He'd purchased the ring the day before their five-year anniversary and had fully intended to propose that day, honestly. However, his plans had changed when Ino had caught wind of what he'd done. (That was the last time he was entrusting any secret to Shikamaru. That lazy genius was just too whipped by his blonde girlfriend not to reveal anything she asked for. And boy did she know how to get information out of people, she wasn't head of the interrogation department for nothing.) She had confronted him outside of the hokage tower and honestly, he probably would have been able to avoid her if he wasn't so damn tired from pulling an all-nighter so that he could have the entire next day off.

It had been five years since they started dating and six since the war against Madara had come to it's final, bloody end. And he intended to celebrate both those thing by staying in bed all day with his girlfriend. They hadn't done anything personal in weeks between his official duties as hokage and her busy workload as head of the hospital (Tsunade had retired from both a little over four years ago and was currently spending the rest of her years racking up as much debt as possible) and Naruto was aching for some quality (naked, steamy, hot) time with his favorite girl. So, obviously his mind was else-where when Ino decided to ambush him at four in the morning to demand what his exact plans were when it came to proposing to her once-rival, always-friend.

And he'd told her the truth. Big mistake. Because, apparently, in girl-world presenting her with a ring after a few rounds of sex was not how a girl wanted to be proposed to. Honestly, he didn't see the big deal. The proposing didn't matter, did it? He always thought it was the wedding that people made such a big deal over. Although, that wasn't as important to him either. All that mattered was that at the end of the day he and Sakura would be - legally - one and they'd finally get to officially move in together and start a real life, actual family. Something he'd been dreaming about since he was a toddler.

"Naruto, are you even listening?" Ino stomped her foot, hands on her hip, and a look of total annoyance splashed across her face. It was the same way Sakura reacted when ever he zoned out and did something dumb; except, usually with an added fist in there somewhere.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto shrugged, "Don't have sex and propose in the same bed. Got it. I'll wait and do it after she showers or something."

Ino huffed, her long bang fluttering with the breath, "No, Naruto. Geez, how does Forehead even deal with you?"

"Usually with a fist," Naruto chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.

"And that's what you'll get if you propose like that," Ino retorted, blue eyes narrowing in thought, "Listen, Naruto. As Sakura's best friend and future maid-of-honor, it's my duty to make sure you don't screw this up. Sakura's a romantic at heart no matter how she tries to hide it. That girl used to draw wedding dresses and cakes until she was 12. She still cries over sappy romance scenes. That's what she'll be expecting, even if she doesn't realize it. Do you get what I'm saying? When you do propose to Sakura make sure it's something romantic and memorable."

"Fiiiiiiine," Naruto grumbled, "Romantic and memorable. Got it."

Ino looked at him, a little unsure before speaking once more, "If you want ideas watch a few of the movies she keeps hidden behind all those action movies you try to call decent. This is really important to Sakura, even if you think it's silly."

By the look in her eyes, Naruto could tell she was serious. So, he decided to at least consider the advice she was giving him, "Alright. When I propose it'll be so romantic Sakura-chan'll think she's in a movie."

Ino nodded once more and then turned and headed down the road, leaving Naruto standing outside the hokage tower to mull over what he was gonna do.

That had been two months ago. He had decided to hold off on proposing because apparently his brain just couldn't work on romance when it was half dead and sex deprived. They'd spent their anniversary in bed all day, only leaving to head to the festival that the village held each year to commemorate the war's end. He had considered asking her while under the fireworks (he thought he saw that on one of her movies once) but had realized he'd totally forgotten the ring in his other pants at home. So, that was out.

Since then, he'd sneakily been watching some of Sakura's movies. And they were horrible. He didn't understand how people could enjoy that sorta thing. There wasn't any action, minimal comedy, and every other scene were people kissing. But, true to what Ino said at least half of them had some big romantic proposal scene (usually involving dinner and a cute little speech leading up to it.) And finally, finally, he'd decided on how he was going to propose to Sakura. The idea had come to him with the last movie he'd watched when the guy (a cook) had baked the ring into a loaf of bread so that when he opened it the ring popped out. The girl had loved it.

So, Naruto planned to copy that. Except, instead of bread he was gonna put the ring into a bowl of Ichiraku's ramen and present Sakura with that. He figured he could stick it through a naruto and leave it floating on the top. That was cute, right? Maybe? Naruto shrugged to himself, it was too late to run the plan by Ino since she was on a mission and he certainly didn't plan on waiting until she returned. He had wanted to propose to Sakura for months now and didn't want to delay it any further.

When he arrived at Ichiraku's, Sakura had yet to arrive. Though, that didn't surprise him. She had further to walk from the hospital and often times had to even stay over to finish whatever she'd been working on. While he was waiting he went ahead and ordered for them (large beef for him, small pork for her) and pulled out the little velvet box, flipping it open to assure himself (for the millionth time) that the ring was in fact still settled in the little box.

When their order arrived, Naruto quickly inserted the ring into one of the pieces of naruto that lay floating in the bowl and waiting for her to walk in. He knew it would be soon since he could sense her chakra approaching from the south. He'd always like the feel of her chakra; it was soft and warm and everything he'd come to associate with her. Well, at least when she wasn't angry. Then her chakra was hard and dangerous and scary. Like her fists and monster temper.

"Hey, Naruto," She greeted him with a kiss on his cheek before sliding into her stool, eyes staying on him, "Sorry that took so long. Had to finish some papers for this last surgery."

