Warning! – Just to let everyone know I threw in some vulgar language. Which I guess would throw this chapter into the M category. Swearing doesn't bother me, but that's me. What do you guys think?

I don't always have someone to read over this, so if my grammar/punctuation/spelling/whatever is off, sorry. Please Review after reading, good or bad I really like to know, so please spend a few seconds telling me what you think. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing

Bold Italics = Thoughts/Memories/

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Chapter 3: Please don't think it was easy…

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Naruto's palms began to sweat as he stood quietly in the back of the church "You can do this Naruto! These are your friends...right? Of course they are!...still...I hope" he said to himself, trying to calm his racing heart, which obviously wasn't working. He wasn't scared of what they would think of him with his past indiscretions with Ino or when he just suddenly up and disappeared from the Inn a couple months back. In all honesty he didn't really care about that right now; all he was focused on was Ino. He was more than positive he was living his last hours...

Sasuke saw the nervousness in his friends face. "Would you calm down already? You don't have to worry about them finding out." He took a long pause. "They already know everything. Sakura finally gave up on the lie and came out with everything. They were shocked at first, but they got over it just as fast."Naruto gripped Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke swatted it away."For the past few months, all Sakura and I have been asked is if you would be coming back for wedding. Did you really expect them to hate you for this?"

"I.." Naruto relaxed a bit. "I don't know what I was expecting from them. I just took the worst possible situation and went with it. I did think about it."

Sasuke smiled. "You? Not think about something before jumping into it? Doesn't sound like you at all…"

Naruto sighed. He walked right into that one."Screw you…" they went silent.

"Look, you're already here, there's no point in running away from them now."

"I'm not running anywhere." Naruto took a deep breath. "It's not them I'm worried about…"

Sasuke smirked. "I see. Well then, if she beats you up too hard, I'll have Sakura get her off of you." Naruto glared at him in response. "What you said to her was cruel, but to anyone who knows you, they wouldn't believe you would enjoy seeing her cry for fun. To be honest I was expecting to hear about a war after the first encounter."

Naruto was shocked. "So you guys thought it would be better for us to meet again in a church? Do you remember what happened last time I was at a church?!" He whispered loudly.

Sasuke chuckled lightly. "Ino knows how important this wedding is to Sakura. She won't ruin any part of this, as stubborn as she is, she won't do it…you know this." Sasuke continued to walk toward the front where everyone sat waiting. Naruto put his game face on; he couldn't allow anyone to see how he really felt. Sasuke walked up behind Sakura and gave her a hug.

"Sorry we're late." Sasuke said.

"No problem, I'm just glad the two of you are here."

The priest cleared his throat. "So is this the best man we've been waiting for?"

"I am, thank you for waiting for me." Everyone turned around to see Naruto standing in the middle of the isle. He smiled back at them as he walked up and sat down with the bride and groom.

Sakura smiled. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me...I 'm glad I'm here, I want to be here."He responded with a smile. Naruto turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Glad you came back man, I wasn't sure if you would." Kiba said grinning. "After this, the guys were thinking about getting together and having a few drinks, you in?"

Naruto chuckled. "That's the best thing I've heard all day." He turned and smile at Hinata. "Hey stranger, it's been a while."

Hinata smiled back. "Mmm. I-I'm glad you came back for the wedding, it wouldn't have been the same without you."

"Let's just hope you don't get punched in the face this time." Kiba lightly chuckled. Hinata threw her hands over his mouth.

"K-Kiba!…sorry Naruto."

He grinned. "Yeah, maybe."

Sakura leaned over and whispered into Naruto's ear. "We need to have a talk."

"About what?" He whispered back.

"Ino."

"Screw her, what do more do I need say about that b-."

Sakura "lightly" punched his arm before he could finish. Naruto bit his lip to prevent him from screaming. "What is with you!?" he whispered loudly.

"That's exactly what I want to talk about you big jerk." Sakura turned her attention to the priest who, thankfully, was finishing up. As everyone got up to leave Sakura stood up and spoke. "We're having a little get together at Konstantine Bar in a few hours. Come if you can, we would love it if all of you could make it." Sakura walked up to Ino and whispered in her ear. Ino nodded as she gave Naruto an icy glare. Naruto kept a straight face but stared right back at her. Sakura waved her hand over as she began to walk down the isle.

Naruto looked at Sasuke for help, hoping, as crazy as it sounded, for this one moment he could read his mind. "Dude help me."

