General Disclaimer: I don't own so don't sue.

Chapter Title Disclaimer: This chapter is named after the song that gave me the inspiration to write the scene at the end, "Kiss the Rain" by Yiruma. I swear the man is an absolute genius on the piano and I love every single one of his songs :D

She hadn't moved from that particular corner for the last few minutes.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, more out of curiosity than concern.

Blinking teary, turquoise eyes at him, she gave a small sniffle. "I-I tripped and spilled juice all over my new kimono. Otou-sama will be mad at me." She was really crying now, her tears slipping pitifully down her face.

He, of course, didn't understand what the fuss was about. It was just a dress; he hadn't even noticed the patch of colour splashed across the front of her kimono until she'd mentioned it, since all it did was make the material seem slightly more pink.

But if her parents were going to be angry at her for staining it a little, then there was only one thing to do.

"Come on, we'll find your Otou-sama and tell him," he concluded, oblivious to the girl's instant mortification and lack of resistance as he took her hand. Gently pulling her along with him, he walked out of room that had been set aside for the children to the adjacent hall where all the adults were.

The main foyer was so crowded that he doubted that he would even be able to find his own parents, never mind hers. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come here, after all...

"Okaa-sama!"

The girl ran out from behind him to hug a beautiful lady who looked just like herself.

"Oh my," the lady gasped softly, bending down to her daughter's level. "Rin-chan, what happened?"

"I-I..." Rin stammered, her lower lip quivering as she held back her tears.

"I accidentally bumped into her and she spilled her drink," he blurted out, much to the surprise of both the girl and her mother.

"You're Fuuma-kun, aren't you?" the woman asked, smiling warmly at him when he nodded. "Rin-chan is quite clumsy isn't she?"

Her voice was gentle and unassuming, but his grey eyes widened when the hidden meaning in her words had properly registered in his young mind.

How had she known?

"Thank you very much for helping my Rin. I hope you won't mind taking care of her for me when I'm not around."

Feeling immensely proud of himself, the boy nodded readily in agreement to the lady's request and she signalled for a maid to bring her daughter to change into a new set of clothes.

"Arigato, Fuuma-san," the girl said timidly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Don't call me that. That's my father's name," the boy told her in his childish lilt with all the authority of a six year old heir could possess. "My name is Kazuya..."

The sudden shower had been more than successful in dispersing the usual afternoon crowd. Most had been caught unprepared for the abrupt change in weather and had no choice but to drop whatever they had been doing and scurry for shelter.

Eventually, more and more people began to emerge from the safety of the covered awnings and shop houses, walking down the streets at a quick pace, tossing odd looks from under their umbrellas at the young man who continued on his way as if he didn't even realize it was raining.

Kazuya didn't notice any of it.

He had always loved the rain. The cool water on his skin, the tranquil atmosphere and the semblance of calm and peace it brought, even if he was anything but calm. His eyes were dark and stormy, but also shadowed with doubt.

Looking down at his bandaged hand, he realized that the mission had completely evaporated from his mind when he had seen Tenten holding that kunai over her. That single sight had blocked out everything else that was happening around him, and he had immediately acted without even thinking to protect her.

Grey eyes hardened with harsh self-recrimination as his thoughts took an entirely different direction.

He recalled that fateful assignment he and Tenten had been sent on several months back to protect a civilian village on the outskirts of fire country from bandits. It had been an average C-ranked mission; that was until the bandits found out about the ninja guarding the town and decided to bring in reinforcements.

Instead of the estimated twenty, at least three times that number had ambushed from every imaginable direction.

Two shinobi could only be in two places at once.

When everything was over, he had found her with the bodies of two young girls with dirtied flowers in their hair that matched the ones growing amongst the bloodied grass.

Kazuya had never forgotten that image of her surrounded by dead bandits, countless weapons and the shards of a shattered fuuma shuriken, crying over the children that had been following the kunoichi around since they arrived, constantly asking her to play with them.

It had been a painful reminder that beneath the cold steel and her fiery spirit, she was just like any other girl.

From that day, he had made up his mind to protect her and for a time, he had almost thought that he had been in love with her.

Almost.

But the worry he had felt when Tenten had been in danger last night was nothing compared to the unseemly fury and irrepressible fear that came over him at the mere thought of what could have happened if he had been even a moment too late to save Rin.

You're pathetic.

For years he had been more than aware of how she felt about him. He knew it had been cruel of him to break off their engagement without any warning or providing some form of explanation for his decision.

However, after he had found out about Tenten's current condition and how it had happened, the knowledge had awakened him to the harsh reality that there was a possibility that something like that could happen to himself.

As a shinobi, it was his duty to sacrifice his life on the field for the greater good of his village if need be. It was better for her to be heartbroken now than devastated if he died on a mission.

She deserved someone who would be able to spend the rest of his life with her. If she gave him her heart and he ended up taking it with him to his grave, she would never be the same again.

He would rather live his life without her than let that happen.

Before he came here, he had made up his mind to maintain his distance from her. But when he had seen her after so many years of separation and suppressed emotions, he simply couldn't lie to himself any longer.

Eyes awash with deep emotion, Kazuya watched the raindrops falling from the heavens and wondered absently what he was doing here.

The memory of her hurt gaze refused to leave his mind. He didn't want it to leave; he more than deserved the guilt.

For a moment, he remembered the way she had looked as the innocent little girl who had cried when he'd left his childhood home for Konoha. He could only imagine how many more tears she had shed because of him.

She could never be happy with Fujimura and he had been completely insensitive and utterly stupid to so much as imply it. The only place she would ever be truly happy was with him.

Was a brief moment of happiness with him really worth risking a lifetime of grief? He was certain that it wasn't, but now he realized that it wasn't his choice to make.

