Chapter 11 – Lovers Without Dates
When Sakura left the shop with a deep green kimono folded into a paper-wrapped bundle tucked under her arm and a deep red blush of embarrassment on her face, the sky was already turning dim. She hugged the brown cloak closer over her shoulders – now for the cold instead of the heat – and determinedly ignored the boy walking beside her.
"Have I done something that offends you, Sakura-san?" Sai asked as they walked down the dim sandy streets of Suna, "you have to tell me, you know. I've already made it clear that I'm not good at reading your actions. It seems like a lifelong project, these days."
"Why does everyone call me flat-chested?" Sakura mumbled, hugging the cloak closer, "I'm perfectly normal, anatomically. So what if I'm an A-cup? So what if I'm not like Ino and Hinata and shishou? Shizune is almost my size and she's pretty."
"She is also single at the age of thirty."
"She's spent her life taking care of shishou!" Sakura snapped, shivering a little at a chill that passed by, "that didn't exactly provide opportunities for romance, you know."
Sai turned to watch her with a bland smile, "so you do not like being referred to as flat-chested, Sakura-san?"
"I've made that clear!"
"But it is the truth. And Kankuro-san doesn't seem to mind-"
"Shut up, Sai."
"-and I don't see the problem, either," Sai went on as they passed another store shutting down for the day, "my anbu conditioning dealt with most of my inborn emotions, so I am not exactly sure if my gender naturally prefers these things, but I can assure you that your figure is fine."
Sakura stopped in her step, looking at her teammate with surprise. That…was the most he'd ever said about her looks. He was regaining his emotions slowly…could he like her? She didn't like him in the same way (she hadn't liked anyone the same way since Sasuke) but it was flattering. He was an artist, after all, and had an eye for beauty.
"Thanks, Sai," she smiled, "sometimes you really know how to bring a person's spirits up. I mean, Iknow my figure is normal, and I'm perfectly comfortable with it." Yeah! Inner Sakura added, we're awesome!
"Exactly," Sai nodded, smiling, "the problem with your looks isn't with your chest but with your lack of symmetry-"
Sakura groaned and clutched the cloak tighter, continuing to walk with a slight drag in her step. Thinking that maybe life would throw her a bone was just silly at this point.
They walked for a while in silence through the darkening streets, watching the shops on either side turns their lights off and hang 'closed' signs on their doors. By the next day, this entire place would be closed off for the festival, and there would be bright lanterns and music and the puppets that Sunagakure was known for.
"Maybe it'll be fun," she said out loud, "the festival, I mean. It's a festival, after all. I don't need to act like I'm going to my funeral. I'll just have to humor Kankuro for a while until I find a good time to cut it off. No more being nice, that didn't work." Ino would've had him off her in seconds. Sakura could only dream for that sort of romantic tact and wail over her complete lack of experience.
"Indeed," Sai nodded, "maybe you and Kankuro will end up making a good couple. He certainly seems willing." He gave her another bland smile, and his pale face was clear even in the dim lights.
Sakura huffed, holding the wrapped kimono close, "no," she said, "I don't want to date him. I don't want to date anyone."
"You wanted to date Sasuke," her teammate pointed out, "dickless told me many interesting stories about that. You seemed more persistent than Kankuro, actually."
"Sasuke was different, he's the only exception," she said firmly, "when we get him back, I'll never give up, even if he keeps rejecting me until we're old and gray, even if we'll only ever be friends. I'm just not interested in anyone else," she paused, "maybe I'll be like Anko-sensei, a fun bachelorette with lots of freedom. But until then, I'm going to focus on becoming the best medic I can and being part of Team Seven."
Sai looked impressed and slightly disappointed at the same time. Maybe he was cheering for Kankuro.
After a few more minutes, the sight of their hotel appeared in the distance. The sun had almost set, and there was no one on the streets apart from another brown-cloaked figure walking the opposite way, hood drawn up. Thoroughly exhausted from walking all the way to the prison and back, Sakura and Sai both went past the figure without looking.
"Oi! You're just going to ignore me?"
The playful tone echoed loudly through the empty streets, and both Konoha nin turned sharply. Sakura's eyes widened in recognition when the other figure pulled down the hood of her cloak, revealing a plain face surrounded by long dark hair.
