A/N Thank you for waiting!

This chapter is kind of a 'what could happen' (I really don't know what to call it…) chapter of Naruto's birthday. I guess I'll call it the 'happy' version of Naruto's birthday. Since I just really want a break on all this angst (since there's more on the horizon), and there have been some PMs to me about the angst level of this story.

So the next chapter will be the more angsty 'what could happen' version of Naruto's birthday. You can read either one, since no matter which one you read; it won't affect the plot in any way. So if you want to read this one, feel free. If you don't, don't. This version has a lot more GaaSaku than the other one.

Many thanks to:

PenanceGirl, Cindy Mederios, and awesomesaucechick for reviewing!

And everyone who favorited or added this to their story alerts! (sorry for not posting your names... Gmail pulled this weird trick on me that deleted every single one of my emails... D:)

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine, neither are any of its characters.

I wanna save the world someday…

But I guess I can save your heart too.

Sakura

Now she is happy.

It is the day before Naruto's birthday, and everything is set up and ready to go. Sakura is excited, along with Hinata who seems to be going as red as a tomato whenever she sees something yellow.

They are both at Hinata's spacious house which is filled with ornaments and decorations for the upcoming party. Both Neiji and his father are out until Tuesday for a fencing tournament, so 'it's all timed perfectly' as Hinata says.

Sakura can feel the Hyuga girl's swelling pride at all the planning they've done. She can also tell that the timid girl wants her enthusiastic friend (and that's an understatement) to have a good time.

And Sakura can't help but feel proud too, when she inspects everything once more, to make sure it's perfect. The glittering pumpkin ornaments on the ceilings that reflect an eerie orange glow should all the lights be turned off. The little reflective-tape candies on the walls and furniture Sakura had made herself, going along perfectly with all the fake spiderwebs Kurenai donated when she had heard that there was going to be a party for Naruto.

In fact, just to not ruin the decorations, Hinata was going to be sleeping at her house tonight.

Feeling just dandy with herself, she skips off to the kitchen to grab them both something to eat. But secretly, she prays that her father wouldn't come home tonight.

Hinata is currently calling Kiba, Shikamaru, Shino, Sasuke, Tenten, and Lee to ask them if they could come. Sakura is sure that all of them will say yes (even though Tenten is a bit iffy) so she just quietly watches the stained glass ornaments tinkle with each other, making a music all their own.

Hinata hangs up from the last call with a click, and smiles widely. "All of them can come, Sakura-chan!" Though her voice is timid, there is a coat of excitement under it, just waiting to bust out.

The only hard part will be keeping it secret, something Hinata really doesn't do very well.

It has been planned out that Kiba, Hinata, and Sasuke will be the ones to distract Naruto for about an hour while the rest get everything extra ready (food and such) and do the classic 'jump out from behind furniture as he/she walks in through the door' act when he arrives.

They giggle and gossip like little girls as they eat the cookies that were stored in the pantry.

Putting away all the paper, pencils, and cookies, they leave to begin their short walk to Sakura's house.

Both girls discuss about the upcoming party, all the preparations to make it absolutely perfect for Naruto. Hinata really seems to care about the blond boy that defends her so often.

(Love at work.)

"What?"

Sakura realizes that she accidentally said this out loud, and starts to stammer. "I-I didn't- I meant- I mean-"

Hinata is pure red now, and Sakura swears she sees smoke coming out of the girl's ears. "L-Lets pretend that never happened."

Sakura silently agrees and the rest of their walk is filled with silence.

It is night, and Sakura is on the floor next to her bed, which is now occupied by Hinata. The pink-haired girl watches the other girl sleep, looking at the gentle rise and fall of her chest and listening to her soft snores.

The moonlight streaming in from the window opposite of the bed, giving Hinata a kind of ghost like look, the silvery glow reflecting off the girl's pale skin…

Sakura glances at the clock. Fading green numbers say '1:53'. She silently groans and puts a small pillow over her face.

The sudden ring from the phone makes her jump in fright. Quickly swiping it off the desk, she hisses, "Hello?"

"…"

I'm not in the best of moods.

