Chapter 3 - chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto!

Just as Sakura threw the last towel into the washing machine, her mother walked into the kitchen. Sakura ran out of the laundry room quickly, shutting the door as quietly as possible behind her. Her mother didn’t seem to notice her, because she was too amazed looking around the kitchen.

“Did you girls do this?” Mrs. Haruno asked looking around.

“Ummm…” The girls muttered as the fidgeted. Was ‘this’ a good thing, or a bad thing?

“You girls saved Mimi and I a whole lot of work next week.” She commented. The girls exhaled. Obviously ‘this’ was a good thing. Sakura looked at her friends and motioned towards the doorway.

“Well, mom, we’re just going to go upstairs now.” Sakura said cheerfully. Mrs. Haruno just nodded in stunned silence as she once again looked around her kitchen. Sakura was almost out the door when she heard her mother speak to her again.

“Sakura?” her mother questioned.

‘Yes?” Sakura asked nervously.

“Why is my favorite painting wet?” Sakura gulped.

“Umm..Well, I guess someone decided to clean it and forgot to dry it off?” Sakura said, more as a question than a statement.

“If I wasn’t so happy about how clean the kitchen is, I might just be more suspicious about this.” Her mother said, giving a pointed look at Sakura. Sakura just looked at her mother and ran up to her room where her friends were.

“We’re so lucky. Someone forgot to dry off her painting of that tree, and she wanted to know why. I think the shock of the kitchen being so clean got her off our trail though.” Sakura said. Ino just giggled, and Hinata turned pail at the prospect of doing something to get in trouble. If her father found out there would go her privileges. TenTen on the other hand grinned wickedly. Displeasing her mother was her new favorite thing to do.

“No, TenTen, we’re not letting your mother know we practically destroyed my kitchen. Just be satisfied with her imagined reaction.” Sakura said, reading her friends mind. “Think of how in trouble the rest of us would be, ok?”

“Fine.” TenTen sighed. “Can I at least tell her we trashed your room with feathers?” Sakura nodded. TenTen’s mother not only tried to control her daughters diet and extracurricular activities, but she was also a neat freak, and thought she had taught TenTen to be as neat as possible. Ever since TenTen had decided top get back at her mother for trying to control her life, however, TenTen had become a slob. Her room looked like a tornado had hit it, and any mess she made, she made a point of letting her mother know she had done it.

“I don’t get it TenTen, what is all this doing for you anyways?” Hinata asked.

“It makes my mom mad, which makes me happy.” TenTen said matter-of-factly.

“Has she punished you at all for refusing to clean your room?” Ino asked.

“Yea, she threatened to take away my cell phone, and I handed to her and said ‘Here you go.’” TenTen said.

“And she just gave up?” Sakura asked.

“I think that once she realized I didn’t care, she gave up on trying to punish me.” TenTen said.

“So does she still get mad about everything you’re doing?” Ino asked.

“Yea, she gets this look on her face then storms off.” TenTen said happily. The other girls just looked at each other.

“TenTen, don’t you think you’re taking this just a little too far?” Hinata asked.

“Seriously, Ten, Hinata’s right. I mean, you’ve already shown your mom that she can’t control everything you do, so how bout you give it a little bit of a rest?” Sakura asked.

“What do you guys mean?” TenTen asked. “This is just the beginning! I’m finally showing her that she isn’t the one who makes my decisions for me.”

“Alright, TenTen, if you aren’t going to stop, we can’t make you.” Ino said. “So, who wants to go to the mall?”

“Quick subject change Ino. Hoping someone will be there?” Sakura teased.

“Oh, but he might find it just a bit too troublesome.” TenTen joined right in.

“Come on, you guys. You know that you want to see Neji and Sasuke just as much as I want to see Shikamaru. And, well, Hinata and Naruto are practically dating!” Ino exclaimed while Hinata blushed.

