Please review this!

To DarkSamuriX1999: That's good to know.

To rafiki20: Yeah. I thought it was about time he did.

(Note: I edit chapters I've already posted every now and then, so it doesn't hurt to reread them every once in a while)

A Konoha Street

Hinata couldn't believe she had forgotten! She was so caught up in training that she had completely lost track of time. Baka, she berated herself as she ran toward her team's usual meeting place.

"It wasn't like there was any reason for me to get caught up in training." She muttered under her breath. "I haven't even made any progress in the last week!" The Hyuga was so busy talking to herself, she even lost track of where she was going.

Her thoughts were than interrupted by a loud bark, which was followed by someone shouting at her.

"Hey Hinata," a loud, rough voice yelled at her, "wrong way!" Surprised, the heiress stopped and looked behind her. Standing about a block away was her two teammates, Shino and Kiba. As usual, Kiba was mounted on his faithful steed/dog Akamaru. Hinata still wasn't quite used to the fact that just three years ago, Akamaru was riding on Kiba.

"S-sorry about that." Hinata apologized, as her cheeks began to turn faintly red. Her day was just getting worse and worse.

"There's no need to apologize." Shino replied with his usual unemotional tone. Unlike Kiba, Shino was surprisingly good at getting her to calm down. Whenever Kiba tried to help, he'd usually end up making things worse.

"While you're at it, don't apologize for apologizing either." Shino added. Hinata, who already had her mouth open to apologize, quickly closed it.

"So," Kiba began as if nothing had happened, "where do we eat?" This confused Hinata a little.

"Um, aren't we going to wait for Kurenai-Sensei?" She asked. All four of them (five if you count Akamaru) were supposed to eat lunch together, so why were her two teammates not going to wait for her?

"She said she wasn't hungry today, besides, whenever sensei tries focusing her chakra, the baby starts kicking, so she can't train either," Kiba reminded her.

"Oh, I had forgotten about that." Hinata admitted sourly. She had known, along with at least half the village, that there was some kind of relationship between her sensei and team ten's sensei, Asuma Sarutobi. Hinata didn't want to annoy Kurenai, so she never mentioned it. However, in the wake of Asuma's death at the hands of the Akatski member Hidan, Kurenai revealed she was pregnant, and that the late Asuma was the father. Hinata had actually fallen out of the tree she had been sitting in when she heard the news.

Ever since then, they had been paying close attention to Kurenai and her unborn child. The genjutsu-specialist had tried not to make a big issue of it, but her expanding waistline had begun to disrupt her normal routine more and more. She had already been upset because of her lover's death, but her pregnancy had made things even worse. Her weakened physical condition plus the distractions that came with pregnancy had rendered her incapable of going on missions. (When the disgruntled jonin had complained, Tsunade shrewdly offered a D-rank mission.)

Now that she was six months pregnant, Kurenai couldn't focus her chakra whatsoever. Hinata visited her frequently, but the young Hyuga missed her during training sessions and missions, which were put to a halt shortly after the Jonin's incapacitation.

"Anyways, where should we go eat? Personally, I feel like eating noodles, but I'm open to suggestions." Shino said.

Hmm, Kiba thought, sis has been yelling at me all morning, so I could really use a good laugh. Just then, the Inuzuka got a rather mischievous idea.

"Why don't we have ramen today?" He asked innocently. "I haven't had any in a while."

Kiba had to reach down and scratch under Akamaru's chin to keep Hinata from seeing his grin. In response to his suggestion, Hinata began to blush furiously. Unfortunately for the Hyuga, Shino was too busy studying one of his bugs to pay any attention.

"I don't see why not." He replied absently. "It's been a while for me too. I think there's a good Ramen bar near here. Why don't we go there?"

Hinata almost fainted on the spot. She knew exactly what place Shino was talking about: the Ichiraku Ramen bar. It was one of the two places you went if you were looking for a certain shinobi. (The other being his apartment) Unless her luck has changed, her day just got a hell of a lot worse.

Ichiraku Ramen Bar

"Hey, Naruto! I hear you've been working on water jutsu lately," said Teuchi, the chef and owner of the ramen bar, as he greeted his favorite customer.

"Yeah I have!" Naruto replied. After a moment, he asked, "Hey! How did you know that?"

"He didn't 'hear' anything." A young woman's voice said from somewhere in the back of the bar. Ayame walked into view, carrying some plates. "You're soaking wet, just like your sensei. You want the usual, I assume?"

"Uh-huh!" Naruto answered with his classic grin. Teuchi began cooking Naruto's order as his daughter took Kakashi's order.

"Here you go!" Teuchi announced a few minutes later. As soon as he gave Naruto his first bowl, the chef immediately began to prepare two more bowls. (One bowl was for Naruto and one was for Kakashi.)

"Anyone want to place any bets about how many bowls he eats today?" Teuchi muttered to himself as he stirred the bubbling broth.