Oneshot that I felt inclned to write due to my love of romance atthis time of year, I only there wasn't so much chocolate around though... oh well

I don't own Naruto

"It must be money" Sakura whispered as she watched Naruto Uzumaki sitting and eating with his long term girlfriend. It was rumoured that Naruto had been disinherited by his father when he became an actor and an actor couldn't always be sure of work. Hinata was a very wealthy young woman, or she would be when her father died. Sakura had gone to school with Hinata and thought her very dull, she had introduced them out of politeness but had never thought anything would come of it.

"It's so good to see the old crowd again!" Ino had rejoiced as she flung an arm around the quiet Hyuga girl, there were seven girls altogether and Hinata had barely said seven words in the hour they'd been sitting together, they had once upon a time attended a private school together, they were now 'celebrities' due to their wealth and in some cases their behaviour "how've you been Hinata?"

"Alright" the pale girl whispered with a smile, her friends were always trying to coax her to converse like the rest of them but they didn't realise that in such a large group she felt nervous and enjoyed just watching the rest of them. It was odd for her to be out like this, it was close on midnight and she found the music from the dance floor far too noisy but Neji and Hanabi had pushed her to meet her old friends.

"Still painting?" Ino urged her a little more.

"When I can, father thinks it's a waste."

"Ah don't listen to him, hey I was thinking that I'd like a proper portrait of me and Cho once we're married, you did such a great one of me at Graduation I was thinking you could do it."

"I guess" Hinata kept smiling and took a sip of her cocktail, seeing more flashes of photography at the entrance to the bar she'd ducked her head wishing to keep out of the limelight. As it was the flashes were not because of them, this time they were aimed at a young blond headed man who had just swaggered in. The attention of most of the girls immediately transferred to him, only Ino shrugged him off and continued talking quietly with Hinata.

"Ino, it's Naruto!" Sakura had hissed sitting up very straight and tossing her hair over one shoulder. Ino rolled her eyes and gave Hinata a look that screamed impatience, Hinata giggled behind her hands. "He's coming over, do I look OK?"

"Stunning as ever my dear" Ino told her flatly.

"Who's stunning?" A low voice that had often been described as 'dangerously sexy' reminded Hinata of his latest movie where he had been a spy in the vein of James Bond and constantly flirted with lots of women.

"Why me of course!" Sakura smiled flirtatiously and gazed into Naruto's bright blue eyes. "Don't you think so?"

"Of course, and what a bevy of beauties we have here tonight, may I join you?"

"I insist you do" Sakura latched onto his arm as he sat down, they engaged in mild flirtation and Hinata went back to her quiet conversation with Ino until she heard her name mentioned and looked up accordingly.

"Sorry?" she asked noticing that both Naruto and Sakura were looking at her.

"I was just telling Naruto who everyone was."

"You're an artist I'm told?" he smiled winningly at her and she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Not really" she shook her head and then allowed her hair to fall around her face curtaining it. It was a while before Ino coaxed her out again and engaged her in conversation but her cheeks remained a light pink throughout.

"Let's go dance Naruto" Sakura whined but Naruto shook his head, his gaze flicking from her and back to Hinata every now and then.

"I have a phone call to make, you go ahead, I'll watch" he gave her a devilish grin and she grabbed some friends and sauntered off swaying her hips as she went. Only Ino and Hinata remained behind as the other girls disappeared amongst the throng, Hinata looked uneasy as Naruto's attention fixed on her.

"Your phone call?" Ino questioned Naruto smirking as she looked back and forth between the two.

"I'm waiting for it" he answered quickly his eyes never looking away from Hinata's face "How've you been Ino?"

"I'm fine" she decided not to be annoyed at his lack of attention to her as she was enjoying this situation immensely "Marrying Choji soon, you remember him?"

"Of course, is he still writing music?"

"Yeah, on the side, in fact one or two of your movies has had his music in them"

"Fascinating" Naruto noticed that Hinata had finally stopped blushing and asked "So what do you do Hinata?"

