Though both Sakura and Hinata had been given a warning a month in advance about Tsunade's test, neither had been told the exact date. Hinata, being the onstantly worried child of an overbaring, expectant father, had the feeling that it was coming in the back of her mind for quiet sometime, which had led her to spend hours in the hospital after training or pouring over whatever medical scrolls she could get her hands on. With Tsunade-sama's permission, of course. Even with her new relationship with Naruto, she had managed to keep a steady flow of time going into her studies, so Hinata had thought that she would be alright.

Then she discovered who her test subject was going to be. Uchiha Sasuke, target of every girl's cookie-baking, obsessive-stalking attention. Well, ALMOST every girl's. To her the raven haired boy was something much worse: Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto's best friend. She'd never really spoken with the Uchiha boy, even before the incident with his family had made him unapproachable. And if she weren't such a sweet girl, she might have been persuaded into saying that frankly, the Uchiha heir WAS A FUCKING MENTAL CASE WAITING TO HAPPEN! But of course, Hyuuga Hinata would never be so bold... And, as Naruto's girlfriend, it was her responsibility to ensure that nothing changed in his personal life because of her. Finding common ground with all of Naruto's friends was something that had to be done. Even if that included the Ice King.

She'd tried to talk to him a few times during their session, but the raven-haired boy wouldn't even look at her directly. How was she supposed to work with that? Oh, she wished that she possessed the wonderful people skills that the other girl's of her generation had at their disposal. Sakura or Ino would have at least been able to keep the silences away, and Tenten...well, she might have been able to get him to talk about weapons...maybe?

... It was much easier befriending Iruka and Sakura. Even the one time she'd spoken to Kakashi-sensei had been at least remotely comfortable, though Naruto warned her not to get too close when he was reading from his favorite book, which the Jounin cleverly managed to hide the title of with his hands.

She'd been brooding over the challenge of befriending Uchiha Sasuke when Naruto jumped out at her with a small bouquet of lavender colored roses. She had been surprised, but more than happy to latch onto a different subject for her musing. She didn't even know that he knew purple roses were her favorites! When she mentioned this to him, he only scratched at the back of his head, which she already recognized as his very own adorable way of saying "It's a stupid story, don't ask." So she didn't. Instead she let him walk her around the village, take her out to dinner, and then drag her to the restaurant he was supposed to be working at when he suddenly remembered that he was still on duty.

Not that she minded.

But the moment they walked in, the object of her demise was already turned around and glaring at them. Why Naruto ever wanted to befriend Sasuke in the first place was simply beyond her. Still, she put on the best smile she could manage under the circumstances and followed Naruto to the nearest table. Knowing her beloved's knack for clumsiness, she began to stack up the glass plates for him and suggested that he carry the silverware. Inwardly she thought that this was good because it was virtually impossible for her boyfriend to damage the solid metal utensils.

She was watching him fumbling with his task while trying to find a way to carry all the different kinds of forks and knives that fancy restaurants set out instead of simple chop sticks when she felt eyes on her. Really, really close to her. Well, maybe she couldn't feel how close the eyes were, but she knew that the owner was standing behind her by the shadow that fell across the table. Before she had even finished turning around she knew who it was by the blue shirt that nearly brushed against her nose, and then the cold voice saying, "Civilians aren't allowed to help with missions."

"Uh-Um..." Hinata's reply came out quickly. Her head kept bobbing up and down as she tried to look at the face of Konoha's most sought after ninja, but couldn't seem to raise it to look over his chin. It must have looked like she was nodding stupidly.

Naruto came to her rescue though. Hinata's face turned red when she heard his voice. "There's no rule against Hinata helping, teme."

"Yes there is. She's off duty and qualifies as a civilian during our mission. She can't help." A little voice in the back of Hinata's voice noted that the Uchiha heir really did sound like a five year old saying that. She might have giggled if she were anyone else. Instead she noted that Naruto had moved to stand beside her and was glaring at his friend as heatedly as she'd seen Kiba and Shino do over the past few weeks. Remembering their fights, Hinata sucked in her lower lip and let her teeth sink into it. She was supposed to be making friends with Sasuke, not causing fights!

