(A/N) Woops, my bad. Kinda dropped off the face of the earth for a couple of months. Just a whole series of unfortunate events; first the laptop died, then i blew the modem, and accidentally cleaned out all my files... *sigh* Why technology, why?

This chapter may seem kinda rushed as motivation seems to be quite elusive and appears only in short bursts of caffeine induced study periods. Lol, if anyone has found a cure to writers block could they please share it with the rest of the world? I'm sure you'd make millions.

Anyway, special thanks to UchihaMistress723 for being awesomely amazing! I do not own Naruto and I really want to eat my cookie. Enjoy!


Chapter 2

"Hey billboard-brow, take a quick picture of me and Hina-chan!" Ino grabbed the petite Hyuga and posed in front of the large water fountain at the center of the theme park. Sakura rolled her eyes and took a step back to get the camera into focus. She felt her back hit someone and turned around to apologize. She felt the world spin as she lost focus for a moment.

A warm pair of hands landed on her shoulders and steadied her, "Ahaha don't worry Sakura-chan, I'll take the picture," Sakura looked up at the smiling whiskered face and blushed. Naruto motioned for her to join the girls and, with a reluctant smile, she went to stand by her two friends. Ino grinned even more and pulled her into a group hug.

Sasuke stood behind Naruto frowning down at his watch, "Where the hell is that lazy idiot? There is no way I'm doing this alone."

Naruto smiled behind the camera then faked a hurt expression, "You make it seem like you don't enjoy my company Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke smacked the chuckling blond upside his head, "Don't. Call. Me. That," he said with a sharp glare, "Ever."

"You know, if it weren't for the fact that your girlfriend's probably standing right over there, Uchiha, I'd swear you had a thing for Uzumaki," the group turned their attention to a tall, slouched figure. Ino took in the dark brown hair pulled into a spiked pony tail and smirked to herself, she loved brunettes. Continuing in shamelessly checking out the man before her, Ino took note of the guy's pierced ears and her grin widened. Mmm bonus points for the piercings, this guy's a total ten!

Oblivious to the girl's thoughts the brunette turned to look at Sasuke and offered a lazy grin, "It's been a while Sasuke," said Uchiha returned the grin and offered his hand, which the other male took without hesitation. Naruto, feeling rather left out, took the opportunity to pounce and had the man in a headlock.

"Shikamaru! Man, I haven't seen you in forever how ya been!"

He managed to escape the Uzumaki's grasp and sighed, rubbing his neck, "Naruto you haven't changed a bit."

Ino flashed Sakura and Hinata a confident smirk before pulling the two girls along with her towards the hot newcomer. "Hey there! Shikamaru right? You obviously know these guys so I'll introduce you to us women over here because it doesn't seem anyone's remembered their manners," Ino jumped right into a conversation, quite bluntly, " Yamanaka Ino at your service, and these lovely ladies here are Haruno Sakura," the pinkette offered an amiable smile, "and Hyuga Hinata," said Hyuga bowed, "Pleasure to meet you," Ino smiled and batted her eyelashes.

He gave a lazy wave in return, "Nara Shikamaru, pleasure's mine," he gave her a passive glance and turned back to Sasuke.

Ino blinked, he did not just brush me off! The blond shared a glance with Sakura, Did you see that too?

The addressed best friend offered a helpless smile, Maybe he was just zoning. Try again.

Ino pouted a little before she caught Hinata's eye, Don't worry. I'm sure you're just imagining things, the girls continued to converse via the unspoken body language of women.

With silent huff, Ino turned back to Shikamaru, "So where do we wanna go first?"

The brunette sighed, "Troublesome, ask one of them," he nodded his head towards the two bickering brother-like friends.

Sakura pulled her date away from Sasuke, "Don't you dare start a fight here! We're in the middle of a theme park control yourself!"

Deep cerulean eyes flashed with mock hurt, "Ne, ne Sakura-chan, how come you don't yell at Sasuke!"

Sakura smirked, "Because Sasuke's so whipped his own girlfriend's taken care of that."

Hinata was fussing over the Uchiha. Her voice so soft it barely flitted over the din of the theme park. Only a few little snippets of "you should be nicer," and "respect your friends" were able to be heard.

Shikamaru chuckled, "I didn't think you'd ever let anyone fuss over you like that. Looks like the tin man's found a heart after all."

Sasuke scowled, "Don't push it Nara. I heard how you let that Tayuya girl walk all over you a while back."

Shikamaru shrugged, "Eh, it's too troublesome too bother. Besides, there's a difference between the two of us. I don't have my own life-sized ego." Naruto burst out laughing, spitting his drink all over a random passerby in the process.

Sasuke smirked, "Not bad Nara."

You have got to be kidding me! Ino flashed Sakura and Hinata an exasperated look, Are they flirting with each other or what? I mean there are three perfectly gorgeous women standing right next to them and they choose to bicker with each other! Hinata gave a helpless smile, why don't you do something about it Ino-chan?

Ino smiled, well of course! Why didn't she do something before? With her mind set she set a fingernail to her chin, "So what's the plan, guys?" She aimed her shockingly blue eyes at Shikamaru.

She sweat dropped as the three men continued with their conversation. Ino stormed over to her two best friends, "This. Is. Hopeless."

Sakura shrugged and looked at Hinata. A smirk lit up the pinkette's face, "Well then I guess it's every girl for herself."

Before Ino had a chance to ask, Sakura had floated over to their three dates.

"Come on Naruto, let's go on the ferris wheel! Just you and me," a coy smile present.

Ino's huffed indignantly, I thought this was a team effort! She watched as Sakura pulled Naruto away, "Guess it's just you and me, right Hina-chan?"

Borrowing Sakura's tactics, Sasuke spoke up, "Hey hime, that looks like a fun ride over there, let's go check it out," With his hand on the small of Hinata's back, Sasuke quickly led the Hyuga away.

Shikamaru's eyebrows raised, bewildered, "Hey, where are you guys headed?"

The Uchiha muttered something about 'rollercoasters' and disappeared into the crowd, his girlfriend in tow.

With a sigh, he turned to the Yamanaka, "I think we just got ditched."

Ino smiled inwardly, "Figures, they probably planned that ahead of time. Let's just try and enjoy the evening while we can." Just you and me. Shika-sweety, I'll have you out of the palm of my hand soon enough.


It's short, I know. -_-' My bad, I'm running short on creativity. Feel free to leave a review filled with any suggestions, critiques, and what not. Wanna see more of a certain pairing? Wanna see less of a certain pairing? Let me know! ^_^