A/N
Takes place four years before series start.
--
Strained voices echoed angrily against the walls of the clan head's mansion, which, to be honest, wasn't that uncommon; but the fact that it was nearly two o'clock in the morning was enough to arouse the curiosity of the entire household. Hyuuga Hiashi had enforced a strict schedule the moment he had succeeded his father as clan leader, and had chosen six o'clock as the standard rousing time. For any rule to be broken meant something was terribly, terribly wrong.
Still, his eldest daughter, Hinata, hadn't planned on investigating. Experience had taught her it was best to stay clear of anything that even offered the possibility of trouble, lest she unintentionally incur the wrath of her father for simply being curious. No, Hinata had decided it was best to ignore the subtle trembling of her bedroom walls and try to go back to sleep. It was just as she was about to doze off when Hanabi entered her room.
The girl didn't bother knocking, not that she normally would have, and poked her sister until the other slowly sat up, blinking warily. "What is it Hanabi-san?" Hinata asked as pleasantly as she could, considering she should have been well asleep by then. The smaller girl pouted, thumb clenched unceremoniously between her teeth as she decided whether or not it was necessary to divulge the nature of her visit.
"Loud noises." she finally said, wincing slightly as she accidentally bit down on her thumb. Hinata nodded slowly, wondering what Hanabi was trying to make her understand. Hanabi crossed her arms, frown deepening as she clutched her baby-blanket tightly in her fist. Hinata couldn't smiling at the young Hyuuga--she looked adorable, standing there in her footie-pajamas and growing even more frustrated by the minute.
"Wanna see." Hanabi admitted while wiping her spit covered thumb on her blanket. She fixed Hinata with a stern gaze, a thing that she had learned by copying their father. And while it made the man even more intimidating than he already was, it only served to raise the little Hyuuga's cuteness factor a few levels.
"Hanabi-san, I don't think that's such a good-"
"I'll cry."
Hinata prodded her fingers together, weighting her options. She could take Hanabi to spy on their father, risk getting caught, and subsequently punished. Or she could refuse, making Hanabi cry and draw the attention of their angry father, and be punished for sure. For such a small child, the little Hyuuga could throw a world-class tantrum when needed, and at four years old, she wasn't above playing dirty; if Hanabi couldn't go to the dispute, she'd make it come to her. Despite her reluctance to venture outside of her room, Hinata knew it would be wiser to give in to Hanabi's demands than reject them.
"Stay behind m-me, and k-keep quiet." Hinata warned as she climbed out of bed and took her little sister's hand. She didn't normally stutter around her family, her father excluded, but disobeying her father, though a rare occurrence, always put her on edge. She led them out of the room and down the hallway as silently as she could. Judging from the volume of the voices, Hinata assumed they (whoever they were) were not in the clan head's office, where his meetings usually took place, but near the entrance of their house. Hinata crouched down by the stairs leading to the bottom level, and after making sure they couldn't be seen, motioned for Hanabi to join her.
Though she hadn't wanted to spy on her father in the first place, Hinata couldn't help but stare intently at the scene before her. As expected, their father was staring down the current threat to his family's rest and his fragile self-control: two men in dull grey uniforms wearing animal masks. The Hyuuga girls were now close enough to make out the words being exchanged, whereas before, they could only hear the low, biting tones vibrating throughout the house.
"The Council requests your presence at an emer-" one began what must have been a memorized order, because Hyuuga Hiashi twitched noticeably, either startling or frightening the man into stopping his recitation. Hinata thought it was a little bit of both.
"Repeating your speech again and again will not inspire in me some desire to accept the invitation, so I suggest you go now and return at a more reasonable hour. If you are able to return at all." His voice was frighteningly cold, the outright contempt in his tone momentarily shocking the two shinobi. They glanced at one another, their confusion evident even through their masked faces. Hinata caught the devilish grin pulling at her sister's mouth out of the corner of her eye and bit her lip gently. Hanabi had learned from her numerous spying excursions that Hiashi was most dangerous when he kept his head.
"Please reconsider, Hyuuga-sama. The matter is urgent; the Hokage himself asked for you. He would like for you to accompany him when meeting with the Elders." Hinata couldn't tell which man had spoken, but both visibly tensed when her father crossed his arms, a gesture that was always accompanied by his most discouraging scowl.
