So SO sorry for the late update!!
In case anyone's wondering, yes Neji will find Hinata and Tenten eventually...but not yet muahahahaha…
Standard disclaimer still applies
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They say that a stone that sinks to the bottom can never float back up…
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They were sitting under the same tree they always sat under, the largest one in the park. It was the beginning of spring and the flowers were starting to come out.
"Hinata-chan?" Said girl looked up at the boy sitting next to her. In such a short time they had become such great friends.
"Can I touch your hair?"
Hinata hesitated, but then nodded her head in agreement without saying anything. The boy reached up and stroked her hair once.
"It's soft," he said, and she couldn't help but smile and looked back down. "It would be prettier if you grew it longer."
And that's exactly what she did
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Ch 3: Unwanted Acquaintances
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With Neji…
"Have you seen a girl with eyes like mine traveling with another girl with two buns?" Neji was asking the lady at the front desk of the motel the two stayed in.
The lady lowered her glasses. "Why yes sir but they had already left to the next town a couple days ago."
'dammit'He sighed. "Well thank you." He turned around and was about to walk away when-
"No thank you…handsome." The lady at the counter winked.
'isn't she like fifty years old??' Neji decided to just keep on walking.
Unfortunately, he had failed to figure out which next town, and went in the complete opposite direction.
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With the girls…
"It's already been a week," said Tenten as the two walked calmly through the town they just arrived in. She had her hands behind her head in a leisurely fashion. "We searched three towns in one week, but man that last one was expensive! Who knew rich people could be so stuck up-no offence Hina." Hinata just nodded her head. "Anyway," Tenten continued, "I'm kinda hungry, how 'bout you?...Hina…Hello?"
She looked to the side to see her friend with a strange look on her face fingering her wallet. Tenten brought her hands down from behind her head. "Hinata, you ok?"
"I-it seems that we're r-running low on…money."
The two stopped walking. "You can't be serious…I knew it!"
"You kind of just contradicted yourself, Tenten," Hinata said quietly.
"Well, how much do we have left?"
Hinata looked back through the wallet. "Just about enough for a couple days-meals and a cheap place to stay." She looked back up at Tenten who seemed to be deep in thought.
"We could…hmm…we could…steal som-"
"No!" Tenten jumped from the sudden outburst. She looked at Hinata who was starting to get frantic.
"Ok, ok! So that's out of the question." She sighed. "I guess our only options are……either to get jobs…or go back home."
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"I'm sorry, but we're not looking for any help."
"Are you sure? We can-"
"Thank you, but I'm afraid I have to turn you down."
She sighed. "That's ok. We'll just uh…go then."
The two girls left with their heads hung low. Tenten glanced back just in case the lady decided to take pity on them, but she didn't and they kept walking.
"Man, that's the fifth place we've tried!" said Tenten once they were outside. "I think I'm starting to give up hope. Maybe we should just go back home." They both sighed.
"Just call and order the pizza!"
"But what if he doesn't answer?"
"Just do it and ask for him to deliver."
"What kind of pizza?"
"Well we can't just get plain cheese, it's got to be something exotic!"
"What the hell? Exotic pizza!"
Tenten and Hinata looked up to see what-or who-was causing the commotion. Ahead they saw two girls- one blond and one, was that naturally pink hair?-arguing about how to order…pizza? They looked at each other with questioning looks then walked up to the girls.
"OMG!"-she stressed each letter-" Just give me the phone!" it was the blond one.
"Why would I let you order? I want to talk to my Sasuke-kun!" the pink-haired one put her hands on her hips.
"Your Sasuke-kun? Why would he want to talk to someone with an abnormally large forehead and pink hair!" she was waving her arms in the air.
"Well at least I'm not a pig! Oink, oink little piggy! Why don't you go roll in the mud!"
"Ew! I would get my hair all muddy!"
"True. And after we stayed so long in the salon."
"Yeah, they did a pretty good job didn't they?"
