Happy Hump Day everyone! I know its been awhile, but to make up for it this chapter is pretty decently long. For some reason it took me awhile to get this one out, but I hope you guys enjoy it.
WARNING: this chapter contains adult language and drug use
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In the days that led up to my birthday I thought about the conversation I had with Shika and my proposed future at Uchiha Corp. My grandfather, Madera Uchiha, had started the company about fifty some years ago while in his thirties. He had partnered with the mayor at the time to provide weapons and other technologies to the local law enforcements agencies.
Over the years the clientele had evolved as much as the technology. As a result, our family not only had deep roots in this city, but now the Uchiha name seemed to carry substantial weight in several different countries. That's what allowed our cousin Shisui to relocate to America, where he oversaw the company's assets for the North American region. He had managed to at least distance himself from grandfather's iron rule. I decided to keep that thought in the back of my mind. If I couldn't shake Grandpa on me working for the company, I could maybe at least persuade him that I should learn the ropes under Shisui, half a world away. It could be my back-up, back-up plan.
Once my grandfather passed away Uncle Fugaku was set to take over, already being prepared now in his position of CFO. Grandpa had already declared in his will that after Uncle Fugaku retired, ownership of the company was to be divided equally between Shisui, Itachi, Sasuke, Obito, and myself.
I really hadn't ever seen myself as some uptight executive confined to a board room or office all day. I had always hated the idea of being told where to be at what time. 'You have to stay here until this time', 'while you're here you can't A, B, C, etc.', 'while you're here you have to do this, this, and that', it all sounded awful. Which is probably why the thought of continuing my education beyond high school sounded so abhorrent to me. I think at the end of the day I hated the feeling of my life being controlled. I wanted to be free. 'And yet…' the thought of an older, strong man taking charge and putting me in my place… 'oof'. No wonder I was a train wreck.
I began to think about what job I would want to work at. Somewhere where I could work when I wanted to. I wasn't lazy, if I had the choice, I would work but I didn't want to be penalized if there was a day where I wasn't feeling it. I needed something where I had a little freedom while I was confined to one place. Hair stylist? No, I didn't really want to take a chance of messing someone's hair up, even if I attended classes. Amateur Model? No, my body was nice, but with a larger ass and breasts I didn't have the right proportions for model work. 'Hmmm…. I could always be a professional escort…' I mused to myself. 'I'd probably have to wait for Grandpa to die before I tried that one.'
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The morning of my birthday I woke up early. It was a Friday, and I was so ready for my party tomorrow. I normally half slid off my bed to get out of it, but today I practically sprung out from under my sheets. I threw my hair into a messy pile on top of my head, my baby hairs making cute little tendrils around my ears. I pulled on my uniform, exempting my cardigan until I had finished my makeup. Normally I didn't wear much makeup, usually just using eyeliner and some sort of lip color. But today, I was going to go all out, eyeshadow and everything.
After all, today I was officially an adult. Well technically, I was born at exactly midnight on the 30th. There had always been some debate whether my birthday would be celebrated on the 30th or 31st. My mother had put an end to it though by insisting we celebrate both days, and that was the tradition we had stuck to ever since. No extra presents, just a two-day event-usually a family trip when I was small. As I got older, we designated the 30th for family and I spent the 31st having a party with my friends. Even after Mom and Dad passed, Obito and I carried on with the same routine.
I sat down at my vanity and lit a joint. I took a few puffs before placing it in an ashtray and got to work putting on my makeup. I alternated between coughing and contouring. I had finished both the joint and my makeup simultaneously. I stood up, pulled on my cardigan, and grabbed my bag. I headed out the door towards the elevator and my shoes. I looked around the living room suspiciously waiting for Obito to pop out from behind a corner. As I passed by the kitchen I smiled. I spotted handmade banners hanging up between the doorways. One had the words 'Birthday Girl' written on it in pink. 'Happy 18th Kumaraki' had been painted on the other one in gold.
