Chapter Twenty-Eight

The decorations inside the Konoha country club were almost too incredible to be reality. There were green and purple balloons scattered across the floor everywhere, and masquerade masks were hung up around the walls. Double stairs that were used as decoration sat at the end of the room, and I think that was where the couples would take their prom pictures. The walls were completely plastered in purple paint, and jester hats decorated the tables. These hats were different, though. Where the jingling bells usually attached, there were candles that were lit. The tables under the hats were the same pale green as the balloons on the floor.

I had never seen anything so extravagant in my life, and I had immediately gotten excited about being here. Naruto gripped my hand, and we stepped into the room together, greeted by the blasting stereos belonging to the DJ. Besides candles and random decorative lights scattered about the room, it was dark. I wasn't sure if that was how other dances were, but I also didn't question the artistic masterpiece of the room.

Naruto turned his eyes to me and his entire face lit up. I was so happy to be here with him, that I couldn't contain myself; I burst out laughing and I squeezed his hand. He bent down - he didn't have to bend too far while I was in my heels - and kissed the side of my mouth. We both grinned as if we had no idea what was going on.

Shikamaru and Temari, Kiba, and Choji and Ino followed us into the country club only moments after our entering. Ino stopped, her arms wrapped around a single arm of her date, and she examined the decor that I had found phenomenal. I could tell that she wasn't as impressed as I was, but she didn't necessarily look disappointed.

"School dances are such a drag," Shikamaru muttered, only to get a glare from Temari. Even though she looked like a goddess, the glower she gave him reminded me that she was still Temari.

"I told you: this is your senior prom. I didn't want you to miss it."

Shikamaru turned to his date, and the two of them began to bicker like an old married couple. Naruto and I moved away from them, so that their mood wouldn't ruin the party.

Naruto held my hand and led me to the center of the dance floor, where Kiba was already wrapped around the arms of a girl who had also gone stag. He gave me a thumbs up behind the girls back and winked, and I watched as Naruto rolled his eyes.

He turned his gaze to me and placed both hands on my hips. I had never danced with a man before, and so I didn't really know what to do. I used what I had seen in movies, and I constricted both of my arms around his throat, holding them together by interlocking my fingers at the base of his neck. He was leading the steps, and they were very minute steps. It was almost like miniature marching while revolving in a circle.

My heart pounded so loudly as we were both silent, simply gazing into one another's eyes. His ocean eyes captivated me where I stood, and I could have been lost at sea. I breathed in his scent, and his manly cologne wafted through my senses, engulfing me in him. I didn't ever want that smell to leave me.

However, we must have come in in the middle of the slow song that was playing, because it ended quickly and a song with a fast beat began blaring out of the DJ's speakers. I allowed my hand to slide down Naruto's chest as we broke apart from our close stance. He held it to his pectorals and began singing the song that vibrated the floor under us. I had never heard the song before, but he knew it by heart, and he serenaded me.

I didn't really know what to do. This kind of thing was completely foreign to me; I didn't know how to dance, I didn't know many songs, I had never been to a dance before. All I could do was follow the leads of the people around me.

Ino knew the song too, because she and Choji hurried over to us and started belting it out loud with Naruto. I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my throat, and then a flash blinded me. Quickly, I snapped my head to my left and saw Temari holding a camera.

"Smile, Hinata," she called out, and I followed her order. Naruto, Ino and Choji abandoned their singing to flash a picture-perfect grin at Temari's camera, which flashed in our eyes. I was blinded for a few moments and acted like a deer in headlights. The three people who had suffered the same as me went right back to their karaoke.

I moved towards my friend with the camera and thought that I would talk to her while Naruto was singing. She glanced at me once before wrapping a single arm around my shoulder and holding her camera up above our heads. I smiled, genuinely happy to be here with my friends, and Temari took a picture of the two of us. She glanced at it once before returning the camera to her side.

"You having fun?" she asked me, and I nodded, glancing back over at my date, who had started moving his body in some crazy robotic manner. His movements went along with how the music around us sounded. How did he move his body like that? "You two have any plans after the dance?"

My eyes flickered to her, and I started to wonder what it was that she and Shikamaru were going to do afterwards. Was I the only person thinking about...that?

