Howling Love

Chapter 25 xx Blizzard

There had never been a blizzard in Konoha before. Ever. School at the academy was canceled, the annual Winter's Eve festivities were put on hold, some missions were called off and the lower-ranked shinobi reigned in for safety. The entire village was covered in five feet of powder, a height that was steadily increasing as the storm continued to blow through. People were advised to stay indoors, and so they did.

Naruto and Kakashi came back a few days after the start of the storm, checking in briefly before hurrying to their appropriate dwellings. Sasuke, now over his cold and his spine moving right along in the process of healing, was living at his old apartment. He spent his days in the old place, arranging what little belongings he had as he liked, brushing up on some ninjutsu scrolls Kakashi had been kind enough to lend him, and of course his favorite; sleeping. The Uchiha was much like a feline in that way, for he completely loathed the cold and would more often be found under a blanket with a hot coffee rather than outside braving the harsh conditions.

His blond teammate came over to visit him once or twice, and besides a short tussle that commenced after a cheap-shot word was played in another epic game of Scrabble, they managed to keep it pretty friendly. This was quite the accomplishment in itself, although they purposefully avoided getting themselves into any more intense games (including snow-ball fights) due to the fact that they both knew how badly it might get.

The dark-haired prodigy was very much like a caged bird. He was unable to go outside due to his dislike of the cold, he wasn't supposed to be training at all because of his back, and the only thing, or person, that made him remotely feel better was away. She was the only reason he had let himself be dragged back to this god-forsaken village, and without her presence by his side, he was starting to second guess himself.

Yet, he could never bring himself to desert her. He wanted her too much, and just the thought of seeing her cry sent ripples of anger coursing through his spine. He was going to protect her this time, that much he knew for certain. Although she had the physical power to crush mountains with a sweep of her fist, he still felt that she was a fragile creature, as if made of glass that might shatter at any instant if left unguarded.

It pained him that Sakura was still gone, now a full day past their scheduled arrival time. Although Tsunade had told him that the pinkette and her team had checked in via messaging hawk saying that they were safe and just waiting out the storm in a shelter, Sasuke still felt that something was amiss, although he couldn't quite place what exactly was.

So for now, all he could do was wait.

"Sakura-sama, my hands are cold..." whispered one of her genin girls, holding up an ungloved hand to expose the slightly-blue flesh of her fingers. The four-manned team sat huddled together, trying to keep warm around a tiny fire. They'd found shelter in a small mountain cave, still a good mile from the the peak and another three from the bottom. Sakura was in charge of the three genin's safety, but she was stuck between leaving them behind for a day to retrieve the needed herbs from the summit or just staying with them to ensure safety. The two boys and girl were young but had a lot of spunk and she had a certain amount of faith in their abilities. Yet leaving the three of them to survive on their own for any length of time was a risk that she was uncertain about taking.

"That's the beginning of frostbite, Chiro-san, you need to keep your hands over the fire, try to create some some friction...." said the rosette urgently, taking the young girls hands in her own as she channeled her healing chakra through the cold flesh. Immediately the blue faded to a healthy pink, and the girl's eyes widened in surprise.

"Arigatou, Sakura-sama..." she murmured. The two boys, Kira and Iruk, shifted restlessly, shivering against Sakura's shoulder.

"How long are we going to stay here..?" asked one of them tentatively. Sakura glanced down at his face, frowning as she made a move to stand.

"Not much longer. I'm going to go retrieve the supplies myself, I think. You three need to stay here, alright? If I'm not back in under twelve hours, I'm depending on you guys to call for help and get out of here safely. Be careful, you three."

The kunoichi bid them a short wave before turning towards the exit and hurrying off into the snow.

If you've never been in a blizzard, the logistics are pretty straight forward; a lot of intense snow, biting cold, and driving winds. Having to fight through snow drifts that are as tall as you are burns more energy than you can even begin to understand until you've tried it, and it is not uncommon for travelers to meet their ends on such attempts at trying to battle it through. To top it off as well, visibility during snow storms is terrible, so taking a single step can bring you face to face with an unseen cliff-face or crevice.

Generally, the only smart way to fight with a blizzard is in the warm and comfort of your home, preferably with a hot cocoa in one hand and some soup in the other as well as a blanket around your shoulders and a fire roaring in your fireplace.

Sakura found herself desperately wishing for one of those simple pleasures. As warm as her fur-rimmed cloak and snow boats were, she might as well have been wearing nothing with how hard the wind was blowing. The thick path that traversed alongside the mountain's face was piling high with powdered snow, but by concentrating chakra along the bottoms of her feet she was able to walk along it's top without sinking down, which made the trek a lot more manageable, though still troublesome.

