Author's Opening Rant- I love my reviewers so much! o0.0o Honestly, thank you all for being so kind! As I have stated before, you guys keep me focused and wanting to continue my story.

And I would like to apologize for any and all typos that slip by! Sorry! I do re-read the story before posting it, but I don't catch everything that's wrong. AND, I would also like to apologize for my Japanese! I'm so sorry!!! But when I think about these guys speaking, it's usually in Japanese—since the series itself hasn't been dubbed over.

I will give everyone fair warning about this chapter; There is going to be a lot of angsty fluffy things going on. For all of those opposed to SasuSaku or NejiTen, you might want to skip this one.

Oh!! And one last thing before I begin!

Chouji: o.o; .Uhhh…Chaotic Demon, will YOU go to the Dance with me?! ::Offers a rose:: ((I'm sorry! I couldn't resist! XD ))

Chapter 7- Wounded Emotion

Silence can be such a heavy thing.

It hung stagnant in the air between Sasuke and Sakura. They had been sitting in his house for at least an hour now, in a strangely stark and unfurnished room, Sakura seated while Sasuke leaned himself against the wall across from her. Neither spoke, nor looked at the other. Both pairs of eyes were trained down on the curious trails of light filtering through the windows that seemed to stretch the length of the room. Somewhere else in the house, a clock ticked loudly, keeping track of the seconds that passed in silence. He knew what she wanted to ask, and he didn't want to hear it. She knew what his answer would be, but she still hoped to change his mind. After a while, the silence began numbing Sakura's brain. She at least had to try…

Slowly, she drew in a deep breath and started forming words, "Sasuke-kun? I was-"

"I'm not going." He rudely ended her question, still not looking up.

Sakura couldn't stand the tension anymore. She jumped to her feet, seizing him with her emerald eyes, "But why?!" She gave him ample time to respond, but only received the sound of that clock again. "Sasuke-kun, I don't understand you."

"Of course you don't."

"But it happened such a long time ago!"

Sasuke's eyes rose to meet hers, slowly and dangerously like two onyx serpents. It was a silent warning for Sakura to not tread any further onto the subject. The silence returned as Sakura squirmed internally under the intensity of Sasuke's glare. After he was sure she got the point, the Uchiha pushed away from the wall and moved to leave the room, "You can let yourself out."

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura felt a lump of nervousness well up in the back of her throat, and swallowing against it, forced out her next statement, "Can't…can't you just let it go…?"

Almost instantly, all sounds were consumed and a dread silence fell.

Sasuke's gaze went back to her, his eyes wide with horror that she would even suggest such a thing. Sakura flinched at his sudden change in expression, taking a step back. In an instant, before she could even think about what she had just said, he sprang at her, pinning her back against a wall. Sasuke was livid. Sakura found herself shrinking away from the hatred and sorrow reflected in his dark orbs, trying her best to squirm away and escape. The enraged Uchiha lowered his eyes onto hers, making absolutely sure that she had no way of escaping or ignoring him, his voice darker and more sinister than she had ever thought possible, "You know what, Sakura, I would say 'Let's see you just let it go.' Let's see you, when your parents are killed right before your eyes, just let it go. When their blood runs clear across the room. When they have done nothing wrong. When they, at their most vulnerable, are slaughtered by their own child, and you are powerless to prevent it. Let's see you just let all of that go. I would like to see how you'd deal with that…I would! But that's too cruel. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone, Sakura, not even you."

Hot tears began forming at the corners of her eyes, and she found herself biting her lip to keep from crying. She was used to Sasuke being mean to her, but never this brutal.

He held her pinned for a moment longer, loathing shining across his face. Slowly, as if thinking over what he was doing, Sasuke released her with his hands, but not his eyes. Another suffocating look of hatred captured the poor terrified kunoichi, lingering just long enough to watch a tear trail down her cheek. Again, the Uchiha survivor turned to leave, "Just get out…"

Sakura pulled herself away from the wall, staring at his back through watery eyes. It was so clear that he was in pain, to her at least, that all she wanted to do was reach out and help him. No matter how much he cursed and screamed at her, Sakura would never hate him. She couldn't, "Sasuke…" He paused, just surprised that she hadn't thrown he usual '–kun' suffix at the end of his name like always. Sakura's words came trembling out, "You…your heart. It will never heal…if you won't let it."

