Ahem, note for the rabid readers: The ages are off. I'm sorry if that is something that you can't take and I know how you feel since I'm a little bit of a detail freak myself. I'm just going to do a run through here of what is off.

The Konoha 11 plus Sasuke are 17-18, in that senior year at high school timeframe. Iknow that Neji, Tenten and Lee are supposed to be a year older than our beloved rookies, but in order to just minimize hassle they are all the same age.

Kankuro and Gaara are also in the 17-18 ranges, considering I ran into the same problem with Kankuro as with Neji and them. They are 2/3 of the Sabakyu siblings and went to Suna Prep, a private school in a neighboring school even though they live in the same village as the others.

Temari is a year above everybody, making her the only one who is a different age, that of 18-19.

There, done. Sorry, but it was going to eat at me if you lovely readers went through my story without knowing what I did. My life's goal as a perfectionist is to minimize all confusion that would have to do with anything I create. And if there is something you don't understand (heavens forbid, I know you're all smart) just ask away and I'll answer to the best of my ability.

So with that out of the way, I need to give credit to the real author that creates and really controls these characters, Kishimoto Masashi. -applause-

Oh, PS. I was watching the Fellowship of the Rings whilst I wrote this here chapters, and whoever can pick out the quote will get a kudos!

"Hyuga Hinata, you have a shit-load of explaining to do!"

That came as a huge shock to her.

"Come again?"

Sakura mock glared at Hinata, putting a hand on her little hip. "You know what I mean!"

They were outside of Hinata's car, with the owner fidgeting with her keys, looking for the right one. It was 8 and the beach was closed, although you can't physically close a beach, you can just take the lifeguards out of it.

"Cute keychain by the way, but seriously. Hinata, what's going on?" Sakura asked, getting into the passengers seat of the 2-seat car as she unlocked and started it; Hinata was already behind the wheel. She glanced at the Kyuubi charm as she tried to think about whatever Sakura was bantering on about.

"Uh…"

Sakura groaned. "You and Sasuke being all frivolous and saying your little Shakespeare bullshit!"

Glancing over her shoulder to watch for any oncoming cars, Hinata blushed. She should have known Sakura wanted to know what that was all about, she did like Sasuke after all. "I just said the line I knew. It wasn't my fault he kept it going."

"Oho!" Sakura laughed, fiddling around in her purse to find some chap stick. "Well, that's all fine and dandy, but what was the closeness of you guys on the chair? That's right, I saw that. Do you have any chap stick?"

"Yeah, in the glove compartment."

There were a few silent moments when Sakura applied the healing salve to her lips and Hinata turned out of the parking spot. "No seriously though… you guys were all over each other."

"Were we now? You want to know what really happened?" Hinata asked, smiling lightly despite her small blush. She pulled out of the spot quickly before another car could pass.

"Enlighten me."

"There was this guy who came up all macho and was like, 'You're hot, do you want to go out with me tonight?' and I said 'No,' but he wouldn't leave and then he kept begging and then he asked if I would just 'fool around' with him instead. So I was getting really—are you even listening?" Hinata, chancing a glance at her friend who was rubbing her finer over her lips to better spread the stuff.

"Just because I don't look like I'm paying rapt attention doesn't mean I'm not."

"Sorry. Ok, I was getting nervous and then Sasuke came to my rescue by pretending to be my boyfriend until they left! He even told the guy to 'Fuck off.' That's all it was, just a rescue."

"Oh, okay…" Sakura muttered, looking over at her friend and grinning.

But Hinata had a bone to pick with Sakura as well. "On that topic, you were completely flirting with Naruto again."

Sakura froze, realization dawning. "Oh! I'm sorry Hina. You flirt with my love; I'll flirt with yours! But seriously, I'll try to stop…"

"No, I'm not asking you to stop, I just want you to know so you can't deny it." She continued, glancing over her left shoulder as she made a lane change.

It really was an odd relationship between them. Hinata liked the man who liked Sakura and Sakura 'accidentally' flirts with him. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to our heroine, the man Sakura likes is the one who likes her, and she had just found herself in a situation where she was indeed flirting with him. Fun times for all!

Sakura tilted her head in confusion. "Deny what?"

"That you kind of maybe might be maybe starting to consider considering liking him maybe?"

"Nope. He's my friend. Well… I don't know." Sakura admitted, putting her forehead in her hand. "Maybe! It's just… weird, and especially after seeing his… thing. Gah! I'm scarred for life."

She was blushing like the setting sun now. Hinata smiled sadly, knowing that her friend was slowly but surely falling for the boy she had liked since middle school. And unlike Hinata's feelings, Sakura's would be returned.

It was like the world was ending, her world. It was different when he just liked Sakura because Hinata still had a chance. But if he were with Sakura, it would be lost.

"It's not like you haven't seen that particular body part before…" Hinata responded lightly, biting her lip as she tried to cover her smile.

Her pink-haired friend shot her a short glare before shrugging it off. They were the kind of friends who teased each other. Often.

