Yay, my reviewers are my muses! All of your support and helpful comments and idea's really keeps this fic going, and I thank all of you! This chapter is devoted to all of my awesome reviewers!

Gai: Alas, Tina-chan does not own Naruto! She does thank her youthful readers for giving her ideas though! -nice guy pose-

The next day Temari told all of the boys that there was going to be a festival and that they were all going. Naruto got excited and began jumping up and down; Gaara was excited inwardly but stayed quiet and stoic on the outside and Kankuro shrugged. Temari had bought yukata for everyone, and sent them upstairs to change. When they came back Naruto was grinning, Gaara looked annoyed, and Kankuro folded his arms sulkily, as Temari had told him that he couldn't take his puppet Karasu with him. Naruto's yukata was orange and patterned with pink fishcakes, with a bright blue obi. Gaara's was green with a giant panda embroidered on the back and a red obi. Kankuro's was dark purple with a white obi, and Temari's was lilac with a yellow obi. Once they were set they started to walk towards the festival.

Neji escorted Hinata and T.C. to the festival. He had been completely against the idea of the two girls going by themselves and felt that it was his duty to go with them. T.C. had smiled when she noticed how protective Neji was of his cousin.

'I guess he's not a complete prick after all.'

He was currently dressed in a white yukata with a dark purple obi. Hinata was wearing a light blue yukata with a lilac obi, and T.C. was wearing a lavender one with a dark blue obi. They were almost there when they ran into Gaara and Naruto's party.

"N-Naruto-kun!"

"Hey Hinata-chan!"

"Fancy seeing you here Temari-san!"

"You too T.C.-san. Is this your escort?"

"Oh, hi Neji."

"…Hi Naruto. I'll see you later Hinata-sama, I'm going to wander around for a bit.

Neji left, leaving a stricken Hinata and a worried Naruto. Gaara and T.C. noticed and tried to lift their friend's spirits.

"Hina-chan lets go yo-yo fishing! (1) Do you and Naruto want to come too Gaara?"

"…Naruto lets go. I've never gone yo-yo fishing."

Naruto was shocked that Gaara would want to go yo-yo fishing, but was happy when Gaara said that he would try to win one for him. Hinata was happy because T.C. said the same, and the two pairs went off to snag some yo-yo's. Temari headed toward the trinket booths, and Kankuro went to the food stalls. He bought some dango then wandered around looking at the different games and toys being offered. He was passing by an alley when he though he saw a white bundle on the ground. Closer inspection proved the bundle to be a person with his hands around his knees. The person happened to be Hyuuga Neji, who had recently been crying but had desisted when he felt another presence near. Neji looked up to see the freaky paint faced guy looking at him.

'What was his name again? Oh yeah, Kankuro. What's he doing here?'

Neji wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

"What are you staring at?"

He meant for his voice to sound cold but the tone broke a little. Kankuro noticed.

Jeez, wonder what's wrong with him. -sigh- Guess I should help, I can't just leave him sitting here…'

Kankuro offered his hand.

"Get up; you're getting your yukata dirty. What are you doing here anyway?"

Neji stared at the hand for a moment, and then decided to take it.

"…None of your business."

"Well excuse me for trying to help. Have something sweet, you look like you're about to die or something. Is it normal for you to be crying in an alley?"

Neji glared at him as he accepted some dango.

"I was not crying."

"Sure you weren't. C'mon lets go find your cousin, when you left she was really worried. Uzumaki was too."

Neji stiffened at the name.

"…I'll go later."

Kankuro sighed impatiently; Neji was staring to get on his nerves.

"Look Hyuuga, Naruto's with my brother now so get over it. If you really liked him then you should accept his decision. Move on with your life, or are you planning on being depressed forever about something you can't change and worrying the people who care about you?"

Neji looked like he had been slapped in the face.

'Oops, maybe I shouldn't have said it like that…'

Suddenly his face returned to normal and he smirked.

"You know, you sound a lot smarter than you look."

Neji took a bite of the dango in his hand and went to search for Hinata. Kankuro blinked.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!"

Neither of them noticed a smirking Temari looking at them, hidden in the crowd.

Neji walked through the crowd, thinking about what Kankuro had told him.

"…He was right. I should get over this, and I will. Who knew that someone who looks so stupid can give good advice?'

Neji snickered when he remembered the look on Kankuro's face after his less than flattering remark. Amusing… Suddenly he came upon Hinata,T.C., Naruto, and Gaara. Hinata was happily sporting a blue yo-yo and a stuffed frog, and Naruto had an orange yo-yo and a humongous stuffed panda. T.C. and Gaara looked mighty pleased with themselves.

"Neji-niisan!"

Hinata came up to him worriedly.

'…Paint-face was right; she really was worried about me. I can't believe I made her so worried, and I was rather cruel to her last time…'

Neji felt horrible about himself. He smiled at Hinata to show her that he was okay.

"Are you having fun Hinata-sama?"

"Hai! T.C.-chan won me a frog at the shuriken throwing booth!"

Hinata beamed at T.C., who blushed slightly. T.C. looked at Neji and smiled.

