7When Naruto had been pulled away by Sakura to the booth with the gold fish scooping Moegi made her move. Moegi was certain with the two of them separated she could figure out what was really going on with him and after the make-over Sakura had put her through she felt confident enough to succeed. She'd been apprehensive to try a new hair style but she felt the double braids in the back were as cute as Sakura insisted and wore them with pride. At least it seemed to catch Konohamaru's attention but she couldn't figure out if he liked it or was just surprised. "So you can win me one right?" She pointed out one of the larger toys that were on display and Konohamaru nodded with a bit of hesitation. The booth attendant came around to their side of the display and started on his speech similar to the one from the last game he'd been to.
"Well looks like we have quite a popular crowd here tonight, don't we? You kids enjoying the festival?" They all nodded in unison, Moegi was beginning to notice that Hanabi was giving her a glare and responded with the same to the girl. "So how many are playing?"
"I guess it's just me?" Konohamaru held up his hand to volunteer.
"Great, let me tell you how it works. You get one chance to toss a ball in the box. The ball lands in a circle, you get a prize. Red circle gets you a small prize, blue circle gets you a medium prize, green gets you a large. Land on one of the gray circles and you get a top prize." The booth set up seemed like it was stacked against you. The circles for the plastic ball were spread out pretty far inside of a clear plastic box and the ones for the cheaper prizes seemed like they may actually be deeper than the blue or green ones. The gray ones looked near impossible, in each corner of the box and barely deep enough to hold the ball. "Let me know when your ready to play son."
"I got it." Konohamaru paid the man and took the ball confidently. Moegi was interested to watch now as he lined up his shot and gave the ball and underhand toss. It landed well into one of the gray circles but popped out almost immediately and bounced around inside the plastic box. When it finally did come to a stop it was unsurprisingly on a red circle.
"Oh, so close so close but a good effort. Good job son, not many do as well as you did." He pulled out a small stuffed animal of a frog and handed it to him. Konohamaru looked at it with some disappointment but handed it to Moegi.
"Sorry I couldn't get you the one you wanted." Moegi saw he really was sorry for it but hugged the toy and smiled.
"No that's alright, I'm just happy you won me something." Konohamaru had a smile on his face that looked really pleased but the moment was interrupted abruptly.
"I want one too." Hanabi grabbed onto Konohamaru's arm and hugged it against her chest, making the boy blush and earning a more intense glare from Moegi. Konohamaru let out a sigh and nodded in agreement.
"Okay I'll try to win you one too." He reached into his pocket and felt around for what money he had left, offering it up to the attendant and taking another ball in hand, then stopped for a moment and looked to Hanabi. "Oh if you know a trick to this game too now is the time to mention it." Moegi wasn't sure why he was asking her that and she found it bothered her that they had something between them that was secret.
"I can't figure it out if there is one." Hanabi responded bluntly and Konohamaru sighed, lining up his shot again. Tossing it in similar to before he landed it in the exact same place and it went bouncing around the plastic box. They watched it roll around pretty intently before it finally stopped on a red circle.
"Even closer that time! My boy you have a talent!" The attendant knew how to play it up didn't he? "Here's your reward son." Another frog, this one a brown color instead of green. He handed it to Hanabi who held it in her arms similar to how Moegi had. She thanked him politely and he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Moegi wasn't going to have any of that.
"So Konohamaru, was there anything else you wanted to play together?" Moegi said just as sweetly as she could ask, Konohamaru turning to her right away just like how she wanted. "I'm sure there's a lot more games here we could do together." Before the boy could answer Hanabi was on his arm again.
"He's playing them with me because he's with me tonight." Moegi glared and grabbed a hold of his other arm.
"He can play with who ever he wants to, you don't own him." She hugged onto Konohamaru's arm just as tightly, the two girls getting into a glaring contest now.
"He did what you asked him to do, he doesn't have any more obligations to you." Moegi was gritting her teeth, this girl was rubbing her the wrong way every time she spoke.
"Yeah well... no he didn't! I asked him to get me the big prize and he hasn't gotten it yet!" It was a pretty weak argument but she needed something to give herself more time and figure out what these two were really up to together. "So he's with me until he does!"
"Hey I didn't agree to that." Konohamaru tried to protest but he got yanked around a little by Hanabi. "Be-besides, I'm out of money."
