Christmas

Lee swiped the back of his hand against his forehead, swirls of sweat trickling away against his brow. He had not slept the previous night, though for a good cause Lee didn't mind.

A few days ago Lee had spotted a ruby-encrusted dagger by an old merchant's with the prettiest sheath he had ever seen. And it was perfect, downright made for Tenten. He hoped with all his remaining might that with all his hard work he would be able to afford it.

So he lugged himself back to town, his arms heavy with fatigue and legs dying for a rest. The only thing that soothed his tired muscles at that point was the thick aroma of Yuletide wafting in the air. Just walking past those huts brought in the taste of candy and laughter and turkey and Christmas to settle on Lee's tongue. Though the smell was nothing short of heavenly, it was all but a surprising phenomenon as it was indeed Christmas morning.

Stopping at the old man's residence, Lee gave the rotting door a polite knock. Said door creaked open with no time to spare.

"You agin?" the merchant croaked.

"Merry Christmas," Lee grumbled. He twisted his hand into his uniform to relieve his frozen fingers. "I would like to take a look at that dagger I enquired for earlier, sir."

The merchant knew the one. He turned on his ancient toes and retreated back into the darkness of his shelter. Lee held his fingers to his mouth as he waited.

"This what yer lookin' for, son?" the man asked upon his return.

Lee nodded enthusiastically. He reached out for the object to stroke it, though the merchant jerked it back without hesitation. Without a word he offered out his other, empty hand. Lee understood that it was a prompt to present him with the money, so he sunk into his pockets and flipped through a quarter of the money he had cashed in for his timber, and placed it in the man's hand. The gesture was met with a maniacal laugh.

"Yer gunna need ten times what ye have 'ere if you be wantin' a single ruby."

Panic. Lee was never any good at bargaining. He quickly scooped out all the money he had earned the past week or so, but the merchant still shook his head, sliding the cash back into Lee's palm.

"Sorry sonny boy," said the trader. He fixed his door ajar, and said a few last words before he shut it completely. "Ye best be runnin' long nuh. And merry Christmas to you."

Lee had not been given a chance to speak and so he was left alone and without a clue what he could do. The late nights were taking their toll on him and collapsing was very much in order.

There was nothing left for him to do really but to return to Tenten's side and help with preparations for the feast they had been looking forward to for so long. But next year, if Lee could not succeed in his quest for her present, he would work ten times as hard and buy her ten ruby daggers! Lee looked up.

Oh my.

The path to the hospital was windingly long, and even worse, held a hefty a slope. Had he been pumped after one of Gai's most youthful practice sessions, it would've appeared to him more like a rather gentle incline. But now, after more than two continuous days of no sleep, it made a mountain's worth of difference.

But still. Lee was no giver-uperer, mind you. Defeat was not an option. It was a term that simply did not belong in his vocabulary.

And as a great man once said, even the longest journey begins with a single step.


Tenten had nothing found absolutely nothing to offer her counterpart. She had failed in her attempt to get her hands on any sort of curry within the village, as it was an item both obscure and expensive. In fact, Lee and Tenten were only a select few out of the majority of people who had ultimately ended up empty-handed.

She, however, supposed that it simply didn't matter, because that wasn't what Christmas was all about. It wasn't what friendship was all about.

Comparatively, Fang was tucked tightly into his own little corner, bemoaning his apparent and fruitless failure. In his primarily male-oriented mind, he knew all about pearls and diamonds but abysmally little about the wonders of what tongues and arms could do.

"She'll forgive you, Fang. I just know it," Tenten assured him. "You're good friends aren't you?"

"But she's different!"

Tenten rolled her eyes at him. Of course. Different. They all were. Different or no, flailing about wasn't going to get him anywhere.

"This is Hinata we're talking about here, you meathead! You think a girl like that will hold it against you just because you missed out on a Christmas gift, with a fairly valid excuse to back it up?"

"N-no, but..."

"Exactly. Look, just leave the rest me, will ya?" Tenten demanded. Fang stared at her with extreme distrust. "You should be helping out for all that fancy-schmancy stuff that'll be on tonight, alright? Leave all your lover boy business for later."

Fang got up on his feet and groaned. "Got it, mum."

"C'mon," Tenten said. She grabbed a hold of Fang's cuff and stormed downstairs, where a most agreeable and curious aroma arose. Akamaru woofed with approval.

