Prompt: Marry me?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…(must we always put this thing here?) sigh.

"Mom?" an innocent voice started, "How did dad propose to you?"

Hinata froze.

It was a pretty much normal…well, as normal as it could get in the Uzumaki residence, anyway…morning. Hinata was brushing her 11-year-old daughter's hair. Her hand, which held a brush, finally unfroze and continued its descent towards her daughter's head. She thought for a few minutes as she continued to brush her daughter's shoulder-length smooth blonde hair. All was silent, save for the faint rustle of the hairbrush, and the distinct pings and clangs of kunai and shuriken that carried on the wind and through the open window up to them from where father and sons were sparring outside.

"Why are you asking me this now, Hanako?" Hinata asked finally.

She stopped brushing when Hanako turned around to face her. She regarded her mother with piercing blue eyes. While it was unheard of for the Hyuuga gene to be overpowered, Hanako's lack of the Byakugan proved that her father was definitely the number one ninja at surprising people. Although she was the spitting image of her father, Hanako had inherited more of her mother's timid and reserved nature, and less of her father's loud cheerfulness and openness, which is why it surprised Hinata to hear that she wanted to know how her father popped the question.

Hanako fidgeted a bit, blushing slightly under her mother's gaze. "Um, well -…"

She trailed off when she heard her brother's yell carry through the open window.

"DAAAAAD! NO FAIR! THAT'S CHEATING!"

"Yeah, how are we supposed to follow your movement if you use grandfather's teleport kunai technique?"

The clatter of weaponry had ceased. It was always like this when the 13-year-old twins sparred with their father. Hizashi and Hiashi, named after their grandfathers. Both considered geniuses, already Jounin at their age. Aside from that, the two boys were polar opposites. Hizashi was serious, sometimes too serious for a boy his age, already training to join ANBU. Hiashi, on the other hand, while just as talented, unfortunately seemed to have inherited ALL of his father's loud-mouthed prankster traits, much to his namesake grandfather's chagrin.

Naruto's distinct laughter was heard before he answered. "That's kind of the point of that technique, boys….besides, its not cheating when you're up against two Byakugan wielders, I like to think its more like survival." He added as an afterthought.

"You're just teasing us again dad, there's no way we could beat you." Hiashi huffed, annoyed.

"Speak for yourself." His brother's calm, cool voice interjected blandly, despite the vigorous spar that had just occurred.

A disbelieving gasp was heard.

"Are you saying you can beat THE Rokudaime Hokage, Hiza?" Hiashi yelled incredulously at his twin.

"No", came the bland reply, not at all fazed by the high pitched yell, "I'm simply saying refer only to yourself when you say such. I'm not one to limit myself, with hard work and enough training, I can succeed at anything. Words like 'there's no way ever' do not apply to me becau- OW! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

Obviously, Hiashi had hit his brother in the middle of his rant…as usual. Mother and daughter rolled their eyes when they heard the predictable reply.

"THAT...Was for acting all high and mighty like you're better than everyone else. Newsflash! We are BOTH Jounin, just cause you chose to go ANBU doesn't make you special…if anything, I bet it will make you weird…well weirder than you already are…maybe even weirder than Uncle Sai." The tremor in his voice at the end indicating he was shuddering.

"Why I oughtta –"

"Knock it off you two." Naruto sighed. "And, Hiashi, your uncle isn't weird, he's just…different."

"But Daaad, he's always reading, and quoting stuff, AND he takes EVERYTHING literally. EVEN HIS SMILE IS CREEPY!"

Hizashi scoffed. "Stop exaggerating Hia." Knowing him, he was probably rolling his eyes.

"I'm NOT!" Hiashi huffed indignantly, "seriously! Like last week, when Uncle Sasuke had to leave for that mission and he was left in charge of looking after Aunt Sakura, he was complaining that she had been lashing out on him a lot since she had her baby a few months ago...well more so than usual. Anyway, he was seriously stressed out, so I told him that to feel better, he just needed to relax and take a chill pill. And then the next day he came to see me with a black eye, saying that he had checked all the stores and pharmacies but didn't find any 'chill pills', so he had asked Aunt Sakura to make some and take some herself since she was seriously stressed too, and duh, as expected, she had punched his lights out."

