This story was a Japanese folktale about snow. I'm twisting it to meet my evil devices. Slight NaruHina pairing.
I do not own the characters they belong to Kishimoto-san. I also borrowed the story line from CLAMP's Shirahime-Syo, and I thank them for that. (sorry for not putting it in earlier, I forgot) If it seems to be too much like it, I tried to change the lines as much as possible. I hope that this pleases you Kaisui, and thank you for brining it to my attention.
The ice flower
The snow covered lakeside blended gracefully with the robust orange of the rising sun. The lake itself had only begun to lose its winter shell of thick impenetrable ice. Alone in the shadows by the valley were two figures emerging from the now fleeting shadows. The slight hand of a woman wiped away the tears from her porcelain face, her lover looked away from her not wanting to meet her gaze for the fear that he too would cry.
" Naruto-kun" she sobbed, shivering through the layers of her winter kimono, despite it being this close to spring. He was leaving, on a mission, his first as ANBU; Naruto had grown so much in the past seven years, since their graduation from the ninja academy. They recently had moved in together in a new settlement of the leaf village's, a land of perpetual winter.
" You would not tell me not to go, Hinata." He asked, taking her into his arms. "Even if I did, you would still go," she whispered back. Naruto took her head into his hands, "Would you not cry for me," he asked her.
" Even if I did…. You would still not return to Me." her face expressionless, knowing that this mission was to dangerous, even though he could not disclose the specifics to her. " Hinata…I promise you, I will return. I will never leave you alone in this village, where it always snows. No matter how long it takes I will return to you, no matter how many years it will take me. Hinata turned and lifted her hands to catch the newly falling snow, "I was told, as small child," she began, " that the snowflakes are the tears of the snow princess."
" Naruto-kun, the waters of this lake are so cold, so cold that even in the spring, one could freeze in it. The villagers say it is because the snow princess cleanses herself in these waters. I swear it, by the lake itself, from this spring on; I shall await your return without change, just as the waters of this lake shall never warm." she sobbed gently in his embrace. " Just as in the fairytales I shall wait for you unwavering, just as the woman who perished and became a flower to await her beloved husband. Naruto, even if my life were to fade, I would transform myself into a flower, just to await for your return. I shall wait for you here, this is my solemn vow."
Naruto held her till the voices of his comrades rang thorough his ears, he left Hinata without a word. Her final words still echoed through his mind, beat through his coursing veins. " I shall wait for you, forever and ever…" As he marched off to the distant Village hidden in the mists, he wondered if her words would be true, granted she was young, only 20, and beautiful. He couldn't blame her if she didn't wait for him; she had every right to be happy. The blonde looked down at the lonely village in the snow-covered hills, and waved a gesture of sayonara to the lake.
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Thirty years had passed since Naruto had last gazed on the village where he had once lived together with Hinata. There was no longer a sparkle in his vibrant blue eyes, and his hair now streaked with gray. Thirty years of pain and torture was enough to do that to a man. He had watched helplessly as his teammates were slaughtered in front of him. " Kuso…" he thought, " Why the hell am I always so helpless… I can't do anything right…I guess Sasuke was right when he called me a child those years ago."
He continued his dreary trudge through the snow. He knew that Hinata wouldn't be there at their lake, she had a duty as the heir to the Hyuuga name to be called back when it was time for her to take place as the head of the prominent family, then marry and produce another heir. So why was he heading to their promised rendezvous? Only the faint glimmer of hope, which nagged at him every waking moment. He hoped that she was there and Naruto knew that even at the age of 50, his beloved Hinata would still be as beautiful just as she was when he first realized that he loved her as she had always loved him.
Naruto rounded the corner to the lake and saw it, " just as I left it so long ago," he said to no one. " Only Hinata isn't here." He walked out to the middle of the frozen lake. "I cannot blame her, she was so young. I only hope that she is happy wherever she is now." He looked down at he ice under his feet, letting his first tears in many years fall, only under the sheet of ice, there was the fabric of a lavender kimono. Naruto followed the trail of fabric till he reached its owner.
" Hinata…When you said that you'd wait for me, unchanged, you really meant it, didn't you?" he whispered. Indeed it was Hinata who was under the ice. Her eyes closed, hair fanned around her face, still the perfect picture of the day Naruto left. The lavender material had spread about her, like the petals of a flower, her lips still a touch of color left in them, still held a slight smile.
" Naruto-kun, I will wait for you forever and ever…" played somewhere distantly, carried by the wind.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Owari