My December

Echolock

I began writing this after a kind of bad day at school, and at first I had no idea where it was going. It's a one-shot (duh) that I finally figured out while listening to My December by Linkin Park. I thought it was perfect for the tone that I was going for. So, if you can, listen to that while reading this. The original version, though, not the remix. And only for the first part of the story.

The usual disclaimers apply, of course. I don't own anything except some of the ideas (not the characters or the original idea) that you see here. You will not here me claim that I do until I have taken over the world.

"This" means talking, 'this' means thinking, (this) means internal argument, a change of location, or just internal monologue that isn't quite thoughts. Which it is will be obvious.

I'm aware I don't put in the –kuns and –chans and all that. I don't know how that all works, so I'm not going to embarrass myself.

Oh, and it's a Naruto/Hinata story. And for my own reasons, they are 19. Sasuke and Sakura are both dead. So is Iruka. Because I'm an evil bastard, that's why.

There is language and yelling and unappreciative people in this. Just a warning.

The small room was messy, as it always was, and Naruto wasn't going to bother cleaning it up. The lights around the door were sloppily put up, a half-hearted effort. There was snow falling outside the window, covering the world in a blanket of whiteness that dazzled the eyes. If you were looking. He wasn't. His head was down, and he wasn't looking at anything.

His coat was lying on the floor, next to his sandals and equipment. He'd been there since a week before Christmas, so for almost a five days, and he was in no mood to celebrate. Ever since his two best friends and the closest thing he had had to a father died, he seemed to have lost the spark that he had always had. He was quiet and subdued, not the usual loud mouth that everyone had grown to love. The few missions he had gone on were small ones, and they still weren't allowing him to go on bigger ones because of his tendency to over react to problems.

(Across town)

"What should we do?"

Everyone in the room looked at Hinata. It wasn't normal for her to be vocal at all, let alone suggest that they do something.

"About what?" asked Shikamaru, which also surprised everyone. Normally he would have figured that out by now.

"Na-Naruto," she stammered. Everyone relaxed. 'Of course it was about him.'

"What do you mean?" asked Temari, who was leaning against Shikamaru.

"W-well, he's been depressed ever since… Um," her index fingers came together in her normal gesture of nervousness. "You know…"

They nodded. They knew exactly what she was talking about. The day Naruto had come home, carrying the bodies of his two best friends, as well as his teacher. He just hadn't been the same. Even Neji had to admit that he missed the old Naruto.

"What do we do?" asked Lee, unusually quiet. He had been hit pretty hard by Sakura's death, too. He still went on and on about all that youthful stuff, but he would occasionally be seen staring off into space, before bursting into a frenzy of activity. He had been training much harder since then, and he wouldn't say why.

"I think we should take him out of his house. I mean, it's nearly Christmas, and he doesn't have anyone to celebrate it with," said Ino. "He deserves to have some fun."

"So what do we do?"

"I-I have an idea," said Hinata. Everyone leaned in close.

(Naruto's house)

The first couple of knocks were ignored, but when whoever it was started pounding on the door, Naruto jumped off his bed and ran to the door.

"What the hell do you want!" he yelled, glaring at them. His face softened when he saw Kiba and Hinata standing there, Kiba looking startled and Hinata as if she might cry. "What is it?" he asked again in a slightly calmer voice.

"We wanted to see if you were doing anything today," replied Kiba, the look of shock fading from his face. "We're having a Christmas party."

"It's only Christmas Eve."

"So?"

"How can you have a Christmas party?" His face was carefully blank.

Kiba couldn't say anything. 'He's changed more than I thought. The old Naruto would be jumping for joy at the chance.'

Hinata then spoke, and for the first time didn't stutter her way through it. "Just come with us, Naruto. I promise it will be a lot of fun." She stopped abruptly, the blush that now covered her whole face seeming to choke her.

Both boys looked at her, startled. Then Naruto turned around and headed back into his room, shutting the door. Kiba started pounding on the door again, and Hinata looked like she was about to cry. "Give me five minutes," came Naruto's voice from the other side of the door. Kiba stopped knocking and turned to Hinata, smiling.

"Looks like it worked." A broad grin covered his face, his eyes crinkling around the corners. "So now what?"

"Now we take him to the party," Hinata replied simply, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's it? That's the whole plan?"

"Y-yes. Weren't you listening? The plan was to get him to go, and then force him to have a good time." The blush that had dominated her cheeks began to fade. Then Naruto came back out, and the blush returned.

"So where is this party?" he asked, smiling for the first time in many months.

Kiba smiled. "Where else? Ichiraku, of course."

(Ichiraku)

Ichiraku was now a real restaurant, not just a small building with a few seats that sold ramen. There were several tables with chairs, and there was a real door to walk through now.

Naruto walked in and looked around. 'I haven't been here in a while,' he thought, breathing in. 'And it smells like they don't just serve ramen anymore.'

