Musuko

By Dan'yu

Chapter One: Hisoka

A gentle breeze blew, warm and balmy with the first hints of the approaching summer, the rich scents of the season mixing with the sweet aroma of the blossoming lilac. He inhaled deeply from the rush of summer air, the swiftly moving current cooling his body, brushing back the hair falling in his eyes, causing his loose-fitting gi to billow in the wind.

Breathe in, breathe out. Concentrate. Stay steady.

His eyes closed to the world around him, his body moved smoothly through the familiar workout, the complicated katas almost second nature to him now after over a decade of training. His movement never faltered, even as his breath grew ragged and his limbs weighed heavy with exhaustion, as the sweat generated from the exercises stung his eyes and coated his torso in a thin sheen. Finally, he completed the last move, and fell into a cool-down stance.

Breathe out, breath in. Slow and steady. Concentrate, take it slow, and do not falter.

The words of the only person who had ever taken training him seriously resounded through his mind, staying there with firmer residence than the teachings given to him later, both by the academy teacher and the jounin sensei in charge of his genin squad. He only had the benefit of that man's teaching for barely two months, when he was little more than ten and a cocky genin new in his appointment, but still…still the lessons stuck with him in a way he could not explain.

Hyuuga Hisoka was a young man of just over fifteen years, tall and deceptively slender, with a powerfully muscled physique resulting from years of shinobi training. He sported the hereditary jade-white eyes of the Hyuuga, powerful in their ability to master the Byakugan, the special blood-limit ability of his clan, and the pale skin and dark hair typical to any member of the family.

The hair he wore shorter than many of his male kin, long enough to fall passed the nape of his neck but not yet at his shoulders, pulled back in a tight ponytail. There had been a time when he wore his hair long and loose, falling down his back, but a snide comment from a cousin about long hair being a sign of noble status among the family has him cutting his hair with familiar shame, and later pulling it back in defiance against tradition.

His was a strong, finely handsome face that many among the family gossiped as being eerily reflective of his grandsire, Hiashi, the former clan-head. And those more daring would even continue on to whisper of the same face worn by Hizashi, Hiashi's younger twin brother, and even Neji, Hizashi's son, both of them Branch family members.

Though Hisoka's mother, Hinata, had raised the divisions between the families after coming into power over five years before, the old discriminations died slowly, and the only members of the Branch family not bearing the curse seal were those born in the last five years. Hisoka himself had never been considered part of the Branch family, having been saved from being marked by his mother's defense against the wishes of Hiashi and the council, but he really had no real status either.

For the longest time, Hisoka had been a shadow among the Hyuuga, unacknowledged and unwanted, an illegitimate son. He was the bastard son born to Hyuuga Hinata when the young heiress was only fifteen, never acknowledged by a father, a shame and embarrassment to the clan and a black mark on the Hyuuga name that once nearly cost his mother her inheritance.

Hinata had stood her ground in defense of Hisoka, refusing to allow him to be marked by the curse seal or be acknowledged as anything else but her son. His mother, whose confident and strong composure was something the old aunts gossiped as being a complete turnaround from the timid nature of her youth, though he had never seen her as anything different, always amazed him in how firmly she fought against the centuries of restriction and discrimination that bound the Hyuuga.

She had never shown any amount of shame and embarrassment about the insults or blatant disapproval directed toward the two of them, only showing him the kind of love and acceptance he could never find in the clan. For this, he would always be grateful, and her strength was an inspiration to hold his head high despite the brand of bastard upon his name. And he struck out to not only make her proud of him, but the whole clan, waiting for the day to come when they would have no other choice but to acknowledge him for who he was, not just a Main House bastard.

