Hey Guys,
It took me a little longer to finish this, because I worked on plotting down the full storyline until I was satisfied with it. Also I went to my second job interview with that big fish I had mentioned. This time it was with two women who squeezed me like a lemon and poked on every wound spot they could find. I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure I messed up like I always do when I'm nervous and in company of unfamiliar people, especially women.
Sadly my social skills do never fail to scare people away.
Well, so I'm still hoping to get a job in my professional sector, but it seems I should focus on getting more degrees.
Anyway, enjoy the new chapter!
SquaMata
.
.
.
5. Happy Birthday
.
It was already dinner time and Sakura was seated with the other staff in their dinner hall separated from the kages. They guys started talking about the women here in Iwa and the two young ANBU of her squad handed her a bowl of rice and some tea. All of a sudden one of the tsuchikage's servants came in and bid her to follow him.
Surprised she found herself led to a large and richly filled table with the kages and their personal counsellors.
.
"Haruno-san, welcome! Somebody told me it's your birthday tomorrow?"
"Good evening." Sakura bowed "Yes, Tsuchikage-sama."
.
"Then please, have a seat and join our dinner." He pointed at the empty chair which Kankuro had pulled out for her.
She was seated in between Gaara and his brother, directly across from Kakashi, who was sitting in between Shikamaru and the former Mizukage, who seemed to be the current mizukage's consultant. Apparently the sand siblings had mentioned at the end of their last meeting that it's Sakura's birthday.
As tense as the atmosphere seemed at first, it lightened up as the kages cheered their wishes.
.
"Sakura-san, how come I haven't known?" Kakashi stated.
A little sad she responded, "I didn't want to celebrate anyway."
The auburn-haired beauty laid a hand on Kakashi's underarm and squeezed it while she sent him a playfully castigating look. "That's a shame! Kakashi, she's your former student! You should have known!" Then she smiled friendly at the pinkette.
.
With a deep frown the hokage shook her hand off. He was clearly surprised in a negative way by the strange and sudden contact. Then he met Sakura's look. "Well, I apologize, Sakura. May I get you something to drink to make up for it?"
Her mood lightened up as she nodded and returned his smile, though his was only visible through his typical eye-crinkle. He summoned the servant and told him his order, which Sakura couldn't hear.
.
Tsuchikage caught her attention. "Haruno-san, tell me, have you been to Iwagakure before?"
"I've been in Earth country before, but sadly there has never been a real occasion to visit your beautiful village." To be honest, the pinkette hadn't seen much of it, because the most of her time here she had spent at the hospital doing examinations and she had been in the local library once, but she had noticed the unique and nice architecture on her way to said buildings.
.
"I'm glad to hear you like my village." The small man answered with an appreciative nod.
"Yes, it has a lot to offer. The people here are generous and very hospitable." She wanted to be friendly and it wasn't a complete lie, the weird two-class society aside.
.
"I want to thank you in the name of us all for your effort and hard work at the hospital. It was an honour to have such a skilled medical kunoichi here." The tsuchikage walked over to her. The tiny old man handed her something wrapped in a lavishly embroidered drape made out of earthy brown, silky velvet.
"I didn't know about your birthday, but I wanted to thank you anyway for your efforts."
Unbeknownst to the others she had helped him to get rid of a nasty old wound from the war, which had not wanted to heal and by occasion she had found out about his worrying heart condition. They both knew it wouldn't be much time left, but he had bid her to keep it to herself. Sakura had eased his already present symptoms and she had reduced the constant pain in his back. The old man had told her, that he had never felt any better during the last years and he had been grateful for her discreet help. It had been obvious that he had been fully aware of his severe situation and he had already set plans for the future.
"This is a traditional birthday present here in Iwa. It's a hand-carved jade talisman for protection and a long life."
Sakura had never seen such a kind and heart-warming smile on the tsuchikage's face and by the absolute silence in the room she could tell, the others had neither.
"Thank you very much! I appreciate that." Happily she accepted his honourable gift and he returned back to his own seat.
.
The pinkette sat down on her chair again as the servant brought her drink. Her face brightened up to the beautiful smile she had yet to show during their whole journey.
"Wow, I didn't suspect they have my favourite drink!"
Gaara noticed the brief exchange of looks between his former long-term guests and so did Kankuro. "So you can't remember her birthday, but you know her favourite drink?" The curious redhead asked while inwardly he fought hard to hide a smirk from showing.
Kankuro chuckled. "That's my man!"
"Hokage-sama, that's a shame!" The retired mizukage slapped his arm and looked sympathetically at the startled pinkette. "Men!"
Her laughter was too contagious and the others had to join in.
.
