Chapter Six- Ups and Downs

Ino stared in shock at the huge roller coaster before her. She had never been a huge fan of them, but one look at Temari's face and she could care less. Temari knew Ino was uncomfortable, and that made her grin with soon-to-be triumph. Ino wouldn't let Temari be alone with Shikamaru, even if it did make her scared out of her wits to keep it from happening.

Temari beamed, all she had to do was get Ino sick to her stomach, and Shikamaru would be all hers. She had always loved roller coasters, and could always take the effects they had on people.

"So, Shikamaru, do you want to ride?" Temari asked sweetly.

Shikamaru sighed. "Whatever…."

"Great, let's go!" Temari exclaimed, and, much to Ino's chagrin, grabbed Shikamaru's hand to lead him over to the line for the ride.

"Hey, wait for me!" Ino called, and ran to catch up with the two.

When she arrived where the other two had stopped at the back of the line, she made sure to run into their locked hands, effectively breaking Temari's grasp.

Temari glared at the blond. She knew her action was on purpose, and she'd make her pay.

"Oh, I thought you were scared of roller coasters, Ino." Temari grinned maniacally. "Didn't you throw up on your date the last time you rode one?"

Ino stared, mouth agape, at what Temari said. She had told her that and then made her swear not to tell! Obviously she had made a mistake, now it was really on.

"Oh, sorry, well if it does happen I'll make sure it goes in a different direction."

Temari and Shikamaru gave her a slightly odd look. Ino suddenly realized what she said, and turned away quickly.

"You may have won the battle, but the war is not over!" Ino fumed.

Temari snickered at her victory. She definitely had the upper hand at the moment.

"Next up!"

They all turned to the front and saw they would be on the next cart. Temari's smile never faltered, Shikamaru looked as bored as ever, and Ino drew in a deep breath before putting on a determined face. She wasn't done with yet.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Wow, they're still going at it." Sakura sighed.

"Naruto probably just wants to win once." Sasuke responded. "But at least they're getting bonding time."

Sakura took a bite out of her pizza and smiled. "Yeah, at least."

Sasuke and Sakura currently sat at a booth, eating some lunch as they watched Naruto and Hinata play round after round on the DDR machine.

"Honestly, aren't they just so adorable together?" Sakura grinned.

Sasuke looked away. "Well…a guy wouldn't say 'adorable'."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Don't worry; there are no guys around to hear any feminine remarks from you."

Sasuke cheeks felt hotter than usual. "I still wouldn't…."

"Right, right, you're a guy; you would never say anything a girl would."

Sasuke turned back to Sakura. "Who said I wouldn't?"

"You just did."

"I say some things that you say."

"Yeah, because it's gender-neutral; face it Sasuke, you are confused!"

Sasuke gave her an odd look. "How'd being confused get into this conversation?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders. "You're such a guy. You wouldn't understand."

Sasuke stared at the girl across the table from him. "And why wouldn't I?"

Sakura sighed. "Never mind…are you going to eat something?"

"Maybe if you give me some of your pizza," Sasuke responded.

Sakura pulled her food closer. "What do I get? I paid for it."

"I'll be your best friend."

"You are one of my best friends."

"I'll actually help you in trying to get Hinata and the Dobe together."

Sakura considered this, and then she shoved the plate of slices out. "Alright…but if you just stand there and say it makes you involved, you owe me a slice."

Sasuke nodded his head absentmindedly and reached out for a piece of the pizza.

"So what're we going to do…?" Sakura asked. "Sure we're giving them bonding time, but how do we get them together."

"Don't ask me, I'm not a matchmaker." Sasuke replied.

"Okay, hand over that pizza if you're not going to help." Sakura demanded, and held out her hand.

Sasuke took a bite out of it. "You still want it?"

Sakura gave Sasuke a half-glare, and kicked him from under the table. Sasuke jerked at the action.

"Damn, I was kidding. I'm just not good at this stuff." Sasuke grumbled.

"So is that why you're still single?" Sakura beamed deviously.

Sasuke looked away and took a slightly more vicious bite of his pizza than necessary. "Maybe…or maybe it's because I don't like anybody."

Sakura frowned. "Seriously…?"

"What's it to you?"

"I care about the thoughts of my friends."

"…Well I said maybe…."

Sakura grinned. "So you like someone!?"

Sasuke continued to look away. "I said 'maybe'."

"So you're confused about your feelings?"

"No…I mean maybe I do and maybe I don't."

"So you are confused!"

"Only with your girl logic."

"It's called woman's intuition."

"I think it's defective. You may want to trade it back in for a refund."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Be serious, Sasuke."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat. Sakura looked up at Naruto and Hinata. It appeared they had just finished a round. She could only imagine what was happening up there.

Up at the DDR game, Naruto huffed as the song ended. So far the score was Hinata- five wins, Naruto- zero. He looked up at the girl beside him, she was panting a little from all the dancing. He really couldn't even begin to imagine how Hinata got so good at dancing.

Hinata looked over at Naruto, who straightened up immediately and cleared his throat when he noticed her looking.

"Uh…yeah, looks like you win again." Naruto stated.

Hinata smiled and blushed a little. "I-I guess."

Naruto suddenly gave her one of his signature grins. "Wow, Hinata, you really are amazing at this! Where did you learn how to play?"

Hinata blushed a little more and started to twiddle with her fingers. "I-It's at my house…I normally p-play it t-to pass the time."

Naruto's grin broadened. "You've gotta invite everyone over some day so we can have a competition or something! I'm sure you'd be kicking some butt!"

"O-Oh…I don't know…maybe…maybe you'd be beating people. Y-You're very good."

Naruto looked away for a moment as his cheeks began to feel a little hotter than usual. "You think so?"

Hinata looked away as well to blush. "Y-Yeah…I'm sure."

Naruto suddenly reached out and pulled Hinata into a hug. "Oh, you're so nice! You know that, Hinata?"

Naruto didn't get a reply. He stood there with Hinata in his arms confused for a moment. Finally, he pulled her away. Hinata's head lolled limply to the side.

"Gah! Hinata speak to me! Hinata!"

Down with Sasuke and Sakura, they watched the scene unfold. Sakura almost squealed with joy seeing Naruto hug the shy girl, but her happiness faded when she realized Hinata had fainted.

"Looks like this'll be harder than we anticipated if Hinata faints so easily all the time." Sasuke announced.

"Oh Hinata…you poor, overly shy girl…we better help them out." Sakura sighed as she stood up from her seat.

Sakura walked past Sasuke, who stood and watched her head towards the odd couple for a moment.

Sasuke sighed. "I have to ask out Sakura for Naruto to ask out Hinata…if only she knew that was the help they needed." He then proceeded to follow after his pink-haired companion.

I. Am. COMPLETED!! I have finally accomplished getting my hands on the two things I've wanted most! I finally got a portable CD player! (I'm old fashioned like that, so sue me you iPod/MP3 owning people!) And I finally got a pair of fingerless gloves!! (I am a freak like that…but they have metal Leaf Village templates on them! How kick ass is that!?) I am now content…and I was quite happy to work on this! (While I wear my gloves and actually listen to a CD on my player.) Fwa ha ha!! Now…I just need a title to this chapter…I'll come up with something…then all my readers will know of my happiness! (Though I'm not going to say I'll try to work on the next chapter, because that seems to be my curse that makes me procrastinate on it!!) Right then, over and out!!

Oh, and I was thinking of having a winner to the TemaShikaIno triangle. I already know what'd happen/who'd win, but I just want you peoples opinions on whether or not I should show a winner, or just keep it at a tie/mystery.