EDITED 1.16.14 (I gave the whole story a grammar and plot inconsistency check. It should be alright now. I rarely do that and now that I did, I feel so satisfied.)

I'm crazy for making a new fan fic with all others pending, but I can't help it. An online buddy requested that I make the fic and she's gonna send me some goodies in exchange. Yes, I accept bribes to make some of your dreams come true. *evil grin*

So, this is my take of your favorite shinobi in high school. Although, not all of them are included in this story as main characters. Some might just appear as "sides".

Full Summary: Konohagakure is a country that houses some of the most elite families in all of the world. If there is one school they go to, that is Konoha Gakuen, owned by the famous Senju clan. But even with the glitz and glamour of the privileged life, this is where we find out that the more money you have, the messier life can become.

Sixteen-year-olds, seven prestigious families, one school, five rivalries, one love. Welcome to Konoha Gakuen. Welcome to hell.

Pairings: Sasuke x Sakura; Naruto x Hinata; Kiba x Ino; Neji x Ten-ten (everyone is a main pairing, but won't allow more than two couples in the character selection, so I'll just write them down here)

Side Pairings: Sasuke x Hinata; Naruto x Sakura; Shikamaru x Ino; Shikamaru x Temari; Neji x Temari (won't include the grown-ups)

A Number of Complications

A multiple-pairing fan fic

Chapter 1

Degrees of Separation

"For the sake of the new students, try to introduce yourselves and your background," Hatake Kakashi said out of boredom.

In other schools, old students didn't introduce themselves to transferees. The newbies just have to find out for themselves. But in Konoha Gakuen, where the elite of the elite go to school, they have to save the new rich kids the bother of knowing them. Because each one decided for themselves if they wanted to get to know you better.

It would be safe to say that everyone was on equal footing here because you couldn't enroll in Konoha Gakuen without a massive donation and an equally massive tuition fee. But there were just some students who were out of this world when it came to gifts and treasures.

My turn. I hate this.

"Ohayou, my name is Haruno Sakura," the pink-haired girl said, her usual confidence faltering for reasons currently unknown and would remain unstated until later in this story. "I'm 16 years old and I live nearby," this warranted a small wave of laughter from her classmates, who knew where she lived, "Background is… well, my mother was a Senju and I am the granddaughter of the owners of this school," she didn't like saying this, but they always had to. As if they wanted to be sold to the highest bidder or something, "I'm their only grandchild, making it kind of boring. Aside from the school, we also have holdings in the medical industry here in Konohagakure. And, my hobbies include playing trivia games and reading medical books. My favorite word is 'courage'."

Haruno Sakura abruptly sat down, feeling her lungs being worked overtime. Her emerald eyes were fixed upon five people who were standing in front of them – the transferees. She felt as if she wasted her breath because one particular person whom she wanted to catch the attention of with her speech had barely even glanced at her. He seemed to be whispering urgently to the lavender-eyed beauty who was standing beside him. She was successful, however, in catching the attention of the blonde boy standing next to another lavender-eyed boy. He was grinning at her as if he had known her forever.

"My name is Sabaku Tenshi," a flat voice came out of nowhere. Sakura turned. Ten-ten. The usually cheerful girl looked angry. Her brown eyes pierced the people standing in front, looking as though she intended to murder them. Sakura sweat-dropped. She didn't know why Ten-ten was acting so strangely. "I don't know why I should introduce myself since I know who these people are, but sure…"

"Ten-ten-san," Kakashi said, a warning in his voice.

Ten-ten rolled her eyes. "My parents are Sabaku Hoshimaru and Sabaku Karura. I am the youngest daughter of the four sibilings. My family has various shipping lines and is involved with the agriculture and appliance industry. That is, until they were bought by the Hyuuga company. Now, we work for them. Merger, they said," she said that with venom in her voice. This statement elicited a small gasp from the lavender-eyed girl who was in front and the boy, whom Sakura could only say was her twin, frowned deeply at her. "I kinda like fortune-telling and solving a little mystery now and then. I don't like pickled plums but I love Chinese food."

She sat down as abruptly as she stood up, eyes forward and never even bothering to give a friendly smile to the newcomers. This particular behavior didn't affect the others however, aside from the lavender-eyed twins that Sakura observed a while ago.

