Mashin: Decided I was due for something to tell you guys I'm not dead yet. It's a one-shot, and the pairing's Kagome/Sasuke, since that's what I'm thinking of right now, with it being after Chinese New Year's. Sorry about it being posted the day after. Hehe.
And yes, I'll be shutting my mouth and working on my other stuff now.
"My dream is only rooted in the past."- Sasuke Uchiha, part I of Naruto.
Summary: As the snow fell, the embers of the fire grew more and more, until it became an inferno of fire. A mysterious visit to the Uchiha household brings Kagome into a secret engagement, and into a slowly growing fire of love.
Song: Pfft, none.
Pages: Around 9 or so. Not sure.
Word Count: Around 3178.
Notes: Not my best, since it was started on Chinese New Year's, and posted 2 hours after writing it. But still, leave a review and tell me how it was!
Oh, and Sasuke never left for Orochimaru in this one. Orochimaru ended up being killed by the Third, but that's about the only change in the timeline. Tsunade is the one ruling over Konoha right now, and italics are for flashbacks. I love writing flashbacks.
It was cold. It was snowing. And it was absolutely beautiful.
All across Konoha, shinobi and civilians smiled at the rare sight of snowflakes, before quickly gearing up for the cold and running outside, eager to do something.
In the Uchiha household, a 5-year old Sasuke was trying to escape the grip Itachi hand on his shirt, only the fall on the floor un-gracefully and run out the door, cheering the whole way and saying something about 'The pretty snow girl'.
Interested in who his little brother was talking about, Itachi Uchiha calmly and slowly walked out into the snow, closing the shoji door behind him. Looking around, he immedietly regretted not putting on at least a vest; it was freezing, and the cold was pricking into his skin like little needles.
He noticed how his brother Sasuke seemed to be talking to air. But at a second glance, he noticed that there were 2 piercing deep blue eyes staring at Sasuke, twinkling with laughter and acceptance, as her gaze switched from Sasuke to him, then back to Sasuke.
The girl had a light-blue traditional kimono on, with little snowflake designs on it. Her obi was deep blue, and her really deep blue hair seemed black at times in the dark.
The girl had smiled at him, causing Sasuke to turn around and race towards him with one hand holding the girl's pale tiny hand.
"Brother! Look who I met! Isn't she pretty?"
Itachi refrained Sasuke from talking anymore as he placed a hang gently on his mouth, causing the girl to hide her giggle with her hand. "Sasuke-kun, you may want to calm down a little." She said. He had noticed that her voice was barely above a whisper, sounding as if she were the most fragile thing in the world.
Huffing, said boy crossed his hands and started pouting as soon as Itachi let his hand fall to his side. "So what were you saying, Sasuke?"
The pout was long forgotten as his younger brother's eyes lit up, pulling on the girl's hand once more and bringing her forward. "Itachi! This is Kagome-chan! She came here with her mother, and she's gonna be staying in Konoha for a while! Can I go with her to watch the fireworks?"
Said girl blushed at the way Sasuke kept his hand on hers', unconsciously pulling closer to him as Itachi let his gaze settle on her. For some reason, that guy seemed anti-social…
Smiling, Itachi patted both of them on the head. "Sure. As long as you tell Father where you're going, and you come back before curfew."
Smiling, Sasuke jumped up and hugged Itachi, while Kagome merely blushed even more and bowed. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Itachi smiled again, pointing towards the door. "Go talk over it with Kagome-san's mom."
Naruto stared at his ANBU teammate as he continued to space out, staring at the snow-filled sky and completely ignoring the fact that he was unconsciously hiding from fan-girls in the streets below. Seriously, couldn't' the think of looking up for once?
Sighing, he let his tongue out and ate a snowflake, before turning his eyes on Sasuke. Something was wrong with him today, and he couldn't pinpoint what it was.
He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Sasuke let out a low chuckle, completely breaking the silence the two were sitting in. Looking at Sasuke, he saw that he was staring at a building roof a few feet away from them, where there was a pale girl standing.
