Tenzou's never celebrated his birthday, and Genma and the team are determined to change that.

[I think I literally gave myself a cavity writing this chapter. I honestly don't think I've ever written something so sweet in my life.]

[10.5.14 Little update. I got a comment about Genma's age, so I thought I'd just mention that for this chapter, the team's ages are the following: Tenzou - 16, Kakashi - 20, Genma - 23, and Raido -24. These obviously won't be the exact age gaps from the manga, but hey, this is my fic and I do what I want. :P]

"I don't know."

Genma gave the young Mokuton user a confused look. "What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know when your own birthday is?"

Tenzou shrugged, leaning back against his headboard and encouraging a little sprout to spring up from his palm. "I just don't. We never recognized birthdays in the Foundation. We simply age with the new year."

Genma was uncharacteristically quiet, causing Tenzo to look up in concern to find the senbon-loving shinobi staring at him, his mouth hanging open slightly. Before Tenzou could ask him what was wrong, the door to their dormitory room opened and Raido and Kakashi entered with sacks of lunch for the team. Handing Genma his portion, Raido raised an eyebrow at his friend's slack jawed look.

"What's up with you?"

Genma shook his head, though whether it was to pull himself together or in utter disbelief, Tenzou couldn't be sure. "Tenzou doesn't have a birthday."

Raido snorted out a laugh. "What are you talking about? Of course he does. He's alive, isn't he?"

"No shit, wiseass," Genma frowned, shoving the scarred shinobi so hard he almost slipped off Genma's bed. "What I mean is that he doesn't know when his birthday is."

"Really?" Kakashi asked from over on his own bed, his normally bored voice sounding vaguely interested.

Frankly, Tenzou didn't understand the fuss. He knew that when this year was over, he would be roughly sixteen years old, though Genma was right, he didn't know the exact day of his birth. There were a lot of things he didn't know about himself, like what family he had belonged to before getting captured by Orochimaru and whether or not his parents were still alive. He'd actually forgotten about the tradition of celebrating birthdays until joining Anbu and Team Hound. His new teammates were fiercely loyal to each other and apparently part of that friendship bond required remembering the day of each other's birth in order to feed them lavishly and occasionally give them new weapons or books.

They had celebrated Genma's twenty-third birthday just last week, and he had received a set of brand new stainless steel senbon from Raido and the new Icha Icha Paradise book from Kakashi. Tenzou had actually forgotten about this strange gift giving ritual, but had excused himself briefly to create an intricately carved wooden kunai. Ever since, Genma had been bothering Tenzou about his own birthday, noting that they had yet to celebrate with the Mokuton user even though he'd been a member of their team for nearly two years.

Tenzou shrugged and stood, eager to get away from his teammates and their prying, confusing questions. He walked toward the door, waving a hand behind him. "Stop worrying about it, Genma. I've never celebrated my birthday, so why start now?"

Tenzou probably intended that to be a reassuring statement, but after he left the room it hovered over his teammates like a dark cloud. Raido nudged the senbon-chewing shinobi at his side with a shoulder. "You shouldn't push him like that."

"I know," Genma grumbled, glaring down at the remainder of his lunch. "It's just… It's hard to imagine what Tenzou's childhood must have been like. No family, no friends, no birthdays… It makes me sick."

Raido gave his friend a fond smile. Genma was a skilled and ruthless Anbu shinobi and while he might act casual and coarse, he was fiercely loyal and cared deeply about all his friends. A sudden idea struck the scarred shinobi. "Well, then why don't we give Tenzou a real birthday?"

"What do you mean?" Genma asked. "We don't even know when his real birthday is."

"Then let's pick a date for him."

"Oh sure, and what date do you suggest?"

Raido frowned, thinking, and Kakashi decided his interest had been peeked. He hopped off his own bunk, coming to perch on the edge of Tenzou's bed across from his teammates. "Friday will mark two years since Tenzou joined our team."

Two pairs of eyes lit up at the suggestion. "Alright, we'll do it on Friday. What is that, August 10th? Unless something sudden comes up, they've already put out the mission roster for the week and we're all unscheduled. Maybe we can see about officially getting the day off…"

"How should we celebrate?" Raido asked, always one for getting to the heart of the matter. "Any ideas, captain?"

Kakashi paused, thinking. All shinobi were taught to enjoy the simple pleasures; it didn't take much more than a roof over their head, a warm meal, and a few good stories between friends to make most shinobi happy. Very few shinobi had the luxury of many material possessions, and Anbu agents in particular generally owned only what they could carry in their mission packs. Birthday presents usually consisted of practical items, like new shuriken or a fresh piece of cloth for their hitai-ate headbands.

