A.N.: Someone asked me for "High School Prom!" fic. But guess what? I can't write teenagers anymore. So this popped up.

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me. If it did, I wouldn't have fuck it entirely up just to get more money. Fuck you, Kishimoto!

Warnings: Secondary and side couples! I have weird taste in couples and people have sex! Deal with it. Oh, and Rainbow!Neji! (Because he couldn't be missing.)

Beta: Faery's Delight (aka Strailo)

Darling, save the last dance for me
|From me to myself|

First Dance

"Why are you naked?" Sakura screeched at my ears as soon as I opened the front door. I closed my eyes and pressed two fingers onto my forehead, trying to sooth the sudden headache away.

"I'm not naked, Sakura, I have my underwear on, in case you haven't noticed," I said, opening my eyes and looking at her with a confused and not so amused expression. "Why are you yelling at me at," I looked at the watch on the kitchen wall, "7.25 on a Saturday morning?"

"Because you're naked!" she stated and I almost slapped my face. "Do you always answer your door naked?"

"I'm not naked!" I declared, almost growling at her while she walked in my apartment, like it was hers, and headed for the living room. "And why are you here this early? Something happened?"

"Something very important happened!" Sakura was using the tone of voice of when she's too excited about something. And, unfortunately for me, Sakura being too excited usually had something to do with some very boring new thing she had found out or gossip. And I was seriously getting tired of Sakura's gossip. Not that she was like the old ladies in small villages, of course not, but without Ino 24/7 available to shared other people's dirt, I was the victim of Sakura's urges. Why that needed to happen at 7.25 in the morning of a Saturday, was the current big mystery of my life. "Wanna guess?"

"No," I yawned, crossing my arms in front of my bare chest and looking at Sakura's way too big and heavy looking purse. What did she had inside of that? A pair of bricks? "I want you to tell me so I can go back to bed."

"Why are you always so depressing?" She pouted and I took a deep breath in order not to yell at her. "It's Saturday, it's not like you have work to do."

"First of all, I'm a designer, remember? We always have work to do. And even if I didn't have work to do, I'm a night creature, I hate mornings!" Was it too difficult for Sakura to remember that I do not do mornings? Not even during the week I do mornings, let along on a Saturday! "And even if I did mornings, it's Saturday, Sakura! I went out yesterday, I fell asleep like an hour ago!"

"Which means you're perfectly fine to help me with this," she smile. She freaking dared to smile at me! "Come on, Naruto! I can't do this by myself and Ino is, again, nowhere reachable. So I kinda need your help."

"Can't it wait?" I asked, already knowing the answer, but a man can hope, right? She looked at me with narrowed eyes and I sighed before sitting in the couch in front of her. "What's the emergency, then?"

"It's finally coming!" she singsonged and I raised an eyebrow in questioning. Sakura was way too hipper for my likings and my mood was not the best at the moment. What the fuck was she talking about? She somehow understood that my brain was not processing any information at the moment and made an annoyed face. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"No!" I placed my hands behind my head and leant back on the couch. I noticed Sakura's eyes on my torso and abs before she moved them quickly to my face again. It was a little bit sadistic of me, but I really enjoyed Sakura's inner turmoil every time I - or any of the guys - showed up half naked in front of her. It was clear that she wanted to be a utter perverted and kept looking or even daring to touch (like Ino did most of the time - no shame at all, that one), but she tried so hard to be the controlled and decent woman she showed the society that I wasn't sure if I had fun with her general attitude or if I should feel sad for her failed attempts of being, according to her, decent. "Your birthday already passed, it's still a few months before mine, there's not big movie coming out, or any super badass concert, so no. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The high school reunion!" she stated and I almost choked in my own breath. "Remember? It's next month! Our high school 10 years reunion!"

"Oh fuck," I muttered, a sudden nausea hitting me unprepared.

"I'm in charge of the organising committee and I need your help on this!" she smiled, clearly unaware that I was trying not to vomit. She could not be serious! "I'm going to need you to help me with the place and decorations. You're a designer after all, you're the best for this."

"No! No, no!" I started, but she started to ramble about the kind of decoration that she would love to have and how perfect it would be if she could make a perfect remake of our high school prom and that's when I got really sick. If high school was a no-no for me, our Prom was even worse. It was probably the worst day of my life and I was not going to help doing a remake of it. "I'm not going! I can't help you! Ask Ino about it!"

"Naruto! What do you mean you're not going?" she screeched again, hitting her hands on her lap and making a very annoyed expression. "It's our high school reunion. You have to go! You were prom King, you absolutely have to be there!"

"No, no, no! Prom was a bad thing for me, Sakura, you know that. I don't want to revive that again. No way!" I got up and walked to the kitchen to fetch an apple before returning to a very annoyed Sakura in my living room.

"It's our high school reunion! Everyone has to be there, Naruto. Stop being a child with a fake trauma over Prom." she hissed at me. "We haven't been all together in 10 years! And you were popular and prom king. You are an essential presence there!"

"I don't want to!" Yes, I was acting like a freaking child, but it was bad enough to go to one prom, I didn't need a second one. Specially with the exact same people and the exact same mood! "I don't want to do with any of it! I don't even want to see half of the people!"

