Stay ✓

Chapter 31:winter

~Three years later~

   It was a frigid morning in Konoha. White, soft blankets of thin snow covered the streets and rooftops. Tiny dancing flakes of snow fell slowly from the cloud filled dark blue sky. Sheets of ice slathered puddles that were formed due to the melting of the white cold powder. Villager's foggy breaths could be see as they exhaled.

Young kids were laughing while enjoying bathing in the snow, tossing it in the air and forming it into a tight ball to throw at friends.

The whole Naruto friend group, which consisted of Ino, Shikamaru, Neji, Choji, Hinata, Sai, Shino, Rock Lee, Sakura, Kiba and Tenten were smiling while digging in to their warm steamy delicious ramen. Small talk about how everyone was, how their life was doing, and cracking jokes were prominent through the conversation.

Tenten and Neji recently decided to start seeing each other, and it's the same for Sai and Ino. Both couples found happiness and comfort from one another.

As the group of friends died down from their fit of laughter, thick tension filled the air between them. The two missing comrades were lingering deep inside their minds, even though they all wanted to ignore it and stay in this content moment.

It has been three years since Sasuke deflected from the leaf village. His departure pained Naruto and Sakura immensely, causing them months of them agonizingly  searching for him, only for those attempts to be useless.

Each time Sasuke would spit out a speech about vengeance, and how Orochimaru granted him ferocious strong power that consumed him into a deep dark hole of no return. He would boast about being able to finally seek out his older brother and kill him once and for all. A particular blue haired shinobi refused to go with team Kakashi anytime they had a Sasuke retrieval mission.

In fact, none of the group of friends has physically seen Mai in about two years. After Sasuke left her, she fell into the deepest depression she's ever had in her whole life. The ice user finally found someone who went through pain just like she did, and eventually Mai fell hard for Sasuke. Their bond replenished the way she saw life; before him, there was no point. You're born to die, so why keep on living in a world of pain and anguish? However, after him that mindset completely changed. Everyday spent with the Uchiha was a day she forgot all the horrible things that once happened to her. Sasuke was the most important thing in her life, and then, he left without even saying goodbye.

Mai spent a whole year doing only solo missions, which were basically every single day. She filled her schedule up so that she was to distracted to think about the sharingan user and the times they shared. Fighting the men who badly want to kidnap her was enough, until she got cornered by a group of five.

Thankfully, the blue haired ninja was found in time by her Sensei. He carried her back to the village, but, she was in critical condition and it took Lady Tsunade two months to fully get Mai back to complete health. There were times when the blonde Hokage lost hope, and Mai almost died.

After getting out of the hospital, Mai left the village to take some time off alone, kind of like a vacation. The sword user spent two full years living alone in total isolation. She made sure the secluded one bedroom house was far away from Konoha, because she never wanted to step foot there again. She gave no warning signs to her dreadful parents whom she hated with every part of her. Mai informed the Hokage, briefly said goodbyes to her friends, and left without a trace. In due time, Mai accepted the fact that Lady Tsunade would order her to come back from the vacation.

Just as she predicted, Mai rose to the sound of banging at the front door. Her cobalt blue hair now fell two inches below her butt. She groggily sat up, irritation growing throughout her. Enduring all the stress about Sasuke and her family, the Shinobi's short temper has gotten worse throughout the years. One wrong move or noise, and that was it, she would be pissed off.