Among the now busy and more crowded streets of Konoha is where you would find Naruto and Tayuya, walking next to each other in an awkward silence. What was Tayuya supposed to say after what had just happened a few minutes ago? First Naruto defended her from the pink bitch that tried to hurt her, then he slammed the door in her face, and after going to his bedroom, threw a change of clothes at Tayuya. That change of clothes being a light blue shirt and some black shorts. But that's beside the point. Was Tayuya supposed to thank him for what he did? Or ask if he's alright after what happened? God…this whole marriage thing was harder than it looked…no, scrap that…this whole being a person with feelings thing was harder than it looked.
Getting fed up with the silence, Naruto opted to asked Tayuya a question that involved some people very dear to him. "Hey, uhh…Tayuya? You wanna grab something to eat?" Tayuya looked up at Naruto. "There's this place called Ichiraku Ramen around here that serves the best Ramen across all the nations!"
"Yeah, why the fuck not Shithead. I am still hungry from earlier…" Tayuya replied.
"Great! Their ramen is so good it'll make you regret eating from anywhere else!" Naruto cheered, as if it were some well-known fact.
"Actually…" Tayuya started. "I've never had ramen before." She then noticed how Naruto stopped walking a few steps behind her, all colour drained from his face.
A few moments of silence passed.
And a few more.
"WHAT?!" was what was heard from the recently-wed man after those moments of silence passed, gathering the attention of some of the passer-by's. "HOW?! How could you have never had ramen in your entire life? I don't know what I would do if I had gone that long with ramen!" Naruto visibly shuddered at the thought of never eating ramen.
The red-head rubbed her forehead. "Dammit Shithead keep it down. People are looking at us, you fucktard." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "And as you know, for as long as I can remember I've been under the care of the snake fucker, and he would only feed us soldier pills, and the occasional bits of bread if we've been good with our work. And then for the past couple years since we took Sasuke I've been recovering in your shitty hospitals and prisons eating whatever the fuck they call that shit they feed to people."
"Oh, right…sorry. Completely forgot about that! Hehe…" he apologized. "Do you mind doing me a favour though?"
"Probably." At this point the two were once again walking side by side, now towards this new destination that had food Tayuya had never eaten. "Spit it out Shithead?"
"It's about your swearing." Naruto revealed, causing Tayuya to raise an eyebrow. "When we get there I'm gonna need you to stop."
Stop swearing? Was Naruto going batshit crazy? Swearing was one of Tayuya's favourite things! It was one of the few things you couldn't take away from her! "Why the fuck would I do that?"
The blonde shinobi sighed. Was it really that hard to just accept what he was asking her to do? "Because the people who run Ichiraku Ramen are very important to me. I haven't got many friends in this village, and I've never had any proper family, but the people working there are the closest thing I have to family. They've never tried to hurt me, instead showing me love and care like no one else. They were the first people to accept me in this village, so I hold them very close to my heart." Naruto then grabbed Tayuya's hands and put them together in his. "Since you're my wife, they're going to care a lot about how you treat me, so if they see that I'm with some rude girl that hits me and swears all the time, then they're going to disapprove of you and scold me. So please, just when we're at Ichiraku's, okay? Anywhere else you can swear to your hearts content, but just not there."
Tayuya supposed that it wasn't that bad of a deal she was being given, and this could also be her way of apologizing to Naruto for how she's been treating him since earlier that morning. "Fine, Shithead. I'll try not to swear. But just for you!"
The orange clad boy's face lit up with glee, and so he pulled Tayuya into a strong hug in the middle of the street. "Thank you Tayuya! You're the best!"
Her face turned a nice rosy pink. "G-geez S-Shithead. C-c-calm d-down, it's not that big of a deal!" she stuttered.
"It is to me! You're very important to me Tayuya! You're one of my precious people, and my wife, so if you and I can work like this then of course I'm gonna be super happy!" the ever-cheerful boy said, holding his wife out by the shoulders. He then took hold of one of Tayuya's hands and pulled her along as he ran down the streets of Konoha.
Tayuya's blush remained on her face, changing to a slightly deeper shade. As she got pulled along only one thought crossed her mind. 'Dammit Shithead, why are you making it so easy for me to fall in love with you?'
After turning a few corners and running down a couple streets, the Uzumaki couple finally arrived at Ichiraku Ramen.
"Here we are! Now remember what I said, no swearing." Naruto said, getting ready to step into his all-time favourite ramen stand.
Tayuya sighed. "Yeah yeah I remember. You said that like a minute ago. No need to be so repetitive, Naruto." Seeing as Tayuya was calling Naruto by his real name, that probably meant she was going along with his favour.
The two then sat down next to each other, getting pretty hungry. "Hey! Ayame! Old man! It's me!"
"Ah!" Ayame jumped, not noticing the arrivals to the stand due her attention being on washing the bowls. "Oh Naruto, I didn't see you there.
Teuchi instead greeted him with a welcoming smile. "Hey Naruto! It's been a little while since you were last here! How was your mission?"
The yellow headed shinobi grew a wide grin, always happy to talk about his life as a ninja to Ayame and Teuchi "Oh yeah it was easy, no sweat! Just a reconnaissance mission along with some combat against some enemy ninjas. But whatever, I coulda done it on my own! Ooh ooh and then-"
He was cut off by some coughs coming from the red head sat next to him, clearly unimpressed by the fact that she hadn't been introduced. "Ahem, Shi…Naruto. You just gonna ignore me this whole time?"
