I wrote this due to my writer's block over AAO, but this has helped destroy the proverbial Snorlax blocking my writing adventure to bigger and better things. Over the next couple days I will begin to write the next chapter of AAO, and hopefully sooner than later it will be posted.

I hope you enjoy this series on one-shots. It's my first try writing such a thing, but I'm happy with what I came up with. I was hoping to make this longer but the last excerpt felt like it should be the last one, and to be frank I was starting to run out of random ideas. Nonetheless, reviews and comments are greatly appreciated.

xxx

"When I look up at the sky

The stars, see, are sparkling,

Each giving off its own light

Like the people on this planet

I too want to shine particularly bright

I close my eyes and make a vow in my heart

And entrust my dreams to that shooting star."

-Nagareboshi- Naruto OST

xxx

Sickness

Wads of soggy tissues and cough drop packets littered the area closely surrounding Hinata's unusually messy bed. She rested inside, sniffling and coughing.

A knock sounded briefly before the door opened. Itachi entered a bowl of miso ramen in hand. A small, knowing smile adorned his features. "I know you are not a ramen lover like Naruto, but this will help you feel better. I have infused it with some healing herbs Sakura-san dropped off this morning."

Hinata smiled graciously as she accepted her fiancée's offer. He always knew how to make her feel better.

2. Ino

"No, no no no! Please don't faint on me now, Hinata, we're not done with you yet!" Her blonde friend grabbed Hinata by the shoulders and sat her down on the edge of her bed. Three pairs of eyes watched her closely as Hinata took a deep breath to clear her head and swallowed nervously. Sakura smiled mischievously as Tenten unsuccessfully muffled a giggle and winked knowingly.

"My, my, Hinata-chan! Does this mean you did sleep with Itachi-san?"

3. Janumba

The marketplace was not supposed to be quite so crowded on a Saturday afternoon, but Hinata did her best. Making her way to the vegetable stands she picked up various species such as tomatoes, lettuce and some onions. Turning around, she stumbled right into someone's chest.

Looking up, she spied Naruto. "Gomen, Naruto-kun! I was just on my way to pick up some bananas."

Her blonde friend smirked knowingly. "So, you're hungry for bananas, hm?" he looked to his left. Following his gaze, Hinata spotted Itachi making his way through the crowds of people. While she was watching, Naruto chuckled and leaned over to whisper in her ear, blue eyes glowing with mischief.

"Ne, Hina-chan... if you wanted a banana, why didn't you just say so? I'm sure Itachi-san would be more than happy to share his with you if you asked."

Hinata suddenly found she couldn't breathe.

4. Mission

"But you just came back from your last mission two days ago." Hinata gripped the front of his flak jacket and tried to stay strong. Itachi kissed the top of her head and pressed a finger to the bottom of her chin, forcing her head upwards so she could look him in the eye. Onyx met lavender and within those lilac depths Itachi could sense worry, despair and a crushing sense of unease.

He was all too familiar with such emotions since he first came into contact with his lovely bride.

"Hime, don't worry yourself. I will always return home to you."

5. Flower

The Yamanaka's family flower shop was renowned throughout Konoha for its diversity of blooms and knowledge of their meanings. Itachi took it upon himself to make a stop at this location and take care of something that had been on his mind for quite some time.

As he stepped foot inside the quaint shop a small bell at the top of the door jingled, signalling his entry. Yamanaka Ino stepped out from behind the desk and up to him. "Hello, Itachi-san. Is there anything I can help you with today?"

Itachi observed the young female before him as she idly rearranged a plot of flowers sitting before them. "What flowers hold the meaning 'marry me'?"

The following silence was quickly disturbed by the acute smashing of pottery and dirt upon tile.

6. Date

"Ino, what do I do?!" Hinata tugged self-consciously at the hem of the short black dress she was stuffed into only minutes before. Her blue-purple hair was curled into delicate ringlets and her eyes outlined in charcoal for the occasion.

