It was universally known that men—specifically boyfriends—get extremely nervous and/or scared upon meeting their significant other's family and friends. Really. Why would Naruto be scared? What is there to be afraid of? He's just going to meet his girlfriend's family who, in turn, can hate him because he causes a bad impression and they'll prevent Hinata from seeing him ever again and she'll have to choose between him or her family and if she chooses him then he's going to cause a big family feud and at the end she'll hate him forever.

Okay, so maybe he was over thinking it but he really wants to go in there with a bang. Not a bad bang but the good bang in where her family likes him and her father calls him son and they'll welcome him back to their home in the near future. He wants to show them that he's worthy of being Hinata's boyfriend and the feelings he has for her are so genuine that it physically hurts.

However, he should really be focusing on the road instead of the upcoming confrontation with Hinata's family. One glance at his girlfriend and he can tell that she's nervous too. She slept over yesterday and since that has been occurring more and more lately, she decided to bring some clothes over. Every time he opened his drawer now, he sees a few of her blouses mixed with his t-shirts. Something warm would always stir at the pit of his stomach and his chest would tighten with an overwhelming emotion that he's almost moved to tears. He really loves her and—he narrowed his eyes in determination—he's going to do his damn best today.

"Turn a left here, Naruto. Yes, that's the house." He stopped in front of a modern looking house but to him, it was his doom. It was a simple two story building with a nice garden in the front. The outer wall is a beautiful rocky layer that has a gray tint to it.

"Your family has a nice house." They got out of the car and started heading towards the front door. Is it hot or is it just him?

"Thank you. My family comes from a lineage of business owners but they try not to overuse their money."

For a moment, he caught a flash of sadness before Hinata replaced it with a warm mask. He wanted to ask what's wrong but she knocked on the door quicker than he can breathe. His heart was beating loudly in his ears and he was feeling faint. His stomach was in twists and he was sweating. God, he better do fucking good or he'll punish himself by not playing his video games for a whole year.

The door opened and an older woman greeted them. She looked a lot like Hinata in the structure of the face and the curve of her smile. Their hair color was the same too. Her white eyes glanced at Hinata—they lit up in way that reminded Naruto of Hinata—and then glanced at him.

"Sweetheart, I'm glad you're home." Hinata's mother—he was taking a wild guess—hugged his girlfriend tightly. She stepped back and smiled at him. "Is this your boyfriend, sweetie?"

"Yes, mother. Naruto, this is my mother. Mother, this is Naruto, my boyfriend."

"Lovely to meet you, hun. Please come in, come in. Make yourself at home." He was pulled in and instantly he was warped in a smell of something goodly and oddly familiar to his mother's cooking. The interior was…well expensive. The lush carpet underneath his feet seemed fit for a king while the furniture looked like it was worth more than his life. As he was walking down the hallway, he spotted picture frames on the wall. He managed to sneak a glance of one particular one. It was when Hinata was younger. He couldn't help but admire how adorable she looked like as a child and he knows that their children would be as beautiful as their mother.

He blush red, feeling sweat roll down the side of his face. Fuck, now he was thinking of marriage? In her home? Oh my god, what if his father can read minds and he just read what he thought of just now? Naruto gulped, trying hard not to smack himself. He was ushered into the kitchen where a grand feast awaited him. His mouth watered and his stomach gave a small protest.

"Here, you can seat next to Hinata. Just don't do anything that'll make us blush." Hinata's mother winked at them before walking away. "I'm going to go get the rest of the family. Make yourselves comfortable."

Naruto and Hinata blushed. Involuntarily, the memory of a recent make out session with Hinata popped into his head. He shook his head, trying hard not to remember the way her body felt against him or the way her lips took control for a half a second before he kissed her neck. Was that a feeling of a boner coming along? Shit! Think of something disgusting, Naruto!

He sighed when he felt that pulsing pleasure disappear. He sat down, the food taunting him, and he looked at Hinata. She was twiddling with her fingers and biting her lip. Something was wrong and once he saw that no one was in the dining room, he dived in.

"What's wrong, babe?"

She looked up and he saw nervousness swimming in her beautiful eyes. "Nothing's wrong, love. I'm just….I guess I'm a little nervous about meeting my father once again. Last time I was here…" She stopped before looking down.

He was about to reach down and cup her chin when the door to the dining room opened. An older man stepped in first. His face wore a stern mask and once his white eyes landed on Naruto, they narrowed even more. He swiftly made his way and sat at the end of the table, to Naruto's left. A young woman stepped in next. She smirked when her eyes saw him—he gulped—and she practically skipped her way to her seat which happened to be in front of him. He heard a gasp escape from Hinata and he saw another family member enter the dining room. The man wore a mask similar to Hinata's dad and sat in front of Hinata who was still looking at the young man with wide eyes.

