A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who gave me their opinion on how to link my story together. I appreciate all your support. I decided to leave it as one longer story. I also want to give a very special thank you to WhiskyGirl who wrote me half a novel for a review/pm.

Chapter 10

The rest of the weekend went by without any further excitement. The tense air that lingered between Sasuke and Sakura after he had been shot had been completely dissipated. The two of them seemed closer than before if that was even possible.

Sasuke was no longer bothered when Sakura touched him even when she suddenly become extremely clingy. Sakura felt like there was suddenly nothing standing between her and Sasuke. It made her feel extremely giddy and she just couldn't contain her happiness.

Her mom seemed to sense her mood and instantly understand why. She would smile warmly at the two of them when they sat on the couch together. Sakura would slide up to him and rest her head on his shoulder innocently.

Kizashi would narrow his eyes at the display but he holds his tongue and doesn't say anything. His daughter seems so happy and he would hate to upset her. He would grumble under his breath and avert his eyes.

While they were lounging around Sakura decided to check his shoulder to see how it was healing. The hole in his shoulder was deep but the inflammation had gone down a considerable amount. The silver in the bullet caused it to heal slower than normal but it was still closing more quickly than a human wound would.

"What happened?" Mebuki asked when she saw the hole in his shoulder.

"Idiots shot at Sasuke after he saved some people," Sakura scoffed. She was still upset how some people could be so cruel and heartless. Mebuki was shocked that anyone in the organization would do such a thing.

Even Kizashi was surprised. "Report it. Don't let some cocky asshole think he can get the better of you," he said.

Sakura and Mebuki looked at him with mouths hanging open in shock. Sasuke's eyes widened, he was probably the most surprised that Kizashi would back him up.

"No it's not worth it. They're just going to claim it was a mistake," Sasuke said. "Thanks though," he added as an afterthought. Kizashi nodded in response. He and Sasuke weren't best buds, but what those other hunters did was dishonorable.

By the next school day Sasuke's shoulder was still tender but it was tolerable. Neither Sasuke nor Sakura mentioned the incident that happened over the weekend. There was no need to upset the others over something that already happened.

When they arrived at school everything seemed normal, but as the day went on the students, especially the girls, seemed to be more lively than usual.

During lunch Sakura asked Ino what all the buzz was about. "You mean you don't know?" Ino asked eyes widening slightly. "There's a dance coming up remember? Everyone's trying to snag the cutest date." Ino giggled at the last part.

The annual school dance had been announced sometime in the beginning of the year and Sakura had completely forgot about it. With all the excitement going on the dance was the last thing on her mind.

"I guess that's why Sasuke's missing," Sakura laughed. Both Naruto and Sasuke hadn't shown up for lunch and it was almost time for their next class to start. Sasuke was probably hiding from girls and dragged Naruto with him. Or Naruto was following behind him laughing at his friend's predicament.

"Are you going to ask Sasuke to go with you?" Ino asked.

"When is it?"

"The Saturday two weeks from now." Sakura groaned making Ino raise an eyebrow at her. "What's wrong?"

"The full moon is that night, Sasuke can't go," Sakura pouted. "And even if it wasn't can you imagine Sasuke going to a school dance?" Parties, dancing, and socializing weren't Sasuke's favorite things to do.

Ino narrowed her eyes at her friend and grinned widely. "Speaking of Sasuke, you two seemed awfully touchy feely this morning. Anything you want to tell me?" That morning Sakura chose to lean against Sasuke as he sat under the tree next to the table rather than next to Ino like she normally would. Lee had offered her his seat since all the seats were taken but she declined him. She would rather much sit next to Sasuke.

"Nothing happened Ino." Sakura deadpanned. Sometimes Sakura hated how perceptive Ino was to these kinds of things. The bell had run signaling that their lunch period was over. But to Sakura's dismay, Ino had the same class as her and couldn't escape her prodding.

