I'm sorry that it took so long to get to you. Please enjoy it even though it's not my best.
It had finally begun! The first slow dance of the night was finally starting courtesy of Ino, or so she likes to think. Ino had dragged Shikamaru over to the DJ booth to request a so song and then to bitch about how retarded to DJ had been for not even starting the first slow song within the first hour.
"Let me talk to him." Ino told Shikamaru as she let go of his arm and walked over to the man with head phones. "Uhh, excuse me!" Ino said rather sweetly. The man noticed her and lifted up the left side of his head phones. "I was wondering when you were going to play a slow song."
He stared at her.
'Did he hear me?' "I asked if you were going to play a slow song yet?" he continued to stare at her like he wasn't quite sure what to say. "Could you please play a slow song?!"
He continued to stare at her but more amusingly this time since she was clearly annoyed with him.
"Ino allow me." Shikamaru said as he stepped in front of her.
Shikamaru's father used to explain to him how to persuade people over with convincing words and conversation. "To get what you want you should always keep your ears open. Listen to who you're talking to and then give them a compelling argument on why you should have things your way."
Shikamaru remembered these words as he looked the DJ straight in the eyes. He remembered all of his father's wise advice so well, and that's why he went into his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill. "And if none of that garbage works pay em' off!"
The DJ and Shikamaru had an un-verbal agreement with one another and as soon as Shikamaru had handed over the bill a slow song had begun.
"HA! Knew that would work." Ino said triumphantly. "Come on Shikamaru!" she laughed as she grabbed his hands and pulled him over to the floor to dance.
'What a drag. I think I just got ripped off, and Ino thinks it was her doing. Didn't she see me hand over the five spot?Huh?' Shikamaru was brought back from his thoughts when he noticed Ino smiling at him. She looked so beautiful when she smiled, and he loved her that way. Simply smiling, but of course Shikamaru liked this best since it was just…simple! He smiled back at her, forgetting that he was just ripped off, and began to dance with her in a…simple…way.
"ABOUT TIME!" They heard somebody yell.
Ino let out a short giggle. "Who was that?" she asked as she moved in closer to Shikamaru.
"Who cares." He whispered as she leaned on his body. They both swayed with the music and neither of them felt like they were in a room full of people. The intimate feeling that they were sharing erased everybody else out of the picture.
'Shikamaru, how could you do this to me? How am I supposed to go back home and act like I've never met you before? It sounds pathetic I know, but I don't think I remember how to survive without seeing you. Man…I sure am hopeless.' Ino thought to herself as she sweat dropped.
'I didn't want to do this to you Ino. I didn't want to lead you on like I'm doing now. I never thought I could get so attached to someone, or even have them feel the same way back, but it happened. I don't want you to feel miserable because of me. Ah jeez…I sound like a cocky hot shot don't I? Still…I don't want to cause her any grief.'
After a long time of silence the slow song had finally ended and a faster song slowly began to play. The room grew louder and people began to roar once more, and Ino and Shikamaru slowly parted. When their mouths were next to the others ear three small words were whispered.
"I love you."
Tenten went with Neji to get drinks so if the slow song started she wouldn't be too far from her partner. There was a long table with a total of three punch bowls; Neji chose to take some punch out of the bowl on the far right, but it was almost gone and there was only enough for just one cup. He went over to the middle bowl and filled up a cup for Tenten.
Tenten stood near Neji but didn't watch him poor the beverages. She instead was looking at everyone having an amazing time at the dance. She recognized some of the girls from the many sports that she did and almost laughed at seeing the so called "aggressive girls" dancing loosely and having a good time.
TapTap
Tenten turned around to see Neji smiling at her while handing her a drink. His mask was sitting on his head sideways which made Tenten do the exact same thing. Neji couldn't even help but gulp and grow a little tense when he saw her face again. He was growing use to seeing her like that but what made him even more nervous was that he actually never spent so much time with a girl alone before. Sure they had that time when they were walking together after their boat had broken up and they had to find the others but back then the situation was different and Tenten felt more like a pretty friend back then, not a hot babe!
"Thanks!" she smiled as she accepted the drink from Neji. "Hey this tastes different. Not in a bad way or anything, it just does." She said as she continued to drink.
"I got yours from a different bowl. It could be another flavor." Neji said as he finished his.
Continuing to drink her punch Tenten noticed a figure on the ground. She walked closer to it and with further observation it turned out to be Lee.
"Neji look!" Tenten said very alertly. Neji went to the ground and dragged Lee to a near by chair.
'Why aren't any counselors over here?' Neji wondered to himself.
"What do you think's wrong with him?" Neji asked.
"Don't worry, I'll take it from here." Tenten said in a very serious tone. She put her hands delicately on Lee's shoulders and then began to shake him profusely. "LEE! SNAP OUT OF IT!"
Neji stood their shocked as he watched Tenten practically mangle Lee.
"LEE…LEE! WAKE UP!"
"Tenten wait! His eyes are opening."
