If It Means A lot To You

Chapter 6: It's Just Like a Cigarette…

I sat there as I watched him slow eat his ramen; he was taking pleasure in this. All I wanted from him was his help with Kiba…and maybe a little help with Ino, though I'm sure I screwed that up nicely. I brought him here so we could go over what I should say to Hinata and all I got is "Whatever you feel like.", Great answer Shika, thanks. He slurped up some ramen and looked me in the eyes.

"Why do you do this to me?" he asked.

"What?"

"Why is it that every time you do something stupid or get dragged into some ridiculous situation you find the need to drag me along with you."

"Yeah. I know man, I owe you a lot, more than I'd like to admit but this…this god damn situation went from helping Kiba get Hinata back, to me trying to save myself from Ino."

"So what do you want from me?" Shikamaru asked.

"I need you to talk to Ino for me…I…I said some really awful things to her. I was drunk, but really that's no excuse. It's just…I dunno, she's confusing the hell out of me... the way she acts, the way she talks…the way she moves…" Naruto smiled as his mind began to drift.

"And?"

"Sorry. What I'm trying to say is, Lately I've been having some serious feeling for Ino and the way things have been going as of late…I think she might like me too. Now, I know that she's a flirt, a damn good one, but she's always been like this and I've never fallen for it. Maybe it was because she kissed me…I dunno."

"What did you say? She kissed you?" Shikamaru stood up from the table and pulled out enough money to cover both meals. As he pulled out a cigarette he motioned to Naruto to follow him outside.

"Yea."

"I see. But first, what exactly happened last night with you two? It started out great with all of us having fun but then we hit that last bar at midnight." He took a deep drag from the smoke. "You two disappear and the next thing I know you're are having a screaming match in the bathroom and then you just up and leave. Care to explain that?"

"This is exactly what I mean. She finally comes out drinking with us and to from my point of view, she was flirty pretty hard with me, hell she was even getting physical, nothing sexual just small things, holding my hand, wrapping her arm with mine, she even hugged me a few times and said I was a great guy for helping out Kiba. And yes, she was pretty drunk, so I played it safe and took it all with a grain of salt. So I take her over a few feet and just said to hell with it…I told her exactly how I felt. Then out of nowhere, some guy comes over. "Ino how are you, it's been a while baby, why didn't you call me back?" Really laying it in there, hugging her, grabbing her hand, definitely did most of it to piss me off."

"And it worked." Shikamaru said. I could see him calling me an idiot with his eyes.

"Yeah. Hook, Line and sinker. So she goes to introduce me. "This is…my friend…my friend Naruto. Naruto this is Takashi we…" He interrupts her and throws his arm around her shoulders. Looks me dead in the eyes. "We dated a bunch of times, got a bit serious but she was too good for a bum like me, right babe?" So I punched him in mouth, what can I say, he was an asshole. So long story short, she drags him into the bathroom, I follow because I wanna hit him again, she starts yelling at me. "You didn't have to do that Naruto, blah blah blah." So then I start yelling and then just walked away. I went home, hopped in the shower and no longer than me being there for 10 minutes, shes knocking on my bathroom door asking me to have a talk with her. We get into it again and she kicked my damn door in, no joke…then she starts saying how she likes me…but not that way…how I caught her off guard with my comments and how she's not sure she see me like that…I couldn't take it and I threw her out of my home, not literally of course…"

"Why say long story short and still have a ton to say?"

I glared at him. "…"

"Okay. I'll have a talk with her. I won't guarantee anything but I'll try." He flicked away the small remains of his cigarette. "Go get Sakura and fix things with Kiba and Hinata…I can't take drinking with him as he cries." With that he left me to myself.

Sakura sighed as we stood in front of the Hyuuga Compound. She always became uncomfortable when coming here.

"Alright Naruto, you ready to get them back together."

"I guess…we can't fail this you know."

"Yea…yea I know." She knocked on the door a few times.

I was relieved to see that Neji had decided to answer the door.

"Hey Neji, is Hinata around?"

"She's busy right now with her father and some of the Main Branch family members. Come in though and have some tea, she'll be happy to see you two."

Sakura and I looked at each other thinking the same thing. Was Neji just nice to us? We followed him into a giant dining room with the tea already placed out.

"Please wait here, I'll go inform Hinata of your arrival if possible." He vanished.

"Something's going on…" Sakura said.

"Because of Neji?"

"A little…but usually when I come here there are a few maids running around…I haven't seen one yet."

I became uneasy. This had to be significant if Sakura felt the need to tell me this. "Yea good point. Must be something…" The sounded of light mumbling caught my attention. "Who the hell is that?"

Sakura quietly followed me to the cracked open door. Down the hall stood a young man…maybe our age, shoulder length blonde hair, tall maybe an inch or two taller than me, bowing to…Hinata and her father? Who the hell was this guy? The man left with Hinata's father as they chatted to, what I would think would be the front door. Neji appeared next to her and pointed in our direction.