"I've never believed that kage summits would be so unbent." Sakura grinned and shook her head.
"Oh, you have no idea, Sakura-chan! The meetings are tense indeed, but every kage and his consultants need some leisure. Don't you think?" Kankuro babbled only for her and the nearer persons to hear.
Shikamaru finally joined the conversation, "Troublesome, but the last evening is always fun."
"Speaking of troublesome, do you have a man in your life?" Mei asked Sakura curiously.
Gaara snorted and the others chuckled.
.
"What?" The former mizukage beamed at the kazekage.
"Smooth, Terumi-sama." Kankuro remarked with a loud chuckle.
.
"Call me that once again and I swear I'll chop your head off! We're on a first-name basis for years now, baka. Get that in your thick head at last!"
The sand consultant smiled sheepishly and the satisfied woman turned her head back to Gaara and Sakura. "Now back to you two. So?"
.
"Uhm, well,..." Sakura's cheeks turned pink.
The handsome kazekage smirked. "That lies in the past, Mei."
.
"Oh no, I thought you two were a matching, secret couple. But wait, if it's not you, Gaara, that means…"
She glared at Kakashi who gave her his non-descript look, while Sakura's heart skipped a beat.
"Don't tell me you separated her from her boyfriend on her birthday!"
The silver-haired hokage just shrugged and gave her an apologetic eye-crinkle. "Sakura said it's okay, she wants to come with us and as I said before I haven't known about her birthday."
.
"No, it's not okay! You're a mean leader, Kakashi! Really! You must not separate love on special days!"
"As I mentioned earlier, I haven't planned on celebrating anyway." The pinkette tried to ease the situation a little bit.
.
Mei took a few moments to scrutinize the two leaf shinobi.
"I don't know what's worse: Leaving your lover alone to rather spend your birthday selfishly on a journey with a bunch of immature, needy ANBU and full of stiff and starchy politics instead, or a superior who takes advantage of his power to take a well renowned medic with him to show off."
Sighing in annoyance Kakashi rolled his lone eye. "I did not…"
"My boyfriend is an ANBU, he understands."
.
She gave them both a chiding look. "You two little heartbreakers would make an even better match, you know that?"
Sakura bit her tongue, hard and forced herself to look at her hands craving for a distraction to not show any reaction.
Kakashi coughed like he choked on his last bite.
Turquoise orbs were still silently observing.
.
"Is he here, too?" Green met green with a hopeful smile.
"Huh?" The younger kunoichi had her attention elsewhere.
.
"Your ANBU boyfriend. Did he come with you to Iwa?"
The pinkette took a brief look at the amused hokage. "No."
.
"You two are incorrigible!" Like a mother chiding her kids Mei shook her head. "Sakura, from woman to woman: Promise me to never put your team over your heart again, okay?" There was a pleading glimmer in her eyes indicating that she had been in a similar situation.
Sakura nodded fully aware of the copy-nin's hidden face. Obviously he was trying hard to hold back a burst of laughter, but of course the others wouldn't notice. He had perfected to hide his emotions over the years, though with time she had learned to see through that stupid mask.
"Tell your boyfriend that you want to catch up on celebrating with him. It's not fair to cut him out like that, Sakura. You will never know how much time you two will have left together. Give him my regards, although we haven't met!"
Gaara tried to hide his amusement by biting into a slice of fluffy white-bread, which turned out to be incredibly salty and he started coughing and gulping down a full glass of water with tears in his eyes.
.
Before the scene could get any more awkward, Kankuro addressed another very quiet person at the table: "Oi, Nara! What about our dear sister? When do we get to build tiny sand castles and little puppets? Gaara's getting impatient!"
The kazekage tilting his head to the side while raising a brow in annoyance and Shikamaru's unnerved sigh caused the others to break out into laughter again.
The people nearby got curious and wanted to participate in their obviously very funny conversations, too. All in all it became a really nice evening, though the dishes were pretty strange. Sakura didn't miss the obvious attempts from the auburn-haired woman across from her at flirting with an ever stoic hokage. Also she noticed the annoyed, but somehow amused eye-crinkle the certain copy-nin sent her whenever he ignored the efforts of the female next to him and refilled the pinkette's water glass instead.
Sakura was still focused on the gentlemanlike behaviour of the man across from her while she absentmindedly cut a piece from the starter. She was just about to put the fork to her mouth as a hand stopped her. She hadn't even noticed the servant had put something on her plate. She was too engrossed into the strange behaviour of the other female at their part of the table.
.
"You should definitely not try that!" Gaara leaned closer to warn her from that weird looking thing on her plate.
It reminded her of a stuffed pepper, but its form and colour were a bit different to all the peppers she had seen before. "What is this thing?"
.
