Author's Note: Hello! So I was ask to write a story for NaruHina Fluffy Day (April 10th to April 24th)! I'm clearly late on this but I was more than happy to write it so here, we go, my submission for NaruHina Fluffy Day!
Story Note: This is set in an alternate universe! Naruto is 21 and Hinata is 19.
The Day I Met Her
"You're late!" his boss shouted as he hit him over the head with a balled-up apron that he later tossed in the young man's face. "How many more times do I need to tell you to be on time before I have to fire you Naruto?"
"My bad Iruka," Naruto apologized as he quickly put on his apron while Iruka adjusted his tie. "I promise I'll be on time for the next one."
"We're catering the Konoha Business Guild's Annual Corporate Banquet tonight!" Iruka whined. "I told you time and time again that you absolutely could not be late for this. Ugh! Forget it! Grab a tray of champagne and get out there!"
"Yes sir!" Naruto playfully saluted Iruka and quickly went to pick up a tray before Iruka could hit him again. He backed out of the doors while flashing Iruka a large grin. As he turned around, he quickly scanned the room to see who exactly was in attendance and it didn't take long for him to recognize who was who.
Naruto made it a point to know the names and faces of some of the most powerful men and women in Konoha and he did it mainly though business and marketing magazines and the local news outlets and papers. It wasn't hard to recognize the executives from Outsutsuki Pharmaceuticals or Uchiha Inc.
"It took you long enough to get here."
Naruto looked to his right and saw Uchiha Sasuke standing beside him and snatching a glass of champagne off his tray. "I thought you said you were going to skip this and stay home?"
"Do you really think I'd be able to get away with that with the kind of mother I have?" Sasuke rolled his eyes as he downed the glass of champagne. "Honestly, she's trying to introduce me to wife candidates again, this time from the Outsutsuki Clan and my father isn't saying anything about it."
Naruto chuckled. "You have to tell her about Sakura one day or you're going to go home one day and find out you're engaged to someone else. And knowing Sakura, she isn't going to like that and you're going to have to explain to that poor girl why she ended up in the hospital."
Sasuke sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "She was actually supposed to come with me tonight so she could finally meet my parents but she said she had to study for one of her exams. There's no possible way they won't like Sakura, right? I mean, she's in school to become a doctor."
"Sasuke," both Sasuke and Naruto looked to see Sasuke's sister-in-law Izumi approaching the two of them, "you better get back. Okaa-chan is two seconds away from proposing to Umeko Outsutsuki without you."
Sasuke groaned and replaced his empty glass of champagne with a full one from Naruto's tray. "I'll talk to you again soon, Naruto."
Naruto nodded and watched as Sasuke walked away with Izumi. He removed Sasuke's empty glass and dropped it onto a passing co-worker's tray that was filled only with empty glasses. After that, Naruto began to make his way through the room and offering champagne to those with empty hands and gladly replacing empty champagne glasses with full ones. He mingled effortlessly with the elites of Konoha, sometimes cracking a joke that would work and providing commentary when ask.
He'd done all the research he needed to do before tonight's event on each of these companies and what they were working on so when the time came that his two cents was ask to be provided, he was ready. He was on his way back towards the kitchen to replace his tray when he was waved down by someone from Outsutsuki Pharmaceuticals. He immediately recognized him as Outsutsuki Toneri, the heir to the Outsutsuki Pharmaceuticals throne who was to be named head of the company in another couple of months. He smiled and made his way over.
"Thank you," Toneri said as he took the last glass of champagne off Naruto's tray and replaced it with an empty glass. "Oh, and do you know when they'll begin serving dinner?"
"Shortly I'm sure," Naruto answered and saw someone stand beside Toneri. His eyes shifted to the newest arrival and he immediately noticed the pale violet in her eyes. Her hair was a dark purple and pinned in the back while the rest was wavy and hanging over her right shoulder with bangs framing her face perfectly. Her skin was a soft white and seemed to glow beneath the crystal chandeliers that hang overhead.
"Hinata," Toneri looked at her, a slight look of disappointment on his face, "you were gone for a while. Is everything alright?"
