This one's in honour of Canada Day, though it takes place on the fictional National Day of The Land of Fire.

Again, just to clarify, this story is part of a series of oneshots. This is number 10, so there are 9 stories that take place before this one. A lot of things probably won't make too much sense if you haven't read the rest and it won't have the same impact.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything and am not profiting off of this.

Frantic First of July

"Open!" Sasuke shouted.

Kiba's head jerked towards him before turning back to face Naruto and Shino who were crowding closer.

Gritting his teeth, Sasuke tried again. "Open!"

Suddenly whirling around, Kiba's arms were a blur. The orange ball colliding with his chest caught Sasuke off guard, but he recovered quickly and grasped it with his hands.

Racing forward, Sasuke took the shot, arms outstretched.

Nothing but net.

"Dammit!"

Sasuke smirked.

"Hey, nice shot."

Eyebrows raised ever so slightly, Sasuke turned around to see Kiba standing before him with a clenched fist held out.

Bumping the fist neatly, Sasuke responded, "It helps when you get a clean pass like that."

The two boys nodded at each other while Naruto yelled in the background. "Shikamaru, what kind of shitty teammate are you?"

"Playing ball on such a hot day is too troublesome."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the overheard remark and caught Kiba's eyes during the motion. They shared small, cautious smiles.

Then Kiba was jogging off to join the rest of the boys. "Don't be such a sore loser, Naruto!" he exclaimed, jumping on Naruto's back. "Chouji was sneaking chips the entire time, so we were both down a player," he continued, clinging onto Naruto's back as the other boy flailed around in an attempt to keep his balance. Akamaru, who Kiba brought everywhere and who had been sitting at the sidelines, jumped up from his seat and tried to play with them, causing Naruto more grief.

"Oi! Get off!" Naruto cried.

"Make me!"

Sasuke shook his head from his position a little ways off from Naruto, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, Shikamaru and Chouji. He couldn't believe they had gotten to this point, even though it had taken the better part of a month.

Naruto had taken it upon himself to force their entire freshmen grade to hang out. He'd gathered everyone on several summer outings and slowly the others had started reciprocating. All of June had been spent on picnics, group trips to the local pool and casual hangouts at someone's house. And once they had gotten wind that outside of these group activities the girls were also doing their own thing together, none of the boys were eager to be outdone.

Thus the biweekly basketball game tradition had been born.

Of course, it hadn't been easy. Shino and Kiba both weren't exactly happy with Sasuke, even if their reason for feeling this way – Hinata –had clearly made peace with Sasuke. There was also Shikamaru and Chouji's tendency to stick together despite their friendliness. Somehow, though, they had made progress enough to actually call each other friends.

And considering that Kiba had gone from refusing to acknowledge Sasuke as a teammate to actually passing him the ball? And then complimenting him?

It was nothing short of a miracle.

"Sasuke, stop being a creeper and come over here!" Naruto shouted, breaking Sasuke from his reverie.

He blinked and refocused on the other guys, finding that they were all staring at him.

"Sasuke! Sasuke! SASUKE!" The guys started chanting, breaking out into weird dance moves. Naruto was attempting to break dance, Shino was doing the sprinkler, Shikamaru was doing the shuffle, Chouji was doing the worm and Kiba was…twerking?

Akamaru barked joyfully.

Sasuke hung his head in embarrassment while his 'friends' acted like some kind of messed up cheerleading team.

'Seriously. Why did I decide that becoming more sociable was a good idea? At least I should have picked some less weird people to spend time with…Then again, I'm pretty sure normal people don't exist in Konoha.'

"Stop being idiots or I'm just going to turn around and walk away!" he threatened, even as he walked towards them.

"Nah, man, I just can't be tamed," Kiba quipped, continuing to twerk though the rest of the guys had ceased in their dancing.

"Kiba," Shino started in his serious voice, "You…are doing that incorrectly. This…is how you twerk." Shino then performed the most magnificent example of twerking any of the guys had ever seen.

"Damn, Shino, you're so good at that! What the fuck?" Naruto questioned, awed.

"Did Hinata-chan teach you?" Kiba asked, sounding outraged.

Shino abruptly stood up straight. "She likes me better than you."

While the two began arguing, Sasuke turned around to hide his fire-engine red face. He held his hands to his heated cheeks, trying to calm his rushing blood.

"Heh. Thinking dirty thoughts?"

Sasuke glared at Shikamaru but said nothing. The other boy laughed.

"Hey, Shikamaru. We should go to the grocery store now. Everyone's counting on us to buy the meat for the barbeque," Chouji suddenly spoke up.

Shikamaru rolled his shoulders before walking over to Chouji sluggishly. "You're right. We should get going."

"What's all this about, huh?" asked Naruto.

"Our families and the Yamanakas always have a barbeque at Senju Park to celebrate the land of Fire's national day," Chouji explained.

"No way! Me and Shino's and Hinata's families do that too!" Kiba remarked.

"It is not so surprising. Why? Because Senju Park is conveniently located and has the best fireworks display. Many families gather there," Shino said.

"We should definitely combine our families! We'll take over the entire park!" Kiba cheered.

Shikamaru turned to regard Sasuke and Naruto thoughtfully. "What about you two? Are you doing anything special today?"

Naruto rubbed at the back of his neck. "To tell ya the truth, I totally forgot today was the first of July! Me n' the pervy Sage usually buy a bunch of wicked fireworks to set off in our yard, but he's on some research field trip for his latest book."

Sasuke simply shook his head in the negative. 'I'm usually by myself. And even though Itachi's finally around, he's gone back to university for whatever reason…'

"You should join us, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun," Chouji invited, smiling kindly. The other three boys nodded readily.

Sasuke looked at Naruto questioningly and the blond grinned back at him widely. Hooking an arm around Sasuke's shoulder, Naruto spoke for the both of them. "We'll be there! Just tell us the time and place!"

"We usually meet at five o'clock," Shino said.

"5:30 for us," Shikamaru offered.

"I guess just show up between then," Kiba suggested, "Call or text one of us if you don't see us. But we're pretty hard to miss."

"Sounds like a plan!" Naruto said. "Well, I guess we'll see you there."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto's hastiness. "Hold on. Should we bring anything? I don't want to just turn up empty-handed when we're already crashing your family gathering," he said, brows furrowing a bit. 'I don't want to intrude, but Naruto already said we would go…'

"Hey, none of that!" Kiba said, "You're not crashing anything. With all of us there, we're gonna turn this into the biggest party ever! It'll be great! You just need to show up."

Sasuke looked up, surprised. When he saw nothing but warm friendliness in Kiba's eyes, Sasuke felt a bit choked up.

Luckily the silence didn't last long.

"You don't have to bring anything, but I'd never turn down food!" Chouji cut in cheekily.

Shino sighed. "You interrupted an important moment of friendship," he said tonelessly.

"Actually, I think you ruined the moment by acknowledging that it was a moment," Shikamaru countered.

"Man, shut up! There was no moment! I'm too manly for something that wimpy!" Kiba said, an embarrassed blush overtaking his features.

"Hah! Shows what you know! Only a super wimpy dude would care about something like that. Me, on the other hand, well, I'm super manly and I have manly moments of friendship every other minute!" Naruto boasted.

Sasuke simply shook his head. 'Weirdos,' he thought fondly.

Sitting on his front steps, waiting on Naruto, Sasuke pulled out his cellphone. Opening up Candy Crush Saga, he stared despondently at the counter displaying zero lives and twenty minutes to go. He thumbed through a few other apps before opening up his contacts folder and scrolling down to Itachi's name.

Holding the phone up to his ear, Sasuke's eyebrows rose in surprise when the call didn't immediately get picked up. Sasuke was ready to hang up when the ringer finally stopped and panting filled the line.

