DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Any name, thing, situation and idea mentioned in this story that is similarly related to real life is purely coincidental. NARUTO® belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. No profit was made on the creation of this fic.


CHAPTER 3: A Secret

(After a tirade of grumbling, Suigetsu successfully forces Sakura to keep quiet about her discovery. Thus, a secret is formed between the two.)


It was a bright and sunny day in Konoha. The weather was perfect for a good sparring session. The leaves were swaying gently from the cool breeze and the clouds were floating gaily in the clear blue skies. However, the peaceful countenance was broken by the sound of a thousand chirping birds echoing inside the training ground 4.

Juugo calmly watched the Sharingan wielding leader of Team Hebi as he performed one of his signature moves. He could tell that Sasuke was already getting bored of staying inside the parameters of Konoha. It was one of the reparations that Team Hebi was required to abide. Stay within the lands of Konoha for a year and a half. That order came a year ago. Only 6 months left then. But it seems like Sasuke wouldn't be able to stand remaining stagnant for the next few months.

Admittedly, it was really getting dull these days. The members of Team Hebi were only given genin-ranked missions and they were forbidden to engage into anything considered remotely dangerous by the Godaime Hokage. For the past months now Juugo, together with Suigetsu, has been continuously catching the ever elusive Tora-chan for the Fire Daimyo's wife and truth be told it wasn't a fine job at all.

But due to the minuscule amount of work that he was given, Juugo was able to detect certain things that he normally wouldn't have given the time of day. Karin and Suigetsu's abnormal relationship for example. He really couldn't understand what is wrong with those two. They gnarl and gnaw each other when they're together and yet they complain about the other's missing whereabouts whenever one is not around.

Juugo inwardly sighed. He sometimes wonder if their erratic behavior was a side effect of one of Orochimaru's questionable drugs but Sasuke wasn't affected by it at the least so it would seem that Orochimaru was not the cause.

That got him into thinking…

Then, what is the cause?

On a side note, there's also something weird going on with the Godaime's apprentice, Haruno Sakura. For the past weeks, she has been relentlessly observing Suigetsu's actions and he would go on as far to say that it became quite 'stalkerish' in nature. He meant to talk to Suigetsu about it but just before he was able to, something more unusual happened. Sakura suddenly stopped her suspicious observations and Suigetsu started observing her instead. His silver haired teammate will immediately freeze once he hears that Sakura is within the vicinity. Suigetsu will then hide for kingdom come until she disappears or Karin leaves, whichever comes first. Juugo frowned. There really is something going on with those three and whatever it is, he has this creepy feeling that it will turn into something like a catastrophe.

Banishing his mind boggling thoughts for the moment, he surveyed the surroundings and searched for Sasuke. Looks like their raven haired leader will be here for the rest of the day. Juugo rested his back against a huge tree bark. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander.

Despite all the migraine inducing issues, he is definitely enjoying his stay in the capital of the Land of Fire. He was receiving medication for his uncontrollable urges, continuous check-ups to see if there are any other abnormalities going on within his body and most importantly he was a given a life without the danger of him causing one massacre after another. For the first time in his life, he was happy.

He gradually opened his eyes. He stared impassively as Sasuke finishes his hardcore training for the day and looked up at the setting sun.

He can only hope that his other team members feel the same.

...

The night is rapidly creeping in the land of Konoha. The intense red orange dusk is slowly fading to make way for the vast dark skies.

A certain hyperactive figure can be seen running at top speed towards the rows of busy stalls and joyous parades. His blonde locks swaying with the evening breeze as he rushed towards the main attraction of the night. Panting heavily, he arrived just in time to see the lighting of the decorations.

The young man's face brightened when he saw the bright lights and the large poster hanging by the entrance.

"WELCOME TO KONOHA'S ANNUAL SKY LANTERN FESTIVAL!"

*Register your names below to join the much anticipated Lantern Flying Competition.

He grinned widely.

I am so joining, dattebayo!

...

Uchiha Sasuke detests a lot of things. He hates idiotic teammates, annoying fan girls (and boys for that matter), latecomers, naggers, crowded places, bright colored hair and clothes, cheerful dispositions, sweets and anything that resembles fun and happiness.

So it isn't a surprise to find that he is irritated at the prospect of going to a festival. After all, the abovementioned things are all present in a freaking festival.

Sasuke grunted.

