A/N: I need your help. I have had the plot up to half of the story, but I have multiple possible endings to choose from. I like all of them, so I want your inputs on what endings do you like. Click on my penname on the top of this page lonewingwriter to go to my profile; all details are under Story Update. Let make this an awesome story together.
Also, thank you for those who read, favorite, alter, and especially take your time to review this story. Your words are what encourage me to write.
I can't wait to share this to all of you.
So this is the new chapter. Good news: many hints to what is going on behind the marriage, and yes Naruhina moment, finally (yahoo!) Bad news:... Anyway, I hope you will enjoy it.
Disclaim: I just have a dream, a weirdest dream that I own Naruto. Wake up. *Sigh* Why can't dream come true?
'I just have a weird dream. The weirdest dream, that I will marry to one of my best friends, Hyuuga Hinata.'
"Naruto-sama. Please open the door. We have the wedding kinomo ready to you"
One of the most nature response to the young man is to run away, the same way someone run for his life. By the time he comes to his sense, he is already on the top of the Hokage Monument. Sitting on the head of his father, he runs his hand over his hair, trying to recollect what had happened, and all he could feel right now is fear. He is so scared that all he wanted to do is to run away again. But to where. He loves his village too much to be able to part from it. And Hinata, he is not cold hearted enough to leave her alone in their wedding. But the last thing he wants to do now is to come to the wedding. He is scared, really really scared right now. He does not know what to do anymore. Then he hear footsteps coming closer and closer. This chakra. He smiles, feeling much more relax.
"Naruto. So you are coming back. Want to grab some ramen?"
"Thanks, Iruka-sensei. I'm not feeling hungry right now."
"What's up Naruto? You are the groom today. Don't you suppose to be more happy?"
"So indeed everyone knows about my wedding but myself"
"We just know about it yesterday, but everyone is very excited. It is the wedding of the hero of our village after all."
"This whole hero crap. It's been almost three years since I defeated Pain, I don't know why people are still clinging on it"
"Saving the village from Pain is just the beginning of your heroism. Your contribution is the main reason we win the Fourth Shinobi War, and your endless efforts to reunion the big five countries and the small ones to bring peace to the shinobi world is not something that people can ignore from you. Everyone is watching you, looking up to you and expecting more from you"
"It could be such a big burden sometimes"
"But you choose to bear this burden don't you?"
"But I don't even know if I can still handle it."
"It is nice sometimes to have someone near you and share some of the burdens, or just to be there for you all the way, you know."
"You mean Hinata. But I don't know if it is fair to put some of my burdens on her. My destiny is something only I should bear"
"Like I said, you need not to put any of your burdens on her, just keep her with you"
"Nevertheless, if she is to be with me she will have to bear some burdens whether she or me like it or not"
"We as shinobi always have responsibilities, burdens as you call it. That is what make us stronger. I'm sure she don't mind any responsibilities come from being with you whether how heavy it is"
"It is just so unfair for her to bear my destiny with me while I cannot ….*sigh*... I cannot love her the same way she loves me. I just feel like I am taking advantage of her feeling if she is to be my wife."
"Are you still in love with Sakura?"
"As I am right now, I have no right nor ability to love anyone"
"You are a great person, and you have all the rights as well as abilities to love and to be loved from anyone. You must learn to relax. Don't take yourselves so hard. Why not give it a try? To love, that don't think you are not capable of love because I know you are. Don't you believe in me?"
"I do...And... I do love you, Iruka-sensei"
"I know, I love you too. See, it's not hard to love right."
"Hihi. I can be a big moron sometime. But I guess romantic love and brother love could be very different. To be honest. I never have a family before, so I don't know how to be a husband. I don't even have a date before and never in a relationship. I just don't know how to act, how to live with another in the same roof especially when we, well, not know each other as much as husband and wife should."
"Isn't this whole village your home now, Naruto? Aren't we already your family? Just be yourselves Naruto. Hinata is already a part of your family, you just need to take the next step and get to know her better. Sometimes taking thing slow is good. Continue to be friend, be as comfortable as you can with each other as possible. Like two friends living in a same roof. You don't have to do anything. Just be your normal self and act the way you normal did around Hinata, and see how thing go."
