TITLE: Konoha Ball

AUTHOR: Moonlight Music Mistress

PAIRINGS: NejiTen, ShikaIno, NaruHina, SasuSaku

RATING: Teen

GENRE: Romance/Humor

CATEGORY: Naruto

SUMMARY: With a mandatory dance party and the Fifth Hokage hovering over them like a flea, four of Konoha's best male ninjas are going to have one heck of a time asking their girls out!

See what happens when you participate in polls? I got a vote for "Konoha Ball" for next story to be updated on my poll, so here you go, person who voted for "Konoha Ball"! When you vote for a story to be updated, MMM-chan will do that. Okay? Hint for the future.

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"Okay," Naruto said as the four boys walked down the street. "Let's go hang out with our girls. Then, maybe they'll get the idea that we're trying to ask them out so we don't have to flat out ask them right this second."

"For once, the dobe is smart," Neji sighed. Naruto yelled, "HEY!" in protestation.

"Okay," Shikamaru said, sighing. "Let's go find the girls and...just...stay with them. In five minutes we'll meet back here and tell each other how we're doing. We HAVE to make it convincing that we're trying to ask them out. Okay?" Everyone else nodded.

After this, Naruto walked to find Hinata (she was sitting under a tree reading a book), Sasuke walked to find Sakura (she was standing on the bridge looking at her reflection), Shikamaru walked to find Ino (she was at her flower shop), and Neji walked to find Tenten (she was at the training grounds). Let us find out how the guys are doing persuading the girls that they want to ask them out, shall we?

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With Naruto and Hinata

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"Hey, Hina-chan!" Naruto greeted the Hyuuga as she sat under a giant tree reading a book.Naruto sat down next to her. "What'cha reading?"

Hinata blushed. "N-nothing, really..." Naruto looked at the book. "Overcoming Shyness For Dummies" was printed across the cover. Naruto came up with the ingenious idea to snatch the book from her hands and put it down next to the tree. I have to make her think I want to ask her out, Naruto thought. He then put his arm around her.

Hinata's head suddenly fell down. Naruto picked it up with his hand and noticed that her face was bright red. "What did I do wrong this time? Is it my breath?" Shaking her head back and forth with his hands and pinching her cheeks, Naruto whispered, "Hinata? Wake up!" Every passerby stopped to look at the scene before them. They all stifled laughter.

When Hinata finally woke up, Naruto's arm had left her side. Do I REALLY have to do this? he asked himself. He, contrary to what the other guys thought, truly didn't want to put himself in this embarrassment. But, since Tsunade would never let him see the end of it, his hand crept around her waist and pulled her close to him; letting her head rest on his shoulder.

"N-Naruto-kun! W-what a-are you d-d-doing?" Hinata stuttered.

Naruto slapped his head with his other hand, then noticed it had been five minutes. "CRAP!! Sorry, Hina-chan! I gotta go!"

Hinata was left to contemplate the situation for five and a half minutes afterwards, then continue her book.

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With Sasuke and Sakura

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Sasuke found Sakura looking at her reflection on the bridge. He walked up to her and forced a smile. "Hey, Sakura," he greeted.

"Who are you and what have you done with Sasuke?" Sakura turned around.

"It is Sasuke," Sasuke told her. He was trying with everything not to let the smoke fly out of his ears. "How you doing?"

"G-good..." Sakura said. She thought, Sasuke-kun is talking to me and he's not calling me annoying! CH'YEAH!!

Sasuke was about to slap himself for doing this. He knew he needed to get Sakura to think he wanted to ask her to the Konoha Ball or else Tsunade would personally make his life torture. He regretted this, but...when Sakura turned around again to look at her reflection, he wrapped his arms around her waist and looked at his own reflection over her right shoulder. Sakura blushed like a tomato.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked, half-hoping for Sakura to push him into the lake below them; he was in so much torment doing this.

"N-nothing..." Sakura tried to keep her cool by not smiling as big as she'd wanted to. However, Sasuke then realized five minutes had passed, and said, "Gotta go! Bye!"

As she stood on the bridge above the lake, Sakura felt like crying a river because Sasuke had left. Ha, ha. Water pun.

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With Shikamaru and Ino

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"Hey, Ino," Shikamaru walked up to Ino, who was in her flower shop.

"Hey, Shikamaru. What's up? Can I get you anything?" Ino greeted, then asked.

"Nothing much, you?" he strolled inside.

"Same, thanks."

Shikamaru walked up to the desk that was in front of Ino.

"Sh-Shikamaru?" Ino asked after a minute. "Do you want a flower or a bouquet? Or are you here to talk? Or are you here to put your elbow on the table and refuse to leave?"

Shikamaru wished he'd never done this, but he smirked (more like forced himself to smirk) and walked over to the part of the flower shop where the single flowers were. He picked up a random sunflower and handed it to Ino, winking. "This is for you."

Ino blushed. "What the heck, Shikamaru? It's kinda my family's flower shop, of course it's mine. I know you're super-smart and all, but no need to point out the obvi-"

"Oh, NO! See ya, I gotta run!" Shikamaru ran out of the flower shop, leaving a very confused Ino who was looking at the sunflower with random curiosity.

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With Neji and Tenten

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"Hi, Tenten," Neji greeted. Tenten, jumping up in surprise, turned around to face her teammate. "Oh. Hey, Neji! What brings you here?"

Neji mentally twitched, knowing he'd have to make Tenten think he was into her. Which was totally not true. Seriously. He was NOT in denial.

"Nothing much. Just felt like seeing my favorite teammate." Neji awkwardly spread his arms apart for a hug.

"What the heck?" Tenten asked, confused.

"Hug," Neji explained.

"I can see that."

"I see."

Awkward silence ensued for a bit, but then Neji made himself grin. "Well..." Neji then took her hand and swung it back and forth. "H-how you doing?" The smile on his face was obviously fake. But Tenten didn't catch that.

"Okay, what HAPPENED to you?" Tenten asked.

"OH NO!! Gotta go; see ya!" Neji hollered, realizing the five minutes were up. Tenten went back to her house and took a few aspirins and wondered if she was schizophrenic.

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With the guys after five minutes have gone by and they talked to their "girls"

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"Okay, it's official," Shikamaru said as the guys all arrived back at the meeting place. "Ino thinks I'm a complete idiot. I mean, who gives a girl a flower as a gift FROM HER OWN SHOP?!"

"Hey. Hina-chan fainted on me, ok?" Naruto announced. "She'll never be able to face me properly again!"

"Yeah. Well, Tenten's probably questioning her sanity now. Great idea for me to hold her hand and spread my arms out for a giant panda bear hug." Neji sighed. "She will never look at me the same."

"I put my arms around Sakura's waist and looked over her shoulder. It didn't work out," Sasuke nonchalantly explained. "Maybe we should ask them out to their faces next time we see them."

"But they'll never look at us the same way again!" Naruto reminded.

"That means there's only one logical explanation on what we do," Shikamaru told them.

"What's that?" the others except Sasuke asked.

"We switch girls."

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YES!! A cliffy has returned! Feh, I love cliffies! They OWN...if you're the author. But trust me. You will LOVE the next chapter, and I hope this one was ok! Thanks, review please! Bye!