Hinata sighed and sweat dropped. That was so like Sai. The sweat drop was replaced by a comically larger one when she heard her husband burst out into uncontrollable fits of laughter, occasionally gasping out words along the lines of how clueless Sai was. Naruto may have become the Rokudaime and a father, but he was yet to outgrow his inner child, the one that loved pranks and making the former ROOT ANBU's life miserable.

"Yeah..." Hanako started, chuckling nervously, "Dad can be a little…well, you know. And after that story you told me about how you got together, I guess I just got a little curious."

Hinata smiled warmly at her. "I see, well…I asked your father about that once, I was curious myself as to how he had come up with the proposal. I'll tell you as I finish fixing your hair," she said as she turned her back around in her chair and retrieved the brush. She smiled when she saw her excited grin in the mirror.

"Let's see…" she started as she resumed her brushing, "according to your father, it all started on what seemingly began as an ordinary day…."

Flashback: 14 years ago.

BRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNG.

A hand snaked out from underneath the blanket to turn off the annoying alarm.

BRRRIIIIINNNNG.

He felt around blindly, and then sighed in resignation before emerging from his blankets completely. He sat up, reached over, and turned off the annoying contraption and then flopped back onto the bed.

A 22-year-old Naruto blinked up at the ceiling as he waited for his sleep-muddled mind to clear. He yawned and stretched languidly. He turned his head to look at his calendar, and then shot up immediately when he saw the date.

He jumped off the bed, not noticing the cold floor as he padded to the wall where the calendar hung. He silently picked up a marker and crossed out another day. He sighed as he replaced the marker.

Today's the day.

That thought being the only one in mind; he turned and stalked to the bathroom to prepare for the day.

…

"Naruto-kun!"

The blonde turned to see Tenten and Lee walking up to him, the latter waving at him enthusiastically. He smiled and waved back.

"Hey guys, did you just come back from a mission or something? Where's Neji and Bushybrow-sensei?"

Tenten scowled and crossed her arms. Lee sweat-dropped and answered him. "Neji and Gai-sensei left immediately upon our return for another mission on Hokage-sama's orders. Tenten isn't very happy about being left behind, as you may have noticed." He finished chuckling nervously. He winced when Tenten snapped.

"Of course I'm 'unhappy' about this. They went alone! Without backup! What if something happens and they need us…" she finished weakly.

Lee clamped a bandaged hand on her shoulder. "There is no need to worry about them Tenten, they are excellent shinobi, they will be just fine." He smiled and gave her a thumb up. She gave him a small smile in return.

"Bushy brows is right Tenten, those two will be back before you know it". Naruto added. Tenten smiled at him too. He obviously knew how she felt.

"Thanks guys", she said softly, "and I'm sure Hinata's team will be back soon too." She added.

Naruto gave them a bittersweet smile. "Yeah, I'm sure of that too. After all, she promised she would be back before today is over…and Hina-chan always keeps her promises."

They smiled at him knowingly, making him blush slightly and cough awkwardly when he realized he had used her pet name instead of her name. "Uh...I'm going to meet up with Shikamaru..S-see you guys later." He said hurriedly and then flickered off.

"Ah, the bloom of youth and love…" Lee sighed with a wistful smile on his face, while Tenten chuckled lightly.

…

Naruto sighed, lost in thought as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop. It had been a week since Hinata had left for a recon mission with Shino and Ino. He was getting nervous, recon missions normally didn't take this long, especially if Hinata and Shino were on the team, being two of the best sensory ninja in Konoha.

"Don't worry so much Naruto-kun. I will be back before then…I promise."

Those were the last words she had said, and after a peck on the cheek, she had flickered off with her team in the dead of night.

Today was their anniversary, marking five years of being a couple. After five years of being together, Naruto was more than sure that Hinata was the one; he wanted to be with her the rest of his life. He just wasn't sure how she would take it, remembering that she had fainted when he asked her out back when they were still teens. He still wasn't even sure how he would go about this.

He snapped out of his thoughts as he jumped down and landed in front of Ichiraku Ramen, where Shikamaru sat on a stool waiting for him. He was making light conversation with Chouji, who sat next to him, as the two enjoyed a bowl of ramen.

