My One and Only

Chapter 25

The world was basked in orange. The tree's leaves were an array of orange, brown, and yellow as they fell to the ground in cascades. The air was only starting to get chilly, but not cold enough to be uncomfortable. Sakura ran from the terrace into the outside world. She skipped merrily to where she saw the largest amount of reddish leaves.

Dropping onto her knees, she scooped armfuls of leaves and threw them into a growing pile. Once she was satisfied with the number of leaves she had gathered, she walked quickly walked back a few feet from her leaf pile. Readying herself, she ran full force towards the pile of leaves and jumped in it. Leaves flew everywhere.

She jumped into the leaves several times, throwing the leaves around and reforming her pile. She was in the middle of laughing with a silly smile, buried deep in the leaves when she felt a shadow looming over her. Sakura opened her eyes to see Itachi looking down at her with a small amused smirk.

He wordlessly offered his hand to her, the smirk still on his face. Sakura grabbed his hand and let him pull her out of the pile of leaves. She shook her clothes and attempted to get the small pieces of leaves off her dress and hair.

"You missed a few, " Itachi said, pulling a few leaves out of her hair. He took her hand and lead her back inside.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Itachi's house was busy with all the preparations taking place for the autumn festival. It was tradition to carve pumpkins and place them outside near doors or windows to scare away stingy jack and other evil spirits.

There was an entire batch of pumpkins currently in front of Sakura that the servants had gone out to buy and brought back. Sakura looked through all the pumpkins, holding and turning them over before finally deciding on one, "I want this one!"

Everyone else could have their pick of the rest of the pumpkins left. Carving out a scary face into the pumpkins was always fun. Sakura remembered when she and other little girls her age would have a contest on who could carve the scariest face when she was younger. There wasn't a contest this time, but it was still just as entertaining.

Sakura picked up her pumpkin to admire her work. This had to be the scariest one she'd carved yet. With crooked, slanted eyes and a large pointy smile, once it was night and lit up with a candle it would make quite a spooky sight. It was really a shame there was no contest this time, she would've won. 

Finally, all finished pumpkins were rounded up and they were placed all around the windows and doors. Sakura made sure to place hers clear and pronounced on an extravagant windowsill with no other pumpkins on it.

Itachi came home earlier than usual on the day of the festival. The entire country would dress in scary costumes because this was the night ghosts and other spirits would roam around. Those who weren't blending in would have misfortune befall them. Many poor children would go around houses and beg for food and money on this day. Sakura wondered if any would pass by Itachi's home.

When the sun had set, dressed in their imposter costumes, Sakura and Itachi walked out to the gardens, servants in front of them lighting the path. They passed by a decorated window and Sakura tugged at Itachi's sleeve as she pointed at the only pumpkin in view, "That one's mine!"

Itachi looked at it and then patted her head, "You did a good job. I'm sure it'll scare stingy jack."

Sakura beamed at the praise and affirmed what she already knew. Outside, they walked until they were near a large pile of wood in the middle of a grassy plot in the garden. The wood was set alight and a large bonfire emerged. The autumn festivities were in full swing.

This was a night of celebration. Maids and servants danced around the large bonfire to the beating of drums and other instruments. Tables were covered in food for everyone to enjoy. This included the dead that would be passing by the world of the living tonight. Sakura and Itachi sat nearby eating caramel apples.

The autumn festival had always been her favorite because of the idea that the dead walked among them on this night. She wondered how they remained hidden, and if her own family members that were no longer among the living ever passed by to visit her. 

The autumn festival was a mysterious event that only came once a year. With that thought, Sakura stood to enjoy it to its fullest and took Itachi's hand so they could go dance around the fire too. She'd have to wait an entire year for it to come back, after all.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So no I have not abandoned this fic as some of you may have thought. Things have been crazy and stressful so I've only been able to write this snippets at a time.

Some of the stuff in here is true things that they used to do or believe in past centuries and some I made up. There are only a couple of chapters of this story left and while I can't do weekly updates I'll try to not have them take as long as this one did to be posted.