Okay. There are a few reasons I decided to write this story. The first is that my friend decided to post up a Christmas oneshot… and I don't like to be out done XD ha, ha. I know really stupid. But the second reason is because I wanted to dedicate a story to my very dear friend Mel. She moved away to North Carolina a few days ago. And… I won't mince words. I'm fucking depressed. I miss her. And I finally understand Naruto's feelings when Sasuke left. And so, I wanted to write about Naruto's first Christmas without him, because this was my first Christmas without Mel.

Oh! And I have to ask my friend Son Goshi if I did a job good on keeping this fic away from TEH GAY XD ha, ha. :expectant pause: Well? Did I?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I have this thing where I like my ninjas to, oh I don't know… not try to stand out by wearing annoyingly bright colors XD ha. I love orange and I love ninjas. But orange and ninjas… that's a different story.

Naruto tugged his jacket collar closer to him neck as a particularly cold gush of air brush along the bare flesh right beneath his hair line. He let out a breath and watched as it changed from a warm gust of air to a visible puff of smoke once it escaped from his lips. The blonde wrapped his arms tightly around his chest as he and a certain perverted older man walked beside him, the both of them keeping a look out for a place to stay for the night. Jiraiya had finally felt that it was necessary for the two of them to move on to a new town. Naruto silently thought that it was because he had already visited every bar and whore house in the previous town, but kept his thoughts to himself.

It did not take very long for them to find a place to stay once they entered the city, and the two males quickly order a room. The receptionist behind the main desk handed the small brass key to Jiraiya and the white-haired man then lead his young student off toward their room, climbing three flights of stairs and whizzed through a few hallways before they found the room. Jiraiya twisted the brass key in the lock and opened the wooden door, letting himself and Naruto into the room.

He did not even bother to close the door behind him for as soon as he set down what little luggage he did carry around with him he was already starting to leave the room he had just entered. Naruto glanced around the room before he noticed that his teacher had dropped his bag beside the door and was about to leave the hotel room.

"Leaving already, Ero Sennin?" Naruto asked as he shrugged his own backpack off of his shoulders and set it down gently on the floor. "We just got here."

"Of course I'm leaving." The older man replied back, opening the door a little more so that he could look back at his pupil before he left the hotel room for good. "It's Christmas Eve. I'm gonna go out and celebrate!"

Naruto blue eyes widened when Jiraiya's words finally dawned on him. He had not realized that it was the day before Christmas already. The blonde marveled at how his time spent away from his home messed with his sense of time for a moment, before he was pulled from his thoughts by his mentor.

"You should go out too, kid." The old sage said before he was completely out the door. "I mean, it's Christmas after all. Have some fun and take a break from training."

And with those last words, the older man was gone and Naruto was left in the silence of the small hotel room. The blonde stared at the door for a moment before he finally pulled his gaze away from the large piece of wood and dragged his bag toward the large bed in the center of the room. He sat down at the edge of the futon, letting his blue eyes lazily gazing across the entirety of the room before they eventually dropped down to stare at his feet.

Naruto noticed that he had forgotten to take his shoes off before he came into the room, but found that he did not really care. The words of his mentor rang through his ears as he continued to stare down at his open-toed shoes, nagging at him to follow his advice. The blonde scoffed at the irony of the suggestion made to him by the older man. The pervert did nothing but relax and have his version of fun. And the older man wondered why Naruto was always trying to get the old fool to finally get serious and train him.

A sigh slipped through his lips as he rose to his feet, his legs pulling him toward the only window in the small room. He peered out the window, his blue orbs glancing up toward the gray sky with those same menacing clouds looming overhead.

Such a horrid sight that was not fit for Christmas Eve brought a frown to the young boy's face.

"Some Christmas." He muttered to himself as he walked over to his bag and began to shift through its contents. His hand rummaged through the backpack for a minute before Naruto's body went stiff as his fingers grazed over a forgotten item sitting in the bottom of the bag. As his sun-kissed hand pulled the object out of the bag, his blue eyes grew cold and distance.

Naruto let his tan fingers grazes over the marking etch into the metal plate that was fastened tightly onto the piece of navy material, the digits stopping as they touch the line that covered most of the length of the hitai-ate. He gave a pained smile as the memories that ran threw his mind. Memories of how he had made the scratch on the metal plate himself. Memories of the fight that took place between himself and his best friend.

Memories of Sasuke.

Honestly, Naruto had forgotten that he had taken this headband with him on his journey, but that was more than likely due to the fact that it had been quite some time since he had taken it out of his bag. The blonde had taken the raven's hitai-ate with him as a reminder as to what he was doing so far away from his home and why he needed to get so much stronger. But over time, he just felt more depressed every time that he pulled the hitai-ate out of his bag. And so, the blonde had kept it tucked away, far away from his sight so that he would not remember how his best friend had chosen power and revenge over everything else.

Naruto found that with each passing day, Sasuke's departure began its subtle deterioration from the horrible nightmare he had so hoped it to be to the cold and permanent reality.

