Please see first chapter for disclaimer, rating, warnings, pairings, etc.

Special Thanks: goes out to DarkAnonymous324 and Chibi-Kyuubi-Chan for your wonderful and supportive reviews, and all the people who have put this story on your favorite and alert lists!

Author's Note: I know this story is starting out rather slowly, and that Neji has yet to make an appearance. But I promise that I'm working my way up to the action, and that he'll make his appearance fairly soon. However, chapter three brings in four familiar faces, and their (important!) roles in this story, plus explains why Itachi so upset in the last chapter! Thanks again for reading Labyrinth, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

*~Chapter III~*

~News~

Uzumaki Naruto burst through the doors into Konoha's small newspaper office, wildly waving his notepad in the air as he shouted his news excitedly. "It's the story of the year!"

Directly on his heels, Sarutobi Konohamaru nearly ran into the orange windsuit-clad boy's back. Popping around the blond, he nodded enthusiastically and grinned. "Or the decade!" he crowed. "Maybe even the century!"

Naruto directed a fierce scowl at his underling. "Stay out of this, Konohamaru!" he growled. "You weren't even there!"

"Yeah, and whose fault is that?" the younger boy shot back, frowning just as ferociously. "You snuck off without me!" Naruto's glare intensified until, with a sigh, Konohamaru went to sit down at the desk he and Naruto shared. He didn't say anything else, merely set aside his camera and reached for the pile of photos piled there.

At one of the two desks placed at right angles to each other in the back corner of the room Naruto's boss, who was also Konohamaru's uncle and guardian, looked up from where he sat hunched over a shougi board. Reluctantly he pulled his half-smoked cigarette out of his mouth long enough to speak. "What is it this time, Naruto?" he asked. "The price of ramen drop again?"

Putting on a wounded look, Naruto turned to the occupant of the other desk, Asuma's wife Kurenai, and widened his blue eyes at her. "Help me!" he wheedled, knowing she had a soft spot for him. "You want to know what it is, don't you, Kurenai?"

Kurenai laughed and turned away from her computer. Resting her elbows on her desk, she leaned slightly forward, her cinnamon colored eyes sparkling. "I'm all ears."

Crossing the somewhat cramped room in a few long strides, Naruto smartly slapped his open notebook onto Kurenai's desk. "Read it and believe it! Uchiha Itachi is getting married!" he announced triumphantly.

"No way!" Surging to his feet, Asuma lunged around the end of his desk, cracking his knee against the corner in the process. Cursing as he rubbed his knee with one hand, he grabbed the notebook with the other before his wife could pick it up. He scanned the scribbled dark lines on the greenish tan paper, his eyes widening with every word. "No way! Are you seriously telling me-!"

Gleefully Naruto watched Kurenai shoot out of her seat and take a couple of rapid steps to his side. Grabbing her husband's shoulder with one hand, she leaned around him so she could read the notebook as well. "Is this confirmed?" she asked, looking up at Naruto as soon as she'd finished.

Grinning smugly, Naruto tucked his hands behind his head. "Sure is, absolutely one hundred per cent! I heard it straight from Uchiha Sasuke, who heard his brother talking to their parents about it last night."

Asuma arched an eyebrow as he handed Naruto's notebook back. "I thought you and Sasuke weren't on 'speaking terms'," he said sardonically.

Naruto easily waved off his boss's obvious misconception. "That was in the past," he said, "back when we were still just kids in school."

"We just graduated from school this past spring, you knucklehead." The grumble came from the chair across the desk from Asuma's, where the village's resident genius Nara Shikamaru slumped sleepily against his supporting arm and stared at the shougi board. Even though he didn't work for the paper, he could often be found in the office, hiding from his duties at his clan's estate while he played shougi with the editor-in-chief. "It's barely been a month and a half."

"That's still the past!" Naruto shouted at Shikamaru, shaking his fist at his lazy friend.

"Naruto, you're such a drag," the boy muttered, advancing one of his shougi pieces.

Asuma limped back to his chair and eased himself down into it. He muttered another curse when he scanned the board and saw the move his opponent had made. He scratched the back of his head in consternation. "You could at least pretend it's hard to beat me," he complained. Sighing, he looked up at his junior reporter again. "It's not that I don't believe you, Naruto. But a story involving a family as prominent and powerful as the Uchiha - it's a whole different game than you're used to: A lot more serious, with a lot more pressure." He absently patted his pockets, feeling for his pack of cigarettes and lighter.

Naruto sobered and met Asuma's eyes squarely. "I know, Boss. Believe me, I know. You did a good job teaching me."

Kurenai broke the intensity of the moment by propping a hip on her husband's desk and leaning over conspiratorally. "Who's the bride?" she whispered.

