Summary... Sorry about how long it is...
Gaara is the immortal son of Santa Claus. He's lived his whole life in the North Pole, shrouded in an eternal veil called the Nevernever, where his Father's immortal village is located. Spending most of his time caring for the reindeer and helping in the workshop with the elves, Gaara feels like his Father lacks love for him, as he isn't privy to any of his work that his older siblings; Temari and Kankurou, are. Then, on the day before Christmas, his father become ills and requests for him to deliver all the presents around the world! With the help of his meddling siblings, the Sandman Shukaku and an elf organization called Akatsuki, can Gaara deliver all the presents in time, without being seen?
Hinata is a regular girl living with her father and baby sister. All she wants is a job at a little book shop and to finish high school. During Christmas break though, HInata awakes with a loud thump on the roof. Sneaking down the stairs, Hinata spots someone she shouldn't have seen: Gaara! Mistaking him for Santa Claus and without realizing it, she has been the first mortal the red head has ever met and, to ensure she remembers him, he takes her first kiss. On Christmas morning, Hinata still remembers everything from the previous night but the elfin council isn't pleased and wish for the expulsion of Gaara from the Nevernever and for the modification of Hinata's memories! Can Hinata, with the help of the tooth fairy Sakura, cupid Rock Lee and a few others convince them to change their minds and save the Nevernever from corruption?
Anyways...Hey, Leafy-chan here, bringing you a Christmas story. Don't worry for all of my faithful readers who have been anticipating my sequel to 'Last Friday Night' 'cause it's on its way! I would like to spend some time on it and make sure it's good and, as I'm working on it, I realize it's gonna be long.That was definitely not planned. Anyways, I'm bringing you a Christmas story for many reasons, three of them are; one: I love Naruto Christmas stories; two: I'm not gonna be here for the holidays since I'm going to Mexico! and three; it's a bit of a tribute to Stormy (Storm Alert; check out her Bleach fics) since she's written me so many and I wanted to write her a happy holiday one! Well, all you readers (and you too Stormy) I hope you enjoy! Onwards!
Chapter One: Cold is the Man
Cold is the man who can't love
fa la la la la, fa la la la
'Have you fed the reindeer yet?' one of the elves asked him, walking by with a pile of presents in his tiny arms. Gaara froze and eyed him warily, the look nearly causing the guy to drop the boxes, 'I-I!' he started to sputter, fear creeping into his eyes but the red head shook his head. A deep sigh left his lips before he went down to the front door, tossing on his coat before going outside.
It was snowing. It was always snowing so the boy wasn't surprised. He had never seen any other weather in the North Pole. In fact, he had never seen anything but snow. He heard that in the human world there was something called seasons so it wasn't always winter. That was so odd. Gaara couldn't imagine anything other than snow for he had lived his whole life in eternal winter.
Trudging over to the shed, he wrenched open the door and filled a few buckets of oats and other feed before leaving, hitting the door closed with his hip before going over to the barn where the reindeer were kept. He managed to open the door with with his elbow, which had taken him years to practice, before shutting the door with the toe of his boot behind him. Gaara whistled for the reindeer before going over to the trough and dumping the feed in it. One of the reindeer gave him a withering look before swinging his large head, nearly smacking Gaara with a large antler. 'Hey, watch it Blitzen. I feed and clean you.' Blitzen snorted before burying his snout into the feed. Gaara smirked, proud that he finally won a fight with that guy. He was a bit of a 'big man on campus' that one.
It might have been sad, but the fact was that Gaara spent most of his time with the reindeer. Taking care of them was the lowest job in the hierarchy, but the red head didn't quite understand that. These were the reindeer that flew a giant red sled around the world. How was taking care of them so bad? Then again, Gaara was mostly called the stableboy because he was the one who cleaned up all the stalls, fed them, washed them and so on. It wasn't a bad job, in fact, he rather liked it because it meant he didn't have to hang around the factory with all the annoying, pestering elves. He'd think that because he was the son of Santa Claus that they would treat him better.
