A/N: Woo hoo! 105 reviews! I love you all! And to be honest, I didn't expect ANY reviews for that chapter- it totally sucked. And I guess I have to change my layout, cuz the ruler thing isn't working or something… grr. So I'm sorry about how boring the last chapter was, and I'll make it up to you in this one.

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Chapter 10

Yamanaka Ino is a very determined girl. When she wants something, she gets it. When she has a job to do, it gets done. When she needs to win, she does.

Hyuuga Hinata is a very shy and somewhat doormat-like girl. When someone wants something, she'll get it for them. If someone orders her to do a job, she'll do it. When she needs to win, she gets very afraid and faints.

"Come on, Hinata-chan!" Sakura encouraged as she tied together Ino and Hinata's ankles. "You guys will do great!"

"I-If you're sure, Sakura-chan," Hinata said quietly. Sakura sighed as she wrapped the cloth around each girl's individual ankle, then both together, tying the ends securely in a knot.

Tenten and Sakura helped the two girls up from the ground as Ino smiled brightly. "Of course we are!"

"How do you know?" Hinata asked meekly. Ino snorted and looked down from her 5'10" stature to five-foot-four Hinata, arching one of her slender blonde brows (a/n: whoa, I like went on description overload haha).

"Because, it's just the way I am! I get what I want, no matter what." Ino looked towards the sky, like it was her destiny to be this perfect.

Until, that is, a certain pink haired person coughed. Ino looked down from her 'Perfection Pose' towards the cougher. "What?" she snapped.

Sakura twiddled her thumbs, trying to act nonchalant. "Oh, nothing… it's just that… well, what about your belly button…?"

Ino looked down at her midsection. "What do you mean?"

"Look at it."

Ino lifted her purple shirt up about an inch above her navel. "So?"

Sakura rolled her eyes as Tenten and Hinata lowered their heads so they were closer to the tiny indent. "I don't see anything," Tenten said, rubbing her chin with her forefinger and thumb.

"Exactly."

"What are you talking about, Sakura-chan?" Hinata asked. Just then, the five males of Team Kakashi walked over towards their female teammates. Shikamaru nearly got a nosebleed just from seeing the inches of stomach peeking out from under Ino's shirt.

"Why are they all staring at Ino's belly button?" Naruto whispered. The others shrugged.

Ino got an annoyed gleam in her eye. "Oh big deal, Billboard Brow," she snapped. The boys winced, obviously Ino was upset or she wouldn't have resorted to names. They didn't realize that the girls still hadn't noticed that the five of them were watching this, their heads going left to right to left again, like they were watching a tennis game.

"What?" Hinata asked.

"I'm still confused," Tenten said, standing straight and scratching the back of her head.

Sakura grinned mischievously at her blonde friend, then snapped her head in the brunettes' directions. "Well," she began, pacing back and forth, a bounce in her step. "When we were almost fourteen, Ino-pig decided she wanted to get her belly button pierced."

"Why do girls do that? Wouldn't it hurt?" Naruto asked.

"I dunno, I think it's kind of hot," Neji whispered, his cheeks a slight pink.

Hinata and Tenten nodded in understanding. "I don't think I knew you guys then," Tenten said.

"You met us probably a few months later…" Hinata said.

"However," Sakura continued. "Her mother wouldn't allow it. So then Ino decided to pierce it herself!"

Hinata gasped and nearly fainted at the thought, luckily, Ino caught her.

"Except she took one look at the needle and threw up." Ino glared at Sakura, her grip on Hinata's shoulders tightening.

"But then several months later, Ino had a beach party. And I showed up with this!" Sakura triumphantly lifted her shirt up, revealing a silver piece of metal pierced through her navel. There was a sparkly light green jewel on one end.

Tenten and Hinata laughed as Ino growled. The males of Team Kakashi were having issues of their own. Sakura hadn't noticed them and had lifted her shirt a little to high, revealing the bottom of the black, lacy bra she was wearing. Sasuke's nose was gushing blood as Naruto fainted, Shikamaru was trying to avert his gaze, and Neji was slightly drooling. Kakashi was reading his book, chuckling.

Sasuke snapped back into focus and saw his friends staring at his girlfriend, who was busy holding her shirt up so her friends could look at the piercing- which was very enticing to Sasuke. What he wouldn't give to be able to suck on that… wait, he didn't remember it from before…

Sasuke raced over towards Sakura and whipped her shirt down, standing in between her and his friends. Sakura nearly fell over, she was so surprised.

