Hey all, Sola the Sunreaver here, i just want to say this is my first fanfic and since i have never done this sort of thing before, please do not go really hard on me. I do welcome reviews though, so if you wish to leave one that would be great. One other note before we get this train-wreck a rollin' is that it would be best to read another short story i wrote directly after this one, just so we clear up any confusions you might have about certain characters. Without further ado, lets get the story started!
Sakura skipped ahead of Naruto on the way to Sasuke's house.
"I'm just so excited!" she squealed. "I can't believe that this festival only happens every 20 years!" Naruto smiled.
"Eh, Sakura-Chan, you really need to calm down, you've been talking about it since you heard it was happening" he said.
"Yeah, but think, it only comes every 20 years, I heard there was going to be fireworks and shows and really good food!" she bubbled. Naruto's head turned at this announcement.
"Food? Really? Hell, I'm excited now!" he said. "Man, I hope Sasuke will come easily… I don't want to wait!" he said, running ahead.
"Naruto, wait up!" she said running after him.
Sasuke was not looking forward to the evening. The day Sakura had come to their mission ecstatic with excitement on a party being held, he knew he was in trouble. He didn't really care for parties and not such big ones either. People rarely got out their kimonos these days, and he didn't really feel like wearing his for an entire evening. He sighed and sat down on his couch, hoping that wherever Sakura and Naruto where, that they had forgotten about him. At least he thought he hoped. The idea of his friends forgetting him was almost as bad as the idea of a party. Sasuke didn't show it, but he really treasured his friends, and if they forgot him, well… he didn't even think of how he would react. He decided if they did show up, he would say he forgot and say it was too late to get ready, he would stay at home. How wrong he was.
"By the way Sakura-Chan, how do you know the way to Sasuke's house? I mean, we never really visit each other" Naruto said. Sakura turned a bright red and said with indignation,
"It was in the ninja-school roster you idiot!" hitting him on the head.
"geez, don't get mad at me!" he rubbed his now throbbing head.
"Sakamoto… Shinji… hmm, this should be it" Sakura said, looking up at a particularly large house. The sign on the front said "Uchiha"
"Great!" she giggled, opening the gate and skipping up the garden path.
"Sakura, is this really a good idea? I mean, Sasuke didn't really seem like he wanted to go…" Naruto trailed off as he saw the look on Sakura's face. He had seen it many times before, right before she hit him on the head. Sakura didn't look it, but she was very strong. She knocked on the heavy front door.
"Oh god, they're here, I think I'll just pretend I'm not home-" Sasuke winced, but before he could do anything more, he were cut off by Sakura yelling from the outside,
"Sasuke! I know you're in there, and if you don't come out, I'll knock this door straight through your house!" that got him moving, he shot up from the couch and almost ran to open the door. Standing on his front porch were his two teammates. Sakura looked pretty. She had on a pink and red kimono that reminded him of cherries, and her hair was done up in a bun on the top of her head. Even Naruto dressed up, he was sporting a bright yellow kimono, with red face paint on his face. Sakura smiled brightly as he opened the door.
"Hi, are you ready?" she asked cheerily. "Does it look like I am?" he thought, but kept it to himself.
"Oh, I forgot it was today. Sorry, I'm really unprepared and I don't think- hey, what are you doing!" he yelled as Sakura marched into his house, grabbed his arm and started leading him upstairs.
"Getting you ready. We came early because we thought you might forget, so we have plenty of time!" she said happily.
"What?" he said as Naruto followed Sakura. Naruto patted Sasuke's back. "I knew you would try to get out of it, so I told her you might forget" he said. Sasuke grumbled as he resigned to his fate and let Sakura drag him upstairs.
