SS625: I don't care what you guys say now, I know you love me.

"Normal talking"

'Thinking'

Inner Sakura

Emphasis

"Sakura!"

Without looking, Sakura threw one of her pillows at her wake up call. She allowed herself to stretch her lips slightly in a sleepy smile when the soft, pastel-coloured projectile met its mark.

Throwing the offending object as far away from her as possible, Ino glared at the figure sprawled in the king-sized bed.

"You little-"she took calming breaths. "Anko wants us down, now." She gritted out.

The response she got only angered her further. "Go away Inoooooo. Goddammit I'm trying to sleep herrrreeeee."

Ino suppressed her urge to strangle the pink-haired sleeping beauty. Then a smirk overtook her pretty features. A tiny plan in her mind, she faked her anger this time. "Ugh! Fine! I'm tired of waking up your lazy ass! Go ahead and sleep the day away for all I care!" She threw her hands in the air and made a show of storming out of the pink painted room in case Sakura had opened her eyes.

And she had. Watching Ino slam her white door, Sakura sat up with a confused furrow in her brow. When since had Ino ever given up so easily? Never. That was the answer. Never had Ino given up without getting what she wanted.

Shaking her head, the rosette decided to let Ino's bizarre behaviour slide and nestled back deep into her cocoon of five pillows. Her right side was now exposed due to the fact of having disposed of that pillow on her blonde friend's face. She was drifting back to her peaceful sleeping state when a terrible sound bounced off the walls and sent Sakura scrambling out of her tangled sheets to dive in her bathroom.

"Sakura, I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU'RE NOT HERE IN THE NEXT FEW MINUTES-"

Anko need not to finish her statement. The sound of running water proved that those 14 words (A.N.: you counted didn't you? don't worry, I'm capable of counting) were more than enough to get their resident non-morning person going. She smirked in satisfaction at the girls who were slowly uncovering their ears and went back to her coffee.

Ino mirrored Anko's smirk as soon as she was sure she still had her hearing intact. Served Sakura right for being a lazy ass on this special day. She held in a squeal of joy. Finally, a day in which could drag her friends around for the whole day in the mall (which was new and the number one chill spot in the whole city, or so she heard) for an important reason (or, at least, important in her eyes). If the reason was important, that meant less complaining which meant more time for shopping! She giggled a bit. She'd drag them around to every clothes, shoes and jewellery store in the whole mall! Even better was the fact that the mall was huge. Oh, the fun she'll have.

Of course, she'll let them have a break or two. She was evil, but she wasn't a monster.

Satisfied with her little game plan she sauntered over to plop herself on the only available stool left beside a dozing Tenten. Gazing at her friend, she realized that she needed them up and running because she was not in the mood to be dragging four half-dead girls around. There were many advantages of bringing them with her, one of which is that they could attract boys to carry their bags for them. Of course, she could attract as much as she wanted and more by just being there but as amazing as she was, she couldn't divide her attention so much. Although, she reasoned, she could just ignore them, boys liked that it seemed but she didn't want to cause them to start fights over her attention. As amusing as that sounds, her bags and newly purchased things could get damaged in the process!

Calculating in her head, she could say that each girl could divide their attention to about a hundred boys, (slightly exaggerated... but whatever) seeing that there would be a lot there, they'd have to be extra glamorous.

Then again, she sighed, the girls would more likely want to hide rather than play them like putty in their hands. They were so not fun sometimes. Getting from her seat, she waltzed over to the coffee machine and made some more coffee (Anko had completely consumed the first batch) and took out five mugs. None for Ino, one mug for each girl and two for Sakura. There was no way in hell Sakura would be able to take one step outside without at least one cup of coffee. The second one was for energy.

As soon as she slid Temari's coffee on the table towards her, Sakura practically dragged herself down the stairs. Ino had already poured her coffee and brought them to the drowsy rosette. Sakura gave Ino and her smile a suspicious, half-lidded glare but took the cups gratefully. Taking the seat Ino had previously occupied, she contentedly sipped her coffee but not after sniffing it in case it was poisoned. Ino watched in satisfaction as her friends drank the coffee while she daintily sipped the low calorie shake she made earlier.