"I know. I love the shampoo they used!"
"We should totally get it!"
Tenten and Hinata sweat dropped anime style. They changed subjects so quickly and easily like that! It was then that they noticed they were wearing waitress outfits. Someone inside yelled at them to get back to workbecause their lunch break was over, on second thought see them in the office. The two girls looked at each other with frightened expressions and walked inside.
"I wonder what happened," said Hinata as she and Tenten sat on two chairs outside of the little café.
"Yeah…wait a sec! They're getting fired!" Tenten stood up again. "If they get fired, that means they're going to need two more employees which means we can get jobs!" She was breathing heavily with her arms stretched out wide.
"Are you sure? What if they're just getting a raise instead?"
"Did you hear that guy?" Tenten yelled, pointing a finger at the door. " He seemed mad, really mad. Oh yes! This is awesome!"She jumped for joy.
Just then the two other girls walked out with their heads hung low, completely ignoring Tenten's anxious jumping. Tenten grabbed Hinata's hand and half-dragged her into the café. "Where is that guy," she muttered, narrowing her eyes. She caught sight of the manager guy and smiled again, skipping over to where he was standing and dragging Hinata along with her.
"Hello sir! We're looking for jobs, and I was just wondering if you had any available?" she said just a little too energetically. The manager looked over his shoulder, scowled at her expression, and walked away.
Tenten's face fell. "Was it something I said?" She stood there for a second dumbfounded, then walked after the man, a new smile on her face and Hinata still unwillingly following behind.
"Excuse me sir?" Tenten tapped his shoulder.
"NO!" The manager bellowed as he turned around to face Tenten. "I am NOT hiring you! I am never hiring any more immature girls to work at my restaurant! Just because they want to work across the street from their precious Sasuke-kun!"he made his voice high-pitched and fluttered his eyelashes at the mention of the name. Tenten stifled a laugh. "In fact, I'm firing them all right now!" and with that he turned away.
Tenten's expression turned bitter. "Well that's sexist," she muttered.
The man turned around again. "What did you say??"
"I said that's sexist! And we don't wanna work here anyway! Come on Hina, let's go!" She stuck her nose up in the air and dragged an apologizing Hinata back out of the café.
The two other girls were still outside when they came out. The blond one nudged the other toward Tenten and Hinata.
"Um…hi," said the pink headed girl.
"Hi," greeted Tenten.
"My name's Sakura, and that," she gestured toward the blond, "is my friend Ino. We kinda figured you were looking for jobs and were wondering if we could come with you."
"Uh…"
"The thing is," explained Ino, "as you can see, we're also unemployed. We thought that maybe it would be easier and quicker if we looked together." The two looked at them with hopeful smiles. When neither Tenten nor Hinata said anything they started to get nervous.
"W-well if we looked together it will be more…productive….right?"
"Um, can you hold on a second?" Tenten grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled them out of hearing range.
"Well they seemed nice," said Hinata, glancing back at Sakura and Ino.
"Did you hear them before? They sounded like psycos!" Tenten pointed at the café. "And they just got fired!"
"Well we couldn't even get any jobs," explained Hinata, "maybe they can help us too, Ten. Think about it."
Tenten gave in. "Ok." And they walked back over to the others.
"Sure we can look together," said Tenten.
"Really?" It sounded like no one ever accepted their offer. 'maybe for a good reason,' thought Tenten.
"Yup."
Sakura and Ino began jumping up and down and giggling like maniacs.
"On one condition," Tenten interrupted, and they stopped to look at her. "Don't do that." They both nodded their heads. "Ok let's go." Tenten proceeded to walk ahead as Hinata gave them both a friendly smile.
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3 hours later…
"That's it, I'm giving up!" exclaimed Tenten after getting turned down for the umpteenth time.
"We've probably been through like, every place in town," agreed Sakura.
"Yeah, like twice!omg!" continued Ino. "And we still can't find anything!"
