"You know, I was thinking."

"Joy."

"We should totally have a reunion." The two men were back at the same café again, drinking the same coffees. Well, one was a coffee. Black, no sugar. The other had black tea.

"A reunion? What, like the five of us? Like a high school reunion?"

"Yeah, all of us. Not a high school. There'd be no dancing in the gym, obviously. Maybe some punch."

"We haven't done that in a while."

"Yeah, before marriage, jobs, children… Damn we're old."

"We're not that old, you're just feeling melancholic with all the recent resurfacing memories."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The coffee-sipping one sighed. "Anyway, back to my brilliant idea."

"Right, reunion. Well, I suppose we could. Just meet for coffee, or did you want a barbecue or something."

"There's that field a mile outside the city where we used to hang out. We can have an outdoor barbecue there, I guess."

"Sure, why not. I'll call her, you wanna get the other two?"

"Alright. I have to go now." He put a few bills down. "Sunday?"

"You got it. See you then."

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Sadly, it was a Monday. And Mondays meant school. And Naruto held a particular disdain for school. Hence, by association if nothing else, that same feeling stretched onto the day as well.

"I hate Mondays." He muttered, pulling a book from his locker.

"I know." Kiba rolled his eyes. "You tell me that every week. Every. Goddam. Week."

"What kind of best friend are you?" Naruto glared at him. "Be sympathetic to my plight, dammit."

"Sure, let me get right on that." Kiba hefted the bag over his shoulder. "What's first period?"

"Math. Incoming." Kiba turned around to see a girl from their class walking slowly down the hall. She was a bit shorter than the two of them, her long bluish-black hair falling down the back and cut just above her pale eyes.

Hinata Hyūga always turned heads when she walked. She was very beautiful, and held herself with the grace of someone growing up in a traditional, well-off family. Not that she noticed the looks.

As she came up to Naruto and Kiba she waved at them, blushing up a storm.

Naruto grinned and waved back. As pretty as the girl was she was almost debilitatingly shy. "Hey man, snap out of it."

"Huh? What?" Kiba muttered absentmindedly.

"She waved, you twit. Wave back." Kiba's hand rose up into the air and just hung there limply. "And wipe your mouth, you're drooling."

Naruto shook his head. As brash as his best friend normally was, when it came to this particular girl it was as if all sense he had was violently kicked in the crotch and forced into a hard reset.

"Hello Hinata." Naruto did as he always would when those two were in the same conversation.

"Hello Naruto. K-Kiba."

"Hinata… hey." As interesting as it was to be the messenger between the two when they were only two feet apart, Naruto felt as if something was missing from the conversation.

"Heya boys." Ah, there it was, hanging off his back with its, or rather her, arms wrapped around his neck. In the perfect position to strangle him if he said something stupid. "What'cha talking about?"

He wasn't exactly sure how it happened, but Naruto had been spending a lot of time with Tenten lately. Not that he minded, really. Not in the least. She was fun and laid-back, if a tad violent. But they weren't exactly boyfriend and girlfriend, no matter what everybody else said.

"Oh, hello Tenten." Hinata must've been caught off guard by the bun-haired mechanic's sudden appearance, the poor girl.

"Hinata!" Tenten grinned in greeting. "Haven't seen you around in a while."

"Hanabi was sick, mother was on a business trip and father had to work, so I had to stay home and take care of her. I hope I didn't miss anything important."

"Not really, just some homework. I can get it for you if you want."

"Thank you, but Kiba already offered and we were just about to go and get it."

"Huh?" Kiba was snapped from his daze. "We were?"

"Of course. You remember, right?"

"Um, sure." He exchanged a look with the equally-bewildered Naruto. "Let's go over there and get the… the homework? But Hinata…" He protested weakly as he was pulled away from the two with surprising strength for such a gentle girl.

"What was that about? Are they a thing?" Tenten asked Naruto. He noticed she neglected to let him go. That meant he had to choose his words carefully.

"No, not at the moment. But I think she thinks that we are. What do you think?"

"Us?" Tenten laughed. Ok, that was a little bit insulting. "Not likely. Not with you harming my baby like that."

"But it wasn't my fault. The Uchiha's guy ran into me."

"Excuses!"

"I really didn't mean to scratch my car." Oh, hell. Those were the wrong words.

"Your car?" Since she was already going to choke him, he figured, may as well go for broke.

"Yeah, I bought it. With my money. I really don't get…"

"Oh, and I suppose you want a new mechanic?"

