AN: Well, apparently no one saw this coming
AN: Well, apparently no one saw this coming. Tee-hee, I had soooo much fun with this. Damn, when I get my hands on him, Jaymen is DEAD.
Thank you guys so much! I really try hard to make this story seem believable, and apparently it is. :) So anyways… I'm trying to get this up fast, because I only have time to type at school. Yes, my father still won't let me on the computer.
I know this took a long, long, long, LONG time, but I am trying. Don't give up on me yet! I had trouble visualizing this for the longest time. I apologize to those (TWOTAILS, TWOTAILS, TWOTAILS) who have been so patiently waiting, especially considering I know how much she hates waiting. I'M SO SORRY!! PLEASE FORGIVE MEEE!!
Disclaimer: I own Naruto when Hell freezes over. I own Apple when Kierra and I start dating. Thus, never. (I LOVE YOU KIERRA, but not like that.) I own AirWalk when Jeff isn't smart. As if that's ever gonna happen. I don't own ANYTHING, to make this very clear.
Dedication: To alcohol, Richard, and joyriding. For the lovely people I call friends, in particular Chelsey, Kierra, and Sandra. To Torrey, because I promised him that if he stopped skipping gym, I would give him another dedication.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
((The random AN's that I feel like adding in there….))
Lyrics, or emphasis on certain words.
Karin woke up worrying. That picture could ruin everything. It had her name on it, for god's sake! If anyone saw it, ANYONE at all, who was important, then there would be some major repercussion coming from Anko. Jeez, what's the point in living if you have Anko Mitarashi breathing down your neck?
She stretched out her shoulders, which had cramped while she had been asleep. An annoyed yawn, and a neck crack later she was good to go take a shower.
The hot water killed the knots that had arisen in her neck over night. She got out ten minutes later (they had Sakura to drive up their water bill, no need to help that one. It was expensive without her help) and toweled off. She ran her fingers through her fushsia hair, leaving it messy as per usual.
She pulled on a pair of black pin-striped pants, a simple white blouse with three-quarter length sleeves and a black halter-vest. After yawning again, she slid her favorite pair of glasses onto her nose, and trudged down the stairs into the kitchen.
The first thing she saw was Anko, with her hands on her hips and a glare on her lips.
Shit, shit, double shit.
"I saw the paper."
She was being straightforward and out in the open, as Anko usually was, but there was something in her eyes that scared the living crap out of Karin.
"Anko-dono, it wasn't my fault, I didn't know they had taken a picture! If I had known, I would have done something about-!"
"Karin, I understand that it's not your fault, but this is serious. All you can is decoy now. And I know that's what you like, but still… I care about you, and I don't want you getting caught. Who's that boy, by the way?"
Karin turned deep red at being scolded.
"I understand, and it's true that I like decoy. It's where I fit. His first name is Suigetsu… I have no idea of his last name. Temari ran a background check on him, he doesn't come up with anything. Do you have anything against him?"
"No, but Shikamaru didn't come up with anything either, and I still told Temari to stay away from him. Unless you have proof, solid, rock-hard proof, that he has no connection to Sharingan, I will not let you near him."
Karin hung her head. She knew it would never work between her and Suigetsu, but she couldn't help hoping that Anko might let up for once.
She looked up, and saw Anko looking at her, and in Anko's eyes was a sad, understanding kindness. Karin wouldn't let herself cry, but at this rate, she was going to be on the ground bawling her eyes out. Dammit.
Karin hoped deeply that nothing bad would come of this, but she doubted she would luck out. And from the look Anko was giving her, the older woman doubted it too.
This was going to hurt, and Karin knew it.
Sakura sleepily opened her eyes and checked the clock on her night table. It was almost 10:30! Jeez, could she sleep, or what?
She groggily forced herself out of bed and towards her bathroom. A shower would do her some good. As she turned the faucet on, hot water gushed up into her face, and she was tempted to take a long, luxurious bath. Anko had turned her onto them, who had, in turn, been swayed into them, from someone else. Sakura never asked who it was because, whoever they were, they had good ideas. ((For Ronnie X3 ))
A bath and an hour and a half later she lazily got herself out of the now lukewarm water. Slipping into her room, wearing nothing but a towel and soaked hair, she started to get dressed. She knew she had to remember something, but she couldn't remember what, and it was chewing at her brain.
Pulling on a skin-tight red tank top, a pair of well-worn jeans with holes in the knees, and the black hoodie she had grabbed from the Sharingan hideout, she lazed downstairs. As soon as she got down there, she saw Hinata.