"Hi," an airy voice said from the back. It was Sakura's best friend, one of the most popular girls in school, hell, in all of Konohagakure. "I'm Yamanaka Ino. I came from the Yamanaka clan, experts in flower arrangements and the flower trade in general. We also have amusement and sports parks across the country as a side-line. In my own right, I'm an actress, so perhaps you already know me." With that, she flipped her blonde hair, causing Sakura to roll her eyes in exasperation. "I love shopping, cherry tomatoes, and pudding. I hate sashimi and people who pretend to be someone they're not."

"Hai, hai," Kakashi said, finally ending the class introductions. "Now it's time to get to know our new students. If you will…"

Sakura grimaced. Everyone knew who these students were. Some of them might not have lived in Konoha for a while, but this was what Sakura meant by being better than even the others who were already rich. These people in front of them were sort of royalty in some way. Now, with their arrival, they have already disturbed the delicate internal balances of Konoha Gakuen. They almost caused a riot in the school when they arrived at the gates.

The miracle that led them to the classroom safely was an army of guards and escorts that made everyone's chances of even getting a small peek at them futile.

But Sakura, being the granddaughter of Jiraiya and Tsunade, knew they were coming. And she was nervous as hell for another reason entirely.

The lavender-eyed boy came up first. "Good morning," his voice was well-modulated and even with the politeness of his phrasing, Sakura could hear the arrogance in his tone. The boy had dark brown hair, eyes that were so light that it was almost white, a permanent frown on his face, and a graceful stance that befitted nobles. "My name is Hyuuga Neji, heir of the Hyuuga group of companies, the owner of hotel chains, cellular companies and technological facilities. I like to be realistic and practical when it comes to things in general. I don't like spicy food and I despise idiots, bullies, and people who hurt or try to hurt my family."

When he said the last part, he stared pointedly at Ten-ten, who openly glared back.

The introduction was short and just what Sakura expected from her first impression of Hyuuga Neji.

Hyuuga Neji was renowned as a genius. In the circle of people-you-have-to-know, the Hyuugas were a noble clan who branched out to various businesses. They were listed as one of the top three richest families in Konoha and they have stayed there for decades. Its current head, Hyuuga Hiashi, was known to be very strict in controlling both his public and private life. One could understand why Neji was who he was.

Beside him stood a beautiful young woman. Her hair was dark blue and it fell gracefully down her back. She had the same eyes as Neji, but she seemed gentler and less cocky. She smiled a soft and shy smile and when she spoke, her voice sounded like wind chimes in the summer. "Good morning," she said, eyes habitually flitting to the ground every now and then. "My name is Hyuuga Hinata. I am 16 years old and Neji-nii-san is my older twin. I love the color lavender and my hobby is pressing flowers. My favorite word is 'self-confidence' and I look forward to being good friends with you all."

Her beauty and her sweet demeanor seemed to earn the interest of the boys in the class. The fact that she had a drop-dead gorgeous body with big breasts didn't disappoint the male populace either. A couple of guys were openly gaping at her and some wanted to ask questions, much to Kakashi's chagrin. Their adviser asked the boys to settle down and Sakura almost laughed as she saw the obvious threat in Neji's face. But it wasn't until she spotted the murderous gaze of the black-haired boy beside Hinata that she was forced to bite her cheek and look down on her hands sadly.

There's something there.

She thought that it was his turn at last, before the spotlight was suddenly snatched by a blonde boy. He seemed to be the loudest of the group and it would be safe to say that everyone was both awed and intimidated by him. Why? Well… if you consider the other transferees as nobility, this young man was the noblest of them all.

"Yo!" he said enthusiastically. His spiky blonde hair was so strange in so many ways that one cannot help but stare at it. "I'm Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto," this sent a new wave of murmurs from the class, "Ignore the fact that my dad is the Prime Minister and that my mom's a princess. So, I'm just a good guy who likes ramen and these people," he gestured towards his companions, "who are my friends since childhood. I stick to promises and I never back down from a challenge. And right now, that challenge is to make Haruno Sakura-chan fall in love with me."

WHAT?!

Sakura almost fell from her seat as laughter exploded in the classroom. Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, son of Namikaze Minato (Prime Minister of Konohagakure) and Namikaze-Uzumaki Kushina (one of the two children of the Emperor of Konohagakure), just told everyone that he liked Haruno Sakura. She could feel the blush creeping up to the roots of her hair, clashing horribly with the already pink state that they were in.