"Huh?" Tenten stopped and saw that Lee was now fully awake. She then dropped him back on his chair.
"Hey!" Lee yelled as he stood up rubbing his head. Unfortunately it had made it to the chair before his butt did. "Back off man!" Lee yelled as he tried to straighten up. Lee's eyes seemed to be a little dizzy at first but then they began to focus more upon Tenten.
"Woah! Hey Neji who's that babe over there?" he slurred as he wiped some drool off his lower lip. Neji raised his eyebrows. Why couldn't Lee see that that was Tenten? He walked in with her after all, what was his problem? Neji waved his hand in front of Lee's dazed face that wouldn't stop staring at Tenten.
"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey baby!" Lee yelled at Tenten. "Come over here why doncha!"
"Lee I'm only three feet in front of you." she said confused. He stood up and grabbed her around the waist pulling her closer to his body.
"I'll fight for you…baybay….gimme a kiss!" Tenten could smell it on his breath. Lee had had some alcohol and it had made him go crazy! Lee was leaning in to kiss Tenten when…
BAM
Lee had just taken a blow to the stomach courtesy of Tenten who punched him away.
"Lee you numbskull!" Neji yelled fumed.
"WOOOOOOoooah Neji, Tenten's my bitch." Lee told him as he stood up.
"I'll kill you." Neji growled as he literally rolled up his sleeves.
"Neji wait!" Tenten said growing alarmed. "Lee's drunk."
"What?" Neji looked again at Lee. He did have the mannerisms of a guy who was plastered. "But how?"
Suddenly the first slow song began to play as Neji was making the connection of Lee and the empty punch bowl.
"ABOUT TIME!" Lee yelled obnoxiously.
"So then…that bowl was spiked?" Neji asked as he looked back over at the punch bowls.
'Hey this tastes different. Not in a bad way or anything, it just does.' Neji remembered Tenten saying.
"They were spiked?!" Tenten gasped. "All of them?"
Neji walked over to the bowls and swiped the emptiest one with his finger. He smelt it and sensed the smallest detection of alcohol.
'How come I didn't realize this before? I drank this and had no problem with it. I couldn't even taste it!' He then looked over at Tenten. 'Ah jeez…she had some too then.'
"Uhh, Neji? Could you help me with Lee?PLEASE?!!" she yelled as she grew disgusted with Lee drooling over her. Neji put his hand on Lee's shoulder.
"Lee I think we've had enough…AAAAGH!" Lee had grabbed Neji and flipped him over. Neji jumped up immediately after and noticed how Lee was in some sort of fighting style.
"What the?" Neji didn't understand.
"Lee." Tenten said surprised to see Lee wanting to fight Neji. She knew the alcohol was making him do all of this but couldn't anybody realize when they challenged Neji Hyuuga to anything? It was like having a death wish.
"Neji! Lee! What's going on here?" came the booming voice of Gai Sensei. He had pushed his mask over to the side but you could tell that he had a turtle.
"Sensei, Lee is…the punch bowl was spiked!" Tenten told him.
"LEE'S BEEN SPIKED!" Gai yelled scared out of his mind. "NOOOOOO! Oh no LEEEEEEEEEEE!" he cried as he went down to his knees like a desperate man who shook his hands up yelling to the gods. "Uh by the way…what does it mean to be spiked?" Tenten and Neji both sweat dropped at the adult's stupidity.
'Wonder if this nut job had any of the punch.' Tenten thought to herself as Lee ran by and attacked Neji.
"Lee DON'T!" she yelled at him. But before Lee could get to Neji Gai came out of no where and stopped him.
"Lee what has gotten into you?" Gai asked. Lee threw some punches at him like a mad man.
"He's DRUNK sensei!" Tenten told him.
"The PUNCH, not Lee, was spiked." Neji told him as he brushed his sleeve off.
"What's all the commotion over here?" asked Iruka who was walking over with Shizune.
"Oh Shizune, just the person we need." Gai said. "We need your help with Lee here, he's been drinking."
"We'll need warm water and salt to make him throw it all up! Can you calm him down?" Shizune asked as Gai held Lee's head down on the ground with just his one hand.
"No problem!" he said as he knocked Lee out.
"NOT LIKE THAT!" Both Shizune and Iruka yelled.
Meanwhile Neji and Tenten just stared at the situation almost in shame as three adults argued about taking care of Lee.
"I know that style." Neji brought up as he continued to stare at the scene. Tenten looked up at him confused. "It was drunken fist. I forgot that Lee gets that way when he drinks. Do you remember when someone gave him some sake to drink at Camp Jutsu a few years back?"
Tenten pondered. "Actually…I do remember hearing about some kid using the drunken fist once while at camp but I had no idea it was Lee. It's so strange to think someone as noble as Lee could turn into such a fighting machine with just some alcohol." She said sounding surprised. "I feel bad for the chump who had to go up against Lee and have his ass served to him."
"Actually…despite Lee being in that state, he still got his ass kicked." Neji told her.
