You and Me, Always and Forever

Chapter 41 : In your smile, I find my happy place

Cherry blossoms began appearing and their wedding date was drawing near. Before things get even busier, Naruto made sure to invite Hinata for their official date as a couple.

 Yes, they got out a couple of times, but those were before, during or after missions. He hadn't formally invited her out like how he read it in one of Sai's magazines. If it wasn't because of that magazine, he wouldn't know that he should be the one paying for their date's expenses.

Naruto rolled around his bed beating himself while thinking of the many times he let Hinata pay for herself and even worse were the moments she treated him several bowls of ramen.

["Naruto! Hinata!" Turning around, Sakura saw the two of them walking toward her, dressed in street clothes. "What's this? A date?"

"Yup. For once, we're both off duty," Naruto said.

"What about you, Sakura?" asked Hinata.

"A meeting with Ino at the hospital."

"I heard about that, y'know. Aah, that, whaddyacallit, children's... Um, something center?"

"The children's therapy center," she corrected him. "So where are you off to? Dinner?"

"Mm-hmm." Hinata nodded. "At Ichiraku."

"Hey." Naruto came over to whisper into Sakura's ear. "So, like, in the copy of An-An I borrowed from Sai, it said that the guy should pay for the date, but a full-course dinner's super expensive."

Sakura giggled at the slightly pale Naruto. "It's okay," she whispered back. "You don't have to try that hard."

"What are you talking about?" Hinata cocked her head to one side.

"Oh! No! It's nothing. Nothing at all!" Naruto grinned and rubbed his stomach with one hand. "Looking forward to ramen."

Perhaps because the gesture was ridiculous, Hinata burst out laughing. And as the two of them smiled at each other, Sakura felt a broad grin spread across her own lips.

 It had been a few months since Naruto and Hinata became an official couple. Sakura had fretted more than a little at the new relationship between late bloomer Hinata and purehearted Naruto, since she was so close to them, but now that they were so happily joined even that fretting was a fond memory.

The news spread like wildfire through the village. Their former classmates and the older ninja teased them for a while, but that period was over now.

The other day, she had gotten an invitation. Their wedding was not far off.

"Right. Why don't you come for ramen with us, Sakura?" Naruto asked, grinning broadly.

"Look, you." Sakura sighed. "What would happen with me there? You're both off duty together finally. Go and date yourselves silly." She stepped behind them and gave their backs a little push.

She watched as they walked off down the market street. Naruto made some joke and Hinata laughed. They looked so happy.]

Hinata was still chuckling silently as they walked hand in hand. Naruto didn't know what suddenly gotten into his girlfriend. Oh, but she knew what was running inside his mind.

 She knew that he was thinking of ways to giver a good time. This quality of him to see people happy was what really made him so charming, and it made her fall for him all over again.

"Are you alright, Naruto-kun? You must be hungry already." Hinata checked up on him for the second time. She light-heartedly chuckled and cheered. "I told you it's fine. I'm actually very excited to have ramen with you."