CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

TRICK OR TREAT

"Kim, why are you all wet," was the first thing out of Jade's mouth when Kim walked into the loft. The questioned girl just shot a glare at her best friend before stomping off to her room to take a shower. Jade then directed her attention to the others. "What happened to her?"

"She fell in the pool," Sasuke answered as he threw himself down on the sofa, before sitting up quickly and attempting to backtrack.

"How did she manage that, un," Deidara asked before Jade could. The blond nineteen year old directed a glare at the youngest Uchiha when he realized what the boy had meant when he said pool.

"She tried to walk on the water, but she fell in half way," Konan explained without thinking.

"I see. So what are we going to do before my party starts," Jade asked.

"How did you find out," Sakura questioned.

"I've known about it for a week now. I figured it out when I found the present that Kim was supposed to give me today. Though Kim told me that I wouldn't be allowed to see any of the decorations until just before the party starts," Jade explained. "Kim can't keep anything from me."

"We h-have two hours till the party starts. What d-do we do t-till then," the shy girl of the group asked.

"Let's got Trick or Treating, dattebayo!"

"Dobe that's for little kids."

"What did you say Teme?!"

"Actually most High School students still go. Plus it's really fun. You get free candy, and play pranks," Kim said walking down the hallway towel drying her hair. She was back in her pirate costume.

"PRANKS," Naruto shouted jumping up from his seat. "TEME, did you hear that?! We get to play pranks! I'm the Prankster King of Konoha!" The blond had taken his reluctant best friend by the front of his shirt and started shaking him. "We have to go!" Sasuke's head was flying back and forth, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

"Naruto," Sakura growled out, stalking towards the boy.

The youngest Uchiha fell to the ground when the blond released his grip on his shirt. Naruto went to go and hide behind his cousin, fearing the wrath of the pink haired brute. When Sasuke stood up he was slightly unsteady on his feet. No one tried to help him they only laughed when he fell over or stumbled over his feet. It was a rare sight to see an Uchiha so undignified.

"Let's go to the rich people's neighborhood. They give out full sized candy bars there," Jade said excitedly, already drooling over the chocolate she was sure to collect. "And don't forget to check them for any weird things put in them. I remember the first year Kim was here she ate a bad peanut butter bar-"

"Jade," Kim said trying to stop her from going on.

"-and had the runs for the rest of the night."

"Jade!" Kim jumped on her so-called best friend and tackled her to the ground.

"These houses are huge, dattebayo," Naruto shouted as he caught sight of all the houses.

The group, save for Ren who was taking the food over to the Mansion, was walking around the upperclass neighborhood. All the houses were two stories or more, and had iron gates. The gates were all open, with the driveways lined with elaborate decorations that led them all to the front doors. At some of the houses parties were being held, and had cars parked all along the driveway and on the side of the road.

"We'll just go to each house one by one," suggested Jade.

Everyone nodded in agreement. They followed the crowd of people. There were mothers and, or, fathers with their young children walking around. Pre-teens to fifteen year olds were walking in groups trying to look grown up. The older teenagers were running around playing pranks on the unsuspecting residents. Collage students were running wild like children.

"Why hello there," a random middle-school girl said walking up to the group. Her costume consisted of what looked like lingerie, and some form of animal ears. She looked back at her little group of friends, who all gave her thumbs up and gestures of encouragement, before she focused all her attention on one member in particular. Fluttering her eyelashes in what she thought was a seductive manner, she purred, "You know if you're the Devil, I wouldn't mind going to Hell."

Nagato tensed, wanting to hide. This had never happened to him. He was never the one to draw a female's attention.

The others just stood there staring with wide eyes. Some in shock at her foolishness, and others in amusement at the redhead's expense. Konan, on the other hand, was glaring daggers at the little girl. When the girl attached herself to the group's only redhead, Konan let out what sounded like a low growl. Like something a lioness would let out when she felt threatened, or was about to pounce on her prey.

"Little kitty," Konan said to the girl, referring to her choice of animal ears.

"Oh, I'm not a cat. I'm a puppy," the girl replied snidely, never taking her eyes off of Nagato.

"Well, listen here you Little Bitch," Konan snapped, forcefully detaching the girl from the redhead's arm. The girl glared at her and was about to reply, when she was silenced by the blue haired girls voice. "Just because I'm quiet and generally kind, does not mean I'm going to stand back and watch some little girl with no breasts or hips try and flirt with my man… And on a side note, you're not going to Hell or even Heaven, you're going to Purgatory."

Everyone watched on in amazement as their normally kind friend told off the little girl. Nagato was in love. They all took one giant step away from the shy Hyuga Heiress, except for Naruto who was blissfully unaware. When the shy girl noticed that, she blushed deeply and sputtered a bit.

