…A simple proposition was put before her and who could resist the urge to bring two people together,

Setting others up has never left you with such a rush as this one…

…

…Sakura learns that having gullible friend's helps undeniably in these games…

Snow Apples and Hazelnuts

One shot

By Kuumo~

The winds were high and the fashion was set for the summer of Konoha, girls in short, light summer dresses plagued the streets like swarms of bees. It was barely midday and the day was cascaded with a critical heat wave with breezes that only made things worse.

People soundly continued their work, but they all knew that it was going to be a long day, with this natural and unwanted warmth. The sound of laughter was still heard on the streets though, children had their little water fights where some of the academy ninja were claiming to be "dominating" the civilian children.

Sakura didn't much care to notice these little things in her home town; it all seemed to be digging too far into most things. But here she was, watching the people go by, as the trickle of drinks being poured and another burst of laughter surrounded her distracted form.

Sakura went to open her mouth, but with the initial arriving of the drinks Sakura was saved, her retort was re-thinkable as the waiter gave them their drinks sharing light conversation with Ino who was being as none sexually friendly as she could be. Four women sat around a booth, all facing one another as they conversed humorously with comical laughter and conversation.

"I can't believe that you're wearing such a thing on a day like this? Aren't your hot?" Ino asked shyly, well pretending to be anyway, and looked up at him with a wide smile.

Sakura had heard that one before, rolling her eyes she waited for her drink to be given to her.

"Can't say that I'm not, but the boss wont let us take it off" he commented, he was maybe a year older than all of them and he wasn't necessarily bad looking, brunette flicks of hair beside his temples and soft green eyes darker than Sakura's held an alive spark in them.

"Don't worry, we will enjoy your forced labour" Sakura replied and took her strawberry sundae from the tray and placed it before her. She watched his mouth twitch to a smirk and he looked at her with a smile.

"Nice to know it's appreciated" he said sheepishly and wrote down the check, he smiled at Sakura again and left for the counter bar. Once out of distance, Ino turned sharply to Sakura, who had already stuffed a spoon of ice-cream in her mouth.

Deliberately done so that Ino would attack her, but Sakura couldn't reply because of the stickily sweet and cold substance in her mouth.

'Damn I'm good' Inner Sakura boasted fierily.

"Why'd you do that forehead?" Ino exploded angrily; Sakura was muffling a giggle with the icy cream in her mouth, trying not to spit it out. Tenten was currently joining Sakura in the little giggle marathon, swallowing quickly Sakura regained her posture.

"Please Ino, your where embarrassing yourself" Sakura pointed her spoon in her blonde best friends general direction while smiling stupidly

Unspoken was the correction; Ino was embarrassing them.

"So how was your last mission, you were so excited about it Sakura" Tenten curved the argument to Sakura's favour, not in the mood for an argument so early in the meet date for all of them, while she stirred her liquid drink.

"It's was a complete mess… Naruto was harshly burnt by the explosion and Sai had at least three broken figures when he caught Naruto from his fall" Sakura stuffed the spoon into her mouth with anger, her cheeks curved in as she sucked the ice cream off the spoon, before retracting the metal from her mouth and began to stir until she swallowed.

"This only rendered most of Sai's jutsu completely useless considering he can only write with his left hand" her voice indigent and burdened, her shoulders slumped comically as she placed her chin in her right hand while her left stirred the still substance in her glass. Ever green hues dimmed and narrowed in an opposite direction timidly.

"And what else happened?" Tenten enquired and leaned in, her drink momentarily put aside; Ino copied the move as Hinata watched coolly from pale eyes, which seem to look not at Sakura but through her, into her mind.

"I ran into another nin, a Cloud-nin to be exact…" Sakura told them softly, releasing the spoon to allow her left and to rest on the clean flat surface for the moment, her gaze returned to them coyly, only making her more obvious.

"And?" Ino purred, her new pedicure nails were linked as she placed her angled chin upon her small twined of fingers, the smirk on her face was thin and smug.

"And what, there's nothing more to add" Sakura said snobbishly, her nose flicked in the air violently, she made a quick grab for the spoon but Tenten interrupted her strategy.

"Come on, there has to be more" the brunettes voice held a tease to it, whirling with mischief as Sakura was left open and with no back up, the two were tag teaming her unfairly.

"We talked about the damage caused by the bombing and the possible punishments of the perpetrators" Sakura told them, her brows drawn down in annoyance and her eyes flashed angrily, as another opening of their mouth denied her sweet treat.

"Doubt full, very doubt full!" Ino interrupted before drowning at least half her green tea in one fell glug.

"A cloud nin? They've been known for their good looks…" Tenten commented, her smirk was cheeky and her teeth were as white as the Hyuuga eye.

"You talked about punishment?" Hinata inquired, her head tilted to left in confusion, but the small smile and blush showed that she was playing the same game as the other two.

Sakura felt cheated… feeling oddly like Sasuke towards Itachi.

