Sasuke's first halloween
Pairings: None
Genre: humor/ suspense
Konoha had been full of preparation in the past week in anticipation of this event. Small children and teens were scattered about the village, putting up lamps and other decorations, but this was nothing compared to what Sasuke's team was doing. Kakashi sensei had found them preparing to sneak out of the village because of the earlier tasks they'd been assigned to do. Just as they had been close to getting over the fence that protected them, Kakashi had grabbed them by the collar and made sure they were now cutting the pumpkins well.
Sasuke looked at his teammates and sighed 'Gaara, I'm sorry I got you into this' his hands were covered in pumpkin goo, as it slowly dripped down on the floor. The visiting genin just glared at him and bared his teeth. 'That's probably his way of saying thank you' Shikamaru said. He had already finished up as one of the eldest in his team, and was just lounging on a chair, waiting for his teammates to finish. 'Have you found out what kind of costume you're going to be wearing tomorrow?' Shikamaru asked, not caring about who was close. 'You know that's supposed to be a surprise, Nara' Sasuke said, slightly annoyed now.
'I'll just wait for onii-sama' he said, smugly. 'Of course, who would expect little Sasuke to do something on his own for a change' Kakashi noted, smiling from behind his book. 'S-sensei,' Gaara said, obviously surprised 'How do you do this?' he asked, seemingly innocent. 'You've made quite a mess out of this one, Gaara' he noted, putting his book away. The other students merely glanced at Gaara, everyone was trying to either get help or finish this assignment as soon as possible. No one really wanted to be here. 'Do you remember that one time where Naruto tried to do this assignment by using his kage bunshin?' Kakashi merely smiled. 'Of course, we had to clean up after his bunshins dissolved after their own little war' Shikamaru then shook his head 'If only he was here now..'
'Stupid Naruto' Sasuke muttered. 'Knock-knock' Itachi said, pushing away the curtain that kept the small room warm. 'Onii-sama!' Sasuke said, spreading out his arms to invite his brother for a hug. 'Could you please do the next three pumpkins?' Sasuke asked, batting his eyelashes at his elder brother. 'I would, if this wasn't your punishment. I'm going to sit with Nara over there' and with that, his brother leaned against the wall as he started an animated conversation with Shikamaru. Sasuke balled his fists and looked at Gaara, who now comfortably leaned back against his chair, while Kakashi was still explaining the basics of emptying the pumpkin and making smilies on one side of it. 'Why can't we do text?' Shikamaru asked. 'Because not everyone is as poetic as you' Sasuke added with a sly smile.
'So what if I write poetry to Temari, it's not like it-' Gaara stood up and glared at the older genin. 'What did you just say about my sister!' he yelled, pumpkin in hand. 'Nothing really, it's not like she replies anyways..' Shikamaru muttered. The rest of the day was rather uneventful. Itachi and Shikamaru talked amongst themselves while waiting for the other two to finally finish the task at hand. Itachi carefully rubbed Sasuke's shoulders before announcing that he was going to take a bath. Their mother had pulled an all-nighter, trying to finish some of their Halloween costumes for tomorrow night. Sasuke, in a way, felt bad for her. 'Mum? Is there anything I can get you?' he whispered, opening the door to her sowing-room.
Gaara on the other hand was sitting at home alone. How could that bastard Shikamaru even try to get close to his sister? He was useless, not someone who could be the brother in law to a kazekage. Gaara felt his body tremble as he looked at his closet, tomorrow night would be the perfect night to take revenge..
Sasuke got into the bath and felt the warm water envelop his body, unwillingly, he shivered, anticipating tomorrow. All of the kids would go on their candy hunt, and at the end of the evening there would be a prize for the group that collected the most candy. Of course, Sasuke only participated for the real prize. 'Sasuke?' Itachi asked, standing outside the bathroom. 'I have to go on a mission tonight, I don't know if I'll be back in time. You will have to start the hunt without me little brother' Sasuke just nodded and put his head underwater, sending a lot of bubbles flying when he ran out of air. It had always been like this, Itachi would be there for a day or two at most, and then he would have to leave again.
This Halloween would be no different. 'Miiiko? I'm home!' at least dad was home then. 'I'm in here!' she replied, obviously awake now. In the livingroom, Itachi had probably turned on the tv, and was watching some sort of fight show. Later on they had dinner, and called it a night. At least tomorrow the village would be completely different for a change.
Sasuke got up early in the morning to deliver milk, his mother had gotten him this job so that he at least provided something for the village. He didn't feel as connected to it like his brother or his father did, but that was mostly because they failed to pay attention to him because of it. 'I don't want to end up like that' he muttered, as he dragged his milk cart through the village. Some people had already put out the pumpkins, and Sasuke found it funny to put the milk bottles inside the holes people had made specifically for the candles, just because he could.
He nearly tripped over a Halloween style decorated dog as it raced by in a flash of orange blurriness. 'Stupid dog' he muttered. 'Uncle Sasuke! Uncle Sasuke!' he had finally made it back to the part of the village that belonged to his family. 'What is it?' he asked. 'Look, I'm a flying bat!' The girl said, flapping her invisible wings. 'And now you want me to give you candy, I suppose?' Sasuke said, smiling deviously. 'But you already told me who you were, so I suppose I don't have to pay you just yet' At the end of the street, something with a black cloak moved rapidly away from him. 'Itachi-sama! Itachii-sama!' one of the girls said, running after him. 'Please, just one Halloween date? Just one?' She said, nearly having caught up with him. 'Ino, go away!' he yelled, obviously irked by her persisting attitude. This past week she had managed to pop up in some very inappropriate places, including Itachi's favorite tea house, supermarket, his livingroom and his bedroom closet.