"I don't know," I told her, because it was true. Naruto and I had never discussed what we were going to do after leaving prom. "What about you and Shikamaru?"

"We rented a nice hotel room, and we're going to spend the night there," she said, and I blushed, immediately allowing my mind to slip to the things that could happen in a hotel room. I cursed Sakura for this, because she had been the one always talking about sex, and now it was always on my mind. Temari could tell what I was thinking, and she laughed a bit. "I don't know if we're actually going to have sex tonight. We just want to be together."

"How long have you been with him?" I asked, curious.

Temari's eyes flickered to the right corner as she thought about the question and her answer. She bit the inside of her lip while she did so.

"Three years and two months."

Oh, wow. That was a long time to spend with someone, especially in high school. As I put it into perspective for myself, I realized that Sakura and Sasuke have been together longer. However, it was more impressive that Shikamaru and Temari have been together for so long without becoming physical. According to Sakura, that would be extremely difficult.

"You must really love each other," I commented. I mean, if she dealt with him for over three years, it had to be love, right? Temari put her hands on her hips and chuckled.

"I guess so," she said with a smile. "He's cute, I do have to admit that. Truth be told, nobody can make me madder than he can, and no other person can get me as flustered as he does. But at the same time, nobody makes my heart beat faster. Nobody can make me laugh harder than he does. I wouldn't want to be with anybody else."

I had never heard Temari sound so sensual before, and I was almost shocked to hear her express her love for Shikamaru to me. The two of them never seemed to be affectionate in front of anybody, and so I never really thought that they were tender towards one another. To be completely honest, I never really thought that they were warm to one another; I just couldn't seem to picture it for some reason or another.

It warmed my heart, though, to know that they were passionate about each other.

Shikamaru came up behind Temari, carrying a crystal glass filled with some sort of punch that the school provided for us. He handed it to her without a word, and she accepted it with a grin and a silent thank you.

"Dancing is a drag, but I hope you don't mind me stealing this pretty lady away from you," he said to me and grasped her hand, waiting for my reply.

"Go," I said, chuckling and waving them away. Shikamaru began leading Temari towards the dance floor, and she winked at me and waved goodbye. I exchanged the gesture, and then turned, unknowingly, into Kiba's shoulder. He wrapped an arm around my neck and accidently hit my jugular.

"Some date Naruto is!" He shouted in my ear, trying to hear himself over the music that blared in every crack and crevice of the room. "Leaving you standing around waiting to be caught by another guy."

Before I could get a word out of my mouth, I noticed out of my peripheral vision a dark mass come up to Kiba's side, gripping his shoulder. When he turned, I did too, and I saw that the thing was Naruto, who looked completely angry at Kiba for touching me. There was some sort of fiery passion that burned in his eyes, and I could see it. I could almost see flames of jealousy licking his flesh as he confronted Kiba.

"Get your hands off her," he demanded in a threatening tone, and Kiba released his hold on my body, never once breaking the connection between his stare and Naruto's glare. There was a short moment where I thought both boys were going to snap and punch each other in the face.

"Since when is Hinata your property?" he interrogated, clearly trying to start something and ignite the fire in Naruto. Naruto, on the other hand, took my hand in his and moved me closer to his side. He squeezed his fingers in between mine, signalling to me that he wouldn't be punching Kiba in the face tonight.

"Since she became my girlfriend," Naruto spit at him, and that may have been the first time he had given me that title. Other people had referred to me as 'Naruto's girlfriend,' but he had never said it with his own lips before. "Back off, Kiba."

Kiba threw his hands up and began turning around. "Whatever, man. I just hope you can satisfy her," he spoke obnoxiously loud. "The quietest girls are always the craziest in bed!"

That comment right there made my face turn immediately beet red, and I turned my eyes to the floor, not wanting to look at anybody. Naruto's grip tightened on my hand, and I constricted my other fingers around his forearm.

"Don't let him get to you," I told him, kissing his cheek, but I could tell that what Kiba had said really rubbed Naruto the wrong way. My eyebrows crinkled and I grasped his hand tightly in order for him to acknowledge me. When he turned his gaze down upon me, we were quiet for a moment, blocking out the sounds of the music and other people making memories.

