Happy Birthday

Sorry, everyone. I tried to part 4 finished yesterday, but as promised here is part 3. I still have about 10 more pages to type before its finished.

Any ways hope you enjoy this - this was the main idea that inspired me to this fic - ps. I recommend having tissues nearby (it was a pain typing and trying not to cry.)


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Happy Birthday
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Unsure of just exactly how it would relate to what was going on with Naruto, Sasuke began to tell Iruka all that he knew about the blonde boy in question. By the time he had finished, Iruka seemed both surprised and disappointed by just how much he knew about Naruto.

Finally, the brunette asked, “Is that all?”

“Hai,” was all that he said.

“What about Sakura? Would she know anything more?”

Sasuke considered the possibility of Sakura knowing more about Naruto than himself. Then he happened to remember just how much time she would spend in just trying to avoid the loud blonde, while at the same time she would be trying to set up a date with himself.

“No. She’d know just about as mush as I do. Why?”

With a sigh, the brunette merely shakes his head sadly. “That’s just like Naruto.”

“What is? What’s just like Naruto? What do you mean, Iruka?” inquired Sasuke, slightly irritated from all the mysteries dealing with his blonde teammate.

Slowly, Iruka begins to answer, but with the dread of someone who was about to deliver the news to the family of a friend that a loved one was now gone.

“Sasuke, you weren’t entirely wrong about what Naruto was preparing for. The gifts you saw him wrapping were indeed birthday presents, but they are not intended for me. Nor are they for anyone else that you know.”

“Then who are they for?” asked Sasuke, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Looking out the window at the reddening sky, Iruka sighed forlornly. Turning away from the window, the brunette looked back down at his still clasped hands. Sadly, he answered, “The gifts are for Naruto. Today is his birthday.”

For a minute, Sasuke thought that he had misheard the chuunin.

“Naruto bought birthday presents for himself?” he asked, shocked. He didn’t stay shocked for long. Almost immediately, his shock gave way to anger and disgust.

Honestly, he had believe Naruto to be better than this. To stoop so low as to buy himself gifts!? Why that was . . . “That’s pathetic,” sneered the black-haired youth. Having heard more than enough, Sasuke got up to leave, but once again he was stopped by Iruka.

“Don’t be so quick to judge him for his actions, Sasuke,” warned the academy teacher. “You have always been surrounded by friends, and you have even had a family. You have memories of your family - good and bad ones. And you have always received gifts - from friends, admirers, and your family. Naruto has . . . had none of those things. He had no one - and had done this very thing for many years. I . . . I had thought that he had stopped. I had thought that this was over.”

Stunned by the academy sensei’s words, Sasuke Slowly sank back down into his seat. Oh, he knew that Naruto was an orphan like himself. And he also knew that Naruto had never known his parents. But none of that ever seemed to affect the energetic trickster any. Then again, he had never considered that Naruto might not of had any friends during their younger years.

Although, now that he was thinking about it, Naruto had been so mush of a prankster and class clown that he, himself, amongst others, had merely seen the blonde as an annoyance most of the time. The rest of the time, he was just a source of amusement.

‘What must it have been like for Naruto?’ wondered Sasuke. Naruto was always goofing off and clowning around just so that he could be the center of attention for a few minutes. Only then to be ignored or brushed off as an annoyance later.

Looking up at Iruka, Sasuke finally asked, “How . . . How do you know about it?”

With a small sigh, Iruka began to tell Sasuke his story of just how he had come to learn about Naruto’s sad yearly ritual.

~ @@@ ~ ~ ~ @@@ ~ @@@ ~ ~ ~ @@@ ~

Five to Six years ago:

It happened to be the fourth year since Naruto had been advanced to his classes. For the past three years Naruto had presented the brunette academy master with a gift on his birthday. It was due to the blonde boy’s faithful, thoughtfulness in the gifts that he had given the teacher that had won the strict brunette over, even if the boy was one of his worst pupils.

But then again, Iruka was always a sucker when it came to kids that most others would consider to be ‘lost causes.’ And Naruto was considered to be a major ‘lost cause’ by many of his fellow colleagues.

Well, when Naruto gave him yet another present on his birthday that year, Iruka began to feel guilty. For three years, Naruto had given him a present on his birthday. Yeah, he had received presents from other students as well, but none had never given him presents beyond the first year that they had entered his class. Naruto was the only one who had. And he had never done the same in return.

