"Happy Birthday Sasuke!" Naruto banged against the young boy's cells as hard as he could. Sasuke cringed hearing Naruto's voice crack as he spoke.

"I'll be glad when puberty hits you in the face or something." Sasuke groans as he lays there. The clanging of his cell beingg thrown open made him jump. Before he could properly react, he was snatched up and pulled off the bed. Once he'd realized that Naruto was indeed the culprit of all this, he quickly used his hand to swat Naruto away from him and kick him in the chin. Naruto fell backwards as Sasuke landed on his palm securely, propelling himself up so he can land on his feet. He then straightened himaelf looking at Naruto.

"That's what you get for touching me." Sasuke says with a small frown. Although he was amused at Naruto's childlike state— rubbing under his chin where Sasuke had kicked as he sat on the ground indian style with a pout on his face. Hinata giggles from the cell opening at their little tiff. Sasuke looked towards her before looking back at Naruto.

"Smooth move loser." He then kicks the blonde's sandal before offering his hand. Narto mumbled something inaudible before taking Sasuke's aid. Upon getting to his feet, he grinned mischievously as he then took the raven into a head lock. Sasuke grunts and frowns although internally, he was happy he and Naruto shared such a bond.

"Happy birthday asshole!" Naruto says as he runs his knuckles into Sasuke's scalp. Sasuke grunts from annoyance but Naruto knew Sasuke wasn't really annoyed.

"Let go of me you loser!" Sasuke grunts as he tries to release himself from Naruto, who only laughed at his friend's fails.

"Naruto let 'em go." Kiba crosses his arms seeing the two boys rough house.

"Yeah, it's no use saying happy birthday if you strangle him to death." Shikamaru smirks, relieved that Sasuke isn't the same introvert he used to be.

Naruto finally let Sasuke go. Sasuke straightened himself before shoving Naruto in the shoulder as hard as he could. The blonde stumbles to the side, snorting before shoving the Uchiha back. The two chuckled at each other. Sasuke then turned his attention to his classmates, with the exception of the late Neji Hyuga. Sakura & Sai were also not in attendance.

"Why did you all come?" Sasuke asked curiously. "I assumed you all hated me for betraying the village."

"You may have betrayed the village Sasuke." Shikamaru says with a sigh. "But none of us can deny the fact that both you and Naruto were the key to keeping the lives that we value so much. It's no hard feelings. This is your home and you protected it. That's all that matters. Happy birthday."

"Happy birthday Sasuke!" The others chimed in. It made Sasuke's heart warm knowing they didn't hate him. Being accepted almost made him want to cry. His entire time in this cell he's thought about how he'd be treated once he was free of this cell. He thought everyone wouls steer clear of him and shun him. It's nice to know that even his classmates have no bad blood with him.

Naruto nudged him. "Say thank you, idiot." He harshly whispers.

A pink tint formed on the raven's face as he looked down. "Th-Thank you all." He says. "I-I appreciate it."

His eyes traveled around the many faces, even Kakashi was in attendance. But he was missing one person. Someone that mattered to him. Someone he cared about.

Where is she?

******

"Done." Sai smiles at his finished product. "Thank you for being my inspiration Ugly." He then looks up and smiles at the girl who frowns from being calle Ugly. Everything in her body told her to punch him, but she didn't want to leave a bruise for Ino to see. Or maybe she should.

"Let me see it." Sakura walked over to him. Sai quickly closed his sketchbook.

"Mind your business, Sakura." Sai turned his back to her. "We're late anyways, we should get going."

Sakura frowned. "S-Sai, not that you care or anything but can you tell me how I look?"

Sai turned and watched the girl stand there shyly as she pushed the loose strands of hair out her face. The girl was casual today, not wearing her mission gear, she traded them in for a cute green sweater and black pants. Sai raised an eyebrow.

"You look ugly." He says stoned faced. "Like always."

Sakura sighed. "I dunno why I even asked you."

"Sakura, you're not actually ugly." Sai says after Sakura steps in stride with him. "I have my eyes on someone else so of course I wouldn't find you attractive. But to Uchiha, you're the most gorgeous gem he's ever seen."

"Gem?" Sakura frowned. She'd remembered Naruto mentioning something of the sort a few days ago, after she told him the talk she and Sasuke had. He was super excited and wanted to make set days where they rotated in between visting the Uchiha. Naruto also made a set day for them to go together. That day hasn't came yet.

"You'll figure it out." Sai says simply.

******

"Happy birthday Uchiha." Sai says as he stepped down the last step. Sasuke's eyebrows furrowed wondering why he was even here. He honestly didn't like Sai. Something about him rubbed him tbe wrong way. But Sakura and Naruto trusted him so he had to be cordial.

"Hn." Was the raven's reply.

"H-Ha-Happy B-Birthday Sasuke." Sakura stutters from behind Sai. He casually stepped aside to give the raven a clear view of his woman.

"Thank you." He answers. "I thought you weren't coming back."

"There's no way I'd miss your birthday." She turns her gaze downward. Feeling the heavy stares of her former classmates. She cleared her throat.

Everyone enjoyed their time with Sasuke. Reminiscing on the old times when they were kids. Goofing off and getting into trouble. They were a small family all of them. They trusted each other with their lives. The death of Neji not only brought Naruto & Hinata together, but it brought them closer. It made them realize how much they meant to one another. Not just as a friend, as family. From then on they vowed to hang out together whenever they had down time from missions. They refused to drift away from each other.

