Chapter Ten; Reunited
As the days went on Naruto grew healthier and before everybody knew it Christmas Eve had arrived. "Well Sasuke," Naruto began before lugging his suitcase down the hallway. "I have some rather exciting news for you. I think I'm finally well enough to go home now." He said.
"Oh gee, what a shame." Sasuke began. "I was just starting to get used to having you around too." He finished while glancing up at the ceiling and flashing him a rather sly grin.
"Hardy har har." Naruto replied with a scowled. "You know maybe you should give up your drumming and become a standup comedian instead." He told him.
"Oh that reminds me, I almost forgot." Sasuke began with a grin. "Sakura get in here!" he called before she quickly raced out of the bedroom and down the hallway.
"What? I was just getting ready to put away the laundry." She told him.
"It can wait. Checkout what I got." He began before removing three tickets out of his pocket.
"Oh my God! Are those what I think they are?" she questioned before she snatched them out of his hand as Sasuke grinned at her reaction when she read the tickets. "Oh my God they are! Shut up! I'm going to see Spirit!"she shrieked on the top of her lungs while jumping up and down and waving them excitedly as Naruto covered his ears.
"Hey! Easy on the ears Sakura." Naruto began with a few coughs. "I'm not completely finished with being sick remember? Besides, you might break a window or something." He told her.
"Sorry Naruto." Sakura apologized. "I just can't believe that I'm going to see Spirit!" she squealed before Naruto glared at her and started to growl.
"Would you just stop doing that already!?" he hollered. "Besides, there's three tickets there so it looks like all three of us are going." He added.
"Naruto's right." Sasuke began. "Only we're not just going to the show. We're actually going to be in the show." He told them with a grin.
"What!?" Naruto and Sakura chorused together.
"I talked to Spirit's band manager, and he agreed to let us play." Sasuke explained.
"What!? Are you honestly telling me we have to learn to do a song in several hours! Are you crazy!?" Naruto shouted hoarsely before winding up in another coughing fit. "Besides, we've got to the Nativity play to do this evening as well! Just because it's Christmas Eve doesn't make me a miracle worker!" he exclaimed before letting out a few more loud coughs.
"Relax Naruto, you shouldn't get yourself so worked up." Sasuke told him with a slight shake of his head. "It's not good for your body when you're sick."
"Alright Sasuke, do me a favor and explain to me how on earth I'm supposed to do that when I already know that there's no way that we're going to have time to rehearse!" he exclaimed.
"If you just calm down and trust me we can make it happen. I'm sorry I guess I should have told you guys sooner." He apologized.
"Ya think!?" Naruto squeaked before giving a few more coughs into his fist.
"Well at first I just wanted it to be a surprise, but then you got sick and I knew that we couldn't practice anyway." Sasuke told him.
"Oh." Naruto replied.
"Look I realize it's going to be tough, but we can do this. I know we can. Because we're a team and Kakashi did always teach us the importance of teamwork. And I believe that he would have had faith in us too." Sasuke said as Sakura grinned proudly and nodded.
"You're right Sasuke and I'm in! Sasame can always watch Hiro for us." She said as Sasuke grinned back at her and nodded.
"Good. I'm glad." He began before he turned his head and looked back over at Naruto. "Well Naruto?" he inquired.
"I still say this is nuts." Naruto began. "But since you're my brother,.. I guess I'll do it for you. And miss banshee of course." He finished while pointing his thumb back at Sakura as Sakura growled.
"Oh yeah? Why don't you say that to my face!?" she hollered as Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"You know, I think you both act more like brother and sister than you even realize. And a lot of the time it seems like I'm more of your babysitter than a husband and brother." He told them before he turned around and walked away.
…..
"Boy, I'm glad that Naruto was finally able to get your car fixed Sasuke." Sakura told him later on that night while he was driving them to the church.
"Yeah me too. And I'm glad that Naruto got his fixed as well and that he's well enough to drive again." Sasuke told her.
"This will be the first time that he's seen Hinata in days. I'm sure that she'll be happy to see him." She said.
"Yeah, and so will Boruto, Sasame, and Hokori." Sasuke said before he pulled into the parking lot of the church while his snowy wet boots made an annoying squeaking sound against the pedals. "Holy sh_" he began.
"Sasuke!" Sakura snapped angrily due to the fact that they had a toddler with them in the backseat.
"Cow." Sasuke quickly corrected himself. "Anyway, there's an awful lot of people here tonight." He said while he pulled into a parking spot and then pulled the gearshift back into park.
"Well it's Christmas Eve silly what did you expect?" Sakura questioned him throwing her hands up in the air while he took his foot off of the brake and turned off the engine that also shut off the Christmas music that they had been listening to.
"Come on, let's go." He told her before he threw his seatbelt off and turned his head and watched out the window. "And it looks like Naruto just got here as well." He said. "That's him pulling in now and parking beside us." He told her.
"Oh yeah, it is. Now he doesn't actually have a part does he?" she wondered.
"No,.. he's just reading the story out of the Bible." Sasuke told her.
"Well, this is it, here we go stepping out into the cold once again." She said before everybody climbed out of the car.
"Hey." Sasuke began with a grin before slamming his door tightly shut behind him. "You made it in perfect timing. We just got here ourselves." He said before he sat down on the hood of his car and dug out his box of cigarettes.
"I noticed. So where's Hinata?" Naruto questioned him.
"I don't know, beats me." Sasuke began with a shrug. "Like I said, we just got here ourselves." He told him while he stuck a cigarette inside his mouth and grabbed his lighter with the other hand.
"Uh excuse me but you really don't have time for a smoke. You've got to get changed. You're playing Joseph remember? And I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't have been smoking a cigarette even if they had them back then because of the fact that he wouldn't have done that around a baby." Naruto told him.
"Relax, I'll be in soon." Sasuke said before blowing a puff of smoke out of his mouth.
"Yeah, if you don't turn into an ice sculpture first." Naruto told him. "And you're the one who thinks I'm strange when you're out here smoking a cigarette in this freezing weather?" he questioned him with uncertainty.
"It's above freezing. It was thirty-eight degrees the last time I checked." Sasuke replied.
"Whatever close enough. I'm going inside because unlike you I'm not all that interested in becoming Frosty the Snowman. And you don't even have a hat or gloves on! If you want to freeze your ass of though be my guest, as for me I'm going inside!" Naruto exclaimed with a roll of his eyes as he started walking a crossed the parking lot before Sasuke burst out laughing.
"Hey Naruto, is Sasuke coming?" Sakura asked him as she met him by the doors of the church.
"Yeah, for some strange reason beyond the realm of my understanding he's smoking out there and he's not even shivering either." He told her before he coughed a few times inside his fist. "Boy, I sure hope that I can get through this reading tonight without losing my voice. Then it would make it more like a comedy than an accurate telling." He said when all of a sudden he heard a familiar voice.
"Naruto!" Naruto's face grew wide with excitement before he turned around and saw his wife running towards him.
"Hinata!" he exclaimed excitedly as Sakura smiled at them while they started racing towards each other before Naruto gently lifted her off the ground and spun her around. "I missed you so much." He told her before placing her back on the ground and then he smiled warmly at her before they drew their faces in towards on another's and kissed each other passionately.