Author's Note: I wrote this fic for a friend of mine, latentcolors, from LiveJournal. He asked for a oneshot a long time ago, and so now I've finally written it as a fluffy Christmas fic. It would be hard to write something fluffy if Kiba and Naruto had completely canonical personalities, so forgive the OOCness they have in this fic (especially Kiba). Regardless, I think you all will enjoy it greatly. Also, I'll personally respond to any reviews I get. I figured maybe you'd feel more inclined to review if you knew I'd respond to you all individually.

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto created and owns Naruto, not I.

Warning: A barely used level of the citrus scale: ORANGE (just a little kissing); YAOI; MINOR LANGUAGE; LOTSA FLUFF

Kiba's Christmas Present

Christmas night. The best night of the year in Konoha—people celebrating, kids playing, presents waiting at home. But for Naruto, he'd always spent Christmas alone. Not that he minded it; seeing the people and walking the streets had been enough for him. Besides, he knew someone would give him a present—if not tonight, tomorrow. Usually cards for free rounds of miso pork at Ichiraku Ramen, and Naruto had no problem with that. In fact, Naruto didn't care what he was given. What mattered to him is that someone cared. It had been a long time since his days of depression and loneliness, and though people did care—enough to spend their money on him—he still had to fight back recollections of bad happenings.

He grabbed a thick scarf out of the coat closet, wrapping it tightly around his neck. Walking through the living room and out the front door, he closed it behind him, his eyes widening and heart filling with warmth from seeing the magnificent array of green and red lights and decorations which lined the streets this time of year.

It looked as if it were right out of a children's book, kids making snow men and snow angels in their front yards as the cold material of their creations fell from the sky. You'd never think the village had been through hardships, like the town being destroyed after Orochimaru attacked the village and killed the one Naruto looked up to the most. The Third Hokage.

Naruto clenched his fists and he felt their tightness, remembering a bad time again. And the funeral that followed that horrid day. So much depression. But then he turned his attention back to the festivities of the best night of the year. The sun had gone from the sky and a full moon had arisen, shining its silver glow onto the world below. His mood perked back up again, and he began walking.

He walked alone down the street without direction, but it didn't bother him. Being alone was something he'd come to accept since his childhood—and accepting being alone was a great perk for a ninja such as he. It was on certain occasions when one should feel good about the world that others could potentially ruin a mood. However, he didn't think he should be alone all the time, for some people could ruin a mood and others could help it.

Passing the last house on the block, he went straight, walking past other residences (with lights and decorations, of course) and coming to a park. He continued walking, but looked over to it. The place wasn't as populated as he thought it would have been, but there were still some people enjoying themselves, laughing as they had a snowball fight in the field. Looking past the group, there were park benches illuminated by an overhead street light. Someone was sitting alone on one of them. Stopping in front of the field, Naruto squinted as he looked beyond the snowball fight and tried to make out the figure in the distance.

After a moment of decision making, he trudged through the field, his shoes crunching the snow below his feet. He walked around the snowball fight, dodging snowballs, and eventually getting close to the benches. The figure was presumably a guy, and he sat alone, arms folded, head down, hood up. Nearing the person, Naruto stopped in front of the occupied bench and squatted down, staring at the figure. Chilly wind swirled around them for a moment, carrying traces of snow with it. He'd gotten close—approximately four feet away.

Naruto raised a brow, scanning the target. Black jacket. And . . . I think I see another figure inside it, inflating and deflating, like it's breathing. Could it be Choji's fat stomach or something? Heh-heh, no, no, it's not round enough for that, and not enough of it is inflating. Looks more like. . . . Wait, is this . . . ?

He heard the figure sniff the air.

"Naruto?" the figure asked.

". . . Kiba?"

The Inuzuka's eyes shot up. "What are you doing here?"

He pointed an accusatory finger at the boy. "What are you doing here?"

"Well . . . that's kind of a long story," Kiba said, seeming out of his typical character. Sad.

