What happens after Neji dies?

DISCLAIMER : Kishi owns all the rights and the all the money from Naruto, I only have the ideas for a fanfiction.

Warning : Neji Hyuga but not really Neji

Backstory: Kyuu (Naruto's alternate name in my fic) is a tv drama series and popular characters die every other season. So what happens to the actor who played the long haired lavender eyed ninja with powers to see 358 degrees. The actor's name is Neji Hyuga, and here is how he came to be a writer after his character died. I decided to name the actors based on the character's names and rename their characters in the tv drama / action series.

The giant screen dimmed as the theatre lights lit up, and the audience stood as they cheered and clapped at the sad epic scene. Some sobs were heard along with sniffles. It was a sad scene but a fitting farewell for one of its popular supporting character. The producers, writers, actors and editors eyes trained on him. His character may die young, but this is not an ending, it also marked a new beginning of something else.

He had loved all twelve years of his career with the team behind 'Kyuu', the TV Action and Drama series. It had been his first acting job starting when he was eight. He had not expect it to run this long. All the experience had paved ways for him to enter the other branches of the entertainment business. He also had many precious experiences along his career, like appearing alongside several international actors on magazine covers, invited to film festivals across the world where his drama series were very popular, meetings with renowned actors, writers, producers and directors at events. It was not until upon meeting a very down to earth but handsome writer, who praised his acting when he was fifteen, that he was taken by the idea of being a writer. Looks aren't everything, he could be like this guy he thought. He thought he could try out as a writer instead of just a pretty face in front of the camera.

So slowly he gained the trust of his producers to write for one of his scene when he was sixteen. Although it was only a ten minutes scene spread into, two episodes, but he was very proud of his achievement. One evening after a script reading session, one of the editor called him to the editing room telling him she had something to show him.

When he appeared inside the dimmed editing room, he saw the editor copy pasting the credit text onto a video track. He leaned against the wall behind her, looking at the editor in action. The editor clicked here and there on the editing software and then turned to him and told him to sit next to her. As the editor tapped on a play button the finished credit rolls.

Cast

NARUTO NAMIKAZE as KYUU KITSUNE

SASUKE UCHIHA as KIRIN KATON

SAKURA HARUNO as RAI SHANNARO

ITACHI UCHIHA as SHARINGAN / KAIYA KATON

KAKASHI HATAKE as SCARECROW

SHIKAMARU NARA as NARA NAKANO

SAI as SAI

NEJI HYUGA as BYA KUGAN

TENTEN as NENA

ROCK LEE as ROCK LEE

INO YAMANAKA as SIZUKA SATO

CHOUJI AKIMICHI as CHO HITO

HINATA HYUGA as HYA KUGAN

KIBA INUZUKA as KAZUE OOKAMI

And the rest of the actors...

Writers

KISHI M

SAM IZUMA

SORA INABI

SUZUKI YAMASHITA

NEJI HYUGA

Realization of having his name roll twice in the credits only sank in, when he saw the credit roll the second time. On the second time, he was at his cousin's home at the time. Unluckily he just arrived there from shooting, luckily he managed to catch up with the last five minutes where one of the last scenes featured him, and more importantly he saw the credit roll again.

His older cousin did not think much of him being a writer. The cousin groused about about why the eighteen year old actor did not receive any of the offers to lead a drama series. He has the face, the experience, the older cousin reasoned. The young actor told his cousin, that he had no passion in being the main star of a drama series. No heart to be in it at all, he said. He never craved being the center of attention.

A few months later, a friend to one of his producers, heard about his writing stint and offered him a job to write and direct a half hour performance for the annual Japan theatre festival. It was not an exclusive job but he did not care, he quickly agreed even before going through the contract. Just as he expected the pay was standard and the production budget limited but he was absolutely livid. Luckily his shooting ended early that year and he had ample time to finish his project before the next shooting schedule rolls in. He told his manager that he won't be doing any commercial that year, except for the media interview for the next drama/action new series and the inevitable on location promotion.

For a month he buried himself in writing, declining Tenten and Lee's mountain climbing invitations. When time came to work out his script with the actors, he used his acting experiences to good use. He was flexible as it was a youthful cast, most younger than him, so he gave his actors freedom to play around with his material, but most were happy to stay with the playscript. After the festival, an online review of the stage performance came in and he was credited as the 'actor turned director and writer', more popular for his lavender eyed stoic character Neji Hyuga. The review said the performance was saved by his decent writing, they claimed 'much more colourful than his on tv persona'. He was eighteen years old when he did the job and was still acting as Neji Hyuga, thus the comparison was expected.

