"Um… I-Ino? I-I-I don't think this i-is a g-g-good idea…" Hinata stuttered nervously.
"Oh, stop worrying! You look fantastic!" Ino said with a wave of her hand. She proceeded to pull a brush through Hinata's long hair.
"Ino! If Hinata doesn't want to do this, then don't make her!" Shierra scolded, trying to make her way over to where the pale-eyed girl was quivering as she sat in a swivel chair.
"It's going to be fine! In fact, it's going to be great! Just calm down, Ner-" Ino didn't finish her statement as a certain pinkette glared her emerald eyes at the blonde.
It was then that Ino suddenly remembered some advice that Sakura had given her upon entering the gang. There were certain things that only these really good friends could say or do to each other. And considering Ino was a newbie to the group, she didn't get those privileges just yet.
Sakura's voice echoed in her head. "Rule #1: You are not allowed to insult Shierra's smarts. Considering you used to use it as a means to bully her, you have to wait a while before she's okay with you teasing her about it."
"What was that you were going to say, Ino?" Shierra asked in an accusing tone. It almost seemed as if she was daring Ino to insult her.
"Um… yeah, as I was saying. My idea is totally going to help Hinata win Naruto's heart. And by doing that, she'll be getting him out of your hair!" Ino said, grinning at Shierra.
The other girl was about to retort before someone cut her off. "Y-Y-You know a-about m-m-my c-crush!" Hinata squeaked loudly.
"Duh! It was kind of hard not to notice it," Ino laughed. "I've been hanging out with you guys for two weeks, and you really think I wouldn't have picked up on something like that? You totally blush every time he looks at you. And you stutter even worse when you're around him."
Hinata turned pink in the face. Was it really that obvious that she liked Naruto? Because if it was… how the heck had Naruto never noticed?
"Hey, don't worry about it," Ino added sympathetically. "With this new look, you're gonna catch the eyes of not only Naruto, but every guy in the mall."
Hinata blushed even redder at the thought of all the guys in the gigantic mall staring at her.
"Well Ino, could you possibly hurry it up?" Sakura asked in an annoyed manner. "We're supposed to meet the guys at the mall in half an hour. And with Hinata's cousin actually driving the speed limit, it'll take twenty minutes to get there. Plus parking and all that…"
"Eh, the guys can wait. We can be fashionably late," Ino said with a flick of her long blonde hair. The blonde girl picked up a tube of lipstick and applied it to Hinata's soft lips. "And… there you go! You look so pretty, Hinata!" Ino squealed happily.
Hinata turned the swivel chair around to look at herself in the mirror. She inhaled quickly in surprise. Ino had pulled her hair up into a half-ponytail with the rest hanging down passed her shoulders. The outfit the blonde had chosen for her consisted of dark blue tight-fitting jeans and a lavender cardigan over a white camisole. And her face… for the first time since Hinata could remember, she was wearing makeup. She had a soft pink color of lipstick on, and there was some blush on her cheeks.
The girl was stunned. She never thought she could look so… pretty. She could hardly believe it when her friends started complimenting her.
"Wow! Ino was right! You look amazing!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Yeah. And if Naruto is too stupid to not give you the time of day, there are a lot of guys who would be begging for your attention," Shierra smiled.
Hinata blushed slightly, but she smiled at her supportive friends. "T-Thank you, a-all."
"Alright, let's head on out," Sakura said.
The pink-haired girl slipped her black knee-length boots back on. She was wearing a red T-shirt and dark blue skinny jeans. Shierra proceeded to place her light blue jacket over her white T-shirt and put her black ballet flats back on. Ino was wearing a purple flowing blouse with black leggings and black boots.
The four girls left Hinata's bedroom and descended the stairs. Neji was waiting for them in the living room.
"May I ask what could possibly take you girls so long?" Neji asked as he stood up from his seat on the couch.
"No, you may not ask," Shierra replied. The boy raised an eyebrow at her comment, and she smirked in response. "Sorry. Couldn't help it."
