Dreams Are Dreams
Chapter IV
By cocoa-latte

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: I'm sorry I took so long! But I saved chapter four on a floppy and when I came to write it again, I saw it there and I clicked it... then I went somewhere and came back and it was gone... 3/4 done too ( Thank you everyone for the reviews! I really appreciate it!)

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The chuunins sat on the powder white snow with confused and annoyed looks on their faces. Naruto opened his mouth to speak when a huge wave of snow sprayed over the chuunins and into Naruto's opened mouth.

Naruto spat the snow out angry. He looked up and saw his sensei, Kakashi. But before he could complain, Kakashi spoke, "Hello my hopeless ninja-wannabes!" said Kakashi happily.

Kakashi looked around and saw ten angry faces directed to him; two giving him death glares.

'What the hell, we are ninjas,' thought Ino, frustrated at Kakashi's stupid comment.

Naruto again opened his mouth, this time; he got the chance to speak, "Oi Kakashi-sensei! What was that for?"

Kakashi had an innocent look on his face, "What was what for?" Kakashi's grin was hidden underneath his mask as he watched the twelve's baffled expressions.

Ino ignored his last comment, "How does this," she motioned to her ski, "And this," she then motioned towards her ski shoes, "Attach together?"

Kakashi forged confusion on his face. "I honestly do not know," he lied with a shrug. Kakashi looked down at his watch, "Well, I best be going now." Kakashi snowboarded away, leaving the twelve exasperated.

It was a good fifteen minutes before they figured it out.

Ino and Shikamaru slowly edged closer to the ski lift. Shikamaru, being the 'genius' that he was, immediately noticed that the ski lifts were extremely small for two people. 'I like my head un-dented. I should just not say anything.'

Shikamaru sat on the wooden bench awkwardly next to Ino. It was rather tight there.

"Move over a bit," said Ino with a grin. She gave Shikamaru and small playful nudge, by the small playful nudged turned out into a not so playful nudge.

Ino watched Shikamaru lost his balance and as he began to fall off the ski fall. Ino saw Shikamaru land with a soft thump on the snow. The snow sprayed everywhere.

Her eyes widened. Ino carefully jumped off the ski lift and joined Shikamaru on the ground.

"Are you okay?" she asked in alarm, her eyes wide and scared.

Shikamaru still laid there. His eyes were opened looking at the dark clouds.

'The clouds sure are pretty today. It may be dark and cloudy, but the clouds are still pretty,' thought Shikamaru happily.

Ino said sharply, "Answer me!"

Shikamaru slowly sat up, rubbing the sore spot on his back and spoke, "Look, the ski lift is obviously only for one person. You just had to drag me along."

Before she could defend herself, a loud voice interrupted the two of them.

"Oi! Shikamaru! Are you alright!" asked the blond hair ninja; closely followed by Hinata.

Hinata said shyly, "W-we could see a figure fall from the ski lift. But we didn't know who it was; the trees were in the way..."

Naruto grinned his fox-like way and said, "Well, now we know!" he laughed, "How do you fall off a ski lift anyways?"

Shikamaru glanced at Naruto with an annoyed look on his face, "Sheesh, can anyone be more annoying than you?"

Naruto pretended to look offended and said, "Why would you say such a thing? I'm not annoying!" Then he broke out into a wide smile, "Just kidding! I know I'm annoying! It's the number one rule to be me, Naruto."

Shikamaru sighed, "You're so troublesome."

Sometime in the afternoon-

After everyone had their "fun" skiing, they all met back in the lodge.

Sakura was sitting in the living room along with the other chuunins. She was listening to Ino talk, although she wasn't really listening. Sakura caught a few words of what Ino was saying, "There's-dance-at-don't-dates-." Sakura's jade eyes got wider. 'A dance? I doubt that he would want to come along.'

'Hell yeah,' laughed Inner Sakura.

Sakura looked around at the group of chuunins. Finding that she wasn't the only one genuinely interested. Tenten also looked excited and Hinata's pearl coloured eyes shone more brightly than usual. The boys (most of them) looked mildly interested.

"When is it?"

