What the New Year Brings

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the song "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. I am not making any money by borrowing their characters or lyrics for this story.

Thank you as always to my readers and special thanks to those of you who took the time to review!

7/16/09 Update: kamaruu from Deviant Art was so sweet and did a fanart called "KakaSaku FATED" for this story by coloring in one of my favorite linearts and superimposing a quote from this chapter. I think she did a lovely job and I love it, so please check it out! Here's a link:

http://kamaruu.deviantart.com/art/KakaSaku-FATED-129801311

Thanks again, kamaruu! ^_^

Chapter 51-The First Time KakaSaku Celebrate Sakura's Birthday

According to my mom, coming up with a name for me wasn't very difficult.

Exactly 23 years ago, on the 28th of March, my parents decided to host a hanami party for their friends.

Hanami parties, or cherry blossom viewing parties, are common in Japan. It's a practice many centuries old that became prevalent in the ninja countries, such as Fire, as well.

Hanami is said to have started when the Chinese Tang Dynasty influenced Japan in many ways, one of which was the custom of enjoying flowers. Though it was ume blossoms, or plum blossoms, that people admired in the beginning, sakura, or cherry blossoms, came to attract more attention. Sakura was originally used to divine the year's harvest as well as announce the rice-planting season. People believed in gods' existence inside the trees and made offerings at their roots. Afterwards, they partook of the offering with sake. (1)

Nowadays, hanami parties usually entail having a picnic under the sakura trees with people eating, drinking, singing, and having fun. People usually bring food, barbecue, or buy food from vendors. (2)

So while my dad worked the barbecue pit, their friends sipped their sake, and my mom sat on a blanket under a cherry blossom tree enjoying her dango, I apparently thought that this was all a pretty sweet deal and wanted to join in on the fun...And ultimately turned what was supposed to be a quiet, pleasant evening looking up at pretty pink trees into one of mass chaos instead.

The barbecue was burnt to a black crisp, my parents' friends either spilled or spit their sake out in a spray, and my mom almost choked on the dumpling she was chewing on as I gave her one hell of a contraction.

Three hours of painful labor later, the Konoha hospital nurses cleaned me up, wrapped me up, and handed me to my mom. My dad said that my pale pink hair matched perfectly with the pale pink blanket the nurses had wrapped me in. With that and everything else that had happened that day, my mom said that I was, without a doubt, a Sakura.

~*~*~*~

"Sakura, are you sure?"

"I'm positive. I'd rather just go to the festival. Trust me, I don't want a party. Besides, with all the activity going on, it'll already feel like everyone is celebrating my birthday." I smile at Kakashi.

"That's an interesting way of looking at things," he says, smiling back with an amused look in his eye.

"They're celebrating sakuras in bloom. They really are celebrating my birthday. Some of them just don't know it." I say with a wink before slipping into the other room to change for the Cherry Blossom Festival.

~*~*~*~

It's been over a decade since I dropped the princess act of my youth and traded it in for the more sensible head on my shoulders, but even the most sensible and practical of women enjoys an excuse to dress up and flaunt her femininity every now and then. If anything, our down-to-earth attitude in our day-to-day lives only gives us even more motivation to do so.

Sliding open the closet door, I pull out my reward from a dare I had with Kakashi not so long ago.

Three months. Has it really only been that long since we first started dating each other and he dared me to stand up for myself? So much has happened between us since then that it feels like we've been a couple for much longer than that. Not that it's a bad thing. It's a very good thing. Neither of us have been in a real relationship with anyone, much less one that's lasted for three months and still going strong. It's something to be proud of, especially with the odds against us all along the way. We didn't get the convenience of simply slipping into this relationship. We had to, and still have to, keep fighting for it. And whenever you have to fight for something, it only makes that thing even more valuable.

Placing the symbol of that fight to hold onto dignity and pride carefully on the bed, I admire the way the pale pink silk shines under the late morning light pouring in through the bedroom window. I lightly trace the intricate brocade pattern of cherry blossom branches with the pads of my fingertips, and it's only then that I realize how well the pink diamond of my engagement ring matches perfectly with the pale pink of the kimono.

I didn't want to give you a ring that was just a ring. I wanted to give you something special, something with meaning behind it, Kakashi had said on White Day, the day he slipped the ring on my finger.

That's the way our relationship has always been: Not just a fling, or a mid-life crisis, or an attempt to promote myself in the ninja ranks by gaining favor with my former sensei. There's always been a deeper meaning behind our relationship. One based on respect, trust, and a genuine love for one another. Is it any surprise then that our gifts to each other should carry meaning as well?

