Hey everyone! I'm back with an updated version of this fic :) I said I'd be rewriting it and I did! The main fixes were things like flow and awkward phrasing and stuff like that. I think it reads much easier than before. The premise is still very much the same as the first version, but made to be less ShikaSaku-centric. Let me know what you think!
Usual disclaimer, I only own the story, not the characters (but I wish I did!)
Without further ado, here is "The List!"
Chapter 1: The List
It wasn't unusual for Ino to throw random spur-of-the-moment parties. In fact, this had become a regular thing that her peers looked forward to. Sometimes she'd throw elegant dinner parties, sometimes everyone would gather in her living room to watch scary movies and sleep over, but more often than not, her parties were just a typical wild gathering among friends.
That's why Sakura wasn't surprised when she came back from grocery shopping to find a small pink envelope in the mailbox outside her apartment. She recognized Ino's stationary immediately and grabbed it before unlocking her door and stepping inside the small apartment.
She set the paper bags of groceries she was carrying down onto the counter and headed over to her cozy armchair to read the card Ino sent her. She slid a finger under the envelope flap and broke the seal, a smile forming on her face. Sure enough, a small "you're invited!" card was inside. Her smile grew as she took it out to read it.
There wasn't much on the inside, which struck her as odd. It simply had the name of the invitation recipient, date of the party (which was a week from today, a Friday), and her phone number to RSVP to. Usually Ino's invitations had a little blurb about the theme or something, but this invite was completely devoid of information.
This wasn't the first time Ino had conveniently left information out of the invite, and past experience led Sakura to believe the blonde was up to something. It struck her as odd that she wasn't in on whatever her best friend was planning.
Conveniently enough, the pinkette had plans to grab lunch with the girls today, so she would have a chance to ask about it then.
...
Sakura walked into the small café and approached the front desk. She was greeted by an older woman with gray hair and a kindly face.
"Good afternoon, dear. Your friends are at the table in the back corner," she said sweetly.
Sakura smiled back. "Thank you Ayumi."
She rounded the corner and saw everyone seated around a circular table, menus in hand. Ino looked up from her menu and made a face, blatantly making a show of Sakura's arrival. "Hey there, forehead!" she greeted loudly. Everyone looked up and smiled at Sakura.
Sakura pretended to be annoyed by Ino's comment. "So I have to sit next to the pig?" she joked, taking the empty seat between Ino and Tenten.
Hinata was the first to speak up. "It's so nice to see you, Sakura," she said softly.
Sakura sighed guiltily, knowing all too well that she never got to see any of her friends anymore. The hospital seemed to own her now, as she rarely left to go home. There were so many injured visitors – civilians and shinobi alike – that needed tending to. She had been neglecting her friends lately in favor of what little sleep she could get in the rare chance that she got free time.
The pink-haired kunoichi looked around at everyone at the table. "I'm sorry guys. I know I've been a terrible friend lately," she said.
Temari rolled her eyes. "Damn Sakura, why do you have to go save lives all the time?" she asked sarcastically. "But seriously, we know you're busy and we understand."
Sakura smiled sheepishly as everyone nodded in agreement.
"Besides," Temari continued, "We're just glad you have this coming weekend to yourself! My brothers and I will be in town, too, so it worked out perfectly."
It was very fortunate that Temari was able to make it to lunch with everyone. The five girls tried to meet up once a month and catch up on things, but it was not always possible for the sand kunoichi to make it to the leaf village. The fact that she and her brothers were all able to slip away the coming weekend? Even better!
"Oh, by the way," Ino said as she passed Sakura a menu. "You kinda need that, huh?"
Sakura rolled her eyes and shot the blonde a smile. "Totally. It's not like we're regulars here or anything," she said back. "You know I'm just going to get my usual."
Ino made a face at her pink-haired friend before grinning mischievously. "So, you're probably all wondering why I gathered you here today."
"You mean our monthly girls' day lunch? Totally," Tenten said with a smirk.
Hinata caught herself mid-snort and hid her face in her menu, embarrassed.
The weapons master playfully elbowed the Hyuga girl. "Go ahead and laugh, I know I'm funny."
Ino made an impatient noise. "Anyways," she said sharply, "I wanted to talk about the party with you girls! You've all received your invitations by now, right?"
"Got mine just before coming here," Sakura said.
"Mailman delivered it this morning," Tenten agreed.
