CHRISTMAS LISTS FOR DUMMIES: A GUIDE TO GIVING THE PERFECT GIFT
AUTHOR: fantasylover12001
RATING: PG-13/R
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. That's why Sasuke and Naruto aren't constantly flirting or kissing in the show, why Kakashi hasn't married Iruka, and why Sakura has not agreed to go out with Lee yet.
PAIRING: SasuNaru, KakaIru, LeeSaku, NejiGaara, KibaHina, and ShikaIno.
AUTHOR NOTES: The last part! But not the actual end, there is still a epilogue coming up. You'll see why at the end of this chapter.
CHAPTER 7: STEP 8-GIVING THE GIFT
Tip: When giving the gift don't act like you expect anything or expect major gratitude from the person. Just grin and say "here" and be happy when they exclaim in delight over it. Making that person happy is (presumingly) after all why you went through all that trouble to get the gift in the first place.
Naruto cursed colorfully as he dropped a gift for the fifth time on the way to Sakura's place.
"Should you be cursing on a religious holiday, Dobe?" an amused sounding voice came from behind him causing him to jump a mile high and drop the rest of the presents he was balancing in his arms. He glared at Sasuke as the other man held in a snort poorly.
"How many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up on me!" he demanded. Then he noticed that Sasuke wasn't carrying any gifts. "Hey, didn't Sakura tell you giving gifts to everyone was a requirement?"
"I brought all my presents to Sakura's yesterday in pieces. They're already under the tree," Sasuke said.
"Oh." Then he kicked himself mentally for not thinking about doing that.
"Here," Sasuke suddenly came forward and gathered half of the packages in his arms.
"Thanks," Naruto said gratefully and the two continued onto Sakura's place in a comfortable silence.
Sakura answered the door when they rang it and blinked at the sight of the two of them carrying gifts. "There you two are! You're the last ones to get here. Come on in."
They followed her into the living room to find the place decked out in green and red and holiday things all over the place. The tree was the most impressive sight. It was a good eight feet and due to everyone being required to bring presents had a fairly large pile of gifts under it. Sakura noticed Sasuke eyeing a small glitter snowman in bemusement and blushed. "My Mom tends to go overboard with the decorating around this time of year."
Overboard was a slight understatement. Lights hung all over the windows facing the outside. The tree was overloaded with ornaments in all shapes and sizes. There was holly and ivy all over the fireplace mantle, along with the family stockings. Little snowmen, Santa, and reindeer figurines decorated every available tabletop and a large dish of Christmas cookies (currently being devoured by Chouji with help from Kiba) sat on the coffee table. Naruto also couldn't help but notice mistletoe hung in every available archway.
The blonde suddenly felt like a Scrooge for having only one small Christmas tree and wreathe at his apartment. He brushed it aside though as he and Sasuke dumped his presents under the tree and went to mingle. Or he went to mingle and Sasuke simply disappeared.
He first headed over to Temari who was eyeing her glass of eggnog suspiciously. "Hey, Temari! How's it going? Sorry I haven't talked to you in a few days."
"That's okay, I've been busy. Besides, I'll be here until a week after New Years Day so we'll have plenty of time to talk."
Naruto blinked in confusion. "I thought you and Gaara were leaving right after Christmas? Wasn't Gaara complaining about this taking a lot of time away from his Kage duties?"
Temari grinned mischievously. "Oh, my brother isn't so concerned about his job anymore. He's found something in Konoha that interests him more."
"What?"
The girl smirked and gestured behind Naruto. "Look."
The blonde turned and then gaped at the sight Gaara sitting on a bench very closely next to Neji. Neji seemed to be explaining something in great detail and Gaara was listening in rapt attention but Naruto could tell he was paying more attention to Neji then to whatever the ninja was explaining. His eyes were glued to the other and a slight blush dusted his cheeks.
His eyes widened and he looked at Temari. "Neji and Gaara!"
The girl nodded.
"When did it happen?"
"When we got here, the Hokage assigned Neji to be our escort around the village. He and Gaara started to spend time together and the next thing I know, my brother wants to spend more time here, saying we could learn a lot from the Konoha ninja. I've been watching them when they think I'm not looking and they're definitely flirting."
Naruto smiled. "Well, that's great!"
Temari nodded, a beam on her face. "Isn't it? My brother is starting to look happy!"
The two then spent the next fifteen minutes plotting ways to get Neji and Gaara under the mistletoe without their suspicion. Just as they were starting to come up with a ruse, Sakura announced it was present time and gifts started to get handed around.
Naruto beamed as everyone his gifts. Ino squealed over the earrings he got her; Shikamaru nodded in appreciation at his philosophy book; Chouji grunted out a thanks as he started gobbling down his cookies; Kiba and Hinata awed over their wall scroll; Shino smiled (at least Naruto thought he smiled, it was a little hard to tell with Shino sometimes) when he got a new magnifying glass to help him identify bugs better; TenTen gushed over her weapon design illustration book; Lee said an emotional speech (half of which Naruto tuned out due to length) as he opened up a framed picture of him and Sakura together during one of their group outings; and Neji (much to his disappointment) had indeed guessed that he had gotten a kunai sharpener. Temari and Gaara had both gotten new kunai holders engraved with their names on them.
His own gifts ranged to gift certificates for ramen at his favorite ramen stand (Kiba, Shino, and Chouji), to a book on the previous Kage's (Gaara), to manga novels from his favorite series. After Sakura had opened his gift to her and hugged him he finally got up the nerve to ask where Sasuke was.
