'Promise'

Chapter 2: Scorching Moon

"I sure picked the wrong day to sneak into an all girls, hot spring dormitory." Naruto thought as he dodged a random, incoming missile. "This one's fast!" Mitsune Konno, a.k.a 'Kitsune', was running after the manic orange blur. "Keep shooting at him Su!"
The girl holding the rocket launcher firing missiles at Naruto was busy reloading her weapon. "I can't" Kaolla Su wailed. "The missile launcher is empty!" Naruto grinned at the two girls behind him. "Sorry ladies, but you're gonna have to do a lot better than that to catch this ninja!" He ducked as Kitsune responded by throwing her shoe at him.

"Slow down, you manic child!" Kitsune was panting heavily, leaning against the corridor wall. "No way! I don't really fancy getting caught and fed to that evil looking girl." He indicated Naru, who was racing down the corridor, a fire raging in her eyes. Keitaro was slowly walking behind her, sighing heavily. "I've gotta warn you kid, she's perfectly capable of eating you whole when she's in her murderous rage."
Naruto grinned. "Well, I'm not sticking around to let that happen. Later." He sped down the hallway, his eyes desperately scanning for any sign of Sakura. He hadn't seen a room with her name on it yet, although he hadn't checked the first floor yet. "Where the hell are you, Sakura?" He slowed down his pace as he reached the bottom step. Moving down the hallway with more sliding doors, he read the name of the first occupant. 'Shinobu Maehara's room.' Shaking his head exasperatedly, he moved onto the next door. 'Sakura Haruno's room.' He read. He had found Sakura's room, at last.

He put his hand on the door. Sliding it open slowly, he peeked inside. As more and more of the room came into view, his heart sank. He couldn't see Sakura in the room. Moving into the room as quietly as he could, he began to look around. Sakura's room was relatively tidy, with a small desk in the corner, supporting a large number of books. There was a heated desk sitting right in the middle of the room, with an empty mug and plate lying on top of it. "She must've had a quick bite to eat." He thought. He noticed Sakura's school uniform she had been wearing earlier hanging up in a closet she had neglected to shut properly. "She might be having a shower or something..." He turned round to leave the room again when something caught his attention. Lying on the desk, a small lined book was lying open. It looked like a diary of some sort. Walking over to the desk, he picked up the book. "Definitely a diary." He said with a grin, reading the words 'Sakura's Diary' on the cover. "Now lets see what you've been up to..." Naruto sat down crossed legged on the floor and turned the first page.

1st August

Today was a really strange day. I woke up this morning, with a strange image of this blonde-haired boy in my mind.
I don't know why, but he was just on my mind. I'm pretty sure I've never seen this guy before. He looks like he's
my age too...
Anyway, school was normal right up until the point where Sasuke Uchiha comes out of absolutely nowhere and starts
talking to me. Okay, so he's cute, and has this strange mysterious side to him. But other than that, I don't really see
what all the fuss over him is about. Ino goes on about him like as though he was a god or something.

But the strangest thing was, he was asking me if I had seen a boy called Naruto Uzumaki. I'm pretty sure I don't know
anyone called that, but by the way Sasuke was describing him, it sounds exactly like the guy I saw in my dream...

Orange clothes, bright blonde hair, bright blue eyes and whisker marks across his cheeks. It was the exact same, I'm sure
of it.

I don't know... Should I tell Sasuke about the dream I had? He'll think I'm insane...
No, I'm going to wait and see if anything else happens first. Then I'll decide.

Naruto closed the diary. "So she's forgotten about me?" He murmured. He stood up, placing the diary back where he had found it. He was just about to leave the room when the door slid open. "Crap." Naruto thought as he watched Sakura walk into the room, her eyes closed. Her hair was wet and all she was wearing was a towel wrapped around her body from the top of her breasts down. She turned around and opened her eyes, staring at the yellow-headed ninja who was grinning at her with a hand behind his head. "Hi Sakura." He said sheepishly.

Sakura kept staring at him, as though he was the most fascinating thing in the world. "You're that guy... from my dream..." She whispered. "um..." He didn't know what to say. He had trouble trying not to stare at her, his face was beginning to glow bright red. "But how...?" She walked over to him, her face getting close enough so that she could stare intently into his eyes. "How did you know my name?"

"uh..." He suddenly thought saying that she was one of his best friend from back home wouldn't be a good idea if she couldn't remember him in the first place. "I've heard about you... from Sasuke!" He mentally congratulated himself for saying something that she could relate to. "Sasuke?" A look of surprise came over her expression.
"Sakura!" A shout came from the hallway. It sounded like Naru. "We've got a pervert on the loose!"

