Daytime Television: Thanks for reading this far! Double digits for my first story! Don't forget, I'm always looking for suggestions and ideas.

Chapter 10: Exploding Fireworks

Sakura and Hinata walked through Konoha. From Sakura's house, they headed down the street away from the direction of the school. The houses on Sakura's street looked just about the same as the one's on Hinata's street. They turn to another street and the familiar ramen comes into view. Naruto is there eating ramen. They walk up behind him, empty plates surrounding him.

"Naruto! Is that all you ever eat? Get addicted to something that actually has nutrients!" Sakura said. Naruto gulps up all the remainding ramen.

"Actually, this ramen is good for you. It's instant ramen that doesn't have any nutrients (It's still as delicious though)," Naruto answered.

"How would you know?"

"I'm a ramen expert!" Naruto yelled.

"Alright then. Now that your full, you won't be able to eat the other foods at the fair we're going to," Sakura smirked. Naruto shook his head.

"Nope. See? -points to plates- Only five plates of ramen. I was just getting warmed up! Theres plenty of space!" Naruto says revealing his stomach and yells at him.

Hinata watched the two fight. We should really get to the fair…. But, I can't say anything since I didn't bring paper and neither of them understand sign language…She turned her head to look at the surrounding city to wait for Naruto and Sakura to finish their quarrel. The sun's light dully shone around the buildings. The sun had been setting already for a while. Soon, it would be completely dark. Not like that was a problem. The light from the surrounding buildings was enough to ward the darkness of the night. A little farther ahead, Hinata could see a large amount of artificial light. That was, no doubt, the fair that they were going to.

"Hey Hinata?" Naruto said waving her hand in front of her face, "Wake up…. Were ready to go." She snapped out of her gaze and followed them.

They continued down the street like they had previously been doing with Naruto also. Soon they reached the enterance area. As they entered the fair, Hinata noticed a figure run out of an alley and then duck behind a group of people. It was moving too fast for her to get a clear picture of the person.

"How'd you like it so far?" Sakrua asked. Hianta smiled at her. I also heard you saying that's there's going to be fireworks. That's sounds fun!

They navigated through a seemingly endless maze of booths selling food and merchandise.

"Alright where do you think Kiba is?" Sakura asked stopping to look at a jewelry stand.

"Who cares about him? He's probably around here. Let's leave him wherever he is. He can find us." Naruto responded. Sakura turned to Hinata,

"Well I bet you want to find Kiba…Don't you," Sakura nudged Hinata hinting at possible love. Hinata blushed a little bit…I-I mean.. I don't think so… I've never thought about anything like that...

"Come on! See! There's rides over there! At least look around while we head over there"

"Fine"

It works out at least.

They walked over to the rides and still no sign of Kiba. The area was full of carnival rides.

"Which one?" Naruto asked.

"Let Hinata choose since this is her first time," Sakura said. Hinata looks around at several rides; one goes upside down, definitely no: one spins around really quick, no again: another one goes upside down and spins, Never in my life: And a Farris wheel, Better than nothing. She points to the farris wheel.

"Fine! But after I'm going to do a fun one," Naruto said disappointed in her choice.

The farris wheel was fairly large and this was Hinata's first time on one. She was visible scared for a couple of seconds, but then got used to it. The whole city could be seen from the height. Hinata looked for her house amongt the mass of buildings, but was unable to locate it. At the edge of the city, the lights stopped and the forest started. Hianta made a mental note to go and explore the forest. She then turned to the fair below. Groups of people were walking in every direction, some simply enjoying the evening, others stopping at every vendor.

Hinata could pick out invidual families versus groups of friends. One of them though seemed a little odd. The group of people was off to the side, away from the commotion. Against the backdrop of bright light, this group's dark clothing stuck out like a smudge on a piece of paper. She leaned over the edge of the farris wheel to get a better look.

What are they wearing… It looks like black robes with red stuff on them…Oh….Those are clouds. Crap…That's them from the other day. Akatsuki. I got to get out of here as soon as possible before they notice me.

"Whatcha looking at?" Naruto said in Hinata's ear causing her to almost jump out. Hinata shook her head furiously. He can't know about that! Naruto leaned over to look at what Hianta was previously staring at. Hinata panicked and quickly pointed randomly to another location. Naruto eyes followed her finger.

"Hey! Nice job! There's Kiba. See? Sitting right there and eating with that weird kid Shino. No worries. I told you!"

What a relief and good luck!

The ride ended and Naruto rushed throught the crowd to Kiba. Sakura dashed after him. Leaving Hinata alone.

Wait! This is a bad time to get lost…. She ran after them. A couple seconds later she stopped completely lost. There were so many people around each of them moving around her. All this noise was starting to give Hinata a headache. She didn't know where to go anymore. They could have gone anywhere.

"WHAT?" Hinata heard Kiba yell. She ran after where she heard the yell. Sure enough Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, and Shino were standing around in a circle. Hinata rushed over to them. They turned their heads when they noticed her.

"Your safe!" Kiba yelled again, not as loud as before, walking towards her, "Are you alright?."

She looked a little terrified, but glad that she found them. Naruto and Sakura looked like they were having a heart attack.

"These idoits left you alone!" Kiba said again, "They run over and find me and start talking. And I ask them where you are, and they notice that they left you behind!"

"Umm. Hinata? How'd you find us?" Naruto asked a little ashamed. She pointed to Kiba, specifically his mouth.

"Don't be irresponsible," Shino said. Sakura and Naruto visibly depressed at having even Shino be angry at them.