Hinata sighed and lightly shook her head. Today was going to be pure hell; she didn't need to be a psychic to predict that. Getting up and placing her half finished coffee in the sink, she silently made her way to the double doors that lead to the front porch and pushed them open. Thankfully, they opened without a sound; she'd like some peace before Ino hauled them on her shopping craze.

Walking down the multicoloured tiled stairs she walked to the well kept garden. She could dimly remember playing here, making flower crowns with Sakura, pretending to be professional florists with Ino, observing small insects with Temari, and playing a mild game of sword-fighting with Tenten. Strolling over to the larger trees and shrubs, she could see the tree that the swing used to hang from. The childhood memories brought a small smile to her face.

Standing right before the tree she slowly leaned on it and gazed forward. Most of her view was trees and shrubs since she had ventured a bit in the forest behind their new home but she could still see some of the road. Only the sweet melody of chirping birds and the soft rustle of the wind through the leaves penetrated the silence.

That is, it was.

Almost shrieking in surprise, Hinata was jolted out of her serenity when a loud screech ripped through the peace. Before Hinata could gather her bearings the screech came again and the source came in her line of sight. A ridiculously bright orange blur, which she suspected was a car, sped past the house in less than 3 seconds. Out of her line of sight, she heard it squeal to a stop, reverse and then it was silent. Obviously, it had parked at the house beside theirs.

Slowly prying her fingers from the trunk of the tree behind her she didn't even know she had clutched in the first place, the dark-haired beauty placed a hand over her heart as an attempt to calm its racing pace. Dusting off her plain white blouse and black denim skirt she righted herself and wobbly walked away from the tree. The sound had been so sudden and so ear-splitting she had almost screamed and, it had conceived a terrible headache. Rubbing her temples to try and soothe the upcoming ache wasn't helping. 'I better ask Sakura for some pills.' She thought. Sakura always has tablets for headaches like aspirin on her; it helped when your best friend was a banshee incarnate. Walking slowly and carefully as to not suddenly jolt and make her head hurt worse, she emerged from the forest, walked through the large garden and up the porch steps. She took her fingers from her temple and entered the house.

Temari sat at shotgun waiting for the others to get in the jeep. Despite having the opportunity to just order a new car they all preferred Anko's electric blue jeep. She absentmindedly ran a hand over the black and silver seat covering. So many memories were spent in this vehicle. Smirking, she fondly remembered the one rare time when all of them, Anko, the girls and their parents all somehow jammed themselves in this jeep and another car to go to Disneyland. It was fun... for the first ten minutes.

They'd only got to grab some cotton candy and about to board a ride when everyone seemed to forget that that was their day off when some complications at work came up. She frowned. Each girl's parents had a company to run. Temari's father ran a car company that specialized in vehicles that could run in the most difficult of terraces. Which came in handy since it was located in Suna, which was practically a desert. The jeep was one of his personal specialities, gifted to Anko for taking and basically raising his child for him. It was built to take on any wet or dry, high or low, rocky or smooth path there was. Temari was the one who kept it running. No matter how much of a good driver they claimed to be, the car would fall apart if she didn't give it a check up at least every two weeks. She shrugged unconsciously; it probably was the source of her love for all things mechanical.

Hinata's father ran a business company, Hyuuga Inc. She never really found out what they did in that company. Probably something boring like an insurance company or something, or if they were anything like those dorky mystery books and movies Hinata and Sakura liked to watch, they probably ran an underground drug dealership too. She chuckled lightly to herself at the thought. She straightened up when Tenten emerged from the house heading her way.

Tenten's parents, though adoptive, loved Tenten as if they were the one who brought her into the world. But, like all their parents, big companies took every ounce of their time and that leads to them not having any time for their daughter. They owned a weapon-making business, which probably contributed to Tenten's almost obsessive love for weapons of all sorts. Tenten opened the back door and slid into the seat but not before playfully glaring at Temari for snatching shotgun. Temari grinned at her before going back to her musing.

