Chapter 40

Sasuke

I, honestly, was glad that the dobe was having fun. It took a lot off of my mind that there were other people here. Yes, I hated having this many people in our house, but it can't be helped. I had to help Itachi carry Naruto's birthday cake into the house and of course, he wouldn't let me open it to see what it looked like. It was obvious that he wasn't going to let me see it until we had to take it out of it's package to take it to the living room since the two of us didn't want to have Naruto move too much.

The only thing I was truly pissed off about, was that Kiba's dog was inside. I honestly wished he never brought the mutt, but Naruto was happy to see the dog so I couldn't complain much. I just had the right to kick Kiba's ass if the dog used the bathroom inside the house, and Itachi said I had that right since Kiba was one of my friends as well, only because he was Naruto's friend at least. Kiba and I used to be friends, until we started drifting apart after my parents died

"Hey, Sasuke, it's time for cake!" Sakura sang as she dragged two people into the kitchen with her; Neji and Ino, though I don't know why.

"Itachi, you want to open it and help us cut the box away from the cake before you get the candles out?" I asked as I turned around, only to find Itachi wasn't in here and I frowned. Where the hell did he disappear off too now?

"We can do it, Itachi said he needed to get some stuff from the car." Sakura said, apparently her and Itachi already talked about it.

"Okay, I'll go get the scissors." I shrugged and walked over by the back door where we keep all non essentials inside a drawer and opened it, dragging out a pair of scissors and closing it before I turned around and saw that Sakura was opening the box, holding the lid open and I cut it off so it'd be easier to cut the sides away.

When I saw the cake, it was covered in chocolate icing and it looked big enough to feed fifty people, but knowing Naruto, he'd want five pieces of cake, so this was probably normal for this crowd. There was also orange icing, though it came out as filigree and his name was in the center also in orange. It was something Naruto would like, and Itachi found the right person to do the cake too. I just hoped that it wasn't a chocolate cake … because if it was, I couldn't eat it.

"This is so gorgeous." Ino squealed quietly as she dragged out her cell phone from her pants pocket, Sakura was doing the same.

"Wait until I get the sides cut, then take a picture." I suggested, and they both shrugged and put their phones down as I started cutting, handing them the pieces I cut off to throw away since they were closer to the trash can than I was. And I let them turn the box for me, I didn't trust myself to do that with the scissors in hand. I didn't want to disturb the icing before they took a picture … they'd both have my head if I did.

"Got the picture." Both girls giggled and put their phones away before they looked around for something.

"Where's the candles Sasuke?" Sakura asked, and I shrugged.

"I don't know where Itachi put those." I said, honestly, and that's when the back door opened and Itachi walked through the door with a couple bags of wrapped gifts that he got from the car. He had even brought in the bag of gifts I got for Naruto myself that I was going to get after the cake was ready. Now I don't have to go out into the cold air. Awesome.

"Hey, nii-chan, where's the candles at?" I asked, grabbing the bag of my gifts from him since it was bigger and he closed the door to the garage and locked it.

"Right here. I was looking for them when I noticed I didn't bring them in and I decided to bring these bags in while I was out there. It's fucking freezing in the garage." Itachi said as he tossed me a bag. And I know he meant it, our garage never had heat put into it, but at least there was some insulation in the walls.

"Thanks, and pictures of the cake have already been taken." I said as I took out the box of candles and strategically placed the candles on the cake around Naruto's name so they wouldn't mess up the designs.

"I'll go move the table to in front of Naruto and have everyone move out of your way." Neji said, and I guess he wanted out of the kitchen. And I think I figured out why Sakura dragged him along; to get him out of the way and to see how big the cake was to know what table to put in front of Naruto. I had a feeling he was going to put that table he moved to sit next to Naruto in front of him. It was small enough, but also big enough to hold the cake. And I wasn't going to get rid of the bottom part of the cake, it'll keep the icing from making a mess on the floor.

"You wanna help me carry it nii-chan?" I asked Itachi as he handed me the lighter and I used the last candle to light them all; fifteen total. My birthday was three months ago, and now I'm wishing I had at least invited Naruto over to celebrate it with me. Oh well, there's always next year.

"Sure." Itachi said, just as Tsunade poked her head into the room to say something.

"The way is clear for you guys, and Neji is going to help you put the cake down Sasuke." She said before she went back into the living room and dimmed the lights some.

