I wanted to upload this chapter right on New Year's but I've been so busy I didn't have time. But here is the latest installment of this story. Hope you guys enjoy! Happy New Years Everyone!

Sakura Kiss

I smiled as I took a sip of my hot chocolate in the kitchen. It was early morning on December 31 and I was reading an article of Tsunade's new achievement. She found a way to stop Breast Cancer and was all over the news. I was so proud of her. I wanted to be a doctor because of her. Shizune heard about my dream and said she'd talk to Tsunade for me. She also had been giving me books to go over. Shizune said it would help. Getting up from my seat with my drink in hand, I walked over to where the boys were.

"YOU CHEATED!" Naruto shouted as he pointed a finger at Sasuke who gave him a cool look.

"Don't be like that just because you suck at this game." Sasuke commented as Naruto turned red with anger.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto cried to me as he was on his knees and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Comfort me!"

I laughed as I looked at the game they were playing. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom.

"It's just a game Naruto." I said petting the top of his head.

"He beat me 15 times!" Naruto exclaimed. "He has to be cheating somehow."

"Or you just suck." Shino said as he grabbed the controller to play against Sasuke.

"Heh." Neji let out a laugh as he flipped to the next page of his book. He was sitting on the couch reading. Sai was on the other side of the couch drawing something in his drawing pad. Shikamaru was sitting down near the window seat.

"Yes, I'll be there by 6. I'll pick up Konohamaru on the way. See you later Sensei." Shikamaru said as he hung up.

"Who was that?" I asked as I took a seat next to him. I had my back against the wall as the window was on my right side. I placed my feet on top of Shikamaru's left thigh.

"It was Asuma-sensei. He wants me to join him for New Years."

I mentally frowned as I remembered the mother goal. I was supposed to have the boys want to spend New Years with me. but if they had other plans, I had to let them go. That just didn't seem fair, now did it?

"Oh yeah! Today is New Years! I'm supposed to spend it with Iruka-sensei tonight! He's like an older brother to me." Naruto grinned.

"I'll be spending it with my family." Shino and Neji said at the same time.

"Kakashi-sensei offered me to join it with him." Sasuke said as he had defeated Shino in the game.

"I'll be with Yamato-sensei." Sai said with a fake smile.

"You'll be with your brother tonight huh?" Naruto assumed with a smile. I forced myself to smile. Sasori had emailed me last night that he was going to an art show case. His art was the main attraction and he had to be present for it. He had apologized for not being able to spend it with me. It was fine though. I had always spent New Year's by myself. What would make this year any different?

"I'll be going to the New Year festival downtown." I smiled. Well, I wasn't lying. Back when I lived in the park, I would go there by myself sometimes and watch the ball drop with confetti.

"That sounds fun!" Naruto grinned before talking more about what he and Iruka had planned. I soon looked out the window. What was fun about going to a festival all alone?

XxXXxXxXxXxXxX

A couple hours later, Kakashi appeared at the house with a package.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted. I looked at the clock. It was 5:50 in the afternoon. The boys were getting ready to go to their families. They each had a kimono for the special occasion.

"You're late Kakashi-sensei! Sasuke has been waiting for you for almost two hours. I thought you were supposed to come by four to go buy stuff for tonight." I frowned.

"Ah, well you see Sakura, I saw this old woman who needed help with her bags. So being the kind man I am, I helped her a-"

"Save it." I said not impressed.

"Well, this is for you." He smiled as he handed me the package. "I hope you're keeping your part of the deal with this goal and hadn't told the sons you were going to be by yourself tonight."

"No. of course not." I said, still a bit sad I wouldn't be able to spend New Year's with my boys.

"Did you want to join Sasuke and me tonight?" Kakashi asked.

"No, I don't want to intrude. I've been alone for New Years since I was little. I'm used to it. I'll probably just go to the festival tonight." I said with a smile. Kakashi gave me a look before patting my head.

"Well you're always welcome to come over anytime. Just give me a call." Kakashi smiled.

"He's flirting with her again!" An angry voice said. The two of us looked to see Naruto frowning at our English teacher. He was wearing a simple red Kimono with navy blue slacks. "Leave Sakura alone Pervert! You're almost as bad as Genma-sensei!"

"Now now, Naruto." Kakashi said. "I'm not that bad." He said as he pulled out his familiar orange book.

"Let's go." Sasuke said glaring at Kakashi as he came out of his room as well. Sasuke soon turned me and pinched my cheeks. He was wearing a navy blue kimono with light blue slacks. "Have a good New Year with your brother." Kakashi raised an eye brow at me but said nothing.

"Thanks Sasuke." I said as I waved them off.

"Don't open the package until later!" Kakashi said before entering his car and driving off with Sasuke.

