Hey friends! I know I should be updating all the other stories I have, but I really wanted to write this one.
It's for Vesper Chan's one shot contest!
disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Luscious white snow emitted from the sky at a steadily rapid pace. Sakura watched the snow fall from her balcony window; her slightly larger than average forehead rested calmly against the glass. Her eyelashes tickled the glass making her blink.
Sighing quietly to herself, Sakura let out a breath from her parted lips; her breath condensed over the frozen glass. Sakura trailed up a fragile finger to the window and she drew a small heart with it.
"I hate the snow," Sakura said softly to herself. She quickly crossed out the heart she had just drawn, and removed her head from the balcony door. "And I hate Christmas."
Walking passed her bed, Sakura didn't even glance at the dozens of presents that resided there. They were all presents from her admirers; Sakura just didn't have the heart in her to throw any one of them away.
Her phone suddenly rang, causing Sakura to halt in her bedroom doorway. She let out another sigh, and walked over to the cordless phone located next to her bed. Before Sakura could even place the phone next to her ear, a loud, almost annoying voice could be heard.
"HEY SAKURA!" Her blonde friend's voice boomed. "I DECIDED TO HOST A CHRISTMAS PARTY AT YOUR APARTMENT TONIGHT! BE READY!"
A faint click, and then the dial tone was heard. Sakura brought the phone away from her ear, and looked at it rather strangely. After a moment, Sakura finally let the words sink in.
"God damn it, Naruto," Sakura cursed under her breath as she placed her phone back on the hook. Grabbing her warmest coat from her closet, Sakura put it on before leaving her apartment.
She walked slowly; Wisconsin winters were harsh, especially so in December. Coming up to a rather cheap looking building, Sakura wrapped her coat a little tighter around her body. Trudging through the snow, she reached the door of the building and pressed a call button.
"Ramen capital of the world, how can I help you?" The same voice that Sakura had heard earlier on the phone spoke over the speaker.
"Naruto," Sakura whispered threateningly through the speaker.
"Umm," Sakura could sense the blonde's panic. "There's no Naruto here… unless you mean naruto that comes in ramen, he he. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME SAKURA-CHAN! I love Christmas; I mean it's not a lot of people that would be coming over. Just some of my friends, and Teme's brother's friends, and it would make everyone so happy! It would make you happy! I just want everyone to be-"
"Naruto," Sakura said into the speaker. "Open the door now."
The door's buzzer sounded, and soon the door opened. Sakura walked up the stairs to the fifth floor, and found the door open, and waiting for her.
"Why would you do this to me, Naruto?" Sakura asked as she walked into his small apartment. She shrugged her coat off, and kicked off her shoes.
"You need to cheer up, Sakura-Chan," Naruto said as he engulfed the pink haired girl in a rather large hug. "You need to be more social, and my apartment is no where near as big as yours…"
"You know I want nothing to do with this," Sakura said as she hugged her friend back. "I'm only doing it for you. And if you're going to pull a stunt like this next year, Naruto, I would like to know a little before hand next time; you know I don't especially like Christmas."
Naruto's grin turned fox like. "We need to go shopping for decorations!" Naruto yelled giddily. "And food."
Sakura nodded her head as she watched her blonde haired friend practically skip through the small apartment. He almost seemed to be in a state of empyrean; like the idea of being with his friends was his own little heaven.
"Lets get going Naruto," Sakura said as she glanced at her phone. "Knowing you, the party starts at six; it's two. We wont have much time."
"Don't worry, Sakura-Chan!" Naruto smiled happily. He was wearing a bright orange snowsuit; Sakura had to love her best friend and all his antics.
The two stepped outside of the apartment building only to be met face to face with a large gust of artic wind.
"We can't drive," Sakura's voice rose over the sound of the wind. "It's even too cold for the cars."
Naruto nodded his head; even in the freezing weather he was still happy. Sakura smiled fondly at Naruto, as the two turned the corner heading away from both, Sakura and Naruto's apartment buildings.