It was hers.

With that thought in mind and an entirely unreadable expression, Kazuya turned around and ran back towards the estate.

Things were different now and they would never be the same as they had been before. He didn't even know if this was something he was going to be able to fix, especially since he was the one who had caused it but, he would try.

For both Rin's sake and his own.

True to his reputation as a ninja, he had simply vanished before anyone else had even realized he was gone.

Although she knew that, unlike her, he was fully capable of taking care of himself, it still hadn't stopped her from searching the entire expansive estate for him.

All the servants she had asked hadn't seen him at all. Some had even offered their assistance but she didn't want to trouble them any further even though her own efforts to look for him so far had been in vain.

It was extremely unbefitting for a lady, and downright improper now that she was an engaged one, to be so concerned about another man. Yet, it had somehow become very important to her that she find him before she could no longer see him and he truly walked out of her life for good.

One moment Rin had stopped to catch her breath as she gazed out at the garden spread in front of her, suffused in the watery sunlight that sifted through the departing clouds. The next she was splashing through the muddy puddles the storm had left behind without so much as a second thought.

He was back.

"Kazuya-kun!"

For a split second, Kazuya froze. He could only stand there as she ran towards him, taking in her flushed cheeks and mussed appearance.

Had she been looking for him?

"Are you alright? What happened to you?" The strange mixture of worry and relief in her voice was painfully obvious as she reached up to dab away the water on his face with the edge of her sleeve.

He didn't answer, his tousled, dripping blonde hair hanging down to obscure his face.

She was so close that he could clearly see that her sea-foam orbs were red-rimmed and ever so slightly swollen, as if she had been crying the whole time since he'd left. They were so different from the bright electric blue of his brother's that he had grown accustomed to seeing over the years of her absence. Hers was a softer, lighter shade with a greenish undertone that gave her eyes a beautiful glassy sheen; as if the ocean waves were trapped in her eyes.

This was his only chance to make everything right again and he would never get another if she left. His hand came up and his fingers wrapped around her wrist.

Before she even had a chance to react, his arms were around her, pulling her into a fierce embrace in a flurry of long dark hair and pale silk.

Barely up to his shoulders, her tiny form was pressed so tightly against his chest that the rainwater that soaked his shirt was seeping right through the light material of her kimono. Her heart was pounding so hard that she was sure he could feel it, and the mere thought of it made her blush even harder.

Mild distress hitched into her voice. "F-Fuuma...san-"

"I'm sorry. I never meant to make you cry," he murmured with a tenderness that made her eyes glimmer with tears once again. He felt his chest tighten in the face of her obvious hurt, but he couldn't stop.

"You have to understand that for me; every day, every mission means risking my life. What if-"

Rin shook her head frantically against his chest, clutching the damp fabric of his shirt.

"I..." she began, but her own voice failed her miserably. There were so many things she so desperately wanted and needed to tell him. Finally, the words she had been longing to say tumbled out in a breathless whisper.

"I want to spend whatever time we have now with you."

It was then that he realized how wrong he had been; she was no longer the timid little girl he'd once known and left behind to protect. She had found strength in her own way and grown up to become the beguiling young woman standing before him now.

The deliberate, almost reverent way he ran his hands through her hair and the soft deep tone of his voice when he spoke made her want to cry again.

"I can't promise that I'll never hurt you again, but I swear that I will wake up every morning and dedicate every day of my life to making you happy."

His promise was made with so much love and conviction that the tears fell before she could stop them. Then his eyes met hers, regarding her with an expression she had never seen him wear before as a calloused thumb gently brushed away the salty moisture from her skin.

"Will you marry me?"

Overwhelmed by it all, she buried her face in his shirt before answering in a voice was so soft that he almost missed it.

"Hai..."

Like the first ray of sunshine shining through the clouds after a storm, she looked up at him, her tearful eyes lit up with such sweet joy that he did not know what to make of it, and yet he couldn't bring himself to look away.

Then Rin's turquoise gaze turned anxious and hesitant when she understood the implications of what they had done.

"But what about Soichiro-sama and Otou-sama and..."

Kazuya silenced her with a kiss on the top of her forehead, finding himself rather amused by the slightly confused and unexpectedly endearing look on her pretty features.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll be able to handle them and anyone else," he said, taking her hand into his in a gesture meant more for her comfort than his. "Shall we go, then?"

A single, unspoken word was all the assurance she needed.

"Hai."

Together...

Author's Note:

I'm really really really sorry about my lateness. My exams finished about a week ago, but the combination of the stress, horrid weather and some stupid virus has left me pretty much incapacipated by a cold and being sick really really puts a damper on the creative spirit. T-T

For those who may be interested, I somehow managed to get 17/20 for E-Math (Enriched Math) and 18/20 for A-Math (Advanced Math). Whose ingenius idea it was to split them I'll never know, especially considering that if we're able to do A-Math we should technically be able to do E-Math and there isn't really much of a difference between the two. So in other words I have an average of 87.5% for Math :)

Okay, back to the chapter.

My sis was rather disturbed by all the romance, but being the poor, romantically deprived person that I am, I simply couldn't resist the excuse to write something squeal-worthy. But in the end, both my sis and I agree that there is only one way to describe the last scene: pure, undiluted, cotton-candy fluff XD

The next chapter will be the last of this arc, but not for the whole story. There's a lot more plot to be planned and unresolved issues that have to be resolved so don't start throwing things at me when you see the title for the next chapter.

Some of you may be wondering by now where our two main characters (and the other OCs) have vanished to since this is supposed to be a NejiTen story and all. Not to worry. More fluff, heavily implied or otherwise, will be coming up soon from our favourite couple ;)

Beta-read by the one and only Midnight Memories :D