"If Hokage-sama requested me specifically, I would like to see the documentation of this supposed proposal." he stated coolly, a small smirk taking hold on his usually stoic exterior when the two men glanced nervously at each other. "If you don't have proof, then I advise you to leave and pray that I never find out the identities of the ANBU operatives who disturbed my compound at such an outrageous hour."
"No need to be making idle threats, Hiashi. I'm sure the ANBU has more dire things to attend to than pulling pranks on unsuspecting villagers."
All eyes focused on the new intruder as he strode casually through the wide-open doorway. He was old, Hinata noted, with wrinkles that creased his face and a gray beard that covered his chin. However, he didn't seem to act his age; nothing in his posture portrayed any weakness time may have brought, and he looked her father squarely in the eyes when he spoke.
"If it puts your mind at ease, I did ask Raccoon and Cricket to deliver my message to you; I now know next time to record every word so this mishap won't happen again." the man, whom she recognized from one of the pictures in the academy as the Sandaime Hokage, spoke lightly, as if late-night chats with the irate Hyuuga head were a common occurrence. Hyuuga Hiashi's face betrayed no emotion as he bowed stiffly to his superior.
"Hokage-sama, it is an honor to have you in my home. I apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused. I would be honored to accompany you." Hiashi murmured as humbly as he could before straightening and motioning towards the door. "Shall we go, then?"
"Of course." the Hokage smiled tightly and brought a hand up to steady the pipe clenched between his teeth as he spoke, "Sadly, this cannot be postponed until morning. I am sorry for any disturbances this may have caused within your home." His brown eyes locked momentarily onto the girls' hiding place, causing both sisters to squeak. But the Hokage didn't seem to notice and nodded toward the ANBU to take their leave, a slightly warmer smile crossing his face as he prepared to do the same.
But the brief movement hadn't gone unnoticed, and Hiashi glared over his shoulder at the top of the stairwell. Hinata froze, wide eyes as her blood turned to ice. She watched as father's expression clouded to one of barely contained fury.
"Hinata. Go back to bed." he commanded tersely. Without waiting to see if his command was upheld, he followed after the Hokage, flanked by two members of the branch family.
"Y-Yes, Sir!" she gasped and bowed low to his retreating back before stumbling up the rest of the stairs and bolting into her room. Her heart drummed loudly in her ears, and her throat was painfully dry as she quietly crept across the wooden floorboards and climbed back into bed. She hadn't even noticed Hanabi had left not long after the Hokage appeared, either bored that no one was fighting, or because she had sensed their lucky streak coming to an end. Whatever the case, Hinata had been caught, and was left to dream about whatever punishment her father would concoct for her when he returned.
--
She donned her training outfit in the feeble light of predawn when she awoke three hours later. Her father had been giving her daily lessons before she went off to the academy since she was five years old, hoping to keep her from becoming a complete failure of an heir. On more than one occasion, he had pushed her past her breaking point. He'd often stand over her wherever she collapsed, speaking in a monotone voice of his disappointment in her while she only caught every other word over the sound of her own laborious breathing.
As Hinata made her way down to the main level of the mansion, she couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive as she headed toward the training yard. Her father wasn't the type to express his anger through yelling or beatings; he preferred to take a more subtle approach. The punishment for being out of bed after hours was usually additional exercises added to her training regiment and being served plain rice for her meals as long as he deemed it fit. But she had also been caught spying on him, which was one of the gravest offenses she could think of, falling just short of spilling tea on his favorite kimono (Hanabi still shuddered from time to time, though the incident had been entirely accidental on her part).
Had she not been a member of the main branch, Hinata was sure her brain would have been scrambled by now.
The Hyuuga heiress mutely slid back the paper-screen door that separated her from her imminent doom. Her eyes wandered over the murky brown sand that provided a dubious footing, especially when trying to use the Jyuuken, then to the solitary row of training dummies at the end of the yard. She had expected all this, albeit, she had also anticipated the arrival of some new device that would serve to humiliate her and give her a few nice bruises just before heading off to school. But what she hadn't expected was for the yard to be completely deserted.
Confused, she glanced around yet again, wondering if, perhaps, she had somehow gotten lost and entered the wrong room. But everything was where it should be on any given day, sans her father waiting for her with barely hidden contempt as she would shuffle awkwardly toward him.
