Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Day 1 - New Year, New Beginnings

Hinata was running out of time. Proposals kept coming at left and right and as hard as she could, the Hyuga elders were becoming impatient at her indecisiveness. They were so displeased with their heir's current matrimonial status that they have begun tampering with her mission involvements. She has noticed that her missions were becoming few and few. Although Tsunade had managed to avoid answering Hinata when she inquired if it were the work of her elders, Hinata knew. Tsunade's begrudging reactions only confirmed it in her mind. Why send Hinata, they would say to the Konoha elders, when you can send Neji? The best man for the job. If the Konoha elders ordered so, it would be hard, almost unreasonable, Hinata thought bitterly, for Tsunade to decline.

That was how she found herself beside a stranger on New Year's eve. She debated if she should decline his offer for marriage now later during the countdown. Hinata wanted to do it now but thought it too cruel. It had only been five minutes since they left the compound. It would be a unsatisfactory declinement and her proposer would not take it too seriously. On the other hand, declining later on would leave her proposer too gloomy to enjoy the fireworks and countdown to the new year. Hinata didn't want to be anyone's reason to be sad on New Year's eve. She could decline after the countdown. No, that would be a bit cruel, leading him on by sharing a special moment on entering a new year side by side only to decline later on.

So confusing. Maybe she could leave him to Ino's experienced hands. She didn't want to be too cruel to her proposer however.

"Something wrong Hinata-san?" Her proposer asked.

Hinata snapped out of her thought to shake her head and smile at him. What was his name? Kenichi? or was it just Ken?

As if reading her expression, his lips twitched to say, "it's Kenichi."

Hinata's cheeks heated. "I'm sorry, Kenichi-san. I'm just a bit distracted."

"It's alright." His kindness only made her feel guiltier for not giving him the smallest courtesy of remembering his own name.

As they walked down the street riddled with bustling people, Hinata admitted to herself that her companion was quite handsome. Wearing a pristine white yukata, the soft glow of the lanterns only highlighted his dark and straight locks. His green eyes were warm as he looked up at the stars. He was a pleasant view for her eyes but her heart was not content. Where he was black, she wanted yellow. Where he was green, she wanted blue. Where he was white, she wanted a warm, vibrant and vivid orange. But the chances of her heart getting what it wanted was slim. So she settled to walk beside someone else on New Year's eve.

"May I say something?" Kenichi inquired.

"Of course, Kenichi-san," Hinata dutifully replied. "Please, do not hesitate to speak freely."

They passed Ichiraku's Ramen bar and Hinata wanted to activate her bloodline just to see if Naruto were there. She did turn her head however and she could see that there was no vivacious blond lingering the bar. Kenichi, however, followed her line of sight.

"I know for a fact that your elders are hounding you to get married."

Hinata frowned slightly. "I would not say hounding, merely persistent."

Hounding was the right word but she did not feel too comfortable with him yet to discuss such things about her elders in great detail.

"Yes. Persistent is the right word." They stopped by a bench and decided to observe a group of kids playing with lanterns.

"People like us, Hinata-san-" they both smiled as laughter chortled out of the group, "-we don't have the luxury of time in our hands."

"We are lucky that we are able to lead our lives they way we wanted to, to an extent." Kenichi turned to face the shops they just passed and Hinata saw his eyes turn glassy. "But in the end we have a duty to our clan. In the end, we are not as free as we had thought."

The air was silent between as each thought upon his words. Hinata would agree with him but the simple fact was, she had never felt truly free in the first place. A caged bird without a seal. That was one way she would describe herself.

"I could get used to Konoha." Kenichi then placed his hand over hers. "And I could get used to having you as a wife. Please consider my proposal."

Hinata wanted to feel warmth from his proposal but she instead felt sympathetic for him because she knew. She knew exactly how he felt. So she put her hand on top of his to give him some type of comfort. "Does she know you love her?"

Kenichi gave her a soft smile. "He knows."

Hinata had not expected that but she felt more sympathetic for him. The shinobi world was a stubborn and cruel one. Change was not something it would embrace for a very long time. She only squeezed his hand to continue giving him support.

He laughed in return. "Look at me trying to propose only to be comforted instead. You really are a gem Hinata-san."

He let go of her hand and returned to his lap. "So I'm guessing this is a no."

"Kenichi-san," Hinata began, "you are by far the most honest and compatible man that have offered for my hand but I must decline. I'm sorry but I can't marry you."

