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It wasn’t the first time he’d spent a holiday in Konoha with his Aunt’s family, but it was the first Christmas. Every other Christmas his father had been too busy to abandon the office for a couple of days, but his father and uncle always forced him to write a Christmas card for his cousin, since his second year there, saying it was good family bonding, even if it wasn’t face to face.
So, this was going to be his first white Christmas.
He couldn’t remember if he’d done anything for Christmas before ending up alone on the Sunan streets, but it couldn’t have been anything big if it was so easy to forget.
The train ride to Konoha was quiet as per usual, father catching up on a book he’s been waiting to read for a while, uncle Kankuro off somewhere in the train doing something he probably wasn’t supposed to be doing judging by the raised voices a few cars over.
It was currently the early hours of the 24th of December, they were to stay that night that night, stay with family the 25th and take the train home the 26th around noon. His father couldn’t take anymore days off, which was no issue to him, he wasn’t too keen on this venture anyways, Christmas was just another day to him.
Yes, his father and uncle did celebrate it back home, but he couldn’t see what was so special about it. He’d expressed this thought once to his team and was berated by Yodo, who claimed herself “Christmas spirit reborn” whatever that means, he’d thought at the time.
As they approached the station, he saw the figure of his cousin, supposedly sent by his mother, waiting to take them back to his house.
The train came to a slow stop and his father stood, making his way to the closest door, he followed closely behind, not wishing to be lost in the crowd of people coming to visit family. He watched his uncle stumble out of a door a couple of cars down, knocking into a few people as he made his way towards them. His father watched with a bothered look on his face, “watch where you are going please, Kankuro.” He muttered.
“yeah, yeah whatever Gaara.” He said, waving his brother off, “hey there squirt,” he turned towards Shikadai as he walked over, “have you grown since the last time I saw you?”
Shikadai came to a stop in front of his uncles and let out a huff at his eldest one, “probably, it has been around nine months now...” he replied, obviously counting the time in his head.
But it was true, he seemed a few inches taller, ever since he turned 15, Shikadai had been going through a major growth spurt, he could often hear his uncle teasing him while on the phone with their Konohan part of the family. Shinki was now the shortest one of the family, but he still held hope for a couple more inches. It was hard to tell how’d he’d grow up, with no biological family to assume he’d inherit traits off of. But that didn’t matter, as long as he passed 170cm eventually, he’d be happy. “Nine months too long! I’ve been missing Tem, huh Gaara? Hah you should’ve seen how excited your uncle was for this trip Shikadai! He was practically vibrating this morning.” Kankuro boomed, half of the station turning their heads towards his voice as he laughed and clapped his hand on his brothers’ shoulder. Gaara flushed slightly, it showing up easily on his pale skin, “Kankuro quiet down…” he said embarrassed, crossing his arms and shrugging Kankuro’s hand off of his shoulder, “Please take us to your mothers Shikadai.” He continued, following his nephew as he began to make his way out of the station, cutting around crowds of families reuniting for the holidays.
As they closed in on the Nara residence, Shikadai looked behind him to his cousin, his uncles had walked ahead, recognizing the way there as they got closer. Snow may cover most of the roads, but familiar houses and parks had peaked out here and there.
Shinki was still a huge mystery to him, they’d spoken few times since his cousin was adopted, but never a full conversation, just small transactions here and there to please their parents, but their parents kept a letter sending tradition between them, every year he’d send a letter to his cousin and receive a letter from his cousin. Something about “keeping traditions alive.”
He’d slowed enough to walk alongside his cousin, who seemed to be lost in thought. But it was hard to tell, as a lost, thinking look is a permanent look on Shinki’s face, that and a constipated look when he was confused.
“What are ya thinking about?” He still struggled on how to talk to his cousin, so what always came out constantly sounded too formal or too casual.
Shinki seemed to jump slightly at his words, not noticing his cousin slowly making his way beside him.
That’s odd, it wasn’t very often you could scare a ninja, even off duty, especially Shinki.
Shinki looked up slightly, the sun reflecting off of the snow right into his eyeview. “Nothing..” he replied, breaking the short lived eye-contact.
Just as Shikadai was about to reply, a shout came from ahead, the both looked up as their uncle was waving at them, Gaara already giving a hug to his sister, who must have been waiting for them at the Nara residence gate.
