Hinata is my favourite Naruto girl. She's a true gentlewoman, I think... Even though she's so shy she still manages to be refined and ladylike. That and she's simply adorable... I support naruhina just because I want her to be happy. Maybe I just have a thing for AnyHyuugaxNaruto – I love nejinaru as well. Enough babble. Get reading, guys.
Quiet Proposal
This is Hyuuga Hinata.
She is cute, sweet, the kindest young lady you'll ever have the fortune to meet. She's training as a medical ninja, she's been recently promoted to Chuunin. She's the successor to the largest clan in the Hidden Leaf.
Hinata has all these things going for her. You'd think, then, that she would have few problems when it came to finding a husband.
She's fifteen now – it's time she settled down and produced some heirs. Her father is still young and strong, it's unlikely she'll be the one to succeed him. Her children, they're the important ones, so she needs a strong man.
She glances at the scroll lying on the tatami mat in front of her. It arrived just two minutes ago, but she is afraid to open it.
Well, she tells herself, it could be worse.
At least I have a choice.
At the very top is someone who's very name makes her face as white as her eyes.
1. Hyuuga Neji.
Her hand shaking, she draws a careful thin line through his name. Debilitating fear is not a good way to start a marriage, she's sure, even if he is the strongest young Hyuuga in the clan.
2. Uchiha Sasuke.
Hinata swallows her initial shock and forces herself to at least consider – ignoring, of course, the reaction of the Sasuke fan club. He is a – gulp – good choice, politically speaking. The Uchiha clan is a strong one, of course... And Sasuke does need to 'rebuild his clan'. But then there's his revenge to think of, and he would make a terrible father, always running after the barest sniff of his brother. She's heard he has something of a cruel streak too – even though she never bases her opinion of people on rumour it still is worrying, especially for someone with her disposition. Another line.
3. Aburame Shino.
She likes Shino-kun. They get on well together, and if she had to she wouldn't hate being married to him. But he's so quiet, and she wants someone she can speak with. She marks his name with a careful question mark.
4. Hatake Kakashi.
Hinata almost drops the scroll in shock. He is a respected Jounin, and one of the Leaf's most eligible bachelors, but – the age difference! No, she can't possibly marry Naruto-kun's sensei, it would be too strange. She calms herself and crosses out his name.
She scans the rest of the list, a lump rising in her throat. Hyuuga after Hyuuga, other Leaf shinobi she's never met... She wants to cry. She doesn't want to marry someone she doesn't know, she doesn't want to be her father's tool, only useful to breed strong, talented Hyuuga children. She reads until her vision is too blurred to read any more.
She knows whom she wants to marry. She wants her golden beloved to light up the main house with his voice, with his smile... She wants the splash of colour known as Uzumaki Naruto to dispel the grey of her life.
She wipes her eyes with steady fingertips, and picks up the scroll again.
For an agonising moment, her heart stops and she can't breathe.
It starts again, like someone is beating a military drum inside her ears. At the very bottom of the list, in the elegant hand she recognised as her mother's, is the name she wants so very much to see.
On the other side of the village, Uzumaki Naruto is eating breakfast. He's up early as usual – after all, slackers don't become Hokage, do they?
He loves mornings like these, how the light of the rising sun fills his kitchen with golden light, keeping him company. He's grinning simply because he's there, he's awake, and he's got a whole day full of training and getting stronger to look forward to. Naruto loves that, that feeling of getting one step closer to achieving his dream.
Knock knock.
Naruto is in too much of a good mood to think how strange it is for someone to be visiting him this early in the morning. Still cradling his darling cup ramen, he gets up to open the door.
His visitor has dark hair and white eyes – a Hyuuga. "Naruto-sama?"
Naruto blinks. Even a natural idiot can tell something strange is going on when he's addressed as 'sama'.
"... Yeah...?" He says tentatively.
"Hyuuga Hiashi-sama has requested that you visit him at your earliest convenience." The Hyuuga says, his tone stilted and clipped. He isn't looking at Naruto straight – Naruto knows why. It hurts for a moment, but no more. He's used to this.
"Hyuuga... Hiashi?"
"Hai."
"Wants to see me?"
"Hai."
"Why?"
"I suggest you ask him yourself."
Naruto is quiet – strange for him. He looks uncomfortable in the silence, he fidgets, he can't possibly stay still. Hinata feels sorry for him – he probably isn't used to kneeling like this. Her head is bowed, but she can still see him, his wide blue eyes, blond spikes, his bright orange tracksuit so out of place in a house full of subtle grey.
He is out of place here. But then again, so is she.
Naruto-kun...
"Naruto-san."
She pours them tea, and leaves them to it.
Hinata is delicate, like a figurine of blown glass.
Naruto can only see her back from here – she's walking alone in the Hyuuga gardens, watching the falling sakura. Her steps are small and elegant.
She is wearing a dark blue kimono, dark like her hair; it frames the strip of white skin at the back of her neck. She is gentle, a true lady, he realises. Hyuuga Hinata is not meant for battlefields. She shines most in moments like this one, quiet moments with no distractions from her – just the quiet hum of the wind and the protective watch of the trees.
"Hey! Hinata!"
She stops; she turns. He can tell she's nervous.
"Hinata..."
He's just confused.
"I-I'm sorry!" She bows stiffly, her face lighting up like a New Year's lantern. "I-I just..."
He's watching her, an odd expression on his face. He looks serious, his blue eyes narrowed in concern – he is still. He doesn't speak, and the summer wind buffets the cherry blossom around them.
"I..." She trails off. "N-Naruto-kun..."
"Yeah? Hinata?" He's quiet for a reason, she realises. He's waiting to hear what she has to say, like her thoughts mean something to him.
"Please!" She bows again. "Take care of me!"
For several agonising seconds the only sound is the whisper of the wind.
"Are you sure you wanna do this?" He asks her at last. He was never the sort of person who liked silence, no matter how short. "I mean, me?"
Naruto-kun.
I love you.
Hinata has these and another hundred thousand words she wants to say to him. She wants to tell him she's scared, and she doesn't want to marry Neji-niisan or Sasuke-kun – she wants to marry him and only him and if she can't she'll never be happy.
She looks up at him and he looks back.
"You're... going... to be Hokage, one day, right?" She smiles a little, and under the pale sky Naruto comes out in goosebumps. Then he grins.
"Hell yeah! I bet you chose me over all those other losers, huh? Huh? Cause I'm great, aren't I?"
She just nods. She knows, and she has all along.
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