"What?"

"Don't you 'what' me with that cute innocent expression on your face. Is it because I'm a girl? It's because I'm a girl, isn't it?"

"What? No!" Great. She was sniffling now.

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"Hello?" A brown-haired woman picked the telephone of her office up. "Inuzuka Veterinary Hospital, for all your pets' needs, normal and not so much. Today's special: free check-up with every fixing."

"The hell?" The voice from the other end of the phone gave a bewildered grunt. "Tsume… is this a bad time?"

"Oh, hey Clutch. It's just you. Though it was somebody important for a sec."

"Gee, thanks." She grinned at the phone.

"So what'd ya need? Did you finally decide to get a dog for your girl?"

"No! We had an aquarium once. Do you know how many goldfish I had to flush down the toilet before she got home from school?"

"Um, no."

"I'll tell you how much. I spent a fortune on those damn things, and they're not even big enough to eat."

"Ok then. If you're not calling for my awesome doctoring, what is it that you do want?"

"You know, I'm not entirely sure I trust anybody who refers to their practice as 'awesome doctoring'."

"I resent that."

"Anyway, I'm actually calling about a reunion."

"What, has it been five years since the last one already?"

"No, not high school reunion. Crew reunion. As in the five of us."

"Oh, why didn't ya say so? Hang on a sec. Hana!" She yelled out at the reception are.

"Yeah mom?"

"Take over, I'm going to meet some friends."

"…Tsume… Tsume!"

"What?"

"It's next Sunday."

"Oh. Never mind that!" She yelled back at her daughter. "Will everybody be there?"

"I don't know. It was Minato's idea, so he's obviously in. And I sent him to talk to the boys. We're having a barbecue at the old field outside town. I'd say bring your husband but I heard you ran him away. Again."

"Eh, the spineless coward'll be back. Alright, I'm in. See you Sunday."

"See ya."

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"So, anything?" Naruto asked Kiba when he came back to the two around ten minutes later.

"Well, I gave her the homework she missed, but she'll have to talk to Miss Yūhi about the project."

"Yes, very gripping." Naruto deadpanned. "Did you ask her out?"

"What? I don't like her, what gave you that idea?" Naruto just grinned. "Bah, whatever." Kiba punched his shoulder and walked away to the classroom.

"Was that completely necessary?" Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"Well, maybe not completely." Naruto's grin was unaffected. "But I'm actually going to need your help with something."

"Oh, what? Do you want to replace that fender?"

"No. Well, maybe later. I was talking about Kiba and Hinata."

"What about them?"

"Ah my dear Tenten." He hugged her with one arm, ignoring her blush. "We're playing matchmaker."

"What?"

"Come on, it'll be easy. Like teaching a fish to swim."

"Ugh, don't mention fish." Tenten frowned. "We had an aquarium once. Do you know how many of those things I had to flush down the toilet before dad came back from work? I spent all my allowance on new ones!"

"C'mon, please."

"Fine. But I'm only doing it under protest."

"Your protest is noted and promptly ignored."

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"Hyūga and Hyūga Legal Aid, main office. How can I help you?" A secretary answered the phone of one of the most prestigious law firms in town.

"Yes, hello, I'd like to speak to Mr. Hiashi Hyūga. It's important."

"Certainly sir. What name am I to give him?"

"Namikaze."

"Just one moment." She pressed a few buttons. "Mr. Hyūga, there's a Mr. Namikaze for you on line four, says it's important."

"Alright, put him through."

Inside the large, well decorated office a man with long black hair tied to a ponytail wearing a green suit and white shirt sat behind a desk, typing on his computer. He picked up the phone with a small, almost unnoticeable smile.

"Hey pretty boy."

"Hey flaky." The man ignored the indignant grunt at the nickname. "How's life?"

"Eh, pretty good, mostly."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. I didn't kill anybody, don't worry."

"Why am I only mildly assured?"

"Because you know me too well." Hiashi could hear his old friend's grin in his tone of voice. "Anyway, we're putting the band back together."

"Can't. Wife would kill me."

"No, not like that. We're having a reunion barbecue at the old field."

"Oh. Good. For a second there I was worried."

"Nah, I'm not thinking about going back to the old life. I'll leave that to the kids."

"The kids?"

"Yeah. My boy bought a car. And he's got Clutch's little girl to help him fix it up."

"That's… eerie."

"Tell me about it. Who knows, they may even get your oldest on board."

