Happy Birthday Naruto

By randomstateofmind

"Hey, Naruto! Happy birthday!"

"Thanks, Ino," Naruto replied, grinning wildly at the bleach blond as she gave him a box wrapped in bright red paper, tied with a blue ribbon. Surrounding him were all of his friends as he sat at the end of the round table inside his apartment. When he came home that night after a really boring assignment given to him by Granny Tsunade, he wasn't expecting everyone to jump out and shout at the freaking top of their lungs when he flicked the lights on.

But what really bummed him out about this little surprise was the fact that the most important person in his life wasn't present. She wasn't anywhere to be found, according to the others.

Sakura … I thought you'd be here, too.

"Go on, Naruto! Open it up!" Ino squealed, her glossy blue eyes bursting with anticipation. Naruto laughed as he tore apart the paper from the box and literally threw off the lid.

Inside was a sculpture built entirely of flowers, and what they constructed caused Naruto's chest to ache. Made of bright yellow tulip petals was his own figure, standing with his arm around a certain pink-blossom-petal-made woman. Delicately, Naruto lifted the statuette out of the casing and set it down on the table. A couple awww's were heard from his crowding friends, and he couldn't help but smile.

After all, it was no secret that Naruto and Sakura have been dating for the past month. It just made Naruto even glummer that Sakura wasn't here with him right now.

"It's great, Ino," he commented, smiling at her. "Thanks!"

Ino beamed and jumped up and down, clapping. Naruto gently pushed the little figurine over the table's surface to join his other presents; a new kunai set from Ten-Ten and Neji, a brand new exercise outfit from Rock Lee (including those sexy arm straps), a home-made birthday cake from Choji (he even had the decency to not eat the orange icing), a Shoji game set from Shikamaru (who took time from his busy schedule to stop by and say hi), an abstract painting from Sai, a set of a dozen new scrolls from Kiba and Shino (they put their savings together in order to buy it), a gnawed bone from Akamaru (yeah), and a certificate for four free servings of ramen down at the old man's shop from Hinata.

Yep. Everything was looking good. Naruto should've been happier, but the kids in the room all realized right away that he wasn't as excited as he should have been. They all knew at once that he would get down when they told him Sakura couldn't come.

"Got any plans, Naruto?" Kiba asked, sitting on Akamaru's back while the others began to chat and mingle in the small apartment.

Naruto scratched his head. "Plans?"

"For tonight! When I turned seventeen, I went out and about with almost all the free women in the village, if you know what I mean." The brunette waggled his eyebrows and gave a toothy grin, which Naruto made a face at. "But of course, you've got Sakura to do that kind of stuff with."

"That ain't none of your business," Naruto retorted, suddenly flushing with either anger or embarrassment, or possibly both. Kiba laughed.

"Yeah, I know. I just figured you had plans with her tonight since she's not here now. Do you?"

Naruto slumped, his forehead smacking flat on the tabletop. "…No."

Kiba tilted his head at the same time as Akamaru. "Huh? Well, then why isn't she here?"

"I dunno. I thought maybe you guys knew, 'cuz I sure don't. Man, I really wish she was here."

"BIRTHDAY CAKE TIME!" It could only be Choji.

After the candles were blown and the song was sung, and the cake was sliced and served, Naruto thanked everyone for the party and the gifts, and pretty soon they all filed out one by one. It was getting dark outside, the full moon just barely visible through the thick clouds in the blue-violet swirl of a sky. Stars twinkled over the Hidden Leaf village as they did every night, and tonight, depressingly enough, felt no different. Naruto closed the door after the last of his friends finally left and slumped down to the floor with his back to the wall.

Sakura, if only you had shown up … if you came tonight, I might not want to strangle myself right now.

Birthdays were never his best occasion, despite his adoration for gifts and cake. Sure, it was better nowadays because he had more friends than ever, and a girlfriend! But what about when he was little, when he had no parents to hold a party for him, when he had nobody to receive presents from? Those days … well, they totally sucked ass, to be honest. And the harsh memories were still fresh wounds in Naruto's mind.

A familiar knock on his door made Naruto's ears perk, and he scrambled to his feet faster than he could breath.

"Naruto? Are you still awake?"

His smile reappeared in earnest as Naruto opened the door and looked into the face of the pink-haired wonder he called his girlfriend.

