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Sasuke stood in front of her after letting go of their embrace. His eyes were gazing directly into her green orbs endearingly before one of them decided to speak out.

"You're back," Sakura said gladly.

"I am. I heard it was your birthday today, so I decided to bring you a gift," Sasuke smiled and moved his hand forward from behind his back to give her a small box wrapped up in a cute little red ribbon.

She took it and blushed. "Thank you."

"Anytime," Sasuke said, smiling kindly.

On the contrary, Gaara and the others were silent until Lady Tsunade stepped into the stage.

"Sasuke. Welcome back. Please have a seat," she reminded as she gestured towards Naruto's table, whereas Sakura headed back to her spot, sitting down gracefully.

Sasuke nodded curtly and he walked over to his best friend. He sat down beside him and exchanged fist bumps.

"How's it going?" The seventh Hokage asked smugly.

"Nothing much. Just the usual," the dark-haired ninja answered shortly.

"Weh. You sure? Sounds like you had an adventure out there," Naruto snorted.

Sasuke rolled his eyes in annoyance and scoffed. "You know, I've been struggling a lot lately. Atoning my sins is definitely not easy. There's barely enough enemies around, which is boring because I'm used to fighting anyways. However, this journey of mine is worth it."

Naruto hummed in response. "I'm glad to hear that."

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed, then his attention landed on the Hyuga girl and asked. "So are you two official now?"

The seventh Hokage glanced at his girlfriend lovingly and wrapped his arm around her waist proudly. "What do you think?"

"Ah. You've finally come to your senses, Hokage. Congratulations to the both of you," Sasuke smirked teasingly, making Hinata a little bit flustered and lowered her head.

"Shut up. Of course I did," Naruto huffed in a whisper and patted her comfortingly.

The main courses of the meals were served on the table and they ate afterwards. They were laughing and chit-chattering about their careers and other random things that some people can relate to. Mostly, they were discussing how their nephews and nieces wanted to join the Ninja Academy, but they want to enroll them into a regular school instead. Yet, there are kids who are inspired and motivated to willingly become a shinobi themselves. Thanks to Team 7 and the rest of the ninja alliances. They have dreams that they want to pursue and they want to make it happen.

Five minutes later, every guy was holding roses and was lining up in the front and back, whereas every girl was holding candles on their hands. When the music started, Sakura was standing in the middle and began to dance with Iruka.

"Happy Birthday, Haruno," he grinned.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," the pink-haired kunoichi said giggling, then she was let go and was danced by Kakashi.

"Happy birthday, Sakura. You really are an extraordinary woman. Just when I first saw you at the first day of your training, you were quite a bit of a cute newbie and a screecher," Kakashi said, chuckling under his mask.

"Hey. I can't be that bad, was I?" The pink-haired kunoichi pouted annoyingly and raised an eyebrow peculiarly.

"No. Not really. You may not remember right now, but you were different from the other kids I've met besides Naruto and Sasuke," Kakashi said, then he let go of her when Guy arrived and danced with Sakura.

As soon as she had interacted with the rest of the leaf squad; Kiba, Shino, Neji, Choji, and Sai, her eyes hovered at Lee, who was approaching her and took her hand gently.

"You are beautiful. Really, you are," he said, smiling brightly at her.

"Thank you..." Sakura giggled.

"You're welcome. I will always protect you," he promised.

"Lee, isn't it?" The pink-haired kunoichi guessed.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Lee was surprised.

"My mom pointed out every single one of you. You all have such lovely names," Sakura said, nodding dumbfounded.

"Oh. I see. No matter, I'm glad you are doing well…" Lee muttered faintly, but smiled anyways.

Then, Shikamaru and Kankuro were the guys who danced with her right after him. Both of them had greeted Sakura happy birthday and decided not to have a long talk since there is not enough time for them.

Naruto came to the dance floor, placing his hand on her waist and holding her hand out to the side.

"Hey, I know I've said a lot in my speech. I'm so proud of you, Sakura. You've grown up very and I couldn't be happier," he said sincerely.

"Thank you, Naruto…" she smiled warmly at him.

"Anything for my best friend," Naruto said playfully.

