Laith, "So according to the poll, the majority of you wanted the Rabbit in this fic."
Haldor, "And if you didn't, you should've voted."
Laith, "In all actuality, the most popular option was the joke option with the banana..."
Haldor, "Truthily, that wasn't an innuendo. So... yeah.. Don't know what you people were thinking."
Laith, "Cereally though, wtf were you guys thinking it meant? We are curious."

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, made a big ass deal about it last chapter, but just wanted to say that the card game that Naru and Sasu play, idea came from Seven Little Killers. We borrowed it and twisted it a bit, 'cause it's awesome.

Japan or Bust

"Seventy-four. Seventy-five. Seventy-six. Seventy-seven. Seventy-eight..."

TenTen yawned loudly and quite comically ontop of Hinata's bed. She stretched for the umpteenth time on the other girl's bed while watching her brush her hair exactly one hundered times through for probably the fifth time already that morning. She did a quick review of the room to take in the total damage done to the room since her friend had gotten out of bed.

Dresses, petticoats, jumpers, blouses, and skirts; all of them were strewn about, having been worn for a second before stipped off and left where they fell. Hinata went around in her bare underwear for the better part of the morning, oblivious to her scantily clad body much to TenTen's amusement in the search of the perfect outift. Of course after she had found something she was happy in, there was the matter of accessories.

Should she wear a bonnet? Tone down to a head dress? Maybe just some clips? And where was that butterfly clip she liked to wear? Oh, there was that rose headband she never wore. Oh, but the color was all wrong, wasn't it? If she wore this around her neck would it seem like too much? Earings? No, that's over doing it. Should she change to a lower cut neckline? For the necklace of course. A ring is fine, right?

Socks? Stockings? Full length or thigh high? Combine both? Would stripes look weird? Stick with the hearts, right? She couldn't fine the ones with the ribbon ontop. Why couldn't she find the one with the ribbon?! Dammit, TenTen why were you not helping her find them?!

After accessories came the matter of shoes...

Heels? Platforms? Flats? The ankle boots would work too. And there are the ones with the cat print on them. Didn't she have regular Mary Janes? Oh, but are those too plain? But then the other's would call too much attention to them, wouldn't they? It's not an overboard look, so the flats would work fine. On second thought, she'll try on the platforms...

Finally, when she was clothed and had her shoes picked out, Hinata pulled the butterfly clip out of her hair and began to brush. And never stopped.

"Ninety-six," she counted again, not realizing that this was the fifth time she was counting the number. "Ninety-seven. Ninety-eight. Ninety-nine. One hundered."

TenTen sat up and flung her legs over the side. She was eager to see if Hinata would actually stop this time and instantly sweatdropped when Hinata pulled the brush through her tresses once more.

"Okay," TenTen announced and walked over to her. She pulled the brush right out of the other girl's hand. "I think five hundered times is enough. We're gonna be late."

"L-late?!" Hinata exclaimed. "What time is it?! Did I take too long?! I did, didn't I?! I knew I should've planned this last night! I can't believe we're going to miss them come in! Why-?!"

TenTen clamped her hand over Hinata's mouth to shut her up. "Hina-chan," she laughed. "Their flight's not coming in until this afternoon."

Hinata moved TenTen's hand away from her. "Then why are we late?" she asked. "I was gonna ask you to do my make-up still."

"As much as I would love that," TenTen smirked. "We don't have any more time to play around. We're gonna be late."

Hinata cocked her head to the side. "Late for what?"

"For school of course!"

The cheerful way she chippered the statement caused Hinata to not compute the sentence immediately. When it had though, she practically exploded.

"What do you mean 'school'?!" she yelled and went around to look for her uniform. "Augh! Why didn't you say something earlier?!"

"And miss your morning episode?" TenTen laughed. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Hinata let out a frustrated little shriek and pushed TenTen out of her room. She slammed the door shut and immediately went about getting herself together while her supposed best friend was sprawled out in the hallway, laughing heartily.

"It's only a half day!" TenTen called out to her happily. "You can always think of that to make you feel better!"

