A/N: Almost changed the side pairing to ShikaHina but decided Shika is too lazy to fight Sasu for a girl lol. I also changed Hinata's age. I mistakenly put her as 18 in the first chapter but she's 17. Ino, Shika, Hina, Naru, Sai are the only one's that are 17. Everyone else turned 18 earlier in the year. (I looked up all their birthdays.) I know, I always write Ino throwing parties (if you've read "The Fated Ones", you'd know what I'm talking about), but she just screams party animal to me. I can't resist.

Side Note: Thank you all who've reviewed! I read them ALL (even the negative ones) and I appreciate all the kind words and encouragement! I've never wrote this fast and been so excited to put out a chapter before. I never thought this story would be such a hit.

Fun Fact: I'm almost positive this is the longest chapter I've written with about 5,800 words. Sweet Jesus.

Song: Talking Body (Remake) by SoMo

Disclaimer: I don't own NARUTO or any of it's characters.

About Last Night

Chapter Two

Talking Body

Thin fingers clutched the paper in her hands as her pearl-colored eyes glanced over it. It was her class schedule but she had been home schooled all her life so it was an oddity to her. It had her course title, then the room number and building and finally, her teacher's name. Other than that, there wasn't much else on there, besides the date.

'September twenty-first. My first day of high school. Why did it have to be on a Monday?' She thought while strolling the empty halls towards her class.

After five minutes of looking over her classes, she had it almost memorized. First was a writing class called Creative Writing, then was Honors Calculus, Art, Culinary, Ancient History, Physical Education then Homeroom. The trick was memorizing the room numbers. Right now, she had to go to building L, room 204. Finding the building was easy enough, since on the side of them there were large, olive green letters.

She covered her hand when she yawned and ascended the stairs. Her older cousin Neji had came into her place and woke her from her much needed slumber. In her happiness, she had jumped to hug him. The last time they had seen each other was last Christmas, which was almost a whole year ago. After a few moments of hugging, he shoo'ed her into the bathroom to get ready while he waited in the living room.

She changed into a plain black pair of skinny jeans, a blank maroon V-neck with long sleeves that formed to her body tightly but not uncomfortably either. She doubted she would be hot in the outfit, judging by the heavy, dark clouds looming over the city. It took her a few minutes to find her low-rise maroon converse but when she did, she quickly slipped them on. Passing a brush though her tangled mess of hair until it was smooth and straight, Hinata decided on no makeup. She didn't really wear it anyway. Only for events, usually.

After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she took a second look at herself. To her, she looked bland and underdressed, honestly. She threw on a simple pair of small, black hoop earrings and felt a little better about the look.

Neji said she looked just fine when she fretted over her bangs in the car. He could tell she was nervous to be going into a new environment. Especially when there was so many kids her age. He knew how brutal teens could be with their words but he wasn't worried about Hinata fitting in. If anything, he'd probably have to ward off guys from making advantages towards her.

The Hyūga were an attractive family. They had great genes, but the women were well-endowed naturally. It was a little irritating for Neji, who had seen first hand how men would gape at his mother, his aunt and also his baby cousin. When he was younger, his father knocked out some guy who was flirting with his mother. It had been an interesting day at the beach, that was definite.

Not only was Hinata beautiful, but she was a good girl, and that vibe of innocence would only attract unwanted attention even more. He knew how guys thought; they would be enthralled by her genuine purity. A serious thought of if he should buy a shot gun came to mind, but he shook it off. Hinata could protect herself, should the need arise.

Offering to drive her (she really didn't know the way anyway and thanked him in her head for being so considerate), they pulled up in his all white Dodge Challenger then showed her to the main office, before departing for his first period. She had to reassure him that she was fine looking for her class without him before he left, though. He was almost like a mother hen some times.

Just as she was going to knock on the principal's office, a muscular and tall body blocked her from doing so. She had been at a loss for words for a second. The boy in front of her was incredibly handsome!