His grip tightened around the headband, his angry and frustration rising within him. Naruto let out a sigh as his head and arms dropped down in defeat, knowing that it was useless to get riled up when there was nothing that could be done about it. As the blonde picked his head up his blue eyes gazed around the empty hotel room, the silence held within it growing thicker the more he let his depression get the better of him.

With the scratched hitai-ate still in his grasp he looked over to the sole window, the light from the sun tried with at its might to shine into the window only to have the thick grey cloud muffled its glow. Suddenly Naruto rose to his feet, being fed up with the heavy atmosphere that his sadness had created around him, as a determined expression dawn upon the blonde's face. He then looked down at the headband within his tanned hand and let it fall from his grasp and plummet down to the floor, landing right beside his backpack.

"Ero Sennin's right." He said to himself. "I'm not going to let Sasuke-teme ruin Christmas for me." Naruto tried to put on his best expression of disgust, but he knew that he was only trying to make himself think that he hated the absent raven.

Naruto let his blue eyes glance down at the hitai-ate that lay sprawled out beside his bag, but quickly turned his attention away from the object and hurried out of the hotel room. The farther he got away from that constant reminder of his best friend the better. Though some part of Naruto knew that running away from a headband was foolish he did not care. He just had to get away from it.

Once he was outside the hotel, the blonde look around him and took in the scenery and people around him. The streets were buzzing with life as the many people of this village roamed the town, some in groups and others alone with many bags in their arms most likely due to last minute shopping for friends and family. Naruto walked along the streets, his hands shoved into his pockets as he tried to keep himself warm from the cold breeze that tried to sting his exposed flesh. He hunched his shoulders slightly to keep the back of his neck from feeling the full extent of the bitter wind.

Though he soon found himself regretting his choice to leave the hotel and watch amongst the happy villagers that practically filled the entire street, making it quite difficult for Naruto to avoid the large crowds. With a sigh of defeat he decided to press on and just make the best of his choice and swerved through the hordes of people as he tried to continue his stroll through the town.

He walked on, trying not to let the happy faces of the people passing him by affect him. He ignored the many couples that smiled and clung to one another around him, chatting idly with one another and stealing short kisses when they thought no one was looking. He also avoided looking at the many children that littered the streets, hanging out with their friends and playing around whilst adults scolded them for their reckless behavior.

The blonde was beginning to think that he had made a big mistake by leaving the hotel room. Naruto felt as if their happiness was somehow mocking his depression, and hated himself for thinking like that. But seeing the many villagers ignore him and go on with their happy lives brought back memories of his childhood, where he was alone with no one he could say was even remotely close to him.

He was now definitely regretting his decision to go out into the town. Dispersing the depressing thought out of his head, Naruto continued to walk through the busy streets until something caught his eye and caused him to stop in his tracks along the road.

It was a shipping dock.

The plateau of wood bordered part of a small lake that seemed as if it was waiting for the surrounding area to get just a few degrees colder so that it could finally freeze over. The temptation was too strong for Naruto to resist and so he found his legs bringing him closer and closer to yet another reminder of his inner turmoil. The blonde momentarily wondered if he enjoyed torturing himself like this, but let the thought leave his brain almost as quickly as it had entered it.

Naruto stopped as his feet brought him to the base of the pier. Blue orbs glanced up from the ground to see a pair of children sitting along the edge of the dock, smiling and laughing as the snuggled into the warmth of their jackets and scarf. His mind could help but replace the young boys with the image of a certain raven-haired child he remembered from his past; the child he imagined turning to face him gave a scowl that when worn on such a young face only seemed more amusing rather than threatening(1).

The image faded and was replaced again by the two young boys, whom seemed to have suddenly stopped their conversation when it became obvious that the two of them were no longer alone. Their attention was pulled away from one another and quickly turned their attention to the orange clad ninja standing at the start of the dock, looking somewhat dazed as his imagination was still dominated his mind.

Both boys sent the blonde suspicious glances, which finally pulled Naruto from his thoughts and back to reality. The two boys were far more menacing than his memory of Sasuke. He let out a nervous chuckle and pulled his hand from his pocket and scratched the back of his neck, ruffling the spiky blonde locks that lay against his head.

"Erm…" he started to say, unsure of how to get himself out of this awkward situation. "Uh, sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt—"

Most of his words were too loud to hear as his voice faded along with his confidence as the two young boys continued to stare intensely at the older boy. "Adults always ruin everything." The taller of the two children said as he pulled himself up from his place at the edge of the pier and then helped his friend to his feet.

Before Naruto could even say anything back to the pair of boys, the two children were already walking pass him, hurrying to get away from the "adult" that ruined their fun and muttering under their breath whispered curses.

