Intensity Within

(Sure! Is there anywhere specific that you want it to start at?)

Kaname shook his head slightly to her words. "I was actually hoping that we could... hang out... alone," he said, finding the words hang out hard to manage to get out of his mouth, since he was more so used to formal speak. Still, he was trying and he hoped that Sakura would manage to see that. "If you'd rather not, I'm sure they wouldn't mind joining us, but I think Takuma has plans of his own."

Rina offered a small, nervous smile and nodded slightly. "Yeah, okay," she murmured lightly before nodding again. "Yeah. We were planning to go shopping after classes to get our dresses." She made sure to be quiet about that because she didn't want Kaname to know that Sakura was going to agree to go to the ball with Kaname - and she hoped Takuma could keep the secret.

@ momentai.
(Well, we're in Shippuden so just pick anywhere close to the beginning of that? Haha idk I didn't think that far ahead. Am I still playing Neji for you?)

Takuma smiled when Rina spoke, he loved to listen to teh sound of her voice almost as much as he liked to look at her beautiful face. His smile faltered though and turned to confusion when she spoke of her and Sakura getting their dresses after classes let out for the day. "Wait, so Sakura is going with Kaname to the ball? I hadn't know she had actually given him an answer."

Sakura felt her brows rise, her lips part and her eyes widen all in shock at Kaname. She blinked in surprise at him in order to try and understand just where exactly this was coming from. "Wait... What?" She pointed a delicate finger at Kaname, "You want to hang out," she moved the finger to point at herself, "With me? ...Alone?" Sakura felt her heart kick up speed and her cheeks felt warmer. "Why?"

(Okay, I'll just have our characters at the training grounds. It seems like it'd be easier - and, that way, we can come up with missions or whatever we want later. And, yeah, if you want to. Unless you'd rather play Sasuke; I don't care either way. :) )

Kaname furrowed his brows in confusion at hearing her question him. "Because I want to," he decided firmly, nodding slowly as he eyed her carefully. "If... You don't want to, I guess I understand... I just thought it would be nice." He wasn't used to actually asking a girl to spend time with him - they usually asked him - so it was kind of difficult for him to choose the right words.

"She hasn't given him the answer yet. She wants him to get antsy and such," Rina mused, a hint of amusement in her voice. "She actually wants me to bring up how excited I am about the ball around him as much as possible, just to make it easier to make him antsy. Do you want to help?"

@ momentai.
(Neji's probably easier... haha if that's okay)

Takuma let out a loud round of laughter before he animatedly agreed. "That's a great idea!" Without a second's hesitation, he took a gentle yet firm hold of Rina's hand. "Come on, I got an idea!" He then began to run with Rina in tow back to Kaname and Sakura. "Hey, guys!"

Sakura changed her wide-eyed expression to that of narrow eyed confusion with pursed lips and furrowed brows but then changed it again at the sound of Takuma's loud and slightly obnoxious yell. Sakura turned her face away from Kaname and to her running friends. "Where's the fire?"

Takuma grinned and came to a halt before the two of them, "Rina and I were just talking about the ball, we want to match colors or whatever so Sakura, we need your help after classes today. Will you come with us to help out with our outfits?"

Sakura looked at Rina with complete and utter confusion and a silent look of "What the hell is he talking about?"

(That's perfectly fine! :D)

Rina blinked several times, her eyes concentrated on hers and Takuma's hands, only tearing her attention away when she heard Takuma's plan. She blinked with confusion and surprise, turning her attention to him before glancing over to Sakura. Upon spotting the look Sakura gave her, she shook her head to signal that she didn't know what his actual plan was.

"You want Sakura's help with outfits?" Kaname asked with confusion, not understanding why the two couldn't just handle it themselves. Especially since he had wanted to spend time with Sakura after classes, anyways, so that he could properly ask her to the ball, though he figured he could go get everything during one of the breaks and ask her then.

Deciding to play along, Rina smiled and offered a nod. "Yeah. Since the ball is soon, we need to get everything in order. Besides, it will give us more time to hang out with Sakura and we'll be able to keep our minds distracted from our excitement."

@ momentai.

Takuma nodded eagerly, "Right! Our excitement about the ball and going together!" His smile was like that of a child who had just accomplished a great feat so Sakura couldn't help but smile back even though she was a bit lost in his plan. "I mean, how often does someone like me get to stand beside a girl as beautiful as Rina?"

Sakura caught on then that Rina must have told Takuma of their plan and this was Takuma's version of aiding it. She held back her smile and playfully pouted instead, "You get to stand beside me all of the time, Takuma! Are you saying I'm not beautiful?"

