Wolfchick101: Look at this! Chapter two, on time! Mwahahaha :D I will finish this project if it's the last thing I do.

Sasuke: *rolls eyes*

Wolfchick101: Sasuke please be happy for me. :'( I really want to finish this for the fans since I didn't a year ago. Will you at least disclaim it?

Sasuke: Fine. Good job n all. Naruto is not hers. SkyDollers is though.

Wolfchick101: Yea, couldn't go copyrighting everybodys favorite coffee place now could we? Haha. Enjoy!


That night had been one of my favorites. Hanabi, Neji, and I had finished decorating the tree and then ate lots of sweets, sabotaging our dinner. The rest of the evening was spent sitting around on the couch and watching Christmas reruns.

For the time being, I was content. Until of course, morning came. With only a few finals left to undergo. If only they could've been the least of my problems.

My life only sought to obscure what little I understood even further that day,

The second day of Christmas.


That morning had been pretty typical. I remembered to wear the bracelet at least. And in hope that it would prompt realization of a purpose, I tucked the note in my mirror. It was there to remind me that someone out there, whoever it may be, was watching over.

In a more jubilant mood, I found myself humming carols as I slid down the banister to the front hall. Not even Neji's thrill ride dampened the blithe feeling I had. Soon enough though, my troubles were dragged tauntingly back to mind as I progressed further up the walkway of Konoha High. Sakura and Naruto were standing outside the doors, laughing elatedly, holding hands.

My heart dropped, sending some of my binders sprawling across the sidewalk.

"Geez." I mumbled to myself, balancing the others and my backpack while struggling to scoop up the fallen assignments.

A hand came into my line of vision and grabbed my fallen cargo.

"Here, ah..." Sasuke seemed to decide against it and shifted them into his arms.

"I'll carry them."

"T-Thanks." I grimaced in his direction and he nodded.

"It seems as though teachers feel the need to try to fail as many students as possible." He gestured, referring to the assignments. I nodded, too skittish to try responding.

Silence stretched as the walkway to the door seemed to stretch into infinity, but nonetheless, we somehow managed to mount the steps quickly.

Sasuke gently eased the binders back into the stack in my arms. I blushed and stared at the ground, the only thing my mind registering was the space between his feet and mine. Or the lack thereof.

I felt his hand graze my wrist and his fingers twist the bracelet slowly.

"I hope you feel better today Hinata." He breathed softly into my ear.

He then turned on his heel and sauntered down the hall to his class. A breath enflared my lungs and I realized I had been depriving my body of oxygen the whole time. Regaining my whereabouts, I skimmed the school's yard praying that no one had seen it.

Pleased with my findings I attempted to reign in my blush before scampering off to my locker.

The whole rest of the day was mundane; I admit I can't remember much of anything until that afternoon. I guess we'll just skip to after school.


The day was tantamount compared to the others. The only thing that was incommensurable was that Sakura had invited me, Sasuke, Naruto, Ino, and Sai down to SkyDollers for coffee.

With no car of my own, Sasuke had been kind enough to offer me a ride. Throughout the course of this year we'd been growing pretty close. In which case, to my surprise, we were actually able to have coherent conversations.

"Th-thank you for the r-ride." I nervously tugged the seatbelt in habit that Neji had given me.

"You're welcome." A stretched silence fell into the packed atmosphere of the car.

"So... it still hasn't snowed yet." Sasuke prompted.

"Ah y-yes, I can s-see that." I giggled.

"Just trying to make conversation." He chuckled.

It was different than what I've ever heard before. A deep soothing noise.

"That bracelet." He glanced pointedly at my wrist. "Is it new?"

"Oh, w-what this?" My hand fly to the chain.

I blushed and absentmindedly twirled it around.

"Y-yes. A secret admirer g-gave m-me this."

"Secret admirer? Any idea who it is?"

"N-not really. And I'm n-not sure I w-want to try to find out. Mysteries are m-magical until you find them o-out right?"

"Yes I suppose you're right."

The conversation took off from there, covering topics all the way from the math final to art club. Before we knew it, we'd reached the SkyDollers. Our gang all had settled in a cozy corner.

Sai was late, Ino was in the bathroom (most likely touching up makeup for the guy at the counter), and Naruto and Sakura stood in line waiting to order for us. Sasuke and I sat at the table across from each other.

Alone.

Again.

Now, you must know that our silences are never completely awkward, but they do get a little uncomfortable from time to time. This was just happened to be one of those times. By now I considered him as my best guy friend, Sakura being my best girl friend. Even so, large spans of silence usually coated even our best conversations.

Thankfully, Naruto and Sakura returned with all five drinks. Well, half thankful, half not. It might've been the fact that they snuggled up close together, and that they seemed really, truly happy...

