It felt like I had been stabbed in the chest. Repeatedly.

Shot glass in hand, every time I would look over my shoulder, another stab. At was looking at the happy couple, the soon-to-be newlyweds. But of course I put on a fake smile. I was the best man after all, couldn't look all depressed at their engagement announcement party.

Sasuke had come back to the village after his whole freaky revenge phase, and guess what? Apparently in his time away, he realized just what he left behind. Or actually who.

Sakura.

My Sakura.

Ok, maybe not My Sakura, but still. That bastard broke her heart over and over. Just ripped it out of her chest, through it on the ground, stepped on it, and walked away. But as soon as he turns around and picks it back up, suddenly everything's ok again. He even had the nerve to ask her hand in marriage! Ok so they've been going out for a month or so now, but that's still a little rushed right?

Oh no, she goes right on ahead and says yes, completely ignoring me! Then Sasuke asks me to be his best man! You've got to be freakin' kidding me! And now when I look at them, all googlie eyed smiling, the way he has his arms wrapped around her, it's all just putting salt on the wound. But I smile back holding in the fact that the one person I'll ever love was just cut out of my life.

"Wow Naruto! I'm so happy you could make it!" Sakura squealed. Ah, she always looked so happy.

"Of course Sakura-chan! Did you really think I would miss something this big! I'm so happy for you and Sasuke!"

I looked over at said lucky man to see him eyeing me apologetically. He knew what I was going through. He knew that I loved her. But he loved her more, and wasn't planning on giving her up. Sakura squealed again, running over to where Tenten had just walked in with Nenji. I sighed. They had gotten married last year. I had never seen Nenji smile so wide.

Everyone had someone. Nenji had Tenten. Ino had Choji. Shikamaru had that sand nin girl Temari. Lee had Gaara. And even though they were trying to keep quiet about it, nearly everyone in the village knew about Kiba and Shino. But who did I have? That's the question that haunted me as I watched Sasuke lightly peck Sakura on the cheek.

Who is there for me?

DANCING MARSHMELLOWS = time skip

"Are you feeling ok Naruto-kun?"

The simple question snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, hey Hinata, yeah, I'm doing fine. How about you?"

"Oh, umm- uh- I'm doing fine- no, ok- no, great!" Hinata's blush could easily put a tomato to shame as she continued to stare at her hands.

"Hey Hinata, are you sure your ok? You look like you have some kind of fever; your whole face is red." I really was concerned for her. It was like whenever I was around, she always goes red. It was so weird… maybe it was a girl thing?

"Oh yeah Naruto, sure, I'm wonderful…" Hinata said, blush still heavy on her face.

"Uhh, ok then? I gotta go. See ya!" I was sort of eager to leave. I don't know what it was about Hinata that just made me so uncomfortable. Like whenever she was around, I was actually kind of nervous about anything I did. I really needed to ask someone about this. I mean is it really normal for you to feel like you have butterflies in your chest every time you see one specific person? Ahh, I'll just ask Iruka-sensei about it later. But right now I'm so hungry I could eat like 30 bowls of ramen. To Ichiraiku's!

DANCING MARSHMELLOWS

Roughly around thirty two bowls of ramen later.

I managed to find Iruka-sensei at the academy, but he was busy grading papers. So of course, I was polite and barged right in.

"HEY IRUKA-SENSEI! WHATS UP!" Ah, how I really missed my loving, smart, totally cool sensei.

"NARUTO! YOU COULD KNOCK! AND YOU COULD ALSO STOP BARGING INTO PLACES SCREAMING LIKE YOU OWN THEM!"

"Heh, sorry Iruka-sensei, I've been sort of thinking a lot lately about some things."

"Hmm, I'm not surprised Naruto. A few more months and your next to be Hokage right? It only makes sense that you would start feeling-"

"So Iruka-sensei, what does mean when you see some and you get all nervous and your stomach feels all fluttery?" Iruka-sensei did something really weird then… he like, smiled. A weird smile. Like that creepy, weird, know it all smile.

"Well Naruto, who exactly do you feel this way around?"

DANCING MARSHMELLOWS

I left Iruka-sensei classroom in somewhat of a daze. Me? In love? With Hinata? I don't really know. I mean, she's pretty, and strong, and smart, but she also quite. And she's really shy too. Maybe I do like her. Does she even like me? Wait a second, is THAT why she blushes all the time? I should go ask her. No wait, I can't just go up to her and demands if she likes me. Actually, why can't I?

I'm not the far from the Hyuuga compound, I could just stop by really quickly and ask. Yeah. That would work. I would get my answer, and I wouldn't have to deal with Hiashi or Neji. Double bonus! I'd just have to get moving now, it's almost dark already.

DANCING MARSHMELLOWS

Ok, right now I'm so confused, I wonder if I'm dreaming. I'm standing in front of Hinata's front door, well; actually, I was standing in front of Hinata all but 4 seconds ago, until she slammed the door right in my face. So I asked her if she liked my. That was everything I said! "Hey Hinata, do you like me?" SLAM! I mean, that is rude isn't it? So I'm still confused on whether she likes me or not. Like can't she just say that she likes me? Wants to be with me? Thinks I'm deliciously hot? Come on! Some answer here would have been nice! Oh well, I'm going to get answers from her. Even if that means breaking and entering, since she now doesn't feel like answering the door.

