Birthdays

Sometimes the greatest gift…

Birthdays had never been a particularly pleasant event for Naruto, whether he was on the giving or the receiving end.

Sakura's birthday had come first in the team. He had made sure, a couple of years back, to find out exactly when her birthday was so that when the time was right he could present her with a present and she would jump happily into his arms and kiss him for all she was worth.

That was how he'd pictured it in his head, anyway. The reality was somewhat different.

March 28th had come, and they were up at the crack of dawn waiting for Kakashi. Sakura had been lounging on the railing, not-so-subtly dropping hints to Sasuke that it was her birthday and that it'd be really, really nice if he'd do something for her, even if it was small. Naruto sat there and scowled, switching it briefly to a bright smile whenever she looked at him.

He'd spent hours the day before searching for the perfect gift for her. Most of the shop keepers gave him strange looks when he asked "if you were a thirteen year old girl, what would you want," especially since most of them were men who got odd faraway expressions when he brought it up. He left all of the stores shaking his head and muttering about how weird they were.

Finally, he'd just decided that perhaps it would just be best to give her something he already had that wasn't very used. After all, she was a girl, and girls loved presents, right?

So, after she'd finished dropping a very obvious hint to Sasuke, and after he'd gone "hn" and turned to face the water on the opposite side, Naruto presented her with his gift—a small package wrapped clumsily in a few old pieces of paper he'd had lying around. She'd blushed and taken the gift, eagerly unwrapping it. Naruto watched happily, waiting for the squeal of joy when she saw what it was.

It never came.

He spent the rest of the day wondering why she'd thrown the model frog (which was eating a fly) back at him and then stormed off to fume. He'd thought the frog was cool.

Is not the most expensive…

Sasuke's birthday was next, arriving on a slightly cloudy July 23.

Sakura arrived at their training spot with a huge package wrapped in gaudy pink-and-silver wrapping, presumably leftovers from the stuff her parents had used on her birthday. She flushed a pretty pink and stammered and finally just shoved the present at Sasuke, making sure to flash him the appropriately girly-and-cute grin that she'd worked so hard on mastering.

He stared at it blankly, not making a move to open it or anything. Finally, he did, and he stared in barely-masked horror at the atrocious yukata he found inside the box. It was purple and somehow florid with strange designs embroidered in red, green, and light blue all over it. The obi that came with it was bright gold and brown, clashing horribly with the yukata, especially with the lime-green curlicues all over it.

"It's called paisley," Sakura said happily, waiting for the sincere thanks and the sweeping-into-the-arms and the kissing and everything.

Sasuke continued to stare blankly. "It's horrid," he finally said.

Sakura burst into tears and ran from the grounds. Kakashi appeared a few minutes later, wondering where she was and what the hell had happened.

Later that day, Naruto felt strangely guilty for not giving Sasuke a gift. He eventually figured it was because Sasuke didn't have a family either, and Naruto knew all too well what empty birthdays felt like, and even though Sasuke was his rival it didn't feel right to not give him anything.

Later that night, a slightly wilted tomato plant in a chipped and cracked pot found itself on Sasuke's doorstep. Sasuke stared at it for a while, then took it inside to water it.

Or the best thought out.

Kakashi's birthday, they found out from a slightly drunk Gai, was September 15.

Kakashi had actually done a good job of hiding the fact from them, since they were caught unawares by Gai on the actual day. They spent the subsequent hour frantically shopping to find something appropriate for their sensei—or rather, Sakura shopped, Sasuke sulked, and Naruto wondered what the hell made girls so crazy whenever they entered yet another store.

Finally, when they arrived at the grounds (later than Kakashi, for once—he made them skip lunch because of it), Sakura had what she deemed was the perfect gift. Happily, she presented him with a set of new masks in pink, purple, yellow, and light green. It was to brighten up his drab wardrobe, she said, smiling happily the whole while. Sasuke sniffed and turned away, and Kakashi stared dubiously at the gift.