Naruto placed a scarf around his neck before placing a friendly kiss to my forehead. "I'm off! I'm going to meet Iruka-sensei at Ichiraku!"

"Bye Naruto!" I waved goodbye. Soon Shikamaru came out of his room. He was wearing a dark green kimono with gray slacks.

"I'm going to go now!" Shikamaru said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Have fun! I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Hold up!" Neji said as he, Shino, and Sai came down. "We'll walk out with you." Neji had a white kimono with navy blue slacks. Shino had a black kimono with white slacks. Sai had a purple kimono with dark grey slacks.

"Have a fun time!" I said as I gave each one of them a hug. Please don't go.

"We will." Sai smiled.

"You sure you don't want to join either of us for a while? Sasori can pick you up at one of the houses." Shino asked.

My heart warmed with how considerate they were. But they should be spending it with their families, not me, who was their fake mother.

"It's fine. You guys should spend time with your important people!" I smiled. Taking my answer, they nodded and walked away. I watched until I couldn't see them anymore. I soon dropped the fake smile before closing the door behind me. I spotted the package Kakashi had gave me and decided to open it. My eyes widened as I pulled out a beautiful kimono. It was a pinkish orange kimono with a red layer under. There was a gold obi around the waist. On top of it was a beautiful dark pink hair piece. It had a mixture of white, light blue, and gold in the middle. There was a note as well. Picking it up, I began to read it.

Hey lovely Sakura,

This kimono belonged to your mother when she was about your age. Tsunade had kept this after your mother passed away. I decided it would be good to pass it down to you. I hope you can wear it to the festival tonight if you're going. Have a good new year.

-Kakashi

My mother's kimono? I smiled as I soon went to put it on. I soon went to my room and pulled out the only picture I had of my family. I could feel the tears that always came on this day of the year. Looking out the large window, I could see the lights and decorations all around the city. I watched as families and friends were walking to either a festival or someone's house.

"Happy New Year..." I muttered before closing my eyes. The tears began.

XxXxXxXxXxX

"Was it just me or did Sakura-san look sad?" Shino asked as he fixed his glasses. The four were closing to their first stop, Shino's home.

"She seemed fine to me." Neji said looking at his brother.

"No, I know what you're talking about." Shikamaru said. "As troublesome as it seems, Sakura seemed upset when Naruto brought up about going to Iruka's for New Year."

"Shika-kun?" a voice said. The boys looked to see the Yamanaka cousins walking down the street with groceries.

"Ino." Shikamaru greeted as he went to kiss her. Ino looked at the brothers as her face scrunched up. She then looked at her boyfriend before her brows furrowed.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ino asked.

"I'm heading to Asuma-sensei's, Sai's going to Yamato-sensei's, and they're going to their families." He said pointing at Shino and Neji.

"But Sakura told me she was gonna spend the New Years with you guys when Gaara invited her to come over for New Years."

"I thought she was going to the festival with her brother." Sai said as he narrowed his eyes.

"Sasori?" Deidara frowned. "He's on his way to San Francisco right now for an art show. He told Sakura last night."

"Then why would she tell us that she was going to be with Sasori?" Shikamaru asked.

"Maybe she didn't want to intrude with our families." Deidara shrugged.

"Sakura has spent New Year's alone ever since she was little. We've always tried to have her come over for New Year's, but she always declined. She just smiled and told us to spend it with our families. So when she told us that she'd be spending it with you guys, I was really happy. She seemed really happy too." Ino frowned. "She's going to be alone again for New Year's."

Soon Ino's phone rang as she went to answer it.

"Yes Dad, Deidara and I are on the way home."

Silence.

"No dad! I'm not with Sakura. I'm seriously with Deidara. You can even talk to him."

Silence.

"Alright. Bye." Ino hanged up the phone before looking at the brothers with an apologetic face. "Sorry about that. My cousin and I have to go now. Have a good New Year's." The cousins soon left the brothers alone.

"How were we supposed to know?" Sai frowned. "She was seeing us off with a smile..."

"Damn it." Neji frowned before his phone rang. Answering it, he heard Naruto's voice on the phone.

"OI! NEJI! Go back home! Sakura is alone by herself!" Naruto screamed.

"Wait, how did you know?" Neji asked.

"Sasuke called me. He found out from Kakashi. We're on the way home right now. You guys better be there too. How could we leave her alone?"

Neji hung up the phone as he began to make a dash home. The others followed. After a couple minutes, they could see Naruto and Sasuke running from the other direction.

"OI!" Naruto called out. Everyone made it to the door as Shino was the one who went to open it.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted as they all entered the house. It was dark and quiet. The only light in the house was coming from the kitchen. The brothers had split up to look for their mother. They all made it to Sakura's room at the end. Naruto was the one who opened the door as Shikamaru flipped the lights on. There they found Sakura sitting on the floor as she was leaning against her bed. In her hands was a picture of Sakura and her family when she was little. The boys could see her tear-stained cheeks.

