Loko: The following is an example of far too much symbolism in far too few paragraphs. Apologies. XD;;

Summary: Sasuke has always been a bit prone to silent signals.

Disclaimer: Dear god, here's hoping Kishimoto-san doesn't do this.

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symbols

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Naruto makes nervous fun of Sasuke for wearing his obi in a girl's bow and pokes Sasuke's chest just above the knot until he catches Tsunade-baasan's expression.

Sasuke's got the right side of his formal kimono smoothed carefully over his left, and Naruto gloats even as he argues Sasuke's case; the bastard clearly can't even wear a kimono correctly.

Sasuke's got a fan tucked into his obi, not one of the weird Uchiha ones but a real folded fan, and he pulls it out through the trial and snaps it -- a little open, a little more, and Naruto figures the bastard's doing it on purpose to annoy him.

So Sasuke's wearing his obi wrong and his kimono wrong but at the end of the trial he walks out and snaps the fan open completely, and Naruto counts one -- two -- three -- four golden carp swirling translucent and tucked into the folds.

So Sasuke's smiling, and Naruto can't see why, because Kakashi-sensei's probably the one waiting outside under his ANBU mask and sensei's not going to talk for a week and Sakura-chan's never going to stop crying and the bastard's probably doing it on purpose, smiling and smiling --

-- smiling at Naruto and even as some part of him knows that the sentence is well-deserved, the rest of him marvels at the fact that even after everything and Sakura-chan's tears, all he wants is just Sasuke in his arms.

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236 words

Note: The symbols are just a matter of cultural reference (to Japanese culture).

Obi: an obi worn with the knot in front signifies a prostitute. (Both men and women wear obi; a woman's obi is more prettily patterned, as is a woman's kimono.)

Kimono: a kimono is always, always worn with the left side over the right. This is because the right side is folded over the left only when dressing a corpse for burial.

Fan: a folded fan is used (not exclusively, of course) in a wedding ceremony; the bride snaps it open a bit more each time she opens it throughout the wedding, and its gradual opening is supposed to symbolise the increasing of her and her husband's happiness.

Carp: carp are a traditional Oriental symbol of prosperity, joy, and longevity. (Irony mallet, represent!)

General: there are four goldfish, one for each member of Team 7. (Symbolism junkies, represent!)

Four carp: four is considered an extremely unlucky number in Japan, because of the fact that it sounds very similar to the word for 'death' ('shi': four, 'si': death). Usually 'yon' is used instead of 'shi,' hence 'Yondaime' rather than 'Shidaime.' (Although it's not certain how much avoiding it helped Yondaime …)

Sasuke's utilisation of said symbols is open to interpretation. (Please do!)

Reviews adored, concrit beloved. Sankyuu!

Loko