Naruto POV

Souji must have introduced us to half the people in this village.

Each vendor and satisfied patient inquired about his mother in turn as we wandered between the stalls and crowds. What would've otherwise been a tiring expedition as we stepped softly behind our young guide, listening to the same small talk over and over, turned out rather peaceful. Every man and woman we encountered were as sincere as could be.

It's not often that I've seen a whole village know one of the kids and really care about them beyond whether they're being fed once a week.

The citizens of Getsuga Island have all been in an exceptional mood for the festival.

Myself and Sasuke included.

I've seen several small smiles from the youngest Uchiha today and they seem a far cry more relaxed and genuine than the intense front he usually puts up. It makes my heart happy since he usually doesn't like people... 'He really needs to open up more.'

(Oh, the irony.)

-"Whoa!" I exclaimed, the raven himself turning to pluck me up and out of the way of a passing carriage.

"I hadn't even noticed. Sorry, Sas," I said, scratching the back of my head sheepishly. Realizing Souji was walking towards his mom and both waiving us off to spend time together separately, I blushed, embarrassed of my behavior.

'Kami, where has my head been this morning?.. I guess I only have eyes for you these days, huh, Sasuke?'

His lips curled up into a smirk as if I had spoken my confession aloud.

"Maa- You can look at me any time, Naruto. We are at a festival, let's try to enjoy this while we can, ne?" The glimmer of amusement in those depthless obsidian eyes betrayed his words.

Before I could be mesmerized once again, he took my hand and led me into the nearest shop.

"I'd really like to see you in one of these."

"Hm?"

I look up and take in the racks of Yukata, most of which vary in the brightness and patterns of their color. However some are more plain, just being a simple garment of solid black or grey.

My fingertips reach out to brush against the fabric of one grey and white yakata, never reaching their destination; my palm meeting Sasuke's warm chiseled chest instead. "Not this one, Dobe. Something less boring, choose one you actually like."

"Well maybe I liked that one, " I jut my chin forward and push him slightly away before reallly browsing through. "I mean, it's just a yukata. It doesn't really matter..."

Sasuke P.O.V.

I sigh softly.

I miss how buoyant his personality once was. 'Where is that brash mouth and bubbly personality? Naruto, come back to me.'

"Sure it does," I pinched his asscheek.

"Ahh! Sasuke, you bastard. What was that for?"

'There you are.'

I lean in closely over his shoulder and run my nose along the shell of his ear. "Of course it matters what it looks like, I'm gonna be watching your beautiful ass in it all evening and I need a little more pattern to distract me so I'm not solely thinking about stripping you down the entire time we're waiting for the hanabi to start."

With red ears and startled eyes he looks at me over his shoulder and stutters.

"O-uhh-kay..''

"What about this one?" I pull it down and hold it out for my boyfriend to look at.

Naruto wrinkles his nose cutely and eventually we decide on a thick navy blue yakata with small white flowers in circular patterns and neon blue leaves surrounding it all.

It really intensified the electric frisson of color in his eyes.

For me, he was dead set on a silk black yukata with red budding tree branches adorning it. It made me feel as if I was older in appearance and set my mind down paths involving Itachi.

I got to see him in a formal kimono once, for a distant cousins' wedding.

'I need to see my brother before everything is said and done. The years keep passing by; I just keep getting older and I'm missing out on the time I have left with Itachi. I can't let him die before things are resolved between us.'

"Looking in the mirror today, I can't help but remember him as he was before th- before he left." I murmur lamely. Looking up from where I was kneeling and inspecting their selection of geta, I gave my boyfriend a small smile. "I hope he can be my brother again someday. I hate these broken bonds."

"Hey, I'm glad we fixed things between us."

I grabbed for his hand, interlacing our fingers and pressing a kiss to each of his knuckles.

"... I love you, Naruto."

His whole face flushed a light pink and he covered it with his free hand.

"Sasuke, you shouldn't catch me off guard like that, baka!"

He smiled brilliantly at me then, hauling me up so that we could continue exploring the festival as we weaved through the crowd, watching as musicians and a parade with a symbolic dancing dragon passed through.

He leaned his warm body in closer to me and held tightly to my arm, laying his head on my shoulder.

I barely caught his confession on the end of a happy sigh.

"I love you, too," dances on the air as we pause and wait in line for dango.

This is what I live for. To see his Will of Fire. His passion and burning personality. Regrettably, I almost crushed him once and now I am staying to make sure I help him recover from it. From the villagers of the Hidden leaf treating him like crap growing up. From the stint where his most precious person abandoned him for a time.

My life mission is to make sure he never loses his burning desire to love other people and to help them better themselves. To help him trust people again and become a Hokage to do them all proud.

Naruto P.O.V.

My heart thunders mercilessly, on a rampage of its own league; but my hands are steady.

'Kami, I am so happy Sasuke is doing this with me. He is the most talented and badass teammate and shinobi in all of Fire country... and he wants me.'

