This chapter is dedicated to Scarlet Sand Demon. I'm so glad you're feeling better! Sorry this is a bit later than I said it would be, I was staying at a friend's house and I couldn't update.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the world would end.

A Betrayal and a New Friend

"Having fun are we?" Naruto teased as he saw Neji, Sasuke and Shikamaru already sitting in the limo with their 'lovely' dates. There was no answer except for who Sasuke growled at him. Gaara smirked and slid in next to Neji. Neji's date Hazuki smiled flirty at Gaara who looked horrified, but luckily she turned back to hanging off Neji. Gaara told Bill the place to go (the school) and Bill said,

"Well Gaara sama are you going to meet Hana san and her friends?" Gaara replied,

"Yes, we said we would meet them there." Then Bill went, just to be polite,

"And are you ladies going to meet them as well?" Karin turned around and said in a snotty voice.

"No we will go nowhere near those sluts and how dare you talk to us! Get back to your driving you worthless excuse for a man." The guys were dumbfounded but Naruto stepped up first. He said quietly,

"Karin we would appreciate it if you didn't insult our employees on 'behalf' of us and Bill, we're very sorry for the insult." Bill replied quietly,

"That's quite all right Naruto sama." The rest of way was spent in an uncomfortable silence.

School

"Hey look there's the guys' limo. Do you guys mind if me and Hinata go over and pick up our dates?" Hana said to Sakura, Lee, Tenten, Kiba, Temari and Haku.

"No course not. And remember to say hello to Sasuke and ask him whether he is having fun with Karin." Sakura said smugly. To answer the unspoken question, Hana asked she said, "I overheard Karin bragging about it at lunch today." Hana nodded and followed Hinata to the limo where fans had already started to gather around it. Hana and Hinata elbowed, punched and in some cases bit their way to the limo. Well Hana did. She had grabbed Hinata's hand so she was just dragged along for the ride.

"Hey Gaara." Hana said coming up from behind Gaara. Gaara turned around with a look of immeasurable relief of his face and said,

"Hana, thank God. The fan girls were getting aggressive since I didn't seem to have a date." He looped his arm round her waist at which Hana laughed and blushed. Then she added to Sasuke who was behind Gaara.

"Oh yeah Sasuke, Sakura wanted to say hello and ask, are you having fun with Karin?" Sasuke glared at her and she laughed and led Gaara away.

"Hey Naruto." Hinata said from his side quietly.

"Hinata chan! I'm so glad you're here." Hinata blushed a rosy red and Naruto chuckled. "Come on let's go." Before Naruto dragged her off she waved a greeting at Neji, Shikamaru and Sasuke. They nodded in reply and struggled to the school.

Inside the school the music was already blaring. Sakura and Lee were already dancing to the song and when Hana heard it she squealed and dragged Gaara onto the dance floor.

"Do you want to dance Sasuke?" Karin asked. Sasuke hnned at her and continuing glaring at Lee, who he thought was dancing a little too close to Sakura. This of course was all in his head since Lee was being a perfect gentleman.

"Come on Shika kun let's dance." Kin pouted at the guy in question who shook her off in an unusual fit of irritation. Kakashi who was dancing nearby with Rin saw this and said,

"Hey you guys have to dance at least once so the photographers can get one picture of you 'enjoying' yourselves." Kakashi's tone was filled with laughter and even Shikamaru glared at him. But they sighed and resigned themselves to their fate and followed their dates onto the dance floor.

"Hey Kagami, having fun?" Hana asked as the blond girl danced by with Zaku. Kagami faked a smile and said,

"Oh I'm doing great Hana chan. Can I talk to you later?" Hana looked bemused.

"Okay but why don't we just talk now?"

"No don't worry. You have fun first." Hana thought that was a bit odd but she shook it off and went back to dancing with Gaara.

