Chapter IV – Matchmakers I

"Long day,huh?"

"You said it!"

Naruto was already sprawled on his bed after a very tiring time with the Izanami shinobis. He had already taken off his clothes, save for his boxer shorts, and they were scattered in line from the door to his bed. As he lay there, he could feel his sweat seep into the mattress.

He didn't even bother using the towel to wipe himself dry. He decided that going straight to bed was the best choice.

His mind trailed back to the events earlier that day. After meeting up with old man Raijin and the others, he was told by the old lady Tsunade that he's been assigned into a three-man team with Kurogane and Matchi for the Chuunin exams.

There was no need to show them around Konoha. They took the liberty to do it themselves. But he did managed to introduced them to the rest of the Rookie 9. Huang, Matchi, takibi and Saitou had a great time. He wasn't so sure about Kurogane and Feng. Those guys never liked forced socialization.

What was it that Kurogane had said before?

"You know me, Naruto. I operate within the shadows. But here, in your village, I feel confined in them."

Poor guy. At least he can get back to Izanami tomorrow. During their little party at Ichiraku, Tsunade joined them and announced that they have to depart for Izanami tomorrow.

"Sheesh, there are so many things that I wanted to show those guys."

There was a knock at his door and he decided to ignore it. When the knocking persisted, he grumbled and decided to answer it. Just so he can get some sleep.

And, even though h can know who it was on the other side, his mind was in no mood to find out who it is. Unlike his body, his mind will always be the first to go when placed under a lot of stress.

He followed the trail of clothes that he took off earlier, since the lights were off.

When he opened the door, he was half-expecting Matchi to pull a prank on him. Something he rubbed off on the kid. But it kind of irritated him. It was supposed to be his job, or at least used to be his job.

His brain felt kind of fuzzy, felt like it was getting fried. It's been that way when he got up from bed. So it took some time to register who it was at the door.

When his mind cleared, he finally realized who it was.

"Hinata?"

"Uhh… Naruto-k-kun…" he noticed that she was blushing like crazy. He wondered why.

A moment later, he realized why: he had nothing on but his boxer shorts -those really tight and fit boxer shorts.

"Shit!" he couldn't help himself. He almost forgot that Hinata was there.

He immediately ran inside and grabbed a towel from his drawer and wrapped it around his waist. Even though his lights were off, he doubts it can hide his own intense blush. He also hoped that the light from the corridor won't expose it to Hinata.

When his apartment lights suddenly turned on, his blush, if it was possible, went deeper.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you." She said timidly.

Naruto tried his best not to look at her. He didn't want her to see him blushing this hard. And the fact that his heaqrtbeat's going like crazy wasn't helping. He doesn't know whether it was the surprise of the lights turning on or her mere presence that caused it.

"I just came… to give this back to you." She said.

Then, he made the mistake of looking at her. He just hoped that the blush faded off by now.

"Naruto-kun, you're blushing!"

Nope. It hasn't, it felt more like the shade of red only went deeper.

"You look so cute when you're blushing, do you know that." Then it was her turn to blush and turn away. As it it made any difference. Compared to Naruto's, her blush reached to her ears. And the guy had a good view of it.

"Umm… Hinata." For some reason, he was feeling uneasy. And he couldn't shake it off. "W-what is it y-you w-w-were going to give me?"

He couldn't get the uneasiness out of his voice either.

Still pink from embarrassment, Hinata slowly turned around to face him.

"Man, she looks kinda cute when she's like that." He thought to himself. "W-wait, what am I-"

Before he knew it, he felt something touch his chest. When he touched it, he realized that it was his pink frog purse.

And Hinata's hands.

For the first time, he realized how soft her hands were as she slipped them away from his. His hands now grasping his frog purse.

"You… left it at Ichiraku. So I came here and… giving it back to you…"

He tore his eyes away from the purse to look at her. She had her head bent down while drawing circles on the floor with her feet. She was still pink when she looked up at him. She had her head cradled on her left shoulder and was biting her bottom lip.

"Wow." Naruto felt himself go breathless. "Uhm, t-thnaks. Rhanks forbringitbacktome."

Great. Now is a good time to get tongue-tied.

Hinata giggled, sounded more like bells tinkling together.

Then, she slowly tore her eyes away from him and walked towards the door. Upon reaching it, she turned back and said. "Naruto-kun, good luck. I'll be praying for you."

Then she reached for the knob and went out, closing the door behind her.

Naruto just stood there, gaping at the direction where she went. When he snapped out of his reverie, he sat down on the side of his bed. His hands still clinging to his frog purse.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't wipe off the dopey grin off his face.

Hinata just stood there, leaning on the door to Naruto's apartment. Thinking about the past few moments she had spent with him.

She should've have said it. It was easy, "There is something I wanted to tell you…"

Then, she'll say it.

But she wasn't disappointed.

She touched her hands, remembering how strong and gentle his hands were when he clasped onto his frog purse. She was even surprised that a person like Naruto had something as cute as that.

She took a deep breath –twice – and sighed. Then, she went down the hallway to find the exit.

She wasn't at all surprised to find herself humming along the way.

Meanwhile, on the roof of the building next to Naruto's apartment building, a black flag can be seen billowing. Wait, it wasn't a flag. It's a man wearing a cape.

Kurogane crouched down on the edge of the roof surveying the scene. Naruto being alone with a girl has got to bring him some kind of amusement. He just wanted to see how the clueless guy could react. Nothing really happened between the two but he wasn't disappointed. That look on Naruto's face had made his entire night.

If only he had a camera, he could blackmail the guy.

When he heard footsteps behind him, he didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Her chakra was easy to identify.

"So, how did it go?" Huang asked.

"Well, they didn't hug, kiss, confess or anything so I guess I owe you ten bucks."

There was rustling of movement in the darkness and he found her sitting besides him-well, more like leaning against him.

"By the way, how did you find me?"

Kurogane asked.

"Well, I didn't need to use Fenghuang's powers to find you. You were easy to spot in this place."

He chuckled. "You call this the dead of night? I feel so visible here."

Huang shifted a little closer to him and let her head rest on his shoulder. Kurogane put his arm around her as he snuggled his head on her hair.

"By the way," he asked. "About those two…?"

"Yeah, I could tell. Hinata was so obvious. Naruto is just in the stage of figuring it all out." She said. "By the way Kuro-chan, you were the one who took Naruto's wallet so Hinata could bring it back to him, weren't you."

Kurogane chuckled again while a rare smile appeared on his lips.

"Yup, you got me there."