"Itachi? What's up, you sound out of breath," he asked, disconcerted.

"F-Foolish little brother. It is important…to exercise both…the brain and the body for optimal fitness. You have simply…caught me in the middle of a training session," Itachi answered.

'Since when does Itachi get out of breath? I've seen him run a marathon and finish first place without so much as breaking a sweat.'

"You act as if I don't already practice that," he grumbled.

"I'm sure you do," Itachi said, sounding less harried now. "Is something wrong? You don't usually call me."

Sasuke shifted unconsciously and then immediately stilled even though Itachi couldn't see the movement. "Nothing's wrong. I just…wanted to talk. Ask if you had any big plans for today."

"I have courses and volunteer work to fill my time, as well as work. I'm very busy, actually."

Frowning slightly, Sasuke responded, "I didn't mean to bother you…"

Itachi sighed into the receiver. "You're never a bother, Sasuke. But I must go. Have fun today with your friends and, Sasuke?"

"Yes?"

"Please, be careful."

"What –?" The dial tone sounded in his ear and Sasuke stared at his phone in astonishment.

'Did Itachi just hang up on me? And how did he even know I was hanging out with friends today? I guess it's not that big of a leap in logic, but still…'

A loud yell interrupted his thoughts.

"OI, SASUKE! WHYA STARING AT YOUR PHONE LIKE IT'S CALCULUS HOMEWORK?"

Sasuke continued to stare at this phone, disturbed. "I think…I just got blown off…by Itachi."

"WHAT!?" Naruto squatted down in front of Sasuke, disbelief etched across his face. "No way! Your bro could totally give Neji a run for his money in an overly-attentive big brothers competition."

Finally looking up at Naruto, Sasuke gave him his best death glare. "Don't even try comparing the two! Besides, Neji's not even an actual big brother. He's just a cousin."

Naruto looked thoughtful. "I'm not sure if that makes it creepier or not," he mused.

"Definitely creepier," Sasuke said decisively.

Standing up, Sasuke peered around Naruto to his empty driveway. "So, no car?"

Naruto shook his head, a disappointed look on his face. "Nah, Sakura's got some family thing, so she can't come with us today. I called Sai too and he said that he has some work-type thing, but he might make it later.

"Too bad," Sasuke said, referring more to Sakura than Sai. "I guess that means we're walking." He started in the direction of the convenience store, Naruto following closely behind.

"Duuude, all I want in life is a car," Naruto groaned. "Also to be President of Fire Country and to not die a virgin…not necessarily in that order"

Sasuke stuck his hands in his pockets. "Don't look at me. I already gave you your first kiss. I am not helping you out with the other one. Also, you really need to work on your tendency to overshare."

"Hey! That was totally your first kiss too so don't try and act all high and might about it! Besides, I'm not really into the fellas and even if I was there's no way you'd be my type. The whole emo thing is way dated."

Sasuke shoved Naruto, who only laughed in response.

"Tell me again, between the two of us, who's painted their nails before?"

"I was babysitting Moegi! You try turning that girl down! And it's not like it was black polish, so it wasn't even emo."

Sasuke smirked. "Semantics."

Naruto stuck his tongue out. "Whatever. This the place?" he asked, staring at the shop called 'Nekobaa's Convi' just across the street.

Sasuke nodded, jaywalking to enter the store.

"Sasu-chan!" an elderly lady immediately greeted.

"Hey, Granny," Sasuke greeted politely, not even blinking at her black-painted nose and cat-ear headband. Meanwhile, Naruto gaped unattractively.

The woman smiled, whipping out another cat-ear headband and putting it on Sasuke's head. Except for a minor eye twitch, Sasuke made no fuss about this. "Tamaki is out running errand. She'll be so upset that she missed you."

"Say hi for me," he told her as he picked up a shopping basket. Navigating his way to the back of the store, he heard Granny offering Naruto a head band, but didn't catch Naruto's stuttered response.

Quickly grabbing several boxes of popsicles and a few bags of chips, Sasuke was back at the cash register in a matter of minutes. Nevertheless, in the time that he'd been gone, Granny had apparently roped Naruto into a date with her granddaughter.

"And here she is at her closing ceremony, look how many prizes she won. And here she is feeding the cats, aren't they so cute!"

Naruto nodded along frantically, sending a pleading look Sasuke's way. "Sure, sure. Super cute! I'll definitely give her a call! But Sasuke and I really need to go now."

Sasuke took pity on his best friend. "He's right. Our friends are counting on these snacks," he said, gesturing to the full basket. "Can you ring these up, please?"

"Of course!" she said.

Paying for the food, Sasuke handed Naruto one of the bags and waved fondly at Granny.

"You be sure to call my Tamaki, okay Naru-chan?"

"Yes, mam!" Naruto said, saluting with one hand and ushering Sasuke out the door with the other.

"Man, that lady is persistent!" Naruto exclaimed, shooting a wary glance back at the store. "Did she get you too?"

Sasuke smirked. "The first time I came here was with Itachi. I don't know what he said to her, but she's never tried to set me up with Tamaki after that first initial attempt."

"Aw, man," Naruto whined, "I want a creepily overprotective older brother!"

"He's not creepy!"

"Ah, Sasuke?"

"Yes?"

"I just realized…you have a cat on your head."

"Huh?" Sasuke's eyes shot upwards, though it didn't actually help him see anything. Reaching up, he pried a fluffy cat off his head. Holding it with outstretched arms, he leveled a blank look at it. "Denka," he said seriously, "You need to go back home."

Then, setting the cat carefully on the ground, he stared at it disapprovingly until it turned around and scurried back towards the shop and through the little cat door.

Naruto glanced back and forth between the shop and his friend. "It's moments like these that I remember that no matter how normal you try to act, you're actually as much of a weirdo as the rest of us…"

Sasuke shrugged. "Let's just hurry up before these popsicles melt. It probably would have been a good idea to bring a cooler."

"I'm sure someone will have one we can use," Naruto said. He peeked into the bag he was carrying. "What did you get anyway? Just chips and popsicles?"

"I figured the parents would have the real food covered. I don't think anyone is excepting us to bring coleslaw or a potato salad."

"True. And neither of us can cook for shit. We might even be worse than Sakura."

Sasuke looked at Naruto seriously. "Nobody's worse at cooking than Sakura."

As Naruto began to reminisce on some of Sakura's worst dishes, something occurred to Sasuke.

"Hey." He waited until he had Naruto's full attention before continuing. "Are you really going to go on that date with Tamaki?"

Naruto looked affronted. "Of course! I promised her grandmother and I never go back on my promises! Besides, she looked pretty cute in those pictures and even if she's as strange as her grandmother, I'm sure we'll have fun."

Biting his lip, Sasuke worried about how to ask what he was really wondering. "What about…Sakura?" he asked awkwardly. "Don't you still…?"

The grin Naruto put on then was a little sad around the corners. It made Sasuke frown.

"Sakura's one of my best friends. She knows how I feel – I know I'm not the most subtle guy around – and she's been pretty clear about her feelings. The truth it, right now she doesn't see me that way…"

Naruto turned his face to the sky, blue eyes reflecting the sun's rays. "And for me…our friendship is my top priority. So I'm gonna take a page out of the book of a really smart girl who I never deserved: I'm gonna be the best friend I can be and just try and make her happy. And I'm not gonna sit around waiting, making her feel guilty or pressured or anything like that. Maybe one day she'll change her mind, but maybe she won't. It won't be the end of the world because we'll always be in each other's lives."

He chuckled a little. "As for Tamaki, I'm gonna be real clear that it's just a friend thing. You can never have too many friends, right?"

