Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

BGM: "Blue Bird" by Ikimono-gakari. YouTube: watch?v=vi-rZ3JfJ50&feature= &t=1m58s

Lost Bird and Distant Voice

Neji blinked. Then he blinked again. Yes, it was still pitch dark.

He hadn't known what to expect after his death, but endless nothing hadn't been it. Neither had he expected the profound boredom that came with it.

There was no doubt about it, this sucked. …Where was he anyway?

It was clear that he was somewhere, as he was capable of coherent thought. His body was intact and there wasn't so much as a speck of blood on his clothing, which was somewhat surprising considering the condition it had been in when he'd died. He'd had a giant hole right through his abdomen. Things like that didn't just vanish. Except, apparently, when they did.

Of course, his forehead protector was missing, which made sense. He wasn't sure how he'd lost it – the last few minutes or seconds were understandably fuzzy due to adrenaline high and blood loss interfering with his memories and perception of time. All he had known was Hinata was going to die, his precious cousin for all that she was Main House, he would not let her die again-

It said something about his life that she'd died before and it hadn't stuck, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know what that "something" was.

So he'd done something suitably reckless and Naruto-like, and because he had neither Naruto's insane luck nor Hinata-sama's one-time get-out-of-death-free card, the consequences had stuck. Neji strongly suspected that some deity somewhere had seen the whole thing play out and had immediately laughed their blessed head off.

Hinata-sama was alive. Naruto was alive, which meant he would no doubt pull some insane jutsu he'd improvised not two minutes before the battle had started straight out of thin air and blow Obito to bits, thereby saving the day. Everyone else's lives would go on without him. How could they do otherwise? Shinobi died every day. It was literally in the job description; to die for one's village was considered a high honor.

It didn't change the fact that he was dead, that despite the fact he seemed to be all in one piece he couldn't use the Byakugan or even feel any chakra at all. Chakra was life. He had no chakra. Therefore, he was clearly not alive, and that wasn't going to change any time soon. Possibly not ever. Which was worrying.

Neji had never been particularly devout. Certainly, he believed in Fate if not its absolute power over human lives, but that was more a matter of philosophy than faith. He had tacitly accepted the usual assumptions regarding ancestor spirits watching over their descendants, the Will of Fire, appeasing local kami and such as a matter of sense. If there were spirits around every corner, it would be stupid to risk angering something he couldn't hit back. If there weren't, all it had cost him was a short amount of time, some rice and a few sticks of moderately priced incense. Now it seemed that the usual assumptions were dead wrong as he, a shinobi who had died an honorable death sacrificing his life for that of Hinata's, was stuck quite literally in the middle of nowhere. Not only was she family, she was the Hyuuga clan heiress and a trusted comrade-in-arms. In theory that should have earned him, if not an honored spot among the ancestors – it seemed that that part at least had been so much incense-fuelled hokum – at least a well-deserved rest. How exactly was endless nothing supposed to be restful?

Calmly, stoically, Neji glared out into the pitch darkness. Whoever had screwed up and let him fall through the cracks of Fate's design was going to – er, he wasn't entirely certain what he could do with no chakra for juuken and no ground to push off of for momentum, but he would think of something. It wasn't as though he was going anywhere anytime soon.

And now he had a headache. How exactly could someone get a headache when they didn't have a physical body to feel pain with?

Abandoning all pretense of stoicism, Neji let loose a long string of the filthiest barracks-talk he'd ever heard. Which admittedly wasn't much. Growing up in a clan of lip-readers who could see through walls made one learn to watch their words very quickly and very well, or else. Spending most of his time since making genin training with Gai-sensei and Lee had trained him out of using what little foul language he had picked up in the Academy for fear of triggering a lecture on sullying his Springtime of Youth with such bad habits.

