A Team 7 Xmas.
Ok so I dont normally write things that have any sort of festive theme on account of being a miserable bastard about such things. (Hn. Just like someone in this fic ...) but what can I say, I was inspired and the ever awesome simply_day requested some more Uchiha from me, and while its not in char, and is totally un-beta'd, totally spurged out and random, here it is:
Title: Operation: Christmas Dinner.
Warnings Contains: 40% Uchiha angst, 30% Silliness, 20% Festive imagery, 10% Harmless Sasuke mocking, Vitamin K8: trace, Talent: trace. This fic is low in saturates, high in poly-unsaturates and contains 25% of your RDA of Sasuke saltygoodness.
~~~~~~~~~~
It was a cold, crisp, winter morning as the genin members of Team 7 waited on the gentle arch of the bridge. They waited for their perpetually late sensei, occasionally rubbing hands, stamping their feet or blowing on frozen fingers.
Sasuke slouched against the chilled handrail, elbows propped against the rough surface and hands buried deep in his pockets. He tipped his head back, looking up and the flat grey sky and idly wondered why if Kakashi was always late, why they still arrived on time. But knowing the contrary nature of the jounin, if they ever did, he would arrive with amazing punctuality. Just to fuck with them - and the Uchiha was damned if he was going to Kakashi the satisfaction of knowing he had reacted to his tardiness in any way.
The raven’s warm breath clouded in the frigid air, the puffs of white forming at his lips like a ghostly gokakyu no jutsu. He took a deep breath and with a smirk, exhaled slowly through slightly chapped lips sending a large rolling ball of steam billowing up into the air.
Catching himself, Sasuke shook his head, dark hair falling against his head and dispelling such childish nonsense. Perhaps it was the boredom, or the cold, but mostly likely it was the time of year that made him vulnerable to such nostalgia.
Naruto bounced on the balls of his feet, hoping to regain some feeling there, he brought his arms up to his chest, palms rubbing up and down, trying to generate a some warmth.
“Ne, Sakura-chan, It’s so cold! And Kakashi sensei is so very late!” he whined, repeating the same complaint that he had for the past half an hour.
Sakura shuddered and brought her arms tighter into her body, painfully aware that the cold had made her skin take on a unattractive blueish tinge. For once she was relieved to see that Sasuke was not looking at her. When Naruto spoke she turned to him watching him for a few moments as he obliviously rubbed his nipples through orange fabric.
Quickly closing the distance between them she slapped him hard on the arm.
“Naruto! Stop that! What do you think you are doing?!” Sakura shirked.
Sasuke turned his head toward his squabbling team mates at Naruto’s pained yelp, but he looked past them and tuned out Sakura’s chastising, seeing instead at the group of girls heading towards them.
“Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Merry Christmas Sasuke-kun!” they squealed as they spotted him, almost tripping over each other to reach him. The avenger’s jaw clenched and dark eyes became flinty as he bit back a curse. Why did these pathetic and insipid girls keep finding him? What had he ever done to deserve this?
As they drew near he spotted the brightly wrapped packages, obscenely bedecked with ribbons and bows, his irritation blossoming into near-panic. Oh no, not again. This got worse every year.
Kakashi landed in a crouch on the bridge’s arch way, and looked down at his assembled team and the loud rabble of girls that swarmed around the dark haired teen. He grinned to himself, it never failed to amuse him to watch the normally aloof and arrogant Uchiha become flustered, even if his well-school reaction was only apparent to those who knew him well. And by a mere bunch of giddy girls as well!
But as the girls started to desperately press their gifts to Sasuke’s chest, Kakashi’s face fell; instead of the so - familiar glint of indignant rage and proud superiority, the boy’s dark eyes, now looked pained, confused and a little lost. The flash of feeling was there so briefly that the jounin would of missed it, if it hadn’t been so aching familiar, something he recognised from his own past.
This time of year was hard for those who had lost family, gift giving in particular and he understood all to well the pain of receiving but having no one in turn to give to.