"Don't lie to me Forehead, you were all snuggly with him this morning. Something definitely happened this weekend. Did you make out? When are the two of you finally going to admit you're going out?" Ino shot off question after question rapidly trying to get something out of Sakura.

Sakura blushed and started to walk faster trying to escape. But Ino was relentless and picked up the pace to keep up with her. She had thought about kissing Sasuke multiple times that weekend. The air just felt right for it, but she was scared. Everything that happened that weekend helped her understand Sasuke on a whole new level. But there was still that nagging in the back of her mind that would always stop her.

Sakura was saved when the janitor closest in front of them burst open. Sasuke and Naruto tumbled out of it tangled in miscellaneous cleaning supplies.

Sakura and Ino stared at the two boys who lay in a heap, partially stunned. "I'm not really surprised, but you two take coming out of the closet way too literally," Ino sniggered. Sakura laughed loudly while Naruto and Sasuke looked up at them with disgusted expressions.

Naruto pushed Sasuke away from him over exaggeratedly. Sasuke glared back at him and fumbled to his feet. "This is all your fault," he growled at Naruto.

"I saved us from getting mobbed! You should be thanking me!" Naruto shouted.

The two of them began another one of their usual arguments which drew some attention from other passing students. It would have escalated to a brawl if Sakura didn't intervene and drag Naruto away. Ino, Sakura, and Naruto all had the same next class.

"So what happened?" Sakura asked Naruto who was still pouting comically.

"Girls are crazy!" Naruto waved his arms in the air while shouting. "They just kept showing up. At first it was just a few then all of a sudden there was tons of them!"

"Wow I didn't realize Sasuke was that popular," Ino said.

"Yeah right, it wasn't just that bastard that was getting all the attention. There was a few of them that came looking for me." Naruto flexed and lifted his chin proudly in the hallway.

"So do you guys have dates already?" Sakura asked. She knew that Sasuke would never go with some random girl but she felt complied to ask anyway.

"Nah. I have higher standards than those that, and Sasuke probably still thinks that girls have coodies," Naruto laughed. Sakura couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh to know that Sasuke hadn't agreed to go with any of those other girls.

As the days went by, both the girls and boys seemed to be getting braver as the pool of available dates started to diminish. On more than one occasion boys had asked Sakura to accompany them to the dance. Each time she politely turned them down but they were becoming pushier.

Sasuke had the same problem with girls but he had no problem turning them away and resorting to swearing when they kept on coming back.

One afternoon when school had just gotten out, Sasuke and Sakura were walking to her car and were stopped by one of the boys in Sakura's math class. Sakura could recall having a few short friendly conversations with him but she considered him more of an acquaintance than a friend. She didn't even remember his name.

"Hello Sakura," the boy greeted. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he saw the boy begin to fidget nervously. There was only one reason hey kid in front of them was so nervous. While Sasuke was scowling Sakura greeted him warmly. "I was wondering if you want to go to the dance with me?" his voice wavered slightly showing that he was scared. And with good reason. As if asking a girl to the dance wasn't nerve racking enough, it was much harder with an angry Sasuke glaring at him the whole time.

Sasuke was pissed. This whole dance thing was becoming a huge pain in the ass. Not only were some girls extremely clueless and wouldn't leave him alone but he had to deal with guys constantly asking Sakura out. At first they would wait until Sasuke wasn't around but now they were going for it even if he was standing right beside her. It infuriated Sasuke that these worthless boys kept trying to pry Sakura away from him.

"I'm sorry but I'll have to pass," Sakura turned him down nicely. Sasuke smirked, satisfied with her answer. Every time Sakura turned away another guy it made Sasuke feel loads better.

"Are you going with someone else?" the boy asked. Sasuke's smirk disappeared and his frown came back in a flash.

"No, but-"

"Then why not go with me?" Sakura's admirer interrupted.

"She already said no so get lost," Sasuke growled and stepped in front of Sakrua. With the last of his courage spent the boy turned tail and took off. He quickly apologized and scurried away.

