I am currently in the process of re-writing this story, please be sure to read from the beginning if you are familiar with it. Updates on later chapters will be posted sporadically. I am sorry I've been so busy of late but I hope you enjoy the story regardless of this! –Saki
Chapter 10
"There she goes again. Blushing and staring then that strange habit of looking away. I wish Temari was here. Maybe she could explain it. It's starting to get on my nerves." Gaara was jolted out of his thoughts by Kiba's barking laughter as he had picked Ino who had done some kind of dare. Gaara shook his head a little as if he had been focusing on what was happening all along and hadn't been distractedly thinking about Sakura.
"Ok everyone it's my turn to ask! Forehead! Truth or dare?" Ino smiled at Sakura who simply sighed.
"Oy, Lee, two bowls or ramen from Ichiraku's says she chooses dare." Naruto whispered to Lee.
"Hmph you're on! Sakura-san never chooses dare!" Lee replied, shaking Naruto's hand as Sakura thought about her answer.
"Hmm…Oh what the heck dare!" She shrugged, surprising nearly everyone.
"Ha told you!" Naruto shouted to Lee, still upside down. Lee smiled and shrugged his shoulders as Sakura shot them both a look.
"Ok everyone listen up!" Ino declared, standing up on the couch as if it was a huge announcement. Sakura put her head in her hands and silently cursed herself for choosing dare.
"Ino's going to make me do some elaborate dare that will eventually end up in me kissing someone or doing something really stupid." She groaned and looked up as Ino continued on after Kiba finally stopped spinning and collapsed in a dizzy heap on the floor.
"I dare you to play a little game. I'm going to get a ribbon and a Christmas present tag. I am then going to write someone's name on the tag and tie it to the ribbon. I will then tie the ribbon around Forehead's waist. She can't look at the name on the tag and has to keep it hidden from us, aka, hide it under her shirt. Only I will know whose name is on the tag. If anyone, including you Forehead, sees the name for the rest of the party they have to tell me and she will be forced to kiss the person. She won't be able to cheat because either I or Tenten will be watching her for the rest of the night." Ino continued. "This is kind of like a dare for all of us because if one of us sees the name she loses the dare and has to kiss that person." Again Lee's eyes lit up at this idea. Sakura's face fell and she put her head in her lap.
"I'm doomed!" she muttered.
"Oh come on Sakura! It's not that bad!" Naruto chimed in smiling.
"I don't know if that really counts as a dare or not but it seems interesting!" Kiba grinned widely as Sakura shook her head.
"You live to torment me Ino!" Sakura declared as Ino merely rolled her eyes.
"Alright, alright! Come on forehead let's go tie that ribbon to you!" Ino said smiling dragging her out of the room despite her cries of protest.
"Hehehe I am gonna see that name before this party is over I promise I will!" Naruto said smiling.
"I just want to see what the name is. But it would be funny to see her kiss someone." Tenten said giggling.
"This is a strange game." Gaara thought. Kiba laughed.
"What if we all try to think of different ways to get her to look or see the name?" Kiba suggested, now very much enjoying the game.
"Well Ino said she had to keep it hidden under her shirt…" Naruto began. Tenten quickly cut him off.
"We are NOT having Sakura take off her shirt!" Naruto shook his head in protest.
"That's not what I meant…although that is a good idea…" He stopped as Tenten glared at him. "But I meant get her to do a handstand like I'm doing. Her shirt will fall down just enough that we can read the name on the tag." He smiled his cheesy grin again and Kiba smiled as well.
"That's a great idea! But what if it doesn't work? We need a fall back." They all sat in silence until Lee chimed in.
"We could wait till she's asleep and then look." Lee suggested.
"Yeah! That sounds like a great idea!" Kiba agreed. "I wouldn't mind if it was me, Sakura's cute."
"I wouldn't mind if it was me!" Naruto chimed in, happily grinning at the excitement of it all.
"I would make it a passionate kiss that she would never forget!" Lee said clenching his fist to his chest and standing up.
"Ew Lee…what if it's me!" Tenten squealed. "No Ino wouldn't do that would she?!" Tenten worriedly asked.
"Oh my god that would be funny if she did!" Kiba howled in laughter. "What about you Gaara?" Kiba asked, looking at Gaara who, up until this point, had been silent at their reactions. He shrugged.
"I don't care. It's probably either Lee or Naruto because I really don't think she wants to be kissed by either of you. Every time you guys tried she either hit you or ran away correct? So it would be logical to think that Ino would want to embarrass her by making her kiss one of you." He shrugged as if it was obvious.
"Woah I never would have thought of that." Kiba said surprised. Tenten nodded.
"That gives me even more of a reason to try to see that name!" Naruto cheered, almost falling over from his handstand. "Hey can someone please dare me to do something? My head's starting to go numb!"
"Ok fine I dare you to lick the floor." Tenten said plainly.