Naruto remained silent, his eyes fixed on the other boy.

Looking into those eyes, Kiba said, "Basically, my mom kicked me out."

"What? On Christmas night?"

"Yeah. I didn't stick to my training, and she kicked me and Akamaru out." The dog whimpered from inside the jacket. "And then we didn't know where to go, so we came to the park."

"I can't believe she did that," Naruto said, sitting down next to Kiba on the bench. His ass was cold as hell, but he didn't care.

"She runs the family like she's the leader in a pack of dogs . . . which honestly makes sense." He tried a laugh. "She's just trying to toughen me up. She wants me to be the greatest shinobi, so I guess I won't get a break—even on Christmas. If I can endure spending Christmas night alone on this cold bench without anyone except Akamaru to keep me company, I can endure a lot of things other shinobi can't."

"But that's just stupid! I understand she wants you to be a great shinobi and all, but kicking her own son out into the cold on Christmas night is uncalled for! Ninjas deserve breaks every once in a while—I don't care how tough we're supposed to be!"

A stray snowball flew at Naruto's head, but he dodged it quickly. Those kids holding the game didn't care, continuing to laugh and play even when he cursed at them for it, shaking his fist in the air like an old man telling whippersnappers to get off his lawn.

Kiba laughed at the occurrence before continuing where he left off: "Typical people and the Inuzuka clan see things differently. Have you ever had a dog, Naruto?"

The blond affixed his attention back to Kiba, shaking his head.

"Thought so." He looked down at his jacket, the outline of Akamaru more prominent than it was before, revealing the dog was lying down in his master's lap. "Dogs like to think about things in terms of loyalty. Companionship. They think of things like where one needs to be in a pack. The pack as a whole accomplishes things; not just one dog. The leader is dominant of the group, and the others follow what the leader says, no questions asked. You don't get breaks. . . ." He looked back to Naruto. "So basically, our family operates like a pack of dogs."

"Your mom treats you like a dog?" Naruto exclaimed.

Kiba smiled. "Well, yeah, but that means she's a dog, too. And Mom's a female, so that technically makes her a bitch."

Naruto got a crack out of that statement, and so did Kiba.

Now smiling, the Inuzuka continued, "She's honestly not that bad; she's just strict on me and Hana. I messed up with my training, so I was kicked out of the 'pack.' Kinda like a lone wolf, but just . . . the dog version."

Standing up, Naruto said, "'Lone dog' or not, I'm not gonna let you just sit here all night in the cold. You're coming back to my house." He grabbed the Inuzuka's wrist, starting to pull him back up. Kiba allowed Naruto to pull him the rest of the way up, but he put his other hand at his waist so Akamaru wouldn't fall out from under the hoodie. After being caught by his master's deft hand, the dog found his way to Kiba's shoulder, where he propped himself up in the usual position.

Naruto pulled Kiba through the field, wind and snow blowing through his hair, both the boys' feet crunching snow beneath them again. Back toward the street he led them, squeezing the Inuzuka's wrist until they passed the snowball fight, still echoing laughter being them, and had started walking along the street back to Naruto's house. Then, his grip loosened to almost feeling gentle. Naruto was ahead of the Inuzuka, leading them authoritatively back to his house, and then he decided to steal a glance behind himself.

He's . . . blushing?

xox
-xoxoxo-
xox

"All right, we're here," the blond said, walking through the doorway. He let go of Kiba, and they took their shoes off. Naruto motioned for him to go sit on the couch in the center of the living room. Kiba obeyed, his dog sitting next to him. The blond walked to the coat closet, taking off and putting away his coat and scarf, leaving him in a black shirt and pants. "I had an idea on the way back."

"Huh?"

"I'm gonna make us hot chocolate. Be right back." And with that, he was off to the kitchen.