"Sorry Toneri-san," her voice was soft and smooth. "I didn't realize I was gone for so long. I ran into my mother in the hallway and she was curious about something."
"Curious? About what?" Toneri questioned.
She put on a small yet perfect smile. "I'll tell you about it later." Her eyes shifted and met Naruto's. He hadn't realized he'd been staring until that moment and he was sure he felt a sudden tightening in his chest with a shortness of breath.
"Excuse me," he bowed slightly and quickly walked away. He ducked into the kitchen and placed the tray down before he dropped any glasses.
"What's wrong with you?" his co-worked, Kiba, questioned as he sat patiently on a tool against the wall. "Your face is red. You don't have a fever, do you? You know how Iruka gets when we try to work and we're sick."
"Kiba!" Naruto placed his hand on both of Kiba's shoulder abruptly when caused him to jump. "Do you believe in love at first sight?"
"I'm not comfortable with this situation," Kiba said, clearly confused and nervous.
Naruto shook his head. "Not you! There's a girl out there and she's…perfect."
"The only perfect girl to me is Tamaki," Kiba argued as he wore a grin that stretched from ear to ear, his cheeks turning slightly pink. "She's the most perfect woman on the planet. She scratches my head all the time."
"I swear you're a dog," Naruto commented before grabbing Kiba and peeking through one of the windows of the double doors that led out the kitchen. "Over there next to Outsutsuki Toneri, the girl with the lavender dress on."
Kiba looked around until he spotted her. "Oh, that's Hyuuga Hinata, Heiress to Hyuuga Enterprise."
"You know her?" Naruto looked hopeful for a minute.
"Of course not," Kiba replied and watched as Naruto hung his head. "Some guys at my other job were talking about her because she'd just made the cover of some music magazine or something. She apparently plays the violin really well; I think they said she was a world champion violin player?"
"Really?" Naruto sounded amazed as he looked at Hinata who laughed at something said amongst her circle.
Kiba nodded. "I think she's supposed to be performing tonight actually. I heard some people talking about it earlier before you got here that they were looking forward to hearing her perform."
"Kiba! Naruto!" Iruka shouted which caused them both to jump and scramble. "Honestly, if the two of you are going to just stand around and talk, I'm going to start taking money out of your paychecks!"
"Sorry Iruka!" Naruto apologized as he picked up a tray of finger food and rushed out. He looked over towards Hinata again. He admired her for a moment before continuing to work so he missed the moment that Hinata looked towards him in return.
About an hour into Naruto's arrival, the guest began to take their seats while the chefs and cooking staff burst into a frenzy to fill every order out in a timely manner and get them out the door. This was Naruto's least favorite part of the night before they couldn't afford to drop any of the food or spill any of the wine. It was Iruka's policy that anything spilt would come directly out of their pay checks which is probably why his staff was known for their diligence and flawless service.
Naruto scanned the room for table seventy-eight and when he found it, he saw Hinata was sitting there. He perked up a little and made his way over before carefully placing each order down in front of each of them.
"Thank you," Hinata said politely as she smiled up at Naruto.
Naruto couldn't help but blush at the sight of her smile. He returned a smile of his own. "It's no problem at all Ms. Hyuuga."
Hinata looked at him with a look of confusion. "You know my name?"
"Huh?" Naruto was surprised that she was confused that he knew her name. He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm sorry, it's a habit of mine. I try to make sure I know everyone's names before events like this. But it wasn't too hard to figure out you were a Hyuuga, you have the eyes."
"Ah." Hinata seemed a little embarrassed herself and laughed a bit which caused Naruto to melt just a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel awkward. Forgive me?"
Naruto nodded. "Of course!" He answered a little too loudly and blushed more. "Sorry. Um…will you be needing anything else Ms. Hyuuga?"
"Wine, if you have it?" she asks, a slight hint of desperation in her whisper.
"No wine," Toneri said and Hinata let out a slight sight before looking at her food. "That will be all, thank you."
