That evening Neji stood in his room adjusting the kimono for his costume. Hinata entered the room, looking embarrassed about her costume. "Neji-niisan, I was wondering if you needed help getting your hair fixed." Neji nodded. He had been hoping she would ask him, because he had no idea how to get his hair to do what he wanted it to. Neji sat on the bed and let Hinata arrange his hair. "What about you? Don't you need a wig since your hair is shorter than who you're pretending to be?" Neji asked her. Hinata nodded. "Sakura-chan is bringing me a wig. She should be here soon." He looked up at her suddenly, causing her to drop part of his costume. "Sakura-chan? Why her?" Hinata gently tilted his head back and picked up the piece. "It was her that suggested I go as this. She also suggested your costume." He let her finish his hair as he tried to think of what Sakura was up to.
Before he could think of anything the door opened and Sakura burst in the room. "Kuchiki Byakuya and Kuchiki Rukia, how cute!" Sakura exclaimed when she saw their costumes. Neji did have to admit that they did fit the roles. Although, he wasn't too happy about the ridiculous hair pieces he had to wear. He looked Sakura up and down, trying to figure out who she was. "And you're dressed as?" Sakura giggled, "Isn't is obvious?" Neji looked at her again. She was wearing a black cape, black boots, and what looked to Neji to be black armor with a bat on the chest. "No, it's not obvious," Neji replied. Sakura sighed, "You really are hopeless Neji-kun. I'm Batgirl. You really need to read more comics." "Batgirl has pink hair?" Hinata stuttered out. Sakura shrugged, "Well no, but it's red and that's close enough." Sakura handed Hinata the wig she brought and helped her put it on, making sure none of Hinata's hair poked out. While they were doing that, Neji reached under his bed and pulled out two swords. He handed one to Hinata when they were done with her wig and attached the other to his belt.
The three of them set out to the building where the party was being held. It was normally an indoor training area used on rainy days, but had been converted for the event. "Sakura-chan, why is it costume party?" Hinata asked timidly. "Well, after Gaara-sama couldn't go to the Halloween party last fall because of some official business, he mentioned to Kankuro-san that he wished he could have gone. So naturally, we all decided to make up for it with this, especially since he had to deal with the 'official' party. I heard it was the most boring this ever. Even Gaara-sama yawned and…" Sakura was cut off by a blond idiot running towards them. "Oi Sakura-chan, if I'd known you were going to be Batgirl, I would have been Robin," Naruto announced, causing Hinata to stare at the ground. Neji let out a small smile, realized she obviously missed what he was dressed as. "Kurosaki Ichigo, I presume," Neji said coldly. Neji figured it was a coincidence, but still an interesting one.
Naruto finally turned his attention to Neji and Hinata, who had finally seen Naruto costume and began blushing wildly. "Hey Hinata-chan, look I didn't even need a wig to be Ichigo. Isn't that cool? You know what? We should go to the party together. I mean since you're Rukia and I'm Ichigo. So what so you say?" Naruto looked straight in the eyes innocently, and of course caused Hinata to feint. Neji would have caught her, but someone was already back there to do it for him. "Inuzuka-san, or should I say Inuyasha-san," Neji said to Kiba, who'd been the one to catch Hinata. Kiba smiled at the group. "Yep, that's me." Kiba was wearing dog ears, a white wig and an extremely well made Inuyasha costume, which of course meant his mom made it for him. Akumaru barked behind him. The only difference Neji could see with Akumaru was that his fur had been dyed gray. Sakura noticed too, "Hey Kiba-kun, what is Akumaru dressed as?" Kiba laughed, "A wolf of course." Hinata opened her eyes and blushed when she realized that she was being supported by Kiba. "Aritgato, Kiba-kun." Shino, who Neji had somehow not noticed before, appeared form behind Kiba and helped Hinata up. "Shino-kun, that's cheating!" Sakura exclaimed when he saw Shino's "costume." He was in his normal clothes except for a sticker that said "Hello, my name is kami." Shino just shrugged. "Come on guys, let's get to the party." Naruto said, breaking the silence. For a second Neji thought he almost saw a sad look on Naruto's face, but just figured he'd been worried about Hinata.
They all followed Naruto down the street and into the training building. Neji glanced at the ANBU guards as they entered. He was well aware that the ANBU were checking to make sure no enemy ninja were at the party. That's why everyone wore costumes instead of just transforming. It would have been impossible to tell friend from foe then. Neji was knocked out of his thought by an exclamation from his newly arrived teammate, Rock Lee, "Ah Neji, how youthful you look in your Byakuya costume." Neji couldn't resist making a comment about Lee's costume as well, only his wasn't as nice, "And how ridiculous you look in your Gohan costume." Lee was dressed as Gohan from Dragonball Z during the Namek Saga. That meant blue spandex instead of green since Gohan wore saiyan armor at that point. But Neji did admit that the part fit. Their hair was almost the same; and mentality. Lee looked at the ground sadly and left to attempt to win Sakura's heart.
Finally alone, Neji looked around for the one person he wanted to see more than anyone. 'Hmm… She's not by the bar with Kankuro dressed as a kabuki actor. Not by the karaoke stage with Shikamaru dressed as John Travolta when he was in Grease and Temari and Ino, both dressed as Sandy. Ino was her at the beginning, Temari at the end. Neji sensed a cat fight coming. TenTen wasn't at the buffet with Choji who was dressed like a tank or with the Hokage… wait? Hokage? Neji stopped in his tracks. Tsunade wasn't supposed to be there. He walked to where he could see the person's face. "Kazekage-sama," Neji said, acknowledging Gaara in his Hokage costume. Neji figured Gaara picked that because it was just like his usual Kazekage robes. Gaara nodded to him in acknowledgement. Neji heard a commotion behind him and turned around to hear Lee, "My eternally youthful rival, look who I found hiding in a corner!" Lee was dragging TenTen by the hand behind him. TenTen was blushing, embarrassed about how short her skirt on her Sailor Mars costume was. Neji turned away to keep anyone from seeing his blush. Unfortunately Lee wouldn't leave him alone, "Neji, you must tell this beautiful blossom how lovely she looks." Neji didn't risk turning back around, "I thought you had curly hair TenTen." He said the only nonperverted thing he was thinking at the moment. "Oh, that time it was just curly because I had put my hair into buns while it was wet and when it came down during training the curls stayed that way. I really have straight hair," TenTen answered, then hurried away, avoiding Neji. She approached Gaara and wished him a happy birthday. Neji couldn't help but look at her. She really did look amazing. Neji sighed and decided to join Kankuro and Shino at the bar. He picked got a drink and nodded to the two others. Shino simply nodded back but Kankuro, obviously already hammered, put his arm around Neji's shoulders. "Hey Neji, you know what will be fun? Lets sing karaoke," Kankuro laughed.
