AUTHOR'S NOTE"

I wrote this in two days, so it's kinda short, but I had to have it ready for Christmas. BTW, this story is told in my OC Nakora's POV. Enjoy!

"Aahh!" I scream in fustration. Naruto looks over at me like I'm buts, which I probably am. I continue to rifle through the endless clothing racks in search of Sakura's dress. It's three days until Christmas, and she's the only one I haven't gotten a gift for. Naruto needs a gift for her as well. Neither of us had any time to go shopping, so basically... we're screwed. "Ugh! Find anything yet, Naruto?" I see his head emerge from behind one of the racks on the other side of the store. "Nothing..wait! I got it!" He pulls a tiny pink shirt off the rack and pays for it. I sigh and continue to search until I see It. Sakura's perfect Christmas present. It's shimmery and sparkly, and it fades from light pink at the top to dark pink at the bottom. It has a halter top and flows down to just above the knee. I race across the store and rip it off the rack, buying and paying for it in less than 30 seconds. "You found one?" Naruto shouts in my ear. "Yes. That means all I need now is...right in here." We walk into the mall's craft store and I buy what I need. "Are we done?" I ask Naruto, and he nods. "I've got everyone else's." "Then let's go." I start to walk foward, and walk right into a solid wall of dark blue fabric. I breathe in the wall's woodsey scent, and look up. "Sasuke! What're you doing here?" He smirks. "Well, hello to you, too." "Sorry. Hi. Now what're you doing here?" "Obviously, Christmas shopping." "Oh, so are we." I push one of my bags behind my back, hiding his gift. "We just finished. We're heading back to Nakora's house now." Naruto says. "Mind if I join you?" "Sure." The three of us head out of the mall and toward my house. "Are you coming to my Christmas party tomorrow night?" I ask Sasuke, because I already know Naruto's coming. "Who's all coming?" "Obviously Tsume and me, Naruto Sakura, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Neji, Tenten, and Lee. You know, the usual." "I guess I'll come. What time?" "It starts at 6 pm tomorrow at my house." " Cool. I'll be there. I gotta get home to wrap the presents. See ya!" Sasuke walks away and I turn to Naruto. "Wanna hang at my place? Tsume's gunna be there." I sat teasingly, making him blush. Tsume and Naruto have been going out publicly for a while now, and I think they're getting pretty serious. "Sure." We run the rest of the way to my house.

When we get there, we walk into the kitchen to see Tsume making gingerbread cookies. "Hey, Tsume." I say as I walk in, dropping my bags on the bar. "Hey, babe." Naruto says, and gives her a kiss on the cheek. She giggles and blushes. "Hey, guys." "Watcha doing?" "Obviously, making cookies for the party." "Yum." I steal some of the dough, but when I reach for seconds, Tsume smacks my hand with her wooden spatula. "Do you need help?" asks Naruto. "Yeah. Can you get the rest of the dough out of the fridge?" "Sure." "I'm going to my room." I say, but neither of them pay any attention. I grab my bags and throw them on the floor in my room, planning to wrap them later. I walk back into the kitchen to see Naruto and Tsume laughing on the floor with cookie dough everywhere. I do not want to know what happened. I back slowly out of the room and onto my sun starts to set, and I gaze longingly at it, willing time to move faster. A small acorn comes in contact with my skull, and I wince. I look over at the tree that snakes up my balcony, and see two bright seagreen eyes staring back at me. Only one person has those eyes. Gaara steps out of the shadows smiling his sad little smile. "Wanna go for a walk?" I smile. "Sure." I jump over the railing and land at his side. We start walking in a random direction. "What's up?" I ask. Gaara looks at me, right in my eyes. I shiver. Whenever he does that, it makes me feel like he's reading my soul. "I just wanted to be alone with you, since we don't get to do that a lot anymore." "I know. We've all been really busy. But since we're alone now, where do you wanna go?" "It doesn't matter. Wherever." Gaara looks at his watch. "Temari'll be looking for me soon anyway." "Okay." The breeze blows Gaara's red hair back, and I think, Wow. Gaara looks really hot tonight. After thinking that, I mentally smack myself. I don't want to lose my friendship with Gaara by having a relationship. And that leads me to thinking about how much I like Sasuke. I don't want to lose my friendship with him either, but I really really like him. Maybe at the party I'll ask him out. Maybe. Oh well, I'll worry about that later. Now back to me and Gaara. "I can't wait until the party." I say. "Neither can I." "So what'd you get me?" I ask, pure innocence on my face. "That I can't tell you." I stick my tongue out at him. He does the same back. Temari comes running up to us, blue eyes flashing. "Gaara! You still need to wrap your gifts." Gaara makes a face at her and says goodbye. He follows Temari back to the hotel they're staying at, along with their brother Kankuro. I head home. Luckily, Naruto's not there and Tsume's already asleep. I lay down in my bed to sleep a dreamless sleep.