Naruto's grin returned. "Oh, hey, you mean I didn't put that in there?" Smirking, he took his notebook back and ostentatiously flipped to the next page. "Her name's Sabaku Temari. According to Sasuke she's the older sister of the head of Suna's leading clan."

Asuma choked. Sputtering breathlessly, he spit out his freshly-lit cigarette and (with no small difficulty) exhaled a weak puff of smoke. "Are you serious?" Snatching the notepad again, he nearly tore the pages in his haste to check them over. "You are serious."

Shikamaru sighed gustily and pushed himself to his feet. "Oh, man. I can see your mind won't be on shougi again anytime soon. I'll see you later, Asuma, Kurenai. Good luck with your story, Naruto, Konohamaru." With a lazy wave over his shoulder, he slouched out the doors Naruto had burst through only a few minutes before.

Asuma said thoughtfully, "I don't remember Lady Temari ever visiting Konoha. I didn't even think they'd met each other."

"Even if you forgot something that newsworthy, my love, I wouldn't. She hasn't, and they haven't." Standing, Kurenai went back to her desk and sat down.

Naruto shrugged. "Sasuke said it's an arranged marriage." He began to rock back and forth on his heels. "Poor guys. Can you imagine someone forcing you to marry someone you haven't ever met, and might possibly never even like, just on account of politics?"

He saw Kurenai's bright cinnamon eyes flicker towards Asuma, who chuckled as he flipped Naruto's notebook shut before handing it back. "At this point, I don't think that's an angle you want to use for this story," he said dryly.

Feeling like he could do cartwheels around the office, Naruto contented himself with an exuberant fist pump as he crowed, "All right! So you're gonna let me go with the story, huh, Boss?"

"If you handle it right, then yeah, we'll publish the article." As he spoke, the editor slanted a look back at his wife and added in a voice so low, Naruto wasn't sure he was meant to hear it, "We're just putting out a few feelers. But if there is some sort of a shakeup in the wind, well then, people should know." He raised his voice again. "So, Naruto: Go for it." Returning his glum stare to the shougi board, Asuma lit another cigarette. The click of his lighter closing put a period on the conversation.

During the family mealtimes - primarily breakfast and dinner - the personal bodyguards of the Hyuuga clan were allowed to have some time to themselves. Tenten readily agreed with Kakashi's suggestion that they eat their meals in a secluded corner of the kitchen, rather in the servants' dining area. There, they would have felt constrained to censor their words carefully. In the kitchen, located conveniently close to the dining room, the constant activity of the cooks and their helpers provided an extra layer of privacy to their conversation.

Even though they ate slowly, enjoying their off-duty time together, they still finished breakfasting before the family. As she and Kakashi knelt in the hall outside the dining room, quietly waiting, Tenten looked around to familiarize herself with the area better. White walls, floors of pale highly polished wood with not even a single carpet to break up the monotony, white ceiling... Stifling a yawn, she ironically thought she detected a pattern in what seemed to be the preferred Hyuuga decor.

One of the household servants approached. As he exchanged a small, polite bow with them Tenten saw he carried the day's issue of the "Konoha Daily" on a lacquered tray. He let himself into the dining room, and out again only a moment later with the tray now empty, having presumably delivered the morning paper to the head of the clan. He bowed again; so did Tenten and Kakashi. With a tiny sigh of resignation, she settled back into quiescence.

The shouji door violently whisking open startled her. Lord Hyuuga swept out, an expression of cold fury on his face, and stalked toward the main entrance without a word or even a sideways glance. Tenten exchanged a startled look with Kakashi as her brother rose swiftly to his feet and followed him. An instant later Hinata darted out, something clutched close to her chest as she hurried away in the direction of her quarters. Tenten leapt to her feet and took off after her, sticking close until they reached the safety of the Hyuuga heiress's suite.

As she performed a quick security sweep, Tenten watched Hinata out of the corner of her eye. The raven-haired girl visibly jittered until she announced, "All clear," then practically ran across the entertaining area into her sitting room. Sinking to her knees by the low table in the middle of her sitting room, she unfolded what looked like a newspaper. Curious, she knelt next to Hinata and tentatively laid a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right, milady?"

Hinata hummed noncommitally. "F-Father got angry after r-reading this article," she murmured. "He threw it d-down on the fl-floor b-before he left, s-so I t-took it." Suddenly her face turned bright red, and she let out a soft "eep!" before dropping the paper. "I-It w-was written b-b-by him!" she whispered in a reverent tone as she brushed her fingertips lightly across a certain part of the page.

"Hmm? Who?" Tenten leaned in closer so she could read the indicated article. In bold letters, the headline proclaimed:

Uchiha Itachi Soon To Wed

by Uzumaki Naruto

A shaky finger entered Tenten's line of vision, pointing to the small picture beneath the author's name. "I-Isn't he the m-most handsome p-person you've ever s-seen in your l-life?" she whispered.

