HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY ITACHI~!

I'm sorry it's three days late! I was actually done with finals on Wednesday but the story refused to write itself! My muse tried to whip it into shape but it just refused to be good! This is actually the...fifth or sixth version of this story (usually it only takes me one or two tries to get a story rolling!) and while I like it, I'm still not entirely satisfied. For those of you wondering why it says "Chapter 1" down there...well...I guess you'll have to alert this fic and find out why right?

Anyway, on with the fic! Hopefully you guys like it, considering how late it is XD

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto and really am not making profit off this. Too bad really...

Moonlight in a Jar

Chapter 1: To Speak by Other Means

'Happy Birthday, Itachi-san!'

He hadn't heard those words yet, those particular words spoken in her sweet and cheerful voice as they were every year, and it was already dark. Moonlight gleamed, reflecting off the koi pond and shining over the compound's well-groomed lawn, as the night deepened. In the hall behind him, a single table was piled high with gifts (kunai, shuriken, and ninja scrolls galore), the presents abandoned there as though they meant…nothing.

A rather disheartening truth.

Gifts were all very well, but the Uchiha heir seated on the family's back porch in wordless contemplation of the night desired something a little less tangible.

It had been years since the object of his thoughts had missed a birthday of his, years since she had failed to say the words during the twenty-four hour period that was delineated as solely his, and the memories of the last time were still sharp. Amusing, since the last time had been now thirteen years ago.

The memories from when he'd been eleven were still clear, and he remembered the bright innocence on the girl's childish features as she laughed and wished him a happy birthday…and he could remember better still how the promise made a year earlier had been irreparably broken the day he turned twelve.

Obsidian eyes narrowing at nothing in particular, Itachi forced the thought from his mind, just in time to notice a familiar chakra signature making its way through the corridors. He was not surprised when Sasuke turned the corner, casually swiping a kunai set from the gift table as he did so.

"Not enjoying the spoils of your party, aniki?" Sasuke asked, turning the finely crafted blades over and over in his hands as he took a seat by his older sibling uninvited. "I mean, some of this stuff is…"

Itachi shrugged in response, the graceful roll of his shoulder succinctly indicating that he didn't want any of it, nor did he particularly care. Sasuke, with his own impressive fanbase of admirers, really didn't have any need for any more shinobi weaponry, but as the heir Itachi did get gifts that sometimes exceeded the quality of his own. Since many long birthdays ago, the brothers had easily swapped gifts like Halloween candy, so Sasuke didn't feel any particular qualms about picking through Itachi's presents and selecting a few choice things for himself. He'd let his brother do the same on his own birthday.

It was only the important gifts that stayed separate from the general pile.

But something about his aniki's demeanor stopped the younger Uchiha male from merely making a beeline for the table of presents. And then it didn't take a genius to figure out just what the issue was.

A frown line creased Sasuke's forehead for a second before he smoothed it out. Knowing his brother's feelings (what little glimpses he had gotten and put together from various reactions goaded out by Shisui over the course of the last three years) hadn't made the knowledge fit in his head any easier, but the person in question was his only female teammate. Of all the riffraff that usually chased his rose-haired best friend, his brother was by far the most acceptable.

'I really did just think that, didn't I…'

"Sakura's probably being held up by some stupid civilian who wants to thank her for what she's done, and with her nice personality and all, she most likely wasn't able to say no. She'll be back before midnight, I'm sure."

Itachi's dark eyes flickered to his, holding them fore a second before they canted away. "Hn."

'Well, I've done my bit.'

Neither brother was particularly garrulous to begin with, nor was it as though the conversation really needed to be spun out, so with those words, Sasuke got back to his feet and disappeared back into the house, leaving his older brother to his thoughts.

Picking through Itachi's gifts could wait until tomorrow.

Itachi waited until Sasuke was out of earshot before muttering, "That was hardly necessary, otouto."

He didn't need to be told by his younger brother that Sakura would be back before midnight. It was irksome to think that his thoughts were so obvious that even his otouto could realize and respond to them.

He was not waiting up on the night of his birthday for a girl five years his junior, wondering whether or not he would get to hear her wish him a happy birthday and laugh as she presented him with whatever gift she felt appropriate for the year.

