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Day 18 Prompt: Nyctophilia(English)
"A love of the darkness."
"A love of the night."
Sasuke scratched at the collar of his deep violet yukata and grimaced. The outfit was new and the fabric still itchy. But his old yukata had been destroyed at last year's Founder's Festival. And his mother would scold him if he did not dress traditionally.
"Don't do that," Sakura snapped and slapped at his hand.
He recoiled. "Woman, stop! I'm not Naruto."
"What did I do?" Naruto asked absently, already holding two sticks of yakitori in either hand.
Sasuke looked around in confusion. They barely entered the festival. How did he already find food? Where did he find food?
"You're a bad influence on Sasuke!" Sakura scolded.
Naruto took a large bite of his food and spoke past his stuffed cheek. "That's what Fugaku tells me," he agreed.
Sasuke snickered. The two men exchanged fist bumps.
Sakura sighed in exasperation. "Whatever. I need to find Ino." Her tone turned gleeful. "She has the sluttiest yukata this year and I need to see it."
"I don't think that's very nice." Naruto frowned.
Sakura scoffed and waved it off. "That's how she described it to me."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Sasuke asked.
Sakura did not answer. She only grabbed their arms and marched them down the brightly lit street, staving off the dark of the night. Naruto and Sasuke exchanged baffled looks. Sakura ignored them, manhandling them through the crowds. Naruto looked mournfully at the food stalls as they passed. Once Sakura had hold of them, there was no stopping.
Unless, of course, they came across Tsunade.
The little group stumbled to a stop. When Tsunade glanced at them, Sakura and Sasuke quickly bowed to their former, and current teacher respectively.
As genin, Tsunade accepted both Sakura and Sasuke as students. Which had been awkward for Sasuke. He did not like being the only guy in a group of three other women. Sakura's crush also made it uncomfortable. Until Tsunade firmly told Sakura that sexually harassing a teammate was grounds for getting dishonorably discharged.
Apparently, that scared Sakura enough. She left Sasuke alone after that, focusing only on learning the chakra control needed to adopt Tsunade's strength techniques.
Sasuke still felt like he owed Tsunade. He gained a good friend in Sakura when she calmed down. But also, he had a successful career due to Tsunade agreeing to train him as a med-nin to spite his father. Apparently, she thought it was funny.
Fugaku did not have many friends.
Tsunade nodded in acknowledgment. "Yeah, yeah," she slurred, swaying on the bench. "Get out of here. Let me drink in peace."
"Bye, Granny!" Naruto called while Sakura dragged him off.
Tsunade pointed at him, then drew her thumb across her throat. Naruto cackled like she did not just threaten to cut his throat. Sasuke never really understood their relationship.
"Ino!" Sakura squealed.
"Sakura!" Ino matched Sakura's high pitch.
They collided in a hug, making indecipherable noises at each other. Sasuke grimaced and adjusted his clothing. Naruto threw away his food sticks in a nearby trash can. Across from them, Shikamaru and Choji stood. Shikamaru slouched in place, already looking half asleep. Choji happily picked at his takoyaki.
"Ooh!" Naruto hummed. "Where'd he get that?"
He bounded over to the other man. They soon began to craft a plan to visit every single food stall.
Sasuke tucked his hands into his yukata sleeves and sighed. A cursory glance at the girls revealed they were still talking about their clothes. Sakura slid her hand into the high slit of Ino's yukata, baring even more leg. Sasuke grimaced and glanced at Shikamaru. They exchanged brief nods but left each other alone.
A wet nose roughly poked into his leg, knocking him a step back. Sasuke started and looked down. Akamaru panted up at him, looking pleased.
"He wants to apologize," a rough voice said.
Kiba emerged from the shadows. Shino and Hinata paced behind him.
Sasuke forced himself to look away from Hinata. He stared at the monster sitting at his feet.
"Um…" Sasuke said.
"At the hospital," Kiba clarified. "He did not mean to hurt Hinata and startle you. He's sorry."