The handsome writer snorted at the comparison, but on the other hand he felt his heart soar that underneath it all the review acknowledged that he wrote and directed quite ok. He needed more chance to do this. The more he did this the better he could be.

Although he had loved being an action hero, his new love of writing and directing was quickly taking over his focus from acting. He was at first torn when the drama series reached a new peak in popularity and his character appearance increased, and at the same time he began receiving more offers to write.

Maybe, the increment in writing offers had to do with his characters' increasing popularity, but he knew popularity wasn't the main factor. Neji had worked himself hard to get recognized as a writer too. However after discussing with his parents and producers, he decided to focus on his drama / action series for the next year while the series was at its peak. He spent his three months out of the year when he wasn't shooting to write.

The guy known internationally as Byakugan-kun stood as the standing ovation overtook the cheering. A shorter figure jumped and hugged him.

"We're going to miss you soooooo much," said the smaller figure who let go sooner than he wanted.

"Talk to you later Nii-san," said the person as she scurried away.

He smiled. He was too emotional to say anything now. He'll say something kind to her later, it is not like he was leaving the studio anyway. They have many post shootings things to be done, even if his character is now dead. Suddenly remembering that his drama series was full of magic powers and the likes, he hoped that his producers wouldn't think about resurrecting or reanimating his character soon. Then, the possibility of die hard fans wanting his character's resurrection, hit him. He shuddered again until he felt firm hands on both his shoulders.

He looked to his left and saw Naruto Uzumaki with his hand on his shoulder. Tears streamed down his cheeks falling unbridled, the action star did even bother to wipe his wet cheeks. Then Neji turned to his left and saw his other main star Sasuke Uchiha, also with a hand on Neji's other shoulder. Sasuke's dark eyes looked a little sad. though he was smiling proudly at Neji.

The black haired star pulled him into a hug, then they were both glomped by the blond star. Soon all the actors known as Konoha 11 on TV, came and circled them, they all ended in a group hug. Almost suffocating from the hug, the long haired actor / writer / director laughed in surprise, and then he was suddenly lifted on someone's shoulders and was carried out of the theatre. He couldn't help but laugh and blush at his costars reaction. He will sorely miss this he thought. All the camaraderie and friendship which he had made along the way. From the corner of his eyes he saw Sai giving him a wave, while standing close to Yamato-senpai and Kakashi-senpai. Neji had not the chance to socialize with Sai since the actor only rarely appeared in his scenes and was always out of the studio right after shooting.

They carried him from the theatre and dropped him onto a large box in the center of the hall. He almost stumbled back but did not as someone had magically supported his back. He stood with his hands in his sides bracing himself for anything this jubilant mob will try to do to him. He could see the rest of the actors and crew trickling into the hall. To his surprise he saw the legendary Sannins crying with their hands on each other's shoulders. Tsunade looked at him and gave him a thumbs up gesture. Neji returned the gesture with a firm nod.

His attention was caught by his black haired co-star who was actually far more chatty from his stoic smirking onscreen persona. The boy chanted Neji's name until the hall was vibrating with his name. Naruto clapped his hand and the chanting soon died.

"Byakugan boy will greatly be missed. But on the bright side Neji Hyuga will take over as one of our main writers from now on."

His sister Hyuga Hinata wolf whistled and was soon joined by Ino, Sakura and Karin. The rest of the crowd started chanting something else and Naruto again clapped his hand for attention. But this time Sasuke spoke over the crowd.

"Before we eat and I know all of you are hungry to death, let's take a photo first. Your cooperation is appreciated."

Neji looked as Sasuke jumped on the box and threw himself onto his blond co star who did not notice that he was about to be attacked. Naruto yelped in surprise when the weight of Sasuke Uchiha hit him hard. He in turn pummelled the dark haired guy onto the floor before the rolling duo were torn apart by a pink haired actress.

Neji wondered for a second if their friendship were affected by their characters in the series. The stoic Kirin and the troublemaker Kyuu might never share a hug onscreen, but Naruto and Sasuke were the best of friends in reality. Much like how he himself was never the stoic person like Bya Kugan was, or how Hinata wasn't as shy as Hya Kugan was portrayed in the series. He hoped he would have some interesting material to present next week when he starts his writing job with the team. For now he is looking forward to eating and his week long holiday.

It had been a month since his last day of shooting, and life had gradually dropped to a slower pace. Since the episode he will appear would only be aired in another five weeks, the Studio advised Neji to not go travel overseas in case they needed him for reshoots, or voice over. He did not mind being grounded because he still has some promotional event to attend, a few charity events and of course the confirmed magazine interviews. Plus, he had so many activities lined up with his former castmates that he was sure he would not even have time to be bored.