Sakura's parent owned multiple small companies, but mainly focused on the Animal Rescue chains, they were vets. They always managed to find new, rare, exotic animals of all kinds. Of all the girls' parents, Sakura's travelled the most. It wouldn't surprise her if they've been to every landmass in the world. Sakura's pets were gifts from them; they were taken from their dying mothers, a fatal result from experimentation in a secret and illegal underground lab? She snorted again, she could feel Tenten's curious stare but she ignored it. 'Secret laboratory' sounded something out of a fiction.

So deep in her thoughts she didn't see when Hinata came out of the house. The dark purple haired girl was walking slowly with her left fist clenched around something and she held a full bottle of water heading towards the jeep. Interested, Temari watched her until she climbed in beside Tenten (who was currently exhaling on the window and drawing ninja stars).

Hinata gave Temari's stare a small grin and popped the small tablet in her mouth, twisted the cap off the bottle and drank down the water in frequent, small gulps.

Temari turned back in her seat. 'Her head's probably hurting from whatever idiot was driving that car." The car mentioned made Sakura somehow jump and spill half of her second coffee on herself and Ino who was nearby urging her to 'hurry up and finish the damn coffee'. Thankfully, Temari's dark blue shirt and crisp, white jeans were spared as well as Tenten's white and pink striped shirt and her green pants.

Hinata had slipped out a few minutes before the disaster struck. She bet Sakura and Ino were still in there cleaning up and changing. 'With any luck' Temari thought a bit cruelly 'Sakura would pull another clumsy stunt and break Ino's foot so we don't have to go on this stupid shopping trip.' They already had enough clothes to clothe everyone in the city, why in hell would she want any more?On the other hand, she had a hunch that even a broken leg wouldn't stop Ino.

Rolling her eyes to herself she went back to her original train of thought, their parents. Ino's father and her step-mother ran a chain of successful florist stores, where Sakura's parents specialized in exotic fauna, they specialized in exotic flora. They sometimes travelled with Sakura's parents to places known for their rare wildlife but they mostly travelled by themselves writing books and doing field research on undiscovered plants. Ino's adoration for all things pretty, including flowers definitely came from her parents. She wasn't sure if Ino's step-mother was that interested in the flowers themselves, but the travelling. From what she heard from Ino, she loved travelling to different countries and sampling their culture. So, travelling with her husband was more than satisfying for her.

Sighing once more she turned her attention to before her, with the car now parked beside the sidewalk, before her was the mansion beside theirs. It was creepily identical to their own residence. She would ask Anko about the history of these houses, there were so many possibilities of the stories that could be behind them. She would also like to know who lived in said twin mansion. Spending so much time around cars she knew every sound they made, and she highly suspected it parked in the mansion's garage.

Probably some fellow rich kids, their parents probably constantly pour money in their pockets and they waste it on drugs and booze. 'That must be it," She mused "No one sober drives that crazy." Unless of course, it was some idiot without a license or any driving experience... or possibly just an idiot in general.

That could be it; there were a lot of those on the street nowadays. She sometimes had to keep herself from trashing or deliberately crashing into their cars for their reckless driving, and she would, if it didn't mean also trashing the metallic beauty she worked so hard on in the process. She had to also keep in mind that Anko would skin her alive if she came home with even a scratch on her baby, personal mechanic or not. But, she hated careless punks who thought they owned the road almost as much as he feared Anko's punishment for blemishing her ride. People had no respect for the heaven-sent gift that was vehicles. They also had no respect for the lives they might be endangering with their thoughtless, selfish manoeuvres throughout the streets, it made her sick.

But on to less hateful thinking, she let her thoughts flow to random topics while she dreamily stared at the 'mysterious' twin mansion.

"YOU CLUMSY TWIT! YOU RUINED MY FAVOURITE JACKET!"

"WELL EXCUUUUSE ME FOR BEING A HUMAN BEING AND REACTING TO NOISES THAT SURPRISE ME!"

The light haired girls screamed at each other from their rooms while changing. Sakura peeled the black shirt she was wearing off her and threw it in the laundry basket. It was probably ridiculous wearing full black anyway. In the place of it she replaced it with a white blouse with bold, black letters that worded 'BITE ME' with a salivating, open mouth filled with sharp and long fangs as a background. It looked like they'll all be wearing some form of white today that is if Ino kept her skirt on, or wore another white garment. She glared at the mirror when said friend screamed a reply.

