Fire Amongst the Dancing Leaves

The howls of a distant blurry eagle loomed upon the ears of a messy white haired boy, who had been resting upon a thick bristled branch of a tall Oak tree, concealed from onlookers only to be disturbed by the whistling zephyr. The gentle chants of the gliding bird were enough to snap Midnight out of his quite contemplation. The calling entailed that the Hokage was assembling all Jonin of Konohagakure for an urgent meeting.

“It’s finally time, huh?”, Midnight muttered as he rested his hand upon his eyes and formed a lazy tiger seal to shunshin towards the prominent vermilion structure situated in the center of Konoha, the Hokage Tower. Every resident in Konoha knew what the agenda of the meeting was, it was to discuss the founding anniversary of Konoha, the historic day when the Shodaime and founding clans took the oath of allegiance and laid the organization of a serene, alluring and peaceful village hidden amongst the luxuriant green forests of the Land of Fire. It was the time that marked the end of the Warring States Era, thus helping to reach the long desired end to centuries of meaningless bloodshed. It was an important period for Konoha, it was a time of celebration, drinks, cheers and happiness.

Midnight pushed aside these reflections as he entered the tower and made his way towards the Hokage’s office. The remaining Jonin, including his squad and the Hokage’s advisors were already present and waiting for Tsunade to begin. Tsunade commenced as soon as Midnight entered, “O, blade’s here now, that’s everybody so let’s begin the meeting, shall we? Our plan for the anniversary is the usual festival and the main event is the Bonfire. Squads 5,9,2 and 7 are responsible for organizing the festival marketplace, meanwhile, Squads 3 and 4 are responsible for attractions and finally the remaining squads are responsible for management and security. Collect your guidelines from Administration downstairs. Everybody can get off-duty at 8pm. I wish you a happy anniversary, my Shinobi. Make sure to have fun tonight, everyone is now dismissed!”. All the Jonin shared a heartfelt smile in the office and left immediately, heading towards the central Konoha to work on their respective jobs alongside their partnered squads. Midnight’s squad had been assigned supplementary duty and they had to take care of urgent missions individually since most Shinobi were busy with the Festival preparations. This is gonna be a long day, Midnight thought with a silent sigh.

At the Festival

Midnight arrived at the Festival at 8:00 pm sharp, a good half an hour before the sun set his course. The crowd was already beginning to form along the vendors preparing fresh delicious food and the marketplace filling with the wonderful aroma of hot street delicacies. His squad had decided to meet at 8 because they wanted more time to completely scout the festival before the Bonfire started. It seemed like they were running late because of their missions or they were just worrying too much about their outfit or what not. Midnight, himself, was wearing a blue yukata with purple lacing. It was something Breeze had picked out for him, considering she thought he wouldn’t be bothered to dress up and show up in his usual gear. Well admittedly, she was partially correct. But thinking about him wearing something the girl he had affectionate feelings towards had picked out made him really nervous, yet unusually happy. Midnight’s face started heating up, his hands sweating with nerves and wild thoughts began running within his mind, making his heart beat even faster. He tried to distract himself by revising his plan to ask Breeze over to dance with him during the Bonfire. He had heard the civilians gossiping about how the Bonfire was capable of fulfilling wishes of earnest love. Of course, Midnight had no believe in such ridiculous rumors but … his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud cheer from his remaining squad members as they approached his location with decorated smiles

.

“You guys sure took your sweet time coming here”, Midnight said hastily trying to act unimpressed .

“Sorry, Midnight-o, we got a bit sidetracked with our missions and stuff”, Scarlet commented with a grin.

“I see”, Midnight said as he moved closer to the red eyed boy as if trying to inspect him, “looks you tired to bring out your womanly features with the Yukata today, Trap-chan~”.

“NANI?! You mean I look more FABULOUS th*ual? You’re such a tease Blade-kiun”, Scarlet said as he moved up closer and whispered teasingly in Midnight’s ear, “So this is the outfit Breeze chose for you….it’s quite decent if you ask me. Good luck with the dance tonight, bud”,

he moved back only to let Midnight see a beautifully dressed Breeze in a sparkling light pink Yukata with decorative white linings and highlights. Her usual flowing golden locks were tied in a neat bun, and her reflective eyes had a captivating glow to them with the desire of approval decorating her sea blue eyes and blushing cute face. Midnight was left utterly speechless. His face flushed instantly and he averted his eyes, only to whisper a soft, “You look nice, Breeze” with a shaky voice.

Breeze’s expression lit up instantaneously and she replied with a happy “thank you”: as she moved ahead of him as if trying to take the lead of the squad. Midnight ran his eyes through the last two members of his team. Crimson was wearing a plain brown Yukata, while Azure was wearing a blue short one with numerous ribbons all around her dress. “Yo, Crim, ‘Zure”. The two replied by a slight wave of hand.