When he was ten years old, his grandfather, Hiashi, a cold and distant man who treated his own daughters with the same indifference he did Hisoka, had suddenly caught ill and passed away. Hinata, then twenty-four, should have been allowed to step immediately into his role as head of the clan. However, a stipulation in Hiashi's will kept his daughter from coming into her full power until twenty-five, and the council used this to their advantage. When they tried to toss Hinata aside in favor of her younger sister, Hanabi refuted their plans by standing by her sister in a rare show of loyalty, and even their cousin, Neji, returned for a few months from long-standing mission to help Hinata settle things around her leadership, lent his support. Eventually, the council surrendered.

Hisoka smiled faintly as he rolled back his shoulders, walking down the path leading from the forest back to the Hyuuga estate. His memories were not always pleasant ones, but they could be amusing, and many even enjoyable. He shook his head at the strange twist his thoughts had taken as he approached the front gates, his brows knitting with puzzled interest as he spotted the servant standing there, anxiously wringing her hands together and obviously waiting for him.

"Midori-san," he said softly, his voice settled to a deep, rich timbre since pubescence, "Are you waiting for me?"

The girl looked up at him, flustered as her face colored and her voice shook. "H-hai (1), Hisoka-san. Your parents wish to see you as soon as you have cleaned up from your training."

The message well-received, Hisoka offered the girl a warm smile. "Arigatou (2), Midori-san. Thank you for taking the time to wait for me."

"It-it's no trouble, Hisoka-san. J-Just doing my duty."

"Well, still. I'm grateful."

She gave him a shy smile, her flush even more pronounced as she scurried off ahead of him at a speed that surprised him, disappearing into the house before he could ascend the stairs. "Strange girl," he mumbled, as he made his way into the house and through the corridors to his room.

Grateful he did not encounter anyone in the halls, he quickly changed from his training clothes into a light, informal yukata (3), pale gray in color, plain and unadorned. The way he dressed was not only a reflection of his status, but also one of his mother's lessons that managed to ingrain into his conscience. "Simplicity is true beauty," she has always told him, most often as he watched her work in her gardens, watching her cultivate the most simple of blossoms, later to have them bloom the most breathtaking of flowers.

He adjusted his dark blue obi (4), quickly rinsed his face in the basin of warm water left for him, looked himself over in the mirror, and then made his way down the corridors toward his parents' dayroom. He smiled to himself, still finding it strange that even in his mind, he included his stepfather of five years in his reference. But Aburame Shino had been, and still was, the only father Hisoka had ever known.

Hinata caused a great deal of scandals from her late teenage years and on into adulthood, first with Hisoka, and then with her open refusal to marry until she saw fit, despite the fact that many girls in noble families were long married and having children before eighteen or twenty. Hinata, however, turned down every offer and arrangement her father tried to make, concentrating instead on her young son and duties as a medic-nin.

By twenty-five, Hinata was free of the council's restrictions and she was able to take full control of the clan. The first thing she did was to break down centuries of tradition by breaking down the barriers between the Main and Branch families, and before the clan had recovered from that tidal wave of change, she shocked them once more by announcing her marriage arrangement to one Aburame Shino, a man seen not only as an outsider but the sole heir to another clan.

Shino was, first and foremost, the only son and heir to the Aburame family, but despite the controversy his marriage to Hinata caused, he welcomed it all with quiet, dignified acceptance. He was a strong, solemn man of few words, as were all Aburame, but to him was a gentle side he displayed to his family, most especially with the way he accepted Hisoka with open arms, and the way he loved Hinata with a soft, unwavering affection. He was an ideal father to Hisoka's half-brother, Akira, born ten months after their marriage.

Hisoka was shown into the room wordlessly by a servant, and he bowed his head respectfully as he copied the position of the kneeling figures before him. He accepted the cup of tea offered to him by his mother with a thankful smile, blowing on the steaming liquid as he studied them over the brim.

Hinata, only a few months younger than her husband, was just shy of her thirty-first birthday, yet hardly looked her age. A small statured woman, a quiet, dignified beauty with long falls of inky black hair and delicate features, dressed in a simple but elegant kimono whose rich rose shade brought out the pallor in her skin.