"Thanks I needed to get off of my head." Naruto said falling to the floor. "Woah I feel so dizzy now." Naruto rubbed his head before quickly licking the floor and walking into the kitchen to rinse his mouth out. Just then Ino appeared with Sakura.
"Ok everyone! Let's open presents and then we can watch another movie!" Ino exclaimed, sitting back down. Everyone agreed and began to pull out scrolls containing presents and pass them around. Sakura grabbed the presents from Neji, Shino, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Choji and passed them around to the others.
"Oh um Ino can you tell me what this is?" Sakura said opening the present from Shino and holding it up for her to see.
"Hmm it looks like a necklace with a scarab beetle on it. Oh look I got one too." Ino said holding up hers. Tenten opened her present and held up the same necklace as well.
"Remind me to thank him, it's kind of pretty in a weird buggy way." Tenten commented, before setting it down. Sakura agreed and set hers down as well.
"Oh boy! Choji got me a coupon for Ichiraku's!" He smiled and held up the coupon.
"He gave me one too!" Lee said showing Naruto his coupon as well.
"Wow leave it to Neji to get me a cook book!" Sakura said scowling. Naruto started to make a comment but was stopped by Kiba holding his mouth shut and shaking his head before he could say something stupid.
"Tsk. At least it's better than what he got me. Seriously a flower arrangement book? I work in a flower shop! I think I know how to arrange flowers!" She put the book next to her and opened a present from Sakura. "Oh wow Forehead! You did good this year!" She smiled and held up a pair of purple flower earrings.
"No problem Ino-pig I thought you might like them." She smiled and opened the present from Ino. "Thanks for the kunai holder! I needed a new one my old one's strap just broke!" She smiled at Ino and held up the gift.
Kiba laughed, and then smiled at Naruto and thanked him for the special dog whistle that he gave him. "I need this for the little kids at the compound they never listen to me when I call them." He smiled at Naruto who gave him the thumbs up.
"Thanks Sakura-san!" Lee said holding up a set of new leg warmers.
"I thought you needed a new pair, those have pockets on the inside for your weights." She said pointing to the inside.
"Wow Sakura-chan! You didn't need to get me this!" Naruto said holding up a new jacket and kunai pack.
"It's no problem guys really, after all, it is Christmas!" She smiled.
Gaara looked at the present in front of him, noticing a box wrapped in red paper with a card on the top, his name scrawled on it in wispy flowing cursive.
"That one's from Sakura. I'll open it later after everyone's asleep. I'd rather not see it just yet."
The others all giggled and laughed as they opened their presents throwing wrapping paper at one another and being all around cheerful. Gaara liked this feeling of cheer and happiness. "I had such a horrible life before I met them. I feel as though I'm finally catching up on everything I've missed in my childhood. The laughter and cheer, Christmas as a whole really." He struck up a conversation with Naruto. Naruto, in turn, was happy to see Gaara interacting so well.
"I'm glad he's finally decided to be more social and less of an introvert. I know it's got to be hard but he's doing really well." He smiled and talked to Gaara while Sakura put in a movie.
"I'll make some more popcorn and grab some more snacks. It's about eleven so we can just hang out for a while and hope the power doesn't go out." She looked up warily at the lights as she walked out of the room.
"I really hope the power doesn't go out. That would suck. Being in the dark next to Lee would not be fun. Not to mention that I can't look at this stupid tag on my waist! No doubt they would use that as an opportunity to grab it off of my waist and look at the name."
"But what if the name was someone like Gaara?" Inner chimed in.
"So what it would be the same as it being Kiba. Why does it being Gaara make a difference. I just hope it's not Naruto or Lee."
Inner snorted. "It makes all of the difference if it's Gaara! He kissed you on the cheek and you can't hide the fact that you like him. Maybe not a lot…yet…but you do like him a little and in this world, you have to act fast or risk never getting your chance."
"Of course it wouldn't be a problem! I like him the same way I like Kiba, Naruto, and Lee, as friends. Besides I really doubt it's him. Ino would love to humiliate me and making me kiss Gaara would not be the way to do it." She rolled her eyes and put the popcorn in the microwave.
"You are wrong, you like Gaara more than you like the other guys. He intrigues you and there is something there! So what are you gonna do if it is Gaara? Personally I'm gonna enjoy it." Inner said devilishly.
Sakura snorted at her. "It's not Gaara. You are just lustful and perverted and I'm not going to listen to your nonsense."
"Oh harsh." Inner pouted as Sakura shut her out again. Sakura rolled her eyes and grabbed a carrot stick, absentmindedly gnawing on it as she waited for the popcorn to pop.
End of Chapter 10
Thanks to Nightoshi I finished early ;) You helped me push through my small writers block and get this one done early! Love you all! Remember keep reviewing! :)
This chapter has been re-written.