'He must have gotten up early for that one.' Either that or he had stayed up late working on it. The thought of Obito doing midnight arts and crafts made me giggle. I kept walking and made it into our entryway. His shoes weren't there so he had already made it to work. I slipped on my pair of white shoes and headed down to the street where I knew Ino awaited me.
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The teachers at school finding out about my birthday turned out to be both beneficial and troublesome. It was Friday so of course when we had English with Mr. Ogata, he gave us a test on some reading material. Now I hadn't read it, but I had listened to how "rudimentary" Shika had thought it was for about two hours on Wednesday, so I had basically gotten the gist of it. I knew I had done decently but Ino helped me seal the deal inadvertently.
We were turning our papers in by setting them on Ogata's desk. Ino walked up behind me and waited to place her test in the stack, "I hope you're ready for tomorrow, you're in for a busy day."
Mr. Ogata's eyes lifted up from grading an already turned in paper, "Crazy weekend plans girls?"
"Only my birthday," I rolled my eyes.
"Don't make it sound so unimportant. Our little Kumaraki is officially a woman!" Ino smirked at me. It was then that I caught on what she was trying to do. Our papers were on top of the stack, next to be graded. She was trying to get Ogata in a good mood so we'd pass.
"Oh?" the older white-haired man had finished grading the paper and hesitated before taking mine off the top.
I glanced at Ino before scooting closer to the desk, leaning forward, and whispering as if it were a secret, "That's right I'm turning eighteen Ogata-sensei."
As I drew out the 'sensei' I could practically see the old pervert's nose start to bleed. 'What a chump.' I laughed internally. Just then, Shino was walking up to turn his paper in, so Ino and I moved out of the way and went back to our seats, giggling. When class was almost over and our graded tests were passed back out, I ended up getting eighteen 'birthday points' giving me a score of '109'. Ino and I grinned and flashed victory signs at each other as Ogata left to go teach his next class.
I was thankful that that had gone the way it did. It really balanced out the fuckery that occurred in Gym with Mr. Maito found out that it was my birthday. This time it had been Sakura that had let it slip. Mr. Maito was so overjoyed with the news that he called for a 'celebration'. In which, we ran eighteen laps around the track one for and I quote 'every trip I had made around the sun'. When I blatantly refused, the man had the unmitigated gall to tell me 'Miss Uchiha if you can make it around the sun eighteen times you can make it around this track.' I kept the incredulous stare on my face the entire time I was running, silently cursing Sakura.
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"See you tomorrow Hinata!" I waved goodbye as I turned to walk into my apartment building. Hinata had insisted I let her give me a ride home and wouldn't take no for an answer. I didn't mind though. Ino and Sakura had paired up after school and went off scheming somewhere, I expected it had something to do with tomorrow's festivities.
When the elevator door opened, my eyes immediately zeroed in on the line of shoes by the doorway. There were Obito's tennis shoes and rainboots, a pair of my house slippers- but no dress shoes. I sighed, maybe he had had to work late. 'Grandpa couldn't let him leave early just one day?' I kicked off my shoes and unlocked the door.
I walked in and was met with silence. For about eight seconds…
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY KUMARAKI!"
"Oh look! A bunch of degenerates have broken into my house," I laughed.
Obito, Kakashi, Asuma, and Genma had popped out from various places in the living room, all wearing stupid little party hats and holding those noisemakers you blow into. Obito walked over to give me a hug.
"Happy Birthday Raki! Come on! Let me show you the cake I got, you're gonna love it!" I let him lead me into the kitchen.
"It's got a cannoli cream filling and pistachios around the sides and-Hey! Who fucked up my birthday banner?! You assholes!" he had turned to yell in the living room. Someone had crossed out the word 'girl' and written 'woman' underneath it in red.
I cackled. "I want a picture with everybody come here!" I called.
