Birthday presents litter the warm hardwood floor as a pleasant breeze grazes the inside of the house. The large windows are cracked open, revealing the morning sun barely peeking out from behind the Hokage monument. The fair light hits the glass just right and illuminates the items on the floor.
It's stupid, Sasuke thinks, for his family to have left him presents even after he specifically asked them not to. As of two hours ago, he turned 18. A desirable age for some, although the Uchiha does not care much for these kind of sentiments. It's just another year survived, another year closer to his inevitable death in the Jounin force. Yet not old enough to drink alcohol legally, but old enough to kill. That's one of the many rules of Konohagakure Sasuke will never be able to get behind.
At least in the so called "barbaric" small villages, as the civilians and fellow ninja dubbed them, the children forced to kill could get some form of coping. Albeit not a healthy one, Sasuke could admit that. After all, after especially macabre missions it was not uncommon for him and his mission partners to end up at a bar or two. Not that he would ever confess doing so to a living soul. It was utmost unprofessional (especially traveling with painful hangovers).
The four boxes don't look extraordinary, except for the colorful eye sore that undeniable has come from Shisui, his older cousin. Matt black packets contrasted with red small ribbons lay on the floor, fairly small and Sasuke almost misses the blue note on top of the "ugly box", as he mentally named it. It was just his luck to arrive so soon on the 23rd of July, the mission was supposed to prolong over most of the day but his team managed to cut some corners traveling. It was just in Sasuke's favor, smelling of work (meaning; dirt, blood, sweat and dog (he'd strangle Kiba if it would get the latter to stop getting dog hair everywhere). Not to mention Shikamaru started complaining (whining) every few minutes about the mission being a drag, even while getting a free ride from traveling farmers.
So now, all Sasuke feels like doing is taking a nice, scalding shower. And a long one too, if he could the brunette would take a chair up in there. Although that was something for the elderly, which the man is clearly not. Not by a long shot.
Kneeling down Sasuke surveyes the presents for a brief moment before sighing in frustration. He expected this from his (very loving) mother, perhaps Itachi as well because as much as the older brother refuses to voice out loud he still thinks of Sasuke as his little baby brother to be cherished and protected.
Never mind the "voice out loud", Sasuke thinks recalling a recent instance of Itachi telling him to return at 11 pm sharp when he went out with his old Genin team. It wasn't like he was going to get attacked by foreign ninja seeking out kekkei genkai to steal in the middle of the night (...again).
Still, for there to be four presents instead of just two was surprising, as much as annoying for Sasuke. When he had said that he "didn't need nor want anything", he truly meant it. Not to mention the ability to buy almost anything due to his inherited funds as second born son of the clan head, as much as the acceptable pay as a Jounin the young Uchiha possessed. He supposes that his even wealthier family felt the same privilege and thought it wouldn't harm to buy him presents he did not exactly want.
Sasuke was not going to stand there and be an ungrateful brat however. Those days were long left behind, amongst other rebellious phases he went through in the early teens everyone would rather forget. Most especially Sasuke himself.
So, Sasuke reaches forward to take hold of the note and reads with his exhausted eyes. It isn't too long (he breathes a sigh of relief), and actually legible. That means Shisui wasn’t the one to write it, because his cousin has a lot of things in common with his crows, such as his chicken scratch that dares to call itself handwriting
"My dearest baby,
I simply cannot believe it's been 18 years since that special day you came into our lives. I've told you time and time again, you were such a precious little baby, even when the world forced you to face so many complications as an infant. If someone forced me to go through those 16 hours of labor, I would without any hesitation. You, Itachi" -("And Shisui!", added in messy handwriting)"were the best things to happen in our lives. So, please apologize the presents but we really had to. I'm aware that for us ninja, age is not the same as for civilians, but I still wish for you to feel proud of reaching 18 years. That's approximately 567,648,000 seconds spent on this earth, isn't that amazing? We wish you all the best, without exception.
You'll always be my dearest baby, Sasuke."
Signed by Mikoto, followed by Itachi, Fugaku and lastly Shisui. It was...very thoughtful. Uncomfortably so. Still, deep down Sasuke truly appreciated it.
"Ps: I also wish for you to get an actual girlfriend, little cousin!!!"
Never mind.
