Is this going to end up SasuHina, NaruHina, SasuSaku or NaruSaku? I have an ending in mind but that's for me to keep to myself and for you to wait and see. It's funny how everyone on ff.net votes for SasuHina and here on Wattpad it's NaruHina. Let's continue the story shall we?

•PREPARATIONS FOR THE BALL•

After three long hours of pans crashing against the floor, eggs breaking, ovens smoking and water systems sprinkling, Sakura was finally done with her masterpiece!

A look at it and the pinkette wanted to dump it in the bin.

"Is it ready yet?! I wanna see!" Ino was the taste tester (unfortunately for her. Poor girl has no idea what she's getting into) so she was over at the Hyuga turned Haruno house and watching the disaster take place.

For once, maybe twice, in her life Sakura was not confident about something. "Uh..." She squirmed nervously, not that Ino noticed. The latter jutted her out of the way with her hip and came face to face with the soufflé in the oven. At least it was supposed to be a soufflé.

"Sakura you were supposed to make a dessert, not a science project. This thing looks like it's alive!" Yes folks, Ino was not only brutal to people beneath her, she was brutal to her best friend too. That was just Ino's way of communicating and it took tons of brain cells to put up with her. She's not a beach.

What? I spelled the word wrong? I know! This book is completely P.G so auto correct it in your filthy brain!

No offense.

Back to the story.

I don't know about you but if my friend makes a dessert that looks like it would jump at me at any moment and tells me to be the taste tester, I'd take it straight to the bin where it rightfully belongs. And that was what Ino did.

Sakura looked forlornly at the corpse of her charred, runny soufflé. Only she can make a meal that was burnt and undercooked at the same time. She sank to the floor with a wail of dismay. There was no hope in heaven for her winning Sasuke's hand for a dance!

Ino placed a comfortable hand on her friend's shoulder. "I would help you but I'm just as bad as you." It was true. Ino's pancakes looked like something a four year old made from play dough (and tasted like it too) when she tried making them.

The besties sighed dejectedly at the same time. In no way were they going to win this.

Just at that moment Mebuki Haruno, Sakura's mother, walked in from a shopping spree. She looked at the girls in half surprise and worry. "What are you two doing, moping on the floor?" She asked.

Sakura wasn't going to tell her mother anything but Ino and her big mouth was already blabbing the whole situation to her. "Oh auntie Sakura is in trouble!"

"Trouble? How?" Mebuki dropped her numerous shopping bags and walked over to hold Sakura's face in her palms. She shrugged away from the hold.

"There's nothing to worry about mum. Ino is just being..." She never got to finish her sentence because of her garrulous best friend.

"...Sakura wants to win Sasuke Uchiha's heart through food but she can't. What's worse is Hinata is also contesting for Sasuke-kun's heart!"

Sakura thought it was weird how Ino didn't mention that she was also vying for Sasuke's hand in dancing. Now that she thought about it, Ino hadn't been trying to do anything about Sasuke at all. Uh? Weirdness everywhere but if it meant less than one competition for the prince's heart then why not?

"Uchiha?" Of all the things to pick up on in a conversation of course Mebuki Haruno would pick up Sasuke's family name. He was wealthy.

"The Uchiha!" Ino squealed.

Mebuki smiled like a Cheshire cat. "What's stopping you from going after him, Sakura dear?" She asked in a saccharine sweet voice. Sakura didn't need to answer because Ino gladly explained the details of the potlatch party to her.

"You don't need to help or anything, I can do this on my own-" Sakura started to deny whatever plan she could see brewing up in her mother's head but she was cut off quickly and harshly.

"Nonsense! This is your man we are talking about!" Mebuki reprimanded.

'You mean his money.' Sakura thought bitterly.

"Don't worry about cooking anything, trust your mother to do that for you. You just worry about making yourself pretty for the event." The blond woman tutted as she waved the two friends off to Sakura's room.

Once they were gone the smile on her face erased completely. If her hearing served her correctly Ino said that Hinata was going to enter this potlatch competition thing too. She would have brushed it off if the preppy blond hadn't mentioned how relatively close her step daughter was to the Uchiha.

Mebuki tched. Sakura was just so slow on the uptake at times. It was one of the undesirable things she took from her father. Any smart girl would immediately get rid of all competition at first sight. That didn't matter because it was her job as a mother to fill in the spaces her daughter left.

If Sakura was too weak to take out a competition then she would do it for her. Hinata must not go anywhere near this prince ever again. Not on her watch.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Tenten was so close to crying in the hallway when Neji's blurry figure came to view in front of her. The long haired male had an understanding smile on his face as he stretched out his arms, inviting her for a hug.

The usually headstrong girl sniffed once then twice in an attempt to stop her tears. Her efforts were in vain. She ran up to Neji and held him tightly, burrowing her head deep into his chest for his comforting warmth. Then she cried loudly and bitterly.

"I practiced so hard! I really practiced so hard but I lost!" She sobbed.

Neji stroked her hair. Her buns were down to mimic her sour mood. "I know." He said softly. Tenten had lost in a kendo contest to a girl named Temari for Suna High. It was so one sided that anybody that saw the fight would quickly assume Tenten was no good at kendo. "You're strong Ten, you just had the wrong opponent."

"But I wanted to win!" Tenten wailed. "I really wanted to! But she beat me just like that."

"Shhhh. You're okay love, you're okay." Neji comforted.

Hinata thought she was intruding on the couple's personal moment but she couldn't help but watch them from an alcove. They were just so adorably wonderful, much so that their relationship had Hinata wondering when somebody would be like that in her life.

If there was somebody out there for her that would think her clumsiness is cute, laugh at her jokes even if they were lame and over repeated, hold her close when she was hurt, get mad on her behalf when she couldn't and be happy for her when she succeeded in something, she hoped to meet that person soon.

She left the couple to themselves with a wry smile. It was impossible to meet that person. At least not this soon.

Oh how wrong she was at that moment.

***

Dun dun dun! Now we've caught up to ff.net and AO3. Expect slower updates from now on because I've officially exhausted my prewritten chapters.

Please v and c!

-Star