A/N: I owe all my readers an apology for the late update. But when real life comes calling, fan fiction suffers, and I had dance performances all weekend.
As usual, I hope none of the characters come off as too OOC. I'm worried about the guys (especially Itachi) so let me know if they seem OOC to you and how they are OOC.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
"They left us!"
Sakura was, understandably enough, furious.
"Hn."
Sasuke, as usual, appeared to be completely apathetic about the situation.
"I don't believe this; they left us, abandoned us! Ugh!" Sakura huffed angrily and crossed her arms, completely annoyed with the new turn of events.
Hey, it's not like you're in the middle of no where. It could be worse.
Maybe, but they abandoned me with Sasuke-kun!
'Sasuke-kun'?
This is my own head, I can call him whatever I want.
"Well, what should we do now?" she asked, once she finally ran out of steam.
"I don't know," Said Sasuke, shrugging, "We can hurt the others later, but first we should figure out what we want to do right now."
"Well, you could start by enjoying this amusing place." Remarked a deep voice from behind them. Sakura and Sasuke turned around to find Itachi and Hana, arms linked, the former looking unusually benign (in Sakura's view) and the latter smiling and cuddling a stuffed puppy in her arms.
"Itachi." Sasuke greeted the older Uchiha (Sakura noted the complete lack of hostility in Sasuke's tone), "What are you doing here?"
"I dragged him here," explained Hana before Itachi could even open his mouth, "Technically; we should to be heading to Oto right now."
Sasuke and Sakura both grimaced at the despised name. Oto Academy was a direct rival of Konoha Academy, with the roughest and most dangerous students. Not to mention it was under Orochimaru, who was possibly the most unpopular person in the Konoha District, for good reason.
"What for?" asked Sakura.
"Something dull and unimportant." Hana shrugged, "So boring and official, even the golden boy over here—" she elbowed Itachi, "—didn't want to go." Sakura giggled, amused at the expression on Itachi's face.
"It isn't that it's boring, Hana," began Itachi, a vein throbbing on his head, "But the lecture is simply unnecessary."
"You just don't want to babysit Tobi again. Admit it."
"I do not babysit him; I simply ensure that he doesn't taint the Uchiha name with his ridiculous antics."
"Alright, then. Tobi-sitting. But whatever." Hana rolled her eyes, but suddenly froze, staring at something off in the distance.
"Itachi?" she tugged on his arm.
"What?"
"We gotta go." Itachi eyed her suspiciously.
"Why?"
"ITACHI-KUN!!!!!!"
The sound of their voices and of wild stampeding preceded the fan girls, as well as the strong, sickly scent of perfume.
Both Uchiha brothers jumped a good three feet into the air. No matter that it was Itachi's name being screamed; Sasuke had as much reason to be afraid as his brother. Hana and Sakura grimaced, their encounters with fan girls were never exactly fun.
"For once, I agree entirely, Hana. Good day, foolish younger brother." With that, both Itachi and Hana made their speedy getaway.
"We should probably hide too." Remarked Sakura off-handedly, watching the horde come dangerously closer. Since they had lost Itachi, they had now turned their sights on Sasuke.
"SASUKE-KUNN!"
Sasuke didn't say a word, but grabbed her elbow (which she swore was going to twist the wrong way one of those days) and they ran as far as they could in the opposite direction. They didn't stop until Sakura's foot caught on a tree root and she fell, bringing Sasuke down with her.
"Oww…." Sakura managed to sit back up, rubbing her now-bruised forehead. Thankfully, they had lost the fan girls in the carnival quickly. Looking around, Sakura realized that they probably weren't even in the carnival anymore. Instead, it appeared that she and Sasuke had reached the grounds outside of the carnival, next to a lovely garden on the banks of the Hokage River.
"Peace Gardens." Sasuke's voice came from somewhere above her.
Sakura twisted around and had to tilt her head upwards to see Sasuke's face. He in turn wasn't looking at her, but at some sign pinned onto the tree (whose offending roots Sakura had tripped over). "Apparently, it's some sort of recreational place. Probably for people with too much money and time on their hands." He scowled a little, emphasizing his distain.
