The building inside was not as what I was expecting. It was built to look like a traditional aristocrats house or in my case; my home. Despite some modern touches here and there, it was dominantly of a traditional style and I was amazed by this. I presumed that an old clan such as them must have upheld some old traditions. There was a sound of water running into a pond, some birds chirping happily, insects were buzzing in the background, I felt right at home. The Hyuuga compound was situated quite far from the main city so the peace it offered must have been a gift for them. I was intrigued by some thudding sound of a consecutive fist hitting a body from the other part of the house. I followed Hiashi towards the sound and I had found that it was from two girls sparring. As I took in the scene, I noticed a boy was standing upon a tree in a distance from them. When Hiashi and I reached them, the two of them bowed at us."Welcome home, Tou-sama," the girls said in unison. Hiashi nodded at them when they rose.
"Hinata, Hanabi. This boy will be living with us from now on. He will be your brother," Hiashi said while motioning at me. I grinned and bowed at them.
"My name is Hikari. It is a pleasure for this one to meet both of you," I said happily and the boy walked towards us with his eyes narrowed. Suddenly, the little one hugged me tightly.
"Welcome home, Oni-chan! My name is Hanabi," she said while grinning widely and the other one bowed at me.
"Welcome home, Hikari-Nisan. I am Hinata," She said. She was timider when compared to her little sister. The boy, on the other hand, was still had his narrowed eyes at me. I held out a hand to shake him but he refused to take it. Instead, he bowed towards me.
"My name is Neji. Welcome home, Hikari-sama," he said monotonously. I suspected a hint of hate and disdain in his speech by I dismissed it.
"I would appreciate it if you would refrain from calling me that," I said while still holding out my hand. When he rose, he looked surprised that my hand was still held out to him. Speechless, he shook my hand but soon afterwards, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, a body flicker technique.
"He was always this way. Please do not be offended," Hiashi said. I told him that it was okay.
"I wanted to introduce you to the clan in a meeting tonight during dinner," Hiashi continued.
"If you say so," I said slowly while giving him a silent look.
"I hope you aren"t planning to reveal my ident.i.ty," I said to myself.
Hiashi just smiled and nodded minutely. He then went inside the house to make preparations for tonight.
"Ne, Oni-chan. I never saw you before, where do you live?" Hanabi suddenly asked. I couldn"t help but remembered my old home with Mother and Aino. I missed them so much. I managed to luckily recover immediately right after that sudden pang of sadness.
"I came from far away but I have no place to return to anymore," I said to her. She was about to press out some more information when Hinata closed her mouth leaving Hanabi screaming wordless distress.
"Come, let"s finish our training," Hinata said while she smiled at me. I guessed that she knew that the subject shouldn"t be pressed on. I returned her smile as thanks.
"May this one watch you two spar?" I asked.
"Awesome, I can"t wait to impress you Oni-chan!" Hanabi said while cracking her knuckles. I took my seat on a porch near the spot they were sparring. During the occasion, I didn"t realize that I was too focused on a.n.a.lyzing their fighting style, something moved at the corner of my eyes and I jumped.
"You got a habit of s.p.a.cing out when you are too focused on something," Hiashi said, chuckling to himself. He was already sitting beside me and I laughed along with him, his a.s.sessment of me was correct after all.
"Hanabi is showing more promise when it comes to the choice of being the heiress of the Hyuuga Clan. Hinata is too soft and kind," Hiashi muttered under his breath, not wanting to disturb the sparring.
"This one concurs with Hanabi"s skills but this one has a good feeling that Hinata was suppressing her ability. I guess that she doesn"t want to hurt her sister," I commented. Hiashi paid no mind at my words but I understood his reasons. A parent must always have set a certain amount of level for their children to uphold. I knew it because Mother always expects the best of me. More so in his case, he was choosing the heir of the clan.
"Do you interested in learning about our Hyuuga"s taijutsu?" Hiashi suddenly asked and my interest piqued.
"What"s taijutsu?" I asked.
"Taijutsu is a technique employed by the shin.o.bi for close-quarters combat situations," Hiashi explained.
"Oh right, the style is slightly similar to what this one was taught but it is more refined than mine," I explained back.
"You were taught by your mother, right? I am curious, to what extent are your skills," Hiashi commented. I suddenly remembered those times she spent training me with her arts and knowing that I couldn"t experience it anymore, I felt sad.
"I would be honoured if you would like to teach this one the Hyuuga"s taijutsu," I said. Hiashi"s lip twitched upwards for a slight smile.
"This honour would be for me, Hikari-ouji. I will have to gauge your skills first," he said with a hint of proudness, "Neji, come here and spar with Hikari."
Hinata and Hanabi stopped their spar due to the fact and looked at us, puzzled.
"Tou-sama, are you going to make Oni-chan hate us? Neji-Nichan will hurt him," Hanabi grumbled. I walked towards them and rustled Hanabi"s hair and bend down to match her height and grinned.
"It"s okay, I should do this if I wanted to be a strong Oni-chan for Hanabi-chan," I affectionately said. Hanabi"s face went profusely red in embarra.s.sment as Hinata smiled at me.
