"Happy Birthday Naruto!" Everyone sang as the huge birthday cake was placed down at the now officially turned ten year old boy who looked up at the gigantic sugary goodness that stood before him. With a deep breath, he blew out all the candles and everyone cheered. With just a few swift slices, Naruto's mum had cut enough pieces of cake for everyone to share – it had been quite funny to watch the red haired woman to scorn her for not taking off his new gloves with metal plates off because they could of got cake stains on them- taking these few moments of silence that had suddenly fallen on the large group, Sakura took the opportunity to run through all the pieces of information she had gathered about this family. From what she had found out, apart from his two parents none of these people were actually related to the birthday boy. Jiraiya and Tsunade were adoptive grandparents (since Minato lost his parents at a young age and they were the closet he had to guardians himself) Kakashi was Naruto's adoptive brother, The third hokage was kind of the boys great grandfather figure with his son acting as a cousin, his grandson Konohamaru acted as a sought of younger brother, aunty Shizune was Tsunade adopted apprentice and Uncle Iruka was his academy teacher. Yet despite not actually being blood related they really did looked and acted like a family. She would have felt like she was intervening on a family dinner if the Hyuga family had not been there and even that was pushing the limit because they were close family friends. If she had her way she would have sunk out of the closet door and disappeared but Naruto was hanging on to her side like a little puppy. Though she was surprised that apart from herself and Hinata there were no other children that were around their age group; strange?
"This cake is delicious mum!" The birthday boy called out to his mother with a huge chunk of chocolate in his mouth. The woman smiled at him before turning back to the younger children who were bickering over who got the biggest slice. Sakura only smiled at the scene in front of her and continued eating her cake. For most of the day she had been silent, not trusting what she would say in front of these people unless it was just in front of Hinata and Naruto. Sighing deeply, she finished off the plate of food and sat quietly as Naruto finished off his. As she waited a song she knew appeared on the music player and she began swaying along slight to it. For a second… just a second, she moved so close to Naruto that her hand brushed against his. At that brief contact something strange happen. Raw energy ran up her arm and her vision went entirely blank until something orange started glowing. As it grew bigger it turned into the shape of a fox and with such evil that she had never felt before launched at her, its terrifying roar smashed through skull so loudly that it almost felt like it had smashed it into a thousand pieces. A loud scream echoed from her mouth as she clutched on to her head from the amount of pain that burned through her skull. Worried voices echoed somewhere in the distance from her but the pain in her head made it unbearable to focus on who was talking to her. It wasn't until a sudden coolness started pushing the fire out of her brain that she was able to finally focus and find Tsunade kneeling in front of her with a hand on top of her head. Blinking a few times she tried to remember where she was and what had happened. Another person called her name and she looked over to see her friend was a bit closer and was looking at her with a worried expression. The Nine Tailed Beast! Sakura thought wildly with the sudden urge to get up and run. She didn't know how but she knew it was there, somewhere inside him. But she didn't understand how. The terror must have been clear on her face because he seemed to suddenly move away; like he sensed that he felt dangerous towards her.
"Come on, let's go outside and get some air." The old medic suggested and offered her hand to help out up. Taking it she allowed the woman to pull her to her feet but halfway through the lifting process she got another image in her head of Tsunade bending over a man with her hands glowing green over his stomach. She was crying and there were massive amounts of blood everywhere. All at once a million emotions hit her in the stomach and she was overwhelmed with what was going on. As soon as it came it was gone and this time she staggered. If the woman had not grabbed her by the shoulders she would have fallen over. With her help, she was able to make her way through the crowd of observers, through the twisted maze of halls and finally out of the back door which led her to the garden. It was a huge place with a water fountain that was hidden in the corner with hundreds of wild flowers grounding around it, a small patio area where the family could eat breakfast outside and plenty of grass pace for people to train. Being outside helped Sakura beating heart to calm down a little and allowed the woman to lead her to the chairs so that she could sit down. She tried to avoid all eye connect with the woman as possible but that did not stop the overwhelming authority she processed. "Tell me what happened Sakura, what you had was no ordinary headache." She demanded to know but the little girl could honestly not tell her. It had happened so fast that she wasn't sure what was happening herself. Plus, there was also the fact that she had never told anyone of her strange power before and she didn't know if she should explain it to the woman or not. However, the woman had known there was something different about the whole thing and would probably know that she was lying.
"I have this… weird ability." Sakura started off, still trying to find the words to describe this oddness about her and how she thought it might have affected her. The woman only waited as she allowed the girl to pull herself together. "Before today I could just sense things like where some things were and what a person might do next but this morning… it was different, it was like my sensing ability had doubled." She suddenly stopped thinking back to how she was able to sense what her grandfather was actually doing, along with the other villager of the leaf she had sensed during her deliver runs. "And just a few moments ago, I grazed against Naruto's hand and this image of the nine tail beast suddenly just attack me and with you I saw…" Remembering the image, she did not dare say something that was probably very personal to the lady out loud in case she caused offense. Nothing but silence passed by. Risking a look she saw complete and utter surprise on the woman's face but also fear. Quickly, she looking down at the patio again and watched her feet kick back and forth.
