AN: Hello everyone, I hope you all enjoy this Chapter! The Bleach/Naruto crossover is out! It's called 'An Unexpected Alliance' :D

Disclaimer: This story is mine, the characters and their worlds are not, they belong to their original creators only!

Chapter 2

Naruto trudged through the streets, his hands deep in his pockets.. This part of the business district he was in was almost done thanks to Yamato's wood release, which had been used to frame out the rows of four story buildings. As he worked his way down the street he didn't notice the dozens of shinobi and civilians alike moving around to finish installing windows, doors, plumbing and electricity. If he had bothered to look he would have enjoyed the way the new shops on the ground level were going to look. Large windows looking out onto the street were being installed, large double door entrances were being painted and the doors hung. There were built in benches with large planters evenly spaced down the row waiting for future shoppers to sit and rest. Above the shops would be three stories of apartments. Each one with its own small balcony overlooking the street below. While overall it had a more modern, simplistic feel, Yamato being who he is, couldn't help but add interesting details. Forinstance while the basic shape of the doors being installed was generic, the wood around the door frames themselves had been formed into beautiful, but still simple designs. The same with the planters and benches. They were a mixture of simplistic and traditional at the same time. All in all it was turning out to be quite beautiful as the shop owners started the process of painting, highlighting the small intricate details to make them pop. But Naruto was not noticing any of this, not today anyway.

It was midday and Naruto was headed to find some lunch. Tenchi had, with a lot of long hours and extra hands, just reopened Ichiraku's. His new store front was a little bigger, allowing for a couple of tables to supplement the stools at the counter for larger groups. The menu was limited, currently just miso or chicken ramen with no add ons, but no one really cared at the moment. The stools were temporary wooden ones, the two tables were mismatched and most likely salvaged from the rubble, the storefront itself still hadn't been painted yet, but he had his stove and had gotten a shipment of supplies and water. He was now open only for lunch so that the hard working shinobi and civilians could get a good hot meal, something besides the rations that a lot of them had been living on since the attack. Of course this is where he was headed. He was hoping a hot bowl or two of miso ramen, even if it didn't amount to more than a bowl of noodles and broth at the moment, would pull him out of this strange funk he had found himself in the last couple of days.

It started two days earlier. He had run into team eight when he was headed off to find some dinner and his tent for the night. Akamaru had run over and almost knocked him down in his enthusiasm to say 'hi', much to Kiba's amusement. Shino had been quiet as usual, but had given him a friendly nod in greeting. It had been the sight of Hinata that had choked him up. She was nervously playing with her fingers and looking up at him from under her lashes. She was blushing prettily and even had stuttered out a 'good evening' to him. He had wanted to run over and talk to her, see if she wanted to maybe get some dinner with him, even if dinner was going to consist of rations or a hastily thrown together stew from a friends cook fire. He really wanted to get to know her better, after all they were betrothed now and wasn't that what betrothed couples did? But, like a bucket of ice water being tossed over his head, he had remembered that they had to keep the betrothal secret. He couldn't ask her to have dinner with him. He couldn't just run over and start chatting with her like he wanted to. All he could really do was smile at her, giver her a friendly 'how ya been?' and 'see ya around!' before casually watching them walk off together. It bugged him a lot more than he thought it would.

He had never really thought about getting to know the pretty dark-haired kunoichi before now and was kicking himself for it. She was always so nice to him, even if she was really shy. Why had he overlooked someone so nice? It wasn't like he didn't know she was nice. She had done things periodically over the years for him. From shyly letting him borrow pencils in class when his would mysteriously disappear, of course he had thought her really weird for being nice at the time as he was used to being yelled at by the other girls, to the ointment and words of encouragement during the chunin exams. And he couldn't recall her ever having a harsh word for him either. On the few missions he had been on with her she had never raised her voice in anger at him. Oh sure she scolded him a couple of times, and he would even admit he deserved it too, but event then her voice had not been angry just concerned or worried. All this situation did now was show him how stupidly oblivious he was and it bugged him. Almost as much as not being able to actually get to know her now that he wanted to.

Naruto let out a sigh as he walked, dodging workers at he went. The shifting in the back of his mind was the only warning he got before a low annoyed growl cut into his thoughts.

'Kit will you stop all this pining for that pale-eyed female before I rip you apart! Dominant male's don't pine!' Kyubi growled.

'Shut up you damn fox! Who say's I'm pining for anyone and what would you care anyway?!' He barked back.