With his straight nose, high cheekbones and long raven hair hanging into his intense ebony pupils, she had never seen someone that had taken her breath away like the way he did. She cleared her throat quietly and apologized, but he seemed to be observing her in a blank manner.

Thinking that he was probably irritated with her lack of awareness to her surrounds, she was surprised when he opened the door for her. Whispering her gratitude to him, he again took her by surprise when he smirked and winked at her.

Why the beautiful stranger with an amazing body winked at her was beyond her capability of thinking. To her, she was nothing special. Sure, her hair was long and thick, but it was unruly when she didn't brush it (and most of the time, it went up in a bun when she was doing something anyway). Her body was just like any other female, with curves, but it wasn't anything too attractive. The women in her family were all curvy so it wasn't an interesting thing to have in her mind. Her eyes were nice, yeah, but they were large and her eyelashes were too thick that if she put mascara on them, they almost looked as if they would take flight and leave her face forever.

Sighing, she found her class at the end of the hallway and opened the door. The teacher was in the front of the class, writing something on the board and lecturing the kids about not slacking off or something. He glanced to her and motioned for her to enter.

With a blush, she ducked her head, feeling about thirty pair of eyes on her skull, and continued towards the brunette teacher. She handed him the paper Tsunade-sama had given her and he nodded after reading it though.

"Take a seat, Hyūga-san. Since it's your first day, I'll give you the freedom to choose your seat for the year." With a wave of his hand, she was dismissed.

Although there was an open seat in the front, she made a beeline to the back, where no one would notice her and took the empty space next to what appeared to be a sleeping boy with a messy head of sunny locks. The desk were combined so there were two chairs per desk.

The person didn't seem to know she had sat down in the empty chair, even as she put her binder down next to her. Her teacher resumed talking before a dry-board eraser suddenly flew past her to the sleeping head of blond hair, connecting with a soft thud.

The boy jolted up with a yelp, wide clear blue eyes staring tiredly ahead in search of his aggressor. "Hey, what the fuck was that for?!"

Their irritated teacher didn't fail to express his displeasure with his student, "Naruto Uzumaki, watch your language in my classroom. And stay awake while you're at it or I'll give you your fifth detention in my class!"

Mumbling and falling back in his seat, the lengthy male finally noticed the petite female next to him. His sky blue eyes widened at her for a second and he quickly rubbed his eyes.

Hinata, noticing his movements, turned her attention from their teacher back to her desk-mate with a raised eyebrow. He seemed to be gaping at her almost, but he had just been rudely awakened so he probably wasn't all there right now.

Taking a second glance at him just to make sure he wasn't crazy or anything, she let her brows frown downwards. Were all the students in this school so attractive? He was a different kind of handsome from the boy she had literally ran into this morning but he still had his own appeal to him. Long, bright hair spiked up from his crown like a sun and hung slightly in eyes the color of a clear day. His tan skin was slightly darker than hers and as he moved his arms, she noticed the muscles ripple with his movements as well. His black and orange t-shirt wasn't figure-hugging, but it wasn't hard to see as he lifted his hands to rub the sleep from his eyes. With a blush, she looked to the board again.

Maybe all the boys here were tall and athletic? The two that she had encountered definitely were at least. The dark haired boy was at least six foot, and this boy was easily the same height as well. If every boy looked like them, she would not have a problem adjusting to school at all.

The boy had seemingly stopped staring at her and settled for smiling friendly, "Hey, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. You must be new here, I've never seen you before."

She smiled back politely and replied equally as quiet, "I'm Hinata Hyūga. Nice to meet you, Naruto-san."

Just as he opened his lips to say something, another dry-board eraser connected with his head. Sighing, he apologized to the teacher only for them both to get a detention for talking. Hinata pouted, holding the pink slip of paper, while Naruto offered her an apologetic smile.

"Let me make it up to you," He offered as they walked down the stairs after class. "I'll buy you lunch."

