Happy birthday Naruto!
x x x
It was an introductory B-class mission two towns away from Konoha, nothing they can’t handle. It can be done in half a day, if they hurried. In that time, Sakura learned that Naruto mastered rasengan, and he realized she could pack a punch. His cheek swelled with a lump, and Sakura, in her newfound cockiness reminiscent of their rogue teammate, refused to heal it.
On the trip back, Naruto insisted on taking the long way home. Along the sea. Sakura indulged his whim, even buying sparklers from a nearby vendor, and the two of them walked the length of the sandy shores draped in battling oranges and purple hues.
“Oy Naruto,” she called out. “Sit down with me for a while.”
“Eh? Don’t tell me you’re already tired Sakura-chan? I thought you trained with Granny?”
She flashed him a glare which he laughed off and slumped down next to her. He couldn’t stop grinning. After all, it seemed like a date. He had liked her since. But just how the night took over the sunset, Naruto knew something hovered over them.
“I just said yes to your little side trip because of this.” Sakura took a storage scroll out of her bag, and unsealed it. A two-tiered cake, an array of homemade dishes, and a bowl of his favorite ichiraku ramen appeared on top of the parchment paper. “It was a bother learning the markings,” a shrug, “but here we are.”
The annoyed glare was gone, replaced by that ever vibrant grin he had fallen for. “Happy birthday, Naruto.”
He shouldn’t cry. He trained to get stronger. At least he could pretend to act cool.
Ah but this was Sakura. His Sakura-chan. All his walls went down when it came to her. His teammate, his friend. He quickly dried his pooling lids on his orange sleeve. “Huh, I didn’t even remember it was my birthday.”
“As if, let’s eat. I’m famished.”
Sparklers dotted the end of that dinner, two of them hunched over the sand where the ashes dripped and disappeared. He pretended not to see the single sparkler left on the side — she bought three.
Naruto couldn’t remember much of the taste of the food, but he could perfectly recall the overwhelming sense to give back something to Sakura, even when it meant empty promises.
“Come on, wish something,” she urged him.
“I’ll get him back Sakura,” he said, “Sasuke will come back to us.” His grip on the thin sparkler tightened too much he almost shattered it. Over the ephemeral light and soft crackling noise, he saw her smile his way and truly looked at him. “Your turn to wish.”
She took a deep breath and released her wish. “You’ll be a hokage.”
He went slack-jawed, and she laughed.
“Huh?”
“You don’t have to promise me that anymore, Naruto. That kind of thing — it’s the thing we have to do together. Not only you.” Her sparkler spewed its last embers. “But I’ll protect your dream this time. I’ll make sure you’ll reach it. You’ll be the hokage in the future. The /best/ hokage.”
“And what if I die?”
“I’ll revive you silly! Why else would I train under Tsunade-sama?”
“Hmm, maybe you want her eternal beauty?”
“Are you saying I’m not?”
“— Sakura-chan, that’s not —”
“You’re really asking for a beating huh?”