"B-but we can't give up hope!" The other three turned to look at Hinata.
"Hinata, Hinata, Hinata," Tenten sighed as she closed her eyes, shook her head and put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Just face it, we're going home."
"No! Look!" Hinata pointed across the street to a bright yellow building. The others followed where she was pointing and found a sign in the window that read NOW HIRIRING and below in smaller letters, NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY.
Immediately the girls' faces lit up and they ran across the street and into the building, not even bothering to see what it was.
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"And this here is my favorite, the common snapping turtle! He came all the way here from South America! I call him Snappy," said the enthusiastic tour guide with a little wink. She continued into a full description of the turtle, much like she had with all the other animals.
Sakura groaned. "How much more of this do we have to endure before she figures out that we don't care," she whispered.
"What the heck is this place anyway?" asked Ino as she examined her surroundings. The walls, each painted a different bright color, were lined with display windows, most of wich appeared to be empty. There were random aquariums with one or two exotic fish in them, and every now and then a stack of children's coloring books piled on the floor next to a box of crayons. They had already gone through a cafeteria, a small children's library, and an arcade all in the same building.
"Well she called it a 'Natural Habitat Environmentally Educational Entertainment Museum'…or something like that," replied Hinata.
"Can't they just call it NHEEEM?"
"That still sounds long," said Sakura as the lady was still going on and on about her favorite snapping turtle.
Tenten snorted. "They should be paying us just to come to this crazy place."
"Would anybody like to pet Snappy?" The tour guide asked. She had asked the same thing for all the other animals as well. The four hesitated.
"Wouldn't that be kind of dange-"
"As a matter of fact I would love to," inturruptedTenten. 'Just for the hell of it'
"You know what? I will too," said Ino.
"Sure me too."
They all turned to look at Hinata. She sighed. "All right."
The tour guide smiled even wider if that was possible. "Right this way!" She led them to a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY and unlocked it, leading the four girls in. They walked into a narrow hallway with glass walls and doors on either side of it. Each door had a sign with an animal's name on it. They were led to the first door on the right marked COMMON SNAPPING TURTLE. "Well here he is! Don't be fooled! While it looks like he's sleeping, he's actually looking for prey!"
'Looking for prey??'
They walked inside with Hinatatrailing in the back, still debating on wether she wanted to touch the thing. The tour guide was taking very slow careful steps so the others did the same.
"Now we have to approach him from the back, or else you never know when he's gonna snap at you!"
Just then they all heard a scream behind them and turned around to see what happened.
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Hinata had always been fond of her hair. It was the only piece of vanity allowed to her. She grew it out past her waist so that it shone in the sun and swayed as she walked. She washed it every day and brushed it until it was silky smooth. It was her pride and joy, and now-
Now it was being bitten off by a snapping turtle.
"Oh my-! Hinata are you ok?" yelled Tenten as she ran over to her best friend kneeling on the ground next to the turtle.
"I-I I think-AAAAAAHHH!!" She screamed again as the turtle jerked its head backwards.
"No Snappy! No! Bad boy!" said the tour guide, pointing her finger and shaking her head as if she was talking to a misbehaved child.
"It,like,won't let go!" yelled Sakura.
The tour guide laughed. "Well of course not! Snappy has a way of clinging to things! Why, he's just a little boy!" She laughed again.
"Omg this is soooo not funny!" said Ino.
"Guys? Hello? What are we gonnado?!"yelledTenten from her position on the ground.
"Well," said the oh-so-smart tour guide, "We could cut her hair off!"
"NO!" both Hinata&Tenten screamed simultaneously. But then Snapy jerked his head back again and Hinata'sanwer was quickly turned to a "Yes, yes! Do it now!"
"We need something to cut it with!...um…" Tenten began franticly searching the exibit for a sharp rock or something of that sort.
"Poor Hinata she looks like she's in pain," said Ino as she brought a hand up to her mouth.
