Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘you must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.’” (Exodus 31:12-13)

This week, make the Sabbath a time to relax, remember, and reconnect with Dad (Abba).

Oh, the mayhem! How in the world did so many people fit into Naruto’s small apartment?

Naruto had decided to throw a Christmas Party! Not everyone could come because of family-visiting time, but a few were able to use a clone in their place to sneak away. As chance would have it, the family members didn’t even bother to check if who they were talking to was the real deal. This is how Hinata escaped her family. She only hoped no one bumped into her. That would most definitely draw everyone into hysteria.

As for Jiraiya, he had nothing better to do, and he really wanted to hide from Tsunade.

Sasuke came because he didn’t feel like spending Christmas alone again, and of course his presence led to Sakura’s coming. Iruka accepted within seconds of being asked. Kakashi agreed with a shrug. Pakuun was also there. Gaara, who was in the village on business affairs, also agreed to come. Lee had jumped up and down when he heard of the party and pleaded to come, waterworks included.

Naruto was a good host. He had saved a lot of money to throw the party, and that was evident. Off to the side of the party room, but not in a corner, a thick green tree sat decorated with bells, mistletoe, stars, leaf symbols, candy canes, red ribbons, and red glass balls. Under the tree, presents from everyone sat merrily.

There was a buffet table, consisting of fried rice, a roasted bird, chocolates, fruits, and various other finger foods. The table was simple—a plain, off-white card table—but decorated with small bells. There were other card tables of the same color placed about the room with green-seated, cheap bar stools for chairs.

Naruto had greeted everyone with more enthusiasm than he usually had.

Arriving first, Hinata received a snow-melting grin and an energetic wave hello. She blushed and twiddled her fingers when she realized she was the first to arrive.

Naruto had kept conversation light and innocent, yet she stuttered incoherently each time she replied and soon passed out.

Sasuke arrived looking extremely put out, Sakura in tow, and Naruto greeted Sasuke with a nod, and proceeded to flirt with Sakura, meriting in a red, bruised cheek. Sakura, down-thinking the party, brought a huge homemade cake with strawberries decorating it.

Next, Iruka arrived, and Naruto promptly glomped him.

When Gaara arrived, there was no human activity he didn’t detect with his sharp eyes. It was obvious he’d never been invited over to another’s house before. Naruto greeted him with an awkward smile.

Next, Lee spun in, swinging his fists around like a monkey. In retaliation, Naruto smacked him upside the head and allowed him inside.

Then came Jiraiya, drunk and mumbling about some crazy Hokage, who insulted Naruto the first chance he got.

Naturally, Naruto retaliated with his own bickering.

Much later than expected, Kakashi meandered in, Pakuun situated on his head, and after reprimanding Kakashi for being late, Naruto promptly glomped him. Kakashi’s excuse this time had been saving a little old lady from a tree. Nobody was convinced.

After everyone situated themselves and finished with greetings, they dug into the food. Iruka, Sakura, Sasuke, and Lee sat near the cake and jumped on it almost immediately (except for Sasuke, who had sat there by no means his own choice, but only to appease Sakura. Sakura placed the cake in front of him). Hinata, Kakashi, and Gaara isolated themselves from the crowd and ate in silence. Pakuun immediately hopped into the tree to eat the candy canes, and Naruto and Jiraiya sat together off from the crowd to quarrel with each other.

Thus the story finally began.

“C’mon Sasuke! This cake is delicious! Taste it, for me?” Sakura whined with a pout. Sasuke brought his arms up and waved them to block the fork of cake.

“I don’t eat sweets. I’d think you of all people would know that by now!” Sasuke bit back venomously.

Lee stood up and lifted his fist. His eyes caught fire as he exclaimed, “You dare to not accept Sakura’s graciousness?! I shall eat the entire thing and win her heart!” He snatched the cake and fork, eyeing it with evil intent.

“You can’t eat the entire cake! You’ll get sick! And what about the other guests?” she shrieked, pulling the cake away from Lee. Using this distraction to his advantage, Sasuke flung his cake plate off the table. He stared in mute and helpless horror as the plate landed in an unintentional, most inopportune place.

Iruka, who had been watching the whole scenario, groaned.

“Sasuke, where did your cake…AH-ack-,” She started to shout, but Sasuke clamped his hand over her mouth and gave her a look of warning.

Naruto and Jiraiya stopped talking and stared. Jiraiya turned his attentions away abruptly and tried to continue the conversation, but Naruto’s interest couldn’t be stolen away from the scene playing out.

