I'm a little bit late, but here it is! Happy 10th birthday, Naruto!

Naruto: Aw, shucks, you shouldn't have...

I really might not have, too. But I decided, to hell with it, I'll just write a birthday fic anyways. I wrote this in 3 hours.

Hanabi: Must we really go over your work ethic one more time?

Ah ha... ha ha ha... No, please. Don't. I got it the first time, really. My only possible excuse is that I've been working on other stuff on my free time. I've actually been writing something original.

Alright, as always, this fanfic has not been beta'd, and I wrote this very quickly so there's probably quite a lot of errors. I apologize for any that might get in the way of your reading.

Hanabi is quite lovestruck in this story, but Hanabi doesn't really have any character at all, so one can't say she's really OOC at all. I just thought you'd like to know, however.

Hanabi: Flames of Insanity does not own Naruto or any of the characters within it. He does, however, own this story.

She didn't mind waiting. Usually.

Usually, of course, meaning that this time was an exception.

She looked just about ready to glare someone's head off. Normally, that wouldn't be possible, but with Hyuuga Hanabi, you could never be too sure. She did have special eyes after all.

Scratch that, she wasn't just about ready to glare someone's head off. She was already trying to. Namely, the person in front her.

Waiting in line for several hours must do that to people.

'Almost at the end of the line. Almost at the end of the line. Almost at the end of the line...' She chanted in her head. A kunoichi going berserk within a civilian city wouldn't look very good on her record, now would it?

'Good cause. Stupid idiots. Good cause. Stupid idiots. Good cause. Stupid idiots...' A different chant. The previous one must not have been working.

What could have provoked the gracious Hyuuga Hanabi into this situation? Well, it began yesterday...

Flashback-a-go-go Baby

"S-so, Naruto... a-a-are you doing anything tomorrow?" She blushed. She stuttered. She asked him out. Why on earth was she the one doing the asking?!

"Ah, tomorrow? I've got plans for tomorrow. Sorry, Hanabi-chan..." And the object of her affection shot her down. Not that she would ever admit to it, anyways.

"Eh? Wh-what are you doing tomorrow?" She had mustered up all that courage to ask him out (though Naruto himself seemed oblivious to it), and she was shot down for some "other plans". She had a right to know what said plans were!

"I'm going to celebrate my birthday with Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei." The blondie said nonchalantly.

'Eh? Birthday?' What birthday? Tomorrow's his birthday? "Eh? Birthday?" She said what she was thinking outloud unintentionally.

"You didn't know Hanabi-chan?" He had the gall to sound surprised. He never told her about any birthday. For all she knew, he had no birthday! "My birthday is on October the 10th. Tomorrow."

Shock! The guy she liked's birthday was tomorrow... and she had no present. What a turn of events! Whatever was poor Hanabi supposed to do...?

Suddenly, an imaginary light-bulb appeared above Naruto's head. Or at least, so Hanabi imagined, considering the look on Naruto's face.

"That's right! Why don't you come along too?"

Great shock! This was her chance.

"... Alright, I don't see why not." She tried to hold back her elation. She had that Hyuuga Pride to uphold, after all.

They discussed plans further, before they decided to separate, as Naruto had other things to do.

Now there was only the matter of the present...

The problem was... what to get?

End Flashback

Which brings us to the present. Pun intended, of course.

It wasn't long after that Hanabi found an ad for limited edition "Ramen Book: The Greatest Book About Ramen".

Of course, she didn't think it'd be so popular. Was ramen more popular than she thought, or was it just the book? Or maybe it was the fact it was limited edition, or maybe...

Hanabi shook her head in frustration. Or at least, she would, were it not for her Hyuuga Pride.

The patented Hyuuga Pride was very important to the Hyuuga family, after all. Right above the Hyuuga Prestige. After the Hyuuga Prestige was the Hyuuga Grace. And then came the Byakugan.

Of course, while we had our flashback, much time passed. It was finally Hanabi's turn to pick up the great and much longed for "Ramen Book: The Greatest Book About Ramen".

