A/N: Hey, I'm back with another chapter for Rent A Boyfriend! Thank you so much to those who were so patient with me! And I appreciate everyone who is sticking with me through this Fanfiction. And even though I haven't updated for a while, I will still keep my promise to FINISH this Fanfiction for you guys!

And I am so grateful to all those who reviews and favourited and followed this story! You guys are my inspiration and I am so thankful!

Please enjoy chapter 4 of Rent A Boyfriend!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Today was the day of the basketball match, and Sakura, Ino, Hinata and Temari were all making their way to the college's large courts.

"So," Sakura began, looking Temari's way, "why aren't you playing with Tenten today?"

Temari smirked, "because I don't have Lee as a trainer. He was very committed to make Tenten join the team. You could just say I'm lucky that I have Shikamaru as my trainer-"

"Wait, what?!" Sakura stopped dead in her tracks. "Shikamaru?!"

"Yeah… So?" Temari turned to look at her friend's shocked face, not understanding the sudden change in mood. Hinata and Ino also turned to look at the pinkette.

"Nara Shikamaru? The laziest guy in college?"

"Yeah…"

"I didn't even know he could run! You're telling me he plays basketball?!"

"Totally. He's my coach, like how Tenten has Lee. Although, I can't say he does much coaching. He doesn't really ever give me tips or techniques. He just tells me what I miss when I don't show up for practice. But, hey! It's not like I'm complaining!"

"But then why does he play? If he's too lazy to even train himself?" Sakura asked, her brows furrowing in question.

"Oh my gosh, Sakura! Don't you know; almost all the popular guys here play basketball!" Ino cheered, "It gives you a rocking body and everyone knows that the girls think it's such a hot sport to play! All the sexy guys are on the team! It's just a team of hotties!"

Sakura saw how Hinata bowed her head, probably embarrassed at hearing such a statement fall from the Yamanaka's lips. 'Though, it's not like it's anything new', Sakura thought to herself.

Temari nodded, agreeing with her friend, "It almost gives people a popular social status. I mean, don't you just think it's so cool when you find out a guy plays basketball? Especially since our team only accepts the best players, you know?"

"But," the pinkette began, "I didn't think Shikamaru worried about being popular or having a good 'social status.'"

Temari smirked, "but see, he only joined because Naruto begged him to- and you know how annoying the Uzumaki gets when he begs. Plus, other than his schoolwork, Shikamaru has found something that he's good at. His amazing strategic ability is very beneficial to the team."

Sakura just nodded slowly, walking alongside her friends once more. She always knew their college took great pride in their basketball, but she didn't know it was considered 'hot' to play. 'Well, if basketball is so popular here,' Sakura thought to herself, 'then Sasuke is bound to play it.' She sighed, feeling a headache coming on at the thought of him. She had barely slept last night because she was too busy worrying about how things were going to change between them. She wanted thing to change between them. If only he'd also make an effort.

She remembered typing an email to him the night before, saying all the things she couldn't tell him when she had apologized. About how she hadn't rented him for the reasons he thought she had, that she wasn't out to get him or mock him and about how she actually wanted him to give her a chance to let her befriend him. She even mentioned that she actually couldn't pay the rent fee anytime soon. At least not for another month or two.

But she hadn't sent it. She wasn't prepared to. She didn't even know if Sasuke would reply to it! No, She wasnt that deperate yet. Besides, if things were to change, it would have to be face-to-face.

She didn't voice her thoughts and ask Temari whether Sasuke was on the team or not. She didn't feel like talking about him right now. Besides, she didn't want her friends to think she was… obsessed. She wasn't, by the way. She just really needed to talk to him.

"Well," Ino cried, pulling Sakura from her thoughts, "We want to see you play next time too, Temari!"

The girl just shrugged her shoulders and muttered something about asking Lee to get her in.

The group of friends soon found themselves at the basketball courts. It was a Saturday and there were no classes to attend to so the match started early in the morning. It was already almost eight o' clock and the girls walked around the perimeter of the huge courts so that they could find a place to sit. The place seemed to be packed with supporters, both from their collage as well as from their opponent's college. Basketball must be very popular.

They finally found a spot on the bleachers and they immediately sat down.

"Wow!" Ino smiled excitedly, "I can't wait to see this!"

Hinata chuckled to herself at her friend's excitement, reminding her of Naruto's constant cheeriness.

"Oh, by the way, how did the date go?"

Sakura turned to look at Temari, who raised her brows suggestively, smirking.

"Uh-" Sakura blushed a bit at the look her friend gave her. "It was okay. I mean, we spoke a bit and we had a smoothie together. He even paid for mine," Sakura answered, trying to offer her brightest smile.

