Why am I doing a disclaimer when Naruto obviously does not belong to me? Ugh… I don't own Naruto. Please leave me in peace now….!

(A/N: If you don't want to read the descriptions of the dresses, skip the stuff that between the two *s)

Sorry for the long wait! I was trying to think of ideas for my other story, and it took me forever to come up with the dresses…sorry! Hope you guys like it!

Well, onto the story!

I woke up, with sunlight beaming down at me. Hey…where are my lavender colored pillows and blankets…? I blinked a few times to recover my memory before I realized that I was at the Uchiha Castle, bride to be of Uchiha Sasuke. What happened yesterday again…? Right, I met with my friends with Tenten and we decided to torture Yuri with questions regarding Kiba. I smiled at that remembrance. It was one of the few times all seven of had the opportunity to relax and have some fun. Okay, so Yuri probably didn't have any fun…but still! Anything else…? Oh! We have a ball tomorrow so everybody gets introduced! Sai and Naruto better come…I don't want it to be postponed! Wait a second…if there's a ball…then that means…

"Tenten!" I called at the top of my lungs. "We need to go shopping for dresses!"

Tenten, who was residing in the room next to mine since I requested it, yelled back, "What do you mean by 'we'?"

"Just get over here and I'll tell you!"

I heard her grumble about me and stupid balls and even dumber dresses. Then she slid the door open (our rooms were connected that way) and glared at me. For once, her chocolate strands were not in her customary buns on top of her head – they were down and fell over her tan shoulders. "What?" she asked irritably. Right. I forgot about the fact that Tenten loves her sleep, even if she is a servant girl…

I pushed my uneasiness caused by Tenten's murderous glower and sang, "We're going to dress shopping!"

Her glare, if it was even possible, turned even deadlier. "As I questioned before. What in the world do you mean by 'we'?"

I smiled innocently at her, "I thought we went over this already, Tenten."

Tenten's glared slowly transformed into a wide mouthed gape. "…What…?"

I sighed, "Tenten. I'm pretty sure that I was speaking English. You should've understood what I was saying. In case you didn't… I thought we went over this already, Tenten."

She twitched. Oh, good! Her memory's working!

"…Why me…?" she asked quietly to herself.

I tilted my head, my sky blue eyes clearly showing my bewilderment. "What do you mean be that…?"

Tenten gasped softly, as if she was surprised that I heard her. As if I wasn't supposed to hear her. "N-not-thin-g." She replied shakily.

Something is definitely wrong with Tenten. I can feel it in my bones.

Tenten looked down at her fingers that she was playing with and inquired, "Must I go, Ino?"

She has to! But she really seems like she doesn't want to… I need to find what's causing her to act this strangely though…she can't stay in this depression! This isn't Tenten!

"Please…?" I begged softly, desperation etched on my face and in my eyes.

I know she noticed the begging look in my eyes and face. Tenten took a deep breath and calmly answered, "No."

"All the girls will be there…" I pleaded.

Her wall was breaking down. "…No." she whispered, her eyes begging me not to go any further, otherwise she was going to break down and say 'yes'.

I'm sorry, Tenten. I must do this though. I want the old Tenten back. The one was eager to anything with me, the optimistic one, and the one who always brought me out of my misery. Now… it's my turn. You've done so much for me…it's my time to repay you. "Tenten…please come. I'll make sure that nothing happens to you. So will Hana and the rest of the girls. Just please come, Tenten. That's all I request of you."

She stared at me, her eyes asking, Why are you doing this, Ino? While her mouth formed the words, "…I'll go. But you promise that nothing will happen to me, right?"

I shook my head, "I don't promise you that. Promises are meant to be broken, remember? Instead, I give you my word. I will make sure nothing happens to you."

Her lips curved into a smile. As if that could fool me. When Tenten smiles a genuine smile, the smile reaches her eyes, causing them to glitter with happiness. In addition to that, her whole form literally glows and the air around her becomes much brighter. None of that happened. A fake smile was what Tenten gave me.