"To be honest I have no idea, but it's gross. Believe me, as harmless as it may look, but it's devilish."
Sakura chuckled. "Why? I mean everything must be gross for you when you're outside of Suna, which is in fact the epitome of culinary delights."
.
"I feel honoured to hear such high praises of our cuisine, but…" The kazekage's stern expression didn't change as he pointed at the brown thing on her plate. "The outside is flaccid and tastes like…" He took a breath and lowered his voice. "Kankuro compared its taste with a soft booger."
The pinkette laughed. "And the inside?"
.
The bulky redhead's face contorted like she had evoked a painful memory. "Gruesome. First it's incredible sweet and tastes like mincemeat at the same time, but then all of a sudden the severity of its bitingly impetuous spiciness assails your tongue. Regardless if you spit the stingy bite out or if you force it down respectfully, it will leave a bitter aftertaste of foul, fatty meat."
She put down the fork with the small piece of devilishness on it. "Okay, I've heard enough. I won't try it." She overlooked the different plates on the table. "So, what's edible?"
The funny conversation she had with Gaara about the weird food made Kakashi chuckle and they looked at each other. Of course he overheard their talk with his remarkable sense of hearing. The hokage handed her a bowl. "I recommend this."
"You should also try these! I like them." Mei pointed at a plate full of what looked like sweet potato fries.
.
Later the silverhead handed her some other food more of Sakura's taste and so did the others.
If you know what to eat, it's quite good actually.
Shikamaru and Kankuro lightened up the mood with their badinages. The dinner turned out to not be as tense in the slightest as it had seemed on first sight. Gaara's hands brushed hers from time to time when they talked or when he handed her a plate. Little did Sakura know about the brief look exchanges between the two dominant males sitting in her near.
The redhead was scrutinizing Kakashi and especially his interaction with the pinkette and the woman next to him, who was known to be notoriously flirting with every half-handsome man around. Gaara's intention was to push the hokge a little.
Let's see if my assumption is true.
For someone who had known them for quite a while, but without seeing them often, it was obvious that their relationship had changed somehow over the years.
.
Of course the ever monitoring wary copy-nin did not miss Gaara's amused half-sided smirk, which showed him that he knew.
.
.
When she returned to her room after dinner, there was a red rose and a letter on her bed.
.
"Did you really believe I would forget your birthday?
What are you thinking of me, Sakura-hime!
I apologize for the little time we had together lately. What you don't know is that I have a good reason for why I've been working more excessively:
I'm taking you for an extended weekend trip to a spa hotel. You deserve a recreation and some fine pampering.
The village and I are very proud of you and your amazing work.
K"
.
She smiles.
As she read it someone appeared right behind her and embraced her.
"I'm sorry we don't even have the proper time to celebrate your birthday together. I had no idea about the strange situation here in Iwa. It's horrible, there's another meeting set for tonight to recall every decision and idea." The silverhead resting affectionately on her right shoulder sighed. "I have only about ten minutes before someone will notice my absence, but I promise I'll make up for it." Then he gently turned her around and kissed her deeply.
"Happy birthday, Sakura-hime." He breathed softly onto her lips between gentle pecks before he poofed away.
.
As sweet as his present was, she couldn't hide her disappointment that he didn't have the time to spend the evening with her.
Damn, that kage meetings! Damn, that two class society! Damn, that surveillance! I want to go home. I miss him…
Tomorrow we're going back to Konoha.
Finally! It's about time!
Just two more days and we will be home.
Ugh.
.
She just wanted to have a peaceful shower and to enjoy a cosy evening in her way too uncomfortable bed alone with a good book. Sakura doubted the kage's housing would be any better. The room and board here in Iwagakure was extremely Spartan in comparison to Suna or even what Konoha used to offer his visitors in general.
A few minutes later Genma and the ANBU knocked at her door to ask her if she wants to go out and celebrate, but she declined the offer.
.
Apparently she hadn't made her bill with Naruto. The pinkette was glad she had not been in the shower by now as the funny knucklehead stormed right into her room without knocking. Wordlessly he put the protesting young woman over his shoulder and carried her to the next bar where the other ANBU had already met up.
"Haruno-san, I've kept a seat for you!" One of the youngsters shouted into her direction.
The blonde jinchuuriki had her still wrapped on his shoulder and walked over to set her right onto the offered booth.
"Shove over! I would like to take a seat, too."
Naruto smiled bubbling over with mirth as the grumpy and annoyed pinkette complied. If looks could kill, he would explode right in the spot. The two youngsters stood up and ran to the bar to get her a drink.
Genma took that opportunity to take a seat next to her. "Hey, birthday girl!"
.
Screw them, I'm cornered by idiots!
