Okay guys new Chapter in honor of Valentine's Day! There is a reason for why this is so late. It is posted down below because I don't want to make you wait any longer.
"I think I'm going to throw up," said Tenten.
"Oh lighten up. They're a young couple totally in love," remarked Ino.
Naruto and Hinata became the most obnoxious couple on the face of the planet overnight. At first it was cute the way Naruto walked with Hinata in between classes, even ones they didn't have together. Then when Hinata brought homemade ramen for them to share, there wasn't a dry eye in the cafeteria. Both of them were big balls of sunshine, holding hands and smiling. Well you could see how annoying that would get.
"I think I'm going to join you, Tenten," said Sakura, standing up to leave the cafeteria.
"They aren't even sitting with us today. I would have thought you'd get a good laugh about how uncomfortable the boys must be," said Sophia. "Considering we had to deal with that yesterday. Why we spent Wednesday night following them, I'll never know. We can't get enough of them now."
"Hey, if you three had boyfriends, you probably wouldn't mind so much," said Ino.
"You're just as single as the rest of us, so why are you so chipper?" asked Tenten.
"I'm just not as shallow as the rest of you." One look of raised eyebrows dismissed that fantasy. "Fine. If Naruto and Hinata are dating then that means that everyone else will be distracted by how annoying they are, and they won't notice my plans to take over the world. MWA HA HA HA." Another look of disbelief from her friends. "They're just cute. It's like watching a real life Korean Drama. Painfully embarrassing at some points where you have to look away from the screen, now for example, but ultimately you enjoy it."
Later in Gym, the girls were playing dodgeball while the boys played soccer outside. During dodgeball, Hinata got hit, and the entire game stopped while everyone stared at the doors to see if Naruto was going to run in to comfort her. By this point, no one would have been surprised if he had.
When English class was over, the girls started discussing what they were going to do that weekend. Order pizza and have a movie marathon, never change out of pjs and just sit around doing nothing, go shopping, a 5K run, (I think you know who suggested those last two.) Then Hinata said, "Oh, Naruto and I were thinking about spending the weekend together." Privately, everyone was thinking, "What else is new?"
However, Sophia chose to say this, "But Hinata, if you're not there with us, we'll never remember to do our homework. And then we'll fail, get expelled and become hobos. The next time you see us will be on the side of the road begging for spare change." She got onto her knees for the next part. "Oh PLEASE HANG OUT WITH US HINATA! PLEASE!" Cue fake sobbing.
Sakura picked up Sophia off the ground with the same fake look of hurt. "Come on, Sophia. Let's get out of here. Hinata's clearly in a different class of people now. And we have to start practicing our drunken swagger." With a dramatic flourish, those two left the room, Ino and Tenten close behind.
"Uhhhmmmm. Maybe you could hang out with me and the girls?" suggested Hinata.
"OOH! I have an idea!"
Later that evening: "Hinata, where are we going?" asked an irritated Tenten.
"You'll see soon enough," she chirped back.
Soon enough, they arrived at a large house. It wasn't quite a mansion per say, but it was pretty damn huge. Hinata led them inside the darkened foyer. Suddenly, Naruto called out, "Hinata, the door!" The sound of the lock clicking reverberated around the spacious room.
"Seriously Hinata, what the hell is going on?" demanded Tenten.
The lights clicked on. It was a large, open, carpeted space with what little furniture it contained pressed against the walls. In the middle of the room sat five guys. (You know who they are.)
"If I have to ask again, Hinata, Naruto gets it."
Naruto looked petrified at the prospect, but said in a reasonably calm voice, "We thought that we could spend the weekend together, so that we wouldn't neglect anyone. Hinata and I can spend time together while still spending the time with all of you. Oh. And don't try to escape. All of the doors, and windows are locked."
"He's telling the truth," said Neji. "We checked…"
"All of them except for the front door…" muttered Sasuke, bitterly. "Shikamaru here said it was too obvious to be unlocked." Shikamaru was already asleep and took absolutely no notice.
"Okay. But what I don't understand is what you expect us to do?" asked Ino.
"Exactly what you were planning on doing before. We can still order pizza and watch movies," said Hinata.
"And then sneak past the pizza man," said Shikamaru.
"I thought you were asleep!" said Naruto.
"It's too troublesome to be asleep in this situation." And he put his head back down on the floor. Everyone facepalmed.
"Okay. Well you can still hang out in your pajama's." suggested Naruto.
"Not the ones Ino wears…" said Sakura. Shikamaru's eyes flickered open, if for only just a moment.
Sophia just sighed and sat down next to Gaara. The girls just stared at her like she was crazy. "What? I figure we're not going to get out of this that easily so we might as well give up. I'm also not in the mood to hear you guys bicker. But go ahead. I'm going to talk to Gaara."
