An Unusual Christmas Present

Summary: Kakashi and Hinata meet in the markets during the Christmas season. This meeting gives her an idea for a Christmas present for the jounin.

Also: This fic is for Deviant's Kakahina contest, Purple Snowflakes, you can find their site on my page.

Also Also: This fic is dedicated to Emerald707 - though she'll never read it - because she loves Christmas trees and that gave me inspiration.

Disclaimer: *groan* Do I have to do this every time? You know that I don't own it, I know I don't own it, Lord knows I don't own it, Kishimoto knows I don't own it....what more is there to say? It hurts every. single. time. *sobs*

Christmas was a wonderful time of year to the young kunoichi who was traversing the morning markets. Not only was it near her birthday but everything appeared brighter, fun and festive. People walked through the village with smiles on their faces, children ran around sucking on candy canes, and nearly everyone was held in awe of the beautiful Christmas trees that were placed in positions of prominence.

The bright lights, the tinsel, the myriad of decorations, and the bright star at the top, that could enrapture this particular young woman for hours, were out in their glorious splendour this season and were catching the eye of every passer-by.

Walking past the biggest tree, with a box tucked under one arm and gazing up at its branches that were lined with fake snow, the dark haired woman wasn't aware of her surroundings when she found her elbow taken by a firm hand and her steps being quickly pulled in another direction.

Looking sharply up at the person who had taken hold of her as they stopped next to a wall, away from the crowds, she felt herself blush as she met the eye of an amused shinobi.

"Hinata-san," he said, his eye crinkling in a smile, "you should watch were you're going, you almost fell into that puddle."

Glancing back over her shoulder, Hinata could clearly see a large hole in the ground, eroded away from feet and wheels and not helped in any way by the recent rain. If her rescuer hadn't of helped her when he did, she would now be covered in mud and filthy water, disgracing herself in front of the large crowd that were looking at all the different stalls. She bowed quickly.

"Thank you Kakashi-san," she said, her eyes looking up and shyly meeting his gaze while she pointed over to the tree with a smile, "I should be more careful, it's just that the tree is so beautiful this year."

The Copy-Nin raised his eyebrow and looked to where she was pointing while taking his hand away from the young woman's elbow, "I guess," he said, his voice betraying his scepticism.

The young Hyuuga forgot about her blush and smile and stepped back from him, "You don't like Christmas trees?"

He shrugged his shoulders and then smiled as he raised his hand to the back of his head, "Never had one so I don't really see the fuss, more of a nuisance really."

"You never had a Christmas tree?" Hinata couldn't help but looked shocked and Kakashi waved his hand as if telling her to forget about it.

"Anyway Hinata-san, I should be off. Try not to fall down in any puddles!"

He quickly walked away with his hand held up before he disappeared into the crowd. Hinata waved back and stayed where she was for the moment, her mind whirling a hundred miles an hour. How could anyone think of Christmas trees as nuisances? They were full of secret delights, bright lights and warmth that went beyond superficial feeling.

Muttering to herself, Hinata started walking home, all the more ready to start decorating her family's Christmas tree.

~~~*~~~

"It's my turn to put the star on!"

"Imouto-san, you put the star on last year."

"I did not!"

"You did too, this year is Neji-niisan's turn."

"It's alright Hinata-sama, let the little brat put it up."

Hanabi huffed and sat down with her arms folded, "Well now I don't want to do it."

Hinata rolled her eyes and finished hiding the last candy cane that she had bought in the marketplace within the tree, while Neji picked up the gold star and smirked over at his younger cousin as he reached up and placed it on top of the tree. Hanabi stuck out her tongue at him and muffled a giggle as Neji quickly checked to see if Hinata was looking his way and quickly stuck his tongue back out at her. The older Hyuuga smiled briefly and then sat down next to Hanabi as his other cousin plugged in the tree lights.

"Are you guys ready?"

The two on the floor nodded and Hinata flicked the switch and ran over to sit with her sister and cousin to watch the tree light up. The three of them loved this tradition; it was something that they had done with their late mothers, something that bonded them together. They had stopped when Neji had turned against the Main Branch but now that he was coming somewhat into his old self, they had started it up again. Putting up the tree and watching it sparkle for the first time that year was Hinata's favourite part of Christmas.

After a few moments Neji happened to look over at his cousin and was surprised by the concentration on her face where usually there would be an almost vapid look of happiness.

"Are you alright Hinata-sama?"

The young heiress looked up at her cousin and gave him a smile, "I'm fine Neji-niisan, just thinking about Christmas trees." She turned back to the tree and smiled again as she saw the lights play along the branches and brighten the star at the top. While she was still staring at the tree, counting the moments before she had to get up and do some work, she spoke up again.

"Neji-niisan," he looked over and watched as a larger smile spread across her face, "how much does a tree and its decorations cost?"