His mother looks up from her youngest brother and gives her oldest a quick smile, then her eyes land on him and Shinki, she gives them a smirk and leads her brothers inside.
Shikadai looks over to his cousin only to find an empty spot beside him, he looks back up to the gate and just catches Shinki’s back walking in.
What the hell is with that?
Shinki may be odd, but he wasn’t usually that odd, whatever he thought, his teammates would be over soon enough, he can just use going out with them as an excuse to not talk to Shinki. His mother will be mad but she won’t cause a scene during Christmas with family over, I don’t think she will, anyways.
When that time finally rolled around for his teammates to stop by, he and Shinki hadn’t spoken since the short few words on the walk to his house, his mom and uncles took over most of the conversation.
The closest they came to talking was only engaging in the same conversations and talking through their family members.
Right as his mother turned to call on him there was a loud banging on the door, the sudden sound made everyone look over, again, Shinki jumped.
Okay, what the actual hell?!
He stood up and said “that’ll be ChoCho and Inojin!” Probably too loud for the small size of the room, he walked over to the door, out of his mothers piercing gaze.
As he walked towards the door, the sound of his teammates arguing outside could be heard. They may be annoying and loud, but he could always rely on them to make things easier for him, they were reliable and they were the only two people he could wholeheartedly trust, other than his parents, obviously.
He walked up and opened the door, the view he was met with was normal, Inojin and Chocho had their hands in each other's hair and were pulling as hard as they could while bickering about whatever those two bicker about.
“What took you guys so long to get here?” Shikadai said, raising his voice to be heard over the yelling of his teammates, they whipped their heads around to their caption, breaking up whatever argument they were in the middle of this time.
Chocho was the first to speak, “Shikadai! Long time no see, I heard that you’ve got family over, specifically from Suna, specifically that hot cousin..” She trailed off, attempting to sneak a peak into his house.
“Back off chubs, we aren’t here for you to drool over the Kazekage and his son.” Inojin scoffed at her as he rolled his eyes and flashed a short glare at her.
“Well maybe you aren’t, but I am so don’t get in my way.” she huffed back, stepping inside as Shikadai stepped to the side to let them in from the cold Kohona wind, he cringed as Inojin and Chocho reignited whatever argument they had been having on the way there.
His teammates stepped into his family’s lobby, taking off their boots and jackets like they were at their own houses, they’d been over to each other's places enough to treat each one like a second home.
“So where is everyone?” Chocho speaks up, obviously looking for their Sunan guests.
“They’re all gathered in the family room catching up with each other.” Shikadai replied, leading his teammates to greet his parents, they scurried to catch up behind him and followed until they reached the room his family had all been talking in.
“Hiya! Chocho right? Loved the way you gave Shinki a run for his money in the Chunin exams, he would never tell you but he was very impressed.” Kankuro piped up when they walked in and he caught sight of Chocho. Beside him, Shinki was giving him a very unimpressed look, he hit his uncle's leg lightly and began muttering to himself.
“Kankuro cut it out” Temari shot, Kankuro immediately curled back into the corner where he sat between Shinki and Gaara, “how nice to see you two again! Chocho, Inojin, I hope you have been well,” she continued, standing up to give each of the two a hug, “you three are free to go upstairs and hang out, but you must be down for dinner, and take Shinki with you,” at that, the three of the turned to Shinki and watched him awkwardly stand and walk over to their group.
“Uhh okay mom, see ya in a little bit,” Shikadai replied as he began walking up the stairs to where their bedrooms were, looking behind to see another constipated look on his cousin's face, he just ignored it and continued until they reached his room, he opened the door and let the three of them in, Chocho went and sat in his bed, Inojin quickly joining her, urging her to behave, Shikadai couldn’t care less what those two did in here, they’ve probably been in here more times than his mother.
Shinki however, stood stiffly off to the one wall, hands in his pockets, looking around. The last time he’d been in here was two years after he was adopted when he was around seven years old, seven-year-old Shikadai’s room was much different then thirteen-year-old Shikadai’s room, he had a desk now, and bookshelves everywhere, and most of his walls were covered in posters, as much as his mom hated it she said him “expressing his interests is important”, Whatever that meant.
“Okay so what are we doing while we wait for dinner,” Chocho asked, after making sure she was comfortable on Shikadai’s bed.
