◊ (December is a Great Month) ◊

∆ (Hoshigakure, Hoshi Complex, and Neji's Room) ∆ - ¤ (Many Months Later) ¤ - VP: Neji

I awoke and weirdly enough I had a weird sense that today would be a better day then those pasts. It was the first day of December. This meant many things with it. It meant winter was starting soon, Christmas was around the corner, but the most exciting thing was Tenten and I would be returning to Konohagakure in 3 more days. Everything would be different when we returned. Sakura, Hinata, and Ino would pull Tenten away from me all day so they could help prepare the wedding and I'd be left to sit quietly with Shikamaru, Sasuke, and possibly Naruto if Sasuke was as if he normally is and gagged him. I'd rarely see Tenten like we've been doing for the last 10 months but it was a change we'd have to adjust.

I went to the windowsill and looked out at the stars, it was night most of the time when you woke up in the morning, it gave a wonderful feeling to people, they nights were longest after all during the winter here.

There was a knock at the door. I went to the door. Kiba was standing there. "Um… Tenten here?" He asked nervously not trying to falsely imply something. I nodded laying a hand on his shoulder.

"You have something for her?" I asked.

"Yes. Naruto left a letter to me saying to call him when you were by yourself." I nodded, closing the door and leaving her in peace. I went to the phone and called Naruto.

"Naruto… what did you need?" I asked a bit tired from not keeping my normal schedule.

"Neji… good. When we get back, the plan is to buy the girls their actual wedding rings for Christmas. They guys and I figured that it would be best now since the wedding is still going to put us down a lot of money so we decided to buy it early for them to slip the expenses slowly." Naruto told me.

"That's quite smart actually dobe, who suggested it?"

"It was a group effort. I was thinking about the engagement ring you got Tenten, then how we didn't buy wedding rings for them and then I asked when we'd get them. Shikamaru suggested sometime soon to ease the costs but Sasuke was thinking about how Christmas was coming and that would be expensive and Shikamaru suggested that be our gift to them among other smaller things." I smirked; it was what you get when genius ninja think. Even Naruto is worthy of help for this.

"I think that's quite intelligent. When we return, we'll do that right away. The girls will expect we'll go shop for tuxes but we'll do that later and get their rings now."

"That's smart especially since the girls are planning on taking Tenten with them on their crazed wedding planning party."

"We allowed?" I asked.

"No." He answered bluntly. "Girl's night out."

I sighed. "They deserve it though; it's been a while with everything going on, especially for Tenten. How's Ino holding up by the way?"

"Shikamaru is slowly helping her sickened heart. Sakura is helping through counseling and Sasuke, and I stay out of the way. Hinata helps too but nothing much then their relationship is going. What day are you two coming back?" He asked.

"3 days."

"Man, that's…" Naruto stopped himself from saying whatever he was planning on saying.

"What?"

"It's the day Ino goes and visits Kaydin's grave. Shikamaru has her down to once every other month now. We agreed to do that since it's the holidays and such."

"Alright, tell everyone that I'll see them soon."

"Okay Neji." Naruto said into the phone. I hanged up.

"Oi, what was that about?" A man asked behind me.

I jumped back, and then sighed. "Ms. Hoshi, I didn't expect you here." I said.

"Don't worry, I promise to take good care of my country." I nodded. This lady was Tenten's far aunt. She was really Tenten's aunt, her mom's sister but since she had always lived far away, she was Tenten's 'far' aunt.

"Tenten has trained you back into shape. You'll be fine. You should expect Tenten's parents to return after the trial and our wedding." She nodded.

"I do hope so." She told me. "I can't handle this place for long, it's not really my think but for the country sake, I will guard it and rule it with my life."

"That's all we ask, that and make sure the country doesn't fall." I said.

"Of course." She said. I left and returned to the bedroom. I saw Tenten dancing around the room like some sort of crazed maniac. I stood there until her foot caught on the blankets on the ground and she feel gently, into my arms.

"Morning Neji." She greeted looking up at me. I kissed her lips. "You seem in a happier then normal mood this morning."

"Yeah. I talked to Naruto."

"This early, about what? Usually talking to Naruto hits a nerve." She said twisting in my arms so she could meet my eye level and face me.

"You know me too well but the news that I heard was quite interesting."

"Really, about the wedding?" She asked.

"Yeah, Ino's doing happily. Naruto seems to be getting a lot smarter. Sakura and Sasuke are getting along great."

"They truly are." She told me.

"They were destined for each other after all." I said.

"Of course." She said with a smile. "Just like us!" She said happily.

"So mind explaining the dancing?" I asked.

"3 days and we'll be back home." She said happily.

"I don't see that as a good thing." I answered.

"Why?"

"Because… I've become accustomed to life here but I will be good to be back though."

"I guess you're right, everything will change. I'll have to go back to living by myself, preparations for the wedding, training will be limited since I'll have tons of missions and we'll… we'd… be… together less." Tears were falling from her face now. I shouldn't have said that earlier. He legs gave out but luckily, I caught her I placed on hand under her knees and one around her back. She was like a baby the way I was holding her, her head resting in my shoulder as she cried.

