"I'm going to have a party." Sakura said abruptly.

Ino squealed with delight. "Yes yes yes yes yes! It'll be amazing! Oh my god, please let me plan it for you! There'll be music and dancing, and pretty dresses and alcohol, and…"

"No alcohol." Sakura said, shuddering at the remembrance of the last time she drank alcohol.

"But Forehead! What's a party without alcohol?"

"How old is she now?" asked Sasuke.

"Uh… 16…"

"Is that even legal?"

"Yeah of course! And I know something else that is too!" Ino nudged Sakura. Everyone blushed and turned away from each other, apart from Sasuke who didn't even move a muscle, and Sakura, who had no idea what Ino was talking about.

"What?" she asked, surprised at the awkward silence.

"Er… never mind, I'll tell you later." Ino said quickly. Everyone was relieved that they were spared a lecture on said topic, not trusting Ino to be tactful enough not to give one.

"Ok, whatever, but I am definitely having a party, fine, with alcohol if you insist-" she responded to Ino mouthing the word 'alcohol' whilst nodding very vigorously. "-but we've got to plan it and invite everyone!"

"When do you want to do it?" asked Ino.

"Today!"

"What? Er- Forehead, this kind of party needs to bit more planning than that. How will we get the invitations out in time?"

"No need for invitations, we'll just put flyers around Konoha and whoever wants can come!"

"A house party! Now we're talking!" said Ino nodding.

"Sakura, that is crazy and dangerous." Sasuke said. "Any random psychopath could turn up!"

"Yeah well… Tsh fine you're right I guess…" Sakura said, thinking it over. "Ok we'll have it on Friday."

"Awh!" Ino said, as she had been getting to like the idea of having a house party on that very day.

"Oh and!" Sakura said, a sly one-sided smile spreading across her face, "Everyone- that means everyone- has to bring a dance-partner."

"A dance-partner?" Ino asked incredulously.

"Well, someone who you come to the party with and dance and chat to and stuff."

"Oh, you mean a date."

"Uh- ok, I guess if that's what it's called! Everyone has to bring a date!"

An instant buzz began amongst the group.

"But you can't decide that now in front of everyone because that's rude." Sakura said loudly. When the murmuring had died down, Sakura spoke again. "Ok, now let's start planning it! Naruto and Hinata, can you please go to the party shop and buy some decorations? I'm trusting Hinata to choose some nice ones."

Hinata started blushing madly, but Naruto sensed nothing and said, "Ok sure!" and grabbed her arm, almost dragging her out of the room.

"Ok, everyone else!" Sakura said. "Basically, I'm only having this part because I want to get Naruto and Hinata together, since as you know, Hinata very obviously likes Naruto and he's too much of a blundering oaf to realise it, so please can none of you ask either of them to be your dates, or say yes if either of them asks you? I'll write it on the invitations for the other nin who we know well so they know not to be either of their dates as well. I won't write it on the invitations for people we don't know that well because they'll probably think it's weird, and I'm sure they would both think of each other first before somebody they don't know well. Besides, I'll hint to Naruto to ask her. If they can't find any other dates they'll have to go with each other!"

Everyone raised their eyebrows and smiled, and nodded to think of Sakura's clever plan, and cries of "Sure!" and "That's fine!" rang through the room. Sakura smiled to see everyone's cooperation.

"Ok, Pig and I are going to make the guest list, Tenten, could you please make a list of music which we can play? I don't trust either Sai or Sasuke to do that. Sai and Sasuke, could you please go to the supermarket and buy some canapés and some sake? And any other food you think is reasonable. Though BE SENSIBLE."

"Forehead's quite good at planning parties!" Ino said approvingly.

"Yeah, this is fun!"

And the party planning was underway, and carried on for the rest of the day.

The next day, Sakura returned to the hospital for her first full day as head of the Pulmonary Wing. She had many injuries which she had to feel, ad patients to see to, and also a lot of hospital administration to take care of. She found the latter tiring and stressful, but it was made up for by the healing she got to do, which, though challenging at times, never failed to give her a great sense of achievement.

She found her first day at the hospital tiring, but a wonderful experience, and she couldn't wait for the next one.

After work, she met Ino in the reception of the hospital, as they had planned, to walk home together. Ino, however, had different ideas.

"Forehead, we have to go shopping to buy dresses for the party!"

"What? Oh yeah… do we have to do it now? I'm tired."

"Sorry, already told Tenten and Hinata to meet us at the dress shop! Besides, we need to make sure Hinata looks absolutely stunning for Naruto!"

"Oh yeah!" Sakura brightened up at this prospect.

They walked to the shop, where they found Tenten and Hinata waiting.

After some time in the shop, Ino had chosen a short strapless purple dress with many ruffles and layers, and purple platforms to go with it, and Tenten had chosen a knee-length black and white dress with black pumps. Sakura eventually decided to choose a short black dress with spaghetti straps and a large pink bow at the hip, and laced black heels, but Hinata simply could not choose one. The other girls decided to come to her rescue. After only a few minutes of looking, Ino's hawk eyes spotted the perfect dress. It was a floor length pale green dress with a deep v-neck and a laced green flower at the hip. It was the perfect combination of simplicity and elegance and when Hinata tried it on, all of the girls decided that it complemented her colourless features like nothing else would. After choosing some plain green heels to match, the girls bought their clothes and left the shop, pleased with their purchases. They dropped Hinata off at the Hyuuga mansions, waving goodbye to the shy girl, and then continued on to their own house, where they said goodnight and settled down to a night of rest.

