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Coming from the far East on a snowy winter morning, Naruto was bouncing along happily in the forest; paws dancing and tail flopping, when it suddenly hit him. The sour, tangy smell of blood invaded his sense and he went on alert; ears perking up and his fur startled. He hadn’t sensed another predator in the area but perhaps it was a wounded animal.
Naruto was venturing far outside of his own family’s territory, so it was best to be cautious. But the land wasn’t marked, no smells, just existing, so it wasn’t breaking any rules to venture there. Naruto forgot his established plan and sniffed out the excitement. The young werewolf sneaked quietly for a while to the smell. He passed a beautiful tree with white stained bark and ducked under a few gangly red berry bushes. Suddenly, he froze when he came to the sight of a pale boy with red eyes and cherry red lips, stained with blood.
“Vampire!” he exclaimed, stumbling backward on his paws.
Said vampire in question, likely no older than him with the soft features of a kid and the scowl of a monster, glared back at him for his sudden interruption. It was apparently drinking the blood of a bunny. It’s snow white fur was stained on its side with blood. Now, Naruto being a werewolf, has caught and eaten a few rabbits, but it was just so surreal! Drinking blood, yuck! He had never met a vampire before in his life. They were supposedly wicked and dangerous. Vampires and werewolves are natural sworn enemies and the two are never to meet.
“Will you keep it down? Do you want every animal in the forest to know we’re here?”
“What are you doing here?” Naruto barked “Vampires aren’t supposed to be here?”
“Last time I checked this is nobody’s territory moron.” He snarled his pointy red-stained teeth up in irritation. “What’s a puppy like you doing out deep in the woods? Got lost loser.”
“Don’t call me a puppy!” Naruto growled, “and I’m not lost. I’m on a mission.”
A raised eyebrow was all he got in return. The vampire made his eyes change to their original black and took his wrist to wipe off the blood on his mouth on his burgundy colored sweater, all while regarding Naruto curiously.
He came from the far West of the forest so he too had never seen an actual werewolf, especially in its wolf form. The wolf had blonde fur and big paws. If he wasn’t crouching so low in defense, he probably would reach up past Sasuke’s belly in size.
Sasuke heard that werewolves weren’t very bright creatures. Always emotional, driven and enslaved by the urge of the moon to do reckless things. But he also heard they were dangerous. They could rip a vampire to shreds with their supernatural strength and large sharp teeth. A vampire should know it’s in trouble if surrounded by a pack; his father told him they usually don’t travel alone. Any anxiety Sasuke might have had from being spooked by the werewolf vanished as he examined the situation further. The wolf was young, alone, and was obviously startled himself. It wasn’t out to get him today.
“What’s your name?” Sasuke asked.
“Naruto!”, relaxing into his full wolf’s height he stood with his chest puffed out. “What about you?”
“Sasuke”
“Cool!” he yipped, “you know, I never met a vampire before.” He looked over to the bloody bunny with a frown. “What does it taste like?”
Sasuke for some reason felt pretty awkward. Deciding he was done anyways, he kicked some snow from the forest floor to cover over the body. “I dunno, like food I guess.”
Naruto laughed, “Well I guess that’s what you have to eat…drink…you know what I mean.” The wolf gave a grin. It was more of a scary look as a wolf with all those teeth, but Naruto’s tail was wagging and Sasuke didn’t feel concern when it bounded up closer to him and looked him in the eye.
“Ne ne, are you busy today? Wanna come with me on my secret mission? I can totally handle it by myself but I bet it’d be more fun with company.”
Sasuke pushed the wolf’s muzzle away when he got too close in his excitement. “Hn. What exactly is this “Secret mission”?”
“I’m going to find out if Santa is really real or not!”
“Santa? Santa Clause?” he deadpanned. “Are you serious? You still believe in Santa Clause?”
“You don’t?!” the werewolf whined “Urg you and my friends. But how else do all those gifts magically appear under the tree?!”
“…” Sasuke definitely didn’t believe in Santa because his family doesn’t celebrate Christmas. Along with some ancient bitter history between religion and the early massacre of vampires, it’s always a sore subject around this time of year. His brother told him he did something called white elephant with his friends one year, but generally, Christmas is spent like any other day in the Uchiha mansion, in peace, dark, and solitude.
