Hi everybody! I hope that so far you all have been having a good holiday! I’ve written some other Christmas fics, (You can read them if you want) but it occurred to me that none of them have the Sand sibs. I’ve decided to remedy that by writing this, and I think it might be a good one.

One more thing, it takes place during the time-skip,

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that has to do with Naruto. If I did do you think I would be writing this? Well, maybe…

Christmas in Sand

Despite the fact that someone might live in a warm climate, Christmas comes everywhere. Even if you were to live in the desert, it would still happen. And it would certainly occur even if it were your first ‘real’ Christmas.

Such was Gaara’s case, and when he saw his siblings put up the décor on the tree, (1) he just frowned and ignored them until they had become to annoying to do so.

“What are you doing?” He asked finally.

Temari glanced at him with an odd look, until it was replaced by an understanding one when she remembered who was asking the question.

“Putting up a Christmas tree.” She told him,

“Why?”

There was a pause, Gaara was less scary since he met Naruto, but his knowledge and idea of culture was still very limited.

“Every Christmas, its tradition to put a pine tree in the living room and decorate it. People put presents underneath it to open on Christmas day.”

Gaara thought about that for a second, he said nothing. Temari wasn’t sure what he was going to do, but she was a bit relieved to see his stand up and take a walk. He was still learning to be better, but he was making progress. She wondered about him leaving at night, but knowing full well he didn’t sleep and that he could take care of himself, she turned her attention back to the tree.

Gaara, who had only recently become Kazekage (2), was having a holiday crisis. The crisis was that he knew almost nothing about the holiday. His memories from when he was a child were blurry, and he didn’t want to review them anyway.

He glanced at some shop windows; in it were happy images of trees, penguins and Santa. Gaara had heard of him, the man who flew around the world in one night with flying reindeer, giving presents to the good and coal for the bad. Gaara only thought of it as a way to get children to behave.

He got annoyed with the cheer and music, so he turned a corner down a nearby alleyway. He was sure that despite the annoying cheer, the season made most people softer, the other day, when Kankuro was being an idiot, Temari just kicked him instead of hitting him with her fan. It was common knowledge that when she was ticked, she usually showed no mercy.

Gaara eventually came up at the edge of the village, something he did not expect. He didn’t recall an alley that led there, but because he did not want to head back that way he sat down on a nearby box and thought about the holiday.

He had not known how long he had been thinking, but a voice broke him from his thoughts. It was high pitched and new to Gaara’s ears as he looked up.

“Hello there, mister.”

The speaker was a young girl; she had short brown hair and wore a white dress with a green sash around her waist, along with what looked like holly in her hair and a necklace with some kind of rainbow glow to it.

She spoke up again, “Hello.” Gaara just nodded so she continued, “What are you doing her sir? Anything I can help you with?”

“I don’t know,” He told the strange girl, “I’m just thinking about this strange holiday.”

The girl jumped up, suddenly giddy, “Oh now that’s something I can help you with!” she said, “I know everything about Christmas, just ask me what you want to know and I’ll tell you. I may even show you.”

Gaara wondered what she meant by ‘showing him’ what he wanted, but at least someone who seemed to have no idea of who he was could tell him what he wanted to know.

“Alright,” he said at last, “Just who is Santa?”

She giggled, “Santa is the spirit of Christmas, he gives gifts the children who believe in him. He lives in the North Pole with his wife and all the elves that help him make toys. His also goes by Chris Kringle or jolly old St. Nicholas.”

Gaara sat there and listened to her speak in high regard of Santa, almost as though she knew something deeper that that. When she finished, he asked something else that was on his mind,

“What about flying reindeer?”

“Ah, the reindeer. Their names are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph. All of them are girls, (3) and they use Aurora Borealis to fly. (4)”

“Aurora Borealis?”

“The northern lights, the lights in the north pole that make the colors in the sky.” She dug through a pocket in her dress and pulled out a picture of the said lights, “Aren’t they pretty?”

Gaara nodded, he had to admit that they were lovely. She put the picture back in her pocket and looked back up at him, as though she expected him to ask him something else.

He had wondered what else he wanted to ask the ‘Christmas expert’ about, after a moment of thought, he finally came up with the one thing that he had been thinking of all day.

“How do you even know that he exists? How do you believe in something you’re not sure about?”

At this the girl smiled, “Now for that, I’ll have to show you. Follow me.” She was about to turn and walk out into the desert, when she stopped as though she had just remembered something, “Sir? Do you believe in ghosts?”

Gaara was taken aback by her question; it never struck him as something to think about. He shook his head no, and was met by a look from the girl. It was a look that he could not place his finger on.

She muttered a quiet, “Interesting” and griped his hand, leading him into the desert night.

She led Gaara out about a mile; they could still see the village from the point where she stopped. Gaara stood there, wondering what she was supposed to show him, when she closed her eyes and asked him to do the same.

Not quite understanding, he did so. As soon as he did, he heard a new sound, singing and laughing. His eyes snapped open and he was shocked to find that he was in a warm house with children running around and playing. Christmas décor was hung and a fire was in the fireplace. It was a nice looking house.

He tried to shake of the genjutsu illusion, only to find that it was moderately real. He turned to the girl who supposedly brought him there; she smiled and took his hand again and told him to watch what was happening.

“You aren’t completely real here.” She said, “These are mostly shadows of memory, that you are about to see.”

The girl pointed to one of the children, who came running straight at him. He braced himself for a moment, before she passed straight through him. The girl who brought him there smiled and told him something along the lines of ‘I told you so.’

Gaara pause for a second, this HAD to be an illusion. But he had never met a person who could do it at such a young age (5). It seemed off somehow, in a way that he could not place. She seemed to feel his confusion.

