Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any form shape or fashion. If I did, I would have already killed him and taken Hinata for myself…
Chapter 10. The Ball Part 1.
Things had pretty much settled into a rhythm over the past several weeks. Everyone had gotten back to normal. Sasuke was his unresponsive self, Hinata blushed a lot, Sakura was as bossy as ever, and Naruto was well… Naruto.
Naruto was glad to see everything pretty much back to normal with his friends. He and Hinata had been spending a lot of time talking and getting to know one another better. Technically speaking, having grown up together he should have already known her better than he did, but she had been shy and he had been too caught up in his own little world to ever notice her. For the first time in his life he wished that he could go back and relive his school days.
Now finally, their dream and their nightmare would be over. Classes had wound down and now it was the night of the grand ball. The four of them were in their dorm room getting ready for the ball. Unlike the other girls who would be trying to get their hair just right, the four ninja were trying to find new and interesting ways to hide a small arsenal inside their dresses.
So far Naruto had managed to hide four large shuriken, twenty small shuriken, fourteen flash bombs, and twelve kunai in the small slinky red dress that was meant to be as revealing as possible. Sasuke said he looked like slut.
"If you got it, flaunt it." Naruto said defensively.
"Shut up and hand me my garter." Sasuke said rolling his eyes. "Not that one, the one with the sheath attached."
Naruto had to admit sewing class had been quite useful. They'd learned a lot about customizing their clothing and altering garments that were usually mass produced for a generic size. Of course, Junky would have probably had a cow if she knew that the four of them had been altering their garments for. Hinata was exceptionally good at sewing. Her dress was white and had more hidden compartments, sheaths, pockets, and weapons than all the rest of them combined mostly because hers was the most modest dress among them. She even commented that had she wanted to she could probably have hidden a sword in there somewhere. Naruto just couldn't see it, and he'd watched her in that dress a great deal. She looked like a princess.
Sakura was dressed in a beautiful emerald green dress that would probably turn quite a few heads. If they knew how many knives she had down her bodice, they would probably politely turn back the other way as well.
Finally Sasuke was wearing a semi-modest blue dress that was done in three different shades. Due to his innate need to be the most skilled, he'd gone for complex patterns of lace, ruffles, and anything else that would fit on the fabric. When it came to such things, Sasuke had all the self-restraint of a deranged woodpecker in a lumberyard.
"We need to stick close to Takara all evening." Sasuke was saying. "I have to perform first. So Hinata and Sakura will have to watch Takara first. Naruto you go last so hang around the edges of the room and I'll join you as soon as I'm done. You guys don't have to sing until later, so Naruto and I will come take over for you while you're on stage."
Sakura looked over Naruto and Sasuke. The two of them had put on their own makeup that night. "You two actually look like proper young women, just PLEASE act like it." Sakura said pleading. "Oh, and Naruto, you might want to leave behind the flash bombs."
"Why?"
"Well, if some guy gets to aggressive and pats you in the wrong place I'm afraid you'll set off the smoke alarm." Sakura said glancing down to where Naruto had hidden the bombs.
"Kakashi said that Kiba and Shino are going to be at the party as well." Sasuke was saying. "If Takara heads out for the dance floor you two can grab one of them to follow her."
"What about you two." Sakura was saying. "Shino and Kiba have never seen you like this."
"I don't plan on dancing with any boys." Sasuke said levelly.
"That'll break a few hearts." Sakura said smiling.
The four of them went out and caught up to their classmates and headed for the recital hall that overlooked the lake. The four ninja took up positions around the group of girls and watched the darkness with trepidation.
Finally, the girls all walked into the hall where all the boys were waiting. The boys were standing around looking uncomfortable in their tuxedoes even though the windows had been opened to let in the cool lake air. Naruto nearly didn't recognize Kiba, whom he thought must have never worn formal attire in his life. Shino still had his shades and had managed to find a black scarf for his tuxedo that looked oddly fashionable and pretty much just looked like what Shino would look like in a tuxedo.