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Oh right. Sorry Tayuya. Uh, Tayuya I'd like you to meet Ayame and old man Teuchi, the people I was on about earlier. Ayame, Teuchi, this is Tayuya." He introduced his wife to the two behind the counter, gesturing with his arms.
"Nice to meet you Tayuya." The father and owner of the stand replied first.
The brown-haired daughter then added her own reply. "Yes, it's very nice to meet you Tayuya. My apologies for not introducing ourselves the second you came in."
"Sup." Was all Tayuya shot out.
Ayame then took notice of the fact that Tayuya was a girl that she had never seen before. And the fact that Naruto had come in with her. And that she seemed to be very close to Naruto. And was very pretty. Pretty enough to land someone like Naruto. Could this call for some light teasing?
The eldest of the three teenagers started giggling. "Say Naruto, Tayuya wouldn't happen to be your girlfriend, would she?" she continued giggling away.
"Yup, she is." Naruto answered, an idiotic grin present on his features. That's right, he had a girlfriend, and he was introducing her to the people that were essentially his family.
'Teehee' Ayame thought, still giggling. 'Just like Naruto to deny it. Look at the two of them blushing like that. This is gonna be sooo much fun!' But wait a second. They weren't blushing. And Naruto didn't deny it. "Wait did you say she is your girlfriend?"
Tayuya took this one, leaning against the counter. "Yeah, I am Naruto's girlfriend. Got a problem with that?"
'Aww man. I was looking forward to teasing Naruto…' Ayame shook her head. "N-no…I just…err…" Being one who loved to tease the boy who was like a little brother to her, Ayame was a bit disappointed. But, if there was one thing she loved more than teasing, it was gossip, so now she HAD to find out how the two of them got together. She slammed her hands down on the counter, beginning to rapid fire questions at the couple sat in front of her. "So, how did the two of you meet? How long ago was is? How did you start dating? Who asked out who? Come on! Details! I need details!"
The two ninja's heads then shot to look at each other, the same thought popping into their heads. 'CRAP!' Neither of them had thought about what they were going to say to anyone about that sort of stuff. Probably because neither had been in a relationship before.
"Could we uhh…could we just have a minute to ourselves?" The jinchūriki asked, not even waiting for a reply before grabbing Tayuya's hand and running outside, pulling the both of them to the back street behind the ramen stand.
"Damnit! Quick, Tayuya! What's our story?" Naruto questioned, panicking to think of an answer because if they took too long it would look suspicious.
"Fuck I dunno. I thought you had thought of that Shithead!" Tayuya argued. "I didn't know people really cared about that dumb stuff!"
It took a few moments before either of the two spoke, both trying their hardest to come up with an idea. It proved to be harder than they thought.
"Got it!" Naruto exclaimed, gaining Tayuya's attention. "What if we use a dumbed down version of how we actually met, and just change a few details?"
Tayuya rose an eyebrow. "The fuck do you mean Shithead?"
The blonde boy gave his meaning. "We'll just say that a few weeks ago I found you lost in the forest, starved, dehydrated and with some broken bones! And then I took you to the hospital and visited you every day. Then eventually I asked you out. Something like that?"
Tayuya supposed it seemed reasonable enough to be true. "Could work, I guess…" Naruto then grabbed her hand and was about to start walking back to the stand when Tayuya yanked it out of his grasp. "Wait a second Shithead." Naruto turned to look at his wife. "Does Konoha have a flower shop?"
Naruto took a second to think it over, before remembering the one Ino and her family owned. "Yeah, the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Why do you want to know?"
"God, you're pathetic Shithead. It's a known fact that girls love flowers, so we gotta say you gave me some!" Was Tayuya's reply. Naruto replied with a quick 'Oh' before Tayuya continued her reasoning. "Let's say you got me an amaryllis, a pink carnation, a red chrysanthemum and a purple lilac."
"Why those?" Naruto was confused as to why Tayuya had to be so specific with flowers. Flowers were just flowers, right? They didn't mean anything special as far as he knew.
Tayuya sighed again. God damn was Shithead a real shithead. But then she started to blush a little bit, because of the meaning behind those flowers, and the fact that she kinda did want to be given them. "Because of the meanings behind them Shithead! An amaryllis is for worth beyond beauty, a pink carnation symbolizes the love of a woman, a red chrysanthemum conveys love and a purple lilac is for first love." Now she was hoping Naruto would actually go out and buy her those flowers.
"Oh. Makes sense, I guess. Ok let's go back in. We're probably taking too long!" He then took hold of Tayuya's hand again and walked around the stand, back through the entrance, and took his seat. "Sorry about that! Just had to ask Tayuya something in private."
Teuchi chucked, being more than happy at seeing Naruto with someone at long last. "No worries, Naruto. I'd like to apologize for Ayame's questions though." Said girl pouted at her father.
"Daaad, it's not like I did anything wrong!" Ayame turned back towards the two re-seated teens. "So? Gonna tell me how it happened?"
