Disclaimer, I don't own anything in Naruto, except my OCs

Chapter 6 – Red sun over paradise

The following morning, Ino woke up in Tomoe's room. It had been an enjoyable affair overall and Tomoe's mom had ended up convincing her to stay the night. When she had agreed to stay overnight and was allowed to sleep in Tomoe's room, she had somewhat expected a girls' night with Tomoe where they would spend most of the night talking. But as she had gotten a suspicion about during their time together in school, Tomoe was not really a "slumber party" person, and more of an "early to bed, early to rise" person and had ended up falling asleep after a few hours.

The following morning, Ino woke to find most of Tomoe's family up and about. She exited the room and went into the living room. Judging by the sounds, someone was in the kitchen and a man she didn't know was sitting at the living room table, but she didn't see Tomoe or Sasuke anywhere. While she didn't know him, she guessed that he was the father of Tomoe and her brothers and if he was, that meant he was the current leader of the Uchiha clan. She looked around a bit and saw the man was looking at her.

Surprised at him staring at her, she turned to him and introduced herself, "Good morning, Uchiha-sama. My name is Ino Yamanaka, I'm a friend of Tomoe from the academy. Pleased to meet you," she said with a small bow. While she wasn't a big fan of formality and the like, she was still taught how to be polite and formal when she was talking to her elders.

"Good morning. I am Tomoe's father, Fugaku Uchiha," the man, now dubbed as Fugaku replied.

Tomoe hadn't said much about her family beside her brothers, so Ino didn't know much about her parents besides what she had learnt about her mother the previous evening. Her father didn't seem like an open and welcoming person like her mother did, so while she was usually good at social interactions, Ino didn't know what to do in the current situation so she just stood looking awkwardly around their house.

"Ah, good morning Ino-chan," Mikoto said as she, luckily for Ino, had chosen that moment to enter the living room with a pot of tea.

"Good morning to you as well, Uchiha-sama," Ino replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I did. Thank you for letting me stay the night."

"It was my pleasure, Tomoe hasn't brought any friends over before, so it was lovely having you over," Mikoto said with a warm smile.

Ino was quite elated that Tomoe's mom was such a welcoming person, it had made the previous night's dinner an easier affair. It was a bit awkward eating at another person's house for the first time, and while it had just been her, Tomoe, Sasuke, and their mother, she hadn't quite known what to do. Tomoe had tried to help cheer her up but was honestly quite bad at it, but her awkward attempts had been funny and touching. She didn't talk very much with Sasuke and he didn't seem like the conversational type, so she didn't know how to interact with him, so their mother being so welcoming made it a lot easier for her.

"If you're looking for Tomoe, she's out back at our training grounds completing her morning training," Mikoto said, breaking Ino out of her thoughts.

"Ah, thank you," Ino replied and started walking towards the front door. She got to the door and realised she didn't know where "out back" or their training grounds were, their clan compound was quite large. She turned around and stuck her head into the living room once more, "Erhm, sorry for asking but where exactly are your training grounds?" she asked sheepishly.

"That's right, you haven't been there," Mikoto said. "Give me a moment, and I'll show you."

Ino nodded and waited in the entryway for Mikoto to finish what she was doing. After a minute or so Mikoto arrived at the entry, put on her shoes, and walked out the front door, "This way," she said as opened the door. Ino nodded and silently followed Mikoto as she was taken through the Uchiha compound towards the training grounds. Mikoto decided to give Ino a small guided tour as they walked through the grounds, "This grassy garden area is where they practice chakra control, with easy access to trees, water, and leaves to practice with."

"I know how you can use leaves to practice chakra control, but where do water and trees come into the picture?" Ino asked.

Mikoto stopped up, "Instead of explaining it, why don't you try to figure it out? If chakra can be used to stick leaves to your forehead or any part of your body really, how can chakra be used together with trees and water?" she asked.

Ino stopped and thought for a few minutes before answering, "It can be used to make it easier to climb trees?"

"Close, you're on the right track, just not quite there yet. Why don't you think about it some more while we go to the lake?"

