Okay, first thing, this is JUST a christmas omake. The story is still on hiatus, but I decided last week that it would be fun to put up an omake for each of my naruto fics, so this is the first of four, the others to follow soon. I should also note that while the initial post will be here, along with the story, i'm going to later move it to a separate 'story' that will be a collection of any omakes that i do for EACH of my Naruto stories. In any case, I hope you enjoy this little teaser, and Merry Christmas!
fanfic style, disclaimer jutsu!
It was coming! Naruto was even more ecstatic than usual. In just a couple more days, it would be Christmas, and he already knew what he wanted to give Hinata; he was going to give her a Christmas party!
Parties and the Hyuuga clan didn't tend to mix very well, unless perhaps you were thinking of a funeral. Everyone was always so somber and emotionless that it killed the party before it even started. However, he'd seen some real parties before, if from a distance, so he thought he had a pretty good idea what a Christmas party would need. Now he just needed to get things and people together for it…
"hey Iruka sensei!"
"Hmmm?" Iruka looked up from the papers he was grading, seeing his blond student standing in front of his desk. "Oh, Naruto! What are you doing here?"
"Well sensei, I already got Hinata-chan a present this year, but instead of just some normal type present, I decided that I'm going to throw her a Christmas party!" Iruka raised an eyebrow.
"Won't your clan be having one anyway?" Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Oh come on sensei! No offense to uncle Hiashi, but the clan's really dull. No one knows how to party, so Hinata-chan's never been to a good party. That's why this is such a good idea! I just need to find a place to throw it in now, and I thought you could help me find some place." Iruka scrunched his eyebrow in thought.
"Hmmm…well, I wish I could help, but I'm going to be too busy to help out, and we're already having a Christmas party for the academy teachers tonight, then after that I'm supposed to visit my cousin back at the capitol." Naruto's face fell and Iruka gave a sad smile.
"Well, I suppose, since it would be happening before, you could try and hold it in the training hall Christmas eve; the school will still be unlocked then, but they lock it on Christmas." Naruto's eyes lit right up.
"Yay yay! Thanks Iruka sensei! Now I've just got to get more people, and food, and decorations…" Iruka chuckled as he watched Naruto leave, then he looked back down at the papers he was working on. He thought for a moment, gave the papers a look of disgust, and threw them down before standing and walking out the door.
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Naruto was now running around, trying to find the people he thought might enjoy a good party; he wanted to make sure that Hinata would have a good time, and she tended to be so shy that he had to ensure that it was all people she knew and was friendly with. It was then that he bumped into Choji.
"Woah, watch it Naruto! You could get hurt walking around like that!" Naruto laughed as he brushed the snow off himself. Choji proved his strength by the fact that Naruto fell while he just stood there eating his milk and cookies. Wait…what?
"Hey, why are you dressed like that?" Choji looked down at his clothes and shrugged.
"Asuma sensei signed us up for a mission to help the kids out. Ino and Shikamaru are being elves, but they ran out of elves, they said, so I'm being Santa Clause." He grinned. "I gotta say, I may have to stuff a pillow in here to get…fat," he said, mumbling the taboo word, "but it has its benefits!" He punctuated his exclamation by stuffing another cookie in his mouth and chowing down.
"Ooh ohh! Hey, that's perfect! You can be Santa at the party I'm throwing!"
"Huh?"
"Yeah yeah! Christmas eve I'm going to be throwing a party for Hinata-chan at the academy, and you guys would be perfect." Choji's eye's brightened. Hmmm….parties mean lots of food, and Hinata's such a nice girl, it would be great to throw her a party! He nodded.
"Yeah, I think I'd like that; let me go talk to Shikamaru and Ino and we'll-"
"Sorry Choji, but I've already booked you three for a mission that night."
"NANI?" Naruto yelled the at smoking bearded man as he casually walked up.
"Huh? Why sensei? And doing what?" Asuma shrugged, hands still in his pockets.
"I booked them to do another Santa and his elves gig. It's really busy this time of year, and the kids really like these three." Choji and Naruto both slumped.