Why did he have to be dragged into this nonsense? Oh, right. He was best friends with the hyperactive blonde idiot of Konoha. That alone answers his question. Damn it. He was planning to spend the evening sleeping or buying some food for dinner (because for the life of him, he doesn't know how to fucking cook) but then the great, note the sarcasm, Uzumaki Naruto decided to ruin his night by knocking and literally banging on his apartment door.

"SASUKE! OPEN THE DOOR!"

Sasuke closed his eyes. I can't hear anything. He recited internally.

"OY! SASSSUKKEE!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth. Just my imagination. It'll be gone in a second.

"TEME! WHY DON'T YOU OPEN THE DAMN DOOR?! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! STOP HIDING LIKE SOME FREAKING PANSY ON A WHIP-"

Sasuke cursed.

"OOOHHHH! ARE YOU WITH A GIRL?! DAMN, SASUKE! IS SHE HOT?! DOES SHE HAVE BIG TI-"

Fucking Naruto. The neighbors can hear him.

"ARE YOU NAKED? NO NEED TO HIDE TEME! I'VE SEEN EVERYTHING THERE IS TO SEE! HAHA! AND IT'S NOT-!"

The sound of a cracking nose erupted in the night. The door of apartment 17 opened and the glowering Uchiha towered over Naruto, as the knocked out-of-balance blonde clutched his bleeding nose.

"RUT DE UCK, 'EME! BY DOSE BEELS-" *

"Shut up." Sakue hissed. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, dobe?"

Naruto immediately stood up and wiped the blood off his nose. ""Come on, Sasuke! The lantern festival starts exactly at 8! Get your big duck butt head out of there and let's go!" The blonde excitedly ranted on, seemingly ignoring the murderous look that the Uchiha was giving him.

Sasuke glared at him. "What makes you think that I want to go on a bloody festival with you?"

"Teme! You're my best mate!" Naruto exclaimed . "And we're not the only ones going. I mean, Kakashi-sensei said he'll be there-"

Sasuke snorted. "I doubt that."

"And Sai as well-"

"Great. Another asshole."

"And Kiba, Hinata, Karin, Juugo, Suigetsu, Ino, Tenten, Sakura-chan…"

"I'm not going." Sasuke said with a hint of finality in his voice.

Naruto looked at him, his face aghast. "What?! But I already signed us up in the lantern flying competition!"

This time it was Sasuke's turn to look horrified. "You did what?" He snarled angrily.

"The lantern flying competition! You know, the one where-"

"I know what that shit is, dobe! I'm asking you why did you sign me up too?!"

"Because you're my best mate!" Naruto irritatingly repeated. "And because Konohamaru is busy training for the Chuunin exams and Iruka-sensei said he'll be doing some important Academy reports. I signed the both of us up because I know you're not doing anything and you'll just be by your dark, grumpy, broody self, so I thought: Hey! I should just invite Sasuke too and-"

Sasuke groaned inwardly. Remembering Naruto's long and loud ramblings was making his head hurt badly. He decided to get on with it just to make the dead last shut up but Sasuke immediately regretted his decision the moment he entered the venue for the fucking festival.

All the loud speakers were on, playing a music (if he could call it that) that is highly reminiscent of a screeching old lady in his ears. There were a hundred stalls and all the vendors were shouting. The lights were in a full blast and he was receiving creepy, lust-filled stares from almost all the women in the location (both young and old).

They were standing directly in front of the brightly colored, huge ass poster that says: SIGN-UP FOR THE LANTERN FLYING COMPETITION! FREE OF CHARGE! and he is fighting off the notion to vomit. Kami! He wanted to burn everything to bloody ashes. Starting with his idiotic teammate.

The fool is currently waving to another loudmouthed blonde and Sasuke swore that if he gets one more disturbing stare, he will freaking massacre everyone on sight.

...

"Finally!" Ino exclaimed at Naruto and Sasuke. "What took you so long? The other contestants were already complaining." She berated the two. "Anyway since we're complete, let's start."

"So first of all, the mechanics: This contest is by pair. The administrator, which is me by the way," Ino winked and gave a wide smile. "will be the one deciding on the pairs."

"WHAT?!" Naruto shouted. "No fair!"

Ino ignored him and went on. "Each pair will board on a boat that will be floating along the Reiki River and they will be lighting and flying as many lanterns as they can. The pair with the most lanterns up in the air after 1 hour will be the winner!"

"Each pair will have a designated color for their lanterns. The first pair will have Orange, the next Purple, the third Green, then Blue and the last pair will have Red lanterns."

