Lots of big, winding, extremely detailed costume descriptions here. Feel free to skip them if you wish.

.-.-.-.-.

NOTHING IS A BIGGER SURPRISE THAN THE SUDDEN INABILITY TO BREATHE

.-.-.-.-.

"Sakura," she could feel his breath on her face.

"Sakura."

She looked back up into his onyx eyes, and her heart stopped. She stumbled; he caught her.

She was trapped in his strong, steady arms. And she was pretty sure she was melting into a big pile of Sakura goo. Woozy. That was the word. She felt woozy.

She almost didn't notice his face coming closer. Her emerald eyes flickered up, up, a dainty blush coloring her cheeks. And she surrendered, closed her eyes and he descended, closer, closer, and--

"BRIGHT AND EARLY SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAAN!"

Sakura mumbled into her (nicesoftfluffy) pillow and turned. And--

"Huh…forget the bright part, sorry!"

And a big blonde Ino was in her face.

Mumble.

Mumble.

Turn.

"SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAN!!"

"No," the pink-haired girl lashed out with an arm. Ino, of course, evaded it easily. "Good dream. Go away." Pretty Sasuke. Mmmm.

But Ino was not to be deterred.

"Nuh-uh, sleepy head, get up get up get UP Sakura! Up up up!"

And with that the blonde reached out and ripped Sakura's nice warm comforters off her body. Sakura immediately curled into a ball. Opened an eye.

"…Ino, is that the moon?!"

Ino turned and cocked her head at the window.

"Yeah, why?"

Sakura reached out and smacked the blonde's leg.

"Ow!"

"What time is it, you parasite?"

Ino grinned.

"Five thirty."

Sakura moaned as she was dragged into a sitting position.

"Why am I up so early?"

"You'll see," Ino smiled, did funky things with her hands, and then promptly passed out.

Next thing Sakura knew, she was in front of her bathroom mirror, Ino picking herself up into a perky sitting position on the foot of Sakura's still-warm bed.

The pink-haired girl whipped around and glared.

"Ino. Not. Fair."

Ino just grinned. Sakura sighed, relenting to the powers of the sunken bath.

"Fine. Bitch. Coffee. Now."

Ino beamed about a kilowatt and ran off.

.-.-.-.-.

When at last Sakura was clean, dressed and conscious enough to satisfy Ino's insufferable standards, the two voyaged to the general direction of Tenten's half of the suites. Sakura, though now extremely caffeinated, still stumbled a bit (okay, fine, totally fell) on the hem of the tight white robe she had been forced into, the exact same one that Ino was wearing.

"Dammit," she mumbled crossly, nursing her bright pink mug, "Why's the skirt so tight on this thing?"

"It's good practice," Ino chirped cheerfully as they marched to Tenten's door, "For later."

Sakura didn't even bother to contemplate this statement. Whatever insanity Ino and Tenten will proceed with now, she wasn't gonna go without a fight. It was cold, with stars still in the sky, and she wanted to be sleeping, dammit, not on some ridiculous Yamanaka escapade.

Upon arriving at their destination, Ino promptly yanked open the doors, bounced in, and attacked her sister.

"OHAYO NEE-CHAN!!"

Tenten mumbled a reply, before guiding them to her large bed, where Takuda-san and her team of demon-women stood, the very embodiment of patience. There, on the bed, were three piles, which Sakura made out to be kimono-shaped.

"This is ridiculous," Sakura finally ejaculated, for she could add one and one and make two. "Tea's not till noon."

"You're ridiculous," Tenten replied, "I heard you trip."

Sakura hmphed. Tenten ignored her. "We have to prepare you to walk in a kimono. I sincerely doubt your ability to wing it. Therefore, we will get ready, and then Takuda-san will instruct you until your ability is something near to acceptable in common society. Then we will attempt to teach you tea ceremony."

Sakura blinked.

"I know tea ceremony."

Tenten shrugged. "Alright then. Just the walking, then. We're not doing tea ceremony today, anyways, just tea. Because Gaara gets pissed when he has to drink the tea ceremony tea. It tastes like puke."

Ino nodded. "It really does."

Sakura sighed. "Okay, then. Let's start. Do we pick from the pile?"

Now both Yamanakas turned and stared at her.

"No," Takuda-san injected gently, "Your kimono has already been chosen for you. Ino-sama's, as well. However, Tenten-sama," the tall woman now sent a long-suffering look at the princess, who smirked, "seems unable to choose between the green and the gold. Those 'piles' you have so kindly mentioned are simply under-robes and padding." She tilted her thin frameless glasses a little. "I think you need padding, dear."

