Truth: They all needed to relax and burn off steam.

The village was due for some celebration. Repairs were almost done, the village's treasury was back on its feet, and they had a new Hokage. Lady Tsunade, the sannin, one of Sarutobi's old students, had taken up the mantle. The village was overjoyed to welcome her and finally all the building good feeling couldn't be contained anymore. The traditional celebration of a new Hokage provided the perfect venue for everyone to set off their feelings. The village was happier than it had been in weeks.

Sayuri, Miyako, and Kiyomi were all in traditional garb, winding their way among the stalls to look for something to do. Miyako wore a deep green robe to set off her red hair, which was swept up in a bun with the hairpins Sayuri had given the entire team. Sayuri's hair was an identical bun, hairpins gleaming, and she wore a yukata in her usual shade of gray with white edging. Kiyomi was the most flamboyant, wearing a light blue shade the color of the sky that went well with her hair and eyes. Her hair was down around her shoulders.

"Is that who I think it is?" Kiyomi asked, gaping as she pointed through the crowd at a couple. Ayano wore a black robe, and it normally would have looked drab, but her turquoise hair it looked very elegant. Satoru was next to her, his normally messy brown hair neat and tidy. He was asking what sort of ice cream she wanted. She responded by stealing his and licking it coyly.

"They're so cute!" Miyako squealed.

"She finally asked him out," Sayuri said, nodding approvingly at her teacher and guardian as if she were a proud parent sending her children off together.

"She asked him?" Kiyomi noticed.

"Come on, did you really think Satoru would ever get up the courage to ask her out?" Sayuri snorted. "It was always going to be Ayano who did the asking."

"Actually, she didn't so much ask him as she did walk up, kiss him, and demand he take her to the festival," Miyako recalled.

"That sounds like Ayano," Kiyomi nodded. She smiled. "They are really cute."

"Let's play some games," Miyako suggested. "What about that?"

They all wandered over to a game where people were tossing balls at milk jars. It seemed to be mostly civilians. You could tell when a shinobi wandered up because they promptly annihilated the tower of jars with one well-aimed throw while the civilians seemed to struggle.

"Three please," Kiyomi said, stepping up and paying. Each of the girls were given three balls. Miyako whispered to Sayuri where the jars were. They all lined up and threw, sending milk jars flying.

"Well done," grunted the stall worker, looking vaguely put out. It was obvious that the shinobi were pretty much owning any game they stepped up to. "Pick a prize."

"What kinds are there?" Sayuri hissed to Miyako.

"All kinds of stuffed animals," Miyako replied, reaching up and pulling down a stuffed red dragon, the symbol of her family, nuzzling it to her face with a giggle. "There's dogs and cats and bears and there's even a horse and a tiger-"

"There's a really cute raccoon," Kiyomi added as she took the alligator from right next to it.

"I'll take that, I suppose," Sayuri shrugged. She wasn't one for stuffed animals. By the time she'd been able to get her hands on one she was already past the age when they were really entertaining. She took the stuffed animal from the vendor and they started wandering around again, pausing every now and then at one of the stalls selling food to grab something small to nibble on as they walked.

"What is that sound?" Sayuri asked blankly, turning her head in the direction of a series of splat sounds.

"That's hysterical!" Kiyomi laughed after a moment.

"What?" Sayuri insisted.

"It looks like you put on a plastic cover to protect your clothes and then toss paint-filled balloons back and forth," Miyako explained with a small chuckle. "It seems to be popular with little kids and a couple shinobi."

"That could be fun," Sayuri mused. "Want to try it?"

"Sure," Kiyomi agreed with a shrug. They walked over and donned the plastic ponchos that were given out since everyone was in nice clothes. They paid and each was handed a balloon and set across from someone else. It was the same principle as an egg toss. The children were mostly just trying to hit each other in the face. The shinobi were trying to see who could pull off the fanciest tosses and most risky catches.

Miyako's partner was a fumbling civilian boy who tossed the ball low. It splattered on the ground between them. She sighed and pulled off the poncho, waiting for the others to finish. Sayuri's partner was a big muscle-bound man who smirked at his – somewhat wasted – friends and tried to hit her in the chest. Sayuri caught it and swept it back around, nailing him in the face. He walked off, grumbling, yellow paint dripping from his mustache as Sayuri joined Miyako.

"Hey guys!"

Kiyomi yelped in surprise and spun around to face Tenten and Neji. There was a moment of silence as the balloon went up… came down… SPLAT…

Neji's hair was covered in pink paint. He blinked owlishly, shock on his face. Kiyomi covered her mouth with her hands, both horrified and also incredibly amused.

