Disclaimer: I stake no claim to this beloved franchise.

Just something to blow off some steam for the holiday season. Hope it's good enough and PLEASE REVIEW.

Edit: A/N on the bottom.

Lights Out

Chapter One

It was like an asteroid had fallen from the heavens and crushed on the unsuspecting students of Konoha high. Well, not really. It was more like a giant basketball made of the bounciest substance in the universe dribbled their school to the ground before going back to orbit some cosmic hoop in the sky.

Yep, that was about it.

It had all started when Iruka decided to finish his lecture on prose and cons, which must have angered the gods somewhat since it was the very last subject before Christmas break and it was a very boring lecture. So boring that even Zeus would take some off his adulterous time to stomp his ungodly feet in protest. But that was beside the point.

Everyone was minding their own business; pink haired girls popping their pink haired gum. Blond haired girls ogling over dark haired boys who sat by the window watching the snow fall soothingly. Red haired boys leering in scowling fascination as brown haired boys sailed a paper airplane by his face. And let's not forget the black eyed boys observing like camcorders as earwigs in a jar commenced in their holiday mating ritual.

In short, it was a very colorful classroom.

One other in the room that was not mentioned fidgeted amongst himself, rocking his chair in growing impatience as the clock lazily ticked by and the teacher continued to drone on and on. It was enough to make him pull his hair out!

Naruto, just like the unanimous majority of their class, didn't give a monkey's banana about the correct usage of prose when it was only ten minutes till Christmas vacation. Seriously, didn't Iruka have a pervert to manhandle or something?

Naruto groaned at the thought of Kakashi, no doubt he had let his class off early. The man could barely find the motivation to lift chalk when he had to. He could just picture the hentai at that moment, leaning on the legs of his chair and giggling at his orange book, imagining that it was him and his brown haired dolphin on those pages.

Iruka had no idea that Naruto knew of their relationship, but he knew alright, among other things (wink, wink).

He didn't really know why he was so excited about Christmas; he guessed it just came with the date, the package, some sort of novelty. What rational being wouldn't be ecstatic on Christmas day? Goths were excluded of course. They'd rather die (typical) than admit such things.

Christmas wasn't the same for Uzumaki Naruto, he didn't have the luxury to curl up beside the fireplace and drink some sweet hot eggnog. Sitting half naked on the barely functioning heater was hardly the same.

He couldn't afford to go on lavish holiday shopping and endure the somehow endearing shrieks of sale-mongers and make it out with that frog shaped sled he had always wanted with half of his limbs left intact. The most he could do was break off a floorboard and roll down a hill on it, at least it was free. But not before curling in his patchy, five year old sweater he had received as charity.

And most of all, he didn't have family to wait for when he was the first one to open his presents on Christmas morning, cheering at the new red fire truck he had placed on his list and Santa had provided. He had already learned when he was far younger that Santa was a biased old boar who only seemed to make toys for those who were already happy. Naughty and nice my ass! And he didn't believe that chimneys had anything to do with it. That was stupid!

He mutely gazed out the window, the same one that caught a certain Uchiha's attention. He wondered what his self-proclaimed rival was thinking about. Maybe the same as him, wishing on a snowflake, not that he could understand why the bastard would need to wish for anything when he already had everything he could ever need.

That was just the joy of Christmas. He could live with just soaking up the happiness of everything around him, though he wished things wouldn't always be that way.

With a lazy sigh, Naruto caught a single snowflake flutter down with his hopeful blue eyes, making a wish that was about as likely as catching the rain with a fishnet. But maybe, just maybe, Christmas would be better this year.

Which brings us to the beginning of this story.

There were only about thirty seconds left on the clock and most of the students already had their bags slung over a shoulder, half sitting and half standing just waiting to run down that hallway and leap out those double doors to freedom. They completely ignored their teacher who tried to cram as much of what was left of the lesson as possible before the inevitable stampede.

