tampered | log; ongoing;

Current Mood: cheerful

log; ongoing;

When; Sunday, March 29th, evening and into the niiiiiight.
Rating; Uh... PG-13? I hope.
Characters; The goddamn Naruto crew.
Summary; In which Ino throws a party to celebrate Sakura's 18th birthday and newfound legalness. God help up all.
Log;

As best friend forever of the birthday girl, Ino felt it absolutely vital to throw the best damn party Sakura had ever seen--not a major feat, since Sakura also went by Killjoy McSpoilsport, but it was the thought that counted. Sakura would get the big party she denied wanting but everyone knew she wanted anyway, and Ino would get the chance to force everyone together, mix liberally with alcohol, and take pictures.

So after many hours organizing, buying things, assisting with presents (that means you, Naruto and Obito), and bullying Shikamaru into decorating and footing the tab, everything was ready for the ninja to let loose--or just jiggle around the sticks up their asses. There was a cake--chocolate, of course--a whole lineup of food, drinks of both the alcoholic and nonalcoholic persuasion, and buttloads of decorations, all in varying shades of pink. Everywhere. With some purple thrown in for good measure, because the best friend forever of the birthday girl said so.

Ino had instructed her guests to arrive at 8pm sharp, with a leeway of about half an hour before she personally hunted them down like animals, and as the clock ticked down to lift off, she smiled. This was going to be interesting.

[[ooc; First rule of party thread: do whatever the hell you want in party thread. Second rule of party thread: DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT IN PARTY THREAD. Hop in, jump out, mark threads for yourselves, leave them open to all, whatever knocks your socks off, MAKE LIKE NIKE AND JUST DO IT. I'm certainly not going to stop you, you crazy kids. ♥]]

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"Beer?" he asked, scanning the drink table. He honestly didn't expect her of all people to be drinking alcohol. Shrugging he turned to her once again before smiling widely. She was wearing the dress from last night, and she looked gorgeous like always.

"Hey, you were weari-" he stopped, still unsure of what or if she remembered anything. "You look pretty!"

"Thank you," she murmured. "You look...orange."

She said that last night, too. "Thanks!" he replied, taking it as a compliment. Reaching up, he scratched his cheek idly with a small square present. He had tried his best to do well with the wrapping. The blond was especially proud of the subtle nuance of wrapping it in pink paper and then tying an orange bow around it.

Of course, the colors sort've clashed.

And it wasn't much, a picture (http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs14/f/2007/017/d/a/Commission___NaruSaku_by_pokefreak.jpg) leftover from the curse last week depicting a low-ranking mission they had gone on when things were quiet around the village. She looked so happy that he just had to frame it for her... in an orange frame.

"Here, I got you something."

"Oh, thank you!" she said, taking the wrapped up gift. With a smile, she noted the colour code on it, before carefully unwrapping her present.

"Naruto..." she whispered, staring at the picture with a soft smile. "I remember this..." She rubbed her thumb over the picture Naruto's smile. It had been long, in their world, since she'd last seen him do that. The photograph would always remind her of a time of peace and calm, and of what she had to aim for. "Thank you."

"You're welcome!" he chirped with a smile that spread from ear to ear. "I guess those curses are okay every now and then, yeah?"

"Yeah..." There went nothing. "Yesterday's wasn't bad, either."

"Yeah, it wasn't was-" he stopped as the realization of her admission hit him. He quirked an eyebrow, then opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. Scratching his cheek, he tried to think of what to say.

She remembered it? All of it?

Smiling sheepishly, he nodded. "Umm, so you remember?"

She gave him a nod before considering to fill herself another glass. No, definitely not. "Tell me something... Would that qualify as a date, even if I wasn't being myself?"

She desperately wanted him to say no. No, because it wasn't her as the girl he wanted, liked, whatever. But her, Sakura, all her memories and personality and violence intact.

The blond furrowed his brow, crossing his arms and thinking. "I dunno. Ino would say no." He sighed. Was it a date? They were together at a dance and practically spent the entire time with each other. She was Sakura, but she wasn't Sakura. For one thing, would she have even agreed to go if it was Sakura?

"I guess that's why we need to go on a real date to find out, yeah?"

"I was nicer yesterday. If we go on another date, I might as well punch you instead of kissing your cheek. Would you take that risk?"

"You kidding, Sakura-chan?" he asked with a wide smile and a playful nudge. "You just wouldn't be Sakura-chan if you didn't punch me once or twice a day." The smile melted into a wry grin as he continued. "Plus, did you forget about what you did to make up for the punches?"

"Don't get too used to it. I won't kiss it all better if you deserve the punch."

Grinning at her, he nodded. "Sure, sure. If it was anyone else, I'd try and dodge anyways."

"So I'm that special, eh?"

"Doesn't my present prove it?"

"It does..." She paused for a moment, then looked him straight in the eyes. "Ask me out again."

That was his Sakura-chan, straightforward if she wanted something. His hands locked behind his head as he smiled. He'd asked her out millions of times, one more wouldn't hurt.

"Hey, Sakura-chan? Will you go out on a date with me? A real one with dinner and talking and all that kind of stuff?"

Hey, Naruto. Remember when I told you to be persistent? Guess it finally paid off. "Yes."

"Heh, the birthday girl is giving me a present." He gave her another thumbs up before continuing, "I promise I'll treat you better than anyone ever could!"

In the first impulse of tenderness towards him since...a long time ago, she supposed--Sakura raised one hand to cup his cheek. "I doubt anyone could treat me better than you, Naruto," she said.

Of course, he couldn't help the reddening of his cheeks at her touch or the reaching up and resting of his hand on her wrist. "You betcha, Sakura-chan..." he beamed, ecstatic at the small display of affection from the only person he wanted it from.

"If I were one to bet, then yes," she said, smirking up at him. "But if I'm like shishou in that aspect, too, I would lose."

Still grinning like an idiot, he dropped his hand and rocked back and forth on his heels. "I don't think anyone has her luck."

She dropped her hand to her side as well. Let's not get frisky before the first date, mmhmm. "Probably not, no," she said, thinking about Tsunade's own bad luck in love. Jiraiya had slipped right through her fingers... I won't be like that, she thought, looking at Naruto pensively. Definitely not like her there.

"Okay, I'm hungry," she quipped, eager for a change of subject. "Please tell me she included snacks or I'm raiding her kitchen."

"Oh, yeah. There's pretty much everything except ramen, but I guess ramen isn't really a snack." He frowned as he looked towards the food table. "Still, it would've been nice to have some ramen. Let's check it out, yeah?"

log; ongoing;

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