This act of staring one another down must have been like tug-of-war, because the moment he let his gaze fall to our hands, I felt a release of tension. He rubbed my knuckles with his thumb and took a deep breath, cooling his head.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, and I wrapped myself around his torso, embracing him ever so tightly. The dress that I was wearing had my breasts popping out, and they squished against his pectorals almost awkwardly. But he didn't seem to notice, so I figured that I would pull the top up whenever I released my hold on him.

Suddenly, there was another blinding flash that came from behind me, and I whipped my head around to see the culprit of the deed; Ino held her own camera in her hand, pointing it as us and grinning. That seemed to be enough to lighten the mood for both Naruto and me, because we turned around and actually posed for a picture; I, of course, hiked up the top of my dress so that I didn't look like a stripper.

Naruto placed both of his hands on my hips as I turned my right hip to the camera, pressing my right hand to Naruto's chest affectionately. My left arm snaked behind his back and positioned itself at his far scapula. While I smiled shyly, Naruto let out a squinty-eyed, ear-to-ear grin. He wasn't afraid of the camera like I was, and his comfort around it definitely showed the world that much.

Ino blinded us with that flash of light, and she glanced at the image on her camera's screen.

"Cute!" She handed her device to Choji, who stood at her side, and she strutted over to me, almost shooing Naruto away. "Take one with me and Hinata," she said, and I thought I didn't hear her right. Ino and I had never really become friends, and I don't think we had even become acquaintances. However, I was not about to argue with the fact that she wanted to make as many memories as possible, and so I followed her lead and hugged her. My hands connected at her bony shoulder, my fingers entwining with one another. From what I could feel on my own shoulder, it felt as if Ino held me the exact same way.

We both flashed smiles, and without having to look, I could tell that hers was much more confident than mine. Despite the fact that I was impressed with how Sakura had me dolled up, I was still the same, reserved girl that I always had been. A part of me began to realize that that fact may never change. And, for once in my life, I was not torn between two conflicting sides within my psyche. I accepted the fact that I may never be as confident as Sakura or Ino or Temari. But that was okay.

Choji snapped the still-frame of Ino and me, and when the flash came and disappeared, we released our hold on one another. While I moved around, distorted from the swift burst of light, Ino paraded back to her date with her shoulders back and her chin held high. She was beautiful, and she knew it.

"Too cute, Hinata!" she squealed before taking her camera back from Choji, and she did the same thing that Temari had done to me; she held the camera up above her head, and she and her date grinned up at it. I wondered why people took pictures like that.

The four of us ended up migrating to one of the tables, sitting down and preparing ourselves for the dessert that was promised to us on the invitation. I was hungry, despite the fact that I had eaten before coming, and just thinking about what the dessert might be made my mouth salivate.

Shikamaru and Temari joined us soon after, taking a the last two seats of our round table. Flashes were flying back and forth as Temari and Ino began taking pictures of everything. They snapped shots of the table, the people sitting at the table, the table decorations, and they even took pictures of the other girl taking pictures. At one point in time, they timed it just right, and they took a picture of the other girl taking a picture of her. This kind of made me wish I had a camera.

"So," Ino started, placing her pink camera down on the lime green tablecloth, "what are you guys doing after prom?" The question wasn't to anybody in particular, simply to the table in general. Her turquoise eyes scanned the faces that sat at our round table, and Naruto and I glanced at one another. We really hadn't decided on what we were going to do after prom ended.

Luckily, Temari saved us by speaking up on the plans that she and Shikamaru had. "We've rented a hotel room for the night. My mother was kind enough and she showed her identification to the front desk, and so she's going to have a bottle of wine sent to the room a few minutes after we get there."

"Karura actually knows that you're staying overnight at a hotel with your boyfriend?!" Ino asked, obviously quite shocked. I couldn't say that I wasn't baffled too; if that were Naruto and me, Neji would throw a fit.

"I tell my mother everything." Temari brushed it off as if it were nothing. "She confessed that she would rather know what I was doing and with whom, rather than be kept in the dark."

There was definitely some truth to that.