"We are friends," The pink-haired kunoichi thought out, making him frown.

"Hmm," he hummed in response, then he sighed as he let her go and danced with her uncles; Sanji and Benri.

Afterwards, the pink-haired kunoichi's eyes were gazing towards the dark-haired ninja, who was walking towards her and leading her to dance away.

"Did you enjoy the present I gave you?" He asked.

"Um… I haven't seen it yet, so I'll open it later," the pink-haired kunoichi said shyly.

Sasuke leaned in closer to her ear and whispered. "It's my way of giving you an apology."

"An apology?" She repeated.

"Ah. So, you don't remember," he pointed out quietly and still smiled at her. "We can talk about things sometime soon if that is alright with you."

"Of course. Absolutely," Sakura nodded cluelessly and blushed.

"Happy birthday, blossom," Sasuke smirked and winked quickly before letting her go as soon as the red-haired Kazekage appeared in front of her.

"Hey…" he said softly.

"Hi…" she greeted with a wave.

"May I?" He asked, holding his hand out in which she took his.

The two of them were dancing swiftly while the others were watching them.

"Awww, look at how sweet they are," one of the women gushed in awe.

"Hmm. They are meant to be," Temari said.

When Sakura was dancing with her father, she couldn't help but started to get emotional after he told her everything she needed to hear.

"Even though your mom and I had misunderstandings and arguments most of the time. I made a vow to never let our family break apart. We may be busy with other missions while you are working as a medical kunoichi in the hospital, we will always be together. I know I'm not a perfect father that you are expecting me to be. Though, I promised that I will never leave you two on your own," Mr. Haruno explained and wiped his daughter's tears away from her eyes.

"Thank you, dad," she cried and wrapped her arms around him as they continued to sway, much to everyone's cheer.

Later on, she blew the candles on the cake to make a wish once they all sang a Happy Birthday song for her. They clapped again and threw their hands up in the air joyfully.

"Alright, guys. Let's party!" Kiba exclaimed as he bumped his fist up in the air, which they all agreed.

"Woohoo!" They replied in unison when they landed on the dance floor.

Sakura was standing on the side to watch her friends celebrate until her shoulder was being tapped by none other than Gaara himself.

"Hey, I was thinking whether we can have a little chat somewhere else," he said.

The pink-haired kunoichi was blinking a few times blankly and nodded slowly. "Okay…"

He grabbed her wrist gently and led her to the corner, saying. "Listen, our friends and I are making sure that you are doing fine and I have a confession to make."

"Sorry. Sir Kazekage, I think you have the wrong girl…" Sakura said confusedly.

"What?" Gaara was puzzled.

"You see, I just… I don't remember you and me having a relationship like this. You already know that I'm in love with someone else," the pink-haired kunoichi pointed out kindly.

"But you are in love… with me," Gaara reminded slowly as his smile was beginning to falter.

"No. I'm not. I'm sorry. I only see you as a friend. I do love you, but not like that," Sakura explained as she bit her lip nervously.

The red-haired Kazekage thought sadly in his mind. "She doesn't remember at all…"

"Sorry again. I'm sure you'll find-" the pink-haired kunoichi got interrupted when they both heard a voice calling.

"Sakura!" Ino said, waving at her. "Want to have a drink with us?"

She stared at her and the other girls, then smiled excitingly. "Sure!"

Once she left, Gaara was standing there frozen and watched her walk away from his grasp. He was frowning to himself, not knowing how to process. Kankuro and Temari, on the other hand, came and asked.

"You alright?" The purple-faced ninja patted him on the shoulder.

"I don't know," the red-haired Kazekage shrugged.

"Hey. Cheer up. Remember, this is only temporary. It's not possible for her to lose all of her memories. I'm sure she will come back," Temari reminded positively.

"I hope so. We made a promise together," Gaara muttered weakly.

"I know it hurts right now. But Sakura needs more time, so let's give her that," Temari said tiredly.

"You're right," the red-haired Kazekage nodded in understanding as the three of them continued to watch her having a toast with the girls. His eyes softened up a bit when he noticed the way her wholesome laughter was filling throughout their surroundings. He wondered how long it would take for her to remember.

TO BE CONTINUED...