"Oh," Sasuke said blankly.
Akamaru suddenly stood and trotted over to Hinata. She plucked a paper packet out of her obi and held it out to him. The dog gently grasped it with a set of wicked looking canines. He trotted back to Sasuke and sat expectantly in front of him.
"For you," Kiba explained. "I tried to tell him that men did not like flowers, but he said it smelled good."
Sasuke gingerly slipped the packet from Akamaru's jaws. Akamaru barked, but the dog appeared happy enough.
Carefully opening the packet with a thumbnail, Sasuke saw a few dried lavender stems. The smell wafted up to his nose. It calmed him.
He closed it and tucked it into his own obi. He courteously addressed Akamaru. "Apology accepted. Thank you."
The dog did a couple of excited circles before returning to his partner. Kiba nodded at Sasuke before noticing Naruto and Choji's war council.
"Ooh. What's this about food?" The dog nin and his companion headed over to the pair.
Shino ran a hand over Hinata's elbow. They exchanged a couple of words that Sasuke could not catch. He joined the group of boys.
Only Sasuke and Hinata remained in that spot. Sasuke resisted the urge to bolt into the trees. He did shoot her a quick assessing glance, which told him a lot. At this point in his career, he was too skilled not to notice the visible indicators of health. Also, he uh… he noticed her a lot. In general.
Today, she looked really well. As it was nighttime, she did not sport any sunglasses. However, the skin underneath her eyes did not look so hollow and dark.
She smiled at him, small but dazzling. It did not hold the hints of weariness as before. Her shoulders were not hunched in pain, and her gait was smooth. He watched for a limp. Finding none, his eyes traveled up the curve of her hip.
Sasuke blinked. Had it truly been that long since he last saw her?
He knew what Hanabi said. But still. Seeing the time pass through her recovery felt different than knowing it.
"Hello, Sasuke-san."
He blinked dumbly. "Uh. Hello. You look…" Good. "… healthy."
Thankfully she either did not notice how tongue tied he sounded or she kindly ignored it.
"Yes, thank you. My eyes and my leg have really healed these past few weeks. I've even been cleared to go on missions, now," she said.
The light from a nearby lantern cast a soft golden glow on her face and eyes. He could not look away.
Until her words hit him. Weeks. He missed weeks with her, and it burned him. He could have spent more time with her if he did not allow training to suck him into its orbit.
Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, anything, but a shout caught their attention. Both of them turned towards their friends. Ino and Sakura were walking towards the crowded festival, arm in arm.
Naruto waved. "We're going to get food. Come on!"
"Food!" someone crowed. Lee ran into the little throng. "Did you say food?"
Everyone greeted the newcomer warmly. Ino and Sakura turned, and spotting Tenten, looped arms with her too. Neji paced up to Hinata. A stray ray of light from a torch caught the deep black silk headband he wore.
"Hello," he greeted, his arms crossed.
She reached out and touched his forearm lightly. "Hello, did you just get here?"
"No," Neji sighed. "Lee and Tenten have been trying to beat the games for a couple of hours now."
"Did they have any luck, oh." Hinata paused.
The group of boys, except Shikamaru, cheered. Lee held up his prize triumphantly. Sasuke grimaced at the stuffed kunai with googly eyes.
She giggled. "I guess that answers my question."
Neji looked at Sasuke, mirroring Sasuke's grimace but for a different reason. "Uchiha-san."
"Brother…" Hinata said warningly.
Sasuke raised a brow in surprise. He did not know she could sound like that.
Neji let out a huff of breath through his nose. "Sasuke-san," he said in the same disgusted way one might say 'gonorrhea' or 'conjunctivitis.'
"Hyuga," Sasuke said, because he had not been lectured on being polite.
Neji sucked at his teeth before addressing Hinata once again. "Uncle and your sister have been looking for you. They want to see you before you head out on your mission."
With that, he swept away, long hair swaying behind him.
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Coming up: The festival continues. Akamaru continues to hover.