He had hoped that the code wouldn't be too difficult for the Leaf cryptographers to decipher. Surely Jiraiya would think to make the code something the Leaf would know. Apparently not. Shikamaru forced the Decipher Division in only for them to work themselves into the ground with no result. Shikamaru had brushed up on everything about codes and breaking them. He was trying to think of something that could help them but found it difficult when one of the cryptographers, Shiho, kept staring at him.
Finally, running his hands frustratingly through his hair and successfully pulling out the elastic, he turned to the head of the Decipher Division. After evaluating the intelligence of the man, he determined that the man knew how to do his job, and probably very well considering he wasn't particularly old.
"Jiraiya is a great spy master, so he wouldn't use the typical Leaf codes, especially when dealing with an Akatsuki. So how do you decipher a code from a great spy master?" Shikamaru crossed his arms, waiting for the man to think over the question.
"Well, usually they leave some sort of clue behind that we can use to figure it out. The key to the code." At Shikamaru's encouraging nod, the man went on. "Usually the key is something people who live in the same village and interact with them would know. But this code is strange, none of the keys we have thought of work. We tried the release dates of all his books, but none of them were realised on the ninth day, or the ninth month. No significant dates on the ninth… nothing that we can think of that is all numbers."
"Has anyone thought to check his apartment for clues?" Shikamaru asked, looking at the owlish stares he received in reply. With a sigh, he started heading towards the door. "One of you will have to come with me, since you will recognise the key better than I will."
"I'll go," Shiho volunteered in a chipper voice.
Lady Tsunade had given them a box of Jiraiya's personal belongings, including the keys to his apartment. Entering the place felt wrong. Of course, he had never been in Jiraiya's apartment but wasn't surprised that it was a small place, since he rarely stayed there. However, it was full of items. It wasn't cluttered, or even well-furnished. However, there were trinkets from his travels and photos. Shikamaru was surprised to see that Jiraiya had an entire wall in his living room covered in photos. The couch was facing it too, as though he sat on the lounge on the rare occasions he was home and stared at the wall.
As Shiho scurried around looking for anything that could be a key, squeaking in surprise when Shikamaru warned her not to break anything, he went to inspect the wall. There was nothing of particular note about the arrangement of the pictures, or the design of the frames. There was nothing that could be classed as a code within the wall. It was simply sentimental. To be sure, Shikamaru studied every photo. There was a mixture of oldest and newest with no real pattern.
There were pictures of Jiraiya's team with a much younger Third Hokage as his Sensei, there were pictures of him and Lady Tsunade at various bars, some with a white haired man in them as well, with his arm around Lady Tsunade. There were pictures of the Fourth Hokage as a child with his team, and Jiraiya lording behind him with a large grin on his face. There were ones of the Fourth as he grew up, like someone would expect a father to have on his wall. As the Fourth got older a red haired woman joined the pictures.
Shikamaru was surprised to see that next to a picture of the Fourth and the red head who was possibly his wife, or future wife, was a picture of Naruto and Shikamaru sitting on Shikamaru's porch playing shogi. He didn't even know the picture had been taken, nor did he know about the picture underneath it that had him and Naruto asleep in a hospital bed. It would have been taken moments before Jiraiya woke him up. There were almost as many pictures of Naruto as there was of the Fourth. Jiraiya even had, what Shikamaru assumed was a baby photo of Naruto. The baby had a tuff of bright blonde hair, whisker marks on her cheeks, blue eyes, and a swirling seal on her stomach.
He paused when he noticed the picture next to Naruto's baby picture. It was of the Fourth and the red haired woman. Except that the woman was heavily pregnant. They were standing in front of a fountain with a statue of a woman throwing flowers into the water. Shikamaru knew from his mother mentioning the fountain her parents married in front of that it was destroyed when the Nine-Tails attacked the village. The first thought that crossed Shikamaru's mind was that the Fourth's wife was heavily pregnant when she died at the Nine-Tail's hands. However, the logic of Jiraiya didn't fit that. He had put the picture of the Fourth and his wife next to that of Naruto and Shikamaru. Naruto's baby photo wasn't next to that of the Fourth and his pregnant wife for nothing.
With a blink, he realised he didn't feel surprised with the realisation that Naruto was the Fourth's child. It made perfect sense, down to the fact that no one ever mentioned who Naruto's parents were. The fact that she housed the Nine-Tails put a target on her back, as proven by the Akatsuki. Being the only heir to Minato Namikaze would make her a target as well, even without the Nine-Tails. She was the Leaf Princess, the last child to be born to a Hokage. Asuma-Sensei had been the last Leaf Prince, his nephew Konohamaru being too removed from the Third to be classed as royalty to the village.
