It was a beautiful day. The sky was a clear blue with only a few wispy clouds in sight. The sun smiled cheerfully down on the world. It was perfect in every respect.

"How are you, nii-san?" asked Hinata.

And then a family of four descended upon a spotless white grave engraved with the name "Hyuuga Neji."

Hinata was carrying a picnic blanket and a bento box in her arms, while Naruto struggled to contain the two children simultaneously riding on his shoulders.

"Oji-san, oji-san, it's me! We brought you flowers!" yelled the little girl with midnight black hair and sky blue eyes.

She jumped down from Naruto's shoulders while her older brother continued to stubbornly hold onto their dad.

"Boruto," Naruto said. "Come on, we're meeting Neji oji-san now."

"'M sleepy," he muttered.

"You can take a nap when we get home. Say hi to oji-san."

Boruto climbed down and squinted sleepily at the tombstone.

"Hi, oji-san."

He sat down and began playing with blades of grass as Hinata began to unpack the sumptuous meal. Boruto, never losing a chance to hug Hinata, abandoned the blades of grass and wrapped his chubby arms around his mother's legs. She smiled and ruffled his sunny blonde hair.

"I'm starving!" Himawari announced. "What did you make, Mama?"

"Herring soba."

"Not burgers?" asked Boruto.

"You should have made ramen instead," Naruto said in feigned sadness.

"But soba is a noodle, so it's close enough to ramen," Himawari pointed out.

Naruto looked scandalized. He grabbed her little shoulders and got down to her eye level.

"Himawari," he said in a ridiculously serious voice. "Nothing is close enough to ramen. Ramen is a unique, one-of-a-kind dish that can't be compared to knock-offs like udon and soba."

Boruto groaned. "Not one of your ramen rants again. I'm sure oji-san doesn't like it when you say that soba is just a knock-off."

"He doesn't," Hinata said, smoothing out the picnic blanket. The sweet aroma of herring soba filled the air and a thin trail of drool was visibly sliding down Himawari's chin.

"Let's eat," Hinata announced.

She wafted incense over the herring soba, and then their picnic began.

"Why do we always bring herring soba whenever we come here?" Boruto asked.

"If we don't, Neji oji-san will get really angry that he can't taste his favorite food, and then he'll curse me by knocking down my ramen every day forever," Naruto explained.

Hinata shot Naruto a stern look. "Neji oji-san would do no such thing, Naruto-kun. He's always kind and patient. Don't slander him."

Her lips were switching, though.

"I'm not slandering him, it's true! The other day, I was in the store and some cup ramen fell off the shelves and onto my head," Naruto protested. "It was Neji. I know it was. It was because of that time I told you about his secret."

Hinata's cough sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Boruto and Himawari watched in confusion.

"What secret?" Himawari asked.

"I can't tell you," Naruto said. "Neji oji-san would be really mad. Don't underestimate the power of ghosts, Himawari."

"I think oji-san is a friendly ghost though," she said. "Right, onii-chan?"

"Hmmm?" Boruto looked up from the herring that he was busy mutilating. "Yeah! We have the same name, so he would like me, ya know?"

Hinata's eyes unexpectedly welled up. She couldn't bring herself to speak.

Naruto gave her a sideways glance. "Yeah, he does, Boruto. He loves you, ya know?"

"Me too, right, Papa?"

He leaned over and stroked Himawari's dark hair. "Yeah, you too. You're his sweet little Himawari-chan."

She leaned into his arms.

The gentle breeze caressed her hair.

It was a beautiful day. And the gentle breeze rekindled Hinata's old memories of Neji nii-san's smile and laugh. The annoyed tic bursting at his temple when Lee and Guy-sensei were being too "youthful." The frown of concentration he wore when deflecting all of the weapons that Tenten threw at him. The peaceful mornings of meditation and the cups of green tea she would share with him.

And as the family finished off the last of the herring soba, the presence of Neji became positively palpable; they could feel him taking an appreciative whiff of the aroma.

Neji nii-san – Neji oji-san – was still with them, watching over them with his smile.

They left a vase of sunflowers at his grave. It was only fitting, after all.

Sunflowers always face the sun.

A/N: And here's the ending! Hope you all enjoyed the story. I definitely loved writing it! It was difficult at times and I did get stuck on stuff here and there, but overall this story went up to 100 pages on my word doc.

Thank you for the reviews for the previous chapter, Iwik, Jove21, VeAryaMuse, and Lila08! And a big thanks to everyone who reviewed, faved, and followed the story and read on to the end! :)