"Thank you Iruka-sensei. I feel much better now. Be sure to come to my wedding. I have to go and meet Hinata. It's such a shame that I have no part in my own wedding, and I don't even know what's going on. I guess I should get going now. See you later Iruka-sensei"
"Hey, Naruto. Be careful. Don't run too fast"
ANBU #1: Tsunade-sama is such a genius
ANBU #2: Genius? She is way too scary. Poor Naruto.
"Why can't I see her now? We are going to marry in just another few hours, right? I have something I want to tell her "
"Naruto-sama, like we said, you are not allowed to meet her until the wedding"
"Perfect-timming, Naruto, let go inside and get some rehearse."
"Hiashi-sama"
"Hiashi-sama"
"Hiashi-ojichan? What? Rehearse? I don't know what you are talking about. It's good that you are here though. I want to meet Hinata. I have something to tell her."
'Ojichan? this man sure has no manner, but that could also be changed'
"What are you talking about? It is a bad omen to meet the bride before the wedding. We have many things to do, hurry up and follow me to the hall."
So for the rest of the day until the wedding, Naruto becomes a subject of harsh trainings to become the right gentleman for the wedding, that includes sitting like a status for hours while keeping a friendly smile in his face, politely asking people for teas, learning how to address people correctly, learning the names of every guest and their positions and even their interests and habits? (what's the point of that anyway?). However, being a genius as he is, he has no problem to complete all of this in a manner of a few hours. He, after all, is Uzumaki Naruto, the man who had had even tougher trainings, trainings that are impossible to most shinobi; this is nothing, of course with the help of his bunshins. He has to prove to bachan that he's also a decent ninja who can get thing done quickly and effectively. However, Hiashi-ojichan does not seem to be very happy with that many clones of the groom running around the mansion though.
The wedding is terrible. Why can't he meet his bride and has to be stuck with a bunch of strangers? Of course he does not mind a little bit of attentions and meetings with new people. But this is insane. Three hours of greeting people, shaking hands, engaging in smalls talks, taking picture, giving autograph, and he doesn't even have a chance to talk with any of his friends yet. Certainly they are not happy with his sudden wedding, and he has not talked to any of them since his return to the village. Chojji is happy with all the food, and Ino is too busy flirting with all of the young men in the room. Shikamaru keeps his usual uncared face, but Naruto knows he is deeply bothered inside. Kiba and Shino sure are piss. Kiba glares at Naruto sending him several death messages along the way, and his dog Akamaru looks so ready to bite him into pieces. Shino seems to be calm and quited as ever but Naruto can sense his bugs all around him ready to attack at any moment. But what scare him the most is this aura that surrounded him since the wedding, a clear killing intent filled with such ferious anger that sends cold chills to his spine and makes he shiver helplessly. The problem is that he can not identify the culprit although he is sure that person is somewhere in the room. What upsets him most is that his team is not even here. Sai, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei are nowhere to be found. Maybe be they are so disappointed in his reckless decisions that they are not even bother to come.
" *Sigh* Sorry, but I really have to go, I need to talk to someone"
"But Naruto-san, we just talk, and I haven't properly introduce myself yet. I am a distant cousin of Hinata-san. So I guess we all relatives now, hehe. And I haven't believed in my ear when I heard you and Hinata-san is going to be married a week ago. It is such an honor for me to be a relative of the great Uzumaki Naruto. I wanted to meet you so badly that I asked my dad to delay our stay for another week so that we can all attend your wedding. It has been my dream to talk to you, and shaking hand with you, and hear more of your tales, and..."
"Do you want to take a photo with me now? I can sign at the back of the photo. But after that I really need to go and meet my bride"
"Can't wait to see your lovely wife, I see. Thank you so much Naruto-san. Can I have another two pictures of you with your signature at the back? My sister and her husband are also great fans of you. It is bad that they cannot attend the wedding though. They are in a honeymoon, also a newly wed like yourselves and Hinata. It is so fortune that my sister marries to the Minister of..."
