Hello dearies! I've been doing college shopping, so I've been a busy little bee.

I actually wrote this right after I posted the last one (like the day of) but I got stuck where the ending is, so I just... I'm going to get to the wedding part eventually.

This was originally supposed to be the fourth of the weddings salemboy94 (I do believe that my little dear is still missing without internet) requested such a very very long time ago, but for now it will just be part one since I'm trying to put the proposals together with the weddings (which I'm failing at).

Well, onwards and upwards!

Hinata was worried. Naruto hadn't been acting like himself for weeks, and she knew that it wasn't just her being paranoid because other people had brought it up. Teuchi and Ayame had come up to her last week and had asked her if anything was wrong since he hadn't been by to get anything to eat there in over a week, she had overheard Tsunade had mentioned something about him being off to Shizune, and then Sakura had said something about not seeing him anywhere for the past week. And then whenever she had seen him or tried to talk to him or approach him, he always got nervous and seemed to immediately find some reason—whether it made sense or not—to go somewhere else. Somewhere where she was not.

She was determined to push away those niggling doubts that taunted her in the back of her mind—he was with another woman or he wanted to break up and other such things—however, until she had a firmer grasp on what was happening and, if she was ever able to pin her boyfriend down, after she had talked to him.

But she wanted a second opinion, so she went to a person who she knew had more experience with boys: Ino.

While they were not the closest of friends, they were at the very least friends. And Ino had had more boyfriends and had more experience than anyone else that Hinata knew, so she figured that it would be best to maybe ask her.

They were walking a path that led to one of the training grounds for the sake of the privacy, and Hinata was grateful for that, at least. She didn't want other people to needlessly stick their nose into her business.

"Well..." Ino said slowly, "If it were anyone else I'd say he was cheating. But this is Naruto we're talking about. He doesn't seem like he's the type who would be able to keep that secret and be that dishonest, and then there's the fact that he practically seems to worship the ground that you walk on." Hinata blushed slightly at this, and then sighed.

"Well... What do you think it might be, then?" She asked quietly and nervously, though she was a bit relieved that she didn't think he was cheating.

"Hmm... I don't know. I mean, Naruto's always been weird, but the way you explain it he's been acting a different weird. Have you tried asking him, like pinning him down with kunai and forcing him to listen and talk?"

"No! And even if I had thought about doing that, he's gone too fast for me to do anything. I just... I really don't know what to do." She sighed.

Ino nodded sympathetically as she silently tried to think of some kind of somewhat vague and yet useful advice since she was unsure of what to suggest at this point, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed a flash of something unusual, and turning her head she could only stare for a moment.

"Hey, Hinata?"

"Hmm?"

"Isn't that Naruto right over there?" The blonde asked, pointing to the where you could see the training field the path ran past through the trees that dotted the way. Hinata whipped her head around to check and see, blinking as she confirmed that it was in fact her boyfriend and that he was for some reason sitting cross-legged in the middle of the field talking to... another Naruto?

"What is he doing?" Ino asked quietly, not wanting to be noticed by the boy, and Hinata shook her head.

"I... I don't know." She murmured, and the two girls shared a look and a nod before starting to stealthily creep closer.

"Hinata, I um... I've been thinking recently and... you're great. And I don't mean that I've only been thinking that you're great since just recently! I've always thought you were great! I just mean that I've been thinking about... stuff. Like future... stuff. And when I think about that future stuff, I think about you and me and our... future. Together. And so I was hoping that... No, I was wondering if you'd marry me." Naruto finally managed, letting out a deep sigh at the end, grateful that he had finally gotten it all out. There was a small beat of silence, and then finally an answer.

"No."

Naruto glared at the bored looking clone that sat across from him, at the end of his short and fraying patience. "What do you mean, no?!"

"I mean just that. No. It sucked more than usual." The clone bluntly pointed out, earning an even sharper glare from the original. "There's no way you're getting her to marry you with that."

"Yeah, well, you suck!" Naruto shouted, wincing as he realized that he couldn't even properly form insults anymore. Scowling heavily, Naruto got rid of the clone and then winced as, when the memories flooded him, he had to listen to the jumbled ruins of his practice proposal.

It was even worse than he had thought, and he was worried that maybe the clone had been right..
He had realized, just from a passing and teasing comment Tsunade had made about how Hinata was going to be a great wife, that that was what he wanted. He wanted a family and more accurately he wanted Hinata to be that family. So he had gone out and had gotten a ring—the perfect ring, one that he had seen and it had made him immediately think of her—but after that he had realized that he just didn't know how to propose.

