Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto to my dismay.
This is a Christmas fic dedicated to everyone who's marked my account for alerts. Happy Holidays.
Naruto walked the streets of Konoha admiring the decorations. It was the Holiday Season and everyone had out lights, or a tree in the window, and most everyone left their curtains open tonight. He paused in front of a particularly nice house. There was a family inside, just finishing the tree. They looked so happy, carefree and laughing. Naruto's smile wavered and he decided to go home. He loved the season, but it was hard sometimes, it seemed like everyone had a family but him... and no one ever remembered him on Christmas. He walked back to his empty apartment, as he turned the corner he noticed someone on his doorstep.
Hinata stood there wavering in indecisiveness. Naruto wasn't home, she hadn't considered that possibility. Should she wait? What if he took a long time? Should she just leave the present for him? But what if someone stole it? Maybe she should come back? She kept going round and round the options, unable to decide what to do.
Naruto broke out into a smile again and jogged up. "Hey Hinata! Merry Christmas! What are you doing here? Do we have a mission?" he asked not even noticing the carefully wrapped gift she was carrying.
"Naruto!" Hinata exclaimd in suprise, she'd been so caught up in her decision she hadn't even noticed him come up to her. The his comments finally sank in. "Oh... a no... I mean, Merry Christmas?" she said holding out the present to him and bowing.
"Wow! For me!" Naruto exclaimed, "Really? No one's ever gotten me a Christmas present before!" he said taking the present and hugging Hinata enthusiastically. "Come inside, I'll make tea and open it!" he told the cherry red Hinata dragging her into the apartment while she tried her best not to faint. This was going better than she'd dared to hope.
Naruto opened the door and turned on the lights. He had a little Christmas tree, but there were no presents underneath it, there was however a sock on the wall above his radiator. Hinata didn't know whether to smile or cry. Naruto saw her looking around and then gave a laugh, "Ah, sorry about the mess," he said quickly grabbing some clothes he'd left on the couch and throwing them in his room, closing the door, "I, uh, wasn't really expecting anyone over," he said a little embarrased. "Uh, anyway, come sit at the table in the kitchen, and I'll get the tea ready," he said leading the way into the kitchen, carefully setting his present on the table.
He quickly filled the kettle and put it on to boil and then sat across from Hinata. He gave her a quick smile, then he realized, "Oh, shoot, Hinata, I didn't get you anything! I'll," he scrounged his head for ideas, then his face cleared, "I know! I'll take you out for some ramen, I know the best place. Would that be good?" he asked.
Hinata could barely manage a nod, but that was enough for Naruto. "Great, okay, here goes," he said and to Hinata's suprise began to carefully open the gift, not even riping the paper, she'd expected him to just tear into it, but he carefully folded the wrapping paper and the little tag that said To: Naruto From: Hinata and set it aside like he planned to keep it before he turned back to the box. Hinata wasn't sure she could wait as Naruto carefully opened the box. Inside were an orange scarf, an orange hat and orange mittens, all hand knitted.
"I, uh... n-noticed you... well, y-you d-don't have any... so... I, uh... I knitted you some," she explained, already nervous he didn't like.
"You made them yourself..." Naruto said staring at Hinata in wonder.
"...Y-yes," Hinata stuttered.
Naruto immediately got up and hugged her, "Thanks Hinata-chan, it's the best present ever!" he said quickly releasing her to fix the tea, and if he wiped tears from his eyes, well, Hinata didn't notice as she was very busy trying not to faint. She'd learned some new breathing exercises which seemed to help.
Naruto handed Hinata a tea cup, "Do you want to sit in the living room?" he asked leading the way in and sitting on the couch, Hinata followed and sat down, at the opposite end of the couch. "Hey, do you want to see if there's any good movies on TV?" Naruto asked and put the TV on. They watched a Christmas movie that was one of Hinata's favorites. The tea made them so warm and drowsy that they fell asleep on the couch.
