star vessel

From a jealous boyfriend to missions together, honeymoon, overprotective husband, nightmares and reveries. Everything from the moon and back.
Chronological One-Shots / Canon-Compliant / Post-War / After The Last
(Can be an extension read for secret lovers)

Disclaimer: Characters and several scenarios in this work belong to Masashi Kishimoto et al.

entry nine

prompt

Change is around the corner.

/propose/

make an offer to someone

It had been months since Naruto expressed his intention to marry Hinata. Yes, he frequented the Hyuga manor especially after the new year and was regularly conversing with his future father-in-law about topics concerning gardening, politics and, of course, marrying Hinata.

However, last night, he read from one of the magazines he bought with Sai that a guy must do this and that to "formally" propose, and the worst part was he was already talking about weddings with Hinata and her family without him getting to do that proposal thing!

Learning that Hinata would come home from a mission tonight, he made the necessary preparations to surprise her with a proposal at the playground he was often at. Ha! Complete with roses and all. He read from the magazine that girls love this stuff, hence he made sure that everything was perfect.

Nervously tapping his feet while waiting for her, Naruto immediately looked when he noticed someone arriving.

"N-Naruto-kun?" There, she approached him ever beautiful under the moonlight. She was wearing this pink dress as if she had an idea of what's about to go down tonight.

He gulped as he took in her appearance. How did she know? Shrugging the thought away, he pondered that it didn't really matter. The important thing was to get down on one knee so he could now properly propose to her after the long wait he had put her through.

"Uh, ah, Hinata…Here…" Naruto reached out the bouquet of flowers and added, "Also! You look really beautiful."

He giggled and scratched the back of his head. Her eyes widened and gave out a somewhat successful smile. She opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, when Naruto cut her.

"Wait! Before anything else, I want to do this once and for all." The blonde got to one knee; however, he froze.

Shit!

The ring!

Completely stupefied and terrified, Naruto just stared at her. How terrible! He managed to get flowers and all yet how the hell did he forget about the ring of all things!

He just stared at her nervously still trying to figure out how to explain things to her, when he heard someone else called him.

"Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked behind him and saw another Hinata? She's in her usual mission gear, and she's with Sakura-chan.

How did this?

He looked at the one in front him, but it poofed.

"How the- Konohamaru!?" The blonde quipped mixed with disbelief.

There, he immediately saw the distressed young boy. "I was trying to tell you that kore~ It ain't my fault! I was practicing this jutsu and was trying to test it out on you when you suddenly pulled that off!"

Konohamaru quickly hid behind Hinata after giving her the flowers.

Letting out a big exhale, Sakura came by Naruto's side and added, "If anything, he saved you. You should be thankful, Naruto. Is it just me or you forgot to bring a ring?"

"Sa-Sakura-chan!" Naruto's face contorted apologetically. He casted a glance to Hinata who was now giving him a sympathetic smile.

How shameful -ttebayo…

Chuckling, Hinata came to console him, "It's okay, Naruto-kun. I told you before that the ring might get broken with my jutsu, so it's totally fine."

"Are-are you sure?"

Sakura face-palmed and laughed. "You're really lucky, aren't you?"

Since it was already late, they soon went their own ways with Naruto walking Hinata home. However, their peaceful little time together ended as soon as they neared the Hyuga manor.

Naruto's grip on Hinata's hand tightened as fans and certain villagers crowded them. They bombarded the two with questions about their relationship with specific focus on their wedding. Now, Naruto was regretting buying that Konoha Weddings & Beyond magazine with Sai. He's kind of sure that the gossip emerged from that.

"It's true. It's true that we're getting married dattebayo!" The blonde answered proudly which made the ravenette blush. The response left the people in surprise, while some conjured more theories.

The others still pressed more questions, and this had Naruto contemplating on whether he could team up with Hinata so they can escape these people through a transformation jutsu. Good thing certain Hyuga clansmen ushered the two of them to safety.