"Sorry Naruto, but I guess we can't come." Naruto shrugged, forcing a smile.
"Ah, it's alright. You guys were the first one's I asked, so I still have plenty of people I can invite to the party, and I wasn't planning on Santa in the first place anyways; it just came to me because of you." He sighed. "Oh well." Choji opened his mouth, but stopped when Asuma put his hand on the boy's shoulder, choosing to sigh himself.
"Sorry, but good luck, and make sure you tell Hinata that we say merry Christmas!" This made Naruto smile again.
"Yeah, I will, believe it!"
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Naruto continued searching around the village, careful this time not to run into any one like he had Choji. He spied Sasuke once, but he didn't really think that Sasuke was the party type; more likely he'd be a party pooper. Of course, not too far from Sasuke he found Sakura. He shook his head in amusement. She was always pining for the boy. He wondered if she'd been stalking him for very long…
"Hey, Sakura! How's it going?" Sakura jumped in surprise, looking quickly to make sure that Sasuke hadn't noticed (he had, of course, noticed her a few blocks back, but chose to ignore the fangirl).
"SSHHHHH!" She gestured to Naruto, holding a finger in front of her lips. "I'm trying to find out what Sasuke-kun wants for Christmas, so he can't know that I'm following him!" Naruto cocked his head.
"Wait, you don't already know him well enough?" Sakura blushed and glared at him.
"Well, I just, it's not often that….he doesn't talk much, okay! Even YOU should know that!" Naruto held in a laugh. In truth, he'd been baiting her with that comment, but even if she didn't like him much, she was nice to Hinata, so she deserved an invitation.
"Sorry, you're right, of course Sakura," he said, the girl beaming at the idea. "But I think I can help you out there, if you can help me out…" Sakura looked at him attentively, keen on information on her crush. "You see, I'm throwing a party for Hinata-sama on Christmas eve at the academy, and I need someone to help out with the decorations…" Sakura's eyes lit up at the prospect, enjoying the prospect, as many girls would, of decorating for a party, then her eyes widened and her face fell.
"Oh, I'm sorry Naruto, but I have to be somewhere else Christmas eve…I don't think I can help."
"What? You too?" Sakura looked at him apologetically, and took pity on him.
"Hey, I do know where you could maybe get a nice Christmas tree!" She showed him where to go, and fortunately for Naruto, this particular establishment often did business for the Hyuuga clan, so even if he was the demon brat, they felt that they couldn't afford to price gouge to the brat. Sakura helped him move it to a spot just outside the academy and gave him advice and instructions on taking care of it. In thanks, Naruto went ahead and whispered his gift idea for Sasuke. Sakura's eyes widened, then narrowed, both times with disbelief.
"Seriously? That's honestly what he wants? Are playing a prank on me or something?" Naruto held out his hands defensively.
"Hey, after everything you did to help me just now why would lie? I'm being honest here!" Sakura nodded, saying that was a good point, then she wished him good luck with his party and ran off to make her purchase, leaving Naruto to look proudly at his tree.
Yeah, after I decorate it Hinata will love it! He looked around glumly. Though the way things are going, it's starting to look like it'll be about the only good thing about it…
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The rest of the day proved to be just as fruitless. He ran into a few other academy kids, but most of them was still openly hostile to him, though Kiba and Shino were fine. Unfortunately, he had as little luck with them as he did anyone else. They, two already had plans. Their sensei had a mission for them, Kiba said, acting all important, but Shino said it was improper to boast about the kinda of mission they had and apologized to Naruto that they would not be able to help him. Naruto was confused to as why Sakura didn't mention that it was a mission that had her occupied, and he also vowed that when he became hokage, he was going to make sure that he NEVER assigned shinobi missions on Christmas Eve… EVER!
He went to bed that night, fretting over the next day. He hardly even slept because he was trying to figure out someone whom he could still invite that would appreciate that it was a party for Hinata. Still, he was determined that he would still throw a party for Hinata, even if they were the only two there.
