I do not own Naruto

"Uh… do you guys want me to leave?"

Okako looked between Sakura and Ino, both standing ten feet apart with their arms crossed over their chests, Sakura glaring at Ino, who stared mulishly right back. He took a bite out of the sandwich he was holding, chewing slowly as he watched them, an expression on his face like that of a person watching an old west showdown. They had been standing there like that for over a minute and a half.

"What do you want me to say Ino?" Sakura finally asked, ignoring Okako.

Ino rolled her eyes. "God, you sound like my ex-boyfriend," she said, sneering. "I came to get the CD I lent you. You're the one that turned it into a stare down."

Sakura tapped her fingers against her arms irately. "Whatever. I'll go get it." She turned around and stomped upstairs. Okako watched Ino with a concerned expression, still eating his sandwich. She glanced over at him, raising a well plucked eyebrow. Sakura came back down, clutching a CD in her hand and thrusting it at Ino. "Here," she said dully.

Ino plucked it from her outstretched hand and threw Sakura a look as she turned to go. Sakura sucked in her cheeks and her eyes practically bugged out of her head. "Oh my GOD Ino, will you friggen get over yourself?" she exclaimed, her hands balling into fists. Okako backed up, though he wasn't exactly able to look away. It was like watching a car wreck.

Ino turned towards Sakura. "What?" she asked, looking disgusted.

"You're acting like you're the victim Ino! You're not the goddamn victim! For the love of god could you get over yourself? I am so sick of you treating me like the bad guy!" Sakura yelled.

Ino stood by the door, looking speechless. "I…" she started, looking back and forth between Sakura and Okako, her face getting red and splotchy. Finally she wrenched the door open and rushed outside, slamming it shut. Sakura groaned and went running upstairs, slamming her room door loudly behind her. Okako took another bite of his sandwich, and went slinking back into the living room. In his eyes Ino was being a brat and Sakura was being kind of a coward.

He dropped down onto the couch and flicked the TV on as he pulled his flashcards on. He still had his calculus final to study for the next day, and there was nothing like reality TV when you were trying to concentrate on studying.

The Next Day

Tenten was sitting in the library after school. The last day of midterms was the next day and there was no practice to give them an extra day to study. She only had her AP physics and nutrition exams left, the latter of which was kind of a joke, but she was dreading physics. She had good grades and all, but she wasn't great at testing, so she was going over her flashcards and notes, trying to memorize the laws and formulas she'd need the next day.

She was actually studying with Hinata, seeing as they both had AP physics, but Hinata had been acting weird all week. Now she sat across from Tenten, staring down at her textbook, occasionally casting furtive glances up at Tenten. It would be a massive understatement to say that it was distracting. Tenten finally, after accidentally reading the same paragraph three times, looked up and her with an annoyed expression. "Hinata, what is it?" she asked, resting her cheek on one hand.

Hinata bounced her pencil on the table nervously, not quite making eye contact with her. Tenten narrowed her eyes. "Hinata…"

"Oh, I was just wondering," Hinata started, trying to sound casual but her voice just came out shaky, "um, how the party went? Meet anyone nice?"

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "That's all? Uh… I left after maybe ten minutes and a guy spilled punch on my head."

Hinata furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"What?" Tenten asked, sitting up, looking confused.

"But… I thought…" Hinata started.

Tenten frowned. "Hinata…" she started warningly. "What did you think?"

"Um," Hinata said, her cheeks flushing as red as a lobster. "Someone said they saw you making out with some guy and I thought maybe you had gotten a little… drunk again." Tenten's eyes widened and Hinata hurried on. "Sorry! I don't know why but I thought that maybe you were drinking or something and making out with random guys and soon you'd be getting a tattoo and joining a gang and in ten years you'd be running the yakuza!"

Tenten started laughing so hard she literally needed to stuff her fist in her mouth so the librarian wouldn't shush her. "Oh my god!" she whispered, tears streaming down her face as she giggled like mad. "Are you serious? God Hinata you get so weird around exams. And how'd you know I had a tattoo?" she asked, looking confused again.

"What?" Hinata asked.

Tenten grinned and scooted her chair back, glancing around to make sure there wasn't a teacher around, and rolling up the side of her shirt. "Look," she said, turning to show her the raccoon she had tattooed on her right hip. Hinata's eyes widened again and Tenten snickered, sitting back down. "Isn't it cool? Best not to tell anyone though," she said, chuckling. "I don't want to get suspended or anything," she said, pulling the book towards her.

"And don't worry about me joining a gang! Jeez, tattoos don't mean someone's a gang member," she said, shaking her head as she started to study again. Hinata looked back at her book as well, feeling pretty stupid.

"Sorry, Tenten…" Hinata said quietly.

Tenten giggled. "Don't worry, it was hilarious. Just relax, yeah?"

"Yeah… relax…" Hinata said, making a mark in her notebook. She hadn't felt relaxed since the uncomfortable conversation with her high school counselor. She just had to get done with exams, and then she could concentrate on her life plan. Easy as pie.

That Night

"It's too damn cold!"

"Nina, you're so whiney!"

Tenten giggled and bounced the soccer ball between one and another knees. "Come on Nina, give it a kick," she said, bouncing the ball to her.

Nina grinned and flipped her hair back so it was out of her face, before meeting the ball and sending it flying into the goal. Melissa was playing half-assed goalie, and sitting in the middle of the goal and occasionally reaching out to try and stop the ball. "Whoo! Score for Konoha!" Nina yelled, raising her arms over her head.

