Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Passion will move men beyond themselves, beyond their shortcomings, beyond their failures.
~Joseph Campbell
Being blind tends to hinder ones job prospects. Learning how to function without ones sight isn't an easy task, so a persons' blindness becomes a disability, something standing in their way of employment. Tsubame wasn't going to let that happen. She was a ninja before she lost her eyesight, and she was well determined to continue that career without her eyesight, even if she wasn't on the front lines. And there's nothing scarier than a determined Hyuuga.
"Good morning Tsubame-sama." The receptionist at the front desk of the hospital cheerfully calls when the ninja walks through the door.
Ninjutsu came easy as breathing to Tsubame. She just had a natural affliction for it. Pair that with the expert chakra control of her clan was renowned for, and becoming a medical ninja was an obvious choice for her. Sure, she could have stayed on active duty as an ANBU, but she didn't want to be a liability to her teammates. Besides, the village was in need of a master in the healing arts ever since Tsunade disappeared, and Tsubame was more than happy to become her successor.
The months leading up to the loss of her eyesight were difficult ones. Every waking moment was spent studying. Tsubame got her hands on every medical text in the village, every diagram, every scroll, anything that could help her. She studied the bodies of willing villagers and family members, becoming intimately acquainted with every vein, every muscle, every organ, and every nerve. There was no corner or crevice in the human body that was left unexplored. With her uncle's influence, she was allowed to try her hand at diagnosing patients; she learned how to diagnose patients, to find what was ailing them in less than a minute, to diagnose what the abnormalities in the body meant, much to the veteran medics chagrin.
The next step was learning how to treat the patients. She spent months practicing precision, perfecting even the hardest of surgeries by practicing on injured forest animals. By the time the day came when she opened her eyes and saw nothing, she didn't need her vision to complete her duties as a medic. In fact, it was almost as if being blind made her better at it. Without her eyesight, her other four senses were enhanced. It wasn't long before she rose to the best medic in the village.
"Good morning Aiko-san." Tsubame replies stoically as always and flinches as she remembers the same tone her brother had this morning. She adds a smile to the greeting, but it felt forced, and she was sure it looked that way.
"Here's your chart for the day." The young girl says happily, handing the medic her clipboard. "Same old, same old."
An outsider would no doubt be confused by the fact that a blind person was just handed something to read. However, reading has only become a bit more challenging than normal for Tsubame. Because of her extensive training in using her hands, they've become extremely sensitive; a needed requirement when treating patients depends on her hands and memory. Due to that, with a quick swipe of her fingers across the paper, she can distinguish the ink from the paper, and make out the words.
One particular name on the chart catches her attention and she sighs. Tsubame is very familiar with the man, aside from having gone on missions with him in the past; he's a frequent patient at the hospital.
Now, though she may not be the most sociable or approachable person, Tsubame is nothing less than an angel when it comes to patients. People are often surprised at the drastic differences in her hospital persona and her everyday persona, it's like night and day. With this patient however, she struggles.
The man wasn't hard to handle before she lost her eyesight, a bit annoying maybe, but missions were tolerable. However, with her amplified hearing, the man tests Tsubame's patience. He's nothing but a perfect gentlemen, she knows that first hand, his moral compass is no doubt stuck in the right direction, he's just so loud. It's as if he's never heard of the term 'inside voice.' She always have to give herself a round of healing after she finishes with him due to the migraine she's left with.
Saving him for last like always, Tsubame begins her rounds. It's nothing too difficult, typical sicknesses, broken bones, injuries requiring stitches, things that don't take her more than ten minutes give or take.
The medic realizes Aiko most likely purposefully gave her an easy round today, knowing Neji was taking his graduation exam today. Her heart warms and she makes a mental note to be nicer to the girl tomorrow morning.
Tsubame starts mentally preparing Neji's celebratory dinner, thinking about needed ingredients for the meal and such as she finishes up her second to last patient. Sooner than she would have liked, she's standing in front of the door of her last patient for the day. Taking a deep breath, she opens the door with a small, very forced, smile.
"Good afternoon Gai-san." She says politely, quickly walking to the edge of his bed to grab the chart.
"Ah yes, what a good afternoon it is my Beautiful Petunia!" Gai shouts and Tsubame manages to conceal her cringe as his boisterous voice assaults her ears. As for the flowers reference, among one of the first time she acquainted herself with the exuberant man, she mentioned how much she adored flowers. Ever since then, whenever she treats him, he has a different name for her. However, it's obvious the man has no idea about the language of flowers.
"Petunia's, in a bouquet, typically translate to a meaning of anger and resentment." Tsubame comments distractedly. Every kunoichi is well versed in the art of flower arranging and the meaning of flowers, but she took a deeper love for the study, something influenced by her mother. The woman's late mother loved flowers, keeping a garden outside of their home, a garden Tsubame now cares for.
Three broken ribs and a hairline fracture on his left femur. Wonderful. "My Lady I have failed again! I assure you I meant no such thing! To repent, I will walk around the village on my hands 500 times!" Gai shouts in despair and Tsubame clenches her teeth together.
"That won't be necessary Gai-san, let's just get you fixed up." She says with a forced smile, hoping to end the conversation and get out of the room as soon as possible, not knowing how much more her ears could take.