For him, that had gradually changed, now there were a select group of people who made it on to his gift list, but he was always aware of the presents that he found that were perfect for someone, but would always go un - bought.
Naruto glared unnoticed at the Sasuke-idiot fan girls swarmed and tittered around the boy like wasps to a honey pot. His mouth grew tight and he frowned as he watched frustrated as so many fabulous gifts were presented to the ever popular Uchiha, only for the ungrateful, stuck - up bastard to refuse them. He saw the dark eyes wince, probably offended by the bright and gaudy colours, and felt his own insides clench in jealously. Why did no one have anything for him? Why did they always have things for Sasuke, when he didn’t even have the good grace to want them!? It was so unfair!
Sakura’s entire body went rigid; how dare these random floozies come pushing their worthless presents of her Sasuke? Then she had a horrible sinking feeling; what if they were better than hers? But then inner-Sakura cheered; he wasn’t taking the shiny trinkets of these idiots - true love prevails! Hell yeah!
“Yo!” Kakashi greeted them, hand raised to his head in a lazy salute.
He had watched the scene play out and come to quick decision, and now it was time to break this tortuous freak show up. This was doing his team’s moral no good at all.
“You're late!” Naruto and Sakura shouting in unison, their fingers pointing accusingly at him.
Sasuke glanced at him, something a little like relief on the Uchiha’s face.
“Mah, I was on my way here when a raindeer crossed my path...” Kakashi explained.
“Liar!” came the next verse of a familiar chorus.
“If you ladies would like to leave us, I have a very important mission to give my team,” the jounin asked in a tone that made it very clear it was not a request.
The girls finally left, wishing Sasuke the best of luck on his mission, which he was sure to complete in no time. The brooding boy’s eyebrow twitched dangerously and it was a small wonder that his teeth didn’t shatter from his jaw to the floor.
“A Mission!? What kind of a mission, Kakashi-sensei?! Do we get to protect a princess? Or... or... Retrieve a magic thing from a dragon?” Naruto exclaimed, his excitement making him louder and more hyperactive than normal.
Sasuke turned to Kakashi, he body language outwardly showing that he couldn’t care less what the mission was, but the always-sharp eyes were keen and alert.
“Something like that,” Kakashi sighed ambiguously.
Sakura looked at him, eyes wide in curiosity.
“This could be the hardest mission Team 7 have ever faced...” he continued.
The rosette's eyes stayed wide, but this time in concern.
“This will be your first S rank mission: I want you all to create and survive a successful Christmas dinner. Together.”
“Eh?” Naruto’s face screwed up in total confusion.
Sasuke merely sighed. Good job he didn't have hopes right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nearly a week later, on Christmas morning, that Sasuke sat in his house waiting for his team members to arrive. He was slightly unsure as to why he had let them host this stupid party at the Uchiha property.
Kakashi had flatly refused to let his team anywhere near his own home, Sakura’s family would be having their own celebration at her house and the idea of having any sort of culinary success at Naruto’s tiny apartment was patently ridiculous.
And so it had defaulted to here ... but that didn’t mean he had to like it. It felt like a invasion of his privacy, something he valued very highly, but when he had voiced his complaints at this pointless exercise, Kakashi had asked in a infuriating innocent tone “Why? Can you think of somewhere better for it, Sasuke?”
The Uchiha pride had flared into its usual incandescence and before he had realised that he had been momentarily blinded by it, he was agreeing and now their was no turning back.
The raven had carefully laid the table before they arrived, using the best china and tableware that had sat dusty and unused for so many years in the sideboard of the houses dinning room. He couldn’t face the idea of them seeing his mother’s pride and joy looking so neglected, so he had removed it and carefully washed each plate the night before, with a kind of reverence that left him feeling tired, empty but strangely satisfied.
There was a knock at the door and he gave the room a last appraising look, confident that everything was perfectly positioned and ready, before opening it to the beaming faces of his team-mates.
“Merry Christmas Sasuke!” they sing-songed as they entered.
“Hn,” he replied.
