The bloody footprints on the immaculate stone pathway leading from the Branch House estates to the Clan Head's house were the first sign. Looking back on it, she probably shouldn't have dismissed it so easily.

Morning training had exhausted Himawari, even though it was not Lady Hyūga herself who was forcing her to perfect her technique. Heavily pregnant with her first child, she preferred to watch from the sidelines and critique them all sternly from where she sat. There were only a few more weeks until the baby was due. A few more weeks of shorter training sessions, simple housekeeping duties, late mornings, early nights and more sleep. As soon as the next heir to the Hyūga clan was born, Lady Hyūga would be back on her feet and making up for all the time she had to spend restricted to her quarters.

And she would definitely make the rounds of her estates and see just how lax everyone was with the upkeep of the clan grounds.

Himawari gawked at the red stains for nearly a minute before her brain started functioning properly again to remind her of her duties. This stupid little prank was going to get her punished if she didn't clean it up quickly.

A Hyūga does not return from missions beaten and bloody enough to trek such a mess across their pristine home. That is what the hospital was for. And if, for some god forsaken reason, some unsightly thing had made its way onto the grounds, it was a Branch member's duty to get rid of it by any means necessary, preferably before someone from the Main House saw it.

Biting her lower lip, she wondered how much time it would take to go to the garden shed to retrieve a scrub brush and a bucket so she could rid the path of this disgusting mess. The nearest shed was beyond the Main House and past a massive garden that Lady Hyūga often toured important guests through.

Main House members will find any excuse to use the curse seal against Branch members. If one were to see these stains before she made it back to clean it up...

She really didn't want to experience such pain over something so petty and childish.

It was fairly quiet around the compound today. Maybe she'd have enough luck to get this mess sorted without anyone finding out. With that hope in mind, the little Uzumaki trotted off towards the nearest garden shed.

By the time she returned with everything needed to get the job done, the footprints were gone. Odd. Nobody else could have beaten her to it. As far as Himawari knew, she was the only one on yard duty for this section of land.

She couldn't have imagined such a distasteful scene, could she?

Feeling that familiar cold shiver that one occasionally got while being observed by someone using the Byakugan, Himawari emptied the bucket onto a nearby flowerbed before returning it and the scrub brush back to the shed, lest Lady Hyūga think that she was dawdling around the estates instead of completing her duties.