"What's wrong with people having a lot of money? Your family is wealthy." Sakura pointed out, getting back onto her feet, once she was sure nothing was injured.
"People who have too much act ridiculous with their money and their lives. And my family may be well off, but not excessively, nor do they have such ridiculous attitudes."
"I wasn't implying that they did, Sasuke."
For nearly a minute there was silence.
"Why are you calling me Sasuke, now?" asked Sasuke, without really looking at her. Sakura blinked, confused.
"Well, Sasuke is your name. What else should I call you? Sasu-chan?"
"That's not what I mean and you know it." He responded coolly, one eyebrow twitching. Sakura took the miniscule sign of his annoyance with relish.
"Then what do you mean? I mean, really?" They had begun to wander on the path besides the gardens. It was really a very pretty place, with flowers of all kinds, ranging from cherry blossoms to hibiscus.
"What happened to the 'kun'?"
"Oh, that. Nothing happened to it; I just thought, you know, that it would be weird to call you that, now that we're older." Sakura fidgeted uncomfortably.
"Really?" Sasuke sounded skeptical.
"Really," replied Sakura easily, crossing her fingers behind her back. If she told him that she had to consciously remind herself to not call him 'Sasuke-kun', she would never hear the end of it.
"Hn." They walked in silence, Sasuke looking straight ahead, while Sakura admired the variety of flowers they passed. Once the silence had ceased to be awkward, she asked the main question that had been plaguing her mind for some time.
"Sasuke?"
"What?"
"What has been going on with you and Itachi?"
"…?"
"I mean, you two are actually getting along now." She clarified, "What happened?"
"We got older."
"That's my answer, you can't use it!"
"Yes I can." Sasuke smirked, obviously amused at the exasperation now painted on Sakura's face.
"No you can't. Now tell me."
"No."
"Come on."
"No."
"Come on, please?" She was beginning to plead, for Kami's sake!
"Why do you want to know so badly?"
"To put it bluntly: a lot of your bad attitude came from your ridiculous hatred."
Rather than getting defensive, as Sakura thought he would, Sasuke gave her a long, thoughtful look.
"You really want to know that badly?" At Sakura's frenzied nod he continued, "Then you'll have to tell me why you've been acting so funny, as an exchange."
"Fine." She agreed impatiently, curiosity overriding hesitation, "What did you and Itachi have to do?"
"Well, we had to live apart from each other for a couple of years, go to psychologists—"Sakura couldn't help but giggle, but shut up when he glared at her. "—alone and together. But mostly just…talk."
"About what?" Sakura couldn't imagine Sasuke doing the sort of talking that she was thinking of, especially since it was near impossible half the time to actually get him to speak a word.
"I don't remember, it was rather traumatic." He paused for a moment, before adding grudgingly, "But it did help, in the end, oddly enough."
"Really?"
"Yes. Now why have you been acting so different?"
"That wasn't explaining!"
"You didn't tell me to be especially specific. Now hold up your end of the bargain."
"I feel cheated." She grumbled, crossing her arms and pouting childishly.
"Hn. Too bad. Tell me."
"I already told you, we're older now. Things changed."
"Like?" he prompted.
"Well, personalities, interests, people…" she trailed off, but Sasuke caught the unsaid: and feelings, too.
"Ah." He was silent.
They continued to walk in silence, Sakura kept her eyes to the ground while Sasuke stared blankly ahead.
"I do have one more question," he spoke up. Seeing her wary expression through her hair, he added, "Nothing too personal or anything like that, just something that's been nagging me for awhile."
"Oh? Ask away, then."
"When did you get so smart?" Sakura visibly relaxed at the mundane question.
"Same way you did." She responded, "A lot of natural intelligence and more focus on studying."
"Aa. Another question, since when are you so short?" For emphasis, Sasuke patted the top of her head, which only came up to his chest. Sakura glowered at him, vexed.
