The sun was shining brightly that day.

Things were going just great. There was reason for Naruto to be marching down the street, whistling happily.

"It's like a rainbow after a storm," he told himself. "Or a bonus bowl of noodles!" He waved the objects clutched in one fist. "Almost as good as a new jutsu…"

A strong breeze swirled around him, causing his pennants to flutter and dance on the wind. The orange furry tails looked so innocent by themselves, almost seeming cute with their bright white tips.

"Nasty little bastards got what was coming to them," Naruto said, feeling a growing sense of satisfaction. The three Kyuubi avatars had caused their share of havoc; but, it was all irritating mischief, even though the events would require a number of people to make some effort at cleaning up their reputations.

Much like the first fox, the other three needed to return to Kyuubi to renew their strength. That was not possible, once the Hokage and others were convinced of Naruto's claims. Working with Jiraiya, who had turned up unannounced, Tsunade was able to repair the Seal placed by Yondaime. After that, with no connection to the youma, the foxes were little more than animals.

"Hey! Shikamaru!" Naruto saw his friend walking with a group of genin.

"Naruto," Shikamaru said, sighing. "Maybe you shouldn't stand so close to me."

"Huh?" Naruto scratched his head with one of the lone sticks holding a fox tail. "Oh! I heard about that from Choji." Naruto made a face. "Everyone must know the truth by now."

"I hope so," the other boy said. "That wasn't the only trouble that you caused me." He looked up at the clouds, wishing he could lounge around that day.

"What?" Naruto frowned, rubbing at his nose. His eyes widened. "Hey! You mean those demon foxes. Just because they had my memory, doesn't mean that I'm responsible. I never asked to have that stupid demon in my belly!" He cocked his head. "What happened?"

"It was rather bothersome," Shikamaru said. "Ino came over to apologize, for what she had thought about me. One of the foxes must have followed her. It did a very good imitation of Temari, shouting out coarse words in the middle of… ecstasy…"

"You devil, you!" Naruto punched his friend's arm, joking. He smiled. The three foxes had decided to get as many people in trouble as possible. There hadn't been as many Naruto-related con jobs this time around. "See ya!"

As Naruto continued on down the street, he happened upon a good idea. He was definitely going to keep one of the tail pennants for himself. But, why not give the other two trophies to the two friends of his that suffered the most at the hands of those damn avatars?

Passing by one wooded area, he came across a dejected looking Shino. "Hey! Shino! What's up?"

"Ahhh, Naruto. I'm very busy. I need to restore a number of lines." Shino had a large wire cage with him.

"Lines?" Naruto looked perplexed.

"Yes," Shino said, light reflecting off of his dark glasses. "One of the foxes must have imitated my voice, calling an exterminator. The man thought that my house was infested by insect pests. Before my family realized what was happening, he had begun fumigating." He shook his head wearily. "A few species were depopulated drastically."

"Wow!" Naruto mentally wrote Shino down as someone who might deserve a fox tail. "That really sucks. But, at least they won't be pulling any more pranks." He shook his pennants. "Good luck!" He hoped that Shino wouldn't somehow hold him responsible.

The next of his friends he happened upon was Sakura. She was headed to the medical center, carrying her medical ninja outfit. "Sakura-chan! Hey! Sakura-chan!"

"Oh, it's you." Sakura looked at the fox tails and clenched her teeth. "Those are the last things that I want to see."

"Huh? They get you too?" Naruto almost felt a sense of glee. He knew he shouldn't. Sakura and the others were his friends. But, after all that he had been through, it was almost fun to see that other people had a chance to realize what he had faced.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Sakura walked faster. Naruto rushed to catch up.

"Come on, Sakura-chan. It would be better if you told me. I could just ask Shizune or Old Lady Tsunade." Naruto stopped. Sakura stopped too, hanging her head.

"It's probably all over town," the pink-haired girl said, dejected. "One or more of the damn foxes ran through the medical wards, calling out in my voice: 'Haruno Sakura… medical prostitute… ten dollars and I'll cure all that ails you…' I don't want to think about what happened when I started doing round with Shizune."

