At the ball...

Sakura stood by a wall, alone in her new slim, red gown. She glanced around and saw Sasuke and Ino arm in arm, talking to some people. She puffed her cheeks and looked away. "Whatever!" she huffed.

Naruto yawned as he walked up to the graceful Princess. "Yo," he murmured, "So are you going to do anything or what? Sasuke told me that I was your partner tonight. To my luck."

"Look!" Sakura snapped, "You don't have to be with me here if you don't want to, okay, Naruto?"

Sasuke and Ino came over the two and Ino greeted with glee, "Hey, Sakura! Can you believe it? I'm with Prince Sasuke at the ball! I'm so psyched!"

Sasuke remained stoic, trying to ignore the girl's babbling. "Yeah." He was more interested in Sakura's reactions.

Sakura gave the couple a small glare and walked away. "I have to go get some refreshments," she lied, "I'm famished."

"Hey, I'll go with you!" Naruto called and ran after her.

Sasuke was about to follow them, but Ino yanked him back. He looked at her questioningly. "What is it?" he asked, a hint of irritation in his voice.

"This is such a great song!" Ino pointed out, dancing to the soft melody. "Dance with me, Prince!" She took his hand and pulled him towards her gently. "Please?"

Sasuke hesitated greatly, but conceded with an aggravated sigh. "Very well."

Sakura poured some strawberry juice into her crystal cup and looked up to see Ino dancing with Sasuke. She sighed sadly. Those two look like they're having loads of fun. While I... She looked down and saw herself in the pinkish liquid. I got nothing but NARUTO.

"You're jealous, aren't you?" Naruto asked, biting off a cupcake.

Sakura noticed him beside her and asked, "What? What are you talking about?"

"The way you're looking at him," Naruto continued, "Sasuke. You really like him, don't you?" When he saw that she was about to deny it, he placed a hand on her face, stopping her voice. "Please. It's pretty obvious, Sakura."

Sakura blushed a bit and scowled. "I am not jealous of my best friend going out with Sasuke! In fact, I don't even care! I don't even like him for crying out loud!"

Naruto smirked. "Then I guess you don't mind dancing next to them, then."

Sakura blinked, brows furrowed in confusion. "You're not the same Naruto I knew earlier. What happened to you?"

Naruto looked around nervously and then leaned close to her. "My grandma's here!" Naruto whispered furiously, "She'll kill me if I don't act gentleman-like!"

Sakura sweatdropped. "Figures."

"C'mon!" Naruto grabbed her wrist and pulled her out into the middle of the dancefloor, beside Ino and Sasuke. "Sup?" Naruto greeted Sasuke with a cheesy grin.

"Bored," Sasuke whispered. "All Ino talks about is herself. I see you've got Sakura handled."

"Yeah," Naruto pouted, "How'd I get stuck with this job again?"

Flashback

In his room, Naruto fixed his tie and ran his hand through his spiky blonde hair. "Yeah!" he exclaimed, "I'm gonna mess up that Princess good now!"

"No you're not," Itachi's voice muttered from the shadows.

Naruto turned around, eyes wide with horror. "Itachi! What are you-"

"No time to explain," Itachi cut him off and held up a small panda plushy. He then took out his kunai and held it against its throat.

"Ahhh!" Naruto cried, "Stop! What are you doing to Mr. Huggles?!" He paused, mouth gaping. "Uhhh...ummm... It's my sister's?"

"You don't HAVE sister."

Silence. "..." Naruto scratched his head. "Yeah...umm...I got nothin'."

Itachi chuckled menacingly, yet quietly. "Mr. Huggles, eh?" he mocked, "So that's what you call him."

"Don't make fun of it!"

"Tell you what, NARUTO. If you take Sakura to the ball tonight, MR. HUGGLES here will be back on your bed safe and sound."

Naruto scowled, sticking out his tongue in a stubborn manner. "And if I don't?" he challenged the prodigy.

Itachi smiled. "I'll KILL Mr. Huggles," he said bluntly.

"But he's my second best friend!" Naruto insisted, "You can't do that! I tell all my secrets to him!"

"???"

"...Uhh... You heard nothing."

"Oh, I can. And I WILL if you don't do as I say."

Naruto thought for a moment and finally gave up. "Fine, you win. I'll take the stupid Princess to the ball."

Itachi nodded. "That's a good boy."

"Grrrrrr..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

End of flashback.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "I got into this all becasue of your brother taking my panda hostage!" he hollered.

Sasuke sweatdropped. "Your...panda?"

"YOU LIE! LIE! It's all lies!!!" Naruto added quickly, yet suddenly and turned back to Sakura.

"What are you whispering about to that jerk?" she asked angrily. "He doesn't deserve your voice or acknowledgement!"

"He's my best friend and I can talk to him whenever I want!" Naruto told her with the same comptemptuous tone.

"What are they arguing about there?" Ino asked innocently as Sasuke spun her around.

"Beats me," he shrugged.

All of a sudden, a new song was played. It had an up-beat tune and everyone was 'energized'. "Yaaaaahhh!" they cheered, except for Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura.

"Dance competition?" Naruto winked.

"Dance competition," Sasuke confirmed and held Ino tightly. Same went for Naruto with Sakura.

"AND GO!" the man in charge of the ball exclaimed.

Hoo-ha! Hoo-ha! Nanana-nananana. Nanana!

Sasuke and Naruto smirked at each other and pulled the girls forward. Sasuke started out by twirling Ino around and then went off in a swing-dance. "You can do better than that!" he encouraged her.

Ino grinned. "I sure can!" She responded by swaying her hips freely and twirling around with her arms swinging by her side.

Hello baby, can I see a smile?

