Chapter 7 is here! This is a pretty laid-back chapter (A.K.A. interaction between the guys... which is never a good thing! Especially for poor Sakura!)

Oh, and mysteries get more mysterious and... well, read to find out! =)

Oh, and I decided to get rid of my story, The Price of Freedom, as I was planning that one out, I realized a lot of the plot was similar to this one, and so I decided to sort of combine the two (in a way...).

The Trouble With Men Is

Chapter 7
...Their Obsession with Boobs!

"Now Sakura, what are you going to take off? Your shorts, or your shirt."

"Okay what the FUCK are you talking about? You better have a damn good answer or I'll beat the living shit out of you and your entire house." Hidan tried to get up but before he could, Sasuke grabbed his arms and pinned him down onto the ground.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Sasuke said.

"No, I don't." he groaned, "Damn it, is this about me going out with that Sakura chick? Are you pissed because I made the first move and you didn't have the balls to? It was one date. And besides, she's too much of a prude."

"Then why did I find Rohypnol in her system?" Sasuke growled as he pulled back Hidan's arms even further.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I don't even remember most of the night! I don't even know what that is!"

"What?" Sasuke loosened his grip slightly, "What do you mean?"

"The last thing I remember was getting drinks with Sakura and talking about... something. And the next morning, I woke up in a stripper's bed. Go ask the stripper!"

"How did you meet a stripper in a restaurant?"

"We were having dinner at a strip joint."

"Why on Earth would you take a girl to a strip joint on a first- wait a minute. That's not the point." Sasuke mentally punched himself for getting sidetracked, especially over such a trivial matter, "What did the stripper look like?"

"I don't know... dark hair... huge knockers, I mean man, they must've been at least..." he hastily got off that topic as he saw the look Sasuke was giving him, "Anyways, and I think, I think she had a snake tramp stamp. Nope, I'm sure actually, it kind of crept me out while I was checking out her ass."

"Okay. I'm going to need you to give me a sample of your urine." Sasuke said.

"You son of a bitch," Hidan began to struggle again, "You think you can just fucking come in here, attack me ask for a cup of my urine and-"

"I'll let you punch me in the face."

"Deal."

"Does this shirt make me look fat?"

"No Chouji... you make you look fat." Naruto said without looking up from his video game. Him and Kiba were in the middle of slaughtering a dozen zombie girls in bikinis.

"Excuse me?" Chouji glared daggers are Naruto.

"What? I'm just saying... don't frame the shirt for your own problems... that shirt deserves better than that."

"Chouji, if you want to look skinny, wear something bright like one of Naruto's obnoxious outfits." Kiba said, "No one will dare look at you in fear of blinding themselves."

"I'd pick being a fat ass over a poor dresser any day." Jiraiya said, strolling into Kiba's room.

"Seriously Jiraiya, you got to stop doing that." Said a startled Shikamaru, who was lying lazily on Kiba's bed.

"Yeah Jiraiya, it's six-thirty. Isn't it your bedtime or something?" Naruto chortled.

"Shit, it's six-thirty already?" Shikamaru jumped up from the bed, "Oh God I'm late."

"For what?" Kiba said. His eyes were glued to the television screen.

"Oh... just... somewhere..." Shikamaru muttered, eyes on the floor, "I'm just going to go study and stuff."

"Wait a minute... wait a minute." Naruto said as he paused the video game and turned to face Shikamaru. "That's your lying voice! And that's your lying pose!"

"What? I'm not lying!" Shikamaru retorted.

"Dude," Chouji laughed, "You're a terrible liar. Studying? Really Shikamaru? You couldn't come up with anything better than that?"

Shikamaru glared at Chouji and the big man's face sober up and he looked to the ground.

"Come on, man," Kiba said, "Tell us where you're going. It's a girl, isn't it?"

"Aw man," Naruto pouted, "Even Shikamaru gets laid before I do... and I actually try."

"It's because you try, Naruto." Shikamaru said, rolling his eyes, "And no, I'm not going to meet a girl. I'm going to... play shogi."