"Hinata-sama?"
Hinata jumped as she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder and looked up, wide eyed, to meet the gaze of one of her relatives. A cousin, most likely, although he looked to be around her sensei's age. She blushed, embarrassed because she couldn't remember his name, even though it was her duty as heiress to know each and every member of her clan.
"Futaba-kun." he supplied and pointed at himself with a small smile. Hinata's blush faded slightly as she nodded her thanks, and the man bowed back to her. "Your father hasn't yet returned. I'm in charge of getting you prepared for the day."
"Okay." she mumbled, her eyes downcast as Futaba slid the door shut and gently steered her toward the stairs. She looked up at him, confusion clear in her pale, milky eyes. Futaba laughed not unkindly at her and patted the top of her head.
"Fighting isn't exactly my forte. I'm more of a lover than a fighter. Why don't you go back up stairs and get ready while I make your lunch." he smiled once again before retreating into the kitchen. Hinata stared after him for a moment before heading back to her room, both relieved and distraught at having delayed her punishment for the majority of the day.
--
Futaba walked her to school, managing to look imposing to passersby and hold up a friendly conversation with Hinata at the same time. It was a rare occurrence for her to be escorted anywhere by someone from the lesser branches. The only other time it had happened was when she was three, after her attempted kidnapping. Still, she found she enjoyed her elder cousin's company, despite the knot that began to worry away at her stomach. It was nice to be in the company of someone who didn't glower at her, or remark on all of her weaknesses.
He walked her all the way to her classroom, the shy heiress blushing slightly when she noticed most of her classmates had already arrived. Futaba had struck up a conversation with her sensei, and after waiting for a pause in their talk to thank him for walking her to school, she fled to an open seat in the back row and began to unpack her bag. Hinata knew it was still too early for him to be here, if he decided to show up for class at all today, but that simple truth didn't stop her from shooting furtive glances around the room, in hopes of catching sight of a familiar orange jumpsuit.
"Hinata-sama, have a good day. I'll be picking you up after school." Futaba said good-bye to his charge, waiting for her to return his smile with a shaky one of her own before signing a jutsu and disappearing in a puff of smoke.
There was still a few minutes before class started, and Hinata used the time to review a poem she had written for her kunoichi class. But after rereading the words for the third time, she let her attention wander, allowing the idle chatter that filled the room to spill into her ears.
"Shikamaru, checkout this new trick I taught Akamaru."
"… too troublesome."
"Oi, Shino! Keep your bugs away from me and my food!"
"Perhaps if you didn't eat so much, they wouldn't be attracted to the residual crumbs stuck to your clothing."
"I'm really worried about Sasuke-kun. He hasn't been in school for a whole week now!
"Maybe he's just trying to avoid you, Forehead. I can't blame him for that."
"Shut up, Ino-Pig! If he's avoiding anyone, it's you."
Iruka-sensei finally took his place at the front of the class and began the day's lesson: transformation jutsu. A collective groan rose from the class, but was quickly shushed by Iruka's harsh glare. "I know it's one of the harder jutsu, and I don't expect any of you to get it on your first try. What I do expect is to give it your best shot. If you give it your all, eventually you'll be able to do this jutsu in your sleep!" His little spiel was met with another groan, but their sensei was undeterred. He carefully wrote down the needed signs on the board, and after a mild disturbance caused by Naruto's late arrival, assigned them into groups of four to practice the jutsu.
To her mingled horror and delight, Hinata was placed in the same group as Naruto, along with Sakura Haruno and Shikamaru Nara. Iruka-sensei had informed them that same-gender transformations would be easiest to start out with, but they were fully expected to try transforming into the other two members of their group as well. She stared intently at Sakura, trying to memorize her appearance as best she could while the other girl did the same, and tried not to think about her crush standing only a foot away.
"I'm telling you, Shikamaru. I'm going to ace this jutsu on the first try. Just you wait."
His partner yawned, looking nonplussed. "You'd have to be a genius or a prodigy to do that. And you're neither of those things."
"Oi! Say that again. Come on, I dare ya!"
"Bah, too troublesome."
