Neil had never been more nervous in his entire life.

As he stuck his hand in his pocket, the tips of his fingers brushed the blue feather that seemed to be burning a hole in his coat and the animal trader hesitated before looking over at Rio. The two of them had hiked up to the mountain in silence, the argument and moment from the day before completely forgotten as they had reached the peak and gotten a glimpse of the stars. Though it wasn't the first time they'd gone star gazing together, there was something particularly special about how the stars twinkled down at the couple from the blanketed night sky.

Just as Neil grasped the blue feather in his pocket and opened his mouth to speak, Rio turned her face towards him; the curious look she gave him made the animal trader freeze, the beginnings of a blush already threatening to creep across his face despite the fact that the two had yet to do anything romantic since meeting up.

"What?" Neil asked, shrinking into his coat a bit as he tried to hide the anxiousness on his face. Eyebrows furrowed, Rio looked at him with a puzzled expression as she said, "You've been awfully quiet since we met up. Are you mad at me for something? I already told you yesterday that Allen didn't kiss me."

"No, I'm not mad," the animal trader huffed, running his thumb down the length of the feather as he did so. Biting his lip, he coughed and looked at the stars before saying gruffly, "It's just…it's nice to be here with you again this year. Kind of reminds me to be grateful of what I have with you."

Rio blinked at him before smiling and giggling, "You weren't saying that yesterday, when you got so mad at me!"

Neil couldn't help but smile back as he pointed out, "But you're the one who was mad in the first place! Honestly, to think you accused me of cheating on you…"

The two of them shared a smile before Rio tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and asked shyly, "So maybe it was dumb of me to just assume that, but you were acting so weird. And you still haven't explained why!"

At her questioning look, Neil took a deep breath to calm himself down before looking away and saying, "Promise to hear me out until the end, without saying anything?"

"Mmmhmm."

Quickly, he glanced over to see her staring at him with full attention, the trust in her eyes making him even more nervous than he already was. Gathering up his courage, Neil looked up at the dark sky and focused hard on the brightest star before saying, "I didn't mean to brush you off, or make any misunderstandings-I just wanted to surprise you. I couldn't do that very well with all the nosy people in this town, so I went out of my way to go somewhere else for what I needed."

Neil stole a glance in her direction, hiding a smile as she gave him an even more confused look. Deciding to clarify, he reached into the bottom of his pocket and dug out a small navy blue box, tossing it in the air and catching it before holding it out to her without facing her.

As Rio hesitantly took the box, Neil watched out of the corner of his eye when she opened it and her confusion melted into surprise, before she looked back up at him with barely masked anticipation.

Willing himself not to blush until the very end, Neil turned to face her and cleared his throat before announcing, "Sorry for being so clumsy and making you cry; that wasn't what I wanted at all. I thought that tonight, of all nights, I would make my intentions clear."

Gently Neil took her hand before murmuring, "I'm a selfish idiot who does things without thinking, and I'm not very honest when it comes to how I feel about things, especially where you're concerned. I even used to hate you, but somewhere along the way when I started to say hate it began to mean something else that I didn't want to admit to anyone because I couldn't really believe it."

As Rio blushed up at him, Neil gathered his remaining courage and grasped the feather in his hand tightly.

"I've grown to love you," Neil said, straightening up as he pulled the blue feather out of his pocket, "and I want you to marry me. If you want to be with me even a fraction as much as I want to be with you, then say you will!"

His red eyes widened as she leaned forward and met his lips in a kiss, her arms twining around his neck as she pushed up against him in an embrace. Closing his eyes, he kissed her back before she pulled away and said with a smile, "Yes. I'll marry you!"

As his trembling hands slipped the ring onto her finger, Neil blushed and looked determinedly at Rio's hand while she smiled sweetly at him. Once the ring was in place, she wove her fingers with his as she asked, "Why did you say 'even a fraction'? Don't you think I love you more than just that?"

"You can't possibly love me more than I love you," Neil said, looking off with a reluctant blush and smile on his face as he coughed and said, "Look, I'm only going to say this once so don't ask again. I love you more than anyone else in the world."

Rio just laughed and stood on her toes to kiss his cheek while Neil looked off in another direction, embarrassed at having said his true thoughts. As Rio leaned against him and closed her eyes, Neil looked down at her before smiling and placing one hand on her head, the blue feather in between his other hand and hers.

Closing his own eyes, Neil leaned down to kiss her forehead before murmuring, "Don't forget it, okay?"

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty," Allen said, standing over Rio's bed while the rest of the town's girls stood behind him all giggling. Rio, confused, blinked up at him while wondering why he was in her house so early when she suddenly remembered. The farmer shot up to a sitting position so fast that she knocked heads with Allen, causing him to yelp as he grabbed at his forehead and complained that she'd hit the same spot Neil had head butted him in a week before.

As Rio sat with a flustered and excited look on her face, Tina smiled before saying cheerfully, "You're getting married today, Rio, so the girls and I pitched in to do your chores. Come on, we even made you breakfast! Let's all eat so we can get started on your beauty treatment, alright?"