"WELL OF COURSE I'M IN PAIN!!OW!"
"Yeah…"continued Sakura, completely ignoring Hinata's outburst. "To bad we have to like, cut her hair off."
"I know, and it's so pretty too."
They both continued to watch Hinata struggle in pain and sighed.
"Hey I wonder what kind of shampoo she uses!"
"I bet it's better than the one at the salon!"
"Yeah! Hey Hinata-"
"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I CARE RIGHTNOW! OW! STUPID TURTLE!"
"Well…"
"NO! DON'T ANSWER THAT QUESTION!"
"Uh…ok then." Sakura shot Ino a look that seemed to say "Then why did she ask us?" Ino shrugged.
"Guys I can't find anything!" said Tenten, running back to the other two. "Looks like we're just gonna have to beat up the turtle until it lets go."
"I've got a pair of scissors!" said the tour guide, holding up a pair of small silver scissors.
"You idiot! Give those to me!" Tenten held out her hand.
"Na ah ah! Not until you say please!" she said in a singsong voice, shaking her finger at Tenten. Tenten snatched the scissors from her hand and ran over to Hinata.
"Now Hinata," Ino said slowly as if she was talking to a child. She knelt down in front of her. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Hinata grabbed the front of Ino's shirt and glared at her with the eyes of someone who has gone insane. It almost looked as if she had pupils. "Do it," she growled.
"Ok, ok!" Ino close her eyes and held her hands up in defence.
"Hinata hold still!" Tenten was trying to cut off big chunks of her hair with the tiny scissors. She was about halfway through when-
"Ow! The thing BIT ME!"
"Isn't he cute!" The tour guide laughed.
Tenten briefly glared at the tour guide then yelled at Sakura continue cutting.
"I can do it!" Ino raised her hand as if she was about to answer a question in class.
"No I don't trust you," Tenten blurted out. Ino blinked her eyes repetedly in confusion.
Sakura finished cutting Hinata's hair and helped her get to her feet. The turtle shrunk its head back into its shell and continued chewing on the piece of hair that was cut off.
Hinata erupted in tears. "My hair! It's gone!" she cried. "Tell me," she sniffed, "How bad does it look?"
Her hair came to about her shoulders, one side longer than the other, with some pieces sticking in random directions.
"It looks…fine," Tenten lied.
"Yeah it looks great!" said Ino, a little too energetically.
"It's like, really pretty!" agreed Sakura, nodding. They gave each other high fives behind their backs.
"I can tell you're lying." Their faces fell. It didn't work.
"I can fix it!" said Ino. They all shot her a disbelieving look. "No, really."
Hinata sighed. "But first, let's get out of here. I never want to see another snapping turtle in my life." They all nodded and went back outside, leaving the tour guide to snuggle with her precious Snappy.
"I can do this! I went to beauty school," said Ino. She hadHinata sit down facing one of the colorful walls. She held out her hand and Tenten hesitantly gave her the scissors.
"Ino, you failed beauty school," Sakura pointed out.
"So! I still went!" She shot Sakura a know-it-all look. They stuck their tounges out like little kids.
Hinata, wallowing in her sorrow, sighed for the millionth time. "Just get it over with."
Ino began snipping at pieces of hair, leaving them all on the ground as she went. After a few minutes she called Tenten and Sakura to view her finished work.
"It's actually pretty good," admitted Tenten. Her hair came to about right under her chin, with the two regular strands framing her face longer than the rest.
"Well I've got to say you've really outdone yourself this time, Ino," said Sakura. "It's waaay better than the time you did my hair. I had to wear a hat for like, a month!" Hinata shot her a worried glance. "B-but this is way, way, better!! I swear!" She took a small mirror out of her pocket and handed it to her. "Here, see for yourself!"
"Ok, let me have it." Hinata took the mirror from Sakura and held it up in front of her. She moved it around to get a better look at the back and immediately broke into tears.
