Chapter 1

Not long ago, in the Hidden Village of Konohagakure in the Land of Fire, Naruto Uzumaki was dating a pink-haired chick. Naruto, Shikamaru, Temari, and "Honorable Kono" (real name Konohamaru) were sitting around a small table in Shikamaru's apartment. Konohamaru looked worried, Shikamaru looked bored, and Temari looked like the cat that just ate the bird.

"You're dating a pink-haired chick?" Temari asked. Naruto nodded, not sure what she was reiterating what he'd just said for. "She doesn't chew gum, does she?" Naruto looked at Temari, wondering what that was supposed to mean. He shrugged. "If she does, she better be careful not to fall asleep; no one would even be able to tell if it got in her hair."

Naruto glared at Temari as Shikamaru and Kono burst out laughing. No one said anything for a few moments, then Naruto told them, "Look, guys, don't make fun of her, all right? She's my girlfriend, and you're not going to change that, so don't mess with her."

Temari calmed down and nodded. "Fine, fine, we won't tease her. So, when do we get to meet her? I hope it's soon." Just as Temari said this, there was a knock at the door.

"That's for me," Naruto said, a shit-eating grin on his face. Getting up, he opened the door. Standing on the doorstep was Sakura Haruno, his girlfriend.

"Hey," Sakura said. Naruto smiled at her.

"Come on in," Naruto said. As Sakura was coming in, Shikamaru and Temari were moving across the room to their respective instruments. Shikamaru picked up his guitar, and Temari sat down at the drums. Konohamaru handed Naruto his bass, and the band was ready. Sakura sat down on a couch nearby to see what was up.

Temari lifted her drumsticks above her head and yelled out "WE ARE THE YELLOW FLASHERS! ONE TWO THREE FOUR!" She hit her sticks together on each word in the four-count; they started playing. The band was mediocre at best, and they all knew it. As a result, they tended to play louder than necessary to make up for their lack of real skill. Luckily, none of the neighbors seemed to mind.

Several minutes later, the band slowly stopped playing. Sakura, a stunned look on her face, finally looked at them all and squealed "OH MY GOD, YOU ARE AWESOME!"

Naruto, who had a decent ear for music, knew they were far from awesome. Hearing Sakura say that they were, to him, made him realize, in the back of his mind at least, he was dating a fangirl. Shikamaru didn't react at all to Sakura's comment, and Temari mimed shooting herself and fell onto her drums.

Naruto gave Temari a glare for her reaction to Sakura. The young couple then left as the other three decided to continue practicing, Kono filling in for Naruto.

"You guys seriously rock," Sakura said to Naruto, her eyes full of adoration. Naruto smiled, not really paying attention to Sakura. He knew this was going to happen. "I mean, really, you guys are all so damn good, I think you're the best I've ever heard."

Naruto smiled. "Well, I knew I was good, but I never even thought we were any good together, so thanks, Sakura." He was being extremely sarcastic. He knew they weren't that good. The sarcasm was totally lost on Sakura, who just smiled at him, her green eyes glinting with excitement.

The two walked toward Naruto's home. He stopped in front of a door set into the ground a bit. "Well, here it is, my secret lair," he said. Sakura's eyes were glinting again.

"Can I come in?" she asked him. Naruto looked at her and seriously considered it, then remembered who else was in there. He shook his head.

"Sorry, the secret lair is one of those no-girls-allowed zones," he said, thinking fast.

"Oh, okay," Sakura said, looking vastly disappointed; after all, she didn't have to be home for several hours yet, and she was more than a little curious what was hiding behind all that orange Naruto wore.

"Hey, you want to see the place I grew up?" Naruto asked, as a sort of consolation prize. Sakura looked up, her eyes glinting again.

"Sure!" she said. Naruto turned around and began walking. A few steps later, he stopped and made a gesture toward the place across the road. Sakura stared at the Ichiraku Ramen Stand (the place across the road) as if she were dying of thirst and it was an oasis. "Wow..." she moaned out.

Naruto closed his eyes and suddenly found himself in the middle of a desert. "I'm so...alone," he said, sinking to his knees.

As he was saying this, a girl with long midnight-blue hair came rushing by him on a pair of roller skates. "You're not alone," she said. "You're never alone."

Naruto sat up. Somehow he was in bed. "What the hell was that?" he muttered to himself. Another young man with brown hair and eyes sat up next to Naruto.

"What was what, Naruto?" he asked. Naruto almost panicked until he realized it was just his gay roommate, Kankuro.

"Oh, nothing," he said. "Just a dream." Naruto got up.

"Dreaming of Sakura again?" he asked. Naruto had told Kankuro about Sakura the day they started dating. Naruto shook his head.

