AN: Hello everyone I'm Corialanus and this will be my second foray into the world of Naruto fan fiction. It's going to be a cliché Hinata arranged marriage fic, but hopefully I'll add enough twists to make it interesting. I don't own Naruto, though I doubt any of you reading this actually thought I did. Thanks for stopping to check out my story I hope you enjoy it

Hinata Hyuga was the sixteen year old heiress of her clan, The Hyuga Clan, the most prestigious and noble of all the clans in Konoha. Being the eldest child of the leader of the clan had its perks, but it also could be difficult and painful at times, and today was the worst day she had faced yet. Her clan duties involved getting married at a young age, and here she was at the clan meeting where her fate and future were to be determined.

Hinata was kneeling at a small table in the center of the room as the various members of her clan filed in around her waiting for the meeting to begin. She remembered how she pleaded with her father to delay this meeting just a little longer as there was one thing she had to resolve before she could even think about marriage. Of course her father refused and said that she should thank him as he had actually gotten permission from the elders to allow her a list of names, and she would be given a choice, which was very rare especially for a female Hyuga. Sadly she caved and said thanks to her father and agreed to be here now and accept her fate as a Hyuga.

A fate that would be unbearable, unless by some miracle his name was on the list. "Naruto Uzumaki." She softly said to herself. She knew that his name being on the list was impossible. Her father would never approve of the immature orphan, and village prankster, and knucklehead ninja who lived by his own Ninja way. He would never let his daughter marry a boy who owned nothing but his ridiculously cute set of orange and black track suits and the burden of carrying a demon inside of him since the day of his birth. Hiashi Hyuga was a very practical man and would surely of populated the list full of rich and powerful men who could give her everything and who owned more things than Naruto could even dream of.

But Naruto had one possession that her father was not aware of and that was Hianta Hyuga's heart. He had held it for so many years now, but sadly he was not aware of it for most of that time. She could never tell him for so many reasons, but on that day when the world looked like it was going to end, she knew that she just couldn't let her Naruto-kun or herself die without letting him hear it from her at least once. So despite the fact that she knew she would die she rushed out there against Pain and told him that she loved him before Pain crushed her.

Hinata then surprisingly opened her eyes to the news that she wasn't dead and that Naruto had saved the village. She heard people tell her that when Naruto saw Pain hurt her it pushed him over the edge and he erupted unlike ever before and saved the village. The first few days of rebuilding the village were the happiest of her life. She felt lighter than air having finally told Naruto how she felt about him, and it didn't matter that she hadn't seen him since, he was the hero of the village he had more important things to deal with than her. But as days turned to weeks and Naruto seemed to avoid being alone with her she quickly turned to depression. Maybe he doesn't remember, or maybe he does and is too embaressed to reject me, she thought to herself. She decided to just wait it out and let Naruto come to her when the time was right, he had so much to worry about and she didn't want to burden him.

Then the day came when her father told her about the fact that she needed to get married. That was when she knew that she needed to see him one last time, but by that time he was already on his way to the Hidden Cloud to train. She tried as hard as she could to get a mission to see him, but she couldn't and now today has arrived. She didn't think that she could go through with this without hearing from Naruto once that he didn't love her. If she had hope that he might still want her she could never give herself to another man.

This morning however as despair washed over her harder than the water in the shower she realized that there was no way Naruto could return her feelings. It had been so many months since she poured her heart and soul out to him, and he barely even acknowledged her since then. She realized that this was his way of telling her "no thanks" without all the shame and embaressment of a face to face rejection. So this morning she put on her most beautiful formal kimono and decided that at the very least she could fulfill her duties as the Hyuga heir. If she could never be with the man she loved, at least she could be the best daughter her father could ask for.

Hinata looked up as she noticed her father motioned for everyone to take their seats and be quiet. After a few minutes of everyone settling down Hiashi finally spoke up, "Hello everyone, as you are most likely aware we are here to discuss the future husband of my eldest daughter Hinata."

Hinata stood up and bowed as she said, "I would like to thank all of you here for giving me the option of choosing a husband and not just forcing one on me. I know it is a rare honor and I will do my best in the coming years to make the entire Hyuga clan proud." She bowed again and then knelt behind the table set up for her in the center of the room.

