Pre-Chapter A/N:Another chapter on time? Guess my lock-in is going pretty well. If you haven't already, I recommend turning on notifications for my stuff so you can see when new stuff drops right as it drops. More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio. Since I just started a new story, there's a cheeky discount on said patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) page for anyone interested(expires in two days from now so don't snooze it).
The inside of the restaurant had a vibe that was hard to place. Or better said, I just didn't have the words to describe it. They made a healthy use of wood, but it didn't have that cabin-like feeling one got from spaces like that. It also wasn't ultra-modern, even though the inside was a bright white and lit so well that it felt the goal was to banish every shadow from the space.
It was open-plan. The inside of the restaurant was just one massive hall. Several tables and chairs sat arranged next to each other along the wall—tables for two. In the middle were three sets of tables for six. So that was the setup for larger groups.
"Not bad," Uzume said, and from her, that might as well have been raving praise.
I nodded and then turned to the Maître d'. It was a man with purple hair, wearing a gleaming white ensemble. He was staring at us, mouth agape.
"Table for two under Shorirama Senju," I said. No reaction. Uzume coughed pointedly before knocking on the small stand right in front of him.
"Oh, oh. Yes. Table for two. Shorirama Senju," he said, looking around, and then I noticed what the problem was. There wasn't a free table. I quirked an eyebrow while Uzume watched the whole thing with amusement she must have thought was well-hidden.
"Well, Hokage-sama. Just give me a second, please," he said, and then he raced away like he had Inuzuka kids nipping at his heels.
"So?" Uzume asked.
"I'm sure they've made a mistake and will be sorting it all out immediately," I said, nipping whatever she was about to say in the bud.
"Of course, of course. Or we could have just gone to a proper Shinobi restaurant where they don't make mistakes."
"We've been to all of those. You know the good part about the civilians? They actually bother doing new things. How many times can you go to the Akimichi grill before it gets repetitive?" I asked, and she accepted the point with pursed lips. Like most shinobi, Uzume had some bias against civilians. It wasn't like she saw them as terrible or anything like that. Just inferior. The inability to wield chakra at a useful scale seemed to her to be more like a disability than anything else, and while she accepted our duty to protect them, she accepted it more like a parent looking over children or a pet than true partnership the way I would rather she saw it.
The Maître d' came out of the kitchens with another woman who wore a similar outfit to his, but rather than white, hers was red. Some mark of seniority, perhaps?
"I apologise, Hokage-sama. We received your reservation, yes, but my subordinate here seems to have believed it was a prank of some sort and deleted it from the list. While we don't have seating spaces available in the main hall, we can give you special seating within the kitchen. You will get the chance to watch our whole process from beginning to end," she said.
"Dinner and a show? Sounds brilliant to me," I said, speaking over whatever Uzume had been about to say while giving her a look. I knew her well enough to know that the words that would have come out of her mouth would be anything but kind.
"Please give us a few minutes to finalise your seating arrangements. In the meantime, you can peruse our menu. Your dinner tonight will be on the house. We apologise again for the mistake," she said. I nodded, and then she was gone.
"In his defence, who would really expect the Hokage of all people to book a dinner reservation over the phone? I should have sent a clone or something," I said.
"Pfft. Civilians," Uzume scoffed.
The menu was presented next, the whole thing forming a thick binder that wouldn't have been out of place on my desk. I flipped through it, noting that every dish was accompanied by an image. There weren't any prices, but that was to be expected.
"Do you want to order for the both of us?" I asked as I saw her leaning over my shoulder to look at the menu.
"Yes," she said, practically snatching it from my grip and beginning to scrutinise the options with more focus than almost anyone else would consider necessary for the task. And then she began to mutter to herself about ingredient combinations. Of course.
By the time the woman in red had returned to ferry us to our seats, Uzume still hadn't decided. I busied myself by looking around the kitchen as we were led to a circular table in the middle of the room. A spotless white tablecloth was drawn over it, and the plates were already placed with the utensils and glass options.
"Two glasses of wine while we wait for her decision would be nice," I said as I pulled out Uzume's seat and took mine.
Eventually, Uzume made up her mind and ordered for the both of us—different meals, of course. It was a fact that few people realised, but Uzume was a foodie at heart. She loved trying out new meals. The more exotic, the better. She couldn't cook to save her life, but that wasn't the matter at hand, was it? We got to watch from our seats as our meals were made. We watched each individual bit be plated with a level of precision that seemed at odds with the civilian setting.