I looked ahead and I found that Neji had already taken his stance waiting for me. I noticed his eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with anger and hatred. The girl was still retreating when I took my stance and activate my Byakugan. I saw Hiashi raised his eyebrows at my stance, I could only a.s.sume that he must have recognized it from somewhere. I couldn"t think more because Neji had begun his attacks on me. Every blow his delivered looked like it made contact but I was deflecting it at the last minute within the proximity of my body. That had irked him, he then proceeds to attack me with a much more precise gentle-fist attack which was also been nullified by me. He then crouched to a low stance and muttering some words. Chakra was building on his palm and his eyes glinted with determination. This must have been the clan"s secret technique. Unbeknownst to him, such a technique was already easily read and nullified for a pair of Byakugan unwatered by reproduction.
"Tou-sama, stop this. Oni-chan will be killed," Hanabi begged and on the verge of tears. Hiashi did not make a move as he just knew the outcome of this spar. I decided that I should beat Neji in his own game. While Neji began his final technique, I was moving so fast towards him. I hit him with my mother"s version of the gentle-fist technique, precisely evading his chakra points. The blow sent him flying back but I immediately flickered to his position so that I could stand him up. I held out my hand at him.
"You fight like a woman," Neji said, gritting his teeth and no doubt he was sore from my attacks. He knew that if I hit his chakra points during my attack, he would be dead.
"What can I do about it? I had my mother for a teacher," I grinned at him. What was more surprising was Neji smiled as he reached my forearm so I helped him up. I noticed that he was still shaking from receiving my blows.
"Your strength, on the other hand, is off the charts," He said. I laughed nervously because this is partially my fault. I had forgotten that I must hold back some of my strength but I got too excited to do so. I put his arm over my shoulder and walked him towards what it seemed like the still-gaping crowd. I placed him gently on the porch where I was sitting previously.
"Are you going to be fine? This one apologized for my misdeeds," I inquired.
"It"s okay. I know you had avoided hitting my chakra points otherwise, I would be dead by now," Neji said while panting slightly. I laughed nervously yet again, I wasn"t supposed to hurt my new family here so naturally, I felt guilty.
"Neji, I am so sorry, I got excited," I said seriously as I rubbed the back of my hair.
"It"s okay, I will be fine." Neji clipped, he was back to his usual demeanour. I was about to say something about it but I noticed that the others were gaping at us. Hanabi jumped onto my back.
"My Oni-chan is so awesome!" Hanabi yelled while rubbing her head onto my back. I chuckled at her enthusiasm.
"I haven"t seen that kind of Juken in years. My late grandmother was the last one of the Hyuuga that used it granted that it was more of an improvised version than your much formal one. She must be laughing in her grave right now. I had never imagined that some of us would pick up her style in the end," Hiashi commented. Hanabi couldn"t hide her disbelief while Hinata chuckled at me. I was feeling bashful from his compliments. With Hanabi still on my back, I slightly bowed at him and thanked him for his compliment.
"I can teach you Hyuuga Ryu Juken only to compliment yours because it is unique and una.s.suming. Not only that, your Byakugan is purer than all of us combined, that"s why Neji was defeated, he was slower than you," Hiashi explained. I bowed yet again that day and thanked him.
"It"s getting late now and dinner might be done already. You will be sleeping in a room next to Neji"s. He can show you the bathroom and a fresh set of clothes had been prepared," Hiashi continued. I looked towards the sky and noticed that it had gone red signalling that the sun was setting. Then, I felt something nudged my shoulder.
"Come, let"s go," Neji said. He seemingly recovered from the sparring. I felt the family smiled at the way Neji treated me, I thought that they were happy that Neji had finally come through after all these years. I followed him into the main house. The house was so big that we took our time walking to the rooms.
"Thank you for your kindness towards this one," I said suddenly.
"It"s okay. I lost my parents to; I know what it"s like," Neji said without looking at me.
"Oh," I paused, "may I know how yours pa.s.sed?"
I thought that he would get angry or something, but he told me everything about what was known as the Hyuuga Affair. I noticed that Hiashi was behind us hidden from view and chakra perception, listening in our conversation. I didn"t know whether Neji knew it or not. After he finished telling his story, I gritted my teeth. This world was more unforgiving than it was thousands of years ago. Mother was true when she said that people with chakra will always quest for more power. This k.u.mogakure was certainly one greedy ninja village.
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"Pardon my cra.s.sness but you know, in my short time here in this land, I know instantly that your uncle is very kind beneath all that strict façade he was trying to pull. I bet he was silently suffering as much as you do. I mean, he had lost his twin brother nonetheless. It was like losing a part of yourself. He must have loved you the same as he did to his brother, more so. I mean, he even dared took in a total stranger as his ward," I said and if he got any reaction to my words, he didn"t show them. His face was emotionless as he always was. He suddenly stopped and motioned to a sliding door next to us.
"This is your room. Mine is the other one right next to you. Go on in and take the towels as well as clean clothes. I"ll need to take a bath anyway so might as well show you the place," Neji said and I did as he said.
