The roof of the warehouse was a dangerous sheet of black ice hidden beneath a deceptive layer of soft, white powder. Naruto's boots slipped, the rubber soles finding no grip as he leaned too far over the fancy roof peak.
"That Gejimayu... he's just... he's totally making a fool of us, dattebayo!" Naruto roared, his voice cracking. In his heat and fury, he forgot where he was standing. He forgot the ten-foot drop to the stone-paved alley below.
His right heel hit a frozen patch.
"Whoa—WHOA!"
Naruto's arms were occupied, locked firmly around the fainted, scarf-wrapped bundle that was Hinata. He couldn't reach out to grab a chimney or a ledge. As he shifted backward, the world began to tilt. He stared at the grey sky, the heavy weight of Hinata pulling him toward the edge of the abyss.
SH-SNAP!
A gloved hand shot forward, clenching the fabric of Naruto's orange sweater right between his shoulder blades. The force was so sudden and violent that Naruto's teeth rattled.
"GET BACK HERE! YOU IDIOT!"
Sakura's feet dug into the roof, her superhuman strength holding them both as she pulled Naruto backward. He slammed onto the flat part of the roof with a dull thud, his heart hammering against his ribs. He lay there on his back, gasping for air, still clutching Hinata to his chest like a lifeline.
"Are you trying to get us killed?!" Sakura shouted, her face hovering over his, her green eyes blazing with a mixture of terror and fury. "You almost dropped her! You almost dropped both of you!"
Naruto looked up at her, his vision blurred by the cold wind and the lingering tears from his breakdown in the market. "I... I wasn't... I was just..."
In that exact moment of high-tension silence, the 'marshmallow' in his arms began to move.
Hinata's eyelashes fluttered against the wool of her cap. The first thing she felt was the vibration of Naruto's chest and the terrifyingly cold wind whipping past her ears. She opened her eyes, blinking away the daze of her faint.
The first thing she saw was Naruto.
He was inches away, his blue eyes red and damp, his face twisted in a look of raw, bitter pain that she had never seen before. He looked like his entire world had just crumbled.
'N-Naruto-kun... is crying?'
Then, her gaze shifted. She saw the empty air beside them. She realized they were balanced on the very edge of a high roof, held steady only by Sakura's trembling grip on Naruto's sweater.
"KYAAAAAA!"
The panic hit her like a lightning bolt. This wasn't a dream. This was a nightmare of heights and heartbreak. Hinata didn't faint this time—her survival instinct kicked in with a frantic, uncoordinated burst of energy. She began to twist, her legs kicking against the heavy scarf, her arms waving wildly as she tried to crawl away from the ledge.
"Hinata! Whoa! Stay still, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled, trying to tighten his grip, but the roof was too slippery.
Her sudden movement acted like a motor on the ice. Naruto's body began to slide again, spinning like a top. Sakura, still holding his jacket, was dragged along with them.
"STOP MOVING! BOTH OF YOU!" Sakura screamed, but it was too late.
They were a tangle of orange, pink, and cream-colored wool, a 'Human Pile' sliding uncontrollably toward the opposite edge of the roof.
"WE'RE GONNA FALL! WE'RE GONNA FA—" Naruto's shout was cut short as they hit a small mound at the very edge, the three of them dangerously balanced on the brink of the frozen roof.
The silent, snowy air was tense. The 'Human Pile' was balanced dangerously on the very edge of the roof. Naruto was on his back, eyes still red and blurry, with Hinata sprawled on top of him, her heart beating a frantic thump-thump against his chest. Sakura was stretched out over both of them, her hands locked into Naruto's orange sweater, her teeth gritted as she tried to hold them against the small snow mound.
The silence was broken only by the whistling wind.
And then... A-chooo!
It was a tiny, sharp sound. But on a roof that slippery, it was a earthquake.
Sakura's whole body moved with the sneeze. Her feet, dug deep into the powder, lost their grip. The slight shift was all gravity needed. She began to slide.
"Aaaaaah!" Sakura's voice cracked the quiet. Her green eyes widened in absolute terror as the world began to move. "Naruto! SAVE ME! BUT DO IT GENTLY!"
Naruto was already on his back, half-off the roof. He couldn't move his legs. He couldn't even drop Hinata. All he had was one free arm, currently pinned under Sakura's body.