“See! Even you can’t think of a good reason how!” he barked knowingly. “Well I’m headed to the Konoha mall, you can always find Santa there. I didn’t get to go earlier and since it’s Christmas Eve, everyone said they’re too busy to go out today. I had to sneak away when no one was looking hehe.”
Sasuke was rarely let out of the house alone… even at all in general. His parents worried so much over the other creatures, the humans, the hunters, and the sun. Vampires burning in the sunlight though was an old trait ancient vampires had and that they evolved out of. Sasuke wouldn’t die if he stayed in the sunlight. With his fine pale skin however, he’d be much more susceptible to sunburns but that’s about it.
Today was one of those days he felt rebellious enough to sneak out for himself and catch his own meal. He was likely going to get in trouble anyways. Plus, he’s never been to Konoha before. That’s what encouraged him to shrug his shoulders and agree to go “I’ve never been there before, so sure, I’ll go.”
“Whoo hoo! Wow I can’t believe you’ve never been. The city is just north from here, come on.” Naruto ran a few circles around Sasuke and nudged him into motion. “This way, you’re gonna love it!”
And with that the two headed through the gritty snow to Konoha
oO----------Oo
It wasn’t too long before the vampire and the werewolf walked past the edge of the forest into the main square of the small city of Konoha. Along the way, Sasuke had to remind Naruto to change back into his humanoid form. He was mildly surprised to see Naruto decked out in boots, jeans, and a bright orange winter coat. He asked him where all the clothes went when he changed. Naruto said he honestly didn’t know, one of the mysteries of the werewolf shift.
Naruto also panicked part way there, pushing Sasuke down dramatically under the banister of a boutique when the snow clouds parted to make a patch of sunlight on the sidewalk in front of him. He struggled to get the wolf off of him, yelling at him not to believe everything he hears, vampires don’t die by making contact with sunlight. Naruto was blown away by the news and double checked Sasuke really knew what he was talking about. Sasuke whacked him in the back of the head.
“No we don’t burn up.” Sasuke growled, brushing the dust off of his pants. “Do you really think I’d be walking around in the day if I‘d die in sunlight?”
“Okay okay just checking! You weren’t paying attention; I just didn’t want to see you turn into a pile of ash.”
Sasuke sighed and gave an irritated expression to the wolf.
Well boy actually. The werewolf was blond haired and had two bright blue eyes. Three whisker like marks ran on each side of his cheek as if the whiskers couldn’t quite disappear from the body shift. He wasn’t too ugly at all, for a werewolf.
They reached the entryway for a department store that Sasuke had never heard of. He chuckled when Naruto struggled with the heavy door “What’s wrong, I thought wolves were supposed to be strong? Guess you are a puppy.”
“Shut up teme” he growled, finally getting it open “I’m not as strong in this form. I’d like to see you try.”
Sasuke smirked and went to the other door, opening it for himself no problem, much to Naruto’s unamusement. But hey, Sasuke only has one form so he’s always at his strongest.
They had cut through the toy section of the store to reach the mall. Just because Sasuke’s family doesn’t celebrate Christmas doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a strong admiration for toys and video games. He was dragging this time when the walked by some interesting looking action figures. And there were some cards from card games he’s seen his brother playing. He wished he had money with him, he bet his brother would like more of them.
“Hey Sasuke, look!”
Sasuke turned from the shelf he was examining to look at the blonde, only to find he wasn’t there. There were lots of people in the mall today. It was the day before Christmas after all and Sasuke puff out an irritated breath, thinking maybe Naruto got lost.
When he started walking further away he heard he named being shouted again and he narrowed his eyes at a pile of stuffed animals. Of course.
“Dobe,” Sasuke hissed, “get out of there right now before someone notices you! Are you trying to get us caught?”
There in the middle of the pile was a happy wolf face surrounded by other stuffed animal. With his bright blond fur, shiny eyes, and his mouth actually closed, he really did blend in well with the other stacked toys.
“Look, I’m taxidermized!” he barked.
“Shh! How can you even joke about that? Stop being stupid and get out of there!”
“Hey mommy look!” Sasuke felt his shoulders tense as he saw a tall woman walked past, trailed by a small pink haired girl. “That animal’s moving, it’s alive!”
“Your imagination is beautiful darling” the woman laughed, not paying any attention to where the child was gesturing with earnest.
“But it’s moving! Look!” The girl walked closer with her hand outreached to touch Naruto’s fur but Sasuke stopped her before she got too close. Curling his lips up to show off his fangs, he hissed at the girl. Her eyes got huge and she squealed in fright, running away to her mother.