"You didn't need to do that," Sakura said. But on the inside she was glad that Sasuke was there. Sasuke shrugged and continued to walk towards the car. "I was going to meet the girls at HQ. Tenten has to finish some paperwork on her last assignment then we're going to head to the mall to pick out dresses. I can drop you off at home if you want." She was sure that Sasuke didn't want to get dragged from place to place while they tried on tons of different dresses and shoes.

"I'll go with you to HQ. Naruto wanted to talk to me about something and I can tell him to meet me there," Sasuke said. Naruto could keep him company while the girls shopped too.

The ride to HQ was relatively quiet with the only noise coming from the softly playing radio. Amazingly it was Sasuke that spoke first. "You've turned down a bunch of guys that wanted to go to the dance with you. Why is that?" A huge part of him was glad that she refused all these other guys. It was unfair that the date of the dance settled on a full moon. He hated things like dances but it would make him feel a whole lot better if he went with Sakura rather than anyone else.

"I just don't feel like going with anyone," Sakura said. It was only a partial lie but she didn't know how to say she didn't want to go with anyone but him. Just the thought of it caused her stomach to churn unpleasantly. She felt like she was betraying him even if they weren't technically together. Sasuke had a feeling that she was lying but didn't question her any further.

When they reached the hunter's main building Sakura went to find the girls and Sasuke headed to the training area to look for Naruto. Apparently the fox boy was already there trying to work of some stress.

The training area was vast. It was split apart in multiple rooms to give them a variety of things to do. One area was closed off to make an indoor shooting range which Sasuke tried to avoid going in whenever possible. The other rooms housed different kinds of weights and exercise equipment. They practically had their own gym.

Sasuke checked in all the rooms, popping his head in and scanning for Naruto before quickly leaving. He was starting to get irritated when his blonde friend couldn't be located. Just as he was about to give up he found Naruto pacing in front of a soda machine. He would pause to take a sip from the can in his hand then continue pacing. He was bound to wear a line in the floor soon.

Hearing Sasuke's approaching footsteps Naruto's head shot up. "Sasuke! There you are. I need help!"

Sasuke was slightly surprised. Normally when Naruto asked him for help it was normally for something stupid, but this time he seemed genuinely nervous and scared. "What is it?"

Naruto began pacing again trying to figure out how to word his problem. "So the dance is coming up soon."

Oh hell no. Sasuke was not about to help Naruto with girl problems. He had enough problems of his own without adding in Naruto's. Sasuke groaned and sat on the bench next to the soda machine.

"I really want to ask her to go with me but I'm afraid she'll say no. And then there's Neji to worry about," Naruto complained.

Wait, Neji? Was he thinking of Hinata?

"You want to ask out Hinata?" Sasuke asked. Well then this was going to be much easier than he thought. Naruto's nod prompted Sasuke to continue, "Then you have no problem. Just ask her she'll say yes. And who gives a fuck about Neji."

"How can you be so confident?!" Naruto shouted. "I've been trying to get with her since the beginning of the year but she doesn't seem to want to talk with me. She gets really quiet when I'm around and she looks away all the time. I've tried to be super nice to her and nothing seems to happen. I don't know what to do!"

Sasuke groaned and massaged his temples. "You worry too much. She'll say yes because she likes you."

"How do you know?!" Okay, Naruto really needed to stop shouting.

"It's extremely obvious. Hinata's really shy that's why she clams up when your around. She's been dropping subtle hints around you for years you're just too stupid to notice," Sasuke explained.

Naruto stopped his pacing and started unblinkingly at him before slumped silently onto the bench next to Sasuke. He continued to blankly stare at a speck on the floor in front of them. He began to recall all the most recent times he spent with Hinata to see if it seemed like what Sasuke was telling him was the truth.

