Yes! Another chapter! You know, this may look real good but watch me crap out as this goes on. ;P By the way, I didn't do any research on which places Santa actually visits first and such so I'm just going from one part of the world to the other, research done on a world map... Right to left. If it's too painful for you to read, send me a review or PM and I'll be happy to change it. Thanks!

Onwards, onwards!

Chapter Two: A Not so Silent Night

Silent Night, Holy Night

All is calm and all is bright

'But Santa Claus doesn't exist!' there was a lot of conviction in that little five word sentence for an eleven year old girl and Hinata Hyuuga found herself almost falling over. Her darling, baby sister didn't believe in Santa anymore! What were they teaching at schools now a days? They should be ashamed with themselves, killing the hopes and dreams of children at such a young age. Couldn't they at least wait until they were older like they did with Hinata, who had felt like her whole life had been lie afterwards?

Pretending to think hard, furrowing her brows and stoking her index finger along the gentle curve of her smooth chin, Hinata mused, 'You don't think Santa Claus exists, huh?' Hanabi nodded, her eyes hardening with determination. 'Let's see what you think when you wake up tomorrow morning and don't have any presents under the tree.' her lips turned upwards into a clever smile, proud of herself for a such a astute lie.

Hanabi didn't look scared or even moved by what she said, but Hinata, being the ever so observant big sister she was, noticed the flicker of fear and hesitation in her gaze, 'What do you mean, no presents?' her teeth came out to slid across her bottom lip nervously. When she realized what she was doing she quickly forced herself to stop. She refused to show her weakness to her older sister. It was every kids' nightmare to wake up on Christmas and have no presents waiting for them.

Hinata smiled coquettishly, 'Didn't you know? Little boys and girls who don't believe in Santa don't get any presents delivered to them, regardless if they've been good or bad.' Hanabi's posture faltered but she quickly corrected herself, praying that her big sister hadn't noticed the crack in her defenses. Unfortunately for her though, she had but Hinata mustered up her best poker face to pretend she hadn't.

Having bought the poker face, Hanabi pretended to be unfazed by this deception and said, with not as much conviction as the first time, 'Santa Claus does not exist!' before twirling on her heel with as much attitude an eleven year old could rally before taking long, exaggerated steps of the staircase to her room and slamming the door behind her as to make a point. Rolling her eyes, Hinata turned off the lamp in the living room before quickly making her way up the stairs to her own bedroom. Pausing by her sister's door, she listened for a moment to the ruffling of bed sheets and the quiet muttering of, 'I do believe in Santa Claus. I do believe in Santa Claus. Santa is real. Santa is real.' slapping her hands over her mouth to muffle the enlivened giggles that were spilling out, Hinata crept away from the door like the Grinch, with inflated leg movements.

She left the door open a crack and strung her own lamp light on so she could to read her novel. It was just getting to the exciting part and she very much needed to read it in order to ensure a good night's rest. If not, Hinata would have just ended up rolling around in her covers restlessly, unable to think of anything other than the next chapter to her book.

Deciding to just read a couple of chapters, Hinata began. The background noise of the house was absolutely quiet, only the gentle humming of the music coming from Hanabi's radio filled the house. Hinata's lavender gaze moved from the words of the pages to the thickness of the pages on each side. Wow, she must be a fast reader to able to get through that. How many chapters did she read? Placing her bookmark into the spot she stopped at, the teenager flipped around to find she had from chapter VII to chapter XIII in about... Her eyes flitted to her clock radio. Holy crap! She read that in four and a half hours. Quickly pushing her book away from her, Hinata reached out to turn out of her light when there was a loud thump on the roof above her. Snow fell from it and dropped in front of her window. Hinata gapped at it. More snow fell. Hinata's mouth fell open even more.

There was another thump, only from her living room and a soft, grunt sounding noise she wasn't sure if was actually real or not. Flipping her covers off her body, Hinata pulled her door away and crept to the hallway to peer down into the living room. There was an actual man in red bending down over the table of cookies and milk.

