That's right, folks, the second birthday of the year is none other than Aburame Shino! This fanfic is fairly short, and mostly designed to be humourous. Please don't take offense to it...XP I don't hate Shino in any way, he's just not one of my absolute favourites; mostly because he barely says or does anything, except in the fillers at the end of the first series. And he's kinda easy to forget about...I know I'm guilty of it. Lol. I actually completely forgot about him when I was telling a friend about this fic. I told her, "Yeah, January has three birthdays, one right after the other, pretty much. There's Gaara on the 19th, there's...umm...someone else, I can't remember, on the 23rd, and then there's (MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'm not telling you guys who's coming up next!) on the 25th." It wasn't until a little while later, when we were talking about something totally unrelated, that I remembered, "Oh, it's SHINO that's on the 23rd! Oops!"

This can really take place anywhere you want it to, since I don't think there's anything that really says what time period it should be in...so if you like imagining them as their Shippuden selves, like I do, then go right ahead and place it during Shippuden. If you prefer imagining them as they were before Shippuden, then go ahead and place it during the first series. XP Credit goes out to Deidara is my conscience for helping come up with part of the idea for this. In fact, there are quite a few of these that she's helped me with. XD

Chapter 2

Shino

"Hey, Shino," Kiba said randomly one day as Squad 8 sat around, doing nothing, "your birthday's coming up soon, isn't it?" Hinata looked up at this.

"It is?" she asked. "I didn't know that..."

"It doesn't surprise me that you didn't know," Shino said. "My birthday has been the same day every year, and only my dad ever remembers it. There must just be something about me and my dad that makes people forget about us."

"We don't forget about you," Hinata said kind of defensively.

Shino stared at her. "Actually, you have before. Remember the time we were supposed to go on a mission with Kurenai-sensei, and the three of you left without me?"

"We thought you were right behind us," Kiba said.

"I told you guys I'd be back, that I forgot something at home."

Hinata squirmed uncomfortably. "We're sorry, Shino-kun," she mumbled.

"Yeah, it won't happen again," Kiba agreed.

Shino just sighed. "I'm sure it won't," he said, though he didn't sound convinced.

"Tell you what," Kiba started, "we'll make it up to you. When's your birthday?"

"It's January 23rd, though I don't see what the big deal is."

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Kiba asked. "We're going to throw you a party! But you've got to help us plan, so that way we can be absolutely sure it'll be the best party you've ever had."

Hinata nodded. "Yeah, that's what we'll do! Good idea, Kiba-kun!"

Kiba grinned, rather pleased with himself. "So Shino, start talking. What kind of things do you want to do?"

Shino thought for a moment, then said in his flat, emotionless voice, "I want a merry-go-round, and some ponies, and a clown, and a magician, and a bouncy castle, and a huge pink cake, and some fireworks at the end that explode in pretty shapes and colours."

Kiba and Hinata stared at him with wide eyes. Shino just rolled his eyes, though they couldn't exactly see that. "I was joking, you guys," he said. "Did you seriously think I'd ever want something like that?"

"W-well...you kinda sounded serious," Kiba said, still not completely over his shock. "I mean, you said it exactly like you say everything else, so how were we supposed to know it was a joke?"

"I figured you guys knew me better than that," came the reply. Neither Kiba nor Hinata knew what to say to that. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Kurenai walked up.

"What are you three doing here?" she asked in surprise. They all looked up at her.

"Oh, Kurenai-sensei," Kiba said with a grin. "Maybe you can help us. We're trying to come up with something to do for Shino's birthday. Any ideas?"

Kurenai blinked. "Well, what does Shino want to do?"

"We don't know," Hinata said. "He said something, then said he was joking."

"You guys don't have to talk about me like I'm not here," Shino muttered. "It's kinda rude, actually."

"Oops, sorry Shino," Kiba said.

"What would you like to do for your birthday?" Kurenai asked Shino kindly.

"I don't know," he replied. "I suppose just your average party will do...I don't need anything super fantastic."

"Well, that doesn't give us much to go off of," Kiba complained. "Can't you be a bit more helpful? Maybe tell us your favourite colour or something?"

"I don't have a favourite colour," Shino said. "If I did, it would probably be gray."

Kiba frowned. "That's no good. Gray isn't a very good party colour, especially not for a cake or something. Okay, well...what kind of things do you like?"

"Insects."

Kiba made a face. "No. Just no. We are not having a bug themed party."

"But Kiba-kun," Hinata said, "if it's something that Shino-kun likes, shouldn't we try to make it work?"

"Oh, come on, Hinata-chan, you can't seriously say that you wouldn't be creeped out by a bug themed party!" Kiba said with a grimace.

"Am I the only one who truly appreciates insects?" Shino inquired so quietly that none of the other three heard him.

"I think the point Hinata's trying to make, Kiba," Kurenai said, "is that it shouldn't matter what you guys would like, since it's Shino's party. We as guests and party planners must keep in mind what the birthday person is interested in and try to incorporate that into our plans."

"Well, then, what would you suggest, Kurenai-sensei?" Kiba asked as Hinata nodded at her sensei's words.

"As...unappealing as it may seem to us," the jounin replied, "I think we should do our best to do something involving insects for him."

Shino just sighed and resigned himself to the fact that, though Kiba had asked for his opinion on the whole ordeal, there was no way he was going to make any difference in what would happen. He decided that, rather than stay and be totally ignored, he'd just leave. It's not like they'll notice anyway, he thought to himself, then walked off. Sure enough, the other three members of his team didn't even pause in their conversation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was the day of the party, and Shino walked into the room where his party was supposed to be held. He sighed as he saw that, predictably, there were no decorations whatsoever. In fact, the only item in the room which looked somewhat out of the ordinary was the lit candle sitting on a small table. He sighed yet again and found a chair to sit in. "May as well wait to see if anybody shows up," he said to himself, "though I really doubt anyone will." Of course, he was only almost correct. While no other humans showed up, a butterfly found its way into the room and flew over to Shino. He held out a finger for it to land on.

"Hello there, little butterfly," he said to it. "At least you came to say hi." The butterfly flew away towards the candle, which was nearly a tiny little stub by now. "No, wait!" Shino exclaimed, but it was too late. The butterfly flew right into the flame and disintegrated, and Shino looked down at his feet sadly. "Well now," he said to himself, "this was definitely the worst birthday ever." He waited until the candle had completely burned itself out, then left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, next door, Kiba, Hinata, and the rest of their friends waited, decorations everywhere. "You know," Kiba said eventually, "I don't think he's gonna show up."

"He must have thought we were going to forget about him," Hinata said, "so he didn't bother to come."

"Damn. That sucks."

End

Okay, so I was nicer than I originally planned on being. XP I was just going to leave it at the butterfly burning, but I'm not quite mean enough for that, so I added the thing with everyone at the other party. XP It's still really short though. Oh well. I don't like Shino enough to bother writing more for him. Sorry, Shino! You're awesome, but...not quite that awesome. The length of these chapters will vary, depending on who it is. I've already started writing Sasuke's birthday fic, though his birthday isn't for a long time, and it's currently on its 7th page...and it's not even close to being done yet. So yes, there will be some quite long fics. I don't think any of them will end up being as short as this...and if it's shorter, then I'll likely just skip over whoever it was supposed to be. Unless it's an Akatsuki member, in which case I'll fill it with some fluff, because I vowed to write something for all of them except Zetsu, who doesn't appear to have a birthday. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that! Please review, and I hope to see you all again in two days time when the next fanfic is posted!