Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 4 Girls day out

The girls were all giggling and having so much fun. It has been a while since they all went shopping together. They bought each other nice little gifts. They had lunch together and at the end of the day they all sat down at a cosy cafe, what seemed to be THE place to be for one and all. They went to sit at the bar. The girls sighed. They were exhausted from walking all day. Their feet hurt and they all could use a massage right now. Tenten suggested that it would be fun to have a sleepover at her cabin. The girls agreed and planned to have a sleepover party at Tenten's place after the festival. Sakura ordered four cokes.

"Here you go. Four cokes for the pretty ladies." The bartender smiled and winked at Ino.

"Thank you." Ino said with a flirtatious tone of voice. She smiled back at the bartender.

Sakura noticed it. "Well, it looks like Ino is back to her old self. Flirting with every cute guy she sees." Sakura giggled.

Ino looked with astonishment at Sakura. Sakura stopped laughing and then looked at Hinata, who turned to face Tenten. Suddenly they all burst out in laughter.

"And here we were, still a bit worried about poor Ino." Tenten said still smiling. "But you have to admit Ino, aren't you glad that you're rid of that dickhead, now you don't have some guy playing with your emotions."

"But don't all guys do that?" Sakura questioned.

A moment of silence occurred...

"Hahaha, yeah you're right. All guys do. But so do we! Hahaha." Tenten replied.

"Yes, but most of the time when boys do it, it hurts the most..." Hinata said seriously while staring at her glass. "And sometimes they don't even now when they are doing it. It almost seems like it comes natural for them."

"Hey Hinata. Did Naruto do something to you? Is that the reason why you are talking so seriously?" Sakura asked her friend. Everybody stared at her.

Hinata snapped back to reality and smiled vaguely. "So I guess its true, everybody does know that I have a crush on Naruto-kun." She sighed. "It doesn't matter anyway, he doesn't like me the way I like him."

"I'm not so sure about that. You two have been hanging out a lot lately, haven't you?" Sakura asked Hinata. She nodded.

"I think that that baka will eventually develop feelings for you that go beyond friendship or already has, he just doesn't know it yet. I've known Naruto for a very long time and if there is one thing I've learned about him, its the fact that most of the time he's a little bit late with figuring things out, especially when it comes to girls." Sakura assured her friend.

Hinata smiled. "Thank you, I'm already feeling better. But hey, we are supposed to cheer Ino up and not me. And besides Tenten said that we shouldn't talk about boys anyways."

"That's true, I did say that, but do you really think that Ino needs our help? I mean look at her." Tenten pointed at Ino. Everyone looked at the direction she was pointing at. They all saw Ino checking out the bartender's ass.

"Ino!" Sakura yelled.

Ino looked at her. "What? What is it?"

"Haven't you been listening, at all?"

"To what?" Ino asked confused.

They all laughed. Ino just stared at them with question marks above her head, which made them laugh even more, and then the bartender looked up wondering what's going on, which made everyone laugh harder including Ino, who finally understood what was happening. They stood up and walked to the door, still laughing.

"Ok guys, I'll see you later." Tenten waved. Meanwhile it was already nighttime. They were all going to their rooms to prepare for the festival.

"Ok Tenten, we'll see you in just a bit." Ino smiled and waved back at Tenten.

Sakura and Hinata started walking towards their cabins. Ino followed them, but suddenly the girls in front of her stopped.

"Girls? Why did you stop?" She gazed passed them in the direction they were facing. Her eyes widened. "Shikamaru." She said surprised.

"Hey." He greeted her, while staring into her eyes. He had a strange smile on his face. Like he was glad about something. Or maybe it was just her imagination.

Hinata and Sakura, sensing the awkwardness, said their goodbyes to Ino and left to get ready for the festival this evening. Leaving Shikamara and Ino behind to talk.

Ultimately Shikamaru spoke. "Ino… I need to talk you about something."

Ino bit her lip. "Ok, walk me to my apartment.

They started walking. Ino looked up at the stars. Shikamaru couldn't take his eyes off of her. They were walking very slowly. They both didn't want the stroll to end. It was so peaceful, no worries, no stress, just her and him and the night sky.

"Ino? Can I ask you something?" Shikamaru spoke softly.

"Uhh sure…"

"Why… uhm… I don't know how to say this so I'll just say it. Why…do you hate me?"

Ino was surprised by what he said. "I don't hate you. I never said I hated you."

Shikamaru stared at the ground. They were getting closer to Ino's apartment. "It's just that… You always seem so irritated by me. Have I done something to make you angry at me?" He looked up at her. She wasn't looking at him. Instead she had a troubled look on her face and stared at the sky. "Ino?"

"I'm sorry." She mumbled.

"What?" Shikamaru moved closer to hear her better.