'Santa?'

Sleep in heavenly peace

'Are you sure this is appropriate?' Gaara asked for what felt like the dozenths time that night as he, Sasori and Itachi made their way out to the track where Pain was setting up the team of reindeer for the flight and Deidara and Hidan were organizing the gifts in the back. Gaara's costume consisted of a red leather trench coat that ended at his knees and was buttoned up, with white fuzz around the neck and the hood. He had his Father's belt hung on his waist overtop of it. One his hands were black leather gloves and his pants were a tight, black concoction of cotton and polyester that felt like silk. His boots ended mid calf with fur on the inside and black leather on the outside. It looked nothing like his father's outfit.

'Again, Gaara.' came Itachi's reply, 'You aren't your father so you need an original costume that suits you. This is what we came up with.' he smiled thinly. Gaara gave a grunt and practiced moving his hands in the gloves, which squealed as he moved them. 'Those just need to be broken in.' Itachi added.

Sasori seemed to be more excited than Gaara, moving quickly, nearly hopping from foot to foot and swinging the door open from the back of the factory. The track was right in front of them. Snow crunching underfoot, Gaara threw up his hood and followed the two older elves out to the track, anticipation swelling up in his stomach and he felt like he just drank a lot of hot cocoa.

'Hey, Gaara.' the red head jumped and turned to who said that to him. There was a swirl of sand to his left and Gaara watched as it formed a half man, half tanuki -or a raccoon dog- creature. 'Look'en sharp.' he winked.

'Shukaku!'Gaara blurted, surprised to see the demon tanuki present at the North Pole. He hated the cold and tried his best to avoid the snow. 'W-What are you doing here?' Shukaku was tall and built thickly but with a slim face and black markings on his sandy brown skin. His eyes were gold with a star black pupil and a black sclera. On his back was a large gourd and from his waist was another gourd that was smaller and held an alcoholic drink of some kind.

'I wouldn't miss your flight, kid. First one!' he chucked and punched Gaara's arm as gently as possible, nearly knocking him over into the snow. 'Looking forward to see the take off.' he let out a bellowing laugh, walking to the track with him, Gaara moving faster to keep up with his long strides.

'I don't think I can do this!' Gaara cried out to him, embarrassment flooding his cheeks. "The going down the chimney, the eating cookies and milk, carrying the presents!' he stopped walking and stared at his feet. Shukaku had also stopped moving, turning around to stare at his pupil.

'Boy,' he sighed, for he never called Gaara by his name, 'You're gonna be just fine, but, here,' there was a pop and the cork from the large gourd flew up into the air only to land on a small platform of sand. The sand began to pull something out from the gourd. When it finally succeeded, Gaara realized it was a velvet bag with drawstrings to close it. 'This,' Shukaku explained, handing it to him, 'is what you'll put the cookies into. This way you don't have to eat so much like your tub of a father.' confused, Gaara slid his hand into the bag: there was no bottom and Gaara was able to shove his entire arm, from hand to shoulder, into the bag. Seeing the blown away look from Gaara, the Sandman laughed before handing him another bag, via sand. It was large and tanned colored. 'This is where you put the presents. As soon as you stop at a house, the presents for that specific family will appear from the back of your sled into this bag. Only, they will all be shrunken in size. But, as soon as you pull it from the bag, they will grow. Get it?' Gaara nodded, stunned but accepting the bag nonetheless. 'Got it?' Gaara nodded once more. 'Good.' Shukaku corresponded with a smirk. 'Now go get 'em tiger!' he slapped the back of Gaara a he took off running towards the sleigh, where everyone was waiting for him.

He made it there in a sprint and stopped beside his ride, looking around at everyone. Pain was just finishing harnessing the reindeer team, the other department heads were lined up on the right with Temari and Kankurou, Shukaku appearing there in a cloud of sand. On the other side was the elves, glaring at him with gazes thick of disapproval. Ignoring them, Gaara turned back to his friends and family, climbing onto the seat of the sleigh. 'Are you ready?' Pain asked, tossing him the reins.

