Hinata didn't remember blacking out, but she must have.

Because the next thing she knew, she was lying on an unfamiliar couch, staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling, with an all-too-familiar headache that indicated she had succumbed to a fainting spell.

"You okay, Hinata-chan?"

She looked up, expecting to see an amused Ino and a worried Sakura, but to her complete and utter shock, she found concerned blue eyes staring back at her from a tanned, decidedly masculine face.

"N-N-Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed. She sat up quickly and instantly regretted it as the blood rushed to her head and made the room spin. "Oh...ow..."

"Take it easy, Hinata-chan!" Naruto said with a good-natured smile. He clapped her once on the back and her face burned. "You scared us, you know! As soon as you stepped off that roller coaster, you passed out! We had to bring you back here, to Teme's friend's house."

Now she felt even worse. They'd only gotten to go on one ride because of her! Not only was she the lamest person in existence for her botched love confession to Naruto, but she was also a lame friend who'd gotten her friends to waste their money and a whole day that could have been spent at a theme park.

Ugh.

"You slept for a really long time!" Naruto continued. His whiskered cheeks were drawn in a wide grin. "I'm really glad you're okay now! The others started partying an hour ago, they're plastered. We've got a lot of catching up to do if I'm gonna show Teme I can drink him under the table any day, 'ttebayo!"

He was being nice to her. Overtly nice. Hinata knew what that meant. Her heart sank, and she bowed her head so her choppy bangs hid her eyes.

"About...what I s-said on the...I mean...just f-f-forget about it, okay, N-Naruto-kun?"

She couldn't bear to look at his face, to see his blue eyes full of pity, to let him see her seconds from breaking down completely. "I was s-scared, and it...didn't mean anything. Okay?"

"Didn't mean anything? Oh. Oh. Okay. That's...all right, sure, Hinata-chan, let's just forget about it."

She looked up and was surprised to see something strained in the too-wide smile he wore. Had he been disappointed that she retracted her confession?

Hinata banished the thought to the back of her mind. There was no way Naruto was interested in her, and to even entertain the notion that he was, was beyond stupid. Better that she get her heart broken now, good and early, before allowing herself to fall for him any further, and having it hurt that much worse further down the road.

He was her friend. He was a good, dependable, reliable friend and if all he was willing to give her was friendship, then she would take it greedily and give him the same right back. She would rather have him in her life in a platonic capacity than not at all.

"You've gotta meet Teme's friends, Hinata-chan!" he exclaimed. "You feeling all right now?"

"Y-Yes. Much b-b-better."

"Good." With that, he grabbed her hand and tugged her effortlessly to her feet before guiding her into a room attached to the den she'd been sleeping in.

And Hinata tried not to focus on how impossibly warm his hand was wrapped around hers.

xoxoxo

Suigetsu had to hand it to Sasuke.

He sure knew how to pick 'em.

The girl Sasuke was with, her name was Sakura. Pretty name, and it suited her fine. At first glance, she wasn't the type of girl he'd immediately think was Sasuke's type, but the more he spoke to Sakura and the more he learned about her, the more he realized that she was absolutely perfect for the asshole.

He hadn't been expecting them quite so soon, but around two o'clock, a knock came at the door and he found his old friend standing in the threshold looking marginally annoyed. He indicated one of the girls who was traveling with him, a cute little black-haired thing, lying unconscious in his friend Naruto's arms. His explanation was curt ("She faints. We left") and Suigetsu let them all inside hours ahead of schedule.

The unconscious girl, who was introduced as Hinata, was placed in the den and the others gathered in the living room, sprawled comfortably over couches and chairs as if they'd known Suigetsu for years. Suigetsu was curious. What were the people like that Sasuke hung out with?

Well, the girls were fucking hot. The blonde had introduced herself as Ino, and she looked like the typical Barbie cheerleader with bright blue eyes, long blonde hair, and a tall, killer figure. Perfect ten. And the pink-haired girl beside her smiled in a friendly way and introduced herself as Sakura.

