Hey all! Here is the new chapter! :D NejiTen shippers, there's a special part here for you!

Enjoy!

Chapter 19
Trivial Shit. Like Suits.

"May I just comment on how fucking weird it is to see Uchiha making out with Haruno on the rooftop? But I guess, in retrospect, we should've seen it coming, seeing as they always hung out. Pft, Kakashi-sensei's project, my ass." Kiba said in one go while we walked in the mall. The guys on the team decided to go get our suits for the dance together; because, you know, friends won't make you feel awkward. Like a dumbass, sure. But awkward? Nah, they rarely ever make you feel that.

Until Kiba decided to do the rare and ask me a damn question.

I glared at him. "Would you shut the fuck up, Inuzuka? At least I'm not pulling her into closets to make out with her; how un-fucking-original is that?"

His blood flowed to his cheeks, making his red birthmarks seem brighter. "Fuck you, Uchiha. That was one time."

"Yeah, well, so was the rooftop."

"God, this is so fucking weird." We both turned to look at Naruto, who had a freaked out look on his face. "Both of you getting girlfriends is just so fucking weird. Neji, dude," he turned to look at our captain as they walked side by side. "Hurry up and get together with Tenten, already." He got a whack on the head in reply. "Dude!" he rubbed the spot Neji hit. "It was a valid statement, you dick!"

"What makes you think Tenten and I would get together?" Neji grumbled.

"Uhm, duh? It's fucking common sense." I had to agreed with Naruto there. It was common sense. Whenever one would walk into the room, the other would just go to them. They were like damn magnets.

"Common sense, huh?" Neji scoffed. "Tell that to her and then see how she reacts."

"Yeah, maybe I should just-"

"Wait," Shikamaru interrupted Naruto. "What did you mean by that, Neji?" We all stopped to look at Neji, Shikamaru behind him with a brow raised.

"What are you talking about, Nara?" he looked confused.

"I mean, what did you mean by 'see how she reacts'? For you to know her reaction, it means that-"

"You've already asked her." I said in disbelief, completing Shikamaru's sentence. "Holy shit, you've already asked her." Neji didn't reply, but the blush that spread all over his face was all the indication we needed.

That was when all hell broke loose.

"No way!"

"Oh my God, Hyuga's blushing."

"Shit, I didn't want to be right."

"Oh Neji, it's okay! The beauty of youth, you're still young enough to find someone else."

"Oh man, where's my food when I need to munch?"

"Well, it was unexpected Choji."

"Guys," Gaara's voice finally cut through the chaos the guys were creating. They all looked towards him. "We're getting too loud. I don't want to be kicked out, Matsuri will kick my ass if I don't get a suit." When Gaara spoke that much in one go, we listened to him. No questions asked. Even Neji listened. That was the unspoken rule.

Once we quieted down, we all looked to Neji to give us an explanation. Seeing our expressions, he sighed while he rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache. "All right, you assholes, I'll tell you what happened."

As some of the guys shuffled closer, Neji rolled his eyes. But, his face then grew solemn and he took a deep breath. As if he was preparing himself for it. "A couple weeks ago, after football practice, she went to my place so that we could talk. We were fighting before that, and we wanted to resolve it since the matter itself was fucking stupid. So when she got to my place, we talked it out; shit was resolved, until she decided to open her mouth and talk about the stupid dance." He sighed; it was riddled with sadness, despite him trying to sound like he was hassled. "She kept asking me who I was bringing to the dance, I kept telling her the same thing, that I didn't have a date; she kept pushing and telling me to tell her the truth and I just got fucking confused. What the fuck am I supposed to say? I already told her the damn truth." He rolled his eyes, and someone muttered 'women', and some of the guys couldn't help but agree. "Anyway, she told me that she heard I was going with someone, and then I decided to end with dealing with this bullshit." He rubbed his eyes in embarrassment. "I told her that the only person I wanted to go to that stupid dance with was her, that I was only willing to go to that dance in the first place because she was going." He opened his eyes in a piercing glare. "Guess what she said."

I could only imagine, since Tenten only ever really focused on her goals rather than her feelings.

"She didn't notice that you liked her," Shikamaru stated. Neji nodded in response. Shikamaru sighed. "I figured. That girl is so observant about everyone but the people she loves. So I'm guessing she was shocked and tried to play it off."

