A Marriage of Two Worlds

I have to thank you all for the very warm reception to this story from the first chapter. It was very interesting for me to see those first impressions, as well as some good questions being raised, which will hopefully be answered as we go along. As for now, Naruto and Hinata are finally about to come into contact.

3 years after the events from last time…

Location: Solar System – Interplanetary Space, Milky Way, Local Group

As far as the eyes could see it was almost pitch black. The only minute sources of light were in the background and these were the countless stars that were an unimaginable distance away in space. Truly the expanse of universe was vast indeed.

Within the broad confines of space, a lone alien spaceship was travelling at an incredible velocity. The spaceship itself was inhabited by a single person, a young woman to be more exact, hailing from a distant planet in a different galaxy than our own.

Hinata was sitting on a couch with her head hung low in a large room that was clearly the control panel of the space ship. Although it looked like she was calm, in reality she was restless from anticipation. She wanted to reach her destination as soon as possible. She wanted to see HIM so badly. After so long it was finally time.

As though her thoughts were answered, a voice suddenly spoke up within her mind.

"Princess, we're nearing our destination. The planet we set out for is now within sight. Estimated time of arrival is 30 minutes."

Hinata's head instantly shot up and she looked at the massive screen right in front of her. It showed the darkness of space, but within that darkness a singular point of light from a certain star was starting to get bigger and bigger. The "Sun" was getting closer as the spaceship travelled towards it. More importantly, the light from the sun that reflected off of its third orbiting planet could be seen, making the faint traces of "Earth" visible to the alien girl. It was a moment of unparalleled joy for her and she couldn't hold herself from jumping up from her seat in excitement with heartfelt tears streaming down her face.

"It feels like it has been an eternity, but I'm here at last." Hinata said while wiping the tears off her face, even though they continued to overflow. "I can finally meet you again...Naruto-kun."

At the same time on Earth…

It was 11:30 at night. A speed boat had just docked at the harbour of a small island off the coast of Japan which consisted of just one village. A spiky blonde haired young man jumped out of the boat while holding on tightly to the messenger bag on his back, making sure that his belongings did not fall into the water. His face was beaming with excitement as he took in a huge breath of the fresh air that could only be found on this very island. His home was here after all.

This young man was named Naruto Namikaze. He was 26 years of age and had just returned after 4 long years to his home village on this island where he had grown up since childhood. He looked at his watch and sadness clouded his face instantly, realising he was too late to have his favourite ramen from Ichikaru's ramen shop. He did his best, even riding a speed boat back, but alas, the delayed flight had just managed to mess up his plans of wolfing down 4 years' worth of ramen in one night before going to bed. Nonetheless, realising that he could have all the ramen his heart desired the next day, the young man decided he would return to his home and get some much needed rest before going out to meet everyone in the village tomorrow morning.

Brimming with energy as usual, Naruto ran along the coastline beneath the moonlit sky. The gentle night breeze and the countless stars scattered across the night sky made him remember his childhood when he would sneak out during the night and play at the beach. He would even swim around in the cold water, or just lie in the sand watching the stars overhead, wondering what they would look like up close.

The reason why Naruto could get away with all this was because he was an orphan. He never met his parents, didn't know who they were, neither did he have any memories of them. The villagers had found him in a basket almost like a stray cat. Presumably, his parents had left him at the island and never contacted back since. Although this seemed somewhat painful, it wasn't anything extraordinary for the people of the island. This village was known for having one of the most popular orphanages. Orphans from across the country would often be sent here so that they could grow up at a caring environment surrounded by nature. The inhabitants of the island would make the children feel at home and care for them just like they were a family until they could one day choose their own future. This was the case for Naruto since he had lived on this island since birth until he was 18, at which point he moved to study for the past 8 years. During the time he left, Naruto had only returned once to the village 4 years ago for his summer vacation.

While all of this seemed rather normal, that particular summer he spent on this island was one that had changed his life forever. He just knew it. He could tell. But the worst part was that Naruto could not remember what it was that happened during that summer. He could not recall a single memory from those short few months. It was extremely odd and he didn't know why. Whenever he thought about it too hard his head would start to hurt until eventually he would have to give up. One thing he knew however even to this day was that whatever happened then was something of unparalleled importance to him and he sought to unravel the events that transpired now that he was finally back home again.

Since the island was rather small and the docking area for boats was relatively nearby to the village, it didn't take Naruto very long to get back home. He didn't come across any of the villagers either since they normally went to bed rather early. The quietness of the night with only the lone sound of crickets far in the background reminded Naruto how drastically different the city life was from here. Regardless, he was now standing in front of the door to the house he grew up in.

