Sorry I'm getting these things to you so late. Shit kind of hit the fan at work and my department has been working like crazy. That plus a one year old at home does not leave much time for writing. So, I'm taking the weekend to get caught up somewhat.

This is a continuation of the Modern Art AU from day five, and I was really excited when I started, but I think it might have come out a little strange. I'm not sure so let me know what you think.

Day Seven: Wedding Planning

Hinata had never laughed so much in her life. The past year she had spent with Naruto was like a wonderful dream.

She had never before encountered anything quite like Uzumaki Naruto. He was loud, fun, and brimming with energy. His upbeat attitude was catching and Hinata had actually found her cheeks hurting from smiling so much after their first few dates.

She had been extremely nervous at first. The idea of dating an artist had always been a kind of fantasy because of her love of art, and in the year since his exhibit first opened at the Konoha Modern Museum of Art, his popularity had skyrocketed. Apparently his bright paintings had evoked strong feelings in a large number of people and he had started to get a lot of personal commissions as well as questioning about future exhibits.

Kiba and Shino had initially been wary of him. They were very protective of her, as they were the closest thing she had left to family, and Kiba was apparently concerned that since Naruto was starting to gain renown, he would become something of a playboy. The blond had stood fast in their interrogations, however, and they had finally given him their blessings.

At one point, Hinata had told Naruto herself that she understood if he didn't want to be tied to her, since he was obviously going places. She did well for herself, but he was going to be in the spotlight more and more often and deserved to enjoy that. He would probably want to look for someone as amazing as he was to be with.

Naruto had quickly dismissed her concerns, however, and told her that she was the only person he wanted to be with. Now that his dream was coming true, he wanted to share that with someone and the blond had never met someone who was able to be so truly happy for someone else's success. His happiness made her happy and this was a rare trait that he loved her for. Of course, her beauty, love of art, and cooking skills were also factors in his affection for her, but what he loved most about Hinata was her goodness.

Once Hinata had quelled her insecurities about their relationship, the couple had grown closer and closer. The two were very much in love and he had surprised her one day with the most perfect proposal that she could have ever imagined.

Naruto had invited Hinata into his studio, a place he rarely let anyone visit, and had set out a large canvas and paints. He wanted her to work with him on creating one of the paintings he would be showing at a small upcoming exhibit. She was beyond touched, and the two had worked diligently for a few days on making something beautiful together.

When the exhibit came a week later, Hinata was of course attending and was surprised to see Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai there, as well. Apparently Naruto had invited them because he wanted them to see their mutual creation unveiled.

Hinata did not realize, however, that Naruto had dedicated this entire exhibit to her and his feelings for her. The painting they created was the centerpiece, but he had made so many more depicting the depth of his love for her. The blond artist gave a short speech about his life before Hinata and how wonderful his life had become with her that caused more than a few attendees to tear up.

The lavender eyed young woman was stunned that he would go this far to show her he cared. She was even more surprised when he got down on one knee and proposed in front of everyone there. Now she realized the real reason he had invited her closest friends. With tears in her eyes and a huge smile on her face, Hinata accepted his proposal.

Now, came the actual wedding planning.

Over the year that they had dated, Naruto had introduced her to many of his friends.

She had first met Sasuke and Sakura, and had immediately recognized them from Naruto's paintings. She had fallen even more in love with Naruto's art once she realized how perfectly he depicted the two with his abstract work. Sakura worked at the hospital as a doctor, and Sasuke was a lawyer. They were a typical power couple and it seemed Sasuke's connections had been part of the reason Naruto had gotten his exhibit at the KMMA.

Most of her boyfriend's other friends had been more artistic, like him.

He had introduced her to Ino, a high end florist who did most of the arrangements for the weddings and charity benefits of the city's top politicians and businessmen. Hinata had been somewhat wary of the beautiful blonde who looked so good standing next to her boyfriend, but those feelings quickly disappeared as she met the woman's boyfriend, a tall pale man named Sai. She actually recognized his name as a popular graffiti artist who had later turned from underground art into something more legal. Hinata had seen many of his pieces displayed and was amazed to be meeting yet another well-known artist.

Apparently, Ino and Sai had been introduced by another friend of Naruto's named Shikamaru. Naruto and Sai knew him as a fellow artist. Shikamaru was a photographer who liked to work with light and shadow. These were difficult subjects to capture correctly, and the photographer was hailed as a genius.

Shikamaru and Ino had a mutual childhood friend named Choji who Hinata actually recognized as a customer. Choji was a regular at Bakery Number Eight and she had always enjoyed him because he would tell them the basics of what he needed and then essentially give them carte blanche to create whatever they felt would suit the occasion. He always came back to let them know if their cake had been a success and she truly enjoyed him.

What she hadn't known was that he was an up and coming chef. If she had been paying closer attention she would have noticed that his last name was Akimichi and that he belonged to a family of master chefs.

Now that she and Naruto were getting married, all of these wonderful people had offered to contribute to the occasion. Ino would provide flowers, Shikamaru would be the photographer, Sai and Sakura were working together to plan the location and layout, and Choji would provide the menu. Besides attire, all that really left was the cake and Hinata was not about to let anyone besides her own bakery handle that part.