"You shouldn't make unrealistic demands for something just because your greedy." Moegi held back the desire to claw Hanabi's little white eyes out. Trying to figure out another way to keep them here she went for the desperate approach.
"Hey, this prize was worth at least one try right?" She held up the stuffed frog to the attendant. "I'll gamble this for another ball that he can get me the top prize!" Konohamaru looked shocked that she was willing to do this.
"Moegi! Really it's not that big a deal..."
"Fine, I'll wager it too!" Hanabi put her stuffed frog down on the counter as well. "You can do it right Konohamaru? A great ninja could." He looked between the girls as if he was in an impossible situation. The attendant scratched his head looking at the kids and shrugged.
"Fine then, if the boy wants to give it a go I'll let him." The both attendant took the toys back and laid out two more balls in front of Konohamaru, who let out an exasperated sigh. He took one in hand and looked the box over. He seemed like he was seriously considering his shot before something occurred to him.
"Hey, can I toss both balls at once?" The attendant thought it over for a moment then shrugged.
"Why not, knock yourself out kid." Konohamaru nodded. The booth attendant seemed more than confident Konohamaru wouldn't win but Moegi had hope. She'd seen that look in Konohamaru's eyes before, when he's really thinking seriously. He stood there for a while before taking the second ball in hand and tossed them both into the box more forceful than the other two times. The balls hit on opposite sides of the box into the gray circles, and as expected bounced out again. When they did though they hit each other and bounced back into the corners of the box, stopping dead in the gray circles and settling still. Everyone had a look of amazement at what they'd just seen, especially the attendant who'd probably never seen anyone make a shot like that before. He didn't argue, didn't even congratulate him. Instead he just grabbed the two large stuffed monkey toys off the top of the display and handed them to each one of the girls. Moegi was grinning from ear to ear at the Konohamaru's amazing display.
"Thank you Konohamaru! You did great back there."
"Just like a true ninja would." Moegi guessed that's what passed as a compliment from Hanabi. Satisfied in their work Konohamaru started heading back towards Naruto, saying he didn't want to get accused of running off again without telling him. It seemed like an excuse so that Konohamaru could be close to his supportive older-brother figure but Moegi let him have it, he'd already earned a prize for her. As they were headed back she could feel Hanabi's glare on her and it was sort of an accomplishment. She wanted the other girl to know she was around, wanted her to be aware Konohamaru noticed her too.
When they regrouped with Naruto Hanabi immediately suggested they leave the festival for food and pulled the group away from her and Sakura. To think she'd stated earlier that Moegi was childish and greedy. Once they were far off she rejoined Sakura who looked eager to ask her about the game. "So how did it go?"
"Well he got me a prize." Moegi held up the stuffed monkey in display to Sakura who nodded. "Naruto got you something too?"
"Yeah, a little smaller than Hinata's." She held up the gold fish in the plastic bag for Moegi to see but it was the comment that got her attention. She knew Sakura was trying to help her get Konohamaru to notice her, she never considered there was something that Sakura was after too. "Don't worry though, you'll get another shot when they come back."
"You mean we'll get another shot?" Sakura smiled at Moegi, disregarding her suggestive question.
"Should we enjoy ourselves a bit before that though?" She motioned to some impressive looking mechanized target practice machine at one end of the booths. Oh well, even if she had gotten dressed up for one purpose she could have some fun until then.
"This is a pretty fancy place." Naruto commented looking over the restaurant Hanabi had taken them too. It was a bit higher class than what he was used to anyway, a far cry from the Ichiraku Ramen Stand he normally got his dinners from. Hanabi didn't pay too much attention to the comment, Hinata seemed a bit confused.
"Really? Our family comes here a lot for dinner." Naruto let out a sigh, it was kind of a social indicator to him that she wouldn't recognize this as being a place outside of someone's normal income. He was looking over the items trying to figure out how he was going to afford all this for everyone. Maybe Hinata could cover him this time? "You don't like it?" Hinata asked him worriedly.
"Oh actually it's really nice, just different for me. But different is good." He tried to reassure her so that she didn't get distressed over the selection. Then went back to being distressed over the prices. When the waiter approached them Naruto was quick to state he wasn't sure what he wanted, Hanabi and Konohamaru mercifully doing the same. It gave him further opportunity to think of how to take care of this without losing face. Maybe he could get a tab going since he worked for the village?