She held her binder to her chest but nodded anyway, "Well...sure, I guess that's fine."

With a sparkling smile, he nodded and motioned with his head, "I'll take you to this café down the street then, if that's alright?" When he noticed her confusion, he continued, "Seniors get to eat lunch off campus as long as they have a 3.0 GPA or higher."

A large hand gripped her elbow from the left of her. When she turned her head to see who it was, Neji was glaring at her newly formed friend. "Hinata-chan, I assume you found your first period with no problems?"

Hinata placed her free hand over his. She had no idea why he looked so hostile. "Of course, Neji-nii."

Naruto, oblivious to the older Hyūga's dark stare, pointed at the two, "Wait, Neji, she's your cousin?!"

"Yes," He seethed between his straight teeth.

"What?! She's, like, a total hott-"

"Shut up, you moron." An elbow to his rib-case caused him to choke and cut him off from his sentence. The culprit was a thin, pretty girl with short pink hair. Emerald pupils gave the tall boy next to her a dirty look, before flicking to the Hyūga girl. Her scowl instantly turned into a bright smile. The crimson shirt hugged her fit figure perfectly, though it was obvious she wasn't as busty as the Hyūga girl. A creme skirt stopped short, buckles around her hips simply for looks as they had no function to them. It slightly unnerved the long-haired heiress how quickly this girl changed moods.

"Sakura-chan, that wasn't very nice," Naruto grumbled, rubbing a hand on his abused body.

The pink-haired girl glared at him, which immediately shut him up, and kicked him with her boot-clad feet to further her point. Turning to the cousins, she held out her hand in greeting, which was received with a smaller hand, "Hi, I'm Sakura Haruno. I see you met this idiot," she motioned to him with a tilt of her head.

Said idiot huffed, "Me and Hinata-chan are in the same first period! And I'm taking her to lunch too."

Neji, finally calm, quickly growled, "No."

"Nii-san," Hinata whispered quietly, "I'll be fine, please don't make this into a big thing."

Sakura, watching the exchange of looks between the two, glanced to her friend. She understood Neji's feelings towards letting his cousin go with Naruto. He was known for his player antics around the school and had broken many hearts in his years of high school and even in middle school as well.

Getting an idea, she smiled and broke the uncomfortable silence, "Well, if it would make you feel better, Neji-kun, I'll go with them."

Hinata looked towards her apathetic cousin for confirmation just as another female voice offered her own opinion on the matter. Another slim girl with light chocolate colored hair smiled brilliantly, a hand on Neji's muscular arm. She wore a baggy sweater that looked eerily familiar to Hinata, and simple denim capris, topped with black converse.

"Why don't we all go? It's fish burgers in the cafeteria today," the girl mentioned with a scrunched up nose.

By the way her cousin instantly let go of her arm and relaxed his tense posture, Hinata knew this strange girl meant something to him. Just like the pink-haired one (Sakura, she reminded herself), she was taller than the heiress, although not by much - the boys easily towered over them since they were skimming six foot anyway - and had two perfectly constructed buns sitting on top of her head. Her short bangs parted in the middle and kept out of her hazel eyes while she took in the petite heiress.

"I'm TenTen, by the way. Neji's told me so much about you -"

"Are we invited to this little outing?" A lazy voiced asked from behind them.

Standing a few feet from them was an odd trio of teens, although they weren't any more odd than the four that stood in the hallway. Another tall boy, who was on the chubbier side waved his greetings, munching happily on a large bag of chips. His long hair, wrapped messily in a tail, flowed casually down his back, an amber color that almost matched his slightly darker eyes. He played for the basketball team, if she was going by the green and white letterman jacket with the school's name stitched on the left breast.

Before he got to eat another handful of the goodies, a slender hand snatched the bag from him then indifferently slammed it in the trashcan next to her. Standing next to him was an attractive blonde with hair coming down to her slim hips in a high pony-tail. She was slightly taller than Sakura, the same height as TenTen and had the prettiest blue eyes Hinata had even seen, identical to the other blonde male (Naruto, she really had to remember these names!). Her dress, a violet-purple, clung to her like a second skin with a thin, black coverup around her. She grinned so wide, her eyes shut with the motion.