"Yora-san from the tea house," Sai noted, "the woman who was with Taji-san."
"Yora-san!" Sakura greeted, "sorry, we didn't recognize you. We're a little tired…"
The Suna kunoichi gave them an amused look tinged with pity, "I can tell. You poor things, you look like you've been out all day. That's not wise here in the desert."
Sakura nodded mournfully, "my skin feels like it's been fried," she looked at her teammate, "I don't even want to know how Sai feels right now. He's at least five shades lighter than me."
"…If I could, I would not like to feel how I feel right now either," Sai agreed, "this is not fun." He touched a hand to pale neck and winced.
Yora watched them sympathetically. "I hope I'm not keeping you from anything-"
"No, no you're not," Sakura sighed, "we don't have anything better to do." And besides, with all the people trying to sell them things, the prison guards, Naruto's jealousy, Sai's lack of tact, and the mean lady in the clothing store who had teased her about her figure, Yora was the only nice person she'd seen that day.
"How are your friends?" Yora went on, "is the younger Hatake still alright? Only a week left, right? I suppose you're all excited to be getting back to Konoha."
Sakura remembered the Godaime Hokage's response to her last report – which was roughly 'hahahahakidifIhadfifteenmillionryoyouknowexactlyw hatIwoulddo. TellNarutotohavefun', scrawled across the page in her messy script – and winced. "Naruto and Kakashi-sensei are fine," she told her with a strained smile, "they're bored out of their mind, but I think they can last the week. Then…we will run."
"Ah, good," Yora chuckled, "I think you'll like tomorrow, we have a festival happening here in Suna to celebrate the anniversary of our village's founding."
Sai nodded and gestured to the wrapped package under Sakura's arm, "we are going. Sakura-san has been asked to go by Kankuro of the Suna council."
"Lucky girl," Yora looked at her approvingly, "caught the eye of a young council member? You've got a future here in Suna," she tapped one finger against her chin, "Kankuro…the puppet master, isn't he? Brother of Kazekage-sama himself. Good choice."
"Wasn't my choice," Sakura muttered under her breath.
"Anyway, you probably want to get to your hotel and clean up. Maybe I'll see you around sometime," she gave them a small wave and then turned to leave, walking towards the empty, dark streets.
After she left, Sakura and Sai continued on their way to the hotel, and when they reached Sakura's hotel room she ran in and collapsed face-first onto the bed, tossing the kimono and her cloak onto the floor and digging her face into wonderfully soft pillows.
Sai followed her in, "Sakura-san, how did that kunoichi know the length of their sentence?" He asked, placing his cloak on the hanger by the door.
"Huh," Sakura looked up from the pillow and shrugged, "Maybe Taji-san told her."
The pervy-thoughts hadn't gone away by morning. The thin sheets remained firmly positioned over his head.
"Naruto, is there a reason you're pretending to sleep?" Kakashi sighed, sitting at the foot of the bed, "wake up, you'll get bedsores."
Silence.
"Your muscles will atrophy."
"Sakura-chan will fix it," came from the mumble from under the blankets. He couldn't look out. Looking out would bring the thoughts back in hoards. Especially since Kakashi-sensei's hair was wonderfully ruffled in the mornings, and…well…
"Come watch clouds with me."
Naruto remained in bed. No. There was no way he was getting out unless he had to. He could pretend he'd fallen sick, or something. But no, Kakashi-sensei would know he was lying because Kyuubi made sure he never fell sick. He heard shifting where the other man was probably reaching over for Icha Icha, temporarily giving up on his stubborn student.
After a few more minutes, the door to the cell was opened, and Taji strolled in, hands in the pockets of his flak jacket. He was looking slightly brighter than usual. He walked over to the inner door and unlocked the bars.
"Come on, you two. You're showering a little early today because I have to go meet with Kuroda later on. I see you under those sheets kid, get up and get out."
Naruto reluctantly parted himself from the blankets, avoiding Kakashi's gaze as he slipped out of the bed and hurriedly followed Taji out of the cell. Looking at his face wouldn't help the thoughts. He almost stepped on the guard's heels as they were led down the corridor.
"Taji-san, if you're going to be busy, who will bring us our meals?" Kakashi questioned, "when you left last time, you forgot to assign that task."
