A/N: I did this one on a request and have been since reluctant to post it. I hope I kept everyone in character-side characters are so much harder to portray because you don't see them long enough to actually see what their personalities are like. On the flip side, it is some what more satisfying to use side characters because they are not used in fiction as much. Anyhow, I have babbled enough. Enjoy!
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"Yugao, will you marry me?"
No. That was just too simple. A clichéd proposal-the guy gets on his knee, takes the girl's hands in his own, and says "will you marry me?". Somehow when he proposed, he wanted it to be a little more than that. After all, he was asking the woman he loved to spend the rest of her life with him, not what kind of tea she preferred with her breakfast.
"Would you grant me the privilege of being my wife?"
No. That wasn't what he wanted, either. He sighed. This whole "ask the woman to marry you" thing was harder than he thought it would be. His pale fingers toyed with the box that contained the engagement ring-it was a rather unusual choice, but then Yugao was an unusual girl. Her name meant "moon flower", so he had gone with that when making the ring choice. He looked down at it-a single, modest-sized diamond surrounded by glistening gray moonstones. The stones were arranged in the shape of a flower. He smiled a bit. She would love her ring, that he was sure of. Now if he could just figure out how to "pop the question", so to speak...
"Would you grant me an honor and allow me to be your husband?"
"Ew. No. Don't say that", a lazy voice drawled, causing him to jump and nearly drop the ring. "If I was Yugao and you said that to me, I would wonder who did such a bad job copying you. I understand you want to make it special, but really, you should just be yourself, Hayate."
The man in question, Hayate, turned his head towards the playful reprimand. His gaze was met with a youthful face framed by longish light brown hair. Of course. Genma had gone with him when he'd picked out Yugao's ring.
"So if you were in my shoes, how would you ask Yugao to marry you?"
Genma appeared thoughtful. He wore such a playful grin on his face that Hayate could not believe this man was actually six years older than he was. He could be so silly sometimes. Finally, Genma spoke.
"Well, considering she's been dating you for the past four years I think it would be kind of awkward for me to just go up to her and ask her to marry me, don't you?"
Hayate rolled his eyes and shook his head at his friend.
"Genma, how old are you?"
Genma plopped down on the bench beside Hayate and pushed his nearly shoulder-length hair away from his face. He switched the senbon he always had in his mouth from the left side to the right.
"Twenty-eight, last I checked."
"Can you be serious here?", Hayate asked.
Genma gazed at Hayate. He noticed with dismay that Hayate's skin was paler than usual, the dark circles around his eyes vivid against his white skin.
"Well, if we're being serious, I really hope you plan to get some sleep before you ask her anything. You look even sicklier than usual. When was the last time you had sleep?"
Hayate looked thoughtful.
"When did you help me pick out a ring?"
Alarm crossed Genma's face.
"That was three days ago!"
Hayate nearly laughed at Genma's comical expression. His normally lazy eyes were suddenly huge, mouth gaping open so his senbon came dangerously close to falling out of his mouth.
"I know...it's just impossible to sleep. I still don't know how to ask her."
"Hm. Have you considered a simple "will you marry me?". It doesn't have to be complicated."
"Somehow it just doesn't seem right..."
"Well, how about not saying anything at all? Just give her the box and see what she says."
Hayate opened his mouth to speak, but was forced to turn his head as a coughing fit took over. After a few seconds, he returned his attention to his friend.
"Maybe I'm just nervous and trying too hard."
"I think so, too. There's nothing wrong with wanting to impress her, but really, just be yourself. Yugao fell in love with you, the kind, quiet person that you are. If she wanted a man who spouted poetic nonsense, she would be dating Gai."
"I guess you're right", Hayate replied, though his voice sounded doubtful.
"I know I am"
Genma hopped off the bench. He tugged his friend to his feet.
"Now you go home and get some rest. Seriously. Yugao is not going to want to see you looking as sickly and exhausted as you do right now."
Hayate frowned. He wondered what Genma was seeing-he'd seen himself in the mirror that morning. He'd looked pale and sick, sure, but he always looked like that.
"I will try to get some sleep", he relented.
Genma grinned at him.
"Glad to hear it. Good luck. I'm sure she'll say yes. Let me know how it turns out."
He walked away, waving.
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Hayate returned to his home a short while later. He walked straight into the kitchen to get a glass of water. His eyes widened in shock as he took in the sight of the kitchen-every surface had been cleaned. Hayate wasn't a slob, exactly, but he had no problem with leaving dishes in the sink until he felt like washing them. He would often leave newspapers spread across the table, occasionally joined by empty sake bottles when he and Genma would have drinks together. Today his kitchen table was bare with the exception of a bowl of fruit placed in the middle. The dishes had been washed and put away, the floor mopped, the counters cleaned. Hayate smiled and shook his head. He got himself a glass of water and used it to wash down two pain killers. He rinsed the glass in the sink and set it in the dish rack. Then he walked to his room.
He was not surprised when he walked in and found that cleaned, too. His bed was neatly made, his clothes hanging carefully in his closet. The furniture had been dusted and his medicine bottles arranged in some semblance of order on his night stand. He hadn't seen his room so clean since the last time he'd cleaned it himself when Yugao had spent the night. He noticed a piece of paper tucked under a bottle of cough suppressants and picked it up. It was a note, in Yugao's handwriting, telling him how foolish it was of him to leave his window open in his bedroom when his health was so fragile. He frowned. Had he really been foolish enough to leave his window open while he wandered aimlessly around Konoha? She had closed the window and latched it shut for him as well as spread out an extra blanket on his bed.
