Set just before chapter 614. Originally I was hit by how sudden and brief Neji's death was- there wasn't any climax or build up or foreshadowing... I thought that was a shame because Neji's really such an interesting character. Then again, I realized that in real life death is generally very sudden, striking without warning.

So I wanted to explore that, and also Neji's character and his relationships with some of the people around him. It's been so long since I wrote Naruto fanfiction, I may be rusty! I hope you enjoy.

Foresight, or the lack thereof

Something was different about the air that morning. When Neji breathed it in, it seemed to wind around his gut like a snake. Even when he exhaled, that snake of air still stayed there and refused to let go.

It was still the early hours of the morning, before dawn, before all the other shinobi had woken up. Kiba was still sleeping soundly, flopped out and snoring on Neji's right like some overgrown puppy. The jounin stared straight up as he blinked his eyes open. The tent roof suddenly seemed too suffocatingly close to his head. Although Neji knew he could go back to sleep, it didn't feel like the day for it- he was too alert, too restless. The wakefulness running through his veins compelled him to leave the bedroll.

Perhaps in hindsight, Neji might have later cursed that he didn't pay attention to it.

Later that afternoon Neji would find himself buckled over, stabbed many times through his chest with Naruto and Hinata gazing down at him in absolute horror. With the blood pooling like an ocean at his feet, perhaps the jounin might have remembered his last morning with a twist of irony. As his final breaths came out in gasps, perhaps Neji thought he should have known better, should have been able to see omens when he got them. He once was, after all, inclined to be so fatalistic.

But no, as far as seeing into the future went even the Byakugan had its limits.

.

Getting up, Neji's clothes felt heavy as he slipped them on. The jounin shook his left sleeve out, trying to take a crease out of the linen. This was followed by rolling up his sleeping mat, checking his kunai pouch and putting on his shoes. Neji finally tread past the other members of his tent and passed through the tent flap from darkness into darkness.

Outside, he felt a cool dampness touch his jounin flexed his fingers, assessing, trying to ascertain what the next thing on his agenda was. He really was up a little early. He decided to take a walk, and ended up to the outskirts of the camp.

By the gates, Neji caught sight of Hinata standing with two other ninja. She must have been placed on the early morning watch. With her Byakugan activated, the girl waved to him even whilst her back was turned.

As he came closer, Hinata tilted her head in question. "You're up early. Are you feeling better after last night?"

She must have heard how he'd collapsed at one point on his watch. Neji inwardly shook his head- mistaking Akamaru for Kiba was not one of his finer moments.

"I suppose I must be. I actually couldn't stay asleep any longer so I felt like I needed to get up," admitted Neji. "I'm planning to do some training. I don't want to be caught off guard again like I was yesterday."

Hinata nodded, "That sounds like a good idea."

Although the chuunin could see almost 360 degrees around her, her eyes were still firmly forward and away from the camp, her stance ready to defend against any attempted attacks. Her violet hair was long and sleek, touched with orange from the light of the torch next to her. Hinata was nearly as tall as him now- how much she had grown in a couple of years! But there a number of other things too, about her that had changed. They became more obvious as they continued talking.

As Hinata spoke, she met Neji eye-to-eye more readily now. Neji recalled many previous times where his cousin's gaze was anchored awkwardly downwards to the floor. Hinata was telling him about some Ninja from another village she had met, and how they had been comparing defense techniques. She described one shinobi in particular, who had this awful fondness for the colour red. She laughed and said he reminded her a little of Lee-san.

Laugh- she was beginning to do that more frequently in his presence, albeit tentatively at times. It was strange, thought Neji, how people could change so gradually and quickly, that you would never notice until they became a different person altogether. What he was thought was cowardice now looked more like meekness now. He had also trained in many Hyuuga techniques with her so he knew she could put up a good fight.

... and yet even with all of this, there was still a great gentleness in her spirit.

She would be a good clan leader one day, Neji concluded. And furthermore, better she in the position them him.

It surprised him that this conclusion didn't bother him at all. It once would have bothered him greatly. Neji remembered his younger self- the bitterness over his father's death, the hatred of the Main House, how he was so focused on becoming powerful so he would no longer be cast aside and ignored.

Although Neji recognized his present ambitions and drive to excel, his motivations had changed. Some understanding of why his father chose to die the way his he did had affected him greatly. His previous antagonism towards the Main House had changed into an interest to try to improve the Hyuuga clan, despite its crooked system of the curse seal. Ideas for a more hopeful future within the Hyuuga clan had been tumbling around his head for months, and Hinata had a prominent place.

Hinata could be instrumental in healing the divide between the Main and Branch sides of the family. She had already started with him, and also was the daughter of the Clan head. He was more than willing to offer her his support, even if he stepped back into the shadows. It was a service he would offer not because it was forced upon him by fate, but because he chose to offer it.