Suigetsu honed in on this girl, the only girl that had ever been able to snare Uchiha Sasuke's affections. He barely listened as Naruto, Kiba, and Shikamaru introduced themselves to he and Juugo, instead eyeing her up like a particularly scrumptious piece of meat.

She was small, slender, and sweet-looking. Curtains of pink hair (that looked natural), shiny green eyes and a smile best suited for a toothpaste commercial. Crazy hot. She sat close to Sasuke but not obnoxiously so, and even though they weren't touching, Sasuke, typically disconnected and aloof and above everything, practically radiated a protective, possessive aura that Suigetsu almost feared. There was no question that this girl was spoken for, whether they'd made it official or not.

"Thank you so much for letting us stay here, Suigetsu-san!" Sakura said with a wide smile. "We've been hemorrhaging money on hotels lately, we really appreciate it!"

"No problem, dollface," Suigetsu returned with a toothy grin, keeping an eye on Sasuke. He gave no visible reaction to Suigetsu's flirtatious nature besides a quirk of his eyebrows to show his displeasure. "So how's the vacation going? Uchiha told me a little about it."

"Oh basically we're on a road trip, me and Hinata and Forehead," said Ino, indicating Sakura who shot her a dirty look at the derogatory nickname. "But these assholes," and she pointed to the boys, who shot her four dirty looks, "decided they couldn't take care of themselves back in Konoha and needed to suckle our party teat and so they've been stalking us for the last two weeks practically."

Suigetsu let out a bark of laughter and from the floor, Juugo chuckled.

"We have not been stalking you," Kiba grunted. "We've been...escorting you."

Everyone laughed at that. Even Sasuke cracked an amused smirk, which Suigetsu knew was nearly impossibly hard to make happen. These were the people around whom Sasuke was most comfortable, most at ease. And it looked like a motley crew indeed, judging by that baboonish blonde who kept yelling, the bored-looking guy and the brown-haired guy with face tattoos, and the three hot chicks.

They all continued to talk for a few more hours, getting to know each other little by little, before it became obvious that Hinata was going to be out for awhile, and they were pretty much stuck in at Suigetsu's. It was Sakura who had the brilliant idea to grab some liquor and have a house party.

Suigetsu decided he liked her a whole awful lot, and when she wasn't looking, he shot Sasuke a conspiratorial smirk that said, I approve. Sasuke scoffed and turned away, but the message was received.

"I don't know," Suigetsu said playfully. "You Konoha girls think you can handle an Oto party?"

"Please!" Ino scoffed with an indignant flip of her ponytail. "Your party can't handle Konoha girls! We get down. We don't even bother taking names."

And thus the idea to invite pretty much the entire Oto senior class was born.

Suigetsu grinned. He didn't know about Juugo or Karin for that matter, but he definitely approved of the Konoha crew.

xoxoxo

Sakura smiled brightly, winningly at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. It had been awhile since her last real house party, and she was looking forward to it. Besides that, Sasuke was there with her, and Hinata had even confessed her love to Naruto! Things were definitely looking up, and this time, when she got shit-faced drunk tonight, it would be because of sheer, unadulterated happiness, rather than a desire to forget everything and everyone around her.

The boys had gone to get liquor from a nearby store, Suigetsu and Juugo were calling up all of their Oto friends to come over, Naruto was sitting vigil beside a sleeping Hinata, and Ino was primping herself in Suigetsu's parents' bathroom. Sakura straightened the last of her bangs to perfection, her pink hair one long, shiny sheet that tumbled down her back, and reached for her mascara in time to hear Sasuke clear his throat from behind her.

"Hey, there," she said with a coy little smile. He looked particularly handsome in a white button-up, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a pair of dark jeans with his omnipresent gray Chucks. His arms were folded across his chest, and he didn't look happy.