"S-Sasuke-kun! I didn't even s-see you! S-Sasuke-kun…?" Sasuke was staring at Sakura in an uncomfortable way. He looked like if their friends weren't there, he would ravage her right there and now. Which is what he really wanted to do. It took all of his control not to.

"I don't remember that when we were… er…"

"I took it off. I figured it would be easier when we were dancing."

"I wish you hadn't," Sasuke said in a low, seductive voice, forgetting about the fact that everyone was staring at the pair, who had their arms around each other.

Sakura's face heated up. "Wh- why?" she managed to whisper.

Sasuke's eyes gleamed. "Because then I could've-"

Kakashi cleared his throat, causing the couple to break apart, one bright red, the other annoyed. "We should get going," he explained, snapping the familiar book shut and leading the group to a field.

Ino and Hinata each stretched out their legs- well, Hinata tried to. It was hard because of the fact that Ino was about six inches taller than her, and was still annoyed with Sakura, so she kind of forgot that Hinata was there- and attached to her.

"The rules are your basic three-legged-race rules," Tsunade explained to the participators and crowd. "You run down one end, grab your flag, and the first team to make it back wins. But, in order to win, both teammates must be on the other side of the line."

The pairs nodded and prepared for the whistle to blow. When it did, everyone took off, the crowd cheering for their teammates.

"U-um -pant- Ino-ch-chan?" Hinata tried to manage as Ino hurtled on. "Re-remember -pant- our p-plan?"

Ino ignored the fact that Hinata could hardly talk she was going so fast, and just nodded, muttering "1- 2- 1- 2- 1- 2..." 1 being their individual feet, 2 being their attached ones.

Soon, Ino and Hinata were in the lead, successfully grabbing their flag, making a U-turn, and racing back towards the finish line. Until, that is, Hinata tripped. Ino panicked and kept going, dragging Hinata behind her.

"Come on!" Ino hissed. "Get up!"

"I c-can't! Aack!" Hinata struggled to say, getting grass in her mouth.

Finally, Ino was inches away from the finish line, but Hinata was still dragging behind, getting dirt all over her clothes and in her mouth. Ino noticed the other teams nearing the finish line, so Ino kicked her left leg up with all her might, sending Hinata soaring through the air.

"Ino-chaAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Hinata shot past the finish line, taking Ino with her. The two landed several yards away from the finish line, toppled on top of each other. Ino tried to get up and kneed Hinata in the face. Hinata tried to stand up and stepped on Ino's hand and accidentally yanked some blonde hairs out as she tried to grab anything to help her up.

Tsunade sweat dropped and sighed. "Well, Team Kakashi has done it again…" Team Kakashi cheered and ran over to the girls, who were still struggling to stand up.

"Gomen, Ino-chan!" Hinata said as she pulled her elbow away from Ino's eye socket. Naruto and Shikamaru helped their girls up as Sakura untied the cloth that bound the odd pair together.

"Great work girls," Kakashi said, grinning triumphantly in Gai's direction. The bowl-cutted man scowled. Rock Lee frowned and kicked a tree, then he yelped loudly and hopped about, clutching the toe that was probably broken.

"You were… interesting," Tenten said as Sakura giggled.

"I thought you were gonna kill Hinata-chan!" Naruto said, grabbing Hinata as if trying to protect her from Ino.

"Hey, we won didn't we?" Ino retorted, filing a nail. Hinata laughed.

"That was incredible! I was flying!" Hinata said. Naruto turned to give Hinata a kiss, but he realized the girl in his arms had fainted.

"Er… Hinata-chan?"

Kakashi laughed. "I guess that was a little too much excitement for Hinata."

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Sasuke, Neji, Tenten, Ino, Naruto, and Shikamaru all walked on to the beach, towards the volleyball nets. Hinata, who'd just woken up, and Sakura followed Kakashi and sat down on the beach. Because the game wouldn't start for a few more minutes, Hinata and Sakura started to make a sandcastle to stop their boredom.

Naruto pulled his five other teammates into a group huddle. "Okay guys, remember to call it and pass it! If you can't get to the ball, call 'help' and get out of the way so someone else can."

"But remember, the most important rule is to call the ball." Everyone nodded and continued other strategies.

"Whoever scores 10 points first wins." Tsunade's voice rang out of the microphone. "The winners will play the winners of other games, until we have two teams left. They will play until 15 points, and then the winner will be decided. Good luck to you all!"

The first round was easy. Team Kakashi won without breaking a sweat. Sakura and Hinata cheered from the sidelines. There were about twenty teams, so ten games. Team Kakashi beat each team they came across. Finally, there were four teams left- including Team Kakashi and Team Gai.