"No, some girl I've never met, I don't know who the hell she was. That was weird, but...I think...she's...the girl of my dreams," Naruto muttered mostly to himself, but he knew Kankuro heard him. He got up and threw on his usual orange clothes. He turned to Kankuro. "Hey, don't tell my sister, all right?"

Kankuro, pulling out his phone, said, "You know me."

Seconds later, the phone rang. Naruto answered. "You're thinking of cheating on Sakura?" the voice of Naruto's sister, Ayame, asked from the other end of the line.

"Not even, who told you? Besides, it was just a dream." Naruto asked, realizing that if he could find this chick, he probably would cheat on Sakura with her, given the chance.

"Kankuro, duh," Ayame answered.

Naruto groaned. "That gossipy bitch," he said, half to himself, half to Ayame.

"You know me," Kankuro said on the line in the other room.

"Dude, private phone call!" Naruto snapped before Kankuro hung up his phone.

"Anyway, you of all people should know how much it sucks to get cheated on," Ayame said, her voice annoyed but also caring.

"Yeah, okay," Naruto said. "I'll take care of it." Naruto had no intention of doing anything at that point. After all, what kind of girl would have midnight-blue hair and those eyes he'd only half-noticed in his dream?

"Earth to Naruto!" Shikamaru drawled. "You only played one note that entire song. And people call me lazy."

"My, uh, hand seal exercises last night gave me a cramp." Naruto knew his excuse was lame. Shikamaru and Temari knew Naruto's excuse was lame. In fact, everyone but Sakura knew the excuse was lame.

"Distracted by your girlfriend?" Temari chided.

Honorable Kono looked up in confusion. "How could you not be distracted by the forehead?"

"What did you say?" Sakura roared at the youngest 'The Yellow Flashers' semi-member.

"Heel girl!" Naruto barked out a command. Sakura shrank into herself and mumbled an apology.

"Let's get this troublesome song out of the way." Shikamaru sighed as he shifted his guitar in his lap.

Naruto was shocked out of his reverie about the girl from his dream. "I'm sorry, what were we doing again?"

"Tch. I told you, we're going to Ino's party. Gah, you've been zoning in and out all day. That dream girl has really made you more troublesome than usual." Shikamaru complained.

Naruto groaned. "This is going to suck so bad!" Moments later, Naruto realized they were at the party. Within minutes, Naruto and Honorable Kono were standing alone. "This sucks!" Naruto moaned. "I'm going to go hit on Temari due to boredom."

Naruto wandered off, looking for his band's drummer, but couldn't find her for the life of him. He noticed he couldn't find Shikamaru, either, but he shrugged that off as insignificant. Suddenly, he looked up and there, mere feet from him, was the perfect man to help him with his other problem, the girl from his dream. Kakashi!

"Hey, Kakashi, you know everyone, right?" he asked.

Kakashi eye-smiled at him, his covered eye and his mask lending him the usual mystique, "Yeah, pretty much, why?"

Naruto performed a rough transformation. The only accurate and non-generic feature was the hair of the girl he'd seen. "You know a girl with hair like this?" he asked.

Kakashi looked at it for half a second. "Yeah, that's Hinata Hyuga, why, you got a new crush, Naruto?"

Naruto dispelled the transformation, blushed and then shook his head, "Wait, she's real? I thought I just dreamed her up."

"Yeah, she's real," Kakashi confirmed. "In fact, I heard she was going to be here tonight. You got the hots-" Kakashi stopped as he realized Naruto had disappeared.

Now Naruto was a man on a mission. He would look at every single person here until he either found this girl or was sure that she wasn't real. He kept looking for several minutes, becoming more and more sure she wasn't real and was just a figment of his imagination, but then...he saw her!

She was standing against a wall across the room from him, her midnight-blue hair falling down to her shoulders, her bangs framing her face in what Naruto thought was a very cute way. Her eyes...those eyes he'd only half-seen in the dream, were lavender-tinged pearls. She was so much more beautiful than he'd ever thought she could be.

Naruto moved toward her as if in a trance. Hinata, as he now knew her name to be, didn't seem to notice him. Naruto was almost close enough to try to talk to her; he never noticed that the cup in his hand was now crushed.

Naruto laughed ruefully at himself. "Just a dream...famous last words," he muttered to himself.

Solvdrage's Author's Note: Yes, this is what you think it is. I'd like to thank HGF for letting me latch onto this idea. We've got some crazy stuff planned. We hope you enjoy the wild ride to come!

HGF's Note: Hope you guys enjoyed this rather short start. More will come, and probably very soon. I'm still massively blocked on Honest Curse, and this will probably be the only thing I really get done for a while. Look forward to more, and hope you all enjoy it as the insanity ramps up!