Kiba, Naruto, and Jiraiya stared blankly at him.

"You're... not going to meet a girl and get laid?" Jiraiya finally said.

Shikamaru shook his head, "Nah, there's just this guy I met a while ago on campus and we occasionally get together and play shogi."

"And when you say 'playing shogi', do you mean playing shogi, or playin' shoooogi." Kiba winked at him.

"Seriously Kiba, what's wrong with you?" Shikamaru said.

"Oh thank God." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, "The world is right again."

Chouji shook his head, "You should've just stuck with the 'I'm getting laid' idea."

Shikamaru grinned, "Nah, wouldn't want Naruto here to kill himself. Anyways, see you guys later."

The guys muttered byes in return as Naruto and Kiba returned to their video game. They didn't even notice when Chouji slipped out of the room.

"Hey! Shikamaru!" Chouji whispered as Shikamaru was leaving his bedroom.

"What's up, Chouji?"

"Are you going to meet her again?"

"What? What are you talking about? No!" Shikamaru turned twenty shades of red.

"Listen, stop insulting my intelligence. Just because you fooled Naruto and Kiba doesn't mean you're going to fool me, your best friend. So drop the act already."

Shikamaru sighed, "Okay fine. I am."

Chouji glared at him, "Shikamaru, how could you. After all she put you through. Why do you keep crawling back to her?"

"It's not that simple!" Shikamaru said defensively, "I mean... you're not in my position so you don't know what it's like..."

There was an awkward silence between them, which neither of them was used to. Of course they were used to the silence. In fact, their ability to be with either and not say a word is one of the reasons why their friendship is so strong. It's the awkwardness they weren't used to.

Chouji decided to end the silence and placed a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. "What ever happens man... I'll be here if you need anyone."

Shikamaru smiled meekly, "Thanks buddy. I can always count on you."

Suddenly, there was a loud crash from the room next door- Lee's room.

Shikamaru froze in fear. If anyone, especially blabbermouth Lee (whose seems to have a supernatural ability of spreading gossip faster than anyone... maybe with the exception of Naruto), knew his secret...

Sakura casually strolled outside with a broom and dustpan. She looked startled to see the two boys in the hallway.

"Sakura? What are you doing here? Were you listening?"

"Huh? What?" Sakura pulled out her earphones and turned off her MP3 player, "Sorry, I was listening to music. What did you say?"

Shikamaru sighed in relief. Thank God for technology.

"Why... are your eyes so big?" Sakura frowned slightly, "Are you two... okay? I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Oh, what? No! Of course not!" Shikamaru laughed, "I was just heading out and Chouji was just asking me about his... Biology assignment."

"You're in Biology?"

"Uh... no." Shikamaru said after a long pause, "That's what I told Chouji here!" He turned to Chouji and gave him an awkward pat on the shoulder, "Sorry bud, can't help you with the assignment. I know squat about Biology. You should try Sasuke or Neji. Isn't Naruto in that class too?"

"No." Chouji said flatly, "He dropped it to take Women's Studies."

"Oh... well... good luck with that then. I'll see you guys around." He gave Chouji and Sakura an awkward wave and bolted down the hallway.

"Well," Sakura said brightly, "I'm off to clean your bedroom!" and with that, she dashed off the other end of the hallway... before Chouji had a chance to tell her that her bedroom was on the other side.

Chouji stood, by himself, in the middle of the hallway.

He shook his head slowly and muttered to himself, "I need new friends."

Sakura cannot believe the conversation she overheard between Shikamaru and Chouji. She had been nonchalantly cleaning in Lee's room before she heard Shikamaru bustling into his own room next door, and then Chouji coming to interrogate and warn him about a girl.

"Oh my GOD." Sakura thought, "I always thought Shikamaru was gay... I'm still putting my money on Naruto and Lee getting together though."

She wanted to just stay hidden in Lee's room until the two of them left. However, things just aren't allowed to be that simple for her and she accidentally knocked over one of Lee's trophies. In a wave of panic, she grabbed Lee's MP3 play and jammed in the earphones, pretending to listen to music in hopes of fooling Chouji and Shikamaru.