Takuma held back a grin, happy that Sakura caught on. Takuma wasn't as crafty as Sakura, so his approach was on a much simpler level. He didn't understand how to indirectly get Kaname jealous or frustrated over the fact that Sakura hadn't given Kaname an answer.. So, Takuma's best idea was to bash Sakura and praise Rina enough to get Kaname bothered.

Kaname frowned slightly as he listened to the two. He tried not to let Takuma's words bother him, he really did. "I'm certain that's not what Takuma is saying at all," he decided after a moment, mostly not wanting Sakura to be bothered with Takuma's words. It was odd, even to him, that he actually cared about how she felt.

Still, he couldn't help it. "Right, Takuma? Or are you really going to insult Sakura without a second thought?"

Rina, admittedly, found herself unable to come up with a proper way to add to Takuma's and Sakura's conversation. What was she supposed to say, anyways? Instead, she just let Takuma's words ring over and over in her head. Even though she knew that he was only saying it to add to the plan, it still affected her.

@ momentai.

Takuma waved off Kaname's comment, "Oh Kaname cool it. It's just Sakura, and it's not like I'm lying. Rina's moer beautiful than Sakura and I get the amazing privalge of taking the most beautiful girl to the ball."

Sakura outwardly frowned, "Jeez Takuma, tell me how you really feel why don't ya." Sakura tried to signal with her eyes to Rina that it was okay to jump in. Sakura knew the moment Takuma laid eyes on Rina that something within him had changed, so it was no surprise that he was saying all of these things about Rina's beauty. Sakura could plainly see that even though Takuma was twisting it a little to irk Kaname, he was honest in what he felt. Rina really was the most beautiful in his eyes. Sakura couldn't get angry at him for that.

"Hey, I'm just saying,," Takuma grinned. "Kaname doesn't even have a date yet and it's his ball."

Kaname frowned at the mention of it and rolled his eyes with such gusto that it was amazing his eyes didn't fall onto the ground right then and there. "Sorry to break it to you, Takuma, but you're wrong," he drawled bluntly, eyeing the boy for a moment. "I'm working on making sure that the most beautiful girl ends up being my date."

Rina, admittedly, was surprised to hear Kaname say those words. He hadn't directly claimed that Sakura was the most beautiful but they all knew who he was trying to convince to go to the ball with him. For him to even indirectly say it was definitely a step in the right direction, in her opinion - though it would have probably been better if Kaname spoke more directly. "Is that so? Who?" she asked, blinking innocently.

There was a pause from Kaname, which Rina half-expected. Still, at least he was brave enough to actually say, "Sakura, of course."

@ momentai.
(I edited the post for our Naruto thread(: )

Takuma raised his brows in a true expression of shock at Kaname's confession. He didn't even know what else to say, he'd accomplished his goal of getting under Kaname's skin about the ball but... He'd never imagined this how happen because of it. Takuma lost his ability to speak, he simply flicked his eyes over to look at Sakura and see her reaction.

What Takuma saw surprised him even more. He'd been friends with Sakura a long time and never had he once seen her truly speechless or shocked until this moment. She stood with her big, blue eyes nearly popping from her head and her gaze was locked on Kaname. Takuma gently took hold of Rina's arm and whispered, "Come on." Before he began to walk away with her in tow, leaving a shell shocked Sakura behind with Kaname

Sakura stood frozen staring at Kaname, just like Takuma she'd never expected to get a reaction like that. She parted her lips to try and form words but none came to her as she stood there, trying to understand what the hell kind of turn they'd just taken. "W... What did you just say?" She finally choked out in the faintest of whispers. Sakura knew it bothered Kaname that she didn't like him and fall to her knees like everyone else did to him, but she never imaged words like that would come out of his mouth.

(Awesome. :D I also edited my post, so we're all good now. :) )

Kaname watched the others leave before turning his eyes to Sakura, blinking several times. "Did you not hear me?" he asked with confusion, furrowing his brows slightly. He didn't mind repeating himself, of course, but it had clearly made things fairly awkward and he wasn't sure if there was a point in repeating it. "I said that you were the most beautiful girl." His words were straight-forward and blunt; there wasn't a reason for him to hide his thoughts, really.

---

Rina blinked several times as she felt Takuma tugging her away. She followed in an almost obedient way, though she couldn't help but glance back at the other duo for a moment. Returning her attention, she observed Takuma quietly before she let out a sigh. "That was definitely unexpected," she murmured quietly, having noticed how everybody had been caught off guard by Kaname's words.

@ momentai.

