The Book of Nariko Hayashi | Naruto OC

Nariko's Birthday

August 29th was the day I was born. AKA, Yakiniku Day.

As a child, for some reason, I felt like every birthday I had was missing something. When I turned 16, I actually felt happy.
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"Happy Birthday to you.. Happy Birthday to you.. Happy Birthday, Nariko... Happy Birthday to you!!"

"Agh.."

I looked down at the cake in front of me. It was well decorated, there was white icing, black sprinkles, it had my name written in cursive.. why wasn't I smiling?

"Nariko", my mother started. "Blow out your candles."

"Honey, she's doing it again", I heard my father whisper to her. "She does this every birthday."

After a few seconds, I blew out my candles in just one blow, then got up from my seat. "I'm going out with friends. Thanks for the cake."

My parents were confused as to why I was acting like that. You see, they'd expect me to stay home and spend time with them, but that didn't happen. The last time I did that was when I was little. Not sure what age.. oh well.

"N-Nariko, don't you want to spend your birthday here with us?", my mother stated with a nervous smile. "I talked to Amaya, Kakashi, and the other sensei's.. you don't have any missions at the moment."

"Mom, I just want to hang out with my friends. I thought that'd be okay with you."

"Ah- Nariko, you can leave", my father said as he held my mother's hand gently. "We just thought you'd spend time with us like you used to do when you were little."

I didn't say anything else to worry them or for them to talk back, so I left my house. Did I feel bad for not wanting to spend time with my own parents? ..Yeah. But for some reason, I just wanted to see my friends.

~*~

As I walked in the village to look for my friends, I thought about my behavior. Every birthday, I acted so weird, like I was so ungrateful for being born in the first place. It wasn't that at all. I really didn't know.

"Aiko, hurry!", I heard one of my teammates shout at the other as he ran pass me. "They're waiting on us!!"

"Coming!!" Aiko ran after the male, but stopped when she noticed me. "Nariko! Wanna come to Yakiniku Q with us? The others are having a party there, and we're invited."

I blinked a few times and turned around to look at her. A party? For who? A party to celebrate their victories for being hardworking ninja? Unless...

With that, I walked towards her and accepted to go eat with them.

When we got to Yakiniku Q though.. it wasn't what I thought.

"Team Amaya's here! That means we can finally eat!", Choji exclaimed happily before grabbing a few meat from the mini grill, placing them on his plate. "Everybody dig in now!!"

Everyone was there. Team 7, Team 8, Team 10, and Team Guy. Now Team Amaya.

I took a seat next to Neji, while Aiko and Kurai sat across from us. Everyone was having a good time, eating and talking.. you know, being teenagers.

"So. Why did you all agree to come here?", I asked sternly.

Shikamaru looked over at me confused, like he thought I'd know. "Uhh.. it's our day off? We don't have any missions at the moment. Why not just enjoy ourselves?"

"Just making sure", I breathed. "I thought you all were here because of me for a moment."

Kiba and Hinata gave each other weird looks. Aiko and Kurai didn't even know what I was talking about, probably because I never mentioned it to them before. That'd be embarrassing.