…Oh, gods, he could hear them now. Neji took a quick glance over his shoulder, then over the other, just to make absolutely certain that neither the Blue nor the Green Beasts of Konoha were anywhere near him. Yes, company would be welcome, and would aid in staving off isolation- and sensory-deprivation-induced hallucinations, but the thought of spending eternity listening to the rhetoric of Youth was not pleasant. It was the exact opposite of pleasant. As dear a friend and rival as Lee had become since he'd stopped stewing in his own bitterness, green spandex was something best dealt with in small doses. He and Tenten might have had some resistance from years of training exercises and missions with those two energetic lunatics, but

He really hoped he didn't see his old teammates any time soon because, as previously mentioned, he was dead. All jokes aside, Gai-sensei had left any hope of a truly peaceful life behind in the Third Shinobi War, thrown into battle right out of the Academy and by all surviving accounts thriving. Lee and Tenten had not, and they had damn well better live out their lives now that he was gone.

Tenten would get that promotion to jounin, she would become a famed kunoichi in her own right and, if she made it to retirement, open a high-quality weapons shop. She still had her dreams, but they were very practical dreams, and Neji could certainly appreciate that.

And Lee? Ha. Lee would always be Lee, loud and exuberant and had he mentioned loud, because Lee was loud. Lee exemplified the Will of Fire in ways that he himself never could. Neji fought for Konohagakure, but not for any kind of legacy. He was a member of the Branch Family. If he had ever had children, they would have effectively belonged to the Main Family just as he had, just as all shinobi belonged to the head of their village. It was simply an exchange of freedom for security, and a necessary one. If Naruto, and very quietly when no one was listening in and Neji could convincingly claim that he wasn't listening either, Hinata-sama ever made their talk of abolishing the Caged Bird seal a reality, well then that would be great, but he'd never really expected that to happen during his lifetime. Of all the things to be right about…

No, Lee would be great, even if he never made a name for himself outside of Konoha. He was a true genius of hard work, who by his very existence proved that no obstacle could not be overcome given enough effort.

(And Naruto somehow convincing Tsunade of the Sannin to return to Konoha in time to cure a career-ending injury, but that had been an act of Naruto and as such could not have been categorized in any way relative to the capabilities of a normal shinobi.)

Lee would grow up, physically at least. Neji couldn't imagine him not spouting off about Youth and running around in green spandex and – oh. He'd have to find someone else to challenge to inane competitions. …Lee might have to grow up a bit after all. He certainly wouldn't give up, not until he drew his dying breath, no doubt on some distant battlefield after fighting off an insane number of enemies, all jounin-level, defending the life of some hapless innocent or a wounded comrade or both, because that was Lee all over. And if he somehow managed to survive enough of those insane situations, he'd be bumped up to jounin and saddled with three crazy ninja-brats of his own, and he'd take it all with a smile and scar the poor new genin's minds forever with all that green spandex and that godsforsaken sunset illusion.

The dead were not supposed to get homesick.

The dead certainly were not supposed to worry themselves sick about their precious little cousins, even when said cousin was a chuunin in her own right and had invented at least one new juuken technique and was absolutely not the spoiled weakling he'd thought she was when he'd been a stupid kid, and damn it why did he have to be stuck here?

Neji knew he would feel so much better if only there was something he could hit. Never mind a target, if there were anything here besides empty nothing. If he could get his mind off the empty nothing for more than two minutes. If the moon was made of green cheese and not the body of some dead monstrosity that had turned out to not only not be dead but was still an active threat, and just how in all inspired hells were his comrades supposed to fight the moon?

If only he could do something, anything but float here helplessly waiting for a rest that might never come.

"Fate? If you're listening, know this: You are a grade-A bitch and I will never, ever make the mistake of following your dictates again."

How could they hope to stand against fate when Neji had died just like his father?

"Now, that's the spirit!"

Was he really doomed to remain here for all eternity, to – wait. That was not his voice.