"What's happening at the lake?" Ino asked.

"You'll see when we get close enough," Mikoto said with mirth in her voice.

As the duo approached the lake, Ino kept wondering about how chakra could be used in other ways than making it easier to climb trees, and how it could be used to accomplish that. Her train of thought was broken when they got near the lake and she saw Tomoe bend over with her hands on her knees at the edge of a bridge atop the lake.

"Is she ok?" Ino asked worryingly.

Mikoto chuckled at Ino before answering, "She'll be fine, just give her a moment."

As they stopped at the edge of the lake, Ino was sure she saw a tinge of pride in Mikoto's eyes as she watched Tomoe. But before Ino could say anything, Tomoe stood up straight and started moving her hands. Shortly after, a large fireball easily 10-meters wide appeared in front of Tomoe. Ino was shocked at how suddenly the massive fireball had appeared, but also how Tomoe, a girl the same age as her, could use such a jutsu with seemingly ease.

As she stood in shock, Mikoto started walking onto the bridge and towards Tomoe, "Your control has gotten better," Mikoto said as she neared Tomoe. "You seem to have an easier time not wasting chakra and keeping the size of the fireball to 10-meters."

Tomoe looked up drenched in sweat and panting, "Good morning mother. Yes, the practice has been paying off," she said between breaths of air.

Mikoto smiled at her daughter, "I assume Sasuke is still at the sparring grounds?"

"That's where I left him," Tomoe answered after she caught her breath.

"Good. Breakfast is ready, so go take a shower and I'll get your brother."

"Of course mother."

"Good," Mikoto said as she turned to walk away from Tomoe. After a few steps she stopped up and turned her head towards Tomoe, "Remember, you have a guest. It wouldn't do to leave her alone and unattended in an unfamiliar place," she said before walking towards the sparring grounds once more.

Tomoe stood and wondered what her mother had meant when she spotted a slack-jawed Ino at the edge of the lake. Tomoe's eyes widened as she had completely forgotten about Ino once she had woken up and started her morning routine. "Morning Ino. Sorry, I just did my morning routine like usual and didn't think about you," she said as she ran towards Ino standing at the lake's edge. "Did you sleep well?" she asked.

Ino just stood there still in shock at Tomoe's jutsu display.

"Ino? You ok?" Tomoe asked while lightly poking Ino's shoulder.

"Huh? Wha? Oh yeah, I'm fine," Ino said finally out of her shock. "I was just surprised is all."

"Really? By what?" Tomoe asked.

Ino looked at Tomoe in disbelief, "What do you mean 'by what'?" she asked incredulously. "By the giant fireball obviously."

"Oh that," Tomoe said in realisation. "Pretty cool right? You have no idea how happy I was when I finally used that jutsu right for the first time," Tomoe said with a huge smile.

"Is that the jutsu you mentioned you started learning when you were five?" Ino asked.

"Yup."

"And the one you said you used successfully after a week or so?"

"Yup."

Ino stared at Tomoe in awe. When she broke out of her daze she muttered in a low voice, "I don't think I realised how amazing you are."

"Huh? What did you say?" Tomoe asked, not having heard what Ino said.

"Nothing, didn't your mom say breakfast ready?"

"Ah, you're right. I need to shower first. Come on," Tomoe said she took off towards her house.

Ino stood back looking at Tomoe as she walked up the small hill, "She did that three years ago? I really have some catching up to do," Ino said in a low voice.

Tomoe turned around, "Ino? What are you waiting for, let's go," she said and gestured to Ino to follow her.

Ino shook her head, "Relax, I'm coming already," she said and walked towards the waiting Tomoe

Tomoe had enjoyed Ino's visit, even if she had forgotten about her after she woke. After they had eaten breakfast, Tomoe walked Ino home and in her mother's words "made sure she got home to her family safe". Tomoe didn't understand why that was needed, but she got to say hello to Ino's parents again so she didn't mind. She had met them briefly when she had visited Ino's house after school or on the weekends when Ino helped her with learning the language of flowers. Ino's parents were kind people and had been very welcoming of Tomoe when she first visited, even offering her dinner and letting her stay the night, even if Tomoe had refused.

