Birthdays Past
Chapter 3: Flowers for Girls (eh…more stupid titleness….I should stop…)
By: Vampire Toy
PG 13 (Just in case)
Disclaimer: Me no own ;;
"Talking"
(Inner Sakura) – Can someone tell me how to do italics and stuff? Because how I thought you did it doesn't work…..thanks! ;
:Sound effect:
The dinner was pleasant and I actually began forgetting about the horrible day I'd been having. But my bliss was short lived; Kiba had seemed bothered all evening until he finally spoke what was on his mind.
"What's the date today? The 29th right?"
"What? No it's the 28th, Kiba."
"What! Your birthday's tomorrow!"
"No it isn't! Its today!"
"Its tomorrow!"
"TODAY!" (He thinks I don't even know my own BIRTHDAY?)
"……"
"Its….on the 28th?" Hinata asked timidly.
I was in shock; of COURSE it was on the 28th! Of COURSE it was today! What makes them think I wouldn't know my own birthday?
"I'm afraid this has all been a misunderstanding Sakura, forgive me."
"Shino…?"
"H-he means that…well, umm, we may have….thought that…it was the…the 29th Sakura-chan…."
"Its not?"
"Kiba!" Hinata cried.
I stared at the three for a while and couldn't believe it. (No, its ok Sakura, I mean, its just a simple mix up, they're not on your team, they aren't with you 24/7 like…..your deadbeat team is:fume:)
"Its….ok…. I mean….everyone makes mistakes." But my voice was hallow and they could tell, well…maybe Hinata and Shino could.
"Sakura-chan I'm so sorry!"
"Its no problem Hinata-san. It's just a birthday, there will be others." (Your sounding awfully mature for the situation) I shouldn't take out my anger on them, they're at least trying to remember, but where'd they get the 29th from?
"Umm……thank you for dinner, it was wonderful, but I must be getting home." I said standing up.
"Please…stay longer! Don't you want desert?"
"No thank you Hinata-san."
"Please, this place has wonderful deserts!"
"No, I have to get home, really, my parents are waiting….thank you again." (You THINK your parents are waiting, but with your current luck…) I walked out of the restaurant in a daze. Well, at least they kind of didn't forget right? (Yeah, I mean, my team didn't even MENTION anything about my birthday….)
I walked on for a minute more before I heard footsteps patting along the dirt behind me. I instinctively reached for my kunai.
"Sakura-chan."
"Huh?" (Its just Kiba)
"Hey," he slowed down next to me; "You want some ice cream?"
(Is that just a little random?)
"What? Oh, um, no thanks…"
"No, come on, it's on me."
"I really have to-"
"What's your favorite flavor?" he asked grabbing my hand and commencing to drag me once more through the streets.
"Uh, cookie dough…..but…"
He began running faster making me stumble stupidly behind him in confusion.
"Here we are! Cookie dough it is, how many scoops would you like?"
"Wait… no!" (He's so persistent! ;;)
"Here, hold Akamaru for me." He plopped the dog into my arms while he dug around in his pockets for money. I looked over at the ice-cream stand and back at Kiba, then down at Akamaru who was wagging his tail happily.
"Kiba…" (stop trying… pet the doggy, you know you want to….) I stroked Akamaru's tummy gently with my fingers and he let out a happy whimper.
Why is he doing this? (Kiba you weirdo)
"Here!" he held out an ice-cream cone for me proudly.
"Thanks….but you didn't have to." I said as he took Akamaru and handed me the ice-cream cone.
"Nah, its no problem, that's about all I had money for anyway. I feel bad I couldn't get you a gift…oh and because I thought your birthday was on a day when it wasn't."
I smiled, he may be a little dumb sometimes (and flirtatious) but he is really a sweetheart.
"Don't worry about it Kiba, this is fine, thank you very much."
After about an hour of talking and walking around aimlessly, I finally got home after Kiba insisted he walk me.
"Well, goodnight then." He smiled and gave a small salute.
"Goodnight Kiba."
"Oh, hey wait,"
(What's he doing now?) He walked over and gave me a big grin before leaning down and promptly giving my right cheek a long lick.