"You need to help me with this, you moron!" Sakura growled at me and got up, really mad this time. "It's the most important event of the year! You have to be there and you have to help me out! I can't do all this by myself!"

"Call Ino!" I told her, trying to avoid the mad glare she was casting me. "Or Shikamaru! Or Neji!"

"Neji and Shikamaru would never help me out with this and you know it. For god's sake, Naruto!" She rolled her eyes and pointed to her cellphone on top of the tea table. "And Ino is nowhere to be found! You know she's always travelling with that job of hers and I never get to reach her! It's freaking impossible! She was supposed to arrive yesterday, but she's not answering her phone! She would be a way better choice than you for this! She might not be a designer, but she doesn't have a ridiculous trauma over prom!"

"My trauma is not ridiculous!" I stated, mad. My brain was clearly not working properly at the moment. "Prom ruined my life!"

"Why are you being such a baby?!" she yelled and I sighed in desperation. Was that so hard to understand that I would not help out, or go to a thing that was one the most awful memories of my life?

"Why are you being so obsessed over this?" I questioned, mad, sleepy, desperate. Sakura was killing me.

"Why are you two imbeciles screaming at 7.40 in a fucking Saturday morning?!" And that was Ino, standing in the door of my living room, wearing one of my t-shirts and with one of the most scary expressions I've ever seen. "I had a damn long flight and an even longer night, I would very much like to sleep!"

"Why are you naked?!" Sakura interrogated her in a too high pitch voice and it felt like I was being stabbed in the brain with a massive needle. "And why are you here?"

"I'm not naked and I was trying to sleep. But it's kinda impossible with the two of you yelling like children!" Ino hissed, crossing her arms and leaning against the door frame. "What's all the ruckus about?"

"Why were you trying to sleep naked at Naruto's house?" I swear I don't know how Sakura was able to be so clueless about something so obvious like this. The situation was not pretty and waking up Ino like that only meant she was in a bad mood.

"Because I returned to town after two long weeks of work outside the country and I wanted to relieve my stress from the work and the flight," she said but Sakura didn't understand the words in between the lines. Was it that hard?

"Sakura, Ino and I kinda have a thing going on for the past couple of years." I confessed, but I swear to god I don't understand how Sakura can be so damn oblivious on this. She looked at me like I was an alien and then back to Ino.

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" she asked and Ino growled in frustration. I bit my apple out of frustration and watched, amused, while Ino exploded with her supposed to be best friend.

"It means sex, you retarded, big forehead! Sex!" she declared, and I saw Sakura's face turning red with the idea. "You know, the kind of thing you haven't had since your divorce?"

"Shut up, Ino pig!" Sakura screamed, throwing a notebook at Ino, who - luckily - avoided it easily. "I had sex after my divorce!"

"I don't need to know that!" I stated, but was completely ignored.

"And I didn't need to know you two are having sex!" Sakura screeched and tried to hide her flushed face. I don't get this woman, how come she was still a prude even at the age of 28 and after a marriage? And yes, marriage. Because after spending more than 8 years obsessing over a certain bastard that never paid attention to her, Sakura went to college, met a guy who was nice and kind to her, fell in love and got married at the age of 22 after a year of dating. It lasted a year and half before it crumbled down and they got divorced.

"You asked!" Ino remembered her, cursing and grabbing the notebook on the floor. "Anyway, what the fuck do you want me for?" She read what Sakura had written on the notebook. "High school reunion?"

"Yes! Our 10 year reunion that Naruto is desperately trying to ruin." Sakura pouted and crossed her arms, annoyed.

"Uh, I like this," Ino said, a smirk showing up on her face. Sakura's eyes were suddenly sparkling and I just knew I was going to get screwed. "Count me in, forehead, I'll help you with this. And don't worry," she turned her glaring eyes to me, "Naruto will be there as well!"

"Oh fuck!" What had myself gotten into?!

x x x

"So that is why I got that weird text from Sakura earlier today." Shikamaru looked at me for a second before returning his attention to the food he was preparing. "It sounded more like a death threat than an invitation, but-"

"Well, it's not like Sakura is exactly sane," Kiba cut in and chuckled, while grabbing a few beers from Shikamaru's freezer. "But that text really sounded too weird, man. Why is she so clingy on this prom reunion thing?"

"To screw with my life?" I questioned and thanked Kiba for the beer. After that crazy morning in my apartment, I showered in time recorded and ran away to my office in order to escape the two insane women planning something that sounded more like torture to me than actually fun. I worked for a few hours before calling Kiba for a coffee and, running into Shikamaru somewhere after 5 PM, we ended up at Shika's place for some manly gathering over dinner. "I mean, come on! Everyone knows I hated prom and she decided that prom should be the theme of the reunion?"

"You need to understand that yes, everyone knows you hated prom, but no one knows exactly why!" Kiba said, sipping his beer and sitting on the living room's floor next to Akamaru. "I mean, you were prom King against all chances and you hooked up with that cheerleader from… where again?"

"I did not hook up with anyone and the prom King bullshit was humiliating!" I grunted, pouting and turning my head to the side. "Let's not talk about it, seriously. It's enough to have Sakura trying to recreate it."

"And you'll have to deal with it because she will never forgive you if you don't go," Shikamaru said and I grunted. "Unless you want to tell her the real truth of why you hate prom so much."

