First chapter.
Naruto laid there, eyes peeled open listening to the snow fall. It didn't make a sound. He heard laughter and cries of joy coming from the neighbor's houses. He had no one to spend his Christmas holidays with. He wished he had a family, but he knew nothing like that would happen. Tears stung his eyes and threatened to fall. He sat there waiting for the time of 'joy' to be over so he didn't have to go through any more pain. "I'm worthless." Naruto spoke softly. He heard his tired voice echo through the room. He wiped away the remainder of his tears. He sat up looking out of his window, he was kind of hungry. "Time to get some food." His stomach growled in return.
Naruto went to the Ichiraku Ramen shop across town it was always open. He ordered some Miso ramen. His neck was cold. He didn't own any winter gear, he couldn't afford any. A hot bowl of ramen was placed in front of him. "There you go Naruto!" The shopkeeper said smiling "Happy holidays!"
"Yeah, Happy holidays to you!" Naruto said wiht his easily faked cheerfulness while he lowered his eyes. "Itadakimasu!" Naruto said putting his usual fake smile on. He had gotten good at them. A warm arm came up from behind Naruto and caught him in an akward embrace.
"What the hell do you think you're doing out without any proper clothes on? Dumbass!" Sasuke growled softly, "Our mission is tomorrow! You're going to get sick like that and I'll have to go it alone!" Sasuke took off his blue scarf and placed it around the blondes' neck.
Naruto thought for one spilt second that Sasuke was actually worried for his health but that thought was quickly shut down. "Whatever!" Naruto said quite loudly. He added under his breath, "It's not like any one cares if I die."
"Whatever?! You could die on that mission, its A-Rank! I thought you wanted to become hokage! You can't if you're sick all the time." Sasuke was beyond angry at his blonde friend. "Go home and put some goddamn winter clothes on!"
"Wha-What's your problem? It's not like you can't find a replacement if I do get sick!" Naruto had already finished his ramen and had completely pulled away from the raven haired boy. "I'm going home anyways, I have nothing else to do!"
"What do you mean? Nothing else to do? Weren't you invited to any Christmas parties?" Sasuke asked raising an eyebrow lightly.
"No, I wasn't. Remember I'm, not 'cool' like you or smart like Shikamaru, or both like Neji. I'm not even normal like Kiba!" Naruto was turning to leave when Sakura bumped into him. "Sorry, Sakura." Naruto got steadied himself and helped Sakura get up, "Here's your scarf back Sasuke." Naruto ran down the street after paying for his meal.
"Wait! Naruto!" Sakura looked for his retreating back in the crowd. "WAIT DAMN YOU!" Sasuke grabbed Sakura's shoulder and pulled her back.
"What do you want him for?" Sasuke lifted an eyebrow curiously.
Sakura looked up at the tall raven haired boy. "I wanted to give him this." Sakura said handing him the Red and white striped envelope.
Sasuke took it and flipped it to the front, It read, 'YOU'RE INVITED!' in big bold letters. "A Christmas party invitation?" Sasuke shook his head lightly thinking about how Naruto had just told him that he wasn't invited to any parties.
"Yeah, But I guess he doesn't like parties…" Sakura looked down sadly then she looked back up at Sasuke, "will you give it to him for me?"
Sasuke gave Sakura a little smirk, "Yeah, I'll give it to him I'm heading to his house anyways." Sakura smiled and handed him a second one. This one he guessed was for him. "For me?" He asked slightly amused. She only nodded as an answer. Sasuke turned to leave.
--Kisa--is--cool--just--kidding--
Sasuke headed towards Naruto's house, on the way he passed a clothing store. He looked into the window, seeing a display of winter jackets. He went in and took a look. "Naruto needs a jacket." Sasuke thought to himself. He looked through most of them and then got bored, "Hey, what's the warmest Jacket you have?" Sasuke asked the owner of the shop.
"Well we just brought in a couple new brands, but I would suggest the "Ride" brand it keeps you comfortably warm during missions as I've heard from other customers!"
"What color does it come in?" Sasuke asked annoyed at the shop keepers rambling.