Kenichi only smiled at her softly. "I understand."

Hinata felt quite sad to decline to his proposal and she had actually begun to enjoy his company as a person. It was made quite awkward by the proposal but Hinata still quite enjoyed his company.

"This does not mean that you have to leave Konoha immediately," Hinata stated, "Please stay for a couple of days. I very much enjoyed your company and hoped we can continue to be friends."

Kenichi began to open his mouth in reply but before he could reply, someone yelled from behind them, "Duck!"

Immediately they ducked and something sailed past their heads from the bushes. It landed with a thud and exploded and grey gas began wafting around them. Before long Hinata's eyesight was consumed with grey and Kenichi quickly became a silhouette in the darkness.

Hinata only had time to cough once before her feet were swept under her. Water pricked her eyes and she reached to weave her hands near the solidest thing she could feel. Without her knowledge her kidnapper jumped onto the nearest trees and began to run like his life depended on it.

"I'm sorry about the smoke bomb Hinata," Naruto apologised, "But I'll get you some water when we get to the training grounds-ttebayo."

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata's breath caught in her throat. Or maybe it was her hair that was slashing against her face at the wind's command.

He leapt off a particularly high tree and time itself decided to slow down. They floated in the air. His banana coloured spikes she loved so much flared freely around his head, matching her look. The bluest eyes that only he could have glinted and the moon's silhouette caressed the whisker marks on his cheek as his grin stopped her heart from beating."The one and only."

Her cheeks were red but so were his. Her eyes couldn't blink because she never wanted to forget this moment. She wanted to be able to remember this moment forever.

This was a dream. This had to be a dream. Hinata decided it was a dream. No way she could be in Naruto's company for this long without fainting.

Hinata was so lost in him that she did not notice when they reached their destination. She was pleasantly surprised to feel the soft picnic matt brushing against her fingers underneath and in front of them was a picnic basket. A singer red lantern radiated between them. But everything was forgotten when she felt both of his hands enclosed hers.

"Hinata, please look at me."

She forgot that she had been too busy blushing and looking at everything else but him. She looked up and noted the glow of the village square behind him. Mostly she was focusing on his eyes. It was looking straight at her, full of things she couldn't really recognise.

"Hinata, listen to me-ttebayo." Naruto sounded a bit panicked. "Hinata you can't, can't, can't accept his proposal."

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "W-what do you m-mean, Naruto-kun?"

"I meant what I said." Naruto squeezed her hands a bit tighter. "Hinata you cannot accept his marriage proposal. You have to turn him down."

It took a moment for her to process his words but when she did, she could only think, Oh.

Frustration and bitterness swelled in her."What d-do you me-mean I can't accept it? J-just because you said s-so?"

"Well…" Naruto frowned a bit. "Yeah, kinda."

Hinata felt her hands go limp in his. She felt her anger bubble inside of her but struggled to keep it contained. The nerve of him. Bouncing her feelings around like a shuriken on a string. She was getting sick of it. She failed to tug her hands out of his but her tugs grew increasingly forceful with each thug bringing her frustration and anger to the fore.

"I-I'm not going to dec-cline because you said s-so," she bit out, "I'm g-going to d-decline because I w-want to. P-please let g-go of my hands, Naruto-kun."

"No, no, that's not really what I meant-ttebayo!" Naruto refused to let her hands go. "It's just that you can't accept him and go off to get married!"

"I c-can if I w-want to!," she asserted in her quiet way. Oh goodness, she was beginning to cry. She wanted to cry but her pride would not let the tears fall. She couldn't help her lips from trembling though. She didn't know why but it felt like Naruto was rejecting her all over again.

"Oh god, now you're crying, I'm screwing this up. Please don't cry-ttebayo. Hinata please, don't cry."

"Naruto-kun, ple-ease l-let go of my hand." A shuddered plea.

"Hinata I-"

"Naruto-kun." They both held their breath. That one breath, exasperated, frustrated, weakened told him everything. About how he hurt her when he didn't reply to her confession at during Pain's invasion. About how he hurt her when he let her continue to think that he loved Sakura. About how he was hurting her each day that they didn't discuss and clear up what was between them.

She swallowed her tears, held them at bay, knowing that a few tears had already escaped. Hinata squeezed her heart to gather the last drop of her strength. Looking up, she met the cerulean eyes that made her so happy yet caused her so much pain all at once. Her voiced dropped to a whisper. "Naruto-kun, please. Let go of my hands."