This kind of took the fighting spirit out of them, so they consented to sit down as well. After some debate, someone suggested that they play normal teenage games like truth or dare or would you rather. It was also suggested that they play spin the bottle, but Tenten said she would knock out anyone who suggested it again.
"Hinata, truth or dare?" asked Naruto.
"Truth."
"Most embarrassing moment." She went really red. "Okay. If you want, I'll go first," he said, calming her obvious anxiety.
"How will he be able to pick?" muttered Tenten to Ino.
"Hmmm."
"Wouldn't it have been that time you and Sasuke kissed?" suggested Ino.
Naruto turned red, and Sasuke blanched, his teeth grinding almost imperceptibly.
Sophia, who had never heard the story, laughed. "When was this?"
Ino started laughing too. "It was back in Jr. High, someone bumped into Naruto and they kissed."
"Awww. Was that your first kiss?"
To her surprise, neither Sasuke nor Naruto answered, not even Ino, who would have gladly gossiped her heart away. "Doubt it. Prince Sasuke had all the girls lined up at his feet," remarked Sakura. "Isn't it funny how his Royal Majesty, is cheaper than a 50 cent hooker?"
The scene quickly turned tense, as all of those unsaid words between everybody filled the room with a silent buzzing. Quick glances between the culprits said they weren't going to be the people to do anything about it. Sophia wasn't really sure whether she was going to say anything, she felt like some of it wasn't even her business, but someone had to say anything. As she opened her mouth, she was surprised again to hear that Sasuke had the voice to speak after all, though she didn't much like what he had to say.
"So what's your problem, really? Is it that you actually think I'm that much of a slut, or are you just upset that you weren't one of them?"
Sakura started trembling. She didn't turn to Sasuke, but to Naruto and asked, "Where's the bathroom?" It was clear she was taking every effort to make sure her voice was calm and steady. After Naruto told her how to get there, she got up, her steps kept an even, but brisk pace. When they heard the door close, just a bit too gently, Sophia got to her feet. She walked over to Sasuke, grim determination in her face, and just behind that, rage. She decided she didn't care whether it was her business or not. She slapped him.
"What the hell was that for?"
The girls started to speak. "Ino, please let me finish this without any interruption." And the intensity in her voice stopped even Ino from continuing. "I have a problem with people who treat my friends like that," she replied, fiercely staring him down.
"She started it! What the hell was she on about, anyway?"
"It's not my business to tell you, it's hers and if you can't figure it out by now, then telling you won't make much difference, not yet anyway."
"So I'm stupid now, too?"
"From where I'm sitting, I'd have to say, yeah. I mean we all know you like her. From what I can tell, and I just got here, you do care about her, a lot. And how exactly do you treat her? Like the same string of floozies that you've ripped through like Christmas presents. Just another chick to burn through. To you, she's disposable."
Sasuke was visibly wounded. It took him a while to speak, and even then it was croaky, "She isn't disposable."
Sophia started to cool down a little bit on the inside, because she knew he did genuinely feel bad, but she wasn't done, so she almost hissed, "Then act like it."
Sasuke seemed to be having an internal discussion, and when he was done, he seemed a lot smaller than when he had been yelling. "So is that her problem with me?" he whispered.
Sophia's resolve almost cracked there. He really was a sad. pitiable, confused boy, no different from all of those 'nerds,' all of those social outcasts without any confidence, the kind she'd been friends with all her life. He wasn't any different, not really. All she wanted to do was crouch down and hug him and say, "It'll all be okay, dear. We can work it out." But out of the two, Sakura was the one she was to side with and there was no changing now. "No. That's my problem with you. Work up to deserving to hear what she has to say about it."
Sasuke swallowed uncomfortably the way you do when you eat something really dry without any water. "What do I do?"
"I'm done now. If you guys want to talk about it, go ahead, but I'm checking on Sakura." She got up and walked down the same corridor Sakura had a few minutes earlier. Tenten and Hinata followed pursuit, glancing back at Sasuke, mixtures of reproach and pity. Ino looked like she really wanted to have been the one to set Sasuke with that verbal thrashing, and considered very hard, whether or not she should have a go now, or go check on Sakura. She settled on glaring intensely at Sasuke as she walked out. Sasuke paid no notice, his head was sitting in his hands. And none of the others said anything. None of them were really the talking type.
By the time Ino had caught up with the rest of them, Hinata was apologizing, saying this was a bad idea, and that they could go home, if they wanted to. Sakura wasn't crying. She seemed wrapped in several layers of soundproof air, and anything anyone said had to be repeated a few times to get a response.
