It never occurred to Sasuke that birthdays and kisses came hand in hand. After he thought about it, on the surface it made perfect sense, but it had been so long since he had experienced such a thing. He hadn't ever mentioned his birth-date to the Dobe, or Sakura, since the topic never seemed to arise in conversation. However, he should have noticed during his check up at the hospital, when Sakura drew her thin pink brows at the clipboard in her hands, before acknowledging him, eyes afresh with new excitement and mouth turned up at the corners in a knowing smile.

So when she exited the hospital, as usual, after a long, hard day on July 23rd, and beamed gratefully at the sight of him against the building, he should have known what was to come when she hesitated, mid-street, and decided to turn down a completely different road.

He frowned, as she began steering him by the elbow, in the opposite direction than their normal route. "Erm…Sakura?" he asked, unsure of her behaviour.

She peered up at him, her expression innocent, "Yes Sasuke-kun?"

"You're going the wrong way. Your apartment's back where we just came from."

Shaking her head insistently, she replied "No, no, I want to take a detour. There's, well…somewhere I want to visit."

Sasuke couldn't even bring himself to complain, as deeply, even if he were hesitant to admit it, he relished the thought of the opportunity of extra time with his treasured teammate. And, as he began to relax the pace of his steps to match hers, he took the time to glance at her whole form, noticing the sudden change in her attire. Her hair, normally slightly mussed from stress, had been combed to a waterfall of smoothness, and her pale pink lashes that he loved, had been blackened.

She's wearing makeup? He realised, as his memory began to flicker back to that morning, as she emerged from her apartment, finding him, waiting to escort her to the hospital. She wasn't wearing any makeup then. He always found himself encapsulated by her lashes, and he often stared at them admiringly. Long, delicate, and utterly irresistible, as they cast shadows against her cheeks in startling contrast to their pallid colour. That was why he would notice immediately if there was a sudden change, like now. He figured, she must've wasted a few minutes grooming herself, like women do, before she left. Her efforts were pointless, because she didn't need perfecting. She was Sakura, either way. Pure, simple Sakura is far better than a dolled-up Sakura.

He would've said something, but his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the familiarity of the pebbled road she was taking him down. He'd seen this road before, so many times. Back in their genin days, when his heart – devoid of the bonds that he'd cast aside – had juddered momentarily at the unexpected sight of pink, a painful obstacle, blocking his path to revenge. The last time, was when he'd first returned, again finding pink. However, he'd finished where he left off, and mended the heart that he once broke so carelessly.

Sasuke's limbs grew warm with anxiety, as he realised with a jolt of electric agitation, why Sakura had insisted on taking a detour. Noticing the slight twitch of his dark brows and the stiffened posture of his fingers – the subtle signs of his secret nervousness – Sakura halted in her steps, gazing at him thoughtfully.

"Sasuke-kun." she murmured under her breath, pulling at the joint of his elbow with a soothing softness that reminded him distinctly of his mother.

Taking a deep breath and a couple of seconds, eyes closed to address his erratic thoughts, he allowed Sakura to guide them both to the stone bench that held so many irreplaceable memories. As he sat on the stone, the coldness seeping through his clothing, he closed his eyes once more in an attempt to calm the rapid rhythm of his frantic heart. He was more than aware of Sakura's presence to his right, her solid gaze fixed, unwavering, on his emotionless face, and somehow he felt that she could see through the mask, that he was a nervous wreck inside.

She knows…She knows it's my birthday, he thought, unsure exactly how he should react if she did something drastic. Or she'll confess again, and she'll take it the wrong way when I won't know what to say…

"Happy Birthday, Sasuke-kun." Sakura chimed, grinning at him like there was no tomorrow.

He stared ahead, his expression unresponsive at her predicted behaviour "Who told you? I distinctly remember not mentioning anything to Naruto."

Although he had conditioned himself not to react to his strongest emotions, he couldn't prevent the faint pink blush that stained over his nose and across his cheeks. Most likely an inevitable reaction caused by his heart madly beating against his ribcage.

Her grin melted into a small, bashful smile, before Sakura tilted her head away slightly, as if to conceal her own signs of fluttering nerves. "I may have taken a teensy tiny sneaky peak at your personal details when I was giving you that check up last week."

He turned to her, one brow raised amusedly, "You broke into my medical records?"

Her lips parted into a silent 'O' of horror, and she waved her hands wildly in front of her face, as her pink blush deepened to crimson. "No! No! No! It was the clipboard, I swear! I'm not a fangirl anymore; I wouldn't go that far. And even if I wanted to know your birthday, I would've just asked you, because I'm a normal person, not a stalker."

The corners of his lips curved upward, as he observed her insane reaction "I know, Sakura. Although I don't think the word 'normal' is appropriate to describe you."

She smacked him lightly, playfully on the arm, deepening the smirk that already played across his lips. No, Sakura, he thought, not normal...'Incredible'.

At that point she turned her back to him, as she rummaged carelessly through the contents of her bag, humming a sweet melody under her breath like a lullaby. Suddenly the tune was cut short, and his eyes focused on the back of her head, as her hands slowly drew something brightly coloured from inside the fabric.