His face fell and his lips morphed into a deep frown and Comet approached him and tried to nuzzle him, only resulting in smacking an antler into his gut. Gaara gave a grunt before stroking the fluffy, fleecy head, 'At least it wasn't the family jewels this time.' he grumbled, rubbing his stomach. No matter what, Comet always ended up hitting him. He had bruises from the big guy trying to get affection from him and, last time he fed him, he left limping. Gaara winced at the thought. 'I've gotta go guys. Stuff to do, people to see.' he said over the sounds of munching reindeer. Then, in perfect synch, they all lifted their heads and looked at him will accusing eyes. He sighed, 'Yea. That was a lie. Sorry.' he plopped down onto his bottom, crossing his legs. Comet nearly fell down with him but settled with pushing his head onto Gaara's shoulder. He breathed out and watched his foggy breath dance in front of him, before continuing to pet the reindeer.
Gaara spent a while in the shed. He loved the reindeer and they treated him better than almost everyone at the factory ever had. It was depressing but true. Elves bossed him around and he was just a stableboy who helped out around the workshop where he could. It was his siblings, Temari and Kankurou who were the big bosses on campus. They were the right hand men... people (since Temari was female) of their father and everyone who needed to speak to Santa had to go through them. Even Gaara had to, despite Temari telling him different. If he asked someone where his father was, they would sneer and tell them to find the boss-lady: Temari. Even as a child Gaara had been considered an outsider and worked with the elves who degraded him as much as they would. He loathed the way they looked at him. It was either a look of disgust or a look of fear. He saw the way they looked at his siblings, with respect and devotion. That was all Gaara wanted. He just wanted people to respect him like they did the rest of his family.
Saying his goodbyes to his friends in the stable, Gaara jogged back into the workshop, shaking the snowflakes out of his hair and undoing his coat and hanging it on one of the hooks. 'Hey, Gaara!' it was Temari, walking down the hallway in her tapping heels with her elf assistant Matsuri who did everything for her. 'Where have you been? You should be in the shop right now doing a maintenance check on everything. Tomorrow is the night!'
Walking up to her and speaking in his low, raspy voice, he answered, 'Someone told me I had to feed the team.' the team was another name for the reindeer, hints the term, reindeer team. He shrugged, 'I'll get on it now, I suppose.'
Temari gave a deep sigh, 'Who told you to feed the guys?' she placed a hand on her hip and cocked an eyebrow.
He looked reluctant to answer but seeing the glint in her eyes he knew he wouldn't be able to get away without telling her, 'Mukade.' he winced a bit and bowed his head, glancing up at his sister through his eyelashes.
Temari's head whipped around and she peered down like a hawk at the clipboard in Matsuri's hands. Scoffing Temari said, her voice becoming authoritative and a bit snooty, 'Yea, he told you that 'cause it was his turn to feed them. When I see him, I'll-,'
'No.' he cut her off, 'It's fine,' he shrugged, 'I like visiting them. They're my friends and a I don't trust a guy like Mukade to take care of my friends.' Temari sighed and gave him a sympathetic look while Matsuri's eyes swelled with tears of admiration. He disregarded her. 'I'll go and do the check,' he brushed past his sister and walked down the hall, peering into the large glass windows to the factory that sat in the center of the whole building. He pushed open the door, a few elves bustling by him, holding more beautifully wrapped boxes, which were all stacked in haphazardness piles in their arms. Gaara held the door open and sucked in his gut, letting pass before entering. It always got chaotic the closer they got to Christmas and today was no exception. Like Temari had said, tomorrow was the night.
Walking around cautiously, as to not disturb anyone, Gaara made sure there was no problems with any of the machines that were making the toys. As he walked by, the conveyer belt that was doing the wrapping got jammed, the paper flying upwards, ripping. There were squawks and some futile attempts to fix it but Gaara leaned over and flipped a red switch before ripping the ruined paper off and taking out and relaying the roll of wrapping into the slot. He flipped the switch again and paper rolled out onto the conveyer belt without a hitch. Smiling to himself he moved away from the machine. The elves gave sighs of relief before turning to see who fixed the problem. Their happy faces all fell when they saw him and their faces morphed into snarls and sneers and a few whimpered in fear. Gaara's pleasant mood was gone in a flash and he turned elegantly, stalking away from the group of wrapping elves, his nostrils flaring.
'Don't worry about them Gaara. They're just jealous.' came a smooth voice and Gaara looked up from his stomping feet. It was the department head and doll maker, Sasori. He looked very much like Gaara, but not so much that people would actually stop to stare at him like they did with the younger boy. His hair was also red, though not as vibrant and he had wide, auburn brown eyes. He looked pretty and his own face resembled those of the dolls he devoted his life to making. 'Good job on fixing it though,' his lips twitched into a small smile and he patted his shoulder with his small, feminine hands that were calloused from work.