Hiashi smiled and said, "Well spoken Hinata. I as her father would also like to thank all of you for this. Now as you know I have prepared a list of suitors who I think are suitable for marriage to the eldest Hyuga of the main branch. Now Hinata we started this early while you are still sixteen so that will give you some time to meet and get to know all of these men that way you can make an informed decision before your eighteenth birthday."

Hinata said, "Thank you father, I will use the time wisely."

Hiashi held out a very formal looking scroll and handed it to one of his attendants and said, "Take this over to Hinata, let her read it to herself first, and then please read the names aloud to the assembly."

The attendant bowed and took the scroll from his hand and walked over towards Hinata. He reached his hand out and then as Hinata reached her hand out to accept it, the strangest thing happened, a 3 foot wide orange toad jumped in between them and ate the scroll.

An audible gasp could be heard from the crowd as Hinata and her father stared in shock at the toad as it hopped away. Seconds later a large crash boomed from above and drew everyone's attention to the ceiling where rapidly dropping from it was a blue eyed boy with golden spiky hair in an orange and black jumpsuit, who had the largest scroll anyone had ever seen strapped to his back. He landed right in front of Hiashi Hyuga, and said, "Hey there, I'm sorry to interrupt but I have something to say here."

Hinata's heart leapt as she looked at Naruto standing there. In her wildest dreams she never expected that Naruto would come here now, she had to pinch herself to make sure that this wasn't just another fantastic dream of hers starring the blonde ninja.

Hiashi looked angry as he screamed, "Who do you think you are to interfere in the affairs of the Hyuga?

Naruto shrugged and said, "Well I know that I'm Naruto Uzamaki, and I just got back into town from having mastered control of the nine tailed fox."

Everyone in attendance gasped and a buzz of talking erupted at this shocking news.

Hiashi continued, "Well as impressive as that is, it has nothing to do with the Hyuga's and you have no business being here, it's a clan matter."

Naruto rubbed his head and said, "Well I heard you guys were deciding who Hinata was going to marry."

Hiashi looked curiously at the boy and answered, "Yes that is the purpose of this meeting so can I ask why you have interfered?

Naruto answered with a laugh, "Well no offence but I don't think a bunch of stuffy old clan members should pick who a girl should marry so I decided as one of her closest friends I'd give you guys a better list." He patted the giant scroll on his back as he said this.

Hearing those words from Naruto was like a kunai plunging straight into the core of Hinata's heart. Here she was foolish enough to think that Naruto was coming to claim her as his own. She felt the tears welling up, she never thought that her heart could be shattered by hearing Naruto calling her one of his closest friends, but right now at this moment him calling her a close friend pained her more than she ever imagined. She looked at the size of the scroll Naruto carried and tried to calculate just how many names there were on it. It just killed her that Naruto could take this much time and effort to think of so many other men who would be right to marry her, and not even for one second consider marrying her himself. Was this how eager he was to get rid of her so that she wouldn't bother him with her silly love confessions anymore.

Less than a minute ago Hinata had been happier than she had ever been, and now she was drowning deeper in misery than she ever had. She wished he hadn't come. She was ready to move on and accept her fate, but him coming as a concerned friend destroyed her more than she could ever recover from. She knew he probably thought he was being nice and a good friend to her, but in truth he was hurting her more than anyone had ever hurt another person.

Hiashi laughed and said, "Well now Naruto Uzumaki, I think it's funny that you think you know better than Hinata's own clan, how do you know if these men could even qualify to meet our standards?"

Naruto laughed and said, "Oh well this list contains some of the strongest Shinobi Konoha has ever produced from respectable bloodlines. In fact I'm pretty sure there's a future Hokage on this list. I personally vouch for every ninja on this list if any of them are lucky enough to be chosen by your beautiful daughter."

Hearing Naruto call her beautiful just drove another Kunai into Hinata's already shredded heart.

Hiashi laughed and said, "Well despite the rudeness of your intrusion I must admit I'm curious who a rash young man like yourself thinks is right for my daughter, and since you are the Hero of the village I suppose we'll take a look."

Naruto just said, "Dattebayo." As he then ripped the seal off the scroll and then rolled it straight ahead towards where Hinata was sitting in silence. Most of the crowd gasped as the list unfurled in front of them.

Hiashi said, "What is the meaning of this, a joke here and now?"