"So… What have you been doing? We were looking for you" Sakura asked changing the subject.

"Nothing much, just hanging out with Shino here, and Akamaru," Kiba replied. He pulled out a wad of cash, "Here Hianta take some." Hinata refused. She broght some money herself and didn't want to feel like she was free loading.

"Hey don't worry about it. Watch!" Kiba said grabbingn Akamaru off his head and putting him on the ground. Akamaru sat down and waited for something. Soon a group of girls walked over and started saying how cute he was. "Now for the main event!" Kiba casually walked behind them. Like a master pick pocket, he quickly opened their purses, which had been left on the floor while they petted Akamaru, and grabbed some bills.

The group of girls left without any suspicion.

"What! I would expect something like that from Naruto!" Sakura said, "There's no way Hinata would take up your offer now!"

Probably not… but I was thinking about it.

"I'll take some Kiba!" Naruto said eagerly thinking about all the ramen he could buy.

"No you don't!" Sakura yelled and hit Naruto.

They started buy some food and sit down at an empty picnic table.

"Didn't you say that Sasuke was coming too? I know he's all emo and stuff, but hey, even Shino's here" Kiba said obviously annoying Shino.

"Yeah, I told him to come. He said he'd meet us when we got here. He's probably somewhere around here. Let's look for him!" Naruto exclaimed. They all got up from the table except Hinata who tugged at Sakura.

"What is it Hianta?"

Hinata mouthed the word 'leave' and 'sick'.

"Nonsense! We just got here!" Naruto said pulling Hianta up and forcing her on his hunt for Sasuke.

I seriously have to go. Akatsuki wants to kill me….But I don't know the way out of this mess.

They walked around the place for a little while and still no sign of Sasuke. Hinata was worrying, no about Sasuke, but about Akatsuki finding her. They had been there for a couple hours now, and no doubt Hinata would be found. Akatsuki was probably looking for her.

"Alright! Sasuke obviously didn't come! Let's stop looking!" Kiba said tired from the hunt, "Let's go on a ride or something. I came here to have fun, not be in a search party"

"Hinata choose one!"

I just want to leave before anything bad can happen… She points behind not even looking to see what she had pointed too. I don't really care.

They look behind her.

"Hey! It's Sasuke! Nice job, Hinata, you found him!" Sakura said. Sasuke was a little ways away staring at them. He saw them all turn around and look straight at him. He got up and quickly ran out of their sight.

"Wait! Come back!" Sakura yelled running after him along with Kiba, Shino, and Naruto.

Hinata didn't have a chance to react. She pointed behind herself and suddenly she was alone. By the time she turned around, they were all gone.

Oh no! Not again!

She looked around.

They went down that way but it just turns into many possible paths.

Hinata started walking in the direction that she thought they would be at. This time, they probably wouldn't notice so soon that they left her behind because they were so focused on catching Sasuke, who obviously did not want to be caught.

…

Naruto ran for Sasuke. They locked eyes for a second and Naruto could see that Sasuke didn't want them to know he was there. He saw him sprint left on to another path. Naruto heard the rest of his friends chase after him also. Once he made the same turn, Naruto moved his eyes back and forth scanning the area. Sasuke was even farther way now. He was much faster than Naruto. Sasuke moved swiftly through the crowd, while Naruto bumped and shoved his way through. Each time Naruto ran around a corner, Sasuke was farther away, until finally he was nowhere in sight. Naruto scanned the area again looking for Sasuke's blue shirt. Sakura and the rest of the group caught up to them gasping for air.

"There!" Naruto suddenly yells and runs to where he pointed. Naruto grabbed the shoulder of the supposed Sasuke and he turns around. It was some random person.

"What? Who are you?" Naruto yelled scaring the kid.

"W-What do you want? I didn't do anything" the boy said.

"Where did you get this?" Naruto says grabbing the shirt that looks like Sasuke's.

"Some guy ran over and told me to wear it…"

Naruto goes back to the group disappointed.

"So he was trying to give us the slip! He was probably spying on us too!" Sakura said after Naruto told her what had happened.

"Yeah! It's a good thing Hinata spotted him!" Kiba added, and then everyone stopped and looked amongst them selves realizing what they had done.

Nearby, a shadowy figure watched them as he caught his breath.

"This might end of working in my favor," he says smiling. After he couple of seconds, he disappears from the scene.

…

Hinata didn't know where to go. She decided to go to the visble farris wheel. All she had to do was find where they entered the fair and she could probably remember the way home.

While walking, she noticed that a shadowy figure was following her. Everytime she would stop, the steps she heard also stopped. As soon as she turned around to see who it was, the person promptly blended in with the other people.

Hinata could not scream for help. She could get someone's attention and somehow tell them that she needs to get out of there, but then the follower would disappear. Hinata was curious about who it was and of their motives.

Akatsuki can't hurt me here. There's too many people. It can't be them, they work away from people. If I face the person after me, he won't be able to hurt me.

The steps got closer and closer to her and then they stopped. Hinata kept walking and she found the entrance to the fair. She would be able to get home from here. At that moment, fire works shot up into the air. Everyone looked up to see them and they exploded with a large bang. As Hinata looked up, a hand grabbed her and pulled her aside into a dark and empty tent. She looked up at the assailant. The light from the fireworks outlined his dark clothes blended in with the surroundings and his eyes were fierce and angry.

Sasuke?

That's chapter 10! It took me a week to write it, which is my current update 'schedule'. I want to update more, but, even though it's summer and no school, I'm really busy during the week. Most of the writing is written on weekends. Thanks for reading.

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