Naruto Shippuden Fan Fiction ❯ Homeless Hearts: The Journey’s End ❯ Journey's End ( Chapter 1 )

I don't own Naruto, any of its characters, or any songs or such referenced; no money is made from this writing. I DO own Tanaki, Mizuchi, Riko, Suzaku, and Shiracha, and although he doesn't really appear here, Shinji the tanuki.

Hey, y'all! I won't say much about this, but I do have a couple points to make. 1: This one-shot takes place in the distant future near-or-at the end of my (on hiatus) story Homeless Hearts. It's not Boruto compliant as it was written before Shippuden was finished. 2: This story is old, so it's not up to my usual quality of writing, but I've written worse. Lastly, 3: Homeless Hearts is on indefinite hiatus; anytime I try writing for it since about 2018, my brain freezes up and I can't get anything out. I still feel the story, if you know what I mean, but I don't forsee getting any new chapters anytime soon. Journey's End, at least, shows you where the story was headed.

Warnings: semi-public sex. (Literally, it starts with the lime.) Language, immaturity, skanky and psycho best friends. Established relationships.

Suggested Listening: Tobias Regner "Homeless Heart," The Carpenters "We've Only Just Begun"

Homeless Hearts: Journey's End

Hidden Leaf village, training field eight

The sun shone brightly over a grassy training field dotted with patches of tall, tasseled grass. Sweet Spring breezes cooled two combatants as they faced off, the shorter wielding a well polished wooden bo staff. Silently, Rock Lee studied his brown eyed opponent, searching her stance and eyes for her next move. Though the extra weights hampered his movements more than he preferred, the sacrifice was well-worth it; how else could he spar with his sweet Tanaki without injuring her? His thoughts became increasingly sappy as he paused to admire her fine brown hair, the wind whipping the sweat-slicked mop in every direction.

The petite woman grinned mischievously at his scrutiny. His distraction always worked in her favor; what a perfect chance to put her plan in action. They'd been sparring for several hours already, and though her boundless energy was nowhere near depleted, the day was far too beautiful to waste beating the snot out of each other. Noting his focus on her legs, she deepened her stance, canting to the side a bit. Sure enough, wide black eyes locked on her softly rounded rear, imperceptible pupils dilating.

Without warning, Tanaki charged him, one end of her staff bound for his shoulder. Startled by the sudden move, Rock brought both arms up in a block. He realized it had been a distraction, though, when she pole-vaulted over his head. A sharp smack to his rear startled him—She'd hit the ground running.

"You're it!" she laughed, darting away at full speed. Not at all surprised by the sudden change in plans, he smirked, chuckling under his breath as he took a moment to stretch.

'I knew she would pull a stunt like this,' he thought as his opponent vanished into the forest that butted up against their training field. Having given her a more than generous head start, he took off in pursuit.

As he searched the forest floor, he realized she was getting better at masking her trail. It would take longer to find her this time than ever before. As he inspected what looked like footprints, a Tanaki-shaped shadow fell over his field of vision. Smirking knowingly, he waited for her to make her move.

When the expected attack never came, he hazarded a glance over his shoulder. The shadow hadn't been cast by Tanaki, per se, but rather a large mud formation shaped like her, complete with a scrunched up face, cheeks pulled wide, and tongue sticking out antagonistically. "You little stinker," he chuckled, resuming his search for the prankster. "When did you have time to do that? It feels like witnessing Naruto's prank techniques all over again."

He halted suddenly upon reaching a softly shaded clearing, stunned into silence by the sight before him. The forest floor was softened with thick clumps of soft grass and large, pillowy colonies of moss; the thick foliage above blocked most of the afternoon sun, but left small pools of light scattered at random. In every corner of the shady glen, patches of tiny plants with pale pink, star-like blooms gleamed like pearls scattered in the grass. "Spring beauties," he sighed happily, crouching to admire a cluster growing near the base of an ancient maple tree. "So lovely you are, but where is my Spring Beauty?"

Just as he'd known would happen, someone at his back swept his legs out from beneath him, sending him sprawling on his back on the mossy ground. Sure enough, Tanaki had pounced, and now perched on his lap, effortlessly pinning him down. Her trusty bo staff stood nearby, one end planted in the earth, surely anchoring one of the Nehashi family's barrier jutsu; they wouldn't be disturbed.

