Somewhere in the Land of Sand, Neji was busy at work helping his uncle with his paperwork. That morning, as Hiashi left their meeting, the Sand businessmen that he was trying to set up a deal with had left him with piles of paperwork to complete with only one day's notice.

They were working hard throughout the night and had yet to reach any setbacks.

That was until Hiashi snapped his pen in half, mid-writing, sending ink flying across one of the more important documents and staining it black.

Neji was surprised at how calm his uncle was acting even though it would probably mean the old man doing an extra hour or two of work. Had the stress finally gotten to him?

"Uncle Hiashi," said Neji, watching the older man place his pulsing head in his calloused hands. "Is everything okay?"

"Neji, I just have the oddest feeling that there's a boy with a wayward interest in one of my daughters and that he's sitting very close to her."

"Uncle Hiashi, Hanabi is at an all girls' summer camp and Hinata is in the safe company of Tenten and her other female companions. Surely nothing of that sort would happen," he reasoned.

Hiashi turned around in his computer chair to face the window and stare out into the scenery of the sandy city.

"Yes, but for some reason, my father's intuition is telling me that I need to castrate someone."

With that statement Neji flinched and desperately tried fending off the need to cross his legs. No man deserved such a fate.

When Hiashi wouldn't budge from his seat and it looked like that frown line had become permanent Neji thought it was about time his uncle had a break.

And just in case, Neji decided that it would be a good idea to retrieve his uncle's medication while he was at it.

It was going to be a long night.

Hiashi was not entirely off about his assumption. Sasuke did have an interest in his daughter but it was not (totally) wayward and he was not sitting that close to her. Although for any father, any boy being in the same proximity as his precious angel would be enough to earn him a good whack across the head, or in Hiashi's world, a good castration.

Hinata was fidgeting nervously in her seat against the bath tub while Sasuke sat like a statue across from her, his back against the bathroom sink. She was surprised to have him listen to her so acutely, making her even more nervous as she was trying to explain how Tenten convinced her to do the dare. And the fact that she was wearing the Uchiha's clothing did not help her in the least. Every once and a while, when his eye contact was more than she could handle, she'd stutter, and force it back so he wouldn't think she was a total loser.

After what felt like an eternity, Hinata was done with her explanation and waited for him to comment.

"So let me get this straight," was the first thing he said. "You're telling me that the reason why you broke into the bathroom…was to do a panty raid."

Well when he put it like that it just made Hinata sound creepy…

"Um…basically," she replied.

She could feel her face glowing with embarrassment and she hugged her knees up to her chest, hoping the gesture would make her seem smaller than she was. However, the reaction she got was not one she was expecting as Sasuke started to chuckle and maybe even laugh. Hinata didn't know for sure, she'd never seen or heard Sasuke laughing out of amusement before (unless he was laughing at Naruto for being stupider than he was but that's just plain mean so it didn't count).

"That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard but it's kind of funny," he said before starting to chuckle/laugh again. "I'm just glad Naruto's the victim and not me."

Hinata didn't know what to say but she could feel the intensity of her blush decreasing. That was a good sign.

"So was that why Sakura, Ino, and Tenten were out there earlier? They were keeping watch for Naruto if he went into the bathroom?"

"Um…no. They were trying to see if I was alright. Y-You see, I leapt off the fence and crashed into the bins and kind of left a…a mess."

He looked at her with smirk. "So you were the raccoon they were telling me about. Except for scurrying off into the night, you scurried into the house to get that." And he jabbed his index finger in the direction of Naruto's off-patterned boxer shorts as it laid across Hinata's lap with her bundle of wet clothing.

"Yeah, I actually got into the house while you were talking to everyone."

Sasuke looked impressed and Hinata smiled faintly as she felt a strange sense of pride and accomplishment.

"So how did you get stuck in here anyways? I left the backyard a while back and that's about the time you got in."

"I kind of got distracted. Naruto has a lot of stuff in his house and I was just taking a small peep at his medicine cabinet."

She fidgeted again and hoped that Sauske wasn't judging her for being snoopy but unbeknownst to her, every time she glanced shyly at the floor or wringed the sleeves of his shirt from abashment, he thought it was the most adorable thing in the world. And he was impressed with her. For not only being daring enough to break into the house he was residing in (any other girl and he would have called the cops) but he was most impressed with her ability to talk to him like a normal person. And he had noticed from the start that she wasn't stuttering like she used to in social circumstances. This pleased him since she'd stutter while talking to practically everyone and he never imagined having a conversation with her that flowed so naturally. He never imagined having a conversation with anyone that wasn't a male that could flow so naturally. Until now.

"Yeah, have you noticed how many Axe Body Spray bottles he has in there?" Sasuke asked. "It's disgusting, especially the amount of it that he puts on after gym."

"So what do you use if you don't like Axe?"

"I'm more of an Old Spice guy."

