A/N: Read your special order extra super mega fluffy chapter. I'd throw in wuffy but that costs extra.
Reviews:
Knight: Always love getting a new reader. And yes, I know the whole Tobi Obito theory. Here's the bomb guys. In my fanfic I will not state that is fact. Honestly I think it's pretty accurate, but recent actual Naruto chapters have thrown this into doubt and I like to break away from the crowd. You will see more of Tobi but I promise I won't reveal any kind of definite identity unless I change the story before I write it which has happened before. In other words, you guys have no idea what I will write. And yet again I like my job.
Avatar: Verrrrryyyyy soon. This chapter is the FLUFFY HAPPY FEELINGS Chapter.
Zeek: My chapters are shorter then 10 words? We have drastically different definitions of the word "word". And I think I just exacerbated the problem. Anyway thanks for saying that. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this but being an author is what I really want to do with my life. Of course I plan to be the kind of author that actually gets paid for what he writes. As for the Naruto insulting Sakura thing I guess I went a little overboard, but he really, Really, REALLY didn't want to talk about it. I mean REALLLLLLLLLLY didn't want to talk about it. Which is odd because it's the subject of this entire chapter.
Chapter 53: Proposal
Naruto was back at that store. And this time he was determined to be more then a window shopper.
The past few months had been more then just training. In order to prepare the village for the coming battle the Hokage had been sending Ninja on missions continuously, sharpening their skills and bringing money to the village. The money would help buy supplies, but the missions brought something else to leaf. The Hokage was gaining favors from other nations and hidden villages, promises of future assistance.
Naruto had been on his fair share of missions, several of which were by himself and A class or higher. He had saved up money from each just for today, yet the idea still terrified him. He thought about other things that scared him. He would be fine against an army of sound ninja. He could stand up to an S class criminal. He could fight against monsters the size of buildings. And buying a simple thing like this terrified him. With quite sudden shock he realized he was in the store.
The owner looked him over questioningly. "May I help you?"
One big gulp later Naruto said what he needed to say.
Sakura was on her way to the Hokage's office to report for a mission. Though her real purpose was to make sure the mission didn't require leaving before tomorrow, which is when Sasuke would be returning from his own mission.
Sasuke had been assigned to a special task force made up of ANBU and other Jonin who he was leading in small and surgical assaults against Orochimaru's forces. It was getting harder and harder to locate them, now that Orochimaru had abandoned most of his facilities to negate Sasuke's preexisting knowledge. Still, his experience made the assaults possible.
Sakura was waiting for her partners to arrive. Partners was a generous term however, as she was ranked high enough to refer to them as subordinates. Ino arrived. "Well hello there forehead, what are you doing here?"
Sakura smiled. "Assignment at two pm today right?" Sakura watched with distinct pleasure as Ino despaired. "I'd show a little more respect to your group's leader." After Sakura was done subjugating Ino a few ninja walked out of the office. Sakura and Ino walked in taking their place standing before Tsunade. Though that was difficult for Sakura to do once she saw who was there. "Sasuke?!"
Sasuke nodded to her. While Tsunade put down some paperwork and looked at the two Kunoichi before her. "Sasuke's unit is returning on schedule. He came ahead to inform us that they have some wounded and are requesting additional medical support. As such I am dispatching you two along with Shizune. Sasuke will lead you to his squads. You leave now."
Sakura didn't question her orders; she just left the room followed closely by Ino, Shizune and Sasuke. As they left Chouji and Shikamaru's dads entered past them to get their own missions.
Hinata walked in and lay down on the small couch. She had only returned from a mission earlier that morning and was now walking in after debriefing. Compared to the earth which had been her bed for the last week the couch was very comfortable. She didn't quite understand how comfortable it was until she felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her. She turned her head and saw Naruto. She looked at the wall clock and saw that an hour had gone by in an instant.
Realizing that, Hinata shot up and rubbed her face, which had a mark on it from a crease in the couch. "Ah, Naruto. When's your next mission?"
Naruto smiled. In the recent months this had become a common question between everyone. Then he remembered what was in his pocket and panicked. "AHHHH-uhhhhh-wha-wha-well-uhhhhhh-I'm hungry I'm gonna grab something to eat." He half ran half stumbled into the kitchen while laughing away his nervousness. He grabbed a cup of instant ramen out of the cupboard and placed it on the sink.