"You called, Beast?" she teased, all-too aware of his reaction to their 'predicament.' Sure enough, a dark blush tinted Rock's cheeks, but his eyes held no reprimand as he reached to caress her cheek with bandaged knuckles.

"But of course." He gripped her waist with the hand not lingering at her jaw, brushing his thumb over her hip bone. "You expected me to walk away and spend this glorious Spring day beating someone to a pulp?" Her small, pert breasts shuddered in laughter, and she descended to his level, locking bright brown eyes with his own.

"You'd have spent the rest of the day beating me to a pulp if I hadn't derailed your—wait…" She leveled a suspicious glare at him. "You knew I had no intention of sparring today…didn't you."

"Guilty as charged," he chuckled and grinned at her indignant glare. "Between my team of genin, missions, and daily life, we have little time together. Why waste a single afternoon, even sparring?" Not even bothering to disguise his intentions, he pulled her close and reversed their positions, burying his nose in the hollow of her throat. A small shiver raced up her spine, but she clutched him tighter than before and tangled her fingers in his sleek black hair.

Tanaki gasped at the whisper of lips at her neck, and moaned when they pressed more firmly. Lee relished the burn of her fingertips digging into his shoulders and upper back as he tugged the three innermost ties of her top loose. With the side-set fastenings gaping, he tugged the loosened neckline aside and sought out her pulse point, tugging possessively with lips and teeth.

Ever since Rock Lee and Tanaki finally took that first big step in their relationship—acknowledging their attraction and emotions without buffering it with self-deprecating jokes—he never wasted a chance to remind her of what she meant to him. Though the love-bites never saw daylight thanks to her preference for narrow-necked shoulder-fastening tops, they reminded her of his feelings every time she saw them in her mirror.

Rock took no chances with her, not after the rainy day when he discovered her missing and felt his world crashing down around him. If he wasn't certain it would result exactly the opposite of how he wished, he'd have suggested any number of ways to tether her permanently to his side. Somehow he knew her unwavering sense of humor was bound to finally waver if he were to suggest handcuffing her to himself for the rest of their days. The small red marks weren't permanent, and they couldn't prevent her from ever leaving his side, but he knew they'd remind her of him every moment they were apart. 'Besides,' he thought as he nipped and suckled another red mark into existence at her collarbone, 'she certainly enjoys receiving them. Why would I even consider halting something that pleases her?'

"Rock," Tanaki whimpered, roughly massaging his shoulders and neck as he worked on her neck. "Oh, Gods, Rock…" At her shoulder, Rock grinned smugly as he nipped at her earlobe. Any red-blooded man would be proud to wreck his woman's composure so thoroughly; to do so without removing a stitch of clothing? That took talent. She silenced his mental bragging by shoving him off of her, pinning him beneath her in a single precise move. Though she tasted sweat on his lips, and though they were both rather…fragrant from an hour of sparring. Love, like Youth, waited for no one, whether they stank or not.

Tanaki straddled his lap and ground down; Rock's breath caught in his throat, and his hands fastened at her waist, holding her flush against him. The intensity of her gaze sobered him, woke the insecurity he'd fought his whole life. "Tanaki-chan?" he asked sitting up on his elbows. "Are you...are you sure you want to be here? You do mean to stay...right...?"

Not for the first time, Tanaki silently berated herself for the rainy Spring day that nearly ended what they had. She wasn't used to being loved, cherished, and told she was beautiful. It was always easy for her to see the beauty in the smallest, slightest, plainest things that others missed, but seeing the beauty in herself? The first time Rock called her pretty, she dragged him to the hospital for a head exam. Her peers had never been able to see past her appearance—her over-plump behind, the tiny breasts that didn't remotely match it, and the honker of a nose she got from her dad. No one had seen past any of it—no one but Rock Lee, and it had terrified her into fleeing the village during a blinding downpour.

Smiling wryly, Tanaki rubbed the faint scar on her forehead from the tree she collided with that day. If the tree hadn't knocked some sense into her, waking up in Rock's bed and finding him snoring in a nearby chair did the trick.