Me!

There is an unspoken agreement between us to stop at every competitive stall and try our luck. I'm hoping I can overshadow his achievements with my own.

Sasuke's eyes narrow with determination as he prepares to win a goldfish with a flat paper net at the next stall.

I watch as his left forearm flexes, with his net poised an inch away from the water.

He holds his breath in.. steady..

Steady.

He swallows thickly, his adam's apple bobbing under my fingers in response to the unexpected caress and I whisper in his ear for him to do his best.

Moving faster than I am expecting, his sharingan swirls to life and the net gently dips into the basin, swirling in a circular motion and gently- but swiftly enough to slice a throat before he could be stopped, he pulls the red tinted goldfish up and deposits it into a cup partly-filled with treated water and stamped with 'Kingyo Sukui'.

He bites his pretty bottom lip to hide the smirk I know is coming and grabs a lid with holes from the young woman who had collected our money earlier.

"Thank you ma'am, we will be going now," holding his prize out to me, "What will you name it?"

"Ehhhh?"

I looked at him in confusion.

"You name pets and summons, Sasuke. You don't name goldfish."

He looked at me from the corner of his eye like he was hiding a secret. "Oh, I don't know about that. I think we could give him a pretty cool name, surely there is something that might fit."

He hmmed for about a minute and kicked a rock as we wandered between face painting stalls and stalls selling good luck charms.

"I think he's a perfect match for Usuratonkatchi."

My jaw dropped.

"Whaaaat!"

I pouted. "That's totally what you used to call me, you hellspawn. Don't you dare condemn him to a life of limitations!"

Sasuke snickered and poked my cheek as he eyed the cup in my hand, "Well, he was the last to swim off and therefore got caught on that pathetic excuse of a net. It fits, ne?"

I turned my head sharply and bit down on the pad of his finger.

"Whatever. Hold your prize; because I'm about to remind you that this badass," I gestured to all of me, "isn't 'dead-last' anymore." Stepping up to a low table I paid for a game and received a bucket of rings by some lowlife with a too wide smile and greasy blue hair in a ponytail with bangs that stuck to his face in choppy segments more than they framed it.

The sign above read, "Announce the bottle you plan to peg before throwing the ring. Miss three shots and your luck is over. {Expert hands only; Must beat the shopkeepers highest score to win a prize. Today your goal is : 27 points.}

There were multiple shelves and rows with colorful bottles at varying heights labled with different numbers on stating their worth. The bottle at the highest point of the range would double whatever score you had acquired previously, and if it went over the judge's score, you would win any prize available.

'Pfft, naturally this is going to be easy enough. I throw kunai for a living, how hard could a ring toss be? The targets don't even move!'

"This is gonna be easier than making ramen, " I muttered.

Looking over my shoulder at the stoic ravenette who made a point of giving me a once over and running a tongue across his parted lips, I rolled my eyes at him. He was not going to bust my concentration right now.

Tink!

The first ring sailed smoothly onto the neck of a bottle hiding in the back of a cluster. It was labeled with a number six.

Clink. Clink. Clink. Six. Eight. Five.

Flicking my wrist one more time I released the last ring and closed my eyes. I didn't hear the ring connect, but listened instead to the sound of a bottle spinning on it's base as it prepared to settle down or fall.

"Congratulations, man! You're the first person to make the double points shot today! When someone attempts it, the bottle usually breaks and I just replace it. You must be a ninja or something," He clapped my back like we were old friends and steered me around, wrapping his fingers of his other clammy hand around my bicep in a suggestive manner to look at the array of stuffed animals, masks and small musical instruments hanging from the netting of his booth.

Feeling overly invaded, I politely pulled off and backed up a few steps. I don't know this guy from the next pervert and those digits were too forward in their search for skin.

My shoulders met with Sasuke's toned chest, his arm reaching around to my front, and he handed me our new pet. I looked up to witness his cold gaze focused on the vendor.

Growing concerned, since he looked like he was going to put the unsuspecting man in an Infinite Tsukuyomi or something equally torturous, I suppressed a shiver at the situation. I turned and pulled his face down to mine so that all his obsidian eyes could focus on was me.

Caressing his ear with my index and thumb, I pulled a bit. "It's fine. I'm all yours; today and always. Let's just pick something and find a spot for the fireworks, ne?"

He exhaled through his nose, pulling me forward by the waist and nape of my neck to lean against him and pressed his chin to the top of my head. I felt trimmed nails lightly drag against the skin under my shirt.

My heart skipped a beat at his actions, he just smelled so good that I felt like I couldn't possibly be close enough..

"Hn. Can you play a flute?" he asked.

The shop keeper was finally occupied with the next customer and refused to look at me or Sasuke as we grabbed a Shinobue and headed to the stand that sold Takoyaki and spicy dango, hoping to meet up with my family.

To be continued..xxx