I am so,so sorry it took so long. I don't have a good excuse, so I made one up: I was about to start writing when gangster mermen showed up and kidnapped me. They stranded me on a desert island with nothing but a pack of spearmint gum. I spent my time catching fish and trying to excape from the island. Finally, I got a pod of dolphins to take me to shore in exchange for my gum (because everyone knows that dolphins love spearmint gum). Then I was able to finish this chapter.

Hinata,

I am truly sorry to say,

I can't tell you who I am today.

I want to remain a mystery,

Please don't forget me in your private history.

I will love you forever,

And forget you never.

All that I ask,

Is that you let me keep my mask.

Love,

Your Eternal Servant

Hinata handed the poem to Sakura, Ino and Tenten. Reading it, they sighed.

"He's better than I thought." Tenten handed the poem back to Hinata. "And he left it where he left the first one?"

Hinata nodded. "Y-yes, I went to see if you were still waiting, and I found it just sitting there. Where d-did you go?"

"We were distracted." Ino said with a blush. "We jumped the wrong person on mistake."

"There were a few flaws in the plan. Next time, we'll get him."

Ino glared at Tenten. "There is no way I am waiting there again. We need a new plan."

Hinata looked at the three other girls. They were real friends, friends who could be doing something else, but wanted to stay and lend a hand. "There aren't e-enough of us." Hinata thought out loud. Sakura, Ino and Tenten stopped talking and turned to her. "What we need is more of us."

Sakura smiled. "And I know where we can find them."

…

"Why are we here again?" Neji glanced at the boy sitting next to him. Choji shrugged and started on his next bowl of ramen.

"I dunno. Ino came up to me and told me that she'd buy me all-you-can-eat ramen if I agreed to help." Choji reached for Neji's bowl. "Do you know what's going on, Shikamaru?"

"No." Shikamaru moved his bowl out of Choji's reach. "But since the girl's got all of us together, it's probably either really important or really stupid. Knowing Ino, it's probably the latter."

Ino waited until all the boys except Choji were finished eating before speaking. "We gathered you here today to help us with something significant. We were unable to do it by ourselves, so we need you to help."

Kiba leaned forward. "What is it? Is it a mission?"

Ino nodded. "Yes, it's a mission. It's a mission to find out the identity of Hinata's secret admirer!"

"So you were right Shikamaru, it is a stupid reason." Choji finished his ramen. "I'm going home." Choji stood to leave, but Tenten shoved him back into his seat.

"None of you are leaving until you agree to help." Tenten pointed at Hinata. "Are you so coldhearted that you won't help poor Hinata find out who has been leaving messages for her?" She turned to Neji. "Neji, you're her cousin! Isn't it your duty to make sure whoever is doing this is a good guy?" Tenten spun to face Kiba and Shino. "And you're her teammates! You should have been helping her since she first got the letter! Now, are you going to help us, or are we going to sitting here all night?" Reluctantly, the boys agreed to assist in any way possible.

Ino grinned. "Well done, Tenten! Now we have all the guys at our disposal."

"Wait a minute." Sakura glanced around the table. "Aren't we missing someone?"

Hinata looked at the faces around her. "Where's Naruto?"

…

Naruto looked up from his pile of rejected poems. "Jiraiya, I have a question."

Jiraiya sighed. Every ten minutes Naruto asked him a question. Jiraiya hadn't been bothered at first, but many hours and hundreds of questions later, he was ready to grab Naruto and shove his poem in a very uncomfortable place. "What is it now, Naruto?"

"What rhymes with orange?"

Jiraiya stopped working and stared at Naruto. "Nothing." Jiraiya put his head in his hands. "Nothing rhymes with orange."

"But-" Knocking on the door cut Naruto's response short. Naruto and Jiraiya jumped up, and shoved all of the poems under the couch. Naruto walked to the door and slowly opened it. "Hello?"

"Good, you're home." Kiba grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him out of his apartment. "The girls told me to get you. Now let's get going before they start complaining again."

"Why do they need me?"

"To help us find Hinata's 'secret admirer'. They said that we all have to help until we find out this guy's name." Kiba shrugged. "They won't take 'no' for an answer."

Naruto paled, and then realized that he hadn't gotten dressed that morning. "Wait a minute, I'm not ready! I didn't think that I'd be going out today." He tried to pull away. "Let me go change."

"Sorry, Naruto, but if we make Ino wait, she'll kill us." He dragged Naruto towards the meeting place. "Anyway, considering what you normally wear, no one is going to notice."

Naruto glanced at his clothes. "I hope you're right."

…

"What are you wearing?" Sakura stared at Naruto.

"A t-shirt and, um, boxers." Naruto rubbed his head where Sakura had punched him. Sakura was known for her 'hit first, ask questions later' philosophy, and when Naruto had shown out at the restaurant looking like he was ready for bed, it was no exception. Naruto waved his hand in Kiba's direction. "Blame Kiba! He didn't give me time to get dressed."

Kiba shrugged. "You said to get him here with as few delays as possible, so that's what I did."

"I didn't know that someone makes 'I ramen' boxers." Shino said with a glance at Naruto.

"Let's end this conversation before I become ill." Ino looked at Kiba. "Give him your jacket, Kiba."

Kiba shook his head. "No way. He would probably spill something on it."

Naruto wrinkled his nose. "I don't want to wear that thing, it smells like a wet dog."

Kiba glared at him. "Well, it smells better than you usually do. Do you even know what soap is?"

"At least I don't have fleas."

"Fleas would die if they tried to live on you, ramen-boy."

"So it's better to have to have flea dips, dog-breath?"

"Why I oughta-"

"That's enough!" Sakura slammed her fist on the table, startling Kiba and Naruto, and breaking the table in the process. "Will you two stop fighting like little boys? We have more important things to do right now." Sakura looked at Naruto. "Kiba told you why you're here, right?" Naruto nodded. "Good. Then go home and put some pants on. We'll split into pairs so we can cover more ground. Naruto, your partner will meet you at your apartment." Sakura stood up. "Okay, let's move it people!"

…

Naruto ran into his apartment, slamming the door behind him. Jiraiya looked up from his pile of notes. "Naruto, where have you been? You answered the door and then disappeared. I was just about to leave and… what are you doing?" Jiraiya asked as Naruto ran from the kitchen to his bedroom to the living room and back to the kitchen.

"I'm looking for my pants." Naruto opened his fridge. "Here's a pair!"

"Why were your pants in the fridge?" Jiraiya paused. "Actually, forget I asked. Are you going to get back to work now?"

Naruto shook his head. "I can't. Sakura is making me help look for Hinata's secret admirer."

"But you're her secret admirer." Jiraiya scratched his head. "So you have to help them find you? This is going to be interesting."

"I just have to mislead them." The doorbell rang and Naruto went to answer it. "As long as I'm partnered with a guy it should be no problem." Naruto opened the door and froze.

Jiraiya glanced over his shoulder. "This is going to be very interesting."

"Are you ready to go, N-Naruto?" Hinata asked, smiling shyly.

Hopefully mermen won't kidnap me next time (also, please don't give gum to dolphins. It makes them think they're cooler than they really are).