He turned around to glare at the wolf, who was withdrawing his head from the other side and changing form, hopefully without anyone’s notice.
“Sasuke! I can’t believe you just did that.” Naruto came around the pile holding his stomach in laughter. “At least I was in disguise. You full out hissed at her!”
Rolling his eyes, he grabbed Naruto’s coat collar and drug him from the store into the mall. “It’s not like it matters because nobody’s going to believe her. Now let’s just get this over with.”
If the department store was busy the mall was even more so. There were a few occasions where the two boys were bumped aside due to the fast walking people and large bags swinging. There was also an incident where a mall cop approached them due to their searching expressions, asking if they were lost. It was almost in Sasuke’s intuition to know Naruto was about to inadvertently spill the beans and get them in trouble. So before he spouted, “No, we’re here looking for someone by oursel-.” Sasuke cut him off and said their dads were browsing a store and was letting them get ahead.
At the nod the two shuffled away. Sasuke growled under his breath. “Really? We’re here all by ourselves? How big’s that brain in your head, are you trying to get us taken into custody?”
Naruto growled in irritation too “Stop making me feel dumb! And okay okay I didn’t think about that alright.”
“No wonder you wolves have to stay in packs, you can’t even manage to go to the malls by yourselves without causing a scene.”
“Hey!”
“Wait, isn’t that is over there?”
They saw a huge line at the center of the mall. There were two fake Christmas trees decorated in snow, several workers dressed up as elves, and a huge red sled that the man with the white beard was sitting on himself. He felt Naruto hop up in down in excitement and try to rush forward. They couldn’t get very far though, there was an expressway of people between them, connected by other directions of the mall like freeway exits and entrances. The boys were so much shorter than the taller adults; Naruto got pretty frustrated by the third time they almost got run over. “That’s so ridiculous. Can’t people pay attention to where they walk?!”
Sasuke sighed, “Just hang on.” He grabbed Naruto’s hand and ran. One other unique attribute that vampires have is to move very quickly. So Sasuke sped himself and the werewolf across the sea of people in about less than two seconds. To say Naruto was surprised was an understatement. His eyes got wide and his very lasting smile lit up.
“Holy carp, that was so cool Sasuke! Vampires are so amazing, I wish I could do that. If I was a wolf I would have bulldozed through everyone. It was like, we teleported!”
Sasuke snorted, “We definitely didn’t teleport. And try to keep it down, I really shouldn’t have done that. We’ve been exposing ourselves to these humans way too much since being here.”
“Alright alright.”
Getting in line, they had to wait a while before it shifted to where they were in the front. Sasuke was curious what Naruto was exactly going to say or do to verify if Santa really existed. He really hoped he wouldn’t try to pull down his beard like the kids he saw in a movie once. Glancing over at him, he was surprised to see his happy expression gone and replaced instead by a very calculated and focused one.
“Alright you two, are your parents with you?” One of the elves motioned them forward, looking expectantly at an older woman behind them but she shook her head. At her frown, Sasuke informed her that Naruto and he came to see Santa by themselves. She shrugged and let them through the gate.
“That’s exactly what I was saying earlier!” Naruto grouched, breathing down his neck.
“Yeah but risking the truth is better with an elf than a cop Dobe.” He bumped him with his elbow and they walked up to the sled were a man with a long white beard, a red hat so red and large it covered one of his eyes, and a huge red coat that made his belly looked large was studying them.
“Ho ho ho! What who do we have here? Come on come on the both of you. Come up come up.”
Naruto didn’t seem to have too much of a problem climbing the sled and hopping on one of Santa’s thighs but Sasuke was much more reluctant. He didn’t really have intentions of meeting the guy. But there was an elf behind him ushering him up and he unhappily decided to move thing along, hopping up on the opposite side of Naruto.
“Well well, what would you like for Christmas boys?”
“Listen Santa,” Naruto started. “A lot of people are saying you really don’t exist, you know? I just wanted to get the clear picture. I know he’s a busy guy and he sometimes needs his friends to step up for him in malls and stuff like that, but I want to know from you. Is he real or not?”
He leaned back on the guy’s chest as he waited for his answer.
“Why of course he’s real! Don’t believe what other people say. The magic is in believing. Don’t you believe in me? Because I actually am the real Santa Clause.”
