Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters they belong to
Takumi, Junko, Takahiro, Ryuu and Ayano belong to me and are OOC!
A/N: For all my little peepz out there who are wondering. There are about 5 more chapters coming. But that's just a guess I'm not sure.
Btw. Peepz is an adorable word. I decided that from now on you, my readers/reviewers, will be referred as my peepz.
Chapter 7: The gift
"Hinata-hime" Takahiro said. "I need to talk to you."
"W-What is i-it?" Hinata asked.
"Well no actually I don't want to tell you something. I want to show you something."
"W-What?"
"It's a surprise. I'll show you tonight. We don't spend enough time together. We should get to know each other better." He smiled and sat down beside her. "I'll come and pick you up tonight and we'll spend some time together. Just one on one." He looked over at Naruto and chuckled. "Well Naruto's probably going to have to be there. But that doesn't mean we can't talk private."
Hinata nodded while he stood up and walked again.
"Well then I'll see you tonight Hinata-hime. Oh and dress nice."
It was later that day. Hinata and Naruto had already eaten. Separately of course. Because Naruto was a servant and Hinata was a 'princess' and them eating together would be a disgrace. Naruto chuckled at the thought. 'They would probably get a heart attack if they had seen Hinata eat at Ichiraku's. We've eaten ramen a couple of times together. But never really alone. There was always someone with us and if you're with more then two people Hinata doesn't really enters the conversation unless she has to. We should get some ramen together when we get home. She's fun to talk with and I like ramen a lot. That's a double win on my part.' He groaned in frustration. 'Oh right I forgot. Hinata's not coming home. She's going to Takahiro.' He made it sound like a contagious disease. 'I'm probably never going to see her again because she's probably going to stay here all alone. She's going to get married here, grown old here, have children and grandchildren here.' He found the thought of never seeing Hinata ever again saddening. He didn't want to think about it but he couldn't shut it out anymore after it first came.
A life without Hinata. Before this mission his life without her probably wouldn't have changed a lot. She was not really someone he talked to on regular base like Kakashi or Sakura. She was a person he saw around the village once in a while and greeted. He always considered her his friend but he never realized how little attention he gave her. He regretted it now, knowing that he wasn't going to see her anymore. He regretted not becoming closer with her. They could've been close friends if he had looked beyond the shyness. On the other hand. Sometimes he wished he had never met her. The feelings he was having lately were almost unbearable. If he had never met her then he could've just lived on without her. He could've just continued his life of saving Sasuke and chasing after Sakura. Going back to that life now knowing that she was here, being married to that jerk just seemed impossible. He didn't know why he hated Takahiro so much but he did and he didn't stop to think about it either. He had made up his mind and that was it! He hated Takahiro! He hated his guts! And he hated his cocky brother Ryuu! Probably just his ninja senses kicking in.
"Sounds more like jealousy to me." The fox chuckled.
"Shut up."
The door of Hinata's room opened and Hinata came out wearing a dark blue evening dress. Probably again designed by Ayano. She had designed a whole wardrobe especially for her. Did they have excess money or something. The worst thing had been that Naruto had to sit there for two hours while she fit EVERYTHING! He was getting a nosebleed overdose. He had learned that to much of a good thing can be really bad for you. Naruto also learned that he had really good self control if he wanted it bad enough.
"Are you finally ready?" He said sighing. She just looked down and nodded.
"Than I guess we just have to wait now." Naruto leaned back against the wall. Hinata did the same. Naruto had never been known for his patients and it didn't take him long before he started impatiently tapping his foot on the floor and sighing/groaning every 2 minutes.
"I can't believe this guy. How long is he going to make us wait." He muttered earning a small giggle from Hinata. "It isn't funny am I the only one who heard of the rule 'never make a lady wait'. What if he's like Kakashi. We could end up waiting here for hours." He sighed once again and sunk back to his earlier thoughts.
Before he could help himself the questions he wanted to ask the least slipped out of his mouth. "Hinata do you really want to get married?" He realized he shouldn't have asked. It didn't matter what she answered at this point. There was a certain guaranty he was going to feel bad once she did. If she said no he would feel bad because she was forced in a marriage she didn't want. If she said yes then he knew that she was going to be happy without him. Both answers seemed to s*ck. He wished he hadn't asked the question but he had.
He looked at her closely as she swallowed and parted her lips. Ready to say the answer he knew he was going to hate.
"I…"
"Ah Hinata, Naruto sorry I'm late. I had some things I needed to take care off."
Hinata turned towards the newly arrived Takahiro and smiled. "T-That's alright. I-It w-was no p-problem at a-all."
