Author's Note: Thank you guys for your reviews. Now, Gaara! But not Temari. Sorry, the idea is that she's Shikamaru's surprise at the end. Also, Gaara is going to be waaaaaaaaay OOC. Sorry. But this is my, idk, my randomness.

Chapter 4: At the Quad

The quad was essentially a number of food stands and small stores, all organized around a large open area of neat stone tiles which was scattered with tables and chairs. It was outdoors, and halfway between Konoha High and Suna High, so naturally teenagers from both schools flocked to the neutral meeting place to hang out with friends that attended the rival high school. It was also the perfect place to bring a date.

"You think she'll show?" asked Naruto, a bit nervously, craning his neck to look around as the Pack entered through the stone archway.

"She said she'd be here," Kiba replied, dismissing Naruto's concern with a wave of his hand.

"She nodded, that isn't saying she'd be here," Naruto countered, still trying to catch a glimpse of his pale eyed crush. Instead his eyes fell on a familiar mop of violently red hair. He grinned, then stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled.

Gaara, who'd been sitting at a table near the stone archway entrance, jerked his head around at the noise. Almost immediately he was at Naruto's side, his sea green eyes wide and excited.

"Naruto-niisan, I thought you'd never get here!" Gaara cried ecstatically, hugging Naruto around the waist.

"Of course I'm here!" Naruto replied happily, hooking one arm around Gaara's neck and hugging him back, "I wouldn't forget you! Besides, there's someone I'm meeting here, and I want you to meet her."

Gaara tilted his head to the side. "Hinata-chan?" he asked, eyes wide.

Naruto grinned and nodded, and Gaara smiled appreciatively in reply. As they walked back to the table Gaara fell into step behind Naruto, resting his chin on the blond boy's shoulder and clinging to his arm. Upon reaching the table the rest of the Pack situated themselves in chairs, Kiba straddling his backwards, Shino slouching in his seat, Shikamaru leaning his head on his arms folded over the table, and Choji leaving his backpack in a chair by Shikamaru as he went to get himself something to eat. Akamaru freed himself from Kiba's backpack, leaped onto the table, and curled up before his master. Across the table Gaara was engaging in almost similar behavior. Naruto sat down and leaned forward, arms on the table. Gaara immediately slouched forward in his seat, resting chin on Naruto's arm, looking up at his niisan with puppy dog eyes.

***

Meanwhile, back in the parking lot, two cars were pulling up. One was the Uchiha jaguar, carrying the two lovestruck brothers. The other was a silver Porsche, bearing three Hyuugas.

"Thanks for driving me, Neji-niisan," Hinata murmured, climbing from the car.

"You sure you don't want me to pick you up?" Neji asked, a little perplexed, from the driver's seat as Hinata closed the door behind herself.

"Mhm," she muttered, "I . . . I can get a ride home, Neji-niisan."

"If you're sure, Hinata-chan," Neji replied, shrugging.

"Good luck!" called Hanabi from the backseat. Hinata waved, then scampered off toward the stone archway.

Itachi watched his pale eyed angel run off to meet another guy with a burning sensation in his gut. He'd never experienced jealousy before. Now having had the experience he decided he disliked it. Watching his Hinata rush to get to a date with someone else was nothing short of pure torture.

"Do you think she'll be here?" Sasuke asked nervously, scanning the parking lot for something he thought his pink haired goddess might drive.

"I'm sure she will," Itachi assured his younger brother sincerely. Of course he'd noticed almost immediately how infatuated his younger brother had become with the girl that had caught his eye that morning. In fact he'd taken a shine to the idea of a double date, but first they had to get the girls.

***

Hinata stood in the entranceway, beginning to rethink her decision. She'd been to the Quad only twice before, and always she'd been accompanied by her cousin. Neji might have been a lot of unattractive things, but a poor older brother figure was not one of them. He'd always taken care of her, always looked out for her, grudgingly in the past, but with more care of late. And of course, he'd always been with her in social situations. This time she was on her own, and that thought intimidated her a bit. What if the note hadn't been from Naruto? Or worse, what if it had been a joke? What if he wasn't actually expecting her to show, and she was setting herself up to get laughed at by all his . . .

"Hinata-chan!"

Naruto dashed excitedly over to her, his eyes over-bright and excited, an almost equally excited and very curious looking redhead about their age on his heels. For a moment, Hinata just stood there, caught between surprise and a kind of euphoria. Naruto was right in front of her. He was smiling radiantly down at her. He was saying something, enthusiastically if a bit nervously, that she barely registered as an invitation to come and sit down at the table where the rest of the Pack was waving to them. She nodded, giving a small, high pitched noise of consent, and forced herself not to swoon as he took her hand gently and guided her over to the table.

Naruto could hardly believe it. He was sitting at a table in the Quad, the rest of the Pack slowly gravitating toward other activities (though Gaara still clung to his arm waiting to be introduced), with what had to be the prettiest girl in school. And she was still wearing his jacket! His heart was making a valiant effort to fly out his mouth as she snuggled into him, smiling and blushing cutely, pulling the thing tighter around herself. He'd meant what he'd said that morning, it really did look better on her. Now all that was required was to get the Perv a date, and he was the official luckiest guy in Konoha High. Best first day of school ever!

