Aside from the conversation that had taken place, the journey was a rather quiet one. Kankuro stayed in the lead with Temari and Gaara after the conversation that he had had with Naruto and the rest of them, and he hadn't said a word to them since. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata hung back, each of them holding onto their loves. Thoughts flowed through both Sasuke's and Naruto's heads of the last fight they had with Itachi. It had been a horrible fight, both of them having been beaten to pulps.

"That man," Sasuke thought as they walked. "I can't believe it. He's back again after all these years. But why attack the Land of Wind? What does he hope to gain from it? Damn it, this is frustrating."

Even though Naruto had thoughts of Itachi swimming through his head, one thing kept repeating itself over and over again. "I don't care what happens to me, just as long as Hinata is safe. I would die to protect her."

"Naruto," Hinata said, snapping him out of his thoughts. He looked down into her wide purple eyes. "Is something wrong? You've been kind of quiet since we left the village."

"Oh, no, it's nothing," he told her. Then he thought to himself, "Dammit, I've got to stop doing that. I'm making her worry about me over nothing."

Hinata wasn't the only one worrying about her man. Sakura remembered how Sasuke had ended up in the hospital or a while the last time he fought Itachi. She was worried that this time it might be worse. She looked at Sasuke for a minute, and then looked back at the ground.

Sasuke must have been able to tell what she was thinking, because he said, "Don't worry Sakura. I don't plan on dying anytime soon."

Sakura looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, 'Thank you Sasuke." She wiped the tears from her eyes and laid her head on her shoulder.

They kept walking until they came to a small village. The people of the village were running around, all of them setting up a stall or booth.

"What's going on here?" Gaara asked, watching every person that crossed his path.

"Looks like the village is getting ready for a festival," Temari said. With a smile she asked, "Do we want to stay here tonight?" It was painfully clear that she wanted to check out the festival.

"Sure, why not?" Sasuke said as he watched all the activity in the village.

"Yeah, it could be fun," Naruto said with a smile. They all looked at Gaara, as if waiting for his approval.

"I don't really care," Gaara said, never even changing his expression. The all smiled a little smile. They all knew that even though he didn't show it, Gaara wanted to see the festival and have some fun.

"Let's go find an inn then," Temari said. They walked down the street a little ways, when Naruto spotted something in a shop window.

After they had passed the shop, he said, "Excuse me for a minute Hinata." He let go of her arm, then went and whispered something in Sasuke's ear. Sasuke looked at him for a second, and nodded.

"Temari, me and Naruto are going to take a look around. We'll catch up with you guys later." With that, he let go of Sakura's arm, and he and Naruto started back the way that they came, leaving both Hinata and Sakura wondering where it was they were running off to.

An hour passed, and Naruto and Sasuke still had yet to come back.

"Where the heck are those two? They've been gone for quite a while now." Sakura said. She and Hinata were in Temari's room, still wondering where their boyfriends had run off to.

"Jeez, you to need to stop worrying." Temari said. "They will come back. Besides, it's not like they are in any danger."

"She does have a point Sakura," Hinata said as she leaned against the windowsill and stared out into the street, where lanterns were being lit in preparation for the festival that evening. "They aren't little kids. They're our boyfriends. We need to trust them more."

Sighing, Sakura said, "You're right." Then she noticed that Temari was getting out of her clothes, and pulling a bundle from the backpack that she had been carrying. "Temari, what are you doing?"

"I'm changing into my kimono, of course," she responded. "I can't very well attend a festival without wearing it."

"A kimono… aw crud," Sakura thought. Then she whispered to Hinata, saying, 'Hinata, do you have a kimono for me to where? I don't have one."

"I didn't know we would be needing one, so I didn't even pack one for myself," Hinata whispered back. "I thought we were just going on a mission. I didn't even think about there being a festival in any of the villages we stopped in."

The two of them said, "We're going back to our rooms." They left Temari to change in peace, and went back to their own rooms to lie on their beds.

