Alright, let's go!
Chapter Ten: Somebody's a whore...
Ino was still bothered by her brief – but SOBER! – thought that perhaps dog-boy wasn't all that bad a guy and was reasonably easy on the eyes. Pushing aside a thought she would never ever admit to herself, let alone to anyone else or act on, she looked around the crowded foyer for a distraction. She found one.
It had slowly filled up a little more with the arrival of her own childhood friends, Chouji and Shikamaru. She was pleased that the latter had chosen to wear what she had picked out for him.
"He looks good, huh?" Sakura muttered from beside her.
"Of course, we dressed him."
They exchanged smirks and flagged him down. He slouched through the throng and gave her a weak smile. "You two look good," he said lazily while he shrugged his shoulders in classic Shikamaru style.
"Thanks," Sakura said coyly in spite of herself. Ino didn't call her on it strictly because she had to agree that what they'd seen of him called for a little flirtatious behaviour.
Beside the door, Haku was talking with Tenten while Neji was off in search of Shino.
"So, I need to talk to you about a couple of things that I actually don't think I should tell Neji and it's a complicated web I tell you," Tenten sighed as she looked at her friend.
"Well, spill," Haku replied quickly in spite of himself. He wasn't a gossip, but neither was Tenten, so whatever she had to say, it had to be good.
Just as Tenten opened her mouth, the doorbell rang and she looked at the door behind Haku with frustration.
"Wait one second," Haku told her before spinning to open the door.
On the other side was one of the most beautiful men he had ever seen.
"Well, good evening," said the stranger, "My name is Itachi, and you would be?"
"Haku."
"Pleased to meet you."
"I thought you just wanted to come in and piss..." hissed Sasuke as he pushed past the pair and walked inside.
"The bathrooms are this way," Haku said quickly, "You're a friend of Sasuke's?"
"Nah, his evil older brother."
Sasuke stood inside the foyer, trying to decide whether he would go to the left and have to pass through Ino and Sakura or go straight ahead and face Tenten.
His brother passed by him, following Haku.
"Which one?" his brother asked in a whisper.
Sasuke shot him a death glare before turning to look at Tenten nervously.
In the kitchen, Neji walked in to find Shino talking to his cousin. The situation was obviously a private matter, so he hid just out of sight and listened as Hinata explained her fears about the coming night.
"I just feel like there are a million things happening at once and I wish I could just get up the courage to deal with all of it. If I were stronger..." Her voice faded out as she slowed and took a deep breath.
Neji could see Shino look at her with a sympathetic smile. "Want to tell me?" asked the boy calmly. "You know you can tell me anything."
She hesitated before leaning back against the counter and nodding. "I think that it would help to at least talk about some of it." She paused and took another breath. "Let's start with this whole Sasuke mess. I don't like him that way, but the girls swear he likes me and they want me to confront him about his feelings and tell him I don't feel the same and I don't think I can do that."
"Then don't."
She looked at him curiously and Neji stared with bated breath. He knew Shino liked Hinata.
"Don't do something if you don't want to. Especially not because they pushed you to. Is there any proof he likes you?"
Hinata shook her head, embarrassed.
"Well, don't worry about it. I know who Sasuke has a crush on and it isn't you."
She looked relieved, than curious, "Who?"
The stock boy chuckled quietly. "It's Tenten."
"No way!" Her words echoed Neji's thoughts. That little brat dared to like Tenten? Didn't everyone already know that he was destined to be with her? Neji and Tenten. Everyone should have already figured this out.
Shino nodded.
"I feel so much better about this now. You know for sure he likes her?"
The Aburame nodded again. "It came up in conversation the night I drove him home. He was the last to be dropped off and it just kind of came out." He shrugged.
Neji bit back his anger and was ready to stomp away when his cousin spoke again.
"Thanks so much Shino. You're just like a real big brother solving such a big problem for me so easily."
Those were not Hinata-like words, but Neji was sure they had hit her friend like a truck.
A moment passed before he said anything. "Any other problems I can solve for you?" He sounded robotic, but not entirely cold. He was apparently masking the hurt really well.
She smiled, not sensing his pain or maybe not wanting to. "No, I should take care of the other two things by myself. I mean, I have to do some things for myself."
The doorbell glowed mockingly and Naruko wasn't sure if she was ready to go in and instead hung around the door feeling like some kind of creep. She could hear people inside and the cars parked in the driveway suggested there were a good deal of people here already.
She wondered if Sai was inside.
Deciding it would look really bad if somebody noticed her standing outside like some awkward wallflower, she adjusted her pink tank top to better present her cleavage and ran her hands down over the worn blue denim of her tight jeans. Shivering inside her simple wool cardigan, she pushed the bell.
Moments later Chouji opened the door. Relief washed over her at the sight of him. He was dressed in plain jeans and a white t-shirt, but the simplicity of the look suited him. "Hey," he said, "Come on in."
"Sorry I'm late, hope I'm not the last."
"Forget it. There are still a handful of people who haven't shown up yet and the ones who are here have almost all stayed right in the entrance." He gestured around.
Sai was not yet present. She laughed and looped her arm through his, "Let's get them moving than and see about what kind of grub they've got to offer. I was so busy getting ready after work I didn't eat anything. I'm starved!"
He gave her an appreciative smile and they marched forward.
Tenten quirked her eyebrow at them and waved to the newcomer.