She eased herself closer, her lips meeting his in an achingly soft kiss. "I had no home," she reminded, "nowhere I could be accepted and appreciated, and I couldn't read." Illiteracy, of course, hadn't helped with the finding Home search. "I was hyperactive, ditzy, and undereducated, and I had no attention span. I stagnated in my home village." She settled astride Rock, pressing her fingertips to his heartbeat and his to her own. "Here in Hidden Leaf, I have grown. I'm accepted, appreciated...loved..." She beamed. "My dashing green beast, I sought a home, and now, I have one—you are my home, and with you, I will stay."

You are my home... The words sent Rock's heart aflutter and brought tears to his eyes. Once, he would have fought the intensity of his reaction and forcibly dimmed his passionate response. People were uncomfortable with his enthusiasm, passion, and intensity, so he battled his very nature for most of his adulthood. When he had collided with Nehashi Tanaki, stranger to Hidden Leaf, in the curry shop, he never imagined she might accept that side of him.

That was wrong. She accepted his intensity, as he did, hers.

Long, bandaged fingers brushed over blushing cheek bones and tugged off her loosened top. Scuffed, work-roughened hands brushed joyful tears from his eyes and unzipped his green vest. Rock's eyes burned into Tanaki's as they scrabbled at inconvenient clothing, driven by instinct burning through his veins. Ever gentle with her, he unseated her and pressed her back into the pillowy moss and pale flowers he'd named her for.

Two pairs of eyes locked together, one pitch black, one molten brown. Tanaki's blushing, freckled flesh greeted his hungry eyes as he peeled away the last obstruction. "Four times," he smirked, tracing a familiar trail of freckles along her pelvic bone. "That was our record, right?" Eyes bright with excitement and unshed emotions, she nodded. "I will break that record today," he vowed, settling between her thighs with a determined grin. "...or I will do a hundred laps around the village, backwards, with you on my shoulders!"

"Extra weights, too?" she whispered, breathless and excited.

"All of them." A competitive glint in his eyes was her only warning before he dove for his intended target. A scream died in her throat and her thighs clamped around his neck. A low chuckle rumbled in his lungs as she cried his name to the gods of the forest.

A mere twenty minutes away, a messenger searched for Rock Lee and Tanaki. For a moment, he thought he found their tracks, but he couldn't be certain without a closer look. The closer he drew to their location, though, the more his stomach cramped. After a mere fifteen steps, he took off at top speed for the nearest bush. He never imagined that his sudden stomach ache was the result of a particularly annoying secret barrier jutsu from the Village Hidden in Grass.

The Nara Compound

Shikamaru silently considered the shoji board before him. His opponent followed his every move through bright jade green eyes, betraying nothing. He still hadn't forgotten how she'd finally managed to beat him months ago...troublesome woman. He made his move and glanced up at her. Bright green eyes burned through crimson red bangs, daring him to crack.

"Your move, Suzaku," he reminded.

Suzaku scowled at the board; her options were bullshit. "Have I mentioned lately jus' how suck-tastic ya are?" she grumbled, choosing the least painful move. He smirked, capturing the piece she'd just moved. One green eye twitched angrily.

"If you want to win that badly," he teased, "you could always pull the same trick you beat me with."

She growled, shooting a vicious glare at Neji, who was silently compiling a list from several books, just out of earshot. "If winnin' means playin' with my assets hangin' out, I'd rather just lose." She crossed her arms under her more than generous bust in annoyance. Shikamaru smirked; his assumption had been correct, as usual. "Besides, you keep invitin' that pervert over durin' our games."

"Actually, you keep inviting yourself over while we're working on your friend's reading lessons. You never drop by on days Shino can make it, either. It makes one wonder, hm?" Suzaku spat a garbled curse under her breath that sounded like a disturbing combination of sex and the underworld. "Why do you call Neji a pervert, anyway?" Shikamaru asked as he made his move. "How has he earned your ire?"

Suzaku's eyes flashed. "He keeps undressin' me with his eyes!" she snapped. "He looks so hard his eyes practically pop out'a their sockets! –and he has the nerve to call it a clan thing!"

