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Summary: Naruto Uzumaki is handsome, charming, and a rock-star. He's a ladies man…just not when it comes to Hinata Hyuga, who seems to be way out of his league.

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o-o-o-o-o

Chapter Three:

Chat:

Naruto: hey guys. what's up? :D

Shikamaru: ...

Sasuke: ...

Naruto: you guys suck at texting -_-

Shikamaru: adfadfffffffffffffffffffffff fffffffff

Naruto: shikamaru fell asleep again, didn't he? GREAT.

Naruto:...you still there Sasuke?

Naruto: sasuke?

Naruto: anyone D:

Naruto: :(

Naruto: screw both of you.

::Naruto:: has signed off.

Shikamaru: It's too easy to make fun of him.

Sasuke: Agreed

Day Two (continued):

Naruto fingered the small object in his hand, staring at it intently. It was a small blue flower hair-clip, and he rolled it around, in deep thought.

"What's that in your hand, Naruto?" Flopping down beside him, Sasuke glanced lazily at his hand, before smirking.

"Turning gay dobe?"

Naruto snorted, "Shut up Teme, if anyone's gay it's you."

"He's right, you know. You have the largest male fan base." Shikamaru entered the room, and collapsed on a chair, grinning.

Sasuke glowered, "Tch...be quiet, we're missing the point. Why do you have a girl hair piece in your hands dobe?"

Shikamaru glanced at it and nodded in agreement (the hair piece gave strong hints of femininity).

Cheeks tinting pink, Naruto glanced away, and muttered something unintelligible.

The two other members of The Caged Beast glanced at each other and smirked.

"Does somebody have a crush?" Shikamaru teased.

"Shut up!" Naruto scowled, "I don't like her like that."

Silence, then, "Her? Who's that, Naruto?" Sasuke said slowly, a gleam of triumph in his eyes.

Sighing, Naruto surrendered, and told them about the last two day's incidents.

Sasuke was snickering, but Shikamaru caught on to something, and looked thoughtful.

"Could you describe her again?"

"Sure," Naruto said, before scowling at Sasuke, "Shut up!"

Sasuke flipped him off easily, "Not my fault you're an idiot," but he settled down after that, and nodded for Naruto to continue.

Naruto glared at him for a bit, waiting to see if he would say anything else, but seeing that he wouldn't, relaxed, and described her. "She's really pretty," he said softly, "She has pale skin, dark hair that looks like a deep purple or midnight-coloured, and she has the coolest eyes I've ever seen. Like pearls with a lavender tint, and no pupils, and-"

Shikamaru interrupted him before he could go any further, as if sensing that he could go on for a long time, "Did you say no pupils, and lavender-tinted eyes?"

Naruto nodded, beaming, "Yup! And she has these-"

"Stop, Naruto, for a minute. You realize that this girl is a Hyuga?" Shikmaru stared at him intently, waiting to see this information sink in. Sasuke had caught on right away from Naruto's description, and watched Naruto as well.

First, Naruto stared, confused, then his eyes widened, and his skin paled.

"Shit," he said softly. He had sorta-maybe-kinda fallen into a crush with the daughter of Hiashi Hyuga, the most stuck up prick on the planet.

"I really don't think this is necessary. Really, I have plenty of clothes!" Trying to persuade Sakura and Ino to let her go from the tortuous duty she was now enslaved in was proving to be difficult, and Hinata was beginning to get a headache.

Green eyes glittering, Ino shook her head stubbornly. "Not clothes cute enough to see The Caged Beast tomorrow!"

"Don't worry, this is fun Hina-chan!"

Sighing, and giving a weary nod to Sakura, Hinata turned around. She glanced disinterestedly at the shops, her mind going back to Mr. Blue eyes. A warm color spread in her cheeks, and she gave a faint smile. She kept running into that guy, didn't she? Oh, she really wanted to know who he was. If only...

"Oh, look at this Hina!" Ino yelled excitedly, grabbing her by the hand and dragging her into a brightly lit, neon coloured store. Ino pulled her towards a rack of clothes on the side of the store, and pulled out (with added 'Yamanaka flourish') a burgundy shirt. Casual, and chic Hinata had to admit it was cute...until she looked at the price tag.

"I can't buy that," she said firmly, stepping back.

Sakura pouted, "Why not, I mean sure it's a little pricey, but so worth the investment!"

