Ino looked in every direction in search of Sakura. Not a single strand of pink hair! Ino sighed in defeat and plopped down onto her seat, between Kakashi and Madara. The younger male models didn't want to seat anywhere near the blonde.
They were all reading men's magazine, ignoring the hush comments and the squealing of their fan girls. Ino sighed and glared at the males. "Can't you guys cover yourself up? You're attracting attention," Ino said, her voice laced with irritation.
The males shrugged and continued reading. "When is your friend going to arrive?" Sakon asked, quite annoyed. It was already noon, and the blonde's friend hasn't shown up! They were all very hungry.
Naruto rubbed his stomach absent-mindedly as he continued to annoy Sasuke with stupid questions.
"Ino?" a honey sweet filled voice said with curiosity. Ino looked up to see Sakura, in a cream colored hat. Sakura was also wearing a black and white dress with black leggings underneath. She was carrying her small travel backpack on her shoulders and she was also holding a medium sized travel case.
"Sakura, you're here!" Ino squealed as she hugged the smaller girl. The guys were gaping! The rosette was cuter and way smaller than Ino. She looks like a person that's easy to get along with. "Sakura, these are the boys. Do you remember them? I sent pictures of them and also texted you their names," Ino said.
Sakura nodded and smiled at the men. "Hi, pleased to meet you! I can't wait working with you; even it's for a short period of time!" Sakura grinned sheepishly.
The boys only nodded and got up. "Let's get going! I'm starving!" Naruto yelled as he ran towards his car. The boys followed after him, to hungry to run with the blonde male. Sakura followed Ino towards the blonde's car. Ino opened the back seat door of her purple car and told Sakura to place her bags there.
Sakura did what Ino told her to do, and she sat at the passenger's seat. Ino buckled her seatbelt, as did Sakura. But soon, Naruto called. Ino took her phone, pressed the green button and placed her purple phone against her ear.
"Hello?" Ino said with curiosity lingered in her voice.
'Hey Ino, me and the other guys thought maybe we should have lunch together. We were thinking Ichinose's. Do you want to tag along?' Naruto asked.
"Sure, why not," Ino answered and hung up. Not too soon, dark colored cars, as well as some bright colored ones passed Ino's purple car. Ino started the engine and drove away, towards Ichinose High Class Restaurant.
They arrived at the large restaurant and got out from the car. Sakura looked at the restaurant with a blank look. Ino dragged her towards the entrance door where they were greeted by a man in a waiter uniform.
"Good to have you again, Ino-sama. You're friends are waiting for you upstairs," the young man said with a smile. Sakura looked closely at the young man, probably 23. He had brown hair and dark green eyes. He was muscular and he was very tall.
Ino only nodded and walked past the man without a second glance. The man's smile dropped. His eyes were lifeless.
"Don't worry. She acts like that to almost everyone. I'm Sakura. What's your name?" Sakura asked, as she smiled cutely at the man.
"Sekime. Yeah, I know she acts like that almost every time, but can't she at least respect us a little bit?" he asked, his right eyebrow arched.
Sakura only shrugged and smiled. "I have to go now, Ino must be waiting for me," Sakura said, as she walked away with a smile.
"Uh, let me help you!" Sekime said as he caught up to the girl, not before asking another waiter to replace him.
They both went to the elevator, and saw Ino waiting impatiently for Sakura. When they finally reached the elevator, Sekime pressed the 'up' button before Sakura could even reach it.
The elevator doors opened and the trio entered it. Sekime pressed a button with the number 7 on it, which leads them to the highest floor.
They reached their destination in o time and exited the elevator. They saw the boys indulging in the finest meal that was prepared. Ino dragged Sakura towards their seat, in an exclusive private box. Ino quickly grabbed the menu from Sekime's offering hands and scanned the pages. Sakura accepted the menu Sekime handed to her with a smile and slowly scanned it.
