Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Naruto are not mine, they belong to J.K. Rowling and Masashi Kishimoto respectively.

I know it's a late update, actually, very late and I apologize, school and life got in the way, anyway here's

Chapter 7: Lies, Steel, and…Snuggling?

"ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU HAVE BEEN KEEPING TABS ON ME?!" a yell was heard outside the Granger household at 9 in the evening as two young men sitting on the front yard winced at the volume of the voice.

"I'M NOT A LITTLE GIRL ANYMORE FATHER, I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!!"

"Ooh, she's got quite a pair of lungs doesn't she eh kiddo?" Naruto looked down at his young charge, "I feel kinda sorry for Ron when he experiences this every day."

"Yeah, they're like a married couple sometimes." Somehow, Harry felt a tinge of…something when he mentioned the married couple bit.

"Married couple? From the amount of fights you told me, they'd have been divorced several times over." Naruto shook his head, Hermione would never be with Ron at this rate, they're just too…different, like a Sahara Desert sized difference.

"FOR MY OWN GOOD?! WHERE WERE YOU DURING THE TROLL INCIDENT! THAT WAS HARRY'S ACTIONS THAT SAVED ME THAT DAY, NOT YOURS!" Harry blushed at that. "OH, YOU'LL DO A BETTER JOB? DAD, I'M NOT ANGRY AT YOU FOR THAT, I'M ANGRY AT YOU FOR LYING TO ME!" at this point, a sob was heard.

"Oh, time to check on your girlfriend kiddo." Naruto joked as he nudged Harry towards the door.

"Ow, she's not my girlfriend…" Harry glared at Naruto before walking in through the front door.

"I'm angry because of all the-sniff-worrying you've caused me dad. I didn't even know why." Hermione continued sobbing as Harry walked in.

"I'm sorry princess but-" Antony was cut off as Hermione ran towards Harry, hugging him and sobbing. Harry didn't know what to make of this, and only patted her back.

"Sniff-, I don't know if I can forgive you at this time father, all along, you were an MI-6 agent, and here I thought that you had owed a mob money or something." Harry had a sweat drop on the back of his head and thought, "Hermione's quite imaginative when she was younger…"

"Harry, bring Hermione to her bedroom, I think she's a bit tired." Ophelia told Harry as she comforted her husband.

"Yes Mrs. Granger, um…how do I…" Harry began but Naruto scooped up Hermione, told Harry to stretch out his arms, and gently placed the sleeping girl on Harry's arms and pushed him towards the stairs. When Harry reached the stairs however, Hermione had quite a grip on him and he couldn't let go. Naruto, who was following the two with Harry's equipment eventually told the boy to just sleep in the room for now, and went down to tell the parents of the sleeping arrangements of the night. Through it all, a dark-crimson colored scroll in Naruto's bag located within the guest room glowed ominously.

The next morning, Hermione felt like something was holding her and snuggled in further, until she realized that something was amiss. First of all, she didn't have a teddy bear as long as her body. Secondly, it was warm… "AAH!" followed by a male, "Whoa!" THUD then CRASH "What!" as Naruto crashed through the bedroom wall with a kunai. "Hey!" the first male cried out from the floor, then silence….

"W-what are you doing here?" Hermione squeaked from under her blanket.

"Uh..heh, well, I carried you to your room, and heh, you wouldn't let go of me, and well I just stayed here…" Harry said nervously.

"Oh, well in that case, thanks..but uh, could you please leave?" Hermione said with a blush.

"Yeah, I should…" Harry got up and walked out with Naruto who was chuckling.

Later that day, there was awkwardness between the two as every time one laid their eyes upon the other, he or she would blush and look away.

"Aah, teenagers." Naruto chuckled as he watched the two enter the backyard for training. Naruto placed a scroll on the ground, unfurled it and beckoned the two over. "Now, since Ms. Granger here hasn't had any formal training, you Harry, will help her through our exercise."

"WHAT!!!" both kids shouted, looked at each other, blushed, and then looked away. This prompted Naruto to chuckle a bit and was met with glares.

"Alright, time to get down to business. Harry, you do your tree-climbing exercises while I explain to Ms. Granger here how to manipulate chakra and all that stuff eh?"

"Alright." Harry responded and began to walk to the tree in the middle of the yard. While Naruto explained the nature of manipulation of chakra, Harry was lost in thought about the whirlwind of emotions inside him."What is this…feeling?" Harry remembered how Hermione's hand felt as she dragged him up the stairs yesterday. "Hermione looks cute when she sleeps." Harry didn't show it but last night was the best sleep he ever got, no nightmares, no Voldemort, just a good night sleep. He sneaked a look to Hermione and saw how pretty she looks, that eager look she always has when learning something new, her smile… "Wait a minute, she's my best friend!" He shook his head and then began his exercises.

An hour and a half later, a girl and a boy were on the ground, panting with exhaustion, both thinking, "Naruto's a slave driver…"

"Alright, time for a new lesson." Naruto went over to the scroll he laid down earlier and said, "Kai!" The release, followed by a puff of smoke, revealed two katanas. One of them had dragon engravings on the sheath and the hilt, the other had tiger engravings on the sheath and the hilt. Both swords had a black tassel that was part of the cloth wrapped around the handle hanging down with engravings of their respective animals. "These two beauties were given to me by a fellow shinobi a while ago. They are called, Dragon's Claw, and Tiger's Fang. Now, I'm gonna teach you some kenjutsu, so here." He gave Harry Tiger's Fang, and Hermione Dragon's Claw.

"Wait, we're going to practice with real swords?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Yeah, so?" Naruto only shrugged and took out his ANBU issued ninja-to and brandished it.

"Now…here's what you do first…." Naruto began his instruction.

So the training of the duo begins, and some romance added in there too. Next chapter, a few weeks into the summer, Harry and Hermione are both competent in swordsplay. Naruto starts to teach them hand-to-hand combat, which may lead to…interesting results. Plus, our 3rd cameo, will it be a Western Character or Eastern Character? Oh and hopefully someone knows who used to own the 2 katanas. And please forgive me for the loooooooooooong delay…