Title: Love Comes Softly

Summary: He had never known love before her, yet he could not force himself to say the words he did not know he felt. Love sometimes doesn't come out in ways that we expected, sometimes love just comes in softly.

Genre: Romance/suspense

Rated: T

Pairings: Naruhina, of course.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. I do not own the series 'Love Comes Softly' either. There is no comparison of the two stories. I just simply liked the title. Rights go to their appropriate owners.

Chapter One

Love. It was never a word that Naruto had been overly familiar with in his lifetime. Growing up as an orphan he had often wondered what it was like to be loved and to love in return. He had remembered seeing other parents say the words 'I love you' to their children before dropping them off at the academy. He remembered the perverted sage often times writing about a twisted form of love in his erotic novels, and he had even seen love in the form of sacrifice for one's village.

Love. Even though he had people he deeply cared for and people who cared for him in return he had never once heard someone express that care in the form of words before until recently. He had heard the words 'I love you' three times in less than a few months from three different people. Each time that he had heard it, it did something to him that he could not explain.

"You changed me. Your smile saved me. So I am not afraid to die protecting you, because I love you." It had been the first time he had ever heard another human being say those words to him before. The timid Hyuuga heiress loved someone like him, of all people, and was even willing to die for him. Naruto had often times had nightmares about that evening when he had seen her pale seemingly lifeless body on the cold unforgiving floor, and he had been so close to losing all control of his inner demon. All for her, the girl he had never looked at before with any romantic intentions. Naruto had never responded to her feelings, because he was never sure about his own. Did he 'love' her back? He had never known love before her, and he had nothing to really compare it to. Would it be fair to her to respond when he could not be yet be truthful or certain about his own feelings?

"Did you hear me, Naruto? I said I love you." It had been the second time he had ever heard those words spoken to him, but unlike the first, the words were not sincere. Sakura, his beautiful Sakura, and the girl he had forever had a crush on since their days together at the academy. He had often times dreamed about the day when Sakura would return the feelings he thought he had for her, but when she had Naruto had realized something very important. She was only lying to herself, and so was he. This revelation had done many things to him, but one of the main things was to question himself about what love really was.

"I have special words for the man who would compliment my red hair. Naruto, will you hear them? I love you." The final time he had heard it was from his mother, his beautiful warm vibrant mother. He had never dreamed that he would get to meet her, but she was everything and more that he had imagined she would be. Those few precious moments he had got to spend with her had erased a lifetime of doubt and pain from his heart. His mother loved him! Feeling the acceptance and warmth of a parents love was nothing that he would ever be able to describe, but he knew that he had it. Naruto was no longer an orphan without a heritage. He was now a child who was loved.

Naruto smiled to himself as he thought about his mom. He had wished he could spend just a few more minutes with her. He had so much left to ask and to say, but she had given him plenty to think about. He remembered his mom's words to him as a baby. She had wanted him to do well in school, remember to eat right and bathe regularly, make many friends, and respect his teachers. The final thing she had asked of him was to find a girl like her once he was ready. Was he ready?

A gentle breeze blew through the trees as it caressed Naruto's face and playfully teased his hair. Naruto inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly as he opened his eyes and examined the night sky before him. The sky was a deep rich shade of blue and had many glistening stars in it. The display before him reminded him of the diamonds he had once seen on one of his many excursions with the pervy sage.

The old pervert had examined them almost greedily before telling him with a very serious expression that women loved diamonds. Naruto smiled softly at the memory of his old teacher. He had often times questioned his teacher's logic on that one since he had never seen a woman with a diamond anything before. Perhaps Konaha women were different somehow, or perhaps Konaha's men were just broke or perhaps unaware of this 'rule' somehow.

Whatever the case was it was pretty irrelevant to Naruto at the moment. Naruto smiled wistfully to himself as he leaned back onto the tree and closed his eyes again. Today Naruto had celebrated his eighteenth birthday with his precious people. The event had been a happy enough one until Lee, who was completely wasted on sake, had slung his arm around Naruto's shoulder and asked with a small hiccup why Naruto, who was old enough to get married, did not have a girlfriend yet.

He knew Lee was intoxicated and meant no harm, but the question had brought a huge blush to Naruto's face and a few teasing remarks from his peers. Naruto had laughed it off at the time, but once the party had ended, he had ended up here on the training grounds to think.

Why didn't he have a girlfriend yet? He could probably give at least two handfuls of good reasons about why he was still one of the few bachelors left amongst his peers, but when he examined his reasons they all seemed pretty lame to him. Naruto was brought out of his musings by a member of the ANBU.

"Naruto, Lady Hokage wishes to speak to you immediately about a matter of great importance."

Naruto blinked in surprise as he nodded his head in acknowledgement. 'I wonder what is so important at this time of this night,' Naruto wondered a bit worriedly.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto opened the door to the Hokage's office and was slightly surprised to see three other figures in there waiting on him.

"Ah! Naruto, so nice of you to join us," Tsunade said with a slightly teasing expression on her face.

Naruto blushed slightly as he took his place in the lineup.

The teasing expression immediately vanished from Tsunade's face and turned into one of pure business. "I have chosen the four of you for a very important mission that must be carried out immediately. The small details are irrelevant at this point, but I will just let you in on a little secret. The less you know the better," she said as she leaned forward towards her desk and clasped her hands underneath her chin.