Naruto was surprised by the interior of the Uchiha house - he had never been inside before, had only ever banged on the heavy door when he had training appointments with the stoic boy. Sasuke had always answered the door promptly and had only opened the door just enough for him to gracefully slide through, never allowing prying eyes to linger on anything further inside.
It was tastefully decorated and not nearly as stark as he had imagined, somehow the prints of pleasant landscapes and the floral brocade that covered the side table did not fit the image he had of his cold and aloof rival. Sometimes he forgot that unlike him, other people had once lived here, with Sasuke. They must of left these things here.
They passed through the dinning room to the kitchen, Naruto grinning at how strangely festive the normally austere red and white of the Uchiha-symbol tableware looked when set on a table with candles, holly and crackers. Still, he could tell that the miserable bastard would probably take it the wrong way if he said so.
“Wow! This is amazing! Your house is so beautiful Sasuke kun!” Sakura exclaimed, taking in the dark furniture and gleaming floors “And look at the table! It’s so Christmassy!” she squealed.
Naruto watched as Sasuke momentarily stiffened and his eyebrow did that twitching thing it was so practised at. Yep, he knew it.
“This is going to be so much fun! I still can’t believe that Kakashi sensei wanted us to do this...” she babbled.
“This isn’t fun. This is a test,” Sasuke cut her off, taking the bags of food from her and placing them on the side board, murmuring to himself “it’s always a test.”
A while later, when it was apparent that Kakashi was indeed going to be late, and if they had any hope of making this a lunch rather than a midnight snack, they started preparing the meal on their own.
Sasuke, comfortable with any blade, be it kitchen knife or kunai was making light work of the vegetables, using sharingan to peel, slice and chop the various items as if he were cutting down enemies.
Sakura stood by the hob stirring the beginnings of cranberry sauce, it slowly filling the house with a sweet-sharp smell that was invigorating and comforting at the same time. Every now and then she had to swat Naruto’s hand away from the bubbling mixture, because even though he had wrinkled his nose in disgust at the sharp, bitter taste the first 4 times he had burnt his finger on the scalding mixture he still couldn’t equate the delicious smell with the vile taste.
“Naruto! For the last time, will you just wait until its done! Make yourself useful - for once!” She shouted, just catching but misinterpreting, the snort of amusement from Sasuke.
“But Sakura-chan, you won’t let me do anything that isn’t opening packets and stirring!” Naruto whined. He crossed his arms and pouted, inadvertently covering stains from his earlier mishaps. He didn't really understand why such a fuss was needed for food when they could all just have ramen and be done with it, but this was the first time he had ever had a Christmas with anyone else and he really wanted to be part of it, and to do it properly. But Sakura didn't trust him to do anything important and he was feeling left out.
“Well, I guess you can roast the chestnuts,” she conceded, passing the now grinning boy a small bag and a baking tray.
Naruto busied himself with the small dark brown spheres, muttering and cursing as he dropped one and it rolled away across the kitchen floor, before placing them in the oven.
Sasuke had turned his intense near-murderous focus to the meat; stabbing, wrenching and trussing the bird like he practising for when he finally caught up with his brother, almost so wrapped up in his own world that he didn’t notice Sakura sidle up to him.
“You're amazing, Sasuke kun! You have done all this already! You would make a really good housewife!”
Naruto winced as he heard the comment; that was a hard one for any guy to take, but the almighty Uchiha Sasuke, jeez... for a girl who claimed to love the arrogant bastard more than anything, she certainly didn’t know him very well.
There was sudden chill of the room that made it feel like an Arctic wind had just sliced through, cutting through the warmth of the oven and a deathly silence punctuated only by the sound of grinding teeth.
Naruto chuckled nervously, while he would normally love to watch the bastard quake in rage, today he was trying to lighten the mood, he tried to think of something to say to placate the furious Uchiha. He could think of it as an early Christmas present.
“Ne, of course he would! Sasuke-tensai is good at everything he does.“ Naruto chuckled, glancing at Sasuke to see if his efforts had had the desired effect.
Sasuke’s horror and and hatred seemed to mellow into disgust and irritation, and he glared at Naruto, almost the Sasuke equivalent to a sparkling good mood. That would have to do.