Neji whirled, straining to see the source of that complete and utter non sequitur. It was probably just a hallucination, just a sign that he'd finally cracked, but even now, especially now he had to hope-

"Nope, I'm not a hallucination. Or a delusion. Or whatever your clever little mind is cooking up there, Hyuuga-chan."

"What?" he asked incredulously. Had someone actually just called him "Hyuuga-chan" to his face?

A giggle. Yes, that was definitely a woman's voice, either that or so close a facsimile that he couldn't tell the difference.

"Aww, you look so cute when you're upset, just like Hiashi-kun~"

…what. His hallucination not only sounded like the embarrassing auntie type from hell, she was calling his uncle "cute". There was only one possible explanation. He had gone insane, and his fractured mind was having fun tormenting him the rest of the way over the edge through sheer embarrassment.

"Okay, seriously, you have to talk. I can't tell what you're thinking," she whined. "You've got that Hyuuga poker-face thing going, the one that makes it impossible to tell what the heck you're up to. Hizashi-kun got so much use out of that, like you would not believe-"

She knew his father? Wait, stupid, of course she knew about his father, she was a flipping hallucination. Why did crazy things always happen to him?

"Was that a twitch?" She was quieter now, almost calm. "Yeah, definitely a twitch. Right, Hizashi died when you were just a little shrimp, so you never found out about all that. That sucks."

"Yes, yes it did suck." If he was going to be kept company by a strange friendly voice whether he liked it or not, then it probably didn't matter if he replied. And if it turned out this was an overly elaborate genjutsu designed to trick him into giving up information by simulating the effects of isolation and sleep deprivation as well as time passing, well, it was no secret that he was not happy about his father being dead since he was a small child. Speaking of which: "I seem to remember a great deal of fuss being made about being reunited with one's fallen comrades in death. Was that wrong?"

There was a silence. Not the empty silence of utter solitude without another living thing in sight or sound, but the hesitant silence of an overenthusiastic teenager caught adding extra pepper to the curry knowing perfectly well that his teammates would kick his ass for doing so again.

Neji smirked. "I see."

"You can't see anything right now," the voice pointed out.

"I didn't mean literally," he shot back, then stopped short. "Wait. If I can't see you because I can't see, does that mean I'm not floating in absolutely nothing?"

"…Yes and no."

Neji suppressed his temper. There would be plenty of time to blow up later. "'Yes and no'? Precisely what do you mean by 'yes and no'?"

"Well, you're not really floating in a hundred percent nothing, but that's because you're floating in it, so there can't be nothing here because you're something – er, someone. Um. What was I saying?"

Be polite, be polite. "I see."

A slight sound, like the rustle of cloth or a breath drawn in preparation for speech-

"Don't say it," he hissed. "Please."

"…Sorry." The voice sounded sheepish.

Despite the voice itself being completely unfamiliar, he felt a sudden sense of nostalgia. Was that…?

No. He couldn't afford to be ridiculous. Even Naruto would never go so far for a prank.

Neji sighed. "What do you want?"

"You wanna cut the crap and get to business, huh? Can't blame you. Alright, Hyuuga-chan-"

"Neji."

"Eh?" Confusion was written clear in her voice.

"If you must call me something, call me by the name my father gave me. Neji."

Even though there was absolutely no logical basis for it, not even any kind of outside stimuli to set it off, he felt a sudden warmth like a sunbeam after a long rainstorm.

"You're all right, kid. You're all right," she said.

A short but eventful lifetime of dealing with clan politics had taught him to read the subtle variations of tone in a voice almost as well as the subtle twitches of skin and muscle that gave away emotion. Even so, it was probably wishful thinking that that strange voice had sounded fond in a way he had only heard directed at himself from his old sensei and, very rarely and only when they could be absolutely certain there were no eavesdroppers, his uncle. Almost… proud?

Abruptly, Neji realized that the darkness was no longer complete. There was a tiny point of light, a glittering mote drifting what seemed like inches from his outstretched hand.

"Crap!"