“Yea, I guess you’re right.” Sakura said as she looked at her friends. “To the mall it is!” The girls quickly changed out of their pajamas into one of the many outfits they had brought with them. You never know what you might need, right? When the girls were ready to go, they grabbed there bags and headed downstairs. Three of the girls tiptoed out the door, and out to the limo, where Sakura had told the driver to wait for them.

“Mom?” Sakura yelled.

“Yes, dear?” Came the reply of Mrs. Haruno.

“We’re going to the mall! Expect me back in a couple of hours, but we’ll be dropping the girls off on the way there.” “Sakura explained.

“Ok, dear, just don’t be too long.” Mrs. Haruno called after her. Sakura only hoped that her mother wouldn’t go near her room. The girls had yet to clean up all of those feathers.

When Sakura had gotten out of the house and into the limo with her friends, she then spoke, “Where are going to first? Do we know any of the places the guys visit at the mall?”

“Umm...Nope.” TenTen said.

“Well, I guess we could start at the arcade.” Ino suggested. She remembered Shikamaru saying something about how the guys liked playing video games.

Sakura nodded as she made a mental list of the few places the girls were suggesting.

“Another place that we could look, if they aren’t at the mall, is this diner that’s really close to it. When we went on our date, Naruto and Shikamaru told Ino and I that they go there a lot.” Hinata said. “They have really good food there, so we can just stop there for lunch later.”

“Sounds good to me.” Sakura said. “So the first place we’re checking is the arcade, then the sports store, then the video game store, then the diner. Any objections?” The girls all shook there heads, and they clamored out of the limo and into the parking lot.

“Operation locate the guys is in operation!” Sakura said as the girls made their way through the front entrance and towards the arcade. There reason for being there: To have a Dance Dance Revolution tournament. Unfortunately, the guys weren’t that easy to find. After a round for each of the girls, they decided to check out the sports store. Sakura actually needed to pick up some golf stuff to give to her father for his birthday. But the guys weren’t there either. So once Sakura made her purchase, they made their way to the video game store. Sadly, the only one they knew there was Kiba.

“Hello, ladies.” Kiba said as he walked up to them.

“Oh, we were just looking for a video game for Sakura’s little brother.” Hinata said.

“How sweet of you.” Kiba said. “So, Hinata, have you changed your mind yet?”

“Um, actually, no I haven’t. I still want to go with Naruto.” Hinata said as she blushed lightly.

“Suit yourself, then. Just letting you know that I know you’re going to change your mind soon.” Kiba said as he flashed Hinata a smile and left the store.

“Um, let’s get out of here before he decides to come back.” Ino said as the girls left the store, forgetting about the video game. They went out to where the limo was parked and got in.

“Ok so I guess we’re going to the diner.” Sakura said as the driver took off in the direction that Ino pointed out to him.

“No guys anywhere.” Sakura said with a sigh. She wanted to see Sasuke really badly. And she was really hoping that maybe he would ask her to the dance.

“We still haven’t checked the diner yet.” TenTen pointed out.

“And even if they aren’t there, the food is awesome!” Ino exclaimed.

“Yea, I guess.” Sakura replied glumly.

“Come on Sakura, you’re going to see Sasuke the day after tomorrow. It’s not that far away you know.” Ino pointed out.

“Yea, I don’t know, I was just kind of hoping that he would ask me to the dance if he saw me outside of school. We don’t really get to talk that much during school.” Sakura said.

“Well, we can help you there. I mean, we did help Naruto and Hinata.” TenTen pointed out.

“Yea, and even though I wanted to get mad at you guys for interfering, I couldn’t because I was so happy that he asked me out. And then he asked me to homecoming, too.” Hinata said happily.

“And next you’ll be his girlfriend.” Ino said.

“I wish.” Hinata said. The girls looked up when the driver announced their arrival at the diner.

A/N: ok, I'm so sorry for updating late! I was going to update yesterday, but then we went to the carnival at the firehouse here, and didn't get back until midnight. So, the girls went on a guy hunt. Well, reviews are much appreciated!

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