Half an hour later Sakura and Naruto were pushing him out of the house. "You have everything? Wallet? House keys? Then we're good to go" she said skipping back down the porch. Sakura talked happily as they made their way to the town center. "So do you think we'll see Kakashi there? We're meeting up with the rest of the genin too" Sasuke groaned. Get togethers were not his favorite pastime. They usually ended in chaos. Like the sleepover at Hinata's and Neji's. Hinata didn't tell her cousin that she had invited the girls over as well. So the girls had listened to an hour and a half of the boys talking about who they liked, only to be found out and chased back to the room shaking with suppressed laughter. At least he had stayed quiet, but Naruto had poured his heart out, resulting in Sakura not talking to him for a week. "At least," he thought. "This time we know who's coming and who's not" Beside him Sakura gasped. He looked up. He had never seen the town square look so nice. Shining baubles of light where strung around poles, there where vendor carts everywhere and people were all over the place, chatting animatedly about the festival.
"Wow, it's so pretty!" Sakura said, awed.
"Hey, there's the others!" Naruto said, and dragged them over to where the other genin where standing.
"Hi Ino" Sakura said brightly once they had reached the rather large crowd.
"Hey Sakura, glad you could make it" Ino said. Sasuke was glad she and Sakura had gotten over their rivalry a while ago; he didn't want to make a scene with so many people around.
"I'm so excited!" Ino gushed, looking around her. "I really love festivals! I can't wait until it gets dark, it'll look so cool!"
"This is a rather large group," Naruto said. Ino nodded her head. "Yeah, we're going to probably have to split up"
"Well, that's settled then" Neji said, stepping forward. "C'mon Tenten" he said. Tenten smiled and followed Neji, waving back to them before disappearing into the crowd.
"Ohhh, Sasuke look, they have a fire juggler over there!" Sakura said. The next thing he knew, he was being dragged off into the crowd, without time to complain. The genin parted fast, leaving only Naruto, Ino, Kiba, and Hinata.
"Well" Ino said "Have fun you two!" she winked and took Kiba's arm, disappearing into the crowd like the others. Naruto looked around. He hadn't noticed Hinata. He was a little annoyed Sakura and Sasuke would leave him here, but he thought he should probably ask Hinata to go with him. He cleared his throat.
"So, where do you want to go?" he asked Hinata. She blushed a deep red and shrugged her shoulders. They stood there awkwardly for a moment until Naruto spoke again.
"Well, let's just walk around and see what there is!" he said. Hinata nodded shyly and followed him.
"Woahhhhh!" the crowd gasp as the man took up one of his burning torches and blew on it, creating a flaming wall of fire ten feet long. Sakura clapped and then turned to Sasuke.
"I bet you could do better" she said a little louder than usual. He shrugged his shoulders. The man apparently heard her, as he started walking towards them.
"You do fire breathing too?" he asked Sasuke. Sasuke shot a annoyed glance at Sakura and said,
"In a way"
"Well, let's see then" the man said. Sasuke turned a slight shade of pink.
"Horse, tiger, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger! Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Sakura was right, his was over 15 feet. The man stood there amazed. The crowd clapped as Sasuke and Sakura walked away. He felt slightly satisfied inside, and thought he might actually be able to enjoy the festival.
"Where do you want to go next?" he asked her.
"Oh!" she pointed. "Its Kakashi- sensei!" she said.
Kakashi was enjoying himself. He didn't have to worry about his team at all, and now he could just sit back and relax. He reached to pick up his drink and then heard, "Kakashi-Sensei!" he squeezed his glass so tight that it broke. He glowered at his hand for a moment, not happy that even in a massive festival his team could still find him. He turned to see Sasuke and Sakura running towards him, he forced his face into a smile.
"Ah, hello…" he trailed off. "Where's Naruto?" he said, noticing the absence of the team's one and only hyperactive orange ninja. Sasuke shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh, Naruto. I think he went with Hinata, but other than that I'm not sure" Sakura said. Both Sakura and Sasuke looked like they were enjoying themselves, Kakashi only wished he could.
"Well, what have you two been doing?" he asked, really hoping they would just go away.
"Not much right now, Sasuke just made a fireball larger than the fire blowing guy at the street corner, but other than that, we just got here" she said. Kakashi wondered how Naruto and Sakura got Sasuke to even go. He swore the boy hated everything in the world, most of all his brother.