Tayuya was the one to start giving the answer. "Yeah, right, here goes. I'm actually a kunoichi from the Land of Waves, but from a smaller village, so we weren't treated as professionally as somewhere like Konoha. I was growing bored of our ninja system, so I decided to run away to the Land of Fire since this village was fairly close by. On my way here I was attacked by some rogue ninjas, and they broke some of my bones and took my food and water." Ayame gasped.
The red-head, who wasn't actually from the Land of Waves as far as she knew, continued her story. "This all happened like three to four weeks ago, and luckily for me Naruto was on a solo mission nearby. He found me dehydrated and starving, lying against a tree." Said boy nodded, as if to let Ayame know Tayuya was telling the truth.
Ayame decided that this story was actually pretty good. "What happened next?"
Naruto took over. "So as Tayuya said, I found her against a tree. After giving her some food and water that I had on me, and after giving her a bit of this special cream Hinata gave to me a while back, I convinced her to let me carry her back here. I took Tayuya straight to the hospital, and luckily for me Granny was checking on some of the patients there so I quickly reported in my mission and got her to check on Tayuya."
"Phew, that's great. So, how did you get from that to dating?" Ayame wiped her forehead, just as Tayuya took over. This whole time Teuchi also listented in, while preparing some ramen, because he was 99% sure he knew what Naruto was going to order.
"Every day while I was recovering, whenever he got the chance Naruto would come visit me, and would sit by my bed, talking to me about the village and about himself, and I would tell him about myself. It was kinda interesting to learn about this place. Especially since I had asked Lady Tsunade if, once I recovered, I could become a ninja for the leaf, which after a bit of persuasion by Naruto, she agreed to. Anyway, on my last day in the hospital, Naruto was late to meet up with me, but it turns out he was out buying me some flowers. You know, from that place the Yamanaka's own."
Ayame and Teuchi nodded, and then Ayame thought about what kind of flowers Naruto might buy for a girl. Last she checked, Naruto didn't know a whole lot about flowers. "So what flowers did you buy for Tayuya? And how did you ask her out?"
"Right." Naruto cleared his throat. "I got her an amarillo...no wait I mean an amaryllis, and a pink carnation. Um…there was also a…uhh…red chrysanthen…chrysutha…christofom…"
"A red chrysanthemum." Tayuya corrected, kicking Naruto under the counter.
"Yeah! That's it! That's what I meant! Oh, and a purple lilac. You know, because of the meanings behind them. I got a little bit of help from Ino for that."
Ayame squealed in delight. "OOOOHHH! So romantic! Since when did you know so much about flowers, Naruto?"
Tayuya sighed. God were all the people in this village this mushy? "Yeah, whatever. So after Naruto gave me those flowers, which was yesterday, he asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend. Just flat out like that. And I like it when men are direct with me like that, so I accepted. And since I didn't have anywhere to stay, Naruto offered to let me live with him. So now we're going out and we live together. Big whoop." Tayuya finished off their fake origin story.
"Well I for one am very happy for you Naruto." Teuchi stated, really meaning what he said, and knowing that Ayame felt the same way. "Now, what would you say about a bowl of ramen each on the house to celebrate?"
Naruto shot up in his seat. "YEAH! That'd be awesome old man! Okay gimme a miso ramen with extra pork!"
"And for you, young lady?" Teuchi turned to Tayuya, but she in turn moved to face Naruto.
"Hey, Naruto. Remember? I've never had ramen before. What should I get?" she asked, prodding his elbow."
A few seconds passed, before Naruto started scratching his chin. "Hmm…"
"Come on, Naruto…it can't be that hard to choose what to order for your lady." Tayuya's stomach was starting to rumble.
"Yeah, I know. It's just that I dunno what I should say. You could get the vegetarian option, you know, since you're a girl. That's the one Sakura and Ino always go for. They say they need to watch their figure. It's weird though…I've never seen Hinata, TenTen or any of the other girls go for that one." Naruto gave the first option.
Tayuya then hit him on the top of his head. "You think that just because I'm a girl I want the veggie option? Don't be stupid Naruto. Clearly if that's the one pinkie and flower girl go for, then they aren't training hard enough! I bet I could take them both on at the same time!"
Naruto waved his hands in front of him. "No, no…that's not what I meant! I said that none of the other girls go for that one! It's just that those two are always getting that, and I figured that since they eat it to stay pretty, you'd want it too! But I think you'd look pretty no matter what, so I dunno."
The red-head then retracted her hand, blushing and turning away for a couple of second. Was Shithead gonna start going on a complimenting spree again?
The experience ramen eater then gave his other suggestion. "But I suppose since you are really hungry, and cuz in the hospital they never give you enough food, you should have the same thing as me. Yeah, that one! You cool with that?" Tayuya shyly nodded. "Okay old man! That will be two miso ramens with extra pork!"
"Coming right up!" Teuchi quickly got to work on that order, and after handing them to Ayame to serve, turned back towards the pots since Naruto would probably want more to eat.
Once she had given the food to Naruto and Tayuya, Ayame moved next to her dad and whispered something to him. "Hey, dad? Don't they remind you a bit of Minato and Kushina?"
Apparently that whisper wasn't quiet enough, because just as Teuchi was about to respond, Naruto stopped eating to jump in to their conversation. "You mean my parents? Did you guys know them well?"
Teuchi and Ayame jumped, not expecting Naruto to have heard them, or even to have known who his parents were. Teuchi was the first to recover from the shock. "N-Naruto? D-did you…just say what I thought you did?"