Hinata opened her door just wide enough to throw her bag at her before going back to putting her uniform on. TenTen expertly dodged it and continued to laugh, not taking notice of Hanabi walking by the scene and inspecting the ongoing's first hand.

"What's going on?" the young girl asked.

"Just your sister being weird," TenTen answered with a huge smile.

Hanabi blinked. "Is that why she was running around naked today?"

TenTen sighed heavily and stood up from the floor, picking the bag up with her. "She wasn't naked," she corrected. "She was in her underwear. But yeah, that's why she was running around."

"Does it have to do with those boys visiting us this time around?"

"Yeah, something like that." TenTen grinned down at the shorter girl. "Your sister's got an American boyfriend. A weird as hell boyfriend, but one none the less."

Hanabi stared back up at her before moving to stare at the closed door pensively. "Is he better than Inuzuka-san?" she asked after awhile.

"Heh? Oh, yeah. Tons better." TenTen nodded at her ascertain and placed her hands on her hips. "This kid's got nothing on that bastard."

"How?" Hanabi continued to question.

"Well..." TenTen trailed off into a sigh. "I don't think he knows everything that happened between your sister and me, but he's not someone who will judge me on that. That I know for sure. And I know he likes her for who she is, but for who she really is. Those two things alone, get my approval."

"Anything else?"

"Y'know how when we got back she started to do a lot more stuff, talking a lot more, and all that?" TenTen asked in turn and got a nod back. "Yeah, he's the one that got her to start doing all that. So as far as I could tell, he's got Asakura's approval too."

Hanabi's eyes widened by a fraction before her expression fell into a warm smile. "That's great."

"Yeah, I know, right?" TenTen laughed. "I dunno what the hell happened, she just started saying all this 'If I don't like the way my life's going then I should do something to change it' stuff and here we are today. Watching her run around the house naked."

"I thought she wasn't naked."

"She wasn't... but that kind of would have been awesome if she was. Perfect blackmail."

"And you're her best friend?"

"Being a best friend means you have access to the perfect blackmail. Remember that."

Hinata's bedroom door slammed open and the girl herself came out, not very pleased at the moment. She grabbed the bag from TenTen's hand and stormed off for the front door.

TenTen laughed again and chased after her. "This is gonna be so much fun!"

Neji always had some sort of repsect for his peer. Sasuke wasn't someone that he interacted with on a regular basis, for no particular reason. It wasn't until after their Winter Vacation that others actually saw them converse on topics outside of the typical school related ones and that was most likely because of the incredibly ridiculous events that they went through, even if they weren't all deliberate. In any case, outside of his friend's influence, Neji had found Sasuke to be the same as him. Non-abnormal in any way and while he was a little surprised at first, was comforted in knowing that the other boy was just as ordinary as he was.

The twenty plus hour direct flight to Tokyo proved him wrong.

"I'll see your Love Game," Naruto smirked. "And raise you a Bad Romance."

"I'll just kick your ass with a Poker Face," Sasuke replied. "Cornered ya bitch."

"Shove it up your vagina."

Both Sasuke and Naruto had been playing the same game for the past two hours, and none of it made sense to him. Before that they were doing a sort of acopella karaoke, and before that they made meat houses out of their food and acted out a spontaneous script in which the ball of butter was having an affair with the baby carrot.

It wouldn't have been too weird, if they chose not to also act out a rather descriptive and loud sex scene that ended with the blonde shouting about a voyeur outside of the "window" that happened to be the butter ball's husband. It was then that a flight attendant asked them to knock it off, to which they laughed behind their hands like third graders. (1)

Neji was practically astounded at how dramatic a change it was from the Sasuke he saw at school to the one paling around with his proclaimed best friend. He was also surprised at how Sasuke's older brother was completely unfazed by everything. It was during the building of the meat houses that Neji had caught his eye and silently questioned him after it. The older Uchiha shrugged behind his book and continued to read.

Neji sighed heavily and rubbed at his temples. He wanted fresh air...

"Alright," Sasuke began, peering over his hand of cards at the boy in front of him. "You in or out?"

Naruto narrowed her eyes back at him, a mischevious little smile playing on his lips. "In."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Totally."

"Okay," the other boy sighed. "Let's seem 'em."

