Note: A little thing originally written in honor of S&S's upcoming third anniversary (specifically the fourth month of the year) and for frankielucky on Tumblr, since she is one of my favorite RWBY artists and did the art commemorating the photo taken in-story. Thank you, Frankie!

And of course, Lang and Os, I wouldn't be writing The Sea and Stars without you two supporting me. Thank you. :)

Takes place a little bit between S&S Chapters 23 and 24. The theme song is Konoha Peace from Naruto Shippuden.

Sparkle 44: Team Photo

"Kids, kids, c'mon!" Kushina-nee was yelling again. "Get closer together!"

"I-I just wonder why we're doing this?" I squeaked, barely hanging onto Kei for dear life as soon as the camera lens was pointed at us. Aaaaah, attention. The grass underneath us from the Training Grounds didn't help much in getting a good foothold. "K-Kushina-nee—"

"Yes, Tomoko-chan~?" A bit of red hair rose in the air and I gulped.

"Wh-Why are we taking a picture now?"

Ricchan squished my other side almost immediately and there was no mistaking the hand covering her mouth. She was suffering from a giggle fit, apparently. "Why not? We have time, Tomo-chan!"

"Besides, Tomo-chan!" Obito's wrapping an arm around all of us and it's taking everything in me to not yelp out loud from the shock. "It's part of the fun! We have a picture of Team Minato, but not Team Awesomeness! We have to fix that!" He paused, blinking through his goggles before proceeding to add, "it could be an extra late birthday present considering we made you cry at your party?"

Heat flooded my cheeks. "H-Hey, you don't have to—"

"Exactly!" Kushina yelled, finger-gunning Obito in approval over the DSLR-like device in her hands. Then again, how good were the cameras here, anyway? "You kids need something! And Tomoko-chan, don't you dare try to refute this photo, you need this."

The sparkle in her eyes was nice, but when pointed at me, I couldn't help but gulp.

Kei sighed. "Ah, the hell with it," she muttered, but the smile on her face was obvious as she returned the near-death grip I had on her with a hand patting my head. "Just roll with the punches, Tomo. It'll be a good memory."

"Y-You're sure about that?" The blush was not helping and I was very much tempted to hide in a nearby bush or something. How did I end up loving all these ninja anyway? "K-Kashi isn't exactly—"

Kushina and Kei seemed to be on the same wavelength because in that moment, Kei put both her hands over my ears while Kushina screamed, "KAKASHI, GET OVER HERE!"

Okay, ow, Hisako said dryly in my head. Why?

Kakashi was then there, hanging over Obito and promptly knocking him off whatever high he was on to glower before Kushina set up the camera. "There we go! One!"

Kei let go of my ears to instead wrap an arm around my shoulders. Ricchan did the same, just with my waist. I did my best to hug them both, conflicted joy starting to come into my smile.

"Two! Boys, I swear!"

Obito and Kakashi immediately broke away from whatever stare-off they were doing to take up their poses for the picture.

"Three!"

CLICK.

We made up a mess of kids in the final picture, but as clumsy as it was, it still looked good. I would have to buy a picture frame later.