He knew it was supposed to be all romantic and amazing, but how was he supposed to do that? He'd been trying to think of a way to make it special for her for weeks, but he hadn't had any luck so far. He'd even taken to avoiding Hinata recently since he was afraid that she'd look at him and he'd just blurt it out like he always did and just ruin everything he had been working so hard on.

It was torture, but he knew he had to get this just right. Though for some reason whenever he tried to get the words out they got all jumbled up and tangled and it was just this endless stream of terribleness. He usually had no shortage of words, so this newly discovered lack of them was a shock that he could definitely do without.

With a growl Naruto jumped to his feet and started to pace back and forth, trying to think of exactly what he wanted to say to Hinata. Definitely something that would lead to her saying yes, but there had to be more. Maybe he'd tell her why he wanted to marry her, that way she'd know he was serious. He could also tell her what he thought of her. That could help with the self-confidence problem she still had.

It sounded pretty stupid inside of his head, but maybe if he said it out loud it would work itself out somehow.

"Hinata!" He said rather loudly, and unknown to him his eavesdropping girlfriend jumped. "I've known you for a long time, ever since the academy, though it wasn't that well back then. You've... You've always been there for me, supporting me and believing in me even when I didn't notice you, and you've always loved me. No matter what happen or what we went through, you always loved me. It might have taken me a little while, and I probably worried you a bit, but I love you too. You're... You're amazing and beautiful and kind, and you always do the right thing because you are just such a good person. And you make me happy, happier than I've ever been, and so that's why..." He took a breath, wondering why it was so hard to get out even though she wasn't there, "That's why I want to ask if you'd marry me."

Naruto paused a moment before making a face. "Nah," He muttered to himself, "That's not going to work. It's too-"

"YES!"

Naruto whipped around at the surprising shout to find that his girlfriend was standing a little ways away in some bushes that she had apparently been hiding in. She was crying, but he knew—or he hoped that he knew—that they were the good kind of tears. Happy tears.

"Wha... Hinata! How long have you been there? Did you... Did you hear all of that?" He was hoping, just for a moment, that she'd say no. He wanted her to say no because this wasn't how he had wanted it. He had wanted to make it special with flowers and all of that stuff that girls always said they wanted, and he had also at least wanted to be facing her and aware that she was there. But she nodded, still crying, and he figured that the best thing would be just to go ahead and roll with it and hope for the best.

"And you said yes? As in yes, you want to marry me?" He asked her, suddenly nervous. Because what if he had heard her wrong, or what if she had suddenly and inexplicably changed her mind? But she nodded again and gave a watery laugh that instantly banished all of his fears, and then she gave him the most beautiful and the brightest smile he had ever seen.

"Yes!" She said again, laughing happily as he quickly ran to her and picked her up in a little twirl that ended in one of the most wonderful kisses that she had ever had, something that her curling toes would very happily attest to.

When he finally pulled back it was to grin widely at her and wipe away the tears that had started when she had been listening to him say all of those wonderful things as she had slowly realized what was happening and what he had been saying and why he had been acting so weird the past weeks.

"I have a ring." He told her, and she could only laugh again and wrap her arms around his neck to beam up at him, oh so very happy on her euphoric high.

"Okay."

"But I left it at the apartment." He told her, a little upset by this fact. He knew that there was supposed to be a ring with the proposal, and he hated that he had messed all of it up, but from the way Hinata was smiling he guessed she really didn't mind.

"Okay." She said again, tugging him back for another smiling kiss.

Still silently sitting in the bushes and not wanting to interrupt the newly engaged couple, Ino dabbed at her eyes with the tissue she had, careful to not mess up her makeup. Not only were her two friends getting married—and they were jut the cutest thing she had ever seen—but since she was there for the proposal, that was pretty much a guarantee that she was going to be a bridesmaid.

So... There we go!

Hello to my newest dimpled darling Rohain Tahquil who wrote me such a lovely and long review (I love them when they're long!) And you love me so much that you could kiss me? Well pucker up dearie, because I love you too! Thank you so much for the recommendations (will be looking into those) and the ideas (yes! Gimme more! I love ideas! I shall add them to my request document list (it has bullets and numbering and names. It's very organised))

And to xFallingxCastlexWallsx:... YOU GOT IT! I was hoping someone would connect it! Yes, the little ninja clan that was frequently mentioned last chapter was Sora's (Kori's teammate) clan. When Sora was first introduced he said his village was destroyed in a hurricane (something which is now a lie, so I will be changing it eventually).

Thank you guys for the Nanami love! She'll be coming around again some time (not in her own chapter though).

See ya'll soon!

P.S.- Sorry for the crappy title. I'm currently in a dry ditch in the middle of a desert, drowning in sand and heat as I search for inspiration within the ruins of my tired mind. And holy heck, wasn't that poetic?