Forsaken
Author: LonelyWriter42
Summary: Hinata is forsaken by the Hyuga in favor of Hanabi, and Neji is forced to be the servant of the new head, but in a drastic act he betrays his family, his clan, and his duty to find the one he loves. NejiHina
Disclaimer: Kishimoto Masashi and Kubo Tite are really the same person. Yes, you heard it here first. What this has to do with a disclaimer, I have no idea, I just felt like typing that.
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Prologue
"...Do you promise to uphold the Hyuga law?" The elder's booming voice asked in the silence of the room.
"I do," the small voice of the woman kneeling in front of the elder was heard.
"Will you, under pain of death, protect the clan?" The elder asked as he placed his hand on the head of dark hair.
"I will," she responded, raising her head.
"Will you remember the past as you look to the future?" The man gazed into the pale eyes of the new head of the clan, his question hanging in the air between them.
"I will," she said as a single strike of the large gong was heard, drowning out her words.
"Will you, the elders of our clan gathered here today accept this woman as our leader?" The elder's eyes swept over the twenty some faces gathered in the room, again his question hanging in the air.
"I will," an elder called, standing.
"I will as well," his neighbor said, also standing.
"I, as well," another voice was heard as the remaining elders stood and voiced their support.
"Will you welcome her?" The first elder asked, helping the new head to her feet.
"I welcome her," the former head of the clan said, going to his daughter. "May your time as head be fruitful and may you fulfill all your ambitions." Hiashi said, placing his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Behold," Hiashi called in a clear voice, "Our new leader, Hyuga Hanabi."
Hanabi's eyes wandered the crowd until she found the face she was looking for, the face of her cousin, Neji. He stood closest to the door, a scowl on his face as he watched the gathered go to her and congratulate her. Hanabi knew that he hated the fact that she was now head because that would mean that Hinata would be reduced to a branch servant, but she didn't expect him to openly wear such an expression in the presence of the Hyuga elders.
She made to go over to him, but was stopped by her uncle Hitachi who wanted to talk about her new duties. She glanced back over at Neji and saw that Hitoshi, the man that had preformed the ceremony was now standing next to him, his mouth moving as he spoke to the Hyuga genius. Neji's scowl deepened as Hitoshi continued to speak to him and finally he turned and left the room.
Hitachi, who had also been watching the exchange, gave an almost evil smile as he said, "Hanabi-sama, I am sure that you are tired. Why don't you lay down for awhile? Hiashi, your daughter is tired." Hitachi called, motioning to the former head. "Why don't you escort her to her rooms? We will finish up without her."
Hiashi nodded then took Hanabi's elbow. "Come, Hanabi."
Hanabi glanced at Hitachi, knowing that he was up to something, but not quite sure what. "Yes, Chichi-ue," she muttered, allowing herself to be pulled out of the room.
Chapter One: Forgotten
Hinata stood next to the window in her room, her cheek pressed against the glass as the rain poured down. The ceremony had already started and now she was living on borrowed time, the fact her father hadn't already branded her a perplexing puzzle. She knew that it wasn't because he cared about her, far from it. He had proudly entered her room after the council meeting and rubbed the fact Hanabi was the heir in her face. The only explanation she could come up with was the fact that her mother had pleaded with her dying breath that Hinata and Hanabi should be friends, and never let a rivalry form between them. Hinata knew that even if her father hated his older daughter, he still loved the wife that had given her to him and he wouldn't do anything that would upset her.
With a sigh, she pushed away from the window and glanced at her bed where her bags were packed and ready for her to go. She was content to surrender her room to her sister and trade it for one that she would share with another branch house member. She slowly sat down on her futon, drawing her knees to her chest, a single tear making its way down her cheek as she buried her face in her knees.
A knock came to her door and she ignored it. It came again and again she ignored it, not wanting to see anyone. It came a third time and the door slid open.
"Go away," she muttered, not looking up to see who it was.
"Hinata," Neji said softly, crouching in front of her.
"Go away, Neji. I don't what to see anyone right now," she said, trying to keep the tremors from her voice.
"I understand, but you have been summoned." He said, turning his face away. "Be careful, Hinata. Do not anger the Elders."
"I know that!" She yelled. "I've always been useless in their eyes! Not even my father wanted me. He only put up with me because I was the first born and for five years, his only child and heir." Slowly she stood. "I have accepted my fate, Neji. This is what my father has wanted since Hanabi's birth. We are just pawns in the Hyuga's game," she chuckled humorlessly.
