Torn Allegiance

Written by Aralain

Disclaimer: the Naruto world is not mine. It is only being borrowed. Thank you for understanding and for hopefully enjoying my story. Set after the 4th war though I studiously ignore Neji's honorable death because I refuse to accept that he is gone :

"Hai, Hiashi-sama," Kiyoshi whispered, her head bowed respectfully in his presence. Her hands were folded perfectly before her, knees digging into the hard ground almost painfully. "I understand my duty to yourself and this clan." Her voice was calm and clear, light as air. None could imagine how deadly this kunoichi could be when provoked.

"That is good. This match has taken much deliberation. Two betrothals have been broken to bring it around making it of the utmost importance than you ensure the mission is a successful one. Do not fail me," he said, a darkness to his tone that sent a chill through the young kunoichi who nodded with an aching deep inside her. She was afraid… more than she had been afraid of any mission, of any enemy. This was going to be harder than any of that, but she'd known… She'd known that it would happen one day.

"You are dismissed. I will require your presence at the main house tomorrow morning at dawn. Will that be an issue?" he demanded.

"I have a meeting with hokage-sama at noon, my lord. That is my only required engagement for the village tomorrow," she said.

"Very well," he said. She took this as her cue to leave, rising to her feet and bowing deeply before backing out of the room with a show of practiced calm. She gracefully side-stepped a fast-moving kunoichi rushing past the door.

"Gomen, Hanabi-sama," she murmured, though her apology was almost completely ignored. She stepped into her black sandals, straightening as she saw another form approaching her. She turned to fully face the heiress, bowing deeply. "Hinata-sama, I hope you are well," she said. The beautiful kunoichi smiled sweetly, bobbing her head in a simple nod. Her long purple-hued hair fell over her shoulders in long waves. She was dressed in a simple, exquisite kimono.

"I am very well Kiyoshi-san," she said. "Will you join me?" she asked.

"Of course, my lady," she agreed. She couldn't exactly deny the heiress of the clan anything. Though she knew Hinata would never use her power of the curse seal, it was still her duty.

"Sometimes feels like we're all just pawns, does it not?" Hinata asked in a soft, sad voice as she led her cousin to a table in the garden. Kiyoshi had never been to the main branch home before. Her family was rather low in the clan, hardly noticed until Kiyoshi had come along. She had followed in Neji-san's footsteps, impressing their clan leader and even the hokage by earning the rank of jounin young… at fifteen. She was not particular outstanding within her bloodline limit. Few of the clan members who were as low down as she were actually trained extensively in the Byakuugan. She had been forced to follow in the footsteps of non-specialized shinobi. She sought her own strengths and used them to become a great Hyuuga.

"My lady?" Kiyoshi asked, softly. Hinata was three years her senior and had grown quite astoundingly in the last eight years since becoming a shinobi. She was not a woman to be trifled with and with the sealing of her younger sister Hanabi this year, her position as heiress would be cemented. Kiyoshi was no revolutionary, but she knew that Hinata-sama would change things. She would help the branch families and Kiyoshi could not help but feel gratitude towards the older girl. She seemed to not only see the lowest of their clan, but to feel for them as well.

"I tried to help you Kiyoshi," Hinata said with regret in her voice.

"Help me…" Kiyoshi repeated quietly. "Hinata-sama are you referring to the betrothal?" Her eyes rose to the beautiful lavender orbs of the heiress. People outside the clan were oblivious to the different shades of Hyuuga eyes, the complexity of the colors that shined within them. Only they could distinguish the subtle differences in each other's eyes, the beauty of each individual's particular color. Most in the clan would agree that Hyuuga Hinata's were the most beautiful hue in the clan and not simply because they were afraid of their leader's censure should they say otherwise. Her eyes simply were… breathtaking.

