A/N: Hey there! Sorry for the delay once again.

But due to that, I was able to gather enough opinions from all of you. Thank you all so much for taking the time and reading my note. It made me realize how many of you are still enjoying this story. I really felt appreciated. Thank you very much. I love you all!

For those who I had informed that this update would be on March 15,

I apologize greatly. I had some troubles with the file on the last minute.:|

This is the LAST time I'm using Microsoft Word for my stories. Ugh.

Spring Vacation is coming up for me, so I hope to make up for that by updating again during that time. Again, my apologies, and advanced thanks for understanding.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, coz if I did, then it would mostly be
about romance. =))

"Words Spoken"

'Thoughts'

(Author's notes)

Love Can Change Everyone

Chapter 15: Fight For Your Love

The next morning, Sakura and the gang went to school like always. During lunch, they asked one of Temari's friends, and one of Shino's friends where the two live.

"Do you happen to know what's up with them?" Ino asked Temari's friend, who was surprised that the most popular group in their school was talking to her.

"N-no. Temari refuses to see anyone, not even me.." The blonde girl said, fidgeting slightly. Though she was well aware that the group was nice, being cornered by 7 people was not a good feeling.

The Konoha no Shinobi looked at each other, before thanking the girl and walking away to look for Shino's friend. When they found the bright guy, the total opposite of Shino, they asked him the same thing.

"No, sorry, dudes." The hiphop looking guy spoke with a kind of accent. "He won't speak to me, and I haven't seen him yet either."

"'Dudes'" The girls mimicked in a whisper, breaking in a fit of giggles among each other. The guys heard, and had to force their grins down so as not to make Shino's friend curious.

They thanked him for the information he shared, before leaving to have a meeting somewhere private.

"So...even their friends have no clue about what's happening." Tenten started, once they were in a secluded area of their school grounds.

"They seem to only know as much information as we do." Shikamaru agreed, sitting down on a bench. The others followed suite, sighing.

There was a short silence, all of them deep in their thoughts, before Sakura broke it.

"What are we going to do now?" she asked, leaning back on the bench and staring up at the sky. It was very clear, not a single cloud in sight. The sun was shining, but it seemed to lack its usual brightness. Sakura took this as a 'not-so-good' sign.

"We'll still go. That's our only option, isn't it?" Sasuke answered, guessing. The others nodded slowly.

Another silence arose. This time, it was the school bell that broke it, indicating that it was time for class.

Neji was first to stand up. "Well," he started, stretching slightly. "We don't want to be late for class, do we?"

Tenten stood up as well, linking her arms with her boyfriend's. The others followed, agreeing.

While in class, they could all agree that time passed too slowly. The Konoha no Shinobi were eager to get to Shino and Temari, and solve their mysterious break up, but time seemed to be against them...or so it felt.

During math class, Sakura glared hard at the clock, daring it to move any slower (though it was moving just normally). Unbeknownst to her, the rest of the gang was doing just the same.

++::.~::.~::.~::.~:x:~.::~.::~.::~.::++

"Finally!!!" Ino and Tenten couldn't help but scream when the bell rang. The others laughed, though they couldn't agree more.

"Let's hurry up and get going." Hinata suggested, quickly shoving her things in her bag.

Once they were all ready to go, they headed out their classroom and to the front gate. They stopped there for a while, talking about what they were going to do now and who was going to do what. Just as Shikamaru appointed Sakura and Sasuke to ask for the addresses of the two, Hinata spotted an all too familiar person.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, catching the attention of the others. Still looking at the person, she continued, "Sakura, isn't that..."

Seeming to feel her gaze, the person turned to look at her and beamed. Immediately, not even bothering to look left and right before crossing the road, the figure came running towards them.

"Hinata? What are you looking—?" Sakura asked, as they all turned to look at what their shy friend was looking at.

Just then...

"SAKURA-CHAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!"

"Naruto!?" Sakura exclaimed, surprised to see him there.

