"How have you managed to be late to a party you're supposed to throw!"
Sakura's lungs were burning and she felt like she couldn't breathe, but her legs just kept on swinging back and forth. All of them were rushing down a flight of stairs. They were already late, they were supposed to be downstairs in the ballroom before anyone else to put on the finishing touches, but - obviously - that didn't work out as they had planned.
"Well, I don't know, pig!" Sakura managed to answer. "Maybe because you couldn't choose a dress. Or your shoes. Or your accessories. Or yo-"
"Okay, okay I get it! Jeez," Ino interrupted Sakura, not liking the way she was speaking. If she hadn't been running, she would've crossed her arms over her chest but now settled for a small huff to signal her discontentment.
"Uh, could we slow down just a little?" Hinata asked. She had fallen a bit behind and they were already half way there so slowing down wasn't that big of an issue. They mutually agreed that maybe they didn't run like it was the end of the world and everyone slowed down to a calm but fast paced walk.
"Yeah, we should just calm down a bit. Just bursting into the ballroom panting and sweating with our hair all messed up - I mean, that wouldn't be cute," Ino noted, brushing her fingers through her hair trying to make sure it hadn't tangled while they were running. She wore it down and had straightened it to perfection. "And honestly, I'd rather be late than look messy. At least now we're going to be the prettiest girls there. Besides being fashionably late isn't improper, it's necessary in some cases."
Sakura smacked her forehead but couldn't mask her slight amusement. "That's exactly what being late is - improper!"
Ino's plump pink lips curved into an 'o' shape and her eyes went from their usual large size to even larger. Quickly realization dawned upon her as she brought her hands on the sides of her face.
"So that's why my parents were always so mad about me being 'fashionably late' to dinners and parties they hosted?"
Sakura smacked her forehead again, but this time Tenten and Hinata followed suit. She was sure she even heard Tenten mutter 'idiot' under her breath which caused her lips to curve into a small smile.
"I'm not even going to comment on that," Sakura spoke out to Ino, trying not to smile and sound as amused as she was. Wow, Ino was something completely else.
Instead, Sakura turned to Tenten. "How did you convince Ino to let you put on a jumpsuit instead of a dress?"
Tenten had indeed escaped Ino's dreams of putting her in a dress. Instead she wore a sleeveless black jumpsuit with a plunging neckline that made her slim and long legs look even longer. Her hair was in her usual two buns but Ino did manage to attack her with a tiny bit of makeup and hairspray.
Tenten let out a soft chuckle and grasped the fabric on the thighs of her jumpsuit and lifted up the fabric with both hands so that Sakura could fully see what she was wearing on her feet. The pinkette's emerald eyes glistened as she let a cheerful gasp escape her lips. How hadn't she noticed that Tenten was a few inches taller than normal?
"You're wearing heels!" she screamed at the sight of the gorgeous black heels Tenten was wearing, earning a glare from Tenten that gave her chills. Suddenly Tenten closed in the comfortable gap of a rough meter between them, covering the pinkette's mouth with her palm. Sakura let out a muffled yelp though Tenten's palm, who was sternly looking down at her.
"You won't say a word to anyone or sleep with one eye open tonight. Understood?" Sakura nodded in response to Tenten's threat, her eyes widening.
"Good." Tenten stepped away from Sakura and flashed a sweet smile like nothing had happened. For Sakura it took a few seconds to recover from Tenten's eyes staring down into the depths of her soul, sending shivers down her spine.
'Whoa, she can be scaaary,' Sakura thought to herself, pushing the occurrence out of her mind.
"Okay, get ready everyone. We're almost there," Hinata – who was now walking in front of everyone else – informed when they entered another hallway. Only this one was wider than the one they'd been in before and it led straight to the entrance of the ballroom, the extravagant double doors that were now left open, which they should've already passed a long time ago. They were supposed to be on the other side of the entrance, which was now blocked with students.
It probably wouldn't have been if they had been there on time.