After a few minutes of silence, which was amazing on Naruto's part, Sasuke began to get impatient. "Is it that hard to wrap your puny brain around? Think about it. It's painful to watch you two dance around each other. Just ask her already."

To Sasuke's surprise Naruto kept on staring. He was sure that would have gotten a rise out of him. After a final sip Naruto threw the empty can into the trashcan across of them. A huge grin broke across Naruto's face before he started to laugh loudly.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at his friend's curious display. Maybe Naruto had finally lost it. Naruto suddenly turned to Sasuke and said, "It's not as painful as watching you and Sakura."

Sakura managed to find the other girls relatively quickly. They still had to wait a few minutes for Tenten to finish their report. They hung around in the hallway outside one of the offices. There was a bit of foot traffic in this area of the building since hunters were going to pick up new assignments and report on their completed ones. The girls waved at the people they recognized as they passed by and gave a friendly smile for others who acknowledged them.

"I'm so excited about the dance!" Ino gushed, "How about you guys?" Hinata gave her a small nod and Sakura just shrugged. "Wow you guys are boring. At least show a bit more enthusiasm."

"Well, Hinata and I don't have dates like some people," Sakura said. Tenten and Neji mutually agreed to go with one another and Ino had pestered Shikamaru to go with her until he finally relented.

Ino frowned and placed her hands on her hips and glared lightly at Sakura. "That's because you two don't try hard enough. You know how difficult it was to get Shikamaru to go with me."

"It wasn't that hard actually. You just kept bothering him while he was trying to nap and he agreed just so you would leave him alone," Sakura laughed. Ino glared and Hinata hid her giggles behind her hand. Sakura couldn't tease her friend too much though. Ino wouldn't admit it but she did have this small crush on their extremely lazy friend.

Their laughter was interrupted by a high pitched squeaking noise. As the yipping noises got louder, startled shouts began adding to the growing noise.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked. The girls peered down the hall where the ruckus was coming from. An orange streak burst around the corner quickly followed by a much larger darker blur.

A fully grown red fox raced down the hall crying out in high pitched yips as he went. It was extremely rare for Naruto to assume the form of a fox. He used to show off his ears and tail a lot when he was younger but as he grew up it happened less and less. The more familiar form of Sasuke chased the fox snapping at his tail trying to catch the illusive bastard.

Naruto dodged between the stunned occupants of the hallway crying all the way. Due to his size, Sasuke had to slow down immensely to avoid trampling innocent people. The bystanders stumbled to avoid the path of the rampaging animals but Naruto would purposely try to weave between as many people as possible in order to slow down Sasuke.

Seeing the girls down the hall, Naurto made a beeline towards them. When he got within range he leapt up at Hinata. The force of his pounce nearly knocked her over. Hinata struggled to wrap her arms around him since he was nearly the big of a medium sized dog. Sasuke skid to a stop and glared at the fox who was making himself at home in Hinata's arms.

"What the fuck are you two doing?!" Ino screeched. It was very unlike the two of them to transform for stupid reasons. Naruto must have really pissed off Sasuke and had to transform in order to escape certain death.

Naruto looked up at Hinata with his ears pressed flat against his head while he blinked his big watery eyes. That bastard was using the sad eyes on them. He even whimpered and appeared to stick out his bottom lip. All three girls seemed to melt and cooed at the adorable fox.

Sasuke growled loudly and snapped his jaws angrily at the display.

Sakura turned to Sasuke and frowned at him, "C'mon now, be nice. I'm sure whatever he did he didn't mean it." She reached toward him and gently rubbed the top of his head. Sasuke continued to glare at Naruto. He was playing dirty getting the girls involved.

"Why don't you two change back and we can head to the mall when Tenten finishes." Sasuke huffed and stalked off to transform in a more private area. When Sasuke came back the girls were still waiting. Sakura and Ino were standing and Hinata was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall with Naruto who was still a fox. He had his front paws in her lap and was reaching up to nuzzle her neck and shoulders while Hinata stoked him.

