The sky was blue, the grass was green, and we were finally on the planet we were re-modeling after Earth. Trees and flowers grew in a wide circle all around us, Knives and Rem lay sprawled out on a cotton blanket, exhausted from the tickle-fight that ended moments ago. I was sitting up on my elbows; grin splitting my face at the happy picture in front of me. Surrounding us were the other people, people who only recently came out of cryo-sleep, they were sitting, eating, talking, laughing, just enjoying the wonderful summer day. Their chatter filled the air, a stark difference from picnic's in the Hollo-room. A small feast lay before us, consisting of all our favorite foods, Rem's doughnuts, Knives' yakisoba, and my fruit with cheese. We were celebrating the final installation of the plants, living on this previously uninhabited planet would be a cinch with our friends helping us along the way. My arms finally collapsed under my weight, but my grin didn't leave my face...peace...perfection...I should have known it was too good to be true.
"Happy...day...Kni...ash!"
"Hmm?" I hum, hardly listening, instead focusing on the play of the leaves in the sky, the sun lighting them into a brilliant emerald.
"Wake...sleepy...!" I glance over to Rem to see what she wants, since for some reason I can't hear her very well.
"Come on, Vash!" Knives whines. I twist my head in the opposite direction to see what Knives' wants. "It's time to wake up!" His lips move. Wake up? Wasn't I already awake? Slowly the tree above me fades to black, Knives' face disintegrates like a sand dune in the wind, not that I had ever seen real sand before. My eyes open to see Knives' face looming over me; I can see a fuzzy, grinning Rem outside my focus. "Finally!" Knives cheers. "Took you long enough!"
"Happy Birthday, Vash!" Rem calls drawing my attention to the wrapped gifts in her hands.
"Birthday?" I ask, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.
"Yes Vash! It's officially been 365 days since I found you two!"
"Why is that such an odd number?" Knives asks, nose playfully upturned.
"That's how many days it took the Earth to revolve around it's sun." Rem replies giggling.
"Why couldn't it be an nice number, even 350 would be better!" He questions as Rem and I trade grins.
"Who cares how many days its been? We get presents?!" I ask, excitedly pushing Knives off my bed and onto the floor where he lands in a lump.
"Vash!" He whines, trying to untangle himself from my blankets. I laugh lightly.
Later that day, after presents had been opened and cake doughnuts had been eaten, we sat enjoying each others company on a polymer blanket in the Hollo-room.
"I had this amazing dream this morning..." I begin lightly, almost just musing to myself. "We were finally at our destination, and the plants had been successfully introduced to the planet. We were celebrating the success of the mission, and all the people were out of cryo-sleep. There were trees-real trees, as tall as this room stretching out above us...it was so peaceful..."
"Maybe you were seeing a glimpse of the future..." Rem suggests with a smile. "You could be clairvoyant."
"No way!" Knives play-whines. "If either of us is clairvoyant, it would have to be me!"
"Then I get to be telekinetic!" I reply eagerly, knowing Knives' response.
"Wait! No fair! That one's better!" Knives pauses at the knowing grin on my face, and all three of us burst into laughter.
"Well, boys." Rem says as both our faces warp into protesting, quivering, puppy-dog eying masses. We know what that tone means. "Time for bed."
"Come on, Rem! It's our special day! Can't we stay up a bit longer?" I ask, eyes wide, face in full pout-mode.
"Yeah, Rem! It's our birthday! It only happens once in too-many-to-count days!" Knives pleads, lining up next to me, hoping to double the cute-effect.
"Well..." She 'hem's, glancing from one face to the other. "I don't know...growing boy's need their sleep..."
"Just a half hour!" Knives says before I elbow him in the stomach.
"Just an hour!" I correct.
"Just an hour!" He repeats, grinning at the correction.
"I suppose...an hour can be arranged, but if you do stay up, it'd better be doing something productive." Knives and I share a look.
"Homework?" We spit together, almost disgusted.
"Yes, homework."
"I suppose I'll be going to bed then." I say, beginning to march off to our room.
"I guess,...I'll do the homework." Knives pouts.
Rem's laughter pulls us up short. Knives and I share another smile as Rem pulls us onto the couch to watch old movies...we end up staying up a lot later then planned, but Rem falls asleep on the couch, so there's no one to make us go to bed. Eventually we're curled on either side of her, grinning at each other over our master plan.
"She falls for it every time." I whisper to him as my eyes close.
"Or maybe we fall for it every time." He mumbles through a yawn.
-NTS-
My eyes open slowly, as the memory fades back away from my immediate level of awareness. The sun peaking into the room startles me, as usually I was up before the dawn. I rush around the room, grabbing clothing and weapons and wadding them into a bundle that gets tossed on the bathroom floor. My nightclothes come off as I hop in the shower, done before my limited supply of hot water runs out. I'm dressed, fed, and brushing my teeth before I catch a glimpse of the calendar out of the corner of my eye. The last day crossed off was October 9th...which makes today the 10th...the only day most ninja get off, which is why nobody came to wake me up for being late. Almost in slow motion the toothbrush falls from my mouth as I spit the paste into the sink. A quick rinse as the adrenaline fades and before I know it, I'm back in pajamas buried deep in my blankets, ready for Morpheus to take me away again, back to that happier time.