The dark haired teen opened his mouth, no doubt to spit out a biting and caustic remark, but stopped when a low, muffled thud came from the oven.
Team 7 turned in unison toward the glass fronted door, waiting for something further to happen, Sasuke’s dark eyes narrowing on a small explosion of white that was plastered on its surface, like a tiny splattered snowball.
“Naruto, how long have those been in here?” he asked cautiously.
“Ano, I don’t know ... I don’t remember ...” the blond mumbled.
“Hn, you had better check on them then, dobe,” the raven said in a low voice as he turned back to the counter.
Picking up the glove from the table and opening the oven, the whiskered teen pulled the baking tray out and peered at the hot chestnuts. They had darkened slightly, he guessed, but didn't really look any different - how was he even supposed to know when they were done anyway? One of them suddenly split, its shell cracking in two, and letting out a loud hiss that startled Naruto. The shock made him jump back slightly, rocking the tray, sending the chestnuts rolling back and forth. The effect was like that of setting a match to a powder keg. The chestnuts cooling rapidly now that they had been pulled from the oven started to explode. With loud pops they shattered, jumping high in the air, throwing pieces of hot debris across the kitchen.
The blond squawked, holding the tray as far away from his body as possible, the movement setting off the next wave of detonations. Sakura screamed covering her head with her hands and ducking behind the table.
Sasuke spun around, with a sharp instinct honed in battle and perfected in training, his fingers slipped to his shuriken holster. Red eyes blazing transforming the room into oh-so-keen focus, zooming in on the erupting spheres, their movement seeming to slow and almost pause in mid air
Palming the sharpened stars, he let them fly across the kitchen, each of the shuriken hitting a chestnut, and pinning them to the opposite wall, points buried deep.
Squinting out from behind a hand, Naruto watched, helpless, as one of the smouldering balls headed straight for his face. A whizzing sound and a gust of wind passed his face and he stood there dumbfounded staring wide eyed as Sasuke stood their, chest heaving, eyes still burning. For a moment they were frozen, nothing in the kitchen moving, as those vivid eyes slid back to usual midnight black.
“Usuratonkachi!” Sasuke yelled, his bellow filling the kitchen.
The blond flinched, his lip quivering a little “I’m ... I’m sorry Sasuke,” he murmured in a soft voice, “I just ... I haven’t done this before,”
The avenger took a deep breath, and Naruto prepared himself for the next onslaught, surprised when Sasuke smoothed his bangs back down, pushing them out of his face.
“It’s fine - just help me put all this in the oven,”
Sasuke turned away, he couldn’t really stay angry at the dobe when he looked like that, with blue eyes a large as saucers and not with small pieces of chestnut stuck in his hair. Blame the season; the sweet smell of cranberry sauce and erupting chestnuts in the air; or the fact that he didn't really know what he was doing either.
The rest of meal preparation passed without further incident; a few hours later Sakura turning away from the oven and declaring the feast ready, apart from the presence of it’s instigator.
As if on cue there was a pop, and a puff of smoke in the kitchen and a rather smug looking Kakashi appeared.
“Mah, haven’t you done well?” he said, stepping forward and inspecting the various bubbling saucepans, crunching on a small fragment of chestnut.
“What’s this?” asked, glancing at the floor.
Naruto laughed, his hand scratching the back of his head in his normal caught-red-handed- sort of way “Oh nothing, Kakashi Sensei ... let’s get this stuff to the table, before it gets cold!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
They ate until they were nearly sick, and apart from finding a small chunk of chestnut hidden deep in the cranberry sauce, everything was perfect.
Kakashi having consumed the entire meal without showing the lower part of his face, rated their “first S rank mission” a success.
Naruto yawned widely without covering his mouth, and Sakura slapped him on the arm, but it was half-hearted.
Smirking, sated and now sleepy, Sasuke slumped back in his chair feeling like he might just burst; the day hadn’t gone too badly, all things considered. They had been so busy all day that he hadn’t really noticed how it had gone by, and for once it hadn’t been agonising. Grudgingly, he would sort of admit that he sort of enjoyed it. A bit.
