In unison, the girls let out an audible gasp.
"YOU WHAT?!" Tenten screamed.
Sakura was suddenly overtaken by uncontrollable laughter.
Not too far away, Hinata had one hand over her mouth and attempted to hide a small smile.
With her bright blue eyes widening in embarrassment, Ino winced due to the fact that she had to repeat this aloud again.
She placed her right hand on her hip and pretended to admire the nail polish on the other.
"Yep, I hooked up with Kiba. I mean…it happened so long ago I had almost forgotten." Ino said pretending to be bored.
"How could you forget something like THAT happened?!" said Sakura as she tried to suppress another fit of giggles.
All at once the girls whispered to each other in astonishment, leaving Ino irritated enough to close her eyes and turn away from everyone.
"Can I just s-s-say something?" Temari asked while sloshing wine around in her glass.
Ino opened her eyes immediately to stare at Temari in a pained expression, clearly afraid of what she was going to say.
Temari was always extremely brash and unapologetic.
Ino wasn't ready to hear what she had to say, but nodded her head towards Temari's direction indicating she could speak.
"I'm soooooo relieved you didn't say MY Shikamaru…I probably would haveee..kickedyourass." Temari boldly announced after a large chug of wine.
Temari casually excused herself from the table to get another drink, leaving the other girl to look at each other in astonishment.
As Temari eventually turned her back to the table of girls to fill her glass, there was a tornado of hushed voices in the background.
"Oh my GOD", "HER Shikamaru?! That's so cute!", "Don't worry I'm going to tell him."
Immediately after Temari turned back around to walk to the table they stopped whispering about it.
"Tell us the story now, please!" Karui pleaded with wide eyes.
"Well…" Ino began to start.
The girls huddled even closer together now almost sprawled on each other and holding hands for support.
"This was maybe… like ….2 years ago? Shino, Kiba, and I were sent on a mission to the Land of Waves to help capture a known murderous band of thieves. Due to the fact that Shino rarely speaks, I was bored out of my mind and could only talk to Kiba. And I mean... it wasn't a bad thing, he was actually pretty funny. Anyways, after Sasuke had left, I needed something to get my mind off of him. And Kiba was an attractive boy who was actually paying attention to me." Ino began to explain.
Immediately as Sakura heard Ino mention Sasuke she felt a pain deep within her chest. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at the thought of Ino needing something to get her mind off him.
As Sakura took a deep breath trying to calm down, she was interrupted by Ino.
"I mean...Kiba WAS attractive, don't you think?" Ino asked the crowd.
There is an awkward silence that moved across the girls almost in a wave.
Ino cleared her throat in an attempt to have some noise fill the room again.
"Anyways! After spending almost a month out on this mission, we started getting really close. And I started to have some feelings for him, but I didn't want to say anything."
Hinata looked at Ino with a smile and nodded her head in understanding, thinking about how she used to be with Naruto.
"So when do you guys hook up?" Karui hooted from across the table.
Ino's eyes bulged from her head and a loud gurgle came from her throat.
"I'm getting to that part you idiot, I just have to build the tension!" Ino screeched.
"So after tracking these guys down for awhile, we finally caught up with them as they tried to cross over the border. We were outnumbered but were able to fight them without too many complications. I used my mind transfer jutsu on one of the goonies, but it went wrong." Ino slowly described.
Ino had noticed that all the girls at this point were all resting their chins in their palms and were giving her their complete attention.
Ino had a twinkle in her eye as she soaked in the moment of having all eyes on her for once.
She knew she had to build the story up to make it interesting for them.
"One of the goons had figured out that I was now actively controlling the other and took advantage of it. He threw kunai knives at me, and I couldn't get away. Kiba was screaming for me to come back, but for some reason I couldn't transfer into my own body again. Shino managed to distract them with his flying bugs or whatever and I was able to go back to my own. I was pretty badly hurt and had no chakra left. I ended up passing out during the fight, so I don't have all the details of how it ended. But when I opened my eyes Kiba was holding my head in his lap stroking my hair. The butterflies I had at the time were unreal. But, I kept my cool and tried not to show it. I couldn't walk at all, so Kiba had to carry me on his back while Akamaru and Shino were walking ahead of us looking for shelter for the night. He told me that he was really worried about me, and blah blah blah." Ino said in a bored voice.
"Wow, these are some great details." Karui snorted.
Ino's eye twitched as she began to pace around the room.
The girls that surrounded the table were unable to take their eyes off of her, and were desperate to hear the rest of the story.
"We ended up finding some dumpy little shack to sleep for the night and tried to rest for the journey home. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep, so I decided to take a walk around the shack. I was thinking about how badly the fight went, and how useless I was during it. Then I heard someone walking towards me but I didn't bother to look. I was too grumpy and upset to even turn around for them. I felt Kiba's jacket as he leaned against the tree next to me. He started talking to me, but I really wasn't paying any attention to what he was saying. He knew I wasn't listening, so he put a finger under my chin and turned my face towards him. He looked sooooo cute showing some concern for me, and then I don't know what came over me…" Ino trailed off lost in thought.