As the pink-haired girl began to move down the slope, Naruto didn't think. He reacted with classic, clumsy ninja instinct. He stretched his free hand out and grabbed the first part of Sakura that was within reach.
SQUEEZE.
"I GOT YOU, SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled, his fingers digging in to get a firm grip.
The world stopped for only a single heartbeat.
Sakura's face, previously pale with fear, instantly transformed into a burning, crimson rage. Her eyes snapped to where Naruto's hand was wrapped tightly around her thigh.
"WHERE... ARE... YOU... HOLDING... ME?!" Sakura screamed. It wasn't a scared scream; it was a pure blast of fury. "NARUTO, YOU DENSE MORON! GET YOUR PERVERTED HAND OFF OF ME! DON'T TOUCH ME THERE!"
"What are you saying Sakura-chan!" Naruto's own face was burning, but he wasn't letting go. He was already sliding backward himself. "If I let go now, you're seriously gonna go down! I'm just trying to keep you on the roof, dattebayo!"
The chaos below her finally snapped Hinata out of her terrified daze. She was still lying on top of Naruto, but hearing Sakura's screeching made her curious. She peeked over Naruto's shoulder to see what was happening.
In her logic, if Sakura was screaming, something terrible was really happening. And that was when she saw it. They were all moving.
"Hiiiii!" Hinata gasped, her survival instinct taking over. If they all fell, they'd get hurt. She looked down at Naruto's chest—her anchor—and in a move of blind, terrifying panic, she threw her arms around his neck. She held him with all the desperate strength of her Hyuga-trained muscles.
"Naruto-kun! P-Please! I... I don't want to f-fall!" Hinata's voice was muffled against his neck, but her grip was tight.
Naruto, who was already struggling, suddenly felt like he was being hugged by a very small, very warm snake.
"Whoa, whoa, Hinata!" Naruto choked, turning a slight shade of blue. "Don't hug me so tightly, dattebayo! Not so tight. I can't breathe! You gotta loosen up or we're both gonna be the ones that fall, dattebayo!"
In Hinata's panicked, love-struck brain, only one word registered in that entire sentence.
'H-Hug? N-Naruto-kun... said... h-hug?'
Her world turned bright red. The 10-foot drop vanished. All she could feel was Naruto's neck, the smell of his scent, and the sound of her own blood pounding in her ears. She was hugging him. Really hugging him.
"H-Hug?" Hinata stuttered, her voice dropping into a barely-audible whisper. "N-Naruto-kun, I... I did... I didn't want... to..."
She was a stuttering, blushing mess.
"Wait, not now, dattebayo!" Naruto yelped, trying to twist away.
But that was it. Sakura, still angry about Naruto's inappropriate grip, had begun to sway her legs, trying to kick him off.
"NARUTO! YOU PERVERT! LET... GO!"
Her sudden, forceful kick acting like a rocket booster on the ice. The small snow mound that had been their barrier crumbled.
"WE'RE GONNA FAAAAAAALL!" Naruto roared.
"AAAH! HINATA, MOVE!" Sakura screamed.
It was a total, spinning disaster. They fell off the edge together—a ball of orange, pink, and cream-colored wool, a 'Human Pile' that had been tangled by a sneeze and a misinterpretation. They dropped only a few feet...
CRASH! SPLAT!
They didn't hit the ground. They hit something steamy.
As the steam cleared, the position was disastrous. They had fallen directly onto the wooden landing of the Women's Bathhouse.
Naruto was face-down on the floor. Sakura was face-down directly on top of his back, knocking the wind out of him.Hinata was face-up, sandwiched between them and the low paper door of the bathhouse... which was now partially wide open.
Through the crack in the door, they could see... everything. The misty water, the tiled tubs... and the dozen, very shocked women who were currently relaxing inside.
"Wait, I... I wasn't... I...!" Naruto choked, staring from his awkward position.
The response was instant. A chorus of high-pitched, terrifying screams erupted from inside the bath.
"AAAAAAAAH! PERVERTS! THERE'S PEEPING PERVERTS!"
A wooden bucket, heavy with warm water, came flying through the steam, hitting Naruto in the face with a loud THWACK.
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📊 BATTLE REPORT: 71-IRON 📊
LOSER: Haruno Sakura 🌸 🔴
SNEAK PEEK LINES 💬
"Things got so crazy back there... I totally forgot he just vanished... "
"TEME!"
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—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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