"Anyway, I guess we can proceed," Neji said, turning away to the front door.
He held the door open for the girls, and they all piled into Neji's Volvo. Sakura was right when she said that he would be driving exactly the speed limit. He didn't go any faster or slower than the designated limit. It took twenty-two minutes to get to Konoha Mall's parking lot, and since it was around lunchtime, the place was very crowded. Once Neji found a parking spot, the group headed inside.
Neji turned to look at his younger cousin. "I'm going to be with Tenten and Lee. We'll be having lunch at the sushi restaurant before we meet up with you guys later. If you need me, just text or call, and I'll be right over."
"Don't worry, Neji. We'll be fine," Hinata smiled kindly.
Her cousin had been so overly protective since Nadare had kidnapped her and the other two girls just two weeks ago. And considering he had been overprotective before, this was taking it to a whole other level. In a way, Hinata thought it was sweet, but it was also a little suffocating.
"Alright. Take care, ladies," Neji said as he turned to walk away. Then he stopped before he looked at Hinata again. "Oh, and if that Uzumaki brat tries any funny business with you, call me immediately." Then he walked away to meet his two friends at their favorite restaurant.
Hinata stammered as she thought about what Neji had said. "He… he knows t-t-too!" the poor girl exclaimed. Did literally everyone know about her crush on Naruto? If so… again, why the heck hadn't he figured it out?
"It's like I said. It's really obvious," Ino shrugged.
"We'll worry about boy troubles later. Right now, we have to go meet the guys," Shierra said.
The four girls continued onward, toward their group's favorite mall spot. Ichiraku Ramen. It was actually more of Naruto's favorite place, considering he had a weird and unhealthy obsession with ramen. But it was a very friendly atmosphere, and it was perfect for just hanging around.
After rounding a few corners of the giant mall, the four girls finally spotted the small restaurant. In bright red lettering, the words 'Ichiraku Ramen' sat on top of the designated spot for the restaurant. A few tables were spread out amongst the area in front of the restaurant for any ramen eaters, or people could choose to eat inside the eatery.
A small group of guys could be seen sitting at a table outside of the restaurant. The girls instantly recognized the group as their friends. When all the boys spotted the girls, they either smiled or smirked. Naruto, being the unique child that he is, decided to choose a different approach to his welcoming of the girls.
He stood up so fast that his chair fell and clattered against the ground, creating a loud metallic clang. He ignored it and ran over to greet the girls. And he ran pretty fast.
"For someone who got the crap beaten out of him just two weeks ago, he moves like he's running a marathon," Sakura thought to herself as she raised an eyebrow at her blonde friend.
Indeed, when Naruto had gotten into a fight with Nadare, he had been injured pretty badly. The doctors had said that he had a concussion from to many blows to the head. His organs were lucky to be functioning because he was, if not pretty close to, internally bleeding. The hospital had estimated that he would be staying for at least three weeks.
But by some weird miracle, Naruto had left the hospital in a week. And he was perfectly fine when he left. The doctors couldn't believe it, and his friends had just passed it off as one of his weird mutant moments. Again, they were still investigating if he had been exposed to any toxic chemicals as a newborn.
"Hi, girls!" Naruto exclaimed as he skidded to a stop in front of the four females.
"Hi, Naruto," Sakura greeted.
"Hello," Shierra said.
"What's up?" Ino asked.
"Eh, not much," Naruto shrugged. As he looked at the girls, his eyes rested on the other brunette of the group. His eyebrows furrowed as he tilted his head at her in confusion. "Who's she?" he pointed to Hinata. "I thought you girls were coming with Hinata."
Hinata's mouth fell open in quiet astonishment. Her own crush didn't even recognize her. She knew she shouldn't have let Ino give her a makeover. Hinata was completely speechless, as were the other girls.