That next morning he was in the hallway early, waiting at Hinata's door as he so often did when a thought occurred to him. He swiftly zipped down the hall to Hanabi's room.
"Hanabi-sama," he called out quietly.
"Yes yes, I'm coming," she called back, opening the door a moment later, still in her pajama's, as she was wont to do during holidays when she didn't have to do anything first thing in the morning. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Naruto was by himself. "So, what did you do to make Hinata-chan mad at you?" Naruto gave her a glare.
"I didn't do anything," he hissed, working hard to keep his voice down but still be vehement in his response. "What I'm trying to do is get some people together for a Christmas Eve party for Hinata-chan." Hanabi raised an eyebrow.
"And you were planning around the Hyuuga party, right?" Naruto winced. "Naruto, come on, did you honestly think that we could get out of it? I'm sorry, but it's a stupid idea, now go away, I need to change real fast for breakfast." And she closed to door, leaving Naruto frustrated once again.
The rest of the day went as well as one could expect, besides Naruto not being able to do anything about throwing a real party for Hinata. If he didn't have his shadow clones he wouldn't even have been able to get some things together for it. There was always a lot to do on Christmas Eve at the Hyuuga compound, so Naruto had to make sure he stayed close by.
Of course, the Hyuuga party came that evening, much to Naruto's depression. For one things, he hating wearing formal clothes, even though he admitted that Hinata looked very nice like that. She always took care with her appearance, but now she was even more careful, some branch member women having working on her themselves. Unlike other main branch members, they tended to enjoy waiting on Hinata since she was so insistent that they didn't need to do anything. They had almost turned it into a game, overcoming her insistence that she could do it on her own and didn't need them to inconvenience them.
Wearing a variation of her favorite morning kimono, this one had longer sleeves, reaching past her hands when she relaxed, the long end of the sleeves being lavender past the elbow. She had a real flower in her hair, matching her clothes, and there were a subtle floral design below her waist.
Naruto wore, much to the annoyance of the main family, a dark orange kimono with blue lining the red swirl on the back. The sleeves only went down to his elbows, but they were blue as well, starting from his collar bones and moving from there.
As the party went on, Hiashi once leaned over, sensing Naruto's boredom and whispered to him.
"Naruto-san, if you want to leave, feel free to take Hinata with you; I'm sure you know how to help her have a fun Christmas Eve; I'll cover for you." Naruto worked to keep the excitement off of his face.
"Thanks, Hiashi-sama," he whispered back, moving to inconspicuously, get Hinata. Hanabi raised an eyebrow.
"Really? You couldn't do better than that?" Hiashi smiled behind his cup.
"Trust me, it will work…"
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"N, Naruto-kun, where are we going?" Naruto had been speeding down the streets with Hinata ever since they left the party. He knew that they wouldn't have too long, all things considered, so he wanted to make sure she had as much time in their 'party', away from everyone else. She was caught up in his enthusiasm, but confused.
"Don't worry, you'll like it," he promised her, dodging a Santa statue someone had put outside their restaurant. "It's a surprise." Hinata giggled. Naruto and his surprises. A moment later they stopped just outside the academy.
"Alright, we're here." Hinata gave him a surprised look.
"But, but Naruto, it's closed during the-" Naruto waved a hand.
"Ah, Iruka sensei gave me permission," he said, "now come on in and see what I prepared for you." So they walked into the schools gym and Hinata got misty eyed. There was, in one corner, a tree, fairly big, with decorations made from paper and a cardboard star on top. There was a table with some food (noticeably cinnamon rolls) and a large banner saying, "Merry Christmas Hinata!". She gave him a hug.
"Go, gomen, Naruto-kun."