Neji looked at the ground as he let his erratic breathing resume to a more normal pace. He watched the tall grass merrily dancing to the rhythm of the wind. After an hour hike they finally arrive on top of hill Yondaime, the hill named after one of Konoha's ancient leader who was rumoured to be born here under the moonlight. Nowadays it had become a hill for beginners hiker to scale.

"Nejiiiiiiiiiiii, the view is soooo breathtaking from here. You should get your camera out."

"Let him take a breather Ten." Lee had just arrived after Neji, not because he was slow, it was because a hiker recognized him and wanted to pose for a few hundred selfies. Lee was sporting as usual.

Since he did not have to act for at least a year, Neji quit attending boot camps at the studio. Though his contract stipulated that he could only quit after his last episode premieres, Neji had talked with his producers and they had excused him so he could focus on his writing job. It was normal for long running series to have dead characters resurface in some form or another, thus Neji established with his boss that he would only appear two season later.

With his writing job being a more sedentary work compared to acting, Neji inexplicably found himself spending more time away from his trusty home gym than in it. So when Tenten asked him to join them in a hill climbing activity, he was more than game.

Neji smiled at Tenten, who was wearing a shorts showing off her shapely legs. His eyes trailed downwards on her smooth thighs, her calves and down to her purple sneakers. Those purple shoes were now walking towards him.

"Neji!" Tenten whined. Neji mentally slapped himself for checking out her legs, which were always hidden beneath safety gears and costumes when they are shooting. Then he glanced at his other former costar, Rock Lee who was standing with arms on his hip admiring the view before him. Lee was rocking his original hairdo, shoulder length curly hair held back with a scarf.

Neji stood up straight, stretched and began rummaging his back pack for his trusted Canon 7D camera to shoot the sun which will set in an hour's time. Tenten approached Neji, pinched his shoulder and rerouted her path towards the sun. Lee smiled at Tenten, as she did some silly poses for Neji. Neji of course did not waste time to photograph a few images of Tenten. Her ponytail bouncing around with her various pose, Tenten was much like her onscreen persona but much more livelier. Neji gestured for Tenten to move away from the sun as he previewed the backlighted pictures in his camera. Tenten obliged and put her backpack down and then moved around to Neji's direction. She posed some more for him and Neji began clicking again.

Soon Rock Lee joined Tenten, their little clique had an affinity towards anything action and photography. Tenten being the most overjoyed when she knew Neji bought a DSLR camera a year ago. She even had a picture of herself in one fighting stance, blown up to life size proportion back in her apartment. Photo courtesy of Neji's improving photography skill.

Tenten approached Neji and shoved the guy playfully towards Lee and took over the camera. Neji did some silly poses, mirroring Tenten earlier. Tented fumbled with the camera's function but switched to Auto Mode and was soon photographing Neji. Neji posed looking furious. He posed his signature Bya Kugan fighting stance. After that he and Lee faced towards each other like they were in a fight. Lee mock kicking a scared Neji, and Neji jumped at the count of 3. They all laughed in unison at their own antics.

After ten minutes of photography session, they all stood together admiring the view of West Konoha. Neji squinted and used his thumb and pointy finger to frame their studio which was the size of his thumb from the top of the hill.

"Do you think you could suggest to them, one episode where we'd be like giants venturing to an island full of little people. And then Sasuke and Naruto were accidentally transformed into little people and Kiba can pick them up and put them together and declare "Now kiss"."

"Ha ha, that's a silly idea and not workable, maybe we can incorporate it in the chibi edition though. In that anything goes," Neji explained.

"So any idea on SasuNaru day?" Lee looked around to see if there were people near them, but it looked like the hilltop was spacious enough to let everyone have ample spaces from each other. They would be totally reprimanded if any off their plotlines were let out to the public.

"Suzuki and Sora were talking about doing some fan servicing, but Kishi hadn't given them green light yet."

"Well I hope they don't do some kind of accidental kiss anymore. That'd be awkward for Sakura's character." Tented answered seriously this time. "That Rai Shannaro has been crying tears of blood in our last scene fighting against the Crimson Cloud. I swear that genjutsu plot of having Kirin (Sasuke) stab Sakura aka Rai was evil. I've seen some rabid fans arguing about the validity of the leaked behind the scenes photo. They hoped that photo of Kirin stabbing Rai is a genjutsu scene, at least they got that part right."

"Yeah, they have to twist the bromance around into SasuNaru friendship and not romantically. Some SasuSaku shippers told me exactly that yesterday," Lee said.

"Pity, I would have loved to see them kiss, more than a kiss though." Tenten dreamily said while loosening her hair tie. "You could suggest that the enemy had given poison to an unconscious Kirin and then Kyuu had to save him by sucking the poison with his mouth because his hands were tied on the back."

