I'm so sorry for not being able to update for so long but I had to jump through a bunch of hoops to get access to my google account once again and that was after I got a new computer after my last one fried on me, I know that this doesn't make up for it, but it's what I have to give for you, you know? I'll try and update once again soon as I can now that I can write again, but you're going to have to give me a bit of credit when it comes to things since I'm out of whack for writing.

This chapter, as you can guess, is going to be a Christmas special, and this takes place a few weeks after the teams were made, and this is 100% canon as far as this story is concerned. I was also trying my hand when it comes to a bit of fluff when it comes to Naruto and Shika, since that is going to be the pairing for this story even if it is going to be a slow slow burn as far as the relationship is concerned. Either way, I hope you all enjoy this!

Shikamaru let out a deep, almost sensual, moan as she slipped deeper into the hot springs. After a long mission this, this, was absolute bliss! The normally Lazy Kunoichi would complain a lot when it came to missions, but the fact was that she was completely serious with them when she needed to be, and because of that, she was all the more thankful that her dad had given her a year membership to the best hot spring in the village. Even if that stupid Perverted Toad sage was around, she knew that the rest of the Kunoichi in the place would especially since she was only a genin, and the rest of them were at the very least low Jounin in strength. Either way though, she just wanted to soak her aching limbs in the nice warm water at the moment.

"Hey! Is that you Shikamaru?! I hardly recognized you without the ponytail!" A voice, one that was absolutely annoying entered the girl's ears.

Opening her eyes with annoyance reflecting from them, Shikamaru wasn't surprised to see that Ino was walking into the hot springs, and right towards her. Just when she thought that she might have a peaceful rest for once!

Bleary eyed, and more than a little miffed, the black haired girl looked towards her friend with a scowl "What do you want ino? I've been trying to relax!"

"Oh come on, don't give me that! You're on a team with one of the people that you obviously wanted to be on a team with, so why aren't you happy?" The blonde haired girl asked, almost right away making it so that Shikamaru sent a weary look towards her.

Gossip and Yamanaka were practically synonyms for Konoha, and the black haired girl could see the look in the blonde's eyes. Giving a lazy yawn towards her in response, the only thing that the Nara said in response was "Troublesome." before she started to get out of the hot springs. And here she was thinking that she might be able to relax for once!

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily." Before she so much as managed to even stand up, the blonde latched onto her arm forcing the Nara to sit right back down "No spill it!"

A few minutes later had a disgruntled Nara sitting next to an extremely happy Yamanaka. She knew that she should have just got out of there right away!

Having to make it so that Shikamaru spilled practically everything when it came to her teammates, she just knew that she was going to hear about this later. Even trying to make sure that the blonde didn't tell anyone else wouldn't work unless it came to a hefty bribe or blackmail, neither of which the young Nara had. Money wouldn't work either considering the fact that the Yamanaka were a fairly wealthy clan in Konoha considering all the clientele that their flower shop sold to. And there wasn't anything blackmail wise in her possession that would keep the Yamanaka from spreading her information.

At least the blonde couldn't get anything else out of her.

"Oh yeah! What are you going to give Naruto for Christmas?"

...Damn you Murphy's Law.

Sending an exhausted look towards the blonde Shikamaru shook her head "No Idea. The idiot would probably like it if I just gave him a gift card for Ichiraku's, but that doesn't really scream 'Christmas present!' now does it? We might not even get snow this year either you know."

"That's no excuse and you know it!" Came the immediate response, something that made the black haired girl sink even further into the hot spring.

Trying to ignore her for the moment, Shikamaru really didn't know what she could get for Naruto that he would actually use. A prank set probably wouldn't be able to be used anymore at this point, what with him being an official Ninja and everything, but that really didn't stop him from pranking people at times. Thinking over it though, would a trap kit be any better? Really she didn't know, and at times it was just frustrating to try and figure out what the blonde would or wouldn't like, since he would try and make it seem that he liked the thing that she got him even if he didn't.

Giving a groan of annoyance, the black haired girl stood up once again to get out of the bath, this time not being stopped by Ino, since it seemed that Shikamaru was deep in thought. Even then though, the blonde gave a soft smile towards the Nara considering that as far as she was concerned Shikamaru liked Naruto. Whether that was true or not remained to be seen, but she was rooting for the two no matter what, even if they didn't know it.

-[(Christmas~) Putting lights on the tree~]-

As it turned out, Shikamaru had been racking her brain to figure out what she was going to do for the blonde idiot for almost a week, and before she knew it, it was christmas eve, and she was starting to panic. Her father had tried to give his help, her mother as well for that matter, but she had quickly declined it. She was of the mindset that if it wasn't a gift that she thought of herself then it wasn't worth it to give the blonde. Before she knew it, though, the date had sneaked up on her and it was time for the party that she had invited all of her friends to for Christmas, and she was still not sure if the blonde's present would be well taken or not.

