Warnings: swearing, shounen-ai

Disclaimer: Naruto (and all of its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto and not me), the Polar Express doesn't belong to me either.

Chapter 10

Sasuke eyed the tall woman as he handed her the ticket. Her blonde hair was pulled into several ponytails and she wore a dark green uniform.

"Naruto's Sasuke Uchiha?" she read, looking at him questionably. Sasuke nodded. She handed him back the ticket.

"Well, then. Welcome aboard the Yule Express! My name's Tamari, I'll be your conductor all the way to Yule Land!" She exclaimed loudly and stepped aside so he could enter the train.

As the train began to move, Tamari led him down a narrow hall that seemed to go on forever. Sasuke noticed a bunch of names on each door they passed. A lot of them seemed simply too odd to actually belong to any real people. Tamari finally stopped as she reached her predetermined destination. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw the name 'Naruto' written on the door in golden letters. Tamari opened the door for him and let him enter.

"Make yourself at home! We'll be arriving at Yule Land in three hours since we only have to pick up another six passengers. Enjoy the ride!" She grinned and left him to the room consisting of eight seats. He eyed the ticket. It actually had a seat number on it but giving the fact that Naruto didn't seem to do this very often he figured he could sit wherever. He sat himself close to the window and watched in amazement as the landscape blurrily passed him by. He wanted to think they would at least still be in the same country as before but as he thought he briefly saw the Eiffel Tower he wasn't so sure anymore.

"No way," he whispered to himself as he recognized Big Ben. How did they do it? The train stopped and he saw a small fragile-looking girl hand Tamari her ticket. The conductor nodded and allowed the girl to enter. The train then moved again at its impossibly fast speed. Five more times the train stopped to pick up passengers. Most of them appeared to be a lot younger than Sasuke – and also looked to be rather sick. Sasuke had pretty much dozed off when the train pulled to a harsh stop. He nearly fell out of his seat but quickly poised himself. He looked out of the window and saw the most beautifully snow-covered landscape. Tamari's voice sounded loudly in the room.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we've reached our destination, Yule Land. We know you didn't have much choice in the matter but we want to thank you for traveling with the Yule Express! Please wait for your designated elf on the platform and enjoy your stay!"

Sasuke dizzily got off the seat and opened the door. He peaked outside and saw the other passengers walk in the opposite direction of which he'd entered. He followed them to a black door that vanished into thin air. The passengers all walked onto a platform that appeared to be made of ice. Sasuke smiled as he could actually see his reflection in the ice.

Though everything was covered in ice and snow it actually wasn't as cold as Sasuke would have expected the North Pole to be. He glanced around. In front of him were a big town with old-fashioned houses and young-looking people with pointy ears walking around. Behind him he could see the edge of blurry veil that seemed to separate the town from a very cold-looking snow-dessert. He shivered at the mere sight of it.

"Sasu-chan?" a voice called behind him. He turned to see Naruto emerge from the town. The blonde smiled at him and ran to his side.

"Naruto, what is that?" he asked the elf as he pointed to the veil. The elf looked past him.

"Oh that. That's the shield separating Yule Land from the North Pole. Though separating might not be the right word since we're actually in an entirely different dimension," Naruto explained.

Sasuke eyed him incredulously. "We're what?"

"Yule Land has to be somewhere humans won't find it," Naruto explained as he shrugged his shoulders. "Not that there're a lot of humans around here… but you know, we can't be too careful."

Naruto took hold of Sasuke's hand and began dragging him towards the town. The elf pulled him through colorful narrow streets. Sasuke's senses completely overwhelmed. The smell of cakes and cookies were invading his nostrils, loud joyful laughter filled his ears and the warmth of the houses heated his skin comfortably. It seemed to be common courtesy in Yule Land to greet just about everyone you passed with a friendly 'hello'.

Not everyone seemed to follow that rule, though, Sasuke noted as a tall long-haired male elf hurriedly made his way through the crowded street. He caught Naruto's eyes then looked at Sasuke before frowning disapprovingly at Naruto. What the hell was his problem?

"Don't mind Neji," Naruto said as he sped up. "He's in Accounting. There's no pleasing them."

Sasuke looked back at where Neji had passed them. It was amazing how different elves were from each other. Neji had looked so uptight compared to patient Naruto and rebellious Kyuubi. Sasuke was so caught up in his thoughts about different types of elves he didn't notice the blonde stopping until he accidentally bumped into him.

"This is my place," Naruto said as he snapped his fingers to conjure a key to open the large wooden door. He opened up to the cozy cabin-like house. Sasuke was surprised to see that the house looked rather abandoned. Dust covered the shelves and the house wasn't as warm as some of the houses they'd passed on their way there. Naruto pointed his fingers to the fireplace that lit up instantly.

"I don't stay here much – as you may have noticed," Naruto explained at the confused look on Sasuke's face. "I usually stay wherever I'm working and only come around for Christmas."

Naruto showed him the way to the hallway, and Sasuke was surprised to see that aside from what was obviously Naruto's room there were as many bedrooms as there had been seats for him on the train.

"Is it important that I stay where my ticket says," Sasuke asked the elf. Naruto shook his head.

"Not unless they declare state of emergency. In that case you have to follow the rules," he said. Then he watched Sasuke for a few seconds.

"Look, I have to get back to Headquarters for a briefing so you're on your own for a few hours," Naruto said, worried tone back to his voice. "Will you be alright?"

"Sure," Sasuke smiled, trying to be the reassuring one for once. Naruto looked concerned enough; he shouldn't have to worry about someone who wasn't even supposed to be there. Naruto nodded unsurely before hesitantly leaving Sasuke alone in the house.

He spent some time wandering around the house, trying to identify certain things that proved this house to be Naruto's. Like the picture of Naruto and Kyuubi standing with a blonde man and a redheaded woman behind them, or drawings made for Naruto by various children from his past. He smiled when he found a stuffed animal he clearly remembered from when he was little. It was one of the ones he'd made Naruto bring to life. The toy had a ribbon around its neck with a tag that read 'Sasuke Uchiha' on it. Sasuke held the stuffed toy in his hands for a while as he happily remembered that day.

Then someone knocked loudly on the front door. Was he supposed to open? It wasn't exactly his place. He decided that it might be important and went to open the door. Standing outside was a young girl with long pink hair and green eyes.