"I'll have a glass of Pink Lemonade and a Caesar Salad," Ino said as she tossed the menu over to Sakura who gave it to Sekime along with hers.
"I'll have the grilled filet of fish cooked with garlic and butter. I would also like a glass of Vanilla Milkshake," Sakura smiled at Sekime who jolted down their choosing and went away with a bow. Sakura drowned in her thoughts as Ino told her a story how she managed to land a photo shoot for the popular 'Beauty Tips' magazine.
Sakura's eyes traveled to the boys who were conversing with one another. 'Maybe working with them isn't all that bad,' Sakura thought.
Soon, a waitress in a slightly revealing maid uniform came with a tray on her hand. She placed two bottles of wine with 26 glasses on the table, a glass of pink lemonade and a glass of vanilla milkshake. "Here you go," she purred to the boys with a smile.
The boys shivered inwardly and slightly glared at her. Sakura shook her head at the girl's attitude and sipped her milkshake.
The waitress went away with a wave and winked at the boys. The boys almost choke when they saw her winked and Madara quickly opened the first bottle of wine, to ease his tensed aura. He poured himself a glass and drank it quickly.
The others followed him not too soon. Sakura almost giggled when Naruto wanted to drink his beverage quickly, he almost choked.
The boys continued to converse among themselves. Sakura was fiddling with her cell phone, as she seems to wait someone to call her.
And that happened.
Sakura phone rang a ringtone Raise Your Glass by Pink. Sakura quickly placed the phone against her ear after she pressed the green button. "H-Hello? Strawberry-chan?" Sakura said meekly as the others stared at her curiously.
"I said don't call me that!" a loud voice yelled on the other side of the phone, making Sakura wince and rub her ear. "Okay, okay, you didn't need to yell," Sakura muttered lowly. "Sakura, who is it?" Ino asked.
"It's Ichigo. Ichigo Kuwahara," Sakura said the name of the male she called 'Strawberry-chan'. "You call him Strawberry-chan?" Kiba asked with his eyes widened in curiosity. Sakura nodded slowly.
"He's one of the most hot-tempered of all models! How do you get away with calling him that?" Kiba exclaimed. "He is?" Sakura asked rather surprised. He was always mellow around her until she used his nickname.
"Sakura? Sakura! Are you still there?" Ichigo questioned slightly worried. He had been attracted to Sakura since the day they met; so he has a habit of worrying about her. "Yes I'm here Straw - I mean Ichigo-chan. I'm sorry if I upset you," Sakura replied quickly.
Ichigo sighed, grateful that the pink haired girl wasn't in danger or trouble, "You didn't upset me Sakura-chan. Just don't call me that okay?"
"Okay!" Sakura replied with a dazzling and innocent smile. The boys were stunned. If they had ever seen a smile like that it was only when they were young children and NEVER had they seen it from a young woman Sakura's age.
Could they be blamed if they found the woman who smiled like that attractive?
"Anyway Sakura-chan, where did you disappear to so quickly? I thought we were going to hang out once you got back home," Ichigo slightly whined.
Sakura laughed and once again the boys were captivated. It was such an enchanting and musical laugh, and now that they had gotten a closer look at her they found that she was pretty adorable as well. Even the older males were now interested and she'd barely even talked to them!
"Ino and I are having lunch with her friends. I can't turn down an invitation," Sakura smiled again. Taking a closer look at Shino and Neji you would find that even they were blushing and Naruto and Kiba felt themselves becoming smitten. A question was running through every guys mind and that question was this: If they were all interested in her now how in the world would they act once they got to know her?
Sakura continued her conversation with Ichigo until finally Naruto couldn't take it anymore. Yes, he hugged her without her consent.
"Awww, SO KAWAII! It's her! She's our new photographer! I mean LOOK at her! I want to keep her!" Naruto all out screamed into Sakura's ear and, as fate would have it, into the receiver as well.
Suddenly, a dark, pissed off aura came from the other side. "Sakura, who was that?" Ichigo growled.