The blonde was going to aim a bear hug right at Sakura, when suddenly, a blurr of black flashed before his eyes, and the next thing he knew was that although he was running, he wasn't moving at all. Looking up, he came to the realization that a hand was pressed firmly on his forehead, stopping his movement. Looking forward, he realized that it was none other than...

"Dobe, if you're going to act like a bull, aim for red."

Uchiha Sasuke.

"Teme--!" Naruto said, slapping Sasuke's hand away before straightening up. As he saw his friend standing protectively before Sakura, a smirk tugged on the corner of his lips. "No need to be so protective. I'm not stealing."

A blush rose up on Sakura's cheeks, and so did Sasuke's. The rest of the group let out a few chuckles, amused. Before any of them could say anything, Naruto's attention turned to the person beside Sakura.

Naruto smirked, "Ooohhh. Red!"

And with that, he ran towards said person and wrapped his arms around them.

"N-N-Na-Naruto-kun!" A dizzy Hinata let out, face heating up in seconds.

The group turned their attention to the two, before Sasuke started laughing. Oh, praise good ol' coincidence. There, wrapped in Naruto's arms, was Hyuuga Hinata wearing a red blouse.

The rest, catching up on this, started laughing too. Naruto simply held on Hinata, hugging said girl tighter, with the biggest grin possible on his face. Hinata desperately tried to stay conscious, but the task was becoming harder and harder to fulfill.

Once they were all able to catch their breaths, Shikamaru straightened up and spoke, "Okay guys, before we fool around, I think we have a task at hand at the moment."

They all agreed, except for Naruto, who was purely confused.

"What task?" he asked, causing some to groan.

"We'll explain everything later." Shikamaru answered. "For now, those who know what task we're talking about, get to work."

++::.~::.~::.~::.~:x:~.::~.::~.::~.::++

"So," Tenten started. "What now?"

The gang was currently walking around the town, passing the piece of paper where Shino and Temari's address were written. They've explained what was happening to Naruto, and the blond had decided to tag along. Apparently, he was bored and had nothing more to do at Sakura's house, so he decided to go visit them.

"We pay them a visit." Shikamaru answered, shrugging.

Ino, who was walking beside him, opened her mouth to speak, "I suggest we split then."

Shikamaru turned to look at her, and smirked, "Can you handle being away from me?"

Ino heated up, her hand automatically swatting his arm, "Don't be silly!"

Shikamaru laughed as he moved his arm to wrap around her frame while still walking. The couple was totally oblivious to the pair of eyes studying them from behind.

"Is it just me, or..." Neji started, trailing off.

"Or are there really hearts around those two?" Naruto finished, rubbing his eyes as he really did start seeing red and pink hearts around the couple. Hinata, walking beside him, giggled.

Sakura laughed, "Nope. Those hearts are really there."

Sasuke smirked, "And why am I not surprised?"

"About time, y'know." Tenten smiled, her hand clasped in Neji's gentle grip. Glancing at Sakura and Sasuke, who were walking behind them, her smile grew into a grin, "It would be the same for the other couple there, if only they'd stop being stubborn."

Neji smirked, glancing back as well, before laughing at Sakura and Sasuke. The two were red (Sasuke albeit only of course) and looking away from each other. Naruto and Hinata, who were walking ahead of Tenten and Neji, laughed as well.

Sasuke was the first to recover, coming up with a remark that will take the attention away from him and Sakura. "Those two in front of you aren't exactly far from that either."

Neji and Tenten turned to look in front, teasing the other couple this time. Sighing inwardly, Sasuke glanced at the smaller person beside him, noticing she was still looking away from him with a red face. Shaking his head with a chuckle, he gently patted her on the head, amused when she flinched slightly.

A bit hesitantly, Sakura turned her head to look at him. On his handsome features was a smirk she knew all too well. Before she could turn away again, he leaned forward, and spoke in a low voice.

"I'm not exactly the stubborn one between us though."

Almost immediately, Sakura's face heated up again. Just when she was about to try and say something smart in return, her eyes caught glimpse of a familiar blonde right inside of the shop that they were passing by.