What a far cry from his younger self, so self-centered and so self-absorbed.

For now, Neji knew he was only one ninja out of tens of thousands in this army, and he was in no leading role. The plot of his life had swung from revolving around him, to revolving around some both larger than him and the Hyuuga clan. Even more than all his ambitions was this vision that Uzamaki Naruto was beginning to embody. Naruto, so steadfast in his belief that everyone could be redeemed. The young man who had defeated Pain and saved Konoha had started as a twelve year old dropout who defeated a boy who thought everything was set in stone.

The dropout had told the 'genius' that people could make choices about their lives.

Naruto and all he stood for was something that Neji had decided he wanted to give his strength towards- and once this vision was sung fully into his blood, every instinct and reaction would lead him down its path. By the time the Fourth Shinobi War had started, Neji had long known about not only about this path, but its possible consequences. As it was, ever since the mission to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke, Neji had already started walking well down it.

"Ne, Neji-nisan do you mind…"

Neji glanced over at Hinata's voice. They had stopped talking for a little while- he must have gotten lost in his thoughts.

"Do you think," Hinata said, "that you'll be up early again tomorrow morning?"

"I could be," he replied.

"Ah, I see."

Neji waited for her to say something, but words were failing the girl.

The jounin soon picked up what was on his cousin's mind, as well as her hesitation in expressing it. Hinata was fidgeting a little, but at least her hands did not betray her by coming together like they sometimes did.

"If you'd like to train together with me tomorrow," said Neji patiently, "It's no great bother to me. Would you?"

"Oh, sorry." She colored slightly, "Yes, yes I would."

The idea of her being the future clan head revolved around in his mind, and it clashed with the person before him, so shy about a simple request. There was no need to be apprehensive- they had trained many times together in the past. There was still a long way to go for her, Neji realized.

Neji sighed and turned his gaze towards Hinata. She met it slowly.

"Hinata-sama, there's nothing wrong with what you asked me. And normally its fine, because you are around people like Kiba, Shino or I. But other people in our division don't know you like we do. You are a representative of both Konoha and the Hyuuga Clan. You should be more frank, assertive and confident. It's not good if people from other villages think you are a pushover- you may have to deal with them in later years."

Without meaning to, the jounin became more earnest with each word that came out of his mouth. This idea of Hinata future responsibilities had added too much weight to his words, and yet there was a still a thousand and one things she needed to know, needed to understand.

However, Hinata looked a little put out. A quiet, "Okay" left the girl's lips. She awkwardly returned to her watch, shoulders a little tense.

Perhaps he had been a little too heavy on her. Neji tried to gather his next words carefully.

"But," Neji relented, "I…"

Hinata's head immediately snapped up. The sight of her eyes, far too big and expectant to look casual made Neji re-consider what he had been going to say. The jounin did not like the idea of puffing his cousin up with pride either.

"I'll be looking forward to tomorrow," Neji finished, his tone a little too formal and polite.

Hinata's posture sagged slightly and her lips pressed together. Although she nodded in assent, Neji felt some distance spring up between them. Frustration curled in the jounin's throat. It was strange- for all a person tried, it sometimes could be so difficult to actually express what you meant to say.

However, Hyuuga Neji generally did not try three times to say one thing. This sort of behavior was not exactly becoming in a person. Pride (which had always been so integral to Neji) now fought with the words forming in his mouth now.

Neji opened his mouth quickly and threw them out before they could get a chance to be beaten down again.

"I will," he stressed. "You're a good sparring partner, and-"

Hinata's Byukgan suddenly flexed; the girl's eyes widened.

"Neji!"

That voice- as Neji turned around, the young man's hair whipped at his cheeks. All thoughts of the present conversation vanished. Simultaneously, the snake coiled tighter around his chest, and jerked by this sudden pressure, his intake of breath was a sharp.

"It's Tenten-san," murmured Hinata.

.

The older kunoichi ambled up to them, and her smile widened when she perceived the surprise on her team mate's face.

After greeting them both, Tenten threw Neji an expectant look.

"Tenten," he said finally, "What are you doing here?"

The Chuunin rolled her eyes. "Really, Neji? Is that the first thing you'd like to say to me? I've been travelling through the night to get here! I could have been eaten alive by those creepy Akatsuki man plant things, or smashed to pieces by Kakazu or killed or maimed or something!"

Neji folded his arms. "I am glad to see you as well- it's a little unexpected, that's all."

Hinata laughed at their interactions, then swung her arms behind her back and started to watch the horizon again. Her mood looked like it had picked up again.

Neji raised his eyebrow, stressing his previous question.

