Naruto: beneath the surface

Chapter 5 So many Birthdays

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, & Steven were walking through Steven's room in order to get to the source of the horrid smell that had been in Amethyst's room for days now.

Pearl - "How can you live like this?!" she said, pinching her nose as she, Garnet, Amethyst, & Steven were walking through her room.

Amethyst - "It was fine till you guys started whining." she said with an eye roll as the group walked past the piles of junk littering her room.

Pearl - "Whining?! The whole temple reeks!" she shouted as Steven bent down to inspect an object he had picked up from the ground.

Steven - "I found it!" he shouted, calling the group over.

Pearl - "What manner of magical alloy is this?!" she asked as Steven opened it to reveal a moldy, extremely expired burrito.

Garnet - "It's a burrito" she replied stoically as Amethyst took the burrito from Stevens' hands.

Amethyst - "It's the tuna burrito from Aqua Mexican." she said before casually taking a bite of the basically poisonous burrito, causing Steven to cringe and turn away in disgust before a picture caught his eye.

Steven - "It kind of looks like you guys and my mom." he said thoughtfully.

Pearl - "Oh Steven! That is us!" she said as she picked up the frame.

Garnet - "The hard part was getting the shark to pose."

Steven - "Why's everyone dressed like old timey people?"

Pearl - "They ARE old timey people." she said as she gingerly put the picture in a safe place.

Steven - "Wait, how old are you guys?" he asked confusedly.

Pearl - "Much older than any human." she said, unaware of the few humans that were older than she could possibly ever imagine.

Steven - "Does that mean you'll live forever!"

Pearl - "No, no. We don't age, but we can still get hurt and die." he said, causing his happy mood to drop instantly as Amethyst began to feel the side effects of eating the spoiled burrito. "But not from food poisoning."

Steven - "I just can't believe you guys are like a bazillion years old! How do you find a cake big enough for all those candles?" he asked them, causing Pearl to look at Garnet, unsure of how to answer the odd question until she spoke up.

Garnet - "We don't really celebrate birthdays." she clarified, causing Steven to gasp.

Steven - "Why not."

Garnet - "It's not our way." she said with a shrug.

Steven - "Well I can't just ignore this travesty of injustice! I pledge that you will have your birthdays, with all the candy, cake, and ice cream you've been denied."

—LineBreak—

Steven - "And the birthday Queen is, Amethyst! I hope you like it."

Steven and the others were outside of the house. He had set up a birthday party of sorts in order to let them experience what they were missing out on.

Steven - "Dad made me this outfit and it brings me special birthday luck every year." he said as he started to sing a birthday tune happily until Lion had knocked his hat off of his head. "Hey! It goes like this." He said as he fixed it, only for Lion to ruin it again. "Lion, you're killin' me."

Pearl - "Um, Steven, I know you put in a lot of effort into putting faces on things." she said as she looked at the balloon in her hand. "But could it be we're just a tad, mature for this ritual?" she said, trying to subtly persuade Steven to let go of the birthday party until Amethyst got face to face with her wearing a party hat on her nose in order to mock her.