***

Across the Quad, two mouthfuls of pink lemonade hit the pavement.

"Is that . . . is that . . . Naruto-kun!?" choked Ino.

"With Hinata?!" spluttered Sakura. Both girls stared, open mouthed, droplets of sugary pink drink dripping down their chins, as Naruto guided Hinata to a table not twenty feet from where they sat. Ino's drink crumpled in her iron grip, spilling lemonade over her hand, but she didn't seem to notice or care.

Sakura dropped hers unceremoniously onto the table and grabbed Ino's sticky hand. "Come on!" she hissed, darting for one of the empty tables between them and the school heartthrob, "Let's get closer!"

They had, of course, come to the Quad for this express purpose. Spying on Naruto was something of a hobby to them, as well as a number of other girls throughout the school, but there were no two such avid Naruto-watchers as Sakura and Ino. They'd been stalking him since kindergarten, and ever since Ino's father had gotten her her first sunshine yellow Volkswagen Bug for her sweet sixteen they'd spent every afternoon here, waiting for Naruto to show up to hang out with the Pack, or else driving around after his motorcycle.

They had not, however, expected to find Naruto here with a date.

"What is that . . . that little slut doing!" Ino demanded, shading her eyes against the autumn sunlight to watch as Hinata blushed and glanced at the table, then looked back up at Naruto and murmured something neither of them could hear.

"You can't really blame her for being lucky," Sakura breathed, half longing, half distracted, eyes fixed on the couple.

"She's still wearing his jacket!" Ino hissed, "I can't believe that little social climber!"

"Its just a jacket Ino, its cold out."

"But still!" Ino whined, "That jacket should have been mine! I should be the one over there!"

"I can't tell what he sees in her personally," said a voice off to Sakura's other side. Both girls jumped and looked around quickly to see none other than the boy from that morning seated at their table. He was watching Naruto and Hinata's date unfold as though it were mildly interesting to him as well, and barely seemed to take notice of the two girls at the table.

"What do you want?" Ino demanded, glaring angrily at the intruder.

"A milkshake," Sasuke stated bluntly, turning his attention to Ino, "strawberry, if they have it. I'm in the mood for something," he turned a hungry gaze on Sakura for a moment, "pink. You couldn't run and get me one, could you?"

"Not on your life, you . . ." Ino began outraged. Sasuke cut her off, shoving a wad of bills into her hands.

Ino took a moment to study the cash. "There's . . . there's gotta be like a hundred dollars here!"

"Keep the change," said Sasuke, now looking back at the unfolding romance as though she barely interested him any longer.

Ino glanced at Sakura, as though for permission. Sakura rolled her eyes, but grinned and nodded. If this jerk thought he would get anywhere with her in the time it'd take Ino to get a strawberry milkshake, he deserved to have his money taken. Ino patted Sakura's hand once and got to her feet, swaggering off toward the milkshake stand. Besides, she thought, counting the bills as she walked, Naruto was likely to go for a milkshake soon anyway, and it'd be nice to 'accidentally' bump into him. Sakura could handle herself.

Back at the table Sasuke turned in his seat to face Sakura, his eyes boring into hers. "I'm afraid I haven't properly introduced myself," said the boy coolly, offering her a pale hand, "I'm Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha."

"Sakura Haruno," she replied carefully, taking his hand after a moment's hesitation. Sasuke didn't waste a second, he immediately grasped her hand and brought it to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on the back of her hand, never breaking eye contact.

Sakura, he thought, Sakura Haruno. The perfect name for a perfect goddess.

"Can I help you?" she asked waspishly, tugging her hand back and raising an eyebrow.

You can come back to my house and let me ravish you. "I just wanted to apologize. We may have gotten off on the wrong foot this morning."

Sakura shifted uncomfortably. She supposed she had been rude to him that morning, but he'd sneaked up on her and almost messed up her plan. Then again, he couldn't have known. He'd just been trying to be nice, even if he was a bit . . . intense. She smiled, "That's okay. It doesn't matter, let's just forget it, okay?"

"Fine by me," he replied, smiling lightly. Inside he was singing. She'd forgiven him! He wanted to grab her and kiss her, but he didn't want to do himself further injury. He felt lightheaded.

Be my princess and let me rescue you. Be my goddess and let me worship you. Be my lover and let me love you. Be mine . . . Sakura . . .

Intense wasn't the right word, Sakura decided. By the desperately hungry look he was giving her now, she decided the word was insane. She had the slightly sickening feeling he was thinking up perverted things to do to her. Really, she was surprised he wasn't droolilng. She would have to find out where this guy's house was and avoid it. If she ever went in, she didn't think she'd make it out a virgin. Or maybe at all.

"Are you . . . do you have a problem?" she asked tentatively, not really sure how to handle a suspected date rapist.

I'm in love with a sex-dream goddess and desperately trying to conceal the fact that I'm horny just looking at her. "What do you mean?"

Author's Note: I had hoped to finish up this date this chapter, but it looks like it wasn't to be. This is gonna be a long afternoon. Oh well, I needed to post something anyway. Swine flu + no reviews = mental insanity. Hope you like! Oh, and for those of you who care, I'm finally starting on the new chapter for Golden. I'm not worrying about length as I have in the past, so it will be short and it may be sucky. However, I will finish that damn story if it kills me!