Chapter 2: Hyuga Party

"Hmm…" Grunted a red haired boy. "Hyuga party…" He seemed deep in thought; he stared at the small slip of paper he had received in the mail. It was his first invitation to a party. He hoped that he could see some old faces and have a good time. The invitation seemed very nice. He was walking with his two siblings- a boy with a long black full-body suit and a girl with her hair in four separate pigtails and a large shiny fan on her back. They had been traveling for a while; finally they had reached their destination.

"I hope this is entertaining." His brother said grinning.

"I hope you don't go off flirting with every woman again." His sister commented.

"Hey!" His brother paused awkwardly, trying to think of a comeback, "Shut up!"

Both he and his sister rolled their eyes at the childish behavior of their brother. The red haired boy looked strait ahead, the gates of Konoha stood tall. He smiled. He slowly stepped into the quaint village. By now, it was 7:55. Luckily, they weren't far from the Hyuga compound. The walk would be short, but the rain had stopped and all seemed calm.

"We're all ready for the guests now." Neji stated to Hinata.

"Th-Thanks for your h-help." She stuttered quietly.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. They were standing in a small room near the entrance of the compound, guests were to enter through that door and then they would have a choice either to stay in that room or go outside where most of the entertainment was. Outside, where everything was set up, the ground was paved nicely and all trace of wetness was gone.

Neji walked over to the door and opened it. There stood two young shinobi. One had a grey hood with fur around the hands and face holes; he also had red markings on both cheeks and very small pupils. The other boy had a long blue-grey coat with a high collar that extended above his mouth, he wore sunglasses and had tall dark brown hair; he was also taller than the other boy.

"Kiba," Neji nodded towards the boy with the grey hood, "Shino," He nodded towards the boy with sunglasses, "Welcome."

"Thanks, is anyone else here?" Kiba asked.

"No, you are the first to arrive." Neji answered calmly.

Neji was slowly closing the door when suddenly he heard loud footsteps. He opened the door and looked outside. Outside, there was a tall man running towards him from across the street. Sadly, there was a young girl with an ice cream cone in her hand in his path. The man grinned the biggest, shiniest grin he could in her direction. She screamed and tried to flee but couldn't get out of the way in time. She was thrown into the street, slamming into a telephone pole and getting knocked unconscious.

"Neji!" The tall man cried; on his back was a boy Neji's age with a bowl cut waving towards him. The boy on the man's back had a broken left arm and left leg; which was why he was being carried.

"Greetings Neji, it is I, your greatest rival, Konoha's youngest handsome devil, the genius of hard work, the ninjutsu-less, genjutsu-less, master of Taijutsu, the greatest looking young boy in spandex, your favora-" The boy was cut off by Neji.

"Hello, Lee." Neji said, opening the door further for Lee to enter.

"Lee," the man said lowering the boy off of his back, "Remember to be good and that I will be just on the other side of the compound with the other adults."

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee cried with enthusiasm.

Gai slowly walked off, in slow motion. He turned around and gave Lee a thumbs up and a grin. Lee had to bite his lip and squint his eyes to stop himself from bursting into a fit of tears. Neji rolled his eyes and let Lee walk into the room. Neji closed the door and watched the guests wander outside. Neji glanced at the clock, 8:03.

There was another knock on the door. Neji answered it immediately. There were two young boys and one girl standing at the door.

"Yeah, we're here, this party is getting started, yeah!" Naruto exclaimed.

Sasuke and Sakura simply smacked him upside the head. "Behave yourself." Sakura commanded.

"Sakura?" Said a voice from behind Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto. They all turned around simultaneously.

"Ino, nice of you to join us." Sakura greeted smugly.

"Chouji, I told you not to stop for snacks, she got here before us!" Ino cried, turning around and facing the boy standing behind her.

"Sorry, Ino…" Chouji apologized, his mouth full of food.

"Who cares if she got here before we did?" Shikamaru shrugged.

