A/N: So, so, so, this is the last chapter, brought out before the brink of the New Year (HAPPY NEW YEAR!). It may seem sudden that this is the final one, but it's been planned like this for a while. If it continues any longer, I feel too much angst and melodrama will make an appearance, which this story really isn't meant to be.
Also, please read the author's note at the end (^_^) -Mufin

Warning: This story is rated T.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Custody ~MufinXoxo

Chapter 18: Custody over: moving in permanently (final chapter)

"I've had enough." Temari told Tenten as she strode past her, into Tenten's messy apartment, "You've had vacation for two weeks already, you only have one week left, and you're still moping around in this..." she glanced around, "Untidy flat. It's the middle of August! It's been a month."

Glancing around, Tenten thought her flat was reasonably tidy. Sure, there was the odd piece of metal clutter from work, or the pile of cushions on the floor before her beige couch, but otherwise it was tidy. Well, for her anyway. It wasn't like she needed to share the space with anyone anymore...

Tenten shuffled back to the couch and curled up on the spot she had occupied almost the whole of the last two weeks, "I didn't want to take a vacation, Konan made me." She pointed out. Kuro-chan blinked at the other end of the couch, before curling back into a ball to go to sleep. She still left the house to go shopping and she still did normal things like eating, showering and all those necessities. The only problem was, that she had no motivation to do anything else.

She had gotten so used to Sasuke being around, she'd always wonder first if he'd also want to do it. Then she'd realise that he wasn't there, because of the whole necklace dilemma. Her emotions usually progressed to annoyance then, followed by anger, disappointment, sadness and nothing. At that point it was like all her interest in anything had been sucked out of her body, leaving her empty shell behind to watch TV.

Which had been rather educating; she had learnt so many useless and irrelevant things over the past two weeks, she was amazed how she was still alive without all the beauty, cleaning and medical products the screen had been advertising.

"You're still moping about Sasuke." Temari turned off the TV, positioning herself in front of the black screen so that Tenten couldn't ignore her. Her hair was in one large spikey ponytail on her head, a look she obviously had from her husband. Tenten wondered if she could distract her by pointing that out.

"Your hair looks like a blonde Shikamaru."

Temari sceptically raised an eyebrow, "You're trying to distract me from your moping."

Tenten sighed, "I'm not doing that anymore." The emotional cycle started. She usually got over the beginning quickly now, finishing on the nothing. But the nothing was fading quicker recently. Yesterday she'd almost been motivated to go and visit Temari to see how her kid was doing. Key word: almost.

"Do you miss him?"

The question caught her unaware. She had been expecting the usual 'do you still love him?' that always seemed to happen in the movies she'd seen over the last two weeks. It had been the other reason she had avoided going to Temari's, because the heroine always broke into tears when she was asked. Tenten knew that she probably wouldn't start bawling, but she was not ready to test herself against the ideals of romance movies yet.

Tenten thought about the question. Did she, considering her current state, miss him? He had triggered the necklace theft.

"No." she said bluntly.

"Do you still think about him?" Temari countered.

Tenten didn't even have to consider that question, "Yes."

"Do you wish he was here with you?"

Tenten sighed, "It's not that simple. I can't just forget everything that's happened. If he'd even acknowledged that he's done something wrong, or the accusations made on me were withdrawn... I don't know." Although usually decisive, Tenten was unsure when it came to Sasuke.

She had realised more and more after the weeks of TV brainwashing that she wasn't actually mad at Sasuke, as a person, but the part of him that was wrapped up in the necklace ordeal that had shaken the foundation of her life. But she needed him to say openly that he had wronged her, before she could forgive that part of him.

Her method of piecing back together her broken spirit without that closure happened to be spending alone time on her couch. Why could no one understand that?

Temari's face broke into a grin, "Perfect."

Tenten blinked. Had her best friend just called the miserable state of her relationship with Sasuke perfect?

Temari moved to the door, placing her hand on the handle, "By the way, if you think about someone, and wish that person was there with you, that means you miss them." Swinging the door back to leave, she winked at Tenten, "And look, someone else is here to see you too."

Tenten waved her hand, "Send them in."

And in stepped Sasuke.

###

Tenten stared. The only thought running through her head was It's Sasuke, it's Sasuke, it's Sasuke, which repeated itself over and over.

Sasuke looked more tired than he had before she kicked him out. He had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep, but he stood tall and proud. The look in his eyes was full of determination and Tenten felt her breath hitch at the resolve in there. "I came to apologise."

"Wait, what?" Her brain was having problems processing those words.

Sasuke ran a hand through his black hair, "I resolved the necklace problem. The thief, a gold crazed man called Kakuzu tricked me..." He stopped, "Well, never mind how it happened, I got the necklace and the other jewellery back. All the blame is on Kakuzu now. Your slate is clean. Mine is also practically wiped, so I suppose this whole custody thing is over too. It took a while to sort the whole legal matters out with the gold. Also Kakuzu was quite difficult to track down, which is why I'm so late." He took a long breath, looking at her expectantly.

"Are you apologising to me, Uchiha?" He still hadn't said the magic words, although he had clearly just claimed that he would.

Sasuke winced when he heard her address him with his surname, "Yes. Tenten, I'm sorry for everything I've done." Being Uchiha Sasuke, he didn't elaborate any more than that. He didn't like apologising, but he knew he had been wrong. He sounded sincere.

Do you wish he were here with you? Temari's question rang through her mind and she recalled the reasons she had listed. He had realised he was wrong. The case with Kakuzu-what's his face-gold-obsession was done.

I want him by my side.

Tenten slowly stood up, taking a few steps towards Sasuke. He moved forward too. Reaching out, Tenten cautiously touched his cheek, before embracing him.

Damn Temari for being right, she'd missed him after all.

Kuro-chan woke up. He looked at the pair expectantly, giving a small meow of approval, before curling back to sleep in his ball.

"So, can I move back in?" Sasuke asked after a few minutes of just hugging each other.

Tenten pretended to frown, "I'll think about it. If you ask nicely. I'm no longer required to let you live here, you know."

Sasuke pulled back, kissing Tenten right on the mouth. "Please?" He asked, drawing back.

Tenten smiled, "Of course, you idiot."

### The End ###

A/N: This is the first story I've ever posted on fanfiction, and it's finally done! I hope you all enjoyed SasuTen, and although this might be a surprise, I'm actually more of a NejiTen shipper in the canon. But I think Sasuke and Tenten are cute together too. :)
Whilst this is probably more significant for me, this is the only story (apart from a oneshot) that I've ever managed to finish. As such, it would mean an awful lot to me if you left an extra long review and tell me what you thought of this story as a whole, with pacing(too slow, too fast?) and characters(ooc or not?) and plot idea(refreshing or cliché or boring or etc.), so I can improve my story writing in the future. Looking back on it, I want to facepalm myself for some of the silly things I wrote, but I will leave it as it is, because it was my first story, no matter how dodgy.
As a fun fact 1: did you notice whilst reading that all the weekdays and dates matched up? As in, if it was Monday the 2nd of March, the 11th of March would be a Wednesday? That required some serious planning ;)
Fun fact 2: Tenten and Sasuke marry at the end (roughly a year later). I intended to write a small timeskip to show this, but found it finished there too nicely.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone for all the support I've received for this story; it's been fantastical. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING! ^_^ – Mufin