When Sasuke got close enough to them he gave Naruto a swift kick in the ribs causing the fox to squeak in surprise and pain as he flew a few feet away from them. Hinata gasped and shot up while Sakura and Ino just rolled their eyes. They expected some kind of retaliation from Sasuke and knew it was going to be violent.

When Naruto hit the floor there was a poof of smoke and he returned to human form. "That hurt you bastard!" Naruto shouted while rubbing his aching side.

"You deserved it."

"You need to learn how to take a joke." The two boys glared at each other, causing sparks to fly.

"Are you okay?" Hinata asked timidly.

Naruto immediately broke eye contact with Sasuke and bounced over to Hinata. "Of course! Sasuke couldn't hurt me if he tried." When Naruto continued to babble on about other things Sasuke moved towards Sakura and leaned grumpily against the wall next to her.

Sakura gently placed her hand on his arm and gave him a concerned look. She didn't need words to convey what she was asking him. Sasuke sighed and gave her a small nod signaling that he was alright. Sasuke watched from the corner of his eye as Sakura went back to her conversation with Ino. In his mind he was going over the talk he had with Naruto. Was his feelings for Sakura that obvious? Did she really feel the same way? He didn't want to get his hopes up but if someone as dull as Naruto could see something between them then maybe he still had a chance.

They only needed to wait a few more minutes for Tenten before heading off to the mall. While the girls hit up the clothing stores looking for the perfect dress, Naruto and Sasuke went to grab some food. They sat at a little table while Sasuke sipped on a soda and watched Naruto inhale unhealthy amounts of ramen. Naruto was much more upbeat and peppy than normal, if that was possible, while Sasuke was just as gloomy as usual.

Naruto was brainstorming how best to ask out Hinata. Her reaction to him earlier was proof enough for him that Sasuke was telling the truth. She didn't care about him being tainted from the fox demon either.

"Thanks Sasuke."

"What for?" Sasuke asked. He really didn't know why Naruto would be thanking him.

"About Hinata. Knowing that she likes me makes me feel so much better. I haven't felt this happy in a long time." He rested his face in the palm of his hand and grinned goofily. "You should really ask Sakura though. She's been denying people because she wants to go with you." Sakura said that she didn't really want to go with anyone but Naruto saw threw her lie easily. What kind of girl wanted to go to events like these by themselves.

Sasuke stiffened as the topic of Sakura was brought up again.

"I can't go, you know that," Sasuke grumbled.

"Then just ask her out. You don't have to go to the dance with her. Sakura understands why; she won't hold it against you," Naruto tried to reason with his best friend.

Sasuke thought over what Naruto was telling him. Sakura was the only person he could ever see himself with. She knew full well what he was and she wasn't afraid. She wouldn't be upset that he just couldn't do certain things with her.

"We'll see."

Naruto was practically ecstatic now. He had noticed how the two of them drifted closer together over the years and he really wanted them to get together. 'We'll see' was the closest thing to a yes that he was going to get from Sasuke.

"We can go on double dates!" Naruto cheered and threw his arms into the air in excitement.

"Hell no."

The girl were currently waiting for Hinata and Ino to finally pick a dress. Sakura and Tenten had already found theirs and were helping the other two girls. But that was turning out to be a bit harder than they expected. Hinata was relatively easy to work with she would try something on and ask their opinions before trying on the next one. She just hadn't found one that called to her yet. Ino was a bit more difficult to work with.

"My god, hurry up! How many do you really need to try on?" Tenten complained. They had each given Ino their opinions on what they thought were 'nice' dresses. But she had a problem with each and every one they picked.

"This one just doesn't sit right," Ino called from within the dressing room. Tenten rolled her eyes and dramatically flopped over the chair she was sitting on and groaned loudly.

"Here try this one," Sakura laughed as she threw over a dark purple dress over the door. Ino let out a surprised scream when the dress fell over her head while she was undressing causing her to get tangled in it.