"Pretty much," muttered Neji. Then he started off on his rant. "She said that we don't make sense, that she and I being friends never made sense and then she left. But you know what? I fucking agree; it doesn't make any fucking sense because we were never meant to only be friends, we were meant to be more and fuck I sound so sappy, but I don't give a shit at this point. Not with her."

"Damn," Naruto breathed. Yup, I thought. Damn. This has been a long time coming, but none of us realized that it would be so soon.

"Well, what are you going to do about it now, Neji?" Choji asked, hands in his pockets.

"What do you mean what am I going to do'?" Neji grumbled. "I already told her how I felt about her, am I supposed to do something else now?"

"You didn't," Shikamaru stated, looking at our captain.

"What the hell are you talking about now, Nara?"

"You only told her you wanted to go to the dance with her, that doesn't say 'Tenten, I like you, be my girlfriend'. You merely asked her to the dance and, if my assumption is correct, she thought you were asking because you thought it was the logical thing to do, not because you actually want to go with her."

"Why the hell would she even think I meant that?" Neji's face was scrunched up in confusion and a bit of anger.

"My guess?" Shikamaru sighed. "Tenten is insecure, at least about her relationship with you. She knows you two are best friends, but she doesn't think it will ever amount to anything more, because she thinks she isn't good enough for you or that you're out of her league."

"What the fuck?" Neji just keeps looking more confused. So I decided to step in and speak in his language.

"Neji," I said seriously, gaining his attention. "Tenten is critical of herself, you know that." He nodded solemnly; he knew the depth of her self-criticism was severe, and only he knew the severity of how she judges herself. "In her perspective, she is too flawed for you to take her seriously. As far as she's concerned, she's not even on your damn radar. So, when you said you wanted to go with her to the dance, she didn't assume that it meant you liked her; she thought you meant that it meant you wanted to be with a friend for the night."

"Are you telling me," Neji's face grew darker, his tone more serious. "That the reason why she left my house, close to crying and shutting me out, is because she thinks she isn't what I want?" Without waiting for anyone else to answer, maybe because he already knew what we were going to say, he turned and started walking towards the exit of the mall.

"Neji, where are you going?" Naruto said, though I think we all had a feeling where he was headed.

"I'm going to fucking fix this, dammit." Neji said loud enough for us to hear.

We didn't follow. Those two needed their privacy; besides, we'll see for sure tomorrow if it happens or not.

"Oh hell," Kiba said, grinning. "I think I know how those idiots at school are feeling. I'm so damn tempted to follow and watch them work it out, but if that was me, I wouldn't want anyone watching while I tell my girl I love her; those words are for her ears only."

For her ears only, huh? I mused. I agree. Even if her ears are damaged.

"Sasuke?" her voice rang in my ear. "I thought you were looking for a suit?"

"Yeah, about that," I hedged, speaking into the phone. "What color's your dress?" There was a pause before I heard her giggling. "Sakura, I'm serious." I sounded whiny, but the woman was infuriating me in the best way possible.

"No, I know, babe, but it's just-" Another round of giggles ensued before she answered me again. "I just don't know how to describe my dress. It's like a mix of cream, pink, and gold."

"I literally don't know what the hell that's supposed to look like." I deadpanned.

"I know!" She laughed, and, as much as I hated people laughing at me, I didn't mind it so much when it came from her. I wanted her laughing all the time, even at my expense. "Why don't I take a picture of my dress?"

"No!" I heard Ino's voice from the background. "Sakura Haruno you are not allowed to send that boy a photo of your dress. He does not get to see your dress before the day of the dance."

"But Ino he-"

"No."

I only felt amused at this point. I knew how Ino functioned at these things; I knew she wanted every girl to have that Cinderella reveal of the girl walking down the stairs and the guy looking like a fish. "Sakura," I said, my amusement bleeding through my voice. "Just send me a photo of a swatch of the dress."

"Okay, yeah, that works," she agreed. "I'll go now, babe. I'll send you the photo quickly."

"All right, thanks," I smirked. "Bye babe." I teased, making her laugh.

"Goodness, I'll see you later, okay?" After she hung up, my phone pinged, the photo showing up. I instantly saw the reason why she had such a hard time explaining the color; her dress had glitter on it, and there was an amount of beadwork. After a few minutes, I decided on which tie to get.