"Guys, wait!" she immediately called to the others, succeeding in making them stop walking. Sasuke turned to look at what caught Sakura's attention and understood what was happening.

"What's up Sakura?" Ino asked.

"Temari's in that shop." Sakura explained shortly, pulling the blonde with her towards the shop. The other girls followed, leaving the guys together.

"Wait, wait!" Naruto called to them, already taking the first step to follow them.

"No, no." Sakura turned to look at them over her shoulder, not stopping on walking. "Ino's right. I think we should split. Girls to girls. Guys to guys. You guys go talk to Shino."

With that, the girls disappeared into the shop, the guys rooted to where they were.

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"Ow...kay." Neji started, walking hands in pockets, already missing his girlfriend's warm and soft hands. "This is fun."

Shikamaru and Sasuke couldn't agree more with his sarcasm, both of them not used to going anywhere without the girls anymore.

Naruto bursted out laughing, "Who're you kidding!? This is fun, when you're usually stuck at home, just playing X-box, or Wii, or PS3!"

"Plus, you guys are so whipped." he continued laughing, actually needing to hold his aching stomach. "Can't live without the girls anymore?"

The three guys turned to glare at him, successfully shutting him up. Naruto offered them a small grin, raising his hands up as a show of surrender. As he looked to the side to hide how amused he was, he caught sight of a guy staring at them.

"Wait 'til you get there." Shikamaru muttered, head filled with one specific female already. God, he was whipped!

It was then that the guy Naruto saw realized he was noticed and started to flee.

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed, taking off after the guy, surprising the others.

"Dobe, wait, you idiot! Where in the world are you going?" Sasuke called after him, sprinting after the blond. Neji and Shikamaru followed closely, totally confused.

Just as they rounded up a corner, they found Naruto roughly pressing a guy on the wall.

"Who in the world are you!?" the blond demanded, pushing harder on the guy, causing him to groan.

Sasuke noticed the black shades on the ground and immediately bent down to pick it up. It only took him a second to figure out whose it was.

"Wait, Naruto! Don't hurt him!" Sasuke called, grabbing Naruto by the shoulder and pulling him off the poor guy.

"What's up, Sasuke?" Neji asked, catching his breath.

Sasuke turned to him and Shikamaru, showing them the sunglasses that fell on the ground. "Recognize this?"

The two's jaw fell slightly, staring disbelievingly at the mystery guy who was now on the floor, breathing hard.

Not comprehending the situation, Naruto spoke and pointed at the guy, "That dude was staring at us as if he's been following us, and then started running away when I noticed him!"

"Well, that's not a surprise." Sasuke replied, helping the guy up on his feet and straightening his clothes up for him. "That's because he was following someone. Just no us."

Turning to the guy, Sasuke passed him his glasses and smirked, "Right, Shino?"

++::.~::.~::.~::.~:x:~.::~.::~.::~.::++

"Order anything you want, Temari." Sakura offered, as she and the girls were seated down in a nearby cafe. "It's on me."

"I'm..I'm fine, thanks." Temari replied, fidgeting in her chair. Her eyes darted here and there, obviously showing her discomfort.

The females of the Konoha no Shinobi glanced at each other.

"Listen, Temari," Ino started, awkwardly. "We know this is not any of our business, but..."

When Ino seemed to not know what words would be not exactly to the point, Sakura jumped in.

"We're worried about you and Shino."

Exactly to the point.

Ino looked at her pointedly, which Sakura shrugged to. 'Straight to the point' was best when the other party was uncomfortable with...well, said point.

"Temari?" Hinata softly said, reaching out to the blonde and gently placing a hand on her shoulder as she noticed her change in expression.

"I'm sorry, it's—" Temari immediately said, wiping away her unshed tears. "It's nothing. We're...we're..."

When more tears only gathered in her eyes, the girls heart totally broke. It was good that they were in the secluded area of the cafe.