The two teens took a deep breath and slapped their cards down on the small table like surface at the same time. Sasuke cried out in excitement as he smacked his hand against one of Naruto's jacks while the blonde did the same to his only heart card.

"War!" they both yelled and cut the deck of cards on the side in half, flipping five over each.

"Three Kings!" Naruto shouted. "Jesus points!"

"But I slapped your jack!" Sasuke exclaimed. "That means you have to reverse it!"

"Dammit!" swore Naruto. "Neji, what's the score?"

Neji was working his fingers against his temples. "What now?"

"Nine," Itachi answered from behind his book, not missing a beat.

"Quick!" Naruto went on. "Divide by pi! What is it?"

"Blueberry!"

"Ew, that's gross."

"Cherry?"

"Predictable."

"Then I choose Apple," Sasuke decided. "Because Apple pie is all American and so is Jesus."

"Dammit!" Naruto cried out and threw his cards in the air.

"Can I just ask," Neji began carefully. "I mean, I've been watching this game go on for... I'm not even sure how long anymore, and I can't seem to make it out. Can I get an explanation of the rules, please?"

Both Naruto and Sasuke blinked at him before turning back to face each other.

They answered simultaneously, "We don't know..."

Neji's eye twitched. "Okay," he said, standing up from his seat. "I'll come back when we start landing, but right now, I just need to get away."

"If you wanted to keep your sanity," Itachi directed at him, "should've done that sooner."

While the other two sniggered none too discreetly, Neji huffed off to where his father and company were to try to get his headace to disappear. Once he was gone, Naruto stretched his arms up until they popped.

"Hey," he said to his friend next to him. "If Sasuke and me didn't know fuck the what we were goin' on 'bout, how'd you score it?"

"I just said a random number," Itachi answered, once again not looking up from his book. "I figured you guys weren't playing a real game once you got to the part where you were labeling the cards after Lady Gaga songs."

"I thought that was the only part of the game that was real," Sasuke said while gathering the cards together again.

"Now, why would you think that?" his brother asked him.

Sasuke shrugged. "We've done stranger things... Speaking of strange things, why'd you decide to come along?"

"I have some business to do in Tokyo," Itachi replied.

"Is that all we're gonna get?" Naruto questioned.

Itachi peered over his book and took a serious look at the blonde. "It's better for you to not know."

Sasuke snorted. "That's what you said about the whole Tire Barn thing, we're the ones that ended up bailing you out."

"You are not supposed to talk about that." Itachi's eyes narrowed from behind the pages. "Ever."

"Just saying," the younger brother continued, "if you don't tell us, you might end up needing our help. I can drive now, y'know."

"Not in Japan you can't," Itachi pointed out. "Not until your eighteen."

"Lawl," Naruto laughed. "Idunthink it's chill for you to go on 'bout the law when it's so obvious like that you're not doing anything that's an exact legal thing."

"Yeah," agreed Sasuke. "Really? What the hell? Didn't you say you were gonna quit this shit when you got into school? Thought you were gonna be a cop or something."

"Yeah, 'cause ya know, that ain't irony or anything," Naruto grinned.

Itachi sighed and put his book down, pissed off that he had been reading the same damn line since their conversation started. "Look, if there's something you really want to do, then you have to do the opposite in order to gain a perspective of what you're dealing against."

Sasuke snorted and started to deal the cards out again. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"What're we playing?" Naruto asked him.

Sasuke shrugged and kept passing cards out. "It's not like we're condeming you or anything," he directed at his brother. "'Cause God knows we're not exactly law abiding teens, we just find your motives behind the things you do to be a little... What would you call them?"

"Skanky?" Naruto offered, to which Sasuke made a face.

"Skanky?"

"Yeah," the blonde nodded and went on thoughtfully. "Like, 'That was a real skank move you pulled.' or 'That dual face of a bitch skanked us before.'."

"Seriously," Sasuke began while putting the remaining deck to the side, "I think you have some gender confusion issues."

"Yeah, fuck you too..." Naruto waved his hand to the side while lifting his set of cards up with his other. "Basically, this gitstack's (2) saying that it's a total shifty eye sit where you throw shade at cops but skank the crooks out at the same time. Cereally, what's your trip? Y'know you're gonna end up gettin' majority of your friend's salad's tossed if a popo you be."