"Hey guys..", he said as he sat next to Shikamaru, "Hey Ayame-san, one bowl please," The girl on the other side of the counter smiled and nodded. "Coming right up!" she chirped, and then turned to tell her father the order. The old man smiled and waved at the blonde from the kitchen.

After nodding back at him, Naruto turned to face Shikamaru. "So…did you think of anything?" he asked, eyes wide and shining with hope. Shikamaru groaned and pushed his face away, it was way too close for comfort.

"You were serious about that? Seriously, Naruto…you're 22, not 12. Be a man and just ask the girl to marry you already."

"You know, asking for proposal ideas from Shikamaru here wasn't very smart of you Naruto," Chouji said as he smiled, pointing his chopsticks at his teammate while Naruto whined, "He can't even think of a proposal to use himself, he's too lazy for his own good."

Shikamaru said nothing and chose to ignore the two annoyances that sat on either side of him, choosing instead to return to his meal.

"But Hinata deserves something more special than just a plain 'will you marry me?'' Naruto snapped, and then deflated, "I'm not even sure she'll say yes, her agreeing to date me was miraculous enough…maybe I'm just pushing my luck here."

Everyone present was about to object, but a different, new voice beat them to it.

"You're joking right?"

They turned to see Kiba lifting the flap over his head as he entered. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard you say…and you say a lot of dumb stuff, so that's saying something." He said as he sat.

After placing his order, he turned to face the blonde. He was staring at his own bowl, not touching it, and not looking like he would be doing so anytime soon. He obviously wasn't joking. Kiba sighed irritably. The things he did – and said for friends.

"Look man, I've known Hinata for years, we all have, but we've been teammates for 8 years. Trust me; I'm not exaggerating when I say that she would probably be the most psyched person on the planet if you popped the question."

It was silent as Naruto absorbed the words. "Really? You're not just messing with me…right?"

Kiba growled. "Are you really that dense? Dude, everyone in the UNIVERSE knows that she's had a thing for you since like back in the academy days, why do you find that so dang hard to believe anyways?" he huffed irritably.

Naruto didn't have a chance to respond when Sakura walked in, pinched his ear and started hauling him away. "Hey guys. Can't talk. Emergency. Bye." She shot hurriedly over her shoulder as she dragged the blonde away from the stand, ramen half eaten.

The three males left behind stared blankly after them as they got smaller in the distance, and then turned back to their meals.

"You know Shikamaru," Chouji said after a few minutes of silence, "Ino isn't going to wait forever."

Said genius merely groaned as Kiba snickered.

…

"I just came back from the jeweler's," Sakura said as she fished around her weapons pouch for a sealing scroll. She found it and removed it. After uncurling and performing the necessary hand seals, there was a poof of smoke, and there in the palm of her hand sat a little black box. "He managed to finish it in ti- waaaaaah!"

She tried to make sure she didn't drop the box when Naruto suddenly picked her up and started swinging her around in a tight hug.

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Sakura-chan! You are the bestest best friend a guy could ask for!"

"Y-You're…Welc-ome…Naruto..C-Can't B-Breathe…" she choked out. He immediately released her from the bone-crushing hug and smiled sheepishly, sputtering apologies as she gulped in much needed oxygen greedily.

After her breathing was back to normal, Naruto slowly took the tiny black box she held out to him. He held it in the palm of his hand and simply stared at it. Sakura just watched him with a small smile, amused at how he was treating the box as if it was very fragile and delicate.

He swallowed audibly as he opened it, jaw dropping comically when he saw the ring inside. He quickly snapped it shut and glanced up to see Sakura biting back a laugh. "What?" she asked when she saw the look on his face.

"I'm really going to do this, huh?", he laughed dryly, "at first it was kind of like a dream, one I didn't want to wake up from…but now, seeing this ring, I feel kinda…nervous."

He looked up and Sakura was shocked to see the nervousness and anxiety in the blue eyes she was so used to seeing shining with happiness and confidence.

"Sakura-chan…what if…what if Hinata-chan doesn't…what if she says no?" He asked, voice cracking at the end.

