Happy Birthday, Danchou~!

Grammar Nazi me noticed lots of errors so I had to edit those, but other than that, nothing's changed much :D

Kuredo164 made a wonderful 24-page comic for this little baby~ please do check it out! Link's on my profile ^-^ It's really nice ;)

Once, she'd desperately wanted to disappear.

But every year, there would be at least one day when she would want to be remembered.

"Happy birthday, Tsubomi," her sister would gently whisper upon her arrival on those times.

She would want some bit of attention on her birthdays. Maybe not from everyone, especially from her parents. She knew that would be too much to ask already. But at least just from the only person glad to have her around.

For some reason, though, her birthdays would always be a busy day for their family business, and since her sister's old enough to take part in it, the paperwork the redhead would be given only allowed the older girl to visit her an hour or so after dinner, and sometimes even just as she'd started to drift off to sleep.

"Did you think I've forgotten already?" her sister would ask her.

And she would nod. That was something she'd always feared would happen.

"Don't be silly. How could a special day like this slip from my mind?"

She would then smile back, but she knew she would doubt that again the next year.

That time, she'd been sitting by the window, gazing at the now-peaceful night sky repeatedly streaked with "exploding stars" the other night, when she heard the door crack open.

As per their tradition, the two had then sat on the floor to share cookies and sweets and, for the first time, cake. For the past four years that they've celebrated her birthday, her sister had been prevented from baking one, either because she would finish late at work, or there'd be a risk of their parents catching on to their secret feast.

Nevertheless, she had never complained. Just her sister remembering, with or without these birthday treats, already made her so happy.

"You're turning seven next year, Tsubomi," her sister had said as she watched the little girl taste the chocolate frosting. "Let's hold a birthday party for you, with all the balloons and games and music. And all the children in our neighborhood would be invited. Would you like that?"

Her eyes had shone with excitement, but just so soon did she hesitate. "Would that be okay though… with them?"

Her sister had looked away and pursed her lips. "Well, it's worth a shot. But I promise to do my best."

She had nodded, before adding, "A party would be nice, but it's okay if it won't happen, though, Oneesan. I'd understand."

"Tsubomi…"

"What's important is that you remember. That'd be enough."

Her sister had given her a sad smile, and then ruffled her hair. "I told you again and again before: I'd never forget."

There was no birthday party the following year, just as she expected, but not because her parents didn't allow it. Her sister didn't even get the chance to ask them in the first place.

No one knew about her birthday anymore, except of course for those in charge of the paperwork in the orphanage. But it's not as if they would care to celebrate an invisible girl.

Since that fire, she'd been unconsciously, literally disappearing from sight for long periods of time.

And she'd always believed that absence would eventually lead to oblivion.

While she did meet Shuuya and Kousuke, she didn't want to impose on them, to make them feel obligated to do something for her birthday.

The New Year's celebration would do, she told herself. It's close anyway, and festive enough.

She was so firm in her resolve that it surprised her when, on the morning of her seventh birthday as she sat by the swings, two small hands held out three-and four-flowered bouquets in front of her face.

"Happy Birthday," they greeted her, one quite timidly and the other too cheerfully.

It took her a few moments to recover from the shock. "H-how," she finally took the flowers, "how did you know?"

"Well, we have our ways~" Shuuya winked, then glanced to the side, to Kousuke.

Kousuke's eyes widened as he stuttered under her stare. "I-I di-didn't meant to! Y-you just thought so much about January second and birthday memories and—"

"It's alright, Kousuke." She smiled. "In fact, I'm happy you read all that. Thanks, you two."

Kousuke visibly sighed in relief, making Shuuya chuckle. He patted the smaller boy's shoulder. "I told you it'd be okay with her."

As she watched them, she thought maybe birthdays without her sister wouldn't be so bad, if only she'd get to stay with these two.

The blonde caught her bittersweet smile, and returned it with an excited grin of his own. "So, what shall we do today, Tsubomi?"

And she's sure he's currently wearing that exact same smile, and would most probably ask the exact same thing once he succeeded in shaking her awake.

"Kido… Kidoooo~" She started to hear him as she got slowly pulled into consciousness.

He's been at it for a while now, and it's getting irritating already, that she finally reached out to shove him off her. Hearing a thud, she turned to the other side of the bed, secretly laughing at her poor brother who fell off the bed.

It didn't take long, though, before she heard footsteps and felt a weight flop down beside her. He seemed to stretch a bit right in front of her, before drawing close to her face.

"Get up, Tsubomi," he whispered.

Her eyes had been squeezed shut all this time, and she planned to stay that way until he gives up. Which didn't look like would happen anytime soon, so she finally opened them with a frustrated sigh.

For a moment, there was silence as their eyes met. She swore she'd seen his cheeks turn a slight pink, but it completely vanished as his eyes changed into a bright red color. As red as she felt her face started to get when he whispered with a grin, "Happy Birthday~"

Instinctively, she pushed his face away and buried her own against her pillow with a grunt.

He laughed. "Aren't you happy my face was the first thing you saw today?"

"I'm not seeing your face; I'm seeing your mask," she replied, peeking up at him as he sat up.

He only grinned down at her. "You slept in today of all days." He nodded towards the sunlight peering in through the blinds.

