o1. Winter

The first sign of winter coming was indeed the decrease of the temperature, as most people thought. People would wear thicker clothes, put on gloves and scarves, and some would even wear those winter coats which seemed more like suffocating than protecting them from cold.

But for [Name], the first snow of the year had to be the messenger of winter.

So, every year, she refused to change into warmer clothes until the first snow fell…

…which always resulted in her catching a cold.

And had she complained even once? No. She actually seemed happy to fall ill.

Kakashi sighed. Around this time every year, he seemed to sigh a lot. He was the only one who could look after his ill friend, after all.

Only one not busy with family, in their warm and happy houses.

He knocked on [Name]'s door while trying to balance the books and medicines in his other hand.

Every year was the same.

Kakashi would spend most of his time in her apartment keeping her company until she felt good enough to go outside again. He would bring her books to read, cook some soup which always seemed to make her feel better and stay until she fell asleep. She would be furious when she woke up to see he was gone. He even had to sleep there once or twice –or more than thrice- because she locked them in and hid the keys God knows where.

But, it was the happiest time of the year for her. She would be gentle and not sarcastic for once; she would be seen smiling and laughing a lot.

Especially when he was with her.

Sometimes, Kakashi even suspected that she was doing it on purpose just to have him stay with her.

But then he would chase the thought away. Those kinds of things would only come true in books, right?

[Name] remembered the first book he had brought for her. She was not the type to read books, but she loved poems.

So she was pretty surprised when she turned the cover of the poem book, surprised to see a hand writing very similar to Kakashi's:

"The falling down sky
Arraying the graceful
With its white blanket"

She had asked whether he was the one to write the small poem.

Of course he denied, claiming he got it from a second-hand book store and the words were already there.

It seemed suspicious, but she dropped the subject anyway.

Though [Name]'s intuition told the otherwise.

[Extended Ending]

"Kakashi, why the hell is there an Icha Icha book in my undergarments drawer?"

"…Hehe."

Well, maybe she was not always smiling and laughing.