It was 6 am in Konoha and the sun was barely able to keep up with the brightness of the pink haired girl happily walking down the dirt road, arms full of groceries. She smiled to herself as she watched two boys tease a smaller girl, reminding herself of her days spent with Naruto and Sasuke. Hours spent watching them train when really she didn't want anything more than to be with them and watch Sasuke. In full hopes of pointing out all the things she saw him do to Ino. She closed her glistening green eyes and sighed. Sasuke was gone and Naruto was off in search of him. She hadn't seen either for quite some time.
"Oy Sakura-Chan!"
Her gaze was broke when her former sensei popped up in her face with a smile in his eye. She quickly smiled and laughed at his random appearance.
"Good to see you awake so early Kakashi-sensei!" She said as she turned away from the children to look at him as he was now situated onto a tree limb.
"Hai, Hai, I'd figured I'd go for a walk, first time in a while with nothing to do around here." He said, as he took out his little orange book, ready for any action.
Sakura smiled with a nod and waited for him to remember what day it was.
"Well, Sakura-Chan I must be off!" and in his puff of smoke the copy ninja was gone.
Leaving Sakura disappointed that one of her closes friends had forgotten her birthday.
She turned and walked down the streets looking at all the faces around her, noticing that there was an absence of all her friends. Just about every available ninja had been assigned to some sort of mission and even Tsunade-sama wasn't around for her to bother. It seems everyone just forgot about Sakura.
She shook her head and decided that she was being over dramatic and that everyone had jobs no matter what day it maybe. But still Sakura thought her birthday should be the most important day. Ever.
Sakura arrived home to her small apartment, with the perfect view as she entered, her large window in the living room wide open to a field that went on for what seemed forever. She smiled at the simple things in life that have always made her so happy.
She unpacked all the groceries and put everything away feeling like something had been accomplished and now she felt like she should just waste the rest of her day. She laid down onto her couch and thought about what she would do when Naruto came back with Sasuke, how things would be so much better and she wouldn't have to worry so much.
As she was almost fully relaxed to sleep she was jolted awake by a knock at her door. She shot up in a daze and went to answer the door.
"Otanjoubi Omedetou gozaimasu Sakura-Chan!" There stood her sensei with a bunch of flowers of all colors and a small pink bunny outreached to her.
Sakura's eyes lit up and her smile engulfed her face.
"Arigato gozaimasu Kakashi-sensei!" she yelled throwing her hands around him and hugging him, almost causing the ninja to fall down the stairs.
Sakura took her presents and ushered for Kakashi to come in and sit down. She placed the flowers into a vase onto the table with the bunny sitting near by. She couldn't stop smiling as she flopped onto the couch next to Kakashi.
"Sorry Sakura about not wishing you a happy birthday this morning, I wanted it be a surprise." He said as he looked at her, you could tell he had a huge smile on under his mask.
"Hai, Kakashi-sensei, you had me quite upset. I mean with everyone gone, I was pretty much left to hope on you for my birthday…happiness." She tried to stay serious as if she was lecturing him.
"Oh? So I suppose I should make it up to you?" Kakashi said squinting toward his former student.
"I think so. I hold you fully responsible for being super happy on my birthday."
"But I gave you presents, what more could you want?" he now looked like he was a little afraid of what her answer was going to be.
Sakura sat and thought about it. What she really wanted. She wanted Naruto and Sasuke home. She wanted all her friends to spend the day with her and laugh all together like everything was perfectly fine. Sakura closed her eyes in hopes she'd be able to stop herself from crying in front of Kakashi.
"Sakura are you alright?" Kakashi turned to face her
"I'm…fine." She said between sobs as she held up her hands in front of her face hoping he still didn't see her.
Kakashi looked at her, as his student he'd tell her to cheer up and look on the bright side and to get back into the game, but he looked her now and saw her as something different. He sighed and pulled her close to him.
"Don't worry Sakura, everything will be better someday." He couldn't lie to her but he tried his best to make her feel better.
He could smell her shampoo though his mask, she smelled just as she was, so sweet. He ran his hand though her hair, he felt as if all he wanted to was take away all her fears. She felt so different to him; she wasn't his student any more. He could feel her tears sinking into his shirt and her crying getting to be more apparent.
"Don't worry Sakura, I'll always be here for you."
"Thank you Kakashi-sensei." Sakura managed to mutter between sobs.
Sensei. The word rang though Kakashi's mind. He wanted things to be different. He was ready to make things different.
"Sakura-Chan." He whispered. She didn't hear him.
"Sakura-Chan." He said louder, clearing his throat.
"Hai?" She answered muffled by his shoulder.
He pulled her away from him and he looked at her. She was a mess trying to gather herself up, her crying had stopped and now she was just sniffling. She looked at him, he could see that she still had so much in her to cry but he had stopped her.
"Sakura, I want to give you a special gift." He said as he moved his hands over hers in her lap.
"What's that Kakashi?" He stopped. She hadn't used sensei. He sighed.
He pulled his hand away from hers and raised it to his face, and he pulled down his mask.
Sakura sat and stared, trying to understand what she was looking at. Kakashi was known for his mask, so many people never knew what he truly looked like, Sakura had even spent a great deal of her youth with Naruto and Sasuke trying to get the thing off.
Sakura opened her mouth to speak but Kakashi had lunged forward and his lips were on hers. She didn't fight, she didn't really think about how he was her former teacher, how she's so much younger than him. She only thought about he was the only person here with her. The only person to make her feel so much better.
Kakashi pulled away avoiding looking at Sakura.
"I'm sorry Sakura." He said pulling his mask up getting ready to run away from what he thought would be a his biggest mistake.
But instead he felt her arms wrap around him tightly and his shoulder began to get wet again.
"Arigato Kakashi."
She didn't know what would happen now. She didn't know what to do but she realized that she's not alone and the simple things in her life just got more complicated but they still made her smile.