It's been a whole year since Neji died.
A year since that fateful Fourth Ninja War ended with the triumph of Naruto and Sasuke over the chakra goddess Kaguya and Black Zetsu.
He can still remember his death clearly in his mind - or whatever this strange consciousness after death was. As clear as if it was just yesterday.
He remembers the flickering lights of red, an ocean of shinobi protected by the Kyuubi’s chakra, and he remembers the Juubi, the demonic being, the Ten Tails. He remembers the swift attacks, one after the other, seeing comrade after comrade fall, and continue to fall, their numbers becoming smaller and smaller to the point where he could see them all in one go, scattered sparsely across the battlefield. He remembers the giant hands, waving far above them, the cry of “Wood Style - Cutting sprigs!” that he somehow heard clearly above the noise of war, the split second of utter confusion as he stood rooted to the spot. The flashing blue lights of his rotation jutsu, but the heavy feeling of dread knowing that he didn't have much left to give.
It was hopeless. There were too few of them who were skilled enough to even attempt to tackle Madara and Obito and the Juubi. They were running out of chakra, and each attack cut down their numbers by half.
It was a blur.
Naruto on the ground, presumably worn out from the several Rasengan Shuriken he threw. Hinata, running to stand over him to protect him.
But his Byakugan could see through the concentrated attack of the Juubi. And there was no time to do ninjutsu, no time to get them out of the way, no time to warn anyone.
Neji jumped.
That was a year ago.
He doesn't know how time works when he's dead, and for once, nor does he really want to know. There's so much going on in the world right now, he's sure there'll be plenty in his hands without trying to figure out the secrets of death and the afterlife. How he manages to somehow see several places at once, how he can sometimes almost touch things, how he can fly or sometimes even float through things if he concentrates hard enough (though he's had his fair share of getting stuck in a wall).
The sun is setting, and the treetops are outlined in a halo or pink and gold light, casting a warm sunset glow onto the white stone slabs on the ground, each carved with a name of a shinobi. A shinobi who had died to protect the village.
He's followed them here so often he can find his own stone quickly enough. He supposed he could technically try to float through the ground to see what his body looked like … but he doesn't really particularly want to do that.
As usual, Tenten is here first.
She's grown a little taller since Neji died, but overall, she's mostly the same, and Neji is glad to see that. Careful picking her way between the graves, she sits cross legged in front of the clean white stone with his name carved into it. Neji comes down and sits just behind the stone, as he does most of the time. It's almost like they have a conversation, which is more than he could ever hope for.
Tenten replaces the flower in the small but beautifully patterned vase. It's a white lily this time, it's petals soft and pearly, each leaf delicately shaped. Neji watches with a smile as Tenten brushes off the thin layer of dust and a few leaves that had fallen since the last visit. She absently reaches up to check her hair, still tied up into two buns like they always had been.
“Lee will come in about fifteen minutes,” he says. “So we've got a little bit of alone time before he comes in and makes things a bit more hectic.”
Indeed - as soon as Gai and Lee arrive, there's none of the calm quietness that comes with Tenten’s visit. He expected so. Maybe his self from before would have found that incredibly irritating, but now he's just happy that they are back to their usual self.
Even so, there are times when they walk past a photo, a distant memory, and they stiffen up for the briefest of moments, pain flashing across their face, before they steady themselves and continue on.
But for now, Neji just listens as the girl in front of him tells him about the process of cleaning away the mass destruction of the war, about how Lee and the rest of their classmates, about Gai and the other jounin who had survived the war, about the remaining children, and about Hinata and Naruto, who Tenten and Lee seemed to be keeping a close eye on for his sake.
Sometimes, Neji replies to Tenten’s questions, even though he knows that she can't hear him. But sometimes, she tilts her head to one side and smiles after he's said something, as if she somehow knows that he's here, watching over them.
He would give anything just to speak to all of them one last time.