"Hinata," Neji growled, standing and facing his cousin. "You cannot believe that, because if you do, you have already submitted and lost. I won't have that."
"What will you have?" She hissed, glaring at him.
"I would have you smile like you did when we were young."
"Before the chosen one's birth," she muttered.
"Hinata," he grabbed her arm. "You have never been bitter. You have always been able to see the good in someone heart, even if it was buried deep."
"I don't want to be that girl, Nii-san," she whispered. "She died. She isn't coming back."
"I don't believe it." He growled. "You are still the same, you have just grown up and seen how cruel the world can be, but you are still the same."
"They are going to brand me! How can I be the same? They will brand me and toss me aside. They will forget that I was ever born. You will forget that I was born." She whispered, pulling away from him. "Your duty is to protect the Hyuga Heir. She isn't me anymore. Serve Hanabi well, Nii-san. Give her the same favors that you gave me." She said, turning her back on him so he wouldn't be able to see the pain on her face.
"Hinata," he said in a sad voice. "I would make you my wife. I cannot betray you, for you are my heart. I can't live without Hinata by my side."
"Forget about me," she sobbed. "Hinata is dead. She was killed by the people that everyone calls her family."
"Then I am one of the dead as well," he whispered, placing his hand on her shoulder and when she didn't pull away, he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Will you be my wife, Hinata? If we are both of the branch house, the clan cannot object. It will be a hard life, but we will be together. That is all that matters."
"I want to be Neji's wife, but do you think that they will allow it? A child born from us will have the power to overthrow the royal line. I do not believe that Chichi-ue will allow it." She said sadly. "I was summoned. I need to go, Neji."
"I will be right here, waiting for your return," he said, giving her a kiss.
"If I return," she said, touching his cheek then turning and walking out the door. "You know," she said, pausing at the doorjamb, "I have just come the conclusion that I still want to be the heir of the Hyuga. I guess that I'm not as decided as I thought I was."
"Yes, you are. You understand your duty, just as all the members of this clan do." He said softly.
"Maybe you are right. I just," she sighed. "You'll be right here, waiting?"
"Yes. I will always wait for you." He grinned.
She nodded. "Thank you."
Hinata slowly walked the halls, gazing at the house she had lived in since birth with dispassionate eyes, not even the knowledge that she would soon be a servant in her own home enough to pull her from her from her detached thoughts. She paused next to the rooms that her mother had used when she was alive, a sudden, very vivid memory assaulting her.
' Three-year-old Hinata stood in front of the floor to ceiling mirror that her mother had claimed was the only thing she had demanded that she wanted when she married Hiashi, the new kimono her mother dressed her in stiff around her shoulders, the knot of her obi almost too tight.
"Kaa-san," Hinata moaned. "I don't like it."
"Hina-chan," Hiromi sighed. "It is your third birthday. You have to wear something special because you are going to meet someone special, right?"
Hinata nodded solemnly, acting older than her years. "Nii-chan, right, Kaa-san?"
"Yes," Hiromi brushed Hinata's hair out of her face then swept it back and secured it with a comb. "Neji is going to be your friend. You will be together always."
Hinata thought this over for several seconds before asking, "Why?"
Hiromi grew in a quick breath. "Because, Hinata." Hiromi drew her child into her arms, not wanting the frightening reality of the fact Hinata was the Hyuga Heir to plague her daughter. "He is going to be your best friend, always."
Hinata drew back from her mother's embrace as her father's voice sounded through the rice paper walls. "You already said that, Kaa-san."
"You're right; I did." Hiromi grinned as she stood and took her daughter's hand in hers. "That's because I believe it with my whole heart."'
Hinata silently slipped into the room, going over to the mirror that her mother had taken such pleasure in. Taking a deep breath, she faced herself, taking in her reflection. Her long indigo hair was bound and hung down her back, swept away from her high forehead. Thin brows sat over deep-set eyes that shown a pale silvery-lavender, high cheek bones and thin cheeks surrounding a long noble nose, full lips and then an oval chin making her one of Konoha's classic beauties, a girl that any boy would go crazy over.
Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on the glass, studying the long, slender fingers that had already killed countless. With a sigh she let her hand drop back at her side, her eyes once again taking in her reflection, her slender waist and rounded hips, the material of her shirt pulled tight over her chest. Yes, she decided, she was a beautiful woman on the outside, but there had only been one person that had managed to see what she kept hidden on the inside, the promise of his earlier words giving her the strength to face the fate that she had delayed for a couple of minutes, the nearly identical imagine of her mother staring back at her as she allowed another memory take hold of her
' She had just gotten out of the shower, her only reward for a mission successfully completed, not even the nearly shadow like maid that dodged her every step there congratulating her; but she found she liked it that way, the endless questions could wait for another day. She wrapped her body in a white body towel, not bothering with changing as she opened the bathroom door and went back to her room.