"So there is a real truth that I don't know about?" Kiba questioned, giving me a sharp look and I sighed. They were suppose to be my friends, why were they doing this to me? "I thought you were my friend!"

"Now you're being worse than the girls!" I accused him, but it made no difference. And it was not like I had any chance of avoiding that subject for too long. After all, reunion was coming and if I wanted any chances of surviving it, I needed the guys help. "But fine!" I declared, messing up my hair and looking at Kiba. "It's because of Sasuke."

"Sasuke?" he repeated with a weird, confused look on his face. "But Sasuke has been away from town since..."

"Since prom!" I said and I felt my stomach starting to hurt just by mentioning Sasuke. That subject has been taboo for so long it actually became painful to talk about. I sipped my beer, messing hair even more, and tried to filter the bad memories. "Sasuke left because we had a huge fight during prom. He was suppose to stay in town and go to the local university, but he decided to go abroad after that and I only saw him for brief minutes on Sakura's wedding."

"I thought you two still talked," Kiba said in a lower tone, not sure how to deal with the situation. I shook my head and looked down, in between my knees. No, Sasuke never directed a word to me after that night. And the last time he actually looked at me, there was a hurting shadow on his eyes and I was not sure why. I mean, yeah, I'm stupid and I don't really get a lot of stuff, specially when it has to do with people's feelings, but… I thought I knew Sasuke. And I thought we had some kind of special connection. And then he left.

"Well, if he comes to the reunion, you can talk." Shikamaru suggested and my stomach hurt again. A grimace spread through my face and Shika rose an eyebrow. "Don't be a kid, Naruto. It's obvious that the you still regret what happened a lot, so you should try to talk to him."

"What if he doesn't want to talk to me?"

"And since when does Uzumaki Naruto backs off from a challenge?" he asked, focusing on the food he was preparing again and I heard Kiba making an agreeing sound while drinking his beer. They were right. But Sasuke was not the kind of a challenge that someone would take on easily.

"He was never a big fan of this kind of things." And it was true. The only reason Sasuke went to prom was because I forced him to and that was also true for all the other high school gatherings and events. He would go watch my basketball games just because he knew I would annoy him to no end if he would miss one. "Do you think he'll come to the reunion?"

"I wouldn't count on that. Sharing Corps is passing through a reformulation and I bet he's going to be drowning in work." Neji's voice sounded from the corridor that connected the living room to the rest of the apartment and he showed up at the living room's door in the next second. He was wearing pyjama pants and was bare chested but Kiba made a weird sound and my eyes widened before Neji's hair. It wasn't exactly normal looking.

"What happened to your hair?" Shikamaru asked, surprised by the part of Neji's hair that was looking very sticky.

"Your daughter drolled on it," he replied, rolling his eyes.

"Well, it's your fault! I asked you to make sure she would take a nap, not to take a nap with her." Shikamaru chuckled.

"I'm going to take a shower," Neji informed before turning away.

"Wait, why did you say Sharingan Corps is under reformulation? I didn't hear anything!" Sasuke's mom's company was under reformulation and no one knew about it? That one was new. Neji sighed and gave me a bad glare.

"I'm going to take a shower because I don't want to be smelling like baby drool for any longer and then, we can talk about it!" he stated, leaving the room and making Kiba laugh hard.

"How did you tame Hyuuga Neji to make him babysit your kid, Shikamaru?" Kiba asked and Shika tsked.

Looking back in time, no one would ever imagined that Shikamaru would have a kid by the age of 28. Lazy genius that never had a serious relationship during all high school, that was friends with benefits with one of the female teachers and that always said marriage and kids wasn't for him. We were around 24 when, one night, Shikamaru walked into the bar we usually meet, with a face paler than I ever saw, sat down quietly and said, "I screwed up." We all got worried, Shikamaru was the only one that didn't screw up. Not even once. He told us he was going to have a baby and most of us didn't really believe him. Shikamaru having a kid? That didn't make sense. But he was so nervous and so desperate that we ended up believing him and, a few months later, a very small, cute and round baby girl showed up in our lives. We never found out who the baby's mother was. I believe she's some kind of super top model or famous actress, Kiba thinks it's an older married woman and Lee said something about a princess from a far away kingdom. Without the mother around for we never knew what reason, Shika ended up raising the baby by himself. He got a very high paid working-from-home job and he makes sure his kid has all the attention in the world from him.

"I don't know what happened!" Shikamaru muttered, putting his hands on the counter and looking at the door Neji just left. "I told him he could stay awhile, after his divorce, and now my daughter is calling him Nejidada!"

"That's adorable, Shika!" I declared, and it was. The cold and powerful Hyuuga Neji playing babysit was not something you would see everyday.

"It is," he agreed, shaking his head and returning his attention to the food. "Miwa adores him and we've been playing married life because of that."

"Men, you two are so gay!" Kiba grinned and Shika gave him a bored look. Shikamaru had been listening to Kiba's idiotic statements for too long to even care any more.

Neji was back in the room with his normal looking hair in a few minutes and he took a beer from the freezer and tried to take something from Shikamaru's cooking, which only gave him a slap on his hand. He sat near us on the floor after that.