"You're going into dangerous territory, mister. I could cause you a lot of pain."
"Hn." Sasuke smirked, but backed off. Pleased that he seemed to be taking her threat seriously, Sakura began humming some wordless tune, a habit she picked up when she was comfortable with her surroundings. And for the first time in a very long while, she was comfortable around Sasuke.
At least until as a joke, she had shoved him, and he pushed her in the river as revenge.
(Sakura wondered if he had some psychological need to avenge himself on everyone he thought wronged him)
Naturally, that meant war.
Ino had no idea that working at a kissing booth could be so boring.
Boring. Not an adjective one would normally consider corresponding with a kissing booth job. It certainly wasn't like she had any lag in customers; nor that her customers were all the same (though she really wished the old man-chewing-gum-that-wasn't-really-gum wouldn't keep getting back in line), but it wasn't interesting. At all. Either they had no idea how to kiss, or were idiots who wasted her time trying to chat her up.
Fixing the perky smile back on her face, she looked up into the face of her next customer…only to have it immediately slip off her face.
"Shika-kun?!" Ino stared at the sulky boy in complete bafflement.
"Before you ask, I lost a bet, and it was either this, or pay for all of Chouji's snacks for the rest of the year, no matter the quantity." He explained, unusually snappish.
Ino didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted that Shikamaru preferred her over his wallet, but didn't push the matter. Already she could tell that it was going to be a very awkward kiss.
Silence.
"Well, might as well get it over with, so come on, lean forward." Ino gestured at Shikamaru uncomfortably to come closer to her.
He obliged. In an I-really-don't-want-to-do-this fashion.
"This is much too troublesome," he grumbled.
"I concur. But you could just pretend to kiss me and run away, that would make things easier." You're the genius, if you don't want to kiss me, make it so that you don't have to!!
"Too lazy, and Chouji's watching anyway." Startled, Ino looked around, trying to spot the devious gambling, person. Sure enough, he was only a few feet away from the platform, waving benignly and munching on popcorn.
"Well, it could be worse." She joked, trying to lighten the grim expression on Shikamaru's face. "You could have had to kiss Temari. She's the dangerous one."
"…" Shikamaru still had a look of utmost doom on his face, ignoring Ino's growing impatience.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" She demanded.
"A miracle."
"Ha ha, very funny. Now come on, the geeks are getting impatient." Indeed, some of the boys in line for the kissing booth were giving very dirty looks at Shikamaru. Catching them, Shikamaru nodded and groaned, a woebegone expression on his face.
Ino and Shikamaru leaned towards one another, clumsily trying to align themselves for the kiss. They were both so flustered that Ino secretly decided; as she pressed her mouth to Shikamaru's, that Chouji would a very slow, painful death.
But to her (complete, mind-numbing) shock, Ino actually found herself actually enjoying the kiss. Shikamaru wasn't inexperienced, from what she could tell, or had bits of food inside his mouth (that was a big relief). And he wasn't trying to imitate a plunger, which was even better. Best of all, it wasn't nearly as discomfiting as she had thought it would be. In fact, she was actually enjoying herself. Judging from Shikamaru's hand pressing at the back of her head so that he could deepen the kiss, he was enjoying himself as well.
So naturally, when they were jerked apart, Ino was rather annoyed. The annoyance quickly changed to agitation when she saw exactly who had separated Shikamaru and herself.
"You're making out with my girlfriend, punk." A boy with black hair sticking up glowered at Shikamaru, who looked utterly bemused by this new turn in events.
"Ex-girlfriend." Ino corrected, glaring at the intruder, "And what are you doing here, Zaku? This isn't your district." What had possessed her to go out with someone from Oto, she had no idea. But after she had dumped Zaku for his attitude, he had taken to messing with her personal life whenever he saw her. But he had seemed to have disappeared in the past six months, and Ino had thought that he had finally given up on her.
Apparently, this was not the case.
"Just was happening by. And I'm not here by choice, Kin dragged me here."