"Ano..." she began nervously, as she turned back toward him, but her eyes remained fixed on the gravel under their feet, "This is the first part of your birthday present."

"The first part?" he repeated, curiously, as she reached over and grasped his hand, before placing the small parcel in the palm.

He spared her a quick glance, analyzing her anxious expression and the strawberry blush that scattered over her cheeks. In his hand, the package felt light, and airy. Clothes, maybe? He wasn't used to receiving presents, and his hands were hesitant in prying open the edges of the folded wrapping paper.

Sakura's eyes shifted to and fro, focusing on anything but him, as he lifted the last of the paper, to reveal a pair of navy and black woollen gloves. Lips parted in surprise, he tilted his head to peer at her, his words caught in his throat.

"Back at the academy" Sakura explained, her voice wavering a little, "They taught Kunoichi how to act like civilian women, should they be doing an undercover mission. One thing that they taught us, was how to knit."

Sasuke's fascinated dark eyes widened slightly at the mental image of Sakura sat on her couch, knitting for him. "You made these yourself?"

She nodded, "At first, I had no idea what I could possibly do for your birthday, since you don't really like anything…except tomatoes, and giving you tomatoes was out of the question."

He smirked once again, agreeing with a small "Hn."

"But then I remembered that every night when you walk me home, your hands are always freezing from waiting for me…and it makes me feel kind of guilty for not finishing earlier." Sakura's hands fidgeted in her lap "So I made you some gloves, so that you're not so cold because of me."

He stared at the soft interweaves of wool in his hands, with a tiny – yet grateful – smile blessed across his face, as he was once again reminded of how much warmth and sweetness she provides in his otherwise bitter existence.

Lifting his new left arm, wrapped from bicep to fingertips in white bandages, he added "You're forgetting that I can't actually feel the cold in this arm."

She laughed nervously, a musical sound to his ears, "I figured that it'd look odd if you only wore one."

Sasuke shifted closer to her, and raised two fingers, gently prodding the tips against her unusually wide forehead. "Arigatou, Sakura"

The strawberry blush on her pale skin deepened once more, as she stared up at him, green eyes wide and glassy with emotion. Suddenly, her trance somehow broke, and she began fiddling with the seams of her clothes in anxiousness.

"Like I said before, that was the first part of your present." She uttered, only loudly enough that he could hear it, despite nobody being around them at that time of night.

His brows drew together, "And the second part?"

She turned to him, almost jittery "The second part is this…"

All at once, he realised why she had been demonstrating such obvious and uncontrolled signs of nervousness. At first, the nasty corner of his brain – which he prefers and endeavours to ignore – suggested that she had somehow travelled back in time, and re-adopted her 12 year old fangirl brain. But he now realised that it wasn't the gloves that were the cause of her odd behaviour. It was this.

Her hand reached up to gently hold the curve of his jaw, as she gradually leaned in closer to his body heat, and delicately pressed her pink lips against his in a light and breezy kiss.

He didn't move. Hell, he didn't even respond. Not because he didn't enjoy the feeling of her skin against his in such an intimate gesture, but because as soon as her lips brushed his, his breathing faltered in his lungs, along with all sense of logical reasoning. His nerves jumped like a bolt of lightning, seemingly rendering nearly every effector for his neurones, completely and utterly useless.

As she pulled away, she took one glance at his stiffened, unmoving expression. "I know you like it when I kiss you on the cheek before you leave" she laughed, her voice trembling slightly, "You touch your hand to your face where I kiss you. I can see it from my bedroom window." Her voice lowered slightly at the very end of her speech, before she continued in an even lower tone "The first time I saw it, was by accident. But then I started waiting by the window to watch you touch your face. It makes me happy that you appreciate it so much."

Something snapped inside him, and he sprung to life at those words, grabbing the sides of her face with both hands and a slight roughness, as he slammed his lips against hers in a searing, passionate kiss. His heart danced wildly in his chest, as his right hand slid to her hair, grasping at the smooth pink locks and she responded to his plea with equal passion and emotion, scrunching her fingertips in his dark hair, her lips moving with his. He admitted, it was rather messy for his first kiss with a girl,

Without words, but with slight reluctance they both pulled away, although his hand remained clutching at the back of her head with desperation; and hers in his. Slowly, he allowed his forehead to rest against hers, eyes closed as he savoured the moment.

Minutes passed as their pulses slowed to less alarming rate, before Sakura was the first to break the silence.

"Do you like me Sasuke-kun?" She whispered, although the answer was fairly obvious.

He exhaled, "No."

The corners of her mouth tilted upward, "Do you love me Sasuke-kun?"

His hand tightened slightly around the locks of her hair, "Aa."

A small, pleased sigh escaped from her lips "Does this mean that there's an 'us' now?"

He paused, "I'd be annoyed if you decide to reject me after all this time."

She grinned, uttering quietly "As if I would. I Love you too much, Sasuke-kun."

At that point in time, as Sakura leaned in once more to re-capture his lips in a celebratory kiss, Sasuke realised that Birthdays and Kisses were two halves to the same jigsaw puzzle.