Hey all! Sorry for the super-ridiculously-late update! I'd go into details, but I know no one really wants to hear excuses and I could honestly write a novel about them. I'm serious. :I Anyways, please enjoy! I'm not 100% happy with the ending, but I figured I should update now and leave revisions for later. lol

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto or any characters found therein. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. Who needs to get on with the story. Now. :I


When I emerged clean and warm and comfortable from the bathroom half an hour later, I stood and eyed the two beds in our suite. "Wait a minute…"

Itachi looked up at me from his place on one of the king-sized mattresses and quirked a brow questioningly. Kisame grinned at me from the other bed, folding his hands behind his head and crossing his feet in a very blasé manner.

I crossed my arms and just about 'grrr'd in irritation. "Is it just me, or did we get shafted with the beds?"

At their helpful responses, or lack thereof, my hands migrated to my hips and I adopted what I like to call the "Oh Shit" pose. Now, you may be wondering why I've dubbed this classic outward display of displeasure as such. You see, when I was little, if I did something that my mother would ultimately deem worthy of an ass-whooping, she would adopt that pose. At that time, I simply called it the "Uh Oh" pose. When I became apprentice to Tsunade, Uh Oh graduated to Oh Shit. I'm sure you can imagine why, given who my Shishou is and her penchant for violence.

I'd been with the Akatsuki long enough for them to acknowledge the meaning behind my Oh Shit pose, and so Kisame caved first. Holding up his hands in a placating gesture he said, "Hey, we had nothing to do with it. The old man brought two of the spare beds into the other room before we even got up here, so by the time we realized how many beds we had altogether it was too late to even them out."

Itachi chose this moment to open his mouth, saying, "You didn't even notice where you were putting the mattresses when you were helping Haru-san, did you?"

In all fairness, I hadn't noticed. However, a woman must preserve her dignity somehow in a situation like this, so I put on the "Oh No You Di'int" face (as every woman must when a man calls her observational skills into question) and gave Itachi the ultimate punishment…

The Silent Treatment.

Tossing my towel back into the bathroom so it landed in a heap on the floor (Itachi absolutely detests it when I do this), I marched over to the bed Kisame was currently hogging and stared pointedly at him. When he didn't respond as I'd hoped, I ordered rather imperiously, "Remove your blue self from my bed, Fishman."

This time, the Oh Shit pose didn't faze him, because obviously facing my legendary temper was something he found preferable to his other sleeping arrangements. He lifted a brow and stated simply, "Hell no. I'm not sleeping on the floor, and I sure as fuck ain't sleeping with him."

I contemplated this situation for a few moments, whereupon I came to the decision that the energy I'd have to exert in order to win the bed for myself wasn't worth the trouble. I flicked off the lamp that sat on the bedside table between the two beds (I laughed inwardly, since Itachi had been reading before I came into the room) and lifted the covers. As I climbed in, I said to Kisame, "Touch me and you die." I promptly went to sleep after that, and dreamt of fluffy little bunnies and using my two roommates as target practice.


My first thought when I awoke the next morning was, "Mmm."

My second thought was more of a jumbled mass of incoherent panicky noises when I realized with whom I was oh-so-comfortably spooning.

My third thought was spoken aloud, "I thought I made the death sentence pretty damn clear last night, Hoshigaki."

I felt his arm tense a little from where it was holding me against his warm torso (and I'm pretty sure the snore he made was fake at this point, as a sort of last-ditch self-preservation technique).

And that's when I realized precisely how his arm was positioned. His upper arm was placed along my side with his elbow resting on the front of my left hip, at which point his lower arm rested snugly against my stomach, ending of course with his hand. On my boob. And I was 99.9% sure it was on purpose.

Oh, who am I kidding: it was on purpose.

Initiating Rage Response #144 in three... two... one...

WHACK-CRASH-THUD-"FUCK!"-"PERVERT!"


I sat at the restaurant table with Kisame and the rest of the guys, glaring a hole into the side of Kisame's face. I was probably overdoing it (because, hell, it was a nice way to wake up, in all honesty) but he deserved it.

Glancing at me out of the corner of his eyes, Kisame whined, "Come on, Sakura, I really didn't mean to! It just sort of happened, I swear!"

I huffed. "I'll only forgive you if you buy me a yukata for the Tanabata festival tomorrow."

"You're not seriously gonna go to that, are you?" Hidan asked incredulously, as if it was the lamest thing ever. "That shit's so overrated."

"Like hell I'm not!" I said. "I always go to the Tanabata festival. I love the yukata and the paper lanterns and the fireworks and the stargazing… Back home, Nar-" I cut myself off almost immediately. "Uh, yeah. They were fun… back then… I mean, there was never anything better to do there…"

Thankfully, our waitress delivered our breakfast just then. I gave thanks and dug in like the rice and rolled omelet were the only food I'd had in months.

Hidan stared at me with a weird look on his face as the entire group settled into an awkwardly silent breakfast.

'Nice one, Sakura,' Inner commented dryly. 'We kinda needed to seem like Konoha was a shithole and we left because we hated it. Saying that you love Tanabata festivals and going into detail? Not so good! Not to mention you almost got all nostalgic about good times with Naruto, who, may I ever-so-politely remind you, is on the Akatsuki's Most Wanted list! Hellooo?'

