Title: Christmas Calories
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Santa OR the Weight Watchers franchise. I do, however, own Naruto. Stick that in your corn-cob pipe and smoke it.
Rating: G ( K ) – Even I can't mess up a story about Christmas cookies...sheesh, people.
Spoilers: SANTA ISN'T REAL! (Naw, I'm just kiddin'...he totally is.)
Challenge: Write a Christmas-themed drabble in 20 minutes or less. (ie, the amount of time it takes to bake a batch of sugar cookies.)

Summary: "Santa will be just fine. Since he's a ninja like Mommy and Daddy, he stays very healthy. People leave cookies out for him so that he won't get tired while he's out delivering presents." Family-centric NejiTen.

For ode2sokka, a good friend and NejiTen/Christmas fanatic over on DeviantArt.

"Mommy? Will Santa really eat all of these cookies?" Ayame asked as she rubbed a splotch of raw cookie dough from her cheek.

TenTen smiled at her young child and rubbed the sweet, greasy smear away with the hem of her apron. There was nothing to be done about the flour that had settled into her high braided pigtails; nothing but a bath would cure that. "He sure will. Santa just loves cookies."

Still, the little girl looked troubled. "But...Daddy says it's not healthy to eat so many sweets. Will we make Santa sick?"

"Just leave it to 'Daddy' to suck all the fun out of making Christmas cookies...," TenTen grumbled, rubbing her swelling tummy in slow, soothing circles. It had been a constant habit of hers since the beginning of her maternity leave; it tended to rub away the antsy aggravation she felt at being trapped in the house all day while her loving husband the ANBU captain wandered around the countryside taking down missing nin and protecting high-ranking government officials. Sometimes it seemed like men got all the breaks in life.

"Mommy?"

The cabin feverish mother ceased glaring contemptuously at the refrigerator and returned her attention to her five-year-old child, who was now tugging fretfully at her apron. "Hm?"

"Will all these cookies make Santa sick like daddy said?" Ayame asked, little puddles of tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes.

Switching quickly back into "Mommy Mode" (something her own mother used to call it), TenTen forced a believable smile and shook her head in the negative. "Santa will be just fine. Since he's a ninja like Mommy and Daddy, he stays very healthy. People leave cookies out for him so that he won't get tired while he's out delivering presents."

Ayame's milky-white eyes grew wide with wonderment at this latest discovery. "Really? Then why is he so fat?"

"To distract and confuse his enemies, honey." TenTen replied, leaning down as far as she could to conspiratorially whisper, "The belly is decoy padding for hidden weapons."

"Woah...that's amazing! Santa's so clever...," Ayame praised, her pale cheeks flushed with pride. "I always thought he was just big-boned like Akimichi-sensei!"

TenTen's mommy smile slipped into an incredulous grimace. "Right...'big-boned'..." Kids would believe anything adults told them, apparently.

Down the hall, a sliding screen could be heard rattling in its track. "I'm home," called a soft voice.

Ayame immediately forgot about Santa, cookies and her truth-stretching professor and dashed out of the kitchen screaming "Daddy!" as loudly as possible. Moments later, TenTen could hear a hard thump and an involuntary "Oof!"

Leaving the unfinished cookie dough where it was, TenTen waddled as fast as her swollen feet would allow toward the foyer. If she was going to greet Neji under the mistletoe, she had to get there before he left the front room.

Author's Notes: Okay...that took approximately twenty-minutes. I'm deducting a little bit of time because I had to look up 1 ) a name for NejiTen's spawn and 2 ) how to spell Chouji's family name (spelled it right the first time! YAY!)

Pardon the characterization. Never written much of TenTen before and I rarely do Ocs ^^; I kinda/sorta had a Hinata-esq figure in mind for Ayame (making her Hyuuga-esq), but wanted to make her a little more energetic like her mother...hope it worked out.

Btw, Santa-is-a-ninja is officially my favorite Christmas theory EVER. It totally works, doesn't it? Might tell my own kids that one day...lolz.

. ( . Ms Videl Son . ) .