Ino looked back at the girls who were still in the same position as before, but this time their mouths were hanging wide open.
"So….what happened Ino-Chan?" A doe eyed Hinata asked in a hush tone.
Ino looked up at the ceiling to all the twinkling lights above her head, and a small smile creeped on her face.
The lights above her kind of reminded her of the night it happened.
It was something that she repressed for a long time, and it felt unusually nice to almost relieve the story again.
"I just kissed him. I literally just grabbed his face and kissed him." Ino sighed being slightly embarrassed at her actions from so long ago.
There was an overwhelming amount of gasps and deep breaths heard from the girls across the table.
Even an unbelievably trashed Temari couldn't help but react in the same way.
Ino waited for someone to say something, but no one was speaking up.
Was she supposed to say something else to them?
Finally, the always outspoken Karui broke the silence. "So you just kissed? That's it?"
Ino immediately turned as red as Sakura's dress and looked at the floor.
"Well, no… We actually had sex against the tree while Shino and Akamaru were asleep."
Ino's eyes quickly darted around the table looking at the girls individually.
Each of them held a different expression on their face.
Ino first looked to her left at Karui, whose eyes were bulging from her head with her mouth hanging open.
Temari was so shocked that she was literally grabbing onto Karui's arm for support, and looked frozen in place.
Hinata had her hands covering her eyes and mouth completely, making her expression unreadable.
Tenten's eyes were squinting at Ino, making her nose and upper lip crinkle.
Sakura literally looked like a villain from a horror movie. Her hair was disheveled from her hands running through it so many times. Her eyes were completely closed and she had the largest and jaggiest smile spread across her face.
The room remained so silent that the only thing that could be heard was Ino's heavy breathing.
All of a sudden, the five girls looked at one another and screamed at the top of their lungs with excitement.
Ino was suddenly drowning a sea of random questions from the other girls.
"WAS HE GOOD?!", "Does Sai know?", "Holy shit are you serious?" ,"Was he your first?"
Ino shook her head and kept her mouth completely shut, planning to avoid answering any of their questions.
After the screaming and questions died down, Ino finally spoke.
"We tried to date in secret for awhile after that. But, the only thing we could bond over was that mission. Anytime we tried to talk or do anything we would always argue. I think the reason why it happened was because in that moment my emotions went crazy and I wasn't thinking straight. I'm not going to say anything else because I've told you enough."
"So…it is weird when you see him?" Tenten quietly asked
Ino thought about the question for a long time.
But when she finally knew the answer to it, she walked back to the table and took a seat in her chair.
"Not at all. We both know what happened and we accept it. We're friends and I'm really glad it ended that way. If it wasn't for that ending, I probably wouldn't be able to be with my amazing fiancé." Ino said with fierce emotion.
"I'm so incredibly happy right now. And I wouldn't trade that for any person or any thing. I thought I knew what falling for someone meant, but now I realize that I was wrong. The way I feel about Sai is the true definition of what love is."
Without warning, her emotions began to spill over and a tear fell down her cheek.
Ino didn't dare to look up from the table as she wiped her eyes with a napkin she stole from Sakura.
She looked at the purple silk beneath her hands and twisted the fabric around.
She took a deep breath and smiled, remembering that she was getting married to her one true love tomorrow afternoon.
Interrupting her thoughts about Sai, Karui suddenly stood up and got out of her chair.
Ino grabbed some extra fabric and pinched it tightly, trying to control her anxiety for what was going to happen next.
Karui suddenly began to slow clap as Ino slowly looked up at her, meeting her soft gaze.
Ino looked around the room, surprised to see how touched everyone was.
"That was so beautiful." Tenten whispered.
Karui interrupted the tender moment by yelling, "That was one hell of a story. If this is only the beginning of these question things, then I'm fucking JACKED about what everyone else has to say."
Ino made direct eye contact with Sakura, and they stared at each other for a moment. Sakura's mouth twitched into a smile only Ino could recognize.
"Sorry to break up the eyesex between the two of you, but will you pass me the bowl?" Karui asked Ino.
Ino fluffed her hair to one side then reached in front of herself and slid the glass bowl to her left to be right in front of Karui.
Karui cracked her knuckles and greedily grabbed at first paper that touched her hand.
She was so excited to open it that she almost ripped the paper completely in half. Her eyes furrowed together as she tried to read and understand the question that was being asked. She climbed off her chair and walked to the empty space between the table and sleeping bags.
She fixed her hair and smoothed out her robe before speaking.
"So, this is the story about first date Choji and I ever went on." Karui announced.