Naruto looked at her and his eyes dropped to the tears trailed down her cheek. He didn't want her to cry. He didn't wasn't worth crying over to anyone, especially her. His voice low, remorseful. "That's just it Hinata-ttebayo. I can't. I just can't."

Hinata kept quiet but her gaze fell to the lantern between them, hoping the tiny heat it tingled could warm her. Despite the turmoil which brew inside her, she couldn't help but savour the feel of his hands. Calloused, worn but hot. They were like Naruto in a way when she thought about it.

Taking a huge gulp of air, Naruto squeezed her hands as he began. "Hinata I can't let you go. It sometimes makes me confused why I can't but when I think about you leaving Konoha, or worse, leaving me, my hands go all clammy and my stomach churns and I just, I just don't want to think about it, ya know? I just don't want to think about you getting married."

Hinata tried to control the hope that grew inside her at hearing a stray frantic note in his rough tone.

"But I've been messing around this for too long-ttebayo. And-and I can really see me being an idiot and messing around this ended up hurting you and making you cry." Hinata felt him let go one of his hands and gently wipe her tears away. She didn't realise how she had lost grip of her tears and put on the waterworks. It didn't matter now. What mattered was Naruto's fingers was touching-no, stroking her cheeks.

"So I'm going to clear it up now."

Naruto swallowed slowly and let go of her other hand but his fingers lingered on her cheek longer than necessary before he did something that surprised her. He took off his head band and began undoing hers around her neck as well. Her cheeks flushed red and she scolded herself at blushing at a time like this but she couldn't help it. She swore she saw a tint of red on Naruto's cheeks as well. His fingers fumbled her headband free off her neck before he began tying his headband in it's place.

"Naruto-kun, I can't wear th-"

"Hinata," Naruto interrupted, "Let me do this for you."

He continued tying it before he cleared his throat to speak. "It was Iruka-sensei's before mine-ttebayo. He gave me his because they ran out when I graduated. It's pretty beat up and scratched but it was perfect in my eyes. The headband's special to me, Hinata, and so are you."

Hinata's froze. Did he really just say that? Did he really?

Off to the village the crowd's chanting reached them. Their exuberant cheers told that the final moments of the year began. Unperturbed by the countdown, Naruto tied her headband around his before taking both her hands in his and scooting closer to her.

"I'm not good with love and I'm not easy to love. I've only just started straightening out my life, I'm not ready for marriage and it scares me that someone out there loves me. I don't want to disappoint you neither can I let you go.."

Her heart threatened to burst. She moved closer to him instinctively. His warmth, his need, his vulnerability drew her in like no other.

"Then I realised, I don't want to let you go." Naruto's eyes were shining with emotion. She couldn't look away. "Hinata, I don't know how to love but I can learn. Especially with you, you're special, no, precious to me."

Naruto then took this chance to brush his lips against her for only a precious moment and rest his forehead on top of her. The coolness felt by her forehead touching her old headband contrasted to the burn he left on her lips. He was so close to her. Her eye saw nothing but him.

"So please Hinata," Naruto's beg was only a whisper against her lips, "wait for me. Hold them off for a bit longer and wait for me and I'll promise to make it worth it."

In the last seconds of the ending year, she knew her answer. It was the same answer which had nestled in her heart for so long. After all, when it came to him, nothing ever really changes.

Hinata pressed her lips against him as hard as she could and melted. In the chapped warmth, she felt the happiest she had ever been. Fireworks exploded in the sky behind them but she only felt the ones that sparked between them.

Had Naruto been anybody else it would have been easier to walk away; it would have cut her inside and she would have bled, but she would have undeniably taken the steps needed to walk away. But had it been anybody else but Naruto, she wouldn't have loved them as much anyway. In Naruto, she really believed she could find the happiness she longed for. She held his precious headband, held a precious place with him and one day, she might hold his precious heart. That she promised to herself and she never went back on her word, much like him.

They broke apart gasping for a breath but keep their hands and foreheads together before a giggle escaped from his lips. And she giggled too. At their inexperience. At this bubbling happiness. At this madness which threatened to consume her but she didn't mind.

She raised one hand and pressed it against her lips, whispering, "I will always wait for you."

And he smiled.

It was a new year and between them, a new and bright beginning.