I turned around and sat down on the bed. I hand placed her legs over the side of the bed while she still cried silently into my shoulder. "Tenten, sh… sh… come on… please?" I begged.

"Neji… I don't want to be apart."

"Sh… Tenten… it's not ever going to be long. Remember soon we'll be married to each other and you'll never have to leave my sight if you don't want to again." I said. She'd be my wife so she'd be at my side through life, everything would fall into place through that. I smiled and picked up her left finger, and on it was the engagement ring I had given her. I held brought it to her face. "You see that ring, that ring says that no matter what we'll be together again. I promise you that."

"Neji…" She said a smile returning to that face of hers. I pulled her close to me again. "Thanks."

"What good would be if I couldn't comfort you?" She smiled.

"You'll still be good at a lot of other things though." I rolled my eyes and her silliness.

"Go get dressed Tenten, I'll meet you in the kitchen." She gasped.

"I forgot to make breakfast, I'm so…" I placed a finger on her head and she fell to the bed, backward. She seemed surprised, yet scared.

"I'll take care of it Tenten; it's not only your job." I said leaving her there surprised. Kiba, Shino, and Lee all looked at me.

"Is she alright?" Shino asked.

"Yes, Tenten is alright, isn't she?" Lee asked scared about his old teammate, friend.

"Yes, she is fine. She was just a little bit sad about leaving here. It's hard changing back to what we're use to after the 10 months we've spent here." Everyone nodded.

"So the marriage is sometime in the spring, huh?" Kiba asked.

"Yes, it seems so. We're looking about April, 4 months." I said while making breakfast.

"What's happening with Naruto and them all?" Kiba asked.

"Naruto is being smarter, if only a little it seems. Ino is slowly accepting the death of Kaydin and meanwhile Shikamaru is finally being accepted as the person who she really loved. Naruto is getting trained by Tsunade to be able to take over as Hokage when he marries Hinata." I answered. "Sasuke and Sakura are their normal selves." Everyone nodded understood.

"Is Tenten ready for the wedding?" I shrugged.

"Ask her yourself, she standing by the door." I said smirking not even turning around.

"Hi, you guys' ninja detection skills need major work." Tenten said. "Don't even talk to me about you Neji, you just know me too well." She said with a pout. I carried the food over to the table and sat down. I grabbed her hand and pulled her to her seat.

"So Tenten, are you going to answer the question?" Kiba asked.

"Alright, no, I don't think I'm ready yet. We still need and exact date, dresses, shoes, a location, a house, my parent's trial, and there's so much more to do but as well in mentally prepared goes, I so ready for it. It's just the physical aspects the others and I haven't got yet." Kiba nodded.

"I'm so happy about these marriages, Tenten!" Lee yelled jumping from the table.

"Lee, sit down." She yelled.

"Alright Tenten," Lee said obediently sitting down.

"You ready to head home in Tomorrow Night?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I think I am." I answered him.

I thought about all the people who I had met out here, Milo and Diana, all my relatives even if they aren't closely related they relied on her and me. Tenten is surely going to enjoy being back even though neither of it feel like it now.

After we finished eating Shino, Lee and Kiba went out around the place doing whatever. I took Tenten's hand in mine. "You ready?"

"For what?"

"For everything." I answered. I picked her up bridal style and carried her out somewhere. I was going too fast for her to keep track of. I liked December because the weather was more mild then normal times; it was only a bit colder since we didn't get snow. It was like spring in most normal in-between countries. I stopped and I think Tenten was surprised where I had brought her. She looked out. "What is it?" She asked.

"A lake." I answered.

"Ah? Why did you bring me here?"

"We're going swimming." I said.

"Ahem." She said placing her hands on her hips. I tossed her a little box. It contained her swimsuit in it. I had packed it late last night; I had this planned. "Ahem." She said again.

"What now?" I asked.

"Ahem, I suggest you turn around and deactivate your Byakugan, Hyuuga Neji or I'm alerting Hinata of you're…"

Before she knew it, I had placed my hand over her mouth. "Sh… alright. You change and I promise not to look."

"I swear… if…" I placed my hand over her mouth again.

"I won't… trust me."

"What sad is when it comes to trust my 'Neji's not a pervert when it comes to me' instincts, I'd fail 100 times because I just don't." I smirked and she would have slapped me if I had not caught her arm.

"Change now." I told her. She eyes me carefully and I turned around, after of course deactivation my Byakugan. She thinks I'm a pervert when it comes to her. Hello, I'm her soon-to-be husband. How many times do we have to go through this? It's all okay. Well unless you're from Konoha, then it's not or you're the Hyuuga Clan member, then it's not either. I guess I'm both so until I'm officially very not allowed to think those thoughts and even then I don't and I'd probably be beat up countless times for doing that by Tenten's protectors.

"I'm done." I turned around to look around, not seeing her anywhere. "Up here, duh!" She yelled. I looked up at a 45-degree angle into a tree, and there was Tenten. I smirked.

"Smart Tenten, using my weakness to protect yourself."

"Not protect myself, reassure myself. I was right." She said jumping down in her bathing suit.