"Neji," Tenten chuckled, covering her own mouth. "Uhm… You look…"

Neji's eyes narrowed at Kiyomi. "Run."

"No arguments!" Kiyomi shrieked, ripping off her plastic poncho and sprinting into the crowd with Sayuri and Miyako hot on her heels, all of them giggling madly. Suddenly they felt very young as they dodged through the crowd, childishly fleeing Neji's wrath. They could track him by the annoyed exclamations of the people he came near, pink paint-coated hair swinging around dangerously.

Sayuri chuckled. Truthfully, they all needed to relax and burn off steam. Playing around like children was a good way to do so.

They kept going until they turned a corner and Sayuri smacked into something very hard and very solid. Miyako and Kiyomi froze at her side.

"Ow," she groaned from the ground. "Who put that there?"

"Uh… Gaara," Miyako said softly. Sayuri paused, feeling for chakra signatures.

"Oh, yes, I suppose it was," she said absently, standing up.

"What are you doing here?" Kiyomi asked coldly.

"Probably the same reason as you guys," Kankuro said, waving an arm weakly. "And we're trying to rebuild relations between our villages."

"Your new Hokage is reinstating our peace treaty," Temari added. "We're here to iron out the kinks."

They turned to their brother, clearly hoping he'd say something. Gaara took a step forwards and opened his mouth to speak.

"ARITA!"

Kiyomi paled and yelped, "Got to go!" She sprinted off towards the most crowded part of the festival.

"Run, Kiyomi, run!" Sayuri called after her in amusement, shaking her head.

"What was that about?" Temari asked blankly, staring after Kiyomi.

"There was an incident," Sayuri said absently, adjusting her clothes.

"An incident," Kankuro repeated.

"Involving Neji's hair," Sayuri explained, straightening her own. A blob of pink was weaving its way towards them through the crowd. "Miyako, interference."

"Right," Miyako nodded determinedly.

Neji emerged, the veins around his eyes showing he'd used byakugan to find them. His face was tight with anger, his white robes splattered with pink paint. Temari restrained her giggles, but Kankuro wasn't so reserved. He let out a loud laugh, and got a glare for his trouble.

"I'll give you one chance," he said, narrowing his eyes at them. "Where… is… she…?"

"Neji, I'm really sorry about your hair and your clothes," Miyako said softly. Neji looked at her in surprise. Miyako was wringing her hands and looking up at him with big eyes. Miyako felt a bit bad about manipulating him, but Kiyomi's personal well-being was on the line. She was fully aware of the power of her 'cute face' as Kiyomi called it. "I really think I can help get some of that out before it sets, if you'll let me?" she asked. Neji's jaw loosened slightly and he gaped at her for moment, surprised by her offer of assistance. That was all it took. Miyako took advantage of his momentary distraction and grabbed his wrist, dragging him away towards the pond in the park where the festivities were being held.

"Now you're alone with us," Gaara rasped. Sayuri stiffened slightly and turned to face him. "Are you brave, or stupid?"

Sayuri raised an eyebrow at him. "Logical," she countered. "There's no way you're dumb enough to try something in the middle of a festival full of shinobi who your village recently annoyed, especially when you're trying to get back on good terms with them. And seeing as you're trying to get on better terms with Konoha, I may as well forgive and forget. Can you promise not to pin me to any more walls?" she asked, offering Gaara a hand.

Temari and Kankuro looked at her in surprise. Gaara narrowed his eyes at her, non-existent eyebrows furrowing.

"I'm not trying to trick you," Sayuri said softly, extending her hand a bit further. "I'm just being friendly."

Gaara slowly reached out and took her hand, knowing that reasonably he owed her an apology for how he'd treated her, even though part of his mind was screaming at him to kill her. His fight with Naruto may have opened his eyes to some things, but understanding new ideas and enacting them were two very different things.

"Then I suppose now we're on good terms," Sayuri smiled slightly, shaking his hand firmly and then dropping it. "And that means I can show you all around."

"Why would you do that?" Temari asked blankly.

"Because there's a couple places around town you might want to avoid," Sayuri said with a small wince. "You're a little bit… blatantly Suna. Some of the civilians won't take kindly to that. The shinobi understand that you were just following orders, but to the others… you're the bad guys."

"Great," Kankuro sighed. "This isn't going to be easy, is it?"

"If it was, we wouldn't need peace treaties," Sayuri chuckled.

"Is the coast clear?" Kiyomi asked softly, poking her head out from behind a stand selling dango.