Well, that year, he decided would be different. Oh, he knew that it wasn’t proper for a teacher to take such interests in a student, but he didn’t care. It just didn’t feel right to accept a gift from the boy only to just ignore him when his birthday comes.

So with his mind made up, Iruka planned on surprising Naruto on his birthday, with a present. But first, he had to find out exactly when Naruto’s birthday was.

Thankfully, that was easily solved. Using his privileges as an academy teacher, Iruka secretly looked through Naruto’s student file.

Not only did, he learn Naruto’s birthday, from the file, but he also learned that the blonde boy was an orphan as well. And he wasn’t just any orphan either. Apparently, Naruto lived alone, in his own apartment and without a guardian. It had really surprised the chuunin, to find out that the boy had no true legal guardian.

Thankfully, though, the could turn that to his benefit. His yearly parent-teacher-student conferences were coming up soon. According to Naruto’s file, they happened to fall right around the young boy’s birthday.

To be honest, he hated such conferences at times, but this time they would give him the perfect excuse to go and give Naruto his present without looking suspicious. So, Iruka quickly wrote down the boy’s birthday and address, before finalizing his plans for setting up his student conferences.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Weeks passed. Iruka finally had managed to get permission from the academy’s board of directors to have his conferences with the students and their parents in the comfort of their own homes. His request now granted, Iruka then began to set up a schedule for times in which the conferences could be held with each student and their parent.

Naruto was the only one to try to give him any problems, but Iruka informed the boy that his conference would be held and that there was no escaping it. But since his schedule was rather full at the moment, Naruto would have to wait until he could find the time to squeeze him in. He just never let on that Naruto’s ‘conference’ and his birthday were going to be on the same day.

So, until the day in which Naruto’s ‘conference’ would be held arrived, Iruka bided his time by searching for a gift for the energetic blonde. Finally, Iruka found something that he just knew that would be perfect for the young boy. Purchasing the item, Iruka had it specially wrapped. His present now found, Iruka just waited patiently for the day in which he could surprise the blue-eyed youth.

At last, the day finally arrived. All through the day, Iruka had the present locked up in the lower left drawer of his desk. Since he only ever used the drawer to hold his lunch, there was no chance that he would open it by accident.

As he waited patiently for the day to end, Iruka found himself watching Naruto more and more. Instead of being excited and even more energetic than usual, Naruto was quiet and subdued. So much so, that he almost appeared to be depressed. But as he continued to watch the blonde ninja, he began to notice that not only was the boy extremely quiet; he was jumpy as well.

All of this was starting to give Iruka reasons to worry. What could be so bad that it would cause a normally cheerful boy like Naruto to be so . . . scared? Perhaps he would find out later, for now he would keep an eye on the subdued youth.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

Nearly six hours later, Iruka was gathering up his books and papers. He’d dismissed his students for the day two hours ago.

Retrieving Naruto’s gift from the lower drawer of his desk, Iruka frowned. He’d wanted to be on his way to Naruto’s apartment as soon as he’d closed up his classroom. Unfortunately, a staff meeting had been called that he couldn’t avoid, and now he was going to be late.

As it was, Naruto’s little apartment was good thirty minute walk from the school. Sighing in disgust, Iruka finished straightening up his desk and gathered his things before heading towards the door. Locking it, Iruka left the school and started towards Naruto’s apartment.

# # # # # # # # # # # #

When he arrived at Naruto’s humble little abode, Iruka made sure that the gift was well hidden inside of his bag. Knocking lightly, he waited. Shortly afterwards, Naruto answered the door.

At first he seemed surprised to find the tanned brunette standing outside his door. Nonetheless, the boy smiled brightly, if not shyly, and let the academy teacher step inside.

Glancing around the small apartment, Iruka spotted a cake with candles sitting on the table in the center of the room. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was missing a few slices, but it was easy enough to tell that it was indeed a birthday cake.

Not far from the cake, Iruka spotted two open boxes with crumpled wrapping paper nearby. Pleased, Iruka smiled. “Naruto? Was it your birthday today?” he asked innocently. “Well, it’s good to see that you had some friends over.”

Naruto just smiled and never said a word.

Clearing his throat and feeling a little guilty for being late, Iruka set his things down near the cake. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t get here sooner. I was held up in a meeting, otherwise I wouldn’t be so late.”

“Oh, that’s alright, sensei. I don’t mind,” shrugged the blue-eyed blonde. “I know that there are a lot of other kids in class that you had to see to first.”

For a moment, Naruto’s words baffled the chuunin ninja. Then he remembered, he was supposed to be here for a conference.