“We should play a game, get to know Shinki more, ay?” Inojin smiled, slipping beside Chocho and making himself comfortable, pulling Shikadai’s bed blankets around himself, the thin boy was constantly cold, most of the blankets that lay on Shikadai’s bed were gifts from Inojin, Shikadai was pretty sure Inojin only gave them to him so he’d be able to use them when he came over.
Chocho nodded excitedly while Shinki stared at Inojin, trying to keep the horror from coming up onto his face.
“Ah don't be like that Shinki, it’ll be fun its not very often we can hang out with no shinobi work in between, c'mon," Chocho pleaded, attempting to give Shinki her best puppy dog eyes while beckering for him to take a seat with her hand.
Shikadai looked from his teammates, practically cuddling on his bed, to his cousin, huddled in the furthest corner from everyone else in the room, maybe a getting to know each other game would benefit Shinki’s awkwardness, or whatever this was, and get himself out of this weird trance he had been in all day.
“Sounds good to me, yeah?” Shikadai spoke, looking over at his cousin for confirmation, Shinki looked away out of Shikadai's window before walking closer to the bed and taking a seat on the carpet around the side of the bed. “Okay so i guess that answers that, what were you thinking Chocho.” he asked, coming to sit next to Shinki on the carpet.
Chocho hummed to herself for a minute, “we could play twentyone questions, before you start anything Inojin, we’ll just go around the four of us and get each person to ask a question and everyone answers, does that sound alright?” she finished, looking over at Inojin for any complaints to her suggestion.
“I guess it sounds alright..”
“Okay perfect, who wants to go first, no one? Okay well i will” Chocho said, “how old was everyone when they had their first crush? For me i would say around seven, i had a horrible little girl crush on lord seventh” she looked over at Inojin when she had finished, his face instantly reddened as he raised his eyebrows.
“ Wow, that's the first question? Jeez okay, I don't know maybe last year, so twelve? You didn't say we had to tell you who it was though.”
“Haha you're so stuck up Inojin, okay Shikadai lets hear it.” Chocho laughed and patted Inojin roughly on his back as he growled back.
“Hn okay lets see… probably the same as Inojin, last year some time.” he spoke, looking over at Shinki to make sure he knew when he was finished
Shinki blinked for a second before speaking, “Thirteen, earlier this year i suppose…” he muttered to himself, looking down at his lap.
Maybe this was too much for him?
As Shikadai was about to interject Chocho giggled excitedly, “oh my gosh really?! Oh how they grow up so quickly, I remember at the chunin exams and the make-up chunin exams and how you just spent the whole time glaring at people.” Chocho sighed, clutching her chest in fake despair.
“Chocho that was only a couple months ago, you know that right?” Inojin replied, poking Chocho in the head repeatedly.
Shikadai took this moment to look over at Shinki, who hadn't looked up from his lap since answering Chocho, he wore that strange look he had on all day.
“Holy shit, is that what all of today's been about.” he hadn't even realized he had said it until Shinki looked over at him, Chocho and Inojin had stopped laughing in the background.
Shinki looked confused, must have not known the faces he had been making throughout the day, “excuse me?” he spoke.
“ no no no not anything bad, sorry i hadnt meant to say that, it's just since the train station you’ve had this look on your face, and you had just made it again after Chocho asked that question thats all haha…” Shikadai rambled quickly, attempting to reassure Shinki’s insulted face.
“Holy shit, is the famously single Kazekage’s son actually crushing on someone hardcore style? It's not me is it.” Chocho piped up, giggling and covering her mouth at the last couple of words.
“What? No it's not, I'm not uh, what about my father?” Shinki stumbled, looking up at Chocho and Inojin’s giggling figures on the bed above him, his face flushed slightly on his tanned skin.
“Nothing about uncle Gaara, is that what all of today has been about though? Just a crush, really?”
Shinki looked back over at Shikadai, seemingly lost in thought. He looked from Shikadai’s face back to Chocho and Inojin, who had stopped giggling to watch Shinki struggle to find his words, back down to his hands in his lap, “I guess you could say that.” he muttered to the room quietly before Chocho broke out screeching questions his way.
“Oh my goodness really?! You? No offense but i didnt think you could do that, again no offense obviously,” she went on like this for a good minute, Shinki’s face falling more each word, “okay sorry besides all of that, who is it? Someone from the sand obviously, unless it started at the Chunin exams, if so is it me?” she finished, scooching off of the bed to sit on the ground, as close to Shinki as she could get without him moving away.