Not that he had laughed at the jokes in the crackers - but who ever does?
Title: Operation: Christmas Dinner.
Warnings Contains: 40% Uchiha angst, 30% Silliness, 20% Festive imagery, 10% Harmless Sasuke mocking, Vitamin K8: trace, Talent: trace. This fic is low in saturates, high in poly-unsaturates and contains 25% of your RDA of Sasuke saltygoodness.
~~~~~~~~~~
It was a cold, crisp, winter morning as the genin members of Team 7 waited on the gentle arch of the bridge. They waited for their perpetually late sensei, occasionally rubbing hands, stamping their feet or blowing on frozen fingers.
Sasuke slouched against the chilled handrail, elbows propped against the rough surface and hands buried deep in his pockets. He tipped his head back, looking up and the flat grey sky and idly wondered why if Kakashi was always late, why they still arrived on time. But knowing the contrary nature of the jounin, if they ever did, he would arrive with amazing punctuality. Just to fuck with them - and the Uchiha was damned if he was going to Kakashi the satisfaction of knowing he had reacted to his tardiness in any way.
The raven’s warm breath clouded in the frigid air, the puffs of white forming at his lips like a ghostly gokakyu no jutsu. He took a deep breath and with a smirk, exhaled slowly through slightly chapped lips sending a large rolling ball of steam billowing up into the air.
Catching himself, Sasuke shook his head, dark hair falling against his head and dispelling such childish nonsense. Perhaps it was the boredom, or the cold, but mostly likely it was the time of year that made him vulnerable to such nostalgia.
Naruto bounced on the balls of his feet, hoping to regain some feeling there, he brought his arms up to his chest, palms rubbing up and down, trying to generate a some warmth.
“Ne, Sakura-chan, It’s so cold! And Kakashi sensei is so very late!” he whined, repeating the same complaint that he had for the past half an hour.
Sakura shuddered and brought her arms tighter into her body, painfully aware that the cold had made her skin take on a unattractive blueish tinge. For once she was relieved to see that Sasuke was not looking at her. When Naruto spoke she turned to him watching him for a few moments as he obliviously rubbed his nipples through orange fabric.
Quickly closing the distance between them she slapped him hard on the arm.
“Naruto! Stop that! What do you think you are doing?!” Sakura shirked.
Sasuke turned his head toward his squabbling team mates at Naruto’s pained yelp, but he looked past them and tuned out Sakura’s chastising, seeing instead at the group of girls heading towards them.
“Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Merry Christmas Sasuke-kun!” they squealed as they spotted him, almost tripping over each other to reach him. The avenger’s jaw clenched and dark eyes became flinty as he bit back a curse. Why did these pathetic and insipid girls keep finding him? What had he ever done to deserve this?
As they drew near he spotted the brightly wrapped packages, obscenely bedecked with ribbons and bows, his irritation blossoming into near-panic. Oh no, not again. This got worse every year.
Kakashi landed in a crouch on the bridge’s arch way, and looked down at his assembled team and the loud rabble of girls that swarmed around the dark haired teen. He grinned to himself, it never failed to amuse him to watch the normally aloof and arrogant Uchiha become flustered, even if his well-school reaction was only apparent to those who knew him well. And by a mere bunch of giddy girls as well!
But as the girls started to desperately press their gifts to Sasuke’s chest, Kakashi’s face fell; instead of the so - familiar glint of indignant rage and proud superiority, the boy’s dark eyes, now looked pained, confused and a little lost. The flash of feeling was there so briefly that the jounin would of missed it, if it hadn’t been so aching familiar, something he recognised from his own past.
This time of year was hard for those who had lost family, gift giving in particular and he understood all to well the pain of receiving but having no one in turn to give to.
For him, that had gradually changed, now there were a select group of people who made it on to his gift list, but he was always aware of the presents that he found that were perfect for someone, but would always go un - bought.