"You were saying something about the Sharingan Corps.?" I reminded him and Neji chuckled.

"Oh yeah, Sharingan Corps is passing through a bad phase at the moment and I'm sure Sasuke is overworking." he took a sip of his beer before passing a hand through clean and wet hair. "Yeah, you know that Itachi was the one taking care of the firm, right? Like, Mikoto is the real owner, but Itachi is the one making the thing work."

"Of course we know that, Itachi has been the super perfect son since ever!" I declared and it was true. Mikoto was the owner of a very big law firm, but Itachi was the one running it, even if he was just 33. His brains made him became a lawyer by the age of 20 and he was a big hit on his mom's firm as soon as he was part of it. Him getting all the way until the top was obvious and Mikoto giving him the leadership of the firm was no surprise. "But what the problem then?"

"Well, Mikoto and Fugaku have been making a lot of pressure for Itachi to get married. Apparently, it doesn't look good that someone in his position is still single." Neji made a disapproval noise about the idea of marriage. Kiba laughed. "Anyway, there was a dinner with a very few important friends last month - we were no more than 15 people - Hinata and I were there to represent Byakugan Inc., and Fugaku started to make pressure for Itachi to date one of the friends' daughter."

"For some reason I'm not seeing it ending up well," I commented and Neji grinned. I knew Itachi for years and he was always a very controlled and very polite psycho. He would be perfect at anything he was doing, but if something was annoying him too much, he would rip that person's throat off with a soft smile on his face. I was always afraid of him! He is scary!

"Let me get to that," Neji took another sip of the beer. "We were all sat in this very fancy table, and the daughter of the man in question was there as well. She, obviously, got all red but you could see on her face she was interested."

"Of course she was! Every single woman in the world would drop their panties for Uchiha Itachi to smile at them. Imagine marriage!" Kiba stated and I agreed. Itachi was scary as hell, but women seem not to be able to see that part of him.

"Anyway, she was looking all in favor of it and so was her father, and Fugaku was saying his weird stuff of 'how amazing it would be' and the family was agreeing, when I noticed that Itachi was actually smiling." Neji made a pause for suspense and I knew exactly why. Uchiha Itachi smiling means the apocalypse was coming and he's the one causing it.

"What did he do?" I asked and I heard Shikamaru laughing in the kitchen. I looked over the counter that separated both divisions and I saw that he was really amused. What in the hell's name had Itachi done? "Don't say he massacred the entire family, please!"

"I think it was even worse!" Neji laughed for a second. "He cleaned the corners of his mouth in a very polite and classy way, put the napkin down on the table, grabbed the glass of white wine and, with the most peaceful poker face in the world, he said, quoting: 'Well, father, I'm deeply afraid I will not be able to fulfill your wishes of marriage. I've been trying to make you understand, in the most delicate way possible, that I do not have any interest in marrying whichever woman you try to push into my way. And since you did not understand it in the best way, let me be absolutely clear about this.' he drank the wine, put the glass down and continued: 'I am gay!'"

"PFFF- WHAT?!" Kiba spit his beer and I almost did the same. Neji continued like he wasn't interrupted.

"'I have been gay since I can remember. I like cock. Very much actually. And I am in a relationship with someone who has a cock! So, no, father, I do not intend to marry some woman you try to make me marry. I intend to keep living with the man that I have been living for more than 15 years now and I am so much in love with. So, if you excuse me, I will leave this ridiculous dinner that was only meant to make me get engaged to someone and go home, to my man, who is waiting for me.' And he got up and left." Neji finished, the grin still on his face. "He also said that he would deliver his resignation letter in the next morning, so the entire family is very shaken and I'm sure his parents are pushing all his responsibilities to Sasuke."

"That was a prank, right?" Kiba asked, his eyes almost out of his face. "Itachi can't be gay, come on!"

"Oh he is gay!" Neji confirm it, sipping his drink. "Itachi is not the kind of guy that would drop a bomb like this as a joke."

"How can he hide it so well?" I asked, shocked. Not in a million years I would guess this.

"It's Uchiha Itachi, Naruto. Unless you go to his apartment, you'd never realize that." Shikamaru said, finishing the dinner. I noticed Neji was on his feet and helping bring the dishes to the living room in the next second. "I only found out when I went there to deliver work because the internet went down in the area."

"I didn't know you were working for Itachi!" Kiba said sniffing the food over Neji's shoulder and getting a nasty look for it.

"I'm not. I'm working for Shisui," Shika said and my jaw drop. Kiba didn't get it.

"Man, what does working for Shisui has to do- oh!" and there shall be light in Kiba's brain. "For real?"

"Yes. Apparently for a long, long time now." Neji put the plates on the small coffee table in front of us. The food looked delicious. Shikamaru joined us right after with the last plate and a cold beer.

"I went there with Miwa, she was about one at the time, and Shisui was so happy to see her that he took her from me and ran to Itachi saying something like 'We could have one like this too!'. Itachi rolled his eyes and made a nasty comment about how every single soul in the world would know about them if it would depend on Shisui's brains." We laughed and we started to eat, the idea of the reunion long forgotten in my mind. Shika ended up telling us all the times Shisui would take care of Miwa before Neji had moved in and how, in all of those times, Itachi would say something about stop trying to kidnap other people's kids. Apparently, those two were a great couple.