She kept the pretend smile and her face and declared, "How about we go now?"

It was hard, but I put on a real smile and responded, "Sure, but after we recruit the other girls – the more the merrier!"

"Oh, Tenten, I'm so glad you're going!" Sakura squealed after I announced that Tenten was the special guest that I was going to bring.

"I agree." Hana said. "And don't worry, we'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Yuri rolled her eyes, "Can we shift our focus onto our dresses instead of Tenten? Please?"

Temari laughed, "You're just jealous that Tenten's getting all the attention…!"

"Am not!"

Hinata sighed, "Can we please get on to buying our dresses? It's going to take a long time for Ino and Sakura to find the perfect dress."

Sakura and I protested, "Hey! Hana's going to take a long time too since-"

Hana snorted, "-Itachi's going to be there? No, I don't need to impress him like that. I don't think he minds what I wear…"

"Are you saying that he finds you beautiful in whatever you where?" Yuri asked slyly.

Hana blushed a pretty shade of pink before replying, "He's never actually said that…"

"But he's implied it, right…?" Tenten stated. This is good! Tenten's turning back to her old self-!

Hana's blush turned a shade deeper, "Yeah…I guess you could say that…"

"Aww…" Temari cooed. "You two are the cutest couple ever!"

Hana shot a playful glare in her direction.

"Dresses, please!" Sakura whined. "We need to pick out our dresses!"

"…Fine." The rest of agreed in unison.

Did I ever happen to tell you that it is so much easier to find the perfect dress when you're with the future queen? Well, it is. Wherever we went we got the top quality selection of clothes because Hana was with us. Lucky her…even I don't get that kind of treatment at home, and I'm the princess there! Maybe that's because Deidara's older than me…but that's still not fair! So yeah…we're currently selecting Hana's dress right now. Not that she wanted to…we sort of forced her to… We're currently in a store - that is lined with dresses of every design and color-

"Hana!" Sakura exclaimed, seeing the deep sapphire colored dress that she was holding.

Hana turned around, "Hm…?"

"You're not wearing that!" Yuri screeched.

Another good thing – you can scream all you want and you don't get kicked out!

"What's wrong with this dress…?" Hana questioned confusedly.

Tenten inserted her own two cents, "I don't see anything wrong…it's beautiful."

I have to save those two…! "There is nothing wrong with the dress."

If it was even possible, Hana looked even more confused, "If Ino says there's nothing wrong with it, then why can't I try it?"

Yeah…Hana's definitely not made for this stuff… "Because, blue does not suit you, and nor does the design of the dress!" I exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Then what's my color?"

Yuri, Sakura, and I all face palmed and said at the same time, "Red."

"…Red…?"

Although Yuri usually didn't blow her top over something like this, she was currently near exploding. "Yes, Hana. Red. As in a deep crimson red."

"...Why…?"

Sakura threw up her hands in irritation, "Hana! There is no answer to your 'why?' question! Red is just naturally your color, just like how green is mine, lavender is Hinata's, blue is Ino's, grey/silver is Yuri's, purple is Temari's and Tenten's is a pale or light pink! There's no 'why?'!"

"Okay, okay…" Then Hana's eyes widened in shock.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"Um…behind you?"

We all turned around to see a few guards positioned ready to apprehend Sakura.

"Well?" one of them inquired. "What do wish us to do, Lady Hana, fiancée of Uchiha Itachi, our future king?"

Hana was blinking rapidly as if she was trying to digest the fact that the guards were addressing her. "Please, it is nothing. Let the girl go. She is with me."

The guards looked at each other and nodded, "Whatever you wish, Lady Hana." And then they left and acted as if nothing had happened.

Hana stared at the area where the guards had currently occupied before collapsing into a plum colored velvety chair. "That was not fun."