"You're so lucky, Sakura-chan!" a girl named Hino said from in front of her. "The prince of Konoha likes you!"

Sakura only smiled. She didn't want Naruto's attention. She wanted –

"Uchiha Sasuke," a cutting deep voice said, hypnotizing every female in the room. "I'm the second child of Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto. I have an older brother, Itachi, and he's married to the older sister of this idiot," he said, referring to Naruto who aimed a punch at him. "I also have a younger brother, who's in a lower year, Uchiha Sai. I don't particularly like anything aside from taking walks and tomatoes. I like the word 'power'. Most of all, I hate loudmouths, screaming girls, and pointless tasks."

Sakura knew perfectly well who this guy was. He might not remember her, but she always did. She always remembered him. For the past years that he was gone, she never forgot about him. Sasuke was Sakura's classmate when they were in middle school. She had a crush on him ever since, developing into some kind of love that she could never fathom the source of. He suddenly transferred during the middle of the school year for reasons unknown to her. All she knew was that he went to an exclusive school in Kumogakure, a neighboring nation.

And it seemed that his devilishly handsome looks have improved over time. The silent and cool type seemed to have won the other girls in the class over. Yet again, Sasuke was the apple of the girls' eyes. This seemed to irritate him, as he garnered as much attention as Hinata had when she introduced herself, forcing Kakashi to calm everyone down once again.

The last person – another celebrity. This young man beat Ino's popularity by miles. And from what Sakura could remember, Ino wanted to work with him. He had spiky brown hair, a slight tan, and identical red tattoos under his eyes that made him look strangely attractive. His grin was cocky and this made the girls swoon. "I'm Inuzuka Kiba. My mother is Inuzuka Tsume, a famous director and my sister is Inuzuka Hana, a fashion designer. Basically, I don't belong in this group," he pointed to the people he was with, "just so happens that I'm a transferee like them. And I don't come from old money. My family's pretty new in this rich business. I'm also self-made and for reasons you all know why."

Yes. They all knew why. Kiba was the most popular idol in Konoha. He was a fashion model, an actor, and a rock star. Even Ino, who was already a shining celebrity in her own right, was awed by him. He was talented alright.

"I like taking walks with my dog, Akamaru," he continued. "I like playing instruments and practicing. I like beef jerky… and uh, I don't sign autographs when I'm in school."

This earned a flurry of ill-disguised disappointment from the girls.

"So that's it," Kakashi said, obviously relieved by the ending of the introductions. Even though Konoha Gakuen housed the children of prestigious families, the transferees were of an entirely new level of popularity. This would be more troublesome than expected and he, Hatake Kakashi, was given the 'honorary' and equally burdensome title of being their adviser.

Not that he couldn't live up to expectations. He was considered a genius by his peers and students. It was just that his brilliance was often eclipsed by laziness.

"I'll now assign you to your seat," Kakashi added. "Kiba-kun, you can sit to Ino-chan's right."

Kiba almost blurted out the word, 'perfect', but stopped himself. He didn't give himself a complete makeover and get this popular for nothing. All of what he achieved was for destroying one particular girl. And now, he had the pleasure to say that said self-absorbed person didn't even recognize him as he walked through the door and introduced himself.

Yamanaka Ino. He smirked as he observed that she was blushing hotly from being assigned as his seat mate. First stage complete.

He took the seat as casually as possible, not even fazed by the fact that he was seated beside a famous actress that was almost of the same caliber as he was.

"Hinata-chan," Kakashi then said, "You can sit in front of Ino-chan."

"H-hai, sensei," Hinata replied, taking the seat in front of the blonde.

"Hi, I'm Ino," Ino said, whispering at Hinata's back and smiling broadly.

Hinata's cheeks turned pink. No one ever talked to her before of their own free will. Often, girls didn't like her because she grabbed all the attention due to her status. But this girl, Ino, seemed nice. "I'm Hinata," she responded, smiling back.

"Naruto-kun. Take the seat on Hinata's left."

"E-eh?!" Naruto said, frowning. "I wanna be beside Sakura-chan!"

Sakura blanched. The blonde wasn't even contented that he already got the seat behind her and he had to go as far as to ask for the vacant seat beside her.

Kakashi merely sighed and waved his hand, saying that Naruto should stop complaining and that he should sit. It was just like their teacher to be unfazed that he was commanding the person who could possibly be the next Emperor of Konohagakure.