"Huh? Really? By WHO?!" she asked growing excited. She always liked a good fight.
"Me."
Tenten's face turned completely pale.
"WhenIsaidchumpIdidn'tmeanyou!"(When I said chump I didn't mean you!) Tenten yelled rather quickly. Neji couldn't help but smirk which then led him to explode into some laughter. Tenten was almost a little afraid. This wasn't the first time she'd seen him laugh before; he had a sense of humor after all, but he was laughing at something so simple. What she said was almost so insignificant that how could the outstanding Neji Hyuuga find any humor in it?
"I'm sorry." He finally said.
"It wasn't that funny Neji." Tenten said with a wry smile on.
"NO…not what you said, just the way you said it so quickly. Why are you so flustered?" He asked her throwing her a questioning smile that made her grow nervous all in her body.
"I…uuhhh…"
"I know you didn't mean it." He said smirking at her. "I mean if that's what you were worried about." He told her as he continued to let out some of his laughter. Tenten just watched him laugh. It looked like he was loosening up more. Being a Hyuuga was hard she imagined, they did have an image to uphold after all. Tenten knew Neji came from the side branch and because he was from there he felt like he always had to work hard to gain the respect he deserved. So for as long as Tenten could remember Neji was serious about his work and anything he did. Around his friends he would loosen up some and let his guard down a little, but watching him laugh like the way he was doing now made Tenten feel a little special. To Tenten it meant Neji was comfortable around her, and she felt the most incredible feeling of happiness in her whole body.
"Oh no!" Tenten quickly said. "I mean…okay yes, I didn't want you to get mad at me." She admitted bashfully.
"…" Neji looked at her a little surprised. It upset him that she felt that way and so badly did he just want to tell her the truth. She couldn't make him mad. He liked her too much for that to happen.
Neji then gave her a warm smile. "Will you dance with me Tenten?"
"oh….Yeah!" Tenten said growing excited to finally have a slow dance with Neji. Instead of Neji grabbing her by both hands and gliding her over to the dance floor, like he had thought of doing in his head, he excitedly grabbed her right hand and ran over to it instead.
"Come on!"
"Whoa Neji!" Tenten laughed as they found their spot on the floor. She was about to put her hands lightly on his shoulders, but Neji wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. Tenten's eyes grew wide.
'WHO THE HELL IS THIS?!' She yelled in her mind hoping that someone would give her an answer. Neji seemed to be acting differently tonight. 'Or is this the real Neji Hyuuga?'
'This could be the last time I get to see her…hold her…hear her! I can't see her face when I hold her this way. This way it'll be easier for me to tell her.' Neji collected the words he was going to say and slightly cleared his throat, he didn't have to but it did calm down his now awakening nerves.
"..T..Tenten?" he began to ask her. ' Lord I'm beginning to sound just like Hinata used to.' He could feel her pulling back from him so she could see his face, so he held her tighter. She then in turn held him tighter and relaxed her head on his shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"I want to tell you something."
Asuma and Kurenai, of course, were taking the opportunity to dance with each other along with some of the other councilors. They were both enjoying themselves, but it wasn't enough. Both of their eyes landed on the smug looking Kakashi. There he as leaning against a wall reading his little orange book in peace. He made everyone else dance, so that meant HE had to dance too.
"But who do we ask?" Asuma asked Kurenai. Kurenai scanned the room until her eyes landed on a councilor at Camp Kunoichi. Twenty-one year old Kelly the wrestling instructor's assistant. She was blonde with pink shades running threw her teased hair. She was wearing an aqua blue dress(sleeveless) and her mask was a tiger.
"Kelly's perfect. A few years younger than him, but she's legal, not to mention her body is envied by almost every female councilor at Kunoichi. I'm actually quite surprised that no other male councilor has asked her to dance yet."
"Come on then!" Asuma said as he linked his arm around Kurenai. "Let's go tell our winner what her prize is." He said with an evil smirk.
Kakashi had already hit the climax of his book and it was all pretty much going down hill from there on.
'At least it had a good beginning.' He said trying to make his situation sound better.
"Kakashi Sensei?" came a small voice. He lowered his book down a little so that he could see just the head of some girl wearing a tiger mask. "Would you like to dance with me?"
"Well, as much as I would love to it seems I can not. You see, councilors are not permitted to dance with campers. So if you'd excuse me." He said most uninterestedly as he went back to his book that matched his tone. As he was reading the top of the next page he realized there was a hand covering the page. He lowered the book once more to see not the tiger mask but the face of a very pretty woman.
"Actually," she began. "I'm not a camper. I'm a councilor at Kunoichi."
He lowered his book some more and then scanned her body with his eyes. With a bat of an eyelash it was agreed. That was a body of a woman and not some shy little girl.
"My mistake. I suppose…I could dance with you the rest of this song."
Kelly smiled happy that he complied with her request, and just as Kakashi snapped his book shut the song had ended.