Naruto’s expression twisted into one of confusion and contemplation. Santa gave him a wink and Naruto gave a dry laugh, sitting forward with a nod.
“And now you, young man, what would you like for Christmas?”, he said shaking Sasuke’s leg. He felt his face flush for some reason.
“Uhh, nothing. Nothing really, I’m fine.”
“Oh come on! There must be something, what would you like?”
Sasuke felt this was ridiculous. Despite the fact Naruto believed in Santa Clause, he didn’t. He just said whatever to get the guy off his back. ”A 3DS” he saw one of his brother’s friends playing with one. It looked cool. Santa nodded.
“Hey well, if you’re still taking request, I want an Xbox 1” Naruto chimed in.
“Sounds good, now you two hold still and look that way.”
“Ready?” another elf said pointing a camera at them. “1, 2, 3”
A bright light captured the expressions of the three. Naruto was surprised but should have known. Of course, there’s always pictures at these things. He worried for a moment, wondering if the myth that vampires don’t show up in photos is true and they’d have to make a run for it before the lady elf freaked out. But as if he could read his mind, he turned and saw Sasuke’s glare and he told him it was fine.
“Alright you two, you better scurry home. Have a Merry Christmas”. Santa gave the two a smirk and waved them off.
“Would you like to buy the photo of you two and Santa?” The elf that snapped the picture asked, “ They’re only $20 each with the cover.”
Now Sasuke glared at the elf, “We’re kids, we don’t have any money.” He grabbed Naruto’s hand and went to drag him from the exhibit but the woman stopped him.
“Wait! True, that isn’t fair of me. Well since your parents aren’t here, I can print a couple of small photos for you.” She tinkered with the computer and printed out two instant photos of Naruto and Sasuke for the both of them.
Naruto had given a quick smile to the camera, Santa was smiling with his one eye, not covered by the hat, closed, and Sasuke still had a red face as he looked to the camera with a tight, but not unfriendly expression.
“Wow, thanks lady!” Naruto said, “That’s super nice.”
“No problem! Now don’t expect to get them for free next year! Have a Merry Christmas!” she handed them candy canes and shooed them out the gate.
“So, are you satisfied now Dobe? Have all your questions been put to rest.” He glanced at the blonde and was again surprised to see his merry expression changed to one of confusion and slight worry.
“Sasuke, one cool thing werewolves can do is tell when somebody’s lying. It doesn’t work on other werewolves but when somebody lies, there’s a small blip in their hearts rhythm. When it falters like that we know they’re not telling the truth. That’s why I wanted to ask that guy if Santa is really real.”
He stopped and frowned at Sasuke. “But the thing is, that guy didn’t have a heartbeat at all! I thought we were just too far when we were in line but when I even put my head on his chest I heard nothing.” His expression suddenly changed to shock.
“Wait, you don’t have a heartbeat either! Oh my gosh, maybe Santa is a vampire too! It makes sense! He’s super old, and you guys live forever right?”
“Hey hey calm down” Sasuke shook the hyperventilating blonde’s shoulders. Now that he mentions it, it is pretty possible that guy was a vampire. Sasuke is always very aware of warm blooded creatures; the pulses of veins and breakable flesh that leads to them. But he didn’t feel the light panging urges to feed. Even if he had already eaten, instinct is instinct, and he didn’t have any feeling with that guy. And that hat covering his one eye... “I think that was my uncle Kakashi…” he said to himself.
Naruto didn’t hear him though, caught up still in his own brain blast. “He had to have known I was a werewolf. Don’t we smell different to you guys?” Indeed they do. They smell like evergreen pines and the slight musk of an animal.
“I have to be right! Oh my gosh I could have died. I was sitting in a vampire’s lap, like little red riding hood in the wolf’s mouth! An actual vampire!” He whined.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. “You’ve been hanging out with me all day, what makes the difference?”
“Oh. Oh well, it’s cause you’re you Sasuke! You’re cool, I wouldn’t have to worry about anything with you.” He smiled and hopped onto Sasuke’s shoulders, knocking them both down in his laughter.
Sasuke sighed, getting used to the weight of the blonde “So, Santa really is a vampire?”
“Yup! And I connected the dots all on my own” Naruto puffed up proud. “I can’t wait until I tell my friends.” The smile Naruto directed at him was brighter than a star on a tree.