Sneaking around the house, I found one of her windows slightly opening. Using my totally awesome ninja skills, I snuck in unnoticed and looked around a bit. Her room was neat. There wasn't much in there to begin with, but what was there was, like, perfectly organized. And when I say perfectly organized, I mean there wasn't a hair out of place. It did smell nice though, like maybe….lavender? Something like that. My head quickly whipped around at the sound of a door being opened. Hinata walked through, her entire body freezing at the sight of me in her bedroom. Her eyes went wide, mouth faintly opening as if preparing to scream. I moved even faster, my hand over her mouth as I dragged the rest of her body in the room, then closed and lock the door. I pressed her against it, sshhh-ing her softly so I could remove my hand from her mouth. Her eyes were still wide, but she nodded slightly in understanding. "What's with you Hinata? I just ask you a question; you didn't have to go all loopy on me. And I still want to know, do you like me, or what? And don't even think for a second that I'm leaving this room without you telling me."

I moved my hand away from her, and her entire body seemed to slump against the door."I-I do like y-you Naru-Naruto," she said, shaking," I've li-liked you for so-so long. I was jus-just so scared of say-saying something, and I didn't wa-want y-you to rej-reject me." She finished. I might have been seeing things, but her eyes looked watery, and she wouldn't look at me. "Hinata" I said softly, trying to get her attention. She continued to look at the ground."Hinata" I said again, this time a little louder. I brought my hand to her chin, rising in her gaze to meet mine.

Then, surprising us both, I leaned in to softly kiss her lips. And man, was her lips soft, for a second I thought I was kissing a fluffy pillow. When I pulled away she looked at me, shock and disbelief written clearly on her face. I smiled, "I like you to Hina-chan. Sorry this took so long." I leaned in to kiss her again, but as if on Q, she fainted. I caught her before she could hit the floor, and again I smiled. She really was beautiful. Sasuke could have Sakura. He could have her pink hair, and her strawberry smell, and her serious anger problems. I found someone even better.

DANCING MARSHMELLOWS

I sighed thinking back to those days. After I had tucked Hinata in I wanted to stay a little while longer. BAD idea. Hiashi came in minutes later. Let's just say I barely made it out alive. Forget about uninjured, I ended up limping back to my own house, well, after the over protective father stop chasing me. I was brought out of my reverie when I heard a knock at my office door. Sighing again, I shifted around my paper work to make it look like I was doing something instead of just daydream about my past, just in case it was Baa-chan checking up on me again. "Enter" I said, not quiet being able to keep the extreme boredom out of my tone. I mean really, I knew being Hokage came with paperwork, but this was just never ending!

Looking up all my thoughts of boredom vanished as she walked in through my door. "Umm, I'm sorry Hokage-sama, am I interrupting you from something?" "Ahh, my precious Hinata-chan, you should know by now that you are always a welcome distraction. After all, you are my wife." Yes, I proposed to her after, maybe 4 months of dating? It might have been 3, I can't remember. I just remember knowing I loved her with all my heart, and I knew she felt the same.

So, I bent down on one knee, we said our I Do's, and now we've been married for about a year. Man that was a fun honey moon. I'm still surprised I didn't get her pregnant by the way we were going at it. The bed, the floor, the wall, the shower, the kitchen counter, the refrigerator, the couch, the dining room table, we even carried it on until it reached my office. This is why I can sit at this desk with such pleasant memories. Poor Hinata though, she could barely walk. "Uhh, Hokage-sama, I-""It's Naruto, Hinata, I don't think the village would find it offensive if you called your husband by his actual name. Especially when the village can't even hear you."

Thank goodness I had help Hinata get over her shyness when we were dating, but this Hokage-sama crap has got to stop. She is married to Naruto Uzumakie, not this Hokage-sama. "Oh, right, sorry Naruto. I was wondering what you wanted for dinner tonight, since I wasn't sure what kind of ramen you wanted and-""Hinata, were going out to eat tonight." Hinata looked taken back slightly, confused by my interruption. "Oh, but, why Naruto-kun?"

"Because I want to treat you to a nice dinner before I talk to you about something." I smiled. Wide. She was going to like this."Umm, what would that be Naruto-kun?" "well Hinata, it appears I'm going to be late to my office tomorrow, because after I've had my dinner I'm going to take you home, strip you naked, and have my way with you. And, since we'll probably be going at it like rabbits all night long, I'll need to sleep in. Plus you probably won't be able to walk, so I'll have to make you breakfast too."

Hinata's entire face had gone beyond red by now, her breathing just a little bit faster. I stood up, making my way towards her until she was pinned between me and the door. I was still smiling at her, her lusting gaze meeting my loving one."I do want children from you Hina-chan, I love you and I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you." My own eyes turned lusting as I moved my mouth to her ear. "No, I can't wait till after dinner, how about I take of my desk again, hmm?" Her face remained flushed, but she tilted her head towards me and pressed her lips to mine. This time, I thought to myself, Tsunade better not come barging in.