"Oh….well…would you look at that." He said as if he knew that was going to happen. 'NOOO!' He yelled in his mind. What man in his right mind wouldn't dance with a girl like that, but he decided to go with what he said and returned right back to his book. Before a single word was read the book was slammed out with a fist!
"Don't think you're getting out of it so easy!" growled the once shy councilor who was then replaced with some lunatic. "We'll dance until the end of the NEXT slow song!"
She grabbed Kakashi by the shoulder and dragged him to somewhere on the floor for some fast moves.
Watching from afar was Asuma and Kurenai who were both laughing at the sight that had happened with the help of their own hands.
"At first…" laughed a breathless Asuma. " At first I thought we were doing Kakashi a favor by fixing him up with Kelly. But NOW! PAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAA! You're a GENIUS!"
"She's not assistant to the wrestling coach for nothing." Kurenai smirked.
"But now." Asuma said as he stood dangerously close to Kurenai causing her to blush a mad red. "Kakashi isn't babysitting over the councilors."
"…Asuma!" Kurenai said growing very wide eyed. Asuma looked at her suggestively and then turned his head towards the back door.
"All the cabins are disserted at camp anyways…and we do have my car."
"I thought you'd never ask." She said playing along with his suggestiveness.
He happily took her hand and they both walked off to the back door constantly looking to see if either Kakashi or Iruka were watching them. Thankfully they were both being preoccupied with their OWN female councilors.
"What is it Neji?" Tenten asked him since there was silence between them.
"It's hard for me to say." He told her honestly. "I won't be seeing you for a long time. And I wanted you to know…that I…"
"What are you trying to say?" Tenten asked a little nervously as she let out a small laugh to lighten the mood.
"That I…I care about you. I think abut you all the time."
Tenten's heart skipped a beat at hearing Neji's true feelings.
'This isn't Neji Hyuuga. This isn't Neji Hyuuga. This isn't Neji Hyuuga.' Tenten kept telling herself. 'There is no possible way that Neji Hyuuga could have feelings for anyone, especially me! Or could he?'
'I knew I shouldn't have told her anything, this is definitely an awkward situation I just put her in.' Neji thought to himself as he closed his eyes in anguish.
"…Neji?...I…feel the same way." He heard her say causing him to open his eyes up in shock. "I think about you a lot too, especially after the other day in the boat accident."
"That sure does feel like a million years ago." He said with a small laugh.
"Yeah." Tenten agreed. "But I won't forget it, and I hope you don't either."
"How could I forget?" he asked her. There was no way that any of them would forget the life changing experience they had all shared, but to Neji it was more than that. He learned so much about Tenten that night. He knew about some of the things she was interested in, and the things that pissed her off. He also learned that even though she would act tough sometimes she was really scared, about many things. Neji wanted her to feel safe, and he wanted to be the one to make her feel that way. He didn't want any guy getting the better of her and he always wanted to protect her from all of them.
"Thank you." Tenten told him.
"For what?" he asked puzzled.
"For that night! I fainted and you carried me all the way to safety. That's what I heard from the councilors, and I don't think I thanked you. So thank you!" she said as he pulled her back to look at her face. Her brown eyes sparkled back at him. Her smile was amazing, as it always was, but he still wasn't used to her hair being down so it was like her being there while not being there.
"You're welcome Tenten." He said to also remind himself that that was her.
Tears welded up in her eyes so she quickly hugged him tight so he wouldn't catch them on her, but unfortunately he did see them. His face was no longer happy since he grew it a little upset about this being the last night he would see her, and as their hug became looser the music began to pick up tempo.
The next song had begun.
Neji and Tenten began to part and when Neji expected to see Tenten's face stained with some tears he saw her panda mask over her face. He figured why she did that but said nothing, and actually smirked to himself about it.
"I have to go to the bathroom." She informed him almost embarrassed.
"I'll meet you back at the table." He told her as he graced her with a smile. He figured she smiled back and then she walked away leaving Neji standing there.
"Damn. What did you say to make her so upset?" came a voice from behind Neji. He turned and saw Sasuke with his arm around Sakura's waist.
"Is she okay?" Sakura asked wondering about her friend.
"She said she had to go to the bathroom, she didn't sound upset." He said trying to convince them, but he really wasn't even convincing himself.
"I'm sure she's just being a little emotional." Sakura told Neji. "If she takes a long time I'll go in after her."
"I told her I was going to wait for her at the table." Neji began to say.
"We'll wait with you." Sasuke told him. "Sakura did you want something to drink?"
"No I'm fine." She told him as she took off her mask completely.
"Then, if you don't mind," he said being the gentleman that he was as he too took off his mask. He then gestured it to Sakura for her to take. "I'm going to go get myself some. Neji, you want some?" he said sounding a little bit more like a friend.
"Yeah sure." Neji said as he and Sakura separated from Sasuke to the table. Once they sat down Sakura stacked the masks on top of each other and slumped a little into her chair.
"It's pretty hot in there." She told Neji. "And we were on the outside."
"Glad that you're both having fun." Neji told her as he closed his eyes and leaned back in his own chair.