"…get…" His body shook with rage, both hands clenched into fists at his side. He just wanted her to stop talking; it was driving him insane, "GET OUT!" He roared at her without even bothering to regard her with another petrifying glare. But the force of his voice had achieved its desired result: Sakura flew to the front door and left in a rush, the door slamming shut with a thunderous sound. Sasuke's house then fell silent, his ears at the mercy of that ticking clock. The Uchiha didn't move from his spot, he only stared down at the sunlight reaching towards his feet from the window…left again to torment himself with memories.

It was only by chance that Naruto had seen Sakura running in a panic from the Uchiha estate. As the blonde shinobi wandered the festival grounds alone, looking for Gaara who had wandered away for whatever reason, he caught a glimpse of someone shoot out from one of the houses. When he turned to see who it was, Naruto recognized the bright pink hair instantly, "Sakura…chan?" Judging by the look on her face, something had to be wrong. Naruto quickly dropped what he was doing and gave chase, following the Haruno girl into a small little alleyway edged between two towering houses. His breath choked in a gasp when he finally caught up to her, and saw her sobbing into her hands, "Sakura-chan?! What's wrong?!"

Sakura pulled her face away from her hands at the sound of Naruto's voice. She suppressed a few light sniffles, then, entirely on impulse, flung herself at the blonde shinobi, "Ohh, Naruto!"

Naruto froze as she grabbed him. He could feel her tears wetting the shoulder of his jacket within moments, "Sakura-chan. What…what happened?"

"Sasuke…Sasuke hates me." She sniffled again, moving a hand to wipe her face.

"Sakura-chan…Sasuke hates everybody." His comfort had helped much less than he had hoped, and only made the kunoichi bawl louder. Naruto sighed to himself; he was no good at this kind of thing. He didn't know how to deal with this. He didn't even know what had happened. But he did know that he was not going to stand aside and do nothing if there were tears in Haruno Sakura's eyes. He rubbed her back very lightly, not wanting to overstep his bounds, and managed an encouraging little smile, "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. Uhm…I'm sure Sasuke doesn't… hate you, hate you."

"You…you think so?" Sakura was finally able to pull herself away from him, wiping her eyes dry with the back of her hand.

"Sure I do!" Naruto's smile spread even further across his mouth, "In fact, I'll go have a talk with him to straighten everything out for you!" Of course, Naruto only wanted to help the girl he had so long had a crush on…but secretly, he swore to himself that he was going to kick Sasuke's ass for this.

Sakura smiled back at him, unaware of the trouble she had just started, "Thank you, Naruto."

Such problems the Leaf Festival was bringing this year; and the young man with the two largest and blondest problems of all was finally moving away from his favorite Cloud-watching patch of grass. Shikamaru had decided that, even though it was troublesome, he was going to get himself lost in the sea of festivalgoers to avoid another confrontation with either of the girls. He made his way towards a booth, shuffling through his pockets for some spare change to buy another round of food. Just as his fingers touched a few coins, Shikamaru felt someone tapping him rather roughly on the shoulder. He sighed out loud, already knowing he was going to regret anything he said, "…what? What do you want?"

"What's with that tone, Shikamaru?!" Ino's voice boomed behind him, threateningly at first, but slowly melting into an eerily sweet tone of voice, "Ahh, Shikamaru? You are taking me to the dance, right?" She received no answer. "Did you hear me? You're coming with me, you know." Again, the shadow shinobi did his best to shut her voice out. "You do realize what I will do to you if you ditch out on me, don't you?!" there was that threatening tone again.

Shikamaru turned to face her, scowling as he paid the vendor for his latest meal, "Ino…why are you so hell-bent on this? Go with someone else. Go with Chouji!"

"Shikamaru!!" Ino's voice went from threatening straight to deadly, "You are taking me! End of discussion!" She gave him a quick punch in the shoulder to punctuate her statement before storming off through the crowd, physically shoving people out of her way.

