-In which, people who love each other end up reuniting

Yay! My 32nd fanfic! You see, I was watching the Korean Drama Stairway to Heaven again, and I just got totally inspired! (And that's saying a lot since I've been so bored lately.) Anyway, I'm trying to promote it somehow . . . if you can call it that. And I wanted to this to be a oneshot, but . . . yeah, it didn't work so well because there's too much to type out (and I'm a bit too lazy). In the end, this might be a threeshot. So . . . please enjoy!

Stairs to Heaven

Chapter One

During the war, a lot had happened. Many people lost their lives, and tension formed. Alliances were made and broken, but this story is not about the shinobi war. It's about the story afterwards, about Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuga Hinata.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

Once the war had ended, the seemingly impossible happened—Uchiha Sasuke had come back to Konoha, and the people greeted him with opened arms. But this was to be expected. After all, he had helped Naruto take down the person responsible for everything, Uchiha Madara. And though the war was over, there was no celebration. The shinobi nations had lost many of their valuable citizens and shinobi, one being the Hokage herself. Tsunade had died, shielding the Uchiha whom her apprentice loved from the Elders. She died smiling, but she did not die leaving Konoha to those old geezers. No, she left Konoha with a will. Her two apprentices, Shizune and Sakura, whom have learned much about politics from her as well as their jutsu, would be co-rulers until the next Hokage (Uzumaki Naruto) finally took the position.

Needless to say, the Elders were not happy about this, but the two apprentices had the backup from their generation of shinobi and from the prominent clans of Konoha as well, for the Elders' plan of destroying the Uchiha clan had come to light and the other clans did not take it well. And so, the Elders lost all of their power and shut themselves away, ashamed of this transaction.

After this, Shizune took up the job of taking care of Konoha's inner problems while Sakura took up the job of Konoha's diplomatic situation. Of course, they both taught Naruto on the side to make sure that he wouldn't have any trouble in the future. And what of the Uchiha and the Hatake? Well, Sasuke stayed by his teammates' sides as the leader of Sakura's bodyguards (which were his old Team Hebi) while Kakashi became the ringleader of Shizune's sentry.

It was about a month later when Hinata and Naruto met up again. Why so long? Well, he was busy with his missions and his tutoring sessions while she was busy not only with her missions but with her clan too. You see, the Hyuga heiress had reached the age (**eighteen**) where not only she was considered old enough to get married but also the age where she had to be betrothed. Now, it was a coincidence that they had met again on that day because Naruto too had to select a future wife just as a sort of image-boosting thing. It was also then that he remembered her confession to him and the fact that he hadn't given her a reply yet. And so, he brought her to the top of Hokage mountain and told it to her straight.

"I like girls like you, Hinata-chan, especially you!" he said, smiling. "But we shouldn't take this too fast, 'kay? At least, let me prove to you that I can be an able boyfriend before we decide anything. And then I'll give you a present to show you my promise to marry you."

Her reaction . . . she fainted, her face red and her heart soaring to the heavens.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

It was only a month later that Naruto had to leave on a three-year diplomatic mission to Kumogakure. Sakura had suggested it to help Naruto's transaction to Hokage position go smoothly, but she only suggested it—not commanded him to—because she knew about his relationship with Hinata. If she could, she would've brought the Hyuga with them, but her clan wouldn't allow it. Therefore, she left the decision to Naruto who let Hinata decide for him whether or not he'd go.

Hinata was upset, yes, but she told him to. After all, this wasn't just about them—he still had Konoha to think of. And so, she told him to go with Sakura and Sasuke.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

She was crying. She was late to see him off. She cried, thinking that she had missed her chance to see him one last time. But then, the gates opened, just enough for one person to walk into the village. It was Naruto who smiled when he saw her there. She asked why he came back, and he told her he still had a present to give her. He asked her to close her eyes. When she opened them, she found a necklace around her neck. It was a simple piece of jewelry, but it was enough to cause tears to form again in Hinata's eyes.

