He was feeling old.

It could have been the fact that it was his birthday today or the giant cake presented in front of him decorated with many bright colored candles, thirty-three candles to be exact. It was supposed to be a happy event, a fun birthday party amongst close friends and maybe a couple of drinking games later on the night which could probably result into a major hangover the following day, but all he wanted to do at that moment was blow off the party and go to bed.

Thirty-three years old, still single, living the same routine day in and day out, and he was still the same person. Nothing had changed in his life, he should have been thankful, but somehow deep down he felt like crying.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

He looked up to a pool of worried emerald eyes, pink hair beautifully framing her somewhat round face.

"humm?"

If he wasn't so distracted by his inner thoughts or her beauty he would have come up with a better response.

"Aren't you going to blow out the candles? You've been staring at them for about five minutes"

He gave her a sympathetic smile, although he was certain she could not make out the shadows on his mask to see his facial expressions.

He slowly nodded and turned back to the cake, staring intently at the candle's fire that danced tauntingly at him. With a quick blow all the fire extinguished instantly. Happy glees and shouts accompanied by applause filled the room as the young woman took the cake away from him and began cutting it into small slices.

He fixed his sight on the blade, which gathered layers of frosting as it kept making its way deep within the cake's core. A small plastic plate was shoved in front of his face startling him away from his unpleasant thoughts.

"Nee, Kakashi-sensei don't you want a slice of your birthday cake?" the young woman eagerly asked with a brilliant smile on her face.

He shook his head no to her question, but felt slightly guilty after seeing a frown make its way to her pretty face.

"Oh...ok..." she reluctantly nodded and tried to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes.

She quietly left the dinning room and headed towards the kitchen. Kakashi watched her walk at a steady pace with her head bowed down as if she was ashamed. He felt the need to apologize and eat the slice of cake she had offered him so he could see her beautiful smile, but he couldn't bring himself to do so and he stayed rooted to his seat.

Everything seemed dull and unimportant as he watched her walk down the long dark hallway until he could no longer see her petite figure. He suddenly felt lonely and no matter what he said to himself he could not stop feeling guilty for not eating the slice of cake, which she had so happily offered him.

It was ironic how thirty-three minutes slowly passed by without seeing Sakura again, thirty-three minutes of the dullest birthday party he had ever had. A loud voice brought him back to reality.

"Wow! That was the best damn cake ever!! I want more!!!"

"Naruto, keep your voice down! There's no more cake, I'm afraid. You and Chouji happened to eat it all"

"I couldn't help it Iruka-sensei, that cake was so good. Sakura-chan really knows how to make the best desserts for parties, too bad she doesn't do it more often."

His head jerked up to their conversation and he immediately felt like a jerk. No wonder she had so eagerly offered him a slice of cake, she had made it especially for him. He who she looked up more than anyone in the village, more than Naruto and Sasuke combined.

Kakashi quickly made his way to the kitchen, but to his surprise he did not find her there. He was certain she went into the kitchen; he had watched her head into this direction with his very own eyes and most of the time he spent waiting for her to return he kept staring at the empty space which she had left behind before disappearing into the kitchen.

It did not make any sense she should have been in the kitchen. There was nowhere else she could have gone without him spotting her if she tried to leave. Not unless she used the window to leave his apartment instead of his front door that was located at the opposite side of the living room, which to his surprise he found the window wide open letting the chilled air into the kitchen.

He cursed under his breath and swiftly jumped out the opened window and into the cold night air. Apologizing to her was the least he could do after rejecting something she had made for him, something that she probably worked hard to make.

He made his way to her apartment jumping from rooftop to rooftop, but halted when he caught sight of pink hair amongst the dark night. She was sitting alone on a bench and was holding a small plastic plate with cake while she silently cried. The guilt was starting to eat him away. Out of all the years he had known her he never made her cry not even a little. Today was the first time.

Her head snapped up when she felt a familiar presence and she quickly tried to brush away all of the tears. She noticed Kakashi standing in front of her and she immediately felt like an idiot for crying over a slice of cake. The uncomfortable silence was broken when Kakashi decided to speak.

"I'm sorry"

"Don't be." She quickly responded with a slight hiccup.

He slowly sat down next to her keeping little space between them. He noticed she was shivering from the cold air; she was of course wearing a sleeveless dress and without a jacket no less to warm her body.

"Why were you crying?"

"I don't know," she muttered rather sadly.

He sighed and turned his head to look at her, she was still holding the plastic plate. He reached over to her hands and gave them a slight squeeze before lifting the small plate away from her hands and onto his lap. She watched in awe as he pulled down his mask and scooped a piece of cake with his fingers and slid it past his plump lips.

"Its really good," he smiled at her.

Her cheeks flushed a rosy color and she happily returned his smile with one of her own. She leaned over as he took another bite from his cake and pecked him softly on his cheek. His eyes widened slightly and pale skin instantly turned pink from the contact of her tender kiss.

"Happy birthday Kakashi-sensei," she whispered while resting her head on his shoulder as he kept eating his prized slice of cake.

He decided that today was definitely the best birthday he ever had.

- - - - -

A/N: I just had to write something for Kakashi's birthday. He definitely deserves it!