Disclaimer:I do not own Naruto.
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed 'The Worst Week of My Life' so far! It means a lot to be getting such great feedback after the first instalment of this multi-part.
CHAPTER ONE: SUNDAY
Although Naruto wasn't technically supposed to be sleeping in the same bed as his fiancée, Hyuga Hinata, there was nothing the bride-to-be's Father could throw at Naruto that would stop him from sneaking into the Hyuga clan compound and snuggling up in bed with Hinata.
He liked watching Hinata smile in her sleep. Occasionally she would mumble his name and she would play with her lips, which in turn, made Naruto smile too. Some of her long violet hair fell across her pale face; Naruto couldn't resist the urge to push it aside so that he could marvel at her beautiful face—even if it woke her up.
Her eyes opened slowly, but she always smiled when she woke up and saw Naruto beside her—even if they hadn't done 'it' yet.
"Morning," Naruto said quietly with a kiss, not wanting to wake up Hinata's Father who would be furious to find him in bed with his unmarried daughter.
"Morning, Naruto-kun," she replied. It seemed that Hinata had gotten so used to seeing Naruto this close that she no longer fainted upon his invasion of her personal space.
She pushed herself up so that her back was now resting against the headboard of her bed. Her bedroom was white, the colour associated with purity, and although it seemed small, to Naruto it was very spacious. A light lilac covered the walls, and above her bed was a framed tulip that Hinata had pressed when she was going through that phase. All of her shoes were neatly lined up by her dressing table, which was made from oak, and upon this dressing table was a crystal vase that had been given to her as an engagement present. Beside the vase was a framed photograph of Team Eight, taken shortly after their formation. Next to her dressing table was a tall, antique wardrobe—also made from oak— where all of Hinata's clothes were carefully hung, including her wedding dress which Naruto had yet to see.
Naruto held Hinata tightly as they both looked out of the window at the opposite side of the room that overlooked the Hyuga gardens; he kissed her again softly and said, "I better get going. I'm meeting with Kakashi-sensei to collect the ring."
He also didn't mention that he was shit scared that her Father might come into Hinata's room and explode with rage at seeing him in bed with his daughter.
Since their engagement had happened so quickly, Naruto had been unable to give an engagement ring to Hinata, something that Hiashi was not best pleased with. Naruto had looked at so many different engagement rings that he was pretty sure at one point he wanted to say "Does any of this matter? All that matters is that I love Hinata." Did he want a diamond engagement ring? Did he want one with a pearl? Did he want one with a piece of turquoise in to symbolise Hinata's birth month? Luckily, before Naruto's head exploded from all the different variations of engagement rings he could buy; he was looking for something in his apartment and came across a small wooden box that had intricately carved flowers on. Naturally, he opened it.
Inside the box was a wedding photograph of his parents and underneath the picture, that almost moved Naruto to tears, was the most perfect ring Naruto had ever seen (bearing in mind at this point he'd seen hundreds that all seemed to look the same.) It was made of yellow gold (Naruto had learned this term after countless jewellers had corrected him by stating that saying 'gold' alone was simply not good enough) and had a pea-sized ruby embedded into the metal. He looked again at the picture of his parents, a tear dropped onto it; his Father must've chosen a ruby ring to match his Mother's vibrant hair colour.
Despite the supposed perfection of this ring, it would be too big for Hinata as Kakashi had informed Naruto that Minato had gotten the ring re-sized during Kushina's gruelling ten month pregnancy whilst bearing Naruto.
Naruto arrived at the jewellers where Kakashi had agreed to meet with him and give him the newly sized ring. The wedding was scheduled to be held on Saturday 28th July, by which time the rainy season would be at an end, but it would still be increasingly warm and humid. As Konoha was located about 100 miles away from the coastline of the Land of Fire, very few typhoons ever managed to reach the Hidden Village in August and September when the season makes its peak. On this day, Sunday 22nd July, a high pressure system was sitting comfortably over the Hidden Village bringing clear skies and sunshine.
Naruto looked down the street, trying to scan through the other shoppers to see if his former teacher was amongst them. He was not. Naruto rested his head against the stone wall of the jewellers, as he sighed he looked up at the sky and noticed some high altitude clouds forming.
"Great," he muttered. A low pressure system was on its way. Warm air from the land was being pushed towards the colder air of the ocean and a front was going to be formed off the coast of the Fire Country. Normally Naruto wouldn't care whether it was going to rain or not but there was a teeny tiny problem, his wedding was going to be held outdoors. Unless his guests fancied standing around in the mud, the wedding was either going to be postponed or it would be moved indoors, either of these changes were things Naruto was not willing to compromise on.
