Author's Note: I am so, so, so sorry you guys! My hiatus is now over (for the most part). Thank you to those of you who are continuing to read and review for this story! You all deserve a world of love… and lots of cookies! Also, a warm thank you to toriotaku007 and Miss Ninja Kimi for their awesome flower suggestions!

Disclaimer: Naruto was my idea first. Kishimoto-sensei, the animators, and the thousands of other fanfiction authors and fanartists copied me.

Ino: Oh, stop confusing people!

"Tenten!" Ino exclaimed as she noticed the girl enter, the bell above the door chiming to announce her presence.

"Hey, Ino," the bunned girl smiled, then gasped. "Wow! Is this really your store?"

"Yamanaka Flowers. Yup, the best in floral arrangements and flower types you'll find!" Ino grinned, using her salesperson voice. "So how can I help you?"

"Oh, nothing really. I just came 'cause we were supposed to meet her today," Tenten smiled, bending down to sniff a lily. "Mmm… this smells heavenly!"

"Lily of the Valley," Ino recited carefully. "A sweet, cute flower that means humility and you've made my life complete." Ino leaned over the cashier's desk slightly. "Come on, try another one."

"Um… all right, this one." Tenten pointed to a white blossom with a gleaming yellow center. Ino laughed.

"That's a daisy. Simple, but still sweet, it means innocence." The blonde girl came around the desk and pointed out other species, and soon the two found themselves in the company of Sakura and Hinata.

"All right, today we, as you all should know, are doing things a little bit differently." In Ino's palm lay a stack of cards, each bearing the symbol of different flowers and the names of the remaining boys written under that symbol on a separate sheet of paper. "Flower Tarot. All right, let's get this started." With an expert wave of her hands, Ino placed six of the cards face down on the table in a pyramid formation, backs shining pristinely.

"Okay, Hinata. Your turn to pick today." Hinata looked around guiltily.

"Um… M-maybe I shouldn't p-pick… You know, I c-could use my Byakugan…" The other girls eyed her with humor. They didn't believe a word of it. Hinata sighed, closing her eyes and placing her hand on the center card. Hearts started pounding in the kunoichis' ears; apparently they were all great advocates of the supernatural. At last she flipped it over, revealing…. Ino groaned with annoyance.

"Lotus," she murmured, sinking into the chair behind her. "It means… eloquence." Sakura quickly checked the paper, alongside Tenten to see that the lucky gentleman was… you guessed it, Konoha's Dashing Green Beast himself, Rock Lee! Very… "gifted" in expression, one might say.

"Great… Well, might as well get him over with," Ino sighed as she moved to get out of her chair. She knew this one would take quite a bit more convincing on her and the rest of the group's parts.

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"Three pins! I got three pins!" Naruto started jumping around and yelling, throwing a fist in the air. Hinata, thus far, seemed to be the only one impressed.

"Please, Naruto. Lemme show you how it's really done!" Kiba said as he grabbed a fairly large-sized blue ball and rolled it down the lane. He ended up knocking down three pins, too.

"Um… I meant to do that!" Kiba huffed as he walked back to a chair. In case you hadn't noticed, the date of the day was bowling, picked by the Handsome Devil himself. Of course, one may wonder how the four girls managed to convince that dashing young man to accompany them on a date in the first place. Well, the truth is… they didn't. That's right, Lee was tricked into thinking it was a "group outing," so he of course didn't turn down the opportunity, especially with Sakura there! Ah, deception, you are the art of women!

"All right… Gather the chakra…" Neji murmured as he prepared to bowl. That's right; Neji was bowling… with a little friendly competitiveness on Kiba, Naruto, and Tenten's parts, that is. At last, his white eyes a cold flame of concentration, Neji released the sphere down the lane and… gutter ball. And again, gutter ball. He slinked back to his seat next to Tenten, a frown upon his lips. Now he felt stupid, which was an entirely new experience to the boy and seemed to pop up everywhere during these stupid escapades.

"All right, who's next?" Ino asked Shikamaru. In response, he snored. "Oh, for goodness sake!" She shoved the boy over, rudely awakening him and looked at the screen. The teams had been set up randomly in the following order: Team A consisted of Naruto, Lee, Sakura, and Tenten, and Team B had Kiba, Neji, Ino, and Hinata. Shikamaru actually showed up for once, but only because… Actually, he just does that sometimes. Poor Akamaru, on the other hand, was not allowed into the bowling alley because he was a dog. Aw… But at least he got to hang out with Shino… sort of.

