Ch. 24: Fireworks

I found Kazu sitting beneath a sakura tree, talking to Yumi. As I approached them, I heard Yumi say, "There's just no spark, really. I just don't think it'll work out."

I carefully backed away before they could notice me, leaving them alone. I went to find Deki instead. I noticed him sitting on a bench, looking woefully at a walrus stuffed animal.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"What's wrong?"

Deki sighed. "It's just not working." At my questioning expression, he proceed to tell me how he was so excited at first, then how, as time progressed, he was finding that he and Yumi really didn't have much at all in common.

"So what should I do?" he asked.

I thought carefully, gnawing on a senbon I had fished out of a pocket. Carefully wording my answer, I told him, "Truthfully, it's been a great night for me. Kazu is a gentleman, but things are slightly different between us on a date than regularly. And plus, I think there's another guy who I'm starting to like more," I admitted, thinking of the gray-eyed person who'd somehow managed to make me like him within three short encounters. "Kazu's just more like a little brother to me."

"You mean older brother," Deki corrected, "he's older than you, so your older brother."

"Yeah, well, he acts younger. You and Washi and Kazu are my little brothers, knock yourself out trying to figure out in which order, Yumi is my twin sister, and Kaida's the awesome lady who lives across the street whose house we practically live at."

"Why doesn't Kaida get sibling status too?" he asked amusedly.

I shrugged. "Just because."

"Fantastic."

"So... wanna trade dates?" I asked, just to see how he'd answer.

"Nah, your date is weird."

"So is yours," I retorted.

"I know. Well, Kazu and Yumi are coming. You wanna see how they'll take it?"

"Dunno... You know me, I lack tact."

"You do."

I stuck my tongue out at him in retaliation.

The painful confrontation never came. Kazu and Deki held a conversation consisting of silence and a few nods from Deki, who then turned to me and said, "We're off the hook."

"So we can just be friends for now?" I asked in clarification.

"Friends," Kazu nodded.

A bell rang and we took off, realizing it was time to meet the others at the hill.

I'd fully expected Washi and Kaida to be waiting for us impatiently, but when we arrived at the hill, they were nowhere in the vicinity. We searched around in the area to no avail. Finally, we spotted them racing towards us, Washi looking somewhat flustered.

"Have fun?" Yumi asked, raising an eyebrow. Washi blushed and Yumi's other eyebrow soon followed her first.

"Shut up," he muttered.

Natsumi came bounding along and stopped to whisper something in Yumi's ear that made her eyebrows disappear behind her bangs and caused a smirk to grow on her face. Natsumi left quickly and Yumi grinned. Washi and Kaida were screwed.

"So, what's this I hear about Hana and Toshi?"

"I said shut up," Washi mumbled, turning even redder and I watched in fascination as ever-stoic Kaida began to flush too.

At my team's confused expressions, Yumi explained how, apparently, at a certain little Kissing Booth run by volunteer genin, her teammates were getting pretty cozy with a certain 'Kumizo Hana' and one 'Nagashi Toshi'.

I laughed hysterically with Yumi at Washi's mumbled, "She had a cool ass tattoo."

"Sure she did, sure she did," Deki taunted.

Then I jumped at a hand on my shoulder.

"Ah, forgive me for frightening you, Tomoko-san."

I blinked. I couldn't tell if he was Mr. Gorgeous Green Eyes or 'Hotaru-san' or some new creation.

"Who's your friend?" Kazu asked. Okay, not Hotaru, then.

"Oh, hi, Keiji-senpai!" I grinned with the slightest twitch in my left eye. 'Keiji-senpai' just kept the smile unwaveringly.

"I was hoping you would watch the fireworks with me," he intoned.

"Sorry," I answered automatically, "but I- wait, we're not, are we?" I asked in confusion.

Kazu laughed and said to go ahead and have a fun time with Keiji-san and to just make sure I got back before curfew.

Taking in Yumi's whispered, "Nice catch" through a haze and with my mind in a whirl, I wordlessly followed Keiji-senpai and joined him in the branches of a sakura tree with an unobstructed view of the sky.

"Are you crazy?" I hissed at Itachi-san. "I'm seriously considering stopping referring to you with a '-san' if you're going to be this stupid!" I snapped.

He smirked at me with amusement dancing in his eyes. "Then you'll just have to call me 'senpai', won't you?" he teased.

I huffed, crossed my arms and looked the other direction. Then I jumped in surprise at the first whistle before the first firework burst into colors with a loud, resounding "BOOM."

I watched in awe. The colorful sparks, the bright lights, and my mind filled with questions.

How did the sparks know where to go?

How did they get those colors?

Was it a civilian or a chakra-based art?

How did they make those sounds?

How did they know when to blow up?

I suppose I looked like a kid staring at a candy store display, because Itachi was smirking when I finally managed to tear my eyes away.

I just huffed again and went back to watching the show.

When the pyrotechnics stopped, much to my disappointment and Itachi's subsequent amusement, Itachi turned to me with an infuriatingly condescending expression.

"Shut up, ya big-" He cut me off wordlessly by pointing at something over my shoulder. I turned to see, on a hilltop, that Naruto was holding a sparkler in his hand and watching in amazement while Sasuke looked over his shoulder in awe.

"Your brother's cute," I commented.

"So are you," he replied.

I froze in surprise.

"So, interested in pyrotechnics, huh?" he asked, thankfully changing the subject. "Surprisingly, it's a civilian art. They're impressive, aren't they?"

"They're absolutely beautiful," I breathed.

"As you are." Okay, I totally set myself up for that one.

"We've got nothing like this in Kiri. Through all the mist, I don't think you'd be able to see them anyway."

"Kiri has you, doesn't it? I've heard the mist is good for hair, though."

"You would say something like that, wouldn't you," I accused after looking at his ponytail of dark, glossy hair.

He shrugged. As people cleared from the festival, we continued to talk, him complimenting me every other sentence. I just kept acting as though nothing at all happened.

Finally, it started to really annoy me, so I asked him once why he kept doing it. He answered that he was 'simply fulfilling a duty'. Enigmatic and confusing as heck.

He told me about Sasuke; I told him about Minoru, my own younger brother. He spoke of his favorite festivals; I spoke of Kiri's lack of celebrations. Back and forth we talked about mundane things until I felt myself falling asleep. Still in the tree, the area as far as we could see was vacated and quiet but for a few lingering couples. I smiled upon seeing Washi and Kaida with their own interests, and was filled with a little sadness at seeing Yumi, Deki and Kazu just wandering aimlessly along.

"You should really go," I commented, eyes heavy.

"Let me walk you home first," he smiled.

And apparently, his definition of 'walking me home' consisted of him picking me up and carrying me bridal-style. His excuse being that he was, in fact, walking, not running or even jogging, and he was accompanying me home. I was too tired to fight very long, so as I struggled and he held on tighter, we came to a compromise and I rode on his back, piggyback. I gave him directions to the inn, and he fortified my grip with a hand of his own and began to travel by rooftop. I was too sleepy to say anything about it.

I let sleep overtake me as wind rushed past and stars twinkled overhead, two twin rings of gray watching over my rest.