"Kakashi." Thick brows were furrowed into a glare.

"Gai." Thinner silver eyebrows also glared.

"Uchiha," Rock Lee muttered. Sasuke ignored him. Lee blew a kiss in Sakura's direction and ended up with a welt on his head. Sakura grinned at Sasuke, who came to her rescue yet again.

"Alright everyone," the referee said. "Let's have a good, clean game. Who ever wins gets to play in the final round. Team captains shake hands." Sasuke and Lee walked up to the referee, but didn't shake anything. The ref shrugged and tossed the coin. Lee called tails, which is what landed.

"We'll serve first," Lee said. Sakura frowned. (a/n: for those of you who don't know how volleyball works, the only way to score is by serving.)

A brown haired girl took the white volleyball, tossed it in the air and brought her fist to it, sending the ball over the net and in Tenten's direction. She brought her hands together and bumped it- that's a pass (the ball bounces off your forearms)- to Neji who set it (which is almost pushing the ball up using all of your fingertips) and it went in the air. Naruto ran up and spiked the ball (hitting it down hard with your fist- you usually jump).

A boy on Gai's team bumped the ball and passed it to a teammate. She accidentally hit the ball out of bounds. Sakura and Hinata cheered as Neji took the ball and served it overhand, like the girl did before.

Rock Lee bumped the ball over the net and Ino set it back over. A black haired girl attempted to spike it, but the ball was too low and hit the net. Team Kakashi scored a point!

The game went on like this, each team occasionally scoring a point. Soon the score was 9 to 7, with Team Kakashi in the lead. It was Sasuke's turn to serve. He walked back to the corner. Sakura blew him a kiss and Sasuke smirked. He tossed the ball up and brought his right hand to meet it, sending the white ball whizzing over the net.

A boy bumped the ball to Lee, who bumped it over the net. Shikamaru set the ball and Naruto, who was in the back, saw an opening. He pushed past Tenten who was about to set the ball and jumped, raising his fist in the air. Naruto slammed the ball down as hard as he could. The ball landed just barely in front of Rock Lee, who had his hands out, ready to bump it. The ball hit the ground and the referee blew the whistle- Team Kakashi had won!

Now was the last game, where they'd play up to 15. Sasuke shook the other team captain's hand and called heads. The coin landed face up, so Ino took the ball to serve. She served it perfectly and the two teams volleyed (hence the name of the game- it means that the ball goes back and forth for a long time with out hitting the ground) for several minutes before Tenten spiked the ball towards the back and scored.

After about forty-five minutes, the score was 13 to 14, with the other team winning. Shikamaru served and a girl with blonde hair set it, but it went out of bounds. Sakura and Hinata were grabbing each others hands, squeezing them so that their knuckles were white. The score was tied and who ever scored the point would win. And better yet, they were serving!

Tenten gulped as she walked past the back line to serve. Sakura, Hinata, and Kakashi cheered for her as she sent the ball over the net. Again, the two teams volleyed for several minutes. (a/n: I should probably tell you, in volleyball, there are two rows with three people in each. The person in the center is scooted up a bit further than the people on the right and left in each row. So the center in front is inches away from the net while the right and left person is about two or three feet away. The center in the back is actually in the middle of their side of the court, with the people on the right and left in the back corners. The server is the person in the back right corner. It's called the V-format, because they form somewhat of a V shape. Right now, Neji is standing in the front left, Naruto is in front center. Ino is front right and Tenten is back right. Shikamaru is in the back center and Sasuke is in the back right.)

A red haired boy set the ball and it went over the net, going right between Neji and Naruto. Neji lunged to bump it, but Naruto didn't see him and he bumped it as Neji fell to the ground. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't realize what Neji was about to do, so he got startled and hit the ball into the net. Neji landed and saw the ball falling, he lifted his arms up and set the ball- laying down- over the net, where it barely landed on the other side.

The referee blew the whistle and Sakura and Hinata screamed as they ran onto the court, jumping up and down. Everyone had sort of a group hug thing, well the girls and Naruto did, Sasuke and Shikamaru helped Neji up and scowled at the blonde.

Kakashi told everyone he was buying ice cream to celebrate and smiled smugly at Gai. Sasuke smirked at Rock Lee and wrapped his arm around Sakura's waist, who kissed the Uchiha's cheek. Rock Lee glared and started banging his head on a tree, muttering things like "idiot" and "worthless" to himself.