~~~*~~~

To say that Kakashi was surprised when he opened the door to his apartment a week after helping Hinata and a week before Christmas to see a person whose face was obstructed by a rather large box would be an understatement. He wasn't expecting any deliveries and was shocked to hear a familiar voice behind the box.

"Hatake-san? Could you please take this, it's quite heavy."

"Uh, yeah, sure," he replied, taking a firm grasp on the box and setting it down by the door. When he looked back up the person was gone. He looked into the hallway outside his apartment but couldn't see anyone. Shrugging his shoulders he closed the door and turned to look at the box that the mystery person had given him.

Briefly activating his sharingan, he looked it over carefully to see if it was anything dangerous. Satisfied that it was harmless, Kakashi got a knife and cut through the tape over the top of the box and opened the flaps to discover what was inside.

Red, white, green, gold and silver shone back at him and dazzled the Copy-Nin for a moment. Reaching in, he extracted a green bauble and held it in front of his face for inspection.

It seemed to be a Christmas decoration.

This was weird, he didn't even have a tr-

Someone knocked at the door again and the shinobi placed the green sphere back in the box and opened the door. This time he was met with a fir branch in the face.

"Huh?"

"Sorry Hatake-san, could you help me get this in too."

Instead of answering, Kakashi simply took the end of the tree that was in his face and helped carry it into his house. When it was sitting by his window, near his bookcase, the Copy-Nin saw dark hair on the other side of the tree and leant around to see who had brought him this...tree.

"Hyuuga-san?"

"Ano, yes, hello Hatake-san," she straightened up and brushed her jacket sleeve which had little branches stuck all over it before looking up at him with a smile, "I'm sorry I did not message ahead but I thought it would be better to surprise you."

The silver haired man raised his eyebrow, "Oh I am," he replied, looking over at the tree and then at the box of decorations, "but, Hyuuga-san, what is it?"

The young kunoichi looked taken aback a bit as she tentatively answered him, "It's a Christmas tree Hatake-san, and those," she continued, pointing over at the box, "are the decorations we'll put on it."

Kakashi shook his head, "Yes, but what is it doing in my apartment?"

"Oh, well," a sudden blush framed the Hyuuga's cheeks as she told him why she had come, "I guess you could say that it's my Christmas present to you."

"A tree?"

The heiress spread out her hands in supplication, blush fading away as soon as the discussion turned to the tree, "Oh but we'll turn it into a Christmas tree."

"We?"

"Oh, well, of course you can do it by yourself; I just thought that since you've never had one you might not know how to do it."

The jounin looked at the tree again before evaluating the young woman in front of him. Sighing, he dropped his shoulders, "You're going to be unnaturally persistent about this aren't you?"

Hinata strove to stop herself from pointing her fingers and instead, blushed lightly again but she couldn't hide the smile that was starting to spread across her face, "Is that a yes Hatake-san?"

He sighed again and shrugged, "Sure, why not."

The kunoichi's face lit up and Kakashi was floored for a moment at the transformation. She was stunning as she gave herself up in the joy of the moment. Heck, if this was all it took to see that smile on her face, he might be tempted to let her put up a tree every day!

