8 years old

Naruto and Hinata had pushed their chair as close to the shop window as possible. Their gazes occasionally lifted at the graying sky, with swinging feet and crayons in their hands, they waited for the first snowfall of this winter. The weather forecast had predicted snowfall for today and even though the chances to see it happening were slipping with every minute the sky turned darker, the pair was still hopeful.

He listened to Hinata humming tunes that were unfamiliar to him as she colored the petals of the flower she was drawing with a purple crayon. Sometimes her elbow would hit him lightly in the side and she would always mumble a "sorry" before she continued and he would do the same when he accidentally hit her with his foot. They were presumably growing too big to continuously sit in their chair together but neither of them accepted the defeat yet instead both continued to squeeze their bodies next to each other between the cushions.

Naruto's parents were up and about in the kitchen. Sometimes his mother's head would appear in the doorframe to check on the children and ask them what they were doing or whether they were hungry before she scurried away again. During the busy holidays, Minato and Kushina would have to spend most of their time in the cake shop.

The children had offered their help but after a while, there was nothing much more they could do with their small bodies, which weren't tall enough to see above the counter, and their lack of skill.

24 years old

Naruto adjusted the box in his hand before he shut the door to his godfather's former beat up car, which Jiraiya had handed down to him before buying himself a brand new one.

He checked the inside again from the windows to see whether he had forgotten anything, then he turned away and crossed the street to the apartment building he would live in from today on.

The wind blew in his neck and the fingers froze around the box so he walked a little quicker. When he saw a woman in front of the doors to the building he stopped. She was biting the nail of her thumb and her eyes were shifting from the doorbell nameplate to her phone in the other hand. Naruto contemplated how to call out to her.

"Hinata."

She didn't greet him when she turned her head, just gaped at him in surprise instead even when Naruto carefully lifted one hand to wave at her.

"You are early," he remarked and Hinata started to frown.

"Weren't we supposed to meet at 10?" She glanced at her phone again. She had missed her bus on purpose and the one after that too so that she arrived later than the time they had agreed on because she didn't want to risk to be alone with Naruto in his apartment.

"No, at 11." A beat passed. Despite the situation and Hinata's obvious nervousness, Naruto was glad to see her. The awkwardness still remained whenever they locked eyes and when they had to search for the right words to say but he was pleased that she was here.

"So, no one's here yet?" Hinata inspected her surroundings as if one of her friends could jump out of the leafless bushes.

"No, you're the first." Naruto moved to open the door to the building and stood there in the doorway for a while observing her. He adjusted the box again, which was starting to get heavy, and held open the door with his back.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked. When Hinata faced him she questioned herself whether God or destiny or whoever was in charge of her life had a pleasure in teasing her. Whether she had brought this on herself the moment she had decided to prevent this exact thing from happening.

"Or do you want to wait in the cold instead?" There was a teasing tone in his voice and an amused twitching of the corner of his mouth. It reminded her of when they were 14 and he thought that it was funny how nervous she got at her first day officially working at the bakery and eventually having to face customers.

"I'm coming." She slipped passed him through the door and waited for him to follow her inside without turning her head.

No matter how awkward she had felt with him since he had come back, none of it could compare to what was happening between them when the doors to the elevator closed to get them to the 12th floor. Never had her breathing seemed so loud, never had someone else breathing seemed so loud. Somewhere along the 7th floor, Naruto started tapping with his foot and she could feel it underneath her shoes. She was careful not to accidentally touch him when the doors opened again and they stepped out.

Hinata trailed Naruto to the door that had the number 42 on it. Again balancing the box in one arm, he pulled a key chain out of his front pocket and opened the door. At this instant, Hinata realized how intimate this moment was and how much more intimate this would be once they were inside together with no people or even furniture to distract themselves with.

When they stepped over the threshold and Hinata moved to take off her shoes, Naruto hurried off somewhere to get slippers and wordlessly put them in front of her feet.

Her gaze followed him about the room as he inspected the few boxes and a suitcase he had collected in one corner of the spacious room. She was still standing by the entrance when he rushed to the open kitchen on the left where he rummaged through a plastic bag on the counter.