Tenten arched an eyebrow. The photo was black and white and rather grainy, so she couldn't really tell that much from it. He didn't seem that handsome to her, but maybe Hinata referred to his personality, more than his looks? "Quite personable," she replied diplomatically.

Sighing dreamily, Hinata drew the paper back to her. She stared at the picture for a little while longer, then skimmed the article. Another gasp escaped her, quickly muffled by the hand she clapped over her mouth. Her wide eyes, brimming with shock, lifted to meet Tenten's. "N-No wonder F-Father became s-so angry," she whispered. "I-If this is t-true..."

Having barely even glanced at the article, Tenten found herself at a loss. She remembered her brother mentioning something about the Uchiha clan - their being the police force in the village, maybe? - but nothing past that. "What's wrong?"

Hinata smoothed her shaking hand across the paper. "I-I don't know how m-much you know about our v-village's past," she started, tone apologetic.

"I know the Hyuuga fought the Uchiha to become the leading clan in the village, and that the latter were made the police force after the Hyuuga won," Tenten supplied.

"G-Good. W-Well, according to this article, Uchiha I-Itachi - the older son of Fugaku, the head of the clan - has b-become engaged to Sabaku T-Temari, the elder s-sister of Gaara, the head of the Sabaku, S-Suna's leading c-clan."

Tenten knew that particular name. After all she and Kakashi had come to Konoha from Suna, and had heard a lot about the leading clan while there. She also knew that Konoha and Suna shared friendly relations and strong economic bonds, residents of each able to travel freely back and forth. Yet Hinata's father had obviously been enraged- "So this is a good thing, for the villages to be strengthening their ties with each other, right?" she asked cautiously. "I mean, what stronger bond can there be than love?"

Hinata slowly shook her head. "I-Itachi and T-Temari have never even m-met each other. This c-can mean only one thing: an arranged m-marriage."

Tenten felt a little ripple of shock, followed by dismay at her own naivete. "I didn't even realize there were still arranged marriages in existence," she admitted, feeling suddenly unaccountably sad for two people she'd never met. "I guess I thought they only existed in historical novels and Kakashi's history lessons, not the modern world."

Hinata dipped her head in a nod. "It is l-less and less c-common, b-but in some n-noble families, it is still p-practiced. N-Now I-I understand why F-Father was so upset. If I-Itachi and T-Temari marry, it will c-create a p-political alliance that m-might cause t-trouble for the Hyuuga in the f-future."

"I see," Tenten said, her mind slipping into its practical, professional mode. "This could be perceived as a statement the Sabaku are shifting their support to the Uchiha over the Hyuuga."

"E-Exactly." Hinata bit her lower lip while staring sightlessly down at her hands. "I-I wonder what F-Father will do. R-Right now, he's so furious, I don't think h-he's thinking clearly. All he s-sees is a threat, and F-Father d-does not react w-well t-to threats. I only hope he d-doesn't d-do something r-rash."

Leaning over, Tenten glanced at the article again. "It does make the point that this isn't anything definite, but only a 'rumored' marriage between the two," she said reassuringly. "Maybe it's just exactly that, a rumor by an unnamed source that will quickly be discredited by the clans involved. Even if someone is deliberately trying to stir up political trouble in Konoha, the same will hold true. I don't think there's anything to be worried about, Lady Hinata, at least for now."

Drawing in a breath, Hinata seemed to force a smile onto her lips. "P-Perhaps you're right," she conceded. "I really h-hope you are. B-But may I-I ask something of you, T-Tenten?"

Wondering what was coming next, Tenten silently nodded.

Hinata's stiff smile morphed into a shy one. "At least while we're in p-private, w-will you p-please call me H-Hinata? I do not have many f-friends, and I-I should very much like for you t-to be one to m-me, if you w-would."

Touched by the other girl's sensitivity and the obvious longing in her eyes, Tenten smiled reassuringly and nodded once. "Of course ... Hinata. I would very much like to be your friend."

The heiress leaned forward and threw her arms around Tenten in an exuberant hug. "Thank you, oh, thank you, T-Tenten!" she cried. "I-I was s-so afraid that you wouldn't think it would b-be appropriate."

Tenten tilted her head to the side and said, quite honestly, "To tell you the truth, Hinata, I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to be friends with someone as sweet as you."

As Hinata blushed and smiled again, Tenten took a moment to hope that her brother was getting along as well with his employer as she was with hers. The little she'd heard about Hyuuga Hiashi from his daughter, however, made her doubt it. Poor Kakashi.

Life in the Hyuuga estate, she mused, was not boring, at least. In fact, she had a sneaking suspicion that it was about to get much, much more interesting.

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Notes: I have discovered a love for writing Naruto. He's just so much fun! Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you all for the next chapter!