"I'm going to the restroom." Hanabi stated abruptly as she got up from her chair. Hinata offered to come along but she assured her that it was fine and she should stay at the table with the rest. Naruto barely noticed as he was thinking things through still. An idea occurred to him though as he was going over which item was the cheapest.
"Hey Konohamaru, need to ask you something." He whispered to the boy and hoped that Hinata didn't notice. "You were uh... you were related to the third Hokage right? Don't you have like a trust fund or a credit line or something?" Konohamaru was thinking the question over before finally responding.
"... what?" Naruto grumbled to himself.
"I can't pay for this okay! Seriously there's no way I could afford a place like this." Konohamaru seemed to get it finally. "So like, any way you can get the restaurant to give us a tab and I can pay you back later? Just this once? You got the hook ups right?" Konohamaru smiled and gave him a thumbs up from behind the menu so Hinata wouldn't see. Not that it would matter, she could see through objects if she wanted to.
"Sure thing Bro, I can cover you." Konohamaru put his menu down and politely informed the table that he would also be heading to the restroom. Getting up to leave Naruto noticed him walk a path to the front counter and he felt his worries wash away. Looking at the menu with new vigor and appetite he was now wondering what he could get away with ordering and enjoy for himself.
"Did you decide what you wanted yet?" Hinata looked up from her menu, seeming to come to a decision already herself. Naruto shook his head.
"Nah, it's all different to me so I'm still not sure what to get." Hinata nodded and looked down at the table, no longer having her fan to hide behind since they'd checked their possessions in at the front counter. "Did you want to help me pick something out?" She looked up embarrassed but nodded and slid over to sit closer to him. They went over the selections a bit before finding something that resembled ramen noodles enough that they were sure Naruto would enjoy it. With that bit of interesting conversation over the two sat in silence, not really sure what to talk about. Naruto's mind started to wander onto what he'd be doing tomorrow and if Kakashi would have any missions ready for him. He'd just gotten to what supplies he was going to have to pick up from the store before his train of thought was broken.
"Naruto?" He shook his head coming out of the day dream and looked towards Hinata. "I know that... this was kind of a surprise for you. I mean I didn't think we'd be going out together tonight." Well that was true, probably more so for her than himself. He at least knew there would be a date for him, she didn't even know another guy was coming. "But I wanted to thank you."
"Aw, you don't have to Hinata."
"No really I... Naruto, you know that I..." She was getting embarrassed again but he could tell she was making an effort to get through it. "Well you know that I wanted to do this. For a long time. Now that we're here I'm just happy that you stayed behind and didn't run off this morning."
"You don't have to thank me Hinata, I've had fun tonight too." Well okay it wasn't all great. The movie sucked, Konohamaru kept pulling tricks on him, and he'd been totally showed up at festival games. Well really that stuff wasn't that bad, it had been kinda fun. Except that weird bit with Sakura and Moegi. "Heck if you wanted to do this again I would be okay with it."
"R-really!" Hinata was all sorts of flustered again after he suggested it, disappointing Naruto a little. He was was enjoying her getting some self confidence. Still she looked happy. Before he could comment the waiter approached them both.
"Mr Uzumaki?" Naruto blinked.
"Yeah, that's me."
"There's an item for you at the front counter. If you could please?" The waiter motioned for him to come along, Hinata looked confused but Naruto had no idea what was going on either so he just shrugged and went along with it. As they walked up he found it was actually a letter in an envelope.
"The heck... who'd send me a letter at a restaurant?" He opened it up to read the note.
"Dear Big Bro. Sorry but I had to ditch you guys again. Hanabi told me she wanted ice cream and that as her date I had to go along with it. So wanted to let you know I'd meet you outside of the restaurant when you were done."
That sneaky little... he did it again! Naruto felt himself fuming inside but kept reading the letter.
"Also I took care of the payment for you, so don't worry about that. You guys can get whatever you want and it's all paid for. Try not to mess this up okay? I went to a lot of trouble to set you up for a dinner with a hot babe, don't want you screwing it up. See you later!"
Naruto could have strangled the kid if it wasn't for the fact he was covering their dinner. Walking back over to the table Hinata looked up with expectation. "So... what was it?"
"Oh uh, they just wanted to ask about... um... payment. Yeah it's taken care of so don't worry about it." Naruto smiled his foxy grin and thankfully Hinata accepted it. "Well I know what I want, do you?" Hinata nodded to him.
