Birthday Disaster

Chapter 7

Sasuke was in the middle of something he never expected to happen. It was in fact something he had seen happen to others not him. So it had never mattered until now. Now Sasuke was...feeling. Shudder. And not just any feeling. Oh no he was feeling several of them at once. Anger, annoyance and boredom which were all too familiar to him. It was the last two he wasn't used to: worry and loneliness. Making this revolutionary moment the most monumental in his life after his aniki's death. And the cause of this was Naruto. Naruto was the root to all of Sasuke's headaches and stress. With his sunny disposition and happy-go-lucky personality he was the exact opposite of Sasuke. They were a lot like the sun and the moon. Two beings that should never be around each other. Yet, it just seemed like something was missing.

"Sasuke-kun!" a familiar voice squealed out making the raven haired boy cringe. Refocusing his complete attention to what laid ahead of him Sasuke was able to see the pink head of his teammate. Who in their right mind chose to dye their hair that horrendous color? There was no way that was natural by any means. Sasuke had met Sakura's family and neither parent had pink hair. "Sasuke-kun! What a surprise to meet you here like this!"

Barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes Sasuke turned away and continued to walk, expecting her attention to be distracted, as usual. What he had forgotten was that Naruto was the one that usually help in dividing the pink haired fangirl's attention.

"Sasuke-kun how about you and I go out? I mean to have lunch together as teammates because...I mean...we don't get to spend any quality time together!" And if Sasuke had his way they never will but Sakura continued to overlook this little detail. Stalkers have that little problem when it comes to reading the details. Anything for the wanted response. "It would be so good to have time together without that Naruto annoying us. Naruto is just so annoying. All he does is talk about how he is going to become the next hokage but he just doesn't have what it takes. Unlike you Sasuke-kun you could become hokage and I would be the head doctor. We would be perfectly matched in every way. Right Sasuke-kun?"

Did all girl's talk like this or was Sakura something special? Sasuke could have sworn Hinata was somewhat sane but the girl stuttered and had a crush on Naruto. Of course there was Ten-ten but the girl was practically useless and she was a little too obsessed with Neji for Sasuke's comfort. Temari was just one block away from the loony bin herself. The more Sasuke thought about it the more obvious it became that Kanoha's female genetic pool was rather shallow and heavily infected with stupid. No wonder Kakashi and Iruka had started dating each other. Not to mention Neji and Gaara who seemed to be slowly making their way to an understanding relationship. Batting for the same team seemed to be the safest route for the last Uchiha but that was the problem. He was the last Uchiha and as such he had to have an heir which meant he had to copulate with some form of female. With this stray thought Sasuke imagined Naruto with his sexy ninjutsu and had to snap himself out of that line of thought. Which brought him back to the point that Naruto caused a lot of his problems. Everything was Naruto's fault! Including the fact that Sakura had yet to get the hint that Sasuke was not going to join her for lunch or any other meal time. Nor was he going to try and become the next hokage. That was Naruto's dream and while Sasuke might be an ass, yes he could see that in himself, even he thought it was a little low to trample on his friends dreams. Because lets face it between the two of them who would win in a popularity contest? Even after his going rogue many still carried a torch for the Uchiha. Speaking of which had Sakura stopped talking a few seconds ago?

"Hm?" Sasuke glanced over at the expectant glance of Sakura's.

"I said, Sasuke-kun, that it was pathetic of Naruto to think that you and I would have time to even consider going to his party. I mean we are two of the most popular people of our generation. And with the Kyuubi Naruto should be thankful we even allow him to still be a part of this team. I mean he is a menace! So how could he become hokage? It is just such a pathetic attempt to make himself closer to you Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke felt those familiar feelings rise up inside of him. His anger was about to make another appearance today. "Sakura stop." Being an order from her precious love Sakura did just that and looked at him with adoring eyes. Oh how those cute, big greens eyes made him want to vomit whenever he looked into them. Jeez Gaara's eyes were a better color than hers.

"Yes Sasuke-kun?" Moving closer to the raven Sakura smiled, batting her eyes.

"What gives you the right to say anything about Naruto?" Sasuke growled out.