Normally, the shrewd Shikamaru would've caught something so amateur, but he was too preoccupied with his own problems. Besides, the idea of Sakura knowing his dirty little secret probably terrified him so much that his brain blocked out any hints of it.

"All that aside... I wonder whom this heartbreaker is..." she giggled at the thought of Shikamaru being romantic with a girl.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her door.

Sakura got up sluggishly. She was quite tired from a day of cleaning room and spills and messes (Naruto and Chouji decided to have milk chugging contest 2.0) and answered the door.

"Hey Neji." She said, "What's up?"

"Our biology lab report." He said.

"Oh right! That's due next Wednesday, right? When do you want to get together and work on it? I'm free tomorrow after-"

"It's already done." Neji cut her off, "I finished it last night. I just need you to sign your name here." He handed her the report.

"Wait... you finished it?" Sakura said incredulously, "Without me? But I didn't do any work at all."

"Well, I guess it's your lucky day." He said coldly.

"No Neji, it's not." She replied back just as cold, "I didn't get to do any work on this."

"Wait a minute, I do all the work, and you're the one complaining?"

"Yes." Sakura said defiantly, "It's not fair to you and it's not fair to me. This is a partnership, Neji!" She pointed back and forth between the two of them, "We're supposed to be working on these labs together. Don't you know the saying? Two brains and better than one?"

"Well haven't you heard the saying I don't give a rat's ass what you think?" he shot back.

Sakura glared at him. "Okay you know what. Fine." She threw the lab report back at him. "I'll write this lab myself and we'll compare and see which one's better."

"Fine by me." He growled.

"I'll- show- you." She emphasized each syllable with a jab on chest.

In the heat of the moment, she didn't realize how close their faces were to each other's. Their noses were barely inches apart. Neji seemed to have noticed this to. In an attempt to hide his blush, he quickly turned his head the other way and gave a loud scoff.

"I'll expect it done by this Friday." He said as he turned his back to her and began walking away, "Or else mine wins by default."

"Don't count on it!" Sakura retorted back, but then realized that her reply could mean two different things, "I mean don't count on winning by default not that I won't have mine done by Friday because... " She trailed off as he turned the corner, not listening to her rant.

"Damn it!" She mentally slapped herself, "And I was doing so well with comebacks! I just couldn't finish!"

For the rest of the night, she couldn't concentrate on anything. She tried starting her Biology lab, but she could barely get through the introduction. The binary fission of yeast cells just really wasn't all that interesting. Her mind kept flicking between things. She was relieved to find out that Hidan hadn't slipped anything into her drink (actually, Hidan should be the one that's relieved... Sakura makes a mean knuckle sandwich), but she still could not understand how much of a blur the night was and how little she remembers. Also, the next day when she woke up in that handsome stranger's bed... a blush crept up her cheek as she thought of him, and she felt her heart racing.

"No Sakura." She said firmly to herself, "You have enough men in your life."

She stared down at her work and sighed. "No use in torturing myself further if I'm not in the mood to work... might as well go hang with the guys."

She went to Kiba's room first, since that's where the boys mostly hung out to play video games. Surprisingly, there was no one there. She heard voices coming from downstairs and she made her way down to the living room, and to her surprise, found all of her housemates gathered.

"Oh hello Sakura," Lee perking up at the sight of her, "We were just going to get you."

"Hi... what's going on here? It's the first time I've seen you all... together."

"We're not all together." Naruto piped up, "Sai's not here."

"Damn it, I really got to start remembering that there's ten of you."

"Guys... I'm right here." A voice came out from the corner of the room as Sai emerged from the shadows.

There was a silence.

"Well, this isn't awkward." Kiba said.

The silence continued...

"Lee masturbates to America's Next Top Model."

"Wha- Naruto! You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about that!"

... Followed by more silence.

"... Okay now this is awkward." Neji said.

"Why?" Lee retorted, "Because I masturbated to beautiful models? I swear Sakura, it was only one time, and they meant nothing to me! Nothing! I- I- I was thinking of you the entire time!"