Kiba made a comment about Shikamaru's food being so good he should break up with Neji and marry him - getting a very nasty look from Neji and a bored one from Shika - by that time baby Miwa woke up and joined us on the table. The dinner went smoothly and I left Shika (and Neji's) place around 11PM only to meet a very angry and annoyed Ino at my place. I completely forgot about my plans with her.

x x x

The next couple of weeks were all about the reunion. Ino and Sakura got so into it, that they seemed to have forgotten that other things existed in the world. And the worse part of it was that they loved to use my apartment to plan everything. So I ended up spending a lot of time with the guys and visiting my parents more than usual (which got my mom thinking that Ino and I were over - she thinks we're dating and I can't really tell her that it's just sex).

As the reunion was coming closer and the girls were getting crazier and more excited about it day by day, I caught myself depressing and thinking too much about prom. The night that was suppose to be the night of our youth became my personal nightmare and the thing I regret the most. Sasuke and I were friends since birth and inseparable. We grew up together, did everything together, told everything to the other and, out of the blue, we had that stupid and ridiculous fight that lead us to not speaking to each other ever again. I still remember perfectly the way he looked at me, full of rage and disappointment, and it still hurt. Deep inside I knew the real reason for that fight, but I never admitted it. I never was courageous enough to say it out loud, and that made me lose my best friend.

"Have you picked up a suit for the reunion yet?" Ino popped her head inside my room and glared at me. "You're suppose to wear a suit and I'm not letting you go with jeans and converse all star, specially because you're my date and I want you to look good!"

"Who are you trying to make jealous?" I asked, looking at her with a crocked eyebrow and she gave me another glare.

"I'm not trying to make anyone jealous. It's the high school reunion and I want to look as good as I always do, so I kinda need that my date - that means you - is also looking stunning!" she hissed, returning to the living room where she was finishing I don't know what with Sakura. "So go pick up a suit!"

So that was the reason I ended up shopping with Neji on that afternoon. Kiba and Shikamaru didn't do suits, nor did Shino, Lee or Choji. Itachi did, but I was scared of him and my dad would mean that mom would tag along and I don't want to go shopping with her (I love her dearly, but shopping with Kushina is torture!).

"I don't think it's normal that someone of your current status does not own at least a suit, Naruto!" Neji stated and I frowned. We were in a fancy suit shop and Neji was picking suits that would look good on me. I notice that the associates were looking at us from the corner of their eyes (probably I should have worn more formal clothes instead of a Star Wars t-shirt, old jeans and my ripped converse. Neji was looking like a casual model.) "Your design company is important, you have famous clients and you are suppose to attend to parties! Why don't you have a suit?"

"Ino goes to all the parties as my representative. I don't do good with fancy people," I pouted and Neji rolled his eyes. He took a last suit out and put it on my hands, along with all the others, and sent me to try them out.

"You should learn how to deal with fancy people, as you put it. Ino won't be around to save your ass forever!" he stated and I knew it was true. Neji sat on a comfortable looking sofa while I entered the dressing room. "I talked to Sasuke last night." he said, sounding casual and my stomach back flipped. "He got the invitation, but he's buried in work, as I predicted."

"So he won't come?" I asked and I knew my voice sounded off. I was not sure what I was fearing the most, Sasuke going to the reunion or not.

"He said he would try." Neji put it simply and none of my doubts or anxiousness went away. "Don't stress over it, Naruto. Sasuke is back in town because of this Itachi leaving the firm thing, so I'm sure you can arrange something in case he doesn't show up."

"I called him everyday for six months after prom, Neji," I confessed, my t-shirt forgotten in the small table of the dressing room. "I sent countless texts and emails, and he never said a thing."

"That was ten years ago, Naruto. He's a different person now, and so are you." Neji was obviously right, but that did very few to help the twirl that was growing in my mind. "We're all different people now. I mean look at us! Shika is a dad, you're friends with benefits with Ino, Kiba is a womanizer, Lee and Hinata are the most happy couple I ever saw, I got a divorce because…" he fell silent after that.

"Does your uncle know?" I questioned quietly, taking off my jeans and finally starting to dress the first suit. "The real reason behind your divorce?"

"No…" the answer was so low I could barely get it. "He almost disowned me when I told him I was getting a divorce, imagine if he knew the real reason."

"And how are things with Shika?" I asked, knowing I was touching a delicate subject. "He told us Miwa is calling you Nejidada now."

"It's been almost a year that I'm living there and I grew to love that girl so much… but it's complicated." he confessed and I hear him sigh. "Shikamaru is a good friend and he won't tell me to move out. I don't want to move out either, but two grown up men living together and playing couple for the sake of a four year-old is not healthy in any way."

"You guys need to figure out your situation, Neji," I muttered, knowing perfectly well I wasn't the best person to tell him that. "I mean, you guys are freaking awesome and-"

"Shut up, Naruto, you're sounding like Temari!" Neji hissed and I laughed.

"Is Temari telling you to make a move?"

"It was the first thing she told me when we signed the divorce papers and she hasn't shut up about it ever since!" I laughed harder. Neji was clearly annoyed by his ex-wife's attitude, but he also knew she was right and only wanted the best for him. "I don't need my ex-wife telling me to go jump into one of her ex-boyfriends pants!"