"Same," Hinata nodded.
"Mine's probably getting delivered soon back in Suna," Temari said.
"Good thing you're here, then," Ino said with a confident smile. "There are things to be discussed!"
"Like...?"
Ino grinned deviously again. "You all know about my list, right?"
There were a few audible sighs around the table. Everyone knew about Ino's list of kissable-looking guys. She had taken it upon herself to rank her male peers by the appearance of their lips and how kissable they seemed. Of course, in Ino's eyes these were all hypotheses just begging to be tested.
"We all know about your list," Sakura said dryly.
Ino clasped her hands together and grinned excitedly. "Well, we're all going to put it to the test!" She said enthusiastically.
Hinata's face reddened and she cupped her hands over her mouth.
There were mixed reactions around the table, though none seemed as outwardly opposed as Hinata's. Temari opened her mouth to speak, but the girls were interrupted by the arrival of their waitress.
"Hi girls! Nice to see you all back again," the red-haired waitress said, holding up her pad of paper and pen. "Do you all know what you're getting?"
"I'll just have the usual," Sakura said.
"A cup of chicken and broccoli soup please," Ino asked.
Sakura quirked an eyebrow at Ino and patiently waited for everyone to order before speaking again.
"I'll just have some dumplings."
"The usual for me!"
"J-just a small cup of miso soup, please. I'm not too hungry."
The waitress scribbled their orders down on her small pad of paper and gave a nod. "You've got it! Your food should be out shortly." She gave them a cheery smile and walked away.
"Explain yourself," the fan-wielding kunoichi said to Ino as soon as the waitress left.
Ino ran a hand through her ponytail and smiled wide, showing off her perfect pearly white teeth. "It's exactly like I said! I'm throwing a party to test out the list."
"So... this is a party to kiss guys so you can rank them based on their ability to kiss?" Sakura asked.
Ino nodded enthusiastically. "For science, of course. Genius, isn't it?"
Tenten cleared her throat before speaking. "Isn't that a little… mean? I mean, the guys have no idea what they're getting into by going."
Ino made a 'duh' motion with her hand. "That's the whole point! If they knew the real reason for this party, they might back out."
"And how exactly do you plan on making this work?" Sakura asked.
"Party games," Ino said matter-of-factly.
Temari made a face. "Yuck, we're not little kids anymore."
Ino sighed. "So? Haven't you ever wanted to know how Neji kisses? Or Kiba? Or even Naruto?"
Everyone looked at Hinata at the mention of Naruto. Her face was beet red and she had been awfully quiet up until this point. "N-Naruto's going to be there?" she asked softly.
Ino folded her arms across the table. "Of course! Everyone's going to be there!"
Sakura thought about it for a moment. On one hand, it could get awkward as hell for someone if something turned sour. There were a lot of ways in which relationships could change after kissing members of their friend group, and if this wasn't handled maturely, it could really strain the dynamics. On the other hand, she wasn't completely opposed this idea. It was intriguing to think about how her male friends kissed. It could be fun as long as Ino didn't make them do anything too embarrassing.
"I don't know about this..." she muttered.
Sakura glanced around the table to gauge everyone's reactions. Tenten was smiling giddily, Temari looked thoughtful, Hinata was blushing, and Ino had a devilish little grin on her face. She was practically sprouting invisible horns and a tail to match.
Temari nodded slowly. "I have to admit, this could turn out to be really fun."
Ino gave Sakura a mild 'I-told-you-so' face. "Tenten?" she asked, going around the table for opinions.
Tenten looked up. "I don't know…" she said, feigning reluctance. Her ecstatic grin betrayed her hesitant tone. "…Oh, who am I kidding? I'm looking forward to it. I've always wanted to kiss a whole bunch of guys with no strings attached!"
Ino widened her eyes gleefully. "Hinata?" she asked.
Hinata touched her fingertips together nervously. "I don't know…" she admitted. "I mean, I-I've never kissed anyone before. I was waiting for Naruto."
Hinata was definitely not the shy introverted girl she once was, or at least not to the previous extent. Within this group of friends, she was finding her voice and it felt great. It wasn't to say that she didn't have her moments – she was still timid around others, and quietness was in her nature. The biggest triggers were social situations – much like the one Ino was planning – and the mention of Naruto. Now that both were coming into play at the same time, it was clear that she had crawled back into her shell again.