The red head nodded, 'Yes.' before setting the reins into his hands like he had done it a dozen times before. He hadn't; he just watched his father.

Deidara laughed a high pitch cackle, 'Now sing the song!'

Gaara froze but managed to give him a look, 'What song?'

'Now, Dasher!' he began in a high, mocking voice, amusement twinkling in his eyes and his smile so wide it gave him dimples.

'I'm not singing the song.' Gaara deadpanned before snapping the reins. The team didn't move. With a sigh he asked them, 'What's wrong?' Comet turned his large head and gave a great snort, jerking his head forward.

Temari smiled, 'They won't go without the song Gaara.' her voice was teasing, obviously enjoying the torture her brother was going through. He shook his head and she gave a soft laugh, 'Well, you'll be sitting here for a while and time will be wasted.'

With a deep sigh, Gaara grumbled, 'Now Dasher-,'

'Louder!'

'Now Dasher-,'

'Louder!'

'Now Dash-,'

'Louder!'

'Shut the hell up!' everyone jumped at Gaara's bellow. Seeing the looks on everyone's faces, Gaara cleared his throat and began again, 'NOW!' he gave everyone a warning look a few sucked their lips in to show they weren't going to say anything. Gaara began once again, 'Now Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer, and Vixen! On Comet!' Comet gave a pleased snort and readied himself, determination glittering in his large dark eyes, 'On, Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!' there was a loud smash and the snow crunching sounded like breaking bones, before the reindeer began running, wind whipping Gaara in the face. His heart had never beat so fast. The cold nipped the tips of his ears and his nose but he had never felt so warm before. With a great push, the reindeer led the sled off into the air and Gaara realized he was flying. When he was a kid he would hop onto the back of Comet and the one man reindeer would fly him around his father's village. He had never been so high before.

The elevation began to grow until they broke through the veil of their world to the mortal one. Gaara was unable to contain himself, the sensation sliding over him was to much to bare and he let out a scream. A victorious whoop and Comet howled with him. The other reindeer sounded like they were laughing. 'To the first house, guys!' suddenly, they all stopped, 'What's wrong?'

'Ehem!' same a soft, feminine cough and Gaara looked at who it was.

'Oh, sorry Cupid.' she gave a soft snort and turned her nose in the air. 'Can we try this again, gang?' she nodded her head before moving, the other reindeer shocked. When they realized they should be helping her, they began to move also, instead of just Cupid pulling. Then, Gaara sited the first sign of humans.

He and the team quieted. There were dozens of houses with intersecting roads that led to each one. On most of the houses were lights, bright colorful lights that Gaara saw in the village at home. None of the buildings were as colorful but they did resemble them. All the houses were severely locked up and Gaara wondered if they were having a problem with crime. There was never any trouble in the village so everyone just left their homes unlocked. That must be why his father had to slid through the chimneys, Gaara figured as the reindeer team began to lower him on the first house of the night.

The team landed without a sound on the first roof and Gaara found himself freezing. The first house, he could do it. Before leaving, Gaara had tied the bag for the cookies on his father's belt and beside him on the seat was the other bag for the presents. Looking at it, he could see the shapes of the presents inside. Gaara jumped out of the sleigh and tried walking with small, steady steps, his arms out to balance himself. He would have liked to take a roof walking course before he left.

Unsurprisingly, the roof was slippery and his boots slid against the shingles. Gulping, Gaara reached over the side of the sleigh and pulled out the bag before he made his steady way to the chimney. Prancer snorted and shook his head at how slow he was going and tried to nudge him to go faster but ended up almost sending him off the roof into a large spruce tree. Comet moved like lightening and caught the back of his coat with his strong teeth and managed to pull him back onto the roof. Snorting angrily, Comet must have huffed a few insults to Prancer and Gaara gave him a smile. 'Thanks.' Comet turned and nodded at him, his face gentle and patient. He turned to glower at Prancer again who sat down stubbornly. Crawling to his feet, Gaara tried again and Prancer looked away from him as he wobbled by to the chimney.