Fumbling through the pantry, he finally found the box he was looking for. The brand was Swiss Miss; the kind was milk chocolate with mini-marshmallows. He then got his other materials required for the job: two mugs from the cupboard and milk from the fridge. He poured two glasses of milk, placing them in the microwave. Naruto pressed in the time, and then pressed "Start." All he could do now was wait. So he leaned against the counter by the microwave, listening to it hum, waiting for it to beep.

But why was he blushing? Does he like me or something? I mean . . . what would I do if he told me he liked me?

His mind quieted for a moment, and over the buzz of the microwave, he thought he heard Kiba talking to himself in the living room. Or he could possibly be talking to Akamaru. Naruto couldn't make out the words, but he focused on listening to Kiba's voice as he thought a bit more.

To be honest, I really do kinda—

BEEP! BEEP! Microwave was done.

Abandoning that thought, he carefully grabbed both mugs, setting them on the kitchen counter he had been leaning on. He opened the hot chocolate packets and poured their contents into the steaming milk. Then he walked over to the sink and opened the drawer beside it, taking out a spoon. He stirred each cup of hot chocolate until he felt they had been satisfactorily mixed. After remembering to put the milk back in the fridge, he took both full mugs back to the living room. Naruto stopped in the entrance way that connects the kitchen and living room to see Kiba, who had taken off his jacket, leaving his torso only covered with his fishnet undershirt. His jacket lay on the arm of the couch.

Kiba again looked into Naruto's eyes—just like he did back at the park. "I like your eyes."

Naruto's voice fumbled a bit as he stared at the Inuzuka's toned chest and abs. He thought about what Kiba said, and his cheeks felt warm—almost like he was blushing. ". . . What?"

"I said, 'Your house is nice.'"

"Oh. . . ." He mentally scolded himself while walking to the now-shirtless boy, making sure not to spill the beverages. "Well thanks. But I didn't have much time or money to decorate a lot."

In fact, the house was barely decorated at all. He had the essentials for living and a few nicer things (he'd gotten as gifts), but not much more. Especially not in terms of really decorating. He didn't even have a tree up or lights strewn about or anything. Then again, he never really had many visitors, so what was the point in making his house a festive exhibit of winter holidays? Naruto had bigger concerns than how cozy other people think his home is. . . . And Kiba seemed to think it was cozy enough.

"Took my jacket off 'cause it was wet and cold. You don't mind, do you?"

His voice wavered a bit. "No," he said, reaching out over Kiba to hand him his hot chocolate. And then his hand wobbled, and—

"SHIT!" Kiba yelped as a splash of the steaming beverage hit his lower abdomen, running down into his waistband.

"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry, Kiba!" He put both drinks on the coffee table in front of the couch, and then turned towards the hallway, running towards the bathroom. "Hang on, I'll be right back!" he called over his shoulder.

Kiba sighed. "No, no, it's fine, Naruto; it's not the first time I've had something spilled on me." The blond got farther away, and so he had to raise his voice to add: "Akamaru can clean it up; that's another benefit of having a dog!"

No reply.

Naruto grabbed a hand towel from a shelf in the bathroom, coming back with it and slowing as he got towards the other boy. He squatted down in front of him, towel in hand, starting to rub through the fishnet at the area he'd just spilled stuff on. And then he felt his cheeks get hot again. A lot hotter than before.

He took a step back, embarrassed.

But Kiba, for some reason, had a comforting smile. "It's fine. You cleaned it up, right?"

Naruto laughed, nervous. He put a hand behind his head, scratching his neck. "Yeah, I guess." He sighed, and then walked around the coffee table to the other side of the couch. Akamaru moved onto Kiba's lap, giving Naruto the spot next to his master. "Well, now a quarter of yours is gone. I guess I'll have yours and you can have the one I made for me; they aren't any different."

Kiba took the full mug and Naruto took the other one, looking into it. At least he didn't get the marshmallows spilled on him. He took a drink. It was both creamy and chocolaty, just like any good cup of Swiss Miss. Taking a glance over to Kiba, he noticed Kiba looking at him again. His face looked pleasant, if not a tiny bit creepy.