In order to get a better look at her, everyone moved their chairs to be directly across from Karui. They once again clumped together, resting their heads on each other's shoulders getting ready for another great story.
"Well, as most of you know…I wasn't on the best of terms with a lot of people here in the village.." Karui sighed as her eyes slowly moved towards Sakura's direction.
"So, it was very difficult for me to make any sort of friends here. But, that changed when I met Choji. So…I was out shopping for dinner one night at the market, browsing in the meat area when I noticed he was staring at me. I recognized him from the war, but didn't know anything else about him. I tried my best to ignore it and continue looking for what I needed. But he was relentless and just kept watching me. The staring got so intense that I felt like I couldn't continue to shop, and I had to go confront this guy for being so weird. I marched over to him to ask what the hell his problem was! He didn't answer me at first, but eventually said, "I'm sorry for staring, you're just the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.""
Sakura stuck out her bottom lip in a pout as she put a hand to her heart. Temari had her head rested against Tenten's shoulder as she played with a part of her robe. Hinata giggled with Tenten and looked over to Karui with a brilliant smile. Ino propped her left elbow on the table and held her face in her palm looking bored.
"Then what happened?" Ino asked pretending not to be too interested.
"I couldn't even answer him. I just stood there, completely frozen. Then he came closer to me and told me the meat that I had chosen for dinner wasn't adequate enough for a woman like me, and that he would love to take me out to a place that would have food fit for a queen. In my mind, my answer was a lot more thought out…but all I could muster was a stupid, and simple "okay." He smiled this huge smile and asked when I was free. Considering I had no one, I wanted to hang out with someone as soon as possible. I also wasn't sure if he was just fucking around with me and not being serious about going on a date. So, I told him that I was free that night. Much to my surprise, he said that he would pick me outside this store at 7:00 that evening. After telling me he was going to see me later, he turned around and left me standing there. To be honest with you, I was really nervous. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before." Karui chuckled.
"You and meeee both." Temari cackled from the corner of the table.
"ANYWAYS. I changed a million times because that lug didn't tell me what we were doing. I decided to go all out and really look my best. I had on this tight little white dress with red strappy sandals. Not to mention it took me about 2 hours to do my hair and makeup. I decided to arrive a few minutes late…didn't want to look desperate, you know?"
Ino snorted, but Karui just ignored it and continued with the story.
"So when I got to the market, I looked around and he wasn't there."
Hinata gasped and folded her hands into a tight ball on top of the table.
"I knew it was too good to be true. But, as I started to walk back home…I felt this massive hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see him in a full tuxedo holding these beautiful red roses. He apologized and told me that he was making sure everything was ready for tonight. He grabbed my hand and we walked and talked the entire way to our date spot. I didn't notice where we were going, I was just so caught up in him that I was oblivious to everything around me. But when he finally let go of my hand and told me we were here, I looked up to see that we were at this barbeque place." Karui said with a huge smile on her face.
"NO! He did NOT take you there on his first date with you! That's horrible…" Ino shrieked while leaning back in her chair.
"I promise you, it was the most romantic thing that's ever happened to me." Said a blushing Karui.
Hmmmmm.." Ino said unconvinced.
Karui smiled brightly and continued with the story. "He told me that this was his favorite place in the whole world, and wanted to share that with me. So, he grabbed my hand again and led me into the restaurant. I was really confused at first because it was really dim inside. But as my eye's adjusted, I noticed that there were candles all across the tables. There was absolutely no one in the place, just Choji and I. He told me that he was going to cook me a meal that would guarantee a second date."
"Oh, that's so romantic" Tenten whispered to Hinata.
"That's so…un-Choji" Ino choked.
Karui moved her hair behind her ears, and walked back to the table. She sat back down in her seat that was now the head of the table. She looked down at the purple fabric and picked up a small fork and absentmindedly began to twirl it around.
"He ended up cooking me this fantastic meal on the teppan in front of us. We drank, laughed, and we actually ended up slow dancing to music that wasn't even playing. He even told me that night that he liked me more than he likes food…. and that's a lot." Karui chuckled as she put the fork back down on the table.
"Anyway, it was the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. From that moment on we've never left each other's side, and have been happily married for the past six months. The end." Said Karui as she stood to get up from her chair to take a bow.
Sakura and Tenten stood up at the same time and gave her a playful round of applause.
As Karui slithered back to her chair, she snatched the bowl and moved it directly in front of Temari.
"You've had a lot to say tonight, so I can't WAIT to see what your question is."
Temari flipped Karui off as she slowly positioned herself away from the side of Tenten's chair. At the slowest pace possible (deemed by Ino) Temari was finally able to sit up to correctly pick a piece of paper. After sloshing her hand around the bowl, she eventually was able to grab one. Temari tried her best to read it, but her drunken eyes wouldn't allow her to do so. Tenten grabbed the paper from her hands, read it, and reworded it so Temari would understand.
