Hymir's note: I would like to thank those people who made me finish writing this story (or at least the first chapter), as my inspiration, as my support and as my colleagues. Those people are:

--- DaaNi-ChAn (One supportive new-found friend, which I want to special thank, and say… Thanks a lot, thanks a lot)

--- Miss Soupy (The first inspiration for me to write a Fic, though this story is not similar to hers, but still, I want to thank her, for fueling my desire to write, thanks)

--- Subaku no Paine (The story that made me continue writing when I was stuck, is one owned by this amazing writer, thank you for the inspiration)

--- silentknight021 (his story made me finish this first chapter, and made me start the second, thanks again for the inspiration)

--- Aya K (whose story gave me the whole idea for writing this one, and for writing it the way it should be, thanks a lot, muchísimas gracias)

--- Nes Mikel (whose story is rather interesting, and inspiring, and I felt I should thank him for the inspiration of sorts, thank you very much)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (I know, the prefabricated standard disclaimer, but I couldn't come out with a better one, really, but later, I will come out with one of my own).

So, being this told, let's go on, into the story.

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-Chapter One- "Memories"

Light... it is what we seek everytime we get caught in-between shadows, hopeful of being able to even see for once in our lives someday, it is what every single man longs for, in those times of despair, when skies seem darker than darkness itself; when colors start seeming dull, when food looses it's taste, when we start to ask; is unendingly painful the correct way to describe this void-like feeling that crawls up the spine? or it is just an excuse not to walk out of it, for we know we need it to even stay awake, to fuel the desire of living, even if it's just for destroying it, for existence at this moment seems not to have a point. Why is this feeling invading my very heart? What is it? Does it have a meaning? Am I supposed to hold to this feeling? To embrace it, even fight for it like if it was a drug of sorts? Thinking I need emotions like these to survive, to remain sane, to just not forget what made me feel this way? Am I really seeking for light? Or is it darkness what I truly desire?

Alone... it is what I am now, it is what I feel now, just like in the very beginning, when I was only a child, hated by mostly all the people in the world, or at least being forced to think like that, by the means of their actions, all of their actions towards me, as if I was some kind of monster, calling me freak, beating me up every single, unendingly passing day, and seeming not to find it boring as they found new ways to "entertain" themselves in the daily beating. But I kept wondering "Why"; soon I earned the answer, well… kind of; in the middle of a beating, when I was around 6 years old, I found myself crying out loud the question, doing it as some kind of reaction to the anonymous bullies, and then I saw one of them flinching to my interrogant, seeming almost shocked to the fact that I was able to think, and was even able to talk, not just to scream in pain, but to actually articulate words. That's when I received my answer from him: "Because you're a fucking demon, brat".

Letting my brains and my soul to process that information, the thug just walked away, dragging the others with him, into the darkness of a lonely alley, leaving also a lonely boy flinched on the cold ground of the streets, alone with his thoughts and with the other "companions" that often came after a beating, like odd-looking bugs, urchin-like furred rats, hungry, stray dogs looking for some unlucky animal to feast upon, looking at every single living being their eyes caught with a frightening and even demonic glare; but the child was scared of them no more, for he have begged them to finish with his suffering by simply sinking their fangs into the boy's jugular veins and ending with everything, with a life of pain and suffering, but even they seemed to hate him enough not to comply with this request, that was made mostly every day, mostly every night, mostly in every dark alley that the village has. Tonight remembers me of that day because of one thing… tonight is also raining.

Although almost of my early childhood memories are alike, and by that meaning everyday beatings, insults and cold glares, some memories are happy though, in one devious way, I think. This "happy" memories are, nevertheless, derived from or consequential of beatings, as I can recall, in fact, the first happy memory I have fits exactly when the daily beatings start to be less often, and in time, they just stop happening. It was a cold winter, the wind blowing hard, most establishments were merely closed for the fact that it was extremely cold outside, but still, a beating was taking place, it was the only thing that not even God could stop from happening, a daily ritual that could not wait until the sun was out again; there I found myself being kicked and punched, lying on the snow, until I heard a voice, a whisper-like soft, smooth voice coming from afar, telling the bullies to knock it off, to stop the beating. The one thing I can recall after hearing the voice, was seeing a girl coming.

Exactly in the moment I heard that beautiful voice, I fainted, knowing that I would be safe from that moment on, I didn't know why, but I felt it that way, letting the snow layer over the frosted grass embrace me afterwards. Seconds later, I awoke, feeling warmer than before, finding that someone have just covered my near-to-frozen body with a warm, pink, winter jacket; then I heard the voice again, it was a sweet voice, that asked me "Are you okay?", but I couldn't answer, not after what I saw, and that was that the lovely voice have came out of an even more beautiful girl, I couldn't believe it, I was saved by a Goddess, a pink-haired one.

