Okay, my awesome reviewers. What you've been waiting for. The final chapter. Yes. It is. And I wrote it in less than a week. It was surprisingly easy. :) I went over this once, but I don't have spell check, so I'm sorry if anything else is still mispelled.

Drum roll please!

-silence-

..... Oh, just read already!

P.S. This is in Pucca's POV, cause most of last chapter was Garu's.

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REALIZATION – Chapter 21- Final

"Over here, Abyo!" Garu yelled. I was too distracted to even notice someone calling our names. I didn't bother to look up, for fear that Lanna would escape, but I could see out of the corner of my eye as Ching, Abyo, and Officer Bruce appeared in the clearing. They stopped in their tracks when they saw me, and in any other situation, it would have made me laugh.

"Guys! We found them! Over here!" Ching yelled over her shoulder.

"What happened here?" Abyo whispered.

"Later, Abyo." Ching responded, elbowing him in the arm.

"Here, Pucca. I've got her now." Officer Bruce said quietly next to me. He handcuffed Lanna and forced her up off the ground as carefully as he could. I backed away quietly. I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

"Pucca?" Garu asked. I was still off in my own world as my hand went to the necklace around my neck. Then I quickly looked at him.

"He was supposed to marry me!" Brilanna screamed. Officer Bruce pushed her back to the village, hopefully to be sent to some other town, far away, and kept in a jail. I glanced one last time at her as she walked away. A few minutes ago, she had been trying to kill me. I dropped the sword.

Everyone's head flashed up to look at me.

"How did you find us? How did you know to come?" Garu asked as Lanna's voice finally faded away.

"We knew when you took your sword, something was up." Tobe explained when noone else answered.

"So we went and got Abyo's dad." Ching smiled. Garu nodded slowly.

"Pucca?" Garu asked again as he walked towards me. My hand was still resting over the empty bell around my neck.

"Hm?"

"You okay?"

I nodded silently. Everyone else gathered around us.

"What happened?"

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Garu and I took turns explaining what had happened on the walk back to the Goh-Rong We filled in every detail that they missed, every word they hadn't been there to hear. We sat down at the usual back table when we walked in. It was late afternoon, so not many people were in the Goh-Rong for the time being. It was nice. The last thing I wanted was to be around a bunch of bustling, loud people. I would have been too busy to notice them, anyways. I was staring at my drink, just thinking. My hand was absentmindedly playing with the necklace.

Would Garu want to burn the necklace now? Surely he didn't want to marry me... Why would he? I was pushy, stubborn, overprotective, annoying. I followed him everywhere... He could have someone so much better. When would he want to burn the necklace? Or maybe he would just take the necklace back. Act like this short engagement had never happened. It had all just been a misunderstanding anyways...

"Pucca, did you hear me?" Ching asked. I glanced up from the table to look at her. I shook my head.

"No, sorry Ching. What did you say?"

"I was just saying, so now what's going to happen?"

I slowly turned my head to realize Garu had gotten up from the table.

"Where did Garu go?" I said. I sounded so little, so weak, like I was still completely out of it. I was distracted, but it's not like I was lost or something... Not exactly, anyways. Only lost in the ways of future love. But that was it. Nothing big. I blew a stray hair out of my face.

"He went to the bathroom. So what are you guys going to do?" Ching pressed. I shrugged.

"I really don't know. I expect he'll want the necklace back... Or he'll want to burn it, or something..."

A set of exchanged glances around the table followed.

"What?" I asked, not even bothering to hide my annoyance.

"What makes you think that?" Dada said finally. Again, I shrugged.

"I don't know... I mean, when he gave it to me, he didn't know it meant marriage. So he probably will want to break that whole marriage bond thing, right? Now that he knows what it means?"

"Pucca..." RingRing hesitated.

"I don't think he wants to." Tobe blurted out after her. I was afraid I misunderstood what he meant.

"He doesn't want to ... what? Let me keep the necklace, doesn't want to get married?... I- I'm fine with that." I mumbled as I looked down back at my drink, but my eyes quickly met RingRing's as she spoke.

"No." RingRing comforted.

"He wants you to keep it, I think." Tobe nodded. "I asked him one thing, before he left to find you. I asked, 'Do you love her?' And do you know what he said?"

"No?" I muttered, staring at him. He chuckled.

"He said 'Yes'. Then he went to rescue you." Tobe smiled.

"Are you sure he knew you meant me?" I muttered.

"Of course." I looked down at the table, tapping my fingers, waiting in the silence. I didn't glance up. I didn't want to know what kind of looks they were giving eachother.

What if he did want me to keep the necklace? ... Would that mean, he would... want to ....?

"Garu, took you long enough!" Abyo yelled. My head shot up to look at Abyo, then to see where he was facing. Garu was walking towards the table. But he didn't sit down. He stopped across from me.

"Pucca?" he asked, again. He raised his hand to motion to the door. I nodded and got up quietly out of my seat without looking anywhere else. He followed me to the door, and we walked outside into the busy streets.

"Shall we?" he asked as he again motioned with his hand, this time toward the path to the bamboo forest. Again I nodded and stepped forward. We walked in silence until we reached the shade of the trees. We could barely see the setting sky through the treetops.