"Sakura…"

"Naruto, I am so sorry!" she started, her teal green eyes soft with regret. "I knew everyone was throwing a party for you, so I wanted to get you the best gift of all. But I asked around and everyone had such great gifts that I couldn't think up a single thing to get you that was better, so I was searching all over the village for something to get you but I couldn't find anything that was good enough, and–"

She was abruptly caught off as Naruto placed a single finger over her lips, her gentle skin sticking a bit to his flesh. She looked up at his blue eyes, which were full with pure bemusement.

"I don't care about the gifts, Sakura," he murmured, "What was most important to me tonight was you simply being by my side. That's all I wanted."

"Oh, great. Now I feel worse."

Naruto chuckled. "You shouldn't. You're here now. That's all that matters."

"But … but … I'm not allowed out past curfew when I'm not on missions. I could get in trouble." Another look into his eyes, which were as pleading as she could ever see them, and she sighed in submission. "I guess I could say I helped you clean up." She looked around Naruto into his house. "And maybe I will. This place is a wreck."

"Thank Akamaru for that. He and Choji got in a fight over the last piece of cake."

Sakura laughed, entering Naruto's home. He shut the door behind her and went over to his bed, plopping down heavily enough to make the springs creak. Sakura waited a moment before she joined him.

"I'm really glad you decided to stay," Naruto mumbled without looking at her. Instead his gaze was out the window, clouded with a distant, painful memory. "I don't like spending my birthday by myself. I never liked it."

"But you didn't spend it by yourself," Sakura pointed out, "All your friends were here with you. They even threw you a party!"

"Yeah, but … I mean, I don't want to push the guilt on you, but I really wanted you to be there. It … would've made my night."

Sakura hesitated, listening to the white noise of the evening atmosphere. Then she reached up with one pale hand and settled it against her boyfriend's cheek, slowly turning his face so he was looking into her eyes. His skin grew warm beneath her touch, and he smiled sheepishly. Even after a month of dating, he never got accustomed to this sort of thing. He always seemed to do his very best to make the moments awkward, but Sakura pushed passed that long ago.

"You said so yourself," she whispered, leaning forward. "I'm here now. That's all that matters." Their lips brushed up against each other, and Sakura's hot breath caused Naruto to suppress a moan of yearning. He had always had feelings for this woman, but … not like this. Never like this.

Closing his eyes, Naruto fell into the kiss's sweet seduction. Sakura's hand snaked over his cheek and tangled with his messy blond hair, and she tilted her head so their mouths could kiss better. His tongue started to lightly trace her lips, flicking around playfully. Sakura almost laughed at the invitation, and she opened her mouth wider for a full French kiss.

His fingers found her palm, and their tips began tracing patterns over her soft, delicate skin, slowly trailing a line up her arm and causing her to shiver. His hand reached her shoulder, lined her collarbone with one featherlike stroke, and lightly wrapped around the back of her neck, where it rested. Sakura smiled through her kisses and used both hands to square out his shoulders.

You have no idea … how good you make me feel… Naruto thought, his breaths becoming ragged with desire.

With his other hand, Naruto started to brush up against Sakura's thigh, but before he got anywhere, she pulled away. She was just as breathless as he was, maybe even more. She, just like Naruto, had never experienced this desire before, never even dreamed it possible. It was more than desire. It was a craving, a longing.

A passion.

Naruto looked into Sakura's eyes, and in that one moment of hiatus, they nonverbally made a consensus. Their feelings were one in the same. Their actions should be as well.

Sakura pushed her mouth back to Naruto's, so hard they fell backwards until she was lying on top of him. His hand moved slowly and deliberately up her leg, until he reached her waist and gave a slight squeeze. Oh, she enjoyed that. Her lips left his, but only to trail across his face as softly as a feather, tracing delicately down his jaw line and pressing her mouth to his neck, sucking lightly. He felt helpless as she did this to him, but there wasn't a moment he would dare take away from it. Closing his eyes, his breathing was harder than it could've been in any tough battle he's endured.

That was nothing like this, anyway.

Suddenly he rolled, taking Sakura with him so he was the one on top. He didn't kiss her at first, but merely put his forehead to hers and absorbed the warmth in her eyes. She beamed up at him, and put her lips to his ear, whispering three words.

"Happy Birthday, Naruto."

He smiled back, and started kissing her along her beautiful neck, causing a small groan to escaped her mouth.

Across the room, where the pile of presents lay witness to these acts of innocent love and, let's face it, not-so-innocent lust, two petals drifted off of the flower statuette. They fluttered in the air, dancing around each other and twirling with an elaborate style. Until finally the pink petal rested on the table, the yellow petal settling gently on top of it.

A sign of what was to come.

A sign of love.

A/N - Thanks for reading!

- random -