So when I come out of the bedroom half an hour later dressed in the kimono Kakashi had given me, my hair twisted up in an elegant French roll on the back of my head, and he tells me how beautiful I look, I don't hesitate to raise myself up on tiptoes and give him one of longest, sweetest kisses I had ever given him.

"What was that for?" he asks both in surprise and confusion.

I say nothing and merely smile back knowingly at him over my shoulder, fully aware that his one exposed eye is still wide open in shock even as I turn my back to him and exit through the door he's holding open.

Women are an enigma is a world known adage, but Hatake Kakashi is a genius. He'll figure it out.

~*~*~*~

The Cherry Blossom Festival is well on its way when we arrive, civilians and ninja alike having staked their claim over a particular sakura tree by laying their blankets, food, and karaoke machines underneath it. There aren't enough sakura trees to go around, so some people are walking around instead, trying to find the vendor booth selling the best food.

With the enticing aroma of so many different kinds of food floating through the air, Kakashi and I also decide to find something to eat first, proving the proverb "dumplings rather than flowers" (meaning that most people don't really come to hanami parties to look at flowers, but to stuff themselves with food) to be true. There's so much to choose from that it's difficult to decide, but we settle on some teppanyaki barbecue (Chouji's favorite), yakitori (a kind of chicken kabob), and dango (sweet dumplings). (3)

With our hands laden with food, we look around for a place to sit down and eat. We're about to give up and just eat standing up when we see a family getting up to leave. We rush in to take their place under a cherry blossom tree before somebody else does. Once we've sat down and eaten our fill (With Kakashi quickly scarfing down his food just to hide his face from the general public), Kakashi leans back on his elbows with his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles in front of him while I wrap my arms around my bent legs and hug my knees close to my chest. Full, sated, and comfortably situated, we do what we actually came here to do: Not just eat, but gaze up and admire the many trees overtaken by pink flowers.

I'm proud and grateful for my namesake. How can I not be? Sakuras are beautiful. It could've been worse. I could've been named "scraggly, dried up desert tree," but then the image of a particular one pops up in my head. One whose shade Kakashi and I shared during a mission to Suna and one under which we had made a promise of all promises to each other.

"What are you smiling about?" Kakashi asks, the lilt in his voice hinting to his own smile beneath his mask.

"Nothing." I say, shrugging my shoulders. "Just thinking about the last tree we sat under and how far we've come since then."

"Ah, I see." Kakashi says, following my line of sight to look at the cherry blossom tree that I'm gazing at across from ours. "Yes, sakuras are definitely easier on the eyes," he says.

I'd have thought nothing of the comment except that from the corner of my eye I see him looking at me from the corner of his.

I feel my face heat up, but redirect my eyes forward and narrow them at the tree before me.

"Yes they are, but you really shouldn't put too much stock on appearances. The reason we have hanamis in the first place is because cherry blossoms don't last very long and we have to enjoy them while we can. Meanwhile, as ugly as that scraggly tree was out in the desert, it'll still be there for years to come in spite of its harsh surroundings."

"Also true." Kakashi says, tilting his head as if to look at the sakura tree before us better. "But at the heart of it all, they're the same kind of tree. Just think, sakura trees produce flowers year after year in spite of how short lived those blossoms are and not producing any fruit. The effort seems useless, but they keep doing it anyway and end up benefiting us with their beauty instead. So if you look at it that way, we admire both trees for their resilience and not just how they look on the outside."

I turn my head to look Kakashi directly in the eye and he meets my gaze with his own.

"You just know how to talk yourself out of a sticky situation, don't you?" I ask.

"Yamato always did say I have a way with words. And kudos to you for turning that tree into a Rorschach Test with a hidden personal agenda." Kakashi says, his eye glinting playfully back at me.

"I don't know what you're talk about. I was just admiring the trees." I say, facing forward again and trying to suppress a smile. "But thank you. It's nice to know that you're into hanamis for a better reason than most people."

"You do know that I could just be full of it and just like looking at sakuras like everyone else?" Kakashi asks.

"Yes, I know, but most people don't even bother thinking that deeply about sakuras in the first place: They look, they admire, they leave. You on the other hand-" I turn my head at the same time Kakashi turns his to look at me expectantly. "Are a tenacious, scraggly, desert tree."

"Sounds like we have a lot in common then," he muses.

"You wouldn't think so, would you? And I admit it's an odd coupling, but yes, it seems that we were made for each other."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Kakashi agrees, and we both turn around again to pay reverence to the fleeting, but ever stubborn sakuras.

