Sorry about the wait, but I've been horribly busy with school work, and while I should be working on one of two of the research papers I have due this week, I wanted to write this instead.
Warnings: Same as before.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto characters.
After a rather interesting argument over who would 'top' who, both boys realized that the source of the argument had slipped out of the room, and they were left with blushes on their faces over the topic of their dispute. With a huff, Naruto stabbed his food and began eating while ignoring his friend, who seemed to have the same idea as him.
Ignoring the problem would make it go away.
When he was finally finished with his meal, Naruto put his plate near the sink and decided that it was time to bother Sasuke into hurrying up so he could entertain him.
"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…."
"Naruto shut the hell up."
"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…."
Seeing Sasuke's left eye start twitching, Naruto sped away from his spot, knowing that if he bothered the white tiger any more, that Sasuke would resort to physical retaliation. While it was annoying, Naruto knew that the other was stronger which was why the blonde often used his speed to avoid trouble.
Deciding that he was safe from Sasuke's wrath for the time being, Naruto wandered up to his room and gathered the clothes that he had borrowed from Sasuke the night before. He might as well return those before he ended up forgetting. That would be annoying, having the bastard's colorless clothes tainting his bright wardrobe. While scrunching his nose, Naruto picked up the dark clothing, thinking that Sasuke should really get some color into his attire every once in a while, and decided to see if the bastard was where he left him.
Not finding Sasuke where he expected him to be, Naruto huffed and decided to look elsewhere, since there was really nothing else he could do, and waiting for Sasuke to reappear was not an option since the blonde was not patient enough for that.
"Sasuke? Where'd you go?" Naruto called throughout the house. "Sasuke!"
"Be quiet."
Turning around, Naruto spotted his missing friend and pushed the clothes toward him.
"Here, these are yours."
"Obviously," Sasuke muttered while taking the articles of clothing.
Naruto stared at Sasuke for a moment, knowing that the white tiger hybrid absolutely hated when others would just stare at him.
"What?!" Sasuke eventually snapped.
"Entertain me!" Naruto shouted with a grin plastered to his face.
~*~*~*~
Sasuke couldn't believe that he was following Naruto into town. For some reason, when Naruto said 'Entertain me!' he meant 'follow me around and keep me company'. Letting out a sigh, Sasuke knew that he was going to be dealing with a cold fennec later on, but Naruto swore to him that he wouldn't complain…yeah right.
Glancing around, Sasuke hoped that he could avoid anyone that would bother him if they saw him. He was following the moron around; he didn't need another reason to wish that he had just stayed at his house and ignored the need to figure out why Naruto hadn't been there that morning.
"Sasuke! Naruto!"
With a groan, Sasuke knew that he had somehow jinxed himself, maybe if he ignored her, then she would go away. Looking to where the blonde was supposed to be, he realized that Naruto had run off toward the annoying voice…so much for ignoring her.
"Sakura!"
Seeing Naruto bouncing in front of the flamingo hybrid—whose hair matched her species, making her easy to spot—Sasuke shook his head. Of course the day would lead to being social.
Now, not to say that he hated Sakura, but she was annoying in his opinion, though, he was lucky that she had gotten over her crush on him over the years. Despite this, the damn bird was always around when he least wanted to deal with her.
"Sakura, isn't it rather cold for you to be out here this time of year?" Sasuke questioned, if only just to get rid of her.
"Nice to see you too, Sasuke," Sakura grumbled. "And I was just telling Naruto that I would be leaving for the rest of the winter. Mother finally decided that it was time to head for warmer weather until winter ends."
"Your point is?"
"Sasuke! Stop being such a dick!" Naruto reprimanded.
"Would you even know what one looks like, seeing that you don't have one?" asked another voice.
Sasuke was about to slap his hand into his forehead. What was this? A party? Why was Sai here?
"Damn you!" Naruto shouted.
Narrowing his gaze at the red-winged blackbird hybrid, Sasuke wondered why all the damn birds were swooping in.
"Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted," Sakura stated with a glare directed at them all, "I will have to give everyone their holiday gifts late. I just don't have the time to shop for everyone right now, seeing that I'll be leaving later today."
Sasuke mentally stated 'thank goodness' at her comment, mainly because it would mean that the rest of the winter would go Sakura free, and because her 'gifts' were usually things that he did not need nor want.
"Aww…so I have to give you your gift late, too," Naruto mentioned. "I haven't shopped for anyone yet."
Sasuke watched as Sakura turned her gaze toward him, as if expecting him to confirm that he would get her something as well. However, she should know better.
"I know that you won't go shopping."
Ah…so she did know better. Besides, Naruto usually ended up putting his name on whatever he got her anyway.
"That reminds me," chimed Sai, "what would you like, Naruto? I must do my shopping away from here as well, since it is too cold for me. Maybe you should come along; fennecs are not well adapted to the cold either."