"So, Temari…what's your favorite thing about Shikamaru?" said Tenten giggling.
Temari's eyes grew wide and she let out a hiccup. She looked around at all the girls one by one in a suspicious manner.
"IF I tell you bitches…will you promise not to say anything?" Temari slurred as she poked Karui hard in the stomach.
The five girls nodded their heads in agreement and huddled close together in excitement.
Temari took both hands to her cheeks and exhaled heavily.
"Fine…I'll tell you…but I'm not standing up."
"I'm so excited for this…" Ino whispered to Sakura as she leaned closer.
Temari hiccupped again and began to reveal the truth about Shikamaru.
"I like the way he makes me feeeeel…n-n-no wait….I like the things he does to me…no….uggggh fuck this is hard!" Temari panted as she struggled to find the words.
Slapping her face in an attempt to sober herself up, she tried again.
"I like the fact that he challengeeees me, unlike everyone else. A lot of people are afraid of meee…but he isn't. After I met him in the Chunin exams…I promised myself that I would be stronger the next time we met. I trained soooooo hard to look smarter and stronger for him..Annnnd I was able to sh-sh-show him that by every time I saved his smart ass…and that made me feel REALLY good you know? But the thing I likeee about him most…is the way he cares for other people." Said Temari as she began to close her eyes and lean back in the wooden chair.
"Shikamaru pretends to not careee about a lot of things…but deep down he really does..and I think it's so cute.. and I like the way he crinkles his nose when he's thinking…and the way he-he-he asks if I've eaten anything during the day…and asks me to run errands with him…." Temari suddenly got lost in her thoughts about him and turned bright red, looking down at the floor.
The stoic demeanor Temari always held was crumbling down before everyone's eyes.
"I like everything about him….I cant just pick ONE thing…no w-w-wait.. I don't like him…" Temari trailed off.
The girls looked at each other in bewilderment about her change in answer.
"I'm confused…do you like him or not?" chirped Ino from the tangled web of girls.
Temari grunted in frustration and moved a stray hair away from her eyes.
"No, I don't like him."
Ino began to protest this answer but was cut off by Temari.
"I love him. Saying that I LIKE him isn't even close to how I feeeeel. I love him more than anything in this whoooooole entire world. I WANT TO GET MARRIED FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! But…I get scared…that he doesn't feel that way. And…if he doesn't…I will love him forever anyways. AND NO…thisisntdrunkmetalking. I love him." Temari shouted to the girls.
Looking as though she regretting telling them, she rested her head on the back of the chair and crossed her arms.
The girls were completely blown away from the honesty that came from Temari.
This honesty moved Sakura so much so that she stood out of her chair and walked towards her. Sakura crouched down on the floor so Temari would be able to look down at her. Sakura looked into Temari's eyes and noticed small pools of drunken emotional tears beginning to form. Sakura lifted her hand to Temari's face and wiped them away.
"Trust me, Temari. He feels the exact same way… he just has a…weird way of showing it" Said Sakura as she stood up to hug her.
"UGH. WHY IS THIS GETTING SO EMOTIONAL?! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN." Ino shouted.
She stood up and walked next to Temari and Sakura and picked up the bowl.
"I'm ready for the next question, PLEASE." Ino said placing the bowl in front of Hinata.
Hinata's eyes grew wide with fear as she looked into the bowl, then to Ino, back to in the bowl, then to a still crouched Sakura.
"Sakura-Chan…I don't think I can do this…" whimpered Hinata.
Ino rolled her eyes and shook the bowl around to mix the papers. She placed her free hand on Hinata's back, with her other scrounging for the next question.
"The questions are pretty easy to answer Hinata, so don't be such a wuss." Ino said taunting Hinata by waving the paper in her face.
Hinata looked at the girls and swallowed hard. She was always the one to ruin something fun like this…but not this time!
Hinata bravely took the paper from Ino's hand and opened it. Immediately opening up the paper, Hinata turned the brightest shade of red the girls have ever seen.
Concerned about what caused Hinata so much distress, Tenten stole the paper from her quivering hand.
Tenten looked at the paper for a moment, then looked at Hinata in pure excitement.
Tenten ran over to Ino and showed her the question she had chosen for Hinata.
Ino's blue eyes squinted as she read over the question.
Ino suddenly busted into a wild fit of laughter and took a seat back into her chair.
"Hinata, I can't WAIT to hear what you have to say about this." Said Ino as she batted her long eyelashes at Hinata.
Hinata choked on her words and cowered in her chair.
"What the hell does it say?" Karui yelled from across the table.
Ino and Tenten looked to one another and began to laugh so hard they were crying. Sakura stood up and walked around the table to Ino and ripped the crumpled paper from her hands so she could have a look.