Fang took two whiffs at the air before being dragged along the courtyard and up another flight of steps. An acquired taste was ebbing from the kitchen—the smell of some spice, bark-like, woody and sweet, foiled with a rich slab of butter, sugar and wet dough...

Ah. He'd recognise that scent anywhere.

It was the sweet smell of Hinata's cinnamon buns. One of Fang's many, depressively steep pitfalls.

"C'mon, Bones. Just lemme drop off a 'hi'," Fang pleaded. "Stop pullin' me!"

Tenten smirked. "You sure you're able to do just that?"

"Whodiya think I am?" Fang snuffed, snatched back his hand and ran headlong into the kitchen.

Tenten watched Fang stroll into the room, in an oh so debonair manner. He slicked back his hair, leaned over on one of the benches and muttered a greeting.

"H-hey Hinata," Fang faltered. He found it difficult to look in her eye, so instead had them settle elsewhere.

"Merry Christmas, Ki—I mean Fang!" she giggled in response. As an extension of his coolness, Fang slid his elbow along the bench top while placing the other on his hip, gathering flour in the process. "Your buns look uh, super tasty t'day—"

No. That was not what he had meant to say. Fang slapped his hand over his mouth quickly following the comment. "Th-that's not what I mean but um..."

Hinata bent over to get a better look at Fang, who was erratically hiding his face from her view. Beautiful as she was with her hair swept overher shoulders like that, Fang refused to turn back. "Fang? What's wrong?"

Poor, oblivious Hinata.

"He's a pervert, that's what's wrong!" Chouji huffed.

"H-h-hey! L-look here pork chops, I ain't the world's nicest guy... but I'm no pervert, either!" Fang howled in protest.

"That's it," Chouji growled. He picked up a soup ladle and hit Fang with it, sounding off an unexpectedly loud wham. "Get outta my kitchen!"

"Owee! Geez, that hurt, ya jerk," Fang sighed. "Hinata, don't listen to this—"

Bang, clang, pow, bam.


Chouji's eyes were on fire. He chased Fang around the infirmary for a good three rounds before he was at the end of his rope, and could run no more.

"Na, na, na, na, na, na, you can't catch me!" Fang rejoiced, blowing a raspberry as he finally managed to writhe out of the larger man's grasp.

Chouji waved his fist at him while Tenten broke into a fit of laughter.


Neji in the meanwhile lingered outside amongst the couple of kitchen tables they had set up. He had almost ripped his hair out the night before, having been forced to manage the whole thing in such concentrated sessions like that—between all the laundering and felling and running, among a multitude of other odd jobs and chores. He was no Hiashi, and his impatience and incompetence with the whole affair proved it.

But the climactic event – the dinner at the end of the day, somehow made it worth it for him.

The boys had not seen so much poultry and glaze all in one place for months. To see those faces gleam with such happiness struck a chord in Neji's otherwise indifferent heart, and with it he decided he would spend twice the amount of nights to see them again in the future.

There were mistletoe antics galore after the feast was over of course, where the boys tried placing Fang (as Tenten had promised him) and Hinata under it while the opposing side did the same for Naruto who—god bless his soul—hopped around kissing every woman, and man, he met under the said mistletoe. Among those kissed included poor Hinata who fainted soon after their encounter. This in turn lead Fang on a rampage of sorts, however irrational he was becoming over one little friendly Christmas kiss.

Other targets included Sasuke, who was actually seen blushing, and even the boss himself who surprisingly took it rather well and to an extent, returned the favour.


Following the after-party the nurses lead the men to the Christmas tree. Despite the men's failure to reciprocate a financial basis for them, the space under the great fir was somehow miraculously filled with numerous gifts all wrapped in their shiny vibrant paper. The men approached the boxes carefully, though upon opening them they realised they were filled with nothing but with concern for the nation's warriors.

Each present was filled with a comfort box, in which included socks, knitted jumpers, odd bits of cigarettes, playing cards, and letters, most of them expressing praise and gratitude while others were apprehensive ponderings written under the hand of some maternal lady. They were all in all, little things that had built up one by one to fill their hearts to the rim.

And, in return for the ladies' great efforts, the boys asked them for dances and exchanged love between them on the dance-floor.


Tenten tapped her foot as Neji began to play a whimsical, serpentine tune on his fiddle. Whatever playfulness that had been locked away from them to see had been compensated with his skill in the violin. Fang took up a banjo, Shino a tambourine, Hinata the piano and Chouji a harmonica. The music had an uplifting, soothing feel to it, and those even with the gravest of injuries bopped along to the melody.

