Okay, so this is my first Naruto fic, so please be nice :) Anyways, I was soooo tired of the cliché idea of having a character fall for an OC, so I decided to make my OC more of a side character, hence the title "Playing Matchmaker." I'm also going to try and make my AN's as minimal as possible since they can get kinda annoying. Kay, that's all. Enjoy!

Crap, I forgot the disclaimer: well, here it is. I DO NOT OWN NARUTO…yeah, that's all.

"Kiba! Hey! Kiba!"

Kiba, who was walking with Akamaru, turned around to see a spiky, blond head run out of Ichiraku's Ramen House. "Oh hey, what's up, Naruto?"

Excitedly, the hyperactive boy replied, "Did'ja hear the news? Well, well, didja, didja?"

Confused, Kiba responded, "What news? What's going on?"

"There's some new shinobi in the village," Naruto explained, practically bouncing up and down in enthusiasm. "They sound really cool too. I don't know who they are, but I plan to find out. Wanna come with me?"

Kiba shrugged. He had nothing else to do. "Sure, let's go." Akamaru barked his agreement as well.

As the two of them began to walk towards the Hokage's home, Kiba said, "So, what kind of shinobi are we talking about, Naruto? Like from another village or what?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, I don't think so, since I heard they don't have head protectors with the symbol of a Hidden Village like us. Sakura said that they're some old friends of Grandma Tsunade or something."

Kiba nodded. "I see. Oh hey, Shino, Neji, Hinata. How's it going?"

"Oh, hello, Kiba," said the soft voice of the Hyuuga heiress. "We're just relaxing after training. What are you and Naruto doing?"

The two Hyuugas and one Aburame were sitting in an outside cafe that happen to be on the street Kiba and Naruto were walking on. Barking happily, Akamaru ran up to Hinata and began licking her face affectionately.

Over the laughing of Hinata, Naruto explained what he and Kiba were up to. At the end, he asked, "So, you guys want to go see the newcomers too?"

"Well, if it's a-alright with you," Hinata responded shyly.

"Very well," Neji said indifferently.

Shino just grunted his consent.

The 5 of them, plus Akamaru, eventually made it to the Hokage's house to find her, Sakura, Shizune, and several chunin talking to an elderly and frail looking woman at the head of a small group of perhaps 20 people–a mixture of men, women, and children, all of varying ages, though all of the children seemed to be under the age of ten. Despite that, it was not that which caught the young shinobis' attentions. What they were really staring at was what were at the side of each and every one of the strangers: cats.

There small, average-looking, domestic cats, and then there were "big" cats–huge felines the size of tigers, lions, etc.

One such beast was sitting contentedly beside the feet of the elderly woman speaking to Tsuande. He was pure white with black stripes and only the silvery fur tinging his black stripes gave away that his age matched that of the hunched over, wrinkled woman next to him.

At the young ninjas' approach, said cat switched his attention from Tsunade, who was still talking, to them, cocking his head in a silent question. Noticing, the woman turned as well, saying, "Well, Tsunade, could these possibly be the young ninja you were just speaking of?"

"Huh?" The Hokage suddenly noticed their new audience. "Oh, hello there. Shiroihi, these are indeed those very same ninja, or some of them at least. I'm sure the girl you mentioned–Kimyoname was it?–will get along just fine with them. Isn't that right?" At the last sentence, Tsunade's voice suddenly sharpened as she gave the 5 young shinobi in question, but mostly Naruto, her best or-else-you-answer-to-me death glare.

"O-of course," stammered Naruto, quickly stumbling back to a safe distance. The others all nodded as well.

Kimyoneme, mused Neji. Why would someone name their child that?

"Excellent," the Hokage replied, turning her attention back to the woman named Shiroihi. "So, where is Kimyoname right now? I'm sure she'd love to meet our young ninja as soon as possible if your theory about her being bored because she has no one her own age to spend time with is correct.

"Yes," the elderly woman agreed. "But, as I said before, Kimyoname prefers to be called by her nickname." Lifting her head, Shiroihi cried, "Mekko! Kaene!"

Tsunade blinked and suddenly there were two figures kneeling in the dust.

"You called, Elder Shiroihi?"