"And you?" she asked him.
"Oh, just hanging around right now, I might go walk around and see what there is to see at some point" he said, trying to end the conversation. Suddenly he had a rush of the moment idea. "Oh look, there's my friend, gotta go!" he said, and quickly jumped up and speed walked away, leaving a puzzled Sasuke and Sakura behind him. Sakura turned to Sasuke.
"Kakashi has friends?" she said incredulously. Sasuke just stood there.
Naruto was feeling very uncomfortable. Hinata was so shy she hadn't said anything during the whole time he had been with her.
"Soooo" he said, attempting to make conversation. "You want to get something to eat?" he asked. Hinata only nodded her head slightly and looked at her feet. Naruto spotted a ramen shop on the other side of the street.
"Excellent!" he said happily. He walked over to the restaurant with Hinata tailing behind him.
"Well, it's not ichiraku ramen, but it will have to do" Naruto said cheerfully. "What do you want?" he asked her.
"Ummm… miso" she said quietly, the first words she had spoken all evening. Naruto walked up to the stand.
"One pork ramen with extra pork and one miso ramen" he asked. The man behind the counter nodded and went to prepare the meal. Naruto and Hinata sat down at the counter. There was a minutes silence until Naruto spoke again.
"Soooo uh, seen any good movies lately?" he asked awkwardly. Hinata went red in the face and looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't.
"Uhhh, Hinata, are you ok? Your face is totally red…" he said. She looked like she was going to burst for a minute, until she opened her mouth.
"-" She ranted on and on. "-!" Naruto was dumbfounded.
"Uh… can you repeat that again Hinata, I didn't quite catch what you were saying" he said. She went red and sat quiet.
"One pork and one miso ramen" the guy's voice broke the longstanding silence.
Being dragged around by Sakura turned out to be a lot more fun than Sasuke had expected. He felt better than he had in a long time. They ran into several friends while out and about, including Lee, who somehow managed to get into a sake bar, which Sasuke thought was a bad idea, Shino, who he noticed that people were giving him a wide space, and Tenten and Neji, whom they both decided it was better to walk away quietly than to stare and rush off to tell the others. Sakura ran into a few neighborhood friends, who stared when they saw her with Sasuke. She blushed but he just smiled at them and led her away. Finally they ran into Naruto and Hinata, who were eating ramen. They both walked over to them. Sakura poked Naruto in the back.
"Hi Naruto!" she sang. Naruto whirled around.
"Oh, it's you guys" he said, before noticing their broad grins. "What's up?"
"Nothing much, we were just walking around. Ran into a few friends. By the way, don't go to the corner by the fireworks stand, Neji and Tenten might still be there" she giggled.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he said. Hinata seemed to understand, her eyes went wide and she blushed crimson. Sasuke and Sakura shared a knowing smile and Sasuke said,
"Have you guys been enjoying yourselves?"
"What do you mean by they might still be there" Naruto asked, ignoring Sasuke's question.
"Never you mind. If you really want to know, ask Hinata." He said.
"Fine then, I will. Hinata, what did they mean by they might still be there?" Naruto said. Hinata's face felt hot. Why did he have to ask a question like that? Why ask me?
"Uh…um…uh" she stammered.
"Is it really that bad?" he said. She shook her head and didn't say anything. Sakura giggled again and said,
"Well, catch you guys later!" she said. She took Sasuke's hand and skipped away. Naruto was left trying to reason why they were so vague and what it meant.
They wandered around for a few minutes, seeing what there was to see before Sakura grabbed Sasuke's arm.
"Oh, there are my parents!" Sakura said. "Let's go say hi!" she said, pulling his arm.
"Let's not" he said, under his breath, but Sakura was already pulling him towards her family, who were standing in the middle of a street, watching a play.
"Hi mom, hi dad!" she said enthusiastically, when they reached them.
