*I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS*

The Proposal

Tenten woke up slowly, and to the sound of birds chirping outside of her window. Her eyes fluttered as she sat up to look over at her clock. She immediately jumped out of bed and hurriedly got dressed and ate a quick breakfast, realizing she was going to be late for training. She didn't want to have a bad start today by having to do some sort of intense punishment that Guy-sensei would give her. She ran out the door, not even bothering to lock the door behind her.

Neji had just finished meditating when the birds started chirping, meaning that it was time for him to head to the training grounds. As usual, as he walked by Tenten's house, he heard her running around, trying to hurry up and get ready. He smiled to himself, knowing that her effort would be for nothing today.

As he arrived at the training grounds, he quickly managed to get rid of Guy-sensai so he would be able to go over his plan with Lee. Lee, his hyperactive teammate, listened intently, a sparkle in his eyes. Lee was to tell Tenten that training was cancelled for today, and Neji knew that she would immediately go back home so that she could sleep. Neji knew that Ino and Sakura knew exactly what they had to do- they just had to keep her out of her home and in town all day: Neji's plan was now in action.

As Tenten got to the training grounds, she was surprised to see only Lee there. Neji had never been late in his life, even that one time when he had a terrible bout of the flu and refused to go home, eventually getting the rest of the team sick. But the more surprising thing was that Lee was just sitting under her tree. She referred to it as "her tree" because that was where she would always start her target practice. It was also Neji's meditating spot, oddly enough. She would aim for the targets right above his head, which wasn't troublesome at all, for Tenten never missed. As Tenten walked slowly into the clearing, Lee started to stand up and walk towards her.

"Hello Tenten! Our training has been cancelled for today, on account of Guy-sensei not being here," he said, somewhat nervously.

She didn't really have time to ponder over this, because Lee was starting to push her in the direction of her home.

After she got home, she immediately plopped herself down on her couch, starting to wonder what to do with her day. She was just beginning to doze off when she heard some familiar voices inside her house.

"Shhh, Sakura! She'll hear us!" Ino said.

"I think it's too late for that," Tenten said with a little smirk. "Anyways, how did you even get into my house?"

Ino and Sakura both slowly walked out from behind a door.

"Oh. You, uh, left your door unlocked," Sakura said sheepishly.

Tenten snapped her head around and looked at the door, realizing that she had left it unlocked this morning when she rushed over to the training grounds.

"Oh yeah... I guess I did. So, why are you guys both here?" Tenten said, looking at both of the kunoichi.

"We wanted to treat you to a nice day at the bathhouse, maybe walk around the village..?" Sakura said, a bit questioningly.

"Well c'mon then! Let's GO!" she said without even waiting for a response from Tenten.

She couldn't help but think about Neji, and what he would be doing on his day off, as she was being dragged out the door.

"Ahhh..." the three kunoichi sighed in sync.

"This feels amazing..." Tenten sighed.

The girls continued to just sit there, soaking in the water, eyes closed, left to their own devices. Tenten took this as a chance to think about how oddly Neji had been acting towards her these last couple of days, but her peace was interrupted when she heard a loud bang from the men's side of the bathhouse.

"Damnit, Naruto! I told you not to get Akamaru angry!"

"Sorry Kiba! I didn't think he would react that quickly!"

The three girls looked at each other, and started cracking up moments later. They knew that all of the boys together wasn't necessarily the best combination. This moment where they all got along, just laughing at the shouting being heard from the other side of the bathhouse, was fairly short-lived.

All of the girls screamed simultaneously as the ceiling of the bathhouse suddenly crashed in on them, falling into the bath itself, and sending waves of water everywhere. They were surprised to see that the culprit of this "accident" was actually Shikamaru, Ino's boyfriend of over one year.

"Sh-shikamaru! W-were you... peeping on us?" Ino said, grabbing a towel to cover herself.

Sakura looked like she was about to explode. She rushed over to Shikamaru, not giving the startled teenager a moment to reply, and not caring that she was still completely naked.

Holding a fist up to his face, she said, "How DARE YOU! I WILL PUMMEL YOU UNTIL YOU CAN'T EVEN WALK!"

