Why does it Snow?
The Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konohagakure no Sato, was slowly being covered in new winter snow. It was early enough for everyone to still be asleep, with the exception of a few stray insomniacs and early risers.
One of the early risers, who barely slept anyway, was watching out of his window, thinking about the snow, and how it slowly, carelessly drifted to the ground. His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a dark figure smudge the whiteness of his beautiful snow; the raven haired shinobi picked up a kunai, and silently made his way outside.
The cloaked figure turned towards Uchiha Sasuke, and stood still, unmoving, unblinking. Sasuke pocketed the kunai and advanced upon his shadowed opponent after the hood of her cloak had fallen from her head.
"Ayake, why are you outside? You'll get sick if you stay out here." Sasuke began to question.
"Why I choose to stay outside is my business Uchiha-san." Ayake replied a little bitterly.
{Why does she have to be so damn stubborn?}
{What does he care if I'm out here?}
With an exasperated sigh Sasuke picked up Ayake and tossed her over his shoulder, ignoring her endless complaints and repeated pounding on his back. Oddly enough this type of action was normal between the two, one trying to stake dominance over the other, but neither ever winning.
He carried her like a sack of potatoes into his living room, dropping her onto his couch. He left her and entered his kitchen through the archway between the two rooms, as he left the room she noticed the X shaped scar on the upper portion of his back between his shoulder blades. Memories trickled back into her head; she heard someone chasing her, everything was red and she was running, away from the smell of blood. The taste of it was in her mouth, the coppery iron taste coating her tongue. She spat what she could out onto the ground, her breathing quick and shallow, her pulse racing in her ears. She turned sharply to the left, back into the village, she darted and flew across the stones of the road. She closed her eyes as she collided with a stone alley wall. She let her tired, beaten, and bruised body slide to the ground. Her eyes snapped open as a young, dark haired shinobi skid to a stop at the opening of the alley. She remembered throwing kunai at the shinobi, two making contact as he spun to dodge the other razor sharp weapons she attacked with. Her mind snapped back to reality, Sasuke oblivious to her near mental break-down.
After a few minutes of glaring from his female companion and waiting on his part, Sasuke pulled out a cup and went rigid when he felt an arm snake around his side.
"Relax Sasuke, it's not like I'm hitting on you. I'm just getting a tomato. Don't be so stressed out", was the only explanation he got.
"Why do you need a tomato?" Sasuke was curious, his favorite fruit?
"Yeah, I'm guessing you're not going to let me leave, I might as well be useful. You look like you could use something to eat. Unlike most children, you seem to enjoy your vegetable." She smirked as Sasuke began switching between muttering and yelling about how a tomato was a fruit and not a vegetable.
Ayake was jittery; she couldn't sit still for very long. She wanted to do something that wouldn't be in the way; even though she would have enjoyed being a nuisance to her host. Her raven-haired teammate gave her a skeptical look, as if to question if she was about to poison him, and left her to cook on her own.
Sasuke leisurely walked back into his living room, separated from the kitchen only by a arched doorway and the wall holding the sink, dishwasher, and a counter. Ayake occasionally glanced up at Sasuke, who was sitting on his couch watching her almost intently, through the hole that was to serve as a window to the opposite room. She was chopping up a few vegetables when Sasuke abruptly stood up and asked, "Ayake, where have you been staying?" It always annoyed him that she was able to escape after training and disappear somewhere he could never find her. Sasuke was almost paranoid about being able to find his teammates and knowing their locations at all times.
"That is my business, not yours Uchiha." she spat back at her teammate without looking up from what she was doing.
The dark haired girl took in a deep breath and put his plate of food on the table trying not to slam in down or throw it at him. He sat and looked down at the dish, "What is it?" He couldn't quite tell what it was she had cooked for him.
"It's stuffed milk fish, just eat it."
The angsty shinobi second looked the dish, mumbled, and took a bite.
"Not bad, no poison," he paused, "so far." He continued to eat as Ayake started to cook rice for herself.
They both ate, talking about recent missions, screw ups made by Naruto and Konohamaru, and other news circulating throughout Konoha. After they finished eating Ayake cleaned up the plates and Sasuke pulled out a bottle of sake. Both shinobi enjoyed drinking, and each could hold their liquor well, so it had always been a contest as to who could drink more, faster and how long they could stay alert after each drink session. After many missions they were assigned together on their ANBU squad, they would sometimes go to the bar Ayake worked at part time and drink until one or both of them gave up or had to be dragged away from the bar.
"What's the celebration Sasuke?" Ayake tossed a questioning look at the bottle of liquor. Usually they would drink whiskey, beer, tequila or other strong western drinks; never had they drank sake together, other than when Kakashi-sensei took them out on their birthdays.
"I thought now might be a pretty good time to pull it out; no one ever comes over and I've been saving it for awhile," he gestured for her to sit down at the low table. She reluctantly sat down, again, across from the onyx haired boy. He served both of them a small cup of sake, never letting his eyes leave hers, and drank, continuing with the conversation they had dropped after they had finished eating.
