his nose. “Do not hesitate to grab me if something—”
“Yeah, yeah, I got ‘em!” Kiba nudges his head before standing up straight. She smiles her big smile at him and he feels the warmth in his chest.
He’s holding two little humans that he and Hinata created in his arms, how could he be anything except completely and utterly elated?
About 7 months later and the babies are speed crawlers. It kind of terrifies Kiba how fast they can go, not to mention their kneecaps banging away at wood and tile. Them getting into stuff has caused more than one fight between him and Hinata to the point that eventually, he had his mom and Hana come over to help him find every single possible baby harming thing in the house and secure it. Plugs in all the sockets, locks on all the cabinets and drawers, absolutely nothing left in baby-reaching level.
It was the same day Kimi had smacked Hima right in the face with a wooden spatula. Hinata had been at her wits end that day and seeing the red mark across Hima’s face had sent her into a panic and tearful tirade about babyproofing. Kiba couldn’t argue it with her. Running on 2 hours of sleep, he, his mom and sister babyproofed the whole thing while Hinata took the babies to Hanabi’s, telling him she was not coming back until the she could safely release them without worrying about a stray kunai or bottle of bleach ending up in their hands.
The next day, she returned, and after her own thorough investigation, she let the babies free and fell to her knees, knocking out on the carpet immediately. Kiba didn’t have the heart to wake her up and move her, figuring if her body is this exhausted, it’s better to leave it be. He watches Akamaru crawl over her legs and make himself comfortable there, then the cat, and inevitably Kimi (or maybe Hima, Kiba’s eyes are bleary with sleep) sits next to her and leans backward, eyes fluttering closed with her pacifier dangling from her lips.
Despite the lack of sleep and overall bad feelings for the last week, the scene is way too sweet for Kiba to just smile and look away from. He grabs the camera and snaps a few differently angled photos to capture the sweet memory. He looks through them for a moment before frowning, deciding even if the house was babyproofed, he should know where the other kid is. Puts the camera down and doesn’t have to look far. He panics slightly when he sees her standing up, leaning against the tank, but remembers they put a really good lock on the top and secured it to the wall to ensure it would go no where, even in the worst of a quake.
Walks over to the barely able to balance baby and puts his hands on her little waist to keep her upright as she searches the tank. He spots the birthmark on her neck that lets him know it’s Kimi and he whispers to her affectionately, “lookin’ at mama’s lil fish?”
She wheezes slightly through her pacifier, making those little goo-goo ga-ga noises babies make, nothing coherent, just a happy noise and Kiba’s cheeks hurt from smiling. He reaches up to undo the lock on the top, then rolls up his sleeve to dip his hand inside. He wiggles his fingers before Kotobuki wiggles his way over, pressing his little fish body against his fingers. Kiba chuckles because it always feels weird to pet a fish. Kimi makes a little “aaah” sound and Kiba decides what Hinata doesn’t know can’t hurt her.
He takes his hand out, wipes it on his sleeve, then pulls Kimi up. While holding her above the tank around the stomach, he helps guide her hand into the water. Kiba gasps and laughs when her squealed giggles result in her pacifier falling out of her mouth right into the water. He snatches it and tosses it behind him without thinking, then goes back to guiding her hand. Her laughter bubbles out as he gets the hand closer to Kotobuki, who quickly approaches it and tries to press into it like he always does. When Kimi squeezes her hand as if to grab, Kotobuki whizzes away and Kiba wheezes.
“Can’t pick up fish, Kimi,” he tells her gently, helping her pull her hand out slowly to not splash water everywhere. Kimi smiles big as she’s set back down on the ground, and it reminds him of Hinata. He pulls the wet hand into his shirt to dry it, then locks up the tank while Kimi climbs back to her feet, holding onto the table the tank is on for support. He watches her and feels his heart nearly explode when she presses a kiss to the glass where Kotobuki is staring at her from. It’s open mouthed and spit filled, leaves a messy print on the glass, and it just makes Kiba’s sentimentality skyrocket.
He pulls her into a bearhug because it’s all he can do with all the love he’s got stored inside of him. Wishes Hinata had been awake to see it, but also thinks this was kind of just a perfect moment. He pulls Kimi up into his arms and lets her chin rest on his shoulder, then stands so he can sway with her. Once he feels her body go limp, he sits down next to Hinata and lays Kimi against her opposite side, then drapes his arm around essentially his entire family.
He feels Hinata stir next to him, grumbling slightly as she adjusts herself. He sees one of her eyes open slightly, and a small smile form. He leans in, places a clumsy kiss on her lips and listens to her soft giggle that he feels so incredibly lucky to be able to hear every day of his life.
Whispers against her lips, really soft, “I’m glad the damn fish didn’t die.”
As her hand reaches up to slide over the stubble on his cheek, she whispers back just as softly.
“Me too.”