Sasori's POV
Of course she likes sweets she's a girl. It's not like it's a big deal for a girl to like sweets, or even more so Whoppers. I mean I thought all people hated whoppers, Deidara hates them for sure, Konan hates them too, even Itachi the sugar loving king does not like the taste of whoppers, yet she does. Why am I over thinking this, is it a crime for someone besides me, in particular someone like her to enjoy a candy that most of the population hates. It totally fits her; don't follow the crowd personality anyway. I feel cold goo being applied to my face and my eyes focus on her. She's already dressed for the party, her corset showing off the curves of her body, her hair curly and almost wild. A thin layer of makeup is on her face, and a sword and pistol is dangling from a belt around her thin waist. She's so close; I can see the green swirls in her eyes, there a lot larger, almost breathtaking. I blink and look away from her, what are you thinking Sasori, get yourself together.
"Hey look back at me," Mayumi whines, her lower lip jutting out in a pout, "I want this to be symmetrical."
"Why don't you just let me do it in the mirror?" I ask.
"Because it's a surprise, you will totally get your costume once I finish with your makeup; now tilt your head up." I do as she says, and feel her begin to make a triangle sort of shape on my forehead.
We fall into silence, with her making gentle shapes and smudges onto my face. In the background Ino and Gaara are watching the process, dressed in there Princess and Knight Costumes, their knees touching. Soon, it's going to happen for them soon. I am almost tempted to start a betting pool, Kakuzu would love that idea. I feel something rough being applied to the shapes on my face. I try to look and see what she is grabbing but she blocks it from my view. Time ticks on and finally after what seems like an eternity she moves away and throws her hands above her head.
"It is completed," She smirks and turns towards Gaara and Ino, "Am I a genius or what?"
"Mayumi you are so awesome, I never knew you were a makeup artist!" Ino gushes.
"It's one of my many talents," she turns back to me and smiles, "Well go check it out Scorpling."
I hold back an insult and stand nervously and walk over to the bathroom mirror. She could have done something super messed up to my face, or worse, she could have made me look like a girl. I take a deep breath and look in the mirror. Holy shit, she really is a makeup artist. My face is the definition of pale. On it, the shapes I kept feeling are pieces of rotting wood with termites on some of the places. Black lines are drawn on my face from the corners of my mouth down to my chin; she made me a zombie puppet. This girl…
"So what do you think?" Mayumi asks, walking up behind me and placing her chin on top of my shoulder, she is tall enough in those heels to do so.
"It's great; no one at the party will have the same costume as me." I say.
"My thoughts exactly." She smiles lightly, then turns and leaves the bathroom, "Let's get out of here puppet boy, the party a waits."
I look at myself once more before I turn off the bathroom lights.
Mayumi's P.O.V.
Party! God I can't wait, I'm bouncing in my seat, which I can tell is annoying Sasori as he drives past rows of cars parked along the sidewalk leading up to Kiba's House. Apparently this is going to be some party. Out front of the house in a parking space I can see Naruto and Deidara. Deidara is dressed in the tightest pair of leather pants I have ever seen on a male. His belt buckle is a gun and his top a mesh tank top. His hair is done in its usual style and a hefty amount of eyeliner makes his baby blues pop. Naruto looks absolutely adorable, I can hardly wait to jump out of the car and trap him in a hug. He's wearing a leather vest; scratch that, a super tight, super hot, leather vest, a pair of jean skinny jeans, and on his head a pair of orange ears. He's got the cutest blush on his face; Deidara does bring out the sexier side of him. The two move out of the way and give us the parking spot; as soon as the car stops I am out of the car and attack Naruto.
"You are so fucking cute!" I scream.
"If you think I'm cute you should see Haku," Naruto chuckles, returning my hug.
"Oh this is going to be so fun! Let's go, let's go!" I chant, urging the other to come into the house with me.
Naruto takes the lead and we walk up the front steps into the house which is filled with people. The whole house is lit up with orange and purple lights, a strobe is flashing in the corner of the living room to the right of the front door. The room to the left is the kitchen where three large kegs and other alcoholic beverages are set up, people already partaking of that. Another cool thing, everyone was in costume, not a single person was without one. A boy with shaggy brown hair dressed in a purple and red fancy bathroom and slippers comes in, he smirks at us a red cup in his hand.
"Hello and welcome to my humble home, I hope you found a good parking spot." He smirks and reaches for my hand, "Especially you, my you are a minx." He then places a kiss on the top of my hand.
"Yeah and who are you supposed to be," I growl out, ripping my hand out of his grip, "Unemployed?"
"Hugh Hefner actually, and my name is Kiba, this is my house." He answers.
"Oh so you're Kiba," I reply, "I pictured you differently."
"Oh and how did you picture me?"
"Cuter," I answer, before walking by them and into the kitchen area.