Every gift he had ever received from her had been intriguing, in spite of it not being exactly what he'd wanted, or expected. He still kept the crimson scarf she'd knitted for him, teasingly presenting it to him with the insistence that he wear it his entire birthday after he'd made a mocking slight to her skills in the domestic arts (a comment that had not been unwarranted…especially since kunoichi were usually much more absorbed with learning various methods for bringing death than keeping a clean and happy household as a wife, though it turned out that Sakura was indeed surprisingly good at knitting).

And there was the scroll painting she had had customized for him; a painting of ravens in flight over a thick forest grove…that had been later adorned with bioluminescent dust that spelled out "Happy Birthday Itachi-san" in the dark. It had been weeks before the glow died away, but Itachi had found himself feeling just a little bit forlorn once the message disappeared. The scroll itself still hung on his bedroom wall across from his futon.

But regardless of what she'd gotten him over the course of the years, there was still something missing…

'Selfishness,' his inner thoughts chided him as he rose to his feet to retire to his room. 'Just because you crave more from Sakura-san, does not mean you will be permitted to have it, no matter what Sasuke says.'

With that thought in his mind, Itachi ascended the stairs to the second floor, made the all too familiar walk to his bedroom, and slid open the door.

A warm breeze assaulted him from the open window of his bedroom, the chamber filled with a soft, warm light that emanated from the jar on the window's sill.

Azaleas and fireflies.

Itachi's entire body went still.

…

"Sasuke, it's time to go."

"But…Nii-san…"

The summer night air was warm, pleasantly so in comparison with the day's earlier heat, and for a second Itachi contemplated agreeing to let his little brother linger out in the closely wooded forest for just a few minutes more. But their mother tended to worry about her youngest, and he hardly wanted to give her another reason to be concerned. He knew the toll his missions took.

But all these thoughts were promptly chased away when, under the directive of his second call, a dark-haired six-year-old popped out of the woods with cupped hands…and a pale-haired little girl in tow.

She was probably Sasuke's age, and hardly came up past Itachi's waist, with big, luminescent eyes that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Or perhaps it was just the soft light that filled her hands from the fireflies that flitted around in the jar between her small palms.

Fireflies and several sprigs of delicate white flowers.

Azaleas.

"H-hello," she stammered cutely, her lips curving into a child's happy smile even as they tripped over her words in an adorable little stutter that would probably smooth out in a few years. "C-could Sasuke-kun stay…a little longer?"

"Look, Itachi-niisan!"

Excitably, his younger brother shoved his cupped hands under Itachi's nose, opening them just a little to proudly display the glowing beetle inside. His dark little eyes shone with happiness, and Itachi was hardly a monster.

Five more minutes couldn't hurt.

As his little brother happily stalked the glowing bugs that seemed to sparkle just out of reach in the underbrush, the little girl who had run into them that night plopped down beside Itachi himself, still cradling the jar in her hands.

"It's a n-nightlight," she told him in a conspiratorial whisper, glancing shyly from Itachi to Sasuke with her voice pitched so the younger couldn't hear her. "Ino-chan t-taught me how to make th-them. The flowers inside are sp-special." A cute little grin flashed across her features. "They m-mean 'Take care of yourself f-for me,' in flower-language."

"That's nice," he replied with a little nod of acknowledgment. "It would have been nice to have such an interesting nightlight. I'm ten…eleven," he corrected himself, "and I don't need one now, but it would have been nice."

"Is it…is it your birthday, Itachi-san?" the girl asked curiously, having obviously picked up on his change.

"Aa, I'm eleven today," he informed her, only to be surprised as her eyes grew round with excitement.

"Happy birthday, Itachi-san!" she told him, pushing the jar she'd been holding into his own, unresisting hands. "Eleven is…really old!"

It wasn't that old, though he supposed it might seem that way to a six-year-old (really the girl couldn't have been any older than Sasuke), and he didn't need a nightlight in the form of a jar with fireflies and flowers inside it, but it was a unique sort of birthday gift. And it was a good way to commemorate the event.

But then, she did something that surprised him to the core, leaving him speechless beyond the scope of his actually quite ample experience.

Clambering to her knees, the girl squirmed around, and leaned up to place a kiss on his cheek.

For the first time in his life, Itachi felt a warm flare start, spreading out from where her lips had grazed his skin, until they painted his entire face.