Shikamaru frowned at this. "My apologies, Lady Hokage, but I must inquire about how not knowing details is a wise thing?"

Tsunade pursed her lips thoughtfully before waiving her hand dismissively in the air. "The Land of Snow has asked for our assistance in escorting the young princess safely out of the country to discuss a diplomatic solution with their neighboring countries. They are not sure who is behind it or why, but they believe that someone is trying to prevent this meeting from happening." Tsunade paused in her explanation to glance at the report in front of her.

"The reason that they want us knowing just enough is to protect their country. Apparently from what they have gathered and we have confirmed is that whoever is behind this is forcing information out of their shinobi."

Sakura paled slightly. "So you mean that they are like interrogators."

Tsunade glanced up from her reports and shook her head slowly. "Not like interrogators, they are interrogators, except much worse. They always get the information out of their victims and the bodies that they have left behind are never recognizable. This has cost the Land of Snow many lives, and has left them scared to cross the border again without aid."

Tsunade closed her eyes as she leaned back against her chair. "This is a highly dangerous A ranked mission. They have requested our aid; because they believe that shinobi from another village who have no ties with their own country will be less of a problem if caught."

Naruto frowned upon hearing this. "So let me get this straight. They want us to risk our lives to help them, because they're too scared to do it."

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed with fury.

Naruto's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "What? Don't tell me that you think it is right?"

Sakura frowned as she turned her head away from the blond.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered underneath his breath.

Hinata glanced at Naruto and then Sakura with a slightly worried look in her eyes.

Tsunade sighed as she poured herself a shot of sake. "It's not that they are to 'scared', Naruto. It is simply the fact that their shinobi know too much, so when one gets caught…." Tsunade stared at her glass with an impassive look on her face. "I would normally decline such a ludicrous offer for aid if it wasn't for the fact that it concerns us too."

Naruto frowned upon hearing this. "And just how exactly does this concern us, Grandma Tsunade, especially if we don't have 'ties' with this country?"

Tsunade scowled at her nickname as she gulped down the shot in one go and set the small bowl precariously on her desk with a long sigh. "It concerns our village, because if this alliance does not happen then war will break out. Since the Land of Snow does a great deal of business with the Land of Fire that would seriously stunt our economic development."

"So we are risking our lives for the sake of material gain," Naruto said slowly.

Tsunade frowned at this and shook her head. "There is more to it than that, Naruto. That would just be a small consequence if war should happen. The bigger consequences are things that we need to help prevent."

Shikamaru stared at his Hokage with a calculating look in his eyes. "Would those 'bigger' consequences fall under the 'don't need to know basis'?"

Tsunade nodded her head slowly. "Exactly. Though, I wish I could tell you more it would put the whole mission at risk. I may have already said too much."

Shikamaru closed his eyes with a sigh. "Alright, when do we need to leave?"

Tsunade's eyes glanced over the report again. "I need you to leave tonight. Shikamaru will be your leader on this mission. I need you to get to the Land of Snow as fast as possible and immediately report to their head council member. His name is Taisho and he…" Tsunade suddenly got a very funny look on her face. "Well, let's just say you will know it's him when you meet him. He will give you the details from there. Do you understand your mission?"

Naruto, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Hinata nodded their heads once in acknowledgement.

A small corner of Tsunade's lips turned upwards slightly into a small smile. "Oh, and one more thing, don't die."

The room became deathly silent as the four shinobi stared at her with varying expressions on their face. The silence was soon broken by Naruto.

"Don't worry, Grandma Tsunade, I may not agree with this mission, but I promise to bring everyone back safely. What kind of future Hokage would I be if I couldn't protect my comrades on one lousy mission," he said with a vibrant grin as he gave her a cheerful thumbs up.

"Idiot," Sakura said softly with a small smile on her face.

Hinata had a small confident grin on her face as she looked at the man she loved. The feelings of doubt and fear that she had felt before had vanished when Naruto had spoken that declaration. If he promised to keep them safe, then she had confidence that they would be, because Naruto never went back on his word. 'And I promise that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, as well, Naruto, ' she thought to herself with a smile.

Tsunade smiled at her favorite brat. "Alright, you have what you need for this mission, so go."

"Right," they all agreed in unison before setting out to get ready for their new mission.

-End-

Reviews are Awesome, by the way ;)

A/N:

SO I have decided to try my hand at a romance dom dom dom! A Naruhina romance mind you. I truly love this couple, but as I was searching around for a good story to read about the two of them I discovered something awful. I don't really like how most of the Naruhina romances are done. What What? Usually they just fall in love all of the sudden, because Naruto suddenly realizes she exists. Or even worse somehow Hinata gets crazy out of character and I am like huh? How can she be timid and shy but all of the sudden she just pops out of her shell with a mariachi band following closely behind her. Whatever doesn't make sense to me, so like most dissatisfied readers I decided to try the story for myself and see if I can do any better. Who knows? I will try, though hee hee :)

By the way, if you are reading my other story than know this an update is definitely on the way and I have some crazy good ideas for that story that I am excited about, but I simply HAD to get a romance out of my system since I have decided to keep that story more friendship based and serious BLAH!

Anywho hope you enjoyed!

Posted : 12-11-2010