Author's Notes: Ok, for one thing, I have to tell you that the last chapter was the last time I have any flashbacks of the previous chapters. I got sick of doing that so I just stopped doing that. Anyway..like I mentioned before in the author's notes in the last couple chapters, the romance starts here. So does the character bashing.

Special Notes: Thanks a bunch to anyone who reviewed, favorited or subscribed to this story! I may not know you guys personally, BUT I FRIGGIN LOVE YOU GUYS! Thanks so much! And like I always, say I'll updated ASAP. Please keep reviewing and if you can, please give me any ideas if you have any. I'd dearly appreciate it. Anyways...on with the story...

Chapter 4 - This is new...

(Naruto's P.O.V.)

We'd been on our way back to the village for at least 2 hours now. I was a little annoyed. Kaede just had to fall asleep. She was really wearing me out now.

"Kakashi-sensei," I call out. "Can we stop really quick? She's a little heavy."

"Ok." With that, we stop. I wake Kaede up and get her on her feet. She stretched, yawned, layed down and went back to sleep. She looked so peaceful when she slept. She was actually kinda cute. I sit down next to her, a little closer than I thought. Mindlessly, I start playing with her hair. Oh my goodness! It was so soft. I guess I might have smiled without even realizing it, because Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei were giving me a weird look.

"Oh," Kakashi-sensei chuckled. "I see. So that's why you wanted her to come along." He chuckled again.

"Huh? Wha-what are you talking about," I ask him, slightly blushing and still playing with her hair.

"I see," Kakashi said again. "You like her, don't you?"

I blush madly and fall over. "Like her?" I said, my voice cracking. "How could I? I don't even know her!"

"Well, you're definitely not acting like it," he told me. "You're actually kind of obvious." Sakura nodded in agreement with her arms crossed. "You really are, baka," she told me.

"Wait...how can you even tell?" I asked them both.

"Like we said," Sakura says. "You're obvious, Naruto. Anyone could see it. It was in the way you stared at her when you first saw her, your nosebleeding and drooling over her, the fact that you wanted to carry her and how contempt you looked when you did. It was also in the way were smiling when you were stroking her hair just now. And to top it all of, you definitely gave yourself away by the way you're blushing right now." Kakashi-sensei nods. I guess when you break it down like that, it's kinda hard to deny. But I still couldn't help but question it, though. How could anybody crush on someone they hardly know? And that fast, too? I snapped out of my train of thought when I feel some movement next to me. Kaede just woke up. I really didn't know how close I was to her until she tried to get up and her shoulder was on my arm.

She yawned and said, "Uzumaki-kun, you're awfully close, aren't you?" I try to hold back the upcoming blush and slowly inch away. "So, how long have I been sleeping?"

"About an hour," I tell her.

"Oh." Then a quick silence was drawn. Kaede looks around, a confused expression on her face. "Did something happen while I was asleep?"

"Well," Kakashi started. "Naruto here li-" I cut him off.

"NOTHING! Nothing happened." I tried to sound as convincing as possible. She gave me a suspicious look. I could tell she wasn't buying it. Luckily, she didn't try to push it. "O-kay," was her only response.

"Why don't we just go now," Kakashi suggested. Kaede and I got up and I put her on my back again. We kept going from there. Maybe I had a really relaxed smile on my face because Sakura looked back at me and giggled to herself. I should really be mindful of when I'm doing that.

We continued for about 45 minutes before we come across a hot springs. We go in, get our room keys, locker keys and robes and I-unfortunately for me-pay. We go up to the room and get settled. Around 5 minutes later, Kaede and I leave and go to the pool area.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~On the girls' side~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Kaede's P.O.V.)

I kept my towel around me until I get in the water. It's been so long since I've been in one of these. The water felt so good. I even kick my feet around in it just for the fun of it.

I managed to relax for at least 10 minutes before I got company.

"Hi, Kaede-san," Haruno-san called.

"Oh, hey," I say back.

She got into the water. For a little while, we just sit in a comfortable silence while enjoying the water. Haruno-san broke the silence.

"Kaede-san," she said. "Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?"

"It may seem like a dumb question, but-" I cut her off.

"You know there's no such thing as a dumb question." Only dumb people who ask questions, I'd normally say. [1]

"How old are you? I just wanted to know for some reason."

"Interesting that you ask that. I'm nineteen." She looked at me with a surprised look on her face.

"What is it," I asked her.

"It's nothing. You just look a little younger than what you actually are."

"So I've been told." We go into another silence. I stretch and decide to get out. I start to feel a bit uncomfortable when I felt eyes on me.

"Um..." I start. "Is there something you want, Haruno-san?" I put my towel back on around me.

"..."

"Ok..." I turn around and start to walk away. I turn back around when I remembered to tell Haruno-san, "You know, you don't have to glare at me while I'm not looking just because I have a much better body than you." I turn around again and walk away quickly. Hehe. I can tell she was pissed.

I go back to my locker and discover that I left my robe in the room. "Oh crap!" I rush back and try to get there before I was noticed. Luckily, when I got there, I was the only one in the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~on the boy's side~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Naruto's P.O.V.)

I finally got out of the water after being practically tortured by Kakashi-sensei. Apparently, he thinks my little 'crush'-if you could even call it that-is a joke.

(cue flashback)

"So, you've gotten over Sakura rather quickly, haven't you, Naruto?"

I move wildly in the water. "Say WHAT?" He laughed at me harder than he normally would. I glare at him before sinking under the water.

"But," he continued. "I have to commend you on your upgrade, though." He laughed, kinda evilly, too. I start inching away from him. "Relax, Naruto, I'm just joking." Riiiiiiiight.