~*~*~*~

While in search of something to drink other than sake or beer, we run into a traditional Japanese tea ceremony being performed by a young girl dressed in a yukata, a less formal version of the kimono. Intrigued, Kakashi and I find an empty spot behind all the people already circled around the demonstration and quietly watch. (4)

For all its pomp and circumstance, the main difference between the Western way of making tea and the traditional Japanese way of making tea is that instead of letting a tea bag or tea leaves seep in a cup full of hot water, dried tea leaves that were ground up into a fine powder called matcha are put into a shallow bowl (not a cup) called a chawan. Then, hot water is poured over the powder and stirred with a small bamboo whisk called a chasen. And there ladies and gentleman, is your seemingly complicated traditional Japanese tea ceremony simplified to its bare basics. There is meaning and significance behind all the bowl turning and ladle holding, however, so Kakashi and I watch and wait patiently for our beverage, at the very least to pay respect to our cultural heritage.

Our thirst not quite quenched by the few sips of green tea, Kakashi and I do our rounds again and in the process of doing so, see a little girl holding her mom's hand with one hand while holding a mouth watering ice cream cone in the other.

"Excuse me. Where did you get that?" I shamelessly stop and ask the mother of the child.

A few minutes later, I'm happily licking my own pink sakura ice cream while Kakashi, who still blatantly disregards my warnings about eating his food too fast, already inhaled his. (5)

"Don't you have an ice cream headache doing that?" I look at him slightly aghast.

"Why do you think I'm taking deep breaths?" he asks.

"Oh." I say, because as I medic I know that taking deep, rapid breaths helps relieve ice cream headaches. (6) "Still, you wouldn't have that problem in the first place if you would just eat your food properly and let people see you with your mask off." I say, narrowing my eyes at him.

"In our agreement, you didn't say anything about having to take my mask off. Besides, I'm already practically naked!"

I let my eyes quickly skim over Kakashi's bare arms, his ANBU tattoo, then his lean, muscular chest showing through his tight black tank top with attached mask before letting my eyes meet his again.

"You are not practically naked!" I snap back. "You're wearing pants and a shirt. How is that 'practically naked'? Besides," I say before he can even begin to answer back, "Is it so bad that all I wanted for my birthday was to see you out in public in something other than your jounin uniform?"

"What's wrong with-"

"You're off duty!"

"But I like-"

"Yes! A bit too much! Who only owns work clothes and nothing else? Even what you're wearing now is still part of your uniform: You only took your vest and long sleeve shirt off and left everything else on!"

"Sakura, calm down. People are looking."

As I look around us, I see that it's true: People are looking. Who wouldn't be after seeing a grown woman, who's holding a half eaten ice cream cone, go into hysterics for no apparent reason?

"I don't care!" I say petulantly. "I asked for one thing on my birthday, one simple little thing and you couldn't even-"

"Alright, Sakura, how about this?" Kakashi says in a soft, soothing manner while putting his hand on my back and guiding us away from the denser crowd. "From now on, you can help me look for some civilian clothes to add to my wardrobe, but-" he interrupts me after seeing the excited look in my eyes, "It has to be something that we both agree on. Deal?"

"Deal." I smile back and quickly hug him around the neck. "This is the best birthday gift ever!"

When I pull away, Kakashi points a warning finger at me.

"Sakura, don't make me regret agreeing to let you dress me up like a man doll." Kakashi says in his sensei voice.

"I won't! I promise!" I laugh. "Trust me, if people think you're smexy now, wait 'til they see what I do to you!"

"I can hardly wait." Kakashi says, slumping his shoulders in surrender.

I'm just about to go into the advantages of casual jeans and a tight gray t-shirt when somewhere far off in the distance, we hear the discorded sound of clanking bells, beating drums, and the high pitched melody of a flute. I recognize it as traditional Japanese music and as I listen more closely, realize that not only is it getting louder, but it's getting closer.

Coming around the corner of a dango shop, I see a group of women dressed in colorful yukatas with upside down, taco shaped straw hats, called an amigasa, on their heads. They're all dancing the same dance, arms outstretched like a soaring eagle and stamping their wooden sandaled feet to the beat of the music. The heels of their geta (as their wooden sandals are called) are so high up off the ground that the women seem to be dancing on their tiptoes. There's something vaguely familiar about the dance, however, and then it hits me: I've seen this dance before. In order to pay tribute to the spirits of nature, American Indians would dance around a fire in a similar fashion. Although oceans apart, these two very different cultures, Japanese and American Indian, seem to have overlapped each other in this one dance. It's through costume, music, and the people themselves that the dance I see before me now distinguishes itself as one hundred percent Japanese, one that's called the Odori dance. (7) Another distinguishing mark of the Odori dance is how it's the women (not the men) dancing the bouncing spirit dance while it's the group of men behind them, each wearing a colorful loose fitting coat called a happi, who are the ones hunched over and quickly flicking their fans (normally an effeminate action) while they dance.