"... And just when I didn't think things could get any worse..." Neji mumbled.

"Okay change of topic," Sakura said hastily. She didn't think she was ever going to look at Lee the same way again. She then noticed Sasuke- or rather the huge bruise that spread from his nose to his eye and to his ear. It pretty much covered half his face. "Sasuke... what happened? Did someone punch you?"

"I fell."

"Holy crap," Naruto said, staring at Sasuke's swollen left cheek. "What did you fall on? Someone's incoming fist?"

"I fell... on a rock."

"How did you manage that?" Kiba asked curiously.

"Will you all just drop it? It's none of your damned business what I fall or do not fall on." Sasuke said impatiently.

"Okay then, Mr. Sunshine. Sorry for being concerned."

Sakura felt that there needed to be another change of topic (seriously, how many subjects were taboo around these people?). "So why... are all of you together? I thought some of you hated spending time with each other."

"Not by choice," Sasuke sighed, "Jiraiya came up with this ridiculous idea that we should bond as a house, and forced us to spend time together in the same room for three hours every Sunday night."

"And you guys just listen to him?" Sakura said incredulously.

"Not by choice either." Sasuke continued, "the bastard had a statement in our leases that we didn't notice pretty much stating he could do shit like this and if we didn't comply he could either kick us our or raise our monthly rents."

"That sneaky son of a bitch..." Neji muttered under his breath.

"I don't know." Sakura said, "I think this is kind of nice; gives you guys a good chance to get to know and like each other."

"I like them by staying away from them." Shino said quietly as he adjusted his shades.

"Dude, it's almost ten o'clock at night. Why the hell are you wearing shades?" Kiba said to the bug guy.

"I have very sensitive eyes, thank you very much." Shino said icily.

"Nah, I bet you have bug eyes, and you're just trying to hide them." Kiba teased.

"Dude," Chouji said, "You don't wanna be pissing off the bug guy unless you want a tarantula in your bed."

"Well at least something will sleep with Kiba for free." Neji smirked.

"Hey dipshit, you want this chair up your ass." Kiba glared at Neji.

"No, but I bet you do."

"Alright that's enough, smart ass!" Kiba got up and began moving towards Neji as Neji tightened his fists.

It didn't help that some of the boys (mainly Naruto and Lee) began egging the two of them on.

"Okay now everyone just... keep calm!" Sakura raised her voice, but all them ignored her.

"Damn it, how do I get their attention?" She quickly began brainstorming... and then she thought of the perfect idea.

"I'm going to take my top off!" she shouted.

That did it. Kiba stopped mid punch and Neji stopped mid kick and all of them turned to look at her.

"I'm glad I finally got your attention." She smiled nervously at all of them, "Now if you please stop fighting and-"

"Wait... so you're not going to take your top off?"

"Well... no."

There was a collective gasp.

"You... you lied to us?" Naruto said, completely wounded.

"Sakura..." Lee cried, "How could you, Sakura? If we don't have honestly, we don't have trust, and if we don't have trust, we have nothing."

Sakura stared at him, "Lee, you masturbated to America's Next Top Model. You don't get a say in this."

"Fair enough." Lee shrugged his shoulders and slumped away. "It was worth a shot."

"Anyways, as I was saying." Sakura said, "If you guys are going to be stuck like this for three hours a week... why not... make it fun?

"You mean like hire strippers and stuff?" Kiba asked, "Yeah... we tried that... doesn't work as well as you'd think."

"No... that's not exactly what I meant." Sakura said slowly. She couldn't let them know that she was pulling all of this advice crap out of her ass. " I mean... why don't you... play a game or something. Make a little money out of it."

"Money?" Naruto perked up, "I like money."

"Well off the top of my head, you guys could try playing... Poker? Blackjack?"

"I like that Poker idea!" Kiba said, "Okay, how about this. We each can only bet a total of twenty bucks, and if we lose all our money..." he grinned wickedly, "then we'll have to resort to clothes."

"You're telling me you want to see the nine of us get naked?" Neji said with a look of disgust.

