Once her feet were comfortable in her slippers, Hinata entered the flat, making her way to the bedroom to leave her purse here and take a hair band.

Walking to the kitchen, she noticed the magazines and the empty bag on the kotatsu as her fingers slid between her silky locks to gather her hair in her hand and so then tie it in a ponytail.

With effectiveness, Hinata also folded the sleeves of her turtleneck and took the hanging apron.

She then noticed that Naruto had stopped putting the groceries away and stared at something when she turned around. Their eyes met as she tied the apron around her waist.

"What are you looking at?" She asked, intrigued.

She lowered her eyes on what she was wearing, wondering if the few grammes she had taken at the beginning of the cold season were starting to be visible.

Losing their eye contact, Naruto came back to his senses. Of course he had already seen his girlfriend move in his kitchen, but it was still hard to believe it was now his everyday view.

"I'm looking at you, is all. I like to see you so comfortable."

As a result, he saw her blush as she smoothed the front of her apron out. He loved being the cause of her flush. She was so beautiful with her cheeks coloured due to his actions or words.

"What I saw is that you ate a whole bag of candy on your own again, Naruto-kun."

It's his turn to feel his embarrassment spread to the tip of his ears and he bashfully scratched his cheek, "Heh-heh, I love those things."

As she watched and dried her hands, Hinata shook her head with a small smile before helping him put things away.

Moving across the room, she told him about her visit at Kurenai's house. She was sure Mirai had grown again in less than a month. She had also seen her beloved teammates sitting in their sensei's sitting room, drinking tea.

Then, when she said Kiba won't be with them tonight, Naruto got surprised.

Even if Hinata's boyfriend and her teammate would fight like cats and dogs, they had always spent the festive period together by giving each other challenges.

While Naruto was emptying one of the shopping bags, Hinata noticed the light frown of his eyebrows and the tight line of his lips, but said nothing, knowing he would never confess he appreciated Kiba more than what he wanted to make her believe.

"He said he had a date with a girl he met a few days ago." She explained and opened one of the cupboards.

"Well, too bad for him, we'll eat his portion of the feast," Naruto laughed loudly as he closed the fridge door with his foot. "By the way, what're you doing this year?"

Glad he asked, Hinata got out several boxes of red berries and placed them on the contour.

"A strawberry cake with as much icing as possible!"

Naruto understood now why she'd said she was late on her schedule. As she read him the recipe, he looked over her shoulder and saw the cake needed to rest at least five hours in the fridge.

"Need any help?" he asked. "With the few things you taught me, I'm sure I can be the perfect commis chef you've ever dreamt of," he joked.

She glanced at the clock before nobbing, "If you could get everything we need, it would be great."

"Consider it done!"

While Hinata preheated the oven to 180C, Naruto took out ingredients and utensils out, tied his apron around his waist, washed his hands, and asked her what he could do now.

She entrusted him with the strawberries as she kept blending the butter and sugar with an expect movement of her wrist.

A bowl full of water in front of him, Naruto washed the strawberries, cut them in cubes and made them slide from his board to the pot the jam was cooking in, thinking he had to leave some for the decoration of the cake.

From time to time, he tried to plunge his finger into the sweet batter, but Hinata would push him away from it every time with her hand and a laughing warning she wanted to be firm without shaking or spilling a drop to the side of the first cake tin she was filling.

Letting her off the hook, there was now only the sounds of the whisk and the knife on the board echoing in the small kitchen, and Naruto didn't feel the need to add a comment or a joke.

Just quick glances between each other when she was adding more strawberries he had cut into the cooking pot were enough.

Just a gesture from her and he gave her what she needed to prevent her from stopping blending her cream.

Just being with Hinata was satisfying.

He finished with the strawberries and bent to take out two more cake tins from one of the drawers.

Because a lot of icing meant a three-layer cake.

When he straightened up, Hinata was on her tiptoe, desperately trying to catch a new bag of flour.

Bad habits were hard to break.

He had forgotten their high difference and had placed the bag way too high for her.

"Wait, Hinata."

He wanted to help her.

He meant to do well.

But he made the bag tumble when Hinata had got it and pulled it towards her. Seeing that, she tried to catch it, but Naruto hadn't let it go.

In less than a second, the bag teared open and an avalanche of flour collapsed on them.

Neither of them expressed their surprise. They stayed quiet, astonishingly looking at the flour flakes spread on the floor, on their clothes, on their hair, in their eyes.

"Hinata, are you alright?"

Naruto was the first to turn his head and it shook the flour flakes off of his hair.