Doubting that I have heard that question, she asked again "Are you okay?", but this time I somehow managed to spit some words out of my mouth, but just not exactly the ones she was looking for, instead I answered with another question… "What's your name?", in that moment, that question seemed to make perfect sense, for it was the first time that someone that was not the Old one, have saved me from the bullies, and I needed to know the name of my savior, the name inside that pink-haired, strawberry-smelling, velvet-like skin, six year old angel that had surely fell from the sky, for I found no other explanation to her presence exactly in that park, at that exact hour of the day, and to stop the beating that I was receiving. When I reacted finally, I felt a slight blush on my cheeks that was just rather a good sensation, but not one I have felt before, but an entirely new sensation that I could not comprehend… yet; after that I managed to answer to the first thing she have asked me "Uh, I guess, thank you… for stopping the bullies that stole my clothing", in that moment, I saw something that I'll never forget, not in a lifetime… She was blushing, her cheeks had gone ruby red, her emerald eyes went half-closed, looking at me while saying "Anytime… by the way, I'm…"

Long was the wait to know the name of my angel, and seconds afterwards had gone even longer, but when she was about to tell her name, she got interrupted by a voice that called "Sakura, darling let's go home", and so she replied "Hai mom, I'm coming", I was shocked, her name was gorgeous… "Sakura-chan".

Clearly I remember that in the exact same moment that her mom called her, snowflakes started falling all over us, all over the village, and I just saw everything going in slow-motion, her gracious smile thrown at me, while running towards her mom and waving to me in a fashion that meant Good bye, the smooth movement of her utterly beautiful self making herself a path between the marble-white snow-filled meadow of the park, her pink bangs shaking rhythmically imitating the falling of decidual foliage in the autumn wind, her pink-furred snow boots moving up and down, but always forward, everything. That's when it hit me, the meaning of this all, the meaning of these feelings, that's when it all made perfect sense, when all the pieces started to pull themselves together, forming one single image, that dug into the depths of my self and stayed there; even now, the image still warms my heart, it is her image, smiling, that made me realize… That I had fallen in love.

Maybe, that is my childhood's happiest memory, and as I remarked before, from that day on, the beatings started to "fade out" until they disappeared one day, into my memories, where they remain torturing me sometimes, but when they do, there comes that image, the one of the pink-haired angel, to wipe out those awful emotions, to warm my heart, to make me fall for her again, and again. When I despair, she gives me hope, when I'm confused, she clears my mind, when I feel I'm nothing, she makes me feel I'm everything in the entire world; that is the way she has made me feel since that glorious day, the day our eyes crossed for the very first time, the day I gave her my soul , in exchange for a simple thing to value, in order to give life another chance, the day I first had a dream, other than being the highest ranked shinobi of the village, the day I got the dream I cherish the most, the dream I keep as my most valuable possession, the one that gives me the strength to go after anything that I fix myself upon, the one that made me realize that the things that really matter, are the ones that are immaterial, things you may not be able to see with your eyes, but with your heart instead. And my dream is … to protect and to love my sweet pink-haired angel for as long as there is a hint of life inside me.

That time, it was snowing, it was winter; maybe that's why I like this season so much, it's because of her, because of the gift she gave to me, because of the snow under my feet is as pure as the feelings I have for her, is as pure as her soul. On that moment it was winter, as so as in this moment.

Years have passed since that happened, yet it looks so vivid even today. But is there a reason for me to remember those exact memories at this precise moment?

Years from now, I'll still remember those moments just as if they have happened only moments ago, because, if things go wrong just as they've been predicted, I'll be out of the village forever, and I'll never go back, for I will not be able to look at their faces once again, not once, and in fear of that, I need to keep my memories intact.

Now I know why; now I can answer myself that question, the answer to Why?, and that answer is because I only bring suffering and despair to those around me, even out of the village, I only bring destruction and sadness to those who have contact with me, to those unfortunate enough to bump into me, but another question comes out seeming paradoxical to the first one, but is still the same question Why, why do they accept me, knowing the sadness I will bring them, and why does she love me?