"Tenten!" Naruko cried enthusiastically, "Where's Neji?"
"He went to look for Shino."
"Can you tell me where to find the snacks?"
Tenten pointed to a hallway. "Kitchen's through there. We have bowls of every chip imaginable because we couldn't decide what flavours would work for everyone." She rolled her eyes. "Go ahead and help yourself. I have a bunch of these awesome beers from Kirigakure that I don't mind sharing with you two if you want something good to wash down the snacks."
"Thanks!"
With that, the odd pair headed off in search of the kitchen, which they of course quite easily found. It wasn't empty as they had expected it to be though. Instead, Hinata was eating chips while Neji and Shino discussed something they were apparently planning on as a later activity.
"Hey guys," Naruko spoke as they walked in. She spotted cash in Neji's hand and knew he was probably buying drugs from Shino. She'd already heard he was the go-to guy for that stuff. She looked at Hinata and once more released her escort's arm. "Oh my gosh! You look so awesome!" She sprung forward and hugged the dark-haired girl.
"Thank you."
"No, thank you for inviting me. I guess I should be thanking you too," she said smiling at Neji.
"No need."
Shino nodded a greeting and she returned it. This was perfect, she was already feeling way less stressed about the night than she had been not fifteen minutes before.
Out in the foyer, seated on the stairs, was Sasuke. Naruto was beside him and definitely trying to make him angry.
"So, your brother is really into talking with Haku, huh?"
Sasuke ignored his co-worker and stared at his brother who was now leaning against a wall chatting up Haku. They were making some intense eye contact that was probably way too hardcore for the conversation that was no doubt light.
He would never understand gay etiquette.
"So, gay marriage is legal now. How would you feel about Haku being your brother in law?"
Sasuke turned very slowly to glare at his blonde friend. "Shut up."
When he turned back to watch his brother again, Sakura and Ino were blocking his view.
"Sasuke! Why so down?" Sakura asked, her green eyes full of a concern he was sure she wasn't faking, but seemed fake regardless.
Behind her, he spotted his brother lean around and give him a thumbs up. Idiot.
On the other side of the room, Tenten was bored of talking to Kiba while she waited for Haku to finish flirting with the eldest Uchiha brother. Admittedly, he was hot and she probably would have done the same if he weren't so clearly not into girls.
Instead, she decided to find Neji. At least he could give her a worthwhile conversation and she could find out exactly when they were going to burn it up. He should have talked to Shino by now...
As she strolled past the stairs, she felt a great deal of pity for the youngest brother as he was accosted by the fashion staff about how Hinata wanted to talk to him.
"Seriously, she was saying earlier when we were talking to you alone that she had something important to talk to you about," Ino said.
Tenten knew Hinata had no interest in talking to Sasuke. The thought was terrifying to her in fact. She could guess by his reaction – which was to pretend he hadn't heard them – that he didn't really want to talk to Hinata either.
Choosing to do her good deed for the day at that moment she paused and turned back to face the small group. "Naruto, could you help me bring some chip bowls into the backyard from the kitchen? Maybe make a couple of trips back and forth to get it all?"
He nodded and stood up.
"Don't bother with multiple trips, I'll help you," Sasuke offered quickly as she had expected he would. The opportunity to escape the girls perfect for him.
"Wow thanks guys."
"We'll help too!" Sakura said suddenly.
"Hmmm..." Tenten thought a moment, "I think we can handle the food being brought down, but could you just get everyone to clear the foyer and go to the backyard? It's straight down that way. I feel like this party will never get started if we don't herd everyone out."
They looked disappointed, but apparently didn't suspect Tenten to be trying to get rid of them.
Tenten flashed Sasuke a smile as they walked into the kitchen and said to both boys, "Thanks for helping me out." She winked and pushed open the kitchen door.
Neji was now very uncomfortable at the sight of Sasuke following Tenten into the kitchen. Even as she loaded bowls into the arms of he and Naruto, he felt queasy. He had a gut feeling that his friend had no clue about her secret admirer. He made up his mind to tell her when they were alone.
"When and who is lighting it up?" she asked him as she passed bowls she would have carried herself to Shino instead. The stock team vanished into the backyard, foodstuffs with them and by default a couple of hungry guests – Naruko and Chouji – in their wake.
"As far as I know, it's basically everyone. No confirmation on the night crew though, but they haven't even shown up yet." He looked to his cousin. "Could you give us a second?"
Hinata left with a small, knowing smile on her lips.
"What's up?" Tenten asked.
"I just overheard something I probably shouldn't have between Hinata and Shino..."
"Did he confess? Oh man, she's not interested. I hope – "
"No, she called him her big brother." He looked Tenten straight in the eye.
"That may have been my fault. She was ultra stressed about all kinds of crazy stuff. Do you know what Ino and Sakura are trying to make her do?"
"I do and that's part of what I – " Neji's sentence broke off at the sound of a girl screaming.
Chapter Ten: Somebody's a whore...
With every new chapter, my decisions about pairings shift. I totally have only one sure pairing in my head right now and they aren't even main characters. You can make a pairing suggestion if you like. It might help. I'm ending with this little cliff-hanger type of dealy because if I don't stop now, this chapter will keep going until it's like a thousand pages long...
Coming soon, Chapter Eleven: I can't believe I missed that!
Naito.