I know it's probably a bit early for a fic that takes place in that special time of year (wink wink), but I just couldn't resist after finding an oh-so-KAWAII pic: Sasuke was Naruto's Christmas present... (is a bit happer again just by thinking of the picture)

Enjoy!

(Perhaps I should point out something: this is slightly AU - which means that in this story, the Uchiha clan wasn't massacred.)

Prompt #72: Snow

"Why am I the one who's wearing this?!"

"Because you are the one who somehow managed to lose his hat, foolish little brother. Why are you complaining, anyway?"

"Because I look dorky."

"Nonsense. You don't look dorky. You look cute."

"Ah! Stop it, Itachi!"

Laughing, Sasuke Uchiha tried to fend off his older brother, who was playfully pinching his cheek. Of course, since he was fidgeting quite a lot, his hat almost slid off his head. Itachi gave in to Sasuke's plea just in time to catch the hat and put it on the latter's head again, trying to cram most of the uniquely stubborn hairdo under it.

Even though it wasn't a very long walk to the nearest training grounds, it was impossible to oversee how Konohagakure was even livelier at this time of year. There were garlands of blinking lights everywhere, many middle-sized fir trees flanked the entrances to numerous houses, and not few windows had been decorated with star-shaped stickers. It was the time of year in which even the grumpiest of people were most likely to smile. The favorite time of year for most children.

Christmas.

Sasuke enjoyed this time of year too because in the absolute majority of the cases, his brother as well as most of the other Jounin got quite a bit of time off to spend with their families. And this year, Itachi had even managed to sidestep their stern father, Fugaku, who was less than thrilled when his older son allowed himself to slip out of his dutiful role for a while to make up for all the time he wasn't at home – for when that happened, Itachi mused, Sasuke would still act like a sweet little five-year-old, even though he was just about to officially be called a teenager.

"What do you want to do first, otouto?" the elder Uchiha asked when they reached their destination.

"Let's make a snowman!" Sasuke suggested brightly, seemingly having forgotten his discomfort about the hat he was wearing.

"You haven't changed a bit," Itachi remarked with a chuckle as they began to pack the snow together until they could really start rolling it around. All the while, Itachi could barely save himself from Sasuke's questions – the younger Uchiha wanted to know as much as he would get told. Whatever Itachi told him, it seemed to fuel his desire more and more to be as successful as the elder someday.

"I'll go find some twigs – I daresay our snowman should have arms, don't you think?" Itachi asked, interrupting his sibling's interrogation after a lot of work.

"Yeah, definitely! And I'll try and make it even bigger in the meantime, aniki!"

'If Father saw him now…' Itachi thought as he graced Sasuke with a smile, then straightened the younger one's hat again before strolling off to find the aforementioned twigs.

Softly humming a tune under his breath, Sasuke continued to work on the snowman until barking reached his ears, followed by a loud laugh.

"Well, will you look at that! I guess this isn't called the season of miracles for nothing… Nice hat, Sasuke! Shikamaru, don't you have a camera on you?"

Replacing his cheerful smile with a frown, Sasuke turned around to find three people admiring the unusual addition to his winter attire: Naruto, Shikamaru and Kiba. Akamaru was bounding around the trio, yipping happily.

"And go through all the trouble? You wish," Shikamaru drawled.

"Aw… but who knows when we'll see this again! Sasuke Uchiha – the Sasuke – wearing a Santa hat!" Kiba sniggered.

"You got a problem with that?" Sasuke asked darkly. If he had had the choice, he wouldn't have worn a hat at all, but his mother always insisted on that in winter. And God knew that somehow, she would find out if he would dispose of the hat, even if it was only for a while…

"I dunno… on you, it just looks… dorky!"

"Say that again. I dare you to," Sasuke threatened, balling his gloved hands to fists.

Before anyone could advise Kiba to let it be, the Genin in question walked up to Sasuke and circled him once, humming every now and then, before stopping and holding up a finger while saying in a semi-grave manner:

"Sasuke, listen carefully when I tell you with utmost sincerity… You. Look. Dorky."

Needless to say, things happened fast after that comment: Sasuke pounced on Kiba, losing his hat in the process but not caring at all. Kiba burst out laughing and couldn't stop, even when he really began to wrestle with his peer. Akamaru barked loudly, presumably cheering for Kiba.

"How troublesome…" Shikamaru sighed in annoyance and pointedly looked away.

"He should've known that Sasuke-teme doesn't like being called «dorky»," Naruto said, folding his hands behind his head.

"He knew that, Naruto. Kiba's not that retarded."

"…Really?"

"Ugh…" Shikamaru scoffed.

"Is that all you've got?" Kiba taunted, regardless of the fact that both of them had already gotten lots of snow inside their jackets. Both mothers would throw a fit when their sons would get home (though Mikoto's fit would probably be worse).

"It's far from over!" Sasuke snarled back.

"Whoa… Otouto, you're fighting when it's almost Christmas? Santa will give you a lump of coal for this," a familiar voice interrupted.

Kiba and Sasuke paused to look up at Itachi, who was brandishing a twig at them like an accusing finger.

"He started it," Sasuke muttered, then drew back after glaring at Kiba one last time.

Itachi had heard tales about his brother getting into brawls with «dog-boy» before, and when he saw the abandoned Santa hat lying in the snow, he could immediately imagine what had been the cause this time.

"I think enough damage to the season's spirit has been done now. Perhaps it would be better if you left now," Itachi told the other boys.

"Whatever. Kiba, sometimes you're just so hopeless!" Shikamaru grumbled as he, Kiba and Akamaru followed Itachi's advice.

"Don't be such a grouch! It was just a bit of fun! And zounds – you didn't call me troublesome?!"

"Whatever…"

Itachi ran his fingers through Sasuke's hair to rid it of the snow that had gotten caught in the strands. "Come now, otouto, smile again! Don't tell me that your entire mood got crushed just because of whatever happened before…"

"I knew that wearing that hat was a bad idea," Sasuke sulked, thrusting his hands into his pockets.

"Hey teme, you dropped this," a voice said from behind him.

Sasuke whirled around to find Naruto holding the red-and-white hat and wearing his trademark grin.

"I'm not putting that on again," the raven stated stubbornly.

"Eh, you know Kiba; he just likes to fool around with you! And if you ask me, you don't look all that dorky in that thing," Naruto told him as he quickly put the hat on the rightful owner's head again.

"That's what I told him too. I still think it looks cute," Itachi grinned.

"Aniki!" Sasuke hissed.

"You said it."

"Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed, noticing with slight discomfort that his cheeks had turned pink or maybe even red.

"What? It's just the truth," his blond friend insisted and spontaneously hugged Sasuke before jogging after the others, waving back at the brothers as he went.

"Well… this is interesting," Itachi said slyly as he got a good look at his sibling's flustered expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Now give me those twigs already," Sasuke mumbled and snatched them from his brother's hands in order to have a good excuse to turn away.

Itachi suppressed a laugh as he brushed some snow off Sasuke's shoulders before helping to finish the snowman as well. However, he planned to take up this new issue again later on in front of a crackling fire…

(word count: 1,300)

I just couldn't help it... if I were in charge of the weather, we could skip the rest of summer and fall (I love winter!)... not to mention that I'd demand a winter wonderland on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (it's too late if the snows comes in January and we have had a green Christmas, Saint Pete, ya hear?!)!

Oops... sorry, got carried away there! (sweatdrop)

Review if you wanna make me happy! :)