Ino gawked at the blonde boy. Naruto was really sweet a lot of the time. She had learned first hand that his personality was 80% friendliness. But he was obviously also really dumb. Seriously… really? How could he not recognize the Hyuuga?
Shierra proceeded to lightly pound her fist against her forehead. After the tenth time of that, she placed her hand over her mouth to keep herself from yelling loudly and causing a scene in the middle of the mall.
Sakura, however, didn't care about causing a scene. She reached out and grabbed on Naruto's ear in a ferocious manner. "What are you talking about, you idiot?"
"Ow, ow, ow!" Naruto yelled in pain. "Sakura! Pain! In my ear! Please stop! Mercy! Uncle! Someone help me! Sakura, what did I do?"
"She is Hinata!" Sakura screamed.
"What?" Naruto wasn't really paying attention to what the pinkette was saying. He quickly pulled his ear out of Sakura's death grip and put both hands over it to protect it from any future pain. Then what Sakura said registered in his head. He looked at the brunette and pointed at her. "Wait… you are Hinata?"
She slowly nodded her head with sad eyes staring at her love.
"Oh…" Naruto replied, a bit in embarrassment as he stared at the girl.
She definitely did not look like Hinata Hyuuga. Normally, she would wear a jacket or a hooded sweatshirt. Instead, she was wearing a lavender cardigan with a white camisole that showed off her upper body curves. And the colors complimented her eyes nicely. Plus, instead of wearing normal loose-fitting jeans, she was wearing waist-hugging jeans. And since when did Hinata wear makeup? Naruto was pretty sure she never wore makeup before.
Naruto didn't mean to be shallow, but he couldn't help it. Any other guy would think the same thing. "Holy crap… she's totally hot!"
Hinata started to feel nervous under Naruto's gaze as he stared at her. Sakura shook her head in exasperation. She whacked him upside the head. The plan was to get Naruto to notice Hinata, not mentally imagine some very vulgar and hormonal teenage boy thoughts.
"Ow!" Naruto said, his hand flying to gently caress his head. "What?"
"Let's just go eat," Shierra cut Sakura off before the pink-haired girl could lose her temper and get them thrown out of the building for disrupting the peace.
"Right on! Ramen, Big Daddy Naruto's coming for you!" the blonde exclaimed happily as he quickly ran over to where the rest of the group was sitting.
The other guys had witnessed the whole scene between Naruto and Hinata. They smirked at the blonde as he sat down at the table.
"Way to keep your cool, Naruto," Kiba teased from across the table.
"Shut up, Kiba. It just caught me off guard. You know I still love Shierra," Naruto hissed quietly before the girls could reach them.
"Yeah, sad thing is that she doesn't love you back," Shikamaru said lazily with his eyes closed as he rested his head against the back of the chair.
"Or at least not in the way you want," Shino added.
"Yeah, Shierra did always say that she only thinks of you like a brother," Chouji said.
"That's what you all think! She just hasn't realized that she likes me more than a friend," Naruto said stubbornly.
"Keep telling yourself that, dope," Sasuke said, shaking his head.
Naruto was about to retort when the girls finally made their over to the tables. He quickly changed his facial expression to a full grin. "So, how are all you ladies?"
"We're fine, thanks for asking," Shierra replied sweetly.
Ino spotted Sasuke sitting on the table, with that same expressionless face etched on his features. The girl almost melted right then and there. "He is so hot!"
She was going to skip over to him to flirt, but something in her mind stopped her. It was Sakura's voice echoing in her head for the second time that day. There was another rule that she had to follow.
"Rule #2: Do not throw yourself at Sasuke. I speak from experience. He doesn't respond to fan girls, which is why he never talked to you when you used to stalk him. But now that you're apart of the group, you have to be wary of showing your feelings around him. It'll take time, but he'll talk to you if you're not swooning over him."
When Sakura had told Ino that, the blonde had accused her of saying that so that the pink-haired girl could have Sasuke all to herself. It had taken a lot to convince Ino that that was how things worked, even though it logically made sense.