Shikamaru bit down on his lip to stop from laughing. The village would be beside themselves if they found out they had mistreated their Princess.
Unfortunately, Shiho was unable to find any key to the code at Jiraiya's home. Shikamaru made a mental note to come back and gather some pictures and mementos for Naruto once they were sure none of the belongings were critical to their mission. When they returned to the Decipher Division the team was disappointed to hear of their failure.
"This isn't right," the leader grumbled. "Every Spy Master leaves a way to break their codes. If it's not in his house then he would have told Lady Hokage."
For some reason Shikamaru suddenly thought of his father playing shogi. "You know, my father is the best shogi player I have ever seen." At the confused frowns of the Decipher Division, he went on. "He's never taught me his best moves. Instead, he uses them against me, and I learn them that way. Maybe Jiraiya hasn't left a key because instead he's left a progeny."
"Lord Jiraiya had no children… as far as we know," the Head Decipherer commented.
"Not blood, no, but he has something more secure. He has a progeny who is liable to not even realise they have the key unless they want to know, and someone who can't be tortured for answers. His apartment his littered with pictures of his student."
"The Fourth? His dead!" One of the decipherers piped up.
Shikamaru sighed. "I meant Naruto!"
"The Nine-Tails?" Shiho yelped.
"The holder of the Nine-Tails, yes, hence he can't be tortured for information." Shikamaru started heading to the door. "I'll bring Naruto in, but he won't get the answer if you're all staring at him."
"I'll stay!" Shiho offered, "Since he might need to be told things about codes."
"Fine." Shikamaru walked out of the room without a backwards glance. He went straight to Naruto's apartment, which was dark and quiet. He wondered for a moment if Naruto was home, and ran through his mind all the places that she might go during her grief. Nothing came to mind so he knocked, hoping, and at the same time not hoping, that Naruto was in that dark, silent apartment. When the door creaked open, his heart stopped.
His favourite this about Naruto's appearance was her eyes. There was always a spark of interest, amusement, or even wisdom within their blue depths, and Shikamaru loved trying to work out what was creating that spark. Now though, Naruto's eyes were dulled, there was no smile on her face at the sight of him, and her tan skin had paled.
"Hi, Naruto," Shikamaru started in a soft voice.
"Hi," Naruto croaked back, turning and walking away from the open door.
Shikamaru entered, closing the door behind him. He followed Naruto's slumped form through the living room into her bedroom. He noticed that she was only wearing one of her male shirts and a pair of underwear. Upon entering the bedroom he noted the dinted wrinkles to the blankets on the bed, showing Naruto had been lying on them recently. With a heavy sigh, Naruto crawled onto the bed and sat down, crossing her legs and facing Shikamaru.
"You can sit," she reminded, staring at her hands that sat in her lap.
"Right." Shikamaru looked around for a seat before looking at the ground, he went to sit down only for Naruto to give a wet snort.
"You can sit on the bed." Naruto moved over, turning to face the end of her bed.
Slowly, Shikamaru sat down, taking his shoes off before he crossed his legs like Naruto. The monotone that the blonde was using made her harder to read and was putting him on edge. After listening to the clicking of the clock, he cleared his throat, making Naruto look up.
"I wanted to come earlier," he started, receiving a nod from the woman in front of him. "Lady Hokage ordered me to… um… work on Lord Jiraiya's message." Again, a simple nod. "We are having no luck breaking it and I realised that you might have the key to it. That's not the reason I came here though. I wanted to see you." A nod. "If I didn't think that cracking the code would be better for your healing, then I would have camped outside all night like you did for me." A nod. "Stop nodding, please!"
"Okay," Naruto replied blandly.
Shikamaru moved closer, taking Naruto's hands in his and kissing them both. "Naruto, tell me what you need. Anything, and it's yours."
"I… don't know. This is the first time I've lost someone. Until a few years ago I never really had anyone to lose." She didn't react to Shikamaru kissing each of her fingers, then her palms. "Show me the code. It helped you to avenge Asuma-Sensei, maybe helping to complete Pervy-Sage's last mission will help."
