Chapter title comes to mind in terms of one of my favorite songs by Celtic Woman, "Ballroom of Romance".

Chapter Ten

The Woodland Ballroom of Romance

College life was...interesting but tough to navigate.

All across the country, students still lived at home with their parents, seldom ever having a dorm unless you could afford it, and roommates rented an apartment together for the same reason.

In a rare case, all four friends - himself, his cousin, Naru and Sasuke, with Gaara joining them just to be safe from Kaguya Oosutsuki, now that they knew who she was - rented a house together near the university and neighboring college grounds. Just around the block corner before it went right into the bigger part of the city of Tokyo. It was a contemporary place with two floors and enough rooms for everyone, with Uncle Hiashi having helped a little and they did the rest responsibly; the surrounding outside wall-fences as well as the window shutters were made of bamboo while every window was glass. The shoji screen doors rested in the interiors, and there was a nice, calming garden in the back without flowers but decent temple-like statuary. It was here that all five of them lived, left in the morning and came back in the evening. Balanced classes and part-time jobs which would help them get further into the real world.

At home, their music studio was set up and in a basement, but there was also loads of studying to manage, which they tackled during much of the day on breaks between classes.

Neji looked forward to teaching and working in a library, since showing someone else the ropes gave him a sense of accomplishment, just as he enjoyed learning himself, and Hinata loved children; if she ever got married, he saw her as a wonderful mother. But anyone who puts on a faux friendly mask like guys can do before revealing their true colors - they'll answer to me. I'd rather risk going to jail for assault than let THAT befall on my cousin.

While he and his friends lived together and were doing everything they were supposed to, he found himself spending time with a certain someone from high school just as he'd promised - or rather, did his best as often as he could.

With two friends in the group as an item - and seeing the way Hinata LOOKED at Gaara, which got the gears in his brain going - he felt he could be the odd man out, so he wanted a love of his life, as well. She shared literary courses with him, showed fascination with the knowledge and might end up working in a bookstore, and in between, she made it clear her admiration of him as well as invited him and his friends to special events. Neji wasn't afraid to admit it, but he had feelings for Tenten.

Even if it was difficult keeping it while training was in place.

The five of them signed up for dojo to enhance their physical prowess, and it would also help Hinata for a reason of her own at Lord Hagoromo's suggestion: to spend the time storing up chakra to a certain space behind her forehead, also known as the Hundred Healings Mark. In a few years - just before the fateful night to come - she would have the symbol itself appear. This jutsu was one of many to originate from the era of the Sage of Six Paths; his late wife who was a skilled healer had learned to master this before her death. It was a delicate process, granted that storing reserves drained the user and therefore made it deadly to fight or perform surgery.

Luckily, Hinata had a plan of her own even if setbacks took place.

For both of them, having the Byakugan - resulting in the veins on either side of their eyes popping out to be seen, some pain involved the first time - was a great thrill as you got to see everything inside and outside. Neji had never known anything this exciting in his life. Only...it began as only fifty meters on his end, and he was determined to surpass that limit.

His cousin could reach as far as twenty kilos, on her part, even magnify in to glimpse the tiniest things. It was added in that she had excellent chakra control and could identify another's - which more than made her a match to glimpse genjutsu, just as Sasuke would place her under one and she'd break out without trouble, after she mastered it with practice, of course.

Gaara was something else. Granted his element was sand - composed of Earth and Wind - he did have the complications of making a spell and keeping it together, especially when it came to this one in particular: the Sand Burial. It was meant to encase a target within the sand, using another technique known as the Sand Coffin, but it would wind up being similar to just being buried in sand at the beach with no real pressure. You could see the discouragement in his eyes when the results failed...until one of Hinata's hands laid on his cheek and the other took his own hand. Not only was she comforting him, encouraging him and reassuring him he would make it and that they were all struggling like him - it meant something else in Neji's eyes that caused him to narrow them with suspicion.

And then, by some miracle, about two days later did Gaara finally get the hang of his end. He learned this just as Naru rushed to him in excitement one day, having witnessed it herself and left Hinata with him just to get her boyfriend and Neji himself...

