Warnings: swearing, shounen-ai

Disclaimer: Naruto (and all of its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto and not me)

A/N: Once again, not finished as quickly as planned because this time I was baking XD (my house is FULL of cookies and stuff now ;3 ) also today I finally watched Brave – and MY GOD is that an awesome movie! I laughed – I cried – I downloaded the soundtrack - it was great!

Anyways, let's get back to the story. Where were we..? Oh, right! Sasuke's about to get run over by a reindeer (*totally not singing grandma got runover by a reindeer in my head*) Enjoy!

Chapter 13

In his terror-frozen state, Sasuke could only watch as the large animal galloped towards him. The guy behind it flailed his glowing hands but nothing he did seemed to have the desired effect. Hinata acted fast, she jumped in front of Sasuke and placed a white-glowing hand on the reindeer's chest. Buster calmed and stopped instantly, pausing just in front of the tiny girl. She petted the animal's head soothingly and whispered sweet words into its ear. The guy came running up behind it, looking utterly exhausted.

"Man, Hinata," he grinned. "What would I do without you?"

The girl blushed and hid her face in the reindeer's neck. "Y-you almost c-caught him anyway, Kiba."

The guy, Kiba, laughed and scratched the back of his head. "I did, didn't I?" Then he caught sight of Naruto and loudly yelled, "Naruto! You're back!" They high-fived.

"Yup," Naruto smiled. "They still suspect us in Accounting so I can't leave. And Anko didn't have anything for me, so here I am!"

"Sucks," Kiba sighed. "Kurenai could never give us a day off. The animals don't take care of themselves, now do they?"

He looked to Sasuke. "And you are?"

"That's Sasuke. He's one of my kids," Naruto explained. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the 'kid'-thing but decided not to comment on it. Kiba nodded in comprehension.

"And you figured you'd show him the flying deer?" Kiba smirked. Naruto nodded. "Well, then. Wouldn't wanna disappoint, would we? Come on. Bijou's out for her training anyway."

Kiba and Hinata led them down the stable past at least forty reindeer until they reached another door to the outside. Outside was a landing strip, drawn with chalk on the dirt (the only place around not covered in snow. A slim deer stood proudly by the beginning of the lane.

"Hello Bijou," Kiba greeted the animal lovingly, stroking its fur. "Wanna show 'em what you can do?"

The animal made a noise sounding like a snort before turning to face the lane, looking upwards. Sasuke followed the deer's gaze and was stunned to see what appeared to be an obstacle course floating far up in the sky.

"Alright, gorgeous. You know the drill," Kiba said. "Ready, set, go!"

Bijou ran down the landing strip, faster and faster until her hooves lifted off the ground and she rode upwards. She ran galloped upwards higher and higher towards the floating obstacles. Sasuke watched in awe as the reindeer galloped through hoops and maneuvered between poles. After diving and twisting in the air, the showoff of a reindeer landed neatly on the landing strip. Kiba rolled his eyes as the animal actually bowed for Sasuke and Naruto. Hinata petted the deer lovingly and led it back to the stables.

"Hey, do you guys mind asking the Crafters if they've finished the reins our deer will be wearing for the big trip?" Kiba asked.

"Not at all," Naruto smiled as he began walking back towards the stable to leave. Sasuke followed him quietly.

"Thanks man," Kiba grinned gratefully and whistled loudly. A big white dog came running from somewhere down the lane, wildly wagging its tail as it sat down in front of Kiba. Naruto took hold of Sasuke's hand and dragged him away.

"Sooo, where are we going?" Sasuke asked in confusion as they left the stable and the mountain and ventured back into town.

"The Fabric," Naruto answered. "Where the toys and our equipment are made. As I'm sure you can imagine, most elves end up as Crafters there since we need lots of stuff."

Sasuke didn't know if he should feel bad that most elves wound up there. It didn't sound as great of a job as Do-Gooder or reindeer caretaker. Then again, it wasn't like the elves he'd already met hated their job so maybe the ones in the fabric didn't mind working either.

They walked towards the center of the town where they reached a collection of long cozy-looking houses. Signs told them which houses were 'Kitchen', 'Electronics', 'Woodshop' and so on. They entered the house labeled 'Equipment'. Inside the house were at least fifty round tables with chairs around them. Busy elves worked at every table while chatting happily amongst each other. Two elves standing by a coffeemaker caught sight of Naruto and waved him over.