'Crap!' Sakura thought to herself. How would they sneak in now that there were students lining up in front of the entrance.
Students, both guys and girls, were forming a neat line that lead to the entrance, which was followed by a staircase that lead down into the extravagant ballroom. One by one they walked forward, showcasing themselves to the people already in the ballroom and then walking down and joining the rest.
But that wasn't good. They were supposed to be down there, they were supposed to be there half an hour ago finishing up, putting up last details and decorations!
As they got closer, the faint sound of classical music played by strings got louder, which released the tightness Sakura had started to feel around her chest.
"Ah good, someone did our 'finishing up' for us," Ino sighed in relief and held her palm gently against her chest, letting out a breath she'd been holding.
"I just hope they finished up with the food and decorations and things like that." Sakura tried get a glimpse into the ballroom but there were too many people in front of them to tell if the ballroom was finished or not.
Hinata shrugged. "If everything isn't perfect we can still do some fixing up and I doubt people will even notice."
Sakura gave Hinata a smile and took a deep breath in. Hinata was right. If there was something that would need fixing, they'd just do it. Everything was going to be just fine, no need to worry about it now.
It didn't take long for Sakura to notice something else to focus on.
Sakura pointed to the line of students calmly waiting to go into the ballroom. "What are they doing?"
At first Ino gave her a confused look but then quickly understood that Sakura didn't know much about their world.
"It's a tradition that all people, or in this case students, attending a ball will be announced when they enter the ballroom," Ino explained and pointed to the first person in the line who was now at the top of the stairs, getting her name announced for everyone already inside.
Sakura raised an eyebrow. It sounded like something she'd seen in a princess movie or something. "But why?"
"Because everyone wants to know just how pretty, rich and important you are," Tenten stated matter-of-factly and crossed her arms over her chest. "Ridiculous, right? I never want to do these things but it's a tradition and you won't get in otherwise."
"What?" Sakura's eyebrows shot to the roof, her heartbeat quickening just a little bit. "What do you mean you won't get in?"
Sakura only needed a second to think about herself stepping in front of and having her name called out in front of the hundreds of people that were already down in the ballroom that she didn't want to do it. She'd gotten more attention in the past few days here at Luna Nova than ever before in her whole life. At first people looked at her for being the new girl but then she got picked to be Tsunade's mentee which got the attention of the whole school to then being one of the few people to welcome a bunch of new people into their school and getting even more attention from doing that. It wasn't exactly odd for her to not want more. Being in front of people was something that she wanted to get better at, but she didn't expect all of this to happen so quickly. And besides, she'd just found out that her whole magical lineage was a total mystery to her. She had all these weird powers that had even her friends confused. In a way she felt like she didn't really even know who she was.
Nervously she grabbed a fistful of the soft fabric of her dress, only to be touched by Ino and encouraged to let the fabric go.
"Don't get wrinkles on it. It looks better that way," the blonde gently warned her, and even though wrinkles on her dress were the last thing on her mind, she let the fabric slip away from her fingers.
"I mean that there is only one way to enter," Tenten said, pointing at the two open doors that led into the ballroom. "There is only the main entrance also acting as the exit. No other way in or out. And even if there was, it would be pretty hard to sneak in without being noticed."
For just one second, everything in the world seemed to slow down as she processed what Tenten said. Suddenly she could feel her heart rate quicken as her breathing got faster.
"But what if I don't want to walk down the stairs and have my name announced?" Sakura tried to keep her voice calm, but the more she thought about it the less calm she got. "I mean, what if I just want to be a normal student with no attention on me what so ever? I don't know who I am right now with all this weird magic stuff and mystery relatives!" Sakura cried out, trying to keep her voice down and not attract the attention of the students waiting in line.
"I know it can be a lot and we're figuring everything out, but right now you don't have a choice," Ino calmly told Sakura, who turned her head to watch the other students walk down the stairs. Ino took a hold of her shoulders. "Even if you don't feel like it, I know you can do this. You got picked to be the headmistress' mentee for a reason and the things you can do are incredible. Who cares what anyone thinks? Just show them what exactly Sakura Haruno is made of."