Naruto put his mug back down. "So how exactly did you get kicked out?"

Kiba took a quick sip of his drink, placing it on the table next to Naruto's. "Well, all three of us sat down to eat at the table—something we only do on holidays—and Mom starts asking my sister, Hana, if she did her medical ninja training. She says yes, Mom says good, and then she turns to me. She asked me if I'd done my training, and considering she can practically smell when I'm lying, I told her I spent the day hanging out with friends instead. . . ." He smiled oddly. "And she wasn't happy about that."

Naruto nodded, taking another drink. Mmhmm.

Kiba continued, "She told me ninjas can't just have days off, and I argued against her, saying that ninjas should be allowed to have at least one day off out of the year. Everyone else in the village agreed with me. And she also didn't like that. So then she told me to get out of the house, and I obeyed her. I went to the park, sat there for an hour or so, and then there you were."

"But don't you have presents or something?"

"Not that many, actually. But I don't really care. Oh, and that reminds me, Naruto. I got something for you."

Naruto raised a brow.

Kiba pulled out a card, handing it to the blond. "Twenty-five free bowls of ramen at Ichiraku's."

Naruto's eyes were big and bright. "Thanks, Kiba!"

Akamaru scattered off Kiba's lap, seeming to sense the incoming blow.

An oof! escaped Kiba when Naruto tackled him, holding onto his torso in a vehement hug. Kiba's body felt tense for a moment, but then he relaxed, hugging Naruto back. The force of Naruto's lunge had knocked Kiba's head over the arm of the couch, his upper back and neck touching the supposedly wet jacket he'd discarded earlier. Naruto lay on top of him, nuzzling his head into the Inuzuka's toned chest. It seemed a bit awkward to Naruto, hugging Kiba this fiercely, but he continued to do it. Partly because Kiba wasn't pushing Naruto off him, asking him what he was doing, yelling at him, or doing anything in objection to what was happening. He just stayed there, hugging back, and it seemed he would continue to do so until Naruto pulled away—even if his back was directly on a cold, wet jacket. But then Naruto finally did pull away, and he didn't apologize as he had before. Kiba still had that admiring expression on his face, and Naruto again suspected there was something more to this boy than he'd previously thought.

Naruto broke the silence. "Sorry, but I don't have anything for you."

"It's fine." He looked at the object in Naruto's hand. "I wasn't expecting you to spend money on me."

Naruto looked at the present before setting it down on the table. He'd forgotten he was still holding it. "Well, what do we do now?"

The Inuzuka yawned, and Akamaru got back in his lap. "I donno. I'm kinda tired."

"Yeah, me, too." He picked his mug back up off the table, drinking the last of it and staring at the bottom of the cup. Looking back to Kiba, he said, "You wanna just go to bed now? I'm gonna take it you aren't planning on going back to your house tonight."

"Yeah, I was planning on staying here. Hoped it wouldn't be a big deal."

"No, no. It's not. But I usually don't have people over here, so I don't have a place for you to sleep. Unless you wanna sleep on this old, broken down couch. And I doubt that would be very comfortable. Or," he pondered aloud, "you could sleep in my bed with me. It's queen-sized, and I wouldn't mind if we shared a bed for a night."

"Sure," Kiba replied, "I guess I'll sleep in your bed."

"All right," he said, standing up. "Come on." He walked around the coffee table in the same manner he'd walked around it to sit next to Kiba, and the Inuzuka waited on him. Then they walked down the hallway, and at the end, Naruto opened a door, leading Kiba into his bedroom. Fortunately for Kiba, he'd come by the day after Naruto thoroughly cleaned it—and those days were extremely rare.

Naruto didn't have eyes in the back of his head; therefore, he couldn't see Kiba's expression. But he imagined it to be one of amusement. Something that says: Wow, I wasn't expecting that! But the likelihood of such expression was low, Naruto figured.

"Your room is . . . clean?"

