It all started with that dream...

A/N: Thanks for all your absolutely fantastic reviews! I can't tell you how much I appreciate them but it sure makes me feel like writing more n more chps!;) You guys really are the Best and i love writing for you. Glad you liked the chps so far, here are the latest updates... Hope you like;)
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Chp 13: Matsuri

Sakura could hear the muted bustling nearby. The outdoor festival and dance celebrations were held quite close to her apartment, a few blocks away. Sakura slid open the sliding door leading to her cozy, roofed balcony and knelt against the simple wooden rails, her head resting on her folded arms. Idly, a lone toe made random doodles on the cool wooden floor below her feet. Raising her head, Sakura took a deep breath of the evening air, enjoying its cool crispness. The night felt just right. Not unseasonably warm like it had been for the past few nights but not chilly enough that she would be required to wear an outfit thicker than the one she had already picked out to wear later on tonight.

Sakura sighed. She wondered how tonight would turn out. Of course, she wasn’t going to give Sasuke any wrong ideas. If he truly harboured any romantic feelings for her, she didn’t plan on leading him on in any way possible and hurting him later on. She wanted him to be happy. But she also wasn’t about to change their relationship just for that purpose. Things had been improving between them lately and she rather enjoyed the friendship they now shared. ‘Besides,’ Sakura thought with a small laugh, ‘I’m probably imagining things anyway. He probably isn’t interested in me that way!’

With a small smile, Sakura looked out into the evening sky. The sun had set just before she made her way on to the balcony and the deep blue tint of the sky appeared to be tinged with purplish hues. A few stars winked to signify their early arrival. In the relative peacefulness on the balcony, thoughts of Kakashi came unbidden. What was she going to do about him? Sakura sighed. Had she imagined their almost kiss? She had been so sure that he was about to kiss her! But then, if he was interested, surely he wouldn’t have been so blasé about urging her to go to the dance with Sasuke! Again, Sakura sighed. And then there was that totally humiliating incident this morning… Sakura felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment. They felt so warm she felt she could cook eggs over them! Seeing him like that did no favours for her raging desires, Sakura thought wryly, feeling the familiar hot stirrings suffusing her body. ‘I have to stop thinking about that!’ she admonished herself. But it was useless. The memory of his hot, sleek body kept on creeping into her system, triggering little shivers up and down her spine. And it only strengthened her need to make him hers, if for no other reason than the perverse thought of exploring said body to her heart’s content.

With a moan, Sakura shook her head, as if the gesture would somehow shake her thoughts away from her head. Far FAR away! She blinked, willing her embarrassed flush to ebb away. Yeah, it was working. Yeah. Sakura smiled. That was easy. She should have done that a long time ago. Maybe it was the fact that Ino would be over soon and they had to start getting ready for the night’s celebrations. But whatever it was, she was glad to finally rid herself of thoughts of one particular cool, silver-haired shinobi. Sakura gulped. She wasn’t thinking about his floppy silver locks and heavy-lidded bedroom eyes. She wasn’t thinking about his lean, muscular body. And she definitely wasn’t thinking about the way her name rolled deliciously off his tongue… With a frustrated moan, Sakura stopped her toe’s tracings on the balcony floor and sighed. Like hell, who was she kidding!? Forget him? She had been idly doodling Kakashi’s name the whole time she had been there…

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“So…looking forward to tonight?” Ino teased as she ran a brush through Sakura’s long hair. She had arrived about an hour ago and they had spent the better part of that hour talking and laughing and catching up…So much so that they were now rushing to be in time for the dance! Both were now fully dressed in their respective evening finery and all that was left to do was to style Sakura’s hair. ‘Phew…amazing how being late gets us ready in no time!’ Sakura laughed inwardly to herself. Ino was dressed in a gorgeous sapphire-blue and white silk kimono, accenting her blue eyes and the blond hair which was caught up in a sophisticated chignon. Sakura was dressed in a mostly white silk kimono save for the tasteful splashes of elaborate pink sakura blossom prints decorating the hem and the edges. She wasn’t sure what Ino planned to do with her hair but she was too lost in her thoughts to care. The theme for tonight’s dress code was traditional wear and she couldn’t stop imagining how Kakashi would look in a yukata. She wondered if he would be unmasked as she had suggested! She wondered if he would even come…

“Sakura?” Ino’s voice pierced through the rioting thoughts in her mind. “Sakura? Haven’t you been listening to me?? Don’t tell me you’re nervous about tonight,” she teased as her hands deftly manoeuvred through Sakura’s pink tresses. Sakura would have fervently shook her head if Ino wasn’t holding on firmly to her hair. Instead, she echoed her fervent denial saying,” No! No…of course not! Why would I be nervous?” before plastering on a calm smile for Ino’s benefit. ‘There’s no way she would know about Kakashi…Besides, I’m not even nervous about him! He’s a friend…I’ve talked to him a lot of times! Yeah…Definitely not nervous…’ “Well, that’s good…but if you were, though, I wouldn’t blame you…This is Sasuke after all,” Ino answered with a sly wink. ‘Oh, right…She meant Sasuke…Haha of course! Who else could she have meant…It’s not like she meant Kakashi…,’ Sakura thought in relief. “Aren’t you totally into Shikamaru??” Sakura asked in surprise. “Of course!” Ino exclaimed with a dreamy sigh. “It’s just that I remember how crazy I was over him. And how absolutely in love you are with him. Now that he finally seems to like you and everything, I would think you must be pretty nervous! Besides, he IS totally hot…,” Ino finished with a wink and a final touch to Sakura’s blushing locks.