I hear him yelling at me over my shoulder but I ignore him, he really is not what I expected. I was picturing some hot jock superstar and what I get is a disheveled boy in a bathrobe that smells like dog. Upon entering the kitchen I immediately begin to scan for my other friends and the first person I spot is Itachi. He looks, well completely not like himself. He's dressed in a black and red corset and a pair of tight black skinny jeans with rips and tears in them. His hair is down and hanging in a wavy style down over his shoulders. On his head is a witch's hat and on his back is a pair of black angel wings. Next to him is Kisame, dressed in all blue with a shark fin on his back and fins on his arms. That's when I notice my Haku, and in a flash I am across the room engulfing him in a hug. He's dressed in a turquoise kimono with a cream colored border and cream and black striped obi. His hair is up in an intricate bun with his bangs falling down into his face.
"Mayumi you're choking me!" he laughs, patting my back.
"I can't help it, you're so freaking cute I can't stand it." I gush, letting him go.
It's now that I notice Zabuza standing over him dressed up as a soldier, complete with combat boots and face paint. He smiles at me and pulls Haku close to his side.
"Nice costume," he says, "I should have gotten a gun for mine."
"You Jealous of my baby?" I ask, pulling my fake gun out of my holster.
"So vain, you could give Reaver a-" I cut Sasori off before he can finish.
"I am nothing like Reaver, the only quality we share is that we have a deep care for our firearms."
"Whatever you say," He sighs, rolling his eyes.
I turn my gaze over to the rest of my group of friends. Hidan is dressed well, actually he isn't dressed, he's shirtless and in a pair of jeans so ripped and torn I would hardly call them clothing. His chest is covered in blood as is his face, his white hair streaked with it. He smirks at my gaze before taking a sip from his red plastic cup. Kakuzu stands next to him, without his hood on I can see the caramel of his skin and the scars upon his face, real scars. He isn't dressed in a costume but I'm sure this is his way of pretending he is, by showing his true face; I decide not to comment on it and look over at Tobi. Oh Tobi, I wish I could understand what goes on in that strange little brain of his. Tobi is covered in glitter, just everything about him, every inch of his clothing and hair is covered in rainbow glitter. I open my mouth to say something, but find there is nothing I can possibly say. I look up at Zetsu; he's dressed as a sunflower. Again there is nothing to say about this and I turn my gaze towards Pein in his black cape overly ruffled white shirt with a high collar with blood drippy from his fanged mouth. His hair looks even brighter, almost red in comparison to the black clothing he is in. Konan is standing beside him a velvet black dress that goes down to cover her knees and a black and white domino mask.
"Konan what happened to your maid costume?" I ask, wondering about the outfit change.
"Pein saw me in it and let's just say I need to take it to the dry cleaners." Konan groans, placing her hands on her hips.
"I already said I was sorry," he sighs, flashing her a pair of puppy dog eyes.
"Oh and you already know I said no sex for a month." She says back in a cutesy tone.
"Where's the beer at?" I shout, "I totally need this!"
"I'll get you a cup shortie," Hidan says.
"Thanks, and don't call me shortie." I reply back as cheerfully as I can muster.
"Danna your costume is so cool, un!" Deidara cheers.
I smile as Sasori begins to get compliments from everyone in the room on his zombie puppet attire. He nods and accepts them politely. When finally someone asks him about the idea light blush coats his cheeks. Why is he blushing?
"Mayumi came up with the idea actually."
"Really?" Kakuzu asks.
"Gosh you are just amazing," Naruto gushes.
"I would never be able to come up with something like this." Haku says.
"Well thanks."
"Here's your beer shortie," Hidan shouts, handing me a red cup filled with amber liquid.
"One more time you call me shortie I'm going to have to make you pay," I say in a sing song voice.
"I'd like to see you try." Hidan smirks, "Shortie."
I punch him in the face, careful not to spill my beer on myself. He falls backwards into Kakuzu's arms, unconscious. Well that went well, I think to myself, taking a sip at the cold bitter beverage. Everyone looks at me with a look of amusement, amazement, and admiration. I look around the group and notice that Ino and Gaara had decided to slip away and were now dancing rather closely together in the crowd.
"Not that this wasn't fun but can we go dance or DDR or something?" I whine, wanting to have fun.
"Let's play DDR," Naruto cheers, grabbing onto my arm, "Let's go let's go!"
"Alright," I laugh, letting the young blonde drag me down a long hallway and down stairs into a large well furnished basement. Down here is a large DDR Machine, an air hockey table, a few ski ball tables, and a flat screen TV.
"Wow this place is fancy," Haku gushes, "Kiba must be loaded."
"I didn't know Veterinarians got paid so much," Kakuzu mumbles, throwing Hidan down onto a couch. "Maybe I should make a career change."
"Where the fuck am I?" Hidan cries out, sitting up, "Where are my Jashin damned underwear?"