Ino giggled. Sakura flushed. Tenten picked up two kimonos and faced them.

One was a deep, dark forest-emerald green in a slightly pearly hue. Printed on the hem and sleeves were large, tail-fanned peacocks, with the rest of the kimono sprayed with large green, purple, blue and yellow peacock feathers. It came with a deep purple obi with an overlay of green lace, and two hair combs in the shape of fans, made with real peacock feathers.

The other was a dark metallic gold, printed with large, crimson maple leaves that bled down to a deep crimson hem. The obi was deep wine red embroidered with little gold flowers. There seemed to be no hair accessories, but Sakura knew better.

"Which one?" the brunette demanded, "I'm absolutely torn."

Takuda-san threw her hands in the air in utter despair and began ordering her minions around. Ino cocked her head to one side contemplatively.

"The gold," she decided finally, "the green's a little dark for tea, don't you think, Sakura-chan?"

"Erleeky derby," Sakura replied into her coffee mug. She sputtered (burhumblemumble) coughed (kerhackercak), then translated, "I like the obi."

"It's done, then," Tenten said decisively, and a plump woman in yellow grabbed the green kimono from her right hand. "Takuda-san, the gold."

The woman gracefully pivoted and bowed. "As you wish, Tenten-sama. Kiyoumi, love," she turned to who Sakura could only assume to be her apprentice, or, upon closer examination, her steely-eyed daughter, "find the red under-robe and the pale yellow one, and the lilies, will you, dear? And go give them to Tenten-sama. Sakura-sama, Ino-sama, please come this way."

Ino jumped and clapped her thin hands, following obediently. "Oh, I love this part." She winked. "This is the part where I outshine you in every way imaginable."

Sakura merely snorted, not really doubting her cousin's statement. They followed Takuda Minami to the other side of Tenten's large bed. Bed, Sakura thought wistfully. Oh, bed.

"Ino-sama," Takuda-san said, holding up what Sakura could only identify as an entire constellation, "Is it to your liking?"

Ino fingered the silver fabric. It was embroidered with peonies and flying blue herons in a darker silver, the hem showing a landscape of herons in water with floating peonies on the surface. The obi was white with gray lace, and two large white shell combs came with it.

"Yeah," she said finally. "I'm officially stealing it from Tenten."

Takuda smiled pleasantly and turned to Sakura.

"Sakura-sama," she said, lifting another kimono off the bed. Sakura gulped and reached for it.

The body of the kimono was a pearly white, fading into a pale pink that gradually turned into fuchsia at the sleeves and hem. Branches laden full with Sakura blossoms reached from the knot where the obi would be on her back to curl around her arms, shoulders and legs, stretching just a little to be seen in the white section. Several dainty silver and pink butterflies fluttered near the branches, and a pink and silver striped obi finished it off.

"Wow," Sakura breathed. "Did-did you really make this?"

Takuda simply smiled, turned and waved her arms.

"Ladies," her voice floated over the brightly lit room into the ears of all its inhabitants, "We have work to do."

.-.-.-.-.

Sakura's scalp ached so badly she was tempted to just rip it all out. But then again, she sighed; Takuda-san would probably just strap her back into that godforsaken chair and do it all over again. She winced as she lifted a hand to try and ease the pain from her red head. Glancing sideways at her two companions, she gauged that they weren't too happy about their raw scalps either.

Their hair had been through more than the survivor of a hurricane. There had been hours of shampooing, conditioning, shampooing again, and again, and again, horrific tugging and scratching, rinsing in boiling hot water, re-conditioning, rinse again, perfuming, brushing, combing, then fine combing, then hours and hours of styling, restyling, and perfecting.

And it hurt.

But hey, she thought, at least it looks nice.

Sakura's soft pink hair had been tugged into a sturdy, perfect ofuku, with what she could only call an entire branch of sakura blossoms inserted into the bun, cascading down from one side of her head to her shoulder to join its printed brethren. A hair pin sat in the middle of the thick bun, embedding itself into her hair with two five-inch pikes, the whole thing ending in a wooden shell topped with a rosy mother-of-pearl, which cascaded three or four strands of pink seed pearls.

The top sections of Ino's long hair had been coaxed and moussed into a sleek, large, upright chignon, covered by a silver web hairnet speckled with clear crystal. The knot was framed by a fan-shaped white shell comb on each side, with a large diamond set in silver resting cleverly in the middle of the two. At the base of her neck was a large white bow, with the diamond's twin in the center, and the rest of her hair cascaded in gentle curls from the bow.