Naruto warily watched as the hand ticked to the last five seconds…and then four (Shino shoves his jar of sexy earwigs into his bag and Sakura sticks her gum under her seat)…and three (Iruka shuts his book. 'What was the point?'…and two (majority sneaks closer to the door)…and finally two seconds…

Drops of sweat fell to the floor. Who knew a second could seem so eternal?

But that was it, just one more tick of the hand and the bell would ring, signaling the start of their two weeks in heaven. Oh they could just smell the fruitcake…yuck.

And so it passed, the big hand landing smoothly on the twelve.

…

What the hay?

Where was the ring? The bell? The sound of freedom? Of sanctuary? Of love? And did anyone say freedom?!

A honk? A rooster? A caw? A burp (no wait, Chouji already rook care of that)? Anything?!

Only silence greeted them, and uneasiness swept around the room. Whispers ghosted within the eerie silence, and various questions tumbled from their lips. The bell had failed its job before, not once. The only reason to explain it would be if someone tripped on the chord, or if the power was out.

Kiba was the first to say something, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What the he-"

It was too late for words when a quake the size of Titanic's budget sent them toppling to the floor. Chairs and tables skidded on their feet and posters, cabinets, and even the chalkboard fell over like dominoes. The girls screeched and the boys yowled in pain, rolling on eachother.

Naruto yelped at the sudden boom, flinging him right off his chair and bowled him to someone he didn't have the time to acknowledge. It was akin to sleeping peacefully in a cardboard box, only to be kicked sideways from the outside. Naruto had never felt so disoriented in his life, which was because he had never taken witness to a category ten earthquake before.

As suddenly as the event itself, the lights burned out without a flicker, and the worldly shake parted along with it.

No matter how big and bright Naruto's eyes were, he could not cut through the terrible inkiness that had tarnished his vision. He thought that maybe he was going blind, but he could think about his eyes later when he was sure that everything else wasn't broken.

It took several moments before the class started to groan, regaining equilibrium but not at all recovered. They would need some more time before they could figure out how to speak though.

Naruto moaned loudly, rubbing his head which wasn't as hurt as he thought it would be. He blindly ran his hands over his body to find that everything was in place. He felt his eyes and sighed in relief when they were still in their sockets. But he still couldn't see! Thinking that maybe his eyes had turned dead, he poked them.

"Ow! Dammit! That was a bad idea." He grumbled, rubbing at his eye. "Where the hell am I?" He whispered. He wasn't really sure, but he was glad he had landed on something soft.

"You're on me dobe."

Naruto went shock still at the deep sultry voice somewhere over his ear. "Sasuke? Is that you?" He squeaked. He roved his hands over his head for confirmation, feeling a thick bush of hair right behind his. Not really sure what it was, he gave it an experimental tug.

"Ow dobe! What you do that for?" Sasuke hissed, alerting Naruto to retract his hand.

It was official; he was lying right on top of Uchiha bastard Sasuke. That realization caused him to yelp, rolling off the boy he still couldn't see.

Sasuke was pleasantly surprised that he didn't seem to be sporting a gash from his little tumble down the floor, though he did feel a slight ache between his hips where Naruto had tumbled on HIM. Other than the irking blackness, he was fine, What the hell just happened anyway?

"Were you comfortable dobe?" Naruto didn't need to see the smirk on Sasuke's pale face. "You know, I saved you from a potential concussion there."

"Quit bloating yourself up Uchiha, you always say I have a hard head." Naruto smiled in the darkness, not really sure if Sasuke could see it. He reached out to where he heard the older boy's voice.

Sasuke was about to retort but was involuntarily shut up when warm flesh clamped at his cheeks. He was so shocked that he couldn't bring himself to rip them off for even DARING to invade his personal space! "N-Naruto?" He sputtered, not really sure what to think if it was someone else.

Naruto bit his tongue as he smoothed the raven's cheeks. He tapped the pale nose before extracting his hands. "Yup. Your ass seems fine to me." He grinned at himself.