"I'm prepared." They sat in silence for a little longer waiting for the waiter to come by again. Mustering up her courage Hinata started the conversation once more. "So Naruto, it must have been interesting... traveling with someone as great as Jiraiya." Bringing up Naruto's old teacher made him smile immediately.
"That old perverted sage? Yeah it was interesting. But it was pretty tough too. We did a lot of crazy stuff besides training." Naruto laughed a little to himself just thinking about it. "I guess it's just the way he was, but I don't think I'd have had it any other way."
"Really? It sounds like fun. Were there any stories you had from your travels?"
"Oh do I! Like lets see... the time we over ran an entire village with frog summons!" Hinata blinked a little confused but Naruto was already on a roll. "Oh this is a great one. It was all about three years ago in the summer..." Naruto was rambling on like an old man himself but Hinata didn't mind. In fact she was having the night of her life.
Hanabi had been sitting on a bench not too far away from the restaurant when Konohamaru had finally snuck out as well. She was swaying her feet back and forth and watching a small fountain in the middle of the four way crossing they were at. She didn't turn her head when Konohamaru approached but he figured she saw him already. "Did you sneak out okay?" Sure enough she asked without even a head motion his direction.
"Yep, they're all on their own, just like us now."
"Seems you did better tonight than I expected you to." She was talking in a very professional manner now but he'd gotten used to it from her. After all she'd been pretty consistent the whole night in her mannerisms. Wasn't like she was being any colder to him than anyone else.
"Well a great ninja finds a way to succeed without being caught, right?" He was smirking to himself in a cocky manner. Hanabi turned her head to look at him eye to eye now and that settled him down.
"That is true. If you keep it up you really will be one eventually." It made his heart skip a beat when she spoke to him like that. She said it so confidently that it surprised him and even got him a little flustered.
"Yeah well... I guess together we do a good job huh?" Hanabi stood up now to face him. You know despite her near cold and methodical attitude Konohamaru had to admit she really was just as pretty as her older sister. He could see why Naruto would like being around one of these Hyuuga girls...
"There you are!" Konohamaru's flushed cheeks ran cold as ice as he got pale, hearing Moegi's words call out to him in the night. They both turned to face Moegi and Sakura not far behind her. Moegi wasn't pretending to be tolerant of him any longer but Konohamaru noted she still had the stuffed toy he'd won for her back at the festival. "Your pretty slippery Konohamaru but you can't get away from me for long." She was upset again and Konohamaru noted the glare Hanabi was giving her. What was it about girls that they seemed so aggressive with one another?
"I'm not trying to get away from anyone! Well, not you anyway. What are you so angry for, I didn't do anything wrong to you." Moegi was still a bit flushed with her temper but mercifully Sakura came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, the Moegi calming when she felt the older girl by her. "Seriously, I told you exactly what I was doing tonight. I haven't been trying to hide from you."
"You told me you were going on a mission!" When Moegi said that aloud Hanabi's eyes shot onto Konohamaru, making him gulp feeling her stone cold gaze his direction.
"You told her what we were doing tonight?" It was the first time he'd noted a tone of anger in Hanabi and that scared him more than anything.
"No! No, I didn't tell her anything! Well I didn't tell her details, but I didn't want to lie to her." Konohamaru was stammering now and he felt backed into a corner by the two girls.
"You weren't supposed to tell anyone what we were doing tonight." Hanabi was getting pretty upset, but Moegi seemed like she was worse.
"So your little date is a mission? What you actually have to hire a guy to go out with you?" Hanabi's gaze shot over to Moegi and oddly enough it didn't make Konohamaru feel any better that they were focused on each other now. Just when it seemed like things were going to get out of hand Sakura stepped in between the girls with a question that's been bugging her all night,
"Okay, before this goes any farther, can someone please tell me what's really going on around here?"
"Perhaps I could help with that?" They were approached now by a tall young man with dark hair and pure white eyes similar to Hanabi's. He was wearing a white uniform similar to Hanabi's training gear as well, so it was no surprise when she called out to him.
"Neji, you finally arrived." The older bow bowed slightly to the young girl when he approached.
"Miss Hanabi, I'm glad to see you here. I take it everything went according to plan?" It was kind of unusual seeing an older boy like Neji bow to Hanabi, but that was the social structure of their family. Despite being seventeen and the oldest of everyone here, and on top of that holding the rank of a Jonin Ninja, he still had to defer to Hanabi as his mistress since she was the daughter of the head of their clan. Hanabi was now nodding to him and and when he had appeared she had either dismissed or hid her anger towards Moegi very well.