"Naruto kun?" Hinata said, catching Naruto's attention. She took in a deep breath and said, "W..would you l..like to dance?" She hated the betraying stutter but Naruto smiled brightly at her and grabbed her hand and pulled her onto the dance floor in answer. As he pulled her close Hinata turned a bright red and breathed deep to avoid fainting. Naruto winked at Neji was looked like he was trying to put some space between him and Hazuki. Neji glared back at him and Naruto chuckled and settled down to just enjoying the moment.

1 Hour later...

"Okay Hana can I talk to you now?" Kagami said as she met Hana by the drinks table.

"Sure what did you want to talk about?" Hana said turning to her.

"Let's talk about it somewhere private." Kagami pulled her into the corridor and then down it to a deserted classroom. There waiting was Karin, Ami, Hazuki, Kin and Yumi. Hana looked very confused and said uncertainly,

"Hi guys..umm..where's Ino?"

"She's not part of our fan club anymore so we have nothing in common so we aren't friends anymore." Karin replied.

"Oh. That's seems a bit harsh. So what did you want Kagami?"

"Well I am here to tell you that I don't want to be friends anymore." Kagami said flatly.

"Wait...w..what?" Hana said in a shaky voice.

"Yeah these are my real friends. I just wanted to get close to Gaara and since he obviously likes me you have expired your usefulness so I don't want to be your friend anymore." Kagami said with a smug smile on her face. She was enjoying this.

"I repeat what?! Why don't you want to be friends anymore?" Hana said, hurt.

"Oh my God are so stupid that you don't get this even though I've already explained it once. I don't like you anymore, no wait, I didn't even like you in the first place. You're insane and always have to have other people to fix your mistakes. I don't know why you like Gaara because you certainly aren't good enough for him. Why would he want a plain, stupid, oh so average girl like you?" Kagami finished off by saying. Hana had turned white and was visibly shaking by the end. As she threw open the door and stormed out, Kagami's high laughter was the thing ringing in her eardrums. She ran to one of the girls bathrooms at the other end of the school. She didn't want to bang into anyone she knew or actually anyone at all. Back in the classroom Kagami said to the other girls,

"Now she's out the way why don't we go and get our men?" Karin answered,

"Although I'm sad that Ino doesn't want to be part of our group anymore but I'm so glad because now Sasuke's all mine."

"What about me?" Ami whined as they made back to the hall, "Both me and Kagami like Gaara what do we do?"

"We let Gaara decide." Kagami said as they arrived outside the hall where the dance was being held.

In a corridor far, far, far away from the hall

"This should do." Hana sniffed as she came across a girls' bathroom. She went in and saw Ino standing in front of the mirror with black streaks down her cheeks. Ino jerked round at the door opening. "Oh I'm sorry Ino, I thought that here there would not be anyone.."

"So that you would be alone to review the pathetic state of your life? Yeah so did I." Ino said with a self mocking laugh. Hana smiled a watery smile.

"So why are you here?" Ino said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Well I'm here because Kagami just told me that she is not my friend anymore, was never my friend and couldn't even think of being my friend because I was so dorky and stupid." Ino looked shocked.

"She said that?!"

"Yes. Are you okay though? Karin and her little gang which now includes Kagami said that they stopped being friends with you because you weren't part of a fan club or something." Ino laughed again bitterly.

"Yeah, it's so stupid. I told them that I didn't like Sasuke anymore, I liked Sai but they just said since we have now have nothing in common. And then they said to be honest they only liked me because Karin thought that I would be no competition for Sasuke because I was...I was fat..and ugly...and she could not see why any guy would want me." Ino said in a rush before she dissolved into tears. Hana rushed up to comfort her.

"No..no sweetie, that's not true. Boy they all really did a number on both of us?" Hana said sarcastically.

"I know, I thought they were my friends and for them to do that so easily and for me to not even know..it's just..makes me feel..."

"That if someone can do that, what makes you certain that some other people you trust aren't really your friends as well?" Hana put in. Ino smiled slightly.

