Wow... I think this fic has potential. Well I'll try and write as much and more often as possible. Have fun!
Oh and thank you all for the reviews.
Naruto was anticipating this moment. Sakura didn't even begin her sentence with "Are you INSANE?" Or put on a bad face. So there must be a chance that she'll say yes. Naruto was hyperactive as usual but this time he wanted to hear it. He knew that there was a chance she'd say no, but Naruto wasn't going to give up!
Sakura started to think for a moment. Sasuke had given up on social life ever since Naruto dragged him back here. But the pink hair girl was starting to wonder if Naruto was such a bad guy. Sure he can be a complete and utter idiot sometimes but he means well. He'll give his life just to save a friend and his utter determination is always a plus.
"Why not?" Sakura said, bending over to Naruto's face. She smiled. "It'll be fun, pick me up at... five thirty? It begins at six so don't be late!" Sakura was almost tempted to give Naruto a kiss but she thought to herself. 'No way, this is just a one shot. I am not going out with Naruto like we were actually going out.' Sakura knew that sentence made no sense but she was scampering for an excuse not to kiss the blonde hair ninja.
"Alright!" Naruto jumped into the air before Sakura could make a final choice. "Yes! Yes! Yes! I'll pick you up at five thirty sharp, I promise!" Naruto was practically bouncing the whole way back his apartment. Yet he didn't the joy he expected. It was like he made a wrong decision. But hell why would he feel that? He FINALLY got a date with Sakura-Chan; no way can it go wrong.
Hinata knocked on Naruto's door, it was nearly midnight but she felt like it was the correct time for he to ask Naruto out. She decided against just asking him if he was busy, for it would definitely lead to some awkward questions. It was best to go straight to the point. The Hyuuga Heir knew it wasn't going to be easy but she had to, it might be her last chance! Sakura was growing fonder and fonder to Naruto, and before Hinata would know it, they might start going out.
The mere thought made Hinata blush and yet shiver at the same time. She wasn't the jealous type, heck she wasn't even the type to go out on a date. Yet Naruto made her feel stronger, and she wanted to be with him. Every time she was around the blonde ninja she would feel strength (and weakness from all the blushing) and his voice always made he feel better.
The wooden door slowly opened, the blonde ninja was eating a cup of ramen when he poked his head outside the small crack. "Neh? Ah! Hinata-Chan! What a surprise!" Naruto's been talking with Hinata a lot lately. She was nice and always complimented him. It was weird but her acknowledgement meant more to him than any other person. Maybe it was because she was the Hyuuga Heir? Naw, Naruto didn't care about that. It was something else, but the young man couldn't quite put his hand on it.
"Ano, Naruto-Kun? Can I come in?" Hinata asked, all her energy putting into not blushing like a maniac.
"Ah! Sure!" Naruto said, he unhooked the chain that locked his door and opened the door completely.
Hinata was soon sitting on the couch sipping tea. They were having a great conversation, talking about the Chuuin Exam, the missions they've been doing, how their training was progressing; simple things. Though they were engrossed into their conversation, Hinata's mind constantly monitored the clock. She wanted to make sure it didn't last too long so her father won't scold her. But not too short so Naruto will find it a more natural, casual date instead of a serious one.
Finally at around 10:30, Hinata started to go down the conversation path about festivals. Throughout the entire thing her heart pounded like a jackhammer and the green tea was the only thing from keeping her from going to the washroom and throwing up.
"Ano... Naruto-Kun?" Hinata asked, taking a small sip of her tea again.
"Yea Hinata?" Naruto said with his mouth half full of ramen.
"Do you have a... date for the Winter Festival?"
Naruto almost spewed all his ramen over his coffee table but he slapped his mouth close.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" Hinata started to blush madly. All she wanted to do was rush out the door to avoid the emmbarassment but she couldn't. Her body just froze up.
Naruto swallowed his ramen, slamming his fist into his chest, trying to get the food down without choking. After the noodles cleared his esophagus the young ninja thought about the question clearly. He really liked Hinata, in fact Naruto has grown so close to her that if Sakura had said 'No' to the date she would be the first person he'd ask out. If he were to decline her offer she would become even shyer. Naruto only wanted the best for his friends, so he contemplated the thought quickly.
'Need to choose... Need to choose...' the blonde ninja thought hard but quickly. 'Damn it I wish I was as smart as Shikamaru!' Yet a small voice in the back of his head was just screaming. "WHAT ARE YOU STUPID? TAKE HER!" and many other curse to insult his intelligence.
"Of course Hinata-Chan, I would be happy to!" Naruto said, putting on a normal smile.
Hinata-Chan had about a million butterflies in her stomach and she could've sworn she had fire on her cheeks until that very moment. "Y-You... will take me to the Winter Festival?"
Naruto smiled a big flashy grin. "Of course!" In his head there were two voices now. One was screaming.
"What the hell are you thinking? Sakura's going to kill you!""Screw Sakura, Hinata needs my help and if we did decline he offer she'll become so shy it'll be a surprise if you can even see her!"
