The mission of having to capture three thugs was a success. The three have even be gone real ninja training and if proven they can be trusted they will be official ninjas of the Leaf Village. That mission was a month ago though. A lot is going on. The Choinin exams are coming up in a week and today is Lauren's birthday.

"That's odd, where's Lauren?" Kakashi said just showing up hours late.

"Seems like your bad habits of being late is rubbing off on her." Naruto said.

"She probably overslept again like last. She'll be here soon probably." Sakura said not really caring.

"I guess we have no choice but to wait." Kakashi said sighing pulling out his book.

Two hours passed and Lauren still didn't show up. Finally giving in, they went to look for her. Kakashi summoned one of he's dogs Pakkun so help find her. First though, they had to go to her apartment to get something with her scent on it. Sakura had been there for the first time after the mission of finding the thugs. Sakura had gotten hurt and still wasn't fully healed when they returned late at night. Instead of going to a hospital to get check out, Lauren insisted that she tend to the wound at her place since it wasn't that serious, although it worried the others.

It wasn't much of a surprise to find that Lauren wasn't in her apartment, they all had this feeling she wouldn't be there. Although, with Pakkun now having her scent, she would be found more easily.

Meanwhile, Lauren looked up at the cloudless blue sky drowned in her thoughts. She wanted to go home and be with her family. It is her birthday after all. She didn't want to go on a mission, she just wanted to relax with her Fairy Tail family with a beer in hand watching the party from the second floor. She wasn't one to partake in the party too much, but she enjoyed watching everyone else having fun at the party. Laxus standing next to her talking with her as they drink their beer. Something nice and relaxing. They are dead though, she'll never be able to do that again.

"She's over here!" Lauren heard Pakkun yell out causing her to sigh. She just wanted to be alone.

"There you are, we've been worried." Sakura said.

"Yeah, yeah. Just leave me alone will ya?"

"We've got a mission to go on. Come on Lauren, let's go." Naruto said.

"Just leave me alone for the day. I just want to be alone today."

"Something on your mind?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, we've been working really hard the last month and I'm tired. I need a break, alright? If everyone could just leave me alone today that would be fantastic. And I normally enjoy going on missions."

"Come on, Lauren we're a team. You can relax tomorrow. Right Kakashi-Sensei?" Naruto said.

"No Naruto. Todays..." Lauren sighed not really wanting to tell anyone that it's her birthday. "Today's my birthday, and I just want to be alone..."

"Wha?! Why would you want to be alone?"

"Because I do Naruto. There is no one I want to spend it with. Everyone I ever cared about, is dead. Now either you four will leave, or I will."

"We'll just be able to find you again!"

"That doesn't change the fact you have a job to go on."

"She's right. Let's go you three." Kakashi said.

"But Kakashi sensei – "

"It's time to go Sakura."

Hours have passed and Lauren has enjoyed the peace and quiet all day. The only noises were those of animals around her. All while the others were on a mission that would have bored Lauren. They made up the excuse that she was sick and unable to come. Since they still had the four-member minimum it didn't really matter.

It was late and the stars were now easily seen. Lauren had fallen asleep in the spot the rest of Squad Seven left her in before leaving for the mission. She had only gotten up once to get some lunch but fell asleep soon after returning.

"Kakashi sensei."

"Yes Sakura?"

"Do you really think this will work?"

"If she's asleep when we get there yes."

"Knowing Lauren, she probably will be." Naruto mumbled, but it was still loud enough for the other members of Team Seven to hear him.

"Your probably right Naruto. Come on, we need to move fast."

Lauren enjoyed looking at the stars. It reminded her of her late family. Her family was the main people that protected the true secrets of Celestial Magic. They weren't the only ones that can use it, many others during that time period could use it, only the Luna clan knew everything about it though. The magic was deemed to be lost magic as people stopped learning it, later, forbidden magic.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke said startling the dragon slayer.

Lauren let out a string of curses, a surprise to her friends who didn't know the seemingly innocent girl could bring herself to use such words. "Don't scare the hell out of me like that. Anyway, what are you guys doing here?"

"When we finished our mission, we decided that we should do something for our birthday, even if you didn't really want to... It's just, it's something good to celebrate! You know?"

Finally taking a look around there was cake and some drinks – all non-alcoholic of course. There were even a few gift boxes.

"Thank you. You guys didn't need to do this for me though. Still, I'm grateful."

"It's not a problem Lauren, really." Sakura smiled causing the dragon slayer to smile back at her.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's have some cake!" Naruto said.

"Good idea! I'm starving!" Lauren said.

Stories were told about the mission as they ate the cake. It was a quick mission for the most part. What took up the most time was baking the cake. They were all at Kakashi's apartment making it. After two failures and a mess that needed to be cleaned, he told them to clean while he made the cake. He used his Sharingan to make sure that the measurements were exact, set a timer for how long it should be in the oven. He then proceeds to help his students clean his apartment. He then decorated it himself not wanting another mess.

"Sakura, how hard was it to get the guys to go along with this?" Lauren asked after they cleaned from the cake.

"It wasn't my idea, it was Kakashi-Sensei's."

"Seriously?! No way, I don't believe it!"

"It was. Naruto was talking about how we should've stayed and done something for your birthday. When he mentioned doing this." Sasuke said.

