Hinata frowned, her Blackberry Storm (a birthday gift from Shino and Kiba) pressed to her ear, her legs crossed in her black polished straight jeans and dark blue sweater, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. "You want the wedding where?"

"Yeah!" Temari sounded excited and Hinata could see the dirty blond bouncing around her sunroom, probably in Shikamaru's robe, phone pressed to her ear, her hair down. "It'll be totally awesome. A little wedding in the mountains or something, you know. Maybe even at Aspen, yeah? I'd love to have my wedding in like, an ultra-classy lounge, you know?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Hinata, cigarette dangling from his lips, fiddling with his new LG Vu. "Who's that?"

Hinata mouthed "Temari" and he blinked, setting his phone down. "Put her on speaker phone."

Hinata did as she was told and sighed, pinching the bridge of her dainty nose. "Temari-chan, why would you want a wedding in the mountains in the first place? Have you even talked this over with Shikamaru-kun? Do you know how much it would cost? It would cost entirely too much for plane tickets, but to have to buy more for your honeymoon? And why would you want to fly to Aspen for your wedding anyways? I would have to start everything from scratch. Do you honestly want to go back to square one?"

Silence. A long pause. Hinata focused on the phone, her fingers wrapped around her steaming mug of green tea. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he sat back, looking towards the window of the café. They were supposed to be on a tranquil little date, just by themselves, when Temari had called and said all this about Aspen and her wedding.

Hinata cleared her throat. "Ano . . . Temari-chan?"

"Yo," Temari's voice came back and Hinata's eyes widen at her next words, "My bad, my tea was all gone so I had to go back for more. Did you say anything while I was gone?"

Sasuke snatched the phone of the round table where they sat, thoroughly pissed. "She said why the fuck do you want to restart all the plans that she diligently worked on to have a damn wedding in the fucking mountains, half way across the fucking continent?"

"Gawd, what got shoved up your ass?" Temari snapped, sulking on the other side. "I simply said I wanted the location moved to Aspen, or somewhere in the mountains."

"Temari-chan," Hinata sighed, gently taking the phone back, tucking a wisp of dark indigo behind her ear. "Have you talked this over with Shikamaru-kun? Or his parents? Did you stop to consider that maybe some of us won't be able to go to Aspen for the wedding?"

"Noooo," Temari said softly. "But I want to move it. And we've got a few months. Besides, I can pay for his parent, that's fine. And we can adjust the date or something for those who say they can't make it."

"No you can't stupid," Sasuke bit out icily. "The date is set, everything is coming together and now you decide you want to move location? Hinata should slap you----hard."

"Sasuke, please!" Hinata snapped, her temper rising. She took a deep breath and relaxed, counting to ten then twenty before turning back to the phone. "Temari-chan, it's not that simple. We already have a set date. And if we do anything, we have to think of the necessary funds and the budget and other people. The invitations would have to be redone because of the directions, and we'll have to found a place to get you married and the reception afterwards. A lot goes into planning these things, Temari-chan. You can't just up and hit delete, it's just not that simple."

It was silent, only the sound of breathing from the phone. Sasuke crossed his arms over his Calvin Klein dark gray turtleneck. Hinata sipped on her tea, waiting patiently for her friend to make up her mind. If Temari decided to stick with her decision, they'd be behind a few steps, quite possibly a few days, the budget would need to be increased, and they'd have to do a lot more work to have the wedding done on time. Meaning she'd be a lot crankier and tired.

"Just do it, Hinata-chan," said a lazy, sleepy voice. "I'm totally cool with it."

"Shikamaru-kun!" Hinata squeaked and Sasuke rolled his eyes so hard they might have fallen out of his head if he rolled any harder. "Are you serious? This wedding- we've got two months before it happens! You can't possibly be serious, can you? I can't plan a wedding in two months-!"

"You went global in four months, Hinata-chan," he said, slow and level. "I know some companies who started out going global and only just reached their goal. You managed to do so in four months. You're amazing at these things. Just do it. In fact, if you can get it done in two months, I'll give you bonus."

"You're paying me?" Hinata's voice was barely above supersonic. "But I volunteered! I don't need the money, Shikamaru-kun! It's not necessary! Honestly!"

