Sequel to Happy Birthday Naruto! Gaara is lonely on his birthday, can a certain blonde shinobi cheer him up?
On the day of the 19th the Kazekage opened his eyes to a dismal morning.
Oh, the sun was shining and a tolerable temperature, and the market was booming, Temari even gave him the day off from his paperwork. But it was still dismal.
Because it was Gaara's birthday.
He had always hated his birthday, even since the day he was born. His mother had died that day. He had killed his mother to secure his own existence.
On a normal day, Gaara could push back the thoughts nagging at his mind, telling him he was a demon and he didn't deserve this, but today he couldn't.
Happy birthday monster, congrats you've lived through another year, let's see how you fare in the next one shall we?
Although Shukaku no longer whispered these goading words to him, he still heard them in the back of his mind. Forever reminding him what had happened that day.
Heaving a sigh, Gaara got up and dressed in his usual garb. He sat atop the Kazekage Tower, lost in thought.
;;;;
A guard, by the name of Kiro, turned to his companion, who stood guard by the entrance to the village.
"It's Gaara-sama's birthday today isn't it?" he asked.
His companion, Ikazu, nodded. "He'll be spending most of the day on the roof as usual," he replied.
Kiro sighed. "If only Naruto-sama would come, he'd cheer the Kazekage up."
Ikazu sighed in agreement. "Indeed. It's a pity he comes from the Leaf, the Kazekage is quite fond of him any fool can tell,"
"Who's fond of who?" came a voice.
The guards turned, and smiled at the newcomer.
;;;;
Gaara sighed for the seventh time that morning, he rested his head on his knees and tried to shut the negative thoughts from his mind.
He heard humming but he ignored it. The humming continued, it was getting closer. Gaara noticed it was Happy Birthday tune.
How ironic, Gaara thought.
The humming got louder and words could be made out, "…Happy birthday dear Gaara, happy birthday to you…"
Gaara's head lifted sharply. "Naruto…is that you?" he asked turning.
The blonde shinobi smiled widely at the bewildered Kazekage. "Hi Gaara," he said gently.
Normally Naruto would have shouted Gaara's name loud enough for Konoha to hear and tackled the redhead, but today was a special day.
Gaara stood up as Naruto came closer, and their lips brushed together momentarily.
Gaara shivered, still unused to the loving contact Naruto gave him, and relaxed into the blonde as he was enveloped in an embrace.
"Happy birthday love," Naruto whispered. Gaara sighed mournfully.
"Some birthday." He said. "Still, it's good to see you,"
Naruto drew back and smiled sweetly at Gaara, "I have one or two surprises for you," he said.
Gaara looked down. "Naruto, I'm really not in the mood, I appreciate it but – "
"No, no, no, no buts Gaara, I promise you'll love this. Come on please? Please let me do this for you," Naruto said, still in the soft, gentle voice that Gaara loved.
"…Okay." He whispered.
Naruto smiled and tugged at his wrist, pulling the Kazekage along with him they travelled down the tower to the busy market.
They didn't stop there though, Naruto led them out of the town and to the Sand's cemetery.
Gaara looked at him questioningly, but Naruto didn't speak until they reached one grave in particular.
Karura. Gaara's mother.
"Naruto…you…" Gaara looked at the blonde as he sat by the ground.
"I'd figured you never had a chance to talk to you mother, so now might be a good time. Go on Gaara, imagine she's sitting right here, talk to her," Naruto smiled.
Slowly, Gaara sat down and face the gravestone that had his mother's name engraved on it.
He was a little uncomfortable with Naruto beside him, but tried to imagine his mother sitting in front of him, waiting for him to speak.
"You don't know how many times I've wished I could wish you a Happy Mother's Day," he started. He bit back tears and chocked on a sob.
He looked at Naruto, who nodded encouragingly. "Go on Gaara, she can hear you, you're doing fine," he said.
Gaara gripped Naruto's hand and the blonde scooted closer to him to give him comfort. He looked back at the grave.
"I've only ever wanted to make you proud of me, I wanted to be the perfect son, but whenever I asked about you father wouldn't answer," he said.
Naruto squeezed his hand. Gaara took a deep breath and continued.
"I've been Kazekage for nearly three years now, I hope that makes you happy, I'll take good care of the village I promise, I'm sorry your life had to end in order for mine to begin," his breath hitched but he ploughed on despite it.
"I love you mother, I want you to know that. And Kankuro and Temari too, we're a family now after all these years, I wish you could be here with us,"
He glanced at Naruto, "This here is my guardian angel Naruto, the one who changed my life and forced me off the road of evil, he's also the one that brought me back from death itself when Shukaku was removed."
Naruto blushed and looked at him. Gaara smiled and looked back at the grave.
"We have a lot in this world that wouldn't have been possible without him, he's a jinchuriki too, but you wouldn't be able to tell if you didn't know. I love him very much, and he makes me happy, I hope that makes you happy too mother, I want you to be happy."
He sighed, "I think that's it." He said.
"Okay. Let's go home Gaara, I've got one more birthday surprise for you, you're gonna love it," Naruto said as they stood.
"I think, that whatever it is, as long as you're there, there's no way I could hate it," Gaara said affectionately.
Naruto blushed and grinned. "Let's go then, bye Gaara's mother, and don't you worry about a thing, I'll take care of Gaara for you,"
As they walked away from the grave, Gaara turned back. "Goodbye Mother," he said.
;;;;
When the two left, a ghostly figure appeared above the gravestone, the woman hovered over the grave, smiling, with happy tears flowing down her cheeks.
"Goodbye my son, I wish you happiness in your life, and with this wonderful man of yours," she said.
The ghostly figure slowly disappeared again, and an eerie wind blew out all traces that the woman was even there.
