Hinata was surprised that her heart wasn't going to leap out of her chest despite it beating like she had just ran a marathon. She didn't even know how she gathered the courage to crawl out from the bush, dash across the backyard, scale the tree leading up to Naruto's house, and to go through the closest window. And with such stealth! Her friends hadn't noticed a thing even though they were looking upwards. Hinata thought her friends would have surely seen her then although Sakura, Ino, and Tenten might have been distracted by Sasuke's presence. After all, even Hinata got shaken up (more than usual) when the handsome Uchiha would give a glance in her direction.

Hinata felt her face flush and the warm sensation seemed to spread throughout her whole body. She was surprised that she would react this way and put a hand on her forehead to see if it was just her imagination. When she pulled her hand back, there was some dampness but it wasn't from sweat.

Feeling her way around the dark, Hinata hit the light switch and took in her surroundings. When she was focusing all of her attention on getting inside the house, she didn't even notice that she had entered Naruto's bathroom window. And the reason why she felt damp and hot was a result of someone's very long shower, not because of the Uchiha.

Even with the steam leaving the window, Hinata felt suffocated and stuck her head out to cool herself down.

For a second there, I thought I actually felt something for Sasuke… Hinata thought, shaking the idea out of her head. It was ridiculous. Hinata was not that fickle and the sooner she could find Naruto's boxer shorts (the oddity of her mission became more apparent to her as she thought of this), the faster she could leave.

Taking a step back, she stumbled upon a bundle of clothes and wondered how she hadn't tripped over them before. That's when the light bulb in her head clicked and she started to go through the discarded clothing to see if it belonged to Naruto. First she had to sift through a shirt with a disgusting substance on the collar. If she had to guess, the person who was using the bathroom previously was probably trying to scrub this off of his skin. Throwing the dirtied shirt off to the side with a grimace, she picked up the cargo shorts and carefully pulled out a pair of boxers with the very tips of her fingers.

With closer inspection, the boxers were clean (thank God) and were definitely the property of one Uzumaki Naruto. Now Hinata wasn't a stalker but she did have a good memory. She had remembered that one time in biology where Naruto had pissed off the exchange student, Kankuro, for his accent and the foreigner had returned Naruto's kindness by pantsing him when the teacher's back was turned. Even if Hinata didn't possess a stupendous memory, who could forget a pair bright, green boxers adorned with little, pink frogs?

With her dare half done she stuffed her prize into her back pocket and, after a change in heart, decided that since there wasn't anyone roaming through the hallways, she could take a small detour to snoop around. After all, how often was it that she was in her crush's house?

She felt a bit guilty opening Naruto's medicine cabinet but she couldn't help it. Ever since she had read some of the more personal entries in Sasuke's yearbook, her curiosity about her long-time classmates seemed to grow. And what was the harm in a little peeking if no one found out?

Reaching for a bottle of body spray that had caught her eye, Hinata sprayed some in the air and took a deep whiff. She quickly regretted her decision as she tried to smother her coughs caused by the pungent odor. Turning the bottle of body spray around so she could fully read the label, Hinata made a face.

Since when was Naruto a devoted consumer of Axe?

When Sasuke returned, Kiba was watching some martial arts movie in the living room by himself. Inclining his head, he turned his attention to the approaching boy.

"So what was making all that racket?" asked Kiba in a bored tone.

"Raccoons and…fan girls," answered Sasuke, shuddering a bit at the end.

If given the choice, Sasuke would rather face a violent case of rabies than over-stimulated females any day. Girls were just too unpredictable and anything they would give him couldn't be fought off with a couple of needles and bed rest.

"What? They followed you all of the way here?" Kiba looked astonished and mildly frightened as the Uchiha went to take the seat beside him. "Damn, I used to be jealous of you because of all the attention you got from girls but…it's just not worth it."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and the two watched the movie without going further into the conversation.

Now here's a social studies lesson: It's easier for boys to kiss and make up (not literally) after an argument than it is for girls. Boys might not communicate their thoughts as coherently as their counterparts but underneath their dull and idiotic conversation, they're secretly apologizing to each other.

After fifteen minutes of ass-kicking goodness, Sasuke swallowed his pride and initiated the apology.

"So where's Naruto gone?" Sasuke suddenly asked. (Translation: Have you told him about my secret?)

"He's somewhere around the house looking for clothes. You know how negligent he can get sometimes about housework," replied Kiba. "But when you left, I told him the reason why you were so moody is because you're on your period." (Translation: No, I didn't tell him anything, that's why he's not here yelling at you for being a dumbass. This joke insinuates that everything is fine between us.)

"Hn." (Translation: Thanks, bro. And I'm sorry.)

A loud Kya! came from the star of the film as he did a back spin and knocked the amateur assassin into a wooden cart.

Both boys started to chuckle. (Translation: expression of shared inner joy!)

This is the end of the social studies lesson.