She coloured up again but answered quite clearly "My f-fathers company… I work in the office, filing mostly"

"Sounds interesting" he lied making Hinata giggle and hide her mouth behind her hand again.

"It's not at all interesting" she smiled disarmingly at him "but my father thinks art is a waste of time as there's no money in it… he's right, there's no money in it… and so I do boring reception work and he gets to say it's a family business."

"Fathers eh? Mine almost disowned me when he found out I wanted to act, mum decided that the best way to keep him happy was for me to study business and to act just a little in adverts and TV stuff, by the time I finished my studies I had been offered a film and Dad let me go for it."

"My father always says that mothers have all the knowledge to make for a happy home." Hinata smiled sadly "I guess it's true"

"You guess?"

"My mother passed away when I was a child, I barely remember her… are you going?" this last part was addressed to Ino who had just stood up causing Hinata to panic a little.

"I think I'm going home to Choji… Naruto you'll see Hinata safely home?"

"Of course" Naruto grinned as Hinata gave her friend a desperate look "I'll take good care of her."

From across the dance floor Sakura's green eyes burned greener as she watched Naruto brush Hinata's hair out of her face, still it didn't concern her too much, this was Hinata, there was no way any man, especially a guy like Naruto would go for Hinata over Sakura.

"It must be a bet" Neji muttered to himself as he watched his cousin, the honourable Hinata Hyuga sitting with her fiancé Naruto Uzumaki. The young man in question was inhaling his food and talking loudly usually at the same time. In Neji's opinion the only reason Naruto would be with Hinata was for some sort of game or bet!

Before the two of them had become engaged he'd been quite a promiscuous person, perhaps he'd made a bet with his friends about sleeping with her. On the one hand Neji had to admit that Naruto had calmed down, there were no other girls in his life, his actions weren't regularly appearing in the tabloids. Still, it made no sense, Hinata was not the sort of girl the Narutos of the world were attracted to. When Hinata had actually brought Naruto home to announce that they were engaged Neji had almost had a heart attack.

"This is Neji" Hinata had pulled a large blonde man over and presented him to her cousin "Neji, Naruto"

"Nice to meet you" Neji lied staring the man up and down, what could have possibly attracted someone like Hinata to Naruto? She was of good family, she was sweet, kind, the kind of girl that exists in films and stories but you never usually meet, of course she wasn't just a nice person, she had looks too, an elfin like face, long dark hair and she looked good in almost any outfit she wore which right now was a fashionable skirt and jacket. He was currently wearing jeans and a t-shirt and looked as though he'd just crawled through a hedge.

"Hey, sorry I look a mess" he grinned looking anything but sorry.

"Not at all" Neji told him, looking like it mattered a great deal, he was pleased to see that Naruto looked awkward "Hiashi has been waiting for you."

"Yeah shooting overran and I couldn't leave when I wanted to"

"Stop looking so apologetic" Hinata told him standing in front of him and smiling up "It's fine."

"I…" Naruto took a deep breathe and smiled back at her "Hinata I wanted this to be right.

"It will be" Hinata turned to face Neji and smiled "how has father been today?"

"Work has been good but he's not really in any mood for this."

"We could wait!" Naruto sounded hopeful and started backing to the door but Hinata just laughed and kept a firm hold on his hand.

"Naruto the longer we wait the worse it will be, he's going to be upset that you didn't get his permission whatever happens."

"Permission?" Neji cut in very interested in this conversation, the young couple turned and gave matching bashful grins.

"Don't tell Father that we told you first but…" Hinata turned back to smile at Naruto who put his arm around her shoulders looking scarily proud… Neji's heart dropped in realisation… it couldn't be! "Naruto asked me to marry him last night."

No! "Oh…?" Neji struggled to keep his voice level.

"She said Yes" Naruto looked fondly down at Hinata and then up at Neji again "Look I know your uncle is damned traditional but I think Hinata is independent enough for me to ask her without permission from her father. But I respect how he may feel and we decided that he would be the first to know… well asides from you."