"I remember the festivals in Konoha."

I looked up, shocked, at the sound of Itachi's voice. "What?"

He looked up from his meal and gave the tiniest of smiles. "I used to go with my brother when he was little. I enjoyed the fireworks as well."

I stared, awestruck, as Itachi's simple statement sparked conversation around our table, and my little mistake was quickly forgotten.

Apparently, Hidan used to go to festivals all the time in his village when he was little. Kakuzu only ever went to the New Years and Obon festivals (the rest weren't worth the money, in his opinion; I heartily disagreed). Kisame particularly enjoyed decorating his house with lanterns when he was little. Deidara, of course, loved any festival as long as it had fireworks, as they were an inspiration for his own "artistic masterpieces."

"Tobi loves dressing up for festivals! Sakura-chan should come with Tobi, and Tobi will find a pretty yukata for you!"

I smiled, but before I could reply, Deidara flicked at piece of his omelet at Tobi, hitting him squarely in the eye-hole. "No way in hell you're taking Sakura yukata shopping by yourself, you pervert. We all need outfits anyways if we're gonna go, yeah."

Tobi's cry of, "But Tobi's a good boy!" was drowned out by the rest of the guys debating where to go and when to head to the festival.


We eventually found a small traditional clothing shop run by an older woman named Hana. She was a sweet, but very task-centered woman, immediately taking my measurements and leading me to a rack of yukata and kimono that would fit me. The guys followed close behind us, and each started pointing out different colors or patterns that they thought would be better. As always, each had a different opinion, but I tried their choices on nonetheless.

We were all standing outside the dressing room to debate which yukata was the best after I'd tried them all on. Hana was off to the side, helping another customer with a custom order.

"But Tobi likes the orange one," Tobi whined. "The flowers complement Sakura-chan's personality!"

Hidan and Kisame tried to stifle their dubious snorts at that comment, and I caught Itachi raising a brow in a decidedly unconvinced manner. While I didn't enjoy the fact that they were picking on me, I had to agree. I mean, come on. I'm not a delicate little girly-girl. I kick ass on a regular basis and I've got the temper of an active volcano having a bad day. At least I'm honest.

"Thanks, Tobi," I said after a bit of inspection of the yukata hanging back on the rack. "But I think it kind of clashes with my hair. Plus, it makes me look more pale than I already am."

Tobi sagged a little at that, but perked right back up again with another thought. "Maybe the blue one, then?"

I frowned. "Which one? The one Deidara picked or the one Hidan picked?"

"Mine, obviously," Hidan said from his chair. "I've got the best tastes out of all of these assholes. The dark blue looked best."

This comment, of course, sparked a feud between the rest of the guys and Hidan, and I took the moment to pretend they didn't exist and look over the all of the yukata I'd hung back up.

While I agreed that the blue looked pretty good, I still wasn't sold on it. It just wasn't the right one. As the guys bickered and tossed insults about like group of children, Hana walked over and stood next to me. One grayed eyebrow raised at my companions, she merely shook her head and grabbed a yukata that must have been hiding up until this point and held it up beside my face.

"This one," she said, and I could see the years of wisdom behind those dark, assessing eyes.

I accepted the yukata and brought it into the dressing room. The guys immediately stopped arguing as soon as the lock clicked. I could hear Kakuzu ask if anyone had see what I grabbed and what the price was. I chuckled and put the outfit on, twisting this way and that to see myself in the mirror at as many angles as possible.

This was the right one. I grinned at the mirror.

"Hana-san," I called. "You're a lifesaver!"

Ten minutes later, I had bought the yukata (actually it was Kakuzu, the self-designated money-holder, who paid for it) and a paper fan to go along with it. None of the guys had seen me in it, and I made sure they only caught a brief glimpse of the material before Hana had wrapped it. I wanted it to be a surprise for the festival. Every girl likes to have guys appreciate them when they dress up, and I was already getting an idea for how I wanted to do my hair.

'Speaking of which,' Inner said contemplatively, 'Don't you usually cut it short before it has a chance to get this long?'

She was right. It had grown to my shoulders and I hadn't let it get that long since that day during the chuunin exams… I had forgotten how much I liked having it long. I replied to her with a mental shrug and continued thinking of all things festival-related. Food, lanterns, fireworks, dressing up…

"Hey, wait a second…" I muttered. I turned to face the guys before we reached the door. "Aren't you all supposed to be dressing up, too?" At their lack of response, I started to narrow my eyes.

"Hey, you know, I think I saw one I liked over here," Kisame said with forced nonchalance. The others soon followed suit, while Kakuzu grumbled about money and how he was hoping to have some left over by the end of our little vacation.

I snickered and continued thinking about the festival. With any luck, this would be the most fun I'd had with the guys since I'd 'joined' the Akatsuki.


So... it was a little longer than the last update, I think. (I honestly can't remember, isn't that terrible?) Next chapter: The festival! And a guest re-appearance? Some had made a request to see this bear of a guy again a while back, and I think he'd enjoy a little visit. ;] Thoughts? Fire away!

As always,

Much love,

child_of_the_moon

XO