"I'm not sure I agree with you on that," Sasuke said absently, mind still occupied with Naruto's words. As long as Sasuke had known Naruto, the other boy had always been crushing hard on Sakura. Sasuke had honestly never understood it and had never given it much thought. But now that he was think about it, having the girl you like be completely infatuated with your best friend must feel awful.

'Thinking about Hinata's crush on Naruto made me feel like shit and that's not even really comparable considering she got over it before I even began liking her. But for Naruto it's been an ongoing thing…'

Seeing the normally exuberant Naruto look so subdued just felt wrong. But Sasuke got it. Though he wasn't as close to her as Naruto, Sasuke was also friends with Sakura. He'd noticed the sad expressions that would cross her face whenever Naruto did something selfless purely to make her smile. He'd just never really cared before, except for wishing that Sakura would just give in because it would make Sasuke's life much easier with one less crazy fangirl. Naruto cared for her where Sasuke didn't, so why couldn't she just go for the guy that was actually interested?

However, having finally acknowledged Sakura as a real person and accepted her friendship, Sasuke found that he understood her side now too.

Because the way Sakura felt about Naruto, was the way Sasuke felt about Sakura.

And whereas Sasuke had for the longest time just taken to ignoring Sakura and her inconvenient feelings because they made him uncomfortable, Sakura had maintained a close friendship with Naruto despite that. She powered through the moments when Naruto's unspoken feelings would cause a strain in their friendship and had continued to be there for him no matter any discomfort it may have caused her.

Moreover, the admirable way she supported Sasuke's own feelings for Hinata…

She was really putting him to shame in the friend department, not that it should have been surprising.

Nobody had ever accused Sasuke of being a good friend.

'This whole taking an active interest in your friends' lives thing kind of sucks.'

Bumping his shoulder companionably against Naruto's, Sasuke smirked ruefully. "We might just make a responsible adult out of you yet," he commented.

Naruto laughed, his grin brightening just a touch. "So…this is probably a bad time to mention the illegal fireworks I got from the Land of Snow, huh?"

"How illegal are we talking? Kakashi-sensei-reading –during-advising-sessions illegal or Anko-sensei's-obstacle-course-of-death-gym-final illegal?"

"Try Granny-Tsunade's-gambling-with-government-funds illegal!"

"Wait, did she really do that?"

"She tried. Shizune-san stopped her in time, though."

"I don't know how much they pay Shizune-san, but I'm sure that it's not enough."

"Word."

"Damn, Kiba wasn't kidding when he said they weren't hard to spot!"

Sasuke nodded, staring across the park at the enormous, white canopy tent set-up. If there was any doubt as to who it belonged to, the large Hyuuga flame symbol emblazoned on every side took care of that.

Naruto whistled, impressed. "The Hyuugas don't mess around."

Sasuke probably should have felt a bit shaken by the large number of identical looking Hyuugas milling about, but it was strangely comforting. It reminded him of the clan gatherings the Uchihas used to have before most of them lost their lives in service during the bombings that had coincided with the fourth President's assassination. Only Sasuke's family had been left, and even that hadn't lasted very long.

"C'mon, Sasuke! The popsicles are melting!"

They jogged over to the canopies, keeping an eye out for familiar faces.

"Man, they all look the same," Naruto shout-whispered, earning dirty looks from several surrounding Hyuugas.

Sasuke elbowed him in the ribs. "You're not supposed to say things like that out loud."

Naruto wasn't listening. "There!"

A shrill scream sounded and Sasuke looked over to see that increasingly familiar indigo coloured hair.

"I'd recognize that scream anywhere! It's the same sound Ino made when she realized the turpentine was making her skin peel," Naruto said, laughing.

"Genma-sensei really should have given us gloves."

Naruto was already ducking out of the canopy to run around back. Sasuke shrugged and followed suit only to be knocked over by a thin body with too many pointy edges.

"Well, hello handsome. My day just got one hundred times better," Ino flirted, lifting her body off of Sasuke's but not actually getting up.

"I presume you need a cooler. Why? Because your bag is leaking," Shino said, coming over to stand beside them.

Ino immediately hopped to her feet. "Right! Let's go – Ah!"

Sasuke winced, both at the painfully high-pitched cry and the ice cold water that splashed against his shins.

"Tenten, that is not funny!"

"War isn't funny!"

"Stop shooting that thing at me!"

"U-Um, sorry, Ino-chan. That last one was my fault."

Sasuke gazed dazedly up at Hinata who had run up behind Tenten. She was clad in high-waisted shorts and a thin cropped t-shirt, holding a pretty heavy duty water gun in her hands. Still, it paled in comparison to the machine-gun-styled contraption that Tenten was expertly wielding.

"Et tu, Hina-chan?" Ino whined dramatically, hand against her heart.

Hinata looked shame-faced, shoulders slumping. And then Ino was charging her, stealing away her water gun.

Ino smirked at Hinata and Tenten's gaping faces. "You wanted a war? Well, now you've got one," she declared, pulling the trigger at Hinata. It went wide and hit Tenten instead.

Though Ino tried to keep her cool, her wide eyes gave her away.

Tenten grinned maniacally. "Oh, it's on," she said, taking aim.

"Time for a tactical retreat!" Ino shouted as she sprinted away, Tenten giving chase.

Hinata stared after them before bending down to pull a tiny pistol that had apparently been strapped to her ankle by her gladiator sandals.

"Will you really be okay with just that?" Sasuke asked, finally getting to his feet.

Hinata glanced at him in surprise, as if just noticing his presence. Before she could answer, however, Shino spoke up.

"She will be fine. Why? Because it is the ability that matters, not the size," he said wisely.

Nodding, Hinata aimed a bright smile at them, though Sasuke liked to think that it lingered a bit on him. "Shino-kun is right. I'll be fine. I'll catch up with you afterwards, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun!"

And then she was off, tearing across the field in the direction that Tenten and Ino had gone.

Naruto turned to Shino, face drawn tight. "Shino…what you said just now…you didn't mean that in a sexy way, did you?"

Sasuke threw the popsicle containing bag at Naruto's head.

"Ow!"

"Idiot. Let's just find a cooler."

"I'm just trying to strengthen our friendship! It's okay to talk about these kinds of things, ya know! No need to be embarrassed!"

Shino simply turned and started walking away.

"What is this place?" Naruto asked as Shino led them to an enclosed tent. The rest of the Hyuuga's set-up was open, only meant to provide shade and cover from potential bad weather.

Shino unzipped an opening and stepped inside. "A travesty," he answered gravely, holding the opening as Naruto and Sasuke squeezed inside.

"Naruto-kun! Sasuke-kun! You made it!" Chouji cried. He was lounging against a body pillow, holding a can of pop in his hands. Sasuke could see the condensation on the cool metal and it made him thirsty.

"Want one?" Shikamaru offered, gesturing to a line of coolers set up against the far wall.

Sasuke held up the plastic bag. "Why not? Might need to make room for these," he said.

Chouji sat up at this. "You brought food!" he cheered.

Sasuke nodded, dumping the popsicle boxes into one of the coolers and, once his hands were empty, pulling out a can of pop. Naruto had already abandoned the bag containing the chips and was instead prodding at a soft looking pillow.

"No, seriously though, what is this place?" he asked, collapsing against the pillow.

Grinning, Chouji answered, "Isn't it awesome? It's meant to keep bugs out. Plus it's so much cooler in here!"

Shino huffed and left the tent, zipping up the door in an excessively noisy fashion.

"That might have been a bit insensitive," Shikamaru pointed out. His passive demeanor made his chiding words very unconvincing.

'Hasn't Shino been celebrating with the Hyuugas for years? You'd think he'd be used to it by now…'

"I can't believe Bug Boy's still not over it."

Sasuke's eyebrows rose in surprise at the sound of a new voice and he immediately began to look for the owner.