"Ah, yes," Shiroihi said with a small smile, motioning for the teenage girl who had spoken to stand up–which she did–and continued. "Young Mekko, being as there are none in our Kiishi clan who are of your age, or even near it, I am giving you permission to accept the companionship of these kind shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village throughout the duration of our stay here."

The figure on the left, the teenage girl named Kimyoname–or Mekko–turned to size up the group of 5 still watching, nodding, and replied, "Thank you, Elder Shiroihi." Walking towards the group, she stopped in front of them, brushed her long black bangs out of her eyes, and said in a much more lax tone, "Hey, what's up?"

When she had turned completely to face the 4 chunin and 1 jonin, there was a sudden soft gasp, slipping from Hinata's mouth before she could slap her hand over it.

H-her eyes! Hinata wailed inwardly, doing her best not to quail at the sight. What's wrong with her eyes?

The small, slightly lopsided smile that had graced Mekko's lips vanished and her eyes grew cold–her multi-colored eyes. It was that which had caused Hinata's shocked reaction: the fact that one of Mekko's eyes was yellow–which would've been unusual enough on its own–and the other was blue. In addition to that, while Mekko's blue eye seemed normal enough, her yellow eye was not. The pupil of the teenage girl's right eye was a slit, like that of an animal.

So that's why she was given a name that meant "strange eyes," Neji realized, gazing at the girl's eyes in a rather impassive fashion.

At the gasp, the second figure–a large black, panther-like cat speckled white and of a size to rival Akamaru's–let out a warning growl and took a threatening step forward.

Letting out a squeak of fright, Hinata took a step back, blundering into Kiba and nearly falling. He easily caught her and supported his trembling teammate while answering the challenge with a growl of his own, his narrowed eyes clearly saying, Back off. Akamaru barked harshly, loyally backing up his master.

Neji, Kiba, and Shino all tensed, prepared to fight this newcomer to defend their friend, as Mekko took a step forward to hiss and curled her upper lip at them, just enough to reveal fangs only slightly smaller than Kiba's. Her own eyes retorted back, Why should I? while her sneer said, A girl with white eyes openly insulted mine. Don't you find that just the tiniest bit strange?

Kiba snarled at Mekko's unspoken remark relayed through her eyes, claws extending from his hands. His grip on Hinata, who was still in his arms, tightened. At this, Shino stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Kiba, his kikaichu starting to crawl on his jacket to make themselves known.

Mekko's nostrils flared at the sudden movement from the hooded boy. She was impressed that he had managed to follow and understand their silent exchanges. Suddenly the 16 year-old cat-nin noticed that Kiba had stiffened when the kikaichu-boy's shoulder brushed his. In addition, the scent of his anger and protectiveness had wavered just slightly, as though he had been distracted. She smirked mentally. Hmmm…

Though the Hidden Leaf shinobi and Mekko were only seconds away from fighting, Tsunade had placed all her attention not on them, but on Shiroihi. The 5th Hokage was curious to know how the older woman would handle it. Surprisingly, the leader of the Kiishi clan didn't seem to have any intention of intervening. Shiroihi was simply waiting for the outcome. Her bonded, the beast that so resembled a white tiger, was even waving its tail contentedly as it gazed at the 6 shinobi about to rip each other apart.

The truth was the clan elder had been considering interfering but had decided against it to allow Mekko a chance to prove herself to these ninja who were to be her friends. After all, she didn't wish for the young cat-handler to seem weak and dependent. No one wants to be friends with a weakling.

Just when it seemed all hell was about to break loose–well, to those who were aware of it–the stiff apprehension before the battle was shattered by the ridiculously loud voice of a certain knuckleheaded ninja, the only one who was completely oblivious to the growing tension and silent exchanges between cat and dog handler.

"Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm goingn to be the next Hokage after Grandma Tsunade!"

Mekko slowly hid her fangs and relaxed from her slightly crouched attack position–a small amused smile playing across her features–to raise one eye brow to glance questioningly at first Kiba, then Shino and Neji.

Kiba just shrugged, relaxing from his own attack stance, while Shino's bugs retreated back up his sleeves, and Neji gave her a small nod, a nod that meant one thing: truce…for the time being.