"She's going to miss you. I hope you know that." Sakura said in a serious slash caring tone. Neji's head shot up and he looked at her. Sakura smiled at him. "It's true!"
Words were about to come out of his mouth but they never left his throat, and so he sighed slightly and relaxed back into his chair. Sasuke came over and presented him with a drink as he took his seat next to Sakura. Neji took it and downed it quickly; Sasuke followed suit.
"Here comes Tenten." Said Sakura cause Neji to sit up straight.
Tenten took the seat next to Neji and let out a huge sigh.
"SO! Apparently I look like the kind of person you can just tell your problems too cause some girl came up to me in the bathroom and began to blabber her problems. She started to complain how her boyfriend was a total player and is cheating on her with five different girls who are all here at this dance. I swear if someone else begins complaining to me about how their life is God awful…I'll kill myself!" she said as she threw her arms up in the air. Neji, Sasuke, and Sakura all laughed at Tenten. She couldn't help but laugh too.
"Hey what's funny?" Naruto asked as he and Hinata both came over to their friends.
"You missed it." Sakura said as she began to loose her giggles.
"Where are Ino and Shika?" Hinata asked as she looked around.
"Don't know." Neji said as he then held his head. He was beginning to get a headache and convinced himself it was due to the loud music.
"Are you okay Neji?" Hinata asked him noticing his slight irritation.
"I'm feeling a little dizzy, and I have a headache. It's no big deal." He assured her.
"Anyone have the time?" Naruto asked. Neji then grabbed his cell out of his pocket and looked at the screen.
"Ten O clock." He told him.
Sakura, Tenten, and Hinata all looked at each other. The dance was going to end at 10:30. It was time now. Time for their prank.
"Hey I'm going to go get Ino." Hinata offered. Tenten and Sakura stood up immediately.
"I'll help you!" They both said at once.
All three girls then hurried off in some random direction to look for Ino.
"That was odd." Neji commented as Naruto sat down next to him.
"They probably want to fix their makeup or something." Naruto guessed.
"I love you."
"What?!" came the shocked voice of…INO.
Shikamaru's face was frozen in a facial expression of 'OH MY GOD'!
'DID I JUST say THAT?! THAT JUST SLIPPED! SHIT HOW DID THAT SLIP OUT OF MY MOUTH! MAAAN! THIS MAKES THINGS EVEN MORE COMPLICATED.'
"I SAID DOVE YOU!" he yelled at her. "BUT…UUUUH….what I MEANT to say was, you are a dove." Shikamaru stared at her while holding in his breath. 'She buy it?' he wondered as he began to sweat do to stress.
"Oh yeah! Are you just realizing this now?" she laughed. Nerves caused Shikamaru to laugh along with her nervously.
"Do you want me to get you a drink?" Shikamaru asked her.
"Oh no I'm fine."
"Well I'm not." He said grabbing her hand and pulling her to where the drinks were. He poured himself a drink and after downing it he get him self some more.
'Man did that hit the spot.' He thought to himself.
"That's weird." He heard Ino say. "Neji, Naruto, and Sasuke are all sitting by themselves."
Shikamaru looked over at them curiously and they both walked over to the table of lonely men.
"Shikamaru!" Naruto said excitedly. "Where you been?"
"Where do you think numbskull?" he asked him.
Ino held her mask in her hands as she noticed all of her friends' masks sitting on the table. "Hey where did they all go?" Ino asked Sasuke.
"They all went looking for you." he told her.
'Oh shit!' she thought to herself. 'Is it that time already?! I better go find them!' She placed her mask on the table and then stumbled backwards. "I'm going to go find them. I'll be back!" she yelled as she took off in a direction. All of the guys blinked as they watched her leave and Shikamaru collapsed into the chair that was in between Sasuke and Naruto.
"What's your problem?" Sasuke asked. Shikamaru dropped his head on the table.
"Women are so troublesome!" he groaned as he hit his head on the table again.
"Ouch. Painful." Naruto commented.
"So this has to do with Ino." Neji said knowingly.
"Yeah. I might have…told her...that I…loved her." He said grudgingly.
All of their eyes shot wide opened as Shikamaru lifted his head up again but only to let out a louder groan.
"I'm such an IDIOT!"
"Said the genius." Sasuke smirked.
"Well she didn't hear me…I think…she thought I said something different. But still." Shikamaru said as he began to feel a tone of anxiety. "I just made this harder and even more complicated.
None of them knew what to say to comfort him, if there even was anything to say. However Naruto took it upon himself to say something to Shikamaru since he was the only other person in the group who has already told someone that he loved them.
"Did you mean it?" he asked.
"Gah! I don't know!" he said sounding frustrated.
"But didn't you say she didn't hear you?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"So what are you worrying about?" he asked again. "Why are you agonizing over this? She didn't hear you so it's like it never happened right?" Shikamaru didn't respond while Sasuke and Neji watched in silence. "So then you have nothing to worry about!" he said sitting back relaxed in his chair. He closed his eyes and smirked to himself. Neji and Sasuke figured he was done and made his point. "But WAIT!" Naruto yelled as he shot back up with a curious look on his face.