"So Sasuke," Ino flips her bang as she smirks at the raven. Sasuke sipped on his juice. His eyes landed on her as he brought the leaf cup down from his lips. He urged her to continue. "Have you had your first kiss yet?"

Instantly the raven blushed along with a familiar blonde.

"PHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kiba howled as loud as he could, slapping his knee and jerking Shino from side to side. "Ooohh yeahhh I remember that!"

"I totally thought it'd be something after that!" Ino snorts slapping Kiba's arm.

Sasuke frowned as Naruto shook his head.

"Can we move on from this now please?" Naruto grumbles. "I-It's getting late anyways. We should let Sasuke sleep."

"He sleeps all day I assume." Shino says pushing his glasses up. "But if we're trying to change the subject, can we talk about how Sai and Sakura arrived late?"

"What?" Sakura's head shot Shino's way. "Why does that even matter?"

"Well, it's gossip." Shino shrugs.

"It's none of your business." Sakura folded her arms over her chest. She felt a pair of eyes on her and followed the direction, seeing Sasuke's Stoic gaze on her. She couldn't make out what he was thinking, but he stared at her stone faced and something about it made her slightly uncomfortable.

Kakashi leaned against the cell door with his hands in his pockets.

"Alright everyone, visiting hours are officially over." He says.

With small groans of dissatisfaction, the gang gathered their personal belongings and began marching out of the cell.

"See you later Sasuke!" Kiba offers the raven a fist bump. Reluctantly, Sasuke gave him one.

"Bye Sasuke!" Ino & Tenten chirps as they skip out of the cell.

"If it doesn't get too busy in the Hokage's office, maybe I'll stop by alright?" Shikamaru half smiles as he pats Sasuke on the shoulder. He leaves that as his parting and walks out of the cell.

As everyone leaves, the remaining of Team Seven hangs back a little.

"I'll see you tomorrow dude." Naruto says slapping the raven on the back. "Hope you enjoyed your birthday."

"Thank you." He tells his blonde friend.

"Good night Sasuke." Sakura says as she turns to leave. Sasuke stares at her wondering why she's been acting weird all day. He sighs hearing his cell close and lock, footsteps and voices fading away. Sasuke streatched casually and looked at his slice of cake on his bed that he hasn't eaten. He wasn't too fond of sweets and Naruto knew that. Cutting him a slice of cake would've been useless.

"Uchiha I forgot to give you your present."

Sasuke turned back towards the cell seeing Sai standing on the other side. He held folded paper out towards Sasuke, waiting for him to take it.

Sasuke slowly walked over and took the paper out of his hands.

"I saw you looking at Ugly," He says smoothly. "This is why we were late to your party. She doesn't even know I did this. Keep it that way."

In the blink of an eye, Sai was gone. Sasuke looked down at the folded paper in his hands. He walkes to his bed and sat still gazing at the paper. Slowly, he unfolded the paper. Black lines sculpted into a picture that only Sasuke would love. Printed on the page in black ink was a flawless picture of Sakura, smiling.

Sasuke took in a shaky breath as he stares at the drawing. Sai captured Sakura's essence to the very last detail. He couldn't deny the fact that he was greatful to someone he really didn't care for. Feeling the paper between his fingers he boticed that there was another paper behind it. He pulled the two papers apart and noticed it was yet another drawing of Sakura. This time, she was in an anbu uniform. Her hair blowing. Sasuke blinked, staring in awe at yet another flawless picture he had of Sakura.

"How could he call someone this beautiful Ugly?" Sasuke couldn't wrap his mind around it.

*******

"So what were you and Sai doing Sakura?" Naruto asked as the two walked twards their homes together. They took their shortcut, one they always used when they wanted to get away from the others on their journeys home.

Naruto and Sakura both enjoyed being around their friends, but it was nothing like being around eachother. They knew the most about it eachother so it made being together so much more easier. It made Naruto understand the importance of silence. Sometimes silence is okay. You don't have to open your mouth to speak every time. It was okay to just be in a comfortable silence.

"Sai told me he wanted to use me to draw something but he wouldn't tell me what it was." Sakura folded her arms over her chest. "I couldn't even see the finished product."

"Wonder what it was."

"Probably something he knew I'd be upset with." Sakura huffed.

"Nah, he still would've shown you to piss you off."

Sakura nods casually in agreement.

"Whatever it was then, it must've been something he's up to."

They reached Sakura's home.

"See you later Naruto." She says as she turns to head up the steps to her home.

"See you later, Sakura." Naruto says. "Remember tomorrow we both go and see Sasuke."

The girl smiles as the thought of the raven crosses her mind.

"I won't forget!" She says as she makes her way up the steps.

Naruto made sure that Sakura was safely inside of her home before he continued walking towards his own.

"Lucky Sasuke." He mumbles. "Sakura's loved him forever and I'll never get anyone to love me."

"H-Hi Na-Naruto."

The voice was so familiar. Naruto turned his gaze seeing Hinata coming his way. He froze, his face becoming hot as he watched her walk to him. Her long sleeved shirt clinging to her upper half and her long skirt flowing in the wind.

"Hi-Hinata." He breathed out once she stood before him. He stuck his hands in his pockets to stop them from sweating. "What are you doing out here?"

"I-I wanted to go for ramen." She says slowly. "Would you like to j-join m-me?"

Naruto's face lit up. His heart raced and he found his world spinning at a rate he couldn't keep up with. He watched as the blue haired girl started at him with expectancy.

"Sure, I'll go with you!" He smiled after the words left his mouth causing the girl to blush. Together, they stepped in stride..