Hinata was too enraptured in their back-and-forth to realize that the teacher had given the signal to use the jutsu. Only when the room echoed with loud, popping sounds, and the floor was hidden by diffusing smoke did she hurriedly go through the signs and focused her chakra. She found herself staring at a near mirror image of herself, only this Hinata had waist length violet-colored hair and pale green eyes, and was a few inches taller than herself. Iruka went around the room and handed out mirrors for the students to examine themselves in. Hinata didn't think she had done too terribly, considering she had been distracted. Her Sakura had the Hyuuga clan's eyes, and her hair, though the right length, was too light.
"Ano… sorry Sakura-san." Hinata muttered in apology, but the pinkette simply waved it off and laughed.
"It's okay, Hinata-chan. We did better than those two."
Hinata looked over to her right and saw that, indeed, the pair had done better. Shikamaru had transformed into a nearly perfect Naruto, though for some reason, was still wearing his own clothes. Naruto, on the other hand, had turned into gaunt boy with a hooked nose and hair that reminded her of a pineapple.
"I look nothing like that." Shikamaru snapped as the signal to dispel the jutsu was given. More pops echoed around the classroom, letting the children wear disgruntled looks on their own faces before switching to their new partners.
"What're you talking about, Shikamaru? I looked exactly like you! I even got the hair right!" Naruto fired back as the Nara boy shifted spots with Sakura. Hinata noticed Naruto's temper immediately vanish as he gazed unabashedly at Sakura. She knew he had a crush on the other girl; he hadn't exactly been secretive about it, but her heart still clenched uncomfortably to see him show such open adoration.
"Naruto, you better not mess this up." Sakura warned, her green eyes narrowing as the boy broke into a sweat and rubbed the back of his head.
"Uh… No problem, Sakura-chan. I'll make you pretty. I mean, not that you already aren't pretty, but, ugh--Ow!" Hinata winced as Sakura stepped boldly up to Naruto and knocked him over the head. Sighing softly, she turned away to focus on Shikamaru, who was propped up against a desk, his eyes closed and snoring softly. The command to transform was given yet again, and Hinata didn't waste any time changing into her partner. She picked up her mirror once the smoke had cleared and stared at her new reflection. For the life of her, she couldn't remember what color his eyes had been, so this Shikamaru, like the Sakura, had her clan's trademark eyes. However, she had at least gotten the rest of his face right, and the body was mostly correct, except for some reason the shirt was too small…
Hinata 'eeped' as she crossed her arms over her early-bloomer's chest, which most certainly did not belong on Shikamaru's body. Thankfully, Iruka-sensei was by her group, and managed to evaluate her appearance before anyone noticed. "Go ahead and dispel the illusion, Hinata." he smiled kindly at her before turning to frown at her still-sleeping partner. She quickly complied, watching as he jotted down something on his clipboard before both turned to look at her teammates.
An odd sight met her eyes. A Naruto with bright orange hair and a red jumpsuit had an extremely gaunt Sakura in a choke-hold. The Sakura was begging desperately to be released, and finally, after some urging from Iruka-sensei, the Naruto let her go.
"I'm not that skinny, idiot!" the Naruto barked before turning back into Sakura. "And you got my face wrong; I have green eyes and pink hair, not pink eyes and green hair." The Naruto-now-turned-Sakura shakily got to her feet and dropped the illusion. He rubbed his neck, blushing fiercely as he struggled to breath.
"If only Sasuke-kun were here, and I had been assigned to his team. He would have done it perfectly." she continued, her eyes taking on a glassy-quality as she stared into space. "And just imagine; I'd have the excu- I mean, the chance to perfect my jutsu control through this exercise by turning into him." She sighed dreamily.
"Yeah." Sakura's words were met with an unanimous echo from the other members of the Uchiha's growing admirers.
"But he hasn't been here for so long." Sakura pouted and tapped a finger to her lips. "Maybe he's sick. I know what I'll do! I'll bring him some homemade soup after school and nurse him back to health. Then he he'll see how caring I am and he'll have no choice but to fall in love with me. Then we'll get married and have eight children, three girls and five boys…"
"I bet that stuck-up Uchiha would just turn you flat out on your ass before you could even speak." Naruto muttered as he massaged his aching neck.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" The outraged shriek rose to a crescendo as the Uchiha's resident fan-girls stopped whatever they were doing to glare at Naruto. The boy was sweating again, backing away nervously as the ominous crowd of girls surrounded him.