A pale arm appeared out of a pile of large pillows that lay in the middle of the tent.

Naruto shrieked. "What the fuck?!"

Another arm appeared and then, slowly, a whole body. "Ugh, it was getting sweaty down there, even if it did feel like sleeping on a cloud," a young, brunette girl complained.

"Who is that?" Naruto yelled, pointing rudely.

"Oi, did anyone ever teach you any manners? Or how to dress? That neon shade of orange is not a good look," the girl taunted, gracefully picking up a nearby fan.

Chouji smiled kindly at the girl. "Hanabi-chan, how was your nap?"

Hanabi yawned behind her hand. "It was fine, thank you Chouji-san," she said. Then, her head snapped over to Shikamaru, eyes narrowing. "Hey, lazy, make yourself useful and fan me!" Hanabi ordered, holding out the fan imperiously.

"What a drag," Shikamaru groaned as he picked himself up and did as Hanabi commanded.

"Hey, why is Shikamaru letting that girl boss him around?" Naruto asked Chouji in a loud whisper.

Looking a bit sympathetic for his friend, Chouji answered, "He tripped over her when we first came in. Neji was with us."

Naruto winced. "Bad luck."

Meanwhile, Sasuke was standing there wondering why it seemed like he and Hanabi were the same person.

'First the Shino thing and then the comment on Naruto's wardrobe? Do I have the mind of an eleven year old girl?!'

Sasuke shuddered.

The door behind him unzipped again and Kiba's head popped in. "Naruto! Sasuke! Shino told me you'd finally shown up! What are you two losers doing all cooped up in here?" he asked

As he and Naruto turned to regard Kiba, Sasuke noticed Hanabi's head whip around. When he glanced back, he saw her glaring at him.

"Sasu…ke?" she mouthed, a look of angry confusion painted across her face.

'Shit. I may have made peace with Kiba and Shino, but I'm pretty sure that Neji is still pissed at me for what happened with Hinata. And I didn't even consider her sister. It's bad enough that I have the mind of an eleven year old girl, getting my ass handed to me by a real one would be too much.'

"C'mon, let's do something more fun than just lying around here," Kiba urged.

Naturally, Naruto was game. "Sure, man. Do ya have a soccer ball or something?" he asked.

Kiba grinned. "'Course. We can play a little two-on-two. Watch out though, me and Shino are a killer team; the only thing better than the two of us together is when Hina-chan joins in," he boasted.

"You're on!" Naruto crowed. Sasuke simply nodded and started to follow Kiba out of the tent.

"Oi!"

Sasuke turned around to once more meet that pale-eyed glare. He waited anxiously for the confrontation.

Slowly, Hanabi's gaze slid past him. "Kiba-kun, have you seen my sister?" she demanded.

Shrugging, Kiba said, "Last I saw, she was having some kind of Mexican standoff with Tenten and Ino. Looked pretty intense."

Hanabi nodded curtly and then sat up. She walked briskly towards the tent's opening and made sure to shoulder Sasuke on her way out.

Stumbling a little, Sasuke righted himself. 'Damn, she's pretty strong for someone who must weigh about ninety pounds…'

Sasuke shook it off and followed Naruto and Kiba out of the tent.

They met up with Shino, who had the ball in hand, and found a relatively uncrowded area. Using rocks to mark a single goal, they played a surprisingly vigorous game. Sasuke suspected that Akamaru, who would sometimes run through their game and confuse everyone, had been trained to act as yet another member to Shino and Kiba's team. Twenty minutes later a soaking Tenten came by wanting to join, so Shino graciously stepped aside. Kiba hadn't been kidding about his and Shino's teamwork and so, in comparison, he and Tenten made for a much weaker pairing even with Akamaru's help. Sasuke and Naruto quickly gained the upper hand, though Tenten had enough skill to keep the game interesting.

Tenten had just scored a goal when Lee ran over, energetic as usual.

"Friends!" Lee greeted. "What a youthful pastime. Would you have room for one more in this match?"

Sasuke wiped some sweat off his brow. "I think I'll tag out," he said.

Thanking him profusely, Lee held up his right hand. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke granted him the high five.

Feeling thirsty, Sasuke decided to head back to the Hyuuga tent. On his way over he passed by a sopping wet Ino crouching beside Shino as they studied a patch of flowers, speaking quietly.

'Knowing Shino, he's probably looking at the insects, more than the flowers. I'm surprised Ino can stand it, though I guess they kind of go hand in hand.'

Ducking into the tent quickly to grab a Gatorade, Sasuke was surprised to note that it was empty. He'd been sure Chouji and Shikamaru would waste the entire day there, at least until barbeque time.

Stepping back out into the sun, Sasuke took a deep swig of his drink, casually surveying the park.

"You're no good at explaining things, Neji-nii! Tell him, Hinata-onee-chan!"

"Um, well…"

Interest immediately piqued, Sasuke turned towards the familiar voices. He had to bite back a smirk at the sight of Hinata caught between an arguing Hanabi and Neji.

From what Sasuke could catch, the two Hyuugas seemed to be arguing over who could better improve Hinata's Frisbee technique. They were really getting into it, leaning towards each other and speaking in that terse, Hyuuga-version of yelling.

And Hinata…outside of the slight discomfort she showed whenever they tried to involve her in their fight…she looked…at peace, happy.

She was beautiful.

And then that beautiful smile was turned his way.

"Sasuke-kun!" she called. "Would you like to join us?"

Sasuke blinked and then affected a cool shrug. "Sure," he said nonchalantly, making his way over in a quick, but not overeager, fashion. He took note that their little Frisbee group actually included Chouji and Shikamaru as well along with a scantily clad Temari.

'Shit. If she's here then…'

He tried to survey the area, looking for that detested redhead but instead met the icy gaze of Neji.

"I will excuse myself from the game, Hinata-sama. I wanted to speak with Lee about something. Hanabi-sama, make sure nothing untoward happens," Neji said curtly.

"Nii-san…" Hinata looked dismayed at his departure, but was quickly distracted by Hanabi.

"Now that Mr. Kill-Joy is gone, here's how you actually throw a Frisbee efficiently," Hanabi lectured. She demonstrated a throw, dictating every movement of her limbs. Sasuke expected her to do a fake out and then hand Hinata the Frisbee so she could try, but instead the disc came rushing at his face.

Stopping the flying disc swiftly between two hands, Sasuke aimed an annoyed glare at the smug girl. "Nice shot," he said sarcastically, "But I think that technique is a little too aggressive for Hinata-chan." He held out the Frisbee to Hinata and when she took hold of it, he kept his grasp on it.

Meeting her confused eyes, he smirked. "Let me show you," he said. Moving behind her, he took her through the motions of a throw. "You should keep the Frisbee level with your stomach to make sure that it doesn't go flying off course," he instructed, lowering their hands until they were level with the centre of Hinata's abdomen. "When you're throwing, make sure to extend your arm fully and flick your wrist," he said, continuing to move their arms together.

There wasn't a single point of contact between their bodies, but Sasuke could see goosebumps prick up along Hinata's arms, presumably from his proximity. His own skin seemed to tingle despite the fact that they weren't even touching. Huffing out a nervous breath, he noticed that it caused the stray hairs falling out of Hinata's messy ponytail to sway gently. Hinata shivered ever so slightly and Sasuke forced himself to take a step back.

"There," he said, voice just slightly deeper than its usual pitch, "Try it yourself."

Hinata nodded seriously, eyes focused on Chouji, who stood across from her. "Chouji-kun, this one's going to you!" she said, adding a quiet "Hopefully" under her breath.

She curled her arm inwards and then flung it back out quickly, releasing her grip on the Frisbee at the last moment. The disc flew forward for a good couple of meters before veering to the left. Temari's quick hand was the only reason Shikamaru didn't get smacked in the face.