"Oh, and one more thing, Sasuke …" Itachi said before he helped me pick the cake up. "You were officially ungrounded two weeks ago." He added with a smirk before we walked into the living room to find Gaara had covered Naruto's eyes with a blind fold, probably because the blonde refused to keep his eyes closed. And I only know it was Gaara's because it was his bandana that he had worn with his outfit today.

When Itachi successfully handed Neji his end of the cake, him and I lowered the cake onto the table Neji put there and surprisingly enough, the cake was slightly smaller than the table. And I was glad to know that none of the icing would get on the carpet if everyone was careful.

No one started singing until Gaara took the blind fold off of Naruto's head, and honestly, I thought Naruto's eyes were going to pop out of his head until I saw them go back to they way they were when we all said happy birthday to him when he got home; nothing but sadness. I could even see the tears forming in his eyes and bite his lip; tell tale signs that Naruto was trying his damned best not to cry. And with the way he was lowering his head, it meant that he was hiding the fact that he was crying once again, though when he brought his head back up after we were all done singing, the tears were still there though he had on a toothy smile before he leaned forward a bit and blew out the candles.

I wish I knew what was really on his mind right now.

"So, Naruto, what did you wish for?" Sakura and Ino asked.

"I can't tell you." Naruto said as he playfully crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at the two girls who gawked, though we all knew they were just being funny.

"Come on Naruto, you can tell us." Ino said as Tsunade came out of the kitchen with the plates and cake server that we didn't grab. I guess she went in when Itachi and I came out because I don't remember her going into the kitchen.

"Fine, I wished that we could do all of this again next year." Naruto smiled, and I knew he meant it from his heart and he let Gaara cut and serve out the cake. Good, it was a half and half cake. I could eat this. Itachi knows me too well.

"Lets get the presents here!" Sakura yelled as she then started skipping out of the room, surprisingly dragging me with her out to the kitchen. I only noticed then that everyone kept their stuff in there around the table. I guess they knew Naruto wouldn't go in there at all tonight because of his back.

"Wanna help me?" She asked me once we were in the kitchen and I nodded with a half smile. I'd help her out any time I could.

When she beamed a smile to me, she reached down and grabbed three boxes and put them out in my out stretched arms and handed me two more as she put them on top of the three she first gave me and sent me on my way into the living room after Itachi walked in. I guess he's bringing in our gifts to him and Sakura followed behind me with three bags of her own and we managed to get everything onto the floor around the cake table and I could swear that Naruto's eyes were going to blow out of their sockets.

"Y … You guys didn't need to get me anything." He said, and I could tell he felt uncomfortable. It looked like something was bothering him.

"Of course we did Naruto, it's your birthday, and there's no such thing as a birthday when there aren't any gifts." Sakura said.

"Yea, Naruto, now eat your cake so we can get started." Ino said, agreeing with Sakura, but I know that sometimes just the presence of others is the best gift there is, or I wished that I knew.

"This is my second piece, so I can put it down and get started." Naruto said, and he was right, he shoveled that first piece of cake and earned a glare from Gaara so when he got his second piece, he ate it like a civilized human being and only got through half of it before he started talking to Sakura and Ino.

"I have an idea about how he's going to open presents." I thought out loud, though my voice was so low I didn't think anyone would hear me, but they did.

"What's your idea Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Naruto should open the presents from the girls first." I shrugged, looking away and nibbling on my white cake I took the icing off of some more.

"Well, that's a good idea." Naruto nodded in agreement and started searching for a present from one of the girls that came.

I only sighed and picked up the three big boxes I came in and handed them to Gaara.

"Looks like these are from Ino, Sakura and Hinata." Gaara said as he looked at them to find the names, handing one box at a time to Naruto, who in turn tore the golden wrapping paper off of the first box and when he finally got the actual box open, his face was beaming as he pulled out a sweater and two hand knitted scarves. The sweater was black and the scarves were an orange and black stripe pattern, but they weren't quite the same.

Naruto didn't have to say how much he loved it, but when Gaara was trying to pass him the next box, he tossed the coat and scarves back in the box and tossed them onto Neji, who just so happened to be sitting next to him on the other side.

To be honest, I didn't think it was possible to open three boxes in three minutes, but Naruto knew how to shock everyone by the time he was ripping off a dark purple wrapping paper off the gift from Hinata in one second flat and got the box opened after throwing the one from Sakura onto Neji's lap. And Naruto looked like he was going to cry just from those three gifts alone.

"Now, Naruto, you have no reason to complain about being cold the rest of the year." Sakura smiled.

"Yea." Ino agreed.

Hinata, who was standing behind Naruto, only smiled. She knew how thankful Naruto was, so she didn't have to say much. And Naruto probably knew what she'd say anyway.

