I sit against the trunk of the tree, the rough bark biting into the exposed skin of my back. My eyes follow the fluid movements of the dark haired Uchiha as he spars against Naruto. Naruto is quick on his feet, but his speed doesn't come close to matching Sasuke's. Sasuke lands a direct punch on the blonde's jawline and then follows up with a roundhouse kick to his side.
"Dobe..." Naruto grunts before creating the handsign for his Shadow Clone Jutsu.
"Tch," is all Sasuke says in response.
In a poof of smoke, four perfect replicas of Naruto appears. They all have the same cocky grin. I glance over to Sasuke to see that he has a single eyebrow raised, questioning why Naruto would even attempt to use that attack on him.
The clones rush at him, but he uses his speed and taijutsu skills to counteract the clones. He takes out shuriken, holding them between his fingers, once he creates some distance between himself and the Naruto clones. He throws the weapons and each finds it mark, dispelling the clones in another poof of smoke.
"Having fun watching, Blondie?" I hear a familiar lazy voice say.
I turn my head to the left to see Shikamaru settling himself down onto the grass beside me. He sighs before closing his eyes gently.
"I guess," I tell him as I focus back on the sparring match. "Today was pretty boring considering Dani and Mimi wanted some 'alone time'."
"Mhm..." I hear him murmur in agreement. "By the way, happy birthday."
My head snaps back to his direction, my eyes bulging out of their sockets. He hasn't even opened his eyes, but his lazy smile tells me that he knows that he caused me to react.
"How the hell did you know about it being my birthday?" I question him, my eyes now narrowed.
Shikamaru opens one eye as he answers me with, "You told me your birthday when you moved in with me, idiot."
My eyebrows scrunch together as I attempt to remember giving him that information. After awhile I sigh and nod, trusting that he's telling me the truth. He chuckles, knowing that he caught me off guard.
"At least you're not throwing me a party or anything," I joke.
"Actually," I hear Naruto's voice come from directly in front of me. "We are."
I look at the blonde to see that his jaw has a bruise forming where Sasuke hit him. Behind him, I see Sasuke walking out of the training grounds, not even looking behind at us.
"You're what?" I ask Naruto.
"Shikamaru and I are going to throw you a party! It's going to be here at the Training Grounds tonight!" he tells me with a huge grin on his face.
"What?!" I exclaim again.
"You're going to have to go buy something nice..." Shikamaru tells me. "It's going to be formal..."
I jump up to a standing position and glare down at my lazy friend. There's no way in hell that he's going to get me into a dress. It's my party. I should be able to wear whatever I want.
"No!" I object.
Shikamaru stands as well and with a sigh he tells me, "Fine. Don't impress Uchiha then."
I feel the blood rush to my cheeks as he mentions Sasuke. My jaw clenches as I think of his arrogance and cynical nature.
"Why would I be interested in impressing that Baka?" I growl out.
"How about we just go buy you something as a birthday present then?" Naruto asks me, the smile still on his face.
I shrug, not really caring if they want to get me something or not. At ny gesture, Naruto grabs my wrist and drags me away from the tree and towards the shops in the village.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you two really sure about this?" I ask Naruto and Shikamaru as I examine myself in my new kimono.
"You look good, Blondie," Shikamaru confirms.
"Yeah!" Naruto agrees. "Just keep Sasuke busy so I can talk to Sakura!"
I roll my eyes before adjusting my hair slightly. It's placed in an intricate braid, the silver and red strands of my hair complimenting eachother more in this fashion. I feel Shikamaru adjust the bow that ties the sash together. The kimono is a beautiful grey with red blossoms decorating it and a black sash tied around my waist.
"I guess we should get back to the Training Grounds. The party is going to start soon," Shikamaru says.
I nod and bite my lip. Naruto grins at me, and Shika scratches the back of his neck as he looks me over. Finally, with a slight pink tinting his cheeks, he sticks his elbow out.
"Do you...want me to escort you to your party? It'll be a drag if you were to trip on the way there," he asks me.
My face reddens slightly as I remember the first day that we met, how I tripped down the Academy steps. I link my arm with his, not wanting to repeat that embarrassing moment today.
"Let's go," I tell the two guys.