"You two are getting married?" Neji repeated nervously

"Yes" Hinata didn't seem to notice Neji's disbelief but Naruto had and was now looking even more nervous "Come on Naruto, lets do this." Pulling Naruto's hand Hinata began to run towards her father's office, Naruto followed after turning back to give Neji a confused look, like he didn't understand why the Hyuga was so against him.

Neji shook his head as the young couple left, Hiashi was going to be anything but happy about this especially with Naruto looking like he did. 'This is it' he muttered to himself, 'the fall of the house of Hyuga'

"It must be for publicity" Minato muttered to himself as he watched his wife look through wedding magazines with her future daughter in law. He couldn't believe that Naruto actually wanted to get married, and to this girl. She was sweet enough but not his son's usual type, he liked them vivacious, talkative, usually with too much cleavage and not a lot of brain cells. When he'd brought Hinata home the first time he'd been so pleasantly surprised he hadn't known how to act, usually with Naruto's girls it was a case of stare directly in the eye and say very little.

"Mum, Dad, this is Hinata Hyuga" Naruto smiled proudly as he pulled Hinata forward to meet his parents, the young girl was understandably timid as she bowed her head respectfully but stayed close to Naruto. "this is the girl I'm going to marry!"

"It's so nice to meet you" Kushina smiled at the shy young woman "I'm so pleased Naruto found you!" She walked forward and took Hinata's hands in hers "I never thought he'd find the girl he was meant to be with, not with the way he used to act."

Naruto rolled his eyes at this but Hinata just smiled shyly "He's always been a complete gentleman to me."

"First time for everything" Minato muttered and then encountering his wife's glare murmured an apology and spoke up with "So Hinata… where do you work?"

"I work for my family's company, in admin mostly."

"The Hyuga company?" Minato stated with a slightly questioning tone "So your father is Lord Hyuga" He hadn't made the connection before but he knew Lord Hyuga well having met with him many times before at functions and business meetings.

"Yes, I'm his eldest so I have to stay in the business."

"But she's an artist too! You should see her painting." Naruto cut in excitedly "She's working on one for Ino, you remember her mum? I'm sure you guys could see it when it's done, it's a wedding present so don't tell them."

"Ino knows about it, it's for Choji" Hinata explained starting to feel more confident, Naruto always had so much praise for her abilities that it made her almost believe that she was good at things. "I'm doing it from a photo."

"Certainly beats making them pose for it" Kushina said guiding Hinata through to the dining room and beckoning for the others to come too "We're eating almost straight away, I'm sorry I'm sure it's not polite hostessing but we're not alone. Naruto's godparents are here and they're controlling everything."

"What?" Naruto's face dropped at this news and he turned to glare at his father lowering his voice to a whisper he questioned "Jiraiya and Tsunade are here?"

"I'm afraid so"

"Hinata hates crowds and I promised it would be just us four." Naruto gave his fiancée a worried glance and then shook his head "If Jiraiya says anything to upset her!"

Naruto had no idea how much he was impressing his father at that point, Minato had always thought his son to be very careless about girl's and their feelings but he was obviously very protective of his future wife "If Jiraiya says anything to upset her we'll take him out to the back garden and the marrows will be particularly curvy next year!" Minato grinned and his son couldn't help but join him.

"Does this mean Tsunade is cooking?" Naruto appeared hopeful as he followed his mother to the table, Kushina gave him a dark look and nodded.

"Yes Tsunade is cooking and she made your favourite pasta dish."

"Sweet!" Naruto moved to sit beside Hinata and took her hand in his "You Ok?" he whispered to her.

"I'm good" she whispered back and held his hand tighter "Just nervous I'll screw up and they'll all hate me"

"Hinata I'm their son, if they can cope with my terrible manners they're going to adore you!"

Minato watched them closely, he was still a bit bemused by Hinata, she certainly didn't seem like the type to do this just to get her face in the paper but she was so unlike Naruto it was strange to see them together, something didn't seem right.

"It must be Love" Ino cooed as she watched her dark haired friend dancing with her blonde fiancé.

