Epilogue: So It Goes
A gentle spring breeze blew through the open window of the transport vehicle. Neji bore the jarring of the horse-drawn carriage as best he could, but every now and then he needed Tenten to apply her minimal healing abilities to deaden the pain. They were traveling alone. Lee was in the identical carriage behind them, guarding Kuma and Shou. The young couple was bound for Konoha despite the protestations of Artsuma Takeda.
Tenten was gazing out the window when Neji interrupted her thoughts. "You never responded," he said. His voice was stronger than it had been two days ago.
"What?"
"When I told you I loved you," Neji explained, "you didn't say anything." Tenten felt her throat catching. "Is it that you don't love me?" Worry etched across his porcelain skin.
"It's—it's not that," Tenten mumbled.
"Then what?"
"Well, you're… you're Hyuga Neji and I'm… I'm just Tenten. You're not supposed to love a girl like me."
"Tenten, come here," Neji said, quelling her protests with a stern look. She crossed the carriage to sit next to him. Before Tenten could stop him, Neji She crossed the carriage to sit next to him. Before Tenten could stop him, Neji had taken her hands in his own and pulled her closer.
"I want you to listen carefully," Neji said with a ferocity that enthralled her. "I love you. When you were gone for a week—a measly week in which I didn't know what was happening to you—I was going through hell. You saw how I looked and that wasn't even the worst of it.
"I want to be with you. In a respectable amount of time I want to marry you. We will then proceed to have numerous Neji and Tenten juniors and we will train them all to be ninja prodigies. Okay?"
Tenten closed her sagging jaw. "Just one condition."
"Anything," Neji promised.
"We need better names than Neji and Tenten junior."
Spring became summer, became autumn, became winter. The seasons blended as leaves grew and fell from the trees one by one. Snow settled in a thin blanket over the Fire Country. Against the wishes of their genin, Neji and Tenten worked their teams outside in the snow, frequently receiving dirty looks from the younger people for their methods of keeping warm.
Neji and Tenten nestled together watching the genin complete their drill and laughing as Neji's exuberant Zei attempted to woo Tenten's calm Ashiwara ("Ashi-chan, watch this!"). Their fingers wove together in the cold and Tenten absently wondered when exactly Neji planned to put a ring on her left hand. He had teased her numerous times with jewelry boxes that contained only earrings or a bracelet, never a ring. Every time Neji had grinned from ear to ear and she had promptly smacked him for laughing at her after he was properly thanked for the gift.
In the distance, Tenten could see a flash of red mounting the snow banks. As the color drew closer she realized that it was Artsuma Kuma's vibrant red hair. Kuma stopped in front of them, panting. The genin paused to stare. "What is it?" Tenten asked, noting the panic in Kuma's eyes.
The fear brought back a glimmer of the old Kuma. For the most part, the young woman was completely transformed. She had only been living in the village for a year and already she had demonstrated tremendous capability and potential. Just a week ago she had been awards her forehead protector.
"Tsunade-sama just received word," Kuma said slowly, "that Nazuki has escaped." Kuma paused to let the first news of his (for after Nazuki's capture and subsequent medical exams it was proven that he was indeed a man) escape sink in. "There's more. He left a message on his cell wall with his own blood. 'This is only the beginning. The powers will be united and the kingdom shall fall. Those who have stood in the way shall die.'"
Tenten felt a chill creep up her spine that had nothing to do with the cold. Neji's arm squeezed more tightly around her waist. She turned to the genin who stared at them half-puzzled, half-afraid and perhaps even angry somewhere in between. "Finish today's training at home," she told them curtly. "Do not speak of this to anyone yet and do not take any risks."
Neji pulled her to her feet. "We should go see Tsunade-sama," he said calmly. "Kuma, you had best bring Shou with you. I believe it may concern him."
Tenten closed her eyes and sighed. "I wasn't expecting this."
"If you think I'm going to let him lay a hand on you—"
"I know you wouldn't. Frankly, I worry more about you."
"Don't."
"Too late."
Last Author's Note: If you made it to the epilogue I'm glad. As for the chapter title... sorry I've been reading Slaughter house Five lately. I just have a quick question about your preferences for the sequel. How much are you willing to put up with my original characters, by this I mean Kuma and Shou and probably a new cast of genin for Neji and Tenten breifly mentioned in this story. I just want your opinions on the matter cause I know how annoying it can be to read other people's orignial characters in fanfiction sometimes. That's really the big thing i wanted to ask. You're all welcome to give me suggestions. As for expected release time, it's probably going to take somewhere between a month or two because I really ought to be focusing on college applications right now. When that torment is over I'll be back. Sigh, if only I could get paid for this... Anyway, thanks for reading. Love you all. MADNESSINMYMETHOD