And of course, her copy was the last one in stock. It had to be.

"Oh, thank goodness." Hanabi muttered--sorry, whispered, to herself. The Hyuuga are above using the word "muttered".

Countless of ramen fans went home disappointed. Or were they fans of the book itself? Hanabi couldn't tell.

Now, all that was left was for tomorrow to come.

:ooooo:

Tomorrow came a lot faster than she thought it would.

The events involving her meeting up with Naruto and arriving at the party, even faster.

It wasn't a big party, but it wasn't small, either.

Hanabi was sure Naruto had invited all of the Rookie Nine, as well as her cousin Neji's team, but it seemed like not all of them could make it.

The party was at Kakashi's humble home, saying it was the least he could do for his "precious, beloved student".

She spotted only Kakashi, Sakura, her elder sister Hinata and her team, her cousin Neji and his teammate Rock Lee, and a boy named Shikamaru. She briefly saw the Hokage, Tsunade, hand Naruto a present before leaving. Presumably for work.

Of course, she ignored them all. She had priorities after all, and her priority here was Naruto, not his friends. Before Naruto opened the presents, she had something to do.

It happened last night. An idea came to her. Was it excellent? Brilliant? Extraordinary? Hanabi couldn't say for sure. But she liked the idea.

"Naruto, can we talk?"

"Sure, Hanabi-chan. What's up?" Naruto turned to her expectantly.

"... Alone."

"H-huh? Uh, sure, okay then. Let's go outside." He grabbed her hand, instigating a blush from our cute Hyuuga heroine, which she allowed since it was Naruto, and Naruto was a priority she placed over Hyuuga Pride. Were her father to ever find out about that would be the end of her.

Naruto led Hanabi outside, and it seemed like all of the people but Naruto and her were drunk and didn't notice.

"So what is it, Hanabi-chan?" He looked at her quizzically. Almost cutely, even. Hanabi resisted her urge to hug and squeeze.

"Oh, I just wanted to give you my first present."

"Huh? It can't wait until Present Opening Time?" At the thought of the famous Present Opening Time, Naruto fell into a small daze, thinking about all the presents. The presents, all those presents...

"It can't." Hanabi ushered Naruto back to reality.

"Oh... okay, then. What's the present?" Back to staring at her cutely. Not that Hanabi minded at all.

Oh, it was all too sudden. For Naruto, at least. For Hanabi, she made sure it went along nice and slow, and lasted a while.

But all good kisses must come to an end. That's right. Their lips met, and Hanabi placed quite a lot of passion and love into it too.

She had placed her arms around his neck with the speed of a ninja that she was. Even faster was her lips going in for the kill--er, the kiss.

She placed some tongue into it too.

It was quite a kiss.

Hanabi made sure the kiss lasted as long as possible. And Naruto, being women-inept, was far too surprised to do anything about it.

Their lips seperated, and Naruto gasped for breath.

"H-Hanabi...-chan?"

She smiled at him alluringly. Naruto blushed--even more than before--and gulped.

"I love you, Uzumaki Naruto."

Hanabi decided it was better to leave him thinking about it, and returned inside as soon as she confessed her feelings to the object of her love.

It took a good half an hour for Naruto to return. His face was still red, and he avoided looking at Hanabi.

Present Opening Time came along. He loved Hanabi's limited edition "Ramen Book: The Greatest Book About Ramen". As a fellow ramen lover, of course.

Which made it all the better when he had to (whether it was out of pride or obligation) come up to Hanabi and thank her. That tone of red was never before seen on Naruto, and she was happy to say she was the cause of it.

Needless to say, the kiss was certainly a present he wouldn't be forgetting.

Owari

I hope you enjoyed it. It's shorter than the other stuff I've written. I like it, though I might as well say I like most things I write, because I'd only release it if I liked it anyways. Haha. I tried something a bit different, and tried to remain humorous throughout the story, but I'm never confident about my attempts at humor.

Hanabi: Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Naruto: Whether you loved it, hated it, or don't care at all, review!

Hanabi: And a happy 10th birthday to Naruto.