Guess what?

I was right.

Naruto and Hinata reacted kindly enough to our barging in on their private meeting with Hiashi and the Elders. Hell, Hiashi himself seemed a bit excited when he saw Neji holding my hand.

But the Hyuuga Elders? Yeah, not so happy.

Of course, in retrospect, we HAD barged in on a wedding meeting.

But that was because Neji and I wanted our OWN d*** wedding meeting.

Naruto was glowing with happiness, so even the Elders glares at Neji and me didn't sway him.

"Ne, let them go first," he said, dragging Hinata to stand up with him. "We'll go share our news with Obaa-san!"

And with that, they took off, Hinata stuttering out a few wimpy protests and Naruto waving them off.

How KIND of Naruto to have left US to deal with the angry old farts.

So Neji and I sat through a few hours' worth of lecturing before Neji quietly interrupted and asked to escort me home. The Elders wanted someone to "chaperone," and so Hiashi led us outside.

And as soon as we left the gates, he hit Neji on the back proudly with a grin.

"You nabbed yourself a good one," I heard him mutter. "I'm proud of you, nephew." Then he looked off towards the hospital.

"Now I wonder where Kushina's brat dragged my daughter off to..." he mumbled, shaking his head."You would think he could have inherited his father's BRAINS, or his MOTHERS, for THAT matter..." And with that Hiashi stomped off, grumbling under his breath.

I was too tuckered out from all the boring old people words to manage more than a weak chuckle. Neji noticed.

"Let's get you home," he said, taking my hand.

"Or," I said hopefully, "we could elope and run away to Suna until Hinata and Naruto are the village leaders. Then we could come back without worrying about all the formalities."

Neji snorted skeptically.

"The Elders would just drag us back here and accuse one of us with kidnapping the other."

I sighed, leaning my head on his shoulder. "Ya got a point there..."

After running into a few people who had seen Neji propose to me earlier, we began hopping roofs to avoid the hassle of accepting congratulations and all of that.

But when we reached the roof of my apartment, I plopped myself down and decided I would pretend I was some immovable rock or something.

Neji, after a few unsuccessful attempts to make me stand, huffed in frustration and sat down next to me.

"You need to rest, Tenten," he said. "We both do. We just got home from fighting a WAR."

I nodded. "I know, but..." I looked up at the moon. It seemed just minutes ago that it had barely replaced the sun, yet now it, too, was receding. "I don't want you to leave just yet."

I saw his eyes soften, and he picked up my hand, examining it.

Or maybe he was admiring how the ring fit. I don't know. Either way, we sat in a contented silence like that, him holding my hand and me watching the moon take its turn to hide from the sun.

Finally, I yawned, accidentally breaking our quiet. Neji helped me stand, and practically dragged me to my front door.

"Don't get out of bed until after noon," he advised me. "I should have sent you to bed hours ago, I'm sorry."

I shook my head, giggling a bit.

"Neji, I don't mind," I said. And then, after a moment, added, "And who told you that YOU were in charge of my bedtime?"

He smiled. "The Elders," he replied. I made a gagging sound and he threw his head back and laughed, pulling me in for a hug.

"Oh God, I love you," he said. I smiled happily.

"Sheesh, did it really take me making a DYING sound to make you say those words?"

He looked down at me sheepishly. "Sorry," he said. "I thought-"

I kissed him.

"Gotcha!" I giggled. He looked down at me, surprised, before arching an eyebrow and flinging me downwards and placing his own kiss on my lips.

"Gotcha," he whispered into my ear. I squealed and buried my head into his shoulder.

"Dude, I'm hanging upside down, let me up!" I said giddily. Neji chuckled and righted me again.

"Good night, Tenten," he said. "I've got to go find Hiashi-sama so we can put up the act that he actually WAS chaperoning us."

I nodded. I could see that his eyes were getting droopy, and realized guiltily it was partly my fault he was so tired.

"Good night, Neji."

He kissed me sweetly before watching me open my door and slide inside my apartment, and I watched him leave from my window.

And then I squealed hysterically and threw myself down on my couch.

I was engaged. I. Was. En. GAGED! To Neji! The boy I'd fallen in love with a long while back!

