Anime-Boi-Crazy: A one-shot I decided to write since the Christmas spirit was getting to me. Hey, it's almost illegal to feel bad on Christmas you just got to be happy!
Naruto: Even though you're a yaoi fan, you'll have to agree that this story falls more in the category of strong friendship than shonen-ai.
Sasuke: Also, Anime-Boi-Crazy does not own Naruto, thank God, but she does own the first two DVD sets of the anime and is pestering her parents to buy her the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.
Anime-Boi-Crazy: It took a lot to convince them to buy Part 1 and Part 2. Each set costs $45!
Naruto: That is expensive . . .
Sasuke: Let's just get this damn story over with already!
A Christmas Wish
"Push me higher!" The blonde blinked. His innocent dark blue eyes gazed curiously at the pink-haired girl on the swing attached to the tree. Her blonde friend giggled and did so, causing a squeal of delight from the other.
"Enough?" the latter asked.
"Higher!" the girl pushed again with more force, laughing along with her bright blue eyes. Her friend followed in suit with her emerald green eyes.
The boy smiled and ran excitedly toward the pair. "Konichiwaa!" he greeted, oblivious to the immediate pauseof his peers. Every single seven-year-old in the snowy playground had their eyes on him, every single one of them filled with disgust.
They all shared the same thought: How dare he?
The girls exchanged a nervous glance with each other before ignoring the toddler. Unbeknown to the children, they were being watched intently by two older boys sitting on the roof of the school, supposedly enjoying a lunch together.
"C-can I play too?" his voice was filled with hope, completely in denial of the cold shoulder he received. He was desperate, desperate to be acknowledged.
He didn't care if he had to befriend the 'enemy'. Even if they were from the opposite gender, at least he would have someone, wouldn't he?
Wrong.
Before the first girl could answer, the second interrupted with a scowl on her usually cute face, "No, you can't play with us, Naruto."
Naruto's expression fell. Why? Why was he always exiled by everyone? Why was he always denied the right to exist? "Nande, Ino, Sakura-chan?"
The blonde huffed before grabbing her companion's shoulder and dragging her away. The pink-haired girl spared a momentary sympathetic look at the boy before huffing in annoyance too.
One of the twelve-year-olds on the rooftop was mildly amused amid the rage gradually building in him. It was like watching a movie, a movie replaying his life. It was like watching history repeating itself, unwantedly.
Amazing how random memories could be easily triggered!
His teammate stayed unaffected, curious to see how this event would unfold. It was like watching a movie, a movie starring eventually victorious underdogs.
Amazing what he could think at such a time!
The subject of their attention stood dumbfounded before realization hit him. He was rejected, again. He held back unshed tears. He would not cry, not anymore.
A smirk stretched across a brunette's face. He motioned for his 'pack' to follow him as he trudged through the soft, wet snow to Naruto.
Since the girls had left, Naruto took the liberty to sit on the wooden swing. After all, it was just a platform tied to a tree. There was nothing special about it, nothing at all.
His grip on the stinging rope tightened until he felt some blood trickle down his tanned hand. Why would he even want to play on something as unimportantly as the swings anyway? Oh, he forgot.
He could even play with dolls as long as he had someone to be with, someone who accepted who he was, not what.
"Oi, Naruto." His head quickly shot up at the six boys before him. Maybe someone had noticed him after all!
"H-hai?"
The 'leader' of the group smirked even more, this was going to be fun. The best part was, nobody would care. It was just so easy.
"Do you want to play a game with us?"
This was the first time he heard those words spoken to him, to him! His dark blue eyes widened in happiness, followed by a hasty nod. "S-sure!"
A grimace was made. The shorter of the two on the rooftop stood up, he knew what was coming and he was not going to stand by. The taller of them grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Dame."
"Huh? Nande?"
"I want to see this."
"You want to see a little kid getting beat up?"
"Just wait, step in when it gets serious."
"Nani? I can't believe you!" he agreed anyway and reluctantly sat down, sickly noticing the tension that suddenly flooded the atmosphere. He felt so helpless. He was helpless. In the end he was alone and he couldn't do anything about it.