"Oh!" Hinata cried out. "I'm so sorry, Shikamaru-kun!"

Shikamaru waved the apology off. "No problem. At least this one helped me out," he said, nodding towards Temari.

Temari scowled playfully. "This one? I've got a name, crybaby. Try using it."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "I will when you do," he said.

"Hey! Stop flirting you two and let's play!" Hanabi yelled, arms crossed against her chest. "It's bad enough they do this all day at our place, you'd think they'd get bored of it," she grumbled to Hinata.

Hinata giggled lightly. "Well it may seem boring to us, but if you like someone, even something boring can become exciting."

"Speaking from experience?" Hanabi asked impishly and, like clockwork, Hinata's face lit up with a blush.

"Hey, Hanabi-chan, this one's to you!" Temari warned, a devious grin stretching across her face.

"I'm gonna die of boredom over here before you finally throw it!" Hanabi retorted.

The Frisbee bounced between them without any pattern. Temari and Hanabi were unequivocally the best; Temari's throws tended to be forceful while Hanabi's were deadly accurate. Chouji was quite good as well, though his throws tended to suffer from a lack of force due to his gentle nature rather than any weakness. Shikamaru's throws varied in skill depending on how much Temari teased him and Hinata's were fine except for that the disc rarely reached the person she was aiming at.

Sasuke did well enough, though he didn't put too much effort into the game, more concerned with watching Hinata and giving her tips every now and then.

They must have been playing around for nearly an hour when Chouji, who had just caught a rather violent pitch from Temari, straightened up, nose lifted towards the sky.

"They started barbequing?" Shikamaru deduced.

Chouji nodded keenly. "Yep. Smells like they're starting with the burgers." He looked around at them. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving. Ready to quit?"

"Definitely!" Hanabi said. "Come on, Hinata-onee-chan! We better get over there and make sure Tsume-san doesn't burn ours to a crisp!" She tugged Hinata's hand and, after a quick glance at Sasuke, Hinata allowed herself to be pulled away. Chouji followed closely.

Sasuke was watching them go when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder.

"Wanna head over?" Shikamaru asked. Sasuke nodded and followed Shikamaru, and Temari into the crowd.

There were several barbeque pits set up around the park by various families. The smell of cooking meat and grilling vegetables seemed to surround the entire area; it was mouthwatering but a bit overwhelming.

The Hyuuga's set up was moderately sized, but reeked of expense. Tsume Inuzuka stood at the mouth of one of the grills, grinning rather maniacally as she turned the metal spokes skewering sizzling beef. A wary looking Shibi Aburame was situated beside her, murmuring advice that she laughed off. Chouza Akimichi was heading a second barbeque, his hands a blur as he eagerly cooked and distributed burgers and hot dogs to any empty plate in the vicinity. The other two barbeques that completed the square were manned by Hyuugas that Sasuke didn't recognize.

He saw Hinata and Hanabi along with Kiba, Shino and Ino chatting amiably with Tsume as they filled their plates, but allowed himself to be ushered to the line leading towards Chouza.

"Hey look," Shikamaru said, "Even Sai managed to make an appearance."

Sure enough, Sai was in another line having what looked to be a surprisingly pleasant conversation with Kankuro.

"I guess he made it after all," Sasuke mused, not particularly caring all that much.

"Aren't those the teachers from your school," Temari pointed out. Following her outstretched arm, Sasuke saw Kakashi, Anko, Genma, Asuma and a heavily pregnant Kurenai. They appeared to have their own modest set up nearby the Hyuuga one. "It must be weird seeing your teachers hanging out like real people," she continued.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Asuma-sensei takes Chouji, Ino and I out for lunch sometimes as an advisor group. Sometimes I spend my breaks with him at school and we play Shoji. He's pretty cool, for a teacher."

"Even if he's always at least an hour late, Kakashi-sensei does spend a decent amount of time with us," Sasuke admitted. "And I know that Hinata-chan, Kiba and Shino are really close with Kurenai-sensei."

One hand on her hip, Temari looked incredulous. "Weird," she said and left it at that.

Realizing that they hadn't moved in a while, Sasuke glanced around in confusion. He wondered why the traffic at Chouza's set up seemed to be at a standstill when just a minute ago it had been moving so quickly. Looking at the front of the line, he expected to see Chouji greedily hoarding all the food he could weasel out of his father, but instead saw Naruto doing much the same. He exchanged glances with an amused Shikamaru and cut to the front of the line, shoving Naruto towards a nearby picnic table.

"You were being a tool," he told an affronted Naruto as he liberated two hot dogs and a burger from the considerable pile on the blond's plate.

"I'm a growing boy!" Naruto argued, though he made no move to retrieve the food Sasuke had taken.

Scoffing, Sasuke glanced at their plates and frowned. "I need something to drink. I'll grab you a coke?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, already digging into his food.

Heading back to the barbeque set up, Sasuke crouched down at an open and overflowing cooler beside the stand and plucked out two cokes. Turning around, he almost keeled over in shock when he found two pale eyes peeking out at him from behind long brown hair.

'Creepy.'

He moved out of the way, hoping that she just needed a drink as well, but no such luck. Hanabi continued to stare him down with unblinking eyes.

"Yes?" he asked tonelessly, eyebrow quirked in a display of mild interest.

"So you're Sasuke, huh?" she said, clearly unimpressed.

"That's me."

Sweeping her gaze from head to foot, she matched his raised brow with one of her own. "Apparently you're a dumbass, but Hinata-onee-chan likes you, so whatever. It's her life. I don't get the appeal though. Just know that if you mess with her again, I'll definitely kick your ass. For now, though, I won't actively try to make your life miserable."

She flounced off before he could reply, which was probably for the best because Sasuke honestly didn't know what he would have said to that.

'Was that approval? Sadly, it's probably the closest I'll get from any of Hinata's family members…'

Shaking off the incidence, he went back to his table with Naruto and set down a coke in front of his friend. Taking the seat opposite him, Sasuke accepted the garbled 'thanks' and started to eat.

"So," Sasuke said in between bites of his burger, "Guess who's here."

"What, did another one of that grandma's cats smuggle its way here?" Naruto asked, shoving half a hot dog into his mouth.

Sasuke grimaced. "No. I meant a person."

Swallowing around his mouthful, Naruto looked thoughtfully to the side. "Hmm…oh! Was it that cross-dressing boy? Haku? He's pretty cool; we should hang out with him. Where is he?"

Sasuke ripped out another bite of his burger and chewed thoroughly, letting Naruto babble for a while. "No," he said, pausing to swallow and to let the unsaid 'Dope' make itself known, "I meant Sabaku no Temari."

Something flashed across Naruto's face too quickly for Sasuke to catalogue it. Then Naruto was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Temari, huh? Decided girls your own age are too troublesome? Ya might have to fight Shikamaru for her! Don't worry, I'm sure you can take him!"

Sasuke kicked Naruto under the table.

"Ow!"

"Idiot. If she's here, that probably means that brothers one and two are here as well. And even if brother one is a total dick, it's number two that I'm worried about," Sasuke said, frowning down at the wooden table top.

Naruto stopped rubbing his tender shin to dart his eyes from Sasuke to the ground back to Sasuke and then up to the sky. "Uh, which one's Brother One and which one's Brother Two again? When did we pick out code names? Can I be Rokudaime?"

Sasuke's head shot up, narrowed eyes focused on a blue gaze that kept trying to evade him. "Narutard. What do you know?"

Naruto shifted nervously under Sasuke's glare and it took less than a minute for him to cave. "Okay, so a two weeks after the closing ceremony I might have ran into Gaara and I was totally Team Sasuke and unfriendly, but he's really not a bad guy and so we maybe kinda exchanged numbers and mighta sorta been hanging out, so I kinda knew he was still around town…" At Sasuke's furious face, Naruto flinched backwards, nearly toppling off his seat. "I'm sorry! Don't kill me!"