After what seemed like hours, Naruto felt the hand of his former tutor on his shoulder, "Sorry I'm late."
"Where the hell were you?" Naruto asked impatiently.
Kakashi scratched his head and laughed quietly, "Sorry, I—er, lost track of time."
Naruto rolled his eyes and held out his hand, "Whatever. Can I have the ring?"
After a couple of minutes of searching through practically every pocket on Kakashi's flak jacket and his trousers, Kakashi said, "I haven't got it."
"You've lost it?"
"Well… not exactly."
"Then where is it?"
"Lost of the road of life?" Kakashi joked; Naruto unfortunately did not appreciate his humour in this situation.
"If this is some sort of prank, Kakashi-sensei, it's not funny," Naruto said in an oddly serious tone.
"Why did you give the ring to me any way? I'm not marrying Hinata—"
"I was busy Kakashi-sensei, you know that. Hinata's Father wants everything to be perfect and he's going to go batshit when he hears that I've lost the ring!"
"Look, we'll go back to my place and look for it there," Kakashi called as he started walking down the street to his apartment.
"Okay," Naruto called back, silently praying to whatever God was watching over him that he would be able to find the ring at Kakashi's with ease.
Kakashi's apartment was just off the main road that ran straight through Konoha. The Hatake clan compound was just outside of the main residential area, but was located on the same half of the village as the Aburame, Uchiha, Hyuga and Uzumaki households.
Kakashi opened the door to his ground floor apartment, a place which Naruto had only been able to visit a handful of times. Compared with Naruto's apartment, it was surprisingly tidy. Although it was smaller than the tastes he had acquired after sneaking into the Hyuga clan compound, there were no clothes left strewn across the floor (which was a frequent sight in Naruto's apartment) or dirty cooking utensils left piling up in the sink. He took off his shoes and gestured for Naruto to do the same.
"I'll look for it in my room. You stay down here and look," Kakashi said as he ascended a narrow wooden staircase.
Naruto slumped down on Kakashi's old brown couch, his body sank into its comfortable cushions, "Okay," he called back.
Naruto could hear Kakashi walking around upstairs in his bedroom; he started looking for the ring underneath the cushions of the couch. Nothing. He looked in the cupboards in the kitchen. Still nothing. Naruto called up the stairs to Kakashi, "Found it yet?"
"No!" He called back, "Keeping looking!"
After two hours of tearing apart Kakashi's place, neither of them were able to find the ring in question. If Hiashi got wind of this, Naruto would be dead. The two ninja collapsed into a heap on Kakashi's couch.
"I can't believe we couldn't find it," Kakashi said.
Naruto ran his fingers through his hair, "What am I gonna do?"
Kakashi gently pushed Naruto aside and made his way over towards the kitchen. He looked in the biggest cupboard and then in the fridge and asked, "Stay for dinner?"
"Nah," Naruto's stomach growled slightly, "I'd better go and see Hinata."
As Naruto put his hand on the door handle of the front door, Kakashi called, "We'll find it, Naruto."
When Naruto knocked on Hinata's door, a feeling in his gut rose up and made it twist. He felt awful, how could he tell her that seven days before their wedding day he had already managed to lose the ring.
Luckily for Naruto, it was Hinata who answered the door—not Hiashi, "Oh, good evening, Naruto-kun."
"Hey," Naruto said glumly as he took off his shoes in the hallway.
"What's wrong?" Hinata asked as she put her hand into Naruto's.
"I met with Kakashi to pick up the ring today."
"Really? That's great."
"One problem though…He can't find it."
Hinata gave Naruto a reassuring smile, "The ring doesn't matter, all that matters is that we love each other and we're getting married on Saturday."
"I guess you're right," Naruto kissed her and all his problems from the day seemed to disappear.
Suddenly, Hiashi appeared, "You've lost my daughter's ring?"
"I—I, er…" Naruto stammered.
"Spit it our, boy," he growled.
"Father, please," Hinata pleaded.
"Stay out of this, Hinata," her Father answered back.
"I haven't lost the ring, more like I just can't find it…"
"Is this some joke to you? Do you have any idea how important this wedding is for Hinata?"
Naruto stood up for himself, "Of course I do! I know that she loves me and that I love her!"
A knock on the door interrupted this heated exchange, Hinata opened the door to a red-faced (well, what you could see with his mask on) Kakashi, "I've—found—it," he panted.
He handed the black velvet box to Naruto, "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said.
Hiashi folded his arms across his chest, not willing to apologise to Naruto, "You better leave now, Uzumaki."
As Naruto walked home from the Hyuga clan compound, he prayed that no more misfortunes would fall upon himself or Hinata. Although, little did they know that Sunday was only the beginning of the worst week of their lives.