"About what?"

"That you weren't peaking." She said with a smile.

"Of course not, I really do respect you more than that Tenten."

"Good, I'm glad because by the way you stare at me sometimes it worries me a little."

I walked over to her and kissed her, wrapping my arms around her waist. She smiled pleasantly. I picked her off her feet. She looked terrified as I jumped into a tree. "You trust me?"

"You know something Neji, I do but if you wouldn't ask, I'd trust you more." I smiled.

"It's also a way of warning, I want you to close your eyes and hold your breath when I say so, alright." She nodded obviously trusting me. "I suggest you hold on tight." She nodded and gripped my neck tightly resting her head on my shoulder.

"I'm ready, but what are we doing?"

"You'll see."

I jumped but not using speed, I felt normally. She was scared I could feel as her muscles tightened. Tenten was a genius at math when it came to trajectory and angles, the angle we were falling and the rate along with whatever else she was thinking calculated that from the small depth of the lake we would smack the ground probably killing us. "Now." I said gently. She did as she was told as we fell into the water. After a few seconds, I released one of my hands and mimicked the jutsu I had practiced before. "Kaiten." I said. The chakra made a buoyant chakra field separating us from the water.

"What's going on?" She asked while we spun.

"We're going someplace, just wait."

"What?!" She yelled. I had to make it. We did. I swam into a large space in the ground and up. I climbed out of the water and laid the quite frightened Tenten next to me.

"Open your eyes Tenten," I said. She opened one, and then the other then her face was amazed. "I figured this would be something you would want to see.

One day at practice, I was scanning this area and I saw the underground cavern and I couldn't see well but I knew that it was beautiful. "Where did we end up?"

"Not far from where we left, it's a cavern behind a waterfall it seems though it's beyond my vision range so I figured we'd adventure of for a day." I told her. She nodded.

The place was humongous, the roof had stalactites but the ground was like sand making it not so cold but like a weird cave beach like setting. Tenten was amazed I knew, since she hadn't moved from her spot on the ground. "Neji, thank you."

"For taking you here?" I asked, not sure about what she was thanking me for exactly.

"Not only has that but for making me felt better this morning, and really just everything." She answered.

"I could thank you for everything too Tenten, but I really don't have enough time to list them all either." She gave a happy smile and got to her feet.

When spent a good part of the day there, enjoying each other's company, talking, telling stories, dreams and other thoughts that we never usually thought to talk about, it was good. It was the best way that relationships would work out. It was weird that Tenten and I never had arguments and if they did it was because one of us was too stubborn for their own good and they other was just trying to help.

We swam back out of the lake and we sat at the edge of the lake looking in. "It was a good day." She said smiling. She had slipped on her normal clothes over her swimsuit to keep her warm.

"Yes, it was." I answered. "It's amazing how things so simple can be so wonderful." She nodded. We sat there until it began getting late and I heard a sound. Tenten's stomach growled, it was 8 and she hadn't had anything in 14 hours, of course, she was hungry. I most likely was too but I hadn't noticed it until now.

"Let's go back." I said. There was no response. Tenten was sleeping there. I sighed. "You're just lucky that your light and I don't care to carry you around all the time." I said quietly jumping into the distance.

I walked into the house, the house was peaceful and so was the city. The Hoshi's had a big month long celebration time before Christmas so all of them were in their home celebrating with family which I sort of missed doing, I however, wanted to do it with Tenten. The Hyuuga Clan was traditional and only celebrated on the actual day which made for some big interactions.

The nights in Hoshigakure were a bit cold sometimes. I realized Tenten was still wet so I laid her on the couch and wrapped her small delicate frame with blankets tightly around her like a small child. I picked her up like that, carried her into the bedroom, and laid her down. I loosened the covers around her and pulled up the thicker blankets that had been left.

Before I went to bed, I decided to take a warm shower and clean of the somewhat dirty water, Tenten would probably clean our bedspreads anyway, she usually does. Especially since this is our last night here, she'll keep it clean.

I walked out and my eyes met a girl who was sitting up and staring at me. She was tangled in the blankets and was upset. "Neji… um… help?" She asked. I smirked and helped her untangle the blankets. She immediately went to the bathroom, brushed her hair, changed her clothes and came out. "I'm cold. Why is it so cold?"

"One, its December. Two, we just finished swimming. Three, you haven't completely dried off yet. Four, it is." She sighed and curled up in my arms.

"This is the last time we'll be doing this for a while." I nodded. I kissed her forehead. It was already late and we needed sleep to wake up good and early tomorrow.

The Reasons Why… December is a Great Month.

1. it meant winter was starting soon

2. it meant Christmas was around the corner

3. They were returning to Konohagakure in 3 days.

4. he was going to buy Tenten a real wedding ring for Christmas

5. 4 months till the wedding

6. weather was mild

7. it felt like spring normally did

8. it's sometimes cold

A/N: I'm sorry this is late but I'm super busy with Finals and I haven't been home much at all and it was a short chapter since I had to take in account next weeks' extremely copy-catted chapter about Christmas. Sorry it's short and late but you know you got it didn't you?