Four is the Magic Number

Standard Disclaimer applies (if only I owned Naruto… Sasuke would get his ass kicked so many times over…)

(A/N: Chapter two, yay! Enjoy this chapter too; you should get some hint of the pairings now. Please review and tell me what you think!)

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Chapter II - The Start of the Journey

"We'll miss you."

"Write to us!"

"Have fun Hinata!"

Hinata waved sadly to her friends as she boarded the plane. She was now officially separated from them, and couldn't see them until the end of her summer. Even though she was supposed to be enjoying herself – it was her vacation after all – Hinata dreaded visiting her grandparents. It wasn't that they hated her, but it was just… they did hate her. Every time she'd ever seen them, they would always be frowning at her, as if she were some disgusting piece of trash.

It didn't anger her, but it hurt her. Hinata was after all, a very forgiving and kind girl, and never hated anyone, but even if she was the nicest to her grandparents as she could be, they seemed to… to resent her.

Hinata sighed and reclined her seat, she smiled bitterly. First class, she was always first class. She was a rich heiress, and people seemed to hate her for being alive. For having money, because people assumed – just assumed, even if they didn't have proof – that she was lazy. That she was just going to inherit a hug sum of money and waste it.

'There's no use thinking about it…'

The blue-haired girl tried to relax as she thought of her upcoming visit.

Stepping off the plane, Hinata grabbed her bag - even though they had people to do that for them, Hinata didn't like to let people do things she could do with no effort – and walked to the limo that was supposed to pick them up. She carefully put the bag in the trunk and waited as her sister sat down next to her.

"You know where to go." Hanabi waved lazily as she started to read one of her magazines while Hinata stared out the window quietly.

'Maybe…they'll like me.'

It was wishful thinking, but Hinata had hope. She always had hope.

The limo finally stopped in front of a set of gates, as it opened it revealed a very large mansion. It was completely made out of marble, everything, every room, was somewhat white.

The limo driver then took the girls' bags – even though Hinata protested – and walked them to the front door. It was opened by a girl of about fifteen years of age, dressed in maid's apparel. She then took the bags and smiled at them. Hinata smiled back and Hanabi didn't seem to notice.

"Welcome to Hyuuga Mansion." She welcomed them in a warm voice. Hinata smiled happily.

"Thank y-you."

She nodded and led them to a room in the west wing.

"Mrs. and Mr. Hyuuga have been waiting for you."

She pulled on the door's handle and opened it for them, taking their bags with her as she left.

As both girls then stepped into the room, they were welcomed by two voices.

"Welcome Hanabi! Hello Hinata…" Hinata smiled sadly again, she could almost hear the sneer in that voice.

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This was just great! Absolutely great. Tenten had already boarded her flight and Sakura had left as well, and now, what was she doing? Helping an 80 year old woman pick out flowers for her husband's funeral. And guess what? She was colorblind and damn near deaf. "Maybe you should choose these…" Ino suggested helpfully to the old woman.

"No… he didn't like that kind of flower." He didn't like them? He was dead! Dead! So why did he care, Ino groaned in her head. This was so boring and incredibly annoying. Her mother just did not pay her enough money for the effort she put into this job.

"Those flowers would go nicely with his… erm, coffin." Ino pointed to another set of flowers. The old lady looked at them for a while.

"Do you think so?"

"Yes! I mean, of course. They are very lovely flowers, so how many will you take again?" The old lady shook her head.

"Maybe some other ones…" Ugh! God dammmit, this was so incredibly….

And hour and a half hour later the old woman left. Finally. It was just too much, the thought of her doing this day after day…

Sighing Ino called into the back room.

"MOM! I WANT TO TAKE MY BREAK NOW!"

"WHAAAATTT?" God, her mother was such a looser…

"I. WANT. TO. TAKE. MY. BREAK!"

"OKAY! BE BACK IN TWENTY MINUTES!"

"FINE!"

Rubbing her temples, Ino marched out the door.

When she was this upset, there was only one place she could go.

Walking away from the city, she headed into the woods.

It was calming in the woods, especially since she knew where she was going. In 3 minutes time, she had reached a clearing. It was covered in flowers and there were butterflies everywhere. Sighing in relief she sat down under a tree and closed her eyes.

Silence, beautiful silen –

Was that a rustle? It sounded like someone was shifting in the grass… oh no.

Ino groaned silently. Someone was here; this would totally ruin her plans.