Gaara gave a soft, unwonted smile before asking, 'Everything's okay over here?' Sasori was one of the few people who showed Gaara that respect he longed for and, because of that, made him one of his favorites. Sasori was much older than him and was a member of Akatsuki, an elf organization his father had created to help keep order in the North Pole. They all also happened to work in the factory, making presents for the children.
Sasori nodded, 'It's beautiful over here, do not fret, Gaara.' Not only was Sasori kind, he was also mellow and an artist. He believed in something called eternal beauty and Gaara knew he liked reading and writing poetry and making puppets in his spare time. The only time Sasori got angry was when someone didn't listen to him, made him wait for an extended period of time or broke one of his creations and Gaara had managed to live his life with doing any of those to him, making them very good buddies. 'Perhaps you should check on Deidara though. I'm afraid of what is happening over there.' before Gaara could reply there were some shoutings among the elves who worked in Sasori's department and the older red head whirled around to them, 'What, in the name of Christmas, is going on here!' and he said some other inappropriate things and Gaara quickly snuck away, moving over to the toy department which was much more out of control compared to the doll department.
Deidara was the head of the toy department and worked with Tobi who was better known as the Toy King. He was known as this because he was the one who invented new toys and gave the ideas to mortals to sell into products. Deidara was the head of the department mostly because he was a percent more mature than Tobi, who was very childlike in everything he did. The problem with them working together though was that they didn't get along, despite Tobi's hero worship for the blonde man. Deidara hated the masked man and often brow-beat him and threatened him. And something usually blew up during those arguments.
Wandering over to the toy department, Gaara was in luck to see is was rather peaceful -but more out of control than Sasori's department-, for Tobi was laying on one of the conveyer belts while Deidara was directing traffic for a bunch of elves who had toy boxes in their arms and couldn't see over the top. 'Okay, now forward, un.' some shuffling, 'to the left, un.' some squeals, 'No! the other left!' some grunts and a box tumbled to the floor. Before Deidara could explode, Gaara quickly leapt forward and placed the box back on top of the elf's arms.
Deidara had slanted blue eyes and very long blonde hair that he wore drawn into a half ponytail. Gaara knew that the bang hanging over his left eye concealed a scope he used to watch everything that happened with the Pole, from the factory to the village. When he saw Gaara save the package, he seemed to have calmed down, 'Huh, thanks Gaara. Checking on everyone, un?'
Nodding, Gaara replied, 'Yes. Any problems here you need help with?' Both he and Deidara looked around, watching the elves work. There was a squeal and Tobi stood up and started to run to the beginning of the conveyer belt before laying back down and moving through it once again.
'Only if you can manage to scare Tobi away from the belt, un.' Gaara's twitched upwards and he shook his head negatively. Deidara gave a sigh, 'Well, then we're fine here, un.' he gave Gaara a wink before going off and ordering some of elves and tweaking some of the toys.
The young red head continued through the departments, checking the order of each one. He stopped at the Naughty Department who was run by Hidan, a muscular man with slicked back silver hair and distinctive purple eyes. Each gift was more cynical and maniacal than the last and Gaara was afraid to tell Hidan that they couldn't give those out to the children so continued on to the next unit.
The next branch was music, which a man named Pain was in charge of. He was a tall, lean man with pale, purple eyes that featured dark rings around his pupil. His hair was fluffy and orange on the top of his head and his face had six piercings on the sides of his nose, two below his bottom lip, a few on the edges of his ears and bars going through the cartilage. He was a very intimidating man and his voice was perhaps even deeper than Gaara's. Despite being terrify, he was very respectful and polite and always treated Gaara kindly. Gaara also knew that he could handle his department better than the rest of the heads so wasn't worried and waved to him as he went through the unit. He waved back, giving a respectful nod.
The next branch was the clothing department. It was headed by two people: Konan who was in charge of women's and children clothing and Itachi Uchiha, who did men's. Konan had blue hair, amber eyes, ultramarine eye shadow and a labret piercing. Itachi had dark eyes, black hair that hung near his cheeks to frame his face and kept the rest of it in a ponytail. He also had pronounced tear troughs under his eyes.
