This is a gift for redenzione on LJ. Merry Christmas, redenzione! I know I tweaked a bit with your request, but I hope you like it anyway!

Kakashi had never felt very strongly about Christmas. He had vague memories from when he was very, very young of his mother slipping him a little package at the breakfast table, and a few murmured greetings being exchanged on the street, but face it, the days of his youth were also days of war. People were listening in the night for a surprise attack frmo the enemy, not for sleighbells and the thud of reindeer landing on the roof. Once the war was over and Kakashi was an adult, he tended to celebrate the holiday either by completing the (well-paying) missions no one else wanted on account of their own festivities, or, if there was nobody to take captive and nowhere to infiltrate, by rounding up a couple of other orphaned or similarly estranged jounin, downing a few stiff ones, and sleeping it all off the next day.

All that changed once he started openly dating Sakura (that is, they actually started going places on their dates instead of making stealthy visits to secluded parks or each other's apartments). Unlike Kakashi, Sakura had been born in a time of peace. Over time, she had grown accustomed to a large-scale, traditional family Christmas, complete with carol-singing, gift-exchanging, and a magnificent feast. When Sakura had discovered that Kakashi had never truly celebrated Christmas in a manner that did not involve bloodshed or copious amounts of alcohol, she was aghast. Just when Kakashi felt he had finally found something shocking enough to keep her quiet, she began to rattle on about how she would find some way to create holidays spirit in him—if it was the last thing she did, she added fiercely.

Which would explain why Kakashi was now resting in the corner of his living room, reclined on a couch that had been pushed against the wall to make room for the enormous fir tree Sakura had forced Naruto to help her drag in. Kakashi had raised an eyebrow when he first glimpsed the needled monstrosity. "Sorry, Sakura, but opening an arboretum has never had a really high spot on my bucket list," he'd quipped.

"Don't be silly, Kakashi," she had replied brightly. "It's a Christmas tree!"

"More like a two-ton tree," Naruto had muttered, rubbing his sore arms, until a glare from Sakura had sent him scurrying.

Two tons or not, the thing was certainly huge. Kakashi eyed it warily, noticing that its tip was just grazing his ceiling. Meanwhile, Sakura was eagerly opening the hefty box she had left in his apartment earlier that day. Her face lit up as she began to pull out glittering baubles and garlands, as well as strings of tiny coloured lights.

"Wow," Kakashi remarked. "Didn't you...well, leave any for your own tree?"

Sakura laughed gaily. "Don't worry, Kakashi. Every year since I was born, I've probably gotten at least five ornaments at Christmastime. I must have...well, over a hundred by now. I'll just get a smaller tree this year."

"Okay," Kakashi said, shrugging. Truthfully, he had secretly been hoping that he might have reminded Sakura that she did not have enough decorations, and would cause her to call the whole thing off. After all, what was he supposed to do with this thing? Dance around it? Set it on fire? Allow it to ferment and become soil for new trees, therefore continuing the circle of life? Knowing him, he would probably ignore it until it had shed all its needles and become home to a family of possums, right there in his living room.

But Kakashi considered himself an easygoing man, and if it made Sakura happy and didn't require him to exert any actual physical effort, he would put up with it.

As if she had been reading his thoughts (he wouldn't put it past her), Sakura asked, with equal inflections of hope and doubt in her voice, "Would you like to help me decorate it?"

Kakashi flashed her a winning smile. "But it will look so much nicer if you do it on your own. I'd just get in the way."

Sakura raised her eyebrows in a look that said she knew he was just being lazy, but she said, "All right, then," and bent down to the box again. Kakashi got up to get a beer from the fridge, then settled back down on the couch to watch the show.

The process began with the lights. Ever logical, Sakura had previously wound the strings around large cardboard cylinders, which eliminated the time-consuming task of untangling the wires. Kakashi was relieved, as this meant he would neither have to listen to a grousing Sakura, nor do the dirty work himself. Sakura stood on Kakashi's armchair and, starting from the top, wove the lights through the branches in a spiral that led to the bottom. The tree was so thick that it took three strings of lights until she was satisfied with their density. Then she turned to Kakashi. "Do you have any spare extension cords? I forgot to bring one."

