When Winter Ends || Modern Naruto Love Story

o4

Naruto sat impatiently in his stuffy classroom, his attention away from the tapping board and the agenda neatly written for students. Propping his elbow on his desk, his mind was found elsewhere as he stared out the white opening from his window.

Looking down at the courtyard, the blond scanned his eyes across the field, no luck in finding a particular head strolling in the blanket of snow. He sighed.

Not here today, huh?

His blue eyes went back to the front of the room, and located the chair where Mayumi sat yesterday, not too far away from him, where it remained cold and dusty. He shook his head.

It was obvious. She doesn't want to be here since yesterday happened. It all makes sense why she doesn't want to show up.

Naruto felt a tap behind him. "Hey... That girl isn't here again," it was Sakura's voice, whispering to his ear while staring at the chair in front of them.

He nodded. "Yeah..."

"Any clue why?" Momentarily, his azure eyes fell once the pinkette reminded him about his little rescue, but his gaze kept a strong hold, trying to assure the teacher he's paying attention.

"Not sure." And he's sure he's not lying.

--

It was after school again, out in the white street covered in snow, Naruto found himself standing by the traffic light waiting for the signal to turn red. Cars passed by the area as other pedestrians waited with him to see the sign turn green.

While he tapped his foot impatiently by the pavement, he sighed tiredly by the annoying silence surrounding him, all but car noises. Then he turned his head all of a sudden.

His sapphire orbs found the exact same spot where Mayumi was standing yesterday, imagining her calm and concentrated on the street. He would've guessed she must've been contemplating to run through the streets if he had noticed her sooner. But his mind told him that he expected her to be there again; unfortunately it wasn't a surprise she's not.

But he sees himself, replaying over again, jumping her way and pushing her off the street just like how he did. Supposedly he should feel accomplished for saving her life.

Pressing his brows together, Naruto groaned. Why do I get the feeling that it wasn't my place to do so?

He placed his hands behind his head, aimlessly following the crowd across the street as he made his way towards a walkway, and then directed himself towards another corner. Recalling from this morning's odd dream, the park will truly ease his mind.

"Might as well," he grinned to himself.

--

Once Naruto found himself in a miniature playground surrounded by a pool of white snow, the lack of children brought a breezy silence to the place. It was quite strange, thinking back to his fortunate dream he had; it looked nothing like this. A few young children were running, playing in the snow with the rest of the remaining ones. This made Naruto wish he can go back to the time when he was youthful as them.

Striding pass the monkey bars, something caught his attention by the sound of snow dropping from a far. He turned his head only to see a small headed girl dangling her legs off the swing set. In which case, he smiled abruptly and mindlessly crept behind her unknowingly.

"Hey there!" Mayumi shrieked by the second Naruto's voice roared in the air, causing her to jump in her swing set and yelp. She glanced behind her only to see the grinning blond, chuckling to himself playfully as he took a seat on the next swing beside hers.

"I-It's you..!" She muttered lowly. He continued to laugh under his breath, noticing her panicked tone.

"Sorry about that. I got a little too excited," as he says this, Mayumi eased her tense expression to a calm one, examining the blond boy beside as if he was deranged.

Before she can comprehend anything, Naruto already beat her to it by speaking what he wants to say first. "Listen. I know we had a bad start from yesterday, you know, from that incident. I just want to let you know, no hard feelings," he explained cautiously but her oceanic pools still gazed on him. "This might sound weird, but I think I understand your side of the story for running through the streets like that. Although, I don't understand why you yelled at me at the end."

Mayumi didn't say anything, instead she kept on staring at him as he talked. Therefore, Naruto took the opportunity to add a little more, crossing his arms in a reluctant way. "Well, I'll just let you pass on that one. You don't need to explain yourself if you don't want to. I'm not your dad or anything." And then he paused again, this time, signaling for her to respond to him. But still, Mayumi stayed quiet as if she's dazed by Naruto's image. He eyed her suspiciously.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Her eyes blinked, realizing her quietness for the past two minutes of gawking at him.

Naruto watched her reaction as her shoulders slump again, her eyes disconnecting with his and averts to her lap. "Uh... No, I do talk."

His blond brow rose at the sound of her voice. Remembering yesterday, her voice now sounds gentler and smoother than her frightened one.

He found this as a good sign, smiling to himself, but Mayumi pondered his delighted self.

As he rocked himself, Naruto began to swing in his seat, still grinning. "Alright. It doesn't seem like you're mad at me anymore," he hinted. The blunette stuttered, but then caught on to his sentence by looking down in embarrassment. She guessed her scolding was a bit much from yesterday.

But just out of the blue, once the silence was getting a little too comfortable, Mayumi broke it. "Why are you talking to me?" Naruto stopped pushing himself on the rubber seat as his eyes looked puzzled by her sudden question.

"What do you mean?" He asked curiously, but he stopped himself from asking any more when he saw her head still hanging. But she didn't say anything else to respond to him. Other than that, he caught her face look conflicted and alone. The air around her is dubious.

"Well," he paused as an image of her standing outside of the school building came across his mind. "You seem pretty cool. Why wouldn't I want to talk to you?" He added another of his signature smiles, tending to lift the heavy atmosphere she was sending. But her moment of thinking made him realize what he just said as he mentally hits himself.

What on earth am I saying? Trying to be smooth with her...

After few minutes of sitting with each other's companies, an immediate shiver ran through Mayumi's spine which made her shudder impetuously. Naruto stared at her intently, feeling bewildered by her action.

"Woah, are you cold?" He asked concernly. Mayumi, who fixated her beige shawl and hugged herself, shook her head slightly.

"No.. I'm okay," she answered genuinely. Definitely, the blond didn't take that kindly as he shook his own head.

"You're cold, Mayumi," he told her, now standing from his seat. "Come on! I know a place where we'll both stay warm. You'll love it!" Mayumi peered at his excited face once he glimpsed down at her. "And I hope you're hungry, too," he snickered.

By his clouded amusement, curiosity gotten the best of her yet her unsure expression didn't mirror his happy-go-lucky facial. But Naruto assured that she won't regret coming along with him by pulling her up enthusiastically and led themselves out of the park and back to town.