"I shall conquer this sport if it is the last thing I do!" Lee announced suddenly, a wave crashing behind him. "I shall do it for my dear Sakura's love, which shines like a beacon to all mankind! And if I cannot do such, I shall do one thousand laps in the river! And if I cannot do that, I shall–––!"

"Lee, shut up and bowl!" Ino snapped as she released her glittery purple ball. She could barely handle the "group thing," lest a real date.

"Ah, yes, that!" Lee agreed, apparently unaffected by the blonde girl's wrath. "Well, then…" He struck an odd pose, held it for a second, and then chucked the emerald ball at the pins with all his might. They crashed everywhere… in the wrong lane.

"Hey, buddy, watch what you're doin'!" Some random person in the lane not belonging to Team B yelled. Kiba and Hinata thought that the voice sounded rather familiar, but couldn't place it… It had kind of a whispery, shush-y sound to it… Like it was accustomed to saying "shh!" all the time. Ah, well. While Lee had been showing that he did not know how to play the game, Ino knocked over five pins. The next roll she got two. With an excited cheer she pumped her fist into the air, not unlike Naruto.

"Ooo, beat that, Sakura!" Ino declared with a flounce. It was only the first round, and already tensions were high. But that was just normal.

"Well, as soon as the lane gets cleared," Sakura growled. No sooner had she spoken than she looked over and saw that the lane was all ready. Ah, bowling magic!

"Oh, you're on!" She, predictably, countered her rival with a sparkly pink ball, frowning at the lane and concentrating. Ino… this is for all the times I've looked up to you. That time I cut my hair; this is for that, too! I'm not a little crybaby anymore. I can stand strong! I will… beat you! With that mighty Inner Sakura cry, the girl let loose her awesome strength, putting heart and soul into the bowl… And got gutter ball. The next time, she knocked over two pins. Please, you didn't really think she was on Ino's level, did you? With a heavy sigh she walked over to the concession stand to buy a soda to ease her nerves.

"Um… ah…" Hinata shuffled self-consciously over to her team's lane, porting a teensy, cute lil' white bowling ball. She looked so precious…

"You can do it Hinata!" No, it was not Naruto, but Hinata's tireless #1 fan, Kiba. "Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!" He had so much confidence in her. Hinata glanced at Naruto, who wasn't even paying attention to her, and then back at Kiba. Well, she couldn't let him down, could she?

"W-well, here I go!" With as much might as the shy girl could muster, Hinata rolled the ball down the lane… and it continued rolling. In fact, it rolled so slow that there was no doubt the ball would strike the pins head-on! It kept rolling… rolling…almost there… and… gutter ball. And again, a gutter ball. Hinata sighed. What could she have expected?

Sakura was coming back just then with her not-so-loyal but energetic fan, and arrived just in time to hear the tail-end of Kiba's enthusiastic encouragement and to see… the first strike! On the screen the words "Kunai Panda" flashed insistently in bright yellow above a large "X."

"Honestly, I don't know what you're gawking at," Tenten replied with a shrug as she bowled yet another strike. In the awed silence Shikamaru could be heard snoring.

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The final score of the first game came out to look something like this: Naruto: 65, Lee: 3 (and those were hit by the pins of the next lane, at which point Lee was restricted from continued play), Sakura: 22, Kiba: 65, Neji: 0, Ino: 46, and Hinata: 0. Tenten, on the other hand, kept getting strikes, again and again. In fact, after the first game, everyone basically just sat around and watched her, eventually attracting a big enough crowd that the manager began to watch to see if she could beat the previous record. Within the first forty minutes, she had doubled it.

"How does she do that?" Kiba and Naruto kept exclaiming, and then laughing because they said something at the same time, which for some reason they found hilarious. Shikamaru slept on, unaware. Hinata and Neji sat near them, totally amazed and oblivious to the other. Neji… he also felt a little proud, secretly, of Tenten's accomplishment. Just a little, though.

Ino, Sakura, and Lee, on the other hand, had somehow found there collective way over to the refreshment area, and were now engaged in a–––

"Hotdog eating contest?" The lady arched an eyebrow as she rung up the necessary money it would cost to buy the near-three digit amounts of hotdogs the group had ordered. Teenagers these days. What would their parents say?

"All right!" Sakura announced. She faltered as she set the last tray down in front of herself, wondering how they had managed to get into this ridiculous competition in the first place. Ah, yes. She had been jealous of the fact that Ino was seemingly so much better than herself, and so had challenged her to a rematch; the lame gorging of oneself on questionable meat products was all the pink-haired girl could offer. Then Lee had stepped in and demanded he go instead of Sakura, because it was his duty to protect her in all cases, etc, etc. Being the stubborn girl she was, Sakura was still in the contest to beat Ino, who at the moment seemed unconcerned with the piles of hotdog before her. Lucky pig, she barely ate as it was and so probably had plenty of room.