The culprit of the monotone question was slouching his broad shoulders, although his height was just as tall as the boy she had run into this morning, making him currently the tallest amongst the teens, though that was only by an inch or two. Like the other boy, he had his own letterman jacket with his hands shoved into the pockets of his black jeans. Under was a gray shirt, blank from what she could see. Without fail, he was equally as attractive as the other males she had come to encounter as well. Thick raven hair was pulled into a pony-tail (she was sensing a pattern with these three) that resembled a pineapple to her. It made her smile slightly, which his intelligent bright brown eyes caught with a quick glance in her direction.

Her cheeks quickly blossomed with color, which in turn caused the handsome boy to smirk, eyes lowering on her form. Averting her attention to the conversation, she hadn't noticed when the three newcomers were now in the make-shift circle.

The pretty blond waved her sparkly nails at her, "Hey, I'm Ino Yamanaka, that's Chōji Akimichi and this lazy fuck is Shikamaru Nara."

The boy named Chōji smiled sweetly at her and greeted her as well, "You're Neji's little cousin? Wow, you two don't look that much alike, though."

Neji scoffed. "Alright, now that we've established Hinata-chan and I look nothing alike, can we get to class? I won't appreciate my cousin getting a detention on her first day of school."

Gulping nervously, Hinata fished out the pink paper from her binder, only to have it angrily snatched it from her manicured finger-tips.

Steely grey eyes narrowed dangerously. Logically, his quiet baby cousin could never warrant a detention by herself. It was only the second period of the day! It took half a second for him to come to the most reasonable answer. He hissed, "Naruto."

And with that, the guilty expression on the blond as he tried to explain vanished. In it's place was panic and before anyone could blink, the Uzumaki football player was sprinting down the hall. Throwing the paper behind him, Neji soon caught up with his teammate and tackled him from around the corner, which was slightly out of sight from the others. Girlish screams came from the tumbling males that sounded rather...Naruto-like.

Laughing with her head thrown back, TenTen picked up the paper and handed it to the blushing heiress. "I'll handle that. We'll meet you guys at the parking lot at lunch, okay?" Without waiting for a reply, the confident senior made her way towards the two, disappearing behind the same corner.

The bell signaling class would start soon sounded off right after that. Chōji and Shikamaru said their goodbyes, not with out laughing heartily at their idiot friend's misfortune, and took their leave in the room a few feet away from the ladies.

Ino tucked her slim arm around the other girl's and dragged them down the hall, with protest from the pink-haired of the two. "Shut up, Billboard Brow. What class do you have, Hinata-chan?"

Blinking at the fuming female, Hinata turned her gaze to the blond, "Honors Calculus. I'm not sure I'm in the right building..."

Sakura perked up quickly after that. Bright green eyes wide, she smiled, "Honors Calc? You have that with me then!"

Releasing her hold, Ino tossed her hair behind her as they turned down the corner opposite of the one Neji clothes-lined Naruto on. Pausing, she pressed her hand on the door to the left of her, "Oh no, not another genius in the group. Bye, ladies, see you at break!"

A pale hand held the door open for her. Sliding her sapphire gaze up the muscular arm that was connected to it, then to the wide smile and dark pupils. Her tan cheeks colored that rivaled her best friend's hair color, "T-Thank you, Sai-kun."

Sakura continued walking, nudging the small Hyūga with her elbow. Her lips were turned upwards in a gentle smirk, "That boy is Sai. Ino's had a crush on him since he transferred here last winter."

Hinata looked back to the two by the door as Ino scurried into the classroom and another tall and very pale boy followed shortly after. Other students went in behind them, ignoring the scene or simply not caring either way. Sakura took another right then went straight down the stairs, the heiress right next to her. Students were here and there, mingling and pushing in doors to enter classes.

