Authoress' Note: Hey everyone! Here's the newer version of the story, which, I hope, is better than Rendezvous was planned to be! In this story, Hinata actually talks. It would be terrible annoying to keep typing her stuttering; plus, I know that deep inside she truly is a strong person. And she already married Naruto, so they're on good speaking terms. Whatever that may mean…Enjoy!
xoxo Emilie
Disclaimer: All characters and situations from Naruto are properties of Masashi Kishimoto. No copyright infringement intended. However, the plot and original characters from this fanfiction are properties of xx emilie.
Chapter 1 – Those Golden Days
"Hinata-chaaan, please?"
"N-Naruto-kun, we already talked about this yesterday. The doctor said that eating too much ramen isn't good for you. So, from now on, no ramen. You may only have it once a month," the unusually talkative girl reprimanded her husband.
"Hinata, the doctor was Sakura. She will say, and do, anything to eliminate ramen from this world and send the remains to the depths of hell," the blonde shinobi pleaded, shadowing Hinata as she worked her way around the kitchen.
She shook her head. "I believe Sakura. Just try this out for a month, please, Naruto-kun? For me?"
He knew he couldn't resist those pure white eyes. "Fine," he groaned. "But if you see any changes in me, it's the lack of ramen."
"Arigato, Naruto-kun. Now," she set a plate onto the table, "please eat this for lunch. I followed a recipe that Sakura suggested."
The grumpy man pulled out a chair, his eyes bewildered at the sight of the food set before him.
He gulped. "Salad…?"
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Uchiha Sakura was sitting by her living room window, peering out at five children playing ninja across the street. They were about seven years old, and reminded her of when she was in the academy as well.
There was a little blonde boy who was smaller than the rest of his friends. He kept attempting to create clones, but to no avail. The bigger boys teased him mercilessly, and pointed at him, guffawing at his stupidity.
"Disrespectful children…" she muttered. "I'll show them."
He reminded her of Naruto, in a way. Uzumaki Naruto was one of her best friends, and it hurt her to think that she had not stood up for him when he, too, was teased.
Before she stepped outside, she called to her husband.
"Sasuke-kun, I'll be going out for a moment, okay? I'll be back soon," she smiled at the raven-haired man sitting at the kitchen table.
"Hn," he replied and continued munching on the juicy red tomato that he had picked from his very own tomato garden in the backyard.
Sakura ignored him and left the house, crossing the street to the kids.
"Hey you!" she shouted.
A boy with shaggy forest green hair looked up.
"Yeah, you! Jungle head!" the pink-haired woman pointed. "Stop laughing at him. He's just learning, okay? One day, he'll be stronger than all of you, and when you need his help, he isn't going to help you! Then, then, you'll wish that you never messed with little Blondie over here."
Little Blondie looked up at his savior, tears shining in his eyes, and smiled, revealing a missing front tooth. "A-Arigato."
"No problem, kid," she returned. Turning back to the troublemakers, she began to berate them once again.
"Do you know what happens to children like you?" Sakura asked.
Jungle Head took a guess. "We'll grow up to be like you?" he snickered.
"Why, you little…" she growled.
"Haha! You are like, an alien! Why do you have pink hair, huh? And you have such a big, shiny forehead!"
"You're saying my hair is weird? How about your stupid GREEN hair? It's like a mop! You probably have ants living in there and you'd NEVER know!" she shot back.
"It beats having a GINORMOUS FOREHEAD! Do you know what that forehead is perfect for? Writing 'LOSER' right across it!" the boy cackled.
"Did your momma ever teach you manners, boy? Just wait until I grab your scrawny little neck and then I'll—"
"Sakura," a monotonous voice sounded behind her.
Slowly turning around, she noticed her husband there, a tomato in his hand.
"Hi, Sasuke-kun! What are you doing here?" she put on a fake, cheery smile.
He thought for a moment. "Hn. Well, I'm eating in my kitchen when I hear a commotion outside my house. So, I walk out the front door and I see my wife yelling insults at little children. Now, you tell me why I shouldn't be out here."
"Sasuke-kun, they are making fun of me!" she pouted. "Jungle Head, over here, said that I had stupid pink hair and a big forehead and that I was a loser. You said that I should always defend myself right? So here I am, defending myself!"
"When I told you to defend yourself, I meant against other shinobi. Not children."
Feeling belittled, Jungle Head spoke up. "Hey, mister, I'm not a pushover! I'm number one in my class! I bet I could beat you too!"