As the guys came snickering into the kitchen, I caught Kakashi shoving a red marker in his pocket. When we made eye contact, he winked, and I blew him a kiss. Obito was thankfully too busy propping his phone up on the counter for the picture to notice. He got it positioned and we all backed up until we were under the newly edited banner. He used a little remote to take a few pictures. We even got one of all the guys holding me up while I was laying sideways. We also got one of me kicking Asuma in the head after he complained he got stuck holding up the 'heaviest part of me' a.k.a. my hips. The very next picture showed me getting dropped and the aftermath of Obito hearing Genma cheerfully volunteer "If he doesn't want to hold your ass I will!"
"So what do you want to do first Raki?" Obito leaned on the counter after Kakashi and Asuma had pulled him off Genma and everything had settled down, the latter going to sulk in the corner of the kitchen.
"Hmmm…how about cake, then joint, then birthday activities!" I said heading to the fridge pulling out the cake and setting it on the counter.
"We have to sing happy birthday first," he shooed my hands away from trying to cut the cake.
"Oh fine!" I pretended to pout.
Obito turned and dug through our junk drawer for a few seconds before pulling out a handful of candles. There weren't eighteen of them, but they were the sparkling kind, which were my favorite. He stuck them in a circle around the top of the cake and lit them. As the last candle caught fire and began sparking the guys began to sing.
When they finished, I sat in mild shock, "Huh, you know, you guys actually sound pretty good together. You guys could start a boy band." I snickered, "Genma you'd be the young, sweet innocent looking one. And Obito would be the one older than everybody else, the one that looked like he should have been kicked out of the group about five years ago."
Asuma snorted and joined in on my laughter. Obito glared at me, clearly not appreciating my humor. I stuck my tongue out as I cut myself a big piece of cake. We stood around the island eating our cake. When I got finished, I announced that I was going to my room to change out of my uniform and for someone to roll one up. I threw on the first pair of pants I spotted-a pair of light wash blue jeans, and a plain yellow crop top. I slipped on my white tennis shoes before I hurried back out to the living room and tumbled into the recliner to assume my spot in the rotation.
As the birthday girl, it was only proper etiquette for me to light the joint. We passed it around in a circle each getting a few hits from it before it burned to ash. Feeling the buzz, I stood up and stretched my arms over my head.
"Alright let's go! Birthday activity time," I grabbed my purse and slipped it across my body.
"What makes you so sure we're going out for your birthday?" Obito crossed his arms.
I smirked, "Because you're all still wearing shoes. And you're my brother, so I know you."
"Fair enough," he said grabbing his keys from the hook by the door.
We all filed out and into the elevator. It was sort of a tight squeeze, but we all managed to fit in Obito's Honda Civic. Once again, my birthday privileges were exercised, giving me the front seat without contest. About ten minutes later Obito childishly insisted I closed my eyes. It was pointless, I was familiar with the neighborhood and was almost positive of where we were going, but I obliged his request. When he told me to open them, my blank expression changed into a knowing smile. We were at Saturn Park. It was an old arcade that had a mini golf course and a small racetrack for go-karts. It had been in the neighborhood for decades and even had an original pachinko machine left in the corner from its early days as a gaming hall. It was the first arcade my brother had ever taken me too. We used to go here a lot, years ago, right after Mom and Dad had the accident.
"Soooo what do you think?" Obito was pulling off his seatbelt.
"It's perfect," I flung my arms around his neck and smushed my lips against his cheek.
We went in and decided to bypass mini golf and bought race passes instead. We walked over to the track area and handed the attendant our passes. We walked in between the two rows and claimed our go-karts. When I finished buckling my seatbelt, I looked up listening to the safety instructions the attendant was giving both us and the other group of four that had joined ours.
A voice beside me spoke up in a low tone. Once I turned to my side and realized who it was I couldn't pay attention to the attendant anymore.
"So who's Asuma?" Kakashi asked.
"I'm sorry what?" I cocked an eyebrow, thoroughly confused.