"We're over there," said Kiba, pointing to a couple of tables that had been pushed together. Lee was the first person that Naruto saw, talking animatedly to Ino and Chouji, and the only one standing. Neji was sitting by Tenten, their hands very close to each other, but not quite touching. Temari was smacking Shikamaru in the head and yelling at him for being so lazy.

"Finally! I was beginning to fear that you had gotten lost, somehow! But now that we are all here, we can let the fire of youth take this party to new heights!" Lee exclaimed, waving his arms wildly before someone threw an ice cube at his head. Then he took the hint and sat, still smiling broadly.

Naruto threw himself into a seat by Lee. "What's this all about?" He demanded.

"It's Christmas, isn't it?" said Ino. "We just couldn't leave you alone to be by yourself. It just wouldn't be right."

"So now I'm a charity case?" growled Naruto.

"No, we just thought you might want to hang out with your friends," Ino shot back, clearly taken by surprise at the anger in his voice. Hinata shrank into her seat, looking as if she was going to cry. "Maybe we were worried about you, idiot."

"Well forget it. I don't need your help; I'm fine without any of you. I don't need you're help just because you feel bad for not talking to me before." His voice took on a mocking tone. "Oh, it's Christmas! Let's go try and cheer up Naruto! Never mind that we haven't talked to him outside of missions for three months!" He glared at them all. "Well you can take your Christmas charity and shove it up your ass. I don't need it, and I don't need you. So fuck off."

He stormed right back out, slamming the door after him so hard that one of the small windows shattered. The silence after he left was deafening. Then Hinata began to sob, running out the door, and Kiba left, going the same direction as Naruto did. The rest of them stared at each other for a few seconds before looking in random directions before looking away again, feeling ashamed.

'We really didn't try to talk to him, did we?' was the thought running through everyone's heads except Lee's, who had been trying to talk to him.

(A few streets away)

Kiba had finally caught up to Naruto, but instead of trying to get his attention, he just tried to hit him. Halfway through the swing Naruto spun around and caught his hand. A brief scuffle later and Kiba was pinned under Naruto, neither of them having actually tried to hurt the other.

"What…the…Fuck do you want?" growled Naruto, his teeth clenched while he twisted Kiba's arm to the point of pain.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" shouted Kiba, his voice slightly muffled by the snow. "We try to do something nice for you, and you just shove our faces in it! We tried to talk to you, asshole! You never once responded! We tried to get you to come out of your room and try to talk to your friends!"

"What friends? The ones that never even attempted to talk to me, like Ino and Shikamaru? Or the ones that only look at me with pity, like Neji?" Naruto was practically screaming now.

"No! Like Lee! He tried to talk to you every day, but you're always lost in your own little world. How about me? I invited you over to dinner the day after the funeral, how about that? Or what about the person who left food at your doorstep every day, because she didn't want you to starve to death? What about her?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Because she's my best friend, damn it!" Kiba twisted suddenly, simultaneously freeing his arm and flipping back to his feet. He had Naruto face against a wall before he could react, his arm now twisted behind him. "It was Hinata! She put that food at your door, paying for it out of her own money! She's also the one who got us all together for this party! It was her idea, the whole thing! I'm talking about her!"

"Why did she do that? She hardly talks to me!"

"You cannot possibly be that stupid," said Kiba, looking at Naruto with his eyes wide, surprised. 'How did he not figure that out?' He laughed a little. "You really are an idiot. You didn't know?"

"Didn't know what?" Naruto was struggling to see over his shoulder, but he couldn't without dislocating his shoulder, although he kept struggling.

"She loves you. She has for quite a while, she told me." Naruto stopped struggling, and Kiba let him go. "I never understood why she did. You seemed pretty stupid to me, and I know she's smarter than that. But she does. So way to go, moron. You just made one of the only people who seemed to care about you cry."

Naruto turned, staring at the ground. "I've got to apologize," he muttered. "Where did she go?"

"She left right after you did and went the opposite way," replied Kiba.

Naruto began to walk away. Kiba shouted after him, "You might want to grab a blanket or an extra coat or something! I'm pretty sure she forgot hers!" Naruto flashed a thumbs up sign over his shoulder, still running.

(At one of the bridges)

Hinata stumbled a little, still crying. 'He hates me,' she thought to herself. She tripped again, and didn't bother getting back up. The air was cold enough that her tears began freezing to her face as she stared out over the edge of the bridge. She cried quietly, softly, the same way she did everything else. 'Maybe I should just stay here and freeze. It's not like it would matter.'

She didn't hear him come up behind her, or notice he was there until his coat was put over her. She looked up at him. He wasn't looking at her. He wasn't really looking at anything. He stared off the side of the bridge, looking at nothing, not seeming to see anything. When she stood up, he glanced over, and she saw there were tears in his eyes.

"I knew I wasn't the only one who ever came here."

"W-what are you t-talking about?" she asked, her teeth chattering. He didn't answer. Instead, he put his hands over her cheeks, melting the tears that had frozen there. Her eyes shut, her mind miles away, she just enjoyed the feel of his hands on her face.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and her eyes shot open again, staring at him in confusion.