"ARGYAAAAAAA KIBA!"
"HAHAHA! You had some ice-cream on your cheek, that's all! HAHAHA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAKURA!" He screamed running as fast as he could back down the path into the street.
"KIBA I'M GOING TO KILL YOU THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU!" (KIBA!)
"Grrr…." I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand and pulled out my house key.
(I can't believe he did that!) I unlocked the door and stepped inside slowly, turning on the light and looking around for any sign that my parents were home. A flower petal or two on the ground but nothing else seemed to have changed.
"Mom!"
Silence
"DAD?"
Silence
(Told ya so….)
"I wish you guys would keep your word for once…."
I let out a sigh and looked down at the petals again.
Hmmm flower it be…Sasuke-kun? (Don't count on it, maybe a messy Sakura accidentally stepped in the garden when Kiba licked her…) well it couldn't hurt to dream.
I tiptoed to my room and peeked inside, the strong scent of flowers greeted me immediately and I almost fell over trying to flip on the light switch. As soon as the lights came on I saw my entire room was filled with flowers!
"Wow….eh…so many…." I stepped carefully around the flowers; no one else was in the room so I assumed looking for a note would be the next biggest clue to finding out who put them there.
Finally I found one and examined the outside carefully. Nothing special, just a small folded over piece of paper.
I timidly brought the card up to my nose and sniffed, blushing when I smelled nothing.
(Of course you wouldn't smell anything you dunce, you don't even know what Sasuke smells like! You've never been that close to him, he probably doesn't even wear cologne! It's probably not even him who gave you the flowers!)
I shook out my head and opened the card.
Happy Birthday Sakura-chan, hope you had a good one. Enjoy the flowers,
Your friend,
Ino
Ino? Ino! She has a flower shop; of course it was her! Why didn't I think her first? (Maybe cause this is a lot of flowers and it'd be kinda weird for her to send you all these….) well, in any case…its nice of her….I sighed and flopped down on my bed, looking around my room.
I smiled; flowers on my bookshelf, on my nightstand, on my floor, and on my windowsill! This was nice of her…it's helping me feel a lot better (heh, still need to wash off Kiba's drool…) right, but lemme get these flowers in places where I wont step on them.
I picked up the flowers on the floor and placed them along with their pots, on my windowsill. It was the only place not entirely covered other than my bed.
"Well now, they look nice…." My eyes surveyed the line of different colors when suddenly something of a sparkle caught my eye. I blinked and watched for it again, it seemed to have come from outside my window.
(It's probably nothing) I sighed and took off my headband and began to unzip the top part of my dress, just get to bed, tomorrows another day and not EVERYONE forgot your birthday (Thank you Ino). Just go to sleep, you'll have a better day tomorrow.
The next morning I wasn't as energetic as the morning before, but I forced myself up enough to see that my alarm hadn't been changed and I'd woken up at 5:00 AM again. (Grrrr) Well, it doesn't really matter, I guess I can organize my room or something, I mean, Ino kinda hid it under all the flowers.
I stretched, yawned, and rubbed my eyes, then stood up hesitantly and went along with my regular routine. After being revived by a shower I stood, hands on my hips and ready to clean my room.
:twinkle:
Huh? (It's that shiny thing again) I looked to my window and waited for another twinkle; the sun was coming up so it should glint every now and then depending on where it was.
(What's 'it' anyway….?)
:twinkle:
I hopped back onto my bed (seeing as my bed was right under the window) and looked out my window.
:twinkle:
Hey, there it is ….there's something hanging from the tree? I leaned forward, resting my hands on the glass and looking at the tree outside my window. There were two…..chains? Two chains one with a leaf on it and the other with a sun on it. Both were hanging on the tree limb right by my window. I squint and stared for a long moment before throwing myself back and falling off my bed.
"AHHH! Oh no! No! No! That's not! No it can't be!" (It is! It IS! Naruto and Kakashi's chains! The one's that stranger had…) my heart began racing, did he come into my house? Was he here last night? I didn't close my blinds! Did he look into my window! Was he there when I was changing! My face flushed and I flung myself up from the floor.