"REACTING MY ASS! IF YOU WEREN'T SUCH A KLUTZ IT WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED!"

Sakura snarled a response. "WELL IF YOU WEREN'T BREATHING DOWN MY NECK ABOUT YOUR STUPID SHOPPING SPREE YOU WOULDN'T BE SPLASHED, WHICH YOU TOTALLY DESERVED BY THE WAY!"

Ready to make up a quick retort to Ino's upcoming yell, Sakura almost flung open her door only to almost slam right into a fuming Ino. Sakura took a step back from being nose to nose with the angry blond who was clutching her white jacket with a dark brown blotch on it. It wasn't a very big stain really, but it was very noticeable. Ino had changed from her pastel green blouse to a light blue one with the words written in flowery golden script 'Don't hate me 'cause I'm beautiful, but had kept her white miniskirt on. Both girls read each other's shirts and then exchanged a deadly glare. Sakura was unimpressed, that song was total trash.

Ino held the tainted clothing in Sakura's view. "Look what you did." She hissed lowly. Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I got most of it on me, so suck it up and let's go. The girls are in Leslie already." Leslie was the jeep's name, Anko declared it was a 'unisex name and it fit the fact that a car doesn't have a gender, no matter how men try to feminize them'. Sakura didn't know what was wrong with Anko's brain, but Leslie sounded feminine to her.

Ino's anger dissipated a little when she heard that. She dropped the jacket at her feet and grabbed Sakura instead. "C'mon, we have lots of shopping to do!" She squealed. Sakura didn't have enough time to blink before she was pulled down the stairs towards the doors. They breezed past Anko, who Ino didn't manage to convince to come along. The adult would rather sit before the TV all day rather than go on Ino's crazy expeditions.

Shoving Sakura towards the open back door, Ino ran around the jeep and hopped in the driver's seat. Without checking if Sakura had even closed the door, she sped off. Luckily, Sakura had closed the door and all three backseat passengers clung to each other's hand, praying. Temari just rolled her eyes and rested her arm on the top of the door.

Ino overtook vehicles, went over the speed limit and swerved throughout the street like a complete mad person. Temari dug her fingers in the slit where the window currently hid, gritted her teeth and sent Ino a death glare, which the blond either hadn't noticed or ignored. Tenten shut her eyes tight, Sakura's were wide open in fright and Hinata was asking what ever Supreme Being was out there to forgive her for whatever sins she had committed. Thankfully, the mall was less than a quarter mile away and they arrived quickly. Everyone shuffled out on wobbly knees, grateful to still be alive. Ino locked the doors with the car-keychain and shoved them in her matching bag.

When they had righted themselves, they took time to stare in a mixture of awe and disdain at the mall. It was almost mystical looking, but it was also big, very big. Even humongous would be an understatement. The bigger, the more shops, the more shops, the more time would be spent here. This, of course, spelt one word for all girls.

Hell.

Ino's 'hell' was accompanied by a 'yes', and was screamed happily in contrast to her friends', whose one's were said in mind in melancholy. They sighed and resigned themselves to their fate and followed a prancing Ino in.

Taking a gasp of breath, Tenten ran out of Victoria Secret before Ino could try to make her try on lingerie unsuitable be worn, or even be called any form of clothing. Those were just pieces of fabric sewn together to make enticing patterns and shapes. Hearing a series of heel clicking coming her way, she sped in a random direction, not paying attention to where she was going in her haste to escape the frustrated blonde on stilts ('Stilts because those things weren't shoes, and too high for even heels standards). And she slammed into a wall.

Cursing her luck, she quickly noted that said 'wall' was tilting over and with quick reflexes, righted the glamorously clad mannequin before it hit the floor. She breathed a sigh of relief.

She slowly backed away from the raven-haired human-sized doll and turned only to be knocked flat on her butt. Deciding her luck had been had been cursed by her enough, she cursed something else.

"Damn store owners can't position their goddamn mannequins properly and out of people's way" She grumbled. "I'll have a real long talk with them...-"

"Or maybe you should watch where you're going." A rough, annoyed voice spoke.

