Chp.12- Phase Two: Call For Help

"Keep your filthy hands off of her you bastard!"

The young blonde man leapt into the group of shadowy thugs, making a scene of trying to keep them away from his wife. The red haired woman stumbled back and curled into a corner of the alley, screaming aloud when a gunshot went off.

The blonde man fell to the ground, still as death, and didn't move again.

And little Naruto looked on helplessly as the shadowed man aimed the gun right at his mother's head, and with a loud BANG, the scene went white with an ear splitting shriek…

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Naruto's eyes snapped open, but his body wouldn't move. He was completely paralyzed in fear, not really wanting to believe what he had seen. His parents… even though he wasn't there when it happened, the mere fact that they were killed haunted his dreams often. And yet… this one seemed fuzzier, almost as if it was trying to sneak into his sleeping mind, and yet something was fighting to keep it out, something that hadn't been there before last night…

And when Naruto's eyes fell down to the rest of his body, he suddenly knew what it was, smiling lightly.

Hinata was still asleep, breathing lightly and steadily with her head on his chest. Neither of them had changed from the previous night, albeit their clothes and hair were considerably more ruffled. He let the memories of the previous night wash over him in one giant wave, the smile on his face widening until it threatened to split his face in half.

He felt Hinata stir and relaxed again as her head rose ever so slightly, her pale lavender eyes fluttering open slowly. She looked somewhat lost for a moment, the surroundings seeming somewhat unfamiliar. Then she saw Naruto's blue eyes staring at her lovingly and the tumblers fell into place in her still half-asleep mind.

"Good morning Hinata-chan… did you sleep well?"

"Yeah… Naruto-kun, last night was…"

"Heavenly? Yeah, I know…"

Naruto closed his eyes for a second and then remembered the dance last night, and how Hinata had fought off that rabid redheaded girl in a jealous fit. "Hinata-chan, I don't think I told you this… but when you laid out that redhead last night, I honestly thought that was hot, in an odd sort of way…" The words had left his mouth before they could stop them. He quickly looked to Hinata, a blush creeping into his now embarrassed face.

Much to his surprise, Hinata merely smiled and kissed him gently. She rose up from the couch and stretched to the sky, trying to get the blood flowing freely through her body again. She disappeared into the kitchen just as the phone rang.

Naruto looked to the clock nearby and found that it was already half past ten in the morning. He heard the ringing stop and realized that Hinata must've picked it up in the kitchen. It was then that a stabbing fear entered his heart… what if it was Neji!?

Hinata picking up the phone in his apartment this early in the morning would definitely leave an impression, but as he got up from the couch, Hinata reappeared, pointing the phone at Naruto. "It's Shikamaru, he wants to talk to you."

Naruto looked confused for a moment. Why would Shikamaru be calling him at this time in the morning? Naruto knew that the lazy genius never woke up this early on a weekend.

Cautiously picking up the phone, Naruto said, "Hello?"

"Hey there Romeo. Now what would Hinata be doing in your apartment?"

"If you tell Neji about this then I will…"

"Relax baka, Neji and Tenten asked me to be the one to call you this morning, just to make sure your night went fine last night after you left. Ino's calling Hinata's apartment… and about now she'll probably be getting her answering machine… so what happened last night?"

"Nothing happened. We came home a fell asleep, end of story."

Shikamaru chuckled with a tone that clearly said he didn't believe Naruto. "Whatever man… but as long as we're on the subject of last night, can I ask you something?"

"I guess… what's up?"

"Well… this is so troublesome, but you see… there's… there's this girl…"

"Oh, what about Ino? It is Ino, right?"

Shikamaru was silent for a moment. "I hate you. I hate you with such a passion."

"What else is new? So let me guess, you have a crush on Ino but you don't know if she feels the same way, so you've come to me, the newly off the market guy, for advice?"

"As much as I hate to admit it… yes, I am."

Naruto chuckled and said, "Look, I'd love to help, but I'm a little busy right now, I've got a crap load of home work this weekend and I need to get a start on it. Talk to me when we get back to school on Monday, alright?" Shikamaru growled, but said, "Fine, I'll talk to you later." Naruto heard the line cut off and he put the phone back.

"Hinata, I'd get back to your apartment, Ino is going to get worried."

Hinata got back to her apartment as quickly as possible, not wanting her father to get suspicious as to why she wasn't up at quarter of 11 in the morning when she was normally such an early riser.

Thankfully, there were no angry messages from her father when she checked the machine. There was however, a series of short, increasingly worried messages from Ino, trying to find out where the hell Hinata was.

Hinata smiled and giggled as she dialed the number Ino left.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mrs. Yamanaka, this is Hinata, one of Ino's classmates, is she there?"

"Oh, of course! Ino, it's Hinata, you friend from school!"

Hinata heard what sounded like feet bounding down a set of stairs as a no doubt worried Ino flew to the kitchen in her house. She heard the phone being passed off and forced back a laugh as Ino quickly said, "Are you alright!? Did Naruto touch you!? Where the hell have you…"

"Ino-chan, I'm alright. I spent the night at Naruto's, but nothing happened. A lot of… k-kissing but nothing else." Hinata blushed profusely, having actually admitted to kissing Naruto.

Ino was silent for a few moments, finally letting out a quiet, "Oh…" But she was right back on her band wagon the next moment.

"Well, how did it go!? Is he a good kisser? Can he dance? Does he have a nice place? DETAILS, GIRL, DETAILS!" Hinata held the receiver a foot from her ear and looked at it in slight fear and total embarrassment. She decided to be brief in her responses so that she could hopefully satisfy the gossip-hungry blonde without revealing too much.