Glaring at the demented bird, Sasuke started to walk away, knowing that Naruto would soon follow. He refused to continue to share the same air as Sai. That damn hybrid was just waiting to get his throat ripped out.
"Goodbye, Sakura! Go away, Sai."
A moment later Sasuke heard Naruto catch up with him, so he slowed his pace back down to a leisurely walk.
"Sai is annoying," Naruto muttered.
Sasuke decided to simply nod in agreement since there really wasn't anything to discuss about the matter. Sai was annoying and that was that.
"Hey Sasuke?"
"Hn?"
"What do you want to get for the holidays?"
Blinking out of slight surprise, especially since Naruto had never actually asked him that before, Sasuke wasn't sure how to reply. What did he want to get? He wasn't really someone who wanted material items, especially since all they did was take up space and gather dust.
"I don't know," he replied.
"Huh? How can you not know?" Naruto interrogated. "There must be something that even you want."
"Not that I can think of."
Catching the frown on Naruto's face, Sasuke shook his head. The blonde certainly had a hard time understanding that someone really had nothing they wanted someone else to get them. Was that really that rare? Then again, Naruto did like collecting things, heck the little fox even would take off with his things from time to time, especially if they were shiny. At least Sasuke always knew where to look if something went missing after Naruto visited. The fennec's stash was located under his bed.
"But—"
"What about you?" Sasuke questioned, just to get Naruto to stop bothering him.
"Huh?"
"What do you want?" Sasuke clarified.
The question seemed to make his companion fall silent. Ah, had he beaten Naruto at his own game?
"See? Even you can't think of something," the white tiger taunted.
"Shut up, you bastard! I just have to think about it some more."
Shaking his head, Sasuke just continued walking.
~*~*~*~
After accomplishing absolutely nothing in town, Naruto and Sasuke were heading back home, and Naruto knew that he was being oddly quiet, but he had promised Sasuke that he wouldn't complain about being cold…and that was all he could think about at the moment.
Some time back, Naruto had begun losing the feeling in his tail and his ears, now his fingers were numb, along with his feet; it even felt awkward to walk now. Shivering, while walking behind Sasuke so he didn't notice, the blonde wondered why he wanted to go into town in the first place. He should have listened to Sasuke, not that he would ever tell the tiger that.
"You're oddly qu— Naruto? Are you okay?" Sasuke questioned.
Naruto simply nodded, not trusting himself to open his mouth in the likely chance that his teeth would start chattering.
"You're cold, aren't you?"
Pausing, Naruto knew there was no point in denying the fact since, even if he wasn't shivering violently, Sasuke knew that he couldn't tolerate the cold very well.
Listening to Sasuke sigh, the fennec hybrid knew that he had been found out and figured that Sasuke was annoyed with him. However, he was extremely grateful when Sasuke tugged him forward and wrapped his arms around him. It wasn't much, but at least he wasn't as cold as he had been before.
"Come on, my house is closer and you can get warm there," Sasuke stated while letting go of Naruto.
Somewhat annoyed that his warmth was moving away, Naruto knew that he couldn't spend all day in the cold. Besides, Sasuke's house had a large fireplace that he could sit in front of. With that in mind, Naruto eagerly followed Sasuke. At least he would be warm soon.
~*~*~*~
Walking down the stairs, a black ear with a white spot twitched toward a nearby room. Flicking his white and black striped tail, Itachi smirked slightly at what he saw.
Inside the room, in front of the fireplace, Naruto was bundled up in numerous blankets. Unable to see the fennec's face, Itachi knew that it was him because of the tan furry ear that had popped out of the pile. Well, if Naruto was here, that meant that Sasuke was home as well, so where was his little brother?
"Move."
Turning his head, Itachi found Sasuke giving him a blank stare while holding a steaming mug of dark liquid. Since the contents of the mug smelled sweet, Itachi knew that it was hot chocolate for Naruto since the younger tiger's tastes were somewhat directed more toward bitter. If the scent of warming cider from the kitchen was any clue, Sasuke was also getting himself something.
Stepping out of his little brother's way, Itachi watched in amusement as Sasuke tried getting Naruto to come out of the mass of blankets, or to move a bit farther away from the fire; however, the blonde would not listen. Sasuke set Naruto's drink down before leaving the room once again, without sparing Itachi a glance.
When Sasuke returned, the younger white tiger gave him a confused look before continuing and sitting next to Naruto with his own drink in hand.
Itachi was about to leave the boys alone since it must be weird to have someone watching, and he knew Sasuke knew that he was still there. That boy hated feeling people watching him. However, as Sasuke's white and black tail curled around the mass of blankets, he paused. Sure, Itachi had seen the two boys cuddle in their sleep, but he had never actually witnessed a conscious act of physical contact.
Quietly chuckling, Itachi shook his head and walked away. Maybe Sasuke finally understood his feelings for the blonde fennec.
"Don't you dare fall asleep on me!" Sasuke growled.
Pausing again, Itachi shook his head, or maybe Sasuke was still completely clueless.