"Hey, hey.." Tenten whispered, rubbing Temari's back to calm her down. "It's alright. You can tell us about it."

"We've been looking for you and Shino since yesterday." Ino explained, pushing a glass of water towards Temari. "Practically the whole school is talking about you guys."

Temari's expression only grew more distressed and now worried as well. Finally, Sakura decided 'straight to the point' would be nice again.

"What happened Temari?" Her voice came out even softer than she intended, surprising herself. Wow. She was going softer and softer each day.

The distressed blonde looked at each of them, seemingly hesitant. However, it was as if she's been bottling up so much emotions and thoughts inside of her that she couldn't hold in any more of it.

Tears fell down from her eyes as she spoke, "He broke up with me."

No one said a word, but the girls' eyes widened at the fact that it was Shino who broke their relationship. After a second of Temari, taking a sip of her water and the girls taking in the information, the blonde continued.

"My... My parents didn't agree of us dating." Temari explained, slightly getting a grip of herself. "They found us together in a mall, holding hands and all that. The two of them were totally mad, my dad even making a scene of calling Shino off."

"When we got home, I came clean and told them everything. Yet, after that," Temari took a paused, taking a sip of her water once again. "After that.. they were still mad and still against my dating of Shino."

"Due to that, I called Shino up on the phone to discuss with him what we should do." Tears started forming in her eyes again, and this time, they were falling down quite quickly. "Instead of that though, he... he..."

A sob escaped Temari's lips, and they found the girl falling down into pieces right in front of their eyes. Hinata and Tenten were quick to wrap their arms around the girl, trying to comfort her, their faces showing pain as well. Ino and Sakura looked worriedly at Temari, their expression the same as the other two, before glancing at each other.

The other customers near them, as well as the staff were starting to throw weird stares at them. Sighing, Sakura silently stood up and headed to the nearest staff.

"Who's the manager here?" she asked, taking out her wallet from her purse.

"Me, ma'am. Is there anything I could do for you?" the gentleman answered politely.

Sakura simply handed him a 10 thousand bill. "Get us some privacy without us having to move."

That said, she turned her back on him, already expecting him to do something about it. Troubled but having no choice, the manager left, thinking of how he was going to follow Sakura's order.

As Sakura got back to her seat, Temari was just starting to calm down. Looking worriedly at the girl, Sakura couldn't help but think there's no need for her to explain any further what happened. It was obvious enough.

Her parents disagreed of her and Shino's relationship, but instead of doing something about it like Temari hoped, Shino—

"He broke up with me..." Temari whispered brokenly, trying so hard to hold in her sobs.

—Shino had broken up with her.

++::.~::.~::.~::.~:x:~.::~.::~.::~.::++

The guys were stunned to silence as Shino finished explaining what happened between him and Temari.

After the incident of Naruto mistaking Shino for a stalker or spy (which forced the other guys to remind Naruto that he was watching albeit too much action movies and playing albeit too much action games), the guys had decided to head towards Shino's house, which was close to where they were previously located. Shino was a little bit scared and hesitant, but agreed anyway.

What he had been doing there was pretty dang obvious. He was looking after his girlfriend turned ex-girlfriend.

Now that set the questions springing again. Why did they break up when they were still in love with each other?

And after Shino's storytelling, everything was clear now. Even about what went wrong and who was, well, to blame.

By the way Shino was repeating why he broke up with Temari, it seemed like he was aware of who was wrong as well.

"It's just.. If that's what her parents want... then.." he trailed off, probably realizing it was the third time he repeated that line, just rephrasing it.

"Is that what you want?" Shikamaru was the first to speak, seated on a chair, facing Shino, Naruto, and Neji, who were seated on the bed.

"No!" Shino's response came out quickly, showing his honesty. "God, no..."

The other guys looked at each other as Shino looked down at the floor, looking seriously lost. Sasuke stared intently at the said guy from his leaning place on the wall, arms crossed.

"I don't think you had to do it." Neji spoke up when no one else did. Naruto and Shikamaru were quick to nod their heads in agreement.

