A bond thicker than blood

here is the next chapter i promised

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Chapter 19

Naruto turned around and waved at his new found parents, the blond boy’s heart had felt warm, slowly but surly it was healing. Despite of what he’d agreed to he felt happy and he never regretted his decision, now the only problem was that he was deeper involved in the Yakuza than he wanted and telling people would prove to be a problem.
Naruto stood outside his door, he could hear Sasuke rummaging in the kitchen, what was he doing making so much noise. Naruto stepped a little to the side looking in the window, seeing Sasuke wearing his apron. Cute Naruto grinned, he stepped back and went back to the front door, he took a deep breath; did he have the courage to tell Sasuke about the past he kept running from.

Naruto sat staring out the library window, in the end he hadn’t told Sasuke about his past and Christmas was only a couple of weeks away, time had passed by so quickly since the day he had agreed to take over the antique shop. He sighed; he was a coward after all.

Neji stood watching Naruto as he sat there staring at the snow as it fell from the sky, to him this was the best pre Christmas gift he had ever gotten and it got even better as he had managed to get a whole day alone with the blond boy.
The long dark haired boy’s heart skipped a beat with just the though of having the blond boy to himself, he took a deep breath and walked up to the boy sitting on the windowsill. “Naruto” Neji said as he came to a stop next to the blond boy.
“Oh Neji, didn’t see you there” the blond boy looked at him with his blue eyes, the light from the window made them sparkle and sent the long dark haired boy’s heart into a marathon run. “Ready to go?” Neji asked as he watched Naruto get up from the windowsill “yeah I’m ready” he took his bag over his shoulder.

They had made plans to do their Christmas shopping today, what they were buying for all the different people was still undecided but wandering around in different shops should give them ideas.
Naruto had contemplated long and hard on what he was getting Sasuke, it had taken him about 2 weeks to finally come to a decision that a home made scarf would be the present alongside a book he had found in the antique shop. Only problem was that Naruto didn’t know how to knit and Christmas was only a week and a half away, maybe I should ask Sakura, she is a girl and is bound to know how to knit and sow and all that girly stuff. Pleased with his solution to the problem he had a grin reaching from ear to ear and he was completely unaware that Neji was watching him, smiling at his behaviour.

Back at the antique shop, Haku was taking the book Naruto had asked for down from the bookshelf putting it to the side for when he came to pick it up. He could hear Momochi roaming around in the backroom, as usual before Christmas he was buried in paperwork he should have done for the last month and a half. Well serves him right for putting everything to the last minute, he chuckled a little before sticking his head in the door seeing the pile of paper scattered out on the table and his desk.

“Want some tea?” He asked the very annoyed and stressed dark haired man who only answered “hmm” “I take that as a yes” the boy said and walked back behind the counter putting the kettle on.
As he listened to the water boil his mind wandered back to the time Haku, Momochi and Naruto had their first Christmas together after the blond boy’s parents had died.

:::::::Flashback:::::::

Naruto and he were 14 years old and Momochi was 20 and he had just managed to acquire the flat they were still living in. However they had minimal furniture, Haku had to laugh at how they all shared one kitchen chair until they got the last 3 from the shop.
Naruto and Haku had gone Christmas shopping together leaving Momochi to buy the tree they were going to decorate. Although Naruto was the same age as Haku, he still felt he needed to protect the blond boy. Haku had to chuckle when he though of how energetic the blond boy was, telling him what they needed to get. Naruto never changed, whenever they went shopping for Christmas, it was nice to see that even if it was for a couple of hours he could completely forget the past and all the emotional baggage it carried.
When they had done their shopping and gotten back to the flat Momochi had already fixed the tree and it was standing in the fairly empty living room, Naruto had brought the bag of decorations for the tree and telling them to hurry up so they could decorate the tree in time.

Hours later the tree had been done and the present had been wrapped and put under, Haku had offered to make dinner and was in the kitchen whilst Naruto and Momochi were setting the table in the living room because there they had sofa and the kitchen chair so that they could all sit around the table.
As usual Naruto and Momochi were play fighting and competing against each other, “Hey if you keep at it you’ll end up breaking something” Haku shouted from the kitchen” “Hai!” they both said in unison but not really listening.

When dinner was ready they all sat down around the table, dressed in their pyjamas. They hadn’t bothered to dress nice seeing as they had only decided to celebrate Christmas at the last minute; they talked and laughed at each others jokes or comments.
When dinner was gone from their plates they decided to open the presents, Naruto acted like a little child even though he had seen some of the presents already.
“Here Momochi this is from me” the blond boy said giving him a small box wrapped in orange glitter paper “Thanks” Momochi took it and opened it to find a small key ring shaped like a blowfish Naruto had picked out, one which Momochi still had on his key ring.
“Me next” Haku said giving Naruto one of the presents he hadn’t seen yet. Naruto stared at it with wonder and curiosity before ripping the paper and revealing a dark blue wool jumper, nearly the same colour as Naruto’s eyes. The blond boy’s face lit up as he saw the jumper and immediately put it on, “ha ha” Momochi laughed seeing how big the jumper was on the blond boy.
“Oh well at least you’ll have something to grow in to” Haku said seeing that the arms of the jumper was about 20 cm too long.

That Christmas had been great, even with the little they had. But what he remembered the most was when Momochi had given him his present, it was a small box beautifully wrapped in black paper with a silver thread around it. Haku had carefully opened the present trying not to rip the paper, once he had gotten the paper off he carefully lifted the top of the box off and his eyes saw a crystal dog in the most beautiful green colour.
He looked at Momochi who sat ext to him smiling, “h-how?” Haku was almost speechless; he had been looking at this, months ago wanting it because it reminded him of a dog in his only memory of his past. “I saw you eyeing it when I picked you up last month” seeing the joy on Haku’s face had filled Momochi with a warm and fussy feeling. It was at that moment Haku’s feelings for the young man sitting next to him was more than just friends, he had fallen in love.

::::::::::End flashback::::::::::

Suddenly Haku was snapped back to the present when he heard the bell hanging over the door ring signalling that a customer had arrived. He turned around ready to greet the customer only to find a short red haired boy walking towards him.

“Gaara!”