It was Sakura's eighteenth birthday, and Kakashi really did not want to be there.
He, Shizune, Yamato, and her parents were the only adults present. The rest were her Rookie Nine, some hospital colleagues, and a few others.
Sakura was opening a present from Naruto, who looked like he was going to rip off the wrapping paper and present it to her on one knee. It was some kunai with a couple rather expensive scrolls.
That was the last of the presents. There was not one from him, which went a little bit in explaining his reluctance to show up. That's what most people thought, along with brutal exclamations of "bum!"
They would be wrong. Well, not entirely right, really.
Her family started cutting cake to hand out to everyone. Sakura deftly lifted a piece and walked over to him. The piece in question was marble cake. It had a white icing background and a big red heart in the middle. Sakura was presenting a red icing heart to him. He didn't know how far he should read into that. He accepted the plate without comment.
"Can you believe it?" asked Sakura. "I'm finally an adult."
She twirled the end of her hair with her fingers. Was he supposed to say something back? How do you respond to it's only less disgusting to deflower me now? What if he was misreading the situation? Sakura is a naturally nice person. It was not that big of a leap that he was projecting his perverse desires onto her. He had to say something, though.
"It seems like only yesterday that you showed up for the first day of training."
This was apparently the wrong thing to say, as disappointment flickered across her face before excusing herself. She was dragged between different groups of people throughout the rest of the party, and did not talk to Kakashi again that night.