"Really?" Naruto said. "I can't believe that." He smiled. He couldn't help himself. "Only ten dollars? That's a good deal!" Oooppphhh. The air rushed out of him following a jackhammer blow to the gut. "I was… I was… I was just joking, Sakura-chan." Sitting on the ground now, he watched as the girl stormed off.

It certainly seemed like the stupid Kyuubi avatars had gotten their money's worth while they could. Naruto picked himself off, brushed off some dirt, and went looking for more acquaintances.

Each of his friends had some tale of woe to tell. Akamaru had run off, after hearing the fox speak in Kiba's voice: 'Akamaru just isn't cute anymore. I think it's time to have him stuffed and put on the mantelpiece.' A number of mishaps had left Choji persona non grata in all of the Konoha snack shops and beef restaurants. The avatars had been able to work the phone system. Lee had gotten a phone call he thought was from Sakura, saying to meet her in a certain place. When he showed up, he was surrounded by visiting carny folks… pushed out on stage before a huge crowd… and announced as the Amazing Eyebrow Boy, part of the Freak Show.

"Neji and Ten Ten should have known better," Naruto said as he strolled along. "Well… maybe not," The two of them had thought that the first fox had been captured. It had. But, they were unaware that a little more of Kyuubi had been able to escape in the form of three additional creatures.

Neji had gotten a phone call from Ten Ten. Ten Ten had gotten a call from Neji. Or so it had seemed. When they met in a secluded restaurant and shared one of their secret kisses, they had no warning that they were being televised live as part of a reality TV show.

The list went on and on. Feeling a bit hungry, Naruto headed off for his favorite eatery. On the way, he caught sight of Hinata. She was struggling under the weight of a large cardboard box.

"Oi! Hinata-chan!" Naruto ran over to offer her a hand. Creating a clone, he saddled it with the job of carrying the box. "What's up? That box is too big for you."

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata blushed. "It's… ummm…" She looked unsteady on her feet again. That had Naruto wondering if she needed a pair of corrective shoes or something.

"Hey. You're blushing, Hinata-chan.." Naruto rested the pennants sticks on his shoulder. From a distance, they might look like fishing poles with fish handing from them. "Was it true what Kurenai said the other day… you know…" He still wasn't the most tactful young man. He should know better than to ask Hinata if she really had a crush on him.

"Well… I…" Hinata couldn't get the words out.

"That's alright," Naruto said. "You can tell me later. So, did those bastard foxes do anything to get you in trouble, Hinata-chan?"

"Yes," Hinata said. "A lot of things." She was feeling too shy to volunteer any of the particulars. She looked over at the box again and blushed a second time. She stumbled, not paying attention to where she stepped. She almost passed out when Naruto caught her. 'We're so close. He's touching me.' Her thoughts thundered inside her head.

"Geeez! I'm going to have to complain to Kurenai," Naruto said. "I bet she's taught you a lot of stuff. But, shouldn't she have taught you to walk first?" He laughed at his own joke. "Whoops!" The clone he made disappeared long before he expected it too. The effect of the jutsus performed on his Seal must have affected him more than he thought. "I'll get it…"

"Wait!" Hinata rushed to grab the box before Naruto could. Bending over, they both butted heads, falling to their rumps. 'Our faces were so close,' Hinata thought, rubbing her head. She gasped. "Don't look!"

The box had landed on its side and opened. Some of the items it contained had spilled out onto the street.

"Hmmmm?" Shouting 'don't look' to Naruto was like walking naked into a cannibal convention… wearing a red apron around a bull… or opening a bag of chips around Choji. He immediately stood up and walked over to the box. "Hyuuga Hinata…"

"It's… they're not… I didn't…" Hinata went pale this time. "The foxes…"

The box contained an exotic collection of propeller pasties, edible lingerie, slinky night clothes, leather and chain goods, and sex toys. A number of passersby put their hand over their children's eyes, or walked closer to see what was going on.

"They look like such a normal couple," one old woman said to her crone-like friend.

"Looks can be deceiving." The wizened companion replied.

Naruto gathered up the items and put them in the box. His hands trembled as he did so. It was one thing to look at the occasional naughty magazine. It was another thing to accompany the Ero-Sennin when he made his special rounds. But, it was altogether different to be touching that kind of thing in broad daylight, in the middle of a busy thoroughfare!

