Puppy Love

The young ninja ran through the snow, tripping up on a stone and falling, laughing, onto a mound of snow. There was a shriek behind her as two other girls tumbled after her. A bark, and a large white dog bounded over to them, jumping up onto the first girl, followed swiftly by a tall brown haired boy, and a shorter blonde boy. They both shouted at the girls, who quickly got back up and ran again.
Hinata's usually pale cheeks were flushed with the cold as she ran, Sakura and Ino just behind her.
"I can't see Shikamaru anywhere! It's not fair, they've split up and…" Ino stopped talking suddenly.
She couldn't move.
"Byakugan!" Shouted Hinata, activating her bloodline limit. Shikamaru was crouching not far away, using his shadow bind jutsu on Ino.
It wasn't long before Akamaru was barking and Kiba and Naruto had caught up with them. They came menacingly forwards, each holding a snowball. Sakura and Hinata looked at each other.
"Sorry Ino!" they shouted as they ran opposite ways to avoid the icy missiles.
"Sakura! You…you billboard head!!" Ino screeched as the snowballs hit her.

Hinata ran as fast as she could, with her Byakugan still activated she could see Kiba was chasing after her, with Akamaru his ever-faithful dog.
Out of breath, she decided to give up, and stopped running, leaning against a tree. Kiba caught up with her quickly, leaning over and panting next to her.
"You sure run fast, Hinata-chan!" he gasped, trying to fill his lungs with as much air as possible.
He felt something hard and icy bang against the side of his head, and a loud giggle. Hinata had already begun running when he looked up.
"Right, now it's serious! You'll pay for that!" he yelled after her.

Sakura, meanwhile, had run in the direction of the village. She figured she would be safe amongst the other villagers. Turning to look over her shoulder, she could see Naruto gaining on her fast. Damn! she thought to herself, at this rate he'll catch me before I get there…
She thought maybe it was best to give up, maybe try to out-do him with her feminine charms…?
He caught up with her, holding the snowball aloft.
"Say, Naruto…Would you like me to treat you to some Ichiraku ramen? And then we could go back to yours…"
Naruto raised an eyebrow, then threw the snowball anyway.

*

The snow had been a welcome surprise to the teenage ninja of Konoha. Those not on missions gladly ran around in it, chasing each other and having snowball fights en masse.
Hyuuga Neji looked at his cousin with great distaste. Much as he loved her, he couldn't understand her reasoning behind frolicking in the snow with that Inuzuka troublemaker. It had been a month since she had come clean to him about her relationship with Kiba, and it had taken a lot of threats about he and Tenten to make him not tell her father. He sighed as he saw the two chuunin kiss at the end of the road, before Kiba and Akamaru headed off home, and Hinata came to join him. I suppose you can't help who you fall for… he thought to himself, remembering last night with Tenten with a smile.
Hinata linked arms with her older cousin, smiling at him widely.
true, Hinata has definitely become more confident since seeing that Inuzuka. Even her stutter's gone…
"What are you thinking, Neji-niisan?"
"I'm thinking we have to get you home and changed before you catch cold." He replied.

*

The Kazekage stood looking out over his village. He enjoyed watching the sunset each evening, if he had the chance.
A soft cough behind him.
"Temari. How nice of you to join me." He spoke, turning to look at his sister.
The blonde ninja smirked at him.
"Gaara, it's hardly a social call. But nice to see you anyway… I need to speak with you about something. It's quite important."
"Can it wait until the sun has set?" he asked, turning back to the red-orange glowing orb.
"No, Gaara, it cannot…"
The siblings turned away from the sun, leaving the balcony and going into the building behind them.

*

Tsunade sat at her desk, head bowed. She addressed the ANBU in front of her.
"You know what this means. I want you to find him."
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
They turned to leave.
"And if you must…Kill him." She added, turning to look out of the window at the messenger hawk that had just come from Suna, and the Kazekage.

*

Naruto snuggled up to Sakura on his sofa. The TV was blaring out stupid cartoons that weren't very interesting. But he didn't care. Sakura was here with him. He had to mentally pinch himself again to make sure he wasn't dreaming. The past few months had been interesting. He had been so worried about telling Hinata. He hadn't wanted to hurt her, but he couldn't be with her. Not when he felt this way for Sakura. It wouldn't have been right. But imagine his shock when he discovered that she was fine about it. In fact, she was glad he was happy with Sakura, because she herself had fallen for Kiba. And what's more, Kiba seemed good for her. She had really come out of herself recently, and Naruto was glad they could be friends.
Sakura leant on Naruto, her pink hair tickling his face. He sneezed, pushing her away.
"What! You don't want my hugs?" She seemed genuinely hurt.
"Of course I do Sakura-chan!" he yelped, quickly kissing her.
She smiled.
"Good."
And they settled down to watch more TV.

*

The solitary figure limped slowly towards the gates. He sat in his usual spot, smiling to himself. No-one had even batted an eyelid yet, as he sat there. People had come and gone, including ninja, and no-one had noticed him. Too comfortable, he thought, so naïve. How long would he have to wait? Until he saw him…

"Naruto…" a smile on cold lips.