"Well truthfully, at this rate the show is going I think we have to start fan servicing as an opportunity to please the loyal fans after years of watching. One could see that the series is going to end in a year or two." Lee made a thoughtful face at Neji, and then pointed at the sun.

Neji noticed that the sun was nearly in the horizon and they all paused the conversation to admire the sun. Within fifteen minutes the sun had totally set and the three young people waited for their ride as the trek down in darkness would be dangerous. Lee and Tenten had a term in their contract that they can't participate in extreme sports and activities because if anything happens to them it will cause delay in filming.

""Good morning, hope everyone has a good weekend," Sam, one of the writers stepped into the discussion room and placed a box of doughnuts in the middle of the table. Suzuki, the lone female writer entered after him and placed a coffee cup holder holding five styrofoam cups on the table beside the doughnut box.

"Thank you," Sora the senior writer walked to the front with a plate and began putting doughnuts in it, and also took one of the coffee cups. "which one is decaf?"

"The one with red sticker," Suzuki announced as she set her file on the table and rummaged her messenger bag for a pen.

Neji smiled at his fellow writers and tapped on his smart tab to read his fellow actors chat messages. Naruto, Sakura, Kiba and Tenten are with their producer at a local college for an event. Sasuke was shooting for a commercial, having garnered many offers to endorse products because of his good looks and charisma. Lee was acting as a jury for a Children's Martial Art Competition. The rest were either having voice over recording or at a doctor's appointment.

Hinata, Neji's sister was outside lounging with the office administration staff. She had known some of them since she was little and spent her free days hanging with them. She had always been good with people, which was a character trait opposite of her shy onscreen persona.

"Sora, Kishi's going to be late today. So you wanna start now?" Suzuki spoke to Sofa while looking at her mobile phone.

"How did you know?" Sam asked her.

"I saw Hashirama-sama and Madara-sama taking pictures with him on Facebook. I think they're in here for their special filler episode meeting."

Sam nodded and said, "I'll ask him directly then." He flipped out his phone and began calling the Head exiting the room."

Neji who heard the interesting bit of news, closed his tab, placed it on the table and asked again, "Really? They are proceeding on that idea first, instead of SasuNaru?"

"It seems so, they wanted to start on their background story and interlace it with SasuNaru scenes," Sofa stopped munching on his third doughnut to explain.

"Oh, so there's going to be a bit of comparison I see." Sora looked at Neji, who arched an eyebrow at the explanation.

"Yeah, Kishi said there will eventually be a comparison episode, but the first thing they want to establish is that Madara and Hashirama, the characters Kirin and Senju had a brotherhood like SasuNaru, once upon a time before they became enemies. The episode will entail Kirin's hunger for power and Hashirama pursuing his best friend," explained Sora while stirring his opened cup of coffee.

"Much like how SasuNaru is now. So when did this discussion happen?" Neji asked. His head writer Kishi sure liked to keep future episodes discussion away from them, maybe because he doesn't want to sway their writings. The producers wanted them to concentrate with the present episode instead of worrying about future developments.

"Last night, my mom was having tea with Hashirama's wife when the producers came to his home," Sora smiled amusingly. It was no secret that Sora's mother is Tsunade, one of the actress making up the legendary 'Sannins', who was also friends with Hashirama's wife, Mito who was grandaunt to Naruto. The Sannins were made out of Tsunade, Orochimaru and Jiraiya, actors known for their martial art series which aired over thirty years ago time ago. Now they appeared in Kyuu as mentors to the main characters.

"They sure like to keep things secret, until the last minute. You know how media social virals things these days, I think the picture of Kishi with Madara-sama and Hashirama-sama will make their rounds in tumblr by noon." Sora mused, looking at his watch which showed that it was only 9 in the morning.

"As long as SasuNaru is the main focus it's ok with the fans," Neji said, realizing that he had begun to feel hunger started to make his way towards the doughnuts.

Suzuki smiled, "If the fans had their way, it's going to be SasuNaru all the way." Neji heard him and smirked.

Sam walked back into the discussion room and sat down. Every writer looked at him expectantly. Sam sighed and began opening a folder he had carried along with him, "We are going to discuss about the finale of the Katon vs Senju before we proceed to the Katon x Senju filler episodes. Katon as in Madara Katon and Hashi Senju"

Sora sent the other writers a knowing smile. Suzuki then stood and pulled her chair towards the white board behind her. She wrote the number episode they will discuss and began scribbling character names on the board.

Neji opened his folder and went through his notes from the night before.

""Who wants to share their idea first?" Sam asked.

Author's Note

Neji, Lee and Ten are 20. The rest are 19. I always forgot about this.