A Truely Merry Christmas

Naruto sat in his room staring out at the snowy scenery before him. It had been twelve years since he was born and twelve years he had lived full of fear. He hated Christmas. It was a time to smile and give presents, to be with friends and family.

Naruto sighed. As far as he knew he didn't have friends or family. The old man always told him to be proud of his parents, but he was never given any names. Naruto couldn't even find one Uzumaki in the name of residents in the Hidden Leaf Village.

He did what he did every Christmas: hope that his parents were watching over him and wish for someone, just someone, to care about him. He was never cared for so why should he expect someone to care now, even if he finally had a team.

Naruto laid down in bed and sighed. This was going to be another cold Christmas.

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Sasuke sat on top of a roof in the Uchiha Clan district, or what was left of it. He had cleaned it up a bit and still lived in the house he that had lived in before when he still had a family. He could never leave this place, it helped him remember everyone.

He remembered when he had Christmas with his family. He had always eagerly waited for his brother to give him a gift, even now he wished it was all a dream and that he would become the nii-san he always knew.

Christmas was always a bitter sweet experience. It gave him good and bad memories of before. He closed his eye and allowed the cooling snow to fall around him.

"SASUKE!" shouted a voice jolting Sasuke awake.

"Dammit!" mumbled Sasuke when he looked down to see another fan girl, this time Sakura, trying to give him a Christmas present. "Good thing she hasn't seen me yet.

Sasuke silently got up and jumped away. He fingered the item in his pocket and set off to find a place to hide from more fan girls and their dump presents. Naruto's place would be a good place to hide. Sakura would never go there.

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Sasuke jumped down to Naruto's place. He had only just met him, but they had worked well on the A ranked mission so he hoped they were on good terms. Yet again he clutched the object in his pocket. He then went over to the door and knocked.

Naruto heard the knock, but ignored it. He was not in the mood for someone to call him a monster and throw things at him like they did every Christmas. They called it a very enjoyable "game." He was about to lay down again when he heard a shout.

"Hey, Dobe! Open the door!"

It was Sasuke. "What do you want teme?" Naruto shouted back as he went to the door and opened it.

"I was hoping to hide from Sakura here. Are you alone?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah. Now can you leave?" asked Naruto.

"What's wrong? You seem less hyper than usual. Your taking my personality," joked Sasuke.

"None of your business teme," Naruto replied.

"Dobe."

"Teme."

"Dobe."

"Teme."

"Dobe."

Naruto smiled. It felt good to be with Sasuke. He wondered if this was how it felt to have a brother. Maybe he would celebrate Christmas this year. It would be his first and one he would never forget.

"Fine, come on in. I'll get us some tea," Naruto said as he went back in his house.

"Thanks," replied Sasuke as he quickly closed the door.

As Naruto went to get some tea Sasuke noticed that Naruto's place was actually pretty clean. Naruto must have been trying to get his mind of the holidays. Sasuke couldn't blame him, he had no one to celebrate with either.

Naruto and Sasuke spent the day trading tactics and strategies about ninja battle formations. Soon the day was over and Sasuke got up to leave.

"See you later dobe. See you tomorrow."

"Merry Christmas," said Naruto which surprised himself. He hadn't ever said it before. Maybe it was because there was no one to say it to.

Naruto went to his bed to see a small present. Naruto took of the wrapping paper to see a card and a box. The note red:

Here ya go dobe. Guess you never got a present before. Hope you like it. Merry Christmas.

~Sasuke

Naruto opened the box to see a necklace with the Uzumaki's clan seal on it. It was finely polished and on the back it had the engravings "Team 7." Naruto smiled. This was his first and his best Christmas holiday ever.

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Christmas came and went. Team 7 had another mission. Sakura and Kakashi were surprised that Naruto and Sasuke didn't strangle each other. As time went by they became closer and would call each other "Onii-san" or "Aniki." They had truly become brothers.