As she went about all business-like, muttering away about lights going on first and rummaging through the box for a particular ornament, the jounin couldn't help but wonder at what he'd let loose and the fact that he didn't mind it at all.

~~~*~~~

Kakashi had forgotten himself these last couple of hours. The room had taken on a lighter presence as soon as the lights had been twirled around the tree, lopping around the branches until the last light had reached the top of the tree; conversation had flowed freely and he had found himself talking more to Hinata than he had in the first year of meeting many of his friends.

He hadn't consciously divulged anything from his life, remaining tight lipped about anything that seemed too personal, he had, instead, regaled her with humourous anecdotes from past missions, dramatic old tales he had learnt as a child and had even told her the basic plot of the Icha Icha series, which made her blush tenfold as she laughed out loud at the perverse mind of Jiraiya, almost making her drop her armload of ornaments.

In turn, she had also told him about life in the Hyuuga compound, which not many knew about - though he knew more than most - her family and how it was coming back together since the death of Neji's father and her mother, and the reasons why she loved Christmas.

They talked and laughed and found that a very open and easygoing camaraderie had grown between them. They also noticed a few other things

Hinata had found that her heart had started to beat faster every time their hands brushed when the tinsel was being passed around or when a candy cane was hidden in the same recess that the other had spotted. Kakashi realised that his mask grew a little tighter each time Hinata had to bend down to catch a bauble that had been hung on a too thin branch or had looked up at him with a careless smile that spread across her face and shone in her eyes whenever, in the silences, they caught each others glances.

It made both of them uncomfortable but they merely shrugged it off and let the minutes pass by without comment on it.

When almost everything was done, they both stood back from the tree, marvelling at what it had become. Even Kakashi, who had claimed that Christmas trees were a nuisance had to admit that it had a certain charm to it and that putting up the tree was far more fun than he had been led to believe by his own musings.

Turning to the wall, he went to turn on the switch to see the lights flash when Hinata's hand caught his own, "Wait, there's still one more thing to do!"

Running over to the box, the young kunoichi lifted out another smaller brown box. Carefully opening it, she lifted out a gold star. It had twelve large points and in those were six smaller, thicker points. The whole star had been lightly doused with gold bubbles and the bottom of the star ended in a gold spiral so as to seat itself on the top of the tree. It looked lovely but hardly as beautiful or precious as Hinata seemed to think it was as she held it lightly and almost reverently.

Looking up at him from the star, the Hyuuga smiled again, "You can't forget the star Hatake-san."

"It's Kakashi, Hyuuga-san," he said as he walked over to where the footstool was that they had been using, picking it up and putting it by the foot of the tree, "I think by now you should call me Kakashi."

She nodded as she walked over, "Then it's Hinata to you Kakashi-san," she presented the star to him, "it's your tree Kakashi-san, you have to put it right on the top."

Kakashi shook his head and lifted a completely surprised Hinata up onto the stool, "No," he said, his hands still at her waist, steadying her, "I think you should have this honour today, I'll do it next time."

The dark haired Hyuuga, without protest, placed the star on the top of the tree, adjusting the smaller branches at the top so that the star wouldn't slide or droop.

Forgetting that the jounin had his hands around her waist tightly, Hinata turned excitedly around after staring at it for a few seconds in rapture, knocking Kakashi off balance and making him kick out at the stool, making her fall off. She closed her eyes as she fell, knowing that if she flipped or made a move she might crash into Kakashi, and decided to just fall so he could get out of the way.

Kakashi, thinking the same thing and assuming that Hinata would make the move to save herself let himself fall down.

Hitting the ground, the silver haired shinobi felt a body impact with his and opened his eyes in surprise. Wide, lavender tinted eyes stared straight back at him, looking down he noticed her lips open in surprise. It was only after a moment of looking at each other that they spoke.

"I thought you were going to..."

They both laughed at speaking at the same time while Hinata put her knees on either side of his legs and put her hands by his shoulders to lift herself up. Her hair came down and framed them for a moment. It was another second before a blush quickly spread across her face and she leapt up and away from him.