Letting go of Naruto's hands reluctantly, Shikamaru pulled a copy of the photo out of his pocket. He handed it to Naruto, swallowing thickly as she looked at it. For thirty minutes they sat in silence, Naruto staring at the photo, and Shikamaru staring at Naruto. Finally, the blonde sighed, putting the picture down.
"I can't do it."
"Are you sure?" Shikamaru asked.
"Codes are for… smart people, and people with actual talent for that stuff. Pervy-Sage was never able to teach me that stuff." Naruto threw herself back, rolling onto her side.
She was still. She was so still that Shikamaru had to concentrate to see her breathing. With a grunt, he stood up, moving to grab Naruto's shoulders and pull her into a sitting position. Then he pulled her to her feet, making sure to take the picture and put it into his pocket.
"Alright, you have the choice of putting pants and chest binds on, or I drag you around the village like this."
"These are my pyjamas." After a moment Naruto sighed, moving to her dresser.
"You have five minutes." Shikamaru walked out, closing the door behind him.
He didn't have to drag her out of her room, she walked out willingly. The light still was missing from her eyes. Taking her hand he led her to the hospital entrance. Every time that Naruto tried to ask what they were waiting for, he simply kissed her hand that he still held in his grasp.
Eventually, Kurenai came out, her large stomach obvious even from a distance. Shikamaru shot Naruto a soft smile, noticing how surprised and confused the blonde looked.
"Hey, Kurenai-Sensei." Shikamaru gave her a wave, walking closer and pulling the stunned blonde along with him. "How was your check up?"
With a small chuckle, Kurenai-Sensei shook her head. "You worry about me too much. I'm fine. You don't need to come see me after every appointment I have."
"I just want to make sure you're alright." Shikamaru shrugged.
"Um, Kurenai-Sensei… what's with your stomach?"
Both Kurenai-Sensei and Shikamaru turned to Naruto with confusion. It was the dark haired boy who answered her. "Naruto, she's pregnant."
"Oh… I've never seen a pregnant woman before." Naruto studied her form for a moment before blinking, her eyes bright and the analysing, intelligent look leaving them.
Shikamaru had never actually seen Naruto assess someone like that. He knew she was smarter than she let on, and studied people often but he had never actually watched her file information away in her head before. He had the overwhelming desire to kiss her right then and there. He was able to shake it off long enough to focus back on Kurenai-Sensei.
"Do you want us to walk you home?"
"No, thank you. I'll be fine. I'm going to meet up with Konohamaru so that we can go grocery shopping."
Shikamaru nodded, saying goodbye to the woman, before he and Naruto walked off. He led her to the park where they walked the perimeter, talking. Shikamaru explained how Kurenai-Sensei was carrying Asuma-Sensei's child, a child that Shikamaru would one day train. Naruto listened closely as Shikamaru told her how it was their turn to be the sensei.
"They gave us everything we needed to protect and train the next generation." Shikamaru stopped, standing in front of Naruto and pushing a lock of hair off Naruto's cheek. Her hair was slowly growing longer and Shikamaru was hoping she wouldn't cut it when it ceased to be a boy's hair cut.
"So you think that Pervy-Sage taught me the code, but I don't know it. I told you that I'm not smart enough."
"Naruto… what leg does Sakura lead with?"
The blonde frowned at him before shrugging. "Her left."
"And what does Ino do when she's worried?"
"Chews her lip."
"What did Lord Jiraiya do when he was trying to hide something from you?"
"Tended to make a perverted joke or talk about his 'research'?" Naruto shook her head sadly. "What's this about?"
"Don't you see? You are smart. You study people. So did Jiraiya. He built a code for you, because you both take note of the little things. Stop doubting yourself!"
Naruto sighed. "I guess… I could take another look."
"Let's go to the Decipher Division. They might be able to help give you ideas of different codes." He leant forward, kissing Naruto's cheek. Shikamaru pulled back, only to pause and move forward to capture her lips. It was a short kiss but when he pulled back fully there was a small smile on Naruto's face.
When they arrived at the Decipher Division it was to find only Shiho there. The rest had gone to get some much needed sleep. Shikamaru couldn't fault them for that but the way Shiho stared at him unnerved him. To ignore the unpleasant chills running down his shine, Shikamaru focused on Naruto. He held her hand as they walked into the room and he put the picture in front of her. However, once she started staring at it Shikamaru moved away, giving her some room to study the photo.
"So, it looks like a numerical code but usually there is something to tip off where to look. So if there is anything that stands out, say so. It might be helpful." Shiho gave Naruto a hesitant smile that the blonde didn't see before she looked at Shikamaru, giving a wide smile, her cheeks turning red.
