Kiyoshi woke up in a very dim room, a light bulb swaying from side to side above him, making the shadows move in a slow-dance. Everything was blurry, it was hard to see, but he could just barely make out a person standing several feet in front of him. He tried to rub his eyes, but his hands were tied back. He yawned.
"Feeling comfy?" asked a familiar girl's voice, "I want you to be as comfortable as you can be."
"Ino? Let me go, this isn't funny."
She walked up to him and sat on his lap, then nibbled on his ear. "It's not supposed to be. This is romantic."
Kiyoshi's head bobbed back, "Holy fucking deja-vu..."
Ino became worried, "Is something wrong?"
"Ino, look... I'm not interested! Can you get that through your head?" exclaimed Kiyoshi.
"Sure you are... you just don't know it."
"You're fucked in the mind, you know that? I've had a girl who drugged and tied me up before, and one is too many for me to handle!" exclaimed the boy, and then mumbled, "No offence Hikari."
Ino smiled, "Either way, you are mine until the end of either of us," the smile widened, "As they say... until death do us part."
Kiyoshi looked at her with ice in his eyes, he was pissed off, "Oh, so what, we're married now? Let me go you psychopath!"
"Not a chance. If not this, then I can't have you at all."
"There's a good reason for that!" exclaimed the boy and gave up. "This girl won't understand if a brick with the words 'I don't love you' engraved on it hit her face. I've got to get out of here before she does something stupid."
Ino pulled a tube down from the ceiling, leaving the end dangling in front of Kiyoshi's face, "This is your food..." She pulled another one down, "and this is your drink.
The boy was crept out by how thoroughly she planned all of this out. "Your father will kill you when he finds me tied up like this."
"Aww, you're sweet, being concerned for my safety and all. But don't worry, because he won't find you."
Kiyoshi sharply turned his head to see the black, windowless walls. "Where on earth are we?"
"That's a secret..." giggled Ino in a taunting manner, walking out the door and blowing kisses to Kiyoshi before closing him into the darkness.
Kiyoshi's sense of sight was completely useless in the pitch-black room; Ino turned the lights off. "Just you wait until the sedatives wear off, then I'll..." He felt the ropes, "Chakra ropes... god damn deja-vu!"
Naruto had the worst bowl of ramen he had ever eaten; not able to enjoy a single bite due to his nerve-wrecking conscience. Never before had he cast off an unfinished bowl of ramen, never in his life. He handed it to Teuchi.
"Naruto... what's the meaning of this?"
Naruto looked down as he stood up, "I'm sorry old man, but I won't finish that until I can enjoy it properly."
Teuchi rolled up his sleeves, "What are you saying?"
"I have to go after Hinata, she's hurt."
The man clamed down and leaned over, "Hinata? What happened?"
"There is something I need to tell her, I should've done it sooner, but..." Naruto put the money on the counter and started walking away, "Actually there is no excuse. I should've told her."
Jiraiya woke up and stretched his arms out, yawning louder than thought physically possible. "Ahh..." he smacked his lips and opened his eyes, "Wait a second..." he looked around, "Why am I on the street?"
A man walked by him and dropped a couple of coins beside him. "Homeless people in Konoha... how shameful."
Jiraiya looked at the money in confusion, "Homeless people in Konoha..." he looked down at his chest, finding a bottle from sake. "I'm not homeless!"
The old man looked up at the shattered window of Tsunade's office, from which, as he deducted, he was thrown out of. "Curse that Tsunade..." mumbled the old coot, getting up from his dirt-nap on the street. "You could have woken me up..."
Hinata calmed down enough to hold a normal conversation. Yet she still wanted to clarify a few things with Kiyoshi about Naruto. "He must have known..."
She walked up to Kiyoshi's door and knocked. No response, not even a shuffling noise, a tumbleweed rolled by. Hinata ran up to the tumbleweed and kicked it at Kiyoshi's window; it bounced off. Still no reply or movement from inside the house. The girl decided to let herself in and wait for Kiyoshi to arrive. She walked in and made some tea.
"I wonder where he's gone to... it's not like he ever has anything better to do but sit at home and read a book."
Naruto wandered the streets, searching for his girlfriend to give her an explanation as to why he hadn't told her about his position. He didn't want to make a ruckus, so he didn't call out for her; he just moved his glances from one passing street to the next. "I bet you went to Kiyoshi. He's always there for us when we need him."
Naruto passed a crater where he assumed Kiyoshi had landed after protecting him from one of Sakura's punches. There was nothing that concerned the citizens anymore; Kiyoshi was long gone, and the crater was nothing more than a nuisance for people to walk around.
Jiraiya spotted Naruto walking in his direction, quietly searching the street for something. "Oi, Naruto!"
Naruto ignored the old man and walked past him. "Hinata, you better be at Kiyoshi's, I'm starting to worry."
"Naruto, what's with all this attitude? I was just saying hi."