The girl had long dark blue hair that reached mid back, with a white and blue miko garb. Her hair was put up in a slight ponytail, some bangs shadowing her piercing blue eyes that seemed to be as blue as the sky when it wasn't snowing.
Sasuke let out another chuckle, watching how the girl's eyes lit up upon noticing him, and how she had adjusted the bow on her shoulders so it securely held the quiver, and started jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
After a few more jumps, the girl was beside the two ANBU, smiling without a care in the world, and hugging the hell out of Sasuke.
"Sasu-chan!"
Naruto's eye twitched with laughter at the nickname, and it took all his will power as a shinobi not the laugh and disturb the picture in front of him. Sasuke was actually twitching like a maniac, while not trying to realize that there were female, ample boobs squishing against him. Or the fact that he had a beautiful lady flat out on him as she hugged the hell out of his body. Damn, he might not be feeling his right arm tomorrow.
In the end, Naruto lost the battle of wills and started laughing his ass off with Sasuke twitching and oh-so wishing to kill a certain Kyuubi vessel that was besides him on the roof rolling around laughing at him. The girl merely twitched, calmly walked up to Naruto, and slapped him hard in the kisser. The whole time acting calm and neutral, before she went back to Sasuke and started playing with the ends of his hair.
"I will not allow it! Whomever she wants to wed will be her choice! The deal is off!"
Sasuke, Kagome, and Itachi all hid behind the slightly open shoji door, hearing how Kagome's mother and Fugaku argued. Their eyes widened at the mention of wed, and they had a pretty good feeling on who it was. On reflex, Sasuke tightened his grip on Kagome's shoulder, muttering something into her ear that made her blush like mad.
"You have no say in this matter! Your deceased husband has already agreed to it! Whether you like it or not, your daughter will wed Itachi! Resign your struggle and obey your husband's wishes, Higurashi!"
The two people mentioned widened their eyes, before narrowing them at the shadow of a man in the room bickering.
Immedietly, Sasuke got onto his feet, swung open the shoji door, and ran into the room, tackling Fugaku onto the floor. Yelling his name, Kagome and Itachi entered, Kagome going to her mother's side, while Itachi tried to pry the kunai Sasuke had stolen from his pocket and off his father. All the while, the three were glaring holes in Fugaku's head.
"Kagome-chan will not be marrying brother! She won't!"
It took a few more seconds for Sasuke to calm down, and by then, Kagome was tightly holding onto both of their shirts, Itachi now dragging the two 5-year olds to the door.
"Sorry about this father, they're a little hyper. But I will have to agree with Sasuke, Kagome-san, and Higurashi-sama on this. I really don't feel like wedding someone 5 years behind me."
And with that, the trio left the room, closely followed by Kagome's mother who shot a glare at the immobile Fugaku.
"Never try and use my husband's words against me. The Higurashi clan will cut off any more ties with the Uchiha clan, with the exception of Kagome Higurashi, Sasuke Uchiha, and Itachi Uchiha from this moment."
And with that, the shoji door closed, as you could hear a cheering Sasuke play around in the snow outside.
Naruto blinked as Sasuke finished explaining whom the girl clinging onto him was, and how she came to know Sasuke.
"Okay, so let me get this straight. You met her when her mother came to visit your dad, you guys played, and you stopped her from wedding your brother?"
Sasuke and the girl now known as Kagome nodded, both flashing smiles at him. Though Kagome's was way happier and nicer.
"Yup!"
Naruto twitched. She seemed waaay too cheery.
"So, why are you here, and where have you been for the past twelve years or so? I thought the Higurashi clan resided in Konoha."
The smile on Kagome's face dampened slightly as her grip on Sasuke tightened. "The Higurashi clan is spread all over Japan; it's just that our main branch is in Konoha. I lived in a non-ninja town, called Tokyo."
Nodding his head at the answer, Naruto looked up at the sky and caught another snowflake in the air.
It was silent between the three, none wanting to ruin the moment of snow falling.
"Sasu-kun!"
Hearing his nickname, Sasuke turned his head to the left to come face to face with a smiling Kagome, a little baby in her hands. By the looks of the hair, it was a boy.