Reasoning that question or at least trying to, seems futile, for I see no reason why they should feel the way they do about me, and not the way the bullies did in the past, endless questions now burst into my head, questions about how did I make friends, how I kept them, how did I earn the respect of so many people, how did She fall for me, just as I fell for her, and finally, how did this happen? But there is no time to time for this, seeing the situation around me, it is. The chain of events that lead us here in the first place. The truth is that I don't want to remember why am I here, why am I thinking this, but the thing is, that if I do forget it, I will not get back those green eyes that have kept me up so many nights, that pink hair that makes me feel I'm smelling a piece of heaven, that body that has been sculpted by God himself, the intense look of her eyes when She sees me (even though it's a killer glare sometimes, provoked by some stupid thing I did or said), and finally, that soul, that essence, a quintessence strong enough to keep me alive, the one that revived me that day, the one I swore I would fight for, the one I swore to protect, the one I swore to love; maintaining this promise is my top priority right now… no, scratch that, it's always been and will always be my top priority, my job, my goal in life, and nothing, nothing on this world will change my mind out of that, or convince me otherwise, I will not let that happen. But what I wonder about right now is, about that guy's words, his statements about the future, how was he so sure that what he said would happen, how could he predict the future with such confidence, how? How, God dammit, how?

"Eternal slumber awaits the one you love, for this is the destiny predicted to her, in case you try to stop us, that is. For I can feel you, your demon's essence, now active, as I speak, growing out of anger to the words you hear coming out of my mouth, as they feel like knives ripping out your insides, don't they?"

"Leave now, and you will guarantee this girl's safety, leave for good, and I swear I will not harm her, nor do anything to her" Those were his words trying to assure his own safety, trying to blackmail me with Her life and safety, how low, how vile, but I could only comply, out of fear that he could harm her. That bastard.

Exactly at the time he was about to go away, I managed to say something, that in-between growlings, was understandable. "You will go, for harm her is the last thing I want, the last thing that I could possibly do to her, but before you go, mark my words in your head, If you harm her in the most minimum way, I will extract personally those fucking eyes of yours; and if you do something to her, such as touching even one hair of her head, you will regret you were born, rat, for I will torture in ways you couldn't imagine possible, and that I swear." I managed to tell him that, as a pair of red, slitted eyes met a pair of red eyes with notable black markings on them, eyes that I once recognized as my best friend's… no, my brother's eyes. Eyes of a person I once promised I would rescue from the insides of darkness, darkness that I once knew, darkness that I was once inside of; and there were times when I really thought I could, times when I was sure I would drag him out of that suffering and bring him to live once again with us, with all of us, times when I really thought possible that things would be the same as before if the act of getting him back turned things as they used to be, haha, as if; I was dumb enough to think that I could save him from that darkness, but I just didn't see what he did, he entered himself into that darkness, it was his decision, his own choice, his way to be himself. I was so dumb, I was so foolish, I was so blind, I was so naive.

No, it wasn't that I just would let them go, let him go, no, this wouldn't finish that easy, for I'd rather die than spend another minute apart from my pink-haired goddess, or over that, to leave her with them, to those black-robed bastards who wanted me, or the demon inside me, the one I've got to consider a part of me as my own soul.

Sounds to me that the only thing to do next is to look for them, those red moon freaks, the Akatsuki. The same organization where that snake fiend was, Orochimaru, is also the same organization that had that Uchiha Itachi guy under their lines, I mean, before He killed him, before Sasuke killed him, in one blood stained battle, in the exact same time when I last saw him (before this), in the last chance that I got to bring him back, yes, I can recall… "Sasuke, you finally … you finally finished this nonsensical quest of yours, but is it worth it, all the killing, your comrades being dead, your brother being dead like this, is it worth it? Don't you regret this things?", I said, when he abruptly answered "Yes, and no. Yes, I finally finished this quest, and no, I don't regret things, the only thing I regret is lost the one, only thing that I had left, that you stole it from me, but otherwise, it was worth it, for I have found a new goal in life, to kill you, and that monster of yours".

Frozen I was, when I heard those words coming out of his mouth… "What, I stole that thing from you?, What could it possibly be, when did I do something so rotten to you?" I managed to say, sobbing and trembling. "My other goal in life, you killed it, you killed HER" That's when it came to me, my eyes widened as I started to cry, no capable of speaking anymore, just mumbling words when Her image came to me, that woman, the one with the glasses, the one I killed, taken over by an assassin rage, only because she lied to me, in order to meet the demon within me, but her lie, I could not bear, she told me… that she had killed Sakura.