Smiling softly, Iruka looked down at the young boy.

“Uh, Naruto? That’s not really why I’m here.”

Truly surprised, all Naruto could manage, in the way of an intelligent reply was, “N-Nani?”

Pulling the gift out of his bag, Iruka held it out to the young ninja with a bright smile. “Happy Birthday, Naruto!”

However, rather than excitedly accepting the gift, Naruto just stood there frozen as he stared at the brunette. Finally, Iruka simply walked over to the whiskered youth and placed the gift in his hands. Surprisingly, Naruto just continued to stare down at the gift. As if he was at a total lose as what to do with it.

Sure the gift was a surprise, but it shouldn’t be that much of one - especially seeing as he had already received two other gifts today.

“Well, Naruto, aren’t you going to open it?” asked Iruka.

His question, apparently, managed to draw the youth out of whatever stupor he had been in, as he finally responded, “Oh, uh, . . . yeah.”

Looking around for a brief moment for a place to sit, Naruto then sank down to the floor right where he stood. He then, slowly and almost lovingly, began to unwrap the present. But he did it in such a way, that Iruka was starting to get worried.

Any other child would have already ripped into the box by now. However, Naruto was handling his gift with as much reverence as person would handle a delicate crystal vase - a very delicate and expensive crystal vase.

When Naruto finally finished unwrapping the gift and opened the box, Iruka smiled. But that smile quickly vanished after Naruto saw what lay inside of the box. Rather than smiling happily, Naruto had silent tears running down his face.

Truly worried that he had somehow done something wrong, Iruka began to panic.

“N-Naruto? What’s wrong? Is it the gift? Do . . . do you not like it? If you don’t like it, I can take it back and get you something else,” offer Iruka politely.

But instead of helping, the threat of losing the precious gift only seemed to make things worse. For Naruto crushed the box, with the item still inside, to his chest and held it there like his life depended on it. And the whole time, the tears continued to fall.

Now, Iruka became truly scared. Here was a boy that always had a smile on his face. Not even when he had gotten injured, or when he was being picked on and teased by the other students, had Iruka never seen him cry. Yet with on simple gift, he had done what the harshest words and the deepest cut had never done.

Slowly and uncertain, Iruka reached out and touched the crying blonde. Only, as soon as he did, Iruka realized that the boy was shaking like a leaf in an effort to hold back the sobs that were trying to escape.

Immensely aware of the risks and complications this could cause his career as a teacher, Iruka threw all caution to the winds. Pulling the crying child into his arms, Iruka held him in a tight hug, with the gift still clutched securely to Naruto’s chest.

In an effort to help calm the boy, Iruka gently rubbed Naruto’s back while quietly whispering words of comfort to the boy. However, he only succeeded in causing a floodgate to open.

Iruka realized that something had to be very wrong for Naruto to break down like this, this badly. So he continued to hold the young boy. Naruto obviously needed it, and the chuunin wasn’t going to go anywhere until he got some answers.

So with great care and patience, Iruka held the distraught boy and let him cry himself out, just like his own parents had done for him before they had been lost in the kyubbi’s attack.

Iruka sat there on the floor for almost an entire hour with Naruto in his arms. Eventually the blonde managed to calm down, even though a few hiccups would still wrack his body occasionally.

“Naruto?”

“ . . . ”

“Naruto? Would you please talk to me?” coaxed the brunette softly. “I want to know what’s wrong. Today is your birthday. You should be smiling . . . not crying.”

“ . . . ”

“Please, Naruto?” pleaded Iruka.

“I-I-It’s . . . my . . . b-birth(sniff)day,” the whiskered boy started slowly, still trying to overcome what still remained of his breakdown.

Nodding, Iruka silently encouraged Naruto to continue.

“I - I was . . c-crying. The r-rea-son . . I was crying w-was . . be-because of y-y-our gift,” explained the blonde, over his hiccups.

“I know that my gift made you cry, but I would like to know why it made you cry. I thought that you would like it since I saw you staring at it a week ago. Or were you staring at something else?” Drawing back so that he could look the boy in the eye, Iruka would have gone on to say that he would exchange it for something else, but Naruto began to vigorously shake his head in refusal.

“It-It’s not th-that, sen-sei. You were right a-about it. Wh-What I m-meant was that it-it’s the first gift I’ve e-ever b-b-been g-giv-en.”

Shock from the blonde’s admission, literally ripped a laugh of disbelief from Iruka. “Surely, you’re not being serious, Naruto.”