The Genin ranked ninja nodded and chuckled. "Yeah. Earlier today Granny Hokage told me that my dad was Minato Namikaze and that my mom was Kushina Uzumaki! Who would have thought…me being the son of the 4th Hokage, one of the heroes of the war?"
Naruto noticed the looks of betrayal, along with the tears starting to develop on the faces of the Ichiraku Ramen workers. Ayame started speaking through a wavy voice "N-N-Naruto…I…We are s-so sorry…we should have told you…it was wrong of us to keep that secret from you all these years, while you sat just a couple feet from where we stand all day. Maybe we could have made your life better…please, forgive us!"
Seeing two of his favourite people in such a state deeply depressed Naruto, so he quickly jumped over the counter and pulled the two into a hug. "Hey big sis, old man, it's not your fault. You don't have to say sorry for not telling me. I know that I wasn't told anything to protect me, but at least I know now."
"You're too kind Naruto! We don't deserve a customer like you!" Teuchi apologised, wiping away his tears."
Naruto grinned "But if you didn't have me as a customer, who would be the one to make people come here?" After that the three broke out into small fit of laughter, and Tayuya surprisingly let out a chuckle of her own, taking a break from eating.
"Now, how about some more ramen?" Naruto queried about, seeing as he was nearly done with his first bowl, and would certainly be needing more, as would Tayuya.
Many ramen bowls later, Naruto paid for both his and Tayuya's meals, and then after offering a quick goodbye, they left the ramen stand for the main streets of Konoha.
"So," Naruto turned to look at the first-time ramen eater. "What did ya think?"
Tayuya grew a smirk "About what? The people who work there, or the emotional scene you put together like the pussy you are?"
Oh looks like Tayuya is already back to using her normal language. That's nice. "Tayuyaaaaa. I gotta know what you thought of the ramen! I mean this marriage might not work out if you don't like ramen. This is a serious issue for me!"
The Oto ninja sighed, and then replied sarcastically. "Oh no! Not being married to some random shithead from Konoha! What will I ever do?" She inwardly laughed at the unamused expression showing on Naruto's face. "I'm only kidding Shithead! Being married to you isn't that bad. The ramen though…holy fucking shit I see what you mean now! How was I never given any before?"
Naruto jumped up at that, glad he had found another person who shares his love for ramen.
"Hey Shithead?" Shithead…Or rather Naruto hummed in response. "Should you have told them what you did? That you know about who your parents were?"
Oh yeah, he didn't really think before he jumped into their conversation. "Uhh…honestly I think it's fine that I did. I mean I know Granny told me not to tell anyone, but I'm sure she'll forgive me if the only people I tell are Ayame and the Old Man! Granny knows what they mean to me, so don't worry about it…"
"Speaking of which," Tayuya had a follow up question. "Why the fuck do you keep on calling your Hokage, Granny or Grandma? She doesn't look a day over fucking 30! You're not just some disrespectful twat, are you?"
'That's right, Tayuya probably doesn't know a whole bunch about Granny, or anyone related to the Leaf for that matter' Naruto got ready to tell her the reason. "Sure, she may look 30, but she's actually in her 50's!"
"Huh?"
"Yeah, no lies! Granny is the same age as Orochimaru and Pervy Sage!"
"Pervy who now?"
"Pervy Sage is Jiraiya, one of my sensei's. And the very same Jiraiya from the three Legendary Sannin. You know, alongside Orochimaru and Tsunade."
Hold the fucking phone. Naruto was being personally trained by one of the Legendary Sannin, while another one of them was leading the village. Okay maybe the people of this village did stand a chance against whatever Orochimaru throws at them. "Damn…but wait why does cow tits look so young then?"
"Cow tits?" Tayuya motioned with her hands in front of her chest to her breasts. "Oh. So that's your nickname for Granny? Okay. Anyway, she just uses a genjutsu to make herself look young. I think the only person who has seen what she actually looks like is big sister Shizune, maybe Jiraiya. All I know is that she's super old and wrinkly."
"Huh…don't get why she needs to hide how she looks though. I mean I know that Orochimaru has experimented on himself so he doesn't look super old, and from what I've heard Jiraiya doesn't look that old, so clearly cow tits must have been doing something that made her super old…" Tayuya pondered on the reason for this.
"Well for starters isn't she known as the most beautiful kunoichi alive? So, I guess she wants to keep that up. Then there's the fact that she's a woman and from what I've seen of other woman, they like to keep up appearances. Then there's the fact that she gambles a lot and drinks a lot too, so they could have to do with her ageing."
Tayuya yawned, growing bored of the subject. "Eh, who the fuck really cares Shithead. Let's do something. We've got this whole day for me to look around and for us to shop!"
Wait why would they need to shop? "Why do we need to go shopping Tayuya?"
"Because, Shithead, your shithole of an apartment is fucking dirty as shit, and has no food other than a couple of instant ramens! We can't live off just that, so we need to actually buy some meat, fruit and veg. Also, I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life wearing your old clothes, so we gotta go find somewhere to buy me some clothes, and then some underwear. You know, girly shit." Tayuya listed off all the things that they needed to buy. God this sounded exhausting, but if it made Tayuya feel better with living in Konoha with Naruto, then Naruto supposed he could do it. Just for her.
