A/N: Ah.. this is my first story in the fandom. I wanted to present a different scenario for the Hyuga clan, so I kinda went with it. This is a male!hinata story, and he will presented differently than what canon Hinata had been like, though I tried to include touches of her. I hope you all will enjoy this.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. wish I had but nah.
PROLOGUE - The Start of an Eclipse
Their first mistake, was them thinking he didn't listen.
By the tender age of six, Hyuga Haruki was a well mannered, withdrawn child. His family chalked it up to him inheriting the stoic personality his father, and quite honestly most of the Hyuga men that surrounded him had.
It was not the case. His mother could see it in him. He was a child filled with emotions, so much that he had resigned from acting on them, in order to prevent them from overflowing.
It was in the way he looked at his mother with worry each time she sighed, touching her pregnant belly. It was in how he moved to help and reduce the burden of those around him, no matter if they were of the main or branch house. It was in the way he held his sister, Hanabi, the day she was born.
Haruki was a quiet child, but he was quite aware of his surroundings. He knew well what was going on in his house, in his clan. As he should have. After all, one day, he is supposed to lead them all, bring them together behind him.
He had the right to know of what's going on within the clan. He had the right to hear it all, to see it all. And he did.
Mistakes on top of mistakes were occurring more and more as time passed. By the time he was four, he had to see of the true nature of the cursed seal. Had to see his cousin, that was slowly distancing himself from him, barring the seal with shame and hatred in his eyes.
By the time he was six, he had known the meaning of sacrifice, and the pain it has caused. With his uncle dead, not even receiving a burial due to the selfishness of Kumo, he had seen strife and misery in not only Neji, but the entire branch house.
He didn't even need the Byakugan to see how his father was subtly becoming distant as well.
A few days after the funeral, Haruki, his sister and his parents were together in one room, for dinner. All of them ate except for the year old Hanabi who was crawling across the room, after she had been fed earlier.
She was an active baby, much more than he had been according to their mother. Her smile was wide as she crawled to him, and he took her to his arms, smiling himself back and patting her slowly growing brown tuft of hair.
Their mother giggled at the sight. Hyuga Hitomi loved watching her children getting along so well. Hanabi was so attached to her older brother the mother was convinced that 'nii-chan' will be her first word when the time comes.
Haruki laughed too, especially when Hanabi tugged almost violently on his shirt, her eyes searching his. Hanabi, true to her name, was quite a firecracker, bringing light to the cold, grief-filled night the Hyuga were stricken by.
He was thankful for his sister, that she let some sort of happiness and life still remain in a compound that had grown to be oh so very lonely and dead.
A precise clack was heard, as his father laid down his chopsticks, excusing himself from the table. The sad, taunted look in his eyes was not lost on the boy. His mother watched with concern as he left the room, avoiding looking at his children.
"Haru… watch over Hanabi for a little while, will you? Maybe even tuck her in bed today. I think she would like that, anyway." His mother said, her former smile swapped with another one, tight lipped and ingenuine. Haruki nodded, and said nothing.
Watching his mother scurrying out of the room, he knew that it would do her no good if he kept her here even a minute longer with unnecessary talk.
He laid Hanabi on the tatami floorboards, and she stayed on her stomach, looking at him while trying to reach him with one tiny extended hand. Peek-a-boo had become her favorite game, and he always liked teasing the baby, acting like he disappeared. Hanabi always started giggling happily when he showed her his face. It was one of the things he cherished most.
People always said Hyugas are frigid, cold people. Looking at his sister, and his mother for that matter, Haruki knew they were wrong. If anything, he found his clan to be greedy, keeping their treasures, the warmness of family to themselves.
While there were many, many flaws he could see, even if he was only a mere child, he knew that it was not lack of love that caused grief to his family.
It was in fact, that they did not trust the love and happiness to not slip away. His clan, above anything else, was afraid of losing everything it has achieved. So they guarded themselves day and night, ironically turning a blind eye to the strain it was causing their clansmen.
"Peek-a… boo!" looking at Hanabi's toothy grin as he once again revealed his face to her, he chuckled. He didn't want that smile to disappear, just like he wanted to see Neji's smile return to his face, or once again see his father letting his stern expression leave his.
Hanabi giggled, and her brother gave her a kiss on the head before picking her up. The open sliding door revealed an already starry night. He should go tuck his sister in already.
He closed the sliding door, and then returned to pick her up carefully, his hands making sure she was secure so no wiggle of hers will cause him to lose grip. Walking toward their joined room, he already saw her starting to fall asleep in his arms, her eyes fighting to remain open.
A careful hand was brought to pat her head, trying to lull her to sleep with soft encouragements conveying it's time to rest. He picked up the speed slightly so she could quickly find herself in the safety of her covers.
Sounds from his parents' room stopped him in his tracks.
"Hiashi... " he heard his mother saying, sounding desperate to reach her husband, to make him hear her. Haruki's heart sped up slightly. What was it that had his mother sounding so concerned.
"One day, when she gets the seal, she will not be able to look at him like that anymore. It is the nature of the seal, and I can't do anything to stop it." His father replied, sounding ever so broken in return. It was the only time in his life Haruki ever heard his father's voice waver. It was laced with guilt and pain, and Haruki did not know how to take it.
"What happened to you and Hizashi will not have to happen to them. It's not set in stone, dear, please." His mother's soft voice replies, ever so comforting.
"Neji is already resenting our son… What will make Hanabi different? You remember how close he and Neji were. It faded so easily…" Hiashi barely spoke a tone above a whisper, but Haruki stuck his ear to his parent's door.
He could hear his mother sigh in resignation, and some shuffling. He was not allowed to peer into rooms with his Byakugan, but he was pretty sure his mother scooted closer to his father.
"What if we do what we can… to change the rules? If we can stall the seal placement on her… Maybe we could work to change the system…" She suggested hopefully. Haruki could practically see his mother's begging eyes in his mind, searching for hope within her husband rather than herself.
"I… postponing the seal placement would be hard in itself… Haruki is showing promise in the Juuken style. If he keeps it up the elders might insist on making sure he's the heir early… It is luck that he's still a few steps behind Neji, so they're not as sure right now." His father replied. Haruki's heart was thundering in his chest as he held his sister tightly to him.
That seal took away enough of his family. He couldn't bear losing another person to it. He still held hope in his heart that Neji one day will return to be his friend, he still held hope that one day his father will look at him the way he did before the Kumo incident. He couldn't allow that predicament to happen.
"We have three years still to plan things, Hiashi. Don't lose hope. For our children." His mother voice was determined, as her child was when he heard her words. He won't lose hope, for Hanabi. He would not let it happen to her.
It seemed like he was holding her a bit tightly, and she stirred awake and started sniffling. Haruki immediately eased up his grip and started moving towards his and Hanabi's room. He was not supposed to hear this conversation, and he shouldn't let them know he had.
Despite hurrying inside the nearby room to tuck her in, he thought he saw something moving down the hallway near his parents room and looked back. he recognized one the clan's elders walking away. He lingered at his room's doorstep for a minute, watching, but then let it go, as the man didn't seem to notice him.
Three weeks later, Hyuga Hitomi was found dead outside of the compound, a clean kunai stabbing her through the heart.
Their first mistake, was thinking he didn't listen. Their second mistake, was thinking he didn't see.