Fourty minutes later, Sai still hadn't shown and we all talked about the upcoming break. Sakura made me promise to try ice skating; and sleigh rides; and a planned snowball fight. Hey! I couldn't say no to her. She was just so happy and bent upon keeping our group together even though she and Naruto were dating.

By the time I'd reached the dregs of my hot chocolate, I was on the verge of tears.

"Hey, guys. I'm going to go get some fresh air, anyone care to join me?" Sasuke offered, shooting a pointed look at me.

"I w-will." I consented.

Everyone else passed; Sakura perhaps in the mind of not wanting to interrupt our "moment". As if. I had no feelings for him. But even as the thought fluttered through my mind, I contradicted it's every standing point. Now that the foundation of everything I knew of my feelings had been demolished, I could barely register any other way to feel but numb.

Outside, I walked over to the railing that overlooked a small outdoor shopping center and leaned against it. I was weary of all the events of the last few days. The tears were threatening to spill and my heart was aching as if I were to die then and there.

After a few minutes of fighting for control, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay to cry you know." Sasuke whispered.

That had been the final straw and the dam burst. I barely remember leaning into his shirt and sobbing. The rush of emotions clouded my memories and thoughts. A faint fragrance of tomatoes and a hand stroking my thick hair faintly dance through but nothing else is apparent.

When the tears had finally subsided, we stayed outside a while longer to give my blotchy face a chance to recover and his shirt to dry out. I sniffled.

"Thank you." I sunk further into my jacket. "I feel much better now."

I sneezed.

"Well, s-sort of." I smiled wryly up at him.

"Sure, no problem." He grinned.

And I mean, an actual grin, none of that smirky stuff and all, but an actual grin. That caught me way off guard.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Mostly."

With my reply, he led the way back in. Ino, Sakura, and Naruto were all in the same place as when we left them, with cups drained to the minimum.

"Well. You sure took your time." Ino prodded.

Naruto gave his famous Cheshire cat grin and Sakura stifled a giggle. Sai had finally arrived and was sipping thoughtfully on his drink.

"Ah..." I started to try to explain but then an employee interrupted.

"Is one of you Hinata?" She chewed her gum rudely and popped a bubble.

"That's me." I squeaked and she thrust a package into my arms.

"Here, a guy left this for you. Said you weren't to hear anything about him." She explained monotonously.

With her mission now complete she spun on her heel and left our company.

"Ooo. Secret Santa?" Ino questioned arching an eyebrow.

"Let's find out." I shrugged.

"What Secret Santa?" Naruto inquired loudly.

"Ugg Naruto! You're so out of the loop!" Sakura complained loudly.

She pulled him aside and began a heated explanation as I carefully peeled back the colored paper.

I had told everyone else about the guy, in some way or another, and no one had voiced any ideas of who it may be. It was actually a good thing. Secrets were better unsolved until the exact point in which it can be. Besides, if I had known, I may not have believed it.

As I pulled back the tissue paper, I caught sight of a deep purple rose.

"Wow! How beautiful!" Cried Ino, awestruck.

I inhaled its fragrance deeply. And then looking down again, I found a purple envelope. The same scent of lilac wafted my way as I opened it.

Out tumbled a glossy purple rose charm which I assumed was for the bracelet on my arm.

"How romantic, a charm for the chain. And look how detailed it is!" Sakura squealed.

"I don't see what the big deal is." Naruto whined as Sasuke shook his head in response.

"Let me know when you figure out the female mind." Sai said.

"What does the letter say?" Ino prodded after shooting the boys a dirty look.

I peered into the envelope and unfolded the lilac stationary.

'Today may have been hard,

And almost broke your heart,

Perhaps this rose will cheer you up,

And the cheerfulness with start.'

"It's r-really short. Just about h-how he h-hopes this ch-cheers me up."

"And did it?" Sai questioned.

"Y-Yea, I g-guess it did." I clasped on the charm and smiled.

Whoever this was knew the right time to send a girl a cheer-up gift. The 2nd day of Christmas had brought me smiles from a charm.

The charm of an admirer.


Wolfchick101: Just rereading this made me realize that I'm terrible at cheesy romantic stuff. I just keep thinking "What? I wrote that? You must be joking!" Haha I hope I get better at it :p As in answer to some reviews:

XpurplegurlX - Thank you so much for sticking with me haha. I hope you enjoy this version :3

ByakuganHyuuga360 - I hope these meet your standards. ^^ I have a hard time writing this sort of stuff which is funny cause it's the only stuff I write haha xD

Alrighty, see you next time! Hope you enjoyed it, please let me know what you thought. I also really respect constructive criticism. Goodnight.