Many, many hours later, Naruto and Tayuya had finally finished with their shopping (and a kind of unprompted tour of the village by Naruto), leaving the two of them exhausted. They had gone to all kinds of stores across Konoha, from food stores to clothing stores, to ones selling decorations for the house and so on. Well, I say they had finished, but Tayuya wanted to go to just one more store in search of clothing, because, y'know, she finally had the freedom to be able to do what she wanted to. No restrictions.
Naruto, the one being made to carry pretty much all of the bags, somehow simultaneously groaned and yawned. "Are we done yet Tayuya? I swear we've already been all over!"
"Shut the fuck up Shithead, we're done when I say we're done! Anyway, this is the last one. Probably. Maybe. I dunno." Tayuya, who only had a few light bags, replied.
"Ughh…" Naruto groaned again. "Wait…Who's even paying for all of this?" Naruto had very little money, and Tayuya had none, so how they could afford all of this stuff made no sense.
The red-head walked into the clothing store that the two had finally arrived at, practically brushing off the question. "Pfft, how should I know? I kinda just assumed it was you. Ah, fuck it who cares."
In the meantime, a few stores behind them one might spot Shizune, the 5th Hokage's assistant, frantically paying for everything, being sent out after them following direct orders from Tsunade herself. All of the money was coming out of a private account that had been opened for Naruto under the Uzumaki name, that had a considerably large amount of interest. There was more than enough money to last several lifetimes in there, and Naruto was going to be told about it at the meeting earlier that day, but he had run out with Tayuya too soon.
After a few minutes of searching through the store, and a few somewhat uncaring comments from Naruto, Tayuya had finally picked out her main outfit that she would wear during her career as a ninja for the Leaf. That outfit being a navy-blue t-shirt, a purple sleeveless hoodie which was kept unzipped, a pair of black cargo shorts, and the traditional black ninja sandals.
"So?" Tayuya asked, checking herself out in the mirror, admiring the choice of clothing she had made.
Naruto responded with "W-what?", looking to the side instead of at Tayuya, not being able to bring himself to look at her at that moment.
The sound kunoichi grunted. "Whaddya think of how I- HEY SHITHEAD WHAT THE SHIT?! Look at me when I'm fucking talking to you!" She turned to face Naruto, then twisted his head so that he would face her. "Now tell me what you think! Do I look fucking great or what?!"
Nervously, Naruto replied. "Y-you l-look good T-Tayuya…"
Tayuya fell into a dumb ranting rage. "Good? JUST GOOD?! I TRY TO ASK FOR YOUR HONEST OPINION AND ALL YOU SAY IS GOOD?! GOD FUCKING DAMMIT SHITHEAD GO READ A FUCKING DICTIONARY AND UPDATE YOUR VOCABULARY! AND WHY ARE YOU STUTTERING LIKE THA-" It was then that Tayuya noticed the constant averting of her husband's eyes, and the blush a similar shade to her hair. Oh, and the blood flowing from his nose. Those three things told her all she needed to know, and that Naruto did mean more than he said.
"Oh…" She offered out as an apology. "I shouldn't have shouted at you." If Naruto was looking at her like that, like he did actually find her that attractive, then maybe falling in love with him wouldn't be so hard, or so bad after all. But why was he looking at her like that? Surely Naruto didn't reciprocate the same feelings that Tayuya had been building up since that morning? Tayuya didn't think of herself as deserving of being looked at like she was, or being loved by someone great like Naruto, so why did it feel so real? Their relationship wasn't even real in the first place, all a lie to keep her alive, but now Tayuya wanted it to be real.
"No," The yellow-haired shinobi spoke up. "I'm sorry for not being honest. You do look real pretty Tayuya! It matches your hair and brings out your eyes!"
This time Tayuya was the one to turn away, pink dusting her cheeks. "S-shut up!"
The two of them then fell into a little fit of giggles, before smiling and walking out of the store together, now that their day of shopping had been finished.
Suddenly a thought fell into Naruto's head, that thought being a form of apology for not being honest, because Naruto didn't want anyone else to dislike him, especially if that person was Tayuya. "Hey Tayuya?"
"What's up Shithead? We going home now?" Just saying the word 'home' like it was their home, because it was, filled Tayuya with joy. Finally having a proper home and the freedom to do whatever, it just felt great.
"Do you mind sitting over there," Naruto gestured to a bench across the street. "and waiting for me while I do something?"
"Huh? The fuck are you doing that's so secretive Shithead? What if I don't feel like waiting around for you?" Tayuya complained back.
Naruto put the bags down next to the bench, already decided on doing what he was planning on. "Come on Tayuya, I'll be back soon! I promise you'll like it! Please! I'll even leave a clone to keep you company!"
Tayuya supposed that sitting down and waiting wasn't actually a hard thing to do, and that she might as well do it if it means Naruto is getting something for her. "Fine…but don't take too long, kay? I'm fucking exhausted from all this walking around. Why the hell is your shitty village so big!"
"Thaaank you Tayuyaaaaaa!" Was what Naruto shouted as he ran in the direction of…wherever it was he was going.
The mischievous and loud-mouthed girl turned to the clone that had been left to stay with her, deciding on having some fun with it. "Hey, clone Shithead!"
The clone turned to face her. "Yes, Mrs Uzumaki?"