In the slightly, but not really awkward silence that followed, Hinata covered the majority of the distance to Sakura's humble abode. It was across town from where she herself lived, but she was always happy to give rides to people.

"Ino's party, who's invited?"

Sakura, who had been dazing out the window, came back to the conversation. "Eh? Oh, everybody who was at the last one, but we added a few. Remember how we left out the Sabakyu siblings last time because technically it was a graduation party and they didn't go to our school? We've invited them this time."

"That should please Shikamaru…" Hinata said, smiling as she thought about it. Sabakyu Temari was older, but her brothers were the same age as the graduating class of Konoha High. Their resident lazy genius had taken a liking to the eldest and only female of the siblings last year when he was a junior and she a senior at Suna Prep.

"Do you know what?" Sakura asked, turning in her seat to face Hinata with the air of one getting down to something serious. "They are the only ones right now that have a thing going on. Everybody else but them—single as can be. I'm jealous."

Hinata only nodded, not knowing quite what to say about that. She had never had the pleasure of being in a relationship, ever. A few people had asked her on a date, but she always turned them down.

Now with random people coming up to her and asking her out, it was taking her time to get used to the whole dating scene. She was also out of the drug scene and the drinking scene. Such a pure little heiress the Hyugas were graced with.

It wasn't as though she was completely against getting drunk; actually she wanted to try it. But she always wanted everybody she cared about to be safe, which meant she usually couldn't kick back and take a few shots. Who else would be there to make sure they didn't do something stupid?

"Eh, Hinata? What… how exactly would you kill me if I maybe got together with Naruto?" Sakura asked, trying to avoid making eye contact. That was a touchy subject.

Hinata had thought about that as well. What if it happened? Where would that leave her? One thing she knew was that she valued friendship well above love interest. There would certainly be no loss of their friendship that was for damn sure.

Despite making that promise to herself, the fact still remained that Hinata would be depressed as all hell.

"What about Sasuke?"

"I… I'm not so sure. I still like him I know. But I think something just opened up my eyes, made me see farther. There's more men out there than Sasuke and even though he's a fucking sex god, the fact still remains that Naruto…"

She traipsed into silence, caught in her thoughts. "And then there's Kiba! I was riding in the car with him and we like all of the same music and he's really attractive actually. Do you see how sweet he is with his dog? It's just wonderful!"

"Yeah, I've been good friends with him forever. I know all that stuff." Hinata mumbled, finally reaching the street where Sakura lived.

"I just don't know. I've spent all my time going after Sasuke-kun that I almost missed all the amazing guys we take for granted."

Their stood upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it would fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the company is true.

One big difference between males and females, apart from anatomy, was how they socialized with their own gender. For example, Hinata and Sakura talked about love and even got deep enough to realize their own romantic shortcomings. Almost the opposite was Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke, at the moment talking about the latest happenings in sports. In soccer to be exact.

Well, Kiba and Naruto talked, Sasuke was being his usual stoic self.

"Man, I thought he was so going to fuck it up because he got really cocky with the ball." Naruto ranted, hanging his hand out of the window as they drove away from the beach. "But there he went, dodging around everyone and then making that unbelievable shot at the goal, slipping right through the keeper's hands! It was incredible!"

Kiba nodded. "That was such an intense game, it made me want to start playing again. Senior year varsity was so fun."

Kiba, Sasuke and Naruto had all been on the school's varsity soccer team for their senior year with Sasuke as captain and Kiba as co-captain.

"We should get a bunch of people together and have a little scrimmage."

The pair sitting in the front seats were surprised to here Sasuke speak from the back as he had been quiet the whole ride.

"Yeah! Like boys versus girls or something…" Naruto exclaimed loudly, gaining a grunt of approval from Kiba.

Suddenly, it looked as if Naruto was struck by lightening as he jumped and gasped randomly. Kiba, having kept his eyes on the road, failed to see him shoot a grin at the man taking up space in the back.

"Oi Kiba… what's up with Hinata?"

Aha, he's trying to do me a favor… Sasuke noticed, though genuinely curious as to where Naruto was going with that.

"What do you mean?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know it just seems like she's changed. Now that I realize that, I see that I don't know her at all. What's she like, you know, when she's with you and Sakura?"

I've wanted to know that for about 2 years!

Kiba laughed in spite of himself. "Hinata-hime is the single most caring individual, and she holds a position of power and influence, which makes it more special. She's the girl who wouldn't swat away a fly for fear of hurting its feelings. Even if that fly were carrying a loaded machine gun with an aim to kill, she wouldn't hurt it."

Well, I assumed as much.

"Putting the obvious aside, she may possibly the most politely funny people I have every been with. She always knows when to bring up an embarrassing memory for it to have the greatest effect. But she does it all with almost aggravating niceness. She puts literal meaning to 'kill with kindness.'"

He thought to himself for a moment before letting out a laugh. "Oh, and she sings. Like an angel mind you. I was looking for her after school last year and I found her in one of those rooms that nobody uses, just singing, with some sheet music in front of her. Then I popped in and she freaked out and went really modest. She even said 'You didn't hear that, did you?' It was so cute!"