Gaara threw the bag over his shoulder and hauled himself to sit on the edge of the chimney, his feet dangling inside. 'Here I go.' he whispered as he plunged in.

He landed with a thumb on his feet on the bottom. Coughing softly, he pushed his way out of the tiny square out into the mortal living room. The first thing he noticed was the pictures sitting over the hearth. The red head found himself staring at them. Mortals looked just like the elves, just like Gaara! Only, instead of long, pointed ears and pointed faces, they had more rounded faces and weren't as pale. Moving from the pictures over to the tree, Gaara began pulling the tiny presents from the bag. As soon as they came out, they grew, nearly knocking Gaara over with surprise, for he had forgotten.

'And now the stockings.' he muttered to himself, taking the smaller items and stuffing them into the large socks hanging over the fireplace. 'Is that-,' he stopped himself and turned to the table where a plate of cookies and a glass of milk was waiting for him, 'What the hell.' he went over and ate two of the chocolate chip cookies, chugged the milk and grabbed the carrots for the reindeer. He walked back over into the fireplace, ducking inside of it. 'How do I get up-,' he was cut off by a wind sucking him up, silencing him. He shot out of the chimney like a canon ball and slammed into the seat of the sleigh, face first. Comet gave him a look, asking if he were stupid while the other reindeer laughed and jeered at him. Cupid rolled her eyes. Grumbling, Gaara sat up and turned to them, saying, angrily, 'Fine! No carrots for you!' they were all silenced and gave him pleading stares. Giving in, Gaara tossed the orange sticks at them and they all caught one in their mouths, munching happily. 'Let's get going before I get bored.' still munching, they took back off into the air.

Gaara managed to deliver to a few more houses, these without incident other than the flying out of the chimney part. He still hadn't managed to control that. He found himself distracted by the pictures of the mortal though. He imagined them to be ugly creatures, by the way people in the village and the elves in the factory described them. They really weren't. Well, some of them Gaara found less appealing than others. Most of them were male. But, all the mortal females were very good looking, to Gaara. He was impressed and now he understood his father's fascination with the creatures. They were rather exciting; all of them looked and dressed differently. The red head had never seen anything like it. Everyone he knew wore uniforms that matched and people in the village usually only wore red, green, white and maybe some other colors, though it was rare.

'Next house,' he called, not wanting to insult Cupid again by calling them guys. He hopped into sleigh and they took off to the next house on the lane. They landed with a thump and the snow on the roof tumbled off over the side. Gaara ignored it. He jumped out of the sleigh with the bag, more elegantly, more snow being disturbed and falling off the side.

Walking with a more steady walk, Gaara leapt down the chimney and landed softly, a slight grunt escaping his lips. He couldn't believe his father could do this for so long without tiring out or giving up. Gaara was in the prime of his youth and much stronger and in better shape than his father and he was having a hard time.

He leaned over the table of cookies and took a sip of milk, letting it slid down his throat, relieved. Going down chimneys made one thirsty, that was for sure. He took a bite of a homemade cookie that reminded him of Zetsu's brilliant cookies and was about to stand up from a table when a voice stopped him, 'Santa?'

On Christmas night, Shukaku sprinkled strong sand over the entire human world to ensure none of them woke up when Gaara's father was working and so they wouldn't wake up to see Gaara either. But, somehow, he managed to miss one person. At first, the red head though it was a little girl but when he turned and looked up at her, he noticed that she looked to be the same age as he.

She was the most attractive, breathtaking mortal he had seen yet, with large pure white eyes, like snow and long, plum hair. Her skin was pale like an elf. Maybe she was, for that would explain why she was immune to the sand of the Sandman. Her ears, though, Gaara took notice, were rounded like other humans. So, she wasn't a elf. Human, she was, apparently.

