Naruto had been to the Hyuga compound on multiple occasions since the war, but never to this particular side of the extravagant main house. He walked down an unfamiliar long corridor behind Hanabi, willing his hands not to shake and his voice not to crack. He was sweating bullets, the heat unrelenting despite the chill of the season. He exhaled, trying to center himself, causing Hanabi to turn around with a smug look upon her face.
"You okay? You're not looking so good."
He swallowed roughly and waved her off, "Oh, please. I'm fine."
While he knew deep in his heart he had no reason to be worried, his brain and body refused to listen. He attempted to distract himself by studying the artwork on the walls while he talked himself down. Hinata had already told him that her father would not be opposed to their union, this conversation should be like every other interaction he'd had with the elder Hyuga thus far, straight to the point. Hiashi never beat around the bush with unimportant matters.
It took many a run-in with Hiashi to gauge whether or not he liked him, but, he figured, it didn't matter so much back then. The two were civil, Hiashi greeting him or wishing him well on his way out of the compound, but their relationship really ended there. So to find out that Hiashi approved of them being together made Naruto believe the elder Hyuga had seen what really existed between the couple before he had. Besides, it wasn't too hard to venture that Hiashi had a watchful eye upon them believing their friendship had progressed, especially since the elders had taken notice of Naruto's attentiveness to the Hyuga princess.
Many a summer afternoon he spent in the gardens of the Hyuga compound with Hinata, talking about nothing and eating whatever she packed for them to enjoy whilst basking in the sun. He learned how to grow herbs in the months following the war, and how to tend to various plants as the year went by. Every once in a while they gathered flowers to bring to the cemetery, both of them needing to talk to loved ones that had departed too soon.
On other nights, sitting at her kitchen table, Naruto confided in her the terrible dreams he had, the figures he saw when he closed his eyes. Hiashi had walked in on one of those talks, Hinata's fingers interlaced with Naruto's as he pushed tears away. Naruto thought nothing of it then, there was nothing impure between them. They constantly found comfort in each other in the most innocent of ways.
Hiashi said nothing when he saw his eldest daughter holding the Uzumaki boy's hand. Nor when she spent her days with him in the garden or helping him clean his apartment. Instead, he continued opening his home to him. He didn't say much, that was true, but Naruto knew that meant everything.
He had no doubt Hiashi understood what had happened, why Naruto was suddenly around so often. After all, it was Naruto that comforted both Hinata and Hanabi when they laid Neji to rest. It was Naruto that protected Hinata in the midst of battle, and who constantly stopped by to check on her without even realizing why he was doing it. It was Hinata he wanted with him whenever he knew he was going in for a particularly rough doctor's appointment, and it was her calming demeanor that he constantly sought out after another sleepless night.
They needed each other to survive what had happened, and from that, their friendship evolved into love.
After all the time they spent together, after everything they had been through, it really was no surprise that they got together. Except of course to Naruto. He still couldn't believe he was that dense.
Hanabi knocked roughly on the door before them, snapping Naruto back to reality in an instant.
"Come in."
Hanabi pushed open the door and stepped in first, "Father, Naruto has come to talk to you."
"Ah, Naruto. Let him in."
Naruto stepped forward as Hanabi stepped aside. She gently gave him a nudge of encouragement, whispered "Good luck," and disappeared out the door within seconds.
Naruto almost wished she could've stayed a little longer to mitigate the awkwardness that weighed down the air in the room, but, he knew Hanabi would just make the situation even more embarrassing than it already was with her sarcastic humor.
On legs that shook in a way that made him unsure of every step he took, Naruto approached Hiashi's desk, where the elder Hyuga sat with a number of important-looking documents splayed in front of him. He bowed before him and gave a firm greeting, "Lord Hyuga," to which Hiashi nodded.
"Please, take a seat."
Naruto did as he was asked, nervously tapping his fingers on the tops of his thighs the moment he sat down.
"You weren't around much this summer, the elders missed your help in the garden," Hiashi stated, signing something on the paper he held in front of him, never once looking at Naruto in the eye. Strangely, it calmed our golden boy. It made their conversation less forced, more natural. Direct eye contact would probably send him into a panic.