Naruto kept staring at the photo, barely blinking. Finally, she opened her mouth, nothing coming out for a moment. "Well, I was wondering why Pervy-Sage wrote 'ta' at the start."
Shikamaru frowned, moving closer to look over Naruto's shoulder. "Where does it say ta?"
She pointed at the nine at the start of the code. "That's how Pervy-Sage writes the kanji ta. He got me to read a draft of one of his stories and I made fun of him for it so much he took it off me."
"Which book was it?" Shikamaru asked, holding his breath for the answer.
"I don't remember." Naruto heaved a melancholy sigh. "Kakashi-Sensei would. He's about to walk passed the window."
"That ability of yours would make you a deadly Spy Master," Shikamaru commented, running his hand along Naruto's back as he walked towards the window. "Kakashi-Sensei, we need your help. Can you come in here?"
Kakashi-Sensei poked his head through the window, eyeing Shiho, eyeing Shikamaru, and lastly, looking at Naruto. He climbed through the window, something Shikamaru hadn't been expecting. "What do you need, kid?" he asked, looking at his blonde student.
"Which of Pervy-Sage's books has ta in it a lot?" Naruto asked, only for Kakashi-Sensei to pull out the book that Naruto had given him on her return. Icha Icha Tactics. "We have our key. The numbers are pretty easy to work out. They are the page number, the line, and the word on that line. Kakashi-Sensei, can you read them out for us as we go along?"
Shikamaru wished Naruto hadn't asked Kakashi-Sensei to read out the words. He didn't just read the word, he read the sentence before picking out the word. At first he thought the Jonin was doing it to embarrass them but it only took a moment for Shikamaru to realise that Kakashi-Sensei was worried about saying a scandalous word out of context. However, instead of saving some confusion for the listeners, it caused mortification and embarrassment for Shikamaru and Shiho. The two were red in the face and their lips were scrunched together as though they had been sucking lemons. Naruto, however, looked unfazed by the words she was hearing. On the contrary, she snorted at one sentence and shook her head, muttering something about 'that's not how it went. She slapped him'.
"Okay, I don't think I actually remember each word. I was too shocked about the… story," Shiho admitted, a hand on her face as though to check her temperature.
"'The real one isn't among them'," Naruto stated in a dead voice.
"What do you think that means?" Shiho asked with a slightly breathless voice.
"That the real one wasn't among them," Naruto said, a slight growl to her voice. It seemed that Shikamaru was the only one that noticed it though.
"Yeah, but we have to work out what that means." Shiho obviously didn't hear the warning in Naruto's voice.
"IT MEANS THAT THE ASSHOLE WHO KILLED ONE OF THE SANNIN, A GREAT MAN, WAS NOT ACTUALLY THERE! THE STUDENT OF JIRAIYA'S THAT KILLED HIM WASN'T THERE! INSTEAD IT WAS SIX PUPPETS. ONE OF WHICH WAS ALSO A STUDENT. JIRAIYA CHOSE WRONG WITH HIS STUDENTS. THEY EITHER DIE, BECOME KILLERS, OR ARE USELESS. PAIN SHOULD HAVE COME AFTER ME, NOT HIM. I SHOULD HAVE JUST LET THEM KILL ME, THAT WAY THE WORLD WOULDN'T BE MISSING A GREAT MAN AND INSTEAD HAVE A PATHETIC MONSTER AS A REPLACEMENT!"
"Naruto," Shikamaru breathed, moving towards her. The moment he touched her arm she flayed her arm away from him.
"No, I don't want comforting," Naruto sniffled. She went to walk towards the door only to be stopped by Shikamaru grabbing her wrist.
"Okay, no comforting, but I'm not letting you leave here until you say that you're not a monster." When Naruto simply looked downcast, Shikamaru gently gripped her face, pushing her hair out of the way. "Naruto, you're not a monster."
"I'm not a monster. But I need to get out of here. You have your code. I'll see you later."
/ / / / / /
His hands were hurting. One hand had sore knuckles from knocking repeatedly on Naruto's door and the fingers of the other hand were getting red marks from the three full plastic bags, all holding mounts of food ranging from ramen, to steak, to cakes. When Asuma-Sensei died, Shikamaru hadn't known what he wanted to eat so, assuming Naruto might be in a similar situation he brought everything. Unfortunately she wasn't answering.
With a sigh, Shikamaru sat down, putting his back to the door.
