Warnings: Fluff. Absolute fluff.

Intro: A fluffbunny masterpiece, partly cause its Christmas, mostly because I've started on a sequelish to Anbure and damn is it angsty. No pairings, but the sequel is SasuNaruish.

"Learning from Mistletoe"

By GK

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Naruto sighed and stared out of the window at the snow falling gently outside. Naruto hated Christmas. It was cold and annoying and no training meant no proving to the world how great he was, and no training also meant no people, so it was boring and.......

........kind of lonely.

He sighed and brought his knees up to his chest, resting his head against the top. He pouted, frowned and sighed again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. He sat up and looked at it.

A picture of Team 7, huddled together. He smiled at Sakura; she was so cute. He stuck out his tongue at Sasuke, and scowled at Kakashi sensei, who was busily ruffling picture-Naruto's hair. Naruto picked up the picture and studied it.

...........he had never had friends before.

The thought made him pause. Gently, he sat the picture back down. Rising to his feet, he grabbed his jacket and his small piggy bank. He shut the door firmly behind him.

~~

"It's Christmas, Sasuke. No training. Go home." Kakashi looked down at his most stubborn student, who was busily hammering away at a practice doll.

"I don't do Christmas." Sasuke paused to wipe the sweat off his forehead and frowned.

"I'm sorry to hear that." A quiet voice chimed in. They whirled to see Sakura standing there, bundled in a red and white striped coat with matching red mittens and earmuffs. She looked kind of like a fuzzy candy cane. She smiled brightly. "Because....... well, we're having people over tonight for Christmas and my Mom wanted to know if maybe you wanted to come?" Sasuke rolled his eyes. "And it's be nice if you could come too, Kakashi-sensei." Her smiled was sincere and Kakashi didn't say no right away.

"No," Sasuke said right away. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Thanks." He added, rolling his eyes again.

"Why didn't you ask Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Oh, he's so loud and annoying. My parents don't seem to like him much either!" She changed her tone abruptly, looking back at Sasuke. "Oh please won't you come? It's a free meal!"

"I think you have me confused with Naruto." Sasuke glared.

"And what's wrong with that?" And orange figure dropped down from the trees above. Naruto landed on his feet, flashing them a victory sign and a wide grin.

"I really, really did cancel training for today......." Kakashi muttered.

"Huh?" Naruto looked confused. "Oh, no. I just came to give you guys these." He tossed small packages that had been wrapped awkwardly in faded paper. "I mean, I figured stupid overachiever pretty boy would be here, but I didn't think you'd all be here. It's just cause I'm lucky, huh?" He grinned.

"Naruto........ we didn't....." Sakura trailed off.

"Huh? Oh! No, I know that." He gestured dismissively. "What kind of jerk gets people presents just to get presents back? It's just........ I've never had friends before. I wasn't sure what to get. I hope they don't suck. Hey, hey, are you gonna open them or what?!" He fairly danced in place with impatience.

Sasuke slid a throwing star out of his holster and brought it up, carefully slicing through the tape on his package. Ignoring Naruto's mutters of "anal" and "neatfreak" he opened the box. The other two followed suit. He lifted out...........

".......... a bell?" Sasuke lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah! Like, remember the test? Only two people got bells! That seemed kind of mean. So! This way everybody gets a bell." He laughed. "Kind of dumb, huh? I got one for Iruka-sensei too.......... think he'll get it?"

Sasuke lifted the bell out completely, running his fingers over it. His fingers hit something and he pulled away. "Uchiha Sasuke," he read, his fingers running over ther inscriptions.

"Oh yeah! They're carved too. Got your names on them and everything." He kicked a little at the snow on the ground.

"Naruto. Where's your bell?" Kakashi asked. Naruto blinked.

"Me? Why do I need a bell?" He asked, confused. Shrugging, he disappered into the trees.

Sakura sat down on a fallen log in the snow, a slight sad smile on her face. Her hands ran the small bell back and forth between her fingers.

"I feel like a total jerk." She said softly, blinking back tears. There was a long pause.

"Yeah." Sasuke stood up. He began walking out of the clearing and back towards town. He paused after only a few steps. Without looking back, he called out, "Are you coming?" Sakura stood up and walked quickly to his side. Together, they glared at Kakashi.

"Me too?" He asked, sounding amused.

"Yes." Sasuke answered.

"You're a jerk too," Sakura said, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him along. "But it's Christmas Eve! All the stores are closed. What are we going to do?"

Sasuke smirked. "You'll see."

