"YEAH!"

Deidara made them funky dance moves, and jiggled around like some crazy dude.

"PUT YO HANDS IN DEH AIR! WHOOP! WHOOP! THAT'S RIGHT, UH-HUH! GIMME FIVE, UN!"

"Whoa… suddenly she's gone hyper!" thought Sakura, who observed the tiny girl-looking boy dancing to his own beat. His moves made him look adorable and funny at the same time. One would never think that he's actually one of the dangerous murderers… the Akatsuki.

But the blonde didn't care anyway, for he was finally able to beat his danna in something.

"You guys are such losers, danna! You couldn't even beat us girls, yeah!" He looked towards Konan with a big smile on his face, then, he raised his hands, "GIMME A HIGH FIVE, KOHANA BABY!"

The blue-haired kunoichi giggled loudly, and responded to him by giving him one.

CLAP!

She turned to the two redheads, who looked very defeated.

"That's what girl power is, boys…," she said, in a flirting manner. Deidara looked at them the same way.

"Hah… we girls could easily beat you ANYTIME, HMM!"

The bunch of little kids walked ahead of the hungry group. It was already around twelve noon, and Naruto's stomach kept on making annoying noises.

GURGRUGRUG…

"Yeah… I know, I know, datte bayo…," he told his stomach, and patted it softly. "We're almost in Ichiraku, so please stop complaining."

"Jeez, Naruto! Did you eat anything for breakfast? That tummy of yours talks a lot!"

"S-Sakura-chan… you're actually worried of me? You actually love me, don't you datte bayo?" asked Naruto. He looked at her with happy eyes that seemed to smile.

The girl was taken aback.

"W-What? Of course not! It's just that it's getting really loud! And to think, that blonde girl up ahead is really adding up to your noise!"

"THAT'S RIGHT! GIRLS RULE, UN!"

Deidara still kept doing them funky moves. He just can't forget about his triumph in their little game. The boys, however, were starting to get a little bit annoyed.

"GIRLS ARE AWESOME, YEAH! WE RULE, UH-HUH…"

He made another dance; this time swinging his hips back and forth, then throwing his hands up in the air. After repeating it for three times, the clay-user jumped around the guys, and made pretty flirting faces.

"Bet you can't beat us, huh, hmm?"

Nagato just stared at the boy, with unbelieving eyes. "Whatever. But we're sure that we'll finally get you guys NEXT TIME!"

He just smiled, and ran next to Konan. "Meh. Whatever, un."

After a few seconds, he started to dance around again, this time with much emotion. Konan was clearly entertained by his moves, but Pein was plain shocked.

"Wait a minute Sasori…," he said to the redhead. "Isn't 'Dai-chan' a – MPHFFF!"

A hand covered his mouth, and suddenly Sasori had a serious expression spread on his face. "SHH!"

"Huh?"

"Just shut up, okay."

Both boys turned to stare at the girl pair, who was now skipping around Naruto's group. Sakura constantly patted Kohana's head, while Sai carried Deidara around on his back. He kept on smiling, and Sai did the same thing too.

From afar, the brat shouted aloud again.

"GIRLS COULD EASILY KICK BOYS' A****!"

Nagato made a confused look. "But he's a – "

"SHHH!"

"Why should I 'Shhh'ut up?"

"Because," said Sasori, who motioned to stare at his partner. "We don't want to ruin his… uh, her happy moment now, don't we?"

"Hm… well, I guess you're right." Pein looked at both akatsuki members, who looked very innocent under the care of Konoha's ninjas. "We could just ask 'him' about this later."

"Besides," said the puppet master, who smiled while observing his partner, "that brat's really cute when he does that."

"Finally! We're at Ichiraku ramen, datte bayo!"

Naruto ran towards the stand, and greeted the two owners with a wide smile and a hungry stomach. Sakura ran next to him, and reserved a seat for Kohana-chan.

"Thanks Sakura-nee," she said. "But dad said that he'll treat us today."

"Your dad?" asked the pink-haired girl.

"Yeah! He said that we're going to eat some barbecues for lunch! Woohoo!"

