Chapter 21 - chapter 21

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto!

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.” TenTen said with a light sigh.

“Well, don’t be. Just close your eyes and let me work.” Ino said sternly to her friend.

“Alright…” TenTen said, shutting her eyes and hoping she wouldn’t regret it.

TenTen listened as Ino hummed to herself as she worked, and TenTen felt her hair tumble to her shoulders. She shut her eyes tighter, and tried to block out what Ino was doing.

Not too long later, Sakura emerged from her room with her make-up done. She wandered over to where Ino was putting final touches on TenTen’s hair, and nodded her approval of her friend’s hair.

“Ok, TenTen, you can open up now.” Ino said, spinning the chair around so her friend could see herself in the mirror. TenTen’s eyes grew large when she saw the reflection. Her hair was pulled back in a half ponytail, with the hair in it in large curls. The bottom half of her hair was straight, but it led into delicate, soft curls at the ends.

“Wow.” Was all she could mutter.

“Told you to trust me.” Ino said, sounding satisfied with herself.

“Ok, ok.” TenTen said.

“Now, Sakura, she’s all yours!” Ino said to her friend. TenTen just sighed and stood up to follow Sakura back to her room. “Hinata! You’re up!” Ino yelled to her friend.

“I’m coming, Ino.” Hinata said, stepping out of her room. She was dressed in a simple button up shirt and sweatpants.

“Hm.” Ino said, looking at her friend and contemplating what type of hairstyle to do. She knew her friend really didn’t have much in mind, so she was free to do what she wanted again.

Hinata sat down in front of Ino, facing the mirror. Her pearl eyes looked at Ino’s blue ones, trying to figure out what her friend was going to do.

“Don’t worry, Hinata.” Ino said, noticing her friends look, “Your hair is going to look great.”

“I know, Ino.” Hinata said.

Ino just smiled at her friend as she turned the chair away from the mirror so that she could start.

“Ino, can I ask you a question?” Hinata asked.

“Mmhm.” Ino said as she pulled at strands of her friends hair.

“Why do you always turn people away from the mirror when you do their hair?” Hinata asked.

“Well...” Ino said, thinking about the question a little. “…I guess it’s because I love seeing people’s facial expression when they turn around and see their hair. Most of the time it’s really great.”

“Well, you’re really good at it, Ino.” Hinata said, playing with her fingers as Ino worked.

“Thanks.” Ino said, a smile spreading across her face.

“Hey, Ino?” Sakura yelled from back in her room.

“Ya?” Ino replied, pausing momentarily.

“Did you bring that blush of yours? You know, the one that look great on TenTen?”

“Mmm. Ya, I think it’s in my makeup case.”

“’K, I’ll get it.” Sakura yelled back. They heard her tell TenTen not to move, and saw her scurry between her room and Ino’s before Ino started working on Hinata’s hair again.

By the time Ino had finished up with Hinata’s hair, and Hinata had moved on to getting her make-up done, Naruto had already called her to make sure they were still getting ramen for lunch. After assuring her boyfriend that there would still be ramen left when she was done, Hinata let Sakura finish up her make-up. Her hair was done simply, with a few strands twisted back into a clip, and the rest in short curls.

“Really,” Sakura said, putting her friend’s blush on, “Naruto needs to eat some foods other than ramen. I mean, I know he does, but he’s, like, obsessed with it.”

“He’s not going to change, Sakura.” Hinata said. “And as long as he eats a few other foods, I don’t see a problem with it.”

“According to Sasuke, his pantry’s full of ramen with little else.” Sakura said. Hinata smiled a little as she stood up from her chair.

“Thank you for doing my make-up, Sakura.” She said, turning as she reached the doorway.

“Any time.” Sakura said. “Now go meet Naruto before he has a panic attack.” Hinata smiled in gratitude at her friend before swiftly leaving to meet her boyfriend.


The rest of the day flew by swiftly, and soon all the girls were back in their rooms, changing into their dresses. Ino had done her hair in simple cascading curls, which looked wonderful on her with her dress.

“Should I go get the guys?” Ino asked once the four girls were dressed with their heels on.

“I’d see if they’re ready.” Sakura said, sitting down on the couch.

“’K, I’ll be back in a minute.” Ino said, heading towards the door.

“Is she worried we’re going to be late?” TenTen asked.

“No idea.” Sakura said.

“Well, it’s still twenty minutes away from us being announced.” Hinata said, still just a little bit nervous about it.

“I know the guys will be ready in time.” Sakura said. “I just don’t feel like having her flutter around in here making sure everything’s perfect. Let her bug the guys.”

“I do feel kind of sorry for them.” TenTen said with a giggle.

“Feel sorry for who?” TenTen turned her head to see Neji leaning on the doorway.

“Well, I felt sorry for you guys having to deal with Ino, but looks like you managed to escape.” TenTen said.

“Sadly the others didn’t.” Neji said.

“Let me guess,” Sakura said, “Naruto?”

“Sadly.” Neji said. “He couldn’t get his tie right. Ino practically attacked him.”

“She needs to calm down. Everything is going to be fine.” TenTen said. Hinata nodded in agreement.

Just then, Ino walked back into the room, dragging Shikamaru behind her. “We’re going to head down now. I need to make sure they have the pronunciation of everyone’s name right, as well as the order we’re walking out in.”

“Ok, call us when you’re done with that, and then we’ll come down.” Sakura said.

“Will do.” Ino said, walking back out the door. She and Shikamaru got inside the elevator, and Ino hit the first floor button. She leaned against the wall and sighed as they descended the floors. She was starting to get just a little bit nervous that things wouldn’t go as planned. The elevator stopped on the first floor, and in stepped another passenger.

“Shikamaru! Hi!” The girl seemed to purr. Ino looked at the girl with a glare, and stepped closer to Shikamaru as the doors closed.

Ino was about to say something to her, but all of a sudden, the elevator dropped, and her face froze. When the elevator suddenly caught again, Ino looked up at Shikamaru. The doors weren’t opening. Shikamaru stepped forward and started pressing some of the buttons, trying to see if the door would open at all.

“Wh-what just happened?” Ino asked, not fully comprehending the situation.

“I’m guessing we just dropped from the fourth floor, to who knows where. What a drag.” Shikamaru said. “I guess I’ll call the front desk.” He opened a small cabinet under the buttons panel, and pulled out an old corded phone. He pressed a few buttons and then waited for the call to go through.

“Front desk?” He asked when someone picked up. “This is Shikamaru Nara. My girlfriend, one other passenger and I are currently stuck in one of the elevators.” He paused for a minute to listen to the person on the line. “We dropped from the fourth floor. We have no idea where we are.”

A/N: Ok, so here's the next chapter. For some reason, I've had a lot of problems writing lately, I guess because nothing has really been happening in the story. Hopefully it'll be easier to write the next few chapters now that I have something going on. =) Comments are loved!

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