One-shot collection: Passiflora

Author: Yuume Li

Chapter: One: Hinata – Snowdrop – Hope

Summary: Watch how each character is similar to a kind of flower. One-shot collection, may contain pairings.

A/N: Special thanks to An Ominous Righter for giving me permission to write this kind of fic! Thank you very much!

And I know Snowdrops bloom in January to February. Let's just pretend they bloom in December. After all, all the months are in Winter…

Snowdrops mean 'Hope and Consolation', but for this chapter, I'm just focusing on 'Hope'. Yes, I'm lazy…

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Hinata – Snowdrop – Hope

"Deep sleeps the winter,

Cold, wet and grey;

Surely all the world is dead;

Spring is far away.

Wait! The world shall waken;

It is not dead, for lo,

The Fair Maids of February

Stand in the snow!"

-The Snowdrop Fairy, Flower Fairies of the winter, Cicely Mary Barker

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Amidst the thick, falling snow, she blended in well, with her white coat and boots.

A frosty wind blew past, letting her hair fly messily in the wind. A flurry of snowflakes surrounded her body and misted up her vision.

Though she was heavily clothed, she shivered and buried her head deeper into her scarf, wincing slightly when her chin scratched the metal plate of her forehead protector.

She had come out here to escape from the loud noises and cheers in her house.

It was her birthday, and everybody decided to throw a party for her.

She was delighted at first, but when she found out that everyone came for the sake of the feast and not the occasion, she was disappointed.

Disappointed enough as to promptly leave the house immediately, while no one noticed her presence had disappeared.

She sighed softly, and walked further into the snow, trying her best to ignore the cold breeze blowing into her ears.

If only she had more courage and appeal, things would have been as different as winter from summer, as Yin from Yang.

If only she had more talent in the ways of the shinobi, then maybe people would look up to her, like how the sunflowers looked up to the sky, like how she herself looked up to Naruto.

If only hoping and wishing upon a cold winter breeze was not completely useless, maybe her entire world would have changed like a metamorphosis, like a tiny and unimportant caterpillar transforming into a gorgeous, regal butterfly with wings that glittered whenever the sun shone upon it.

Or perhaps even like a small and green flower bud, blossoming into an exquisite and flamboyant Passion Flower, its petals attracting the eyes of the people who looked at the exotic plant in amazement.

She sighed once more.

Something in front of her caught her eye, stopping her in her tracks.

Beneath a tall fir tree and half-buried in the snow, a cluster of flowers stood, and she walked forward and squatted down to observe them.

They were strange, indeed, with their heads drooping downwards, as if disappointed.

She squinted, and moved her head closer.

Each flower had pure white petals, three spread apart and three huddled close, forming a small bulb in the center.

Ah…Snowdrop flowers.

Once, when she was very young, her mother had taught her about them.

Snowdrops were a symbol of hope.

Too much hope will result in too much loss.

Remember this, my daughter.

Snowdrops were for hope, and to hope was to wish that everything will go alright, to pray that your hard attempts were not futile, to know what will happen when you fail but still continue to go on.

Hoping was wishing upon nothing for something.

Hoping was foolish, and she knows, because she has hoped with all her might for something but nothing comes, and she stays the same, a green flower bud that froze before it could blossom, waiting and waiting but never thawing and blooming.

Thawing and blooming was like a dream, a dream she could never reach and fulfill, and she could only watch others around her grow and blossom into beautiful carnations and roses and cherry blossoms that lived up to their names, and into large trees that stood tall to shield others and never fall.

To dream was to hope, and to her, hoping was wanting and craving something one could never have.

And yet, though she knew it was foolish, she still hoped.

Who knows, Kami-sama might answer my prayers one day.

And really, who knows?

She pushed the snow away from the plant and carefully plucked it from the ground.

Then, she placed it into a pocket in her coat and walked back home.

Something as plain and simple as a Snowdrop will never become a Passion Flower.

But for now, it is beautiful enough for me.

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Owari

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Did that make any sense to you?

Probably not. :P

(It didn't really make any sense to me, either…actually, this was waay different from what I had originally intended to write, but I couldn't stay focused… x-x)

Wrote this in a hurry, and proofread it only a couple of times. Don't blame me for any bad grammar, spelling or use of words.

Hugs!

Yuume