Forever Mine

Chapter 20

[Downtown Konoha]

The married couple walked hand in hand through the village market, both enjoying the weather and their lively Sunday morning.

Naruto didn't care how he spent time off work as long as it was beside his wife, and if her plans were waking up early to shop for vegetables all day, he was completely for it.

"Should we try something new for dinner tonight?" Hinata asked as she looked through the outside market stalls.

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure yet."

Naruto watched her looking around with focus, trying to decide which vegetables and other products to take.

Thinking about it, maybe they should make something sweet and then invite his lovely raven-haired teammate for dinner. There was no way he could refuse Hinata's cooking when he's sitting right in front of her.

Naruto was still upset about him skipping out on team seven's dinner after saying he would try to make it. Every time he remembered the number of times he'd bailed, it made him want to punch him in the face over and over and—

"Are you thinking about Sasuke again?"

"What?" Naruto blinked, noticing his wife's concern. "No, of course not."

"Then why are you glaring at the apples?" Hinata's brows pinched.

"Okay, yes. I'm thinking about Sasuke," he admitted. "He's just so frustrating sometimes."

"Maybe Sasuke was tired. He does get a lot of missions."

That was true. Sasuke spent most of his time working whenever he could which was also one of his reasons for skipping invites. Sometimes Naruto wished he'd get fired and then evicted just so he'd have no other choice but to rely on him like before.

While he continued to think about multiple misfortunes for the raven to face out of karma, another raven unexpectedly approached them from the other side of the street.

"Lady Hinata," Kai greeted before glancing over at her frowning—zoned-out—husband. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's still mad about Sasuke not showing up last week for dinner," Hinata answered honestly. "He was hoping he'd be back already to lecture him."

"Ah," Kai rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I should apologize for your frustration."

"Why? It's not like it's your fault." Naruto said once he finished his sinning prayers.

"Actually, it is. I'm the one who assigned him that mission."

"Even so, I bet he only took it to get out of dinner. Dammit! I swear I want to strangle him and—"

"Calm down."

"Sorry." Naruto sighed. "I'll go get us some water."

Hinata nodded, knowing he needed to walk it off, then turned to face Kai. "How was your anniversary?" she asked, causing his lips to curl in a smile.

"It was wonderful." Kai breathed out after recalling how they spent their entire day and night. "I still can't believe I've been married to her for an entire year. It seems unreal to be this lucky."

His genuine words made Hinata smile. She was truly happy for them, but it honestly made her feel a tad bit sad deep down inside.

I'm sure Sasuke will be happy, too, one day.

"That's great," she voiced.

"It is," Kai said before continuing hesitantly. "Honestly, I made sure Sasuke was the one to take the mission this week," he admitted, and right when he was going to add something more, Naruto joined them again.