Naturally, to make himself feel more comfortable, he deflected his embarrassment to someone else. "So… did you get those because you like me…" Naruto knew that Hinata couldn't have possibly done something like that.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata brought her hand to her mouth.

"I'm just joking, Hinata-chan." He coughed, looking down at the box again and then over at Hinata. It really was a surreal situation, standing there with such a sweet girl, holding a box of X-rated stuff.

"Hinata!" That was a very familiar voice. "There you are, Hinata! I sent Shino and Kiba to look for you. The practice session has been moved to the early evening." It was Kurenai.

Both Naruto and Hinata froze. Beads of sweat formed on Naruto's forehead, as if he was standing in the middle of the Sand's hottest desert. Hinata's hands began twitching.

"Is there something wrong?" Kurenai asked. "Did I catch you two in a private moment?" She raised one eyebrow, wondering if her accidental blurting out of Hianta's secret might have ended up having a positive effect. She noticed the way that Hinata kept looking at the box. "What's in there? Doing an errand for Tsunade or something?" She knew that Naruto had been secluded with the Hokage and Frog hermit for a good bit of the morning. She grinned, seeing the fox tail pennants that Naruto had.

"Well…" Naruto was very tempted to say 'yes, I was moving some stuff out of her office for her.' But, that would have gotten him in real trouble. "Hinata was struggling with her box… so I decided to help her…" He felt like a coward. But, he was not going to take credit for that box, whether or not the jounin ever found out what was inside.

"Hinata?" Kurenai narrowed her eyes. There was something fishing going on. She knew Hinata well enough to know all of her facial expressions and body language.

"It's n-nothing important…" Hinata felt dizzy again. "N-Naruto-kun is being a gentleman…"

"Well, that's reason enough to be surprised," Kurenai said. She decided not to press the matter. "I won't hold you two up any longer."

"Whew!" Naruto said, with a long explosion of breath.

"Yes," Hinata said, handing Naruto a cloth to wipe his brow with.

"So, the foxes set you up, right?" Naruto felt as if everyone he passed somehow knew what was in the box. "What did they do? Phone in a delivery or something?"

Hinata nodded, rubbing her fingers together. "They called the shop in my voice, giving my name." She stumbled again. "The package was addressed to my father, with the invoice having my name."

"Holy shit!" Naruto didn't even realize that he swore. His mouth fell open with an audible snap. "And he opened the package?"

""Y-Yes…" Hinata blushed. "Hanabi was there, too."

"Ouch!" Naruto looked at Hinata with sympathy. "Here, you definitely get one of these." He handed her a fox pennant, explaining why he was giving her one. "I hope that he believe you when you explained things."

"Ummm… I think so…" Hinata swallowed hard.

"Oh. Then those guys with the white eyes who are following us are not spies of your father. It wouldn't be good if they saw us walking together, after that stuff spilled out…" He kept a straight face.

"Eep!" Hinata spun around, hand at her mouth.

"My mistake," Naruto laughed.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed. "You're… you're so…"

"Amazing? Funny? Sexy?" He just had to throw that last one in there. It was a lot more fun teasing Hinata than he would ever have imagined.

"Mean!" Hinata said, louder than she had intended.

"That's true," Naruto said smiling. "But, only with people I like." He watched as Hinata blushed yet again. "So would you like to keep one? Hang it on your pennant?" He shook the box, causing some of the chains to rattle inside.

Hinata didn't answer. She stopped, the color leaving her face again. They had reached her destination. The Whipping Post.

"Well, aren't you going to go in?" Naruto asked, handing the box over to Hinata. She struggled to hold the box and pennant at the same time.

Hinata looked as if she had been carved from a solid block of ice. Her eyes widened when she saw what some of the storefront manikins were wearing. She closed her eyes when she read some of the titles on the movie posters.

"Here, I'll do it for you." Naruto's kind spirit came to the rescue again. "You stay out here."

"Thank you," Hinata said, her eyes full of wonder. It was as if he had asked her on a date or proposed. Even though he might joke around a lot, Naruto had a heart of gold!

"OK," Naruto said when he walked out. "Next time we go in together."

He smiled when Hinata dropped her fox tail.