CHAPTER 3

Immediately after the last teacher left their class, Emi, Hotaru, Chi and Cho rushed to the door, hoping against hope that Hinata had forgotten about that little stunt that they pulled, and even if she hadn't, at least, they would have escaped, for a few measly minutes. That was their reasoning, at least until they heard Hinata's voice telling them to wait for her.

They turned slowly to her, trepidation extremely evident in their gazes. What they saw calmed their heart rates. Hinata came lumbering to them, with her bag and some of her books in her hand. She was all smiles and sunshine, no trace of murder in her eyes.

They smiled at each other, each of them thanking their stars. At least that was what they thought until she came to them and whispered that she was going to get them back. So much for no murder evident in her eyes.

As they were walking to the parking lot, to wait for Emi's brother, Hinata told them about what the man said. That was what they were talking about as Emi's brother pulled over but they didn't notice.

"I'm telling you guys! He was positively mental!" Hinata said, stunned that they actually thought the man might not be lying. Or maybe it was all part of their plan?

"But what if he is right?" Emi asked, flipping her brown hair.

"And what if you really are a princess?" Hotaru asked.

"You'll get to live in a castle, have butlers and wear those stuffy dresses. It'd be so cool!" Chi sighed.

"Even if he is right, Chi, which I'm sure he isn't, I've got to go to school to." Hinata told them, rubbing her temples.

"What matters now isn't being royalty or not. It's her birthday. Give the girl a break from that stuff." Cho swung an arm around Hinata's shoulders, as they walked to the car that they now noticed.

"Thank you!" Hinata smiled.

Emi sat in front with her brother while the rest buckled up. As her brother was driving, she turned back to Hinata.

"Just tell me you collected his phone number!" she asked.

"Why did you guy do that?" Hinata asked them, frowning when they didn't answer, and just smiled at her.

"Because." Was the only answer that she got from Chi.

"Yes?" she prompted.

"Hinata my newly turned sixteen friend, it was the perfect time to raise your popularity. You should worry about that sort of thing, as you're princess now." Cho smiled at her.

"Please. Don't get me started." Hinata huffed. Turning to Hotaru, she asked her. "What the hell were you thinking when you told Mio and her dolls that they get the number in exchange for a gift? What if I hadn't collected the idiot's number?"

"So you collected it?" Hotaru asked.

"Yo. Girls, what is it I'm hearing about princesses and idiots and phone numbers?" Emi's brother, Hachiro asked.

"You are now in the midst of Princess Hinata Hyuuga Mateo." Chi said, in her butler voice.

Hotaru coughed delicately Cho made a face at her.

"And Ambassador Hotaru Hyuuga Mateo, I guess."

Hachiro started laughing, and when no one joined him to laugh, he met their eyes in the mirror and said. "You guys are serious?"

"Cut it out, guys!" Hinata sighed as they nodded and told him all that had happened.

They had gotten to Emi's house by the time they had finished narrating every thing.

When they got down, Hachiro still didn't believe and asked for proof. His jaw practically dropped as Hinata produced the purple and yellow card.

Emi snatched it from them and read out what was on the card.

"Prince Uzumaki Naruto from the Uzumaki clan."

She called out the number and Hotaru wrote it down. Hinata noticed and wanted to ask about it, but she dismissed it, thinking it was fan girlism. They returned the card to her and went to Emi's room.

Cho went to Emi's laptop to check out the Uzumaki guy, while the rest were trying on clothes for the birthday party. She found something interesting and read aloud.

"Prince Uzumaki Naruto. Prince of the Uzumaki clan, now recognized by the Authority of Royalty and Kingdoms as a full fledged kingdom. The clan is renowned for the capture of the great nine tailed beast, which they trained to be a guard fox. Now every generation has a fox as a pet, because of the belief that the original nine tailed fox lives through it. The clan is famous for their recipe in the preparation of ramen noodles, which is yet to be duplicated."

The girls had stopped what they were doing to listen and now stood speechless.