"There should be one in the kitchen drawer, over by the stove," Kakashi answered, keeping a firm grip on his beer and pointedly ignoring the stare directed his way.

"Oh, fine," she muttered, and stomped into the kitchen. Not two seconds later, a call rang out in highly exaggerated tones. "Oh, no, I don't think I can find it!"

Sighing heavily, Kakashi rose from the couch and strode into the kitchen to find Sakura standing by the stove with an innocent expression on her face. "Then try moving things around, you," he said in mock exasperation. "Isn't that what you're always telling me to do?"

Her face cracked into a grin, and impulsively, he stepped forward to lightly embrace her. He felt her sigh and settle into his arms, but before she could get too comfortable he had lightly pinched her behind and then opened the nearby drawer to find the elusive extension cord. Blithely, Sakura snatched it from his hands and skipped back to the living room to continue her decorating, while he followed behind to rather ruefully resume his position on the couch. He had learned well that if Sakura wanted him to do something, she would refuse to budge in her request until he had completed it to her satisfaction.

This was just one of the many lessons he had learned in this relationship, his longest-term one ever. While he had always harboured a sweet spot for his pretty, persistent student, it wasn't until she was seventeen that he began to see her as an attractive young woman who was similarly stunning and intelligent. Similarly, it was a few years until she was able to relinquish her fixation on Sasuke and consider an extremely alternate alternative. Although a relationship was established, the two attempted to keep it undisclosed until Sakura was a jounin and it would no longer be such a taboo.

Nevertheless, Kakashi had discovered, once they were past the initial infatuation stage, that Sakura had certain expectations in a relationship. It wasn't to say she was extremely demanding, but she did tend to want a certain level of affection, chivalry, and commitment. Therefore, if Kakashi cancelled their plans, using a flippant manner, without offering her an apologetic kiss, he would instantly be in a triple-whammy doghouse that could last for any number of days. However, he had learned to fend off this sort of inconvenience by immediately sending candy, flowers, or a singing telegram to her door soon after a predicament (because, well, sometimes a poker night with the boys did sound more appealing then window shopping—or any kind of shopping—for a few hours in the raucous marketplace). For the most part, though, Kakashi felt that he kept Sakura fairly happy, even if it meant him making a few sacrifices—namely, the annual family Christmas dinner he was attending this year.

Using her apparent ESP skills again, Sakura spoke up from the armchair, where she was beginning to twist silver garlands around the tree. "I brought a gift for you to give Uncle Ichiro, since I'm sure you forgot you drew his name for the gift exchange."

"Actually, I already got him something," Kakashi responded, feeling rather pleased that this time, at least, he was one step ahead of her.

However, she was looking at him suspiciously. "What did you get him, then?"

Kakashi slowly stretched behind him to pick up a rather flimsy, orange-covered book off an end table, then displayed it to his clearly shocked girlfriend.

"Kakashi! You can't give Icha Icha Paradise to my uncle!"

"Why not?" Kakashi questioned, bemused. "It's a good way to pass those cold winter days when there's nothing to do but stay inside—believe me, I know."

Sakura scowled at him. "But Kakashi, Uncle Ichiro is married! And he's on the town council, and who knows, he might lend the book to my dad, and then my dad will get all these opinions and ideas about you, and me, and us, and—and--it's just indecent! You are not giving that trash to him, and that's final!"

Kakashi fingered the edge of the book. "Well, let's see what you've got, then."

Sakura lightly hopped down from the armchair and stepped over to the box of decorations. She pulled out a small shopping bag from within and tossed it over to Kakashi, who automatically turned it over onto his stomach. Out tumbled a CD case with the likeness of a rotund elderly man wearing bright red overalls and holding a fiddle. "Music for a Ho-Ho-Ho-Down!" the title proclaimed. "Ten snappy Christmas tunes that will get those feet tapping!"

Kakashi stared at the case in dismay. "Sakura, I can't give this to another grown man. Your entire family will think I'm a pansy. A pansy who likes fat old men."