"Temari rocks, man!" I stated, finishing buttoning my suit and taking a good look at the mirror. "I would marry her if there was the occasion." I smiled at the mirror and exited the dressing room for Neji to take a look.

"It looks good on you, but maybe the colour is a little bit off. Go try another one," he commented and I sighed. Neji continued. "And you won't marry Temari, the last thing she needs is another gay husband!"

"Hey! That's not true!" I protested and crossed my arms over my chest, pouting. Neji rolled his eyes.

"Ok, lets go back to pretend we never had sex!"

"That doesn't make me gay, Hyuuga Neji! It makes me bi and I never pretended that we never fucked!" which happened a lot more frequently that I should probably like to admit, but yeah. "Does Shika know about it?"

"Does Shikamaru ever not know about anything?" Neji hissed, clearly annoyed. "I'm almost sure he's a mind reader!"

"You're living with the super genius, what were you expecting?"

"Shut up and go try the next suit!" he ordered and I laughed again, re-entering the dressing room. "I don't need Ino trying to kill me because we got late to prom and you don't have a decent suit."

x x x

"Kiba… you did what?!" Shikamaru was looking at Kiba with his eyes wide open in surprise and I'm sure my face had the exact same expression as well. It was reunion night and I had just arrived at the place with Ino - who ran to go talk to Sakura about something important related to the event - and I met Shika and Neji staring at Kiba's left hand. When I approached them, I saw the clear golden wedding ring on the mutt's hand.

"You got married?!" I screeched in a very undignified way, but I couldn't help it. Kiba grinned widely. "To whom?!"

"You were not even dating anyone! How do you go off town for a week-long vacation and get married?!" Neji interrogated with a big disbelief tone on his voice. Kiba kept grinning.

"Shit happens, mate!" he stated, messing his hair and completely ignoring all our questions.

"No, Kiba, shit doesn't happen, you make it happen!" I declared, completely shocked by whatever was happening at that moment. "Who did you marry?"

"Karin."

"WHAT?!" we all interrogated, completely shocked.

"Yeah! She's pretty awesome and we get along nicely!" and he smiled. Just like that, Kiba gets married with Sasuke's crazy ex-stalker?! What the hell is wrong with this mutt? "We've been talking a lot lately, and we met by chance during our vacations and one thing lead to another and shit happens, mate!"

"Kiba," Neji started to speak very slowly, holding Kiba by the shoulders and looking directly into the dog's brown eyes. Shikamaru was speechless and I was still trying to make sure I wasn't still dreaming. "You don't get married on a whim! Marriage is something that you should use your brain to decide and not your penis!"

"I agree with Neji on this, mutt. Dating would be one thing, but marriage?" I questioned, still not sure what exactly was happening. "Does your mom know about this?"

"Ah... oh fuck, my mom!" Kiba stated and Neji slapped his forehead. "I haven't told her yet!"

"Kiba, you're an imbecile!" I declared, shoving my hands in my trousers pockets and shaking my head.

"I did something really stupid and idiotic, but there's nothing I can do to change it now!" he said, grabbing his cell phone and walking away from us to call his mom. "So I just have to hope it lasts forever!"

"How come Kiba does the most stupid thing on earth and I believe he can make it last forever?" I asked and both Shikamaru and Neji showed their agreement. "I mean, last time I did something stupid, my dad had to go bail me out at Anko's police office."

"I married a woman, Naruto, let's not talk about stupidity," Neji commented and I chuckled at his expression. Shika scratched his head.

"I did one stupid thing in my life and it gave me Miwa, so I don't even consider it as a stupid thing," Shikamaru smiled and took a glass with champagne from one of the tables. I was about to say something on the lines of how adorable Shika was in a dad's role when I noticed Lee and Hinata approaching us. Neji discretely grabbed a glass of champagne and drank half of it before the couple greet us.

"How have you been, guys?" Lee asked, smiling brightly while holding Hinata's arm.

"Good, Lee, good." I answered, noticing that Neji was still trying to avoid Hinata's eyes without being rude to his cousin. "And how's the preparation for the Olympics?"

The conversation flew easily. Lee was an elite martial artist and he was preparing to participate in his third Olympic Games. Hinata, on the other hand, was just back in business after her second maternity leave for their second daughter. I had to admit that Rock Lee and Hyuuga Hinata were, certainly, the last couple I would bet on for a happily ever after, but they were – again, certainly – the ones pulling it better so far. We chit chat for a while, Hinata asking Shikamaru about Miwa and telling him they should gather one day for the girls to hang out and become friends when I notice Neji was gone.