"Do you want something to drink?" He asked, without looking at her. "I bought some bottles of water and soda but then I realized that I don't have any glasses until the movers arrive. So..." Naruto pulled out a package of juice boxes and removed one. "This will have to suffice." He smiled when he walked over to hand the juice to her and she smirked too. It was orange flavored.

Naruto started mumbling to himself that he could have just gotten plastic cups instead and Hinata didn't know what to do with that. It went silent. He startled her when he suddenly grabbed the coat that was draped over her arm.

"I can take this, you can look around if you want." He walked off again. "Even though there isn't really much to look at."

Hinata slowly moved to the opposite side of the room, which was illuminated by a panorama window that presented a stunning view of the whole city. Thick, gray clouds hung above the buildings, some of which she tried to identify and match to streets she knew until they faded away along the horizon. How different everything seemed when you were beholding it from above.

"The view is amazing."

"It is, isn't it?" Naruto stepped next to her, sipping out of a juice box of his own. "It's one of the reasons I chose this apartment."

A moment passed where both silently drank their juice and watched the winter scenery of leafless trees and rushing cars before them. Then he pointed at something in the distance. "You can even see our school from here." He watched Hinata track the direction of his finger.

"That's right," she murmured as she wondered whether she could see his apartment from the teachers' lounge or her classroom and chose to find out next Monday.

Hinata glanced at Naruto but averted again when she caught him watching her. Her gaze fell to the boxes by her feet and she saw a patissier uniform folded neatly in one of them. She remembered how Naruto used to try on his father's uniform and the scowl he carried whenever he realized how it was still too loose around his shoulders. She wanted to see him wear it.

Even though she didn't want to pry in his private things, her gaze roamed over the rest of the boxes when Naruto left her side to get something from the kitchen. Hinata found a frame with a picture of Naruto and his parents right on the top of one. She kneed down and retracted it from the box, reflecting on how peculiar it felt to see a picture of smiling people that were no more.

When she was about to put it back she saw the hair clips she had given Naruto when they were little.

"You still have these?" She wasn't even sure whether Naruto was in her local vicinity to hear her. She was just surprised to see them again. Some of the plastic had peeled off at certain places and one of the claws was broken off. Because Naruto tended to keep them in the kitchen he thought it had been burned in the fire but she didn't say that out loud.

"Of course I do." Hinata turned her head to him and tried to read the expression on his face. It felt as though he wanted to add something but he just stared at her. And as she stared back at him, again realizing how his appearance had changed over the years -his hair, his shoulders, his height-, standing in his own empty apartment, it hit her how long ago it all was. How they were adults now. How everything she knew about him was a memory, like the hair clip in her hand.

Naruto noted the shift in the way her eyes met his as if a shadow had been cast over them. He wanted to ask her what she was thinking but she turned away to put the token of their past back and began sipping on the straw for her juice as she straightened her back.

The phone in his pocket rang and it was like a starting signal for him to breathe again. It was Shikamaru, who was standing outside the building and inquiring which apartment he should ring as Naruto hadn't put up his name on the nameplate outside yet.

"It's apartment 42, wait I'm gonna let you in." He rushed to the intercom and pushed the button for the front door. He remained by the entrance, Hinata on the other end of the room, and fiddled with the package of slippers he had bought yesterday until Shikamaru was standing in front of him.

Shikamaru greeted Naruto with half a smile and was about to take off his shoes when he noticed Hinata glued to the spot by the windows. She had contemplated whether to come to the door to greet him but picturing herself standing beside Naruto welcoming their friend into this apartment embarrassed her. Now that she watched Shikamaru's eyes shifting between Naruto and herself, furrowing his brows at how they tried to persuade him that this wasn't awkward at all, she wished she had greeted him by the door like a normal person.

Shikamaru cleared his throat, which added another layer of uncomfortableness to this situation.

"So Hinata, you're already here?"

"I thought we were meeting at 10."

Shikamaru produced an "Ah" sound, which formed her understand that he didn't believe her.

"I really did mistake the time," she added a little anxiously, which made Shikamaru peer at her as if she was talking complete gibberish.

"Okay?" he retorted after a while with a questioning glance back at Naruto, who didn't want to be part of this exchange at all. An unsettling silence followed and Naruto wished that Kiba or Ino had arrived first in Shikamaru's place solely because they both had the talent to improve distressing situations with their talk and distract everyone.

