As long as he could remember, there had always had been some form of conflict. Whether it was a battle of wills between him and Kyuubi, or a battle to the death against a dozen sound ninja. He always knew he could win, no matter what the obstacle, as long as she was there.
-------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- ----------------------
"Hey, Hana, wake up!"
"Wha-what!" exclaimed Hana. She looked around frantically for who woke her up. And standing over the park bench, looking down at her, was the one and only Uzumaki Naruto with a smirk on his face. He was dressed in his Jounin uniform, with only the Fifth Hokage's necklace for extra adornment. "Naruto! What the crap do you think you're doing?"
"I was just waking you up, Hana-chan." Replied Naruto with an even bigger smirk on his face.
"You didn't have to scare the living daylights out of me though!" she screamed as she bonked him on the head. After she had calmed down a bit she asked him, "So what are you doing over here anyway, Naruto-kun?"
"I was just running from your mother and brother." he replied nonchalantly.
"You were WHAT?" she screamed. "Why on earth were you running away from my family?"
At this juncture Naruto had apparently decided that his nails were absolutely fascinating, because he was inspecting each one like he had never seen one before. He had also broken out into a light sweat, for his heart was trying to hide itself.
"Well" she said, calmly. "What did you do now?"
"Nothing." was his reply.
"Naruto," she said. "If you do not tell me I swear you will never be able to father children. Do I make myself clear?"
Naruto looked down at his feet like a child who had just received a bad scolding. "I sowwy," he said with an obviously fake pout, "I won't do it again."
Hana broke out into a small laugh at this. She just couldn't believe how fake his pout looked. She then shook her head, she was supposed to be mad at him. "What happened, Naruto?"
"Well, I am not quite sure how to put this, but I was eating at Ichiraku's ramen bar when your brother and mother had walked in. I know that doesn't sound like such a big deal but hear me out. At that particular point I was talking to Gaara, you know who he is right?"
"Of course I do idiot!"
"Ow! You didn't have to hit me on the head like that Hana-chan! Anyway, I was talking to Gaara about different things that had happened in our lives since we had last seen each other. He had told me about how he and Hinata were getting along very well and had asked me if I was involved in any 'relationships'."
"So you told him about me did you?" Hana said.
"Yes ma'am! Please do not hurt me ma'am!" he said with his back straight and parallel to the ground. He suddenly felt a pair of arms envelope him and suddenly had her sent fill his nostrils. His body started to relax. He always wondered why that would happen every time he detected her scent, but just accepted it after awhile.
"Don't worry about it Naru-kun. I don't mind that you told your friend about us, but that still doesn't answer the question. Why in the world are my mother and brother chasing after you."
"Well," Naruto said nervously, "do you remember what happened about one month ago at that party, and then later at my place?"
"What? What party are you talking…..ohhh, that party."
----------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------
As long as she was there, he knew he didn't have to worry. He knew that he could suffer through any hardship, defeat any opponent, and overcome any obstacle. He was accepted by her, she didn't care about what lay chained inside of him. In her eyes, he was her Jounin boyfriend who liked ramen a little too much. In his eyes, she was everything.
------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------
Earlier at Ichiraku's.
"How do you know she has feelings for you Uzumaki?" asked a curious Gaara. He was seated next to our favorite blonde shinobi, who had currently had finished his twenty-fourth bowl of ramen. He was trying to get Naruto to talk long enough for Gaara to finish his meal and pay for it. For he knew that Naruto just loved to leave others his inordinately huge bill when he went on his ramen binges.
"Well you see," started Naruto, unaware that his girlfriend's closest two relatives had just walked into the restaurant, "it had all started at this Jounin party I had gone to with her. They had decided to have it at this pork bar near the Akimichi clan houses. We had met up there and had both decided to get ridiculously drunk.
---
At the bar
"Hello Naru-kun," slurred Hana, "how bout you and me go outside for some fresh air."
"I wud love to Hana-chan." Naruto slurred back. So then they both lurched unsteadily to their feet and headed out of the door.
They had probably been walking over an hour when they somehow managed to get in front of Naruto's front door. They had been walking arm in arm together, with Hana's head slumped on Naruto's shoulder. When Naruto had tried to disentangle himself from her, her grip suddenly tightened. Since he didn't want to press the issue, he decided that it wouldn't be a big deal if she came inside for a little bit.
He set her on the couch and went into the kitchen in order to find some headache medicine for them both. They were both still a little buzzed, but they had very bad migraines. When he came back with the medicine and water, he noticed that Hana was looking at him kind of strangely. After she had finished the medicine, she asked him something that he found both easy and hard to answer.
"Naruto, what do you think of me?"
Naruto looked at her and finally realized why he always put himself in situations in which he would be in contact with her. He had been steadily and quickly falling for her. Her attitude, her mannerisms, her looks, all of those things clicked in his mind. He knew at that moment, that what he would say next would be absolutely true.
"Hana-chan, I love you."
-------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- -------------------- ------------
Back at Ichiraku's
"And after that, well we kind of…um…expressed how we felt for one another, if you know what I mean." said Naruto embarrassedly.
"I see," said Gaara. "I am happy for you. But as your friend I must tell you this, you might want to run." He then pointed behind Naruto, who then turned around, and started to feel waves of killer intent directed at him.
Who was behind our hero? None other than Hana's brother, Kiba, and mother, Tsume. And they were angry.
Very angry.
Gaara stared at where the three ninjas used to be, stared at the twenty some odd bowls, and sighed. Temari would be mad at him for spending that much on food. Kankorou would understand, this had happened to him last time he visited the leaf.
------------ ---------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------
He had almost lost her once when the Akatsuki had tried to capture him during a mission. The Leader had stabbed her with a katana in the stomach. After he had destroyed them all, and held her body close to his, he knew he couldn't live without her. He heard her breath and knew he could live through another day. For as long as she breathed, he knew he could breathe as well.
--------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------
Hana just shook her head and sighed. How in the world was she going to explain this to her mother? If she and Naruto were engaged, she knew her mother would not have a problem. She sighed again, like that would ever happen. Then she looked over at Naruto and noticed he had started fidgeting again. She started to grow angry and said,
"Naruto, would you stand still and ask whatever it is what you want to ask?"
Naruto then came close to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. His eyes stared deeply into her own, and he knew that now was the time. He took her hands in his and asked her one simple, yet not so simple question.
"Hana-chan, will you marry me?"
After she had woken up from fainting five minutes later, she hugged him fiercely and said one word he just needed to hear.
--------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------
He was not perfect, he knew he could make mistakes, but he didn't care. He could overcome anything, as long as she was there. As long as she was there, he knew he would never have to worry. As long as she breathed, he could breathe deeply.
---------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------
"Yes." She then planted her lips on his and gripped him to her with renewed vigor.
---------------------------------------- ----------------- ------------------------------------------
And he knew he could be the man he had said he would be, the Hokage of Konoha, the protector of the village, and maybe even a decent father,
As long as he could hold her.