Ino sighed, brushing a stray hair out of her face and looked at her friend. "Haven't you ever been on a date before?"

Hinata fidgeted. "No! Well... maybe once with Kiyoshi-san, but that doesn't even count because it was set up by my father and the council!"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Oh, Hinata, what will I do with you?" a brisk yet polite knock sounded on the other side of the door in the other room. Ino laughed at her friend's petrified expression and strolled away. "Nothing apparently, it seems lover boy is here and ready to whisk you away."

7. Puddle

Cloud-ridden skies of Konoha heaved open and released a heavy downpour on its unsuspecting travelling inhabitants. Clutching her newly purchased kimono closer to her chest, Hinata frowned up at the falling rain and began walking a little faster.

By the time she had made it to the Uchiha compound, her sandals were drenched and freezing cold.

"Hime, what do you think you are doing?" Hinata turned to watch as Itachi strode to her side and covered her upper half in a navy blue towel, embroidered with the Uchiha crest. "I do not wish for you to get sick. Do you have an ulterior motive?"

Hinata blushed shyly in embarrassment and shook her head.

8. Birthday

"Happy birthday, dear Ita-chiiiiiiiii...! Happy birthday to youuuuuu!"

Cheers and claps ensued. Itachi sat at the head of the kitchen table at the Uchiha manor, stone-faced and immobile as candlelight from atop a rather large cake Hinata had hand-baked flickered over the planes of his well-defined face.

"How old are youuuuuu...?" Everyone grew quiet and Naruto glanced about in confusion. "What? No...? Okay, nevermind then. Happy birthday, old man!" Naruto clapped Itachi with much strength on the shoulder but he hardly moved in response.

Fugaku frowned ever so slightly in disapproval, whilst Mikoto stood beside him with a wry smile upon her lips as she regarded the blonde Hokage-to-be. Kiba was sneaking Akamaru tidbits from their meal. Hinata was smiling timidly with much love and adoration at her fiancée, who she noticed was discreetly holding her hand under the table. Sakura smacked her team-mate over the head and ignored his whines of protest. "Naruto! Show some respect for once!"

Itachi glanced at his soon-to-be wife and smiled a barely there smile that had Hinata's face heating up a hundred shades of red. Indeed he was merely twenty-three; but he looked forward to spending another sixty-nine years by his love's side.

9. Inquisition

"What do you see in my brother?" Hinata merely blinked in response.

"Nani..? Sasuke-san, that is a rather strange question to ask."

Said male tilted his head to the side in apparent curiosity. "How so?"

She frowned in response, unsure of what to say. He took advantage of her silence and continued. "I think it's a perfectly good question to ask! So why do you like him?" It was at that moment Hinata found herself attempting- and perfectly failing- to rationalize this sudden and completely uncharacteristic burst of curiosity from the usually stoic Uchiha.

"Why do you loooooove him? Why do you want him to be the daddy of your kids?"

Hinata blushed in a positively furious manner. "Sa-Sasuke-san! You are being very inappropriate!"

Sasuke jumped into her path and raised his hands into a begging gesture, onyx eyes wide with childish wonder and awe. "Pleaseeeee, Hinata? Just tell me already, dattebayo!"

Hinata blinked again.

"...Naruto?"

"Kuso!" smoke dissipated to reveal her blonde friend. "I guess trickery won't get you to reveal anything either, will it Hinata-chan?" blue eyes twinkled with mirth. "Guess I gotta resort to desperate measures!"

Hinata twiddled her fingers. "But... I thought that was desperate measures?"

10. Twister

"Left hand, blue!"

Bending backwards at a most uncomfortable angle, Hinata spotted a blue circle just to her left and reached for it. Another player leaned over her small form in order to reach another point. Hinata blushed as she turned her head only to see Shikamaru's visage precariously close to her own.

"Hinata. Yo." Lavender eyes shifted shyly from side to side to try to find an escape, but not before she saw Ino sitting on the couch with the spin board in hand and smiling like a demented asylum prisoner. She moved her head to the side and froze as their cheeks brushed.