Rising to his feet, Kakashi checked that his mask was still in place before walking to the plug in the wall again. Turning to the blushing young woman, he tried to bring some levity back to the situation. He pointed to the lights, "Can I please turn them on now?"

Hinata smiled again, that smile that he was beginning to think was just for him, and raised an eyebrow, "Impatient aren't you? Sure, you can turn them on; I'll turn off the lights."

The jounin waited till she had turned off the lights and closed the curtains before switching on the fairy lights.

Sitting down in front of the tree, they both remained in silence for a while watching their hard work pay off in the form of the twinkling, bright and colourful tree.

Kakashi could now see what was so special about the star that Hinata had held. In the daylight it had seemed nice enough but in the dark and with the lights playing off the golden bubbles, in shined in every way, reflecting the colours which almost created the illusion of the points of the star turning. It really was almost magical.

The silence was lifted when Hinata, still staring at the tree, spoke up, "Thank you for letting me put up the star, I haven't done that in a while."

"But I thought you three took turns putting up the star?"

The chuunin sighed and smiled wistfully, "Yes we're supposed to, but everyone seems to forget when it's my turn," she laughed softly, "they always seem to believe that it's their turn every year."

"You should say something," said Kakashi, his visible eye still on the tree.

"No, it's ok," she replied, bringing her knees up to her chest, "I don't mind, it makes them happy and isn't that what Christmas is about?"

The Copy-Nin dragged his eye away from the tree and watched her face, trying to see if she was lying or hiding something from him but he couldn't seem to glean anything from her at a glance. Looking back to the tree he watched the star a bit longer before talking again, "Well, I'm glad I could give you that at least."

Silence reigned a bit longer and Hinata sneaked a furtive look at the man beside her, trying to understand what had sprung up between them and hoping against hope that it was just friendship, she didn't have a clue how to treat an ex-ANBU if she was beginning to have a crush on him. Thinking back on the tree, she remembered something that he had said when he had put her on the stool to place the star on the top of the tree.

Looking back at the tree instead of the man she spoke up. "You said 'next time'," she said, her eyes tracing the pattern of the lights and trying to find all of the candy canes that they had hidden, "does that mean that you're going to do this next year as well?"

Kakashi stole a glance at her before slowly rising to his feet, "Yeah, this was unexpectedly fun," he said, looking down at her, his visible eye crinkling in a smile, "But you'll have to help me again, there is far too much tradition and mechanics to putting up a tree than I had at first thought."

He offered a hand for her and she grabbed it as he pulled her to her feet. Giggling lightly, the Hyuuga nodded, "Sure, this was a lot of fun."

As the jounin opened the door and leant his arm on the frame, he said his farewells to the young woman.

"Thanks Hinata-san, this has to be the most elaborate Christmas present I've ever been given."

She smiled as she stepped outside, "It was my pleasure Kakashi-san."

Waving goodbye to each other, he watched as she walked down the hallway and around the corner.

Leaning back onto the frame with his whole body, his was struck out of his daydream with a jolt as he felt someone stick an elbow into his side.

"What was that about?"

Kakashi turned and saw his friend Iruka by his side with a sly smile on his face, "Nothing," rebutted the jounin, inwardly wincing at how defensive that sounded, "Hinata-san just came to give me my Christmas present."

"Hinata-san?" Questioned Iruka, smiling more evilly than Kakashi had ever seen the pony tailed man smile before, "Since when did you become so familiar with my past student?"

Ignoring his comment, the Copy-Nin walked back inside his apartment, fully intending on slamming the door on Iruka, but unfortunately, he had moved too quickly and was inside with him before the door had shut. Turning around to deny anything that the chuunin was about to say, Kakashi saw Iruka staring at the tree in slight awe.

Walking into the kitchen, the jounin called out to his friend, "Do you like my present from Hinata-san?"

"She got you a tree?"

Kakashi brought back out two glasses of milk and handed one to the other man, "It's a Christmas tree," he replied, drinking his milk in one gulp.

"Yes, I know it's a Christmas tree but, I thought you hated Christmas trees?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Turns out I don't."

Iruka smiled as he sipped at his milk, "She gave you a tree," he chuckled and shook his head.

"No," said Kakashi, thinking a moment and smiling at himself, "she gave me Christmas."

A/N: Awwwww....*kissy face*

Ahem, anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one shot. I'm finally getting my groove back! Yay for me! w00t! XDD Expect more fanfic soon! On another note - Christmas soon! Yay! w00t! XDD

Yours,

Jaggarte x