Im back with another chapter, and I have to admit I got it out a lot faster than I expected to! :D

And also a quick appology or the odd occurance of bad language, but yanno xD

As per usual, I do not own anything or anyone from the Naruto universe, just my OC Himiko and any other OCs to pop up in the story.

And with that all said, ENJOY! :)

Chapter 9: Surprise upon surprise

"Okay... So we have the decorations, the presents, the cake, and we've invited people so we know who will be here."

Himiko spoke out loud as she ticked off a list of preparations for the up and coming party that was less than 24 hours away.

She and Naruto sat on her bedroom floor with the various bags of decorations scattered around them.
Now they needed a plan to get him out of the house to buy them some time...

"Okay, how about I take him to the mall and distract him for a while?"

Himiko spoke once more after a few moments of careful thinking.

"Yea, you can take him out to the mall and distract him by taking him for lunch as a birthday treat, he won't be able to resist that."

The blonde grinned from ear to ear as their plan pieced together.

"But wait, won't he be suspicious if you're not there?"

"Your right...he's not that oblivious..."

The two sighed simultaneously as their shoulders slumped down in defeat.

The room was once again filled with silence as they thought of ways to perfect their master plan.

Before either of them could come up with anything, the front door to the house swinging open could be heard in the background as a gust of wind entered the house along with Jiriya as he carried various bags of shopping in with him.

The two scrambled to shut the bedroom door before he would see the decorations that littered the room. A loud bag rang through the house as Himiko door slammed shut.

Jiriya closed the front door and set his bags down in confusion. Himiko's door, which was directly across from him, had slammed as we entered...

"Himiko what are you doing in there, you shouldn't get changed with the door open you know."

He chuckled, assuming that was the reason for the sudden slamming of doors.

The two teens held back laughter as they heard Jiriya's response in the background. Naruto slipped on the last bag of decorations and fell to the ground with a painful thud.

The two burst out into uncontrollable laughter as Himiko held her sides, slumping down with her back against the door.

"Himiko do you have a boy in there?...what's going on? Don't make me come in there!"

The concerned voice of Jiriya grew louder and louder as he approached the door.

"Ahahahah...stop it I'm gonna pee..."

She said between outbursts, desperately trying to contain herself.

Naruto flung the last bag across the room and out of sight from his position on the floor as Jiriya began to knock on the door.

Now that the evidence was concealed Himiko got up to open the door whilst calming herself down.

The door swung open to reveal a very concerned and distressed Jiriya standing with a hand on his hip, shopping bags scattered across the hallway.

He furrowed his brows as he looked down to see Naruto lying on the floor I'm an awkward position, not really knowing what to say.

Himiko stood back from the door, wiping a tear from her eye as the last couple of chuckles escaped her.

"Okay what is going on here? I know you guys aren't related but no funny business in my house okay?..."

He stared at them in disbelief, although he clearly had the wrong idea.

A few seconds of silence passed before the two realised what he was talking about. They both reacted in equal amounts of shock and disgust.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

Naruto exclaimed as he shot up from the floor and jerked his head back violently in disbelief**.

"Are you serious that's nasty!"

Himiko spoke out, looking away in shock and generally looking like she was going to be sick.

"Why would you say that?!"

"Jiriya I can't believe you just said that..."

"Oh my god stop it!"

"That's so wrong, I'm gonna be sick."

"You have scared me for life this time Jiriya..."

Their protests continued out to the hall as they left the room shouting and flailing their arms about in disgust. They interrupted each other as they shouted and cried out, both running into separate rooms out of embarrassment.

Jiriya stayed put and stared blankly at the back wall of the teenagers' room as he thought to himself.

Here's a wild guess, but I think i got the wrong idea...

Later on that day, Naruto sat in the edge of his bed deep in thought about how to approach his next master plan, however this time it was far less light hearted...

He knew he needed Sasuke's Help for this one, but he hadn't quite made up with him after all that stuff at the sleepover.

Swallowing his pride, he looked down at his phone for the hundredth time, finally gaining the courage to select the contact under the name of his former best friend.

A few moments of anxious silence passed as the phone connected his call and he waited for Sasuke to pick up, if he even would...

Sasuke lay in his bed looking up at the ceiling as music blurred throughout his room. He was incredibly bored, and at times like this he realised just how much time he would have spent with Naruto and Himiko.

He took and intake of breath before slowly closing his eyes, focusing on the beat of the music that played around him as he lost himself in a swirl of thoughts.

A sudden vibration from his Jean pocket alerted him and brought him back to reality. He reached into his pokey as looked at his phone, noticing the name that lighted up on the screen.

"Naruto...what does he want?"

He questioned before turning his music off and sitting down on the edge of his bed to answer the call.

"Hello?"

The impatience in his voice echoed through the room as he resisted the urge to hang up.

"Sasuke we need to talk... I'm getting sick of this and I need your help with something. Can I come round?"

The sound of his former friend's voice rang through his ears for the first time in a good 3 weeks. Carefully processing his words, he agreed to what he had to say.

"Okay come round whenever..."

He said emotionless as he looked down at his feet.

"I'll be round soon it's kind of urgent."

Naruto replied quickly before hanging up.

Sasuke set his phone down beside him on his bed and ran a hand through his hair before he got up and went out to the kitchen where Itachi was putting away bags of shopping.

"What's up? You look a little pissed off there."

Itachi glanced over to his younger brother who stood in the doorway as he reached up to put a box of cereal away.

"Naruto's coming round; he said he needs help with something."

The younger stated simply, leaning against the doorframe.

"You're talking to him again?"

Itachi questioned a hint of surprise evident in his voice.

"Well no but it seemed important. I think it's about time we sorted everything out anyway."