Shikamaru began walking around the apartment when there wasn't much to consider except the general facility and blank walls. He walked into the bedroom on the right side of the entrance, which had unopened boxes with materials to build a bed and a dresser and a mattress leaned against a wall. Naruto explained that it even had a balcony and slid open one of the tall windows to it but quickly closed it again when the chilly air blew against his face.

There was also a small office by the spot where Hinata had been standing and a bathroom next to it, which Shikamaru inspected only shortly from the doorway as the rooms were empty and there was really nothing to see.

Luckily for all three of them, Ino arrived shortly after and it was like she was banishing the sullen mood with a flip of her ponytail and that lilting way she talked. She told everyone that Sakura couldn't make it because she had to take over someone else's shift at the hospital. Ino was soon enthusiastically showing herself around the place as if she could see more than just white walls and empty rooms. She expressed how much she enjoyed moving into new places because it was exciting to decorate everything. Shikamaru couldn't share her sentiment but didn't elaborate as he refrained from possibly making Naruto think that he was unhappy to be here.

Kiba arrived shortly after 11 nearly together with the movers who filled the apartment with furniture and boxes, which Naruto sorted into their corresponding rooms. There was a little struggle with getting the sofa to the 12th floor and through the door but after that was managed as well, the movers saw themselves off and left.

Firstly Shikamaru and Naruto started building the bed and Ino took the liberty to determine where everything had to stand in the living room and navigated Kiba through it all. When he shouted that Naruto should be the one to decide as it was his place, Naruto replied that it didn't really matter to him and if he disliked the arrangement he could just move it around anyway.

In a reaction to that Ino gave Kiba a smug smile and told him and Hinata to push the couch a little more to the left.

After a while, Naruto switched rooms with Kiba when he wanted to install the tv in the living room so that they had some sound in the background during the occasional silence that settled over them not because they didn't have anything to say but because they got so engrossed with the work they were doing.

There was one moment where Hinata watched Naruto from the side of her eye as he lifted his uniform from the box and put the hair clips in its chest pocket before he hung it on the bathroom door and went through the rest of his stuff to sort everything out one by one. He smiled to himself as Ino talked over the cartoon showing on tv and Kiba commanded Shikamaru to hold the board straight and Shikamaru argued why he always had to be the one holding things. He felt content with his life as he listened to their voices because after 8 years of being away he still had people to do this with him.

8 years old

Naruto rolled over on the futon and it made Hinata raise her head from her pillow. He looked up at her but he couldn't see her face. Her bed made noises when she adjusted her sleeping position and Naruto watched the blanket rise and fall again.

Hanabi had quit moving some time ago and was probably already asleep. At first, she had found it fascinating that Naruto was sleeping on the ground between her and her sister and was chatting so loudly that Hiashi had to come inside to shush her two times.

Naruto himself didn't feel like sleeping, it was the first time he was allowed to sleep anywhere else other than a relative's or Jiraiya's house. His parents would have work through the night to make the cakes and pastries for the holidays and Hiashi had offered them to let Naruto sleepover at his house as Jiraiya had caught the flu and their shop was on the same street anyway. Kushina and Minato had gratefully accepted his offer and gifted him a cake when he arrived at the shop earlier to fetch the children.

"Too bad that it didn't snow today," Hinata whispered and Naruto was surprised to hear her speak again.

"Mhm, the weather lady was wrong." He turned to face her even when he couldn't see more than a shadow.

"Maybe because we were too excited about it." Naruto thought about that for a while because he wouldn't want the world to work like that.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe we shouldn't expect it," he said then.

"We should just let it happen." Her voice sounded drowsy and he could hear that she was on the verge of falling asleep.

Naruto thought about what time it was right now, whether it was already past midnight. Then he thought about his parents and what they might be doing at this moment. Whether they were talking or smiling or discussing something or close to finishing their work. He hoped that his father's back wasn't aching from looking down the whole time and that his mother wasn't too tired. And with that thought, he fell asleep.

24 years old

The tv was the only source of light and the room still smelled like the pizza they had delivered to them this afternoon. Naruto's gaze roamed around the room, occasionally halting here and there. Ino was sighing behind him on the couch he was leaning against. She laid outstretched and bounced one of her legs up and down off the cushion, what he could feel in his back.