"We've really got good at finishing each other's sentences. God my mascara has run all over the place." Ino said as she grabbed a load of loo roll and started dabbing at her eyes. She then remembered Hana and handed her some loo roll as well.

"Thanks Ino. Do you think we should go back to the dance?"

"I don't know. My date ditched me and my friends..or rather my ex-friends are not going to talk to me now so I rather be alone here than out there."

"Why do have to be alone? I mean you're nice and the only reason we didn't get along before is because you acted like another crazy fan girl and you were particularly mean when we first met." Ino winced and said,

"Yeah, sorry about that, it's just Karin told me that you were the horrid sluts that don't miss any opportunity to rub it in their faces that you were hanging out with the guys every day and they weren't so I kinda formed my own opinion and decided to dish it out to you just as bad." Hana shrugged in acknowledgment of this and said,

"Yeah I get that, if one of my friends told me that I would believe them over some people I had never met. Come on I'll explain it to the girls that Kagami, Karin and their posse did a number on both of us and it was all a misunderstanding at the start. If I say it they'll believe me."

"I still don't know." Ino said hesitantly.

"Well I do. Wait wasn't your date Sai?"

"No, I was too scared and we had an argument a few days ago and I'm worried that's he's still mad at me."

"Don't worry sweetie, we'll fix that. By the way you know the charity thing we were set?" Ino nodded. "Well the guys wanted us to win it so they weren't stuck with, you know, Karin and the others, so we are doing this catwalk charity thing with Kuna singing and the girls and I as some of the models. Would you like to be part of it? You could be one of the models." Ino hugged her fiercely by the last sentence.

"ARE YOU KIDDING?!" She shouted in Hana's ear, "I've always wanted to be a model and it would be like a dream come true!" Hana laughed at her enthusiasm.

"That's so cool! We've got clothes from some famous designers. They get free publicity and so do we in a way." Hana said.

"Like what designers?" Ino asked.

"Like Gucci, Vera Wang, Donatella Versace, Ralph Lauren and of course some Prada clothes. Oh and shoes by Jimmy Choo!" Ino, whose face had been growing steadily more delighted as Hana went on, suddenly shrieked with joy and pulled Hana in for another bone-crunching hug. "I take it you're happy then?" Hana said in a muffled voice.

"Are you kidding Hana? This is so cool! Plus Karin will be squirming in jealously that I was in an actual catwalk show." Ino said with a manic laugh.

"Okay Ino, you're slightly creeping me out. So are you ready to go back in?"Ino stopped laughing and nodded quickly.

"Are you ready?" Ino asked. Hana took in a deep breath and said,

"Yeah. After all I lost one friend but I gained another friend. Plus Gaara will be really worried. Wait Ino?" Hana asked suddenly unsure.

"Yeah?" Ino asked.

"Well you don't think I'm do plain or average or boring for Gaara do you?" Ino looked surprised and then burst into laughter.

"Hana that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. First off you're not at all plain or average and definitely not boring. Second, haven't you seen the way Gaara looks at you?" Hana looked surprised and then blushed slightly.

"H..he looks at me a certain way?" Ino nodded and then giggled as Hana turned a shade of red to rival Hinata.

"Come on," Hana said as she dragged the giggling Ino out the bathroom.

"How can you be so happy?" Ino questioned as they made their way to the hall.

"Well if I fake happiness soon I will feel what I'm projecting. Plus I'm not going to let Kagami get the satisfaction of knowing that she made me hide out in the bathroom and miss the first dance of the year!" Ino looked at her and then said strongly,

"You're right! Let's prove to the bitches that they have no power over us!" With that they marched into the hall.

The hall right after the fight between Kagami and Hana

"Okay we can't go in together, I've got to integrate you slowly. I mean Hana's going to be out of commission for the rest of the night so we have plenty of time." Kagami said to the others.

"Okay good plan, you get a dance with Gaara and mention how we are actually quite nice because when you were upset about something at home we comforted you even though you weren't out friend." Karin said.