"Honey, I asked if you were ready." Sakura jerked herself from her inner doubts.

"Wh-what?"

"Are you ready to start?" One of the women who normally worked the refreshments had volunteered to help them with their little game, and now stared intently at Sakura. The kunoichi glanced hesitantly at the glasses of water they had all been provided, the hotdogs, Ino and Lee's determined faces… She frowned resolutely.

"Yes, I'm ready." "Heck yeah! I'll eat my way to victory you sloppy blonde pig, and then you'll be the one looking up to me!" Inner Sakura kicked and punched loudly, grinning from ear to ear.

"All righty then." The woman waved a greasy napkin absentmindedly. "On your marks… get set… eat!" She dropped the white square of paper, and immediately the three ninja began to stuff their faces, each having his or her own different method.

I must win this for Sakura, and prove my love to her once and for all! And if I cannot muster the strength to do that, I will–––! Moving aside from the predictable train of thought, he concentrated on using his inhuman speed to choke down hotdogs much faster than his opponents. True, he didn't have that much of a lead, but it was enough. Sakura, on the other hand, had learned the smart technique of dipping the hotdog into the water so that the bun moistened, and thus producing a morsel easier to eat. As for Ino, she was planning something far craftier. But for now she would settle on trying to down at least five. Five? She shivered. Ick. She despised the pink, rounded globs of fatty mystery meat. Didn't people know how unhealthy they were? Ugh!

At last Lee had to pause for a three-minute break. The "judge" came over almost instantly, checking to see if he was out. The boy tried as well as he could with a full stomach to explain that after eating so superhumanly fast, he would have to rest. The lady merely shrugged and decided she would give everybody a few minutes if they needed it. Meanwhile, Sakura was still going strong. She had eaten eleven hotdogs, and was on her twelfth. People from the crowd around Tenten began to drift over to the table, curiosity eating away at their features. She glanced at Lee, who was resting, as she placed the most bread and meat into her mouth. He was on his thirty-something dog, a lead she would not easily catch up to. But at least she had Ino; she knew from their friendship as children that the other girl would have trouble consuming all the oily food. This one was in the bag. At least, she thought so until she glimpsed a familiar gesture: the handseal for Shintenshin no jutsu. And we all know Lee can't do jutsu, so...

"Ah, no!" Sakura cried, beginning to rise from the table to avoid the technique. She wasn't fast enough. Instantly Ino's body flopped down onto the table, and the three minute clock was on for her to beat Sakura, get back in her own body, and then beat Lee.

Well, here goes nothing. Without much hesitation Ino stuck a hotdog precariously down Sakura's throat. The result was horrendous. No, she didn't die, you sillies. No, she didn't pass out… There you go, that kind of horrendous result. With disgust Ino disengaged her family jutsu and regained possession of her body just in time. When Sakura awoke she found herself covered in soggy, half-digested hotdog all over. You're welcome for the description.

"Crud––– Ino!" She managed to blubber before covering her mouth at the mess and rushing off to the bathroom, despite her supposed future in the field of medicine where one needs a strong stomach. Ino cackled to herself, avoiding looking at the puddles of hotdog goo to insure she wouldn't react so embarrassingly, and started on another hotdog.

"S-Sakura-chan!" Lee's face paled. He had begun his eating rampage again, but now he paused mid-bite in light of the sudden circumstances. Should he go wait and comfort her? Should he continue in her place? The thirteen-year-old stared imploringly at his food, as if begging it for quick wisdom. Ahhh! It was no good. In the meantime, Ino was on her fifteenth or so hotdog, quite proud of her newfound talent. And now the judge began to approach Lee again, so he quickly began to chew, albeit a lot slower than his previous pace. He still didn't know what to do.

"L-Lee-san," someone murmured behind him, a mist of malodorous breath following. "Lee…" He turned in delight to see a wobbly Sakura, still a bit nauseous but at least cleaner. She gulped and tried again.

"Lee, you can't let her win! Don't let her take you out with her Shintenshin no jutsu." As Sakura began to gain strength she was able to explain, all the while Lee continuing to slowly eat.

"I shall avenge you, my dear cherry blossom in the sun!" Lee declared, and began t eat faster and more determined than ever. Would his stomach ever give out?