Naruto didn't know if he was relieved or frustrated. He had thought a moment ago that it would be better for him not to know the truth either way but now that he didn't he couldn't help but wonder. She didn't show that she had any problems with it but… maybe she was just doing it to be polite and not offend her future groom.
He sure had a lot on his mind these days.
Takahiro, Hinata and Naruto were walking through the garden well actually. Hinata and Takahiro were walking through the garden. Naruto was told to follow but with a distance so he could guard them but at the same time couldn't interrupt there private conversation.
Needless to say Naruto was pretty pissed off. He knew that couples sometimes wanted to be alone. With anyone else it wouldn't have bothered him. But for a reason that had becoming clearer the last weeks he didn't like them to be alone. He didn't like the fact he couldn't hear what they were saying. He didn't like the fact they were walking hand in hand. He didn't like it a single bit.
He had enough of it. He respected their privacy but… well… he could maybe pump some chakra in his ears so he could hear better. It wasn't so he could hear there conversation. No, not at all. It was so he could hear if someone approached. It was for there own safety. He could've told them he was doing it. So they knew he could listen to there conversation but he didn't want to bother them. He grinned. Looked like he had the perfect excuse… euh… reason.
So he directed some of his chakra to his ears to hear better.
"N-Now wh-what's the sur-surprise?" He heard Hinata say with her normal stuttering voice.
"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you. Just close your eyes for a minute."
He covered her eyes with his hand.
They walked for a little while until he told her she could open her eyes. They were standing in a part of the garden he had never seen before. It was mostly grass and in the middle was a white arbour. (It's like a small open house without walls that's often in parks. Also called bower or summerhouse)
Hinata gasped. It looked beautiful and tranquil in the moonlight even though it didn't look as well kept as the rest of the garden.
"W-What's t-this?" Hinata asked after taking everything in.
"I noticed that you spend a lot of time in the garden and I remembered that your father told me you like to garden in your free time. So I gave you your own piece of garden. You can do anything you like with it. I wanted to give you a ring or a dress first but I realized that it wouldn't be something a girl like you wants at all."
"T-Thank y-you. I r-really l-like it a-and I'm l-looking f-forward to s-spending time h-here."
Naruto kept his distance while Takahiro and Hinata sat down in the arbour/bower/summerhouse. 'Of course I still have to keep my chakra focused on my ears so I can listen to their conversation… euh I mean watch out for any possible treats.'
"So Hinata were do you want to go on our honeymoon?"
"A-Ano… I h-haven't r-really t-thought of t-that."
Naruto huffed. 'For him it doesn't matter. If it depended on him they wouldn't leave they're room.' He quickly got his mind of that devastating thought.
"Well I guess we have plenty of time to think about that later. Or we could let our families pick a destination. So it'll be a surprise. We don't have to decide right now. But you probably want a summerhouse in Konoha right?"
"H-Huh?"
"Well I was thinking that you'll probably miss your family when you're here so we could build a vacation house in Konoha and when I have free time we can go to Konoha for a week. Hokage's don't really get vacation but I think I can squeeze in a week per year. I mean if you'd like."
She nodded. "I-I'd l-like that. T-Thank y-you."
"And have you thought about kids already?"
Naruto almost chocked. 'No, not kids.' He whined.
"Euh… I-I a-always w-wanted a-a bi-big family. B-because I-I only h-had m-my s-sister gr-growing up a-and we d-didn't r-really g-get al-along."
He nodded understanding. "We actually only need one child to take over the title of Hokage after I retire, as you know it's inherited here."
She nodded.
"But I don't have anything against a big family. We can have as much children as you want. As long as we have a son amongst them it's alright with me. Besides…" he said while leaning in to whisper in her ear. Naruto immediately focused more chakra to hear what he was going to say. "I have nothing against making any."
In the next two seconds a lot of things happened. Takahiro just leaned back like before with a small smile on his lips. Hinata had gotten redder then Naruto had ever seen her before and began staring intently at her hands that were resting on her lap. Naruto had also gotten red but not from embarrassment. Rather from extreme anger. 'Oh no you didn't! I'm going to kill you! Who do you think you are!?' While the fox was having an uncontrollable laughing fit.
Naruto was ready to stomp his way over there and kick some ass but halfway decided against it. 'If I do that they'll know I was listening.'
'You should have seen your face. That was just perfect.' The fox said still in a uncontrollable laughing fit.
'Oh shut up!'
Naruto who had realized that Hinata and Takahiro had noticed him approaching panicked. 'Shit! Shit! Shit! What am I going to say? I need to think of something fast.'
