WOLF: hello to every one! I'm so sorry to those of you waiting for my other fics to update but I can haply say I'm working on them at last. This last two semesters have been really hard for me and I haven't found the inspiration to write but the last few months I have gotten some amazing heart felt reviews that have kicked up my love for writing again.

And thanks to them you get this small sequel to Foxy Christmas I wrote last year to tide you over but fear not EC is being worked on and so are some new projects on their way!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE and happy New Year as well!

It was Christmas once again and Naruto couldn't help but feel the irony that once again he was left alone with no one who cared, well if you didn't count Kurama, but he was always there like it or not.

But just like the year before Naruto was alone, tucked away in his warm blanket sipping coco. It nearly brought a laugh to his lips but instead a sigh was all that passed his slightly chapped mouth. Kurama was sadly truly stuck in his stomach this year having used his one chance to get out a little earlier than he meant, but seeing that it was either that or Naruto would have had his head chopped off by a rouge ninja. So he was truly and fully alone except for the voice in his head.

He smiled as he heard the slight snore from the great fox demon. He really didn't fault Kurama for taking a nap when the fox had been awake with his since the night before due to bad dreams.

Snuggling back into his couch Naruto pondered the possibilities of his chances if any of his fellow ninjas showing up.

It was true that the year before he had been really upset with them for completely ignoring his existence. This was the reason that they had started to stop going on missions with him. In truth only Shikamaru and Hinata were still talking to him. Sasuke tried sometimes but Sakura would get really mad at him when he did. She had been so mad when he had ignored her that day and in the end finally made it clear what she really thought of him.

To say the least Naruto did feel somewhat alone now, in truth there was only about seven people that would really try and talk to him anymore out of his old group of friends.

"Kit go get something to eat." Kurama grumbled.

Naruto snickered, he hadn't realized that Kurama was awake.

Wrapping his blanket tighter around his shoulders before he pushed himself up, hissing as his feet as the cold floor. "And what would you suggest I eat than?"

"Meat." Kurama snarked.

"All you ever want me to eat is meat though." Naruto half whined.

"I have to taste it to you know, I may not be putting it in my mouth but it's my stomach that will be supplied later." Kurama mumbled.

Naruto laughed as he pulled some left over from the fridge. It was a simple beef stew but he knew Kurama would appreciate the taste. He smiled as he set the food on his counter and set the stove on to heat it up. Slowly he sat down at his table and rubbed his stomach, where the seal was. He could feel the warm pulse coming from the chakra that held his lover prisoner within his skin. Naruto pressed some of his own chakra into the seal, something he often did, knowing Kurama would feel the loving pressure.

A small gasp left his lips as his arms wrapped around his ribs. The pain he felt was unbelievable. He didn't understand it had never happened before! Yet for some reason all he could feel was pain. Inside is mind he could also hear Kurama's yells.

Slipping off his chair and to his knees he curled up into a ball holding back his own screams of pain. Tears slipped down his cheeks as he prayed for the pain to stop, for Kurama to be okay, and for them to come out of this safely.

And suddenly just as quickly as it had started, it stopped. Naruto slowly pushed himself up looking down and his hands that had been covered in a red substance. He shakily pulled his hands away from the floor looking as it dripped from his hands. It wasn't blood he knew that, the texture wasn't right.

"Kit?" the scruffy voice made Naruto snap his head over to the side, feeling his eyes widen at seeing Kurama kneeling on the floor next to him. The redhead was just as covered in the red substance as himself. With trembling hands he slipped his hands onto Kurama's cheeks just to know yes it was really the overgrown fox himself.

Kurama slipped forward and moved his arms around Naruto pulling him into a tight embrace.

"How." Naruto rasped, his eyebrows drawing close together.

Kurama shook his head; he truly didn't understand what had happened himself. At one moment he was taking in the content feeling of Naruto's chakra the next he was feeling only pain as the water that coated his jail became boiling hot. At the same moment he could also feel the bars of the barrier explode and stab into the area around him. And for what he could almost say felt like forever before suddenly the pain just stopped. But along with that he knew that the stretching sensation that came next was the same as every time he left the seal. Only this time he was left on the floor kneeling in front of Naruto.

Slowly the two broke apart from their embrace for Naruto to pull up his shirt and send his chakra to the seal only for it not to glow like it normally would. In fact nothing came forth on his stomach; the only thing left on his skin was the red substance.

Looking at one another Naruto brought the substance to his nose and gave it a slight sniff before cringing away. It had the strong smell of ink. Mostly like the ink that he would often use to draw seals with; and by guessing the color it was almost certainly the kind that Minato would use back in the day. Gently Kurama pulled Naruto's hands away and pressed kisses onto his knuckles before smiling.

"I guess this means that I'm free." The older man chuckled ignoring the odd sensation of the ink on his lips.

Naruto whimpered before he threw himself at Kurama, tumbling them both to the floor. It terrified Naruto, what if Kurama left him. He knew that the fox often told him that he would be there forever but now that the seal was gone it would be easy for the redhead to leave him. But what scared him the most was the idea that he wouldn't come back to him if he did leave.

"I won't leave you, I promise, I told you I would always be here with you." The fox whispered knowing full well what the blond would be thinking. And to the demon it was true, every night he would tell the blond before they slept that he would always be there. He knew that his little love would always struggle with trusting people even him, due to his past but Kurama held hope that one day he would be able to say the endearments he did and know that Naruto would believe them fully.

Naruto sighed pressing his head to Kurama's chest before smiling a teary smile. "I'm not going to hold you here if you don't want to be here anymore. I won't hold you back."

Kurama growled, "There is now way in hell I will leave you here alone. If I ever go anywhere I'm taking you with me!"