Sakura couldn't help but smile at Ino's words. She took a deep breath and put on the most confident smile she could manage. "You're right."
Taking another deep breath and calming herself, she stepped towards the entrance. A while ago the hallway had been packed with students, but now there were only two people standing in front of them waiting for their turn. With her luck they were probably the last ones there, which meant that everyone else was already down there if you didn't count a few who just decided not to show up. Were balls here at Luna Nova even mandatory? Could you skip them?
Could Sakura have skipped this one?
Sakura finally got a little peek of the ballroom. It was filled with student and teacher mingling, a few heads turning towards the staircase whenever a new name was called out.
"I doubt the guys are even in there." Ino's words were more of a statement than anything else. Sakura raised a perfectly shaped pink brow at her friend.
"They're not that into parties," Ino explained, shrugging as though she couldn't understand why.
"Except Naruto," Hinata added with a soft smile on her lips, causing Ino and Tenten to chuckle. Sakura just smiled. She hadn't known their group for long while everyone else had known each other for practically their entire lives, but still Sakura could imagine Naruto being a bit of a partier.
"Yes, they're not that into parties except Naruto," Ino corrected her words in the middle of her laughing and turned to the front of the line, which was extremely short.
Now the two students before them were gone and the man who was supposed to announce them was looking at them weirdly.
"Aren't you coming?" he asked them, motioning them to come closer. Sakura looked at her friends. There was no way she was going first and they knew it very well.
"Oh noo way. I'm so not going first," Sakura stated, crossing her arms into an 'x' in front of her chest, which resulted Ino letting out a – clearly not authentic – deep sigh.
"Well I guess I'll have to go first so that you'll see it's not even that bad," Ino spoke as if she was about to sacrifice herself and stepped out in front of everyone, but Hinata, Tenten and even Sakura knew better. Ino assumed her place at the top of the stairs, threw her blonde hair over her shoulder to fully showcase her dress and posed like a supermodel. Damn, she'd definitely done this before.
You could hear 'ooh's and 'ahh's from down below when she stepped out in all of her gorgeousness. Ino was wearing an haute couture dress, tailored specifically to her figure so that it fit her like a glove - just like it was supposed to. The dress itself was a masterpiece but on Ino's perfect body it looked spectacular as if she herself had come straight from a runway at Paris fashion week. The bodice of the dress was constructed from crystals and it looked like someone had scattered diamonds on her that slowly dissipated into a flowy skirt made of tulle that managed to show off her body while covering most of it. The whole dress sparkled as she moved, basking her beautiful complexion in an ethereal glow. She looked like a modern day princess and just the sight of her had everyone sighing and gasping, just like they were supposed to.
"Ino Yamanaka!"
And with that Ino gracefully descended the staircase like the princess she was – or, at least, acted like - and when she reached the ballroom she already had people swarming around her.
"Typical Ino," Tenten laughed at the sight of her drowning in people. "Your turn!"
Sakura had no way of protesting before Hinata and Tenten both pushed her forward so that she stumbled in the spotlight for everyone to watch. She could feel the hundreds of people staring at her, examining her and her looks in the rough ten seconds they would have of her. But to Sakura, it felt like hours.
"Look at that dress!"
"Who is she?"
"Is she new?"
Silent whispers filled the room and Sakura knew all too well that they were all talking about her. Her. The person who wasn't of magical-blood or of any importance what so ever - she who entered Luna Nova with no skills or knowledge of their world. No fame, no fortune, no importance.
Sakura felt the silky fabric of her dress against her fingertips. The blood red dress hugged her body, showing off her petite, slim body without exposing too much skin. Ino had chosen the perfect dress for her. It was a spaghetti strap dress with a v neckline that looked like it was made just for her. There was a split at the side of her dress that showed off her leg just enough where it was sexy but not too much. The silky fabric practically shone in the bright chandelier lights, pooling slightly at her feet. The red was flattering on her, bringing out her soft pink hair and dazzling emerald eyes. In all honesty, Ino might've looked like a princess, but deep down she felt like a queen.
