Winter
Ride
By Alden Hawke
The snow.
It fell
quickly and silently, covering all. The light powder, deadly if deep enough,
had roused the happiness of many. It lay, a centimeter thick, and in most
places hardened by the number of people who'd walked upon it. It caused many to
shiver.
Snow
was uncommon in Kohona no Kuni....
Children
ran through the streets, screaming and playing. Adults begun to shop dangerously
in the Christmas rush... It was October, and it was snowing. That did nothing,
nothing at all, to raise the spirits of a young kunoichi.
Ino...
~~~
Ino
stood at the counter of her family's flower shop, muttering a string of almost
silent curses, towards the wind, the snow, the ice... The rare times it did
snow, Ino was miserable... bundled up, and glaring
out the windows. Maybe it wasn't the fact that flowers don't last long in
the snow, but Ino, that kept the customers away... Ino and her moody ways...
Ino
stooped to grab a plant, and put it on the shelf. A potted tulip that had
survived the autumn, due to Konoha's good weather. Now it might die, and she
was worried for the little plant. She felt that the winter would kill it,
and was more depressed than ever.
Movement
caught her eye, tugging her attention from the small yellow tulip. What was
that...?
Her
trolley, for moving the plants around was gone! And she lived on a hill! She
raced out the door, frantically searching the street, and caught sight of
its end. Then she ran after it, screaming bloody murder.
Of
course, this was a commercial area, and although people were shopping, playing
etc. all over Konoha, Ino thought that it was pretty annoying when the one
street she needed people to be on was empty...
As she
ran, screaming and cursing down the street, she noticed a different incline
her the plane of the ground. Basically, the hill had started. Looking around
quickly for something to speed her up, she snapped her fingers, and exclaimed,
"Aha!", for there was a perfectly large, metal sign perfect for
the job!
Grabbing
it and sitting on it, she shot down the hill like a smallish cork from a shaken
bottle of wine. She stuggled to catch
up, but it was no use... She hurried fasted, pusshin and pulling...
~~~
Naruto.
Naruto
had woken up REALLY late in the afternoon (almost evening) with a rather large
headache, had shuffled to the bathroom, and had showered thoroughly. Afterwards,
he'd shovelled down some ramen, and headed out into the winter wonderland
of his home village.
In
his lifetime, it had only snowed four times before. Four times in twelve winters
wasn't that often, so he was always glad when it did. So, he decided to go
celebrate it with Iruka-sensei.
They'd
always share a kettle of hot chocolate, then Naruto and he would talk. About
anything, really, between kunai and zebras...
So
he packed himself into a too small coat and worn gloves, pulled on his shoes
and headed out, unaware of the speeding sign just on his way..
~~~
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Ino was screaming ‑ the thrill, the fear, the exhilaration all bunched
up and flew from her mouth, and she smiled. Nobody seemed to be wanting to
walk on the hill today, not with nice, flat Konoha centre. Which was lucky
for Ino, because she may of hit a little kid or something...
Then
she realised that an unforeseen green
shape was blocking her path, and she almost screamed in fear... "MOOOOOOOVE!"
she yelled....
~~~
Naruto
shuffled along in his unsightly green coat, smiling in anticipation of nice,
warm hot chocolate.
"MOOOOOOOVE!"
Ino's
voice came from everywhere, and Naruto turned his head only to be hit by the
speeding girl and sign. Landing on it with her, she panicked. "Naruto,
are you okay? I didn't mean..."
"Yeah,
yeah, I'm fine, Ino... This looks fun. Aren't you too boring to do something
like this... You trying to abduct Sasuke?" he asked, smiling.
"No,
Naruto..." she sighed at his stupidity. Where was Sasuke-kun, anyways?
"I'm trying to get my trolley back, it's rolling down the hill..."
"Ummm,
Ino... I think we're in trouble..." Naruto scratched his he3ad, looking
nervous
"I
KNOW, but I have to catch it‑"
"No,
Ino, the hill ends here and both us and your trolley are going to get smashed
on the trees!!" Naruto said.
"Oooohh!"