Itachi blinked only once at him before leaning a bit inwards towards his brother and saying quite clearly, "How are you able to manage such a character?"

"Years of desensitivity has made it my second nature," Sasuke replied. "More or less that is."

"I applaud you on such a feat."

"Thank you kindly, t'was not a easy task to accomplish."

"I gather not."

Naruto threw his cards up in the air again. "You both blow!"

Hinata shifted for the umpteenth time in her seat. She glanced up at the clock and willed it with all of her mind to tick by faster. It was so close to that final bell, why couldn't it go faster?! She had so much to do. She had to run back home, change and get ready all over again, get to the airport, be in the right place at the right time...

Okay, so it wasn't that much to do, but dammit all, she just wanted to be done with school already.

She started to bob one of her feet impatiently, still watching that clock. When it seemed as though it was more willing to go backwards instead, she turned towards TenTen next to her and gave her a sad puppy look. TenTen looked back at her and smiled warmly, silently telling her that soon, they'd be done soon.

She huffed and stuck her bottom lip out slightly, looking completely adorable. She didn't want to wait anymore, she wanted to see him now. Despite the fact that he had indirectly insulted her intelligence. And most likely didn't mean to. She would have to apologize for that wouldn't she? Most likely. This only made it even more difficult for her to wait patiently in her seat.

By the time the final bell signaled the end of the day it took all her will power to stop herself from shouting out in joy. She did however, leap up from her seat and throw everything of hers into her bag and tap her foot repeatedly as TenTen took her time gathering her own belongings together.

"We've still got five hours or so before the plane actually lands, Hina-chan," she laughed. "Calm down or you'll get wrinkles."

Hinata gasped quietly and reached up for her forehead. "No I won't! Stop saying that! I still look the same as when I was sixteen."

"Yeah, yeah, just try to calm down. Otherwise you're gonna faint when you see him again and I'm pretty sure you don't want to do that again."

Hinata blushed deeply. "I didn't faint when I met him," she said quietly. "I fainted when I figured out the possibility of meeting him."

"That doesn't really make it any better." TenTen closed her bag up and stood from her seat. "Let's get going then."

The second they tried to leave their desks, they were blocked off by a shaggy haired someone that neither one of them were too happy with anymore.

"What do you want?" TenTen scowled at him.

Kiba glanced down at the tile uncomfortable before looking back directly at Hinata. "Would it be alright if I borrowed your notes from English yesterday, Hyuuga? I really need to study for the test next week."

"And Hina-chan doesn't?" TenTen asked him. "You're so sure she doesn't need to go over them herself."

"I thought that before I came over to ask-" He started and was interrupted by TenTen.

"So now she's not smart enough and needs to study like you?"

"I didn't say that!" Kiba growled. "Dammit, I just wanted to borrow notes from someone that I knew actually payed attention, I didn't come over to hassle anyone! That's your job!"

"Hey!" Hinata snapped at him. "You don't speak to her that way. Ever. You too, Ten-chan. Don't start something that no one meant to start."

Hinata set her bag down on TenTen's table and opened it up again with a little frustrated breath. "It's fine, Inuzuka-kun, you can borrow them." She pulled out a set of notebook paper and handed them over to him. "Just give them back on Monday, they're part of the packet we need to turn in, remember that."

Kiba took them from her carefully. "Thanks," he said. "I appreciate it, Hi-.. Hyuuga."

Hinata's chest clenched slightly at the forced semi-formality. "Your welcome."

She buckled her bag up again. "Come on, Ten-chan, we've got a busy day."

"I was wondering," Kiba started up again, catching Hinata's attention again and TenTen's disdainful stare. "Hyuuga, would it be okay if we-"

"Hina-chaaaan!"

Hinata was hurled backwards from her stance and into the embrace of her cross-dressing friend right after he launched himself into their classroom. Their other friend called Mitchi walked in normally, his overly slouched posture making his red hair bounce up and down slightly with each step.

