(Last time:)

Yuri began to look around. She noticed that she and Gaara, with the exception of Temari and Shikamaru, were the only ones who weren't holding each other as close as possible. And Yuri wasn't the only person to notice it, either. Temari, with her distance from Shikamaru, could easily see all of the dance floor, unless a couple was in her way, of course. But she had a view of Yuri and her little brother perfectly. She began to mutter into Shikamaru's ear, and they slowly made their way over to the awkward couple.

"Are you two okay?" Temari whispered to Yuri. Yuri nodded, and Gaara was looking right over Yuri's head, as though he hadn't heard. "Well then," Temari said, pulling one of her arms free from Shikamaru, "get a little closer!"

"Get a little clo--?" Yuri didn't have time to finish her sentence as Temari pushed Yuri into Gaara with a bit too much force. Enough force to send Gaara back a few steps, and Yuri's head had collided hardly with Gaara's chest.

Yuri was really embarrassed. REALLY embarrassed. Just great. SO great. Why'd Temari do that? I'm gonna fuckin' KILL her next time I get a chance! Yuri thought. When Inner Yuri (a second personality she'd somehow picked up from Sakura and her Inner self) had finally calmed down, Yuri realized she and Gaara were still in their robotic dance; step to the right, step to the left. Step to the right, step to the left.

"Ah, um." Looking up, she realized she was practically hugging Gaara's neck. Relaxing her arms, she noticed that Temari's technique had seemed to work, now Gaara had his arms around Yuri's back, instead of just resting on her hips. Geez, it'd be easier to just to take my arms from his neck and hold him as if I were giving him a normal hug. Well, a lot easier for me, anyway. So Yuri undid her hands from Gaara's neck and lowered them to her own height. She snuck them under Gaara's arms, and pulled herself closer to his warm body, again, clasping them closed behind his back.

Gaara was giving Yuri an odd look, but she didn't realize it until she looked up at him. Giggling, she explained, "It's just a lot easier for me." He seemed to accept that answer, for he too pulled the smaller girl closer to him.

Yuri closed her eyes and rested her head on Gaara's chest. When she thought about it, they had been like this for several slow songs. What would happen when one of the faster songs started up again? She was getting sort of thirsty, so she might as well go and visit Kakashi-sensei once she and Gaara were separated.

It didn't take long for the next fast-paced song to come on (could she just control everything with her mind today?), and when it did, Gaara reluctantly let go of Yuri, and vise-versa. The two headed off in opposite directions without any extra words. Gaara went back to the boys' group (a.k.a., the guys he came in with) and Yuri went back to Hinata.

"Hinata-chan," Yuri asked. "Would you like to get a drink with me?" The blond girl fanned herself with her hand, amazed at how being stuck with so many bodies in one place could make you so hot.

Hinata was about to answer, but Shino slipped up behind her and whispered, "BOO," into the young girl's ear. Hinata jumped about a foot into the air, and turned to face the "attacker". Before Hinata could say anything, Shino asked, "Hinata-chan, I've noticed you've been staying fairly close to this table. Would you like to go dance with me?"

Yuri was awed. Did Shino actually know how to dance to the faster (and much EVILER, in Yuri's opinion) music? Hinata turned to Yuri, but the other girl waved her hand as if to dismiss them. "Nah, Hinata-chan, go have some fun! It's ok, I can get a drink by myself!" Hinata nodded and scuffled onto the dance floor with the ever-mysterious Shino.

Yuri walked over to the drink stand. Kakashi-sensei had his nose in that perverted book, so she had to get his attention by asking, "Can you even read that in this lack of light?"

Kakashi-sensei looked up and gave what Yuri supposed was a smile - it was hard to tell because of his mask and the lack of light. "Yup! Did you want something to drink?" He gestured towards the options, which were labeled in a list taped to the table and visible in their bottles beside Kakashi.

Yuri sighed, "You know, you should put down that perverted book and enjoy tonight. And yeah, punch would be fine, thanks."

Kakashi-sensei put down his book to pour his student a glass of punch, and Yuri picked up the book. Kakashi-sensei handed her the cup and she took it, but when he reached for the book, Yuri wouldn't hand it over. She looked at the page he had been reading. "What the hell? No guy would actually say that, you know? Geez, it looks like the only details are in the make-out scenes. Why DO you read this damn book anyway? It's not even well-written!"

Kakashi-sensei reached for the book again, and Yuri reluctantly handed it over. "You're not supposed to even be reading it, little girl," was his smug reply.

Yuri seethed, "My name's not little girl. It's Yuri. Yuuuriii! Damnit! Get it right!"

Kakashi-sensei looked down at his newest student. Although she was the smallest, shortest, and the person you would think would be weakest, the blonde was right up between Naruto and Sasuke when it came to skill. Her intelligence even threatened Sakura's place. All-in-all, she was very well-rounded, and a lot of the other students looked to her for advice. The only bad thing Kakashi could see would be that she took everything to the extreme…including her foul mouth and anger issues.

