He was in shock.

He had no idea how he had lived to be 50 years old. Naruto was the Hokage now, had been for a couple of years. Tsunade had handed over the title before she had her last bottle of sake, but she was dead now, and much mourned at the time. Though no one would miss her temper.

He had checked his bank balance and, being the cheap-skate he always had been, there was rather more in there than might be expected of someone who lived only on ninja commissions. He had made up his mind though. Since she had confronted him five years ago, and they had really gotten the chance to fall and settle into their love, he was going to ask her.

--

Sakura smiled as she sat down to have lunch with her older boyfriend. It seemed odd somehow to think of him that way. When she was 30 and he was in his mid-forties, it hadn't seemed so strange, but now that he was fifty, the word 'boyfriend' just seemed wrong.

Still, he'd aged well. No one would know he was a day over 34 still, even if they were aware of his real age. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that his hair had been that same gorgeous silver colour his whole life.

Actually, that was why they were having lunch in the first place. It was his birthday, and they had agreed to a tame, private little celebration. Just the two of them.

"I found something interesting in the records yesterday," she said casually, pretending that she hadn't spent days searching for it. "A record for the oldest ninja of Konoha, he died at 92. He'd been retired for a while of course," she said conversationally.

"Hinting something Sakura?" Kakashi asked dryly.

"Warming up for the more interesting tidbit actually," she retorted, a smirk on her face.

"Don't leave me in suspense," he chuckled, slipping his lunch beneath his mask.

Sakura waited until she was sure Kakashi had swallowed. "He died a virgin," she stated. "So you've got another 32 years to wait if you want to go for the record, but for the record –"

"I don't want to," he cut in. "And neither will you, if I have any say about it."

--

He must be mad.

He'd asked her to come to his apartment after her shift at the hospital finished. There was something important he had to hear from her, needed to hear from her, desperately wanted to hear from her. It wasn't so much about the detail she'd slipped during their lunch, as it was about the small gift he had given her. A bit odd perhaps considering it was his birthday, but it could mean the greatest gift of his life.

He was waiting by the door when the bell rang, and he opened it with anticipatory nervousness. If the smile on her face was anything to go by, he needn't have worried.

"You want a fiance for your birthday?" she asked, stepping through his door and wrapping her arms around his chest.

"I'll give you a husband for your next birthday, how does that sound?" he suggested, wrapping his arms around her in return and lowering his masked face so that he could whisper in her ear.

"Wonderful," she said, drawing back and de-tangling a hand from his still full and everywhere silver crown. "Would you like to be deflowered now or on the night?"

"We're both getting married in white, Sakura," he stated.

"Still scared?" she asked gently.

"Shitless," was his flat response.

"Me too," she admitted. "But I'm looking forward to it as well. Have I told you today that I love you?"

Kakashi pulled his mask down and smiled.

"Love you," she said, kissing him lightly on the corner of his mouth.

"You too," he answered, pressing his own lips firmly to hers and kissing her soundly.

--

Naruto conducted the ceremony. Sasuke gave her away. Shino, of all people, was Kakashi's best man. The two silent-types had gotten acquainted over several missions about ten years earlier, and had become friends without the barrier of ever having been student and teacher to interfere with the friendly dynamic.

It was perhaps a good thing Gai and Lee had both passed on long ago. They would have made the whole ceremony embarrassing; between Gai's tears at 'youthful love being harboured even in the weathering of life' or some such nonsense, and Lee's sobbing at having lost 'the blossom of his heart' to his mentor's rival…

It was a quiet ceremony. Not the smallest, but quiet all the same, and that was important to the couple. Kakashi had held true to his word, and they had both been wearing white for the ceremony. Sakura felt like it made them both look a bit washed out, since they both had fairly pale skin and light hair, but it was the principle of the thing and she wasn't one to object.

It was a subversive declaration to all present that the rumours were insubstantial regarding Kakashi's prowess and the reputation of all female ninjas. Both doubted anybody would notice, but they would know, and that was what mattered.

After the reception, the newly wed Mr and Mrs Hatake returned to Kakashi's apartment. He opened the door and picked Sakura up, and she smiled that it still was so easy for him, kissing his still masked jaw tenderly just before her put her down on the other side of the threshold.

"That was a wonderful birthday present," Sakura said, eyes bright as she wrapped her arms around Kakashi's chest again. "I don't know how you'll ever top it next year."

"Next year I anticipate being horrible, because you'll be in labour," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her even closer, smiling down at her with a glint in his eye that had never been present before.

With a matching smile and lusty look, Sakura let herself be guided to the nearest horizontal surface their apartment – their apartment, not just his, but theirs – had to offer. Time to consumate…