I-I have to talk to Kakashi-sensei! (He's always late! You'll have to go straight to his house!) Where does he live? (Oh wait, ask Kurenai! You know where she lives!) I hope he's there….(Its early, he's definitely there, sleeping…lazy-ass….) Right! Should I take the chains? W-what if the man or woman…or whatever is still out there! (Grab it and run! You're definitely not safe here if that's the case!)
I quickly put on my headband and my sandals and opened my window, looking up, down, and to both sides before grabbing the chains off the branch and running at full speed to Kurenai-sensei's house.
:crack:
(RUN FASTER!)
"AHHHHHHHH!"
"Kur- Kurenai-sensei!" I gasped banging on her door as loudly as I could. The door opened and I almost fell inside.
"Sensei1 I need your help! Please!"
"Sakura? Come in! What's wrong?"
Kurenai sat me down gently on her couch and waited patiently for me to catch my breath.
"What's the matter Sakura? Was someone chasing you? Are you alright?"
"I-I'm ok, but….I need to know where Kakashi-sensei lives!"
"Kakashi?"
"What about me?"
(GASP!) A sleepy Kakashi walked out of another room and stopped when he saw me.
"Sakura? Why are you here? Is…er…is… something wrong?"
"…."
"It's…not what it looks like…."
"Right…"
"Sakura what's wrong? If you wanted to tell Kakashi something, now is a good time….sit Kakashi"
"You were looking for me?"
"…..t-that man came back!" (There, I said it, now stop squeezing the chains so tightly…they're making indents….)
"That man…from practice?"
"YES!"
"Did he try hurt you?"
"N-no….I don't know…..I-I found these outside my window!" I tossed the chains at Kakashi, who caught them easily.
"Hmmm….hey, there's a note, did you read it yet?"
(I don't like notes)
"No…what's it say…?"
"…." Kakashi scanned over the note and shrugged, "Its not important."
"Tell me!"
"Sakura, why don't you tell me when you found these?"
"Show me the note!"
"Did you see the man?"
"SHOW ME! TELL ME! WHATS GOING ON!"
A long pause came from both adults.
"Sakura….we cant tell you too much…"
"Kurenai!"
"Silence Kakashi, look what she's going through! She has to be told at least part of the problem, for her own safety!"
"….then you best listen well Sakura, because I don't want to repeat this and you wont either….understand? say nothing to no one."
"Ok…" (This is beginning to make me nervous…who's this guy? Is he really that dangerous….?)
"You know about Sasuke's brother don't you?"
"Itachi?"
"Yes…"
"He….possibly….that man, could've been…."
"ITACHI?" (No way!)
"Shhh!"
"Sorry…"
"Yes, Itachi….now listen Sakura, if you ever see that man again….or you suspect its him….get away from him as fast as possible, he's not one who would think twice about killing someone in his way."
"I-…." (….am terrified! B-but, how? Well….it would explain why he got so angry when I thought he was Sasuke-kun….but….he…. HE KNOWS WHERE I LIVE! OH WHY!)
Tears began gathering in the corners of my eyes then slowly began streaming down my face and soon they were flooding down my face; oh Sasuke-kun! That's why he didn't care about Naruto or Kakashi, that's why he…wait why'd he mess with me so long when he could've just tied me up too? (Or killed you…)Was he trying to make this realistic as possible? It must have been, after all, he went through the trouble of gathering the chains….(Sasuke-kun's in danger…..)
"You have to tell Sasuke-kun! Itachi, what if Itachi goes after him? No wait, I KNOW he'll go after him! We have to te-"
the tears became stronger now, I hated to think of what might happen to Sasuke-kun….or any of my team, he could've just been messing with us this time…but what about next time?
"WE HAVE TO TELL HIM!"
"Sakura!" Kakashi grabbed my shoulders and I began shaking, slowly leaning into his arms. He stroked my hair lightly, letting me cry into him until I calmed down.
"Sakura…we can't do that."
"W-what!"
"Listen before you panic! Sasuke is vengeful you know that, you should know better than anyone…and you also know that if finds out Itachi is here, that he'll go after him."
"He is in more danger knowing, than not knowing."