Shikamaru suddenly lost his balance and fell to the floor at an awkward angle.

Crimson met blue. Ino recoiled and stared at the board in her hands with newfound intensity, a shamed blush spreading across her cheeks. Itachi scowled slightly as he slowly placed his airborne leg back down onto a yellow circle.

"My apologies, Shikamaru-san. It seems my leg slipped."

Said fallen male grunted an incoherent response and caused a certain heiress to smile secretly, an odd sensation befalling her chest that was not unwelcome.

11. Swing

Sakura stood behind Naruto with an irritated scowl on her face as she pushed Naruto to and fro in the Academy's playground. Hinata stood and watched, amused. Itachi stood beside her, reading a book. She tilted her head to the side in curiosity to see what the title was and froze in growing embarrassment.

"Ne... Ita-kun... i-is... is that what I th-think it is?"

Itachi slightly lowered the cover of the latest volume of 'Come Come Paradise' and regarded Hinata with a small but knowing smirk. "What if it is?"

Sakura glanced in their direction briefly before she stopped and stared at the book in Itachi's hands, gaping. Naruto too looked over and guffawed childishly. "Itachi's reading porn!" he skidded to a halt and snickered slyly at Hinata. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's studying for your honeymoon."

Sakura screeched at her team-mate and pushed him once again, this time sending him off his swinging contraption and a hundred yards forward. "Naruto! You pervert!"

12. Funeral

"...In every change he faithful will remain. Be still, my soul; your best, your heavenly friend; through thorny ways leads to a joyful end."

Rain fell from the graying heavens above and pattered insistently upon a mass of umbrellas which here situated around a hole in the ground into

which a singular black coffin as slowly sinking. Aside from the rain, all was eerily silent except for the occasional sniffle or moan of despair.

"...guide the future as he has the past. Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last."

One life- something so minute and all-encompassing at the same time. Something one could life their entire life happily without knowing it existed; but if one met this same life they could not imagine living without the very same soul beside them. Life was a fickle thing to Hinata. One life that could harbour so much- friendships, love, children, a reputation- all lost in a single moment, to be remembered but eventually forgotten over the course of time.

"...Though dearest friends depart and all is shaken in the vale of tears; then you will better know his love, his heart, who comes to soothe your sorrows and your fears."

Death and life go hand in hand. Hinata always knew this; yet it didn't make this any easier. The end of a shinobi's life was just the way to illuminate and bring forth the fact that nothing can ever be taken for granted. Everything would meet its end.

"...When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored."

Every soul will eventually find happiness once more.

13. Happiness

"Ne... Hinata-chan- what makes you happy?"

Hinata thought in response to Naruto's impromptu question. She had some answers but wondered why he asked in the first place. "I like sitting by my bedroom window at night and watch the moon and stars."

Naruto flushed at her verbal thought and rubbed the back of his neck. "Mou... I need ideas. Is there anything else you can suggest?"

Hinata cocked her head in curiosity. "Alright, Naruto-kun, I like taking walks around the gardens in either the Hyuuga or Uchiha compounds. What do you need these ideas for?"

"I... I don't want to tell you!" He turned away but Hinata's keen eyes still caught the tinge of red that was slowly but surely creeping its way up the back of his neck before settling on his ears. He sighed dramatically and turned back to her with reluctance. "Actually... I lied. I want to ask someone out!" she smiled knowingly in response and looked away.

"I see. I also like strolling along the path on the outskirts of the village in late spring when the sakura blossoms fall."

Naruto facepalmed dramatically and sighed. "Great! Now why didn't I think of that?!"

14. Photograph

Mikoto beamed with pride as she sat beside her future daughter in-law, who was browsing through a rather large pile of pictures which had been taken over many years. Moments later she stopped at a particular moment in time which depicted a five year old Sasuke being held upside down, seeming to be giggling hysterically, by an eight year old Itachi whose face was covered in black scribbles and odd little drawings. Hinata herself giggled as she realized one of the most prominent depictions was of a weasel throwing a shuriken, wearing a Leaf headband.

