I'm so sorry for the shorter chapter!

I will work to make the next ones much longer and more interesting.

Thanks for reading!

-Hinata's POV-

I felt warm skin beneath me and when I opened my eyes, was stunned to see very defined muscles under tanned skin. My face erupted in heat, but I didn't move for fear of waking Kiba. Instead, I waited for a few moments to make sure he wasn't stirring before bravely lifting my hand from his torso to gently run a finger over his muscles. The motion pulled a heat from my cheeks down into my lower abdomen and I glanced up to see Kiba was wide awake and watching me with an unreadable expression. I jumped off of him, nearly tumbling down to the floor, "Oh! I'm so s-sorry!"

He let out a chuckle, his voice still raspy from sleep. I froze in fumbling to smooth out my clothes, looking at him with a shameful expression. He sat up and pulled his shirt, which he must've thrown off in the middle of the night, back on over his head, "No need to apologize, Hinata." I averted my gaze from the last glimpse of his muscles and anxiously tried to smooth my hair down, "Um...how are you feeling? Do you have a hangover at all?" I felt his warm hands suddenly pull mine down from my hair and guide them around his waist before wrapping his arms around me, pushing a small kiss into my hair, "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

I buried my face into his shirt and let myself enjoy the sensations he was giving me in silence. We stood there for a moment before he finally pulled back, "I hate to step out on you so early, but I do have to go in for a bit today so I have to head home and freshen up." I nodded quickly, not wanting to seem clingy, "Of course! No problem!" He stopped just by the door and turned to face me once more, "I had a great time last night." I met his gaze in surprise before returning his smile and nodding shly, "Me too." He then quietly opened the door to my room and stepped over the bodies of everyone that had crashed at our place until he was finally able to leave our dorm and head out into the hallway.

I waited until the front door was closed behind him before stepping into the doorway to survey the state of our place. A couple of people that I didn't recognize were strewn about the place, sleeping on the floor and so on, but what drew my attention was the unsuspected sight of Tenten and my cousin Neji cuddled up on the couch. My mouth fell open in shock and I tried to imagine how she'd managed to convince him to come over. I walked around the people on the floor to peak inside Sakura's room, expecting to see her cuddling her boyfriend, but seeing her and Ino passed out sloppily still brought a small smile to my lips. I slipped into the bathroom, only to see Sasuke's model date from last night passed out in the tub. With a sigh, I glanced at the toilet before tiptoeing out of our dorm and knocked lightly on the boys' door.

For a moment, I thought no one was awake to answer, but then the door crept open slowly to reveal an annoyed looking Sasuke in only a pair of black boxers. I brought a hand up to cover my eyes with a bright red face, "Can I use your bathroom? Your girlfriend is sleeping in ours." He didn't answer out loud and I peeked in between my fingers to see him roll his eyes and push the door open wider for me to come inside. I let out a small thank you before hurrying to the restroom before I peed my pants. When I came back out, Sasuke was pouring himself a cup of coffee. I said my thanks again and went to leave him alone, but he stopped me, "Want some?" My eyes hot back to him and I glanced back at the door before reclosing it and taking a seat next to him at their island.

He filled a cup and silently handed it to me. We sat quietly for a few moments, drinking our coffees in peace, before he finally spoke, "She's not my girlfriend, you know." I looked over at him in surprise for a moment before nodding and looking back down into my mug, "Yeah, I know." It was silent for another few moments before I suddenly remembered him busting into my room last night, "About last night-" He made a noise to cut me off, shaking his head with his eyes closed, "I don't want to know." Confusion racked my brain. Normally he would be extremely eager to hear about how I might've ruined the atmosphere by being shy or clumsy, so it struck me as odd that he'd shushed me on the matter. I awkwardly tried again after a moment, "Nothing happened between us, really."

Why does it feel like I owe him an explanation and that I need to reassure him on the matter? He shook his head again before glancing over at me, an odd expression on his features," Why would I need to know that?" He probably sounded mean to anyone who might've heard him say that, but to me it seemed like he was glad that I told him and genuinely wanted an answer. We held each other's gazes for a moment before I tore mine away and looked back down before taking another sip of the hot liquid in my cup, "...I don't know."

