"It's still a surprise." Naruto said, breaking into his signature thousand-watt smile.

"The one with a big cup on the sign? Sounds great!" Hikari said cheerfully.

Itachi smiled, the first real, honest smile anyone had seen on him in years. "I'm glad. Would you like to go on a date now?" He asked. He had plans already in place if she wanted to.

Blake sighed, but knew that his surprise were usually good. Unless you were on his pranking list, but the cat Faunus knew for a fact that wasn't the case. She would just have to wait it seemed.

"The very one," Areku replied with a chuckle.

Amaya dared not open her mouth, not knowing if her voice would work or not. With that being said, she quickly nodded, wanting to go on the date with her Itachi.

Still smiling, Naruto pulled Blake along. He kept up the conversation, but avoided all topics concerning where they were going. Finally, he started leading Blake through the forest. Even though it was dark, he seemed to know exactly where he was going. "Almost there." He said excitedly, his smile flashing bright in the moonlight.

Holding onto her boyfriend's arm, Hikari walked happily towards town. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" She asked, gazing up at the clear, starry sky.

"Well then, let's go, shall we?" Itachi suggested, holding out a hand for Amaya to take.

Blake had kept up with her boyfriend and the conversation as well. Though she knew that he was only talking so that she wouldn't ask as to what they were doing. And when she did ask the first few times and being reverted, she dropped the subject altogether. Hearing that they were almost there, she felt her ears start twitching in anticipation.

Areku walked with his girlfriend towards Vale. "It is," he said in agreement before they stopped, their destination in front of them.

Amaya smiled lightly before taking the hand that Itachi offered her. "Thank you..." she said softly.

Finally, about five minutes after saying that they were almost there, Naruto stopped. "Here we are." He said, almost breathlessly. Though she wouldn't be able to see anything but forest from behind him, if Blake stepped forward next to Naruto, she would see a clearing open up like magic in front of her. It was a wide, sweeping meadow filled with wildflowers, a crystal clear lake smack in the middle. At the far side of the clearing was a huge rock formation the jutted into the sky, from which a waterfall crashed down into the lake. The water reflected the night sky perfectly, and on the bank of the lake in front of them was a picnic setup. A large basket sat on a big, soft blanket, along with an already-lit lantern that cast a cheery glow on the scene. "Surprise. What do you think?"

Hikari paused a moment when they reached the cafe. "There's a patio in the back, with a garden. Nice and quiet. Want to sit outside?" She asked.

"No, thank you." Itachi replied, still smiling as he led Amaya towards Vale.

Blake didn't know what to say...in fact, she was quite speechless about all of this as she stared at the place that Naruto showed her. This...this was definitely a big surprise, though wondered how he found it. "Wow..." she breathed out.

"Sounds perfect" Ark responded. "But I think we have to head inside first in order to get a seat and request it," he added.

Amaya looked at Itachi confused, wondering what he meant by that. Why would he thank her for doing something that she wanted to do?

Naruto's smile got even wider, if possible. "You like it? I found this place while I was training recently, and I thought of you right away. I was just waiting for a nice night to bring you out here." He said happily. "this can be our place."

Hikari chuckled. "Of course, I knew that. Let's go, then." She said, moving to open the door.

"This is a really dumb question, but...do you like the carnival?" Itachi asked after a couple of minutes. It had occurred to him that he should probably make sure she liked the activity he had planned before they got there.

"Our place?" Blake replied, a little surprised at the way he worded that, a blush slowly starting to make its way to her face.

"Of course you did," he said with a lighthearted smile and headed towards the door as well. Getting to it first, he held it open for Hikari.

Amaya giggled lightly at that before saying that she was okay with the carnival. Luckily, seeing the rings of fire didn't bring back any painful flashbacks, at least none that she knew of.

Naruto blushed, suddenly realizing that he may have come on too strong. "W-well, if you want. I mean, a place that only we know about, and we can come here to...to hang out and stuff..." He explained.

Hikari rolled her eyes a little, chuckling at how Ark beat her to the door. "Why thank you, sir." She said, walking through.

Itachi nodded and smiled, letting out a quick sigh of relief. By that time, they had already made it to the turnstile that marked the entrance to the carnival.

"I would like that," Blake responded with a light smile. "And let me guess...as a rule here, I can't hide my ears?" she asked, showing a smile to tell her boyfriend that she was only teasing him.

"You're welcome my lady," he said with a grin before letting the door close behind them.

"Thank you for taking me Itachi-kun" Amaya said softly.

