AUTHOR'S NOTES: The drabbles are about how each individual address to Skull's birthday. I thought it would be interesting to do this series and perhaps, I'll make more of these drabbles in the near future. I hope you enjoy my ametuer work of writing.

Colonello:

He handed the badly-wrapped up present to the younger stunts man, a blushing, yet frowning expression plastered to his face.

"Don't think that I'm being nice or anything, kora! I'm simply trying to be respectful to another lowly acquaintance, kora!" He said aloud, trying to avoid eye contact with Skull, who was gazing at him with an innocent, curious look.

Colonello blushed even more, "D-Don't look at me that way, kora! I-It's creepy!"

Skull blinked and laughed. "Honestly, Colonello-Senpai, you're behaving like some sort of a female high school student who's giving her crush a present, acting so 'tsundere'!"

Despite it being Skull's birthday, it didn't stop the blond man from giving Skull a very firm, as well as extremely painful, kick in the stomach.

Lal Mirch:

"It's not much, but here you go" The blue-haired lady handed a small and neatly-wrapped box to Skull. She smiled as she watched him marvel at his newly-received gift.

She frowned a little bit. Being a Soldier, it made her a little tense to be giving somebody, especially an individual from a rival Family, a birthday present. If she was caught by any of her bosses, she may had to deal with undesirable consequences.

The Stuntman's eyes immediately lit upon opening his small present. It was a beautifully-wrapped packet of expensive, branded cookies which were extremely hard to buy, even if you were a millionaire. It must have taken Lal a while to get her hands on this., which made Skull very touched at her determination.

"Thank you, Lal-Senpai!"

After seeing the innocent smile, it was definitely worth while the trouble she had went through to get the present, she thought.

Verde:

Honestly, Skull hadn't expected anything from Verde. Over the years of knowing him, Skull knew that Verde was always too caught up in his research to bother caring about other people's birthdays.

Skull was probably the only one who continued to send the scientist presents for his birthday, he was probably also the only one who knew when his birthday was, seeing as how much he begged and persuaded the Scientist to give him his birthday details.

Skull always thought birthdays were special, which is why he always wanted to celebrate a birthday, no matter whose birthday it was. So no matter how much Verde refused the stunts man continued to send him a small gift every year. Every year he sent it, and there were usually no reply from the scientist.

He learnt to not expect anything back from Verde, which was why he was shocked when he found a wrapped-up box delivered to him, with a small card pasted onto it. The only words written on it were: "Happy Birthday" He recognized the Scientist's messy handwriting right away.

It made the boy cry in joy.

Luce:

Skull woke up and the smell of something sweet filled the house, making him drool in hunger. When he went to the kitchen, he found a freshly-baked batch of cookies on his table. Being a bit of a glutton, he bit into the cookies almost immediately.

The cookies were delicious, and he wondered, who had put it there? No one could've possibly been able to break into his securely-locked apartment overnight.

And the taste…it was so familiar. A long-forgotten taste he himself had forgotten about. No matter how hard he tried to recall where he had eaten this cookie, he couldn't remember.

And it was probably his imagination, but he felt like there was a calming and gentle presence in the room, something which felt like an old friend.

He never did find out who made the mysterious cookies.

Mammon:

Skull was playing his newly-bought video games which he had received that day, the birthday party earlier was awesome, all the Arcobaleno guardians had came, with the exception of Viper. Not like it really mattered to Skull, he understood that Viper was busy with Varia work and had absolutely no time to bother about these sort of events.

He also understood that Viper disliked birthdays as it meant having to dig out cash to purchase appropriate gifts and the mist guardian was very, very greedy when it came to money, so he never bothered inviting Viper to his parties, knowing that he would simply decline.

Suddenly, his handphone vibrated. Skull picked it up and looking at the user caller, realized that it was Viper. He took a look at the message Viper had sent, expecting a simple message.

"look out of your window"

The message surprised him a little, but he decided to follow the instructions. Putting down his Xbox controller and went out onto his balcony.

