My Secret Santa

A/N: I was supposed to have this finished and published on the 25th. Sadly, I was a little late. Sorry if it seems kind of rushed, I procrastinate too much. Anyways, I hope you'll like it. Then again, it's my first story, so yeah. So R & R~! ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

The Konoha Twelve and the Sand Siblings were all gathered up in Ino's house. Naruto was loudly chatting with Sasuke and Sakura. Chouji was sitting down while munching on some potato chips. Shikamaru was trying to rest his eyes, but Temari was constantly nagging him. Kiba was ranting on about something to Hinata, who was stealing glances at Naruto, and Shino, who was silently listening. Neji and Tenten were ignoring the garrulous Lee shouting out something about youth. Kankuro sat on the couch, channel-surfing. Gaara was beside him silently sulking about being dragged over here by Temari. When Ino entered the room with a hat in her hands, Sakura walked straight to her, leaving Naruto and Sasuke.

"What's the big deal of calling all of us here Ino-pig?" Sakura questioned.

"You'll find out soon enough Forehead," Ino answered. Then she cleared her throat and yelled out, "SHUT UP EVERYBODY!"

Almost immediately, everybody stopped their conversations. They all turned to the culprit and stared questioningly. Ino smiled and started to speak to break the silence she started. "I gathered all of you guys here today for a reason. Since you all should know that in a week, it's going to be Christmas, I've decided to make it a little more interesting. We're all going to be playing Secret Santa!"

"Waitaminute! What's 'Secret Santa' and how are you supposed to play it?" interrupted Naruto.

Ino raised one of her eyebrows, but explained, "Well, Naruto, it's basically a game where you choose someone's name randomly, then you buy gifts for them. But, you cannot let the person you're buying presents for know it was you. Although, you can tell them after the whole game is over, if you want to, that is. However, I think that we should reveal ourselves on the day of my party. After you choose a name from this hat, you have three days, excluding today, to get them a present. Then after the three days, we're all going to meet up here and drop the gifts in a bag. After they're all in there, we'll give them out. That way, you might get a little clue as to who's your Secret Santa. And after this, you buy another gift for them. But this time, you reveal yourselves the day of the party by handing the presents face-to-face. Get it?"

Naruto scratched his head, but nodded his head. Much to Ino's satisfaction, everybody agreed to play this little game after much complaints, threats, and puppy dog faces. So, it was time for the name picking.

Ino chose first in case she picked her own name. After grabbing a piece of paper, she took a quick glimpse of it, noted it wasn't her name, and shoved it in her pockets. Then everyone else took their pick. Eventually, all had chosen a name.

When everyone left to go about their own business, Ino shut the door and flopped down on her couch. Taking out her little piece of paper in her pocket, she stared down at the name written on it.

Gaara.

Hmm, so what should I buy for him? What does he even like? Ino thought to herself as she browsed various stores for anything of interest. It was the day after picking names and she wanted to buy something now so she wouldn't have to worry much about it. As she was walking through the streets, she noticed Hinata in a clothes store. She walked in and greeted the shy girl.

"Hey Hinata!"

Hinata looked over to whoever had called her. Seeing it was Ino, she gave a smile and a little wave.

"So, looking for something for Secret Santa?" asked Ino, who had approached her.

Hinata nodded in response.

"I see you're in the men's section. Does this mean that you're Secret Santa for a guy?"

The girl blushed and nodded.

Ino chuckled, but stopped to ask if she wanted to accompany her to the coffee shop. Hinata accepted, and soon they entered the warm shop with the smell of coffee beans. As they waited for their order to come, the two noticed Temari, Sakura, and Tenten all together. Ino called out to them. Naturally, they came over and sat with them. As a result, they ended up talking and hanging out there for so long, it was eventually getting darker. It was soon for everyone to return to the comforts of their homes. Ino ended up not buying anything today, but set up a shopping date for the five tomorrow.

Hopefully, I can find something for Secret Santa tomorrow. Ino wandered home with that in mind.

Ino waved at Hinata, Tenten, Sakura, and Temari as she strode towards them. Today, the five girls had set up a shopping date to let themselves have some fun. As soon as they were together, they hit the stores.

By the end of the day, the girls' hands were full of shopping bags. Even though they had gone through all the shops in the mall, Ino still couldn't find anything for Gaara. All she had bought was a medium-sized bag and some tissue paper to shove in the bag.

"Bye guys," Ino said, entering the Yamanaka Flower Shop after the long shopping day.