I fell asleep like that, on my couch, my eyes screwed shut as I remembered the feel of his lips against mine.

"Neji, what's it like having parents?" I asked him.

He shrugged. "I didn't know mine that well; they both died before I reached 7."

"Oh..."

We sat like that for a long time, in an awkward silence, before I cleared my throat.

"So, today we get a free day from Gai-sensei and Lee. Neat, huh?" I asked.

"I guess," was the stout reply.

"It's the first break we've had since Lee got injured last year!" I exclaimed. "We should put it to good use!"

Neji sighed, but stood and trailed along behind me as I headed towards the shopping district.

I was about to turn the corner when I stopped.

"Oh," I said, backing up. I accidentally bumped into Neji.

A couple of civilians were duking it out in the middle of the road.

"What do you-" I was about to step in and break it up when Neji grabbed my arm.

"Don't," he breathed. "Look."

I did.

A girl stood, her hands covering her mouth as she watched the brawl. And when one of the boys got slugged in the face, she flinched and yelled a name.

And the boy who had gotten slugged snapped back into action with a renewed vigor.

He won, naturally, as the cliché goes. And the girl ran up to him, tears flowing down her cheeks, and enveloped him in a hug.

This was one of the first times when I actually thought, Hey, maybe cliché isn't ALL that bad.

And then I recalled that Neji was still holding my arms, and I was still backed into his chest.

And so I tried to pull away.

There was the briefest moment of hesitation on his part, as if he wasn't sure he SHOULD let me go, but then his arms fell to his sides and I stumbled away from him.

I was blushing a bit, but I couldn't wrap my head around HIS actions. Was he PURPOSEFULLY holding me just now?

And why was my heart going all crazy on me?

We ended up not going shopping after all. I remember he randomly sat down on a bench, and so I followed suit, sitting next to him.

So as we sat and watched squirrels run about in the trees, I got drowsy.

When I came to, I realized two things. First, that I felt as if a pillow had just been yanked out from under me, and second, that I was sitting MUCH closer to Neji than I had realized.

"Mweep!" I squealed, jolting up. He looked back at me, amusement twinkling in his eyes.

"What?" he asked.

I was about to open my mouth to reply when I mentally shook myself. Neji wouldn't have put his arm around me while I was sleeping; it was something his personality would never allow.

And yet, for the rest of the day, even after we'd parted ways and I was preparing to go to bed, I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he HAD done it...

And every time I thought that, my heart beat a little faster and my cheeks turned a little pinker.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed two things: first, sunlight was streaming through the blinds on my window, and second, my back HURT like CRAZY!

I sat up and groaned in agony as something began throbbing.

Well, I HAD Ben sleeping in a weird position on the couch...

"Ouuuuuch," I hissed, and began massaging my back as I opened the blinds to check where the sun was.

It wasn't at the midway point yet, so I stretched and went to my room.

I'd LIKE to say I had a beautiful, fluffy bed with tons of pillows and stuff, but that would be lying. I had a so-so mattress with three fluffy pillows, and a blanket that was used year-round.

Honestly, the closest thing to the cliché girly, perfect room image would be the pillows. Seriously.

I fell onto my bed, exhausted, and soon found myself drifting off to sleep again.

And a knock on my door kept me from falling into slumber. I moaned, and just rolled over so that my head was facing the ceiling.

Should I answer it? I wondered. Whoever it was could wait, surely...

And so I drifted back to sleep, tuning the increasingly impatient knocking out.

"Neji," I said. He turned towards me.

We had changed in those three years of training.

And now, suddenly, I just HAD to realize that my FEELINGS had changed, too.

Right before we were about to leave to go fight in a war. A war that one (or both) of us might not come back from.

And here I was, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"Sooooo..." I drawled, stalling for time. "Uhm..."

"Tenten."

I looked up at him. He was walking back towards me now, and he dropped his bags in a hurry.

And he enveloped me in a hug.

I was shocked. I gotta admit, I just WAS. I had been planning on awkwardly confessing to him and then just getting the hell outta there before he could react.

So I guess he had kinda been figuring the same thing, because he began to back away.

"If I don't come back," he said, "just... Don't forget me."

