Red Is A Pretty Colour

129

Hiko's pov

The chunin exams were well under way and there was nothing more I could do for team 7 until the training period in three weeks time. Now all I could do is wait to find out who's moving on to the finals. With three weeks free it was time to start getting things ready for Naruto's wedding. Sakura, Ino, Tenten and I had met up in town to go dress shopping.

"I can't believe that Naruto and Hinata are getting married soon." Ino said.

"Me neither, I never thought they'd be the first ones to get married." Sakura said.

"They're getting married and I don't even have a boyfriend." Tenten whined.

"Don't get so down about it. You don't need a man to be happy." I said, patting her on the back.

"Says you, you could get a boyfriend any time you wanted." Tenten moped.

"She's right you know, you're driving Shikamaru nuts." Ino said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"You two have acted like a couple since you were 15! You dating Gaara a couple years back was a real plot twist, I certainly didn't expect it. Now you're single again the two of you act like you're practically married and yet for some reason you're still not official! I walked in on you two kissing for gods sake!" Ino ranted. "Why won't you just date him already?!"

"He hasn't asked." I replied simply.

"He hasn- I'm gonna kill him!" Ino said, smashing her fists together.

"Calm down Ino, this is supposed to be fun." Tenten said, placing a hand on Ino's shoulder.

"Tenten is right Ino, we're getting dresses for Naruto and Hinata's wedding. We can have a word with Shikamaru later." Sakura said.

"Let it be you two, it'll happen when it happens." I said. "Now, does anyone know what kind of dresses they want?"

"I'm not sure, I want to step out of my comfort zone a bit." Tenten said.

"I'm thinking something more modern. It's the only chance I have to wear a new style like that." Ino said.

"I want something that goes with the cherry blossoms, what about you Hiko? What are you looking for?" Sakura asked.

"Long sleeves." I replied as we found a dress shop to enter.

"Sleeves? It's supposed to be hot outside." Ino said.

"Sacrifices must be made. I'm going for a look." I said, subconsciously rubbing my wrists. "Who else will have long sleeves?"

"That's a fair point. You would probably be the only one." Ino said.

"Leave it to you to make a statement." Tenten said.

"Why don't we make this interesting? We each pick out 4 dresses, 1 for ourselves and 1 for every other person. That way we don't end up dressing exactly the same as we always do." Sakura suggested.

"I'm up for that." I said.

"Yeah, it sounds fun." Tenten agreed.