Ino's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't like it?" All she got as a response was more sobs. She sat down next to Hinata and started crying too. "She doesn't like it!"
"I-it's ok Ino!" Sakura sat down as well and hugged her friend, tears forming in her eyes. "It's not your fault!"
And before she knew it Tenten was standing before two babbling idiots and her depressed friend. Great.
She went to Hinata first. "What's wrong?"no answer "Is it that bad?"still no answer "If you don't like it you could just wear hats for a month like Sakura did."
"I-it's not that," Hinata sniffled. (haha I love that word!...sniffled!...ok continue)
"Then what is it?" Tenten asked, glad to finally get an answer out of her.
"It's-it's…"
"Yes?"
"it's my, m-m-m-my…"
"Go on.."
"my…my…"
"Just spit it out Hina!"
"hair."
Tenten rolled her eyes.
"I know, but what about your hair?"
"It's…gone."
'All this because her hair is…gone?' thought Tenten. 'I blame the turtle. Yes, the turtle. The turtle and that maniac tour guide. She's an idiot. I hope she gets bitten by her precious Snappy.'
"I ," Hinata continued, "I haven't c-cut it for so l-long and now it's all…it's…it's…gone!" she cried some more as Tenten patted her back. "B-but Ino did a good job."
Ino suddenly looked up. She had long forgotten what she and Sakura were crying for. "I did what?"
Tenten sighed. "You cut her hair, Ino."
"Hey I did, didn't I?" she said as her and Sakura stood up.
"And you did such a great job!" Sakura complimented. The two proceeded to jump up and down holding hands and giggling.
"Hey!" Tenten interrupted and the two immediately stopped. "What did I say about doing that?"
"Sorry," they said simultaneously.
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"Oh and remember when-!"Sakura said. Ino nodded and the two erupted in giggles.
Tenten rolled her eyes. They had been talking about absolutely NOTHING for the last twenty minutes. It had taken long enough to get Hinata out in public, they didn't need to waste their time on…nothing.
Sakura and Ino walked ahead while Tenten walked behind them, trying to get a certain Hinata to hold her head up high and look where she's going because she already tripped over two pebbles, a cat, and ran into a parked car.
"Oh and Sasuke!" Ino said.
"I know!" shrieked Sakura, and the two started giggling yet again.
"So who's this Sasuke guy?" asked Tenten. "You guys keep mentioning him."
"You mean you don't know!" Ino nearly had a heart attack.
"He's just the hottest guy in the WHOLE WORLD!!" Sakura practically yelled and threw her hands up in the air.
"He is, like, SUPER RICH, just like us! and he has this huge house with like servants and stuff, and he works at Mr. Hal's Pizza!" Ino and Sakura were breathing heavily and giggling between gasps.
"Wait a sec, he's a pizza guy?" Tenten was confuzzled. How could this hot millionaire work at a pizza parlor?
"Yeah no one really knows why though," explained Sakura. She and Ino had a moment in deep thought that was interrupted by another fit of giggles.
"Well then," said Tenten with her hands on her hips, "Why don't we go see this…Sasuke."
Sakura and Ino froze. They stared at Tenten wide eyed.
"W-what?"
"We've never ever talked to him in our whole lives!" said Ino.
"Well how hard can it be?"Tenten shrugged.
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The little bell above the door ringed as four girls entered Mr. Hal's pizza parlor.
"There he is!" whispered Sakura, pointing at a dark haired guy behind the cash register.
"What's so special about him?" Hinata asked.
Ino's and Sakura's jaws dropped. "Didn't you hear a word we said?" whispered Ino wide-eyed.
Hinata looked everywhere but their faces. "…No," she admitted.
"Just look at him," Sakura said dreamily. "Isn't he perfect?"
In fact, he was. He had jet black hair that looked kind of messy but it was good on him. He had perfectly toned skin, mysterious dark eyes and long eyelashes. He wasn't just perfect, he was beautiful,
and he was looking straight at them.
