AN: THIS IS THE END FOLKS> BE SURE TO READ AND REVIEW> Oh, I know I promised you cookies, but I decided to give you cake instead. Read and find out why.

I don't own jack. Thanks to those that have reviewed. I've enjoyed reading them all.

Hours turned to days, days turned to weeks, and weeks turned into a year. Yes, a year had passed since the end of the invasion and the leaving of the Wave workers. A lot had happened in our quiet village. Konoha was renovated, the Fifth's face had been carved in to the side of the mountain, and our Village treasury was full from finished missions. This made my job a lot easier. As for the gang, well, things were definitely looking up. Let's see, the Nara's finally had their baby, it was a boy. Looked just like Shikamaru but had Ino's eyes. Sasuske and Sakura bought a house after they married five months ago. He is a lot easier to work around now that he's absolutely whipped. Hehe. Naruto-sama and Hinata-chan are expecting and my Uncle is already bragging. Funny, he wanted nothing to do with her, then she grew up, got stronger, married the Rokudaime and suddenly she's worthy. Ugh. I am happy for them both. Lee, Kiba and Choji are entering their kids in this year's chuunin exams. Kankuro will be bringing his team so it should be an interesting test this year. Shino and Temari are moving along quite nicely in their relationship. She's got him by a couple of years, but he definitely wears the pants in the relationship, in a good way of course. As for myself, what can I say? Fate has looked upon me greatly and rewarded me with many riches.

The first would be my station in my family. Hanabi and Hinata surprisingly decided to end the strife in the family. Call it pregnant hormones, but she didn't want any stress during her trimesters and she pleaded with the other family members to sign a petition so that the Branch/Main families would just be Hyuuga. Simple. I think Naruto had something to do with this as well. He carefully reminded them that having one family is better than having none at all and that we shouldn't take it for granted. As head of the household, so to speak, Hiashi-sama was overruled and in order for this union to happen, a branch member had to prove that he was simply better than the main house. This duty fell on me. He didn't say which one, he just said a branch member. It was a battle that will probably go down in our little history. We fought for what seemed like hours, both exhausted and very low on chakra. I finally outwitted him and he fell in a trap. I won hands down and from that day forward, our clan was united. It felt like the world was lifted off my shoulders. With support of friends, I mean true friends, it made my victory that much sweeter because they knew of my struggle. My seal was lifted off my forehead after it was ordered, and it felt strange looking in the mirror and not seeing it.

I was so happy to have finally changed my fate, I asked Tenten to marry me that day. I was sweaty, tired and ready to collapse when she ran to me congratulating me. She was by my side the whole time cheering me on and it felt great. I fell to my knees, weak from the exercise and she systematically checked me over for bruised and cuts. I felt it appropriate to ask then. Our friends were already present and what the hell, I was already on my knees. Killed two birds with one stone. I thought back to that day and smiled.

"Neji-kun, are you alright? You won, you won! You are free! I am so proud of you." She gave me a hug and looked me over.

"Yes, I am fine. Hey Tenten, since I am free, will you join me?"

"HUH? What? Join you? I don't get it."

"Marry me, Tenten-chan."

"Marry you? What?"

"Marry me. I want you to marry me, be my wife, have my children."

"But,but,but, um, are you sure? I mean, I'm not exactly a demure lady."

"I know. That's why I love you. You can think and act on your own. You've always been there for me."

"Isn't this a little sudden? I mean, look at ya. Your beaten to a pulp, bleeding, and tired. Are you absolutely sure you want to marry me?

"Yes, I am sure. I am putting my ego and pride aside and doing this in front of our friends. Trust me, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

"Of course I'll marry you." As she tackled me, we fell to the ground and in the distance, clapping was heard. She was crying and I whispered a few words. But that is between me and her. :Next week is our wedding. I asked Lee to be my best man and Tenten asked Temari to be her maid-of- honor.