"What did you see?" The woman asked so calmly that it almost shocked her. For a few minutes Sakura just watched her feet swinging back and forth, thinking of how to put the words gently.
"You were trying to save Dan." She finally said in the end, trying to keep it short and to the point but as she dared to look up into the woman's face, she knew that no matter what she said, there was no way she could stop the sharp pain that had been stabbed on to the woman's face.
"How did you know his name?" The woman questioned a little snappier then she intended by the sound of her taking in a quick breath to stop herself from saying anything else. She seemed a bit taken back by the question at first and took a moment to digest it. How did she know the blokes name? It was only then the girl realised that she knew a lot more stuff about this woman and her friend then she had before. Of course she didn't know everything about them but she seemed to know stuff that was linked to what she saw.
"I'm not sure but for some reason I know that you had a fear of blood and Naruto's a Jinchuuriki." Plus, for some strange reason I also know that Naruto has a yellow frog, a blue dolphin and orange fox stuff teddy bears at the bottom of his bed that he can't sleep without? Sakura thought to herself but decided now was not the proper time to bring up things like this. Especially since she brought up Jinchuuriki, she was pretty sure she wasn't supposed to know that piece of information. "Funny! I should have put the clues together." She couldn't help but mutter out loud, so that the woman could hear. Of course there was most of the villagers giving him evils every time he walked by, the weird whisker marks on her cheeks and not to mention the fact that his birthday was on the anniversary of the fox's attack; which reminded her the festival was on later tonight.
"Sakura, as you may or may not know you can't mention this to any one, it's dangerous!" The old medic exclaimed causing the ten year old to look up at her. She didn't trust her tongue to say anything so she just nodded. Though she didn't know about how she was going to deal with it, Naruto should know that she knew about his little secret but what if she did say something. Would he hate her? She hadn't meant to read his mind but still this was big! I knew there was a reason why I hated this day! Sakura moaned to herself as she collapsed against the back of the chair she was sitting in. Her hands lay limp in lap, picking the up she stared at them like they were some abnormal object; they weren't just her hands any more. I wish I was normal, Sakura whined as she tucked them under her shirt.
"I'm sorry." Sakura apologies, they sat a part from each other, not saying anything. Then something was thrust under her noses.
"Wear these; they might stop you from accidently reading people's minds." She offered as Sakura took the black leather gloves from the woman's slender (the first thing she thought was where did these gloves suddenly appeared from) steadying the well-made material between her fingers, she slowly placed them on her own. They were a little big but she had a sudden love for them. Cool! She thought, as she stretch the bottom of the glove down and made a fist, listening to the material creak. Again, so cool! The girl felt like a proper fighter with these gloves on. In a way, these were kind of like a temporary birthday present. "Come on, let's get back inside, everyone's probably waiting for us." The woman suggested, taking her by the shoulder and guiding her back into the house. Once they stepped back inside it was like stepping into a hairdressers. The gossips instantaneously stopped when they were notified of their presence when they stepped back into the room. Instantly, she was surrounded by her friend and was being asked a tonne of a million questions.
"I'm okay guys really, just got a little over excited." She faked smiled back at them and rubbed the back of her neck again sheepishly for the second time that day. At the moment she wasn't bothered about making a good excuse up. Her eyes were too busy following Tsunade, who had left her to whisper in the Hokage's ear. Oh crap! Sakura thought to herself as she could just imagine how much trouble she'll be in. As long as I don't get dissected I don't mind being a lab rat, she half joked and tried to ignore the constant stares she was receiving. They may be elite ninjas but her ability could still sense what they were doing and it was not pleasant because it just left an unpleasant itch on the back of her neck and it was making it hard for her to concrete. Damn you super enhance abilities! She cursed as she scratched the back of her neck for the tenth time. It was surprising that half her skin hadn't come off yet; if it continued this way though it was defiantly going to happen.
"Have you got an infection or something?" A six year old Konohamaru asked as he had been watching her do the same thing for the last ten minutes. You could say that tiny person, she thought inwardly but just laughed it off instead.
"What's the matter? Scared you're going to catch something." Sakura teased the poor child mercilessly.
"I'm not scared!" The youngest boy protested to protect his pride (which the girl thought he was a bit too young to be caring about just yet) to show there was no hard feelings, she handed him a chocolate cup cake for the food table which he was happy to eat. She ruffled the top of his head like a grown up would do when they were congratulate them for completely a painting. Somehow, Tsunade had been right about the gloves, so now every time she touched someone she didn't get weird visions. Though it was still new and something she had to experiment on since she wasn't a hundred per cent if it really was the gloves stopping it or not. Another that got Sakura so tense was dancing, it was something she never really did and watching everyone else dance was like sitting at a dance show contest, everyone seemed to be performing some musical foot number; there was no way she was going to dance in front of them.
"Come on Sakura you've got to give it a try." Naruto cheered at her as he and Hinata just finished partying to the last song. However, she was stubborn and she stayed in the corner of the wall and shook her head furiously.