Naruto chuckled. "You can do what you want, B-chan. I'd never make you show your ears if it made you uncomfortable. But I want you to know that you can always be yourself around me, so if you want to, you can take the ribbon off." He said. He wanted her to understand that he supported whatever decision she made. "So, shall we go sit down? There's plenty of food here. I brought all your favorites."

Hikari giggled, finding their banter amusing, and followed Ark to the counter. She looked up at the menu to see what she wanted.

Itachi smiled as he payed for their tickets. "I'm glad to have the chance, Maya-chan. Is there a ride you'd like to go on first?" He asked.

Blake thought about it for a few seconds before reaching up and taking her ribbon off, letting her hair down and her cat ears to be shown to the world. "Thank you for letting me choose Naru-kun" Blake said with a light grin. "Wait...you have all the food that I like?" she asked with a light blush, surprised that Naruto went all out for this.

Areku found the banter between himself and his girlfriend amusing, and by the look of things, Hikari enjoyed it as well. Heading towards the counter, he looked at the menu, wondering what he wanted to order.

"Can we go on the Ferris-go-round first?" Amaya asked after Itachi had paid for their tickets. She was grateful that he did that, but he didn't have to do that, and it most likely showed on her face.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well, not everything. Some stuff wouldn't keep out of a fridge. But everything I could fit." He said, smiling.

After a moment, Hikari nodded to herself. "I think I'm ready to order, whenever you're ready, Ark-kun." She said.

"Sure, that's fine with me." Itachi noticed the look on Amaya's face right away. "I'm sorry...did you want to pay for yourself? I didn't mean to upset you." He said. He had been raised to respect women, and he had learned that a man should pay for things on a date. Did some girls not like that? Had things changed?

Blake blushed lightly at that. "Thank you..." she said softly before giving Naruto a light kiss on the cheek. "You didn't have to do all this."

Ark nodded, indicating that he was ready to order as well. "Ladies first" he said.

"It's not that...I just remembered something that my mother once said, before she died" Amaya said softly.

"This is our first real date. I wanted to make it special." Naruto said simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. he led her to the blanket and sat down, then opened up the basket.

"Thank you." Hikari said with a nod. She turned to the person behind the register and ordered.

"Oh. Do you mind if I ask what that was?" Itachi asked carefully. He didn't want to upset her.

"Thank you," she replied as she sat down next to Naruto on the blanket. This first date was fantastic...and she silently wished that they could have more dates like this. Seeing that Naruto was opening the basket, she was curious as to what he brought.

Once Hikari finished ordering, Areku ordered his own food, ready to pay for the two of them

"She said that 'A relationship is never perfect,'" Amaya said softly. "It's...hard to remember them sometimes, that is...if Cinder isn't my mom and all that," she admitted.

Once Naruto opened the basket, he started taking things out. True to his word, it was all food that Blake loved. "It turns out we like a lot of the same things." Naruto said.

Hikari waited for Ark to order, silently wondering if he was going to pay. She could pay for herself, but she wasn't sure if she should, since it was a date.

Itachi nodded. "I'm sorry. I know how it feels." He said sympathetically. Not a day passed when he didn't remember his mother at least.

Ruby was glad that the movie theater that they went to didn't discriminate against Faunus. "That was a great movie Sun, thanks for taking me" the black-haired girl said with a smile on her face.

Blake saw the foods that Naruto was taking out. Hearing what her boyfriend said, she couldn't help but giggle. "I guess we do," she replied after getting her giggles under control.

After Areku ordered a ham and cheese sandwich from the cashier, he turned towards his girlfriend, not sure if she wanted to pay for herself or not. "Kari, do you mind if I pay for you as well?" he asked. He knew that Hikari could pay for herself if she wanted to do so, but wanted to ask just in case she didn't want him to pay while they were on a date.

"Thank you...and I'm sorry for making you remember whoever it was that you lost," Amaya said, not knowing who it was that Itachi had lost.

Sun smiled back at Ruby. "It was no problem. I had fun!" He replied.

Naruto finished taking the food out and set up a couple of paper cups, filling them with apple juice that he had packed. "Cheers. I hope you like everything!"

Hikari blushed slightly. It seemed like he could read her mind, almost. "U-um...you can, if you want to." She said, suddenly shy.

Itachi smiled sadly. "It's okay, I remember them all the time anyway. Let's go have fun." He said.

"I had fun also, though...perhaps we can see the sequel, if it comes out?" Ruby asked, a little unsure if he would want to do so or not.