Yes, and that really hurt Sasuke's ego.
"What was your name, again? Jungle Head, right? Well, do you know who you're talking to?" the Uchiha eyed the kid, revealing his sharingan.
"Yeah, I'm talking to…" he trailed off, seeing the red in the other man's eyes. "Uhhh…no one?"
"That's what I thought. Now, do you still want to fight?" he questioned.
The kid looked down at his feet meekly. "Uh…"
Sakura cheered. "Go, Sasuke-kun! Beat him up!"
The avenger returned to his wife. "Sakura, I'm not going to hurt a little kid. That's stupid."
"What? Weren't you always the one droning on and on about how you wanted to kill everyone? What has happened to you?"
"I don't have time for this, Sakura."
"Well, then just get that boy out of my sight!" she screeched.
However, while the husband and wife were having their battle, the five children had run off, including Little Blondie.
"Well then, I guess everything's settled, isn't it?" Sakura began walking towards her home, Sasuke trailing behind her.
In the kitchen, Sakura prepared lunch for herself. Unexpectedly, she heard a chuckle behind her. Turning around, she saw her husband, an Uchiha, snickering at something. Since when did he laugh?
"Uhh…Sasuke-kun, are you okay?"
"Aa. It's just, I can't believe I had to save you from a fight with a five year old!" a glint of laughter shone in his onyx eyes.
"Seven! He was seven! And I didn't even need your stupid help!" she stormed off into her, ahem, their, bedroom, sandwich in hand.
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Simply put, Naruto was sad. Life without ramen, was, well, disappointing.
He had just barely finished that disgusting green salad. Who could even eat that stuff? It tasted like…crap. For Kami-sama's sake, it had tomatoes in it too!
And thinking of tomatoes, Naruto thought that he had struck gold.
The only person he knew that loved tomatoes was that bastard of a friend, Uchiha Sasuke.
In his mind, albeit a small mind, a little plan was forming.
You see, whenever Hinata would make him a salad, he would take it over to Sasuke's house. Sasuke would be awed by the tomatoe salad and then beg Naruto to let him eat it. Then, Naruto would offer him a deal. Buy him ramen and he would trade it for the salad. And, of course, he couldn't tell Hinata.
Yes, it was perfect! Or so he thought.
He was looking at a pink sweater that Hinata had recently bought. It reminded him of something else that was pink…
Sakura. Damn.
Sakura lived with Sasuke! And there was no way in hell that she would let Naruto eat ramen. She was the person that started this anti-ramen diet in the first place.
That was the loophole in his so-called "perfect" plan.
Now, this caused Naruto to become even more upset. He moped around the house and decided to take a walk. Perhaps he could stop by the ramen stand and smell the delicious aroma of it…
Stepping outdoors, Naruto sighed when he noticed that the trees were green, and the grass was green, and … Kiba was definitely not green.
Seeing his friend, Naruto jogged over to him.
"Oy, Kiba! I haven't seen you for a while, ne?"
The brunette smiled. "Naruto! I've been on a lot of missions lately. Actually, I just came back from one last night. Akamaru wanted to take a nice walk, so that's why I'm here. Didn't think that I'd run into you, though."
"Tsunade-baa-chan doesn't give me that many missions. I've gotta have a talk with that old granny," he muttered, bending down to pet Akamaru.
"Woah, Kiba. He's gotten big!"
"Yeah, he's an eating machine!"
And maybe, this was the moment that Naruto had struck gold.
His cerulean eyes widened and sparkled.
"Eating…machine?" he uttered in disbelief.
Kiba nodded his head, grinning. "Eats everything!"
"Kiba, you're…that's…it's great! Arigato Kiba!" the blonde hollered as he ran down the street.
The dog trainer blinked in confusion. Well, that's Naruto…he thought, and then continued on his morning walk.
Naruto was in bliss, he was in heaven! Kiba was a life saver, his dog was a hero! Maybe he would never have to eat those nasty salads again!
Ramen, here I come! Don't worry, Naruto's coming for you!
Now, where was that pet store?
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Sasuke was fuming with anger.
After Sakura had locked herself in their bedroom for a few good hours, he finally had to break down the door. She practically forced him to apologize to her, otherwise she would never talk to him again.