"Wait, is Shintenshin no jutsu perfectly legal?" Somebody from the large crowd that was not near Sakura's side of the table asked randomly. It was discussed around the group, and some of the folks who were actual ninja decided it was, in fact, legal since it wasn't stated you couldn't use ninja skills in the beginning.

"Besides," another person added. "Wasn't that guy using like, super speed?" This was a very good point. However, Lee and Ino were now slowing down, unable to eat so much at their normal rate.

Ino frowned and formed the handseal once more, but stopped as soon as Lee saw her. In a flash he had moved, then returned.

"You cannot use that jutsu anymore, Ino!" he announced. "If you do, I shall just speed away, leaving your body helpless for a good few minutes and leaving me the winner." The blonde girl glared at him, and kept eating. Wasn't there some way she could outsmart this guy?

"Yes, I may not be able to use jutsu, but I can be smart!" Lee added, his mouth full of bun and hotdog. Suddenly Ino's eyes lit up. That was it! If he couldn't use jutsu, then he couldn't dispel a sleeping genjutsu!

"You just made a big mistake," she grinned. Quickly she put her hands together and deftly formed handsigns for the desired jutsu. Lee, seeing this, was gone in a flash. But a moment later he dropped fast asleep, along with most of the bowlers and crowd who were normal people and not ninja. Before the remaining ninja could dispel the jutsu so that they wouldn't get knocked out, Ino had claimed Lee's body and it was all downhill from there.

"Aw…" Lee sighed when Ino disengaged. "I failed you, Sakura, my love! Failed you with the deepest of failure! Oh, the shame! I do not deserve to live anymore, for your disappointment is too much to bear!"

"Lee. Chill. It's fine," Sakura sighed. Then she glared at a smug Ino who sat in her chair being fawned over by her new fans. Okay, it was a known fact that Sakura had no romantic feelings for Lee at all. But as she watched him droopingly walk to the bathroom she felt rage boil within her. It was one thing to do it to her, Ino's rival, but to do it to Lee was going too far. Sakura marched over to the judge who was just about to go back to work and tapped her insistently on the shoulder.

"I don't think that was fair at all! Lee clearly ate way more hotdogs than Ino and I combined." She thought for a second. "This wasn't a ninja techniques contest, it was a hotdog eating contest! And besides which… Ino used up more 'rest time' when she passed out." The last one caught everyone's attention, including Ino.

"Excuse me? Are you challenging the fact that I won?" the girl growled. "What, the little date-thing not enough for your jealous streak now?" Ino almost wanted to add, "When will you learn that I'm better than you?" but that sounded snotty, and not like in her darling Sasuke's way.

"Well, I think you should have to eat ten more hotdogs in order to win the contest! It's not fair that you used jutsu and didn't really actually eat anything."

"I ate a lot, thank you very much," Ino retorted. "And I thought we brought up the fact that Lee had super speed!"

"Well… I didn't do any jutsu!"

"That's 'cause you're not a ninja!"

"Take that back!"

"It's true!"

"Take it back!"

"All right, all right," the judge lady (whose actual name I have learned is Juudi) intervened. "Honey, Pinky here has a point. Let's just see you eat ten more hotdogs." Ino blinked, and then full on gawked.

"Lady, are you trying to get me to ruin my figure?" Juudi sighed and nodded her acknowledgement.

"Okay, okay. Five, then. Five more hotdogs." Ino groaned. She still had to eat… Sakura crossed her arms over her chest as she watched Ino eye the last five hotdogs she would probably consume in her entire lifetime. It wasn't as much as Sakura had asked for, but it would suffice. Suddenly an idea occurred to Ino. She still had one last trick up her… um… arm warmers.

"All right then…" she pretended to reach for the first hotdog, but before touching it she transitioned into–––

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Instantly the foodstuff was burnt into ashes, making it far easier for Ino to roll them all up into a small ball, swallow the bitter blackness, and down the rest of her water. The crowd cheered at her having outsmarted the competition yet again. Meanwhile, Sakura's mouth hung open in shock and defeat. That was Sasuke's jutsu! How had a genin like Ino learned that? Had she really been holding out on her this hold time? Sakura groaned, but before she could say anything to the dainty blonde, Ino collapsed in a passed out heap. Ah. There you go: she had just run out of chakra.

The bowling place was in uproar as its new hero (poor Tenten, forgotten so quickly) seemed to be in critical condition. Even the said girl and her last watchers rushed over to the scene.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"What happened?"

