Naruko's cheeks were puffed out with food. Seeing Sasuke merely watching her, she rolled her eyes, and that familiar, slightly mischievous smile returned to her face.
She leaned closer to Sasuke, deliberately slowed her chewing, and waved the skewer of dango she had bitten into. With her mouth still full, she asked, "Sasuke, why aren't you eating? Don't tell me... you want me to 'feed' you again?"
In an instant, Sasuke's face flushed bright red, the color spreading all the way to his ears.
Naruko's words dragged him straight back to that embarrassing yet inexplicably vivid memory of her forcing a piece of dango coated in her saliva into his mouth.
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, he hastily grabbed the remaining skewer and stammered, "Wh-who wants you to feed me? I can eat by myself!"
With that, he quickly took a bite, trying to use the taste of the food to suppress the heat in his face and the turmoil in his heart.
Yet out of the corner of his eye, his gaze still involuntarily drifted toward the glistening Three-Color Dango in Naruko's hand, which she was savoring in little bites.
An indescribable, subtle feeling mingled with the sweetness of the dango and quietly melted in his heart.
The banquet downstairs ended in a warm, cheerful atmosphere. The Uchiha family saw Minato Namikaze's family to the entrance of the clan compound, where they exchanged another round of affectionate farewells.
Under the moonlight, Minato and Fugaku shook hands again. Reluctant to part, Kushina and Mikoto arranged their next tea date, while Itachi stood quietly behind his parents.
Before turning to leave with her parents, Naruko looked back at Sasuke, who stood beside his own.
Moonlight fell over the ends of her golden hair and her exquisite long-sleeved