Sky as a Curtain

All the lights went out. On this New Year Festival's Eve, Naruto remembered that he had seen the clock on the wall before the power went out; it was around eleven o'clock.

Waiting for the phone to ring was obviously not a good idea; if the heavy snow damaged the equipment outside, they'd have to wait until tomorrow. With everything pitch black, he suddenly remembered he had candles in his drawer.

So he got up and bumped into something with a crash.

"... Um..." Ino immediately tensed up, and a slight tremor could be heard in her voice.

"Hmm." He turned to look at the sofa and subconsciously replied, "What's wrong?"

The living room was dimly lit, and even with eyes accustomed to the darkness, he could only make out a blurry outline. The images remaining from before the power outage were still in his mind, so Naruto could easily pinpoint Ino's location.

He thought that a ninja shouldn't be afraid of the dark, or maybe it was other factors. He was a little unaccustomed to the power outage.

"It's nothing, it's just me." Ino's voice grew weaker and weaker as she spoke.

Are you afraid of the dark?

"I'm not afraid. It's a little strange that the power went out so suddenly."

"That's good. I'll go get the candles. You stay here and don't move," Naruto instructed.

"Okay." Ino sat there motionless, gazing quietly at the darkness that enveloped the living room. She heard a rustling sound, followed by the whooshing sound of a cabinet being pulled open.

After a few minutes, seeing Naruto still fumbling around in the dark, Ino couldn't help but get up and ask.

"Can't find it?"

"It should be in one of the cabinets around here, but we haven't found it yet," Naruto's slightly frustrated voice came through. "We should wait a little longer."

"I'll help you look; it's pretty boring sitting here," Ino said, already groping her way towards the cabinet in the dark.

"Alright," Naruto replied.

Is it right here?

Ino crouched down and began pulling out drawers from the cabinet, her hands slowly groping inside. The feeling in the darkness was strange; the weakened vision actually made her other four senses more acute.

"It should be." Naruto's voice rang in her ears.

"Is that so?" Ino's voice trembled slightly. She pulled her hand out again and began to grope on the table above the cabinet. Suddenly, she felt an arm.

Then her hand was grabbed, and her body trembled violently, making a "hey" sound.

"What's wrong with you?" Naruto asked nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.

His other hand seemed to be still groping in the dark for candles. Ino could hear the clattering sound of things being moved around, but she could also feel the familiar warmth of his hand.

A jolt of electricity flowed from her palm through her heart, a tingling sensation flooding her brain. Almost instantly, Ino felt like she could barely stand. Her body felt incredibly weak, as if she had been drinking.

When a person is nervous, a faint bitter feeling gathers in their throat and on the tip of their tongue, and they don't have much strength when they speak.

Ino wanted to say no, but her heart was pounding.

Everything went completely black, his vision was completely lost, and all he could hear was Naruto rummaging around by the counter. After that, he just held his hand like that, without saying a word.

But Ino dared not move, letting him knead and play with her hands.

"Did you find it?" Her voice trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes, so she had to close them.

"No." Naruto had already found the candle and then put it aside. "I might have mixed it up. Maybe it's in the cabinet over on the balcony."

As he spoke, he stood up, pulling Ino up with him. Even though he was already playing with it, he pretended nothing was happening and spoke casually.

"Let's go look over there, maybe we can find it."

"Okay." Ino propped herself up and started to move, letting Naruto lead her forward in the darkness.

The Nine-Tails Fox, leaning back on the sofa, looked puzzled. With its excellent night vision, it glanced at the two people holding hands in the dark, and then at the candles on the counter.

It couldn't help but start to wonder, the level of human stupidity was far beyond its imagination.

It pondered for a moment whether to carry the candle over, but then thought that would really make it a dog, so it decisively abandoned the idea.

So Nine-Tails leaned back on the sofa, crossed its paws, and stared at the two foolish humans with a sneer, ready to watch the show.

Naruto had already led Ino slowly to the small cabinet in front of the French windows on the balcony. Ino's hands were a little cold, and there was a layer of calluses on the tiger's mouth.

That was from rubbing his Shuriken and kunai together; the rest of his hand was soft. His hand was cold, Naruto thought to himself, "I'll have to rely on my own heat to warm it up."

He suddenly realized that Ino hadn't said a word yet, which meant she was too easy to fool. Following the principle of not missing out on any opportunity, he continued pretending to look for candles.

He knew better than anyone whether there were candles here; he was just taking the opportunity to touch her hand a little longer.

After touching her for a while, Naruto sensed something was off; Ino was unusually quiet. A thought flashed through his mind, "Oh no, is she really angry?"

