Prologue:

The sky was already dark when Hyuga Hizashi exited the Hyuga mansion; a blue so deep it was almost ink-black, dotted with the pin-pricks of stars too distant even for the second sight of the Byakugan to observe. Stars he had studied enough to know by name. Not simply the basic names they taught at the Academy for Genin to be able to identify their locations, but the more esoteric names the astrologers gave them, ones laden with personality, purpose, identity. All in the name of peddling "knowledge" gained from their observation.

Normally, Hizashi considered himself above such superstition, but tonight... Tonight of all nights, with the stakes so high, he could not help but seek some reassurance, however slight, in the stars. Though many were obscured by cloud, an omen in itself, he could see the 'Tears of Kiri', spread out under the moon and giving it the resemblance of a weeping eye. They spoke of great tragedy, of blood and murder, as the shinobi of Kiri were well known for. Better yet, the brightest of all stars to the north, the red-tinged 'Fire Star' that men and women all over the Fire Country considered an auspicious mark of success. Though outwardly he gave no reaction - A Hyuga was taught from a young age to make themselves as stoic and unreadable to others, as others were open books to them - he felt the knot of worry that had plagued him today loosen, become determination rather than regret.

Regret... It was not considered 'proper' for a Hyuga to regret. They had to master their emotions, to keep their faces masks and their souls pure. As pure as they could, considering the circumstances. After all, how pure could you be, when you consigned your own family, your own brother and his descendants to lives of servitude?

For a moment, the moon reminded him of the Byakugan, seeing without limit. He wanted to pluck it out of the sky; just he wished to pluck the Byakugan from his own face… That was what it came down to. The enslavement of your own family, for this. This Bloodline Limit, that transcended the sacred bonds of family. It maddened him, how to the Hyuga, all was considered well, and in order, so long as the members of the Main House remembered to call their slaves 'cousin' or 'uncle'.

The worst part was that it worked. The system was hateful, but undoubtedly effective in maintaining the root of the Hyuga clan's power. If a member of the Branch House was kidnapped, they might cry, and mourn their passing, (for no Hyuga would consider trading for the life of a slave, no matter how close they had been in life,) but then they would nod, and say that the Byakugan was safe, and its secrets remained wholly Hyuga, and then they would forget.

Hizashi could not forget, though. He was the head of the Branch House, a great honour amongst the Hyuga. He was the brother, the twin of the head of the Main House, and thus was present for every occasion that Hiashi used the Caged Bird seal to end the lives of those Hyuga unfortunate enough to be captured. (He would never use the term 'kill', never take responsibility for the murder of his own blood.) Hizashi remembered their names, because nobody else would.

"Father?" He glanced down, from the perfect orb of the moon to the wide eyes of his son, Neji. Neji… the pride of his life. His legacy. Hizashi put on the other mask he wore when Hiashi was not around; the mask of the generous, caring father. Kneeling down, he smiled, to put the boy at ease, and let him continue. "Hinata wanted to take me out, to celebrate me getting into the academy," he spoke quickly - not clumsily, but with the fevered excitement of youth towards pleasures adults took for granted. "Can we..." he caught himself, and continued with the more formal tone his uncle insisted all Hyugas use. "May we be permitted to leave?" Neji's eyes were hopeful, and he had that smile, the one that promised he would behave himself for the next month. Hizashi kept his smile strong, and closed his eyes.

"Of course you may, Neji." His son wrapped his arms around him, and laughed. It was like the peal of bells, the innocent tone of a child, and Hizashi frowned on the inside. That was yet another thing Neji's uncle would wish to be taken from him. It was... unseemly for a Hyuga to show such a lack of decorum, he would say. Particularly one of the Branch House, who should show only respectful dedication to his charge. That alone, however, paled in comparism to the reason for his decision tonight.

Tomorrow would be the day that Neji was… marked, scarred for life with the Caged Bird Seal. He looked past Neji, and saw the eldest daughter of Hiashi waiting nervously for him. Hinata. She was a kind child, and gentle, but in the Hyuga clan, those were not the qualities expected of the Clan heir. She may have been kind and gentle, but she was weak first and foremost, and Neji was strong.

And yet, she will be the one to inherit Hiashi's title, whilst Neji will be a slave in all but name. Hinata noticed him looking at her, and blushed, before trying to hide herself behind a column. The girl was simply unsuitable for this life. If he had not suggested to her to take Neji out tonight, he doubted she would have had the initiative to come up with it on her own.

"Thank you, Father!" Neji said, before releasing him from the hug. "Let's go, Hinata!"