"Sakura Haruno!"
Nobody said anything after her announcement. Everyone had gone completely silent, like someone had flicked a switch to turn everything off. Even the instruments had stopped playing. In that moment Sakura hesitated whether or not to move. It was like she was frozen in time. Everyone stared at her and she stared at the crowd right back. Sakura could hear her heart pounding in her ears, her breathing quickening and muscles tensing.
Show them who you are.
It was the second time Sakura heard the soft voice calling out to her. It was the same voice that had whispered the teleportation spell to her in the corridor. It was so familiar, as soft as whisper but still reassuring. The words lit a fire inside of her. It was just like Ino had said. Show them what exactly Sakura Haruno is made of. Like with her magic, she felt a glow coming from within her, feeling a rush of energy flowing through her body.
So she lifted herself up, chin up and her whole character revamped into this gorgeous and confident person she had never seen before.
But she liked her.
Suddenly the silence was broken by someone clapping their hands together for Sakura, whose emerald green eyes widened. Trying to see who it was, she took her first step down on the stairs, her dress flowing around her. A few more people added into the clapping. Sakura felt surprised by the reaction, continuing to move as if they were encouraging her. While she gracefully descended the staircase, the crowd of students and teachers started applauding for the pink haired girl, Tsunade's mentee – the girl who came from nothing but suddenly seemed to have everything. She heard yells and whistles from the raging sound of hands clapping together, which only made her feel more confident.
She felt gorgeous, she felt noble. She felt unapologetically powerful, sexy and happy. And she was not mad about it.
When she finally reached the marble floor, everyone was still applauding. Sakura had this newly found confidence in her, she felt like she was a princess. She felt she was important, something she'd barely ever felt before. Suddenly she saw something moving in the corner of her eye. It was Ino waving and mouthing words to her.
Speak!
Sakura could almost hear her words as she mouthed them to her. The clapping slowly died down and Sakura awkwardly cleared her throat, her voice almost breaking.
"Thank you all for coming to our celebration to humbly welcome the students and teachers of the Appleton academy. My name is Sakura and I," Sakura tried to find the right word. What was she exactly? The organizer? She noticed Ino mouthing something to her again. "I will be your hostess tonight. I welcome you all to another wonderful year here at Luna Nova academy. I was tasked to organize this ball to honor and welcome our guests from the Appleton academy."
Sakura finally took a breath. She knew something wasn't right with her speech, something was missing. "But this wasn't all my doing. I would like to ask those who made this all possible to come stand next to me."
Sakura got stronger in her speech the more she spoke. She spoke with courage and confidence, meaning every word. She motioned Ino to come stand beside her and Tenten and Hinata to step out. Ino rushed from the crowd next to her friend, taking the attention she had on her all in. Tenten and Hinata both stepped out of the shadows for everyone to see as the man who was supposed to call their names looked at them in shock. How could these people completely dismiss the traditions and turn it into mockery? Earning a stern glance from Hinata, he gathered himself.
"Hinata Hyuga and Tenten-"
He was stopped by the brunette's commanding palm. She drew her hand back to her side and turned her head as gracefully as she could.
"Just Tenten."
Then they descended together, looking beautiful as ever. Sure they were breaking tradition, descending together, but Sakura was already changing things so why not? She was breaking rules, traditions and norms just by being herself – and that was just what Luna Nova needed. Tenten and Hinata took their places next to Sakura and Ino and the pinkette gave them a warm smile before continuing her speech.
"I couldn't have done everything by myself and I thank my friends from the bottom of my heart for helping me make this all happen. We all wish you the greatest night of your school year. Let the celebrations begin!"
Sakura still felt the rush inside of her as the crowd burst into another set of applause. She felt her wand tickling in her hand and it felt as if she had someone telling her what to do inside of her. And she did what she felt was right.
