Hinata POV

I am most at ease when I am with my friends. That includes Harima now. The kids around school used to say "Those girls and the quiet freak" or "Those band groupies and Harima." Now they just say the girls that hang around the band. She's one of us now.

"Oh that sucks!" Ino groaned. She'd been going through her phone rereading her texts from Sai when she got a new one. "Karin and her crew are coming!"

We all groaned. Harima dropped her head and sighed. A vein pulsed under her eye.

"Hey…" Tenten said suddenly, sounding devious. ""This is a good thing…"

"T-tenten-chan...how?" I asked trying not to sound too dejected.

"Well who are they lusting over? Karin is lusting over Sasuke, Tayuya is lusting after Shikamaru, and Kin is lusting after Kiba…who are they crazy about?"

"Tayuya's lusting after…Shikmaru?!" Temari raged through clenched teeth. She balled her fists and seethed. Her facial features went blank after a few seconds and she pulled out her lacy pocket fan and fanned herself. Cool air calms her down. "Well okay…continue."

Ino patted her shoulder and Temari calmed down.

"They are all crazy about girls in this group. Sasuke likes Sakura, Shikamaru likes Temari and Kiba likes Harima, correct?" Tenten continued. I was beginning to see her point. If Karin and her crew saw "their" boys fawning over Temari, Sakura, and Harima, then their heads would do a 360 and spontaneously combust. What a delightful thought. I noticed Harima out of the corner of my eye. Her eyes were almost lifeless like her forced smile. Did she know that Kiba and Kin used to be an item? I doubt that Kiba had told her considering the hell Kin put him through.

"Sasuke likes me. Sasuke likes me!" Sakura sang, skipping in a circle around our group. She looked pretty happy. Even Temari looked a little less frosty when she heard that Shikamaru likes her. Harima, as usual, said nothing at all.

"This is going to be so freakin' sweet!" Ino praised.

"Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan!" a familiar energetic voice called out. Naruto. I turned around to the stage where he had his guitar and a pick. "Watch this!"

My dad would have thought that was a useless contraption creating a god awful din, but what did he know about underground rock? Nothing except whatever Neji tried to explain. Naruto played a single chord but did this kind of jerk. I thought it was cute and funny at the same time. I started to laugh and when I laughed, he smiled like he achieved something. He was just so sure of himself and wasn't afraid to make a total ass of himself. That was his Konoha High School Student way.

"What did you think, Hinata-chan?" he asked. My heart was beating its way out of my chest out of nervousness. Don't pass out, Hinata! Don't pass out, Hinata!

Then a look of seriousness crossed his face. He blushed. "Hinata, you're single right? I want you to be my girlfriend!"

Yeah…I was dreaming, wasn't I? I cannot begin to scratch the surface of how many times I've dreamed that he would ask me that. I stared up at him, wide eyed. It was a dream, I told myself.

"I think he wants you to say yes," Harima whispered in my ear. I don't know when she got there, but if she had heard him ask me that question, then he must have really asked it.

"H-hai!" I said nodding furiously. My bangs slapped my forehead, but I didn't care. The boy I had been in love with for the whole time I'd known him had just asked me out. "Hai Naruto-kun!" His smile returned to his face. This smile was the most brilliant smile I'd ever seen. My whole dream had just come true. I looked to Harima, who looked jealous and impressed at the same time, but more impressed. I was impressed that I didn't pass out.

The rest of them came over to us and squealed. I always thought I would be among one of the last to have an official boyfriend. "Hinata, that's great I'm so happy for you!" Ino said grabbing my hands and jumping up and down, up and down.

"Well done," Harima said lowly. She was smiling genuinely though. I think she had had something to do with it, but I would be sure to ask her later at home.

"If only that lazy mutt would ask me out already," Temari commented, only half joking. I think Shikamaru was planning some creative way to ask her out. At least I hope he was after making her wait so long.