"What are you wearing," he asked in displeasure, never really phrasing it as a question. His black eyes raked shamelessly across her body, the microscopic white shorts with a dark blue sweater that revealed the slope of her left shoulder, and a pair of hot pink kitten heels that made her legs appear longer.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the familiar argument.

"A sweater and shorts, Sasuke-kun," she replied dully. She returned her attention to touching up her eye makeup in the well-lit mirror.

"Go change."

"I am not changing, Sasuke-kun. If you only came up here to argue with me, you should have at least had the courtesy to bring me a drink so I can get drunk and deal with your bullshit that way."

Sasuke scoffed. "You don't know what the guys from Oto are like."

"Oh come on! Suigetsu and Juugo seem really, really nice!"

"Tch. You think they're all like that? You remember Zaku, don't you?"

Sakura flinched at the memory from six years ago. She'd been walking home from a Konoha-Oto soccer game, when she'd been accosted by the Oto Junior High School soccer captain. He'd stolen all her money and even knocked her around a few times; Sasuke and Naruto intervened before it escalated, but the memory still frightened her.

"Well...you'll be here, right?" she said. She set down her mascara and faced him with a smile, the tips of her fingers trailing down his chest. "Not like anything's gonna happen to me while you're there, right, Sasuke-kun?"

xoxoxo

Sasuke stared at her and tried his hardest not to touch her.

She looked so damn beautiful, as desirable and approachable as ever, and while the outfit she was wearing couldn't be labeled as inappropriate, it showed off more leg than he was comfortable allowing any guy from Oto see. She didn't understand her own appeal, the effect she had on men. Even now, dressed in blue and white, his favorite colors, with that sweet smile and the innocent way she trailed her fingers across his collar bone and down his stomach, she was turning him on.

The idea of Sakura spending even a minute in a crowded room full of some of the assholes he'd known at Oto High School made him sick.

But it was hard not to be flattered at her complete faith in him. Even though he voiced his concerns, she countered with the airtight argument of "But you'll be with me, Sasuke-kun." She trusted him implicitly to look out for her as he'd always done, and suppressing the urge to stroke his ego became impossible.

He sighed in resignation. He'd have to stick to her like glue the whole damn night.

Somehow, the idea didn't sound distasteful in the slightest.

"Besides," Sakura continued, her voice low and her eyes flashing prettily against the dark makeup she'd painted on, "maybe a little later, we can sneak off somewhere, just you and me, yeah?"

Sasuke's heart skipped a beat and his eyes widened at the ill-concealed suggestion behind her words. This girl would be the death of him, he knew, and he found himself receptive to the thought of death if it meant getting a repeat performance of the night before. Remembering her delighted moans, the way she sighed his name, how good her long legs felt wrapped around his waist...

He took a step towards her, pressing her against the sink she'd been applying makeup over, his hands at her waist. She looked surprised by his advance but not remotely displeased by it, and he leaned in close to her ear.

"Stay with me tonight," he murmured. Flush against her, he felt her heartbeat race and was glad to see that he was not alone in his arousal. "Don't go off on your own."

"Um...oh...okay, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke kissed her neck and enjoyed the way she gasped in surprise at the unexpected sensation. Her skin was soft and smooth, and she smelled like violets. Her hands latched onto his biceps as she released a pleasured sigh, her breath fanning against his throat. He was suddenly impatient for the party to be over, for the chance to sneak off with this sexy little hellcat and-

"SASUKE-KUUUUUUN!"

Both of them froze. The sound from downstairs was hellacious, the pitch reaching a lilting altitude thereby unrecorded by modern man. Sakura looked confused, and Sasuke groaned in realization.

Karin had arrived.

xoxoxo

note.. Ayo, everybody! Phillies play San Francisco tonight and it should be a good game, so I wanted to get this out before I glue myself to the TV with my fiancee and pine for Roy Halladay's body. Thanks for all the feedback as always. See you soon! xoxo Daisy