...and that was when they both "accidentally" walked in on the two, and Hinata was embracing Gaara as well as kissing him on the cheek. That and the look on the redhead's face - a blend of calm and joy - was enough for Neji to burst into protective mode because that was his cousin.

They were in love with each other, but had there been a confession of the feelings? He would soon learn that answer when Hinata did the honors of lifting her chin at him, declaring that she'd always cared about him, and he worshipped her the way she was just as she was glad to be there for him.

"Better someone who she'd been there for since the beginning," Sasuke added, butting in with that obnoxious smirk of his, arms folded across his chest. "Not the same way as you and Naru, however. This is totally different than that..."

"Yup, no worries, Neji. Gaara's a good guy even if he's aloof sometimes with showing his emotions," Naru added, happily and blushing as ever.

And another romance formed in their group - his own cousin who was like a real sister to him, no less - but it had to happen while they were prepping to save the world. Talk about fire in every form...which I wish I had in case he thought to hurt her in ANY way.

And speaking of fire, Sasuke learned to create a spectacular ball of flames he concentrated into his chest, then released it up his throat and out the mouth. Not only that, but he was working his ass off with a fatal-looking lightning blade from his left hand that caused it to sear with crackling energy, and when he used his Sharingan, he ended up nearly passing out due to the exhaustion of what was called a "loss of time between reality and the vision", as it was normal for first-timers.

Which left Naru, as the final. She was doing an extremely difficult technique which required intensely refined control of the chakra, so three steps were taken: rotation, power and containment. And not only that, but she'd already gotten the hang of a badass method in which she could create one or more copies of herself, called "shadow clones". Even Neji had a hard time discerning which one was the real Naru!

And dividing their time between training - which also included jumping across great heights in the wild and remote areas where no one would see them - was hugely complicated, but the five of them adapted.

~o~

Back home, and how good did it feel to be in Konoha again after three years, with visits on holidays? It was really hard to explain.

Kaguya, for one...she made no attacks on them at all, maybe just like they talked about. Her boyfriend had been right about that, but Naru swore that she would demand to know what she did to Tsunade when the confrontation came. Although, she had a terrible feeling she'd be traumatized...

To see Pervy Sage and Orochimaru again made her burst into tears. They were real family, as far as she was concerned and leaving blood out of it. And despite knowing who she was now, a part of Naru wished Kaguya was here - no, she secretly called her "Bitch Queen", kinda similarly to what she used to call Shion back in the day. How could she call her part of the family after everything she learned? What she planned on doing?

It was foolish, but who was gonna reason with Kaguya Oosutsuki? Appeal to that ancient heart of hers that would be hard as arctic ice by now? Her own sons never got through to her.

And depending on what she did to Granny Tsunade - I don't want to think of THAT - I'll be the one to really decide if she's worth forgiving.

It was so hard to believe that those three years went by, feeling like forever...and this fall would be the night. And guess which night it would be, making her feel resentful.

The night before HER birthday.

She'd be turning twenty-two by that time, and just how was she supposed to take it? She always loved her birthdays, so was this the time now to start hating it because of an upcoming battle to save the world?!

"Try not to worry too much," Hinata insisted one day when they were out having girl time midway in the spring season, when the wisteria was almost done blooming. "We've gotten so strong to the point we feel confident, and you and Sasuke have what...Lord Hagoromo gave you." She dropped her voice to a whisper; they were walking on the sidewalk with people around them. She referred to the powerful seal the old man and his brother had once used to seal Kaguya away the first time. When the Yin and Yang powers of the Six Paths users - in this case, her and Sasuke now - would join together simultaneously, that was when the earth would be pulled towards the target of sealing. Naru was Light, in the form of the sun printed into her right palm; Sasuke was Shadow, his left hand carrying the dark-colored crescent moon symbol.

And speaking of symbols, Hinata might as well be close enough to filling up that space behind her forehead, in time for the Strength of a Hundred Healings to take effect. Naru was excited as she could not wait to see that. Just hope it's in time for the battle...