His heart went out to the vulnerable boy. He didn't want to be helpless!
"What kind of game?" Naruto asked anxiously.
The brunette raised his hand before his 'friendliness' disappeared into a cold glare, confusion was never at its best than now for the unsuspecting child.
A punch echoed through the silent playground.
All the students had stopped their previous engagements to watch, in unfriendly interest. The blonde clutched his cheek, carefully caressing the injury on his three whisker marks. The collision with the powerful knuckles of the stronger boy hurt.
It wasn't the physicality that pained him though, it was something else. What was it that could make his heart burn so painfully without fire?
The fire, he could see it now. There was always somebody with that fire in their eyes.
Why?
"The game is called, Get the Monster!"
Another red mark instantly appeared on the other cheek, and he began caressing the other three whisker marks. "Oi, I want to play too!" teased another of the 'wolves'.
The young boy's wails rang through the playground. He fell face first into the freezing snow. He didn't want to get back up. He just wanted to die. That was the best thing he could do for anyone.
"Get up!" demanded another boy. When no movement was made, he forcefully lifted the tanned boy into the air, by the collar of his extremely thin coat. However, he was thrown to the ground again.
This time he got up, staring into the bystanders questionably. "Nande?" he said almost inaudibly.
His original attacker walked toward him, "Nande?" he repeated tauntingly.
"Because you're sick!"
"Demo . . . I'm not sick." Naruto stood in a defending stance. "I'm okay, really!"
"That's what they all say . . . " the brunette continued, ". . . before they die! Did you really think that I would let shit like you play with me?"
"He's got to be more sick than he seems." One of his friends snickered.
"Maybe he's retarded?" offered a bystander. He never had good humour but in this case, it was probably the most hilarious comment.
Laughter erupted and Naruto could feel a tear drop slide down his bruised face, onto the cold snow that soaked through his clothes. Even the weather didn't seem to want him.
He curled into a ball, his legs clutched under his stomach and his formerly angelic face hidden behind his knees. He sobbed.
Why? Was he that different from everyone? If so, how? Why?
He caught a teacher staring from the window, but the adult pretended he didn't notice. The brunette snapped a twig from the tree and raised it above the shivering form.
Jeers emitted from the uncaring crowd that created a circle around Naruto. He waited for the blow, they waited for the blow, but it never came.
The stick was broken in half and dropped to the ground.
Slowly, everyone turned to see who halted their fun. Surprise was putting it lightly when they saw it was none other than, "Sasuke!"
Sakura gasped, followed by simultaneous murmuring. "Bakas . . ." the raven-haired breathed. Though appeared calm and collected, his black eyes showed nothing of the sort.
Sasuke was very angry, and his anger, as discovered earlier, should not be taken lightly. "If any of you, boy, girl or thing-I don't care, so much asprick a strand of hair from his head ever again . . . "
Gulps were heard. Even the confident brunette earlier began feeling uneasy. ". . .I will never forgive you."
An apparently risky Ino took her chance in losing her idol and retaliated, "S-so? Sasuke-kun, Naruto is stupid. What's so great about him?"
"What's so great about him? He's great because he's a human being." The black-haired boy answered without hesitance. He shot the blonde an extremely vicious glare that she cowered behind her pink-haired friend in an attempt to lose sight of it.
The absence of sound seemed like eternity before the brunette stuttered, "G-gomen nasai, honoured grandson."
"It's Konohamaru." He interrupted angrily.
"K-Kono-"
"You should be apologizing to Kotori-kun, not me."
"Oh, gomen nasai . . . Kotori . . ." The boy slowly lifted his head up and caught sight of his saviour's back. He also saw shame on his classmates' faces.
"H-hai."
The bell rung, ending recess. All the ninjas-to-be with the exception of Konohamaru and Kotori rushed to the door, neither of them wanted to stay and wait to see Konohamaru's wrath.