So what could Tenzou's teammates do for him that was special enough to make him understand the importance of celebrating his birthday? As a member of Anbu, his gear and weapons were kept in good repair and he had access to a seemingly endless supply of shuriken and kunai. As far as Kakashi knew, his kohai didn't have any hobbies. Not that Danzo or the Council had ever allowed Tenzou the time as a child to play and discover his interests like everyone else.

That's it. Kakashi wanted to smack himself as though it was the most obvious answer in the world. For Tenzou's birthday they could give him the one thing he had never had: a day of being a normal citizen of Konoha. The captain quickly expressed this to his teammates, to mixed reactions. As expected, Genma looked enthusiastic about the idea while Raido looked slightly apprehensive.

"You want to take Tenzou into the village?" Raido asked hesitantly. "Don't get me wrong, I think the kid would get a kick out of it. But the Council will never allow it."

Damn, he'd forgotten about the Council and all their ridiculous restrictions on Tenzou's activities. Kakashi sighed, crossing his arms over his chest in resolve. "Leave the Council to me."

"I'm afraid we don't understand."

Kakashi sighed and internally counted to ten. He would most certainly not get any favors from the Council of Elders if he went off on them like he wanted to. Feeling his annoyance still simmering in his stomach, he explained again. "My team would like to take Tenzou into the village with us so that he can experience a taste of civilian life."

"Right," Lady Koharu said dubiously, pinching the bridge of her nose as though the simple proposition pained her. "And why the sudden desire to do this?"

Kakashi shifted slightly in embarrassment. "We intend to celebrate his birthday, m'Lady."

Hiruzen the Third gave Kakashi a piercing look, nursing his pipe, while Lord Danzo gave a gruff laugh. "Ridiculous. The Mokuton user has no birthday. Besides, it is far too dangerous to allow such an important asset to wander the Village freely."

"Tenzou," Kakashi replied, stiffening slightly in utter dislike of the speaker, "is more than capable of protecting himself and would be accompanied by the rest of my Anbu team. There would be no reason to reveal his Mokuton; he would simply be a civilian for the day. As for the date, my team and I plan to celebrate the day that he first joined our team. I find observing such dates to be important for team moral."

Lord Homura looked at Kakashi over the top of his glasses, his expression somewhat amused. "Team moral, huh? Why not build team moral on the Anbu grounds? Pick up food from the Village and celebrate there."

"With all due respect, my Lord," Kakashi replied swiftly, his face deadly serious. "It would be beneficial for Tenzou to experience civilian life. As a member of Anbu, he needs to be able to adapt to any situation and environment. As of right now, his understanding of social interactions are, shall we say, limited. You all know as well as I do that Anbu is not necessarily the best place to pick up the best social skills; a brief outing may prove most instructive."

The Council was silent, considering Kakashi's words. He could tell that he'd baited the old man Homura and although Hiruzen's face was carefully blank, his eyes glowed in amusement. Clearing his throat, the Hokage spoke up. "I for one, think it is a good idea."

"Of course you do," Danzo scoffed from across the table. "Again, let me remind you the dangers of revealing such an asset-"

"Oh, come now, Danzo." Hiruzen cut him off, sounding exasperated. "Kakashi just wants to show the boy around the Village, not to walk around showing off the Mokuton. Very few people even know that we have a Mokuton user in Anbu, let alone what Tenzou's face looks like."

Danzo opened his mouth to protest more, but the other two council members were already nodding. "Alright, it's settled. The Mokuton user may spend one day in the Village as a civilian, but he must not leave your sight, Hatake, and we're going to impose a nine pm curfew for this excursion. Should anything happen to the boy, you will be held directly responsible, do you understand?"

Kakashi nodded and bowed in grateful respect, glad that his mask made it difficult to see his smile. That hadn't been so hard after all.

"Oi, Tenzou, wake up." Genma shook the sleeping young man lightly.

Tenzou stirred and scrunched up his face in protest, although he almost immediately sat up, completely awake. Damn his training. "What's going on? I thought we had today off."

"We do," Raido confirmed from across the room, chucking a stack of clothes at the Mokuton user. "But we also have plans for today, so get up and put those on."

Tenzou held up the offered clothes to find a set of standard issue navy navy pants and long sleeve shirt along with a green green tactical vest. "I don't understand. This isn't my uniform."

"No, it's not," Kakashi answered tying his own hitai-ate headband around his head and pulling it down over his scarred eye. "But we can't have you wandering the Village dressed as Anbu, now, can we?"