All the girls started mingling amongst the boys and the boys for the most part started congregating around Kimi and Sasuke. This did help the rest of them stay close to Takara, but Naruto never thought he'd see the day when Sakura would be shooting jealous glances at boys.
Madame Furucho walked towards the grand piano at one end of the room and slammed her cane into the floor. Everyone went dead quiet as they looked at her. "This evening we celebrate the initiation of young ladies and gentlemen into polite society. This evening you young men will be allowed the express privilege of watching some of my students perform for your pleasure. I expect all of you to act as mature adults and not disgrace your family names. With that said our first performance tonight will be by Shiori singing 'Think of me' from 'The Phantom of the Opera'.
Naruto watched the perimeter of the room. He knew Kakashi was supposed to be somewhere outside, and he could see Kurenai in a lovely strapless evening dress among the chaperones, but the open windows worried him. One good sniper…
Sasuke, or rather Shiori got up and sang her number. Sasuke found it better to give his female persona her own name. In a way it helped him to feel like it wasn't him up there making a fool out of himself singing some stupid opera song that Madame Furucho had picked out for him. She had picked out Naruto's number as well, mostly because Naruto was too lazy to have picked out his own. Though he was thankful she picked out something blessedly short.
Shiori sang as Sasuke watched the crowd. He hated the way that all the boys were watching him so intently. He did see with some satisfaction that he's managed steal their attention away from Kimi. That did please him in a sick and disturbing kind of way.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Sasuke finished with the shrill high-pitched note that Madame Furucho had brow beaten into him. He was more pleased that the experience was over than he was at having performed the song well. Madame Furucho met him as he stepped away from the piano.
"I knew that you could do it Shiori. I just want you to know how proud I am of you." Madame Furucho said smiling for the first time since he'd known her. "I never would have been so hard on you if I hadn't thought you were capable of such a beautiful performance."
Sasuke looked up at the woman in shock. Not knowing what to say he just looked down properly and said "Thank you Madame."
Sasuke curtsied as he'd been taught and quickly walked away. He realized that he was blushing from the compliment.
Sasuke walked towards the boys as the music began to play. A lot of them looked like they were going to ask him to dance. Sasuke had no intention of dancing. He was going to watch the perimeter of the room. He saw Kiba and Shino and decided that it would probably be good if he went over and stood close to them. Maybe the boys might get the wrong idea and leave him alone.
Shino watched as the hot little number came over to stand in front of him and Kiba. She had just sung one of the most beautiful songs that he had ever heard. He was quite moved.
It is to be noted that Shino was not as unemotional as everyone believed. He had emotions that ran just as deeply as any young man his age. He however was one of the manliest ninja that were among the rookie nine. Being unexpressive is a manly trait. As proof, consider the man who after having taken copious amounts of damage to his person merely stands there and either says nothing or merely 'ouch', and see how many people say 'What a man'.
Therefore Shino was looking on this extremely beautiful young woman standing directly in front of him and Kiba when he just simply couldn't help himself any longer. It is true after all; 'it's always the quiet ones'.
Sasuke felt the hand pat his bottom. He slowly turned around to look at the two behind him. Shino was standing there staring off into space as he normally does and Kiba was looking at him with a stupid grin on his face with a hand behind his head and the other doing a small wave.
Sasuke felt his face flush not from embarrassment, but from anger. He could feel the flames roaring in his eyes, and that's pretty much all he could hear in his ears.
At this point we must now give Kiba some credit. Having been taught by a kunoichi, Kiba was more in tune with the warning signs of an impending female attack. This actually gave him more preparation than most men get for married life. However, he had also unfortunately been trained much like the dogs Pavlov used in his experiments to respond to said stimulus with a specific response. Namely, he got a dumb look on his face and asked 'What did I do'. This was indeed unfortunate for him since any married man can tell you that this gets translated in the female brain as 'I did it'.
Luckily, the windows of the recital hall were open. Kiba would have been picking glass out of his face otherwise. The average enraged punch from a young woman is quite sufficient to send a man hurling out a second story window. The chakra enhanced punch delivered by one Uchiha Sasuke in drag was enough to send Kiba hurling far enough so that the next few things that he saw were (in order): branch, branch, branch, tree, branch, branch, squirrel, branch, Kakashi with a video camera, branch, branch, lake, water, fish, fish, lake bottom.