"What did you say about Sasuke-kun, eh idiot?" Sakura and Ino, temporarily allied to overcome the threat to their beloved Sasuke, stood in front of the shaking boy, cracking their knuckles menacingly. The rest of the class watched on in fear and mild amusement as the knuckleheaded nine year-old floundered for an excuse. Hinata found it odd that Sakura had taken deeper offense at his insult to Sasuke than the one unintentionally directed at herself, but that still didn't stop her from worrying over Naruto's safety.
"Well, I, er… What I meant was… um…" Naruto was backed up against a wall, his eyes wide and hands waving in a frantic plea for forgiveness.
"Please don't hurt me!"
"Get him!"
--
The rest of the day didn't fair much better. After Naruto received a few nice new bruises, courtesy of the Sasuke Fan-Club, the lesson had resumed. Shikamaru had slept soundly through the entire one-sided stand-off between Naruto and the majority of the girls in the class, so it wasn't a surprise that he slept through his remaining portion of the test as well. Sakura had tried valiantly to wake her partner, but her efforts were wasted. He would simply grumble a "troublesome", then readjust his position and drift back to sleep. So she had finished her part of the exercise as best she could, and was able to create a near identical likeness to Shikamaru, though her version sported a pair of permanently-closed eyes.
Hinata hadn't even been allowed to try changing into Naruto. She hadn't so much as spoken a single word to any member of her team, and had been looking forward to the chance of changing into her secret crush. Maybe then, she'd be able to understand him a little better. But Iruka-sensei had deemed him an inadequate subject, seeing as how his appearance had been drastically altered, courtesy of his recent lynching. But he was still forced to change into her, something she thought of as a sort-of consolation; if he changed into her, maybe then he could understand her a little better.
The blond student had eyed her up and down, which was what he was supposed to do, but it didn't make Hinata's blush lighten any. Then the moment of truth came as his hands flew through the signs and conjured up an obscuring cloud. Everyone in the room had finished by then, and watched as the smoke settled and revealed the newly transformed Naruto.
It was, by far, his worst transformation.
On the plus side, he had gotten her clothing and her basic features right. The eyes were light, the hair short and dark, and she at least had the right number of appendages. But the similarities stopped there. This Hinata was drastically bloated, the complete opposite of the starved-looking Sakura, and her face was a deep red. She wobbled precariously as she took a few tentative steps forward, then smiled, as if to say "See? Mission accomplished!" And then a stray gust of air from a nearby vent hit her and sent her falling, falling, falling down and effectively pinning the real Hinata underneath her massive bulk.
There was a minute of stunned silence as the entire class and sensei watched the Hyuuga struggle to breathe while the giant Hinata tried rolling off of her, but to no avail. Various cries of "She's going to be crushed!" and "Man, she'll be having nightmares for weeks!" rang out before someone finally suggested to cancel the jutsu. The advice was quickly followed, and Hinata was able to breathe again, now that the weight was lifted off of her body. But the new predicament wasn't much better; another long, awkward moment followed in which everyone stared at the poor Hyuuga girl laid out on the floor and being straddled by her profusely apologizing classmate. Naruto managed to get in three good "I'm so so so sorry, Hinata-chan"s before the girl's face rivaled a tomato in coloring and she promptly slid into unconsciousness.
She was revived by her sensei, who offered to notify her clan and have her go home early, but she politely declined. Hinata had never missed a lesson, and even the massive embarrassment she had just suffered would not change her mind otherwise. Besides, if she went home, that simply meant she would be punished for the morning's indiscretion that much earlier. So, with a light blush dusting her cheeks, she retrieved her lunch box and sat down at her seat for lunch.
The heiress ate alone, as she usually did, reading a book and occasionally stopping in order to glance shyly at Naruto, who was busily slurping down a cup full of ramen and telling their sensei about his newest prank in-between gulps. The rest of the period passed without much incident. Ino and Ami had gotten into a fight over who had dibs on Sasuke first in a post-apocalyptic scenario where the Uchiha was the last surviving male, and Chouji had to have his hand bandaged after trying to steal some of Akamaru's food, which resulted in the dog biting him.