During dinner, I was gladly surprised to see all these Byakugan wielders gathered in the dining hall. Many of them shot me a questioning look as to why I was sitting next to Hiashi. Hinata was sitting next to me and Hanabi and Neji was sitting next to her.
"Good evening, I thanked you all for joining us on such short notice. This boy next to me is our distant relative from a distant country. He was the only one left in his clan. The Sandaime Hokage brought him in the village today. So naturally, with the Byakugan in his eyes, he will be my ward from now on," Hiashi began after the dinner finished. I immediately stood up and bowed towards them while introducing myself. Surprisingly, the clansmen accepted me with no question asked. Hiashi must have been known to take care of orphans despite his position as the Clan Head. Neji must be the first one, I thought. After a few exchanges of clan matters, the clansmen returned to their homes after dinner. They all managed to welcome me here and bid me a good night. I was still getting used to how big this clan was. Afterwards, Hiashi"s family and I were drinking tea at the porch. It must have been their habit to have supper right after dinner but Neji had already retired to his room earlier.
"If you still want to go to the academy, Hinata could take you there. I think you might even be placed in the same cla.s.s. You two are of the same age. Your clothes had been provided along with the books required," Hiashi began and I immediately thanked him.
"You will like it there and you will also like Naruto. He"s a bit loud but he is very kind," Hinata said timidly.
"Ne-chan and Naruto, all you do are stared at him," Hanabi huffed. I was then laughing hard because Hinata"s face went crimson and she scooted behind so fast and ran towards what I think her room was. Hanabi, realizing her mistake, went after her.
"Ne-chan, I"m sorry!" Hanabi yelled as she ran and I chuckled at her expense.
"This boy must be interesting enough to make her feels that way," I commented.
"Uzumaki Naruto is the most hated person in this village," Hiashi sadly said.
"Isn"t it unfair to place such feeling onto a child?" I said surprised.
"Believe me, I have no qualms with the boy. But because of that hate, the boy lived alone his entire life. One could never fathom how can a child lived through that. People never paid attention to him so he resorts to troublemaking to get people"s attention. But I got a good glimpse of his soul when Hinata returned from the academy on her first day. She told me how she was bullied because of our white eyes. I was about to go to punish the boy who insulted her when she told me about her saviour. How the boy took every beating from them and how was his face looked like when he said that he was used to it. Since then, I saw the boy in a new light. He"s like you in a way, alone in this world but were not of this world, so to speak. I would approve of it if they ended up together eventually. But both of them are still young," Hiashi explained. I understood clearly how the boy would feel and with what that Hiashi had told me, he must have a good heart.
"This one is surprised, why do you talk about these things with this one yet you looked so closed off to everyone else?" I asked.
"You are more mature than any kids I know, your origin might have a play in that. You incidentally have more insight into life than anyone else. I trust that I can be openly honest with you because of it," He explained, "what you said about me to Neji was entirely true. I loved him and every day I hope that he wouldn"t look at us with so much hate in his eyes but I knew that I deserved it."
"I never knew how kids of this time should behave. I am the way I am because of what that had been taught to me. Besides, one can never a.s.sume anything of someone unless you get a good glimpse of who he is. Neji just has to think it through. It will take time but I"m convinced that he will come through in the end." I said while looking at the stars. There were a few minutes of silence until I decided to end it.
"Are there any records of what happens to my mother and brothers?" I asked.
"I don"t know much apart from the general knowledge of your brother; Hagoromo was the founder of the Ninshu and lived on the earth to spread his teachings. There not many of his direct descendants this day. But, his twin, Hamura along with his kin decide to live on the moon but he entrusted the ones who stayed behind, us, the Hyuugas to safeguard the Byakugan on Earth and aid his brother in keeping the peace in this world. This knowledge was pa.s.sed from one Hyuuga Clan Head to his predecessor after handing down the position. If there were any other records, it should be within the Hokage"s private archives," Hiashi explained.
"Thank you, Hiashi-sama. For everything, you did to this one. This one is very much aware that having this one in this family made you all be exposed to great risk. I promised I won"t be a burden," I said.
"It"s not like I should let you live on your own. We promised your brother to safeguard the Byakugan didn"t we?" Hiashi said, smiling but my face fell.
"You said it that way, but I didn"t get the chance to know them and the entire world said they sealed my mother because she went evil thus became the most prominent figure in this world. I could not even relate to them. I love my mother so much and I know she would never do such things," I muttered slowly in disdain.
"Oh," he paused, "perhaps there was indeed another side of this story. You should wait for Jiraiysama to come back after all."
"This one would hope so. It"s getting late now, Hiashi-sama. With your permission, this one would like to retire to this one"s room," I said as I bowed towards him. Hiashi stifled a laugh.
"Of course but Hikari-ouji, it is admirable to be formal though you should tone it down for now. It"s not normal for the kids here," Hiashi said as I rose.
"I"ll try my best," I clipped, giving up. Then I made way towards my bedroom. That night I slept with the memories of losing my two most loved people in my life.