"I'm so sorry." She said louder this time. "I'm so sorry Shikamaru!" To Shikamaru's surprise she started crying. "I'm so sorry for how I treated you, I'm so sorry for how I left things with you, I'm so sorry for trying to ignore you, but most of all I'm so sorry…" She stared at Shikamaru with teary eyes. "That I never told you how much I loved you." Shikamaru looked back at her with an emotionless face. "Say something dammit! Go ahead tell me how much you despise me!"

Shikamaru remained silent, he went back to staring at the ground.

"Shikamaru." Ino had a desperate plea in her tone of voice. She grabbed him by the arm and they stopped walking. "You'd better say something. Go ahead, yell at me. I know you want to. Just do it, you'll feel a lot better once you get that out of the way." She kept staring at him. She sighed and let him go. She walked again, but Shikamaru wasn't following her.

"Why?" Shikamaru said loud enough for her to hear him. She stopped and turned to look him in the eyes. "I just want to know why you made it seem like you didn't want anything to do with me." He looked up this time and stared right back at her. She started sobbing.

"Because I had a boyfriend." Shikamaru didn't understand this answer. Ino started to explain. "I broke up with you to be with Ryu and yet you were constantly on my mind. I was still in love with you and it pained me that I hurt you so much. But I didn't realise this, only after all things were said and done." She paused for a moment.

"I didn't want to have these feelings for you. I didn't want to be in love with you, I wanted to be in love with Ryu. Because he was my boyfriend and not you. And I didn't want to break up with him, because then I would be all alone. It was certain that you wouldn't take me back, not after that nasty break up. So I decided to do everything to keep you out of my life and out of my heart so I could focus on Ryu. I thought that eventually I would fall in love with him and that I would be happy."

"I pretended to be annoyed by you. I acted like a bitch around you, so that you would leave me alone and that you would leave my mind. And I must admit it worked for a while. For a short period of time I was happy. But no matter how hard I tried, no matter how hard I ignored you, you were still there. In my heart, in my mind, in my life."

Shikamaru kept staring at her in disbelief. He didn't know how to respond.

"I missed you, that's why. I wasn't angry at you, I was angry at myself. For being so stupid, for making such a stupid mistake. I was in love with you, don't you understand that?" She stopped talking and turned away. She was shaking all over, she had kept this inside for months and now that it was out in the open she didn't know what to do. She was scared of the way he was going to react.

"How about now?" Shikamaru eventually said. Ino turned again and gazed at him. "Do you still love me now?" Everything went silent around them. Shikamaru couldn't do anything but stare, it was the same for Ino.

"Yes." She whispered.

Shikamaru smiled. "Good. Because I've been meaning to tell you that I love you for a while now, but you never gave me the chance."

Ino smiled back at him and wiped away her tears. "Oh really." She said in a teasing tone of voice.

"Yes really." He moved in closer and placed his hand on her thigh. He pulled her towards him. Ino placed her arms around his shoulder. Shikamaru looked into her eyes. "I love you, but you are one troublesome woman. You'd better be worth the trouble." He smirked. Ino giggled.

"Thank you…" Ino whispered

"For what?"

She gazed into his eyes and smiled. Suddenly Shikamaru understood why she was thanking him and he smiled back at her. They slowly moved their heads towards each other and kissed.

The festival was a lot of fun for everybody. Everyone showed up. They were all pleased to see Ino and Shikamaru back together again. After the festival the girls went to Tenten's place as planned. Ino however…

"What is taking Ino so long?" Sakura said aggravated. Hinata and Sakura were now already at Tenten's place. They were all waiting for Ino to begin the late night activities.

"Isn't it obvious Sakura? She ditched us for Shikamaru." Tenten said while fluffing her pillow. Hinata giggled.

"Just wait till I get my hands on her. This was supposed to be a girl's night." Sakura sat down on her mattress. Hinata went to sit beside her.

"Don't be angry Sakura, you still have me and Tenten. We can still have fun right? Just be happy that she is working things out with the boy of her dreams." Hinata calmed her.

"Well at least one of us is doing that." Tenten said out loud, not knowing that they heard her. Hinata and Sakura looked at her in shock.

"Tenten is there something you haven't told us yet?" Sakura smiled.

Tenten blushed. "No nothing…" Hinata and Sakura looked at each other and smiled. Then they faced Tenten again.

"Oeh Tenten has a crush on someone!" They shouted simultaneously.

"No! Really, I don't!"

"Fess up Tenten!" Sakura shouted.

"This is going to be a long night." Tenten sighed.

The next morning the girls planned to have breakfast at a little restaurant.

"Here it is. The place I was telling you about." Tenten showed them the direction of a nice, tiny restaurant. They sat down at a big table for twelve by the window.

"Tenten, why are we sitting at such a large table?" Hinata wondered.