While many had looked upon Hinata as weak through most of her young life, no one near Kiyoshi's level of the family had ever understood why. Her grandmother Hitomi spoke often of the influence of beautiful eyes, of kind spirit. Grandmother Hitomi had taught Kiyoshi, her brothers, and her many cousins that it was shinobi like their young heiress that would change their world, just as Hinata's mother had done… giving women an equal position in the clan… at least as far as was possible in their times. Hinata's mother had been the reason Kiyoshi had done so well really and Grandmother Hitomi had reminded her of that often while she had been growing up, accrediting each success to the benevolence and kindness of their first lady. It kept Kiyoshi humble, made her want to strive to help people like that woman, like Hinata.

Hinata seemed sad and Kiyoshi couldn't help but be moved by this woman, so strong and yet so considerate of others. She was going to make a brilliant leader. That was certain. "Hinata-sama," Kiyoshi began, understanding the heiress's silence as a "yes" to her previously-spoken question. "I have worked my whole life for such an opportunity."

"I don't understand," Hinata murmured.

"It is not an easy thing to understand for one such as yourself," Kiyoshi murmured, looking up at the clouds as they darkened above them. There would be rain tonight. She could smell it. The faint taste of it lingered in the air, mixing with the scent of the flowers surrounding them. She loved training in the rain.

"I would like to understand," Hinata said.

"It would take a long time my lady," Kiyoshi said with a soft sigh.

"I have time, Kiyoshi-san!" Hinata said quickly. "That is… if you do not mind telling me." Her cheeks reddened slightly and Kiyoshi smiled, shaking her head.

"Of course I do not Hinata-sama," Kiyoshi murmured. "Though, it is not a pleasant story." Hinata waited patiently, and Kiyoshi knew she was prepared to hear it, or at least that she believed herself prepared to hear it.

"I am from a poor family. My father was disgraced my family with a defection from the clan, betraying my two older brothers in the worst way possible. They had to work twice as hard to take care of myself and my mother, whose decline was also an embarrassment to all as well. Only shame has ever fallen upon those closest to me."

"Kiyoshi," Hinata whispered sadly.

"My lady, I am sure you knew all of this already. You are to polite to hold these things against my brothers and I, but our clan as a whole is not as understanding as you. Our village is not as understanding," she said. "I am not complaining, not saying that I was scorned. Even in the lowest branch families, there is support… there is love. Family bonds are more important with us than most clans which I know you are aware as this support comes from even the highest and most honorable family." Kiyoshi could remember a time when Hiashi-sama's wife, Hinata's mother had personally come to Grandmother Hitomi's home bearing food and blankets when they'd first been transferred to Grandmother's care.

Hinata nodded, listening carefully. Kiyoshi found it quite likely that Hinata knew very little of the lower levels of the clan. They were considered untrustworthy by Hiashi-sama. The young jounin doubted her heiress spent much time with anyone of Kiyoshi's family. It would surprise Kiyoshi if the young heiress knew half of her closest relatives. It was so strange for such a high-ranking member in the clan to be so interested in what someone like her had to say, but she had known that things would change. That was why she could not deny the clan-leader's plans for her upcoming nuptials, not that her sense of duty would ever allow it.

"After the embarrassments of my parents, my prospects became very slim. I wasn't considered worthy of notice. My betrothal to my cousin: Hyuuga Haruto was severed on my eleventh birthday. He claimed he could not marry so low… that it would ruin his family's prospects and I don't think he was wrong," Kiyoshi said thoughtfully.

"You were not upset?" Hinata asked, almost breathlessly.

"It broke my heart," Kiyoshi corrected quickly. "It was the first time my father's defection and my mother's disgrace had ever affected me so directly. It was all I had to cling to the last strands of my standing in the clan. This clan… it is everything to me. I would die to uphold our beliefs, to protect our way of life. I threw myself into training, When I graduated the academy no one thought anything of it. Any Hyuuga could become a shinobi, even one as lowly as I. My brothers had done it after all. When I made chuunin, not an eye was batted. Both my brothers had already done that as well. My byakuugan activated when I had been very young but it took a serious mission for me to realize I needed to get a handle on it. I trained myself to use it in necessary situations. Neither of my brothers nor my father before me had learned to use the family kekkei genkai and I was finally noticed. My great-uncle Hito trained me against much contest from his more higher-standing relatives. He took a chance and I did everything I could to repay him. Within a year I was a jounin," she said.

