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Snow crunches beneath Naruto's feet as he walks slowly down the street, hands tucked into his pocket and head bowed low against the cold wind nipping at his skin. Dusk has set over the village, but children are still in the street throwing snowballs at each other, and he flinches when one nails him in the side of the head - normally he would find it funny, might even stop to retaliate, but he's not really in the mood for that sort of thing.
He's not really in the mood for anything today. He's never enjoyed the holidays much, having never had a family to celebrate them with - since Iruka-sensei acknowledged him and he joined Team Seven, he's had some holidays that weren't so bad, but celebrating without Sasuke doesn't quite feel right. Of course, he understands why Sasuke left, had willingly let him go this time, but that didn't mean that he doesn't miss his friend.
Because he does miss him. He misses him so terribly it's like a physical ache in his chest, like a piece of him is missing. It's manageable most days, but last night he had dreamed that Sasuke had come home to see them for the holidays, and waking up to find that it wasn't real had been hard.
Wherever Sasuke is, Naruto hopes that he's okay, and he wonders if he's thinking about them. He likes to believe that he is, that maybe he misses them just as much as they miss him.
His breath clouds the air in front of him as he heaves a sigh, reaching up to scratch his neck beneath the collar of the sweater Sakura had insisted he wear tonight. It's too warm and entirely too itchy, and he's not a big fan of the odd red and green pattern, but who is he to tell Sakura no? He's never been able to, even more so now that Sasuke is gone, and the fact that he's trudging through three feet of snow to go to her holiday party is further proof of that.
"If it bothers you that much, brat, then just walk on top of it," Kurama mutters, and Naruto can't help but chuckle at his input, pulling one hand from his pocket to press over the space where his seal used to be - he can tell by Kurama's indignant huff as he settles back down to sleep that he can feel the sudden rush of affection for him that floods through Naruto in that moment, a stark contrast to the hatred he used to feel for this other being that had been forced inside him, this creature that had kept him isolated from the rest of the world for so long; now, having Kurama with him makes him happy, filling him with a sense of warmth and companionship. He laughs again when Kurama grumbles about how sentimental he's being, and for the moment, his bad mood is forgotten, and there's an extra spring in his step as he continues on his way.
Naruto can hear voices as he finally stands on the other side of Sakura's door, smiling to himself when he hears the pink-haired kunoichi's laughter above it all. The door is unlocked, and he lets himself in, shrugging off his coat and unwinding his scarf, adding them to the pile going on a chair near the door. Before he can make it past the entryway, Sakura bounds up to him, having heard him come in, grabbing his hand.
"You made it!" she exclaims, her cheeks flushed from what he can only assume is a combination of excitement, the heat in her apartment, and probably one too many glasses of eggnog. "Come on, we were waiting! Did you remember your gift for the exchange?"
"You bet," he replies, smiling down at her as his free hand pats his pocket. His gift is small, and he had forgotten to wrap it, but he didn't think Iruka-sensei would mind. "Are we doing the exchange already? I thought we were having dinner first. I'm starving, ya know."
"You're always starving," Sakura teases, pulling him toward the living room. "No, we aren't, our team members are the only ones here so far, but your gift got here early so I didn't want to wait!"
"My gift was early? What..." Naruto's confused, but allows her to pull him along behind her, until he takes his first step into the living room and stops in his tracks. Startled blue eyes lock on black across the room, and her words suddenly make perfect sense. "Sasuke!"
He looks different from the last time Naruto had seen him, dark hair grown longer to cover his Rinnegan, faint dark circles beneath his eyes - he looks tired, but he's here. He's really here.
"Naruto," the Uchiha greets him coolly, but the small smirk that tugs up the corners of his mouth betrays him. Naruto is across the room in an instant, pulling Sasuke into a bone-crushing hug - such shows of affection weren't normal for them, but it had been so long since he'd seen Sasuke, and he definitely couldn't put how much he had missed the Uchiha into words.
Rather than respond with some scathing remark as Naruto is expecting, however, Sasuke instead raises his arm and lets it rest awkwardly across Naruto's back, his low chuckle rumbling deep in his chest.
"Good to see you, too, dobe," he mumbles, too quiet for anyone but Naruto to hear, tone uncharacteristically soft. It's gone the instant Naruto pulls away. "So I see you're still not Hokage yet. Did you finally give up on that stupid dream?"
"No way!" Naruto exclaims, shoving Sasuke's shoulder, but he knows that Sasuke's only making a half-hearted attempt to cover his own feelings, and his retaliation is the same. "I'm still gonna be Hokage, ya know!"
"Good." This time, Sasuke doesn't bother to try and hide his smile. It's quick, barely a flicker before it disappears, but it's there, and it makes Naruto feel warm all over. "I didn't lose to you for you to be a loser forever."
"Watch who you're calling loser, loser!" Naruto snaps back, but it's half-assed, ruined by the wide grin that hasn't left his face since he'd seen Sasuke from across the room. He knows it won't last, that Sasuke will leave again once the festivities are over, but for now he simply can't stop smiling. He's so happy, and he would rather have this one evening than nothing at all - one evening with all of Team Seven back together again, the way they were supposed to be. And it's all thanks to Sakura.
The kunoichi lets out a small, startled noise when Naruto suddenly turns and pulls her into a hug, but it's quickly replaced by soft laughter as she returns it, going up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. She knows what he wants to say before he can even say it, knows that he will never be able to thank her enough for bringing them all together again.