But she still didn't like it. "Geez… why does this group have so many rules?" Ino thought angrily to herself.
"So, what do you girls want to eat? We all ordered already while we were waiting."
"Oh, I'm on a diet. Ramen is too fattening," Ino said.
"It is not fattening! It is the healthiest and most delicious food on earth!" Naruto yelled, appalled at Ino's words.
"Right, sure…" Ino said sarcastically. "I'll just have a salad or something."
"Beef ramen for me," Shierra said.
"I'll have chicken flavored," Hinata said.
"Shrimp flavored, please," Sakura said.
"Okay. I'll go get the orders," Naruto said as he stood up.
"Perhaps someone should go with you," Sai said. "Eleven orders is a lot to carry."
"I am perfectly capable of doing it myself, Sai!" Naruto yelled impatiently.
"Yeah, let him go. I'd like to watch Naruto make a fool of himself when he drops everything," Kiba snickered as Naruto shot him a death glare.
"Now why would you say that?" Shierra asked. "If he breaks everything, it comes out of our wallets."
"True," Sakura nodded.
"Naruto, just swallow your pride and take someone with you," Sasuke said in annoyance.
"Swallow my pride? Like you're one to talk," Naruto shot back.
"I-I-I'll g-g-go with y-y-you," Hinata said, a slight blush creeping its way up her cheeks.
"Uh… alright," Naruto agreed. The two stood up and walked over to the counter to tell old man Teuchi the group's orders.
Once the two were out of earshot, the remaining guys turned around to stare at the girls. "Alright, spill it," Sasuke ordered.
"What?" Shierra asked.
"What's up with Hinata's makeover?" Shikamaru asked. He stared right at Ino, knowing that it was all her idea.
"Well, I just thought that she needed a confidence booster," Ino shrugged. "Obviously, my plan worked."
"What exactly was the plan?" Sai asked.
"To get Naruto to notice Hinata for once," Shierra said.
"And it totally worked. Naruto couldn't take his eyes off of her," Ino said, looking at her nails in a triumphant manner.
"Not bad, Ino," Shikamaru smirked.
"Yeah, that was pretty good," Chouji remarked.
Ino smiled in return at their praise. Out of all the guys in the group, Shikamaru and Chouji seemed to welcome her more. Not that the other guys hated her or anything; Ino just found it relatively easy to get along with these two particular guys. Of course, it might have been just because Shikamaru is too lazy to hold any form of grudge. And Chouji seemed to have a little bit of a crush on her.
But Ino was willing to take what she could get. As long as no one tried to destroy her, she was happy. And Shikamaru and Chouji weren't that bad of guys to be around.
"So what do you think? What are the chances of Naruto falling for Hinata?" Sakura asked.
"Do you want me to lie or do you want the truth?" Sasuke asked.
The pink-haired girl stared at her friend for a few moments, debating what kind of answer she wanted, before she spoke. "Lie," she ordered.
"Then in that case, Naruto is going to fall head over heels in love with the girl," Sasuke said seriously.
"What's the truth?" Shierra asked.
"Naruto is going to think about what it would be like to date Hinata, and after a few days, he'll get over it and go back to fawning over you," Sasuke said, staring at Shierra.
"Aw, crud," the girl muttered.
"How do you know that?" Ino asked accusingly. She was very upset at the prospect of her plan not working. The effect of today's little scene was supposed to result in Naruto liking Hinata. If that didn't happen, that would mean Ino failed. And when it came to stuff like this, Ino did not fail.
"Before you girls came over, Naruto confessed his love for Shierra in front of us. And this is after he saw Hinata looking like that," Sasuke said, emphasizing the last word to stress the fact that any guy would find Hinata attractive if she looked like that everyday.
"Oh, phooey," Shierra mumbled. "I do care about Naruto and all; he's like another brother to me-"
"Which is what we told him," Kiba added.
"Right! So I don't understand why he can't get the hint!" Shierra exclaimed.
