Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters involved with the story. That honor is Kishimoto-san's. Anyways, get ready for some NejiTen fluff! ^^ NaruHina also, and a dash of SasuSaku (if you look carefully). Enjoooy~~~

I'm the kind of girl who likes to laugh. Sure, every girl has her whimsical fantasies about her prince charming coming to save her from the dragon clutches that are school, but it never saddened me when I realized those daydreams would never come true.

To the contrary.

I laughed it off.

So when I was placed on a team with Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee, I had replaced my hilarious former dreams with more practical ones: I wanted to be a famous ninja, like the Sannin Tsunade. I wanted her strength, too. Even I couldn't laugh at these dreams.

Now, that's not to say I STOPPED laughing or anything. When our sensei showed up in all his green spandex-y glory, I couldn't help but burst out laughing. And when Lee adopted Gai-sensei's hairstyle and fighting style, I had to hold on to Neji to keep from falling to the ground in giggles.

Needless to say, I've leaned on Neji a lot.

Like the time when Lee tried to run up the side of the Hokage monument and ended up ripping his new jumpsuit. Neji was annoyed, Gai-sensei was horrified, and I was hysterical with laughter. I was holding on to Neji for dear life then, too.

And the time when Naruto fell out of his chair at Ichiraku's. We happened to be passing by when he did, and I just- ugh. I couldn't help it! I tried, I honestly did, because Naruto is such a sweetie, but I ended up chortling anyways. Neji actually had to help me get up from the ground because I was having trouble catching my breath.

I could go on forever, because there are tons of times when I've needed Neji to help me stand because I was chucking my innards out, but you've only got so much time and I've only got so much patience.

So.

It was a nice, beautiful day when I finally returned to Konoha after the war. I was exhausted, but we had won, somehow; it was probably because of Naruto. That boy can change the tides of battle faster than he can talk, and that's saying something.

Anyways, the birds were chirping, the trees were green and rustling softly, the sky was a rich blue- the whole cliche. And here I was, a war hero, all sweaty and beaten and bloody and bruised, probably looking hopelessly out of place in my armor and ripped clothing and smelly self. Even from the distance, I could hear the cheers. The civilians were welcoming the returning army.

I smiled faintly, glad I'd had other people to make the journey home with. The Ino-Shika-Cho gang were noisily arguing about who had the most influence on the field. I had to sniffle a snort of mirth.

It seemed that even after all the blood we'd seen, we were all still us.

That was a relief to me.

After shoving past the crowd cheering at us, I hurriedly headed home. My number one priority: a shower. You'd think that having plenty of water would be a priority to the officials; bathing keeps diseases from spreading as easily, after all.

Nope. Apparently having loads of it to save "in the event of drought" was more important than keeping us all from dropping like fleas of diarrhea or bronchitis or something. As if the drought wouldn't evaporate away all that stored water, anyways.

Suddenly my head snapped up when I heard thousands of screams and yells of joy from the front gate. Even from the distance I had made, I could hear them chant the tree syllables of a name.

I grinned.

So Mr. War Hero was back, eh?

I went and showered, all right. My own bit of gratitude to the goofball could wait until AFTER I didn't smell like dead bodies and sweaty pigs.

Id say it took me a good few hours to get all my spoils of war arranged in my closets and stuff. I washed my clothes and rearranged my weapons arsenal, making room for my new gear. I showered til the water was freezing cold because I'd used up all the warm stuff, and then wrapped myself up in some seriously fluffy towels.

My parents? I don't have any. It's why I always kinda thought Naruto wasn't as bad as the villagers made him out to be- I couldn't diss him for just wanting a laugh or two.

Hell, I knew the feeling all too well.

Pardon my language. Neji and Lee've been working on me about that, and you'd be surprised how well it's turning out. Hell's one of the few words I frequently use anymore.

Anyways, it was evening when I finally was ready to go find Naruto. The sky was continuing it's cliche thing and was all pink and red and golden, with stringy little clouds that took on the color of whatever patch of sky they were in. I had to stop and admire it a bit. Sure, cliche is overdone, but who's to say it isn't beautiful in it's own way?

I found him at Ichiraku's, eating the owner out of house and home. He grinned when I waved at him, and nearly swallowed a chopstick when I thwacked him on the back.

Sakura, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Kiba, Shino and Lee were already gathered around him. I saw the shopkeeper's daughter waving away speculating civilians.

They were probably trying to give Naruto a moment of peace.

But there were two people I didn't see around.

The Hyuuga's.

As Naruto told his heroic tale of a battle hard-won, and Sakura began to sob and ran off to the hospital to kill/kiss the Uchiha, I asked Lee if he'd seen them yet. When I got no affirmative from him, I tapped Shikamaru on the shoulder and asked him if he knew if they were ok.

He sighed, taking a drag on his cigarette, and shrugged.

"Who knows? They're probably on their way home right now, but you never know."

I nodded. If Shikamaru figured they were fine, I'd trust his calculations.

After a while Naruto seemed to notice their absence, too. His grin lessened and lessened, until he was hanging his head and getting up to go home and call it a day.

I caught up with him as he began rooftop-hopping.

"Hey, I know you've heard this way too much all day, but thanks. You're a lifesaver."

He grinned back at me, and we stopped on a high, flat rooftop. "Yeah, well, I appreciate it. I know you all really mean it." His grin slipped and he looked up at the horizon there the sun was disappearing.