"Wow," Temari sighed. "That must have been lovely. Though, I can't imagine the Uchiha being such a gentleman!"

Ino glanced at Sakura out of the corner of her eye. She knew Sakura wanted to tell her friends about what had happened, but she was trying to do it in a way that wouldn't worry them. Sakura didn't want them to blame Sasuke for the fight that they'd had.

Sakura nodded, the smile still gracing her lips, "Yeah, but something did happen. We kind of fou-"

"Lady Hinata."

Sakura was interrupted by Hyuuga Neji, the prodigy of the Hyuuga Household. Hinata was always shy around him and Sakura watched as the Hyuuga heiress bowed her head at her cousin. Although Neji and Hinata didn't get along too well, it was very obvious that they respected each other. Sakura wasn't too sure about what had happened between them or why they weren't as close as cousins should be, but she could always see that Hinata almost admired him. The pinkette had never asked Hinata about her relationship with Neji, because she didn't want to make the girl uncomfortable. But Sakura didn't mind not knowing. She could tell Neji and Hinata had a complicated past, but now they've sorted it out, and they could act like a family with each other.

Neji asked to speak to Hinata in private and so she apologised and followed the brunette to stand a few feet away.

"Wonder what that's about." Temari said, looking over at the two who had just left.

Ino shrugged, "Probably some family matter. I'm sure it's nothing."

Sakura nodded. Ino was probably right. They seemed to be having a neutral conversation. She could see that Hinata wasn't receiving any bad news. That's good.

"So what was it you were saying?" Temari asked, smiling at Sakura.

Sakura smiled and shook her head, "Its nothing. The game's about to start," she said, gesturing excitedly toward the court.

"Yes!" Temari cheered, "I can't wait to watch Tenten play!"

"I honestly can't believe they'd let a girl play," Ino commented, more to herself.

"Well," Sakura chuckled, "We all know how determined Lee is!"

The other two nodded, "Yep!"

"I feel sorry for Tenten," Temari said, contemplatively, "This is going to be a tough match."

"Nah! She can handle this!" Ino said, smiling proudly. "Go team!"

Just then, Hinata came back from her talk with Neji. "So what did I miss?" she asked, making her way back to her spot on the bleachers.

"Nothing much," Temari said. "What was up with Neji?"

Hinata merely shrugged, "Just family matters. It doesn't really concern me, though."

The girls nodded and looked back to the game.

"I can see Tenten!" Sakura pointed excitedly at her friend sitting on the side-lines. "She looks like a real basketball player in that team getup!"

Temari waved at the brunette, "I hope she gets the chance to play!" she said, laughing at Tenten's barely visible scowl. She obviously wanted to be in the game.

"Oh, look!" Ino pointed, "There's Sasuke!"

"Ooh!" Temari smirked at Sakura, "Doesn't he look so 'beautiful!?'" She asked, imitating the Uchiha's fangirls. The group of friends laughed and Sakura couldn't help but laugh with them.

And glancing at Sasuke now, watching him playing basketball, she also couldn't hep but to think that he was, indeed, beautiful.

'I knew our boys could handle them!" Ino yelled, jumping up and down as she and her friends made their way down the bleachers. "Did you see how much we got the other team sweating!?"

"Let's face it," Tenten said, after running up to her group of friends, "They didn't stand a chance when I got on that court!" The girls laughed at their friend's arrogant comment.

"You were very good," Hinata said softly, making Tenten break out into a wide smile.

Temari rolled her eyes, "I get the feeling that the only reason Shikamaru got his butt kicked was because he was too lazy to keep playing. Otherwise Tenten might not actually have had the chance to play."

Sakura heard Ino and the other girls snicker at Temari's comment, but they quickly quietened down when they saw Shikamaru approaching them.

Temari smirked at the genius, "I saw you got your butt kicked in that game," she jeered, earning an annoyed sigh from the Nara.

"Whatever," he sighed, "it was becoming too troublesome."

This caused the sand-nin to roll her eyes, "Of course it was. What do you want?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "You're so impatient," he mumbled to himself.

"What was that?!" Temari asked, immediately raising her voice and stepping closer to Shikamaru. Her eyes were narrowed and she looked ready to fight.

"Geez," Shikamaru waved her off, "I just wanted to tell you the next match will be on Wednesday and Gai-sensei wants you to play."

At this, Temari only stared at him. YES! She was going to get a chance to show her lazy coach that she was better than him! Shikamaru always seemed to think women were weaker and inferior. But now, Temari would show him! She couldn't wait for Wednesday! He was going to watch her defeat the other team!