"Yeah that's good."Hazuki said.

"I'll keep Zaku busy so he doesn't bother you Kagami." Kin said

"Thanks you guys." Kagami said with a smile. With that she entered the hall and the others waited 30 seconds and then entered after her.

"Hey Gaara, " Kagami said with a confident smile. Gaara glanced at her distracted.

"Oh hey Kagami. Have you seen Hana?" A look of irritation crossed Kagami's face but she quickly masked it with another smile.

"Oh she probably went to the bathroom to fix her hair or make up or something. Do you want to dance with me while you wait?" Gaara did another quick scan of the dance room before agreeing. Kagami pulled him onto the dance floor just as another slow song came on. Gaara was a little uncomfortable with how close she danced next to him but he resigned himself to it because Hana would probably kill him if he offended one of her friends. He continued to scan the dance floor over the top of Kagami's head for his date.

"Is it just me or is there something fishy about Kagami?" Shikamaru asked Temari and Haku who were sitting at the same table as him.

"Yeah she seems to want to be that close to Gaara, it's like she manipulated the situation to her advantage." Temari said.

"Plus Karin, Hazuki, Kin, Ami and Yumi just came in, looked at them and smirked." Haku said in his calm voice.

"What?! Where!?" Temari said, whipping round.

"Careful, you'll give yourself whiplash." Shikamaru said and Temari swiped at his head in response. Haku laughed at the two of them.

"What are they up to?" Temari muttered to herself. She wasn't the only one who had noticed. Hinata had narrowed her eyes and was looking between Kagami and the other group while she was dancing with Naruto. Sakura was just beginning to realise that something was up and she was muttering to Sasuke who was glaring at the other girls. Haku wasn't sure whether it was because of what Sakura was saying or from the fact that the matter was interrupting his dance with Sakura. Tenten was looking at Temari for an explanation to where Hana was while she was dancing with Neji. Haku leaned over and said,

"Why don't you just go and ask them what they are up to?"

"Because they won't just tell us what they were up to. I wish Hana was here, I mean she has a right to cut in because she's his date and I think Gaara's only dancing with Kagami because he can't find Hana." Temari said, craning her neck to try and catch a glimpse of Hana.

"Why don't you go and find her? She's probably in the bathroom or something." Shikamaru said lazily. Temari looked at him delighted.

"That's it! We can go and find Hana!"

"Wait!" Shikamaru said, wide away now. "Who said anything about 'we'?" Temari grabbed his hand and started to pull him towards the door.

"I did, now move!" Temari barked and Shikamaru resigned himself to being bodily thrown across the room.

"Where are you going with my date?" Kin asked as she caught sight of Temari.

"We are going to go outside and I'm going to rock his world." Temari said and both Shikamaru and Kin stared at her in shock. Temari took advantage of this and pushed Shikamaru out the door with a shout of, "Move it Shika!" She proceeded to then drag him down the corridor and into the girls' bathroom. When Shikamaru recovered his wits, he dragged Temari into the boys' bathroom.

"Why are we in here?" Temari asked.

"Because Kin is probably going to try and find us but she probably won't look in the boys' bathroom." Shikamaru answered.

"Well how do we find Hana when we are in the boys' bathroom?" Shikamaru glared at her.

"We wait and then go look. It's just far less embarrassing for you to be in the wrong bathroom than it is for me." Temari huffed.

"Fine if that's the way you feel." She said and then proceeded to drag him outside. "You can face the love of Kin!" Shikamaru looked round and then relaxed as he didn't see Kin anywhere.

"Troublesome woman, just go look." Shikamaru said gesturing to the girls' bathroom door. Temari sighed and went in. A couple of minutes later she came out looking worried.

"She's not there." Shikamaru sighed.

"Why are you so worried? You're not her keeper." Temari looked at him exasperatedly and started walking back to the hall. Shikamaru, after a moment's thought started following.