She sat up as well, turning to look at the digital clock on her bedside table. It's almost noon. Right then, she hurriedly ushered him out so she could fix herself before facing the rest of the Dan.

Who have all gone to attend to their different agendas for today already, apparently.

Oh. Well, at least there's someone who remembered…

"Kido," the blonde deceiver waiting outside her door started to whine, "don't you want to eat lunch? I've been starving for a while now since you won't wake up."

"So, basically, you woke me up so I could cook you some lunch."

He chuckled. "That was the original plan. But that failed an hour ago, so I decided to do it myself." He winked. "Be proud."

She rolled her eyes and started out the hallway into the dining room.

"But seriously, it was getting really lonely, and I was starting to worry too that you might have died in your sleep already." He fake-shuddered as he walked beside her.

"Yeah, whatever." She reached the dining table and sat down. And stared. "Wow, so you're able to cook something like this, huh? But don't you think it's a bit too much?"

He sat down across from her. "Nah, that's just enough for a busy day."

So it's still the usual, then.

Since the Tateyamas took the trio in, Shuuya and Kousuke, along with their new sister Ayano, had always insisted to celebrate her birthday. It was a nice change from the secret little celebrations she used to have with her sister. Plus, they did something new every year, which made it fun and worth looking forward to, though she never admitted that outwardly.

Absence leads to oblivion, she'd used to believe, but Ayano changed that mindset.

"You can never really forget someone special to you, even if you couldn't see each other as often as you want to," her hero used to say. "We always look for you whenever you disappear, don't we? So how do you expect us to forget something as important to you as your birthday?"

For the past two years since that day, though, celebrations had tuned down to something simpler. She would bake a cake (for Marry can't be trusted in the kitchen), Seto would buy them dinner, Marry would give her flowers as a gift, and Kano would drag her to places all day and for once, gladly do his chores.

She told herself she's content with that, but now that more people were added to the gang, and considering the liveliness of some of the new recruits, she kind of expected something more, something different, something fun again.

But if she's not getting any of that this year, then it's fine. Someone important to her had remembered at least. Isn't that what she'd always wished for ever since, anyway?

"Did you have fun today?" Kano broke the silence they settled in as they took a shortcut to the base, after a long day of walking around town.

She glanced at him, a bit glad to be snapped out of her thoughts. "Why, of course."

"You're not as good as me, Kido." He tilted his head to the side and smiled.

"Then why bother asking?" She looked away and sighed. "I'm sorry. I must have been obvious."

He nodded without hesitation. "But I kind of expected that. I've dragged it on for too long. Or maybe because they took much more time than planned?"

"Huh?"

He grinned. "You'll see. Come on, let's hurry." He then grabbed her arm and all but dragged her through the short distance left towards their apartment.

They reached the front door almost out of breath. But before she turned the doorknob, he spoke up.

"Hey, Tsubomi?"

"Huh?" she answered, quite startled at the sudden seriousness in his tone.

"A leader's special to her whole gang. And no one ever forgets people who are special to them, don't they?"

She blinked. "Kano?"

He didn't answer anymore, and instead put his own hand over hers on the doorknob, opening it with her.

"Already?" She heard someone, probably Momo, squeak in the dark apartment, as well as panicked whispers and hushed instructions to light it up.

The door was closed right then, and at the center of the base, one-by-one the little candles on a rectangular cake illuminated most of the place and revealed the remaining seven members huddled together around it.

At Ene's signal, everyone started to sing, really sing, the birthday song.

They greeted her "Happy Birthday" in chorus as they finished, but it turned out unsynchronized, as each member apparently called their leader differently. They playfully glared at each other at the simple mistake, but for her, it's what made it unique and sincere, what made the gang them.

Soon, hot tears started streaming uncontrollably down her face.

"Eh? Kido, you're not supposed to cry!" Kano, who's been beside her the whole time, wiped them away.

"I should've known you're up to something."

He laughed. "You were too busy being depressed."

She straightened up and nodded towards the rest of the Dan. "Your idea?"

"Yup~"

"Hey, don't take all the credit now!" Ene pouted from her master's phone.

"Well, anyway," she chuckled, "t-thank you." She gave a slight bow.

"There's no need to be formal now, Danchou-san." Momo, who was holding the cake, stepped closer.

"Kido, blow the candles!" Marry excitedly jumped up and down, to which Seto smiled.

"Go on, Kido," he prompted too.

"Yeah," Hibiya piped up, "before—"

"Hey, you're supposed to wait first, Konoha!" Shintaro shouted from the back.

She could only shake her head and smile, before finally blowing the candles and steering Konoha away from the dining table full of food once the lights went on.

Yes, this little band of misfits, brought together by something they originally considered a curse, must have grown on her enough to hurt her when she thought they forgot about her special day.

No one ever did right from the start, she finally realized.

And for that, she was grateful.

You know, this was originally about to end at the orphanage part, but the fangirl me was like, "No, it needs more Kano!" so yeah, I got carried away with writing the otherwise nonromantic KanoKido scenes, that's why it got this long ^^'

Oh and yeah, because I want to inject some Aya-nee wisdom ^^

And don't you think it would look like it's lacking if I didn't include her present birthday? Hehe...

Anywaaay, what do you think? Please tell me through reviews! I'd gladly appreciate your thoughts and criticism ;)