"Well, I DO!" Ino yelled in Shikamaru's face, spitting a little.

Shikamaru did not look amused. His eyes were half closed in a bored way and he was frowning. He slowly raised his hand and whipped some saliva off of his cheek; without changing his expression.

"Shikamaru, is that you?" Said a voice from behind them. They all turned around, except Neji who was already facing that way.

"Temari?" Shikamaru said, remembering her from the Chunin exams.

"You remember me!" She grinned.

"GAARA!" Naruto yelled, pointing to a boy with red hair standing slightly behind Temari. Gaara's expression was neutral and unchanging.

"Is no one going to recognize me?" Said the other, slightly taller boy, waving his hand and standing on the other side of Temari.

He was wearing a large black jumpsuit with a hat that appeared to have ears on them, he also had fuchsia face make up on and a rather large wrapped-up puppet slung over his shoulder.

"Uh… You're… The other one, right?" Naruto said smiling nervously.

"Kankuro, my name is Kankuro." He replied angrily.

"Are you all just going to stand there, or are you going to come in?" Neji asked, slightly annoyed with the sudden reunion.

"Oh yeah, it's time to rock!" Naruto threw his fist into the air and leapt up as high as he could, only to me hit in the head by Neji's door frame.

Everyone passed him by as they walked inside, shaking their heads in disapproval. Naruto followed the crowd into the room and glanced around. He grinned as he saw the door open to the outside, where all the party equipment was located. He charged out, almost running Ino down in the process.

Soon after that, the final guest, Tenten, finally arrived and the party could officially begin. Everyone was standing in the backyard eating hot dogs, hamburgers, ramen, and potato chips. The radio was on, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"YEAH, IT'S TIME TO PARTY!" Screamed Naruto as he ran out from behind a small tree; having nothing on but his Konoha forehead protector and a wide smile. He charged into the open, flailing his arms around and screaming like he was on fire. "STREAK!" He screamed, running through the crowd and behind another tree.

Everyone stood silent, eyes burning with pain. That was something they all hoped they would, but never truly could, forget.

"Kiba, what does streak mean?" Hinata asked, turning to her teammate.

"Don't you know?" Kiba replied, grinning at her.

"Sorry, us Hyuga's don't get out much." She admitted, blushing.

"It means to run naked through a public place." He said, laughing, "Right, Akamaru?" Kiba said turning his head to a small white dog sitting on the ground beside him. Akamaru barked and then charged towards the end of Kiba's pants. "No Akamaru, not again!" Kiba yelled as Akamaru rand up his leg, inside his pants.

Kiba was rolling on the ground, desperately trying to get Akamaru out of his pants; to no avail. Hinata slowly backed away, this has happened many times before and she found that leaving things alone seemed to be easier.

The party ragged continued, it was already 10:00. Many guests appeared to be opening up to new things, such as Sasuke reading a porn magazine Kakashi-sensei had given him to look at if and when he got bored; Hyuga parties seemed to have strange effects on people sometimes. Even Gaara seemed to be having a good time; he was dancing to the music, and doing a very good job at it.

Naruto seemed to still be getting nowhere with Sakura, as usual, though. She was far too interested in Sasuke; even if he was reading about other women. Naruto leaned against a table, standing beside a fidgeting Hinata. By now, Naruto had gotten his clothes back on and was acting at least semi-normal.

"S-So, Naruto, h-having a good t-time?" Hinata asked, very nervous.

"I guess so, the party is great I'm just not having such a great time trying to get Sakura to like me; I don't think it's ever gonna happen…" Naruto sighed.

"Oh, w-well that's too b-bad." she replied very quietly.

"Yeah, I wish someone would like me." He said in a childish manor.

"I-I…" Hinata couldn't get enough courage to say anything on monumental value to him right now, so she made up an excuse, "I have to go, over there!" Hinata pointed to a random direction and ran there.

"Hmm… She's neat." Naruto said smiling.