Wanting to stop the argument quickly, she started to speak. "Na-Naruto? I-it's okay. I'm tired anyway. I'll j-just go-" She started to say that she could just go home. She could have started studying for the next part of her test anyway. She was going to have to start examining the samples she'd taken from Sasuke and record them for Tsunade. She lifted her head for a second to look at her test subject, and was surprised by the expression on his face. Did he look pleased?

Naruto must have saw it too, and decided not to back down. "No." She knew that Naruto hated losing an argument from the few times he'd started little spats for the heck of it. He turned to her, completely forgetting the other ninja's presence, and said, "Can't you wait for me here? I'll move fast so it won't take long. Pleeease?"

He was so cute when he was trying to get something! Hinata knew that Sasuke was looking at her, but...how could she say no to Naruto when he was pouting like a puppy looking for a new home? She nodded her head, blushing at the bright smile the action brought to her blonde's face.

Naruto took her hand and lead her back over to one of the tables close to the door. He was babbling happily over his shoulder to her, "If you're tired then I could put some of the chairs together for you. They look really cushy, and I don't think we'll have to put them away until last..."

Hinata looked around the large room while Naruto went back to gather up the chairs for her. She had thought that her sensei was present when she came in, but it seemed that the three Jounin were gone now. Where could they have...?

Hinata cut off her thought with a yawn. Maybe the excuse hadn't been entirely untrue. She was tired from studying...

"Hina, are you okay?" Naruto asked as he made his way back to her carrying three stacked up chairs.

"Yes," she said, her face going a little red. It was rude to yawn after she and Naruto had spent so much time together, wasn't it? "I'm sorry. I was just up late last night studying."

"Right…" Naruto sent her a cheeky smile, "studying…"

Hinata returned the smile, though she didn't understand why her boyfriend's voice sounded so strangely happy. He put the chairs down as close together as possible, forming a narrow, little bed. She sat down on it with another yawn fighting to get up her throat, but was told not to lay down just yet while the blonde unzipped his jacket and folded it up into a pillow for her. His smile was so proud of himself for remembering to be considerate; Naruto could really be so sweet sometimes…!

Hinata watched fondly as Naruto turned to go back to his mission, but then froze when she noted the figure standing farther back in the room. Sasuke was watching her from the hallway leading into the kitchen, where he must have gone to drop off the plate he had taken from her. She forced her smile to stay in place. He would notice if she suddenly flinched, wouldn't he?

How was she ever going to make a friend out of someone so...so...

As if to show her that she really was going to have to learn to live with the Uchiha, Naruto called out to him. What he said didn't really make much sense to her. It sounded like something about helping him before he cut himself and started bleeding all over the carpet again.

Hinata had her head back down on the jacket, but it was harder to get comfortable now. She kept wondering if Sasuke was glaring at her while her eyes were closed, or if he was glaring at her beloved Naruto. She almost started playing with her hands just to calm herself. When the idea came to her, or what brought it on, Hinata couldn't say. One moment she was franticly blinking eyes that wanted to close but couldn't seem to stay that way, and the next she was debating the morality of a certain idea. Maybe she had subconsciously started thinking about her sensei again, wishing that someone else was present to make sure that the Uchiha wouldn't start a fight with Naruto while they were working. And Kurenai always told her that she should get used to using her bloodline ability so that she'd feel more comfortable with it...

Hinata snuggled deeper into her boyfriend's jacket, letting the material muffle her voice while she whispered "Byakugan!" Her hand went up to the side of her head, positioning her hair to hide the veins that came along with the bloodline ablity. It would seem deceitful if Naruto thought she was spying on him, wouldn't it? But the risk was worth it. With the special ability activated, Hinata could close her eyes and still be able to see what that horrid Uchiha boy was doing with HER Naruto. (A/n: Sound familiar, anyone?)