She couldn't decide just what it was that she would give him so she ended up just getting something on impulse, and she really did hope that it was taken well. She saw herself as the blonde's best friend so if she didn't get him a gift that he actually liked, she would be disappointed in herself.

"If you keep that up you're going to wear a ditch into the rug." A voice spoke up catching her attention.

Looking over towards the voice, Shikamaru saw that her father was staring at her with an amused look on his face. Right away annoyance flooded her system at the sight due to the fact that he was so amused at her worry. The scowl on her face must have really shown how annoyed she was at the situation, that Shikaku let loose a chuckle.

Giving his daughter a smile in response to the scowl, the older Nara spoke "I don't think you really need to worry all things considered considering the fact that he'd probably like anything that you got him you know."

"That doesn't mean that he actually likes what I got him." Shikamaru spoke up, her voice showing just how annoyed she was at the moment "I mean, I know a lot of his likes and stuff like it, but that doesn't make him any easier to get a gift for."

A sigh escaped the elder Nara, as he stood up, and walked over towards his daughter, stopping her in her tracks with both his hands on her shoulders "Listen Shika, do you know what the biggest problem with being a Nara is?" Seeing her confusion, and the shake of her head, he continued "It's our intellect. Don't get me wrong it's a wonderful thing in a fight, but every day life? We constantly overthink things. That's why I have your mother to help me get a simpler view on life. She's smart, but she see's things in a more normal way then the rest of us Nara."

That made a lot more sense then Shikamaru would normally give the situation, but whether she liked it or not, it helped. She was getting so worried over whether or not Naruto would actually like what she got him, that she didn't just think about how he would take it. She couldn't actually remember the last time that she had actually invited Naruto to a Christmas party in the first place, and to her shame, she hadn't actually. That meant that this would be the first Christmas that Naruto would actually be spending with her family, and it was only after they had graduated.

Shaking herself out of her train of thought, the younger Nara gave her father a grateful look, giving him a quick hug, something she didn't normally do, before she rushed out of the house. She saw the surprise on her father's face out of the corner of her eye, but she ignored it when she saw it quickly change into a soft hearted joy that she didn't see too often anymore. Even then though, she rushed right out of the house, intent on getting a refund of what she did get already, and go with what she had in mind the first time around.

{Have yourself a merry little christmas~}

Shikaku wasn't sure what it was that his daughter had gotten her blonde friend, but to be honest, didn't care. He could see the joy that was on Shikamaru's face at the idea of her friend getting what she got jim. The fact that this was the first Christmas that they were celebrating together, of course, made things a little more tense than they normally would. Shikaku knew that the younger Nara would have invited the blonde before, but again it all came down to having someone pull on the reigns that was the Nara's intellect. There was that, and the fact that Naruto made sure not to mention it whenever he came over in the day's after that.

Now though, he could see just how happy the group was. Added to the normal though, were the Jounin that were their teachers. Asuma, Kurenai and Kakashi, though the last one still hadn't arrived. Of the kids from them though, only Sasuke didn't show up to the party, though whether that was because of Shikamaru not inviting him or not, Shikaku wasn't exactly sure. Even then though, a smile made it's way onto his face unbidden, as he looked towards the kids.

Shikaku's attention shifted once again as Asuma walked over towards him, a cigarette in his mouth, but the end of it not yet lit. Turning his dark eyes back towards the kids, the Jounin commander spoke "How are things Asuma."

"I can't complain with my team." The Sarutobi spoke with an even tone, though there was a hint of a smile in his tone "I was actually surprised by how much your daughter's actually working. I kind of expected her to be like when you were a genin from what I've heard."

"I assure I wasn't nearly as bad as what any of the stories suggest." Shikaku said in response, a smirk on his face even as he continued to look towards the kids, who just watching as Naruto and Kiba got into another fight "Still, I'm happy to know that Shikamaru is taking her Kunoichi career seriously."

Pulling out his lighter, Asuma hummed in agreement "I guess we'll see if it's just her faking it or not eventually. I mean, certain motivations can only take someone so far."

He knew it as well as the Jounin that told him, but that didn't make it any less harsh when it came to teaching it to a Genin. Thankfully there wasn't a way going on at the moment, but that still didn't mean you didn't need to be careful. Quickly getting out of that type of thought pattern, Shikaku focused on the fact that the christmas party was still going. No need to think about gloomy topics while you were supposed to be having fun.