"Y-yes…" the heiress replied feebly, looking at the floor as Neji took her by the hand and led her out of the Hyuga compound. Another of his suggestions. Even despite her weakness, the tradition would be for Neji to follow, rather than lead, and his son knew so - had had that fact drilled into him over his childhood. But he was no follower, Hizashi knew, and from tomorrow onwards, Hyuga tradition would mean nothing.

As time passed, he could see his brother returning from visiting his wife. The Lady of the clan was with child, and due to give birth within days, another factor that had led to him choosing tonight. He had pleaded with Hiashi once, in a moment of weakness to postpone Neji's sealing - that if Hinata was unsuitable as a heir, Neji could be adopted as a replacement. Hiashi had, with the dutiful words of a clan head, that any child of his was superior in quality to one from the Branch House, but he had given only the barest semblance of sincerity to his words. Hizashi had hoped that his brother's wife would miscarry, that whatever weakness in her had produced a child as meek as Hinata would strike again, but with the now seemingly-inevitable prospect of a second child, even the faintest hope of Neji being adopted had been dashed. Clearing his mind, Hizashi adopted the gentle smile required of a dutiful retainer.

"How is your wife, Hiashi?" He spoke only as courtesy demanded. Both twins knew that he cared nothing for the woman that had doomed his son to slavery by giving birth to Hinata, but there was nothing in his tone or posture to betray that, sparing him from Hiashi's wrath. However, it was unnecessary, he could see. Hiashi had remained awake for several days now, so tense from the imminent arrival of a second child that he had not once rested.

"She is fine, for now. They say that she will give birth sometime in the night, but she told me to return here, and sleep." Hiashi's eyes, normally sharp and suspicious of everything, were dull with weariness, as he made his way towards his brother. Hizashi smiled, his mask perfectly in place, his mind on… different things. As Hiashi reached him, he struck out. The killing-intent, if Hiashi had sensed it earlier, would have earned him the mind-numbing pain of the Caged Bird Seal, but by concentrating on other things, calming things, he could avoid leaking his killing-intent, until Hiashi was too close to form the seals necessary to disable a member of the Branch House. There was only one image that could keep him so calm, and suppress his killing-intent; that of Neji, a grown man, his forehead clear of the Caged Bird Seal.

Hiashi's eyes widened in shock, just for a moment, for that was all the time he had before Hizashi's Jyuuken strike hit his heart, and with the precisely-measured application of Chakra, destroyed it. Under the sight of the Byakugan, it looked almost like a blossoming flower - unfolding into chunks of flesh and fairly erupting with his brother's blood. Hiashi stared with open mouth and eyes shifting between fury and horror at his brother, and gripped at his his robes, even as he fell to a knee, and blood trickled steadily from his mouth. He would drown on the blood leaked by his ruptured heart, and both twins knew already that Hiashi's death was mere seconds away. The Hyuga head was shaking, involuntary tremors from muscles that no longer had the oxygen they would have, and Hizashi kept the smile on his face, the gentle smile he had perfected so well.

"Y-you…" Hiashi's sentence was cut off by choking, his mouth filling with blood, but both twins knew well enough what he wished to say. He spat the blood over Hizashi's robes, his eyes strangely defiant, even in the face of his impending death.

"Do not worry, brother. I will not harm Hinata this night," Hizashi said in response, both sickened and relieved to see the indifference on Hiashi's face. Even he knew that Hinata was a failure, a disgrace to the Hyuuga. Hizashi knelt in his brother's blood, and brought his mouth close to his ear. "I cannot promise the same for your other child," he whispered, and delighted in the widening of his brother's eyes in silent fury, before they grew dull.

Hizashi glanced at the moon again, and looked down at his brother's face, suddenly peaceful. His fingers itched, and he knew what he must do. Quick as a snake, or the Crane that the Hyuuga often compared themselves to, his hand flashed twice, and when he uncurled his hand, there were two eyeballs lying in his palm. They were, after all, the most important items for a Hyuuga, these eyes. With utmost reverence, he placed them in a pouch, before he stood.

"Byakugan," he whispered, and his eyes flickered into their second sight. A quick glance behind him showed him all he needed to. There had been at least one member of the Branch House watching, and they were already moving, gathering the others to bring him to 'justice'. He did not care. Aside from Hiashi, nobody in the Hyuuga Clan could match him.

As he deactivated his Byakugan, he felt a slight burning sensation on his forehead, and irritably scratched at it, before freezing. Where before he would have felt the sickly smooth texture of the seal stretching across his head, there was nothing… No, wait, there were fragments remaining, but in the centre… His fingers traced what seemed to be the outline of a wing, and Hizashi grinned, this time without the aid of a mask, as he turned to face those that stood in his path.

