A/N: Sorry to keep you guys waiting………hehe, well I did have a good time at the stuff I've been doing. (VBS) (Tutoring) Happy reading!!

~Eva~

Disclaimer: ………………

~Hours of Darkness~

Naruto and Hinata held each other in the darkness around them. They couldn't hear anything but the sounds of the harsh wind whistling behind the windows like a condemned spirit.

"Hinata," Naruto squeezed her hand.

"Hm?"

"Did I ever tell you how much I love you?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun, many times, but I have never grown tired of hearing those words coming out of your mouth," Hinata pulled closer to her boyfriend and they held each other through the night.

Meanwhile, Neji and Ten-Ten were in the bedroom waiting silently for the lights to be back on. Ten-Ten couldn't see what her roommate was up to since everything was pitch-black.

"Neji?" she whispered.

"Yeah?" Neji answered.

"So………how is everything, with you and Sakura?" Ten-Ten had a hard time saying her name, because ever since she moved her, she despised her for taking Neji away.

"Going well, I suppose," Neji replied and silence then had befallen among the two.

"Neji, do you think that we would have had a chance if Sakura didn't come into our lives?" Ten-Ten bit her tongue regretting what she had said.

"I don't know, but right now I'm going to focus on what the two of us have, a friendship," Neji told her, "and I'm also going to focus on my girlfriend, too."

Girlfriend

The word stung Ten-Ten like a deadly disease that cannot be healed.

"When did this start?" Ten-Ten tried to be happy for him.

"Yesterday afternoon, we spent the whole day out on the beach," Neji smiled.

Ten-Ten then turned to her other side on her bed and tried to close her eyes to sleep on what had happened.

"Besides, there seems to be someone here who likes you," what Neji said brought Ten-Ten's attention who then sat up straight listening closely to what he has to say.

"Who?" Ten-Ten curiously asked.

"The guy next door," Neji simply answered.

Ten-Ten fell back in a state of shock, "Gaara?"

Neji smiled in the dark, and Ten-Ten sweat dropped.

~*~

Ino couldn't believe what Shikamaru had said to her. First, he and she somehow got stuck in the bathroom upstairs, and then he started to insult her and then he kissed her, Ino thought.

***This was one hell of a night***

"I can't," Ino looked away and a tear fell from her face.

"Yes you can, just break up with Rock Lee, and then you can be with me!" Shikamaru suggested.

"It's not that easy,"

"Yes, it is,"

"No, it isn't,"

"Yes! It is!!"

"NOO!! It's not at all that easy!!"

"Explain,"

"I like being with Rock Lee," was all that Ino could say.

"Do you love him?" he asked.

"What?" Ino couldn't believe what Shikamaru asked her.

"Do you love him?" Shikamaru repeated.

"That………is none of your business,"

"Just answer it,"

"What kind of question is that?"

"Ino, it's just a yes or no question, really simple,"

Ino didn't answer, "Do you love him?" Shikamaru asked again.

While the two were forced into a moment of stillness, downstairs in the restroom Sakura and her mysterious stranger were having some issues going on, too.

Sakura fell down to the floor and sat cross-legged looking into the dark. She knew that she wasn't alone in this small room and yet she was curious to know who it was. The voice she heard was just only a muffled mutter and she hadn't heard the voice clearly out in the open.

"Hello?" she whispered into the shadows. Something rustled in front of her and she shook with fear.

"I'm here," the person muttered, again.

"May I ask who you are?" Sakura raised her voice a little higher to make it more clearly.

"It's better off if you didn't, Sakura," the guy then moved forward to be closer to the girl whose back was against the door, "and besides, you wouldn't care who I am," he muttered again and Sakura could tell that it was someone she knew.

"Why wouldn't I care?" Sakura asked softly because she knew that she had no need to talk louder since the two of them were only a few inches away from each other.

"Because you have someone now, someone really special, while I am nothing to you anymore," he said. And Sakura's eyes were dilated and shocked because she knew who they were coming from.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura simply said and in response he heard a slight chuckle coming from him.

Sasuke smiled, "Yes, I am him," he then bent closer and then kissed softly on her cheek and whispered some tender words to her, "I love you, Sakura………don't ever change," he pulled away just when the lights turned back on.

With the lights on, Sakura just sat there astonished by the fact that Sasuke, the boy she had loved all her life but not anymore, actually had feelings for her all along but was afraid to show it………kissed her.

Sasuke got up and held out his hand to Sakura and helped her up. He then turned on the doorknob and the door opened, "Well, what do you know?" he then stepped out and Sakura followed him through the hallway when Naruto's bedroom door opened.

"Thank god!!! If I was stuck in the dark that long………" Naruto let out his emotion while Hinata was trying to calm him down but then stood high with his fist in the air, "but now I don't have to worry!!" and Hinata sweat dropped.

In Neji and Ten-Ten's bedroom, Neji got up and realized that the lights were on and got out of his bed. He then started down the stairs and saw Sakura waiting for him. "Sakura," he held out his arms and Sakura embraced him.

"Are you all right?" he examined her bandages and knew that she was ok, "I hope that those rocks weren't hard for you," Neji kissed Sakura on the lips and held her for a moment when a half asleep Rock Lee came downstairs.

"Has anyone seen Ino?" he yawned and then heard footsteps coming down from the stairs and saw Ino. He ran to her and kissed her gently on the lips with no knowledge that they've been kissed already through half of the night.

"You ok? Where were you??" Rock Lee was bubbling with questions and Ino just held close to her boyfriend as if afraid to letting him go just when Shikamaru came downstairs. Ino took a glance at him and so did him; they locked eyes and then broke apart.

No one must ever know what happened tonight, she thought as she smiled at her current boyfriend.

"Where are the others?" Naruto scratched his head, and then Hinata answered for him.

"They're probably asleep; they were probably sleeping on the blackout," Hinata politely said to the others who nodded.

Hinata looked at the current couples and noticed that something had happened between them. Tonight probably changed everything………hopefully for the best, she thought as everyone was getting ready for bed.

^_^ Eva ^_^