"Thank you," he said simply. Then he looked past them, widening his eyes. "Gaara!" he said, pointing, and the rest of Team 7 turned to look. When they turned back, he had donned the bright purple mask and was grinning behind it.

Later, Sasuke pressed a set of the newest kunai into Kakashi's hand. It seemed that since Kakashi had obtained a Sharingan, the Uchiha clan had started an extensive file on Kakashi, including everything except for the exact length of his birthmark and, for some reason, Kakashi's favorite color. It did, however, include Kakashi's birthday, so he had had time to get Kakashi a decent present.

Naruto went home that night, again feeling a bit guilty for not getting Kakashi anything. He sat there and thought for a while, then got up and made his way over to Kakashi's house.

Kakashi woke up the next morning to find a pot with a healthy, strong plant in it. Checking the pot, he found a small tag naming the plant "Mr. Ukki." Kakashi checked it over a bit to make sure there was no lingering poison on it, then picked it up and took it inside, placing it on the shelf over his bed next to the pictures of his teams.

Often, the best present is simply…

Naruto's birthday dawned on October 10th. He rolled out of bed, whacking his head on the sharp corner of the nightstand, and heated up some of his special birthday ramen—miso flavor, of course, but a more expensive brand that tasted better. He seriously considered staying inside today and skipping practice—he could always say that he'd had to help an old lady fetch her cat and had broken his leg in the process because the stupid cat had refused to come down, all said with a perfectly innocent look—but then decided that Kakashi would notice the conspicuous lack of a broken leg the next morning and would most likely not let him eat lunch because of it.

He told himself, quite vehemently, that he didn't want to skip practice because he knew that no one would wish him a "Happy birthday!" or give him anything; it was just that he'd hit his head and it hurt, damnit.

The walk through the village was not particularly pleasant. Those who were old enough to know what he was just glared at him, and those who weren't old enough ignored him as they usually did. Plus, the entire village was dressed in black or other somber colors, as if it were a funeral. It didn't make for a pleasant birthday. When he arrived at the training grounds, however, he noticed that Sakura was dressed in her usual red and was relieved.

The training session passed without any unusual incidents, barring Sasuke turning tomato red when Kakashi was pinning him, but Naruto didn't particularly want to know the details of that incident. Sasuke had a strange habit of turning red around Kakashi, anyway. Afterwards, Naruto opted to take a long walk around the perimeter of the village, avoiding any more nasty looks from the villagers as they mourned the death of the Yondaime. God, the old man had been dead for thirteen years now; you'd figure they would have gotten over it already, he groused. Finally, an hour after the sun had set, he figured he should get home and get some sleep before the next day's training session.

When he arrived at his apartment, he nearly stumbled over something lying in front of his door. Cursing quietly, he cradled his injured knee (why the hell was there something sharp where someone could fall on it?!) and took a look at what had tried to kill him.

It was a small package wrapped in plain navy cloth. Curious, he tore it open. What he found inside nearly made him burst into tears.

Inside the package was a new set of gardening tools and a coupon for the Ichiraku Ramen. That wasn't what had made him tear up, though.

Accompanying the objects was a card reading "From all of us. Happy birthday, Naruto" in Sakura's neat calligraphy. Following it were her initials, Kakashi's, Sasuke's (scribbled so messily that Naruto could barely read them), and, surprisingly, Iruka's.

Beaming happily, Naruto gathered up the package and entered his apartment, making sure to kick away the stupid pointy object lying in front of the door. He resolved to be extra nice to Sakura and to pick an extra-special fight with Sasuke the next day.

After all, for the first time in his life, someone had recognized his birthday and had celebrated that, instead of the Yondaime's death, and that was something that deserved a little gratitude.

Something well intentioned.

Author's Notes: I know this has already been done, and several times, but I was in a sappy mood and I just couldn't resist. I'll probably end up editing this slightly, since I think a couple parts need to be fleshed out a bit and Naruto's section was ended a bit clumsily, but I'm pretty happy with it overall.

Also, this used to be posted a while ago, but it disappeared for some reason. Go figure.