"What you gotta do is let him down hard so that it'll get through that thick head of his," Shikamaru said.
"Oh… but that would be mean," Shierra said uncertainly. "I don't want to hurt him… He is my friend."
"That means that we have to get Naruto to fall for Hinata so he can get over Shierra," Sakura said. "I mean, everyone knows those two would be adorable together."
"Alright then!" Ino exclaimed happily. "Operation Bring Naruto and Hinata Together To Make Them The Cutest Couple Ever is now a group project! We're gonna have to work together if we want to bring those two lovebirds together!"
"Excuse me?" Shikamaru asked. Did she just say that they would have to do work?
"C'mon, Shikamaru!" Ino pleaded.
"No. I thought it was a good plan when you girls were doing the work. Why do you have to get everyone involved?" Shikamaru asked.
"We need you because you're super smart," Ino said with puppy dog eyes. "And besides, you know you want those two together." She pouted her lip at him and increased the puppy dog eyes to an even high level of cuteness.
Shikamaru glared at her. After a few moments he relented. "Fine," he sighed.
Ino jumped up in glee. "Thank you so much, Shikamaru!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he muttered. "It's too troublesome to say no anyway."
"How about the rest of you? Are you all in?" Sakura asked.
"Heck yeah!" Kiba exclaimed.
"Sure," Shino nodded.
"Why not?" Chouji shrugged.
"I am also in," Sai said.
Sasuke just sat there, not saying anything. Shierra looked over at him and gently nudged him with her elbow. "What's the matter, Sasuke? Don't want to be part of the fun?"
"Hn," Sasuke replied.
"Don't you 'Hn' me! Answer the question," Shierra ordered. "Are you in or out?"
He turned to look at her with his onyx eyes. Then he smirked at her. "In."
"Good," Shierra smiled.
"Okay, we've all agreed on the mission," Sakura said.
"Do whatever it takes to get those two to start going out with each other," Ino added.
"We should keep in touch via cell phone when it comes to any spontaneous planning," Shierra remarked. "We'll all have to be up to date with anything and everything that goes on between those two."
"Shierra, are you just saying all this because you want Naruto off your back?" Kiba asked suspiciously with a smirk.
She smirked back at him. "No. As I stated earlier, I care about Naruto. But I also care about Hinata, and you know as well as I do that she's liked Naruto since sixth grade."
"Fine, fine," Kiba smiled.
"Shh! Here they come," Ino whispered as the two people of conversation came over, carrying trays of ramen and a salad.
"The ramen is here!" Naruto announced happily. He took the bowl of leafy vegetables and handed it to Ino. "And one salad," he added, almost as if in disgust, wondering how she could eat such a thing.
"Gee, thanks," she smiled sarcastically at him, knowing that anything healthy really ticked him off.
As the teens grabbed their food, they all quickly took a seat next to each other around the large table. The only two seats left were next to each other. So Naruto and Hinata were forced to sit next to each other. The two sat down, and Hinata tried to scoot away in nervousness, but there really wasn't much room to go anywhere.
Ino, who was sitting between Sakura and Shierra, whispered to them so no one else could hear. "Mission has now started."
The two other girls smirked, and they both high-fived Ino under the table.
"Oh! Big news! Guess what?" Naruto announced to the table.
"W-W-What?" Hinata asked, trying not to pass out as she realized just how close to her crush she was.
"My parents are gonna be out of town in two weeks. Do you know what that means?" Naruto grinned excitedly.
"Are you suggesting what I'm thinking?" Kiba asked.
"If you're thinking of a party, then you are correct, my friend," Naruto smirked.
"A party? Naruto, what is wrong with you?" Shierra hissed. "Do you know what kind of crap goes on at unsupervised parties?"
Pretty much the entire table moaned at Shierra's outburst. She was the goody-two-shoes of the gang. But she liked to think of it as the one with a good head on her shoulders. She wasn't dumb; she knew what happened at parties. Things were on the news all the time about drugs, alcohol, and teenage mothers, all originating from unsupervised parties. And Shierra was smart enough to participate in any of that, because she knew it would ruin her future. And academically speaking, her future was very important to her.