But Tenten was the most impressive of all. As always, Sakura thought, eyeing the girl with what could eventually be interpreted as pity. After all, her hair accessories weighed as much as hers and Ino's put together, times fifty.

Tenten's hair had been fashioned into a pretty updo, with individual sections and locks of hair going through and over each other. Several long, loose curls trailed from the butt of the 'do. The whole thing was secured in place with only her hair ornaments.

Into her shining locks went several red and yellow lilies, clustered with tiny red flowers, on one side; what looked like a webbed fan coming off of the same side, a rather large and distinctive red lace-and-gold shell perched on two golden pikes, and several hairsticks of various combinations of wooden and gold shells, beading, pearl and shirring, all interconnected with a thin draping of tiny linked gold chains.

Then they were all dressed. The Yamanaka girls started off that procedure by teasing Sakura, with two or three layers of obi padding on Ino and Tenten and a few more layers on said pink-haired girl, to create the ideal thin tube shape. This lightheartedness quickly turned sour as the process of layering began.

Over the padding went a white silk robe each, edged with crocheted lace in matching colors, then over that went the under-robes--one in fuchsia and one in rose for Sakura, dark dove's-wing gray for both of Ino's, and of course, red and pale yellow for Tenten--positioned so only the lace peeked out. And then over that went the kimonos, wrapped and tightened and smoothed and wrapped more.

Finally, after the edges were adjusted for a peek of the under-robes and the neckline shifted backwards and out, a padded wooden contraption was buckled around their waists. Then, several women were tasked with the round-and-round game of tying the obis, this accomplished with much ducking and fussing and ado, finally ending in funky crosses between box and butterfly knots.

"You wear these for pleasure?" Sakura snapped at Tenten. The brunette turned up her pretty nose and grinned.

At around 10:00 in the morning, Sakura's walking lesson began, and finally, she understood why. With all the layers, and the amazingly tiny tube that the kimono and robes created, Sakura could hardly do anything but totter. She seethed at Tenten and Ino, who moved their feet so fast they seemed to glide over the floor. And as Takuda's women rushed about cleaning up and setting up the makeup tables, Takuda herself guided Sakura step by step until she had accomplished what Tenten had earlier stated as near to acceptable in common society. But Sakura was proud.

Seriously, she winced as she almost tripped over her own feet, how do they expect someone to learn to walk perfectly in a stiff ten-inch tube in one day?

By the time she was done, and managed to glide as an almost carbon copy of the Yamanaka sisters, it was 11:00 and moving. Panic began to ensue as each sister systematically blamed Sakura for the lapse in time, and Sakura responded by throwing what turned out to be the exact makeup item needed next at their heads, continuing the cycle of blame and throwing. Eventually everything was put in its place, the girls securely in their seats, and the makeup applied.

Because it was simply noon tea, the makeup artists applied light layers of foundation, thin lines of liner kohl and faded eyelash curl. They brushed on light gold, pink and silver shadow, and a small dash of pale pink blush to accent their cheekbones.

Someone had painted Tenten's lower lip a rather sensuous wine red, and the top lip a lighter color, creating a pouting effect. A male artist fashioned Sakura's lips with a rosy gloss until they were plastic perfection. Ino made a mad dash for her purse--which held the entire makeup deparment of any mall--and dabbed on a pale primrose pink before Takuda could order anything gray-shade onto her mouth.

Two seconds after the team finished steaming flat the kimonos, there was a knock on the door. With a smile, Takuda and her team made themselves rapidly scarce, as Hana moved to open the door.

Neji, Gaara, Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata stood in the hall. The men were also wearing kimonos, Neji in pale gold with autumn ivy vines climbing up towards his waist, Gaara in maroon with tiny silver stripes, Sasuke in dark blue with silver dragons flying over a blue mountain and lake. Naruto was in white, edged in green with an emerald vine crawling up the sides. Hinata was glowing in a white kimono with outlines of large blue and silver lilies, a sky blue obi around her tiny waist, two silver hairsticks and a white shell comb in her black bun, a pretty blush on her cheeks.

Neji stepped forward first, bowing slightly to Tenten and holding out his arm. Tenten, suddenly petite and shy, blushed furiously when he kissed her hand, and stepped outside with him.

"Wow," Ino commented with a sly, foxy grin as she let herself be led by Gaara, "Ten, you and Neji-san match like perfectly. It's almost…serendipity."

A ghost of a smile landed on Neji's lips, as he added lightly, "Maybe it's destiny."

Tenten turned the color of her obi.