Sasuke just smiled as he saw that his brother was finally starting to enjoy himself some more. The afternoon consisted of trying on their costumes and seeing whether they fit or not. Sasuke's appearance just had to change by one minor thing, he only had to dye his hair blonde, and then he'd be perfect. 'A perfect Shizuo, if I say so myself' Sasuke admired himself briefly in the mirror, after having seen the anime Durarara! Last year, the only character he felt he could identify himself with, would have been Heiwajima Shizuo. Sadly, his brother couldn't make it to be Izaya, so his mother adjusted the costume so that his father would be able to wear it instead. Fugaku grumbled slightly as Mikoto adjusted his costume. 'Mii-chan.. is this honestly necessary?' he asked, looking discomforted by the 'fluffles' on the coat, as he liked to call them. 'I'll be going as Anri, so it's only fair that you look a little like the people from the anime, without having to dye your hair dear'
Sasuke sighed and went outside to find Shikamaru and Chouji, at least they would look presentable, as opposed to his parents. 'Don't laugh' Shikamaru said, as he emerged as the black power ranger. 'Let me guess, your parents got you into this?' he just looked down and nodded.
'You make quite a good.. what are you?'
'Good luck guessing!' Sasuke said, slightly starting to get more into the Halloween feel.
Kakashi-sensei emerged from a corner, holding their candy containers. 'You're really going all out for this one, aren't you?' he said, handing each of them a small holed out pumpkin to store the candy in. 'Youthfulness is good!' Guy sensei added. 'It feels good to be young, doesn't it?' the boys just nodded and went their separate ways, not commenting on anything Guy had said.
'Sometimes I really wonder who made that guy into a teacher' Nara said, sighing. They had sat down for the time being, to see who else was going to start early, and who was good to have on their teams. 'Should we take Rock Lee?' Chouji suggested. 'He has the speed for it' Shikamaru added. 'He might end up eating all the candy though..' Sasuke added. 'True' they agreed.
'What about Sakura or Ino?' Shikamaru added.
'They are going with Naruto this year.'
'Argh!'
'Rock Lee or Hinata then?'
'Hinata will be scared to death when she sees strangers' Sasuke said, knowing this because of an earlier mission this year. She had let him do all the talking.
'Ok, we're going to take Neji then.' Sasuke merely nodded and meekly followed the two boys to the Hyuuga district, as per usual, Neji was training with Tenten and Rock Lee, but they didn't mind him leaving at all.
'Let's start then!' Chouji said, excitedly clapping his hands. 'Trick .. orrr.. treat..' they said, putting their hands on top of each other, shouting out their battle cry as if they were going to war. 'All for one!' they ended, each of them running in a separate direction. Later that night, Sasuke had managed to do two parts of the village, the Hyuuga clan and the Hokage's office and most of the workers there. He smiled at the amount of candy that seemed to overflow his little lantern. This year he might not be the one losing to Itachi's record of two-hundred pieces of candy. The villagers assembled at the central square as the stars were now high up in the sky. 'Team Sasuke, please step forward' Kakashi announced, holding a paper scroll in front of him.
The moment Shikamaru was about to hand Kakashi his lantern, something in it appeared to go off. In a puff of smoke, the black-haired genin had suddenly disappeared, his candy still splattered over the floor as if there had been an ANBU assault just seconds ago. In the audience, people whispered and pointed at the stage with worried faces. 'Not to worry,' Kakashi said, as he then carried on with counting the candy..
At the end of the evening, Team Sasuke had made it to 213 pieces of candy, as had team Naruto. This, despite Chouji not having been able to control himself. If he had, they would have won for sure with his 50 additional pieces. This was the first time in years that Itachi's record had been broken, nor had there been a tie. 'Oh… this is unfortunate' Guy said, looking at the seven genin that now looked at them. 'The first one to score five points in basketball can -' Kakashi quickly covered his fellow-teacher's mouth as he smiled at the audience. 'Don't mind him' as Shikamaru re-appeared as if nothing had happened.
'Ok, how about a quiz? '
The crowd cheered, as the teachers tried to come up with questions. 'Who is our hokage?'
'Tsunade!' Sakura yelled, her eyes filled with a new sort of competitiveness.
'What do we hate most?' Guy asked, smiling at Kakashi.
'Outside threats?' Chouji tried.
'Wrong!' Kakashi said, high-fiving Guy-sensei.
'Other team's answer?'
'Uhmm.. dirty streets?' Naruto tried.
' Floods!'
'Ok, final question. Who does Hyuuga Hinata like?'
'Naruto!' Sasuke yelled, jumping into the air, not knowing what he'd just done.
'Oh, it's a tie again.' Kakashi remarked 'What's a tie breaker.. 'he muttered.
'The first one to collect five pumpkins and brings them to me.. Wins!' Guy concluded, now that his mouth was freed from any sort of censorship.
This time, Sasuke brought three of the pumpkins, while Chouji and Shikamaru each brought one. Sakura and Naruto managed to bring two each, but Ino didn't find any.. 'Now for the winning team! Team Sasuke!'
From above the stage a lot of confetti fell down as Sasuke received a special-colored head-band and a certificate of having collected most candy on Halloween night. At least tonight, the Uchiha would sleep well..