When he was standing in front of them he still hadn't thought of a single thing. There was a short silence while Hinata and Takahiro looked at him expectedly and Naruto just kept staring daggers at Takahiro.
He then finally thought of a good excuse and turned towards Hinata. "Hinata, Takumi said you had to be back before 10. We need to go."
Takahiro wanted to say something but Naruto really wasn't in the mood.
"Now." He just said angry.
With that he grabbed Hinata's wrist and pulled her along.
Hinata had trouble keeping up with Naruto's speed. She was practically dragged behind him while he stomped off.
"B-But N-Naruto-kun T-Takumi-san d-didn't s-say that."
"He did." Naruto just answered shortly without slowing down or looking at her.
"W-when d-did you s-see…"
Really suddenly Naruto turned around. He was angry. Not at her. Just angry in general. He was angry at the world. All the build up anger was coming out in one load. "I told you! He just said you had to be back before 10! Do you want to go back?! Is that it!? Fine!" He let go of her wrist like it was poison. "Then go! I don't care!"
Hinata looked scared. She had never seen him like this and it was all her fault. "N-N-N…" She was so scared she couldn't get past the first letter of his name. It came out like a stuttering mess.
"Don't even start stuttering! Just go!"
His eyes shot fire and she could see how mad he was. Before she could do anything tears streamed down her cheeks. They had started when he started screaming but she had controlled them by blinking them away but now they were coming down like a waterfall.
Naruto opened his mouth probably to scream at her again. She quickly lunched forward and wrapped her arms around his chest. She buried her head in his shirt. This took him by surprise.
"I-I'm s-sorry N-Naruto-kun… P-Please forgive me."
Naruto looked down at her. He couldn't see her face because it was still pressed against his chest but he could hear she was still crying. He felt bad. Really bad. For making Hinata cry. It tore his heart apart and it felt even worse knowing it was his fault. He couldn't even enjoy the hug that he normally had wanted more than anything else.
"Hinata." He said. It was soft, almost unhearable but she heard it anyway, she noticed it sounded hurt, it sounded full of regret.
He laid his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back slightly. So he could look her in the face but she didn't. She couldn't look up at him. So he bent down to her height. "Hinata, there's nothing to forgive." He said softly. "I should be the one apologizing. I'm sorry. I've just been under a lot of stress lately." He looked at her while slowly her tears lessened. "I guess I haven't been a good friend please forgive me."
She furiously shook her head and wrapped her arms back around him hugging him tightly. "T-That's not true N-Naruto-kun. Y-You've always b-been a good f-friend to m-me."
He smiled and stroked her hair. He waited until her sobbing had stopped and than spoke. "Come on, let's go inside." She let go of him and took a step back. She quickly whipped away the remaining tears from her eyes and nodded. Her eyes were slightly red and puffy while her cheeks were stained pink from embarrassment.
He smiled at the well known feature. While they walked in silence to the mansion. Actually for Hinata it was in silence Naruto on the other hand was getting annoyed by the constant talking.
'Looks like the happy couple made up.'
'Shut up.'
'Just admit it. You were so jealous you couldn't control yourself anymore.'
'What if I was?'
'Well at least were beyond the denying part.'
'That doesn't mean anything. It's not because I have feelings for Hinata that I'm going to do something about it.'
'Why not?'
'I can think of a million reasons. Like: It could ruin our friendship, she could reject me, her father and Neji would beat me to a pulp and oh yeah how could I forget SHE'S GETTING MARRIED!'
'Whatever makes you sleep good at night kit.'
'What's that supposed to mean?'
'…'
'Oh and I'd appreciate if you don't give me those dreams anymore.'
He smirked. 'No I think I'll bother you with them for a while longer.'
'Are you serious?! It's been weeks! Can't I get one night off?! I don't want you letting your pervy imagination loose on Hinata.'
'Fine I'll give you one night off but only because today has been so eventful for you.'
I don't know if any of you peepz write NaruHina FF. But if you do. Is it just me or is it really irritating to write Hinata's stutter?
I noticed that Betrothed isn't as popular as Family time was. I wonder why? I personally like the stories equally. With family time I had over the 2000 hits on one day but with this one I can't even get over 500. D:
Anyway peepz… We're having a big clean the next 3 days so I won't have any writing time -.-' I guess I'll upload Sunday 26/07/09 srry peepz
Oh and before I forget peepz I'm going on a holiday from 02/08/'09 to 09/08/'09 So I won't be writing then either.
Kisses, hugs and cookies for my lovely reviewers and readers. (my little peepz)
BTW. Anyone can review even if you don't have an account thank you.