"Is anyone here a medic-nin?" Sakura snapped out of her trance as one of the many rapid-fire questions stuck out to her. She pushed through the crowd.

"Me! I'm training to one day be a–––" She was ignored as a girl of about eighteen stepped out, feeling Ino's pulse and checking her vital signs. At last she told everyone that everything was okay, she just needed some rest. The crowd cheered and hailed this nurse-in-training to be the new bowling alley hero of the moment! What excitement!

"Well, this place is getting boring," Tenten sighed as she shifted the weight of the sleeping Shikamaru who, luckily, was lighter than Neji. Everyone else agreed. And so, they journeyed forth, two unconscious people, ironically from the same team, in their midst.

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"Hey, she's coming to!" That was the first thing Ino heard as she opened her eyes. Peering over her were the worried faces of her companions. She got up slowly and rubbed her head.

"Take it easy. We don't want you passing out again." It was Tenten, older sister to all who was closest to Ino and helping her to get up.

"What… what happened?" Ino asked as she rubbed her head. "I've got a killer headache… and I remember there was mist…"

"I told you she was awake for that, but would you guys listen? No…" Kiba frowned, his vague words hanging in the air. Someone coughed.

"Anyways, you lost way too much chakra during the… contest. You should feel a little light-headed." Ino blinked.

"Tenten, since when do you know so much about medicine?"

"My dad's a doctor," she replied, seemingly surprised that Ino didn't know that. The blonde girl shook her head.

"Wow. There's seriously so much I don't know about you…"

"Anyways, we decided to go get ice cream until you got up." This was Naruto, who sat comfortably across the girl in the booth gulping down a three-scoop vanilla and chocolate swirl ice cream. Next to him was the sleeping Shikamaru, and obviously Tenten was next to Ino. At the table nearest the booth sat Sakura and Lee, who were sharing a large chocolate slurpie-type-thing, Kiba and Hinata next to them sharing a sundae, and Neji sat by himself, pouting and scraping at Italian ice. Yeah, he's too cool for ice cream.

"Um… Okay," Ino said at last. "I'd get some, but I feel kinda sick…"

"S'okay. Sakura felt sick, too, but then Lee offered to split something with her, and she just felt so guilty about the whole hotdog thing…" Naruto crossed his arms and glared childishly.

"Um, Naruto? I'm right here! I can hear you," Sakura replied.

"Well then maybe you would let me split something with you instead of him!"

"You're already eating ice cream!" Sakura pointed out. Lee continued to say nothing as he was too busy with yet another brain freeze. Poor guy. There were just some things he didn't get.

"So?" Naruto whined, then glanced at Ino. "Fine, then. Maybe Ino and I can share something since she's so much better than you!"

"Oh, stop being immature!" Sakura grumped as she stuck out her tongue hypocritically.

"Geez, they're noisy," Kiba muttered when suddenly his and Hinata's spoons clinked together. He gasped. "Ack! I'm sorry! I'll go get another one if you want, or…" Hinata giggled a little.

"Kiba-kun, it's… it's okay." Really, he could overreact so much sometimes. Okay, so it was kind of adorable, but really, what was she going to do with a teammate like that? Oh, well. She bit into the banana thoughtfully and continued on her merry sundae-eating way.

"Isn't we supposed to be having a fiesta?" Lee randomly announced as conversation lulled. He was good at being the life of a part, apparently. At his declaration everyone remembered that they were, in fact, supposed to be having a fiesta and so they all got their party hats that Lee gave them on (yes, even Shikamaru and Neji) and started to fiesta the hardcore ice cream and ninja way!

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"Geez, that was some party…" Ino yawned as she stumbled into the house, grabbing the watering can to head into the store for late-night watering. Hey, plants like midnight snacks, too, y'know. As the kunoichi finished her rounds she glimpsed the almost-perfect pyramid of cards that lay untouched on her desk. With an almost guilty look she checked around to see if anyone could possibly be watching her. Then she quickly flipped over the card at the top of the pyramid: Venus flytrap. With a secretive smile Ino only knowledge of the future can bring Ino left for bed. Whether the Venus flytrap meant Chouji, who had a notoriously voracious appetite or Shino, whose penchant for insects was also renowned, was anyone but Ino's guess now.

Woot! The Lee Chapter has been completed! I apologize to all the Rock Lee fans if I butchered his personality; honestly he's one of the hardest characters for me (I don't know why) But don't stop reading now that Lee's done with! We still have Chouji, Shino, Sasuke, and maybe even a little surprise I might slip in! Anyways, hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and will continue to enjoy them to the end of the story!