"Well it only comes in one print." The Shop keeper smiled and held out a Black jacket with silver skull patterns on it. Sasuke was fingering a pair of pants that would go well with the jacket. "I think I'll get these pants too! Do you have any boots to match?" Sasuke asked pointing to the wrapping paper.
"Yes I do I'll get them for you in a second. What color wrapping paper do you want?"
The dark haired boy looked at the shopkeeper and thought of a certain orange and yellow blob "I want orange wrapping paper." said Sasuke pointing to the orange.
"Who is this all for, Sasuke? You don't usually buy anything from here this time of year." The shopkeeper smiled lightly.
"They're for a close friend." Sasuke smirked at the man when the total came up and handed five hundred twenty-three dollars and ninety-nine cents the shopkeepers way, and grabbed his purchases and left.
--I--Am--Cool--Or--Am--I--?--
Sasuke looked at Naruto's pathetic apartment. Naruto REALLY needed the clothes,he had bought for him. He knocked on the wooden door softly. No answer…
-------------
Naruto sat on his bed a razor in his hand he remembered the first time he had cut his own wrist, it was out of curiosity initially, now he did it because it took a little bit of pain away. But he hadn't been cutting recently, he had acquaintances. 'Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei… Team 7 is made up of them but, it would be sort of incomplete with out me…' Naruto heard a knock. His head snapped up, his arm was bleeding pretty bad. He didn't want anyone to know that their taunting was getting to him.
"Naruto? I know you're in there." Sasuke made a few hand signs to bring the key to him, He knew where Naruto hid it. Sasuke placed the key into the lock and turned releasing some of his Chakra intho the key and door. It clicked nicely.
Naruto was in the bathroom he had put the razor on the sink counter, and started bandaging his arm as fast as he could. He was almost done when Sasuke opened the door to his bathroom. Sasukes eyes widened in horror. 'Oh shit!' was all Narutos mind could come up with.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??" Sasuke looked at Narutos arm frantickly and back up to Narutos' face. "Why?" Sasuke asked breathlessly. Naruto looked at Sasuke dumbly. He had been found out Sasuke knew he was weak. It was all over for him. "WHY?!" Sasuke asked a little louder this time.
"I-I u-uhh.." Narutos eyes were wide he looked like a trapped fox inside a box loaded with poisonous snakes and bugs.
"Naruto it's okay... Just step away from there I JUST want to talk with you. Is that alright?" Sasuke was really worried about his blonde friends now. Narutos' eyes started leaking and the tears soon overflowed his lids and cascaded down his cheeks.
"Please! Don't hurt me..." Naruto whispered under his breath thinking about his childhood and his many beatings when he cried, just to see him cry more. Naruto fell to his knees now awaiting his "punishment" that was not going to come .
Sasuke looked down at his friend on his hands and knees. 'Naruto' Sasuke thought as he kneeled down to Narutos' eye level. "It's okay, I won't hurt you!" Sasuke got Naruto to look him in the eye It's alright." He knew his best friend was scared, so he approched him with soft gestures, "Naruto.." Sasuke took Naruto's uninjured arm and pulled him into an akward embrace. "Naruto you're my best friend, if anyone hurts you, in any way, I will KILL them!" Sasuke clutched onto Naruto possessively. " You have my word, Naruto!" Naruto soon drifted in to an uneasy sleep cradled in Sasukes arms. Sasuke picked Naruto up bridal style and brought him to the smaller boys room. He almost hit Naruto's head on the doorframe. "Shit!" Sasuke said aloud blushing as Naruto clutched at his shirt and let out a sigh. Sasuke placed Naruto under the covers and pulled them up to the boys chin carefully.
Sasuke looked at his surroundings, the room was a mess and it smelled of rotting wood! There were dirty clothes scattered around the room, kunai were on the floor in a corner of the room, a clutter of pictures were at the foot of the bed and the floor was dusty and needed to be cleaned. Sasuke started to clean up the room by piling all the dirty clothes into one mountain pile. He then brought the pile into the laundry room when all the clothes were collected. "Damn! No detergeant!" Sasuke said quietly. "I'll do these later I guess."