He turned around and began to walk away.

"N...Neji!" I called. He stiffened, but didn't turn to face me.

I took a deep breath.

"If you come back," I said carefully, "and I don't..."

His head snapped around to look at me.

"If you die, I will hunt your spirit down and kill you again."

I smiled. "Well, in that case..." I decided this might be a moment to pull a Naruto, and so I put my hands behind my head, trying to relax myself. It didn't work, but I mentally shrugged; it was better than doing nothing.

"...I love you. So when you get back, we can argue and talk about it all you wanna, but I just had to say it. I love you. Ok. Bye!"

And I turned and got the hell outta there before he could react.

"I love you, too," said a voice.

I jolted awake, eyes wildly wide, and saw Neji sitting on the edge of my bed.

I nearly died right then, let me tell you.

And he just smirked at my crazed reaction to being woken up. He stood and walked towards the doorway.

"The Elders want to continue the chat with us."

I yawned and stretched and stood and headed for the kitchen, trying to forget I'd just freaked out so badly.

"Then I'll need some fuel." As I grabbed a pan and rummaged through the refrigerator for eggs, a thought occurred to me.

"Hey, how'd you get in?"

He smiled and sat on my couch. "I picked the lock."

I momentarily glared at him before I continued preparing my food.

"If you broke my lock, I swear I'll..."

He laughed. "Relax. I used Byakugan to watch what I was doing."

I sighed dramatically. "It can't be helped, I guess. Want an egg?"

"I ate earlier, thanks."

Once more a contented silence as we followed our individual trains of thought.

"Why'd you say you love me?" I asked suddenly.

"Uhh, cuz I DO-"

"Nonono, I mean when you woke me up."

Neji looked at me with a monotonous expression. "You said you loved ME. So I answered."

I nodded as I realized I must have been talking in my sleep. "I was dreaming."

"About what?"

"About you. About me. About US." I lowered the heat; the eggs were pretty much done. "I was remembering about when I first realized I loved you, and about when I confessed to you."

He nodded understandingly, as if this were something perfectly understandable. "Fun."

I laughed. "Yeah, sorta. I didn't like repeating the whole butterfly business."

I took the pan to the table and dumped it on top of a trivet as I went in search of some chopsticks. "You sure you don't want any?" I asked. "They're delicious."

His lips twitched upward a bit, but otherwise Neji remained completely composed.

"No offense, Tenten, but eggs are just eggs, no matter how you look at them. It's a fact of life."

I shrugged. "The way I see it, you need to appreciate 'em anyways. They're not big, but it's the little eggs that make it worth all the trouble."

After I finished eating and getting ready to appear in public, we headed over to the Hyuuga house. Hiashi casually joined us at some point along the way and grumbled something about how marriages should be approved by families and not just Hokages, and that his little girl hadn't even said a word about it to him. Not that he minded it was "Minato's," but he still didn't like the way "they went about the whole ordeal."

I assumed Hiashi wasn't taking his daughters relationship kindly.

The Elders drawled on and on about wedding ceremonies and preparations and even began arguing about if our child should have a Caged Bird seal. I eyed Neji meaningfully and he in turn eyed Hiashi warily.

And so Hiashi offered to the Elders a simple solution: Neji and I could just have a public wedding, and in that case, a child born of us would be treated as a normal civilian.

I wasn't pleased with the idea of raising a kid who would be a social outcast within its own clan, but then I remembered that by then Hinata would be the clan leader. And Naruto would be Hokage. Together, they would be able to back me up politically enough so that the child would be able to live a normal clan-members life without the threat of being sealed.

And then, RIGHT when things were wrapping up, I felt something unpleasant arising inside me.

I looked wildly around before rushing out and following my vague memory of visits here to train.

I barely made it to a bathroom before puking my guts out. Neji rushed in after me, worry written all over his face.

After I was done hurling my breakfast into the toilet, I groggily stood up.

Maybe Neji was right about the whole egg thing. Maybe I was wrong about them.

Either way, I would have to throw those eggs away. Obviously there was something in them that had not agreed with me.

Neji stood there awkwardly as I rinsed my mouth out.

And then he turned around and stomped down the hallway suddenly.