When Sasuke bowed and held out his hand to Sakura, she couldn't help but notice he seemed much more relaxed today. His hands were soft, devoid of any tension, his eyes were almost…fond. And--goodness--he was looking her in the eye. She felt herself flush, and prayed she did it prettily like Hinata. This could be considered a twist of fate, she decided, because in any other situation there would be no chance in heaven, hell or limbo she could ever even imagine being engaged to someone as gorgeous and pedigreed as Uchiha Sasuke.

"You look nice," he whispered to her in an undertone, escorting her out behind Naruto, who was at the moment trying to fish baubles out of Tenten's hair. The brunette lost all timidity and smacked him, causing a loud giggle from Ino and what looked like a leer but Sakura was sure was an attempt to smile from Gaara.

Before they had made it to the end of the corridor most of the pairs had split, with the Hyuuga at the forefront, conversing in low tones with Gaara, the Yamanaka sisters both trying to ward off Naruto's foxy grin and reaching hands, and Sasuke and Sakura watching the latter scene with amusement.

Tea was going to be extremely eventful.

.-.-.-.-.

The tea had been extremely pleasant, Sakura decided as she strolled along one of the walkways with Sasuke. It had been jasmine and lemon, an exotic and rather delightful mix. They had sat in the Rose Garden, characterized by its large rose trees, bushes and arches, and the pleasant breeze always drifting through it, always carrying the scent of the roses.

They had all joked and laughed--well, Naruto, Ino, Tenten and Sakura did. Hinata sat timidly across from Naruto, blushing profusely, sipping tea and joining conversation periodically. Neji and Sasuke smiled, smirked and imbued the conversation with witty sarcasm regularly. Gaara sat with his head in one palm, quietly watching and listening, and once let out a weird strangled choking sound that could be deciphered as a laugh.

After tea they had lingered, having fun and iced cake (which Sasuke and Neji politely refused), and watched in utter hysteria as Gaara licked the icing and bristled immediately, before realizing he did like the sweetness. Eventually Hinata felt faint, and Naruto readily took for a walk and some fresh air. Neji and Tenten left rather soon afterwards to walk around the entire garden complex, and Sasuke and Sakura followed an hour later. Ino and Gaara decided that such romances was definitely not for an odd couple like them, and settled under a tree nearby for an extremely competitive game of chess.

Now, the breeze in the garden was just at the right temperature, and the sun had just about made up its mind to start setting. Sakura was currently a member of the comfortable silence between her and Sasuke, at least on his part. She felt a little awkward. That the absence of Itachi had made such a ridiculously large change in Sasuke's cold demeanor was extremely curious to her. Sakura wanted to ask, but considered whether the repercussions would really be worth a good sibling rivalry story.

But after all, Sakura is Sakura.

So she opened her mouth and said, simply, "Itachi-sama is not here."

And Sasuke's lip twitched.

"Yes."

"Sasuke-kun--" she stopped herself and looked at him. He looked down at her, a little surprised. Timidly, she continued, "May I call you that?"

"No," he said.

But this was a good day, and Sakura believes in Lady Luck.

"Why not?" she stopped their motion and cocked her head.

Sasuke turned away. "It's none of your business."

She pouted, deciding to turn on her Kicked Puppy act.

"Sasuke-kun…" she trailed off, and he turned to look down at her. She blinked up at him with her big emerald eyes.

He twitched--his eye, too, now, in perfect rhythm with his perfect lip--and hmphed, taking her hand and resuming his motion. "You're annoying."

"NANI?!" she glared at him viciously, but when he refused to turn, she grabbed his arm and tried to wrench him towards her. He, being stronger, resisted, but Sakura was a ball of dynamite, and with one, final pull she won.

That is, until she realized she was falling.

They hit the ground, him on top of her, staring down with shocked eyes as Sakura rubbed her head with a small frown.

"Ow," she sniffed, "Look what you've done, Sasuke-kun, you've rumpled my kimono."

"Look what I've--?!"

And suddenly they realized how close they were.

Sakura ran her tongue over her bottom lip nervously. This was weird, and awkward, and a little familiar for some reason, but still weird. Sasuke seemed decidedly out of character for the day, and how they ended up with his face two inches away she could not for the life of her remember. She could only see his dark eyes. She could only think of those two glowing orbs, the eyes that were fixated on her, unblinking, refused to leave her face.

And he, in spite of himself, could only think: she has beautiful eyes.

Slowly, steadily, he shifted to one knee, then slowly maneuvered to a crouching position. Offering her a hand, which she took, he pulled them until they were standing again.

Sakura swallowed with difficulty.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun," she said slowly, brushing herself off.