While she watched the two boys of team seven work, Hinata began to wish that she'd learn how to read lips. She saw Sasuke's mouth move when Naruto's stack of water glasses grew higher than his head, and though she was able to guess that it was meant to jab at the blonde's pride by Naruto's yelled response, she still would have liked to hear it.

"SHUT UP, TEME!" Hinata was able to hear Naruto's response to the second time Sasuke's mouth moved. Sasuke had his back facing Naruto, his front toward Hinata, which was the only reason she was able to tell that he was pleased by the blonde's attention. She could clearly see him smirking.

Naruto picked up his tower of glasses with an indigent huff and stomped off to the kitchen with the stack leaning dangerously to one side. After that, Hinata was painfully aware that she and Sasuke were the only ones left in the room. Wherever the Genin instructors had gone, she was beginning to think that they weren't coming back. Her body tensed every time the Uchiha prodigy turned in her direction. When he finally turned to go into the kitchen, she breathed a sigh of relief.

A minute went by without anyone coming back into the room. And then another.

She was just starting to doze off again when she heard the sound of the kitchen doors opening. Her Byakugan still in effect, she looked to the door and saw the graceful form of her cousin walking to the nearest table and gathering the silverware into an empty glass. He went through the task much more quickly than Naruto, having the sense not to try and hold everything in one hand. When his glass filled up he picked up another one and went on with his work. When he came to the table in front of where Hinata lay, he stopped for a tiny fraction of a second. At first she thought that he had just noticed that she was really awake and was only humoring her, but then her mind supplied the more likely excuse that he probably had not known that she was in the room before then. Or maybe both were true.

When the last little cling! said that Neji had gathered up all the leftover silverware, Hinata expected her cousin to turn back into the hallway he had come from. Instead, she watched him approach where her chairs were line up without a word. The instinctive urge to frown or back away nagged at her mind while she tried to keep up the pretense of being asleep. Neji knelt down in front of her chair. He leaned in close to her face, looking over her features, she guessed, by the way the pale irises moved slowly over her. Hinata thought that this was probably the closest to each other they had been since they were children, over looking the time during the Chuunin exams, of course.

Naruto had told her about Neji appearing at his team's meeting place and telling him to talk to her. She herself had never brought it up with her cousin or tried to ask him how he had known. Was she really so pathetically obvious that someone who had tried to kill her would make the first move on her behalf? That was a depressing thought.

However, thoughts of every kind were soon driven from her mind...when her stoic cousin leaned in even closer and brushed his lips ever so gently against her own. Hinata's face must have turned red, she knew it must have! The only reason Neji could have missed it was because he was still close enough for his shadow to cover it! And he was still there, his mouth gently touching hers, his eyes half closed. She was frozen.

"Nnnn...Nnnn...!" She tried to speak, but her voice wouldn't work for her and her lips were muffled against a second pair.

Neji sprang back with a scowl on her face. "Naruto," he finished for her, and the venom dripping from his voice shocked her. What...? Why? Neji got back to his feet, the glass of silverware clutched tightly in his hand. Still believing she was asleep, Neji turned around and went into the kitchen. Hinata couldn't even tell her eyes to open again, or her Byakugan to deactivate. She just lay there, watching the space in the narrow hallway where her cousin had disappeared and feeling her fingers twitch, one by one, with the urge to attack one another.

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Sasuke worked slower after Naruto came back into the restaurant. If anyone else had been present to witness the blonde's effect on him, he might have been embarrassed. As it was, he couldn't take his attention off him. It was no surprise that as soon as Naruto had disappeared into the kitchen, Sasuke's speed picked up again. What surprised him was being grabbed by the shoulder and pulled flat against the hallway wall when he tried to enter the kitchen. Somewhere in the back of his mind Sasuke wondered just how many times he had been pulled, grabbed, and yanked in the last twenty-four hours.

