Running through the town of Konoha, Naruto easily dodged the bustling merchants and shoppers, but ran headlong into a pole.

He was out for fifteen minutes, and when he came around, his stomach greeted his conscienceness with a loud rumbling that got looks of offense from at least fifteen people.

"Heh. Guess I must be hungrier than I thought."

So he turned left and down the street, heading for Itachi's Eatery. It had just opened up, and he had heard some good things about it, but didn' pay any attention to anything past 'excellent ramen'.

And his weekly allowance from the Hokage had just come in, so he could get the "all-you-can-eat-buffet" and eat till he puked without starving for the rest of the week. "Alright! Itachi's Eatery, here I come!" he shouted to no-one in particular, but everyone in particular heard.

Avoiding the menacing glares to the best of his ability, he sprinted off to Itachi's, grinning as he thought about what the manager's face would look like after he ate all their food.

----

Wandering through the town of Konoha, Hinata knew she was not hiding her sorrow very well. A lot of people asked her during school what was wrong. She told them her cat died. Then they asked how. She said it fell off a tree. Everyone thought that Hinata's cat was a pathetic cat. Truth be told, she was both allergic to and hated cats. They never wanted anything except food. Dogs, however, wanted love, care, warmth, food and a whole list of things. And they reciprocated your love with their own.

They were also loyal, stubborn, loud and somewhat dim, but she loved those qualitites to. Maybe that's why she loved Naruto. He was really a big, non-fluffy dog.

When class started, they had a substitute for Iruka, who was supposedly given the day off. 'Maybe its because he's sad about Naruto, too.' Hinata thought.

Se was so wrapped up in thought, she didn't notice that she was about to hit a wall. When she tried to move out of the way, she tripped over a garbage can, landing hard on her butt.

For a minute, her vision swooned.

That bump on her head mut have been worse than she thought.

Then there was a loud shout from a voice she least expected to hear. "Alright! Itachi's Eatery, here I come!"

Questioning the severity of her head wound, she looked up long enough to see an orange blur rush past. "Naruto?..." she whispered to herself.

Quickly she stood, hoping to chase down what she thought was Naruto, but then a familiar female voice called out her name. It was Ino.

"O, h-hello, Ino, h-how are you?"

"Hinata you just talked to me three minutes ago. You should know I'm fine."

"Oh," she replied as she felt her cheeks going red hot, "Um, well, I, um have to go..."

"Okay..." Ino could tell Hinata was hiding something, but she didn't know what, so she decided not to press the issue. "Well, I guess I'll see you around. Take care!" Ino waved then was gone.

Hoping she wasn't too late, Hinata rounded the corner, but any trace of Naruto was long since gone. 'What?... But I could have sworn I heard him. Maybe I should go lie down...'

Then some inner Hinata, the Hinata who didn't stutter or faint around Naruto screamed: NO! Go look for him. He said he was going to Itachi's Eatery! Go there!

Hinata weakly mentally agreed and started down the street to Itachi's Eatery.

----

"NO! GET OUT! I REFUSE TO SERVE YOU!" The mop swung at Naruto, but he ducked just in time. Then the manager was swinging the mop at him again and again, forcing Naruto to hurry out of the eatery.

He dodged through the small crowd waiting to be taken to their tables, and the manager stopped swinging the mop, but still hurried after him. Barging through the door, Naruto hurried across the street and into an alley, the man still hot on his tail.

He stopped at a grouping of trash cans. There's no reason not to...

Quickly turning, he picked up a can and threw it at the man's feet. Unable to move in time, he tripped and fell forward with a satisfying thud. Grinning at his own comic genius, Naruto sprinted off.

----

When Hinata arrived at Itachi's Eatery, everyone inside looked like they had just been victims to one of Naruto's legendary pranks. Legendary as in the cost of repairs.

Twidling her fingers, she walked over to the man who she recognized as the manager and tapped him on the shoulder. "What?!" he yelled in her face. She didn't know what she flinched more at, the shouting in her face or the black and blue shade of his face.

"I-I-I was w-wondering wh-what happened here," she answered quietly, just above a whisper.

"What happened?! I'll tell you what happened! One of your little ninja wannabe friends just tried to eat my food!" he bellowed back. The hairs on the back of Hinata's neck prickled.

'So Naruto was here. He's the only one they would refuse service to. That means I didn't imagen his voice. That means...' Her heart fluttered so much she thought she was going to have a heart attack. 'He's awake...'

"Do you know where he went?"

"Does it look like I care!?!?" he bellowed back. Hinata shrank back and pushed her index fingers together, trying to muter some sort of apology, but the manager stomped off, leaving her to her thoughts. 'Now what do I do? I can't go to his home, that would probably scare him... Where would he be? He wanted ramen, so he must be going to...'

With that she started running to Naruto's favorite ramen store.

Whew! I've been really busy with school and finals coming up, so there may be a good week or so between chapters. Sorry this ones so short. I'm also working on a few oneshots and a whole book, so I kinda divided. Good news: Naruto and Hinata will go on an assassination mission! But all is not what it seems... :P Thanks for the support!

P.S : Can someone remind me what Naruto's favorite ramen shop is? And Itachi's Ramen just sounded good in my head