However, the bromance ended when the pheromones from Kiba and Sasuke's brotherly camaraderie went away, meaning that a hidden smell was ready to trigger Kiba's overly sensitive nose. Kiba noticed it within an instant and taking a couple of whiffs, his nose pointed in the direction of Sasuke as the source of the bad scent.

"Dude, did you dive into the garbage while you were out there?" asked Kiba, pinching his nose in the process.

Sasuke looked perplexed. He didn't go anywhere near the stuff to actually have touc – oh wait, yes he did. When he was heading back to the house, he had nearly twisted his ankle when he slipped in something.

Lifting up one of his shoes, he could see a dark substance that clung to the sole and had looked like it had been partially wiped off. When Kiba's eyes made contact with the substance, he instantly looked back at the living room entrance and blanched. While he was making his way back, Sasuke had tainted the better part of Naruto's house with his dirtied footsteps, leaving a smell that didn't hit them until now.

Kiba let out a shrill, uncharacteristic shriek. "First Naruto and now you! I think you guys just want to kill me or something!"

"Kiba, relax, I'll just clean it up!"

"No, I'll stay here and clean this up because with your brilliant spatial awareness, you'll probably let that idiot walk in it too and spread it around even more! Now take off your sullied shoes and take them upstairs to wash. Or burn," Kiba shook his head like that still wasn't a solution. "You know what, just go upstairs and take a shower. Just give me enough time to get rid of this!"

And then Kiba jabbed his index finger accusingly at the dirty footprints like it was going to attack him. Sasuke didn't question his friend's state of being and complied without complaint.

As Sasuke went upstairs barefoot (Kiba decided that it would be best to burn his shoes after all), Naruto had just entered the scene and was being ordered by Kiba to retrieve cleaning supplies. Kiba let out a high pitched scream, as if he had been kicked in the balls, when Naruto proceeded to explain how his cleaning supplies were currently M.I.A.

When he had retrieved his towel and a change of clothes, Sasuke went one door down to find that the bathroom lights were on.

The dobe probably forgot to turn them off he thought rationally, turning the doorknob and stepping inside.

His skin was met with a cold breeze from the opened window and Sasuke went to close it. He was beginning to think his best friend was developing an early case of Alzheimer's with all of the simple tasks he was forgetting to do. So far these were the things Naruto had failed to finish: wash his clothes, throw out food, take out the garbage on the proper day so he wouldn't have to let it build up in his backyard, and turn off the lights. Now it was the open window. What next?

What is he thinking, keeping it open like this? Someone could break in and he wouldn't even know it thought Sasuke.

He brushed the shower curtain aside with just enough room for his hand to slip in to turn on the water and began slipping out of his shirt. Just as his jeans fell to his ankles, Sasuke thought how great it would be to take a shower and let the water drown out all of the noise and all of his stress. That was when he pulled the entire shower curtain to one side.

And let out a more girly scream than Kiba could ever muster.

Sakura and Ino were stationed on the sidewalk and were trying their best to monitor their friend's actions. They couldn't see much of Hinata besides the very top of her head, even when they tried going further back, so they just made do with their situation. Tenten was off to McDonald's because she had the prestigious duty of bringing them food. Even if they were across Konoha in the middle of the night, it was still a sleepover and that meant pigging out on junk food.

"What is she doing?" asked Ino. "She's just been standing in that one spot for the past fifteen minutes!"

Sakura began to squint her eyes and she could see Hinata taking down containers of some sort. "Maybe she's stuck and just keeping herself busy."

"Well if that's what she's doing, she's pretty ballsy for keeping the lights on. Forget that, she was being ballsy when she got into Naruto's house undetected with Sasuke standing right there. What's gotten into her lately?"

"I don't know, Ino, maybe it's because you kept saying how she's boring and this is her last chance to find love?"

"I already told you before, that wasn't what I meant!" Ino was ready to have another tantrum but she opted for rolling her eyes and giving up on that argument. She had a point and she wasn't going to let a small comment get her off track.

"But you have noticed it, right Sakura? Hinata seems a little different from before."

The pinkette turned to her friend and gave her an incredulous look. "What do you mean? Just today or as of right now?"

"No, changes don't happen over night. I mean she's been acting weird ever since exams were about to start. She's been more…sure of herself. She convinced her dad to let her have a sleepover when he wouldn't be able to watch us like a hawk like he usually does when we're there. Then she was trying to lose her stutter and now this? And remember when Tenten was looking through her yearbook and she said that she asked Naruto to sign it? It's Hinata; she'd never do that in a million years!"

"I guess that was her turning point. Do you think she's doing this to get Naruto's attention?"

"I don't know. I brought it up for a reason. I'm not the braniac out of the group; you are with your giant forehead."

"What did you say, Ino-pig?"

Ino was about to say something else when the voice of reason returned along with burgers and milkshakes.

"Guys, you're supposed to be focusing on Hinata, not fighting with each other," lectured Tenten as she handed Sakura and Ino their meals. "If you don't keep tabs on her she could get into trouble and we couldn't do anything to help her."