"Kin? Your new girlfriend, Kin?" She's here?! Oh bother.
Kin was loud, rude, and had bullied Sakura the few times they had met up. Pretty enough, with black eyes and ludicrously long black hair; she had always liked Zaku and thus, hated Ino. When Ino had learned (from very reliable gossip sources) that the two were dating, she stopped going anywhere that was known to have Otos hanging about. Catfights, no matter how cool they sounded or how much guys liked them, hurt. Badly.
"So let me get something straight," interjected Shikamaru, now putting on his 'thinking' face (which looked ridiculous given the situation), "This Oto shinobi over here," he poked Zaku for emphasis, "Is your ex boyfriend who has a girlfriend yet is claiming that you are also his girlfriend?" When Ino nodded he turned to Zaku and asked, "Do you want to die, or do you really want to be a polygamist?"
Zaku let out a derisive snort, "Neither, dumbass, just making sure you keep your boundaries." He cracked his knuckles threateningly.
"And what if I don't 'keep my boundaries'? What happens then?" Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, and Ino marveled at how he was able to sound condescending while still looking like he didn't care. She also marveled at the fact that of all the fantasies she'd had about getting a boyfriend who would teach Zaku a lesson, she never expected the boy to not only not be her boyfriend, but to also be a lazy slacker.
"Then you die." Zaku got right up in Shikamaru's face. The latter looked calm on the outside, but Ino saw him ready his stance and take his fisted hands out of his pockets.
"Hey guys," she interrupted, getting between them, "Could just dial it down, a little? And just step away, alright?" Ino pushed both boys lightly on their chests, forcing them to take a step away from one another. She may have loved a good fight over the girl, but just in novels, not in real life.
"She's right," said Shikamaru, putting his hands back into his pockets, "We'll settle this when we fight you in the trials."
"Fine. We can settle it then." Zaku nodded curtly, and turned to leave. Ino breathed a sigh of relief.
"Of course, we could just settle it right here!" Zaku whirled around and threw a punch at Shikamaru, only scraping his jaw as the boy quickly dodged. They lunged at one another and grappled, throwing punches at every opening. A particularly strong punch on Shikamaru's side forced Zaku off the platform, though he was able to grab Shikamaru's arm and drag him down with him.
They continued to fight while rolling in the grass, each boy trying to get up while at the same time pulling the other down. When Zaku and Shikamaru managed to get back onto their feet, the fight became another shoving, grappling contest.
Once she had recovered from her shock, Ino immediately jumped off the platform and ran to the boys, trying to push them off each other.
"Zaku!" she shouted, trying to haul him away from Shikamaru, "Zaku! Stop being an idiot and let go!" The Oto teen shoved her out of the way, ignoring her words.
Frustrated and ticked off, Ino ignored the logical part of her mind and jumped onto Zaku's back, trying now to jerk him off of Shikamaru.
Unfortunately, the new weight threw off Zaku's balance, and he, Shikamaru, and Ino all crashed into a popcorn cart. The cart fell over and smashed to pieces, while the teens toppled over the wreckage and into the popcorn.
"WHAT IS GOING ON OVER HERE!!?" Ino stood up only to see one of the women who ran the carnival fighting her way through the crowd that had somehow accumulated, with murder in her eyes.
"THIS IS A CHILDREN'S CARNIVAL, NOT SOME WRESTLING ARENA! OUT!" she looked over to Ino and added in a calmer voice, "Ino, your shift is over for now. Please leave."
The polite dismissal was far more intimidating than her shrieking outrage.
"Yes ma'am," Ino answered meekly (or as meekly as Ino could go). Grabbing Shikamaru none too gently by the collar, she pushed her way through the crowd, to where Chouji was waiting on the crowd edge. From what Ino could judge from his rather surprised face, he had been worried about Shikamaru, but had the sense not to fight his way through the crowd.
"Why was Shikamaru fighting?" Chouji asked, staring down at his bruised and slightly bloodied friend in complete disbelief.