"We've been wanting a date with Sakura for years and you blow it all off for one small shy girl?"
Naruto smiled as he closed the door, saying that he'll pick her up at around five thirty. He quickly closed the door, but tried his best not to make it look like he was freaking out. In reality, he was freaking... out.
So many voices in his had argued. Some really liked Hinata and some liked Sakura. "I'm going insane..." Naruto said to himself. He calmed himself, ignoring the voices and finally shutting them out of his mind.
"Okay... Now I just hope that Sakura doesn't take this... badly." Naruto sighed.
Hinata walked, blushing slightly. But the tingly feel in her cheeks were nothing in comparison to her happiness. She and Naruto were finally going out on a date. It was like a dream come true.
Sakura was taking out the garbage when she saw Hinata, smiling and blushing slightly. The pink hair ninja smiled. Hinata was always so shy so seeing her so happy was good. "Hello Hinata! What are you so happy about?"
Hinata wouldn't usually burst out like Naruto, but for some reason she just wanted Sakura to know. "Naruto-Kun is taking me to the Winter Festival!" She closed her eyes, imagining what the day would be like.
Sakura felt like a sledgehammer had hit her in the back of the head. She smiled and Hinata walked off, dreaming about the Winter Festival. She didn't want to say anything because maybe Hinata was mistaken. Maybe Naruto had said something stupid and she got the wrong message. After all Naruto is pretty damn idiotic. Dropping the garbage bag, Sakura rushed to Naruto's house.
"Why am I running?" the pink hair ninja said to herself. "It's not like I care if Naruto doesn't take me. I mean I thought it'd be fun. It doesn't matter to me..." Sakura felt a small ping of pain in her heart. Though it was small it still made Sakura angry. She was getting to the bottom of this. Sakura knocked on Naruto's door. The Chuuin inside opened the door, rubbing his eye as he did.
"Sakura-Chan! What are you doing here?" Naruto said yawning.
"Did you agree to take Hinata to the Winter Festival... even though you had already agreed to take ME out?"
Naruto stepped back, the door swinging open. "Crap." He muttered under his breath.
"Crap? That's all you can say? Are you TRYING to play with Hinata's feelings here?" Inner Sakura couldn't help but add 'And my feelings?'. Though it was in her head.
"It's because Hinata looked like she really wanted to go. I don't want to disappoint her. You know how confidence building is such a difficult task is for her. I was hoping to talk to you tomorrow, saying that she could come along with us on our date."
"What are you insane? Hinata will be so embarrassed that she'll just hide herself in her house forever!" Sakura need it was a bit of an exaggeration, but for some reason she wanted, no needed to convince Naruto that having Hinata on their date was a bad idea.
"What are you so upset about?" Naruto said, finally taking a stand in the argument. "I thought you said this was just a casual thing. It'll just be us hanging out... It's not like I'm going out with both of you girls at once." The ninja said. He knew this was in complete contradiction to what he was saying early. That it was a date and many other things, but he hoped that Hinata would understand.
Sakura almost stepped down from that comment. "Fine! Just... try not to hurt Hinata's feelings!" Inner Sakura once again added her own comment: "And mine..."
She stormed out the room and slammed the door. Naruto almost felt relieved she didn't cancel their date. But one would wonder... why didn't she? The young ninja was way too damn tired to care and fell back onto his bed.
Shikamaru's minds raced through many possibilities. First off, he needed to get away but he can't hurt either of the girl's feelings. He thought about just bolting it and pretend he never saw the two, but his gaze kept on shifting between the two and his body language definitely said "I saw something".
Time was up and before he knew it both girls asked him the exact same question.
"Will you take me to the Winter Festival?" The two girls yelled at the lazy Jouuin, at the exact same time.
"Oh shit" Shikamaru cursed. He was in for it now. It was either they both argued at each other and make Shikamaru choose one of them (and there was no way for him to choose anyway. He can't pick one over the other, hell will ensue afterwards) or they'll just beat each other's lights out. Shikamaru definitely preferred the latter.
Temari and Ino stared at each other with death glares. "Shikamaru's going with ME!" Ino said, grabbing hold of Shikamaru's arm tightly.
"H-Hey..." He said, trying to complain.
"No way you stupid blonde! He's going with ME!" Temari grabbed the other arm and tugged hard.
"Y-Yo..." Shikamaru said once again, trying to complain about his body being abused.
"Stupid blonde? Look at your own hair!" Ino said, pulling even harder at Shikamaru's arm.
"My hair is NOT blonde! It's golden!" Temari tugged even harder.
"Oh come on..." Shikamaru muttered. He felt like his arms were going to be ripped out of their sockets.
Soon it was a tug of war and Shikamaru was the prize and rope. "hey, hey... both of you girls stop that." Shikamaru said as he loosened his arms from the girls' death grip.
"Look, I ain't going to no Winter Festival unless you girls are DRAGGING me there." Shikamaru said this with his eyes closed while shaking his head. When he opened his eyes he saw Temari and Ino sharing the same grin on their face.
