Untitled Intermission

“Yes, I understand. I apologize. I won’t ask again”, Sai said softly, but couldn’t hide how he felt. He turned away from Naruto as he slowly began to crawl off the train car. “H…Hey…hey. Sai. Where are you going?” Naruto called out, reaching out to grab Sai’s hand before he could get down entirely. Sai looked up for the short moment of Naruto grabbing him, but looked back down. “You don’t want to be seen with me, publicly. I understand, so it’s fine, Naruto-kun. Please, let go.” It had been a good while since Sai used an honorific ending with him when they were alone. “Hey, don’t be like that. There’s no one around now…right…?” Naruto pleaded, stroking the top of Sai’s hand with his thumb, but that only made Sai pull away roughly. “I’m not in the mood. We should be reaching the station soon.” The blond’s heart sank a little, but he couldn’t manifest any words to argue at the moment. “Fine”, was all he managed, moving to jump down from the roof without climbing.

He pushed past Sai, surprising the artist a bit, but not really. Naruto had a different way of being upset than him, and being a brunt was his way. Sai preferred the quiet anger as he watched Naruto pulled the door open and stomp back inside of the train. He watched until the door closed in his face before turning back around to stare off at the tracks and ground the train was leaving behind. Sakura watched Naruto come back to their seats, sitting down with an agitated grunt. She gave a soft sigh, shaking her head. “You’re useless”, she teased, but just got an irritated stare from her friend. It wasn’t the usual, angry outburst she was expecting . “Hm? What’s that look for?” Naruto just sighed, turning his eyes to look at the window in silence, hoping that this damn train would stop soon. Sakura scoffed a little, shaking her head. “No matter what you think, I know that he’s trying to be nice. When you were off somewhere, he pulled out all his money and said he wanted to buy you something from the festival, ya know? And he looked really happy about it. The least you can do is suck up whatever it is you don’t like about him for this trip…”

Naruto looked at her, blinking a few times. “He did…oh…man…”, Naruto sulked, feeling worse now. As he sulked, a loud dinging was heard in the overhead speakers. Soon, the conductor’s voice was heard, announcing that the train station was just a few minutes ahead and asking people to get ready to depart. Yamato stood, tucking his paper under his arm as he walked to his squad’s seats. “Well, we’re finally here. I hope…Where’s Sai?” Naruto turned his face around to avoid answering that question, but Sai answered it himself as he came back inside the train car. “I’m here.” The leader turned to smile at him, giving an approving nod. “Alright. We’re going to head to the inn once we station and meet our client in 3 hours. Everyone ready?” Sai had walked over calmly, and the 3 young ninjas gave a nod. “Very good”, Yamato spoke, giving his nod as well. The train jolted as it slowed to a complete stop, then opened it’s doors. “Now arriving: Akane Station”, the voice overhead spoke through the speakers as the passengers began to depart.

The group headed out together, and it was Sakura to first notice all of the festive decorations. Everywhere, on every post, were decorations of flames and blood-red flowers. The Sun was just ready to start setting in the sky and there were already lamp lighters at work. “It’s the Akane Tama Festival, Naruto~ Remember how we use to come here all the time as kids?”
“Akane Tama, Crimson Soul Festival…”, Naruto said, looking around and couldn’t help but crack a smile. Sakura nodded, and started her explanation to Sai. “The Crimson Soul Festival is an artist festival, so you should really like it! There are demonstrations of Art-Ninjitsu, plays, decorations, awards, just everything you can think of. From kabuki to cook-offs! Shiro-sama is one of the top ranking kabuki actors, but he always is an award winning artist! He even models and sings! He’s so perfect!!”

Sai cocked his head as he slowly began to understand. As Yamato tried to explain more than just Sakura’s fandom, he turned his attention to him. “You see, Sai’s ninjitsu is an art form, but there are other types. Music, paper, puppetry, cloning, sculptures…All artist types are said to have a crimson soul, a burning flame inside of them that drives them to create, thus the name of the festival. We honor and celebrate these unique types here.” Sai was understanding until he was told that he had a fire inside of him. Did he really…? Naruto eyed Sai for a minute, about to say something when Yamato began again. “Anyways, let’s check into our rooms before dark. We have to meet our client before the opening ceremonies.” With that, the teacher began to walk off, his three duckling following behind with Sai in the very back. The young artist was now curious about the festival and the meanings behind it. He looked around at practically every decoration and display that was posted up to draw people into coming to the opening ceremonies. He saw advertisements for plays, sumi painting posters, and other posters advertising demonstrations and their schedules.