Title: Dance in Our Heads

Theme: #2 – The Cruelest Month

Character: Uzumaki Naruto

Series: Naruto

Rating: Teen, for language

Notes: This is without a doubt, the sappiest thing I've ever written. Enjoy!

"N-naruto-kun?"

Naruto started as a small voice broke the silence. He turned towards the source and found Hinata standing some ten feet away, hugging her coat close to her.

"Oh, hi Hinata!" He beamed at her and motioned her to sit down on the bench next to him. He pulled his hand into his sleeve and used the end to wipe some of the building snow off the wood so she could sit. Hinata was a weird girl, but she was alright. She had never looked at him as coldly as everyone else had done before they'd gotten to know him, and he wouldn't mind having her as company for a while.

Hinata moved forward timidly, and sat on the bench as far from Naruto as she could get. She pulled her coat close to her again and looked down at her lap, avoiding Naruto's eyes completely. She could feel his eyes on her though, and a blush spread across her face, which Naruto thankfully failed to notice. Any color he might have seen on her pale face he would have given up to the cold. He DID notice that despite the soft flurry of snow, she kept her hood down. Her dark purple hair was speckled white. It reminded him of sugared plums or something, which he heard once had to do a lot with the Christmas season. It was fitting.

"What are you doing out here so late, Hinata?" He asked, shaking his arm so the sleeve would fall back.

"I-i… couldn't sleep." She said so quietly he had to lean in a little to hear her. She noticed and blushed deeper, though her voice got stronger as she went on. "I decided to go… for a walk." She looked up quickly, but Naruto had turned away and was looking up at the sky as he listened.

"Ahh, in the snow and all? Wow, you must have really felt cooped up if you needed to get out that bad!" He laughed and looked down at her. She flushed even deeper, though she forced herself to keep eye contact with him.

"Yes, I guess so." Hinata couldn't help it as the corners of her mouth turned up in a small smile. She had always liked his laugh. "Er, Naruto-kun… what are you doing out here? I-I mean… it's midnight, and you're just sitting out h-here, alone…"

He grinned at her for a moment, before suddenly shaking his head back and forth violently to disperse the snow that was building in his hair and freezing his scalp. Hinata quite nearly fell off the bench as she leaned away from him in surprise. Naruto looked back at her and laughed as his temporarily shaken vision showed him double Hinata's with double expressions of shock.

"I'm just out to enjoy the scenery." He finally replied, turning to look down the street ahead of him. It took her a moment to realize what he was talking about, but she followed his gaze and understood what he meant.

Konoha was pretty on its own, but a Konoha covered in a blanket of new, untouched snow was beautiful. Everything sparkled in the dim light cast by the street lamps, which were draped in crystal powder themselves. Every home looked like a small frosted cake, set side by side. It was brilliant.

Naruto looked back at her, expecting to see an expression of appreciation but instead he saw sadness on his friend's face. "What's wrong?"

"O-oh, nothing." She quickly replied, turning her head down to stare into her lap again. "It's very pretty."

"You don't like it." He said bluntly, a little saddened himself, though he wasn't sure why.

"N-no, I do!" Hinata looked up at the tone in his voice, hoping she hadn't upset him. "It's just… this month is so cruel."

"December?" Naruto blinked, confused. "What do you mean, cruel?"

Hinata lowered her eyes to the bench for a moment, before meeting his own again. She said in a whisper so quiet it was almost inaudible, "Everything dies."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What, you mean flowers and stuff? Well, yea… I mean, they have to die, don't they? So new ones can grow in the Spring. It's not that sad!"

"Not… not plants." She sighed and looked away, unable to keep eye contact as she realized where the conversation was leading. Naruto drew his legs up and onto the bench and crossed them Indian style, so that he sat facing Hinata. He had no idea what she was talking about but he felt it would be interesting. He tried not to smile as he was reminded of sugarplums.

"The holidays are sad." Hinata continued, now twiddling her fingers in her lap out of nervousness. "People… people who have families to celebrate with, they're happy enough." She held her breathe for a moment. Naruto had sat up straighter when she had said those words. "But for the people who don't… and the people whose lives aren't happy… the holidays can make everything seem worse. It can make them… not want to live anymore."

Hinata was a weird girl, Naruto knew, but he'd never expected her to say things like this. Especially to him, whom the issue of family hit so close to home with. He felt like he should be angry with her to talk about that kind of thing, since she had no idea what it was like to have no family, although the father she had wasn't exactly what one would call fatherly… Instead he focused his gaze on her face, half of which as hidden by obscure shadows in the dim light, and remained silent.

Hinata waited a moment to see if he would give any sort of response, but after a full minute of quiet, she began again. "I-I know not everyone likes the holidays… because it reminds them of how bad they have it. And t-they could think of… giving in to thoughts and ideas, and… e-end up… hurting themselves." She ended, unable to say that despite Naruto's constantly happy demeanor, a part of her had always worried that he was hiding his grief, and that one day he would just let it all go.

Naruto stared at her for a moment, taking in everything she had said. He turned his face away to give the ground a scrutinizing look. Hinata held her breathe and turned her eyes up to steal a glance at him, but couldn't look away as he sat there with such a look of concentration on his face. She started as his head whipped up suddenly and his gaze bore into hers.

"Hinata." He said sternfully, putting his hands on his knees and leaning forward. She leaned back as he did so. His expression oddly reminded her of the one Kurenai wore when Hinata put herself down. "Promise me you're not thinking of killing yourself."

Hinata blinked. "What do you… oh!" She grasped the collar of her coat and shook her head violently. "No, that's not what I mean! Er, I'm not… I just think it's sad. I'd never… really."

Naruto studied her face for a moment, tilting his head sideways and raising an eyebrow with his lips pursed together. The look on his face was so funny that the dark haired girl had to stifle a laugh, but Naruto caught it and grinned.

"Ahh, well if that's all, that's fine!" He laughed and moved forward, swung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her in for a sideways hug. Hinata felt that if anymore blood rushed to her face her brain would soon be deprived of oxygen. "But you've gotta think some happier thoughts! And don't worry, if you can't I'll always be around to give you a laugh!"

The shy girl giggled at that, and Naruto grinned even wider, leaving his arm over her shoulder and relaxing back onto the bench. He looked down at Hinata, her pale eyes staring out towards the street again.

"It really is beautiful." She said, as all her dark thoughts seemed to recede into nothing.

"Yeah…" The blonde said quietly, watching silver eyes lower under dark strands of sugarplum. "It really is."