Sasuke smiled in response. "You got yourself into this…"

Naruto grunted."Jerk…"

Slowly he made his way past his friends and followed Sakura and Ino into the brides' dressing room. She pointed to two chairs sitting across from each other, for us to sit in. She locked the door as soon as we sat down. Naruto looked over at Ino , yet again, hoping someone could read his mind. "Crap…I think she's pissed. She's going to kill us isn't she?"

She shrugged. Naruto sighed "I'll take that as a maybe…" Sakura slowly began to walk toward them."Oh God…".

"Shake hands." Her voice rang through Naruto's head, snapping the conversation he was having inside his head. "Seriously, right now. I want you two to shake hands."

"You're not serious are you!?" Ino yelled. "Why would I shake that morons hand!?"

"I know right? Who knows what I might catch from her!" Naruto responded. "Why can't I stop saying stupid things?!And why am I responding like an 8 year old? A cootie response of all things…what the hell is wrong with me?" Naruto yelled to himself. Ino clinched her fist.

"Enough!" Sakura yelled. "I have had it up to here with you two! Always fighting and trying to pick away at each other! Knock it off!" Sakura began to tear up."Oh god I'm making her cry…"Naruto said to himself. "Is it so hard to ask for just one week of peace with you two? All I want is both my best friends to happy with each other so I can have an enjoyable wedding. I can't believe how selfish the two of you are acting…"

Naruto walked over to Sakura and hugged her. "You right…I've been nothing but a nuisance to you since my return… "He let her go and crouched in front of Ino's chair. "Hit me."

Ino was taken back. "W-what are you doing…?"

"Please hit me Ino. Slap, Punch , Kick…whatever" Naruto closed his eyes. "There are…SO many things I want to say to you…and yet all I seemed to do is apologies or insult you. For the rest of wedding I promise to not be such a huge jerk to you. Truce?"

Ino shock her head. "W-we can just shake hands…I don't have to hit you, you know."

"Yes…you do. It's not a secret that you're bull head and easily angered, but I said some bad things and purposely egged you on." Naruto stared deep into eyes. He began to blush. "Look just do it already would you?" trying to break the awkwardness .

Ino lightly tapped him on the cheek. "Truce."She ran over to Sakura and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry for being such a bitch Hun."

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to break down like this infront of you guys." Sakura fixed herself. " But is this serious? Are you two really going to start being nice to each other? Don't get me wrong, this is exactly what I want but…it just seems a little too easy is all."

Naruto and Ino looked at each other for a moment. Seeing if what the other said was really true. They smiled at each other. "Yeah. It serious." Naruto said. "There's a lot of things that need to be said…and one day soon we'll work towards saying them."

"How about we start tonight?" Ino replied.

"Uh, yeah sure. Just umm…how?" Naruto was lost for words.

"How about we have some ramen before we go to the bar?"

"You hate ramen Ino." Atleast that's what she told me….

"Not as much as I let you believe…besides I kinda ruined your lunch with Sakura that day so…take this as me making it up to you."

Naruto was taken back. Was Ino really asking him out to ramen? He must be dead, Sakura must have punched him to death and he didn't se it coming. He pinched his cheek. "Ow…". It was real alright. "That sounds great Ino… you wanna go right now?"

The girls giggled. "You hungry right now?"

Naruto blushed a little out of embarrassment. "W-well no not re-" His stomach grumbled loudly. The girls were now laughing. "Very…"

Ino walked over and unlocked the door. "See at the bar later Sakura." She turned toward Naruto. "Coming?"

"Yeah…one sec…I uh, just need to to talk to Sakura for a sec."

"OK, I'll be waiting for you outside." Ino left.

"So what do you think Sakura? Think it's real?"

"What ?" she replied very confused.

"I'm talking about Ino. I can't explain it…but it I feel almost…anxious maybe? Whatever it is my stomach isn't sitting right."

"Yes. I do."

Naruto sighed. "Alright. If you say so." Naruto and Sakura made their way out of the church.

Ino came up to them smiling. "Let's go."

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Naruto quickened his pace as he drew closer to the bar. He needed a drink, bad, more than he's ever needed before. Her words still rang through his head. "We can't be lovers anymore…", "Being friends is going to be difficult, lets be honest…", "I'm a whole new Ino…I refuse to go back to the old me, not for you…not for anyone.". Naruto shook his head. "God damn Ino…". Just like he did earlier at the church, Naruto stood out the bar, shaking out his nerves and trying to put himself in a better mood. Walking into the bar a waitress was there to show him to the private room they had setup for the occasion.
Naruto sat down next to Kiba who was sitting alone at the bar.

"What's up?" He asked Kiba.

"Nothing, just drinking."

"Yeah, by yourself. Why aren't you over there with everyone else?"

"What's with the god damn questions Naruto?"

