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Disguised Curses	By : Raholea Category: Naruto AU/AR > General Views: 2438 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Hinata sighed and tore up the scrap of paper in her hands, tossing the shreds in the trash and pulling a fresh piece of paper closer. These invitations refused to come together properly, or her hand would shake, or, once, she knocked her glass over and the whole desk got flooded.

She'd stopped keeping water nearby since then.

“May I enter?”

Hinata dropped her pen, head snapping to the doorway. Her father stood there, hands clasped to the front, looking faintly apologetic. “I'm sorry. You look like you could use a break.”

She cast a glance at the trash bin, half full of crumpled and torn pieces of paper, then nodded. “I think a break might help clear my mind. What may I do for you, Father?”

“Walk with me for a bit?” He asked, not a favor or demand, so she rose and slipped on a pair of house- slippers. He drew her close and hugged her close, her head bumping against his chin. She'd grown so much from the babe he'd carried easily in his arms. “You've grown so.” He said warmly.

“I'm not all grown yet.” She curled her fingers in his shirt, holding him as much as he held her.
“Grown enough you're going to get married. Grown enough to stand up to the elders and claim your place. That's quite grown up.” He lowered his head and whispered against her ear. “Your mother would be so proud, as I am.”

Hinata made a soft sound and clung to him for a minute, thankful for the soft reminder. They stood like that for several long moments, until the welling emotion had become something calmer, tolerable. “Thank you father,” she murmured.

He gave her a smile- one of those private ones that seems so rare sometimes- and wraps an arm around her shoulders for a moment. “You know, you are managing well. Take a little time and relax, the words will come to you.” There's a small shimmer in his eyes, some amusing memory. “You are not the first woman to face marriage. And you'll be busy, worried, and maybe even a little scared. But your mother would say something if she were here now.”

Hinata turned and gave him her attention, eyes a little wide. They did not speak much of her mother anymore. “What would she say?” she whispered.

“She would tell you that if you love him, if you are willing to fight for him like you have, then there is nothing to be scared of. No matter how much you may worry about the wedding, you will manage. And it will work out as long as you do not give up.”

Hinata's throat closed, words stuck thick on her tongue as she buried her head against her father's chest. She didn't know how much she needed to hear those words. Hiashi smiled and cradled her close.

Hinata opened her eyes, staring at the desk with the blank paper piled up, waiting for the ink to flow. Her smile was wobbly, but she reached for the pen with more certainty than she'd had for hours.

*

Hinata knelt in the little shrine. Her mother's picture here was tiny, nestled in beside Hizashi's and a few others. She'd just picked up the little stick of incense when a small hand settled on her shoulder. “Nee-san.”

A match struck somewhere behind her, and Hanabi's hand came around to help light the incense. They got it settled, a thin wisp of cinnamon and cloves filling the shrine. It was a smell that had clung to their mother for as long as they'd known her.

“I miss her,” Hanabi whispered. “I don't remember much.”

“But she always loved us both,” Hinata reassured.

“Father said once, you look more like her. Your face and your gentle calm, I think.”

Hinata smiled and tugged Hanabi down next to her, draping her arm around her little sister in a one- arm hug. They knelt there in quiet for a few long minutes, and then rose together. Hanabi turned the half- hug into a proper one.

“I wish Father was home.”

Hinata pressed her lips together to keep from whispering about Hiashi's situation. Tsunade- sama had promised her and Neji to silence. “Me too,” she finally responded, hugging Hanabi close. “I want him home too.”

*****

“Tsunade- sama.”

Tsunade took the envelope, running her fingers over the address. She smiled and careful slit it open, removing a delicately embossed card. The soft cream paper had been hand- written in dark ink, and her fingers felt the petals of the embossed, undecorated flower.

To Godaime Hokage:

Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga humbly request your presence to their wedding and reception, August Twenty- Eighth, at Eleven o'clock in the morning. The wedding will be held at the overlook above Hokage Mountain, with the reception following on Uchiha grounds.

Recipients of this invitation are welcome to bring along one guest. Bodyguards are, of course, accepted within the regulations maintained by the Fire Nation. Invitations must be presented to obtain access to events.

Please send response to Hinata Hyuga or Naruto Namikaze no later than August Twentieth.

The kanji was beautiful, perfectly legible right up until the signatures, where there is a perfect form of Hinata's name next to a precisely accurate if not pretty form of Naruto's. Tsunade smiled, silently applauding the care Hinata took into creating the invitation.

It was going be a good end to summer. As long as nothing crashed the wedding.

Tsunade swore at herself for thinking of it and returned to business. There was still much to plan and prepare for. And the Uzumaki wedding would be just one on a long list for her to take care of.

Elsewhere in the Hidden villages:

Gaara found the card with the rest of the morning mail, smiling slightly as he noted who it was from. Even with Naruto's warning that he and Hinata were to be married, Gaara was still greatly pleased at getting an actual invitation.

“Kankuro,” Gaara called out, his brothers silent footsteps in the halls gritting every so slightly on the trails of sand Gaara used frequently as an alert system. “Make sure you're free for the end of August. Naruto- san is having his wedding, and you will attend.”

Kankuro poked his head into the room, warpaint etched starkly against his face. “The little fox- boy, right? Konoha's jinchuuriki. He's gettin' hitched?”

“To Hinata Hyuga. I would like you to come as part of the official guards the Kage are allowed. I doubt there will be trouble.” Green eyes flicked between the invitation and Kankuro's solemn dark orbs. “But I would like you there.”

“Sure thing little bro.” The war paint shifts into a different pattern as Kankuro smiled widely and Gaara silently wondered why his older sibling had picked up that art style. It's not the first time he'd wondered. “A Hyuga, huh?”

Gaara smiled slightly in recall. “She's a fine woman, Kankuro. She's been an excellent source of inspiration for Naruto- san.”

Kankuro gave Gaara a look that's somewhere between amused and vaguely horrified, before offering a wave and continuing on to wherever he'd been heading before.

Gaara tucked the invitation into a drawer on the desk and pulled over the next bit of correspondence, his small smile never completely fading.

****

“Who is this?” The pierced face stared down at the invitation, frowning. “Why was I sent this?”

“Intelligence states all the Kages received an invitation.” The ninja stood tense, stiff as a board and not meeting the Kage's eyes. “There is mixed intelligence on the name, a Naruto Uzumaki in Konoha that is the jinchuuriki for the ten-tailed demon. The last known Namikaze was the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namizake, the “Yellow Flash”. It is possible that this Naruto might have been a lost son of the man.”

The ringed eyes barely blinked as they study over the invitation again. “Find out,” he ordered. The ninja scurried away, leaving the stern faced man alone.

There is an echo, silent and only heard by him, the will of their creator and master.

They will go.

They need to see the ten-tails again.

__________________

(Thank LadyShadowDragon for leaving me a review earlier today to remind me to update here as well. three new chapters. And well, check my profile. Thanks~~ )
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Disguised Curses