The whole last night came back to her, and she slapped her forehead in frustration. How could she have been so stupid? She knew Hinata had asked her to come shopping, and she knew Ten Ten was depending on her to be there by one o'clock… damnit.
Hinata stared at her thoroughly annoyed.
"Sakura, are we going to go, or not?! I've been waiting for you to get out of that tub for half an hour!"
"Ne, sorry Hina-chan… I'm ready to go now."
Hinata's sharp look softened into her signature small smile.
"You gonna grab your iPod?"
Hinata's voice was coming from the hall, where she had already darted off to.
"Yup, hold on."
Sakura slipped her favorite, well-worn, AirWalk shoes onto her feet, and zipped out the open door after Hinata.
She hopped over the side of Hinata's Audi convertible, and strapped herself in. Hinata was out of the garage just about twenty seconds after the garage door had opened enough. Both of the women laughed mirthfully as adrenaline rushed through them.
Hinata turned her MP3 jack on to as loud as possible, Sakura's iPod blasting '24 Story Love Affair' by Faber Drive. The two of them sang along at the tops of their lungs, until Hinata got bored. ((XD She has music ADD, just like me.))
She flipped the song to 'Rooftops' by the Lost Prophets.
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream you heart out
This is all we got now
Everybody scream your heart out
They were screaming along with the well-known lyrics for pretty much the rest of the ride, hair flying all over the place in the whipping wind, to Suzuki Market.
Ten Ten picked up some beef-flavored ramen, tilted her head, and nervously checked her watch, again. Sakura did not do late. She did fashionably late, but not half-hour late! That was just not Sakura's style! And Hinata was always on time, despite Ino's constant reminders on how important it was to be late.
Then her cell rang, and she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Sakura's number. It was just a text, so she knew Sakura was with Hinata. All the text said was something along the lines of 'We're at the front, meet us there, now'.
Ten Ten nodded to herself, and pulled Naruto towards the front with her. The blonde boy groaned as she pulled him away from his favorite subject. Food. Or, to be more precise, ramen.
Ten Ten smirked. Ramen wouldn't be his favorite for long.
The bun haired girl turned a corner, still smirking, and came face-to-face with her conspirator. Hinata seemed generally surprised to see them, and Ten Ten couldn't help notice the way her eyes lingered on Naruto before she blushed and lowered her gaze. Damn, she was going shy again. Gotta do something about that.
"Hey Panda! I didn't realize you were going to be coming!"
Sakura's voice broke through Ten Ten's plotting, and cut the through the awkward silence like a knife. Ten Ten thanked god for Saku-chan.
"Ya, I thought we might do some shopping. We were running out of food at home. I haven't seen you Hinata, in, like, months!"
Sakura beamed. Even when put under pressure, Ten Ten was the most graceful liar she had ever met. She could still hold up the pretense of just being friends, and it didn't even make her sweat, even with Naruto scrutinizing her, the way he was.
"Well, I suppose introductions are in order. Naruto, this is Hinata Hyuuga. And of course, you already know Sakura."
Naruto's eyes had widened a fraction at the name "Hyuuga". They weren't one of the most influential families in Konohagakure for nothing! He had also noticed the girl's resemblance to Neji. While Neji held no attraction for him, Hinata did.
With big, lavender-white eyes, red lips, indigo hair, and a tiny, curvy figure, she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his life. She smiled at him, and he felt his knees wobble. Little did he know, or suspect, that she was having trouble not fainting at that exact same moment.
'She's so… gorgeous…'
"Uh… Hi. I'm not at all sure what to say."
Her voice was quiet, with hints of laughter hidden in among the nervous melody. Naruto melted into a puddle of that goopy stuff you always step in when you have new shoes on.
Hinata blushed to the roots of her hair, smiled at him again, and murmured something under her breath about matchmaking friends before addressing Sakura.
"Anyways, are we going to shop, or are we going to shop?"
Sakura laughed at both Hinata's apparent infatuation with the blonde-haired male in front of them, and her impatient-ness at everyone not doing anything.
Ten Ten could tell three things from this mess of an unorthodox first date. First, Hinata had probably just fallen in love. Second, Naruto was a puddle of mush over Hinata. Third, Sakura was having the time of her life with this situation.
"Hey, Panda, you wanna come shopping with us? We need to grab some food for the house, we're running out. Then maybe we can all go get pizza or ramen or something together!"
