Never too Old For Candy [Halloween]

[¡El Bandito!]

Honestly, was there a better holiday than Halloween? A lot of people would try to argue Christmas, or your birthday, but Naruto disagreed. Sure, on Christmas you got presents, but you had to give other people presents too and there was that whole guilt factor if you didn't or what you gave wasn't good enough or wasn't what they wanted... Birthdays were a little better, but if someone gave you something on your birthday, you were expected to get them something for theirs...

But not Halloween. On Halloween, you had absolutely no obligation except to go out and fill a pillowcase with candy and otherwise terrorize the neighborhood for a night. There was nothing to feel guilty about, just candy and stomachaches and minor acts of vandalism to be had.

Of course, there were always the misers who would try to tell him that he was too old for trick-or-treating. Psh. What kind of fun-hating bastard could say that? Seriously. As long as he was still legally a child, he was going to act like one, damn it. The one night it was perfectly acceptable to take candy from those strangers everyone had warned him about when he was in grade school, and now they didn't want him to anymore? Well, news flash: he was going to dress up like an idiot and do it anyway. So there. There was no such thing as being too old to eat candy.

It took him a while to decide what he wanted to actually dress up as; over the last 17 years he had managed to exhaust every orange costume he could think of and then some. Eventually, he narrowed it down to two possibilities: Arnold Schwarzenegger or a sexy schoolgirl. He was more inclined towards Arnold, deciding that masquerading as the governator for the night might in some bizarre way prepare him for holding office later in life, but he soon realized one slight problem.

See, he, Kankuro, and Kiba had some... plans for that Halloween night. Plans involving eggs, toilet paper, saran wrap, and various other innocuous household items that turned into dangerous pieces of contraband in the hands of teenagers on October 31st. Given that none of them had a car or trusted anyone else with one enough to let them in on said plans, they would be forced to carry their contraband around. This meant not only exposing the goods for all (including potential narcs and 'do-gooders') to see, but less arm-space for candy.

On the other hand, if he went with the other option, a backpack could easily be considered part of the costume.

Why Sakura had ever agreed to let him borrow one of her school uniforms, he would never know. What he did know was: a) that he wasn't going to question, b) he needed a wig, and c) he needed a way to not look flat as a washboard underneath the borrowed fuku. A trip to the costume store later and he had solved the latter two of his three conundrums. He had even found a pair of heels that were big enough for his feet, once again a feat he dared not question... lest he find out the answers.

He stood, shivering slightly - damn, he shouldn't have shaved his legs, he was freezing already and it was just barely dusk - under the great oak tree that he and the rest of his group of friends had decided to use as the gathering place that Sunday night. The rest of his month's allowance had been used to load up the orange bag clung over one shoulder with all the necessary supplies for a good night would require, but he was still, for the moment, alone. How he had managed to be the first to arrive was anyone's guess, but it probably had something to do with eagerness - both to load up on loot and to get it over with, he was regretting this awesome-in-theory costume choice already.

[Elena]

Halloween was something Sai remembered from his younger years, and to this day he could not understand the logic behind celebrating the things that scared you. That was the theme of the holiday, after all, with words thrown about like ‘spooky’ or ‘evil’. These were negatives, so why were they being treated as positives? Still, he recalled the little kids dressing up, receiving bundles of candy, smiling and running around. More so, he recalled dressing up with his older brother, who would smile at him and tell him exactly what to say, and they would spend the night going door to door being part of the festivities.

Thinking about those particular memories gave him unwanted, conflicting feelings.

Instead, he indulged less complicated feelings and thoughts. He wanted to be part of this Halloween celebration, and so he decorated his apartment with various black and orange themed crafts. His apartment was really reminding him of Naruto. Sai had overheard some of his plans, which involved his more outgoing friends, so he had stayed out of them despite wanting to be part of the group. He self-diagnosed this as insecurity; something that he decided, this Saturday, that he was not going to indulge. His plan was to dress up and go trick-or-treating, and if he found people he knew he’d join them. Staying inside with his Naruto-pumpkin was anti-social, even if it was a rather well made pumpkin.

He needed a costume. He considered the dress, heels and wig in his closet, and knew he could always go as Sairin, but that was not frightening in his eyes. Halloween was celebrating scary and negative-category feelings. His costume should be a reflection of that, but his lack of fear could be attributed to a lack of imagination. Monsters didn’t exist, darkness was nothing but a space with a lack of light, and animals like spiders or snakes could be killed, or avoided. He could only recall one time he was gripped with a seemingly irrational fear, and he did definitely associate that particular person with negativity and strange emotion.

He spent his Saturday preparing for his costume—or was it cosplays if he intended to try a bit of imitating? The clothes were a bit of a daunting task as he could only picture a school uniform, and he was tempted to wear his, but it was the weekend and after school and there would be no reason for him (or him) to wear one. He ended up going into the store and pulling out the picture he was carrying around.

“Could you tell me what kind of clothes you would see on this person?” He held it up to the girl’s face, whose cheeks went a worrying red. Was this embarrassment? Over a mere photo?

“N-none… I mean!” Ah, he understood now. “Well, depends… Any outerwear? Do you need formal clothes or something more that you’d wear at a party?”

“Outside, walking around the streets—tomorrow specifically.”

“We have some nice cashmere coats for men right here… These jeans would go nice… Oh, this scarf goes so nice!”

He realized that the girl was enjoying herself as she played stylist, and after trying a couple of combinations she and the other girls who gathered to join in this dress-up unanimously agreed on a set. The cost made his eyebrows jump, and he rethought if maybe he ought to go as a bill instead… He paid it anyways, knowing it was good to have some new clothes that were approved. Apparently his choice in clothing was terrible.