He smiled as he rolled his eyes, as if I should already know what he was talking about, "You know in the boy band. Who would Asuma be?"
I paused and smirked, "The lead singer."
He hesitated before he spoke, "Hmph ok. So what boy band member would I be?"
'Where the hell is he going with this?' I tilted my head, "Oh I thought that'd be obvious."
"Enlighten me," his voice came out low, and in a whisper… and made parts of my body tingle.
"You'd be the mysterious, aloof one. The one every girl wants to know more about," I had said with a soft smile. Out of the corner of my eye something moved. The light had turned green signaling for us to start racing. I winked at him before mashing down the pedal and rocketing onto the racetrack in the lead.
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We stumbled back into the house around 11:20 p.m. I collapsed on the couch, outstretched on its entire length, until Obito took the opportunity to sit on me. I struggled without him budging, but once I squawked out in complaint he relented and got back up. When I sat up to let him sit beside me, I was met with a lit joint in my face. I took it from Asuma and pulled in a big hit. We passed it around, once again only getting two or three hits apiece before it was smoked up.
"We're sorry if we crashed your birthday thing with Obito," Genma apologized as he put out the joint in the ashtray.
"Don't be stupid! It was a blast! Besides you losers are practically family anyways…the brothers I never wanted," I stuck my tongue out at them and grinned.
"I'm gonna ignore that cause it's your birthday. One more thing before we go though," Asuma, Genma, and Kakashi were all standing huddled together with their arms behind Asuma's back.
"Tadaaaaa!" they sang as they pulled a large, teal, stuffed dinosaur out from behind their backs.
"No way!" I exclaimed in delight. I had seen it earlier and made a comment about it looking good on my bed. I didn't even come close to getting the number of tickets I needed. They must have thrown theirs' in together to get it.
"Thanks you guys," I said pausing to give each one of them a hug. When it was Kakashi's turn his arms seemed to linger around me for slightly longer than the others' had. No one but me seemed to notice though, and it made me wonder whether it was real or wishful thinking. They all filed out and as we heard the elevator descend, Obito told me to stay where I was and ran to his room.
He came back a few minutes later, "I wanted to wait until it was just the two of us to give you this in case you cried."
He smirked as he handed me a little gold box. When I took the lid off, I stared in disbelief. It was a little golden pendant of a paper crane on a thin gold chain. It was my mother's favorite piece of jewelry. One that she never took off.
As I ran my finger over the crane's wings I huffed, "Why would you think I would do something stupid like cry, punk?" The tears were already streaming down my face.
He snatched me up into a big hug, "You're right, how silly of me."
He held me tight, and we stood there just the two of us, standing in the living room of the apartment where we had grown up in more ways than one. No words were spoken, and none needed to be said. After a few minutes I gathered myself and pulled away from the hug. My eyes had dried but you could see the faint traces the eyeliner-stained tears made on my cheeks. I smiled and turned so Obito could place the necklace around my neck and fasten it.
"Mom always intended for you to have it. I figured now was as good a time as any," He smiled at me and ruffled my hair.
"Thank you Ito," I kissed his cheek, using my childhood nickname for him.
"Happy Birthday Kuma," he used his for me.
I grabbed my dinosaur and told him goodnight before going into my bedroom and locking the door behind me. I turned on my tv and set the stuffed dinosaur on my bed. 'Hmm…I was right. He does look good there.' I mused to myself. I was tired but I couldn't sleep yet. I had one more tradition to complete tonight. '11:50. He should be here any minute.' I walked over to my large double window. Unlocking and lifting the window up granted me access to a small balcony just big enough to allow a foldable set of metal stairs that served as a fire escape.
The luxury apartment building we lived in had three floors, one for each unit it held. Ours was the top unit. Each apartment had a larger balcony accessible from the master bedroom and the smaller one containing the fire escape. The smaller balconies were staggered on different walls of the building so if there were ever a fire, the tenants would have exits from multiple sides.