"Don't ask, just help me get him away from the crowd." Grunted Ino. He's heavy for being so scrawny!
Chouji just nodded and became Shikamaru's second crutch, as the trio began heading in the direction of the local restrooms.
There Ino dragged Shikamaru into the women's room (ignoring Chouji's protests) and began the clean-up process. By the time Shikamaru managed to break away and stomp out of the restroom, bright pink, she had counted a black eye, bloody nose, a sprained wrist, and assorted bruises. A nasty beating, at least for outside of the Shinobi games.
She stayed in the bathroom for a few minutes, reapplying smudged make-up and pondering Shikamaru's unusual reaction when Zaku baited him. Somehow, she doubted that she would get a satisfying explanation out of him, no matter how many threats she administered.
Expecting to find that Shikamaru and Chouji had made a getaway, Ino was more than surprised to walk out only to find the boys waiting for her.
"What are you two doing here?" she asked, blinking.
"Waiting for you, obviously." Shikamaru rolled his eyes, though the gesture was hidden by the angle of his head and the handkerchief he was holding up to his nose to stop the bleeding.
"Why?"
"I owe you and Shikamaru." Said Chouji simply, rubbing his head sheepishly, "Considering it's my fault he got hurt and you had to kiss him. That must have been horrible."
"Hn." Ino chose not to contradict nor agree with the statement. "So what do you owe me?"
"Do you like barbeque?"
"A little."
"Good, there's a good place in Konoha where we can go and eat. I'll drive you home later if you want." Ino smiled and nodded.
"That sounds nice, Chouji, thank you." She allowed Chouji to lead the way to his car, she walked behind him with Shikamaru.
"Shika-kun?" The boy jumped slightly at the sound of his name.
"What?" he asked warily.
"About the kiss…"
"Yeah?" Ino could see beads of sweat forming on his forehead, and fought back a giggle.
"…We must never mention it in front of my father." Shikamaru's shoulders sagged in relief.
"No problem."
"Good, 'cause Daddy would probably skin you alive if he found out, then castrate you." seeing Shikamaru's panicked expression she added, "Though I'd never let that happen. I like you the way you are."
The dark red blush on Shikamaru's face made Ino glow with delight.
Hinata was in an unusually good mood.
Naruto was sitting next to her, actually talking with her, she hadn't fainted once, Kiba and Shino and Akamaru were all there, and they were eating ramen. Best of all, she didn't have a chaperone that would make her boys nervous.
Today was a good day.
"Aiee. I love ramen." Remarked Naruto (predictably) after his fifth bowl, "It always tastes so good! I'm glad that Ichiraku's has a stall here, 'cause theirs is the best."
"Of course, Naruto-kun." Hinata knew better than to respond with anything more or less than the simple agreement. Any more, and Naruto would launch into a detailed description of why that ramen was so wonderful. Any less, he would take offense and threaten the 'traitor', or something similar.
"Glad someone agrees with me, at least." The blonde shot a glare over to Kiba and Shino, who on the surface appeared to be blatantly ignoring him. But as a resigned Hinata knew, if Naruto even tried to touch her hand, her boys would be tearing him to shreds.
"Anyway, I'm bored." Naruto announced, throwing his arm in an overly dramatic gesture. Unfortunately, he knocked over a bowl still half full of hot broth—right onto Akamaru.
The little dog let out a surprised bark and immediately began to run around trying to get the bowl off of its head. But because he couldn't see, Akamaru didn't know he was running in the opposite direction of the ramen booth, away from Kiba.
"Akamaru!" howled Kiba, jumping off of his stool and running after Akamaru, dragging Shino by his oversized collar. The moment they were gone, Naruto grabbed Hinata by the hand and immediately began sprinting in the opposite direction of Kiba and Shino, Hinata dragging behind him.
"Eep! Naruto-kun! What are you doing?!" Hinata was so surprised that her normal stammer was absent.
"I told you, I'm bored!" he grinned at her impishly, "So I thought we should go play some games!"
"W-what about Kiba-kun and Shino-kun?"