"Soo..." I started, to break the silence.

"Pucca..." he started, hesitated, then went on. "Pucca, a lot has happened in the past few days. A week ago, we were just two innocent teens. Then Brilanna came..."

"You thought you were going to get married, my heart was broken, and then I kicked Brilanna's butt..." I finished, with a slight edge in my voice.

"Yes." he said slowly. We walked a few more feet, but he still didn't say anything. He was looking at the ground, with a concentrated look on his face.

"Why exactly did you ask me to come out here, Garu?" I questioned quietly. He looked at me for a second.

"Just wait a sec." He smiled nervously, then went back to looking at the ground. I almost hadn't noticed that our walking was speeding up quite a bit, not to mention there was no more path. Where was he leading me? But I waited patiently for him to get done thinking.

I was waiting for him to blurt out that he didn't want to marry me. That he wanted the necklace back. That he just wanted to be friends. Anything that would break my heart even further.

Of course, that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted him to hug me, or to kiss me. To say he wanted me to keep the necklace and it's meaning, forever.

But that wasn't likely.

I was far too pushy and annoying. There were plenty of other girls out there. Plenty of girls from his cultural background. Many who would make him a very honorable ninja. I looked up, out of my thinking, to see where we were.

We were coming to a familiar spot in the bamboo. Just past these trees was my cliff. I hadn't realized we'd been walking for so long.

"Pucca." Garu stopped, making me jump. We were on the edge of the trees, on my cliff edge. My favorite spot to be. One of my favorites, anyway. I stopped to look at him, waiting for him to continue. He did.

"Pucca. All that has happened ... It's made me think, more than I usually do, about my future." He glanced away from me, and looked at the sky, before returning his eyes to my face.

"My future... And who it could contain. I thought about many people. But you, you were the only one I couldn't figure out, Pucca." Now it was my turn to look away. I studied the clouds for a second before looking at him cautiously.

"Pucca... You. The most annoying, crazy, quick little girl I have ever met. The biggest temper, the impossible attitude, the crazy assumptions..."

I quickly looked away, afraid of what he would keep saying. No one had ever said these things straight to my face this way. He went on.

"The moodswings... The violent strength..."

I could almost feel tears coming to my eyes, and I was trying to hold them back. How could he say all this too me!? If he wanted the necklace back, he could have just said that... Why must he do this, say this??-

"Pucca," he whispered. He lifted his hand and gently touched my cheek, turning my face to look at him. He wiped away the single tear with his thumb. I couldn't turn away, I couldn't run. He carefully held my face in his hand.

"Pucca. Unwilling to let me go. The only one who I have ever met that can beat me without a sweat. The great determination, the quick thinking, the hard worker. The only one that can stand me for more than a day. The way you care. The only one who has always believed in me, who has helped to make me who I am today. The one who has loved me through thick and thin. The one I love."

My eyes grew wider as I realized what he was saying. He slowly took his hands away from my face as he reached into his pocket. I couldn't see what he pulled out. He looked out at the beautiful sunset, as did I, before he took a step back.

No...

He leaned forward...

Oh my...

He got down on one knee.

My hands flew up to cover my mouth, and I gasped. He looked down at his hands, and finally revealed a little black box. He looked up at me, his hand shaking as he raised the box to me. He smiled.

"Pucca..."

He opened the box slowly.

"Will you be my wife?"

I didn't even bother looking at the ring. I didn't care what it looked like. I tackled him to the ground with the biggest hug I'd ever given him, all the while crying with joy and screaming "Yes!" at the top of my lungs. Garu laughed and hugged me tighter.

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We stayed on the ground, just soaking up the moment, watching the clouds in the dimming night sky. The full moon was almost up, lighting everything. I was lying next to him, holding his hand on the ground, our fingers intertwined. I carefully and slowly spun the new ring around my left finger, getting used to the smoothness of it.

"Garu." I whispered.

"Hm?" he responded.

"They are going to be wondering what happened if we don't get back soon..." I laughed. He grinned.

"Must we leave?" he asked teasingly. I nodded.

He sat up, pulling me up with him. I turned to go back to the forest, but he caught my elbow and swung me around to face him. It surprised me, and almost caught me off balance, but Garu held on so I wouldn't fall. He smiled happily, and stepped closer. He took his other hand to tip my chin up, so I would look at him.

"I love you, Pucca." he mumbled before kissing me. My legs turned to jelly, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep from falling right then. He pulled back slowly and smiled again. I hugged him tightly.

"I know. I love you too, Garu."

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BAM!! HA, I bet Garu surprised you, huh? He's sittin there, basically insulting her. Nope, those are the strong-headed things he loves about her, thats all. :)

I hope you liked the ending as much as I liked writing it :) It just sorta came together on its own, to be honest. :)

Please, PLEASE, leave me lovely reviews. :) I'd also love to see any pictures, if anyone feels like drawing things from this. :) hm.. maybe I'll draw some linearts... You'll have to visit my deviantart page (squirtsapphire . deviantart . com) :)

Off to finish Legend of Zelda: PTTP, FINALLLYYYY.. there will be many character concepts for that on my dA page soon. :)

And for the final time... I'm out!

-Squirt