Naruto glared unnoticed at the Sasuke-idiot fan girls swarmed and tittered around the boy like wasps to a honey pot. His mouth grew tight and he frowned as he watched frustrated as so many fabulous gifts were presented to the ever popular Uchiha, only for the ungrateful, stuck - up bastard to refuse them. He saw the dark eyes wince, probably offended by the bright and gaudy colours, and felt his own insides clench in jealously. Why did no one have anything for him? Why did they always have things for Sasuke, when he didn’t even have the good grace to want them!? It was so unfair!
Sakura’s entire body went rigid; how dare these random floozies come pushing their worthless presents of her Sasuke? Then she had a horrible sinking feeling; what if they were better than hers? But then inner-Sakura cheered; he wasn’t taking the shiny trinkets of these idiots - true love prevails! Hell yeah!
“Yo!” Kakashi greeted them, hand raised to his head in a lazy salute.
He had watched the scene play out and come to quick decision, and now it was time to break this tortuous freak show up. This was doing his team’s moral no good at all.
“You're late!” Naruto and Sakura shouting in unison, their fingers pointing accusingly at him.
Sasuke glanced at him, something a little like relief on the Uchiha’s face.
“Mah, I was on my way here when a raindeer crossed my path...” Kakashi explained.
“Liar!” came the next verse of a familiar chorus.
“If you ladies would like to leave us, I have a very important mission to give my team,” the jounin asked in a tone that made it very clear it was not a request.
The girls finally left, wishing Sasuke the best of luck on his mission, which he was sure to complete in no time. The brooding boy’s eyebrow twitched dangerously and it was a small wonder that his teeth didn’t shatter from his jaw to the floor.
“A Mission!? What kind of a mission, Kakashi-sensei?! Do we get to protect a princess? Or... or... Retrieve a magic thing from a dragon?” Naruto exclaimed, his excitement making him louder and more hyperactive than normal.
Sasuke turned to Kakashi, he body language outwardly showing that he couldn’t care less what the mission was, but the always-sharp eyes were keen and alert.
“Something like that,” Kakashi sighed ambiguously.
Sakura looked at him, eyes wide in curiosity.
“This could be the hardest mission Team 7 have ever faced...” he continued.
The rosette's eyes stayed wide, but this time in concern.
“This will be your first S rank mission: I want you all to create and survive a successful Christmas dinner. Together.”
“Eh?” Naruto’s face screwed up in total confusion.
Sasuke merely sighed. Good job he didn't have hopes right?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nearly a week later, on Christmas morning, that Sasuke sat in his house waiting for his team members to arrive. He was slightly unsure as to why he had let them host this stupid party at the Uchiha property.
Kakashi had flatly refused to let his team anywhere near his own home, Sakura’s family would be having their own celebration at her house and the idea of having any sort of culinary success at Naruto’s tiny apartment was patently ridiculous.
And so it had defaulted to here ... but that didn’t mean he had to like it. It felt like a invasion of his privacy, something he valued very highly, but when he had voiced his complaints at this pointless exercise, Kakashi had asked in a infuriating innocent tone “Why? Can you think of somewhere better for it, Sasuke?”
The Uchiha pride had flared into its usual incandescence and before he had realised that he had been momentarily blinded by it, he was agreeing and now their was no turning back.
The raven had carefully laid the table before they arrived, using the best china and tableware that had sat dusty and unused for so many years in the sideboard of the houses dinning room. He couldn’t face the idea of them seeing his mother’s pride and joy looking so neglected, so he had removed it and carefully washed each plate the night before, with a kind of reverence that left him feeling tired, empty but strangely satisfied.
There was a knock at the door and he gave the room a last appraising look, confident that everything was perfectly positioned and ready, before opening it to the beaming faces of his team-mates.
“Merry Christmas Sasuke!” they sing-songed as they entered.
“Hn,” he replied.
Naruto was surprised by the interior of the Uchiha house - he had never been inside before, had only ever banged on the heavy door when he had training appointments with the stoic boy. Sasuke had always answered the door promptly and had only opened the door just enough for him to gracefully slide through, never allowing prying eyes to linger on anything further inside.