Naruto nodded and bowed before walking away. As he did, he looked over his shoulder to see a young man about his aged but with the same eyes as Hinata lean down and whisper something to her. He saw her stand up and leave the table and disappear down one of the halls near the mainstage. He sighed as he entered the kitchen and took up the next tray of food. "I think I'll just dig a hole and go die in it after this."
"What was that?" Iruka ask as he looked up from his tablet, a slight look of concern on his face.
"Nothing," Naruto sang as he walked out. He continued to work while replaying his first conversation with Hinata over and over. And he also thought about how he would've preferred for their first conversation to go. Doing this seemed to drop him further and further into a pit of depression until he saw Sasuke approach. "Sasuke?"
"What's wrong with you?" Sasuke questioned before shaking his head. "Tell me later. Do you have your flask on you?"
"It's the only way I get through these things, why?" Naruto questioned but instead of getting an answer, Sasuke grabbed Naruto's wrist and led him away from the banquet. "Sasuke, what're you doing?"
"Hinata," Sasuke called as they walked down the empty and dimly lit hallway until they both saw Hinata who was pacing anxiously. Sasuke reached into Naruto's inside jacket pocket and removed a matte black flask with his clan's symbol etched into the front. "Here, drink this."
Naruto watched as Hinata took the flash without question and took a swig without trouble. She took two more big gulps before handing the flask to Sasuke who held onto it. "Thank you Sasuke-kun."
"No problem," Sasuke said before he looked over his shoulder at Naruto who unconsciously kept his distance. "What're you doing way back there? Come here."
"Huh?" Naruto blinked a few times before Sasuke started glaring at him. "Oh! Over there," Naruto said as he approached and stood awkwardly beside Sasuke. He looked at Hinata who seemed to have calmed down a bit thanks to the alcohol. "Hello…again."
Hinata looked at him. "Oh, hello."
"So you've met," Sasuke said. "Hinata, this is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto, this is Hyuuga Hinata."
"It's nice to meet you," Naruto managed without stuttering so he threw himself a mental party.
"Nice to meet you," Hinata said, her voice a little shaky. "I'm sorry. I'm supposed to perform in a couple of minutes and I'm always a nervous wreck before going on stage. I usually can sneak a couple shots of something in before going on but I didn't get a chance to store anything in my case."
"Well, good thing I had my flask then huh?" Naruto commented. "I usually need it to get through these things."
"You and me both," Hinata added as she rubbed her hands and curled her fingers. She let out a long breath before rubbing her wrist and rotating them and looking at Sasuke. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine," Sasuke replied. "I've been playing piano in front of crowds since I was five years old. I don't get stage freight anymore like you do."
Hinata puffed her cheeks which caused Sasuke to laugh and Naruto fall for her a little more. She adjusted the pin in her hair before popping opening her violin case and removing her sterling white violin and matching bow. She quickly tuned it and let out another long breath.
As she did this, Naruto watched her transform from a nervous wreck to a professional. He blindly took his flash back from Sasuke and slid it into his jacket pocket as both he and Hinata made their way to the stage. Naruto immediately moved to where he could see the stage and watched as Sasuke took a seat at the piano while Hinata took center stage.
At the microphone stood the young man who'd retrieved Hinata early, the two of them exchanging warm smiles with one another before he faced the crowd.
"Good evening and welcome to the 75th Konoha Business Guild's Annual Corporal Banquet," he spoke without the slightest hint of nervousness at addressing the large crowd. "This year, it is hosted by those of us at Hyuuga Enterprise so as part of our hosting, we are happy to presenting Lady Hyuuga Hinata on violin accompanied by Uchiha Incorporated's own Uchiha Sasuke. They'll be presenting an original piece composed by the two of them entitled 'Moonlit Night.'"
There was a light set of applause from the crowd as he exited the stage leaving only the two of them alone up there. Naruto saw both Sasuke and Hinata exchange a look before Sasuke began a light melody. Sasuke played the piano with no trouble at all, his fingers finding where they needed to be seamlessly. As Sasuke's short solo came to an end, he looked towards Hinata, his pace changing slightly as Hinata brought her violin to her shoulder and raised her bow. As she began, Naruto felt a chill run down his spine and goosebumps rise on his arms.