When Neji started to date Temari, the entire high school thought it was a big scandal. After all, Temari was Shikamaru's ex and Neji was a close friend with the lazy genius, so people just assumed that was all a big thing. What most people didn't know was that Temari and Shika were never serious with each other and it was Shika who actually told Neji to 'go for it' when he noticed how close his ex girlfriend and Neji had become. I remember that I thought how ridiculous the idea of Neji and Temari sounded. Neji was a very good looking nerd with a very heavy pressure from his uncle to excel in everything, while Temari was the proud badass girl that didn't care much about school and thought motorbikes and street races were way more interesting. How Neji and Temari became friends was a mystery for most of us – Shikamaru knew, of course he did, but he never said a word and I suspected he had his finger on it – but the fact was that, on the second trimester of our senior year, Hyuuga Neji and Sabakuno Temari were honestly dating. They went to prom together, graduated together and went to the same university. When Neji finished his master degree at the age of 24 and got a big position at his uncle's firm (where he had been working for a long time) he proposed to the university drop-out and number one motocross female racer of the country. Obviously, Neji's uncle was not very much fan of the idea of having his extraordinary gifted nephew married to a motorbike woman, but when he realized who in fact Temari's family was – the owners of the biggest motor engine's company of the country – he was very happy with their union.

Their marriage lasted two years before it started to crumble down and, an year ago, they decided to officially sign the divorce papers. Obviously that Neji's uncle did not like this and there had been a very big commotion within the family because Neji was divorcing a family that was as rich and influential as they were. Hinata tried her best to defend her cousin, but Neji never told her the real reason for the divorce and Hinata was not stupid to believe in the "we grew apart" bullshit Neji told his uncle. Not that Neji didn't trust Hinata with the truth, but he was very confused when he signed the papers and the less people know about his reasons, the better.

And, obviously, Shikamaru knew the real reason behind it because it was Shikamaru and he was a mind reader. And I found it out later, in between shots of vodka and tequila. And bedsheets.

"What about your daughter, Shikamaru? Where is she?" Lee asked after he told us all the details about his two girls favourite game. "Is she with your mom? I thought Yoshino-san was living in the lake house now."

"Na, my mom is indeed in the lake house taking care of the deer sanctuary along with my dad," Shika confirmed it, smiling. "Miwa is with Itachi. He said he would babysit her for the night."

"Itachi-san?" Hinata asked with a very surprised look in her eyes. "Is babysitting Miwa?"

"Well, actually, I think Itachi is using Miwa to distract Shisui so he can work during the night, but he said he would babysit her so why not?" I tried to control a chuckle before Hinata's astonishing expression and Lee confused one. I remembered, then, that Hinata had a crush on Itachi during high school.

"S-so, Itachi-san is really l-living with Shisui-san?" she asked in a low tone and I noticed her blushing slightly. "They were always very close, I can't believe no one noticed before..."

"Well, Itachi was always very private and discreet about his personal life, so I was not surprised he pulled it off for so long," I said, looking around casually. It was not like I was trying to see if Sasuke had arrived yet, I was just... looking for Neji! Yes, looking for Neji. Who was currently standing near the bar and had a very comfortable and smiling Temari standing right next to him. I believe that was the first time Neji and Temari were seen together after their divorce and the fact that they looked very close was not missed by most. Gossip was starting to fill the room and, eventually, Hinata noticed them as well. A painful shadow were cast upon her eyes and her slightly embarrassed and happy mood darken within seconds.

"Who would think they 'grew apart'?" she muttered in a very soft, but hurt, tone. Hinata had lost a lot of her timid nature when it came to dealing with her feelings and family problems.

Thankfully, Shikamaru was fast pulling the conversation to a distracting subject - "Hey, do you want to see pictures of Miwa helping me bake a cake? She's adorable all covered in flour!" - and moving casually like he was not trying to cover Neji with Temari – that had her arm laced with Neji's know and was whispering something into his ear – and thank the lord Lee knew how to read hints when it came to his wife's well being, so when Shikamaru finished showing them the baby pictures, Lee suddenly saw someone and dragged Hinata to the other end of the salon. I sighed.

"Hinata really didn't take well Neji not telling her the truth about the divorce, hun?" I questioned and Shikamaru scratched his head, a mist of sadness and tiredness spreading on his expression.

"How was he suppose to do that?" the lazy genius asked no louder than a whisper, turning to look at the place where Neji was smiling at his ex-wife. "Call Hinata and say 'Hey, the truth is that Shikamaru got us drunk last year and started to say some of his bullshit that makes people understand stuff about themselves, even if they don't want to, and I realized that I like cock so I got a divorce'?"

I looked at him and saw the hidden pain on his eyes. It was true that Shikamaru understood a lot of things about his friends way before they would even realize it, but it was also true that he would be the most careful person in the world when and if he decided to talk to the person about it. - "Naruto... do you really think you're feeling like this just because Sasuke is your best friend?" - But a drunk Shikamaru was not as filtered and correct as a sober one was, and him and Neji had a long history of being painfully honest with each other. So, I don't really know what happened on that day, but Shika was drunk and Neji was drunk, and I'm sure Neji was pushing the 'my marriage is falling apart and I don't know why' subject too much and Shika said something he wouldn't have if he was sober.

Truth to be told, Neji disappeared for a week after that and, within a month, his divorce with Temari was out.

"You know it's not your fault, Shika." I told my friend, knowing perfectly well that he didn't need me to tell him that – Shikamaru was smart enough not to be blaming that on himself – but I needed to make sure he knew I didn't blame it on him either.

"I know," he said, turning around and leaving to go talk to someone he saw. "But it had my finger there."