Tenten gave her an encouraging smile and placed her hand on Hinata's shoulder. "Then this is your chance! You can take charge and get your kiss! The party games will take the pressure off of you."
Temari nodded in agreement. "He won't refuse if the whole party's cheering him on, right?" she added convincingly. "I mean, he's Naruto! He'd love the encouragement."
Hinata blushed harder and thought about that for a moment. They were right about that, after all.
The waitress came back with her arms full of plates. She passed out the dishes to everyone and filled their teacups before leaving once more.
"I'll do it!" Hinata said with conviction. "I'm going to kiss him!"
Ino gave her a silent but enthusiastic cheer. "You know that we're all rooting for you," she said.
Hinata smiled and nodded. "Thanks," she said softly.
Sakura gave her a bright smile before taking a fork and picking at her food a little. "So what should we wear to this thing?" she asked Ino. "Is there a dress code?"
Ino had a small spoonful of soup before answering. "Well, there's no official dress code, but I want all of us girls to look really stunning. So, dresses, alright? They don't have to be too fancy, just any party dress will do. Oh, and preferably something the guys haven't seen you in yet."
Sakura stared at her plate and thought about that for a moment. "Do I have anything like that? How long has it been since I last bought a new dress? Do I even have the money for a new dress?"
She sighed. "Ino, I can't possibly afford a new dress," she admitted. "Does it have to be something they've never seen?"
Tenten leaned one arm on the table, hand on her cheek. "I'm with Sakura on that one," she said, sounding defeated.
Ino looked at everyone at the table, their expressions all telling the same story. "I know what we're doing after lunch," she said with a wink. "Dress shopping!"
Sakura glanced at the clock and sighed heavily. Usually she was the picture of punctuality, but tonight of all nights she was running a little behind. Crouching in front of her full-length mirror, she slipped on her last pale blue wedge heel and stood up.
Ino really did have an impeccable fashion sense - not more than two seconds after the girls had set foot in the dress shop, Ino spotted this dress from across the room and knew it was the one for Sakura. It really was a beautiful one too - baby blue with black ribbon shoulder straps and a black ribbon tie around the waist. Although Sakura mostly wore red, certain shades of blue really looked good on her and Ino knew that.
Sakura fixed the black hair ribbon where her headband was usually tied and adjusted her sapphire earring cuffs before deciding she was as ready as she'd ever be.
Not even halfway to Ino's house, Sakura saw Hinata and Tenten walking together. "Hey you two!" Sakura cried, running up to her two friends as they made their way to the party. Hinata and
Tenten stopped for a second and turned to look.
"Oh! Sakura, it's you! Walk with us!" Tenten cried, putting a hand over her mouth as she looked at her pink-haired friend. "You look absolutely amazing in that dress!"
"Thank you! You girls look great too!" Sakura replied genuinely as the three began walking again, marveling at how her two friends looked.
Hinata was wearing a short sparkly navy blue dress with tulle puffing out the skirt of the dress. A large white satiny ribbon was tied around her petite waist. Tenten was clad in a silver strapless empire-waist dress with a sweetheart neckline. It skimmed her curves perfectly.
Because of their ties to Neji, Tenten and Hinata spent a lot of time together and had become close friends. There was no doubt in Sakura's mind that the two of them had gotten ready together, did each other's hair and makeup, and things like that. Tenten's hair was down for once, and it was a nice change of pace to see her wavy medium-length brown locks framing her face instead of pulled up in her usual tight buns. Hinata was the complete opposite case. Her long indigo hair had been pulled up into a large bun, a few loose strands coming down on either side of her face.
"That's really nice of you, Sakura," Hinata said sweetly. "I think we all look great. Ino picked out the perfect dress for each of us. She really knows her stuff."
Tenten stifled a laugh. "Yeah, she knows everything except how to pick comfy shoes," she said dryly. She was holding onto Hinata's arm for support as they walked - she was a bit unsteady in her tall silver heels. Hinata didn't have to worry about falling over in her white ballet flats.
Sakura looked to the corner and immediately saw Ino's little townhouse on the end - it'd be hard to miss. Multicolored lights were flashing from inside and balloons were strung on her mailbox.
"Looks like we're not the first ones here," Tenten observed. "There's already a party started."
The three sped up their walking as they neared Ino's house. When they arrived, they climbed the small front steps to the door and knocked.