"You know, it's only a joke if you're not the only one laughing [2]," I tell him. He huffed.

"Anyway," he said. "If you are going to have a crush on her, at least be careful. She still is questionable, you know."

"Uh huh..." I say, honestly caring less about what he just told me. I don't have a crush on her...at least I don't think I do.

"And since you're so interested in her," he said. I rolled my eyes, bracing myself for whatever he could possibly say next. "I think you and I should have 'the talk.' " I knew exactly what he was talking about when he said that. At that point, I jumped out of the pool.

"Hey, where're you going?" I ran, ignoring his question. I run to my locker, grab my robe and clothes and rush back to the room. I was taken by surprise when I found Kaede in the room...naked. 'DAMN!' I thought. 'Why does Kami hate me right now?'

(end flashback)

For some reason, I couldn't help but stare at her. She didn't seem to notice me, though, which was strange. I had to make sure I didn't have a nosebleed. Unfortunately, I did.

"I never thought you were the 'peeping-perverted' type, Uzumaki-kun," she told me. Of course she saw me. I've got to be the luckiest guy right now. She put her robe on. "You see," she starts. "I have a special policy for peeping little boys." She turned around and glared at me. I wanted to run, but my legs couldn't move. Her eyes turned red, just like mine when Kyuubi gives me some of his chakra. She moves up to me quicker than I could even see. Damn, she's fast. She pulls me down to where we're looking at each other, eye-to-eye. She stands her tip-toes and-to my surprise-gently kisses my forehead. Her lips were so soft. That was so nice! But yet again, to my surprise, she punched me square in the cheek. SHIT! She hits DAMN hard! Much harder than Sakura-chan. I was out cold for quite a while.

I wake back up from my semi-coma 30 minutes later to find that the only ones that were in the room were still me and Kaede. She turns around and sees that I was finally awake. "Oh, Uzumaki-kun, you're awake now." I glare at her a little, which gives me a huge headache. She comes next to me and starts cleaning me up. "I'm sorry about that, Uzumaki-kun, I was just sticking to my policy." I stay quiet.

We were in a comfortable silence while she continued to clean me up. I break the silence. "You know, Kaede," I started. "You don't have to call me Uzumaki-kun."

"I'm sorry about that, too." I never would have dubbed her as the apologetic type. "I tended to be more formal about things more than I needed to be, so it basically became a habit." We stayed quite for a few minutes. She started back up again. "What can I call you?"

"Just call me Naruto," I tell her. She giggles a bit. I can honestly say that I love, yes love, her laugh.

"Ok, Naruto," she said with a pretty smile. She finishes cleaning me up. She shifted her body into a more comfortable position. "So, Naruto, I have a feeling that there's something you want to ask me. And no, I didn't read your mind to come up with that. I just had a feeling you did."

She's good, I have to give her that much. I leaned against the wall behind me and thought about it. "Well, there's a lot I want to know about you, but I just don't know where to start."

"Ok," she said. "How about I start with basic stuff? You already know my name and where I'm from originally. I guess I can start with my age and my likes and dislikes. I'm nineteen and, as surprising as it may sound, I like many things, music the number one thing. I really like animals and other things that I, for whatever reason, can't think of right now. Anything else? I don't mind answering your questions, no matter how weird, stupid, or personal they are." That was kind of reassuring. I got the impression that she really trusted me, even though we hard know each other. "I do, even though it may sound ridiculous, Naruto."

"Well," I start, starting to feel uncomfortable. "What about your family? What happened to them?"

She sighed and looked sad. "I'm sorry," I said. "I shouldn't hav-" She cut me off.

"No, Naruto, it's fine." She took in a deep breath and let it out. "It's a long story, but to make a long story short, they're gone."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I say sympathetically. I unconsciously put a hand on her shoulder.

"Naruto, it's ok, don't worry about me," she said with a smile. That somehow made me feel worse. I wanted to hug her, because I know it must hurt. "You can if you want to," she said. Whoa! I didn't even realize it, but next thing I know, I had my arms wrapped tightly around her torso. "You know, Naruto, even though we may not know each other very well," she started. "I can tell how much of a good friend and overall person you are. That makes me happy!" She had the biggest smile on her face and I couldn't help but to reflect that. We stayed like that for a few minutes. I then try to let go of her, letting my fingers slide against her side unconsciously. I didn't even notice until she started giggling.

"What's funny," I asked.

"You just tickled me, you jerk!" I couldn't believe she was the ticklish type either! Then, I get an evil idea. I start tickling her on purpose. She was rolling all over the floor, trying to kick me off and yelling and laughing all at same time.

"Naruto, you ass," she said in between laughs. "Stop tickling me! Stop it, you jerk! Stop it! STOP IT!" At that moment, I stopped, on top of her looking at her gorgeous honey eyes. I didn't know what came over me at that moment, but I had the urge to kiss her. She looked so pretty now. I leaned in to kiss her, but she stopped me by saying, "Wow. You're getting quite personal already, aren't you?" I slowly lift my head up. I stay on top of her for a little while longer. I couldn't move just yet, the site of her was too beautiful. Because I was such in a trance by looking at her, I didn't even hear the door open. I didn't notice that Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan were back until I hear Sakura yell at me.

"Naruto, what the HELL are you doing?"

Author's Notes: Aww...Naruto's already crushing hard. How cute! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. This has got to be the longest chapter up to date. It took me a while to get it up here, but I made sure to get up here ASAP. Please review. Thanks mucho for your support.

The Numbers:

[1] Yes, I do say that. On top of that, anyone who says that there is no such thing as a dumb question is a damn liar.

[2] Yes, that is also true. So many don't realize that their jokes aren't funny if they're the only ones laughing.

Til next time...sayonara!