"Thanks Ruto-kun, for everything" Blake said, glad that she had re-friended Naruto Uzumaki. It had been ages since they had last seen each other before Beacon and was quite glad that the cat faunus had met her fox faunus friend once again.

Areku nodded before getting his wallet out, paying for both himself and Hikari as well once both sandwiches were placed on a tray. "Now then...where should we eat?" he asked before picking up the tray of food, along with the two empty cups.

"Good idea, perhaps we should have fun on one of our rare days off," Amaya said with a light smile on her face. Though she did know that either, or both, of them would have to talk to Ozpin about this...and hoped that the man held nothing against the relationship she was pursuing with Itachi.

Sun looked absolutely thrilled at Ruby's words. "Yeah, totally! I-I mean, sure. Sounds cool." He said, blushing at how overeager he'd sounded.

Naruto smiled softly. "You don't have to thank me, B-chan. I like doing things with you." He said truthfully. After he'd left the White Fang, he hadn't known many faunus, let alone any who understood him. That's why it was so great to have Blake back in his life.

"I was thinking maybe here." Hikari said, leading the way out to the patio. It was beautiful, and they were the only ones out there.

Itachi chuckled and nodded. "Sounds good to me." He said, leading her to the ferris wheel.

Ruby giggled lightly at her boyfriend, but was glad that he was willing to go out on another date with her in the near future. She knew that Yang was a little too overprotective of her as it was. Seeing a clock in the distance, Ruby was able to see that it was near lunch time and wondered if Sun wanted to get something to eat, but wasn't sure how to ask. Luckily for her, or unluckily if you were Ruby Rose, her stomach chose that time to make itself be known, causing the girl to blush in embarrassment.

"If you were anyone else, I'd worry that you'd have ulterior motives you know" Blake admitted, telling Naruto how much she trusted him, even when she didn't have any real reason to trust the fox at first. But this was Naruto, the one person she could trust, in and/or outside of the White Fang. "But since it's you, I know that isn't the case," she finished.

Areku carried the tray of food in his hands while he followed his girlfriend through the small cafe area, wondering which place she was going to pick for them to eat. Seeing her take them towards the patio and suggesting that out here would be a lovely place to sit and eat, he nodded before placing the tray down in the middle and noticed that they were all alone outside. "It's a good thing Yang isn't here. She'd have a field day with all sorts of puns," he stated before sitting down.

Amaya followed Itachi to the ferris wheel, a soft smile on her face as she did so. Lacing her fingers within his, she blushed lightly as she walked with him, making sure to banish all negative thoughts from her mind for the moment. The person she loved, while frowned upon, had returned her feelings and wanted to date her. He didn't even care about the consequences...

(reading back through the RP...I found out that we did keep Amaya's mother alive. We made it out for Cinder to be her mother, or at least hinted at it)

((Yeah, Wolfie remembers that, too.))

Sun looked a little surprised at the sound of Ruby's growling stomach. "So...I take it you're hungry?" He asked with a chuckle. "Do you want to go get something to eat?"

Naruto blinked. "Ul-tear-e-or? What's that mean?" He asked, unknowingly further proving his own innocence. The blonde truly had no idea that there were any other motives to be had.

Hikari sat down, chuckling. "I'm glad she's not here, then. As much as I like a good pun, I don't need any applied to my dating life." She said.

Itachi glanced down at their intertwined hands and smiled, giving her hand a tiny squeeze. He had never been one for physical contact, but holding hands with Amaya felt both surprisingly good and completely right. They got to the ferris wheel and, luckily, were some of the first in line for the next go-round. "Looks like we got here just in time."

Ruby's blush became darker, almost wanting to use her semblance to run and hide...but she wasn't going to do that to Sun. "C-can we?" she asked.

Blake just giggled before leaning over and kissing his cheek. "Don't worry about it Na-kun, alright?" she asked.

"Agreed. But then we can just tease her about the rumors of her feelings for the Schnee Heiress," Ark said as he sat down across from her.

Amaya blushed lightly as she felt Itachi squeeze her hand lightly, a soft smile on her face. "Yeah...it looks like we did."

((Wolfie is back from the convention, and she took some pictures just for you!))

Sun chuckled. Ruby was cute when she blushed. "Sure! We've got time, and I can pay. And I'm hungry, too." He said.

Naruto blinked, then shrugged. "Okay. So, how have you been doing?" He asked, deciding to make conversation.

Hikari smiled wickedly. "Oh, now you're making me wish she was here!" She said with a chuckle.

They were on the ride quickly enough, strapped in and moving. "I love the view from the top of these. It almost feels like flying." Itachi said.