Hayate pulled back the sheets on his bed and climbed in, fully clothed. He was suddenly aware at how cold and empty the bed felt without Yugao by his side. It had been almost two months since the last time he'd spent a night with her, their missions kept them apart. Knowing that she was only a short ways away made him want to forget about taking a nap and go to her. Except he was suddenly too tired to get out of bed and if he looked as bad as Genma said he did, did he really want to worry her? He had waited this long, he could wait a few more hours. He curled up on his side with his head elevated on several pillows. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable position to sleep in, but it made breathing a lot easier. His dark eyes slipped shut. Within moments he was asleep.
Hayate woke up to cool fingers on his forehead. He fought the urge to fall back asleep to the cool touch and pried his eyes open.
"Yugao?", he asked hoarsely as he sat up.
She smiled at him.
"I'm glad to see you were resting."
She sat down on the bed beside him and he wrapped his arms around her, breathing in the sweet scent of her perfume. Just sitting with her, holding her in his arms, made all the pain of her absence evaporate.
She seemed to be thinking along the same lines he was was. She leaned in closer to him, so close that her long hair brushed his cheek, and rested a delicate hand on his face.
"I've missed you so much", she said quietly.
"I missed you, too", he replied, running his fingers through her hair.
They remained like that for a while, curled in each other's arms, until each was sure the other wasn't going to vanish in five seconds' time. Finally Yugao inched her way out of his grip. His side felt cold as the warmth of her body left him.
"You look like you could use a good dinner. What would you like to eat?", she asked.
Hayate felt a smile tug at his lips. Ever since they'd been children she had always worried about him and tried to take care of him. Not that he usually needed it. Still, he had to admit he had no objections to her sitting with him on the days he felt really bad.
"Actually, Yugao", he replied. "I was thinking we could go out tonight."
She eyed him skeptically. He supposed the fact that he made no attempt to get out of bed didn't look too good.
"You feel well enough to go out?"
Hayate chuckled and then coughed into his hand.
"Not really", he admitted. "But let's go out anyway...", he tipped his head to the side. "Unless you want to make sushi-but that may prove difficult since I doubt I have any thing edible in my fridge."
Yugao laughed, too.
"You are an awful liar, Hayate. Plus I was in your fridge earlier today. There's plenty of stuff in there I could make. There's no reason for you to spend money on dinner when I can cook."
Hayate climbed out of bed. He coughed a little and shook his head.
"You just got back from a mission and you already cleaned my house. You don't need to cook, too. I would cook, but we all know it should be illegal for me to even have a kitchen in my house."
Yugao laughed again.
"Alright", she relented. "But no place too fancy. I'm not dressed to go anywhere classy."
Hayate smiled at her gently.
"You still look beautiful to me."
He walked into his bathroom and washed his hands. After coughing into them a hundred times they probably needed washing. He splashed cool water on his too-pale face and reached into his pocket where the ring was hidden. He sucked in as deep a breath as he could manage without triggering a coughing fit, trying to calm his frayed nerves.
He grinned at her as he walked out of the bathroom and offered Yugao a hand, hoping she couldn't tell how nervous he actually was.
"Are you ready to go?", he asked.
She tucked her hand in his.
"This is really sweet of you", she said.
He glanced at her beautiful face.
"It's nothing more than you deserve"
A companionable silence fell on the lovers as he took her away for a night he hoped she would never forget.
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"Where are we going, Hayate?", Yugao asked a few hours later. They'd just finished a wonderful meal and he was taking her to the park to do the actual proposing. Too bad the wonderful meal felt as though it would come back up any second. He was so nervous.
He smiled at her, a smile he hoped was mysterious rather than nervous.
"You'll see when we get there."
She gave him a worried look.
"It's getting cold, and you're already sick, Hayate. We should really get you back inside."
Hayate shook his head.
"We won't stay long, I promise."
He walked her to the park. It was late, so most of the children were gone. He led her over to one of the benches and sat down on it. She took a seat beside him.
"It's a beautiful night tonight", she said, leaning against him.
"It is", Hayate agreed.
The stars glittered at him, seeming to offer encouragement. What should she say?
Just be yourself, Hayate. Genma's voice echoed in his head. A simple proposal works best.
He drew in a deep breath and drew the ring out of his pocket.
"Yugao", he said quickly, before he lost his nerve. He took hold of her hands and opened the box. He heard her gasp. "Will you marry me?"
He chanced a glance at her face when she didn't say anything. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She threw herself in his lap, sobbing.
"Yes...Oh, Hayate, yes..."
She held her shaking hand out and he placed the ring on her finger. A simple gesture, yet one that meant so much. Once the ring was on, he wrapped his arms around her and held her, a lazy, happy smile on his face. He'd done it. He'd proposed. And she'd said yes. Everything would be alright now.
After a few minutes, they got off the bench and Hayate walked Yugao back to her house. They lingered outside the door a while and he kissed her good night. Yugao smiled at him as she opened the door.
"Do you want to spend the night?", she asked.
Hayate smiled back.
"Well, don't just stand there. Come inside", she said.
"Ladies first", he replied.
Yugao giggled and walked into her house.
Hayate followed his fiance inside the house and shut the door behind him.
Tonight marked the first night of the rest of their lives together. It was definately time for a celebration