For Hinata and I, breakfast was tense and awkward. We both knew what would happen come tonight when we returned from school. My meager belongings would be moved into Hinata's room along with a spare bed and desk.
Neji practically growled as he entered the room, making the three of us at the breakfast bar turn to face him. His new uniform consisted of black trousers, a white dress shirt, a black tie with red lining that was loose around his neck and a black blazer with red trim. Mama rushed out from the kitchen to look at Neji as though he were a celebrity. "Oh, Neji, that uniform looks adorable on you!"
The male rolled his eyes, holding out his hand expectantly. "Can I just have my lunch and breakfast boxed up today? It'll be my last for a while."
Mama nodded dejectedly, rushing back into the kitchen and pulling out a spare lunch box, packing in some french toast with buttered syrup in a small squeeze bottle. She grabbed his lunch box from a small rack on the counter, wrapping them both snugly into a red handkerchief before handing him the package. "Have a safe trip. Your father said that he would bring over whatever belongings you need once you get to the dorms."
Neji nodded in thanks, turning to leave angrily. I blinked in confusion before inquiring. "Neji, where are you going to school?"
The male turned around angrily, spitting at me with his response. "Akatsuki Academy."
I nodded thoughtfully. "Itachi goes there. They have all the way through college, so you don't have to take entrance exams to get in. I heard TenTen started attending this year too." The brunette appeared confused by my prattle, but I continued anyway. "They have some of the highest business and engineering programs in the country. But I heard it costs more than a small mansion to go, so most families only send their heirs there."
Neji scoffed, turning his back on us. "Whatever. There's no way it costs that much." He stormed out of the room, leaving the girls in shock.
Hanabi glanced over at me suspiciously, "Was all of that true?"
I shrugged, "Itachi and TenTen both attend, but I have no clue about the actual cost. But if it were cheap, there's no reason to not send all of us there."
"It costs about sixty thousand to send one student per semester. And although that isn't too troublesome of a price, it is more based toward heirs whose parents do not want to have the child shadowing them. Hiashi cannot stand Neji. He's never quite been fond of Neji or his mother. When his mother died, it was hard on Neji, but nothing has really changed. Hiashi always thought that Neji's mother was manipulative and entitled. Hizashi married her for her family's company. But the two of them have been talking about giving Neji complete control over the company and forcing him to fend for himself." Mama explained, cleaning the dishes.
Hanabi nodded thoughtfully. "Neji always has been arrogant, so I'm sure that he would be happy to be given control of his own company.."
Mama turned to face us decisively. "Naruto, Hinata, I would like to discuss your wedding plans."
"Right now?" I complained, feeling my cheeks burn red hot.
Mama nodded. "I would like to have the two of you decide on a date for the time being. The rest can be figured out tonight. I will need to have a date to plan anything."
Hinata blinked in confusion, and I knew exactly what she wanted to say. "It's up to Hina-chan. I'm ready whenever she is."
Mama clapped eagerly, staring expectantly at her eldest daughter, her eyes sparkling. "What do you think, Hinata?"
Hinata bit her lip, glancing over at me. "When Naruto-kun moves out, if we aren't m-married, does that mean that I can't go with him?"
Mama smiled, leaning against the pristine countertop. "You will still be betrothed, your father would say no, but I like to believe that I can be quite persuasive."
Hinata nodded, the gears twisting in her head. "I would like to be married after high school if possible. If Father will not allow me to move in with Naruto before the wedding, then most likely before it would come to that."
"Well then, that's enough of me delaying you three. You three should be heading to school now." She wrapped the remaining two lunches for her daughters and handing them to the duo, looking hopefully at me. "Naruto-kun, are you sure that you don't want me to make you a bento as well?"
I smiled weakly. "I usually eat with Tsunade-chama. She's made my lunch for this long already. And she doesn't mind much."
"Alright then," Mama smiled, waving us off. "Have a safe trip!"
I smiled down at Hinata as we walked, lacing our fingers together easily. I squeezed her small hand in mine, feeling her pulse thrumming against my palm. We were engaged now, so I figured it was okay to do at least this much in public. When I didn't let go, I could feel Hinata's pulse begin to race faster and faster against my own. Her skin heated up and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed her looking down toward her feet. "So, what's the plan for dinner tonight?"