It was a traditional Japanese house with wooden floors and sliding doors. It even had a sizeable courtyard at the front and a nice little garden in the back. The house was actually rather big with quite a few spacious rooms especially considering Naruto lived alone here back in the day.

"I'm back." He said in a quiet voice as he stepped in through the door despite knowing that no one would reply. He was an orphan after all with no family living with him. But for whatever reason he felt as though there used be someone waiting for him when he returned. It was a gut feeling and he was quickly proven wrong by the emptiness of the house.

Naruto sighed and took his shoes off, making his way into the living room where a kotatsu lay in the middle. He dropped his body on to the small sitting cushion next to the kotatsu and placed his legs under the table. It was a different kind of bliss, one he hadn't felt in a while. He reminisced of times past when he would sit idly and watch TV from this very spot. But perhaps what he felt most was this odd sensation that there used to be someone else who sat beside him on this very table. Someone very precious to him. But this feeling did not make any sense simply because he was always living alone in this house.

Shaking the stray thoughts off his head Naruto fished around his bag to find small folder. He flipped through the various papers inside until finally he reached one that was specially laminated due to its importance. It was a certificate that awarded "Naruto Namikaze" the title of "Doctor of Philosophy" in Physics. In other words Naruto had completed his PhD degree in the past 4 years. He proudly placed the certificate proving his achievement on top of the table in front of him. While looking at it, Naruto realised he had something else that would fit perfectly next to this. So he flipped through his folder until he found another similar laminated certificate, one that awarded "Naruto Namikaze" the title of "Masters of Science" in Physics. This was the degree that had taken him another 4 years to complete before he did his PhD. The two of them combined took him the 8 years he was away from home.

He placed the two certificates next to each other and wondered if his parents would be proud of him right now if they were here. Although Naruto had no family to share his achievements with, once again he got this strange feeling that there was someone in his past who rejoiced with him in his accomplishments. Someone he had forgotten. But again, none of it made any sense to him and he was only left with a sore headache.

Not wanting to dwell on these strange thoughts any longer, Naruto got up and headed towards his bedroom to get refreshed. The room was just as he had left it. As soon as he entered it the first thing Naruto noticed was the small 1 metre telescope lying beside his bed and instantly, a flood of memories of all the midnight stargazing sessions from his childhood came rushing back to him. The telescope belonged to whoever previously occupied the house, but when Naruto first moved in here, this was the equipment that really allowed him make his curiosity of stargazing into a fully-fledged hobby that eventually made him decide to become a researcher in this field of study. He looked at his watch and realised that it was almost midnight right now.

"I do need to get some sleep, but I really can't resist putting this bad boy to use for old time's sake." Not being able to resist the temptation, Naruto took the telescope and exited the house through the back. He cut through the garden and walked a little distance until he reached a large grassy prairie. This was the perfect position to use the telescope since the entire night sky was entirely visible from here, with only the light from the moon illuminating it. "This place is just as amazing as it always was."

It didn't take Naruto long to set up the source of his past time and despite having worked with some of the world's most state of the art ground-based and space telescopes there was just something about this particular one that made it so special to him. He looked through the eyepiece and adjusted his field of view to a particular point on the sky that he knew all too well.

"I wonder what I'll see if I look for "HINA" with this." He said jokingly, knowing full well that it was physically impossible for this little telescope to show him what he wanted to see. "You've never failed me before old pal. So, what will you show me this time?"

After having kept his view through the eyepiece focused for a while, Naruto was just about to stop looking at that part of the sky which was at a 45 degree viewing angle. But suddenly a flash of incredibly bright light overwhelmed his sight.

"WHOA!" He was so startled that he pulled back several steps from the telescope and looked up at the sky only to find that the source of light was getting bigger and bigger as it got closer to the surface. While normally he would have been curious about this amazing find, right now he realised that the source of this unknown light was getting closer by the second and it looked to be on a collision course to this very area. There was no time to run, thus Naruto jumped to the ground and held both of his ears shut anticipating a severe impact. But seconds passed away into nearly a minute and nothing happened. Until finally something did happen…something that would change his life for good once again.

"Naruto-kun…we finally meet." He heard those words from an angelic voice. The voice also sounded all too familiar. Naruto looked up only to find the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. Hinata was standing before him.