They came to the bottom of the building, avoiding the drizzling rain, and walked down the hallway. Polished pink nails pointed to the green door, two from the end, "That's our class. It's not that hard, really. Not many people in it since it's not required for most colleges. Besides you and me, there's about twelve others."

She nodded, long hair moving like liquid. "Is the teacher nice?" She didn't want a repeat of the last class at all.

Catching her drift, Sakura nodded, "Iruka-sensei is really great. He's really patient and understanding. You can sit by me! It's about time I have a friend in this boring class."

She pushed the door open and caught it for the long haired girl, before heading to her seat. Hinata followed after and wasn't surprised when she only saw about eight heads. Most of them were face down, light snores even coming from one of the males towards the back. They were scattered throughout the thirty desk, the only one in the front was an enthused girl with glasses and unruly hair that was tied messily.

Sitting in the back of another ridiculously tall boy, Sakura leaned forward and tugged on the raised collar of his jacket gently, "Shino-kun, this is Hinata-chan. Remember when Neji-kun said his cousin was coming? This is her."

Hinata was once again reminded how short she was when the male shifted in his seat, sitting straight to greet her with a slight nod. His sharp features were smooth as well as his built, though it was difficult to tell his expression since his glasses, tinted almost black, covered his eyes perfectly. His lips pressed into a straight line as he regarded her for a second, before nodding to her. He was slim, with a thick, dark grey jacket zipped all the way up and dark slacks as well.

"Shino Aburame. Pleasure to meet you." Was all he said, in a low monotone.

She smiled, a bit overwhelmed with all the new faces and names. She didn't let it show. Satisfied with her response, he turned back, although both girls knew he was listening to their conversation. Sakura including him into it as she described their school, urging him to give his input. It was usually a one or two word answer, but she understood that he probably wasn't much of a talkative person. She wasn't either. Sakura, on the other hand, definitely was.

Listening to the cherry blossom hair-colored girl distracted her enough to not even pay attention to the approaching footsteps. It was only when her new friend's jade eyes widened with appreciation and Shino's slight nod of acknowledgement, did she turn to look.

Lo and behold, it was the devilishly handsome raven haired boy from this morning.

She felt almost faint as their eyes, colors that were polar opposites, clashed. He held their eye contact as she was too stunned to break it. He noticed this, and smirked as he approached the three. With a black binder tucked on the side of him, held by his now bandaged hands, Sasuke took the seat in front of her.

He heard her expel a breath and was curious of the effect he had on this girl.

"Sasuke-kun..." Sakura almost sighed in her fan-girl daze before snapping out of it when he glared at her, "This is Hinata-chan, Neji-kun's cousin."

"We've met," he said casually, eyes solely on the new girl. Currently, she had her head bowed, pale cheeks flushing a pretty pink color. "She bumped into me this morning."

Without saying much, Hinata nodded, pretending to be interested in her phone. Sakura raised her brow at the new information, but didn't get the chance to comment since their teacher strolled in, with a cart full of textbooks and a evil grin at his students.

"Our new textbooks came in yesterday!"

Groans were heard around the room, especially from the pinkette. Class went by smoothly after that. Sasuke hadn't talked to her much, sticking to staring at her and watching her lips move when she responded to a question from Sakura. He did brush his hand against her lower back when they all got up to grab their new books, and once again when she sat back down. She had a light blush during both encounters, but looking at his face told her it could've very well been an honest mistake.

They were assigned to do fifteen problems before the end of class was up so the four decided to move their tables into a circle and work together. The boys turned their desks and they started on the problems. Occasionally, Sasuke's knee brushed hers. At first, she figured it must be uncomfortable being so tall and having long legs in a standard desk but after the fourth time, she realized he was doing it on purpose. She crossed her legs. Out of the corner of her eye, he smirked but didn't pause in his writing.