"Come on, Naruto, open the door. I have enough food to actually make you fat."
"Is he in there?"
Shikamaru looked over, seeing Ino and Choji, both loaded with food and gifts for Naruto. When the Nara heir shrugged, the two sat down with him, Choji opening a bag of chips for them to share. It wasn't long before Hinata, Kiba, and Shino wondered through the hall to join them, also having large quantities of food too.
"Seems like we all had the same idea," Kiba joked with a soft voice.
"That I eat enough for an army?"
The group jumped, looking over at Naruto who had an arm full of bags as well, though Shikamaru could see balls of wool poking out of a few bags.
"Please tell me you don't have food in there too," Ino sighed.
"No." Naruto had a small, amused smile on her face as she picked her way through her friends on the ground to get to the door.
"Are you hungry?" Hinata asked gently, taking Kiba's offered hand to pull her to her feet.
"Yes."
"Are you capable of saying more than one word?" Shikamaru chuckled, still sitting in front of the door.
Leaning forward, Naruto whispered in his ear. "The spare key is behind the third brick on the right from the door handle. Just so next time you aren't left outside. Was that more than one word?"
"Keep it up and you'll make me kiss you."
Naruto ducked her head to hide her blush, she moved back, nudging Shikamaru's foot to tell him to move. When she had opened the house up for them, Ino and Hinata set about reheating the food for them all. Choji had wisely brought disposable plates, cups and utensils, since Naruto had two plates, two bowls, and two sets of utensils, and two cups. It was something that Shikamaru and Konohamaru had found out the hard way. When Konohamaru had cooked them breakfast Shikamaru had had to eat out of a bowl and Naruto drank out of the carton of milk whilst the boys used cups.
Before long the group was happily finished eating when the question of all the wool came up. In response the blonde pulled out a ball of pale green wool and some knitting needles. In moments she had the wool threaded and was knitting in a way that clearly showed experience. When the group simply gave her an exasperated look at her lack of answer she chuckled.
"I'm knitting Kurenai-Sensei a baby blanket and some clothing, and I'm thinking of making her some toys. Does she know the gender yet?"
"No, she finds out in a couple of weeks. Kurenai-Sensei wants to leave it till later. I think she's worried." Hinata slowly pulled one of the bags towards her, looking into it curiously. "I see that you've gotten all different soft colours."
"Yeah. The blanket is going to be a patch work. I'm knitting a bunch of squares that I will then sew together to make the final project. If I find out the babies name before it's done I might embroider it." Naruto had already made at least an inch of knitting done.
"Oh, I like that idea. Can we add to it?" Ino asked eagerly.
"I would like to do that too," Choji added, whilst Hinata and surprisingly Kiba nodded.
"Yeah, that will be a great idea. You can all do a square of knit style and I'll surround it with stock stitch style." At their confused looks she showed them her work. "The arrow pattern is stock stitch. It's one of my favourites. Knit stitch is the beginner style. Unless you guys all know how to knit."
They all shook their heads, making Naruto laugh.
"Well luckily for you all I have a heap of the same size knitting needles. When making clothing for the orphanage I use clones to get the work done quicker." She got up, pulling a sewing box out of her linen cupboard. After sorting through it all she handed them all a set of needles and a ball of wool. "I've taught people before, so I know what I'm doing, and you guys won't have to pay me."
"You teach people for money, like an actual teacher?" Shino asked, sounding surprised.
"Yeah, Iruka-Sensei set it up. It was a way for me to earn extra cash. Now I don't need it but I still teach people. There are a lot of retired ninjas that want hobbies, and partners of current ninjas that want to stay busy. It's kinda morphed into this social thing where people get together and chat as they knit. And I get payed the whole time. It's weird." Naruto finished her square, casting off, before teaching them to cast on, and how many loops they should make. It took Shikamaru twice as long to get the technique down then it took the others. Surprising Kiba picked up knitting instantly.
"Okay, why is mine coming out lumpy and misshapen?" Shikamaru grumbled after ten minutes. Kiba had finished his square and was getting Naruto to teach him the stitch she was doing, and the others were all halfway through their square. Shikamaru, however, was feeling like his was becoming more and more disastrous.
With a laugh, Naruto put her needles down and took Shikamaru's. She cast off, cutting the thread, before casting on again for him. "We have officially found something you are an idiot at. But I will help."
Naruto moved so that her back was against Shikamaru's chest. "I'm going to guide your hands so that you will learn."