Tayuya's chest tightened, hearing herself be called that. It hadn't really set in that that was now her name. Tayuya Uzumaki. Not many people knew of the relationship between her and Naruto, so of course Tayuya shouldn't expect to be called that as soon as she did. Anyway, back to the fun.
"How big is it?" She asked.
"How big is what, Mrs Uzumaki?"
"You know what I mean, you dumb fuck," Tayuya gestured to the crotch area of Naruto's clone. "it. How big is Shithead's dick?"
The Naruto clone grew a deep blush, before dispelling itself, not wanting to be opposed with such questions. Tayuya fell into another fit of laughter.
Meanwhile, Naruto had just arrived at his destination, and had also just received the memory of the clone he had left, which not even 30 seconds after, had dispelled itself. "Dammit Tayuya, why'd you have to go and ask that?" He shook his head in disapproval, though he also gave a little chuckle. Tayuya was more than capable of looking after herself anyway.
Anyway, where was it that Naruto had run of to? None other than the Yamanaka Flower Shop. He walked through the door, a small bell ringing to notify whoever was currently working there that a customer had arrived.
"Welcome to to Yamanaka Flower Shop! How may I-" a young female voice, belonging to Ino Yamanaka, called out, stopping mid-sentence when she noticed who had come to her family's shop. "Naruto? What are you doing here?"
"Naruto?" Another voice called out, that one belonging to Sakura, whose shift at the hospital had recently ended, and so she had headed to Ino's to talk about what happened between Naruto, Naruto's new girlfriend (she remembered Naruto's instruction to refer to Tayuya as his girlfriend, not as his wife) and herself early in the morning.
The orange clad boy waved at the two. "Hey Ino, hey Sakura. I'm here to buy some flowers. Why else would I be here?"
That made sense to Ino. There isn't anything else to buy at her shop. "Ooh, are they for your girlfriend, Naruto? What's she like?" Ino had already heard a description of Tayuya from Sakura, but she wanted to hear Naruto's opinion as well.
"Yeah, they are for Tayuya. What's she like? Hmm…" Naruto scratched the back of his head in thought. "Well she's really nice and smart. Oh, and she's real pretty! Like she has this long and beautiful red hair, and these eyes that are brown like chocolate! And Tayuya always has a cute expression on her face! She can be mischievous at times, and does swear a lot, but she has a really nice voice, and is funny and strong too! I really like her!" As Naruto was listing off these descriptions of Tayuya, he came to realize something. They weren't just things he was making up on the spot, he really did feel this way towards Tayuya, which is probably why these words came to him so quickly. But, he wondered, would she feel the same way?
"Aww." Ino clasped her hands together, leaning on the counter. "That's so sweet! Totally different from what Sakura told me."
Naruto gave a sheepish grin. "Yeah, I guess it would be. Speaking of which, Sakura?"
The pink haired girl looked towards her team member, and replied "What, Naruto?"
"Could we talk? Just for a moment?" He asked, stepping to the side, away from Ino for some privacy.
"I guess we can." Sakura replied, following him. "What's up?"
Naruto cleared his throat, readying himself to apologize. "First of all I wanted to say thanks for not telling Ino about who Tayuya was, and for saying that she's my girlfriend."
"Oh, yeah no biggie. You have anything else to say? Or…" Sakura was actually expecting an apology of some sorts, even though it was her who threw the first punch.
"Yeah, I wanted to apologize for getting mad at you and hitting you earlier. It's just that I had already been through a lot before that, and, well, Tayuya means a lot to me."
"She does?" Sakura raised an eyebrow in questioning. Naruto had only just been reintroduced to the girl, so what was he on about?
"Mhm. I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but the only reason why Tayuya is still alive is because I agreed to have a baby with her." Naruto started to confess the truth.
It took a second to click in her mind, but Sakura was catching on to what was happening. "WHAT?!"
Naruto covered his ears. "God, not so loud Sakura! But yeah. It's true. At the meeting with Granny, I was introduced to this weird old guy called Danzo, and he said had been keeping Tayuya alive all this time for the purpose of me impregnating her. Something about us having compatible bloodlines which will make the baby super strong. I don't know about that stuff though."
"You have a bloodline?" the medical kunoichi asked, surprised.
"Oh, right yeah. Turns out I do. There used to be a whole Uzumaki clan. But I'll fill you in on that another time, I've kinda left Tayuya waiting for me. Anyway, the reason why I said Tayuya means a lot to me is because, even though I agreed to marry her so that she could live, I think I might actually have feelings for her. I'm not sure what this is I'm feeling, but I do really like her. Like, for real! So, I'm sorry for what I did, but you tried to attack her, so I did what had to be done." Naruto finished his apology and reasoning, leaving Sakura to drink in all the information.
After a few seconds Sakura had pieced most of it together, and then gave an apology of her own. "I'm sorry too, Naruto. I shouldn't have been so rash, and should have waited for an explanation instead of trying to hit Tayuya earlier."
"Naah, it's ok. You had your reasons. We cool now?" Naruto asked, wanting to make sure their friendship was still intact, and also wanting to quickly buy the flowers and not keep Tayuya waiting any longer.
"Yes, Naruto. We're still friends. I'm just glad you came to me to apologize." Sakura smiled, and Naruto smiled in return.