Shikamaru sighed, pinching his nose. "That 'clan thing' is their kekkei genkai. He's not ogling you...and even if he was, the byakugan would see right through them." Suzaku's retort was silenced by a snicker from Neji, who hadn't even turned away from his work. Her cheeks flooded with a red almost as bright as her hair, and her eyes softened slightly. 'Methinks the harpy doth protest too much,' Shikamaru thought, stretching a crick out of his neck.

"Get a move on, Brainiac," she grumbled. He grinned, leaning back on his hands.

"Me? It's your move. You have three moves until I win."

The Shady Glen

Without warning, Rock Lee felt himself being dragged away from the flesh he was torturing. Heaving him toward her by his shoulders, Tanaki attacked his lips, wrapping her legs around his bare waist. "No more," she panted between nips at his shoulders. "It'll hurt if we pass six...and I've missed you too much to wait it out."

Mildly surprised, he caught her eyes. "Six?" She nodded, her cheeks flushed from exertion. "A lucky number indeed. You are not too sore?" She growled—actually growled—at him, and he once more found himself on his back in the moss. He laughed; she was about as frightening as a wet kitten.

"Three weeks, Rock," she grumbled as she yanked at his form-fitting pants. "Your team was gone for three weeks, because that old codger from Whirlpool got you lost." It was rare for her say something unkind of anyone, much less someone she didn't even know; normally, she was so polite and friendly that people worried she was up to something. Now, though, she seemed almost...sulky. "I was distracted during my lessons," she grumbled. "Neji took a ruler after my knuckles."  Rock laughed at the visual, but Tanaki's eyes only softened. "Sore? No, never. That ruler hurts more than you ever will, my beast."

Reassured, he latched onto her bare hips, their hearts thundering with anticipation. Adoration shone in their eyes as she took him in with a soft gasp.

"Loose Leaf" Teahouse

Gaara watched the other teahouse occupants wearily from the booth. He brought his girlfriend, Riko, to Hidden Leaf for some time off, but she had done nothing but worry since before their arrival. She cheered up a bit once she got to see her psychotic best friend again, but now he had to deal with her, too. Fortunately, Shiracha was currently working; across the room, a group of halfway inebriated men catcalled and wolf-whistled as she performed her most sensual dance for them. Clearly, they were heavy tippers.

At his side, Riko giggled at some story being related by Sai, who sat opposite. Despite his annoyance at her choice in friends, it warmed his heart to hear her so carefree after the many months she was too heartbroken to even smile. Despite the betrayal of his trust, he was glad she applied for work in Hidden Sand. That she was motivated by lies about him torturing her sister in a non-existent dungeon over a failed assassination attempt mattered not. Gaara hid a smirk in his green tea; for all Riko's virtues—and there were many—common sense was not one of them.

"What's so funny?" Sai asked.

"You," Riko answered, her blue eyes bright. "You seriously thought you could tell Shiracha to kiss your ass without getting a smart-aleck remark in return?"

"Of course not!" he retorted, brow furrowed in confusion. "I just didn't expect her to kiss my head."

"Well, Nuisance," a tall, svelte woman grinned as she slid into the booth beside him, "you're all ass. I just picked at random." Pleased with his annoyed expression, she tucked her long ivory bangs behind her ears and accepted a cup of hot black tea from the waitress. Bright purple eyes grinned slyly at Sai over the china rim, then darted curiously toward Riko. "So. Are you going?"

Riko's good mood wilted; she fidgited with a piece of folded card stock emblazoned with an unfamiliar clan crest. "Should I go? I don't want to be rude, but I don't really know them...not like Tani does..." She glanced up at her friend, oblivious of the panic in Sai's black eyes. "Are you going?"

Shiracha smirked, running her bare foot up her silent companion's calf again; Sai flinched. "You bet your sweet ass, I'm going; I'm probably the entertainment. Somebody—" She shot a suspicious 'hairy eyeball' glare at Sai. "—told the happy couple I dance for a living. They're probably expecting a stripper, not a creative spy."

Riko shot her a peeved glare. "Shi, the first words they heard come out of your mouth were fuck and balls. Could you really blame them?"