However, the flinch that he felt go through Naruto’s body and the pain that he saw in those sad blue eyes gave Iruka more than enough cause for concern. “But . . . but what about the other gifts that I saw? And the cake? Surely you had somebody over here with y-”

As Naruto looked away from his academy teacher, Iruka saw a fresh tear fall from the boy’s now dull eyes. Quietly, Iruka began to ask a question that he had a feeling that he was going to dread having answered. “Naruto? Where did the cake and gifts come from? Who sent them?”

The subdued boy, still refused to look at Iruka. But as the brunette saw another tear beginning to form, something inside his chest began to hurt at the sight and just what it could possibly mean.

“Naruto . . ?”

Ducking his head to hide his face from view, Naruto spoke from behind the gift that Iruka had given him. “I . . . made the cake. I . e-ev-en b-b-bought the g-g-gifts for m-m-my-self!” cried the young boy, unable to hide his shame anymore as the tears came once more.

It wasn’t until that moment, that Iruka realized that the smiling, happy-go-lucky Naruto was all just an act. crushing the boy close in a tight hug, Iruka began to berate himself for being the fool that he was.

“Why? . . .” Why had he not seen it? How could he have been so blind not to see the signs? The boy had been practically screaming of his loneliness and sadness. Iruka had been deaf and had not heard the boy’s silent plea for help. Why had he not heard? “Why?”

Slowly, Iruka began to realize that Naruto was speaking. He had been so focused on yelling at himself that he had almost missed what the blonde was saying.

“I - I h-have no f-f-family. . . No r-rel-a-a-tives. . . No friends. . N-no one in t-town l-likes me. E-every-one is so m-mean. Mostly i-it’s just the a-a-adults . . b-but o-oth-others see and th-they tr-treat me the s-s-same w-way. . . . I’m always a-alone a-and t-th-there was ne-ne-ver a-any-anyone else t-tt-to care . . . I - I - I j-just, . . I just d-didn’t want to . . . t-to be for-forgotten.”

Iruka held the poor boy close, his own heart breaking as he listened to the blonde’s small confession. Silently, a few tears slipped out of his own chocolate-colored eyes to mix with those of the lonely orphan’s. He had, then, made a vow to both Naruto and himself, that day. No longer would Naruto have to suffer alone; because, now, he would always be there from him.

Iruka had held the blonde until he had cried himself out once more. this time however, the young boy had managed to cry himself to sleep. Carefully, Iruka removed the gift from the sleeping child’s arms and set it down on the floor. Then the academy master took the boy to his room. Easing the boy down onto his bed, Iruka tucked him in. Next, he quietly put away the cake and cleaned up.

Curious about the gifts Naruto had gotten himself, Iruka peeked inside of the two boxes. Inside of the first box was a small water globe that held a red fox chasing a butterfly. What lay in the second box caused Iruka to smile. Inside was a little stuffed version of his namesake. A dolphin.

Taking the two items out of their boxes, Iruka placed the water globe on the table. It would make a nice center piece for the table. The dolphin, he took and tucked safely into Naruto’s sleeping arms. He then went back and retrieved the gift from where he had left it on the floor. Taking the item from the box, he took it into Naruto’s room and placed it on the night stand beside the bed. that way, Naruto would easily find it when he awoke.

Silently, he had then left with Naruto asleep with a smile on his lips and his dolphin held safe in his hands.

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“I’ve spent every holiday and birthday with Naruto ever since that day,” proclaimed the brunette proudly. “All except for this one, that is.”

“Why’s that?” inquired the quiet genin across from him.

“Simple. Naruto had asked me not to,” answered Iruka. “He had said something about wanting to spend it with someone special. I knew that it was possible that he could have been lying, but I wanted to believe him. I wanted to let him know that I trusted him, . . . so I agreed.”

“Someone . . . special? He wants to spend it with someone special?”

“Yeah. Would you believe that he actually came to for advice, too.”

“Advice? . . For what?” asked Sasuke.

“Well,” started Iruka, nervously. Then leaning forward, the chuunin cupped his hand over the side of his mouth and whispered, “Promise me you won’t tell Naruto what I’m about to say.”

Intrigued, Sasuke sat up and leaned forward as well. Nodding, Sasuke silently agreed.

“Naruto, well, he, uh. He’s got a crush on someone. And it’s not Sakura or Ino either.”

“Then who is it?” asked Sasuke, quietly.

