When I first heard that Neji was dead, I was standing on the battlefield, the Juubi standing a little ways away. I can't tell you what went through my mind at that exact moment.
Sadness?
Despair?
Both, but probably more of the latter.
He had died in Naruto's arms.
Did he say anything of me in the end?
Probably not.
The Juubi was dead, Uchiha Obito was dead, Madara was dead once more,
Neji was dead.
The sky, orange with the color of sunset glared down at me.
In return, I glared down at Neji's grave and all that I could ask was "Why?"
Tenten said that it was okay, "Everybody will lose someone. Naruto never even knew his parents." I shook my head.
"He never knew them."
-
Gai-sensei sensed my distress one day and came to me, told me I wasn't being myself. Yeah, I wasn't. The dark bags under my eyes were out of character with the usual tumultuous attitude, greeting every day with a smile.
Now I just greeted them with an extremely strong sense of dread.
Why so much inner turmoil over one man, you say?
It happens to everyone, hmm?
Neji and I had… "shared" each other before all this Great Ninja War shit began.
He told me that he "cared for me". In 'Neji', that meant he loved me.
I loved him.
He made me feel different. Even when he sighed or facepalmed when I did something extreme or daring with Gai-sensei. I'd always notice that shine of endearment through his white eyes.
-
We were at a party.
When I say we, I mean Tenten and I (who had declared herself my guardian)
So, the party.
We were celebrating Sasuke's return and the death of the Juubi.
Naruto was fired up, screaming across the room, "Oi! Teme!" at Sasuke, who seemed to be ignoring him whilst sipping on his water.
I saw Naruto glance over at me, and his gaze soften, before evading once he noticed that I had seen.
I wasn't touching anything here. I refused to. I knew that if I did, I would just vomit it back up in the morning. Not that I had been eating much, anyways.
I ran my hand through my hair, sighing.
I needed to lighten up.
I needed to fix myself.
That's what he would want.
I'd fix myself for him.