Ino wrapped her arms around him in fright, scrunching him to her for comfort
and closing her eyes... (Afterwards, she would always note that it was EXTREME,
LIFE-THREATENED fear that caused her to do such a STRANGE and INSANE thing)
"We're
gonna die..." she whispered...
Naruto
looked determined. "I'll save us! Kage Bunshin!" he made two other
Naruto clones and sent them off. One raced beside them and pushed over the
trolley, making it come to a complete stop.
The
other jumped in front of them just as they were flying off, and hit them in
midair.
POOF!
The
clone disappeared, the two shinobi fell onto the hill and rolled together
(as Ino was still clinging onto him), and the sign flew on, cutting through
the tree and causing much of it to fall, right over where they were rolling.
As they stopped, Naruto watched as the tree came closer, and closer to crushing
them...
It
stopped. It seemed the two had landed in a groove, and tht's also why they'd
stopped rolling. Without that groove, they'd have hit the tree head on, probably
broken a bone or two, then have a heavy limb fall on them. They were very
lucky.
"Ino....
You can stop clinging now..." he said. Ino's eyes shot open...
~~~
"Ino....
You can stop clinging now..."
Ino
was scared, but she didn't know she was THAT scared... she could see herself
clinging to Sasuke-kun maybe, or Shikamaru... NEVER that loser, Naruto...
How had
he kept them from being crushed? She looked up. It had been a VERY close call.
What exactly had happened? As Ino pondered this, Naruto looked around.
"I
think we can crawl out..." the groove wasn't that big, and their noses
were a bit squished, but it wouldn't be hard to crawl out, he decided.
"Okay..."
she said, and they proceeded to turn. Then turn back. This way, they would
eventually make it out, pushing a bit each time. Finally, they were almost
out. When they realised that the groove got smaller.
"Ino,
you go first... I'll wait..." he said. Wasn't that how it went? Girls
first?
Ino
was sort of shocked. She didn't know Naruto had those kind of manners. It
was touching, really, when even people like Sasuke-kun didn't bother with
them.
It
hadn't been dark when she left, but it was dimming now. The crawling had been
painstakingly slow, and it had taken, somehow, ten minutes. Ino was confused.
Was the tree THAT WIDE?
Little
did she know that at the same rate they were crawling, it was rolling... the
same way they were. They'd actually made no progress at all. Good thing she
didn't know, because even though she was thoroughly wet and miserable, she
wasn't that annoyed, just thankful to be alive...
When
she finally reached the end of the groove, she made a face. "Naruto,
it goes underground..."
"Ino,
just go,... I'm right behind you... It's probably just one of Konohamaru's
tunnels..." Naruto muttered.
Ino
wasn't that glad about going underground, but it beat being stuch in a snowy
space under a tree. So she crawled in, abnd so did Naruto, and the tree wandered
off down the hill.
Ino
suddenly found the hole getting gradually bigger, until she could crawl on
her knees, then her feet, then even crouch! Finally, it ended in a small room
where she could stand, with a little open air window and a door. It was warmer
than outside, and it was nice, in a weird way...
Ino
sat down, rummaging through a pile of stuff while Naruto looked out the window.
After a few minutes, he called, "Ino, it's the sunset!"
Ino
made her way over to the boy and the window, and leaned up against the windowsill
of the small, underground cave and said, "Wow, a sunset..." in her
most sarcastic voice.
"Come
on, Ino, it's pretty!" he said, "And it's just starting!"
Ino siged,
and looked up. The sun's final salute before the day's end was almost as glorious
as at the symphony of colour that the
beginning of a new day brought. Crimson and purple clouds bathed in light,
as the sun slowly slipped away.
"Naruto,"
she said, turning her head towards him, "Thanks... for helping me..."
"Don't
worry about it, Ino..." Naruto was secretly pleased. Ino was far too
selfish to be thankful for most things. She really only said it when she really
meant it... which made it all the more meaningful.
"We
should head back, come on..." she motioned for him to come...
And
they left that little cave, and went home, But neither ever forgot the ride
of their lives, and the start of their friendship.
.:Oshimai:.
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