As the group of dancers continue to parade down the streets of Konoha, we and the rest of the crowd follow them as they lead us into the park, the same park where Rock Lee had trained to get his strength back after his devastating injuries at the Chuunin Exam. The dancers climb up on a stage built specifically for the festival where they dance twice as fast and energetically than they had out on the streets, and when it seems that the music and the dancing can go no faster, they halt to a dramatic end to everyone's applause.

Kakashi and I take a seat on the lawn to watch the next dancer to come on stage, a young girl who, like me, is dressed in a traditional kimono, but unlike me this girl has strong, dramatic makeup on. Her face and neck are so heavily powdered that she looks white as a ghost and her lips are painted a brilliant shade of red. The stark contrast between white, red, and the jet black of her hair pulled up in a poofy bun makes her look not human at all, more like a china doll set on invisible strings by a puppeteer. Even her movements are stinted, like a puppet's whose joints can only move so far in either direction. This is the Kyomai dance. (8) It's like a slow interpretive dance with several poses and hand gestures that tell a story. It's the polar opposite of the dance that preceded it, the Odori dance, which is more energetic and full of bouncing around.

To finish off the stage performances, a group of young dancers, both male and female, overtake the stage, each of them wearing the loose fitting happi coats we had seen worn by the first group of fan-bearing male Odori dancers. However, this new group wears the traditional garb in a more modern fashion, leaving their coats untied and open in the front, worn more like an afterthought over their contemporary black shirts and black pants. The costume is telling because the dance this group is dancing is the same way: A mix of old and new, and it's called the So-ran Bushi dance. (9) Like the Kyomai dance, there are identifiable poses that seem to tell a story: the beating of drumsticks, the pulling of a tow rope, or the swinging of a field scythe, but like the Odori dance, it's extremely lively and highly energetic. It looks like quite a workout, like something you'd see at an aerobics class or out in the field as farmers plow their land. And if their individual movements aren't enough to leave you breathless and with you heart pounding in your chest, they dance in a constantly changing group formation so that you have to watch the performance as a whole and not concentrate on just one performer for too long a period of time. When they finally come to a climactic finish, it's with a well deserved standing ovation.

As evening darkens to night, everything starts to wind down and the sakura trees are lit by hanging paper lanterns, giving the hanami experience a different kind of vibe, one that's more subdued and romantic called yozakura, or "night sakura." Kakashi puts one arm around my shoulders and the other hand in his pocket while I wrap one around his waist and we both walk at a slow, leisurely pace, savoring every last bit of this day.

I figure that we're just headed back for home, but as we turn the next corner, I see standing underneath one of the softly lit cherry blossom trees and smiling back at me the people who mean the most to me: Mom, Dad, Naruto, Hinata, Ino, Shishou...so many people that I love and care for.

"What's this?" I ask, turning to look up at Kakashi.

"I know you said you didn't want a party, but there are a lot of people who love you besides me who also deserve the right to be with you on your birthday, so..." Kakashi trails off, shrugging his shoulders.

"Thank you." I say softly, giving him a long hug before turning around to hug and thank each of my friends and family in turn.

When I've finished embracing the last person and turn back to Kakashi, he's carrying a bouquet of white daffodils in his arms.

"Told you I'd remember." Kakashi says with a happy eye crease.

I take the bouquet from him and give him a lingering kiss on his masked lips.

"I take it back." I tell him. "This is the best birthday gift ever." And we both turn around to watch as everyone dear to us starts to put food they brought onto their plates, or chat with each other, or simply sit on their blankets and look up at the lit sakura trees or up at the bright stars in the dark night sky.

The air is cool as late March nights go, but the atmosphere around us feels warm and homey. As long as you're with the people who make you feel safe and loved, no matter where you are, you'll feel it, too.

Once everyone finishes up their dinner and I finish blowing out my cake and opening up all my gifts, everyone takes their embarrassing turn singing with the karaoke machine, but when shy little Hinata takes the microphone, she blows everyone away. She picks a song that is normally sung at a quicker pace and slows it down to a much sweeter, romantic one. (10) There's no denying who she's really singing it to as her eyes can't stop flickering back to a certain blond haired fox boy...

Well you done done me and you bet I felt it
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted
I fell right through the cracks
Now I'm trying to get back

But we're all taken in by the sweetness of her voice and the song itself. So when Kakashi stands up and offers me his hand, I don't hesitate to take it and dance a slow dance with him.