"Thanks for having me over last night. It helped me take my mind off things" Ino said as the duo walked to the Yamanaka compound.

"No problem. Glad I could help, even if I did forg-"

"I already said that it was fine," Ino interrupted, "no need to keep apologising."

"That still doesn't make it ok," Tomoe replied in honesty.

"Then make sure it doesn't happen again, ok?" Ino said while chuckling.

"Deal," Tomoe said smiling.

The two spent the rest of the trip talking about whatever they thought off, Tomoe's training, Ino's hobbies, and Tomoe's only non-training related hobby, visiting tea houses and tea ceremonies, Ino was surprised by how much Tomoe had come to like tea. When they reached Ino's home, Ino suddenly stopped.

"Ino? Everything ok?" Tomoe asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ino replied but she still didn't move.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's um, err-" Ino said stammering and fidgeting.

Tomoe was getting increasingly worried; it was rare for Ino to have a hard time saying something, let alone to start fidgeting.

"Could you help me train?" Ino suddenly burst out.

"Huh?"

"Could you help me train?" Ino asked again.

"I heard that, but what brought this on?" Tomoe asked.

"Look, I realised pretty quickly the difference between us, and I may or may not have just chalked it up to you being an Uchiha," Ino admitted. After a brief pause, she continued, "But after seeing what you do every morning, I kinda realised that you are as good as you are because you worked for it and that you aren't just naturally gifted."

"Ok, but why ask me and not your parents or the teachers?"

"Because I can only ask the teachers during class and they have like 20 other children to help and my parents are often busy in the weekdays. I spend the weekends with my dad training to use our clan jutsu, but that leaves me so incredibly drained that I barely have enough energy to go to bed. So even if I wanted to ask my parents, they might not have time. Besides, it might be more fun to be with you than training with my dad."

Tomoe thought for a while. She knew how it was with busy parents, her father only had time to supervise on Sundays, and her mother hadn't had much time to help with her training besides her learning to use the Great Fireball jutsu. Her father had also made sure she knew that incorrect training was worse than no training, so with no one to help correct her, Ino could end up worse than when she started.

"It's ok if you don't want to. It was a stupid question," Ino said, breaking Tomoe's line of thought.

"It's never a stupid question to ask someone for help. I just had to think a little," Tomoe replied. "I'd happy to help you, but I don't know how much help I would be," she admitted. "I can't help you with any of your jutsu. The only things I could help you with are taijutsu and shurikenjutsu, but even then, I only know the Uchiha taijutsu style, so I don't know if I could help you with what style you're using... and incorrect practice is worse than no practice."

"That's fine!" Ino said quickly. "I can learn the academy style kata in class and make sure I use them right, then we can spar after class so I can get better."

At this declaration, Tomoe looked at Ino, "You really do want to get stronger."

"Yeah, I do," Ino replied her eyes filled with determination.

Tomoe looked at Ino in mild surprise, this was the most determined she had ever seen her, how could she say no, "Alright, let's start Monday after we finish our classes at the academy, then we can ask if we can borrow their training grounds, otherwise we can just use yours or ours. And don't worry, I'll try to hold back," Tomoe finished with a smirk.

"Haha, thanks Tomoe," Ino laughed. She then stopped and looked seriously at Tomoe, "Really, thanks."

"No problem, Ino. What are friends for?"

Ino laughed once more, "Ok, see you Monday Tomoe."

"Yup, see you Monday."

And with that, the two split for the weekend.

The next Monday Tomoe and Sasuke were walking to the academy together in their usual silence when Tomoe spoke, "Oh yeah, could you do me a favour and tell mother that I'll be home late today?"

"I guess. Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Ino asked me to help her with her training," Tomoe replied

"Ah. You're spending quite some time together, and here I thought that you were slacking on your training" Sasuke teased.

"No way," Tomoe laughed, "Make sure that you don't slack, now that I'm not there to keep an eye on you," she teased back.