"This is going to be an awesome party! Believe it!" Naruto exclaims before leading the way to the party.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When we reach the Training Grounds, its totally different then what it looked like earlier. Buffet tables are positioned around the area with different food and drink placed on them. A banner that says 'Happy Birthday Jena' is hung up between two trees. Music can be heard playing from somewhere by the fence. Right now they're playing some sort of techno song that has a lot of people dancing. A huge cake is in the middle of it all with unlit candles spelling out Happy Birthday.
"Wow..." is all that I can manage to say.
"My dad and a few of the sensei helped set up," Shikamaru murmurs to me.
I smile at him and hug him before saying, "Thank you so much, Shika!"
He chuckles and gently pushes me away from him, into the throng of people whi are dancing.
"Have fun!" he yells at me before going by a tree and laying down.
"He deserves to sleep. This is the most active he's been in awhile," I hear a guy say followed by a crunching sound.
"Chouji!" I exclaim once I recognize him.
"Want some chips?" he asks, holding out a bag of BBQ chips.
"Are you sure?" I ask him with a laugh. "It's your favorite flavor."
"Well it's your birthday," he counters.
I shrug before taking a handful of chips. Chouji then leaves the group of people and goes over to hang out with Shikamaru.
"Hey," I hear his voice say behind me.
I turn around quickly to come face to face with Sasuke. My heart pounds in my chest and everyone around me grows quiet as we look at eachother. I can feel another blush creeping up my face as we continue our staring contest.
"Hi," I manage to get out after swallowing several times.
"Do you want to dance or something?" he asks as the song changes to a slow song.
It doesn't take me long to recognize the song as As The World Let Go by A Rocket To The Moon. I nod only once. Sasuke takes my wrist and pulls me to him.
I said don't go
I need you here
Just hold me close
Until the coast is clear
And I will fall
I'll fall so hard
In hopes I land
In your arms
We can watch the world go by
Falling like stars in the sky
My heartbeat picks up as he wraps an arm around my waist and places his other hand on my shoulder. His eyes never leave mine.
I'm never gonna let you go
(Whoa, oh)
Your love's gonna save my soul
And after all we've been through
Fire and smoke
And through it all
We've kept a hold of hope
While the world let go
Sasuke spins me and makes it so that we're dancing with my back pressed to his chest. A small smile graces my lips at his closeness.
If the moon
Doesn't come
And we're left
Without the sun
I will still
Hold you tight
We'll wait
Out the night
We can watch the world go by
Falling like stars in the sky
He rests his chin on the top of my head. Suddenly, he stiffens and then lets go of me. I turn to look at him, confusion filling my mind. He's already walking away, towards the forest lining the Training Grounds.
I'm never gonna let you go
(Whoa, oh)
Your love's gonna save my soul
And after all we've been through
Fire and smoke
And through it all
We've kept a hold of hope
While the world let go
While the world let go
(While the world let go)
Angry tears fill my eyes as I watch his retreating figure. I run after him, into the dark forest. When I'm far enough in that I can no longer hear the music from the party, I begin calling out for him.
"Sasuke!" I call his name, all the anger and hurt coming out with it.
Silence.
"Sasuke Uchiha!" I yell, trying to find him.
Silence once more.
"God damnit, Sasuke!" I try again. "You owe me an explanation!"
"An explanation for what?" I hear his emotionless voice ask.
"For leaving me standing there!" I yell at him, finding him in the shadow of a tree.
"The song was almost over," he responds with a shrug.
"Admit it! Something was happening and you got scared!" I tell him, trying to trigger something in him.
I walk up to Sasuke and slap him with enough force to make his head turn to the side. When he looks at me, his eyes widen slightly once he sees my tears.
"Thanks for ruining my birthday, Asshole," I growl before turning and starting to walk away.
"Jena..." he says quietly.
"What do you want now?" I ask him, turning back around to glare at him.
"Jena, I don't want to hurt you," he tells me, his eyes starting to show something. Sadness, maybe.
"Fuck off. You already have," I tell him coldly.
Suddenly, he wraps his arm around my waist to bring me to him and his other hand snakes up to hold the back of my head. He crushes his lips to mine, causing my eyes to widen. My eyes then gently close as I kiss him back, the butterflies in my stomach going wild.
When he pulls away, we're both breathing heavily. We gaze into eachother's eyes.
"What does this mean...?" I ask him, his arms still around me.
"I don't know," he tells me. "But I want to find out."
He then kisses me once more, this time more passionately. I can't help but smile into the kiss. When we pull away again, the smile is still on my face.
"Happy birthday, Jena."