"Yeah, yeah," Taji grumbled, "even if I had tried, I wouldn't have found anyone. No one would willingly walk all the way to the outer cells for two prisoners, and there's that issue with you looking like your old man too. I'll come by with food later on, I guess. But I won't have time to get you to dinner. You two can survive."
Kakashi nodded in satisfaction and continued to follow him silently through the large mess hall and into the empty central area. Since they had come earlier than usual, the faint scent of bodies still lingered in the air, and he had no doubt the showers would be especially wet.
"Alright," Taji stated, "I'm going to go take breakfast to some other prisoners while you're in here. Try to escape and I'll drag you back, I don't care how high-risk you are."
"We won't try anything, you know it," Kakashi nodded, pushing open the door. Naruto followed him in silently, watching as his sensei picked a towel off the rack and slipped into the nearest stall.
For a long moment, Naruto was frozen by the towel rack. That was…the same stall. The stall he had gone into on that day. Kakashi picked stalls at random, and this was the first time since. That was the stall with the hole in the side…
If he entered the stall to the right, he would be able to see again.
Naruto shook his head firmly, but the thought had already gotten hooked. He pulled a towel off the rack and firmly stomped over to the stall on the left. He wasn't supposed to like Kakashi-sensei that way, and it was clear from what he'd said that Kakashi didn't like him back either. Well, in that way, at least.
He turned the water on and stood under the spray, feeling the warm water wash over him. The water in Kakashi's stall was already turned on, and the uneven way it sounded was the only indication of Kakashi's body. It did strange things for his imagination.
No. Weird thoughts.
Naruto wondered what it would be like to have Kakashi-sensei's hand trailing down his front and tangling themselves in the dark blond curls below…
Weird thoughts.
He wondered what it would be like to sit back and have that erection press against him…
Weird thoughts.
Or maybe slip down and take Miyu's place in his imagination…
Weird thoughts.
Naruto shook his head vigorously, but it was too late. He could already feel himself stirring and when he looked down, it was to see his own arousal under the spray of the water. His hands itched to reach down and take care of it, but he reminded himself of Kakashi-sensei's nose.
He shut his eyes firmly and thought of dead kittens. The deadest dead kittens that had ever died to death. He thought vigorously. His erection remained just as vigorous.
The water in the stall beside him splashed a little more on one side, indicating that maybe Kakashi-sensei had turned around for even water-distribution. Naruto felt his own cock twitch slightly, just from imagining Kakashi's naked form under the shower. He slipped out of the spray and leaned back against the wall of the shower stall, looking down at where he was hard and throbbing.
What was he supposed to do? He couldn't pretend it wasn't there – it would show! And even if he tried to employ the universal trick of tucking into his waistband…the waistband of the uniform pants were loose and stretchy! It wouldn't hold! And he kind of…grew. It wouldn't hold-and the person he had a silly little crush on was right in the next stall-and soon he was going to start leaking-and Kakashi-sensei would smell it anyway-
The throbbing pleasure was too much to hold back. Naruto reached down with a sinking feeling, and the slightest touch of his hand sent shivers up his body. He sagged slightly against the wall, placing his other hand against it for support. Looking down, he realized that his tip was already glistening – and not from the droplets of water from the shower – and realized that there was no point resisting.
It wasn't like he'd ever placed a lot of importance on self-control, anyway.
His hand didn't glide over like it had before – he was too ready for that. Instead it slid over his arousal in rough jerks that had him arching his back and gaping soundlessly. Maybe the wet slicks could be heard. The thought of Kakashi-sensei listening made him shudder with even more pleasure.
Maybe he was a reverse-voyeur too. Did those exist?
If they did, Miyu would be one. From the bits he had been able to read, it was clear that she loved inviting Jio in by stripping in the bright light and letting him see every inch of her.
Kakashi-sensei's was large too. Not as large as Shino, but pretty large. Larger than Naruto. (Larger than Gai-sensei too, going by a few glimpses at the onsen. Gai-sensei wasn't a very private man.)
Naruto mewed openly, and then quickly pressed a hand to his mouth. It was the hand that had been holding himself up against the wall. Unsupported, he slid down further. But the hand that was covering his open mouth had a more important job because it was blocking all the moans he really couldn't hold down.
The stream of warm water kept pouring nonchalantly before him, and the stucco wall was cold and grainy against his back.