"Traitor," Sasuke growled out. He felt completely betrayed.

'He's supposed to be my best friend! And yet he's sympathizing with the enemy! Worse! They've become friends!'

A mixture of anger and jealousy warred within Sasuke. 'He's my best friend. Not Gaara's. First Hinata, now this? That kid is taking everything from me!'

"So that eyebrowless wonder has been here, at Hinata's house, the entire summer and you didn't tell me? What the hell kind of best friend are you?!" Sasuke snarled. He was seriously considering reaching across the table and throttling the blond when suddenly a bowl was set down between them.

'Huh?'

"Um, I noticed you two d-didn't have a chance t-to get any salad…" Hinata said quietly, looking between them with concerned eyes. "I-It's not good to just fill up on meat and b-bread…" Soft lavender eyes lingered on Sasuke and he felt himself calming. A gentle hand on his shoulder was all that was needed to force the last remnants of tension from his body.

"Uh, yeah. Sure. Salad sounds great," he grunted. He continued to glare at Naruto for a moment, the ire still fresh in his mind though no longer controlling him. When the hand on his shoulder departed he immediately glanced up at Hinata, discontented. She smiled kindly at him.

"Thank you for t-teaching me how to throw a Frisbee p-properly, Sasuke-kun. I d-don't think I said it earlier, which w-was u-unforgivably rude of me," she said, serving salad onto his plate with a large spoon.

Refusing to second guess himself, he reached out and grasped her wrist. His hold was light, but he could still feel her tremble. "That's enough salad, thanks," he said, watching attentively as she blinked rapidly before finally taking in the meaning of his words.

"Right," she said. She made no move to extricate herself from his grasp. He didn't let go.

A small smile turned the corners of his lips, dark eyes crinkling at the corners. "It wasn't unforgivable. That's a bit melodramatic for you, Hinata-chan. Besides, if it's you, then I don't mind doing something like that."

He let go of her wrist then, enjoying the flush that rose to her cheeks.

Clearing her throat, Hinata turned to Naruto. "U-Um, N-Naruto-kun, would you like some salad?"

Naruto grinned cheekily. "Man, I was kinda enjoying the show." He shook his head. "Nah. I'm good Hina-chan! Gotta save room for dessert!"

"B-But, Naruto-kun! Protein and artificial sweeteners aren't enough for the body. It's important to have a b-balanced diet." Hinata eyed him beseechingly until he relented.

"Aw, fine. It's too hard to say no to you Hina-chan!" he flirted, albeit obliviously. Sasuke would have been more willing to pardon it if he wasn't already so mad.

He kicked Naruto under the table again. Hard.

"Lord Hokage's frilly granny panties!" Naruto yelled, falling backwards onto the ground clutching his leg.

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata kneeled down beside the fallen boy, hands held suspended in the air as if she didn't quite know what to do with them. After a beat of hesitation, she gently pried Naruto's own hand off his leg to take a peek. "I think that's g-going to b-bruise," she murmured, a slight frown creasing her forehead. "P-Perhaps we should put s-some ice on it."

Grinning, Naruto started to stand. "Nah, I'm fi – OW!" He stumbled. "Maybe the ice wouldn't be a bad idea," he said sheepishly.

"I c-could –"

"I'll take him," Sasuke said, standing up. Hinata tilted her head to the watch him as he swept down beside Naruto and helped the other boy up.

Once he was standing, Naruto shot her a quick smile. "Don't worry about it, Hina-chan. You should go back to eating. It's not good to skip meals, ya know."

Nodding slowly, Hinata remained stationary, watching as Sasuke and Naruto hobbled towards the Hyuuga tents.

Staring moodily ahead, Sasuke sighed. "Look, Naruto, I'm sorry," he said.

"Wow."

Sasuke ducked a glance at the blond, finding him still smiling as if nothing was wrong. "What?"

"Didn't expect you to actually say the words! Whenever you feel bad about something you did, you're usually just nicer to me for a couple'a days," Naruto said.

They entered the tent, finding it in the same state as it had been earlier: large, fluffy pillows strewn about and several coolers lined neatly against the back wall.

"Here." Sasuke supported Naruto in sitting down on one of the pillows and then went over to the coolers. He removed the popsicles they had brought from the plastic bag and instead filled the bag with some ice. Closing the cooler, he hesitated and grabbed a box of popsicles as well. Silently, he held the improvised ice-baggie against the wickedly red mark on Naruto's shin. Guilt weighed heavily on his chest and he didn't dare try to meet Naruto's eyes.

"Hey." Naruto nudged Sasuke with the foot of his injured leg. "Don't get all mopey on me. You already said you were sorry and it was kind of a dick move not to tell you about Gaara still being here. The way I see it, we're even.

Sasuke leveled an incredulous look at him. "I don't really thing they're comparable."

"Hmm." Naruto leaned back, eyes aimed upwards as he thought seriously. "Yeah, you're right. A bruise that'll heal in a couple days versus the girl of your dreams. No contest really. Wanna kick me again?" He offered up his other leg.

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke pushed away Naruto's legs and handed him the ice bag. "If you're going to be an idiot, then you have to ice yourself."

"Aw, man."

They sat in companionable silence, Naruto icing his leg and Sasuke popping open the box of popsicles. He passed the open box to Naruto, who dug into the bag with childish glee. "Lucky! I thought for sure Chouji would've inhaled 'em all the moment we left them here." He pulled out an orange popsicle and set to work on ripping open the packaging.

"I think Hanabi suckered him and Shikamaru into a Frisbee game before he had the chance. Temari probably helped." Sasuke pulled the box back and grabbed a blue popsicle. "I didn't mean to kick you so hard," he said quietly, nibbling at the icy treat.

"I figured. I'm not mad about that. But I am mad!"

Sasuke looked at Naruto expectantly. The blond pouted at his popsicle.

"I can't believe you actually thought I'd take the side of some guy I just met over my best friend! That lack of trust hurts, man," Naruto complained. His tone was joking, but Sasuke could detect an undercurrent of honesty in it. "I really don't think you need to worry about him and Hina-chan."

"I do trust you," Sasuke said. "But I don't think you're right about them."

"Well then so what?"

Sasuke furrowed his brows. "Huh?"

Naruto glared at him. "So what? What if Gaara is interested in Hina-chan? What difference does it make?"

Sasuke blinked. "I…"

"You plannin' on makin' a move?" Naruto questioned.

Biting his lip, Sasuke responded, "I just want to be her friend. I…I'm not trying to ask for more from her. I just want to be near her."

This seemed to make Naruto's frown deepen. "Then if you don't wanna date her, why can't Gaara? You want her to be single forever? Is that it?"

"No…Yes…No?" Sasuke stumbled over his words. He felt his face start to grow hot.

"Yes? No? Which is it?" Naruto pressed. "Are you just messing around with her? Cuz best friend or not, Hina-chan's a great girl and I'll kick your ass if I have to! Or hand you over to Neji."

Sasuke lurched to his feet, dropping his popsicle. "I don't – I'm not playing with her! That's actually the opposite of what I'm trying to do!" He heaved a breath. "I want her to be happy. And I want to be in her life. But I don't deserve to be with her, so…I'm just settling for next best thing."

Naruto stared up at him with serious eyes. "If you think that it's up to you…then you're right. You don't deserve her." He shook his head, a look of frustration on his face. "For an egotistical guy, you have a weirdly big insecurity complex. In any case, shouldn't that be Hinata's decision? Everybody's always trying to tell her what to do: her father, Neji. Now you. Who she dates is up to her. So at least respect her enough to let her make her own choice."

