The Hyuuga, Hananbi thinks, are ugly people.
She is 5 years old and strong enough to defeat her sister, the heiress. Her father, a scary man, frowns with discontent and she wonders what she did wrong. She is panting, sweat rolling from her forehead and standing in front of her kneeling sister. It isn't long until he decides to focus on her training and Hinata is left in the shadow. She sees the sad look in her sister's eyes and she doesn't understand her father's actions.
Parents weren't supposed to make their children sad.
She is 5 years old and she wants to be like her mother.
Hanabi doesn't remember much about her mother, she is already dead by the time she turns two. She tries to remember her smile and voice, but she can't so she settles for staring at the picture in her hands. Her mother is holding her in her arms, a kind smile and a loving look on her face.
She stands in front of the mirror and tries to copy the look, the picture clenched tightly in her small hands. It looks strange and plastic, out of place on her face and nothing like her mothers.
Her sister, Hanabi remembers smiles exactly like the picture. A scowl pulls at her features and there's an unpleasant feeling in her chest. Hate, she thinks.
She catches her expression in the mirror and the resemblance is striking.
She is six years old and she realizes that she will be like her father.
For her next birthday Hinata gives her a doll as a present. She is surprised, but doesn't let it show on her face. There is a small tremble in Hinata's movement and a strange smile on her face. This is the only one she got for her seventh birthday, she is too old for presents now, father says.
She contemplates the look of the smiling face. It isn't the one she normally wears, mother's, it's different. And then she realizes.
Hanabi takes the doll with a blank face and thanks her.
As soon as she enters her room she throws it in the trash. She doesn't want pity, especially not from someone like her.
By the time she turns fourteen, Hanabi is a chunin and has killed more times than she should have.
There is still blood on her fingers from the last mission. When she gets home she will scrub hard until there's no red on her hands anymore, washing away the dirt and the lifeless eyes from her head. Still, she knows no matter how hard she rubs it won't be enough, her hands will never be clean, but she doesn't mind. Hanabi is a ninja and above all a Hyuuga.
That is why when her sister comes home heaving, crying and washing herself hysterically she only looks at her with discontent. She will never be a Hyuuga.
On her sixteenth birthday she receives a gift from her father, a special occasion he says. It's a traditional kimono with complex patterns and she doesn't think much of it until she hears that it looks just like the one her mother used to wear.
The first time Hanabi wears it she stands in front of a mirror and stares at her reflection. She forces the edges of her mouth to tilt upwards and her eyes to soften their cold gaze. The result makes her frown and she tears the kimono off her body. It is placed in a box and shoved under her bed never to be touched again.
When Hinata is finally an Uzumaki everything feels right. She is beautiful and Hanabi doesn't want to touch her white dress because her fingers are too dirthy, there's too much blood under her nails and red never looked good on the clean Hinata. Yes, Hanabi thinks, she will never be a Hyuuga. Hinata smiles at her husband, it is the biggest smile she ever had and it's so perfect her hands shake. People celebrate, dance, drink and congratulate the newly wedded couple while she only observes from the side.
She takes the opportunity that presents itself to her that night when taking her inebriated cousin, soon to be the head of the clan, home. The next day she is the only one in line to be the heir. No one cares to ask any questions.
The Hyuuga, Hanabi knows, are ugly people. And she is the ugliest of them all.
A/N: This is the first story I wrote so feedback would be very appreciated :)