Gaara was definitely not worried about them, for they were both very capable and mature and the elves they had working for them were all very patience and rather scared of facing their wrath so they did everything in their power to not mess up. He waved at them and moved on to the next unit. When a sweet, gooey smell hit his nose, Gaara knew it was, by far, the best department. It was the kitchen, where candy and cookies and a whole bunch of yummy stuff was made and Gaara had dubbed it the best as a child and would pretend to do maintenance checks almost every bloody day. And every bloody day he got a fresh treat. Gaara could already feel himself salivating for he knew the smell very well.
Cookies.
Pushing open the door, there were hundreds of tables, all covered with beautifully decorated treats from cakes to candies, to tarts to puddings and so on. All the scents went together to create an absolutely amazing smell of melted chocolate, sugar and icing sugar and Gaara's stomach roared when his eyes laid sight on the gooey chocolate chip cookies.
Heading past the tables, Gaara moved to the main kitchen were the head chef was. It wasn't that hard to find him for he was part plant. Zetsu was the head for the department and very distinguished for the large venus fly trap like extensions that enveloped his head and upper body, giving him an appearance of a plant. When his plant was open, Zetsu had short green hair, yellow eyes and his body split into two different colored halves: black and white.
At the moment, Zetsu was pulling out a batch of cookies from the oven, wearing Santa oven mitts and a red apron that had prancing reindeer on it. He always wore it but Gaara had to hid a smile for he looked so funny in it.
Swallowing a chuckle, Gaara approached him, 'Are there any problems in here you need help with...' he trailed off at the end for Zetsu had stood up and faced him, displaying the pan with fresh cookies in it. The red head licked his lips indiscreetly.
'No. There are no problems here, Gaara.' He raised an eyebrow on his white side, 'I suppose though,' Gaara's head shot up, 'that for your hard work, you can have a cookie.' A childish grin went across the teenager's face and he thanked the plant man ten million times as he took a fresh cookie and as he left. Zetsu just looked amused before taking the batch of cookies over to a table of elves.
There were only two more departments left; one of them was the Mechanics, for they took all the broken toys and fixed them and the Supplies Unit, where there were checklists and order forms of everything they needed and how much they had left, for there was no way they would be able to recover from a loss so close to Christmas.
Moving from the kitchen, the next area was the Mechanics. Kisame was on the far side of the room, scolding an elf for his incompetence. Loitering by the door until he was done, the red head made a mad dash to the tall man. Kisame had a distinctive shark like appearance, complete with blue skin, small, round white eyes and gill like facial markings under his eyes.
On his way to the shark man, Gaara ducked under a low flying airplane toy, did zig-zags around a toy dog who was barking and barring his teeth at him, jumped over a car who was riding on his back tires and had to fend off a dinosaur who had leapt off the table at him. Kisame looked painfully amused, watching him through the whole thing until he landed in front of him, panting. 'Do you...' he stopped to catch his breath for a moment before continuing, 'need any help?' he asked, still a bit breathless.
A smirk danced onto Kisame's lips before he formed the word carefully, 'No.'
'Oh fu-!' Gaara cussed a long moment, patting his chest for air before pivoting on his foot a few times, 'Okay then...' he looked resigned, his eyes downcast.
Kisame chucked and slapped his back, nearly toppling him over, 'Hey, why don't you go and check on Kakuzu to see if he needs any help. We all know how hard his job is.' he rolled his eyes. Kakuzu was known mostly for his complaining and sulking for he believed he had the hardest job and he wasn't afraid to tell anyone about it. If one of the other department heads was complaining about their jobs, Kakuzu would show up and talk about how hard his job was, making the other person feel bad. Or if you were Deidara or Hidan, you just got mouthy with him, which made him go back up and sulk in his department area for hours and would even starve himself.
Kakuzu's office was on the floor above Kisame's department and on the other side. Gaara gapped at the length he would have to run to get there, 'Do you think it's fine up there-,'
'Get going kid.' he slapped his back again, this time sending him to the ground with a grunt. Some of the elves snickered at him but seeing the glare from Kisame, went quickly back to work again.
Pushing himself back to his feet, Gaara ran in place for a moment, working up the courage before he went running again, the dinosaur from earlier charging at him once more and following him through the whole room. Hitting back robots, possessed dogs, a red-eyed penguin, a life sized ostrich and an army of fighter jets that were able to shoot Nerf bullets at him, Gaara finally made it to the winding staircase, jumping over the railing onto the fifth step, skipping the others. The dinosaur gave a forlorn cry before wandering back into the arms of the elf that was fixing him. Whipping at his brow, Gaara waved at Kisame who was howling with laughter before climbing to the top of the stair case and swinging open the door.