Sasuke was confused, but at least it was only Naruto. His face suddenly felt cold again, it was weird. "Ass? What are you-" He mentally slapped himself when he understood the stupid joke. Seeing as it wasn't enough, he slapped himself in reality. "Haha very funny. You think you're all laughs eh dobe? I don't know how you manage to make jokes when you can't even see." Sasuke mocked, knowing full well Naruto would fall for it.

The mild chuckling literally died in his throat as he madly clutched at what he hoped was Sasuke's shirt. "Oh no! I'm blind! You've noticed haven't you! Oh my GOD what am I gonna do Sasuke?!" The blonde wailed frantically.

Sasuke knew the joke wasn't so funny anymore as Naruto continued to bang his head on the wall from the way he was shaking him. He gripped Naruto's wrists tightly. "Dammit dobe I was just joking! I'm just as worse off as you are! I can't see either!" He scolded.

"Holy mother of GOD!!" The blonde yelled louder, practically ramming Sasuke. "We're ALL blind!!"

Sasuke groaned as Naruto continued to thrash him against the wall in hysterics. What an idiot.

"Will you just SHUT UP already!!" Someone screamed from somewhere in the room. "We're in pain enough as it is you moron so just shut the hell up!!" The voice started to sniff. "I think I broke a nail…"

Naruto stopped his own sniffling, his head darting everywhere. "Sakura-chan? That you? I can't see you because I'm blind!" He exclaimed, his tears returning.

"Will you listen to me dobe?" Sasuke irately gripped the back of Naruto's neck, forcing them to lock eyes. Sasuke couldn't help but be amazed; those pools of blue were practically glow in the dark. "We're not blind okay? The lights went out. We can't see because it's dark."

Naruto was skeptical. "How could the lights go out? The windows were open."

"Exactly." Sasuke hissed, his grip on the blonde's head loosening.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!" The whole room hissed at the outburst, they all knew who it belonged to. "WHAT WAS UP WITH THAT EARTHQUAKE?! AND WHO TURNED THE FUCKING LIGHTS OUT?! AND WHERE"S NARUTO?!" His voice reduced to a squeak. "I hate the dark…"

"I'm right here Kiba!" Naruto called, waving his arms as if the he could see them. "By the window on Sasuke-bastard!" He stated as if it was some kind of address. Which reminded him…

"Naruto…"

"Y-yes teme?" He quivered.

"Will you please get off me?" He tried to ask kindly, though it was difficult since Naruto was straddling his waist, among other things.

Naruto did as he was told, sitting beside the raven with an embarrassed tint on his face. Sounds of shifting told him that Sasuke was sitting up.

More sounds of shifting spread throughout the room. Groans of pain or whatnot permeated the obsidian air. Shuffling of papers and chairs went about as people attempted to stand, cursing when they would step or bump into eachother, it was just THAT dark.

"Oh my god? What the hell happened?

"Maybe its one of those eclipse things?"

"I can't see! I can't see! OUCH!"

"Everyone! It's the end of the world! Satan has come to claim his children and throw them into the scalding pot of hell! I told you this day would come! But did you believe me?! NoOoOo!!"

"…"

That was just one of the many whispers and screams within the classroom. Truthfully, it was making Naruto really nervous. He had never been a believer of all that doomsday crap; he had to care about religion for that to work. But it was starting to look very convincing at that moment. I mean, booming earthquake followed by sudden darkness? The bible hasn't got shit on this!

Subconsciously, Naruto scooted over to Sasuke's side, telling himself that he wasn't scared would be a flat out lie.

Sasuke's tensed upon the sudden warmth on his arm. He felt heat slink tightly around the appendage and realized that Naruto was holding him constrictingly (even his hair was glowy!). "Dobe get off!" He warned, shaking it roughly, but the blond relented.

"Don't wanna." Naruto cooed, holding tighter.