Shikamaru stood there, watching her part the crowd as he rubbed at his shoulder, wincing to himself. What did he ever do to deserve such a thing as this whole mess? "Stubborn…troublesome women…"

Being on a break was no excuse to let their skills slip, so during free time in-between attending the festivities and dealing with the other crazed Gennin, Neji and Tenten were training. They had found a remote little spot far from the crowds of people where Neji could perfect his Kaiten without sending a stray kunai into some stranger's forehead. For about the seventh time, Tenten unloaded her shuriken pouch at the Hyuuga genius. Neji twisted and spun, releasing enough chakra to form a thin line of iridescent blue light around his rotation. The weapons went sailing away from him without getting so much as a foot close, colliding harmlessly with trees and bushes. Tenten herself had to dodge a few deflected shuriken to avoid being stricken. After finishing his rotation, Neji looked around at the strewn weapons with a satisfied smirk, "Perfect. That should be enough for now. Let's head over to the festival and get some dinner."

"Hold it a sec." Panting slightly from the effort, Tenten eyed Neji with a cold look of curiosity.

Neji met her gaze, "What? You want to keep going?"

"No, I wanna know what you talked about with Sakura." The weapons master rested her hands on her hips, her gaze beginning to turn sour.

There was a long pause as Neji's pale eyes went across the clearing to avoid her. Sakura had been very insistent about keeping the secret just between the two of them; she seemed to think that Tenten was something of a big mouth. Neji was sworn to secrecy, and no matter what branch of the family he belonged to, a Hyuuga never broke his word, "I- Uhmm, it isn't important."

"Its about the dance, right?" Another uneasy pause told Tenten that she had guessed correctly. She fought off the overpowering urge to unleash another wave of shuriken at him, sighing as her face softened, "Neji. What am I to you?"

"What?" Neji's gaze snapped right back onto her, "What on earth are you talking about?"

A strange and soft look crossed Tenten's face, a look that Neji had rarely ever seen her wear, " Do you just see me as a teammate? Someone to train with? Someone to make fun of Lee behind his back with?"

A strangled chuckle came out of the Hyuuga as he recalled all of the strange little names he and Tenten had concocted for the third member of their cell.

"I'm serious!" Tenten barked at him, obviously not in the mood for jokes, "You don't care at all about me! It could have been anyone from our class who teamed up with you! It would have made no difference!" Neji looked completely taken aback by what she was saying. He opened his mouth to protest, but the chestnut-haired kunoichi cut the sentence off before it formed, "Just tell me. What do you see me as?"

Neji's pale orbs wandered away again in thought. After a few quiet moments, he spoke up again, "You…are very much like your kunai, Tenten. When grasped the wrong way, it will pierce and wound you. But when grasped the correct way, there is nothing I could think of that I would rather have at my side."

Tenten's face went strangely blank. Even Neji was surprised at how poetic that had sounded. But the weapons master had no idea exactly what he was trying to get across to her, "Ehhh… what? What's all that supposed to mean?"

A gentle smile crept over Neji's face, "Nothing. Never mind."

Before Tenten could push the issue further, there was the sharp snap and loud thud of someone falling out of a tree. Both she and Neji turned towards the source of the sound, and there, lying in a pile of orange-brown leaves that had tumbled down with him, was Rock Lee.

"Owwwww…" Lee moaned to himself, swiftly pulling himself up into his usual Iron Fist fighting stance.

"Lee? What are you doing-" Neji was stopped by one of Lee's hands motioning for silence.

"Hyuuga Neji, my eternal rival," Lee's eyes went deadly serious, despite the many leaves sticking stupidly out of his bowl style haircut, "Now you pay for the crime of stealing the heart of the lovely Sakura-san away from me!" He blew his bangs aside with a quick breath, a few of the leaves fluttering to the ground.

Both of his teammates stared in disbelief at his usual tendency to overreact—although, Tenten was kind of hoping that Lee might actually kick Neji around for once. Neji just shook his head, eyes closing in frustration as he set off back towards the festival, "Idiot."

"Ahh! NEJI! Don't you dare run away from me!" Lee's cool was completely knocked off balance. The taijutsu master began flailing and screaming for a fight as Neji calmly left, leaving both Lee and Tenten to wonder about the mysterious conversation between the Hyuuga genius and the clever Haruno.

