Mittenless

By. S.S.M.

Disclaimer: O' course I don't own Naruto! If I did… the animation would be really sucky.

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Sakura tugged the lightweight jacket tighter around her shoulders. Damn it. She should have looked out the window before going to meet her team members. It was snowing cornflakes and all she had to keep warm was a damn spring sweater.

'It's WINTER Sakura! Not SPRING, ok? LEARN YOUR SEASONS!'

She was planning how to kill inner Sakura one day. That stupid little voice of hers was worse than Naruto. She trudged to the bridge, dragging her feet in the snow. She glanced down.

'Good choice of SHOES too Sakura! Sandals? Where were you were when winter hit? Bermuda?'

She grunted. "Yeah. I got lost in the Bermuda triangle," she muttered. She shook her head. Man, she really was going insane. She was talking to herself. She opted for the choice of running home and hopping into bed, claiming to be sick. She was bound to be anyway, the way she was dressed today. Sakura winced when another snowball hit her foot. Her toes were numb. That or have to get her feet amputated.

She sighed heavily as she neared the bridge. This morning she had woken up late, grabbed the first clothes she could find and run out the door. She noted her growling stomach. And forgotten to eat breakfast. "HEY SAKURA!" She stopped and squeezed her eyes shut. She would have a headache soon too. She sensed the fox boy running up to her. "Cold weather, huh? But that's ok! I love the snow! When I was little I used to go out in my underwear and-"

She tuned out his voice when she heard the word 'underwear'. She didn't need to know anymore. Sakura plodded to her usual spot by the bridge railing. She glanced down at the creek. It was frozen.

'Well that's good news for my toes.'

How cold was it? She watched Naruto, prancing around in the snow in a thick fuzzy parka. He looked like a cotton ball trying to eat snow.

'Don't eat the yellow snow Naruto.'

She grimaced when she saw that even Sasuke had a marshmallow jacket on. She watched him with jealously for a moment before leaning on the railing and crossing her arms. Sasuke watched her with slight interest. She was certainly grumpy, that was a no-brainer. He frowned when he noticed that she was trembling. Why wasn't she wearing a jacket? He watched as she lifted up one foot and rubbed the tips of her toes with her hands. The shinobi raised an eyebrow. Sandals? Did she want to commit suicide or something? There was practically two feet of snow on the ground and she was wearing sandals?

God, it made him cold to just look at her. He sighed and began wading his way through the snow to her. They couldn't afford to have a teammate get sick. As he got closer he could hear her sniffling pathetically. He hoped he wasn't too late. Sasuke slipped off the fleece layer of his jacket. "What the hell were you thinking when you got out of bed this morning?"

Sakura sneezed. "That I was late," she replied grudgingly. He smirked when he saw her eye Naruto's jacket enviously. She grunted. "With any luck the dobe will eat some yellow snow." Sasuke chuckled slightly. He held out his jacket.

"Here take this." She stared at it for a second before grasping it and slipping it around her shoulders. She smiled. God it was warm! And it smelled of Sasuke… She buried her head in the collar enjoying the warmth of his jacket. It took her a moment to realize that she was being nudged in the side. Sakura looked up to the Uchiha. "Wrap these around your feet too. You don't want frostbite." She nodded and hastily grabbed the cloth strips. She struggled to wrap them around her feet, seeing as how she had also forgotten her mittens. Sasuke noticed this too. He shook his head as he began to remove his gloves. The cherry blossom must have been surreally out of it this morning.

He waited for her to finish. He smirked when she let out a frustrated moan. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold. With her cheeks and her petal pink hair, she managed to match her name. She tucked the last strip to a strap on her sandal and scouted her work for untied ends. When she was satisfied, she looked up to find a pair of gloves dangling in her face. "Don't you have any of this stuff at home?" Sasuke mocked as he waited for her to take the gloves. Sakura stuck out her tongue and snatched one of the mittens, sliding it onto her left hand. "Take the other one," muttered Sasuke. "Gloves come in pairs."

"No. You put that one on your right hand," she ordered. He did as directed. "Now give me your left hand." Once again he followed orders. She slipped her bare hand into his, her cheeks growing even pinker, if possible. "There. Now all of our hands are warm," she whispered shyly. He nodded. It made sense. Together they leaned against the railing to wait for their sensei.

Though Sasuke would never admit it, he was too nervous to strike up a conversation with Sakura. He did however; occupy himself by stroking his thumb across hers. If she asked he could claim it was for more warmth, though he truly just enjoyed it.