"Sakura, there you are! Are you enjoying yourself?" her mom asked. Sakura's mom sort of reminded him of his mom. The caring and gentle look on her face but as he looked at her dad he was sure Mr. Haruno only saw his daughter holding hands with a completely total stranger.
"And who's this?" her mom turned to Sasuke.
"This is Sasuke Uchiha" she said. Sasuke smiled, but really felt awkward, especially since Sakura's father was giving him a look of deepest loathing.
"Sasuke! Sakura has told us all about you!" Sasuke went red in the face. "I'm Hikari Haruno, and this is my husband, Hinoiri Haruno." Hinoiri scowled at Sasuke. Sakura looked at her father and sighed. She seemed to sense this was not going well. "Are you guys enjoying yourselves? This festival came here around my age too! It was just as fun as I remembered!" Ms. Haruno said, beaming. Sakura and Sasuke nodded helplessly. Mr. Haruno just glowered at his wife and was quiet. Sakura was silent for a moment until she said,
"Well, we have lots to see and little time, see ya" and turned to leave.
"Well, you two have a good time!" her mother called. Her dad gave Sasuke one more glare and marched off. Sakura turned to Sasuke.
"Sorry about that. I didn't mean to embarrass you. You probably noticed my dad doesn't like you much. I was hoping if he met you he might be ok, but I think it just made it worse" she said.
"Why does he hate me again, I seemed to have missed the reason" Sasuke said sarcastically.
"I don't really know. Maybe he just hates everyone that I-" she went red and didn't finish her sentence. Sasuke knew exactly what she was about to say. He shrugged and turned away.
"I don't really know… It's always this way. Every time my mom even says the name Uchiha, my dad either goes very quiet or starts yelling about how we don't mention that name in our household." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "And then they send me out of the room and start yelling at each other" her expression saddened a little
"We should probably get something to eat. I mean, the fireworks start at midnight and it's already 11:00." He said, trying to avoid the current conversation. She seemed to perk up at the suggestion.
"Sure!" she said
"Ok, what do you want to eat?" Sakura thought for a moment. "Sushi?" she suggested.
"Fine by me" he asked. They found a sushi restaurant and sat down.
"I'll go order, what do you want?" he asked. "Hmmm, kappa maki" she said.
"OK, I'll be right back" he walked over to the counter on the other side of the room. She turned and sighed. "Wow, I can't believe I got to spend a whole evening alone with Sasuke" she sighed. She sat lost in her thoughts until Sasuke came back.
"Here" he handed Sakura her sushi.
"I can't wait for the fireworks, I heard they will be even better than New Year's ones!" she said happily. Sasuke nodded.
"I wonder what everyone else is up to" he said.
"Yeah, Naruto didn't seem like he was having a lot of fun. I mean, it was nice of him to take Hinata, but since she's so shy around him it must be hard talking and relaxing"
Naruto, as Sakura rightly guessed, was not having the time of his life. Hinata wouldn't even talk to him, and the festival was starting to bore him. "Godammit. Why did they have to leave me here with her? I mean, Hinata's nice and all, but I can't get her to talk or get her to do much of anything, really" Naruto looked around. "Hmmm, maybe she likes dancing. I've never danced before, but if it will make her more comfortable, then I might as well try it"
"Hey Hinata" he said
"Y-Yes?" she stammered.
"Do you like dancing?" he asked, hoping she would say yes. She went a brighter red and nodded.
"Great, let's go!" he said, bounding off towards the dance area. She jogged after him.
Nothing really prepared Naruto for dancing. Luckily Hinata seemed good at it, so he just followed her, and at last he found she could act a little normal around him. He kept stepping on her foot, but she didn't seem to notice until he stumbled, she steadied him and giggled. He smiled.
"Thanks Naruto, that was really fun" she said after they were done dancing.
"Anytime!" he grinned, hoping he would never have to dance again in his life. Naruto looked at his watch.
"The fireworks will be starting soon, lets head for Hokage Rock" Naruto said. Hinata nodded. He led her through the streets to the towering cliff carved with the images of hokages who came before.
