A/N: Alright, second chapter in one night. I'm on a roll! 'Rigging up the lights' was always my favorite part of the song, so hopefully I've done it justice in this chapter. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Let's see, I sing to myself in the shower and I own a Naruto keychain, does that count?

Chapter 2: Rigging up the Lights

The second thing at Christmas that's such a pain to me
Rigging up the lights
And finding a Christmas tree

Thud. Sakura landed on the ground—hard.

"Damn it, Naruto!" She screamed. "Can't you even pretend to be holding the ladder?"

"Sorry, Sakura." Naruto rubbed the back of his head self-consciously. "I was thinking about how nice a steaming hot bowl of Ichiraku ramen would be on a day like this."

"I don't care what you were thinking, Naruto. Can you please just focus so we can get these lights up?" She wasn't going to forgive him so quickly. That had been the third time he'd let her fall off the ladder. Granted, he had caught her both the first and second times, but the new lump on the back of her head overlooked that little detail.

There were only twelve days until Christmas, twelve days in which to adorn every street and building with long strands of the colorful lights. She knew Tsunade had specifically given her the task because she had an eye for decorating, but she suspected that Naruto was her partner only because the Hokage wanted him out of her hair. Lord knows that kid could be annoying! Did Tsunade really have to give him to her to babysit? It just wasn't fair.

Rubbing the tender spot on her head, she ascended the ladder once more after making sure Naruto had an iron grip on the rails. Why wasn't she allowed to use chakra and just climb up the walls? Oh right, it wasn't traditional—or at least that was the explanation the Fifth had given her. In Sakura's opinion, that excuse reeked of Maito Gai and his outdated notions of the perfect holiday season.

Naruto, however, had a more enthusiastic view of the ordeal. Spending entire days alone with Sakura was perfectly alright with him, even if she was a little too liberal with her fist at times. Damn that girl was strong! He didn't bother to count the bruises anymore.

Looking over his shoulder, the blonde surveyed their work so far. Lights twinkled from every roof up and down the street, artistically draped over eaves and windows. It really was shaping up to be a beautiful Christmas. There was still a little bit of snow on the ground from last night's flurries, adding to the village's peaceful and surreal look. It reminded him of a gingerbread house village. The snow was yummy icing, the lights were colorful chocolates, and the people bundled up in winter coats were made of the warm, freshly baked cookie. Perhaps there was ramen somewhere in this candy village. Oh yes, he would like that. He let his fancy carry him away and closed his eyes so he could better visualize the delicious scene. But he should have been paying closer attention to reality, for he didn't notice Sakura reaching just a little too far to the left. The ladder wobbled, she lost her balance, and the ladder, Sakura, and his candy dreams came crashing down on his head.

"Forget it, Naruto! You're impossible!" Sakura cried.

Naruto mumbled something incoherent through a mouthful of her bright pink hair. She rolled off of him and he sat up in a daze. Now he understood Sakura's pain—literally.

"We'll never get the lights up at this rate," she whined. "I'd probably get it done faster by myself."

"Aw, Sakura, don't be like that," Naruto entreated. "I'll hold onto the ladder tighter next time. I promise I won't let you fall!"

"Damn right you won't! Because this time you're going up there." She cut off his forthcoming protest, "and you can count yourself lucky if I hold onto the ladder half as tightly as you did." She cracked her knuckles and raised her fist to give him another clonk on the head.

Naruto took one look at her angry face and scrambled up the ladder as fast as he could. Sakura could be downright scary when she was mad!

Grabbing the staple gun from off the roof ledge, he began stapling the lights at regular intervals. He softly hummed some Christmas tunes to himself as he worked, trying to ignore the fierce aura that was wafting up from below him.

There! That was the last stretch for this building. They were making progress.

"I'm doing a pretty good job, aren't I, Sakura," he called down to her. For him, her praise was rare and valuable, like finding bits of gold in the dirt. He had to be careful too, or else the gold would break under his pressure and the angry Sakura would surface again.

But apparently he wasn't tactful enough. Either that or she still hadn't forgiven him for letting her fall. "Sasuke and I could have done a much better job." She sighed. Sasuke. That boy was so handsome, so strong, and so…untouchable. Why couldn't he think of her the way Naruto did? She would gladly go out with him anytime, anywhere, even if it was just training. But Naruto, on the other hand…yes, she had definitely had her fill of the blonde.

"Why are you so obsessed with Sasuke," he yelled at her. "It's always Sasuke this, Sasuke that." He performed a few mocking motions for emphasis. Unfortunately, he forgot to use one hand to hold on to the roof. Down he fell right to the ground, right on top of his teammate.

"Because Sasuke wouldn't do stupid things like that!" Sakura fumed at him. She couldn't even imagine him losing his balance, let alone falling off a ladder. But not a day went by when Naruto didn't fall over and hurt himself, and probably someone else too. He was such a klutz.

Pushing Naruto off her with unnecessary force, she leapt up onto her feet and began stalking away. Naruto hauled himself up too and began running after her. She couldn't leave now, not when he finally had some alone time with her.

"Wait, Sakura," he called.

She whirled around to face him, her emerald eyes smoldering. "What?"

"You can't go! We have to finish rigging up these stupid lights, the Hokage is counting on us!" It was a lame excuse, he knew that. But she wouldn't want to disappoint the Fifth.

Sakura stopped in her tracks. What he said had struck a chord, the Hokage was counting on them. All the shinobi were busy with holiday tasks, there was nobody else available who could do this job for her. And if she left now, what would Lady Tsunade think of her? Naruto would mess things up beyond repair if she left him alone with the mission, that much was obvious. She had the strength, she had the will. As long as she could keep her temper under control, nothing more would go wrong, right?