"So he beat you, ay?" Ayake, having won the staring contest he had wordlessly started, was trying to tick off her host, just to see what he might do. Not the best experiment.
"It wasn't a fair fight! I had just beat Kakashi! You can't say it was fair!" Ayake had to stifle a laugh so she wouldn't anger the Uchiha more as he continued to rant about Naruto cheating and how he "didn't really lose".
There was a moment where they both seemed to relax and let down their guards. In that moment Ayake didn't notice Sasuke reaching forward until his fingers brushed her forehead, brushing a lock of blond hair away from her dark, almost black, eyes.
"Is this blond streak natural Ayake?" Sasuke had a rosy tint to his normally pale cheeks. He gestured at the blond streaks that framed her face, contrasting greatly with her black hair. He noticed then that the blackness of her hair made his seem washed out, or maybe it was just the bottle of liquor they had just finished off.
"It's kind of natural, I wasn't born with it, but it slowly started growing. It's odd really, I think it started when I was about three, I'm not sure." She laughed as Sasuke tipped the bottle upside-down and a drop of sake fell into his eye. He dropped the bottle on the table, miraculously not breaking it, and stumbled to the sink. As he washed his eye out he heard her giggling behind him and tossed a few remarks back at her; neither really paid attention to what he had said.
He walked back to the low table blinking his injured eye, to find a laughing Ayake sitting across from him. Her hand was covering her mouth and she laughed, her hand softly held over her wide grin.
"So you think that was funny?" Sasuke began to laugh himself when he thought of how he must have looked. After their laughter subsided, he peered at her; she was trying to stifle her giggles by covering her mouth with both her hands. Once she regained control of herself, she let her hands rest on the table in front of her. She closed her eyes, basking in the silence of the moment. Sasuke startled her by speaking again; she hadn't realized she had tipped her head back or that she was smiling.
"You know, you're not bad when you're happy, smiling and all. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was almost attractive." He smirked his signature smirk and waited. It took her a minute to process what he had said, and that he had actually meant it.
"Well, you should smile more often, too. Please your fan-girls for once," she laughed again, pouring a shot of tequila he had found before sitting back down. She thought over the other part she didn't say, that his smile was actually quite beautiful and charming.
"Eh, those fan-girls can go to hell. They really need to get some lives. It's so annoying, them following me around," he leaned forward and pulled at her waist long pony-tail; he knew she hated it when people did that.
"Ow!" She tugged at his bangs, pulling him part way across the table.
Both wondered who was going to win in this play-fight for dominance. They continued to play tug-o-war until they're faces were only inches apart. They froze for a minute, staring at each other, debating whether or not to close the gap. Slowly they leaned forward when… Bang Bang Bang! They were jolted back into they're seated positions when someone began banging on the door.
Sasuke was still recovering from the almost-kiss while Ayake had already risen to get the door. She sighed, put on a less annoyed facade, and opened the door.
"Oi! Teme, you- Ayake-chan? What are you doing at Sasuke-teme's house?" Naruto, as always, was full of energy. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet when she had answered the door. His signature smile was stretched across his face as he walked inside and plopped down on Sasuke's navy blue couch. Naruto was probably the only person in the world who came to his house more than Sasuke and spent many nights at his house when he had nightmares about what the Kyuubi would do if it ever took over.
"Sasuke kidnapped me while I was minding my own business outside in the snow. But what's really weird is the fact that he's actually been talking to me. He's said more than "Hn," and "Aa". It's a miracle!" Ayake was playing her part in hers and Naruto usual two man show of making fun of Sasuke; she laughed and nudged Sasuke with her elbow. She could hold her liquor better than any shinobi in Konoha; she was still mostly sober but the tint in her cheeks gave away how much she had drank already. She hadn't thought about it until she had said it, but he usually didn't speak much at all. Somehow he had become talkative, even before the sake.
"Neh? Sasuke-teme talked? Wow, that's a first. How'd you do it Ayake-chan? He never talks. Anyway, Sasuke-teme I came to tell you that you left your stuff at my house again. You really should come get it. How much have you guys been drinking? You seem pretty drunk." He barely stopped to breathe much less wait for a reply to his questions. He truly was wondering how much they had drank before he had arrived, he could smell the liquor from where he lay strewn across Sasuke's couch. He knew Sasuke didn't drink much at home and that Ayake drank but not usually this much. It was making him curious but he really didn't care much, he just wanted to kill some time somewhere with people; he disliked being alone when he could avoid it.
"Shut up. Dobe, did you just come to tell me to get my crap from your house or what? Why don't you go visit that Hyuuga girl? Your constant yammering is giving me a migraine." The sake was kicking in and Sasuke didn't enjoy Naruto loud yelling after the adrenaline rush tug-of-war just gave him.
"Neh? Hinata-chan? Why would she want to hang out with me?" Naruto could read people pretty well, but something about the Hyuuga heiress just didn't seem to make its way through his thick skull that she liked him. Ayake and Sasuke both knew from talking to her and watching her like everyone else, and both thought it best to get Naruto out and with Hinata whenever the chance arose. Right now, it seemed to be a win-win situation for all parties involved.
