screw_fate: (Default)
Hyuuga Neji ([personal profile] screw_fate) wrote in [community profile] one_long_mission2013-04-06 02:03 pm

[Open] Where do the dead go when they die?

This isn't what he expected.

Neji stands at the outskirts of a village, one he's never seen before, and tries to trace the moments that brought him here. The battlefield, Hinata's suicidal move to protect Naruto, his own moments later to protect them both... The stunning, numbing pain as his body was pierced. Naruto supporting him, holding him up, as he gasped out a few soft words...

And then darkness, and an almost-unfelt flare of pain in his eyes as the seal did its ugly work.

But now, there is no evidence of it. He wears the uniform of the allied army, and it is clean, untorn, unstained. His body is whole, with no pain or weariness.

He can see.

The seal still sits on his forehead, a quiet but tangible presence, a gentle pulse that doesn't quite match up with his heartbeat. Foreign, but for short times, forgettable. It's there, as though he's never died to trigger it.

What happened?

He gains nothing by standing here. Slowly, still feeling a floating sense of unreality as though his feet don't truly touch the ground, he steps forward.

Where am I?

Perhaps there will be answers. Or perhaps this is what death is. His fingers rise to touch his forehead, covered by his hitai-ate, manji pulsing beneath. Is even death not an escape, then?

Who knows?

He enters the village, silent and wondering.
twinlionfists: (adoration)

[personal profile] twinlionfists 2013-05-15 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
She nods, knowing that he will be fairly set in what he's decided. Her
duties are not truly pressing, but she does not like to get behind either.
"I should be finished around five pm. The village has a clock that will
sound the hour, if you do not know what time it is." She stands and
straightens her clothes. "I will leave you now then."

She gave him a slightly lower than necessary bow before leaving the room.
She didn't want to see his reaction to that. He would never let her thank
him. It was the only way she could show her gratitude.