"Then maybe you should go talk to him!" Tenten pushed Sakura and Ino toward the cash register and the stumbled onto the counter.
"Um…….hi." Sakura smiled and looked up to meet his piercing gaze. Ino just giggled.
"Are you actually going to order something, or are you just going to keep staring at me like the rest of them?"
He looked to his right and sure enough there was a crowd of girls with hearts in their eyes staring at him. A couple of them fainted when he looked their way.
"Actually," said Ino as she shot Sakura a quick glance, "We were planning on ordering some…breadsticks." Sakura nodded.
"That'll be-"
"Wait!" Yelled Sakura.
"What?" Sasuke looked up from the cash register irritated.
"Uh…um, is free an option?" she said sweetly.
"No."
"Oh." Sakura fell silent and looked to Ino for some help. Neither of them had any money on them; it was all wasted at the salon.
"Look if you don't have any money on you, then you can just leave," said Sasuke.
"Um," Ino was looking for a way to get him to let them stay longer. "Did anyone ever tell you that you have really nice eyes?"
"Yes. Now get out." He looked behind them and added, "And take those two with you." Behind them, Tenten looked up from devouring someone else's pizza. That someone most likely being one of the girls too busy staring at Sasuke to notice. Next to her Hinata was staring at a breadstick, pondering wether or not she should eat it, since clearly the person who bought it wouldn't be eating it anyway.
Sakura and Ino turned around and walked out the door, defeated. Behind them trailed, Tenten eating her pizza, and Hinata who decided to snatch the breadstick anyway.
"So how'd it go?" asked Tenten, finishing off the last bit of her pizza.
"What do you think?" asked Sakura.
"Not so good, was it?" said Hinata. The two nodded.
Ino turned to Sakura. "We messed up big time, Sakura, maybe we should've taken his offer to stare at him."
"Oh come on guys! This is no reason to get down!" Said Tenten. "We're still unemployed!"
"I don't think that's really working Tenten," whispered Hinata.
"You're right," sighed Tenten. "This day so far has gone horribly wrong." After a moment of silence, Tenten turned to Hinata. "Look, I think…I think we should just leave without Sakura and Ino, we were better off without them," she whispered.
"Well…"
"I know you would probably feel bad about leaving them and all, but wouldn't it be easier to search without having to babysit those two?"
"Actually Tenten I was going to say you were right."
Tenten looked at her friend in disbelief. "I am?"
"Yes. I already made you come along, I don't want to have to inconvenience them as well."
"No! Hinata that's not-"
"Hey, like, what are you two whispering about over there?" asked Ino.Tenten and Hinata nearly forgot that they were there.
"Oh! Um," Tenten sighed. "Can we talk to you guys for a second?"
"Yeah, sure, like, what's this about?" Sakura giggled.
"Well," explained Tenten, "before we met you, we were kinda looking for…someone and, we,… now we need to get back to searching for that…someone."
"Oh well, we can like, help you!" Said Ino with a smile.
"W-we were kinda thinking of going alone," said Hinata.
"Wait, so, you guys are leaving us?" Sakura cocked her head to the side.
"No you can't do that! We'll help you! We promise!" said Ino.
"Yeah!" Sakura nodded her head quickly.
"Thanks, but no thanks," said Hinata. "We'll be fine on our own."
"I guess we'll just be going now…" said Tenten. "It was nice meeting you."
She was turning to leave when Sakura yelled "Wait!"
Tenten turned back around.
"Look, we know we've probably been, well, annoying," said Sakura.
"But the truth is," continued Ino, "We really don't have anywhere else to go."