Hinata had moved into the kitchen and was standing next to Naruto. When he noticed her he freaked out again. "Naruto is there something wrong? Is there something you need to tell me?"
Naruto put the noodles in the microwave and turned it on. "No nothing Hinata. Hehehehe." He quickly opened the microwave having realized he hadn't added any water.
Hinata was not assured. She reached out and grabbed his hand. "What's going on?" He was trembling
'CALM DOWN!!!! Just like earlier today. Hordes of murderous invading ninja. Very large sharp weapons flying at me from every side. Deadly traps that make it impossible to move without exploding.' He had calmed down considerably. He reached into his pocket and grabbed them to make sure they were still there. 'Okay, moment of truth. Why am I so freaked out to do this? Just pull em out and ask.' Naruto grabbed the small objects from out of his pocket and pulled them out, laying his hand flat so that Hinata could see. "Auk!"
Hinata heard him choke before she looked down at his hand. When she looked down at the hand she herself almost choked. There were two small silver rings. She stared at them. Then she stared up at Naruto's face.
'Alright I choked once, but I can get this out.' He took a deep breath. "Hinatawilyumaryme?"
Hinata took a moment. She breathed, focusing on each breath. "sss." It was an incomprehensible mumble. "ess." Still too quiet. "YES!" As soon as she said it Naruto was kissing her.
A few minutes of solid kissing later Naruto and Hinata sat down at the table with the rings between them, neither of them could say anything at first. Hinata stared at the rings. "Are you sure Naruto?"
Naruto was looking at the rings too but he tore his eyes from them to look at Hinata's face. Hinata's pretty face. "Yeah. Well, no. I mean…uhhh… I know I want you to be happy, and I want to be with you, and well, this is what people do right?"
Hinata considered for a moment that they were way to young for something of this magnitude. She also considered all the other obstacles in their way. "It won't be easy."
Naruto smiled. "Hard I can take. I can do whatever it takes to make this work. I'll talk with your dad. I'll pay for a ceremony. I'll do whatever it takes."
"My father. Today." He looked at her confused. "Let's talk with him today, while we're both here." She was standing up. She walked towards the exit. Naruto quickly getting up and following after her. Naruto caught up with her outside and grabbed hold of her hand to walk the entire way with her.
They arrived at the Hyuga grounds and walked in unobstructed. Hinata led the way to where she knew her father would be, training Hanabi. When they arrived she stopped. Ready to wait for him to acknowledge them.
Hiashi didn't take long. Hanabi was already exhausted. "That's enough. Rest for a while Hanabi." After he helped her up and sent her away he turned to his other daughter. "Hinata. Naruto."
Hinata bowed slightly and Naruto followed her example. When they were standing straight up again they both froze, unsure of how to continue. Hiashi waited patiently. Naruto finally stepped forward, still tightly holding Hinata's hand. "Hiashi-san, I have proposed to your daughter."
Hiashi was wide eyed for a moment, but he caught himself. He sat down and beckoned for them to do the same. "Naruto Uzumaki. You must understand, the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuga clan must be protected, and as such marriages become complicated. I would like above all else to see my daughter happy, and I must make sure that you can do both."
Naruto knew he didn't have to worry about making Hinata happy; it was being good enough for the clan that had him silently panicking. "Yes sir."
"First I must ask a very difficult question, and in doing so I must break an oath made with the Sandaime Hokage. How much does my daughter know about the Kyuubi no Yoko?" Hiashi thought that this was the most controversial aspects of Naruto and he sought to quell it as quickly as possible.
Naruto gulped. "Everything. She has known since the beginning. If you want to know anything, you can ask me."
Hiashi nodded. "I'm sorry, but you must understand my worry." Naruto nodded. "Thank you. I know that you are a jonin, is that how you plan to support yourself?"
Naruto clenched his fist in his lap. "Yes, I will be a ninja forever, but, someday I will be recognized as Hokage. I promise you."
Hiashi remembered that he had heard about this boy's ambitions. Looking at him, and after having heard of all the progress he had made it didn't seem so far fetched to believe he could do it. "I see. Ambitious. Hinata, I understand that you wish to marry him as well, or you would not be here. What I want to know is, are you sure?"
