I know Christmas is over and its now 2008, but I figured I'd still finish it I also got lazy on writing the ginger bread scene…

Oh, and I don't own Naruto, because if I did, I wouldn't be writing fan fiction …

Chapter 3

When I got to the kitchen, I realized that Naruto had already set up the stuff to make the gingerbread houses. Icing, the gingerbread pieces and people, and the numerous types of sweets, laid scattered about on the large table. We all gathered around the table and sat down. Naruto grinned and reached out for one of the 4 gingerbread walls and started slopping on the icing. I sighed, looking at how thick it was.

"Naruto, you're putting it on Waaayyy to thick!" I said, taking my finger and taking some of it off and whipped it on his nose giggling. He went cross-eyed and took the icing off and eating it. I looked over to Temari, who was smacking Kankuro for eating a hard candy. Gaara was making a mini version of himself and Hinata and Tenten were working on another wall.

After about an hour or so of making the gingerbread house we were done. We had all made miniature versions of ourselves, but Gaara had gotten angry at Kankuro and crushed his into small pieces and placed it in front of the ginger-Gaara. I picked up the gingerbread house carefully and placed it on the counter when the door rang. Temari got up and raced to the door and threw it open.

"Shikamaru!" she exclaimed and hugged him. I watched as Gaara slowly got up out of his chair, walked into the living room and glare at Shikamaru. I sighed and followed.

"Hey Shikamaru," I said, "I'll show you where the guy's are staying." He nodded and followed me down the hall, Temari not far behind.

Later that night, the girls and I were getting ready for bed. I slipped on a pink tank top and pink stripped pajama bottoms. Temari wore just a plain baggy shirt that said 'Temari' on it in kanji, Tenten wore pajama shorts and a shirt with a kunai and scrolls on it and Hinata wore light purple fleece pajamas.

Tenten plopped herself on her bed, "So Temari, judging by Gaara's actions, does he approve of you and Shikamaru dating?" she asked while taking out her buns. Temari sighed and ran a hand through her now down hair, "No, not really, he doesn't trust Shika…he thinks he'll jump me," Temari sighed and crawled into bed.

"So…Gaara's ac-actually protective?" Hinata asked as she pulled the sheets up over her lap. Temari nodded.

"Kind of…well not of Kankuro," she said, adding a small giggle at the end. I nodded and turned off the light before going to bed. I rolled onto my side and starred out the window before drifting off to sleep.

A couple hours later I woke up to hear someone moving around. I yawned and pushed back the sheets, sitting up. All the girls were asleep so I figured it had to be one of the guys. I slowly made my way out of the bedroom, opening and shutting the door silently. Tip-toeing down the hall, I stopped at the guy's room. The door was open and I had to squint to see who was missing. Naruto was lying in the bed closest to the door. His bed sheets lay on the floor and his pillow over his head with his legs and arms sprawled out. Beside him was Shikamaru with his hair down, and Across from Shikamaru was Kankuro, snoring quite loudly. The last bed was still made and empty, but a gourd sat beside it. I sighed and continued down the hall to see the light on in the kitchen. I peeked around the corner to see a red-head sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. His elbow was on the table and his chin in his hand, looking out the window. He wasn't wearing a shirt and had on dark blue pajama pants.

I walked in more, "Gaara?" I asked.

His head turned around, "what?"

I bit my lip. God he had a nice chest, you'd think with him using sand he wouldn't work out, but…wow…I quickly moved a hand across my mouth to see if I was drooling or not.

"I heard you moving around…why aren't you asleep?" I said finally sitting down across from him. He sighed and placed both his hands on his coffee cup.

"I can't." he said simply before sipping his coffee.

"But I thought with the shuka-" I started, but got interrupted.

"Even with it gone, I can't sleep. I haven't slept for 15 years. I've gotten used to not sleeping," he said. I nodded' It made sense, after not sleeping for so many years I wouldn't be able to sleep either. I got up and grabbed myself some coffee then sat back down.

"What are you doing?" he asked, raising a non-existent eyebrow.

I smiled, "Once I'm up, I can't fall back asleep," I said, wrapping my hands around my pink coffee cup, "Besides, I would've been up in a couple hours anyways." That was a lie. It was 2 am and I usually sleep till almost noon, but hey, it was the holidays so I didn't care if I slept that night or not, I'd just sleep in tomorrow.

"So," Gaara started, interrupting my thoughts and causing me to jump slightly, "Is your hair, naturally pink?" he asked.

I sighed, "You know, I get that a lot…"
Gaara took another sip of his coffee, "Well, I'm not surprised…so is it?"

"Yeah, it is," I replied.
"Really? You'd think you'd dye it or something…"

"Nope."
There was a really long silence. I tapped my hands on my cup and sighed before smirking, "You want to go bug Naruto?"

He looked at me, "What have you got in mind?"