I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters. I meant to publish this on Christmas day but my modem crashed. My life sucks. Anyway, it's late but here is Naruto's best Christmas ever, I should hope.

Merry Christmas

Naruto sat down against a tree and smirked. He had swept all of the snow off, he had had Kakashi start a fire for warmth, and he was still freezing cold. He decided to never volunteer for guard duty during winter again. It was the night before Christmas eve and they were supposed to be at the village but a massive winter storm had delayed them and all but buried their camp in snow. They had been on a mission to find and return a certain ostrich that Naruto had a lot of experience with again but now they wouldn't be back until about five minutes before the annual Christmas party. They had never been late and Naruto would be damned if they were going to miss this one. The village was finally almost repaired from Pein's attack and Naruto had finally managed to get some time off from missions so that he could hang out with his friends.

"Naruto!" Sakura called from below. "Kakashi Sensei says it's time to pack up and move!"

"Finally!" Naruto said sending clones to pack up the tents after digging them out.

Then, they were all moving toward the village. Naruto and Sakura were racing each other back, Naruto having the good grace to allow Sakura to be able to keep up, with Sai and Kakashi simply following them while Kakashi explaining about the party and how it was traditional that Naruto get the biggest present to make up for the others all being rude to him all year. It was also tradition for Naruto to give the best presents, except Hinata who always managed to get everyone the perfect gift, meaning ramen for Naruto.

"Why does Naruto give the best gifts?" Sai asked.

"I suppose it's because he understands people better than anyone," Kakashi said. "I'm interested to see what he gets you."

After about twelve hours, they arrived at the village and everyone went their separate ways, Kakashi to report on the mission and the others to change for the party. When Naruto reached his apartment, he ran inside and past his tree then froze and backtracked. There were presents piled under the tree which was something that never happened. Usually, his tree was empty with one or two presents every now and then from a friend that he made at some point. This year, there were easily fifty. There were so many that they were piled inside the tree as well. He grinned and ran into his room and quickly changed into a black suit with an orange button-up shirt underneath and an orange boutonniere. He hated tuxedos but he had to wear it to the party because he knew what the others would say if he didn't.

"Alright now I just need to get...of fuck," Naruto said looking around then sending clones to search his apartment. "Oh you have got to be kidding me! I don't have time for this!"

Suddenly someone began pounding on his door. One of his clones opened it and saw several of Kakashi's shadow clones each holding a couple presents.

"You forgot to grab these when we left," Kakashi said.

"Oh God," Naruto said smiling. "Thank you so much."

Kakashi nodded and the Naruto clones took the presents then they all left with the real Naruto. After ten minutes, they reached the massive cabin Yamato had built for them. It was about three hundred feet by on hundred feet and two stories with three bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room on each floor, and the rest being one massive room for most of the party, as the bathrooms were on the top floor. There was also one bedroom for everyone in attendance. The list included the Konoha 11, Sai, Koyuki Kazahana, and the priestess of the Land of Ogres, Shion.

The Naruto clones set the presents with the others then disappeared and Naruto made his way to the big room where the others were already drinking the alcoholic punch, dancing to music blaring from speakers set up around the house, and talking amongst themselves. Everyone was there and Naruto smirked when Shion and Koyuki both subtly blew kisses at him and flicked their eyes toward some mistletoe hanging in one corner of the room.

He made his way to the punch table and got himself some nonalcoholic punch since he didn't drink. After a moment, he turned around and saw Ino and Sakura. Both were wearing a new dress, as they did every year, and looked beautiful, as they did every year. Ino's dress was white with one length of fabric wrapping around her neck, then running diagonally across one side of her chest, then around her neck again, then diagonally across the other side of her chest, then up to her neck again and a second piece wrapped around her legs as a skirt and pinned together with a gold rectangle allowing for a slit all the way up the right side exposing her leg. The skirt itself hung down to her ankles. Sakura's dress was red and sparkled in any light. It was sleeveless with a thin strap over each shoulder and connected on the back of her neck leaving her back exposed. The dress had a V-neck that was cut just low enough to give a fairly generous view of cleavage and on the back was cut just above her waist and the dress was formed to her body tightly showing off her curves perfectly. There was also a slit on the right side running up to her knee and showing her black high heels with thin straps just above her toes, over the arch of her foot, and just above the ankle.

"Hello Naruto," Sakura said after she and Ino had given him a moment to appreciate their dresses as they always did. "How do we look?"

"Beautiful as ever," Naruto said honestly.

"You always say that," Ino said.

"It's always true," Naruto said. "Honestly, I don't see why you bother to ask me anymore."

"True," Ino said. "Anyway, I'm going to go see what Shikamaru thinks. See you later Naruto."