"Hizashi…" one of them, a woman said, her voice low and dangerous. He remembered her. Hyuga Yuki. She was the daughter of a cousin of his. Hiashi had not hesitated to sacrifice her father Hoshi for the sake of the Hyuuga secrets. Yet she had forgotten him, and Hizashi had been the only one to remember.

"Yuki," he replied, deceptively calm. "Do you mean to fight me?" Slowly, he slipped into the Jyuuken stance, and a half-dozen other Branch Members followed suit.

"What have you done?" Yuki said, as she activated her Byakugan.

"The Caged Bird…" Hizashi activated his Byakugan, mildly surprised by what he saw. "Has broken free!" As he said that, he rushed into combat, against friends and family, knowing that for every one he killed, there was one less who would demand Neji be marked.

…

"Hinata," Neji said, and grinned at his cousin. A year younger than him, Hinata, in many ways, saw him as her idol, the bar of achievements that she had to meet. Though they rarely met alone – his father said that it was not considered proper for the heir to be unsupervised – they were still children of similar age, and as such shared lessons prior to the age where they would begin studying at the Academy.

Such a position, of course, fuelled Neji to try even harder. As his uncle reminded him (harshly, but his father said he acted that way around everyone, and to not take offence), as a member of the Branch House, it was his duty to protect the Main House. That was something he could only do if he strove to be the best he could possibly be. However, he bore Hinata no ill will, and on occasion even held back to make her seem stronger than she was in the eyes of their tutors. It was one of many small kindnesses the cousins shared.

"Yes, Neji?" Hinata returned the smile nervously, and unconsciously gripped his sleeve. On one occasion, whilst their tutor for the day had gone to fetch blunted kunai and straw targets, Hinata had confessed that she felt like it was good luck to do that. 'Maybe I'll pick up some of your focus', she had said in a voice just above a whisper, though she had been smiling as she said it.

"You're the best cousin I could ask for." He delighted in the glowing expression on her face, and her mumbled thanks. Though some people considered his cousin's quiet ways to be in some way rude, her closeness was more than enough to tell Neji that she sincerely appreciated what he'd said. His father said that siblings and cousins and those who spent time around each other could tell more than any mere onlooker, and as always, he guessed that his father was right.

So intent was he on the face of his cousin, and her reactions, Neji didn't notice anything wrong until she froze, eyes wide and face paling. "L-listen!" she said, and he stopped, straining his ears. Even on a quiet evening, Konoha held a number of sounds – of faint conversations within houses, the chattering of birds and mewling of cats, the steady breaths of the wind, rustling leaves as it passed. However, none of this was unusual enough to provoke this reaction from his cousin.

"I… can't hear anything," he said, looking at her quizzically. Hinata shook her head, with more force than usual. "Cousin Tsuruko feeds the cranes now, every day. We should be able to hear them…"

Neji frowned for a moment, even as he flushed. He hadn't even been aware of that, but it was true, the birds their cousin cared for trilled at around this time every day. Catching his look, Hinata flushed too, looking away. "Ah… I w-wondered why they were so loud, so I went to ask… Erm… Maybe t-they're sick?" The unspoken question was evident, and Neji nodded in reply to it.

"I'll help you and Tsuruko look after them, don't worry. Let's go." The main entrance to the Hyuga mansion was closer, but the garden where Tsuruko kept her pets was more easily accessed through a side-entrance. The flat paving stones of the main road soon gave way to soft brown soil that their sandals almost sank into, and they reached the side-entrance – a small postern door set into the painted wooden wall – easily enough.

Inside lay carnage. Neji was aware of death, as an inevitability in a shinobi's career, and had been told often enough that the Hyuga method of dealing death was elegant compared to those of other shinobi. That was a lie.

There were three corpses on their backs, bloodshot eyes staring sightlessly at the sky. Their bodies were bloated, with dark areas under their skin at the areas of their Tenketsu. There were no other wounds, which meant only one thing – one terrible thing. A stifled gasp reminded him of his charge, and he leapt, far too late, to shield Hinata behind his back and spare her eyes from this sight.

"Th-they… no…" her voice was a tiny, frail thing, catching in her throat, before giving way to sobs. Neji desperately scanned the garden and the wide open door to the mansion itself, for something… anything. He hoped that he sounded more confident than he felt. "Hinata, whoever did this… our fathers will have dealt with them." That had to be true – Hiashi and Hizashi were the two strongest fighters amongst the Hyuga, and if the murderer were of the Branch House, then the Caged Bird Seal would have dealt with him.