"Neji-kun says you do not use gentle fist techniques," Hinata said.

"It is forbidden," she said, brow furrowing in seriousness at the mention of the techniques used by only those closest to the main branch.

"I know, it's just… Neji became a jounin at sixteen and you were the same age when you underwent the trials. I'm just trying to understand how you-" Hinata snapped her mouth shut embarrassed.

"How I have done so well. It is not offensive to me Hinata-sama. Little has been expected of me from a young age. Hamaki-sensei is the main reason. I would never have been able to accomplish what I have without him and the rest of Team 2," she said lightly. "He also introduced me to Maito Gai who has been my sensei many years now."

"You have come far… with so much against you," Hinata said. "I still don't understand why you've so readily accepted marriage to someone you hardly even know."

"Because it's not about me, Hinata-sama. It's about our clan. I am honored that I have been chosen by your father for such a match. I am humbled to think that I have changed the way many of the clan sees my family. My brothers are welcomed into the homes of relatives who had been afraid to associate with them before. We have been welcomed back in fully and though many have treated us so badly that we may admittedly never be able to forgive, there is good that comes from all of this. We are not predestined to be as our parents were… not forced to live only under the expectations of others. We can always be more."

"I understand," Hinata whispered. Kiyoshi nodded, and the pair fell into companionable silence. It was broken by the sound of approaching footsteps.

"Hinata, father wishes to speak with you," Hanabi said, her voice filled with derision. Hinata seemed to flinch under the force of it. Kiyoshi stood with the heiress.

"I will take my leave then, Hinata-sama," she said quietly. She bowed slightly to Hinata then Hanabi, before turning and retreating from their presence.

Only once outside the walls of the main branch home did she take off. She sped for her family home. Her eldest brother Hisoka was away on a mission and Hideki worked at the shinobi academy. She was tired, exhausted even. Hiashi-sama had summoned her straight off of a week working on the border between here and Suna. She wanted nothing more than a long shower and to sleep until Hiashi-sama had requested her presence in the morning.

One look at the house and she sighed. Her brothers were hopeless without her. At first she'd been thrilled when they'd been permitted to return to their family home, but she'd not realized how much extra work that meant for her. It was all right though as long as they could be together somewhat, her brothers and her. It took some of the strain off grandmother at least. She was getting up there in years and though she'd never admit it, she was getting tired much more quickly these days.

Kiyoshi set about cleaning up after them. Though she'd never complain, a trait she'd learned from Grandmother Hitomi, it was tiresome coming home from a mission just as important as any one they might have and still have to pick up after them. She loved them to pieces, but this was out of hand. She wondered vaguely if Hiashi-sama had spoken to her eldest brother about her betrothal. In most cases, the consent of both sets of guardians was required for such a match, but it was not strictly required if Hiashi-sama was involved. It would not be the first time her family ties had been completely discounted by the clan.

There was a knock on the door and she looked up from tossing Hideki's clothes into a hamper. She went to answer it, the basket balanced upon her left hip. "Obaasan," she said, bowing respectfully. "Please, come in!" She beamed at her beloved grandmother. She immediately reached to take the large dish with her free hand, balancing it easily.

"You have returned safely once more. We are surely blessed," the old woman said, her voice strong still in her age. She shuffled in, bent from the long years she had lived… her long happy life as a mother of four then grandmother of 13 had been just as much strain upon her as any shinobi life. Kiyoshi rushed to place the dish in the kitchen, dropping the hamper in the other room before returning to take her grandmother's elbow.

"Blessed indeed obaasan," Kiyoshi agreed, leading the old woman into the sitting room. She enjoyed the sunshine that shone through the large windows of the room, Kiyoshi knew. She immediately moved to the each of the windows, opening them wide.

"You look ill, child," the old woman said, eying her closely.

"I am a bit taxed obaasan but it is nothing to be concerned about. I returned a few hours ago from my mission to Suna," she said.