I'm not asleep (there's school today)

Some person calls me at 2 in the morning

Not even saying a word

And doesn't even ask for someone

Something

Anything

I want them to say something

So I can politely tell them

That they have the wrong number

And I want to go back to sleep.

But I can't

So I think about hanging up

But then a quiet

Dry voice

Comes out.

"…Hello."

I bite back a retort

And answer

"Why are you calling me?"

"Temari told me to."

Gaara?

For some reason, my breath is speeding up

Face turning red

And I stammer out

"A-At this hour?"

"Sorry."

When I don't respond, he continues.

"Temari said you were worried about me."

"Mostly Naruto."

I don't get it.

Why am I lying?

"Sorry about calling you this early."

My head is spinning.

"Temari told me to call earlier, but I didn't know what I could say…"

"That's alright. Are you okay?"

He's silent for awhile, but I don't mind.

He's Gaara.

"I'm fine." He says shortly.

I can detect the pain in his voice, however faint.

"Why did you do it?"

"I wasn't thinking clearly.

I'm sorry… That I was an inconvenience."

There is no emotion in Gaara's voice

Even though

He had tried to end his own life.

Shouldn't he at least be sad

That he failed?

I can almost see his blank face

And calm features

As he talks on the phone.

With her.

(He hates you. He hit you.)

"When are you coming back to school?"

"Tell Naruto that I'm sorry."

He is deliberately moving away from the question…

"You can tell him yourself."

Silence.

There is a click.

I stare at the phone through the darkness.

I remember how the stars seemed to avoid him.

I remember how empty he looked.

I drift off to sleep, thinking about

Pink-haired girls

And red-haired boys

That can fly to the stars

And stay there forever.

School was good to Sakura these days. She could at least manage a B or a B+ on most days; maybe a rare A might pop up from time to time. No, her problems were on the inside.

First of all, Ino. The blond was acting very strange lately, along with Karen and the other Akatsuki members. Akatsuki was a group for the 'popular' kids. They were avoiding Sakura at all costs.

But for now, all that was on the pink haired girl's mind was the task of keeping the party from Naruto.

Which Hinata was miserably failing at.

The girl had almost shouted out the secret right in front of Naruto, but had been stopped by a Kiba stuffing some tomatoes in her mouth. Sakura could swear that Hinata turned as red as the tomatoes in her mouth were.

Naruto, as the dim headed person he was, only questioned Kiba on why he had stuffed tomatoes into Hinata's mouth. Kiba said something like, "She isn't eating vegetables lately…"

Sakura was currently in the process of setting up the food in Hinata's house. There was more than one accident so far, some of which involved Akamaru licking all the cupcakes.

"Naruto's coming soon! Hurry up!" Kiba was shouting. Sasuke grunted from the corner, and turned his head back towards the door.

There was no need though, since everything was set up and ready to go. It was quarter after four when Sasuke signaled that they were coming. Everyone hid around various pieces of furniture. Muffled voices were coming from the door.

"Are you sure this is okay, Hinata? I mean, I can't just go into your house unexpectedly…"

"I-It's totally fine! It's not like there's a party or anything…"

A silent groan spread out over the room. Luckily, Naruto didn't notice.

"Well, if you insist…"

The moment the door opens and Naruto takes a step in, Tenten turns the lights back on and everyone (bar Shikamaru and Sasuke) jumps out from their hiding spots and shouts 'SURPRISE!' giving Naruto a mini-heart attack.

The blond blinks once, twice, and then busts into laughter as everyone surrounds him, talking rapidly.

Hinata turns the music on, and shows Naruto the stack of presents for him, causing the said boy to smile joyfully.

Everyone watches him open the presents. Sakura is in wonder how happy he looks even with the smallest gifts, like the box of pencils she gave him. (Can you be like that?)

Sasuke gives him something called a 'kunai', Shino some kind of glass beetle, Tenten a bunch of seeds and herbs ('Now you can grow your own food!), Kiba an orange jacket, Shikamaru a chess set ('You need to improve your IQ, Naruto').