Grumbling she walked over to the source of the noise. It was… a boy.

Ino stifled a giggle. He had such… funny hair; it was almost cute, in a way.

"Hello." Ino plopped down next to him, completely forgetting her irritation. He seemed surprised that a girl would randomly sit next to him, but then again, most people would be. Then he turned his head away from her and mumbled something under his breath.

"What did you say?"

"This is troublesome."

"Excuse me?"

"Girls are so troublesome."

Oh he was so going to get it now. He didn't exactly insult her, but he wasn't being polite either, especially since she was being so friendly, even though he was in her spot.

"Girls are not troublesome; you're probably just too lazy to deal with them." Ino shot back. He turned his head to look at her again, and even though Ino didn't want to admit it… he was kind of… cute.

'Pfft. He was such an attitude, besides, I've seen better.'

"Don't bother me; it's too annoying to deal with girls."

Ino bit her lip to keep herself from screaming at him.

"Pardon me, but this is my spot, so you shouldn't have anything to complain about. What are you doing here anyhow?" He seemed to mutter something else something before replying.

"I'm cloud watching." He waved his hand lazily in the air.

Ino snorted.

"Oh really."

"Yes, unlike some of us, I like to think."

Ooooh! He was so going to get it.

"Yeah, well some of us aren't lazy bastards who don't do anything all day."

"Troublesome."

"Why do you keep saying that? Is that your catchphrase or something?" Ino rolled her eyes and flipped the hair off her shoulder.

"I can't believe I'm wasting my break like this…" He didn't seem to listen and turned his head away again.

Ino looked up at the sky, what was so interesting about cloud watching anyways? It didn't even matter; she laid down next to him and stared at the sky. If he could do it, so could she. "Ooh! That looks like a bear." Ino raised a finger and pointed to a white shape in the sky. He shook his head.

"It looks more like a seal."

"No way, it looks like a bear, which cloud are you looking at anyway?" He pointed to another white shape in the sky.

"No that one looks like a flower." Ino giggled a little at the silliness of their game.

"What's your name?"

"Shikamaru."

Ino smiled and reached a hand over to shake his jokingly. "I'm Ino; it's nice to meet you."

He nodded.

"So do you do this often? Just look up at the clouds?" He nodded.

"I also like shogi." Ino tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"I've seen people play that, I mean, I've never played it myself, but you should teach me if we ever do meet again." Ino looked down at her watch. "Oh shit. I've gotta go. My mother's going to be so mad…" She got up and patted the dirt off her butt.

"Come visit me sometime, okay? I work at Yamanaka's flower shop. I'll be there all summer." She waved again.

'He was okay… I guess.'

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"These are the rooms you'll stay in all summer!" The counselor yelled at them from halfway across the field.

"Cabin 1…" Her voice trailed off in Tenten's mind as she looked around the field. It was incredible; the whole camp was incredible actually. The sides were covered by trees and flowers and there seemed to be mountain behind them. Looking back the other people around her, Tenten counted them silently. Forty children and about four counselors. For such a large area, there hardly seemed to be any people here.

"Cabin 6: Hana K., Tenten…" Tenten's head snapped forward at her name. Cabin 6 huh? Some Hana girl was in with her as well. When the counselor finally called off the last names everyone dismissed so they could get their bags and head off to their cabins. A cheery looking girl walked up to her.

"You're Tenten right? I'm Roze. I'm going to be sharing a cabin with you." Tenten nodded her head in understanding.

"It's good to meet you." Tenten smiled at the girl and looked forward at her cabin. Roze continued to point out other people; apparently many of the people in the camp now had been here before, like Roze.

"That's Hana; she'll also be sharing a cabin with us. Hana is nice, even though she can be a little quiet." Roze pointed to another girl and then another. To be honest, Tenten didn't really care, but she didn't want to come off as rude, especially since Roze was being so kind to her.

"Oh and that's Lee." Roze giggled a little and Tenten could understand why. Lee, as he was called, was wearing green spandex. His whole body was covered in green spandex actually. "He's Gai's favorite student, Gai isn't here right now, but you'll see him tomorrow." Tenten fiddled with her backpack strap nervously, Roze sounded… mischievous.

"Oh…and that's…" Roze giggled again and pointed to a boy, "That is Neji Hyuuga!" Tenten's roommate squealed in excitement.