A maelstrom of emotions tore through Naruto at the sight of Hinata so much so that he didn't know what to do. He wanted to say something to her but words would not come out of his mouth. He got an incredible urge to hold her even though he knew it was wrong to do so to a person you didn't even know. In fact that was exactly the problem. It was the fact that despite his emotions and instincts telling him to embrace this woman standing in front with all his might, Naruto didn't know Hinata. He had no memories of her. Neither did he ever meet her before. But then why was he feeling this way? That question brought on the same kind of headache he felt every time he tried to recall the events that happened during the summer 4 years ago.

"W-Who are you? How d-do you know my n-name?" Naruto barely managed to ask her while trying to keep his sanity at bay.

"So you really don't remember me?" Hinata asked back with look of sadness on her face. "No, that's how it should be. But still, having you ask me those questions hurt quite a bit."

Her words and expression of sorrow constricted Naruto's lungs, making it almost hard to breathe. Just thinking that he was the cause of it all was too much for him to bear.

"It's okay Naruto-kun. You may not remember me now, but I assure you that the two of us have met before. My name is Hinata and there is something I must tell you."

"Hinata…" That name rung through his head time and time again. Naruto knew that it sounded very familiar and belonged to someone precious to him. Yet the fact that he couldn't remember this person drove him almost near madness.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHY CAN'T I REMEMBER?! " Naruto held his head with both hands and shouted at the top of his lungs in a last ditch effort to bring back the lost memories that he once cherished so dearly.

Hinata quickly realised that Naruto's mind was nearing its breaking point. Her sudden appearance before him and his inability to recall the times they had spent together went against his instincts and emotions. His feelings for her were incredibly strong, but she didn't want those to become his undoing. Thus Hinata grabbed Naruto's right hand with her own and pulled him into a very tight embrace.

The warmth of her body and her left hand that was wrapped around his back brought Naruto's mind to a calm state once again. Before long, without even thinking about it, he himself had wrapped his own left arm around Hinata, increasing the strength of their embrace even further, which took away all the uneasiness in his body as well. Naruto felt that he was finally with the one person he had longed for all these years. But quickly he also realised how rude he must have been to hold on to this woman he was meeting for the very first time. It could be that she mistook him for someone else, which was very likely the case. That thought pained him, but he couldn't be so selfish.

"I'm really sorry for holding you like this." Naruto apologised sincerely. "But you seem to have me confused with someone else."

Hinata finally broke free from him and increased the distance between them slightly so that they could meet eye to eye. She still kept their right hands connected however.

"No…I am not mistaken." She told him with the utmost confidence. "I could never be mistaken about you Naruto-kun. I am a Hyuyan, someone from a distant planet from Earth. And the people of our planet hold a special bond with their significant others."

"Significant other?" Naruto asked, not understanding fully what she meant.

"As I mentioned before – I need to tell you something Naruto-kun." Hinata now looked him straight in the eye with an unflinching gaze. "You and I have a special relationship, one which can never be broken no matter where we may be."

The information that was relayed to Naruto did not quite register. In response, Hinata made him move his gaze down to their connected right hands. What he saw was something unbelievable – two bright glowing rose-like flowers of light had sprouted from the back of both of their hands and intertwined together.

"This is the proof of our relationship Naruto-kun." Hinata said to him with a smile so beautiful and bright that it outshone the moon itself. "The two of us are husband and wife."

It took his brain a few seconds to process the information.

"Husband and wife? Then that means…we're married?" Naruto asked himself before finally realising what that statement actually meant. "Wait…I'm married?! To an alien girl?! EH? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!"

And so it began…

I hope you liked this chapter. As before, I would love to hear your thoughts in reviews.

To answer a few of your questions from last time:

Flameraven1: Don't worry lol. Naruto won't turn up with a pistol, or even a laser gun to fight Tobi. That would not be in anyone's best interest. He will have something though, which will come in later.

Arthur Sontill: Sorry if I caught you off guard from what happened in the second part of last chapter. I kind of meant it to have a bit of a shock value since first chapters generally tend to be rather slow paced most of the time. But as you've seen from this chapter, it won't be gruesome all the time.

deltaprime11: Earthlings will be pretty normal. I may think otherwise at some point and incorporate some kind of powerup but for now they're normal. Naruto however is special, as you'll find out a bit later.

SkyUnih: Naruto and Hinata's relationship is the main focus of this story. So you will see the two of them bond romantically and in other ways a lot. There won't be any shortage of that.

NecroSaintCreed: There is indeed a reason why Naruto and his children are special. You'll find out eventually.

Thanks to everyone else who also showed their support in the reviews.

I hope to see you all again. Take care until then.