"Nonsense!" Temari's bubbly voice filled the space. "Of course we're paying you! And we're paying Ino and Choji as well! You deserve it; especially after all you're doing for us!"

"Flattery will get you no where," Sasuke muttered. Hinata sighed, her shoulders sagging, massaging her temples with her manicured fingers. "Fine, fine. I can . . . I can try to get this done. But don't blame me when half your guests will be standing and the other half aren't."

"Arigato!" Temari laughed. "Again, Hinata-kun, you're a lifesaver! I mean it! This couldn't happen without you!"

She hung up and Hinata looked to her mug with a dejected look, looking for solace because Sasuke rarely handed that out. "I can't believe this. In two months, I have to move everything around, cancel things that I probably won't get a full refund on, redo my strategy and somehow keep everything running smoothly here." She shook her head, her ponytail swishing. "Why do I get myself into these things?"

"I don't know," Sasuke leaned back in his fancy black iron chair, sipping on his espresso. "Why do you do these things for people?"

She pursed her lips in annoyance at him, lifting her lukewarm mug to her glossy red lips. "That's why I wasn't asking you."

-

Temari grinned widely at Sasuke, who glared murderously at her as she pinched the light blue silk material of his vest between her long French-tipped nails. "Oh yeah, I definitely like this. I want this one."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched in response as Hinata giggled, nodding to the tired-looking salesman beside her. "All right then, Temari-chan. It's ten black three-piece-,"

"With the blue vest," Temari chirped happily, nodding approvingly at Choji, Neji, Kiba, Naruto, Shino, Kankuro, Gaara and Lee.

"With the blue vest," Hinata smiled next to her. "We'll rent these."

The pudgy man nodded enthusiastically, scurrying away with his yellow tape measure and shiny shoes. Sasuke pressed his lips together, silently vowing to ruin this suit any possible way he could to get back at the "blushing bride". He was going to make her pay, literally.

Hinata smoothed out Kiba's black lapel, smiling. "It doesn't look so bad. I mean, it looks nice against the black."

"It's very youthful," Lee inquired, lifting a finger to the air and smiling proudly. Neji sighed next to him, lifting a hand to his face.

Kankuro glared at his sister, crossing his arms and pouting. "I should kick your ass, Temari."

She waved an arm through the air, turning away impassively. "Oh, deal, you big baby. Gaara isn't complaining and neither should you. We're going to do dresses next, so just hold your horses. We'll even get you one if you don't like the tuxedo."

Hinata sighed as the others (save for Neji, Shino, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Gaara) laughed at Kankuro. "Please. We have to hurry. Hanabi wishes to be somewhere before eight and it is now-," she checked her watch, hoisting her black Marc Jacobs hobo bag onto her shoulder, "-seven twenty. We need to hustle or we'll never make it."

The guys shuffled into the dressing rooms just as the door to the shop opened. A frazzled-looking Sora (Shino's friend from the party) walked in, her black pumps padding across the carpeted floor. "Am I late?"

Hinata smiled, shaking her head as Temari gave the girl an once-over. "No. You're just in time. Actually, we were just finishing up here."

Sora nodded, placing a hand on chest and breathing deeply. "Oh, good. I didn't want to miss the fittings."

"Who are you exactly?" Temari blurted and Sora blinked as Hinata sighed. "I get the feeling I know you from somewhere. I just can't remember."

Sora flashed her a dazzling smile. "I'm a popular real estate agent. You may have seen me in commercials or something like that."

Temari narrowed her eyes, snapping her fingers as if the physical movement would help her remember. "No, no, that's not it. You were there the night of the party, right? With . . ."

"Shino," Hinata said and turned to see her friend walk out. "Sora-san's here."

She raised an eyebrow at his tuxedo. "I never thought you would be so brave, Shino-san. Blue does seem to suit you."

Temari laughed loudly at Shino's bewildered expression (he had to take his glasses off), throwing an arm around Sora's shoulders. "Good one! I never thought I'd see the day Shino would get tongue tied. You always seemed to like a stick in the mud at school."