She almost expected Neji to be on his perch by the window but she remembered that he had been sent on a mission and no one was sure when he would return. With a sigh, she picked up her hair brush and started her nightly routine of one hundred brush strokes, something that her mother had drilled into her from her earliest memories, the one thing of her mother that she would never let go. After she had carefully completed her task, she went over and sat on the window ledge, not caring that she was still only wearing a towel as the likelihood of someone seeing her was very low.
She sat there for a long time, watching as the sun slowly sank below the trees, the sky painted pink and purple as the lazy clouds moved slowly across the sky, the darkness coming ever closer to the light, the long, lonely night starting to take its hold. It was only after she heard her slightly crazy great aunt rising to get her nightly midnight snack that she moved to her bed, discarding her towel and laying down on the bed, her mind almost as dark as the night all around her. Sleep came slowly and when it did, her mind was restless, taking her from one choppy dream to the next, the only thing that made sense the intense need to run away from the hand that was always trying to get her.
With a gasp she woke, her mind still clouded with her dreams, so when she saw a person standing over her, her natural reactions took over and she did the one thing that she had always been taught when a man was there and she didn't have a weapon.
"Dammit, Hinata!" Neji's voice grunted in the dark, the pain in his voice almost enough to make her want to laugh.
"What are you doing, Neji?" She demanded, sitting up.
"You need to come with me, Hinata." He said. "Get dressed."
She stared at him for several long seconds before nodded. She rose and found a tank top and drawstring pants, quickly putting them on as she followed her cousin out the door. "What's going on?" She asked as she slipped on her shoes and pulled on a jacket, knowing that the predawn hours would be cool.
"Just come," Neji sighed.
Hinata glared at his back the whole way out of the compound and out into the streets, a frown making its way to her face when she saw where they were going. "Neji?" She whispered as he silently opened the door of the hospital. The look he gave her in return had her heart racing in anxiety. "Who is it?"
His eyes closed. "Hinata, I don't know if you will be strong enough..."
"Neji," she hissed, anger coming to the surface. "If you didn't want me to know, why did you bring me here?"
His eyes opened and she saw the deep pain in them. "Hinata, it's Shino. They say... They say that he won't last until sunrise."
"Shino?" She whispered a pit opening in her stomach. "Take me to him." She demanded, clenching her hands. Neji nodded once and led her to a part of the hospital that she had never been in. Tsunade stood outside the inconspicuous door, her eyes watching their progress, but she didn't say anything.
Neji stopped next to Tsunade. "You go in, Hinata. I'll wait here."
Hinata gave him a blank look then nodded, her hand going to the door handle. The door swung open without a sound revealing a room with blank white walls and only a single bed. Shino's father, Shibi and his mother, Shiina, where standing on the far side of the room, watching as Shino's younger sister, Shiri held her brother's hand and spoke to him, telling him of all the things they had done and all the things they would do when he got better, not yet old enough to know of the harsh reality of death.
Kiba and Akamaru sat next to the door, Kiba with a lost look on his face, Akamaru's ears drooping, every now and again letting out a sad howl.
Hinata slowly approached the bed, her breath caught in her throat. She slowly reached out and took her teammate's hand, pain and anger taking hold. She knew as soon as Shino had told her and Kiba that he wasn't going on the same mission as them that something was going to go wrong, but never in her wildest dreams, or nightmares, would she ever have thought that Shino wasn't going to survive his last mission.
The long hours of the night melted into morning then into afternoon and then again to evening, Shino's family never taking their eyes off of their son and brother so when he took his last shuttering breath, only Kiba had to be wakened. Tsunade came in as soon as she heard the machines start beeping in warning, but all she did was disconnect them, she didn't try to move him or make the grieving family and friends leave.
Kiba and Akamaru where the first to leave, the Inuzuka boy muttering a half-hearted condolence before he left the room, his face lifeless. Eventually, Hinata let go of her friend's hand. She gave his sister a hug and told her that she was always close by. With one last glance at her friend, she left the room to find Neji leaning up against the wall, his eyes closed until he felt her presence. The silvery orbs gazed at her half closed, deep grief written in them, whether for Shino or the father he had lost Hinata wasn't sure, all she knew was she was glad he had come with her and waited.