"A friend of Ino's," Sakura answered timidly. "Naruto, what the hell are you doing with Sakura-chan?" Ichigo growled on the other side of the receiver.
"Just hugging what's mine," Naruto said teasingly. Soon, the line went dead with a long beep. Sakura's eyes widened and the boys groaned.
Great, Naruto just had to send a raging model to kill them. That's what they need, another bad ending.
Ino was gaping at the phone in shock, "D-Do you really… think Ichigo would come here and kill Naruto, and possibly you guys too?"
"I wouldn't doubt it!" Tobi chirped and Deidara hit him on the head, leaving a red bump on it. Sakura tried to comfort Tobi when he wailed, saying, "Deidara-senpai is a big 'meanie'."
Deidara scoffed at Tobi's childish tactics and hit him again, and in return, Sakura glared at the blonde model to stop hitting Tobi.
Deidara pouted absent-mindedly and looked away in sadness. Sakura arched an eyebrow in curiosity. What did she do to make Deidara so upset?
Itachi snickered inwardly, seeing Deidara upset was worth more than a million dollars to him. The blonde has always been on Itachi's nerve since they first met. So, seeing Deidara upset was the only thing that gave him amusement in his heart.
The red eyed man looked at Sakura who was trying to sooth Deidara's sadness and it seemed to be working. 'Maybe she's not that bad… She's not like those fan girls…' Itachi smiled for a second and then it disappeared the next second.
The boys watched as Sakura converse boringly with Ino, as the female blonde kept telling the rosette that she got an awesome job with some international designers which they heard about millions of time.
The food came not too soon, as the waiters and waitresses settle the plates of food onto the table. They all ate in silent; that is until a male with dark blonde hair and dark blue eyes barged into the private room very loudly.
Naruto, who was happily eating his meal, choked when he heard the door slammed loudly. Ichigo Kuwahara stood there haughtily. "Ichigo!" Sakura said as she stood up.
Ichigo strolled towards their table and pulled Sakura into his embrace. He glared at the boys; which meant 'Do not touch her'. Naruto; being the knucklehead he was, stood up and glared at the other blonde who was holding Sakura possessively.
"What the hell's wrong with you? First, you barge in here willy-nilly, next, you shocked me and left me choking and now you're currently holding Sakura-chan possessively as if she belongs to you!" Naruto yelled in anger.
Ichigo only rolled his eyes and looked down at the oblivious pink haired girl. "What are you doing here?" she asked. Ichigo sighed and said, "I came here to rescue you."
"But I don't need to be rescued!" Sakura pouted. "Yes, you do. You may not know it but I do," Ichigo said, his left shoe was planted on Naruto's face as he tried to stop Naruto from coming anywhere near the innocent pink haired girl.
Naruto's arms were flailing as he tried to move and save Sakura. Damn Ichigo!
Ino and the other boys watched in amusement as Sakura and Ichigo conversed and Naruto was still flailing his arms with muffled words spitting out of his mouth. Soon, Naruto fainted in exhaustion. Sakura rushed over to him to help him and an annoyed Ichigo glared at Naruto.
Ino sighed and stood up, "Ichigo, please leave. You are disturbing our lunch time." Ichigo tried to protest but stopped when he thought the possibilities of upsetting Sakura. He had done the unforgivable in front of her; barging into their lunch hour, arguing with her, hurting Naruto in front of her…
Ichigo turned to leave and Sakura saw his saddened face. She opened her mouth to say something; fully aware she was going to regret it sooner or later, "Ichigo, do you want to join us?"
Ichigo turned, eyes sparkling; hope blossomed in his heart.
As for the others, it was going to be hell on Earth for them.
A/N: Hi, sorry for the late updates... I've been busy lately because of homework, exams and etc. Sorry, please forgive me! ... And I want to thank my best friend, dragontamer ri-chan for helping me with this particular chapter... And to all of my fellow friends who support and encourage me to do better in life! I love you! Enjoy!