Her sound was powerful but didn't overpower Sasuke's piano, the two of them working flawlessly with one another without having to look at each other anymore. Hinata decided the pace and Sasuke followed. Though she had been full of nerves just moments before, there wasn't the slightest hint of that in her performance.
The music they produced was solemn but kept everyone listening and absorbing every note they let out. Every bar wrapped around the audience and the two of them knew which notes to drag out to help the music progress appropriately. This carried on for the entirety of their ten-minute performance so when it ended, it was only natural for the entire room to give them a standing ovation.
Sasuke stood from the piano and stood beside Hinata, the two of them bowing towards the audience a few times which warranted more applause before the two of them stepped off. In that time, Naruto hadn't realized he wasn't breathing until he felt his chest start to hurt. He gasp for air and played it off as coughing as the table he was standing near gave him strange looks. He quickly found his way back to where Hinata and Sasuke where resting.
"That was amazing!" Naruto exclaimed as he stood in front of them two of them. "I've never heard anything like that before in my life. I mean, I got goosebumps and chills and everything! I didn't realize I'd stop breathing at one point."
"You stop breathing?" Sasuke ask and saw Naruto nod with a childlike brightness in his eyes. "Honestly Naruto, what would've happened if you passed out?"
As Naruto and Sasuke began to go back of forth, their bantering mainly consisting of Sasuke scolding Naruto and Naruto compliment Sasuke, Hinata began to laugh. The two of them looked at her, then back at one another, and then finally back at her, both of them confused.
"I'm sorry," Hinata apologized as she wiped away a tear. "It's just rare to see Sasuke-kun act so normal around someone besides Sakura-chan and I, it's refreshing."
"You know Sakura-chan too?" Naruto ask and saw Hinata nod. "Don't you think he should've introduced Sakura to his parents by now?"
Hinata nodded. "He should have. Sakura-chan is really sweet and Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha would love her. It would help clear up all this engagement mess he's in the middle of. What's going to happen if you go home one day and you're engaged to someone? You're going to have to explain to that girl why she ended up in the hospital."
"That's exactly what I said!" Naruto exclaimed, both he and Hinata laughing.
"Honestly," Sasuke groaned.
"Hinata," the young man from earlier called. "Uncle is waiting for you."
"Ah, coming," Hinata called. She was about to get up but watched as Naruto outstretched his hand for her. She graciously took it and Naruto felt how soft her hands were despite the number of hours she must've put in practicing her violin. "Oh, Naruto-kun, thank you for saying what you said about our performance. It's the first time someone's responded that way and for the first time in a while, I'm glad I performed."
Naruto blushed a little but turned completely red when she planted a kiss on his cheek. Hinata left with a smile but as she left, Naruto was sure she saw the tops of her ears were just as red as his face. Naruto patted his face several times before grinning at Sasuke. "Sasuke, you might think this is really bold of me to say but, I'm going to marry her someday."
"You barely know her," Sasuke reminded him. "How can you say you're going to marry her?"
"Let's just call it a feeling," Naruto answered.
Three Years Later
"And to this day, I can't even begin to imagine what my life would be like without you in it," Naruto explained as he squeezed Hinata's hands, the two of them standing in front of their family and friends. "You are my everything and everything I had to endure to be able to stand here with you today was worth it," Naruto chuckled along with the crowd, Hinata's father scoffing then scowling after being nudged by his wife. "Hyuuga Hinata, I love you beyond words can even begin to describe and I'm looking forward to devoting the rest of my life to loving you, growing with you, and building a life with you."
After a few words from the priest and the exchanging of their rings, Naruto eagerly kissed Hinata, the two of them laughing as streamers erupted and their friends and family shouting congratulations. Naruto wiped away Hinata's tears and put his forehead against hers while their fingers laced together, their rings gently bumping against one another.
"I love you Mrs. Uzumaki," Naruto said with a grin.
Hinata giggled. "I love you too Mr. Uzumaki."
The End