This was bad, very bad. Jerking off was fine, jerking off thinking pervy thoughts about Kakashi-sensei for the second time was not. Kakashi-sensei was definitely going to think that he had a mini-Ero-Sennin for a student, but Naruto realized that the hand sliding against his cock didn't seem to care. And he was pushing into his hand too, as if he wasn't already shuddering with more pleasure than he'd ever felt before.
At a moment's hesitance, he slid his hand off. Maybe now that he'd brought himself almost there, it would go away…what kind of logic was that? His hand was frozen in the air and he was looking down at his heavily leaking, twitching cock wondering if he was really going to embarrass himself again.
The hand returned. When he got out, he would just have to continue the 'sensei is not here right now' game.
"Sakura-san, are you going to make a habit of sleeping in late?" Sai closed the window behind him and stepping into the room. He would've gone through the door, but ten straight minutes of knocking had been met with no response.
Sakura grunted inaudibly.
"It's almost noon. We didn't come back that late last night," he went on, looking around the room. He frowned at the clothes that were strewn everywhere. Sakura-san sure was messy. The brown cloak was hanging off the side of the bed while her red cheongsam was slung over the dresser. Beside the mirror…
"You were serious," he observed, walking over to the dresser and picking up the light blue piece of cloth, "you really are an A-cup."
Sakura's pink head slowly emerged from under the blankets, and she looked prepared for cold murder. Sai turned around and carefully dropped her bra back onto the dresser. "Anyway, you must hurry. The festival starts in six hours."
Sakura glared, "and why must I hurry?"
"Yamato-taicho once told me that girls take ridiculous amounts of time to dress up for occasions," Sai reported, "I thought that maybe you wouldn't want to be rushed."
"I'm not one of those girls anymore," she moaned, slipping out of bed with her white hotel-issue pajamas slightly twisted around her middle, "you could've just woken me up an hour before," she tried to finger-comb her hair, "it would've worked just fine."
"I wasn't aware of that."
"There's a lot of things that I want right now," Sakura stated, walking over to pick her cloak off the floor, "I want Kankuro to stop liking me. I want Naruto to not kill him. I want you to learn tact. I want to go back to Konoha. I want to see Kakashi-sensei's face," she wailed.
"Ah, too bad none of that is possible," her teammate replied, "you have a date to prepare for."
"What are you going to do during the festival anyway?" She questioned, "are you going to stay at the hotel?"
"No," Sai sat at the edge of the bed, "I'll be there. I'll stay discreet, you don't need to worry."
She narrowed her eyes, "you're…just coming to laugh at my situation, aren't you."
"Maybe, Sakura-san. Maybe."
Naruto was able to last around three hours after lunch. He was actually quite proud of that. Self-control had never exactly been a strong point.
His sensei was sitting on the other bed with Icha Icha Violence while Naruto sorted grains of sand in silence. Occasionally, he shot him curious looks. Konoha's Unpredictable Ninja was not known for silence. At first his student had been red with embarrassment, but as someone of the male gender he wasn't sure why.
But now…he had been quietly thinking. When on earth did Uzumaki Naruto think?
He really wasn't good at staying quiet, though. Eventually the small sand structure collapsed and Naruto stood up in the cell, brushing the grains off his pants. Then he went directly over to where Kakashi was lounging with his back to the wall behind the bed, and sat in front of him.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi lowered the book, revealing a slightly guarded expression, "is something wrong, Naruto? You've never been quiet for that long. Maybe being in here addled your mind. I'm sure Sakura will fix it once we're out." He looked back down towards the book. But now that his mask was off, he wasn't so good at hiding his emotions and Naruto could see a flash of something that spurred him on.
He leaned forward, stepping over his sensei's leg, until he was looking directly at him. Miyu-chan wouldn't be nervous at all, and neither was he. This seemed like the fastest and simplest way forward, so he would take it. And hopefully Kakashi-sensei would do something about the pervy thoughts…whichever way it ended up. And the pervy thoughts were coming back because if he just leaned forward a little more he would be straddling…
"Do you actually remember what I said last night? After I woke you up?" Naruto questioned.
"I believe you told me you liked me," Kakashi replied evenly. Icha Icha was mostly discarded beside his leg.