"Merry Christmas," Naruto said, looking around. He wasn't sure why, but someone was making him uneasy, like there was something there that he couldn't see… He suddenly, moved around, moving Hinata between him and the wall next to them, arms held up defensively, and not a second later, bright lights came on, a spot light shining on the two of them, and people started yelling…
"MERRY CHRISTMAS, NARUTO AND HINATA!" Naruto almost dropped in shock and Hinata gave a meep of surprise. Looking around Naruto saw the other genin teams and their senseis, Iruka and the Hokage, and even…
"Hiashi-sama?" Hiashi smirked.
"Well, after you told Iruka of your plan to have a party for Hinata, he decided that he could see his cousin at New Years and started to contact everyone he thought you would go to, to arrange this party for both of you." He and Hanabi came over to the two genin, giving them slight hugs as others laughed at their bemusement and shock, Hinata looking around.
"All this for, for us?" Naruto shook his head.
"No, it's for you," he said firmly, pointing to his banner which remained unchanged. Hiashi laughed at his insistence and pulled them into the room.
"Now, if you don't mind, we have a special guest for you, Hinata," he said, pointing to a chair in the middle of the room…where sat a large red suited person. Hinata gasped.
"Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, Hinata! I'm told you've been a very good girl this year!" Choji patted his knee, motioning her to sit down, grateful for his families expansion jutsu. She would have recognized him otherwise. She sat down shyly, crossing her arms.
"No," he said, "what can I do for you this year, hmm?" Hinata glanced around and blushed, motioning for him to lean closer and whispered in her ear her hearts desire. Santa's rose cheeks suddenly got a lot rosier.
"Um, well, that uh, I'm not sure, that is…" He glanced at Naruto. Should have seen that coming, he thought. Hopefully Santa san heard that, 'cause this is gonna be a long term project, and I don't think I can manage this one.
"Well, Hinata-chan, it will be up to him," he whispered back, "but I'll see what I can do…" after telling Shikamaru and the others about. He lifted her up and set her gently back on the ground, blush and all, standing up.
"Alright, I've got a lot to do tonight, ho ho ho," but don't worry, you'll all still get your presents," he said, several of the genin rolling their eyes and Choji's antics. Santa had probably already been to their houses, after all. He was legend, what with his super great stealth, storage, and time displacement jutsu's. He'd make a great shinobi.
After that the party began in earnest, including music and dancing. Hinata tried not to be too obvious in her love of cinnamon rolls. Soon enough Kakashi, who was playing DJ, announced last dance, and Choji, returned in normal garb, pushed Naruto into Hinata for it.
"So, sorry," Naruto said, blushing. Hinata blushed back.
"No, I, I would love to dance with you, N, Naruto-kun," she replied. And so they did, slowly revolving in place. Shikamaru whispered into Choji's ear, handing him something. Ino and Sakura quietly squealed, and Choji used his family's enlargement jutsu to reach over and hang the mistletoe just above them. Naruto noticed the movement and glanced up, jaw dropping, causing Hinata to follow his gaze.
Their gazed fell to look at each others' faces, and they blushed…
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Hehehe, yeah, i know, that was mean, but you'll just have to wait to see them kiss! After all, this is just for fun, having little to do with my actual story. They WILL kiss one day, but not for sometime yet. And now...
epilogue, for those of you that wondered about Sakura's present to Sasuke.
Note: this present is based on what i've HEARD is one of Sasuke's likes, i don't actually know if it's for sure, or if it's something random from some crazy person, but true or not, i thought it might be funny.
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Meanwhile, in his home, Sasuke was carefully opening the Christmas gifts he'd been given from his various fan girls. He'd once received knock-out gas designed to disarm him so some obsessed girl could kidnap him for herself or something, but he'd been saved from that by the mail man luckily dropping the gift, releasing the gas early and becoming knocked out himself. So, Sasuke remained cautious.
He reached one gift that was covered in pink wrapping paper. He quirked an eyebrow at the non traditional color, and opened it with the usual precautions; gloves, gas mask, and 911 ready for him press the call button. He dropped the phone as he opened up the gift to find…a crate of tomatoes. A crazed grin slowly forced itself onto his face as he wrapped his body about the fruit. Suddenly, he went rigid, his look changing to one of horror.
Who found out my secret?