"Crap here she comes!" I jumped back to my tea.

"Why are you acting like that? It's not like we saw something we shouldn't have, grow up."

She had a point. "Shut up."

The door slid open and Hinata walked through. "Naruto…Sakura, why are you here?"

"We just wanted to stop by and see how you were." I said. She faintly smiled.

"Hinata…who was that blonde man out there?"

Her face blushed beat red. "He…he's just a friend of the family. His father and him just arrived from the Tea Country…"

"He was quite handsome." Sakura commented.

"Mmm." Hinata responded. "I'm feeling much better…I'm not mad at Kiba anymore…I-If…if that's how he feels…then it is what it is."

Now I was worried. "It is what it is? Hinata that doesn't sound like you."

"She is to be married to him boy." Hiashi made his way through the door…the room fell silent.

"Wait what? Married?" I yelled.

"Naruto please don't yell at my father…"Hinata pleaded.

"I can't believe it. This entire time I just thought you were just being over protective, and that Kiba was just a stubborn idiot and didn't like the way you did things…but he's right, you are controlling her!"

"She's is my daughter you abomination! What would you know about over baring parents when yours died foolishly years ago!" I lunged at him without thinking only to be knocked down. I had to calm down…this was Hinata home…her family. God I wanted to scream as loud as I could till this rage went away.

"Father!" Hinata cried out in my defense.

"Hinata you are your own person, make your own decisions! Kiba was foolish enough to end this but that doesn't mean you should just let him marry you off!"

"Get off of my land this instant or I'll have my men take care of you!"

"And then I'll take of all your men and then some." Sakura said. "I bet the Hokage wouldn't like it if you beat her only grandson." Grandson? Yea she does treat me like one. "Naruto, lets just drop it for now…there's nothing we can do. Hinata…I don't know what to say."

"This is h-how it must be…please tell Kiba I'm sorry." She walked out of the room.

"Oh come on Hinata!" I yelled. Neji stepped in front of me.

"Uncle, please go back to making the arrangements, I will escort them off the property." Hiashi nodded and walked away.

"Remind that dog boy that he was never good enough for my daughter."

"You son of a bitch Neji! How can you let this happen!"

"Explain to me exactly what I can do!"

The room was quiet again.

"I'll take the silence as you understanding the situation. Hiashi has made the deal and Hinata won't budge on not fighting her father. The wedding won't be for a few weeks now, I'll inform you when, but until then it's up to you guys to figure out what needs to be done."

"You're going to help us? Why?"

"I don't agree with arranged marriages, I understand them but that doesn't mean I have to like it. Besides Hinata is strong and that kid is incredibly weak, no fight spirit what so ever, just another rich merchants kid. Now I'll have to ask you to leave before this gets any worse." Neji escorted us out of the house and to the edge of the property. "I'm counting on you guys."

We walked as slow as we could toward the Konoha Vetranary Hospital. We needed Ideas and we needed them fast.

"I hate this…I really hate this right now. I'm about to kill one of my best friends right now…" I could knots begin to grow in my stomach. I wanted to scream. All this should have been was a small break and a few days later everyone is all back to normal and everyone learned their lesson…not this.

"Do you want me to do it Naruto?" Sakura offered.

"No…no I'll do it. I'll see you tomorrow okay?"

She smiled and walked off. Wish I could just walk away right now. Opening the doors to the Vet I saw Kiba right away. Moping around feeding some of the animals in the cages.

"Hey Kiba." I put on my best smile.

"Hey man. Where have you been? You left so abruptly last night, what happened?"

"Oh, you know, another one of my screw ups, this one made top 5…"

He laughed. "Oh jeez man not again." He put the bag down and walked over to me. "So what's up?"

"I um…I just wanted to see if you wanted to come over for dinner tonight, I don't feel like eating alone tonight…you interested?"

"Free food? How can I say no." He let out a laugh…he was getting back to normal. Oh god… "You alright Naruto? You don't look so good."

"Yeah just a little tired…I'm gonna take a nap before dinner…see you around 6ish?"

"Perfect. Later dude." As soon as he turned around I ran outside and puked.

Without taking anything off I face planted into my bed. Nothing was going right…this whole day was just a complete disaster and I felt like I was caught in middle of it all. What would I say to him exactly? "Hey sorry man, she been made into a business deal and married off to some chump from the tea country?" I groaned…what the hell was I going to do?

"What are you groaning about over there?" Kakashi said as he sat on the edge of my bed. I didn't even hear him enter…

"You don't want to know…trust me." I replied.

"So. You want to talk?"

"I can't right now…" I sat up. "She's getting married..."

"Who is?"

"Hinata. Her father is arranging a marriage and she's not protesting...Kiba's on his way over...he has no idea."

"I see."

"This is such a crappy situation." I threw my head into my hands.

He sighed as he stood up. "I'll pull out the alcohol."

Special thanks to Lucario for reviewing, you really helped me.