“Back off of him for one second chubs, you can't go insulting him and then demand answers.” Inojin shot, poking Chocho in the leg as he moved to sit closer to Shikadai’s side of the circle, his words didn’t stop him from also looking over at Shinki, who looked like he was seconds away from imploding, his cheeks were a shade of pink that looked almost unnatural, although any colour on Shinki’s face besides his paint was pretty odd.
A part of Shikadai felt bad for his cousin, a bigger part of him was curious, and this is the closest Shinki had probably expressed any emotion around him, besides annoyance and anger. He looked from where Inojin had made himself comfortable on the floor to his cousin again, he was met with a pleading expression, he looked absolutely horrified.
Shikadai only shrugged, teasing his emotionally constipated cousin about his crush wasn't against his mothers rules.
“Yeah who’s the lucky person Shinki, for you and me I hope it isn't really Chocho.” he laughed as Chocho scoffed at him from across the circle.
Shinki huffed back at him, clearly annoyed he hadn't told his teammates to back off of him again, he looked back around the circle, meeting everyone's eyes before finally accepting he wasn’t getting out of this. “ It's not that big of a deal it…” he took a deep breath before continuing, "I am just a little put off as they had bought me something for this holiday, and I was not prepared to return the gesture.” he finished, almost embarrassed by his last statement.
Chocho gaped up at him, “That was it? Still doesn’t answer who…”
Shinki shot her a glare before replying, “as if I would be stupid enough to tell you two,” looking between Inojin and Chocho, “ before we knew it all five great shinobi countries would know about it.” he huffed, crossing his arms, closing himself off again.
Shikadai couldn’t let that happen, they were so close to finding out who, and if had to be honest, curiosity was killing him. “Aw come on Shinki, you know i would keep these two in check, please? We could help you figure something out for them if we knew who.”
Shinki looked back up at his cousin, lost in thought once again. It was such an unnatural look on him, Shikadai couldn’t help staring at him as he thought.
“Okay…”
This snapped Shikadai right out of it, all three of the teammates straightened their backs, full attention towards Shinki, no one was risking missing the name. As they all waited Shinki gave each of them a curious look.
“It's Araya…” he muttered, looking back down at his lap again.
The three teammates looked at each other, making sure they all heard the correct name.
“Your teammate, the one with the mask right? Huh, I mean it makes sense.” Chocho said to no one in particular, but Shinki caught the last part.
“What the hell do you mean ‘it makes sense’?” he shot, whipping his head up at her, Chocho actually jumped, but it was Inojin who replied.
“I mean, after Sarada figured out he was a puppet and he got all nervous he started going on about how he can only do this because you were there or some crap like that.” he shrugged at Shinki’s horrified pink face.
“No he's right,” Chocho started, “there was this weird moment where it looked like he was about to run away and then you were all like Araya…, in that deep voice you’ve got and he turned back around and finished the fight.” she said, attempting to mimic Shinki’s voice, horribly.
Shikadai looked over to see Shinki absolutely stunned with their responses, mouth gaping as his hands were pulling the hair on the sides of his head.
Shinki shook himself back into awareness, “That is not-“ he began before tilting his head and looking towards the empty space between the four, suddenly flushing a wild shade of red, “well when you put it like that I suppose…” he finished, somehow turning more red than before.
So red that Shikadai began to worry for his cousin's health, Inojin and ChoCho tended to have this effect on others but wow Shinki couldn’t handle them in the slightest.
“Exactly!’ ChoCho exclaimed loudly, “it is really exactly what happened, you can’t deny it now, huh?” he laughed as Inojin joined in with her, Shikadai couldn’t help himself to a giggle at his cousin, when he looked over at him again, he saw a smile breaking out on his face.
Seconds later they were called down by his mom for dinner, when they all sat down, ChoCho and Shinki were still talking between each other as Inojin poked in for a snide remark or two while Shikadai watched, steering clear of being the next to be at the end of the ridicule.
“Shikadai, what the hell happened upstairs? How’d you get Shinki to do that?” His father asked as they began eating, making sure to be quiet enough to not be heard by the other members of the table.
“Haha Dad, what can I say? My team is just one a kind,” he replied, looking over again to see the three of them laughing about something, “Christmas miracle or whatever.”