Sakura gave a laugh as she admired Ino’s finished creation, a slender hand running itself gently over the cascading tresses. Ino had put some of her hair up in a ponytail at the back of her head, securing it with two beautiful glittery white chopsticks, dotted with a few sakura diamante prints towards the ends. The rest of her hair was left to flow freely over her back, some locks falling fetchingly over a slim shoulder. Her bangs had been sleekly brushed to one side, over her forehead, and she actually looked quite decent! “This is great!” she exclaimed in delight. Ino just shrugged while managing a wink for the reverent Sakura. “I just want to see him drool over you,” she said slyly. Sakura laughed at that as she gathered up her skirts and prepared to walk towards her front door. “I highly doubt that” she laughed as an image of a drooling Sasuke flitted through her mind. “I can’t really imagine Sasuke drooling over anyone, can you?? Now let’s go before we’re late! Shikamaru must be finding it so troublesome waiting by himself!” Sakura said with a teasing grin for Ino's benefit. With a small smile, she closed the door behind them and tried to shake the niggling nervousness away. Would he like how she looked? Would he even be there? She sighed.

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Sakura had promised to meet Sasuke under the large tree by the stalls so they could go through the various vendors before venturing on to the large open air make-shift dance space. She had been completely delighted by the festive atmosphere that her nervousness soon disappeared. She was determined to enjoy herself no matter what. She wasn’t going to let this morning’s incident, although highly embarrassing, spoil the night’s activities. Besides, she wasn’t even sure he would come, she thought with a little twinge of disappointment. Above all, she wasn’t going to let her suspicions about Sasuke’s true feelings cloud the night’s atmosphere.

He had been really gallant tonight, she mused. He had been waiting for her under the tree as she came, his back to her. As she approached, he had turned around and smiled at her. “You look beautiful,” he had said quietly, almost reverently. “So do you,” she had replied with a laugh, “Your fangirls are going to kill me tomorrow for stealing you tonight!” And he did look good in his deep blue yukata, his floppy bangs falling over his eyes. They had then ventured excitedly through the stalls. Well, she had anyway, she thought with a smile. He had just sort of followed with a smile on his face. She fingered the thin chain she held in her hand before she slipped it in the small white bag she had with her. She had thought of Kakashi as soon as she spotted it in a stall and had bought it immediately as Sasuke wandered off to a neighbouring stall. Now, they were both walking towards the dance space where a lot of couples were dancing and a lot of people milling around, some laughing by the refreshment table set up at on edge. With an inward laugh, she noticed that no one had bothered with a mask. “This is absolutely beautiful!” Sakura exclaimed in wonderment, turning to smile at her companion. This part of the concrete walkway had been sectioned off to form the dance floor, beautiful strings of small, twinkling lights set up in rows high over the whirling dancers, reflecting the flecks of glitter scattered all over the floor. They made a beautiful sight, their golden lights winking against the backdrop of blue stars blanketed in the even deeper midnight blue velvet sky. The full moon glowed brightly, standing out among the relative darkness of its background.

Sasuke just smiled and said softly, “Not as beautiful as you, surely…,” retrieving a hand holding a pink carnation from behind his back. “It reminded me of your hair…” Sakura stared at the tall figure before her, accepting the gift, speechless. So that’s what he had bought while she was buying the necklace. She had been so caught up in the festivities that she hadn’t noticed him slyly tucking it away behind his back. “Speechless?” Sasuke said sheepishly, “I know you probably don’t expect me to be doing something like this but…I wanted you to have it… Shall we dance?” Sasuke held out a hand, smiling at her softly. Sakura, still lost in surprise, silently nodded, accepting his hand as he led her to the dance floor. Under the lights, surrounded by laughing people, she finally got a hold of her voice and started loosening up. As he floated with her along the expanse of the carefully swept floor, they talked and laughed together and Sakura started to enjoy herself, ignoring her uneasy suspicions, willing Sasuke to not say anything that would prove her thoughts correct. She wanted to just enjoy tonight. Nearby, Ino winked at her as she was led around expertly by Shikamaru. ‘Who knew he was such a great dancer,’ Sakura mused. Sasuke had been dancing marvelously as well and as she had remarked upon it in teasing surprise, he had jokingly replied that it was all due to the fancy footwork required of ninjas. She supposed that’s why everyone was moving so beautifully around them, like a carefully choreographed ballet. Even with all these distractions, however, she couldn’t stop thinking about Kakashi. She wondered if he would come…

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A few blocks away from the ongoing festivities below, a silver-haired shinobi stood on his balcony, the evening breeze brushing through his hair lightly, soothingly. He saw the bustling stalls converge on both ends of the long walkway to where a large makeshift space had been created, dotted with colourfully garbed people of Konoha. The dance floor, he presumed. Kakashi mulled over his decision again. In all honesty, he was a little nervous but excited as well. And he wanted to see Sakura. He wanted to see how she looked. He wanted to see her reaction to him after this morning’s incident, he thought, a sly smile curving a corner of his lips. Brushing aside the hair he had carefully and artfully brushed over his left sharingan, his hand traveled downwards towards his cheek, rubbing it thoughtfully. His yukata rustled slightly in the breeze. He hadn’t worn it in ages. And god knows, he hadn’t been without his mask for even longer! He didn’t think anyone would recognize him… it would be quite fun walking around, blending among the people as an unfamiliar villager or something. He wondered if she would recognize him, he thought, his smile growing larger. ‘Well, I’d better get going…,’ Kakashi thought as he turned away from the balcony, preparing to join the festivities.