I climbed out the window and walked over to the right corner where the ladder was. I unhooked a latch and slowly-and quietly- began lowering the ladder. It made a slight scraping noise as the two metal ends met the pavement, but otherwise it was silent. I had had a lot of practice. I had used it to sneak out plenty of times. Obito got so fed up with it around the time I was fourteen that he demanded we switch rooms, and I take his. When I had asked him what room he was going to use he had suggested our parent's room, and I had run away for a week.
We had made our peace after he finally hunted me down at Hinata's house, which was so big I had stayed in a spare room without her parents even knowing I was there. I came home and promised to behave better, and he promised not to change mom and dad's room. I sat in one of the two little plastic chairs that I had snuck out here puffing on my vape, looking up at the stars, and thinking of the last few years.
I was removed from the haze of my reminiscing by the quiet, metal creak of the ladder. 'Finally.' In a rare display of athleticism, Shikamaru was climbing up the ladder one handed. When he finally appeared at the top of the ladder, he set the box he was holding on the ground and pulled himself up through the opening. He also, had plenty of experience manipulating the ladder silently and did so, raising it back up.
After he latched it, he picked up the box and came over to me, plopping down in the other chair right next to mine. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one after grabbing it with his mouth.
"You cut it close, you were almost late. Getting harder to get up that ladder?" I snickered.
He sighed but offered me the box, stretching his arm out without looking at me, still gazing up at the stars. I licked my lips and opened the little brown cardboard box. A single cupcake. This year it looked yellow with tiny black spots. A layer of thin icing dripped over the sides and onto the box, he never put a paper around the cupcake after the one year I told him it just got in my way.
I tore it in half, a yellow crème threatening to spill on my fingers, and held it up to his mouth, offering it without words like I had done all the years before. He took one bite and pushed my hand away like he always did. I took the rest of his half back and ate it in one bite, savoring the explosion of citrusy sweetness.
"Mmmmm, you outdid yourself this year Shika," I moaned, my mouth stuffed with the other half. He had made a lemon poppyseed cupcake with lemon crème and vanilla glaze. It was some of my favorite flavors. No one would ever peg Shikamaru for a baker, but we had always traded sweets back and forth. I guess it was one of our 'weird things', as our other friends called it.
"I know you like citrus, I'm surprised I didn't make it for you sooner," he said putting out his cigarette in the little glass ashtray he had brought over one day.
He pulled out a joint and lit it before passing it to me. I took it with one hand while still licking the fingers on my other. I hit it and used my licked fingers to hand it back to Shikamaru.
"Now look, troublesome woman, you're getting the damn thing all sticky," he scowled. "What a drag, now my fingers are sticky."
"Sorry," I smiled sheepishly, licking the last of my fingers on my other hand.
When we had finished the joint and all four sets of hands were clean, we sat side by side observing the stars. I had laid my head on his shoulder halfway in between sleep and consciousness. All of the sudden, a small ring disturbed the otherwise silent evening. Shika pulled out his phone from his pocket and cut the alarm off.
"Midnight exactly. Happy Birthday Raki," he put one arm around me and pulled me into a side hug.
I was about to reply when a flash of light shot across the sky. A shooting star flying by at exactly midnight, the time I was born. That had to be a good omen right? I looked at Shika with wide eyes and a smile. His expression wasn't as enthusiastic as mine, but he was still smiling.
"I suppose you should make a wish," he whispered.
I turned to look back up at the sky and folded my hands. 'Please let only good things happen for me and my friends.' I turned to look back at Shikamaru and found myself wondering what he had wished for.
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Ok so what did you guys think? I hope you liked it. please continue giving me your feedback and opinions on the story, cause like I literally live for it. XD What do you like about it? Do you think the story is progressing at a decent pace? Is it too boring? Too much backstory? Let me know! In the next chapter we will be attending the birthday party. Will Kiba get that date with Kumaraki? tune in to find out!