"That's surprisingly mature of you Sasuke; I don't know what to say."

The older Uchiha spoke in general surprise, although naturally he couldn't resist some form of sarcasm. He stopped what he was doing to turn his attention to his younger brother.

Although Sasuke had ignored his comment completely and continued to explain the situation.

"He said himself that he was getting sick of it, in anyone's book that would be an indication of how ridiculous this whole thing is..."

He rolled his eyes, knowing that what he was saying was exactly the case.

"Hey, then if things go well this is as good of time as any to tell him about Himiko."

Itachi joked and nudged his brother in the arm playfully.

"Oh I know, because suddenly coming off with 'Hey, you know I find Himiko very attractive, you don't mind if I date her do you?' Isn't going to make things worse is it? Don't even go there..."

"True...I mean you haven't even said anything to her yet, you should really get around to doing that Sasuke, your starting to look a little creepy. You've never been like this before its kind of scary..."

"Itachi..."

The elder brother continued his teasing despite Sasuke obvious annoyance.

"And you don't even know if she likes you yet... If this were anyone else you would had said something by now, it's a sign I'm telling you-"

"Don't even go there..."

Sasuke repeated his warning as he rolled his eyes for the hundredth time in the past 30 seconds.

A sudden knock at the front door drew their attention away from their talk. Itachi looked over to his younger brother once more, a small smile on his face.

"Well are you going to answer it or what?"

The younger sighed before exiting the room and making his way to the front door. When he approached, he could already see Naruto's blonde hair through the reflection of the glass.

He slowly opened the door and greeted him to come in with a beckoning of his hand.

Without a word the two made their way into the living room and they sat on opposite sides of the sofa, making it known through their body language that neither of them had quite come to terms with the idea of talking it out, despite their agreement.

Sasuke suddenly spoke up to break the awkward silence.

"So what is it you need help with?"

He asked, looking down at his hands the entire time.

"If I'm honest I'd rather deal with the other thing first, it makes everything easier..."

The blonde replied, seemingly more collected than his former friend. A few more moments passed before Naruto spoke up again in an attempt to get some form of conversation going.

"Look, I know I over reacted but you have to understand that when it comes to family I can't just let people treat them whatever way they want. You know better than most people that I hardly have any family left, so whoever I have now I intend on protecting in any way I can. I just don't want to lose anyone else."

"I guess I never thought of it like that, but me and Karin are over now. If I hurt her in the past then yea i'll own up for that but I have no intention of going anywhere near her again, were over and that's the way I want to keep it."

"I dunno man, I just heard that she wanted to get back with you and I saw red, I didn't want all that shit to happen again, it was messed up."

"I know it was, believe me I had to try and defuse all that. I know she's your cousin but at the same time you can't blame that all on me, she isn't the innocent one in all of this."

"Yea maybe she's not but what else am I meant to do? I can't stand by and let either of you think that acting like that is okay. Maybe it's nothing to do with me but I don't care, you were both acting like complete psychos and I for one wasn't going to deal with that."

"Well look, how about it put it this way; if I agree not to go near Karin will you stop acting like a dick?"

Sasuke smirked, finally looking up from his hands and over to Naruto who sat at the other end of the he sofa.

"Well damn, if you put it like that..."

He grinned back and shook his head in sarcasm before getting up and holding out his arms. Sasuke also stood up and was suddenly pulled into a hug.

"Naruto, this is getting too gay for my liking..."

The two laughed in unison as Naruto let go of him.

"Please, I wouldn't go near you...you're not good enough for my standards."

Sasuke glared back at him in sarcasm before making his way towards the kitchen.

"Do you want a glass of water or something? You appear to be more thirsty than usual."

Naruto laughed as he sat back down on the sofa.

"I'm sorry but I think you've been practicing that one. And get me a Pepsi, you weirdo..."

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he exited the room to find that Itachi had left a note on the kitchen table saying that he would be out for the rest of the day.

After grabbing two cans of Pepsi he returned into the living room to see Naruto sprawled out on the sofa as if nothing even happened.

"So what was it you needed help with?"

Sasuke inquired as he tossed a can over to Naruto and sat on the sofa across from him.

"Oh yea I almost forgot about that...okay so you know the way it's Jiriya's birthday tomorrow?"

Sasuke nodded in response.

"Well, it's also the day that Himiko's brother gets back from his tour in the military, so I need someone to distract her at the party so we can surprise her too - and that would be you."

"Are you sure? I mean -"

"Yes I'm sure, I didn't make peace with you for no particular reason."

He chuckled as Sasuke became more and more hesitant.

"But why me?"

The Uchiha furrowed his brows in a mix of concern and confusion.

"Well, I'd be a liar if I said I don't like to help my friends out... and I'd also be lying if I said I didn't know you like her."

He said frankly, giving him a look that clearly said 'it's obvious don't deny it'.

"Help me out, what-"

He began to retort although he was swiftly cut off but his newly * best friend.

"Come on, everyone knows. For the first week you knew her all you did was sit and stare while she wasn't looking. I mean, you tried to conceal it but I know you too well Sasuke..."

A blush began to rise on his face as Naruto spoke. He could feel the heat radiating from his face as he quickly looked away.

"How am I meant to distract her though?"

He questioned, changing the subject as he maintained control over the colour of his face.

"As I said I like to help my friends out, and seeing as you haven't said anything yet, which is very weird for you-"

"You want me to tell her don't you?"

He cut his friend off mid sentence, his voice suddenly emotionless as an attempt to conceal his scepticism.

"It's as good of time as any..."

OoOoOoo the next chapter looks to be exciting if I do say so myself xD

As you've guessed things will be getting a bit more exiting from now on, so hopefully I'll get the next chapter out soon so theres less of a wait.

But untill then, thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed! :)