Summary: Kakashi has received many gifts in his life, and is about to get one more.

*Set during the early years of Kakashi and Sakura's relationship

Kakashi shied away from gifts— an attitude he had grown into at a penultimate part of his youth when his own arrogance had been dampened by the overwhelming feelings of guilt and unworthiness of his adulthood.

Gifts were tokens of gratitude and he had received quite a few of them in his life. It seemed his friends had never ran out of reasons to, even as he had quietly thought of a dozen more reasons why they shouldn't.

It wasn't that he had never appreciated them. In fact, he had held each gift he had ever gotten, close to him, tucked away in a safe part of his heart that was untouched by the weathering effects of time.

The custom kunai from his late mentor, the old kit from Rin, and the fated gift from Obito—a sharingan that he had been bound to always carry, until he didn't anymore. He had accepted a few more eventually from team seven, his lone unfortunate plant Mr. Ukki, one knitted yellow scarf, and the many funny presents he'd gotten from Gai.

Kakashi still had been hesitant when it came to gifts a few years later. But it had more to do with contentment, as the hold of guilt had finally loosen its grip on him, leaving him free to saturate himself with the happiness that had always been within his reach. He had still accepted the gifts that came. Some mildly amusing, all of them deeply sentimental. A scrolled up illustrated picture of team seven from Sai had been one of them, with a smaller parchment of an inked portrait of Sakura nested inside of it — the same person that had continued to give him random knitted things that now occupied a good corner in his dresser, along with several handwritten letters, and a new plant to accompany Mr. Ukki. All of them had been as dear to him as the old ones. That his friends still had felt compelled to find occasions to give him presents, even when their friendship alone had been "gift" enough, would always surprise him.

These days, Kakashi had become a little more indulgent with gifts. But they were mostly of a different kind.. immaterial requests, not at all like the tangible presents he had amassed. Much simpler and fleeting, with a certain pink-haired girl as its sole benefactor. Back massages, shared naps, home-made meals, picnics, vacation time, kisses.. Kakashi had taken a small delight to being a bit of a selfish man. These gifts didn't diminish with taking, but instead seemed to multiply when shared.

From time to time, the old feelings of unworthiness would still creep in, but he had long ago stopped paying heed to them. It wasn't hard to, especially as he sat comfortably now, at the end of a long wooden table, surrounded by friends, and a glowing birthday cake in front of him.

To the right side of him was Naruto, already tipsy from the alcohol, and Gai. Sai and Yamato were seated to his left while Sakura sat right next to him, smiling radiantly. All of them waited for him to blow the candles to mark his 36th, as the new array of gifts lay opened on the table along with colorful discarded paper wrappings.

"Make a wish!" they said, and with one enthusiastic puff, Kakashi put all the candles out. As the toast and well wishing came, he realized amusingly, that he had forgotten to make any wish at all. Sakura leaned in closer then, quirking her mouth as she spoke, "You have one more present, but you'd have to wait till later."

"Later?" he intoned in an unabashedly seductive manner that was very much liquor induced. "So it needs to be unwrapped in private?" His words might have been too loud, as he glanced over an eavesdropping Yamato who choked on his sake cup.

"No, you old pervert. " Sakura poked him lightly on his sides before Kakashi playfully caught her hand by the wrist.

"Then what is it?" he insisted.

"I'll tell you when we get home."

"Why can't you tell me now? Whisper it to me." He tilted his head towards her, pulling off the most boyish grin, that he knew, even from behind his mask, would always be Sakura's weakness. He didn't hide his giddy triumph as she finally relented, leaning into his ear with one hand covering her mouth.

Kakashi paused as he let her words sink in, but only for a moment before his eyes widened. "Are you sure?" He was still in disbelief; just as he thought he'd receive everything he'd ever wanted in life, he found himself astounded at one more gift he didn't think he'd ever deserve. And yet Kakashi already felt a special claim in it, this was his—theirs, and he wondered if it was normal that he already felt strongly so.

"I just found out today—"

He silenced her with a kiss, pulling her even closer, easily ignoring the loud teasing the whole table had now erupted into. He didn't waste a minute to share the news with everyone, standing up from his chair, drunk in delirious happiness that this time, had nothing to do with the sake.