"Suna… You're always off in Suna, Suna this and Suna that. Hours, then you surely had time to clean yourself up and get some rest. What on earth have you been doing child!?" the woman exclaimed. Kiyoshi smiled, knowing how strongly her grandmother, Hitomi, believed in looking after oneself. She had been a tyrant around bath time when Kiyoshi had been very young, back when both her parents had still been around.

"I had an audience with Hiashi-sama, obaasan," she said, patting her hair down self-consciously but it was still restrained quite purposefully in a long braid down her back.

"In that state covered in sand and smelling of those people!" her grandmother said in an admonishing tone, covering her heart as if it had given a terrible jump. Grandmother Hitomi was never above dramatics.

"He had an urgent matter to discuss, obaasan. It was no insult to appear before him as such. He insisted I go there directly," Kiyoshi laughed.

"What did he have to say little one? Don't keep an old woman in suspense!" the old woman said, nervously. There was always a bit of censure in the lower branches when Lord Hiashi condescended to summoning one of them personally. It was rare, but had been happening more often with Kiyoshi over the years. He seemed to have take a particular interest in her the last few months as well. Kiyoshi understood now, but it had been quite perplexing for a time.

"I am to be married, obaasan," she said. Her grandmother's eyes widened, jaw slackening. She would not lie in saying that she prayed for something like this. Arranged marriages were simply a part of clan life, one that she had long ago surrendered herself to.

"That is… what an honor," she said softly. "You are alright, little one?"

"Of course obaasan. I am honored to have been chosen," Kiyoshi responded evenly. Still though, emotion did not permeate her words and while before Hinata-sama she could use logic to explain her willingness to agree to the arrangement, her grandmother cared little for logic which made it a bit tricky. Hitomi herself had married for love and believed that emotions were the heart of everyone's lives, that nothing was more important than how a person felt for another. She'd always told her granddaughter to think with her heart because her mind was always too clouded for her own good distracted with violence and too much other convoluted nonsense.

"He said nothing to me!" the old woman said, in a harsh tone, rising to her feet. "Does he have no propriety at all? You may have no parents but he must still ask for your hand before he gives it away, clan leader or not! This is not the way we do things in this clan!" Kiyoshi blinked in surprise. She had never seen her grandmother angry, sure she was known to get cross ever once in a while, but this was pure, uncensored anger in her eyes.

"Obaasan, he could have spoken with Hisoka-niisan," Kiyoshi soothed. The older woman remained stiff, but after a few moments relaxed, taking the idea into consideration. Her breathing evened out and her frail, shaking hands unclenched from the fists they'd curled into.

"Who is this man you've been betrothed to?" Hitomi asked, her clouded eyes taking her granddaughter in critically.

"Can I get you some tea, obaasan?" Kiyoshi responded, rising to her feet. She moved towards the kitchen without a response, her cheeks tinged with red. She didn't know why she was hesitant to tell her grandmother. She would not be disappointed. It just felt like when she told her grandmother, it would be cemented and she was hardly able to believe it herself. What if the Lord Hyuuga changed his mind?

"Little one," her grandmother muttered sternly. Kiyoshi paused in the doorway, placing her hand on the doorjamb and looking back. "Sit down," she ordered. Kiyoshi lowered her head, coming forward obediently.

"You know that there is always a choice," Hitomi told her. Kiyoshi shook her head.

"Not this time obaasan," she said softly.

"But there's a boy. I know there has been a boy," Hitomi said. Kiyoshi flinched. She shook her head. Her grandmother missed little.

"It will help my brothers. It will help the family," Kiyoshi replied with a calm she did not feel. Only her Grandmother could break her down with a stare and that stare was more weighted than usual.

"Ever since you were a little girl, you've always done everything for this clan. You've given everything," the old woman said. "'I will help our family' you'd say. 'I will make our family great again'. 'I will bring honor to my family' you'd declare again and again."

"It was my duty, obaasan," she replied, calmly.

"I have lived a long time, Kiyoshi-chan. You will not be a shinobi forever and when you are not… all you will have is your family," she told her. "All you will have is love. You must be sure that you are doing what is good for you. You always have a-"

"Second house," she interrupted softly. Her grandmother's eyes widened and her breath caught. This time there was no ploy, no acting. She was sincerely shocked.