"I-I'm sorry, Hinata, it's-" The blonde started when they reached the more secluded gate of the manor.

Hinata didn't give him any word and, instead, gave him a hug. "This is nothing, Naruto-kun."

Indeed, this was nothing. Definitely, nothing compared to all the things she had been through due to her love and admiration for him.

Naruto returned the embrace—feeling her so close like this was the most peaceful place here on Earth. How he wished that the people could give them a rest.

Kiba's laughter rang as he walked approaching Konoha fresh from an overnight mission in a neighboring village with Shino and Naruto.

"How come you didn't notice that it wasn't even Hinata's chakra but Konohamaru's?" The Inuzuka asked in between his laughter. He just couldn't believe it!

"Maybe because he was so nervous." Shino answered for Naruto, who was equally ashamed of what happened.

"What will I do now dattebayo!?" Naruto asked in frustration. "How can I get Hinata a decent proposal after what happened?"

Kiba patted his back in consolation. "As far as we know, you returning her feelings was enough for Hinata."

"I know that but-"

"Don't stress yourself too much, Naruto," Shino pushed the bridge of his eyeglasses up his nose and said, "Everyone will be having a bath at the onsen later, which means us, boys, can talk it out. I think that's the best option for you."

"What's gonna work, teamwork, right?" Kiba added just to enliven him up, but no further words were needed for as soon as Naruto saw Hinata his face lit up feeling relief just by seeing her again.

As much as he wanted to carry Hinata around and spin her like a princess, he knew that this would just be a public spectacle and the villagers would disrupt them again. Somehow, he just wanted to spend time with her alone.

But he can definitely carry her like he was planning to, right?

"Hinaaaaataaaaaa!" With a mischievous grin on his face, he sped up to her.

"Oi, Naruto what're you-" Kiba called out but the blonde didn't seem to hear.

Naruto carried Hinata away and leapt of atop of the roofs. The villagers were equally intrigued, but they couldn't do anything since the couple were already out of sight.

"Na-Naruto-kun, what's happening?" Hinata asked as she wrapped an arm around his neck. Her heart couldn't stop racing. She didn't expect him to surprise her like this.

"It's a secret!" He said, which was followed by his playful chuckle.

Stopping atop the Hokage mountain, specifically his father's head, he brought Hinata back to her feet.

"Here, they won't disturb us here." Naruto announced fully proud of his idea.

Hinata looked upon him and down on the view of whole Konoha with the dusk sky.

"And also very beautiful." She added.

"Just like you, eh?" He giggled and grinned at her with his eyes fully squeezed. She also chuckled at her comment more freely than she usually did.

"I can't believe this, Hinata. You're not blushing anymore -ttebayo?" He asked intrigued, of course, his reaction was very animated.

"Really? I-I haven't noticed." She placed her hands on her cheeks with eyed widened. A confident smile spread across her face, and she added, "Maybe I'm more comfortable around you now, Naruto-kun."

"Yeah," He tucked few strands of hair behind her ear and placed a soft kiss on her temple. "I think that's better?"

She rested head on his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her frame.

"Wait! But I'll miss your blushing face!" He whined, which caused her to laugh.

There, they drew out a relaxing exhale at the same time—watching the sun set as the establishments in their village started to light up

"Even our village changed a lot." Hinata pointed out.

"Yeah! The Ichiraku's is getting bigger and bigger! There are also those tall buildings with fancy lights. They're really wonderful to look at! I'm so happy we get to see Konoha like this!"

Hinata saw the gleam in Naruto's blue eyes. It was as if this was his most precious dream, the one he'd been fighting for this whole time. And he was, her dream. To see him so happy like this. She smiled and placed her hand on his chest. How can she keep this moment forever?

"And soon, we will change too." She said, parting slightly to face him.

"Yup! That's right and I'm super excited for it, y'know?"

"Me too, Naruto-kun. I have faith that just like our village, we will weather any change and we'll remain strong." She took his hand and clasped it with both of hers. "As long as we're together—you're hand in mine."