"That's how my Kaa-san says happy birthday to my Tou-san," the girl explained, for once not stuttering a sentence as she grinned at him innocently.

It was obvious that she didn't have much experience dealing with individuals that weren't her parents or she'd realize that this was not, in fact, a customary way of celebrating a newly made acquaintance's birthday, but Itachi couldn't find himself wanting to correct her. It had been…a surprisingly pleasant experience.

"Sakura!"

"Kaa-san's c-calling me," the girl said with a shy smile, scrambling to her feet as the words tripped over her tongue again, "but…I'll remember to give you another nightlight next year for your birthday, Itachi-san! I p-promise!"

Diving through the underbrush, she disappeared.

…

Only, she hadn't returned.

Itachi had actually slipped away from his birthday party early to see if she would come back to the wooded place they had first met, but she hadn't come back.

He had learned later that her family, well-to-do merchants that ranked among the civilians of Konoha's inhabitants, had gone on a shipping caravan and would be at least a year or two in returning. And when Sakura had come back, afire to learn the shinobi trade from what Itachi could garner from the little Sasuke said of school, she didn't seem to remember anything.

She had come over to the compound on more than one occasion to see Sasuke, with a blond boy named Naruto in tow, and she had never once seemed to recall him or the promise she'd made.

And it had been strangely disappointing.

Itachi couldn't profess to know what puppy love felt like, but whatever his emotions had been, he had tucked them away and slowly built his friendship with Sakura anew. One with no memories of the incident from when she was six.

To see the reminder of that time sitting on his windowsill so plainly could only mean one thing. It was the work of a moment to gently set the gift down on his desk, before darting through the window and out to the compound and beyond, his mind set on one location alone.

…

"I'm surprised it took you so long, Itachi-san."

The lilting voice echoed from the branches of a tall maple, but he didn't need the moonlight that flooded the grove to inform him of who it was in the trees. He would have known if it had been utter darkness.

"Sakura-san."

She indicated, casually, a branch beside the one she was occupying, and the invitation was clear.

"I didn't think I'd get back in time," she said rather nonchalantly once he'd settled himself beside her, more than a little curious as to her motives.

There were things he wanted to ask, but she seemed in a talkative mood, so he merely responded with a quiet, "Thank you," knowing her well enough now to let her say what she wanted when she was feeling this way.

"Uchiha Itachi, saying thanks?" she teased gently, "I should have recorded it."

And then she fell silent, as if lost in her own thoughts until the silence of the woods filled with the soft call of owls and the rustle of nocturnal creatures come out to play.

"I told you I'd remember, didn't I?"

He raised his eyebrow then and, not above a little teasing himself, allowed a low chuckle to escape him. "It took you thirteen years. If you recall, I turned twenty-four today, not twelve."

"Hey!" Sakura yelped, shooting the Uchiha a mock-offended glare, "I was six! Six-year-olds don't have perfect memories!"

The glare held for only so long as he responded to her outburst with a bland look, before she dissolved into soft giggles and surprised them both by coming to rest with her head on his shoulder.

"Happy birthday, Itachi-san."

"Itachi," he corrected near automatically. The closeness of her body, her head pillowed on his shoulder, it reminded him sharply of the fact that, over the years, he had come to crave more from her than just a genial friendship, the memories of a soft pair of lips against his cheeks surprisingly sharp in his mind. He wanted her to call him by something more intimate than the honorific that she had always used.

She had stiffened against him at the change, but then she nodded and her words floated up to his ears like mist. "Happy birthday, Itachi."

Silence enveloped them again, but this time it was no longer the comfortable camaraderie from before; the air was charged with tension that marked something momentous being put into motion…if only one of them chose to make a move.

"Do you remember what you did then?"

"Ye-,"

He did not, in fact, return the gesture, but with her lips sealed to his, Sakura decided that this was much better than the last time.

At least this one would stay much clearer in her memory.

owari

Hopefully this fic was to your guys' liking ^^ the muse would like to offer her apologies because she wasn't able to get this cracked out of me earlier. Oh and, if you check my profile...(I'm steeling myself to say this as I'm not sure what the outcome will be...) I am taking request fics. I've got four slots open still, so please check out my profile for further instructions if you want a oneshot written.

The muse craves your cookies and reviews ^^ and hopefully that'll keep her occupied!

Aria, out.