Ino coughed, gaining their attention. "You two done yet?" Naruto and Sakura nodded in response. "Good, now, didn't you say you wanted some flowers, Naruto?"
Naruto then thought back to his conversation with Tayuya earlier that day, trying to remember the names of the flowers she had him list off. "Oh yeah, right. I need an amaryllis, a pink carnation, a red chrysanthemum and a purple lilac. Oh and can I also get a gardenia and a red rose?"
Sakura and Ino were shocked. Those 6 flowers (2 more than he had actually been told about) had such deep meanings, especially when it came to love, and Naruto, the knucklehead ninja who not many thought would find love, was buying these for a girl.
Ino spoke up, due to Sakura's jaw being dropped and therefore unable to speak. "N-N-Naruto? You know what those flowers mean, right? You're not just randomly picking them out?"
"Yeah, I know what they mean!" He replied, as if it was a dumb question.
"H-how?"
Naruto sighed. "I just do. I was told about some of them, and the others I've read about. There a problem with that?"
Ino got out from behind the counter, ready to pick out the flowers Naruto had requested. "N-no, I suppose not. Just never expected you of all people to know about flowers. Then again, you are surprising and unpredictable. Anyway, they'll be coming right up!"
Meanwhile, all Sakura could think was 'Huh, so Naruto really is in love with her. Guess that means he won't be bothering me anymore. I'm happy for him, though. He deserves it.'
Not long after, Naruto picked up the flowers, offered his thanks and then ran out the store, knowing that Tayuya would probably be a bit agitated since she had been told to wait for him for all that time. After turning a final corner, he made it back to the bench that Tayuya and the bags had been left at.
"SHITHEAD" Tayuya shouted, definitely agitated. "WHAT THE FUCK TOOK YOU SO LONG?!"
Naruto came to a stop in front of Tayuya, one arm behind his back holding the flowers. "S-sorry 'bout that Tayuya. But I was buying you something, and then I saw Sakura so I had to apologise to her."
Tayuya crossed her arms. "Fine, then. What did you get met then?"
"W-well, uhh…I-I got you…" Naruto was nervous. He was about to reveal his true feelings, after all.
"Fucking spit it out Shithead." Tayuya wondered why Naruto was acting a bit nervous, similar to how he was before.
Naruto turned his head to look away out of embarrassment, and thrust the flowers towards his wife, shouting a bit too loudly. "I GOT YOU THESE. I HOPE YOU LIKE THEM!"
"F-flowers?" Tayuya was shocked. Naruto got her flowers, and not just any flowers, the ones she had told him about earlier, plus 2 more, the gardenia and the rose, which she also knew the meanings behind. But there was no way that Naruto felt the same way towards Tayuya, as she did towards him, right? Either way, her chest tightened, and her heart beat faster.
Moments passed, and not a single word has been passed between the two.
"T-Tayuya?" Naruto questioned, looking towards his girlfriend/wife, and seeing that she had dropped the flowers next to the bags, and was looking towards the ground, her lips curved up, almost like a frown. "W-what's wrong?"
A few more moments passed before Tayuya responded. "Why?", and just before Naruto could ask what she was on about, she continued to talk. "Why the fuck are you doing this for me? Why are you being so fucking nice to me?"
The blonde boy grew concerned. Hadn't they already had this argument, back in the council chambers? "Tayuya what's wrong with me doing this?"
"I DON'T FUCKING DESERVE ANY OF THIS YOU DIPSHIT! First you agree to marry me like it's nothing, then you put up with all my bullshit and forgive me, and then you defend me from that pink bitch! And all day you've been carrying our stuff without complaining, and then you fucking looked at me like some love-struck asshole and said all those nice things about me! And now you buy me these flowers! Earlier, you even said that this relationship might not work out if I didn't like ramen, but this isn't even real! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! I DO-" She choked on her tears. "I DON'T DESERVE TO BE TREATED LIKE THIS. WHAT THE FUCK DID I DO TO HAVE YOU BE LIKE THIS? YOU FUCKING RETARD!"
Naruto slowly lifted his hand up, and cupped Tayuya's cheek with it. "Tayuya, please, stop crying. I thought I told you that you looked prettier when you weren't crying."
Tayuya violently shook her head, trying to get Naruto's hand off of her. "G-get the fuck away me! Stop being so fucking nice to me!"
Noting the resistance from that, Naruto instead grabbed Tayuya by the shoulders and pulled her close to him, into a hug. "Sshh, Tayuya, I told you it's gonna be okay." He moved the two of them to sit on the bench, Tayuya sitting on his lap against his chest, as he stroked through her hair. "Please, just…let me explain."
Slowly, Tayuya tried to stop herself from crying, and lifted her head so that she could look up at Naruto. Weakly, she asked. "Why?"
"Well…why are you going along with it?" Naruto opted to listen to Tayuya's reasoning first, seeing as his was more complicated.
The red-head gulped, thinking of why exactly she was going with it, why she had agreed to marry this random ninja. "B-because…I don't fucking know. Because I don't know any better! Because I don't have anything else! Because I don't want to die! Because I want a family! I don't fucking know. I just…I have nothing…and…you were there for me, even though I don't deserve it…I'm just scared, Naruto. I want to live and grow old, and not be treated like trash. I just want…something…"
Naruto noted how Tayuya called him by his name, and not by Shithead, meaning she was feeling particularly vulnerable. He would have to be careful with this. "See? Those are good reasons, there's nothing wrong with feeling how you do!"
