Naruto: My birthday was days ago, you know.

Blu: I know, but since I had schoolwork, I made this fan fiction short, sweet, and purposely late.

Naruto: Suuuure... It's "purposely" late!

Blu: That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Disclaimer: (Singing) Maaasashi Kishimoto owns Naruto, not me, so if you think that I own it, you can kiss my heinie!

X-X-X

Naruto's Gift

It is a horrible thing to forget someone's birthday. It's even worse when you've forgotten the birthday of the one you love--the one who you just started to go steady with. Of course, Hinata had not forgotten Naruto's birthday. She was simply busy. The young Hyuga heiress had been hired by a woman to seduce and assassinate her promiscuous husband, who had the tendency of sleeping around with quiet, shapely young girls such as Hinata. The mission succeeded without a hitch, but by the time she came back home, it was October 11th.

As a child, Hinata would often secretly leave a birthday gift for Naruto in front of the door of his apartment. He would always accept it, not knowing who his anonymous gift giver was since hardly anyone liked him enough to leave him a present. Over the years, she had finally gained enough courage to be able to give him a birthday present face-to-face, and now she had missed her chance. But she couldn't just not give him a gift. Hinata had to give her blonde boyfriend something. She could have stolen one of her client's late husband's possessions, but nothing really said Naruto to the indigo-haired kunoichi.

After returning to Konoha and turning in her mission report, Hinata went over to Naruto's apartment. She rapped lightly on the door and took a deep breath. "N-naruto?" No response. She knocked on the door again. "Naruto-kun?"

5 minutes of waiting later, the indigo-haired girl started to get curious. Hinata activated her Byakugan--to only see if he was at home! Not for some perverted purpose! She saw Naruto asleep on the floor, wearing only his boxers as drool ran down the side of his mouth. His clothes were lying on the floor, as were a bottle of saké and several of his gifts. The blonde genin had somehow managed to get drunk and fell asleep on the floor.

"Naruto!" The young Hyuga knocked on the door. "Naruto-kun!" And then, for the first time...Hyuga Hinata shouted. "NARUTOOOOO!! Eep!" She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, Byakugan deactivating in the process. It was rare for Hinata to raise her voice, let alone shout at the top of her lungs. She heard the sound of scrambling feet, things falling over and semi-drunken slurs. The door soon cracked open slightly and an azure blue eye peered out.

"Nnn... Hinata? Is that you or Neji?" Naruto moaned groggily as he squinted his eye.

"I-it's me, Naruto-kun," Hinata spoke softly, not wanting to hurt her blonde boyfriend's head. "I'm sorry that I wasn't here for your birthday party, but I--"

"Hold on for a minute, Hinata." The orange-clad genin shut the door before his girlfriend could finish her sentence.

Hinata sweatdropped and sighed. "Um..." There were several loud noises coming from inside of the apartment that made the Hyuga heiress wonder what he was doing. Surely Naruto couldn't have been making so much noise just by putting on his clothes and tidying up...could he? She dismissed those thoughts after the door opened to reveal a fully-dressed Naruto, dressed up in a simple blue shirt and black pants. The blonde genin was holding his head with one hand and rubbing his eyes with the other.

"Morning, Hinata-chan. I didn't see you last night at the party," He spoke groggily as his vision focused on his Hyuga girlfriend. Naruto gave a small smile and made a motion with his hand for the indigo-haired kunoichi to step inside. She did just so, and observed the slightly messy living room. "I had to kinda clean up a bit before I let you in. So, how'd your mission go?"

"O-oh, it went fine..." She didn't tell him the exact specifications of her mission out of fear that he would get upset. Naruto just didn't get how kunoichi were masters of seduction and deception... "I'm very sorry that I missed your party last night, Naruto-kun." Hinata began to rub her hands out of nervousness. "I really...really wanted to be there since...this would be your first birthday since you came back home."

"It's alright, Hinata-chan. It's not your fault." The blonde teen gave a wide grin. "If it makes you feel better, I asked Neji to save a big slice of my birthday cake for you! I think Sakura-chan said that it was a...Banana-nut cake. With chocolate frosting!"

"Th-thank you, but the reason why I came here was...t-to give you your birthday present."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly and his cheeks gained a cherry-red blush. "You bought a present for me? While you were on your mission?"

"Well...I didn't buy anything. I made it."

"...Really? You actually found time to make me a present." The blush on his cheeks got darker. "You...you didn't have to do that, Hinata-chan."

Hinata started to blush now. "No, I...I wanted to get you a present, Naruto-kun. I mean, it's the least that I could do after I missed your birthday. And even though it isn't the most expensive, impressive gift...I hope you'll like it." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small square box, such as what you'd put jewelry in. She held the box out to Naruto, her hands shaking as her smiling face turned scarlet red. "H-happy belated birthday, Naruto-kun!"

The blonde genin stared at the box for a while until her took it from his girlfriend. He removed the top and stared at the gift inside. It was a pink paper heart that wasn't even as big as his hand with the words 'Property of Uzumaki Naruto' written neatly in script. "What is this?" He asked as bright red question mark floated over his head.

"It..." The indigo-haired girl gulped and took a breath to help lessen her blush. "It is my heart. I couldn't get anything very expensive, so I decided to give you the best gift I can. Unless...y-you don't like it."

"No, no... I love it! I don't think I've ever gotten a gift like this before." Naruto walked up to Hinata and leaned forward until their faces were less than an inch apart. He gave her a quick peck on the forehead, since he knew how she reacted to kisses on the lips. "Thanks, Hinata-chan." Hinata started to blush again and gave an inner cheer of joy. "Hey... Seeing as how we didn't get to spend my birthday together...why don't you take me out on a belated birthday lunch?"

"Naruto-kun, we can't have lunch at 10:34 in the morning," She told her boyfriend after glancing at a nearby electronic clock.

"Oh... Well, let's have breakfast! Or better yet, brunch!" He then leaned in and whispered into her ear, "I don't mind what we do. So long as you come with me, I'll be happy." And then, Hinata turned beet red from how close they were and fainted. Thankfully, Naruto caught her in his arms in time so she wouldn't hit the floor. "Oh, my God! Hinata-chan, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that!!"

As much as she hated the fact that she fainted like that, Hinata was happy that love was something more than material gifts.

X-X-X

Blu: There you go, Naruto! Your birthday present from me to you.

Naruto: It took you such a long time to write something so short?

Blu: Hey, I had schoolwork to do!

Naruto: Yeah, right.

Blu: Anyway, I'm glad you guys, whoever you are, took the time to read this little fic. It wasn't very long and it may have been a bit rushed, but I still hope that somebody out there liked it. Thank you very much for reading and I hope you review!