Naruto could tell that Ark wasn't quite convinced, and decided to help the poor guy out a bit. "Ark-san, can you help me out for a second?" He asked, standing up.

"Sure, what do you need Naruto-san?" Ark asked.

Taking him aside where they wouldn't be overheard, Naruto sighed. "I know it's kind of difficult to tell, but Kari-chan isn't doing so well right now. She's hiding a lot of pain behind that smile, but she won't ever admit it in front of everyone. She needs someone to talk to in private, dattebayo." He said.

Areku mirrored Naruto's sigh with one of his own. "And you think that someone is me? he asked, curious. If that was the case, he wondered why Naruto thought he would be the better canidate to talk to their leader.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and chuckled. This guy was just as clueless as him! "I think you're definitely the one." He said, not wanting to throw Hikari under the bus by telling Ark exactly why he was the one.

Amaya snickered quietly, knowing what Naruto was doing and why he was doing it.

Kari quirked an eyebrow, totally clueless as to what the boys were talking about.

"Don't worry about it Kari-chan, they're probably just being boys," Amaya said with a straight face

Hikari took a moment to think about it, then shrugged. Whatever they were doing, she decided, probably wasn't something she wanted to know about. Boy stuff. "Okay, then."

"The one?" Areku asked with confusion in his voice.

Naruto sighed. "The one who should talk to her! It definitely should be you. Don't question it, just talk to her, 'tabayo." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Why do I have a feeling that you're setting me up for something?" Areku asked with a light tone of accusation in his voice.

The fox faunice raised his hands in a peacemaking gesture. "I'm not, really. I just think that out of all of us, Kari-chan would rather talk to you the most. You were the first one she met here, after all." He said truthfully. With other people it might be a setup, but for Naruto, he was doing it out of honest concern for his friend. One could argue that he wasn't bright enough to set two people up like that.

"You make a good point, and I guess I see where you're coming from," Areku admitted after a few seconds thinking on it. Out of everyone here, he was the first one to find out that she was the daughter of the Starr family and yet not give a damn about it after all...

Crossing his arms, Naruto nodded. "Of course I make a good point. That's just how I am, dattebayo." He said. "Now go talk to her!"

Areku chuckled lightly at that. "And cause her to be even more news around the school? Thanks, but no thanks," he said. Seeing Naruto about to speak up, he quickly continued. "But that doesn't mean I won't talk to her later. Most likely without all these ears around."

Naruto chuckled sheepishly. "I didn't mean out in the open, but okay. It's probably better to talk to her later, anyway. I just thought I'd let you know, since she's pretty good at hiding her real feelings."

"I see...thank you Naruto. Who knew you could be so observant?" he asked before hearing the bell ring for lunch period to be over.

Naruto groaned. "Aw, man! I wasn't finished eating!" He said, running back to the table so he could shove as much food down his throat as possible.

Areku chuckled as he watched the young faunice try to shove as much food into his mouth as he could. "You know, I highly doubt Blake-chan likes you doing that..." he said.

Naruto gave an unintelligible reply around his mouthful of food, which sounded like a rude comeback nonetheless.

Eyebrow raised, Hikari could do nothing but laugh. "You're going to choke, Naruto-kun." She warned, though somehow she doubted that he would.

"He'll be fine Hikari-chan," Areku replied. "Later tonight...come to the rooftops," he quickly whispered into her ear before heading away from the girl. If he had looked back, he would have seen the girl's face become as red as a tomato.

Hikari's face went blank with confusion. Why would he want to meet her on the rooftops? It didn't even occur to her to feel embarrassed.

((Please don't do that. Hikari is Wolfie's character, and Wolfie will decide how she reacts to things.))

(It was not my attention to gain your ire and I apologize for doing as such)

((That's okay. Wolfie is touchy about that kind of thing, and sometimes overreacts. Thank you for understanding.))