Tenten turned her head to look at Neji, and when she did their eyes met. They shared a brief moment of eye contact before she looked away and tried to hide her blush. He was a boy! She wasn't supposed to like them; they were just as important as socks…

Roze smiled. "Here we are, finally, this is our cabin! To be honest these cabins aren't the greatest, but they do feel homey after you get used to them." Tenten nodded numbly, still confused about her own feelings.

Roze opened the creaky wooden door and both of them stepped inside.

It was a normal cabin, with bunk beds on each side.

There were clean, white sheets on the beds and a small desk at the end of the cabin.

"Well here we are, home sweet home!" Roze giggled again.

'Home sweet home, huh.'

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"Mother, I'll be alright."

"Okay, I know you're a big girl now, but you need to be careful, okay? This is a big city, and you could get lost or kidnapped, or oh gosh… just stay with your aunt Sakura, she'll watch out for you. Do not open the door for strangers and…"

"Mother! I'm not twelve. I'm seventeen, I'll be okay." Sakura rolled her eyes at her mother's behavior. She knew this was going to be a bad idea, right from the start. It was her first time away from her home without her parents and she wasn't even there yet but somehow her mother was completely flipping out. Plus, she desperately missed Hinata, Tenten and Ino. They would be able to cheer her up from anything and make this trip worthwhile.

"Mom, I'll be okay. I know the rules." Sakura stared out the window as the large, grey buildings passed by.

'For a city, this place is so incredibly dull…'

Sakura's aunt was a big time reporter, and she was also currently working for a magazine. Her parents had finally decided to let Sakura visit for the summer, if only not to bother them.

"Okay, here it is. I'm going to talk to your aunt and you can unload your luggage, okay?" Sakura nodded.

"I know… I know…"

Five hours later, her mother had finally left, and her aunt was supposed to be off for work at a meeting.

"Sakura, do you want to come with me? I don't think you'd like staying here very much, after all, my cable isn't working right now."

"Okay. Where are you going?"

"I'll be visiting our company building right now. You should come around and see it. It's not really that special, but it might be fun."

"I guess so."

Sakura hesitantly followed her aunt into the car and sat silently while it moved forward.

'Company building, huh? This could be kind of cool… At least I'll get to brag to Ino about it. I might even meet some famous celebrates while I'm here. If I do, I should get some autographs…'

Her aunt's car slowed to a stop and parked into a reserved spot. "Here we are!" Her aunt cheerfully guided her out of the garage and into the building.

To say it was huge was an understatement.

It was… enormous.

This was where her aunt worked, it was incredible. Her aunt told her there were exactly fourteen floors and a roof, all of them just as big as the first one. The whole place was packed with people, busily typing away at their computers, not even noticing the world around them as they continued to work on their own separate projects. Sakura inhaled and smiled again. This place was…

"Come on Sakura, we have to get up to the top floor."

Nodding automatically, Sakura followed her aunt into a glass elevator. Everything here seemed… official and untouchable.

The elevator binged as it reached it's destination on the top floor.

"Now Sakura you can't actually stay with me in the meeting room, but you're welcome into my office. Here's my secretary." Sakura's aunt nodded to a woman sitting in a wooden desk near the door. "This is my niece; she'll be staying here for a while to see how we all work. She won't bother anyone, now Sakura if you need anything, just ask her okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll be off then." Sakura waved goodbye to her aunt's retreating back. She had thought she would be able to do something, but apparently she was wrong. This was even worse than being alone at home, because now there were random people staring at her. Sitting down, Sakura quietly hummed to herself. She was going to be bored to death if she stayed here, especially since this building was just so incredible. There was so much to see, and she was stuck here.

"Umm… excuse me," the secretary shot her a stern look. "I need to go to the bathroom."

"Fine, it's right across the hall; take the first left you see."

" 'Kay."

Sakura didn't really have to go, but she didn't want to be stuck in that white, pristine office for any longer. Taking the first left she saw, Sakura stared at the ground. God, she missed he –

Oomph.

The force of the impact knocked her to the ground. The opposing person, it seemed, was still able to keep upright.

"I'm so sorry." Rubbing her butt, Sakura looked up to see…

Oh. My. God.

Life was officially over.

"S-Sasuke Uchiha…?"

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(A/N: Letters will start in the next chapter.Anyways, I need you help me with something.

One, I need a name for Sakura's aunt.

Two, I need a name for the secretary.

If you have any things you would like to say about the story, please comment.