"Wait," Kim said, catching everyone's attention, along with the little girl's and her little group of friends. "Purgatory is that place between Heaven and Hell where all the monsters go." That little factoid caused everyone to break out into boisterous laughter, and the normally stoic ones let out a few chuckles. Kakashi just sighed.

The girl stormed over to her friends, where they gave them a group glare. The ninja group returned the glared full force making the little middle-school girls ran away screaming in fear. When they were gone, the group decided to start heading on over to the houses, ready for candy.

The first house they stopped at was pretty lame, and was lacking any decorations aside from two carved pumpkins on the porch. They felt generous and decided to help the owners get into the spirit of Halloween, by decorating a bit. Naruto pulled off the backpack he had on and opened it up to reveal rolls of toilet paper. Running as fast as they could, they ran around the house covering everything in sight in toilet paper. It hung from the tree, the roof, the gates, and covered the lawn, the bushes, and the front porch. Quickly running out to the street, they got a good look at their handiwork.

At one of the houses an old woman kept pinching Naruto and Sasuke's cheeks. Then at another house a woman, who was throwing a fancy party, gave out bags filled with carrot and celery sticks. The future Hokage whipped out his trusty backpack, and pulled out a few cartons of eggs. There were enough eggs so everyone could get six each. How Naruto had fit all the egg cartons and rolls of toilet paper in his pack, no one knew, nor did they care.

The woman and her guests watched on in shock as eggs made impact on her sparkling clean windows. The eggs seemingly came out of nowhere. Then they all watched on in horror as words that looked to be written in blood, started to appear on the windows. The message said 'You have disrupted the sacred tradition of candy giving with your vegetables. Now face the consequences'. The woman promptly fainted from fear.

"I think it's time to head on over to the mansion," Itachi stated as they all watched the ambulance drive away with the unconscious woman. He then had to drag his sister away from the grateful butler, thanking her for a most marvelous evening.

They arrived back at the mansion thirty minutes before the party was set to start. Standing before the gates, Kim led the birthday girl, by the hand, to the mansion. Jade took it all in as she skipped along with her best friend, silently wondering how the shorter girl didn't manage to trip along the way even as she hopped up the stairs.

The driveway was lined with Jack O'Lanterns with candles inside with a rose stuck on top and twinkling lights. The trees that followed the driveway had lights wrapped around them, and had little ghosts hanging from the branches. When they got to the front of the mansion, her eyes were wide. Pumpkins were spaced-out on every other step on the staircase on both sides. Hanging over the entrance was a large banner, courtesy of Konan, which said 'Happy Birthday Jade' in bold sparkly pink letters.

In the foyer there was more lights wrapped around everything. More pumpkins, black and pink streamers, and rose petals were scattered all over the floor. Her mouth dropped open when she saw the ballroom. Pink and black balloons littered the floor. Pink and black lights glowed from the chandelier. Food tables lined the wall adjacent to the entrance. On the other side tables where there guests could eat and rest were situated. There was also a table that already had a few presents placed on top of it. At the far side, directly across from the large doors, was a stage. On the stage was a DJs station, a karaoke machine and a few microphone stands. There were a few more tables outside.

Jade ran out the door and out to the backyard. She gasped in excitement. There were speakers set up on either side of the doors, that would allow the music to be heard while outside. The pool was glowing with pink and black rose heads floating around in it. All the trees had spider webs swaying softly from the branches, giving them a haunting look.

She walked back into the ballroom. Stopping at the cake she started jumping up and down in glee. Everything was perfect. They had done an amazing job at decorating the place. Not to mention that the location was fantastic. Jade loved scary movies, and for her to have her party at a haunted mansion was a dream come true.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you all so much," she shouted jumping up and down.

"You're welcome. It was nothing, dattebayo," Naruto said, giving a bashful wave, his cheeks flushing slightly.

"Hey, I fell off of walls putting up decorations," Kim yelled at the blond. "You don't get to take all the credit. It was a group effort."

"Dobe," Sasuke muttered smacking his best friend over the head. Before they could start arguing Sakura pushed them away from each other, causing them to fall over.

"One question," Jade spoke up. "What's with the fuzzball cupcakes? How is that even remotely scary?"

"It just is," Kakashi growled out, slumping his shoulders. He pouted, but no one could see it under his mask.

"Let's party," Deidara shouted when he heard the sound of guests arriving.

In the next thirty minutes the place was filling up with teenagers. The pile of presents on the table had risen to great heights. Ren had taken his place on the stage, acting as the DJ and parental supervision. Some kid had tried to spike the punch, and was promptly punched in the face. Also his liquor was confiscated.

Naruto nursed a bright red spot on his cheek while Sakura was fuming, and Kim was happy.