"Hmph, as if."

"Yeah, you're right. You are the more serious of the two of us," Tomoe admitted before the twins went back to their usual silence. After a short while, Tomoe broke the silence once again, "What about you, getting along with your seatmates?"

"Why the sudden interest?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

"No reason was just wondering how you were doing. We don't really talk about school besides when comparing grades or how boring the lessons are, so I was wondering how you were getting along with people, especially that loud blonde kid next to you," Tomoe explained.

Upon mentioning the Uzumaki, Sasuke's mood visibly worsened and he turned to stare daggers at Tomoe, "Don't talk about him."

"Wow, is he that bad?" Tomoe asked.

"Of course, he is. He's loud, obnoxious, doesn't pay attention, interrupts all the time for no reason, asks stupid questions, and his taijutsu skills are horrendous. They're even worse than Ino's, but at least she has started to show interest in improving them. He just charges forward with no regard for his own safety. And the worst part about it is that he often wins his spars because he just toughs every hit out. It's infuriating," Sasuke said as he kept ranting about him.

"He really ticks you off, doesn't he?" Tomoe asked, surprised that her brother was capable of showing such anger.

"You have no idea. I'm surprised you haven't noticed any of it," Sasuke replied.

"Yeah, wonder how...," Tomoe said as she laughed nervously.

"... You haven't been paying attention to what has been happening in class have you?" Sasuke asked with a deadpan look.

"Maybe?" Tomoe replied.

"And yet we had even scores, even if the tests were easy," Sasuke thought as they arrived at the academy. "Whatever, suit yourself. Just don't disappoint father," Sasuke sighed.

"Don't worry, I won't. I pay attention if it is interesting or new."

Sasuke shook his head at his sister's attitude but decided against saying more as they were reaching the classroom and he didn't feel like sharing this conversation with the rest of the class. "Talk to you later," Sasuke said and walked towards his seat.

"Later," Tomoe said as she went to her seat next to Ino and Shikamaru sat, with the latter of the two seemingly already asleep at the table. Tomoe sat down, and shortly after she saw Sakura entering the room. Sakura gave the room a quick scan before her eyes landed on Tomoe and Ino. She then gave them the stink eye before huffing and walked over to her seat in the back.

"She seems chipper," Tomoe noted.

"Probably angry over the fact that you can't see that I'm using you," Ino added.

"I sure am blind."

"Could you two keep it down? Someone's trying to sleep here," Shikamaru said.

"Sorry Shika," Ino replied. She then turned to Tomoe, "We're still on later, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure," Tomoe replied.

"Another tea house?" Shikamaru asked.

"Training actually," Ino answered, "wanna join?"

"No thanks, might have considered it if you were going to another tea house, heard they're pretty relaxing, not to mention they have good sna-" Shikamaru said before pausing, "Since when do you train on weekdays?"

"Since today. Have to step up my game if I wanna keep up with miss prodigy over here," Ino said as she pointed over her shoulder at Tomoe.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said, and then promptly went back to sleep.

Before they could resume talking, Iruka walked in and started the lecture.

When the lesson was over, Tomoe went over to speak with Iruka, "Um, Iruka-sensei?" Tomoe asked.

Iruka, who was cleaning the blackboard, turned around and saw Tomoe standing there, "Ah, hello Tomoe. How can I help you?"

"Ino and I were wondering if we could use the academy training grounds after school today?" she asked.

"Yes, of course, the academy training grounds are open to all students that want to use them. Glad to see you're taking your training seriously," Iruka said with a smile. "Do you want someone to help you? If you do, I can oversee your training for a few hours," he offered.

Tomoe thought for a bit before answering, "Yes, that would be greatly appreciated. I'm not familiar with the academy taijutsu style, so I'm not sure I can help Ino with it properly, so having you there would be great."

"Great, it's a deal. Meet me in the training grounds after your final period and we can begin," Iruka said.

"Alright, thank you Iruka-sensei," Tomoe said with a small bow before she returned to her seat to tell Ino the news.

"Alright you two, I have to go now, but great work today. Ino you've really improved on your kata." Iruka said after having helped Tomoe and Ino train for a few hours.

"Thank you for your help, Iruka-sensei," said an exhausted, red-faced, and panting Ino.

"Yes, thank you for your help, Iruka-sensei," Tomoe agreed with a small bow. "Would it be ok if we used the grounds again tomorrow?" she asked.

"Why of course, as I said, all students are allowed to use the training grounds after school. Just make sure you don't get home too late," Iruka said with a kind, but serious tone.

"Yes Iruka-sensei," both girls said at the same time.

"Good. Then I'll see you two tomorrow," And with that, Iruka left the two girls at the academy training grounds.

"It was a good thing he offered to help, I couldn't have helped half as much as him," Tomoe said, "not yet at least." She turned to Ino and saw she had sat down on the ground. "You ok?" she asked as she walked over to her.

"I'm fine, just need to catch my breath," Ino said while fanning her face with one of her hands.

"Good, now how about a five-minute break, and then we go another round?" Tomoe said heartily and was met with a death glare from Ino. "Fine, let's stop for today. But we're going again tomorrow, ok?"

As Ino was still catching her breath, all she got was a small nod in confirmation.

*Two months later, mid-December*

"Wanna come over for New Year?" Ino asked out of the blue, while she and Tomoe were visiting a tea house that was serving a special New Year tea.

Tomoe looked at Ino, surprised at the sudden invitation, "What brought this on?" she asked.

"Well, the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi host a small festival each year celebrating the new year, and I was wondering if you'd like to join us," Ino answered.

"I'll have to ask my parents, we usually don't do much, just some traditional stuff, so it should be fine," Tomoe said before pausing, "But are you sure I'm allowed to join you? Isn't it a family thing? What did your parents say?"

"Who do you think gave me the idea?" Ino replied. "We were talking about the festival and what we should do and my mom said I could invite you if I wanted."

Tomoe was taken aback, she hadn't expected Ino's parents to be the ones extending the invitation. "If my parents allow it, I would be honoured to participate in your festival," Tomoe said with a small bow of her head.

"Stop with the bowing, you're embarrassing me here," Ino said while looking around flustered.

"It's normal to bow when you're thankful for being invited to such an event," Tomoe said.

"For you maybe, not for me, so stop bowing already."

At this Tomoe smirked, and proceeded to bow even deeper.

Later that evening at the Uchiha residence, the whole family was eating dinner, when Tomoe broke spoke, "I have been invited to partake in the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi New Year's festival."

"Oh, by Ino?" Mikoto asked.

"By extension, it was her parents who asked her to invite me," Tomoe replied.

"And?" Fugaku asked.

"Nothing, I was just wondering if I could attend," Tomoe replied.

"You wish to ignore aside the Uchiha traditions, for a mere festival?" Fugaku snapped.

"No, that was not my intentio-," Tomoe started.

"I think she should go," Itachi suddenly interrupted before Fugaku started getting angry.

Fugaku looked at Itachi in surprise, "And why is that?" he hissed.

"By accepting the invitation and attending their New Year festival, it would improve relations between our clan," Itachi stated. Fugaku looked at Itachi seemingly asking him to continue, "While young, she does have the best relationship with the Yamanaka clan compared to anyone else from the Uchiha clan, even more, evident now that she has been invited by the clan head. Getting closer with all three clans is nothing but beneficial for the Uchiha clan."

Tomoe looked at Itachi in surprise, while he had helped her out in the past, it was rare that he directly opposed their father. But what surprised Tomoe most was his expression. Itachi had always had a stoic face that didn't show much emotion, save for the occasional small smile, but now there was something behind it. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but Itachi's normally stoic expression seemed darker and grimmer than usual.

"Tomoe!" Fugaku said, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Ah, yes father?"

"You may attend the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi festival," Fugaku started. At this, Tomoe's eyes lit up in joy, but before she could say anything, Fugaku continued, "On the condition that you make good relations with the clans and do not shame the Uchiha name. If you can fulfil these conditions, you may go."

"Of course father, I won't bring shame to the Uchiha name," Tomoe said.

"Good. Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do," Fugaku said and rose from the table.

Tomoe was slightly disappointed that she couldn't just attend the festival and have fun, but she had been allowed to attend, so she would take what she could get. However, after Fugaku had left and was out of earshot, Mikoto leaned in close to Tomoe and whispered, "Ignore that, he's just under a lot of pressure, just go and have fun."

At this Tomoe's mood visually improved, "Really?" she asked.

"Sure, just go and have fun with Ino."

"Ok, I'll tell her tomorrow that I accept," Tomoe said.

Seeing her daughter smile at having gotten permission to be with her friend on New Year, Mikoto's eyes drifted over to a silent Sasuke. She then turned to Tomoe, "Why don't you asked them if Sasuke can come as well?"

Sasuke suddenly looked up at his mom, "Why? I don't mind being home with you, father, and Itachi-niisan."

"Because, it will be good for you to socialize a bit with other kids your age, and focus on something other than training for once," Mikoto explained.

Sasuke was about to argue, but one look from his mother stopped him in his tracks. He then nodded and said, "Yes mother," in a low voice.

Tomoe was feeling a bit awkward from that exchange, but nodded and agreed with her mother's request.

"Good, now finish eating and off to bed with you. You too Sasuke," Mikoto said firmly.

"Yes mother," they both said.

On her way to her bedroom, Tomoe spotted Itachi standing in the doorway to her room, "Oh, hey Ichi-nii. What can I help you with?" she asked.

Itachi didn't answer at first and just looked at her in silence.

"Ichi-nii? Are you ok?" she asked anxiously.

"Yes, I'm fine," he finally answered.

"Then what's going on?"

"Nothing, just..." Itachi paused for a bit, "Just don't take what father said too seriously. Go and have fun with your friends," he said with a small smile.

"Oh, ok," Tomoe said, "I will. Thank you for backing me up back there. I don't think father would have allowed me to go if you hadn't vouched for it."

"It was nothing. Goodnight, Tomoe," Itachi said, as he left her doorway.

Tomoe still couldn't help but feel that Itachi was acting strange, so she turned around and spoke to Itachi, "Really, Ichi-nii, thank you." But instead of turning around like he usually does when someone spoke to him from behind, Itachi just kept walking.

Early the next morning during their morning stretching, Tomoe stopped and turned to Sasuke, "Has Ichi-nii seemed, different to you lately?" Tomoe asked.

"He's quieter than usual, but not much else," Sasuke replied. "Why?"

"I don't know, it was just yesterday before I went to bed, he was waiting in my doorway and seemed... I dunno, weird?" Tomoe explained.

Sasuke stopped stretched and thought for a moment, "Hmm, he has been out and been busier lately. Not to mention yesterday at dinner, it's rare for him to directly oppose father."

"That's what I thought," Tomoe exclaimed in agreement.

There was a small pause between "He might just be under a lot of pressure, I overheard father saying Itachi-niisan had a very important mission for the clan, so it might just be that," Sasuke said.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Tomoe agreed. And with that, the twins went back to their morning routine.

After school was finished, Tomoe and Ino were walking as they exited the academy, when Tomoe spoke up, "Hey, is your dad or mom home?"

"Hmm, I think dad is, why?" Ino asked.

"It's about the New Year festival you invited me to, I have a question for them and I thought it would be better if I asked in person, rather than through you," Tomoe explained.

"Sure, let's go and see if they are home. One of them should be managing the flower shop."

"I'm home, and I brought a friend," Ino yelled as she walked through her front door. When no one answered, she turned to Tomoe, "If they're here, they're in the flower shop. I'm gonna go put my things away, you can go ask them in the meantime. You know the way, right?"

"There's a huge sign next door saying 'Yamanaka flower shop'," Tomoe dead-panned.

"Just checking," Ino yelled as she walked to her room.

With a sigh, Tomoe left her house and entered the Yamanaka flower shop. The inside of the shop was lush with different flowers in multiple, vibrant colours, both hanging on the ceiling and standing on the floor around the shop in different pots and flower boxes. Tomoe had visited the shop before, but the vibrant colours always amazed her. As Tomoe was taking in the sight of the flowers, a voice called out from the back of the shop, "Ah, Uchiha-san, what brings you here today?"

Tomoe turned towards the counter and saw Ino's father, Inoichi Yamanaka walking in from the back holding a watering can. "Hello, Yamanaka-sama," she said with a slight bow.

"Just call me Inoichi, you've known me for long enough," Inoichi said with a large grin.

"Very well then, then I ask you call me Tomoe in return, Inoichi-san," Tomoe replied.

"Sure thing, we'll talk about talking formally another day. So, what brings you here?" Inoichi asked once more.

"It's regarding your New Year's festival." Inoichi nodded at Tomoe, prompting her to continue speaking, "First of all, thank you for inviting me. I would be delighted to join you," she said with a slight bow.

"No problem. You've been a good friend to Ino, so it was the least we could do."

"It was my pleasure. Although, I do have one question."

"Ask away."

"Would it be possible for my brother, Sasuke to join me at the festival?" Tomoe asked.

Inoichi thought for a moment, before replying, "May I ask why?"

"My mother thought it would be good for him to socialize with people his age, and focus on something different than training for once," Tomoe answered truthfully.

This prompted Inoichi to think once more, while Tomoe looked around awkwardly. After a minute or so had passed he spoke once more, "While it's not something we typically do, I see no harm in letting your brother join us as well."

"Thank you very much for your generosity," Tomoe said with a tinge of happiness in her voice, while bowing even deeper.

"No need for that, we'll be happy to have you both," Inoichi said with a smile. As Tomoe rose Inoichi asked, "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Thank you for the invitation, but I'm afraid I have to be going soon, so I'll have to decline."

"It's fine. See you on New Year then," Inoichi said with a small wave. As Tomoe exited the flower shop, Inoichi yelled after her, "Say bye to my little girl too," and was met with a small nod. After Tomoe had left the flower shop, Inoichi thought to himself, "Two Uchiha clan kids to our New Year's festival, instead of following their own traditions. Who would've thought that good old, rigid Fugaku would allow that?"

*December 31, New Year's Eve*

As Tomoe and Sasuke arrived at the Ino's house, they could hear the festivities from the Nara compound. The festival was being held at the Nara compound, as it was the largest and between the Yamanaka and Akimichi compounds. But as neither Tomoe nor Sasuke had been there, they had arranged to meet up with Ino and her parents at their house, before heading to the festival proper. When they knocked on the door, they were met by an Ino wearing an elaborate purple yukata decorated with a cosmos flower print and a dark violet sash. Upon seeing Ino, Tomoe and Sasuke suddenly felt underdressed as they wore a simple dark violet and navy-blue yukata respectively. Their mother had been more than willing to get them a fancier yukata each, but they both liked the simple look of their yukata.

"Hi, welcome, come on in," Ino said excitedly as she showed the Uchiha twins inside, "My mom is still getting ready, but dad is in the living room."

As they were shown inside, they saw Inoichi in the living room wearing a simple grey yukata himself. When he saw the twins, he spoke up, "Ah, welcome you two. Glad you could make it."

"Good evening, and thank you very much for the invitation," Sasuke said with a slight bow to Inoichi.

"Yes, once more, thank you for the invitation," Tomoe said.

"No problem, glad you could make it. Now, my wife should be done soon, and then we can get going."

About five minutes of waiting and small talk, awkward small talk in Sasuke's case as he hadn't met Inoichi, who seemingly insisted on trying to get Sasuke to open up, later, Ino's mother came in the room wearing a rose-coloured yukata.

"Hi, sorry for the delay," she greeted as she walked into the room. She then turned to Sasuke and introduced herself, "Nice to meet you, I'm Ino's mother, but you can call me Inoyama," she said with a smile.

"Good evening, Yamanaka-sama, thank you for inviting us. My name is Sasuke Uchiha" Sasuke replied with a slight bow.