The akatsuki leader jumped happily, knowing that a heavy lunch is on the way. His partner smiled at him, and looked up at Sakura.

"In case you are wondering," she said sweetly, "our dad's name is Iruka."

"Iruka-sensei?"

"Yep!"

"Not by blood, of course… just like how Dai-chan and Satoshi-kun are related to me," said the wood user. He took out his wallet and started counting his money.

Sakura just looked at Kohana with a shocked expression. "Hmmm… I see."

"Anyway, we're supposed to be meeting him in the ninja academy! Look's like we're going to have to go now!"

Little Pein waved goodbye, and grabbed Konan's hands.

"Come on, Kohana-chan! We don't want to keep him waiting!"

The blue haired girl grinned at the group. "We're leaving now! Thanks for the training today, taichou!"

And with that, they sped off towards the academy.

"He's e-entering the stand..," she thought to herself.

The girl kept on shaking; nearly dropping the little pink box she was holding with both of her hands. "Oh!"

She was able to catch it before it reached the ground, and then the girl gave out a sigh of relief.

"Th-that was close…"

"HI HINATA-NEE!"

"AAAAH!"

This time, the box really did fall.

Hinata nearly collapsed, and then she started hyperventilating.

"S-S-S-S-Sameki-kun!"

The shark boy looked at her, eyes filled with worry. "Oh! Did I scare you, Hinata-nee? I'm so sorry!"

He ran to pick up the little pink box she dropped, and gave it back to the byakugan-user. "I'm sorry! I never meant to frighten you!"

"I-It's okay… I j-j-just didn't notice that you were actually behind me."

"Sheesh… she's one weird girl… yet whenever it comes to close combat, she's the best."

Kisame continued to stare at Hinata, who kept on blushing while glancing at the ramen stand every now and then. She fiddled with the pink box, and blushed some more. It's as if she intends to do something… but she just can't get it done.

"Is something wrong, Hinata-nee?"

A blush spread all over her face as she turned to her little student. "N-N-Nothing's wrong, Sameki-kun… It's just that… just that…"

"Just what?"

"I…I…I…I…"

"…You…?"

"A-Ano… It's just that…"

"WTF…"

"It's… it's because I… I…"

"Hinata…," said Kisame in his suddenly serious tone, "just calm down, breath deeply, and tell me what it is without having to stutter so much."

The girl noticed the sudden change of his tone, and felt like she needed to follow the kid.

So, she did as she was told.

"Hu… Sorry Sameki-kun…"

"S'okay!" cried the blue boy, "now tell me what your problem is!"

"Okay… I just… I just want to give this box… this box to… to… Naruto-kun…"

Suddenly, Hinata's face began to redden… she now looked like an over ripe apple, and her breathing has suddenly become fast.

"Oy! Hi… Hinata-neechan!"

"Huh… hah… hau… hah!"

The hyperventilating continued for ten seconds, until she finally gave up…

… and fainted.

"Whoa!"

As fast as he could, the boy ran to catch his teacher. "Sheesh… she's so heavy!"

BOG!

Both of them fell to the ground, and the weight of Hinata's head increased the pain on the shark boy's butt.

"Jeez… What is UP WITH THIS GIRL?" thought Kisame. He tried to lift the head of his neechan, but it was just too heavy.

"Dang…"

He stared at the angelic face of the Hyuuga princess…

"Tch… to think, she's almost perfect," he mumbled. "She's pretty… she's strong… now all she needs is to become brave enough to face certain things."

His hand softly caressed her skin, and Kisame continued to pity the girl. The guy didn't notice the raven-haired kid walking towards him.

"Hey… HEY SAMEKI-KUN!"

"Ow! Satachi-kun, please lower down your voice!"

"Ooops…," he mumbled. "Sorry…"

Itachi sat next to his companion, and also began to stare at Hinata's tranquil face.

"So… Sameki-kun," he said in his serious, emotionless voice. "What happened to her?"

The blue boy didn't pay much attention to him, because he was so focused on the unconscious girl.

"You know what, Satachi?"

"What?"

"Let's play matchmaker…" said Kisame, showing all his sharp and shiny shark teeth.