With a small sigh, she walked past him and back up the stairs to the ground, her clouded mind only wishing for the blissful relief of sleep. Neji fell into step behind her as she retraced her steps back to the Hyuga compound. She stopped briefly to stare up at the star fill sky then she entered the house, a sudden, overwhelming desire to be near her mother coming over her. Her feet took her down a hall long since out of use, to the room that held all of her memories of her mother, even if they hadn't happened in the room. She went straight to the mirror, taking in her reflection, the dead look of her eyes, the dried tear tracts down her face, the overall helpless look on her face.
She hadn't been aware that Neji followed her into room until the door's lock clicked and he appeared in the mirror behind her. "Why do people die, Nii-san?" She whispered, using the honorific that she hadn't used in a long time. When she asked herself why she had done this, her mind told her that it was easer to go back to when she was younger and death hadn't touched her yet.
"People are born, people die," he said softly. "It is the natural order of things."
"Why?" She asked, longing for there to be no more death, no more suffering, no more pain.
"Because that is the way it is." He answered dryly. "People are born to die; it is what they do with their life in-between that counts."
"So you are saying that if you die tomorrow, you will accept it as your fate in life, that it is the day fate decided that you should die?" She asked without emotion, all of it drained away.
"If I die tomorrow, I would wish that someone would remember me," he said sadly. "I would like to know that my life had meaning, if only for one person."
"If I were to die tomorrow, I wouldn't care if anyone remembered me or not, because I know that they won't miss me," she murmured her voice catching.
"We are born to die," he repeated, his hand coming to her shoulder, brushing her hair away from it. "If I were to die tomorrow, I would like to know that I'll be remembered by someone and if you were to die tomorrow, I would like to think that I would remember you after you go."
"Death is a horrid thing!" She yelled, spinning to face him. "And yet, I find myself longing for it. Is there something wrong with me?"
"No," his eyes were downcast as he said this. "I long for death myself, but it will only touch those around me, it will never take me."
"We both long for death," she laughed. "Do we have nothing to live for? Are we so expendable? Are we not loved?"
"The Hyuga do not know love." He said in the same sad voice he had used earlier. "We do not have emotions. We are just killing machines," he spat bitterly. "Willing to sacrifice even our own brothers to accomplish a selfish goal. That is what the Hyuga believe."
Hinata gazed at him in surprise. She thought that his hatred of the main house had disappeared long ago, but it was clearly not the case. "You say that the Hyuga do not know love, yet your voice says that you know hate, which is just as strong an emotion as love. What a contradiction."
His eyes narrowed at her statement, a sudden, deep hatred flaring in them, his hands coming up on either side of her head, his body pinning her to the wall. "You accuse me of hatred then say that I love just as deeply. I think you are the one that is being contradictory, Hinata-sama," he spat through clenched teeth.
"Love and hate are the same, you just are looking at the two extremes," she hissed back, her hands coming up around his neck, her fingers interlocking with his hair. With another hiss, she pulled with all her might on the long, dark hair, rewarded in the fact she had pulled quite a bit out.
"By your theology, love and hate are the same emotion," he said thoughtfully, a devious look coming to his eyes. "So even if I tell you that I hate you, you would still not care? Would you think of it as a sign of my love?"
"I don't care what happens to me. My heart died a long time ago." She sighed, looking away.
"But it still beats," he whispered, placing his hand over it. "Maybe you are still alive and just don't want to admit it?"
She shook her head. "I don't want to live anymore. Ever since my birth, my whole family has been trying to get rid of me, they just haven't had the occasion yet; but it is coming. I will be tossed aside for Hanabi. I will be forgotten."
"No, you won't," he said, his lips pressing against hers in a sudden movement that she hadn't seen coming and couldn't stop.
With a growl, she bit down on his lip, the coppery taste of blood filling her mouth as he jerked back, a surprised look on his face.
"You are trying to keep what modesty you have left?" He growled, his tongue slowly licking the blood off of his bottom lip. "You are a Shinobi of Konoha. They don't have modesty."
"Even if I am a Ninja of the Leaf Village, I am still a woman, my body still pure." She responded, her mind starting to shut down in her grogginess, but the truth she tried to keep from her brain was the fact she didn't want to fight Neji, that she was willing to let him do as he pleased to her. It would be a slap in the face that the clan would never think she was capable of, something that she herself was unsure about, but one look into his eyes told her that it would happen whether or not she wanted it. "I'm tired of fighting, Neji," she sighed, closing her eyes. "I just want there to be peace."