Kakuzu's department was much more organized than the other chaotic rooms in the factory, with each elf sitting in their own desk and working on something. Some were even speaking on telephones.
Like Kisame, it wasn't hard to spot Kakuzu. He was a dark skinned, muscular man that towered over almost everyone except the shark man, Kisame. He had green eyes that had no pupils and red sclera. Gaara knew what he looked like, but for the most part he wore a mask and a white hood, obscuring most of his features from being seen. He looked up from his desk when Gaara entered, 'Hmm. Doing a check?' he sounded ever so slightly amused. When the red head nodded, he murmured, 'Check each desk and see if they're all doing their jobs.' before he turned back down to his papers, penning something down as he read another page.
Nodding, Gaara moved and watched each elf work like an observant assistant. Some of the elves ignored him while others turned and glared up at him but he ignored them and made sure each of them were working and doing what they were suppose to. When he got to the end of the room and moved back up, doing another check (since the philosophy in the North Pole was 'checking it twice') he ended up back at the head's desk. 'It's all good, Kakuzu.' he whispered as to not disturb anyone.
The man looked up, peered into his eyes before letting his gaze float about the room. He said, 'Very good. You may leave.' Gaara leaned over and peered down through the window down at Kisame's hectic department.
'Uh... Can I use the elevator?' he asked, wincing despite himself as a group of rampant robots starts to shoot Nerfs at all the elves and Kisame ended up grabbing his own Nerf gun and starting a mini war with the robots. Kakuzu saw this and nodded before standing up and waving at Gaara to follow him. They went across the room to a ovular elevator and Kakuzu opened it for him. 'Thank you.' the man nodded and closed the door on him, sending him to the ground floor.
When the door opened, Gaara quickly moved out at the shut quickly and shot back up. They liked things done fast around the factory. 'Ah! Gaara! Done the check?' it was Temari, coming up from a stairway and, strongly alone as Matsuri was absent from her side. He nodded mutely, not particularly caring, 'Good! Can't wait for tomorrow!' she laughed and did a happy dance, grabbing him and intertwining their arms, 'What about you? Excited?'
He smiled slightly, 'Yes. Comet will be pleased. I get to hook them up to sled again.' every year as his job as the stableboy, Gaara had to hook the team up to his father's sleigh before the big flight. Again, it wasn't a particularly important job despite the fact if you hooked them up wrong, the whole run would be ruined on the most important night of the year.
Temari gave a deep, agitated sigh, 'Gaara-,' she started but he quickly shook his head and unhooked his arm from hers.
'It's my job Temari and I love it. Don't say anything about it. You know as well as anyone that I'm not his son. Not really.' he was never treated like it. He was a stableboy, someone who was just around to do extra jobs, no matter what anyone said.
'You are his son, Gaara.' she whispered, staring at his mocking smile. He shook his head once more before sulking off, his mood fowling again. He didn't like to be reminded of the lack of love his father gave him, especially by his own sister. No matter what Temari said, they both knew he wasn't treated fairly.
'Temari!' Gaara could hear his brother, 'Temari-,' he wasn't listening to what they were talking about and started to pick up his pace but stopped when they started to shout at him, specifically Kankurou, 'Gaara! Come here! Gaara, man!' he called and Temari joined him.
Growling to himself, Gaara turned and walked back to them. Kankurou looked frazzled, his eyes wide, 'What?' he snapped as his brother jumped from foot to foot, with shifting eyes. His brother looked so much like their father it was almost painful to look at him. It wasn't like Gaara saw his Father often though.
'It's Dad! He- He needs to see all of us!' Temari's eyes widened and she nodded eagerly.
Scoffing, Gaara replied, 'He's never asked to see me before, why now? Can't you guys just go?' he crossed his arms like the rebellious teen he was and pursed his lips, displeased.
Kankurou rolled his eyes and said, harshly, 'If he could tell just us, do you think he would invite you?' Gaara froze and hugged himself tightly, keeping his arms crossed. He felt his eyes sting but he ignored the caustic feeling and instead followed Kankurou, who had turned briskly and began walking to their father's room. Temari was giving Gaara a large, sympathetic look but she would alternate it with a look of disapproval to Kankurou.