Kiba was still rolling on the floor with Akamaru up his pants, and he was rolling strait for Naruto's feet. But the instant before he slammed into Naruto, a foot came crashing down on Kiba's side; stopping him mid-roll. Kiba looked up and saw Shino standing over him with his foot almost completely vertical along his back.

"Charlie, can you please help Kiba with his troubles?" Shino asked a small bug as it landed no the back of his extended index finger, "Why, thank you Charlie."

The bug, Charlie, flew off of Shino's finger and up Kiba's pants with no trouble. Kiba began to freak out.

"NOT ANOTHER ONE!" He yelled grabbing his head with his hands.

But then, all of a sudden, Charlie flew back out of Kiba's pants; exiting through the left pant leg. Akamaru ran out through his right pant leg less than 2 seconds afterwards.

"W-What happened?" Kiba asked looking up at Shino.

"Charlie is a very good negotiator." He replied as Charlie landed back on his hand.

Meanwhile…

Ino was leaning against a wall, looking at Sasuke and Sakura. For the last few hours she hadn't been feeling the same attraction to Sasuke as she used to. Her gaze drifted to Shikamaru, who was talking to Temari across the yard. She felt a wave of jealousy swim through her veins.

"What's the matter, Ino?" Chouji said, suddenly standing next to her.

"None of your goddamn business, fatty!" She yelled and stormed off.

Chouji stood staring at where she was just standing, then shrugged like it was nothing and continued to stuff his face with potato chips. He grabbed another handful, only to find he was pulling someone out of his chip bag by the back of their collar.

"You are wasting away your youth with junk food!" Lee yelled pointing to Chouji as he was raised from the chip bag.

"Wha-? How did you-?" Chouji screamed, completely and utterly confused, chip crumbs pouring out of his mouth as he spoke. He dropped Lee and turned his chip bag upside-down to see if anything else would fall out; nothing did. He stared at Lee as he stood before him, not a crumb on him. "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?" Chouji yelled, running away.

"Hey, you're on cousin Neji's team, right?" A little girl said to Lee.

"Yes, have you heard of me?" He was gleaming with pride; he raised his leg onto a table in a heroic pose and jutted his chest out as he grinned to the sky.

"You could say that. I'm Hanabi. Wow, you're even weirder that Hinata said you were." she said laughing and pointing at him.

"Oh…" Lee said; his smile fading.

"You're boring; I'm going to go play with my sister." Hanabi said as she ran into the compound to get something.

Meanwhile…

Neji was standing near a small table with snacks and beverages conversing with his teammate, Tenten, when suddenly Hinata came running over, blushing. Both Neji and Tenten looked at her as she put her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath.

"H-Hello Neji, hi Tenten." She said nervously.

"Uh, are you alright?" Tenten asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, of course I am; can't a girl just come over to v-visit her cousin and… her cousin's g-girlfriend?" Hinata replied still nervous; crossing her arms.

"She's not my girlfriend, Hinata…" Neji replied through his teeth, annoyed, "Why don't you go play with your sister?" he asked, taking a sip of his beverage.

"Oh c-come on, you know I don't like her, she's m-mean." Hinata replied.

Neji raised an eyebrow and Tenten bit her lower lip. Hinata didn't know why they would do that, she stared at Neji; searching his face for an answer. He still had his beverage in his hand, which remained raised in front of his chest for when he was to take another sip. He moved his drink forward and extended his index finger off of it; pointing behind her. Hinata froze; she knew what was wrong.

"Y-You don't like me?" A voice from behind Hinata said.

Hinata turned around slowly and nervously. There stood a young girl, 5 years Hinata's junior, with a frown on her face and a game of 'Trouble' in her hands. Hinata's lower lip quivered; she could think of anything to say. Hanabi's eyes watered and tears were streaming down her face. She dropped the game of 'Trouble' to the floor and ran with all her might to her favorite hiding place for when Hinata said she hated her, her tree house in the back yard.

