He was in a suit.
It was tight, hugging his form and he doubted he could throw his arms above his head without something coming undone.
He was standing at an alter.
There was a lot of people gathered around them, all of them well dressed, smiling happily at him.
He was getting married.
That thought rung through his mind like distant thunder. It brought a smile on his face that could not be diminished. She always brought that smile to his face with just a look, a touch, a word. And how could she not? When her own happiness was so intoxicating. Somehow they had survived as the world spiraled into chaos around them.
But she was his rock. His one constant in an ever changing life. When Jiraiya had died she was there, when Konoha was destroyed and their home lost, when it seemed like all hope was lost. She was there, smiling at him - or doing that cute scowl she does when she's worried about him.
He stood, like a leaf in the wind fidgeting and waiting for her to appear. It was bad enough that he hadn't been allowed to see her that morning, it seemed like everything had stretched out for an eternity. Every button on his suit took an hour, every lace on his shoes a year. Every breath a century.
The world grew silent, the lights dimmed, the air chilled. Such was Karin's entrance. Her steps heralded her beauty, that was such that should he go blind right now, his only regret would that he would not be able to see her once more, her smile warmed his soul better than the sun ever could.
Her hair was the sun frozen at dusk, a brilliant red tied back in a white veil leaving only a few wavy strands to frame her face that clashed against the black square frames of her glasses. A bouquet of pure white flowers was barely a ghost against her dress, everything about her was like fresh snow on a cold winter morning. She was perfect, completely and utterly perfect.
It was her smile that held his gaze the longest - it was one he got when he did something that made her really really happy - until he fell into the trap that was her eyes. It was in her eyes that she laid down her soul to him, everything that she was, her kindness, her manipulative nature, her cunning sense of self preservation was all there for him to see. And he loved every bit of it, of her.
In the time between heartbeats she stood before him. Beautiful beyond words, and soon she would be his wife. How did he get so lucky.
"Close your mouth idiot," Karin hissed at him, her smile never fading.
His jaw snapped shut with chomp that echoed in his ears. A low laughter echoed from the crowd around them and the world came back into focus. He was at a wedding. His wedding. He was getting married! To Karin!
"Sorry, you're just so beautiful." He rubbed the back of his head, something that he knew she found cute.
She blushed and mouthed "You're lucky I love you." Her eyes darted down and away from him. She was to cute!
"We," Tsunade shouted silencing any further chatter, "Are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Naruto Uzumaki. And Karin Uzumaki."
Naruto stood straight and stepped in front of Tsunade, Karin was at his side, casting a side long glare at him. "Are we doing this right?"
"It's just like we practiced now shut up," Karin growled, oh she was in a weird happy angry mood, kind of like when she was in that weird happy but crying mood.
"In holy matrimony." Tsunade out an open palm to Karin. "Do you Karin Uzumaki take Naruto Uzumaki to be your husband?"
What if she didn't say it? What if she said no? What if this was all some trick? His heart skipped a beat as she turned to face him, her smile never breaking, with each passing moment her beauty seemed to double.
"I do," her voice was like the first bite of cake. Sweet, fluffy, and delicious. Why did he have to wait to kiss her?
"Do you Naruto Uzumaki take Karin uzumaki to be your wife?" What kind of question was that.
"Yep!" He chirped smiling down at her. A chill ran up his spine and he saw her eyes narrow at him. "I mean I do!"
That seemed to make her happy. Man why was this so hard? When was the kissing part again? He hadn't kissed her in like a whole day. That put him far below his quota of at least five, or more depending on how often they bumped into each other.
"Please turn to face each other and join hands," Tsunade instructed with a large smile on her face. "The bride and groom have chosen to take their love for each other and write their own vows."
Okay, all he had to do was not fuck this up. Easier said than done. Could he fight Madara again and get a free pass on this? That seemed easier.
Karin smiled at him, her small delicate fingers wrapping around his hands, drawing playful circles then her eyes snapped towards his. "I promise to love you without reservation," She already did. "To comfort you in times of distress," She already had. "To stand by your side as you reach for your dreams, to laugh with you and cry with you. I promise you the best of myself, so that we may continue to grow and love as we always have and always will. I promise you that with me, you are always home."
He really wanted to kiss her. He really needed to kiss her. She was so adorable so beautiful and fuck what were his lines again? How could he forget them! All he had to do was remember those lines and say them! It should be easy they were his confession of love to Karin he could not mess this up.
The world stared at him in anticipation.
Just don't say the joke lines, just don't say the joke lines. It's a quick way to die. If she killed him now then he wouldn't be able to kiss him!
"I have you when I'm in trouble." Shit! Why was he saying those things! "You and I are the perfect couple." Why couldn't he stop! "To protect each other from devastation To unite our hearts before this nation. To treat you with truth & love. To stay together until the heavens above. My heart beats for you at the speed of light. Surrender your love for me on this night."
A few laughs echoed from the audience, and Sakura's knuckles cracked, the sound of her teeth gnashing reminded him of the screams of terrified children.
Karin just looked at him, one eyebrow raised. "Really? Team rocket?"
"Yeow!" Naruto howled as Tsunade's heel dug into his foot. "That's right."
"That's the best you could do?" She was mad! That wasn't good.