He had made a fool of himself. Uchiha Sasuke never apologized to anyone. He was Uchiha Sasuke, for Kami-sama's sake! Uchiha Sasuke was a man in charge of himself. And he could do whatever he pleased. No one could tell him what to do. No one could make him do anything.
Except Sakura.
Damn her.
So, when she was prancing out the room, Sakura just managed to let it slip that he, Uchiha Sasuke, had to fix the door.
And did he need a reminder.
Being an Uchiha, Sasuke had expected to easily fix the door. I mean, everything would just obey him, right? The door would just magically lift itself up and hinge itself back?
Well, here's your answer, Sasuke: No.
He would have to do this the hard way, actually getting out tools that he had inherited from his father, who had never really used it anyway. Yes, this was hard labor, using hammers and nails…
The first thing Sasuke did was lift up the door. Then, he stood there, and well…did nothing.
He had only realized that he NO CLUE how to fix the door.
But, no, he would not admit this to his wife. She would think him a loser, and he couldn't have that. Sakura would just have something to make fun of him about, since he had teased her about fighting with a five, no, seven, year old.
For the next hour or so, the Uchiha simply messed with it. Fortunately, the door was still attached to the hinges, so he figured that all he would have to do was nail the hinge to the door frame.
Taking hammer and nail, the disgruntled man began pounding the golden nail into the wooden door frame. He held the nail with his fingers and slammed the metal hammer top onto…
His finger!
Lesson One: Uchiha Sasuke, you are supposed to hammer the METAL nail, not your FINGER nail.
If he was not Uchiha Sasuke, then he would cry out in pain and suck on his finger. But, alas, he was Sasuke, so he dealt with the pain and began hammering away once again. Finally, the door was put back in place!
Exiting his master bedroom, he glanced at his bruised finger. It was nearly black now. He noticed Sakura in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he went out to join her.
"I fixed the door."
The chef spun around. "Really? That's great, 'cause I had hoped that you would finish it by at least tomorrow."
"You underestimate me."
She tapped her index finger on her head. "Well then, you'll just have to prove to me that you're good enough. Help me cut these onions, will you, Sasuke-kun?"
Why, oh why, did she mess with his ego?
"Fine," he grunted, and washed his hands. Taking a sharp bladed knife, he was about to begin chopping the green onions when Sakura stopped him.
"Sasuke-kun, let me see your finger. It looked… different," she said, looking concerned.
"Nothing's wrong with it. Just your eyes," he snapped.
"Uh uh uh," she sing-songed. "It has to be something for you to deny it."
She knew him too well.
Sasuke relented, knowing that she would never stop bugging him.
"What happened?" she cried. "It's all…It's turning into pretty colors!"
"I…uh…" he sputtered. Come on, Sasuke, think of an excuse!
"Well?" she waited expectantly, hands on her hips.
No matter what I say, it'll be embarrassing…
"I was looking for my book on tomatoes in the chest in our room, and then suddenly the lid of the chest fell and hit my finger."
A quizzical look fell upon her face. "The chest, the chest did this to your finger?"
"Yes," he replied, looking away coolly.
Reading his actions, Sakura quickly figured things out. "Uchiha Sasuke, you're lying aren't you?" she accused, pointing a skinny finger at him.
"Am not."
Pondering for a moment, Sakura came up with a better idea of how her husband had received a black fingernail.
"Sasuke-kun," she began sweetly. "Did you accidentally hammer yourself while fixing our bedroom door?"
His eyes widened. How did she…? That woman had some sort of supernatural powers.
"No, I…"
"You did!" she exclaimed cheerily, then engulfed herself in a sea of laughter.
Humiliated, the dark-haired man reached for a coat and muttered,
"I'm going out for a walk."
Leaving his wife alone as she taunted him in their kitchen, Sasuke walked along the dark streets of Konoha. Reaching the village's market place, he noticed the happy husbands who were assisting their wives in shopping for goods. Why couldn't he have that kind of relationship with Sakura? They always had these stupid banters at least twice a day.
"SASUKE-TEME!" he heard an all-too-familiar voice calling his name.
Turning around, he spotted his blonde-haired friend running down the street, being pulled by a large black dog.
What the hell?
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Hope you guys liked it!
Here's where I'm hoping the story will go: it will follow the married lives of Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, and Sakura. Perhaps it will lead to them having children and such and Sasuke dealing with fatherhood. The time will probably skip between every couple chapters to highlight the important parts of their lives. Trouble in paradise…
REVIEW and you get a gumball! -Emilie