"Oh." Hinata had to hold in the urge to laugh. "Poor Sasuke..."

"On the contrary, Itachi seems to have received the short end of the stick in this case." The Uchiha matriarch smiled fondly as she regarded the slightly aged photograph held within Hinata's hands. "If only Itachi knew what I was showing you... he would never forgive me."

A shoji screen slid open before Hinata could answer. A moment of tense silence followed before an all-too familiar voice fell upon Hinata's sensitive ears, bringing forth the familiar tide of emotions that warmed her to her very core.

"Mother... what are you doing?"

15. Honey

"Itachi, why aren't you having any ice cream?" Hinata frowned at her lover as he quietly turned down her offer of frozen chocolaty goodness as Naruto had put it. It was a sweltering day in Konoha; one of the hottest the village had seen in years; and Ino had decided to hold a big get-together for some summer fun. Even though neither Hinata nor Itachi were real party-goers, Hinata liked the idea of seeing all of her friends again and catching up on what was new in their lives.

Itachi shook his head minutely and instead opted for a stick of dango which lay in solitude on a patterned Styrofoam plate not too far away. He bit into it and chewed slowly, savouring the flavour, before swallowing and addressing Hinata's earlier question. "I cannot eat ice cream or other milk products. I am lactose intolerant."

Hinata felt slightly put out by the fact she had remained unaware of such a thing for so long. She watched with inconspicuously narrowed eyes as Itachi unhurriedly stole another bite from the honey-glazed treat which she knew he loved so much.

"I see... thank you for informing me of such a thing. It's very... sweet of you." Hinata mouthed another spoonful of ice cream just as Itachi turned his head in her direction and inspected her profile with calculating eyes. Just then, Kiba turned around in his chair and regarded the unlikely pair.

He smirked. "So, you're lactose intolerant, huh?" Hinata didn't have to look at her male counterpart to know there was an indefinable scowl on his lips; but that did nothing to deter her Inuzuka team-mate. "It's a damn good thing you aren't allergic to sweets then, cause I know there's a ton of guys drooling for the honey Hinata's been making for all these years."

A tense and awkward silence ensued. Itachi ignored the remains of his dango in favour of staring down the younger male. "Is that so? Would you happen to be so kind as to give me names?" Sakura's voice floated over in their direction from the other side of the room where she stood scowling at them with eyes spitting fire. "Damn it, Uchiha, turn that thing off! This is a party, not a battlefield!"

16. Matchmaker

"Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

"...Have you ever thought about dating?" The male beside her froze momentarily before continuing along as though nothing had happened.

Hinata had been walking side by side with Sasuke as the result of impeccable timing and happened to bump into each other on the way to the Uchiha compound. Hinata didn't know what caused her to ask such a personal question in the first place seeing as how it counter reacted with every one of her ingrained morals, but she chalked it up to wanting to see him as happy as his brother had become. Everyone deserved the happiness that accompanied love, right?

Sasuke's voice was emotionless when he spoke next. "Why do you ask?"

Hinata twiddled with her fingers and looked away as she contemplated her answer. It was actually something that she, Ino and Sakura had discussed a short while ago and she thought the plan was marvellous... but would he?

"Because...well... I believe that you would be a near perfect match for Tenten."

A blind and deaf civilian wouldn't have been able to miss how sharply Sasuke's chakra spiked at her mention. It was then that Hinata knew she hit the nail on the head.

17. Weasel

"Why were you given your name?" Itachi appeared unaffected by such a random question, but there were telltale hints of amusement in his eyes as they met Hinata's.

"Why were you given yours?"

Hinata smiled, her eyes crinkling ever so slightly. "Because I am a peaceful person; bright in personality and have a gentle soul. You know very well what my name means... I'm always looking to the bright side and never give up hope, even when times get hard. Now, please answer my question."

His lips curled upward in a trademark Uchiha smirk as he replied. "If you wish to know the exact reasoning behind my naming, I would think it best you ask my mother instead of myself."