"What're you doing with this jerk?!" Haku exclaimed. "We can't waste time, right?! We have to make you pretty for your boyfriend, right?! Hina-chan, let's get going! I wanna meet him too! 'Cause y'know you can't be official until I give my approval! Ten-chan's not the only one who has a say, you know that~!"

"If you keep holding her neck like that," Mitchi directed at him, "she's going to stop breathing."

Haku instantly let go of his grip around Hinata's neck, letting the girl get in a good gasp of fresh air.

"The hell is wrong with you?!" TenTen yelled at him. "You almost killed her!"

"I was excited," Haku shrugged. "Anyway, let's go! I gotta choose your outfit, and do your make-up, and we have to do something differect with your hair."

"I was gonna do her make over," TenTen told him. "I approved of an outfit this morning and she left the make-up in my hands."

"No offense, Ten-chan," Haku said delicately in that effeminate voice of his. "You're a good friend and all, but you're not exactly the best at giving make overs."

TenTen instantly blanched. "What the hell?!"

"You're both gorgeous," Haku went on. "That's the truth, but Hina-chan's different from you and despite your best intentions, you don't really bring out her best features because you're so used to bringing out your own."

He stepped in between them and swept TenTen's hair away from her face. "See, you've got these high cheek bones, so you use blush to bring them out. You're eyes are brown so you can use heavy liner around them, and because you can use dark colors on your eyes, you can wear any color on your lips really."

He then turned around to face Hinata and swept her hair away from her face. "Hina-chan doesn't have cheek bones like you. Her face is round and that gives her full cheeks, the blush would not compliment her at all. Her eyes are lighter than yours, so she can't wear black eyeliner easily. She needs browns or at least a really thin swipe of black. Her eyelashes are long, so you can use mascara on her and not even need eyeliner. And because her complexion is paler than yours, she can't wear dark colors on her lips, and she should stay away from mattes. Pink and nude glosses are best."

Haku let Hinata's hair fall away before turning towards the other boy in their group. "And Mitchi-"

"Just stop right there," the red head cut him off. "We get it."

"Okay!" TenTen annonced loudly. "Now that I know the main differences between Hina-chan and me." She paused and grabbed Hinata's hand. "I get to do her make-up now!"

TenTen sprinted out from the room with Hinata flying behind her. Haku yelled after them and ran just as fast from the room. He poked his head back in and called out to the only one of their group who didn't seem to enthuiastic about the whole situation.

"Mitchi!" he cried out. "Help me take Hina-chan back! I wanted to make her pretty for her boyfriend!"

"You know where she lives," he said non too helpfully and strolled out at his own pace.

Kiba watched the entire ordeal in front of him quietly. It was only after Haku's last aggravated growl and comment the red head on being lazy that he was left entirely alone in the classroom and muttered a single word to himself.

"Boyfriend?"

"Mum mum mum mah."

"Mum mum mum mah."

"I wanna hold 'em like they do in Texas plays."

"Fold 'em let 'em hit me raise it baby stay with me. I love it."

"Love, game, intuition play the cards with Spades to start."

"And after he's been hooked I'll play the one that's on his heart."

Oddly enough, the card game they were playing now wasn't even poker. Itachi had found himself in a three-way card game of 'Go Fish' and he still wasn't sure how his little brother and friend ended up sining 'Poker Face'. Not that he was displeased or anything, it was quite entertaining, he just wished that logic applied to the two. In anything they did.

"Hey," Naruto interrupted the flow of the song, "y'know what I just kinda realized what was kinda weird?"

"That two seemingly straight boys know the lyrics to a Lady Gaga song?" Itachi suggested.

"Like we're the only ones," Naruto waved off. "Y'know you love her too."

"Itachi's one of those that doesn't like anything that a lot of people like," Sasuke clarified while studying his cards. "He doesn't like The Beatles, y'know."

"No effing way!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm not like, the greatest Beatle fan evar, but some of their songs kick ass."

"They're lyrics are too one-dimensional for me to understand them being a phenomenon," the elder told them. "Do you have any Kings?"

"So he says," Sasuke said and handed over a card. "But I heard him hum 'Hey Jude' the other day."

"No, you didn't."

Sasuke ignored the denial and turned towards Naruto. "Got any Aces?"