Gaara was dancing near the radio when all of a sudden the song was cut short; Gaara looked over at the radio.

"Hey everyone, sorry about that," Came a voice from the radio; it must be the announcer, "I'm Ray Grover and it's about 10:10, which means it's time for the late night vacation contest. I'll play a clip of a song, and then you can call in and give me the artist's name and the song title. If you win, you get a vacation for 15 people."

Everyone was quiet and listening to the radio by now; everyone wanted a vacation. The clip started playing and everyone was listening.

"There were nights when the wind was so cold," The clip began with a boy's voice, "that my body froze in bed if I just listen to in right outside the window." Suddenly a girl's voice came up, "There were days when the sun was so cool, that all the tears turned to dust and I just knew my eyes were drying up forever." Then both voices came up, "I finished crying in the instant that you left, and I can't remember where or when or how, and I banished every memory you and I had ever made."

"I gave you all a pretty long clip, so call 936-1035 if you have the answer!" The announcer said as the commercials began to play.

"I love that song!" Gaara said happily. Everyone turned to him and stared. "What?" He said nervously.

"Do you know the name?" Naruto asked.

"Of course I do." Gaara replied, as if it was obvious.

Naruto quickly ran into the Hyuga complex and grabbed the first phone he saw and charged outside, dialing the number for the radio station. Waited a moment, got a busy signal, and then dialed again. Finally he got threw to the radio station. Naruto turned the radio down and listened to the phone.

"Hey, this is Ray Grover, who do we have on the line?" The announcer asked over the phone.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki; and my friend Gaara has the answer to your contest." Naruto said quickly.

"That's great, we're live in 5 seconds, kid, put your friend on." The announcer said. Naruto quickly threw the phone over to Gaara. He stared at it, confused.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" He asked.

"Just talk to the guy and answer his questions!" Naruto said, excited.

"Uh, okay." Gaara put the phone up to his ear and listened.

"Alright, you're here with Ray Grover on 103.5, Shinobi fm," A weird slogan came up where there was a chorus of girls singing '103.5, Shinobi fm' in a round and weapons hitting each other could be heard, along with battle cries. Finally, after about 20 seconds of that, the announcer came back up, "Okay, we have Gaara on the line, Gaara?"

"Um, hello?" Gaara was still confused.

"I understand you have the name of the song for us?" Ray asked.

"Uh, sure." He replied, scratching his head.

"But just in case, I'm gonna play the clip again." Ray said as he started the clip again. Once the clip ended, the announcer's voice came back, "Gaara, do you have the Artist and song name for this song?"

"Yeah." Gaara stated knowingly, "That's 'It's All Coming Back to Me Now' by 'Meatloaf and Marion Raven'."

"Yeah, that's right." The announcer, "You have just won a vacation for 15 people."

"Really? That's awesome!" Gaara said grinning.

After telling the radio station all of the information required, Gaara hung up the phone and handed it back to Naruto.

"Guys, we're all going on vacation. There's nobody else I'd rather take with me on the vacation than the people who were all here when I won it." Gaara said happily. "Just the Rookie Nine, the spandex guy's team, my siblings and I!"

"What about me?" Hanabi said, standing behind Naruto.

"What about you." Neji stated angrily.

"Fine, I don't want to go on your stupid vacation anyway!" She yelled, running off.

"When is the vacation, anyway?" Temari asked her little brother.

"Tomorrow night we leave, and then we are gone for a week. We will meet at the docks on the south of the fire country at 8:30; that's where the cruse will be waiting." Gaara explained.

"Tomorrow night? That's hardly any time to get ready, not only that, but how are we going to explain to Tsunade-sama that we're all going to be gone for a week?" Ino questioned.

"Well, I'll talk to her; I'm sure I can persuade her." Gaara replied, shrugging.

"So, what do we do now?" Shikamaru asked.

"Uh, well, you can stay at the p-party for a little while longer, or you c-can go home and pack." Hinata suggested, intimidated by everyone's eyes on her.