Hinata, Kiba, and Shikamaru had spread out on the floor, forming some sort of half circle.

"Thanks, guys. Who knows how long I would have taken to do all this on my own," Naruto said.

"No problem," Kiba replied, without even moving or glimpsing at him, as though it actually was no big deal when in reality it was. It was a huge deal. But Naruto didn't say anything more, he was just glad that they were here.

"I saw some pictures of you in Paris when I was sorting through your stuff, you were in France?" Ino took a sip from her soda and laid down again. "I always wanted to go there." Even though she examined the ceiling she knew the others were listening.

"Yeah." Naruto laid down on the ground with the others because his back was hurting from continuously have to bend down when building his dresser. "After graduating I entered a baking contest and somehow won a chance to study abroad. I entered for the experience. Didn't even expect to get third place."

„Wow. that's amazing."

"It was really cool. We traveled through France and Germany. I even stayed longer after I finished the program."

"You can speak French and German then?" Ino asked.

Naruto chuckled. "Not really. I just gestured with my hands a lot."

It was quiet for a while, then Hinata said, "Must have been scary, being alone in a different country without knowing the language." She had imagined herself in that situation and didn't believe that she would have mastered it as well as she trusted Naruto had.

Naruto reminisced for a moment and came to the conclusion that it hadn't felt much different than when he left here. But he didn't say that out loud, not wanting to dampen the mood. "I guess it was at first. But after a while, you get used to everything." He wasn't really talking about his time in Europe anymore but he hoped no one else noticed.

While Ino began quizzing him about France, especially Paris, and Naruto answered as detailed as he could, taking them on a trip to a country far away, Hinata squirmed around and accidentally laid her hand next to Naruto's. They were touching and she could hear him pause in whatever he was describing.

She was oblivious to why she didn't just remove her hand. But Naruto didn't either so she let it be there, touching his skin so lightly that it should barely be sensible. Yet she didn't just barely sense it, the sensation of his hand against hers was so ubiquitous that for a moment it was like there were only him and her.

Hinata remembered every encounter they had since the wedding and wondered whether this was the first time they touched since she had hugged him goodbye and he vanished around the corner of the street in Jiraiya's car.

For some reason, this moment seemed much more intimate than everything else they had done since they had met. This little touch and this closeness felt like something they had never done before. Just this faint brush of the back of their hands.

But then Kiba rose from where he was laying and Shikamaru did too and they retreated their hands and this moment was gone.

Naruto stood up to switch on the lights and Ino stretched her limbs. She marveled at how pretty the view outside was when the city lights showed.

"Hinata, you need a ride?" Kiba asked as he gathered his belongings.

"Yes, Hanabi borrowed my car today." She had already told him that but he nodded. Hinata tried to not meet Naruto's eyes across the room as she quickly grabbed her purse and slipped into her coat.

They said their goodbyes at the door, despite Hinata staring at the ground Naruto happily thanked them again for everything.

"No biggie."

This time Naruto shook his head and said, "It is." And he guessed that Kiba understood what he meant because he smiled at him. He watched and waved at them until the doors to the elevator closed.

Naruto collected the pizza boxes and glasses dotted around the room in the kitchen when he noticed Hinata's phone on the counter. She had left in such a rush to not face him that she had forgotten to take it with her. He laughed faintly at the irony and picked it up. He might still make it to her if he hurried. But that wasn't necessary because when he was in the hallway, the doors to the elevator opened and Hinata was right there.

She was surprised to see him and as she glanced at her phone in his hand she again wondered if some mighty force was controlling her life. If maybe there were some experience she had to make for some reason.

"I forgot my phone," she said when Naruto had already walked up to her to wordlessly hand her the device.

"Thanks."

"Wait." She traced every movement he made with her eyes, how he stepped closer and how he turned the switch to hold the elevator and its doors from moving.

"There is still something I haven't told you," he initiated, the look in his eyes had changed and Hinata could feel her heart pounding hard against her chest.

"You were the first person I came to see when I came back a few months ago. This summer I was thinking of visiting my parents' graves for their death anniversary and when I was finally here your school was the first place I went to. But when I saw you coming out of the building I couldn't come up to you because I wasn't sure whether you even wanted to see me and because I would eventually leave again and that would probably make you sad again. And I didn't want to do that to you. That's where I met Iruka by coincidence and he told me about the wedding."