"No," Gaara answered for her as the annoying Tea country native burst into raucous laughter. He shot an impatient glance at Riko. "Why didn't I throw her in the dungeon from the start?"

"The dungeon you were torturing my sister in?" Riko teased. "The dungeon that doesn't exist?"

"Technicalities." She squeezed his hand then reached to pour him some more tea. "Do you not want to go to the wedding?"

Riko blushed, fidgeting with the invitation again. "I just…" She faltered, searching for the right words. "…they don't really know me. They know my sister, Tanaki. For all they know, I could be some creepy sociopathic spy, or something."

Shiracha snorted. "You? A spy? Tell me another, bright eyes. You're about as creepy as a kitten, as sociopathic as a puppy, and no more a spy than I am a lady. No mistaking you for anything less than what you are—a worrywart who's way too naïve for her own good."

"Better careful and naïve than jaded and bitter," Riko countered. "My point is that they know nothing about me, other than my knucklehead sister. They know Tanaki, they like her, and they accept her as one of their own. I'm just an outsider!"

"If you received an invitation," Gaara pointed out, "they want you there. Naruto says it's supposed to be a small ceremony. The couple aren't the sort to send out hundreds of invitations to everyone they've ever met." Riko considered the card silently, tracing the brush strokes of the clan crest thoughtfully.

The door of the teashop burst open with what sounded like hurricane level winds, followed by familiar laughter. Riko craned her neck to see around the half-wall. "Tanaki! Lee-san!" she called, waving them over. Her sister's messy brown hair was even messier than usual, and her bo staff was strapped to her back. They must have been out sparring again, but something seemed…off... "Why do you have moss in your hair?"

Next to Riko, Gaara choked on the sip of tea he'd taken, and commenced trying to beat it out of his lungs. Tanaki turned white, then red, and stammered something about long missions, sparring, and killer moss. Lee seemed halfway between shy and cringing, yet seemed to be radiating masculine pride. "Never mind," Riko interrupted. "I'm not sure I wanna know."

The two newcomers ordered drinks and Shiracha repeatedly elbowed Tanaki, winking suggestively. Before the dirty-minded spy could confirm her suspicions aloud, Tanaki noticed the invitation before her sister, the contact card still untouched. "You haven't RSVP'd?" she asked softly.

Riko shrugged. "You're kidding, right? This is me we're talking about—even I don't know if I'm going or not." Tanaki smiled wryly; some things never changed, and apparently her little sister's worrywart nature was one of them. "Do you think I should go? I'm not sure I should go."

Across the table, Shiracha heaved a melodramatic sigh, turning in her seat and laying her legs across Sai's lap. In typical Shiracha form, she tugged one of her long, finely-lacquered hair-sticks from her immaculate white bun and began scraping the dirt from under her fingernails with it. Riko rolled her eyes. "Get a room, you two."

"She's been at this for an hour," Shiracha told Tanaki, waving the hairpin at Riko. "—and we had a room, thank you very much. If not for your BFF emergency we'd still have a room." To Lee's disbelief, Sai blushed, shot a dark glare at her, and shoved her legs right off his lap. "What? We did have a room—it had a bed an' everything!"

"TMI!" Riko whined.

"I was painting," Sai explained, staring accusingly at the woman who was once again draping her legs over his lap; again, he shoved her off. "She insisted on modeling for it—naked."

"Not my fault you were so busy with your damn paints," she leered. "We had a perfectly good bed there, and it was being tragically ignored. You should be ashamed." Calling on years of friendship with Shiracha, Tanaki and Riko tuned out the suggestive insults, explicit oaths, and innuendoes being volleyed back and forth between the two.

"I think she's gotten crazier," Tanaki whispered conspiratorially.

"Considering she tried killing him when they first met," Riko mumbled, "yeah. Lots. So the wedding—" Tanaki cut her off with a comforting hand on her shoulder; bright blue eyes met hers, nervous and hopeful.

"You've met Mizuchi and Choji, but have you actually gotten to know them?"