"Coruscent!"
Sakura shot up a sparkling light from her wand that flew up in the air before exploding into a cloud of shimmer, slowly starting to fall down like snow. With a smile she and her friends started to make their way to the side of the ballroom, away from everyone's observing eyes.
They made their way next to one of the large windows that showed the view of the gorgeous garden Luna Nova had. Sakura's eyes were instantly drawn to the beauty of the nature and she felt like she could've stared at it for hours.
"Sakura!" Ino screamed and Sakura jumped from being startled. "That was amazing! Nobody has ever received a reaction like that. You looked drop dead gorgeous when standing up there, maybe even more beautiful than me! You looked like you were a princess gracefully gliding down that staircase! And, god, that speech, don't even get me started!"
Sakura looked at her faint reflection in the window. She hadn't had time to actually see herself, they basically ran out right after she got her dress on. But she saw what Ino was talking about, she did look utterly beautiful and felt like cinderella in her princess bubble that she hoped would never burst.
"I swear I saw Karin rip hair out of her head when you were applauded!" Tenten chimed in on the celebrations, which caused her to feel a different kind of happiness.
'Next time she should really think through who she makes enemies of,' Sakura thought, unapologetically proud of her performance.
"And those sparkles! Where did you learn that?" Hinata chimed in, brushing her fingers through her silky blue hair.
"Yeah, Sakura. Where did you learn that from?" Tenten was as confused as Sakura herself, she couldn't exactly answer their questions clearly.
"Um, you know," Sakura started sheepishly, her voice lowering into a mumble. "I heard someone whisper it to me."
She earned weird looks from her friends, her face twitching in frustration. How could her friends not get what she was talking about when she vaguely and barely even explained it to them?
"It's like I knew what I was doing without actually knowing what I was doing. Like someone was telling me what to say," Sakura further explained, finally understanding that she was basically saying that she was hearing sounds that nobody else was hearing. That generally was a particularly bad thing to say outloud.
Hinata stepped closer to examine the wand. She let out a humming sound and bent her back just a little to watch the wand in Sakura's hand closer.
"Could it be linked to your wand?" Hinata pondered and Sakura started nodding.
"Oh yeah, it's definitely linked to my wand. Tsunade talked about how my soul clicked with the wand and something about my past and my heritage and what not."
"Well we should look into it but put it away for now, we can't afford a scene like we had today in this same very spot. Except that the people would be everyone in this room," Hinata spoke out and motioned the pinkette to put her wand away.
It had been exactly an hour after the ball's pink haired hostess was welcomed to the ball she was hosting – and late to – with a bang, her friends joining her as she formally thanked her friends for organizing such an event with her for the students of the two schools. After stepping aside, the next hour was almost killing them. Not only were they trying to make sure everything was perfect as they should've before the ball began, they were getting students thrown at themselves from all directions AND they had to keep everything under control. It was Tsunade's task for Sakura to make it perfect and the group of four would not let anything ruin the night.
Tenten shut the curtains and the large glass doors right behind them that lead straight from the ballroom to a balcony where she and her three other friends were catching a breath of fresh air before round two of the stress and chaos that was only visible for them, not for anyone else.
Ino pulled out her wand and created a soft mattress on the hard and cold floor of the balcony. A slight breeze moved her hair out of her face and she looked at her three friends, who were now currently looking at her very confused.
"Well if I'm going to rest, I'm not lyiing on the dirty and cold surface of this balcony. And neither should you," Ino stated as she collapsed first on the soft mattress, kicking her heels off her feet and letting a deep moan of relief escape her lips.
Sakura, Tenten and Hinata all followed her example, laying down on the mattress. Sakura pressed her cheek against the soft surface, making sure her makeup didn't move on her face or stain the mattress – not that it mattered since it was just created for the sole purpose of them being able to lay down.