He looked down for a while and scratched the back of his head and Hinata felt so sorry and regretful for, ever being angry at him about him supposedly not visiting her back then.

"After wandering around the city for a while I thought maybe I could visit the bakery and maybe it wouldn't pain the way it did back then. And when I was actually there it was only painful at the beginning and then it wasn't."

He had been so relieved that time that he began to cry right on the spot he was standing. He didn't want to be sad when he thought of his parents. He wanted his thoughts on them to be filled with happiness and warmth; of moments that made his heart flutter, moments that made him feel at ease. When he thought of them, he wanted his love for them to fulfill him. He wanted remembering them to be something that didn't hurt, something good. And when he had stepped back into the bakery that was what he felt; good.

"That's why I'm reopening it, that's why I'm back." He gave her a second to process that information. "And I wanted you to be the first to know, before everyone else, and tell you when it's just you and me, because that place is special to you too and because you are special to me."

He heard her inhale; she was pressing her hand with the phone against her chest. He was uncertain whether she felt uncomfortable with him telling her things like this. That was the last thing he wanted.

"I'm not asking you out or anything. I just want to hang out and maybe talk or not talk, it doesn't matter." He was shaking his head. "I just want to make sure that when we say goodbye today we'll see each other again."

He silently examined her for a while, his eyes had turned soft and he could feel himself wanting to embrace her but he didn't. She appeared as though she didn't know what to say and he didn't want to force her to give him a response either. So he turned the switch again and pushed the button for the ground floor and stepped back, while she was following his movements again. "Goodbye then."

The elevator doors shut and she was gone. He didn't want her to be gone. He wanted to stop the elevator or bolt down the stairs to outrun her and say hello to her again when the doors opened but he refrained from doing any of that.

While he stood there in the hallway for a few more minutes he wondered how one person could make someone feel like this. How Hinata could still make him feel like this; this yearning to be next to her and this anxiousness when he was actually next to her. How anything he shared with her seemed to matter a lot more than everything else.

Hinata's heart kept pounding hard and Naruto's words still dominated her thoughts when she was laying in bed. She was mumbling things and she couldn't breath when it felt like the blanket was suffocating her. She sat up and checked the time on her phone; 3:12. Her sight was getting unfocused as she opened her contacts and it was like her finger was moving on its own when she saw Naruto's name and she pressed it.

She was sure that he wouldn't pick up. She was unsure if she even wanted him to pick up. But when she held the phone to her ear and every ring was making her heart race a little quicker she thought that talking to him wouldn't be too bad. That after thinking about everything he had said not only today but everything she could remember him ever say, she didn't just wanted to think there thoughts but tell him. And right now she couldn't wait for daylight to do so.

"Hello?" His voice sounded clearer than she had expected.

"Hi, it's me."

"I know." She liked that he didn't remind her what time it was, she knew that very well herself. She liked that he waited for her to speak. And she liked how he said that he knew that it was her.

"Were you awake?"

"Yeah, I'm at the bakery right now, I couldn't sleep so I'm working."

Hinata felt the adrenaline rushing through her. "The bakery? You are there right now?"

"Yes."

"Wait for me, I'm on my way." She jumped up from her bed and was searching for pants to wear.

"What? You're coming-"

"I'll be there in a few minutes." Hinata ended the call without saying anything else. Pulled the next best hoodie over her head and wasn't even aware which jacket she slipped into when she left her bedroom.

Quietly she opened the door to Hanabi's room, where her younger sister slept soundly. Hinata's hand felt every surface in the room in search for her car keys. She rummaged through some of Hanabi's bags and jackets but couldn't find it. When Hanabi resounded in the darkness, Hinata was startled enough to drop one of her purses to the ground.

"What are you doing?" She was rubbing her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you but where are my keys?"

"Your keys?"

"Yes, I need the key to my car."

Hanabi pointed to a pile of clothes by her dresser. And Hinata rushed there and vigorously shook the clothes until she could hear the jangling of the keys.

"Wait, what do you need your keys for?" She had her phone in her hand and the brightness of the screen was blinding her when she wanted to check the time. "It's the middle of the night."