"Peace is something that we will never see, Hinata." His eyes gazed into hers without falsehoods, a deep grief in them. "Innocence is just a dream that the old keep for the young. Death is horrid, but we are born to live and to create new life. It is the natural order of things." His hand slowly came up and caressed her cheek.
"I'm confused as to whether or not you are trying to be gentle or be cruel," she whispered as he placed a kiss on her forehead, his hands cupping her face.
"I am many things, Hinata, but not cruel," he said, his fingers working their way down to the zipper of her jacket. With a screech and a tug, it was laying on the floor, his lips exploring the soft skin of her neck and shoulder.
"Neji, I have one request," she moaned as he started pulling her shirt off.
"What?" He asked, his hands pausing in their movements.
"Don't be gentle and act as if I am a delicate flower that might break with the slightest bit of pain. Give me a reason to live again," she silently sobbed.
"I have never thought of you as a flower that might break, Hinata. I know that you are strong," he muttered as he kissed her belly button. "I will surely give you reason to live again."
Her first time had been full of anger and pain, both of their movements fast and jerky. Neji had taken away her innocence and she had taken away what remained of his, but neither of them had ever thought about that, the only thought they had was one of camaraderie, a fierce loyalty to each other that she didn't think anyone could break, even if she was stripped of her title, branded and thrown from the only family she had known.
She pulled back from the mirror slowly, wondering what her mother would have said if she knew that her daughter and her husband's nephew had used the mirror she was so proud of to consummate their relationship, or of the other times it had been used by them for the same purpose, that each time it had happened, a little spark of life had returned to her, the love that Neji showed her enough for her to bear the disapproval of the whole clan.
A tear ran down her face as she imagined her mother standing beside her, her disgust with the whole Hyuga clan radiating from her pale eyes. Hyuga Hiromi had been a strong woman, the power of the fact she was Hiashi-sama's wife sitting well on her shoulders, despite the fact she had been from a family that was on the verge of being reduced to Branch house status. Her father had once been one of the four Hyuga judges, his word regarded as just as powerful as that of the Hyuga lord, but it had become a distant remembrance when the Council of Elder's had found out that he was cheating them of money and spending it on sake and women despite the fact he had a wife and young daughter at home. He had been deposed of by the council and they were preparing to brand the wife and daughter when Hiashi had stepped in and declared that he would marry Hiromi.
The Elders had been furious at this, never before had they dealt with a Head that saved someone from going to the branch house after they deemed it. Hiashi had ignored their protests and quietly married Hiromi, her mother was moved back to the house she had lived in her whole married life. The first five years of Hiashi and Hiromi's marriage was uneventful, Hiromi wisely staying out of the Elder's way and they were content to leave her alone, their only demand that she bear Hiashi a son and heir.
She had balked the demands for the first five years, but the council was getting impatient and finally the secret that Hiashi had been keeping for his wife came to light: she wasn't able to carry a child to term, that she had suffered six miscarriages since her marriage. The immediate response from the elders called for Hiashi to divorce his wife and find a more suitable one, but Hiashi protested such action and then only a month later Hiromi announced triumphantly that she was almost five months pregnant.
The council begrudgingly excepted this until Hiromi gave birth to a female heir, not a male. The uproar after was enough for Hiashi to send his wife and newborn daughter away for a time, it was only with Hinata's third birthday that she entered the house she was heiress of, only with her third birthday that she learned that she was expected to lead her clan one day, but along with this knowledge she also gained a playmate, a friend, and later in life, a lover.
Hiromi's life slowly when downhill after her return to the main house, her health starting to fail, the fiery spirit she had shown the Elders before gone, her life going becoming the very life she had sworn that she would never lead; and two years later her life ended with the birth of what she hoped was a son but in truth was another daughter.
"Oh, Kaa-sama," Hinata whispered. "What would you do? Would you put Chichi-ue in his place? Would you threaten to stop him with all you have? Please, Kaa-sama, lend me your strength. Today they are branding me and I know that there isn't going to be a young lord to save me from my fate. Please, Kaa-sama," she said, slowly wiping her eyes as the room's door opened.
"Hinata-sama, there you are," the servant's relieved voice came from the door, jolting her from her memories. "The Council of Elders is waiting for you."
Hinata nodded, glancing one last time in the mirror. "I love you, Kaa-sama. I miss you. Please, remember my prayer."
Next Chapter is called Fait Accompli, Hinata goes into the Council chambers prepared to face her fate, but something unexpected happens and she finds herself on the run.