Sasuke stopped struggling and sighed. He had always known that Naruto was a cuddly creature. And besides, it was starting to get awfully cold anyway, and Naruto was anything but.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked down at the head on his shoulder. "What dobe?" He tried to sound irritated.

"Are we going to die?"

The question caught him off guard, it was actually serious. As serious as a four year old in a thunderstorm can get. "No dobe. Why would you think that?"

He felt Naruto stiffen. "Oh I don't know…there was an earthquake the size of Hiroshima ONE second before three and then followed by this blinding blackness! I think I have every reason to think that something is VERY wrong here!" The grip on Sasuke's arm was beginning to cut off circulation.

"That's no reason to start writing your will dobe." Sasuke didn't even KNOW why he was trying to comfort the blond. He reasoned that it was his nagging desire to instill some sense into his dobe.

Oh wait…he didn't think that right…when was Naruto his dobe?

Shaking his head, Sasuke continued. "Anyway, there's bound to be some logical explanation for all this Naruto. So don't go pestering me about death right now okay?"

"But he said-"

"Don't listen to him dammit!" Sasuke scowled. "That guy's a freak."

"Only by reciting the prayer of Jabez can we be saved from this winding staircase of doom!"

Naruto sniffed like there was a bug up his nose. "Yeah, I have to admit. That guy's even more preachy than Lee, and that's saying SOMETHING!"

"Glad you noticed." Sasuke was getting used to the warmth Naruto provided, ONLY because it was getting bitingly cold. No really!

It had to be when Sasuke was finally getting used to it that Naruto was suddenly snatched from his place beside him. He muttered curses.

"Sasuke-kun where are you! I think I got a bruise on my forehead! Sasuke-kun hold me!"

"Shut up forehead face! Sasuke-kun is MY comfort toy! He wants MY head on HIS shoulder!"

…wonderful.

"Naruto!" A crackling voice screamed into his ear as he was crushed painfully. "Naruto! We're all gonna die! That creepy kid said so! I mean COME ON!! An earthquake at THREE FUCKING O CLOCK!! And then poof, LIGHTS OUT!! These things aren't normal Naruto!" The crying boy continued to yell hysterically.

"Get a hold of yourself dog shit!" Naruto said that louder than necessary, for Kiba had needlessly impaired his hearing as well as his sight.

"But you know I'm afraid of the dark! I'm claustrophobic I say!"

Naruto did a double take. "Claustrophobic is not fear of the dark oh king of woos!"

"It's not?" Kiba asked uncertainly.

"No! I think that's fear of heights" He corrected the scared out of his wits Inuzuka.

They failed to hear the groan of derision beside them.

"Oh…well…anyway…I'm having a fucking panic attack here! DO you not SEE the gravity of my situation!" He did the exact same thing that Naruto did to Sasuke when he thought he was blind.

"YOUR situation?" Naruto bristled, holding Kiba still. "Don't be selfish Inuzuka! It was US that fell to the ground just three minutes ago and its US that have all gone blind and it is still US that are all gonna die when the world fucking end in fucking fire and we all go to hell and did I say we are all gonna die?!" He caught up to his breath and snatched it back ruthlessly. "Theoretically of course."

Kiba calmly released the blond and sat on his thighs, probably pouting. "Thanks a lot Naruto. That was everything I wanted to forget you asshole."

They both winced like vampires in the sun when a beam of artificial light struck them in the corneas. "Hey what gives?" Naruto whined, trying to shield himself with his arms. "I'm still getting used to being blind you know!"

Kiba squinted his eyes. "Shino? That you?"

It was Shino, waving a flashlight he had kept in his bag around the room. With it he found the frightened eyes of students huddled in various corners of the classroom or clinging to chairs or rocking themselves to insanity. He shone the light to a certain Uchiha, which was a big mistake as the two searching girls immediately clamped desperately around both his arms. He scowled at his luck.

The quiet boy pointed the light to the front of the class. "Where's Iruka-san?" He asked monotonously.