;;;;
"Surprise! Happy birthday Gaara!" the Kazekage stared at the party arranged in his home.
There was Lee, smiling brightly and crying manly tears, Shikamaru who was smiling tiredly as if to say 'this is so troublesome' without words.
Kiba and Akamaru were both giving him huge doggy grins, Kankuro standing beside them, smiling at his little brother.
Temari was crying happy tears, Sakura was carrying a present in her hand, and Hinata was smiling shyly, holding a neatly wrapped present as well.
Neji was smiling a small smile at the Kazekage's bewildered expression, apparently the Hyuga prodigy found it highly amusing.
But Naruto was the one who was beaming the largest.
"You…did this for me?" he asked. He looked around him. "All of you?"
"Of course Gaara-kun, you are our friend!" Lee cried. The others nodded in agreement.
"A-Ano…G-Gaara-kun, h-here's you're p-present from m-me," Hinata stuttered.
Gaara took the gift from her gently, unwrapping it he saw it was a beautiful traditional quill and ink pot.
"I th-thought you c-could u-use it for y-you're p-paperwork," Hinata said.
Gaara smiled at her, "Thankyou Hinata-san, I appreciate it."
Hinata smiled and stepped to the back of the room.
"My turn!" Sakura declared pushing past everyone. "Here's mine,"
Sakura had gotten him a funny thermometer that could not only tell you the temperature, but the weather conditions as well.
"Ooh, ooh! Mine and Akamaru's next!" Kiba pushed a package to the Kazekage.
Gaara chuckled at the humour of Kiba's gift for him. "Only you, Inuzuka, would give a Kazekage god biscuits," he said.
Kiba grinned, proud of himself. Kankuro hit him on the head. "What kind of a gift is that Kibbles?" he asked.
Kiba stuck out his tongue at being called Kibbles, but answered anyway.
"They're for when he comes to Konoha, we have ninja dogs guarding important outsiders entering the village and they enjoy treats for their services,"
Gaara nodded in thanks.
"Choose mine next! My gift is the most amazing for it was made with the flame of youth!" Lee exclaimed.
Everyone in the vicinity groaned and face-palmed.
Lee's gift was one of his green jumpsuits that Gai-sensei had given Naruto for his birthday, Gaara thanked him, with a mental note to burn it in secret later.
"My turn," Kankuro beamed.
Kankuro had given him a set of string puppets. They were of Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, their mother, and Naruto.
Gaara looked up at his brother, not knowing what to say.
Kankuro smiled. "I thought you'd like 'em," he said.
"…I do. Very much. Thankyou Kankuro," he replied.
"Make way for his sister!" Temari pushed her way to the front and handed him her gift. It was a book on forbidden jutsus and the history behind them.
Gaara smirked as he thought of Naruto making of with it at night to get stronger, he might want to hide the book…
Neji handed him a unusual book, the Hyuga winked as he gave it to him. It was a book on how to behave in social situations
"Very funny Neji," Gaara said with a small grin. Everyone laughed.
But it may come in handy, you never know…not that Gaara wanted to turn out like Sai, reading from the book all the time.
Shikamaru handed him a wrapped pair of decorated chopsticks.
"They're for when Naruto drags you to Ichiraku's. I was going to get you something useful but it was too troublesome," Shikamaru said.
While Temari hit Shikamaru with her fan Gaara smiled at the gift. They were in fact, very useful.
After that the party was started, food was eaten and music was danced to, games which Gaara had never seen before were played, Naruto winning most of them.
"Damn fox boy, he's gotta be cheating somehow!" Kiba exclaimed. Naruto grinned.
"Nope, sorry Kiba, guess it's all talent," he said.
"Yeah talent, look if we need an expert on eating fifty ramen bowls in thirty seconds we'll give you a call," Kiba retorted.
Naruto grinned wider if possible.
After the group left to go back to their hotel rooms, wishing Gaara a happy birthday on their way out, Gaara remembered that Naruto hadn't given him anything.
Look you, don't be selfish! He's done so much for you already and you expect more from him? He berated himself.
"Gaara, can I give you my present now?" Naruto asked, suddenly shy.
Gaara spared a moment to think how cute Naruto looked when he was shy, before nodding. "Okay."
"It's upstairs, I didn't want to give it to you before because, I wanted it to be special," Naruto said.
They went into Gaara's bedroom and Naruto took down a brightly wrapped bundle and handed it to him.
"Happy birthday Gaara," Naruto said lovingly.
Gaara unwrapped the gift carefully, and what was inside made him gasp.
It was a teddy bear. Identical to the one he'd had as a child.
He looked up at Naruto in astonishment. "You made this?" he asked.
Naruto nodded, pleased with his work.
"Yup! The eye's a little lopsided but you get the idea. I asked Temari what you would like and she told me you had a bear when you were young, so I made this,"
"Naruto…" Gaara cradled the bear gently, as if it were made of glass. "Thankyou. For everything." He said.
"Aw that's okay Gaara, it's nothing really." Naruto said getting embarrassed.
"No, it's not nothing. If it were, you wouldn't do it." Gaara kissed him and buried his head in the crook of Naruto's neck.
"Thankyou for everything you've done for me Naruto, I couldn't be happier then I am right now," he said.
Naruto sighed contently and wrapped his arms around Naruto.
"Anytime Gaara, anything for my most precious person." He whispered.
"I love you…so much," Gaara said kissing Naruto again.
"I love you too, with all my heart. Happy birthday my love," Naruto replied smiling.
Gaara didn't want the day to ever end. He wanted nothing more than to curl up beside this blonde angel and stay like that forever.
And so they did.
Owari! Aww this is a lot longer and a lot better (I hope) then my other fic, hope you enjoyed the sappiness of it. Don't forget to review!