Startled, Tenten's head snapped up to gaze into hard ebony eyes. A few thoughts entered her mind as she stared.

This mannequin is breathing.

This mannequin is hot.

This mannequin is glaring at me.

This mannequin's a huge jerk.

She hopped to her feet quickly and the boy's eyes just simply shifted upwards to continue to glare. Jerk. Not even a 'oops, sorry for rudely knocking you to the floor. Forgive me miss!'

"W-well! Maybe you should stop being so intimidatingly and so... wall-like!" She hissed. Real smooth Tennie.

She made to rub her sore behind but stopped herself in time and fisted her hands at her sides instead.

"Hn."

The sound of running became louder as a breathless Sakura slid beside Tenten. Her hair was messy and windswept and sweat trickled down her temple, plastering her hair to her flushed face. She eyed the intense glaring match and sweat-dropped. The (super hot, she noted) boy slid his eyes to her and her pulse quickened. Spiky raven hair falling messily over one eye, dark bottomless eyes, sculpted face, hot bod under a tight navy blue T-shirt-

Um, where was she? Oh, yes.

Ignoring the tiny smirk that formed on his lips when he caught her checking him out, she turned to Tenten who was staring at her with a raised eyebrow. Sakura blushed a little then cleared her throat. "Did I miss something?" Before anyone of them could answer, another Greek god appeared beside the first one. "What's holding you up?" Then he looked at the frozen girls with pearly lavender eyes.

Forming a nervous smile and forcing her blush to die down she held out a hand. "I'm Sakura and this is Tenten, um, pleasure to meet you?" The statement turned into a question as her voiced squeaked at the end. How embarrassing.

When none of them made a move to shake her hand, her eye twitched and she lashed out with both hands gripping the surprised boys' hands, shaking them roughly and digging her nails into their palms before dropping them like they burned her.

"Like I said... a pleasure." She glared at both of the stoic males and grabbed her friends hand before dragging her into Tenten's original direction. "Assholes." She muttered lowly.

They didn't see when the boys they left in their wake shared a glance and turned the opposite direction.

The pearl- eyed one ran a thumb over the palm that had small crescent shapes indented in it. "Strong grip."

"Hn. Unfortunately, I don't think that's the last of them."

"Hm...Entertaining."

Ino had found them, despite their attempt of hiding out in a fast food restaurant at the other end of the mall. Fortunately, she had managed to get them out without creating a scene. Unfortunately, Temari and Hinata were pissed at them for ditching them... well, Temari was pissed. Hinata understood their desperation and accepted their apologies with a gentle nod and smile. Temari had not let them off so easy and pulled out and threw away one of Tenten's hair-ties and pulled on Sakura's cotton candy coloured locks.

"That'll teach you for running off without me." She grumbled.

Tenten picked up the small silky fabric and threw a deadly glare at Temari while tying her long hair back into a bun to match its twin. Sakura rubbed her scalp and muttered under her breath. Ino beckoned them into a store, thankfully one with real clothing and no overpowering perfume.

Hinata stepped in and her eyes caught something interesting; something purple. It was on a rack next to the men jeans section. She tried keeping her eyes on it even as dozens of people passed her, blocking her for a few seconds each. She was about to reach for it when she tripped over something. Her eyes clenched shut as she prepared to slam into the ground. She winced as her hands slammed and slipped on the smooth floor and waited for gravity to bring the rest of her body down.

A few seconds passed, nothing happened.

Opening her eyes, she was suddenly aware of an arm around her waist. Inclining her head as much as she could, surprised lavender clashed with an equally wide sapphire.

"Oh shit, I'm so sorry!" Hinata stared speechlessly at him, bright, blonde spiky hair that spiked up in a haphazard fashion, sun-kissed skin, sturdy jaw set with three whisker-like marks on each cheek, and finally, a majestic set of blue eyes flecked with silver. Hinata felt her breath go out of her, and her face went up a shade of red. The blonde froze, staring at her with just as much intensity, Hinata, if possible, turned darker.

Gathering her wits, she shyly cleared her throat at the slack-jawed blonde, they have been in this position a few seconds too long and she wondered how his arm wasn't shaking.

