Disclaimer: Not mine. I'm not that lucky.
For Always
Part Four: Invitations and Worries
Two months after the engagement and they had a date for the wedding. Naruto and Hinata got to work passing out the invitations.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelled, throwing the door to the classroom open. The chuunin instructor looked at him, startled by the sudden interruption to his class. "Uh, Naruto-kun, I'm in the middle of class. Could you come back in half an hour?" Naruto gave an enthusiastic "No! I'll be quick though, I want you to be my best man." A blank expression came over the older man's face. "Hello?" Naruto waved his hand in front of his old teacher's eyes. "Iruka-sensei?" Nothing. A smirk came over Naruto's face as he brought out the old hand seals. "Sexy Jutsu!" The class broke out into hysterics, Iruka didn't even flinch. Naruto was getting angry. He hated to be ignored. "Stupid old man," he mumbled under his breath. "Fine, I'll ask later," he grunted. He left a lavender on the desk and stormed out of the academy.
Outside the disgruntled demon host ran into the prodigy of the Hyuga clan. His day brightened immediately, as was inevitable with Uzumaki Naruto. Reaching into his pocket he produced another lavender envelope. "Oi, Neji," he greeted handing the invitation over. "Hope to see you there!" was all Naruto said before hunting down his next target. Neji opened the letter and read the contents.
You Are Cordially Invited
To The Uzumaki, Hyuga Wedding
At 3:00 PM on July 30th
Neji smiled. "I'll be there," he told the breeze.
-ooo-
"Hey Hina-chan," Naruto greeted his fiancé, giving here a quick kiss. "I got the invites out to Neji, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru, Sakura-chan, and Fuzzy Brows." Hinata gave him a smile. "I gave them to Ino-san, Tenten-san, Shino-san, Kiba-san, Kurenai-sensei, Chouji-san, and told my family." Naruto ticked each name off in his head. "So that leaves… Tsunade-oba-chan, ero-Sennin, Gai-sensei, and Gaara and his siblings." Hinata nodded in conformation. "We can ask Tsunade-sama to send those to Gaara-sama tomorrow. For now, I think your late for your mission." Naruto blanched. "It's not like its that important. All I'm doing is escorting some old man to a neighboring village. I'm not really even gonna be leaving Konoha's borders!" Hinata patted his cheek. "Its still a mission Naruto-kun. If your going to be hokage, you can't brush off these things. You'll have to put up with worse. You would be the last one in any given fight. Learn patience while you can my love." Naruto just sighed in affirmation and kissed Hinata goodbye as he headed to his rendezvous.
-ooo-
Naruto returned from what he claimed was an almost fatal mission. "I didn't know what to do. I was escorting this old man, some dignitary from a small neighboring village," he informed Ayame at the Ichiraku stand between inhalations of raman. "It would have been a three day journey, but he walked so slow! It was the second day of the mission, and that's when it happened." He made a dramatic pause, building up the suspense before springing the life threatening obstacle on the pretty young woman, who was listening intently. "I RAN OUT OF RAMAN!" Her head almost hit the counter. 'What else should I expect from Naruto. This was more suspenseful than the time he told us about his first escort mission.' Naruto continued on about dirty old men who ate someone else's raman without so much as a polite request, completely missing the look on his friend's face. After a couple more rants, and several bowls of raman, Naruto decided it was time to head home.
-ooo-
It had taken a couple days to get an audience with Tsunade, but they had finally managed to get in. "Sorry for making you guys wait so long. There's been a lot of paper work lately. It seems everybody wants a meeting these days." Tsunade took a swallow from a coffee cup she had on her desk. Naruto suspected that the contents weren't caffeine related. "Anyway," she continued, "what can I do for you two?" Naruto handed her four invitations. "We want you to send three of these to Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. The other is for you." The seemingly young hokage nodded. "I'll send them out with the next dispatch to Sunagakure. I'm certain the kazekage and his family would love to attend. Gaara is quite fond of you, you know. He made quite a few inquiries on your well being after your… confrontation… with the Sound. Actually it was more like demanding a status report than a request… On second thought, I'll send them today." The Godaime didn't think it would be a good idea to make Gaara wait on the invitation, on the off chance he found out that she had it well before the correspondence went out. The happy young couple voiced their gratitude and left the hokage to finish her booze in relative peace. On their way out they heard a distinct 'damn paper work' from her office. They shared a laugh.
-ooo-
That night Naruto had trouble sleeping again. There was a lot of anticipation in the air about the wedding, and about his unborn child. Their wedding was two months away, and Hinata was due five months after. For all his boasts, Naruto was worried. What if he didn't make a good husband? What if he didn't make a good father? He had never known family, so how was he supposed to know what fathers did?
He had never had so many doubts nagging him. Not even Sasuke-teme had made him this worried. He knew he was going to bring the bastard Uchiha back, but he had failed in that. For all his outward confidence and promises, what if he failed his future family?
He needed some air. He carefully got out of bed, trying not to wake the angel sleeping beside him, and opened the window. He let the cool night air wash over him as he tried to overcome his doubts. He was startled out of his reverie by a pair of arms snaking about his waist. "Are you okay Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, obviously sensing Naruto's discomfort. "I'm just afraid of letting you and our child down Hina-chan. I never had a father, so I'm not sure how to go about this." He turned around and embraced the other half of his being. "I'm gonna try my hardest though. I'm gonna be a husband and father you can be proud of, and when I become hokage I'm gonna make sure that no more kids have to live without a family. I'll adopt them all if I have to!" Hinata giggled in his arms, his antics never ceasing to make her laugh. No one else could bounce from uncertainty to utter confidence like her Naruto. It was one of the things about him she fell in love with. "Well, it sounds like you have plans for a big family Naruto-kun. Maybe you should get some sleep before you go about adopting all the children of Konoha." Naruto kissed her as she led him back to bed.
End Part 4