"Of course she would. You know, Hinata might even want to help you practice controlling your chakra if you ask her to," Ayake raised her eyebrows as she nudged Naruto out the door and smiled when his ears perked up and began walking out the door on his own, laughing and smiling about practicing with someone as nice as Hinata and that he might even get to spar with Neji-san. It was after the door close that he realized it was 11 at night and no one at the Hyuuga home would be awake.
Ayake closed the door, still smiling, then turned around and let out a relieved sigh, getting Naruto to do something was always either easy, or impossible; she knew she was lucky that the previous situation was of the former and not the latter, but she also always found it fun to see how he would respond once he made his mind up. Naruto was like a brother to her and she would do anything to keep him happy and safe; getting him away from a partially drunk Sasuke was the best thing to keep him both. She was laughing as she sat down again across from Sasuke.
"So what now Uchiha?" Ayake adopted the name she would use when she and Sasuke were feeling competitive; she dropped the honorific and used his last name to show she knew what kind of shinobi she was dealing with.
"How about we hit the hay, it's late and I'm going to have a terrible hangover by tomorrow." He stumbled to his feet and tripped to the stairs, rubbing his temples the whole way up.
Ayake followed and skipped her way up the stairs after him. She looked into the first room she passed, completely bare and cold, all of the lights off, the harsh smell of an empty room filling her nose. Sasuke must have noticed the expression on her face that resembled smelling rotting fish.
"Is something wrong with my guest room?" Sasuke seemed insulted but a little concerned with her expression.
"Nande monai, it's nothing. Is there anywhere else I could sleep for the night?" Her voice trailed off and her eyes glazed over, staring into the extra room. Memories began breaking through the wall she had made in her mind, she remembered running, and blood. A kunai was lodged in her right thigh, the wound healing around it. Her heart began to race.
"Ayake." Sasuke's voice was louder than it had been a moment ago and he had placed both of his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to face him. Her mind snapped back to the present; she shivered, she thought the memories of that night had been locked away years ago.
"There's only my room, if you don't mind sharing a bed." Sasuke smirked, he was mostly joking but didn't mind the thought of sleeping in the same room as her. Don't get the wrong idea, Sasuke wasn't a creep like that or anything, he wasn't planning on making any moves on her, but he somehow was more comfortable with her than most other people, most other girls especially.
"That sounds fine with me, we're adults. Just, don't try anything okay?" She smirked, she at least would try to act like she was okay until she really was. Ayake held onto the back of Sasuke's shirt as he led her down the hall to the master bedroom. They both knew the other wouldn't try anything, but still weren't used to being in a bedroom with a member of the opposite gender while moderately sober and weren't being paid.
Sasuke let her sit down on the bed while he went to the bathroom to change. Her eyes flashed red for a split second when Sasuke returned in a pair of pajama pants and began to ask her something. She squinted her eyes and furrowed her brow, the words coming from his mouth not registering in her head.
"Do you need something to sleep in?" He paused briefly between each word, scratching the top of his head.
"Uhh..." She blinked a few times until she understood what he was asking. "No, I think I'm fine, it's enough that you're making me stay, you don't need to dress me too Sasuke-chan." She smiled jokingly as she passed him to go into his bathroom.
She closed the door behind her and slid off her formfitting red t-shirt. She leaned on the sink, gripping the side while she stared intently into the mirror. The bandages around her chest made her look like some sort of yakuza thug, but also made her seem more in control. Ever since she hit puberty, she had bound down her chest with medical tape because she felt the "blessing from god" as perverted strangers had called them, got in the way of her work as a shinobi. She unwrapped the bandages and rolled them into a spool around her hand. She slipped the red shirt back on and walked back into the bedroom. Sasuke's eyes widened a bit when she reentered the room, but his the shock on his face while she placed her bandages and socks on the floor in the corner.
"I saw that, you didn't think I was this hot did you?" Ayake laughed and sat on the side of the bed facing the window.
"It's not that, it's just... I wasn't expecting you to be... I," he was at a loss of what to say.
"I was kidding Sasuke!" She laughed again and crawled into bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and closing her eyes. The faster she fell asleep the faster she could leave his house and get away from the awkwardness of the situation. Sasuke crawled in next to her and faced the opposite direction, his back to her. After they had both fallen asleep a breeze blew through the open window, bringing with it a few snowflakes and a very cold chill.
Ayake shivered and rolled into the hollow in the middle of the bed where Sasuke usually slept by himself; she curled into a ball against his back, clinging to the warmth he gave off. Sasuke unconsciously flipped over and let his breathing match the dark haired girl's who was sleeping against his chest. They slept through the night, huddled together in a warm cocoon.
Sasuke rolled over onto his stomach, clinging onto the warmth that was left there. Unconsciously the thought that someone should have been lying there went through his head but he shrugged it off and went back to sleep.