"Naruto!" the black-haired male exclaimed with loud enthusiasm. "How marvelous to see you!"

"Hello Lee," Naruto grinned. He turned to the brunette girl standing next to him. "Hi Tenten."

"Hi Naruto," she smiled. "What brings you here?"

"The Tamers want to know whether or not you've finished the reins yet?" he told them.

Tenten and Lee looked at each other. "I'll go ask Gai!" Lee exclaimed and ran off to the opposite end of the long house. He sure was… enthusiastic, Sasuke thought. Tenten and Naruto exchanged exhausted facial expressions.

"So, Accounting still picking on you guys?" she asked. Naruto nodded sadly. "They ought to leave you guys alone. If they're really interested in optimizing the magic acquisition they should let you get back to work."

Lee came running back to them, gasping for his breath. Sasuke briefly wondered why the elf didn't just use magic to move if it really was that urgent.

"So?" Tenten asked.

"It's done, we're to bring it to them now!" Lee said, punching a fist in the air. Tenten sighed and snapped her fingers, making a uniform jacket appear on her.

"Fine, let's go," she said. "Good seeing you again, Naruto."

Lee spurted out the door and Tenten waved her goodbye to the boys as she followed him at a considerably slower pace. Naruto eyed the time on the big clock on the wall.

"We should go see Kyuubi before lunch," Naruto muttered, mostly to himself, and once more took hold of Sasuke's hand.

"Where does he live?" Sasuke asked.

"Close to me, but I figured we should see if he's at work first," Naruto answered. Sasuke raised a doubtful eyebrow at him to which Naruto chuckled. "Okay, fine. It's not that likely but I'd like to check anyways."

"Alright. Where did he work again?" Sasuke asked the elf that was now dragging him towards the edge of the town.

"He's a Guard. They're located by the Wall," Naruto explained and then saw the look on Sasuke's face. "It's our defense system. It's where the veil comes from."

As they reached their destination Sasuke could see why it would be called 'the Wall'. The giant stone construction greatly reminded him of the pictures he'd seen of the Great Wall in China. On top of it walked big uniform-clad elves. All of them looked at least as tough as Kyuubi and some even carried weapons and had their faces hidden in the shadow of hoods.

As they stood by the bottom of the wall, Naruto waved a glowing hand at one of the Guards. The guard swiftly jumped straight off the wall and landed soundlessly in front of the two boys. He pushed back his hood, revealing hair as red as blood. He wore an intimidation expression, accompanied by a tattoo on his forehead.

"Hey Gaara," Naruto grinned, and Sasuke was genuinely surprised when the two elves hugged. When they pulled apart, Gaara eyed Sasuke with obvious dislike and suspicion. "This is Sasuke. One of my kids."

"And you brought him here?" Gaara asked. Clearly waiting for a reasonably explanation. Naruto decided not to give him one, though, and quickly asked, "Is Kyuubi here?"

The redhead snorted and shook his head. "Of course he's not."

"Very well then," Naruto sighed gloomily. "We'll go check at his house then. Come on, Sasu-chan." A white-haired man on top of the wall signaled to Gaara and the Guard Elf transported himself back up.

"Bye Gaara, bye Kakashi!" Naruto yelled up the wall. The two elves waved back at him before turning their attention back to the magical veil coming out of the wall a little further down.

As they walked back to town, Sasuke couldn't help but ask the blonde about the hug he'd shared with Gaara. Naruto hadn't hugged any of the other elves – and the special treatment of the redhead really bothered him. Naruto just shrugged.

"He's my best friend in Yule Land. We hung out all the time as kids, before we got our jobs," Naruto said as they neared the area with elf-homes. "This is the place."

And sure enough, Kyuubi's name was engraved on the metal plate on the door. The house looked completely identical to Naruto's – except even more abandoned-looking. Naruto knocked politely on the door, and the two waited as the heard swearing and the sound of things falling to the ground. Kyuubi opened the door, wearing an open shirt and with hair even messier than usual. He saw Sasuke next to his brother.

"Well, Shorty. Finally bent the rules a bit, huh?" Kyuubi smirked. "So proud. What do you want?"

Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. "We were just wondering if you wh-" Naruto blinked. "YOU DIDN'T?!"

Confused, Sasuke turned his gaze to the point behind Kyuubi where Naruto was looking. He gasped as he recognized the black-haired man standing shirtless in the kitchen.

"Itachi?!"