Neji and Ino entered Tsunade's room. They went their separate ways upon arrival. Neji went to his group and Ino to hers. The blond girl noticed that all of the furniture was gone with whatever documents that their Hokage was always working on.

Ino looked at Sasuke last. She couldn't believe how much he had grown. The pretty boy looked much calmer than he had been before he left, but she knew he was still as angry as ever. The blond girl continued to stare at him as Tsunade talked to the counsel. He had a red haired girl wrapped around his right arm.

The Yamanaka girl was a part of the left side of the room. The rookie nine were there with her. Sakura was trying to calm down Naruto. Ino smiled as she noticed that they were holding hands. Hinata gave worried glances between Naruto and Sasuke. She was completely oblivious to the handholding. Kiba and Shino didn't look interested at all, which went along with how her own teammates, Chouji and Shikamaru, were acting.

On the other side of the room were their sensei's and Neji's team. Neji was staring straight at her instead of paying attention to the Uchiha traitor. Ino blushed as she looked away. The Hyuuga knew her to well. He was watching in case she needed him, which she felt like she did right now. Ino couldn't deal with seeing Sasuke again.

The blond girl was fidgeting and being unusually quiet. To make matters worse, Tenten caught Neji blatantly staring at her and now she was staring as well. Lee was as oblivious as Hinata.

Ino sighed to herself. The group of old men at the front of the room was scaring her. She had never liked them because they were always mean and rude.

She sent a 'help' look towards Sakura, who had mouthed an 'it won't be that bad' back. Ino squared her shoulders, while avoiding Neji's eyes. She stared at the back of Sasuke's head.

I hope this is over with soon.

XXX

Sasuke moved his head to see the last two people that would join in the debate. His fingers itched to hold his katana and cut the counsel members who were so close to him. However, it wasn't the time to kill them for his brother. He had to obey the plan…

The Uchiha was distracted when he noticed that it was Ino and the Hyuuga that was late for the meeting. Sasuke couldn't help but narrow his eyes when he saw Neji's hand at the small of Ino's back. The two quickly went their separate ways on different sides of the room.

What had Ino been doing behind his back since he was gone?

Sasuke kept a hold of his anger as best as he could. He knew that she'd be angry because he had never kept any of his promises, but he never expected that she would break hers.

After all, that was how the pretty boy had kept her as 'his' for so long. Now he skimmed up his new rival. Neji wasn't paying Sasuke any attention. The Uchiha followed the older boys eyes back to Ino, who was staring at everything except Sasuke.

Ino would learn that if she left him, then she would have no one at all.

Sasuke heard bits and pieces of Tsunade trying to argue for him. He had wanted to come back to Konoha just to destroy it, but it seemed that Ino had caught his interest again. In addition, it was just by showing that she was over him.

Karin was all over Sasuke. He wasn't in the place to tell her to get off like he wanted to because of the counsel. If they thought that he was still trying to find a woman to help him bring back the Uchiha clan, then they would never allow him back. The pretty boy saw Ino give the girl a small once over before staring at him without looking away. Sasuke smirked. Maybe Ino wasn't that out of his control just yet…

The wait for the meeting to begin was wearing on Sasuke's patience. He had already been standing here an hour with just Tsunade and now he had to wait for the old men to finally wear down and give him permission to come back. Suigetsu had fallen asleep in their hotel room and Juugo was patiently waiting behind Sasuke.

One of the counsel members coughed loudly and the meeting began.

XXX

Neji didn't like the nervous, flighty look that Ino had. She had decided to gaze at Sasuke quite a while ago and Neji was worried that she would break at seeing another girl all over the traitor.

Tenten poked him. "Psst! Why are you staring at Ino?"

"Be quiet, Tenten." The Hyuuga male hushed. He had never been able to admit to his female teammate that he had no interest in her, but he knew that they would have to talk about it soon.

Neji ignored it all for now. If Ino needed him, then he would get her out of here. She seemed to be able to take care of herself so far, but it was clear that she wasn't at all comfortable.

Sasuke gazed sideways at Neji, but he ignored it. There would be no way that he'd fight with Sasuke today and risk losing Ino forever. No risk was worth losing Ino.

The Hyuuga still struggled with his feelings for the blond girl. On one point he knew that he was devoted and in love with her. On the other hand, Neji knew that they didn't match in the least bit and that he should have a relationship with Tenten rather than the loud blond girl.

Fate was damned ever since Naruto changed Neji's point of view. He didn't care that they were completely opposite. All he cared was that he wanted Ino and he wanted to make sure their relationship worked, no matter what.

Neji continued to stare at Ino. She gave him a quick glance, and then looked back at Sasuke. He understood that today was overwhelming for her. After all, he had cornered her with his feelings and made her come to grips with her own. Now Sasuke was back in Konoha.

He didn't need fate to know that if the traitor was accepted back that Ino would be torn a part by both of them fighting over her.

A cough by one of the counsel announced the start of the debate of whether to accept Uchiha Sasuke and his friends into Konoha or not.

This was not going to be a good conversation and Neji already knew what the outcome would be.

XXX

Ino barely registered the arguing in the room. She was too busy thinking of when Neji and she had been on missions. They were the missions when they had actually gotten along instead of fighting.

Neji sighed at Ino's giggling. They had completed the spy mission two days before the deadline. The blond girl had managed to convince her male comrade to let her look into a shop she wanted to go into since they arrived.

"We should head back if we're done. Spending time with these frivolous things is pointless." Neji argued.

Ino pouted, "But I just want to find a pretty dress to wear in case I need it for the next mission!"

"There's no point in that. You don't need anything to make you even more beautiful as you are now."

Ino smiled at the older male. "Awe, you are so sweet Neji! It's nice to know you think I'm pretty."

The blond girl cackled at his bright red blush. She loved teasing him so much.

Neji stayed in a corner of the small store as Ino searched each rack for something perfect. She finally found something that she had wanted to try on.

He followed her over to where the dressing room was and waited outside for her. Ino had never decided whether she liked Neji being overprotective of her or not, but it was amusing either way.

Ino stared down at the white dress underneath her fingers. It was tight for the chest and waist and the skirt of it flowed out nicely. She liked the spaghetti straps that it had. As she took it off the hanger to try it on, the loud girl already knew she was going to buy it.

When the dress was on Ino stared at herself cryptically. Outside the stall, she could hear Neji sigh loudly.

"Are you done yet?"

"Yes…" Ino answered as she left the dressing room to show Neji how the dress looked on her. She stopped to see his jaw lower a little bit before he placed his 'stoic' look back on his face.

It was too late. Ino saw the look and giggled. "I'm glad you like it Neji, because I'm going to wear it all the way home!"

Neji glared at her. "You're going to ruin it then."

"No, I'm not. I'm going to let you carry me home!" Ino smirked.

"I highly doubt that."

Ino smiled as Sakura and Naruto cheered. She looked around with a confused face. "What happened?"

"Haven't you been paying attention at all, Ino?" Sakura scolded. "Sasuke is welcomed back!"

"Oh," The smile slipped from the loud girl's face. This meant trouble.

I'm going to revise the first chapter sometime later, but for now, ENJOY THIS!