Upon entering the shop and into her house, Ino dropped her bags onto the floor and jumped onto the couch. "Seriously, I've got to find something that I can get Gaara by tomorrow. Tomorrow's the last day I can find something for him. Gosh, I feel like such a procrastinator."

The next day, Ino was stuck working at the Yamanaka Flower Shop. "Ugh, why today of all days?" She sat behind the counter just skimming through a flower magazine. After skimming through the whole book, she threw it back and tried to find something else to occupy her time. Looking around for anything to do, she found nothing. So, she put her head down and played with the cactus that was in the shop for awhile now. It was a short and small cactus that was in a little orange pot. Whenever Ino tried to sell this cactus, no one ever wanted it. She never saw why people never wanted it. So, instead of trying to sell it, she kept it beside the counter for anyone who might ever be interested in it. "Hey there little guy. Doing okay? You look fine today." Ino sat there with her hands on her face, staring at the innocent little plant. Suddenly, she got an idea, but it would have to wait.

At the end of the day, Ino closed the shop, grabbed the cactus, and took it to her room. She set it down on her bed and got the little gift bag she bought the other day. She took the tissue paper out and gently replaced it with the cactus. Then, the tissue paper was placed on top of it. "I hope he likes this." said Ino, looking at the bag that she held up.

Finally, the three days were over. Everybody who was at Ino's house three days ago, were, once again here. Everybody had set their presents on the table where Ino stood beside.

"Okay guys, hopefully, none of you people here got crappy ass gifts that are useless. Anyways, I'm going to give them out now. Okay…first is... Neji… Kankuro… Sasuke… Sakura… Tenten… Lee… Shino… Chouji… Temari… Naruto… Hinata… Shikamaru… Kiba… Gaara… and uh… me."

After receiving their presents, people began to open them or take them out, wondering what was in there. Ino did the same as everyone else at the moment.

Ino opened her nicely wrapped gift box to find an adorable stuffed panda bear. "Oh my god, it's so adorable." Then Sakura came over to the gushing blonde.

"Look what my Secret Santa gave me, Ino-pig," said Sakura. She then held up a beautiful painting of dozens of pink cherry blossoms raining down from the cherry blossom tree onto the ground. It was gorgeous!

"Wow, Sakura, it's so gorgeous! Any hint of who gave you this?" Ino asked her bubblegum- haired friend in awe.

"Um, yeah, kind of. There was a little card in it that said 'To my Beautiful Cherry Blossom'" Sakura gave in reply.

"Well, it certainly can't be a girl, now can it? Personally, I think this little card sounds like Lee."

"That's what I thought, but maybe it's not. I mean, you never know."

"Yeah…you never know. Oh well, guess you'll have to wait and see. Anyways, everybody happy with your gifts? Either way, you're leaving my house now, and remember to buy something else for whoever you got for the Christmas party this Friday," Ino said as she diverted her attention back to the occupants of her living room.

Starting today, Ino planned to work on her gift for Secret Santa. She decided to sew something as her gift. Ino sat down, her idea fresh in her head. Soon, she began to work on the sewing machine.

After hours of work, Ino finished half of what she had planned. Tomorrow Ino thought I'll finish this up. Then, the day after, I'll go look for some nice wrapping paper. She smiled contently and left the sewing room for the comforts of her bed.

The next morning, Ino slaved over the sewing machine. Lucky for her, she finished it before nighttime. Proud of herself, Ino grinned from ear to ear. "It came out perfect. Hopefully, a certain someone will appreciate my hard work."

Today was Christmas Eve and all the shops were crowded with last-minute shoppers, and Ino was one of them. She squirmed her way through hordes of people around the mall. Eventually, she managed to buy some nice wrapping paper that was a nice shade of red with Christmas greetings on it. Ino took it home and immediately got to wrapping her work. After she finished with it, she placed it on her desk and went on to enjoy her Christmas Eve for this year.

"Merry Christmas!" Ino greeted her parents.

"Morning, and merry Christmas to you too honey," her parents gave in reply. They were just about to go off to the Akimichis' to help them set up for today's Christmas party that, apparently, only adults were invited to.

"We're going to leave now. Breakfast is on the table. We'll probably be back before Christmas day is over, so we'll have some family time, so make sure that your party is over before midnight. Okay, honey? Good, love you," Inoichi said as he left the house in what looked like a rush.