She sings too? Honestly, where's her imperfection?

"And then there was that one time where I convinced her to play strip poker with me, Shino and Shikamaru and she completely destroyed us. She counts cards like a pro. A really odd talent to find in her…"

Pretty, kind, smart,and a poker queen?

"And as a plus," Naruto chimed in, "she's completely loaded."

Naruto, you are so tactless.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter with her. You wouldn't know if it wasn't common knowledge. The only times I notice it are when she gives 100 dollars to someone on the street, and at that point I'm so ashamed at my lack of doing something like that." Kiba laughed. "But why on earth do you want to know?"

It'll make her year if she knew Naruto was asking about her for himself. Kiba thought quickly, glancing over at his blond friend. There was no trace of a blush, so maybe it wasn't what he thought.

In the back was a different story. Sasuke's cheeks had a definite tinge to them, invisible in the night and the dark car. Why the hell am I blushing? I don't blush! She isn't even here!

"Oh, someone was asking about her…" Naruto answered, truthfully not being the one interested. "Asking if it was true if she was as selfless as they say."

"Hn," Kiba muttered. He was a crossroads, go with lust or friendship. She had an incredible body and was a really awesome person, and he admittedly had a thing for her. It wasn't love, but it was lust. In that state of mind, he didn't want to abide by her happiness and say something good to Naruto about her. But then, he was always first and foremost a good friend.

"You know, she is a really good catch. There is so much more to her than you first see."

Of course, goodness prevailed. It always did when Naruto was there.

Yeah, she is a good catch; it's just the catching of her that sucks. Sasuke thought bitterly.

Hmm… It seems that males and females aren't as different than what was originally thought. Maybe it was the summer heat, but love was certainly lingering in everyone's mind.

Kiba, after being silent for a few moments, laughed out loud. "I'm going to try to convince her to drink at the party. You know, to let her actually have fun instead of looking out for all of us."

"This is me." Sasuke called as Kiba went right past his building. He skidded to a halt and backed up a bit to end up right in front of the front door.

"I've never said this, but good job getting a place. This is some high class shit going on…"

All three of them looked up at the building. That was damn true. Kiba's thought received no response from Sasuke, who just grabbed his stuff and jumped off, throwing back a little wave.

Once in the building he let loose the tremendous sigh he was holding.

"A lot on your mind Sasuke-san?"

He turned to see the friendly mailman Hiro at the mailboxes. "You have no idea."

"Ah, this old mailman has had his fair share of longing sighs. Pretty girl, is she?" He asked, smiling his crooked grin.

The time to be bold had come. "Most beautiful in the world. Did I get any mail?"

"Of course, I would expect nothing less from you, Sasuke-san. Yes, you got four college letters, acceptance I hope. Rather convenient for them all to come at once. Is she a sweet one?"

Sasuke smirked. "She wouldn't hurt a fly." Even if that fly were carrying a loaded machine gun with an aim to kill.

"That's good. Hopefully better than the usual trash you bring in."

"Infinitely better. Thank you, Hiro-san." He said, taking the letters with a small bow. On his way back up to his room he looked through them. There was his 3rd choice, 2nd choice and some random one he hadn't even applied to. At the bottom was the 1st choice, the only one he cared about.

Uchiha Sasuke,

You have caught our eye here, and we are happy to say you are accepted.

That was all he needed to see. It was obvious the he was going to get in and he had applied with absolutely no doubts. The college had the reputation of being one of the best schools in the world, especially for journalism, law and psychology. They were the simply the greatest. And plus, they had a good soccer team!

Put into a state of bliss, he entered his flat and walked straight to the big, sliding glass window overlooking the city. Looking out he smiled a true smile, a rarity for him. At least something was going right.

Hinata stared again and again at one word in particular. Accepted. It empowered her, sending her to a nirvana she had never experienced before. Accepted. Accepted to her first choice college, and the least likely one for her to get into. She was not at all expecting it. It was literally a bolt from the blue.

At the same time of her happiness, her world came crashing down. How am I going to tell father? She was supposed to inherit the family business, becoming CEO. She wasn't even supposed to go to a college other than the one her father had picked out for her. The one for business. Ew.

How was she going to tell him? She hadn't even been accepted to the business one! Instead she got into her dream school. Her father was going to have a piss fit. It really should have been the other way around!

"Hinata, what's wrong?"

She was standing in one of the kitchens with the letter lying out on the island in the middle. Neji walked in to grab something out of the fridge and saw her from behind, her shoulders hunched and her whole body shaking.

"Hinata?" He approached her, using the whole foot he had on her to peer over her head. With a sudden intake of breath he looked at the letter of acceptance for the one he knew she wanted and the letter of denial of the one her father wanted. He knew what was wrong.

"Shit, Hinata…"

She just cried, trying not to make any noise. For the first time in her life, everything was all wrong.

Alright, who found the quote?

I'm sure someone else reading this one is capable of quoting each and every line from those movies like me...