"You're right. Let's have fun. First thing's first..." Naru then reached into the pocket of her jeans, holding it out in front of her best friend's shocked eyes. Inside the dark blue velvet bag was a special pair to go with that little gift Gaara gave her on graduation day back in Tokyo. Bestie knew that the present couldn't be complete without these: baroque pearls swaying on small silver hoops studded with crystals. Dainty but noticeable, while that pendant was a different story. Gaara knew that something from the depths of Lake Biwa would allure and thrive by being worn.

That charm had five long, natural pearls accented with some sparkles, centered with a perfectly round shape of the moonlit jewel, just like a flower. Naru could have called it a "moonflower", though it more or less resembled a cherry blossom in its form. But either way, Gaara outdid himself and wisely didn't break the bank. Even said nothing was too much for Hinata, which might be cheesy and came from some romantic fiction, but he meant every word of it.

Naru got the earrings for Hinata at the same time she'd picked out the new ones in her ears - the princess-cut icy blue studs which matched the blue crystal from Tsunade.

"Oh, here we are," Hinata said when they finally arrived at the very place they came for. A place which was an ethereal white all around save for the honeyed oak floors, the tall bonsai trees in the middle of the area lined up like soldiers at attention. On the black metal shelves were plants in white ceramic vases or bamboo ones, filled with succulents, pink hydrangeas, lilac roses, white orchids, and red anthuriums amongst a many lush green leaves from the tropics.

Here, Hinata Hyuuga got the transformation of a lifetime: her lavender-streaked midnight mane was cropped to her ear level, just like when Naru chose to let her own grow out during college. I could make mine short again if I want to, but I need a change. So does she.

You could also smell the aroma from the newly groomed head of her friend: an alluring, unabashedly feminine blend of Asian lilies, oranges, peonies and fresh greens. Hinata was new and improved, and was on the verge of tears when she looked at her reflection.

Gaara might show another real reaction when he got a load of THIS.

~o~

"We did this before during Tsukimi, and now two days before your birthday -" He refused to mention a certain time which was coming, and any moment now, Lord Hagoromo would contact them and bring them to the place it would happen.

"- so, happy early birthday, babe." They ceased their running leaps, which began when they were away from the town, just when they were some yards into the forest, meeting their friends at their favorite spot near the waterfall and pond. He looked her up and down, taking in her gorgeous body which he would gladly see without anything any day. Not saying he didn't like what he was seeing now: trimmed and with the best breasts he'd ever seen - and would EVER see in his life - outlined by long-sleeved, fitted white, whereas her hips and thighs were covered with a skirt boldly printed with orange and blue paisley.

"You've really grown so sweet, you adorable devil." Naru leaned up then and there, the basket they made together in both arms, and laid an electric one on his mouth.

Suddenly, his weather-appropriate outfit - black leather vest attached to a white sweater, jeans dark blue - seemed too hot for him, but he'd be an idiot to remove this all the way in cold fall evening.

He and his girlfriend of several years had leapt over the hills and through the trees to join their group, to make it faster than taking his motorcycle - reserved for the two of them on an occasional getaway - and now they finally arrived, so there the others were. Neji was the one flourishing a new bottle of sake that he was proud to save up on for all of them this very night, since tomorrow had so many uncertainties. Might as well make the best of it.

"I refuse to be morbid and say any of us will die - oh, damn it, I already did." His poor cousin - in a gray sweater with a rhinestone star, a crisp white collar and elbows, paired with black denims - turned red and covered her face, giggling nervously and leaning into a stone-faced Gaara who absently fiddled with the collar of his maroon sweatshirt. "Well, what the hell? I'm not myself lately, but let's face it: I have my friends here, and we're gonna save everything and everyone we...love." His face fell right then and there, and he collapsed onto his knees with a forlorn expression, the white bottle taken immediately by Sasuke as he and his woman joined them.

Neji had been like this ever since Tenten called it off with him, attempting to do it amicably during Tsukimi of all times. Why did it have to be one of the most cherished times of the year?! And it had to be all because of him putting off their date times due to "unexpected emergencies without explanation", and she couldn't take it anymore, so she wanted a break if not officially ending it with him. Still, seeing his friend crushed like this and struggling to keep himself together...

