Roses {Kakashi Hatake}

24. Snowy days

Seasons had passed when the village was covered in a coat of white. Taking their well deserved time off, Akahana was staying with Kakashi for the time being.

"Kakashi-chan, let's go outside," Akahana stated, "I want to enjoy the weather."

"But it's cold and--"

Before he could say anything else, Akahana had already dragged him towards the small hall and had taken both their winter coats. "We don't have all day, sloth," she said with a giggle.

"I'm not a sloth," Kakashi simply mused before reluctantly putting on his coat. "If anything, you are."

Knowing there was absolutely nothing he could do against it, Kakashi let himself be dragged all the way outside by his girlfriend.

"Look at it, isn't it beautiful?" Akahana stated happily, gesturing towards the coat of white that covered the entirety of Konoha.

Kakashi shivered, "and cold."

Trying to warm himself, he diverted his gaze from the girl, allowing himself to be an easy target unintentionally. He was caught off guard when he was hit by a snowball.

He turned around, only to be hit with a snowball again. Akahana stood right in front of him, smirking mischievously. "If you don't like it, you should do something about it." 

At first, it seemed as though he wasn't going to join her in her 'childish' games until he caught her by surprise when hitting her with an even bigger snowball. He smirked. "You had it coming, you know better than to challenge me." 

"If it's a fight you're after, prepare to lose." 

They continued to throw snowballs at the other, getting closer and closer until they both started to feel a bit worn out from all the running, dodging and throwing. They fell down in the snow together, ignoring the cold. They smiled at each other and remained in place for a long period of time, not caring whether someone would see of them or if laying down in the snow was good for one's health.

"What do you hate so much about winter, Kakashi?" Akahana asked, looking at him with big eyes. She didn't understand how anyone could hate the festive season, the only reason she could come up with to advocate that statement was that it was cold. However, that would not suffice for her. 

"What do you love about winter so much? It's cold and people often get sick."

She chuckled and shook her head. "Why do you always have to be so pessimistic? I mean, sure, it's cold and I agree that it is the season for the flu. But you're not thinking about all the positive things winter and the snow have to offer. Snowball fights are fun and we could make snow angels. Besides, don't you think it looks amazing? Everything is white and it shows us some sort of hope that life will find a way, despite the thick layer of cold surrounding it."

Kakashi looked at her in silence. He wasn't expecting her to go this deep, to be honest. He had thought she would come up with a reason regarding food or drinks. Not some hidden message of the snow and the cold. 

When she noticed his staring, she giggled. "Didn't see that coming? I have to admit, having an excuse to drink loads of hot cocoa and eat delicious food at a feast are on my list of reasons to love the festive season. Have you ever been to one of the indoor markets?"

When Kakashi admitted he had never even heard of those markets before, he was dragged along soon by the girl, running through the streets towards a big building at the east border of the village. They stood in front of some sort of warehouse, decorated with colourful banners and posters to promote fancy stuff and food.

"Let's go, Kakashi-chan, I'll show you what you've been missing out on for your entire nineteen years of existence." 

Inside, the atmosphere was even more welcoming than on the outside. It was even more colourful with its lighting and decorations. There were many stalls with all sorts of stuff. By the look of it, many of the merchants who were selling their merchandise must have come from foreign countries, considering certain materials could only be found in a certain country. One of those were special gems which a jeweller used for a beautiful necklace. 

"As you can see, people from all around the world come here. Not only is their stuff great and of high quality, they also make for interesting conversation partners." 

Kakashi couldn't help but smile upon seeing the big smile on Akahana's face. She was having the time of her life and he could understand why. At the same time, he recognised a hint of nostalgia. He guessed her parents were the first to bring her to this place and coming back here brought back memories. "So, what do you want to do here?"

She poked him in the side. "How about... you choose. I've been to this place before and I'd like to see what you want to do with your unbiased opinion of this place."

"What do you recommend."

"What do you think looks good?"

They ended up wandering the big hall in search of something Kakashi found interesting enough to take a closer look at. When they walked past a little stall with a merchant from Suna standing behind it with self-made silver charms, Kakashi stopped to examine one of his wares. It was a beautiful charm with a blooming cactus.

"I see you brought along your friend," the merchant stated, looking at Akahana, "It seems to me he's interested in buying something. Thank you for the increase in income."

Kakashi bought the charm and immediately gestured her to hold out her arm. "Think of this as an early anniversary present," he said, "The moment I saw this one, I immediately thought of you."

The heat rose to her cheeks as she smiled with closed eyes. "That would have to be the cheesiest, yet most romantic thing you have ever said to me." 

"You're not even going to consider the time I bought you that fancy dinner?" 

She smiled. "All right, I have to admit that was a good one. But I was talking about the things you said, not what you did. Why do you think this charm is similar to me as a person?" 

"At first, I thought of your love for flowers," Kakashi admitted, "I know, pretty lame but it will get better. Then I thought about what you said earlier, about plants surviving the winter, just like humans do during hard times. Cactuses--"

"Cacti." 

"All right, cacti survive these extreme weather conditions, as do you. You survived all this crazy stuff that not everyone would survive." 

She scoffed. "Well, they are succulents. They can store a lot of water and survive for a long time with all of that." 

He chuckled as the two of them walked towards a nearby food stall. "What have I done?" he joked, "I have started a conversation, well, a one-sided rant, about plants." 

"How about you pick the food then?" she offered, "You can go anywhere you'd like. You could go to Ame, Suna, or Kiri. It's your choice."

Kakashi took her arm and walked towards a stall which sold ramen. "How about we go back to our first date?"

"The one in which you took me to a blind tasting of different curries?"

Kakashi nodded. Of course it wasn't going to be a blind tasting this time around, that would be plain unoriginal. This time, they would sit beside each other on a particular bench.

It was obvious that he was in deep thought. "Kakashi, how cheesy is this dinner going to be?"

"Trust me, you're going to be impressed."

She chuckled and allowed Kakashi to drag her along to get some food and head to a good place to eat it. She would allow him to surprise her.

The bench was pretty much abandoned when they arrived in the park. Many probably thought it was way too cold to head outside, let alone to have a elaborate, romantic dinner.

"Kakashi, I..." Akahana murmured when they enter the scene and she realised where exactly they were. "It's perfect!" She hugged him, careful not to let him drop the food.

"Well, I figured it needed to be special for our anniversary."

--

Guess what, I'm not dead!

I've just been really busy with school and I've been working on my original story.

I hope you like it :)

-x Crartistic