"Ow!" Sakura yelped, wincing in pain. "Naruto, stop stepping on my foot! Didn't you learn how to dance?! You had bet- Owww!"

Naruto stumbled clumsily, nearly falling. "Hey, stop moving around so much!"

I'm going to a party and it's gonna be wild! Uh-huh!

Naruto bit his tongue anxiously and spun Sakura around. "Yayy!" he cheered.

Sakura, dazed by his obnoxious dancing, spun around in a fast circle at least five times and fell down, her eyes rolling upwards. "Oooohhhh..." she groaned, holding her head and shaking it. "So...dizzy..."

"Hehehehe..." Sasuke chuckled. Naruto is SO gonna lose.

Naruto heard the dark-haired teen's amused laugh and became even more motivated. "Get it together, woman!" he urged and hoisted her up. Without even bothering to ask her if she was alright, he started to sway her petite body around like a rag doll. "Get your groove on!"

"I don't have a groove!" Sakura hissed. She tripped on Naruto's foot and fell forward. "NARUTO!!!"

The pair ended up falling backwards and making their landing on the guests. The first to fall were Sasuke and Ino. "AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

The music stopped and everyone gasped. Some groaned. Some cursed. Some cried.

Sasuke stood up, pushing away the fluff from Ino's lavender dress. He looked around and saw Naruto struggling to sit up from the fallen people around him. "Naruto!" He held out a helping hand.

Naruto took it gladly and finally managed to stand up. "Ouch..." he muttered, rubbing his sore neck. "That hurt...A LOT."

"What a mess!" Queen Mikoto wailed, tears of shame in her delicate onyx eyes. "The ball is ruined! RUINED!" She walked away, upset and in tears.

The fallen guests finally stood up and gave Naruto a good glare. Naruto seemed to shrink in response. "W-what?" he stuttered, sweatdropping.

"Ummmpphhh!" Sakura stifled a soft scream, holding her arm.

Everyone looked at her with concern. "Princess!" a man gasped, kneeling down to help her. "Are you alright?" He tried to get her up, but she moved away. "Oh..."

"So much for the dance competition," Naruto mumbled, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Sakura gasped and looked up at the boys. "All this?!" she asked shakily, her eyes shimmering, "For a dance competition?!"

Ino came to her feet and glared at her partner. "IS THAT TRUE?!" she cried.

Sasuke looked at Sakura emotionlessly. "What? I was bored. And Naruto, too. What were we to do, right?" The guests nodded in agreement since he was the Prince. "Besides," he continued, "I was having loads of fun with INO here." He wrapped his arms around the blonde girl and smirked, earning a shocked gasp from everyone in the room.

Sakura couldn't take it any longer. "Sasuke, you...I...I..." Tears finally came and streamed down her flushed face. "I HATE YOU!" she screamed angrily and stood up. "I HATE YOU, SASUKE UCHIHA!" She gave him one last scornful glare and ran off, sobbing.

All was silent, and all gazes settled upon the troubled Prince. Sasuke parted from Ino and frowned. "She'll come around," he stated with much confidence, though in his heart, he was very uncertain.

The men and women murmured and finally left. Ino went over to Sasuke and asked, "You still like me, don't you, Prince?"

Sasuke shook his head earnestly. "I'm sorry, Ino," he said, "But the truth is... I only came with you because I wanted Sakura to confess that she was jealous. It didn't work, it seems."

Ino felt a pang of pain in her heart. She was speechless for a moment but then forced a pain-filled smile on her face. "You're awful," she sniveled, wiping away tears, "You broke the deep friendship between me and Sakura. And in the end, you never liked me. You're just...AWFUL!" She hid her face and left as well.

"Waaah-waaahh-waaahhh," Naruto tuned through the microphone.

"Not helping!" Sasuke pointed out in annoyance.

"Sorry," Naruto quickly replied and let go of the instrument. He thought for a while and finally said, "You know, Sasuke, Sakura seemed pretty serious."

"Nah," Sasuke insisted. At least I hope not! His eyes widened and he ran after the Princess in a hurry.

Naruto looked aorund the deserted place and saw...a three-layered cake. He licked his lips and rubbed his hands together hungrily. "That's right!" he snickered, "I never got to eat cake!" He took off his black vest and stood in a readied stance. "And...GO!" He launched himself forward and reached out for the cake. "Yaaahhhhhh!"

He landed in the colorful dessert and popped his head out from the white icing. "I love this party!" he laughed.

"Yes, sir," Takeshi spoke, looking at Naurto with an impassive look, "Now, if you don't mind- since you made this mess..." He took out a mop and held it out to Naruto demandingly. "Mop the icing-filled floor."

"WHAT?!!" Naruto yelled, dumbstruck. "MOP?!"

"You make the mess, you clean it up." Takeshi smiled. "Have fun." He shoved the mop into Naruto's hands and left.

Naruto looked at the mop in his hands. He blinked and exploded in an outrage, "I FREAKIN' HATE THIS PARTY!!!"

Meanwhile...

Sasuke reached Sakura's room and approached the door. He knocked on it softly and whispered, "Sakura?"

Sakura, who was laying down on her bed on her stomach, lifted her head from the fluffy pillows. She dried her wet eyes and cheeks a bit and rose an eyebrow. S-Sasuke? What is he doing here?

Sasuke sighed. "I need to talk to you..."

Sakura scowled at the door, as if seeing him right through it. What about, you stupid jerk?

As if reading her mind, he spoke again, saying, "I need to talk to you about...us."

Sry I didn't get to update last week! I was suspended from the computer cuz I hate to take a placement test for the highschool I'm going to. :) Hope u all enjoyed this chappy! Pls review!