In the morning, Tsume wakes me up at around noon. Once downstairs, I do a double take. The entire downstairs is decorated to look like a Windter Wonderland, complete with lights and even fake snow! Pushed in the corner is a giant Christmas tree covered in tinsel and lights. "Tsume! Did you do all this?" She smiles. "Along with Naruto, of course." I hug her. "This is amazing!" "Look at the front door." I look over and see a tiny mistletoe hanging from it. "What's that for?" "For you...and Sasuke!" she replies with a devious little smile. "Eww, no!" I cry,smacking her arm. Even though, secretly, I do want him to kiss me. "Ow! What was that for?" she screams and hits me back. "So you don't want to kiss him?" I sigh. "No! Well, I don't know. Maybe." "Oh, you want to!" "Hehe, maybe."

The rest of the day passes by in a blur, and at 5 pm, Tsume and I decide to get ready. I curl my dark blue hair and pull it up into a bun. My dress is a black sparkly halter dress that flows down to just above my knees. My shoes are black strappy sandals that I "borrowed" from Temari (hehe!). Tsume wears a really pretty pink dress paired with white high heels. She straightens her long blonde hair. We put our presents to ur friends under the tree, and set out eggnog, milk, gingerbread and sugar cookies, m & m's, chips, and popcorn strands. At 6 pm, everyone starts to arrive. They deposit their presents under the tree in piles and walk around, eating and talking. Tsume turns on some music and everyonbe starts dancing. At exactly 7, I make everyone gather around the tree to open gifts. (I'm gunna skip this part because it's too long and go to the end where everyone opens up gifts from me). I pass around my gifts, and watch everyone's reactions to what I get them. Here's a list:

Naruto- penguin pjs

Sasuke- checkered hightops

Sakura- pink dress

Gaara- BVB cd

Temari- black dress

Kankuro- black eyeliner

Shikamaru- skinny jeans

Ino- purple belt

Chouji- girt certifigate to food court at the mall

Hinata- make-up kit

Shino- Likin Park cd

Kiba/Akamaru- matching sweatshirts

Neji- Avatar movie on DVD

Tenten- Vampire Academy novel

Lee- a fuzzy winter vest

Tsume- ripped black skinny jeans

Lastly, I bought Kakshi-sensei the Make-out Paradise movie (ew!). Included in everyone's gift is a tiny silver picture frame. "What's the frame for?" Gaara asks me. I pull out my camera. "I wanted to get a picture of all of us and put them in there." "Cool!" Tsume says and and hugs me. Our door blows open and in walks Kakashi-sensei, Asuma, Kurenai, and Gai-sensei. "Merry Christmas!" they all yell. "Kakashi-sensei, will you take a picture of all of us?" I ask. "Sure." he answers, and takes the camera. Everyone gathers in front of the tree: my arms around Gaara and Tsume, Sasuke behind me with Sakura and Ino, Naruto next to Tsume, Temari and Kankoru beside Gaara, and everyone else squeezed tightly around us. Kakashi-sensei snaps the picture, and the group breaks up to dance.

One hour later, almost everybody left with their picture. Only Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Temari, Kankoru, Gaara, Tsume, and I are left. Naruto and Tsume are talking heavily about something. Sakura, Temari, Gaara, and Kankoru are helping clean up, and I'm carrying a garbage filled with snow outside. As I walk back in, I right into Sasuke under the door. "Sorry, Sasuke." "Look up." he whispers. I do, and see the two of us are standing under the mistletoe. "Well, ummm, do you just wanna do a kiss on the cheek so it won't be awkward and..." Sasuke cups my face in his hands, pulling me close and kissing me deeply. I lean into the kiss, and after a couple of seconds we break apart, holding hands, and I swear I see Gaara and Sakura staring at us jealously. Oh well. That's tomorrow's problem. I kiss Sasuke again, and I realize exactly what Christmas miracles are. Happy Holiday's, everybody!

3 Nakora