He then rubbed his eyes, but it ended up adding more flour. Trying to see through his half-opened lids and tears, he distinguished his girlfriend's shaking figure.

He started dusting the flour off her clothes and hair with his hand, ready to apologise for the mess when a burst of laughter escaped her full lips.

Shocked, Naruto stopped and noticed the fat tears rolling on Hinata's pink cheeks. A hand on her chest, the flour scattered in her silky hair like flakes of eternal snow was falling with delicacy around her due to her shoulders shaking with laughter.

Hinata had the most beautiful expression of joy he had ever heard. Discreet, but sincere. And today, Naruto's heart raced when he realised she was laughing like he would do. Hard and loud. The worst was that it didn't reduce her beauty. It didn't make the melody she was now sharing with him even less charming.

Arms loose and once again lost for words, he admired the love of his life convulsing with laughter to such an extent that she had to hold onto him to not lose balance.

The scene was breathtaking and if he weren't already in Paradise, he would accept to die happy right now because the hand clenching his sweatshirt was also holding his soul, and they couldn't be apart form each other.

Being only human, he succumbed to his caprice of touching her and dared strain the spectacle of this angel under the shape of a chit of a girl. He squeezed her cheek affectionately with his dirty fingers to gain the attention of her endless pupils.

And finally looking at him with her pearly eyes, Hinata wiped her tears away to compose herself. Except that the portrait Naruto was giving her fanned her fit of laughter and she resumed with greater intensity.

"Oh, Naruto-kun! What's that face for?"

Poor Naruto must feel ashamed of himself. Or maybe it was the flour flakes stirring his eyes to the point that he was making a funny face and instead of laughing, she should help him, but Hinata felt she couldn't stop herself.

"Really? You're laughing at me?"

Hinata felt her support disappear from her hold and when she looked at him away, her keen sight had time to analyse the handful of flour coming her way.

This time, she squealed, shielding herself with her arms before shooting a scandalised look at her boyfriend, ready to attack again.

"Naruto-kun, don't play with that."

A mischievous smile stretched Naruto's lips and Hinata grabbed one of the tins to block his new firing. Her hand plunged into the pile of flour and she riposted.

A real fight started and the small kitchen quickly turned into a battlefield.

Hands covered with flour stained furniture. Feet left footsteps on the floor. Footwork dodged the attacks keeping them at a distance. Spatulas served as swords when they ran out of powder to throw. Laughs filled the air. Strong arms caught the enemy and kept her captive until she tickled him, a nauthy ruse used to get away because her struggles hadn't broken his hold on her.

But Naruto wasn't going to give up. He was about to race after her when she stilled in the middle of the kitchen.

Given she was panting like crazy, he told himself she maybe needed to catch her breath for a while, himself feeling his head spinning due to the lack of oxygen in his lungs.

Until a strong smell of sugar invaded his senses and Hinata's face turned pale in no time at all, "Naruto-kun, the strawberry jam!"

*****

Plates were now empty; only chicken bones and full stomachs remained. And yet, laughters and conversations hadn't lost intensity, Naruto being the loudest maestro guiding their friends' voices which formed the most disorganised orchestra she had ever heard.

Cups of hot chocolate and glasses of eggnog or mulled wine were served to accompany the dessert long-awaited by her friends' taste buds getting greedier and greedier for sugar.

"We had a little problem with the jam so the cake might be a bit dry-"

"Hinata, stop apologising. It's the best strawberry cake I've ever eaten!"

The other members of the group sitting around her agreed with Choji, and despite all the flaws they could find in her dessert if they looked at it closely, Hinata thanked him for his compliment.

She then passed the plate she had in her hands to Shino who knew how much of a perfectionist she was.

Each year, she worried her pastries wouldn't be able to meet her friends' expectations, but they kept reassuring her and asking her to bless them with her dessert every time one of them had to organise a gathering.

Last year had picked Naruto to be the host of their Christmas party. At that time, he just got his prosthetic and Hinata had volunteered to help him organise their Christmas Eve dinner. In exchange, he'd assisted her when she'd used his kitchen to prepare her mochi as their dessert. She remembered clearly how she hadn't thought twice when he'd said he was giving up because he couldn't shape a perfect ball. She'd gently taken his hands in hers to show him he had to clear his mind, focus and listen to his mochi. As soon as he succeeded, he'd happily hugged her and she'd blushed to the limit of fainting.

Thinking about their last Christmas afternoon and today's afternoon, she realised many things had changed.

"I've something to say about dinner," Sakura's loud voice boomed, "We don't have enough alcohol!"

