1

He was meditating in his room when the doorbell rang. He had been up early that morning, feeling that something in the air had changed. The radio had warned that the recent heat wave had died down, that not only would autumn re-assert itself with a vengeance, but also, and more importantly, so would winter.

Around twelve it had started to snow outside his balcony window. Sasuke had sat down, feeling a great emptiness within him, watching the flakes spiral down. At this rate, the great brown world out there would be swept clean with the snow. He wanted to look forward to it, to this winter, to the sledding, and the holidays, and the feeling of relief when it all came to an end, and the trees began to blossom again. But he couldn't, and he hadn't been able to since the fight in the castle. He couldn't see ahead at all, couldn't sense any sort of future for him. All he could feel was a great, horrid stillness, and his friends, and Naruto, moving away from him, towards their individual destinies. They could move with time, but for him...

It was like he had died then, back in that castle, like he had died and the world had just kept going. Where had this come from, this great emptiness?

I have to get over this, he told himself; or I'm going to hurt Naruto. I'm going to turn to him and expect him to fix this, and when he can't I will leave him for someone else, for anyone, anything, who I think can. When it gets worse enough...

The doorbell shook him out of his revery. Going down the stairs, feeling how great and lonely his house was, he wrenched open the door, hating the solitude.

It was Hinata. She blinked up at him, looking unhappy. "I'm sorry," she said, "and I know you must think I'm insane, but I've had a vision."

"A vision?"

Already snow was collecting on the ground, on her hair, on the shoulders of her ratty jacket. She nodded vigorously. "Naruto is in trouble. We all are."

He invited her inside and went into his kitchen, setting about making coffee. "Is it Orochimaru? Or Itachi?" He wished he felt more emotion at this news, but he felt only the great numbness. He yanked open a drawer and picked out some cigarettes, fished in his pocket for a lighter.

"No, I--" She sat down on one of his kitchen chairs, looking small and diminished in the pale light coming in from the windows. "It's something else. Something coming in with the snow. I just-- This will be a bad winter if we're not careful."

"It's been a bad fall, too."

"I just thought you'd be the only one who'd listen."

At night, he thought; at night I feel a great invisible hand pressing down against my stomach, squeezing everything out of me. When I wake up, my world is in sepia, and every morning I think, I am dead. I died, but no one has noticed yet. That's why I don't seem to have a future.

He smirked. "Naruto's always in trouble."

Again, Hinata said, "We all are."

Outside, as they both watched, the light snow fall thickened, and then became a blizzard.

2

"Jesus Christ!" Iruka shouted, throwing his mitts on and rushing out into the snow. "When did this happen?"

The blond boy in the frame of the front door gazed out at the snow in surprise. "So much for shoveling the front drive, huh?"

"This is nuts. You can barely... you can barely see the houses on the other side of the street!"

Iruka stomped back into the house, brushing past Naruto. He walked in, slugged off his jacket and hung it on one of the flimsy wooden chairs around the kitchen table. He yanked off his hat and tossed it next to it. Naruto picked up both articles of clothing and went to the closet to hang them up.

Iruka paused to watch him closely. Cheerfully he said, "School might be canceled tomorrow."

"Might be." Naruto finished hanging up Iruka's coat, and sort of stood there for a moment, looking out the window at the snowfall.

Iruka tried again: "We could maybe go shopping tomorrow, if the snow calms down a bit, get you a jacket other than your bright orange one. It makes you look like you're going deer hunting." He smiled hopefully.

"Could, yeah."

"Still feeling mopey?"

"Huh?" Naruto looked up at him. For a moment he looked dazed, and then shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I just thought I saw something out there."

Iruka went over to the sink, realizing that for the second day in a row the ghost of Orochimaru hadn't shown up to bother them. The old house, ancient as it was, felt almost less cozy without him. Still, Iruka felt both relieved and anxious: he still felt like the ghost would pop out at him every time he turned the corner.

"There!" Naruto cried, pulling on his bright orange coat and his boots.

"Naruto?"

"I'll be back later, all right?" And then, with a flash of orange and blonde hair, Naruto was out the door, out into the storming whiteness.

Iruka passed over to the window and watched Naruto's form blur into the snow, watched him charge across the front lawn to the road and meet... who was that? It looked like a boy, also swathed in winter clothes. Crazy idiots, he thought; going out in weather like this.

The snow was whipping past Naruto's face, and he reached to pull up his scarf around his cheeks, hiding his broad grin. "Hey, didn't think you'd make it," he said.

"Told you I'm the reliable type," Haku replied.

3

The blizzard was the quickest, fastest storm the town had ever had. Authorities were scrambling to close roads and get removal vehicles out onto the streets. The snow was sweeping past the coffee shop windows so hard that Shikamaru could barely make out the flashing red and blue lights of emergency vehicles rushing by.

"Does this place usually get weather like this?" he asked Ino.

Ino sat in the booth opposite him, her hands tightly wrapped around her coffee mug, her eyes fixed squarely on him. "No," she said.

