Disclaimer: I don not have Naruto in my arsenal of 'own'!

Thanks for telling me I spelt it wrong, Hatake, Kakashi.

It came; it came without all those wishy-washy white horse with chariots. It came without candy or lollipops, but it came. The day before New Years, the New Years party.

"Shino! Brush your teeth! Comb your hair!!! Polish those glasses!!! Take another bath!!! Change your clothes again!!!! Wash your face!!!" Shino's father ordered him. Shino already did those things. He didn't see what was so important about today. Sure he was going with a girl, but he didn't care. All they said was one dance and then you could ditch them. Well, at least Shikamaru said that. Speaking of that club…

DING-DONG!!!

"Open the door Shino!!!"

"Yes Father!" Shino answered as he flew to the door. He was still wearing the same big overcoat. And who should be at the door than 'The Guys'.

"Yo." Said Shikamaru. (he's still five) Neji and Sasuke were standing behind him. They were all wearing their usual clothing.

Shino gave Shikamaru a quizzical look before answering. "Can I tag along? Dad's killing me with demands." Shino asked. (that's the beauty of it. You're five and not antisocial… yet)

"That's the point." Sasuke said as Shino slipped out of his house. "We're heading over to the forest because…" Sasuke looked around before whispering. "Fan Clubs."

"HEY!!!! LOOK!!!! THERE'S SASUKE-KUN!!!!!! THERE'S STILL TIME TO ASK ME OUT!!!!" A loud voice rang out behind him.

"Where there's one, there's bound to be others. RUN!!!" Neji hollered. And too true it was.

"AYE!!!!!! NEJI-KUN!!!!! CHANGE YOUR MIND!!!! ASK ME OUT!!!!!"

"SHIKI-KUN!!!!!!! GO TO THE PARTY WITH ME!!!!!!"

"SHINO-KUN!!!!! DANCE WITH ME!!!!!!!"

"You'd think they'd give up or something!!!" Neji screamed as they ran with all their might to a safe place.

"Any ideas?" Sasuke asked as they rounded a corner and nearly toppled over Lee, who was sitting there eating a piece of cheese.

"Hey! Guys!!! HELP!!!!" Came a voice. Shino knew who it was already, Naruto. "Those fan girls are closing up in on me!!!!"

"You don't have any fan girls!!!" Sasuke snapped at him as they turned the corner. The forest was way out of question, as the party was due to start in one hour, so instead, they headed to their unofficial clubhouse, A.K.A. the attic above Neji's room. "All you have is a cricket!!!" And true enough, when the looked back, they saw a single little cricket pursuing Naruto.

"Can I join the club anyways?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"NO!" Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Neji. Shino didn't say anything, so Sasuke, who was to his left, gave him a hard nudge in the ribs.

"Ow! No!" Shino said as they gave a satisfied look.

"Drat!" Naruto mumbled as he headed off in another direction.

"Club? What club? Can I join?" Came another voice. A female voice, and the only female in the whole village that wasn't in one of those fan clubs, save Hinata, but she had an unofficial one with her teddy bears dedicated to Naruto, was…

"No, TenTen, it's for people with fan clubs to stalk them all day!!!" Neji told her as she skipped along side them.

"But I have a fan club too!!!" She retorted as she pointed to a mob of boys behind her. "Does that make me special like you guys?"

"LOOK!!!! THERE SHE IS!!!!!!! COME HERE MY SWEET TENTEN!!!!!!"

"Okay, but you have to be old enough!!!! You have to be at least five or six!" Sasuke answered back. Lame excuse, sure, but can you really blame a five-year-old?

"I'm six!" She said, pointing to herself.

"Then- Then you have to be good at fighting!!!" Shikamaru tried.

"Okay! Who wants to spar with me?!" She said happily. Then guys said nothing. Frankly, they just couldn't hit a girl, even though she was a very queer girl.

"Um… You have to be a boy?" Shino tried. He was still a bit uncomfortable, but that's beside the point.

"…What he said!" Neji, Shikamaru, and Sasuke chorused. It's just so sad to think that one day, they'll all head their different ways: Neji with his training to become stronger, Sasuke seeking power to gain revenge, and Shikamaru hanging out with his new best friend, Chouji. But let's concentrate on the past for now.

"But that's not fair!!!" TenTen reply angrily.

"It's the rules!!!" Shikamaru said as he handed her a piece of paper and scribbled a very messy… thing on and showed it to TenTen. "It says it here!" he pointed to the piece of very messy handwriting on the paper. Shikamaru always kept a pen and a piece of paper in his pockets.

"Mo-moku beda hicko? What does that mean?" She asked.

"She can read you idiot!" Neji whispered into Shikamaru's ear.

"Oh." Shikamaru whispered back.

"Come on!!! I want to join too!!!" She pestered. They were in Neji's backyard now, so they were safe, because the guards didn't let anyone else pass through.

"NO! YOU'RE NOT A BOY!!!!" They all yelled at her, save Shino, who had just noted something in particular.

"Um… The party starts in fifteen minutes guys." Shino piped up, pointing to the clock, which they could barely make out through the window of Hinata's room.

