I'm alliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiveeeeee! Hello to all the new and old readers. It has been a while since the last update. Life happens but I hope to be officially back with new updates and new stories. It is great to see how much the fanfiction community has grown! I know some of you may have forgotten what has happened and I'm sorry for anyone that will need to reread again.

Here is a little sneak peak of the next chapter, until next time!

Chapter 28: Countdown

Sakura eyed the small booths. Whoever sat in them would be super close together, thighs touching and rubbing against each other. "Shino, Kiba, Shikamaru," Sakura blurted out as she darted to the nearest booth and slid inside.

They all stood silently before they muttered underneath their breath and shuffled over to find seats.

Shikamaru sighed as he ignored the glares he could feel being directed at his head. "So troublesome."

Kiba nervously glanced at the angry eyes looking ready to rip him to pieces. "Ummm Sakura, why did you put us in this predicament?

Sakura scanned the menu before looking up at her friend. "What predicament? You guys are my friends; I can't sit with you?"

"It's not that…but you know who wanted to sit with you more."

"There is only room for three, it would make matters worse if I picked three of them and two were left out," Sakura hissed, looking over in the direction of the others. Itachi winked at her, causing her to quickly advert her eyes. "It works best this way. Let's just order."

"I wonder what they are talking about over there," Naruto said, spitting crumbs on Deidara's jacket. He simply glared at him before he grabbed a napkin from the dispenser, wiping at his sleeve.

"Can you chew with your mouth closed Naruto?" Gaara asked, rubbing his head, irritated.

"I want to sit with my baby," Neji whined looking at Sakura's booth.

"Sakura is not your baby." Deidara glared at him. "She is mine!"

"Excuse me, but Sakura does not belong to any of you people," Naruto said. "She will be single forever!"

"Shut up," Gaara growled, throwing a French-fry at Naruto's forehead.

"Free food!"

Idate cleared his throat, trying to break the awkward silent that was at the table. He was not sure how he ended up with Sasori, Itachi and Sasuke who were quite intimidating.

"So, uh, how did you guys meet Sakura?" he asked while casually sipping at his water.

Sasuke glared at him and chose to stare out the window instead of answering the question.

"We met in gym, she stepped on my foot after she broke Sasuke's nose with a basketball." Itachi answered for his brother.

Idate chuckled to himself. "Yes that sounds like Sakura." Idate turned his attention to the quiet redhead.

"How did you meet her?" Sasori asked, curious.

"Oh, uh, we went to school together in elementary school before I moved because of my dad's job."

"Do you like Sakura?" Sasori asked bluntly.

"Wow, these guys don't wait around."

"Well not exactly. I mean it was a little crush but, uh, Sakura is not really interested."

A small smirk appeared on Sasuke's face, seemingly enjoying himself after hearing this news. Soon everyone was quiet again, staring down at their food, not sure of what to say.