"Shhh!" Naruto shushed him before he had a chance to protest. Thankful that it wasn't a certain white-eyed boy holding him, Sasuke didn't try to pull away. They were in the original hallway, which was thankfully not as narrow as the one that they had first seen Kiba and Shino in hours earlier. It was nicer than the other one as well, probably so that when health inspectors arrived there would be at least one fancy entryway into the kitchen. The door was painted a bright cherry red, and in its center was a circular glass window, which Naruto motioned for him to look through. The grip around his chest and stomach relaxed as the blonde stared at his teammate, waiting for him to look. Sasuke let him wait through two minutes of solid, cold staring before he complied, noting that Naruto's arms, though lax, were still present on his body. Naruto didn't seem to notice. Stepping over the window, Sasuke peered through the glass...and stared.

Next to his head Naruto, who apparently decided to look with him, whispered, "I've been waiting for this fight for weeks!"

Through the window, Inuzuka Kiba could be seen standing next to a sink half filled with foamy water, glaring what Sasuke had come to call his You're-Being-A-Pain-In-The-Ass-Shino glare. Angling his head to the side and by default into Naruto, Sasuke saw Shino standing across the kitchen, the muscles around his glasses indicating that the bug-lover was also in the act of glaring.

Sasuke wasn't staring because of whatever reason the blonde had pinned him against the door for (and he most certainly was not staying in that position for any other reason than the fact that he knew Neji was most likely in the dining room, and that leaving to go use the other hallway would mean running into him). As Sasuke observed the two angry teammates, he was wondering where Tenten and Lee had gone to. That was the second case of disappearing ninja in one night...

"I told you before, Shino," Kiba's voice cut through the tense silence that had accumulated inside the kitchen, "GET THEM OUT OF HERE!"

His teammate seemed unfazed. Shino crossed his arms over his chest in a You-Couldn't-Move-Me-If-You-Tried pose. A sentence must have gone with that pose, though Sasuke didn't have super canine senses to hear it, because the next words out of Kiba's mouth sounded strained. "Look, it's the restaurant policy: No bugs, okay? -NO! Akamaru's different! - I'm not telling you HOW!" Kiba slammed a pot from the sink down onto an island counter between his partner and himself when he finished his sentence.

Shino flinched.

Seeing this, Kiba, as well as Sasuke and Naruto, looked over the counter top carefully. A grin broke out on the dog-lover's face when all three pairs of eyes landed on a small, blue-gray roly-poly curled into a ball just inches from where Kiba's pot landed. Raising the pot once more, he altered the position of it just slightly. "Last chance Shino, move them. NOW."

Shino didn't move.

"Fine then!" Eyes fixed on his teammate, Kiba let the pot fall from his hands. Of course, slamming it would have been more effective, but Kiba obviously didn't actually care what happened to the bug. He got what he wanted when Shino sprang forward to protect the tiny insect, slapping the pot away with his hand as his body knocked into the table.

Whether from coincidence or the bug-lover's aim, the pot hit the wall with a loud clang, followed by loud yipping that made Kiba's eye widen as it fell to the floor.

Sasuke saw a small flash of white fur dart across the room as the dog's owner shouted, "LEAVE AKAMARU ALONE!" Sasuke and Naruto both jump to the side when the small animal ran right through the doors and out into the hallway. As the door swung open, they heard, "HURTING A DOG IS DIFFERENT FROM KILLING A BUG!"

The attention of the two ninjas, who had turned to watch the dog's progress down the hall, returned to the door window full force when the sound of a pot crashing into something other than a counter top reached them. Naruto instantly pushed at his raven haired teammate to get a better view into the room. While trying to get around the dobe's blonde head, Sasuke's frown went from annoyed to curious as a series of animalistic growls came through the door along with the sound of smashing pans and shattering glass. He'd completely forgotten about the stack of dishes he had been carrying.