Sakura's obvious enthusiasm for spending time with each other was infectious. Who could not want to spend time with the pink-haired girl whose laughter rung like bells? But Naruto was looking right past her into the eyes of the shy little Hyuuga girl whose image he would probably have stuck in his head for a good long time.
He was still staring at her! Hinata tucked a stray hair behind her ear, and dared herself to look him in the eyes. She caught site of very intense sky blue orbs still staring at her and it was all she could do to prevent the blood from rushing into her head and causing her to faint.
What was Sakura doing?! She would fall over and die of the blood rushing to her brain if she had to spend lunch with him! Wait, had Ten Ten said they knew each other? How did that work? What about Sakura's horrible people skills? Had everything she'd known gone out the window in the last few minutes?!
She gulped, and nearly redded out when she Ten Ten's evil smirk, and the knowing look in her eyes. At the bun-haired girls next words, she stumbled into Sakura for strength.
"That sounds great Sakura! I think that we'll have fun! …Hey, Hinata, are you alright? You seem a little… woozy."
"I… I think I must be hungry… or something…"
"Well then, how's about we go right now! You two can finish your shopping after that, okay? Look at the time, it's almost twelve anyway."
Hinata nodded, still feeling slightly dizzy. Those eyes made her stomach churn, in a way that she wanted to feel for the rest of her life. Sakura grasped Ten Ten's arm, and pulled her towards the door, leaving Hinata and Naruto to follow along like the good little puppies they were.
'Very subtle Sakura…'
Naruto laughed at his own thought. Sakura had obviously set this up. Even he wasn't that dense. But he looked down at the tiny girl (she must have been no more then five foot four; her bone structure was so miniscule ((Yes!! I've made Naruto… smrt….))).
He shrugged and, in a rush of bravery, very gently took her hand. She looked up at him, surprised to find herself in this situation, and a blush crossed her nose. Good Lord, even her blush was adorable. All Naruto could do was smile faintly at her, as they walked along.
This was the start of something beautiful, even if neither of them knew it yet.
Ino was lying in bed, brushing her hair. Stroke, stroke, stroke went the brush. Half-sigh, silence, half-sigh. God, she was so exhausted. Temari had been screaming in her sleep again last night, and it had kept Ino up.
None of the girls, not even Anko, had decided to take her up on it. There was so much going on with the poor woman, Ino couldn't really blame her.
The whole Shikamaru thing, and then extra work piled on top of that, plus the fact that Temari had made it her personal mission to invent new security technology to make sure nothing could get in or out without her knowing… Well, Ino had no idea how she managed it.
"All I have to do is figure out ways to make use of Temari's random inventions, like that amazing bullet-proof fabric of hers."
Ino smiled at the mere thought of the fabric. Fabric. That brought something to her mind. She hadn't been out shopping for clothes, or anything to make clothes with for that matter, in days. She knew she had been in withdrawal from something, she just couldn't put her finger on what. Now that she knew what her problem was, she was able to fix it.
Psychological advice, courtesy of Temari.
Ino had a sudden idea. A shop-til-you-drop marathon, and then some serious ice cream time, was exactly what Temari needed to take her mind off of everything that had been bothering her for the past several days. Ino almost cheered.
Off she went to find a withdrawn-from-society twenty-three-year-old.
Naruto and the three girls were sitting in a little oden shop, situated just outside the mall.
After ordering (Naruto naturally ordered ramen. The other three went a little less conspicuous, each one ordering a different type of oden) they all sat and happily talked until they're food came. After that, not a sound was heard, except the clink of sake glasses, the quiet clicking of chopsticks, and Naruto's slurping up the delicious substance known as chicken-vegetable ramen.
Hinata let herself quietly smile as Naruto slurped. He was so cute! She hadn't noticed before, but there were scars across his cheeks, three on each side, evenly spaced. They almost looked like whiskers.
A sudden image of him with fox ears and tail came across her mind. She had trouble not squealing at the cuteness of the mental picture. It was just too adorable!!
She had to do something about this, right now. Actually, no, she would talk to Sakura as soon as they got back into the car. She needed to figure out how Sakura and Ten Ten knew him, from where, all the details. Details were important.
She had a sneaking suspicion he was from Sharingan. Something about him said "thief". The way he stood, the way his hands were so restless, the way he kept fidgeting. All signs of someone who had been in the business, and been in the business a long time. Sakura moved that way, sometimes, after she had just got back from a particularly dangerous job.
But, god, he was so cute!
And she'd never felt so nervous in front of a male as she did now. Usually, she kept her cool, and would glare daggers at the annoying man if he so much as touched her. She was shy, but not scared. Never scared.