They left the mall after that, going back to where they came from; past the cop, past the toy shop, past the festively lit square of Konoha, into the thick woods still covered in gritty snow and shaded by tall trees.
Naruto had changed back into his wolf form once they hit the trees, and was bouncing along the path and also flanking Sasuke from time to time. He didn’t mind when Sasuke’s curiosity overtook himself, and he put out his hand to brush the soft light fur. His tongue hung out his mouth and he barked in delight when Sasuke gave him a good scratch behind the ears.
All too soon it seemed, they reached the halfway point where they met. They both come from opposite sides of the forest so they stopped under a tree with white bark to situate themselves. It was late evening. Naruto figured his folks wouldn’t mind him coming back this late. Sasuke knew his parents would be angry but somehow he knew that spending the day was worth it. Turning back into a boy, Naruto threw himself at Sasuke, knocking them down again.
“OI, Dobe! Will you quit doing that.” But he had an armful of blonde and he was being hugged the tightest he’s ever been in his life.
“Sasuke! Thanks for hanging out with me! I had a really good time you know?” His face was squished into Sasuke’s neck and he tensed, more used to having his face in other animals’ necks than his own, when he felt wetness. “Oi, you’re not crying are you?”
“I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. You know, what they say about you guys, you vampires, it’s not all true.” He lifted his face and wiped the tears from his blue eyes with a smile. “You’re a really cool guy Sasuke. You looked out for me and, I really felt like we had each other's backs. Hey, we’re friends right?”
Sasuke blinked at him in surprise. He didn’t really think about it, but he had a pretty good time too. How rare for him to leave the house firstly, then he got to go to the mall, a place he’s never been before and got to hang out with a werewolf, a creature he’s never seen before. It actually was a pretty spectacular thing. Plus, he got to finally be around someone his own age. He sighed and gave a light smile at the blonde, flicking off a stray tear on his whiskered cheek.
“Sure. I actually had fun too. Thanks for inviting me along.”
“Aww!” Naruto was back in his face, knocking him down and hugging him tight again, to Sasuke’s annoyance. “You probably wouldn’t have survived out there on your own anyway. You would have ended up in a kennel or something.” Naruto tickled Sasuke’s side for that, and laughed at the boy’s embarrassing yelp in return.
The sun was setting, and they knew it was time to go if they wanted to make it back before dark.
“Hey, maybe we’ll meet again one day, you think?” Naruto asked.
“Yeah, probably. Just don’t interrupt me if I’m eating. I like the whole experience of catching a meal.”
“Haha, yuck!” Changing back to a wolf, Naruto gave a small howl. “See you later Sasuke!”
“Bye, Naruto.”
And with that, the vampire and the werewolf parted ways on the snowy ground, one going East and one going West.
oO ----------Oo
Later on, the morning after, on the one day of that year that many children love the most, finds Naruto waking with a yawn to the bright light shining through his window. He abruptly sat up with a smile, remembering exactly what day it was. He was about to shoot out of his room and run downstairs to see what was under the tree when something shiny caught his eye out the window. Getting closer he saw it was a shiny golden wrapped gift, sitting just on the sill of the window. Opening it up, he carried the large box inside and read the little card tapped onto the side.
“To Naruto. I see you’ve been a good boy this year, and an even better friend. Have a Merry Christmas, don’t stop believing. Your pal, Santa Clause.” Surprised, he set the card aside, and almost lost his mind when he ripped open the paper to find an Xbox1. “Santa really is a vampire…” he whispered in wonder, “ Whoo hooo!”
On the other side of the forest found Sasuke waking up groggily in his own room. He had been grounded the night before and wasn’t even planning on leaving his bed today to interact with his family. Almost ready to close his eyes again, he too caught sight of something shiny outside his window. Curious, he got up and lifted it open, surprised to see a present on the sill. Opening it up he brought the small box in his room and picked up a message sitting on top. It read, “Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas Sasuke! This is for you from your pal, Santa Clause. P.S, Don’t forget your favorite uncle’s birthday is in September. He’s also partial to presents~
Sasuke smirked and opened the box, getting just what he asked for the previous day. Going to his dresser, he looked at the photo he set there from yesterday. He liked looking at the smile on Naruto’s face. He could only imagine what it looked like now if Santa just so happened to pay him a visit too. It was probably brighter than the sun.
That thought somehow filled Sasuke with a rare contentment and he started smiling himself too. If that’s how Christmas really does work, then well, he guesses he really does believe.