Sayuri shook her head in amusement. "Yes, Kiyomi, Miyako saved you."

"Thank god," Kiyomi sighed in relief, emerging from behind the stand with two sticks in hand. She passed one to Sayuri, who took it and bit into one of the balls. She turned and looked at the Sand Siblings. Her face fell.

"Oh. It's you."

Miyako led him towards the water, past the dock where they were setting up the fireworks for later. She found a sheltered place, away from the public eye under some willows by the lake, figuring Neji had been humiliated enough, running through the crowd with pink hair. She pulled out a small white handkerchief and knelt by the water, gesturing for Neji to join her. He knelt across from her, watching her suspiciously.

"Uhm… I need to see your back?" Miyako said shyly. She'd done her part and gotten Neji away from Kiyomi, so that she was safe. Now, however, she was stuck with the solemn Hyuga.

Neji narrowed his eyes warningly at her and was pleased to see her wince slightly. He rotated and presented his back to her. Miyako dipped her handkerchief into the water and held it up, loosening Neji's hair from its tie.

"I'm sorry about what happened," she said softly as she started wiping out as much of the paint as she could. "Kiyomi really didn't mean to."

Neji narrowed his eyes. "That won't save her." His fists clenched in his lap and then he suddenly went limp as Miyako's fingers threaded through his hair, the back of her hand brushing against his sensitive blind spot. He whirled to face her, catching her hand. She looked at him with wide eyes, pink-stained handkerchief clutched in equally pink hands.

"Did I pull your hair?" she asked worriedly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"It's nothing," Neji said, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously. He released her hand and she began nervously wringing the handkerchief. "Continue," he allowed, turning back around.

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about your robes," Miyako apologized. "They're white, so…" She shrugged helplessly.

"It's fine," Neji said shortly.

"There, you're all done," Miyako said happily, pulling her hands back as she managed to work the last bit of paint out. Thankfully whoever worked the game had taken into account the potential for messy accidents and the paint was designed to wash out easily.

Neji glanced to the side at his reflection in the water. Sure enough, his shoulders were stained pink, but his hair was clean, hanging in damp chunks around his face. He saw Miyako's reflection in the water behind him, looking at him hopefully.

"Here, wear your hair like this," she suggested, twitching a few strands of hair into place over his shoulders, hiding almost all of the pink. "That should help hide the stain." Neji said nothing and Miyako slowly removed her hand from him. "Neji?" she asked softly. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," Neji said, shaking his head. He got to his feet sharply. "Thank you," he said, more out of politeness than real thankfulness. He emerged from the branches of the weeping willow before Miyako could even get to her feet, leaving her sitting on the ground wondering what she'd done wrong.

As he moved through the streets, Neji clenched his fist, trying to hide the fact that his hands were shaking, and shuddered against the phantom feeling of deft fingers combing through his hair.

"So we're playing nice with the Sand guys now?" Kiyomi asked. Sayuri sighed.

"Yes, Kiyomi."

"Fine," Kiyomi grumbled. She gestured to the trio with her stick of dango. "But for the record, you're still not my favorite people."

"Some days I wonder if you like anyone," Sayuri muttered under her breath, absently toying with the empty stick in her hand.

"Hey, Sayuri! Kiyomi!"

"Sakura! Naruto!" Sayuri greeted the approaching trio.

"Chicken butt!" Kiyomi greeted. Sasuke glared at her. She blinked innocently. "What, who said I was talking to you?" She threw an arm around Naruto's shoulder. "Maybe I was talking to him?"

"Hah! Everyone knows his hair looks like a chicken's butt,"

"Shikamaru, you idiot!" Ino raged, chastising her teammate. Of course, that chastisement came in the form of a swift right hook. "Don't talk to him like that! Hey Sasuke," she added dreamily.

"Back off Ino-pig, he's mine!" Sakura snapped.

"Fighting over that sourpuss again? Why do that when I'm right here?" Kiba smirked, swaggering up.

"K-Kiba, you shouldn't say things like that," Hinata murmured as the last of the rookie teams converged by the dango stand.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke suddenly asked coldly, drawing all eyes to the trio of Suna-nin standing behind the two girls and looking awkward.

"Long time no see," Shikamaru greeted Temari.

"Hi," she replied, slightly flirtatiously. Kankuro gave his sister a surprised look and Ino glanced at Shikamaru curiously.

"They're negotiating peace between our villages, Sasuke," Sayuri replied calmly. "That a problem?"