"Because Shikamaru you don't get it! I'm the oldest, I have to look after them. If anything goes wrong or something happens to them then I didn't protect them and it's all my fault." Temari said, getting upset. Shikamaru stopped and grabbed her arms and forced her to look at him.

"Temari, you can't protect them from every little thing that goes wrong in the world. It's just not possible and you are putting too much of a burden on yourself by giving yourself this job." Temari nodded and smiled slightly at him.

"Hey Shika," She said softly, "Do you want to dance? You know inside?" She gestured towards the doors. He smiled at her.

"Sure." He said as he, for the first time, dragged her into the dance room and onto the dance floor.

The hall right before Ino and Hana marched in

"Kagami, I'm really worried about Hana so I'm going to go look for her." Gaara said as an excuse as he detached himself from her. She pouted,

"Okay sweetie, be back soon!" She gave him a little air kiss and went to sit down next to Sasuke and his date, Karin. Gaara walked up to the double doors but was halted by them swinging open and Hana and Ino walking in.

"Hana!" He said in surprise. "Where have you been? Everyone's been worried sick! And why are you with Ino? Have you been crying? Did she say something to you?" Gaara went from happy, to worried to glaring with only minuscule expression changes.

"Calm down Gaara. Were you really worried about me?" Gaara nodded slowly not taking his eyes of Ino. "Cool. Now stop glaring at Ino she had nothing to do with me crying." Gaara's eyes went back to Hana and narrowed.

"So you were crying. Who made you cry?" Here Hana hesitated but Ino hurried to fill in the gaps if only to stop Gaara glaring at her again.

"It was Kagami."

"What." Gaara said in a low flat voice. Hana continued,

"Yeah well it seems that she doesn't want to be friends with me anymore and.." Before she could continue, the person in question flounced up.

"Hi Hana," Kagami said perkily, "I wasn't expecting you and Ino too! I'm surprised you bumped into each other." Gaara stalked up to her and then towered over her.

"What did you say to Hana." It was a statement not a question. Kagami visibly quaked under his gaze.

"Nothing, I just said that I don't particularly want to be her friend anymore because she keeps badmouthing my new friends, Karin, Ami, Hazuki, Yumi and Kin. So it's really her fault that we ended our friendship. Of course I'll still be friends with you and the guys." Kagami said flirtatiously. Gaara spat,

"Why the hell would I want to be friends with you who makes Hana cry and then blames her for it? Go and play with new friends but don't come near the band, me or the girls again. And especially leave Hana alone." With one more look of contempt he turned back to a stunned Hana and Ino.

"Woah," Ino whispered to Hana, "That's the most I have ever heard him say in one go." Hana didn't answer; she just ran up to Gaara and hugged him round the waist. Gaara looked uncomfortable but after Ino signed to him to hug her back, he slowly put his arms around her. Hana let out a sob and Gaara looked down in alarm.

"Why are you crying? Stop crying, please stop crying." Gaara said and Ino's jaw dropped to hear the sound of Gaara pleading.

"I..I'm crying b...because that's one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me." Hana choked out.

"Okay since Gaara probably wants to know what happens and when he does I don't think he should be anywhere near Kagami or Karin or anyone for that matter so I would recommend the roof. I'll explain everything to everyone here." Ino said brightly because she was getting kind of bored and she had been dying to ask Sakura where she got her dress from. At her words Hana let go of Gaara and hugged her.

"Thanks Ino, you've been a good friend." She then took a confused Gaara by the hand and led him outside and up to the roof. When she had left Ino looked round at Temari, Tenten, Sakura and Hinata who were looking very surprised at the fact that Hana had hugged her. She sighed and said to herself,

"Time to face the music."

On the roof

Gaara sat down next to Hana on the edge of the roof.

"Okay please explain what happened with Kagami and what happened with Ino to make her suddenly your friend." Gaara started with.