'Nope he's still going.' Thought Sasuke.
"If this is really bugging you so much then that means…you do love Ino."
Sasuke and Neji quickly looked at Shikamaru for a reaction.
"Naruto like I said…I don't KNOW!" he said in an angry tone.
"And now you're just getting upset because you're afraid."
"Naruto since when are you the smart one around here?!" Shikamaru demanded.
"Easy Shikamaru." Said Sasuke. "Naruto just drop it. If he doesn't want to talk about it then don't force him."
His words were final and the topic was over and done with. They all sat in silence waiting for the girls to return. Boredom caused them to look at random things like the ceiling, people dancing, but for Shikamaru it was the table right in front of him. He was thinking about Ino's mask and how it was a dove.
'Dove you!' he thought to himself. 'I sounded like a moron.' His attention then lingered to another mask. A rabbit. It was Hinata's mask. It looked cute on her and it suited her, but if her father saw her wearing it along with that bow tie she would probably be locked away in her house for the rest of her life! It made her look like a playboy bunny.
'Playboy bunny? Why does that feel like I was just talking about that?' he wondered to himself as his eyes rolled over to another mask. It was Tenten's panda. 'Panda? Playboy bunny? Were we talking about these earlier? Why is this sounding all too familiar?' he then looked at Sakura's mask. 'A cat. Nothing ringing any bells with that one, but now dove sounds familiar. Dove, Panda, playboy bunny. Dove, Playboy bunny, panda, cat? No kitten. LAST NIGHT! Wait a second!'
Shikamaru stood up quickly pushing his chair back a little. "YOU GUYS!" he yelled as he slammed his fists on the table. "You're not going to believe what I just figured out!"
"You love Ino? Cause I already knew that." Naruto said nonchalantly.
"NO IDIOT LISTEN!" They stared at Shikamaru seriously waiting to hear what he had to say, well except Naruto. His attention was around the room trying to see if he could find Hinata. "These masks…LOOK at them. Anything ringing any bells?!?!?!"
They each looked at the masks with their eyes, and Naruto with only half interest since he was still looking for Hinata.
"What kinds of bells should be ringing?" Naruto asked.
"AW!" Sasuke yelled as he shot up out of his chair just like Shikamaru did. "These masks!"
"They're the same as those names!" Neji yelled next as he jumped out of seat like his two friends.
Naruto began to put one and one together as he looked up at his friends who were towering over him. "That can only mean that,"
"No." breathed Neji. "Them? But,"
"I see." Said Sasuke. "It makes perfect sense that they would want revenge, after what we did to them."
"Don't remind me." Naruto said grudgingly.
"But now here's the real question." Shikamaru said getting all of them to look at him. "What did they do as their prank?"
"Ino there you are!" Hinata said as Ino ran over to them. She wrapped her arms around Hinata in a tiring hug.
"I was looking all over for you guys. So are we ready?"
"Well I'm ready. How about you guys." asked Tenten.
"Let's just get this over with." Said Sakura who was hugging her arms.
"Alright, get to where you all need to be." Hinata told them as they all went to their places.
Hinata and Sakura went over to the corner next to the back entrance while Ino and Tenten went to the one across from them. Above their heads were streamers that were dangling lower then the others. Sakura nodded to Ino and Tenten and they both nodded in understanding. Almost at the same time did they all pull on the longer streamers to unleash their prank.
(Where were you, when the prank was pulled?)
(Kakashi)
Her eyes had grown so kind as they continued to dance along with the music. She did say they would stop dancing until the end of the next slow song, and that had not come yet. He was enjoying himself and grew ten times happier since he didn't even expect to have a good time while chaperoning. Kelly was so interesting to him. Here was this girl who was the most attractive person in the room and the most shy. She could be gentle with you one second and snap at you if you pissed her off. She reminded him of his Itcha Itcha novel, and he knew what would come after the dancing part. Oh he knew.
"You know Kakashi." She said getting his attention back to her face and out of his thoughts. "Thank you for dancing with me, but if you want to stop we don't have to wait for the slow song and…"
"No!" he abruptly yelled. "I mean…what other chances do we get to dance, being chaperones I mean. We should just hold out to the next slow song and then…continue with our duties?"
"Alright!" she said giving up. "I'm actually surprised at you Kakashi." She told him as she slightly blushed.
"About what?"
"I didn't think you could dance." She admitted.
"Oh….Well now I'm insulted." He said reluctantly.
"AAAH NO! I'M SORRY!" Kelly yelled freaking out.
"Just. Kidding." He winked.