After a few moments of no reply, Sakura pounded on the door, louder this time. "Open up, Ino-pig!" She cried.
Ino opened the door with a big smile on her face. When she saw who it was, she squealed with delight. "I'm so glad you girls are here! Come on in!" she exclaimed.
She was wearing a very short skintight sleeveless iridescent purple dress. There was a collective jaw drop as the three girls looked at her footwear - the blonde towered over everyone in 6-inch heels. How she managed to stand in those was a complete mystery.
The three of them exchanged glances before walking into Ino's house. Well, her living room to be precise. Sakura took a moment to look around the room. Multicolored streamers were hung from the ceiling and corners, and balloons floated lazily along the walls and floor, not tied to anything and quickly losing air. The overhead lights were dimmed, and a party-style light flashed different colors in sync with the music playing on the stereo. Not Ino's best work, but it served the purpose for what this party was really thrown for.
"Hey," a lazy voice said from beside Sakura. Sakura felt a nervous flutter in her stomach – she knew who that voice belonged to. She turned and saw Shikamaru and Choji slumped into the couch. They were actually pretty dressed up for this party - Shikamaru was clad in red jeans and a black leather jacket over a tight white V-neck shirt. His cartilage was pierced, and he had gone back to his small hoop earrings, wearing two in one ear and three in the other. Choji was wearing one of those joke t-shirts with the tuxedo print on the front. His hand was in a bowl of chips.
"Guess we're a little underdressed, huh?" Choji observed, referring to everyone's fancy dresses.
"We're girls. Of course we have to look perfect for a party," Ino piped in. "It's what we do!"
Tenten and Sakura shared an equally pained glance – not everyone was as fashion-oriented or just plain crazy as Ino.
"And that's enough of that," Ino continued, swiping the bowl of chips from Choji's lap.
"Hey!" The auburn-haired shinobi cried. "What gives?"
"You've eaten enough for now. I want you two to be social. Mingle." Ino ordered before bringing the bowl into the kitchen.
Shikamaru threw his head back and sighed overdramatically.
"Didn't realize it was such a hassle to talk to your friends," Sakura commented dryly.
Shikamaru shrugged. "Well, it takes effort to socialize, you know," he said, giving a rare smile.
Sakura could feel her face getting warm. Maybe it was because she knew there would be kissing later on, but she was feeling really flirty tonight. She didn't peg Shikamaru for the leather jacket or the colored jeans type, but he looked good in them. Really good.
"You look n-nice, Choji," Hinata said, taking a seat next to him on the couch.
"Yeah, I like your shirt," Sakura added genuinely.
Choji put an arm behind his head and grinned sheepishly. "Gee, thanks!" He said, a hint of blush visible on his cheeks.
Tenten sat down in the armchair next to the couch and took off her shoes with a groan. "Never wearing heels this tall ever again," she sighed, stretching out her feet and rotating her ankles. "I don't know how you do it, Ino."
Ino, who had disappeared into the kitchen with Choji's chips and hadn't returned, popped back into the living room upon hearing her name. "What's that?"
"The shoes," Tenten said, holding up the high heels she'd taken off.
"Oh! It just takes practice! If you wore heels as often as I do, you'd be great at walking in them too!" The blonde exclaimed.
It was true. For Ino, fashion came before practicality on most days. If there was a way to merge the two, she'd find it.
Ino opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. She instantly perked up and ran to answer it. Everyone on the couch turned to the door to see who had arrived.
Ino opened the door and took a step back, a huge grin on her face.
"Hey!" She cried. "Come on in!"
It was Kiba and... was that Shino?
Kiba immediately made his presence known. "It's ok guys, the party can start now. I'm here," he announced loudly.
Everyone understood Kiba's sense of humor by now and knew not to take his cockiness at face value. It was all in good fun. He never failed to liven up the place.
Sakura admired his outfit - a tight black V-neck over slim light-wash jeans and black boots. He had one small spike through each earlobe, and a fang necklace hung loosely around his neck. He looked good.
Hinata stood up from the couch and made her way over to the boys. She immediately immersed herself into conversation with them. Sakura was taken aback by her boldness until she remembered that they were her teammates. Duh. Of course she was going to be outgoing and talkative around them.
The pinkette continued to look on, tuning out the conversation Shikamaru, Choji, and Tenten were having. She noticed that Kiba and Hinata did most of the talking - Shino was standing by, staring at the floor silently. It was like he was content with taking a backseat to Kiba's loud and outgoing personality.