This is too much for Naruto. As young man continues his rambles, Naruto doubts any word could go into his ear now. He is just so tired, but he is nowhere near to escape this hell. Another distant relative of Hinata approaches him who is appeared to be the father of this young man, and then Hiashi-ojichan comes to rescue him from the two only to introduce him to some feudal lords from the land of Rice or Sake or whatever.
By the end of the wedding, when he thought that he is going to be free from this hell once and for all, a group of reporters approach him and bombing him with tons of questions:
"Naruto-sama, is this true that you agree to this arrange marriage to secure your position as the future Hokage?"
"No, Naruto-san, according to my sources, the reason for such sudden marriage is because Hinata-san is pregnant with you. Can you confirm this?"
"Naruto-sama, is this true that you agree to this marriage to prove with the whole village that you are not gay, and that the relationships between you and Sasuke or Gaara are just rumors?"
"From my very reliable sources, the reason you agree to this is because Tsunade-sama loses the bet..."
"THAT IS ENOUGH YOU MORONS"
Tsunade-obachan appears from no where with Hinata and decides to save the day. She abruptly puts Hinata hands on his and returns to the crowd:
"LISTEN, AND LISTEN WELL, ALL OF YOU MORONS. THIS MARRIAGE IS OUT OF VOLUNTEER WILL FROM BOTH NARUTO AND HINATA. YES, IT IS THE BLOSSOM OF THEIR LOVE"
"So is this true, Tsunade-sama, that Hinata is pregnant so that they have to hurry up the process?"
"No, absolutely not. Their love is very pure and romantic. There is no such act in the process."
So Tsunade-bachan goes on and on about how their love blossom from a childish crush to true love, of course with the mention of Hinata's confession in the Pain battle and how significant the role of the Hokage to bring the two together, with great emphasize on how dense and stupid Naruto is. It is amazing to see how people so absorb in her story that Naruto doubts they could even question the valid or realistic of it. Anyhow, it seems to calm the crowds, and everyone is so happy with the story that they all decide to leave and let the happy couple have some time alone together.
"Ano, Naruto-kun"
"Hum, what's up Hinata?"
"Um, ano, why do you want to marry me?"
She asks with such sincere in her eyes that make Naruto feels guilt again. He cannot tell her that he agrees to it on an impulse nor tell her the story about the Land of Storm. He does not want her to think he marries her out of pity or responsibility, but he does not want to lie to her either.
"Don't you want to marry me, Hinata?"
Hinata blushes like crazy, but she looks into his eyes again this time with more determination and gut
"Naruto-kun, I don't know much about marriage, so I cannot tell you that I want to marry you or not. But in the bottom of my heart, I always want to be with you, watching you, supporting you, and protecting you. I want to see your smiles and I want you to be happy, so I have to know why do you want to marry me. I don't want you to agree for something that will make you regret later, something that will make you unhappy. I can go and tell my father and Hokage-sama this instant once I know your answer."
Naruto takes Hinata hands and puts it onto his lips, his blue eyes shine into her lavender one, noticing her face redder and redder by the time.
"Now I know for sure, Hinata. That this is the right decision. I am a selfish brat who just want to have someone by his side and care for him. But I, also, want to make you happy, want to protect you and make you smile all the time. Did I ever mention that you have a very beautiful smile? I have never forgotten the way you smile before you said you love me. It is you and others people in the village that keep me going on and become who I am today"
Blush. Blush. Blush. Could Hinata face possibly be redder?. She is deep in happiness that she doesn't even know if this is all a dream. However, she quickly comes back to reality as she continues to listen to Naruto.
"However, I have to admit, Hinata that I...*sigh*... I don't..."
"I understand, Naruto-kun. I never ask you to love me, and I never expect an answer when I confess. I guess it just an impulse on my side want to let you know about my feelings, but now I know yours. And to be honest, Naruto, I am very happy. Just being near you like this makes me very happy."
Naruto smiles broadly at her and she smiles back. There is no need for more words as they all know what is in their hearts.
A/N An end for now. Hope you like it. If so please review, and let me know how do you feel about this. Is there anything you don't like about this chapter or this story? Your voices are very important to me.