"These things are a lot more fun when you're not in charge of them," Ino groaned as she stretched her limbs. They had had a tough time before but it would probably end now that they had handled most of the work. Nobody answered to Ino but the agreement was clear even without any of them saying a word.
They laid there in complete silence, comforting themselves in the sweet sounds of nature. Nobody said anything, they didn't have any reason to, but they did need to go back in before someone actually noticed they were gone, even if it had been only a few minutes.
Hinata finally spoke out, breaking the silence that had fell between the resting group of friends. "The damn strings are still playing and I'm getting sick of them."
Her friends laughed out loud. That was the first thing that would break the silence and the fact that it came from Hinata made it even more amusing. Stretching her arms but not making any moves indicating getting up, Sakura smiled to her friend.
"Yeah, we should do something about that."
Suddenly all four of the girls were drawn to the sound of the glass doors opening. Sakura's eyes widened as she turned to look at Tenten with widened eyes.
"You didn't lock the doors?" she hissed to the brunette who just shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.
"I didn't exactly think we were going to be laying down on a mattress," she hissed back, trying to justify her forgetting to lock the doors since she didn't feel like there was any need to. Well it was way late now when figures walked out from behind the curtains.
"A sleepover without me? How troublesome.." Shikamaru muttered as he walked out, being followed by his friends.
None of the girls said anything, they just laid there in complete silence, none of them really knowing what to say.
"What the hell are you doing?" Neji spoke out when seeing the four girls laying on the mattress – yes, a mattress – outside on a balcony while there was a ball inside which they were responsible for. He eyed them, locking his eyes with the fierce brown eyes of a certain bun haired girl.
"None of your business, Hyuga," Tenten responded, still not making any efforts to get up from the comfortable spot she was in. Sakura rolled her eyes, rolling onto her stomach and supporting her head on the backs of her hands, her elbows in the mattress.
"Just, close the doors would you," Ino more ordered than asked but Naruto shut the doors behind them, giving them some privacy – not that they needed it. It was mostly so that nobody saw them, since it could be seen as unorthodox and improper – which it was but the rules were changing anyways.
Sakura let out a sigh and sat up on the mattress. Just when she was about to get up, her eyes met dazzling blue ones.
"Need some help, magic-girl?" Naruto teased as he offered his hand to her. The centerpiece of the whole ball probably shouldn't get her dress all wrinkled up, how would she explain this?
A hearty laugh escaped the pinkette's lips. "More like non magic-girl," Sakura noted as she took the blonde's hand. She wasn't wearing any heels - she'd thrown them somewhere nearby – which made her standing up easier. Naruto pulled her to her feet and she was met with a bone-crushing hug from the spiky haired blond.
"Na-naruto..can't..bre-e-athe.." Sakura managed to breathe out, which resulted in Naruto quickly letting go of her but still holding onto her shoulder for support as she was catching her breath.
Shikamaru ignored them but as Sakura's spot on the mattress was freed, he laid down next to Ino. Ino's blue eyes met with Shikamaru's.
"Hey," she greeted him, her voice soft instead of loud and it surprised Shikamaru.
"Hey," he responded and turned to look at the night sky with a few stars already lighting up the sky.
Ino turned to look at the sky as well. She didn't take off her eyes from it, not even for a second.
"You're looking quite handsome tonight."
Shikamaru didn't answer, it was quite normal for him but Ino knew that him not responding was something other than being rude or ignorant so she just went with it. The pineapple-haired boy wasn't much to show emotion or talk overall.
Their hands grazed each other. Ino felt goosebumps all over her body and softly bit her lip but still didn't take her eyes off the starlit sky.
"Sakura do you understand how insane that was?" Naruto finally opened his mouth after he saw Sakura was doing just fine.
"What do you mean?" The pinkette asked, raising her pink perfectly shaped brow.
"Well.." Naruto started, which sparked Sakura's interest. "First of all, you looked amazing out there.
Sakura felt blush creeping up to the tops of her cheekbones.