Light attracts the gnats, you know!
Sakura giggled inwardly.
.
The youngsters returned with a couple of drinks and were sad, that the pinkette didn't pay them their desired attention. One after the other ninjas came over and congratulated her and they all clinked glasses. It wasn't that bad after all. Actually they had great fun there at the bar. The jounin started celebrating her birthday and their last night in Iwa, while the two youngsters continued competing for her attention until Genma introduced them to a group of civilian girls sitting at a table nearby.
Sakura caught a glimpse of how ANBU behaved in their free-time when they were outside of their hometown and the situation was safe.
.
The pinkette shook her head and took another sip of her cocktail.
"What?"
"Nevermind. Thank you for bringing me here. I guess this is better than spending the evening alone." She gave him a sad smile and he knew exactly what to do.
.
"Sakura, you're never alone. Of course I would never let you spend your birthday alone!" Then he lowered his voice. "And believe me when I say, he would be celebrating with you when it would be possible." A huge smile formed on his face as a waiter showed up with a plate for her. "Happy birthday, Sakura!"
It was a small Russian plucked cake, which was a combination of cheesecake and chocolate-cheesecake. An amazing, but very rare sweet pastry she loved to bake for special occasions.
.
My favourite cake!
Wheeeee!
"How did you…?"
Naruto negated by shaking his head, then he leaned closer: "Tatsuo made it and brought it here earlier." His index-finger showed her she should better keep it a secret.
Happiness radiated from her pretty face and she handed him a fork to share her delicacy with him. Their taste buds relished in the soft and luscious flavour of the sinful pastry.
.
Munching the tasty cake she stated, "I miss him."
"I know, but at least he's with you." The look of his bright blue eyes darkened like silent indicators of his homesickness.
.
The pinkette understood. "I'm sorry, that was a little bit selfish. I can only imagine how much you miss your family."
The blonde man laughed. "Boruto has just found out where my secret stash of instant ramen was."
.
"Really? Oh, no", Sakura giggled, "What did he do?"
"He ripped all the packages open and spread the content all around the bedroom. Then he crumbed everything with his little feet." He looked to the ceiling and shook his head in laughter.
.
"Seriously, you have a ramen stash in your bedroom?" The pink-haired kunoichi frowned.
"Yep, but to be correct: I had." Clearly he wasn't happy about that incident.
.
Probably because all his holy ramen got destroyed!
The pinkette laughed hard and he joined her.
.
"As you can guess, Hinata was everything but happy." The sheepish look forced her to continue her hearty laughter. "To be honest I'm glad for the short break."
Wiping her tears from her eyes she queried with a giggle, "Why in the bedroom?"
.
"I don't know. I've always put them into my sock drawer since I can remember." He shrugged and the kunoichi bursted into cheerful laughter again.
"What do you have in your sock drawer?" Naruto frowned.
.
She shook her head and tried hard to regain her composure. "As unceremoniously as it may seems, but it solely contains socks. You know, like normal people use to do."
He cocked his head to the side and smirked. "You call yourself normal?"
.
An elbow hit his ribs. "Stop violating me! You're the one with a strange boyfriend."
They both chuckled and continued to eat the delicious cake. After all that weird dishes it was a taste to die for.
.
Later the two former teammates get caught in a very mature conversation about their relationships. Naruto told her that he would definitely be behind them when the time would come and Sakura was glad to have her good friend back. Their past together seemed to not stand in between them anymore and they could finally act at ease like they had done during their time as a team before.
.
After a few drinks they returned to their housing without getting drunk. Foresightful Naruto brought the two youngsters to their room, before someone could give them alcohol or they could slip out with the civilian girls. She was stunned that he had become such a responsible and watching person.
To all appearances he wasn't that partying, drink-flipping skirt chaser anymore. At least that's what she had heard about him whenever the two had broken up their relationship and he had been outside of Konoha celebrating the end of an ANBU mission or similar things.
.
Family does change people.
Love does change people.
.
So it would seem.
Look at yourself and Kakashi.
.
Closing the door with a huge smile on her tired face she took a quick, but nonetheless soothing shower and went to bed afterwards.
.
.
Around 2 a.m. Sakura woke up from her restless sleep as she felt a slight movement on her matrass.
To all appearances it was a certain hokage who carefully lay down next to her and snuggled close. By the feeling of the cold, bare skin of his upper body and the remarkable fresh scent she could tell he had just come out of his shower. The tiny droplets of water that seeped down in between them confirmed her impression. Kakashi was exhausted like hell and seemingly he couldn't sleep well either. The comforting closeness was all that it took and in an instant both drifted off into peaceful dreams.
.
Goodnight, Sakura-hime.
.
.
.