"Naruto…"

"Hinata-chan is amazing…she's beautiful, kind but strong, yet gentle at the same time...It's hard to explain." He sighed and scratched the back of his neck, something he did when agitated. "My point is, she could have anyone she wanted, what makes me think she would want to spend the rest of her life with…someone like me."

"Naruto… where is all this coming from? You know Hinata loves you; she has never had eyes for anyone else. Even before we graduated from the academy…it has always been only you she could see. What makes you think she'll say no?... Stop being a dummy." She added, trying to lighten the mood.

Whatever Naruto was going to say was cut off when he was hit upside the head with a book.

"Yo…we aren't getting cold feet are we..Naruto?"

Their heads whipped around to see Kakashi standing behind Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei!" he exclaimed, "Dude, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Kakashi-sensei, please knock some sense into this airhead! He thinks Hinata will say no to him." Sakura huffed as she crossed her arms across her chest.

Kakashi sighed exasperatedly. "Okay, first of all, I already told you two to stop calling me sensei; we are all on the same level now." He sighed again and held up a hand to stop the protests he was sure were coming. He smiled, visible eye creasing, at their indignant faces, feeling something akin to what a proud father would feel if he looked at his kids. He then turned to face the blonde he had been watching all day.

"Naruto, I'm not going to give you a long speech. Everything that needs to be said has already been said. I will however, say one thing. I know you have had to fight for most of what now brings you happiness, this, however…you and Hinata. It doesn't have to be that way. Don't lose your guts when you need them least."

It was silent as he mulled over his former sensei's words.

"Forehead!"

They turned to see Ino running up to them, waving her arm wildly.

"Ino?" Sakura was confused. "Isn't she supposed to be on a mission?"

Naruto immediately brightened and ran forward to meet the blonde kunoichi.

"You guys are bac- hey…where's Hinata and Shino?", the smile fell from his face when he finally noticed that she was alone.

Ino frowned. "That's why I'm here for Sakura. The others are back at the hospit- HEY! I wasn't done talking yet!" she snapped when Naruto disappeared in the middle of her sentence.

…

"HINATA!" he shouted as he ran down the hallways, turning heads.

"Well…looks like Naruto-kun is here." Shizune commented, smiling nervously as she sweat dropped.

Tsunade rolled her eye and massaged her temples. She knew she shouldn't have sent Ino to get them.

"For Pete's sake Naruto, this is a hospital!" she snapped, still massaging her temples trying to get rid of her hangover-induced migraine with her chakra-laced fingers.

"Tsunade-baa-chan! Where is she?!"

Tsunade sighed and pointed to a room, knowing there was no other way to shut him up.

He barged in running straight for the bed. Hinata's head shot up in surprise. "Naruto-kun! I wasn't expecting to see you so soo – eep!"

She squealed when he enveloped her in a hug, crushing her to his chest. His chakra was flaring all over the place. Knowing he was obviously upset, she soothingly rubbed circles on his back as she waited for him to calm down.

"Naruto-kun…?" she called tentatively after 10 minutes had passed and he didn't seem to want to let go anytime soon.

"Marry me..." his voice was gruff, hick with emotion. Hinata froze, unsure she had heard right. He pulled back to look at her, blue eyes, clouded and whirling with emotion, searched lavender eyes.

"W-What...?" she squeaked, trying to calm her racing heart and stay conscious. It wasn't easy.

"Marry me…," he repeated, softer this time.

Too shocked to say or do anything, she stared as he removed the little black box he had gotten from Sakura. Her breath caught in her throat when he opened it and she saw the ring that sat nestled in the middle of the box.

It was a small silver band, a small pea-sized diamond shining on the middle. She couldn't tell what colour the rock was, it changed whenever the light hit it, alternating between violets ands blues. Her vision was blurring. She blinked rapidly and realized the reason for her blurred vision was the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Y-yes…yes, I-I'll marry y-you...N-Naruto-kun." She stuttered softly, laughing through her tears.

She rubbed them away before giving him her hand. She smiled as he slipped the band on. He gave her one of his bright smiles, and then kissed her before enveloping her in another hug. She raised her hand to admire the ring again, laughing happily, as she wiped away the stray tears that still fell from her eyes.