"Okay, the night was wonderful, he can dance really well, his place is bigger than I thought and quite clean too… and I don't kiss and tell." She forced back a giggle, hearing Ino groan over the line. "Aww, you're no fun Hinata… but anyway, can I ask you something… personal?"

Hinata was cautious as she quietly responded, "I s-suppose… w-what about?"

Ino seemed to be muttering to herself for a short while before answering, "You managed to bag your man, so maybe… you can help me with mine?" Hinata covered the receiver so Ino wouldn't hear her relieved sigh. She had expected it to be another question about her and Naruto.

"I don't know how much help I'll be, but I can try. So who's the guy?" Ino once again seemed to be debating with herself over the phone before giving a clear answer.

"It's… it… it's Shikamaru…"

Hinata smiled, in reality, she saw that coming a mile away. But she didn't want Ino to know about that, at least to help the poor blonde save some face.

And as Ino began rattling off her issues with her feelings for the lazy genius, Hinata thought amusedly, "This is going to be an interesting week in school…"

Naruto was casually writing down notes on paper, plucking them out on his guitar in his bedroom. After crumpling up the paper and throwing it on the already large pile of paper wads next to his bed, he heard a knock at his door.

Going to open it, he found Jiraiya there with a slightly bemused expression on his face. Not at all liking the smirk on the old man's wrinkled face, Naruto cautiously asked, "What do you want, Jiraiya?"

"I saw your little friend coming out of your place this morning, kid…"

Naruto sighed and said, "And?"

"Sooo…. How was it?"

"How was what?"

"C'mon… you know…"

Naruto didn't like where this was headed at all. Jiraiya could see that beating around the bush was not getting anywhere, so he decided to be frank.

"Listen, I'm old and need to find my fun where I can get it, so humor an old man, will you? Is she good in the sack?"

The poor bastard failed to notice the vein bulging in Naruto's head for the briefest of moments. And anyone who walked in on the scene could plainly tell that Jiraiya was a dead man talking.

Naruto stood there, looking at Jiraiya with an unreadable expression on his face. Naruto slowly but calmly closed the door, without locking it. Jiraiya heard him shuffle about his apartment, apparently searching for something.

Inside, Naruto searched about his apartment until he found what he was looking for, a small key. Fighting to keep his blind rage down for the moment, he took the key to his bedroom, and pulled a long, think box out from under his bed. Unlocking the box with the key, he pulled out a long wooden bowken (wood katana used for martial arts training, hurts like hell too XD). He silently thanked Iruka for giving him brief sword lessons several years ago and went back to his apartment door.

He opened the door and, promptly ignoring Jiraiya's beginning of a question, whacked him over the head with the bowken. Jiraiya yelped, "What the hell are you…"

WHACK

Naruto was beet red with anger and he yelled at Jiraiya, "I SWEAR, I'VE PUT UP WITH A LOT OF YOUR PERVERTED CRAP…"

WHACK

"OVER THE YEARS, BUT NOW YOU'VE DONE IT, LECH!!!"

WHACK-WHACK-WHACK

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF HINATA LIKE THAT!"

WHACK-WHACKITTY-WHACK

"YOU KEEP YOUR FILTHY…"

WHACK

"SHAMELESS…"

WHACK-WHACK

"DIRTY…"

WHACK-WHACK-WHACK

"PERVERTED MIND OFF OF HINATA-CHAN!!!"

WHACK-WHACK-WHACKITTY-WHACK-WHACK!!!!!

Jiraiya ran down the stairs, Naruto hot on his heels, his bowken smacking along all sides of Jiraiya's head as the chase continued down the five floors worth of stairs and into the lobby. Jiraiya just barely managed to get to the front door and burst through, making a full blown dash to the corner of the block. Naruto could be seeing waving his bowken around like a maniac, screaming bloody murder and roaring like an animal as he chased the old lecher along the street. Jiraiya lost Naruto around the corner of the block and as the blonde haired teen watched the lecher try to melt into the crowd, he yelled "IF I SEE YOU WITHIN AN INCH OF ME OR HER THEN I WILL SHOVE THIS UP YOUR OLD WRINKLED BUTT!"

Naruto ignored the slightly frightened glances he was getting from people on the street as he stomped back to his apartment, bowken gripped tightly in his hand.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Hinata walked up the stairs and found Naruto's door unlocked and open slightly. She looked through the whole apartment, and no Naruto. His guitar was out on his bed, along with a long empty box. She looked on his phone, no messages on the machine.

She looked up as the door creaked, finding a rather livid Naruto walking back inside, his cheeks pink with anger and a bowken in his hand. "N-Naruto-kun? W-why are you holding a…"

Naruto finally registered Hinata's presence, and quickly placed the bowken by a corner of the room. "Sorry, I was just… on pest control… back so soon?" Hinata nodded and said, "Ino called… she's having guy troubles with…"

"Shikamaru… he called earlier this morning, if you'll remember, and he's got a thing for Ino too."

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other, surprised for a few moments, before laughing it off. Hinata took a seat on the couch and saw a familiar glint in Naruto's eyes. "Naruto-kun… what are you planning?"

Naruto chuckled and said, "I think it's time Ino and Shikamaru had a small… accident. Listen in, this is too good…"

A/N: Jiraiya plus bowken equal OWNED. And what is Naruto planning for Shika and Ino? Well, you'll just have to find out next time! Remember, reviews are like chocolate, I can't get enough of them.