Their father's room was linked to his office but you could only access it with a key, which he had given to Kankurou and Temari and to Kakuzu. But, not his own, youngest son. Not like the red head expected it but it still hurt he gave a room to his two eldest children and to the head of the supplies and money department. Not his own son. Gaara shivered as he waited for his brother to unlock the door. When he did, Temari went in first before Gaara and finally Kankurou, who closed the door behind him.
Gaara had only been in his father's room a few times in his life so he absorbed the surroundings as soon as he entered. The walls were bright red and the wood furniture all had beautiful, elegant carvings of reindeer on them. It was very clean, with nothing on the floor and there was a table with four chairs around it. On the table was a stack of papers and on the bedside tables, dresser and the mantle over the fireplace were family photos. To his own surprise, Gaara realized there were even photos of him, from the time when he was a happy, photogenic child to when he was a brooding teenager who hated the camera. The last photo had been taken of him had been about a year ago and he was in the shed with the reindeer team, Comet throwing his thick head at his hip. A tiny smile twitched on his lips. It was a good photo.
Then, Gaara moved his eyes to the bed, where they stopped. His father was laying on the bed, looking pale and drawn, his breathing harsh and cheeks hollow. His shoulders were trembling and Temari instantly acted, pulling the blankets up around his neck, 'Father!' she gasped, touching some of his greying brown hair.
A small smile moved onto his lips and he huffed out, 'Temari. Good. Is Gaara here?' his eyes moved blindly around the room and the red head winced. That was bad.
Moving up to the bed, the youngest whispered, 'I'm right here, Father.' he brought his hand out to reach out and touch the bed but swiftly pulled it back, as if afraid to do so. Temari sighed and touched his elbow softly. 'Are...' his hairless brows drew together, 'Are you ill, Father?'
The old man nodded, barely moving his head, 'Yes, I'm afraid so.' he released a long breathe. 'I won't be making the trip tomorrow night.'
"What!' Temari screeched, standing up straighter, 'What do you mean! What about all the children! You can't just not go!' Kankurou nodded, rounding up on the other side, 'Dad!' Temari pleaded, 'Please! You just have to get better by tomorrow!' she reassured.
'Yea, it'll be fine.' Kankurou added, 'You'll be up and at 'em by tomorrow and you'll do the run.'
'No.' their father rasped, 'I won't be doing the run.' he closed his eyes and breathed slowly and as steady as he could, 'I won't be delivering the presents.' he repeated, 'Gaara will.'
It suddenly felt very cold in the room and Gaara couldn't move. Him? Doing the run? Impossible. 'Don't play with me old man.' he growled, 'what are you actually planning?'
His father shook his head, 'No Gaara. I'm not playing.' he gave a wry smile, 'You'll be doing the run tomorrow night.' he whispered.
Sneering, the boy replied, 'That's bullshit. I can't do the run. You're Santa Claus, not me. I'm not even your son. I can't go around the entire world in one night!' his hands curled into fists as his arms hung at his sides.
His father's eyes suddenly focused in on him for the first time, 'You are my son, Gaara. Despite what you and many others believe, you are.' he didn't turn from him, 'Temari, bring me my belt.' Temari leapt up and went to his dresser, pulling his black leather belt off of the top of it. It had a large, rectangle buckle on it with intricate Christmas designs carved into it. It was gorgeous and had been made for him by the elf counsel centuries ago when he first became the big man in red. His hands were shaking as he took the belt and he waved Gaara forward. The red head approached him cautiously, wondering if he was going to whip him with it or something. Instead, his father wrapped it around his waist and pulled it tight and linked the small gold tip into one of the holes before letting it go and sit on his hips.
He felt winded as he stared at the the belt that was wrapped on on him. 'What have you done?' he asked his ailing father, who stared up at him with dull black eyes.
'You will be riding out tomorrow night.' his father repeated slowly, as if talking to a child. Gaara gapped at him. 'Be ready.'
A cheerful holiday next year,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la la
To the troubled, cold are the bills,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la la
Which come during the holidays
...
How was one suppose to prepare to deliver presents all around the world? The answer was simple; there is no way. The next day, Gaara found out on his own terms that Temari had announced the fact the present delivering had been passed onto him, the one guy nobody liked. Now, whenever he walked around the factory they would whisper about him in voices lathered in disgust and doubt and would glower at him with complete loathing, as if they blamed him for the illness his Father had accumulated. Gaara hated it so much he couldn't spend much time in the factory anymore and instead spent his time out in the village. They too, heard the news but didn't hate him even more for it. In fact, they congratulated him. It was much nicer and people stared giving him free food and hot chocolate. That was the best.