Hinata went tense. "More then anything."
Hiashi smiled. He had never seen his daughter so confident before Naruto had become such an important part of her life. Her bravery, her strength, it all seemed to stem from him. He would have to be a monster to deny them. He stood up and walked to the sitting Naruto. He patted the young man on the head. "I will allow it. I will have you both removed from active duty until the ceremony. One week from today."
The two of them fought their excitement down and bowed deeply before Hiashi. "Thank you."
By the time they reached the troops it was night, and so Sasuke ordered them to fall in for sleep. Sakura, Ino, and Shizune got to work treating the wounded, and the three of them quickly finished and told their respective patients to sleep. After it was all done Ino decided to take a perimeter post to give one of the other squad members a break. Shizune was getting to work checking the minor injuries so that everyone could travel at top speed at day break. Sakura wanted to talk with Sasuke.
She approached him as he was sitting in front of the fire. The fire was also surrounded by the ANBU squad leaders that had been placed under Sasuke. They seemed to be discussing the mission. Sakura sat down in a gap to Sasuke's left. One of the captains turned to her and removed his mask to talk more clearly. "We really can't thank you ladies enough for showing up out here."
Sakura nodded and looked around. "There are five ANBU captains here, but I only counted nine ninja under you all. Was it really that bad?"
Sasuke was staring into the fire but answered her. "The first few strikes were perfect. I thought I could stay ahead of Orochimaru's tricks, but he surprised me during the last attack. We were assaulted by several of Jugo's surviving victims, so it got bloody quickly. We slaughtered them all and I ordered the retreat before Orochimaru checked the results of the battle. Besides the casualties the mission was an excellent success, we achieved well above what we had initially planned."
Sakura thought it was harsh how he could just dismiss the lives that were lost, but she remembered that they were on a mission with ANBU. These people were a little more accepting of these things. "I'm just glad we were able to save some of them before it was too late."
Another one of the ANBU captains nodded to her. "Yes thank you. Though our enemies looked like mindless beasts they deliberately aimed for our own medic-nin, they were the first to go. We had no choice but to call for aid."
"At least we were able to severely hinder the sound, we lost six men but they lost thirty." This ANBU captain was quite jubilant.
The ANBU captain seated directly to Sasuke's right stood. "I will make one last check around our perimeter and then get some sleep. The rest of you should consider getting some rest as well; we'll be making our way back to Konoha tomorrow." The other captains deferred to him, so Sakura thought he must have been highly respected. There was also something familiar about him. "Sakura, you too should sleep some."
As soon as he left the other ANBU began to disperse, leaving Sakura and Sasuke alone. Sakura saw that the fire was beginning to die down a little. "I was looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. I was glad to see you today."
Sasuke didn't look at her; this was still tough for him. But he was getting better at being soft with his words. "I was looking forward to getting home as well."
Behind her Sakura heard a loud noise and saw that another small wooden cabin had sprung up. The ANBU from before was standing in front of it and went in. "OH! That was Yamato! I didn't recognize him with the mask. I guess he built the cabins for everyone here right?"
Sasuke was still staring at the slowly shrinking fire. "Yes. But it was his other skills that made him useful. You should get some sleep." Sakura had desperately tried to hide her yawn but he had noticed it. She didn't fight against it, so she curled up in a sleeping bag a little ways away from the fire. Sasuke looked at her. "You could get Yamato to make you a cabin."
She shook her head into her small pillow. "Don't need it, I like sleeping outside."
Sasuke went to sleep after he was certain she was out.
The next morning everyone woke up with little encouragement and Yamato took down his cabins. They took off to Konoha aiming to arrive before two pm.
When they got back they immediately went to debriefing at the Hokage's office. As they were finishing Tsunade asked Sasuke, Sakura, and Yamato to remain behind. "You three have been removed from the active duty list for one week." The three of them looked at her in confusion. "While there are a number of important missions to be completed in that time I have a large ninja force to carry them out, and you three have been invited to a very important wedding. The heir of the Hyuga clan has a husband." Both Sakura and Sasuke got it immediately, though it was Sakura who reacted most vibrantly. She quickly ran out to go talk with them.