Iruka had surprised the class with a pop-quiz, which elicited the third collective groan of the day and caused a vein to throb violently on his forehead. Hinata had never really had a problem with written tests, so she found the exam to be much easier than a lot of her peers, most of whom had yet to even opened their textbooks, let alone studied. Once everyone finished, they had been given a recess outside, which lasted until the end of the day. Hinata had found a nice, shady tree to sit under and get a head-start on her homework while her fellow classmates played around her.
She knew Naruto would be isolated, just like her. But, unlike her, it wasn't because of his sociability. The other children either mocked him or outright shunned him. Every so often, a few students would take pity on him and try to integrate him into a game, but he would be abandoned soon enough when parents came to pick up their children. It broke her heart to see him sitting on his swing, that confident smile of his on his face, masking his pain as he watched his classmates play. But she could never gather up the courage to go talk to him, and whenever she did, he was either gone or she had to go home.
And today had been no exception.
Hinata had already packed her things and stood waiting at the academy's gates when Futaba picked her up from class at the end of the day. Her focus was drawn to her toes, eyes half-lidded as she silently berated herself for being such a coward and not standing up for the one that she loved. Which was why she didn't take much notice of her cousin's silence and his subdued expression, or that his pale eyes were strained and his short hair was disheveled, as if he had run his hand through it one too-many times out of exasperation .
It was only when they neared the clan's compound when she noticed his abnormal behavior, and that he had taken her down an unfamiliar route. She tried not to let the worry show on her face, and forced herself to keep calm as she fought to keep her father's warnings about trusting the lower branches from taking hold. "Um… Futaba-san? Where are y-you taking me?" she asked as casually as she could, but cursed inwardly at that nervous stutter of hers.
He didn't look down at her, only held her hand tighter and urged her faster as they walked quickly down a narrow ally-way. "Sorry, Hinata-sama. We have to take a side entrance because of the… hostility some of our family is showing at your father's decision."
Hinata blanched, her feet refusing to move as she let his words sink in. Her arm jerked as Futaba was drawn to a halt, but he simply picked her up and shrugged her over his back before continuing on.
"Ano… s-so, father has f-finally disowned me. And the r-rest of the clan w-won't accept a f-failure like m-me." she couldn't help but stumble over her words as she felt tears well up in her eyes. She hadn't expected her worst fear (besides being rejected by Naruto) to be confirmed. She wasn't part of the main branch anymore. No… she wasn't even a Hyuuga anymore. Hanabi would take her place and inherit the clan, while she was stripped of her Byakugan (she was sure the process would be both frightening and painful) and left to live the rest of her life as an outcast. The water flowed freely down her cheeks, leaving her eyes puffy and cheeks red as she tried vainly to dry them up with her sleeve.
She considered begging Futaba to let her go, to let her runaway to some no-name village and live the rest of her life as a tea-girl, or maybe a florist, but knew it would be useless; her father would punish him before seeking her out, and she didn't want Futaba to be harmed for her sake, even though she barely knew him.
"Hinata-sama, don't say such foolish things." he reprimanded her, though some of the lightness had returned to his tone. She sniffled loudly and wiped her nose on the back of her hand.
"I-I'm not being b-banished?" she asked softly.
"No. Of course not."
"T-Then what has caused s-such an uproar?"
Futaba only sighed and shook his head as he dispelled a jutsu on a nearby building wall and trotted down the passageway it had been hiding. The wall resealed behind them, blocking out all sources of light. Being scared of the dark herself, Hinata clung tighter to her cousin and hid her face in the crook of her arm. Not that it helped to shed any light, but at least she could pretend she was wearing a blindfold, and she was in a brightly-lit room.
"Please remain quiet Hinata-sama. Not many know about this way, but there may still be unfriendly ears listening in on us." Futaba whispered to her after she had failed to convince herself she wasn't really in a dark, cramped tunnel and had started to whimper.
She nodded, and though neither of them could see, Futaba took her silence as her unwilling agreement. Still, she couldn't help trembling, and after a few minutes, she was reduced to biting on her lip to keep from crying out. She hummed a lullaby she remembered from her toddler days, the vibrations so loud in her ears that she almost didn't hear Futaba's would-be comforting words.
"Don't worry, Hinata-sama. You'll find out what's going on soon enough."