"Yeah, well, I do like you," Naruto said matter-of-factly.
"I like you too, Naruto. You're a very promising shinobi, and I actually think your unpredictability can be seen as an advantage," the jonin brought the book back up, seemingly finished with the conversation. The green cover almost covered all of his face. He didn't want to think of how close his student's legs were.
In a rather bold move considering this was the Copy-Nin in front of him, Naruto reached forward and pulled the book away quickly, dropping it to the side. He could tell that Kakashi hadn't been expecting it.
It was because although his face morphed back into that calm expression, there had been a brief hint of something else. And while Naruto knew looks of hate well, he also knew how to recognize the opposite. It was the perfect opportunity to back away and laugh about it, but he didn't want to. Thinking was for smart people, and he had already told Ero-Sennin that he was content to be a fool. He didn't really know what he was doing, but he said it anyway.
"I like you that way."
There were a few seconds of silence in the cell. It wasn't a heavy silence like the past few hours had been. It was a light silence, one that waited in pushing anticipation to see what would happen. Naruto's eyes remained fixed on Kakashi's, and he was sure that his face alone conveyed enough wanting and…something else to make his words clearer than they had been the night before.
Kakashi sighed, and a new look of barely contained something flashed across his face, "I'm not sure how many more chances I can give you, Naruto."
Naruto tilted his head to one side, confused. "Chances?"
"To forget. To decide not to. It's not fair for you." Kakashi averted his eyes, and even his red Sharingan eye was slightly open because it took constant effort to keep it shut, and his effort was too busy focused on restraint. His back was pressed against the wall, as far back as he could go from the blond boy sitting on front of him.
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto demanded, still confused. He went ahead and shuffled forward until he was fully straddling the other man, with one knee on either side of his legs. His sensei made no move to either respond or push him off but he stiffened just slightly. "Is it because we're both guys?" He asked in a less demanding voice.
"No," his sensei rushed to tell him, "that's not a problem. That's normal, Naruto."
"Then what's the problem?" Now he was more confused. Some vague part of his brain realized that Kakashi-sensei had admitted to being the same, but he was more focused on the problem of how to get his stupid sensei to explain things properly.
Was this a rejection? If it was, he should just say it properly. Naruto knew that he would probably go after Kakashi just as much as he had with Sakura since the pervy thoughts weren't exactly going away. But it would be nice to know where they stood, first.
"Why did you tell me about your sense of smell?" Naruto demanded. Why did he? Didn't that just make everything more awkward? Surely he smelt the release of every other male who'd done that somewhere nearby? He didn't tell them he knew.
Kakashi stayed silent, eyes still focused on the opposite wall.
"I'm not embarrassed," he went on, "because I can hear it when you do it. You may have a good sense of smell, but I have good ear, sensei."
The other man's eyes widened imperceptibly, but he didn't react. "You never said."
"And it's not because of Icha Icha, is it? You go around with that book all the time. Something else made you hard." He knew he was getting at something. If only his stupid sensei would give him a hint…
"It's not. But…I'm much older than you," the jonin explained in what seemed like exasperation, "I'm not willing at all to participate in the casual dating you expect. I would prefer other things." His hands were slowly clenching into the sheets.
Something inside Naruto's stomach twisted in pleasure at the thought of 'other things'. "You could pass for twenty, sensei," he said, voice slightly higher than usual, "and I don't really care about that anyway. I'm an adult in shinobi years."
"You barely pass the drinking age limit…" Kakashi trailed, eyebrows furrowed.
"Tsunade baa-chan says that if I'm old enough to kill someone, I'm old enough to drink sake," his student deadpanned, "and besides, Sakura-chan's only a few months older than me and she's turning into a right drunk already."
"Yes but this is Tsunade-sama…"
"And it's great that you don't want to go on dates. I wouldn't really know what to do with all that dinner-and-chocolates-and-flowers stuff anyway," he went on, "we can just go for ramen. Every day."
Kakashi groaned slightly at that, but there was still too much hesitation in his expression. His hands were starting to match the off-white of the bed sheets.
Naruto leaned closer, placing his hands on his sensei's upper thighs. Kakashi wanted him, it was clear. Somehow, his silly crush was turning into something else. He wanted him in that exhilaratingly sensual way. "And I want other things too."