Sasuke crossed his arms against his chest. "What are you trying to say?" he asked.

Leaning his head against his open palm, Naruto said, "What I'm tryin' ta say is: how can she make a proper decision when she doesn't know all the options?"

Sasuke stood stock still, thunderstruck. He made to speak, but his words got drowned out by a huge boom.

Startled black eyes met blue. Then Naruto's face lit up. "Fireworks!" he exclaimed. He stuffed the rest of his popsicle into his mouth and tried to stand up. "Shhit!"

Sasuke winced and stepped forward to help. "Ugh," he groaned, realizing that he had stepped into his fallen popsicle. "Does it really hurt that much?" he asked.

"Nah." There was a beat of silence and a loud gulping sound. "Just brain freeze. My leg actually feels a lot better."

Another boom sounded, diverting both boys attention.

"C'mon!" Naruto cried excitedly. He stumbled through the tent exit, closely followed by Sasuke. When the boys had clambered out of the tent they looked to the sky and saw that it was filled with colour and light.

"You know," Naruto started, eyes trained on the bursting colours above, "I think they say that it's a good omen to watch fireworks with the one you love."

Sasuke knocked his shoulder against Naruto's. "Was that a hint? You might be too subtle for me."

"Shut up and go, Sasu-chan," Naruto teased.

Sasuke started to walk away before he turned back. "What about you? Who will you watch fireworks with?"

Smiling sadly, it was clear who Naruto was thinking of, but then his face brightened just a bit. "Well, lucky for me, I have my pick. I've got some really great friends 'round here, ya know?" he boasted. Folding his arms behind his head, he mused, "Or hell, maybe I'll go hang out with that crazy cat-grandma. The sky's the limits!"

"I don't think Kiba would forgive you," Sasuke told him, walking backwards. Finally, he turned around and started to jog towards where they had been eating before. Behind him he heard Naruto call out, "Damn, you're probably right!"

Sasuke continued his steady pace, dodging crowds of spectators who had their heads tilted to the heavens. When he reached the barbeque area that had previously been filled with a ton of Hyuugas and all of his friends, he found it deserted. He rested for a moment, thinking.

'Once the fireworks started, everyone probably moved closer to the source, just to get a chance to see them being set off. Hinata though, I think she'd prefer to be away from the highly crowded place. But the most important thing to her would be to be near all the people she cares about, so if they decided to go up front, she would too…unless there were others who also didn't want to go. Then she would have had a choice…'

Sasuke frowned in consternation. 'So which is it? Towards the fireworks or away from them? Which would she choose?'

Going on his gut instinct, Sasuke nodded decisively and took off away from the fireworks display. 'Given a choice between two things she wouldn't mind, Hinata would definitely pick the one she wanted the most, right? There's no reason for self-sacrifice when you've got a better option.'

The further away he got from the fireworks, the less crowded it became. Senju Park was mostly made up of a large clearing, which is where the festivities were taking place, but all around the edges were thick clusters of greenery: large oak trees, weeping willows, brambly bushes. He could now see the tree line, one particularly outlandish weeping willow at the forefront a good twenty meters away from any of its brothers or sisters.

The flash of red stood out blazingly between the swaying branches. The indigo was harder to see, but Sasuke had had a lot of practice seeking it out. Wary but determined, Sasuke kept going until he was brushing aside branches and letting himself into the halo of shelter beneath the tree.

"Sasuke-kun," Hinata said simply. She stepped easily out of the circle of Gaara's arms. The redhead spared Sasuke the briefest of disinterested glances. They were still touching, hands cupped together childishly, though Gaara soon distanced himself.

"Hinata-chan. Gaara," Sasuke greeted stiffly. Hinata smiled, but Gaara didn't acknowledge him. The other boy seemed to tense and it was then that Sasuke realized that Gaara had ever been relaxed.

Addressing solely Hinata, Gaara said, "I will find Kankuro and Temari now. We will see each other later." He reached out to pat Hinata awkwardly on the shoulder and then turned around. He narrowed his green eyes at Sasuke, not quite a glare but a warning nonetheless. Then he swept out from under the willow tree and left.

"Sasuke-kun, h-how's N-Naruto-kun? And h-how come you're so far away f-from the fireworks?" Hinata asked. She was no longer wearing her sandals and Sasuke could see her small toes scrunching up between the tall blades of glass.

He shrugged. "Naruto's fine. It turns out it's not just his head that's hard. And I was actually looking for you."

"M-Me?" Hinata blinked, eyes wide with surprise.

Nodding, Sasuke tucked his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "Yeah. What about you? What are you doing so far away from the fireworks?"

Hinata smiled, looking up at him from under thick lashes. "Y-You came here to find me, ne? So shouldn't y-you know?"

Sasuke ducked his head down. "Touché."

Hinata laughed, a light airy sound. A distant noise cut off the tail end of her laugh and it took a second for Sasuke to recognize it as the fireworks. The sound was much duller from where they were.

Tilting her head to the side, Hinata gestured towards the source of the sound. "E-Even if we're far away, we can still s-see them. We should t-take a look, I think. It m-must be beautiful."

"To tell you the truth, I find them pretty boring."

Hinata's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really? I didn't know anyone thought that," she murmured almost to herself. "I guess truthfully, I-I'm not such a huge fan of them e-either," Hinata confessed, "They're v-very pretty to look at, but l-loud. Still, there's a l-lovely saying that y-you should watch them with y-you're loved ones."

Stepping closer, Sasuke stopped to stand right in front of Hinata until just a few inches of air separated them. "Who would you want to watch them with then?" he asked, heart beating heavily in his chest at the thought of what her answer might be, "If the saying is true. Would it be Gaara?"

Hinata looked up at him in confusion. "Gaara-kun is m-my friend," she said slowly, "S-So I guess that would be fine."

"Is that really all?" he pressed. "He's just a friend?"

Frowning now, Hinata hugged her arms around middle. "N-Ne, what are you asking S-Sasuke-kun?"

"Just that from where I'm standing it seems like a little more than friendship," Sasuke muttered, hands clenching within the confines of his pockets.

"A-And what would make you think that?" Hinata asked almost defensively, a red blush rising to her cheeks.

"The handholding, the hugging, the touching in general," Sasuke listed off. His attempt at keeping the despair out of his voice only made him sound irritated instead.

Rather than get offended, Hinata only seemed perplexed. "Those a-are things I do with m-most of my friends, Sasuke-kun. It's n-not a very good reason to a-assume some kind of r-romantic entanglement."

Taken aback, Sasuke floundered a bit, trying to translate his instincts into words. "It's just…the way you touch…it's different, careful. Not like the thoughtless, easy affection you exchange with any of your other friends. Are you two…dating?" He forced the last word out; though Hinata's confirmation was the last thing he wanted, he had to know.

Astonishingly, Hinata seemed to get angry at this. Sasuke didn't think he'd ever really seen her angry. "Th-That's – H-How could you…" She shook her head furiously and changed tracks. "Gaara, he…he's not used to physical c-contact, a-at least not the kind w-with good intentions behind it. When w-we became friends, h-he asked me for a f-favour. I've been d-doing my b-best to help him out. That w-was our first hug." She let out a wet sounding laugh. "W-Well, the first one h-he didn't squirm out of."

Sasuke was too surprised to feel any sense of relief. 'Geez, that kid is more messed up than…well, me.' "So you're not…?"

"We're just f-friends," Hinata reiterated. "I can't believe you!" Her entire body seemed to tremble with emotion and she stared at him with teary, accusing eyes. "I-I want to yell at you for thinking s-so lightly of my f-feelings. For thinking that I-I could move on s-so easily, just like that. Did y-you not take me s-seriously at all?" she asked quietly.