"Don't you think this is bizarre?" he said softly. He watched two people come into the coffee shop, looking almost drowned with snow. They looked around the shop wildly, faces bright red.

The windows began to rattle from the wind.

"Maybe I should take you home," he said.

"I don't want you to do that," Ino replied.

We shouldn't be here, Shikamaru thought; we should be in some bustling, cosmopolitan city. We should be dressed in the latest fashions. We should be living in an alternate universe, where a relationship can be agreeably possible for both of us. Out loud, he said, "I hate this."

Something like amusement flashed in Ino's eyes. Smirking, she said, "Then go. Leave."

"You want me to?"

The sound of a vehicle. He turned to look, but it was only another emergency vehicle, lights flashing by in the snow.

She cocked her head, watching him carefully. Pursing her lips, she leaned forwards and said, "In a few minutes, the guys are going to show up, just like you told them to. And they're going to tell you where they saw Naruto, and then you're going to run off to capture him."

Shikamaru didn't say anything. He picked up the sugar dispenser, shook it a little.

"Jesus, Shikamaru," Ino said. "You've never been so quiet before."

"You're right."

"So. Say something."

"What can I say? You want me to quit Atkatsuki and I don't know how I feel about that."

"You shouldn't feel anything about it. It doesn't matter what I want. You don't have to quit Atkatsuki if you don't want to."

"But--"

"But what?"

He stared at her, and again realized he didn't know what to say. He didn't even know how he felt about her. This wasn't a movie, where people blurted out that they loved each other left and right. He had strong feelings about her, yes, but enough for him to give up fighting the good fight? And yet, this, here, in this coffee shop, with her across from him...

It was selfish, though, selfish to think about carving a life just for himself. Not with the sort of shit going on overseas. Something had to be done about that, and if it wasn't him, who would it be?

"How are the idiots, anyways?" Ino asked. "Are they still all weird from being trapped in that alternate dimension?"

She felt like a character in a play, like her dialogue with Shikamaru had been setting up a cue. The door opened behind her, with a jingle, and in came Deidara, Jugo, and Sasori, covered in snow.

"Speak of the devil," Shikamaru said.

Ino shut her eyes tightly, then twisted in her seat, looking at them. "Hey douchebags, what's up?

Shikamaru sipped his coffee. "You're here to tell me you know where Naruto is, right?"

"What?" Jugo said. "No. In this weather? You know what you're made of, Shikamaru? You're made of nonsense."

"Your mother's made of nonsense. You guys had one job. Where's Killman McPunchface?"

"That cartoonish caricature of a human being? I don't know." Jugo settled in next to Ino, tossing his wet gloves on top of the table, and generally being repulsive.

Deidara and Sasori looked at the booth, realizing there wasn't enough room for both of them, and not knowing how to resolve the problem.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Shikamaru asked. "When was the last time you saw him?"

Jugo made a show of remembering, eyes rolling up into his head. "Dunno, man. I think it was when me, Deidara and Sasori were running at an angle heading away from a cop car, and McPunchface was getting thrown against the hood by a cop."

"So he got arrested?"

Jugo shrugged. "He took a swing at a cop."

Ino smirked again. "This is the organization you're working with, Shikamaru."

"I don't need your input," Shikamaru said. To Jugo: "So if you don't know where Naruto is, why are you here?"

"Jesus Christ, man," Jugo replied. "Have you seen the weather outside?"

"Well, I'm going to the bathroom," Ino said, getting up. "Enjoy yourselves, assholes."

When she'd vanished into the washrooms at the back of the coffee shop, Jugo leaned forwards to Shikamaru and said, "Listen up, fuckface, and listen good, 'cause you're not going to like the news I have. Are you listening?"

"I'm listening."

"Got a call from Miss Tsunade today. Don't protest; I know you think she only phones you and none of us."

With Ino's seat free, Deidara and Sasori slipped in next to them.

Shikamaru blinked, processing the information. "What did she say?"

"Now, listen, I'm warning you ahead of time so you can brace yourself. Have you braced yourself?"

"Just give it to me, you fucker."

"Remember how you're always telling me how Atkasuki doesn't murder innocent people?"

"I tell you that all the time. I wish I didn't need to tell you that all the time, but there you go."

"Well, it looks like we're making an exception this time."

"What kind of exception?"

"Well, we're murdering someone."

"I don't believe you."

"We're murdering the Naruto kid."

A grin spread across Jugo's face. A second later, Shikamaru stood away from the table near the counter at the head of the shop, hearing his cell phone dial away. Another second later, Miss Tsunade picked up.

"Mhm," she said, before he had time to say anything, "I take it Jugo has informed you of the change to our mission parameters."

"It's quite a change."

"I bet it sounded like a huge change."

"I don't like it, boss."

Her voice was smooth, diplomatic. "Those shadow creatures you mentioned; remember how they were always trying to kill our good boy Naruto?"