"I'm not quite sure what stores are open on Christmas eve," Sakura commented as the duo turned another corner.
"Just have faith, Sakura-Chan," Naruto said; his smile never faltering.
---
They arrived in the center of town a half an hour later. Sakura was shivering as the pair found the first shop.
It was a cute decoration shop. The shop seemed to glow brighter than the other stores; it was probably just the Christmas lights that hung haphazardly around the outside of the establishment.
"Let's go in there," Naruto motioned to the shop. Sakura quickly agreed, and the two left the below freezing degree temperature to enter the cozy shop.
"Hi, welcome to Russ's lights," A small petite woman said as they entered. Sakura's smiled vaguely.
"Hello Hinata," Sakura said as she walked up to the raven haired female. Hinata smiled back, and the two exchanged a soft embrace. "Are you coming to Naruto's party this afternoon?"
"I thought it was at your apartment, Sakura-Chan," Hinata said with a small wave to Naruto. Naruto hid behind Sakura, his face flushed a bright red.
"It is," Sakura said with a solemn tone; he smile widened a bit, though, as she felt Naruto behind her. She took a quick step to the right, effectively getting rid of Naruto's hiding spot. Naruto stared up with wide eyes at the young raven haired woman in front of him. "I'm going to get decorations; I'll see you two back at my apartment later."
Sakura walked down a few aisles, but quickly lost interest in Christmas light shopping. Sighing lightly, Sakura grabbed a few boxes of standard red, green, blue and pink lights, and walked to the check out lines.
When Sakura reached the check out lines with the lights, both Naruto and Hinata were gone. Sakura smiled fondly at her friends; they had both liked each other for a very long time. It was a surprise to her though, that her blonde friend was more shy around her raven haired one… she would have thought it would be the other way around.
Paying for the lights quickly, Sakura just opted to return home. She had enough food in her apartment, she really didn't need to go get anymore.
---
It took Sakura an hour to get home with her lights, only three boxes instead of five; she had fallen in the snow four times on the way home, and lost two of the boxes one of the heaps of snow when she had fallen.
Opening the door to her apartment, Sakura whimpered when she found the flame was no longer burning in her fireplace. She quickly set the boxes of lights on her table, and placed a few logs in her fireplace.
Sakura glanced at the clock, and solemnly noticed it was four. She took her coat off, and grabbed the light boxes. Opening the first one, she sighed when she felt the lights were wet, and all of them seemed to be broken. She opened the other two, and begrudgingly noticed the same problem.
Sakura hung her head low as she threw her newly bought lights away. She glided into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator door. She smiled when she found a large turkey.
"One can never be too safe when they're friends with Naruto," Sakura mused out loud. Sakura placed the turkey in her oven, and turned it up on high. Sakura smiled when she walked into her living room. "Naruto's right, I just have to have a little faith."
She walked out of the kitchen, and walked into her bedroom. Grabbing an emerald green velvet dress, Sakura quickly pulled it on, along with some black tights. She looked in the mirror, and quickly brushed her tussled pink locks.
Her door bell rang, causing Sakura to exit her bedroom and enter the living room. She quickly headed over to the door, and opened it without even looking through the peep hole.
She was greeted with the sight of her ex-lover, Itachi Uchiha. "You're rather early," Sakura said with a hint of coldness as she allowed him to enter.
"I always try to arrive promptly twenty minutes before the respected time," Itachi spoke casually as he sat on one of her couches. Sakura frowned when she looked at him. Sakura shut her front door, and was about to walk away until a knock could be heard.
She sighed lightly, and turned to open the door again. "Hello, Sasuke," Sakura said as she let the younger Uchiha pass. She was about to close the door again, when a hand shot through before it could close.
"You're not trying to keep me out, are you Sakura?" Kiba asked her with a smirk.
"Of course not," Sakura said as she moved out of his way, and let him enter. Sakura was about to shut the door again, but thought better of it. She left the door open, and walked over to one of the couches and sat down.
