AHHHH!!!! You all had such great predictions for Zaku's plan, now I don't know what to do. I guess I'll just start over, trying to think of something that will be funny and evil at the same time. WARNING: I may fail.

I've got to say, my favorite suggestion was that Zaku tells everyone there is a party at Sasuke's the same night as the dinner with his parents, but I wouldn't feel right taking someone else's idea. Besides, I would have just given it away!

I will say that it is probably going to include Itachi to some point. Bear in mind, I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to write, though, so it may change.

Now I'll shut up and write the next chapter.

"Oh my gosh, Sakura, this is going to be so much fun!" Ino squealed as she pulled Sakura into the spacious mall.

"Oh….yeah…." Sakura agreed halfheartedly. As she gazed at the high ceilings, masses of shoppers, and store windows screaming high prices, she sincerely doubted if "fun" was the right way to describe this experience. However, Ino, Hinata, and TenTen all seemed to think that shopping was the most wonderful thing in the world, so she decided to play along.

"Where should we start?" asked TenTen eagerly, her head swiveling back and forth between stores so quickly that Sakura was amazed it didn't snap off her neck.

"S-start?" asked Sakura. She had been under the impression that she would simply walk into a store, find a dress, and buy it.

"Sa-ku-ra!" said Ino, rolling her eyes at her friends lack of shopping intelligence. "You can't just go into one store; you have to look at them all!" And before Sakura could say a word of protest, all Hinata and TenTen grabbed her arms and dragged her into the nearest store while Ino ran ahead.

Sakura had to blink her eyes a number of times when she entered the store. There were rows upon rows of brightly colored dresses, ranging from simplistic black designs to extravagant, over-the-top outfits which whose purpose Sakura struggled to comprehend.

"Oh, Sakura! Isn't this beautiful!"

"This color would go so well your hair!"

"This would bring out your eyes!"

"You have to try this on!"

"And this!"

"Oh! This one too!"

On and on it went, with the three shopaholics loading dress after dress onto Sakura's arms and Sakura standing helpless in the middle of the floor. After they had found enough dresses for her too try on (the number was so large the sheer weight of all the dresses threatened to break Sakura's arms in two) they pushed her into a dressing room and waited for her to try them all on.

The first dress the girls had chosen was so big Sakura felt like she was swimming in it. She threw it over the door to the other girls without even modeling it for them. The next one was as short as the first had been long, and it was so tight Sakura couldn't breathe in it and threw it over the door as well.

The third dress was little better: it fit her well enough, but the yellow color made Ino burst out laughing when she saw it on her. Sakura stalked back into the dressing room, tore the dress off, and flung it with such force at Ino that she heard a cry of surprise as the blond fell to the ground.

So Sakura tried on dress after dress, and the others rejected each one. The pile of rejects grew larger and larger, and Sakura began to get very annoyed. When the girls rejected a sky blue dress Sakura was particularly fond of, she voiced her irritation.

"Why not this one? I think it looks perfectly good!" she said to her friends.

The three other exchanged looks that clearly said "You've got to be kidding me" before listing a number of reasons why this wouldn't work.

"First of all, that dress is much too long! It's trailing on the floor! This is a dinner, not a fairy tail ball!"

"And look at the waist! It doesn't even fit you correctly!"

"That color….ugh! It's too light to go well with your hair and doesn't bring out your eyes at all!"

"Come on Sakura, don't you know anything?"

"Seriously, what were you thinking/"

"I don't know what you would do without us!"

"Hmmm, let's think, maybe find a dress and get out of this hell-hole!" Sakura spat at them. Bad move. TenTen gasped, Ino let loose a cry of outrage, and Hinata nearly fainted at the though that the mall was not the most wonderful place in the world.

Ino was the first to recover.

"Well fine, Sakura. If you think you can pick a good dress out, then we'll just leave." she responded and turned as if to walk away.

Sakura took one look at all the dresses in the store, and realized how big of a mistake she was about to make.

"Wait!" she cried. "I'm sorry. It's just I'm kind of getting stressed out over this dinner, and I don't see what the big deal is about getting a perfect dress!"

Ino turned back and sighed. "Sakura, I don't mean to be rude, but do you not realize that Sasuke is a little…well….obsessed about looks?"

"Well, yeah…" answered Sakura, getting the idea of where this was going.

"Well, his family is even worse than him, and his mother especially!" Ino shuddered. "I remember when she found out I was dating Shikamaru…she almost blew up!" Sakura gave her a confused look. Ino explained:

"Sasuke's mother makes sure all of Sasuke's friends are…"suitable" to be hanging out with him. Usually he doesn't really listen to what she says, but she can make life a living hell for the ones she doesn't approve. Now, she was never too fond of Shikamaru to begin with, and she absolutely hates me! So when she found out that I was even indirectly hanging out with Sasuke…." Ino shuddered.

"So you see, your first impression means absolutely everything. You cannot afford to screw this up! This is her son's girlfriend we're talking about!" Ino was practically screaming at Sakura, trying to get this crucial point across.