Kurenai and Shino had requested to do the bridal cake. They wanted to surprise her with it and she knew that anything they created would be beautiful. That left the groom's cake to her and she wanted to make it something special. This would be a surprise from her to Naruto and it had to be perfect.

With all of these skilled people working on the other arrangements, Hinata was a little intimidated. They were masters of their crafts and Hinata knew that the wedding would be stunning. The problem was, she was stuck when it came to her design for the groom's cake. She wanted it to be perfect, a symbol of their relationship.

Months later, only a few weeks before the wedding, and Hinata had sketched a multitude of designs. Unfortunately, everything fell short. Her favorite idea had been a version of Naruto's "Ramen" painting because that was the reason for their first meeting. However that had turned out badly since she couldn't get any of her decorating techniques to make it look quite right.

Hinata sighed. It had been her favorite not just because it was a symbol of their first meeting, but because of what Naruto had told her about the significance of the dish in his life. His portrayal of it was so beautiful that she wanted to use that, but she just couldn't make it look like his.

Suddenly a thought struck her. She couldn't mimic the design of his painting. It never looked right because it was his creation and not hers. She, too, was very good at what she did so she needed to forget incorporating his work and make something of her own that symbolized that special bond between the two of them.

An hour later, Hinata held up her sketch and smiled, ready to make a practice cake the next day. She would tell Kiba to have fun with the baking part - he always managed create new exotic flavors - and she would focus on the construction and decoration. Naruto was going to love it.

The day of their wedding, Naruto and Hinata walked around the hall in awe of what their friends had been able to put together. The couple would have been content to marry anywhere, so long as they were able to be together, but the place was stunning and Hinata felt her eyes brimming with tears of gratitude and happiness. It was truly a symbol of the beautiful life they were going to live together.

As they made their way around the room, Hinata saw their friends huddled by the tables of food, making sure everything was ready to be served after the ceremony. She became nervous as she and Naruto got closer, knowing that once they were over there, he would see the cake that she had created. She had poured her time, creativity, and love into the cake and she hoped that he would like it.

The couple reached their friends and Hinata was quickly hugged by Ino who began to rant about how everything was turning out perfectly thanks to her. Sakura quickly butted in, arguing that she had played a larger part in planning everything and therefore the success was more hers than Ino's.

As the two girls bickered good-naturedly, she felt Naruto go stiff. She looked at him and panicked as she saw his wide eyed gaze in the direction of the cakes. Apparently he had seen her creation.

Hinata grabbed his hand, too nervous to ask him what he thought, and he pulled her over to get a closer look. There, next to the beautiful cake that Kurenai and Shino had created, stood what looked like a massive bowl of ramen. It looked exactly like the ramen they had eaten that day when they had left the art museum, right down to the design on the bowl, except it was enormous.

Hinata had created noodles, an egg, scallions, nori, and even some narutomaki out of various edible materials, and Naruto was stunned. He had always been impressed by her creations, but this was beyond anything he'd seen before.

He felt a tug on his arm and looked down to see his soon-to-be wife watching his expression closely. The blond realized that she was nervous to find out his opinion.

"Hinata, this is crazy!"

She looked down and said, "I know, it's probably a little weird for a wedding, right? I just remembered what you had said when we first met about how ramen had accompanied a lot of the big moments in your life and I wanted to give that to you for our wedding as well. Was it stupid?"

Naruto realized she may have misinterpreted his exclamation because of her worry. She often did that when she was feeling self conscious about something.

"It's not stupid, it's awesome! You're the best fiance ever! I can't believe you remember me saying that."

At that Hinata looked back up at him, surprised that he wouldn't think she'd remember.

"Of course I do! I remember everything about that day! It was one of the most wonderful days of my life! You and your art really touched me and I didn't know at the time that it would all come to this, but I knew that that day was special."

"It was special to me, too. I am constantly thankful that I decided to hang out at the exhibit that day because it allowed me to meet you. I just didn't realize that you felt the same way."

Naruto's smile was contagious and soon she felt herself smiling with him.

"So, you really like it?"

"I love it! Hinata, you're seriously the best. If you don't believe me then I'm going to have to drag you over to that altar and make them marry us right now so that I can get to showing you how awesome I think you are."

His grin became cheekier and Hinata squeaked in embarrassment. She knew exactly what that face meant and now she, too, was eager to get the wedding underway.

Suddenly Sakura clapped to get everyone's attention and quickly ordered everyone to get to their places since they were about to start letting the guests in. Before Hinata could leave, Naruto pulled her close and gave her a kiss that left her breathless. With a wink he ran off, leaving his blushing fiance to be guided away by her friends.

As she watched him go Hinata thought to herself that despite all the planning and hard work that went into this wedding, what she was most looking forward to was their life afterward.

So, I'll be doing another prompt or two to catch up, but I won't be doing a LOTR AU because I just don't know much of anything about that world.

I won't be doing every prompt because I don't want to put out anything that I wouldn't want to read myself, but I'm going to try to do most of them for the month. Anyway, I hope this turned out okay and I'll get to work on some more stuff for you guys!