"Curses! I was so naive, that I ate it up, that I believed her lies, what did I do, what have I done?" Those were the only understandable words that I was able to elaborate from the bottom of my mouth, when he screamed "She lied, of course, but that doesn't mean you had the right to kill her, you didn't had the fucking right to kill my wife, nor my unborn child" I froze, I couldn't… couldn't speak, nor move, I could only cry, silently, because what I just heard shocked me, How I could do something that awful, not only I killed one of his teammates, I killed his wife, and his child in the process, I should've foreseen this, or at least take a hint of it, of how close were them, the looks he threw to her, the almost palpable feeling floating on the atmosphere around them, it was… love. And I, I…

Destroyed it. In that moment, the moment I realized that I have destroyed his life, I felt like being torned apart, felt like my insides were shredding themselves, then, his eyes shot a killing glare to me, I was heartbroken again, and I could do nothing but watch him leave, I was not the person to ask him to return to Konohagakure.

Turning his back on me, before leaving, he said something, something that still echoes on my head today "Naruto, have a good, peaceful life… while you can, for I, will come back and destroy you some day, and no matter what happens, or how hard you train, you will no be able to survive my wrath… dear brother."

Done this, he left, leaving just a man, an eighteen year-old man, crying his heart out for what he had done that day, that infamous day. I cried, out of despair, thinking of every possibility to mend my actions, but, I always reached the same conclusion, and that was that I could do nothing but regret, and promise that woman, I think her name was… Karin, yes, promise Karin and her unborn child to do whatever was in my hands to fix his life, or at least try to do it. So I went back to the place where I tore her life apart… literally, because I killed her in a horrible way, and the image came to my head as I saw her, lying on the ground, with a fading smile and a pair of reaped glasses beside her. I remembered "So, I killed your precious pink-haired bitch, and oh you should have seen her screaming and crying when I ripped out her bleeding hear and…t" as I interrupted "Silence, shut up!!! I-I w-will k-kill you, and I will reap your heart out so you will see it with your own eyes."

Driven me to insanity, that's what she did, that's what she intended. The next thing I knew is that everything turned red, and when I found myself conscious again, the earth was moving around me, trying to engulf me, but suddenly, it stopped. I found myself grabbing her by the neck with one hand, and with the other one inside her.

More than a look of pain, her look was one of terror, as she saw my arm inside her chest, and my hand grabbing her heart. She was spitting blood, as I made my way into her chest, she said a word I couldn't recognize until the moment I returned to bury her, she tried to say Sasuke-k… but I reaped her heart before she could finish.

Burying her was such a painful thing to do, for I knew that I was burying Sasuke's life with her. As I finished burying her, I gave a look at the surroundings, and saw it, reaped away from her, her heart, lying on the ground, covered with blood and burned by the fox's chakra. I just stared at it, and felt a sole tear streaming down, as…

I picked her heart and buried it along with the body, for I could do nothing else, not anymore. After that, I heard steps and voices, voices of my friends and above all, a light, softened, yet concerned voice, it was her voice, my cherry blossom's voice, echoing in that maze, calling out my name, almost crying as I wasn't replying, then I let out a whisper "I'm here", afterwards, I heard Kakashi-sensei's voice yelling "I heard him, follow me" and soon I was surrounded by my friends and comrades, and by a concerned pink-haired eighteen year-old woman, who asked "Naruto, are you okay?" It was obvious that I wasn't, but I could only reply the opposite.

Eventually, I told them what happened, and they only answer, the only conclusion was… that I was not wrong on doing what I did, that it was comprehendible, even logical. The really thought that, even when I didn't. And so, years passed, or precisely, five years, when it happened. Sasuke joined the Akatsuki, and abducted Her.

So I… cannot simply stand here remembering things, I have to find her, and him as well, in order to keep my promise to Sakura, and my promise to Karin as well, the only thing I hope, is that I'm not too late, and for their own sake, that She's not harmed in any way, because if she is, I will make them regret. "Huh, the rain stopped, little snowflakes now are falling down from the sky. I feel this is going to be one long night, please Sakura, my love wait for me, I'm going to get you back, jut wait."

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So, did you like the first chapter of Winter, guys? I hope you found it interesting, and I hope you review it, because that would make me publish (and finish, by the way), the second chapter, that's already at the 20 percent done.

So please review, so I can keep on writing this Fic that once came to my mind, and it's finally materializing, may I add, this is the first Fic I publish and it would do so much for me if you comment it (please, avoid flames if possible, but constructive criticism I accept gladly).

And for the record, this Fic is damn hard to write for I have left a song hidden in it, I someone finds it and tell what song is it, I will be amazed, and will mention your name (or pen name) on the next chapter, that, by the way, will be called… well, I'll let you know when it comes out. R&R. Peace.

Note: The song part it's going to be almost impossible, so you need to be extremely clever to know what song is, and as a hint I will tell you, that is in Spanish, so, there you are, from now on, you're on your own.