And it finally sunk in.

Sakura was dating Sasuke.

Sasuke's family was crazily obsessed with looks.

She hadn't found a dress that they would like.

And the day of the dinner was closing in.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sakura screamed. The other shoppers jumped and turned to stare at the girl who was having the panic attack. Ino and Hinata attempted to calm her down, but nothing worked until TenTen, beginning to get a major headache, grabbed Sakura by the shoulders and shook some sense into her.

"You. Will. Find. A. Dress. That. Is. Why We. Are. Here!" she said firmly. Sakura's screams cut off, but the wild look of panic was still in her eyes.

"But how, there are so many here!" she moaned.

"Sakura, you have to relax. We'll find something, don't worry!" Hinata said soothingly, and Sakura tried hard to listen to her.

Meanwhile, Ino was appraising the remaining dresses.

"No no no, now that I think of it, none of these will work. Come on, let's go to another store." Ino said, shaking her head. She pulled Sakura out the door and up the stairs, Hinata and TenTen following closely behind.

"Maybe we should decide exactly what we're looking for, and then ignore everything else?" suggested Sakura. Ino paused.

"Hmm, combining logic and reasoning with shopping? I like it…I like it a lot." she agreed. Hinata and TenTen looked excited about this new twist on shopping, and the group sat at a table to make their list.

"Okay, now what colors do you think would go well with Sakura's hair and eyes?"

And they were off.

After countless suggestions, rejections, arguments, and decisions, the four girls had finally compiled a suitable list of what to look for in the dress.

An Excerpt From Sakura's Ideal Dress Design

1. Length: no longer than the ankles, no shorter than mid-calf

2. Color: either a dark blue, silver, or red. Absolutely NO pink or green, although he colors may be used in the appliqué.

3. Style: not strapless or wrist-length sleeves. ¾ length or normal sleeves are preferable.

And so on, and so forth

"All right, everyone, it's time to be serious! We MUST find a dress, now! Time is running out!" Ino said in a commanding voice. "It's time to take things to the next level, so we're going to split up. Sakura and I will be one team, and TenTen and Hinata will be another. Ready…..go!"

The two teams practically sprinted in opposite directions, and Sakura was again pulled along by Ino.

Sakura and Ino entered a store at breakneck speed and ran from rack to rack. Ino quickly from rack to rack, quickly glancing at the contents before dashing away. From the whole store, she only picked up one dress. Unfortunately, this dress failed to pass inspection when she held it up next to a bewildered Sakura and was thrown back on to the shelf.

Geez, she wasn't like this at the first store! thought Sakura. What happened?

Suddenly, Sakura heard the faint sound of music coming from Ino's purse. Ino snatched her cell phone from the bag and flipped it open.

"Uh huh, uh huh. Where? Okay, we're coming." she said before closing it and walking briskly from the store.

"Ino?" asked Sakura.

"Hinata and TenTen were faster than us. They found a dress for you that fits all the criteria. We're heading over to check it out now." Ino said. Sakura couldn't help but thinking how much like a secret agent Ino sounded, but she held her tongue: Ino might be her only hope.

In a minute, Sakura spotted Hinata outside the store, waving her arms frantically at the two girls.

"Wait till you see! It's perfect!" she squealed before dashing back in to admire the dress some more.

Ino walked in before Sakura, and blocked Sakura's view of the dress. For once, all was hushed. Ino stared at the dress, and Sakura craned her neck to see it, but was unable to catch a glimpse of it at all.

Finally Ino turned to Sakura and shoved her into the dressing room. She threw the dress over and ordered Sakura to try it on. Sakura stared at it, but couldn't see what made all the other girls go silent and think it was so perfect. She slipped the dress over her head and looked in the mirror.

And saw why.

She stepped out to show the other girls, and saw their faces light up with success.

"It's…." Hinata began.

"Absolutely…." TenTen stated

"One-hundred percent…." Ino squealed

Sakura didn't say anything. She knew what it was, and knew she would make a great impression. A dress like this didn't need to have anyone say how wonderful it was, everyone just knew.

Sakura went back into the changing room and got back into her other clothes. She walked towards the checkout line, but Ino stopped her.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Buying the dress." said Sakura.

"Well DUH!" Ino stated, "But we're not done yet!"

"What?" cried Sakura. Was this never going to end?

"Sakura, you know the spring dance is only in a few months! We all need dresses for that too!"

"Can't…can't I just wear this one?" asked Sakura weakly, already knowing the answer.

"NO!" came a shout from the three others.

"You need to get something brand new for Sasuke to see you in!" TenTen said, winking. Sakura blushed.

"Now come on, this will be fun!" Ino said.

Uh oh.

Short, sweet, and to the point, I say. Aren't you DYING to know what kind of dress that it? Isn't the suspense KILLING you? I'm so evil….

Anyways, I've got to stall for a while until I figure out what's going to happen at the dinner, so it might be a while before it comes up. Or, I'll write it really fast and disappoint everyone! What do you think?

Ciao!