"Nope!" Naruto announced obliviously, walking up and slinging an arm around Gaara's shoulders, leaving the younger boy slightly off-kilter. "Come on, let's all grab a good seat for the fireworks, you guys can watch with us! It'll be awesome, believe it! I hear they pulled out all the stops! The only thing that could make this night better would be some Ichiraku ramen. Yeah, that'd be great… Hey, we should get some after!" Naruto suggested to Sakura, and just like that the tenseness was gone. Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari were absorbed into the pack of genin moving towards the lake.

They found a spot on the ground and spread out blankets, curling together on them, waiting for the fireworks eagerly. Miyako sidled up out of nowhere and sat down by Sayuri and Kiyomi at the edge of one of the blankets, joining the conversation.

"Hey, is that Ayano?" Ino asked, pointing in the direction of a woman curled up against a man's chest. There was no mistaking the signature turquoise hair. Ayano was tucked against Satoru, leaning back on his chest and looking incredibly satisfied. "Did she and Satoru finally get together?"

"Looks like," Kiyomi nodded approvingly.

"That's very sweet," Hinata whispered, looking at Naruto. He glanced at her and she turned away, flushing.

"Lucky guy," Kiba nodded. "Your teacher's pretty nice-looking for an old lady."

"And if she ever heard you call her an old lady she'd castrate you and make you eat your own testicles," Kiyomi replied sweetly.

"That's why Kotetsu no longer pokes fun of her," Sayuri added.

"Your teacher's troublesome," Shikamaru huffed.

"Hey, they're better to look at than that," Temari said, making a face and pointing to the couple two blankets over who seemed to be trying to suck each other's faces off. The red-haired girl was only a little older than them. Sakura and Ino made faces while Hinata went bright red. Kiyomi rolled her eyes and Sayuri cocked her head, observing absently, while Miyako squinted. Her eyes suddenly burst wide open.

"Akane?" she yelped. The couple separated with a wet pop and the girl turned to stare in their direction, revealing the Hasekura's red dragon embroidered over her breast on her robes just like Miyako's.

"Heh? Who's calling?" she asked. Her eyes landed on Miyako and she waved cheerfully. "Hey baby cousin!"

"What are you doing?" Miyako hissed, face flushed. "That's not appropriate in public! Your father would have a heart attack!"

"Eh, what dad doesn't know won't kill him, now will it?" Akane chuckled, completely unperturbed.

"Hey, piss off. We were kind of in the middle of something," the guys snapped, grabbing Akane's shoulder possessively.

Akane turned to glare at the boy. "Don't talk to her like that," she said coldly.

"We were doing something!" he said defensively.

"Doing what? Having sex with your clothes on?" Kiyomi demanded with a snort.

"Answer the question," Miyako said with surprising sternness.

Akane sighed. "Is that an order?" she whined. Miyako nodded. "Fine, I was going to give him an embarrassingly-timed and long-lasting erection for breaking one of my friend's hearts."

The guy looked at her incredulously. "What the he-" He glanced down at his lap and flushed, hastily standing up and floundering away.

"Way to ruin my payback, cuz," Akane sighed disappointedly, rising and wandering off in the direction of one of the food stands.

"Sometimes it's convenient to be the heir of your clan," Miyako sighed, rubbing her forehead with her hand.

"You're the heir of your clan?" Temari asked in surprise. Miyako seemed more like a follower that a leader.

She nodded helplessly.

"Your cousin seems pretty, uh… confident in her abilities," Shikamaru said delicately.

Sayuri and Kiyomi both let out snorts.

"Not in the way you'd think," Kiyomi said, smirking slightly.

"Saiketsu, their kekkei genkai, controls blood," Sayuri explained.

"Geez, between you guys and Ino, you've got pretty much the whole body covered," Shikamaru grunted.

"Wow, so do all of you guys have a kekkei genkai?" Kankuro asked, impressed. He looked at Kiyomi. "What's yours?"

Kiyomi flushed and glared at the blanket between her feet. "Don't have one."

Kankuro winced. "Oh, eh… heh…" Temari smacked him.

"Ooh, look!" Sakura exclaimed, pointing to the sky. The first of the fireworks burst overhead and conversation stopped except for ooh and aahing at the colors and shapes that lit up the night sky. There were a few standard bursts of colors, followed by the shape of the Land of Fire, and ending with the signature leaf of Konoha. When the green of that faded, everyone broke into applause.

"That was really impressive," Sakura exclaimed.

"Yeah, it was totally cool!" Naruto agreed.

"What did you think, Sasuke?" Ino cooed.

"It was alright," Sasuke muttered, jamming his hands into his pockets.

"I thought it was lovely," Miyako disagreed, and Hinata nodded.