The girl smiled knowingly at him. "He said he'd open his gifts later. But he wanted me to give this to you."
The blonde took the large envelope from the girl in surprise. He had figured that Sasuke wouldn't even get him a gift. Sakura looked at him as he stared at it. "Well, aren't you going to open it?"
Naruto smiled and then opened it. Inside were two pieces of paper. The first one was a letter so he read that first:
Dobe,
This was not easy to find, so don't lose it. The name on this thing should probably surprise me, but then I've grown used to you surprising the hell out of me.
Merry Christmas,
Sasuke
Naruto frowned in confusion and looked at the second piece of paper. His blue eyes widened and he stared in shock down at the document.
"Naruto?" Sakura asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"
"My birth certificate..."
The girl frowned. "Huh?"
"That bastard found my birth certificate and gave it to me for Christmas!" Naruto shook his head in astonishment. Only Sasuke would think of something like this, he mused to himself as he stared at his name and the two names under it. One was the fourth Hokage's name under father's name and the other was a name he didn't recognize: Chihiro Uzumaki. 'I finally know my mother's name...' he thought incredulously. Tsunade and Jiraiya had finally confessed to him about a year ago that Yondaime had been his birth father, but neither of them knew who his mother had been.
'How did he FIND this?' the blonde thought in wonder.
Then he stood up in determination. "Sakura, did you see which way Sasuke headed to?"
The girl nodded and pointed to the back entrance that led to an outdoor patio. Naruto grabbed the gift he made and headed towards it. Sure enough, there, leaning against one of the patio rails was Sasuke.
"You know I don't think I'll ever understand you," he said loudly, causing the other man to turn and look at him. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked in slight confusion.
"It has to do with everything!" the blonde said in exasperation as he came closer. He held up the certificate. "First you spend all this time avoiding me, making me think you hate me or something, then you go and get this for me!"
Sasuke stiffened when he saw the gift and turned away. "I'm sorry if you don't like it."
Naruto stomped his foot in frustration. "I never said I didn't like it! Stop assuming you know how I feel!" Then he sighed and held out his gift and snapped. "Here."
Sasuke eyed the gift warily and took it. He carefully unwrapped it and stared down at the scarf. It was dark blue with small orange stripes running up and down it. Naruto shifted nervously as he continued to stare down at it with an unreadable expression.
"I know, it's not that good," the blonde said in embarrassment. "But it was my first scarf and well...Sakura mentioned you hate the cold...and...will you say something?"
Instead of saying something Sasuke suddenly started to chuckle softly. Naruto stared at him as the chuckles turned into a flow blown laugh. "What's so funny?" he demanded. Inside tough, he was marveling at the fact that Sasuke could actually laugh.
Sasuke sobered and said, "I'm not laughing at you, Naruto. I'm laughing at myself."
"Huh?" Naruto tilted his head and stared at him in confusion.
"I actually thought I could do it," the ninja murmured to himself, shaking his head.
"Do what?"
"Stay away from you."
Naruto's eyes widened and he continued to stare. Sasuke smiled slightly and pressed a hand against the blonde's cheek causing the other to jump in surprise.
"It's impossible for me to stay away from you, do you know that?" the man said softly. "I don't know why, but I just can't ignore you. Even when I want to, you won't let me."
"Why do you want to ignore me in the first place?" Naruto asked softly.
Sasuke shook his head. "I have to."
The blonde frowned. "Says who? If this is about the stupid Orochimaru thing, you already made up for that!"
Sasuke snorted in disbelief and dropped his hand, much to Naruto's silent disappointment. "Naruto, I punched a fucking HOLE through your chest! That is hardly a 'stupid thing'."
Naruto suddenly became angry. "I KNOW THAT! You think I don't remember? I do! But I got over it and moved on! We were stupid kids then, Sasuke. You grew up, you realized you were wrong and have done more then enough to make up for it! Why can't you realize this so we can be friends like before?"
"It's not that simple," Sasuke said.
"Like anything with you is simple," Naruto snorted. "Why is it not that simple THIS time?"
Sasuke suddenly strode right up to Naruto causing the blonde to gasp in surprise. He became all to aware of how close their bodies were and he looked up at the other man questionably and started when he noticed how close their faces were.
"It's not that simple because I'm pretty sure I want more then friendship from you," Sasuke said softly.
Naruto shivered as he felt the other's breath on his face and said softly, "Maybe I'm okay with that."
Sasuke blinked at that and studied him for several minutes. Whatever he was going to say next was interrupted by a pointed cough behind them. They turned to find a masked ANBU agent standing a few feet away.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but the Hokage needs you right away, Sir," the man said to Sasuke.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "We're supposed to have the night off."
The man shrugged apologetically. "It's an emergency."
"Go on, Sasuke," Naruto said. The other looked down at him hesitantly and he smiled re-assuredly. "We'll talk when you get back."
Sasuke frowned but turned back to the agent and said, "Tell the Hokage I'll be there in a few minutes."
The agent nodded and took off. Sasuke started to leave but then glanced back at Naruto and muttered, "Fuck it." He then strode purposefully towards the blonde and kissed him hard. Naruto was too startled to kiss back and so just blinked in a daze when Sasuke pulled back. The ninja smirked slightly and then left.
Whoever was within a mile of the Haruno's place then heard a joyful shout of "THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!"
AUTHOR NOTES: Not the end! Still an epilogue coming up. Please review.