"You left them at my house," Kakuzu groans, leaning up against the air hockey table, "You said it would make for, and I quote, easy access."
"Ew who would want to sleep with him," I mumble under my breath.
"Kakuzu has a crush on Hidan, un." Deidara whispers into my ear.
"Oh I should have known."
"I want my undies!" Hidan cries.
"Stop whining," Konan sighs, walking over to me, "Let's go first."
We start up the DDR machine and pick an easy song first, I start on Difficult to warm up and Konan starts on Intermediate. The song starts up and we begin to move our feet sporadically over the colored squares. Even though my steps are more difficult I am winning against Konan. When the song ends I get double A's and she gets a B. She steps off the platform and I chug down the rest of the liquor in my red cup.
"Someone get me another beer," I shout over my shoulder, "who wants to challenge me next?"
"Me!" Naruto shouts, hopping up, "You are going down I am so pro at this."
"We'll see cutie."
We pick a new song, a faster song, and Naruto bumps up the level to be at difficult with me. I smirk and give him a wink before we start our song. The music blares and our feet move almost in synch but in the end when the scores flash across the screen I am victor to Naruto. Haku smiles and hands me a new cup of alcohol and I quickly drink half of it. I didn't want to get black out drunk tonight, but I definitely wanted a buzz and I would need at least two more cups before that would happen.
"Come on who's next?" I ask, having way too much fun in the situation I'm in.
"I'll win this one for you, un." Deidara smirks, winking at Naruto who quickly blushes.
"I'd love to see you try." I cheer.
"I will wipe the floor with you, un!"
He stays on the same level as Naruto and we pick a nice fast song to dance to. I fall into a steady rhythm with the song; I always get like this when I play. I start to zone out and only focus on moving my feet and usually that leads to me winning. And in this case it does not fail me either. I beat Deidara by a large margin and he groans.
"I'm sorry I didn't win for you, un." Deidara pouts.
"It's fine you did your best," Naruto smiles.
God those two are so adorable, I can hardly stand it. In my gushing over the young couple and finishing off my second cup of beer a new opponent comes to stand by me. I turn and see Itachi looking quietly at me. I smirk and gesture for him to choose the song. Instead he bumps his level of Difficulty up to Expert. Oh cocky are we, I bump up to expert as well, challenge accepted. He picks the fastest song on the machine. And I smirk as the arrows begin to fly like there is no tomorrow. It's harder I have to move my feet quicker and getting into my mindset only does so much when the arrows are going faster than a freight train. The song comes to an end, both of us panting lightly frozen in our last dance positions. The scores fly up onto the screen we are both tied, both Double A's. I look over at him and he looks over at me. Finally a smile breaks onto my face and I begin to laugh. He smiles lightly and chuckles a little himself.
"Your awesome," I admit, "lots of practice?"
"Tobi loves this game," Itachi says, "he's the only one who can beat me."
"No way, Tobi?" I ask looking over at the teen who is reaching for a red cup in Zetsu's hand.
"He is very focused, it's the only thing that can actually keep him quiet, besides milk of course."
"Oh Tobi's turn, can tobi play?" Tobi asks, hoping over to the stage, "Can Tobi go against Itachi?"
"Sure Tobi, take my spot," I say, letting the boy hop up onto the platform.
Let me tell you, that boy can dance. Glitter was flying from his body everywhere; I think I have glitter in my eye. By the time the song was over Tobi had a score of Triple A's and Itachi only had doubles. The boy cheered and jumped from the platform spinning around like a top.
"I beat Itachi again!" Tobi shouts, "Now Tobi can have a cookie when he gets home right?"
"Sure Tobi," Itachi says with a soft smile, "I need a drink."
"I second that motion," I shout, "Time to dance and drink merrily!"
The evening continued as such, with our group switching between drinking in the kitchen, to dancing in the living room to rocking it out to DDR in the Basement. I had downed five beers and two shots by the end of the night and I was beginning to slur my speech. Sasori who I had not seemed to see at all during the night was by my side suddenly when it was finally time to go home, his arm around my waist and my own arm thrown around his neck.
"Hey there Handsome, where have you been?" I ask, as we make our way to his car.
"Plotting and Planning, did you have a nice night?" he says, opening the passenger side door for me.
"No." I pout, feeling rather light and childish, my vision is spotty.
"And why is that?" he chuckles.
"Because you weren't with me having fun, you big…Pinocchio," I laugh.
"It will be worth it tomorrow."
"Yo-your nose is growing." I laugh even more, hitting my head against the window of my door.
"Why don't you go to sleep, Gaara and Ino will be here soon."
"F-fine, but your still a…butthead." I fall back into my seat and find myself lost in darkness.
