Forever In Our Hearts

Summary: He may be gone, but his memory lives on forever in the hearts of his friends.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

WARNING: Contains spoilers up to Chapter 617.

Sakura heard Naruto's desperate cries for a medic. Even from the distance, she could hear the shock and pain laced in his voice. She looked up and saw the aftermath of that last attack. No matter how badly she wanted to run over and help, she couldn't. She knew her efforts would be futile. Sakura's duty as a medic was to save those that she could. She could see that with an injury of that magnitude, Neji would bleed out in a matter of minutes. Her brain told her that there was nothing she could do, but her heart reached out for Naruto and Hinata. For Hiashi. For Lee and Tenten and Gai-sensei. For the rest of her friends. They were a family, and her job within that family was to make the pain go away. Right now, Neji was in pain. The rest of the friends were in pain. And she had the power to make everyone's pain disappear. Sakura had to get to Neji and save him.

"Sakura," Kakashi said quietly beside her. "I know it hurts but this is war and we need to focus. Don't forget."

That's right. Don't forget. Don't forget her duty. Don't forget Neji, and what he's dying for. Don't forget that this is a war. All they could do was keep moving forward, so that their fallen comrades would not have died in vain. Neji had once complimented her, in his own way, saying he was surprised she grew up to be a competent medic. She could say she was surprised he grew from being a bitter, self-absorbed child to a respectable, selfless man. Too bad she would never be able to tell him that. Sakura took a deep breath and pressed forward. She held back her tears as she continued to heal an injured comrade, secretly wishing it were her friend Neji instead.

Shino considered himself realistic. Many people were going to die in this war. He knew the chances of his friends making it out alive were slim. Therefore, he was not as surprised to hear that Neji had died. What surprised Shino was the sadness he felt for the loss of a comrade. As a ninja, he was trained to expect death and keep his emotions at bay. Going through many missions and now the war had hardened him. Witnessing the death of his comrades was nothing new, and he always kept fighting to ensure their deaths were not in vain. But in that brief moment, Shino felt cold and numb hearing that one of his friends sacrificed his life to save his best friend and teammate.

All of them were all part of a tight group of friends, a family even. People called them the Konoha 11 because they always stuck by each other ever since their first Chunin exams. Shino valued each one of his friends dearly, even if he sometimes felt they forgot about him. Neji must have suspected that was something Shino was slightly insecure about. Right before the war, Neji told Shino he was one person no one needed to worry over. You are the strongest out of all of us, Shino recalled Neji saying. You have to keep the rest of us in line when the pressure becomes too much. He could see Hinata's tears and Naruto's horror. The rest of the gang was scattered around the battlefield, probably overwhelmed with grief. They would not be in a proper state of mind for fighting, and needed him to be strong for them. Shino could give them few minutes to mourn Neji's death. For now, he would send his bugs out to hold down the enemy and protect his friends.

Kiba watched in fear as Hinata shielded Naruto from the attack. Hinata was his teammate and best friend, and he wasn't quite ready lose her. So when Neji flashed in front of Hinata last minute, Kiba could not help but feel slightly relieved knowing his best friend would be okay. His relief was short lived however, as shock and horror quickly overcame him. One of his closest friends was dying. Neji, who always scolded him for being too rash, who blushed and called him ridiculous when he was teased about his female teammate, who asked him to keep an eye on Hinata during missions, was dying. Kiba heard Naruto's pleas for a medic. Why weren't any medics rushing to help Neji? But Kiba already knew why, even if he didn't want to believe it.

He could hear Shikamaru a few feet away, reminding them that they don't have time to grieve. But Kiba ignored him. He heard Ino sobbing beside him and spontaneously put his hand on her shoulder as a sign of comfort, for both him and her. Despite having clashing personalities, Kiba and Neji got along remarkably well. Not many people knew about Neji's witty sense of humor. Nor would they believe the crazy things the two did together, like spying on Hinata when they thought she had a date. They had many fun times together, and he will always cherish those memories. I'll miss you Neji, Kiba thought. And I promise to keeping on looking out for Hinata.

As the Nine-Tails chakra enveloped them, Kiba noticed his hand was still on Ino's shoulder. He gave it a small squeeze to let her know everything will be okay. "We're too stubborn to let Neji and everyone else die in vain," Kiba said determinedly. "We can win this." Neji would chastise him for being optimistic, but Kiba knew he and everyone else would fight harder to ensure that Neji's will lives on.

"Not Neji too," Ino cried as she watched Neji slump onto Naruto's shoulder.

