Chapter 3

�Ohayo, Sakura!�

I opened my eyes. One other pair was looking straight back into mine, a pale white pair.

I moaned and yawned. �Hinata��

�It�s Christmas Eve!� she said happily.

I popped straight out of my bed. �Christmas Eve already??? Wow, the days have passed so quickly.�

�You were probably too focused on Sasuke,� Hinata said.

I frowned Sasuke-kun is the biggest half of my life, but my Christmas would be ruined if my thoughts kept being like this.

�I forgot all about the Christmas party!� I said.

�Christmas party?� Hinata asked.

�No one told you? It�s at my house tonight. Kakashi-sensei told mostly everyone, but maybe not a few people. Please come and tell anyone who doesn�t know yet.�

�That sounds like fun. I�ll tell Neji-niisan and my teammates.�

�Good. I�m so excited!�

�Hmm, I thought you were going to start crying because Sasuke isn�t coming.�

I frowned again. �Hinata!�

Hinata giggled. �Oh, I almost forgot.�

�What?�

�Lee sent you a present. Well, when I was on the way here, I saw Lee, and he told me to give this to you.� Hinata handed me a gift box.

�This is from Lee-san?� I said, examining the gift box. �I�ll open it tomorrow then.� And I almost forgot about the weights that I bought. I�ll give them to Lee-san tonight. I would be able to exchange gifts with everyone tonight.

�Do you want to hang out until the party?� Hinata asked.

�Oh, I have to clean up the house and all,� I replied. �As you can see, it�s in no condition for a party. Do you want to help?�

�Sure!�

�Thanks. Let�s start with my own room. This is going to be the room for the girls.�

�Room for the girls? You mean you�re going to split up boys and girls?�

�Yep. Not the whole time though. The big living room downstairs will be the main room.�

�I see."

I began making my bed. Hinata cleared and organized the things on my nightstand and desk. Lastly we cleaned up clothes and items on the floor. I made sure there was an organized amount of space for all the girls.

�Let�s move on to the room for the boys,� Hinata said when we finished.

�That�s going to be the guest room down the hall,� I told her. �No one uses the guest room, so it�s perfectly clean. It could use some dusting up, though.�

�Then let�s dust it,� Hinata said. We moved down to the guest room, each of us carrying a fluffy duster. Hinata dusted the bed and closet and I did the tables and lamps and nightstands. When we were finished, we put our dusters away and went downstairs.

�We�ll need the kitchen and the living room, so let�s start cleaning the kitchen �� But my mom was already doing the job. �Okasan!�

My mom smiled. �I�ve got this kitchen covered. You go do the living room.�

�How did you know about the party?� I asked. �I forgot all about it and never told you.�

�Mou, you�re such a irresponsible girl,� my mom joked. �Kakashi-sensei told me just yesterday.�

�Arigato,� I said with Hinata.

�That means we don�t have to do the kitchen,� Hinata said. I nodded and went with her to the living room.

�There�s a bunch of things scattered on the floor,� I said. �So we�ll start with cleaning the floor. You�ll probably know where the items belong.� We were on our knees in a second crawling all over the living room.

Hinata stumbled upon a small box abruptly. The lid of the box flew off to reveal many pictures in the container. �This must be yours, Sakura,� she said. She held up the photos in the box. All of them were of Sasuke.

I yanked the pictures out of Hinata�s hands and grabbed the white box they were in. Hinata noticed that some of the pictures were very old. Sasuke was only in his first year of the academy in a few, and others when he was a little older.

�You�ve been collecting those for a long while, haven�t you?� Hinata said.

�Yes,� I answered. �From when I first met Sasuke-kun.�

�Why? I mean, I know you like Sasuke, but why?�

�Ino and I were having a stupid, childish fight one day over who could get more Sasuke-kun pictures. Soon, I forgot all about winning against Ino that it became natural.�

�So you like Sasuke-kun that much,� Hinata said. Soon we continued cleaning and after a while, we finished.

It was clearly afternoon now. My stomach was very empty from all the work and the fact that I hadn�t eaten all day yet. It was about 3 PM or 4 now. The party would start in an hour or so. I told Hinata that she should go home to get ready for the party and I also thanked her for helping today. After she left, I went up to my room to put away the box of Sasuke-kun pictures. Then I heard the doorbell ring.

�Sakura!� I heard my mom call. �Could you get the door? I�m busy right now.�

�Okay!� I replied, hurrying downstairs. It was probably someone just early for the party.

I opened the door. I could feel the cold and bitter air outside. A few snowflakes landed on me. But there was no one there. I could just smell his scent though. I stood at the door, cold and shocked, for maybe a miracle had just happened.