"They're in place exactly like you asked us. I hope we did everything to your request." Sakura and Moegi looked more confused than ever now, especially when Neji pulled out his wallet and began to give out payment to Konohamaru and Hanabi.
"Well done, I couldn't have done this without you. What cover story did you give them to escape?"
"Oh I told them Hanabi wanted ice cream and she made me take her. I figured she's been bossing me around so much tonight that no one would question it." Hanabi gave a leer in Konohamaru's direction but he didn't take note of it. "We said we'd meet them after the dinner was over so I guess we should stick close by." Neji shook his head to the statement.
"Don't worry, I'll leave a message to the restaurant that I took Miss Hanabi home myself when I stop by to pay. That way they wont have to worry about rushing through their meal." Neji spotted the small wooden Kunai in the belt of Konohamaru's yukata. "You two stopped by the target range at the festival?" Hanabi looked surprised he'd guessed that so easily.
"How did you know Neji?" He pointed down at the small wooden toy Konohamaru was carrying.
"That little prize there. My team mate Tenten managed to win so many times there that I think the booth owner believes kunoichi to be bad luck now." He smiled a bit to himself recalling how many games she'd managed to get banned from. With her skill and aim there was barely a festival game that wasn't hers to plunder. "Well, I guess I should get to the restaurant now to..."
"Okay stop everything!" Sakura interjected into the conversation rather forcefully. "What the heck is this!" Neji was taken aback when she threw herself towards him but regained his composure shortly after. Konohamaru wondered if all the Hyuuga were this straight laced.
"Well simply put I hired Hanabi to perform a mission for me." Neji began calm and collected. "I needed a method for Miss Hinata to be allowed to go on a date with Naruto Uzumaki. We both knew she was too shy to ask herself and feared Naruto was constantly too distracted to ever move forward at all." As Neji weaved the mystery behind tonight you could see the realization sink into the two girls listening. "Hanabi decided if she was forced to accompany her on a date then we could set up the arrangement ourselves. The next step was securing an individual who could play their part well enough to get Naruto into position. She chose Konohamaru based on the boy's relationship with Naruto." Konohamaru smirked proudly at how well he'd played his part in all of this. "After that I informed them not to share the details with anyone should word get back to Naruto or Hinata as to what was happening. From there we merely had to get our targets into position and leave the rest to them." When laid out it seemed like a pretty simple plan to set the two love birds up. Sakura looked as if she was still considering all this carefully.
"So... it was just to get Naruto and Hinata to go on a date?" The pink haired girl pondered to herself.
"You mean you really were on a mission?" Moegi looked suddenly very ashamed for ever having doubted the boy.
"Told you Moegi, you really thought I was going to lie to you?" That seemed to make her feel worse. "I couldn't tell you all the details though, because Hanabi made me promise not to talk about it to anyone. So I wanted to keep faithful to both of you."
"I'm sorry Konohamaru... I didn't think... I guess I never even considered it..." She looked like she might cry causing Konohamaru to react.
"Well don't worry, I forgive you if that's the problem. Besides it's not often you get yourself all prettied up right? So I guess things worked out pretty good in the end?" His comment managed to stop any tears that might have been forthcoming.
"You really think I look pretty?" She smiled a bit hopeful.
"Well... yeah, I mean you know you always look pretty but I guess I like how you changed your hair tonight. It's different, I think it's nice." Moegi's tears were turning to a bright smile as she was hugging the stuffed toy in her arms tightly. Sakura let out a sigh.
"All this bother tonight over just trying to get two people to go on a date, what a troublesome situation." The words made her feel like her lazy friend Shikamaru and she immediately regretted saying them. Konohamaru looked to Neji again.
"So the mission's over, we're free to go?" Neji nodded in agreement.
"You've all done your part exactly as needed. I'll take care of the rest. Congratulations to both of you." Konohamaru smirked looking over his money.
"Well looks like I came out ahead tonight!" He snickered a bit to himself but his left arm was suddenly latched onto and held against a familiar chest again.
"We need to go get ice cream." Hanabi stated bluntly causing Konohamaru to blink in confusion.
"Wha-what... why?"
"You said you were going to get me ice cream, I'm your date, you need to get me some." Konohamaru was speechless at the words the young girl was saying to him.
"Wha-wait a minute... the mission is over already... so doesn't that mean that we're..."
