Hey guys, this might be the last update for about...two weeks or so. This is because I still have to get homework done that I didn't do over the break, and this next week is my last week of actual classes before the next week of finals. On December 11, I might get something done, as I will spend the entire day in airports, but I can't promise anything between now and then.

Warnings: Same.

Disclaimer: I still down own the Naruto characters, and I never will.

Staring at the fire, and enjoying the warmth of the blankets surrounding him, as well as the added heat that Sasuke was supplying beside him, Naruto was content. However, his mind was as active as ever, unfortunately for Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

Naruto nearly started complaining about the fake 'word' that was the white tiger's reply, but he let it slide. He needed to be on Sasuke's good side for his question.

"Can I scratch your ears? You purred last time."

The fennec noticed Sasuke freezing up at what he said. Ah…so he had heard correctly, and it wasn't just something his imagination came up with. Sasuke purred.

"No," Sasuke growled.

"Aww…why not? You liked it, so why not?"

"It was a fluke."

Naruto didn't believe Sasuke one bit, but he decided to let it go. There was no getting through to Sasuke when he was being stubborn…which was all the time.

Once again, staring at the fire in silence, Naruto found himself getting bored, but his thoughts left a second later. The wonderfully calming feeling of having his ears scratched took away his boredom, and in fact made Naruto's eyes begin to droop. Maybe Sasuke wasn't such a bastard after all. Quickly drifting off to sleep, Naruto didn't hear Sasuke's complaint.

~*~*~*~

Stopping his hand, Sasuke knew that his protest had not been heard by the fennec that was now using him as a pillow. Then again, he shouldn't have been surprised. Naruto was notorious for getting tired after getting warm when he spent time out in the cold, and it didn't help that he had his ears scratched on top of that.

With a sigh, Sasuke just shook his head while trying to reposition his arms in a more comfortable spot. He didn't worry about waking Naruto since he slept through almost anything, but Sasuke was having a hard time moving the blonde's dead weight in order to sit more comfortably.

Unfortunately, Sasuke's attempts were futile, leaving him to be forced to drape his arm over Naruto's body. No, he was not holding the fennec, he reasoned, he was just trying to keep his blood circulating in that arm, and putting it on Naruto was just the easiest way of accomplishing that.

As Sasuke silently reasoned his actions, he felt himself getting a bit tired as well. A nap would be nice….

~*~*~*~

After a while, Itachi realized that it was getting late and the boys had been suspiciously quiet. Heading back to the room where he last spotted the pair, Itachi's ears flicked forward in curiosity when he noticed that the fireplace had dwindled down to a few glowing embers.

Walking into the room, Itachi's eyes focused on the bundles on the floor in front of the dark fireplace. It took a bit of an effort, but the older white tiger managed to bite back a chuckle. Those two were always together, and yet neither realized what they meant to each other. It was funny really. However, Itachi had no intention of moving the boys, mainly because it wasn't his fault that they fell asleep on the floor. They were also too big to carry to a bed these days, and besides, Itachi was busy searching for a camera; he intended on capturing this moment.

When he finally found what he was looking for, Itachi returned to the room and snapped a few pictures of the boys sleeping. It would make for some lovely blackmail, or even something to use for Kyuubi's forgiveness…if he got past his pride and actually apologized to the red fox. However, that made him wonder what he had to apologize for; Kyuubi was the one to overreact, and it wasn't his fault that he had an anger issue.

He'd just keep the pictures to himself.

~*~*~*~

Kyuubi was wandering over to the Uchiha household only to pick up his little brother. He was going to drag Naruto into town to get some shopping done for the holidays. Some things their parents wanted him to get, but he figured that he should bring Naruto with him to help carry all of the groceries and the fact that he knew his little brother would need time to go into town without his brooding shadow being dragged along. That was the only time the blonde could buy Sasuke's gift.

Pausing for a second, the red fox growled quietly to himself before knocking on the door. He would not hesitate simply because Itachi lived there. No, he would just ignore the white tiger since he was there for his little brother and that was it.

Luckily, Sasuke answered the door and just stared at him, as if silently demanding why he was there.

"Tell Naruto to meet me out here. We need to go into town for some grocery shopping."

The grimace on Sasuke's face told Kyuubi that Sasuke would definitely not be tricked into tagging along with Naruto; the young white tiger hated the idea of shopping, especially grocery shopping with Naruto. Even Kyuubi had to admit that his little brother could be a terror when it came to shopping for food.

A few minutes later, Naruto came outside, grumbling. Well, at least he managed to go through this trip without crossing paths with a certain white tiger.

"Come on, Naruto. We have to go shopping."

-----

Kyuubi watched in amusement as Naruto wandered from various stalls and stores, white puffs of breath escaping his mouth as he exclaimed excitement over something else every time. The energetic fennec finally stopped complaining about being dragged along after Kyuubi explained that he could use this time, with Sasuke not there, to shop for the previously mentioned hybrid.

As he carried a few things from their shopping, Kyuubi knew that he would make Naruto take some of the items once he figured out something for his friend, mainly because the older fox knew not to trust the blonde with things that could get bruised or broken while he searched for the 'perfect' gift.

"Hey, Kyuubi?"

With a twitch of his ear, he silently showed that he was listening to his younger brother while examining various cuts of meat.

"Do you have any suggestions for what I should get Sasuke? He said he couldn't think of anything that he wanted this year."

"Doesn't he tell you that every year?" Kyuubi replied back.

"That's not the point! I don't know what to get him!"

After informing the butcher what he wanted, Kyuubi turned back to his little brother. He wanted to make a comment about how Naruto was acting like someone trying to find a gift for their lover, but Kyuubi decided that—just this once—he would refrain from saying something like that. Naruto really looked like he actually wanted his opinion.

"I don't know what to tell you, Naruto. Sasuke is an Uchiha and let me tell you, they're difficult."

"I guess so…. What are you getting Itachi this year?"

The red fox froze in place while fighting against the scowl that wanted to make itself present on his face. He had no intention of giving the older white tiger a gift, not after Itachi pissed him off. However, it seemed that Naruto had noticed his displeasure at the topic.

"What did Itachi do to make you mad? It's kind of strange since you two seem to usually get along…even if you two fight like Sasuke and me."

What Naruto said made Kyuubi stop and think. Naruto thought that they fought like Sasuke and him? What did that say about them when Kyuubi believed that it was a cute lover's spat whenever the younger two fought? Did that mean…? No. There was no way that he acted like Naruto and Sasuke with Itachi, especially not in a 'more than friends' way. That was just wrong.

"Forget it, Naruto."

"But—"

"Hey, why don't you make something for Sasuke if you can't think of anything to buy?" Kyuubi suggested, hoping to get Naruto off of the current topic.

"That's so girly, Kyuubi. I don't want to make anything, besides I wouldn't know what to make either."

Luckily, Kyuubi had a momentary distraction from his brother when the butcher finally came back with his order. When he finally turned back to Naruto, Kyuubi noticed that his younger brother was already looking at another place, probably searching for something to get Sasuke.

This was going to be a long day.