Tenten grinned – it reached her eyes! – amusedly before saying in a delighted tone, "Get used to it, Lady Hana. This is only the beginning! Just wait until you're actually the Queen!"

A weak glare was shot at Tenten by Hana. "…Be quiet."

Yuri blew her top. "Come on! We need to pick out our dresses! We can't take all day!"

Sakura smirked and shot, "You will take all day to find the perfect dress for Kiba!"

Hinata murmured softly, "Bad idea, Sakura."

Yuri's face flared a brilliant red as she pointed an accusing finger at our pinkette friend. "You-! You know that I don't like Inuzuka! You…!"

"Guys. Stop it. You will not have a fight in the middle of a dress shop. Please." Temari ordered.

Sakura shrugged, grinning, "I wasn't planning to."

I resisted the urge to bang my head against the nearest hard thing I could get my hands on. "Can we please pick up our dresses?"

Temari rolled her eyes, "Let's go. We don't want to make Ino angry…"

We left that dress shop and went to another one, one that Queen Mikoto had recommended before we left.

"Okay." Yuri commanded. "Hana, you go look at the red dresses, Hinata at the lavender, green for Sakura, Temari in the purple section-"

"I'm going to go for the blue ones!" I chirped happily. "And Tenten's at the pale pink!"

"Right." Yuri agreed. "And I'm in the silver and grey. Everybody got that?"

Temari nodded, "We all got that. Thing is, we might have to help Hana and Tenten pick out theirs…"

The subjects of the previous sentence protested, "Our taste isn't that bad…!"

"I disagree." I responded as I pointed an accusing finger at Tenten. "Do you know what she picked our for the last ball…? It was absolutely-"

"Chill." Sakura said, trying to calm me down. "All we need to do is help them pick out their dresses, and everything will be fine, okay?"

"You guys are so slow!" Yuri complained. "Look – I've already picked out a dress for myself…!"

Temari gaped at her. "You already picked out a dress…?"

Yuri nodded. "Yeah! Why do you seem so surprised? It wasn't even that hard…" Then she showed us the dress that she chose. *It was a light grey dress, with a tight corset like top. The sleeves covered were made of the same material as the top until it met her elbow where the material remained silk, but the color changed to a midnight black. As the sleeve continued on, the grey remained the same, but instead of silk there were a few layers of grey organza that stopped at the middle of Yuri's hand. Detailed black embroidery bordered the tip of the dress and the waist. When it hit the waist, the dress instantly flared out in soft silk and landed gently at her feet. More needlework crept up the dress, making it even more beautiful.*

"My…" Hinata breathed, "It's beautiful…"

"I agree." I stated. "It's gorgeous; perfect for you!"

Sakura grinned cheekily, "And it's for Kiba, right?"

Hana restrained Yuri from killing our pink haired friend while Temari rolled her eyes and said, "Way to ruin the moment Sakura."

"I know!"

Hinata sighed softly, "Can we please pick out our dresses? We've been out for almost two hours, and Yuri's the only one that's actually picked one out!"

"Oh…" Sakura smirked slyly, "So you can't wait to pick out a dress for our blue-eyed blonde…"

I shuddered, "You better not be talking about Deidara…"

"You know who I'm talking about!" Sakura retorted.

"Yeah, yeah. I know" I replied casually.

"Guys…" Hinata said.

"Hinata…!" Tenten exclaimed. "You can't keep it a secret!"

"It'll only make things worse – your father and cousin will only grill and kill Naruto more if this drags on."

"But-"

"Hinata!" Temari scolded. "We all thought that you had the most-"

For the first time in her life, Hinata interrupted somebody; "Naruto and I were going to tell my father today once he arrived…"

"Oh…" Yuri said in realization. "So you can set the engagement date?"

"Look at yourself, Yuri." Hana teased.

"Hana?"

She whirled around to meet the face of her fiancée, Uchiha Itachi, who asked, "Have you picked out your dress yet? Mother wants to see all of them and approve it."