"Oh crap..." The lazy ninja sighed. Those two girls were really going to drag him to the winter festival. "You can't be serious about forcing me to go to the Winter Festival." Shikamaru put on a serious face, he was determine to win this conversation. Yet inside he was freaking out. 'I'm screwed!'
Ino and Temari looked at each other for a second. They weren't looking at each other with a crazy seductive grin but more with a cunning one. They had were practically sharing thoughts.
"You are going to take us BOTH to the festival. At the end of the date..." Temari began the sentence.
"You will decide which girl you will go steady with... Just remember who lives closer and is better looking..." Ino kissed Shikamaru on the cheek and left it at that.
"And remember who saved you and..." Temari kissed Shikamaru on the cheek as well, but while she did that she made sure that the lazy ninja saw her entire cleavage. "Who's more well developed." Temari got up and grabbed her bag. "I'll be staying at a hotel nearby I guess." With those words she disappeared.
Shikamaru practically fell over. The past few minutes were just unbelievable. He was being dragged to a date to a festival that he cursed every year. "I hate my life..." Shikamaru said, picking himself up and dragging himself home.As Shikamaru walked his mind started to contemplate many things. Voices in his head started to talk. Stating which girl's Pros and Cons.
"Temari's just... damn she's just hot!" one voice said."Yea but Ino's... well Ino's so nice, and she's... well Ino." Another voice debated.
"We all know that both girls are quite attractive. Temari's a year older than Ino, so she's bound to be more well developed." The third voice said. This final voice wasn't arguing but stating an opinion.
"Well I think Temari's aggressive attitude makes her a fine girl."
"What are you, out of your mind? You've been living in this guy's head his entire life and that's what you say? Ino's got our best interest in mind. I mean we've known her majority of our lives."
"Ino's a nice girl but she's just a friend. I'm sure she can find a nice boyfriend inside Leaf. Temari on the other hand... well from what I've heard Sand is full of power obsessed jerks who use women as weapons."
"Yes, Temari has probably been unlucky in love before but so has Ino. She's chased after Sasuke for almost five years. I think her heart's a bit hurt at the moment."
"For sure, but I think she's just catching us as a replacement for Sasuke... I don't think her emotions are true."
"Where'd you pull that idea from? Your ass?"
"What you want a piece of me you son of a bitch? I'll take you on with one hand tied behind my back!"
"Quiet! Both of you, this conversation obviously not going anywhere. Shikamaru will have to decide this himself."
"This decision is difficult, even for him."
"Yea! We usually help this sort of stuff out. Like when he decided to be straight or... well the other option."
"Who gave him such an idea anyway...?"
"I think it was Chouji asking about Shikamaru what kind of people he likes. Or something like that."
"Doesn't matter, that was an easy decision, our boy's obviously straight."
"Quiet both of you, god damn it you two talk too much. Shikamaru's going to have to decide this by himself. Dismissed." All three voices faded from the Jouuin's mind.Shikamaru used the tiger seal twice to open his family house door. He practically stomped in, kicking his sandals off. He leaned on the wall for support. He felt for the guardrail that led upstairs. He couldn't find it so he switched on the lights. When the light surged through the room, Shikamaru stared at Temari sitting by the dinner table, sipping green tea. "Oh Hey Shikamaru, I couldn't find a hotel so I'd thought I'd stay here." Truth was that she was able to find a hotel but she couldn't afford it. Also she felt like this was he chance to get closer and to know more about the lazy ninja.
"Uh... Temari" Shikamaru stammered a bit, seeing that a hot skimpy ninja was in his living room drinking tea. He shook every dirty thought from his mind and focused on the task at hand. 'Stupid hormones' Shikamaru cursed his body before breathing in a huge breath of air. "We don't have any extra rooms Temari... I don't know where you could sleep."
"Oh don't worry, I found your room, your bed is pretty big right? I can sleep with you." Temari said, grinning
"You have got to be kidding me. You are NOT sleeping in the same bed as me."
Temari got up and pushed Shikamaru against the wall. He straddled his hip and put her right index finger on his lips. "Shhh... Now I'm sure you don't want a lot of things. But I'm staying here. I'll be sleeping in your bed and if you really feel uncomfortable, you can sleep on the floor of your room." She smiled and pushed herself off leaving a shock Shikamaru.
"What'd you think I was going to do? Seduce you?" Temari chuckled and walked up to the lazy ninja's room. Temari thought for a second 'I'll seduce you when the time is right... Shikamaru-Kun' The Sand ninja said.
"Woman... are so damn troublesome." Shikamaru said, rubbing the back of his neck. He grabbed a spare blanket he used for taking naps and walked into the washroom. He brushed his teeth, washed his face and practically fell face first into sleep the second he walked into his own room.
Temari eyed the dozing Shikamaru, wondering about the next few days and what will happen.
Phew... well that was quite a long chapter. Man, am I tired. Hope you guys enjoyed it
Please review!
