A Very NaruSaku Christmas

A/N: I'm entering this in a contest! Oh, by the way merry Christmas! This is my second time writing this because my computer freaked out so I am seriously pissed.

Hikari: This will also contain mentions of LeeIno, ShikaTema, KarTen, ChoHina, NaruHina, and SasuSaku.

"Christmas sucks," a pink haired, green eyed girl grumbled. Her blonde roommate, who was upbeat this time of year, rolled her eyes as she hung candy canes on their Christmas tree. They would be eaten before the day was over, knowing her friends.

"Oh, Sakura, it's not that awful," Yamanaka Ino said, throwing a candy cane at the girl.

"Ino, are you insane? Of course it is!" She merely chucked the candy cane off to some unknown destination. "How do you expect me to enjoy Christmas when I was dumped three days before it?!" It was Christmas Eve and her boyfriend Sasuke had ended their relationship two days before, politely saying that they could both do better.

"He wasn't worth it!" her friend declared. "He broke my heart a long time ago and I knew he would do the same with you, I told you so! Lee was a much better choice, though I can't say I'm upset you turned him down. Then I wouldn't have him all to myself! Now, can you please get the cookies out of the oven and put them on the green platter? And put out the silver and gold cups?"

"Slave driver," Haruno Sakura muttered, going to do as Ino asked. Like every year, they would be having a Christmas party where all their close friends got together.

Sakura's best friend besides Ino, Uzumaki Naruto, would be there, as well as Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata, Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Neji (Hinata's cousin), Rock Lee (Ino's boyfriend), Tenten, the three Sabakus- Gaara, Kankuro, and Shikamaru's girlfriend Temari-, Uchiha Sasuke, Suigetsu, Karin (who was dating Tenten), and Juugo. It promised to be fun, but with Sasuke there, Sakura wasn't sure she would enjoy it as much as the others.

She got out the many trays of cookies (Ino always went overboard with these) and displayed them tastefully on the festive platter, then got out the silver and gold cups, arranging them around the completely out of place purple punch bowl that was the only thing they could find last minute (yet they made the same mistake every year; neither wanted to actually buy a Christmas-like one, the purple one was tradition now).

Ino flittered in and smiled. "Good work, Sakura! You're so good at this, so I think I'll go beat up Sasuke for taking your holiday spirit away! But first I must get the other snacks out! Could you be a dear and get all the beverages ready?"

There was no use in saying no; she would have to either way and she rather enjoyed getting ready for parties. So she set to getting out the ginger ale, Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, and eggnog, then made the strawberry punch that everyone was crazy about. She would leave the hot chocolate and apple cider making to Ino because she was ready to start decorating.

"Hey, pig, make the warm stuff, I'm hanging the snowflakes and stuff!" she called.

"Oh, Sakura," a flustered blonde said, running past with a plate on each hand, one with bite-size brownies and the other with cheese balls on it, "you're lucky I'm almost done setting this stuff out!"

Her friend merely smirked before getting the decorations out.

~X~

The party was already a hit. A good portion of Ino's cookies had disappeared and they had had to go to the hidden supply to refill the platter twice.

"Present time!" Ino's cheery voice suddenly rang out and everyone groaned. It had gotten to be quite the burden to buy for so many people everyone could still feel the huge hole it left in their wallet.

Most of the presents were plain, unless it was for someone special. There was a good amount of ooh-ing at the lingerie Karin had purchased for Tenten, who had gone scarlet. (There are just some gifts you don't give in front of your friends.)

Hinata shyly handed a wrapped present to Naruto who stared at it blankly before taking it. The blonde smiled at whatever the present inside was and said, "Gee…thanks, Hinata. Hey, Sakura, Sakura! Here's one from me!"

The pinkette usually got good presents from her blue eyed friend; she had known since she was twelve that he liked her as more than a friend, but she had always had her heart set on Sasuke.

She opened the sloppily wrapped (some things never change) package and immediately hugged him. "Thanks, Naruto!" She adored the beautiful picture frame he had given her. Her favorite had broken not too long ago, leaving a picture of all of her friends without a home.

"Well, I thought you might like it," he said coolly, but he was blushing and wearing a ridiculous grin.

Without any given warning, Sakura's heart suddenly leaped and she let Naruto go quickly. "Um, I'm going to get some ginger ale," she said lamely, quickly exiting the room.

She didn't, however, get any beverage of any sort, but instead went to stand on her balcony.

"What the heck was that about?" she asked herself, wondering about how she had felt around Naruto. She pondered this deeply and then something hit her with a powerful impact: the hurt that Sasuke had left her with was practically gone and she was filled with a new, light hearted feeling.

I'm not over him this soon

, she told herself. And I'm most definitely not in love with my best friend!</P>

"Um, Sakura?" She turned around to see Naruto standing there sheepishly, holding a candy cane. "I was coming to see where you were and I found this hanging off one of your lights. Any idea how it got there?"

"Oh, I through it there earlier," she said with a nervous laugh, suddenly completely flustered in his presence. "Me and Ino were just messing around and…yeah."

"Oh…so, great night, huh?"

"Yup. I just love the feeling Christmas gives me," said Sakura. "I always get really excited this time of year!"

"Really? Me too. Hey, you remember that one Christmas when Kiba brought Akamaru over to your house and he chased your cat-"

"-all the way up the Christmas tree, resulting in disaster? Yeah, I remember and I'm sure my mom does too."

"Hey, we were able to salvage some ornaments!"

Sakura giggled and stepped closer to Naruto. Suddenly her breath caught and her heart fluttered. They were so close now, such a small distance that good easily be closed…

No! Stop thinking like that!

But yet she still felt the overwhelming urge to kiss the blonde idiot that she had known since she was five…</P>

"Sakura," he whispered.

"Y-yeah?"

"For a long time now…I mean, I know it's shocking coming from me, but I've really, really…liked you. I mean, I was so stupid I didn't figure it out for a while but I…I kinda love you," he muttered, ocean eyes darting here and there.

I've known this for a long time…I knew he would confess…I just didn't know it would affect me like this. This is

Naruto, so why do I feel like this?</P>

Memories came cascading forward without any warning, from the day they met to now, their childhood, their friendship, their teen years, school and weekends, parties and all sorts of fun things.

And that happy feeling he always managed to give her, even when she was ticked off…and she knew in that moment that she was, indeed, in love with her best friend and had been for a long time. Even in the time when she had been infatuated -infatuated, not in love- with Sasuke, she had been in love with Naruto.

"No…I'm the stupid one," she whispered. "I've loved you all this time and I only noticed it just now." And she finally closed the distance between them.

~X~

It wasn't hard for everyone to figure out what had happened between the two, including a heartbroken looking Hinata who was soon consoled by Chouji, who could figure out what was bothering her.

As it got later, everyone left, even Ino who had been clinging to a blushing Lee as he left, everyone except for Naruto, who had stayed talking to Sakura, because they had so much to talk about. They may have been friends for years, but they still found things they had to say to each other until three AM.

"I'm gonna head home now," he said, kissing her goodbye. "You want to do something later when we're done visiting our families?"

"Of course," Sakura said, smiling at Naruto. "See you then."

And the two made that the greatest Christmas they had ever had.

A/N: Okay, it was corny and fluffy, but I like that kinda stuff every now and then.

Hikari: Indeed!

Me: A merry Christmas to all!

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