Temari was visibly brimming with excitement. She couldn't wait! "Just you see," she began, smirking arrogantly at the Nara, "I'm going to wipe out the opposing team! Just you wait!" And with that, she walked on ahead and didn't even care when Shikamaru muttered his all-too-famous catchphrase.

"Wow," Ino said, catching up with her friend, "Is it just me or did you just get really competitive back there?"

Hinata nodded nervously and Sakura looked questioningly at Temari, who only shrugged, "he doesn't believe I'm fit enough for the team. But now I'll show him!"

Sakura shook her head amusedly, "You two are like polar opposites. He's extremely lazy and you're extremely… Temari."

The other girls giggled and then Ino suddenly got an idea, "Oh my gosh! You two would make such an adorable couple!"

At this, however, Temari stopped dead in her tracks and glared at her blonde friend, "For the record, Ino, I don't like him."

"Sure you do!" Ino cooed.

Temari only glared at her friend and continued walking ahead. "Whatever, Ino! You're crazy!" she said light-heartedly, smiling at her friend.

Ino grinned back and they all walked to Sakura's dorm together.

After each girl had made themselves comfortable on Sakura's bed, Temari pulled out her phone and visibly scowled.

"What?" Ino asked, looking confused.

"We have training tomorrow," Temari said, looking at Tenten.

Tenten sighed, "On a Sunday?!"

Temari nodded, leaning back onto the headboard of the bed. She really didn't want to do basketball training on a Sunday. "Oh well," she sighed, "We can't do anything about it."

"Yeah…" Tenten groaned.

Ino and Sakura burst out laughing at their friend's lack of enthusiasm.

"It can't be that bad," Hinata smiled, but immediately stopped when she saw Temari begin to grin mischievously. "W-what?" the Hyuuga stuttered nervously.

"You were staring at Naruto the whole game," the sand-nin smirked, leaning closer towards Hinata and examining the blush sprouting from her cheeks.

"Seriously?!" Ino squealed, looking shocked at Hinata.

"N-no, th-that's not it!" Hinata tried to desperately fight her blush and protest, but her words had left her. This was so embarrassing!

Tenten perked up excitedly, "Hinata! If you like him, why don't you ask him out?"

At this, the Hyuuga quickly shied away and vigorously shook her head. "N-no, I-I couldn't!"

Sakura laughed at the scene playing out before her. "Maybe we need to do something to help Hinata out?" she suggested, grinning. She got up and fetched a drink from her fridge for each of her friends.

"Yes!" Tenten said, getting all excited. The group of friends laughed and completely ignored Hinata's protests.

"So why do you like him?" Temari asked, turning her attention back to Hinata.

The Heiress began to blush again but she couldn't help the small smile that played at her lips.

"Aww!" Ino cooed, "Hinata! You're so adorable!"

At this, Hinata immediately felt uncomfortable under the weight of all the attention, but she smiled back at her friends none the less.

"And what about you and Sasuke?" Temari asked, giving Sakura a smirk.

"What?" Sakura asked, feeling suddenly frazzled and nervous. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," Temari assured her, "You didn't give us the details about the date. Did he kiss you? Did you two hold hands? Did you even make eye contact?!"

It didn't go unnoticed to Sakura how her heart made a small leap at the prospect of Sasuke kissing her. But she immediately shook the thought out of head. There wouldn't be any kissing. They'd fought. Remember? "Well, uhh…" the pinkette began, "We kind of… argued…"

All the girls stopped what they were doing and stared at the pinkette.

"No way…" Temari trailed off, suddenly feeling uncomfortable as the atmosphere took a sudden downward spiral.

"O-oh, th-that's really… I'm sorry," Hinata offered comfortingly.

"Yeah, but it was all his fault!" Ino said, looking sour.

"Ino," Sakura smiled at her friend, who was trying to make her feel better. "It was my fault as much as it was his. We just… had a small argument."

Tenten's eyes suddenly grew wide, "Is that what you meant when you said you said you were dealing with "an awkward encounter" yesterday?"

Sakura smiled sheepishly and nodded. "But I mean, we resolved it and-"

"So does this mean no more dating him?" Temari asked, casually untying her hair and re-tying it.

"Probably not," Sakura answered honestly. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up! I mean, this might sound strange, but... I want to see him…" Sakura closed her eyes, "You know, see him as a different person. I want to get to know him and find out if he has any other good qualities to him other than his looks." She opened her eyes to see her friends staring at her.

Hinata blushed, "If you want to get to know him, the real him, and if it's what you really want to do, then I believe you can." She smiled at Sakura, who retuned the gesture with a smile of her own.

Temari chuckled, "Imagine if my friend will be the one to get through to that jerk. His fangirls sure will get a shock!"

The other girls laughed, suddenly feeling happy again. "So, do you have a plan?" Ino asked, winking at her friend.

