Each couple is getting their own little fluff time. Well, the main main couples. This time is NejTen.
Song- Why Can't I? by Liz Phair.
Ch.7: Close Quarters Christmas
It was Christmas day. Snow fell gently outside and the lingering smell of smoke from the fireplace wafted through the house. A Christmas tree's lights blinked on and off and outside the window, a bird sang.
"It's Christmas!!"
Kakashi woke up with a snort and a groan at the knots in his neck and his spine. Rubbing his eyes and focusing his blurry vision, he saw a blonde boy in front of the tree and heard more than saw the ripping of gift-wrapping paper.
"Alright, a fox!" Naruto screamed.
"Just make sure it doesn't go on the carpet," Kakashi said sleepily, earning a 'what the hell are you taking about?' look from not only the boy, but everyone else in the room.
Sasuke blinked. "Um…it's a stuffed animal, Kakashi."
"Huh?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.
"It's a stuffed animal, Kakashi-san," Hinata said holding up the gift she gave her boyfriend for the festive holiday.
"Oh."
Megumi chuckled. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Hn," he grunted and Megumi shook her head.
As the presents were passed around (along with cups of coffee and cocoa), Tenten played with Neji's hair. She loved playing with his hair. It was always so long and silky. It was also soft. She just loved playing with it and he always let her, though he drew the line when she tried to braid it again. The first and last time she did, he had accidentally walked out onto the street with it and had 20 guys ask him out thinking he was a girl.
She felt arms snake around her waist and she looked up from her source of fun to see Neji smiling down at her. "Aren't I supposed to be the one playing with your hair?"
"You want to?" she asked, half surprised and half curious.
"Not right now, but after all those movies and shows you make me watch, it's always the guy who plays with the girl's hair. The guys even seem to follow that mold."
Tenten turned in his lap. "But you don't fit those molds. All those guys have short hair. Even if they have long hair, it isn't as long as yours," she said holding up a strand. "Besides, you have really nice hair," she said placing her head back against his chest.
"Really?"
"Yup. I like your hair."
"Hm. Wanna go outside later?" he asked.
"Okay, but after a shower. You smell." She pulled a face to prove her point.
"You're no field of flowers, either," he chuckled, not even stopping when he saw her glare at him, but instead leaned down and kissed her cheek. She smiled and hugged him before going to her room to shower, Neji going to the one in the upstairs hall bathroom.
"Neji?" Tenten called out as she stood in the backyard. Snow fell around her and she pulled her jacket tighter around her. She was wearing a pair of white pants, white boots, and a white jacket, her hair in braided pigtails at the sides of her head. She heard something crunch in the snow behind her and turned around…only to get a snowball to the face.
Tenten wiped the snow from her fuming face to see Neji roaring with laughter in front of her. Swearing colorfully at him, she balled up some snow in her hands and sent the white package at him.
Splat.
"Bingo," she said to herself in satisfaction before noticing the irked face and the hands slowly forming a snowball that belonged to her boyfriend. "Oh shit."
Snow flew at the brown-haired girl and as she wiped the snow from her eyes with the hand that wasn't holding the snowball, she felt her clothing pulled from her body and something icy and wet dropping inside. "Ah! COLD!" she screamed, the snowball flying from her hands and smacking against a window. Said window opened and Sakura and Naruto looked outside the window before smiling. "Hey, don't hog all the fun!"
The faint rumble of footsteps mixed with the sound of snow splattering against various surfaces. Sasuke scowled as he felt his best friend shove past him. "Hn. Dobe. Stop rushing. It's not like—"
Splat.
Tenten doubled over in laughter as Neji tried to stifle his. Sasuke wiped the remnants of the snowball off his face before reaching down and making one of his own, chucking it at someone.
"Hey!" Neji shouted indignantly. "Why me? She's the one that hit you!"
"Hn," Sasuke replied simply and reached down to get Tenten when he felt cold snow slap his backside and immediately straightened. He turned to glare at the people standing behind him, focusing on the pink-haired girl with the impish smile. Screw Hyuuga's girlfriend, Sakura was next.
Sakura giggled behind the cover of her hand. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun, but I—Ah!" she screamed as a snowball hit her face.
