The only thing they see when they look at me is my title.

Heiress.

The Hyuga Heiress, no less.

Being the heiress to the whole clan isn't all it's cracked up to be. Everyone thinks my life is all gumdrops and rainbows but it's not. I'm not some spoiled, pampered and protected to the point of suffocation sort of princess. I'm the imperfect heiress of the Hyuga clan. I'm too quiet, timid/weak looking, and very unskilled in my clans' secret jutsu and techniques. I stutter every word that comes out of my mouth and/or every other word on a good day!

All I ever hear from my peers is:

"Do you really live in the Hyuga clans' main house?"

"Do you attend the biggest and most extravagant parties or social events?"

"Do you have a lot of maids that cater to your every need?"

It's quite sad when I stutter my heart out by trying to answer their questions without giving the impression of having a superiority complex. Unfortunately, this condition seems to run quite rampant in my family.

"Y-yes, I-I liv-ve in t-the main hous-se of t-the Hyu-uga clan-n." I answer slowly with a rose colored blush on my cheeks.

"Yes-s, I a-attend a-all of-f the biggest a-and most ex-xtrav-vagant p-parties or s-social ev-vents with m-my f-father." I state breathlessly while poking my pointer fingers together and feeling the warmth spread to my forehead and down to my neck.

And finally,"Y-yes, I-I have a p-pers-sonal maid or two-o." I always turned bright red when I answered this question.

But now I don't ask any of the maid for help or assist me while I'm away on missions but for the most part I handle my own laundry, cleaning, and training. This isn't because I'm trying to prove anything to my clan. Oh, no quite the opposite really. But my father thinks that by trying to change or make me come out of my shell or in my mind it's trying to break me.

The sad part isn't that he is pushing me in so many levels to force me into the perfect mold or shape the next leader of such a prestigious clan. I think the actual sad part is that all this abuse, neglect and scorn I am feeling is breaking me in half.

My father refuses to train me at all and has also ordered ALL clan members to NOT train me in any jutsu or gentle fist techniques. He has gone as far as to ban me from using any of the training rooms or dojos that belong to the Hyuga clan.

But maybe I should start from the very beginning.

My name is Hyuga Hinata, I am of chunin rank in the Village hidden in the leaves and I just turned 17 years old last month. I have been training to be a good medic-nin along with trying to strenghten my byakugan to see farther distances.

As you are aware I am currently and still the heiress of the Hyuga clan and a part of Team Eight or Team Kurenai, which specialize in tracking.

Now to semi-introduce and describe my family.

Not the WHOLE Hyuga family, mind you that would take forever and a day. Even my father doesn't know all the family clans men/women by name.

My father, Hyuga Hiashi, is currently the head of the Hyuga clan and the biggest of my tormentors.

My sister, Hyuga Hanabi, is like the perfect Hyuga princess in everyone's eyes and that also includes my father. She is out-spoken, strong and very skilled in the gentle fist techniques. While I see her as my second biggest tormentor, the clan only sees her as a young aspiring genius.

Of course, only second to the current Hyuga prodigy. Hyuga Neji, my cousin. He is a branch member of the Hyuga clan who is considered my guardian or protector, while I only view him as my third biggest tormentor.

My life has always been very difficult since the beginning.

I was always seen with my mother since the day I was born, my father was always busy with being the leader of the clan. She was the only one to love me for who I was and for whatever I did, be it right or wrong. She would praise me whenever we were together and did little projects. She was the main or only reason I tried so hard and persevered, while I tried to please everyone around me and that included my father.

I lost my mother the only ray of light in this bleak, cold world when Hanabi was born. The moment I realized she wasn't waking up, I knew what death really meant.

It meant loneliness, failure, hate and sadness.

Death was a part of me and I was a part of death.

I was dead.