A/N: Hello, dear readers, Blackspade here!
A plot bunny jumped into my head while watching the fireworks on the 4th of July, and he hasn't left yet. In all honesty, he's been bouncing around and yelling at me to write this down. It's just a short, sweet little moment between the members of Team 10.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I sure wish I did, because then I could keep Kakashi all to myself.
Green, white, blue, red, the colors seemed almost endless.
They burst across the night sky in brilliant shapes and sizes, sometimes filling the darkness with their never-ending reach. The resounding boom that immediately followed had some of the surrounding crowd cover their ears while still managing to gape in awe at the miraculous mirage of color.
Young children viewing this spectacle for the first time would shriek and clap in surprise, their parents attempting to stop their small hands from catching any sparks that managed to make it close to the ground.
Fireworks.
Every year people would gather to watch this amazing display, able to enjoy a night not filled with the thoughts of death and war.
Instead, it was a time to bring family, and the village, closer together. A time when you could simply enjoy the little things in life, no matter how long they might last.
The citizens of Konohagakure were spread around haphazardly, choosing any spot where they might be able to see the show. On rooftops, lining the streets, from bedroom windows.
On a small hill that rose just above the tree-line of the forest, facing the fireworks going of just above the Hokage Mountain was a small group of four. They sat on a huge quilt, accompanied by a picnic basket that was being ravaged one-handedly by the biggest in their group.
"Ooh, did you see that one, Shikamaru?" Said big one asked his friend and ex-teammate, a guy with a bored, lazy air and the hair with the personality of a pineapple. Shikamaru cracked an eye open from his laying position on the ground, just barely making out the aftermath of the latest burst of colors.
"Uh, yeah." He replied, closing his eye and raising his arms above his head to create more of a pillow.
Well, at least something that was more comfortable than the old, scratchy piece of fabric he was currently trying to sleep on.
"No, you didn't! You were asleep, baka!" The owner of this new, obviously female voice cried out while proceeding to smack said idiot upside the head.
Rubbing his bruised scalp with the heel of his hand, Shikamaru mumbled, "Yeah, I was until your troublesome voice woke me up."
"What did you say?"
Now, Shikamaru isn't scared easily or frequently. But when you have a blond, highly frightening woman cracking her knuckles with the intent to kill sitting behind you with direct access to your head, you get scared. Especially when that woman is Yamanaka Ino.
"Now, calm down, you two. We're supposed to be enjoying ourselves, aren't we?"
This came from the fourth and final member of their little group, who had unfortunately brought the girls attention to himself.
"What? You want some of this too, Asuma-sensei?" Judging by the way the elder man shrunk away from her gaze, he wasn't looking to get pounded into the dirt that night.
Looking around at his former team, Asuma could only smile as fond memories came back to him. Memories of their first mission together, and all the arguing it had ensued. Memories of late-night training sessions, eating at whatever restaurant Choji felt like stuffing himself at. Memories of watching the tiny little genins grow to become the skilled and accomplished shinobi they were today.
Team 10.
It had been awhile since they had actually been one full team, but the connections and loyalty they had to one another was unwavering. Their friendship had only grown stronger since the fateful day they had become Team 10, and that was years ago.
It wasn't necessarily a wise thing to create bonds in the ninja world. If you had bonds, you had something you could lose. If you lost that something, all it did was create a big empty hole inside you.
And if you were a ninja, you knew that at some point in your life you or your comrades would certainly die.
Taking that into account, most shinobi tried to eradicate their emotions for fear of losing something they couldn't stand to bear.
It was a smart thing to do.
It was also stupid.
Most Konoha ninja had discovered this a long time ago. When you had no emotions, you could never make bonds. Without those bonds, what did you have to protect in life? What was your purpose in living if you couldn't enjoy it with those around you?
Exactly. There was no purpose. Without creating friendship or love, life was meaningless.
And that was why Asuma had sworn to protect these people with his life. He cared for them, had bonds with them, and that was why he fought. He fought to protect them, to protect his village. The day they had become a team, he knew he would never, could never let any harm come to the little squirts who had come to mean so much to him.
Exhaling slowly, Asuma watched the last fireworks bloom across the night sky, dancing in rainbow hues along the faces of his ex-teammates, now his comrades and friends.
"Hey, who forgot the chips?"
Asuma and Ino laughed, Shikamaru joining in at the familiar question. Soon, the entire group was laughing, making it seem as if the world finally gave them a moment of peace.
Sobering up, Choji asked, "No, seriously. Who forgot the chips?"
'Team 10 indeed', Asuma thought fondly.
The End.
A/N: So, there it is! I don't really know why I wrote this, so for now I'm blaming it on the plot bunny.
I really hope you liked it, though, and it would really make my day, my whole week, actually, if you reviewed.
Many, many cookies for you if you do!
~Cheers, Blackspade.