Revenge will be in store…

"Nice pick up Hinata, I missed that pun" Ino cheered the blue berry haired girl, giving her a reasonable whack on her shoulders that left the girl shaking in its after math, her pale eyes winced as she felt the hit pulse underneath her sheer cardigan.

"It was nothing like that!" Sakura half yelled, her blush was fierce as she denied any involvement in that way.

"Sure, sure… you can't lie at all, any money you where talking dirty to that poor Cloud-nin" Tenten commented out of context, Sakura noted it as the tally was set up in her head and inner Sakura cheered at her next victim; Tenten.

"What do you mean poor Cloud-nin?" Sakura whined, she was getting more angry and self conscious as well as insulted by the onslaught of verbal abuse she was taking. Sakura eyes narrowed then softened, flashed and dimmed, glazed over and sparkled all in a few seconds.

"Come one Sakura, you aren't a sweet talker" Ino told her, shaking her hands dismissively, and leaned back against the cushion. Under the table her legs crossed and her now unused hands twisted behind her head and she closed her eyes to show off her confidence.

"I am too!" Sakura yelled angrily, her body twitch as she refrained herself from reaching over the table and throttling her friend out of existence, her fist clenched on the top of the table and her chakra surged and spiked as her aura.

"Don't make me laugh, you blush and stutter worse then Hinata!" Ino guttered, pointing an accusing finger at herself then Sakura and a thumb at Hinata, her soft laughter filtered around them while Sakura growled like a beast and Hinata blush was several different but violent shades of pink and red.

"Don't use Hinata as a butt of your joke" Tenten's input silenced the growing argument. Her summer outfit was spotless as she drank her iced coffee, Neji's equivalent to ecstasy, which was now Tenten's choice summer drink. The weather seemed too have slipped back into the day, heat packed into the small, easy café while outside was even more humid and dusty. Sakura was shocked back to reality and stared at Tenten a slight daze, summoning up her weapon's master friend. Sakura wasn't one for trends anymore, she mostly wore what ever she found appropriate, comfortable and looked good on her and only her (key this discovery to Ino)… but the last reason didn't necessarily go for the other girls.

"Nice skirt Tenten" Sakura offered off handily, but they both knew what was up for the stack as they both invisibly battled it out between them.

A new argument had surfaced, distinctly different from Sakura's and Ino's blind, rage-encrusted, feud while this new one only revolved around wit and trickery!

"Isn't it? I saw it the other day in this little shop near that little tea house you introduced to me last month or so…" Tenten performed a striking serve, sending the shuttle cock flying in Sakura direction with an almost inhuman speed.

"Such a soft colour though, I though a nice emerald or green would suit you Tenten, but this is a nice change" Sakura smiled a bit too sweetly and decided how cheesy she must look because her cheeks hurt after smiling in such a way.

"You should go have a look in it; there were plenty of skirts like this one" Tenten fiddled with the hem of her skirt, smiling softly down at it.

Did she think she was stupid? Buying the same skirt as her friend, that was an insult on Sakura's part.

"I'm going to that tea house tonight; I'm sure Neji wont mind stopping by that shop afterwards…" Sakura had just, skilfully and quiet honourably, served again and wiped Tenten along the floor.

"Bullshit" Tenten said quite dangerously; Sakura had to bit her tongue not to laugh at the quite unhappy display Tenten was portraying. Though, Tenten's verbal blasphemy was also uttered by the rest of the group.

They had no faith in her to tell the truth, did they?

"I shit you not, he told me the other day that Tenten was boasting about her new discovery" Sakura finished and gave an unhappy glare at Tenten, the tea house was Sakura's idea and she had dragged Tenten along cause Ino was on a mission as well as Hinata, and continued with her story.

At least that half of this plot was true.

"He asked quite politely for me to show him the menu later on tonight" Sakura shrugged lightly, stirring the slowly melting cream in her glass cup, taking her spoon and lifting a remaining lump of ice cream to her mouth.

"And you?" Tenten asked with her palms flat on the table and her body had slightly risen from her leather seat, her brow twitch nervously as she waited for the answer from Sakura's sweet mouth. Sakura didn't look up at Tenten; she had refused to since the start of the small verbal battle.

"I couldn't say no to him…" Sakura diverted her eyes and she put another spoonful in her mouth, sucking on the steel object in a deject way.

"What do you mean 'couldn't'?" Ino asked, her own interest perked and her confusion for this sudden confession only tweaked higher as Sakura's attitude and body language gave her away as well as Tentens obvious outrage about the entire aspect of Sakura having Neji.

"Well, he sort of said that he wanted to talk about something important... and I've never heard Neji stutter about anything before" Sakura looked up at Tenten, her eyes wide with excitement and narrowed with pleasure, her thin but full grin reminded Tenten of a pampered cat that had just gotten its cream early. Just to ebb it into Tenten's mind of Sakura physical growth, the soft pink tongue that belonged to the pastel haired woman dipped out of her small mouth and rubbed her startlingly(suddenly dawned) full lips to remove the remnants of the ice cream that strayed from the spoon.

Tenten breath caught in her throat at the realisation of Sakura's words, sending her hurtling back to reality.