"Well Karin and her group didn't want to be friends with her anymore because she didn't like Sasuke anymore, which if you ask me is such a stupid reason and with Kagami, well..."

Flashback

"Well I am here to tell you that I don't want to be friends anymore." Kagami said flatly.

"Wait...w..what?" Hana said in a shaky voice.

"Yeah these are my real friends. I just wanted to get close to Gaara and since he obviously likes me you have expired your usefulness so I don't want to be your friend anymore." Kagami said with a smug smile on her face. She was enjoying this.

"I repeat what?! Why don't you want to be friends anymore?" Hana said, hurt.

"Oh my God are you so stupid that you don't get this even though I've already explained it once. I don't like you anymore, no wait, I didn't even like you in the first place. You're insane and always have to other people to fix your mistakes. I don't know why you like Gaara because you certainly aren't good enough for him. Why would he want a plain, stupid, oh so average girl like you?" Kagami finished off by saying.

Flashback end

Gaara had gone white and a quiet murderous look had come into his eye.

"I'll kill them, I'll kill them all." He said in a calm voice. Hana was about to laugh but then she realised he was serious when he stood up and started to walk to the door that led to the rest of the school. Hana scrambled up and grabbed him and swung him round.

"No, no, no! I didn't tell you that so you can hurt them! Which by the way, no matter how annoying or stupid they are, you mustn't do. I told them that so you can understand and because I can trust you. I can trust you right?" Hana said in a voice that meant there was no argument. He nodded. "Plus why do you care so much?" Hana asked curious.

"Are you serious?" Gaara said, shell-shocked. He didn't know how she couldn't know, everyone else did, like with Naruto and Hinata. Hana then said looking down,

"Well Ino said it was because you liked me but I knew that couldn't be true so..." She was cut off by a hard pressure on her lips. She looked up at Gaara, stunned as he broke the kiss.

"Ignore everything Kagami said because it's all wrong. Of course I like you Hana. The reason I've been so out of character this past few weeks is because you are completely and utterly original and just so you. You have never been boring. Insane, yes but average no. You are so different from any girl I've ever met that I had no choice but to fall for you." Hana smiled a brilliant smile at him and pulled his head down to hers again. After a couple of minutes Gaara broke the kiss again and warned with a smile,

"Don't expect me to be this outspoken and romantic all the time." Hana smiled again and said,

"If it wasn't a one off thing you wouldn't be Gaara. Smiling though is definitely something you should do more often." Gaara smiled wider and kissed her again. They had completely forgotten about the dance below.

Meanwhile in the dance below

"..so then we decided that no way were we letting those bitches get the satisfaction of knowing that they made us stay in the bathroom and miss the dance so we came here. Oh and Gaara and Hana went to the roof to talk." Ino finished her story with. The girls just stared at her in shock. They came back to the moment as Gaara and Hana walked through the doors and the DJ announced,

"Okay this is the last song of the night." He put on the slow version of Cascada 'Everytime We Touch' on. Hana laughed and dragged Gaara onto the floor.

I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me I still feel your touch in my dreams

The girls smiled and realised that, in spite of what Ino told them, Hana was going to be okay. They grabbed their dates which they all, with an exception of Hinata, had been neglecting all evening and Sasuke, Neji and Shikamaru resigned themselves to just watching. No way were they dancing with their dates again.

Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling. And everytime we kiss I swear I can fly. Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last. Need you by my side. Cause everytime we touch, I feel this static. And everytime we kiss, I reach for the sky. Can't you hear my heart beat so I can't let you go. Want you in my life

Okay I know that was mostly Gaara and Hana but it just worked. What couple should I focus on next? ShikaTema, NejiTen, SasuSaku, NaruHina or Saiino? YOUR CHOICE SO PLEASE REVIEW!

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

From 9th January to 24th January I will be taking exams so don't expect any updates during that time. I should be revising right now but I hate revising.

Anyway REVIEW!!!!!!