~~

It was a beautiful scene. The lamp posts were lit with a soft light, muffled by the snow that fell from the sky. Up and down the street, a little trail of footsteps was worn into the newly fallen snow. Hinata leaned against a lamp post and frowned. Under her arm was tucked a small red wrapped package.

"Naruto-kun.........." she murmured, turning resolutely and walking towards his home. She halted after only a few steps. She glanced down at her package. She had been proud of it before. THe bow had been so crisp and shiny. Now, her indecision made it ugly and plain. Naruto would never want a package from grubby, weak little Hinata...........

Lost in her dark thoughts, a figure snuck up behind her.

"Hinata?" She jumped.

"I-Iruka-sensei." She said. Her former teacher smiled at her, his eyes taking in the small crumpled package under her arm and the trail she was intent on wearing into the snow.

"Why don't you come with me? Maybe I can help you out." She blushed deeply, and her grip tightened on the package under her arm. Hesitantly, she nodded.

~~

"Sakura?" Her mother looked in from the kitchen. Sakura came in and slid into a chair at the table. Her mother looked at her. "What's wrong, dear? Did Sasuke say no?" Saskura didn't answer right away. She still wore a sad little smile, and rolled the bell around in her hands.

"I hated him. Stupid Naruto is always in the way. He was so loud and annoying! I didn't want to be on his team. I didn't want to be near him." She turned big, tear filled eyes on her mother. "But he called me his friend."

Her mother was quiet for a moment. Behind her eyes, flashes from a million years ago. Demon fox rampage, tearing down the village..............

Her mother turned back to the dishes. "Take the blue platter," her mother suggested. "It has a lot of kinds of food on it, and its old so it doesn't matter if it gets a little banged up."

"Mother........" Sakura looked up in surprise. Then she smiled. "Right!"

~~

Naruto was bored. Like, really, really bored. BORED.

He sighed and flopped over onto his back. He slept in till noon. He hadn't even changed out of his jammies yet. He figured that he had probably better start with his training and stop being such a slacker. He was just getting up when he heard someone knocking at the door.

Wondering about it, he pushed open the door. And stared. And stared. And stared some more.

..........

"Merry Christmas, Naruto." Iruke-sensei was grinning at him and trying to push forward a small and shy Hinata.

"M-merry Christmas." She stuttered, looking like she was going to faint. Kakashi held a large wrapped package and Sakura yelled at him not to drop it.

"Do you.......... want to come in?" Naruto asked slowly.

"Duh, idiot." Black eyes glared at him before shoving something into his arms. Naruto staggered back as Sasuke swept by and into the house. Naruto glanced down at the large poinsetta plant he held with a little awe.

Kakashi came in next, followed by an irked Sakura who was muttering "I wish Sasuke would give me flowers..........."

Iruka smiled and grabbed Naruto's sleeping hat from off his head. Hinata paused and tried to collect herself. She was trying to lift her arms and present the red wrapped box to Naruto. He stared at her.

"Um........ Hinata?" He asked. She opened her eyes, the package held out at arms length. "Are you coming in, or what?" She blushed hotly and dropped her arms, awalking inside. Naruto scratched the back of his head and closed the door.

"Sorry. All I've got is instant Ramen-" He said. There was a low groan that circulated the room.

"Ta-da!" Sakura posed next to an enormous blue platter piled high with good things to eat. Kakashi pulled out a bottle of sake.

"Alright!" Naruto yelled. Kakashi then pulled out a bottle of juice.

"This is for you brats." He informed him, tossing the alcohol to a stammering Iruka. "And.........." He handed him a small box. "This is for you." In awe, he opened it, shredding the wrapping paper all over the floor. He lifted out a familiar pair of bells.

A clumsily held kunai had carved out tiny kanji in each. Naruto read it aloud. "Uzumaki Naruto. Nobody gets left behind." Then someone grabbed the box out of his hands.

"Open mine next!" Sakura said proud;y, handing him a present confiscated from her own pile at home. Sasuke carefully put his package on top of hers. Iruka pulled a stammering beet red Hinata up.

"Nope," He said. "It's Hinata's turn." Hinata held out the present and this time, Naruto took it. He smiled brightly at her, and she felt a little light headed. In the background, Iruka decorated like a man possessed, stringing up mistletoe and red and green streamers. As the others clammored around him and someone poured him a cup of juice, Naruto started to cry.

End

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Ah! End! Wasn't that a happy Christmas?! Oh, I'm in Texas right now, so I have to use WordPad so no spellcheck. SO if this is gramatically messed up totally, I'm really sorry. Also, I wrote this totally PC ish niceish wonderful piece mainly so I could write the sequel which is equally fluffy but shonen ai ish. So tell me what you think, please!!!