"Kurenai-sensei!"
"Please Sakura, we trust you with this information because we know you're the smartest of the group. I know you'll make the right decision. You know Sasuke better than I do, so you know that he could get himself killed going after Itachi."
I was silent; I hated it when the sensei's tried to act like therapists by using what you want to be against you. I was the smartest in my group, yes, but I knew about as much about Sasuke-kun as she did.
"Ok."
"Good then….we have a mission today, near the Sand Village."
"Hnnn"
"Oh, Happy Birthday Sakura, it was your birthday yesterday wasn't it?"
"Yes Kurenai-sensei." (How does SHE know and your ENTIRE team not?)
"It was yesterday?"
"Kakashi!"
"Well…I….its not today? Ok…hmm…I have a gift for you…"
"Keep it." Stop being bitter! (It cant be helped, if Kurenai knew then he should've too)
"…..listen Sakura, Kakashi and I need to talk this over with the other sensei's and the Hokage, as you can see we tried to talk it over last night but we couldn't find much of a solution.….here…give directions to today's mission. It's an on level job, you should be able to handle it without Kakashi this once. My team will be joining yours……and don't worry about Itachi….."
"Yes sensei." I took the folder gently and took a deep breath standing up.
:jingle:
"Huh?" Kakashi's hands immediately began searching his sides and pockets for the chains; unfortunately for him, I'd taken them while he was comforting me, unfortunately for me, I couldn't be sneaky enough to take the note OFF the chains, so I had to take the note with both chains still attached.
"Goodbye Kurenai-sensei, Goodbye Kakashi-sensei!"
"SAKURA!"
I dashed out smiling to myself; I'd never been able to get something from Kakashi before! (Congratulations for manipulating Kakashi) well, I really WAS crying (but afterwards) true….(I'll just take this as my birthday gift from him) baka…
Vampire Toy: HehehehehehMWAHAHAHAH!…..That's was kinda weird….and Kiba was a little OOC heh? Well, he's kinda like a doggie so I tried to apply it to him while trying to get his personality right. Hehe, kinky. Erm heh. Well, KibaFlirt Machine strikes again! No coupling implied unless you want it to be. Hmm, right, Kakashi slept over at Kurenai, and just in case anyone skipped over that part for no reason, he slept over there only because they were talking about Itachi and trying to figure out how to approach the situation, then Kakashi fell asleep and Kurenai was like 'Ok….' they WILL be a couple, but not yet, pointless rushing gives me headaches and confuses me XP also, I have the 4th and 5th chapter already, the reason its not just put in with the 3rd is because this is already a very long chapter and both the 4th and 5th chapter are also very long. I dunno if it seems like it to you guys but does it look like some of this was rushed? Because I tried to make it all flow well enough so I could get to the good stuff. Also, I usually find it hard to read insanely long chapters and don't want you guys to lose interest because it's so unbelievably long, unless you guys are ok with that.
VT: Now, voting for Sakura's couplings are still welcome seeing as the 4th and 5th chapter was done at the same time as the 3rd, so couplings will be finalized by the 6th chapter :D
Official couples so far are NaruHina and Kur/Kaka by request.
Also, couples for Sakura that are now out:
NarSaku
NejiSaku
KakaSaku
So you can vote for any except for those. So far I've gotten a lot of votes for GaaraSakura which is one of my personal favs. But I've also gotten a lot of SasuSaku votes, and I also happen to love this coupling. I've also gotten some ItaSaku which is why Itachi is now in the story, behold him! This was an interesting request and this coupling is also on my favorites list so bleh. But any others are welcome cuz I love trying new things.
So now that ya know the stranger was Itachi, we move onto another coupling suggestion, so go!
Oh, and BTW, give me as many votes as you can! Official couples not until the 6th chapter! I'll eb putting up the 4th chapter Saturday then the 5th chapter Sunday to give you guys a break. XP thanks again for reading, R&R and flames welcome.
BTW here's a link to my online art gallery, i drew a pic of the scene when Kiba first runs into Sakura, i'll be doing more pics for this fic and if you do any please email me :) thanks! (kikikun.