"No, they won't," Sakura scoffed. "They know all about your reputation as a ninja. Besides, Uncle Ichiro loves music, and he's always the one to start the carolling—did I mention he's actually really, really good at accordion? Because he is—and also--"

"I've got a suggestion," Kakashi interrupted calmly. "Why don't I give him both our presents? Then we'll see which one he likes best."

"Okay," Sakura agreed, a little too readily.

Kakashi shook his finger at her. "I know what you're thinking, Sakura, and I'm going to put it somewhere where you can't get your tiny little paws on it." Or at least, as long as his batty next-door neighbour, Ms. Matsumoto agreed to hang on to it until Christmas. Perhaps if he bribed her, she might even wrap it for him.

Sakura pouted, but she returned to the tree. The garlands were soon appropriately placed, and she began to hang metallic globes and other variously shaped ornaments onto the tree's lofty branches.

Kakashi took a swig of his beer and reclined further on the couch. Sakura had swivelled the armchair so as to gain access to the front of the tree, and he found his eyes running over her body, appreciating the gleam of her silky rose hair, and her shapely, toned posterior, and her smooth legs, not quite hidden under bulky leg warmers. Then she moved the armchair away to the next side of the tree, and he admired the way her stomach nipped in under her rounded chest, and the lips she had thrust out while deliberating the placement of the ornaments. He adored those lips, just as he adored her entire face—much more mature, of course, than when he had first known her, but still smooth and full of expression.

She caught him looking at her, and smirked. He immediately tilted his head back and pretended he had been diligently studying the ceiling. Kakashi knew he was not a particularly articulate man when it came to sweet-talk, but he felt confident that Sakura knew he thought she was beautiful.

The rest of the tree-decorating passed quickly, with little conversation besides Sakura's hemming and hawing about her arrangments. In fact, Kakashi had almost dozed off when he suddenly felt a soft kiss being pressed to his forehead.

His eyes flew open. Sakura was standing over him, clutching in her hands an elaborate silver star. "It's too tall for me to reach," she said. "Will you do it for me?"

Kakashi knew there were multiple ways she could have accomplished this task, including utilizing one of his very first lessons by walking up the closest wall, but he obliged anyway. Standing up slowly, with enough moans and groans to let Sakura know that he was getting old and tired, and that she really should treat him with care and not force him to do anything too strenuous, he took the star from her and then climbed up onto the armchair. Slipping out a kunai from his ever-ready pouch, he sawed off the very tip of the tree to create enough room for the ornament, and then carefully placed the star on top. Then, once he was back on the floor, he and Sakura stepped back to view their (well, mostly her) handiwork. The finished product truly was a pleasant sight, particularly in the way the coloured lights were glinting off the ornaments and garlands.

Sakura took Kakashi's hand. "It's beautiful!" She blushed. "I mean, if I do say so myself."

"So are you going to keep it alive for me, or what?" was Kakashi's response.

She let go of his hand and elbowed him in the ribs. "Come on. You think it looks nice, too. In fact, I bet you want to keep it up all year round."

There she was, reading his thoughts again. Kakashi shrugged. "Well, it would make a nice habitat for a family of mice, I guess, if I ever wanted to keep mice. Or maybe birds. How would you like a bird?"

He glanced down at her. There was a look of subdued disappointment on her face, and he couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed. He cleared his throat. "Yes, it looks really good. You did a good job."

She beamed at him. Then she stood in front of him and wrapped her arms around his back, and he leaned down and kissed her. He lightly ran his fingers through the ends of the hair falling down her back, and she stroked her hand up his back to his neck. Somehow they ended up on the couch beside each other, stroking each other's faces and enjoying the sensation of each other's mouths.

When they finally paused for breath, Kakashi reached with one arm under Sakura's knees and placed the other against her back to pull her up onto his lap. She leaned into him, and he placed his lips against her temple. Then, ignoring his better judgement, he tilted his mouth towards her ear. "So what do you want for Christmas?"

She squirmed slightly as his breath tickled her skin, but then turned to touch her glowing face to his. "You, of course." Then she shot forward, knocking him sideways, and kissed him.

It was a clichéd moment, perhaps, amidst an archaic Christmas tradition. But Hatake Kakashi, between his attempts to reciprocate Sakura's frantic kisses, was starting to think there was something to holiday spirit after all.