"Yes. They were trying to kill us too, as I recall. Because they were evil. Because killing people is evil."

"They were trying to kill him because that's how you release the power, Shikamaru. Snuff the boy, save the world. I leave it in your hands, darling."

And with that, she hung up. He stood there, silent, and didn't move or respond even when the girl at the counter asked him if he wanted anything, didn't move even when he heard Ino come out of the washroom and head back to the table.

This isn't a set back, he thought; people kill for revolutions all the time. Hell, most revolutions involve killing. Half the job of being a king is getting murdered by the next people in line. But those are kings, and this is just some jerk-off teenager.

I can do this, he told himself, but he knew he was lying.

He knew that Miss Tsunade knew him better than he knew himself. He knew what was happening when he heard Jugo's cell phone ring, knew what was happening when he heard Jugo speak in low tones into the phone, knew what was happening when he heard Jugo stand up.

Jugo looked long and hard across the coffee shop at him. "Shikamaru?"

Slowly, Shikamaru turned to look at him, tense and ready. "Jugo," he said. "You can't beat me."

Jugo laughed at that. "Of course I can, Shikamaru."

Ino realized what was happening too late; Jugo spun and kicked her in the stomach as hard as he could. Shikamaru watched her limp body fly into the other tables and chairs.

Oh no, he thought.

4

It was colder than they'd thought, and soon Haku and Naruto were huddling against a large tree for warmth and shelter. Haku had taken him out into the woods to go tromping around a pretty area of the forest, a place Haku knew because it appealed to his sharp sense of aesthetics. Haku sketched pictures methodically and obsessively, and it frequently seemed to Naruto like Haku should have been a photographer, given his need to capture life perfectly within an image. Right now, though, Naruto was becoming uncomfortably aware of how close Haku was to him.

"I'm sorry about this," Haku said, rubbing his hands together and looking out at the storm around him. "Goodness, hear that wind. I bet it's knocking telephone posts down. Almost dangerous to be out."

"It's all right."

"Just thought it'd be fun tromping around in a blizzard, that's all."

Naruto laughed. "I'm serious, Haku, it's all right. If I hadn't wanted to-- listen, if I hadn't wanted to go tromping around in a goddamn crazy psycho storm with you, I wouldn't have. I would have stayed at home, wrapped up in a blanket."

"God, that sounds pretty good right now, doesn't it?"

Clothes are problematic, Naruto thought; I wonder if a world where everyone was naked would be a less awkward one. Clothing makes you think about what is under clothing, and when you're close to someone with clothing, and they're attractive, it makes your stomach feel sick, and your heart go beat beat beat.

If he was thinking about Sasuke, it was about the mopy bad boyfriend locked away in his big house, but he wasn't thinking about Sasuke. He wasn't thinking about much, really, except how cold he was getting, and how Haku's proximity was suddenly giving him butterflies when it never had before.

"No, this was great," Naruto said. "Listen, no, Haku, listen to me. I've had-- listen, I've had an insane couple of weeks lately, and I have to say, hanging with you lately reminds me how nice it is just to... just to have a normal time sometimes, you know?"

Haku watched him with something approaching amusement and affection. There was too much energy in holding his gaze, so Naruto broke off, looking away. But there wasn't much to look out out there either; just wind and snow.

"I know what you mean," he heard Haku say. "Trust me, I know what you mean."

My heart is pounding so much, Naruto thought; I feel like I'm going to throw up. No boy has ever made me feel like this. Sasuke never made me feel uneasy or uncomfortable; kissing Sasuke had felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Haku was gazing out at the snow with his piercing gaze, the obsessive, ruminating gaze that crippled him as an artist, making him take months to produce a single sketch. There was no joy of creating in Haku's art, no sense of creative energy. His drawings were so mechanical, so devoid of life, that it broke Naruto's heart to look at them. But he was fun to be around, and he wasn't as intense as Sasuke.

And right now, Naruto was looking at Haku's dark eyes, at his sharp nose, at his small, almost feminine mouth. And he felt like throwing up from the way his stomach was twisting inwards on itself.

Haku saw him looking, saw something like reluctance pass through his expression, then he leaned forwards and pressed himself against Naruto, feeling warm. His lips felt cold on Naruto's neck.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.

Haku kissed him hard on the mouth, pressing Naruto back against the tree. Haku grabbed Naruto's forehead and twisted his head up, so that he saw the tree branches, and started kissing his neck, and down, kissing his collar bone. Naruto let all his breath out at once, and gasped, suddenly hard as a rock. He pictured sucking Haku off, and gasped again. "Oh Jesus," he said.

Haku snickered, shoving him back against the tree again, kissing him hard.

Haku asked, "Is this okay?"

Breathily, Naruto answered, "I don't know," and kissed Haku, forcing him down into the snow.

In the back of Haku's head, the dark powers stirred and said, Kill him. Kill him now!

Not yet, Haku said to them. Maybe soon though.