Happy Birthday Hayato Gokudera!
Hayato Gokudera saw himself as a reasonable person. His academically gifted mind, quick thinking, and almost impeccable accuracy when fighting were just a few of many testaments to that. It was completely rational to be the right-hand man to his precious Juudaime, who else was better suited for the job? The baseball-freak? No. The stupid cow? Hell no. Turf-top? That anti-social prefect? Mukuro? That shy substitute of his? No, fuck no, and he is barely comfortable letting Mukuro touch the tenth with a ten foot poll while being guarded by the Vindicare. Chrome was tolerable, but certainly not right-hand man material. If a better person was suited to take his place, then he would surely step aside for the sake of the tenth and the Vongola family.
But there wasn't and that was all there was to it.
Yes, Hayato was very reasonable, and rational.
This was why it was perfectly justified and rational that he was hiding behind a potted plant…within his own home.
"Hayato, you're being unreasonable. Just come out already and receive what's rightfully yours," Bianchi said as she roamed the apartment in search of her younger brother. Somewhere in the back of his mind Hayato knew that it was ludicrous that his sister hadn't found his painfully obvious hiding spot in all her determination and that his luck was bound to run out soon if he didn't think of something. Now.
"Hayato, I made this especially for you. I put all of my love for you into it!" Bianchi sighed, back turned to her quarry that was crouched less than three feet behind her. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
'Crap, crap, crap, this is bad. I won't live to see my next birthday…or even the end of the day if I eat that.' Hayato thought with a shudder as he eyes the dark purple cake that was releasing some kind of unholy smell. At that moment, Bianchi began to turn around, and Hayato began saying prayers to whatever god was listening to be merciful to him, just this once.
Someone up there must've taken pity on the Vongola's tenth generation storm guardian for at that moment there was a loud knocking on his front door, effectively drawing Bianchi's attention well away from Hayato and his hiding spot. As she strode over to the door, out of curiosity, Gokudera peeked out from behind the plant to see who his savior was. Very few people ever visited him. Aside from Bianchi's unwelcome pop-ins (like this one) he couldn't think of anyone who would come by—he normally met the tenth and the others in town or at their houses.
"Yo, Go—oh? Yo, nee-san. Is Gokudera around?" That voice. What was he of all people doing here? Maybe this wasn't so much of a blessing after all...
"Oh, well, he wasn't at school today," School? Of course he wouldn't go to school of all places today! As much as it pained him to leave the tenth's side, it would be the first place Bianchi would think to look for him! "And Tsuna asked me to come by and check on him since his house is on the way from mine to Tsuna's while they finish setting up. I was bringing the sushi platter. Is that the cake?" Yamamoto questioned. Hayato was silently willing the idiot to try some of the cake and keel over, but before he could make any attempts at telepathy or mind control, he felt a set of fangs bite hard into his hand. Uri.
Biting back a cry of pain he kept his hand clamped over Uri's ring to prevent the cat from getting loose and revealing his location to both of his unwanted guests. However, the stubborn little traitor was hungry and itching to not only make her master suffer, but to have at the platter of raw fish that the baseball-freak was carrying. God fucking damnit Yamamoto. If it wasn't for the fact that he needed Uri for Systema CAI and his Cambio Forma, and if the tenth wouldn't be sad over the baseball idiot's death, he would've done away with both of those troublesome parties long ago.
Several scratches and bites later, Hayato was literally falling out his hiding spot, covered in blood from both facial and hand wounds inflicted by his box weapon/house pet inflicted as Uri strutted over to Yamamoto, mewing pleasantly to ask the rain guardian for a piece of sushi. The Japanese teen gave Uri some fish and walked over to Hayato with a smile.
"There you are! Why weren't you at school today? And why were you hiding back here of all places this whole time?" Before Hayato had a chance to reply (or hit) the idiot, Bianchi was suddenly in his face, no goggles or glasses or anything hiding her features. Hayato blacked out, his last thought being that he hated his birthday.
Hayato next awoke lying comfortably on a couch, a cool cloth on his forehead. If his body clock wasn't lying, it should be about sundown now. He hoped that maybe his sister and Yamamoto had placed him on his couch and left him in peace.
'Knowing those idiots, probably not. They're probably going through my stuff in my room—'
"Gokudera-kun?" That voice certainly wasn't there before he'd blacked out. But he welcomed it none the less. "Gokudera-kun, are you okay?" Tsuna tried again. The storm guardian bolted upright and saluted to his boss.
