Winter Ride

Disclaimer: I dun own Naruto, etc... so dont worry about it. Besides, I dun have money, and I'm too young for jail! I hope....

One-shot

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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 then 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 planre 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, anre 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 ay 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 head, 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 that'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. Thidss 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 Narutohad 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 fgroove, 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 nruto 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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You like? Another one shot that I wrote a while ago...

edit: Proofread.