"The second house" the woman murmured. Silence fell over them. Kiyoshi was glad for it. Her grandmother understood now. There was not a choice in this. No one would dare deny the strongest shinobi in the clan, a jounin who had surpassed the clan leader himself, Hiashi-sama's own nephew Hyuuga Neji.

"Thank you for looking after Hideki, obaasan," Kiyoshi said, breaking through the tense silence. Her grandmother would speak no more on the subject, too conflicted of course. She believed in marriage for love, but the honor in this match… it was too much to deny and to even speak of it would be an insult to the main branch, punishable by…

"I enjoy looking after my beloved grandchildren. Your mother was always my favorite child," she said distantly. Kiyoshi nodded. She had heard that many times before. She had taken the death of her beloved daughter very hard, harder than Kiyoshi even who'd spent many nights tending to a woman who had all her energies bent on drinking herself to an early grave. Since then, Grandmother Hitomi had forbidden all of her children and grandchildren to drink alcohol in any form. Hideki of course didn't pay that any mind. He was the most unruly of the three of them.

"I apologize for the state of our home since my absence. Hideki never has been interested in picking up after himself and Hisoka-niisan is not much better I'm afraid."

"It is hard raising two boys isn't it?" Hitomi teased, but her expression turned somber once more. "You're only seventeen… when does Hiashi-sama wish to have you wed?"

"During the festival I would guess, but we did not discuss such specifics," Kiyoshi said, not pleased by the return to the previous subject, though she put up an unaffected front. Her grandmother pretended she didn't see right through it and Kiyoshi pretended she believed that.

"So soon?" her grandmother murmured. Kiyoshi looked up at the approach of a familiar chakra signature. She excused herself politely, going to the door. She opened it to be met with the sight of Mimura Hamaki.

"Taicho?" she frowned, taking him in in a few moments. He was still dressed in full battle gear. She could tell he hadn't changed. He was wearing the same muddied blue shirt and pants. He had a speck of blood on his green jacket just left of the zipper from when she had cut her hand. She looked down at her hand, still in dirty bandages. It didn't look like she would be having time to change them.

"We've been called in on an emergency mission," he said. "Can you get yourself together?" The kunoichi frowned. Emergency missions were very rare, and almost invariably dangerous.

"Hai," she nodded, indicating he should come in with a wave of her hand and rushing into the next room. "Obaasan, I am being called away for a mission," she said quickly. "Forgive me for my abruptness, but I must leave you now."

"I'm used to it after all these years little one, in a family of prestigious shinobi who are always in high demand," the old woman grinned tiredly.

"Thank you for your understanding. Please tell my brother that if I am not returned by tomorrow at sunrise, he must report this to Hiashi-sama immediately," Kiyoshi said.

"Kiyoshi!" Hamaki called from the next room, with urgency.

"What's going on?" she questioned, grabbing her pack that she had only just set down by the door on her way in. She swung it over her shoulders, following her captain out the door. He took off towards hokage tower and she followed close on his heels.

"Suna has uncovered something in the wind country. It's top secret until we reach Suna. We head there immediately and from there Subaku no Kankuro will brief us and lead us from there," he said. He stopped, turning and holding up a hand. She stopped on a dime, looking him straight in the eye.

"I was placed in charge, told them I wanted you on, but I know there could be resistance to your placement. You are my shinobi right now, remember that," he said, no apology in his tone. She didn't expect it. He wouldn't have requested her if he didn't think it was important. "All I know is that it has something to do with the Hyuuga and I don't walk into a shit-storm of Hyuuga without my number one Hyuuga at my side. Besides, Wind Country is your ground. I'm just the captain here."

"With my clan?" she questioned, alarmed.

"That's why I needed you and why I need you on my side here," he replied, staring at her, his brown eyes serious. She nodded and he started for the tower once more, Kiyoshi hot on his trail.

I'm not usually a Gaara writer, but I'm very excited to hear what you think. We will have the Great Lord Kazekage in the next chapter. ;-) Take care./span/p