She was trembling uncontrollably. She wouldn't have been surprised if the only thing holder up was Sakura's hands on her shoulders. Sakura was telling her something about how wonderful this day was for her and how happy she was for her, but all Hinata could hear was a loud thumping noise repeating itself over and over again. The thumping was deafening and Hinata was beginning to get a headache. She put a hand to her chest and found that it was her own hearts pounding that she was hearing. Sakura was suddenly shaking her. She heard the word "okay" and so she grabbed hold of Sakura's arms. "I'm okay. I just need to sit down."
Sakura watched Hinata fall into a nearby chair. She laughed a little and sat down nearby Hinata. "Can you believe it?"
Hinata looked at what she was wearing. A white Kimono. She looked in a mirror and saw her face accented by make up. Then she looked at Sakura who was in a formal kimono and whose face had also been accented with makeup. She looked at the room she was in. A resting room in the Hyuga family's private shrine. It all added up. She was definitely here to get married to Naruto. "Did I just faint?"
Sakura shook her head. "No, I can't even remember the last time you fainted. Why?"
Hinata looked down at her hands. "I keep feeling like I should be fainting in this situation. I really should be."
Sakura gently slapped Hinata on the back. "No, it's a good thing that you can stay conscious. Naruto doesn't want to get married to you while you're sleeping."
Hinata laughed, and was finally able to get back on her feet.
Sakura left to go get her seat among the friends seating area. Hinata walked to where she met Naruto. He was standing there in a black and blue men's kimono. He was looking at her with a smile. She reached him and stood by his side.
They turned and walked into the main area of the shrine. To their right were several members of the Hyuga clan, though Hinata's immediate family entered the room after her and Naruto. Naruto had asked Tsunade and Jiraiya to take the positions of his immediate family, and other guests who were already gathered in the main shrine included Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, Yamato, and all of the other ninja who he had been Genin with, all gathered on the left.
Hinata and Naruto walked to the altar. Naruto wasn't really paying attention to what the priest was saying. He didn't really know how this whole thing was supposed to go. He had learned only to tell when he was cued to read an oath about honoring his wife. When the cue came he read it, and Hinata read something similar in reference to him. She then turned to face him so he did the same thing. This part he remembered. He gently grabbed her hand and put the ring on her finger, and then allowed her to do the same thing to him.
For the rest Naruto just followed Hinata's lead as well as the instructions the priest gave out from time to time. After something with sticks and a ceremonial drinking of Sake. After that, they left.
They left the shrine and went into a gathering room within the Hyuga's massive estate where the reception was being held. People congratulated them. People celebrated with them. People hugged tem. People kissed their cheeks. People started to leave.
After everything was done, Hiashi led Naruto and Hinata to a home just for them within the estate. It was the biggest place Naruto had ever lived. It had an entryway, a kitchen, two bathrooms, a bedroom and it was very close to the training courtyard. The architecture was distinctly more traditional, and Naruto loved it. He turned to Hinata and asked her "Is this what you grew up with?"
She nodded, and he noticed that she hadn't looked around the home at all; her eyes were fixed on him. "Naruto, did I faint?"
He smiled. "No, why do you ask?"
She wasn't blushing, but she felt like she should be. She was moving toward him. "Sometimes when I used to faint, I would dream of this. All of this, with you."
His smile was gentle. Naruto walked forward until he was right in front of Hinata. "I've never dreamt of anything like this, so I know I'm not dreaming." He reached forward and pinched her cheek.
She recoiled away from him and rubbed the red patch on her cheek. "Naruto why did you do that? That hurt."
Naruto smiled his wide toothy grin. "See? You didn't wake up. It's not a dream." He moved forward and kissed her. "Now c'mon, we have something we need to do, what was the word Ero-sennin used? Consumer? Ahh something like that"
Hinata knew what word he was thinking of, and she knew what he was thinking. She was fine with that idea. Most especially now that it was with her husband.
A/N: I would have added a lemon, but the chapter was just too damn long already. Sorry Rasengan. Maybe some other time. Also, I actually looked up what a japanesse wedding goes like to write that part. Anyway in the words of avatarofrage: "the 'Oh god the Humanity, I can't feel my leg' arc is about to begin."