Hinata's curiosity, despite the pain in her heart, forced her to look up at the scroll and she was shocked at what she saw. On the scroll written in the biggest and brightest orange letters anyone had ever seen was written but one name. Naruto Uzumaki. Hinata felt her heart leap into her throat and Naruto answered her father's question in the most serious tone she had ever heard. Naruto said sternly, "This is no joke Hiashi sir, I realized something these past few months that I should have realized a long time ago, I love your daughter. Don't worry, I know I'm an orphan, but in actuality I am the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki so I'm sure my parents are worthy enough."

Then in a split second Naruto vanished from in front of Hiashi and he appeared in front of Hinata kneeling next to her. He said, "Hinata, please look at me."

Hinata looked up tears flowing from her eyes as she stuttered out, "Na-na-Naruto-kun."

Naruto gently wiped a tear from her eye as he then took one of her hands in his and said, "I'm sorry Hinata. I'm so stupid sometimes. I remember every moment, every look in your eye, every word you said when you saved me from Pain. You scared me more in that moment than I could understand."

Hinata said, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun."

Naruto smiled and said, "Don't be Hinata. It scared me because I thought I lost you, and it was terrible that in that moment I lost you I for the first time truly realized what you meant to me. After I saved the village I wanted to come to you, I wanted to take you in my arms and never let you go again, but then I thought what if the next time I actually did lose you."

Hinata sighed, "Oh Naruto-kun."

Naruto continued, "So I decided being close to me was too dangerous for you so I thought if I hid from you; you might forget me."

Hinata with tears still falling said, "I could never forget you Naruto-kun"

Naruto smiled and said, "I know, like I said I'm so stupid, but when I came back and heard that you were going to get married off I had to stop it."

Hinata smiled as Naruto took her hand in his and pulled out a small ornate box with his other.

Hinata nearly fainted as he opened it and she saw a ring with a platinum band and a small diamond cut in the shape of a shot glass on top of it.

Naruto continued, "Pervy sage gave me this before he left the last time and told me he bought this years and years ago for Granny Tsunade, but he didn't ever think that he'd get a chance to give it to her. He told me that if I was ever stupid enough to get married he'd be honored if I gave this to the girl I love."

Hinata's eyes lit up as Naruto took the ring out of the box and held it just outside her grasp.

Naruto swallowed hard as he said, "Hinata Hyuga I love you, you're my everything. I have a question to ask you, but before I ask it I need you to look at me and understand what I'm going to tell you."

Hinata's tear soaked lavender eyes stared deep into Naruto's and she nodded.

Naruto said, "I am the jinchuriki of the nine tails, and Naruto Uzumaki the child of prophecy of my master, and the brother of a very lost soul Sasuke Uchiha. I carry a great many burdens and I've carried them alone for years, it is at times hard and painful. I can continue to carry them alone, but I don't want to. I know this is selfish of me to ask, and I can make no promises that our life together will be safe or happy, in fact it's much more likely to be the opposite. But I can promise that if you make this sacrifice and accept my selfish request that I'll do everything in my power to make you the most loved woman time has ever known. Do you understand Hinata?"

She nodded her body shaking with anticipation of his next question, she was pretty sure what it was going to be, but you never know with Naruto. Naruto swallowed hard and then asked, "Hinata Hyuga will you make me the luckiest man in the world and marry me?"

Hinata's brain exploded in pure bliss as she screamed, "Yes, Yes, Yes of Course Naruto-kun"

Naruto then slid the ring on her finger, which went on rather easily seeing as it seemed a little too big and then he stared deep in her eyes and leaned in to give her a kiss trying to tell her how grateful he was. Once she felt the heat of his breath on her lips the enormity of her lifelong dream finally coming true came crashing down on her and she fainted in his arms a nano second before he managed to kiss her.

AN: There was the first chapter I hope you enjoyed it. This story is going to start out with mostly cute and fluffy Naruto and Hinata moments, but I am going to bring in Sasuke as a villain with a fairly large part of the story. I haven't decided if I'm going to have side pairings or not, I'm still formulating the story in my head. I just came up with the idea for that first scene and I really wanted to write it so I pumped it out. I'm aware that Naruto's heartfelt confession may have been a touch out of character, but I think it's hard to write overly romantic stuff with Naruto in character. I'm going to try and do a better job and keep as much of his goofy nature there as possible. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and like any fan fiction writer I'd love to hear your thoughts whether positive or negative. I take flames better than most, but I do hope you enjoyed it so there will be no need to flame. Thanks again and I'll try to update in the not too distant future.