"Go fish." Naruto turned towards Itachi. "Any three's?"

"Go fish."

Naruto reached for the deck in the middle of them. "But nah, I was talking about what the hell was taking-"

"Fish playing 'Go Fish'. Heh, that doesn't amuse me like I thought it would."

With a loud plop, Usagi fell into Neji's abandoned seat next to Naruto. "Deal me in, yeah?"

Sasuke set his hand down and dealt the newcomer her own set of cards.

"What took ya so long?" Naruto asked her. "Thought I'd have to send a search party after you."

"So dramatic," Usaig grinned with a roll of her eyes. "But no, omg, you wanna know what I found out?"

"Seeing as how you just came back from the bathroom," Itachi began, "No, not really."

"Okay, so I was sitting on the toilet," Usagi started.

Itachi sighed. "And she goes on anyway," he muttered to himself.

"And so not only did I realize that you can totally pull a Homer and fall asleep," she went on.

"Wait," Sasuke stopped her. "You fell asleep on the toilet?"

"Only for like a few hours or something," she replied. "Whatever, I was tired, haven't slept since... I dunno, what time are we in now?"

"What?" Naruto laughed.

"Yeah," she went on. "What time are we in? Is like, tomorrow already?"

"I think in our time zone it would already be tomorrow as well," Sasuke told her.

"So, it's today?" Naruto asked.

"Wouldn't that be yesterday?" Usagi asked him in turn.

"How would it be yesterday?"

"Because if it's always tomorrow in Japan, and yesterday is now today, then technically, we're still in yesterday. Right?"

"But if today is yesterday, then when we get into Japan doesn't yesterday turn into tomorrow, today?"

"I don't think it works that way," Itachi said.

"You can't tell them that," Sasuke told him. "Just let them come up with whatever the hell they want and pray to God that you don't get involved in it."

"Anyway," Usagi announced. "When I came out of the bathroom, you'll never guess what I heard from the steward person people."

"Japanese?" Naruto guessed.

Usagi smacked him upside his head. "Yes, smartass, but I heard the name Megurine Luka and that got me putting two and two. This plane goes back and forth with peeps, ne?"

"Yeah," Sasuke nodded.

"So it don't belong to anyone exclusive like or something. What if Luka-san get's the plane next? What if she's gonna be at the airport we be at soon?! Ah! This is epic! We totally have to play Japarazzi!"

"You don't even know if she'll be there," Sasuke said. "And even if she is by some old played out plot twist, we are not going to play celebrity stalker again."

Itachi raised an eyebrow in his direction. "Again."

"You're not the only one who gets into shit 'round here," Naruto directed at him. "But I still think you're the bad influence that made us do it."

"What?"

"You're the devil!"

"So yeah!" Usagi exclaimed. "Totally even more stoked now to land! Aaah~! Japan! Pinch me!"

Itachi kicked her shin.

"Fuck!" Usagi yelled and grabbed her leg. "That hurt you stupid gitstack!"

"You seemed too happy," the elder said matter-of-factly. "Couldn't have that."

"Dude," she directed at Sasuke. "Your brother's a jerk."

"You liked him," the other retorted.

"No, I said he was hot. Like... Damn, can't think of an example."

"Ayanami," Naruto suggested.

"Ah, perfect," Usagi smiled. "Evil and gorgeous. Schneizel would be a good one too."

Sasuke stared hard at Naruto. "You're the one with a girlfriend? That was completely gay."

"You were the one that wanted to give it to him up the ass," Usagi reminded him.

Itachi's eyes widened as he stared at his brother. "What?"

Sasuke flushed considerably. "That- She is taking that completely out of context."

"No she isn't," Naruto argued. "If I remember right, you were all like, 'Naruto, you are so hot, I wanna give it to you.'."

Usagi started to laugh so hard that she couldn't breathe while Sasuke spluttered about indignantly.

"That is not what happened!" he yelled. "And you know it's not! You were fighting over it too! You wanted to top me!"

Itachi suddenly felt the need to abandon the trio of teens himself as Neji had. It was sweet relief when the captain announced they would be landing soon.

"Omg! We're gonna be in Japan!" both Naruto and Usagi shouted excitedly.

