Chapter 13 - chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto!

“Perfect.” Ino replied with a smile.

About an hour and a few tinsel fights later, the girls all stood back to admire their work. Daniel had left soon after putting the top branches on the tree after recovering from his head injury, claiming that he was fine with missing the decorations part. Meghan and Mitsuki had opted to stay, because since they were helping the guests, this would be considered work, and not their break. All that was left to do was place the star on top of the tree. Mitsuki and Meghan decided to leave, finally deciding to take their break for the day.

As soon as Ino had picked it up from the box, the girls heard loud banging from the door.

“Hinata?” They heard Naruto. “What are you guys doing? You’ve been in there for hours.”

Hinata looked at her friends. “Should we let them in?” She asked quietly.

“I don’t see why not, we’re practically done anyways.” Ino said with a shrug.

“Okay.” Hinata said, walking through the room towards the door of their suite. She opened it up to find the four guys standing there. “Come in.” She said. She turned around and walked back into the living room, with the boys right behind her.

“Woah!” Naruto said when he walked in. “We have a tree in our room, but it’s so small compared to this!”

“We just put this one up, Naruto.” Sakura explained.

“Ino had Mitsuki and Meghan track this down for us so we could put all of our presents under it for tomorrow. Sorry, Naruto, we just don’t trust you with a bunch of presents.” TenTen explained.

“Darn.” Naruto said. “Figures. You guys know me too well already.”

“It’s not that hard to figure you out, dobe.” Sasuke said.

“Be quite, teme!” Naruto exclaimed.

“Troublesome.” Shikamaru mumbled.

“Do you want us to bring our presents over here, then?” Neji asked.

“That would be great, Neji.” Ino said. Neji nodded.

“We’ll go get them later.” Sasuke said as he sat down on the couch.
“Ok.” Ino said. She then looked at the top of the tree. “Hey, Shikamaru?”

“Yes, Ino?” Shikamaru replied. She was using that tone that meant that she wanted something.

“Can you put the start on the top, pretty please?” Ino asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

“Fine.” Shikamaru said, with a muttered troublesome under his breath. He walked slowly over to Ino, and took the star from her, then stepped up onto the step stool by the tree, while Ino held it steady because she didn’t want him to fall. He placed the star securely at the top, and then quickly stepped down.

“Thank you so much!” Ino exclaimed hugging him and giving him a quick kiss for his efforts.

Shikamaru just nodded.

“So are you hungry now?” Sasuke asked Sakura who was currently curled up next to him on the couch.

“Mm, not really.” She replied. “Just tired.” Sasuke wrapped his arm around her, pulling her as close as she could be.

“So, guys.” Ino said. “Has anyone seen any signs around the hotel?” She was surprised that her surprise had lasted this long. She knew that the signs had been up for a week at least. She’d asked her father about her idea as soon as they’d had their reservations made and she was out of earshot of her friends.

“No.” Sakura replied sleepily, then practically bolted out of Sasuke’s arms. “Wait! Yes! That’s what you’ve been planning, isn’t it!”

Ino just laughed at Sakura’s reaction. “Yup. I was wondering who would see it first.”

“Well, just tell everyone else.” Sakura said, snuggling back up to Sasuke, who didn’t look the least bit startled by Sakura’s earlier reaction.

“Well, I suppose I will.” Ino said. “And before I say anything, it is mandatory, for all of you! I talked to my dad, and we’re going to hold the first annual Christmas Ball here at the resort! It’s going to be held in our honor. That’s why it’s mandatory.”

“Is that why you had us bring formal clothes?” Hinata asked.

“Yup.” Ino said with a grin. “I did all of the planning, and we’ll even be announced in the ballroom as we walk in.”

“Wow.” TenTen said. She should’ve guessed Ino had this up her sleeve. “So is this a select guest list, or what?”

“Well, everyone in the resort is invited, including the staff. We’ve hired a DJ because daddy didn’t want to deal with extra expenses for a band on Christmas.” Ino explained.

“So what did Itachi have to do with this?” Sasuke asked, remembering his brother saying something about being in with Ino on a surprise.

“Oh, you’ll see.” Ino said, a dangerous smile playing at her lips. She knew that this bit of information would drive emotionless Sasuke crazy, even if he didn’t show it, but he was just going to have to wait and see.

“Hn.” Sasuke replied. ‘I’ll figure this out.’

“Itachi?” Sakura said sleepily. “Is he coming tomorrow?”

“Don’t worry about it Sakura.” Sasuke said. Sakura just nodded and laid her head on Sasuke’s shoulder and closed her eyes. She was more worn out than she had thought she would be.

“So everyone has formal clothes, right?” Ino asked. Her friends nodded. Ino had been adamant that they bring them, and now they all knew why.

“Good. The dance starts at eight, but we’ll make out entrance at eight o’ five, and the DJ will announce us.” Ino said. “I think that’s all that’s important now. I guess tomorrow morning you guys will come over here after you wake up.”

“Sure we will.” Naruto replied happily. “We’ll go get the presents now, right guys?”

Naruto got up and bounced out of the room, with the other three guys following him.

Ino observed and spoke to Hinata, “That can’t be good for his knee.”

Hinata shook her head. “He’s just not going to listen. He’s too excited right now.”

The other girls sighed as the boys started carrying packages in and placing them under the tree.

A/N: Please don’t kill me for such a late update! My week has been hectic! Thursday, I woke up at the crack of dawn to go see the Pope give his Mass in D.C. it was so amazing to be there and actually see him. Then, last night, I had my spring formal, which is my school’s equivalent of prom for the freshmen and sophomores. We even have our own court. The best thing was…I got voted Spring Formal Queen! You guys have no clue how shocked I was. Two of my friends nominated me in their advisory, and I never thought I’d even end up on the ballot, but I did. And then I never thought that I’d get chosen, because the other two girls are really popular. But I guess I was wrong, as my friends told me all day Friday and Saturday. Well, I’m sorry again for the late update, and please review! =)

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment