Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, it wouldn't be dragging right now…seriously, Kishimoto-san seems to be losing his touch. What was the whole Sai turncoat thing? It was way too fast!
A/N: Sorry for not updating in awhile, it's been finals, and everyone knows how much studying goes with that…anyway, I think I'll make one more chapter of this fic, and then it'll be done. Oh yeah, this chapter has a couple of OCs, but they're pretty minor, so please deal with me.
--
The image in the mirror was quite elegant. Dark brown hair held back with silver needles, dark red kimono with the pattern of golden dragons printed on it, green obi, and red shoes.
Tenten glared at the image in the mirror. I really don't think this is a good idea…I mean; this outfit will get in the way if there's a fight! This is so stupid…I should never have accepted Neji's offer! I mean, his whole family is made up of snobs! Even though I am an Anbu member, and the number one weapons specialist in Konoha, they probably will stick their noses so high that the sky will just be the beginning!
A knock on the door announced the arrival of Neji, so she sighed, marched over to the door, and opened it.
Neji's eyes imperceptibly widened at the sight of Tenten, "…well, you do clean out well, don't you?"
Tenten glared, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Neji shook his head, "Nothing, nothing…let's go then."
Tenten shrugged, grabbed her Anbu dragon mask, and stepped out the door, "Yeah…by the way…what did your family say about all this?"
Neji looked at her, "What is 'all this'?"
Tenten shrugged carelessly, "Well you know, you're the Hyuuga's prodigy, while I'm this commoner who's only sourced of income happens to come from Anbu squad money…"
Neji raised an eyebrow, "That was what you were worried about, Tenten? Don't worry about my family, if they have a problem with it, they can tell me."
Tenten rolled her eyes, "What is it with guys and being masochistic?"
Neji smirked and shrugged, "…let's take our time."
Tenten groaned, "You just want to piss Uchiha off don't you? Since you know how antsy he'll get if we're late."
"Yes."
--
Sasuke paced back and forth, eyes beginning to show hints of Sharingan red, "Where are they?"
Sakura ground her teeth, fidgeting in her pink kimono with swirling green leaves, "They are so late…I told them to come before the ceremony!"
"They won't know where to set up!"
"This will mess up everything at the rate it's going!"
"I'm going to refute their salary if they don't get here in five minutes!"
"I'm going to charge them so much for the inconvenience that they'll have to file for bankruptcy!"
"If that damn Hyuuga bastard thinks he can just waltz in whenever he pleases, then I'm going to Chidori him until that hair of his is frizzed like an electrocuted cat!"
"Yeah! And then—" Sakura stopped mid rant to stare at Sasuke, "…what does Neji have to do with all this?"
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "…we're talking about how Neji's Anbu squad is late, aren't we?"
"No, I was talking about the firework people."
They stared at each other for awhile, and then burst out laughing. Right at that moment a small silver haired girl wearing a white kimono with a pattern of red flames ran in, with Neji and Tenten strolling in behind her.
The small girl ran up panting to the laughing couple, and quickly bowed, "I'm really, really, really, really sorry that I'm late! I was so busy mixing up special fireworks for the ceremony, that I completely forgot about the time, and by the time I was done, I was already fifteen minutes late!"
Sakura grinned, and waved her hand, "It's alright, just please go set up near the field, will you, Shiraha-chan?"
"Hai!" She ran over to the large cart that was sitting next to the steps of a pagoda, and quickly began carting it away to the fields.
Sasuke watched the small white head bob up and down, "…she's in charge of the fireworks! She can't be more than twelve years old!"
Sakura shook her head, "Looks can be deceiving, and besides, we were genin at twelve! Anyway, she's Kagayakashii Shiraha."
"Kagayakashii? …isn't that the family that's famous for its lanterns?" asked Tenten.
Sakura nodded, "Yeah, Ino bought a bunch of those to decorate the place too, but Shiraha isn't very interested with making lanterns. She's happier messing with things that go boom."
"An interesting obsession," stated Neji dryly.
"By the way Hyuuga," Sasuke said languidly, "I'm docking your paycheck for a week, along with Tenten's."
Neji shrugged, "Like I care, the entire Hyuuga estate has more money than you'll ever see, Uchiha."
Tenten twitched, and threw a shuriken at Neji. It hit about a centimeter away from his throat, "Neji," she began menacingly, drawing out five kunai from her sleeve, "although your paycheck might not mean much to you, that money is my bread and butter."
"If it's money you're worried about, I could always lend you some."
Tenten threw one of the kunai which landed on the other side of his throat, "Like hell, Neji! I have my pride too, you know!"
They stood glaring at each other for awhile, with Tenten clutching her kunai, and Neji calmly staring at her, until Lee popped up, "Ah Neji, have you finally proposed to Tenten? The power of youth triumphs! Right Gai-sensei?"
Gai somehow appeared behind the bushes, "Indeed it does Lee! What do you say Neji? Show us the exuberance of youth and embrace Tenten! In fact you can even go as far to kiss her—"
Tenten and Neji both landed a punch on his head.
"Idiot."
"Bastard."
"Let's go."
"Right. And you owe me at least 200 for my docked salary, which is your fault."
"Fine then."
As the two of them strode off, Sakura giggled, "Oh the two of them are in serious denial…"
Sasuke shrugged, "I don't know about that. I think they both know what they want, but that they just don't really want to act on it right now."
"You might be right, Sasuke-kun. Come on," she said, pulling his hand, "Let's go."
He stood up, still holding her hand, "Alright."
--
"Hinata! Try some of this stuff, it's really good!" said Naruto, happily gobbling up a brown dish.
"Ano, alright…" Hinata said, taking a careful bite, making sure to keep the long sleeves of her pale blue kimono with a pattern of light violet feathers get into the food, "…it tastes pretty good…"
"Doesn't it?" asked Naruto enthusiastically, "I have no idea what this tuff is, but it's good! I wanted all ramen, but according to Sakura, it wasn't 'traditional' enough. Oh well. Hey, Gaara!" he began shouting, waving his hand at the blue and white hat, "Get over here!"
Gaara walked quietly over, followed by a tall girl with black hair and red tips, who was wearing a black kimono with swirls of red on it, "Hello Naruto."
"Hey, who's the girl?" asked Naruto, grinning cheekily, "Your girlfriend?"
"My bodyguard, Issanni Chinoumi," introduced Gaara calmly.
"Pleasure to meet you, Hokage-sama," said Chinoumi, bowing.
"Why do you need a bodyguard?" asked Naruto quizzically.
"Formality reasons," they both replied quickly.
"Oh," Naruto nodded sagely, "I know, those are so annoying. Like, we can't have all ramen tonight, because it's not 'proper'. It's so annoying!"
"If you want, Naruto-kun," said Hinata nervously, "I could make you some after the ceremony…"
"You'd do that for me? Thanks a lot Hinata!" he said, grabbing her hands.
Hinata turned red, but quickly began breathing in and out, I will not faint, I will not faint, she thought fiercely.
"Are you okay Hinata?" Naruto asked, not letting go of her hands.
"I-I'm fine, Naruto-kun."
Chinoumi muttered under her breath, "So this is the pair, Gaara? They're so obvious, that it's amazing you even had to help them. This, by the way, is really strange. I mean, you playing matchmaker?"
Gaara shrugged, "I didn't play matchmaker, I just talked to both of them."
"Sure, whatever you say… Bet you ten fans that these two will get married."
--
"What do you think Shikamaru?" Ino asked, gesturing around the rooms, with the long sleeves of her purple kimono with patterns of blue clouds, where thousands of colorful lamps hung.
Shikamaru yawned, "They look nice Ino…"
Ino slapped the back of his head, "Pay attention!"
"They're just lamps…"
"Which I spent hours setting up!"
Shikamaru glanced around the room, then stated flatly, "The set up of the lamps is quite brilliant due to the fact that when set up in diagonals, they look endless. Also with the diversity of colors, it represents the variety of people we have at the ceremony today, and as one more detail, they provide lots of light. Happy Ino?"
She hugged him, "I'm so glad Shikamaru appreciates my lovely designs…now come on, let's go. Can't let forehead girl completely ensnare Sasuke-kun after all…"
Shikamaru followed, albeit a bit unhappily. I'm the one who asks her to the ceremony, and yet she's still obsessed with Sasuke. Was this a bad idea? …girls are so troublesome.
--
The ceremony progressed without too many hitches, although Sasuke nearly killed everyone who had whispered about Itachi when the Uchiha clan had been called. Then there was Gaara nearly doing a Desert Coffin on Kiba for insulting the hat (Chinoumi and Temari managed to stop him), Naruto nearly going on a rampage when he found out the really delicious dish was in fact, pig's ear, and the horrible incident of Gai and Lee doing karaoke.
Other than that, Sakura and Ino both considered the whole ceremony a success.
Meanwhile, Shiraha feverishly set up the fireworks, "Okay let's see…the D-12 goes right here, R-5 here, and K-7 goes here…ah wait! Damnit!" she quickly grabbed the largest firework, pushed R-5 out of the way, and set it up, "Okay good…my most special firework, S-3 is set up! Now where to put R-5…the Hokage would probably be mad if I didn't set it off…hm…"
She quickly set up the orange firework by the pond, "There! Now…here comes the fun part!"
She drew out a large pack of matches, and drew one out reverently. She swiftly struck it against her shoe, and then lit K-7. The green firework began to sputter, and suddenly shot up into the sky, bursting into the green symbol of Konoha.
She pumped her fist up, "Success! As celebration, after this, I am going to light a bonfire!"
--
Sakura grinned as she heard the happy cheering of Naruto when the ramen firework exploded into the sky, "He sounds really happy, doesn't he?"
Sasuke shrugged, "Personally he sounds pretty idiotic."
Sakura's grin grew bigger as she leaned against Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun…"
"What?"
She quickly turned around, pinned Sasuke against the wall, and kissed him.
They stayed like that for awhile, until they had to come back up for air. Sakura smirked at Sasuke, "…I'll see you around," and then walked away.
Sasuke leaned against a tree, covered his mouth, and snorted, "…I should have known," he then turned around, and looked up at the tree, "You can come out now, you know."
Silence.
"I know you're there…Itachi."
A black haired figure jumped out of the tree, and stood up, "Sasuke…it's been awhile."
"How long have you been watching me?"
Itachi shook his head, "You have the wrong question, little brother. It's really, how long have I been in Konoha. This, by the way, has been about a week."
Sasuke's eyes were already in Sharingan form, "Why?"
Itachi shrugged, "I didn't really have anything else to do since Akatsuki has been disbanded…so I came to see how you were doing on your goals."
"My goals?"
"Your two purposes in life were to kill me, and then rebuild the Uchiha clan, were they not? To rebuild the clan though, you would need a woman, of course…and here I see you've picked up a pink haired kunoichi."
"What of it?"
Itachi closed his eyes and smirked, "Nothing really. Since you have completed one of the goals, and I have seen Konoha's new Hokage, I will take my leave of you."
Sasuke hand began to crackle with Chidori, "What's to stop me from completing all of my goals?"
Itachi shook his head, as he jumped out of the way, "One day you'll figure this whole mess out, foolish little brother, but until then, worry about other things."
--
"The fireworks are really pretty, aren't they, Naruto-kun?" asked Hinata, brushing a strand of hair away from her face.
"Yeah…" he said, staring at her.
Hinata blushed, …what am I supposed to do?
"Hey Hinata…"
"Y-yes, Naruto-kun?"
"Dance with me, why don't you?" he asked pulling her to her feet, in the direction of the dance floor.
"H-hai…"
--
A/N: Yes, the pairings haven't completed themselves completely, have they? I'm saving that for the last chapter…so please review!