"Should we open the curtains? If it's snowing, the light outside will be brighter than in the living room," he asked, turning around and already holding one end of the curtain with his other hand.

Ino finally reacted, gently squeezing his hand in return, her voice trembling with a hint of pleading.

"No, no."

But it was too late. The curtains were suddenly pulled open, and the light reflected from the snowy night instantly increased the visibility in the living room. By the faint light, he could see Ino's current state.

Tears welled up in her eyes, her delicate, fair face flushed red, her lips slightly pursed, and she unconsciously exhaled white breath.

Seeing this, Naruto was slightly taken aback, and then placed his other hand on her forehead.

"You're not sick?"

"Ugh," Ino suddenly closed her eyes tightly.

How shameful! They saw me like that! I want to die! Thinking this, she couldn't say a word.

The sunlight, reflected off the snow, streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the balcony. Two people stood hand in hand, one on each side.

The sunlight served as a backdrop, casting their silhouettes against the sofa, stretching endlessly beyond the Nine-Tails watching the play. They then leaned together against the empty white wall, like a couple deeply in love.

The hand covering her forehead didn't immediately release her; time seemed to slow down at that moment. Snowflakes fell outside the balcony, but it felt as if they were falling on their shoulders.

Ino slowly opened her eyes and saw the unusual emotion overflowing from his blue eyes. It was an emotion that only she could understand, a light within her feelings.

With a heavy sigh, time began to flow again.

Naruto withdrew his hand from her forehead, coughed, and his expression returned to normal. He smiled and said to Ino.

"I think I see the candle somewhere."

"Okay." Ino abruptly pulled her hand away, lowering her head with a guilty conscience.

Using the dim light, Naruto walked easily to the cabinet, picked up a candle, and lit it with a lighter. The bright yellow candlelight illuminated a corner.

He carefully held the candle at an angle, burning a little wax, which then dripped onto the living room table. After pausing for a second, he pressed the candle onto the wax.

Ino also sat down, taking a seat on the sofa closest to the candlelight, her expression having returned to calm.

The Nine-Tails fox didn't move an inch the whole time. It glanced at the two of them with disdain, picked up the wine bottle with its paw, and gulped down the remaining few mouthfuls of wine in one go.

"Foolish humans," it thought to itself.

After lighting the candle, Naruto got up and lit another one, then carried it into the kitchen, saying as he went.

"Wait a moment, there should still be hot water in the kitchen. I'll make you a cup of cocoa."

"Hmm." Ino's mood hadn't completely calmed down yet, and the afterglow was still lingering. She didn't quite hear what Naruto said, but simply responded with a sound of agreement.

It wasn't until Naruto brought over two steaming cups of cocoa that she subconsciously said thank you.

"Don't you dislike cocoa?" Ino held the cup full of hot cocoa, her hands gradually warming up.

"I don't like it. It's too sweet and cloying. I'd rather drink water than this stuff," Naruto said. "Usually only girls like you like it, for something like replenishing sugar."

"Then why are you still drinking?"

Naruto smiled, sat down opposite her, took a sip of cocoa, and said.

"I just wanted to know what your favorite drink tastes like. If I drank your drink directly, you might kill me, so I had to settle for something else."

"That's an exaggeration! I'm that much..." Ino paused halfway through her sentence, then frowned.

This guy has a lot to say, but if she says she doesn't mind, he'll definitely just Yamato her. If she says she does mind, who knows what strange things he'll say next.

So Ino silently got up and moved a little further away from Naruto.

Naruto: "."

The power went out, and the living room naturally cooled down. Ino, wrapped in an Ino, couldn't help but shiver, Naruto also noticed the chill.

He stood up and spoke to Ino.

"Go sleep in my room."

"Huh? Why?"

"The blankets in the guest rooms are thin, and there's no heating since the power's out; you'll catch a cold sleeping there," Naruto patiently explained. "The blankets in my room are thicker, so..."

I originally thought Ino would refuse firmly and righteously, which wouldn't be surprising. After all, he's very self-aware; in Ino, he'd probably be in the top three of the most dangerous things.

They've probably already been labeled as the kind of person you can never trust.

Surprisingly, Ino did not refuse, but after a moment of silence, she asked.

"Then where will you sleep?"

"Huh?" This was a question he hadn't thought about. Of course, he was thinking that it would be nice to sleep together in each other's arms, but he couldn't bring himself to say it.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he frowned and said.

"There's a thick blanket in the Fox-dog's room, so we'll just have to make do with it."

I'll try to write a side story when I have some free time tomorrow.