"I'm really glad you're having this party, Sakura!" Kiba said as he sat down next to her. "I haven't seen you around lately; what have you been up to?"
"Just work, Kiba," Sakura said as she rubbed her forehead with her thumb and forefinger. She really didn't need a headache right now. "What have you been up to?"
"Oh, you know. Same old, same old," Kiba said with a flirtatious smirk. "I hope you got the present I sent you."
Of course she had gotten the present, it was currently one she was ignoring on her bed.
"Hey, leave her alone, Mutt face," Sasuke spoke for the first time. He glared at Kiba. "Can't you see she has a headache, and wants to be left alone?"
"Well then she shouldn't have invited me to the party!" Kiba sneered back at the younger Uchiha. "And you're just jealous because I'm sitting next to her, and you're not."
Sakura's headache increased as Sasuke and Kiba's volume increased. She got up off of the couch, and was about to walk into her bedroom when a new voice was heard.
"How old are you guys anyway, yeah?" Deidara's voice said irritably. "Like six?"
"Just shut up, Blondie," Kiba barked back at the older blonde.
"It seems both of you have arrived right on time, Sasori, Deidara," Itachi said while standing and acknowledging his two friends.
"Always wasting time I see, and getting here early," Sasori said as he entered Sakura's apartment. Sakura sighed, and walked back over to where they were all sitting. She took a seat on a lazy boy in the middle of the room.
"Sakura-Chan!" Deidara's voice sang as he practically pounced on the unexpecting female. Sakura's head hit the back of the chair hard, as her body collided with Deidara's.
"Damn it!" Sakura yelled; she didn't notice Naruto and Hinata enter through her apartment door. "I don't even like Christmas… I just want you all to leave."
"Sakura," Naruto said while coming up beside her, "things can't be that bad. You just need to have a little fai-"
"No, Naruto," Sakura said defensively. "Things are bad. I have a splitting headache, the lights either broke or were lost when I fell in the snow, and I hate Christmas! I refuse to have a little faith when people I don't even want here are fighting and giving me even a bigger headache!"
Sakura practically sprinted toward her bedroom, and slammed the door. She fell gracelessly on her bed; on top of all presents.
A light knock came to Sakura's door an hour or so later; Sakura gave a soft grunt of protest, but the door was still open. Hinata stood in the doorway and glanced sadly at the pink haired girl.
"The turkey is ready, Sakura-Chan," Hinata said while walking over to the bed. "And Naruto brought over a few of his Christmas lights. Your living room looks very pretty."
"Are they still out there?' Sakura asked while hiding her head under a present.
"Yes," Hinata said with a soft laugh. "But everyone is here now. Ino, Tenten, Temari, Gaara, Kisame, Neji, and Shikamaru are all here."
"I'm sorry I acted the way I did, Hinata," Sakura said while bringing her face away from her presents. "Today was just not a good day."
"I'm sure they won't mind," Hinata said while helping Sakura stand up. She quickly combed through Sakura's hair. "They're boys remember? They can take anything."
Sakura smiled, and walked to the door. With Hinata behind her, Sakura exited the room first. Sakura was in shock as she glanced around her apartment.
Christmas lights had been hung all throughout her apartment, and there were even Christmas stockings hanging above the fire place. Sakura smiled, as she entered the kitchen she found all of her friends sitting at the table, waiting for her.
"I'm sorry I was a little bit of a grouch earlier; I've never really had a real Christmas before; I was never able to have one, so I just assumed I wouldn't like it," Sakura said as she bowed her head lightly.
She smiled brightly when she glanced at the table; it seemed like everyone had brought a dish to pass, and even more surprising there was a small Christmas tree near her fridge; there were even presents under it. She smiled brightly as she looked at her friends.
Her group of friends looked up at her, and they all smiled. Naruto sat at the front of the table; he was wearing a Santa costume. "You just needed to have a little faith Sakura-Chan."