Sakura thought for a moment. She couldn't just turn around and ask for another date in calculus. And she didn't have the guts to email him. She sighed. "I know I'll think of something."

"WHAT!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'NO'!?"

Sakura froze in her tracks. She heard a second voice murmuring, but it was too soft for her to make out what the person was saying.

She looked around frantically. What if she was caught? What if it was a teacher who was nearing her? What if it was a student who tattle-tailed!? Sakura started to panic. Who knew that today was going to be the day that she'd be punished for the first time in her life!? And for being out after curfew?!

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU KNEW WHERE IT WAS!" The voice clearly sounded annoyed and as the person came closer, Sakura felt her fear wane. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance. She knew that loud voice anywhere. It was Naruto.

She heard the murmur again and suddenly she didn't want to take any chances in case he was with a professor. Oh, how she regretted this decision!

Looking around, however, she couldn't find any place to hide. She was standing right in the middle of a long corridor. She sighed as she felt her heart beat faster at the approaching footsteps, but she was not prepared for the sight which met her eyes.

It was Sasuke. And he was with Naruto.

Sakura was shocked, and she could tell the two boys were just as stunned as she was. Naruto's blue eyes were huge and Sasuke wore his own expression of surprise.

"Uhh, hey, Sakura," Naruto began, nervously rubbing the back of his head. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Well, I- umm…"

Naruto raised a quizzical blonde brow as he watched her fumble with her words. She was still in her pyjamas! This was so awkward! And with Sasuke staring at her-!

"Well," she began again, "I was going to Ino's dorm. I let her borrow my Calculus notebook, but I didn't realize I had homework to do in it. I completely forgot…"

Naruto nodded, smirking at her words, "and you thought that it was better to possibly get caught out after curfew than to just get a scolding for not doing your homework?"

At this, the pinkette began to blush, and she was so thankful that the only light that was coming in was the moonlight through the open curtain at the end of the corridor.

Sasuke scoffed. Sakura turned her hard eyes up to meet his cold ones. Naruto felt the tension in the air change. But before anything could happen, Sakura smiled at Naruto and continued down the hallway, not once looking back.

Once she was out of sight, Naruto turned to look at Sasuke who wouldn't meet his gaze. "What was that about?" the blonde asked.

Sasuke just shrugged his shoulders and continued to walk. He didn't feel like talking about Sakura- even if he couldn't stop thinking about her. Although, what she had done was extremely... unexpected. Never had a girl ever looked at him like that before. Was she... mad at him? And for what reason!? He had noticed her at the basketball courts that afternoon and he couldn't shake the disappointment he felt every time he remembered that she hadn't even said well done to him.

He frowned at his sudden emotions. She's just an annoyance.

"YOU ALWAYS DO THIS!" Naruto yelled, catching up to Sasuke. "Why can't you ever pretend to be nice for once? At least make an effort when I'm trying to have a conversation with someone! I never make any friends when you're with me. You always turn everyone away and-"

Sasuke wasn't listening to the blonde. He had his own things to think about. About the way she looked at him with that cold glare. He wondered what he'd done to make her so mad. Although, she'd also made him mad, but for what reason; he wasn't sure.

Naruto looked over at his best friend. He's brooding again... He'd have to talk to Sasuke about Sakura soon. The Uchiha seemed to be more distant ever since 'the date'... Naruto sighed. Sasuke clearly didn't know how to deal with relationships. And even though Naruto was probably not the best person to talk to about women, he defiantly knew more than Sasuke did. Yes. He would have to talk to him.

Sakura was back in her dorm. No teachers had found her, and even though Ino was as grumpy as a pig when the pinkette woke her, she was happy to have her Calculus book back.

But there was a constant reminder of the previous events of that night. Sasuke. He'd been so rude... Sakura couldn't help but glare at him. The way he acted... He acted like he didn't want anything between the two of them.

Sakura sighed as she thought this over. He was acting so cold and uninterested. It made the pinkette feel somewhat angry and... Hurt. Why was he so difficult?

Sakura made her way to her bed and sat down on it, crossing her legs. It was only after she had opened up her notebook that she realized- she hadn't even asked what they were doing up! Could this night get anymore frustrating!?

A/N: Okay, so that's the end of this chapter! I hope you all liked it and please leave a review to let me know what you think!

I'm pretty sure that by now you all know what the side pairings are, but I would just also like to hear your opinions on them. Please let me know if you like them and I need some help with who you want to see Ino end up with! It would be much appreciated!

I have the next chapter all planned out and I can GUARANTEE that there WILL be fluff! *w*

Thanks again for staying with me through this Fanfiction and I apologize for any grammatical errors.