"You never change, do you?" Tenten huffed. "I'm here to deliver supplies. I was given some medical leave, and I thought I might as well help out where I could while I was off the battlefield. I just gave your weapons officer shuriken and things. Two guys from second division came with me. We'll be leaving after breakfast."

Neji ignored her light-hearted chatter. "Why did you have medical leave?"

"Full of questions, aren't you?" Tenten's eyes avoided the jounin's gaze and instead sought out Hinata. "So, are you guys both on watch?"

Hinata's face brightened. "I am, but Neji was going to do some early morning practice. If you're up to it, you could try joining him."

The violet haired shinobi nudged her cousin, "This must be fate, ne Neji-nii san?"

The jounin himself just gave an amused exhale.

Tenten tapped her cheek with one finger. "Well, I suppose I could… It'll be good to make sure I've fully recovered."

The twin-bunned shinobi grinned and grabbed her teammate's arm. "I've got some onigiri and water in my pack for breakfast- you haven't eaten yet right? There's a good spot we saw when we were coming in. We can go there."

.

"Soshoryu!"

"Kaiten!"

Steel clashed with chakra, sharp grey rebounded with swirling blue. Neji had to repeat his defence technique a couple of times before the attacks started to slow down. After a fourth barrage, Neji heard Tenten shout out to him. He stopped spinning and jumped back.

"All right, I'm coming down now," Tenten called. "I think that's enough for a warm up."

Glancing upwards, Neji saw Tenten and it looked like she was suspended in mir-air, a mere silhouette in the twilight. The sky was already a different colour to when he had first woken up. It was if a dash of milk had been stirred into the sky- what Neji once thought was black was now revealed to be a deep, deep purple.

Tenten's thud as she landed in front of him snapped Neji's attention back down to earth. A long scroll dangled from the chuunin's fingers.

"Not bad, Neji," Tenten said approvingly.

Neji straightened and chanced a smirk. "I've been training with someone who hurls weapons at me ever since I graduated from the academy. What else would you expect?"

Tenten laughed as she rolled up her scroll. "I guess. But I have to warn you, I didn't use up all of my Soshoryu scroll and it isn't my biggest weapons scroll anymore. What with being part of the Shinobi Alliance and all, it seems I get nearly unlimited ammunition- for free! Not only that, I have throwables from all five alliance nations."

Tenten beamed with pure pleasure as she picked an ornate scythe off the ground. She really was weapons obsessed, observed Neji. A faint smile lingered on his lips for a moment, before returning his usual neutral expression.

"No doubt it didn't take very long for you to master handling them all," commented Neji. The weapons he spoke of lay in a jagged ring around his figure. Neji watched Tenten carefully as the chuunin did a few practice swipes with the scythe. "Your chakra levels seem a little lower than normal. What happened? Did a Zetsu-clone attack you?"

"Oh no, I keep them at far more than arm's length." Tenten shuddered. "It was the Banana Fan!"

"Banana Fan," Repeated Neji. He sounded even more deadpan than he normally did.

"Oh, you wouldn't mess around with that fan. Only someone like Naruto could probably wield it for extended periods of time." Tenten set down her scythe and looked at her hands wistfully. "You should have seen me with it! The fan's amazingly strong- you could take out whole armies with it. Too bad it got taken off me. Anyway, easy come easy go I guess."

Tenten dusted her hands off and met his gaze. "Time keeps running on us, Jounin-san. What do you want to do next?"

She was also good at changing the subject, Neji realized. But Tenten was right, she probably needed to report back to camp soon and get going. Regret washed up in his mind. Already birds were starting to sing. It was as if the morning was running on double-time that day. Every moment of it was so visionary and yet it passed… it passed so very quickly.

"I need to make sure I know the limits of my kaiten. You said you only used your smallest weapon scroll."

"Are you sure?" his teammate questioned. "I…"

"Let's do it."

.

Neji could see the slight tension on Tenten's face as she prepared the her jutsus. She was still a little tired, and she didn't seem very keen in taking their spar to such a serious level. However, she rarely said no to him.

Just before Tenten shot up into the sky, she gave him a strong warning: "You have to yell stop when you're reaching your limits. I need to know when I should pull back."

The rain of steel began. The kaiten never ended.

.

They finished their spar down on one knee. On opposite ends of the clearing, the two faced each other, in an odd mimic of a bow. Tenten's head flew up and the awe was evidence on her face. Her eyes were shining, like they did when he first successfully performed the Kaiten.

"You really are a genius, aren't you?" Tenten placed one hand on the ground to support her heavy breathing.

Even as he rose, she gazed at him still.

"Remember the time Lee and I tried to take your Kaiten on together, but we still couldn't break though?" she laughed. "Haha, Lee was so annoyed afterwards. He made a brand new training regime just because of it."