"I guess he wasn't lying." Cho said, quietly.

"That means I'm a princess." Hinata flopped down on the bed, stunned.

"And I'm an ambassador, what ever that means!" Hotaru flopped down beside her.

"Wow." They said together. And then the five of them burst out laughing like that was very funny. Which in their opinion it was.

After their laughing bout had passed, they got to work preparing for the party. Emi's parents had traveled, which was why they were having the party on a Tuesday in the first place.

Chi and Cho got strips of pink cardboard paper and some blue ribbons. They wrote the number in the cardboard paper, rolled it up and tied it up with the ribbon. They made about 200 copies.

Hinata and Hotaru were on clothes duty. They were to pick out stunningly fabulous clothes for the five of them. Since they were roughly the same size, they made due with Emi's clothes.

Emi herself had pulled a disappearing act. She took her phone and ran out the door with a smile. Hinata didn't notice this, as she was in Emi's walk in closet, trying on stuff. The others did though, and they gave Emi a thumb up sign, which she returned.

WITH EMI…

Dialing the number Hotaru had written down, Emi pressed the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked into the phone.

"Hello. Uzumaki here. Karin? Is that you?" was the reply that she got from the other line.

"No. This is Emi." She replied, glad that she wasn't put on hold by a secretary with a very thick British accent.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"I am one of Hinata's friends. You know, the princess?" she replied, settling herself into one of the sofas.

"What do you want? Did she change her mind?" Naruto asked, wondering what the point of the call was.

"No. She didn't. But we're hosting a party for her 'cos of her birth day. Be there!" Emi, hoping the man understood, wanted to end the call, before Hinata noticed she was gone and came to look for her. She was very sure that Hinata would freak out, so she wanted to end it before that happened, but what the man said stopped her.

"Look here. If this is a fan girl ambush or a joke call, I'll have you know…" he didn't get to finish, as he was caught off by Emi.

"No, you look here. I'm inviting you to a party, so that you can work your royal charm or what ever on her to accept. This is no joke call." She replied, annoyance seeping into her voice. Who the hell did this thing, well even if he was a prince, a princely thing, think he was? Thinking she was one of those idiotic creatures called fan girls? As if!

"Why? I'm sure she doesn't know about this call. At least, judging from her attitude towards me before, I'm sure she doesn't believe me, yet alone wants to talk to me. Which brings us to that same question. Why are you doing this?"

There was a pause on Emi's side of the line. Then she answered him. "We're very good friends. Just know that you have four people supporting you, one of them some one she listens to completely. If you can convince the remaining of us, especially Hotaru, just know you've got Hinata with you."

"Thanks. Who is Hotaru, by the way?" Naruto asked, moved.

Another pause. Finally Emi answered. "What you need to know is that she trusts Hotaru completely, and her word is law to Hinata. So just convince her."

Naruto nodded. "Thanks." He paused. "So this isn't a fan girl ambush?"

Emi laughed softly. Gosh, but he was paranoid. Well, he had good reason to be since Mio and her dolls were coming. "I can't really say that there won't be a fan girl ambush. Just bring your body guards. And you can bring any body you want. Bye." She answered quickly, checking the stairs to see if Hinata had heard her laugh. Thankfully, she hadn't.

And with that she cut the line, doing a victory dance. Who knows? The guy might even prove useful and bring some cute guys to the party. She went upstairs with a smile on her face. She was almost a hundred percent sure that the guy, or prince or what ever was coming. Everything was set. It was just time for the party.

- End of chapter -

Wheew! It's shorter than I thought. I wanted it to end when Naruto arrived. But the scenes till that time are really nice, and I want it to be written properly. You see, I'm rushing. So, you like? Please review!

P.S: if any one of you have read my other story, When the Angel is away, the Devil will play, this Karin isn't going to be like that. She is going to be good. At least as good as I can make her. I promise!

Why do people hate Karin anyways? She isn't that bad! Well more news. We've resumed, so I may not update for some time. So, bye!

HYACYNTHIANNA!