Sakura wiped it off her face, her face flushed with anger and embarrassment before reaching down into the snow. Sasuke simply smirked at her and she threw it. Sasuke ducked behind Naruto as snow splattered the blonde's face. "Ow!"
Naruto rubbed his forehead. "That one had a rock in it!"
Temari laughed, her head tipped back when she felt a snowball slide down her shirt and glared at the culprit, throwing a snowball at her boyfriend to show just how troublesome he was being. It wasn't long before the backyard became a battlefield. Every man for himself, no holds bar.
Megumi dove behind a convenient snow bank near a tree when she heard labored breathing that wasn't her own. She looked to her side to see Kakashi panting heavily against the snow bank beside her. She smirked, or at least, attempted one, the end result looking like a crooked smile. "Getting old, aren't we?"
"Watch it," he glared. As usual, the topic of age was still touchy around him. Really, he was turning 40 in two years. He should expect this. "I'm just tired. Sleeping sucked and I forgot how hard it is to run in snow."
"True," she admitted when a high-pitch shriek left her lips as her shirt was pulled open and a snowball slid down her skin. Enraged, she turned to the laughing man beside her before mashing a clump of pristine white snow into his face and hopping over their makeshift fort, running straight into the fray.
Megumi looked behind her, smiling at her luck. So far, she hadn't been hit by a snowball yet, even though she ran right into the main warring area and he hadn't caught her yet, but she felt arms wrap around her waist. Maybe she had spoken too soon.
Kakashi smiled to himself. He wasn't going to let her get away, not after smashing a snowball into his face. After wiping away the white powder, he ran right after her, tackling her into the snow with plans of revenge, but as she lay under him, her breathing brushing on his lower lip through his mask, he found his mind blank.
"Kakashi?"
Kakashi blinked and looked around him to see a momentary cease-fire and how her body was pinned under his. He had both her wrists pinned to the snowy backdrop by his hands and his knee was holding her leg and the rest of her from escaping. Quickly withdrawing his limbs, he rolled onto his back beside her and let out a breath, watching his exhales turn to steam before his eyes.
Megumi sat up, her weight braced by two arms as she blinked at him and looked around to see everyone looking at them. Making a peace sign, she stood up and brushed the snow off her jacket and her jeans. The others seemed to relax and walked around before falling back into the snow.
The group had made a circle. It would've been perfect, if not for the break between Sasuke and Kakashi. Megumi smiled and turned around before letting gravity take hold of her and falling backwards.
"OOF!"
Megumi turned her head. "Sorry Kakashi? Did my hand hit your stomach?"
"No; lower," he wheezed and Megumi snatched her hand back and planted it in the snow between them as her face flushed deeply. God, that was embarrassing.
She turned her head away, trying to keep her mind off what just happened when she remembered something. "Hey Hinata."
"Yeah?" Hinata asked from across the circle.
"How are Shino and Chieko?"
She could hear the smile in Hinata's voice. "It's wonderful. Shino personally proposed to Chieko last night and he called me earlier to say she said yes! Oh, I'm so happy for them!"
Megumi smiled happily. "I knew they were going to hit it off!" After all, her love senses had yet to fail her.
"Still can't believe what happened when they first met, though," Sasuke said, earning a reminiscent laugh from the group. Sighing contentedly, they watched as the snow began falling gently again and Neji watched Tenten stick her tongue out to capture one of the falling water crystals. Smiling to himself, he leaned over and kissed her.
Tenten felt his smile against her lips and she slowly pulled back, her eyes slightly foggy. "What was that all about?" she asked dreamily.
"Just wanted to."
"Hey guys! Stop sucking face before we leave you outside!" Naruto shouted playfully. The two of them laughed and Neji stood up as Tenten brushed the snow off her clothes. She had just gotten the snow off her back when she saw a hand in front of her. She looked up. "Need a hand?"
Nodding, she took Neji's hand and he helped her up, finished dusting the snow from her body, and led her inside.
Sakura moved the clothing around as they dried over the heater before turning to her friends. "Well, we have a few more moments before the clothes are done drying."
"So, what are we going to do until then?" Tenten asked.
Naruto shrugged. "Dunno. Hey teme, I'm bored."
"Thank you for clarifying that."
"You're wel—hey, you were being sarcastic!"
"It was implied," Neji interjected.