"I have to go somewhere," Hinata answered curtly and walked out of the room in big strides.

"Now?" Hanabi followed her with quick steps. "Where are you going at this time?"

"Shh. Or you'll wake dad." Hinata shortly halted in putting on her boots to make sure he hadn't heard them already.

"Tell me. What's going on?" Hanabi wasn't doing her best in speaking more quietly.

"Nothing. There is just a place I have to be right now. I'm back soon, don't worry." With that, Hinata opened the front door and rushed into the night.

8 years old

"Naruto." A voice was calling him quietly and someone was softly shaking his shoulder. Naruto's eyes tore open and he saw Hinata's face above him when it was still dark and the only thing he could distinguish was the pale color of her eyes.

"What's going on?"

"It's snowing," she said and she was smiling at him. He peered over her head to the window above her bed and saw the snow fall gently against the bleak night.

Naruto stared at it and Hinata was following his gaze to make sure that he saw it. Then she climbed back on her bed and Naruto did too. They moved to the window, slipped under the curtain so that the only thing that was keeping them from the snow was the glass.

He felt a rush of happiness in him when they supported themselves with their elbows on the window sill and leaned in so far that they could see their breaths fogging the glass.

The ground was still pavement and no snow had settled yet but this was the best part; when you could watch how the world gradually turned white.

"It worked," Hinata whispered. The end of the curtain what tickling their feet.

"What do you mean?" The snow fell harder now and both of them didn't look away.

"We stopped expecting it and just let it happen," Hinata said and she looked at him and he looked at her. Between the window and the curtain, it was just them.

Naruto's lips spread into a grin; he thought of snowball fights and snow angels. "You're right. We just let it happen."

24 years old

When he saw Hinata's car turn into the street he was surprised that she was actually here. He had had doubts that he understood her correctly but still waited outside the shop in case she really showed up. And she did.

She turned off the motor of her car, stepped out of the vehicle and walked towards him. Yet he still thought that he was imagining this somehow and he wanted to grasp her hand to know that she was actually here.

The boldness she had felt when she ran out of her house and rushed here in her car faded when she saw him standing there. He shouldn't have waited outside. The tip of his nose was red and he had pulled the hood of his down jacket over his head.

She stopped right in front of him. „Hi." Her breath visible in the air.

"Hi." He saw how her gaze moved from his face to the shop behind him. It was dim but you could see the light from the kitchen and the empty counter. There were chairs stacked up in one corner of the room because the tables hadn't been delivered yet. "Let's go inside."

He wanted to turn around but Hinata grabbed his hand. "Wait."

Her hand was warmer than his. At least now he knew that she was actually here.

"There is something I have to tell you before we go inside." She squeezed his hand and he glimpsed down at how they enclosed each other and squeezed hers back.

"Okay."

Hinata took a deep breath and she clasped him a little tighter. "I don't like amusement parks."

Naruto blinked at her and pushed his hood back. "What?"

"They are loud and crowded and I'm scared of most of the rides. I've never liked them."

He was starting to understand where she was trying to go with this. "But we went there every year."

"Yes, because the first time you asked me to go I didn't care where we were going. And the times after that I just wanted to go there with you, no, I wanted to be the one you chose to go there with."

He nodded and waited for her to continue. And again Hinata liked how he waited for her to speak.

"I didn't come to work early because it was convenient with the bus schedule or because I naturally wake up early in the morning. I did it to watch you work, even when it was just for a few minutes. I liked how you looked when you baked, it made me feel tingly and happy."

The tender gaze in his eyes right now made her breathless and her chest feel heavy and her toes curl and many other things that the eyes of the right person were remarkably able to cause.

"When I saw you at the wedding the feeling was the same. What I felt was the same as 8 years ago. And it was scary, how little my affection for you has lessened. It made no sense to me, how I could still be in love with you after not seeing you for such a long time." He flinched visibly at this part because it was the first time either of them had said it out loud.

"But at home today I thought back to the time when you were gone and how there was nothing I wished for more than you to come back. And now you are back. So, I decided to be happy instead because my wish came true. Because it doesn't have to make sense. It doesn't matter whether it makes sense or not. Hang out and maybe talk or not talk, I would really like to do that. There is nothing I would like to do more."