"Oh no...I can't believe YOU got this one." Sakura frowned at Hinata.
Karui smacked her first on the table to get the girl's attention.
"What. The. Fuck. Does. It. Say." Karui said adding venom to each word.
The girls pointed at one another to decide who would be the one to tell Karui and Temari.
Ino stole the paper back from Sakura and jumped onto the cushion of her chair. She flipped her hair and cleared her throat for all to hear.
"The question is…"
Hinata sunk lower into the chair.
"What's Naruto like in bed?"
All at once the girls began to bust out laughing. After what seemed like 10 minutes of stomach aching laughter, Sakura sat down next to Hinata.
"Hinata, I promise we're not laughing at you. We just weren't expecting you to get a question like this." Said Sakura as she wiped a laughter tear away from her eye.
All Hinata could do was nod her head and play with the end of her new robe.
The girls all gathered together around Hinata, waiting for what the answer would be.
Hinata looked at all the girl's eager eyes and took a sharp inhale of ragged breath.
"Naruto-kun is…"
The girls leaned closer to one another, at this point almost panting.
"Strong." Choked Hinata as her blush grew deeper.
The girls looked at one another in confusion and turned to Hinata to ask her questions at once.
"What does that mean?", "Is that a good thing?", "Are we talking about sex or about his rasengaen?"
Overwhelmed by all the questions, Hinata quickly scurried off the chair and ran to the corner of the room where all the wine was.
In a desperate attempt to look occupied and to blame the blush on alcohol she began to chug from the bottle.
"Well…looks like that's the only answer we'll be getting from her. Tenten, do you want to go next?" Ino asked as she pushed the bowl into Tenten's stomach.
Tenten looked at Sakura and then down at the bowl.
"Hey Sakura, since there are only two questions left… do you want to pick who gets what question, but I'll go ahead and answer first?" As she picked up the bowl and placed it into Sakura's lap.
Sakura closed her eyes and nodded, then proceeded to delicately toss the paper around. After a good amount of shaking, her hand decided on one that was crinkled at the corner. Sakura took her own paper and gently placed it on a small pile of bunched up purple fabric. Despite being the one who planned this, she was unaware of the questions in the bowl. She had written a large amount of them in preparation, and eventually had forgotten what was on them in the first place.
Tenten then picked up her question and unfolded the paper delicately. She cracked her neck in an attempt to calm her nerves.
She read through the question once and crinkled her nose.
Sakura tensed up next to her being afraid that it would be something too difficult for her to answer.
Tenten folded the paper back up and held it tight in her hand. She stood up from her chair and confidently strode to the middle of the room so everyone could see her.
Suddenly becoming intrigued by Tenten's confidence, Ino crossed her arms and legs in the chair and gazed intently at her.
After silently commanding the entire room to look at her, Tenten placed a hand on her hip and began to speak, "After reading over the question multiple times…I finally decided to tell you the story about when I knew I was in love with Neji."
The atmosphere around the room suddenly got extremely tense.
Almost everyone in Konoha knew about love between Tenten and Neji. Even though they didn't openly express it, everyone knew it was there. It was always a subject everyone wanted to avoid when Tenten was around. Knowing how much they loved each other, they didn't want to make his death even more painful for her.
Hinata tiptoed back to her seat next to Sakura and held her breath, not wanting to disturb Tenten's thoughts.
Before Tenten could say a word, her demeanor changed instantly. Silent tears began to flow down her face, as her broken smile began to twitch.
"You know…I never thought there would be a time when I would have to relive this moment again. And I'm not blaming you at all, Sakura. Maybe…maybe saying this aloud to all of you will somehow ease this ache I've been feeling all night."
Sakura looked at the paper between her own fingertips worried about what emotions would consume her when it was her time to answer.
Tenten opened her eyes, and took a large sniff to clear her nose.
"At first when I met Neji, it wasn't love at first sight." She giggled " He wasn't very open to having new friends or being forced to work in a team with people he didn't know. We would train with Lee almost everyday, but our friendship didn't really start to grow until the Chunin Exams. After we both were shown up, we swore that we would make each other strong enough to never let that happen again…Sakura, do you remember that fight with Kisame? Well…it was the first time he actively showed any type of major concern for me. He stopped what he was doing to come check on me to see if I was okay. For those of you who knew Neji, you know that this was a big deal. And from that moment on, I would fall for him harder and faster than I expected…"
As Tenten's body began to quiver the girls began to shift uncomfortably in their seats.
Sakura cursed herself for coming up with this stupid game. All it had done was make people upset, which was not her intention at all.
"You don't have to keep answering Tenten, its okay." Said Sakura as she stood from her seat. "I can just go ahead and answer mine then we can call it a night."
Tenten let out a quiet sob and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.