"Heh. Why don't you open your gifts?" Kakashi said embarrassed.

"You guys really didn't need to do this for me." Lauren said as she grabbed the first box. It was from Naruto. Upon opening the small box, she found a coupon to Ichiraku Raman. "Thanks, Naruto." Lauren chuckled.

"You're such an idiot Naruto." Sakura said. "Open mine next Lauren!"

"Alright." Lauren said picking up her gift. Opening the box, she pulled out a red t-shirt with a crescent moon on the back. "Wow, Sakura, this... I love it. My favorite color, and my family's symbol. Thank you." Lauren folded the shirt putting it back in the box and gave Sakura a quick hug.

"I'm really glad you like it."

"Here." Sasuke said unamused. He had picked up the gift he had gotten her handing it to her.

The boxed contained a kunai knife. It wasn't a normal kunai. It was more so for decoration than something to use in battle. Besides the fact that Lauren wouldn't want to use it in battle afraid of losing a gift from her friend. "This is awesome. You know my dad use to have a knife collection, and this is similar to one of his favorites. Thanks, Sasuke." Lauren said putting it safely back in the box. She proceeded to peck his cheek with a kiss. Causing him to blush.

"Hey, why didn't I get a kiss?!" Naruto said.

Lauren laughed giving him a quick kiss too. "Happy?" Lauren giggled.

"Oh! You still have to open Kakashi-Sensei's gift!" Sakura said.

"Oh yeah!" Lauren picked up the last gift opening the box. Inside the box was a necklace. A dragon necklace. "Wow, this is beautiful! Thank you so much. Here, can you put it on me?"

"Uh yeah sure."

Kakashi put the necklace on Lauren before she turned and hugging him tight and placing a kiss on his cheek. Unlike with Sasuke and Naruto, it lasted a second longer – not that anyone but Kakashi noticed.

"Hey Lauren, a while ago you said you were looking at the stars. Do you know a lot about them?" Sasuke asked wanting to get Lauren off of Kakashi.

"The stars? I know everything about them. Everyone come gather round and I'll point out all the constellations, the names of some the stars, and probably end up putting you all to sleep with how boring it might be to you guys."

Naruto was asleep in minutes. Sasuke forced himself to stay awake as long as he possibly could but ended up falling asleep an hour into Lauren explaining everything. Sakura fell asleep not long after. Kakashi and Lauren just made small talk once they realized the three were dead asleep.

The morning sun didn't bother the sleeping team. They had fallen asleep later than they thought and after all the work the team did yesterday – except Lauren, but she can sleep for days straight if she wanted – they really needed the rest.

"Hey, isn't that Team Seven?" Shikamaru said to his friends and sensei; Team Eight.

"Sure, looks like it." Asuma, the team sensei said.

"What are they doing out here at this time of day?" Choji said eating from a bag of chips.

"I don't know."

"The better question is why aren't we getting a picture of this?" Ino said.

Kakashi lays flat on his back with one arm above his head. Sasuke just so happens to be using that arm as a pillow. Kakashi's other arm is wrapped around Lauren who was using his chest as a pillow, but wasn't completely cuddled against him. Sakura is on the other side of Kakashi using his stomach as a pillow; laying below Sasuke. One of Kakashi's legs were bent slightly to be more comfortable, and Naruto was using that leg as a pillow; he was below Lauren. How'd they ended up like that? Well, no one knows as they were all sleeping when it happened.

"Should we wake them up?" Choji asked.

"Yeah, I suppose we should," Asuma said. "Shikamaru?"

"What a drag..." Shikamaru said going to wake them up.

Shikamaru woke up Naruto first by kicking him. Naruto responded by yelling at the black-haired boy. Naruto's yelling woke everyone except for Lauren since she is used to falling asleep at the guildhall sometimes.

"Huh?" Kakashi said waking up. He noticed his students sitting around him, and Lauren asleep next to him. "How did this happen?" He asked half asleep.

"Not sure, but your students looked pretty comfortable using you as a pillow." Asuma chuckled. "I only wish we could have gotten a picture of it."

"They better not get used to it cause it's never going to happen again!"

"Hey, wait a minute, is Lauren still sleeping?" Ino asked.

"Yeah she is!" Naruto yelled.

"Why don't you wake her Naruto." Sasuke said smirking.

"Alright!" Naruto was a bit too happy about getting to wake the sleeping girl.

Barely a second after Lauren opened her eyes, her fist made contact with Naruto's face. "You wake me up again and I'll break your face."

"Scary!" Ino said having backed away a little.

'Try taking away Erza's precious strawberry cake. Now that's a scary sight.' Lauren thought. "So, what happened here?" Lauren yawned while stretching.

"You idiots decided to use me as a pillow." Kakashi said slightly annoyed.

"Could've fooled me. I haven't slept that well in a while."

"Right... The Hokage wants to see you guys right away." Shikamaru said. Though it really wasn't urgent as they weren't sent to find Team 7, Shikamaru didn't feel like dealing with them at the moment. "Though I'm sure you all have time to go home and change first."

"Alright then. Everyone go home and shower then met at the Hokage's office in an hour."

"Right." Everyone said then rushed home to get ready to meet with the Hokage.