"I guess I've gotta run." Naruto winked at her as he began to run to the door. "Ooh, and no matter what she says, I'm not a pervert." He nodded at Sakura once before opening the door and running like hell. "Wait!" Sakura ran to the door, looking after him and trying to hold onto her towel at the same time. Naru soon came into her field of vision, holding a very disgruntled Keitaro. "Where did he go?" Naru growled. Sakura pointed in the direction Naruto had run off to. "Let's go Keitaro!" She ran off, dragging Keitaro behind her, who quickly mouthed to her, "Help me!" Before he was dragged out of sight again.

"I know that guy from somewhere else..." Sakura thought slowly. Vague flashbacks of Naruto kept flashing in her mind. "Who are you?"

He was back on the run again, and he had only a few minutes to chat with Sakura. "Damn it." Naruto cursed. "I need to get away from this girl!" Naru was steadily catching up to him as he found himself steadily lost within the apartments. "Where the hell am I?" He fumed as he suddenly found himself in the kitchen. There was another girl in it, with mid-length blue hair and cerulean blue eyes. Her hair had been allowed to fall, except for where it was tied at the end, in a dolphin's tail. He actually had to stop for a moment to stare at the gorgeous girl in front of him.

She was busily cutting up leeks, so he assumed she was making lunch for the other occupants of the buildings. He could hear the girl murmuring to herself. "So there's a pervert on the loose within the apartments?" The girl had a really quiet voice. "She might be a really timid girl." Naruto thought. "It's probably not a good idea not to spook her." As he turned to tiptoe out of the kitchen, he could hear the shouting voices of Naru and the other girls coming his way.
He was still lost within the big building. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to ask?

"Excuse me." Naruto said politely. "Which way is it to the roof?" As he expected the girl turned to the door and pointed to the stairs. "Its up the two flights of stairs Keitaro! You've been the apartment manager long enough, you should know that you've gotta take the first flight of stairs, turn left, walk past Naru's room and then up the other flight of stairs. Then just up the narrow staircase to the washing line. And don't knock off any laundry, its still drying." The blue-haired girl had somehow managed to not look at him throughout the whole conversation.

"Thank you very much." Naruto bowed politely. "I'll make sure not to knock off any laundry." The girl turn to face him, gasping in surprise. "You're not Keitaro!" The girl squeaked in fright. "No, sorry." Naruto smiled. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I think I'm lost. What is your name?"

"Shinobu Maehara." The girl seemed dazed, as though she couldn't believe what was happening. "Shinobu? That's a nice name." Naruto turned to the door again. "Well, I'll be seeing you around, Shinobu." He turned and fled just as Naru, Keitaro, Kitsune and Su barreled through the other door to the kitchen. "Shinobu! Have you seen the pervert!" Naru asked frantically. Shinobu nodded slowly. "He just... he..." She was still recovering from Naruto's sudden appearance. He didn't seem that bad to her. "Come on Shinobu! Pull yourself together, you're fifteen now!" Naru said angrily. "You should've punched him like Motoko showed you." Su giggled, waving her arms around, inadvertently punching Keitaro.

"He went... that way..." Shinobu pointed out of the door Naruto exited. "He said he was going to the roof." The other girls and Keitaro rushed out of the door Shinobu pointed out of. "Thanks, Shinobu!" Su squealed as she ran after the others.

She turned back to her leeks, her hands shaking as she picked up the knife she was using to cut them. "What's with the noise today?" Another girl walked into the kitchen. She also had blue hair, just like Shinobu's hair, except a little bit longer, with pale eyes. "I don't know Hinata..." Shinobu murmured shakily. "I just had an encounter with the 'pervert'." Hinata let out a gasp. "Did he hurt you? What did he do? What did he look like?" She put an arm around Shinobu's shoulder. "Come on, you can tell me." Hinata smiled encouragingly.

"He didn't hurt me." Shinobu said softly. "He seemed like a really nice guy, actually." She looked at the door he had walked out of. "He just asked me where the roof was. And there was me thinking he was actually Keitaro, so I told him. Then he asked me my name, said it was nice, and ran off." Shinobu looked up at Hinata. "You don't think he's not actually a pervert? This happened before, with Keitaro..." Shinobu mumbled as the memory of the girls all chasing Keitaro around the house flew back. "I don't know..." Hinata murmured. "Maybe you're right..." Hinata looked thoughtful for a moment. "What did he look like?" She asked.