"Yeah, this is awesome!" Naruto cried as loud as he could, "I'm staying here for a while longer."

"Okay, then I'm leaving." Sasuke said shrugging and turning to leave.

"Me too!" Sakura agreed, running after Sasuke.

"I must go, as well," Shino said politely, "Charlie does not like to stay out too late."

"Then, I think I got to go too; Akamaru's beat," Kiba said, leaving "Hey wait, no not up there! Akamaru, no!" He finished; running away to try and escape his dog.

"LEE!" a voice said from behind the compound.

"GAI-SENSEI!" Lee replied, running towards the exit.

"I'm tired; I think I'll be hitting the hay." Ino said, yawning and walking off drowsily.

"Me too." Chouji said, following Ino.

"Mm… If they're leaving, I guess I will too." Shikamaru said shrugging.

"Everybody's leaving already? The party's just getting started!" Naruto yelled after them, waving his arms like a maniac.

"I guess s-since everyone is leaving, the party is over." Hinata said to Naruto.

"Well, everyone includes us; so let's leave." Gaara said to his siblings, "I should pick up the tickets from the radio station, too."

"Uh, Okay," Temari agreed. She turned to Hinata, "Thanks for inviting us."

"N-no problem." Hinata replied shyly.

Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari all said goodbye, thanked Hinata, and left. Naruto stood all alone in the middle of a small part of paved ground in the yard, arms by his side miserably. By now, it was very dark and grey, rain was starting to fall once again.

"Well, I guess that means I'll be going too." Naruto said walking off slowly.

"G-goodbye, Naruto-kun." Hinata said quietly.

"Well, you're the last guest here." Neji said, turning to Tenten, "Are you going to go now, too?"

"I don't really have anywhere I'd rather be." She said taking another sip of her beverage, "Hey, what is this we're drinking anyway?" She asked.

"I don't know; I took it from the other side of the compound, where the adults are." Neji said, looking at the substance in his glass. It was a transparent liquid; one of which he had never tasted. It was too dark to see the label on the box he took, but he didn't seem to care enough to use his Byakugan to see. "I guess it doesn't really matter."

"Hey…" Someone said, on the other side of the compound, "Didn't we used to have another box of sake?"

Hinata began to clean up a little from the party; Naruto had crashed into many things over the past few hours. Rain was falling a little harder now; the sound of it hitting the ground was hard and sharp.

"I think we should go inside; the rain is picking up." Neji suggested to both Hinata and Tenten. They looked at him.

"I'm fine out here, all I need is an umbrella; father said that I must clean up right after the party." Hinata said grabbing an umbrella she had rested against a wall near the door.

"What about you?" He said turning to Tenten.

"I think I'll go inside with you." She replied as she started walking towards the door, "Hmm, I feel a little bit dizzy…" She said stumbling.

"It's probably nothing." He said, grabbing the box of beverages.

Suddenly, the power went out. All of the lights shining out from inside and all of the street lights flicked, and then completely went out. Everything was much darker, and only faint outlines of objects could be seen.

"I have a battery-powered lamp in my room, let's go up there," Neji said to Tenten, "Hinata," He looked over his shoulder, "Will you be alright out here?"

"Y-yes Neji." She replied, started by the sudden darkness. She activated her Byakugan.

Neji activated his Byakugan and entered the compound. It was even darker inside, the only light being the stars shining through the window. Neji headed in one direction, and Tenten followed the sounds of his footsteps.

"The power probably won't be out for long, I've got a game of 'Kerplunk' or something we can play until it's over, I guess." He said without looking back.

"Okay." She agreed.

Outside, Hinata was picking up some trash in the rain. The darkness seemed calm with the sound of rain hitting the ground. She hummed a quiet tune as she made her way across the yard. Yet, she knew that nothing ever went very smoothly when her and her friends did anything that was supposed to be fun. Something always went wrong.