"Down here Shino-kun."

All their heads turned to the voice to find Iruka trapped under the chalkboard. "Do you guys mind giving me a hand over here? This thing is heavier than it looks."

"Don't worry Iruka-sensei! I'll save you!" Naruto quipped as he stood up, carefully moving with Kiba in tow and Shino with the flashlight.

They all heaved the board easily off of their teacher who stood up, dusting himself off and seemingly unharmed. "You okay sensei?" Naruto and Kiba demanded in unison.

"Yes boys, I'm fine. Thank you." He smiled at them warmly.

"Are you blind sensei?" Naruto asked, sounding truly fearful.

"No Naruto, I'm not blind and neither are you." He had heard Naruto's frequent outbursts, which he was glad for them. He wasn't sure if his students were even still alive in all that darkness. "Do you mind if I borrow that Shino-kun? Thank you." He said as a stoic Shino handed him the flashlight. Iruka scanned the class with it. "Is everyone all right?" He exclaimed with worry.

A unanimous "no" swept around the room.

"What happened sensei?" A frightened Sakura squeaked, snuggling closer to her love's arm. Said love scowled in disdain. "I'm scared and I wanna go home!"

"Yeah! What's gonna become of us? Why did everything turn black?" Ino demanded on the threshold of hysteria. But it was the warmth of her future husband's hand that still kept her going. Said husband attempted a divorce by biting her.

Similar questions and murmurs rose like a tidal wave around the classroom. Fear gripped all their hearts as they cowered by eachother. It was definitely something to think about when unprecedented disaster strikes just ten days before Christmas.

Kiba seemed intent on watching Naruto's lungs bulge out of his mouth as he was squeezed brutally, brunette whimpering in fear. Naruto was too enamored with the idea of breathing to really think about it.

"Its gonna be alright everyone so just calm down." Iruka said, his words clearly leaking with uncertainty. "I'm sure there's a perfectly valid explanation for all this so just wait patiently until one of the staff comes to brief us in, as the power seems to be out." So does the sun he wanted to add. "So just relax and stay calm okay, everything will be just fine." He loosened his collar, letting steam float from his body.

It had to be when the class had finally managed to think happy thoughts when the door flew open, startling them all to gasps. The light was immediately cast on the figure panting in the doorway. The man was trying hard to keep himself up, looking ready to collapse.

Iruka's eyes went wide. "Kotetsu!" What happe-"

"There's been a dispatch from the outside! We were lucky we could still get the radio to work as all means of communication are shot!" The man panted desperately, trying to cram his words into quick coherency.

The rest remained silent, waiting for the inevitable truth with rapt attention.

"There's been an avalanche. And we're right under it." Was his parting words before falling flat on the floor.

No one knew what to say. Did they really need to say anything? Who knows? All they could do was watch the friend beside them as their eyes practically fell from their head. Others fainted, and some stifled silent shrieks, while most just stared into the void of nothing before them.

Naruto deeply regretted wishing on that God damn snowflake. It was typical it would jinx. Christmas this year was definitely gonna be different, he thought as he crumpled to the floor, Kiba had already been way ahead of him. He was unconscious, one would think.

The jarring silence was like a sea of frogs on someone else's ears as he awoke form his slumber. Nara Shikamaru stretched his arms, meaning to pop the joints into place as he rubbed at his eyes. He looked around the room, only finding the faint shaft of light that had fallen from Iruka's flaccid grasp.

"Damn." He cursed lethargically as he computed his surroundings, still perched immaculately on his chair. "Did I oversleep again?"

He thought the clock read three in the morning.

I apologize I wasn't very clear and concise with my request of pairing suggestions and I'm sorry, that is TOTALLY my bad! I only wanted to know what pairings you guys wanted in regards to Naruto. I know most of you are going to say SasuNaru but who knows?

PLEASE REVIEW everyone, cause I wouldn't know what to do without them.