“You could’ve tried changing your hairstyle ‘Zure, it would’ve added a lot to your outfit” Midnight commented with a whisper. “Good luck, Chibbi. Make sure you can keep Trappy in one place” he finished with a smile. Azure replied with a flustered nod and shifted her gaze towards Scarlet, “I will, Midnight”. “Well then, everybody, let’s head off to the Food Stalls and grab some good grub”, Crimson said as he moved towards the long lane of food stands with a never ending variety. The squad went off and visited as many stands as they could until the time of the Bonfire dawned upon them and they disbanded to their individual destinations.

Bonfire Time

The beginning and assembly of the Bonfire was marked by the Hokage’s monumental speech. Midnight was quite impressed by Tsunade-sama’s speech this year; you could feel her passion, her happiness and her pride b* within her words as she showcased the meaning of Will of Fire. Every citizen and Shinobi of Konohagakure, listened to their Hokage’s message of peace and made a promise of protecting this peace, their home and the Will of Fire. The speech concluded and the Bonfire Ceremony began. The Bonfire was a 40 feet tall collection of wood encompassed by an equally impressive border. The drums slowly began to sound...dhum, dhum, dhum. With each beat the citizens of Konoha connected their hearts together and awaited the Ignition, the immortalization, of their will and promise to protect Konoha.

For the past decades, there had been an old tradition in Konoha that the head of the Blaze Clan would be the one to Ignite the Bonfire every year, but the tradition slowly died out along with the clan itself. However, this year, the Blaze Clan had an official new head, Scarlet Blaze and therefore the tradition was to be put into place again. Scarlet climbed a steep platform situated on the Hokage Tower, above the drummers and weaved his hand seals for his Fire jutsu. He began with a raspy, but determined voice “I am Scarlet of the Blaze, I have been given the honor of being the igniter of the 60th Anniversary of Konohagakure no Sato. My fellow friends, for our ancestors and the future generations, let us come together and cherish the Will of Fire we live for.

Blaze Release: Majestic Dragon’s Ascent!”

Scarlet announced as he spewed a huge blue dragon of hellish flames that elegantly flowed around in a deep vertex, rapidly ascending towards the moon, only to descend swiftly to the center of the Bonfire with a powerful screeching cry, and ignited the wooden structure with a glamorous blue flare that instantly exploded into a blazing orange fire. Everyone cheered at the performance and the drums began being played loudly. The music shifted in a rhythmic tone signifying the beginning of the dance. Midnight moved towards the back of the crowd in order to avoid getting in the way of the passionate couples already forming the first ring around the bonfire. Somewhere in the crowd, He saw Crimson rushing towards the ring while holding the hands of Shiho, a blond girl with glasses from the Konoha Crypt*ysis Team. “Sneaky guy, he already had a partner! Traitor! You’ll be sure to get your punishment later, Bronzie” Midnight thought with an envious, hateful sneer. His eyes shifted again in order to locate Breeze, he wanted to find her before it was too late. Breeze was a popular lady after all, he knew that her fans wouldn’t hesitate to invite her to dance with them. He moved around the crowd until he saw Breeze staring blankly into the distance.

He approached her swiftly. “Breeze”, he stated softly as if trying to whisper in the loud background. Miraculously, Breeze heard his call and looked back to meet his eyes. Looking into those sea blue eyes, Midnight had fallen for this girl yet another time. Breeze shifted her gaze back to the place she was staring. Midnight followed her gaze, only to see Azure and Scarlet dancing casually with the brunette teen harboring a confident, humble smile and Azure with a near fainting flushed face. “Good for them”, Midnight muttered, quite happy that Azure got to dance with Scarlet.

After a moment of silence, “Hey, Night”, Breeze spoke with a flustered tone, while staring right into Midnights eyes. “Would you like to…” Breeze didn’t complete the sentence, her nervous voice broke out into incomprehensible mumbles. Midnight, getting incredibly nervous, decided to man up and continued her statement without regrets. “Breeze, would you be interested in giving this dance to me” in imperfect and awkward diction. Breeze had a moment of surprise and partial confusion which swiftly dissolved into a flustered furious nod. Midnight slowly held out his hand to hold hers. Her hand was incredibly soft, smooth, with lean fingers that wrapped clumsily around Midnight’s own hand. They moved out towards the front and joined the already forming third ring around the Bonfire. He decided to take the lead and began moving in the casual bonfire dance, slowly moving his feet towards the back and patiently synchronizing Breeze’s movements with his own. The dance was brutally awkward but those long but few moments were Midnight’s best in his life.

And thus, the festival night continued, with the new year of peace already fulfilling the wishes of young leaves, promising a bright and happy future.

THE END

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