"What was that?" Choji asked turning to his new wife with a smile

"Naruto and Hinata" Ino told him looking over at the two of them, Hinata wore the deep red bridesmaids dress that all the others were wearing and Naruto looked heart stoppingly good in his tuxedo. Choji watched the young couple as they danced around the floor talking and laughing together.

"They really look right together" Choji agreed "I've never known Naruto like this, it's like she's his good half."

"Is that what marriage is then? A good half and a not so good half?"

"Yes" Choji nodded "You're the good half of course" he grinned as she hit his shoulder lightly "Made me want to be a better man"

"There was no better man for me" Ino told him kissing him lightly "Dance with me."

"Oh how pretty!" Ino clapped her hands as she watched Hinata try on yet another white dress. The bride to be turned to grin at her before returning to look in the mirror, putting her hands on her hips she tilted her head to one side looking dissatisfied.

"It seems… too much" Hinata turned with a look of despair on her face "I'm not this girl Ino, I don't wear these clothes right"

"You look beautiful" Ino told her, and she did but Ino knew what she meant. Whilst Ino loved her current attire, the strapless smooth bodice sewed with tiny seeded pearls and full tulle skirt she could see that it was not for Hinata, Hinata was demure, shy, and though she looked like the perfect bride, this dress was not for her.

"But I don't feel comfortable… that may sound stupid to most women but… I need to love this dress and I need to feel like me in it."

"Oh Honey" Ino walked up lifting her own white skirts as she did so "Look at me" there was so much ruching on the skirt and bright rhinestones across the bust that many girls would avoid such a garment but somehow Ino looked stunning. "We should take pictures!" Ino made one of the assistants take pictures before launching herself in the direction of the clothes racks and started to search for more dresses.

In minutes she was back across the room holding up a dress "Try this, it's just like Summer's!"

"Who's Summer?"

"From The O.C.?"

"OK" Hinata took the dress and disappeared into the changing room "Why are you trying on more dresses anyway, you already have yours picked out?"

"Honey for a limited time women can go into wedding dress shops, be given champagne and try on very expensive dresses that make them feel like a fairy princess, whist this finger holds an engagement ring but no wedding one, it is that time! Oh!" at that moment Hinata walked out of the dressing room, the dress was a completely plain halter neck gown that made Hinata look like an angel "You look beautiful"

"I like it" Hinata stood in front of the mirrors again and pressed a hand to her chest "Yes, this is the one."

"It's perfect, this is the dress you'll marry Naruto in! You two will look so perfect together!"

"Yeah" Hinata nodded before turning to her friend and asking "Ino do you think…? Are Naruto and I right together?"

"What?"

"He's so extroverted and a bit of an exhibitionist… and I'm the complete opposite. Sometimes I see people watching us, my dad, his dad, Sakura, Neji His God-parents and I know what they're all thinking, they all think it's not real."

"So ignore them, they don't know what you two are feeling. Hinata if all you want is to spend your life with Naruto then its real, that's all that matters. People don't always get me and Choji either, they look at him… and he's a big guy, then they look at me and I was once told to gain weight or I couldn't model anymore… love is the greatest, strangest, most important thing in this world, and the best bit about it is that no one really understands it. You just feel it."

"See, that's why you're making my maid of honour speech" Hinata told her with a smile and a hug.

"Matron of honour, after all I'll be well shackled by that time."

Naruto held the woman he was to marry close to him as he circled the dance floor with her, she kept her arms around him one of her fingers playing with a tendril of hair.

"I'm so lucky" he whispered kissing her cheek "You are the most amazing thing that ever happened to me."

"Same here" she told him looking up into his eyes, just past him she could see Choji and Ino dancing by "Just think, in a few month's that'll be us. Scared?"

"Only that you'll change your mind" he told her "Hinata sometimes I think people are judging us, like you're too good for me."

"Oh my God me too! Only not that I'm too good for you, just that we're too different."

"Good thing they don't matter right?"

"A very good thing" she agreed and their dancing paused as Naruto enveloped her in a very steamy kiss.

Ok weird I know but thats just the way it is!