She signed in the air, asking for a new bottle of mulled wine to fill her empty glass.

"It's Christmas Eve, forehead. Not New Year's Eve." Ino retorted, "We're here to share the moment, not to end up wasted." She turned towards the host of the party serving the strawberry cake, "Don't listen to her bullshit, Sai. She wants to bitch about something 'cause she's upset."

"I'm not upset!"

For Hinata, Sakura was sad, maybe a little worked up too. In any case, she could understand why. She had seen her boyfriend write letters to Sasuke, asking him if he could at least be present at Sai's Christmas dinner since he had said he couldn't stop his mission during the whole holiday period.

Unfortunately, the young couple was still waiting for his answer when Sakura asked them about her teammate and Hinata saw hope being crushed in her green eyes as soon as Naruto replied he didn't know, but kept assuring to his friend that he was sure Sasuke would come later.

There was still no sign.

As the two vocal kunoichi started their verbal jousting once again, Hinata took her slice of cake from Sai's hands before he could go back to his seat next to Shikamaru.

She was about to taste her own cuisine, but noticed her boyfriend hadn't touched his plate, optining for enjoying his several glasses of eggnog.

"Naruto-kun?"

His sapphire blue gaze collided with her pale irises, showing her his grin and the light tint of red spreading on his whiskered cheeks. He then shifted his weight from his arm on the table towards her to lean it against her shoulder, his hand capturing hers and allowing their intertwined fingers to rest on his knee.

Because she hadn't expected him to change their positions, she let him lead her towards him and once they were almost entangled, he pointed at his glass already half empty.

He whispered in her ear as if he was about to tell her a secret they had to keep between each other, "I just noticed there's liquor in my eggnog. I didn't know that's possible."

The burning caress of his thumb on the back of her hand almost felt too intimate even though it was hidden from their friends' eyes. However, what made her blushed more was his fingers' light touch on her nape, his nails teasing her hairline. Adding his every gesture on her skin to his breath, hot and smelling like cinnamon, mixed with his cologne, Hinata could feel nothing but Naruto around her.

Light-headed, she shivered even though Sai's flat was well heated.

"I didn't drink any mulled wine on purpose to not look like Sakura-chan," he pointed at his teammate pouring herself another glass while peeling her jumper off her body because it was too hot in here, "But I think I'm still a little bit tipsy."

His arm snaked around her shoulders and he showed her his alcohol level between his thumb and index finger to emphasise his point.

"In the old days, alcohol helped people get warm. So they would pour some in every drink. Even in those for the children," explained Hinata as she felt herself melt against him to the point that she forgot what was surrounding them.

"Mmmmh," he paused as if what she just said required deep reflection. "I know another way to get warm."

Nothingness turned her hand Naruto was holding cold because he was now caressing her thigh through the fabric of her skirt. A flirtatious look drew itself on his features, making his blue eyes sparkle when she met his gaze.

She squeezed his hand to prevent it from sliding higher.

"Naruto-kun, it's not the time. We're in public," she quietly reminded him.

"I just want to warm you up, Hinata. Your hot chocolate doesn't seem to do its job given how often you shiver."

His tone was playful, meaning he knew exactly what he was doing.

Heat creeping on her face, Hinata pouted, "It's because of you!"

It was because of him and his way of holding her against him, preventing her to move back from his warmth radiating naturally from his body to wrap itself around her as if she was its rotation axis.

It was because of him and his gaze making her heart melt.

It was because of him and his smile warming her soul.

"That's strange, 'cause I haven't even started anything yet."

Seeing her bit on her bottom lip as a way of holding herself from begging, Naruto's smirk turned into a grin.

He was really having too much fun torturing his girlfriend, but Sakura's voice exploded their small bubble.

"Oh my! Look at the time!"

His teammate voiced her desire to go out because she was suffocating in Sai's flat.

To Naruto's disappointment, but Hinata's relief, the group proposed to go for a walk at the Christmas market and to end their night over there.

However, Shikamaru pointed out how the weather might change later on.

"We can still go! I'm sure it's nothing. Weather forecasts aren't very reliable, right Naruto?" He let Sakura pull on his arm to make him move.

They both knew that if he stood up, everyone would follow.

It's only when he let go of Hinata that he felt something in his shadow. Another presence. A familiar chakra.

Naruto turned his head and noticed the eagle perched on one of the streetlights in spite of the thick snowflakes recovering Konoha with its white coat. Took you long enough.

Understanding Sakura had also seen the raptor, Sasuke's sign, he accepted to offer her the short moment of freedom she was implicitly asking him for.