"Ah, Lady Tsunade and Lord Hokage finally gave me clearance to start taking on missions again. I've barely been in the village these past few months."
"So I heard. I imagine things have calmed down quite a bit outside of the village now."
"Yes, sir."
"Thanks to you, of course."
Naruto quickly shook his head, "No, no. I couldn't take credit, Lord Hyuga. The entire village stood together to bring peace to our land."
After a beat of silence, Hiashi sighed, "Incredible that it's been two years."
"Yeah."
He watched as the elder Hyuga turned to look at the portrait of a woman who looked very much like Hinata before turning back to him, "I heard you wanted to talk to me?" Hiashi asked, peering at Naruto.
As he had expected, meeting the elder Hyuga's stare sent him spiraling. He hoped Hinata's father couldn't see the guilt upon his face, even though he would most likely hear it in his voice, "Y-yes, sir. I...I know I didn't do the right thing and come to you when we started seeing each other. But, Hinata and I...we..." He cleared his throat, feeling heat flash from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. Somehow, he was getting dizzy.
"You're both romantically involved."
"Y-Yes," He managed to squeak.
"For how long? A year? Two?"
"Two?"
Hiashi narrowed his eyes at the blonde, making Naruto swallow roughly once again, "You two grew closer after everything that happened. You were always around, it's not hard to put two and two together."
He breathed out, this was not what he expected to hear. Still, though, he understood why Hiashi thought that was the case, "We were friends. It...it wasn't like that."
"Friends don't constantly hold each other's hands," Hiashi chided.
Naruto knew he was referring to that night Hinata was comforting him and was quick to say, "We just became, um," He paused and thought to use the phrase Hiashi just did to make him sound a little more mature, "We just recently became romantically involved."
"When?"
"O-oh. Um, well, about a year now."
"That's not very recent."
"Yeah, I guess it's not."
Hiashi looked at him wordlessly, making Naruto want to fill up the silence that now suffocated him.
"I know I should've approached you sooner...man to man...but-"
"It's been a touch hectic around here lately," Hiashi finished, "Nonetheless, Naruto, I would've appreciated you coming to talk to me."
"I...I'm here now."
"Yes, and still, we haven't gotten to the reason why."
The two looked at each other, Naruto trying to put the words together, and Hiashi trying to hold a firm and slightly intimidating gaze on his daughter's suitor.
"Sir, Hinata and I...we'd like your permission to marry," Naruto managed to choke out.
After far too long a pause for Naruto's heart to handle, Hiashi finally nodded, "I thought that was the case."
"Y-you thought...that...was the case?"
For the first time in all the years that Naruto had known the elder Hyuga, he saw what he believed was a genuine smile, "You don't get to my age without picking up on a thing or two."
A nervous laugh escaped Naruto's lips, "I'm glad you kind of knew, but, did we really have to do the whole interrogation bit before?"
"Considering how long it took for my suspicions to be confirmed, yes, we did." Taking advantage of Naruto's inability to form another sentence, the elder Hyuga followed up with an invitation, "I'd like for us to have tea next week, would you be available? It's far too late now to get into the specifics of what your union would entail."
Stunned, Naruto muttered, "O-of course. I'll be around."
Hiashi stood and walked around his desk, extending a hand in Naruto's direction, "For now you can tell both my daughters that you've gotten the seal of approval."
Naruto in his excitement pulled the elder Hyuga into an embrace, and upon realizing how inappropriate that was, he quickly untangled himself from him and furiously apologized.
Hiashi chuckled and assured him it was alright. Although he didn't show it, he too was excited to welcome Naruto into the family.
"Sir, just one last thing."
"What's that?"
"We'd like to marry this spring. Perhaps...early April?"
Hiashi's face paled, "So soon? Why the need to expedite things?"
"We just...we want to start our life together already. We wanted to marry when the cherry blossoms bloomed."
"I see..." Hiashi brought his hand to his chin, mulling over what Naruto had just proposed. Finally, he said, "April just will not do."
"Oh?" Naruto said, suddenly feeling his stomach-turning.