And even though she was a great student, she could almost be called pesky when off-duty. Yuri was always hammering Kakashi to stop reading "that book", and to be on time, and all those other little things that Kakashi used to annoy his other trio of students. The only difference was, Yuri never let up.

Kakashi-sensei sighed. "You know, Yuri, I can't tell whether you're more of a motherly-figurine or an old hag the way you're always pestering me about everything." Yuri just smiled as she sipped her cold punch.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei," she asked suddenly, after a few sips of her cool drink, "why is it you aren't out dancing with everyone else?"

"I have to take care of the drink stand, and I'm not a very good dancer."

"Anybody can dance to a slow dance, and what if I could find someone to take over the stand for a song or two?"

"Yeah, sure, if you could find someone who'd actually dance with me."

"Already done!" When her sensei gave her a curious look, Yuri pointed her thumb at herself and said, "Me! I'd dance with you!"

Kakashi-sensei laughed. Amazingly, he shut his book and gave Yuri his full attention. "Sure, Yuri-chan. But there's just one problem. What about the height difference?"

Yuri pouted, being careful not to spill her punch. "Well, that didn't stop me from dancing with Gaara-kun, and he's taller than me too!"

Kakashi-sensei thought a moment before he shook his head, "Nah, there's too much of a height difference. It just wouldn't work."

Yuri pouted again. "Well, you'll never know unless you try!" she said, turning her back to him. Kakashi sighed, this was a technique he knew well. It was also a technique he couldn't stand up against.

"…Alright, fine. But on one condition." Yuri giggled and listened to her sensei's condition with wide eyes.

"Ah! But that's nearly impossible!" Kakashi-sensei just shook his head in the not-unless-you-do-it way, and Yuri headed off to find Sakura.

Amazingly, Sakura was taking a break along with Ino and Temari. "Ah, uh. Sakura-chan, can I ask you something?" Sakura looked up from the conversation she had been having with her friends.

"Sure! Ask away!" The pink-haired girl was obviously in a very good mood already. Yuri was a bit embarrassed to ask this, and even a bit scared to see what Sakura's reaction would be.

"Uh, well, I sorta made a deal with Kakashi-sensei, and, um, he gave me a condition." Yuri twiddled her thumbs a little, stalling and trying to break the news without Sakura blowing up immediately, so that she had a little bit of time to run away if she needed to.

Sakura's eyebrows rose, any deal with her sensei was most likely a bad one. "Alright. What was the condition?"

Sakura braced herself for the answer. She was ready for the worst. But when Yuri told her the condition, her answer was: "No way! No way I'd ever dance with Naruto-kun! Never!" Yuri's heart sank; it wasn't that she wanted to dance with Kakashi-sensei that badly, but the realization hit her that Sakura and Naruto could never be the best they could be as friends if Sakura would still refuse to do the smallest things. (Well, at least it was a blatant refusal, and not a death wish for even asking!)

Sakura was giving Yuri an odd look. Although, that wasn't very surprising. Yuri got an assortment of odd looks all day, every day. "Hey Yuri-chan," she asked nonchalantly. "What was the deal you made with Kakashi-sensei?"

Yuri laughed, an airy laugh with a hint of embarrassment. "Well, I asked him why he wasn't enjoying himself, and I even offered to find someone to take over the drink stand for a bit while he went out and danced, but he said I wouldn't be able to find anyone who'd actually dance with him. Then I said I'd dance with him, but he just laughed and said the height difference was too great…oh, wait, you didn't need to know that. But, anyway, he said he'd dance with me as long as I got you and Naruto-kun to dance first."

Sakura's eyes were wide open, and she broke into a cackle of laughter. "You…you'd actually dance with him?" she asked, clutching her side. Yuri nodded, wondering why it was such a big deal.

Ino and Temari had heard Yuri's explanation, and the were serious when they took turns saying, "You know, Sakura-chan, I haven't seen Naruto-kun out at all tonight, he seems a bit glum."

"Uh-huh. I noticed it too, and since all Kakashi-sensei has to do is read or serve people drinks, he probably noticed way before we did."

"He's probably just trying to cheer Naruto up…isn't this Naruto-kun's first dance too?"

Sakura thought for a moment, but Ino and Temari were very convincing, and the pink-haired girl finally agreed. "All right, next slow song I'll ask him to dance. But I'll only dance with him for ONE dance, understood?"

"Understood!" Yuri flashed smiles at the older girls over Sakura's head and made to leave the small group. She was about to go find Hinata again when Sakura piped up and asked her a quick question.

"Well, now I have to ask YOU a question, Yuri-chan." Yuri turned to look at her friend, wondering what type of question it was. "Alright…shoot."

"Why is it you want to dance with Kakashi-sensei so much?"