"Let's try and find Sasuke and Sakura" Hinata suggested.
"Err…why not" he said. They looked around for a while until they heard,
"Naruto! Hinata!" they turned to see the two running towards them.
"Sorry we're a little late, since everybody was heading this way, it was hard to get here. Ino said we'd all meet above the 1st hokage's face, you ready?" she asked. They nodded. They made their way to the outlook above the face, and found the group of genin.
"Ok, we all here? Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Lee, Neji, Tenten, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Temari, Gaara, Kankuro(the sand siblings were visiting from Sunagakaru), Shikamaru Chouji and me… good!" Ino said. They all sat down on the grass.
"Hmmm… We've still get 30 minutes. What did everybody do?" she asked.
"Sasuke and I mostly walked around, then we had dinner and came here" Sakura answered.
"Hinata and I had dinner and then danced for a bit" Naruto said. Hinata went a brilliant shade of crimson.
"What did you do Shikamaru?" Ino asked
"He and Temari fought the whole time. It was so not fun" Kankuro said. Everybody snickered at this time.
"Neji, Tenten?" Ino asked. They both went red. Sasuke and Sakura exchanged smirks.
"Kiba and I saw Asuma and Kurenai together. I wonder if their going out?" Ino said. Everyone started chatting about it at once.
"We saw Kakashi-sensei, I didn't realize he had a life outside of teaching" Sakura said.
"I don't think he does, he just wanted to get rid of us" Sasuke answered.
"The fireworks of the festival of twenty years will be starting in 5 minutes" a voice boomed over the crowds chatter. Sakura grabbed Sasuke's arm.
"I'm so excited!" she said, bubbly.
"Owww, Sakura…my arm. Please let go…" he winced.
"Sorry Sasuke-kun" she said, slightly embarrassed.
"Oh, look!" Ino said, pointing up to the middle of the outlook, where a large platform had been built. Lady Tsunade stepped up to the platform. She smiled and waved to the crowd below.
"Hey, its granny Tsunade!" Naruto yelled, pointing at her. She evidently heard, as she scowled in his direction. She looked around and then started to speak.
"ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, let the fireworks of the 24th Festival of 20 Years begin!" she yelled.
It was spectacular. Sasuke had never seen anything quite like it. The colors seemed more vivid tonight, the designs were completely new and they seemed to come to life as they burst in the air, letting out a bang and a shower of bright colors that reminded him of a meteor shower.
The fireworks lasted for at least an hour, halfway through the show Sasuke felt Sakura's head fall gently onto his shoulder. He smiled slightly and put his arm around her. Naruto was giving him the "Look of Death." Sasuke shot a smug look back at Naruto and looked from him to Hinata, and tilted his head as if to say "Well, go on, you did take her, didn't you?" Naruto shot him another venomous look and turned away. Sasuke sighed and turned his attention back to the fireworks. He didn't see it, but afterwards Naruto quietly put his arm around Hinata, who immediately noticed and went wholly red.
At quarter to 1 the fireworks ended. Sasuke looked down to find Sakura had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Smiling slightly to himself, he gently shook her.
"Wha…" she woke and looked around sleepily. He smiled.
"The fireworks are over" he said gently.
"Wha-oh! Did I sleep through them? I must have fallen asleep" she moaned. He laughed softly.
"C'mon, I'll take you home" Sasuke said. He got up and offered his hand to her. She took it and he pulled her up off the grass.
"Did Naruto already go?" she asked. He nodded. They walked through the streets of Konoha quietly.
"This is it" Sakura said, stopping in front of a certain house, the lights were on inside, spilling a soft yellow shine on the dark path. "It looks like mom and dad are already home" she said. She looked at him.
"Thank you" she said softly. He felt his face grow hot. Her face was inches from his.
"No problem" he said.
"G'night" she said, kissed him on the cheek, and then ran swiftly down the path to her house. He stood there for a moment feeling wholly happy, looking at her retreating form, and then turned into the darkness, heading home.