"Turn A Blind Eye"
Chapter One, an introduction: Always is Forever
The two Hyuuga girls were sitting in a meadow filled with little white flowers. Away from the rest of their family, they could be completely alone with each other—a rare occurrence. Even rarer than the friendship between them.
Everyone knew about the tensions between the branches of the clan, and Teikan and Arisu were not of the same branch. The former being a main branch member, while the latter was the side branch.
However, this did not stop their friendship from being created. The funny thing was though, that the family seemed to completely encourage this friendship. It seemed strange for Hiashi to allow it, when he detested relationships like it, which might have had something to do with his dislike for Neji—the strongest of the Clan. Hiashi had used the Caged Bird Seal to control Neji's father, Hiashi's brother, and this most of all showed that he was set in the traditional ways of the Clan. So why encourage this friendship to exist and grow? Simple—Hiashi had plans. Plans indeed…
But this was all family stuff to Teikan and Arisu. It did not seem to concern them, so they didn't look into it or take any notice. They were young. They were ignorant. And didn't have a care in the world.
"I'll always be your best friend Teikan, and that's a promise." The young girl spoke with a child's innocence and hopes for the future.
"Always?"
She nodded, smiling. "Always, forever."
Teikan opened her mouth in happiness and moved closer to her. "Arisu?"
"Hm?"
"Do you really mean that?"
"Mean what?"
"To be my friend forever…" She brought her legs up close to her chest with her arms wrapped around them, and rested her chin on her knees.
"Of course I do."
"Will you swear it?"
The girl called Arisu cocked her head, pausing for a moment then smiled once again, nodding once. She raised a hand and, picking up Teikan's, wrapped their pinkies together. "I swear," she whispered, looking into Teikan's eyes, which were milky white. Vacant of any recognition. But their owner smiled, pleased with the years of promised friendship to come.
Being blind did not make making friends easy…
And it certainly did not make being a Hyuuga easy. Unbeknownst to Teikan, the family had kept her a secret to the rest of the Village, not wanting the people to know of their weakness. Their little dishonor.
Teikan's parents did not do much to protect her from the family either, but merely watched from the sidelines as Hiashi took control of the 'situation".
"Come on, let's go back home, it's getting late…" Arisu looked skyward and then to the west where the sun was already setting.
"Okay."
Teikan stood up, and with Arisu leading her by the hand, they ran back through the trees, both pairs of eyes filled with happiness.
They had been young, carefree spirits…
Until that day.
It was about a year after they promised to be friends.
Arisu was pulled aside one day by her parents and they explained to her what it meant to be a Branch Member.
Arisu was thrilled by the news because it seemed to mean that she was important and had an important job.
When she was informed that Teikan would be her main subject to protect, Arisu was even more thrilled, for it appeared that they would be spending lots of time together in years to come.
What she didn't know was that that time would become meaningless when their friendship was strained by the rules of the Clan.
And it would become strained.
It started when Arisu became a Genin. Teikan was sitting on a bench outside the academy, waiting for her to come out, just like she did every day. (Teikan was held back by Hiashi and the family due to her blindness. They did not want her pursuing the career of a Shinobi)
"Teikan!"
The blind Hyuuga looked up as Arisu's footsteps came towards her. She stood to greet her friend.
"You won't believe what happened!" Arisu was breathless with excitement.
"What?" Teikan asked, cocking her head in curiosity.
"I graduated! I'm a Genin now," she said in a high, excited voice.
"Oh… That's um, really great Arisu…" Teikan smiled weakly at her friend, but inwardly she was downhearted. When would it be her turn to take that first step as a Shinobi?
The two began to walk back to the complex together, Teikan falling into deeper depression as Arisu simply glowed in the pleasure of her success. As they walked, there seemed to be a barrier growing between them. Darkening and thickening with every step they took.
"Are you okay, Teikan?" Arisu asked, looking over at her friend, slightly worried about her silence.
"Yes."
"Do you feel okay? Maybe we should hurry—"
"I'm fine, Arisu!" Teikan growled, suddenly glaring at the Branch Member. Arisu stumbled back, shocked by this sudden outburst.
Feeling hurt, she fell silent.
After a few moments of silence between them, Teikan sighed. "I'm sorry, Arisu…" She 'looked' over in her direction, and Arisu looked her in the eyes.
"It's just…"
"What?"
"It's just… I want so bad to become a Genin… And you… I'm really glad you are, I just..."
Arisu didn't need her to finish the statement.
"You want to become one too, and you don't think it's fair…" she finished, looking at her friend in sympathy.
Teikan nodded sadly.
"Well, I can teach you whatever I learn!" She began in an excited tone. "Anything you want to know, I'll teach you, I'll—"
"No, you don't understand!"
Arisu stopped, and watched Teikan in confusion.