He smiled again, laughing a bit and wiping away her tears. He'd come back to marry her, he promised her. He'd come back, just for her.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

He was returning home early. He had been gone for two years already, but he chose to come back just to see her again.

Shizune sent a messenger to the Hyuga's main household the day of his arrival, and Hinata ran to greet him. But they didn't meet. Naruto came back to the village looking for her, worried. He had found a picture he had given Hinata of them together on the floor of the surrounding forest, a smear of blood on it.

The whole village went on high alert, searching for the heiress. Shizune sent an urgent message to Sakura, telling her to come back. Perhaps someone was targeting Naruto or someone on the diplomatic party but ended up taking Hinata. That seemed like the best explanation of Hinata's disappearance. However, there was no evidence of such a situation—only Hinata's blood on that picture.

Days stretched into weeks which stretched into months. And during this time, no one noticed that Hyuga Neji had disappeared too.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

It was five years later when Naruto's coronation had its date set. Everything was supposed to go smoothly when Naruto came back from his mission but, on the way back home, he caught sight of a girl who looked a lot like his late girlfriend. He followed her, chased her, but he lost sight of her.

He was very late, and they had to reschedule the coronation. Sakura and Sasuke scolded him, asking him why he'd be late to the very event that he had waited all his life for. He told them the truth—he had seen Hinata again.

Both his teammates quieted then. This again. They knew Naruto regretted ever going on that diplomatic mission, and they knew he regretted coming home early that day. If he hadn't then Hinata would probably be…

Sakura sighed, taking Naruto's hand. She knew it was hard on him, that he couldn't forget the girl he wished he could have spent more time with. But she had to snap him back to reality. Hinata was gone, and he was engaged to Hanabi now. He couldn't be thinking about the past or he'd hurt the new Hyuga heiress.

Naruto nodded his head, not wanting to upset the pregnant Uchiha matriarch.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

It was a month later, three weeks after his decision of postponing his coronation for a while so that he could forget about his dead girlfriend and only two weeks after Sakura had given birth to the Uchiha heir, that the Hinata look-alike showed up again. He chased her again and, this time, he caught up to her, screaming her name. The girl was frightened by his loud yells and, when Sasuke and Sakura's bodyguards restrained the blonde, she ran.

"You two saw her this time, right?" Naruto asked, grabbing his teammates' arms. He desperately wanted them to stop telling him he was only dreaming. He was so desperate, in fact, that he was crying. "Hinata… She . . . she was right there! It was Hinata! It was really her…"

And needless to say, neither Sakura nor Sasuke could say that what they saw was an apparition or just Naruto's hallucination.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

He found the girl again. Her name was Shizuka, and she was different from the Hinata he knew. She was much more outgoing and a lot sassier. He got to know her more during that month, and he found out she had lost her memories during a fall and that a guy named Ichiru (whom Naruto never met) was the one who saved her and took care of her all these years. He convinced her to come to Konoha with him, to see if she could be his missing girlfriend.

She agreed, after days of persuasion and despite Ichiru's protests. She returned with Naruto to Konoha, shocking his friends with her uncanny similarity to the late Hyuga heiress. He brought her to the Hyuga household, and Hiashi almost fainted at the sight of Shizuka. He was delighted to have her in his house. Hanabi, on the other hand, was more than reluctant to acknowledge the girl. After some time, Naruto swayed her to allow Shizuka to see her sister's old things. But it didn't help. Shizuka didn't remember a thing.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

It was a week later that the girl claimed to be Hinata. No one believed her. After all, she had claimed time and time again that she wasn't the Hyuga heiress. Why the sudden change? Even Naruto could not find the heart to believe her since he was trying his best to give up on and forget about Hinata. In the end, it was Ichiru who convinced the soon-to-be Hokage of Shizuka's honesty because, you see, Ichiru was none other than Hyuga Neji.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

Hiashi welcomed his daughter back, hugging her tightly and crying. She cried too. She had been gone for five years. She had missed out on so much. Those who were there apologized to her, regretting that they did not believe her. However, the merriment was short-lived. Hanabi was ready to run out the door, only to be stopped by Sakura. When asked what was the matter, the younger Hyuga heiress just cried and said that the man who lived with Hinata all those years had called and threatened to hurt her if she didn't give Naruto back to her sister.