Takuma laughed as they walked at Rina's comment, "Yeah no kidding." Takuma gently slid his hand down from the crook of Rina's elbow to her wrist and lastly he slid his hand to hers and laced their fingers together. His cheeks grew warm and his tone turned bashful, "What I was saying back there..." Takuma's eyes flickered to look at the ground ass they walked. "I was saying it to get on Kaname's nerves but I wasn't lying. I really do find you incredibly beautiful, Rina."

---

Sakura's big blue eyes stayed wide as they listened to Kaname say it again for a moment longer before she cleared her throat and looked to the ground. "Look, I know you want to take me to your dumb ball," she said with a bit of a hurt edge. "But you can't just go around saying those things in the heat of the moment when you and I both know you don't mean it." Sakura then began to walk past him feeling embarrassed, as she brushed past him she mumbled to herself, "Amd to think I even believed you for a minute there." She scoffed at herself in the hushed tone, "I know better."

Kaname frowned slightly as he turned to watch her. "Why do you think I don't mean it?" he asked bluntly before he followed after her, keeping his attention fully on her. "I wouldn't say something if I didn't mean it. For you to assume that I would shows that you don't know me as well as you seem to think that you do." Because, if she knew him, she would know that he wouldn't have gone through everything that he was right now just to try to get her to go to the ball with him.

---

Rina blinked several times, her eyes trailing down to their intertwined fingers. She could feel her cheeks heat up and, when she looked up at him, she could see that the blush on her cheeks rivaled the blush on his. "T-Takuma," she murmured quietly, her cheeks only darkening before she glanced down slightly. "I'm.. kind of... really glad to hear that..."

@ momentai.
(Sorry I went out for a birthday dinner with my aunt, I'm 18 today!)

Takuma felt like his heart could burst from his chest in happiness at Rina's response to him. "R-really?" He was a little breathless as he spoke but his excitement level only grew higher. "Because, Rina, I'm completely honest here... From the first moment I saw you, I've always thought you were completely stunning.. I just never had the confidence or opportunity until recently to do anything about it."

---

Sakura scoffed and shook her head when she heard Kaname's voice and the sound of his footsteps as he hurried a little to catchup with her. "I know you well enough, Kaname Kuran. You're the leader of all of the socialite, high and mighty, prissy vampires who hate vampires like me. You treated me like dirt for the longest time because you didn't care enough to know my name or even look at me long enough to know what my face looked like. You only find me interesting because I'm a challenge for you because I don't fall at your feet like everyone else and you'll say anything in order for me to think you actually aren't a completely awful person." Sakura spotted walking abruptly and turned deeply hurt eyes onto Kaname. "Don't treat me like I was born yesterday. I know the tricks people like you play. You sweet talk, maybe even give a gift here or there to add to your charming, schmoozed words but you don't actually mean any of it. Actions speak louder than words, Kaname, and so far you haven't moved at all."

(I know I already said it, but happy late birthday again! xD)

Kaname frowned as he watched her, shaking his head eventually. "I knew your name before Takuma even knew your name," he said simply, folding his arms over his chest. Why couldn't she see that he was trying? That he was completely serious? He didn't have a reason to lie. "I didn't treat you like dirt. I was trying to help you reach your full potential." Why did everybody seem to think that he was only being cruel to her? Regardless, he wanted her to believe otherwise, to know the truth. "I'm not interested in you because you're a challenge. I'm interested in you because I don't understand how you caught my attention in the first place, when nobody else could. I'm not playing tricks on you, Sakura, and if you believe that I am, then you must not be very confident with yourself - which I wouldn't understand, either, because you have so many reasons to be confident."

---

Rina froze where she stood as she listened to him, her cheeks tinting still. She stared at the ground for a long moment, absorbing his words silently. "Really...?" she asked quietly before lifting her gaze to look up at him, rather surprised to hear the entire thing. It wasn't something she could recall anybody ever saying to her - nor could she really imagine it coming from Takuma specifically.

@ momentai.
( haha thank you, again!)
(Oh, and just a warning, I'm typing on an iPad with a wrist brace on so I apologize if there's any autocorrect fails that I don't catch.)

Takuma was so enticed by the innocent yet alluring way Rina looked shyly looked at him, he lost himself for a moment. When Takuma recovered though, he chuckled nervously and rubbed his thumb to the back of his neck to buy himself a little time to recollect his thoughts. "Yeah, really," he finally said softly and gently squeezed his still entangled hand to hers. Bashfully, he kept talking, almost a bit afraid that she wouldn't believe him, "I don't know how you do it, but you're the most amazing and the most beautiful person I've ever met... And I'm so thankful you're letting me be your date to the ball."