Slowly, she turned around and began walking back towards him. An idiotic smile lit up his face, no doubt he thought her change of heart was due to his pleas. She had to straighten things out.

"Listen, Naruto," she began. "I'll finish this for the Hokage, not because I like being around you so I can get hurt every ten minutes."

Naruto just nodded, his blue eyes sparkling with glee. Sure, let her say she was only coming back because it was her duty, he knew that deep down inside she was captivated by his charm and finesse. That had to be it. Why else had she return to him so quickly?

"Let's take a break from stringing these up for a minute," she suggested. "Go plug the cord into that outlet in the electric box. Let's see how this side of the street looks so far."

Obediently, Naruto trotted over to the plug and began walking it towards the outlet. Then he stopped. He tugged once. He tugged again. No good. The cord didn't reach the outlet! Man was Sakura going to be pissed. Sheepishly, he strolled back over to where she was waiting expectantly.

"Um, Sakura?"

"Why aren't they on, Naruto? Didn't you find the outlet?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"But what? Spit it out."

"The cord doesn't reach. It's too short by about eleven feet." He closed his eyes, waiting for the barrage he knew was coming.

"What?! After all that hard work, after all those injuries, the cord doesn't reach?!" She could feel the steam coming out of her ears, the snow at her feet was melting into slush. So much for keeping control of her temper. "Do we have an extension cord or something?"

"Er, no," Naruto admitted.

"We have no extension cords?! Not one?" Sakura was upset, very upset. Her scary side was bubbling to the surface, she could feel it. And so could Naruto, he was dancing in place, trying to avoid looking directly into her stormy emerald eyes.

"Well, there might be some in storage," he offered.

She took off like a shot, headed for the storage building where the village kept all its holiday decorations eleven out of twelve months every year. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a streak of orange following close behind. There was no way she was letting all that hard work go to waste! She would find an extension cord if she had to turn the whole village upside down. She would stretch the strand eleven feet until it reached the outlet if she had to. But she refused to take down the long string of lights winding over the entire side of the street just because one lousy plug decided to be uncooperative.

When they reached the warehouse, Sakura and Naruto searched high and low for the much sought after cords. Finally, they found quite a few wedged behind an inflatable Santa and a rack of wrapping paper. In an effort to simultaneously appease and impress the kunoichi, Naruto filled his arms with cords, piling them so high he could barely see over the top. But Sakura paid little attention to him as he staggered down the road beside her, she was too busy keeping an eye on her own precariously stacked knot of cords.

Upon returning to the outlet, the shinobi spent another careful half hour untangling their precious burdens. At last, they had each one straightened out on the ground. Warily, Sakura plugged the strand of lights into one cord, and then plugged the cord into the outlet. There was no way she was going to let Naruto attempt it, not after all that effort.

She clapped her hands with joy when the lights turned on. But then they went out. And back on. And back out again. They were blinking. Her face fell.

"Why the hell are they blinking?!" She vented her rage on an unfortunate stone that happened to be sitting at the side of the road. She turned on Naruto. "Fix this!"

Naruto was cowering away from her. "Okay, okay, but calm down," he pleaded. He had no idea how he was supposed to fix it, but he didn't want to think about what Sakura would do to him if he didn't. Images of the cracked stone the kunoichi had just hit popped up in his mind. No doubt his face would be cracked if she got to him!

Hurriedly, he walked over to the electric box. He had seen older guys playing around in here when something electrical went wrong, right? It was worth a try, anyway. Timidly, he flipped one of the many switches inside. The lights went out completely.

"Naruto," Sakura growled threateningly.

"Sorry, sorry! I can fix that." He flipped it back and the lights returned to blinking. At least that had done something though. He tried a few more switches, all the time keeping one eye on Sakura's whereabouts. Nothing was working! What was he going to do? He started flicking switches faster and faster, trying different combinations until the movement of his hands was a blur. He ignored the shouting coming from people around him, the lights going on and off in the houses across the street, the radio suddenly blasting from a speaker near him.

"Wait, stop!" Sakura suddenly called.

With lightening reflexes, Naruto paused on the verge of trying the next switch. He looked up at the lights, they weren't blinking! Yes! He had done it. "See, Sakura? I told you I could fix it, piece of cake." He slammed the electric box's door shut and walked back over to her.

Sakura just rolled her eyes. She was too relieved to argue with him now. But then her heart skipped a beat, her eye twitched. One of the tiny light bulbs was flickering, and then— pop—it went out. As that first light went out, the others followed one by one down the chain. As power was cut off to the bulb before it, each following bulb went out. Sakura was speechless. She opened her mouth in a silent scream.

Naruto too stood gaping. What had just happened there? "One light goes out, and they all go out," he whispered incredulously.

It wasn't often that the pink-haired kunoichi lost her voice. But when she did, she always found it again quickly. She had already used the rock to vent her anger upon, so now she rounded on the growing crowd bystanders in the street. Her face twisted, she blew steam from her nostrils—and she exploded.

"Well if you're so smart, you rig up the lights!" She bellowed at them. The crowd scattered quickly in the face of her rage.

One silent, dejected trip back to the warehouse later, the two shinobi returned with a bag of fresh bulbs. These they had found after much searching underneath the plastic reindeer and boxes of ornaments. Naruto ascended the ladder cautiously, a precious bulb cradled in the palm of his hand. Gently, he unscrewed the old bulb and replaced it with the new. It went on! And not just that one, but the rest of the string did as well! He clapped his hands in delight. "Sakura! We did—"

But he forgot to hold on to the roof. Again. He fell with a crash on top of the girl below. Again.

But hey, at least the lights were on.


A/N: Sakura and Naruto were such a pair when they were young! They matured so much over the years Sasuke was away. But anyway, I hope you liked that chapter. Please review!