I hurriedly followed him, still feeling a bit dizzy.

What got HIM so upset?

... Maybe my breath? I grimaced. The aftertaste was nasty...

He turned around the corner and walked right up to an Elder who looked back at him with a bit of fear.

"What gives you the right to use your Byakugan on my fiancé while she's in a restroom?" he said.

Did I detect a hint of anger in his voice?

And wait, WHAT?

"Well, then perhaps there is an explanation for her rude exit."

Neji emitted a low growl. "She is sick," he said. "That hardly gives you permission to watch a young girl who is engaged as she enters a bathroom-"

"And is there any particular reason for her illness?" asked an Elderly woman.

I shivered when I caught the gist of what was being hinted at.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, jumping in between a CLEARLY ticked off Neji and the Elders facing us. "Look, I was in a hurry this morning to meet you here, so I didn't cook my eggs right this morning." Come to think of it, I hadn't bothered to check if they had had blood or eggshells mixed in with the yolk, either. Yeesh. Just my luck to get a BAD egg on the one day I'd need a GOOD one.

The Elders didn't believe me. It was written all over their faces.

"Look, I'm still a freaking vi-" I began.

"My nephew and his soon-to-be wife were not involved in any impure acts."

I turned and saw Hiashi walk in. He didn't look too happy with how the situation was turning out.

"I was with them when you sent me to chaperone, and the Hokage herself reported to me that Neji did not return until late last night. He met Tenten by the gate; Tsunade-sama told me that Neji's fellow ninja witnessed their reuniting there, and they said that they immediately began their journey here to seek permission to be betrothed." Hiashi looked at each Elder in the eye. "I fail to see how they could have found time in between to have even GLANCED at each other." With that, Hiashi stomped off to wherever he went, and Neji and I left quickly to avoid further questioning.

"That was..." I began as we began walking back to my house.

"I apologize," he said. "The Elders... have been known to jump to conclusions."

I laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure. 'Look, she ran off, let's peep on her!' Must go over WONDERFULLY around there, huh?" I laughed again.

Neji sighed. "You need to go home and rest. You're sick."

I was about to protest when I saw someone walking among the crowd on the streets. "Hey, how about a quick healing? That'll do, right?" I ran off and called out.

"Sakura, hey!"

The pink-haired girl turned around. Her eyes were puffy, as if she'd been crying, but she also looked as if she were on cloud nine.

Love, I thought. It does crazy things.

"Hey, Tenten. Hi, Neji." She grinned. "Tsunade told me the news; congratulations, you two!"

I nodded. "Yeah, thanks." Neji cleared his throat before I could show Sakura my ring.

"We were wondering if you could help Tenten?" he asked. "She's ill."

Sakura nodded slowly.

"You're not...?" she asked. I groaned.

"Not you, too!" I wailed miserably.

"We have not done anything dirty of any sort, so if you could HEAL her," said Neji curtly. I nearly died of laughter at the sound of Neji saying "dirty," but I did my best to refrain, for his sake.

"Uhm, ok then."

Once Sakura produced a packet of pills from her pocket ("You probably just got food poisoning"), Neji and I continued to my apartment.

"So, I was thinking," I said slowly, "Do you think Naruto and Hinata will be able to prevent our kids from having a seal...?"

Neji nodded. "Yes," he said with a soft smile, "I'm sure Naruto will change that about the clan."

Content with the answer, we hurried to my home.

"Uhmmm..." was all I squeaked out.

Neji continued tucking me into bed as if he hadn't heard me.

"I will come to check on you later," he said. "In the meantime, rest."

He kissed my forehead as I huffed annoyingly.

"But I'm fiiiiiine," I protested.

"Sakura said you should rest, so-"

"Yeah, but this is, like, WAY overboard," I retorted. Neji huffed in irritation.

"Will a kiss make you feel better?" he asked.

I giggled. "Maybe," I replied. "Only one way to find out."

And so he leaned down and kissed me tenderly, and in return I consented to going back to sleep after he left.

And I dreamed of us walking hand in hand away from the Hyuuga compound, talking about eloping and children and Konoha's future and OUR future.

And if eggs were really worth the trouble.