"Come on Hisako! Let's go!" Sakura yelled, as she frantically dragged her friend through the busy streets of the Leaf Village blindfolded.

"Sakura! I'm blindfolded! What do you expect? It's not like I can run!" Hisako retorted stumbling over some unseen fluffy object at her feet.

Hisako heard a chicken angrily squawk at her and almost fell on her face when Sakura caught her, dragging her into a half run half stumbling trot again through the village. Sakura's hand was like a vice on Hisako's wrist as she had them swerve a quacking duck and stumble through the busy village streets.

"Sakura," Hisako complained, her voice growing concerned but finally, Sakura stopped.

Sakura stopped so suddenly that Hisako ran into her back with a thud. Sakura grunted alongside Hisako and they both almost fell, but Sakura caught her footing and steadied the two of them.

"Sakura!" Hisako shouted, "Alright, I'm done with this blindfold already!"

"Good! I was just about to take it off," Sakura replied, giggling as she watched Hisako struggle with the blindfold for a moment.

She finally was able to take the blindfold off, and the moment she did, popping noises and confetti filled the air as a whole group of people screamed, "Surprise!"

Hisako's gaze softened as her hands clasped in front of her. Everyone was here. The entire graduating class from her previous class, Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, even Lady Hinata, and all the others, and then of course there was her team. Neji and Lee. Everyone was here. Including the Senseis.

"It's been a little over six years since you came to the village, Hisako! And I know it's late, but that's been because we've all been on so many missions and stuff. I didn't forget, and when I talked to everyone about it, we all agreed that" Sakura paused, stepping up to join the group, "we wanted to celebrate!"

In the group, Neji gave her a small smile, the one he reserved only for her.

They had chosen to hold the surprise party at the local BBQ place, and everyone together took up about three tables.

"It's Asuma Sensei's treat too!" Choji yelled, chopsticks and meat already in hand.

Hisako let out a laugh as Asuma Sensei turned a dubious stare on his student, "I'm not paying for everyone!"

Kakashi Sensei walked up to Hisako, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Well, the Sensei's decided that they'd pay for their own teams. As a treat for everyone's hard work and dedication. And also to celebrate not just six years since we gained you, but, to celebrate the upcoming Chuunin Exams," he explained motioning Hisako over to the tables.

Hisako took a seat at the middle table where there was an empty seat by Neji.

"And we brought cake! It was my idea," Ino told Hisako, peeking around the wall separating her table from Hisako's.

"And man is it a large cake," Naruto replied, his mouth watering at just the idea of getting a piece of that cake.

Hisako let out a laugh, "then what are we waiting for? Let's start this celebration," Hisako announced, breaking open her chopsticks as Lee splattered some meat down on the grill in front of them.

Everyone ate and talked and everything was happy and normal. Even despite the Chuunin Exams lingering in the back of everyone's minds, which would soon turn them all into enemies to try and see who could become Chuunin. It seemed far away. For now, they were all celebrating and making merry.

Eventually, things began to get a little more interesting.

"I heard the exams change every year so we don't really know what to expect," Hisako was telling Sakura, Sasuke, and Neji as she waved her chopsticks in the air.

"I know, I've been trying to figure out a pattern or something but I-"

Sakura was cut off by the sound of splintering wood and yelling. Their attention flew towards the main area of the restaurant where Naruto and Kiba were currently getting into some sort of a brawl with each other on the floor. Hisako's eyes widened alongside Sakura and a piece of meat fell off of her chopsticks as they watched the two boys fighting on the floor.

"What are they doing?" Neji grumbled.

"What idiots," Sasuke muttered.

"I shall join in too! This will be good training before the exams!" Lee shouted, standing up from his seat as he jumped over their table, knocking over glasses as he did it.

Neji and Hisako caught their glasses in time, and Sasuke's was spared but Sakura's water toppled over.

"Lee!" Neji scolded, standing up to intervene but before he could do anything, the Senseis stepped in.