"No," she said again, "I can't afford it."

"But you're a Hyuga!" Ino exclaimed, "No offense, but you guys are loaded!"

"I'm not going to buy it Ino."

Sensing her mood Ino stepped down, smiling apologetically. "Alright," she gave out, "But don't think you're leaving here without buying at least something!" And promptly dragged her to the other side of the store, Sakura laughing along.

When Hinata finally got home that evening (9 PM to be exact) she was exhausted. After more than 4 hours of shopping with Ino and Sakura the only thing that she had left with was one shirt.

Looking down into her bag, she grudgingly had to admit that the shirt was nice, if a bit girly. Lavender in curly, with frills, it seemed to float, she was happy that Ino had found it for her. That girl had a good eye for these kinds of things.

Starved, and tired, she made her way to the kitchen. She heated up some leftovers, and plunked herself on the couch, turning on the T.V. Twirling her fork she absent mindedly switched the channels, until she came upon a show. It was titled "The Caged Beast: A documentary of this band rose to instant fame". Rolling her eyes at the cheesy name, she nonetheless, decided to watch the show. After all, what else was she going to do?

For the first 10 minutes Hinata was bored, just listening to the producer and some other random woman talk about The Caged Beast with the worst vocabulary she had ever seen. She was just about to switch the channel, when something caught her eye.

The camera was focusing on Uzumaki Naruto, and the fork in her hand dropped. Hinata set her food down, and walked closer to the T.V., a feeling of dread washing over her. They were zooming up on his face, and his eyes, his blue, blue eyes, seemed familiar, very familiar.

Her hand rose up to her mouth, and she closed her eyes tightly. Oh no, oh no, oh no.

She had embarrassed herself two times before Naruto Uzumaki, rock star, and ugh! Hinata walked morosely back to her sofa, and sat down, pouting. She supposed it didn't really matter, what were the chances she would see him again?

Oh right...she would see him tomorrow.

Damn.

"Oh well," she muttered, "It's fine. Just forget about it. It really doesn't matter." Finishing her food she washed her plates, and went into her bedroom to change. Walking into the bathroom after to brush her teeth she stopped for a moment, and looked at her hair. Something seemed off. Something was missing, but what?

She racked her brain to think before her eyes widened, her hair clip! She ran a shaky hand through her hair, before hastily running to check her purse and shopping bag. When she couldn't find it in there she tore through her entire apartment, looking, but no, it wasn't anywhere.

Collapsing in her check she drew her knees close, and bit back the salty tears that were coming. Her throat was tight, and burned, and she felt waves of guilt hit her.

Stupid. She was so, so stupid. How could she lose that hair clip?

It was her mother's, and the only connection she had left to her family. Remembering all the incidents, and memories (especially the most recent, and heartbreaking one), Hinata felt like her world had collapsed. Shaking, she covered her face with her hands, and cried, feeling raw, and exposed, and strung.

She cried for a long time.

Lounging on her bed, Ino flicked through the magazines, troubled. There was something bugging her about today's shopping trip, something about the way Hinata had acted.

Ino knew she could be a bit intense about shopping, and that Hinata never was one to got for expensive items, but the way Hinata had said it was out of her budget, the way it had not seemed unneccessary, but impossible for her to buy that shirt...something was off. She was a Hyuga, and Ino knew those guys had no trouble in the financial department, to put it politely.

But...Hinata had always had some trouble with her family, Ino remembered worriedly. Was there something that Hinata wasn't telling them?

Reaching in for her laptop Ino quickly opened the internet, fingers flying on the keyboard. She searched for half and hour, but nothing fishy came up about the Hyuga's. Well, there was one thing that came up. It was an article about Hiashi Hyuga's new hotel coming up. When asked a certain question, he had replied, "I think about it as an investment for my kids. As you know, Neji is growing up fast, and is already interested in the business, while Hanabi's just starting to take a deeper look."

The thing that bothered Ino about the answer was that Hinata wasn't mentioned anywhere in it. Could that mean...?

Frowning, she picked up the phone, dialed the number, and waited impatiently. When she finally heard a "Hello?", she took a deep breath.

"Hey Sakura, I need to talk to you about something."

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A/N: I have no excuses. Laziness and lack of inspiration. Hope you liked this chapter though! :) Even if it is kind of short :(

Thoughts? Constructive criticism is always welcome, I want to become better!