"I invited the guys to join us. I called them when you were getting ready. I also called Shikamaru and Ino, but there was no answer from both their apartments. Maybe they went out early to get some breakfast elsewhere." She winked. She actually lied, Ino did pick up the phone, but informed Tenten that Shikamaru and her were going to sleep in. They would try to meet them later on.

"Hello girls!" Lee greeted the girls with a cheery voice. Right behind him was Neji. He smirked at Tenten. Tenten answered his smile with an angry look. Neji then responded by raising his shoulders. They all sat down and waited for the others to arrive. The rest of the guys soon joined them.

Hinata was sitting right across Naruto. Naruto was talking with Lee who was sitting next to him. Of course it was a very loud and energetic conversation about nothing interesting.

"Naruto you're crazy! This green outfit is a thousand times cooler, than your orange outfit!"

"No way Lee! Your outfit isn't cool at all and what's up with that hairdo?! If you must impersonate someone, than at least chose a cooler person than Gai sensei. He is like the exact opposite of cool."

Lee's eyes grew wider and he had a tear in one eye. "Take that back."

"Take what back?" Naruto questioned.

"Gai sensei IS cool, he is the coolest sensei and person that I've ever met!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Oh oh, here we go."

"He has a cool attitude, a cool outfit, a cool hairdo, a cool smile, a cool…" Lee ramped on in the background.

Naruto was not really paying any attention to him. "Blah blah blah." He mumbled.

Hinata was listening very carefully and blushed when Naruto noticed her watching him. Her cousin was sitting next to her and he also noticed Hinata looking at him.

"Hinata can I talk you for a minute?" Neji asked out of the blue.

Hinata looked at her cousin and wondered what he wanted to discuss with her. "Err… sure. Excuse us guys, we'll be right back." She said to her friends. They stood up and walked over to the hallway.

"Hinata, stop being so shy and tell him already. Or else I will." Neji had a threatening tone.

"What are you talking about Neji?" She said surprised.

Neji sighed heavily. "It's annoying you know that?"

Hinata still didn't know what the hell Neji was talking about. "What are…"

Neji cut her short. "You and your shyness." He said aggravated. "Why don't you just come clean and admit to him that you're in love with him."

Hinata blushed and gazed over to her left. She really wanted to tell him, but what's the point if he doesn't even see her other than a good friend. "Neji it's just that…" She stopped.

"What? What? Tell me, you know you can tell me anything, I'm more than just your cousin, I'm one of your best friends." He pleaded.

"He doesn't love me!" She shouted. She quickly covered her mouth with her hands. She regretted saying that so loud. She hoped that no one else but Neji heard her. Unfortunately that was not the case. Tenten and Naruto stood up and gazed around the corner into the hallway. Hinata looked at them and had an embarrassed laugh.

"Are you ok, Hinata?" Tenten asked concerned. Her eyes then fell on Neji and she gave another angry look, like it was all Neji's fault she had an outburst. She crossed her arms. Neji raised one eyebrow.

Naruto ignored the tense situation between Neji and Tenten and walked straight over to Hinata. He had a worried look on his face. "Hinata? What's wrong? We heard your voice." Luckily for Hinata they didn't hear her say the exact words.

She sighed. "Everything is fine Naruto. We're almost finished talking. Go back inside. We'll be right there." She gave him a warm smile.

Naruto hesitated for a second. He then nodded and went back inside with Tenten. Or so it seemed. He stopped just around the corner to eavesdrop on what they were saying. He was very worried about her. Hinata normally doesn't have these outbursts and this is the second time she had one. Only this time he is going to find out what is bothering her.

Hinata turned her head and faced Neji again. "Sorry for the interruption."

"Explain." Was the only thing Neji could say at the moment.

"What?"

"You know what. Explain why Naruto presumably doesn't love you."

"Naruto's eyes widened. They were talking softly, but he could hear them clearly. They were talking about him.

Hinata closed her eyes for a moment and let a tear drop. Neji felt sorry for his cousin. He walked over to her and hugged her. She hugged him back. She placed her head on his shoulder.

"Just let it all out Hinata." He comforted her.

She started sobbing. "I have been in love with Naruto ever since I was little. I've been waiting for the right opportunity to tell him that. But every time, I didn't have the courage. I was so afraid that he would say that he didn't love me back. But now I realize I've waited too long. He is not in love with me. He made that perfectly clear by telling Ayame (the ramengirl) that I was just a friend to him." She let her tears flow freely now.

Naruto could not believe what he was hearing. How is it possible that he didn't notice her true feelings for him? She means so much to him. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings. How could he have been so blind? Her heart is breaking because of him. "Sometimes I'm such a ignorant jerk. She is the only person that was always so sweet to me. I must do something to make her feel better." "Don't cry sweet Hinata, your pain will disappear, shortly…" He whispered. Naruto turned around and returned to his seat.

"Hey Naruto! I wasn't finished talking to you!" Lee shouted at him.