Well, no... content wasn't the right word.
Shino had obviously taken quite the leap out of his comfort zone - he was wearing black wrist warmers, black skinny jeans, and a blue-gray thermal shirt with the sleeves rolled up. No sunglasses and no hood.
Without anything to obscure his facial expression, Sakura could see that he looked almost... nervous? Yeah, nervous. His eyes were glued to the floor, hands in his pockets.
His spiky hair and quiet demeanor were the only things reminiscent of old Shino. Kiba definitely had a hand in this - his clothes fit Kiba's tastes to a tee.
Sakura caught herself staring. It was unusual to see that much of Shino's face all at once.
And what a face it was. That pale, flawless skin; those narrow, piercing dark eyes... Shino was actually handsome.
That was just weird. Shino was supposed to be the creepy bug guy, not the handsome one. No, that role was reserved for Neji or Kiba or even Shikamaru. Well, at least in Sakura's opinion, anyways. She had a bit of a thing for the lazy genius.
But Shino? Handsome? Those words were foreign in a sentence together.
Sakura couldn't help but turn her head to look at Tenten and gauge her reaction to Shino's new look. Tenten immediately gave Sakura a knowing stare, raising her eyebrows to show her surprise. She'd noticed too.
"Y-you look good, Shino," Hinata said. "I'm glad you guys made it!"
Ino widened her eyes and looked at Sakura and Tenten. "That's Shino?!" She mouthed in shock.
Sakura gave a small nod and raised her eyebrows. Ino's eyes widened more as she glanced between her female friends. "Girls? Can I have a word with you in the kitchen?" She asked urgently. The three of them followed her into the other room.
The four kunoichi stood next to Ino's small kitchen table, circled up in a huddle. "So what's this about?" Hinata asked.
Ino gave her a serious look. "It's absolutely vital that we talk about this breaking news. Shino is hot."
Tenten nodded. "Definitely have to agree with you on that one. It feels weird to say that."
Ino turned and glanced into the other room as if she was making sure no one was listening. There was no door separating the two rooms, after all.
Ino turned back around to face the others. "That's a serious piece of man-candy, girls."
Hinata was blushing silently - this was her teammate they were talking about, after all.
There was the sound of music abruptly stopping in the other room. The girls turned and looked into the living room. Kiba was crouched in front of the TV, fiddling with the DVD player and changing around the wiring on the TV. Shino was standing over his shoulder and Shikamaru and Choji were on the couch, watching him.
"Is there even an entry for him on the list?" Sakura asked everyone, bringing their attention back into their circle.
"You know, I don't think there is," Ino said. "Any thoughts?"
Tenten glanced into the other room for a second before returning to the group huddle. "I don't think he'd score so well. Yeah, he's a total hottie, but he doesn't have the experience. I'd say he's maybe a 3 out of 10."
Sakura nodded. He was still the same old Shino as before, after all – smart, quiet, and a little creepy. Nothing had changed except for his outfit.
Ino looked into the other room longingly. Sakura looked back at the party to see what Ino was staring at. Kiba was standing in front of a flashing TV, a microphone in one hand and the DVD remote in the other.
Ino brightened up. "He's doing karaoke!" She cried, running back into the living room.
"How the hell is she running in those heels?" Tenten deadpanned.
The three girls followed their friend back into the other room and stopped beside her, circled around the canine-loving shinobi. Kiba was going to do karaoke!
"What are you going to sing?" Hinata asked as she approached her teammate. Kiba smirked, showing his fangs. "I popped a CD in. You'll hear it in a sec," he said excitedly.
There was a knock at the door, startling anyone whose attention was fixed on the TV. Ino perked up and maneuvered around everyone to get to the door. "I'll get it! Nobody move, I've got it!" She cried.
No one had even budged from their spots.
"C'mon everyone, don't all go at once," Shikamaru said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. There were a few chuckles in response.
Ino opened the door, and the sand siblings stepped inside. "Come on in!" Ino squealed, gesturing towards the living room.
Sakura headed over to greet them.
"Temari, you look beautiful!" Sakura cried as she approached the fan-wielding kunoichi.
Temari looked at her with a huge grin on her face. "Thanks!" She replied. She was wearing a short black dress with fishnet sleeves and fishnet stockings under knee-high black leather boots. "You do too!"