"What can I get you sir?" the bartender asked Naruto.

"Heineken please." He replied. "Sorry man, got a little to nosey there." The bartender gave Naruto his order. "I'll leave you to think."

As soon as Naruto got up Kiba grabbed his arm.

"I…I'm thinking…" He took a deep breath "I'm thinking about asking Hinata to marry me." he drank some of his beer. "All this talk of marriage and weddings got me thinking. She's the one for me..." Kiba began to blush.

Naruto smiled as he sat down. "Really?!"

"You seem more excited about it than I do."

" He laughed as he took a sip of his own beer. "I'm happy for you. She's something else, you won't find anyone else like her in the world." Naruto lightly sighed. Everyone was getting married, and this made him feel like a child again, always being left behind...the last to accomplish something great. He needed a life change quick, he talked about it but never felt like following through and now it caught up to him. Almost 20 years old and comparatively has made no real progress in his personal life." So when are you gonna pop the question?"

"I dunno. Not for a while atleast, I don't want to ruin Sakura and Sasuke's moment..."

"And?"

Kiba sighed. "And I'm scared shitless."

Naruto laughed. "Hell, we all would be...I still don't know how Sai and Sasuke… did it." and that's when it hit him. He's been so worried about Ino and upsetting Sakura that he forgot all about Sai, infect he hasn't seen him at all. "Where's Sai?" Naruto looked around the bar.

"What?"

"Sai. He isn't here. He wasn't at the church either, where is he?"

"No one told you? He left a few days before you arrived. Something about a power struggle in ROOT and went to go investigate...plus..." Kiba looked nervous.

"What? What is it?"

"Plus he and Ino split."

Naruto almost dropped his drink in shock. "Whoa whoa, wait a minute! They split up?! Why?". "A whole new Ino!…This is what she was talking about. Did she know what I was thinking before I did?"

"Jesus, calm down already, you don't need to yell." Kiba finished off the last of his beer. "From what I hear it was a mutual thing. I never saw them argue or even disagree with each other, Hinata said they had a few problems at home and they fell apart. Now, here's the part where to have to NOT be Naruto. This is only what I've heard, it may not be true at all, so don't go and make a stupid move."

"Oh? And what sort of "move" would I be pulling?"

"Come on man, I saw that little twinkle in your eye when I said they split." Kiba patted Naruto on the back. "One more on me and then we rejoin the guys."

From there the world was mostly a blur, filled with spots of random memories and a ton of blackouts.

Somehow in his alcoholic stupor, Naruto "gracefully" stood up on a table to make an announcement. "O-Okay…ever-everyBODY! Listen…to me." He waved his hand around to make sure he was seen. "Kiba and I…have uh, come up with a great…shit what was it again? A PLAN! Right a plan…For the bride…errr… groom, from me" he pointed to himself. "The best man..." Naruto's legs began to shake. "To…..MORROW…we're gonna- AHH!"Naruto yelled as the table violently tipped over. Naruto could feel himself slip into another blackout.

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The next day Naruto was awoken to someone shaking his leg. "Jesus you sleep like a log. Wake up!"

"Kiba? " he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He held his head as his hangover kicked in. "What do you want?"

"Come on, get up. We're leaving soon."

"What are you talking about? I'm not going anywhere." Naruto laid back down and rolled over.

"Were you so hammered last night, that you don't even remember you're little act?" Kiba pulled his blankets off of him.

Naruto replied in frustration. "I don't remember a damn thing Kiba."

"The bachelor party remember? We all agreed to go after that rally you pulled together last night."

"Bullcrap. Sasuke told us he didn't want one and what rally?"

Kiba laughed. "The guys Naruto, you pulled us all together and pretty much made it clear we were going to a strip club. You were very persistent; I still can't believe this is actually happening."

"Sasuke's not one for strip clubs, in fact none of us are really. Plus there are no clubs in Konoha…"

"Exactly, that's why were going on a little trip. Tanzuka is only a few hours away, and that place is pretty much a party town."

"Ugh, that place is so trashy at night. Why would I do this? Why didn't you stop me!?" Kiba shrugged in response. Naruto laid back down as he sighed. "Did I really do all that?"

"This is One Hundred percent your idea." Kiba threw a duffle bag at Naruto. "So hurry up already."

Naruto groaned. "God damn it…"

"KIBA!" A woman voice yelled.

Kiba jumped at the sight of Shizune wrapped up in one of Naruto's towels. "SHIZUNE!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" he looked at Naruto.

Naruto sat there with his eyes open. "Oh no…"

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Review if you get a chance, and thanks for reading. Till chapter 4