The boy didn't reply, he just walked the path to Kiyoshi's house in total silence. "I should have told you, there shouldn't be any secrets between us."
"Oi Naruto!"
"You're annoying!" screamed Naruto and punched Jiraiya in the face.
The old man flew across the street and broke a lamppost on impact. Getting up and dusting himself off, Jiraiya stared at Naruto in total confusion. "What's with him? He's always restless when he's not pissed off, but now he's enraged enough to attack me, and his face doesn't even show it a bit," thought Jiraiya. "What's up?" asked the old man, "I haven't seen you in ages."
Naruto calmed down and sighed, "I'm sorry. I'm just a bit on edge."
"Why don't you turn that frown upside down?" Jiraiya received a thrown garbage can right after the comment, and flew back into the broken lamppost again. "Naruto! Cut it out!"
The boy had already resumed his search before Jiraiya could finish his request. "Stay away from me, Ero-Sennin."
Jiraiya caught up to him on a frog and stood in his way, "Come on, tell me what's bothering you."
"You!" exclaimed Naruto and threw Jiraiya over himself in the opposite direction.
This time Jiraiya didn't get up, but just looked at his former student. "Tell me. You know that you can always trust me... Is it about a girl?"
Naruto turned his head and nodded. "Yes... yes it is."
Jiraiya reddened with happiness and tears, "My boy's finally in love!"
Naruto slammed his palm into Jiraiya's face to keep the old man from hugging him. "Hinata and I have been together for a while now, and we've been through a lot."
"Hinata?" Jiraiya whistled, "Good catch."
Naruto pushed him away and resumed his walk to Kiyoshi's house, "She's not a fish."
"So what's so bad if you've got the girl with the biggest..."
The blond kid tackled Jiraiya, "Watch your mouth old man. You're out of your league to say stuff like that about her!"
Jiraiya grinned, "Just testing you, kid. Don't worry, I'm not that kind of pervert."
Sakura ran past them, rushed back to talk to Naruto. "Have you seen Kiyoshi?" exclaimed the girl, panting from running all over the village. "I can't find him anywhere!"
Jiraiya looked back and forth between the worried Sakura and ticked off Naruto, "Who's Kiyoshi?"
Naruto rubbed his eyebrows, "Just my luck... I was having a grand day as it was, and now Konoha's two most annoying people have come to make it even better," He looked up at Sakura with hate, "What are you trying to say, that you didn't look after Kiyoshi like I told you to? You stupid hag!" screamed Naruto and started chasing the girl around the street.
Jiraiya watched the chase in disbelief. "Did Naruto call Sakura a stupid hag just now? What's going on? Did hell freeze over?""
"I went go get him bandages and some medicine!" screamed the pink-haired girl, still on the run from the rampaging Naruto. "When I came back, the guards were beaten up and Kiyoshi was gone! I'm sorry Hokage-kun!"
Jiraiya threw a rock at Naruto to get his attention. "Why did she call you 'Hokage-kun'?
Naruto looked at the old man and started chasing Sakura with more hate than before. "Keep your mouth shut!"
"I'm sorry!" screamed Sakura on the verge of tears. "I didn't know it was a secret!"
"Don't say it was a secret!"
"Sorry!"
Jiraiya stopped Naruto, "What does she mean, Hokage?"
Naruto stopped and stared at the old man, "Seriously..." he brushed his hair back, "Of all the people..."
Kiyoshi attempted to fling himself to the side, possibly break the chair. No success, the chair was bolted down pretty deep. "Oh god... How long has she been planning this?"
A light flickered under the door, giving him hope that somebody might have come to untie him. Ino opened the door, "Hiya cutie!"
"I'm covered in scars! How does that make me cute?" exclaimed the boy, "What the hell did you come back here for?"
"To see if you still have food."
"Whoa, backtrack! Since when am I your pet?"
"Since I caught you, silly."
Kiyoshi bobbed his head back, "I hate hospitals..."
Naruto didn't wait to explain anything to Jiraiya, or be annoyed by Sakura any further. He needed to calm down before confronting Hinata, and in order to do that, he would need to get away from the two nuisances. "Follow me, and you won't wake up tomorrow," hissed Naruto, once again resuming his walk to Kiyoshi's house.
"He's a bit on edge," whispered Jiraiya.
"A lot's happened to everyone while you were away," replied Sakura.
Naruto walked up to Kiyoshi's house, but didn't want to go in yet, not until he's cooled his head. "I need an anger management class or something. This job is taking too much out of me," Naruto sat down and leaned against a side of the house.
Hinata stepped out, came over to him and gave him a hug. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Naruto didn't move, he felt like crying, but forbade himself as usual. "No excuse would give me the right to keep that kind of secret away from you," sniffed the boy, "I'm sorry, Hinata, I should have told you."
"Dogs."
"Huh?" Naruto was utterly confused by the sudden and unrelated word that just escaped Hinata's lips.
She pointed at the street, "Dogs... with rabies."