When Sasuke finally managed to yank on the back of the other boy's collar hard enough to force him away from the window, he received a deadly glare. He'd pulled Naruto out of his view just in time to see one figure spring up from the floor and pin another brutally to the wall. There were broken plates and half eaten meals smeared over the island counter, walls, and sprinkled on the tile floor. Bugs had appeared from some mysterious hiding place to gorge on the mess. And then there were the two ninjas responsible, standing together in the doorframe of the second entrance. Kiba was panting, dark eyes blazing as they stared up at Shino's pale face. He had smears covering the usual red marks on his face that could have been anything from gravy to chocolate. And another one that he sincerely hoped was ketchup. Shino, standing in front of the dog boy, held both of Kiba's hands above his head in one of his own, the other flat against Kiba's chest and pressing him into the wall. And as Sasuke looked him over, he wondered how the paler of the two had avoided getting so much as a speck of food on his clothes.

Both ninja were panting, red tinting even the paler of the two's faces from exhaustion. Or, at least Sasuke thought it was exhaustion. His assessment changed when he noticed the steadily changing glares. Shino seemed to notice their position first, his head turning to look up at where he held the other's hands captive, then returning to where it hovered inches away from Kiba's. For the dog-lover it took longer. He was too busy huffing at his teammate to notice anything until a foreign nose brushed its tip against his. Then his anger gave way in his expression to surprise, then... Sasuke wasn't sure what that next look was. The brunette angled his head slightly, so that as Shino came closer the place where their faces would have made contact changed from noses to lips.

"I knew it!" Naruto hissed happily in to Sasuke's ear. He took a moment to wonder why Naruto was so happy that two boys were about to...

Since childhood, Sasuke had had a certain plan to fallow. He wasn't sure exactly how he managed to stray from it. The instructions were simple: Become dark avenger, Become best ninja Konoha's ever seen, Kill Itachi, Live Happily ever after while impregnating multiple fan girls to restart his clan. NOWHERE in that plan is their Experiment with homosexuality...

Shino seemed to be taking the kiss slowly. He had more patience than Kiba. Sasuke watched as the dog-lover's hands ripped out of their hold and buried themselves into his teammate's hair, pulling his head closer so that their lips locked. Then the pale hand that had been on the Inuzuka's chest slid upward to wrap itself around the boy's neck.

Sasuke thought he heard a little sound of happiness behind him right before the moment was ruined by the two doors behind team eight's members swinging open. Shino was able to push himself aside to avoid colliding with the intruder that came in without seeing them. Kiba, eyes narrowed at the sudden lose of contact, was not so fortunate. Hyuuga Neji walked directly into the dog-lover, pushing him out of his way as he headed towards the kitchen's island. He paused when he reached it, hearing something crack under his foot. Glancing around himself with barely concealed rage, Neji seemed to have either not noticed what the other two ninja had been doing, or did not care.

Sasuke wondered what was so wrong. The mess wasn't THAT bad. He had to cut his thoughts short, however, Naruto was suddenly trying to push past him and get into the kitchen. Sasuke took advantage of the fact that Naruto had insisted on standing so close together by turning around and catching the dobe in his arms, covering his mouth with the crook of one. He thought the growl that went into his arm sounded similar to "NEJI!"

He couldn't see if Neji looked at the door, but he did hear a clipped toned voice saying "You do know that we are all going to have to stay until this is cleaned?"

The boys addressed didn't say anything back... unless maybe Shino did in his quiet little way. Sasuke couldn't pay attention. He kept himself pressed firmly against his furious teammate, and wondered briefly what the heck happened to the blonde being that angry at him.

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A/N:

Hello again! See? I gave you guys a boy-boy kiss…it just wasn't from the main pairing…

Now, be honest: did anyone see the thing with Neji and Hinata coming? I wanted to make Neji push Sasuke in chaoter two so that Naruto would come running out of the shop, but I thought that it would be too obvious about his motivation or too confusing, so I just let Sassy slip. But they're one of my favorite het couples:squeals:

So anyway, I'm sorry that it took so long to get this chapter up. I had it ready the day after I posted chapter six, but then my beta was busy, and then I was busy…it's up now though. YAY! I hope I didn't go down hill in this chapter. I had fun writing about Sasuke getting all jealous while Hinata's thinking sugary I'm-In-LUUUUV! thoughts.

Next chapter: Sasuke finds out about his :cough: situation.