It is to be a big wedding. Good thing we have people to help us plan this stuff, because it is very time consuming. We've both picked up extra missions to pay for some of the expenses. We are going to live in my condo for a few months. She's been living with me however, it is bad luck to see the bride before the wedding so she's been staying at her dad's. Ino's hooking us up with Edelweiss and Heather. She says they are complete opposites, yet when mixed together make the perfect union. The symbolism didn't escape me. I learned from Tenten that Edelweiss was a flower that grew in cold climates. A loner yet, stronger than any flower. Heather thrived in the mild climates and was surrounded by many. The girls are helping her to sew her dress. I told her to buy one, but as she put it,

"We helped Ino sew hers, who helped Hinata sew hers, who helped Sakura sew hers, who all helped Kurenai sew hers. It is a tradition of sorts."

I just nodded and walked off. I will be wearing traditional clothes and we will be having a traditional ceremony with a few twists. One, it's to be outside, two, Naruto-kun will be officiating. It's his job as Hokage-sama. Hiashi-sama offered to stand by my side at the alter, but, I decided to ask Gai-sensei instead. He's always been guiding me and giving me advise. Since my mother and father were in the heavens, I felt it appropriate that the person who really gave me direction, be at the alter. Hiashi-sama could sit in the front row with the rest of the family. Ok, so it was a little personal, but he got mad once he learned about me donating blood and I decided not to ask him. Konohamaru and Moegi decided to be our ring bearers. There weren't that many little kids we knew, so we opted for teenagers. Plus, I think she kinda likes him. He is after all, the grandson of the Third Hokage. Tenten-chan thought it would be cute if they were to walk together. I couldn't have cared less about the reasoning.

There were well over 300 guests and our dinner was to be extensive. It was buffet, thank goodness, and Shikamaru warned Choji that he had to save food for others. I just laughed. The guys wanted to throw me a bachelor's party, but, I decided to forego it. I didn't need another woman to dance on me and for me to get stupid drunk. I knew I found the right woman. Tenten's dad made the ceremonial sword that was to be exchanged between husband and wife during the vows. It was simply stunning and would look good over my fireplace. Lee restored her photo album through several acts of sneakiness on our parts. The first page is my photo of us when we were genin, the middle pages were her photos of us at various stages of our lives. My photo of when I ascended to jounin and Lee's as well. There was the picture of Gai-sensei when he became a father and then there were the photos of us training and what not. Some were really funny and Lee and I had fun looking through them. The last page was left blank. I wanted to put our wedding photo there. It was appropriate. Lee will give this to her as a present, but don't tell her. Shh.

The reception would have plenty of Sake and a couple of kegs of beer. There will also be four cakes of different flavors. Our personal cake is being made by Ayame from Ichiraku. I think the cake costs more than my monthly mortgage. It's four tiers of fondant, with royal icing pearls as decoration. It has a waterfall cascading through it. On the fondant, our family crests are embossed and on top are real flowers. Did I mention it is carrot cake? We decided to forego white or yellow cake. With all of the weddings we had been to lately, we were burned out on sheet cake. Tenten and I haven't decided if we are going to be shoving cake in each other's face. I'll decide that when the time comes. Since their instructors will be attending the wedding, the genin cells were going to be serving food and drinks for missions that day. It was all pretty much planned.

I decided to surprise her with the honeymoon details. We would be taking a trip around the world, there were a few islands I had never been too and she wanted to explore everything. I also got her something else as a wedding present. A house was being built clear across the village and I made sure no one told her a thing about it. The ring is one thing, but a place to lay our foundations is another. It would symbolize a new beginning for us. It would be a place to build our own nest and years from now retire and send our own birds free. It was a beautiful image.

I heard the last thunk of the kunai as I entered out of my meditation state. I looked up at my future wife flipping a shuriken in her hand. She was beautiful in the sun glinting through the trees.

"Well, you're aim's gotten better."

"Can it, Hyuuga." She sticks her tongue out at me and gathers all of her weapons.Once she is done, she sits down next to me and puts her hand in mine and looks at me.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Us. Our future."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I squeeze her hand and she blushes.

"Do you think we will be truly happy?"

"Yes. I really think we will." She puts her arm around my waist and hugs me as we walk away from our training ground. I knew then that fate had smiled on us and we were truly blessed.