Glancing around, Rio noticed her sister wasn't there before Iroha smiled and said, "Claire said that she's sorry she can't be here to help you. Apparently her toddler is acting up and refuses to let go of her, so she didn't want to bring him here-she thought that he might distract us all, but she said she and Gray would meet us later."

With a smile, Rio gave her friends a thankful look before saying, "Alright. Thank you, everybody!"

Neil stood outside the festival grounds nervously, playing with the folded handkerchief in his pocket as he waiting anxiously for Rio to arrive. As it was the first day of spring, pink petals floated in the air and gave off an even bigger festival sense as the villagers passed the groom on their way to the festival grounds.

While Neil paced back and forth with anxiety, Rod tried his best to calm his friend down while looking towards the salon to see if the girls were coming with Rio. Allen had made it a point to gather all the girls in town and deem himself leader of them as they fixed the bride up for her big day, and it was obvious that Neil was more nervous about seeing Rio in her wedding gown than he was about the big ceremony.

The pet store owner gave a sigh of relief as he saw a cluster of girls come out of the salon, Allen leading the way while a figure clad all in white walked in the middle of them.

"Hey Neil, close your eyes for a bit okay?" Rod said cheerfully, putting his hands over the animal trader's eyes.

"Rod?! What the hell are you doing, get off!"

"Not if my life depended on it!~"

"You better get off or you won't have a life to depend on anymore," Neil threatened, frowning as he heard Rod laugh happily and reassure him cheerfully that he'd let go the moment Rio was in sight.

As the group reached the two boys, the girls all giggled before pushing Rio forward eagerly, clustering around behind her in the hopes of getting a good look at Neil's face. At Allen's signal, Rod dropped his hands and Neil found himself staring with wide eyes as his bride stared back at him with a nervous but happy smile on her face.

White flowers were braided into Rio's hair, forming a crown of sorts as the rest of her hair fell back in long delicate curls. The dress, while not overloaded with lace or frills, clung tight at the bodice and flowed outwards into a billowy skirt at the bottom, the pearl white of the dress shining against the porcelain color of Rio's skin. Her makeup was light enough to define her features but not be showy, and as Neil stood there gaping he felt his heart bang in his ribcage before he managed to compose himself and mutter that she looked nice.

Much to his embarrassment, everyone present giggled before a familiar voice called out, "You have to say it louder, Neil, or she won't hear you!"

The group looked over to see Claire grinning cheekily, as she, Gray and their son stood there with proud smiles on their faces. When the little boy saw Rio and Neil, a smile lit up his face and he ran towards them saying, "Uncle Neeeeeeilllll-!"

He'd barely taken two steps when Gray grabbed him by the back of his shirt and hoisted him into his arms, saying gently, "Hey, Leon, let's go ahead and find some seats okay? Uncle Neil and Aunt Rio have to get ready."

"Okay!" the little boy said happily, waving at the couple as he was carried into the festival grounds. As her husband and son walked off, Claire just shook her head before saying to Neil, "He's been attached to you ever since Rio brought you to our farm last Christmas. You wouldn't believe the fuss he made when I told him you were really going to be his uncle."

As everyone present laughed and Neil turned red again, the animal trader glared weakly at them muttering, "Shouldn't you guys go sit down already?"

Following Gray, Rio and Neil's friends all waved and called out teasingly before leaving Claire and the couple by themselves outside the grounds.

Walking over to her sister, Claire put a hand on her shoulder before saying, "I wish you all the best, Rio. I only wish that mom and dad could have seen how much you've grown. You've become your own person; just the way you wanted."

Rio smiled at her sister before pulling her into a hug, causing Claire to laugh sadly and hug her back before pulling away and turning to look at Neil with a threatening smile.

"Congratulations, snatching up my cute sister," the older sister told him, before putting a hand on her hip and saying, "Since I can't take care of her anymore, you'd better do a good job or I'll make you regret it, you got that?"

Neil nodded meekly, causing Claire to laugh as she pounded his back and headed after everyone else. As the two young adults stood there, waiting for the music that would be their cue, Rio stole a glance over at Neil only to see that he was looking back at her. Both of them blushed, before looking up as the music started to play, signaling that they were to begin walking together down the aisle.

As Rio bit her lip, nervous at the thought of having to walk in front of so many people, she looked over to see that Neil was staring straight ahead, one hand held out as he waited for her to take it. Regaining her courage, Rio smiled before taking his hand.

Sharing a smile, the two took a step towards their future, holding hands as if they'd never let go.

And there it is. XD

All my feels just about killed me when I wrote this last chapter, but it's okay because I released them all when I finished up my oneshot for Rod and started another story for Rio and Neil :) Be on the lookout for those if you want to read them (I'll probably post the oneshot either tommorow or the day after).

I AM going to do a LillianXPhillip story at the same time I do my next RioXNeil story. However, I will post the latter first because I have already started that one and still only have a concept for the first idea XD

Last but not least, I would like to thank everyone who reviewed and read this story! I can never say it enough; you guys are more than enough to encourage me in my writing :) Without you guys, I feel like I would have given up on half of my projects a long time ago once I hit a block.

You guys. Are awesome. :)

So thanks all for sticking along with this ridiculously loveable couple, and hope to hear from you all again on my next stories! :)