"Next is from Tsunade." I said as I handed Itachi, who is now sitting on the ground next to me and passed it over to Gaara. The bag was heavy, and I wondered what the hell the old bat gave the blonde for his birthday.

"Now Naruto, before you open your gift, make sure you keep these safe, okay?" Tsunade said, and it only confused me, but no one else but Gaara seemed phased by her words. I guess it's because the two of us know what Naruto lives with on a normal basis.

"Okay baa-chan." Naruto nodded and ripped the tissue paper out of the bag and was beaming when he pulled out nine books by Ellen Hopkins.

"Thanks baa-chan!" Naruto squealed. "Now I can take the library book back."

"I already did that for you." I told him, and if I hadn't, he would have been fined by the library and he didn't need something like that to worry him right now.

"Thanks Sasuke." Naruto said when he looked at me before putting back the books into the bag and handed it to Neji, who seems to have put the gifts on the floor behind him. Which is a good idea.

It took forever to go through the pile of gifts for the blonde, he got an Xbox game from Kiba and Shino, a chess set from Shikamaru, art set from Kankuro, more clothes from Temari, a month of tai jutsu lessons from Gai at his studio and Chouji got him a years worth of free ramen from Ichiraku. Now he only had a few gifts left and I was thankful for that. I was ready for bed already and the clock only read eight. God, it was only that late?

Sighing, I reached down for my bag, but Itachi grabbed the one from him and handed it to Naruto, who in turn tore the tissue paper off the medium sized bag and when I saw him look inside, he looked like he was going to cry.

I was about to question him, but when he pulled out black and orange beat audio head phones, a new iPod and a gift card, I knew exactly why. God, I wasn't the only one that went out of their way for Naruto's birthday.

"I'll help you set up your iTunes account later okay?" Itachi said, and Naruto nodded as he put them back in the bag and now Itachi reached for mine and handed it to him.

I, unlike Itachi, wrapped everything that was in the bag. I wanted to make it hard for Naruto to see everything I got him and I stood there with my arms crossed as he pulled out the small box first and tore the wrapping off of it, now showing off three journals and a flash drive and he looked confused, so he looked at me and I only shrugged.

"There is more, so open everything before you go and ask questions." I said.

Naruto only threw me a small glare, but it went away as fast as it came when he picked up the big wrapped item in the bag and slowly took the paper off of it. For once, he took this slow. I guess since it was from me, he wanted to make sure he wouldn't have a heart attack when he opened it. And to be honest, when he saw the laptop, I thought he was going to have one.

"Oh, my God." He mumbled and just stared at it.

"It's all fixed up and ready to use, you just need to charge it tonight and you're good to go tomorrow." I told him, and then I realized something … Where's the gift from Gaara?

And I think Naruto read my mind, or he realized it too, and stared at Gaara, wondering if he had anything for the blonde. And it was answered when Temari walked up behind Gaara and dropped a small gift bag between them.

When Gaara leaned in and whispered something into Naruto's ear, I had no clue what they were talking about until Naruto started blushing and nodded, biting his lip when Gaara pulled back and stood up, clearing his throat as if he had something to say. And now I know what they were talking about, and my eyes widened.

"Okay, Naruto and I have something you all should know, but before we say anything, will all of you promise not to gossip about it at school?" Gaara asked with choice words as he crossed his arms, looking at everyone, but mostly Sakura, Ino and Kiba.

"We promise." They all said, nodding and sliding to the edge of their seats.

"I mean it Naruto's told me some stuff about you guys that you probably won't want the whole school knowing." Gaara threatened, and I smirked … only about Kiba and Ino … but if he said anything about Sakura, then I was in the same boat.

"I mean it, I won't tell anyone." Sakura said.

"I promise too." Ino and Kiba said, both of them whining.

Gaara didn't say anything else, except he looked down at Naruto and nodded, I guess telling Naruto he can open his gift up and when Naruto pulled a small box out of the bag and I only bit my lip hard. I wanted to know what the hell the red head got the blonde, and when Naruto opened the small box, he turned redder than I've ever seen him.

This only caused the room to gawk and question Naruto what the hell he got. I only stayed quiet. I'll find out eventually.

"Naruto and I have been going out for a year and three months …" Gaara said as he sat back down and pulled two rings out of the box and my jaw literally fell, and mine wasn't the only one; everyone's jaw fell when we all watched Gaara put the ring on Naruto's hand and his own. Chastity rings! Oh my God!