Kelly blushed at her immatureness. Kakashi chuckled since he thought it was pretty cute of her, but at that moment some unknown force made Kelly grow bold. Her eyes sparkled and she grabbed Kakashi by the tops of his clothes pulling him closer to her. He knew where this was going, and he had no idea why he was allowing her to do what she was doing but he did! She grabbed his black mask and was about to pull it down when…
SpLaaaaT
His eyes grew wide at the sight of Kelly being covered in some sort of cream. Shaving or whipped, he just couldn't tell. As soon as it hit her a loud scream was heard, but it wasn't from her. All around the room things were falling down from the ceiling attacking the poor dancers below.
Temari had been hanging out with Livvy most of the night, until two boys came up to ask them to dance.
"Oh my God…no." Temari said.
"Oh come on Temari." Livvy begged. "I can't dance knowing I left you all alone. Please just dance with him so me and Kiba can dance."
"A dance is all I want." Lee told her.
"Yeah come on. Dance with the guy. Quick and painless." Kiba told her.
"Alright fine!" she nearly yelled as she walked away from all of them to a part of the dance floor where there were less people.
"Wait up!" Lee yelled as he chased his partner.
"Looks like we can dance now." Livvy declared happily.
"About time." He told her as they also went closer to the dance floor.
(Temari and Lee…after 12 minutes of dancing)
"You know…you're actually….pretty…good at dancing." Temari told him as she tried to keep her breath.
"Oh I dance all the time!" he told her.
"Really?!" she asked flabbergasted. "I wouldn't…peg you….as the dancing type."
"Yes, I use it as a form of training." He smiled. Temari sweat dropped. Whatever, she really didn't care she was actually having a fun time. She knew she would have to thank Lee for it when they were done.
!POP POP!
Temari looked behind her. "Hey what was that…huh!"
Before she could finish she and Lee were being attacked by a whole bunch of silly string that was falling from the ceiling.
"GAH! What on Earth!!?!" Lee yelled as he wiped off the silly string.
(Kiba and Livvy at the same moment)
"AAAAAHHH!" she yelled. "This stuff is so much FUN!"
"MAN…how is there so much?!" Kiba yelled as he tried pulling it off his head. His efforts were worthless since more kept coming on top of him.
(Our four young gentlemen)
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssSIZZZLE
"What's that noise?" asked Neji.
"Hey look over at the dance!" Naruto said as he pointed at the mess that was happening.
"AH!" All of them watched at the massacre that was going on before them.
Balloons filled with some sort of cream fell in several spots on top of some people, but the count would have been at lest five or eight. Silly string was pouring down from the far wall and across the room to the other end attacking everyone and causing most of the girls' hair to be ruined. Then it seemed confetti was showering down on the people closest to where the four girls were standing. Each part of the room was either getting hit by something messy, semi messy, or…delightful! As soon as everything had stopped the dancers all looked up at the ceiling expecting more but nothing happened. Chatter was amongst the crowd, and the music had stopped playing midway.
(Iruka and Shizune)
"Iruka are you okay?" Shizune asked him as she muffled her laughter. He was covered in a balloon full of the unknown cream substance. Iruka's hand went up to his head and he took a handful of it. "What are…HEY!" Shizune yelled as Iruka shoved it in her face. Most of it went into her mouth but she swallowed it down. "Ooooh, whipped cream." She said delighted.
"And it looks good on you." Iruka laughed. He watched as Shizune went down to the ground and picked up some silly string. She threw it all over his head and tangled him in it. He began to do the same thing to her.
"Hey!" she laughed.
Naruto watched everything happen from the comfort of his chair while the others continued to watch standing. The prank had just finished and most of the room was looking around confused while a handful of people were complaining about being whip creamed.
"That wasn't a real prank." Naruto finally said. "If they had more of those balloons then maybe that would have been better but they just made the dance look like fun."
"He's right." Agreed Sasuke. "It wasn't as good as our prank. They were being nice about this one, especially with the confetti."
"They didn't even use vinegar." Said Neji.
"Yeah and they…hey look! They're over there!" Shikamaru pointed as he saw them all standing in the corner closest by the back door. They all looked over and noticed them all pull down on a streamer. They waited for something to happen.
"Why'd they do that?" Shikamaru asked dumbly.
His question was soon answered. All on the far side of the room fell a bunch of paper. At first no one understood what they were, but after picking them up and reading what was on them it was clear that this was the end of the prank. The entire room began to roar with laughter when they got a chance to see them.
"Those must be the handouts we heard them talking about last night." Commented Neji.
"I'm going to get one." Naruto offered as he got out of his chair to fetch a paper. His friends, who like him were out of the mess that had just happened, stared at Naruto as they sat back in there chairs.
THUD
Each of them missed their chair forgetting that when they all shot up out of them they had pushed them back.
"shit," cursed Sasuke as they all stood up. "I hope no one saw that."
"NO!" yelled Naruto as he placed a paper in front of Sasuke's face. "They saw THIS instead!" Sasuke's eyes grew huge and his jaw dropped as far as it could.
"What is it?" asked Shikamaru. Naruto gave them both a paper and they did exactly what Sasuke did.