Hana ignored Itachi's question and demanded, "Why are you here in the first place? You know you can't see the dress until the ball! Out, out, out!"

Did I ever happen to tell you how odd it is to see the future queen push the future king out of a dress shop who had come along with his companions? Well, I'm telling you right now, it is a very odd sight. And it definitely did not help when the other customers and pedestrians stared at Hana and the older Uchiha.

"Now," Hana ordered, "You and the rest of you guys stay at the castle until we come back, okay?"

Itachi raised and eyebrow, and Hana read that as 'Who are you to order me around?'

"Just leave!"

"But Hana!" Naruto whined, "I wanted to see Hi-"

Temari, who came out of now where, clamped her hand onto the blonde's mouth and hissed at him, "Not in public…!" and pushed him in the direction of Sasuke. "Leave us alone, okay?"

"Fine, fine."

I noticed that someone was missing. "Hey…" I called out. "Where's Prince Neji? Shouldn't he be here if Hinata's here?"

To my utter surprise, Shikamaru turned around and answered, "He said he was going…"

"Then he asked who was going-" Naruto continued.

"We told him, 'Hana, Hinata, Sakura, Temari, Yuri, Ino, and her best friend, Tenten.'" Sai added.

At least Sai's here…

"He didn't show up." Sasuke concluded.

"Oh." I replied. Then I glared. "What are you guys still standing there for? Leave!"

They did. That's a pretty good choice they made…

"We. Need. To. Pick. Out. Dresses." Sakura declared.

I rolled my eyes at her, "Like I didn't know that already…"

We set off.

"Okay," I started when everybody got back to the place that was reserved for our very special Hana and her friends. "Let's take a look at our dresses!"

"Hana's first; she's the next queen!" Yuri demanded.

"Okay, okay…" She murmured. "Let's hope this dress passes Ino's test…it took me forever to find it!"

I looked it over. Good! She picked a red one! *The main parts of the dress were made of deep, crimson red velvet. There weren't really any straps; they were sort of pushed past the shoulders, still connection the long draping sleeves to the other part of the dress. Black embroidery lined the edges of the sleeves, neckline, and tip of the train. Silk that was black criss-crossed at the chest area, binding it tightly together. The waistline dipped into a black, bolded v, which also had black embroidery lining it. Only Hana's fingertips were seen because the long sleeves covered the rest. Like Yuri's dress, the skirt spilled abundantly to the floor.*

"Wonderfully chosen!" Sakura and Yuri congratulated.

"Nice to know that I have two of the judges on my side." Hana muttered jokingly.

I grinned. "The dress is beautiful, Hana. It's good to know that some of the things we taught you finally helped you in some way. By the way, it seems as if you chose the Uchiha colors."

"Yeah…" Hana admitted. "Red and black."

"It's perfect for you," Hinata, Tenten, and Temari agreed.

"Thanks," Hana stated. "Now, who's next?"

"Hinata!" Tenten suggested. "Let's see what our favorite princess chose!"

"Hey! What about me?" I complained.

Temari used her hands to make a shooing motion at me, "Later, later."

Fine. Let them by that way. See if I care.

But I must admit…Hinata's dress was magnificent. *As we said before, her color is lavender, which was the main color of her silk dress. The dress had a box neckline with dark purple needlework of flowers. Like Hana's dress, Hinata's also had long, draping sleeves, but the stream of lavender ended at her wrist. Under the lavender silk was white material that went an inch past it, covering her wrists. Violet embroidery made up the waistline. The silk parted a few inches after hitting the violet embroidery, revealing the white silk underneath that had a purple embroidery bordering the end of it. The two different colored silks flowed down the rest of her body before coming to a soft stop at the floor.*

"Flawless…" Hana whispered.

Hinata flushed a bright shade of red. "You really think so…?"

"Of course we do." Sakura said, answering for the rest of us.

"Oh…! I call next!" Temari exclaimed after Hinata returned to her seat.

"Eager, aren't we?" Yuri asked.