"Are you saying that your ending our date because the mission ended?" Here eyes were almost piercing as they stared into his own. "Aren't you still obligated to take me out as long as they are too?" Konohamaru let out a sigh, suddenly he was in a lot deeper than he had intended.
"Okay okay, lets go get you some ice cream." He was about to depart when he felt another hug on his right arm.
"You can buy me some too, right Konohamaru?" Moegi was suddenly on him as well, earning a glare and a harder squeeze on Konohamaru's left arm. He felt the tension between the two girls and it seemed to sit exactly where he was standing. He looked at the fistful of money in his palm and realized it was departing.
"Yeah... yeah I can get everyone some ice cream." Best to get out of here before Sakura started asking for some too. Girls sure were trouble.
Neji smirked to himself watching the boy walk off with a girl on each arm. Konohamaru had a pained look on his face but he wondered if the boy knew how many men would be jealous to have such problems in their lives? With the younger teens departing Neji was left with Sakura who was looking exhausted from tonight. "You seem troubled?"
"What? No no I'm fine." She let out a bit of a sigh. "Lets just say I didn't see things ending exactly as they did."
"Oh, how did you see things turning out?" Sakura gave a bit of a shrug like she really didn't want to answer that. "Different for Moegi or for yourself?"
"Moegi? Oh I'm kind of glad how things ended. It looks like at least the three of them will be able to tolerate being around each other." She looked down the street where the trio was beginning to fade off into the crowd.
"True, a most unexpected outcome for Miss Hanabi. I'm happy that I was able to do something kind for both of them if not just for Hinata. With any luck she'll become more open with her friends now." Neji had noticed Sakura looking away when he mentioned Hinata. "Tell me Sakura, were you thinking that you'd be sweeping Naruto away with yourself tonight?" She looked up with startled green eyes and shushed him.
"Oh please, really? You think I was trying to get Naruto to go out with me?"
"Naruto Uzumaki has become a very impressive ninja as well as a stand up man. I wouldn't have allowed him to be with Hinata tonight if I did not think so." That was true. In the past Neji had been more than aggressive towards the rulers of his clan but since learning more and being accepted by his family their bonds had been closer than ever before. "There is nothing to be ashamed of for desiring to be with Naruto." Sakura brushed him off again and rolled her eyes.
"I know Naruto's become an amazing ninja, but to me he'll always be the perverted, idiotic, bumbling spiky haired kid I knew when we were graduates at the academy." She had a jesting but heartfelt smile about her remembering those days.
"There's nothing wrong for wanting to be with him for that either." He could see Sakura's hands clench together a little at the suggestion but she stuck to her statements. "Well unless you happen to be available, I could always try to get a hold of Lee for you to keep you company the rest of the night." She rolled her eyes again at the thought of calling out Neji's overly-enthusiastic team mate to come escort her through the festival. Lee had been chasing Sakura just as long as Naruto had since they were kids, with just as much luck.
"Thanks but I got a shift in the morning at the hospital. Sounds like you have a busy night too. Don't stay out too long Neji." She gave him a little wave which he nodded to with a smile. Clearly Miss Hinata had some competition, even if she didn't want to admit it to him. It would be interesting to see how things played out. For Hinata and for Hanabi.
So much effort they put forward just to be close to another. Hinata and Naruto spending an evening to learn of each other truly for the first time. Konohamaru discovering just what it was to like a person and want to be with them. And Sakura coming to terms with what it was she did want for herself. For all the trouble and difficulty it lead to for those few precious moments Neji wondered what was it that drove us so hard for this? What was it that made a person exert so much of themselves to just be acknowledged by another?
While Sakura was walking away she pulled the red chopsticks out of her hair to let it down, dropping one accidentally onto the path. As she leaned over to pick it up Neji gave into temptation for a moment, and doing something that was often considered taboo for his people he used the Byakugan's special ability to take a peek under Sakura's yukata to see just what she was hiding. Just underneath the robe he got a glimpse; green thong panties, worn in a very attractive way as she was bending over to retrieve her dropped accessory. When she stood up again he disengaged the Byakugan and felt a bit of a stirring inside himself from the view. "Well... I guess that answers the question of why we try so hard." He smiled to himself, tonight was a good night. "Maybe I can play a few of the festival games before I have to head back with Miss Hanabi. Wouldn't mind winning a few prizes myself at that target range."