“Watch.”

He did, the little girl who passed through him ran up to two people who must have been her parents.

“Mommy,” She said, “When is Santa gonna come?”

“Now Kaori-chan,” Her father started,

The girl gave him no room to finish his sentence, “I wanna see him come now.”

The mother laughed, “Kaori-chan, Santa doesn’t come until your fast asleep. You sent out your Christmas list, so he will give you something like you asked. But now it’s time for bed.”

“Aw,” the girl moaned as she was ushered into her bed. Kaori suddenly gasped and ran to the kitchen; she came out with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk.

“I almost forgot to leave cookies and milk out.” She said, “Okay, now I’m ready for bed, goodnight mommy, goodnight daddy.”

She ran off with her brother and went to sleep. As the drifted off, so did the picture of the house. It faded out and the dessert was all that the two of them could see.

Gaara blinked and glanced at the girl, who had a smile and said, “The children believe in him because they have dreams and Santa helps those dreams come true.”

“Okay,” Gaara said uncertainly, “but that doesn’t prove he exists.”

She shook her head and looked at him, “Belief has nothing to do on whether or not it’s true.”

She told him to close his eyes again, he did, and this time he opened them to find that he was in another house, but this one was shabby and run down. Gaara squinted and saw a young woman in a bed with a child near her.

The woman on the bed pulled out a present for the child, “Santa told me to give this to you. He said you might want it.”

The child shakily opened the gift with his shaking hands, inside was a red book. He smiled and hugged his mother, thanking her.

“I got you something mommy,” He handed his mother a gift as well, and she saw it and slowly started to cry in joy.

Gaara never saw what the boy gave his mother, because the image faded just like the first one. The girl who had somehow been doing all of it spoke up once more.

“Sometimes belief in Santa can help the poor and destitute get by.”

Gaara hesitated, “But they are children, they will believe anything that they’re told.”

The girl shook her head, “Belief is not about youth, but faith.”

This time the air became significantly colder and a wind picked up suddenly. He was once again no longer in a desert, but a graveyard. Walking by was a teenage girl, who looked sad yet humbled. The girl who brought him there told him to follow the teen, she stopped at one gravestone after a short time of walking. Gaara looked closely at it and saw that it read, ‘Yumiko Riamura’

“This is just the same as the other shadows of time,” The Christmas girl said, “She cannot see or hear you.”

“Hey mom.” The teen suddenly said, “I wanted to visit you because, well, it’s Christmas Eve. I remember you always loved this time of the year; you were always singing and putting up tinsel, and ringing that bell of yours. You know, the one you can only hear if you believe in Santa.”

Gaara watched as the ten put something on the grave, “I made you some snickerdoodles. You always insisted that I make them for the holidays, and said that they were your favorite.” She turned, “I’ll tell the others that you are alright, and that you still believe in Santa. I still do.”

Gaara watched as she walked away from the grave of her mother. She looked up and saw a shining star, smiling, she said a quick prayer,

“Santa, please give my siblings the hope and spirit in Christmas. The kind that Mother would have given them.”

Gaara looked shocked as she walked away. He turned back to the grave and was surprised to see that the cookies were gone. He didn’t hear anyone come over to the plate. The girl who had shown him everything smiled and spoke to him once more.

“You see mister,” She said in a low voice, “Belief is what people have in their hearts to give them connections to the ones they love. Even of they are in a better place. Besides,” She added as an after thought, “You know what they say. Seeing is believing.”

Gaara stood where he was, unable to think for a moment and unable to get what she meant by that. The girl just smiled and pulled her necklace off. It was in the shape of a vial with some kind of rainbow light inside.

“I think I can trust a piece of me with you.” She told him, slipping the necklace around his neck, “Please keep it safe.” She then smiled at Gaara and covered his eyes with her hand. He did nothing to stop her, but was a bit annoyed with the gesture all the same.

“Wait, what’s your name anyway?” the Kazekage asked, “You never told me.”

He heard a small giggle, “Aurora”

Aurora, wait a second, Aurora?

“Gaara? What are you doing?”

Gaara opened his eyes and found himself at his front door. Temari was standing there with a confused look on her face,

“Gaara, I know you don’t sleep, but you’ve been gone for a few hours. Don’t you think you should come in now?”

Gaara looked around for the Aurora girl, there was no sign of her. Temari looked more confused as he looked,

“What’s up with you? And where did you get that thing?”

“What thing?” He asked her.

She pointed to the necklace around his neck, “That thing, it sure is pretty. Did a fan girl give it to you?”

“No.”

He was about to enter the house, when something above his head caught his attention. Temari saw it too.

“The northern lights?”

Gaara stared upwards, “Aurora Borealis.” He whispered

“Sure are beautiful,” Temari said, “But I never expected to see them here.”

Gaara looked back at the necklace around his neck, “Me either.” He turned to Temari, “Do you believe in ghosts?”

Temari was taken aback and answered with a confused blink, “I don’t know, I guess not. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason.”

Footnotes:

1: Okay, I have no idea what the sand sibs are like during the time skip. I’m just guessing as well as I can.

2: Sorry about the spoiler, but most people have discovered it at one point so I figured, what the heck.

3: I mentioned this in another fic, but it’s true. Males lose their antlers during the winter, and females only lose them when pregnant. Most every ‘Santa’s sleigh’ image has reindeer with antlers, so they are all female.

4: This is a theory of my own, I saw ‘polar express’ and saw Santa use the northern lights as a whip, but this seems more animal friendly.

5: I think this is how it works, but I’m not too well versed in the genjutsu department.

This one was interesting to write, it was fun too. The character Aurora was especially enjoyable to come up with. I just hope her actual purpose and existence made sense.

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this as much if not more as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Happy Holidays!