Hinata gives him a dark blue headband with a metal plate in the center. There is some kind of weird mark on the plate, but Hinata confesses even she doesn't know what it is. Sakura laughs out loud with the others when Hinata goes perfectly red when Naruto hugs her. Kiba even dares to wolf-whistle, earning a glare from Sasuke.

And the party explodes into an area of laughter.

Everything's whirling

And I haven't felt like this in so long

Colors swirling around everywhere.

I'm starting to get dizzy

From all the fruit punch I'm drinking

But I really don't mind

Since I'm having fun

And laughing as Akamaru

Smears his face with bright orange icing.

The party's still going strong

At twelve AM

And I'm in a dreamlike state

As everything passes by in a whirl of color.

But the dream ends

When Hinata screams

'FIRE!'

And then things get hectic

Since everyone is bolting to the door

Except Sasuke, who grabs my wrist

(His hands are so soft)

And drags me outside.

Kiba is babbling away about something

And the fire trucks are just rounding the corner.

Naruto is stroking Hinata's hair

Shino is (awkwardly) patting Tenten

Shikamaru is talking calmly to Kiba

Then I realize that I'm the only one

That's alone.

I walk toward Hinata

Making footprints on the ash-covered grass

And listen to a nearby worker

Telling her

"There are no serious damages on the house, ma'am."

But I can tell she isn't listening

Because she's still repeating the words into Naruto's jacket

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry…"

He blinks

Then continues to stroke her.

"It's alright… Everyone's safe and that's what counts." (Real love, darling.)

Maybe not everyone.

Because Sasuke's coming out

With a limp, furry figure

That once used to be a soft brown

But now is a dark black.

Kiba staggers over

Then pushes the small body to his chest,

And looks away from it

Refusing to believe it.

Without thinking,

I go up to him

And awkwardly pat him on the back.

Hinata, rubbing her red eyes

Tears still streaming down her face

Hugs Kiba.

Naruto joins in

And Shikamaru consolingly tries to boost our spirits.

"At least… Every person is okay, right?"

Shino half-heartedly glares at the Nara

But still

His words somehow make us all feel better

And Naruto even smiles.

Ino

Ino's hair is messy and wild and sticking out in weird angles. Most of her body is covered with ash and her clothes are tattered. The blond's usually glamorous face is smeared with makeup, and she gets out from the gutter she escaped in. Her knees are scabbed and bloody. But she doesn't care.

She could've done more. Much more. She could've killed them all (that is, if she had used all her alcohol) and burned them to a painful death. But somewhere, there was a shard of kindness in there (Stop being so soft. Weak.)so she spared them.

But she knows, somewhere in her shattered heart that she couldn't, and wouldn't ever do that.

Shikamaru who has abandoned her (but he doesn't hate you), Sakura who caused all this (No, you did that yourself) and Hinata…

She is glad that at least someone's soul has been crushed.

She is glad that at least something died.

Ino yearns for revenge. Revenge.

Someone. Please. Join her corner of misery.

(But you know that somewhere in there, you would never kill a person.)

Shut up.

A/N …Sorry Akamaru lovers.

Yay for the first two-way interaction of Sakura and Gaara! (chapter four doesn't count, I guess.)

Now, for an omake.

Gaara

The moon seems so bright today.

The moment he picks up the dusty phone in his hands and calls the girl that saved his life (Why?) The moon seems to glow a shade brighter.

His (non-caring) father is still typing away at some essay for something. Temari is rarely home, and when she is, she barely makes any contact with him. Her own brother. Just stocks up the fridge, reminds him to do his homework (Not that it matters) and leaves.

The red-haired boy knows he can't make the excuse 'But I'm your brother!' Because Kankuro had been her brother too.

And look at what happened. (Family. Like it exists in my world.)

Gaara looks up at the moon. He should be sleeping (for his health, they say) but it really doesn't matter. He never sleeps anymore, especially after the 'incident'.

But he can't get that girl out of his mind, and it annoys him to no end. That blurry image of a girl with striking pink hair, looking down at him with a concerned look.

The moon is brighter today. Defiantly.