"No problem, Sakura-chan," Naruto smiled over at her, handing her a pair of chopsticks, "Itadakimasu!"

"Itadakimasu," She repeated before breaking her chopsticks in two and using them to pull out some ramen, eyeing Naruto as he waited to start eating until after she'd discovered the ring.

"You alright, Naruto? Usually you're on you tenth bowl by now," Sakura chuckled as she pulled out another bite. This time though, it was the piece of naruto that contained the ring on it.

Honestly, if Naruto had thought it through he would have realized that Sakura wouldn't have actually eaten the ring. But, unfortunately, spur of the moment thinking wasn't one of his strong suits. So, instead, he lunged forward and smacked the chopsticks towards the counter to prevent her from accidently eating her ring. Also, unfortunately, he hit her bowl of ramen, sending it splashing across the counter, the floor, and them.

"Naruto," Her voice was deep and heavy and angry. Naruto could practically see the dark aura spilling off of her, "You better have a damned good explanation or so help me I will pound you into next week."

He sat back up, shit-eating grin plastered on his face and ring firmly gripped in his hand, "Uuuh, well, you see -" He risked a glance at his enraged girlfriend to see how long he might be able to bullshit an answer. By the vein on her forehead, not long.

He sighed and decided that it was probably best to just state the truth since Sakura had a knack for telling when he was trying to lie to get out of trouble, "Well you see I wanted to propose but Ino said it had to be romantic. Which meant not after having sex, which is dumb by the way. So I watched your rings to see how to give you a movie. Uhhh … I watched your movies to see how to give you a ring and one guy baked bread but I don't like bread, I like ramen. And you like ramen. We both like ramen. So uh yeah … ramen and rings and romance. And, uh, I'm sorry. This wasn't supposed to happen this way."

He looked over at Sakura, who stared at him with a glazed over confession as she tried to take in the slew of confusing information he'd just given her, "What exactly wasn't supposed to happen this way?" She asked, one fine eyebrow arching up as she looked over at him.

He sighed before holding the little ring out to her, not yet willing to look in her eyes yet, "I wanted to propose to you but Ino said to be romantic. So I figured I could put it in your bowl of ramen since putting the ring in food was something that happened in your romance movies. I even put it in a naruto cause that's like a little me. But then you almost ate it which wouldn't be good so … yeah." He trailed off before looking up at her and meeting her green eyes.

For her part, Sakura was still processing everything that had just happened. She was pretty sure Naruto had just proposed to her, in that round-about adorable way Naruto possessed. She took in his bright blue eyes (shining with embarrassment) that popped out against the red that colored his whiskered cheeks. Biting her lower lip, she realized that Naruto was waiting for an answer to a question he never actually asked her.

"Was there actually a question in that or?"

Naruto's eyes widened, "Oh …. Yeah, yeah. I almost forgot the most important part!" Naruto wiped the ring off as best he could on his pants before getting down on one knee in front of her.

Sakura felt herself start blushing and found herself grateful for the fact that Ichiraku's was relatively small and closed off from any foot traffic. Between taking a ramen bath and then being proposed to by her (loud) boyfriend in public, she didn't know how much redder her face could get.

"So, Sakura-chan. You know I love you. I have since I was really young and I will when I'm super old and wrinkly and people call me Gramps. And I really, really wanna grow wrinkly with you so that it looks like we've taken a bunch of baths together. I wanna do that, too - take a bunch of baths with you. Cause you're pretty. The prettiest girl I've even met. So what I'm asking is if you wanna do that too. I promise I'll try not to piss you off too much and call you pretty everyday and have the best mind-blowing sex ever and I'll even share my ramen with you! Dattebayo!"

Naruto paused and took a hold of her hand, setting the ring against the tip of her fourth finger. The metal was still warm from the broth it had been soaking in before. He took a breath and Sakura thought she hadn't seen him look this nervous since he'd found out what the first stage of the chuunin exams, "So, Sakura-chan. Will you marry me? Please?"

She slid her hand forward so the ring slid up to the first knuckle and let out a light chuckle, "Well, when you word it like that, how could I ever say no? Of course, I'll marry you."

The grin that split his face was one of the biggest and brightest smiles Sakura had ever seen Naruto make. In the next second he was standing up and smashing a hard kiss against her lips, a smile still stretching them tight. His hands gripped tight against her back, pressing her to his chest. She relaxed in his arms. They always felt like home to her. When he broke the kiss a moment later, he rested his head on her chest, eyes looking down at her hand.

"I know Ino said no sex right before, but that doesn't mean no sex right after, right?" Naruto asked, his warm breath fanning across her ear and tickling her neck.

She just shook her head, "Insatiable idiot." The words came out in an annoyed grumble, but the slight smile pulling at her lips revealed her real mood.

"Meh," Naruto shrugged, and tapped the diamond on her ring, "But I'm your insatiable idiot now."

based off of a NS headcanon on tumblr. :) If you're ever looking for some inspiration, this blog has tons of great headcanons. haha

feel free to shoot me a review and let me know what you think! i'll probably be posting some more oneshots when i get time and (eventually) updating my other unfinished stories. life's just kinda hectic at the moment haha

Disclaimer: As always, I don't own Naruto or any of it's affiliated characters/trademarks. I'm just playing in the sandbox.

Until Next Time!

~~Emy!~~