If Naru and I had ended like that, I'd feel the same. I don't think I'd ever recover.

It was then that Sasuke decided a song was in order, although it also meant adding to Neji's internal suffering. "Gaara, how about we do it now?" He referred to the song they practiced only with each other, having meant it for their girls, so what better timing than now? And with the shamisen of all things for a change, which they asked Neji to play for them, and who could really use the means to take the edge off. This song was hopeful for the future even if none of them knew what lay ahead after a certain life or death battle.

"Think of it as an early present," Sasuke husked into Naru's ear as they assumed the dance pose a pair in a waltz would assume, and so did Gaara and Hinata. He then kissed the outside of her ear shell, making her shiver and lurch against him. And when Neji assumed the melody, here it came from him and the redhead simultaneously, threatening to bring forth the tears of joy, and the two couples had to make sure they didn't end up knocking into any of the surrounding trees or falling into the pond, thereby killing the mood.

Neji was even forced to wipe off what sweat he could from himself, using his gray-shouldered sandy sweater.

Jimen kara watashitachi no ai o kōchiku

(Build our love from the ground up)

Eien tiru

(Til forever)

Anata no watashinosubete o, subete no

(All of me, all of you)

Watashi no te o totte

(Take my hand)

Watashi wa anata no otoko ni narimasu

(I will be your man)

Watashi wa anata to issho ni itai

(I will stay with you)

Yoi men to warui men o tsūji

(Through the good and the bad)

Watashi wa jinsei o sugosu koto wa arimasen

(I won't spend life)

Anata nashide watashi no soba de

(Without you by my side)

Chikyū no tsumori rōru

(The earth's gonna roll)

Itsuka, watashitachi puraimu kako

(Someday, past our prime)

Asa to yoru, anata no kisu

(Kiss you morning and night)

Watashi wa mada anata o aishite iru to iimasu

(Say I love you still)

Chijō kara

(From the ground up)

By the time the magic was over, they never got to enjoy their food and sake - especially the meal that he and Naru worked hard on together - when HE reached out to all of them through the established connection.

"Oh, just when I was starting to feel just a little better," Neji bemoaned, unlike himself and more like Sasuke had been when he was a kid.

"Oh, Neji," Hinata returned with a scowl in his direction, still holding Gaara's hand with one of her own. "You want to try putting the broken heart aside for now, when we spent all this time getting ready?" Underneath that hard exterior was the anxiety which still plagued all of them - including Sasuke himself.

Naru affirmed with a curled lip. "My words exactly."

When he was certain they were all finished, Hagoromo spoke in their minds.

"It's time. The moment has arrived."

~o~

Poor cousin Neji...he's once more the odd man out, but he still has us until all of this is over. He can try to fix it with Tenten in the near future, and I'll be there with him.

Here they all were now, back at the site of the mine after having made the great leaps - after rushing to put the picnic away at Naru's house, and it had all been short-lived for nothing - where Hagoromo would give them their long-awaited assignment. Because tomorrow was the night.

Only before they could head for the entrance to the caverns, it was as if an ominous cloud had suddenly loomed over them, making everything darker. A chill raced up the spine and caused the nerves to tingle. Everyone felt it, which meant they had to hurry...only to be deprived of that opportunity as a figure of great power appeared right before their eyes, swooping down from above and out of nowhere. Hinata heard herself gasp and took a step back just as the others did. There before them was none other than the one they feared and swore to send back to where she came from. And now she no longer looks like the one she put on for us to see; she's a goddess, so this is her true form.

The white-gray hair was now so long it extended yards behind her, accented by two horn-like appendages protruding from her head - just like her son - which gave her the somewhat appearance of a rabbit. In the middle of her forehead was a closed slit which made Hinata think of the Third Eye in Buddhism. She now wore a high-collared kimono which had black tomoe patterned down the front, edged with purple and gold for nobility. Those long, demonic black nails made a slight person shiver, which Hinata now did but forced it back.

"Oh, you're here at last, are you?" Neji spat at her. "You knew we were coming." He pointed out the obvious, causing the woman's eyes to narrow. The eyes that we inherited from her and her children. And it was then that the veins bulged out from either side of those eyes, to assess what she no doubt knew all along.