Hinata went to answer, but she couldn't get the words to come out of her throat. Hanabi giggled at her sister's flustered appearance. "It's Friday, so it's pizza and movie night!"
I smiled down at the younger girl. "So how does pizza night work?"
Hanabi rushed ahead, turning around to face the two of us. Seriously, what is with these two and walking backwards? "It's actually really special because since all of the clubs let out early most Fridays, the three of us will be home early today. I'll be leaving making the dough to you two this week since Neji and I made the dough last week. Then around 5:30, everyone will make their own pizzas! After dinner, we pop popcorn and eat the cookies that Mama will be baking today!"
I leaned forward and ruffled the shorter girl's hair gently. "You sound excited, Hana-chan."
"It is her favourite day of the week, Naruto-kun."
The brunette crossed her arms over her chest, scowling at her sister. "You make it sound as though it isn't yours!"
Hinata smiled down at her sister knowingly. "That's because it isn't my favourite, Hana-chan."
The younger Hyuuga looked genuinely shocked by her sister's reply. She stopped in her tracks, staring at the former. "What's not to like? Everyone in the kitchen, laughing, making dinner together. It's amazing!"
I shuddered at the thought, personally wondering how that could ever be fun in anyone's eyes. Hinata glanced up at me curiously for a few seconds before shrugging. "I don't like the kitchen being that crowded. By the time you get everyone around the island, there's hardly any room to move around."
Hanabi thought about the problem for a few minutes before shrugging. "Yeah, rolling the dough is hard with everyone around the island, but it could be way worse. It's fine for putting on toppings and everything."
I blinked in confusion. "You guys all roll out at the same time in the same place?"
Hinata looked up at my tone. "Well, yeah. Otherwise it isn't family pizza night…"
I ran through the situation in my head, envisioning the kitchen and small, informal dining room. I tried to remember what was in the closet during game night. There was a small card table, some linens hanging, a broom, a mop, a small shelf with games, extra chairs… Wait. Extra chairs? How many? 9. What would they need with nine extra chairs? Unless… "Hey, Hina-chan?" The girl looked up expectantly. "You wouldn't happen to have leaves for your table, would you?"
Hinata nodded slowly. "We do, but the table's really heavy, so it's a pain to put them in and take them out."
"Then couldn't we put the leaves in the table and use that to make the pizzas on? Because you roll the pizza out with flour underneath so that the dough doesn't stick to the counter, right? So just use the kitchen table instead. By the time you add in the leaves, the table should be big enough for everyone to roll and top their pizzas together, right?"
The duo nodded thoughtfully. "I don't see why not… I-it's just a lot of work…"
I smiled down at my adorable fiance. "Then I'll take care of it." We all walked through the front gates together when I was grabbed by the arm. I twisted around to see the face of Mr. Hatake.
"Hello, Naruto-kun. I'm afraid I missed you last night. We'll have to reschedule for today. Hopefully we can both attend this time around."
I sighed angstily, looking up at the man. "When were you thinking?"
"Today right after school."
I opted to reluctantly nod and glance over to Hinata. "Come by Tsunade's office after club practice and we'll walk home together." Hinata nodded, gripping my arm tighter. I smiled down at her for a second before waving to Hanabi as she jogged off to meet up with her friends as they entered the school gates.
Classes seemed to fly by as Hinata and I sat together in every class until lunch. I packed up slowly while Hinata waved to me cheerfully before she left the room to meet Sakura and Sasuke for lunch. I meandered my way to Tsunade's office. So many thoughts were flying around in my head that I was starting to feel dizzy. I walked into the main office and waved to Shizune absentmindedly.
She smiled up at me as I approached her, but her smile fell when she noticed that I wasn't stopping as I made my way past her desk and raised my hand to knock lightly on the door to Tsunade's office. "Oh, Naruto! You shouldn't-"
But it was too late and I had opened the door to see Jiraiya pressing Tsunade back into her desk. I rolled my eyes, closing the door behind me and taking off my backpack to relax into Tsunade's couch, closing my eyes and leaning my head back. The air in the room started to become stale and I sighed, barely opening one eye to glance over at the duo. "Please, don't let me interrupt your, well, whatever it is you two were doing." I closed my eye to feel the room heat up with the force of Tsunade's blush.
