Chapter 11

We made it to the festival ok. Only a few dirty looks today, phew. It seems everyone is too happy to try and make me mad today … which is a good thing, because I'm not in the mood to kill anyone …

I bought some dango for myself and Naruto, and kept a third skewer for whenever Kakashi showed up. It shocked me that Naruto had never had dango before, but I was happy that I got to be the first person he ate it with. Luckily, we didn't have to wait very long for Kakashi …

"Yo." A casual voice remarked behind me.

"GAH!" I jumped about two feet in the air at the sudden voice.

I heard Naruto snicker behind me. I turned around to glare at Kakashi.

"Ugh, you enjoy sneaking up on me and scaring me don't you?" I asked, a dark aura around me …

Kakashi's visible eye just curved in a smile.

"Now, why would I enjoy that? Besides you're a shinobi, you should always be alert." He remarked in a smug tone.

I went to hit him upside the head, but he nimbly dodged out of the way and smirked at me. I just grumbled and handed him his dango.

We went over to some sakura trees and I pulled out my three bento boxes (which I had stuffed in my obi, these things are amazing for holding stuff!). We enjoyed our lunch, and afterwards I played with Naruto.

"Rawr! You can't escape the Mom Monster! It's IMPOSSIBLE!" I roared at Naruto.

"Eek! Kakashi help me!" cried Naruto

I smirked thinking Kakashi would be too lazy to try and get up and help, and went back to my attempts at trying to catch Naruto and tickle him. I was sadly wrong ...

Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind and locked in a bear hug.

"Quick Naruto, tickle her back while I have her pinned." Kakashi said.

Naruto got an evil glint in his eyes and pounced on the chance to get revenge at his mom. Soon, I was being tickled mercilessly by both guys. I was squirming on the ground crying with laughter while Naruto was on top of my stomach tickling my neck and arms, while Kakashi was to the side, getting my knees and sides.

"BWAAAH! N-No! St-Stop it! Hahahahah, no! No more! Gah, ahahaha, I'm going to w-wet m-myself! N-No, h-have – mmm-mercy! Ahahahah!" I yelled out while being tickled.

"What do you think Naruto, should we grant her mercy?" Asked Kakashi in a smug voice.

Naruto stopped tickling me before he replied.

"Yeah, I think we tickled momma enough, if we tickle her anymore I think she might die from laughing."

Kakashi chuckled and the tickling stopped. I gasped in huge amounts of air, desperately trying to get as much in as I had lost. I could feel my face was flushed from all the laughing and wiggling. I turned to glare playfully at Naruto and Kakashi and reached up to poke both of their foreheads.

"You two are sooooo going to get it one day." I said in a playful tone.

Kakashi just smirked at me and Naruto grinned at me. Suddenly, we heard a huge commotion coming from the main area of the festival. I sat up on the grass to see what was going on. I noticed Suna banners waving over everyone.

"I guess the Suna ambassadors are here finally." I remarked

"I need to go keep an eye on the Hokage and make sure nothing happens. I'll try and catch you later." Kakashi said.

I nodded at him and stood up. I grabbed Naruto and put him on my shoulders.

"C'mon kit, let's go see if we can't catch a glimpse at our visitors."

I walked over to the side of where most of the tents and stands were at. There was a large walkway down the middle that lead to the main stage of the festival. I saw a few fancily dressed people walk in front with several shinobi nearby. Finally towards the end of the line I noticed three kids. Two older ones, a grumpy looking boy with a hat on his head(which looked like a cat), and a girl with sandy blond hair in two large ponytails. In front of them I noticed a younger boy with crimson red hair. He had dark lines around his eyes, showing that he had insomnia. He also looked rather grumpy and depressed. He had the word 'love' tattooed on his forehead. I could sense he had a lot of chakra, very similar to Naruto's.

'Yep, jinchũriki.'

Finally the entourage made it to the main stage where our Hokage was seated at. He got up to greet them. After all the pleasantries were aside, the Hokage got up to speak to the crowd. He welcomed everyone here, and thanked us for coming. He explained to us the origins of the sakura festival, and also said that how this year, we were also celebrating our ties to Suna. After his speech was over, everyone cheered, and the main plays and dances began.

I got to dance with Naruto a few times, and when we watched a few plays I got to quote everything they were saying. Hey, just because I was a bounty hunter didn't mean I didn't enjoy the fine arts. Naruto kept hitting me to get me to shut up.