---
After taking a shower that will probably leave him with a ginormous water bill (and left him with slightly shriveled up fingers), Sasuke wanders back into his living room, which probably is the smallest room besides his kitchen. It's not like there's many guests venturing into the Sasuke Uchiha household of one. It's time for him to open his gifts. It would be rude not to, even without any witnesses. Although Sasuke wouldn't put it past Shisui or Itachi to send a crow for spying.
The first choice is of course the one with "from mom" written on it, he'll always deny being a mama's boy but something in his heart tells him to open hers first. So that's what he does. Neatly of course, there's no point in creating more of a mess than opening presents already is. Sasuke supposes there will at least be something to put in his tiny chimney while he takes on the task of writing a mission report.
One by one the wrapping gets taken off and folded until a plain cardboard box is revealed. It feels heavy, but Sasuke fights off the urge to shake it like a little kid on Christmas Eve. Inside lays once more a note, just much shorter. It has hearts written on it and just screams “Mikoto Uchiha” with its precision. He has overheard gossip over and over about his mother being truly graceful on the field, a force to be reckoned with. Maybe that's why she can handle his father as well as she does, even when Fugaku's own brothers struggle to do so.
"Sasuke,
we've kept this from you for the longest time but, you're eighteen now, a grown adult. You deserve to know, even if Fugaku and I consider it one of the hardest times we've had to face. I love you"
That seemed oddly sentimental over a photo album. Albeit Sasuke never was the best in the emotional department, there was no debunking that. It isn't uncommon for people to accuse him of having the emotional range of a peanut. As soon as he opens the first page however, he begins understanding just why his mother poured so much feeling into it.
A fragile looking baby inside a resuscitation bed with a breathing tube connected to its nose is what greets him. Sasuke does not know what he is most shocked by, the tiny human, the name plaque reading "Uchiha Sasuke" or his father looking close to tears, a thing that is extremely unbecoming of a man who had served in a war.
Countless of somber photos follow all in the same fashion. Medical devices appear in each and everyone of the pictures, and it's undeniably clear what happened. Sasuke Uchiha was born a premature baby at the Konoha hospital, and Mikoto Uchiha almost lost her life due to doctors' incompetence. It explains many things, why Sasuke struggled with language delays up until the toddler years. Maybe being more of a quite kid stemmed from that. Sasuke wouldn’t go as far as saying his lack of outer emotional vulnerability came from being born too soon, the entirety of the Clan didn't like being overly emotional.
It wasn't as much shocking as it was eye opening for him. Sasuke was glad to have learned about it, about how he could have died at the gust of wind and his parents would have had, no, had to go through an incredible turmoil.
Sasuke carefully puts the album on the living room table, he would for sure confront his parents about it on a later date. Now, to get over this mood his mother's thoughtful present put him the young Uchiha reaches for Shisui's disaster of a gift.
This time he does not bother with polite formalities and just busts the box open from above. Pieces of the black shoebox from inside go flying in every which way, even hitting him in the neck like one of Shino's annoying spy bugs. They're useful, but god how Sasuke wishes he could burn them all to crisps every time the two of them get paired up for track&assassination missions.
That would cause a scandal and very possibly a war between the Aburame and Uchiha, which is bad.
Predictably his spunky cousin decided this was the perfect year for gag gifts. Or rather, bundles of the most random stuff. Wet ass-wipes, chocolate-mint flavored condoms, a paddle for god knows what and a collection of unfortunate photographs taken of Sasuke without his knowledge. At the Uchiha manor, the gates, the training fields (Does he always look so red in the face?), the café, the bathroom of all places, although luckily only of Sasuke checking out his mess of bed hair, the restaurant with his old Genin team, his garden and many more, all of them featuring him caught in awkward moments and positions.
The gift fits Shisui so much he nearly can't believe it. Underneath all the platinum colored dick-confetti Sasuke manages to find a single piece of paper. Maybe he should've become a doctor, because after 6 minutes of confusion the hieroglyphics his cousin scribbled down begin to make out words. "I have tons of blackmail copies!! I even caught you in the shower but I'll keep it for now"
Is it wrong to consider patruelicide? If it is, Sasuke sure is glad to have taken upon hours of meditation to improve self-control. If he had a hammer, a drill or knife..