"That certainly sounds like Lee," said Neji. "He trained the hardest out of us three that first year."

Neji remembered how much frustration they each caused each other- Lee, because Neji always remained undefeatable… Neji, because Lee too… in an odd way, remained undefeatable too. A rival he didn't want, but maybe that was the best sort of rival anyway.

"I wouldn't say we never trained either, right?" Tenten replied with an impish grin. The chuunin spread her scroll along the forest floor, and began the process of un-summoning her weapons. "But you're right. That boy does not know his limits… then again, he's broken most of his limits anyway."

"Lee is going to be a legend one day."

It was a quiet statement. Tenten's ears barely picked it up as she sat down, cross-legged. About to perform the un-summoning jutsu, her hands getting into position, she paused.

"Hm?" she said. "Did you say something Neji?""

The jounin's voice returned its answer calmly. "Nothing," Neji said. "Nothing at all."

Perhaps he was a little too calm, a little too quick to reply. Tenten looked up and there was a sudden sharpness in her eyes that unsettled Neji. For the first time that day, it seemed that another person noticed the difference in the air too.

"Neji," she said slowly, "Is there something on your mind? Something… you want to talk about?"

Her words were long and drawn out, as if she was considering carefully what to say as she scrutinized him as well. Perhaps she knew him a little too well.

Neji considered the statement as he had considered her before. He knew that if he wasn't careful, words could come tumbling out again. He knew he had no wish to say anything and yet for some reason frustration was starting to curl around the back of his throat.

Neji forced it down and then simply shook his head.

"No."

He could see she herself was struggling whether to move on and off the subject or not. Finally Tenten nodded She arranged her hands back into position and whispered a word. All the weapons that had been around them vanished in the blink of an eye.

She didn't press him. She never pressed him.

.

After Tenten had packed up the last of her scrolls, they started heading back to camp. They walked in silence, side by side. As they walked, Neji wondered why Tenten sometimes interacted with him the way she did. Her acquiescence towards him had always been so steadfast.

Tenten: steady, reliable Tenten. Excitable at times, exasperated rationale at others. Yet she still remained like that, always- never too far flung in any direction. No obsessive drive to be great, or change her fate, or change others or anything at all.

Neji gave a soft exhale when they arrived at the camp gates and passed through the new batch of guards.

...she had always just been there.

The snake circled closer in around his gut.

Tenten had stopped to take some hair pins out of her waist pouch. A few strands of hair had fallen out of the buns at the back of her head and the chuunin moved to pin them back up. There was a faint sheen of sweat on her skin but by now her breathing had become more regular than before. Her eyes, her nose, her chin, why did it all seem so important to him now?

It was then the gongs sounded. These strong warm resonances, turning night to morning, signaling the transition from darkness to light. They both looked up. Clouds were shifting to make way for the rising sun. Everything was tinged with red and yellow. The camp drums were beginning to beat, slowly at first and then faster and faster. People were coming briskly out of their respective tents. Tenten was caught by the scene unfolding.

All of the events and thoughts of the morning seemed to circle around in Neji's mind like vultures… and yet somewhere in between it all, between possible clan heads, and practice spars, and choices, and decisions, a strange feeling of clarity arrived.

Neji turned Tenten around to face him and placed a hand on her shoulder, making sure they met eye-to-eye.

"Neji," started Tenten, and then she broke off.

The jounin's gaze was so strong, he almost felt he was seeing right through her to what lay ahead. Everything was so fleeting.

"Fight well on the battlefield today," he said.

He placed one swift kiss on her forehead.

Tenten jerked like she had been burnt with fire, her right hand flying to the spot that his lips had touched. Wide-eyed with shock, she also looked as if she had understood something, but could not figure out exactly what she had understood.

The two of them stood there, frozen for a few moments- one looking up in earnest question, one looking away, refraining from answer.

They soon had to split- crowds of shinobi were pressing around them, trying to make their way to the camp center for the daily assembly. The farewell was brief, and Neji soon found himself striding away, well aware that Tenten was still watching him.

Neji made his way to the assembly grounds and soon found Hinata and Kiba. The sight of Tenten's surprise still echoed in his mind.

Words, reasons and explanations were often tiresome and cumbersome. Surely, there would be another time to come full circle and let everybody be on the same page as him, thought Neji. Every day had its own events, another chance to start again anew. Hinata, Lee, Tenten… he doubted that they would ever withdraw from his life or drop out of it.

And even if he didn't say anything today, surmised Neji, tomorrow too, was still another day dawning.

Oh Neji, rest in peace.

Any comments or criticisms would be greatly appreciated! I'm not sure whether I hit the right notes, or ended up with a confused ramble inside Neji's head. I would love to know what you think.