“Oh, goodness, there he comes.” Tenten turns her head, and Neji spots Lee running at the speed of light, carrying something large under his arm. He does look quite ridiculous, and Neji smirks a little as he sees the look on Tenten’s face.
“LEE!!”
“Tenten!” Lee reaches them, panting, and Neji is amused to see that the large objects that he had been carrying were weights, awkwardly shaped, probably each weighing twice as much as he did. “I am here! And since Gai sensei says he is sorry he cannot come today as he is busy, I will make up for his absence by more training!”
“You didn't have to do it here, Lee!”
Lee shakes his head adamantly. “No! That is not true! I must train my hardest and become a stronger shinobi than Gai sensei using only Taijutsu! And I will only get stronger if I train!”
“... You could have picked a more suitable place to carry heavy weights around,” Tenten grumbles, rolling her eyes. “I swear, you only do these things to annoy Neji because he can't do anything about them. Like that time when you went to the Hyuga clan’s -”
“IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR NEJI TO KNOW!” Lee panics at the top of his voice, and Neji watches on, smiling. “I already saw what you did, Lee.”
“I'm sure Neji already knows,” Tenten says almost immediately after Neji finishes his sentence. He smiles at that. “Of course I do, Tenten. What do you take me for?”
“He's a genius,” the girl finishes. And Neji almost laughs.
Lee stretches, and gently places down each boulder-like weight on the grassy turf, his arms bulging from the effort. He turns to face the white stone.
“Never mind, Tenten! At least I am here now!”
Tenten just sighs and facepalms. Lee does his infuriating, exaggerated wink, which causes Tenten to slap him with a paper fan which she had on her.
Neji talks with them for the rest of the night, and after the sky behind to lighten, the first sounds of children coming out to play and the bustle of the villagers marks the end of their visit. Tenten stands up, stretching. “We really should stop staying so late. How did we manage to talk for so long, anyway?”
Lee stands unsteadily and punches the air. “I have completed my training! I shall now be able to take whole night shifts -”
Neji jumps as Lee suddenly cuts off mid-sentence, drops to the floor, and starts snoring loudly.
Tenten just stares for a few seconds, before groaning and muttering under her breath, “Why did you leave me alone with those two, Neji?”
“Sorry,” Neji replies, and as the weapons specialist struggles to sling Lee’s limp arm over her shoulder to drag him back to the village, he floats towards them and supports Lee's still snoring body, silently easing the load that Tenten has to carry.
The new Hyuga household entrance is a little different to the one that was destroyed, along with the majority of the village and the whole land, but it's still recognisable, and Neji sits down and stares up at the characters 日向, carved in large letters. He's glad to see more than a few Hyuga members have survived the war, both of the main and the branch family.
A little further off, he spots a familiar two people walking down the newly paved streets of Konoha, and drifts down to join them. He normally doesn't like to overhear people's conversations on purpose, but with these two he just … can't help it.
After all, if Naruto does anything to upset Hinata, it's still his duty to act, dead or not. He's sure he could materialize enough to do something.
But Naruto has matured, much more than he'd ever expected him to. All of them have matured. It might be obvious, or hidden underneath, but the effects of war are still fresh. A year is a short time. Even now, new bodies are being found by shinobi scouting the ruins of the battlefield, sealed by the dozen into scrolls, and transported back to their village where they could be identified, and buried. And the main battleground is still being largely avoided, still scattered with rubble and deep scars in the earth, and the remains of the largest, most devastating ninja war yet.
They help each other, though. Naruto and Hinata. There's something blossoming between them, Neji knows. They can see things, see what each other are feeling, see things that Neji can't even see. A deep, strengthening trust is glowing deep inside them, and every time one remembers the devastation, the loss of friends and comrades, of the village, of their family, the other is always there for them.
Neji is satisfied that he's died for a good cause.
All of them are still a little bit broken. All of his remaining classmates, all of the Kage, all of the shinobi of the Leaf Village and the other villages in the other lands.
But the war did something that nothing else could have done.
The shinobi are united.
Peace has settled upon the land.
And he's flying free.