A/N: As per request…Make sure you read 18 first. And, uh, please insert your favorite Kakashi tardiness excuse here. (The real reason is that it's too fetching cold to type!)

I apologize for the horrible lack of even the pretense of KakaIru in this one, but as I said, it was requested. On a side note, I found the perfect present for Sakura and Naruto to give their teachers!

Christmas with the Hatakes
By: Reggie

December 19th: Sprinkles

Naruto shifted from foot to foot, looking at the two grinning kunoichi in front of him. "What?"

"What do you think?" Sakura demanded, gesturing widely around the crowded store. "Do you see anything you like?"

This was a trick question, Naruto was sure of it. He saw lots of things he liked, but even he was fairly certain it was too soon to buy Hinata lingerie. "Sakura-chan…are you sure this is the right store to be in?"

"Of course she is," Ino piped up, scowling, before her face instantly morphed into a dreamy look. "I wish I had a boyfriend to buy me things from here."

"Uh…" Naruto stared at her, shocked, before looking over at the wall of rather scanty underwear. And here he'd been thinking girls liked fluffy bunnies and stuff!

Sakura's punch to the back of his head was a little unexpected, and he went sprawling. "Idiot! She means the jewelry and stuff!"

"Jewelry?" The teen sat up, rubbing his head, and looked around more closely. To his immense surprise, the shop DIDN'T sell only underwear, as he'd first supposed. There were, in fact, sections for lotions, jewelry, and other such girly stuff that he hadn't seen before. Naruto laughed nervously. "Oh. I didn't notice that before."

"That's because you were too busy being a pervert," Ino huffed, crossing her arms under her chest. She ignored Naruto's squawk of protest, and grabbed her friend's wrist. "Come on, Sakura, let's leave Naruto to look around and find something for us to approve. I need to buy my mom lotion."

"But," Naruto called after their retreating backs, suddenly afraid to be seen alone in this store. "But I still need help!"

The two girls did not respond.

Gulping, Naruto sat up and started inching his way toward the jewelry counter. He was seriously debating activating his sexy jutsu just to seem less out of place among the throngs of women browsing the store. After watching Iruka-sensei being stuck as a woman for months, though, he was always much more hesitant to use it than before.

He frowned down at the selection of glittery objects below the glass case. As far as Naruto was concerned, jewelry was like sprinkles on cupcakes—they were nice and everything, but about the last thing you cared about. As far as he could tell, all the little pieces looked the same, and he had no idea what kind Hinata might like. He'd never seen her wear any before.

He was just bending down to inspect a charm bracelet when someone bumped into him from behind, knocking him into the counter and forcing the air out of his lungs. He gasped a little, and once he had air enough to yell, he whirled around, "hey, watch it you…" The words died on his lips when he realized he was nose to nose with one furiously blushing Inuzuka Kiba.

The brunette boy huffed, turning his head to the side. "Seems you got roped in to coming here as well."

"Huh?" Naruto turned his head to the side, blinking several times to see if Kiba disappeared before his eyes. "What are YOU doing here?"

"I told my sister that I didn't know what to get Sakura for Christmas." Kiba growled a little, running a hand through his already mussed up hair. "She dropped me off here before I could protest."

"For Sakura-chan?" Naruto scratched his head in confusion. "You've never gotten her a present before."

"Idiot! Of course not!" Kiba growled louder, revealing rather sharp teeth. "But we're friends this year and I want to impress her."

"Impress…" Blue eyes widened in shock, and Naruto couldn't help pointing at his friend. Due to the close proximity they were standing in, this resulted in his finger resting against Kiba's nose. "You like Sakura-chan?"

Kiba's dubious expression seemed to say, quite clearly, that Naruto should have known this already. The blond laughed a little under his breath, reflecting back over the last few weeks. He'd been thinking so much about Hinata that he hadn't noticed just how much time Kiba had spent around Sakura-chan lately.

"Kiba-san! Naruto-kun!" The enthusiastic yell caused both boys to look up, horrified that they'd been spotted by a friend in this place. Something horrendously green ran up to them. Lee paused and literally flashed them a grin. "Are you shopping for your beloveds as well?"

"Beloveds?" Naruto echoed before glancing away. "I don't know if I'd go that far just…"

"I sincerely hope you've had better luck than I have." Lee sniffled and looked over his shoulder nervously. "TenTen recommended this store to me, but I have found nothing for my fair love yet!"

"Who is he talking about?" Kiba whispered, and Naruto could only shrug. He'd seen Lee with Ino a few times, but he always looked so uncomfortable with her that the kyuubi vessel was fairly certain it wasn't HER.

"I was just going to look at the jewelry," Naruto motioned towards the counter.

Beside him, Kiba shook his head. "Hinata doesn't wear jewelry. Her father doesn't approve of it. You'll want to find something else."

"What? But I don't HAVE any other ideas!" Naruto groaned, pressing his palms to his eyes.

"How about those?" Kiba grabbed something from off the wall behind Naruto's head and held them out. It was a little purple velvet bag, and he held it out for Naruto's inspection. "She'll probably think they're cute."

"Love tokens?" Naruto grabbed the bag and read the tag. "Includes little silver coins to be used for currency in a relationship. Includes over thirty coins with messages such as 'good for one kiss', 'good for one hug', 'good for breakfast in bed', and many more…"

The blond frowned at them for a moment before grinning. Hinata was much too shy to ask him for things she wanted, but maybe these would help her! Instead of saying the words, she could just hand him a coin! "They're perfect!"

"Yeah, but didn't you say you had no more money a few days ago?" Kiba frowned, scratching his head.

"Kakashi-sensei lent me some. He seemed to think getting presents was important." Naruto could only shrug and grin a little. That was when he saw it. A little silver locket, lying on a blue pillow. Naruto leaned forward and a grin split his features as he saw that the kanji for 'ocean' was etched on to the front of it. That would be the PERFECT present for Sayuri when she was older. Hopefully, he'd have enough to buy it now and save it.