For the second time since her arrival to Konoha, Temari of the sand found herself scouring through the crowds of people for they boy she seemed most interested in. Pale blue eyes darted here and there, finally resting on someone. She strode up to him, smirking viciously at the unfamiliar face that greeted her, "Nice try. You can drop the Transformation now, Nara."

The stranger glowered at her. In a puff, the acrid scent of smoke filled Temari's nose as the Henge no Jutsu was dropped, and Shikamaru revealed himself. The shadow-wielding ninja went so pale in the face that he suddenly looked very sick, "How…? No, wait. I don't want to know."

"Heh." A triumphant little scoff came from Temari as she tilted her head back, "So then, about this dance thing."

"I thought we discussed this already." His eyes narrowed at his continued bad luck.

"We did" she shrugged him off, "But I want to hear you say it. Go on."

Shikamaru thought he felt a severe headache coming on. He closed his eyes for a second and massaged his temples to alleviate the pain, "You know, my friend is looking for someone to go with. Can't you go to the dance with Chouji?"

Temari sent a glare over at the lazy ninja, "I don't think so. You're taking me. And if you ditch out on me, you'll regret it." Shikamaru could feel his jaw hanging open. It was terrifying just how alike the two of them really were, in personality and in annoyance. And in patience: Temari's lips twisted into a pout as she awaited an answer, "Well? Can't you make a decision on your own, Nara? What kind of man are you?!" The sand kunoichi turned to leave, villagers moving out of her way either in courtesy, or just fear.

Shikamaru's left eyebrow twitched angrily as he shouted over the crowd at her, "I have made a decision! I've decided that I hate blondes!!!"

Nearby, a band was playing an up-beat and lively tune, though it did nothing to lift Hyuuga Hinata's mood. Ever since she had blown what she figured was her only chance to ask Naruto to the dance, she had been sighing and sulking to herself. Hinata had been persuaded away from her house finally by Aburame Shino, who stood right next to her, either looking out over the crowd or watching the food booth just off to her side. Hinata folded her arms across her chest, sighing for what felt like the one-thousandth time as she stared down at her feet. If she wanted to stop obsessing over it, she had to talk about something, and she knew damn well that Shino would never be the first to start conversation, "Uhh, Shino-kun? So…who are you taking to the dance?"

"The same person I take every year." Shino's voice was stoic as always. He slowly lifted a hand, presenting a tiny yellow-and-black striped wasp that he had affectionately named Bee-chan. The little insect fluttered its wings in a buzz of agreement.

Hinata just smiled nervously at him, "O-Ohh…"

"You haven't given up on Naruto yet, have you?" Shino's dark glasses caught the dying sunlight and flashed as he turned to her.

The shy Hyuuga girl had been caught completely off-guard by his question, "I…"

"AHEM." Someone close by had just cleared his throat very loudly, apparently for attention. Shino and Hinata turned and stared curiously at the beaming, smiling face of Akimichi Chouji. "Hinata," he spoke without hesitation, "If you haven't found a date yet, will you go to the festival dance with me?"

"H-huh?" Hinata was caught off-guard again, her face blushing bright red over the flattering proposition.

But before an answer could be given, Chouji jumped with a start, same as Naruto had, as Akamaru latched himself onto the chubby ninja's ankle, "OWWW! Hey! Cut that out, you little runt!" Akamaru tugged furiously at Chouji's leg, growling as best as the little puppy could manage. Eventually, Chouji got the hint and turned to leave, giving his leg a few good shakes to throw the dog off. Was that strike four or five? Chouji had lost count already!

Hinata watched the pudgy ninja sulk off, feeling a little bad about it, but also grateful that she didn't wind up going with him instead of Naruto. She stooped and lifted a still growling Akamaru, "That's so strange. Akamaru…has been following me around since the festival began. I wonder why…"

Shino was suddenly very happy that his face was hidden, because he was sure a strange expression had crossed it. Poor innocent Hinata had no clue, but Shino knew exactly why Akamaru was playing watchdog over the shy kunoichi.

