Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in it.
A/N: For the readers of my Itachi birthday fic, "Tanjoubi Omedetou", please pretend the events of that story never took place while you're reading this. Thanks, and enjoy!
It's Still Your Birthday
~:~
The first birthday party held for Uchiha Sasuke was when he was six years old.
At age five-almost six-he was old enough to notice that other children had special gatherings on the day they were born, while he had never had one. After making this observation, he went to his parents and requested a party of his own.
His father had sighed, his mother had blinked with surprise, and they both gave him their full attention.
"Where did this come from?" Fugaku grumbled, addressing the issue with reluctance. He had hoped his younger son would follow the example of Itachi and not notice the existence of birthday parties until he was too old to care.
Sasuke squirmed, but held his ground. "I-I saw some other kids having a party the other day," he explained uncomfortably. "So I asked what was going on, and somebody told me that it was for one of the kids' birthday. I..I thought it might be fun to do something like that.." His voice trailed off as his father's expression grew pained. It was a well-known fact that Uchiha Fugaku greatly disliked parties.
"I'm sorry, honey," Mikoto said softly. "I can't believe we never had a birthday party for you before; I guess it just.." She bit her lip. Itachi had never shown any interest in birthday parties, so she and her husband had never had to organize one. They'd gotten used to not throwing parties, never guessing that their younger son might feel differently. She felt awful.
"It's alright," Sasuke said quickly, seeing the unhappy look on his mother's face and misinterpreting it. "I don't need one. I'm sorry I asked." He turned and started to rush from the room, but Mikoto quickly jumped from her chair and stopped him.
"Sasuke, relax," she said, kneeling down to meet his eyes and smiling. "Of course you can have a party. We'll have to send out the invitations by tomorrow, though, since your birthday's only a few days away.."
Fugaku groaned, but shut up as his wife gave him a warning look. Sasuke positively glowed. He said his excited thank-yous and ran to tell his brother the news.
~:~
When Sasuke was nearing his eighth birthday, his mother promised a third party. Birthday parties had become a tradition for the family as far as Sasuke was concerned; a practice which Sasuke and Mikoto delighted in, Fugaku suffered through, and Itachi tolerated.
The party never took place, however. Half-finished plans for the event were discarded and scattered to the winds along with the ashes of most of Sasuke's family.
His childhood ended abruptly, and parties became the last thing in the world on his mind.
~:~
When Sasuke turned thirteen, he ignored the significance of the date as he usually did, and went about his business like nothing was different.
Or at least, he attempted to. His teammates had other plans.
Sakura gave him a gift; something unimportant and not useful in the slightest, but it was still something. Kakashi and Naruto, Sasuke decided, had made a pact to be as annoying as possible that day, a feat which was undeniably accomplished. His sensei called him "the birthday boy" for the entirety of the day, and a wickedly grinning Naruto burst into some rendition of "Happy Birthday" so many times, the Uchiha cracked and threatened to strangle him.
It was irritating. It was pointless.
It was…nice.
When he got home, there was a piece of paper stuck to the door of the Uchiha compound. It read "Happy birthday" in vaguely familiar handwriting.
Feeling old ghosts trying to resurface, he shivered and shredded the paper with his bare hands.
~:~
Sasuke's fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth birthdays were spent in the company of Orochimaru and his cronies, hidden away in a dark hideout. Those days were blessedly ignored by everyone-excluding the snake lord himself.
The pale Sannin would give him a long look, and smile in his slow way. "Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun," he would say in that slimy voice, and the boy in question would hide a shudder, nod curtly, and retreat.
Sasuke never hated his birthday more than he did in those years.
~:~
The day he turned seventeen, Sasuke was sitting in a dank, high-security cell in a Konoha prison reserved specifically for traitors and rogues.
Danzo would have given him the death penalty, especially after Sasuke had wounded the elders and almost-almost, he had been so close-killed them. It was a good thing Tsunade woke from her comatose state first.
Or was it?
He didn't feel that wasting the rest of his life away behind bars was lucky.
Sasuke sighed. Maybe things would have been better if Tsunade hadn't woken up in time to save his life.
Because really, who could call this miserable existence a life?
~:~
July twenty-third. Sasuke's eighteenth birthday.
Not much had changed since last year; at least, that he knew about. No news was given to prisoners; he supposed it was all part of the psychological torture process-being cut off entirely from the outside world.
No; as far as he could tell, nothing had changed. He still sat in this dark cell, sitting on a cold floor behind a thick, windowless, knobless door, stripped of his ability to manipulate or even use chakra thanks to the special chains used. He had gotten somewhat used to be unaware of the time or date, or even whether it was day or night.
Second after second, he listened to nothing, said nothing, tried his utmost best to think of nothing.
He saw only empty blackness with physical eyes that had long since gone dark thanks to the Mangekyo Sharingan. With his mental eye he only saw his life, or what passed for it, slowly slipping away.
If there had been someone else around, they just might have said a lifeless Happy birthday. What a joke.
Sasuke didn't even know it was his birthday.
Nothing differentiated one dreary moment from another.
~:~
He was now nineteen. Strangely enough, someone bothered to inform him of this fact.
Something had happened very recently that made speaking to him slightly easier. He had been moved from one cell to another.
This new cell had bars on one side instead of the thick door he used to have. The guards that had moved him ended up needing to carry him-Sasuke hadn't moved one single time in almost two years, and his muscles couldn't handle the sudden strain of walking.
He didn't care about the new arrangements, however. Under his circumstances, putting things in perspective, who would?
~:~
The twentieth birthday of Uchiha Sasuke begins the same way the day before it did. And the day before that one. And the day before that; etc., etc. He expects nothing different; expects nothing to change.
For awhile, nothing does. There is the typical silence in the cell, during which Sasuke does something he very rarely does.
He thinks. He contemplates the past, painful as it was; the present, despite the fact that it is not a pleasant picture; and most frightening of all..the future.
His future.
A lot has been sacrificed, by several different people, so that his life might go on. And what is he doing with it? Nothing. Waving at it as it passes him by.
There is much, much, much deliberation-where is this sudden discontent coming from?-but at long last, a decision is made.
Tomorrow, he decides with new resolution, he is going to speak to the Hokage about possible probation arrangements. He will inquire as to the existence of any legal loophole that might be exploited to gain his release. He will do whatever she asks of him. But he is going to do something. Something.
After all, he is an Uchiha. If there is one worthwhile thing the clan taught him, it is to never accept failure.
A shadow of a smirk crosses his face for the barest instant. It's a far cry from the cocky, easy smirk he used to use, but it's something. Maybe in time.
Feeling like more than just a shadow for the first time in so long, feeling something almost akin to satisfaction, he leans back against the cold wall of his prison cell and sleeps.
Sasuke doesn't know, of course, that his nap will be rudely interrupted in less than an hour by a certain familiar pair who finally, after nearly three years of nonstop nagging and pleading, convinced the Hokage to give them the top-secret whereabouts of their old teammate's prison.
He doesn't know that they will be tearing down the hallway with identical wide, though slightly apprehensive grins, their feet pounding on the stone floor, all but yelling with excitement.
He doesn't know that in a few hours, his own face will be temporarily adorned with a smile, which will quickly be hidden of course; but it still will have been there, and he will know this.
Sasuke doesn't know that he will soon be in the company of the two people who mean the most to him in this world, and that he will somehow be able to 'see' them despite his blindness.
He doesn't know any of that, but he will soon. And then he will note that this is the greatest birthday he has had in a long time.
~:Owari:~
A/N: I wanted some fluff. So sue me.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SASUKE!!!