"Brother Neji…" she whispered before her mother sat down at the other end of the table.

"Well," Hinata's mother said, breaking the tension, "now that we're all here, let's eat."

When everyone settled, an awkward silence fell over them. Hinata's mother tried to start up a conversation, Hinata's little sister too, but it'll be shot down immediately. Naruto was sweating; he's not going to lie. The food was amazingly good—it can rival his mom's—and the setting was just perfect but his girlfriend's dad and other family member haven't stopped glaring at him ever since they first saw him.

"Father." Naruto looked at Hinata with wide eyes. This was the first time she tried talking to her dad ever since they got here. "Can you please stop glaring at my boyfriend? H-He's trying to make a good impression but you're making him nervous. You're making me nervous too…" She looked down.

He heard her father sigh before redirecting his gaze at her. "I can't help it, daughter, since he might be the reason why you didn't pursue our business."

"Hiashi," Hinata's mother gave him a look, "do not bring this up, especially with a guest. Our daughter hasn't visited for a while and the first thing you do when she comes back is berate her for something that happened a long time ago?"

"Natsu," responded Hiashi, giving his wife a look too, "you know how much time I dedicated into shaping Hinata to become the perfect business woman. You, of all people, should know how much of a surprise it was when she decided not to enroll in the university I picked out."

"Father." Naruto looked at her with wide eyes. He's never heard her use that tone. "You planned out a life for me that I never asked for. You never asked me if I wanted to become a business major. I-I'm interested in another material and I hoped that in time you'll come to accept my decision but I was w-wrong…" Naruto's heart constricted. He never thought that Hinata had a problem weighing her down.

"What do you mean, Hinata?" The young man was now looking at her with confusion.

"Brother Neji…"

"Hinata, if this is the reason why you brought your intended to the house then I believe there is nothing else to talk about. Thank you for coming young man but I must leave to my office now."

Hinata looked ready to cry and something snapped in Naruto. He was always impulsive after all.

"Look here, old man!" Hiashi stopped from getting up. "I don't know what family problem you guys have but it's obviously bothering all of you guys, especially Hinata. You haven't given her a chance to talk about her side of the situation. You're just pushing your own god damn opinion to her face! Don't you love your daughter? Don't you want what's best for her? Well maybe you should have thought that what you thought was best for her wasn't what she thought was best for her!"

He was breathing hard and he was pretty damn sure that his face was red. But he didn't care that he just yelled at his girlfriend's dad. Hiashi was bringing her down and it was causing her pain. He was being unjustified with her and not seeing it through her point of view. Naruto always had a thing for justification so it irked him how everyone seemed to go against Hinata without letting her defend herself.

"Naruto…" whispered Hinata, looking at him with wide eyes and a blush on her face. He smiled at her and winked, trying to convey that everything is going to be alright.

"Naruto, right?" Hiashi was glaring at him, a frown on his face. "Please come with me."

"Father—!"

"Hinata, you wanted me to meet your intended and I am. I want to talk to your boyfriend, if I may?"

She hesitated and Naruto bit his lip when she nodded. He had no choice but to follow the older man out of the dining room. They walked down a hallway until they came upon a set of wooden double doors. Hiashi opened them and gestured for him to walk in. Naruto was shaking and he felt the sudden to urge to apologize for his outburst. But he held on strong because he doesn't regret yelling at the old man's face. Hiashi gestured for Naruto to sit and he sat across from him. Naruto looked around and decided this was Hiashi's office. The desk looked expensive and the chairs looked like it came from Sears. Was Hinata's family rich or something?

"Naruto, you do realize that you screamed at me, right?"

Naruto gulped but nodded.

"Not only that but you disrespected me in front of my family, especially my nephew who hasn't visited in a long time. Do you except me to take this well?"

"Uh, no sir. But I couldn't just stand by and watch as you hurt your own daughter. I-I love her." He had to blurt that out. Great. "And when I saw you doing that, I can see from her eyes that she was hurting. I don't know what happened but from what I heard you decided her future, am I right?" He was walking on a thin line here and he knew it.

"Go on," nodded Hiashi.

"I understand where you were getting at, sir." Hiashi looked mildly surprised. "Every parent wants what's best for their children. You're not the only one who committed this mistake." Naruto furrowed his brows. "But you have to open your eyes, sir. Hinata doesn't want to follow in the footsteps you've painted out for her, ya know. She wants to live her own life. Don't you want her to be happy? To succeed in her own definition of happiness? I understand if you can't wrap the idea around your head—about letting her go—but you have to. She has to live her own life. She knows what's best for her. She knows what makes her happy, sir."

Both men stared at each other, the silence between them thickening. Hiashi stared at him, a blank look at his face. Naruto tried hard to scratch the back of his head and not to twitch. He hoped to all hope that he didn't anger Hinata's dad.

