Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Given The Chance ❯ Happy Birthday ( Chapter 37 )

Chapter #37

Happy Birthday

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and Co.

 

(Happy dance) HELL YA, MARCH BREAK IS FINALLY HERE! Teehee, not that I have been in school much for the past while anyway, there was a record for consecutive snow days where I am! I had two days of school this week!!

 

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“You learn amazingly fast, Cassie-chan, I am very impressed with your progress!” Being the Green Beast meant he was a little out of his element in the desert, but Lee seemed to be able to adapt to almost anything after a short period of time. Within less than an hour he was easily able to maneuver easily on the sandy ground, which meant he could turn at the drop of a dime without sliding four feet while doing it.

 

Rock Lee arrived several days before along with Uchiha Sasuke - much to Sakura's delight - who took Neji's place in monitoring the seal. Sasuke and Sakura stayed at a local hotel while Lee stayed at the Iwate household. No matter how many times Lee said he could also get a room at a hotel as well - seeing the lack of space at the house - Daichi assured him that the couch could be pulled out into a bed for him.

 

During the day Lee was assigned to help out Sasuke and Sakura, but in the evening he would always disappear along with Cassie.

 

Cassie panted and tucked some loose hair back in her ponytail before taking her stance again, “It's just like riding a bike, you never really forget.”

 

Most people would say that anyone that would willingly accept Lee's insane training is insane themselves. But then again, when that person's former sensei was Maito Gai it was certainly not a big leap. There was no arguing Lee was enthusiastic about accepting the job, he would always have lots of praise for her, and he would always know the appropriate time to stop for the day. He knew after all that Cassie also had her job along with cleaning and cooking.

 

`I'm already up to my old standards…' Cassie felt somewhat proud of herself for bouncing back so quickly, and in her mind it was due to the very familiar teaching style Lee used.

 

- Flashback -

 

Cassie didn't like sneaking out of the house. It wasn't that she had a problem with training. It was because her brother became paranoid ever since she left the hospital, and her disappearing was making it worse. Not that it stopped her because every day around the same time she'd arrive at the old Suna training grounds to hone her old skills.

 

She was in the middle of building up her former stamina by going through as many drills as she could. That is until she slipped - sand was terrible for balance - and ended up on her butt. For a rest she stayed there for a few seconds and stared up at the bright desert sky.

 

“I had a feeling you would be here, Cassie-chan,” a familiar hand offered her assistance to get up again, “You certainly have not changed a bit.”

 

Cassie nearly jumped out of her skin, “Lee-kun! When did you…?”

 

Lee gave a warm smile, “I arrived here just this morning! When my rival, Neji, returned with the news I volunteered to come and help. I was very worried about what happened to you, Cassie-chan.”

 

“Arigato,” Cassie sighed, “So how long have you been watching? You must think I'm a joke … it's just been so long since I've trained like this…”

 

“I would think so such thing! You're working so hard, and I would never discourage you in any way!” Lee reassured her with a grin and a good guy pose, “You have always been able to do anything if you put your mind to it!”

 

`He's like a little kid,' Cassie gave a small laugh when she realized they were a lot alike. Being a puny girl she'd always had a harder time building up strength and speed in her academy days, but when you're related to someone like Gai … well, some things are bound to rub off. “Um … Lee could I ask you a big favor?”

 

“Anything!”

 

Biting her lip Cassie paused before blurting out, “Could you teach me?”

 

Lee didn't look like he believed his own ears for a moment, but when a big grin suddenly appeared on his face Cassie felt a little relieved. “Of course, Cassie-chan, I would love nothing better to have you as my student!”

 

“It's not too much trouble?”

 

“No, not in the least, you could never cause me any trouble, Cassie-chan! I am absolutely delighted and honored you asked me!”

 

- End Flashback -

 

And that brings us to the present, several days later, when the Cassie was seeing major progress in her fighting. Being much smaller and slight of build they didn't expect Cassie could ever reach Lee's speeds, but she was able to get amazingly close. Then there was the fact that Cassie's chakra control was excellent, and Lee would always be willing to be her sparing partner to practice her techniques.

 

Cassie gave a small smile and stopped to stretch her stiff arms. It was hard, but her body was slowly becoming re-accustomed to difficult and lengthy training sessions.

 

“Something is bothering you, Cassie-chan.” Lee's statement caught Cassie completely off guard.

 

“W-what makes you say that?” asked Cassie nervously.

 

Lee shrugged, “You're smile seems … sad.”

 

With a small sigh Cassie rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, “Gomenasai, I'm making you worry. Please, don't worry about me Lee-kun. I'm fine, I promise!”

 

“It is ok to feel sad,” Lee placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, “You have always been strong, and not allowed others to worry about you, but it is ok if you feel sad… No one would blame you.”

 

When Lee was told about the situation by Neji back in Konoha he expected Cassie to act like she was. They trained together as kids with Gai, and no matter how bad things were at home with her mother being sick she would train and smile like nothing was wrong. The fact that she was so bottled up made her an unpredictable fighter, and she would train or do something constructive whenever she was upset.

 

“But everything will work out in the end, you'll see, and that's why I want to train so badly! When something bad happens this time I have to be able to protect myself and others,” her voice was full of genuine determination, but it was still obvious to Lee that being forgotten was killing her on the inside. “Lee-kun, I don't want you to worry about me, ok? And … I feel kind of bad for asking this of you after all you've done already, but I have another small favor to ask of you…”

 

“Ask anything you want.”

 

“…Could you please drop something off for me later?”

 

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Another long day and Gaara headed home well after midnight when everyone else was asleep. He was a little glad for it too because that meant it was less likely someone would be pestering him. Wouldn't be up to force him into another check-up, neither of his siblings would be fussing or giving him odd looks, and Lee wouldn't be jumping around rambling about the power of youth. He finally had some peace and quiet, and Gaara was going to enjoy every moment of it while it lasted.