It did allow her, however, to let her mind drift. Thoughts that she hadn't had the time to contemplate weaseled their way into her conscious, and all at once she found herself overwhelmed.

Relationships had never really been her thing, and she knew that. She had this way of repelling all male entities, and she couldn't keep them hooked for the life of her. She'd had plenty of boys in her life, but the minute she had started falling even remotely in love... Wham-o, they'd turn tails and run in the opposite direction. Every rejection, every trampled heart.... It was all one-sided, she had never felt that she had the right to complain or be upset about the failed attempts at love, so she'd always kept her feelings bent up inside in a trapped turmoil. It was exhausting and frustrating and horrible, but it was one of those things that seemed to happen so often that she was almost used to it.

Her line of work didn't help much either. Sickeningly long hours and coming home every other day without the energy to even stand had a nasty habit of screwing with any date or hanging out plans, and thus she never really made any. She'd learned to accept it long ago.

So this was all new territory for the rosette. Was it sad, falling truly in love for the first time, at eighteen? She found her heart fluttering in sudden embarrassment.... Her first kiss, her first real everything... was with Sasuke?

Everything about him wreaked off polished experience... He was so perfect. He didn't made errors; no mistakes, no slip-ups, no nothing. The way he held her, the way his hands would roam across the contours of her body in just the perfect way... That gentle yet passionate way he would kiss her, that playful glint that would sometimes flash through his onyx hues. His smiles, his smell, his face, his body.

It was like something completely out of her league. He was too good for her, too perfect.... She didn't deserve someone like that. She would have gladly settled for average, and he was so far beyond that that she couldn't even begin to explain it.

Sasuke-kun.

Sakura found herself wondering what he must be up to, safe and at home in Konoha. She didn't remember him ever being a big fan of the cold, so he was probably curled up inside somewhere with a coffee. Perhaps he was reading - he always had the most adorably-annoyed expression on his face whenever he was reading. Or maybe was with Naruto... The two of them seemed to be getting along better now, and she'd even seen them break a smile or two; a rare sight indeed.

If everything went according to plan, she'd see him tomorrow.

The kunoichi sighed, trudging wearily through the snow in heavy footsteps. She squinted through the driving snow-fall as she saw the outline of a large stone archway coming up a ways down the path, and she hurried forward, the prospect of her journey being over giving her a sudden boost of adrenalin. She passed beneath it and rounded a sharp corner, and was met with the sight of a small stone building.

Its walls were made completely of granite stones hastily cemented together, and it had a pair of steel sheets for a roof. Its door was a single slab of granite set on several hinges, kept shut by a heavy, iron lock.

Sakura fumbled with a key she had connected to a belt at her hip, slipped it into the lock, and pushed through, closing the door swiftly behind her to shut out the cold. She then turned to face the room, sighing with relief as it's deliciously warm air swept over her.

It was a greenhouse, kept warm and lit by a carefully-crafted genjutsu in the ceiling that portrayed the sky of a sunny, blue-skied day. The small building housed a variety of plants and herbs that required higher elevations to thrive, including the particular one that Sakura had been sent to fetch.

The kunoichi moved swiftly through the rows of greenery and kneeled before a plant on one of the ends, carefully checking its label to make sure it was the correct sample. She then took out a small pouch she had in her medic kit and began plucking the leaves of the plant and stuffing them inside, careful not to touch the stalk or flowers. When she finished, she quickly returned the filled pouch to her bag and returned the pouch to her kit.

She let out a relieve sigh before standing when a flicker of movement to her right caught her eye. She turned quickly, only to cry out in pain as something hard swiftly jabbed her in the pressure point at the base of her skull. She fell to the stone floor with a deafening thud, her consciousness blinking out before she even had the chance to react.

A/N: HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Here is my gift to you. Just kidding. I actually have a really good gift for you all you guys that I've had planned for a while and am just waiting for Christmas to unwrap. WANNA KNOW WHAT IS IT? Of course you do, and if you don't, you should. :] It's an - drumroll - ADORABLE CHRISTMAS FIC! I'm going to upload it on Christmas morning, so you guys should all check it out once it's up. Yupppp.

So as far as this fic is going, I do apologize for the slowness. I am, however, on my Christmas break, and thus might get some juicy updates in before I have to go back to real life. So be on the lookout! I love you guys!

Please REVIEW! THANKS!

-xxIndigo