"What'cha gonna do in the hotel room with a bottle of wine tonight?" Ino pried, trying to get as much juicy gossip out of Temari as possible, but Temari was a stone that wasn't about to be broken.

"We don't know yet." She shrugged. "Maybe sleep, maybe stay awake all night. Drink some wine. The whole point is for us to be together tonight." While their hands were under the table, I could tell that she and Shikamaru had locked fingers. Temari crossed her far right leg over her left knee and leaned in closer to her date. "We talked about it a lot beforehand, and we decided that it didn't really matter what we did, as long as we were together."

For the first time, I saw the true love between the blunt couple before me. Temari and Shikamaru leaned in towards each other, meeting halfway, and pecked one another on the lips quickly but passionately. I almost felt the need to look away.

Ino turned her eyes to Naruto and me, and we were caught like deer in headlights. Looking for help from one another, we exchanged a glance. I gazed deep into his eyes, searching for an answer, but I could find nothing. He was at as much of a loss as I was.

"Um..." he stuttered, his eyes never breaking the hold that was locked between us. "We haven't really talked about it." In the same instant, both of us returned our attention to the table to see Ino's baffled face.

"You guys don't know what you're doing?"

Naruto and I exchanged a second glance, only this one was extremely brief. "No," he answered for the both of us, and he squeezed my hand under the table. "Everything's been so busy, and since we don't get to spend as much time as we used to together - since she started living in Tenten's apartment - it just kind of slipped our minds."

"Oh yeah," Ino nodded and turned her attention to me, "I heard that you were living with Tenten. How is that going?" It both looked and sounded as though she was genuinely curious to see how my sudden change in lifestyle was going.

"It's fine," I said. "Tenten is really nice, and I'm grateful that she offered me the other room in her apartment. I'm really happy that Neji is out of the hospital and living with us, too."

"Oh yeah, how's he doing?" Choji spoke up, and both he and Shikamaru turned their attention towards me. They had known Neji, because he was only in the great ahead of us. They probably had a few classes together, and perhaps shared a physical education class.

"Neji is doing good. All of the casts are off, and he can move around fine," I said, nodding, and I couldn't help but to remember that very first time I had seen him after he had been in the accident. All those cords and wires sticking out of his body. Those metal pipes that jutted out of various parts of his flesh. How the top of his skin was so beaten, battered and bruised. How his face was swollen and discolored. Those tubes that they had shoved down his throat.

The recollections were so vivid, I had to squeeze my eyes shut for a moment to clear my thoughts, and to push away the terrible things that I had seen.

"The doctors say he should refrain from running and strenuous exercise until he's cleared from his physical therapy."

"That's good." Choji nodded. "I'm glad he's okay."

"Me too," I said softly, looking down at the tablecloth. Naruto squeezed my hand tightly, and I turned my eyes to him. He gave me a warm, comforting grin.

An army of Konoha High juniors came out of the kitchen, carrying trays of chocolate lava cake. Immediately, the sweet smell trickled in through my nostrils, and I couldn't wait until it was placed in front of me. I hadn't had anything of the sort in so long; such fancy desserts had been uncommon in my home after my father had lost his job and we lost all of our money.

OoO

When prom ended, Naruto and I stepped out into the moonlight, hand-in-hand. We still had no idea where to go for the night. I knew that I definitely wanted to spend the entire night with him, just to be with him, as Temari had said. We couldn't go back to Tenten's apartment, because both she and Neji would be there, and Neji would be watching us like a hawk. We couldn't go to Naruto's apartment, because Kushina didn't entirely approve of us sharing a bed and being intimate.

We stood together under the stars, staring into one another's eyes. I drowned in his ocean eyes and quite frankly, I didn't care to be rescued.

"What do you want to do?" I asked him, and he shrugged, holding my hands tenderly. He moved them upwards, holding them against his heart, and he smiled at me with so much genuine love that I could have swooned.

"As long as I'm with you," he said, and I could feel his tender heart beat under the flesh of his chest; the rhythm of life thumped inside of him, and mine matched his tempo, "nothing else matters."

And, with those few, touching words, Naruto leaned forward and made a passionate connection of his lips to mine.