It was tastefully decorated and not nearly as stark as he had imagined, somehow the prints of pleasant landscapes and the floral brocade that covered the side table did not fit the image he had of his cold and aloof rival. Sometimes he forgot that unlike him, other people had once lived here, with Sasuke. They must of left these things here.
They passed through the dinning room to the kitchen, Naruto grinning at how strangely festive the normally austere red and white of the Uchiha-symbol tableware looked when set on a table with candles, holly and crackers. Still, he could tell that the miserable bastard would probably take it the wrong way if he said so.
“Wow! This is amazing! Your house is so beautiful Sasuke kun!” Sakura exclaimed, taking in the dark furniture and gleaming floors “And look at the table! It’s so Christmassy!” she squealed.
Naruto watched as Sasuke momentarily stiffened and his eyebrow did that twitching thing it was so practised at. Yep, he knew it.
“This is going to be so much fun! I still can’t believe that Kakashi sensei wanted us to do this...” she babbled.
“This isn’t fun. This is a test,” Sasuke cut her off, taking the bags of food from her and placing them on the side board, murmuring to himself “it’s always a test.”
A while later, when it was apparent that Kakashi was indeed going to be late, and if they had any hope of making this a lunch rather than a midnight snack, they started preparing the meal on their own.
Sasuke, comfortable with any blade, be it kitchen knife or kunai was making light work of the vegetables, using sharingan to peel, slice and chop the various items as if he were cutting down enemies.
Sakura stood by the hob stirring the beginnings of cranberry sauce, it slowly filling the house with a sweet-sharp smell that was invigorating and comforting at the same time. Every now and then she had to swat Naruto’s hand away from the bubbling mixture, because even though he had wrinkled his nose in disgust at the sharp, bitter taste the first 4 times he had burnt his finger on the scalding mixture he still couldn’t equate the delicious smell with the vile taste.
“Naruto! For the last time, will you just wait until its done! Make yourself useful - for once!” She shouted, just catching but misinterpreting, the snort of amusement from Sasuke.
“But Sakura-chan, you won’t let me do anything that isn’t opening packets and stirring!” Naruto whined. He crossed his arms and pouted, inadvertently covering stains from his earlier mishaps. He didn't really understand why such a fuss was needed for food when they could all just have ramen and be done with it, but this was the first time he had ever had a Christmas with anyone else and he really wanted to be part of it, and to do it properly. But Sakura didn't trust him to do anything important and he was feeling left out.
“Well, I guess you can roast the chestnuts,” she conceded, passing the now grinning boy a small bag and a baking tray.
Naruto busied himself with the small dark brown spheres, muttering and cursing as he dropped one and it rolled away across the kitchen floor, before placing them in the oven.
Sasuke had turned his intense near-murderous focus to the meat; stabbing, wrenching and trussing the bird like he practising for when he finally caught up with his brother, almost so wrapped up in his own world that he didn’t notice Sakura sidle up to him.
“You're amazing, Sasuke kun! You have done all this already! You would make a really good housewife!”
Naruto winced as he heard the comment; that was a hard one for any guy to take, but the almighty Uchiha Sasuke, jeez... for a girl who claimed to love the arrogant bastard more than anything, she certainly didn’t know him very well.
There was sudden chill of the room that made it feel like an Arctic wind had just sliced through, cutting through the warmth of the oven and a deathly silence punctuated only by the sound of grinding teeth.
Naruto chuckled nervously, while he would normally love to watch the bastard quake in rage, today he was trying to lighten the mood, he tried to think of something to say to placate the furious Uchiha. He could think of it as an early Christmas present.
“Ne, of course he would! Sasuke-tensai is good at everything he does.“ Naruto chuckled, glancing at Sasuke to see if his efforts had had the desired effect.
Sasuke’s horror and and hatred seemed to mellow into disgust and irritation, and he glared at Naruto, almost the Sasuke equivalent to a sparkling good mood. That would have to do.
The dark haired teen opened his mouth, no doubt to spit out a biting and caustic remark, but stopped when a low, muffled thud came from the oven.
