"Happy Birthdays"
Part 1: July 23
Uchiha Sasuke hated birthday presents.
It wasn't because he hated his birthday. It was true, each one so far marked another year that he'd failed to kill Itachi. But it was also a reminder that he was that much stronger, that much faster, and that much closer to his goal. It wasn't because of who gave him the gifts either. Grocers and restaurants would offer him free food, shop owners tried to give him discounts, and of course The Fangirls attempted to bury him in a pile of gifts ranging from flowers and sweets to scrolls and equipment and, in at least once case, a kitten. It wasn't even what the gifts were (most of the time, anyway – a lot of his fangirls had an odd idea of what they thought the raven would like for a present).
The simple fact was that Sasuke hated birthday gifts because he hated the entire idea of gifts in general. The only reason other people gave presents to others, in his opinion, was so that the recipients would be obligated to pay back somehow. The restaurants, shop owners, and grocers gave freebies and discounts in the hopes that you'd continue to buy from them at full price later; friends and family gave each other gifts in the hopes that they'd get one in return; and the fangirls thought that they could use presents to buy their object of affection's love. Birthdays, Valentine's Day, Christmas – the endless exchanges of gifts and favors just annoyed Sasuke to no end.
However, there was only one type of gift that he actually agreed with: the anonymous kind. The only reason the sender would choose to not identify themselves is because they didn't expect anything in return. Oh, Sasuke was sure they wanted something; but if they were willing to hide their identity and thereby give up any chance of reprisal then they had to believe they wouldn't get it anyway. And yet they still gave the gift. He'd never understood the logic behind that, but he wasn't about to argue.
Ever since he was eight, someone had been leaving a gift on his doorstep every year on his birthday – a small bag of fresh tomatoes. There was never any card or note or anything; only once had there been anything like that, the very first time he'd returned home for a birthday without his family and had discovered the bag with a little store-bought tag printed with the words "Happy Birthday" tied to it. It wasn't like Sasuke could refuse it. There was no one to refuse. And if he gave it to someone else he'd just be participating in the very cycle of give-to-receive that he hated. Besides, it was tomatoes. You just don't refuse tomatoes. It isn't done! So every year someone left Sasuke a bag of tomatoes for his birthday – and every year Sasuke picked up the bag and took it inside.
Whoever it was that left them, Sasuke was sure that they had to be growing them themselves. He'd never seen (or tasted!) tomatoes quite as good as these were, or as big. No matter which store or market stand he went to, he just couldn't find them. And if Sasuke couldn't buy them, then it stood to reason that the anonymous gifter couldn't either; so they had to be giving him something they grew. And Sasuke wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Were they giving him extras that they wouldn't eat? Were they setting aside some to make sure they didn't forget? Or were they growing them just for him and him alone? He didn't know…but he liked to think that it was the last reason.
So when Sasuke returned home the evening of his thirteenth birthday and saw who it was that had been leaving him tomatoes for the past six years, the first thing that he did was panic and hide. This wasn't right, he wasn't supposed to know. He couldn't know. If he knew, then he wouldn't be able to accept the gift. If he accepted the gift then he'd have to pay that person back, return the favor, and that was something he would not do.
The second thing he did was wonder, Why would Naruto want to leave me a gift?
Yes, Sasuke's anonymous gifter was none other than Konoha's number one unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja, Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke stayed hidden as the blond, completely unaware of his audience, carefully examined the tomatoes one last time. Then he smiled and nodded to himself, apparently pleased with the quality of his gift, before he set the bag down gently in front of the door and turned to leave. When he saw this Sasuke quietly moved further back into his hiding spot. It was bad enough that he knew who was leaving him the presents; if Naruto found out that he knew then the dobe was certain to start demanding return gifts. He could almost hear him now: "Hey teme, you owe me for six years worth of presents you know! But if you pay for all my ramen for the next six years I'll call us even." The raven-haired ninja shuddered.
But Naruto just walked right past him. Dobe really needs to work on his observation skills or he's going to get himself killed someday… He waited until the blond was completely out of sight (which took a bit – orange isa highly visible color) before finally walking up to his door, looking down at the bag. He sighed.
Should he take them? If Sasuke took the bag wouldn't he owe Naruto a gift in return? Or was he fine as long as Naruto didn't know he knew? He'd never been in this kind of situation before. The whole thing was so confusing…this was why he hated gifts! Sasuke brought his hand up to his forehead and rubbed it – he could feel a headache coming on. "Dammit, dobe."
But, now that he knew who was giving them to him he could just refuse to accept the gift at all. Yes, that's what he'd have to do. He sighed again, then picked up the bag and turned to leave. It was a shame though, Sasuke thought, since they were always such good tomatoes…
He stopped.
Sasuke knew that it was Naruto who had been leaving the tomatoes every year. He also knew that whoever had been leaving the tomatoes was growing them themselves. But…that didn't make any sense. Why would Naruto, who hated all fruits and vegetables with a passion, be growing tomatoes?
Unless he's growing them just for me…
He looked down at the bag in his hand. Why? Why would the dobe go to the trouble of growing tomatoes just for him every year and then leave them without any indication of who sent them? Why would he put all that time and effort into a gift he'd never be thanked for, for a person who insulted him with every other breath? Sasuke just didn't understand…no, he did. He knew exactly why the blond would do this. Naruto grew the tomatoes because saw Sasuke as a friend, but left them anonymously because he was just too scared of rejection to do it face to face. And if Sasuke were to refuse them now, simply because he knew who was leaving them…it would break the blond's heart. He just couldn't do that. He couldn't hurt the only other person in the entire village who understood what true loneliness felt like.
And they were really good tomatoes. You just don't refuse tomatoes.
Hefting the bag over his shoulder, Sasuke turned and headed back into his house. He was hungry, and had several perfectly good tomatoes to eat up. As he thought through several recipes that he could use for dinner he decided that he couldn't spend too long cooking, eating, and cleaning up; he needed some time to think before heading to bed. He wanted to go over just what he knew about Naruto and figure out what all he liked – besides ramen, of course.
He only had a little over three months till October, after all.