Sasuke went back into Narutos room and made quick work of picking up the kunai, but when he looked at the pictures, he froze a small reminiscent smile gracing his features. They were pictures of him and Naruto, there was one of Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and himself. and a couple more of himself and Naruto after training Sakura in the background giving a peace sign. This meant Naruto looked at the pictures alot, because they weren't dusty like everything else. Sasuke put them on the nightstand which oddly enough was clean. He started sweeping the floor and finished quite quickly and then he finished the room by wiping the tiles down making the groung turn a nice white instead of a sickly yellow..
Sasuke went out into the living room to get the gifts he had bought for his special blonde. He came back into the room and Naruto was now snoring softly. He placed the package full of boots, a winter jacket and winter pants, especially picked out for the kitsune beside the nightstand. Sasuke frowned when he looked at the boys bandaged left arm, 'Naruto, what were you thinking?' Sasuke thought to himself, as he brushed his fingers over the bandaged arm. He waas getting kinda hungry but he didn't want to leave Naruto alone. His stomach gave a low growl, his trek to the kitchen was now a terrible memory etched into the raven haired boys head for the rest of his life..
Sasuke padded through the hallway towards the kitchen ".GOD!" Sasuke said under his breath. It was filthy it was covered with moldy food on dirty dishes, even some food on the floor. It looked like there was mold on the counter and walls, garbage was everywhere he turned. It smelled as though an animal died in there! He needed back up!
He ran to the phone, and dialed Kakashi's number.
"Hello?" A smoothe voice sounded through the phone.
"Hey Kakashi!" Sasuke said calmly.
"Oh? Sasuke why would you be phoning me on a day off?" The the masked pervert asked quite surprised.
"Naruto. I need help with his house. but I don't want to leave him alone." the worry in Sasuke's voice was evident.
"What's wrong with him?" the silver haired nin was expecting the worse.
"Come see for youself!" Sasuke said dryly."Oh and bring detergeant?"
"...Ermm. Okay?" Kakashi didn't want to know.
"Thanks, oh and dish soap." Sasuke sighed into the phone "See you in a bit."
---I--am--cool--not--really--
Kakashi sighed as he got up from his comfortable chair and put his "icha icha paradise" book into his chest pocket. He went into his kitchen and grabbed a small bottle of detergeant and dish soap he grabbed a couple of spongees and fabric softner as well. Best to be prepared he shoved all of them into a giant garbage bag. Off to Narutos.
--Sweet--Kakashi--is--in--the--story--
Sasuke looked into the living room just as bad as the kitchen, maybe.. But it didn't smell as bad. That's when he heard a soft knock on the door. He went to answer it, "Oh thank Kami-sama you came." Sasuke said head falling forward a bit. He let Kakashi in and shut the door tightly.
"Oh, Where is Naruto what condition is he in.?" Kakashi asked peering at Sasuke through his one visable eye.
"He's fine, for the most part.. He just needs rest." Sasuke's eyes were on the floor for a second almost like they were comtemplating somthing. "I just wanted you to keep an eye on him while I do some cleaning."
"Oh How bad is it here?" Sasuke pulled him towards the kitchen. ".GOD!" Kakashi said under his breath, Or whatever was left of his breath, the stench had made him wrinkle his nose in disgust. "Well... You have fun with this.." Kakashi said slightly amazed that Sasuke was going to even attempt to clean the pig-pen .
Sasuke frowned, "Thanks. Did you bring what I asked for?"
"Yes, I did and more." Kakashi handed the bag over to Sasuke's waiting hands."Where is he?"
Sasuke replied quietly "He's in the room futherest into the hall to the left. And don't worry I already cleaned his room" the dark haired shinobi watched as the masked nin made his way down the hall. 'Time to clean I guess.' Was Sasuke's last thought as he prepared himself to go into the kitchen.
Sasuke started cleaning by clearing the counter tops of garbage and tossing it on the floor. He took the dirty dishes out of the sink and putting them on the moldy counter. He scrubbed the built up scum and moldy stuck on food off and out of the sink. He filled it with hot water and put some lemony soap in. The Dark haired shinobi then found a nice scrub sponge in the garbge bag Kakashi had brought. He started scrubbing.