---

Sakura started to feel hot in her cheeks and an all to distantly familiar sting came to the rims of her eyes. It was happening all over again, a boy was making her feel like she was the idiot, like it was all her fault and misconception when really it wasn't her at all a that was the problem. Sakura shook her head and turned her head away from Kaname to try and recover. Takuma was the only one that knew about her last painful relationship and she wasn't about to have to tell him about a sequel with the same abuse-ridden plot line, featuring his best friend. "Don't talk about me like you actually know me," she managed to choke out with only an ounce of her usual verbal venom.

(You're welcome!)
(Oh! D: What happened to your wrist?)

Kaname's face fell at hearing the lack of venom in her words. It was uncharacteristic of her to just lose all her anger in her voice so quickly. Admittedly, he couldn't help but to grow worried and he knew all too well that he had likely crossed a line. The very thought of it bothered him, made him want to fix things and he was quickly at her side, looking down at her. "Then let me have a chance to get to know you," he requested, his voice unnaturally soft at this point. He needed a way, any way, to prove that he was serious about what he had said - and she had already said that offering gifts would be a sort of trick, so what was he supposed to do about the necklace and bouquet? "Just one chance, alright?"

---

It took Rina a few moments to absorb his words and she found them so hard to believe. She tried to calm down her emotions, her cheeks still warm and only warming all the more. How was it even possible for simple words to cause this much emotion from her? After a few moments, she let her gaze fall back down, almost bashfully, and she tried to think of something to say in response to him. "I'm really surprised to hear you say something like that, Takuma," she eventually murmured before lifting her gaze towards him and offering a small smile. "But, I'm happy to hear it, nonetheless."

@ momentai.
(Oh nothing, I've just got tendinitis is all haha)

Takuma smiled back at Rina, warmth blooming from within him, starting at his heart and working its way out, he was honestly surprised to hear himself say it too, but something about Rina made Takuma want to be honest and Sakura had taught him that it's better to say the compliment than to think it, so he felt like complimenting Rina was a great way to follow that advice. As they kept walking Takuma finally turned around to find that the two of them had walked so far that Kaname and Sakura were no longer in sight or within hearing distance. "Were we walking really fast or did we leave them behind...?"

---

Sakura was surprised enough by the sudden change in Kaname's tone and volume to actually look at up him as he stepped closer to her. Sakura was sure her eyes were a little watery and red but she was too shocked to notice or care. She brushed the back of her finger gently along her. Eyes just in case any tears had fallen without her knowledge as she gazed up at him with wide blue eyes. "Why do you want a chance from me so badly?" Sakura's voice had softened to show not only surprise, but pure curiosity and confusion.

(Ohhhh. Somebody I knew got that from texting so much, I think.)

Kaname was glad that her softer voice didn't sound pained like it had just moments before and he had wanted to make sure that no tears escaped her gorgeous eyes when he noticed them watery. She had beaten him to that one, though. "Because, I... I genuinely am attracted to you, Sakura," he told her after a long moment. "I even went to Takuma in hopes that he would help me get you to see that, that he would help me get you to join me at the ball. I'm not the best with showing my feelings, I know that, but I wouldn't lie about something like this. I have no reason to."

---

Rina blinked several times before glancing in the direction that Takuma was now facing. "I think they just stayed back there," she murmured, knowing that it was likely they were talking. Though it made her wonder if things would be okay, if her new friend would give an answer to Kaname or if Kaname was just treating her badly still. Though, admittedly, maybe he wouldn't, considering his words earlier and how genuine and serious he had sounded. "I just hope nothing's going bad."

@ momentai.
(Yeah that's possible, I was just born with some kind of medical something that made me susceptible to it and It finally really hit me when I was 13 it so I'm used to having it now haha)

A flash if worry for both if them separately flashed through his mind, "Me too. Kaname has a tendency to say the wrong things around Sakura and Sakura says, well... Everything." Takuma still held onto Rina's hand but he turned a lit more towards Kaname and Sakura's direction, creases of worry highlighted his face. "Should we do something?"

---

It couldn't be helped that Sakura's jaw true,y dropped at Kaname's confession. For a few moments she just stood there dumbly with her full lips parted and her eyes wide and slightly disbelieving. Why on Earth would Kaname feel that way about her of all people. Sakura just couldn't wrap her around it and was so consumed by the confession a few little tears escaped her eyes that she let trail down her cheek. "Is that what you tel were sprint out from the dorms for this morning?" Sakura's voice was soft and disbelieving but also... She was touched and felt a little honored. "You really went through all of that trouble with Takuma just to try and convince me to go to a ball with you?"