"Goody! I'll go change!" TenTen cheered as she skipped back to her house.

"Well, I'll be picking up Ino…" Shikamaru mumbled as the rest of the gang, save Shino, who was busy worrying, began to snicker.

"Hey, um, Neji?" Sasuke began after Shikamaru left. "Do you wanna switch dates? I'm kind of afraid that Sakura would die on me." He finished solemnly, though it was iced with sarcasm, the last sentence.

"But… TenTen's older than you…" Neji said slowly.

"So? We're aloud to ditch the dates after one dance." Sasuke shrugged. "Besides, you dance better than I do."

"What does that have to do with the subject on switching dates?" Neji inquired him.

"Uhg, the point is, Sakura will be all over me tonight!" Sasuke said, pulling at his perfect hair. Surprise, surprise.

"And TenTen won't?" Neji asked.

"No. Hey, what if-"

"Um… Neji…" Shino suddenly cut in, pointing at Hinata, who was looking at the three of them.

"Oh, that's right." Neji said, forgetting Sasuke completely. "On second thought, go ahead, take TenTen, but there's always the catch!!!" And then he dragged Shino off to Hinata's room.

"What catch?! What about me?! Hello!!!" Sasuke yelled, but the dual had already disappeared into the Hyuuga mansion.

Later, at the party…

"So, um…" Shino began. He was currently waltzing with Hinata, and neither of them was saying much to the other. Hinata was always steeling glances at Naruto, and Shino was, well… waltzing… Very badly.

Hinata blushed at that. Well, then again, she always blushes at everything. "Um…"

The song ended, and by now, Shino was positive that Hinata had a secret crush on Naruto. Then he remembered Shikamaru saying that they could ditch the date as soon as the first dance ended, and most of them did. Well, just the ones with the girls going crazy over them.

"You like him, don't you?" Shino asked as they separated their linked hands when they were dancing. Hinata was as red as a teapot on fire (if there was a thing) and started to play with he fingers again, and look down at the floor. How did he know?! Was she that obvious?!

"Um… Please don't tell anyone…" She whimpered, a bit on the verge to tears.

"Sure…" Shino said. They didn't notice that they had been walking around until none other than Naruto bumped into Hinata, sending her down on the floor.

"Oh my gosh! I'm SOOOO sorry!!!" Naruto apologized as he helped Hinata up. Hinata was really red now. Shino? He was, again, just… there… "Are you alright?"

"Um… I-I guess…" Hinata stuttered, rubbing her left wrist, which collided with the floor. A bit sore it was. Oh my gosh!!! Am I dreaming?!

"Look," Naruto began, looking at Hinata's wrist. "How about I buy you a Ramen and then we call it even…" He motioned her for he name.

"H-Hinata…"

"Hinata, okay?" Naruto asked. Hinata looked up, a bit shaken.

"Um… Sure… Do y-you mind?" She asked Shino.

"Nope, I'll just tag along with your cousin and his club.

"Speaking of that, can I join?!" Naruto asked.

"…No…"

This is what's up with TenTen and Sasuke:

"I can't believe he ditched me. How could he ditch me? WHY would he ditch me? How come he ditched me for a pink-haired girl? Why would he ditch me so I can be with a guy who's obsessed with his hair?!" TenTen muttered. Sasuke caught the whole thing.

"Uh, TenTen? The dance's over. Would you let go of me now?" Sasuke asked. What's wrong with my hair?!

"Oh, sure!" She said as she went off to clobber Neji, who was dancing with Sakura. A very vexed Sakura.

"I can't believe he ditched me. How could he ditch me? WHY would he ditch me? How come he ditched me for a perky brunette? Why would he ditch me so I can be with a guy who's a total klutz at dancing?!" Sakura muttered. Neji caught the whole thing.

"Uh, Sakura? The dance's over. Would you let go of me now?" Neji asked. What's wrong with my dancing?!

"Oh, sure!" She said as she went off to whimper to Sasuke, so was Ino, who was previously dancing with Shikamaru.

"I can't believe he traded me. How could he trade me? WHY would he trade me? How come he traded me for that perky brunette? Why would he trade me so I can be with a guy who's a total idiot?!" Ino muttered. Shikamaru caught the whole thing.

"Uh, Ino? The dance's over. Would you let go of me now?" Shikamaru asked. What's wrong with my brain?!

"Oh, sure!" She said as she went off to whimper to Sasuke, so was Sakura, who was previously dancing with Neji.

Later…

"Man that was horror." Shikamaru commented.

"Pure torture." Neji added.

"Immense pain." Sasuke added also.

"Actually, I think Hinata turned out quite nice with Naruto…" Shino said.

"HINATA AND NARUTO?!" They screamed. Shino shrugged.

"Well, you were lucky." Shikamaru said. "Ino was all talky-talky about Sasuke."

"Same with Sakura." Neji also said.

"Same with TenTen, only it was about Neji." Sasuke added.

"So, now what?" Shino asked. But their miseries were once more released as their fan clubs came tumbling over. Naruto and Hinata? The bowl of Ramen ended up in Hinata's lap.

And next chapter will be the chapter that I said I would put into chapter back a couple of chapters.