Kiba Inuzuka: fuck that ur coming here if me n shino have to go n get u

Hinata blinked at the text, squinting slightly as she half hoped that the words would somehow magically change their shape and meaning. She blinked again, furrowing her brow further.

Nope. Nothing. The words remained fixed cheerfully (tauntingly) in their green bubble, utterly immobile.

She sighed heavily, placing her cell face down on the dinning table, shoulders slumped in defeat.

So here it was, albeit crudely hidden behind a grammatically incorrect threat: She knew her friend well enough to recognize when he was offering an invitation to go and visit him.

It was really too bad it was the dread 'oh-no-you-poor-thing-you're-all-alone-for-Christm as-so-come-visit-us' pity invitation that she had been strategically trying to avoid all evening.

Hinata let out a low groan, picking up her fork to poke half heartedly at the tupperware full of leftover pasta.

She also knew him well enough to know that while it might be an ill-worded invitation, the promise (threat) that he would physically force her to go back to Konoha was just as true.

It wasn't as if she didn't want to just up and go visit him. She missed being able to see him and Shino... And Tenten and all her other friends that she hadn't seen the last few years. It didn't help that this time of year she always became homesick for her small home town, Konoha.

This year, that homesickness was especially strong. A pulling ache that had been building in her chest until here she was; In the big city, in her apartment alone on Thanksgiving, unable to think of anything else but her informal 'family' and the small countryside town she still mentally called her home.

There wasn't any laughter of friends and family telling old stories. There weren't any dishes in the sink to wash after a large shared meal and there most certainly wasn't anyone to lightly eskimo kiss, wishing that they didn't have to leave as the evening began to wind down. There was just her, last night's lukewarm spaghetti leftovers and Sinatra crooning 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' to try and fill the silence of her lonely apartment.

She poked once more at her dinner before pushing her chair away from the table to stand, no longer hungry. Somehow, Sinatra was just bumming her out even more, pointing out exactly how quiet it really was, despite the radio and the sounds of the city traffic fifteen stories down. Taking the plastic bowl back into the kitchen to rebox-midnight snack or re-leftovers for tomorrow-she stared out the kitchen window to the city lights glowing against the sky, lightened with the winter storm; All slushy, gray and just plain dreary.

Real January weather, as her sister Hanabi would have grumpily called it-dark, bitter and disappointing. Just like January after the rush and excitement of the holidays, the colorful decorations taken down leaving the still wintery world almost gray in the stark contrast.

Hinata, though, disagreed. It didn't matter what month it was, or how bright the decorations were, the city always seemed to look a dull, dirty gray in the winter. The city's pollution, maybe. Or maybe it was just her personal bias causing her to see what she wanted to see, Hinata wasn't quite sure. She didn't care, either. All she cared was that she knew what a 'real' January snow looked like; Bright, and clear, blanketing the forest. A real January snow like the one's back home...

...Well, either way, it wasn't even as if Hanabi was even there to mistakenly call the weather anything this year. The high schooler was spending her senior year studying abroad somewhere where she didn't have to constantly complain about the winter weather she hated. She was thriving, too, if Hinata was reading between the lines of her sister's facebook updates and daily emails correctly. Enjoying new experiences and 'definitely crushing' on a local boy in her class (hopefully not literally; though, with Hanabi's occasionally...abrassive behavior, it was a distinct possibility).

It was Hanabi's over seas status that was the reason for her current discussion with Kiba. Her sister away from home until late the following spring and her father planning his own international escape (his for an important business merger-that he was positively certain would not be successful unless he personally over saw every single detail-rather than for pleasure, however) Hinata had merely planned to let the holidays pass quietly, at home alone. Maybe catch up on some reading and neglected housework or something along those lines. She might have been a bit lonely but, ever since she had moved to the city four years ago, she had been slowly getting used to being lonely.

Besides, it wasn't like there weren't worse things than being alone for Christmas and New Years. She didn't need to go around burdening everyone with her minor problems (nuisances, really) when everyone else had so much going on in their own lives. She was not going to make a big deal out of it.

Kiba, however, seemed determined to make it into one.

Not that she was surprised. With his big heart, and even bigger mouth, there was no way he was going to be silent once he figured out she was alone for the holidays this year.

Her cell phone vibrated noisily against the polished wood of the table; Hinata crossing the kitchen to pick it up reflexively.

Kiba Inuzuka: srsly y not ?

Hinata gnawed on her bottom lip as she stared at the green text bubble, clicking her nails against the phone mulling it over. As much as she had been hoping to avoid troubling him, it was a good question. And, pity invitation of not, it was a tempting offer-beyond tempting. It had been a long time since she had seen him. She had not been back to Konoha since her father had offered to pay for her schooling at the university in the big city where he lived-the closest he would ever come to confessing that he had missed her since she had gone to live with her Aunt Kurenai as a pre-teen.

She had meant to go back. To go and see her sweet little cousin who she hadn't seen since she had been born. To go and catch up with friends she only got to speak with via technology-she knew their news, but there was something so fundamentally missing from talking a la text or email. She had meant to spend lazy summers unwinding away from the city. She had meant to... Life just kept getting in the way.

Until now.

Her cell buzzed.

Kiba Inuzuka: well?

Hinata firmly bit her lip, quickly tapping out the letters before she could change her mind.

"Yes. Please?"

a/n.

Something about Christmas music makes me want to write. It's usually just fluffy little drabbles that I work on and scrap, but this year I kinda wanted to make a larger story with that musical inspiration. I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed working on it.

I plan to post a few times a week all the way through the month.

Let me know what you think!