Sad to say, this is another mess. Not as bad as the previous one, but not something I'm very proud of. Atleast it's edited . Read on and tell me what you think!

"Thanks so much, Chouji! I loved the samples you sent over!" I laughed over the phone. "Yeah, Naruto IS the connoisseur of food, after all...I still can't believe you've opened a branch of Ichiraku's in Tokyo, though. Surreal,"

I scribbled some notes down while he spoke.

"Okay, thanks! Yeah, you're definitely hired! As if I'd refuse you, Akimichi-sensei." I teased. "See you tomorrow, then? 'Kay, bye!" I cracked my neck muscles, and stretched my arms out, sighing.

"Who was that?" Sasuke suddenly appeared behind me. "You'd better not be entertaining private calls, Haru-"

"No, it was the caterer. He just happened to be an old friend and he's the chef we've hired for the ball." I replied curtly, not turning around.

"Cancel it. Change the chef." He ordered. "Get someone more...professional."

"No! Akimichi Chouji is very professional!" I whipped around, outraged. "What gives you the right to judge him? You've not even met him!"

He said nothing, just raised an eyebrow and gave me a look that said, 'Do it'.

"Alirght, you're the boss!" I said huffily. "Don't blame me if the food sucks. Poor Chouji, lost such a good opportunity..." I mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing...asshole," I flipped through the pages again and located his phone number and began dialing- no, pounding-the numbers. Behind me, I heard Sasuke shuffle back to his office, but didn't hear the satisfying click or slam I was waiting for.

"Hello? Oh Chouji-kun, I'm so sorry! Uchiha told me to find some other caterer!" I wailed. "He's such a jerk, I'm sure this was a pretty big-"

"Don't worry, Sakura-chan." he laughed. "It's not a big deal, I cater for bigger companies. Like, Byakugan Inc., Neji's (you remember him, right?) company."

"...So you're okay? No biggie?" I asked tentatively. "I'm glad! Whew!"

"Haha! Don't worry about it...hey, I wanted to ask you if you're still in touch with Ino. I haven't seen her since we last visited Konoha..." his sad voice came over the phone.

"Of course I am! Like I'd let that Pig get away from me!" We laughed.

"Um, Sakura-chan, maybe we can meet up sometime? I miss her, even though she was pretty annoying, hehe...it's been too long since we spoke."

"Sure, Chouji-kun! Let's see...how about tomorrow, around 2:00? I have my lunch break then, so we'll go surprise her."

"Great, you've got my number so call me anytime. Thanks, bye!"

"Yeah, I'll call you if anything comes up! But we're definitely meeting soon! Bye!"

I was still smiling when Sasuke turned up a second time.

"Haruno, I spoke to some people and they said Akimichi's pretty good. Hire him again, and if he refuses, offer him 10,000 yen more. So you can cancel the date tomorrow." he said, poker-faced.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not calling him again, it'll be embarassing. You can do it. Besides, Chouji's not a loser who gives in to the traps of money." I was pissed. "Also, who are you to tell me who I can and cannot meet with on MY OWN TIME?"

"Call him. It's your job." he said quietly, slight pink tinging his cheeks. "I thought you were meeting to apologize again, so I said that."

"Well, I'm not. Meeting him to apologize, that is." I quickly said when he frowned and took a step forward. "I'll call him, but he'll probably refuse." I gulped.

"If his firm isn't catering our ball, you're in trouble." With that parting line, he disappeared into the inner sanctum once again, leaving me staring after him open-mouthed.

"I can't believe I fell for that jerk." I muttered, redialing Ichiraku's number for the third time. "He's so arrogant and rude and conceited, not to mention a player!"

"Sakura-chan?" Chouji said as soon as he picked up the phone. "What is it now?"

"Uchiha wants to hire you again. He heard good reviews." I said tonelessly. "Sorry for causing you so many problems."

"Oh now he wants me?" he laughed heartily. "I'm not exactly fond of him now, but seems like you've been forced into this. So I'll do it, but only because it'll be a hassle for you otherwise."

"REALLY? Oh thank you so much!" I jumped up. "Seriously, when we meet up, I'm treating! You're the best!"

I was a bit surprised, but Chouji had always been the most perceptive and sensitive boy I knew. When our conversation was over, I went into the main office where HE sat and smugly informed him that Chef Akimichi was hired and I didn't even need to offer the extra 10,000 yen bribe. Of course the raven haired bastard bust my bubble by just nodding and saying, "Good job."

