I don't own Naruto and all characters, settings etc affiliated to it.

Chapter 5: Meeting

The rich, enticing aroma of honey roast chicken and plum sauce pork ribs filled the air, mingling pleasantly with the sweet smells of fizzy soda in a homey restaurant. The table was set for ten people; however, only five of the seats were occupied. The empty cups were replenished once again with refreshing soda and the appetizer plate refilled with peanuts and potatoes crisps. A pudgy hand reached out for the plate of goodies and grabbed everything placed on it in one swift movement.

"Choji! Stop eating. They charge for every refill!" A somewhat annoyed Neji complained.

"But I'm hungry!" The large guy whined.

"You're always eating, don't you bring along your snacks or something? Why don't you eat those?" The Hyuuga shot back.

"I have my snacks. But you're paying for this meal. Oh, free food makes me so happy." Choji smiled at his fellow ninja as Neji held his face in his hands, groaning.

Minutes later, a group of five visibly tired ninjas entered the restaurant and headed straight towards the table, taking their seats.

"You guys are late," Neji reprimanded.

"Hey, Sakura-Chan. Woah, what happened to you guys?" Rock asked, his marble eyes studied the group as they sat down. His eyes were like large saucers when he got sight of Kyoshi's torn pants.

"You hardworking freaks trained the whole day or what?" Shikamaru inquired lazily after waking up. "Man, Gaara, you look drained."

"Cause I am drained, you worthless slacker."

"Hey Neji, where's my cute Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"She's on a mission and she's not your Hinata!" Neji snapped.

"Can we stop talking and start eating?" Choji whine again, his mouth watering as he eyed the next table's main course.

"Yes. Food! I'm famished!" Naruto exclaimed. "But first, I'm supposed to introduce you guys to… Kyoshi!"

"Kyoshi? You look really girly to me," The ninja with insanely thick eyebrows studied the purple eyed girl more intently this time.

"She's a girl, you thick-browed idiot!" Shikamaru informed his intellectually challenged friend.

"So… what happened to your pants?" The boy with pearly eyes smirked.

"It was just a misunder… accident. Yes, an accident," Gaara informed him.

"Oh really? Some accident," Neji said, snickering to himself.

"I really want to eat! NOW!" The fat ninja bellowed, slamming the table with his fist. Everyone stared at him. "I mean, we could always talk as we eat." Choji continued in a small voice, fiddling with his fingers.

The food arrived at the table in no time, much to Choji's delight and he immediately gobbled down the first thing that was laid in front of him. Luckily for the rest present, Neji was wise enough to order sufficient amounts of the delicious food. The ninjas quickly tucked in, it was not everyday that they got to eat such a feast, and for free too. Kyoshi fingered the chicken drumstick on her plate gingerly, as though afraid to eat it.

"You don't like it? Don't tell me you're vegetarian?" Neji looked up from eating his potion.

"No, of course not. It looks really tempting."

"Go ahead and eat it. It's on me you know. I'm paying for everyone here."

Kyoshi tasted the chicken hesitantly, and found it very much to her liking. She never eaten such food before, her father always gave her cold hardened rice and soggy vegetables. So she somewhat grew up as a vegetarian not by choice. She quickly finished the rest of the food that was placed on her plate, it was even better then the curry rice Naruto treated her to two days ago.

"So you like it, eh?" The long-haired boy asked her, watching her again.

"Yes. Thank you so much. I never had such a luxurious meal before."

"Never?" Neji's eyebrows raised in question. "Never mind. You can always thank me later." He smiled, looking straight into her eyes. Wow. They're purple. They're even weirder than mine.

"Yo, Naruto. So do you know what's the occasion? Why is Hyuuga giving a treat all of a sudden?" Shikamaru nudged the whiskered boy beside him.

"Huh? I thought Neji is just being nice. I told him that I was going to introduce a girl to him."

"You mean introduce a girl to all of us?"

"Oh yeah. Same thing anyway," Naruto shrugged, digging into his food.

"Naruto, you moron." The lazy ninja actually made the effort to kick his friend. "Neji probably thinks you're trying to set him up."

"What? No way. Neji doesn't like girls. I mean, he's not gay but he doesn't have the time for them."

"Then what the hell do you think he is doing right now?" Shikamaru kicked his friend again, pulling Naruto's head, forcing him to look in the direction of Neji and Kyoshi seated at the far end of the table.

"They're just talking. No need to get all worked up." Naruto quickly returned his attention to his food.

"Now look," Shikamaru yanked the blond boy's head back in the same direction as before. Naruto observed the pair at the far end, Kyoshi had her head held down as though trying very hard to concentrate on eating while Neji reached out to touch her hair.

"There's nothing wrong. Neji's just trying to prevent Kyoshi's hair from getting into her food. That's all."

"Naruto, you're such an idiot," Sasuke suddenly spoke.

"Who are you in butt in my conversation between Shikamaru?"

"Man, you were talking so loud, I thought you were having a conversation with the entire restaurant." Sasuke smirked.

"Stop touching me, you pervert!" A shout was heard coming from the other end of the table. Followed by Neji flying across a few tables and crashing through the glass windows. Sasuke looked at Naruto, wearing an amused smile across his face.

"Shit." Naruto ran out to get Neji.

"Hey, I charge the repair cost to your bill!" An angry restaurant manager called out while Naruto ran out.

"Neji, are you okay? Hey man, I'm sorry. I think there has been a misunderstanding." The shorter Chuunin said at the same time helping Neji up.

"Hey Naruto, thanks. I think she really likes me. She's just too shy."

"What?"

"I mean, I understand. You know, some girls just don't know how to act when they like a guy. They end up pushing him away. Either that she's playing hard to get," Neji smiled to himself.

"You're insane. She just threw you out! Anyway, I got to explain something…"

"No need to. I know how to handle her. Thanks a lot Naruto," The white-eyed teenager walked back into the restaurant leaving Naruto dumbfounded.

Neji walked back to the table only to find Kyoshi missing. "Where did she go?"

"I don't know she just disappeared. Like 'Poff", gone, you know," Shikamaru told him while the others nodded in unison. Neji looked at another empty seat and immediately asked in a low voice, "Where's Uchiha?"

He was answered with the shrugging of shoulders and wide-eyed glances.

Crimson eyes stared intently at the ceiling, their owner deep in his thoughts. His eyebrows knotted up and a little frown formed as he thought more about his plans. The door opened silently and the pair of crimson eyes darted up alert, expecting someone to come through. A large shark-like man entered, his tiny round inhuman eyes met with blood red ones.

"What do you want?" The older Uchiha asked.

"Aren't we supposed to be on our way to getting that fox brat?" Kisame questioned.

"Yeah, we should. But I feel that the time's not right. Certain… complications have cropped up."

"Have you been exposed?" The shark man growled.

"Not really?"

"What?"

"I meant that… someone saw me," Itachi told him.

"So what do we do now? Wait another five years until they think that we're gone and forgotten?"

"Kisame, the situation is still under control," the Uchiha told him coolly, "The girl who saw me isn't from Konoha village. I'm sure of that. She has no idea who I am, or what I'm after."

"Surely she'll tell Naruto that." Kisame said blankly.

"Naruto's too stupid to know anything. And why would anyone believe a stranger like her?"

"If she spotted you, she's no ordinary ninja."

"I was merely careless," Itachi frowned, recalling the incident. Yes. She was no ordinary ninja.

Okay, lots of dialogue in this chapter. Quite unnecessary actually, but Kyoshi needs to meet the rest of Naruto's friends anyway. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this fic.