"Damn it Sakura-oh this is nice!" Sakura and Hinata laughed while Tenten cheered maybe they could finally get out of here. "How does it look?" Ino bounced out of the dressing room and struck a pose.

"That looks the best from everything else you tried on. It suits you," Sakura said.

"It looks great can we leave now?" Tenten whined.

Ino puffed out her cheeks and pouted at her. "You can't just pick out the perfect outfit so easily." Tenten waved her own choice in the air in response. It had taken her only about 10 minutes to find hers pale pink dress. "The dress has to be perfect. Don't you want to look your best for Neji?" Ino smirked.

But her teasing didn't have the effect she wanted it to. "There's nothing wrong with my dress." Tenten shrugged and completely ignored her question.

Hinata slowly opened her dressing room door and peaked her head out. "I don't know about this one," she said quietly.

"Come out and let us see," Sakura encouraged.

Hinata slowly stepped out and clutched her hands together in front of her chest. It was a beautiful pastel blue dress that had some sheen to it. But what made Hinata nervous was the plunging neckline that showed much more cleavage than she was comfortable with.

"Aww Hinata, you look gorgeous," Sakura swooned. The other two girls voiced their positive feelings as well, making Hinata try to tug the dress higher.

"Thanks, but-" Hinata trailed off. He eyes widened and her whole face turned red. The confused girls turned around to see what caused Hinata to freeze up.

Naruto and Sasuke stood behind them between two racks of clothes. Sasuke seemed impassive while Naruto was staring and gaping like a fish. Sasuke slapped the fox boy in the back of the head to break him out of his stupor. Naruto lurched forward and growled at Sasuke before looking back at Hinata.

"Wow Hinata you look beautiful!" he smiled.

"Th-thank you," Hinata stuttered. It looked like she was about to pass out. She tried to hurry back into the dressing room to change but Naruto grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"I think you should get this one. It looks really good on you." Hinata nodded her head harshly not trusting her voice at the moment. "Um one more thing." Now it was Naruto's turn to struggle with voicing his thoughts.

"Hurry up," Sasuke complained.

"Shut up! This is hard!" Naruto shouted back, and whipped his head around to glare at Sasuke. His grip on Hinata's wrist never loosened. He was afraid that if he let go she would run back into the dressing room and not come out.

"Uh, Hinata. Would you like to go to the dance with me?" Naruto chewed on his bottom lip in nervousness while he waited for her answer.

Time seemed to stop for Hinata. Did she just hear what she thought she heard. This kind of thing only happened in her dreams. She could see the edges of her vison blurring, but she refused to pass out now.

"Well if you're not already going with anyone else. And we don't have to if you really don't want to," Naruto began to babble. He felt like he had to talk, he couldn't handle the silence.

"Yes."

"It's not a-huh? Did you say yes?" Naruto paused in the middle of his rambling.

Hinata gave him the sweetest smile he ever saw and nodded. Naruto cheered and picked up Hinata in a great big bear hug and began to spin her in circles. Hinata laughed lightly at his enthusiasm.

The girls all smiled at the scene in front of them. Hinata had been pining after Naruto for years and it was good to see her feelings finally returned.

Ino went over to Sakura and whispered in her ear. "Maybe if you flash your boobs at Sasuke he'll ask you out too." Sakura immediately retaliated by stomping on her best friends foot. "Shit Forehead! That hurt!"

All the commotion and yelling drew the attention of one of the workers at the shop. "May I help you?" she tried to ask politely, but everyone could tell she was very irritated.

"We'll take these," Sakura smiled sweetly at the woman and picked up her dress and headed over to the cashier.

A/N: This chapter just didn't want to be written. I'm sorry for those that wanted a more detailed description of their dresses but I just can't do it. I personally don't like to read paragraphs describing what a character is wearing. I hate clothes shopping, dresses, and all things girly. In this case I would be Tenten just wanting to hurry up and leave.