Sakura's smiled faded a little bit as confusion flitted across her face. Was this some type of test? Almost as soon as this thought ocurred to her Sakura's smile returned full force. "Naruto is just loser, Sasuke-kun. Everyone knows that. Even his parents didn't even want him he was just such a waste of effort. Nor is he worthy of your constant attention Sasuke-kun. He is just dragging you down with him every time you guys train together."

So this was the truth. The true side of Sakura that even he had not seen. He had known Sakura did not like Naruto but resenting him was a whole new level to her pettiness. "That gives you no right to talk about Naruto. He is a much better person than you are giving him credit for. He went out of his way to bring me back, even when you and everyone else had given up on it, just for you. Naruto is always doing something like that and putting his whole heart in whatever he is doing. Despite being hated by everyone in the village for something that he could not control Naruto loves this village and it's inhabitants. He would do anything to protect their happiness. Yet you hate him because what? He has no parents, neither do I but you swear every day, every second, that you love me. Because he wears orange and doesn't act like any other ninja? That's because he doesn't have time to be someone else. Being himself, being the number one knuckle headed ninja, being Naruto, takes one hundred percent. What gives you the right to hate Naruto?"

"Because you love him!" Sakura shouted out, cutting Sasuke's rant into a stunned silence. "It is just so obvious that even I can admit it. It always has been about Naruto. Naruto was the only one who could get you to talk. The only one who could match you in strength. The only one that could get you to react and the only one who could bring you back. But not to me. Never to me! And I hate that. It leaves such a bitter taste in my mouth and a horrible, raw feeling inside of me just thinking that. That Naruto is able to do the one thing that I nor any of the other girls could do. Get you to love him. Why?"

To say Sasuke was shocked was a serious understatement. His mind was a storm of whats, whys, and hows flying around, the answers hidden behind the cloud of confussion. For once Sasuke wasn't silent because he wanted to but because he just couldn't think of what to say. His mind was just blank.

"You didn't know." Sakura stated shocked. If Sasuke wasn't too lost in his own mind he would have found Sakura's expression and predicament funny. It was hilarious that she had been the one to tell her crush that he was in love with someone else. Sakura had just handed him over to someone else without needing to in the first place. "Oh my god. No, oh no, no, no. Sasuke you don't-"

"Hey Uchiha, Sakura, Hokage-sama wants you two in her office now." Neji chose that moment to show up out of no where, no knowing the seriousness of the conversation he had just interrupted.

Sasuke simply nodded and flitted off towards the hokage's office. Anything to get away from the source of his headache and enlightenment.

"Damn Uchiha." Neji muttered under his breath. He had long ago given up on his crush on a certain blonde ninja but that didn't mean he could forgive the Uchiha for hurting said blonde. Now it was more of a brotherly love since his own boyfriend thought Naruto to be his brother. Gaara had sent Neji a letter talking about what had happened while he was away on his mission and needless to say he was ticked. Uchiha was going to pay but first Neji had to sweep his own front door step first by informing Ten-ten of the consequences of not going to important parties because of petty jealousy.

At least Tsunade had fixed the fist sized whole in the wall unlike the rest of the office. If anything it looked like was still in a disarray from when she had thrown her desk in her attempt to get at Sasuke. At least this time he had Sakura, even though she wasn't much use as a ninja, Tsunade wouldn't hurt her own student. Would she?

"Ah there you two are." Shizune stated holding her clipboard tighter. While she did not show her emotions like Tsunade-sama, she still thought the two members were scum and she was very angry with them.

Tsunade didn't even look up from her hands as the two walked up beside Kakashi who was standing there silently. Sasuke looked up at Kakashi and saw the serious expression on his face and knew that something had happened or he was in trouble.

"Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked moving forward to stand on the other side of Kakashi, not wanting to stand close to Sasuke at the moment.

Tsunade sighed and looked up at the three members of team 7. "I received a letter from the Kazekage today and it is in your best interest to know what is going on. It seems that Naruto was given a mission to escort an elderly gentleman and his two grandchildren back to their village. Since Naruto has dealt with people from the land of waves he was the best choice to go."

"Tsunade-sama I don't think they understand." Shizune whispered.

Tsunade unfolded a piece of paper and slapped it on the desk facing them. "Since yesterday morning Uzumaki Naruto has not contacted Suna or arrived at the village he was designated to drop off his charges." Tsunade looked up at them worry clearly written on her face. "Naruto is missing."

TBC