Just a quick scene I wrote the idea for about a month ago and just now filled in the pieces of. Very soft NejiTen. Hope you enjoy~

Caged Bird Freed

Tenten was dying. She was 92 years old and her kidneys were failing. Her body was finally giving in to years of wear and tear. It was resisting treatment. It was rejecting life, the doctors said.

"There is nothing we can do."

"And there is nothing I want you to do," she replied.

xx

Tenten lay in the living room of her home, moved out of the hospital a few days before on her own request. Because she was a highly respected elder of the village, many had gathered to see her pass. An aide was in the kitchen and several important adults stood near the door. Sakura sat stoically in a chair next to the heater. That side of the room was piled with flowers and cards and other well wishings that had been left during the past few days. Small children surrounded Tenten's bed, their small hands grasping at the sheets. Tenten smiled contently. She had no close family, and of her friends, only Sakura would outlive her. This was exactly how she wanted to go, in the company of the villagers that she considered her children and grandchildren, and in the room where she had stored her most precious memories.

As some of the children began to beg for Tenten to tell one of her usual stories, Tenten turned her head toward a photo on the wall.

"Let me tell you my last story," she began, shaky for breath. "The story of the caged bird."

Only a few in the room were old enough to have heard the tale of the man that changed the Hyuuga, but even they could not have known the story as Tenten knew it. They may have known the sacrifice made by the bearer of the hitai-ate that now rested on the table beside Tenten's bed, but they did not know the man himself. Only Sakura looked up at the photo of the boy with the faraway look in his eyes and recognized the story as his.

xx

Once, there was a bird with the most marvelous wings, but from the moment he could fly, he was imprisoned in a cage, unable to spread his wings wide. Every day from his cage, he would watch the other birds flying in the sky. Inside his heart stirred a dangerous concoction of envy, and hatred. And he believed that one day it would ignite into an unstoppable flame that would burn everything around him. He believed that destroying his world entirely was the only way he might escape his confinement, that there would be no freedom for him otherwise.

Until one day, a hideous demon fox happened upon his cage. At first, the bird was disgusted. But the demon fox began to speak.

"I, too, was born in a cage," the fox said. "I, too, was born in darkness and hatred, but there is light all around you if only you would let it through those bars into your space. There is light right before you, in wakes of the wild birds in the sky, and in the reflections off your eyes. If I, an ugly and clumsy fox can escape my prison, then surely you, the most beautiful and intelligent bird I have ever seen, can too."

"That is nonsense," the bird replied. "There is no way to escape fate."

"But have you ever even tried at the latch?" the fox asked. And the bird could not answer.

After that encounter, the bird let himself begin to dream of the sun riding on his wingtips, and his cage felt a little less cramped. He spread his wings as far as the metal bars would let him and let the wind ruffle his feathers.

Years later, the bird saw the fox in a terrible fight alongside the bird's very own captor, against an ancient and powerful enemy. The fox and his ally were being beaten. As the enemy was about to land a fatal blow on the fox and the bird's captor, the bird burst into flames. He broke through the lock on the door, and erupted out, wings gleaming and burning in every color of the rainbow. The bird dove into the enemy's path, taking the blow for the fox and his captor, sacrificing himself. This allowed the demon fox to defeat his foe.

"Why?" cried the fox. "Why would you give up your newfound freedom to save me?"

And in the bird's dying breath, he whispered, "I gave nothing up. In fact, I believe that only through this act was I able to find my freedom. Thank you, fox, for showing me the light."

xx

"The demon fox was none other than the Seventh Hokage. The bird sacrificed his life to save Konoha and without him, the village as it is today would not exist."

Exclamations of wonder rippled through the crowd of children.

"I believe that the bird was a phoenix," Tenten continued.

"I know what a phoenix is! It has rainbow wings and long legs like a crane!"

"That's right. Do you know what happens when a phoenix dies?"

"What happens?"

"It is reborn from ashes. That caged bird lives on in your hearts, a droplet of pure will, a symbol of the love and sacrifice that built this village." This distracted the children, and they discussed amongst themselves as Tenten took a quavering breath that seemed to shake her entire body. She closed her eyes. "It is time for me to go now, my loves."

"O-baa-chan, where are you going?" the children cooed.

"I'm returning to the springtime of my youth."

"Are you going all by yourself?"

"No. I have many friends waiting for me there."

"Can we come too?"

"No, darlings. Your springtime has only barely begun. I only wish that I could watch you bloom. Listen to your parents and take care of the village. Embrace your youth and live with passion. Sakura, I'll see you soon, I suppose. Good-bye, everyone, and thank you for all of the years."

"Good-bye, grandma," the children chanted. "Thank you for telling us that story."

The adults in the room bowed silently. Sakura dipped her head.

From the corner by the heater, Sakura's voice travelled softly to Tenten's ears. "You left out the part about the little girl with dragons in her eyes who visited the bird every day."

Tenten let out a pained chuckle. "Well… no one wants to hear a boring tale like that." And then she said no more.

Tenten fell asleep to rhythm of the chubby fingers of Sakura's granddaughter patting her arm. She dreamed of scenes from her own youth. Brushing fingers with Neji in the Academy, holding his hand for the first time, being comforted by the warmth of his chest, and kissing his cold, clear forehead feeling like she was the one bleeding out from the gaping holes in her chest, not him. Later, opening her store, becoming an elder, saying her final farewells to Gai and to Lee, seeing all of her friends pass away. Then, she was young again, and it was the day the photo on the wall had been taken. Lee and Gai were smiling and bouncing about even more passionately than usual. Neji was rolling his eyes. She began to walk forward to take her place in the photo, speeding up to a run. She made no noise, but she spoke energetically.

"Gai. Lee. I'm coming to join you now. Neji… I have waited all my life long."

XX

And that's it, friends. Thanks for reading!

Notes:

1. I'm aware that the Japanese hō-ō(Chinese fènghuáng) is an entirely separate thing from the Western phoenix, and that the whole rebirth thing is Western. I put the two together because… well, I guess I don't have a good reason.

2. The Chinese fènghuáng is often paired with the dragon, symbolizing the unity of yin and yang, female and male, husband and wife. This is something that I want to expand on in a later story if I have the time or the inspiration.

3. Though I imagine Goldberry was inspired by the anime in which Neji's body is outlined with a flaming bird as he leaps to save Naruto and Hinata, I have to attribute the phoenix thing here to her story, "Phoenix", because I probably would not have thought any more of that moment in the anime had I not read her story first. It's a beautiful and moving one-shot, and if you haven't read it, you should.