KONOHA CHRISTMAS CAROLS

Carol #11: Five Minutes To Christmas

Genre: friendship, hurt/comfort

Every year Konoha celebrates Christmas with a big parade that moves through the village, spreading lights and carols on the way. It's route changes each year, but one constant is that it eventually arrives at the Square, where its culmination takes place. To that end, the square must be decorated properly, in the spirit of the holiday. Konoha council carefully chooses those responsible for the decorations every year...

"... and so, this year, you were chosen" Shikamaru finished, chewing on his toothpick as he kept hands in his pockets, gazing lazily at his two students. "Do not mess up, you guys..."

"Are we really supposed to believe that?" Kitsune asked suspiciously, rising his eyebrow. "I'm quite aware that gennin never got assigned this task before. The truth is you were picked and you're just too lazy to actually do the job, isn't that right, Shikamaru-sensei?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about" the jounin assured him, surprisingly avoiding eye-contact. "It may be troublesome, but this job is a great honor, y'know... you should be grateful for such an opportunity..."

"Mhm" Toku replied skeptically as a tiny drop of sweat ran down his face. He then encompassed the square with his eyes, slightly worried: "That's a lot of ground to cover and the parade starts tomorrow... if this is such a big deal and we were chosen to do this by the council, how come we learn of this only now from you?" he questioned with a stoic face as Shikamaru gazed to the sky:

"Well, have fun, you guys" he bid them farewell, teleporting. "I have jounin stuff to handle, so..." and with that he was gone, making the two gennin exchange annoyed glances as each of them let out a sigh.

"So... any ideas?" Toku asked his companion, shifting back to his usual, calm exterior.

"We have everything we really need" Kitsune shrugged as he pointed at the nearby wagons, which carried tons of decorations. "All we have to do is decide on the arrangement and I say we're good to go" he explained, gaining a nod from the blond. Without haste the duo headed for the carts and began going through the trinkets, searching for anything they found suitable to complete the job.

After a couple of hours, each of them managed to select the ornaments they wished to use. Choosing the actual ones was a whole different matter, as the young blacksmith scanned over the pile of his teammate: "Quite an unusual choice..."

"Well, I thought we could... spice up the parade a bit" the blond replied, somewhat shyly, as he avoided eye-contact. "As far as I remember, the decor is basically the same each year... it gets stagnant..."

"Others call it tradition" Kitsune interjected with an uncaring shrug as he continued going through the pile. "Konoha was one of the first villages ever formed; a fact many people of the older generation are quite proud of. To them, using leaves, falling stars and candy canes, which are used every year, is a form of that pride" he explained, lifting himself up. "Besides, these ornaments you picked seem somewhat... exotic. I don't know about the flowers, but I'm pretty sure phials with rainbow water and paper umbrellas originate from Ame..."

"Yes, I believe they do" Toku nodded at the assumption. "But our, two villages are allies... ever since the Great War ended, things just seemed to return to how they were... and it was a time all shinobi fought side by side... I think it's sad that we forget of those that choose to make peace with us, in stead of war..."

"A noble cause" the young blacksmith agreed. "Still I doubt many people would actually pick up on that. I think we should just play it safe. It's not like turning this into something... spectacular would make any form of a difference..."

"Fine" the blond complied, letting out a heavy sigh as he walked towards his teammate's pile with a hung head. Kitsune watched him, confused, for a few moments, but then shook it off as he grabbed his ornament too and began hanging them around the square. The task proven to be more time-draining then they expected, finishing the job only as the sun hid behind the horizon almost completely.

Tired, the two stepped back to view the fruits of their labor; in the shadows of the night, colorful leaves and sparkling stars definitely didn't seem as spectacular as each of them hoped and much less could be said about the candy canes, but none the less their work was done.

"Well, I feel like I wasted the whole day" Kitsune nodded to himself, sweat dropping, while Toku's expression remained a bit spaced out.

"Couldn't be helped" the blond announced as he readied himself to go. "If you'll excuse me, I seem to be feeling under the weather a bit, so I'll take my leave. I'll see you on the next, team meeting" he promised, biding his comrade farewell.

The young blacksmith watched him walk away, slightly concerned, but Toku wasn't the type to share his worries with others, so there was little point in asking. And he knew better then to stick his nose into someone's business, when he's not asked to do so. With a quiet frown he looked the square over again and then narrowed his eyes as a familiar figure appeared besides him... naturally, when the work was done:

"I stopped by to check how you guys were doing" Shikamaru announced in his usual, lazy tone. "And, taking the time you had into account, I must congratulate you on a pretty decent job" he complimented his student before glancing around: "Where's Toku?"

"He left the instant we were finished" Kitsune replied calmly. "Something about not feeling well..."