"I want you to meet Souta-chan! He was born about a month ago, and I get to take care of him during our visit!"
Smiling at the way the newborn baby gurgled; Sasuke let his small pinkie finger brush the even smaller pinky finger belonging to Souta. "Well Souta-kun, nice to meet you!"
The baby smiled, gurgling again and reaching up with his hands.
Kagome giggled, holding onto Souta even tighter as the little baby kept struggling to fall out of her grasp and into the cold new snow under their feet.
"Wow, he really likes you! I've never seen him act that friendly to someone he just met!"
Letting a soft laugh escape his lips, he let Souta hold onto his pinky this time.
For some reason, that comment made him smile.
"How come you have to leave so soon?"
It was 8 at night, and Sasuke was outside with a sadly smiling Kagome, Souta still in her arms. The snow fell softly around them, yet neither of them felt the cold in the air, or the snowflakes landing in their dark hair. All they saw was each other, both with equal looks of sadness and despair on their faces.
"I don't know Sasu-kun. All mommy said was 'we have to leave'."
The snow stood out from its dark inky sky, as Souta the baby stayed quiet, sensing the sadness surrounding them. It was quiet for a moment; the only sound that of the wind blowing by and the sound of cloth ruffling.
Sighing, Sasuke walked the short distance between them and patted her on the head, despite them being the same height. Souta's hand reached for his shirt, as he let out a small smile only shared between the two.
"When do you think you'll come back?"
"I don't know. Mommy never said."
Sighing softly, he stopped patting her head in exchange for a hug. Leaning closer, he sniffed her soft hair as the moon hid behind another cloud, enshrouding them in darkness.
"When you come back, will you be my bride?"
It was silent, the moon showing once more, as the snow stopped and Souta loosened his grip on Sasuke's shirt.
"Sasu-kun, you do know what you're saying, right?"
"Yes. But still, will you?"
Kagome was silent for a moment, before her eyes slowly closed and she embraced Sasuke back. "Sure."
Naruto looked at Sasuke, then Kagome. "Wait, so you two are engaged?"
Sasuke shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, pretty much. I intend on keeping the promise. How 'bout you Kagome-chan?"
Kagome smiled. "Yup!"
Sighing, Naruto put up a fake look of pity. "Well, you're gonna have your hands full Kagome-chan. Sasuke here's kinda down and anti-social."
"No I'm not!"
Hiding her laugh, Kagome just smiled. "I'm sure I can handle it."
Hearing a bang behind her, Kagome turned around to see what all the cheering and yelling was about, but stopped when she looked into the sky.
Fireworks of all kinds, all colors flew up into the air, exploding into a giant colored star, and slowly fading into the air, leaving few traces that they were even there. This continued on and on for a while, the three on the roof mesmerized by the sight.
Hearing a gong chime, Naruto stood up. "Oh Shoot! I forgot it was Chinese New Year's today! I gotta go you two, I gotta meet people down there!"
And with that, the once-hyper ANBU jumped off the roof and into the busiest part of the town.
Sighing, Sasuke looked up once more to watch as another red firework exploded from the sky, leaving little trailing lights of red falling to the ground.
Leaning back on his two hands, he snuck a glance to his left, where Kagome was watching the scene with excitement in her eyes.
"Isn't it weird that we met this day about 12 years ago?"
"Hm, Déjà vu."
Chuckling, he wrapped an arm around Kagome's waist, snuggling further into the newfound warmth as they looked up once more.
Release Kagome from his grip, Sasuke looked up to see fireworks, their spot on the porch a perfect view. No trees' blocking anything, and everyone was outside the district, watching it with the other people of Konoha.
Smiling, he stared up from his spot beside Kagome, Souta in between them gurgling and reaching up for the flashes of light in the dark sky.
Kagome let out a chuckle as she looked over at Sasuke under her eyelashes. For some reason, she didn't feel that horrified at marrying Sasuke. Why?
Giggling, she grabbed onto his hand and swung her legs, in a contented mood as they continued to look up. Surprisingly, neither of their necks started hurting from the angle they were looking up at.