"They were dampening the mood. Don't worry, dog boy and bug boy can take care of themselves."
"O-oh?"
"Yeah, they totally crashed our party!"
"What?"
"Er, that's an expression."
"Well, c-can we a-at least slow d-down?"
"Oh! Sure, Sorry." Immediately Naruto skid to a stop right in front of a bottle stand. "Want to play?"
"S-sure. I'm not very good though." She said shyly.
"Don't worry about it. Just take the ball and toss it, like so…" Naruto handed the stand owner some money and picked up a ball, aimed it at the stacked up bottles, and threw it, managing to knock over the whole structure.
"Oh yeah!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air. Hinata smiled at him
"Good job, N-Naruto-kun."
"Yeah, good job," said the stand owner, smiling, "Which prize would you like?"
"I don't know. What do you want, Hinata-chan?"
"I really couldn't…"
"Ne, please, Hinata-chan? Think of it as a very early birthday present." He gestured at the row of stuffed animals. "Which one do you want?" Hinata scanned them, not stopping until a plush orange fox caught her eye.
"That one, please." she pointed it out to the stand owner, who plucked it down and gave it to her with a smile.
"You like foxes?" Naruto sounded slightly puzzled. Hinata nodded, cuddling the toy in her arms. "Huh, didn't expect that. You wanna try?"
"O-of course" Hinata took out some of her own money and handed it to the stand owner before Naruto could. Picking up the ball offered to her, she aimed and threw as hard as she could at the bottles.
She not only knocked all of the bottles over, but she even managed to shatter one.
"Wow, Hinata-chan! Good arm!"
"T-thanks." Hinata blushed, and then asked boldly, "Which prize do you want?"
"Eh?"
"You let me pick one out. It's your turn. Pick out an animal you like."
"Okay, let's see…" Naruto studied the row of prizes meticulously, eying each prize with a critical eye. Hinata watched as his blue eyes brightened when they landed on the one he wanted.
"I choose that one!" With a dramatic flourish, Naruto pointed at…
…a little white rabbit, holding a carrot, with lavender eyes.
Hinata was very, very surprised.
"Naruto-kun, you like rabbits?"
"Not rabbits," insisted Naruto, "I like bunnies."
That sentence, coming from Naruto, sounded so ridiculous that Hinata burst into giggles, and was unable to stop for a good five minutes.
"C'mon, you gotta admit it's cute!" Naruto wiggled the bunny right in front of Hinata's face, causing her to giggle even more.
"T-true, N-Naruto-kun!" she managed to choke out, "But why rabbits?"
"It's a bunny, not a rabbit. And I like them…" he looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well, I guess I like them pretty much for the same reasons I like you."
"E-eh?"
"Well, they're cute, quiet, friendly, sweet, and have more family than they know what to do with--" Hinata couldn't help but laugh—not giggle—at that last statement. "And because they are so soft and cuddly!"
"And how would you know that, Naruto?" Hinata let out a squeak of surprise at the presence of her cousin behind Naruto. Behind Neji were Kiba and Shino, both of whom looked unusually ticked off. Akamaru, still stained with broth, growled at Naruto.
"Heh, hey guys!" Naruto grinned sheepishly at them, "What's going on—"
"How dare you take advantage of Hinata-sama!"
"Neji, calm down. It was the bunny—I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE RABBIT!!!" Naruto screamed as he sprinted away from the three boys and one dog, who were hot on his heels, accidently dropping the stuffed bunny.
Hinata picked up the toy and held it to her chest, right next to her own stuffed fox. Smiling slightly, she began walking after her boys, following Naruto's screams, Shino and Neji's silent threats, Kiba's loud ones, and Akamaru's barking.
Despite the little setback, it was still a good day.
A/N: The bunny and fox joke came from a really cute NaruHina fanart on DeviantArt, called Pounce. Look it up!
Sorry about the late update, but wouldn't let me upload last night. Also, I might be gone awhilke because finals and other stuff are coming up. But I aim to have updated by early January.
Review!!