"We lied, we're not super rich," said Sakura. "Well we were. Our parents owned that big company, H.Y. Kings & Queens Inc. That's us, the H and the Y, Haruno and Yamanaka. I don't know if it was big where you come from, but it was here. We recently went bankrupt and lost everything. Our parents told us to make ourselves useful and find jobs, but to tell you the truth, we really have no idea what to do. We were so used to just having everything at our fingertips. We were supposed to inherit the company, so all they taught us was how to be at the top of a business; we never worked a day in our lives. We never knew how to talk to people normally so most people just walked away from us. We're completely lost."
"You two are the first friends we've ever had, besides each other of course," said Ino. "So please, we'll even get down on our knees, but please, let us come with you. Don't leave us stranded here."
There was a long silence until Tenten sighed. "Well I feel like a pushover. You don't have to get down on your knees, you guys can stay with us. If it's ok with Hinata of course." She turned to look at her friend.
"I don't want to put you two at an inconvenience, this is all my fault after all," said Hinata. "We are looking for someone, and if you don't mind leaving your home to come help us, I would be glad to have you come along."
"Thank you so much!" Said Sakura. Both her and Ino had tears in their eyes.
"Group hug!" yelled Ino with her arms held out wide.
"Oh what the heck," said Tenten and they all hugged.
This heartwarming spectacle was interrupted by Ino's phone ringing.
"Oh! Sorry guys that's mine." She pulled out her phone and looked at the number. "Hm…I don't know who this is but…..Hello?...Yes…No way! Really?...Oh my-…..ok I will…Thank you!" Ino squealed and jumped from foot to foot as she hung up the phone. "Guess what guess what!"
"What?" asked Sakura.
"WE JUST WON 50,000 YEN!!"
"What? How?" yelled Sakura.
"Well remember that raffle you told me not to enter?"
"You entered it."
"Well when you and Hinata went to the bathroom, me and Tenten got 35 raffle tickets!"
"You did WHAT?"
"So what, Sakura," said Tenten, "WE JUST WON 50,000 YEN!"
"And that's not even the best part!" said Ino jumping up and down.
"Then what is the best part, Ino?" asked Hinata.
"We get an autographed bobble head of an American TV star!"
"Oh who!?" asked Sakura.
"I don't know! That's the surprise!" They all started jumping up and down and giving each other hugs. "But wait!" yelled Ino, and everyone stopped. "We only have 5 minutes to get there and claim our prize!"
"Well we only have like 2 minutes now! Let's go!" yelled Sakura and the all started sprinting to where the raffle was held.
They arrived gasping and out of breath to the contest table.
"Hi…my name's…Ino Yamanaka…and I've come to…claim…my prize." She nearly collapsed on the table.
"Oh I'm sorry you arrived two seconds late! Better luck next time!" said the man behind the table.
"Wait, what?" said Ino.
"But sir, it was only two seconds!" Sakura pointed out.
"Yes but rules are rules, missy! You were late," he said.
"But that's not fair!" yelled Tenten. "We got here, didn't we?"
"But you got here late."
"OH NO!" The all turned to look at Hinata who marched up to the man and grabbed him by the collar, bringing him down to eye level. "I did not go through everything I went through today, then sprint here, all the way across the town, just to hear that we were 2 SECONDS LATE!! YOU ARE GOING TO GIVE US OUR 50,000 YEN, AND YOU'RE GOING TO LIKE IT!"
"Don't forget the bobble head!" said Ino.
"AND THE BOBBLE HEAD!" Hinata looked straight into his eyes. "Understood?"
"Y-y-y-y-YES!" the man whimpered.
"Good," said Hinata, letting go of his shirt. She smiled innocently as the man handed Ino a check and a small box. "That wasn't so hard now was it?"
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"Wow Hina! I still can't believe you yelled in that guys face! HAHAHAHAHA! That was HILARIOUS!" laughed Tenten.
Hinata shrugged. "Well he wouldn't give us our money."
"Well I'm still curious what's in the box! Come on, open it Ino!" said Sakura.
"Ok, ok!" Ino laughed. "Here goes!" she lifted the flap and took out a small bobble head. The signature on the bottom was--
"Dr. Phil?" said Ino.
