There she lay, her torn and bloody body, in her fiance's arms. Never again would Rei see his pale-lavender eyes, his warm and caring smile. Her once bright and lively, blue eyes were now dull. Her skin a deathly pale white. She had blood seeping out the courners of her mouth. Hot tears were running down her lover's face.
"N-neji..."she murmured.
"Rei, why didn't you let me take the hit?" he whispered.
Neji moved some loose strands of black hair from her face as he stroke her cheek. He couldn't understand why she pushed him out of the way.
Flash Back-
"Neji, watch out!" Rei screamed pushing him out of the way. The enemy had aimed a kunai at his heart, but she took the hit.
End flash back-
"Neji, promise me that you will find someone else to love and not to put yourself at fault for my death?" she had asked him. Her breathing was ragged and came in short gasps.
"Don't talk like your dying, you'll be okay once we get you to a hospitle." he snapped in anger.
"We both know that I am dying, Neji. Please promise me that you will not put yourself at fault for my death and that you will find someone else you can love while I am in the after life?" she asked in a soft tone.
"I promise." he said knowing it was no use argueing with her. Tears were now leaking freely from his eyes on to her face. She held up her left hand and gently stroked his cheek. A silver band was on her ring finger. He took her hand, a similar band on his finger.
"Tell me again, when we were to be married." she asked with a soft and weak smile. Though she knew the date clearly, she wanted to here it again, to remember it, even in the after life.
"We were to be married one week after this mission, May 30, your birthday." he told her soothingly. She smiled, one of those smiles that made his heart melt.
"Could you hum the song that was to be played at our wedding." she asked in barely a whisper. He nodded knowing her life was slowly slipping away. Neji hummed the song. He was choking back tears, but he still hummed the song, even after she took her last breath. It started to rain. He looked up into the sky, wondering why destiny had been so cruel to him.
Shikamaru, Naruto, Kakashi, Choji and Lee found him. They all had grim looks on their faces.
There was a grassy meadow in front of her. Sarutobi, Hayate, and her parents were there. Sarutobi held out his hand gestureing for her to join them. She looked behind her, only to see darkness. Had that been where she had entered from? She turned on her heals and ran towards the group. When she got there she felt like she didn't need to live anymore. Rei thought that though she died she would be happy here in the after life. Her only regret was leaving Neji behind.
She would drop by the living world, unknown to Neji, and see how everyone was doing.
2 days later at the funeral-
Neji stood there, in front of her ebony casket. All the other shinobi that attended had put a white lilly on it, but he had put her favorite flower on it, the rarest flower there was. It was a black rose, her favorite flower in the world. After the ceremony was over he walked slowly to the K.I.A stone, where her name was engraved. "I miss you so much." He managed to choke out. He could have sworn her heard her say, "I miss you too..." in the wind.
50 years later-
Neji is now 73 years old. His once chocolate, brown soft hair has turned white and thin. His lavender eyes had dulled down to white with a black ring around the iris as to show that he was of the Hyuga clan. He was unmarried and turned all the girls that fawned over him in the past. He had thrown his wedding band in the ocean a few years after Rei had died. He would lock himself in his room or house and just sit there hoping to die soon so he could be reunited with Rei. Sometimes he would think about suicide, but every time he thought about it, he could swear he heard Rei whisper in his ear, "Now, we don't want you to start thinking about that now do we."
After a while he said, "Fine Rei, I will never think about suicide again." and he never did. He figured that if he commited suicide it would be un-shinobi like and he wouldn't want to dissapoint Rei by dying that way.
One day he left his house, and went to an old bench near the entrance to the village. There was an attack and he smiled. He sighed out in regret and oddly relief. He let out his last breath with out a fight.
Neji opened his eyes and saw the same grassy meadow that Rei had seen. His attention was then caught by his left hand. It was smooth and non-wrinkly as it had been when he was old. The very band that he was sure he threw in the ocean was back on his finger. He looked down at is clothing and saw that he was in a pure white robe. Then he heard a familiar shy giggle. His head shot up, and he was staring at Rei. She was garbed in a simple white kimono and had her hair up in a high bun, with two white chopsticks in the bun. She giggled again then ran towards him.
"Neji you came!" she exclaimed embracing him in a loving hug. "I wanted you to come so much but I wanted you to live." she told him.
He looked down at her and smiled a genuine smile.
"I am glad we can finally be together." he whispered into her ear. Then he captured her lips with his own, not in a lustful and hard way, but in a soft and gentle way. She kissed him back and in the back ground the wedding march could be heard playing.
The end
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto but I do own Rei my made up character ()