'Hello Gaara!' an older woman greeted, lifting her purse off of a bench she had been sitting on, 'How are you?' the snow crunched under their feet was they shuffled through it.
'Fine.' he whispered smiling ever so slightly.
She beamed at him, 'Good to hear!' they exchanged a few more pleasantries before going their separate ways. When she was out of ear shot, Gaara grunted to himself. Tonight was the night he would fly around the world to deliver all the presents they spent the last year making to every child in the world. There was no pressure. Bitting his tongue, Gaara fell into the bench and watched everyone go about their day in the village. How he wished to be a regular villager like one of them. He wouldn't have to worry about anything other than what he was going to buy for supper that night. It would be nice to relax and take a break from everything. He sighed and closed his eyes, listening to the bustle of every day life in the village.
'Hey Gaara.' a hand rested on his shoulder and the red head jumped. It was Sasori. 'What are you doing out here? Tonight's the big night.' he smiled, 'It's your big night.' he sat down on the bench beside him, his brows furrowing in concern. 'What's wrong? And don't say nothing.' he fixed his scarf, 'I'm an artist, I know better.' he tapped his temple with his index finger.
Wincing, Gaara muttered, 'It's just... I don't think I can do it.'
Before he could elaborate, Sasori cut in, 'Don't listen to the elves Gaara. They're just jealous that you're the son of Santa freaking Claus.' he smirked, 'and I know you probably don't believe it right now but tonight, when you're cracking the whip and the sleigh's lifting to the sky,' he used his hand as a sleigh and made it raise from his lap and sore upwards and both of them watching it, Gaara rather spellbound, 'you'll know. You'll feel, no matter how disturbing this sounds, your father's blood running through your veins.'
'That is rather disturbing.'
'Just go with it.'
'Okay.'
Sasori smiled and patted his back, his other hand falling back onto his lap, 'Now, I need you to stop moping. It's freaking Christmas, man.' he cocked his head smugly, 'Now lets go to Itachi and get him to set you up with your own suit for the big night.' he laughed, a beautiful sound that echoed through the whole lane in the village.
'I don't-,' Gaara started but Sasori ignored him and yanked him up from the bench of self pity and dragged him back to the factory, the last place the young red head wanted to be.
Cold is the fire on Mount Snowdon,
Fa la la la la, fa la la la
The measuring tape was flying all around him and Gaara gave up trying to follow it. Sasori just rolled his eyes and lounged on the chair, 'Geez, Itachi. You'd think you'd have his measurements already!'
Itachi froze and gave the other red head a dirty look, 'I need to make sure this outfit is perfect.' he pronounced the last word carefully, 'There can't be any mistakes, no tightness in the arms, no flood pants, no chaffing, no rashes, no nothing!' Gaara's face burned and he stared hard at his feet. Sasori chortled and let Itachi continue his work.
When the measurements were done, he rushed over to his desk and began writing numbers out, before he started to sketch the design. He called Konan over and they consulted each other on the outfit for what felt like forever. Gaara went and sunk into a chair beside the other red head, 'Don't worry Gaara.' the cocoa eyed man reassured him, 'When they finish your uniform for the night, it'll be time for you to ride out.'
'I'm guessing I can't harness the team in?' he whispered, looking up at the older man from his eyelashes.
Sasori shook his head, 'Don't worry about it though.' he winked at him, 'Pain is.'
Gaara's face faltered, 'Pain!'
He nodded, 'Yup. Just because he isn't the stableboy.' he tweaked the teenager's cheek, 'doesn't mean he can't handle it. After all, you weren't always around. Who did you think set the team up before you?' Gaara's mouth opened and closed a few times before he settled with shaking his head vigorously. Sasori snickered, 'Yea, that's what I thought. Again, though, don't stress. Everything is gonna be great. Right, Itachi?'
'Damn straight!'
Cold are the people who don't care
Ffa la, Ffa la, fa la la
I hope you all enjoyed that! I'm gonna try and be more consistent with my updating for this one since I really like the idea I got for it. I love reviews, faves and constructive criticism. *hint hint, wink wink* Oh, and if any of you can send in a better name than 'All I Want', I'll be happy to change it since the title at the moment isn't my fave. Bye until next time!