"What am I going to do?" Hinata asked herself. "Naruto wants to go to the festival so badly, but I don't have something to wear to it." Hinata thought about it for a minute, and then decided, "I guess I'll just stay here. Naruto can go have a good time." At that moment, there was a knock at the door. "Come in," Hinata said in a slightly disappointed voice. Naruto walked in the door carrying a small package with him.

"Oh Naruto, you're back!" Hinata got up from the bed and hugged him. He looked at her with a smile on his face.

"I was only gone for a little while," he said, setting down the package. Then he kissed her. "But, I missed you too."

"Oh Naruto," Hinata said before she kissed him again.

After they parted, Naruto asked her, "So, are you ready to go see the festival?"

Hinata's face fell and she looked down at the ground. "I can't go," she said sadly.

"What? Why not?" Naruto asked, sounding disappointed and confused.

"I don't have a kimono to wear," she said still looking at the ground.

"Oh, is that all? Then here, you'll want to open this," he said, shoving the small package that he had been carrying. Hinata looked at it, and then proceeded to open it. When she finished opening the package, she was holding a deep blue kimono in her hands, decorated with light purple lilies and cherry blossom petals the same color as her eyes.

"Naruto… it's beautiful," Hinata said, a little choked up. "Is this why you and Sasuke ran off earlier? To go get this?"

"Yeah, I spotted a shop that was selling kimonos when we walked into town. So, I figured that you didn't have one with you to where to the festival, and I wanted to buy one for you," Naruto said blushing. "I thought it might be the same for Sakura, so I suggested it to Sasuke, and he went and bought one for her too. That's why we were gone so long."

"Oh!! Thank you Naruto!!!" Hinata said, jumping at him, and throwing her arms around his neck. The force that they collided with was enough to knock them both to the ground. Naruto hit his head off the floor when they landed and cried out. "Oh, I'm sorry." Hinata said from on top of him."

Rubbing the back of his head, Naruto said, "It's okay. Never knew you were the excitable type though." He opened his eyes a little and stared straight into hers. They had both noticed the position they were and they each blushed. He leaned up into a sitting position, taking Hinata with him. They were still staring into each other's eyes. Naruto started to lean in to the point where Hinata could feel his warm breath caress her face. They kissed, and held that kiss for a long time. When they finally parted, they stared into each other's eyes again.

"Is… Is it all right if we stay like this for a while?" Hinata asked him.

"Yes," Naruto said, and then he embraced her for the longest time.

The festival was a big one. Stand after stand was set up all around the town, some wafting pleasant smells of food into the crowd, while others promoted games and prizes to lure in customers.

"This place is great," Hinata said next to Naruto.

"Oh, everything looks like fun," Sakura said from next to Sasuke. Those two were excited by everything they saw, but their dates had only eyes for them. Naruto and Sasuke couldn't take their eyes off of their girlfriend, who looked absolutely stunning in their kimonos. Both Hinata and Sakura wore their long hair dressed up in hair clips and a few berets. Their kimonos, except for a few differences in the location of the flowers, and the fact that Sakura's was red and pink while Hinata's was blue and purple, were pretty much the same, making the girls a matching pair. Naruto and Sasuke weren't the only ones that had noticed how good their girlfriends had looked either. Every guy around them was staring at the two girls, some of them blushing.

"Hey, those girls are cute," a guy off to the side said. He was built about the same as Sasuke and Naruto. "Let's see if we can get a date out of them."

"I don't think that's a good idea," his fried said. "I think they're with those guys there." He pointed to Naruto and Sasuke when he said this. "Trust me. You don't want to mess with them."

"Yeah right," the first guy said, arrogance soaking his voice. "They don't look all that tough. Hell, they look like they would run at the sight of me." With that, he started towards Hinata and Sakura.

"All right," his friend said smiling. "It's your funeral."

The guy didn't hear what his friend had said, and just kept walking. He reached Hinata and Sakura and said, "Hey ladies, how about a date with me?"

Both girls were alone for the moment. Naruto and Sasuke had gone off to buy them something to drink, leaving the girls to wait for them at the takoyaki stand. They both looked at him and Sakura said, "No thanks. We're taken."