On the other hand...

(A.N.: hehe)

According to what she could feel, the muscles rippling beneath her weren't going to be affected by her measly weight-

The blonde straightened and dropped the pair of jeans he was holding on the floor and pulled her upright with his spare hand, seemingly snapped out of his trance by her interruption.

"Sorry." He sheepishly repeated. Hinata nodded distractedly before she shook her head furiously. "N-no, no, I should've been looking, I'm the one who should be s-sorry."

"I guess we're both at fault then," He gave her a sunny smile that made her breath hitch. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"Hinata Hyuga." She smiled back.

"A cute name for such a beautiful girl" He murmured thoughtfully. Both their eyes widened and they looked away simultaneously. "Ah, um, uh"

She giggled nervously and he turned back to look at her with a sheepish grin.

Avoiding his gaze, she cast her eyes to the floor and gave a little gasp. "Oh!" She bent down and retrieved the jeans he had earlier held. "I-I'm sorry I made you drop these…" She held them out for him to take. He took hold of the hanger and placed it on the rack. "No worries, didn't like 'em anyway."

"Are you sure?" She rubbed the thumb of her right hand over her left palm and winced.

"Positive." He saw her wince and brought her hand up to inspect it, seeing a bruise forming, the smile slid off his face.

Seeing him frown, she retracted her hand from his grip. "I'm fine, I promise."

"Are you sure- oh gosh, I'm so sorry-. "

"I'm sure," She interrupted. "I have to go find my friends, it was nice meeting you." She took a step back, gave him one last smile and turned to go.

"Bye, Hinata- Wait!" She turned around. He grinned. "Will I see you again?" He said, not concealing the hope in his voice. She giggled. "We just moved here, we'll probably bump into each other somehow." She waved and disappeared behind the crowd of shoppers.

Once she was outside, Hinata realized that she never got to grab the purple garment she'd seen. She didn't get to continue on her train of thought when she was grabbed by the arm. With a squeak, she swivelled around only to face a smirking Ino.

"While you were ogling your pretty boy over there, I took the liberty of finishing up in here, let's go!"

Hinata blushed crimson. "I wasn't-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. C'mon already." Ino waved her attempt at explaining off and pulled her to where the others where moping. "Okay, I think we can safely say we've shopped enough for the first week of school."

Tenten looked at the hundreds of bags in their hands and leaning on the wall. "More like a century."

Sakura frowned. "But we didn't-"

"I also took the liberty of shopping for all of us. I can't be seen with you all if you dress in all that hobo getup you have in your closet. You can thank me now."

"Thanks, Ino dearest." Sakura replied drily.

"You're welcome! Homeward we go!"

Temari snorted. "If you think I'm carrying more than four bags you're sadly mistaken."

Ino was not troubled by this declaration, in fact, she smiled brightly. "I have that covered, Tema-chan, don't worry your pretty little head. Boys!"

Temari wrinkled her nose at the much despised nickname but blink when three boys immediately appeared. "I met these three cuties while you guys were busy ditching me, ladies, I introduce you to Ukyua, Yuki and Taeshun." She nodded to the lovestruck teens. "They've kindly volunteered to take our bags to our car outside." With a flash, the girl's hands were suddenly empty and the bags on the floor disappeared. Ino sauntered off, leading the boys who were all but drooling at her heels.

Hinata sighed and followed, the others trailed after her. By the time they'd caught up, Ino was already at the wheel waving flirtatiously at the boys. "Thanks for the help gentlemen!" She giggled sweetly as the girls piled in. "Bye!" As soon as the last door closed with a click the vehicle sped off.

Despite the wind ripping through their hair, Hinata managed to be heard over it.

"Don't turn back, but, wasn't this trip a little too short by your standards?" She called. She received three warning stares and a tinkling laugh that scared her.

"Yes, it is, but I've come up with a plan that will please all of us. I've decided that all our shopping trips will be shorter!" Gasps of disbelief and sighs of relief rang through the harsh wind.

"Instead," They froze. "We'll shop for shorter periods of time, but we'll shop everyday!"

Silence.

"Aw, C'MON!"