"Be quiet! I only want to get this over with!" she snapped back.

"Okay…"

"Here is mine!" Temari declared proudly. *We all stared at the deep plum colored strapless dress. Intricate white embroidery lined the top and trailed down both sides of her torso, ending at the waist. Her waistline was shone clearly by snow-white embroidery that was stitched boldly at the waist. The bottom of her dress was cut off diagonally; the diagonal cut started at her knee and went down left. White silk replaced the violet silk that was cut off. The white needlework started again at the tip of the purple silk and purple embroidery lined the white silk at the bottom of the dress. In addition to all that, Temari had a white shawl draped over her arms and had a –near black – purple fan in her hand.*

"Hey…" I began.

"What?" Temari question.

I pointed an accusing finger at her. "I thought we were going to go shopping for accessories together!"

She stared at me dryly, "No compliment for me?"

I laughed, "Just playing with you."

Temari looked at me, waiting for her flattering remark.

"…You look gorgeous, Temari." I finally stated.

"Absolutely…" Tenten agreed.

"We all agree with Ino, Temari." Yuri exclaimed. "Next?"

All of rolled our eyes at her eagerness.

"Next is our beloved Sakura, our cherry blossom!" Yuri announced.

Hana sighed before commenting, "You're overdoing it…"

I grinned slyly. "I've heard that your Kiba likes energetic girls…"

Her face flared a brilliant red. "He's not mine, and he does not like ener-"

"How would you know his taste?" Tenten asked, joining in the fun.

"Becau-"

"Stop, please!" Sakura interrupted. "We can torture Yuri later, okay? Let's get this dress business finished; we've wasted enough time!"

I reluctantly consented, "Fine…"

"Now, here's my dress!" *Like Temari's, Sakura's dress was strapless. The top was the lightest; the color of the dress gradually grew darker and darker until it reached the bottom of the dress, where the green was nearly black, but still green. White silk was tied at the waist and both straps dropped to the floor, which contrasted with the dark green of the bottom part of the dress. Just like all the others before her, Sakura's dress also had embroidery – the embroidery lining the top was the color of the bottom of her dress, and the designs at the bottom of her dress was the color of the top of the dress. As expected, the needlework were flowers, or, more specifically, cherry blossoms. To complete the outfit, Sakura had on a pair of white gloves that went past her elbows.*

"You look magnificent!" I complimented. "Just wait until we get the accessories!"

"We completely agree." The rest of our friends stated.

"Thanks," Sakura said, a light blush on her face.

"Okay." Temari started. "Tenten's turn!"

My dear best friend just glared heavily at her before wailing, "What in the world did I do to deserve this kind of treatment…?"

"It's just a dress." I assured her. "You won't die."

"Easy for you to say." She complied anyway. *Tenten's dress was the palest of all pinks possible. When I say pale, I mean pale. It was literally white, but it was still obvious that it was pink. Surprisingly, Tenten's dress did not have the sleeves that Hana and Hinata's dress had – the dress had white thick, silk straps that fell off her shoulder and hugged her tan arms. Pure white silk criss-crossed at the center like Hana's dress, but stopped in the middle of her torso. As expected, Tenten's dress also had embroidery – magenta embroidery that bordered the oval neckline and end of the dress. The bottom of the dress remained the same color as the top, but there were random designs of dark pink and white that swirled about. Just like out cherry blossom friend, Tenten wore gloves that were white, but only reached a few inches past her wrist with pink needlework bordering the edge.*

"Well?" Tenten asked nervously. "What do you guys think?"

"Much better then the last dress you chose!" I burst out, unable to hold it in for any longer.

"Gee, thanks." Tenten responded sarcastically.

"Well, I think it suits you perfectly." Hinata said.

"It's not fair!" Yuri complained. "You shouldn't be a servant girl…! You're too pretty!"

We all stared at Yuri as if she had gone delusional. "You're kidding, right?" Hana finally questioned.