"It's not that I don't want to learn, it's just… It's not the same… I want," she paused and closed her eyes. "I want to become a Shinobi… Properly…"
"Properly?" Arisu questioned, looking at her closely. "You know Hiashi won't allow it… The family… Well, they don't think…"
Teikan began to frown, clenching her hands into tight fists at her sides as Arisu continued talking. Noticing this, Arisu quickly changed tactics. "Well, it's not that they don't think you can handle it, they just want to make sure you're safe, that's all." Arisu smiled warmly at her friend, but it was lost on the blind girl who simply continued to scowl. "So, I'm supposed to stay nice and safe at home while you become a Shinobi."
"No, Teikan, that's not it at all, they just don't think you're ready yet, I'm sure that you can—"
"Can what?" Teikan shot back, interrupting. Arisu winced, realizing her mistake too late. "Can become one in a few years? Join children in the academy who are half my age?!"
"Teikan—"
"No, Arisu!"
Arisu shut her mouth quickly.
"Look at me!"
She complied sadly.
"The family doesn't know… /He, Hiashi, doesn't know…" Her words were coming out in an angry and frustrated jumble. "They don't know what I can do. All they see is my blindness. They think I'm weak! But I'm not…" Teikan raised her hands to her eye-level and stared at them. "I'm stronger than they think, and I can see just as well as any of them…"
Arisu blinked.
"You're confused. Well, let me fill you in…" Her voice had reached a dangerous tone. Quiet, almost sinister. "I have developed a way of seeing. And it works. I can see my hands in front of me clear as day…" She began to smile, still staring at her hands.
Arisu blinked again, growing slightly nervous by her friend's voice and expression.
"Do you want to know, Arisu? I'm sure you want to know how I did this…"
Arisu /did/ want to know, but she remained silent.
"I'll tell you. It happened one of those nights you were with Hiashi and the higher-ups. I'm sure you were discussing how to keep me a perfectly safe and tame Main Branch pet—"
"Teikan, we weren't, we were just—"
A glare from the blind girl silenced her.
"Anyway, when you were inside, I was sitting /outside/ in the dark. Not that the dark bothered me at all… But I was sitting out on one of those benches just outside the complex, and all of a sudden I heard something above and around me. A sort of leathery snap, and it was everywhere. After awhile, I figured out that it was from the bats… /Bats, Arisu…"
"Yes, bats…"
"Well, these bats are supposed to be nearly blind, right?"
"Yes…?" Arisu answered, wondering how Teikan suddenly became so knowledgeable about the flying mammals, when she had never shown much interest in creatures of any kind before.
"But they fly. These nearly blind bats, /fly/…" As she said this, she looked skyward, almost with longing.
Arisu watched her friend with growing concern.
"If they can fly with such poor sight, I thought 'why can't I become a ninja with no sight? So I began to think about it, and after a few days, and a few questions to the right people, I was able to figure out how the bats 'saw'. You see, Arisu, they use echoes to see! /Echoes/. It's amazing… They send out these unheard noises, and the noises come back and they see a sort of map… After finding this out, I was able to devise a way to see… To create my own map... And because of it, I can see /everything/. I can see you, Arisu, I can see those trees, and I can even see that butterfly," As she said this, she pointed to her right, and there, sitting about twenty feet away was indeed the beautiful winged insect.
And then Arisu knew what Teikan was saying.
"Byakugan!" With the Hyuuga Clan's blood limit activated, the Branch Member looked first at the butterfly, then at Teikan. And, sure enough, Arisu could see waves of chakra circling her friend and gong towards the objects she had stated. The trails circled and then returned to Teikan, where Arisu guessed, the "map" was being formed. Arisu released the Byakugan with a sigh and a nervous look at her friend.
"Teikan, this is very dangerous… If you use that too much—You'll complete exhaust your strength it could—"
"Could what?"
"You could die…"
"I know. But I don't use it all the time, so I'm safe. And besides…" Teikan looked down at her hands again. "It's better than living in darkness…" She closed her eyes.
"Teikan, please, /listen/ to me!"
Teikan opened her eyes and slid them in Arisu's direction.
"Please listen… Just be patient, you don't have to be a Shinobi… You don't have to do this…"
"Yes, Arisu. I do."
With that the blind girl walked away, head down.
"Teikan, wait—!"
In response, Teikan began to run and was soon out of sight, leaving Arisu standing in the middle of the lane, staring after her with worried eyes.
--
((Okay, well that's the sort of introduction thing… Please, if you don't like the idea of created Hyuuga characters, don't yell at me in reviews… I understand that some people dislike infringement upon Naruto the Anime/Manga in any way. If you have read any of my other fanfics, I would like to let you know, that just because I'm beginning on this one does not mean I will be ignoring the others. This idea just really got me excited, and I just had to write it. I'm sure many of you know the feeling.))