Thanks all for the reviews...lawl, I am not abandoning this, despite the fact I haven't updated in 4eva., lawl

Shippu Jinraikyaku^_^

Chapter Eleven

After quietly sneaking off of the estate, Hanabi stealthily made her way towards the address Shizune-sama had given to her. She had to make this unannounced visit as fast as possible. If they, the council elders, discovered she was off the premises without being authorized to leave, her situation would worsen. She could already imagine them coming up with some crackpot reason as to why she left without telling anybody. She imagined they'd accuse her of planning her escape when she will be proven guilty or some other bullshit along those lines.

Hanabi looked at the address in her hand and then at the fading address on the sign in front of her. Sure enough the addresses matched but she wasn't sure if she was in the right place. She'd never been allowed to go to this district before, and now she knew why. This part of Konoha would be called or classified as a dump or a slum. As she never been here before she didn't know what term was used. I any event she was prepared. Although she never visited this district before she had heard more than enough about it to make her cautious.

Still, she couldn't believe Naruto would live in a place like this. She reckoned he was probably a poor ninja or something, which was surprising considering his fame. In fact, she didn't even know what he was famous for, just that he was famous. She figured she'd ask him later.

Well, if he was willing to help her, she'd pay him back by giving him a more decent place to live. She could more than afford it. And what made her happy about that, was that if she did help him out, she'd be using her own money and nothing from the clan.

Hanabi frowned at the houses and buildings with their overgrown yards, graffitied walls, and boarded up windows. Yep, she thought as she passed them, he could do better. She'd see to it that he does better. After all, a Hyuga like herself shouldn't be involved with someone who would choose to live in such an environment.

Conveniently for Hanabi, there were few people about on the dilapidated streets, and those who were about, blended in with the dirty dumpsters and the ugly trash that decorated the ground.

Hanabi roamed the area looking for Naruto's apartment. The paper Shizune-sama had given her had stated that he lived on the top floor of the only five storey building in the area. She had also said that there was no way Hanabi could miss the structure as Naruto had put his "signature' on the building.

When Hanabi found the building, she did a double take. Then she grinned. The building was shaped like a rectangle with a square cut out in the middle of it. The square served as a courtyard of sorts. The building, in its entirety, was painted a dull blue colour, except for the top floor, which was painted a dull orange colour with brighter orange swirls placed at random places on the walls. Thus the building ended up having a single orange stripe. Hanabi chuckled again; she wondered how Naruto managed to persuade the landlords to paint the building that colour.

She admired the building as she walked through the gates and up the stairs. She counted four doors on each floor, and concluded that the apartments had to be spacious, as the building itself could take up half of the branch family's training grounds, and the training ground was excessively huge.

Hanabi arrived at the top floor and glanced around. There was only one door on this floor. She shrugged and walking down the long hallway and knocked on it. She waited a few seconds before knocking on it again. A minute passed and she knocked on the door again. After five minutes, she started pounding on the door. She was sure he was home; he didn't seem like the type to rise anytime before noon, and it was only around ten or so.

Hanabi was so into pounding at the door that she didn't realize she'd been pounding on Naruto's chest until he grabbed a hold of her hand.

"Urr…umm…sorry—" Hanabi's apology was interrupted as Naruto yanked her into the room and slammed the door shut.

Hanabi stumbled into the flat. She grabbed a hold of a small table to prevent herself from falling down.

Naruto scowled. He despised being rudely awakened when he was sleeping. And Hanabi pounding on his door was, by his standards, considered to be rude. He was always irritable and cranky when he woke up early.

He stalked pass Hanabi and headed towards the kitchen. After pouring himself a cup of juice he realized that Hanabi wasn't in the kitchen with him. He screwed up his face in annoyance and walked back out to the front. As he suspected, she was still standing by the door, analyzing his flat.

"Are you coming or not?" He asked, leaning against the archway that led to the kitchen.

Hanabi scowled at him and replied, "You know, standard etiquette states that a person should stay put unless invited in,"

"…"

Naruto scoffed and went back into the kitchen. Hanabi smirked and took her shoes off before following Naruto. She had to say though, his flat looked expensive. Mahogany flooring, satin couches, a flat screen T.V. that took up half a wall, and lots of space were a few things that she noticed as she followed him. Though, it wasn't until she arrived at the kitchen and peeked through another archway located at the other end of the vast kitchen that she realized the entire top floor was his flat.

Naruto settled himself on the edge of the wood and metal island, sipped his juice, and stared at Hanabi for a few seconds. He thought it funny that she matched his kitchen. He could grow accustomed to seeing her in his kitchen. Who was he kidding, he told himself, he didn't even know her that well. The only thing that they'd established was that they were physically attracted to each other. He sighed. He wondered if there would be anything more than physical attraction between them. He doubted it though. She didn't seem like the strings attached type. Little did he know that similar thoughts were racing through Hanabi's mind.

"So…," Naruto started, "What brings you knocking at my door so early in the morning?"

Hanabi scoffed and rolled her eyes. She shrugged out of her Hyuuga robes and neatly folded it over the back of a chair. She then sat on a stool that was opposite the island, and turned it around so that she was facing Naruto and her back was pressed against the counter.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the regalia she was wearing underneath the robe. "Going or coming from a mission?" he asked. He wondered if she always dressed like that under those robes. Something told him she did. It left much to his imagination.

"You know," Hanabi started in a condescending tone, "you have bad social skills. I'd like something to drink please."