"The best thing I've ever seen," Sayuri put in.

"I wouldn't go that- Oh," Kiba deadpanned, and Sayuri smirked slightly.

"Oh indeed."

They stood and began gathering the blankets back up, Ino and Skura folding one while Shino and Hinata folded the other.

"Hn, this was fun," Kiyomi sighed, stretching languidly.

"There's still some time until the festivities end," Miyako pointed out. "Anything else you wanted to do?"

"Ramen!" Naruto exclaimed.

"No!" the rest of his team shouted back.

"We could just play a few games?" Hinata suggested softly.

"I bet I could totally kick your butt at that!" Naruto said, pointing to a stall where you tried to pop balloons with darts.

"As if," Sasuke snorted.

"I could wipe the floor with both of you!" Kiba bragged. "What about you, Shikamaru?"

Suddenly it dissolved into a testosterone-fueled race to one up each other for the guys, the girls hanging back to cheer on their teammates. Even Kankuro got involved in a few of the games, though Gaara lingered on the fringes. As they moved through the crowds from game to game people broke off, heading home. Shino was one of the first, followed by Shikamaru and his team. Kiba and Sasuke were next, Hinata and Sakura some of the last to head out.

"G'night you guys!" Naruto waved as he headed off.

"We can walk you back to your hotel," Miyako offered the Sand trio.

"Like I said, it's probably not good for you to be wandering around on your own," Sayuri nodded.

"We can handle ourselves," Temari said, mildly offended.

"But if you have to and someone gets hurt?" Sayuri challenged. Temari submitted, seeing the wisdom of a Konoha escort. They group started off in the direction of the hotel where the Suna-nin were staying.

It was quickly proven that Sayuri's caution was a good thing when a quartet of civilians staggered out of an alleyway, one holding a bottle in his hand. They were all completely plastered, but one of them was still seeing clear enough to notice Temari's headband. His eyes narrowed as he focused and a snarl crossed his face.

"Hey, it's some of those Suna bastards!" he exclaimed.

"The hell're you doin' in our vill'ge?" one of his companions slurred.

"Their presence has been approved by the Hokage," Kiyomi said pointedly. "So if you four… fine gentlemen," she sneered, "will let us pass…"

"No way in hell!" the third snapped. "You're with them, aren'tcha? Traitor bitch!"

"Ooh, be careful," Kiyomi warned, face tightening at the insult. "I don't want to have to get violent."

"Really, we don't want any trouble," Temari said, stepping forwards and trying to mediate.

"Shut up!" the fourth shouted, and tried to backhand her. However, he was a drunken civilian and Temari was a trained shinobi. Temari instinctively grabbed his wrist and yanked it behind his back faster than a blink. Kankuro stepped forwards, ready to defend his sister, and Gaara reached back for the cork on his gourd. Miyako touched Kankuro's shoulder and shook her head gently. Sayuri's hand snapped up and she grabbed Gaara's wrist stopping him.

"Let us handle it," she whispered to him, stepping forwards.

Temari, realizing what she'd done, quickly released the man and stepped back behind the line of Konoha kunoichi. None of the Sand Siblings particularly liked letting the three girls defend them, but Sayuri was right in saying it was safer.

"Hand them over," one of the man snapped, the scent of alcohol rolling off of him.

"No," Miyako said firmly. "They're our friends and we're not going to let you try anything."

Temari and Kankuro blinked at Miyako, who seemingly had grown a backbone out of nowhere.

"They're jus' girls," one of the men slurred. "We c'n take'em."

Kiyomi smirked. "Oh you can, can you?" She raised her thumb to her mouth and Sayuri's hands lowered to her obi, loosening it enough to shrug the top of her robes off, revealing her bandaged chest. The men's eyes bulged lewdly and they grinned. Kiyomi bit her thumb sharply.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

The men's expressions changed to disgust and horror as Sayuri's bones burst out of her chest and a bear appeared, looming over Kiyomi. They paled and fled in terror, stumbling over each other and flinging their companions behind them.

"Well done," Kiyomi grinned, raising a hand. Sayuri slapped it and the bones retreated into her chest as she readjusted her robes. Kiyomi turned to the bear behind her.

"Good job Kuma," she praised.

"Oh shucks," the bear said, waving a paw in what might have been an absent manner except for the animal's sheer bulk. "I bet you could have scared them off on your own, Lady Kiyomi."

Kiyomi smiled smugly and drew herself up proudly. "Eh, maybe," she grinned.

"I think we're gonna get along well," Temari grinned at the trio, who smiled in reply.