disclaimer: i own nothing. just words upon words of what-could-have-beens.
notes: this was written ages ago and put up on tumblr. i sort of forgot about it until recently, so here it is? i should also warn you that this is not one of my 'and they lived happily ever after' stories. i'm sorry.

in another lifetime

The world is coming to an end. It rains flaming brimstones and explosives in the millions, and they scream as if they never saw it coming. Sirens shriek warnings, orders for immediate evacuation to wherever (when there is nowhere to run but that isn't something anyone wanted to hear) because everything is going to hell. Hyuuga Neji brushes soot from his shoulder as he steps out of the Headquarter, a sprawling compound under the threat of imminent destruction. Just like everything else.

His medals catch the residual flash from an explosion several blocks away and they gleam against his dark green uniform, the proud contour of his chest. Neji's eyes scan the street for a second, careful and calculating, before he starts towards the other side of town. He maintains a leisurely pace, despite the cacophony of chaos that engulfs everything he has fought for. It doesn't matter anymore; he has time he's found no use for.

The apartment is his. The name on the leash is not but if Neji knows something by heart, it is how to keep secrets. He pauses at the foot of the building, regards the ash-blurred sky and emptied streets for a second before he heads up the stairs. Nondescript, white-painted wall greets his return, hallways with doors flung open as its former inhabitants flee from something they cannot run from. Not forever. He finds a closed door at the end of the hall.

He knocks.

Minutes of silence and a voice comes from inside, muffled by the wood between them. "There's nothing for you here."

"It's me."

He hears the click of the door being unlocked but it remains closed. It opens when he tries the knob and he lets himself in, brushes aside the flare of annoyance at her childish display. Ino stands by a half-boarded window that overlooks the streets, a gaunt wisp of her former self and he allows her the luxury of resentment, because they are supposed to be opposing sides. He is one of those who has destroyed the life she has known, reduced their world into a pantomime of deaths and losses. He takes a step forward, close enough that he sees her spine stiffens.

"I've arranged everything. Nara will meet you at the border and he'll accompany you until the safe house." He doesn't like Nara Shikamaru, doesn't like the fact the other man knows Ino far longer than he has but Neji trusts him enough. He holds out his hand, a tiny silver key resting against his open palm. "There's a music box on the mantelpiece. It's for you."

She looks at him with eyes bright with fear and contempt, lips pulled into a jagged smile that slashes across her face in a moment of terrifying beauty. Neji resists the urge to reach out because he knows that if he does, he won't be able to let go. He wonders if she will read his letter, wearing that kind of cut-glass smile. If she will forgive him. "And you? What will happen to you?"

"What about me?"

"You will come, of course?"

He straightens, his medals jangle viciously to reprimand and he sees her expression falter. Somewhere in the distance, someone screams. "I am needed here."

"You will die here," she says, quiet and absolute. Her hair tumbles over her shoulder when she tilts her head to look at him, the sweep of pale gold across jutting bones under too-white skin. He remembers much younger days, when her smile is softer, her laughter freer. He remembers that little flower shop around the corner and how she is always surrounded by colours. A different flower tucked into the breast pocket of his uniform after each visit. "Sir Hyuuga—"

"Neji."

"Neji," she relents but he knows she regards his uniform with barely-concealed fury and she surges forward, cups her fingers around his jaw. Her touch is unexpected, jarring and it burns a trail of white heat under his skin. "Come with me. Please."

"You know I can't." He jerks away but those fingers remain obstinate, follow his movement and he likes to think that she doesn't want to let him go. He looks into her eyes, the ache settling dark and heavy over his heart. "I need you to be safe."

She opens her mouth and someone pounds at the door, loud in between unspoken words. It quiets down for a second before the pounding resumes anew, followed by a slew of abuse that orders for an immediate entrance. He hears familiar voices outside, men in uniform who has served with him and the voices are mangled in fury as they scream of his treachery, the demand for his blood, forhers.

"I'll find you," he shouts over the outrage that pours from the other side and he pushes her towards the window. There is a pipe, bolted to the wall and she has the nimble legs of a ballerina. Her fingernails dig into his palm, through the thick leather of his gloves. "You have to go, Yamanaka!"

"Neji, I—"

She hesitates but it's only for a fraction of a second. Her eyes flash in that brilliantbeautifuldeadly way that has always fascinated him and to his horror, she steps towards him instead of away. The moment fragments into slow motion, time crystallising as she presses her lips against his. The ache renews thousandfold when she pulls away and the world snaps into focus once again.

"I keep telling you to call me Ino," she whispers. Her voice breaks and for once, he sees the desperate way she clutches at him. How her fears are for him, instead of of him. Neji wants to laugh, to cry, to scream because they should have had years for this. In between her teasing and his gruff silence. He catches a glimpse of stars in the endless blue of her eyes and against better judgement, he pulls her back to him and kisses her. One last time, he tells himself. Please let her be safe. She slips over the window ledge. "I'll wait for you."

"Go," he urges. Deafening shots join the screams and he hunches over Ino in an attempt to cover her from the ricochet of bullets around them. Her feet finally find hold and she starts her descent, pale face upturned towards Neji. "Run until you find Nara."

"You must come for me!"

"I will."

"Promise, Neji?"

"Ino—" The shouts are loud and furious, and Neji glances over his shoulder. The door wouldn't hold for long. "Yes, I promise."

She smiles at him when her feet touch the ground and even from afar, there's hope in the curl of her lips. She screams and he regrets that the words are lost inside the background noises, as much as he regrets the bullet hole punched through his stomach. He presses a hand harder against the blossoming pain and smiles until she waves at him, disappears behind a building. He turns from the window, grasps the fleeting memory of her kiss tight enough that his heart bruises and wishes for a world where their intertwined lives fall perfectly into place.

A world where he can keep the promises he makes.

He raises his gun and the first time since his father died, he prays.

end