As if I needed his approval! Sure, it felt a bit good and made me blush when he looked at me with those eyes...BUT he was so arrogant! I bet I didn't even love him, it must be all lust.

"Will you quit fidgeting? You're making me nervous!" TenTen complained. "Whenever you fidget, something goes wrong. So calm your shit down and have some fries!"

"UGH! FINE!" I yelled and shoved a handful in my mouth. "I just wanted to make sure it wasn't creased or-"

"How can a dress you just bought, got professionally ironed and sealed up in a airtight plastic GET CREASED?"

TenTen was horrible to be around when something didn't go her way. She complained and snapped at every little thing, even if you weren't bothering her. She was nervous about the ball, and even though she denied it, I knew she wanted to jump Hinata's cousin. Sex depravation made you cranky, I've heard.

"I dunno...it could happen...how do I know?" I mumbled, sounding like a child who was scolded. "Look, I heard in the secretarial pool that whenever we have parties or balls or whatever, even the employees in charge of organizing the event are allowed to mingle, and...well, I want to find a better guy than him."

"Yeah, good luck!" she scoffed. "The only guy better than Uchiha is my Neji, and you're not getting him."

"You never know where-" I halted suddenly and whirled around to face the brunette. "MY Neji? YOU DO LIKE HIM!"

"I DO NOT!" she screamed, and I winced. "I JUST LIKE HIM!"

I laughed and jumped on her, hugging tightly. "Yeah, just like I said! Aww, when did you start liking him? I'm so excited for you!"

"Shut up," my so-called friend shoved me off the couch. "It's not gonna happen. I'm just helping him out, he needs a break from all those forced dates his family makes him attend."

Saying so, TenTen promptly burst into tears. My strong, boyish friend who never cried, was crying over a man. Oh, the shame of hormonal imbalance that our sex is cursed with!

"OH SWEETIE!" I scrambled back onto the ratty couch and hugged her again. "I know exactly how you feel! How's this, we both go to the ball, act distant from our respective men and meet new people?"

"I-I'm not li-ike you g-guys," she sniffled. "It's n-not s-s-so easy for me t-to fall in love! This is my first time feeling so s-strongly about a m-man and I t-think I'll keep it like that."

"Well then screw you!" I shouted and pushed her away from me. "You never listen to my advice, yet I always have to listen to your stupid whining all the time! If you don't want anything to happen, don't complain. If you want something to happen AND NOTHING IS IN THE WAY, work for it!"

"You're one to talk!" she stood up and pointed accusingly at me. "You're so in love with your stupid boss, but you don't tell him how you feel!"

"BECAUSE, TenTen, I am at the risk of losing my job, his respect and of suffering a huge dent in my already broken self-confidence! Not to mention, I'm not the type to break up a happy couple!"

I stormed out of the room, vowing to apologize to TenTen later. I was mad, baseless as my anger was, but I had no need to accuse her of being a stupid coward and not a good friend. She was brave and a great friend and I was just callously mocking her first true...something.

"I'm sorry, TenTen. I was being an irrational bitch...will you forgive me?" I wailed an hour later.

TenTen had recovered from her bout of emotional-ness and was once again eating fries and watching the tube.

"Uh huh, okay. I'm sorry too." she tossed at me, noncommittally. Well, atleast she wasn't mad at me anymore.

"I made you some pie too, Ten-chan." I humbly offered a neatly sliced McDonald's apple pie to her. "Wanna get hair-and-makeup done at a salon together?"

"I'll accept the pie and decline the salon offer." She grinned. "We're working women, salons are an unneccessary luxury right now."

"Oooh, then you wanna do the cucumber thingy on Friday? We have to look radiant on Saturday so that those two can see what they missed!"

"Fine. Do that foot scrubby thing in the soapy water too, okay?" she asked. "It feels soooo good!"

"It's called a pedicure and sure!" I smiled sweetly, turned and walked to my bedroom. "Not!"

I had atleast 3 hours off in the evening, before the ball began, for personal errands. In those 3 hours, I would be taking a shower and getting a makeover...with TenTen. For sure.

Fail. At not making this a filler.

But then again, I'm all out of inspiration and I'm only editing this thing, cuz I made some pretty stupid mistakes back in the day. Review please?