"Daijobou?" Sasuke asked, for once in concern. If the fact he protected Naruto wasn't odd, then this certainly was.
Naruto blinked, twice. "N-nani?"
An exasperated sigh escaped Sasuke's mouth, "There's one born every minute." Now, Naruto knew that it meant something bad but right now he didn't care. "I said, daijobou?"
That was when Naruto met reality, "Oh! Hai."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "You're wet."
Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "It's nothing, really! Besides, we should be getting back to class before the teachers-" Naruto was interrupted when Sasuke took off his black scarf and handed it to Naruto. Black never did go well with orange, but both boys knew was he was going to freeze if he didn't wear any more garments for protection.
Naruto felt himself swept in warmth as he wrapped himself hurriedly with the scarf. The warmth wasn't just coming from the yarn-knit item, but it was something else.
The burn he felt earlier disappeared. He felt his heart become more whole than it ever was. Any hole that was ever punctured by a displeasing look or comment was healed by that one action of kindness.
Funny, Christmas was supposed to be a time of happiness. If Sasuke remembered clearly, this was the first time he truly felt the wonderful aftermath of doing something nice for someone other than himself. He had a feeling Naruto would agree.
Naruto grinned at Sasuke. "Nani?" the latter questioned.
"Arigatou gozaimasu, Sasuke."
Konohamaru and Kotori dashed back to class, deep in conversation about ninjutus and the like. Naruto felt a smile tug at his lips.
Maybe this wasn't the end of the world after all.
Then he remembered. The day of that incident was also when he had an unpleasant encounter with an old lumberjack.
If one saw a shooting star, they could make a wish although there was a 50 percent chance of it coming true. In other words, one would only be wasting their breath to the sky.Unfortunately, Naruto was never informed of this. All he heard was that he could make a wish when he saw a star and it would come true.
While walking to school, he saw a golden star shining in all its glory on top of a fairly large evergreen. It sat innocently outside the Christmas tree store just waiting to be decorated. There wasn't any harm in walking to it and making a wish, right?
Actually, the man selling that tree along with many others had different ideas. After Naruto finished making his wish to the plastic decoration, the man came barging out of his store with a broom, banning Naruto from that location in case he tried to destroy his many hard-earned trees. It was highly unlikely but the older generation wasn't willing to take any 'chances'.
"Oi, what are you thinking, dobe?" Sasuke asked through munched sushi. Naruto pouted but let the insult slide as he knew he would never get anywhere with him if he started another pointless argument.
"Sasuke?"
"Nani?"
"How did you know about my Christmas wish?"
Sasuke swallowed his food, "Excuse me?" Naruto wasn't Konoha's loudest and most surprising ninja for nothing.
"That day, I made a wish. The wish was not to become Hokage, demo-you made it come true, Sasuke!" Naruto's eyes were shining, and Sasuke knew he would never see another as pure as his.
"What was your wish?" he questioned interestingly.
"It was . . ." Naruto exhaled before continuing.
". . .For friendship."
Anime-Boi-Crazy: Phew, that was long!
Naruto: Indeed.
Sasuke: Here's some translations . . .
Dame-No
Nande-Why
Nani-What
Demo-But
Bakas-Idiots (The funny thing was, when I started fanfiction I was all confused when this word appeared and I was like, "What?")
Gomen nasai-I'm sorry
Daijobou-Are you okay? (Sometimes it means, "Don't worry")
Arigatou gozaimasu-Thank you very much
Anime-Boi-Crazy: Also, I won't be continuing this story as it was meant to be a one-shot. Now, in case this pops up in the reviews, I'd just like to say that no, Kotori was not sick. We all know how stupid and narrow-minded Konohagakure could be now don't we?
Naruto: Basically, he was an outcast for really random reasons like he was an orphan, etc.
Sasuke: By the way, please review and make Anime-Boi-Crazy happy for the holidays. Constructive criticisms are greatly encouraged and flames will be used to burn homework, annoying teachers (Actually, that's my friend's job), her brother (After breaking my kunai in half), etc.
Anime-Boi-Crazy: Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!