"Y-yes… We need to… to find them!" Neji didn't move, and Hinata pleaded again, clasping his shoulder with both hands. "Please!" Against his better judgement, he took one step forward, then another, attempting to ensure there was as little open space between him and Hinata as possible. When they'd reached the door, he darted inside, and felt a cold sweat beginning to trickle over his skin. There were yet more bodies, and the house was completely silent – surely if the murderer had been caught there would be angry declarations, and people moving to dispose of the bodies?

But it was too late to back out now. They were committed to this course of action. His father should still be standing watch at the front gate, which was nearer, and so he led Hinata there, whilst she clung to him so fiercely that it was almost like they were joined, one creature treading in its own footprints.

Every movement was agonizingly slow, as they sought to avoid making any noise. They discarded their sandals, and on socks alone crossed the polished floorboards on the balls of their feet, one step at a time. If a board creaked, they froze, holding in their breaths for what seemed like an eternity, until they were sure nothing was coming. As they passed they found more and more corpses, faces Neji barely recognized – faces contorted and swollen, and his hopes dipped again with each new discovery. There were twenty, twenty-five, thirty dead Hyugas – at least half the clan. But at last, they reached the front entranceway, and any semblance of stealth collapsed into outright flight, towards the fallen figure that confirmed Neji's worst fears.

"Father!" Hinata was almost screaming now, outpacing him to reach the corpse of Hiashi. "No-no-no-no…" Neji began to search for his own father's corpse – surely the head of the Branch House would have had to die for anyone to be able to kill the head of the Main House… But amongst the corpses, there was no sign of Hizashi. "His eyes… where are his eyes!" Hinata wailed, and Neji felt his heart clench. He'd already forgotten his duty – first and foremost, to protect Hinata. What if the murderer were still here? "Hinata, we need to go," he said as he half-sprinted to her. "We have to get out of here." But where to? When your own home was a deathtrap… "Your mother – she is at the hospital – we should go to her!" Hinata was slow to rise, openly weeping, looking at him helplessly. "I can't leave him. Not like this! Please…"

Again, the unspoken request. Again, something he could not bear to deny. It took some effort for the two of them to lift the corpse of the Hyuga head, and set off at a stumbling, shambling run towards the hospital. They made perhaps two blocks before the first of the Military Police showed up – no doubt alerted by Hinata's screams. Uchihas… His father had always said that the Uchiha clan was no friend to Hyugas, but still… He found himself struck dumb as the lead ninja in the squadron landed before him, crimson eyes taking in and evaluating the entire situation in a single glance.

With a few terse commands, he ordered one of the squadron to escort them, before leading the rest in the direction of the mansion. The Uchiha left behind grumpily offered to take the weight of Hiashi, but Hinata refused to relinquish her grip on her father. He scowled, grumbled about "Itachi leaving me to babysit some brats," but did nothing else. By now, there must have been people watching, noting what was going on, and it felt to Neji as if there were thousands of eyes upon the three of them, and it became a relief to finally reach the hospital.

...

The world had ended. Some one, some thing had entered her home and destroyed all those she had loved. Cousins and uncles and aunts that had shared kind words of encouragement with her, or responded to her shy inquisitiveness with open warmth had been slaughtered, died in agony. Why? Hinata constantly wrung her hands as she sat with Neji, pausing only to drag a sleeve across her face. Neji had clasped her other hand, but seemed distant. She guessed that he was trying to think about who could have committed the murder – Hiashi had said that he was a genius she should strive to match, but… she didn't have the energy to try to and put a name and face to the man who had killed her father. Looking at her sodden sleeve, she thought faintly that the dress must be ruined by now… she almost expected to be scolded for it – would have given anything to have that instead of this…

Aunt Hisano had harmed nobody in her life – she was a medic who healed other Hyugas of any and all ailments; Great-Uncle Junjiro, who had retired from Shinobi life, adopted pacifism and sought to master stringed instruments; Cousin Tsuruko, who had promised that she would give Hinata an egg once her cranes were of age, to raise the chick herself. What reason would anyone have to harm them… to kill them?

And… and… of all the people… Who could harm father? Hiashi may have seemed stern to others, she knew – Neji had told her that he scared him several times, but she knew he only appeared stern… that his position forced him to be like that. She also knew that he was the strongest fighter in the clan, one of the strongest Hyuga in generations… If his family were being attacked, he must have been the first on the scene to defend them… but… how could he be defeated?

She could still feel in her fingers the cold of his skin – a cold she couldn't dispel no matter how much she wrung her hands – still smell the blood even over the sterile corridors of the hospital, and his eyeless face was burned into her vision.