At a loss for words, Sasuke could only stare helplessly at her.

Hinata laughed mirthlessly, the sound a shallow echo of her true laugh. "B-But maybe that's the wrong question. T-Tell me, Sasuke-kun, do y-you think that you're that easy to forget about?"

And wasn't that the question that mattered?

"I'm not a good person," Sasuke confessed. "I've been trying to be. I've been trying to deserve all of the good things in my life, but I feel like I'm just playing pretend. The truth is: I don't deserve friends like Naruto or Sakura, a brother like Itachi. I don't deserve you."

"Shouldn't that b-be up to me t-to decide?" Hinata asked, looking up at him with sad, sad eyes.

"You're right," Sasuke breathed.

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and spread them out wide, putting himself on display.

"Here I am. I'm selfish and mean. I have a bad attitude and am egotistical despite my inferiority complex. I have abandonment issues and honestly I'm really just a huge mess. But I like you a lot. I think you're amazing. You have the kindest heart and the most beautiful smile. It's so difficult to find out what your likes and dislikes are because you're too willing to go along with what everyone else wants, but I've never liked to back down from a challenge. I feel stupidly smug every time I get you to let your walls down a little and I hate it when people tell me what to do, but when you work up the courage to tell me off somehow I'm willing to do anything you say." Looking her straight in the eyes, he told her, "I don't know how you did it, but you've got a hold of me Hinata. It's a little terrifying and I ran away from it before, but that was without a doubt the stupidest thing I've done in my life. Scary or not, I want this. I want you. So what do you think?"

Hinata bit back a smile. "I think…I think you're t-too hard on yourself. Y-You're always pushing people away. You a-act like it's because you don't w-want to be around them, but I think it's b-because you r-really, really do. A-And you're t-terrible with emotions, you s-seem to try to bury them a-and if that doesn't work you j-just throw them around. I d-don't know what wrong w-with me, b-but I find it kind of…endearing. Y-you're honest, to a f-fault. I admire it even though it m-means you can b-be a bit abrasive," she admitted. "You're kind, but you try to hide it; you're g-getting worse at that, I think. You l-look at me in a way that n-no one has ever looked at me a-and I don't want you to ever stop looking at me that way."

Closing the distance between them, Sasuke used one shaky hand to cup Hinata's cheek. Lids lowering to half-mast, he gazed at her with hopeful eyes, thumb stroking the soft skin beneath the corner of her eye.

Hinata's eyelids fluttered closed and her lips parted. "You know," she whispered, "I make a lot of m-mistakes. I don't r-really regret them, but at the very least I never want to make the s-same one twice."

Sasuke blinked in confusion, heart sinking at the possible implication of her words.

She smiled then. Lavender eyes opened to peer up at him with a soft happiness. "Y-You were never a mistake." Stretching up on her toes, she brushed her lips lightly against his, a tease. When she withdrew, falling back onto flat feet, Sasuke followed immediately.

They exchanged sweet, passionate kisses beneath the shade of the willow tree, fireworks making up the soundtrack of their private moment.

"Mm, maybe we should watch the fireworks after all," Sasuke mumbled, his dark bangs falling around Hinata's face, shielding them much like the branches of the willow tree.

Stealing a chaste kiss, Hinata smiled. "I thought y-you said they were boring."

"Even something boring can become exciting, depending on who you're with," Sasuke told her, "Isn't that what you said earlier?"

Hinata blushed happily, smile widening, and Sasuke felt compelled to lean down for another kiss.

And that's when the screaming started.

They broke apart, wide eyes locked together seeking answers that the other didn't have.

"Is that...?" Hinata whispered fearfully.

"Stay here," Sasuke told her, "I'll go see what's happening." He started to leave, but found a small hand slipping into his own, stalling him.

"F-Father, Hanabi-chan, Neji-nii…everyone's there," Hinata said. "I'm coming too."

Looking down at her determined face, Sasuke knew he could do nothing to dissuade her. "Okay," he said. "But don't let go." He squeezed her hand with his own.

Together they sprinted towards the screams. The entire park seemed to be lit up, but it wasn't the same as the light of the fireworks. This was brighter, closer. The ground trembled beneath them and they struggled to keep upright.

It was chaos.

People were running around with no clear destination. Screams of terror filled the air and everything seemed ablaze.

They nearly ran into Ino, Shino, Chouji and Sai. "What are you doing?" Ino shrieked before they had the chance to ask what was going on. "You're going the wrong way!"

"Where is everyone else?" Hinata asked, voice breathless and scared.

"Hopefully making their way away from danger, as we should be," Sai said, his entire disposition shockingly calm.

Sasuke shook his head. "He's right. How would you feel if Hanabi ran back here trying to get to you?"

The look on Hinata's face showed clearly that she understood the logic, though she didn't like it. "Okay," she conceded.

They ran as a group, congregating with a crowd at the east side of the park, the opposite end as the parking lot. It seemed relatively safe and slightly less panicked.

"HINATA-CHAN! SASUKE-KUN! INO-CHAN! CHOUJI-KUN! SAI-KUN!" The loud cry rose above the rest of the cacophony, instantly recognizable as Lee. They traced his voice to a long, green spandex covered arm waving above the crowd. In a matter of seconds they had met up with Lee, Neji, Tenten, Kiba, Hanabi and the Sabaku siblings.

"Hinata-sama!"

"Hinata-onee-chan!"

Hinata was promptly engulfed in a Hyuuga family group hug. Kiba was patting Shino on the arm, Akamaru sniffing around his feet. "You okay?" Kiba asked, "Shino? Sasuke?"

"I'm fine," Sasuke said, "Do you know what happened?"

"Everything was normal one second and the next shit was exploding!" Kankuro blurted out.

"Do you think someone screwed up something with the fireworks display?" Hanabi piped up.

"They'd have to have fucked up really badly to cause that," Temari remarked snidely.

"Hey! You guys!" Naruto was suddenly running up to them, a slight limp in his gait.

'Shit! I'm glad that bruise didn't stop him from getting out safe!'

Naruto stopped in front of them, panting a little. Lee offered his shoulder as a crutch but was waved off with a grateful, if strained, smile. "I'm so glad you guys are safe!" Naruto said breathlessly.

A thought suddenly struck Sasuke. "Naruto, please tell me that this is the result of those illegal fireworks you smuggled here."

Naruto's face grew solemn and he shook his head. "They don't want to say anything for sure, but the police and the fire department arrived and I heard them talking with Granny Tsunade." His eyes swept around them, dark blue and serious. "They're saying it was a bomb. Maybe more than one."

Gasps echoed throughout them. Sasuke felt Hinata grip his hand and he squeezed back in what he hoped was a reassuring manner.

They all started bombarding Naruto with questions, but stopped just as abruptly when another person joined their group.

"Blood," Gaara whispered, his quiet voice audible only because of their horrified silence.

Shikamaru stood before them, face pale as a ghost with flecks of red decorating his entire person and practically dripping off his hands. Chouji and Ino rushed to his side, but he didn't seem to see them. He looked dazedly about with haunted eyes.

"Asuma-sensei…he's dead," he announced.

TBC

So shit went down. Sorry to leave you hanging, but all will be explained in the next installment.

There was a lot of stuff going on here. Obviously the SasuHina stuff. Naruto and Sakura got a mention. Itachi was being mysterious as per usual. The Sabaku siblings are still hanging around and we got some insight into Gaara as well as some Temari and Shikamaru. I tried to include everybody for the most part. Let me know how you felt about that/ if you want more or less of someone, etc.

The next one should be Sasuke's birthday and it's supposed to be a pretty big deal, even though I don't have it completely worked out just yet. Hopefully it goes well.

Drop me a review to tell me your thoughts! I always appreciate hearing from you guys.

Midnight's Violet Haze

HS