Cautiously, the red head watched as she crept down the steps and approached him, 'Santa?' she repeated again, her voice soft like a mouse. 'You don't have a beard.' she frowned, scrutinizing his face.

He blushed and shuffled his feet, 'No. Mortal myths depict my fa-' he paused for a split second before saying, 'depict me with a beard.' he corrected, the male part of him wanting desperately to impress her.

She gazed at him, stunned, 'You're really Santa?'

'Y-Yea.' he stuttered out, leaning away from her as she got closer. He could feel the heat from his skin. She was warm, something elves weren't. Only a human trait it seemed.

'You're real.' for a moment, it looked as if she was going to faint and her eyelashes fluttered. He prepared himself to catch her but she managed to pull herself together. 'Oh, wow.' her voice was husky with disbelieve and he felt his cheeks heat even more. Gosh, she was pretty.

'Humans aren't capable to remember us, Gaara.' Shukaku whispered to his pupil, holding out a bag of sleeping sand. A young Gaara took it and giggled it in his hands, feeling the sand slosh around inside of the worn leather bag. 'You need to do something to make them remember. Take a first from them.'

'A first?' young Gaara whispered, not looking up at his master.

Shukaku nodded, thoughtfully, 'Like a...' his brows furrowed, 'Well, I don't know what a first would be, but I know it says something like that in the council handbook,' he shrugged, 'I suppose that is something you'll have to figure out on your own,' he took a drink from his small gourd and Gaara listened to him gulp the liquid down. 'I've gotta go, you little snot.' he ruffled the short red hair, despite the protests of the child, 'keep your nose clean, kid.' and in a whirl of sand, the tanuki demon had left and boy finally looked with up his pale, pupil gaze.

His voice echoed, 'A first?'

Gaara, staring at the young human, thought about what his mentor had told him, 'A first?' she looked startled and was about to question him but was unable to utter a sound as he lunged forwards to her and smashed his lips against hers. A first. A first kiss. The mortal's lips were warm and soft and fit against his well. He liked it. He wanted to do this every day. It gave him a breathtaking tumbling feeling in his tummy and his blood was pounding through him; so loud he couldn't hear himself breath. But, he could now zone everything out but her. The way her eyes closed gingerly, her long eyelashes caressing his cheekbones, her tiny hands gripping onto his biceps, her nails sinking into the fabric enough he would feel it on his flesh, her body relaxing and almost melting into his arms and how hot she felt. Even through his gloved he could feel her. Her presence engulfed him but when he pulled away from her, it was gone.

The elf was tempted to do it again but found himself interested in seeing her reaction. Her pale face had turned the same color as his hair and her eyes were wider than they had been before. Her mouth quivered, drawing his attention back to her candy apple red lips. 'What was that for?' she asked, her voice a whisper.

'I need you to remember me.' his eyes became pleading, 'Please remember me!' he begged, holding onto her shoulder and stroking her soft flesh with his thumbs.

Hinata wasn't used to cute boys looking at her, let alone kissing her and begging her to remember them. Of course, she also wasn't used to meeting young Santa Clauses and boys with pointed ears. He reminded her of a Lord of the Rings character. Only, real. She could touch him and he could touch her. They could talk to each other. He had taken her first kiss. 'I will remember you.' she whispered as she felt his fingers skim across her eyes.

He whispered something to her, it sounded like gold webbing, sweet like honey yet smooth like honey. And then, she was asleep, in the arms of the red haired elf.

Gaara held onto his mortal princess for what felt like a long time as he gazed at her sleeping face. He prayed that after taking a small dosage of sleeping sand his master had given him, she would still remember. She had too. He had taken a first, hadn't he? A first kiss? It had been his first kiss. He wasn't sure about his mortal though. It felt like a first.