My head hurts, the sun pierces through my eyelids and I groan, pulling the sheets over my head. Fucking hangover, god damn sun, stupid thin sheets, I whine and open my eyes, blink away the dizziness. I'm in Sasori's room, dressed in only my poofy white shirt from yesterday, no corset, no shoes, no pants. Bastard better not have seen my panties I think to myself before standing up and looking around for a pair of pants. I find a pair of sweatpants in one of Sasori's drawers and pull them on, there a lot bigger on me than I expected but I don't care. I slip out of his room and freeze as a familiar smell hits my nose, Pumpkin Pancakes? I walk quietly into the kitchen and see Ino and Gaara happily munching on a plate of slightly orange pancakes. Sasori is flipping one at the stove, he turns and sees me. Smiling he slides one onto a plate with two others and gives me a smile.
"Morning, there is some advil in the bathroom if you need that." He says, pouring some batter onto the skillet.
"What is this?" I ask, looking at him quietly.
"It's Halloween breakfast, now hurry up and eat we'll go to the orchard after." Sasori says.
"Oh I should look up an apple cookie recipe," Ino shouts, standing up and putting her plate in the sink.
"Apple Cookies?" Gaara asks following behind her, "They exist."
"Sure lets go look up some recipes on google."
The two step out of the room and I look back at Sasori, still in complete shock. He…he duplicated my families Halloween tradition. For me? Why would he do something like that? He looks up from the stove and sees me still standing.
"Hey your foods going to get cold," he says, walking over to me, "Are you ok?"
I lurch forward and wrap my arms around his neck, burying my face into his collarbone. He slowly places his arms around my back.
"Thank you," I whisper.
"It's no problem, now let's eat alright?"
"Ok."
It tasted just like how Father used to make it. Not too overpowering with the pumpkin just the right amount of flavor that it made ones pallet tingle. I ate slowly, although everyone ushered for me to hurry up so we could go apple picking. After change into a pair of black jeans and a long green v-neck sweater we left the house for the Konoha Apple Orchard. The place was run by the Nara family; it also was a Deer sanctuary. It had a nice feel and tons of fresh apples. We bought two large bags, one of Macintosh and one of Cortland's. As soon as we were back in the car I grabbed an apple and began to clean it on the sleeve of my sweater.
"You still have room in your stomach?" Ino chuckles.
"The apples always taste best after just being picked," I answer, taking a large bite.
The crunch sends a shiver down my spine. The taste of the Cortland isn't overly bitter and I continue to munch on it as we drive down the road. The others are soon following my lead and we are munching on apples until we get home.
"I found this great Apple cookie bar recipe online," Ino gushes, "It sounds so good I just need to run down to the corner store to get some caramel."
"Sure do you need any money?" I ask.
"No I'm good; I'll be back in a bit."
"I'll go with you." Gaara says.
"Is there anything you need us to do while you're gone?" Sasori asks as the two open the door.
"Peel about ten apples and dice them up?" Ino asks.
"Sure no problem," Sasori answers.
The kitchen is quiet as I peel away the flesh of the apples, making it into a long curvy piece of red skin. Sasori chuckles as I do it, dicing up the apples I have already peeled into tiny chunks before dropping them into a large bowl. Even though it's nice, even though I love what is happening I have to know.
"Why did you do this for me?" I ask, stopping in my peeling.
"Because if I didn't do it no one else would." He answers, laying his knife down.
"You don't even like me that much." I whisper.
"I like you enough."
I blush, "So can I predict that there will be Trick or Treating on the horizon?"
"If you're not too old to go,"
"My ass, I'll never stop trick-or-treating, not until I turn thirty at least."
"Wow and you'll probably be the same height as you are now."
"Do you want to keep your face where it is?"
The jokes go back and forth and soon we are just sitting on the counter throwing tiny pieces of diced apple back and forth that didn't make it into the bowl. The front door slams open and the laughter of Ino and Gaara fills the house.
"Stop making out and come make some cookies!" I shout, Sasori snickers as the two come in with bright red blushes on their cheeks.
"Well isn't that Suspicious," Sasori grins.
We laugh and they join. Soon the kitchen smells of apples and caramel and we are all preparing to venture out into the night to hunt for Candy. I have Sasori's pillow case tucked under my arm and he has a plastic bag in his hands. Ino and Gaara are by the door dressed in there outfits from last night, nervous about going out.
"Come on I must get all of the whoppers!" I shout.
To be honest, no one has ever done something so nice for me before. Not my mother or father, not my friends, not even my sister. Yet here they were, these people I had only known for three months, taking my feels into consideration, making sure I had the best Halloween ever. And at the forefront of this master scheme, someone I had not expected at all. He smiles at me, his makeup for his costume done a lot more subtly than yesterday. His hair mussed in an awkward way and a tiny splay of fake blood dripping down his chin. I smile back at him and turn just as the door to the house in front of us opens.
"Trick or Treat!"