"Shierra, you're such a killjoy," Kiba grumbled.
"Fine! You all can go to Naruto's party! But when you all are high from the drugs, drunk from the alcohol, destroying your lungs with the cigarettes, having unsafe sex with some random stranger, and end up in jail for underage usage of all that illegal crap, don't say I didn't warn you!"
The whiskered boy stared at her like she was insane. It took him a moment to get his mind to form words after her whole speech. When he finally did speak, he was still astonished at what she had said. "Shierra… what the heck do you think I'm going to do at this party?"
"Dude, did you not just hear what she said?" Kiba asked. "She obviously assumes that you will have drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and unsafe sex in your home, resulting in a visit from the Konoha Police, a.k.a. Sasuke's dad."
"I'm pretty sure the last thing Sasuke's dad wants to see is unsafe sex," Sai commented.
"Sai, please be quiet," Shierra glared at the pale boy. Then she turned back to Naruto. "And you know what I mean. Unsupervised parties are totally dangerous!"
"Shierra, how much of an idiot do you think I am?" Naruto asked.
Shierra opened her mouth to retort, but she decided against it. That conversation was for an entirely different day and subject.
"It's not like the party is behind my parents' backs," Naruto continued on. "When they said they were going out of town in two weeks, I asked if I could have a party. And they said yes."
"Wait a minute," Sasuke intervened. "Let me get this straight. Your parents trust you enough to let you throw a party… without any adult around?"
"Well, they did lay down some rules," Naruto shrugged.
"Which are?" Shikamaru asked.
"Well, everything that Shierra listed is not allowed," Naruto said. "And they said that no more than twenty people are allowed in the house."
"That's it?" Chouji asked in surprise.
"I also have to make sure that I'm not failing any of my classes by the time they leave," the blonde boy added.
"Well in that case, we can forget about that party," Kiba said, resting his chin on his hand in disappointment.
"Hey! Have a little faith in me! I'm not that bad in school," Naruto yelled.
"Yes, you are!" the other teens yelled at him in unison.
"What? You guys don't believe in me at all!" the distraught boy complained.
"Well, no offense or anything Naruto… but you suck at school," Shierra said.
"Maybe if you actually studied for school…" Sakura started.
"Or paid attention…" Shino added.
"Or took notes…" Sai said.
"Or stayed awake…" Chouji remarked.
"Or put in any amount of effort, you wouldn't be so bad in school," Sasuke finished.
"You know what? You guys are just jerks!" Naruto yelled in frustration.
"But we're jerks who speak the truth," Shikamaru said lazily, letting his head loll backwards.
"We are going to have this party!" Naruto announced as if he was going to ensure that his statement came true. His tone said that he would do whatever it took to get his party.
"Are you sure about that?" Ino asked.
"C'mon. Who fails two weeks into the school year?" Naruto asked, leaning back in his chair with a triumphant smirk on his face.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll find some way," Kiba said. The blonde let the chair legs slam back to the floor as he turned to glare at the brown-haired boy.
"Shut up, Kiba!" Naruto shouted in anger.
The rest of the lunch was filled with laughs and teasing. As the group talked of random stuff, Ino, Sakura, and Shierra were keeping an eye on Naruto and Hinata. Every now and then, the two would brush against each other, and Hinata would turn beet red. But at least she wasn't passing out; that was a pretty good sign. Naruto would sometimes ignore it, but other times he would lock eyes with the girl beside him. Then he would quickly look away and pretend that he was staring off into space rather than into Hinata's pale orbs.
Once lunch was finished, the group stood up to depart. After paying for their meal, the gang headed out to wander the many shops the mall had to offer. They were supposed to meet Neji, Tenten, and Lee at the heart of the mall. So the group headed toward the center of the building.