 

He retreated to his room where he removed his gourd and Kazekage robes. Gaara stretched out his stiff muscles and lay down on the bed. He didn't need any sleep, but that didn't mean he couldn't relax on a nice soft bed for a while just to recharge.

 

Everything was starting to make his patience wear thin. With everyone making such a big deal over him he was getting tired and starting to crave a little alone time, but every time he stopped to close his eyes and think he'd start getting weird little visions. Things that made no sense whatsoever, things that he felt like he should remember.

 

There would always be someone there, a girl, but he could never really see her face. She would reach out to him, and she would sound so happy and carefree, but every time he reached out to her in return she would just fade away.

 

Gaara's hand hit his face, `I'm loosing it … I just know it.'

 

Giving up on getting any rest Gaara got out of his bed and sat at his desk, and in doing so he noticed something was placed there. A small white package sitting on top of a CD with a little note attached to it:

 

Gaara,

Happy Birthday

 

That was all it said. There was no name, and he didn't even recognize the handwriting. In fact he didn't even realize until he read it that it was already January nineteenth. The fact that six months were missing out of his life really messed up his perception of time…

 

It wasn't like birthdays were normally pleasant for Gaara anyway. In the past people were more hostile than usual towards him on the day because it was also the anniversary of the day the `curse' of his demon was brought upon the village. After returning from the Chunin exams his siblings started wishing him a happy birthday, and they'd give him a small present, but they generally avoided making a big deal out of it ever since he declared that he hated birthdays. Currently speaking his birthday was all but forgotten, and was generally like every day.

 

“You up for twenty questions?”

 

`I wonder who…' thought Gaara as he stared at the writing on the note.

 

“What's your favourite food?”

 

Gaara opened the lid of the box and found a small cake - like one of the mini ones you can get at a restaurant. It looked homemade, and it had white frosting with a big strawberry on top.

 

“Strawberries.”

 

After blinking a few times Gaara tried to shake the voice out of his mind. It almost amazed him the stupid things that set off the odd hallucinations, `Why is it that even strawberries set me off now?'

 

To try and not provoke any more strange voices Gaara turned to the CD that was with the little cake. He opened the CD and turned to a seldom used CD player so he could see what was on it. Yes, something like a CD player is seems like a very odd thing for Gaara to own, and he wasn't all that into music anyway, but it was a very old present from Temari and it collected dust more than became of use. The batteries in it were still the very first set he had put in it and they hadn't run out yet.

 

Gaara put one of the small earpieces in his ear and hit play. Piano music played softly into Gaara's ear, and it was a soft almost sad sounding song that sounded familiar…

 

“It's called the Moonlight Sonata, if you were wondering, it's by Beethoven…”

 

The redhead promptly skipped to the next song. It was also piano music, but this time it was accompanying a sweet female voice. That song wasn't much better either because that voice was strikingly similar to the one in Gaara's mind. Eventually he gave up on the CD altogether and set it aside.

 

(A/N: Every Time We Touch by Cascada, if you remember it was the song Cassie was working in earlier chapters.)

 

Instead of even bothering with the CD any further Gaara decided he'd go put the little cake in the fridge so he could eat it later. It was much too late - or early in this case - to be eating something so sweet.

 

“Hey bro,” Kankuro walked in the kitchen with a tired slouched posture. He'd come downstairs for something to drink and a little late night snack.

 

“Did anyone drop this off earlier?” asked Gaara and showed the little cake to his older brother. He was still very curious about the person who left it.

 

Kankuro shook his head as he read the little note, “Not that I know of … hey do you think you've got an admirer there bro?”

 

It was very tempting to role his eyes, but Gaara had good self control so he was able to stop himself. He often found it hard to take his brother seriously when he talked like that, but Gaara was stuck with him so he more or less just tuned out the stupid comments. Gaara didn't actually think anyone would be capable of loving him.

 

 

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Yay, Happy Birthday Gaara! Wasn't that nice of Lee to drop the present off? Ok, since Gaara started out 18 in the beginning now he's 19. In case you were all wondering Cassie's birthday is April 4th so in a few months she will be 17. I keep profiles on all my OC characters so I never forget descriptions!

 

Lil_Pix

 

To my reviewers:

 

MoonAngel8- (Gasp) No I don't think Cassie would ever do that, but she is very depressed on the inside. Poor Cassie, she's so bottled up…

 

Gaara_Freak- Hehe, enthusiasm is fantastic. Keep reviewing I always look forward to reading them!

 

Dudekiller- If it's any consolation I'm already insane (giggles madly)! Insane people unite, and surprise, surprise, we also call ourselves fangirls! We are responsible for the evils of Fanfiction and Fanart!!!

 

BakaHanyouRahvin- Teehee, I never expected this story to get so popular! Keep reviewing!

 

Hiei81- Ya, the Sympathetic Cassie Club is quickly gaining members! Teehee, we should have jackets, or at least little pins… Oh well, we already need an arena to have the meetings!

 

Gaara252- Wow, a lot of people are going to have brain damage from banging their heads on desks… Hehe, suspense is great, and it looks like you're still going to have to wait before Gaara gets his memory back! (Sticks tongue out and runs)

 

Fightingpheonix36- Eh … all my readers are going to end up in mental hospitals from chronic impatience if this keeps up. (Slams head on keyboard) Curses, I need the reviews to feed my own mental instability! I hope I didn't push you over the edge with another amnesia-Gaara chapter.

 

Valinor's Twilight- (Shrug) You'd be surprised how many characters in anime have the mountain sized ego superiority complex. That's why we should be thankful for good characters (Naruto, Obito, etc) that force some sense into their hard heads.