Kakashi Sensei, Guy Sensei, and Asuma Sensei all stepped in to stop the three boys from wrecking the restaurant. Each Sensei held onto one of the boys as they fought against the adults.

Kakashi Sensei sighed, "please try not to spoil a good meal," he scolded as he dragged Naruto back to his seat and forcefully made him sit back down with a hand on Naruto's head.

Asuma Sensei did the same with Kiba. The two boys sat down reluctantly, their arms crossed over their chests as they mumbled something incoherent under their breaths both looking over their shoulders and shooting daggers at the other.

"Lee! Now is not the time to train, but later, I expect a hundred laps around the village!" Guy Sensei ordered Lee as Lee went to sit back down in his seat.

"Of course, Guy Sensei! My apologies!" Lee yelled back at his Sensei.

"Honestly, I would have been shocked if we did this without some sort of a fight breaking out," Hisako said with a small laugh, "I don't think it would be the same if someone didn't get into some sort of an argument,"

Sakura shook her head, "It's just like him too! Always getting into fights with people,"

Once everyone was done with their food, Ino brought out a giant sheet cake decorated in orange and red for the Leaf Village and the Land of Fire, to celebrate their nation. A giant Leaf Village symbol was painted on the top of the cake.

"Wow! The cake looks amazing Ino!" Hisako complimented as she started passing out slices of cake with the help of Lady Hinata and Kurenai Sensei.

"Thanks! I remember you like chocolate, so I got chocolate," Ino replied back.

Sakura got a mischievous glint in her eye when she got her piece and turned her attention to Sasuke who was quietly eating his own piece of cake and Hisako couldn't help but wonder what was going on through her best friend's head. Before she could ask, however, Sakura got a fork full of cake and reached out to give it to Sasuke.

Hisako bit back a laugh as Sasuke gave Sakura the weirdest look Hisako has ever seen from her cousin. His eyes were wide and he had this look on his face like he had just eaten a lemon as Sakura kept on that giant smile on her face.

"C'mon, Sasuke! It's team building, like that one time we had to feed Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed slowly bringing the cake to her cousin's mouth.

"No! It is not like that time, Sakura, what are you doing?" Sasuke retorted, scooting back away from Sakura as Naruto slammed his fork down on the table.

"Hey, Sakura! You can feed me! I'll-"

"No!" Sakura yelled, interrupting Naruto when Sasuke stood up and started walking away from the table.

Sakura stood up and followed Sasuke around the restaurant and Hisako let out a laugh. Lady Hinata, having watched the entire thing, took up an empty seat beside Naruto and decided she would try to take a page out of Sakura's book. She held a piece of cake on the fork up for Naruto to take, a giant blush on her cheeks. Hisako wasn't sure, but this might be the fast track to Lady Hinata fainting again.

"Um, N-Naruto, h-here," Lady Hinata stammered, her gaze looking at everyone and everything but Naruto.

"Uh, H-Hinata, you don't have to, I was just," Naruto stammered, leaning back in his seat as he stared at the piece of cake Lady Hianta was offering him.

Hisako tilted her head to the side as she watched the two of them and she heard the chaos of Sakura chasing Sasuke around the restaurant as they bumped into tables and chairs. Hisako's smile grew and she put a piece of cake on her fork as well. She didn't want Lady Hinata to feel alone in what she was doing. Granted, Sakura was the one who started this whole thing. But, it might be fun.

"Here Neji," Hisako told Neji, giving him a giant, confident smile as she held up her fork with a piece of cake on it for Neji to take.

"Hisako, what are you doing?" Neji asked, leaning back in his seat to get a better look at his teammate.

"I don't know, it seems like it might be fun. Everyone else is doing it," Hisako muttered in response, shrugging.

Neji didn't budge, just like the other boys didn't either. But, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kurenai Sensei feeding Asuma Sensei cake in the same manner the other girls were trying to do. Hisako held back a laugh. So far, Kurenai Sensei was the only one to be successful.

Right before Hisako thought she might be successful in her attempt to feed Neji cake, Naruto stood up, a giant ball of cake in his hand.