Like carrying the most precious of items, Gaara carried his mortal to her bedroom, up the stairs to her room, the one with the open door and lamplight on. He tucked her into the bed and plucked the cord on the lamp, the light dying out. Blindly, the red head exited the room and closed it behind him softly, not making a sound as he made his way back down to the living room.

With the utmost care, Gaara began to lay out all the presents and stuff the stocking, taking interest to the names; Hinata and Hanabi, he arranged the gifts. He knew that his angel was Hinata. He just had a feeling. He didn't know how, but he knew.

When he was done in Hinata's house, Gaara ducked into the chimney once more and shot up, slamming into the seat of the sleigh. The reindeer watched, amused every time their new master and stableboy did so. It just got better every time for them.

Shaking himself, Gaara sat upright, pushing the empty sack on the other side of the cushion. He crackled the reins and took back off into the air. 'Just over a billion more houses to go, everyone!' some of the reindeer stopped and Cupid seemed to be smirking. She was loving every minute of their flight.

Glories stream from Heaven afar

Heavenly hosts sing halleluia

Pulling out his pocket watch that was tucked inside of his coat, Gaara checked the time. It was five thirty in the morning. His eyes narrowed. Shukaku's sand lasted until seven so he still had some time. Like his father, he began in Japan -where he had met his lovely mortal, Hinata- and was now ending in Canada. All he had was British Columbia and then he would be done. The reindeer were getting worn out and all Gaara wanted to do was go home and collapse in his bed.

They were flying to their destination still and Gaara curled up on the seat, closing his head and breathing deeply on his gloved hands. He might have been used to spending time outside in winter for it was how he had lived his whole life but he had never spent so much time high in the sky with strong, chilling winds. He desperately wanted some hot cocoa with marshmallows, not cold milk and cookies. Comet made a squealing sound along with the other reindeer and Gaara shot up at they swerved around a tree and crashed into a backyard of a house. Snow went flying giving it the appearance that it was once again snowing. Thank heaven it wasn't.

Gaara had grabbed the front of the sleigh as they jerked downwards so he wouldn't fly out. The reindeer were groaning and whining, struggling to their feet. Clumsily, Gaara leapt out of the sleigh and made his way over to them, holding one reindeer around their neck to support them as they stood on their thin legs on the deep, fluffy snow.

Prancer huffed and refused his help, hitting him with a broad head and knocking him into the snow. The freezing white flakes slid against his neck, instantly becoming ice water and trickled down his back and chest. He gasped and leapt up, snow soaking into his clothing. Whimpering, Gaara stood up, his entire body trembling and quivering with the cold. Comet made a growling noise and nipped the hump of Prancer, who was stationed in front of him. Prancer cried and whipped around to him, baring his teeth and pushing his rack in front of him in case Comet decided to charge him. He didn't but Cupid, who was beside Comet, snarled and swung her head towards him, displaying her own rack of antlers. Prancer bared his teeth but backed down.

Gaara, his teeth beginning to chatter, managed to get out, 'Thanks,' to Comet and Cupid, who peered at him with large, dark brown eyes. Shame smothering his voice, he added, 'Sorry about. I should have been paying better attention. That was stupid. I was stupid.' still shivering, he crawled into the sleigh again and snapped the reins. The reindeer started forward but the sleigh was jammed into the snow and didn't move. Hissing, Gaara tried it again but the reindeer couldn't move it.

Jumping back out, the red head went to the back wall of the house and picked up a shovel outside the shed before going back over to his ride, beginning to shovel around the large red sleigh. It took him a little less than ten minutes throwing snow over his shoulder to get to a point where the reindeer could actually move the sleigh. When they made it to this point, Gaara put the shovel back where he found it before settling back onto the seat, gripping the reins. 'This is much harder than it looks.' he muttered, glancing up to where his home was. 'Come on. We need to finish this.' it had been a game to him before, just so he could go home and say that he had flown the sleigh and was done. But, now he had to get the rest of the houses. He wanted to finish desperately. Gaara was going to finish.

Love's pure light

Radiant beams from thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace