December 31st
Hinata, standing in front of the Hyuga compound waiting on Naruto, daydreams as she looks down the road, not noticing when he rounded the opposite corner and came to a dead stop.
Oh wow, I'll have to make sure to remember to thank whoever made her love me. Naruto looks his girlfriend up and down before approaching her.
She stands out against the fresh snow that had fallen the night behind, dressed in dark red kimono with long bell sleeves. The cloth clings to her body in all the right places, orange and pink flowers make a pattern that seems to flow with the curves of her body. Her waist is cinched with an orange sash. Once again like at the hot springs her hair is pulled away from her face, this time in a high bun tied with a light pink ribbon.
"Hey beautiful!" Naruto says, pulling her close.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed, shocked by his sudden appearance.
"Someone needs to go back to the academy if I'm able to sneak up on you that easily." Naruto teases, while brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
"I was thinking of our training," Hinata said, thinking back to the day before. "I haven't had someone train with me like that since Neji, I was thinking about him." A slight sadness coats her voice.
"He'd be proud of you Hinata, I know that I am." He leans down to kiss her forehead. "So, what are my limits, in there?" He nods his head towards the compound.
"Hhhmm?" Hinata questions, raising an eyebrow.
"Can I do this?" Naruto takes her hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"That should be fine." She squeezes his hand back.
"How about this?" He lets go of her hand and moves to wrap both arms around her waist.
"Maybe if it was one arm, and from the side perhaps?" she mumbled into his chest, inhaling deeply. A crisp, clean scent with a hint of something bold Hinata can't quite put her finger on fills her nose.
"What about this?" He unwraps one of his arms, placing a hand under her chin and raising her face off his chest. Her lips part under his, as she gasps in surprise from the sudden kiss.
"No, I don't think that would be okay." Hinata pulls away after a moment.
"Well, I'm not sure if I want to go to this party. It doesn't seem like it'll be much fun, ya know." Naruto says, wrapping his arms back around her waist.
"That doesn't mean you can't do it again out here." Hinata stands up on her tiptoes, pulling his face back down to hers.
The kiss starts off just like before, soft and innocent, until Naruto's tongue slid into her mouth, circling her mouth before slowly pulling away.
"We should probably go inside." Naruto whispers, pressing his forehead against hers.
"Yeah, I think that would be best." Hinata grabs his hand, pulling him into the courtyard with her. "So how about the official tour, before food?"
"Are you gonna be my tour guide?" Naruto raises his eyebrow, giving her a cheeky smile.
"Oh, yes Naruto-senpai." Hinata plays along. "Please, this way." She motions towards the door to her left. "Now through here you will find the informal dining room, the Hyuga family take many of their meals here. Now if you come this way we'll move along to the formal dining area." They walk through the next doorway. "We'll be dining here later." She waves her hand towards the longer table before them.
The table could seat a minimum of twenty people, and each seat was set with festive red and white place settings. Paper lanterns mixed among the soft streamers hanging from the rafters.
"So, this is what it's like to celebrate a holiday." Naruto inhales deeply, the smell of food coming from a kitchen he suspects to be nearby.
"You'll never spend another one alone." Hinata comes up behind him wrapping her arms around his waist, placing her cheek against his back.
"Thank you." Naruto manages, quietly. "Come on, I want to see the rest." Naruto pats her hands, stepping out of her grasp, turning to smile at her.
The pair make their way through the rest of the large main home, Hinata pointing out various rooms as they go: a library, numerous studies, a handful of restrooms, until they finally reach hers.
"Now this I actually wanna see, ya know." Naruto eagerly makes his way into her room.
Her room was simply done with personal touches spread throughout. The walls are a simple shade of light blue, blending into the deeper blues that make up her bedspread and curtains.
"It's very tidy, you wanna come organize mine sometime?" Naruto jokes, stepping further into her room. Everything seems to have its place, her bed is neatly made. Naruto thinks of his own room with the symbol of the Hidden Leaf above his bed while hers hosts the Hyuga family crest.
"Have you even finished getting furniture?" Hinata questions, watching her boyfriend move closer to her desk, covered in pictures.
"Nope." Naruto lightly chuckles, picking up one of the pictures off the desk. "I remember this night." He motions to a group shot of the ten of them at the spring festival two years ago. "I see what Sakura was doing now making us stand together, we look like a couple." Looking back down at the picture remembering the way Sakura had instructed them both to turn into each other and demanding Naruto place his hand around her waist instead of her shoulder.
"Sakura gave me that, she laughed so hard at me when I stammered out my thanks." Hinata watches as he glances over the other frames.
The photos range from one similar to the one he has of team seven when they first graduated from the academy. Two a few featuring the team training or sharing what looks like a fun-filled meal. The ones that catch his attention the most, however, show a woman who could be Hinata but older. Light lines are starting to show around her around the aspect she didn't share with the woman to his left, her eyes were a soft light brown. In what looks to be the most recent photo the woman is holding a small child while a younger version of Lord Hyuga has his arm lightly placed on her shoulder and Hinata, younger than Naruto remembers her from the first day at the academy, sitting on the steps in front of them.
"Is this?" Naruto holds up the photo not realizing Hinata has moved to stand by his side.
"My mom." Hinata lightly traces the outline of her face in the photo. "She died not long after this was taken." She places the picture frame back on the desk. Hinata sits down on the edge of her bed patting for Naruto to join her. "She became very ill soon after Hanabi was born. My father tried everything, but she just kept getting worse. Things haven't been the same around here since she was the light, she made my father laugh." She trails off, looking back to the pictures on the desk. "But who am I to complain, at least I knew her." Hinata's finger moves softly across the lines on the palm of his hand.
"I met both of them." Naruto simply states Hinata looking confused. "My parents I mean." Seeing further confusion in her face. "I haven't really told the whole story to anyone. It would be nice to tell you about it." He turns to face her. "I'll have to take you out to dinner or something to tell you the full story when we have more time."
"An actual date?" Hinata asks with an excited glow filling her eyes.
"I guess we haven't been on one of those." Naruto meets her hopeful gaze.
"I would really like that." Leaning over she places a light kiss on his lips. "We should probably head back, the food should be almost done."
"If it's going to be a real date I'm gonna have to see what I can do tonight about getting that curfew of yours extended." A mischievous smile flashes across his face.
The couple make their way through the home hand in hand, and back into the front room.
"Hinata, Naruto." Lord Hyuga greets the pair. "Introductions are in order." The Lord motions to over a dozen members of the Hyuga clan. Some Naruto has seen around the village and even fought beside them during the war.
Remembering names. Great. I need to impress these guys though if I ever wanna keep Hinata out past ten. Naruto thinks to himself as they make themselves to the larger dining room.
"Lord Hyuga, I just wanted to thank you again for having me here, it really means a lot to me to get to spend the holiday with not only Hinata but her family." Naruto follows suit with the others at the table filling his plate with the decadent food in front of him.
"Naruto, call me Hiashi please." The older man almost smiles at the couple from the head of the table. "The elders and the rest of the family were pleased to hear you would be joining us."
"Yes, when Hiashi here told us the Hero of the Hidden Leaf was not only joining us to celebrate the New Year but was also seeking a romantic relationship with our Hinata, we were very pleased." An elder who Naruto had already forgotten the name of speaks between bites.
"Oh, um, well thank you." Naruto slightly blushes, he wasn't expecting such a topic to come up during dinner.
"Hanabi, how has your training been going?" Hinata, sensing her boyfriend's nervousness, changes the subject.
"Great!" Her sister launches into how her past couple weeks have been going. Since returning from the moon she had been working hard to regain strength in her eyes. "Maybe you and Naruto-senpai could come watch next time." The younger girl looks up from below her bangs, her eyes glowing lightly with excitement.
"We'd love to, Hanabi." Hinata says, glancing over at Naruto.
"Yeah, Hinata told me that you were working on a new jutsu, I know Neji helped her out with the Twin Lion Fist, and I'm no Neji but maybe I could give you a few pointers that Jiraiya-sensei and Kakashi-sensei gave me when I worked on my Rasengan and Rasenshuriken." Naruto offers to the young shinobi.
"Would you really? That would be so great!" Hanabi gives a smile so big her face almost splits in two.
"Naruto, that is really not necessary." The girl's father starts from the head of the table.
"Hiashi, it wouldn't be any trouble really ya know. I'd like to help Hinata's sister." Naruto smiles almost as widely as Hanabi.
"Hiashi, how could you turn down an offer like that!" Hyuga Ko speaks, Naruto knew him considering he had been with Hinata while she was young anytime she was not at the academy.
"So. Tell us, Naruto, what have you been up to?" The elder to Kos left asks.
"Oh, well I've been trying to stay busy, ya know." He pauses to calm himself, odd speaking habits out of nervousness wouldn't win them over. "I've asked Kakashi-sensei to send me on as many missions as possible for the experience, I want to make sure I have what it takes to become the Hokage, I want to make sure the people of this village can depend on me." Hinata's eyes are glowing with pride as he lays his plans before her most important family members. "Outside of that Iruka-sensei has asked me to come and speak at the academy every now and again. I wasn't the best student." Naruto stops, giving a soft smile to Hinata. "So, trying to make it fun for them is great for me."
"Impressive, a man with ambitions like yours is sure to accomplish great things." The older man replies.
The dinner continues as Hinata had described to Naruto after their training, dry conversation regarding the clan's affairs over the past year. The elders speak of the achievements the clan had made over the past year. What children have been born, who was coming up in the ranks becoming worthy shinobi, what prospects are set ahead of them. Naruto has all but tuned out the conversation until he hears his name followed closely by Hinata's.
"The biggest event we'll have this year will be their marriage." The wife of one of the elders smiles slightly at the thought.
"We'll talk later, there's no rush." Hinata whispers, meeting Naruto panicked eyes for a brief moment.
"We normally have dessert under the fireworks, but if you wanted to go somewhere quiet and talk first we could." Hinata offers motioning down the hallway in the opposite direction of the courtyard.
"Yeah, yeah that would be fine." Naruto manages, still shocked at the thought of marriage after only two weeks of dating.
"Naruto-kun here," Hinata had led him into the kitchen pouring him a glass of water. "What's wrong?" She questions, Naruto's wide eyes seemed to be glazed over, he stared over her head focusing at a blank spot on the wall behind her.
"Oh, uummm." He blinks a few times, taking a large drink of the water she put in his hand. "We've been together for two weeks and I love you, ya know, I really do. But marriage hasn't even crossed my mind Hinata."
"I know, I know, just breathe." She places a hand on his chest, feeling his heartbeat through the cloth of his robe.
"The elders have been speaking of marrying me off since I turned eighteen, and now that I'm in a relationship with a skillful, successful, amazing man." She moves her hand up, trailing her fingers across his neck, small goosebumps following in their wake, ending on his cheek tracing the light whisker marks. "They're elated, they see a strong future for us and kids they can mold."
He moves his hand up to hold hers against his face. "But that could be months or years off, it's up to us to decide, hell." Naruto's eyes widen at her cursing. "We may just date for the rest of our lives and live in sin."
"Thank you." Naruto leans down to kiss her forehead. "I needed that, as long as it's just you and me making those decisions I'll be fine, ya know."
"Just you and me okay, no one else gets to make decisions on how we live our life together." Hinata wraps her arms around his neck as the kitchen door swings open.
"Oh, Lady Hinata, I'm sorry." Ko stands in the doorway holding the hand of a little girl who can't be over the age of five. "She dropped her ice cream and I promised her another." He motions to the small girl at his side, tears staining down her face.
"Well, we can't have that now can we." A soft smile comes to Hinata's face as she moves to scoop the child up. "Let's see what we can do about finding you some more sweets, alright?" Hinata wipes the tears away with the back of her hand.
"Thanks Lady Hinata!" The little girl plays with the collar of her kimono as they make their way over to the larger freezer.
Again, she wows me. Naruto watches his girlfriend dig through the freezer for ice cream. Hinata skillfully balances the girl on her hip, finally pulling the dessert from the back. Naruto suddenly envisioned the girl on her hip as blond, blue eyes instead of the dominant Hyuga lavender.
"She's something else, isn't she?" Ko nudges Naruto with his elbow breaking him out of his daze.
"Yeah, why she loves a fool like me I'll never know." Naruto goes back to watching his girlfriend scoop vanilla ice cream into a bowl.
"Be good to her, Naruto okay?" Ko leans onto the counter in front of him. "She deserves it. She woke up before anyone else today, to decorate and make sure everything she had any control over was perfect, hell she even tried to get the kitchen to serve ramen but Lord Hyuga wouldn't have any of that." Naruto's eyes go wide. He hadn't expected her to personally put this much effort into what he thought was such a simple day.
Before Naruto has a chance to respond Hinata slides a bowl across the counter skidding to a stop against his hand.
"What are you two going on about?" Hinata sets the girl down in front of them, licking a drip of ice cream off her finger.
"Oh, just how great you are Lady Hinata." Ko reaches forward, tapping her lightly on the tip of her nose.
"Ha-ha, very funny." She turns to offer Naruto a spoon for the other bowl she had scooped. "I figured we could share this while we watched the fireworks."
"Come on little one, let's get you back to your parents." Ko says, lifting the girl off the counter and making their way out of the kitchen.
"He meant it, ya know, you are pretty great." The couple make their way into the courtyard as the larger fireworks begin to cover the sky.
"If you say so." She stops the conversation by spooning ice cream into his mouth.
"You're gonna have to get used to this, ya know." Naruto says, hardly taking the time to swallow. "I'm never going to stop telling you how great or how beautiful you are okay?" He pulls her into his side.
Hinata, not sure what to say, simply looks up into the sky watching the colorful display above them. This is her dream come true, celebrating a special holiday with not just her family but being held by the man she has pined for, for so long. Finishing the ice cream she moves to set the bowl on the bench beside them.
"Come here." Naruto pulls her closer wrapping both his arms around her waist, pressing his chest against her back. "Thanks for inviting me Hinata, tonight, all of this has really meant a lot to me." He whispers in her ear.
"I hope we're able to spend all holidays together." Hinata turns in his arms to wrap hers around his neck.
"If that's what you want then I'll try my damnedest to make sure missions don't interfere with that, and hopefully some of the days in-between can be spent together too, ya know." Naruto makes eye contact with Hinata's father over her head, he nods slightly in their direction, as if he knows what the young shinobi wants to do at that very moment. "Happy New Year's my dear." Leaning down, he covers her lips with his own in a soft, sweet kiss.
As the display comes to an end Naruto noticed small yawns coming from Hinata
"Come on sleepy, walk me out so you can get to bed." Naruto begins to pull her towards the door.
"No, no, I wanna stay up and talk to you." Hinata protests, fighting to keep back her biggest yawn yet.
"You've been up all day." He gives her a knowing smile as a slight blush creeps up her cheeks. "And we have all the time in the world. Plus, I think I promised some pretty girl a date tomorrow."
"Fine." Hinata pouts following him towards the entrance to the courtyard.
"Ah, come on." Naruto turns to meet her gaze.
Oh, if she wasn't exhausted she could get anything she wanted. Naruto thinks to himself. That pout paired with her half open sleepy eyes made him want to give into her on the spot.
"Your family has already extended so much hospitality towards me." Naruto whispers, reaching up to play with a loose strand of her hair, more had fallen as the night went on. "Besides, I have some plans I need to get together for tomorrow." The smile that crosses his face is one that Hinata had only seen when he was about to do something bold, something mischievous. "Come by around noon."
"What are you planning?" Hinata asks, furrowing her brow in confusion.
"You'll see, goodnight, I love you." He gives her a soft kiss
"I love you too." The confusion still runs strong, as Naruto sets out down the road, waving a hand over his head.
What does that crazy boy have in mind? Hinata thinks as she watches him leisurely walk away until he is out of sight.