'Besided the fact that I can feel your pathetic emotions and that I have to live in your pathetic excuse of a body because of this damn seal? Your stupid human emotions are driving me to distraction. I should break out of here and tear her apart just to spite you.' He snarled.

'Like hell I would let you near her you bastard fox!' Naruto growled, his anger flaring. 'She's done nothing to you! How dare you threaten her!'

Naruto's head rang with the Kyuubi's laughter. 'Aww, is the little Kit upset that I threatened his female?'

'I said SHUT UP! The day you lay one single claw on anyone I care about is the day I tear YOU apart, GOT THAT!' Naruto roared back at the giant fox.

'I would LOVE to see you try!' Kyuubi replied before shifting back into dark recesses of his cage and cutting the connection. Content now that he had riled up his container.

"Damn fox!" Naruto grumbled to himself, his mood completely soured by the Kyuubi's taunting.

Finally arriving at Ichiraku's Naruto quickly ducked inside, two chunin passing him on their way out. He smiled and waved at Ayame, who was taking an order down the counter, as he sat at a recently vacated stool. Once she was done Ayame quickly walked over to where he was seated.

"Hey Naruto! Glad to see you in here today! Our menu's a bit limited right now, so we only have miso or chicken ramen, which would you like?" She asked cheerfully.

"Two miso please Ayame-neesan! I'm glad you guys got up and running so fast, y'know!" He replied already feeling a bit better just being there.

"Well we couldn't keep all our loyal customers waiting now could we?" She replied giving him a playful wink. "Two orders of miso for Naruto!" She called back to her father.

"Hey Naruto! Good to see you! How's my favorite customer doing?" Teuchi said as he stuck his head out from the back where he was working.

"Good to see you too! I'm doing alright, been really busy with the rebuilding and everything y'know!" Naruto replied, happy that they both seemed to be in such good spirits.

"I'll have your food up in just a couple of minutes Naruto, alright?" Teuchi called from the back as he moved around filling orders.

"Take your time, I'm not in a rush!" He called back. Truth be told Ichiraku's was one of the few places that he felt at home, and with no apartment to go back to at the moment, he was enjoying the nostalgic feelings that watching Ayame and Teuchi working were giving him. It was also helping to lighten the mood the Kyuubi had put him in as

well.

"Oh Naruto, before I forget" Ayame said as she hurried back over to where he was sitting "one of your friends left this for you. They said to make sure that I gave it to you when I saw you." She said as she handed him a folded piece of paper. "Too bad they didn't stick around they could have given it to you themselves!"

"Who was it?" He asked as he looked at the folded note.

"Oh….what was his name…..he's a Hyuga….and not much older than you…long dark hair and serious..." She said as she thought.

Naruto's head snapped up at the discription. "Neji?" He asked.

"That's it!" She said with a smile. "He doesn't come in here all that much so I can never remember his name." She explained a bit embarrassed. "He left not even two minutes before you walked in."

Naruto looked down at the folded note in his hands and carefully opened it.

Meet me at training ground 7 at sunset.

Naruto blinked at the note for a moment before a slight smile formed. 'Finally.' He thought. He could feel his excitement, and a few nerves if he were honest about it, already starting to bubble up.

"So what's it about?" Ayame asked curiously.

"Huh? What the note?" Naruto asked nervously causing Ayame to raise an eyebrow at his behavior. "It's nothing….he just wants to meet to spar later that's all." He said as he rubbed at the back of his head nervously.

"Ayame! Orders ready!" Teuchi called from the back.

"That should be your order Naruto." She said as she moved away. Moments later she was returning with two steaming bowls of miso ramen. "Here you go Naruto, enjoy!" She said as she placed the ramen down in front of the blonde shinobi.

"Alright! Thanks Ayame-neesan!" Naruto said as he eagerly grabbed a pair of chopsticks, giving a quick 'Itadakimasu' as he split them apart and dug into his meal with his usual gusto. Ayame chuckled and shook her head at his antics as she moved off to take care of her other customers.

He reached training ground 7 right at sunset. The woods glowed with the fiery light of the setting sun. It was quite beautiful, but Naruto was not paying attention to the natural beauty of the woods before him, he was too preoccupied with looking for Neji. After a few minutes of fruitless searching he finally spotted him up in a tree staring intently in the direction of Konoha.

Walking up to the base of the tree Naruto called up to him quietly. "Neji?"

Neji put his hand out for a second. "Wait." He said as he continued to stare off at something. After a long tense moment he seemed to visibly relax and hopped down out of the tree. "There was a small group of shinobi near by, a village patrol I think. I was making sure that they were not interested in our section of woods." He explained quietly. "We can't afford to have your meeting be interrupted, comrades or not."