Later that day, once everyone had awoken and gone home, Sakura and I were listening to music and cleaning up the dorm from the party. She was hungover, but was forcing herself to help out since she's the one who started it to begin with. I paused in the process of sweeping the kitchenette area when I suddenly remembered something. "Hey, where'd Gaara and Sasori go last night?" Sakura stopped dusting the tv stand and turned to look me in the eye whilst on all fours, "Oh! They got into an argument and Tenten drove Sasori home and made Gaara leave." I made an acknowledging face at her before getting back to work, her doing the same, before prying further, "Wait, what did they get into an argument about?"

She froze once more, turning to me after a pause with a confused look on her face, "You know what, I don't remember." I stayed thoughtful about the topic for a moment or two before shrugging and refocusing. As long as they didn't physically fight and everyone is okay with each other, I don't really mind. I glanced over at the sofa where I'd seen Tenten and Neji sleeping. So are they back to talking to each other now or was last night some kind of fluke? I'd have to ask Tenten because Neji would never give me any details. Unfortunately, she and my cousin were both gone by the time I'd come back from having coffee with Sasuke. He dumped the girl from last night as soon as she'd wandered into the room and she threw a fit on her way to the elevator, which had woken up the remainder of the partiers and soon they'd all vacated the premises.

Once our room was once again clean and tidy, Sakura sprawled out on my bed while I played around on my keyboard, both of us trying to brainstorm song writing ideas for our second album. She was scribbling notes down like crazy and all I could think about was how natural she seemed to be at this and how hard it was for me to come up with even a single line of lyrics. After what felt like an hour, the sound of her pencil etching against her notebook stopped, "You okay, Hinata? You haven't played a note in forever."

I turned to face her with a tortured look and she let out a small chuckle, "You're struggling, huh?" I stood from the keyboard and flopped down beside her on my bed, glancing down at the bubbly handwriting on her page with a pout, "How do you do it?" She snapped her notebook shut with a small blush dusting her face, obviously not wanting me to see any of her lyrics until she has them perfected, "I don't know...I guess I just write down what I'm thinking as I think them instead of how I would actually say them out loud, if that makes sense." I nodded, eyes dazed out in thought as I tried to put her advice to work mentally. A loud knock at our front door pulled us both from the topic and I headed out to answer it.

Tenten stood there with the boys, helping herself past me and into the room, the two young men following suit casually. She motioned for us to sit facing her and we all did so wordlessly, Sakura coming out of my room to join us with her notebook folded closed in her lap. Tenten offered us all a smile, "I just wanted us all to get together and plan our outfit coordination before the Masquerade ball!" Her voice rose to a squeaky level towards the end of the sentence. Gaara and I shared a nervous look, which Sasuke snickered at. Tenten spoke again before we could all say anything, "I think the boys should wear classic black tuxedos, obviously, but girls: Do you also want to wear black or no?"

Sakura and I glanced at each other. I looked down at my lap nervously and waited for Sakura to answer. The pinkette elbowed me in the ribs, "Come on, Hinata, this is a group decision! What do you prefer?" I looked up at her before glancing at Tenten's expectant face, "U-um! Black is fine with me!" Sakura nodded eagerly, "Then we'll all be classy in black, it's decided!" Tenten let out a happy squeal, "Yay! You guys are going to look so hot! I'm gonna go call Karin and Ino and have them find some looks for you all to choose from!" She flitted out of the room without a further goodbye. Sakura didn't wait for anyone to say anything before speaking up, "Hey, have you guys been working on your songwriting at all?" Gaara nodded at her with his usual soft smile, "I have been working on a few songs."

Her grin grew and she gripped her notebook eagerly in her hands, "Me too! Wanna compare and work together?" He nodded and headed over to his room to get his notebook. We looked at Sasuke and he wordlessly walked over to his room to do the same, not speaking on the topic out loud. I wonder what kind of songs everyone would write. For the rest of the entire day until it was nearly midnight, we all sat around the living room and worked together on some song lyrics. We even ordered pizza and ate in so we wouldn't have to lose focus. By the time we called it quits for the day, all of us were fighting to keep our eyes open and loose papers were strewn across the floor as we sat side to side on the couch and watched some random detective tv show reruns to wind down.

I felt a head fall onto my shoulder and it snapped me out of my half-asleep/half-awake state. I looked over to see Sasuke's relaxed and sleeping face. A smile tugged at my lips and I hesitated for a moment before giving in and letting my head rest gently back against him and letting sleep take me under.