A/N: Hi! I think the roll is wearing off, but that doesn't mean it's going to be one-update-a-year thing from here on! I have way too much support from you guys for that! Thank you SO much for supporting the fiction and offering your ideas/comments/flames/praise and all that jazz! I just realized that this fiction is in TWO C2s!! Ah, but that is important to me! And in rational terms, it's got more hits than any of my other stories ever. And it's all because of you guys!

Well, I hope that I never disappoint you too much…

Here goes this next chapter! I never thought the slumber party sequence would last so LONG!! Also, I'm really sorry for the slow update, it's just that school started again and all, what with the homework and early waking up stuff.

Disclaimer: No own Naruto. Ugga. Bugga.

The Perfect Place

By: DewWater

Sakura sighed, her chin in her hands and looking rather dejected. "Aiya…"

Her pink hair was in disarray. She was leaning on the edge of Hinata's bed, watching Ino for signs of recovery. The rest of them were sprawled in corners of the room, feeling the sugar rush wearing off slowly as they waited for Ino to come back to earth, where she was supposed to be.

Ino blinked blearily. The ceiling came blurrily into focus, then sharper. She blinked again and groggily raised her arm to rub her eye. "Huh? What happened?" she moaned, sitting up abruptly and feeling the room spin. Sakura resisted the urge to giggle. "You passed out upon seeing my face. Tell me the truth, do I really look that bad?"

The blond kunoichi smiled. "Why, but of course, forehead-girl!"

One Hour Later

After Shikamaru nearly cart wheeled down the steps from being half-asleep on his feet, ("Curse his darned talent," muttered Ino), they decided as a whole that it was time to turn in for the night. They each headed in their separate directions, groaning and stretching. Naruto complained loudly about his drooping eyelids to Hinata. Tenten giggled.

In the Living Room

Ino slithered into her sleeping bag, letting out a contended purr when she wiggled her ice-cold toes into the fleece plaid that lined the inside. She tossled around for a bit, finding a good place to settle down, and then struggled to bring up the black zipper hanging elusively out of the side of the fat bag.

Shikamaru sighed and pulled it up for her without much trouble. Ino sighed, and smiled at him. "Arigato, Shika-kun." Her brightly blond hair reflected off of the faint moonlight shafting through the window, making it glow like undiscovered silver. It was fanning out, since she had taken it out of her pony.

Her jeweled sky-blue eyes looked like pale sapphires, glinting in her pale porcelain face. Shikamaru shrugged, suddenly not wanting to feel the way that he did, muttering something about "troublesome", and sat down on top of his own sleeping bag, toying with the zipper.

Ino raised a surprised eyebrow. "I thought you said that you couldn't stay awake a moment longer, you lazy bum!"

Shikamaru threw a mock glare in her direction. "I am. But I figure that if we're going to be room-buddies for the night, I might as well stay awake. I won't be able to get to sleep." A sweatdrop appeared on both of their heads.

"Well, if you want to sleep that badly," Ino murmured, sounding injured. Her voice that way made Shikamaru ache inside. He didn't show any reaction, however, just gazed at the blank ceiling, his eyes slightly out of focus, with his arms crossed and featuring the same bored expression as always.

"I'll play guard monkey then," he stated, a hint of sharp sarcasm leaning into his voice. Ino rolled over, so that her face was facing him, propped up by her hand.

She frowned, the corners of her pale pink lips turning down at the corners just ever-so-slightly, only enough that somebody who knew her well could tell. Shikamaru could, and he didn't like it. "Why are you doing that?" he drawled.

Ino frowned further. "Doing what?"

"Frowning. I like you better when you smile, because that means that you're not about to turn me or Chouji into a bloody pulp."

Now she was smiling again, looking happy, her pale face illuminated from the inside in a way that the moonlight did not display it. Shikamaru's breathing clenched and then released for the briefest second. "Why were you frowning?" he irked out casually, now zipping the sleeping bag up and down.

Ino shrugged. "No particular reason. I do that when I'm thinking, sometimes." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Pray tell, what were you thinking about, a brain as small as yours and you with your fists of iron?"

The blond kunoichi glared at her teammate. "Kami-sama! Shikamaru, you really do know how to make a girl feel bad."

With that piercing statement, she rolled over and promptly slowed her breathing to a steady pulse, so that it seemed like she had fallen fast asleep within a manner of minutes.

It left Shikamaru to gaze at the quietly ticking wall clock, which now displayed "11:30 PM" with its two large hands.

He was tired beyond belief. His eyes were drooping, his stomach felt empty, and his mouth was fuzzy and dry. He wanted to just give in to slumber and sleep quietly forever and ever, but something was keeping him up, a gut instinct.

Something was keeping Nara Shikamaru from his beauty sleep…and his intuition was always dead on.

In the Kitchen

To Naruto, sleeping on the cold floor with only a rug and a sleeping bag didn't suit him too well. He pouted, but refrained from complaining loudly. Hinata didn't seem like the kind of person who took loud mouths well, and even the dobe realized this.

He carefully untied his hitae ate and laid it on the dining table. He rubbed his forehead, where there was no doubt a red mark where the metal plating had been, and frowned slightly. "Itchy," he said.

Hinata looked up from where she was unrolling her tightly rolled sleeping bag. She was struggling with the straps, which no doubt Sakura with her monstrous strength had tied. "N-Naruto-kun…do you want some salve for y-your forhead?" she whispered softly.

Naruto grinned widely. "No problem, Hina-chan!"