Naruto shook his head. "I don't want you to feel like you're forced to take me with you. Kurama your free now, you can live however you want to, I won't drag you down that way."

It took the redhead everything he had not to thump the man in the head, "If you think for one second that I will leave you behind because you think you're a burden on me you have another thing coming, I love you Naruto. I thought after the last year I had made that clear to you. I love everything about you, the way you sleep, the way you bite your nails, the way you always scuff your feet when you feel insecure. I wouldn't want you any other way! It's not that I was forced into this, if I really wanted to leave you I could have done so years ago by tearing through the seal but that would have killed you no doubt; and I would never risk your life like that!"

Naruto flushed at everything that Kurama said. He wasn't use to any form of compliment, from anyone. Kurama really was his true companion in life, his reason for living when everyone only wanted his death.

So to be honest it was all Naruto could do not to let the tears swelling in his eyes not to fall. He smashed his face into the broad chest.

"I love you, I truly do. I, I don't want you to leave, to leave me alone again." Naruto hiccuped.

Kurama sighed feeling the moisture on his chest. Running his hand through Naruto's hair he smiled sadly. "I give you my demon's oath, I will never leave you Naruto and should I ever have to go away I will always return to you, always."

Naruto lifted his head to smile slightly at the taller man, "I love you." He whispered before lightly pressing his lips to the cheek before him.

Kurama sighed; it was a start at least. Naruto may not have fully believed it but the blond knew how important the demon's oath was and that was enough to settle the little males worries just a bit.

Naruto sat up and glanced down at the dark red stain on his body before laughing when he saw the hand print on Kurama's cheek. He pushed himself up before extending a hand to pull up his love.

"Come on let's go get cleaned up, hm?" Naruto hummed softly.

Kurama chuckled before he took Naruto's hand and stood, he gazed around the room, still slightly in disbelief that he was truly free. He glanced over at Naruto who wore and small serine smile.

The redhead grinned before he moved forward and quickly hurled Naruto over his shoulder and calmly walked towards their bathroom to clean them both up.

Merry Christmas!

It was almost midnight when knocks came to their door that night. Naruto and Kurama were culled up on the couch, both having cleaned up to their best ability, though a light stain of red remained on their skin and in Naruto's hair.

Naruto shot the old fox a confused look before he unwrapped the blanket they wore from around him and shuffled to the door.

Pausing slightly before he rolled the knob to open the door to whoever had visited he was shocked to see several of his old friends there.

Shikamaru had clearly been the one to knock on the door, but behind him stood Hinata, Shino, Choji, and even Sasuke. It took some effort not to let his jaw drop but somehow he felt some slight warmth seeing them all there.

"Well are you going to let us in, it was troublesome enough to come out here already, don't make us stand in the cold any longer." Naruto was shocked into action and jumped aside to allow the other nin into his apartment.

He shut the door slowly once they were all in; he quietly led them over to his sitting area where Kurama waited calmly for them to join him. Naruto slowly sat next to the redhead before smiling softly.

"So we meet again." Sasuke said calmly though his eyes were sharp on Kurama.

"Yes it seems so, though I can say you'll be seeing more of me now, I'm here to stay this time." The fox rumbled with a slight grin.

Shikamaru's eyes widened at what this meant for them all before he took a calm breath. He shouldn't take something like this at face value, he knew that Naruto was lonely, he had always known, but he also knew that even though their village had treated the blond so bad he would never let any harm come to their home. Without a doubt be knew that they would be safe even though this man had once attacked this place so long as Naruto was here. If things came down to it later he would be sure to stand by Naruto's side and support him through any trial that came.

Kurama could see the way the pineapple haired man had come to a conclusion and nodded when the calm eyes turned to him, promising to be fair to those he came across so long as Naruto was safe.

Hinata smiled as she leaned forward and pressed a small gift into Naruto's hands before she had to stall the complaints that he hadn't got her anything. "It's fine Naruto-kun, we were the ones that dropped in on you, we never expected to get anything in return." She explained softly.

Naruto once again felt light tears come to his eyes, it was so rare that someone didn't expect something back from him. Slowly he unwrapped his gift and felt his eyes widen at the small bracelets that were in the festive paper.

"Their lined with chakra to protect you from Genjustu." She explained softly, "We all infused a bit of chakra to insure that it would be able to fight against most justus up to B rank." Naruto gave them all a slight wobbly smile.

"Thank you."

"We were worried, last week when you came back from your mission badly injured only to find out it was because you had been attacked by a team of skilled Genjustu users we knew that we would have to do something to make sure you would continue to come back to us." Sasuke said softly, while the other's nodded along with him. They had been shocked when Naruto had come back to the village practically dragging himself in, his eyes gleaming over with the after effects of the genjustsu that the attackers had used.

"We would have been by earlier but the others had caused interference." Shino explained stiffly.

Sasuke sighed at Naruto's confused look, somethings would never change. "Sakura and Ino were kicking up a storm when they realized that we were going to come here. They didn't approve of our choices but after Kiba thought it was a good idea to get physical we made the choice to slip them under a sleep genjustu." Shikamaru explained as he looked over at Hinata who had performed the jutsu.

Naruto stiffed a small laugh before he rested his head against Kurama's shoulder. "Thank you, it truly means alot to me."

The rest of the night was spent in a similar atmosphere before the others had to leave to get their sleep in leaving with wishes of Merry Christmas.

Kurama smiled as he wrapped Naruto into his arms. "We all love you Naruto; I promise you will never be alone. Not while I'm here and not while they are either."

Naruto turned around and smiled before pressing a small kiss to Kurama's lips. "No I don't think I will be." He agreed.

….

Behind the two, unseen by their eyes to shimmery figures stood, both with smiles on their faces as the saw for once they knew that their son would be safe and loved, they would finally rest in peace.