--
They emerged from one of the guest houses surrounding her father's mansion. Hinata could feel the sunlight beating down on her eye lids and hear the chirping of birds as they sang from the numerous trees that grew in the compound, but she was unwilling to open her eyes. Futaba had broken into a run, dashing around the grounds and occasionally pausing to cast his eyes about suspiciously before moving onward. Each step brought her closer to what she saw as her imminent demise, for though she was not being shunned from the clan (supposedly, at least), she could not shake the feeling that she was going to be punished. It almost made her yearn to be back in the dark tunnel.
She heard the creak of wood being trod underfoot and a foreign smell invaded her nose at the same moment, finally enticing her to open her eyes. She blinked slowly, adjusting to the dimly lit room as Futaba gingerly sat her down on a zabuton. Out of habit, she immediately folded her legs under her and straightened her back, assuming the correct posture as the blurred figures in front of her slowly came into focus.
Her father and the clan elders were seated in front of her. He was seated at the clan head's position, at the back of the room and facing the doorway, while the others were seated on either side, facing each other across a make-shift aisle. One of her grandfathers was smoking a pipe, which must have been the source of the odd smell, and the scent of burning tobacco made her eyes water.
Hinata had finally recognized the place as one of the formal greeting rooms at the front of the mansion. As she looked around, she noticed there were two other cushions beside her; one on her left, and the other occupied by Hanabi on her right. Her younger sister looked energized, despite the strained atmosphere, most likely refreshed from one of her naps.
Her father glanced up sharply and Hinata's attention abruptly returned to the man at the back of the room. Only Futaba and Hanabi's reassuring presences at her side and back kept her from shrinking under his stern gaze. She heard a screen behind her slide open, then shut, and the muffled noise of footsteps making there way across the floor.
"Yo. Sorry we're late. A few Hyuuga found our trail and I had to double back a few times to lose them."
Another man entered her field of vision, with pale skin and silvery hair, and a mask that covered nearly all of his face. He was rubbing the back of his head, seemingly embarrassed when he noticed her father had visibly stiffened at his off-hand tone. "I meant no disrespect of course. Just, it was a chore getting rid of them, with the Byakugan at their disposal." he explained sheepishly.
Her father cocked an eyebrow at the man but didn't deign his apology worthy of a reply. He simply dipped his head slightly in acceptance and focused his unnerving pale eyes on the man. "You've fulfilled your mission, Kakashi. You may leave now."
The other nodded and turned his head toward the young Hyuuga. Hinata and Hanabi stared up at him when they saw that his other eye was hidden beneath his hitai-ate. Kakashi's exposed eye closed, something Hinata took as a sign he was grinning at them. The two heiresses blushed involuntarily at having been caught and quickly looked down at their hands before their father reprimanded them for being rude.
"Why don't you come sit down by your little friend? She seems to be around the same age as you."
Hinata didn't glance up as the man motioned for someone near the entrance of the building to come over. But she could hear the reluctant foot falls, the subtle rustle of clothing as whoever it was approached the unoccupied mat and sat down beside her. Once the other was firmly seated, a popping sound resounded through the room as the silver-haired shinobi disappeared from the room in a small puff of smoke.
Through the protective curtain her long hair provided, Hinata could just make out the vague outline of the other child. Pale skin, like some many other children from the village, and dark clothing. Carefully, she shifted her seat to get a better view of his face, but before she could discern any of the details, her father cleared his throat, once again diverting her attention.
"Hanabi. Hinata. You've been brought here to be informed of the unusual… predicament the clan has found itself in. Due to a promise I made many years ago with a fellow clan head, and by order of the Hokage, the main-branch is generously accepting an untimely addition into the clan." he intoned levelly, though even Hinata's under trained senses could detect the resentful flair of chakra from the other members of the main branch. He made a sweeping gesture with his hand, an indication that the young girls were free to look around.
"Meet the newest member of our clan, Uchiha Sasuke."
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A/N
Well, I hadn't planned on uploading this until I had a few chapters banked, but wolf's paradise and I decided to publish the first chapters of our two newest stories tonight. Anyway, this is a deviation off of canon, because I don't really believe Sasuke was allowed to live by himself at nine years old. But I suppose he wasn't adopted by the Hyuuga clan either, so whatever. Please let me know if anyone wants me to continue this; it would be comprised of a few more chapters (I'm aiming for under ten, so we'll see how that goes) and I'd have to work on it inbetween my other planned stories.