Then, he noticed the persistent sleeping bag, and promptly snapped it open. "OW!" he yelled, loud enough for Shikamaru to yell back to shut up from the next room. The strap had snapped his hand when it came off.

"N-Naruto-kun! Daijoubu?" Hinata asked anxiously, her pearly eyes wide. Naruto grinned wider. "A little burn wouldn't stop a Hokage!" Hinata smiled slightly, and handed him some salve. "T-That will make it feel better," she explained.

Naruto opened the lid of the salve, sniffed suspiciously, and shrugged, dabbing it on the burn. "Thanks!" He replaced the lid and handed it back to Hinata, who blushed slightly as their fingertips brushed together.

The loud mouth laid back with his hands behind his head contentedly on his sleeping bag, gazing at the tiny glass window in the middle of the kitchen ceiling. Through it, he detected a small patch of night sky with shining silver, softly glowing stars for studs through the ebony black.

It felt like the little patch of sky was being loaned just to him for the night, as if it knew that he needed just the sense of belonging, that he possessed something besides the clothes on his back.

Hinata had tentatively laid down too, and was trying to watch Naruto without making it look like she was watching him. He paid no heed to her, looking up at the ceiling window. She smiled slightly, seeing the wondering expression on his face.

It was moments like this where she had no doubts whatsoever about loving Naruto. It was also moments like these that she felt that overwhelming sense that she had picked the right person, that first day in the Academy, and that she couldn't ever have more reasons for falling in love with Konoha's so-called number one failture.

Up in the Sitting Room

Sakura had fallen fast asleep, her pastel locks strewn angelically around her heart-shaped face, almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.

Sasuke was left up to brood, watching his teammate's back rise peacefully and methodically up and down as she breathed. He knew that he should be getting some sleep, but the way that Sakura's pale pink locks fell around her shoulders fascinated him.

The complexity of the pattern was unfathomable; he felt like it was a labyrinth that he could not penetrate, the thoughts and feelings that truly resided in the heart of the only kunoichi he had ever been close to.

Suddenly, Sakura shifted.

It was small, but Sasuke noticed. The next moment, she had let out a soft cry of anguish. He thought he had imagined it, and so, fell back into his peaceful brooding. Then it came again, the barely audible cry of pain.

She was having a nightmare.

He raised his hand and gently shook her shoulder, whispering, "Sakura! Wake up!"

She tossed and turned, finally opening her eyes. Sasuke looked at her, really looked at her, those lovely emerald orbs. He had never noticed how they glowed with soft light in the moon. Right now, they were brimming with unshed crystalline tears, her hair stuck to her forehead.

Suddenly, she threw herself at Sasuke and hugged him tightly, her face pressed into his shoulder. Sasuke stiffened immediately, and didn't react in time to push her away. The sound of her violent sobs racked her frame. Awkwardly, he put his arms around her too.

"Don't leave, ever again, OK?" Sakura sobbed. "Don't go back to Orochimaru, don't ever leave me again!" Sasuke stiffened even more. Had he really caused her so much pain when he had left, just because of her stupid infatuation with him? Besides, Orochimaru was dead…no, not dead, he reminded himself. Just defeated. He's still out there somewhere.

Sakura had grabbed fistfuls of his PJ T-shirt. Her salty tears leaked down the front, tickling his neck. He didn't mind.

"I won't leave again," he said, sounding slightly irritated.

Sakura looked up, tears still trickling down her face. Sasuke unintentionally caught the ones that dripped off of her chin with his finger. Sakura smiled slightly, still tearful. "Is that a promise?"

Sasuke hesitated.

"I…I p-promise."

In Tenten's Room

Hyuuga Neji really wished that Tenten was not in the same room as him. He also really, REALLY wished that she didn't have so much of Ino's nail polish lying around, as if purposely taunting him.

"Troublesome," he muttered, all the while reflecting that he was spending too much time around Shikamaru.

Tenten was half asleep, and so was he, though he would never admit it. The night's events had tired him out in a way that sparring never had. He was exhausted in every way, and was of the opinion that sleep was the best gift ever granted to mankind.

The weapons mistress rolled over and elbowed Neji in the stomach. Hard.

The air was knocked out of him. "Even in her sleep?" he thought, surprised, gently prying the elbow from his gut. He winced, knowing that he would find a large bruise there in the morning. This felt like the time that the Curry of Life was poured unwillingly down his throat and the liquor had nearly burned a hole in his stomach for the next two days. Or, at least that's what it had felt like.

Then Tenten rolled over and whacked him with her fist squarely across the jaw.

Neji stared, involuntarily bringing his hand up to his face. "Is she doing this on purpose?" he wondered. "What did I do?" Just while he was reviewing what he could possibly have done in the last 24 hours or so to offend Tenten and had come up with the 10th possible reason, he noticed that Tenten's eyes were closed.

"Ah…she's dreaming. Or she's just a violent sleeper," he decided.

He promptly pinned her arms, (not too hard…), behind her back and tied them loosely with a spare pillowcase there, and rolled her over so that she was comfortable.

WHACK!

The double-club of arms hit him on the chin.

"Kuso!" Neji muttered under his breath. It was going to be a long night.

In General Narration

"AIIIEEE!!"

There was suddenly a scream from downstairs that woke everybody up. Four bodies from upstairs and two from the kitchen charged into the living room, where the scream sounded like it had come from.

Shikamaru was looking stunned, sitting in the middle of the room amid shattered glass and some of his own blood that dripped from a gash in his shoulder. Everybody halted in their tracks.

"Where…where's Ino?" Sakura whispered.

A/N: A little twist there! It will all make sense in time…I promise…crosses fingers…