"Its okay, Sakura," Tenten said softly. "I really do want to tell you all. I know you guys never want to bring it up in order to spare my feelings, but…I never have had the chance to tell anyone about this. It almost makes me feel…free."
Sakura sighed as she slowly climbed back into her seat next to Ino. Looking over at her, she grabbed Ino's hand for support. Normally, Ino would have rolled her eyes and said some sly remark at this gesture. Instead, she just nodded her head and allowed it to remain intertwined with Sakura's.
Tenten slowly moved back towards the table so she could have a seat. Standing up was making her feel too distant from the girls. Truth be told, she really hated being alone. But when it came to thinking about Neji, being around people was the only way to calm her down. As she sat down next to Hinata and Temari, she relaxed the hand that was still squeezing at the paper. She began to move the paper throughout her fingers, as if her fingertips were gently grazing on top of something delicate.
Tenten looked at Hinata with eyes that looked almost apologetic for bringing Neji up. Not only had the loss been extremely difficult for her, but for Hinata as well.
"I'll speed the story up to a couple nights before we battled the Ten Tails. Neji was walking me home after a long evening of training. We were talking about different training tactics to try tomorrow, when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks when we reached the bench by my house. He told me to take a seat next to him so that we could talk before I went inside. I was actually pretty nervous..I mean, Neji rarely ever wants to really sit and "talk". He told me that his feelings were growing for me, but he didn't know what that meant. At the time, I didn't have the courage to tell him that mine were doing the exact same. All I could do was just sit there and play with my hands in embarrassment, as I sat in my own cower. He asked me if I would be interested in spending more time together with him once the war was done. He told me that training for this weighed too heavily on his mind and couldn't concentrate on anything else. To this day…I still can't believe that I was able to formulate words, but, I told him that nothing would make me happier. Before he left me to walk home the rest of the way he turned to me, and really gently picked up my hand and kissed it. He smiled this incredible smile…god, he looked so handsome. Then, told me to get some sleep and that he would see me tomorrow morning. After he had turned around and started walking away I just laid on the bench staring at the stars. I felt this strange pain as he left, like if I weren't around him I would break in half. And that's when it hit me, I was madly and deeply in love with Neji Huyga."
Tenten finally had the courage to look up at all the other girls after really telling them what happened. And much to her surprise, everyone was crying as much as she was.
Temari and Karui were trying to help clean up each other's makeup from streaming down their face. Sakura and Ino were tangled up like vines resting their heads on top one another, with small silent tears running down their cheeks. Tenten was surprised to see how calm and at peace Hinata looked. Her face looked relaxed as her eyes remained closed. Tenten noticed the stains of old tears that had trailed along her cheeks and chin. She also had a small hint of a smile as if she was thinking of an intimate memory.
Tenten breathed deeply and wiped her eyes one final time. She promised herself that this would be the last time that she cried about this tonight.
"In case you're wondering," Tenten started up again. "I'm still in love with him, and always will be. I can feel him with me when I go to your weddings, when I'm feeling scared and alone, or even before I go to sleep. It's almost like I can feel his calming presence surround me still, and that gives me enough love to last the rest of my life."
Tenten squeezed her eyes tight to make sure no rouge tears would slip away. When she opened them she saw all the girls smiling gently at her.
"Tenten, I don't know what to say." Said Sakura with hitched breath.
"You don't need to say anything, Sakura. Its okay." Tenten said as she reached for Sakura's hand across the table.
Sakura determined it was only fit to take a small break to clean themselves up and calm down before continuing with the final question.
Karui, Temari, and Ino were off in the restroom wiping away the smears of mascara that were all over their faces.
Sakura noticed that Hinata was walking over to Tenten, who was still sitting in her chair playing with the paper.
In an attempt to give them some space, Sakura pretended to reorganize the almost barren food and drinks table.
Hinata sat in the chair next to Tenten and scooted over to her as close as possible. There was a silence between the two girls as they sat and thought about Neji in their own way.
"Thank you." was all Hinata could whisper to Tenten.
Despite the lack of words between the two girls about the subject, they both knew what it meant.
Choked up with emotion, Tenten wrapped her arms around Hinatas neck and hugged her as tight as possible.
Karui entered in the room first looking like she interrupted an extremely intimate moment.
"Should I just go…..or?..." she stammered.
Hinata and Tenten looked at one another and started laughing.
"No, its okay. I'm ready to hear Sakura's story now." said Tenten turning around to face Sakura.
"Me too," Chirped Karui "I cant wait to hear all about Sasuke."
Even the sound of his name alone would send chills throughout Sakura's body. It was one thing for her to say his name internally, but another to have someone else say it.
As Sakura turned around to face the other girls, they were already sitting in their chairs with their eyes on her.
Sakura's breath became ragged as she noticed Ino's greedy hands opening the paper.
Sakura stood up and moved closer to the group, the scene almost looked like she was a criminal on trial.
