Author's Notes: Team Gai because they always need love.
That Place
There are some memories he finds too precious to contemplate more than necessary. They are blinding in their perfect brilliance, flaring in his mind like the first sparks of a fire. Safe in his self-discipline, they keep their edges like new photographs, smooth and bright as he indulges in nostalgia.
He remembers most clearly the summer spent drinking tea from lemongrass while Lee gave himself heat exhaustion and Tenten lazily waved a fan of waterfalls and goldfish. It is the colors in that scene that draw him out of the dark, reminding him of a time not so very long ago. There is nothing else special about it. Nothing extraordinary happened that day, no blood or tears or biting words. They were simply together, children wavering on the line of early adulthood while june bugs flew patterns around them.
There is a sense of comfort in that, a warm place that occupies the corners of his mind. And as he pulls the falcon mask down over his face, eyes forward but seeing everywhere, he immerses himself in the recollection that there is somewhere he still needs to go.
There is still tea to drink and dry remarks to be made about Lee's skills while Tenten rolls her eyes and mutters about men and boys. There are summers yet to be spent under the sprawl of maple trees with makeshift targets and warm steel.
So he survives to go to that place, to return and see them there, vibrant and clear and very real.
"Welcome back, Neji."
And there is nothing he needs more than a place to rest his wings.
The End.