Naruto grudgingly accepted his fate, sitting beside a slightly tearful Hinata. Neji wanted to pummel the idiot for hurting Hinata's feelings. Only he knew that his twin was madly in love with Namikaze Naruto. He promised to keep it a secret though, and with Hinata's shyness, it was unclear if she would ever confess.

And there was also the issue that she was already promised to someone else.

"Neji-kun. Take the seat in front of Ten-ten," Kakashi commanded, knowing that he'll be met with a complaint so he made his voice more assertive.

Fortunately, Neji didn't complain. As long as he was seated, he wouldn't make a fuss. He'd excel in anything anyway, Sabaku be damned.

"That leaves Sasuke-kun," Kakashi said. "Please sit beside Sakura-chan."

To the teacher's surprise, Uchiha Sasuke didn't move.

"What's wrong this time?" Kakashi all but grumbled.

"I want to exchange seats with Naruto," Sasuke said.

"And why is that?" Kakashi said, with a 'humor-me' tone.

"Because Naruto clearly wants to be beside Haruno," Sasuke said. "You'll never hear the end of it, sensei. And," with this, it was clear what he was going to say because Hinata now turned brick red, "Hinata is engaged to me. I need to sit beside her."

This effectively shot down all arguments from Kakashi. He merely nodded. This earned him a whoop from Naruto, who happily took Sasuke's seat.

When Sasuke finally sat beside Hinata, the dark-haired girl whispered to him, "I-Is that really necessary, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke gave her a sideways smile so that only she could see. "Well, it's true. I promised your father that I would look after you. And this will save us from all the trouble we experienced before."

Hinata sighed. It was true. She and Sasuke had similar reasons why they went outside of Konohagakure to study. However, she wondered if Sasuke already noticed that she was in love with someone else. It would have seemed obvious by the way her eyes glazed over when Kakashi-sensei said that Naruto would sit beside her. But, she knew that getting along with him in a romantic way was impossible…

Sakura could barely believe her ears. Sasuke-kun's engaged? To Hyuuga Hinata?

She stopped her heart from pounding and she barely had the strength to actually stop herself from crying. It seemed lame, but she had been pining for Sasuke for years now. And they were never really even friends in the first place. All these years of waiting for him, and now she found out that he was engaged.

Sakura never even knew of Hinata's existence. All she knew was that the Hyuuga family had three children. Neji and two girls. She had met Neji before, but the two girls were a complete mystery to her. Her grandmother told her that the two belonged to an all-girls' school before Hinata transferred to another one outside the country. But from what she could see, it seemed that the Sasuke and Hinata already knew each other very well. She could even hear their conversation.

She had never heard or seen Sasuke act that way towards any girl.

That's why I already told you to give up on him, another part of her mused. It's obvious that Sasuke doesn't go for girls who are too interested in him. And damn girl, your interest is bordering on freaky.

"I am not freaky!" she said, oblivious to the fact that she said the statement aloud.

"Of course you're not, Sakura-chan," Naruto said from beside her, amused at the sudden outburst of his seatmate.

"A-ah," Sakura said, embarrassed beyond words. "S-sorry, Your Highness."

"Your Highness?" Naruto repeated. "Seriously? No one's called me that in years! Well, I haven't visited my mom's household in years, so no one's ever called me that. It's freaky - the real definition of freaky."

Sakura sighed and mentally slapped himself. "Sorry."

"You can just call me Naruto. That'll be better."

"Naruto," Sakura said, smiling at the blonde. He was nice. He wasn't snobbish at all and that wasn't what you usually expected from a prince.

"So, your grandparents own this joint," Naruto said, with Sakura almost cringing at the way he talked. It seemed that Namikaze Naruto talked more like a gangster than royalty. Where did he learn to talk like that?

"Yes," Sakura replied.

"Then you'll be the best person to give me a tour later at lunch!" Naruto said excitedly. "Can you?"

Sakura grinned. Like it or not, Naruto had a very contagious aura about him. You just can't help but like him, even with all his odd tendencies. "Sure. But is it okay if Ino comes with us? She's my best friend and she always has lunch with me."

"Of course," he responded. "I'm not too sure if my friends will come with us, though. Neji, Sasuke, and Hinata always have somewhere fancy to go to during lunch breaks. They're not allowed to eat at school. Well, neither am I, but I always break rules."