"It's okay, we can stay. I just need a minute to calm down."
Sophia spoke next. "I also wanted to apologize. It wasn't any of my business, and I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"The yelling… Didn't you hear?"
"Not really…"
Tenten explained it, "Sophia really tore up Sasuke. We were all going to have a go at him ourselves, and I have to say I'm upset I didn't get there first. First, she slapped him…" Sophia was deflating the more Tenten spoke.
"I guess he deserved it," she said, but she wasn't really sure of herself.
"No," said Sophia. She felt incredulous. "You know, I probably won't ever say this to Sasuke, but he doesn't deserve this. This game you keep playing between having a massive crush on him and hating his guts. No matter what you are afraid he might do if you ever got together, he doesn't deserve it. The way you hate on him like that. And maybe it isn't my business to say anything now either, but I don't like seeing him in pain anymore than you. And believe it or not, he was hurt by the things you said. He can't just walk away the way you did. And there will be another time for talking about societal and gender constructs, so when you bait him like that, justifiable or not, he's going to say something back, probably just as hurtful. So unless you want to keep crying in bathrooms and ripping each other's heads off every time you see the other, maybe you should cut him some slack. And if you can't do that, then get over him. Find someone else if you can't deal with your trust issues."
Sakura looked genuinely shocked, as if the notion that Sasuke could be really hurt by anything she said didn't occur to her. Then the remorse set in as every awful thing she'd thought about him washed over her. Sophia didn't need to physically slap Sakura to get the effect of it. Hinata felt as though Sophia had hit the nail on the head, but would have never said so herself. Tenten looked torn between not wanting to hurt Sakura further, but agreeing that something needed to change. Ino, looked livid and was just waiting for a cue from Sakura before she would start yelling at Sophia. She had been generally silent all night which was a huge feat for her.
"Hit me," said Sophia
"What?" Sakura asked, confused.
"Yeah, seriously, what?" asked Ino.
"If you're angry, hit me. I deserve it," Sophia said, not meeting Sakura's eyes.
Ino started to move forward as if to say 'if she doesn't do it, I will.'
"No. You're right." All of the heads turned, Ino, mere inches from Sophia's face, laying in wait, Sophia, panning up from the floor, and Hinata and Tenten waiting to see if Ino would hit Sophia or not. "I've wasted too much time on him. I think it's time I started looking for someone new." The relief on everyone's faces was instantaneous. Smiles broke out between them all and they started laughing and hugging each other. It was a consensus. Sakura needed to move on, and they were going to help her do it.
When the girls returned from the bathroom in high spirits, giggling away, the boys were very much taken aback. They had spent the last 10 minutes or so in solemn silence, not daring to look at one another.
"I'm hungry," declared Sophia, as she plopped down into her previous seat. "Gaara, does that burger place deliver?"
"OOH! We have ramen!" yelled Naruto, who had previously not spoken very much, which was just as odd as Ino not speaking.
"Do you want me to cook you some?" asked Hinata, slipping her hand into his.
"YES!" Everyone couldn't help but laugh. The two left for the kitchen; Hinata, so that she could cook, and Naruto so he could tell her exactly what he wanted to put in.
"So what do we want to do?" asked Tenten.
"We could do make—" Ino started.
"NO!" everyone chorused back.
"What about a game?" said Gaara.
"Like poker?" suggested Neji.
"Ooh. I love poker!" said Sophia.
"You can win at poker, right?" asked Tenten. When everyone nodded, she said, "Alright, I'm in."
Sasuke went to go get cards and chips since he knew where they were. And they began to play. Neji was raking in the chips. Sasuke and Gaara were just below even. Shikamaru folded most of the time, but on the rare occasions he didn't fold during the first round of betting, he won big. Ino and Sakura were terrible, as they had never played poker before. Sophia was probably second, winning a few rounds with just Neji as they kept raising the other. Tenten was dead last. She couldn't bear the idea of folding and minimizing losses. She kept betting too high, and didn't know how to bluff in the least. She had the mindset of wanting to win so bad it was stopping her from doing it.
About halfway through, Naruto and Hinata came back with the ramen, so Sakura, Ino, Gaara and Sasuke left to go eat. "Don't you want to eat?" Gaara asked Sophia.
"Yeah, but I really want to keep playing."
"But you were the one who said you were hungry in the first place."
"I know. I'll eat once we're done."
"Okay. Here, have my chips and kick Neji's ass."
"Oh, Neji isn't the one to worry about. See he's going to lose his pile of money much faster than you think. Shikamaru is the one to watch out for. He's really sneaky."