Cecilia chuckled from where she was flopped over on the ground, and Hoshi ran over to intercept the ball as Melissa tossed it over. Hoshi started to dribble the ball and Carrie jumped up from the ground and they started to kick the ball back and forth. Tenten flopped down on the ground and grabbed one of their thermos' of hot chocolate and pouring herself a bit.

The girl's soccer team had decided to meet up for a little post-season celebration on the soccer field to kick goals and drink cocoa. They were hanging around chatting and sipping and bouncing around the ball. "Oh, yeah, Mel, how'd it go with you and Kenji?" Tenten asked, leaning back as she took a sip.

Melissa made a face. "Like crap. We broke up."

"Again?!" exclaimed Lakshmi as she lounged next to Tenten and took a sip from the thermos. "Isn't that the third time?"

"Third and last," Melissa said, straightening a little to reach for the ball. It flew over her head and she leaned back on one arm. "It'll be nice to not have to worry about boys during Christmas though."

"Oh shit! I still have to go Christmas shopping!" Nina said.

Cecilia and Amy giggled as Nina grabbed her phone and started writing herself an email as a reminder. Melissa shook her head. "What about you Tenten? Met anyone?"

Tenten sighed. "Nope. Single still…" she said, trailing off wistfully.

"So is it totally off then, you and Neji?" Cecilia asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. It's been off for like, six weeks or something. I haven't really met anyone good yet though. I thought there was this guy at the mall, but I think he was some kind of felon or something so I ditched him," she said.

Lakshmi snorted. "Good instinct you got there."

"Well that's just it, innit?" Cecilia asked. "You got to find someone to take your mind off your serial singleness. That's what I always do."

"What do you mean, 'that's what I always do'?" asked Hoshi, walking over to them from the goal. "You are Ryuu have been together forever!"

Cecilia brushed her hair over one shoulder. "Well, that's what I used to do, and it worked out pretty well, yeah? He keeps talking about the cheerleading team so much now, though, and I really don't care that much 'bout cheerleading," she said, making a face. "You're doing that for winter, aren't you Tenten? How is it?"

Tenten sighed. "It's meh," she said. "I miss kicking around with you guys," she said.

"Aww," Lakshmi said, reaching an arm around her shoulders to hug her.

Melissa stood and grabbed the cane lying next to her as she went hobbling over. She was using the cane now that her foot had its cast, though it was supposed to be fully healed by February. "You're making me all nostalgic, Tenten," she said with a grin. "But I gotta go. I still have to finish studying for my finals tomorrow. You guys going to that party tomorrow night?"

"Oh, yeah, totally," said Amy, the other girls nodding in their agreement.

"Awesome," Melissa said.

"Mel, you goin' up towards 50th?" Tenten asked.

Melissa nodded. "Yeah, need a ride?"

"That would rock," Tenten said, standing and tossing the thermos to Cecilia. "Thanks. See you guys tomorrow!" she said, waving as she and Melissa walked over to the parking lot.

"We're so sad, all single and alone at Christmas," Melissa joked. Tenten chuckled.

"One less person to get presents for, yeah?" she asked and Melissa grinned, nodding. Tenten stretched as they reached the parking lot. Melissa's car was right by the exit, and as they were about to get in a white convertible went streaking down the road by them, turning quickly, and rather dangerously, down a side road. They heard it go shrieking away, the sound reverberating through the quiet.

They paused. Finally Melissa spoke. "Wasn't that Ino?"

Meanwhile

Ino swore loudly as she almost took the sideview mirror off a pickup. She was driving much too quickly for a residential street, or even for the main road, and after almost sideswiping a sedan she realized slowing down might be a good idea. She reluctantly eased up on the accelerator, dropping her speed down to a more acceptable level as her car snaked through the dark streets, still fuming. She was a picture of disheveled anger, clad in basketball shorts and a sweatshirt, her long blond hair pulled up in a ponytail, and a furious expression on her face.

She went right on by her house, her gaze glued straight in front of her as her car turned onto the next avenue. She reached down and switched on the radio, her eyes still on the road, both hands firmly grasping the steering wheel. She wasn't precisely sure why, but she found herself turning onto the highway heading north which, blissfully, didn't have heavy traffic that night.

Sakura was telling her to get over herself? Jesus Christ! "Can you believe that mom?" she asked, looking up momentarily out of habit. She pursed her lips, sighing, her attention back on the road. The whole Sakura deal had put her on edge, but a whole array of crap had converged in the past 24 hours, not just Sakura. No, the cause of this particular freak out was the fact that she might be failing Algebra II. Not to be a stereotypical blonde cheerleader. Ino liked the social sciences and humanities and everything, but math was not easy for her, and according to the school, she had a solid 48 percent for the school year so far, which put her in the solid F range of grades, something her dad was likely to freak about.

She figured her dad probably wanted a more tomboyish girl who studied harder and spent less time reading Allure magazine, which could be a bit of a self-esteem blow sometimes.

Stupid thing to be mad about… she thought moodily. She focused in on the road, listening to the music and trying to relax. She would be in a lot of trouble when her dad found out anyway, no need to freak out early. It kind of sucked that she was failing in her junior year, which, according to every high school counselor ever, was possibly the year colleges took into account the most seriously.

"Ughhh!" she groaned wrinkling her nose. A sign caught her eye to the side and she glanced over as it was illuminated by her headlights. "Now Entering Tanzaku County". She frowned, looking back on the highway. Tanzaku was not a short distance. She looked down at the clock and it showed that she had been driving for over an hour.

"Shit."