First Christmas
Summary: During Naruto's travels with Jiraiya, Christmas approaches, but the pervy sage thinks something is up when the kid shows no excitement towards the impending holiday. Will Jiraiya find out the truth and make this the best Christmas Naruto ever has, or will his pervy tendencies ruin everything. Bonding type thing between Jiraiya and Naruto, One-shot.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Jiraiya was finally entering the next town, closely followed by his, he guessed apprentice, Uzumaki Naruto.
"Are we finally going to stop pervy sage?" Naruto asked.
"How many times must I tell you not to call me that!" Jiraiya said.
"I'll stop calling you a perv, when you stop acting like one." Naruto said.
"Let's just get to the inn." Jiraiya said. "There is a hot spring in the back of this one." he said with a smirk.
"Pervert," Naruto said. "I just want to get out of this cold." he said rubbing his arms.
"It's not that cold kid." Jiraiya said. He had been in much worse. But it was quite cold for the region, for this time of year. In fact it was only….well Jiraiya couldn't remember the exact day. "Hey kid, what day is it?"
"December 24th." Naruto said.
"Christmas Eve?" Jiraiya asked, in shock, because Naruto was not excited like most kids would be.
"I guess," Naruto shrugged.
Okay that was definitely strange. The kid had no excitement for the impending holiday.
"Aren't you excited that tomorrow Christmas?" Jiraiya asked.
"Should I be?" Naruto asked.
"Have you never celebrated Christmas before?" Jiraiya asked.
"Who would I have celebrated it with it if I did?" Naruto asked
That shut Jiraiya up. He had forgotten that Naruto had been alone since the day he was born. He wanted to change that. Naruto's first Christmas would be the best Christmas ever.
At this point the two had reached the inn, Jiraiya ordered one room and the master and apprentice moved up to said room.
"Damn, I'm tired." Naruto said, flopping onto one of the beds.
"Kid," Jiraiya started.
"Not now pervy sage. Just let me sleep." Naruto said through his pillow.
Jiraiya sat on the opposite bed watching the boy for a bit, until he heard the boy snoring, the boy who had never celebrated Christmas before. He headed down to the lobby.
"Excuse me?" Jiraiya asked the front manager.
"How may I help you sir?" the front manager asked.
"Yeah, do you know any good places around here get a gift for my godson?" Jiraiyaasked.
"Well what kind of things does he like?" the manager asked.
Jiraiya opened his mouth, then closed it. Did he really even know what the boy liked? In fact had even bothered to learn much about him?
"You know what? I think I will just walk around and try to figure it out myself." Jiraiya said, he turned and left.
Jiraiya walked around the town, looking through windows for something Naruto would like, and was starting to feel a bit guilty. Guilty because he only really bothered talking to Naruto if it was about training or to tell him stories about something to try and improve him, never really getting to know him. He knew the kid liked Ramen, but that was kind of a hard gift to give. Jiraiya walked passed a book shop; maybe the kid would like a book?
Jiraiya walked into the store and looked around. The store clerk stopped him before he could walk five steps.
"Hey, aren't you Jiraiya one of the three legendary Sannin of the Leaf Village?" the clerk asked.
"Why, yes I am." Jiraiya said.
"Wow, I can't believe you are in my store!" the clerk exclaimed. "I love your books!"
'Great, a fanboy.' Jiraiya said. Normally he would love to talk to someone who had the great taster to like his books, but now was really not the best time.
"Okay, this may be weird, but if I could get you to sign your books that I sell I could make about five times as much." the clerk said.
"I'm actually looking for a gift at the moment." Jiraiya said.
"Oh, I would give you a free book for your troubles." the clerk said.
"Alright," Jiraiya said after some thought.
"Thank you so much!" the clerk said and led Jiraiya to an entire wall full of his Icha Icha book series. The clerk handed Jiraiya a pen and left for the front of the store.
"This may take longer than I thought." Jiraiya thought, but grabbed the first book off the shelf and signed it. He continued for the next two hours, it was a big wall with a lot of books, until he was finally done.
The clerk came by with a sign saying, "New Price! 75 ryo. All copies signed by author."
"Thank you again so much!" the clerk said. "Pick out any book."
"No problem," Jiraiya lied. He started to look for a book that the kid would like.
But after half an hour he was stuck. What would Naruto like. Then it hit him. Naruto. He would find a copy of his earlier book, "A Tale of an Utterly Gutsy Ninja," after all Naruto's parents name him after the title character.
Jiraiya approached the clerk. "Do you happen to have a copy of, 'A Tale of an Utterly Gutsy Ninja,'?"
"Yes, I'll go get you it." the clerk said. He went into the back and came back a while later with the book.
"Thank you." Jiraiya said and left the store, finally.
Walking back to the inn Jiraiya saw a few late night bathers in the hot springs. He grew a smirk and jumped into a tree. He did not know how long he was up there, because as girls left more came in, but soon enough the sun was rising.
"Crud," Jiraiya said, and quickly hoped out of the tree and ran into the inn. Back in the room Naruto was still asleep. Jiraiya wanted to sleep, but he knew he couldn't be asleep when the kid woke up, or he would just be woken up.
"Hey Naruto, wake up." Jiraiya said, sitting on the other bed.
Naruto moaned. "Pervy sage, just let me sleep."
"Naruto it's Christmas." Jiraiya said.
"So what?" Naruto asked. "What's so special about Christmas?"
"This." Jiraiya said. "Here," he tossed the book at Naruto. But since still attempting to sleep, the book hit him in the head.
"Ouch!" Naruto said, sitting up with an angry look on his face. "Pervy sage! What the hell was that about?" He picked up the book. "What's this?"
"That's your gift." Jiraiya said.
"Gift?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, it's customary to give the ones you care about a gift on Christmas." Jiraiya said.
"The…ones…you…care….about." Naruto said in disbelief.
"Yeah." Jiraiya said.
"Hm, 'A Tale of an Utterly Gutsy Ninja,' what's that?" Naruto asked.
"A book I wrote." Jiraiya said.
A look of disgust crossed Naruto's face.
"It's not one of the ones you would call perverted." Jiraiya said. "I think you will like this one. In fact your parents named you after the main character."
"My parents?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, I knew your parents, but that's a story for another time." Jiraiya said.
"Thanks, Jiraiya." Naruto said, opening the book and started to read.
"Merry Christmas, Naruto." Jiraiya said. And as far as Naruto was concerned, he figured he like Christmas now, because he was not alone, and he knew someone cared.