Shino looked up at them surprisedly and utterly confused. When everyone else seemed to want to take to being silent, Shikamaru decided to be the one to explain.

"Listen, man," the genius started, leaning forward in his chair. "Temari's parents didn't agree of you two, yeah, sure, and I really can't blame them for that."

"In their eyes, you're this kind of guy who doesn't have enough respect for their daughter, considering you're dating her behind their backs." he went on,trying to put himself in Temari's parents' situation. He didn't think he'll be liking it too, some dude he doesn't know taking his daughter out.

"But the point is," Shikamaru continued, looking Shino dead in the eye. "the parents don't even know you yet."

That's when the others decided to take part in the conversation.

"They immediately take you as the bad guy because of how you've decided to keep your relationship with their daughter in the dark, and you...don't do anything about it." Naruto spoke up, frowning slightly.

Neji nodded, bracing his weight on one arm as he got in a better position on Shino's bed. "Instead of trying to prove them that your intentions are clean, and that you truly do love their daughter, you decided to break up with her."

"Which," Shikamaru was quick to continue where Neji left off. "only showed the exact opposite of what you were supposed to prove. You just made yourself look like the 'bad guy' they thought of you as, instead of the 'good guy' that you really are."

"But—" As Shino was about to protest, or defend himself, Sasuke, who had been silent and albeit annoyed all this time, suddenly spoke up in a slightly ticked off voice.

"The point is, Aburame, if you really loved Temari, then you should have fought for her instead of backing down like a coward."

That ended any further excuses from Shino, and any more explanations from the three other guys. It was amazing how Sasuke can compose everything in a single sentence and make it sound intimidating.

Sighing, Sasuke eased his posture, leaning back more comfortably on the wall and uncrossing his arms.

"There's nothing wrong with fighting for your love when you know it's really true, Shino."

++::.~::.~::.~::.~:x:~.::~.::~.::~.::++

The males of the Konoha no Shinobi walked in silence after their encounter with Shino. They had left said guy to his own, letting him think about everything that happened once again.

Unbeknownst to each other, they were all thinking about the same thing: Sasuke's words.

The ringing of Sasuke's phone, however, broke all of their thoughts. Sasuke was quick to answer his phone as he realized it was his ringtone for Sakura.

"Hey," Sasuke greeted, the second he flipped his phone open and had it in position.

The guys listened to their conversation, trying to piece it like a puzzle since they couldn't exactly hear what Sakura was saying.

"We're heading towards the shop now." Sasuke answered, whatever Sakura had ask, probably about their location.

"Oh. Yeah, yeah. That's fine. We'll head there instead then." The others stayed silent, wondering what was up. "Yeah, we've been to Shino's.. Yeah, we've heard about what happened.."

"Okay. Great. Don't worry about it. We'll see you guys in a few."

Sasuke flipped his phone closed and put it in his pocket. Facing the others confused gazes, he answered, "The girls just dropped Temari off at her house. They say it's closer to Sakura's mansion than the shop so they hope it's fine for us to meet them there. I told Sakura it's fine."

"Hmm.. that Temari must live on the other side from Shino's then. Sakura's mansion's just a few blocks from here." Naruto said, thinking hard on that for some reasons.

"Great. Y'know the way then?" Sasuke asked. "Coz I think I forgot where Sakura's mansion is."

They all bursted out laughing, before they started to head towards their destination, Naruto leading the way.

A/N: There! Done! Whew!

For those who were wondering, I have decided to try and keep the chapters short, as well as, finishing the story before I edit it. Majority voted for that, I think. I wasn't really counting. LOL.

I know I said this chapter would be full of ShikaIno, but I suppose I had to shift a lot of things, since I'm making the chapters shorter. Sorry guys. It will be coming up soon though.

Again, my apologies, and thanks, most especially to those who review my story even when they don't have a fanfiction account.

Thanks guys. I really appreciate it.

Reviews will be loved.

Kaze no Shoujo