"Hey Ugly…" Sai said as he made it up to Sakura and gently shook her by the shoulders. "Hey wake up."

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

I could feel someone shaking me as I slowly opened my eyes to see Sai right in front of my face. My eyes widened as I could feel my face flush. Looking behind him, I saw my other sons who were out of breath.

"Sai? Guys? What are you doing home?" I asked. It seemed like I was crying when I took a nap because Sasuke soon came up to me and wiped my cheek with his sleeve. Then all at once, they all fell to their knees to catch their breath.

"Idiot." Sasuke muttered. I tilted my head at his comment.

"Why didn't you tell us that you'd be alone for New Year's?" Neji frowned.

My face turned even redder for getting caught in that lie. "How did you guys-"

"We found out from Ino and Kakashi." Shikamaru answered. Mentally I made a note to treat Ino and Kakashi out first thing of the New Year.

"I-I figured that you guy should have spend it with family or you're important person." I mumbled.

I heard someone sigh which sounded like it came from Naruto. Naruto was soon crouched down in front of me as he lifted his left hand in front of my face as he forced my right hand touch his.

"Sakura-chan, you're supposed to be the smartest person ever after Shikamaru." Naruto grinned. Sasuke and Sai who was crouched down next to me looked at Naruto. "After all this time with us, did you really believe you wouldn't be considered an important person to us?"

"But we're not related by b-"

"It doesn't mean we're still not a family dummy." Naruto took this as the moment to lace his hand in mine. "Even if we weren't related to each other by blood, I would always consider you family. To be honest, instead of a mom, I've been always looking at you as my older sister." My eyes widened as more tears began to fill in my eyes. Is what being a family felt like? Naruto and the others took my tears as a bad sign because they began to freak out.

"What did you do now dobe?" Sasuke snarled and everyone got closer to me.

"I didn't mean to make her cry!" Naruto cried.

"Idiot." Shino said bonking Naruto on top of his head.

"This is so troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.

"I-I'm so happy." I cried as I wiped my tears.

Neji just chuckled as he lifted me up to my feet and wiped my tears away. "You cry too much, do you know that? And you used to be a gang leader…" He shook his head as I playfully punched his arm.

"We can still make it to the festival downtown." Sai said as he rested his pale hand on my head.

"Can we go?" I asked excitedly.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Kakashi and Shizune looked up at the Namikaze household.

"I felt bad and ended up telling Sasuke and Naruto." Kakashi said as he looked at Shizune. "Does this void the goal?"

Shizune was silent for a bit as she adjusted the pig in her arms. A smile slowly appeared on her face. "No, let her win this one. Let's go to the festival now." She said as she linked arms with the silver-haired man next to her and began to walk away from the house. "Genma and Rin should be meeting us there."

Kakashi just chuckled before looking back at the house.

"Happy New Year's Sakura." Kakashi smiled as he followed his partner in crime. Hopefully the New Year would be what Minato wished for his family.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

My eyes twinkled with excitement as well all made it to the festival. It was lively and colorful. It was lightly snowing as there was an hour until countdown. We spent the time taking pictures, courtesy of Shizune who we bumped into there with Kakashi, Genma, and a woman who I saw at the hospital that one time. We also went to visit the booths and games. Finally the countdown began as people at the park screamed happily.

"10!"

I looked around to see people getting drinks ready!

"9!"

Kakashi came by and offered us all a cup.

"8!"

I took a sniff. It was apple cider.

"7!"

The large ball was slowly opening above us.

"6!"

"5!"

"4!"

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

I quickly made my wish as did everyone else. I wished that the New Year would be full of fun and excitement with my family.

The ball above opened as it released confetti and glitter all over the place. People began to cheer and drink. People were hugging and kissing each other as they greeted one another. I went to each son to give a kiss on the cheek as fireworks above us exploded into beautiful art. Since multiple fireworks went off, people were moving around to go somewhere else. Some drunkard accidentally bumped into me causing me to bump into someone else.

"Saku-"Sasuke's voice was caught off for some reason. I felt the person wrap their arm around my waist as we fell to the ground.

"We've got to stop bumping into each other like this." A familiar voice said. The person had a necklace that resembled that of a black knight from a chess game. The person had dark red hair and green eyes. Looking up, my eyes widened as I realized who it was. So did my sons.

"HIKARU?" Everyone said shocked.

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I know the chapter was very short, but I've been suffering from a writer's block and I've also been very busy. So this is all I could come up with, sorry but I hoped you guys liked it. Yes, Hikaru is back from Sound Academy. If you don't remember go back to the earlier chapters. He has a purpose in this story and you'll find out what it is in later chapters. Please review everyone.

-Love Kumiko