Shino knelt beside her, a comforting sight of familiarity with his habitual dark colors and stoic expression. Despite his youth, his dark hair showed the slightest hint of gray, an odd side-affect of shinobi living, and as always when in the presence of family, his face was absent of his usual sunglasses and collar, showing his black eyes to his stepson's gaze.

Hinata favored her son with a soft smile, "Good afternoon, Hisoka-kun. I hope the summon wasn't any kind of inconvenience?"

"Iie (5), not at all, Kaasan. I was just training."

"Aaa." His stepfather made the soft sound of acknowledgement. "You're readying yourself for the upcoming jounin examinations?"

"Hai, Shino-otou (6). I am."

Hinata frowned, gazing at her firstborn with a mixture of trepidation and concern. "Are you sure you're ready, Hisoka? You've only been a chuunin for a year. Isn't this too soon?"

Shino surprised him then as he laid a hand on his wife's arm in reassurance. "Hinata, don't you think you're worrying too much? If the boy thinks he can do it, then why not?"

"Hai, Shino. You're right. Gomen." She smiled at Hisoka once more. "It's just hard to accept that you're growing up, Hisoka. But then again, getting accepted as genin is as good as a coming of age, isn't it?" She sighed softly, reaching across the way to lay a hand against his cheek. "It is the way of the shinobi, boys becoming men so fast."

"Ano, Kaasan. The sooner I'm a man, the sooner I can make the clan proud."

"You're already made your clan and your family proud," Shino told him, "You're a Hyuuga genius, Hisoka. That's not to be taken lightly."

"Hai, Shino-otou." Hisoka smiled softly, pleased. His abilities were never something he took lightly, both in light of the power he had been born with and all that he had learned since his early youth. A natural-born genius, he had mastered all but the most difficult of the Byakugan techniques, learned the art of taijutsu, excelled in shinobi weaponry and chakra ability, not to mention his learning of dozens of powerful ninjutsus. He had been a prodigy from the start, and as Shino had told him, it was something he took seriously.

"Actually, Hisoka," Hinata continued, "The jounin exam is what we wished to discuss with you. It is still six months from now, and if you want to be ready in time, we thought it best if you trained with one of the Hyuuga jounin to further excel your bloodline abilities."

Shino nodded in agreement. "Out of all your abilities, Hisoka, your bloodline limit is the most raw. Perhaps that is our fault, since neither I nor your mother thought to have you trained outside of the academy, but from what I've seen of Hyuuga ability before in battle, there are a few techniques whose mastery will certainly give you an upper hand."

A sudden rapping at the door interrupted their conversation, and a servant stuck his head into the door, apologetic but insistent. "Hinata-sama, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I've just received word that Hyuuga Neji-sama has arrived. He's asking for a change to speak with you, my lady."

Hisoka's head jerked up, taking into the way his mother paled, even the way Shino straightened and betrayed the same shock etched into his mother's features. Hyuuga Neji, gone from Konoha on as an acting ambassador to the Land of Water for over a decade, with the exception of his brief return five years ago at Hiashi's death. What reason could he have for returning?

Muffled sounds from behind the doorway, and then the door slid open forcefully all the way, a face from the past appearing suddenly before them. Hyuuga Neji.

Shino stiffened, bristling protectively beside his wife as he laid a hand on her shoulder, Hinata herself long passed from a ghostly pale to an ashen gray, appearing to tremble slightly under her husband's touch. Puzzled by their reactions, Hisoka turned his head to stare curiously at the strange newcomer.

A single word passed through his mother's lips, breaking the tense silence between the four of them. "Neji…?"

xx

(1) hai- yes

(2) Arigatou- thank you

(3) yukata- a light, summer kimono

(4) obi- a belt used for kimono or yukata

(5) iie- no

(6) Shino-otou- Father Shino