"Well I think you're forgetting someone..." his eyes glittered, and they all slowly turned to Sakura.

"Wait, what?" She chuckled nervously, "I- I'm not going to play. It's just for you guys. I have to clean."

"Nope." Kiba grinned, "It's mandatory for you too. It's in your lease as well."

"Seriously, someone just kill me now." She mentally beat herself up for the millionth time, "Why did I open my big mouth and say all that crap? Why couldn't I just let Neji and Kiba beat the shit out of each other? This is why it pays off to be a bad person instead!"

"Well, let's begin."

... And the cards were dealt.

"Check."

"Fold."

"Fold."

"Check."

"Check."

"Fold."

"Check. No Fold. No Check. No FOLD. No wait a minute-"

"Make up your damn mind, woman!"

"It's not even my turn yet!"

"Sorry Sakura, I was talking to Naruto."

"Okay fine, I fold."

"Fold."

"Fold."

"Check."

"Fold."

"Raise twenty."

They all stared at the man who uttered those words.

"Gaara? Are you sure? You do realize if you lose this round... you're going to have to start taking off the clothes. And we still got forty-five minutes left to play." Shikamaru said.

"I know what I'm doing." He said, keeping his eyes on his cards.

There were only five remaining players in this round. Sakura, Sasuke, Neji, Shino and Gaara.

"Check." Sasuke said.

"Same here." Neji said, throwing in his remaining twenty.

"Fold." Said Shino, forfeiting his ten.

"Check." Sakura said.

"Now Sakura, you do realize that if you lose this round, you also will have to start taking off clothes." Shikamaru said, and then paused as if in deep though, "... And I don't know why I'm complaining..."

"Idiot!" Kiba said, thumping Shikamaru on the back, "Why'd you remind her!"

"Don't worry guys," Sakura smirked, "I got this in the bag."

"Alright gentlemen –ow- and ladies err- lady... show us what you got."

Sasuke had a three of a kind of fours.

Neji had a full house of three twos and two sixes.

Sakura grinned and casually flipped her cards around, "Straight flush."

There was an intake of groans coming from around the circle.

"I can't believe I'm out twenty bucks and I don't even get to see one boob." Naruto muttered sadly to himself.

"You mean twenty bucks and your pants." Lee added, snickering.

"What are you laughing out? All you have is a cushion, which by the way, I'm never going to go near again."

"Wait-" Gaara said, "I haven't shown my cards yet."

"Sweetie, it's okay," Sakura said, "save yourself the humiliation. We don't have to see what you..."

She trailed off as Gaara revealed...

...a royal flush.

There was an intake of breaths and then- the entire room erupted in cheers. Of course the more "serious" boys merely nodded curtly or rolled their eyes, but they were excited.

"YES! THERE IS A GOD!"

"This is even better than the time I slept with Kin Tsuchi on the-"

Everyone looked at Kiba.

"Oh sorry..." he chuckled nervously, "Got a bit carried away there."

"Wait," Naruto said, "You slept with Kin Tsuchi?"

Neji snorted, "Who hasn't?"

"I haven't!" Naruto whined, "That's not fair! You guys get to sleep with her and I don't!"

"Okay Naruto, focus." Lee said, "Now Sakura, what are you going to take off? Your shorts, or your shirt."

Oh man. Sakura was in another lose-lose situation. She could take off her shorts, and then all the boys would see her in her granny panties (in her defense, it was laundry day), or she could take off her tank top, and all the boys would see her lacy pink-push up bra (which made her breasts look simply divine).

Which is the lesser of two evils?

She could either turn them on, or drive them away. They'd never look at her the same way again if they saw her granny panties, but if they saw her nice lacy bra... well, they'd never look at her breasts the same way again.

"So," Sai, who had remained quiet throughout most the game, was suddenly very vocal, "What's it gonna be?"

Sakura took a deep breath and reached for her...

Muahaha! Another cliffhanger!

So... what do you guys think? Shirt or shorts? :P

With Love,

OnlyTheGoodDieYoung