At that moment, where everything was making sense, all he could do was stare at her—completely moved by what she said. To be honest, he wanted to bawl in front of her, but not right now. Instead, he pulled her in for an embrace, which she immediately returned.

"Hinata…" He murmured while he hid his face on her hair.

"Naruto-kun?" She motioned circle at his back. "Are you alright?"

"I just want to say your name." They remained still for a while relishing each other's presence and warmth, when Naruto suddenly pulled away. "Whoa!"

Hinata gave him a concerned look. "Did…did something happen?"

"Hinata…." His face somewhat mortified. "Did you…did you just propose to me?"

She pondered for a second on what he meant until she let out a laugh, and he ranted on how he could ever let her pull off a better proposal than him.

"Naruto here wanted to "decently" propose to Hinata." Kiba announced to his batchmates at the onsen.

Shikamaru turned around and faced a big stone. He's not having any of this anymore.

Choji squinted his eyes and asked, "Didn't he already ask her at Ichiraku's? You already told Hinata that her cooking is your new favorite food, and you'll love to have it everyday. Isn't that a proposal yet?"

"And you already gifted her the keys to your apartment. Isn't that the loveliest form of actually letting someone know that you're sharing life with them?" Shino added.

They all fell silent as if there was an agreement.

"But that's for her birthday -ttebayo!" Naruto mumbled quietly.

"Even so, I think it's enough." Sai quipped and added, "Or else you'll only ruin it."

"It doesn't matter! I'll find another way!" He affirmed to his colleagues and they just gave him a resigned sigh. They were kinda' sure he'll fail it again for some reasons.

Rock lee gave him a thumbs up. "I support you, Naruto-kun. Just remember, when it's love it should be youthful like the spring!"

Here they go again…

Their conversation eventually shifted to missions and to some of their hobbies. Ah, how they missed times like this, until they heard the girls' laughter on the other side.

"Remember when you used to peep on them." Sai interjected which made the men froze.

No. No, they couldn't do that anymore.

Kiba eyed his friend mischievously and suggested, "Hey! Hey! Hey! How 'bout we try to do it again? Whatcha say, Naruto?"

"Ha?" The blonde reacted.

"What do you say we take a peek at the girls, huh? Just like the old times?" The brunette coaxed playfully, while his friends completely knew that he was just teasing Naruto. They're completely mature not to do that sort of thing anymore, however they wanted to see their friend's response out of sheer fun.

Naruto was left baffled. There's a lot of questions in his head and of those was: When did he ever stop taking interest in peeping at the women's bath?

"Yeah, Naruto. It would be fun." Sai further pressed.

The blonde shook his head, and aggressively dismissed the idea. "How dare you! Hinata is right there! I'm not gonna let you peep on her you perverts!"

The boys' laughter and banters were clearly heard from the other side where the girls had their dip. All of them were wearing relieved smiles on their faces. It was like they finally got their first bath without worrying about any peeping boys, especially with Naruto being the one against it.

"Who would've thought this day would come?" Sakura commented.

"Totally," Ino backed-up.

Elo everyone!

I would just like to inform everyone that my updates would switch from every other weekends to every other Tuesdays due to my new schedule in Grad school!

This chapter: TBH, I didn't want Naruto to propose in a cheesy way despite or let him propose that way successfully because I think that the key to apartment chapter was his best proposal so far, so what I made instead was Hinata's full response to it. And yes, she nailed the proposal a lot better and she only lacked the ring. Our girl got power!

See you next chap!

xxQuirrrky

CHAT TIME

Guest: Let's have some angst next update! hahahaha

BornOnTheBreakOfDawn: Yeah, I remembered that ticket part so well. Thanks for pointing the error out! I will try to correct it ASAP.

NarHina: IKR! When I first read Icha's synopsis Iwas like: Naruhina?

Happy Ocelot: IKR! I want that cooking part to be added as well! Tbh, I wanted Naruto to play around the emojis however is so boring hahahaha