He was smiling at her, not only with his mouth but also with his eyes.

Being with her like this right now was like the sudden realization you got when you noticed dust particles floating in a shaft of light or when the beauty of a sunset made you pause for a moment or when you glanced up at night and saw the infinite constellations of stars that make you think about the universe; the realization that you were alive, that you existed. Because the person you cherished the most in the world had a manner of seeing you that that made you special to them.
That was what he felt when he looked at her. He felt elated and he couldn't remember ever feeling this feeling before but he wanted to feel like this forever.

He lifted his hand to her face a brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. He knew that his hands were cold but he wanted to touch her face so desperately. Her eyes sparkled and she wore clothes that looked as though she had thrown over the first thing she had seen and it was perfect. It was the way it was supposed to be.

His other hand, which she had ceased squeezing the moment she was done talking, moved to the other side of her face. His thumb stroked her cheek and she fisted his jacket by his waist with both her hands and they stood the closest they had ever stood. Then his hands wandered to her neck and a shiver ran down her spine. Not because it felt cold but incredibly warm. He smiled at her and she smiled back and they kissed.

Because there was not a moment they could pinpoint, because the feeling of affection had grown gradually, it was like they had been in love since the first moment they had seen each other. Since he had seen her pressing her palms against the counter of the bakery since she had seen him holding a plate with a piece of strawberry cake.

But indifferent to when it had originated, they were feeling the greatest magnitude of love right now because for once they just let it happen.

The air was cold and the thickness of their jackets hindered them from getting as close as they wanted to. But this moment still felt like one of those memories that wouldn't become blurry and fade after some time but would still glisten.

Their lips parted, their arms still holding each other. He stroked her hair and she closed her eyes. When she heard him chuckle she opened them again.

"What is it?"

He smiled from his eyes once again. "It's snowing."

Her head whipped up first before she peeked to the side and saw the snow fall like silent stars under the light of the street lanterns. She could feel them melt on her cheek.

"Do you think this is a sign or something?" she asked amused.

She could feel his laugh from the way he was holding her. "Maybe."

He lifted his head against the sky and the snow for a few seconds before turning his eyes on the bakery. "There is something I want to show you, do you still have time?"

She nodded. Time didn't really matter right now.

He captured her hand and led her into the bakery, there was still a bell that rung above the entrance. It was odd being back and the former furniture not being there, without the picture frames on the walls and sweets displayed on the counter. Naruto allowed her to study the place for a while. And it felt like the past and the present were mashing into one.

The kitchen smelled sweet and was warm because Naruto had been baking just a few minutes ago. He said that he had a lot of thoughts today and that baking helped to sort them out. It was something he had said often in the past and it was nice hearing it again.

"Now to what I wanted to show you." He took her hand again and brought her back to the front that was still unlit. He positioned her on a certain point in the room. "Right here."

Then he disappeared to the back of the shop but she could still hear his voice. "You remember how my mother was like the best in decorating and stuff?"

Hinata laughed. "Yes, I do."

"Well, I guess this proofs that I really am her son." Suddenly there were lights above her, strings of lights covering the whole ceiling in gold. Cut out stars hanging from them and ornament balls reflecting the glow on the walls and the ground and on Naruto when he walked back into the room. Everything glimmering as if it were coated it magic.

"It seems as if it's endless." She felt small; not in a bad way but in a way that made you realize that there was still so much left in the world to see. Like that time she was 6 and she had found this place for the first time.

When she averted her eyes from the ceiling again, Naruto was next to her and he took her hand gently as though he wanted to burn the sensation into his memory. The sensation of everything they were feeling at this exact moment.

She was so grateful that she had found this place back then when it was winter; that Kushina had brought her inside; that she shared a cake with Naruto in that big old green chair by the window. Every memory of that day she felt grateful for.

She felt grateful for Naruto being her best friend and she felt grateful that he was by her side right now, holding her hand and watching the snow with her.

And with this chapter, this story is completed. I want to thank everyone who has commented on this story and kept me motivated to finish. I would love to hear what you thought of it because I had a lot of fun working on this story. I thought of maybe writing an epilog one day but I actually feel the characters got a good conclusion. Anyway, thank you, for everyone, who read this!