At about midnight, time seemed to slow down, all the clocks in the house stopped, there was a clatter on the roof, but neither Hinata or Naruto stirred. Then Naruto's radiator slowly morphed into a fireplace and with a silent woosh a man in a red suit walked out of the fireplace. He paused in front of Hinata and Naruto. He carefully pulled a blanket over the two. Then he smiled and set something in front of both of them before filling Naruto's sock. He poured himself a cup of tea and had one of the cookies that Naruto and Hinata had been snacking on, then with a jolly laugh he walked back over to the chimney and with another woosh he was gone, there was another clatter on the roof and then the clock went to one after midnight.
The sun woke them up that morning, Naruto was leaning in the corner of the couch and Hinata was leaning against him. "Oh, Hinata! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you," Naruto appologized.
Hinata took a moment to process the scene, blinking blankly at Naruto, not sure if she was actually awake yet. "Ah, no, Naruto, it was my fault," she blinked, distracted, "Where did the presents come from?" she asked confused.
"Santa!" Naruto exclaimed, before quickly opening his present, showing much less regard for the paper than he had on Hinata's present. He opened the box and held out a tiny silver key on a chain. "What do I do with this?" he asked confused.
"Ah, there's a n-note," Hinata pointed out.
"Oh, great!" Naruto said picking it up. "Dear Naruto," he read, "I'm still working on Hokage, but this year's gift is extra special. This key will work only for you and unlocks the heart of the person who has always believed in you. If you unlock the heart, that means it's yours, so take good care of it. Until next year, Santa," Naruto finished. He looked even more confused, "How am I supposed to find someone who always believed in me?" he complained, "What did you get?" he asked Hinata.
Hinata was still a little shocked, but obediently opened the gift taking out a silver locked with a key hole in the middle, before reading the note. "Dear Hinata, though this is my first visit to you, it was only because I had to find the perfect gift for you. This locket represents your heart and I've given the key to to the one who already owns it. Good luck, Santa," Hinata read, turning bright red and looking at Naruto like a deer in the headlights.
"Wow, that's so weird, he would give you a lock and me a key. He's a funny old man, I wonder... wait..." Naruto said as he finally caught up, "Are you...?" Hinata was still holding the locket in her hands toward Naruto, he carefully took a step toward and looked from the key to the locket and then back to Hinata's stunned face. He slowly reached out, like she was going to disappear and slid the key into the lock, it went in perfectly and with a single click the locket sprang open, despite herself Hinata looked down as did Naruto and inside the locket was a picture of the two of them. Naruto looked from the locket to Hinata, back to the locket and then back to Hinata. "... Does that mean you're mine?" Naruto asked in wonder.
Hinata swallowed and gathered all of her courage, she'd rather face Neji again, that would be easier, but someone, she managed to say, "I... I always w-was," she stammered, she really wanted to poke her fingers together, but she was still holding the locket.
"Really?" Naruto asked in wonder, when Hinata nodded, Naruto's smile could have lit up the room even without the sun coming in. "I think..." Naruto said slowly, "this might actually be better than being Hokage," he said as though he couldn't believe this had happened to him. "You really always believed in me?" he asked in awe, barely able to believe it when Hinata nodded. He reached forward and hugged Hinata to him, and whispered, "I wanted it so bad, just one person who would always believe in me, I didn't think I'd ever get it." He swallowed and released her, noticing immediately that she was close to fainting, "Ah, Hinata, here sit down, I'll get you a glass of water, don't worry, I'll take the best care of you, and I'll never hurt you or let anyone else hurt you, not that you're not a super awesome ninja and you could kick anyone butt, but, you know what I mean, right?"
Hinata held her glass of water staring at Naruto like he'd just given her the sun.
Naruto sat down next to her and looked over at her, "Hinata, you're the best thing I've ever gotten," he said and then leaned over and kissed her gently. "Merry Christmas," he whispered.
Hinata held her fingers up to her mouth in awe and stared back at him for a moment before breaking out into the biggest smile Naruto had ever seen on her, "Merry Christmas," she whispered before leaning back toward him giving her a kiss of her own.