"Okay." Ino continued. "So the partners for the sky lantern competition are: Naruto and Kiba"

"What?! I get Kiba? Why not Hinata-chan?"

"Man, not Naruto. We'll definitely lose before we even start."

"What did you say dog breath?!"

"You heard it, ramen boy!"

"Next is Hinata and Tenten." Ino shouted amidst the ruckus the two idiots were doing.

"Umm..ano-"

"Yes! I got Hinata! Wooh! Girl Power!"

"Juugo and Sai."

"…"

"insert fake smile."

"Sasuke and Suigetsu."

"Hn."

"Heh."

"and last and definitely the least…Sakura and Karin."

Sakura frowned at her so-called best friend, while Karin glared daggers at the blonde.

Suigetsu stiffened.

No! Not Karin and Sakura! What if Pinky tells her?! Argh! No way in hell!

"OY!" Suigetsu shouted. Everyone turned around and looked at him. "I'd like to change partners."

"What?!" Ino exclaimed.

"I'd like to have Pinky as my partner," He said with conviction.

Sakura stared at him as if he had grown two heads. Ino looked between Suigetsu and Sakura.

"Well, I guess that's alright." Ino conceded. "So, it's Suigetsu with Sakura and Sasuke with Karin."

Sakura's jaw dropped as Suigetsu exhaled a breath of relief and marched towards her. Then he grabbed her right arm.

"We need to talk." He muttered in her ear and with that Suigetsu dragged her off from the crowd. The pair briskly walked away as the rest of the group look on in astonishment at the bewildering scene. Once they reached a good distance from the others, the two settled in a dark corner amongst the tall trees.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Sakura hissed angrily.

"You were going to tell her!" Suigetsu hissed back.

"What?! What are you talking about?!"

"You were going to tell Karin!" Suigetsu looked as if he was having a panic attack. "You were going to tell her that I- that I- that I like her!" He spluttered.

Sakura groaned. "I was not! I already told you, I just want to verify if you really have feelings for her and that's just that. I'm not going to tell her anything!"

Suigetsu looked unconvinced. "Swear that you're not going to tell her! Promise that you'll keep it a secret."

Sakura sighed. "Alright! Alright, I promise not to-"

"No! Swear it! Make a yubikiri!" Suigetsu interjected.

Sakura choked. "What? Are you out of your mind?!"

"A pinky promise! If it's that, you wouldn't be able to break it!"

"Suigetsu, only little girls-"

"I don't care! If you break this promise then you'll have to cut off your pinky finger." He said with relish.

Sakura looked aghast. "That's absurd! I-"

"Just make the promise." Suigetsu said seriously. "Karin doesn't feel- so I just-"

Sakura looked straight at Suigetsu and closed her eyes. Kami-sama.

"Alright." She extended her right little finger and Suigetsu clasped on to it using his left one. "I solemnly swear that I will not tell Karin, or anyone for that matter, that Suigetsu absolutely and undeniably likes her." Then they began to chant:

yubikiri genman, (Pinky promise,)

uso tsuitara hari senbon nomasu, (if I lie, I will drink 1000 needles)

yubi kitta (and cut my pinky.)

yubikiri genman, (Pinky promise,)

uso tsuitara hari senbon nomasu, (if I lie, I will drink 1000 needles)

yubi kitta (and cut my pinky.)

"There." Sakura said. "Happy?"

"Hey! I don't absolutely and undeniably like her! I just…like her!"

"Be thankful that I didn't say that you love her."

"That's because I don't! Why would you be spouting lies in a promise!-"

"Will you stop complaining? I did what you ask, so you better-"

The two didn't notice, due to all commotion and arguing they were doing, that not too far away, a certain someone fiercely watched their exchange. His dark onyx eyes narrowing into slits.

-END-


*(What the fuck, teme! My nose feels-)

Up Next: Chapter 4: A Plan

(After a round of squabbling for the nth time between Suigetsu and Karin, Sakura decides to give a helping hand on a certain aqua man's disastrous love life, or lack thereof.)

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! :))

I am very grateful to all of you who have read, reviewed, followed and made this story a favorite. Words can't describe how thankful I am for all the support and encouragement that I've been receiving from all of you.

And as promised, Sasuke finally appears in this chapter (with a fair amount of dialogue) :D Though I feel that his characterization is miles off chart from the real one, I love how he turned up in this chapter. This is also for the troll inducing Naruto 662. :D Haha! Go check it out if you have the time.

Oh and please review. :) I'd be delighted to hear your thoughts about this chapter.

Thanks for reading!

-reesa