"For Sakura?" Naruto asked, looking at light purple ties.

"Yup," I turned towards him and saw the ties he was looking at. "For Hinata?"

His cheeks turned slightly pink, making me smirk, before he replied. "Yeah." Fucking finally. This, like Neji, was a long time coming. Well, at least, it was for Hinata. We're all pretty sure Naruto noticed nothing while she was pining for him. We were also pretty sure Hinata almost passed out when he asked her to the dance.

I turned back to the tie I was holding, thinking about how Naruto only started noticing her now. "Are you sure about her?" I remembered him talking about how unsure he was with his infatuation with Sakura; now I'm wondering if he felt the same about Hinata.

"To be honest," he said. "I'm not. This is so new to me, but it feels different compared to Sakura, you know? With Hinata it seems..." I saw his hands tighten slightly on the ties he was holding. "Scarier."

"Scarier?" Hinata? Granted, when she loses her shit and fights back, that's scary as hell. But I can't imagine her doing so to Naruto.

"Yeah," he replied. "Because with Sakura, it's almost as if I was sure it wouldn't go anywhere. But with Hinata," A look I never saw on his face before showed. Well, shit. I thought, smirking. "Hinata makes me forget about... them. I feel like I don't have to prove anything to her, you know? Like, she believes in me and trusts me to do what I say I'm going to do."

I turned my smirk towards him. "Naruto-"

"Shut up," he cut me off, his face turning beet red. "Not a word, Uchiha."

I scoffed, a shit-eating grin on my face. "Okay, Uzumaki."

"When did that happen?" Sakura pointed to the two people holding hands, one of them beet red while the other was as smug as a peacock.

I smirked. "Well, looks like Neji's mission was a success."

"Mission?"

"I'll tell you later, babe. It's a long story."

"Mmm," she hummed. "Should I be worried that you know this piece of gossip and I don't?"

I snorted. "What's there to be worried about?"

"You know, boys," she said teasingly, raising her arms up and flexing. "All manly and macho and buff."

I couldn't help but laugh. Damn, this woman was nuts when she wanted to be. But damn also if I didn't enjoy it. "You think women are bad? Trust me when I say that guys are ten times worse. Put us all in a room together and you'll hear shit I'm pretty sure the rest of the population didn't even know about."

"Hmm," she said thoughtfully. "Okay, then, babe. Noted. Now I know that whenever you guys go out, you're all probably talking about the girls." I didn't correct her. Instead, we headed to the rooftop, walking next to each other silently. I told her I needed to talk to her about something important; she thought I was just getting her up there so that we could make out again. And, while I wasn't against the idea, it wasn't what I brought her up for.

"What did you want to talk about?" she asked, leaning against the wall next to me. She saw I was serious about talking to her, making her nervous; her hands were playing with themselves, and every so often, she played with the ends of her hair. Well shit, I didn't want her nervous.

I grabbed her hands with one of mine and used the other to cup her cheek, making her look up at me. "Hey," I said.

"Hi," she replied softly.

"Don't stress yourself out," I told her. "I just have to hear something from you." At her acceptance, I continued. "I think Naruto feels something for Hinata, something more than what he felt for you. And I wanted your opinion."

"On Naruto's disposition?"

"No," I replied, looking into her eyes. "On mine. When he told me that, his growing feelings for Hinata, I felt happy and relieved. Because that meant that he wouldn't try to take you from me. It meant that I didn't have to fight him anymore for you, I just have to keep fighting myself from here on out. I need to know, does that make me a bad person?"

"Oh, Sasuke," Sakura said, leaning into my hand. "You're not a bad person for that, I promise. Trust me when I say if the situation was reversed and Karin backed off, I'd be relieved too." She smiled and turned her head, swiftly kissing my palm. "Don't ever apologize for having feelings for me; never feel shame for wanting me to be yours alone. I promise you that I feel all that you feel and maybe more."

"There is no way you feel more than I do," I told her, feeling a lightness take over me.

Her mouth quirked up, making my eyes stray to her lips. "That's all you got from what I said?" Several thoughts ran through my head, but I pushed them aside, because all that mattered is that she was with me.

"No, trust me," I said. "I got a lot more, but all I heard is that I need to prove to you that I feel more for you than you feel for me."

She only grinned. "Challenge accepted, Uchiha."