"Not...really, no. I'm a stranger, remember?" Riko worried at her lower lip, recalling the day she first arrived in Hidden Leaf. When she overheard Lee saying Tanaki's name, she was so frantic she bowled over a server trying to reach him. Choji and Shikamaru wound up covered in raw beef and pork; they hadn't seemed upset, but she still worried.

And that was who she was—years later, she still worried about an inconsequential interaction.

"You're strange, yeah," Tanaki teased, "but you're no stranger. You and Mizuchi have so much in common it's scary…and despite being polar opposites, Suzaku and Shiracha have a surprising amount in common. I'm sure if you give them a chance, you'll find them good company. After all, if not for them…well, I'd probably be a bitter old hag from missing you."

The idea was ridiculous, but Riko got the message. Digging a pen from her tool pouch, she scrawled her name on the tiny RSVP card; it vanished with a puff of smoke. "I've gotta hand it to this Mizuchi," she chirped. "Using a reverse-Summoning jutsu on the invitations was brilliant."

Later that afternoon, the two sisters and their deceptively crude friend perused the local shops for formal clothing, excited about the upcoming wedding.

A Week Later, The Akimichi Compound

Shikamaru's lazy grin had long since melted off; after twenty minutes and going of pre-wedding panic, the clouds were calling him, and he couldn't answer. 'Troublesome,' he thought as he watched his best friend pace the floor nervously. The wedding was supposed to have started already, but there they were, one of them in sweats and a tee shirt, and both of them cursing a poorly-fitted formal kimono that looked more like a weird swimsuit. The moment the abomination was delivered to the room a couple hours before, Choji had commenced berating himself for not insisting on another fitting once it was complete, and the longer it took for help to arrive, the more panicked he grew. "Sit. Wearing out the floor won't help."

Choji met Shikamaru's eyes anxiously, running his fingers through his stubbornly spiky hair. "I know, I know," he mumbled. "I just—I don't know, maybe I'm dreaming this whole wedding thing. Maybe this disaster means I'll wake up and realize she said no, or she took off, or—"

"Choji!" Shikamaru rarely raised his voice, so the near-shout anchored him to the here and now. "Your woman said yes—repeatedly—and I highly doubt she's going to change her mind at the last minute. She's out there waiting for you." Choji allowed Shikamaru to push him onto the sofa, and buried his head in his hands. "At least let me send a message so she doesn't think you're having second thoughts."

"Second thoughts? Of course I'm having second thoughts—second thought about that seamstress! How do you mistake an eight for a three?" 

Shikamaru shrugged. "At least she got the first digit right, yeah?" Sudden hammering at the door cut off Choji's reply; Shikamaru was surprised to see Tanaki on the other side of the door, armed with a cloth bag. "Everything okay?"

"Sakura just sent word from the hospital," she explained, hurrying over to the sofa. "The seamstress can't help; she lost her glasses, went looking for them, and fell down the stairs."

"So she was flying blind," Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag."

"Yep. Fortunately for you," she grinned, yanking out a wrapped bundle and tearing open the brown paper. "I can sew—kinda—and I sent Shinji back to Grass Village for something that should fit with some quick alterations." Shikamaru and Choji glanced at each other, both wondering how the tiny tanuki wasn't flattened by the weight of the wrapped package.

"What alterations?" The groom blinked as she answered his question by holding the fine kimono up to him; it was cut for someone two feet taller and three sizes wider, and the silk was even finer than the one his family ordered.

"The previous owner was a giant. I can hem it to fit, no problem" Despite his reservations, Choji turned the problem over to the hyperactive brunette, hoping against all hope that she knew what she was doing.

"Kinda?" Shikamaru's eyes were wide with disbelief, glancing repeatedly from Tanaki to the finished garment. "You can kinda sew? How's this count as kinda?"

Tanaki gathered the last bits of cloth and thread from the surrounding area with a sheepish grin. "Kinda meaning I tend to stick myself every few minutes and bleed a lot," she clarified, straightening Choji's freshly tied obi. "I get lots of practice from making my own clothes, ya know? It's hard to find clothing for women who lack certain womanly features."

Shikamaru thanked his lucky stars Tanaki didn't say 'boobs.'