"We can't help her anyways. She's inside on the top floor and we're out here unable to warn her. But why? Oh right, because I'm pretty sure yelling really loudly in the middle of the street at night is a public disturbance," said Ino, the lid on her drink ready to come right off by the way she was handling it while speaking animatedly.

Speaking of public disturbances, right at that moment, the cry of what sounded like a woman was heard.

All three sets of eyes went straight to the bathroom window.

"Ugh, I told you guys to pay attention!"

"But you weren't either, Bunhead! You were trying to be mature like usual and tell us off!"

"That didn't sound like Hinata at all…" Sakura said, taking a bite of her hamburger with a raised brow.

Sasuke was contemplating about jumping out of the window. He really, really was. Not only did he expose his half naked self to his crush (he didn't question why she was hiding in the shower because his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when he saw her sitting there, in shorts and part of her white t-shirt turning transparent from the shower) but he squealed in front of her too!

It only dawned on him a second later about how Hinata wasn't the only one who heard his less than manly scream when a worried holler of "Sasuke!" was heard from the other side of the door followed by approaching footsteps.

Just as Naruto and Kiba burst through the door, Sasuke used his quick reflexes to close the shower curtain, hiding the Hyuuga Heiress from view.

It was a real sight to see. Naruto was dressed in a strange outfit consisting of a Hawaiian shirt and shorts that were filled with way too many holes to be considered clothing while Kiba entered the bathroom with a surgical mask on (where the hell did he get that from?), rubber gloves, an apron, and holding onto a Swiffer Wet Jet. And of course, our favourite little emo was in his underwear looking rather anxious.

"Naruto, what are you wearing?"

"Hey, I couldn't find any other clean clothes while I waited for the dryer!"

"But what's the matter?" asked Kiba, swinging the Swiffer Wet Jet like he was ready to defend Sasuke's honor from an invisible enemy. "What made you scream like that?"

Naruto started to laugh hysterically, "Yeah, I would have laughed sooner if I wasn't so worried! For a second I thought you had a girl in here."

"It was…" Sasuke's eyes drifted over to the shower and wanted to sigh as his masculinity was taking yet another nose dive. "…it was a spider."

Naruto laughed even harder than before at Sasuke's reply, his face looking sunburned with the shade of red it was turning, and Sasuke could just sense that Kiba was muttering the word "pussy" in his head as he dragged Naruto out of the bathroom by the scruff of his tacky shirt.

As the two left, Sasuke ran to the door and locked it before going back to the shower curtain. Pulling it back very slowly, he wanted to make sure if Hinata was really there or if he had been imagining things. Imagining wonderful, sexy things.

She looked up at him from her spot with her big, innocent, pearl-like eyes and smiled very weakly. Despite his embarrassing situation Sasuke wanted to burn this image into his memory forever.

"Hi," she said her voice as weak as her smile. "T-This…um, it isn't what it looks like."

Sasuke conditioned himself to sound like he usually did, aloof and uncaring, even though he just wanted to scream and shout. But to scream and shout in joy or in frustration, he didn't know.

"It's okay; just get out of the bath tub."

Hinata sat there for another few seconds as if she was waiting for him to yell at her but was pleasantly surprised when she got up, and the Uchiha helped her when she almost slipped. The water from the shower head had been left on the entire time.

"Turn around." She gave him a confused look until he handed over his other set of clothes to her. "You're wet and cold and I'm half naked. I don't think you want me watching you change and I don't think you want to watch me put on clothes."

Even though I bet that you totally want to Sasuke thought, cringing on the inside. His inner voice creeped him out a bit.

They changed with their backs turned, nothing but the rustle of clothes and the sound of water falling to fill in the silence.

"Aren't you going to turn off the shower?" asked Hinata, trying to think or say anything that would stop her racing heart. Changing in the same room as Sasuke was making her face flush.

"No, with the water going they'll think I'm taking a shower when I'm actually talking to you," he answered, turning around to face her (well, face to chest considering she was shorter) when she gave him the okay.

"Talk to me about what?" Even Hinata thought that sounded moronic but she didn't want to just stand there like a mute.

"I saw Sakura, Ino, and your cousin's girlfriend outside earlier. Now you're here hiding out in my best friend's shower."

He bent over and Hinata wanted to step back when his face got too close but then he reached around and tugged on a bright piece of fabric from her back pocket. Hinata could see a disturbed expression on Sasuke's face and she wanted to smile. She usually saw him with an indifferent expression on his face and it seemed like his cool façade had been breaking all day.

"I can explain that too."

But somehow she didn't think "I was peer pressured into stealing men's underwear" would suffice so she started from the beginning.

ClockRepair Message: This personally is my favourite chapter. You have no idea how much I laughed trying to imagine the scene where Naruto and Kiba ran in with their weird, little outfits. (I know, it's sad that I laugh at my own writing... :P) But what did you guys think? :)