"Yeah, I know." Naruto said as he eyed the woods with interest. "So…..is it safe?" He asked trying to sound casual but failing miserably.

Neji smirked at him before replying. "If it wasn't I wouldn't be standing here talking to you." He said earning a dark look from the blonde. "Go on, she's waiting." He chuckled slightly as Naruto walked eagerly into the woods and with a quick leap he was back into the tree to keep a look out.

He spotted her rather quickly as he moved into the trees. She was leaning against a large maple tree and looking in his direction.

"G-good evening Na-Naruto-kun." Hinata said nervously as he approached.

Stopping a few feet away, Naruto shifted a bit in his own nervous excitement. "H-Hey! Good evening to you too Hinata!" He said with a bit of a chuckle as he rubbed at the back of his head. "How have you been doing?" He asked.

"I-I'm doing well. I am back on duty now with my team." HInata replied shyly. "I-I hope you don't mind but…..I-I brought us some dinner." She said as she turned and picked up a wrapped set of bento's from next to the tree. "I thought you might be hungry after working all day and since we were m-meeting up and everything…" She looked up shyly at him as she went to hand him one. "It's nothing fancy…..just some onigiri and grilled vegetables. But….well….I-I was just thinking it might be n-nice to eat together ….."

Naruto looked at her for a moment, a large smile growing on his face. "Thank you Hinata! You're right, I am a bit hungry." He said with a laugh as his stomach chose that moment to growl loudly. "I ah...had actually wanted to do something like this with you myself." He admitted with a bit of a blush as he took the offered bento. "It's just with having to keep our betrothal secret and all I couldn't really ask or anything."

Hinata smiled shyly at him. "I-It's ok Naruto-kun. What matters is t-that we at least get chances like this to see each other….r-right?"

"Yeah, you're right!" He agreed with a grin. "So let's eat then shall we?" He said as he settled onto the ground. With a quick 'Itadakimasu' they dug in. Naruto was quite impressed with how simple but tasty the food was, and was even more impressed that she had made the bento's herself. Of course he then remembered the onigiri that she had made for them on that one mission when they were kids and how tasty those were too. As they ate Naruto took the opportunity to question her about things, her team, her hobbies, what kind of things she liked to do when she relaxed. He knew that until Baa-chan gave the order his chances to get to know her like this would be few and far between. It didn't take long for them to finish the small meal, but they hardly noticed as they talked about mission's and life in general. Of course all good things must come to an end, and it came too soon for either of them.

"No way! He didn't say that really, did he?!" Naruto exclaimed as he laughed.

"R-really, he did!" Hinata replied with a giggle. "Kiba-kun was really mad that Akamaru had gotten all that sticky stuff on him and was ready to go get a razor and…"

"I am sorry to interupt but Hinata-sama we really should be headed back." Neji said as he appeared out of the dim woods.

"Already? Come on Neji, can't we talk for a little longer?" Naruto asked, playfully whining at him.

"You know as well as I that it is well past moonrise and the village currently has a curfew for all off duty citizens. It will complicate matters if we are caught out here much later than it is now." Neji replied as he continued to scan the area.

"Yeah, yeah….I know." Naruto said with a sigh as he stood up. He turned and offered a hand to Hinata as he spoke. "Well, I guess I will see you around the village then Hinata."

"Yeah." She replied quietly as she took his outstretched hand and stood up herself.

Naruto gave her hand a gentle squeeze before letting go. "Hinata, I...really enjoyed our talk tonight." He said somewhat shyly.

"M-me too." She replied as she blushed prettily.

"Can we meet up again soon?" He asked trying not to sound too hopeful. He really had enjoyed their time together. Who knew she could tell story's almost as well as he could?

"O-Of Course we can Naruto-kun. I will work on getting it arranged." Hinata replied as she started moving forward towards her cousin. "Well...good night Naruto-kun. Besafe." She said as she started to step past him.

Naruto reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her advance. He turned to study her for a moment, taking in how the dappled moonlight danced across her features as she looked up at him curiously. He could feel his heart racing and a lump trying to form in his throat as he went to talk. "Good night Hinata. Besafe." He said in a quiet voice as he let go of her arm. He turned as she moved past, keeping her in sight as she walked away. He watched her until she disappeared into the darker shadows of the woods. A strange new yearning eating at him. He really wished he could be the one walking her home, making sure she arrived safely to the safety of her family. But for now he would have to trust Neji to do his duty to her as her kin to keep her safe.