Snowflake
Konoha's winter had come. The sky was a mass of thin, pale clouds, that seemed so fragile, yet held back the sunlight with ease. The roofs of all the buildings were covered in sheets of soft, powdery, new snow, and the ground, once a beautiful green blanket of grass, was now a patchwork quilt of glimmering blue ice and silvery, pure white snow.
Hinata admired the winter scene, standing and watching as the snow glittered in the small bit of sunlight. She smiled, a weak smile, but a smile nonetheless. Her hand, covered with an indigo mitten, was warmed by the cup of hot chocolate she'd bought at a coffee shop in the busy part of town (or village).
She raised the cup to her lips and took a sip, then took a step forward, continuing down the path, with the snow, packed down by the hundreds of feet that trod on it every day, was sort of a filthy color, the snow having been mixed with the dirt. But Hinata's eyes continued to look at the gentle hills of snow on the sides of the path, in between a few houses and shops.
She stopped to look in the window of one shop, where a miniature pine tree was, decorated with shining ornaments of every shape and color. On the top of it sat a little silver star, covered in little jewels. Hinata knew that, of course, they were fake, but she liked to think of them as diamonds.
She sighed softly at the sight of it, and then she heard someone speak behind her: "Hi, Hinata! Window shopping?"
Hinata turned around. There was Naruto, looking at her with those cerulean eyes she so admired.
"Oh, h-hello, Naruto-kun..." she said. She put both hands on the cup and tapped her fingers together. "I-I was just looking... at the Christmas tree..."
Naruto grinned. "Oh, yeah! Christmas! I can't wait for Christmas! What about you, Hinata?"
Hinata smiled. "Me?... O-oh, I can't wait either... I-It is quite n-nice."
Just then something caught her eye. She turned her head a little and saw the smallest little snowflake lazily drifting to the ground. A few more followed, floating gracefully to the ground, tiny little bits of snow settling in the patchwork quit of ice and snow.
"Hey, it's snowing!" Naruto said.
"Y-yeah," said Hinata. "I-It's really pretty, huh, N-Naruto-kun?"
He looked at her, and she could see his eyes shining with happiness, as he said, "It sure is. It's really pretty, like your eyes!"
Hinata blushed a little, and turned away quickly. "I... I... I didn't think that... m-my eyes were s-so special..."
Naruto grinned again, his signature grin, and answered, "Well, I think your eyes are pretty."
Hinata blushed a deeper shade of red. She couldn't believe Naruto-kun had just just said that to her. He thought her eyes were pretty! It made her so happy to hear him say that, she giggled a little bit.
"T-thank you, Naruto-kun..." The joy she felt seemed to give her new strength, because she went on to say, "Y-you know... I... I always t-thought... that you w-were... what I mean, i-is..."
She turned to look at him, and found that he was also looking at her, waiting for her to say something. Hinata quickly looked down and said, "I a-always... kind of... liked you."
Naruto blinked a couple of times. "Really?"
Hinata could only nod.
He smiled.
And she was brave enough to look up and smile too.
"Well, I like you, too!" he said.
And for once in her life, Hinata grinned like Naruto.
---
On Christmas Day, Hinata woke up to see snow outside. A gentle, chilly winter breeze carried clouds of snow across the ground. The first thing she did was go to the Christmas tree in her living room and look at all the present under the tree. Even if she was older now, one thing she always loved was opening present on Christmas morning.
One present in particular caught her eye. It was small, and wrapped in very shiny, ruby-colored paper. A silver ribbon was tied around it. She'd never seen such a pretty little present. She picked it up and looked at the small little paper glued to it, decorated with a little picture of poinsettias in the corner. Written on the paper was 'From: Naruto To: Hinata'.
Hinata blinked. How had that gotten there? Oh well, it was form Naruto, and she wanted to see what it was.
Slowly she opened it, wondering what it could possibly be, overcome with happiness that Naruto would actually get her a gift. She peeled the red paper off to reveal a silver box. She took the lid off, and inside, laying on a layer of soft, white material, was a silver necklace, with a diamond snowflake pendant.
Hinata looked at the snowflake. It was breathtaking, how beautiful it was, shining in the colored lights of the Christmas tree, almost like what real snow would do...
And as she put the necklace around her neck, she got up and walked to a nearby mirror on the wall. She looked at herself, her blue-black hair shining in the light, and her white eyes shining with happiness, and at that beautiful snowflake necklace, glittering, and she smiled.