Then she made the mistake of looking up into his dark, gorgeous eyes. And suddenly, she couldn't breathe, and she couldn't blink, and she couldn't see anything but his beautiful face and his perfect nose and she looked away but she knows he's still watching her with that intensity, and she couldn't think and--

"Sakura," she could feel his breath on her face.

"Sakura."

She looked back up into his onyx eyes, and her heart stopped. She stumbled; he caught her.

She was trapped in his strong, steady arms. And she was pretty sure she was melting into a big pile of Sakura goo. Woozy. That was the word. She felt woozy.

She almost didn't notice his face coming closer. Her emerald eyes flickered up, up, a dainty blush coloring her cheeks. And she surrendered, closed her eyes and he descended, closer, closer, and--

Suddenly he was gone; the warmth of his pressing body vanished. She peeked open an eye to see him standing a few feet off, and was that--a trace of a blush on his cheeks? He coughed, and turned towards her.

"Sorry, Yamanaka-san."

"Sakura," she said in spite of herself, "please call me Sakura."

He looked extremely uncomfortable, but he relented. "Sorry, Sakura."

She smiled sweetly. "It's okay." Taking his arm again, she started pulling him down the previously abandoned path. "Come on, we're almost at the castle. Tenten will be angry if she misses me." Sakura turned back and smiled at him.

"Come on, Sasuke-kun!"

He let out a wry grin. "Stupid." She stuck her tongue out at him, and ran off. Without a second thought, he chased her.

She grinned to herself.

Note to self: never mention Itachi ever, ever again. Leads to bad, bad (good) BAD things.

.-.-.-.-.

"It's pretty," Tenten smiled in admiration at the rosy hues of the setting sun. Neji nodded, miles away, one finger absentmindedly twirling one of her curls.

She turned; he snapped out of it.

"I wonder where Sakura and Ino are? They're awfully late, it's nearly dinnertime."

Neji shrugged. "I'm sure Sakura-san is rather preoccupied with Sasuke. Ino-san, however, is with Gaara, isn't she?"

Tenten nodded contemplatively.

"That dilemma I cannot comprehend," he smiled softly down at her. Tenten's breath caught in her throat, and she blinked rapidly. "Oh--yes," she said rather dumbly. "Oh," Tenten perked up. Perfect timing, guys. Is it me or did the temperature just rise? "There's Naruto and Hinata. They've been a while, haven't they? I wonder what took them."

She was pretty sure she knew exactly what had gone on. Hinata looked a little flushed and rumpled; Naruto was glancing shiftily and extremely nervously at his fiance's anal cousin. "Tenten-chan, Neji," he grinned, "Hey."

"Weather's nice," Hinata whispered.

"The sky's gorgeous," Tenten agreed encouragingly. Neji quickly added one and one and made two, and began crackling with chakra.

"Naruto--"

The blonde suddenly reached out, having found a clever escape route, and snatched a fistful of lily and hair stick and gold chain, pulled, and ran off cackling, a mortified Hinata in tow.

Tenten's entire updo unraveled completely, the remaining lilies sliding down the long mass of curls and waves, weaving themselves into her hair. She stood, horrified, staring at the spot where Naruto had been.

"N-Neji-san," she turned and blinked. "I'm so sorry about this--when I see him next I swear I'm going to kick his little--"

"No," he cut her off softly, reaching out and tangling his fist in her soft brown tresses, "I like it like this."

And suddenly she was completely mute, blinking, staring into his white eyes.

"Yamanaka-san," he began slowly, "There is something I have been meaning to ask you for a very long time, that I have been thinking about."

Reaching into the folds of his kimono, he pulled out a small velvet box.

Oh no, Tenten thought nervously, this cannot be happening. This cannot be happening. I've dreamed about this since I was fifteen and--oh my God, it's happening!

Neji opened the box. Inside lay a thin silver band, with a diamond the size of her head framed by two round violet seed pearls.

"Yamanaka Tenten," she looked up into his earnest eyes. "Will you marry me?"

.-.-.-.-.

How do you like THEM apples?

So for me, school starts on August 13th, and with two AP classes and extremely homework-inclined teachers, and I figure with that workload and my constantly overdramatic social life, I'm bound to be a little harried and unable to upload for large period of time. So while I still have my afternoons free, I will attempt to churn out a few chapters a week, so keep checking back!

For those of you who don't review, that's like pirating a song. If you have the time to Add to Favorites or whatever silly thing they have down there, you have the time to drop a line. Be polite and review.

To my lovely reviewers: you are a dream. And I feel grateful enough to give gifts in my stories to my favorite reviewers. PM me. We'll see what we can do. Right, Kerry? -wink- don't forget that picture.

Till Thursday;

Kismet.