Gaara frowned, not really getting it. "If you says so." And he leaned over, pushing his chips into her pile. It was then she really saw his eyes. They were, as she initially saw, ringed with dark shadows that only years of insomnia could bring, but the blue. They were such an intense blue, she almost recoiled. They didn't quite fit into that tired face. They were the eyes of someone much younger longing to get out of that cage of depression that Gaara had been living in since he was a child. She smiled at him and took the chips, but the rest of the night, she couldn't help darting back to his face and staring at those eyes when he wasn't facing her way.
Ino and Sakura seemed to feel that Tenten needed all the help she could get so they donated their meager supply of chips to her. Sasuke preferred to bet on who he thought the winner would be, so he gave his chips to Neji, whispering what Sophia heard as, "Kick her ass."
Tenten was getting more and more ill-tempered with every chip she lost. When she finally whittled away everything until her last two chips, just enough for a blind, Ino made a proposition. "Look at this fine, young, sexy specimen." Cue staring. "Tenten may be the hottest girl in the entire school, not including myself of course. Don't you think so Neji?"
Neji, to his own fury, turned scarlet. He looked everywhere but at Ino or Tenten. "Huh? No. I mean. I guess?"
"Of course she is. And you know, a sexy woman like her, would just LOVE to keep playing poker, wouldn't she? So. How's about this? She gives you a kiss, and you give her half your chips?"
"NO!" cried Tenten. Neji remained suspiciously silent.
"Fine," said Ino, a little too casually. "I guess you'll just have to lose." Tenten began to glare at her.
"Fine. As long as Neji's okay with it."
Neji began to blush all over again. "Uhhh." There was no way he could say no to an offer like this. He would surely win it all back, and then there was the chance of kissing Tenten, who pretty much everyone knew he wanted to throw on a table and screw. (Very romantic right?) "Okay," he agreed, trying not to sound too excited.
Tenten told him to close his eyes. She leaned down and pecked him on the lips. Before Neji could object, she was already pulling half his chips towards her pile. She gave him a huge grin. Neji felt taken advantage of.
Neji began gambling much more recklessly than in his previous hands, and in one round when he went all in, Sophia called, and took it all. "Don't look at me like that. No kiss from you is going to get me to give you any of my chips," Sophia joked at him.
Tenten lost it all just a few hands after Neji. It was just down to Shikamaru and Sophia. "Told you Gaara," she said.
It all came down to a final hand. Sophia had a full house. They kept raising by tiny increments. "You know what Shikamaru, I'm just going to go all in on this. I'm pretty hungry, so let's just finish this now." He took his thinking stance and called. Sophia revealed her hand as everyone oohed. Then she looked to him as he put his cards down to reveal four of a kind. She smiled and pushed the chips towards him. "Good game."
"That was very troublesome."
"Thanks. Hinata, do you think you could get me some ramen. I am really hungry."
Gaara sat down next to her. "I really thought you were going to win, once Neji was out of the picture."
"Meh. Like I said, Shikamaru is the real mastermind. Mmmmm. Hinata, you made this all by yourself? This is sooo good."
"I HELPED," yelled Naruto in between mouthfuls of ramen, which he had been eating for the past hour. Hinata just blushed and nodded.
She pushed the bowl away from her when she was finished and laid her head on Gaara's lap. She closed her eyes and listened to the chatter. There seemed to be a lull in the conversation, so she looked up. "What's up?" she asked when she realized everyone was staring at her.
"You two need a room?" asked Ino.
"What?"
"You're practically on top of each other."
"Ohhh. Sorry. Sorry Gaara, if that made you uncomfortable. At my school, personal space between friends wasn't a thing, and I definitely laid on peoples laps and more, without any kind of sexual connotation too it. Awkward. Sorry. I'll try not to if it makes you feel weird…"
"No. It's okay," said Gaara, sheepishly. And he pulled her back onto his lap. She squirmed around to make herself more comfy. Gaara started to stroke her hair.
Ino just rolled her matchmaking eyes. She had made progress on all the couples today. All except for her and Shikamaru, but of course, she didn't see him that way. Not consciously anyway. She figured Gaara and Sophia would progress just fine on their own. There was enough sexual tension between Tenten and Neji, that they just need a few more nudges to be on their way. But Sakura and Sasuke, they were in a whole different class. Maybe Sophia was right. Maybe they shouldn't be together.
Okay so I have written and re-written this chapter WAY too many times and I'm still not too happy with it. But I have kept it from you for too long.
Okay. I am really tired so for everyone who has reviewed, followed, or favorited my story I want to say a huge thank you! And I want to say an even HUGER apology. I'm getting ready for exams so I can't say that I'll be updating regularly, but I have a few chapters almost finished, I just have to finish them all so that I know I've put in everything I need to.
OH AND PLEASE REVIEW!