For the first time, Sasuke saw a glimmer of intrigue (?) in Hinata's eyes that caught him off guard just before she announced, "Hello ladies. Look at your man, now back to me, now back to your man, and now back to me. Sadly he is not me…"

And that's as far as she got before Sasuke had started to laugh again and she joined in. Hinata's too sweet voice just made the lines in the Old Spice commercial sound even funnier, especially since it was the lines of a six foot black man with a baritone voice.

Sasuke wondered if the water from the shower was drowning out their voices or Naruto and Kiba were going to think that he was crazy when he got out. He got up to open the door slightly, looking out to see if Naruto and Kiba were around. The two were down the hall in another room and Kiba was yelling at Naruto to purchase better cleaning fluid so that, and I quote, "You can actually get stains out without having to constantly scrub the floors for ten minutes!"

Nope, it didn't seem like they've noticed a thing.

And as he went back to his seat, it was as if Hinata had read his mind.

"So what are you going to tell them when you get out of the bathroom and you're not wet from the shower, or not wearing a new set of clothes?"

"I don't know. I'll make something up. They'll believe anything considering Naruto's an idiot and Kiba is busy freaking out over the mess I made downstairs." His gaze drifted off to the side for a moment before he realized something and looked back at her.

The sudden attention made her blush again.

"Why are you still here anyways? You have his boxers and it's not like I'm going to tell him where they went," he said, his tone became very sly all of a sudden as he continued. "Unless you're just making up this entire story in an effort to try and speak to me."

"No…well talking to you has been fun but…" She didn't mention the note she had to leave behind for Naruto because she didn't want him to think of her as a fan girl. Hinata knew from his yearbook comments how forward they were with their intentions and she didn't know what she would do if Sasuke lumped her in with a group of people he hated.

Sasuke was waiting for her to go on and after looking back at how understanding he had been she decided it was safe to inform him.

"My dare is only half done," she said, her attention on the white bathroom tile between her feet. "After taking his boxers I have to leave a note behind in a place where Naruto will find it."

"What does the note say?" he inquired.

Though he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know the content considering it was the message his crush was going to give his best friend. But as he thought about it, it would hurt no matter how the message was worded. Naruto wouldn't do anything with Hinata because the blonde knew how much he liked her, and the thought of how disappointed she would be after Naruto would reject her depressed him.

Hinata said she couldn't remember what the note said word for word and reached into the pocket of her abandoned shorts. When Hinata had gotten caught in the shower, it was more than just her t-shirt that had gotten wet because when she pulled out the slip of paper, it was soggy and the words were incomprehensible. She should have opted for writing it in pen but Sasuke was somewhat relieved. He didn't have to know the exact words Hinata used to ask out Naruto just yet.

"I have to write another one or else I haven't completed the dare," she said urgently.

"Why, what's the penalty for not completing it?"

"S-S-Streaking the neighborhood."

Sasuke got up immediately and opened the door again to see if Naruto and Kiba were still there. There was no way in hell that some random guy or anyone was catching a glimpse of Hinata in the buff.

"Come on, I can help you finish the dare," he said, turning off the shower, grabbing her hand and quickly leading her out of the bathroom.

"So what do we do now?" asked Ino. "She's been in Naruto's house for forever and I don't even think she's been in the bathroom for a while. Someone's obviously taking a shower in there by the looks of the steam fogging up the window and I'm pretty sure it's not her."

"This is why you should have been paying attention instead of arguing with each other! I knew I should have stayed behind but, no, you said I was the fastest runner so I had to get food."

"Do you think we should try and get her ourselves?" offered Sakura.

"Don't be crazy, we can't break into the house!" screamed Tenten. "It's easier for Hinata because she's tiny and alone but if the three of us tried going in there all at once it'll be suicide."

"So why don't we go in at separate times?" asked Ino, sounding like she was actually considering Sakura's insane plan.

"And what would we do if one of us got Hinata? How are the other two supposed to know when to get out?"

"Text?" said Sakura, shrugging.

"Wow, I just realized this dare would have gone more smoothly if one of us gave our cell phones to Hinata. We could have been texting her this entire time!" exclaimed Ino.

Tenten was about to pull her buns off of her head from frustration.

"What are you guys talking about? We can't go in!"

"So what do you suggest Ms. I-Have-An-Answer-For-Everything?"

"I think we should just move to another side of the house where we will have better access to a window. Maybe we can see if Hinata is anywhere in one of the rooms and if Naruto or Sasuke sees us, we can just say that we got lost and came back."

It didn't take long before Sakura and Ino agreed with Tenten's plan and the three girls split up to cover different sides of the house.

However, someone had been watching them for a very long time and had gotten the wrong idea…

Across the street was Mrs. Sato, an elderly, retired woman who volunteered to be the crossing guard to protect the little kids from the dangerous streets when they walked home. She had woken up when her bladder was acting up again and through her front window, she saw three strange teenage girls in their jammies standing outside of Naruto's backyard. Now sweet Mrs. Sato had grown fond of Naruto for the times he had helped her carry her groceries and thought it was her duty to see what those female hooligans were up to.