--Wow--Sasuke--might--be--too--nice--in--this--fic--
Kakashi sat on the edge of Naruto's bed reading his 'book' as he flipped the page Naruto shifted under his blankets. The older man turned his head to see Naruto was mumbling quietly to himself in his sleep. Kakashi couldn't hear exactly what the blonde was saying but he did hear the word 'please,' after a long pause the kitsune followed that up by saying Sasuke's name. Being the pervert that he was he immediatly asumed Naruto was having a wet dream about the ravenette, and went back to his book after chuckling softly.
--Kakashi--that--perv--
Blood swirled in circles around his feet but not one drop of blood stained his shoes or clothes. 'Where am I?' Naruto questioned softly. He then realized he was in Konoha, only blood stained almost every inch of the ground. 'I've gotta find my teammates!' he started running but a couple of villagers grabbed hold of him, calling him a demon while their nails dug into his flesh, making him bleed. "Please let go!" Naruto cried out. He managed to rip them off of him.
"Kill Him!" Sandaime hollard "it cannot be put off any longer."
"No.. NO!" Naruto ran as fast as he could away from the village.
"Naruto!" a voice called. The blonde only ran faster, and eventually was out the gates of Konoha. He kept running, that is until a strong grip got hold of him. "It's okay. I won't betray you! I'll protect you dobe!" The smaller boy looked around only to find Sasuke staring him in the face.
"Sasuke?" Naruto gaped "Why-" He was cut off by the voices of angry villagers.
Sasuke held on to Naruto tightly, "We have to run or they'll get you." As he spoke he picked the blonde up bridal style and ran for it.
"Sasuke, why are you helping me? I thought-"
"You thought what? That I hated you? You're such a loser! Why would I hate the one person I relate to most?"
Naruto blushed and spoke again. "We'll be faster if you put me down."
"Alright." Sasuke smirked and looked the kitsune in the eye, "Just remember no matter what I'm by your side."
--Wow--did--I--go--too--far--?--
The tall Ravenette was now finished the dishes and he went on to cleaning the counters. He was really disgusted with the grafitii all over the walls now that he could see them. it said things like; Demon, Monster get out!, or other things like; Once you're gone, the village will be clean again. That last one made Sasuke growl lowly. He scrubbed off every word like he was killing the plague. When he finished, the only thing left to do was the garbage. He knelt in front of the fridge and cleaned everything out. It was all moldy and no good anyway.
Sasuke allowed himself a smile as he filled the garbage bag to the top. Naruto was going to have a good Christmas even if it killed the Uchiha. Sasuke finished with the Kitchen and went on to the living room.
--Haha--Kakashi--is--fun--to--mess--with--
With the living room complete Sasuke wiped his brow of the sweat that acumulated there. He sighed he brought the last bag of garbage out the back door, towards the giant blue garbage bin.
'Time to check how Naruto's doing' Sasuke thought, walking a little faster. "Hey, I'm done cleaning Kakashi." the ravenette spoke to the all too relaxed copy-nin.
"Alright, Is there anything I can do?" Kakashi asked, peeking out of the door to see how clean the Uchiha managed to get the small apartment.
Sasuke quirked a brow, "yeah actually there is." He pulled out his own wallet and handed it to Kakashi. "But groceries for the dobe." Kakashi took the wallet, it was quite thick.
"Are you planning on making him your slave after he's better or something?" The silver haired sensei asked curiously.
"Tch, who would need the dobe as a slave?" Sasuke scoffed, blushing lightly. 'Too many naughty thoughts!' Kakashi smiled evilly.
Sasuke walked into his blonde friends room, he was still snoozing. 'He MUST be hungry after all that sleep.' Sasuke thought to himself. He walked back to the kitchen and started to make bacon and fried eggs with rice. Only thanks to Kakashi who never left one thing out on his big grocery shopping adventure. He made two plates because he was hungry too after all that work he did. He went back to Naruto's room balancing two plates. He put one down next to his friend and the other he placed on the nightstand. "Naruto?" Sasuke asked softly poking Naruto gently. Naruto opened his eyes half way, and then fully opened them when he realized he saw Sasuke.