She played with the rope around her waist in an attempt to try to relax. She really didn't want to tell the girls too much about Sasuke. They had too many intimate moments together that she wanted to keep just between the two of them. But, she certainly didn't want to be the first to have to face the punishment of not answering a question.
Ino began to pout as she read Sakura's question.
"Boo!" Ino whined. "Why does Sakura get the one that has nothing to do with Sasuke-kun?"
Sakura immediately relaxed and sighed that she didn't have to answer something too personal.
"Well Ino-pig, what does it say?" teased Sakura. She felt almost cocky at this point, and wanted to prove to Ino that she wasn't afraid.
The other girls had a look of disappointment about the lack of gossip they were about to receive. Everyone else had to tell intimate secrets between themselves and their loves, so why is it fair that Sakura didn't have to?
"You must tell one "take it to the grave" secret." Ino responded.
From around the table, all the girls sighed in frustration.
"What an easy question! That's not fair at all!" said Karui pouting.
"I-I-I- wouldn't mind hearing one.." slurred Temari by the food table.
Sakura closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could about an answer that would appease the girls. Granted, it wasn't directly ASKING about Sasuke…but almost all of her "take it to the grave" secrets involved him. She thought about coming up with a lie, and say that she once went on a date with Naruto or Lee. But no one was going to believe that at all. Sakura didn't really have anything that would be deemed "juicy gossip". But once again, she thought about how unfair it would be NOT to share something that personal. While she was trying to concentrate on what it was she was going to tell them, she could already hear them whispering about what it could be.
"Maybe it WILL be about Sasuke-kun.", "I doubt it, she wouldn't tell us anything good." ,"What if sheee slept with Kiba too, Ino?" ,"Shut the fuck up, Temari."
Eventually Sakura decided to tell the girls something that had been weighing heavily on her mind recently. But, she was afraid of what their reactions would be.
Sakura opened her eyes, gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. Maybe if she just said it while they were talking, they wouldn't notice.
"I've thought about leaving the village to find Sasuke-kun." Sakura said bluntly.
All the whispers that were just so recently floating around had completely disappeared. Sakura froze in place as they all looked at her in disbelief.
"You…..you, what?" Ino stammered.
Sakura could immediately feel a drip of sweat fall down her neck. She almost felt like she was going to vomit from being so nervous. She couldn't believe that she had finally admitted it out loud.
"I've thought about leaving to go find him." Sakura repeated.
"What do you need to do that for?" asked Karui incredulously.
Sakura sauntered back to the table to grab the first available chair she could find. Ino was now standing up on her left with both hands placed firmly on the table.
On her right, Tenten was frowning with her eyebrows furrowed, looking as though she was in deep thought.
Sakura thought it would be best to explain the situation to them a bit more.
"Before he left the village again, he…told me something. It's been really bothering me, like a lot. It keeps me up all night, and I cant stop feeling anxious. I've been trying to figure out what it means."
Walking back from the food table to get another drink, Temari stood behind Hinata's chair and held the top of it for support.
"Weeeeell…what did he say?" Temari said with an enormous hiccup.
Sakura REALLY didn't want to tell them everything that she and Sasuke had talked about. That moment was so special to her, and wanted to keep it private. But, instead of just making something up to have them get off her ass, she thought she would tell half of the truth.
"He told me that he has to leave the village to think, but when he's done he's going to come see me."
Ino crinkled her nose and plopped back into the chair with her arms crossed.
"No wonder why your head is so big! It's full of air! It's pretty obvious what he's trying to say to you." Said Ino as she glared at Sakura
"It is?"
"Duh! Obviously, it means he wants to see you when he's done doing weird Sasuke-kun stuff."
Sakura then changed her position to sit criss crossed on the chair and rested her elbows on the table. Had she really been this oblivious? Did everyone else know what that meant except for her? Sakura felt like Ino's explanation didn't hold a lot of depth, and wanted to know more.
"Ino, he's been gone for over a year and a half. I haven't heard anything from him! How could someone just say something like that and then just fucking vanish?" stammered a now extremely frustrated Sakura.
Taken back by her sudden aggression, the girls all sat in silence looking around at one another.
Suddenly, a small voice spoke up from the corner of the table.
"Maybe…its because…he loves you? And he wants to see you again once he's a changed man." whispered Hinata.
Sakura felt a slow creep of heat flow through her body, and her heart began to skip a beat.
Love her? There's no way. Sasuke LOVING her? Could that…be?
Sakura just sat there in astonished silence by Hinata's words.
Without trying to cause too much attention to themselves, the girls nodded their heads in agreement. The story of Sakura and Sasuke was always gossip around Konoha. Sakura was always obvious in her affections towards Sasuke, everyone knew that. But, they couldn't deny the way Sasuke would look at her and would pretend not to be concerned for her well-being. But they knew Sasuke's personality was so cold that he would never be blantly obvious about his feelings for her. No one wanted to straight up tell Sakura what they thought because they knew she would do something reckless, like she always had done in the past.
