Minato sighed, as he looked down at the neatly wrapped box on his lap.

' I guess, I won't be able to give it to her...' he thought sadly, as he watched the object of his affections, dance with her teammate.
For a while now, Minato has been interested in his classmate Haruno Sakura. She had transferred into his class a year before he graduated early, her pink hair and green eye an odd, yet pretty combination. While she was in class, he never payed much attention to her, often more focused on his other classmate, Uzumaki Kushina, and her wild antics.

However a year later, he had caught her practicing her training. Well, what strange training it was. She was doing push ups with a boulder on her back, and at the time, Minato had been afraid she would crush herself. Though, luckily she never did.

' She's strong.'

He remarked that day, as he left, before she could catch him.

Only a few months later and he saw her again, at the Konoha public library. Her eyes completely fixated on the text she was reading, while her hand scribbled words on the paper in front of her at a fast pace. She was mumbling to herself, while she took notes and flipped pages.

' What a hard worker.'

He commented in his mind, before returning the books he borrowed.

Not long after, he saw her in the park, talking to a little girl sitting by herself under a tree, while others played. The girl seemed timid and sad, before brightening up at whatever Sakura told her. They both walked over to the swing set, where Sakura pushed the now smiling girl.

' How kind of her.'

He stated in his head, as he watched Sakura play with the no longer lonely girl.

The fourth time he saw her, they were introduced properly, by their teachers. Jiraiya had brought him to meet his old teammate and her student. It had shocked him, that Sakura was the one trainng under the legendary woman, but it also made her training an intese session in the library click.

While the old teammates, fell into their clearly usual banter, Minato and Sakura didn't really say much to each other, out of not really interacting often. Minato couldn't really bring up the times he saw her, cause he thought, she'd think he was stalking her. Luckily, she decided to start the conversation, by asking what it was like to train under the toad sannin.

Once they began talking, it was like they became best friends. Minato talked about his out of the box sensei, while Sakura laughed and commented about her own quirky teacher. Both, ignoring the protest from their mentors, while swapping stories and snickering at the others misfortune.

Time had flew by, so they had agreed to meet again on their free day to continue talking. Tsunade had jokingly referred to it as a date, which caused both kids to blush, while denying it.

Soon, they made it a point to schedule times to meet and hang out, often chatting in small restaurants, taking walks through the park, after training, or sitting through a movie together. This would be their first Christmas, as friends, and Minato had wanted to spend some time with Sakura, then give her a gift he had picked out.

But, with this dance, he hardly got two words in. After being separate for a long time, old friends missed one another and both Sakura and himself had needed to catch up with old friends and introduce them to new ones. Although, Minato and Sakura haven't revealed that they are friends yet.

Sighing, Minato decided to go outside and look at the stars. They always helped him clear his mind and think.

' Maybe, I can give her the present on New Years. It would still be a special occasion and we wouldn't have all our year mates to deal with, while trying to hang out.' he thought logically, but was still disappointed at not being able to speak with his friend, as he referred to her.

Sakura was definitely special to Minato. She was the only girl he was close to and interacting with her was different than interacting with his guy friends. She made his chest tighten, whenever she was close and his hand tingle, whenever she placed it in her's. When he confessed this to Jiraiya, the man had laughed and told him, he was " crushing on the little rosette."

Minato had walked away, red in the face, after he had denied such accusations. However, as he spent time with Sakura, after confronting his sensie, it seemed that Jiraiya's teasing words, had been more truthful than he was willing to admit. But, Minato didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't just tell Sakura, cause that would ruin their friendship, if she didn't feel the same. Not to mention, she could like someone else. Or even have a boyfriend!

At that thought, Minato buried his face in his arms, while leaning against the railing.

"Minato, what are you doing out here?" came the curious voice of Sakura.

Said boy, after recovering from surprise at her appearance, answered.

" I just came out to look at the sky, you?"

" Needed some fresh air after all that dancing."

Minato chuckled." I bet, you were going nonstop."

Sakura joined him, as she perched herself next to him on the railing.

Minato glanced at the girl next to him, out of the corner of his eye, before looking at the gift on his other side.

" So, Sakura, have you enjoyed Christmas?"

" Yeah. Having this dance for those that attended the academy was an awesome idea, since we get to see others from different classes, not to mention friends from other teams."

" I know. I really missed some guys, from class, but since I was put on a team early, it couldn't be helped."

Sakura hummed in agreement.

A silence settled between them. Minato was just gathering up the courage to give Sakura her gift, when said girl spoke.

" Merry Christmas, Minato!" she said somewhat high pitched, from nerves. Minato looked at her and saw that she was not looking at him, but at her feet, cheeks bright red. A little white bag, with a green ribbon on it poised in his face.

Minato mutely took the bag, before opening it. He blinked, as he pulled out a small blue cloth, with a lightning bolt in the middle.

A handkerchief.

" I was not sure what to get you..." began Sakura in a small voice, before she cleared it." So I thought I'd make you something that could be useful. I hope you like it." she said, hands tightly grasping the lower half of her red santa dress.

" You made this?" questioned Minato. But, upon further inspection, he could see the band-aids on her fingers, which gave him his answer.

" Mmhmm. I thought a handkerchief would come in hand, but I didn't just want to buy one. I'm still getting the hang of sowing, but for a final product, I thought that wasn't so bad."

Minato looked over the material and saw that there were a few wobbly lines on the lightning bolt and noticed some yellow spots near the corner.

" Those are your initials, N.M." stated the girl, as she saw him starring.

Minato looked at Sakura and smiled.

" Thank you. I, um, got you a present as well. Though, it's not as special as something hand made." he said sheepishly, as he handed over the small green box.

Sakura carefully unwrapped it, before gasping.

She pulled her gift out of the box, before eyeing the item in clear happiness.

" Minato, it's beautiful." and it was. A simple silver chain, with a hallow butterfly pendent , decorated in rhinestones, attached to it.

" I'm glad you like it.' spoke a relieved Minato.

Sakura clasped the bracelet on and moved to hug Minato.

" Thank you so much." she said.

" You're welcome. Merry Christmas, Sakura." said girl leaned back to look at her friend's face.

" Merry Christmas, Minato."

Without even realizing it, they had leaned forward and closed their eyes.

In the distance, they heard the music playing from the party, but didn't care.

After a moment, they both pulled back. Too embarrassed to met the others eye.

They had just kissed.

" Shouldn't you two save that for under the mistletoe?" came the teasing tone of Inuzuka Tsume, causing both heads to snap in her direction.

Only to see their friends grinning madly, while making their own comments.

" S- shut up!" yelled Sakura, face flushed with both embarrassment and anger.

" Awe, Sakura-chan's mad, everybody run!" shouted Kushina, as she ran away laughing at her friend's shame, with the rest following.

Minato watched, as Sakura tried to catch her friends and get them to stop teasing her, with a crooked smiled.

' She's the one.'

And he knew he was right.

Just a little something for Christmas.

Sorry for any errors and happy holidays!