"Obviously," she said with a giggle. "But where do you want to have lunch?"

Naruto turned pink. "W-well, I actually have a cup of ramen with me. And I wanted to try the ramen here at school."

"You actually like that sort of stuff huh?" Sakura said with a grimace. "I don't eat stuff with loads of preservatives in them. You'll die early."

"Then that'd be better!" Naruto said, laughing loudly.

"Oy you two, shut up. The teacher's actually giving out a lecture," Sasuke said from behind Sakura, causing the pink-haired kunoichi to redden.

"You shut up, teme," Naruto retorted.

"G-guys, please," Hinata said. "Stop fighting. It's our first day."

"Yes and if you ruin Hinata's day, I'll make yours a living hell, Naruto," Neji snapped, causing Naruto to grumble and cross his hands against his chest.

"I swear, these two Hinata watchdogs always suck the fun out of my life," Naruto mumbled angrily. Sakura almost felt sorry for the lavender-eyed girl who seemed to be on the verge of tears, staring at the back of Naruto's head in an odd way.

N-no way! That Hyuuga girl likes…?

It was strange that this heiress didn't like Sasuke. Then again, it might be one of the reasons why Sasuke was close to her. She might be the only girl with whom he could interact normally with.

Now this is a very complicated situation.

Neji wanted to pummel Naruto so badly that his hands itched. What's more, he could feel the back of his head burning from the glare Sabaku Tenshi (Ten-ten) kept on giving him since he sat down. It wasn't his fault that their company had been failing for the past three years and was saved from death by the Hyuugas. It also wasn't his fault that their ambitious father, Hoshimaru, offered up his elder daughter to the Hyuugas.

Neji was actually engaged to Sabaku Temari, Ten-ten's older sister.

The younger seemed to raise her disapproval very vocally. Neji didn't want to be bothered though. He didn't like Temari one bit. He was cordial to her, but he had no illusions that he would be married off to someone he loved or even remotely liked. One thing that he appreciated about his fiancée was that she had a good head on her shoulders.

This Ten-ten girl seemed to be the opposite. Hot-headed and too brash. Much like Naruto.

This would be one hell of a year.

"Naruto-kun, are you coming to lunch with us?" Hinata shyly asked the blonde, who was lounging in his seat.

"Huh?" Naruto said, shaken out of his stupor and turning his head towards Hinata. "Uhm, nope. I'll be spending lunch time with Sakura-chan and Ino-chan. They're showing me around the school."

Hinata smiled sadly. "O-okay then. See you this afternoon."

Sasuke scowled at Naruto. "Is that even safe, dobe? You know you're not allowed to eat in places where your guards haven't inspected the food yet."

"As if I'll be poisoned here, teme," Naruto shot back. "If there's one person who'll be poisoned, it's most likely going to be you. You practically wrote yourself a death sentence with that attitude of yours."

Sasuke kicked Naruto's chair, causing the blonde to fall over flat on his face.

"Sasuke-kun!" Hinata scolded. "Stop fighting with Naruto-kun. Let's just go, please."

With this, Sasuke stopped and went out with Neji and Hinata.

"Wow, she seems to be the only one to stop him huh?" Ino said, approaching the disfigured Naruto and the shocked Sakura.

"Y-yeah," Sakura said, feeling her heart filling up with sadness again.

Ino sighed. "I tried asking Kiba-kun to join us, but he refused," she stated, looking back at the brown-haired boy who seemed to be deep in conversation with another boy in their class. "He seems not to like me very well."

"What did you do?" Sakura asked, surprised that one person didn't like Ino at all.

"Nothing!" Ino said defensively. "I wasn't even swooning over him. I actually paid attention to Kakashi-sensei this time."

"Kiba's cool," Naruto said when he finally righted himself. "We actually became pals pretty quickly. As soon as we entered this room."

"Then why don't you ask him to join us, Naruto?" Ino asked excitedly.

Naruto sighed. "I don't think so," he said as they watched Kiba go out with a group of giggling girls. "He's a bit of a ladies' man, don't you think?"

"Tsk," Ino said in disappointment. "Oh well, let's go to the cafeteria."

"Okay," Sakura said.

"YOSH!" Naruto exclaimed, pumping his fists in the air as he followed the two girls.

"Seriously, Naruto, are you really Princess Kushina's son?" Ino said, laughing at his antics.