"Have you heard from them...?" he asked quietly. I shook my head.

"I'm worried, too."

He nodded, then flashed a surprisingly honest grin at me. "Ne, I'm sure they're on their way."

He began to hop, but then turned back to me.

"Hey, if you see them... Will you come get me? I need... I have to tell Hinata something."

It took me only a second to grasp what he was saying. I nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, I will."

He nodded, and left me there.

And I, having no desire to turn in yet, decided to go sit at the gate.

The guards posted there gave me a few skeptical looks when I plopped myself down right smack-dab in the middle of the road, but they didn't tell me to move, so I didn't.

I waited until the sun had hidden and the moon had risen to give chase, trying to spot where it was hiding as it arched higher into the starstruck night sky.

And I decided, hey, I should probably go to sleep now.

I stood, dusted myself off, waved to the guards, and began the trek back to my apartment.

I was turning onto my street when I heard shouts.

My eyes widened.

I forgot how tired I was and just ran.

As I turned the corner to go back out the gate, I stopped, breathless.

They were back.

FINALLYYYYYYYYY!

I was about to start forward when I remembered Naruto. He didn't live that far from my house, so I turned on my heel and dashed back the way I'd come.

If he was upset I'd interrupted him right before a shower, he didn't show it.

But I had interrupted him, and so he ended up running out of his apartment holding a shirt to put on and zipping his pants up as I lead the way.

He passed me up, zipping his jacket up, and I couldn't help but follow, curious.

It was worth it.

He pushed past the crowd slowing the army's pace to their respective homes, scanning the crowd until he spotted her. Then he just leapt off someone's head and landed a few feet from her, balanced himself, and without a pause, ran and scooped her up in a full-blown hug.

She was blushing, probably fighting to stay conscious, but she slowly responded by patting him nervously on the back. Then he pulled back, asked something, and smiled broadly when she slowly nodded and turn redder.

And then he swept her up in his arms again and spun wildly with her, laughing, and yelling his reply to her.

It was really truly funny. I giggled a bit, but then I just gasped and watched giddily as he put her down, kissed her passionately, and whispered something else in her ear as she caught her breath.

As the crowd cheered and whistled, she nodded again, and his smile seemed to spread off his face as he grabbed her hand and ran off with her, laughing freely.

And she followed, for once not painfully aware of the gathered crowd, and laughed freely, too.

They were headed towards the Hyuuga compound.

Probably to ask Hiashi if they could get married, I thought smugly. Oh yes, he would say yes, and soon enough there would be bells and singing and in a few years, there would probably be little Naruto's and Hinata's running around the village, proudly using their Hokage father's influence to get their way.

I laughed to myself as I began searching the crowd again.

He wasn't here. My grin fell.

Where WAS he, darnit?

I began to head towards the Hyuuga household. I mentally apologized to Naruto and Hinata as I headed to barge in and demand to speak to Neji when I saw him.

He was turning the corner.

Not going left, though.

My heart began to beat faster as I ran in chase.

He was heading towards MY house.

"Neji!" I yelled.

He stopped and turned quickly.

I had been telling myself all day not to cry when I saw him. It's too bad that the heart doesn't like to listen to what we demand of it.

And he spread his arms as I tackled him, bawling my eyes out. He hugged me just as tightly as Naruto had held Hinata.

"You're holding me again," he scolded halfheartedly. I laughed.

"Yeah, well, I need SOME support along the way," I said.

He laughed softly. I glanced up to see a faint smile there on his face.

"How long do you think a foundation lasts?" he asked quietly. "We both witnessed hundreds fall apart in front of our eyes."

I shook my head. "You're not a BUILDING, Neji. Neither am I. Buildings crumble. We don't."

He shook his head.

"People can crumble," he said carefully, "and foundations have no purpose without supporting something." He looked at me meaningfully.

I laughed, wiping my tears away.

"Is this your way of proposing because you didn't feel like getting a ring?" I asked. He chuckled and reached into his pocket.

"I'm not Naruto, you know."

My heart stopped.

"Oh..." was all I could manage.

It was a simple little thing, and kind of old-looking. But it took my breath away anyways.

"It's my mothers," he said simply.

I stared, eyes wide, as he knelt on his knee.

"Tenten," he said. That's all. He didn't ask me outright; there was a crowd gathering, and unlike his cousin, HE was certainly becoming increasingly fidgety.

I nodded. He let out a breath.

And then, as he slid the ring onto my hand and the people around us whistled and applauded, I saw him smile.

I mean, REALLY smile.

And as he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the Hyuuga household, away from the congratulating crowd, I sheepishly realized something.

It seemed that I was gonna end up interrupting Naruto and Hinata's love parade after all.

With my own.

And so I leaned into Neji and let loose a powerful chortle. He slowed and looked down at me curiously, and when I just kept laughing, he grinned and let out a chuckle himself.

Then he leaned down and kissed me. I tuned out all the cat-calls and wolf-whistles as I kissed him back.

And this time, instead of just me holding him, we BOTH held onto each other.

- Another one-shot I made. 3 I really stepped out of my comfort zone with this one; I'm used to dramaticizing everything from the very beginning, so adding humor into the mix was veeeery tough for me. So how'd I do? Was it funny at ALL? And did I overdo anything? I hope not… .'' anyways, R&R, plz! ^3^ I loooooove reading your responses~~~!