Just then Sasuke trod unceremoniously into the room, dirty and sweaty and tarnished, and passed the table by which they sat face to face. He walked by them again a moment later, a tomato in hand. "Why ask Kaa-san?" he abruptly asked, the slightest hint of scorn on his tongue.

Itachi raised an eyebrow at his younger brother. "Surely you don't think I would know what goes on in her head?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You don't need to. It's simple." Itachi merely watched him, wordlessly urging him on. "You were named after a rodent. You get into everything and fuck shit up before running off to cause more damage elsewhere. Your name in itself is an omen of death and bad luck." He scowled before turning to Hinata. "I'm just saying. If I were you, I wouldn't marry him. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into. Trust me- I've had to deal with him for eighteen years, and look how I turned out." He then walked casually walked out the room as though nothing happened.

"Indeed," Itachi mused. Hinata glanced cautiously in his direction.

"Wasn't that uncalled for?" her fiancée merely shook his head, amused.

"It is nothing to worry about. This only means he lost another spar with Naruto and is taking out his frustration... nothing new."

Echoes of crackling and the scent of smoke met his nose in response.

18. Kakashi

The streets of Konoha were indeed always a very crowded place, but not even blindness could cause one to miss the presence of renowned shinobi. Hinata was searching for one such man, a woman on a mission. Following the trace of his chakra, Hinata ducked into the smaller bookstore in town, lurking around various shelves and bookcases until she spied a familiar gravity-defying mop of silvery hair. In his hands rested comfortably sat an orange book... one Hinata had been seeing around the Uchiha compound a little more often than she liked. His back was to her but not a moment later a hand lazily raised and tipped to the side in a backwards version of a wave.

"Yo, Hinata. Lost on the road of life again?" Hinata didn't answer, instead taking a few steps forward until she stood directly behind her friend's sensei. He appeared to be very thoroughly engrossed in the literature he held, but she knew better- nothing ever slipped Kakashi's perception.

"Ah... quite the opposite actually. I... I propose a mission for you."

The sound of a book snapping closed met her ears as Kakashi turned around to face her. His lone onyx eye met hers for a moment before creasing, a sign he was smiling or simply amused. "Ne, Hinata. This doesn't have anything to do hooking Sasuke up with a certain weapons mistress, does it?"

Hinata flushed at his blunt observation and clasped her hands together. He chuckled knowingly and briefly placed a hand on the top of her hair before strolling in front of her and down the bookshelf's row, hands tucked securely in his pockets and the edge of the latest edition of Icha Icha Violence peeking out the top of the kunai holster attached to the back of his ninja pants.

"Don't worry; everything's already set into motion. Speaking of which, I see an old lady who needs my help crossing the street. A good shove in the right direction never hurt anyone."

19. Starlight

Strolling across a bridge on the outskirts of Konoha late at night and watching the stars reflect off the gently flowing water below was one of the few things that truly made Hinata happy. It both relaxed and invigorated her- the feeling coming to her tenfold as Itachi stood by her side. His hand slid into her effortlessly- fitting together with hers as though they were meant to be. When her hand was tugged ever so gently she looked towards her love to see he was watching her with an inexplicable emotion in his eyes that made her stomach flip pleasantly and heartbeat increase.

He leaned forward and breathed in slowly, absorbing her floral scent before releasing it against her ear. As he did so, Itachi felt Hinata shiver slightly and smiled slightly. His lips moved closer to her ear, brushing against it slightly as he spoke.

"Hinata."

His hands skimmed their way up her arms to her shoulders, one hand disappearing into the inky depths of her waist-length hair. Hinata felt like she was on cloud nine; being held so intimately by the man she loved with all her heart. Her own hands trailed up the muscular chest hidden but not entirely concealed beneath his shirt and linked together around his neck. She allowed the side of her head to rest against his cheek, simply basking in the warmth and joy his love gave her.

"Hm?"

"...Marry me."