"Glad you're all right pale eyes, you had Hina-chan worried about you. Where'd you get the dango?"

"Paint-face gave me some."

"…Paint-face?"

Gaara was suddenly interested.

"…You met Kankuro?"

"Hai. He's smarter than he looks."

Gaara wondered what Neji meant by that but decided not to pry. At least not yet. Naruto was happy.

"I'm glad you're all right now Neji, ya seemed weird earlier. Hey Gaara, let's see if we can win some more stuff!"

"…Okay."

The boys left to look for more games. Suddenly Temari came up with Kankuro.

"Look who I found! Oh, hi Neji! T.C., Hinata, I found a booth with some wonderful jewelry! Do you want to look?"

"Hai!"

The three girls went off, leaving Kankuro and Neji alone once again. Kankuro raised his eyebrows at Neji.

"So do you usually insult people who try to help, or am I a special case?"

"… Thanks for saying what you did. I guess I really needed to hear it straight from someone, and that's what you gave me. Also, that was more of an observation than an insult."

"Well your observations are pretty insulting."

"Guess you just have to deal with it, don't you?"

"…Asshole."

"Weirdo."

Kankuro was annoyed, but talking to the Hyuuga was kind of fun in a weird insulting way.

"So are you going to stand their insulting me all night or do you want to try some games Hyuuga?"

"Why don't you try some?"

Kankuro rolled his eyes; the Hyuuga kid sure liked to be annoying.

"Fine."

He went to the knock-down-the-bottle booth and won a giant white stuffed tiger. He gave it to Neji.

"Here."

Neji stared at him.

"Why are you giving it to me?"

Kankuro shrugged.

"Just take it. Anyway, you're the only person in the group who doesn't have a toy or something."

Neji was somewhat touched. Who knew that Kankuro cared?

"…Arigato."

"Yeah. Hey, do you want to get something to eat?"

"Sure. I guess. The closest place is Ichiraku I think."

So the two headed for the ramen booth. They found Temari, Gaara, Naruto, T.C., and Hinata there as well. They all ordered something and sat down to eat and socialize. Hinata noticed Neji's tiger right away.

"T-that's a cute tora N-Neji niisan. W-where did you g-get it?"

"It was a gift Hinata-sama."

"O-oh. D-did Kankuro-san g-give it to you?"

"…Hai."

Gaara noticed Temari and T.C. smirk into their noodles. If he had any, he would have raised his eyebrows.

'…What are they looking so smug about?'

Suddenly Neji remembered something.

"Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah Neji?"

"Does Kakashi-sensei have a crush on someone?"

Naruto, Temari, and T.C. all choked on their ramen. Gaara banged Naruto on the back a few times to clear his air passage.

"Nani!"

"Gai-sensei was asking me about it. He seemed to think that Kakashi had a crush on someone."

"Uh, nope, I have no idea if Kakashi-sensei has a crush on someone."

Gaara was staring at T.C. and Temari, who were trying not to break out in laughter.

"Neesan, do you know anything about this?"

Temari tried to look as innocent as possible.

"No, I have no idea otouto. What makes you think that?"

Gaara gave her an, 'I know you're lying' glare but decided to drop it for now. Suddenly Kakashi and Iruka entered Ichiraku and caught sight of them all, looking surprised. Naruto grinned at both his former sensei.

"Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei! Over here, over here!"

They both came over and Iruka smiled at is former student.

"Hello Naruto-kun! Oh, and Hinata, Neji and Gaara are here too?"

"Yep! And these 're Gaara's siblings Temari and Kankuro!"

Everyone exchanged polite greetings. The two teachers ordered some ramen and sat down with the kids. They heard all about how the festival had gone so far, and were invited to sit with them to watch the fireworks later at night, an invitation they accepted. When everyone was done eating they decided to wander around some more before meeting later that night for fireworks. Temari went off with T.C., Hinata, Neji and Kankuro. Naruto and Gaara joined Iruka and Kakashi.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hai Naruto?"

"Is it true that you have a crush on someone? Neji says that Gai-sensei has been saying that you do!"

Kakashi's visible eye widened a bit, and then an anger mark appeared on his face. Gaara noticed that Iruka turned visibly red.

"…So Gai's been saying that to people?"

"Well, I think that he just asked Neji about it so far. Is it true?"

"Well-

"My eternal rival! Fancy meeting you here!"

Kakashi turned around.

"…Gai, what are you doing here?"

TBC

Hee, a somewhat cliffie! Why is Gai there? You have to stay tuned for the next chapter to find out! BTW, I just started another story called 'Different Worlds Collide.' It's a Naruto story, but on a completely different arc than this one. I'm planning on it being a really long fic, and it has Gaara and Naruto in it. It also has Gaara and Naru. Wonder what I'm talking about? Go check it out!

(1)- yo-yo fishing is when you try to pick up a balloony yo-yo thing with a hook. Bad description, I know.

Tora- tiger

dango- a sweet dumpling usually served on a stick.s Anko ate some during the exams.

Please review, I love my reviewers! -hug-