The next day was the day before the party, and after work, Sakura went for a last minute walk to the shops to buy anything they may have missed. Since Ino was working late, Naruto accompanied her. On the way, Sakura explained the plans for the party to him, whilst he listened and pretended to understand, nodding intelligently.

When they had made their purchases and were walking back home, Sakura suddenly noticed that they were across the road from the very bookshop which they had visited a few days ago, with disastrous results.

"I was going to invite Shunnosuke from that shop but-" Sakura began.

"Who?" asked Naruto.

"You know, that guy who showed me round the bookshop last time."

"Oh right. Yeah?"

"I was going to invite him, but I decided not to since Sasuke said he was a bad guy."

"Why?" asked Naruto, confused.

"Well, he asked me to go out, and apparently that has some meaning other than simply going outside since Sasuke punched him in the face and dragged me away and said he was a bad guy."

"Wait, what? Why did Sasuke do that?" Naruto asked, amazed.

"Because he asked me to go out and I said yes."

"You mean out on a date?"

"I don't know, he just said 'do you want to go out sometime' or something like that."

"And Sasuke punched him?"

Sakura nodded. For a minute, Naruto simply stood there, to stunned to move. Then a sly smile spread across his face as even he could not fail to see the obvious meaning of Sasuke's actions.

"Well, I think you should invite him. Shunnosuke, I mean. Sasuke was definitely just being paranoid and I can't see that he did anything wrong. Besides I want to humiliate Sasuke."

"Why would asking Shunnosuke to come humiliate Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Because he'll probably get mad."

"You think? But why?"

"Eh… never mind, I'll explain someday. Or maybe he will."

"Oh whatever." Sakura was bored of people who couldn't be bothered to explain things to her. "Ok, let's go then."

They crossed the street and entered the shop. Shunnosuke was near the front, dusting the bookshelves. When he saw them, his expression turned to fear, but when he looked around them and saw no sign of Sasuke, he looked relieved.

"Sakura," he said in a friendly voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm having a party tomorrow for my birthday, so do you want to come? I hope it'll make up for Sasuke's behaviour before."

"Oh happy birthday! I'd love to come! But... is Sasuke coming?" he asked nervously.

"Yes, but I'll make sure he doesn't hit you again." Sakura smiled reassuringly.

Shunnosuke looked relieved. "Ok then, sure!"

"Great!" Sakura smiled and fished an invitation out of her bag and handed it to him. "See you there then!"

"Oh and," Naruto added, "You have to bring a date."

Shunnosuke's expression clouded. "But I don't know anyone who's going!"

"Uh… don't worry, you can be my date!" Sakura said, realising she didn't actually have one yet.

"Really?" Shunnosuke's expression brightened.

"Yes, of course!" Sakura beamed. "I guess that's settled then. See you tomorrow!"

They waved goodbye to the delighted Shunnosuke and left the shop to walk back to their house. Naruto smiled evilly thinking of what he had discovered about Sasuke and of the humiliation Sasuke might have to undergo the next day.

"So, Naruto, who's your date?"

"Uh... I don't have one!"

"Well, I know Hinata doesn't have one either, so why don't you ask her?"

"Really? Great! I'll ask her tomorrow."

They soon reached the house, and found Sasuke waiting in Sakura's flat. Naruto simply gave him a superior smile, said goodnight to Sakura and went upstairs.

"What are you doing here?" asked Sakura.

"Ino asked me to buy some more bottles of sake and drop them off."

"Why?"

"She said she just might have drunk a few."

Sakura shook her head tolerantly. "Ok thanks then! See you tomorrow!"

Sasuke was about to leave, when Sakura remembered something.

"Sasuke, who's your date for tomorrow?"

Sasuke didn't reply. He had automatically assumed that he would go with Sakura, not even considering the possibility of his having to ask another girl.

"Do you have one?"

Silence.

"Ok, I'll take that as a no… I'm guessing you're too proud to ask anyone, so I, being the wonderful friend I am, will find you one. It'll be a surprise!" Sakura rubbed her hands together, delighted at the thought.

The thought, however, made Sasuke feel exceedingly uncomfortable.

"What about you? Who's your date?" he asked.

"Shunnosuke." Sakura said guardedly.

"Who?"

"Shunnosuke from the bookshop."

Sasuke's eyes widened in disbelief. "But I told you he was a bad guy!"

"Yes, but I told Naruto what happened and he said that you were just being paranoid and that Shunnosuke didn't do anything wrong."

"You told Naruto?" Sasuke said, the cold hand of fear creeping around his heart.

Sakura nodded. "Yup."

"Everything that happened?"

She nodded once more. "Yup."

Sasuke swallowed. After hearing the story he knew that there was only one conclusion Naruto could make, and, being Naruto, he knew that he would either be untactful and blurt it out to the whole world, or worse, Sakura, or he would make some evil plan to humiliate him, or he would constantly rag and annoy Sasuke about his discovery.

"Ok." he said. "I think- I think I'll go now." He bit his tongue and looked at the floor, trying to think of a solution which could save him from Naruto.

"Ok," Sakura said, confused as to why Sasuke was acting so strangely. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah." Sasuke quickly left the flat and the house, and walked back to his own home in a very agitated state, leaving Sakura looking bemusedly after him.