"We gotta go to Tokyo Tower," Usagi said, determination in her eyes.

"Shinju Bridge."

"Daikinyama."

"Akihabara."

"Temples."

"Clubs."

"Karaoke bars!" they cheered out simultaneously and bursted into a fast excited talk that only the two of them understood.

"Why aren't you that excited?" Itachi asked Sasuke.

"Even if I were to show excitement," Sasuke replied, "it would never amount to what their showing right now."

Itachi studied the pair carefully before nodding in agreement. "No, probably not."

"Can we at least stalk seiyuus?" Usagi pleaded to Sasuke, Naruto nodding next to her.

Sasuke let out a small growl. "No stalking!"

Hinata had showed the outfit she picked out that morning to Haku and received his approval. He went about through all of her belongings for better stockings and petticoats. Mitchi waited in the hallway while she dressed and was able to re-enter and sit next to TenTen on the bed while Haku went about finishing up on Hinata.

"What's he like?" Haku asked while brushing Hinata's hair out.

"Isn't brushing your hair too much bad or something?" TenTen asked. "Because she brushed her hair out about five hundered times this morning."

"How did you have enough time for that?" Mitchi questioned.

"I woke up early," Hinata said quietly, looking a little embarassed as she remembered her morning escapade.

Accepting the answer, Mitchi stood up and announced that he was leaving.

Haku paused his actions and turned to face the boy. "Why?"

"I'm still in my uniform," he answered simply. "I'm gonna go home and change."

"You're not gonna go to the airport with us."

"Just come pick me up when you're done here," he shrugged and opened the door himself. "Are you gonna stay in your uniform too?"

"Would there be enough time for me to change clothes?" Haku asked Hinata.

"The flight comes in after five," TenTen told him. "We've got time to spare."

"We'll get you after I change," Haku directed at the red head. "That okay?"

"Fine with me," he said and left.

Haku sighed and went back to playing with Hinata's hair. "I don't know what's wrong with him sometimes."

"He's always been like that though," Hinata said. "I think that as far as I've known him, I've only seen Mitchi show emotion towards something twice."

"Once for me," TenTen commented. "Wait, is one of those times that Wii thing at the game store."

"Yes."

"Yeah, then once for me." TenTen hopped off the bed. "I'm gonna change too. I'll be back."

TenTen left the room without any more notice, leaving Haku to gab away with Hianta as he plugged in in a hair curler and pulled sections of her hair apart.

"So like I was saying," he went on, "what's this boy of your like? But I mean really like, not what you already told me."

"Um..." Hinata bit her bottom lip and thought about the best way to describe Naruto. "He actually kind of reminds me of you a lot. Except louder and a little more annoying at times."

"I'm annoying?" Haku sweatdropped.

"Well you are rather forceful at times," Hinata flushed. "Not that it's anything bad, I actually admire a trait like that. I guess it's Mitchi gets frustrated with it a bit that it comes off as being annoying."

"Everything's annoying to him though. Loose curls okay? I didn't want to do ringlets, seems too overbearing for just today."

"Ringlets don't look good on me anyway."

"Hina-chan, there's no way for you to not look good!"

"While I disagree, thank you all the same." Hinata took a quick look at herself in the mirror she was place in front of and gave her a critical look over. "I wonder what he'll think of me in this."

"If he doesn't like it, he's just as much of a jerk as Inuzuka," Haku scoffed.

Hinata restrained herself from shaking her head."He isn't like that. He's actually a lot like us, if not more. He's an actual otaku, cosplays and everything. I don't think I ever showed any of you the pictures he's sent me. Huh, I thought I had actually, why did that slip my mind?"

Haku accidently pulled on some of her hair. "Really?! Perfect for you then, no way he'll disprove of anything you wear. I was afraid that he'd be another one to make you second guess everything you put on in the morning. Though I guess you're still doing that anyway from what Ten-chan's been saying. There! I'm done! Lemme just put this in."

He put in a small floral flip in front of the rubber band he used to make a small side ponytail. Haku felt a small lump in his throat when she looked up at him with her head tilted to the side slightly. He put a hand to the side of her face and looked back at her softly, right before changing his demeanour to an excitable one and crying out, "It's not fair! Hina-chan, you're too cute to have all your attention hogged up by some boy!"