"Never better, Juudaime! No need to worry!" He would never make his boss worry over something so trivial. Looking around however, he realized that he was not in his apartment. He recognized the place as the tenth's house right away, seeing as how spent almost more time here than he did at his home. The room was highly decorated, clearly for a Vongolian-style party. The name on the banner in the living room was his own, and there were gifts and streamers strewn about. I-Pin and Lambo ran by, the former trying to get the stupid cow to put the stolen food back. The girls and the other guardians (sans Mukuro, for which he was grateful), were scattered around the room, along with the Cavallone family, the Shimon family, and the now uncursed (but still baby-faced) Arcobaleno. The Varia weren't present, but Uni, Gamma, and Byakuran were, and every single person was wearing a red party hat.
"Wha—"
"It's a party, for you!" Tsuna said. "With all that's going on, from the Varia, to the events in the future, to the Shimon family, I totally let your first birthday with us come and go! I'm really, really, sorry, Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna said, bowing low to his friend in apology. The other occupants (sans Lambo, Hibari, Adelhied, and Byakuran of course) of the room doing the same, all murmuring an apology.
The others he would take it from, it was about damn time that they showed him some appreciation! But he couldn't believe that he had inadvertently made his precious Juudaime apologize to him. Especially considering his 15th birthday had completely slipped his mind as well until about a month after it had passed (were they in the future or about to go through the inheritance ceremony…?), rendering it unimportant.
Practically tripping over himself to get off the couch, Hayato got down on his hands and knees, going through his customary routine of repeatedly banding his head on the floor as he apologized to the tenth.
"Forgive me, Juudaime! I can't believe I caused you so much trouble to not only plan this party, but for making you feel as if you have anything to apologize for! There is absolutely no reason for you of all people to apologize to your subordinates, Juudaime!" Tsuna flailed, attempting to get Hayato to stop, almost making the mistake of apologizing again before Reborn cut him off—with a well placed kick to the head.
"You heard him, Dame-Tsuna. Now enough of that, we have a party to throw, and I'm not going to let a stupid cat or that annoying cow eat all of the good food before I do." Everybody turned to the buffet table and sure enough, Lambo and Uri were eating before anyone else.
"Why you…" Gokudera growled, angered by the fact that not only were two of the most annoying people (well, child and cat…box weapon…ring…pet…thing…) he had this displeasure of associating with were not only eating his birthday buffet, but that they were ruining the tenth's hard work. "Come here you!" He lunged for the two troublemakers, only for them to dodge and cause him to land face first into the edible cake that mama and the girls had prepared.
Picking himself up, Hayato didn't even want to know how ridiculous he looked. Glowering beneath the layer of frosting, his anger reached record heights as Reborn, Yamamoto, Byakuran, and Mukuro (who had at some point possessed Chrome, seemingly for the sole purpose of humiliating him like this) each stuck a finger onto his cake-coated head, swiping a bit off onto their fingers and tasting it.
"Chocolate!" they chorused happily, causing the whole room (again, sans Hibari) to burst out laughing. Despite the absolutely humiliating situation, Hayato felt rather…lighthearted. His birthdays in the past few years hadn't been the best, especially since the incident with his mother, but at that moment, he felt a sense of belonging, love, and merriment this September 9th. Feelings he hadn't associated with this date in a long time. Besides, the tenth was laughing, and the girls didn't seem the least bit upset that the cake was ruined.
Taking a bit of the cake off of his face, he also tasted it, enjoying the chocolate flavor. Okay…so maybe he didn't hate his birthday.
"It's alright, everyone," Bianchi said, a gentle smile on her (thankfully) goggled face. "I made a spare cake!" She held up the purple abomination and the smarter occupants of the room kept a safe distance from it (Mukuro had disappeared altogether, choosing whatever it was he was doing in his body over Bianchi's cake).
Okay, so he didn't hate his birthday.
But he did hate his sister's cake.
A/N: Okay, so this one was really rushed, but it was Gokudera's birthday and I had to do a one-shot for him since I missed Mukuro and Hibari's over the summer! (But rest assured I refuse to miss Chrome, Ryohei, Tsuna, Reborn, and Byakuran once their birthdays come around) Plus I had fun writing it. I might go back and edit it later, but...school...and time. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! :D