Naruto merely raised an eyebrow and said, "So…you come to my house and wake me up out of my much needed rest, to ask me for something to drink?" Naruto watched as Hanabi's lips quivered for the slightest of seconds. He assumed that was her version of a chuckle. He hopped off the island and fished around in his cupboards for a clean glass. He rinsed it out then poured her some juice. He handed it to her.

Hanabi took the glass and stared at it as if it was some type of deadly poison. She looked up at him, "Who told you I wanted juice?" she asked.

"Aww, that's too bad," Naruto replied, "I only stock juice and ramen in my house."

Hanabi drank it anyway. "Ahh, I need your help with a little problem I have." Hanabi stated.

"Does this concern the assassination thing?" Naruto asked, reclaiming his seat on the island. He'd figured that someone from the Hyuuga clan would be seeking him out soon. Seeing as he overheard the assassins talking… It was fate or convenience or luck that it happened to be Hanabi.

"Yeah," Hanabi replied. She figured it would be best if she got straight to the point. "You see, two ninjas came to assassinate me a few hours after you left…" she blushed "I killed one of them and the other one escaped. The one I killed happened to be a Hyuuga from the branch family and so…"

Naruto listened intently as Hanabi gave him a detailed version of what happened, and why she needed his help.

"I believe someone is trying to frame me." Hanabi concluded. It was the only reasonable and logical assumption she could've come up with.

"Why do you think that?" Naruto asked, quite bemused.

"The title match for clan leader is coming up; if anything happens to me, for example if I die or become imprisoned, Hinata automatically gets the title and vice versa." Hanabi stated, "I think this is all some part of a scheme to ensure Hinata becomes leader." Hanabi frowned, and a thought ran through her mind. Would it be that bad if Hinata became leader? The only consequence of that would be her getting sealed. Surely there was some way to bypass that though…

"I'm kind of sketchy on Hyuuga standards," Naruto admitted, "but if Hinata won, wouldn't that mean you'd get sealed?"

"Yes, it would." Hanabi replied. "And that's the only problem. I'd gladly hand over my title as heiress to her if that stupid sealing rule wasn't in place." She scowled. She detested them and their ridiculous traditions.

Naruto lowered his face, so that she wouldn't see his smile. He couldn't help it; she looked sort of cute when she scowled. Here she was, asking him for his help, and all he could do was smile at her and think how cute she was. He also found it funny that they'd officially met only two weeks ago, and here she was sitting up in his kitchen, like they were old friends or something.

"So…what do you want me to do about that?" Naruto asked, puzzled. He was positive there was nothing he could do about the sealing thing. Or maybe there was something…

Hanabi sighed. She felt almost defeated. "Well, there's nothing you can do about the sealing thing. But, you can help me out of this trial thing. Shizune-sama told me that you overheard the assassin who escaped. If you can make a convincing argument to the council, on my behalf, that they were assassins, then I'd be home free. Will you do it for me?" she swallowed, "please?"

Naruto smiled at her. "Yeah, I'll do it. But what's in it for me?"

This time, Hanabi smirked. She was expecting he'd say something like that. "I figured you'd say something like that so…is a repeat of last night good for you?" Hell, she wouldn't mind doing it. She was actually enjoying herself, until Kakashi and that pink haired girl popped up. She had a nasty feeling that they were up to something.

Naruto considered her offer. He'd be stupid if he didn't accept her offer, but what's to say that after this whole ordeal is over, she'd go about her business, pretending he never existed?

"Hmm…" he started, "You make an exceptional offer," Hanabi blushed and lowered her face. "But," he continued, "I'll have to take your offer before my board of directors for deliberation. Give me a minute will you. This will not take long,"

Hanabi stared at him as he made three shadow clones. The clones and Naruto moved to one side of the kitchen, and were actually debating her offer. Hanabi could not believe that he was serious. A rare chuckle escaped her lips, as the debate was concluded. The clones vanished, and Naruto walked back over to her, with a mile wide smile plastered on his face.

"Well, the board of directors does not approve of your offer," He started. Hanabi almost fell out of her chair. "However, the board is willing to compromise your offer. Instead of a repeat performance, I want to go on a date with you, a real one. How about that?"

"Sure, I guess," Hanabi replied. She wondered when things had become so friendly between them. "Umm, I guess I'll get back now. I'm not even supposed to be off the estate. The trial starts at three. You'd better come." She slid off her seat and glided towards Naruto, who merely raised an eyebrow. "As an incentive…" Hanabi rose on the tips of her toes and kissed him teasingly on the lips.

Before Naruto's hands could pull her towards him, she quickly stepped out his reach.

"Nuh-uh, come and maybe you'll get another one…" She quickly slipped on her robes.

"You know, you are a very good tease." Naruto stated, while he followed her to the door.

Hanabi paused before she descended the staircase, and said, "I like you. I don't know why yet, but I like you. Expect to get teased often." She stuck out her tongue and disappeared down the stairs.

Naruto chuckled to himself. He was so going to enjoy his day. He was going to make it fun, seeing as this was his last day of vacation.

End of Chapter

I kno rite, lawl. Sorry it's shorter than the norm, probably the shortest chapter in this story. I'm bad with updates, but college is proving to be time consuming, that and I'm working on my own original story^_^, yep. It's good so far. Now, that someone offered to be my beta, I figure chappies will come out faster :D. So you guys owe this update to shuriyuki-san. Its thanks to him this is getting updated :P I'd have eventually updated sometime in December, when I'm actually on a break and not working.

But, the point is, I'm back *_* :3

shippu27