"THIS…IS…HAIR…MAKEUP…GIRLS…" Shikamaru couldn't even get the words out of his mouth. What he was looking at was a huge picture of himself sleeping on a bed…looking like a girl. At the top of the picture read "The KING of Pranks". And on the bottom right corner of Shikamaru's paper was a girly signature that read "Chickamaru".
On the paper Neji was holding was him looking for something while being dressed up as a girl. His said the same thing as Shikamaru's at the top but at the bottom was a signature that read, "Little Miss Hyuuga". His eyes were GLUED to the picture. There he was. Neji Hyuuga…wearing…pigtails.
Sasuke stared at his picture mortified! In it he was taking off the green eye shadow Sakura had put on him. His arm was a little bit blurry. He figured she had her camera or cell phone on record when she got it. On the bottom left corner of his picture was a signature that read, "Suki Uchiha". His great name Uchiha was soiled with the retched name Suki.
Naruto was completely embarrassed with his picture except you almost couldn't tell it was him since he was wearing a wig, although it did match his hair color perfectly. In his picture he was facing a mirror but was turned looking at the camera. He looked completely oblivious in it, and at the bottom right corner of his picture was a signature that read, "Naruhime" and under that it said in parenthesis, (AKA Betsy).
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAAAAAHAAAAA!" howled Kiba who was walking over with all four pictures. "Well ladies these sure are interesting pictures."
"CAN IT YOU MUT!" Naruto yelled at him. Kiba only shuffled through the pictures more and laughed at each passing one.
"They really are nice! Look at how attractive you all look." He sneered.
"Oh sure, that's not creepy." Shikamaru said. "You being attracted to four boys." Neji smirked at Shikamaru's comment. Kiba looked pissed, and then his face brightened again.
"Hey, maybe these are internet worthy. What do you guys think?" he asked smugly. Neji pulled out his cell phone and flashed a picture at Kiba. It was of him on the ground with Konohamaru on top of him.
"Well what do you think about this one?" Neji asked.
Kiba paled and retreated.
"I knew that picture would come in handy one day." Neji said as he put his phone back into his pocket.
"Great, that's one problem solved." Sasuke said sarcastically. He then flashed them his picture. "Now what do we do about THIS?!"
"Why don't we ask them?" Shikamaru said as Ino, Hinata, Sakura, and Tenten all approached them.
"Hi guys!" Tenten said cheerfully. They all glared at the four girls.
"Okay okay, we know you're mad." Ino said rationalizing with them.
"Really? What would give you that idea?" asked a bitter Sasuke.
"Come on guys." Hinata began to say as she looked at all of them. "Haven't you ever heard of payback's a bitch?"
No response, just a couple of 'hmps'.
"And you know," Sakura said with a smirk. "Our prank was better than yours."
"What!?" They all yelled.
"That was all kid's play!" Shikamaru told them.
"There's no mess anywhere. What you all did was clean fun." Said Naruto.
"Hn, you have a lot to learn about pranking." Sasuke smirked.
The girls smirked at each other. Ino then began to speak.
"Well if it was like your prank then we would have to end the dance now and wouldn't have time to dance." They all thought that she did make a good point, but they were still mad about their masculinity being burned.
"Hey, the music is starting up again." Said Tenten as they all looked over at the dance floor. Everyone was dancing over the mess and no one seemed to care so much about the pictures since most of them were on the floor being danced on.
"Naruto?" Hinata asked him shyly. "Will you still dance with me?"
He gave her his hand and smiled. "There's no way I'd let you dance with anyone else. Just do me a favor. Don't call me Betsy anymore."
"Who's that?!" she laughed as they went back to the dancing floor.
"Well, I guess we shouldn't waste the rest of this night." Shikamaru said as he shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal. Ino squealed with delight and Shikamaru threw her a smirk.
"Come on." He said as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her over to dance. She giggled the whole way over.
"Let's go Tenten." Neji said as he grabbed her hand and went over with his friends. She only smiled in response.
"So Sasuke?" Sakura asked feeling uneasy.
He was still holding the picture in his hand and was still looking at it. He winced at it in disgust. Then his attention was Sakura. She looked at him concerned and worried, but then he did the greatest thing. He dropped the picture and pulled her into a bear hug.
"Come on!" he yelled. "I want to show you off before the night is over."
"I'm so sorry Sasuke!" she told him as a tear of happiness ran down her face.
"Hn. Like that was going to stop me from having a good time. You girls are going to have to do better then that next time." he said as he picked her up bridal style.
"I won't let you down." She said as he carried her over to their friends who were smiling at them.
I'm so sorry. I know you want to kill me cause this chapter was really sucky and it took forever to get to you. I'm sorry, i don't know what else to tell you. It is also shorter then most of them, but not the shortest mind you. I really appreciate ALL OF YOUR REVIEWS! Each one i read made me feel so INSPIRED TO CONTINUE! I already know what to write for the next chapter...but until then. I'm MEME!
P.s i start school in 2 weeks so you know when that happens i'll be updating less and less. CURSE SCHOOL!