Sakura filled the silence of their group with idle chat, either talking to Shino or the new girl. She mentioned that the "gang" (Hinata didn't know who this consisted of - but figured it was the kids she had just met in the hallway) were all going to go to lunch at the café to "welcome Hinata-chan" and invited the quiet boys to join them (specifically eyeing the Uchiha with heart eyes). Shino refused, something about helping a boy named Kiba with an essay at lunch. Sasuke paused in his work, glancing towards the heiress before nodding at Sakura. She obviously didn't notice the small gesture, but Shino did, as well as Hinata.

When the bell rang, Shino offered to hand in their papers (they had finished with minutes to spare) as they packed up to leave. Sakura, much like her best friend did an hour ago, latched onto the smaller girl's hand and proceeded to drag her through the maze of a school. Looking back, she noticed the boys were keeping pace rather easily. Most likely because of their long strides. As she was pulled and pushed, Sakura explained that their group of friends always had break in the gym, which was right near the parking lot in the back of the campus. They showed her a short cut in case she needed to get to class on the other side of the school quickly.

Pushing the heavy doors as if they weighted nothing, the talkative pink-haired girl yanked her towards the bleachers, where a few familiar heads were already seated towards the middle. The boys she had met eairler were shooting baskets on the shinny court. Shino and Sasuke, both silent, tossed their belongings on the bottom of the bleachers before joining the other males.

Ino waved her hand as they made their way up, "I think everyone is here, besides Kiba, but he's stressing over some paper in the computer lab. Neji and TenTen aren't here either. Something about helping Gai-sensei."

"Which translates into making out in the back seat of her car," A dark redhead mentioned with a snicker.

They sat in front of the two other girls before watching the boys. "Oh!" Ino exclaimed, throwing her hands towards the redhead, "Karui! This is Hinata-chan, Neji's cousin."

Vibrant gold eyes turned their attention towards the new comer as she was introduced. Hinata instantly admired her dark skin color. It made her stunning, along with her exotic pupils. Her long hair was straight and fell down her back in long layers. Her figure was tall and lean, although it filled out a little better than the other girls she had encountered so far. Her long bangs were pushed back by a thick white headband. She wore a short sleeve nude t-shirt and skin-tight black leggings. Her slightly worn Timberlands fell lightly as she spun to come face to face with the long-haired girl, a toothy grin spread over her lips. "I'm Karui. How're you liking the school so far?"

Hinata smiled, this girl had a calm, peaceful aura around her that she took in instantly, "It's really welcoming. I never thought I'd have so many people talking to me on the first day."

Thin red eyebrows raised, "It would be weird if no one took an interest in the pretty new girl."

Before anyone could warn the redhead, a basketball smacked into the back of her head. It wasn't hard - since it had to travel a bit to land on it's target - but it still irked the senior enough to fume.

Her once serene energy turned murderous in half a second. Turning sharply, her gold eyes narrowed on the only snickering one of the bunch. It helped that a few had even pointed to him as well. "Naruto-baka!" She yelled before rushing down to throw blows at the now whimpering blond.

Ino smiled good-naturedly. "Don't worry too much. He's probably getting pay back from when Karui left him stranded at the mall on Saturday."

"They tend to bicker like siblings anyway," Sakura added, popping a few strawberry poky sticks between her lips.

Chōji laughed before pulling his girlfriend by her waist and tossing her over his shoulder. She huffed and let him take her back to her pervious place. She was satisfied with the hits she connected anyway. Naruto was crumpled on the floor, holding his stomach and whining that she gave him a low blow, an upper cut to the abs. She scoffed, giving Chōji a kiss before he went back to playing.

"You're violent today," Sakura said over the poky in her mouth while she laid out on the green bleachers.

"Only when idiots test me," the dark skinned girl mumbled as she snatched a few poky.

Hinata smiled at the playful banter that ensued. This group of friends were very lively and fun. She just knew that her time in high school would be great with this odd bunch of people around her. She had never had real friends, but was excited to actually have the chance to make them.

