Neither of them were the type to get nervous over little things, but then again the feelings they had for each other weren't exactly 'little' and because of their feelings it caused a kind of rift between them; neither of them knowing for certain about just how much the other liked them.

They didn't want to go into this half-heartedly; they cared about each other too much to cheapen things by prolonging it though. That's where the problem came from, and why it caused them to spend time apart. Jack occupied his time by spreading the snow and fun, while Kushina spent it inside and warm, both their thoughts always returning to the same thing.

Was it time to try? The admittance was the first step, a kiss was the next.

Jack smirked as he skated around the ground in the snowball fight he initiated between Jamie and his friends, only this time they could see him and this made him a target too. He was caught off guard when he caught sight of Kushina standing on the sidelines and he was pelted with snowballs. He laughed and held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, you guys win." He said before he turned his attention over to Kushina and though he could guess what she wanted to communicate with him, he thought since they were spending their time together that he should introduce Jamie and the other children to her to mend the rift.

He didn't like seeing her so sad when he played with the kids and she couldn't be seen by anyone like he had been. Being ignored for so long really hadn't been fun.

Jack held up a finger to simulate he'd talk to her in a minute while looked back down at the kids and smiled at them. "Jamie, can you look over there and tell me what you see?"

Jamie looked confused but did as he was asked. "Uh, I don't see anything. What's over there?"

Jack's smile faded before he brightened up and jumped onto his staff before he tilted his head playfully. "You really can't see her?" he asked trying to sound surprised. He could see by the interest in the faces of the children that he caught their attention by his choice of words by the way they were glancing over at the side where Kushina was. "She's always with me though."

"What's she look like?" Cupcake asked curiously.

Jack's smile widened. "She's tall, has really long red hair-"

"Like Rapunzel?" Pippa asked suddenly.

Jack paused and nodded absently. "Yeah, her hair goes down to her knees, she's pale as me; and my personal favorite would be her smile." His tone turned dreamy and none of the kids missed it.

Hearing the fondness in his voice, Jaime tried really hard to believe in what Jack was saying; that there was someone standing on the sides that could bring out that type of tone in Jack. He squinted as before his eyes a form started to appear; she looked just like Jack said she did. "I see her!" he said excitedly and Jack grinned.

The other children looked more closely at the sidelines and soon more exclamations followed as their belief in the presence of the woman strengthened and soon enough they were all staring at the tall redheaded lady. Jack jumped down from his staff and glided over to Kushina and held out his hand to her. She raised a brow before she smiled tentatively back and he could guess she was wondering about what he was doing.

This hadn't been the longest time they'd spent apart, but even then the need for companionship still held strong in both of them. Jack used the staff to gesture grandly at Kushina, who was looked surprised herself to see all the children looking up at her, not through her, but at her. "Kids, this is Kushina."

Glancing at the two holding hands, Jamie's smile was friendly as it seemed the woman really did mean something to Jack and he held out his hand to her. "Hi."

Kushina smiled at the boy as she shook his hand with her free one, but she didn't say anything as she didn't know what was being said, but looked at Jack meaningfully to convey this.

The young man blinked and conked the staff on his head as he realized what was left out. "Right, uh, Kushina here doesn't understand English…very well."

"Then how can you two talk?" Pippa asked confused.

Jack smiled sheepishly. "We don't actually talk; we've both just gotten good at showing each other what we want. I'll admit it's tricky, and the only bit of language I could understand was her name and even that was difficult to learn at first."

Kushina knelt down before she scooped up a handful of snow and gently threw it up into the air and caught it before she tossed it at Jack and it got him in the chest, but he grinned at her and picked up a handful of snow himself.

"Snowball fight!"


When the impromptu second snowball fight was over, Jack and Kushina waved goodbye to the kids before they walked back to the shelter they were staying in when they were in this particular town. Kushina had a strong feeling that Jack like this place and didn't mind their trips coming back here. She glanced down at their joined hands and Kushina bit her lip for a moment as she thought about to go about this.

Jack blinked and gazed at Kushina as she tugged him back as they entered the warehouse and his expression was questioning. She let go of his hand briefly before she took the staff away and placed it against the wall and held both of his hands in hers as she stared into his eyes, having seen this sometimes in the televisions she had seen passing by people's houses.

Jack stared back into her eyes and he realized what this reminded him of and he couldn't stop the chuckle from slipping out. He stopped abruptly as the hurt and anger flashed in Kushina's eyes and she moved to turn away. He quickly placed one hand on the redhead's cheek to turn her face back and quickly mimed how the gesture was sappy but how Kushina was great.

This appeared to mollify Kushina as she placed one of her own hands on Jack's cheek as well. Things started to fall into place and the time seemed right, so Kushina started to lean in, Jack's eyes widening as she got closer and closer and his face had a bluish tint to his cheeks before the woman pressed her lips to his.

Jack brought his other hand up to wrap around Kushina's waist and Kushina's other arm slid around his shoulder as they pulled themselves closer to each other as their kiss deepened and only pulled back when they thought it must have gotten the point across and they were both blushing. Even though the sappy gesture before was rebuked, Kushina once more tried her hand at being romantic with leaning her forehead on Jack's and intertwined the hands on their faces and slowly Kushina smiled at Jack, who smiled back at her.

Time seemed to stand still as they just basked in the fact they hadn't scared the other off with this new development.