Chapter 178 Skylight as a Curtain

All the lights disappeared. On this New Year's Eve, Naruto remembered glancing at the clock on the wall before the power went out, it was around eleven o'clock.

'Waiting for the power to come back seemed unrealistic. If the heavy snow damaged the equipment outside, it might not be restored until tomorrow.'

In the pitch blackness, he suddenly remembered that there were candles stored in the drawer.

So, he got up, but with a crash, he accidentally knocked something over.

"Um… That…" Ino suddenly became nervous, and he could hear a slight tremor in her voice.

"Hmm?" He turned his head to look in the direction of the sofa and responded subconsciously, "What's wrong?"

The room was very dark. Even after his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could only make out a vague outline. The residual image before the power outage was still in his mind, so Naruto could easily determine where Ino was.

He thought that a Shinobi shouldn't be afraid of the dark. But perhaps it was some other reason, as a sudden power outage could be unsettling.

"It's nothing, I just…" Ino's voice grew weaker as she spoke.

"Are you afraid of the dark?"

"No, I'm not afraid. It's just that the sudden blackout feels a bit unsettling."

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

"Okay." Ino replied, really staying still and quietly watching as darkness enveloped the room. She could hear rustling sounds beside her, followed by the sound of a cabinet being opened.

After a few minutes, when Naruto was still fumbling around in the dark, Ino couldn't help but stand up and ask, "Can't find it?"

"It should be in one of these nearby cabinets, but I haven't found it yet." Naruto replied, sounding a bit troubled, "Just wait a bit longer, I think..."

"Let me help you look for it. It's kind of boring just sitting here." Ino said as she began to feel her way toward the cabinet.

"Sure." Naruto agreed.

"Is it right here?"

Ino squatted down and began to pull out the cabinet and asked, groping in the cabinet little by little. The feeling in the dark state was somewhat strange. The weakened vision made her other four senses more sensitive.

"It should be." Naruto's voice came from right next to her.

"Really?" Ino's voice trembled slightly as she continued to feel around on top of the cabinet. Suddenly, she touched an arm.

Then her hand was grabbed in return, causing her to tremble all over, and she let out a soft gasp.

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

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

An electric current seemed to pass from her hand to her heart, sending a tingling sensation through her brain. In that instant, Ino felt her legs go weak, as if she had just drunk alcohol.

When someone is nervous, there's a faint bitterness that gathers in the throat and on the tongue, making it hard to speak with any strength.

Ino wanted to say, 'Stop', but her heart was pounding too hard.

Everything in front of her was dark, and she lost her vision completely. All she could hear was Naruto continuing to rummage through the cabinet. After that, he just kept holding her hand, not saying anything.

But Ino didn't dare to move, allowing her hand to be gently squeezed and toyed with.

"Have you found it?" Her voice trembled as she closed her eyes to hold back the tears that had started to well up.

"No." Naruto had actually found the candles but had set them aside, "Maybe I got confused. Perhaps they're in the cabinet by the balcony."

As he said this, he stood up, pulling Ino to her feet with him. Despite clearly toying with her hand, he continued to pretend as if nothing had happened, and said naturally, "Let's check over there, maybe we can find it."

"O-Okay." Ino stammered as she stood up, following Naruto's lead in the dark toward the small cabinet by the balcony windows.

Kurama, lying on the sofa, watched in confusion. With his excellent night vision, he could clearly see the two of them holding hands in the dark, and also noticed the candles sitting on the counter.

He couldn't help but wonder about the stupidity of humans, 'They really are far more foolish than I had ever imagined.'

Kurama debated for a moment whether to grab the candles and bring them over, but then he reconsidered, thinking that he would look like a mere dog if he did so, and quickly abandoned the idea.

So, Kurama lay back on the sofa, crossing his paws, a mocking grin on his face as he watched these two foolish humans, ready to see what would happen next.

Naruto had already led Ino to the small cabinet by the balcony. Her hand was a bit cold, with calluses at the base of her thumb—the result of holding shuriken and kunai. However, the rest of her hand was soft, but cold. Naruto thought to himself that it was up to him to warm it up.

He suddenly realized that Ino hadn't said anything yet, making her really easy to deceive. With the principle of 'never let a good opportunity go to waste', he continued pretending to look for the candles.

Of course, he knew full well there were no candles there. This was just an excuse to hold her hand for a little longer.

After touching it for a while, Naruto felt something was wrong, as Ino was too silent. He paused for a moment and thought to himself, 'Oh no, could she really be angry?'

"Should I open the curtains? With the snow outside, the light might be brighter than in here." Naruto turned around and asked, his other hand already pinching one end of the curtains.

Ino finally reacted, giving his hand a slight squeeze, almost as if she were pleading, and said in a trembling voice, "No, please don't."

But it was already too late. The curtain was pulled open with a swoosh, and the light reflected off the snowy night outside instantly brightened the room a bit. In the faint light, Naruto could finally see Ino's current state.

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

Seeing this, Naruto paused, surprised, and placed his other hand on her forehead.

"You're not sick, are you?"

"Mmm…" Ino suddenly shut her eyes tight.

'This is too embarrassing! He saw me looking like that! I want to die!' She thought like this, but unable to utter a single word.

The light streaming in from the balcony windows, reflected off the snow, bathed them both in a soft glow. The two of them stood there, hand in hand, side by side.

With the sky as their backdrop, their silhouettes stretched across the room, past the watching Kurama, and onto the empty white wall behind them, as if they were a pair of lovers deeply in love.

Naruto's hand on her forehead didn't move immediately, and the flow of time seemed to slow down at this moment. The snowflakes fell outside the balcony, but it was as if they were landing on the couple's shoulders.

Ino slowly opened her eyes and saw the strange emotions overflowing from his blue eyes. It was an emotion that only she could understand, the light of affection.

With a heavy breath, time began to flow again.

Naruto withdrew his hand from her forehead, coughed, and his expression returned to normal. He smiled at Ino and said, "I think I've found where the candles are."

"O-Okay." Ino quickly pulled her hand away, lowering her head in guilt.