"Hmm" was the jounin's only comments as he inspected the decorations. Walking around the square, he suddenly spot, noticing a pile of ornaments laying in the corner. As he neared it, he realized they were part of the carts he left to his students: "Why didn't you used these?" he asked, gazing at the young blacksmith.

"They're Rain Country decorations" the boy responded with a shrug. "I figured it might be off to use them for a Leaf parade" he proclaimed dispassionately. "Toku seemed to be hung up on them though..."

"Well, I guess that's understandable" Shikamaru nodded, moving his toothpick to the other side of his mouth and, noticing his student's confused expression, he explained: "Toku's clan originally defected from Ame... true, it's been ages since they settled here, in Konoha, so I imagine most villagers don't even know this... and while Amagasa has grew to become the shinobi of the Leaf, this is their heritage as well. I suppose that during times like this, they might feel like underlining they carry two cultures within..."

"You never told us this."

"It wasn't my place" the jounin replied simply. "Besides, I told you – this was a long time ago. And it's not like you were wrong – this is a Konoha parade; people would expect more traditional decorations in their own village..."

Kitsune disregarded that last part as his eyes narrowed. Quickly calculating in his head, he gazed at his instructor with determination as he spoke the next words: "I'm sorry, Shikamaru-sensei, but it looks like I'll need you involved in this after all" he announced, making the lazy ninja rise his eyebrow at the statement, while the young blacksmith continued: "Also... it might be helpful to inform Hanamaru and others..."

-The next morning-

"Toku, your friends are here to see you!" the blond heard his mother calling him as he took another spoon of his flakes. Surprised, the boy stood up from the table and headed towards the door, seeing Kogane and Hanamaru awaiting him.

"What are you doing is your pajamas at this hour?" the young kunoichi accused him on 'hello', making him gaze at his attire lazily. "Get dressed already or we'll be late for the parade!"

"I don't feel like going" Toku responded calmly with a stoic face, but the two remained adamant as the chubby gennin spoke: "You can't possibly leave us on ice here! Do you even know how much snacks we can get on the square? Rei and Kitsune are already waiting, so get moving!"

"But..." the umbrella user attempted to argue, but one glance at the alchemist shown him the futility of the endeavor and so, he let out a sigh before going to his room to get his gear. Few minutes later the trio headed down the street, right to the center of the village as loud, cheerfully music echoed from afar, signalizing the event has already started.

Arriving at their destination, they pushed their way through the crowd, using Hanamaru's... demeanor to move closer. After some struggle, they reached the rail separating spectators from the parade, allowing the young gennin to marvel the colorful ornaments.

Most of the platforms shun with rainbow lights as artificial snow covered their tops. Their design greatly differ, though each stayed true to the theme of Christmas as the procession contained a reindeer stable, Christmas Tree forest, Santa Claus' hut, elf factory or a mountain of presents. Even a platform of a candy land moved slowly in the middle.

However Toku paid little attention the passing carts as his eyes caught a glimpse of the streets' decor. He looked in owe at the colorful leaves that hung at the roofs, while falling stars flipped their long, sparkling tails in the wind. Flipping lights danced on every edge, dyeing candy canes in various tints. Thus even though it all looked stunning, that wasn't what shocked him the most.

Among those, beautiful ornaments hung other details – phials filled with colored liquid dangled between the leaves, just as tiny, paper umbrellas slowly glided through the air, accompanying snow which dropped from the sky. The ground, on the other hand, sported various, artificial flowers, decorating the sidewalk in rainbow.

"Quite impressive, isn't it?" the blond heard a familiar voice as he turned to spot Kitsune and Rei heading their way, the former exposing a wide grin. "I gotta say this turned out better then I've expected. Frankly, Shikamaru-sensei states the crowd loves the diversity..."

Toku didn't respond at first; in stead he took another glance at the decor, confusion written all over his face as he addressed the young blacksmith: "What is all this?"

"Shikamaru-sensei told me about your heritage" Kitsune explained calmly, keeping his smile. "So, once I learned why you were so keen on using Rain Country's decorations, I've decided to change our plans a bit; called up those guys..." he pointed at the other gennin gathered: "...and we re-arranged everything during the night."

"But... why?" the blond asked.

"Well, you're are comrade... do we really need any, other reason?" the blacksmith replied before adding with a smirk: "Besides, Konoha and Ame are allies... perhaps it's time that shinobi get reminded we're not all enemies in this world..."

With this, Toku took another glance at the street, allowing a smile to creep onto his face. This may have not been much, but even so – he couldn't ask for more. Besides, it's not the outcome that truly mattered. A simple realization was all it took: "Thank you" he whispered as Kogane wrapped her arm around him.

The two exchanged smiled while Hanamaru called for a food distributor. There was still much of parade to admire and Toku certainly couldn't think of a better way to do so, then among those, weird people... people, that like never before, he was proud to call friends...