“He didn’t notice yet, so keep quiet!” Sasuke hissed.

“How did it even get there?” she whispered, when Sasuke released her.

Sasuke didn’t answer.

Kakashi chuckled to himself before glancing around, looking for something.

Hinata slowly approached the victim, pushing her fingers together. “Uh…” she started but lost all ability to speak when Gaara’s eyes met hers. She tried again, “Uh, G-Gaara, y-you have, uh, c-cake in your h-hair.”

He stared at her for the longest time, as if he never heard her. Slowly, he combed through his hair until he found the cake. He pulled the glob out of his hair and stared at it in shock. How did it even get there?

Kakashi, who was on all four looking under the tree, broke the tension. “Has anyone seen Pakuun?” Naruto glanced at the tree and noticed Pakuun tied up with the red ribbon stuck over his mouth. A half of a candy cane was sticking behind his ear.

“Why did you bring him, if you were just going to lose him?” Naruto exclaimed, barely keeping a straight face.

“He likes parties,” Kakashi shrugged and lifted a present. His name caught his eye, and he began to shake the box. He sighed and placed it down to continue his search.

“Ah, don’t worry about him! If he needed help, he’d be screaming already.” Naruto snickered at Iruka’s response. Everyone glanced around looking for the dog, but no one bothered to look in the tree. Naruto could barely hold in his guffaws. Pakuun glared at him and gave a pitiful, muffled whine.

Kakashi heard it and looked around the tree. When he found the dog, Pakuun growled at him. “How did you get there?” Kakashi grinned. Pakuun continued to growl, and Kakashi pulled out a kunai to begin the process of cutting Pakuun from his current ribbon-wrapped imprisonment.

“You’re all supposed to be ninjas! How come no one found me?” Pakuun grumbled.

“No one expects to rescue someone at a party! Besides, you were on the other side of the tree where we couldn’t see you!” Sakura exclaimed indignantly, slightly shaking the cake knife in her hand.

“You’ve never been to the Jounins’ parties,” Kakashi said with a smile.

Sasuke stared at the new slice of cake in front of him indifferently. Suddenly, a spark of mischief lit up in his eye. If he could hit Gaara, who else could he get? He felt extremely proud of his earlier feat. He glanced at Sakura to make sure she wouldn’t notice the missing cake until it was too late. Then, he aimed for the back of Naruto’s head.

Crap!

He tried to stop, but the cake was already airborne. Naruto had turned around to say something to Kakashi and was facing Sasuke. The cake landed dead smack into Naruto’s mouth. He choked on it for a few seconds before swallowing it whole. He coughed up a storm when it had finally gone down.

Jiraiya patted him on the back, and the coughs clamed down. “Boy, what were you trying to do, swallow an entire slice of cake whole?” he asked out of half concern, half mock.

“Yep!” He smiled back.

“Sasuke! Where are your cake slices disappearing to?” Sakura cried as she sliced him another piece.

He grimaced.

Naruto held up his empty plate for Sasuke to see and pointed at the center. Sasuke understood what it meant and kicked Lee in the knee as hard as he could. Lee buckled and cried in pain. Sakura glanced at him in concern. Sasuke took this window of opportunity and flicked the cake to Naruto who caught it on his plate. The adults all snickered at the show.

“Sasuke! What are you doing with your cake?” Then she noticed Naruto with cake. “Naruto how many slices have you had?”

“Two of free will.” He gave her a toothy grin, and received a confused look in reply.

“How did you even get it? I don’t remember you coming over to get a slice.”

“I gave it to him,” Sasuke said in his cool, monotone voice. “I hate sweets!”

A gasp caught everyone’s attention. “G-Gaara, are y-you actually going to eat that?” Hinata exclaimed.

Gaara had gotten himself a fork and was enjoying his hair-cake. He merely shrugged and continued.

The rest of the party was uneventful. Lee had eaten what was left of the cake (two slices). Iruka had passed out due to inactivity, though no one noticed until the party had dwindled down. Pakuun had stayed away from the horrible tree. Naruto received a few more slices of cake. (It was a huge cake.) Gaara even caught a few strays. Jiraiya too passed out because of the alcohol he’d consumed. Kakashi scooted into a corner and re-read Icha Icha. Sakura gave up feeding Sasuke. Hinata excused herself and sneaked back into her family’s party.

Presents were exchanged, and all were merry.

Overall, everyone had fun and couldn’t wait for next year’s party to come.