"Cake fight!" he yelled, throwing the cake at Lee.

Lee wasn't fast enough to dodge and soon his whole face was covered in cake. Lee stood up, as Hisako paused just inches from Neji's mouth watching in horror as Lee grabbed some cake and threw it back at Naruto.

It took only a second for the fight to turn into a full war. Hisako dropped her fork and the cake fell into Neji's lap as she ducked from an incoming cake bomb. The cake splattered on the wall behind her. Screaming ensued and the Sensei's all stood up to try and calm the situation down. Shino, Neji, Hisako, and Lady Hinata seemed to be the only ones not partaking in the cake war. Instead, they all spent their time dodging or taking cover from the cake that was flying through the air.

One glob of cake hit Hisako in the back of the head and she screamed in aggravation as she reached behind her and her hand came back covered in frosting. Neji picked up a plate, using it as a shield as another ball of cake came flying at him, but another one hit him in the back before he could successfully block it.

By the time the Sensei's got the situation under control, the entire restaurant was covered in cake, and so was everyone in the restaurant.

"I am so sorry about this," Asuma Sensei was telling the owners with Kurenai Sensei as cake slowly slid down the walls of the restaurant and onto the floor.

Kakashi Sensei and Guy Sensei had the ones responsible for the cake war sitting on the ground in shame.

"You are all going to clean this mess up," Kakashi Sensei ordered.

Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head as he stood up, "what a drag," he grumbled as he began walking out of the restaurant.

"That means you too, Shikamaru," Kakashi Sensei ordered.

Shikamaru stopped in his tracks, and turned to look back at Kakashi Sensei in question, "Why me? I was just trying to defend myself,"

"We all work together as a team. If one person messes up, everyone pays for it! So get to cleaning. We're not leaving here till the restaurant is spotless!" Guy Sensei yelled, throwing some rags down in front of everyone.

Asuma Sensei and Kurenai Sensei came out with buckets of soapy water, "here ya go kids," Asuma Sensei said, stepping back.

Sighs and groans echoed around the room as everyone stood up and grabbed rags to get to cleaning.

Cleaning the restaurant took longer than the cake war did. In fact, it took longer than the entire celebration. Hisako's arms ached from all the scrubbing she was forced to do. She was just grateful she brought a hair tie with her so she could tie her hair back while doing it.

"What a drag," Shikamaru complained a few feet away from where Hisako was.

"This sucks! Naruto was the one who started it!" Sakura yelled, dunking her rag back in a bucket of clean water that Kurenai Sensei had just switched out for the kids.

"Hey! It wasn't my fault, Sasuke was the one-"

"Don't blame me for your stupidity! You were the one who threw the cake!" Sasuke yelled back, flinging his wet rag in Naruto's direction.

Naruto shrieked as dirty brown water splashed on him.

About an hour later, the restaurant was clean again and everyone was permitted to go home.

Lady Hinata, Neji, and Hisako all walked home together after having said goodbye to everyone.

"Honestly, even though it kinda ended badly, it was a lot of fun!" Hisako said, breaking the silence between the three of them, "Knowing everyone here, and everyone's high spirits, I'm not surprised it ended how it did. Although I could have done without the cake in my hair,"

Hisako reached behind her, pulling at the cake that was plastered in her hair. Hinata and Neji didn't fair much better.

"It's gonna be impossible to get this cake out of my clothes," Hinata muttered, looking at her clothes in horror.

Neji was silent, his hands in his pockets as they walked through the village.

"All I know is I'm taking a bath when we get back," Hisako said with a small laugh.

Over the past six years she's been here, Hisako has grown to rely on everyone in this village. The words from Lord Hokage all those years ago did come true. She found that every person in this village has helped to hold Hisako up, to lift her up when she was feeling bad, and to help carry her burden in life even if they didn't know what burden they were helping her carry. The Leaf Village has been successful at becoming more than just a home to her. Now, there was nowhere else she would rather be.

She knew with all her heart that her life was meant to be spent here in the Leaf Village and she didn't want it any other way.