"Naruto."
I looked up to see Jiraiya staring back at me seriously. I sat up, feeling shivers run down my spine at the out of character action. "Yes, Uncle?"
He made his way over to me, staring me dead in the eye. "I hear you got yourself into a mess. So I came home."
I sighed angstily at my dramatic uncle. "What do you mean by a mess?"
He smirked, sitting down on the chair next to me. "You got yourself engaged. At sixteen.. To a Hyuuga girl no less! I didn't even know you were dating yet! I thought you hadn't gotten over the accident yet. I wasn't sure what to think when her father called me yesterday. He seemed to be serious, but I thought that there was no way that they would give away their crown jewel to our family."
Tsunade perked up at that. "When did you propose? Kakashi said that you were getting closer to talking about the accident. Does Hinata have something to do with that?"
"I proposed last night… I hadn't been to the estate for a long time. Last night I went and picked up my guitars that Itachi and Sasuke gave me. I figured that since I'm not living with the Uchihas anymore, I could take home Mom's engagement ring without having to worry about them finding and taking it away. So when they brought it up at the family meeting, I just thought it would be okay to give it to her."
Tsunade nodded thoughtfully. "And she seemed happy?"
I smiled to myself, looking down at my hands, the memories of Hinata's body pressed against his own and the smile that had remained on her face for the rest of the night. She looked beautiful. And more importantly… "She looked ecstatic. She doesn't seem to be against it."
Jiraiya bobbed his head. "Be careful of that Neji kid though. They might just give their company to him."
I leaned back into the couch, watching Tsunade practically lay across her desk to reach the three lunches she had prepared without having to walk too much. She retrieved the boxes with some extra effort and tossed two of them to Jiraiya and I. I caught mine easily and reached a bit when Jiraiya's started to sail past his hands to catch his before it fell to the floor.
"You should join a sport's team. Learn how to work with people before you take over the company."
"I'm looking at joining the baseball team."
The three of us continued to talk until the bell that ended lunch rang. I stood, heading out the door and off to my next class. By the last class of the day, I was dreading the sound of that final bell. It was almost like waiting for a death sentence. The bell chimed, and Hinata squeezed my hand tightly before she jogged out the door, presumably to meet Sakura prior to swim practice.
I wandered over to the office to meet Kakashi. The silver-haired man was leaned against Shizune's desk, waiting for me to show up. "It's good to see you, Naruto."
I shrugged, walking into the man's office. We sat in silence for a while. "I'm going to talk about it."
The man blinked. "The accident?"
I nodded. "But you can't be the first person I tell. I need to tell them first."
The man leaned over his desk, taking a deep breath. "Is there something you need help with?"
"It was my fault. Their faces were so pained…"
"How do you feel that it was your fault? No one blames you, Naruto."
"I distracted Mom… And Dad tried to help… That's how it happened."
Kakashi looked down at my file. "Do you know how the accident happened, Naruto?" I looked up in confusion, but he didn't let me answer. "A minivan passed the semi while your parents' car was going the opposite way. There wasn't anywhere for your parents to go. The accident would have happened whether you talked to your parents or not."
My eyes widened and I looked down. "No one ever told me that."
Kakashi nodded in understandingly. "That's understandable. You never talked about it. You seemed to blame yourself, but it didn't appear to traumatize you too terribly much, so most people don't like to discuss these things."
"Then why are you here? Why are we sitting here if it didn't traumatize me?"
"I'm just a school counsellor. I'm by no means a trauma counsellor.. I'm here because you decided to act out and not turn in your school work. You plummeted from a solid 3.8 GPA to a 2.2." I nodded, practically collapsing back into the soft chair. "On a better note. I heard you're getting married. Is that such a good idea?"
I shrugged, looking down at my hands. "I'll finally have my own family again. I'm just not entirely sure if it's a good solution."
"The two of you are the only ones who can decide that. No one else can decide if you two can make it for a lifetime."