Sakura smiled and turned to Temari's brothers. They had both cleaned up very nicely - Kankuro was wearing a white button-down shirt tucked into slim black pants, complete with no purple face makeup. Gaara was in a black and white horizontally-striped shirt under a navy blue blazer and navy skinny jeans. They both looked great.
"It's so good to see you guys," Sakura said genuinely. "I'm really glad you could make it."
Gaara gave a rare warm smile. "It's great to be here," he replied.
Sakura opened her mouth to say something in return, but she and Temari were quickly whisked away by Ino.
Ino led the two into the kitchen, an iron grip on each of their wrists.
"What's the emergency, pig?" Sakura asked in irritation. "I was talking to Kankuro and Gaara!"
"I wanted to catch Temari up on everything that's happened so far, forehead," Ino said bluntly.
"Then why the hell did you drag me along?"
Ino rolled her eyes and gave an impatient sigh, as if the answer was so obvious. "Because it would seem weird if I dragged only Temari away and not you, duh."
Temari cleared her throat. "So what happened so far?" She asked.
Ino nodded, getting herself back on track. "Almost everyone is here. At this point, we're only missing Naruto, Lee, Sai, and Neji."
Temari perked up. "So Shikamaru's here?" She asked hopefully.
Ino nodded. "Yeah, the lazy shit's sitting on the couch, but that's not important! there's someone else I wanted to tell you about."
Temari raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Ino clasped her hands excitedly. "Yes! Shino!"
"The weird bug guy?"
The three were distracted by the sound of loud music starting up. Ino glanced into the other room, a worried expression on her face. She didn't want to miss out on Kiba's singing.
Sakura nodded. "He's actually really good-looking," she said, bringing their attention back to the kitchen. "Who knew, right?"
Temari pondered that for a moment. "I need to see this for myself," she said in disbelief.
The three of them walked back to the party. Kiba was singing along to the music, and doing a pretty darn good job of it too.
Temari widened her eyes and looked at Sakura. "He's good!" she mouthed in surprise.
Sakura nodded enthusiastically. Kiba was quite the talented man when he wanted to be.
Everyone was gathered in the living room, watching Kiba's performance and talking amongst themselves. Kiba wasn't using a traditional karaoke cd - the words weren't on the screen for everyone to follow along to, but his act was so mesmerizing that they watched anyways. Kiba was enjoying every minute of it and soaking up the attention.
Sakura had become completely entranced by Kiba's performance, so when the front door flew open with a bang, it startled her.
"I'm here, everyone!" A shrill voice announced from the doorway. It was Naruto.
Lee ran past Naruto into the living room and held up his arms victoriously. "I am here as well!" He cried, standing tall as if he had just won a race.
Sai poked his head around Naruto and waved with his free hand; a square baking dish in his other hand. "Hello, everyone," he said with a smile.
Ino walked up to him, instantly turning on the charm. "Hey, Sai! I'm so glad you could make it! It wouldn't be the same without you here!" She gushed, batting her eyelashes more than necessary.
"I brought chicken wing dip," Sai said simply, holding out the dish in an offertory gesture.
Ino gasped dramatically. "Thank you Sai! You're such a sweetheart, and so cute!" She said, taking the dish from him and eyeing him hungrily - he was wearing blue skinny jeans and a gray sweater vest over a red tie and white collared shirt.
Think Sai think... Say the opposite of what you actually think...
"Of course, gorgeous," he said.
Ino practically melted.
Tenten, who was standing nearby, happened to see these events unfolding and, with quick thinking, stepped in and took the pan from Ino so she wouldn't drop it. "Thank you, Sai," the brunette said as she placed it on the coffee table gingerly.
She gently sat Ino in an unoccupied armchair so she wouldn't make an even bigger spectacle of herself by fainting.
Sai hung his head and sighed. If I call a girl ugly, she hits me, but if I call her beautiful she passes out…
"Will I ever win?" He muttered aloud.
With all of the commotion going on, no one had even noticed Neji standing in the doorway, his eyebrows raised in annoyance. "I get dragged along by art boy and the duo of morons just to be ignored?" He asked dryly. Those morons - Lee and Naruto - were currently making their presences known.
Naruto had made his way over to Kiba and began to battle him for the microphone, desperately trying to coax it from him.
Lee had his sights set on Sakura. He immediately made his way over to her, target sighted and locked. She didn't notice him coming until it was too late and he was right in front of her.
