A/N: I haven't updated anything for a while, I'm terribly sorry. My computer crashed, then I got switched to Algebra, so I've had a lot of work recently.

Soba: Shame on you! People want to see me woo Hanabi!

Me: you're not going t-

Soba: *hits with washing machine*

The Power of A Gaze

So the competition was on.

"Huh, where are those guys?" Moegi wondered aloud when Konohamaru and Udon failed to show up at lunch as soon as she did. She was sure that they would be there sooner than usual, just to get some quality Hanabi time, but most everyone was seated and they were both no-shows.

"Hanabi, did you see them on the way here?"

"Nope, haven't seen them in a while," the dark haired girl replied.

"Well," Moegi said, "No point in waiting on them, they'll find our table when they get here."

~X~

"Well, now that that's settled, I'm starved. Let's go eat," Konohamaru said and gestured for the other two to follow as he walked off. Already the gap between them and Soba was beginning to be bridged. Odd, considering they three were now rivals.

"Hey, look," someone called out, pointing to Soba and Udon, "the noodle twins!"

As soon as it was out of his mouth, Soba pounced. He soon had this unfortunate guy in a headlock.

"Don't ever mock how other mothers named us. Ever."

"I-I'm sorry, Soba, it'll never happened again, I swear!" he cried. Soba let him go and he scampered off.

Udon and Konohamaru stared in admiration, something they had never envisioned having for Soba. They had been sure that they would always hate him, but they were already on better terms with him.

"Come on, losers, what are you gaping at? I know, I know, I'm hot, but that's not reason to stare," Soba said, smirking. (A/N: I say that all the time, particularly when I'm being my usual eccentric self)

"I can't believe I ever consider being friends with you!" Konohamaru shouted.

~X~

"Oh, there they are," Moegi said and leaped up so fast that it slightly startled Hanabi. "Hey, guys! Over here!"

Anyone could figure out why their faces lit up when they saw the table, and it definitely wasn't because they had been missing Moegi. She was almost resentful toward Hanabi, but being the person she was, she reminded herself that Hanabi couldn't help who fell for whom.

Konohamaru shoved Moegi down the bench and slid by Hanabi, Soba taking her other side and Udon sitting across from her. None of them noticed the tears that had formed in Moegi's eyes, even though she waited a while to blink them back as she watched herself be completely forgotten by her two best friends.

"My name's Konohamaru," he said, tapping Hanabi's arm to get her attention.

"I'm Soba," the other said, also trying to get her attention. A battle went on to try and start a conversation with Hanabi until…

"Hey, Udon, what's your favorite class?" she asked.

He is so dead! both Soba and Konohamaru thought.

"Uh…I…math, definitely. What about you, Hanabi?" Udon asked, blushing deeply.

"Oh, I like math too," she said, smiling.

"I love math!" the other two boys shouted even though Konohamaru preferred P.E. and Soba preferred biology.

"Moegi, what about you?"

"It's a tie between English and art for me," Moegi said, brightening considerably at being included in the conversation.

"So, Konohamaru, Udon, you guys are pretty close to Moegi from what I've heard," the white eyed girl said.

"Yeah, yeah, but not too close!" Konohamaru was not going to let Hanabi think he was taken.

Udon didn't say anything to further crush Moegi's heart, and she should have been happy at that, but the redhead really didn't want Konohamaru to deny their friendship.

I guess it means more to me than it does to him, she thought. Still, the battle for Hanabi that she was witnessing was really funny and she had to force herself not to laugh.

~X~

Hyuuga Hinata hated being the new girl. Every time it was the same: she wandered a longer, getting stared at until she was forgotten and could be slightly comfortable, then have to move again.

At least this time we're going to stay here permanently, she thought. It's probably a lot harder on Neji and Hanabi, because they actually had friends back in Iwa…but I never had friends. I guess I have it good.

And now came the hard part: finding a place to sit. She noticed Hanabi already had a group and Neji had been roped in by Naruto, a cute boy in most of her classes.

So where was she to go? Usually she sat alone, but every table was occupied and there were almost no seats available at those tables.

"Hey! White eyes! Over here!" a blonde called and Hinata realized it was Ino, a girl in her second hour. She was sitting with a pinkette that Hinata assumed wasn't a junior, but a sophomore.

"This is Sakura," Ino said.

"H-hello, Sakura, it's nice to meet you," Hinata said. "Th-thank you for letting me sit with you, I-Ino."

"Don't mention it, Hinata," she replied, smiling.

Maybe Hinata would make friends here after all.

~X~

Konohamaru couldn't have been more thrilled about his sixth hour class. Under normal circumstances, he would have been depressed that Moegi and Udon weren't there, but these weren't exactly normal circumstances, considering it was him and Hanabi, no Soba, no Udon, no Moegi

Originally, it had been fine to hang out with a girl, but now that Hanabi had come along, he didn't want anyone thinking that he was going out with his friend Moegi.

Even better, they got to pick where they sat in this class, the teacher being more laid back, and he flew across the room to join Hanabi, causing a gust of wind that blew everyone's papers away. Not really, but you get the idea. He ran really fast.

"Hey, Hanabi," he said casually as if he hadn't just broken the sound barrier to get to her.

"Oh, hello, Konohamaru," she said, as if she hadn't noticed.

And class passed on normally for such a long time, so much so that he was starting to wonder if she noticed him at all anymore. Then it happened, so suddenly that even a trained eye might not be able to catch it, but Konohamaru certainly did!

She glanced at him.

Oh yeah, she digs me, he thought. ugh, that sounds like something Soba would say. But she probable does like me, or else why would she be checking me out like that?

He began to feel very confident about this competition.

~X~

Something was different, and Udon already knew what: no one had thought to pick on him since Soba had struck fear into everyone's hearts. Already high school was showing promise and he had thought having Soba there would ruin it. Maybe there was more to his cousin than he had originally thought.

Still, he didn't think any friendship could form now that they were competing for Hanabi, something that Udon wanted degenerately to win. There had been a lot of girls that had caught his eye before but he never dared to have a crush on them when he knew that he would only end up heartbroken in the end. Hanabi was different somehow, in a way that made him want to strive for her until he could have her, even when he knew that he would never be good enough for her. No one had ever been killed by dreaming.

Then again, people probably had, but this was one of those times where intelligence only made the situation worse.

Everyone had offered to walk Hanabi home, but because she lived in a different direction than the rest, she refused the offers kindly. So Moegi got her other two friends to herself. Well, Soba was there as well, but whatever.

"Hanabi was checking me out today," Konohamaru said with a very Soba-like smirk.

"Oh, yeah, well she smiled at me in the hallway!" Soba said, making that smirk and winking.

"Well…we have the same favorite classes," Udon said quietly. "And I didn't have to lie so that she thought we had something in common."

"Hey, what she doesn't know won't hurt her," said Soba with a shrug.

Udon wanted to yell at him and tell him that it was wrong to lie to a girl if you cared about her, but it wasn't something he normally did and he didn't think he could if he tried.

Still, he was even more determined to be with Hanabi so that he could treat her right!

A/N: I had to make Sakura younger for reasons that will be revealed way later. Like, different story later.

Soba: I can't believe you're putting this story on hiatus!

Me: Shut up, I'm too busy obsessing over Death Note!