"No way, I was born with two left feet, think how embarrassing it will be." Sakura argued back what she had learned recently that when the boy set his mind to it he could be as equally as determined as an unbreakable solid metal. She could only sigh at his attempts as she rolled her head which landed on a large group of adults leaving the room.
"Don't be silly, just try it at least." Naruto protested but she didn't take much notice because she couldn't help but think something was up. Closing her eyes she focused on the group trying to see where they were going. But her meditation was broken when something tugged on her t-shirt.
"Can you take me to the toilet please?" A five year old Hanabi asked with her voice half muffled by the teddy bear that was stuck in front of her face. The green eyed girl couldn't help but wonder why she was being asked this and looked around the room to see all her relatives were on the floor dancing.
"Yeah sure." She agreed and taking the child's hand and led her out of the room. If there was one thing about her abilities that she liked then it was the ability to never get lost in a building and was soon able to find the toilet. Just in time as well as the kid was about to go whether she was in a toilet or not. Patiently, Sakura waited outside, forced to listen to the nursery rhymes the little girl was singing on the other side of the room; they weren't bad but they sounded corny. The tapping of feet caught her attention and she turned to see the birthday boy walking towards her.
"Hey! You were able to find the toilet." He grinned widely at her and it took a few moments to realise what he meant; she wasn't supposed to know where the toilet was!
"Yeah, it wasn't that hard to find." Sakura quickly answered and scratched the back of her neck again. Even with people not watching she had the urge to tickle that spot. This is getting bad, she thought as she forced her hand away from her skin. "So what you doing here? Checking to see I hadn't fallen into a hole or something." She tormented with great satisfaction. The look on his face was priceless.
"No! I just wanted to know if you found the toilet." He protested, thought it sounded like a weird way to do it. The flush of a chain caught their attention and after a tap being turned on and off Hanabi stepped back into the hall.
"You all done." Sakura smiled and the girl nodded. Just as they were about to leave Sakura's sense caught on to something. Oh shit! She thought and tried to rush them back along. "Come on Naruto, you can show me a few of those dance moves you've been showing off all day." The girl mused as she tried pulling them both along but they were not fast enough to escape their terrible shouting that grew louder and louder.
"What's that?" The hyperactive blonde demanded to know to himself as he loosened his grip from her hold and proceeded down the hall to check it out.
"It's probably nothing, I'm sure the adults will deal with it." She tried to convince him but this seemed to make the boy more determined and his strides became longer as he moved towards the end of the hall. Panic settled on the older girl's chest as she tried to figure out what to do. "Hanabi, can you get back to the party room by yourself?" She asked, trying to seem calm but without much success. As soon as the child gave her a firm nod, Sakura raced after her friend. Using her ability to track him. The closer she got to him the more noise that came from the direction she headed in. Finally, she pushed herself through the front door to be meant with a horrifying show. On the other side of the get hundreds of people stood holding touches, weapons and bangers that said stuff like 'kill the demon' she had felt their presence and the atmosphere but feeling it and witnessing it were two different things altogether. In fact she even recognised some of the people near the front of the crowd. In front of her stood Naruto who had frozen solid to the ground. "Naruto." She called out to him but he did not seem to hear as he just stood where he was.
"Kill the beast, kill the beast." The crowds chanted and the amount of hatred that was burning through the atmosphere and seemed to sip into her skin. Every cell in her body was crying out in agony and her head became dizzy from all the pain she was enduring. A part of her wanted to disappear inside the house where the walls seemed to protect her but she couldn't just leave her friend behind. Biting down hard on her bottom lip, she forced her way forward. Every time another mountain of anger flew through the air and hit her in the face like she was being hit but a hammer. Still, she kept going and finally reached his side. The boy was looking on the scene with a horrified expression on his face and she couldn't blame him. Scanning the scene also she could see that the adults who had left were trying to calm the enormous crowd down without much success. It looked like the Hokage had called in some back up, since there were many men and women wearing green vest lined up along the gate. Deciding she had enough, Sakura gripped on to the boys wrist and dug her nails into his skin; hard. Surprise by the pain, the gestured seemed to shock the boy right back into reality and he was looking at her.
"Are you okay Sakura?" Naruto questioned, his shock replaced with worry. But the question could not be answered when Jiraiya suddenly appeared in front of them.
"Get back inside you two, this is no place for you to be hanging around in." He ordered them to leave but Sakura could sense (through all her agony) that something was about to happen and it was not going to be pretty.
"Wait I know a few of those people let me talk to them." She begged him and even if he said no she had to try and convince him. "Please, I know the Hokage planning something and it isn't going to be good, you have to let me try to knock some sense into them." Her fiery emerald orbs stared into the face of the giant man that stood above them. As she looked on she could see something change inside his face, it looked like… understanding?
"Fine but I stick close to you at all times." The old man warned and she nodded in agreement. Looking at Naruto one last time he gave his hand a comforting hand before ushering him into the house. He seemed unwilling to at first until his grandpa summoned two frogs to literally drag him into the mansion. As soon as that was settle she ran across the grass towards the gates, ignoring the soldiers who tried to stop and and went to the closets person that she knew. Out of the hundreds of people she talked too, only twenty turned away.