As they walked and talked, a few of them started to notice that many of the other shoppers were rushing past them in the same direction they were headed.
"What is going on?" Shierra asked.
Naruto, who was in midsentence, just noticed that a bunch of people were pushing past him to go see something ahead. "Don't know… Let's go find out!"
The blonde boy ran ahead and became just another body in the growing ocean of people. "Wait, Naruto!" Sakura shouted. It was no use though. He was already gone.
"C'mon," Sasuke said, heading into the crowd.
The others followed him into the mass of bodies. As they pushed ahead, it just seemed that more and more people were trying to drown the teens. There was no wiggle room whatsoever, and the gang was starting to get separated from each other.
"Stupid Naruto!" Sasuke cursed under his breath as a bunch of people pushed passed him, nearly making him fall backwards.
"Sasuke, hold on!" Sasuke heard his name and turned around. He saw a flash of pink to his left, and he quickly moved over to grab Sakura. He pulled her to him so that she was by his side. He didn't even notice that he was holding her hand; he just wanted to get him and his friends out of here.
"We have to find Naruto. I just have a feeling that the reason why everyone is so hyped up right now is not good," Sasuke said. Sakura nodded and let him lead her deeper into the crowd in search of their friend.
"What the heck is going on?" Ino shrieked impatiently as people rushed by her, obviously trying to look at something interesting. She tried standing on her tippy-toes to see over everyone's heads. That only led her to nearly get pushed to the ground. She nearly cursed everyone out for nearly trampling over her.
"Ino." Said girl turned to see Shikamaru and Chouji behind her. "Let's go," Shikamaru said, gently grabbing hold of the girl's elbow so that the three could stay together.
"Hinata, do you see anyone?" Shierra asked.
"N-N-No, there i-is t-t-too many p-p-people around," the girl stuttered in fear.
"Crap," Shierra muttered. "Where is everyone?"
Suddenly, Shierra felt someone touch her lower back, and she jumped up in surprise. She was about to turn around and curse whoever it was out, but it was only Kiba. She was relieved to see another familiar face in this sea of people.
"Are you girls alright?" Kiba asked.
"Yeah," Shierra breathed deeply.
"U-U-Uh huh," Hinata stammered.
Shino and Sai suddenly appeared behind Kiba, and the group of five pushed their way in, trying to get a glimpse of their friends.
As if at the same time, the three different groups emerged at the front of the crowd. The crowd had formed into a circle. In the center of the circle was the giant fountain that signified the heart of the mall.
Sasuke and Sakura were standing on one side. Sakura was subconsciously clutching Sasuke's jacket for comfort, and he let her do so.
Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji were standing on the other side of the circle. The group of three was staring at the scene in surprise and worry.
Kiba, Shierra, Hinata, Shino, and Sai were somewhere between the first two groups, staring at the scene playing before them.
Standing beside the fountain were two groups facing each other. One group was Neji, Lee, Tenten, and Naruto. The other group consisted of a girl with sandy blonde hair tied into four buns, a boy with purple face paint, and a boy with red hair and the tattoo signifying love on his head. The boy with the red hair had a dangerously evil look in his eyes.
"Gaara… Let's just go," the boy with the face paint said to the red-haired boy.
"Shut up, Kankurou," the boy named Gaara hissed.
"Come on, Gaara… listen to your older siblings," the girl tried.
"If you know what is good for you Temari, you will stay out of my business," Gaara said, not even bothering to glance at his older siblings. He raised his hand and pointed his index finger at Lee. "I don't like the way that guy was looking at me."
"I am sorry, but I do not believe that I was giving you a strange look," Lee said politely.
"Just shut up," Gaara ordered. "I don't like you."
"I do not know what I did to offend you, but I deeply apologize," Lee replied.
"I don't care for your apology," the redhead hissed. "Fight me."
"Whoa, hey! Who are the hell are you to go around picking fights?" Naruto shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the boy.