"Well, he had bright blond hair, and he was wearing a blue headband, with a metallic plate on it with a funny symbol on it..." Shinobu said, trying to remember. "He had these bright blue eyes, and he had strange, whisker-like scars across his cheeks. And he was wearing black and orange clothes, like it was all orange from the waist down, and black and orange on the top." Shinobu giggled. "And his name was Naruto... Naruto Uzumaki."

"Naruto Uzumaki..." Hinata thought hard for a moment. The name seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't quite place it. Maybe it was somebody she knew from school.
After a moment, she spoke up. "Lets go look for him with the others."

"What? Why?" Shinobu sounded surprised. Hinata grimaced. "We might be able to save him from a terrible fate." She grabbed Shinobu's arm. "Come on! Before Naru turns him into tonight's dinner!" The two girls ran as fast as they could to the roof.

Naruto sighed. He had finally run out of places to run to. He was stuck on the roof, standing on the tip where the roof begins to slant. The girls had all caught up with him, even Keitaro had managed to survive being dragged around by Naru. They were standing by the washing line. At the moment, Keitaro was pleading with the girls to try and calm them down. "Come on ladies!" He laughed nervously. "There's probably a very good explanation for this. Let's give him a chance to explain, at least."
But the girls were not having any of it. "He pinched my ass Keitaro!" Naru fumed. "There's no way I'm letting him go without skinning him alive!"

"But apart from that, did he do anything else?" Keitaro seemed to be practically begging the girls. Naruto was slightly touched. Not many people had stood up for him like this. At least, not back home. "Technically, he saw me when I came back from the hot spring, in nothing but a towel. Does that count?" Sakura said innocently. "You weren't complaining back then!" Naruto said from the roof. He literally had to shout. "True, I didn't mind that much. But you were still in my room." Sakura winked at him. She actually seemed to be enjoying this. Naruto growled. "She's definitely changed." He thought. "Back home, she would've slaughtered me like Naru seems like she's about to do."

At this point, Hinata and Shinobu came running up the narrow staircase to the roof. Naruto gasped when he saw Hinata. She seemed exactly the same as he remembered when he was back in Konoha. Same clothes and everything.
But there was no recognition in her eyes. Only a faint sense in familiarity. "Wait!" Shinobu yelled. "Keitaro's right! Let's give him a chance to explain first." Hinata pleaded. Their pleas were having an effect on the other girls. "We can at least ask him who he is! Lets go downstairs and talk about this." Shinobu begged, looking at Keitaro with pleading eyes. He smiled nervously. "Naru, what do you think? Can you hear him out?"

Naru pouted. "Fine. We'll have a chat first." She glared angrily at Naruto on the roof, who was grinning cheekily. "But I'm still gonna kill you afterwards though."
Naruto nodded. "Fine. Just don't expect me to sit still." He jumped off the roof and landed next to them. Even though it was a simple jump to him, the girls seemed to be impressed. "What are you, some kind of ninja?" Naru muttered under her breath.

It was getting late. The sun was beginning to set, casting a fiery red glow over the Hinata Apartments. It looked beautiful.

A girl was slowly making her way up the long steps leading to the apartments. She had fiery red hair, as red as the glow of the dying sun, as well as her eyes, which were also crimson red. Along her cheeks were three whisker-like scars. Only faint scars though. And there were three on each side, making her seem like a fox.
She had a slim body, almost athletic, with a moderately sized bosom to finish. Long eyelashes complimented her cute face, as she blinked up at the sight of the looming Hinata apartments.

"I'm almost there, my Naruto." The girl smiled, her eyes sparkling in the sun's light. "Just hold on for a little bit longer. Then we'll be together forever." She looked at the old abandoned annex as she walked up the side of the mountain she was climbing. The destroyed clock face was still there, reflecting red from the sun. The dial was pointed at seven o'clock.
She smiled at the annex as she kept on walking. "That will come in useful, later on." Her smile had turned sly, with a dangerous look in her eyes.

She reached the front of the apartments, looking up at the huge building. "So this is the Hinata Apartments, huh?" She whistled as she looked over it. "Could it get any bigger?"
She walked up to the front door. "This is it." She murmured, raising a hand. "You'll be able to see me for who I really am, Naruto." She knocked three times on the glass pane of the front door.

I enjoyed this chapter. Very fun to write, this story is.
Please R&R
I love reviews! ^^
Oh, and if you haven't figured it out by now, the story line is two years ahead for everyone, so in the Love Hina-verse, its two years since Keitaro and Naru finally got into Tokyo U, making Shinobu and Su 15 now.
And in the Naruto-verse, think Shippuden, and that goes for clothing style as well as ages too.