What Choji saw in the mirror stunned him speechless. Was that handsome ninja really him? How could something that took less than an hour make him look and feel so much lighter? He turned from side to side, feeling around to confirm that he hadn't really lost several pounds in several seconds. His eyes watered, but he smiled brightly; finally he felt confident that he wasn't going to make a fool of himself in front of everyone they knew.

Tanaki met Choji's eyes in the mirror, appraising the fit of the clothing. "That seamstress seems to have little experience with formal wear, by the way. Her storage room's chock full of uniforms and ninja clothes."

"Where did you find this?" Choji asked softly, brushing a fingertip along the fine navy silk at his sleeve.

Tanaki brushed a stray thread off of his shoulder, smiling at an unspoken memory. "It was my father's; he doesn't need clothes anymore, and it wanted a new home. Consider it a wedding gift."

Tanaki really should have anticipated Choji's bear hug. "Thank you. If not for you, I would never have met Mizuchi. How could we ever repay you?"

"Honestly? Trust yourself, trust Mizuchi, be kinder to yourself, and live a long, happy life. Mizu loves you, all of you, and she thinks you're a dreamboat…and she's not wrong." Finally the teasing glint returned to her eyes, and she gestured at her oversized nose and rear and undersized bust. "Take it from a woman who's mistaken for a man far too often—true beauty isn't something as simple as a dress size, a body type, or even a height or weight. You and Mizuchi are both beautiful."

Sure enough, Choji blushed at the praise and hugged her again. With a final check for mistakes, lint, and loose thread, Tanaki grinned at him. "Take care of her, Akimichi-san…and just so you know?" Her eyes turned sly. "You're gonna give her a nosebleed."

Not long after, when Mizuchi saw Choji waiting for her, she stumbled and hid her face behind the bouquet of wildflowers she carried, from her forest green hair to the bright blush creeping from her neckline upward. He was concerned until Tanaki discreetly passed her a handkerchief, blocking her from view of the guests. 'Told ya,' she mouthed at him with a wide grin.

As his soft-voiced sweetheart neared, Choji's throat tightened and his eyes watered. From the looks of it, though, her eyes were equally as damp, her glasses marked from wet eyelashes. Any doubt that may have remained in his heart was silenced as he took her hand, turning to greet the presiding official.

Having delivered the bride to her groom, Tanaki joined Rock Lee among the rest of the guests. He met her with an almost audibly bright smile and took her hand; all through the ceremony, he rubbed her knuckles and work-roughened fingertips, marveling at how well they fit with his own.

As the couple drained all three cups of sake, each in three sips, Rock recalled that afternoon in the shady glen; his heart and Tanaki's had seemed to beat as one, and he longed for a way to permanently tether her to his side. He glanced away as their friends bowed to the official, and searched his lover's deep brown eyes for answers; she gazed back with equally teary eyes. Thanks to her, it didn't bother him that others saw him as overly emotional, or that many were confused by his intensity. The woman at his side was just as intense and emotional as he was, and she loved him as he did her.

'Maybe,' he thought as a cheer arose from the gathering, never breaking eye contact with his Tanaki. '—just maybe, I will not have to worry about keeping her at my side always.' She blushed as he glanced down at her left hand, still clasped in his. He studied her bare ring finger thoughtfully, well aware that her heart-rate had doubled and her eyes brightened. Choji had the right idea, he decided silently, wrapping her ring finger in his with a wink, then pressing a chaste kiss to her temple. It wouldn't be tomorrow, and it wouldn't be the next day. It might not even be weeks or months away, but one day they would stand before their friends as Choji and Mizuchi did now.

Nehashi Tanaki exploded into his life with all the subtlety of a hurricane, and with every day that passed, he marveled that she chose to stay. After three years of wandering, searching, pining for somewhere to belong, her homeless heart declared him 'Home.'

Stars winked into view above Rock and Tanaki, the crowd scattered, and the newlyweds slipped away to begin their honeymoon—a honeymoon that would thankfully take them nowhere near Mizuchi's home village of Hidden Waterfalls. Never noticing the bustle around them, Lee and Tanaki meandered toward his apartment.

Spring was in the air, they were in the prime of their youth, and their hearts were full; their life together was just beginning, and how sweet it was already.