"Of course I am! You should meet my mom when she's not in public. She acts worse than me. I actually got most of my personality from her," Naruto said, grinning from ear to ear.

The two girls laughed but were stopped when they heard fanatic screaming from below. They all peeked out of the window to see a beautiful limousine waiting for three passengers to get on – Sasuke, Hinata, and Neji. From their vantage point, it seemed that someone was trying to hit on Hinata when Sasuke pulled her out of the way.

"Uchiha Sasuke seems to like Hinata-chan very much, huh?" Ino commented.

"Of course he should," Naruto agreed. "They're engaged. They've been engaged for more than a year now."

"R-really?!" Ino said, awed. "Well, it would make sense since a merge between the Uchiha and the Hyuuga families would be considered as the perfect match. It's a plus point that Sasuke already likes Hinata."

"But from what Neji said to me, Hinata doesn't like Sasuke," Naruto said a bit too conspiratorially. "Poor bastard. Chicks always dig him but it seems that the girl who's going to marry him doesn't like him at all."

Ino's ears practically perked at hearing this juicy gossip. "Uchiha Sasuke, unrequited love?! That's unheard of! But it seems that Hinata-chan likes him enough!"

"As a brother," Naruto explained. "Hinata said so herself. She told me."

That's because she's in love with you, moron, Sakura almost said out of exasperation. It seemed that Naruto was dense beyond imagination. But she wasn't in the position to interfere. She herself had unrequited feelings for Uchiha Sasuke. It's all a complicated situation. And all those years of separation didn't do her any good too.

"How about you, Naruto-kun?" Ino asked. "Are you engaged to anyone? In our circle, it's not uncommon to get engaged at 16."

"Me?" Naruto said, amused. "Nah. My parents are very different from the other adults. They don't believe in arranging marriages. My dad himself said that he doesn't care if I marry a prostitute, as long as I love her."

"A-a prostitute?!" Sakura gasped, alarmed that Namikaze Minato would actually say something like that to anyone, let alone his own son.

Ino laughed uncontrollably. "Your dad is so cool!" she exclaimed. "My dad's like that too!"

"That's good to hear," Naruto said. "My parents are just more liberal. They married out of love, you see. It's just luck that my dad is a nobleman and that later on he became Prime Minister. That's why my grandparents were more accepting of their relationship."

"Lucky indeed," Sakura agreed.

"Hinata and Neji aren't as lucky though. Hiashi is really strict," Naruto commented with a frown. "Hanabi, the youngest, is dating Sarutobi Konohamaru, the Crown Prince of Amegakure but from what I learned, it's a secret. Neji is engaged to Sabaku Temari, daughter of a shipping magnate. I think she's that Ten-ten's sister, that's why she was pissed at Neji. And Hinata's engaged to Sasuke-teme."

"Do you always call Sasuke-kun like that?" Sakura said, almost groaning at the way this particular member of the royal family talked.

"Yeah," Naruto said. "I called him like that since we were kids. He's my best friend."

"You guys are best friends?!" Ino said in shock. "It's not very obvious!"

"Well, we've known each other since we were five. I got along with Itachi very well and he married nee-chan," he explained. "And Sai's really cool too. A bit weird, but well, everyone has their oddities."

"Yes they have," Sakura said pointedly, looking at Naruto who blanched.

"I've learned more juicy gossip from you than from anyone I know," Ino said as they finally reached the cafeteria. "So, what do you guys wanna – "

Ino was suddenly cut off from her sentence when a hoard of girls ran towards them, all with papers, pens, and cameras with them.

"NARUTO-SAMA!" they all yelled.

Uh-oh, we forgot who we're with, Sakura thought, eyeing Ino, who nodded. In a flash, they both grabbed Naruto and made a run for it.

Almost at once, a dozen guards appeared to halt the girls from trampling over them. To Sakura and Ino's relief, they were finally out of the stampede.

"I guess we could eat out?" Naruto said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry girls. That thing happens almost all the time."

"We know," the two said, clutching their stomach as they tried to catch their breath.

"My treat," Naruto said with a grin.

Hinata barely touched her food. She looked outside the window of a café that was cleared out by their personal assistants because of their presence. It was also because Sasuke owned this particular place.

"What's bothering you, Hinata?" Neji asked, eating his meal very carefully.

"Naruto didn't join us," she said. "It's our first day."