"Hinata? Not likely." Hiashi sighed. "I swear the girl jumps at her own shadow. I don't know what to do anymore. Nothing I've tried has helped even remotely."

"That's 'cause you're scary Hiashi." Minato deadpanned. "I know you don't mean to but you can glare people into submission. Maybe try less of that." Even though he really, really didn't want to, Hiashi had to admit Minato had a point. "But there's nothing really you can do now. She's in high school. Make or break time. But she's got my kid, and Tsume's. They'll take care of her."

"Tsume's son is a horn dog. He is not coming anywhere near my daughter."

"Yeah, you're gonna tell a teenager what to do. Good luck with that, tell me how it turns out for ya."

"So when is this reunion thing?" Hiashi gritted his teeth at the infuriating blonde.

"Right. Next Sunday, barbecue. Bring the wife."

"Fine, we'll be there."

"Great. I got one more call to make, so see ya later."

"Damn blonde bastard." Hiashi's growl lacked any actual maliciousness, but he did slam the phone on the hook pretty hard.

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"No."

"What? Why not. It's the perfect idea."

"We are not locking the two in a closet and making them deal with their 'nonsense', as you put."

"Ok, give me one good reason why not." Naruto crossed his arms and frowned at Tenten.

"I can give you three. Number one: Where would we even find the keys and the empty closet to begin with? And how would we get them both inside at the same time?"

"Eh, details."

"Two: What if someone were to come by? Like the principal. I don't fancy being expelled over your shenanigans."

"Ok, fine, that may be a slightly bigger detail. But a detail all the same."

"And three: Hinata's going to faint. You know she is. It would be mental overload for the poor girl. And then Kiba would panic and try to open the door. And probably hurt himself in the process. And maybe Hinata too."

"Well I don't really hear you giving any alternatives."

"Why don't we double up? Trick them."

"Huh?"

"I'll bring Hinata to a restaurant, and you bring Kiba. We can stay with them for a little while and then leave 'em there. Depending on how good the evening's going."

"I… Dammit, fine. Good idea." Naruto grumbled. "But make it a coffee shop. A restaurant may be a bit much for a first date."

"Deal. Sunday?

"Sure after we leave them we can go back to the shop and work on the car for a bit."

"You mean I can spend the next day working on the car."

"Hey, I help."

"Naruto you lift stuff. You can be completely replaced by a bumper jack with no change. Hell, if anything, I'd be able to focus better in the quiet."

"That's harsh babe."

"What did you call me!"

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"Troublesome." A man with a scarred face and hair tied up in a pineapple and a goatee sighed as he heard the phone ring all the way in the other room.

"Shikaku, get the phone."

"But it's all the way in the other room."

"NOW!"

"Fine, fine. Troublesome woman."

"What was that?"

"Hello." He picked the phone up as fast as he could to avoid answering his wife.

"Hey Shika."

"Oh, hey troublesome bastard."

"It's nice to hear some things haven't changed at least." Minato muttered dryly. "How life treating you?"

"Like it wants to run me over with a stampede of skillets."

"That… doesn't make sense."

"Of course it does. You need something?"

"Oh, yeah." Minato sighed into the phone at his friends 'logic'. "The five of us are having a barbecue at the old field on Sunday. You coming?"

"Troublesome. Let me check." He turned to the kitchen. "Honey, there's a barbecue on…"

"You're going!" She yelled back. "As long as it gets you out of the house for some fresh air I don't care what it is."

"Oh, ask her to come too." Minato piped up.

"What?" Shikaku whispered into the phone. "Are you crazy? Why would I do something like that?"

"Oh come on. Hiashi's bringing his."

"Still… she's troublesome." His tone was almost petulantly pleading at his blonde friend's stupid grinning face. At least Shikaku assumed it was. The troublesome bastard was always grinning.

"You know you want to."

"Fine." He sighed. "You wanna come?" He yelled back into the kitchen.

"Where?"

"Barbecue with my friends on Sunday."

"You mean I don't have to cook?" That did make Shikaku feel a little bit bad inside. Just a little. "Sure!"

"Alright you bastard, we're both coming."

"Great." Answered the blonde's cheery voice. "See you Sunday then."

"Now what was that before you picked the phone up?" Shikaku slowly turned around to see his wife looming over him, brandishing a skillet like a deadly weapon. Which, in her hands, it was. "Something about me and 'troublesome'? In the same sentence?"

"But honey…"