The rest of their break was filled with causal talk between them. Sakura commented on Sasuke now and again, which didn't slip past the heiress. Ino and Karui seemed used to it by now and just nodded to appease her.

"Look, Sasuke-kun's three pointers are still flawless as ever! He's just so naturally gifted..."

Thankfully, the bell rang and the group were forced to grab their things and exit the main door into the campus. The girls quickly brought up the front of the small crowd while the boys were still a little rowdy from their "friendly" game. Feeling eyes on her, Hinata looked back for a second to find the culprit - only for her pearly pupils to connect with the steady gaze of ebony eyes. Sasuke was staring at her again. Her eyes narrowed when she turned to face the girls again. Why was he always looking at her? He wasn't upset still about the morning, was he?

They got separated soon after they exited the P.E. building and all went their own ways. She pushed the good-looking Uchiha from her mind so she could focus on finding her class and not get loss in the sea of students. With relative ease, Hinata found her Art class, although she almost walked right back out when she opened the door and a clay sculpture exploded somewhere in the back of the class.

The next two periods flew by quickly. There was no familiar face in her Art class, besides Ino's crush, but she couldn't remember his name for the life of her. Fortunately, TenTen was in her Culinary class and ushered her to her table with another girl named Kin. When the bell rang, TenTen walked with her to the parking lot, making light conversation on how she was liking the school so far. Since their class was probably the furthest from the gym, the others were most likely waiting for them.

They were right. As they neared the top of the parking lot, they recognized a few heads sitting on the trunks of cars.

Ino smiled and gestured to her purple Acura, "Girls are going with me! It's great that we only have, like, five girls. We can all fit in one car."

As they piled in the lavish car to get away from the reappearing rain, Hinata caught the eye (for the hundred time that day) of the Uchiha captain. His thin lips pulled into a thin line before he slid into an all black Audi. Naruto followed in the passenger, with Ino's crush going in the backseat. Shikamaru, Chōji and another male that hadn't been introduced to her slipped in Neji's car. The girls led the way towards the café and thankfully they all got parking near each other. They strolled in and took up the long table in the back that was placed against the wall.

Lunch was comfortable and more fun than Hinata had expected. She learned quite a bit about all of them.

Shikamaru was a genius of their generation, yet he was too lazy to apply himself to anything other than basketball. Chōji was a great cook and worked in his family's owned restaurant as a cook when he wasn't busy with school or sports. Him and Karui had been dating since the New Year's and were the cutest couple she had ever seen. Chōji had nudged Shikamaru when they had broached the topic of girlfriends being from different cities (as Karui had moved their Sophomore year), which was the first time she had seen a flustered look on the genius's face.

She was introduced to Neji's self-proclaimed rival, Lee, who was a fitness freak and only ate the healthiest of foods. TenTen and Lee both took Judo in their free time and even coached the younger children when their sensei was unable to do so. Neji took no part in it, although he supported both his closest friends in his own silent way.

Sakura was obsessed with Sasuke (she could tell by her longing glances) though the boy hardly knew of her existence. She noticed that there was a sort of love triangle going on since Naruto was obviously smitten with the petal haired girl.

Ino had slammed her fist on the table when the talking got out of hand and she couldn't get her point across. Hinata realized the blonde female was used to be the center of attention at all times, but she wasn't a complete diva. She was hosting a party for a joint birthday bash for her and Shikamaru. She explained (for Hinata) that since their birthdays were so close, she had an annual celebration to celebrate. It would be that weekend. She also learned that Shikamaru's eighteenth birthday was tomorrow, then Ino's was the following day. Neji commented of how, since Hinata's birthday was in the last week of the year, she was the youngest of the group.

Sipping her iced tea, Hinata missed the small glances that the Uchiha boy would throw her from time to time. She was too engaged in conversation to notice it. Her cousin and the Nara genius, however, saw it as clear as day.