When she saw them split up and go around different sides of his house, she grew alarmed.

"Oh dear, they're going to rob little Naruto! I must call the police!"

Nothing about Naruto particularly screamed "CLEAN FREAK!" and when Hinata was dragged into the blonde's room by his best friend, she braced herself for stains, a multitude of dirty clothes on the floor, and just about anything else in a toxic waste dump. However, she was surprised to see how neatly his bed was made, how spotless his floor was, and how organized his bookshelf appeared to be.

When she went to reach for a book with an interesting orange spine, Sasuke advised her not to. It was only when she took a closer look did she recognize that familiar spine from the books their Japanese teacher, Mr. Kakashi, read to himself when he was too lazy to teach the class.

Her lips formed a small "O" in realization and instantly pulled back her hand at the memories of their graying teaching covering his mouth to stifle his perverted giggles.

"Icha-Icha Paradise?" she asked to no one in particular.

"Yeah," Sasuke answered, turning his attention to her for a second before diving back into Naruto's computer desk. "You know the first time I came into Naruto's room it was quite a shock to me too. He's a total slob and I wondered why his room was the cleanest area in his house. But then I realized that he had to at least keep his little sanctuary of books safe and that meant cleaning the rest of his bedroom."

Hinata nodded even though Sasuke couldn't see her response and didn't know how to feel. It wasn't like she was feeling uneasy from Naruto's interest in adult material but more like she was feeling uneasy because she didn't care at all. Was that normal when you have a crush on someone?

"God dammit, did he throw everything away when school ended? There isn't a pen anywhere!" Sasuke muttered to himself, moving from the computer desk to Naruto's deflated backpack in the closest in search for the elusive writing instrument.

Hinata smiled faintly at Sasuke's antics and that's when Hinata felt something heavy in her hands and she looked down. She was still holding onto Naruto's strange pair of boxer shorts with the little frogs on it. All of a sudden the corners of her mouth started to drop as the underwear seemed to serve as a personal (not to mention ugly) sign that she still didn't feel right.

What was wrong with her?

She heard someone approaching and looked up again to see that Sasuke was very close. His dark eyes were concentrated on her and she could feel her gasp getting caught in her throat.

"I found a pen in my bag," he said, handing the things to her and she hesitated before quickly grabbing the pen and paper to start rewriting the note.

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Sasuke told Hinata's back that he'd go downstairs to make sure Naruto and Kiba would remain on the bottom floor so that she could leave through the bathroom window when she was done. He heard her mumble a soft "Okay" and grabbed a towel from his duffle bag and put it around his neck, just for show when he got downstairs from his "long shower".

When he left, Hinata had yet to turn around to look at him and he gripped the towel until he felt the pain of his nails digging into the palms of his hands at another lost opportunity.

Ino was making her way around the house when she got her backpack caught on some bushes.

"That's the last time I agree to carry the group's belongings," she said, trying to free herself from the bush's iron grip.

Without warning, she felt a hand envelope her mouth (which was an impressive feat considering her mouth was huge) while another hand yanked on her so hard that the bush was nearly ripped out of the ground.

At the side of Naruto's house, Sakura was trying to find a way if she could climb up the rainspout to get a better view of the upstairs window. After multiple failed attempts, she shimmied herself down and admitted defeat.

"Well that didn't work," she said, before stopping in her tracks when a twig snapped.

She turned around and expected to see Ino or Tenten, or even better – Hinata – when she came face to face with dead air.

"Ino…?" Sakura asked weakly. "Tenten…is that you?"

When she didn't receive a reply the pinkette started to panic when the sound of another twig snapped. But this time, it sounded like it was coming from behind her.

She ran towards the front of the house when she crashed into something. Or someone.

Sakura sat up, shaking her head, and managed to let out a short-lived scream when her eyes were able to focus long enough to see a giant palm edging towards her face…

Tenten rubbed her shoulders when she started to shiver uncontrollably.

That's strange; I thought I heard someone yell.

She was peering into one of the windows, trying to get a better look at the room she was observing. There wasn't any sign of movement so she deduced that Hinata most likely wasn't in there. Suddenly a flash of movement in her peripherals made her turn her head but she continued to see nothing inside. That's when Tenten realized that the movement wasn't coming from inside the house, but was the reflection of someone coming towards her.

Someone terribly annoying.

"What are you doing here!" were her last words before she became a victim too.

ClockRepair Message: Hmm…I wonder how this story suddenly turned into a horror flick. I'm not totally satisfied with this chapter but I couldn't find a better way to word it. Hope its good enough! Only one more chapter to the end! What will happen next? Who knows because at this very moment, neither do I.

Now send me some love! :P