Naruto gasped at the mouths on the two young children, his blue eyes wide with shock as they got further and further away from him. "Little brats." He muttered himself as he walked down the long pier, stuffing his hands back into his pockets and turn his focus on the wooden planks beneath his feet. The blonde raised his gaze upward once his feet took him to the edge of dock. As his blue eyes rose up, Naruto noticed that the lake was small enough that he could see over to the other side of the tarn where there lay a, what seemed like to the blonde, a park. The park was littered with bright and extravagant decorations along with many people whom walked through the square, admiring the décor.

The blonde-haired ninja sat down along the edge of the pier and let out a sigh. His attempt of taking his mind away from a certain raven and improving his spirits was not working out very well. If anything, this little outing amongst the town had made his mood worsen instead of making it better. Though in hind sight, most of it was his own fault for purposely indulging himself into things that would without a doubt make him think even more about Sasuke.

"Merry Christmas!" he heard a soft yell come from somewhere in the far distance, making his head turn toward the direction from which the sound came (or so Naruto thought) and stealing his attention from his thoughts for a moment. It was echoed by other voices coming from the same direction as the first call, every one of them filled with cheer.

"Yeah." He uttered under his breath as he brought his gaze back down the stationary waters of the peaceful later, letting his sandals skim the surface and disturbing the tranquil liquid beneath him. "Merry Christmas, indeed." Sarcasm dripped from every word as it fell from his lips.

Suddenly, as if things were reacting to Naruto's glum mood, a single flake of snow fell smoothly along the breeze and landed upon his sun-kissed nose, momentarily making his already chilled skin almost completely frozen. The sensation caused Naruto to blink and quickly whip his head back, letting his eyes gaze upward as he tried to catch a glimpse of what had landed on him. A silent gasp escaped his lips as his wide cerulean orbs looked up into the grey, dismal sky.

It was snowing.

As if on instinct, he removed his tanned hands from his pockets and held them out, palms facing up to the still ominous clouds above him, almost as if he would not believe he refused to believe in his own eyes until his vision was confirmed by his sense of touch. Slowly more and more snowflakes fell from the dreary sky, the tiny specks of white gliding gracefully along the breeze. Naruto's hand soon felt the stinging sensation of the small flecks of snow landing gently against the sun-kissed flesh of his hands before the bits of snow quickly melted into tiny pools of liquid against his warm skin.

Naruto voice fell silent as he continued to watch as the snow fell silently along the ground. Blue eyes watched the small snowflakes in their elegant dance along the wind, taking them to and fro as the breeze changed its course from gentle to a faster pace. His mind instantly transported him back to the last time he had seen snow.

That last time just happened to be his trip to the Land of Mist.

It had seemed like so long ago to him now. Though in reality, Naruto knew that the distance mission could not have been more than a half a year ago. Time sure had gone by so quickly and he and his fellow teammates had changed and grown so much stronger in such a short while.

Without him realizing it, a smile played at Naruto's lips, forcing his feature to soften as the memoires of that place and that battle soaked into his mind quite like the falling snow was soaking into his skin.

His mind took his back to that day on the bridge, where Sasuke had saved him from Haku's senbon when the two of them were trapped within his ice mirrors. How he held Sasuke dying body in his arms as the raven tried to explain to the blonde how his body had moved on its own. Naruto let out a small chuckle at the memory. The mighty Sasuke Uchiha, doing everything in his power to not admit that he had any emotions in him at all, had stepped in front of a fatal attack to save a person he claimed he hated. Though, if Naruto remembered correctly, neither Sasuke nor himself admitted that the bonds of friendship had already spun their way around the two of them until sometime later.

The blonde let his gaze drift from snowflake to snowflakes, his smile still laying upon his lips as his fond memories of his old teammates still lingered in his head. With a sudden new fuel to the flames inside of him, Naruto rose to his feet and cast his bright, blue eyes straight forward, his smile became his signature toothy grin. He held out his hand twisted into a tight fist, snowflakes falling along his knuckles and melting before another one could even touch his skin, and he spoke with his voice loud and clear.

"This is a promise, teme." He said more to himself than the raven-haired ninja whom was currently absent. "I'll train hard, get strong, beat your ass and then bring you back for next Christmas."

He paused so that his gaze could move upward, to look at the sky, which seemed to be losing its grey and depressing nature and was slowly changing into a never ending blanket of white, fluffy clouds. His grin grew wider as more snow begin to plummet slowly to the earth. He was sure that soon the ground would have a thin sheet of white trying to cover the other colors beneath it until white would be all that could be seen.

"So let it snow all it wants! It'll only make me remember more and work harder!"

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(1) Little Sasuke was too adorable to be threatening XD ha! Why can't he be that cute now? :le gasp: Yes, readers. I don't think that Sasuke is hot. What now :O?! ((Sorry, most people think I'm weird for not liking him))

I must now have any Christmas spirit Dx! "Why" you may ask? Because I had so much trouble writing this. Well, I guess since my best friend left me ((Naruto, I feel your pain :cries:)) you could understand why I haven't felt like writing this.

Oh well. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. And uh… Hope you had a merry Christmas… I guess :has no Christmas spirit because she is soooo emo: ((XD lol)).