Please see first chapter for disclaimer, etc.

Prompt: Sunrise

Special Thanks: goes out to DarkAnonymous324, SeiraXD, and naash for your really nice reviews for the last chapter! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Author's Note: This one is, I think, one of my favorites that I've written so far. All the images were so clear in my mind while I was writing it, and I think they translated well onto the page. Thanks again for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

*~Sunrise~*

Tenten slowly opened her eyes, blinking twice before she finally recognized where she was. Lifting her head from the pillow of her arm, she didn't bother to hide her yawn as she gazed at the dying embers of the campfire a few feet away. It seemed like a monumental task to stir from the warmth of her sleeping bag to get it to blaze again.

"Good morning."

The words were spoken from less than three feet behind her. Tenten rolled over, smiling when she saw Neji's whitish eyes gazing in her direction. He'd taken last watch, as he always did, and he'd known, as he somehow always had, that she was awake.

"Morning." Tenten rolled over to hide her yawn, at the same time worming an arm from beneath her blanket to grab a stick and try to stir up the fire. "Is it morning?"

"By your definition, no. But it will be soon." Neji shifted so he was a little closer to the fire, holding his hands out toward the welcome heat. "Thank you."

"Hmm." Burrowing down under her blankets again, she split her time watching the rekindling flames and Neji. He looked relaxed, his Byakugan deactivated. It was more of a habit than anything to keep a night watch, since it was unnecessary because they were in the middle of nowhere with any hints of civilization at least three days' walk in any direction.

Across the fire, Lee mumbled something in his sleep and rolled over, tugging his blanket over his head. Tenten chuckled, always amused by her teammate's reactions in the early morning when the fire was stirred. He preferred complete darkness in which to sleep, but had learned to manage otherwise.

"Hungry?" Neji's hand appeared before her face, holding out a piece of fruit. Thankful, she took it and happily crunched on the apple. The Hyuuga's method of taking apples of varying degrees of ripeness along when he went on a mission certainly worked to her advantage, since he usually shared them with her.

Finishing the apple, she tossed the core into the fire and rested her head on her arm again. The stars were beginning to vanish from the vast sky above them, heralding the arrival of dawn. Though she wasn't really a morning person, Tenten always loved watching the sunrise, particularly when she was on missions and thus able to watch them with Neji.

"It's almost here." Neji's voice was hushed, either to keep from waking their teammates or so he wouldn't destroy the fragile wonder of the moment, Tenten couldn't tell.

Wrapping her blanket around her shoulders, Tenten stood and followed Neji to a point beyond the firelight's glow, so they'd be able to see the sunrise better. They settled down at the base of a tree, sitting so close their shoulders brushed, waiting for that perfect moment when the sun appeared on the horizon.

The final hush before sunrise fell over everything - even seeming to silence Lee's mumbling beneath his blanket - and then the first bright rays spilled over the horizon.

Tenten let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, letting it shiver out of her in awe of the beauty of the new morning. No matter how many times she and Neji watched the sunrise, each one seemed even more spectacular than the last, and, as impossible as it seemed, different from the one that preceded it. Holding her blanket a little tighter around herself, she sighed again and leaned her head back against the tree.

Neji looked at her out of the corner of his eye, eyebrow arched in an inquiring way.

"Beautiful," she said. There were no more words required than that one, which was a good thing because she couldn't think of any others to describe the sunrise.

Lips twitching into one of his rare smiles, Neji shifted so he sat in his usual meditation pose, still as relaxed as he'd looked when she woke. As his eyes drifted closed, Tenten leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder, making sure her blanket was tight around her as she got a few more minutes of precious sleep before Gai and Lee woke up and insisted on getting their usual "youthful" start to the day.

Right before she fell back to sleep, she felt Neji tilt his head over to rest it on top of hers. She fell asleep with a small, content smile on her lips, and that's exactly how Gai and Lee found them almost twenty minutes later.

Tenten cracked open an eye in the predawn stillness, taking a habitual moment to listen and look for any signs of things amiss. When she determined that everything was well, she threw off her blanket and slipped out of bed, snatching up her robe before moving across the room to lean against the windowsill as she waited for the sun to rise.

Even though it was still a little chilly outside, she opened the window so she could smell the flowers, sadly the last of the season. When the sun rose, their colors would be sharper and brighter because of the dew still clinging to their petals - one of her favorite sights in the world. Inhaling, she closed her eyes and smiled, allowing all the sweet and spicy scents to swirl around her, filling the room behind her. The only better thing would to be outside, actually standing among the flowers.

The first few birds started chirping right as the horizon began to turn grey. Tenten grinned, resisting the urge to give a little hop in excitement. Sunrise had become her favorite part of the day, and it was made all the better by…

Strong arms wrapped around her from behind as a head rested against hers. "Just in time."

Tenten tucked herself back against Neji's warmth, not realizing how chilly she'd gotten standing there. "You always are." Her smile grew wider when she felt his breath ruffle her hair with silent laughter.

She had always loved watching the sunrise, but watching it with Neji made it all the better. She hadn't thought that could be improved upon, but watching it with him as his wife made it absolutely perfect.

They stood at their window, a part of the peacefulness of the morning, as they watched the sun rise on their first morning as man and wife.

*~The End~*

Author's Ending Notes: Fluff. I love it. Actually, the last image in this fic was the first to come to mind, and originally this fic was just going to be the last scene, but then the idea for the first scene came to mind, and I thought it would be a nice intro of sorts into the last. Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!