"The dobe's fast with making friends," Sasuke commented, trying to ease Hinata's worry. "You know him."

"But father told us to stick together. It's dangerous for us, even at Konoha Gakuen," Neji said. "I already told Naruto about that and I wouldn't be surprised if he's being rampaged by girls by now."

"Oh no," Hinata said sadly, twiddling her fingers out of worry. It wasn't that she didn't want Naruto to have fun, but people had a tendency to become overbearing and they often didn't have any respect for personal space, especially towards people like them.

"He's a big boy," Sasuke said. "And he has his own guards to protect him. Even though he's an idiot, he is a prince of Konohagakure."

"And he's with the directress' grandchild," Neji added. "That Haruno girl."

Hinata nodded, her thoughts consumed by the way Naruto openly flirted with Sakura-san. "She's very pretty."

"Hn," Sasuke said.

Neji didn't say anything for it was obvious that his twin sister was saddened by this. If only Naruto would wake up from his daydreams and actually look at Hinata. Before it was too late…

"Sasuke-kun," Hinata said. "Don't you think that we should contact Naruto-kun and check if he's – "

"OI YOU GUYS!" a voice that could only be Naruto's hollered from behind their table.

Naruto walked towards them, face covered with sweat and red from exertion.

"What happened?!" Neji demanded, standing up and noticing that two girls – Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino – followed closely behind their friend, also panting.

"I had the driver bring us to where you were," Naruto explained. "A group of girls came up to me at the cafeteria."

"We already warned you!" Neji scolded him. "Just listen for once in a while, you idiot!"

"Yeah, yeah, well I haven't had lunch yet," Naruto defended himself. "Just let us eat here."

Sasuke just nodded in annoyance and asked the waiter to bring them more tables and chairs.

"By the way, this is Sakura-chan and Ino-chan," Naruto said as he made way for the two young women.

"Hi," Ino said, clearly happy with the company.

"H-hi," Sakura said, flustered at this sudden arrangement. She tried hard not to look at Sasuke-kun, who was staring at her with an unreadable expression on his handsome features.

"Join us, please," Hinata said, smiling sincerely up at them.

I couldn't possibly bring myself to hate this girl. She's too kind, Sakura said to herself. She's practically royalty for god's sake.

"Are you alright, Sakura-san?" Hinata asked, concern etched on her porcelain face.

"Y-yes!" Sakura squeaked, settling herself across Neji and beside Naruto.

"What do you wanna eat, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. "Remember, this is my treat."

"Wow," Neji said, actually surprised for the first time. "You've never been generous to anyone before, Naruto. You should include us."

"No way," Naruto grumbled. "This place belongs to teme here, he eats free and you and Hinata are also free from paying, by extension."

"Well, why not you? You're his brother-in-law," Ino said.

"Sasuke has a big exemption to his generosity rule," Naruto explained venomously. "And that's me."

Sakura chuckled in amusement. This love-hate situation between Sasuke and Naruto was endearing. "How long have you and Sasuke-kun been married?"

At this, Sakura almost slapped her mouth at the words that came out of it. Hinata actually laughed at what she said. Neji's stoic face broke into a grin. Sasuke nearly spat out the food he was chewing. Naruto paled, his tan actually fading. Ino broke into fits of hysterical giggling.

"A-ah, well…" the pink-haired girl said, trying to regain her composure.

"That wasn't funny, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, depressed.

"Not funny at all," Sasuke said in a flat tone.

"Ne, it was funny, Sasuke-kun," Hinata commented, going back to her meal and was finally relieved that Naruto was alright.

"Whatever," the onyx-eyed boy said, going back to his meal too and eyeing Sakura once in a while, effectively shaking her up.

Ino stared at her best friend knowingly as she ate. So this was the boy Sakura was talking about? Even I could spot it a million miles away.

So it seemed that Haruno Sakura was in love with Uchiha Sasuke, who was engaged to Hyuuga Hinata. And it seemed that Hyuuga Hinata loved someone else. From the obvious change of her facade from worried to happy when they arrived, Ino could tell that she was in love with the prince, Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto. And now, Naruto had a huge crush on her best friend, Sakura.

That complicated a lot of things indeed.

How could it get any worse?

This is going to be an interesting year.

Done! For more clarifications, just ask away. This will be pretty much humorous in general, but with other bouts of interesting things. Just you wait.