She… felt she should be crying more, even now, but she felt too empty to produce tears. Besides… she thought, looking at the door at the end of the corridor, she was soon to have a sister, and she couldn't greet her with tears. Once her mother had given birth, she could run to her and have her make everything better. And… at the very least, give her more company than just Neji. The Uchiha who had escorted them here had left almost immediately, to report to his leader, and though she loved her cousin dearly… but he wasn't enough, especially not when he was thinking of other things.

It… was an unworthy thought, but she felt slightly irritated that he hadn't cried for the dead. Did he not care? No, of course not. He must think that he was protecting her by pretending to be strong.

His pretence vanished in moments as the doors finally opened. The joy and relief on his face crashed into despair, and Hinata feared what sight would await her if she turned to see what he had seen. It took a force of will to do so, and when she saw the doctor's expression, as he held a swaddled, shrieking baby in his arms… There were no tears left, just a wordless scream as the doctor tried to say that there had been a complication, that there was nothing they could have done… He feebly tried to smile – "T-the child is named Hanabi, as y-your mother wanted…" but that didn't matter. Her mother was dead. The woman who had given birth to her, who had raised her, who she desperately needed, now more than ever, was gone. This pale, scrawny, wailing baby… she'd killed her. "Get her away!" she shrieked at the doctor, who after a moment of surprise retreated back into the room he'd come from. Hinata sank to her knees, engulfed by wracking sobs, trying to muster up tears for her mother. There was nothing. Nothing left.

The Uchiha returned to this scene, and Neji spoke to him, though she couldn't hear what he said – couldn't focus on the words. She forced herself to – he must know who had killed her family. "There's… hell, there's never been an incident like this before. I'm supposed to report this to the senior Hyuga, but…" he looked at the door to her mother's room, and helplessness flashed across his face for a moment. She could hear Neji telling him to leave, that they had had enough tonight. What is he doing? We have to know this!

Her head snapped up quickly, enough so that the Uchiha's attention was immediately drawn to her, and Neji's followed a moment after. "Hinata, we need time to recov-" he began, but she cut him off. Her voice was pathetic – quiet, wavering, raspy, but she managed to speak nonetheless.

"W-who did it? Who… who murdered our family?"

The Uchiha paused, glancing between them, then nodded and spoke.

"We believe the murderer is…" he paused for a moment. "Hyuga Hizashi."

"U-uncle Hizashi!" Neji was immediately advancing on the Uchiha. Too quickly… he should be stunned.

"Impossible! You're lying! My father… my father would never…" He turned abruptly, to face Hinata, and she saw his desperate plea to believe him… but beyond that, guilt. He had already suspected… "H-Hizashi should have protected my father…" she said faintly. "He should have died defending him." Neji crumpled before her words as if they were physical blows, but that wasn't enough. The sorrow… the hollow within her seemed to turn, and boil over. Someone had to pay for these crimes .

"I-It… It was his f-fault. Your father…" Neji winced at her gaze, and tried to speak as she rose.

"Hin-"

"Why? Why d-did he… You're his son, Neji!" Hinata grabbed him by the shoulders, and roughly shoved him backwards. "He killed them!" she screamed at him, and dug her nails into the flesh of his arm. "Why?"

"Hinata, please!"

"He did it for you! It's your fault!" the Hyuga heiress, oblivious to her surroundings, concentrated on one thing only, that of the boy in front of her – His son. Her hand curled into a fist, and she brought it crashing down into Neji's face, though he didn't cry out. That enraged her even more, and she punched him, again and again, with Neji not attempting to even defend himself. It wasn't until the Uchiha pulled her off her cousin that the rage faded, and she sobbed again.

"They're all dead!" she screamed, sobbing hysterically, before looking at the boy who had, moments before, been her best friend. There would be bruises on his face, for certain, but he stood as if nothing had happened.

"Hinata," he said curtly, and bowed, before walking into away. The moon, shining so bright, disappeared behind a cloud, and for Hyuga Hinata, the world had ended.

A/N:

And so it begins... again. This is the (hopefully much improved) remake of the Fallen Heights fanfiction I started years ago, and I can already promise you there will be a number of differences (Not only related to the Hyuga clan - for instance, I'm using Dyoren's "Legend of the Tailed Beasts" instead of the canon Bijuu, and have plans to shake up Akatsuki in the interest of making things... interesting.)

Reviews are always appreciated. Love the chapter? Please tell me, and especially what part you loved, so I know what to keep on doing. Hate it? Also tell me, so I can avoid making that mistake in the future. ;)

That's all for this Author's Note. Hope you enjoyed reading this, see you next chapter!

(small edit made. ate some of my formatting showing the change of POV to Hinata. Hopefully this new formatting sticks.)