After introductions had been made, Inoyama clapped her hands and spoke, "Now, shall we go and enjoy the festivities?"

"Yes, finally," Ino said with excitement as she rose from the chair was sitting in and walked towards the front door.

Shortly after Ino had risen, Tomoe and Sasuke looked at each other before nodding and following Ino with what seemed like barely contained excitement.

Ino's parents sighed and shook their heads at the kid's excitement before following the kids and walked towards the festival themselves.

As they reached the festival street. Tomoe and Sasuke walked around almost wide-eyed taking in the sights. In comparison, the Uchiha New Year celebrations were almost like a different world, they had some nice food, prayed at the Nakano temple, and that was mostly it. Here there were chains of lanterns in different colours along the entire street, stalls with either games or food on either side of the street, and children running around.

Shortly after they arrived, they met up with Shikamaru, Choji, and their parents. After making introductions, the children split off from the adults and started touring the festival on their own. Initially, Tomoe and Sasuke weren't quite sure what to do as they weren't used to such an event, so they just hung back and followed Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji. However, after a while, and at Ino's persistence at getting them to do everything, Tomoe and Sasuke eventually opened up and started to have fun as they visited the different stalls and played whatever games they had to offer.

At some point, Tomoe, Sasuke, and Ino started having a competition about who could win the most festival games, with Choji and Shikamaru deciding to just watch the competitions with the former not really a competitive person and the latter deeming it too "troublesome". While they never had attended a festival like this before, Tomoe and Sasuke picked up on most of the games fairly quickly, as a lot of them were just children's versions of training exercises such as kunai throwing. This meant that, much to Ino's annoyance, any competition that remotely resembled a training exercise, the twins won a decisive victory over Ino. They even had a small eating competition with Choji, but after the first two stalls, they both admitted defeat when they saw how much he ordered at the third stall. While Shikamaru avoided participating in the competitions, he did still join in on some of the less physical games. One stall had a small puzzle box you had to disassemble, where he finished well ahead of the others, with Sasuke being the second to finish about 30 seconds later.

The five kids spent several hours walking around the festival seeing, trying everything, and generally just having the time of their lives. Even the usually silent and stoic Sasuke was relaxing and having fun.

Sadly, most good things have to come to an end and a little after midnight, Sasuke and Tomoe had to go home. While their mother had succeeded in convincing Fugaku to let the kids go and have some fun, they were told to be home at midnight. Upon the realisation that they had overstepped their curfew, they said a hasty goodbye to Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji, told them they had fun, and they would stop by tomorrow. And with that, the twins took off and started running towards their home.

"Father's gonna kill us," Sasuke said as they ran home.

"Probably, but it was worth it. That was so much fun," Tomoe replied, still feeling giddy from the festival.

Sasuke was silent for a moment before answering, "It really was. Thanks for asking if I could come."

"No problem, you're my brother. I'll always help you out, even if it was at mother's request this time," Tomoe said with a grin.

Had it been just a little bit brighter, Tomoe would've been able to see a small smile forming on Sasuke's lips. While they were running, they were talking about the events, how fun they had it, what they had enjoyed the most, and discussing who had won the most competitions.

However, when they reached the gates at the Uchiha compound, both twins came to a slow stop. There was no light from inside the compound and there was total silence beside their heavy breathing. While the Uchiha didn't celebrate in the same manner as the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi, there would still be some light in the streets and some of the adults would be out and about, so it being this dark and quiet was unusual. Slightly unnerved by the silence and darkness, the twins entered the compound.

AN: I know at this point in the fic, it was quite close to the time of the coup and tensions were quite high in the Uchiha clan, but at the same time I felt that if the Uchiha's didn't want anyone to find out about the coup before it was time, they would try to keep things as normal as possible and try to avoid raising suspicion. Hence Mikoto agreeing to inviting Ino over and giving her a small tour, all while keeping a cheery attitude.

AN2: In case you were wondering, the Ino-Shika-Cho New Year festival and Uchiha New Year traditions are completely made up.

AN3: Ino's mother has no official name, so I just made one up.