She winked at him then walked away swaying her hips provocatively as she made her way through the crowd toward Shikamaru.

"She's been drinking hasn't she?" Naruto asked.

"Everyone here has," Sakura said. "Except Hinata, of course. Ino'll stop hitting on you by tomorrow."

"What about you?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not hitting on you," Sakura said. "I'm not drunk. Even if I was, I'd still be off limits."

"Lee's still going to try," Naruto said.

"I know," Sakura said. "Anyway, I'm going to go dance. Want to come?"

"I'm good," Naruto said. "The presents will be handed out soon and I want to just wait here until then. At least for now."

"Alright," Sakura said smiling. "I see Lee heading this way so I'm out of here."

Naruto nodded and Sakura quickly slipped into the nearest crowd then made her way to the dance floor only to be ambushed by Lee and accepting a dance without much actual resistance. Naruto could tell that part of Sakura liked Lee but she was too hung up on Sasuke to accept it.

Naruto sighed at the fact that he was alone, as he usually ended up being and regretted turning Sakura down. He finished his punch and tossed the cup in the nearby trash can.

"Um...h-hello, N-Naruto," a soft and kind voice said from behind him which he instantly placed and turned around smiling happily. "Y-you l-look good."

"Thank you," Naruto said blushing a little at the compliment for some reason.

The moment he was fully turned around, his jaw fell open a bit and his eyes widened slightly. Not into a comical look of surprise but more of a look of awe. Hinata was wearing a simple yet at the same time elaborate dress. It was lavender, could be strapless but had decorative straps around her arms about a third of the way down her upper arms. The straps were about three inches wide and completely lace, as was the trimming at the top of the dress then the rest of the dress was a smooth fabric that he couldn't name. A belt wrapped around her stomach just above the waist and was tied in a bow at the back with the strings hanging down almost to the ground, and she wore matching gloves that extended up just above her elbows. The dress itself was low enough to expose her cleavage even more than Sakura's but at the same time wasn't slutty, but beautiful and hugged her frame perfectly and hung down close to her legs rather than being overly puffy and made her look even more beautiful. Her hair was tied in a ponytail that hung just past her shoulder blades with a couple strands on each side framing her face like she always had it. The ponytail was held by a string of lavender tinted beads and Hinata had a light blush across the bridge of her nose and on both cheeks, and Naruto could tell that she hadn't put on any makeup, she never did. She was beautiful beyond words, even putting Ino and Sakura to shame.

"D-do you like it?" Hinata asked turning slowly on her lavender heels.

"I-it's...I...y-you...uh...I...you're...beautiful," Naruto managed fighting through the haze developing in his mind.

Hinata smiled and the blush darkened but she successfully managed to fight the urge to faint.

"Th-thank you," She said staring at the ground shyly.

"Do...do you want to dance?" Naruto asked just as a slow song began to play.

Hinata's face turned scarlet but she nodded and he took her hand leading her to the dance floor then turning to face her. He placed his hands on the sides of her waist while hers went around his neck and her face turned a deeper shade of scarlet. They began to move without even realizing it as they stared into each other's eyes. Hinata was simply lost but Naruto was remembering all the times he and Hinata had been together then got focused on what she had told him when she rescued him from Pein. He still felt bad for letting her be hurt trying to save him but his feelings of guilt were quickly washed away as he focused on her again.

Hinata knew what he was thinking about. She could tell without even needing to ask. She could see it in his eyes. Then, it was gone. Less than a minute later, the song ended and Naruto looked like he wanted to say something but simply turned and walked back to the punch table.

He's thinking about it again, Hinata thought walking away from the dance floor. And he's still hung up on Sakura. I never could compare with her.

After another couple songs, everyone was arranged in a circle and the presents were handed out to everyone and opened until only Hinata and Naruto's gifts to everyone was left. Everyone was slightly confused that Hinata didn't get one from Naruto but accepted his explanation that he didn't know what to get her. Hinata's presents went first. Most of the girls got jewelry and went nuts over it while the guys presents ranged from a device that would allow Lee to use jutsu once a week to a scroll that would allow Sai to use his signature jutsus without using any chakra so long as he remembered to fill the chakra cartridge inside the scroll. Naruto got ramen, as always.

"Naruto's turn," Choji said tearing into his present to find instant pork that was made in seconds by adding chakra. "It's so beautiful."

"What's this?" Shikamaru asked holding up an abacus.

"Funny," Ino answered before opening her own gift and finding a sweater. "Asshole."

"Now that's funny," Sakura said before finding one of her own medicine balls in her box. "What's this?"

"A taste of your own medicine," Naruto said. "Literally."