The reunion went on peacefully. Ino eventually returned to my side and played my date perfectly. I kept pretending I was not waiting for Sasuke – although I got a heavy pressure in my stomach every time I saw a dark haired guy – and we kept talking and happily chatting with everyone that would cross our way. Karin was telling everyone how insanely happy she was with her flash marriage to Kiba and how super happy they were going to be taking care of Akamaru before the first kid arrive – and Kiba spit his drink on this point. I'm sure the mutt hadn't think about kids. Chouji had become a food critic for a famous food magazine and was happier than ever. Shino was working in the local zoo as their insect keeper. Tenten – who was currently talking to Neji – had joined the military after graduation and was a Sergeant working in the weapon department. All things considered, everyone looked like they had good lives and were happy with their professions.

By 23.30 Ino and I were a little bit tired of all the talking – and gossip! Damn women and their gossip! - and decided to dance. We were shaking our asses in the dance floor when I noticed Sakura sat in a table alone with a bottle of Jack Daniels. Sakura and her depressive moods would be the end of me one of these days. I told Ino – who was slightly drunk and pushing our physics teacher Genma into the dance floor – that I was going to sit for a while and headed to Sakura's table.

"Everyone is so happy and successful!" she commented when I sat next to her and poured some of her whiskey into an empty glass.

"You're pretty successful too," I said, turning the contents of my glass into my mouth and drinking it all at once.

"I'm a school teacher, Naruto!" she stated, raising an eyebrow. "I don't like my students, I don't like my schedule, I don't like my job! I'm 28 and divorced, without a boyfriend and the man I was hoping to see tonight because I'm a fool who keeps dreaming about my high-school crush didn't even show up."

"I'm not drunk enough to be having this conversation yet," I muttered and poured another dose of whiskey into my glass. "But, hey, I don't have a boyfriend either! And I hate my clients! And I lost my best friend on prom night, 10 years ago, and was hoping he would show up today so we could make up, and no sign of him either!"

"But you and Ino...?" she questioned and I sighed, drinking my whiskey again.

"It's casual, whenever she's in town and we're feeling like it." I told Sakura, who gestured an "oh" with her mouth and finished her glass as well. "And, as you can see by the way she's flirting with Genma, it's not something that is going to last."

"Ino always had a crush on Genma-sensei," Sakura chuckled, filling both of our glasses. "Like you always had a crush on Kurenai-sensei!"

"Well, Shika was having an affair with Kurenai at the time and it was a big turn off when I found out about it!" I said and Sakura gasped. "What? You didn't know? It was a big scandalous in the middle of our senior year. They were seen by another student together in a coffee shop. It was the gossip of the trimester! I don't know how the other teachers never found out about it!"

"Because it's Shikamaru." I chuckled and Sakura smiled back at me. Our conversation kept flowing through nasty paths, with a lot of laughing and good memories in the mixed. The bottle of whiskey was finished by the time my watch beeped at midnight. I sighed and looked around. That night hadn't been as bad as I predicted. But then again, Sasuke wasn't there.

I was freaking out most of the day with the possibility of seeing Sasuke again. I really didn't know what happened on our prom night, how come we had that massive fight and weren't talking after that. I tried to call and send texts, but he never replied and, when I saw him again at Sakura's wedding, I did try to go talk to him. But the hurt expression on his face took me unprepared and, then, he was gone. A part of me was dreading seeing Sasuke again but... another part of me really wanted the bastard to come so I could try to talk to him. Even though I had no idea of what to say.

But there we were, Sakura and I, drunk with whiskey, at midnight of our reunion and no sign of Sasuke anywhere. It was sad that we were both getting drunk over the same guy. I laughed, feeling somehow like one of those sad women from the romance movies. It was so stupid and sad!

"Sasuke-kun..." I heard Sakura whispering and I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, Sakura, we're not drunk enough for you to be calling Sasuke's name like that yet!" I hissed, grabbing the empty bottle to make sure it was really empty.

"No, Naruto!" she stated and the sudden sober tone of her voice called my attention. "It's Sasuke-kun!"

My head turned so fast I could hear my neck popping. And she was right. Standing near the bar, holding a glass on his hand and talking casually to Neji, there was Sasuke.

"Fuck!"

First dance - omake

It was almost 9 PM and Sasuke was still sat on this new office, working. The fact that Itachi decided to pull the drama-queen and leave the family's company with his fabulous "I'm gay" revelation only came to fuck up his entire life. And he could have said no to his mother when she called begging him to go and fill his brother's vacant place but when Itachi called to ask the same thing... damn all the big brother issues Sasuke had!

Plim!

His cellphone warned him that a new message had arrived. Sasuke ignored it since he knew exactly from whom that message was.

Plim!

Another one, not even five minutes later. Sasuke cursed and ignored it again.

Plim! Plim! Plim!

"AAHHH!" he grabbed his phone, ignoring the 10 unread messages and calling directly to the person who was sending them.

"Did you see the pictures?"

"Neji! Stop sending me pictures of Shikamaru's daughter covered in flour!"

"But she's so adorable!"

"In the first picture, yes! Not in the 100 you sent after that!"

"She's adorable in all of them! Wait, I'll send you one of her with the bowl on her head! She's super cute!"

"NEJI!"

A.N.: I hope you enjoyed it. Second chapter will be on soon.

Review, please!
Akira