His actions sent pleasurable shivers up Sakura's spine. She bit her tongue. When pain shot through her mouth, she smiled. It wasn't a dream.

Naruto, who had been obnoxiously oblivious to the two blushing teens, decided now, as Kakashi wandered into view, would be the absolute perfect moment. His blue orbs narrowed and he stared intensely at the Uchiha. "So… you think you can steel my woman, eh?"

Sasuke sighed heavily. When would the dobe let it go?

Sakura was readily prepared for Sasuke to drop her hand and deny anything that Naruto had to say.

"Look dobe, is it so hard to believe that maybe I want to hold her hand because… I just want to? Not because I'm trying to get back at you?" Everyone, including Sasuke, looked shocked at his words. And Sakura was still trying to process that, along with the fact that he was still holding her hand. Sasuke's brows furrowed. Those words had just… tumbled out of his mouth, he really hadn't planned it.

Maybe if he had more time to think he would've said something else…

He glanced over at Sakura. She caught his confusion.

'Oh. He didn't mean that…'

Even inner Sakura was fighting back sobs. "It's ok Sasuke," she replied steadily. Everyone looked to her. She let go of his hand. "You don't have to lie," she added softly. She tried to remain collected as she glanced up at Kakashi. "What's our mission today sensei?"

'Geez Sakura… you really are pathetic.'

"Oh," Kakashi sounded as if he had just woken up. "We don't have one. Tsunade claimed it was too cold." His three students nodded obediently. The sensei glanced at the Sakura before turning his gaze upon Sasuke. "Sasuke…" He waited for him to look up before finishing. "Why don't you walk Sakura home… seeing that she has most of your stuff on."

Naruto was outraged. "Kakashi-sensei! I could've walked Sakura home! Why didn't you ask me to? Sensei! Sensei?" Kakashi continued walking, staring idly at the pictures in his little orange book, with an enraged fox boy on his tail.

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For nearly half the trip no one said anything, but finally, Sasuke had enough. The awkward silence was more annoying than a hundred dobes chattered at once. He attempted to strike up a conversation with the cherry blossom, but unfortunately, he failed to think up a goof topic. "So… you like ramen?" Instead of a reply, this earned him an expectant stare. He tried again. "It's cold… out."

Sakura nodded. "I suppose you want your jacket back then?" She automatically began removing his things, seeing as how that hadn't really been a question.

Sasuke shook his head hastily, shoving the jacket back on her shoulders. "No. Keep it. I don't need them." Sakura didn't know whether to be grateful or insulted. For one thing, he wanted her to keep his jacket, but for another, it sounded as if he would rather throw them away after she wore them than take them back. Well… at least she could be warm now. She nodded once again, and another silence commenced. Sasuke growled. He couldn't take it. "Look, Sakura…" He waited to make sure he had her full attention. "I-I…" he sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought. "I know what you – I mean I-I'm not, but… it's not that… h-he just…" After a few minutes of stuttering to a skeptical cherry blossom, the Uchiha decided talking wasn't working.

It wasn't like he had many other options though… well… ones that didn't involve getting slapped. He watched her. She floated along beside him quietly, head held low, and her hands wedged into her pockets. Sasuke scooted closer to her, so that their shoulders were touching. He took his ungloved hand and "accidentally" bumped her pocket, so that her hand flew to her side. He smirked and grabbed her mittenless hand before it retreated back to its pocket. Sakura smiled. She knew what that meant. He didn't have to say it.

He wanted to hold her hand.

She knew because he had done it himself. He had stolen her hand and now squeezed it tightly. She spotted the corners of his lips. They were curved slightly to form a lopsided grin. He was satisfied. "Hey Sasuke…" He was all ears. "Instead of going to my house, do you wanna go get some ramen or something?"

The way she said it. He couldn't refuse. "Hn." Sakura smiled brightly.

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'Hn' means yes.

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A/N: Ha, I don't even know where this came from. It was gonna be a Christmas oneshot , where Ino has a party and Sakura doesn't ask Sasuke and he gets jealous or something, but instead this came out. Maybe I'll write the other one later…

Anyways, I don't know if you like or not. I'm just afraid it has post-it note stuck on it that reads in big letters 'FLAME ME', so please prove my post-it note theory wrong and give me a nice review!

I know I've got to update Drowned by Ice, and I will soon, but right now I'm experiencing some er- technical difficulties. (A.K.A – Writers Block.) But for anyone who wants to know, I'm working as hard as I can!

So anyway, thanks for reading even if you didn't like it.

Who else?
S.S.M.