Though many patients were forced to remain inside, the windows had all been open and the life of the party was conveniently situated close to the less mobile. The party extended indoors, too, as nurses took to wounded soldiers and took those who were able on a wild spin.

Almost everyone was in a state of genuine elation, a celebration best described as "youthful" by the only one who was by no means enjoying himself.

Tenten had caught on to Lee sitting dejectedly by a drunken, passed-out random as she spun in Naruto's arms. She finished the brandy she had been holding up in her hand in a gulp, apologised to her partner and struggled her way out of the crowd.

"Sorry, Fishcakes. Gotta run," she said.

"You go on then!" he laughed, conveniently spinning her in the right direction.


"Lee?" she called. Lee looked up, although seeing her there only evoked a mortified expression of shock made plain under the broad fairy lights. "Something up?"

"I'm... sorry, Tenten."

She thumped next to him. "What's this one about?"

"You. I've..."

"Ah!" Tenten knew him better than he did himself. "This is about..."

Tenten took a rather firm hold of his wrist and twisted it so his hand was facing her, palm up. This was a terrible mistake, as it was a sight Tenten hoped never to see ever again.

"You've done it again. You've overworked yourself. How many hours did you sleep this week?" Her barrage of questions bombarded him with impossible speed and soon enough he found her cheek to his. She held him tight.

"I love you and I mean it." Tenten kissed him. "You know, having you by my side like this is better than anything I could ever hope for? As cheesy as it sounds, it's the truth as I see it."

Lee grew hot under her lip. Lost for words was an appropriate description. "I-I uh... Thank you."

"Don't do it again," she warned. "Next time I'm going to have to tie you up against a tree, aren't I?"

Tenten then took his hand again, scar against scar, although this time the movement was tenderer than anything. She dragged him out into the mess of swishing skirts and hopping men, linked his arms in hers and began to move along to the music. She steered Lee away from any alcohol he might have got his hands on, and it were as if they went on dancing for hours in a joyous, oblivious time loop that mimicked the way they went along with their bopping about.

Then it was time for them to rotate, and Lee spun into the arms of a pretty stablegirl whilst Tenten caught Neji in hers.

Wait, he'd pulled out of the band? Tenten could hardly tell the difference.

"You having fun, boss?"

"I..." he stumbled, clutching his forehead. It was safe to say that he didn't look so good.

"Hey." Tenten supported Neji, who was more than just wobbly on his feet. "You need to sit down?"

"I think I've had a little too much drink," he grunted.


And so, quietly, Tenten led him out of the crowd. She sat him on a nearby bench, and in the next second his hands were gripping her elbow. She cocked her head in confusion.

Neji then suddenly pinched his nose; a memory was quickly beginning to wriggle away from him. "Have I yet thanked you for saving my life?"

"Yes, a couple times, wonder if that's the reason you keep all my secrets." She chortled.

Neji hid his sensitivity toward the comment with a smile. "I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, Tenten. Without you, without Lee, without the whole team I would have never been able to experience today."

Tenten waved her head around. "Not a problem. I'm sure that..."

You'd do the same for us, but in truth she wasn't. Better leave the sentence unfinished. As her mother always said...

Well quite frankly, Tenten couldn't remember what it was her mother always said, but having breathed life a new train of thought, feelings of homesickness quickly rushed to her side.

Had she been at home, the fairy lights would've been up all around the house, Lee would be pigging out in their kitchen, pa would be glued to the television while ma finished off her one-of-a-kind Christmas crunchies, or so they were called. The sense of family was still much of the same there in the army, but without...

"Tenten," Neji called. He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. "Is something the matter?"

"No, it's... nothing," she mumbled. "Just a thought."

He smiled. "I may not look the part, but today has been one of the best days of my life."

And perhaps, it will be one of the last.


30/12/2010: Edited version up. Approximately 800 words added, rounded off a bit. I don't know if this quite makes up for it though. Oh well, it's at least a slightly improved edit.

Alright. Reallllyyyy late update – on Boxing Day, too! I know. Except this time, I really don't have any excuse whatsoever... I'm just being really plain lazy with Christmas and school holidays. I would normally beg for you, the reader's, forgiveness but I really don't think I have the credentials to this time.

Short, but I don't particularly care anymore. I'll come back and rewrite this chapter when I have the drive to do so, however. It's a promise.

Anyway, here's your Christmas special!