He turned around haughtily, or as haughtily as Shino could get, and marched right back into a dressing room, Hinata sighing softly. "You guys are so mean to him. Shino-kun is just as nice and fun as another person."

Temari shrugged, spinning around on the three-and-a-half inch heel of her black zipper to-the-knee boots. "Whatever you say, Hinata-kun. You spent more time with him than I did."

Hinata side-glanced at Sora, who blushed distinctly under her gaze. "I have reason to believe I wasn't the only one."

-

Hinata frowned, staring at the sweet-heart neckline of her strapless light-blue dress. How Temari's vests and Hanabi's dresses matched, she didn't know, but she had reason to believe that they had planned it.

"This was set up," Sasuke announced glaring at Hanabi, who was busy fiddling with the dropped waist of TenTen's dress. He turned to Temari, scowling. "You planned this, didn't you?"

Temari rolled her eyes and went back to watching Hanabi, who finished with TenTen and was busy studying Sakura's hem. "Whatever."

"You're not denying it," he pointed out and she shot him a glare, hands on her hips. "Gawd, Sasuke, bitch much? Can't I have one thing for my wedding? Quit your bitching and sit down."

"Guys," Hinata turned and gave them a hard look. "Now is not the time. We are two months into everything and I only have two and half more to go on, got it? Sasuke, if you can't handle the tuxedo decision, than you don't have to be a groom's man, okay?"

"Ooooh," Hanabi laughed, wrapping her tape measure around her neck, pleased with her work. "She got you, Sasu-chan!"

Sasuke plopped down on an cream, leather ottoman, the girls giggling around him. "Whatever. Can we just hurry up and go-,"

Everyone went silent at the sound of a ringing phone. Hinata lifted the floor-length skirt of her dress and padded across the polished bamboo floor. Digging through her bag, she brought the phone to her ear, muttering in hushed tones as she headed towards a different part of Hanabi's loft/studio.

"I wonder what that was about." Sakura bit her glossed lip, her bubble gum pink hair pulled up in a clip, like the others.

"I hope it's got nothing to do with my wedding," Temari commented and fingered some white silk fabric.

The others grew silent, until Hinata came back, who instantly got bombarded with questions, most dealing with the wedding.

She held up a hand, sighing. "No, everything is just fine. In fact, it has nothing to do with the wedding." She turned her eyes on Sasuke. "But apparently, we are the new It couple. Father and Fuguka called complaining that we made complete mockeries of the Uchiha and Hyuga name."

Temari let out a whistle as the others laughed. "Good God, talk about a stick up the ass. At least we know how Sasuke inherited his."

Sasuke glared at her as the others laughed, stalking past Hinata and out of the room.

Hinata clapped her hands, trying to get everyone's attention. "All right ladies, we have work to do. I believe we need to fix Sora's dress and- Where is Ino?"

"I'm here!" Ino burst in, her cheeks flushed and her platinum blond hair sticking to her lip gloss. "I'm sorry I'm late! I was looking for the forget-me-nots in the cooler back at the shop and I just couldn't find them! But then I did and I realized what time it was and I like, totally freaked! I'm sorry I'm late! But!" she ducked her head, searching her tan leather tote. "I just had to show these to you!"

She pulled out two bouquets as the girls crowded around. They were beautifully made and were overflowing with white and blue flowers of any origin, exotic mixing gorgeously with the plain. She smiled with pride as the girls ooohed and aahhhed over her creations. "It took me forever to get the design right, but I finally did it!"

"They're wonderful!" Temari gently took them, her hands shaking softly. "I can't believe you guys keep doing this for me."

Hinata rested a hand on her shoulder, ignoring the vibrating of her phone. "That's what friends are for, Temari-chan. Now, please, Ino-chan, get your dress on. We have many things to do and very little time to do them."

Just a look into her busy schedule. Don't worry, I'm thinking of a few more scenes in Aspen (yeah, snow-covered mountains and hot chocolate are always nice XD hint, hint nudge, nudge)

I know, the pages are getting longer, then shorter, then longer, then shorter. But when you're losing inspiration, which I am sad to say is happeneing here, that happens. Don't worry! I just need to re-read and I'll have a chapter ready in few days^^