"No…why would I?"

We didn't answer. And yes, Yuri is officially hopeless.

"Well…" Temari stated. "It's Ino's turn; the reason why we're all here today!"

"We're here because there's a ball coming up." I retorted.

"And there's a ball because of your marriage with Uchiha Sasuke." Sakura shot back.

"…I hate all of you."

"Ino, I've never seen you this reluctant to try on a dress." Tenten commented.

"I'm not reluctant!" I protested. "You guys are just being mean!"

"Ino…" Hinata warned.

I obeyed they're demands and showed them my dress. *As we made it clear a long time ago, my dress was going to be blue. And it is blue – the blue my eyes are. My sleeves, which clung onto my arms tightly, were the same color as my eyes and stopped at my elbow with jade green lace at the end. The blue part of me dress was split down the middle and revealed green (same as the lace) silk. Sky-blue silk that was connected to the silk that was split at the middle was used to form a criss-cross and pulled the blue silk closer to each other. Around my waist, the same jade green silk was sewn onto the light blue silk, but stopped about half an inch from the edges (so it wouldn't 'touch' the green silk). It was the same for the green needlework at the top and bottom of my dress – both ended half an inch away from the edge.*

I twirled around, giving them a full view of what I looked like in the dress.

"Ino, you look breathtaking," Hana finally stated after the long moment of silence.

"I think you look splendid," Sakura said. "With just the right accessories, we'll have men falling at our feet!"

"…Really, Sakura?" Tenten asked.

"I was just kidding about the last part!" Sakura protested. "Can't you guys be a little bit more humorous?"

"No, not really." Temari answered.

"You guys are no fun!"

"Believe what you want to believe." Hana replied.

"By the way," Hinata, being the savior by changing the subject, said, "I saw you admiring a blue dress with gold designs instead of the jade green. Why'd you change your decision?"

I shrugged. "Gold sort of clashes with my hair…and I've always loved the color of jade green!"

"Oh…"

"Can we go shopping for accessories now…?" Yuri whined.

"Yes, we can." Temari responded. "But we're not going to."

"Then why'd you say 'yes'?" Yuri exclaimed.

"Because you used the word 'can'." I explained before Temari could open her mouth to answer the question.

Yuri, our poor and (as we concluded before) hopeless Yuri remained as confused as ever.

"So what if I used so?"

Tenten was about to response, but Hinata spoke first, "Using the word 'can' in a question is questioning the ability to do something."

My best friend, who was cut off, continued, "In other words, we have the ability to go shopping for accessories, but we're not going to."

Sakura added something on, "Which means you have to use the word 'may' when you're asking permission to do something."

"Or else you'll get the same response you just did from Temari a minute or two ago." Hana finished.

Yuri stared at us blankly before spluttering out the words, "Did we seriously just have a mini grammar lesson…?"

"Yes. Yes we did." I replied.

"Okay then…" Yuri muttered. "If we're not going to go shopping for more accessories, then where are we going to get them?"

Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless. Yuri is hopeless.

Did I mention that Yuri is hopeless?

Judging from the expressions of my fellow companions, I believe they thought the same thoughts that were going around and around in my head. Yuri is hopeless. Well, sort of.

Temari and Sakura were breathing deeply; both of them, especially Sakura, are known for their short and scary tempers. I could tell Tenten was trying to resist the temptation of rolling her eyes and Hana was wondering why she was best friends with Yuri. Hinata seemed to be the only calm one of the group. I was trying not to pull my hair out, and hissed, "If we're not going to buy it, we're going use our own."

"Oh…that makes sense."

We sweatdropped.

Oblivious to the tension in the air that she caused, Yuri stated, "So, I take it that we're supposed to be on our way home, then?"

"Yes." Temari managed to ground out. "We're going home now."

How were my descriptions…? Don't be afraid to say they were bad; I think they were terrible! TT^TT Yes, the ball is going to be in the next chapter…sorry!