The young woman stormed off as Shino looked out the window that Kiba had so recently exited. He didn't think that Kiba was exactly aware of WHY he got hammered, but Shino wasn't about to tell him.
Shino looked back at the retreating back, well backside, of the gorgeous young singer and smiled. What a woman, and soooo firm.
Sasuke tried to get his blood pressure under control, the nerve of Kiba patting his bottom. Men! I am NOT that kind of girl!
Sasuke stopped and thought about his previous thoughts and shook his head. When he got back to Konoha he was going to watch nothing but war movies and go to hockey games for a month.
Sasuke watched as Takara finished her number. A couple of young men were waiting for her when she reached the dance floor. She nodded to one of them and they headed out for the dance floor while the music played the songs the dance music that separated each number. Sakura and Hinata looked up at him and he nodded. They looked around for Shino and Kiba, but didn't see them so Sakura grabbed the other young man and Hinata moved around the edge of the dance floor.
Sasuke looked around for Shino. He knew Kiba wouldn't be coming back for a while, if ever the pervert, but he wanted to see what happened to Shino. What he found was a solid wall of young men all looking for a dance. Sasuke moved among them trying to be polite. He wasn't getting very far and he saw Takara being escorted off the dance floor by her young man with Sakura and Hinata close behind.
In desperation, Sasuke looked around and finally saw Shino. Then he remembered something Kimi once told him. Me personally, I find it best to go find a friend that I can rely on and then I have him pose as my boyfriend. That generally keeps most of the less serious crushes away.
Sasuke grinned to himself. Perfect. He'd carry Shino out to the veranda, it looked dark and secluded, and tell him who he was then he could keep the boys off while he tried to find Takara again.
Sasuke walked over to Shino and surprised him by looping an arm around his. "Hello handsome, why don't you and I step out onto the veranda for some fresh air?" Sasuke said trying to act like the typical fan girl that usually tried to rape him.
Shino gave no indication of recognition, but allowed himself to be pulled toward the veranda. Sasuke smiled sweetly at the boys who were now leaving and going back to bothering Kimi and started looking around for the girls.
Deep inside the placid exterior of Shino was a young, excited, and very typical teenage male was screaming, "YYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!".
So it came to pass that a totally clueless Shino and a totally clueless Sasuke stopped to get their picture taken by the photographer that the school had hired to give the students a memento of the evening before heading out onto the veranda that was appropriately called 'make out vista' over looking the lake.
It was shortly after, that the guests turned to see Shiori come running back into the room as fast as her legs would carry her. No one knows EXACTLY what happened out there on the veranda and considering the taciturn nature of the two young men involved it most likely never will. However it IS known that from that day forward Uchiha Sasuke's boxer shorts always smelled like Raid.
Tanako Chiko raced down the stairs. Ahead, the sounds of fighting could still be heard. Chiko stopped in front of the doors leading down into the boiler room of the recital hall and pushed them in slowly. Inside the light was dimmer, but the figure of the two boys standing over the two girls while Takara huddled in the corner was clearly visible.
Chiko looked down at the form of the pink-haired girl and her roommate. She remembered them from the incident where their boyfriends had broken into the school. "I see they didn't give you boys any trouble."
"Like some stupid kunoichi is going to beat us!" The oldest said.
Chiko nodded and turned to the girl. "Well, Takara, it's an honest shame that you won't be seeing your father again. The look on Mitsui-san's face when he hears you were killed is going to be priceless."
"So YOU'RE the assassin?" Two voices said together as Chiko turned to see the blonde and the raven-haired roommates of the two girls standing in the door.
"Ah, I see the leaf sent four kunoichi. Tell me girls, how do you hope to defeat me?" Chiko said settling into a fighting stance.
"By surprise." Sakura said holding the kunai to the back of her head. Chiko glanced back to see that the two boys were the actual ones lying on the floor at the feet of Sakura and Hinata.
Chiko grinned and then collapsed into a pool of water.