One blond, one black-haired.
The blond wore a bright orange jacket, looking like a walking signal light in the crowd.
The black-haired boy wore a dark blue, high-collared shirt, his face expressionless and his hands in his pockets.
Naruto and Sasuke.
Two pairs of eyes met. Then three. Then four.
Hanabi poked her head out from Genya's back, looked at the two boys, then looked at Genya.
Naruto reacted first, pointing at Genya with the hand holding his dango, his mouth hanging wide open.
"Genya! What are you doing here?"
His voice was loud enough to draw looks from everyone nearby.
Standing beside him, Sasuke's mouth twitched slightly before he turned away expressionlessly, as though he had seen something he wanted no part of.
Genya popped a chestnut into his mouth, chewed leisurely, swallowed, then smiled.
"Hey, are you two on a date?"
The flow of people through the night market seemed to freeze at that moment.
Naruto stared for a second, then his face flushed bright red.
"Wh-who's on a date?! We're just looking around! Just looking around! Right, Sasuke?!"
He turned toward Sasuke, whose face was already dark as thunder and whose stare was as sharp as senbon needles.
"Shut up."
Sasuke forced the words out through clenched teeth.
Naruto quickly shut his mouth, but the redness in his face refused to fade.
Ino leaned against Genya, shaking with laughter.
"A date? Hahahaha!"
Hinata smiled with her lips pressed together, too shy to laugh aloud, but she couldn't hide the amusement in her eyes.
Lying against Genya's back, Hanabi tilted her head at Naruto and Sasuke and asked curiously.
"Brother-in-law, what's a date?"
Genya patted her head.
"It's when two people go shopping, eat, and play games together."
Understanding dawned on Hanabi. She nodded, then pointed at Naruto