AN:Well… I haven't touched this story since last winter… Once again, it's almost Christmas so I decided that I will finish what I started before another year goes by. I hope people hasn't forgotten about this story…

Well, I know Christmas was a while ago, but I forgot to post this story as well as a few others… so well, yea, enjoy!

Chapter 2

Christmas Day…

Normal POV

The morning sunlight broke through the curtains and fell upon the three sleeping faces, one muttered something about another five minutes, one grumbled about needing to get shutters for the window, and the last just snored on. Everyone else in the village was up and running about in their houses opening gifts and trying them all out.

Naruto's POV

He rubbed his eyes as he sat up in his bed and blankly stared out the window, it's just another day… He had gotten changed, ate his strange assortment of food he called breakfast and was about to leave his house when he found a letter on the floor. He eyed it awkwardly, is it just a figment of his imagination? He picked it up and found that it was real, he tore the envelope open and his eyes grew wide at what he saw:

Merry Christmas Naruto!

He was truly surprised and opened the rest of the card:

Merry Christmas Naruto, we are having a celebration for this merriment and I am hereby inviting you to a Christmas get together! Please be at the Hokage Tower at 6:00 pm sharp.

Sincerely,

Third Hokage,

Sarutobi

Naruto now wore a huge grin on his face, he had been invited to his first party! But this grin soon faded at the realization that he would not know anyone there nor did he have anything to wear to this party… He sighed as he walked over to his closet…

Sasuke's POV

He really would've preferred to have just stayed in bed that day, he had no school so why even bother? There was no one that would want to see him anyway, except those annoying girls that chased him all day, any other guy would enjoy this, but he himself didn't see why they would. Since he was awake already, he decided to go upon his daily routine; get changed, eat breakfast and maybe go train. He was half way through his breakfast when he heard someone knock on the door, he looked up at the clock and realized that it was probably just the mailman. As he thought, he was right, he opened the door to see a letter in his mailbox, he took it and went back to his breakfast. Then he had a sudden thought, does the mailman even work on Christmas Day…? He opened the letter to find that it was not just a letter, it was a Christmas card, he was slightly happy but he thought it was just from another girl, but to his surprise, it was an invitation to the Christmas gathering at the Hokage Tower. Normally he would've just thrown it away without a second thought, but since it was the Hokage inviting him and the fact that the snow would practically make it impossible for him to train, decided to go. Though it was still way too early, he headed over to the closet to pick out what he should where…

Iruka's POV

Although it was a holiday, he had been called up to the Hokage tower that day, I wonder why Hokage-sama is calling today… He arrived to find that the Hokage was already awaiting his arrival with something in his hands, a letter…? The Hokage glanced up and met the confused look in the young teacher's eyes, "I would like you to deliver this to two of our young students who lacks the love of a family, the names are written on the back"

"Yes Hokage-sama," with that, Iruka bowed and left the office.

He headed over to the first house, Uzumaki Naruto, he's probably still asleep… He quietly slipped the letter through the letter hole in Naruto's door and left. The shinobi then headed for the second house, let's see, ah, Uchiha Sasuke… He knew Sasuke would be awake by now unlike some lazy people and decided to knock on his door before leaving and left the letter sticking out of his mailbox. Well, my job is done, and he headed for his own home, but upon arrival, he noticed something sticking out of his own mailbox, isn't that… he pulled the letter out and opened it. His eyes grew wide as he saw an invitation to the get together, isn't this the same thing I just sent to Naruto and Sasuke?...

Normal POV

The three began to prepare for the get together and where out the door by 5:45 pm though they knew they'd be way too early. As Naruto and Sasuke made their way towards the tower, they had met outside the door and was about to start bickering when Iruka also arrived, "are you two going to start fighting on Christmas too?" The two looked at him and then back at each other, and quickly looked away when their eyes met. Iruka smiled inwardly as he knew that these two did not have much interaction with others. He ushered them inside and found that there were a few other people already inside room, but as soon as they entered, Sasuke made his way over to a corner and just stood there observing the others there. Naruto sat on a bench near where Sasuke stood and tried to make himself look smaller to not attract unwanted attention. Iruka shook his head and made his way over to where the Hokage stood, "so they came I see," the Hokage nodded towards the two who isolated themselves.

"Yes, but why did you suddenly decide to host a gathering?" the young man looked at the older with curiosity.

"I little bird flew in this morning with 3 similar wishes and I thought it would be a nice gift to the three of them," he smiled as he said this.

Iruka thought for a moment until he realized something, "what were the wishes?"

The Hokage looked at him wisely, "oh, something about wanting someone similar to them to spend time with on this occasion."

The young teacher's eyes widened, could it be the wish that I made…? Wait, did those two wish the same as well…?

"Yes, I believe what you are thinking is exactly it," the Hokage said as though reading his mind.

Iruka looked over at the two young boys and smiled to himself, I knew Naruto often got lonely, but that Uchiha boy as well?

The two made their way over to the two boys and took them to the roof of the tower, "why are we up here, sensei?" the young Naruto looked up at the taller man in wonder.