"Wandering the Vil…" Tenzou trailed off, face lightly up as he looked up at Kakashi. "I get to go into the Village today? But the Council-"

"Don't worry about the Council," Kakashi assured his kohai. "I got us both the day off, but also permission to take you into the Village with us today. Now hurry up and get dressed so we can go."

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. Dressed in his borrowed uniform, Tenzou followed his teammates around the village, trying not to stare at the normal civilians around him as they went about their daily lives. The teammates hadn't planned anything too extreme, not wanting to tip Tenzou off about what they were actually doing and risk his shutting them down. So instead they simply ran a few errands, taking Tenzou into his first ever market and bookstore. As they wandered around, his teammates pointed out the various buildings and their significance and at one point Kakashi began to worry that Tenzou would have a serious crick in his neck at the end of the day from trying to take everything in at once.

As evening drew near, they met up with a few of their classmates from their academy days as planned. Gai, Kurenai and Asuma met them at a sweet shop where Tenzou tried his first sweet dumplings and met his first non-Anbu shinobi outside of the Hokage and Anbu support staff. There happened to be a small street fair going on, and Tenzou wandered each and every booth under the protective eye of Kakashi, openly amazed at just how much stuff there was to buy and eat. He even made his very first purchase, a little decorative spinning top that Kakashi didn't have the heart to tell him was terribly over-priced. They ended the day by treating Tenzou to his first ever restaurant experience at the barbeque shop. The Mokuton user's teammates couldn't remember the last time they'd eaten dinner this early, but given that they had been lucky to get the permission of the Council at all they decided not to push their luck and carefully abide by the nine o'clock curfew.

Bowl raised slightly to cover his face in place of his mask, Kakashi watched as Tenzou chewed absently on his barbequed meat, completely absorbed in whatever ridiculous story Gai was now telling. Genma and Raido were egging the taijutsu user on with eyerolls and wisecracks. The birthday boy looked practically radiant in his borrowed uniform surrounded by his teammates and their friends. Kakashi could only hope that he had enjoyed his day as a normal citizen of Konoha and wished not for the first time that the Council wouldn't restrict him so much.

As Gai's story wound down, Genma elbowed Raido hard in the ribs and the scarred shinobi cleared his throat. "So, Tenzou, what'd you think of today?"

"It was great," Tenzou said, genuine happiness shining in his brown eyes. "Thank you guys for allowing me to tag along with you."

"Don't be ridiculous, kid, it's your birthday," Raido stated matter of factly, reaching down to pick up the wrapped package from his side. "And we've got a few gifts here for you to open."

Accepting the package as it was passed across the table, Tenzou looked completely stunned. "My birthday? But… You guys didn't have to do all this."

Raido laughed, waving off his protests. "Just open it."

Tenzou ripped off the paper almost cautiously, as though he'd never been faced with such a task before. Which, Kakashi mused, he probably hadn't. Underneath the brown paper was a compact yet thick hardcover book with the title embossed in gold on the cover. Tenzou flipped through it hurriedly in interest. "'The Fundamentals of Architecture and Design?'"

"I've noticed you've been playing around with your building design a little," Raido shrugged. The scarred shinobi had always been particularly interested in Tenzou's Mokuton skills. "Thought it might give you a little inspiration."

Tenzou's face lit up as he looked flipped through the book, taking in the glossy pictures. "Thank you, Raido."

"Alright, alright, read it later," Genma whined, tossing a slightly larger package at the startled Mokuton user. "That one's from me."

Tenzou unwrapped the awkwardly wrapped package to find a green drawstring pouch. Looking slightly confused, he opened it slightly and pulled out a strange tiny purple cube. "Uh, Genma?"

"It's a chakra supplement," Genma explained. "They're twice the strength of our regulation food pills and ration bars. We all know using your Moku- erm, your technique takes twice as much chakra as any standard jutsu, so I figured that means you just need twice the nutrients. It's no fun dragging your heavy butt back to the village every other mission."

Nodding in understanding, Tenzou dropped the supplement back into the pouch. Kakashi could tell that even the still slightly socially-inept young shinobi had caught the real words hidden in Genma's casual speech. I get worried when you work yourself to exhaustion, so I wanted to make sure you never do it again. "Wow. Thanks, Genma."

"Don't worry about it, kid."

Gai suddenly leaned forward over the table, capturing Kurenai and Asuma in a one armed hug. "Young Tenzou, because we had not met yet, we do not have a gift for you to open. But we can offer you the best gift ever, the gift of FRIENDSHIP!"