I went up with Naruto to the dango stand to get him some more since he seemed to never be full. Darn kid was a bottomless. Then I noticed the small grumpy kid from earlier. Gaara I believe. He was all alone in a field next to the sakura trees, where we had our picnic earlier. He seemed … lonely. I quickly ordered two dango skewers and with Naruto I walked over to Gaara. He turned to glare at me, as if trying to scare me away.

"Scaring me with your glares ain't gonna work kid. Here, I bought you some dango." I offered him the dango skewer. He looked suspiciously at it, as if trying to see if it was poisoned.

"Don't worry kid, I'm not trying to poison you. You look like you need some company. Want to play with me and Naruto after you're done?" I asked, kneeling down next to him.

He looked shocked. He looked back and forth between Naruto and myself, and finally, the dango. He took a small bite out of it, and slowly chewed. His eyes went from suspicious, to curious at the new food.

"First time eating dango?" I asked.

He gave me a small nod before continuing.

"I had my first one too today!" Yelled Naruto.

"Want to come play with me?" Naruto quickly added.

Gaara hesitated before giving a small nod. He looked a bit at a loss though, since he still had some dango left. I chuckled, and offered my hand.

"Here, want me to hold that for you while you play?" I asked

"Y-yes, thank you." Gaara said in a small voice.

He quickly handed me his dango, before he went off to Naruto. They played for awhile, rolling around in sakura petals or throwing them at each other. They played tag for a bit, and then I felt Kakashi walk beside me.

Before he could ask what I was doing, I quickly handed him the leftover dango and ran over to Naruto and Gaara, eager to get in on the fun.

"Hold the dango for me Kakashi! I wanna go play!" I shouted to him.

Kakashi's PoV

Sonya ran off before I was able to ask what she was doing. I saw her sprint over to Naruto and Gaara. Naruto gave a small squeak before he yelled to Gaara to run away from the 'Mom Monster'. Gaara looked confused as Sonya approached him. I could see she was being careful with her approach, not wanting to scare Gaara. Before I could call out to her that trying to touch him would be a bad idea, she knelt down and snaked out a hand to one of his sides to give a small tickle. Gaara's face twisted into a giggle, and then quickly back to confusion, as if trying to figure out what sound he just produced. Sonya seemed to take this as a good sign and gave him a large grin before giving him a full-blown tickle attack. As Gaara was shrieking with laughter on the ground, I was just standing here, dumbfounded. Our reports on Gaara of the Sand were that his sand protected him from anything and anyone. The fact that Sonya was sitting there tickling him obviously meant something different.

Just as I was about to walk up to the pair, I felt two people come from behind me. I looked back to see Kankuro and Temari gaping like fish as they watched their little brother be tickled. They seemed as equally shocked as me.

"She … She's not supposed to be able to do that! Gaara's sand protects him from anything, even we can't touch him, and we're his siblings!" Temari exclaimed.

"I think Gaara's sand doesn't think that lady is a threat, else she would be dead by now." Kankuro said.

Sonya was currently letting Gaara ride on her shoulders while she held Naruto's hand and came back to us. She smiled before she looked to see the rest of the Sand siblings.

"Oh, hello there! You must be Gaara's brother and sister, ja? Nice to meet you!" She held out a hand to them to shake.

They just stared at her like she had grown two heads. Sonya suddenly looked nervous and seemed like she was about to withdraw her hand before Kankuro took it.

"I'm Kankuro, and this our sister Temari. We're the Sand siblings. I'm amazed you're still alive."

She cocked her head at Kankuro questioningly. Before Kankuro could explain, Gaara spoke up.

"She's a nice lady. The sand likes her." He said quietly.

Kankuro and Temari looked surprised. Kankuro looked like he accepted the fact, but Temari still looked disbelieving. I was disbelieving myself, but the fact that Gaara's sand hadn't attacked Sonya yet led me to believe that indeed Shukaku did not perceive Sonya as a threat.

"Would you like to join us for dinner?" Sonya asked suddenly.

Kankuro raised an eyebrow but gave a curt nod. Temari stood there frozen for a few seconds, before she spoke.

"T-that, would be wonderful, thank you." She said in a small voice

I merely smiled and gave a nod myself.

"Wonderful! Let's meet up here in about half an hour, so that we can get a few more things finished before we leave." Sonya said gleefully.