"Sakura, you are like a ravishing youthful flower in full bloom!" He professed, kneeling down and holding onto her hands.
Sakura glanced around the room, looking for help, before turning back to her youthful suitor. She gave him a strained smile.
"Hi there, Lee," she said as calmly as possible. "I see you're not wearing spandex," she said. "You look nice."
Lee was wearing a green t-shirt over tan khakis. It was certainly a welcome change.
"Thank you Sakura. It makes me shed manly tears because you think so!" He said loudly.
Sakura looked around for a way out. It's not that she disliked Lee, it was just... Well, he was a lot to take all at once, and his incessant attempts at courtship got annoying after a while.
"I think I heard Tenten calling me," Sakura fibbed, trying to get away. Gosh I'm such a terrible person for trying to ditch him…
Lee widened his eyes. "I must talk to Tenten as well!" He cried.
Great going Sakura, use his teammate as an excuse...
Sakura scanned the room for Tenten, and found her chatting with Neji.
"You called me, Tenten?" Sakura asked, approaching the two of them.
"I didn't call you Saku- oh!" Tenten said, turning around. The look of confusion on her face turned to understanding when she saw that Lee was trailing Sakura. The pink-haired kunoichi was smiling nervously, gesturing towards him with her eyes.
"Oh, oh right," she said in realization. "Right! I uh… I wanted you to, uh... Help me fix my hair! You too, Neji!" She lied.
Sakura smiled for real this time. She could always count on Tenten to help her out in a pinch.
Neji frowned. "Why do we need to fix your hair? It looks perfe-!"
He was cut off as Tenten slapped a hand over his mouth and dragged the both of them into a side hallway.
"What was all of that about?" Neji asked irritably when the three of them were out of sight. "Your hair doesn't need fixing."
Tenten sighed. "Relax, Neji. If I'm guessing correctly, Lee was coming on too strong and Sakura needed to get away. Am I right?"
Sakura sighed and slumped against the wall. "You're correct. He called me a 'youthful flower in full bloom.'"
Neji shook his head and brought a hand to his forehead. "That idiot doesn't know when to back off," he said, sounding disappointed.
"It's a shame, because I like him as a friend! He's a bit too intense for me when he does the romance stuff though," Sakura said. "If he'd cool it and just act like a normal person, then things might be different."
Tenten chuckled and ran her fingers through her hair, leaning against the wall. "Lee's definitely an acquired taste, Sakura, but his passion is admirable. I'll tell him to tone it back a little... maybe it'll sink in this time."
"He is a good guy and a good friend," Neji admitted. "Try not to let him scare you off."
Tenten smiled and ran her fingers through her hair again. She paused, looked down at her hair, and widened her eyes at Neji. "Hey, hold on! When we were getting Sakura away from Lee, you said my hair was perfect. Now you're actually defending Lee as a friend. What's up with you being nice?"
Neji sighed and looked around to make sure no one else was listening. "I'm trying to be a little nicer. Apparently I come across as cold and heartless, so I wanted to show that I'm not a bad guy. I am pleasant and I can have fun."
Neji blushed after he said this, as if he were embarrassed. Now that he mentioned his behavioral transformation, Sakura could see that his outfit was totally laid-back and out of character. The coffee-haired shinobi was wearing an open light blue plaid button-down shirt over a white t-shirt. His brown pants were rolled up to show off his unconventional footwear - flip flops.
"We'd better get back to the party before Lee comes looking for us," Tenten said. Neji and Sakura nodded in agreement and the three of them made their way back to the party, scanning the room for Lee.
They found him holding the microphone with Naruto, getting ready for another song to start. Kiba was standing to the side, his arms folded. He looked pissed.
Tenten's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh no, no, no… Those two should NOT be allowed to sing," she said worriedly as she began to make her way over to them. "They're tone-deaf!"
Just as Tenten began fighting to pry the microphone from their hands, Ino stepped into the center of the room and cleared her throat loudly.
"Attention everyone!" She shouted. Very few people quieted down to listen to her. Folding her arms and frowning, she tried again. "HEY EVERYONE, SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
The room fell silent.
Ino smiled, obviously pleased with herself. "Much better. Now that we've all had a chance to socialize, it's time to play a party game!"
There's the first chapter! Tell me what you think (review please!) :) Thank you for reading! - Gallade