Team 7 turned in unison toward the glass fronted door, waiting for something further to happen, Sasuke’s dark eyes narrowing on a small explosion of white that was plastered on its surface, like a tiny splattered snowball.
“Naruto, how long have those been in here?” he asked cautiously.
“Ano, I don’t know ... I don’t remember ...” the blond mumbled.
“Hn, you had better check on them then, dobe,” the raven said in a low voice as he turned back to the counter.
Picking up the glove from the table and opening the oven, the whiskered teen pulled the baking tray out and peered at the hot chestnuts. They had darkened slightly, he guessed, but didn't really look any different - how was he even supposed to know when they were done anyway? One of them suddenly split, its shell cracking in two, and letting out a loud hiss that startled Naruto. The shock made him jump back slightly, rocking the tray, sending the chestnuts rolling back and forth. The effect was like that of setting a match to a powder keg. The chestnuts cooling rapidly now that they had been pulled from the oven started to explode. With loud pops they shattered, jumping high in the air, throwing pieces of hot debris across the kitchen.
The blond squawked, holding the tray as far away from his body as possible, the movement setting off the next wave of detonations. Sakura screamed covering her head with her hands and ducking behind the table.
Sasuke spun around, with a sharp instinct honed in battle and perfected in training, his fingers slipped to his shuriken holster. Red eyes blazing transforming the room into oh-so-keen focus, zooming in on the erupting spheres, their movement seeming to slow and almost pause in mid air
Palming the sharpened stars, he let them fly across the kitchen, each of the shuriken hitting a chestnut, and pinning them to the opposite wall, points buried deep.
Squinting out from behind a hand, Naruto watched, helpless, as one of the smouldering balls headed straight for his face. A whizzing sound and a gust of wind passed his face and he stood there dumbfounded staring wide eyed as Sasuke stood their, chest heaving, eyes still burning. For a moment they were frozen, nothing in the kitchen moving, as those vivid eyes slid back to usual midnight black.
“Usuratonkachi!” Sasuke yelled, his bellow filling the kitchen.
The blond flinched, his lip quivering a little “I’m ... I’m sorry Sasuke,” he murmured in a soft voice, “I just ... I haven’t done this before,”
The avenger took a deep breath, and Naruto prepared himself for the next onslaught, surprised when Sasuke smoothed his bangs back down, pushing them out of his face.
“It’s fine - just help me put all this in the oven,”
Sasuke turned away, he couldn’t really stay angry at the dobe when he looked like that, with blue eyes a large as saucers and not with small pieces of chestnut stuck in his hair. Blame the season; the sweet smell of cranberry sauce and erupting chestnuts in the air; or the fact that he didn't really know what he was doing either.
The rest of meal preparation passed without further incident; a few hours later Sakura turning away from the oven and declaring the feast ready, apart from the presence of it’s instigator.
As if on cue there was a pop, and a puff of smoke in the kitchen and a rather smug looking Kakashi appeared.
“Mah, haven’t you done well?” he said, stepping forward and inspecting the various bubbling saucepans, crunching on a small fragment of chestnut.
“What’s this?” asked, glancing at the floor.
Naruto laughed, his hand scratching the back of his head in his normal caught-red-handed- sort of way “Oh nothing, Kakashi Sensei ... let’s get this stuff to the table, before it gets cold!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
They ate until they were nearly sick, and apart from finding a small chunk of chestnut hidden deep in the cranberry sauce, everything was perfect.
Kakashi having consumed the entire meal without showing the lower part of his face, rated their “first S rank mission” a success.
Naruto yawned widely without covering his mouth, and Sakura slapped him on the arm, but it was half-hearted.
Smirking, sated and now sleepy, Sasuke slumped back in his chair feeling like he might just burst; the day hadn’t gone too badly, all things considered. They had been so busy all day that he hadn’t really noticed how it had gone by, and for once it hadn’t been agonising. Grudgingly, he would sort of admit that he sort of enjoyed it. A bit.
Not that he had laughed at the jokes in the crackers - but who ever does?