The taijutsu user ended his brief speech a bit louder than necessary, causing everyone in the party to wince and the restaurant's other customers to lean out of their own cubicles to stare at them. Even still, Tenzou looked honored and inclined his head slightly. "Thank you, Gai. I can only hope that I am worthy of your friendship."

Nobody really knew how to respond to that, so they all turned to look pointedly at Kakashi instead. The young Anbu captain was notoriously horrible at birthday gifts. He either gave gifts that were completely irrelevant to the receiver or forgot entirely. His teammates were hoping that because it was Tenzou's first ever birthday celebration, he had at least tried a little harder than normal. Kakashi suppressed a smirk; boy would he ever show them wrong.

"Tenzou," Kakashi said, reaching under the table and withdrawing a long, slim box. "I know shinobi have no real need for anything other than practical gifts, but I saw this and… immediately thought of you."

Eyes widening, Tenzou opened the box with an almost reverent silence and the rest of the group leaned forward to get a good look. Inside was the most beautiful sword any of the them had ever seen. The blade was sharp and thin, engraved with a design of interweaving vines. The hilt was a striking carving of a twisting tree, its branches traveling slightly up the blade.

Tenzou's breath caught in his throat, and he gently lifted the beautiful sword out of the box, raising it slightly to everyone could see. "S-senpai. It's beautiful. Thank you."

After admiring the blade himself, Tenzou passed it around to the other shinobi, who handled it serious care and respect. Kakashi smiled behind his mask; yep, he'd shown them. That was when he noticed that Tenzou sat slightly slouched over, fisted hands pressed into his legs, shaking slightly. But it was the young man's face that took Kakashi most off guard. Tenzou looked vaguely distressed and confused, tears rolling down his smooth cheeks from his intense almond eyes.

Kakashi leaned forward to put a hand on his kohai's arm. "Tenzou, what's wrong?"

As Tenzou looked up at his captain, a tear dripped down onto his hand. His look of confusion increased and he raised a hand to his face, feeling the liquid running down his cheeks. "I'm...crying?"

Everyone else was now looking at the two shinobi, and Kakashi struggled not to laugh at the sudden look of horror and embarrassment that came over Tenzou's face. Sixteen years old or not, the young man was still so innocent, so new to normal human interactions and emotions. If Kakashi had to guess, Tenzou had probably only ever cried a handful of times before, if that many.

"How can I be crying?" Tenzou mumbled, rubbing at his eyes in what seemed like annoyance. "People cry when they are sad, and I am not- I have never been so happy before. So why am I crying?"

Genma and Raido smiled fondly at their dense little Mokuton user. Genma laughed, reaching across the table to ruffle the young man's brown hair. "People cry when they're happy too, doofus."

Kakashi watched as Tenzou continued to fight the tears, his expression caught halfway between a genuine smile and a complete meltdown. His kohai was clearly overwhelmed and confused by all the care that had been shown for him today, and the thought that Tenzou had never had anyone show him such basic kindness made Kakashi want to kill somebody. He'd start with Orochimaru for kidnapping and experimenting on Tenzou as a child, then Danzo for taking advantage of the orphaned survivor and sucking him into the darkness that was the Foundation. Heck, so long as he was hypothetically killing people who'd hurt his kohai, Kakashi would take out the Council of Elders as well. As far as he was concerned, their insistence on restricting Tenzou within the confines of Anbu was almost as bad as the isolation he'd faced in the Foundation. And he might smack the Lord Third around a bit for allowing it all to happen, too.

"It's alright to cry, kohai," Kakashi murmured, confirming Genma's words. "Shinobi or not, it's part of being human. We're just glad that that you enjoyed yourself today."

Tenzou nodded, pulling himself together somewhat. "Senpai, everyone, thank you for making today… well, if I'm honest, it was probably the best day of my life. Gai, Kurenai, Asuma, I do not know when I will be able to see you again, but I will forever be grateful for your offer of friendship."

"Genma, Raido, Senpai…" Tenzou glanced at his teammates, blushing slightly. "I have heard many people talk about their families and I never really understood before. But now I think I might."

Genma slung an arm around a blushing Raido and gave their younger teammate a blinding grin around the senbon still clenched between his teeth. Asuma and Kurenai were smiling although they looked a little unclear about what Tenzou was talking about, while Gai was flopped down on the table, crying about the beauty of youth and the meaning of true friendship. Kakashi simply smiled behind his mask, feeling his chest grow warm and expand with a very un-Kakashi-like feeling of wanting to hug every single person in the room. In front of him, Tenzou laughed nervously and swiped at his eyes with the back of one hand.

That kid had gotten to him bad.