"No, this year the cherry blossoms are expected to bloom early. Late March would be much more suitable."
Naruto, taking probably his hundredth deep breath of the evening, smirked as he gripped his chest, "You have a sense of humor, don't you, Lord Hyuga? Is this where Hanabi gets it from?"
Hiashi shook his head, "That was from her mother. But I like to think I have a little bit of humor left for special occasions."
The two chatted for a few minutes longer, Hiashi reiterating the sleepover rule without implying anything, and Naruto attempting to deny that he and Hinata had done anything that would be deemed inappropriate.
He enjoyed the exchanges he had with his future father-in-law, as embarrassing as they may be at times, and he understood now why many had said the years had changed him. Although Lord Hyuga once appeared to be a domineering monster to him back when he first heard of the Hyuga clan's cruel traditions in his youth. Naruto, more than anyone, knew that people could change. Hiashi seemed to want to cultivate a relationship with him, and he was more than willing to put the work in to be like a son to him.
"Thank you, sir," Naruto said, bowing before Hiashi once again before turning toward the door.
His adrenaline had finally tampered down, he could feel his heartbeat normally again, almost a little too slowly. Turning into the unfamiliar hallway once again, he felt as if he were floating. He was still too hot, his hands were still too clammy, and his stomach still felt like it was upset, but he felt almost euphoric.
They were to wed by the end of March. He couldn't wait to tell Hinata.
"Fuck," He mumbled as he veered to the right, slamming into the wall. His shoulder immediately hurt from the impact.
As he tried to soothe the injury, he slumped against the cool surface. Breathing in and out, trying to compose himself. He felt dizzy, extremely weak. He wasn't sure he could get back up again. He had thought it was his nerves acting up, but now he realized as everything slowly went to black and Hanabi yelled out his name, that he had more than likely caught the flu after his latest mission.
Hopefully, he thought as he succumbed to his fever, this wasn't going to be an indication of how much of a nuisance he was going to be to Hinata when they finally became husband and wife.
"N-Naruto-Kun, please wake up."
Naruto slowly opened his eyes to Hinata's concerned face. With the strength he could muster, he ran his thumb across her furrowed brow, trying to make her smile, "Hey, Hinata. Did something happen?"
He attempted to get up, but she gently pushed him back onto the plush mat he was laying on. She placed a cool washcloth to his forehead and let out a breath.
"I'm okay."
"No, you're not. You're running a fever. You fainted!" She said in a half-whisper.
"It's just the flu, I'm fine. This is so embarrassing...does your dad know I fainted?"
"Naruto, please. Just lay down and go back to sleep."
"Does he?" He repeated, knowing she was sparing his feelings.
She exhaled, "Yes, he helped bring you back to this room."
"He must've been pleased with himself, knowing the fear of me speaking to him put me in this state."
"Stop it. It was the sickness, not you having to talk to him. I knew you were running a fever...I shouldn't have let you do this tonight."
"How is any of this your fault?"
Hinata brushed his hair back, ignoring his question as she told him, "Go back to sleep."
As much as he wanted to fight her, he relented. Not before pulling her down to whisper in her ear, though, "As soon as I get better, we get to start planning our wedding."
She smiled, "I know," Hinata kissed his cheek and pulled back to look at him, "But before we can, you need to get better."
"I'm sorry I'm already such a bother," Naruto mumbled, trying not to be sucked back into a dead slumber.
He heard Hanabi snicker behind them, "Good to know marriage won't change him."
"Hanabi?" He asked, reaching an arm up to motion her towards him.
Hinata nodded towards her younger sister to approach them. With a sigh, she kneeled on Naruto's other side and asked in a huff, "What?"
Naruto gave her a grin as he said, "You can call me nii-chan now."
She laughed, "Yeah, dummy. I know."
"Dummy? I thought I'd at least get to hear it for the first time before I passed out again."
Hanabi grabbed his other hand and squeezed it tightly, "I can't wait for the wedding, nii-chan."
"Music to my ears," He mumbled as his eyes began closing once again.
He was lulled to sleep within an instant, laying between the two Hyuga sisters, who were both kneeling on either side of him, excitedly whispering plans of the future.