Giggling, she looked at Sasuke. "You know what Sasu-kun?"
"What?"
"Shouldn't we seal the promise? With something?"
Sasuke chuckled at the thought. Hey, he may be 5 years old-going on 6- but he had a pretty good idea on the world and everything in it.
"Well, what do you think we seal it with?"
Kagome thought for a while, thinking and thinking while Souta and Sasuke stayed quiet. "I can't think of anything. You?"
Blushing at what he was thinking, Sasuke turned his head the other direction, so she couldn't see his blush. "Well… What about a kiss?"
"A… kiss?"
"Yeah. A kiss. I see adults do it all the time!"
Yes, even though he had a good idea, Sasuke could be a little ignorant and dumb.
Kagome shrugged her shoulders, the large formal kimono she was wearing moving with her. "Sure, why not?"
Smiling, Sasuke looked at Kagome. "Umm…do you know how to kiss?"
Her smile faded a little as she pouted. "I don't… You?"
"No…"
Looking back towards him, she smiled. "Then we'll make our own!"
Sasuke looked at the girl as she turned around quickly to hide the blush. She seemed to think of the most creative plans.
"O-okay… I guess."
Softly cheering, Kagome quickly leaned forward to give Sasuke a peck on the cheek, but he turned at the last second, making them freeze in a full-out kiss.
They stayed that way for several seconds before pulling back, blushes on both their cheeks.
"Wow…"
"Yeah…"
Looking at each other, they quickly turned around as Souta looked at both of them, confused at what they were doing.
"So…it's sealed."
"Yeah… When you come back, we're gonna wed."
Kagome nodded as she looked back up to the fireworks, the blush still on her cheeks as she let another smile show. "I won't break my part, will you?"
Sasuke shook his head, letting his hand fall on hers' as the light reflected off their faces, showering them in blue and green light. "Never. Never again."
Naruto smiled from his spot on a blanket on the Hokage Monument, Sakura, Iruka, Kakashi, and Tsunade besides him as they all enjoyed a pleasant picnic brought by Sakura and Tsunade.
"Ne Ne, baa-chan? Was there ever a clan called 'Higurashi' in Konoha before?"
Tsunade's head looked up at the question, meeting Naruto's curious face. He just seemed to turn more and more like a kitsune with each passing day, and he looked cute doing it.
"The Higurashi are a clan based on snow, so they only come to Konoha when it snows. They're still active during the rest of the year; it's just that they're the most active when it snows. Why? Did you meet one?"
Naruto shook his head, the mess of hair on his head bobbing up and down with the head's movement. "Sasuke-teme's engaged to one!"
Immedietly, all eyes were on him as he shrugged. "What? Apparently, Sasuke-teme and Kagome-chan planned to wed when she came back to Konoha. She said she was from somewhere called 'Tokyo'."
Nodding, Tsunade took a sip of her green tea, setting the cup down to watch the star-shaped fireworks explode. "Well, Kagome-san is the heiress, so it's a surprise to see her in Konoha. That and the fact that she was part of a un-planned marriage is surprising in itself."
Sakura nodded, a little feeling of jealousy burning in her stomach. She had gotten over her crush on Sasuke when she was 15, so it didn't hurt as much. "I read about their clan a while back. Most of them are female; chances of a male are 1 in 50. They used the snow to increase the lethalness of their attacks and to use them as charka reserves, didn't they?"
Tsunade nodded. "Well, I find it great that Sasuke-san managed to get engaged. It might do him some good."
"Yeah, like making him less emo and more approachable!"
"Shut up Naruto!"
Thunk.
"Ow! Baa-chan!"
Mashin: Yeah, it's rushed, it's messy, and there are a bunch of errors with the plot. But you'll have to deal with it. I'm starting on my Valentine's one shot now. So please be patient! Gomen, Gomen, Gomen! But please, leave a review and tell me how I did! Kinda uncomfortable with writing a Sasu/Kag, haven't really cared about that pairing.
Oh! Stories will be updated soon! I got a break from writing and drawing! Huzzah!
-Mashin.
