I do not own Naruto

January 1

Half of the village was sleeping. The other half was celebrating.

Once again, they had all forgotten. He wasn't surprised, though. No one ever remembered. They forgot in the cheer that came with the start of each new year. He couldn't blame them for it. After all, that would be like condemning them for their youthfulness, and he could never do such a thing!

And so he found himself strolling aimlessly through the streets, returning the greetings of 'Happy New Year!' with forced smiles and half-hearted waves. His lack of enthusiasm for the holiday was easily passed off as a little too much sake and not enough sleep.

He'd often thought about reminding everyone, but it seemed a bit selfish to him. Why should he dampen their youthful spirits by telling them they had forgotten something important? No, not important, he mused, pushing back the unwelcome thought that followed it. It's important to me.

In order to banish the gloominess that threatened to steal over him, he committed himself to sprinting 100 laps around the village, focusing on his training rather than the celebrations that he wished weren't for ushering in the new year but for the one thing everyone had forgotten.

As the afternoon waned into evening, he gave up his sprinting to walk home and celebrate by himself as he had nearly every year of his life. He sighed sadly; even his parents had often forgotten.

When he arrived, he pulled open the door, and stepped inside, flicking on the lights as he did so.

"Happy birthday, Gai-sensei!"

He nearly jumped out of his skin, so great was his surprise at seeing his three students standing just inside and the room decorated for a party. A small stack of gifts was piled next to a large cake with a single large candle.

For the first time that day, a real smile alighted upon his face, and he captured the three of them in a joyful hug. "You remembered!" he exclaimed.

"Of course we remembered!" Lee replied as Neji and TenTen tried to wriggle away, clearly embarrassed by the sudden show of affection from their sensei, despite the fact that no one was around to see it.

A thought occurred to him then; "How did you three get in here?"

Lee happily supplied the answer. "Kakashi-san found out we were planning you a party, and he got the door open for us! And then he said we should make sure you got this present from him!" He darted to the table and picked up a small package to show Gai.

"He did, did he?" he mused. "Then I shall have to outdo him by helping his team throw him an even bigger party on his birthday!" He topped of the statement with his signature good guy pose while Neji and TenTen sweatdropped in the background.

"You can do it, Gai-sensei!" Lee cheered on.

"This is nice, but how about we have some cake?" TenTen suggested. "We're having a party, remember?"

Yeah…I got a Naruto calendar for Christmas, and shall celebrate each character's birthday now! So, please enjoy my occasional one-shots!