Naruto awoke, it was a bright morning and the light was streaming through his window. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"Hey, wake up," Naruto jumped and fell out of bed. "The others sent me to get you, sigh, what a drag," Naruto looked up and saw Shikamaru standing outside his window.
"Oh, hey Shikamaru,"
"C'mon get up or they'll start without us," Naruto squinted at the light coming in from outside. He looked up at Shikamaru and rubbed the last of the sleep from his eyes.
"W…what are you talking about?"
"Don't tell me you forgot already, I'm talking about Hinata's birthday party,"
"That's today?!" Said Naruto scrambling to get into his usual orange suit and fur lined jacket, finally he struggled into his sandals and joined Shikamaru on the windowsill. Naruto put his hands behind his head and stretched.
"Watch out world, Uzumaki Naruto is up and ready to go, DATEBAIO!"
Five minutes later Naruto and Shikamaru joined the party; Naruto scanned the crowd of people that were waiting for them: Rock Lee, Haruno Sakura, Akamichi Chouji (munching on a family sized bag of crisps), Inusuka Kiba (with Akamaru sat on his head), Yamanaka Ino, Aburame Shino, Hyuga Neji, Umino Iruka, Yuhi Kuranai, Maito Gai and finally Hyuga Hinata herself.
"Naruto, you came," muttered Hinata with a shy smile.
"Happy birthday Hinata," said Naruto as they walked up to the group "So what do we do first?"
"We're going for a picnic Naruto," Sakura jumped forward with a picnic basket and Naruto noticed that Gai was holding a roll of rugs.
"A picnic, that's LA…" Shikamaru cut Naruto off mid sentence by clamping his hand over his mouth.
"Lets go!" Shouted Gai a little too enthusiastically holding his thumb up with his free hand. The small group set off down the path towards the village gate. Sakura made her way towards Lee and Gai to walk next to them.
"Where is Kakashi sensei? He said he would be here," she asked in a hushed tone.
"Don't worry about him Sakura, he's always late, not like Gai sensei he's always on time!" Lee winked at Gai and smiled, his teeth flash in the sun ding.
Shino was walking at the head of the party with Hinata and Naruto.
"My bugs have found a suitable spot to eat, I will lead the way," Shino edged forwards to guide the party to the picnic spot. Hinata edged a little closer to Naruto, her arm swung a little and their hands touched, Naruto looked at her and took her hand, Hinata did not look, but Naruto could see the smile on her face. Naruto did not see however, at the side of the party a figure looking at them, her long blonde hair drooping over her face, tears in her eyes.