"But you're breaking and rewriting basically all the rules there are tonight – but that's a good thing!"
Sakura's both eyebrows rose high in surprise after she heard what Naruto had to say.
"What did I do?" she asked in shock.
"Well you held a speech in the middle of the descending and invited your friends to descend together. The hostess of any social event never shares credit and nobody ever gets applauded when descending down the staircase," Neji answered before Naruto could and caught Sakura's attention. He wasn't looking at her or anyone else, he had his arms crossed over his chest and he was staring into the garden and the forest behind it.
"Ever?" Sakura needed confirmation she'd heard correctly.
"Ever," Naruto confirmed. "But what you did was amazing, I've never seen anything like it and you've made a great impression to most people out there. You sure got noticed by a few people I might add."
Sakura remembered how she'd felt. So powerful yet elegant and sexy, that was how she'd live her life from now on. She didn't need to be the same old boring Sakura, since now she knew she was and could be so much more.
The moment was interrupted when Tenten decided to stand up, she was signaling that it was time to get back inside. Naruto rushed to Hinata whom he helped to get up. He held her hand even after she'd gotten up and stroked her soft skin with her thumb. Sakura smiled at the sweet moment the two were having and picked up her shoes. The break was over and they had to go back and make sure everything was going perfectly.
"We should probably get back inside," Sakura sighed as she slipped her heels back on and stroked her dress to make sure there weren't any wrinkles.
"Can we be of any assistance?" Neji politely asked like a gentleman and stepped closer to everyone. Sakura was positively surprised, she didn't think Neji was a gentleman like that. She'd figured he was just a player that gave no thought to these kinds of things, but apparently she was wrong. He was much more like his cousin than Sakura would've guessed. Apparently it was only Uchiha who twirled women in his fingertips and threw them away after like yesterday's trash.
"Well Hinata, could you go do something about this god-awful music?" A smile rose to Sakura's lips.
"Naruto, you should go help Hinata."
The hyperactive blond smirked and grabbed Hinata's hand. Sakura took that as a yes.
"I'll go check in with Tsunade, Tenten you make sure nobody is causing any trouble."
Sakura had one red-haired girl in mind who would most likely be causing trouble so it was best if Tenten made sure that everything was going to go smoothly.
"I'll check with the faeries that everything with the food is perfect and that there are no mix-ups or accidents," Ino volunteered and earned a nod from Sakura who opened the doors to the ballroom and walked in, being followed by Naruto who was almost running and dragging Hinata behind him by the hand.
Tenten walked up to Neji, getting so close to his side that they almost touched. She had a devilish smirk on her lips and she rose her hand and slid her sharp, perfectly shaped fingernail down the handsome boy's cheek.
"Well, you can make sure nobody is bothering me."
It didn't hurt, it wasn't supposed to. It was more her throwing him a challenge which he accepted by clashing his gaze with hers. Tenten broke the eye contact when she stepped forward, behind him and calmly walked inside and into the massive group of people.
'God, why is she such a tease' Neji growled in his mind as he turned to follow the smirking brown-haired girl.
Naruto and Hinata were struggling to get through the crowd of people, trying to dodge all kinds of hems and trying not to step on anyone's shoes or toes. The blond had his hand on Hinata's wrist and was pulling her after him, gently of course. He was always careful around his childhood friend.
After dodging and jumping around across the dance floor, the two finally managed to get to the enchanted instruments still playing their beautiful music. They didn't think it wasn't beautiful but it was traditional. It was boring. And since they had the permission of the headmistress, it shouldn't be much of a trouble.
What would Hinata do? What kind of music was she going to play, what was she exactly going to do. Of course she was going to get rid of this boring chamber music but what was she going to do then - replace the instruments with a singer and a piano? Or would she just get a small cd player and some speakers.
Naruto nudged Hinata's side, trying to get her to do something. The blue-haired girl's mind was wandering somewhere else but the sensation of Naruto's elbow slightly nudging her side brought her back in a heartbeat. What was she doing? Oh, right, she was going to get this party started.