“I don’t know,” replied the nose scarred brunette as he leaned back into booth’s cushions. “All that Naruto has told me is that he’s been spending extra time with this person. But judging from his description of the person, they must be very pretty. He claims, and I quote you word for word, that ‘their hair is of the darkest shade of black that it is a true black. The type of black that is so dark that it has a hint of blue to it. They have eyes that are like a dark abyss that he’d gladly get lost in for hours if he could. Their body - they have the body of an angel. It’s so pale and smooth that it is perfection unrivaled.’ To be honest, I never knew that Naruto could be so poetic.”

“What . . . what else has he said about . . . about this, this person?” inquired the young Sharigan warrior. Seriously hoping against hope that such a girl did not exist. Sasuke truly didn’t want to lose Naruto before he ever even had a chance to be with him.

He has never tried to make a move on the blonde because he felt secure in knowing that with as much as Naruto liked Sakura; he knew that Sakura would never be inclined to date him. However, he had never foreseen that Naruto might actually give up on the pink-haired girl. He had hoped to slowly work his way into the blonde’s heart. But now? Now it may be too late.

“Well, according to what he’s told me. She sounds like trouble, but then again, Naruto always did like trouble,” began the teacher. “Naruto has told me that this person can really turn him on. That he just can’t resist them. They put him through hell and he loves it. They never give an inch, so they end up fighting all of the time, only to end up at a draw. Neither of them winning or losing. They are as stubborn as hell, and they don’t talk much. He claims that this person probably isn’t even aware of how he feels, but he was going to try and ask them about it. You haven’t seen Naruto hanging out with anyone like that, have you Sasuke? Cause I sure would like to meet this person. I just want to make sure that won’t end up hurting Naruto in the end.”

Sasuke shook his head in refusal. “Naruto, hasn’t been spending any extra . . time . . . with . . . any one . . .” ‘Not that he’s had time to. Naruto spends all his extra time training. Even on the days that Kakashi lets them off. All he wants to do is, train . . with . . . me.’ Suddenly Sasuke’s mind froze. “Could it be?’

Almost as if by magic, Iruka’s earlier words repeat inside his mind. ‘Their hair is of the darkest shade of black that it is a true black. The type of black that is so dark that it has a hint of blue to it. They have eyes that are like a dark abyss that he’d gladly get lost in for hours if he could. Their body - they have the body of an angel. It’s so pale and smooth that it is perfection unrivaled.’ Black hair, black eyes, pale skin . . .Naruto hadn’t been describing a girl! The blonde had been describing . . . him, Sasuke!

‘Naruto actually likes me!’ He was so elated to know that his dobe actually had a crush on him that he was unable to hide the smile that tugged at his lips.

“Are you sure, Sasuke? Cause I really don’t want to think about him being alone again, like he was before,” confided Iruka as he dragged the black-haired youth from his thoughts.

‘That’s right. Today’s his birthday. And he probably sitting at home alone right now,’ thought Sasuke as he frowned. In just a minute, an idea came to his mind. Sasuke’s eyes gleamed. He knew just what to do.

“Don’t worry about it, Iruka-sensei,” he said as he got up once more. “I’ll go and find out.”

“Would you?” asked the brunette, hopefully. “Oh, thank you so much, Sasuke.”

Heading towards the door, Sasuke stopped for a moment before turning back to face the chuunin. “Iruka-sensei? What was the gift that you gave him? If you don’t mind my asking, that is.”

For a moment, the question caught the academy ninja by surprise. Then he answered, with a smile on his lips. “Oh, nothing much really. It was just the orange jacket that matches that jumpsuit that he likes so much. Why else do you think that he wears it all the time?”

At that, Sasuke had to smile. Rushing out the door, Sasuke left his bill with Iruka. He knew that the brunette would be more than willing to pay for his meal in return for him checking up on their blonde-haired friend.

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As Iruka watched the young Uchiha heir leave, he couldn’t help but smile at what he had just helped to set into motion. He just prayed that Naruto wouldn’t kill him for having let the ‘cat’ of the bag. Even as his prayed for his own future sanity, he also silently wished the Sharigan user good luck. Because . . . he just might need it.

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a little harsh for a past memory, I know but to me it just seemed to fit. I could honestly see how all of it could have happened to naruto.

Well hoped you liked it! - please R&R. I’ll try and finish pt 4 after I get out of classes today. But I can’t make any promises - cause I have to go to work at 5 - and I’ll be there until about 11 tonight.

Til next time - je ne!