Hinata blushed slightly and stood up from her seat. She gave him a hug and a reassuring smile. "You'll still be one of my best friends, don't worry about me ignoring any of you."

A sad little smile wormed it's way onto Haku's face as he hugged her back. "Yeah, I know." He let her go and pushed her back onto the seat he made for her. "Okay, I'm gonna do your make-up."

TenTen walked back into the room, dressed in a pair of track pants and tanktop. She had pulled her hair back in it's usual fashion, though a little messier and threw herself back on the bed.

"Perfect timing," Haku directed at her. "Pay attention, I'm gonna show you how to do her make-up right."

"I do her make up fine," the other girl responded warily. "She always comes out looking good enough."

"Good enough is not okay," Haku replied. "Hina-chan always needs to look her best."

"Fine," TenTen groaned and sat up. "I'm paying attention, teacher, if it'll make you hurry up any faster."

"Good." Haku smiled and collected everything he put out to use. "So after this, we'll go to my place so I can change, then pick up Mitchi. We'll go the airport straight from there."

"Are we using the bus?" TenTen asked.

"Just until we get to that boy's house," Haku replied. "I'll bully him into taking their car."

"And then I'll get to drive!" TenTen exclaimed.

"But you just got your license," Hinata said. "Is that a good idea?"

"I gotta get better some how," TenTen told her. "What better way than to drive?"

"And that's always an adventure," commented Haku.

"You have no idea." TenTen shook her head slowly. "Seriously, with all the stuff we do with just you around, I can't imagine what our 'adventures' are going to be like with them around."

"Ooh, now that sounds promising." Haku laughed. "I'm looking forward to meeting these new friends of yours even more."

"I really hope no one gets arrested," Hinata said. "Again."

(1) True story, except we were at a restraunt, one of those fancy french ones and the meat house was made out of pate and the baby carrot was actually an escargot. Yup, happened last year when we were celebrating our sister's 18th birthday. One of the best memories ever. :)

(2) Gitstack: English terminology meaning asshole. Best. Deviantart. Find. EVAR!!

Laith, "Ah~ Why do we fail?"
Haldor, "Not even a week into a new fic and we fail at proper updating."
Laith, "It's not totally our fault though. It's... who was the one that produced BioShock 2?"
Haldor, "... Idk... Well, whatever, we finally saved up for it, bought it and haven't stopped playing."
Laith, "It's pretty much been like when we started reading 'Seven Little Killers'. Which you should totally check out, btw. It is awesome and will make you cry. It made him cry."
Haldor, "You cried too!"
Laith, "Yeah, but I have PTSD, and the whole episode with China brought on flashbacks, which is a legitimate excuse for me crying."
Haldor, "...Whatever *cough* So omg, we're pretty much serving up at least three sub-plots in this fic."
Laith, "Everything should tie in semi-smoothly. Our main focus should be NaruHina but we'll prolly get sidetracked with Itachi's tie in. It just seems like a little more fun to play around with 'cause everything else is gonna be a lot more cereal."
Haldor, "So yeah, what d'you guys think let us know, keep us informed. Unless it's about the whole putting Usagi in here if you didn't want to see her, you should have voted. We told you it was there. And for the three that did, sorry guys, we run by a democratic system."

Anonymous Replies :)

Neon Kiiroi: Aw, hun, you're compliment made us smile so much. Thanks.^^

Hali-chan: Haha, yeah, Hinata was actually ticked about the history comment, but there's a reason behind that, we'll get into later on in the story. A lot of background info is gonna be shared in this fic. But omg, we both remember you from L::O::V::E... you never reviewed after that uber long chapter. Thought you just stopped reading it, but thanks for checking this one out. Says a lot about it.

Next Week Preview (Yeah, we'll do these too, why not?)

"I saw her! I saw Luka!"

"What?! She's actually here?!"

"Fuck..."

"What?"

"You remember what I told you happened at the J-Music Tour? Well, this is exactly how that one started."

"I still beat you out. This is the third one I'll be involved in."

"Adventure time!"