Hinata thumbed the pendant Naruto gave her for Christmas. It was a silver fairy holding a lantern, her birthstone the flame for the candle inside. "Well, we could play something. I wanted to suggest making something, but we just finished making a pie and we're waiting for it to finish baking."
Temari smiled. "Great idea, Hinata-chan. Come on, you guys still remember where it is, right?"
With a series of grunts and 'yeahs' as replies, they walked to the music room, Temari at the forefront.
The room was the same since the last time they were there. Guitars and basses sat in stands, a piano sat near the window, a keyboard sat in the back corner near the red drum set not far from a shelf of music sheet paper.
"Find somewhere to sit," Sakura said as she shouldered on her pink and white electric guitar and plugged it into an amp. The guys nodded and sat around the room when Naruto got an idea. "Hey, Sakura-chan, you got a digital camera?"
"Yeah, it's in the living room right now. Why?"
"I just got an idea," he smiled and ignoring Sasuke's remark about him actually having the capabilities of thought. He soon returned with the camera and sat down in his seat just in time to catch the last bits of set-up for the girls. Hinata stood behind her keyboard and Tenten adjusted her position behind the drums. Megumi plugged in the microphones and turned on the amps, Temari, Sakura, and her doing a small scale for tuning.
Adjusting her footing and shifting her acoustic guitar a little, she moved her lips to the microphone. "The song we're about to play is 'Why Can't I?' and we hope you like it. "
Get a load of me get a load of you
Walking down the street and I hardly know you
It's just like we were meant to be
Holding hands with you when we're out at night
Got a girlfriend, you say it isn't right
And I've got someone waiting too
What it is its just the beginning
We're already wet and we're gonna go swimming
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
It's inevitable, it's a fact that were gonna get down to it
So tell me
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Whenever I think about you
Whenever I think about you
Whenever I think about you
Sasuke nodded his head to the music when he noticed Naruto running around with the camera in his hand. "Dobe, what are you doing?"
"What do you think, teme? I'm making a music video," Naruto said as he leaned the camera back for an upwards angle shot of the girls.
Isn't this the best part of breaking up
Finding someone else you can't get enough of
Someone who wants to be with you too
It's an itch we know we are gonna scratch
Gonna take a while for this egg to hatch
But wouldn't it be beautiful
Here we go we're at the beginning
We haven't fucked yet but my head's spinning
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
It's inevitable, it's a fact that were gonna get down to it
So tell me
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you?
I'd love for you to make me wonder, where it's going
I'd love for you to pull me under
Something's growing out of this that we can't control
Baby I'm dying
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you
Why can't I speak whenever I talk about you
It's inevitable, it's a fact that we're gonna get down to it
So tell me
Why can't I breathe whenever I think about you?
Whenever I think about you
Whenever I think about you
Whenever I think about you
Whenever I think about you
The girls stepped away from the mics and Naruto grinned foxily. "Done!"
"I wanna see! I wanna see!" Tenten shouted excitedly. The girls bounded behind the guys who were all looking over Naruto's shoulder. Naruto, on the other hand was staring down at the camera. "Hm, this isn't like my camera. Maybe if I do this…" he said pressing a few buttons. "It think…no…no…here it is!" he shouted, pressing the file when something completely different appeared.
Sasuke blinked. "Is that…?"
Megumi could only stare dumbfounded at the camera as the small screen showed a video of her singing and dancing to Mika's Grace Kelly. If she remembered correctly, this was a few days after Sasori asked her out and she was bouncing off the walls about it. The guys were in a similar stunned fashion and watched as Megumi did a high leg lift.
"Wow, you're really flexible, Megumi-chan," commented Kakashi.
A small snicker could be heard on the camera and she knew exactly who taped her.
"Temari!" roared Megumi as she chased her cousin through the mansion. Temari just laughed and ran upstairs.
Naruto watched as Megumi continued her routine on camera when he noticed Shikamaru stand up and run after them. "Where are you going, lazy-ass?"
"Where do you think? It's a chick fight."
Suddenly, Sasuke, Neji, and Naruto were running up the stairs with Shikamaru; Sakura, Tenten, and Hinata chasing after them.
Naruto was running up the stairs when he looked behind him to see an empty space. He leaned over the rail. "Hey Kakashi, aren't you coming?"
"No, I'm fine," he said from the music room, staring intently at a small digital camera in his hand.