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The last single event was fencing. Neji had won all of the matches but the last one, which he was in right now. He was facing a short black haired boy. They both pulled on their wire mesh mask and shook hands. Neji held out his foil (a/n: I'm pretty sure that's the correct term… it's basically the sword-thing) and took his stance.

"Go Neji!" Ino and Sakura shouted. Team Kakashi was sitting in the grass- Kakashi was reading (guess what), Shikamaru was staring at the clouds, Naruto was eating ramen and telling jokes to an annoyed Sasuke, Sakura and Ino were talking a mile a minute and doing each others hair. Hinata and Tenten were talking, when Tenten left to go to the bathroom.

Neji nodded as Tenten smiled and blew him a kiss before turning a corner. Neji stretched one of his arms, hoping to loosen it. And then he heard "Oh come on baby! Don't be like that!" Neji turned and saw Tenten being followed by two boys. She was trying to ignore them, but the things they were saying weren't being very helpful.

"Come on, just one kiss," the second said, whispering something to his friend and pointing at Tenten's lower half. His friend laughed and nodded.

Neji hoped that his girlfriend could fend the boys off herself, because the whistle had been blown and the black haired boy was approaching him.

The first boy, a blonde, grabbed for Tenten's wrist, but she pulled her arm out of the sleeve of her navy zip-up and the boy held on to it, pulling the sweatshirt off of her completely. Now Tenten was wearing just her light green tube top. The boys whispered to each other and Tenten blushed, trying to get away from them.

"Leave me alone," she urged, walking faster and not making eye contact with the boys. Neji scowled, he didn't know how long he could keep away.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"I'd like to be your boyfriend." The second boy, a brunette, reached out to touch Tenten's shoulder. She smacked it away hard.

"Back off," she hissed.

The blonde just laughed and reached to touch one of Tenten's brunette buns. Tenten again smacked the boy's hand away, causing that half of her hair to fall out of her common hairdo. The boy rubbed his hand and growled.

"You look hot, baby! C'mere," the blonde boy started to unzip his fly, hinting at what he wanted Tenten to do. She glared and slapped him across the face. He reached out and grabbed her wrist hard, Tenten bit down on his hand.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed, running down a path.

"You bitch!" The two boys followed Tenten down the path. Unfortunately for Tenten, it was a dead end, an alley hidden so no one could see them. Tenten gulped and slowly backed up until her back was touching the log wall.

The boys laughed. "Now you're gonna pay." They reached out to grab her and Tenten crouched low in the corner, trying to cover herself as best she could. Suddenly, both boys were whipped backwards, yelping. Tenten peeked her head up to see someone beating on both of the boys.

"N-Neji-kun?" Neji didn't respond, but continued hitting the two boys, who were now a bloody pile on the ground. He finally stopped when their friends found the two and Sasuke pulled Neji away. Tenten realized she was crying as Sakura handed her a tissue, wiping her tears.

Neji walked over to Tenten, who latched onto his neck and sobbed into his chest. Neji wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head, whispering he was sorry for not coming sooner. Tenten's grip on Neji's shirt loosened as she sniffed and Neji picked her up bridal style.

"You did the right thing," Naruto said, patting Neji on the back as the group walked out of the alley. Neji nodded in thanks.

"What did you do?" Tenten asked as Neji adjusted his grip on her a bit. Neji kept looking forward.

"He forfeit the match," Sakura explained quietly, hugging Sasuke's arm. Tenten gasped and looked up at Neji with adoring eyes.

"I'm so sorry!"

Neji shook his head. "It was nothing." Tenten shook her head as well and kissed Neji.

"My hero," she cooed. They walked past the fencing field and Neji ignored his mask and foil that lay on the ground. Shikamaru and Ino picked up the things that Neji had whipped off as he ran to Tenten's rescue.

The group- minus Kakashi, who went to report the boys- walked to the girls' cabin and Neji lay Tenten on her bed, stroking her hair that had now completely come undone and whispering to her.

Sakura smiled as she looked in the window and watched the couple. She walked away from the cabin towards the small clearing of trees where everyone else was relaxing. Sakura climbed onto Sasuke's lap as he wrapped his arms around her. Ino leaned against a tree with Shikamaru's head in her lap. Hinata and Naruto leaned up against another tree, Naruto's arm around Hinata's shoulders.

"So, teme, are you nervous?" Naruto asked. Sasuke arched a brow and looked at Sakura, who shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. Naruto grinned and winked.

"The next event is the tango."

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A/N: Just thought I'd add a lil NejiTen lovin there I guess. So, thank you for reading and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review! The more you review, the sooner I update!