"Naruto…I think you're right." Before he can register what Hiashi just said, the older man continued. "When Hinata just graduated from high school, I had her life planned out for her. I was outraged when she told me she decided to enroll to a college and follow another path. I didn't talk to her for a long time. When I saw her just a few hours ago, I couldn't help but feel guilty. All those years in anger made me realize that I was a fool. I wanted to apologize but I guess you can say that I still held some kind of grudge against my own daughter." Hiashi's eyes tendered and he stood up, stretching his hand. "Thank you for telling me that. I suppose I needed an outsider's point of view in the situation."

Naruto stood up in shaky legs and shook Hiashi's hand. "I-It's my pleasure sir."

"Please make my daughter happy. I, on the other hand, have a lot of apologizing to do."


Driving back home, Naruto finally felt his body melt against the seat. After his conversation with Hiashi, the rest of the night went swell. While there was still some lingering tension, the family was able to talk among themselves and Hinata looked close to tears. Maybe he was the cause of it but whatever it was, he was happy that he was able to bring joy to the love of his life.

"Naruto," said Hinata, her eyes looking at the road, "what did my father say to you when he took you to his office?"

To tell or not to tell? "Well, I-I guess I told him that he had to let you go. You had to go out there and find your own happiness with your own hands." He took a glance at her and saw her turn to look at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Her beautiful light lavender eyes made his heart stop for a moment before it doubled in speed. She was so beautiful. "What's wrong, babe? Was that bad to do?"

"No," she whispered, wiping her eyes. "My father didn't talk to me ever since I left the house. But today he actually apologized and said he was in the wrong. Maybe he had that apology saved for a while but Naruto; you were the push that made him say it today. Thank you so much, my love."

If he wasn't driving, he would have hugged her and kissed her right then and there. "No problem, babe." He was blushing. "Do I drop you off your studio or…?"

"Is it alright if I sleep over at your place today?" He looked at her and she ducked her head, a blush on her pale cheeks. "You're meeting my friend's tomorrow in the morning so I thought it'll be better if I just stay at your place so you won't have to pick me up. I also wanted to spend the night with you…"

He smiled silly, his cheeks hurting from the happiness he felt bubbling inside of him. "Of course, babe. I can finally kiss you all night long and maybe I can do something else to you too…"

"Naruto!"

He laughed loudly, enjoying the teasing.

That night, neither slept until the wee hours in the morning. They were too occupied in each other's lips to notice the time fly by.


"Sakura, Ino, this is Naruto. Naruto, these are my friends." It was around eight in the morning—too early for his taste—and they decided on setting the get together at a café that Hinata favors. It was a small little thing, warm in the inside and welcoming on the outside. The smell of different breads filled his nose and a pinch of coffee made him feel at home. They were seated in a booth not far from the entrance but far enough to have a bit of privacy to talk.

He looked at Hinata's best friends and couldn't help but feel nervousness wash over him. These two young ladies seated in front of him know more about his life and his relationship with his girlfriend that he knows about them. They've talked about him and probably know some fantasies that he's told Hinata. God, was it hot in here?

"Calm down, Naruto," said Ino, a smile on her face, "you don't have to be so nervous."

"Yeah, the day you have to be nervous is when you hurt Hinata." Sakura gave him an evil smile.

"She's a black belt in taijutsu," piped in Ino, taking a sip of her Cinnamon Dulce Lattee.

"Ino," whined Hinata. She grabbed his hand and he has never felt so grateful in all his life.

"So I guess we'll make it simple." Sakura sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. "We don't hate you, Naruto. We just don't know you well enough to judge you. But from what Hinata has told us, you seem like a sweet guy.

"Plus," sing song Ino, smiling widely, "you decided on meeting us which is a big plus in our eyes."

"Nice to meet you, Naruto. We hope to get to know you very well. For Hinata's sake," finished Sakura, a grin on her face.

He scratched his cheek, embarrassed and a bit flustered in their direct approach. "T-Thank you. It's nice to meet you guys too. It's funny because you guys seem so polar opposite from my babe here." With his free hand, he slapped his hand over his mouth, the tips of his ears burning red. The table was silent and he glanced at Hinata. She was blushing crimson and her hand squeezed his tightly.

"Babe?" repeated Ino then she burst out laughing. "That is so cute!"

"Hey, Hinata, what's your nickname for him?" probed Sakura.

"Sakura! Ino!"

He laughed along with them. He didn't really expect for his girlfriend to have such eccentric but loud women as her life-long friends but one glance at Hinata and he can tell that they make her happy. He's happy that ever so slowly he's becoming something important in Hinata's life and he can only hope that it'll stay like that in the future.

After all, he loves her more than what the universe can offer.