A few hours later, a knock at the door wakes me. My head's heavy, the room is unbearably hot and my eyes just don't want to stay open. Why is it that sleeping makes you sleepy? I slowly stumble my way to the door, body moving like led, and I'm sure I knocked over a table or two somewhere along my journey. The knocking starts up again, making my head pound. I didn't think I had a headache, but apparently I do.
"Yes?" I snap as I tug the door open, a stupid thing to do considering what day it was. Luckily for me it was just Sakura, who stared at me for two minutes before I lost patience and closed the door in her face, not the nicest thing to do, but it's not a good day for me. The day I was born, just so happens to be the day my parents died, the day the Kyuubi attacked, and the day the Kyuubi was sealed inside me, so yeah, October tenth is not a good day for me. I slump over to the couch, too tired to attempt to make my way through the maze that is my apartment.
I'm lightly dozing, half-memories and conversations swirling around in my head, before Sakura gets the courage to start knocking again.
"Yes?" I slur, trying to stay asleep so the headache doesn't comeback.
"Uh...Naruto?" She yells from the other side of the door.
"It's open..." I mutter waving my hand lethargically, although the closed door makes the gesture pointless. She turns the handle slowly, and peaks her head in.
"I just uhm..."
"Yes?" I ask for the third time, wishing she would just hurry up and leave me to my misery.
"Iwantedtoinviteyoutodinner tonightatIchiraku's?" She says so quickly it takes me a minute to decipher her coded message.
"Dinner?" I ask somewhat more awake then before. "With you? You're paying?" I ask for clarification, as I push myself up into a sitting position. Her head's still the only thing in my line of sight, eyes darting all around my (surprisingly) clean apartment. She nods quickly, obviously wondering about my demeanor. I don't even know what's wrong myself...too much energy wasted in such a small span of time I suppose, I think blowing a black lock from my face. My stomach reminds me it hasn't been fed since that quick breakfast this morning with a loud angry growl. "I suppose that's okay." I say blushing. "...When are we leaving?"
"As soon as you're ready." She says more confidently, taking a few steps into the room.
"Right. You wait here. I'll be dressed in a minute." I say pulling myself to my feet.
-NTS-
I try to put on my usual happy face, which is surprisingly easy to do on an empty stomach. I suppose it might have something to do with one of my peers caring about my birthday. I'm sure she didn't ask today of all days for a random reason, she's smarter than that. Although I do have to wonder who put her up to it, and what exactly she's getting out of it. Meh, way to ruin my good mood, but my mask doesn't slip once we stepped out of my apartment. The cold and angry glares follow me through the town, harsher today then most days. Sakura seems oblivious, only focused on her mission, as I'm now sure that's exactly what it is. Get me to Ichiraku's, what for? I don't know...It makes me suspicious, but I know I can get myself out of any situation that may arise...I don't know how good our teamwork will be after I've had an attempted beating with Sakura blindly leading the way, but I suppose I'll just have to keep my eyes open for anything suspicious.
Ichiraku's is surprisingly quiet given what day it is, the loud contrasting bars and restaurants surrounding it, make it seem even more out-of-place.
"Are they even open?" I ask warily, eying the dimly lit interior.
"I'm sure they are." Sakura says from beside me. Her assurance doesn't put my mind at ease, I slowly tense up, ready to react at a moments notice. My eyes scan the area again, they're open, but it's quiet, much too quiet. I wonder who's waiting inside for me. Hopefully Ichiraku-san and Ayame-chan are alright...
"I'll be awfully upset if you've gotten my hopes up and they're closed after all." I say playfully, covering my anxiety easily. We approach and I lift the curtain, heading in, leaving it up for Sakura. Even if she has set me up, I suppose I can't just let her be hurt. Just as she steps in the lights brighten and there's a sudden rush of movement that leaves my head spinning and my heart pounding.
"Surprise!" Several voices call at once. "Happy birthday, Naruto!" They cheer in unison so perfect it's almost creepy. My eyes widen as the tension in my body melts away, dropping my hands with the gun and kunai to my sides. I cover my slip-up quickly putting them away before laughing in surprise. The elder shinobi are surprised at my impulse reaction, honestly, if my reflexes were any worse someone may have ended up hurt.
It seemed as though all of Konoha were there. Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke, Sakura. Gai, Tenten, Lee, Neiji. Kurunai, Kiba, Shino, Hinata. Asuma, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino. Hokage-jiji, Konohamaru. Ichiraku-san and Ayame-chan. Iruka. Jiraiya...
"Everyone..." I choke out in surprise. "Thank you." I say fighting back tears. I hadn't really celebrated a birthday since Knives' and my first. After that Knives destroyed the ship, crashing us on that planet, later we were fighting to stay alive, then fighting each other, and no one had really bothered to ask...not even Meryl knew I even had been given a 'birth'day. And in this life, only the third Hokage and Iruka seemed to care and want to spend time together. "...This means...a lot to me, you guys." I say looking everyone in the eyes, to convey the truth of that statement.
Most of them smile back, but a few of my more intelligent friends and teachers realize that I'm so grateful because no one's really cared before. I can see the determination that lights those faces, and I can guess that they're making a mental promise not to forget again.
The rest of the night passes quickly with friends who actually care about me, at least, grudgingly. They brought me small gifts: weapons, instant ramen, basic c-level training scrolls. And in that moment, surrounded by friends, I make a vow to get them all something for their birthday, every birthday now until the day I die, which could end up being a really long time from now.
AN:/ So here's another chapter! Happy birthday, Naruto-chan! Please, let me know if you think of anything you'd like to see happen in this story.