"Look you both know the other one likes you. Isn't that going out?" Sakura remarked. Temari and Harima had that look Tenten had described as PWNED!

"Huh, I'm bored now. Harima, sing a song!" Ino yawned. Harima's head whipped around, wanting to say that mall karaoke was one thing, but singing outright was quite another. She opened her mouth to say so but Temari cut her off.

"Yeah! Sing! Sing! Sing!" she chanted. Pretty soon all the girls were chanting. Then the sound of instruments stopped and the boys started chanting "Sing!"

Harima smiled sweetly. "Okay?"

"Kondo wa itsu aeru ka nante

Sonna kao shite yoku ieru tte

Omotteta yo nande darou

Nanimo ki ni naranai furi shite

Iiwake suru nara kiku wa asa made

Tsunagattetai kara"

Temari joined in…

"Mou kao mo mitakunai meguro gawasoi

Arienai tenkai odoru keetai

Gubbai meeru naraba wasuretai

"Hold me tight" but "dokka kietai"

any time shaberi sugi no KY

Chirari miseru tsuyogari na "I cry"

Namida no kouka wa dore kurai?"

Then they both start singing. Temari is nowhere near as talented as Harima, but it sounded good anyway.

"Watashi nari ni "ai saretai" afureru no ni kimi ga mienai

Nido to kimi ni aenai sonna ki ga surunda...

Tsutaetai no ni umai kotoba miataranai

Watashi tabun uso demo ii no ni "ikanai de" mo ienai yo"

"Who knew you could sound good, Temari?" Shikamaru mused. "You can rap pretty well, woman."

Temari glared at him. "What's it too you, you lazy mutt?" she demanded. She was so typical. One of these days she was going to admit that she was in love with Shikamaru. Shikamaru hopped off the stage and lazily strolled over to Temari. When he was close enough, they stared each other down.

5…4…3…2…1….

Shikamaru leaned down a little bit and kissed Temari, who was not opposed to it. In fact, she wanted it to happen. That was how Temari planned it out. She wasn't as slick as she thought she was, but we never said anything about it.

"It's hot…" Shikamaru commented before heading back to the stage. "How troublesome. One day I'm going to make a decent wife out of you."

"Mutt!" Temari called back to him, but she was blushing. All of us were blushing about the whole wife part.

Harima went to go sit down at the bar on a stool. She looked really bored. Kiba looked at her, took his guitar off, and hopped off the stage to join her. He sat on the barstool next to her. They started talking. Well Kiba was talking and Harima was nodding her head and occasionally saying words.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto said coming up behind me. He hugged me. I hugged him back. Nothing felt as right in the world as us hugging. Then Neji came up and whispered something in Naruto's ear.

"I'm all for that!" Naruto said breaking away from me. Aw… "See you later, Hinata-chan." He kissed my cheek before getting back on stage. Hearts flooded my vision. This must be what love feels like, I thought.

Naruto POV

I finally asked her out! Neji was right. It was like ripping off a band-aid! I'm not giving him all the credit. Harima texted me that I should ask her out before the concert started. She sucked at talking, but I've never seen anything as fast as Harima's fingers on a keyboard.

Either way I was on cloud nine, happiest man in the world, and no one can take that away from me.

People came in for the concert group by group. Temari and Harima got behind the table to sell our demo CDs. Like I said, if it has keys, Harima is all over it.

Hinata and Sakura helped set up the microphones and amplifiers. I don't know where Ino and Tenten disappeared to, but we'd be seeing them after the concert, I snickered to myself.

Neji had told me that we were going to their house after the concert to (snicker) 'have some fun', I'm all over that.

"Kiba! Tear yourself away from Harima long enough to oh I don't know PERFORM!" Sasuke reprimanded. He was nervous. He was very irritable when he was nervous.

