Night was descending in the Hidden Leaf village as the nin gather at the Hyuuga household. Naruto was dressed in his best eveningwear as he sought to spot Hinata. Then in the crowd, he saw her wearing a beautiful light purple, formal kimono.

He smiled and walked over,

"Hey, Hinata."

"N-Naruto, so glad you could come."

He beamed as he grasped his hands onto her arm and escorted her to the front where her father stood on the porch.

He overlooked the crowd as he spoke up,

"Good evening to you all and thank you for coming."

Naruto looked around at the decorations, lights and lanterns were hung all across the courtyard.

Hiashi spoke again,

"Tonight, the Hyuuga clan is honored to host Tanabata. Let us celebrate this day as a reminder that love conquers even the greatest of obstacles."

He paused briefly,

"So please, enjoy and we shall host a show featuring the legend of Tanabata."

The nin clapped and cheered as they dispersed. Naruto and Hinata decided to make streamers first. As they did, Naruto saw some familiar faces. One black-haired shinobi and one pink-haired kunoichi.

"Sasuke, Sakura! Naruto exclaimed.

"What are doing here?" he asked.

"We're attending the festival. We can still have fun, even with a baby you know." Sakura replied.

"Baby?!" Naruto retorted.

"Yeah, Ino's watching her over there." Sakura pointed out, Ino was holding a pink-haired little girl with black eyes.

"Wh-what's her name?" Hinata asked.

"Suzuki. Suzuki Uchiha." Sasuke replied.

"Well, she's adorable you two." Naruto replied, thinking quietly if she'll be anything like Sakura or Sasuke.

"Thanks. C'mon, Sasuke. Let's find something else to do." Sakura walked with Sasuke beside her.

Naruto and Hinata finished making their streamers as they each wrote wishes on them. Tying them onto a nearby bamboo tree, Naruto looked up at the stars then down to Hinata. Admiring her lavender, moon eyed gaze, she looked over to him.

"N-Naruto, what is it?" she asked softly.

"You just look so beautiful tonight." He replied as she blushed.

Later that evening, a crowd gathered. The stage was set for a puppet show, Hinata knew the legend well as she heard it many times as a child.

"It's a beautiful and sad story." She whispered as everyone sat down. Hinata explained as the puppets played out the story.

"A young man, Hikoboshi lived in a small village and was returning home from working in the fields. When he saw a gorgeous robe of feathers, he wanted them to himself until a female voice cried out." She paused.

"She was a goddess visiting the earth in a pond for a bath, she needed the robe to return to Heaven. But Hikoboshi pretended not to know about the robe, so the goddess, Orihime was forced to stay on earth."

But Orihime soon lived with Hikoboshi and soon, the two lovers happily married. Until one day, Orihime found the robe of feathers that Hikoboshi hid away and started to ascend into sky. She told Hikoboshi that she must return, but if he loved her, then he must make one thousand straw sandals around a bamboo tree. So he did, wanting so much to reach his love again." She paused once again.

"The straw sandals made the bamboo tree grow towards the sky, Hikoboshi climbed it to reach the Heavens. He briefly reunited with Orihime until her father showed displeasure in his daughter's marriage to a mortal man. Giving Hikoboshi work to do, he was to guard the melon field for three days and nights. If he should eat one of the melons, something bad would happen."

"After watching the fields, Hikoboshi could bare his thirst no more and reached for melon. Water erupted from the melon and became a river, separating the two lovers. Taking pity on his daughter's misery, her father allowed them to meet once a year. So now, every July 7th, the stars Altair and Vega meet across the Milky Way…just as the lovers always wanted."

Everyone in the crowd cheered for the spectacular show. Naruto and Hinata joined in on the cheers.

As the night wore on, Naruto and Hinata were laughing and having a good time. When Rock Lee sounded behind them.

"Hey, Naruto, Hinata."

"Hey, Lee. What's up?" Naruto replied.

"We're gonna play some after-party games, you guys wanna join in?" he asked.

"Wh-what about Hiashi?" Naruto asked.

"He's away with another meeting with the Hokage. Come on, let's go."

"Well, okay." Naruto replied, keeping Hinata close by.

They all headed inside, gathering their closest friends for a night of fun.