Or maybe it wasn't so low after all. "Yeah, just cleaned it yesterday," Naruto said, sounding proud. He jumped to his queen-sized bed, spreading out before being engulfed by its softness. He laid there for a moment, Kiba coming around to the side without a nightstand. He got back out of bed, though, his imprint right in the middle, ruffles flowing out and vaguely defining it in the previously pristine sheets. "I'm gonna go get some water. Be right back."

As he was leaving the room, Kiba said to make it two glasses.

Back down the hallway, Naruto walked into the living room. Kiba's jacket was still lying on the arm of the couch, so he walked over to it and picked it up. He had planned to put it in the coat closet along with his scarf and coat he'd discarded earlier, hoping it would dry by tomorrow, but then he realized something as he felt it.

It's . . . dry? But why would he . . . ? And then he realized everything. He still moved the jacket to the closet, doing so in a mix of happiness and bewilderment, though at this point, it was mostly bewilderment. Like Naruto had been a puppet, and Kiba, the puppeteer. Not like Kiba was trying to play games with Naruto. It just seemed Kiba really wanted him to figure something out. And he had.

He continued his route to the kitchen, grabbing two glasses and filling them with tap water. Hoping Kiba hadn't pulled the same trick again, but this time with his pants, Naruto walked back into his room. He found Kiba sitting up on his side of the bed—the one that didn't have a nightstand by it—with his legs under the covers and a smaller lump under the sheets in the middle of the bed, which Naruto interpreted to be Akamaru. He thought about complaining that Kiba was having a dog sleep in the bed, too, but then he let it pass. You can't have Kiba without Akamaru.

Thankful that Kiba hadn't pulled that trick again, instead taking off his pants and getting under the sheets before Naruto got back, he didn't have anything new to gawk at. So, he didn't have problems walking to Kiba's side of the bed and handing him the glass before taking a sip from his own. He got over to his side of the bed, setting the glass down on his nightstand. Kiba handed his over, and Naruto set it on the nightstand before shedding his pants, leaving him in his green and orange boxers. He noticed Kiba smirking at the sight for a split second before turning his back to the blond and settling down. Naruto turned off his lamp, getting into bed and facing Kiba's back.

Naruto could hear both Kiba and his dog's faint breathing, as well as Naruto's own. All was silent, and he was still thinking. He mulled over all that had happened, wondering if his suspicions were really true or if he was just looking into things too much. He also realized that since he'd been in Kiba's company, not a single bad thought had crossed his mind. That boy seemed to be the cure to it all.

And then he heard the mattress shift and creak, wobbling slightly. In the pitch black darkness, he relied on his ears to find out why and how Kiba had moved. His breathing was louder, so Naruto thought maybe the Inuzuka had shifted to his other side and was staring at him in the darkness.

". . . Naruto . . . ?"

". . . Yeah?"

"Remember when I said I didn't care if I got presents from my mom this Christmas?"

". . . Yeah."

"That's because I knew she couldn't get me what I wanted. Know why?"

"Hmm?"

". . . Because what I really want for Christmas is you."

"Wha—"

He was cut off by the feeling of Kiba's soft lips against his own in the darkness. Naruto's cheeks were hot. Hotter than before. Hotter than ever. His stomach swirled with intense butterflies, but he didn't pull away, instead slightly opening his mouth, giving Kiba silent permission to enter. And enter he did, their tongues playing for a moment.

Kiba stopped, pulling away. His voice was hushed, almost whispering when he asked: "Will you be my boyfriend for Christmas?"

Naruto thought for a moment, looking at the spot where Kiba's mouth would be in the darkness. ". . . Yes," he responded, leaning in to kiss the boy again.

Afterword: Yeah, yeah, cheesy ending and all that. Regardless, I do hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to review, even if it's only a word or two. All fanfiction writers love getting reviews, if you haven't already figured that out.

I've also updated my bio and posted an update on what I'll be writing, so go there if you want to know what I'm up to.