Kiba waved Sasuke off and looked out into the crowd. His annoying smile turned into a panicked frown. He hurried to the stage and picked up his guitar. "Kin's here!" He squeaked. Ugh, that means Karin and Tayuya were here too. I sighed and a bead of sweat dropped from my forehead. "Yo! Sasuke? Karin is here!" Neji teased. Sasuke scowled.

The few people had multiplied into a crowd. Harima and Temari were waited for the mob. Tayuya and Kin went to go get CDs. That was so ironic. They were love rivals. Except the two girls behind the counter were more likely to get Shikamaru and Kiba. And they were nicer and prettier and smarter…and BETTER!

Harima rang up the two CDs and gave one to each one. Kin took hers and looked down at Harima and pulled her hair in the front. It must have been hard because her head jerked foreheard. Tayuya and Kin laughed as they walked away. Temari scowled and Harima looked after them in disbelief. When they were far enough away, Harima almost lunged over the table looking ravenous for blood. Temari held her back, laughing. I turned and saw Kiba looking annoyed as he played a chord on his guitar. He saw the whole thing too.

I looked at the digital clock. 9:58 it was two minutes to show time. I was pumped up and ready for jamming.

Hinata waved her fingers at me and made my heart soar. She was so cute. I could stare into those eyes for days. Those crystal clear eyes were kind of purple tinted. Her hair was this dark blue color that drove me mad and her high voice was…Concert, Uzumaki, Focus on the concert. You can have Hinata all to yourself after the concert.

"Hey,hey We are Band With Issues," Neji started. Girls cheered and guys barked with anticipation. "I'm supposed to let you know that our girls Temari No Sabaku and Harima Riuzi have our demo CDs for eight hundred yen!"

The spotlight (manned by Tenten) landed on the two girls at the table. Harima didn't even look up and Temari tried to wave it away. Guys from all over whooped and wolf whistled. Kiba and Shikamaru scowled and growled. How jealous they were.

We started to play Minutes to a Sign a song Shikamaru and Neji had co-written.

Redheads make me sick

They always make me itch

I hate the way they roll

They're words burned in their souls

When can we catch a break?

When they make my stomach ache

Where is the sanity?

I want my remedy

It's her

She's a curse

Someone tell me why

Where's the hells my sign?

We had the crowd in the palm of our hands. Sasuke wasn't a bad singer. Sakura was swooning in the crowd. She, Ino and Hinata were in the front row of the crowd, dancing. In the back, flickered by strobe lights every so often, were dancing and vending our CDs. They were going fast. This was probably our best turnout ever.

Playing is a good thing in the world. Playing when you have a new girlfriend is even better. Playing in a packed concert knowing you might get lucky with your new girlfriend is the best thing in the world.

I spotted Karin, Tayuya, and Kin dancing suggestively in the middle of the dance floor, eyeing their targets onstage. Glad that one of them wasn't me. I've seen Hinata fight and it ain't pretty.

We finished the song and the crowd went wild. They loved us. Hell, I loved me too. We started the next song. This one was slower. Since I don't sing, I stopped paying attention to the lyrics. It was just me and my guitar for about five minutes.

The song was called Melina. I have no idea who Melina was, nor did I want to. Melina was more or less an alibi for one of those girls. Depends on who wrote it. I don't think it's hard for you readers to do the math there.

Three more hours of this unexplainable awesomeness passed before sadly, it ended. The concert was over. Temari was counting the money and Harima was kicking back with her feet on the table and a book on her face. Was she sleeping?

The SOLD OUT sign was as bright as day in the dark room. People were beginning to leave as we got ready to go. We started packing up. All I could think about was Hinata.

"N-Naruto-kun did very well tonight," she said from the bottom of the stage. I helped her up and kissed her.

"Aw that's only because you were there," I complimented. She blushed. Aw, I loved it when she blushed. It was her way of showing affection.

"I'm rich! RICH! I say!" Kiba said throwing the money in the air and letting it rain on his face. Harima hadn't moved a muscle. She was beyond asleep. She was knocked out. Hmm, Kiba would have to carry her again.