I'd activated my Byakugan at some point just to be sure that there was no chakra being used—even unconsciously. There was none. This was pure skill driven by years of expertise. Expertise that we would shortly come to find had been gained from all over the Elemental Nations as Uzume questioned them on their various origins and qualifications.
I kept an ear tapped in more out of an abundance of caution than of any real interest in the questions Uzume asked. I was sure Shika would have done some form of background investigation before allowing them to open or work at an institution that sought to serve food to the people of Konoha. It wouldn't be the first time that Shinobi made use of civilians in achieving their own ends. We ourselves had programs like that running all across the Elemental Nations. Compromising the Wind Daimyo's head cook had been the major coup that division had celebrated, the last I checked.
When we had finally finished our meals, had dessert, a drink or nineteen, and Uzume had finished showering the whole kitchen with praise of their work, we stepped up and out of the restaurant into the cool night breeze. Hours had passed while we were within, and evening had turned to night. The lights that lined the streets, powered by one of the world's largest and most advanced power grids, beamed down on us like proud parents watching their children take their first steps as I pulled Uzume close to me—closer to me than truly proper—and led her to our destination.
"That was a good meal. I don't say this often, but you were right about the choice," she said.
"Often? More like ever," I chuckled. She quirked her lips into a smile, but there was something lurking behind them.
"I never truly did apologise, did I?" she said suddenly. I found myself taken aback by the subject change.
"Apologise for what?" I asked.
"How I treated you when we were younger. I was jealous, in truth. The clan had so much it expected from me, my brothers did so much work that I felt unable to compete, and there you were, treating everything like a joke. I might not have cared if you were just some idiot languishing in the middle of the class, but you were better than nearly everyone at nearly everything. Without any effort, you made my own efforts look like jokes. I wonder if this is what Madara saw about Hashirama that made him go mad in truth. For a long time, I worried I would go down the same path, driven there by your careless but stifling superiority—"
"Uzume—" I tried cutting in.
"No, let me finish," she said, and so I slammed my lips back together.
"Maybe I would have if not for Izuku. He's within me, but he isn't, you know? Did you know that there is a part of the clan designed to help those who awaken these eyes?" she said—and then her eyes spun into her familiar Mangekyou pattern. Granduncle would probably have tanned my hide for staring right into the most dangerous eyes of the Uchiha, but trusting Uzume came naturally to me.
"My eyes are special. They weren't awakened by killing my best friend like we thought was required for the longest time. They were awakened by watching him as he was about to die. Awakening the Mangekyou comes with a certain obsession. That is the nature of these eyes. You gain an obsession with who you killed to get them. An obsession that worsens as the eyes slowly lose their light. These eyes ache to be complete. You saved me from that fate by putting Izuku's eyes into mine. You know the clan thinks you destroyed my own eyes? I know you still have them of course, but what does it matter? What does any of this matter? Maybe it doesn't. But Izuku saved me, and you saved me as well. Life would have been so different if you had been any different, or if he had never been born, so thank you," she said, voice trailing into a whisper as she finished.
"You know you never need to thank me," I said.
"For you, everything I do, I do for love," I finished. Her cheeks were a painful red at that.
"Iloveyoutoo," she said, the words so quickly that it was a struggle to separate them and get the meaning in the words she said.
"I didn't quite catch that, sweetheart," I said, feeling my smile build on my lips. She took a deep breath, and I wondered if she would actually repeat those words to me. It was the first time she was saying them, but not something I particularly minded. I knew how she felt about me. I felt it every time I was in her presence—usual prickly demeanour notwithstanding. It still would feel nice to hear it, though.
"I said I love you, you idiot," she said much slower this time.
"Good. I love you too, and it would be a bit awkward if you didn't feel the same," I said with a smirk.
"You make me want to pull my hair," she scoffed, turning her face away from mine, but not leaving the embrace we were in. We kept walking then. After a few minutes of silence, I got the urge to speak again.
"You know, I wonder what a future in this village would look like for us. How growing old would change things. I don't want to be like my Granduncle, is that strange?" I asked.
"What do you mean? I thought you loved him."
"I did—I still do. It's just that I don't want to be like him in that I don't want to die as Hokage. I love this village. My Grandfather gave so much to build this—it was his dream, and my Granduncle, like the ever-loyal younger brother he was, dedicated his life to bringing his older brother's dream to fruition. But I know for certain that he would rather have spent his last years working on unique techniques rather than reading mission reports," I said.
"Oh, that's what you mean. So what would you do? Retire and abdicate?" she asked.