"Sa-Sasuke?" Naruto got up and looked around the room. It didn't look like his room it didn't smell like his room either. "Where are we?" Naruto asked innocently.
"Wh-where?" Sasuke laughed softly, "This is your room! I just happened to not like dirt. Your house is spotless at this exact moment!" Sasuke smirked.
"M-MY HOUSE??" Naruto yelled looking around it looked completely different it couldn't be his apartment! It smelled so different too!
"Before I forget here's something from Sakura, She tried to give it to you earlier but you ranaway." Sasuke said lightly poking Naruto's hand with the letter.
Naruto took the envelope from Sasukes hands gently. He read the envelope. It said "You're invited!"
He opened it and read the letter from within.
It read:
DEAR NARUTO,
I HOPE YOU CAN MAKE IT TO MY CHRISTMAS PARTY, I REALLY WANT YOU TO COME CELEBRATE WITH ALL OF US! IT'S GOING TO BE HELD ON CHRISTMAS EVE DAY UNTIL SOMETIME BEFORE MIDNIGHT, AT MY HOUSE. REMEMBER THERE IS GOING TO BE A SECRET SANTA SO DON'T FORGET TO BRING A PRESENT! THAT MEANS ONE!
MAKE SURE TO WEAR SOMETHING WARM WE'RE HAVING A SNOWBALL FIGHT!
- LOVE SAKURA
Naruto felt a sudden sadness overwhelm him, 'I can't go!' Naruto thought to himself the first time he was invited anywhere during the Christmas holildays and he couldn't go because he didn't have anything warm to wear. Tears filled the blondes eyes.
"What's wrong Naruto?" Sasuke asked softly.
" I can't go." Said Naruto blandly, a tear falling from his cheek.
"Sure you can no-one says you can't!" Sasuke said wiping Narutos' tears away.
"...I-Uh, Read the bottom line!" Naruto said another tear rolling down his cheek making it wet again.
"It says to wear something warm... that's easy." Said Sasuke patting the blondes hair gently.
"Well then you're wrong! I don't have anything... I don't have any money to buy any either! let alone a secret santa present!" Naruto sniffled quietly.
"Naruto your dumb! Your winter clothes are all in this package...Idiot!" Sasuke said blushing handing the package over to his blonde boy.
"What are you talking about I don't own any... WAIT! I'M NOT DUMB!" Naruto yelled angerily. His insides felt torn in two, Again.
"Just open the package!"Sasuke said with a quirked eyebrow.
"Fine!" Naruto said, Opening the package he discovered a card alongside winter clothes and a pair of winter shoes.. Naruto's eyes widened in shock. "Sasuke... Did.. Did you? Buy these.. for me?" Naruto asked dumbly. Opening the card he read it.
To Naruto,
Have a
Merry Christmas
And
A hapy new year
Love Sasuke.
Even more tears rolled down Narutos cheeks this was the first Christmas card he had ever gotten. Naruto smiled, and kicked the covers off of himself and jumped onto Sasuke clutching onto him, "Sasuke Thank you! Thank you so much!"Naruto Rubbed his cheek against the raven haired boys, "Ashiteteru Sasuke!!"
"Naruto! you're squishing me!" Sasuke was blushing madly now, "Mo Ashiteteru Naruto!" Sasuke said smiling into his blondies hair.
Naruto smiled into Sasukes chest. He pulled away from the ravens warmth and looked at him for a moment, "Did you really mean the last line?" Naruto asked pointing to the one that read: Love Sasuke.
The raven haired boy looked for a moment before nodding, He meant everything he told the blonde. He lived for him. "Yes Naruto, I meant it I love you Naruto." Sasuke said pulling Naruto in for another hug. "Don't cut yourself anymore okay, if you feel like that again, please, just come by and see me." Sasuke said brushing the blondes locks out of his eyes.
Naruto had small tears at the corners of his eyes, "Th-thank you Sasuke!" Naruto clutched onto Sasukes shirt only to fall asleep yet again..