"M-my cousin st-stuttered?" Hinata's speech impediment caught up to her, her mother of pearl eyes shimmered and widened; her shock gave her an anxious appearance as her thin hands were placed over mouth to muffle her words and her embarrassment.

"Nice demonstration of what it was like Hinata" Sakura's crude remark only sparked and reminded them of her current embarrassment as they watched.

"But… why Sakura?" Tenten cut in harshly though her voice sounded like she was choking back tears.

"Why?... I guess it was…" Sakura threw her eyes away from all of them, facing the café's interior and the other patrons around them,

"It was?" Ino interjected, starting to get worked up by Sakura's behaviour and ignorance to Tenten's emotional state, flashing Sakura a dangerous glare. A few moments passed the four women.

"So cute" Sakura smiled shyly with sheepish eyes, a visible (and bright) blush appeared on her face and the entire group of girls were under her spell. The deed was done and she had tactfully pulled off that she not Tenten was going out with Neji, he had something important to tell Sakura and the proud, the elegant, the renowned ice-heart Hyuuga Neji stuttered when asking about said date.

The secret behind Sakura's bright blush was due to her imagination; a half clad Sasuke… her little secret.

It took Tenten a couple of dark moments to collect her thoughts, before she rose swiftly, her fist clenching and unclenching a few times before she skirted around the booths cushions and left behind three friends that stared after her retreating form.

Sakura sighed contently and leaned against the soft leather cushion on their stall, waiting for Hinata and Ino to be over there small amazed daze before surfacing back to the current reality.

"Where is she going now?" Ino asked stupidly, turning her head around to gaze at the now disappeared Tenten, her long platinum hair spilled down her shoulder as she chewed her lip

"It's just a thought, but, maybe she's going to confront Neji" Sakura told them matter-of-factly, shrugging her shoulders and tugging her floral flower dress further down her thighs before the hand returned to twirl a strand of pale hair in her fingers. Her lips pursed slightly.

"Is Tenten going to go, and, confront Neji!?" Ino asked dumbstruck, she herself leaned against her cushion is complete confusion and astonishment. Hinata seemed to have followed the trend and leaned against the soft red cushion, except of staring into space she looked at Sakura in an un-impressed way

… And too this, Sakura winked with mischief.

Hinata's right brow was raised and she was bitting her bottom lip casually as she replayed the turn of events in her head.

"I wouldn't be too surprised if she is…" Sakura concluded and leaned foreword, her fingers linked and her chin was placed on top of her hands and she gave a wicked grin.

"…" Hinata seemed to be tallying up something while Ino looked at Sakura who was staring at the blueberry haired girl with a sly grin.

"…" Ino looked at her with raised brows and the reality of the situation crashed down.

"…!" Ino had wide eyes and Sakura shrugged casually.

"I can't believe it was that easy as well" Sakura told them and she stood up, her sundae was finished completely, she was going to leave a tip for the nice waiter from before.

"It's for the better good" Sakura said to a dumbstruck Ino and Hinata as she causally walked out of the booth, with slightly more grace then the adorably furious Tenten.

Leaving the small café after paying and stepping into the real blistering heat outside, Sakura smiled ruefully and planned to head back home, to her small apartment to try and survive until the evening… and her dinner date with her two team mates.

Tenten doesn't need to know the altered and completely false reality she was putting herself into.

Smugly, Sakura walked casually down to the end of the street and down four corners before she retreated to her apartment, closing the door and dropping her keys onto the bench of her kitchen, ignoring the large amount on ryo that wasn't on the bench when she left just an hour before hand.

"For the better good, you said… " Sakura smiled and fingered the fresh notes and neatly stacked coins; there was no point in counting… she got her due amount.

Sakura knew she had it all... Hell, Sakura probably got a more than was offered and originally accepted.

All this trouble for a light, silk beige skirt.

"…Your not a single bit wrong Hinata-chan" Sakura smiled and decided to place on her short scarlet silk dress with a strategy; the colour red look horrid on Ino, the skirt wouldn't fit Hinata's wider hips and the skirt would be much too short on Tenten's long legs.

Sakura thought distinctly how good it felt to have everything in arms reach…

Heh, I haven't updated in along time and I apologize formally to Tsukiai Ujigami and Satoru!!!.... But mainly Tsukiai… Dedicated for crappy friends that want to take your clothes using their amazing wit!!!!! :( lol (And who hasn't scammed a friend into asking a crush out, especially in a jealousy sort of way, I'm guilty as charged)

This one-shot will have a second part called "99 With an Anchor" and it's roughly the separate conclusion of the night for Sakura, as she goes to meet Naruto and Sai (aka her two team mates!!) and it shall be much longer…!

The name I must admit might sound a little funny, but when my friend explained what a Snow apple was I immediately thought of Neji and his white eyes that match the fruits flesh. While Tenten reminds me of a Hazelnut, with its strong and durable exterior but is delicious as a spread (Hurrah for Nutella) LOL

K, thx bye =D ~3