Birthday Wish.

The place is almost dark, if it isn't for the dim light that the candle is emitting, the place will be completely shrouded in darkness. My eyes are focusing on the dancing flame of the nine shaped candle on top of the cake that my mother baked and decorated earlier today. Around the table, my family is singing the most known song there is, the happy birthday song. My father being the exception, which is not surprising. It's rare enough for him to put up with the small party that my mother threw me. And I am content with that, since last year he didn't make it on time, I was already asleep when he arrived.

I am still not sure how my mother managed to convinced him to take a day off from all the duties he has. And how she managed to get him help her to inflate balloons and hang them around the small kitchen. But on the other hand, it is not hard to believe that she can move mountains if she wants to. She has this ability to do the impossible. I'm sure her kind smile is the most powerful tool in her persuading tactics. No one can say no to that smile and those loving eyes. Her magic touch of make everything better, even in the worst moments, is what I love most about her. She's standing in front of me and she is singing the loudest. She isn't the best singer, but her voice is most beautiful.

Next to me is Nii-san. His hands are placed on my shoulder, and I can see his kind smile. But he looks tired, I notice. He has just arrived from a long S-Rank mission a couple of hours ago. I can see it in his eyes that he can't wait for the night to end so that he can finally rest. But I can't be happier. He is keeping the promise he made before leaving two weeks ago - to be on time for my birthday party. A wave of guilt hits me, and a part of me wants to tell him that he can go to bed. But a bigger part of me, the selfish one, keeps my lips shut. It's my birthday, I'm allow to be selfish today, right?

The singing stops and all eyes are on me. The three of them are waiting for me to make a silent wish and blow the candle. But I was so into my thoughts of how today is the best birthday I ever had, that I forgot to think of a wish.

What can I wish for? The only thing I want in my short life is to make my father proud, which I can rule that out, since today when he gave me his present, he told me, 'Swing this sword with the same pride I'm giving it to you.' What else could I wish for? I have everything I want; loving parents (even if one of them is not as good as the other in expressing his feeling), an awesome and cool big brother, who's the world to me. My role model, my idol, my rock and support.

Today is perfect - all my loved ones are here with me, showing me that I matter, that I'm loved.

"Otouto, are you ready to make a wish?" Nii-san asks. His voice is soft and kind, like always, as he places a hand on my head.

I look at him with my eyes wide open. There's something in his eyes but I'm not sure what it is. I can see that he is truly smiling, really happy and he loves me. But there is a piercing feeling inside me that is telling me that there's more than meets the eyes. I don't like what I see, so I close my eyes.

Suddenly, I feel a burning sensation on the fingertips of my index and thumb. I open my eyes to see what's causing me this pain, only to find out that the match that I'm holding is burned out. Why am I holding a match?

I look around, the place is still dark, and a single candle is still being the only source of light in the room. However, none of my family members are with me, nor am I in the same kitchen. I feel lost for a moment and a wave of loneliness washes over me, making me feel horribly sad when I realize that I was dreaming the same dream I had after last birthday. My wish was to have a perfect birthday with everyone in my family, since Itachi was away in a mission and my father didn't have time to even stop for five minutes to congratulate me for my last birthday.

That day I was all alone, not really. Mother was with me the whole time. But I was so devastated because my father didn't put aside his job to wish me a happy birthday and I was so mad at Itachi for not keeping his promise to get back on time, that I didn't appreciate her hard work of preparing a special dinner for the two of us, or the cake she baked. And the guilt of how unfair I treated her is eating me up. I never said sorry to her for yelling at her the way I did.

Today is my ninth birthday, the first one after Itachi took all that I had and everyone I loved. After his betrayal towards the clan, towards me. After I found out he was all lies.

I got up to turn on the light to make the place less depressing. Then I walk back to the small table in the center of the small room I live now since about a year ago. I can see how the candle is melting and the dripping wax is ruining the slice of dark chocolate cake which I found on my doorstep when I got back from training. I don't like sweets but dark chocolate is acceptable. Maybe it was a present from those annoying girls from the academy.

I've been staring at the flame for a while, debating what to wish for. I get up once more, abruptly this time, with one of my hands forming a fist, while with the other, I clean up the tears that escaped from my angry eyes, angry with myself for even thinking about such idiocy. I take one last look at the orange flame before I extinguish it with my fingertips. I grabbed the cake and put it back inside the black box where it came in and toss it away along with the odd feather that replaces a bow -who in the right mind would stick a crow's feather on a birthday cake box anyway?- for I don't have time to waste in silly and childish things such as birthday wishes.

Either way, I don't have anything to wish for. It is not because my life is fulfilled, but because what I want most in life is to kill that man. That is not something you wish to happen; that is something that you make it happen.

That is my goal, not some silly birthday wish.

End.

A/N: This is my Sasuke's birthday fic. Please note that English in not my first language, and this is unbeta-ed since my beta on vacation, and I needed to post this today July 23 for his birthday. It will be beta-ed when she comes back. Also I wrote this today about three hours ago, so isn't as good I would like to but time didn't allowed me to write everything I wanted too. I hope you like it.

Edit 8/13/15: Beta-ed by een nihc, Thank you so much,