Before the cool done run out
I'll be giving it my bestest

As we sway and turn around and around together in slow circles, I can't help but notice how some other yozakura-goers outside of our group have stopped to stare. I know it's not just because Kakashi and I are dancing, because other people in our group have started dancing, too, like my mom and dad and even Naruto and Hinata even as she continues to sing. No, the reason those outsiders are pointing and murmuring to each other about Kakashi and me is because we make it obvious that we're together and to those strangers who don't know us, it's wrong.

"People are watching." I quietly tell Kakashi.

"Who?"

"Look." I tell him, and Kakashi purposely turns us around so that he can see the people conspiratorially whispering to each other.

"You see them?" I ask.

"Yeah, I see them." Kakashi says, and from the tone of his voice I can tell that he's not too happy about it either.

"Maybe we should stop dancing." I suggest.

"No." Kakashi says firmly. "I'm not going to stop dancing with you. They can mock us all they want for all I care: I'm not dancing with them, I'm dancing with you."

And nothing's going to stop me but divine intervention

I notice that Kakashi doesn't turn me back around and we just continue to sway in place. He keeps my back to the crowd so that I can't see them again and forces himself not to look at them either, focusing all his attention on my face instead.

I'm flattered by the gesture. Even in this, he tries to protect me. And he's right: Who cares what they think? This dance that we're dancing, we'll be dancing it together for the rest of our lives. Meanwhile, those passersby will just be that: Passersby.

I reckon it's again my turn
To win some or learn some

So I smile up at him and try to convey to him how much I appreciate the lesson.

But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait
I'm yours
Mmm-hmm...(Hey, hey...hey)

It's not our fault that some people are close minded.

Well open up your mind and see like me

There will always be people like that in this world, but we can't stop making our plans to be together just because of them.

Open up your plans and damn you're free

I only have to look into Kakashi's eye and see the reason why we can't give into those kind of people.

I look into your heart and you'll find love love love love

And I only have to look at my family and friends' and their acceptance of us to know that if those strangers knew us the way our family and friends did, they might change their minds about us.

Listen to the music of the moment people dance and sing
We're just one big family
And it's our God forsaken right to be loved love love loved love

So I won't concern myself with people who think they know better, but don't.

So I won't hesitate no more, no more

And I can't wait to marry and continue to live the rest of my life with Kakashi.

It cannot wait I'm sure

And show everyone just how uncomplicated this relationship of ours is.

There's no need to complicate

Besides, we're both ninja. We don't know how much time we have left to be with the ones we truly love.

Our time is short

And nothing and no one can, or should, stop two people fated to be together.

This is our fate
I'm yours

So when Kakashi lowers his head down to whisper in my ear how much he loves me and Happy Birthday,

Do you wanta come on
Scooch on over closer dear
And I will nibble your ear

I stop checking myself and my actions and instead thread my fingers through his hair, bring his masked lips down onto mine, and earnestly and contentedly kiss him.

I've been spending way too long checking my tongue in the mirror
And bending over backwards just to try to see it clearer
But my breath fogged up the glass
And so I drew a new face and I laughed
I guess what I'll be saying is there ain't no better reason
To rid yourself of vanities and just go with the seasons
It's what we aim to do
Our name is our virtue

But I won't hesitate no more, no more
It cannot wait I'm yours

Open up your mind and see like me
Open up your plans and damn you're free
I look into your heart and you'll find that
The sky is yours
So please don't, please don't, please don't
There's no need to complicate
'Cause our time is short
This oh this oh this is our fate
I'm yours

Because what it all comes down to is him and me and everyone else just fades into the background.

To be continued...

~*~*~*~

Happy Birthday, Sakura! ^_^

Links:

(1) Cherry blossom viewing in Japan:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanami

(2) Modern day hanami parties:

gojapan.about.com/cs/cherryblossoms/a/sakuraviewing.htm

(3) Cherry blossom viewing food:

japanesefood.about.com/cs/holidays/a/hanamifood.htm

(4) Watch a traditional Japanese tea ceremony:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FfUbnaXecg

- Watch a casual Japanese tea ceremony:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNMh0tdwxyQ

(5) Image of sakura ice cream (April 2 entry):

www.youmadam.com/category/reports-from-japan/

(6) Cure for ice cream headaches:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_freeze

(7) Listen to traditional Japanese music and watch an Odori dance:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUxdh5Hy_ws

- 2 types of traditional Japanese dance:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Japanese_dance

(8) Watch a Kyomai dance:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrIES_h05aY

(9) Watch a So-ran Bushi dance:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZegdMSZaWac

(10) Listen to "I'm Yours":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkHTsc9PU2A