"…Uhh, Shino-kun?" Hinata hugged Akamaru tightly to avoid anyone else getting bitten as she looked over at her partner, "Could I…ask you a favor?"

"What is it?" the cool and collective bug shinobi eyed her behind his dark lenses.

"Could…could…" Hinata felt the heat rising in her cheeks as another furious blush broke out. She hugged Akamaru even tighter to keep from poking her fingers together, forcing a tiny yelp from the puppy, "Could…you…please…help me…a-ask out…N-N-Naruto-kun?"

Both of Shino's slender eyebrows rose sharply in surprise. He hadn't expected something like that. He gave Bee-chan a quick glance out of the corner of his eye, and receiving an encouraging buzz, nodded to Hinata, "If it means that much to you, sure thing."

A wide smile crossed Hinata's face as she looked back up at Shino, "Thank you…Shino-kun." This time, she'd do it for sure. No backing down, no chickening out—Hinata was going to ask Uzumaki Naruto out! Her happiness was so contagious that even Akamaru yipped and wagged his furry little tail.

No more than three steps away from them both, the third member of their cell, Inuzuka Kiba, was keeping himself concealed behind one of the many food booths. He growled quietly under his breath, eyeing Shino with murderous intent. "Damn that Shino." Kiba hissed, having to push a hanging octopus out of his face for the fifth time since he had began his vigil, "Who's side is he on? Keh, makes no difference to me. Even if a thousand Shinos were helping Naruto, I'm still gonna go with Hinata!"

For about the sixth time, the vendor turned an agitated look on Kiba, "Hey kid. Are you gonna buy something, or just stand there all day?" The booth's owner again went ignored, going back to handing out food to actual paying customers.

Kiba's gaze locked on his teammates, "Hmmm…now would be a perfect time to ask her, if only Shino would get lost! Come on, Akamaru…quit waggin' your tail and—GAHH!" Kiba shouted as something lifted him right off of the ground. Something very coarse and grainy. Something that felt an awful lot like…sand.

"You again." The deadpan tone of Gaara reached Kiba's ears, sending a shiver down the Konoha ninja's spine, "You've been causing a lot of trouble for that woman who likes Naruto."

Kiba was sure he had whimpered like a kicked dog as he turned to face the redheaded, dark eyed Shinobi. He found that, to his horror, he was in fact in the grip of Gaara's deadly sand, "Y-Y-You!! What…what do you want?! This doesn't concern you!" Kiba gave another yelp as the sand tightened on him for his big mouth.

"Naruto calls me his friend." Gaara's voice was eerie as always, stating everything very matter-of-factly and with no hint of doubt, "I will not let you interfere in my friend's life. If you do not stop, I will kill you."

Kiba swallowed hard, staring at Gaara in terror. But at once, the sand went slack. This was, after all, only a warning. Even if it was a VERY good warning. The instant he was freed, Kiba bolted away, screaming his head off for no particular reason whatsoever.

"Hnn?" Hinata turned her head slightly to the food booth just off at her side, catching sight of Gaara, but wondering who was screaming, "That sounded like…Kiba-kun."

Author's Ending Rant-

Wow! So this IS a romance fic after all!

Sorry If I got a little carried away on the Sasuke and Sakura scene, and if I went a little OOC on Neji-nii-chan. I even snuck a little NaruSaku in there! Evil, evil SmilingFox! This chapter's a little different than the others, huh? Not much comedy…well…except for Poor Shika-kun! Heh! Well, as always, tell me if you liked it!

I think I'll be taking the very good advise of one of my reviewers and pick the pairings myself—and Thank you, for giving me the encouragement to do that. Also, thank all of you guys so much for the wonderful ideas you've given me! But please…no shooting Rocket launches at Naruto, please? n.n; He'll get the hint, I promise!

Ohhh! And "Bee-chan" is a creation of Hitsuji no Pocky! Sorry, Hitsuji-chan! I HAD to use it!

Kaiten just means "Rotation." It's that spinny attack Neji does.

Henge No Jutsu means "The Art of Transformation."

And—I can't believe I haven't listed this yet—Kunoichi is a female ninja.

That's all for now! Until next update then!

--Fox.