"What the hell is a Dr. Phil?" asked Sakura. "Let me see!" Ino handed the bobble head to Sakura. "Ew! He's so ugly!" She handed it to Tenten.
"This thing is so weird. Here, Hina," said Tenten and she handed it over to Hinata.
"It looks kinda…wait did you hear that?"Hinata looked around at her friends then examined the bobble head. On the bottom was a button, so she pressed it.
I'm Dr. Phil! Do you have any problems?
Hinata shrieked and dropped the talking toy. "What did that thing just say!"
"Ino, throw it away!" yelled Sakura as she nudged the toy toward her friend with her foot.
Ino threw her hands up in the air. "I don't wanna touch it! What if it has some weird freaky voodoo spell on it or something!"
"I say we should just leave it here," said Tenten as she poked it with a stick. She immediately dropped the stick when it started talking again. "Ewgh."
"And I say we should run! RUN!" yelled Ino.
And they ran, eager to get rid of the evil voodoo bobblehead named Dr. Phil. Shudder. They ran so fast that before they knew it they were bursting through the door of Mr. Hal's Pizza Parlor.
"Can't you see the sign says closed?" said a man sitting in a chair with his head in his hands.
To Ino his head resembled some kind of fruit…what was it? A strawberry? No…a mango? Not quite…oh yes, a pineapple. Definitely a pineapple.
"Well it would be closed if you got your lazy ass out of that chair and helped clean up for once," said Sasuke, appearing from behind the door that lead to the kitchen. The moment he looked at the four girls his eyes narrowed. "Not you again. What do you want."
"um…," started Sakura.
"Oh! We can buy breadsticks now!" Ino interrupted with a big smile. The others sweatdropped.
"Sorry princess but we're closed."
Ino turned to glare at that pineapple guy. "Yeah, ok, but I was talking to Sasuke." He muttered something like, "isn't everybody…"Ino scoffed and rolled her eyes back to Sasuke.
"He's right. Now get out," said Sasuke, having a glaring contest with Sakura.
"You know what," said Sakura, "you're a real jerk. And to think I was actually thinking of asking you to come with us, after clearing it with Hinata and Tenten of course."
Hinata looked down at her feet. "W-well it would help," she said quietly.
"What?" said Tenten.
"Like I would ever go with you," said Sasuke. He turned to go back in the kitchen when the other guy spoke up from his chair.
"This is a surprise. Sasuke the Great turning down an offer to get out of hell." Sasuke turned back around. "You gotta admit, this place sucks. Not to mention all those hoars trying to catch your attention. If you asked me I'd be outta here in two seconds flat."
Sasuke thought about this for a second then turned to look at Hinata. "You can get me out of here?"
Hinata nodded. "I-if you are willing to help us find someone."
Sasuke dropped his apron and jumped over the counter. "Take me with you. I've been waiting for a chance to get out of this crappy job. All I have to do is help you find someone right?"
"Yup," said Tenten. "We're taking applications now, no experience necessary."
Sasuke looked back at Sakura and Ino's shocked faces. "I guess I can deal with those two for now."
"What?" said the other guy. "I'm not invited to your little party?"
"W-well if you would like to…" said Hinata.
"Nah, I don't have time to play games with you kiddies. I've got better things to do."
"Like what? Sleeping?" snapped Ino.
He smiled a taunting smiled and winked. "Spot on, princess." Ino crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, Shikamaru. Let's go," said Sasuke.
"All righty then! We leave first thing tomorrow!" Said Tenten, then added, "I'm sick of this place."
So it was decided. Hinata and Tenten would leave with three more people than expected. After a day of quirky people, snapping turtles, and crazy contests, they were glad to leave. But little did they know, Neji was still on the chase…
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So sorry for the late update! i hope the longness makes up for it though...
The next chap will be up in a couple weeks (hopefully)!