After a few moments of debating back and fourth with herself, she knew what she had to do. If Hinata thought that this was because Sasuke loved her, then she couldn't wait any longer and had to find out for herself. This meant that she had to go..
"Find him." Tenten said allowed at the same time Sakura had internally.
"Wh-what?" Stammered a flustered Sakura.
Tenten scooted her chair closer to Sakura and turned to face her.
"I think you need to go find him and talk to him immediately. What if something happens to Sasuke while he's out there? What if you never get the answer to that question? I just…don't want you to be in the same situation as I was. Everyday of my life I will regret not telling Neji how I felt. I don't want you to feel the same pain that I do. If it means that much to you, you should do it." Tenten said in a firm voice.
Sakura sat back in the chair and squeezed her eyes shut. She felt relieved that someone else felt the same way she did about the situation, but now felt conflicted about actually going through with it.
Trying to diffuse the tension in the room, Ino tapped the wine glass in front of her to get everyone's attention.
"I'm not sure if anyone is aware of the time…but it's now almost 4 in the morning. I have to get married tomorrow, and I REALLY don't massive bags under my eyes because I was up consoling you emotional bitches. So, let's get to sleep please!" Ino snarled.
Being so caught up in each other's love lives made them forget how tired they actually were. Deciding to clean up the mess of the party tomorrow after the wedding, they made their way to the sleeping bags.
Everyone was making their way into to an empty space when Sakura noticed Hinata kneeling on the floor, holding a table leg tightly in her hand.
Not wanting to make a scene, Sakura crawled over to Hinata to see what was wrong.
"Hinata…are you okay?"
Hinata jumped as if she was a horse being spooked by a mouse.
"Sakura-Chan…yeees…I'm okay. Sake was very strong." Hinata slurred.
Sakura's eyes widened in horror, as she made the realization what Hinata was as hammered as Temari was. When the hell did that happen?
"Here Hinata, let me help you up. Let's go try to get some sleep, okay?" said Sakura as she helped Hinata off the floor.
A rosy-cheeked Hinata could only slowly nod yes as she allowed Sakura to carry her to an empty sleeping bag.
Temari immediately fell asleep with loud drunken snores consuming her from the far left. To her right, Karui lay on her stomach and ran her fingers over the embroidered words on the pillowcase. Tenten arms crossed under her head as she was slowly drifting in and out of sleep. Hinata was curled into a ball facing Tenten's direction as she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. Ino was sitting up in the sleeping bag trying to wrap her long hair into a bun so she could sleep more comfortably. And finally, Sakura was in the far right sleeping bag under the covers, looking up at the lights and comparing them to the night sky.
The sound of Ino zipping up her sleeping back broke Sakura's trance.
Ino looked at all the girls on her left, then turned to face Sakura.
"Hey…Sakura?" Ino whispered.
Caught off guard by her small voice, Sakura turned in the sleeping bag to face her.
"I just…wanted to thank you for everything tonight. I had a lot of fun, which is surprising." Ino stammered.
Sakura nodded her head and smiled. She knew that was the best compliment she could possibly receive from her.
"I'm really glad you're my maid of honor…see you in the morning forehead." Said Ino as she stuck her tongue out at Sakura before turning over.
Sakura just stared at the back of Ino's head in shock. Never in a million years did she think she would receive that type of acknowledgement from her.
Sakura turned to lie on her back again to look up at the lights that hung above her. She began to think about what Sasuke was doing at this moment, but was once again interrupted as she heard Karui sit up in her sleeping bag.
"I really wish Hinata would've told us more about Naruto, that would've made this night soooo much better." Karui whispered to any of the girls who were awake.
"Don't count on it." Ino snorted.
After Karui finally decided to lay down in the sleeping bag again, Hinata tossed and turned violently before waking up for a moment.
Just as everyone began to relax on the brink of sleep, Hinata cleared her throat.
"Naruto-kun likes to be called Lord Hokage when we make love." She declared before falling back to sleep.
"Oh my GOD" Karui squeaked after a few moments of awkward silence.
In unison, Sakura and Ino both sat up and the three of them stared at Hinata in complete and utter horror.
Did that REALLY just come from Hinatas drunk mouth?
Before they knew it, the girls were engaged in a battle of trying to contain their laughter in order to not wake up the other girls.
After they were finally able to calm down, they settled into their sleeping bags and attempt to fall asleep.
"I wonder what the boys did all night." Ino whispered to a now almost passed out Sakura.
"Mmmm..I don't know." Sakura mumbled before drifting off into sleep completely.
Ino closed her eyes and started to fall asleep, thinking that they probably didn't have as much fun as they did.