Ino didn't even have anything to say to this, because she felt offended as well. Tenten just got up, grabbed her towel and clothes, and got out of there as quickly as possible. When she got out of there, she started to hear the sounds of Shikamaru groaning in pain, and the sounds of Sakura continuously punching him in the face. She giggled, because she felt that he deserved this.

After Tenten got out of the bathhouse, she decided to take a nice walk through the village. They had eaten before they went to the bathhouse, so she had no need to go get some food. She was just walking around, wondering about how both Ino and Sakura had known that she had the day off, when someone was running by her, slipped, and shoved a bucketful of water in her face. She stood there, surprised, looking around and thinking that this could possibly be the worst day ever.

She found herself walking towards her favorite place in the whole village: the training grounds. But to be more specific, her favorite tree, on top of her favorite hill. Tenten always liked to climb to the top of the tree, and forget about the world. The tree had an amazing view of the great stone that the Hokages' faces were carved in, and it always manages to cheer her up.

Once she got to the top of the tree, she sat down and started dozing off.

Neji had everything in place for tonight. No one would be disturbing them, and he had gotten word from Sakura and Ino that she was in her favorite spot. He knew it wouldn't be long until she finally came down, because she always liked to eat dinner at home, even if it meant eating two meals just so she would have the chance to eat dinner at home. It never had made sense to Neji, but then again, almost nothing about her made sense to him, except for the fact that he knew he loved her, and that she loved him as well.

Tenten woke up suddenly, to the sound of a bird whizzing past her face. This startled her so much that she actually fell out of the tree and onto the ground. Rubbing her sore neck, she looked up, only to see that the sun would be setting soon.

Might as well head home, Tenten thought to herself.

As she was walking through the streets, she noticed that everyone was looking at her with a very wide smile, like they knew something she didn't. She shrugged off the awkward feeling that this was giving her, and started to walk home a little faster.

It was eerily quiet when she got to her home. It wasn't even that late, probably around 5 o'clock. She opened up the door, realizing that she had again forgotten to lock her door.

A this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if someone broke in and stole my things, Tenten thought.

She looked around her living room, as if expecting someone to jump out at her and say "SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" considering it was actually her birthday today. Then, something caught her eye. She realized that there were actually candles set up around the perimeter of the room, something that she would never do. She looked to the table in the middle of the room, which had a white piece of paper on it. Tenten walked over, and picked up the note. It said:

Tenten

Go to your room. I have a surprise for you.

Neji

Tenten looked around, and, warily, went down the hallway and into her room.

What she saw was nothing like what she was expecting. She saw Neji, looking at her, with a huge smile on his face. She didn't know how long he had been waiting there for her, but she knew that she hadn't seen him all day, and immediately ran into his awaiting arms.

The hug ended quickly, which saddened Tenten a bit. Neji cleared his throat.

"So, uh, Tenten."

Neji had never seemed more nervous or awkward in his life. She was more surprised by this than anything else that had happened today.

"Yes, Neji?"

"I bet you've known that this was coming for a while now."

They knew from the very start of their relationship that they were going to get married. It had been obvious to them that Neji's uncle obviously approved of her, and both Neji and Tenten knew that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

"Well, I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, that will always be 100% true."

He looked at his feet, and went down on one knee, swiftly reaching into his pocket. He looked at Tenten in the eyes directly, and never broke eye contact as he said the words she had been waiting for for so long.

"Tenten, will you do me the great honor of marrying me?"

Others might have thought that this proposal was nothing special, and that he hadn't put enough time into it. But Tenten thought otherwise. To her, it was the most special moment in her entire life. The proposal was just so... Neji.

The look in his eyes was almost unsure, even though Tenten had known the answer to this question for a while now.

She looked him in the eyes, hoping that he was able to read her emotions.

"Yes," Tenten said softly, lovingly. "Yes, I will marry you."

Neji immediately smiled more than Tenten had ever seen before. He reached for her hand and smoothly put the ring on her finger. He stood up, and looked on the verge of tears, and realized that Tenten had already started crying. He immediately hugged her, picked her up, and spun her around. He gently put her back down, and looked deep into her eyes.

"I love you so much."

Tenten gasped as he said this. She had never heard him have so much emotion in anything he said. She reached up to intertwine her fingers around the back of his head.

"I love you, too, Neji," she said as she stood up on her toes to kiss him.