"Obdomiscere." Hinata pointed at the instruments as she recited the spell that undid the one she'd done before.
"Evanescent."
With a flick of a wand the instruments vanished in front of Naruto's cerulean eyes. He had seen magic before, but not right in front of him. Hinata was confident in her magic and it practically oozed from her. It was attractive, to see someone so confident in herself and what she did.
But now they had a problem. Even though the strings were only for background music, everyone noticed when the music suddenly just stopped in the middle of a well known symphony. Hinata felt the red heat of embarrassment rise up to her cheekbones when she saw how everyone was looking at her. She didn't exactly think this one through.
"Hinata, just continue with your magic," Naruto whispered to the blue-haired girl and laid his hand on her lower back, encouraging her to continue without caring about people looking.
Her blush deepened as she felt Naruto touch her. She felt fluttering in her heart and her heart beated a little faster. Hinata gripped her wand harder, bringing it close to her chest. She softly bit her lip when tying to figure out what to do next. Making the instruments vanish was easy, what to exchange them to was a little harder to figure out.
'Maybe you should've thought this though, stupid!' Hinata cursed herself and breathed out.
Her pearlescent eyes met with Nauto's and he instantly saw her troubled look. He knew that look, he'd seen it before during the time they'd knew each other – which was a very long time regarding that the Uzumaki and Hyuga families were good friends and business partners. He'd known Hinata almost from birth.
Naruto figured out what they could do and leaned closer to whisper something in Hinata's ear. His breath tickled her and it made her squirm, but his suggestion was good.
"Would it work?" she asked and Naruto replied with a confident nod. Hinata didn't have any better ideas so she decided that Naruto's idea was the best way to go. She answered Naruto with a nod and corrected her stance
"Videtur,"she whispered, swishing her wand around. With a puff of smoke, in front of them appeared a mixing table with large speakers and amplifiers. Very much too modern for the traditional ball, but Hinata just had to trust Naruto on this one.
"Now what?" she whispered to the boy next to her, her shoulder and neck muscles all tense. But Naruto looked so relaxed and winked at the blue-haired girl. Right when she though her porcelain skin had returned to its normal pale state, a soft pink rose to her cheeks once again.
Naruto knew exactly what to do. He picked up the black headphones that rested on top of the mixing table and put them around his neck. It had been maybe five minutes without music but Hinata was stressed out. Everything was supposed to be perfect, how would Sakura react to this? She was in charge and all the blame was on her if they caused trouble.
Naruto picked up a microphone and gently tapped on it to get the rest of the crowd's attention, since not everyone apparently was interested in them trying to figure out what to do with the music.
"Well hello, this is Naruto Uzumaki, your DJ for the night. I'd like to inform you that this party is getting started RIGHT NOW!" he yelled into the microphone and pressed a few buttons, sliding the nob that controlled the volume of the music up and the ball room was soon filled with slightly more modern music.
At first everyone was pretty confused as to what was going on. The music was something everyone could actually dance to and the beat invited everyone to dance, even if it was just twirling around or doing something simple and tasteless like the jazz hands. It was unusual but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. When Hinata spotted headmistress Tsunade with a slight curve to her lips, she finally felt like she could breathe again. Naruto was doing his thing as a DJ and surprisingly was actually good at it, which was a pleasant surprise to the young woman. Naruto noticed her blunt staring and flashed her his perfect row of pearly whites.
"I knew what I was doing, don't worry!" Naruto assured the blue-haired heiress and paired his smirk with a wink to her direction.
"I know," she murmured to herself, softly smiling at the partying blond. She didn't expect him to hear her with the music blasting from the several speakers she'd placed all over the room. Somehow she always felt like she could trust him. And she did.
Update: Not dead
Sorry for not posting, I never was satisfied with this chapter and kept writing it over and over again until I just got fed up and decided to post it. Thank you for your reviews, follows and faves, also thank you for being patient with me!
❦ Goddess of Glam