She was still hurting from her father's death. She lost her father and her uncle figure only a few minutes earlier, and now one of her friends was gone too. This was all so unfair. These were all good people, who had so much life left in them. But they had died because some crazy idiots wanted to take over the world. Her father and Shikaku would not see their kids married or play with their grandkids. Neji and Tenten would never get the chance to admit their feelings that Ino was so sure they had for each other. Everything had been taken away from them too soon! Ino was in despair, and she hated it because that's what the enemy wanted. But she couldn't help it. All she wanted to do was break down and just cry for her beloved father, for Shikaku, and for Neji. She was about to too, until she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder.

That simple action brought her back to reality. She looked over and saw that Kiba's cheerful face had been replaced with a solemn expression. It was selfish of her to forget that her friends were hurting as well. They just lost a member of their group. It wasn't fair, but this was war. Shikamaru was right, they don't have time for grief. Ino felt the Nine-Tails chakra surrounding her, and remembered she had a vital role in Shikaku's final strategy. She needed to pull herself together and focus in order to fulfill her duty. She heard Kiba's words and took comfort in them. Yes, they can and will defeat their enemies. She can grieve for her loved ones later. Now, she had a battle to win for her father, for Shikaku, for Neji, and for everyone else that mattered to her.

Choji stayed strong for Shikamaru and Ino when they lost their fathers. But this happened too soon. He was in shock. Choji always admired Neji for his strength, poise, and intellect. He thought of himself as too soft for a shinobi, and strived to become respectable like Neji. Never in his life did he expect to see Neji so broken and defeated. Choji remembered their first Chunin exams, when Neji tried to kill Hinata. Now it was the complete opposite. Neji sacrificed his life to save Hinata. He remembered Neji condescend Naruto for being weak. Yet there he lay, giving his life to protect Naruto and his ideals. And Choji had never admired Neji more. Neji grew into a wonderful person and excellent role model. His selfless actions proved that he was a dedicated shinobi and more importantly, a great friend.

"We don't have time to grieve," he heard Shikamaru say.

"I know," Choji replied somberly. He quickly blinked back the tears threatening to fall.

The initial shock had passed, only to be replaced by sadness. But like his best friend said, he could not grieve. He had to endure the pain and prepare for battle. He will successfully carry out Shikaku's final strategy, so that he and Inoichi will not have died in vain. He felt encouragement from Naruto's speech, and agreed that Neji's will shall live on in his heart too. Neji's sacrifice will not be for nothing. His body may have been defeated, but his memory will live on forever. Choji could tell from Ino's uncontrollable sobs that she was on the verge of breaking down. And Kiba looked completely out of it as he continued staring at Neji's corpse in horror. Neither one was in any position for a battle, so Choji needed to stay alert in case something came their way. He would have to protect his friends, just like what Neji did.

Shikamaru refused to let the pain of losing his loved ones get to him. Losing his father was expected since the heads were always targets. That was the basics of war. Knowing that did nothing to lessen the pain however. Neji's death was noble and tragic. Shikamaru was realistic and knew he would inevitably lose some friends in this war. Knowing that did nothing to make the sadness go away though. Knowledge was important, but emotion was powerful. But he couldn't let his emotions take over. He was a leader, and needed to stay focused and rational. He needed to make sure his friends were focused too. Yes, losing his father, Inoichi, and Neji in the span of five minutes was a huge blow. But they were in the midst of war and had no time to grieve.

Unfortunately, none of his friends seemed to hear him. After learning of Neji's death, Ino lost it and was crying her eyes out, Kiba was overwhelmed with emotions, and Choji was struggling to hold back the tears. In the center of the battlefield, he could see that Naruto was in a trance and letting the enemy get into his mind. Hinata was crying too, but thankfully, she had a clear head and was helping Naruto snap out of it. Although he could not see her, Shikamaru knew Sakura was feeling helpless and trying not to cry over Neji. He could not even fathom what Lee and Tenten were feeling at the moment. Shino was probably the only one who did not let this tragedy affect him. They were being so troublesome and giving in to their emotions. And Shikamaru could not handle losing any more of his precious people. They were in the middle of a battle and he needed his friends to be alert and avoid any fatal attacks. He cared for all of them deeply and just wanted them to make it out of this war alive. They already lost Neji, no need to lose any more friends. Fortunately, his friends were quickly coming to their senses. Shikamaru sighed in relief as he proudly watched them momentarily let go of their grief, vowing to defeat their enemy to preserve Neji's will.

A/N: I finally caught up with the manga and was heartbroken by what happened. And that inspired me to write this. I tried writing parts for Naruto, Hinata, Tenten, and Lee but they were hard. Neji's death had a greater effect on them and I wanted to get the feeling right before I post it. For now, thanks for reading and feel free to leave a review!