"W-what for?"

"For being an ass. I treated all of you like crap." He thought for a second. "Especially you, and you were the last person that deserved it. I just…" His voice faded away, and he stopped. "I…I miss them."

Hinata looked at him, startled. This was the first time he had talked about it, outside of the report he had given to Tsudane. "Na-Naruto?"

He looked at her, tears forming in his eyes. "I miss them so much," he said. "It hurts more than anything I have ever felt in my life." He wiped away the tears that were falling. "But I think they would hate me."

"No they wouldn't!" Hinata yelled, grabbing his shirt and shoving her face into his, trying to get her point across. "Why would they hate you?"

"Because I'm being pathetic. It's been nearly four months, and I'm still crying over it." He looked away from her, startled by her sudden display of temper.

"You are not being pathetic! If you had died, I would be just as sad as you." She gasped, let him go, and covered her mouth, realizing what she had said. He smiled a little and pulled her hands down.

"I know. I know you care about me. Not really know as in consciously aware, but I suppose I did somewhere. Kiba had to tell me for me to really realize it, though." His face looked a little sad. "And I'm sorry I didn't realize it sooner. I just didn't think about it."

She gasped as he pulled her in close to himself, wrapping her in his arms. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

Her hands moved slowly as she put one hand on either side of his face and, for the first time either of them could remember, looked him straight in the eye. "Don't be," she said simply. She leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth, a chaste close mouthed kiss, but it was electrifying. They pulled away after a few (seconds, minutes, hours, years? It doesn't matter, not here, not now) and looked at each other. Hinata was blushing, but she maintained eye contact, and didn't faint. He smiled back at her, pulling her close into a warm hug.

"Thank you," he whispered before they started walking back to Ichiraku. "Now I need your help."

"With what?" she asked, leaning her head on his shoulder. 'I have wanted to do that for so long,' she thought.

"I need to apologize to everyone else. And I'm going to have to do something for you one of these days." He looked at her; she was looking ahead, her gray eyes half open, and she looked half asleep already. 'She's probably tired from all that crying.' "We'll do that tomorrow, though. We need to get you home. You're exhausted."

She nodded vaguely before pulling his more tightly around herself and moving a little closer to him. He walked her most of the way home before he had to pick her up and carry her the rest of the way. She fell asleep in his arms, and he smiled down at her. 'She's even beautiful when she's asleep. Why did I never notice?' (You were worried about other things.) 'Not a good enough excuse.' (But it's the only one I've got.) He took her to her house, let himself in (nobody's home, anyways, what's the harm?) and put her in her bed, still fully dressed. He left without his coat, but he hardly noticed the cold. 'Maybe things are going to change now.'

(A few weeks later)

Naruto returned to his apartment, still breathing hard from training with Lee, who had been teaching him Taijitsu. It was beginning to warm up outside and, although there was still some snow on the ground, it was melting quickly, and all that was left were some patches of ice here and there. It made running down the street to go home to shower and change rather interesting; he was covered in mud and slush that failed to get rid of his smile. He ran to his bathroom and turned on the water, jumping in while it was still cold and jumping right back out again, cursing under his breath. After a few moments he got back in, washing off as much of the dirt and mud and sweat as he could in five minutes, jumped out, dried himself quickly, and tossed on some new clothes, and not his usual ones. It was a nice looking black suit.

He put it on, tried to tie the tie, gave up, and just made the rest of him look as presentable as he could. 'I don't look bad.' He hurried out the door, grabbing his wallet, no longer the frog one he had had for so long, but a proper wallet. He ran down the street, this time watching where he was going and avoiding the puddles, until he arrived at the Hyugaa's home. He knocked, and then slapped his forehead as he realized he had forgotten the flowers. 'I'll give them to her next time I see her.' Hinata came to the door, her black dress reaching almost to her ankles. "Shall we go then?" asked Naruto, extending his hand. She took it, smiled, and they walked to the restaurant where they had made their reservations. "I hope this makes up for what I did."

"You already did that," she replied, smiling and nudging his arm. "It's fine."

"Not yet," he said, "But it will be. I've got a good feeling about it."

Quite a happy ending for a self-proclaimed cynic, isn't it? Ah, well, can't be helped. I had to give them a happy ending after killing three of the most important people in Naruto's life. I did warn you, though. If you've read this far, though, read a little further, as this tired writer tells you something he thinks you'll like (sorry for the dramatic typing, I'm finishing this at 1 AM on a school day. I wake up in five hours) I think I know what to do next in Rain and Shadows, and I may or may not continue this one depending on the kind of reviews I get. In any case, show some love, I welcome all criticism, including flames. If I'm annoying someone, it just goes to show that I'm right about something. So, read, review, and favorite! Please! I swear I won't bite! Unless you're into that. And a girl. And single. Actually, never mind. I don't bite at all.

-Peace

-echolock