Shikamaru moved so his mouth was next to her ear. "I think you so close to me will be distracting. You might have to show me again. At least three more times."
"You'll have to change from the blue then, because I want an even number of squares between the baby blue, baby pink, the light green, yellow, and purple."
"Well if that's what we have to do." Shikamaru kissed behind Naruto's ear.
The blonde squirmed, biting back a laugh. "Concentrate."
"You feeling better?" he whispered in her ear.
"Yeah. Focusing on this task is helping," Naruto whispered back, tipping her head back to look up at Shikamaru who kissed her forehead.
"I'm finished!" Kiba declared, making the two jump.
"Well put that one on my pile. I'm thinking I will put all your knit stitch ones around a flower croquet pattern I want to do. I tried to do it for a blanket for Yasu when she was little but it did not end well. I've had practice since. I was thinking of stitching all your initials into the squares you all knitted. But first I have to get Shikamaru's underway." Naruto scrunched her nose up at Shikamaru mockingly, making him pretend to bite at her ear.
"Can I do more?" Kiba asked tentatively.
"Can you show Hinata and Choji how to cast off, they look done?"
"We are? Cool. Can we learn the next stitch?" Choji asked, watching as Kiba showed him how to cast off.
"Sure, if Shikamaru thinks he can manage on his own."
"I'll try." Shikamaru kissed Naruto's forehead before letting her get up and more towards Choji and Hinata.
"Just take it slow. You don't have to finish it tonight."
"Says the one who has finished seven squares." Ino taunted, only to gasp. "Oh, I thought I dropped a stitch. But I did what you said."
"That's what you get for back talking," Naruto laughed. "Since you are all working hard I think I'll start doing the embroidery of your initials."
"Can I help?" Kiba asked eagerly.
"Let's get you some practice first. There are scrap samples of knitting in the container at the bottom of the linen cupboard. Get it out and I'll show you how to embroider. And get some of the wool out, so we aren't wasting this lot."
Kiba payed close attention to what Naruto explained to him and picked up the talent well. Before long he and Naruto were planning what colour embroidery they should put on each one of the different squares.
"You have a natural talent for this. It took me ages to learn this stuff," Naruto complemented, picking up Hinata's knitted square and starting to embroider HH into the green wool with purple wool. She moved back to her seat next to Shikamaru.
"Well you probably had to learn by yourself. I have you to teach me." Kiba continued to embroider Choji's square, not meeting Naruto's eye as he began to talk again. "I remembered what I said when Haruki kissed you. I just want you to know it had nothing to do with him being a boy. It was just that seeing my friend getting his face sucked off when I was not expecting it was disturbing. If you start dating someone, especially if it's a fellow friend, I want you to know I have no problem with you showing him affection."
"I never thought that," Naruto assured.
"I half want to test whether you can handle seeing two of your friends making out," Ino laughed wickedly.
"Ino, are you just trying to use this as a way to trick Choji into kissing you again?" Shikamaru taunted, receiving a pillow to the face. He would have batted it away but couldn't without risking his knitting. With a fake frustrated sigh, Shikamaru put his knitting down. Ino looked worried until Shikamaru smirked. He quickly put his hand behind Naruto's head and pulled her to him, kissing her full on the mouth. His free hand went to Naruto's hip as one of her hands went to his chest as his tongue danced around the entrance to Naruto's mouth. Shikamaru made sure to tilt his head, and in extension Naruto's so that the others couldn't see their lips properly. When they pulled back Shikamaru looked at Kiba plainly. "Well he doesn't look green."
"Maybe if we told him about the tongue involved," Naruto added. "Oh, I think his eyes just bulged."
"You two did this just for a joke?!" Kiba yelped.
"Is he a good kisser?"
"HINATA!" Naruto yelped.
"What? It's a valid question." Hinata rolled her eyes. "Fine. Naruto, when you came back which guy did you think had grown up to look the hottest?"
"Hinata! We don't want to know!" Kiba went red.
"I do!" Choji laughed.
"Kiba's just worried that it's not going to be him. Though after that kiss Naruto might be bias." Ino laughed at the boys.
"I've also seen Shikamaru without a shirt." Naruto grinned. "Quick, guys, strip!"
All three girls laughed wickedly at the blushing and splattering that followed. The rest of the night was filled with the making of Kurenai-Sensei's baby blanket, eating of desert, and laugher.
Hope you all like. I couldn't stop writing tonight so now I'm off to get 4 hours of sleep. R and R.