Out of the corner of Shikaku's eyes, he noticed a certain someone giving him a look, which caused him to chuckle a bit "Well, it was nice talking to you Asuma, but this is a party. I believe someone asked me to dance with them."

The younger Jounin gave a cheeky smirk towards the Nara clan head before he headed off, and then turned his attention towards a certain red eyed jounin sensei. But really, with people that cared for you, and vice versa, it was hard not to be happy.

{Have yourself, a merry little christmas~}

Shikamaru was honestly happy with how things had turned out. After getting a few presents, which mainly consisted of either cooking items of various types, or board games, it was time for the others to open their presents in turn, and she was nervous. Of course the nervousness was mainly due to what she had ended up getting for Naruto, and she was honestly not sure how well he would take it as well. Of course if anyone else noticed they didn't say anything, but the cheeky look that Hinata had was answer enough. Everyone knew that she was nervous, and they all knew why as well

As it turned out though, she needn't have bothered with being so worried in the first place. The gift that she had ended up getting the blonde, which was a starter trap kit, and a 5000 Ryo gift card to Ichiraku was something that blonde was really happy with. After she explained that she should be able to build traps as easily as pranks, the blondes confused look shifted into a full blown grin. Of course if that wasn't bad enough when it came to her embarrassment of the situation, she was picked up. Yup, the blonde was so happy that he ended up picking her up into a hug, something that sent her face ablaze.

"Get off me you troublesome blonde!" Was what she had said at the time despite her embarrassment, but those words did little to dissuade his joy.

After giving the stink eye to a couple of her fellow Genin (I.E: Ino, Chouji, Kiba and Hinata), she decided to try and get everyone out of the house, and into the yard so that they could see the fireworks that were going to go off eventually. Before Naruto could get out of the house though, Shikamaru quickly grabbed him by the shoulder, getting a confused "Shika?"

"Shh.. I know a better place that we can watch from." The Nara Heiress spoke, a lazy smile on her face as she started to halfheartedly pull the blonde in a different direction.

The blonde seemed to just go along with it as it were if the fact that he followed along was anything to go by. Walking through the house, and making sure not to disturb the adults, who were drinking quite a bit now that she saw, they exited out a side door of the house. Looking around once again to make sure that they were alone, Shika turned towards her friend, before giving a smirk and jumping onto the roof of the house.

"Shika?!" The blonde half yelled with confusion.

Rolling her eyes at Naruto, Shikamaru leaned over the edge to get a good look at him "Are you coming or what?"

Not wanting to be left behind, the blonde did just that as he jumped onto the roof as well, before following along where Naruto was going. If she was honest, she didn't know why she brought the blonde up here, but it was her spot pretty much. This was the spot that she always went to when she needed to think, or to just cry without anyone knowing. Shika was certain that her dad knew she went up here, but as far as he was concerned so long as she didn't hurt herself, it didn't matter. But at the same time, her mom didn't know she went up here so it often led to her trying to explain, without explaining, where she went.

Needless to say it tended to be blown out of proportion at times.

Sliding down to lay on the roof, the slanted roof making it so they were facing the village, Shikamaru let out a yawn as she got comfortable. Naruto, after a few seconds, did the same thing, prompting her to speak "Hey, can you not tell anyone about this place? This is my spot for when I need some time to myself, so keep it to yourself as well."

"You actually trust me with knowing you come up here?" The blonde asked in response, the disbelief evident in his tone.

Sending a frown towards him, Shika quickly said "Well, yeah. Your kind of my best friend, more than Choji even for that matter. Why wouldn't I tell you about this place?"

The two went into a comfortable silence once again, the fact that Shika would trust him enough for this leaving a warm feeling in the blonde's chest. A smile ended up crawling onto his face at that same time, before the fireworks started to go off in the distance. Both of the pre-teens sat up as best they could at the sound, looks of wonder appearing on their expressions, even if Shika's was a little less obvious.

A smile made it's way onto the Nara's as she thought over all of the memories that she had with the blonde that was sitting next to her. Unbeknownst to her, or the blonde for that matter, their hands slowly started to creepy closer, until eventually they touched, causing the two to look at each other in surprise. They stayed like that for an awkward moment, before a soft smile made its way onto Shika's face, while a grin made it's way onto Naruto's. Raising her hand, she took the blonde's hand into her own, a tight grip on the hand showing that she was going to let go of it.

It might be crazy, the type of things that they were going to end up getting into in the future, but that didn't matter to either of them. They had gotten through everything so far, they could do it again no matter what else was sent their way.

Merry christmas everyone!