"Good morning, girls," I muttered halfway through a yawn. "What's going on?"

"It's pretty funny, actually," Hinata replied, passing me a bowl of some kind of tasteless cereal. "I had the bright idea to sit outside your room last night after you went to bed, and I heard what you were saying to yourself. You should have just asked us for help."

Hanabi grinned. "We planned something out for you two to do today."

"And we were hoping you hadn't planned anything."

I smiled, but covered my face with my hands. "That's great. What are me and my husband doing?"

"You'll see," the said simultaneously, which freaked me out. I wasn't used to them being helpful when it involved me, but this was two days in a row where they had been.

So I ran back to the bedroom, where I had left my sweetheart sleeping. This time, though, he was laying there wide awake. "You're alive," I joked.

"Not funny, Ten," he replied, sitting up. "What time did I come in?"

"Well, I fell asleep at midnight, and you weren't in here. So sometime after that." My face was as serious as I could make it. "Neji, you're spending too much time working in there. Just hire someone, because your work is taking away from our special time."

He groaned. "If I hire someone, they'll not make it the way I'd make it."

"So what? You were working on your birthday!"

"That's today, isn't it?"

The nod I gave must have given it away. "Yeah. Happy birthday, love."

"Thanks." He turned and put his feet on the ground. "What are we doing today?"

My mouth froze. "I'm not sure. I was thinking, maybe we could spend some quality time together as we..."

"Go out on the town!" I heard Hanabi hiss from behind the door. I hoped he hadn't heard, as I repeated the line.

And then it hit me. I was taking my workaholic husband out on a trip that a group of girls would enjoy. Not a twenty-two-year-old guy's dream birthday celebration, I understand. But I should have known that those women would plan something that they would like. "Are you serious? We're going out?"

"Yeah, I didn't know what you'd want to do, and since we never actually dated, I figured it would probably be best." I gave him the once-over as he did the same thing to me. "But before we go anywhere, we should probably get dressed properly."

"I agree with the dressed part. Everything else seems like you just wanted an excuse to go out." He was standing now, towering over me, but he bent down just low enough so I could kiss him. "Shall we get ready, Tenten?"

"Of course, Neji. Just, make sure you don't wear anything work-ruined. I don't need to be spending time with someone that visibly looks like they've been building something for awhile."

He was leaning against the closet door, blocking my way from getting any more clothes out, as I already had to have had mostly everything around the room. I was a very picky woman when it came to what I wore on special occasions, it turned out. But after a few minutes of being me, I was finally ready in a pair of everyday pants and a pretty nice shirt.

I shrugged at him when he asked if I was sure it was what I wanted to wear. Yeah, I could have found something better, but I wasn't modeling. Besides, we weren't doing anything romantic, and he wasn't all that dressed up either. So he was obviously intending to ask if I was sure it was comfortable, not if it was gorgeous enough. "You're always beautiful, hon," he reminded me. "Even when you've got pink streaks and no shoes on." He hugged me after that, and soon we were off, holding hands all the way.

Our trip was amazing, to say the least, if only because we didn't give in halfway because one of us was tired. That's how our other experiences had gone, with one of us giving in after a few hours because we just didn't feel like shopping. And, it was only the day before that I had been out with Ino. So if anyone was to quit, it should have been me.

But we stuck it out, window shopping the whole way. I never liked having to rely on other people's money, even if the other person was my husband, and since I had done little work since the wedding, I had gotten no more money. "Ten, look," he had said at one point, before showing me a beautiful dress. Now, I wasn't too keen on dresses, but this one was bright pink. How could I resist wanting it?

"It's...gorgeous," I replied, "but you aren't getting it for me."

"Not now, no. Maybe later, okay?"

His insisting tone lead me to believe he just didn't want to buy me something while it was his birthday. "Sure, babe. Whatever you want."

And then we were walking again. Alone time between us two was hard to come by, ever since he started working on the house. This was quite special, as well as it being the first birthday we had celebrated since we had been married.

"Hey, Neji?" I asked once the sun began setting.

"Yes?"

I looked at his face; it was full of wonder. "Why did you pick me to get married to?"

"Tenten, I've known you for a long time. Yeah, I know we weren't friends, but we were close. And I knew quite a lot about you, enough, in fact, that I knew you'd be great for the family." He closed his eyes. "And you might not get along with them, but they care."

"But did you love me?"

I felt his hand touch my shoulder. "Of course I did."

"Okay. Thanks. Sorry it's taken me until now to ask you."

"No problem. You probably wanted to be away from the rest of them to ask."

I nodded, although I knew he couldn't see. "We should head back. Don't want to be out too late, you know. They might have pla-"

"You know very well they don't care. We could go back and party, just you and I."

Something about the way he said it, it just made me want to do what he suggested. "Let's get going then," I whispered, standing on my toes to reach his ear. "Because that sounds great."

Not even fifteen minutes later, we were back at the house, already undressing, getting ready for another night of celebration. Honestly, I was sure that was the only thing he wanted for his birthday. He was seriously deprived of physical love from me, his wife, and he totally deserved some.

I just wish it hadn't involved our hair getting tangled together, a fact we learned when we woke up the next morning.