As if on cue, fireworks of different colors suddenly lit up the dark skies. Purple, red, yellow, orange, indigo, green, blue colors seemed to explode into different patterns. It decorated the sky beautifully and all Skull could do was watch as well as smile in awe.

Knowing it was Viper, all this was probably just an illusion, a very good one, at that.

After about 10 minutes, there was a spectacular and large firework which exploded in a rainbow color, after that was silence, which signaled the end. Skull felt his hand phone vibrate in his hand once more.

"Happy Birthday" was the message which lit up on the screen.

Skull smiled; there was no need to reply to this message. He knew that somewhere out there, Viper was there, watching his every move.

So Skull simply left a piece of leftover chocolate cake out on the table outside on the balcony and went to bed.

The next morning, the cake was gone, only the plate had been left behind.

Fon: (****look at author's parting notes at the bottom if you're confused by Fon's actions)

He stared at the flowers in his hands, a mixture of yellow, red, pink flowers all bundled up together in a lovely vase. As much as he didn't like flowers, he had to admit, these were beautiful and they were a precious gift from Fon.

"Fon…. Thank you!"

Fon simply smiled. He took a glance at all the gifts Skull had received so far, candies… Pastries… Video Games… Alarm clocks… Wait, alarm clocks?

All of a sudden, Fon's eyebrows twitched.

"Skull"

"Hm? Yes?"

"Please dispose of that clock immediately and do not acknowledge it."

Skull looked at the clock in question. It was a golden-rimmed and light blue-colored Octopus-shaped clock which he had received from one of his guests and he had liked it a lot.

"B-But, why? It's so cute?"

"Just. Do. It. Now."

Skull, obviously had to do as he said, after all, the normally calm and patient Fon was very pissed at the moment. That was one of the few times he ever saw Fon so angry, and he still hasn't found out why.

Reborn:

"Oi, stupid lackey, let me in."

"No!" Skull yelled out loud at Reborn who stood outside of his apartment. He felt another forceful kick on his secure door, which he prayed would not break down from the forceful impacts.

He heard a 'tch' and another pounding on the door. "Dammit, lackey, why won't you let me in?"

"I don't want to let you in, all you ever do is hurt me. Why should I even listen to you?" There was suddenly silence, as if Reborn was in thought. Taking this chance, Skull continued to voice out his rants.

"I hate being hurt by you. I hate having to follow everything you say. I hate not being trusted by any of the Arcobaleno simply because you all think that I'm stupid!"

"Skull" Reborn's voice called out. "Let me in."

"I'm human too aren't I? I can hate you, all I want can't I? I can cry or laugh to my heart's content, right? Why must I always be hurt by all of you? Can you tell me why?"

The purple-haired stunts man already had tears slowly flowing out of his eyes, smudging his makeup and revealing the pale, white skin he had used make up to hide. He was crying out loud and hiccupping softly. He could still feel Reborn's presence behind the door and his frustration was starting to grow. Why couldn't Reborn just leave him alone?

"Skull, please, open the door." These words startled Skull a little. THE Reborn had used the word "please", something which indicated that there was something wrong going on.

So, wiping away his smudged make-up, he took the doorknob and bravely opened the door he had securely locked up earlier.

He was greeted with the most unusual sight he had ever seen. There, standing in front of him was Reborn, holding a large, purple-colored Teddy bear which had a cute red ribbon tied around its neck.

Reborn simply smiled. Skull blinked at this sight, and Reborn shoved the teddy bear into Skull's arms.

"Happy Birthday, Skull"

NOTES:

(*****) Fon's drabbles:

Why was Fon pissed off at the alarm clock which was Skull's present? Well, it's actually related to a well-known Chinese supersition.

The chinese believe that giving someone a clock, any forms of it, is a very bad omen. This is because, when translated into chinese, the words: "Give a clock" usually translates into "Song Zhong", with Song=Give whilst Zhong=Clock. This translation also loosely refers to burying a dead relative. So when someone gives a clock to another person, this gift is believed to cut the lifespan of the one who receives the clock, like a curse. Which is why the chinese are very strict about the act of giving a clock to another.

I hope you liked my story, please feel free to review and comment.