Paper Lantern Night by heartillyangel

Short Summary – The major holiday season is coming up and a paper lantern night is held on the first night of the holidays and the last night. Sakura ends up going with Team 7 and she meets her match. Unfortunately, she has no clue who he is, and he has no clue who she is either. Who is he?

Chapter 1 - I don't want to go

This was the last day of missions. The next day was the holiday season. A great day for all ninjas on endless missions. Sakura on the other hand didn't want to go on holidays. She'd be separated from Sasuke-kun, her long time crush. She sighed. At least the holidays are only for 5 weeks, she thought tensely.

"Hey there Sakura!" called out a familiar voice.

Sakura turned to see who it was. It was Ino, one of her good friends.

"Ohayou Ino," she replied to the pretty blonde.

"So Sakura, have you picked out your kimono for the paper lantern night dance yet?" she asked excitedly.

"No Ino. I decided not to go," Sakura said.

"Nani!!!??? Are you out of your mind? This paper lantern night holiday comes once a year! And I heard that Sasuke-kun is actually taking a date and I have to see that!" Ino said in one breath.

Sakura had already predicted that Ino would react this way. It was so typical of her to overreact when there was a major holiday festival and someone wasn't attending. Now, she had to sit through all of Ino's lectures. She was definitely not in the mood right now.

"Sakura, are you with me or what?" Ino said looking at her weirdly.

"Sorry, Ino. I was daydreaming for a bit, so never mind me," Sakura said nervously.

"Sakura!" Ino blurted out.

"Nani Ino?" Sakura asked.

"You have to go to the paper lantern night festival!" Ino said not meeting Sakura's eye.

"Why Ino? You're not planning to drag me there are you?" Sakura demanded.

Knowing Ino, she probably cooked up a plan to get me hooked up with a guy or worse to actually dance with one! Sakura thought shivering trying to think what guy Ino would get for her. Knowing her, it'd probably be a Sasuke-kun look-a-like or maybe even Rock Lee! He was really nice and had a major crush on her, but she couldn't exactly picture him as her date to the festival.

"No Sakura. I brought you a kimono as a late birthday present; I had hoped you would wear it tomorrow night. I guess since you're not going I'll give it to Hinata or TenTen. What a shame, it was really pretty and made out of fine silk, just like you love them. But...." Ino said.

Sakura sighed. Ino had found her weakness. Pretty kimonos. There was no way Ino was going to let her say no right now. She would just have to say that she'd go to the festival to get Ino to quit hassling her to attend it and to get the present off her. Knowing Ino it might be actually a pretty one!

"So is that a yes Sakura?" Ino asked happily.

"Yes Ino. I might as well go," Sakura said gloomily.

"That's the spirit! Follow me! I'll give you your present!" Ino said cheerfully.

So Sakura stood up and followed Ino to her house. On the way they happened to pass the noodle bar where one of her team-mates Naruto loved to eat at. Unfortunately Naruto was there eating with the shy Hinata.

"Come on Hinata! My treat! Pick anything!" Naruto said smiling at her.

"But, Naruto-kun...Are you sure?" Hinata whispered blushing madly.

"Yes Hinata, Sakura-chan would never want to eat with me, same with Sasuke. So that only leaves you," Naruto said.

Sakura and Ino both felt like they were snooping on them. They both knew that Hinata wasn't one of Sasuke-kun's fan girls but actually had a major crush on Naruto. So they had managed to find a way around the bar without embarrassing Hinata. They knew that if she spotted her eating with Naruto, she would be really embarrassed and would never ever give them the juicy details about that date.

"That was so sweet of Naruto. Don't you think Ino?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah it was...if only Shikamaru would do that for me. But as usual, he would say 'this is too troublesome'," Ino murmured.

"Nani?" Asked Sakura.

"Nothing!" Ino said blushing furiously.

They continued walking until Ino motioned to Sakura that this was her house so they had to stop.

A/N: How was that for a first chapter? Tell me in your reviews! And if I don't get at least 7 or 8 reviews, no second chapter! Haha. I'm joking.

Next chapter: The best present a friend can give!