Sasuke quickly adds everything Shisui sent to his chimney pile to save any surviving nerves from fraying. Or exploding.
Itachi, someone who hung out with Shisui a lot, especially as a child. Surely the respectable Anbu agent would not sink to the levels of this-, man-child. Yeah, Sasuke grumbles, that's what that shit gets for sending me shit. He has faith in his brother that he used to admire obsessively as a child. Following around like a loyal puppy until the bitter end, the end being puberty. Where admiration turned into jealousy and Itachi became his enemy, someone to surpass even though Sasuke never did quite manage to. His 14 year old self would be disappointed, and the Uchiha is happy about it. No one could stand pubescent Sasuke, not even the person in question himself.
Sasuke doesn't end up disappointed, the gift is pretty handy all things considered. First, a brand new toolbox and a step-by-step book on fixing sinks for beginners. It appears like Itachi paid attention to one of Sasuke's rants about the house. Some pipe burst, and being who he was, meaning a stubborn person, Sasuke refused to pay a plumber for something as minor as a broken sink. The meals the brunette eats are mostly bought and premade, or dropped off by Mikoto, so the sink rarely gets used anyways.
Amongst the toolbox lay other beneficial things, mostly for work. Ninja tools mentioned to be damaged in passing or bandages for the travels in between getting injured harshly and hospitals. The final personal touch was a pack of tomato seeds, the expensive and exported but undeniably good kind. It sounds like Itachi wanted his younger brother to pick up gardening. Hopefully Sasuke will get enough time off at any point in the future to get through with that pleasant idea.
In fact, a hunger for tomatoes forms inside his head and down into his stomach. He could go for that right now, or nicely done scrambled eggs. Or toasted sandwiches with extra cheese, but perhaps authentic onigiri would be the way to go? The days long mission left him hungry, and Sasuke debates just ditching his father's present for later.
No that would be disrespectful, he sighs with a hand rubbing his belly as he pushes the box closer to where he's kneeling. The obviously smaller box is identical to the other ones, just without any name of its previous owner. At least it points towards him getting food into his system quicker, so there's that.
With care the wrapping becomes undone, taking place amongst the rest of the pile. Honestly, Sasuke is unsure about what to expect. His relationship with his father is different. It's not bad, not like the pre-teens years full of misunderstandings, conflicts and feelings of unfair treatment were. Now they just, don't talk much in a way. Sasuke loves his father, he truly does but deep inside there's doubt that the latter knows much about his second born at his current age. He imagines all the knowledge being; Jounin, lives near the Hokage monument, birthday in July. If it weren't for the fact that Sasuke is truly lost when it comes to having a meaningful conversation with his father, he'd try mending it. Because Sasuke does positively appreciate and respect the older man, very much so.
One more sigh leaves the pale mouth as sturdy cardboard boxes opened, yet quickly turned into an unstifled gasp as a large bottle of Japanese whisky greets him from inside. Did his father think he was an alcoholic? Was this supposed to be a shrewd joke, and the bottle contained normal tap water? Sasuke knew his father well enough to know that the clan head was not one for silly jokes like that. But frankly, his brain was still frozen at the fact that his father gifted him alcohol despite it being illegal.
Another card, and fortunately for his confused state of mind, Fugaku had kept himself brief.
"You're my son," it reads in neat letters, " so I'm aware you've drank before. I did too at your age when I became the clan head. Would you care to have a glass with me sometime, so we could talk? Father-to-son?"
No signature, no tiny drawings or goofy confetti, yet as Sasuke slowly melts from his shell shocked expression, it feels more welcoming than anyone has ever made him feel. This is just the perfect opportunity for them to learn more about each other, without having to talk through Mikoto or Itachi. (Mikoto oftentimes confessed to being annoyed about being some sort of a messenger in-between, but that's just how it has always been). And if Sasuke feels nervousness building in his gut, he'll pretend it's hunger.
Yes, Sasuke would indeed care for a glass. As soon as work let him. He's undeniably looking forward to it.
Maybe, the newly eighteen year old Uchiha ponders, birthdays aren't that bad. Even for ninja that don't get to celebrate the same way civilians do. In the end, Sasuke feels incredibly happy to have received presents from his family, that were more or less thoughtful.
----
Never mind, even hours later he can't get all of this stupid dick confetti off the floor.
End