A/N: Well…this took a while to finish. DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, WE ALL GET THOSE DAYS. Plus, Fanfiction was being gay and wouldn't let me log on. And Cassy wouldn't finish her part.

Cassy: Hey! Liar!

Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's finished, right? And er, it's short. Get over it.

Enjoy!

—FROMTHEDESKTOPOFANDY—

HINATA watched, horrified, as the head cheerleader led Sakura's secret crush into the broom closet right across from where she stood, doing exactly what she thought they were doing. Even as the late bell rang, she found herself frozen to the spot across the hall, her pale eyes wide as she tried to comprehend what she just saw. Sasuke…and Karin? How?

Swallowing, she realized that staring at the same closet that Sasuke had disappeared into until he came out wasn't the brightest of ideas. Forcing her feet to move, she dashed into the closest empty classroom, all thoughts of getting to her next class all but gone in her mind. She slammed the door closed, trying to calm her thumping heart and her ragged breathing.

Part of her was wondering why she was acting (or overreacting) like this. She barely even knew Sasuke, and for all she knew, he went into broom closets to do Kami-knows-what all the time. But from the way Sakura talked about him…she didn't want to know that he already had a girlfriend (or whoever Karin was to him). That would mean she would have to be a good friend and either tell her so she didn't get her hopes up any more, or be a good friend and keep it a secret so Sakura's hopes wouldn't get crushed. She couldn't handle the pressure.

"Did you see that?" Hinata turned around to see another person next to her, looking just as shocked as she was—an emotion not always seen on Uzumaki Naruto's face. Hinata felt the color rush to her face as she continued to stare, which was met by a blank-eyes stare of his own.

"N-Naruto-kun??!!" she squeaked, unconsciously taking a step back to discern this new revelation. She had seen Sasuke and Karin enter the closet together—and so, apparently, had Naruto, by the look on his face.

"Did you see what just happened? In the halls?" His eyes were wide; as if he were willing Hinata to tell him that nothing happened. Silently she nodded, still wondering how this was even possible—she was in a classroom. Alone with Naruto. Part of her was thanking Kami-sama and all his greatness, while another was fretting that any minute now, she'd get a nosebleed or faint or do something even more embarrassing right in front of him, because he was Naruto and she was Hinata and that was always how things went for them.

"I-I didn't know S-Sasuke-san and Karin-san w-were dating," she whispered meekly, edging a little away from her companion in hopes to stop hyperventilating. Naruto, as usual, didn't even realize what was going on. A small part of her sighed in disappointment.

The blonde scowled, his face unusually grim. "They aren't. In fact, the bastard doesn't even like that chick, and for good reason. What is he thinking?" Naruto peered through the window just in time to see his friend slip out of the custodian's closet. The girl—she was in his English class, right?—gazed at Sasuke, her eyes half-lidded and her cheeks red. Naruto wondered if she was sick, or something—she was Neji's cousin, and Naruto recalled seeing her the other day…she was red then, too, he supposed. She must have a fever. But then why was she in school all the time if she was sick?

And why did it bother him so much that she was in school sick? She was Neji's cousin, he supposed, and Neji was—sort of—his friend. And the girl was pretty, too, and soft-looking. Fragile.

But that wasn't the problem here. The girl—whose name he had just remembered was Hinata, a pretty name—had seen Sasuke walk in a broom closet with a girl Naruto knew Sasuke couldn't even stand, and would probably tell all of her friends and then Sasuke would end up publically embarrassed and his rep would be destroyed. Usually, this would be all fine with Naruto, but he knew of Sasuke's failing grades and he also knew that if anything funny happened—he was pretty sure that getting caught having sex with the head cheerleader in school counted—his father would get him stuck in that icky private school in Oto with that headmaster that had freaked Naruto out. Naruto could not let that happen.

He turned to Hinata. "What you saw—you won't tell anyone, will you?"

The girl's face turned even redder, and Naruto wondered if he should get her to the school nurse. When she spoke, it was a faint squeak. "N-N-No, of c-c-course not. I-I won't t-tell. I-It's not my b-business."

Naruto turned his head and watched as the girl finally emerged, still readjusting her clothes and brushing off dust. Naruto didn't know Karin very well, but he knew her well enough to know that now that Sasuke did something with her, she wouldn't let go of him anytime soon. She had her claws sunk into them, and until Sasuke could shake himself free, this whole thing needed to stay on the DL.

He couldn't do it on his own—Naruto knew he could get a lot of things done when he put his mind to it, but he also had the sense to know that he couldn't be everywhere at once. He didn't have all classes with Sasuke, and he couldn't follow the bastard around all day just to make sure he doesn't get jumped publically. He turned to Hinata, sizing her up. She was small and shy, but she could blend in a crowd easily and wouldn't get noticed as well as he would. She seemed to have a good heart, too. He decided to recruit her.

"Hey, Hina, can you make sure no one finds out about this?"

Hinata turned her head to Naruto so fast he was sure she got whiplash. "W-W-W-What?" she squeaked, stepping back a bit. Naruto didn't really notice how her breathing got all shallow.

"Listen, I think this sort of thing is gonna happen again. We need to make sure this doesn't become some full-blown scandal. Can you help?"

Hinata thought about it. She didn't really know Sasuke, but from the small conversations she had with him over the years, she could tell he wasn't the sort of person she'd be friends with at all. But Sakura liked him a lot, and she didn't want her friend hurt. Plus, it was Naruto who was asking her. They would be partners!

"A-Alright." Hinata remembered being swept up into a hug by Uzumaki Naruto before passing out.

—FROMTHEDESKTOPOFANDY—

A/N: And the plot thickens. Ish. (Don't expect another update anytime soon, btw. Andy has some sort of weird thing that SHE'S NOT TELLING ME ABOUT going on, and I do have other stories I need to juggle around.)

-Sighs-. Anyway. Please review!