Winter Songs
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
1. Haruno Sakura-Winter Wonderland
One early morning in December, a pink haired eighteen-year-old girl awoke in her bed to a sound of taps against her window.
She blinked and slowly sat up in her bed, the covers falling to her side. She shivered. It was really cold. All she had on were some black sweats and a tank top.
The half-awake girl rubbed her green eyes and pulled the covers up around her shoulders, swinging her legs to the side of the bed. She daintily stood out of her bed, feeling a cold and hard wooden floor beneath her feet.
She yawned and shuffled over to the window, the blanket still wrapped around her. She swung open the curtain in front of the window and yawned again. She opened her jade orbs to the blinding sight of snow and blinked.
Everywhere, there was pure white snow. She closed her eyes again and reopened them. The snow was still there. The girl felt a smile spread across her face and she pulled part of her blanket up to the window, wiping away the frost to get a better view. As she did so, a rock hit right in the middle of the window, causing her to jump up in fright and thus fall to the floor with a loud thump. She rubbed the leg she had fallen on softly, trying to piece together what had just occurred.
She heard laughter form outside her window and a few people talking. An angry look spread across her face when she realized someone had been throwing rocks at her window! How dare they! She jumped up in haste leaving the blanket to fall on the floor, and slid open the window. As she did so a gush of freezing cold air hit her and flooded through her room. She shivered.
"Shit, it's cold." She muttered to herself and peered out the window. She folded her arms across her chest. She saw Naruto down there, poised to throw another rock. Sasuke stood nearby with his arms folded glaring at a person who looked like Neji. Shikamaru stood beside Naruto rubbing his head and muttering things like 'troublesome' and Kiba appeared to be edging Naruto on. Naruto spotted her and dropped the rocks instantly. Kiba put his hands behind his back and pretended to whistle.
"Hey Sakura-Chan! Look! It's snowing!" Naruto shouted up to her. Sasuke glanced up in her direction and lifted a hand in acknowledgement. Neji nodded towards her simply and Shikamaru sent her a lazy wave. Sakura rolled her eyes and smiled.
"I can see that, that you very much." She called back down towards him. "But why the hell are you throwing rocks at my window?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. He may be sixteen now but he was still as lively as he was when he was a Genin. But he was definitely more mature. He had grown to be taller than Sakura and rivaled Sasuke's height. He had abandoned his orange track suit long ago, and now wore back pants and an orange shirt under his Chuunin vest. Sakura supposed it really did suit him. Okay, it did more than that. But who was she to complain? He still had a little bit of a crush on her, and Hinata ran off with Shino (probably sick of Naruto not noticing) so she was still good for the most part. And they had become closer…
"We're going out for breakfast and then we were going to go play in the snow for a while, and we were wondering if you wanted to join us." He said up to her with a grin she wouldn't have been able to resist if she wanted to.
"Yeah, c'mon Sakura, it'll be fun!" Kiba called up to her, striking a thumbs up pose. She'd become great friends with Kiba lately. She loved to play with Akamaru, and what do you know, so did Kiba. Kiba wore a grey hooded sweatshirt much like his old one, but less bulky, and his Chuunin vest over that, with faded jeans. He too had matured, but he was still a goof off.
She'd lately been hanging out with Naruto, Kiba, Sasuke, Neji and Shikamaru a lot. With Ino, Chouji, Hinata and Shino out on a mission together, and Lee and Tenten training up in the mountains somewhere, it was basically just her and these guys. The Hokage hadn't sent them out on any huge missions either, on account that, sadly, she thought Sakura had no social life.
The pink-haired girl certainly did have a social life, only with all of the girls who were away on missions. And she liked to study.
But honestly hanging out with these guys was no half bad…if more than half good. Neji trained with her often, and helped her improve on her taijutsu, which sadly, she sucked at. Neji still had the same chocolate hair tied in a low ponytail, and wore almost the exact same attire, with some khaki accents her and there and a Chuunin vest.
Sasuke even hung out with her. Ever since she overcame her enormous childish crush on him, they'd been able to hang out more like teammates and friends. Sasuke looked almost exactly the same, except he wore a black top and pants and his hair was a little longer. When he had returned from Orochimaru but a year ago, the Tsunade had been surprisingly forgiving (Sakura thought that maybe it had something to do with her, but she wasn't quite sure) and let Sasuke off with only a few penalties, and he could even take the Chuunin exam next year in April.
Then there was Shikamaru the lazy genius. He was constantly inviting her to games of shoji, claiming she was the only one who would provide competition. Actually, she had beaten him once. But he seemed a little distracted. Her guess was that it had been an extremely cloudy day. Shikamaru too, had matured, though his apparel was much the same. He claimed it was 'too troublesome' to change his look.
She smiled teasingly and pretended to continue to think over their proposal carefully. "I don't know…you did almost break my window…"
"I'm sorry!" Naruto whined. "I was throwing them softly!"
Sakura glanced over her window and counted the numerous dents on the window pane. "Right…softly." She muttered to herself and rolled her eyes.
But who was she kidding, she wanted to go. She smiled back down. "Okay, but you're paying this time!" She called to the guys below her window.
Naruto did his signature thumbs up move. "Wouldn't have it any other way!" He shouted back up to her with a wink.
She rolled her eyes and giggled. "I'll be right down." She shouted.
She ran over to her bed and picked up the outfit she had chosen. She could be ready in five, ten minutes. Or…she could make them wait a little.
-Earthdancer
Word count: 1169
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