The Hokage smiled as he withdrew two beautifully wrapped gifts from a bag, "this is for you two," he handed the boxes to them.

He then turned to Iruka, "and this is for you," and handed him a parcel as well. "Now only open the boxes when you get home, alright?"

Naruto's face was gleaming with happiness, "YES SIR!"

Sasuke had a shocked look on his face but it turned to a smile soon after and nodded in understanding of what the old man said.

"Alright now let us return to the festivities downstairs" and so they returned to the party.

The party was over and the three were about to leave, but something drew the three together and decided to walk home together. They reached Iruka's home and he parted ways with a goodbye and a merry Christmas. The two young boys walked in silence, and as they approached Sasuke's house, they stopped outside his door, "hey, umm, Sasuke," Naruto hesitated a bit.

"Yea?" he gave a sidelong glance at the other boy.

Naruto turned his back to him, "Merry Christmas!"

And though Sasuke couldn't see his face he knew he was blushing with a huge grin on his face with pride after this task was complete. Naruto was about to leave but Sasuke stopped him, "hey, Naruto," Naruto turned around.

"Uhh…" it was Sasuke's turn to turn his back on Naruto. "Umm, Merry Christmas!" Then he ran to his house, leaving Naruto dumbfounded, "Uhh, hold on, wait there for a minute."

And sure enough, Sasuke returned in about a minute or so with a wrapped parcel, "here, take this."

Naruto took the parcel confused, "I thought maybe if I made a friend before Christmas was over, I'd give it to him, and I guess I'll just give it to you." Then Naruto saw something really rare, it wasn't a grin, it wasn't a smirk, it was an actual, real smile on Sasuke's face.

"Thanks Sasuke!" and Sasuke ran back to his house.

"BYE SASUKE! SEE YOU AT SCHOOL!" Naruto yelled and saw Sasuke wave as he opened his door and disappeared behind it. Naruto ran all the way home and as soon as he was inside, he dived onto his bed and grinned happily at the box given to him from Sasuke until he realized that he hadn't given him anything. "AHH I'M SO STUPID!"

He began running around his house looking for something, he had bought a gift to give someone at school but hadn't because he had no one to give it to. Naruto once again, left his house and ran to Sasuke's place, "SASUKE!" he yelled at the door in front of him.

Sasuke inside, had nearly fallen out of his chair because he was so shocked at having someone call him so suddenly, he made his way toward his door and opened it to reveal the same blond headed boy that he had parted with not too long ago.

"Naruto? What do you want?" he asked looking at the panting boy.

"No…thing… I… wanted… to give.. you this," Naruto held out the parcel to him.

"Wh…what's this?" Sasuke was surprised for like the hundredth time that day.

"It's a Christmas present," Naruto managed to catch his breath and grinned widely.

Sasuke took the parcel, "umm… do you want to come in for a bit?"

"Uhh, sure," Naruto entered his home, and noticed that like his, it had no sign of Christmas anywhere except on his desk where the gifts from the Hokage and Naruto sat yet to be opened. "You didn't open your gift yet?"

"Did you?" Sasuke asked looking around his cupboard for another mug.

"No, it's still in my pocket. Hey let's open it together! It'll be more fun that way," Naruto suggested and looked up at Sasuke who was standing on a chair and retrieved a second mug.

"Alright," he came down and made hot chocolate for the two of them.

The two of them took their gift and sat staring at it for a while before Naruto finally took the bow off the top and stuck it on his own head, Sasuke just raised an eyebrow, "umm… why did you do that?"

Naruto shrugged and watched Sasuke take his bow off and set it onto the floor, but Naruto took his bow as well and placed it on Sasuke's head. Sasuke was rather too shocked to react to this act and just left the bow where it was. They finally unwrapped the gifts slowly, but soon filled with anticipation and just tore the rest off. Sasuke's eyes widened as he found in his package a picture frame with a collage of photos of himself and his older brother, Itachi. Some of the photos he recognized and remembered the good times he had with his brother before he had turned on him and his family. He also found a note behind the picture frame,

Never forget your family, no matter how far they may be…

Naruto stared into his box and found a small plant inside which was unusual at this time of year. He also found a note inside,

Let this plant grow strong with you and your dreams…

The two just sat for a while and allowed the time to pass by, "I think I better get going now," Naruto stood up ready to leave.

"Wait, why don't you just, umm… you know, sleep over or something," Sasuke blushed and scratched the back of his head.

"Well, uh, sure!" Naruto gave him a big goofy grin.

It had already been a strange day for the two of them, having someone to spend the day with was a rather special feeling to them. A few days had passed and the snow had gone away, Naruto was on his way home from the academy and saw Sasuke sitting at a dock staring out over the lake. He stood for a while contemplating on whether he should say something or not, and when he decided, he saw Sasuke also noticed his presence there and had been looking up to where he stood. He frowned up at him, and Naruto frowned back, but this was normal to them both, they both looked away but knowing that no one could see them, they silently smiled to themselves.

-End