"Yes, I could spend the rest of my years doing something else. Maybe I could make seals with my last days. Maybe I'd find a love for painting or for music or something," I said.
"Is this because of Kizuru? The music?"
"His aunt said he willed some of his compositions to me. I can't play any of it yet, but one day I'll find the time to learn how to play an instrument or two. Would that not be fun? Spending my time playing music for my little grandchildren. Not having to worry about shinobi and their bullshit," I said wistfully. Uzume scoffed.
"You'd get bored of that in days. I know you, Shori. You're just like me. Your blood sings when you play your life on the line and have to fight for it. It is why my soul calls out to yours. We are one and the same in the end. Retirement? You'd rather die."
"I don't think I would, actually. But then that's a long time from now, so I guess we'll find out who was right in the end," I said with a shrug. She nodded as well. We walked down the street, taking a left and beginning our straight course to the Hokage monument.
The monument was in its early stages now. Hashirama's sculpture had just been completed. Tobirama's was in progress now. After that would be Hiruzen's, which was going to be a tiny bit awkward because the man was still alive now. The final one would be mine. I wondered if it was better for me to do it now or to wait a few decades for me to be much older. To be fair, the picture of Granduncle Tobirama that would be used would be one from his youth, not of how he was at the time he died, so it probably did make more sense for me to do it now.
But then it was going to be weird to have my head cast in stone and carved into the side of a mountain. Whenever I walked out of the clan compound, I would be seeing it immediately.
When we reached the side of the mountain, the hike began. If we had been a pair of civilians, this would have been one hell of a task to tack on to the middle of a date. But at our level of fitness, the hike up the mountain was practically a leisurely stroll when compared to our daily fitness routines. Climbing the mountain unhanded was, after all, something the both of us had attempted at various points in our lives. To my credit, I'd done it first as a form of physical exercise before Uzume had noticed me doing it and decided she needed to do the same thing to prove a point. Of course, she succeeded. Was there any doubt about that?
When we reached the top, we found the next part of the date already prepared. The clone I had hidden to keep an eye on things popped once it saw me arrive, and I was secure in the knowledge that nothing had happened to the supplies I'd left behind while I was gone.
"A picnic? Right after dinner? You glutton," she taunted as we headed towards the blanket. I smiled as she leaned over the basket and opened it to find nothing but wine within.
"I figured we'd be full of food, but still thirsty by the time we made it here," I said, joining her on the picnic mat in the lotus position. I poured us both full glasses, handing hers over to her before taking a sharp swig of the wine. This was the best place to do it.
The best view of what was about to happen. The date had gone just about as well as it could have. The seat thing had been awkward, but it had ended up sorted out for the better, so that was fine enough. I lied about the wine though. The wine wasn't here for thirst. It was here for courage. I poured myself another full glass and drank it all in one go before I tapped the seal hidden on the inside of my sleeve. My clones on the other end of the village received the signal and got to work.
"'Zume?" I called her attention from her focus on the stars.
"Yes, Shori?"
"Remember when I was talking about growing old and maybe doing music or something?" I asked.
"That was just a few minutes ago. Of course I remember," she chuckled, attention still mostly focused on the bright stars.
"Well, there was one part of it I neglected to mention," I added.
"Oh, what was it?" she asked with a smirk as she turned to face me.
"Just who I would want to do that with." I pushed myself off my arse and onto one knee. She froze. The fireworks began to go off then.
"Uzume Uchiha?" I asked.
"Y-yes?" she asked back.
"Look at the sky," I said. She turned back to it, and then the fireworks finally hit the peak of their trajectory before exploding outwards and spelling the most important question I ever asked.
"You—I can't believe you just—you? Why would you? You just—" I would have chuckled at her incoherence if I wasn't near dying of anxiety myself. Only then did I realise I'd forgotten to unseal the ring. Fuck.
I scrambled with my haori as she stumbled through her words. I finally managed to find the seal stitched on the sleeve. I unsealed the ring, and then her eyes met mine.
"Will you marry me?" I asked with my words now. She looked down at the ring, gasping as she saw it.
"Who else would?" she said sarcastically, but the grip she held my face in as she pulled it towards hers was anything but. Everything seemed to disappear as our lips met again and again.
A/N: Do I struggle writing romance? Yes. Did I do my best? Perhaps. If this was a bit too clumsy for you, rest assured we'll move on to more familiar territory soon. Next five up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early. Started a new story, so there's a discount for the rest of the month on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)(expires in two days from now so don't snooze it): feel free to check that out as well.