Ino was thus left alone. So, Ino ate breakfast, and then lazed around for awhile. After lazing around for awhile, she decided to start decorating her home for the party. Sakura had promised to help Ino with the party. After an hour or so of decorating parts of the house and setting up the table and whatnot, there was a ring from the doorbell. Ino dropped what she was doing and went to open the door.

"Hey, Ino~!" Sakura declared.

"Peppy, today aren't we?" asked Ino.

"Psh just let me in Ino-pig."

Ino widened the door just enough to let Sakura in. When Sakura came in, she took off her scarf, coat, hat, and mittens and lay them down on Ino's couch. As soon as Sakura was comfortable, Ino made Sakura help her with the Christmas decorations. When that was finished, the two entered Ino's kitchen and began to cook up some delicious Christmas treats for the party guests. The rest of the day went into cooking, until it was almost time for everyone to arrive. The two friends had just finished in time. They had managed to whip up a pretty amount of sweets. Sakura then dashed home to change and get her gift for Secret Santa. Ino did the same, but before she did that, she decided to have a little fun with her friends. She had almost forgotten the mistletoes. Ino put one up right at the entrance of the door. Oh, this would be a great Christmas.

"Okay, it's almost 10:30, so I want to give out all the presents that were not from Secret Santa," Ino announced at 10. She wanted to get this party over by 10:30, the time at which her parents said they were coming back. After all these said gifts were given out, Ino told everyone to get their presents that they bought for Secret Santa and hand them out to the intended recipient.

Everyone jumped from their seats to receive their presents so they could hand them out. Ino took her gift and searched for Gaara in the crowd of her friends. Most people were satisfied with their Secret Santa. Some were a little disappointed. Ino spotted Sakura who was standing in front of Kankuro. The pink-haired girl had a big smile on her face, and then she gave they boy in front of her a hug. Wow, he must be her Secret Santa. I was almost sure it was Lee! I guess I was wrong. I can't exactly tell what he got for her this time though. Eh, whatever. Now where's Gaara? Ino thought to herself. As she looked around, there was no sight of any red hair. She suddenly spotted something outside at her backyard that looked to her like a certain person she was looking for. Ino grabbed her gift and headed outside.

"Um, hey Gaara," Ino said nervously. Gaara had always made her uncomfortable with his emotionless face and glares.

Gaara turned to her and stared, and then he motioned her to come to where he was standing in the cool winter air. Ino slowly walked over to him and stood at least a foot away from him. When she approached him, Gaara still didn't say a thing. Ino turned her gaze to the stars for a moment. Then, she decided to get this over with.

"Er… here Gaara. I'm your Secret Santa, and this is my present from me to you," Ino said hastily. She thrust a wrapped gift box towards him.

Gaara slowly took it and took out something from his pocket. It was a tiny beautifully wrapped box. He handed it to her, saying, "Here, I'm also your Secret Santa."

Ino took the box and looked at it. It was wrapped in a beautiful golden paper and had a purple bow around it to complete its look. Ino stared at it for awhile, and then carefully unwrapped it to find a jewelry box. Ino looked up at Gaara, but he was staring at the night sky. So, she opened the box to lay her eyes on a gorgeous silver necklace with the letters IY on it. What was most captivating was a little sparkling nice color of blue that was around the initials. Ino was amazed and speechless!

"To match your eyes," she heard Gaara murmur.

Ino's face flushed, but she noticed she wasn't the only one. "Open mine," she said softly.

Gaara looked at her, but then to her gift box. He took off the wrapping paper and opened the box that held whatever that was in there. Reaching in there, he took out a scarf and a beanie. The two had matching designs. They both were mostly red, but had green to add to the Christmassy look. At the end of both sides of the scarf was a kanji in green that read 'Love.' The beanie, which was similar, had the same kanji at the bottom left corner. Gaara turned to look at her. Ino tried to hide her eyes, but she couldn't stop staring.

"Thank you," Gaara nearly whispered.

"No, thank you," Ino said. She then gave him a quick peck on his cheek and twirled her head the other way.

Gaara only stared at her in shock. He touched the spot where her lips had been. He gave her back a little smile and went back to gazing at the stars.

Finally, Ino turned back around to see Gaara gazing at the stars. She stared at him for awhile, and then did the same as him, smiling at the same time. Together, they enjoyed the comfortable silence. I was right. This was a great Christmas.

A/N: Sooo?? How was it? Review? O_O Anyways, Merry (late) Christmas to you guys~!