The fourth time Naruto sees his protector he actually gets to talk with her. It's his eighth birthday now and while he hadn't caught sight of her since that day in the clearing, there were still the clear signs that she was around. Naruto gathered that she visited him at least twice a month, although he had never caught her at it.

At one point he had tried, staying up late at nights, waking up early, hoping to catch her entering his apartment, but all that that had resulted in was him being overly tired and Iruka-sensei being angry because he kept falling asleep in class.

It's his birthday again and this time jiji actually shows up to take him out for ramen, which surprises Naruto. The old man asks him how he's doing in school and about his recent pranks before asking Naruto if there was anything he wanted to tell him.

Naruto hesitates for a moment because besides that one time, last year, when he told jiji he'd been rescued by an angel Naruto hasn't mentioned his visitor at all. He doesn't know why he hasn't said anything to the old man, but every time he goes to tell him, he hesitates.

He's pretty sure the woman means no harm to Konoha, has been in and out for a year now and hasn't done more than stop those drunks last year, keep Naruto's apartment cleaned and stocked (and fixed because Naruto knows it wasn't his landlord who fixed his broken hot water pipe three months ago), bring Naruto home when he had almost wandered into the Uchiha warzone, and occasionally chased off a person or two who decided it would be fun to pick on Naruto. Naruto has never actually seen her do this but he does have really good hearing and the men were never very quiet in their shouts about a black-cloaked demon.

Still, Naruto's not sure she's a Konoha nin and he knows the old man is still the hokage and probably wouldn't appreciate knowing that someone has been breaking into Konoha on a regular basis without his knowledge.

So instead of telling jiji about her he simply smiles and denies there's anything to tell before eating his body weight in Ichiraku Ramen.

He doesn't miss the calculating look in jiji's eyes, but doesn't acknowledge it either and jiji drops the subject, turning to enjoy his own bowl of ramen before wishing Naruto a happy birthday and returning to his hokage duties.

When Naruto makes his way home he surprisingly runs into no trouble, or maybe not so surprisingly because it's Dog on his ANBU duty tonight and Dog is the most vigilant of his secret guardians. (Jiji doesn't know that he knows about the ANBU the old man has watch him. Naruto doesn't even think the ANBU know he's onto them, and while he doesn't understand why he warrants the protection, he is grateful for it).

He unlocks his apartment and enters, relieved once more to find no one's broken in and trashed the place. Of course, no one's broken in in a year and Naruto wonders briefly if his protector has anything to do about that. But then he notices a light on in the kitchen and frowns because he knows he turned all the lights off. He heads into the kitchen and comes to a stop, mouth dropping open in disbelief.

His protector is standing there, still cloaked in black but the hood is down and her hair is wild around her shoulders and down her back and her eyes are sparkling as she holds a messily frosted orange cake with eight candles.

The sparkle slowly fades from her eyes as Naruto continues to stare and her smile slips off her face, leaving her looking more apprehensive than anything else. She opens her mouth to say something but Naruto beats her to it.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto blurts out. He didn't mean for it to come out accusatory but he's so shocked that she's here, that she's made him a cake, that his brain has pretty much decided it can't process anything and that's the first thing to come out of his mouth.

She frowns a little, placing the cake on the table next to a bright orange package, and scratches the back of her head. She doesn't seem offended, merely embarrassed. And maybe a little out of her depth but that's okay because Naruto feels exactly the same way.

"I wanted to wish you a happy birthday," she says and her voice is just as melodic and soothing as Naruto remembers it to be. "But, I guess that's a little weird of me, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah," Naruto says. "Nobody but jiji ever wants to wish me a happy birthday. Well, him and Old Man Teuchi and Ayame."

She gets this strange look in her eyes as he mentions those people and her lips twist in an amused kind of smile.

"It's not because I'm a stranger?" she asks.

"You're not a stranger!" Naruto lets slip, because it's true. He may have never really spoken to her before, and granted this was only the fourth time he's ever laid eyes on her, but she's been puttering around in his life for a year now. Yeah, sure, never out in the open, but in secret and somehow Naruto is okay with that. There's also this strange feeling that he knows her, although he doesn't know why he feels that way.

She laughs at his outburst and raises an eyebrow at him, as if challenging his statement.

"Well, sure, I don't know your name," Naruto says. "And we've never really talked, but well…" He's not sure he can explain why he just trusts this person, why she doesn't feel like a stranger because he can't even explain it to himself.

Before he can say more there's a hand ruffling his hair affectionately and a warm glow fills his chest as he looks up at sparkling blue eyes, so like his own.

"Call me Aratana," she tells him. "And I'm glad we aren't strangers. Now let's eat some cake before the candles melt all over it!"

"You haven't even lit them," Naruto tells her, at which point she forms a hand sign and blows at the candles. They burst into flames and she laughs at the wide-eyed surprise on Naruto's face.

But then Naruto grins and closes his eyes, making a wish (for family, for friends because that is always his wish) and blows them out.

The cake is chocolate because it's the best flavor in the world and if it's a little lopsided and maybe a little over cooked Naruto doesn't care because it's the best (only) birthday cake he's ever had.

And then Aratana gives him his present which he opens enthusiastically, tearing through the orange paper and grinning madly at the brand new set of kunai and shuriken he finds inside.

"I figured, since you'll be starting to learn how to throw live ones soon, you should have a set of your own," Aratana says, grinning at his enthusiasm.

Naruto jumps up and throws his arms around her, thanking her profusely and ignoring the way she had momentarily frozen at his hug before returning it wholeheartedly. She then shows him how to care for his new weapons before sending him off to get ready for bed while she cleaned up the mess they made in the kitchen.

She's there when Naruto crawls into bed and she pulls the covers up to his chin, placing a gentle kiss on his head that causes Naruto to freeze in shock and feel all warm and tingly at the same time.

"Happy Birthday, Naruto-kun," she whispers, heading out his door and turning off the light.

"Aratana-san," Naruto calls out, stopping her before she could disappear.

She turns to him, eyebrow raised in question.

"Will I see you again?" Naruto asks. He asks because it's been the best birthday he's ever had and he's never had someone to celebrate with beyond ramen with jiji and Old Man Teuchi and Ayame and he's afraid that maybe this has all been a dream and Aratana won't be real and he'll wake up and find none of this happened and the thought scares him more than he's willing to admit.

Aratana smiles, a true, soft smile that makes Naruto feel warm. "I'll be around," she says. "Get some sleep."