"I was not talking to you," Gaara said, not even bothering to look at the blonde, which only further angered Naruto.
"Hey! Why don't you say that to my face?" Naruto yelled.
"Naruto… please do not get involved," Lee said. "If he wants to fight me, then I must oblige."
"Lee, are you crazy? Right here? In the middle of the mall? With witnesses?" Tenten frantically sputtered.
"Tenten is right, Lee," Neji said. "We don't know anything about this boy. We should not get involved with him."
"He challenged me. And I do not back down from any challenge," Lee said.
"Are you just going to stand there?" Gaara asked impatiently.
Without even listening to his friends, Lee charged forward. As he was about to land a punch to Gaara's chest, the redhead blocked and pushed the boy in the green T-shirt and shorts backwards. Lee stumbled but quickly regained himself. He ran forward again. He ignored the cries of his friends on the sidelines and charged at Gaara. His opponent, however, dodged and kicked Lee in the gut. The bowl-haired boy kneeled over to grasp his stomach, and Gaara took the opportunity to kick Lee in the face. The green-clad boy fell backwards, and he landed right in the water of the fountain.
Gasps sounded from everyone as Lee hit the water. From all corners of the sidelines, Lee's friends dashed over to the fountain. Naruto and Neji quickly fished Lee out of the water. The other boys proceeded to glare daggers at the redheaded boy for embarrassing and defeating their friend like that. The girls sort of huddled in the back, but once Lee was out of the fountain, they rushed over to see if he was okay.
"Lee, I told you not to do that!" Tenten scolded harshly. Then her features grew soft as she looked at the defeated look in his eyes. "Are you alright?"
There was a moment of silence before he answered. "Physically, I am fine. However, my dignity has been squashed and stepped on." Tenten looked at him sadly.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Naruto yelled loudly at Gaara.
"No one you need to care about," the redhead glared. Then he turned to walk away.
"Not so fast!" a loud voice echoed through the crowd. Everyone stopped and turned to look at the source of the voice. A man wearing a police uniform walked through the crowd and looked at the scene. He had black hair that was tinted gray. His face wore a serious expression, almost as if the frown on his face was etched onto his face at birth. "I got a call about a fight. I'm going to need a lot of answers from you, young man," the man said, pointing at Gaara.
The redhead merely scoffed. "I don't have answers to anyone's questions."
The police man turned to look at the group surrounding Lee. The poor boy was soaked to the bone, but he wasn't even shivering. He was only staring off into space, upset at his loss.
"I want someone to tell me what happened," the police officer said.
"That guy challenged Lee to a fight! And then he pushed him into the fountain!" Naruto yelled, pointing at Gaara.
"Is that so?" the officer said, turning his gaze onto Gaara. He walked over to Gaara and his siblings. "I'm going to have a talk with you three and your parents. Let's go." Before he left, he looked over at the large group of teens. "Sasuke, I want the rest of the details when I get home."
"Whatever, Dad," Sasuke replied. His father then left with the three strange children.
The group stood their awkwardly, not knowing what else to do. People were still huddled into a circle around the fountain, watching them with confused eyes.
"C'mon, Lee. Let's go get you dry," Tenten whispered.
She took his arm and led him away. The other teens followed suit, and any remaining people who had come to watch the fight made a path for them to walk through. The group came into the scene being pushed and trampled on. Now, people were letting them through without even coming close to them, eyeing them like they were either returning from a war or walking the path of shame. Either way, the teens didn't enjoy the unwanted attention.
"Who was that kid?" Sakura decided to break the silence.
"I don't know. But I don't like him," Sasuke said.
"Damn right," Naruto added. The others nodded their heads in agreement, and they continued onward through the mall toward the exit.
As they walked, the freshmen could feel the people in the mall staring at their retreating backs, wondering what on earth had just happened. The teens wanted to know the answer to that as well. No one really knew the answer though, but it was obvious that whatever had happened most definitely wasn't over anytime soon.