Kaguya deliberately ignored Neji. "I see...my son has sent all of you, with my chakra, to lock me away this time."

"Yeah, so get ready to pack your bags, because the five of us will send you back to where you came from," Naru snarled, lip curling. "You, who acts arrogantly that ALL power belongs to you and we are nothing compared to you. You look on us all like ants you can crush if you want to; that attitude is no different than a lot of humans on this world!"

The goddess glared at her with righteous, stone-cold fury. "A rude mouth which deserves to be silenced. You are speaking to someone who was the mother you lost - the both of you." Her attention shifted to Sasuke while Naru was visibly seething and thinking of a new comeback.

"That was before we knew who you really were, Kaguya," he said through his teeth. "Orochimaru and I were both right that you weren't what you seemed." His eyes had by now shifted to bloody red with the trio of tomoe. "And what made you think you could really replace anyone when we never knew a damned thing about you to begin with? What gave you the right when you had no heart from the beginning?! What do you know anything about a family?"

"Don't talk to me about being heartless, boy," Kaguya interjected. "I protected this world long ago before you were born. I ended the conflict, but my own children rebelled against me because of their misguided love for the people - and one girl. You all think to put me away when you don't understand why in the slightest?"

"Oh, we know enough," Naru said. "You started as someone loved only to be consumed by all that power, and you became a monster in everyone's eyes. Who goes around turning people into mutated nothings for what purpose?!"

The only reaction she got out of the divine being was the widening of the eyes. A pregnant pause took place before the silence was broken.

"...it's meaningless to waste time talking. You are all just like Hagoromo and Hamura; those who now serve me - and more to come - deserved what came to them, including the father of my sons. My life was threatened, but no matter that and because of the law within a futile treaty, I was ordered to be executed because my cowardly lover couldn't bend the law to spare my life. Just when I had found someone who shared my dream of peace upon the world, which is nothing but a fantasy. Your only option is to grasp everything for yourself, and when someone rises to you, you deal with them accordingly. Tenji -" Must be the name of her sons' father. "- did not deserve my forgiveness for his betrayal...just as I see none of you are worth it, either."

Naru erupted then and there.

"We don't deserve it? You're one to talk. I speak for all of us when I say YOU don't deserve it - and what the hell did you do to Granny Tsunade?"

A cool, clinical smile formed on those red lips. And right behind her, a spot in the ground began to rise up, parts of the earth melting like mud after rain, and out popped what looked like a green Venus flytrap - which parted to reveal a horrendous thing within. Only instead of one thing, it was two in one, being black and white like the Yin and Yang symbol...the left half of the body being the White Zetsu, but what's that black nothingness?

It appeared the speaker was the black half. "Hello, kids. We are Zetsu - I'm Black Zetsu, and here is White Zetsu." And the other half giggled insipidly, the sound an uncomfortable wrack to the senses. Hinata fought to not pass out from the shock.

"What's up, kids of Hagoromo? You heard, but I'm White Zetsu, and I'm excited to see the fun begin!"

Not one of them could respond to that, just show equal amounts of horror from Hinata herself to her cousin and boyfriend, and then Sasuke, leaving a certain someone to explode at the top of her lungs. Even when Hagoromo showed them what became of...

"You heartless, monstrous - YOU DID THIS TO TSUNADE!" Naru couldn't help herself anymore when she looked straight at the white thing. "My God, you don't even recognize us, White Zetsu - Granny Tsunade?!"

Hinata's pendant from Gaara is the Biwa Pearl Necklace/Brooch from Stauer, a bit of the text taken from the description. :3

Tsukimi is Japan's moon-viewing festival. In the middle of September at the most, the moon appears as a big-ass yellow disc, and white dango (to look like the moon itself) is served along with susuki grass for décor, and other things. It's a celebration of the beginning of the harvest.

Sasuke and Gaara's song for their ladies was inspired by "From the Ground Up", performed by Celtic Thunder. Parts of the lyrics are similar to the original version. :3

REVIEW! All this time and after only one reviewer, why didn't anyone leave any? :( I'm proud of this piece.