"S-so? W-what about you Naruto?" Tayuya asked, because he was seemingly her only friend, and was legally her husband.
"Because, Tayuya, just like you, I've had nothing in this world. I've been treated like trash my whole life. As you know, I've never had any family or friends, growing up, and all the villagers treat me like crap. I know that there's a part of me that hates the villagers, but I also know that I can't do anything to attack them, because that goes against everything I believe in. They just don't know the truth."
"B-but why then? W-why are you going with this?"
"Because…I'm just super forgiving like that! I forgive the villagers every day, and I've forgiven you. I know you helped kill old man Hokage, and I know you took Sasuke, but you were under orders from evil scum like Orochimaru, so the only thing I can do is forgive you. And even though our relationship is built on a lie, I think I kinda like you anway…" Naruto gave his explanation.
Tayuya's spirits were lifted hearing that. Naruto liked her! Now all she had to do was say she liked him as well. "Y-y-you do?"
The jinchūriki nodded, and gave a warm smile. "Yeah. I know I'm probably being stupid because we've only known each other for less than a day, but I like you. I think you're really pretty and nice, and I like being around you. You may not think it, but you're a good person, and I wanna get to know you more. I wanna be with you, and hold you close, and grow strong with you. I wanna have that baby with you and help you raise it. As husband and wife. But yeah, I like you."
The genjutsu user searched Naruto's eyes for any signs of deceit or lying, and after finding none, wrapped her arms around her husband, and pulled herself against him. "Y-yeah, w-well I like you too!"
Both Naruto and Tayuya sat there, content with being with each other, before Tayuya whispered out a quick "Thank you…"
Naruto gave her a quick pat on the back. "Don't worry about it Tayuya. I told you already, I'm not gonna hurt you, and I'm not gonna leave you either."
A few moments later, Tayuya mumbled something against Naruto's jacket.
"What was that?"
Tayuya gave a little cough, and then moved back a little bit. "I said…kiss me…"
"W-WHA-?!" Naruto nearly jumped from where he was sitting. Tayuya wanted to kiss him already? Not a day into his relationship and he was gonna give someone his first kiss!
"I want you to kiss me. You said that you like me, Shithead, so prove it!" Tayuya was confident in wanting to give her first kiss to Naruto.
Gulping, Naruto puckered his lips and leant forward, while Tayuya wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and pulled herself up.
Oh god, here it was. Their first kiss. Were either of them going to like it? Would they still like each other after the kiss? What if they were bad at kissing? What if something went wrong? They both secretly panicked. Slowly, Naruto leant further forward, and just as he was about kiss Tayuya, he lost his balance and fell off from the bench, causing them both to crash to the floor, Naruto on top of Tayuya.
"OW! DAMMIT SHITHEAD WHAT THE FUCK!" Tayuya complained, trying to move Naruto off of her.
"S-sorry Tayuya. Guess I kinda messed up?" Naruto replied, his face hovering above Tayuya's, each of them with a blush on their face.
Tayuya then thought about how it would be easy for them to kiss in the position they were in, even if they were in public and people were looking at them. "So? Are you gonna…" Tayuya dragged off, hoping that Naruto would pick up on the fact that she was asking if he was going to kiss her.
"Oh! Right, sorry!" Naruto stood up, disappointing Tayuya. He then offered his hand to her, in order to help Tayuya up.
The female Uzumaki took his hand, thinking about how much of an idiot Naruto was, but then, to her surprise, instead of helping her stand up, she was instead pulled into a kiss.
Tayuya's eyes widened the second it happened. 'H-HE'S KISSING ME! N-NARUTO! NARUTO IS KISSING ME! MMPH!'
Meanwhile Naruto was in a world of his own. 'I DID IT. I KISSED TAYUYA. Am I doing it right? Does she like how I'm doing it?' All of his concern was for Tayuya.
The kiss was, well…sloppy. Neither of them had kissed anyone before, and they were both super nervous, so it was expected. Their lips were more mashed against each other than anything else, and they both didn't really know what to do, but it kinda made sense.
Seconds later, they pulled away from the kiss.
Full of joy, Tayuya managed to bring herself to speak. "You fucking suck at kissing, Shithead."
Naruto, also full of glee, replied. "Pfft, says you Tayuya."
They both then stood there in an embrace, looking into each other's eyes, and then broke out into another fit of laughter. Oh, was young love a beautiful thing. And to the two of them, the other was truly beautiful.
Outside sounds slowly registered in their minds, and they were aware of the whistling and the catcalling from all the bystanders, bringing them both into sheepish grins.
"We should probably go home right? To put this stuff away, and you know…make out…" the team 7 member offered, and Tayuya could only respond by nodding dumbly in agreement.
Without a thought, Naruto summoned two clones to carry all of their shopping, and then picked Tayuya up bridal style.
Tayuya yelped in surprise, wrapping her arms around Naruto's neck. "S-Shithead!"
"I'm carrying you there Tayuya!" He ordered. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Naruto then ran off in the direction of his home, his two clones not far behind.
So, to answer the question: 'If Tayuya was given a second chance at life, even if it meant marrying Naruto Uzumaki, would she take it?', yes. Yes, she definitely would.