"To think you didn't even want to come," Kurama grumbles, but the warmth and happiness of the moment isn't lost on him, and Naruto can feel a flutter of annoyed affection through their connection. Over the years, Kurama has taken a... he wouldn't call it a liking, but he has offered words for Naruto to relay to his teammates, infrequent and grumpy though they may be, and they had spoken back. In fact, just a few months ago, when Naruto had a little too much to drink while out with Sakura and Sai, Kurama had taken over to get him home, and had what could almost be described as a friendly conversation with Sakura. Naruto could only remember pieces, and both Kurama and Sakura refused to tell him what they had talked about, but both had laughed when he asked. He had felt left out, but he also liked that his friends were getting to know Kurama the way he did.
A loud squeal snaps Naruto back to the present, and he releases Sakura as a blur of blonde pushes between them, followed by a surprised grunt as it collides with Sasuke - Ino.
"Thank you, Sakura," he mouths to the girl as the others begin to filter into the room, shedding outerwear and talking loudly as they make themselves at home. Her knowing smile is all the response he needs, and when she turns away to greet the rest of her guests, he walks across the room to where Kakashi-sensei stands beside Captain Yamato and Sai, talking quietly over cups of eggnog.
Kakashi-sensei's horrendous holiday sweater is almost enough to distract Naruto from the fact that the Hokage's mask is currently bunched around his neck, alcohol-flushed cheeks and beauty mark carelessly and completely revealed to everyone. This happens every year - Kakashi-sensei drinks a little too much of Sakura's rum-spiked eggnog and his mask comes off - but it's not a sight that Naruto will ever get used to.
"Kakashi-sensei, Captain Yamato, Sai," Naruto says as he approaches, and all three men turn to face him, Kakashi-sensei giving him that closed-eyed smile of his that's so familiar yet looks so weird without his mask. Yamato also gives him a smile, eyes slightly glassy, and Sai, the only one in the trio not drinking, greets him with a friendly nod. Naruto peers into the bowl just behind them, chuckling when he sees just how much of the eggnog they've gone through. "Jeez, you two, save some for the rest of us."
"Have some!" Yamato picks up a cup, scooping eggnog into it and pushing it into Naruto's hands, laughing sheepishly when a bit of it slops over the side. "Sorry."
"It's okay." Naruto licks the eggnog from his fingers, taking a sip and grimacing. "How much rum did Sakura put in this?"
"Not enough," Yamato laments, emptying his own cup and reaching for the ladle.
"I think you've had enough, Captain Yamato. You too, Kakashi-sensei," Sai says, taking the ladle before Yamato can refill his drink, taking his empty cup from him. He takes Kakashi's too, ushering them away from the table. "Come on, let's go talk to everyone."
Naruto watches them go, slowly sipping his own drink as he turns to survey the room. All of their friends are here now, crowded into the living room, but none seem to mind the close quarters. Today is the one day of the year they all get to take time off and just spend time together, being crammed into a small space is certainly not a complaint any of them would make.
His eyes fall on Sasuke again, standing across the room talking to Sakura and Ino, who are listening to him raptly, hanging on his every word. He smiles again when the Uchiha looks up and meets his gaze, and even when he looks away, Naruto spends a moment longer studying him - his bored expression is offset by the slight smirk that lifts the corner of his mouth, and he wonders if it's because of what Sasuke is talking about or if he knows that Naruto is watching him.
At some point, Naruto finds himself wrapped up in an animated conversation with Iruka-sensei, who helps himself to a very generous cup of eggnog. Their conversation carries over into dinner, which tastes so good that Naruto suspects Sakura's parents had a hand in making it, and after, full and sated, they all settle around the living room for the gift exchange. Sakura sits to Naruto's left on the couch, Sasuke on his right, the others scattering in some semblance of a circle around the room.
Ino, to Sakura's left, goes first, presenting a small box to Sakura. Shikamaru's gift goes to Sai, Choji's to Lee, and so on and so forth until everyone but Naruto and Sasuke have gifts in front of them. Naruto watches as Iruka-sensei unfolds the piece of paper - he had agonized over it forever, unsure what to get for the man who had changed his life so much. In the end, it had been Kakashi-sensei who had given him the idea, and he grins when Iruka-sensei's eyes widen, glad that the Hokage had let him be the one to give Iruka the news.
"I passed the exam?" he exclaims, looking up at Naruto, who gestures to Kakashi-sensei. "I'm going to be Vice Principal?"
"Congratulations, Iruka," Kakashi-sensei replies, his grin hidden behind the new mask Kiba had gotten for him - it’s a gag gift, a mask designed to look like a dog's nose and mouth, and it looks absolutely ridiculous on him, but he seems to enjoy it.
"Congratulations, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto calls across the circle, grin widening when Iruka's wet eyes meet his. His tears spill over as the rest of his former students chime in with their own congratulations, and Naruto leans back, glancing at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye. "Still not as good as my present."
"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke mutters, but on Naruto's other side, Sakura laughs, leaning against his shoulder.
"I'm just glad we're all back together again," she says, smiling over at the both of them. "Happy holidays, Naruto, Sasuke-kun."
Naruto doesn't say it, but the casual arms he throws around the both of them speak louder than words - he's glad, too, and he as he listens to his friends laugh and talk around him, he can't imagine a better way to spend the holidays than here, with his family.