"You have no idea-"
"I want to try things like the stuff Ero-Sennin writes about," Naruto clarified, "but you'll have to teach me how guys can do it. That's fine, right? You're good at teaching me stuff." He couldn't really think properly. Kakashi's face was so close and there was no mask between them and he really wanted to-
"I'm your sensei," Kakashi said evenly, glancing back at him and then turning to stare at the corner of the ceiling, "we're not supposed to do this."
Naruto leaned back with a disappointed look.
That gray eye turned back to him, "I already confessed to you, didn't I? Not seriously, of course, but just to see. You didn't seem very interested back then."
"You never told me! I would remember something like that!"
"I did. That day you finally completed rasen-shuriken," Kakashi went on, "I told you that I was falling for you."
Naruto paused, and then his eyes widened in realization. He pointed an accusing finger, "that didn't count! You were joking. You have to say it properly!"
Kakashi was torn between smiling and sighing, "it doesn't change the fact that I'm your sensei," he said dryly. Naruto was far too close, and it was almost time when Taji would usually come to take them to dinner. But he wouldn't be coming today, and thankfully he wouldn't see Naruto straddling him…
"I'll take the next chunin exams, and you know I'll pass," his student informed him, "then I'll be a chunin like Sakura-chan, and you won't be my sensei anymore. And there's no official rule for it, anyway, is there?"
"No, but-"
"I don't get it," Naruto leaned forward again, glaring, "are you just going to let me suffer, or something? Because I don't give up. That's my nindo, and it applies to everything. Everything."
Kakashi smiled wryly, "maa, I know exactly how persistent you are…" The hands which had been curled into the sheets rose up to grip his student's knees, unsure of whether to push them away or draw them closer. "But you know, there are other things to consider. Like-"
Naruto leaned forward and pressed his mouth to Kakashi's. Just to shut him up. Stupid sensei and all his stupid excuses.
That evening, Haruno Sakura stood rather awkwardly at the door of the hotel while Kankuro stood in front of her, wearing a plain but elegant blue kimono.
"You look...amazing," he breathed, taking in the green patterned fabric which matched her eyes perfectly, and the pink hair swirled on top of her head in a long pin.
"Er…thanks," Sakura stuttered, stepping out of the building and into the warm Suna breeze, "you look…nice too."
Maybe this would be a good experience. After all, every single date before this had crashed and burned horribly, and experience always made things better. She fell into step beside him as they walked down the sandy streets where people were just beginning to filter into. Sai had left the hotel earlier, and she had no idea where he was. He was probably observing and laughing from somewhere, the emotionless jerk.
"I know some great puppet shows we can visit," Kankuro was saying, "Suna is known for them, where shinobi puppet-users show off the elegance of their performance puppets."
"Are you going to participate too, Kankuro?" She asked, slightly curious. He was one of their best puppet-users, after all. It would be interesting to see his skill.
"No," he turned to smiled at her as they walked, "my puppets are only for battle, while these are made for beauty. You'll see the difference when we get there."
She frowned, "oh. I would have liked to see puppets in battle, actually."
"Oh there are those, too," he nodded, "those are mainly competitions to test the puppet-user's skill. They are given stock puppets, and must control them to fight others. But…they aren't exactly very beautiful."
Sakura frowned again in disappointment. But…watching puppets kill each other would be so fun…no. She had to play along.
Thirty minutes of light chatter later, they reached the large centre square where the main festival was taking place. Sakura's mouth dropped.
It was different than the art show had been. The sky was starting to dim with the very beginnings of an early sunset, but there were lanterns strung all across on intercrossing red threads, replacing the harsh desert sun with warm red light. People went around in crowds, and stalls were set up selling finger-foods and drinks to the Suna citizens passing by.
She looked across in awe, trying to pinpoint the sound of the gentle Suna music wafting through the area, but found that she couldn't. They were expertly positioned; to be heard but not seen.
She and Kankuro weren't the only couple, either. It seemed to be some sort of tradition for Suna boys to ask out their first crushes on this day, and there were many other girls in elaborate dress, smiling and nodding at their beaming new lovers. Here and there, she saw the occasional forehead protector, indicating that maybe the shinobi were given leave on the day just to enjoy themselves. It was…nice.
"Wow…" Sakura stated, looking around.