Sakura dropped it back in the box as Tenten opened hers and pulled out a scroll less than half the size of her own.

"It holds three times as much as yours," Naruto said.

"Cool, thanks!" Tenten said opening it to see if was preloaded.

Lee opened his and found leg weights that were heavier than the ones he usually trained with.

"Finally," Lee said. "I was hoping I would get some new ones soon!"

"What is this?" Neji asked holding up a set of black lace bra and panties and causing everyone to bust a gut laughing.

"Is there something we should know?" Tenten asked.

"It's to tell you to lighten up," Naruto said grinning. "I dare you to look inside."

Neji's face turned scarlet and he held the set out to Tenten who instantly looked inside of both and grinned evilly.

"That's just cruel," Tenten said pulling out a tag with a seal on it.

She released the seal and the tag turned into a bouquet of flowers that had a tag reading, to Tenten from Neji.

"What is that?" Neji asked.

"I knew you weren't going to do it so I figured you could use some help," Naruto said grinning.

"And the underwear..." Neji began.

"And optional gift from you or a joke from me," Naruto said.

"They're beautiful Neji," Tenten said kissing him on the cheek dramatically and making everyone laugh again.

"Koyuki, don't show anyone that, you either Shion," Naruto warned as they both opened two tall rectangular presents that they saw were the entire collection of Jiraiya's novels.

Kiba opened his box curiosity piquing when he saw it had holes in it. He realized why when he saw that there was a puppy ninja hound inside a cage under the wrapping paper. He stared at it for a moment then grinned and simply nodded to Naruto. Shino, on the other hand, pushed his box away and allowed his insects to open it. Inside was a small glass box with seven bikochu inside.

"What...how..." Shino simply stared at the insects.

"I went back a few months ago and caught them just before your rival clan arrived and wiped out any others," Naruto said. "I figured you might be able to protect them or mate your bugs with them or something."

"That's...genius," Shino said. "Thank you...Naruto."

"No problem," Naruto said. "Sai's turn."

Sai opened it and pulled out a single book.

"Read it, out loud," Naruto said.

"Advice for being human, by the Konoha 11," Sai read and everyone grinned remembering how much fun it was to list the things inside. "One, do not read books on how to be human. Two, do not ask people how things make them feel. Three, do not hug guys. Four, do not call Choji that word. Five, do not tick off Sakura. Six, just go with it. I really suck don't I?"

"No," Naruto said. "You just got bad advice. Try the next page."

"Seven," Sai read turning to the last page. "Do not accept advice from Rock Lee or Might Guy."

"I still say that's rude," Lee said.

"You'll get over it," Naruto said. "Sakura, I think it's about time you gave your other present to Lee."

Sakura, who was now almost as drunk as Ino was, nodded and slid over to Lee then kissed him. After a moment she pulled back and slid back to her spot as Lee fainted.

"That works," Kiba said. "Music time!"

He scrambled for the stereo with Neji right behind him both trying to keep the other from choosing a song. In the end, Kiba won and the stereo began to play classic rock.

"Hinata," Naruto said quietly walking over to her. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," Hinata said following Naruto to one corner of the room, both failing to notice that it was the mistletoe corner. "What is it?"

"Turn around and close your eyes," Naruto said.

Hinata did as he instructed and suddenly felt the cool touch of metal at the front of her neck. When she opened her eyes and looked down, she saw that he had put a necklace on her. The necklace had a gold chain and a golden pendant in the shape of a circle with the outside studded with diamonds and the Hyuga Clan seal in the middle with onyx for the black half of the yin-yang design and more diamonds for the white half and the lines around it made of gold. Hinata stared at it for a moment then slowly turned and tried to voice any form of thanks but couldn't make a sound as tears began to leak from her eyes.

"Merry Christmas Hinata," Naruto said before leaning in and kissing her tenderly.

She instantly returned the kiss turning toward him and wrapping her arms around his neck as tears of joy began to flow freely down her cheeks. Neither noticed that the others were silently watching and smiling and neither cared when they finally began to cheer. After a few minutes, they finally broke apart and simply stood there holding each other as Kiba put on a sappy, romantic, slow song for them. They began to dance right there and the others all paired up and did the same, Neji with Tenten, Sakura with Lee, Shikamaru with Ino, Choji with Koyuki, and Kiba with Shion. Sai and Shino both sat at the punch bar watching and not minding that they were left out.

"I never did thank you," Naruto said quietly.

"You never had to," Hinata said.

"I love you Hinata," Naruto said.

"I love you too," Hinata said.

"Merry Christmas," Naruto said smiling.

"Merry Christmas Naruto," Hinata said before kissing him again.

THE END