"I'm sorry Karin," He looked down at his feet, it still throbbed with pain from Tsunade's assault. "But you know I'm not good with words."
He looked her in the eyes and felt warm once again. "Words just can't possibly describe how much I love you."
She melted, her fingers relaxing and a few tear swelled in her eyes. "Idiot, just say that."
"Words just can't possibly describe how much I love you."
"Again," she laughed.
"Words just can't possibly describe how much I love you."
"Again!" She jumped, smiling up at him.
"Holy crap!" Tsunade threw her hands up and walked away. "I now pronounce you man and wife! You may kiss the bride! I need a drink."
It was Karin that kissed him, pulling him down towards her, and letting all of her love be known in that connect. Once again, the world fell away leaving only the important things. Him, and her, and that wonderful kiss that connected them.
It was just to beautiful for words. Karin, was his wife. And he was her husband. They were a family now.
"Karin, I love you," He whispered placing a hand on her cheek.
"That's a good thing Naruto," she laughed lightly touching his nose with her own. "Because I sure as hell love you."
XXXX
He had gotten kicked out.
Karin his lovely wife of three years was pregnant and he had gotten kicked out of the emergency room while she was giving birth to their daughter! He wasn't going to be around to see his beautiful baby girl be born! What did he do to deserve this kind of punishment? Sure he was screaming and running around like an idiot but what sane husband that loved his wife wouldn't be doing the same thing?
His wife was in pain and his daughter was about to be born he had to do something! Anything!
So he paced, walking back and forth if he stopped he might not be ready for when they needed him! What if there was a ninja attack! What if some jerk came from the future to kill his daughter!? That'd be rude! He needed to be ready for everything! Time assassinations included!
What if one of the boy babies in the hospital saw her and developed a crush on his precious baby girl? He needed to prepare the speech! What would he say to her daughters future boyfriends? Wait! No that was to much. She wasn't going to be allowed to have a boyfriend until she was married! Yes! That was perfect!
"Naruto," Sakura growled, sticking her head out of the emergency room, her stomach also swelling with a child, she was only six months pregnant and looked to be the same size as Karin, twins apparently. "You can come in now."
He did not need to be told twice! "Thank you Sakura,"
There she was, in all of her beautiful pasty red haired glory, looking so delicate and perfect. Despite everything she had been through. And now, she had their daughter in her arms, a small crying human with hair the color of a peach.
Kairn looked at him, giving him a toothy smile that would match his own. She looked tired, but very happy. She held up their daughter so that she was facing him. "Look Futaba, it's your papa."
"Futaba?" Naruto asked, reaching out a finger to his daughter. She grabbed it and his heart nearly melted.
"Yea," Karin sighed, "I told you I wasn't going to go with your horrible names."
"Futaba Uzumaki," The name tasted sweet on his lips. He had a daughter. Tears began to fall from his eyes. He had a family. A beautiful family. "It's nice to meet you I'm your papa."
AN: Beta'd by xxTerror33xx Wow so that's over! Hope you all enjoyed it. And please check out my new "Flagship" fic "Healing a Broken Future." It's a Naruto x Rin fic that has time travel and emotional distress in it! Please read it if you want more romance. I'd like to talk about some of the thigns I had planned but didn't end up doing. (Partially to make this chapter longer, partly to give you all that extra bit of content you might want.) A bit of drama: I had originally planned for Naruto to find out that Karin was trying to manipulate him into falling in love with him. But that just felt out of place on several levels. For one its Naruto, the only way he'd find out is if someone told him. And he'd probably only care if he wasn't in love with Karin.
Karin's plans: Originally this was going to take several chapters. A lot longer. But when I started writing it, it felt slow, and I kind of just let my scenes and characters dictate where to go, that's how we ended up with the movie scene. That wasn't planned, but I loved it! And then Naruto saying I love you to Karin way to soon to throw her off. Fantastic.
Uzumaki Queen: This was actually going to be the "Main" plot of the fic, originally they were going to rebuild Uzu, but I got lazy. After that you saw a hint of it when Karin was alone in Konoha with dealing with the jonin from the Grass, but it was actually going to be a lot deeper than that. I had a few scenes planned based on the necklace. It was designed to control Uzumaki souls. Or atleast kind of. During the Pein attack in order to save Naruto she activates it briefly and pain is stunned just long enough for her to pull out a few of his rods from Naruto before he swatted her. That scene was cut because it was basically just taking Hinata's scene and givign it to Karin. And action. Bleh.
Meeting mom: I had a plan for Karin to go with Naruto for learning to control the Kyuubi, via chains and again that necklace. It was supposed to be their bonding experience with Karin confessing during the training or something. When Naruto would fight Kurama inside of himself, she would join him, get pulled inside and meet Kushina! I love Kushina, she's a great character would have loved to write that scene. But it didn't really fit the story.
Fourth shinobi war: I had this little scene added that because the Uzumaki souls were no longer bound to the seal matrix they could be reanimated. So they could be reanimated. to counter this massive threat Karin is able to command them because of the necklace and they join the good guys calling her queen. (dey knew deh weh) . Was cut because... well I didn't want to write all the stuff to get there.
And yea, those are the scenese that I ultimately cut.
And yes. Futaba is based off of Futaba Sakura from Persona 5.