Kankuro beamed. "I'm so glad you like it, Sakura. Come, on, let's go see the puppet displays. I'm sure you'll find them beautiful." He reached down to take her hand, and pulled her along. His hand wasn't soft like Sai's, or rough like Naruto's. It was firm and…also rather nice, actually.
Sakura found herself being drawn along through the crowd, towards the small stages in the centre. They stopped in front of one, and Kankuro spoke in excited tones as the puppets were led onto stage.
"Those are the creations of Daichi-san," he told her, "he was my shishou for a while once, before he retired. Now he makes puppets for shows like this. It's a treasured art form in Sunagakure." Something hinted to her that Kankuro was picking his words carefully. While he was usually sort of brash and upfront, he sounded almost lyrical. She couldn't help thinking that Ino, with all her romantic experience, would shake her finger and comment on the 'things guys did to impress their dates'.
Her eyes followed to where he was pointing and widened when she saw the wooden structures walking onto the stage. They weren't painted, but the woodwork alone was amazing, like real people with their fluid movement.
"They're…very nice," Sakura said, fingering the fringe of her sleeve and feeling distinctly uncomfortable, "what are they doing?" She watched as one of the male-puppets stood at the edge of the stage with chakra threads in his fingers, and another – a beautiful female-puppet with hair made of silk threads and dressed in elaborate costume – walked by.
"They are telling the love story of the Shodai Kazekage," he explained, "I guess my father's predecessors have all had some interesting relationships. My father himself apparently created a small scandal."
"Really?" Sakura followed him to one of the observer benches and sat down beside him, "what happened?"
Kankuro scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "well, I got all of this from Temari cause I was too young. Apparently our mother was a frail civilian girl who was a lot younger than him. But she was kind, and our father turned really strict when she died. Maybe one day in the far future, they'll tell his story," he winced, "I don't want to be here for that, though. Watching that would be kind of weird."
Sakura smiled, "will your brother continue the pattern?" The show went on before them, and more people were gathering in the benches around them. This Daichi-san was apparently very well known.
Kankuro shuddered and his hand tightened on hers, "for the sake of our country I hope not. He may have a lot of girls mooning after him these days, but Gaara is just not interested. And that's a good thing. Because any girl who gets too close to my brother is going to have to deal with Karasu."
It was sweet how much he cared for his family. She found a wide smile on her face and wondered how it had gotten there.
"We can go to eat later," Kankuro was saying, "if we eat early it won't be as crowded. And then if you like, we can browse through the stalls." Thoughts of which beautifully decorated hair pins would look best in Sakura's stunning hair color were already running through his mind.
Sakura nodded absently, eyes still fixed on the stage. While the puppets moved in almost dance-like grace, a voice narrated the story behind it. The Shodai Kazekage had been someone from relatively low standing, unlike the Shodai Hokage or Raikage, who were from great clans. But he had fallen in love with the daughter of a nearby daimyo. It was a touching story. The other people on the benches beside them were caught in rapt attention.
Kankuro's hand was still in hers, and he was whispering to her some other facts about the story, ones that he knew only because of his position as council member. They revealed that the story wasn't nearly as picturesque as it looked.
"So she ended up dying of a fever?" Sakura frowned at his commentary, "but the puppet-show says the enemy-nin killed her."
"Yeah, I guess that sounds more romantic," he shrugged, "it's entertainment, not history. People like to see the more dramatic things."
Ten minutes later, the show was finished and the people sitting on the stands were talking in excited tones, getting up for a break before the other plays began. Sakura stood up to stretch out her legs, and looked around at the festival cheer.
"Where are those people going?" She asked, watching a line of shinobi file into one of the stucco buildings nearby.
"Those are the puppet battles," Kankuro explained, "I guess they're very popular this year because the prizes are better."
"Hm?" She turned to raise an eyebrow at him, "what kind of prizes?"
"Money prizes, mostly," he replied, running a hand through his brown hair, "I think this year, first place wins two million ryo, actually."
Sakura froze. Two…million ryo? But…
If she had that much money, they would be able to head back to Konoha in a day. The surprisingly nice ambience of the festival melted away, and she felt a feral grin spread onto her fact as she regarded her date.
"Kankuro?" She asked, "just how good are you at using those puppets?..."