After that he bought a wig and slipped into the first salon he saw that catered to men as well as women. He handed the lady his wig and the photo, and after she secured it onto his head, she went ahead and cut at it. It took a long time, because he emphasized he wanted it as close to the photo as possible, and she frequently stopped to ask him his opinion. When she was done, she gave a triumphant smile and leaned over his shoulder to look at him through the mirror’s reflection.

“What do you think?”

He stared at himself, raising his hand to follow the line of bangs that started at his forehead frayed and then ended up hanging by his chin.

“I think I need some make-up.”

The picture was quite handy. He handed it to yet another woman, asking that get foundation for that particular skin tone. After quite a bit of sampling, he settled on a mix of two that seemed to be the closest he could manage. He bought four bottles, two of each, and his costume was complete.

Sunday evening he walked out the door, his wig perfectly in place, and his face and neck no longer the astonishingly pale colour that it used to be. It was a few skin tones darker, though it was still rather fair; more of someone who preferred the indoors rather than someone who never saw the outside world. His expression was annoyed, like everything around him was not good enough and all he wanted was some solitude. Sai practised many expressions over the day in front of the mirror, and now he was put to the test.

“Sasuke-kun, are you going trick or treating too? Kya~ I thought you didn’t like sweets.”

“I could give you a treat if you want~”

“Ah, he’s scary, but I wouldn’t mind finding him in my closet!”

So it seems he passed. He held his backpack open, and a surprising number of girls were willing to give him their spoils. He’d just reply with a ‘hn’ and be on his way.

Dusk hadn’t settled yet, but there was that night-time chill creeping up on them. Sai, or rather Sasuke now, was prepared. With his hands in the pockets black cashmere coat and a silver scarf around his neck, the bite of the breeze and the low temperature didn’t bother him so much. Not everyone was as prepared as he was, it seemed. His perpetual scowl shifted as he looked upon the person standing beneath a tree, shaking in the school uniform. It was clearly a cross-dressing man, and he wondered what the person was thinking, soliciting out here so far away from the district. He was also tempted to give the person some tips on looking more feminine, but that would be out of character for his costume.

His eyebrow rose as he approached. It was Naruto… He didn’t take him for someone who would work this sort of job—oh… Maybe this was his costume? What a clever idea. Naruto was homophobic, so maybe being mistaken and hit on by a man was his fear? He approached, standing some distance away but within clear view. He smirked at him, recalling Sasuke’s expressions with acute awareness as they transferred onto his face. Even he was gripped with a sudden want to laugh. How amusing…

“Cute. Waiting for your boyfriend to come pick you up?”

[Elle]

"Happy Halloween," called out one Haruno Sakura as she leaned her body against the frame of her door, green eyes following the dressed up kids as they scurried away from her small home. It was that time of year when children (and even people her own age) dressed up in brightly decorated costumes, hands clutching a bag filled with treats and other edible items. Loud, happy voices rang out around the streets, cherubic faces reflecting nothing but pure joy because--when they got home, that is--they could sink their teeth into the multitude of sweets they possessed. Yes, it was Halloween night and what was one Haruno Sakura stuck doing?

Handing out candy to small children, that's what.

Somehow between 'studying for a test' and 'skipping out on dinner to go shopping for new clothes', the pinkette failed to miss the part that her parents would be attending the Halloween party at said matriarch's workplace. Inwardly this made Sakura a bit displeased, mind reeling over the multiple parties she had to miss just to tend to the door duties usually bestowed upon her parents. There was a knock on the door as another slew of children grinned happily, choruses of 'Trick-or-Treat!' ringing through her eardrums. At the sight of their smiles, Sakura felt whatever annoyance she once faced melt away from her body, cheerful mood replacing its spot. It wasn't so bad handing out candy if it meant she could watch as the kids walked away, chatting animatedly and exchanging pieces of candy that the other didn't want.

Closing the door, Sakura's emerald gaze trailed down, nose scrunching up in disdain once she realized that all of her Halloween candy had been given out already. "And I've only been handing it out for forty minutes," she muttered to herself, flicking off the porch light, giving the signal that she was either a, not home or b, out of candy.

Tracking back into the closet, her hands brushed against her coat, pulling it off the hanger and slipping it over her shoulders. There was nothing left for her to do but watch old horror movies, and that was definitely something she didn't want to do alone. So what if scary movies made her jumpy? She wasn't the only one who didn't like them.

She made sure that the door was securely locked behind her, hand twisting the knob a couple of times just to triple check. Better to be safe than to be sorry, after all. Tucking her house key into the front pocket of her Halloween costume, the pink-haired girl slipped her rather cold hands into the warm pockets and strolled off.

Really, she should have had second thoughts about her costume before deciding to purchase it. While the nurse's outfit was cute, it was also rather short, showing off her thin legs, further exposing them to the rather nippy weather that the area was currently experiencing.

Walking for a few more minutes in silence, Sakura squinted her eyes upon walking up to a rather large tree. Was that...it couldn't possibly be, right? Then again, why else would he ask to borrow her skirt? Oh, she should have said no from the very beginning!

"Naruto?" Sakura's voice was disbelieving, mentally wondering why Naruto would decide to dress in drag for Halloween. Did he not listen to the rumors circulating around their class, or did he simply not care? Either way, catching him wearing a skirt was a sight that she did not wish upon anyone.

.....It also didn't help that he made a rather pretty girl.

Suddenly another person joined them, his appearance one that she would recognize right off the bat. Spinning around, Sakura opened her mouth to say something and then paused, a rather puzzled expression crawling on her face. She wasn't exactly sure if the person standing in front of her was Uchiha Sasuke, her childhood crush, or....

"Sai? Yeah, she was definitely confused by this Halloween.