What?

"Okay, Neji-kiddo, long story short: There's a game going on here, and the gameboard is so big you literally wouldn't believe it, not as you are now. Right now, you've got a choice to make. Option one, you go on to the hero's rest you've earned. You'll get to see your pop again and everything."

Neji's life had taught him to never, never show weakness, not even when no one was watching. On the other hand, the worst had already happened. He was dead and effectively blind. What did it matter if his eyes spilled over with tears?

"Damn it, now I feel like a total heel," the voice muttered. "Okay, listen: There's a little catch to option one. You're going to have to forget about this conversation, and I mean forever. No one else can know about this. Option two is you get a do-over and a shot, even though it's not much of one, at stopping the Fourth Shinobi War and all that other bullshit from ever happening."

"What?" His voice shook. Wasn't death supposed to be restful?

"Well, sort of a do-over, anyway. Everything in the world you're from will keep going like it did when you left it. I'm not gonna lie about this, it ain't exactly sunshine and roses, but there's better than even odds of the whole Juubi mess turning out okay, at least this time."

He nodded mechanically. He'd never really believed in that perfect future, that peaceful world free of hate that Naruto believed in with all his heart even if he had enough sense not to go deliberately starting wars to get it, but to know that his sacrifice had not been in vain was more reward than he had ever hoped for. He smiled.

The light was closer now, growing brighter as it drifted in.

"Aw, shoot… Seriously, tick-tock, I don't have all day here!"

He snorted. "Really?"

"Really," she shot back. "Now, do you want me to finish explaining or not?"

He quirked an eyebrow infinitesimally.

"…insufferable Hyuuga brat. Okay, option two is you get shoved into a new world as you are except, you know, alive. It'll be somewhere around the end of the warring clans era and don't you dare complain," she snapped. "It's ten kinds of headache doing that much. Any earlier and you wouldn't know enough about the basic political climate to blend in, and any later the princess would be watching too closely to get you in."

An infiltration mission. This wasn't exactly his specialty, but it was at least familiar ground in theory. In practice, Team Gai wasn't exactly suited for stealth missions, and he was a bit too high-profile and recognizable as one of Konoha's prodigies by himself. "…The princess?"

"You don't want to know," she said flatly. "You might wind up finding out if you take the offer, but trust me on this, you don't want to know."

"You act as though I have a reason to trust you."

She snorted. "You don't, Neji-kiddo, but either way we're out of time. One last thing: That princess I mentioned? She's an old friend of fate. So what's it gonna be? Hero's rest-"

He would see his father again. He would wait, in darkness or light, and eventually he would see Hinata-sama and his team and his uncle again. He wouldn't be alone.

He had made a difference. He hadn't died for nothing.

"-or a few years of hell? It's all up to you."

He had to ask. "Why?"

There was a pause. When the voice answered, she was quiet and serious, a commanding officer briefing her subordinates for their next assignment. "You're here. You made a difference even though you couldn't change fate. That's pretty much the best I'm gonna get for this, and I really don't want to wait hundreds of years for another candidate, not again…"

He stilled. "I see."

That was a lie. He didn't see, couldn't see, didn't have the slightest clue what was going on, but he knew in his bones that if he didn't take this chance he would regret it, even if he never remembered why he regretted it.

The last time he had acted purely on instinct, not allowing himself time to think, he had died.

The last time he had acted purely on instinct, not allowing himself a chance to hesitate, he had kept Hinata-sama alive, if only for a few terrifying moments longer.

The light was filling his vision, so bright he had to clamp his eyelids shut and he could still see it bleeding through orange and white and red.

He had to answer.

For the first time, Neji prayed, because he didn't dare trust his own judgement.

He was just one man.

He spoke, and never heard the reply.

A/N: Credit to Kraken's Ghost's oneshot "Twenty Matters of Pride to Hyuuga Neji" for inspiration. Also, this is not a Fix Fic.

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