They broke apart when they heard the unmistakable squeals from Ino and Sakura. "SHE SAID YES EVERYONE!"

Cheers were heard as people piled into the room to offer their congratulations as the girls gushed over the ring. Everyone Naruto had met that day was there.

"You're lucky Neji isn't here dude, he'd have slapped you so bad with the Jyuuken, and you wouldn't be able to mold chakra for the rest of our life!" Kiba said with a laugh. Everyone laughed.

After the laughter and congratulations had died down, Naruto seemed to finally notice something very important. "Hey!". Everyone froze and turned to look at him. "Hinata's fine!"

Everyone either groaned or face palmed, or did both. Sakura hit him upside the head with her fist. "Itai! What was that for Sakura-chan?!" he cried rubbing the sore spot tenderly.

"THAT..was for running off before Ino finished talking. Hinata was fine all along. Ino was sent to get me by Tsunade-shishou because one of my patients had relapsed and she was treating Shino. Ino would have done it, but she was low on chakra from their mission. Hinata was only in here for observation in case she had internal injuries or something."

Naruto chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Ah, ahehehe, that explains a lot."

"Idiot." Kiba said as he rolled his eyes. Everyone laughed again.

End Flashback

"Wow…that was so…oddly romantic!" Hanako squealed, hands clasped together as she turned to smile at her mother. Her hair was done and Hinata smiled back.

"Meh, who knew Dad used to be so sappy." Hiashi commented.

"He proposed to you in a hospital room?" Hizashi asked, disapproval apparent in his voice.

Hinata let out a cry of surprise, dropping the hairbrush she still had in her hand as she whirled around to see her sons' heads peeping over the windowsill they were leaning on.

"Boys! Get down from there! You could fall and break something!" she reprimanded hands on her hips.

Hizashi scoffed, while Hiashi rolled his eyes. "Mom, we are shinobi remember?" the latter complained. "Even if we were to fall from here, it's only the second floor. The damage wouldn't be that bad."

"Of course, since we, well I, in any case, wont fall, there is nothing to worry about." Hizashi deadpanned.

"Boys, don't scare your Mother like that." Naruto said strictly from behind Hinata, making her scream and whirl around from the nearness of his voice. Hanako face palmed when Hinata slipped on the fallen hairbrush and lost her balance.

"Way to go Dad." Hiashi commented dryly while Hizashi merely rolled his eyes again.

Using lightning fast reflexes, Naruto's hands shot out and caught Hinata around the middle before she hit the ground. "Sorry about that," he chuckled nervously, still holding her in a dip as he leaned over her. "I forgot I was still in stealth mode."

Hinata chuckled and shook her head. "Its okay, you caught me."

"I'll always be there to catch you when you fall", he answered with a smile as he leaned in to kiss her.

Hanako aww'ed while Hiashi made gagging noises. "EW…he's gone into sappy mode, I'm out!" he said as he jumped down.

"Well, I guess there IS something we can agree on." Hizashi commented as he jumped down.

Hinata immediately broke away from her husband and ran to the window, leaning over to see the twins standing next to each other under her. She let out a sigh of relief once she was sure they were fine.

"Spar?" Hizashi asked.

"You're on! Race ya to training ground 3?"

"Terms?" he asked, which Hiashi translated to mean 'bring it on'.

"Okay, um, loser is on grocery duty for Auntie Sakura next week." They both shuddered and then shook hands.

"Okay, 3, 2, 1…GO!"

And just like that, they sped off.

"BE CAREFUL!" Hinata called after the retreating dust that was her sons.

Naruto chuckled as he walked up and hugged her from behind. "They'll be fine."

Hinata sighed and leant back into him. "Who knew we would get to this point after everything and be…this happy." She said with a contented sigh.

Naruto chuckled again as he buried his face in her shoulder, inhaling her scent. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

They laughed when Hanako aww'ed and clapped her hands.

The end!

That was a somewhat awkward ending *shrug* oh well! This particular one-shot has a sequel on my profile called 'Tales of Konoha's Heroes'

Please review and look forward to next chapter!

Hugs,

Chelty-chan!