Though Naruto found Hanabi's claim to be strange, Sakura had no choice but to side with the younger Hyuga. After all, it was Naruto who had agreed to his engagement to her. He couldn't back out of it now especially because it was in two days and all the ninja nations were already anticipating it.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

The next day, Hanabi and Naruto were to go shopping for the girl's engagement dress. And somehow, Naruto had gotten Hinata to come along. Sure enough, Hanabi was not happy. And needless to say, she wasn't happy when Naruto had forced Hinata to try on one of the dresses he picked out, asking her to wear it the next day.

And on the day after, the engagement went as bad as the shopping trip for the younger of the Hyuga sisters. Everything seemed to have gone as everyone had expected. Naruto came in with Hanabi, and he seemed happy enough. Things went downhill from there on. When the ring bearer presented the rings, Naruto just smirked and took out another ring from his pocket. He left Hanabi standing there and walked to the side where her sister was, surprising everyone and asking the girl to marry him.

Hinata didn't know what to say. She wanted to say yes, she so desperately wanted to, but then…

"Hyuga Hinata!"

Everyone's head whipped around to the entrance. Neji was trying to get through the door but the guards prevented him from doing so. They pulled him out of the room. It was then that Hinata stood from her seat and ran after them.

"Hinata-chan…"

But she stopped when she heard Naruto call out her name. She turned around to glance at him. She almost cried. He looked so hurt, but she knew she couldn't say yes, and so she shook her head and turned down his proposal.

✿｡.:**:.｡✿

She waited. She waited the whole night at the station, waiting for her cousin to walk out of the doors. She almost fell asleep when the doors to the interrogation room opened and Neji walked out.

She ran to him, asking if they had hurt him and asking why they wanted to interrogate him. He gave her the cold shoulder and continued on his way as if he didn't see her. However, she persisted to keep asking her questions. She was so worried about him. But then he yelled at her, saying that it was her engagement, asking why she didn't say yes.

Hinata was angry now too. She screamed back at him, saying, "Yes, it was my engagement! I could've said yes! I wanted to say yes! But I said no and came for you! I was so worried, and this is what I get? It was my engagement, Neji! I could have gotten it over with and be happy for the rest of my life! It was my engagement! Why did you come if you were going to act this way?"

In reality, Neji wanted to tell everyone the truth—the truth behind Hinata's disappearance way back when and the part Hanabi had played in it. But he couldn't tell Hinata. No, even she didn't know the kind of heart her sister had.

And so, instead, Neji ripped off the pendant Hinata had given him and threw it on the ground. "Then go and be happy!" he yelled. "Why did you come after me if you were so miserable, huh? Why couldn't you just forget about me and say yes? You're so stupid!"

"FINE!" the girl shrieked. "You're the reason why I'm not even married yet! I'll forget about you! I'll forget all about you! Leave! Go! Don't even come back! GO!"

But once her cousin was gone, Hinata's tears poured out of her eyes as she picked out the thrown out necklace. And unbeknownst to her, Naruto was watching from afar the scene that had just played out.

I hoped you enjoyed it! Please stay tuned for the next chapter! And while you're at it, here's a little preview! The chapter should be out before Chinese New Year (which is by the way FEB 3 2011).

Hinata smiled with relief. But then the Hyuga heiress realized something. "Neji-kun, today was so strange. Today . . . it felt like Naruto-kun was right here besides me. And it still feels like he's right by my side."