"Oh, c'mon," the guy said. He grabbed onto Sakura's hand. "You don't seriously like that guy do you?"

"Yes I do! Now let go," Sakura said trying to pull her hand away. The guy tightened his grip.

"No I won't!" the guy said. "Not until you or your friend here say yes to a date with me." Suddenly, the guy felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You heard her buddy," a cool, calm, collected voice said from behind him. "Let go of her."

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried.

"Sasuke?" The man thought. He turned to look at the man behind him, and nearly screamed as when he was greeted by two fierce looking Sharingan eyes. He fell onto his butt, and scooted backwards away from Sasuke. "Y-y-you-you're…" He bumped into something. Looking up, he was met by a pair of red slitted eyes. He nearly screamed again.

"That's right," Naruto said, looking down on the man, slitted pupils growing even narrower. "He's Sasuke Uchiha. Now, who do you think I am?"

"N-N-Nar-Naruto Uzumaki!" the man exclaimed with fear in his voice. "The two demons of the Hidden Leaf village!" He looked from them to Hinata and Sakura. "Those are your girls?! Hey, I-I-I'm s-sorry! I-I d-did-didn't know they were yours!" He turned towards the girls and said, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" He looked like he was close to tears, and a wet spot had appeared on his pants.

"I think he got the point Naruto," Sasuke said, his Sharingan eyes returning to his normal ones. Naruto's had also changed back to his normal blue ones.

"Yeah, I think you're right," Naruto said smiling. The two of them turned, took the girls arms, and walked off, leaving the guy in a teary, balled up mess.

The guy's friend walked over to him and said, "I told you that you shouldn't have done that."

Not far off, Sasuke and Naruto were having a good laugh with the girls. "Can you believe it?!" Naruto said between laughs. "The guy actually wet his pants!"

"Well, you guys scared the crap out him, so I'm not surprised." Sakura said.

"Did you hear what he called you guys?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah, the demons of the Hidden Leaf village," Sasuke said laughing. "I think he was just relieved that we didn't kill him."

"I'm surprised that you didn't," Naruto said to him. "If he had grabbed Hinata's hand like that, I would have."

This statement caused Hinata to look at him. Then she squeezed his arm even harder, leaned on his shoulder, and said, "Thank you Naruto."

He looked at her for a second, and then said, "No problem."

"All right, that's enough obsessing over that," Sakura said. "Were here to have fun, so let's get going."

"Yeah," they all shouted, and the two couples went off to do their own thing. The night was perfect. They played games, ate a lot of food, and just spent most of the night having a good time. By about midnight, the festival was starting to wind down, and the shops were starting to close up.

"Wow the night went quick," Hinata said. She had a stuffed fox in her hands, and the two of them were sharing some cotton candy.

"Yeah, you're right," Naruto said. "Let's find the others."

"Naruto, you have some cotton candy on your face," Hinata said. She picked a small amount of the fluffy pink substance from his face and stuck it in her mouth. This surprised him a little.

"Thanks Hinata," he said, blushing a little more, and causing her to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing," she said. Then she leaned against him and said, "Thank you Naruto. I had a wonderful time."

"Hey, there they are, a voice to the left said. They turned to see the other walking towards them. Sakura had a large stuffed bear in her arms, and she was sharing a drink with Sasuke. Temari had a small bag of goldfish hanging from her left hand, Kankuro had a few water balloons hanging from his fingers, and Gaara even had a fox mask hanging to the side of his head.

"It's getting late you guys," Temari said. "Let's get back to the inn. We set out early tomorrow, so we need to get our rest." They all agreed. They started back toward the inn, all of them unaware of the fact that they were being watched from very far off. Itachi, Kisame, and a young girl were at the top of a cliff overlooking the village.

"Exactly as I planned," Itachi said. "They're in the village."

"Good," Kisame said grinning and bearing pointed teeth. "Now all that's left is to get close to them."

"Don't worry," Itachi said. "I already have that part of the plan thought out." Turning to the young girl, he said, "Tokiko, you will soon have somebody to watch over, so be prepared."

The young girl looked at Itachi and said, "Of course, master."