Ino rolled her eyes and directed her gaze to Sakura. "Haven't you been listening to what I've been saying for the oh-" She looked at her watch; "last five minutes?"

Sakura glared at Ino, "Just answer me Ino-pig!"

Ino glared back at Sakura but answered her question anyways, "The dance will be held tonight at a lodge nearby, but we won't be able to pick dates. It'll be like a random draw thingy. It's kind of odd, but I suppose that it'll be fun to come along anyway."

Sakura looked down and bit her lip.

"So soon, I better get ready then."

Tenten said, "I'm glad my mom made me bring a nice dress."

So the four girls walked up the stairs to their rooms.

Sakura pulled out her suitcase and reached for a slightly crumpled long and flowing dark red dress.

Sakura turned to face Ino, "I'm glad that we all decided to bring a dress even though we didn't think that we would need it."

Ino looked at her and said, "I'm just glad that you clamed down."

Sakura laughed and agreed with her, "Ino, do you have an ironer with you?"

She heard Ino's muffled reply, "Of course, it's in the drawer."

She wanted to make an effort for tonight. Who cares if she wouldn't be with Sasuke? It wasn't like he would agree to go with her anyway. However, he did agree to come along with all of them. She put down the iron and paused for a moment. She could always try to blow him away.

There was a few raps on the door.

"Who is it?" asked Ino.

Sakura heard the faint reply of Tenten and Hinata.

"Oh," began Ino. "It's unlocked!"

The door swung open and Ten ten walked in, holding a long black dress. She was followed by Hinata who was holding a white dress.

"Ino! Do you have an ironer?" asked Tenten.

"Hah, that's what Sakura just asked me. Yes, I have one. You can use it after Sakura's done."

After all the girls were ready, they walked downstairs to meet the guys. They weren't going as dates but they decided that they would at least walk to the dance together.

Sasuke was impatiently waiting for them to come down. He didn't really want to go. But if everyone else were going, he would go to.

Sasuke gave a glare at the blank wall ahead of him. It wasn't like he wanted to go along anyway, but he mind as well go if everyone else would be going.

When he saw Sakura walked down the stairs. He was shocked. After all these years, he hadn't really noticed how much Sakura had grown. She was wearing a long dark red flowing dress and her soft pink hair was piled on top of her head with wavy strands falling down, gently framing her near-flawless face.

Sakura caught his eye and smiled. Sasuke grumbled and averted his gaze.

'God, he's hot...' Sakura thought with a dreamy smile but wiped it off her face quickly.

"We better get going now!" said Ino, breaking Sakura's reverie. "It'll be starting any moment now!"

They walked down a snowy trail that headed the lodge where the dance would be held.

When the reached the place, it was oddly silent, the music wasn't even on. The room was dark with some colourful flashing loud lights and streamers that hung from the ceiling, decorating the normally bland white walls.

She saw a pretty girl with dark hair who was already talking to a fairly large group of people. They walked closer to hear what she was saying.

"Alright, so, it'll be a draw for all of you who don't know. I'll hand out slips of paper and you'll have to write you names on it and I'll put it in a hat and draw out the dates!" said the dark-haired girl excitedly. She had a perky voice that made it hard to listen to.

Sakura accepted and slip of paper from the girl and wrote her name on it.

After the girl received all the slips. She put them in a jar and mixed the papers around.

The girl called out some pairs that she didn't know. She waited until she heard Tenten's named called.

"-and Tenten will be with Neji,"

'Tenten's lucky! She at least got someone from Konoha! I doubt the rest of us won't be so lucky.'

Sakura was with a pretty good looking guy. He wasn't really comparable to the Uchiha himself though.

Sasuke on the other hand was with the dark-hair girl that was holding the dance. Sakura could hear her talk to Sasuke. "Ohmigosh! You're Sasuke? I'm so lucky. Has anyone told you that you're really good looking?"

From across the room, Sakura could see the girl cling to Sasuke's arm. She could already see that Sasuke strongly disliked his date.

Sakura turned around to face her date and smiled. He was even hotter up close…

A/N Sorry that I took so long! I had a huge exam, so I couldn't find much time to write. Thanks to my beta, evil-mittens for ideas and thanks for reading!