"Of course My Lady! After all, I meet my precious little students today! I must been in top condition if I'm to instill the beauty of Youth into their souls!" Tsubame almost can't believe her ears at the man's words. That man is in the hospital at least once a month with an injury, and he's going to be put in charge of three Genin?
Sure, from what Tsubame has heard and personally experienced, Maito Gai is nothing but the perfect man. He's kind, courteous, selfless, generous, and his moral compass never strays from the right direction. The woman has been saved on missions by the man a few times herself, but he's so extreme. She knows her younger brother would have trouble accepting the man. From what she remembers, his green spandex suit, bushy eyebrows, and bowl cut don't exactly demand respect. Maybe not the best fit for her serious brother.
Instead of commenting, Tsubame simply lays her hands on Gai's torso, sending her chakra into his body to determine if any bone fragments were left from his cracked ribs. The red blush on the male's face goes unnoticed by the medic.
The young woman, though she couldn't see it herself, was very aesthetically attractive. She had a naturally curvaceous body, creamy white skin, and very delicate facial features. That paired with the regal presence she had left many men, and women, staring as she passed.
However, Gai isn't one to be flustered by a woman's aesthetic appearance alone. No, his crush on the Hyuuga stemmed a few years ago on a mission. They were on a mission to eliminate a nin who has stolen information from the village. Gai ended up getting injured relatively badly, but Tsubame was able to heal him. He doesn't know if it was how gentle she was when caring for him, how beautiful she looked as she was concentrating, or the look of happiness and relief that came over her face when she succeeded in healing him, but he was hooked. The problem was that she was a Hyuuga, niece to the head of the clan, and he was just a ninja. She was beautiful and he was not. They weren't meant to be. He couldn't help but be a little hopeful though, and Gai was never one to give up on a challenge.
Luckily the break was clean, so it was easy enough for Tsubame to set the ribs, and the femur didn't take more than a few minutes to fix. In no time, Gai was healed and the medic was ready to dart from the room.
"Thank you once again My Lady!" Gai exclaims jovially.
"You should take better care of yourself Gai-san." Tsubame says seriously. "Have a good day."
She's not even out of the hospital before she starts healing her migraine.
After stopping by the civilian markets to pick up the needed groceries, Tsubame heads home to begin cooking Neji's celebratory dinner.
Yuki chirps from her perch on one of the kitchen chairs.
"I'll start Hinata-sama's training tomorrow. Knowing how gentle she is it will no doubt take a while to get her comfortable. I have a long road ahead of me." Tsubame replies. A bystander would no doubt wonder how the young woman even understood what the hawk said. The answer is that Yuki isn't just a normal hawk; she's a summons, which grants her special abilities. Though the bird can't speak, her chirps carry frequencies that translate to words to whomever their contracted to.
Yuki chirps questioningly again, causing Tsubame to sigh. "I don't know Yuki. I won't keep secrets from Neji, but I know he'll be angry when I tell him."
The woman understands where the hate that Neji has for the main branch of their family comes from, but she's never really shared his sentiment. However, she also knows the truth behind their father's demise. Only high ranking ninja and Tsubame herself know about what happened that night, her father explaining it to her first-hand before he left, never to return.
However, that's only one factor to Neji's hatred. The other is only known by a handful of Hyuuga ninja, and the Hokage himself. It's the reason behind her blindness.
It occurred when Hinata turned three, when Neji and Tsubame were getting their seals. Neji went first, and it happened without problem. However, something went wrong during Tsubame's. It wasn't noticed right away, but gradually, her eyesight began to diminish. Due to eyes being such an important asset to the Hyuuga, she was immediately brought to one of the Hyuuga eye doctor's. It was revealed that during the sealing procedure, the ninja doing the procedure messed up for less than a second. Some of their chakra damaged Tsubame's optic nerve, and because of it, the nerve was disintegrating. Her parents and uncle searched high and low for some kind of cure, but nothing could be done. To the relief of the clan, however, her Byakugan survived.
Unlike the optic nerve, the Byakugan was activated by chakra. Though the nerve is no longer there, the Byakugan establishes itself by connecting chakra to her eyes, allowing for Tsubame's use of the genjutsu. However, she can't keep it activated for as long as many of her clansmen, but it's still useful.
Were there times when she resented her uncle and the fate she and her brother were resigned to? Absolutely. But she realized that resenting her family would do nothing for her. She only wished her brother could come to the same realization as her.
Tsubame knows her younger brother especially hold resentment for their cousin Hinata. They spared together often as children, and Neji was always victorious. He firmly believes they should have been born into the main house instead.
"I'm home Nee-san." Neji calls as he walks through the front door. Tsubame wipes the thoughts from her mind and puts a smile on her face, today was a day to celebrate after all.
"I'll only be a minute!" She calls back, grabbing their plates of herring soba and walking into the dining room. The woman sets a plate of the hot food in front of her brother and takes a seat next to him, a grin on her face from ear to ear.
Reaching over, she traces the forehead protector he now has on his head, replacing the strip of fabric he had there before. "My little genius is a Genin now."
Tears form in Tsubame's eyes and she's powerless to stop them. She's raised Neji practically from the moment he was born, watched him grow day to day, and now he's starting his own path. She couldn't be more proud.
"There's no reason to cry, we both knew I'd pass." Neji says bashfully, and be the heating up of his face, Tsubame knows his face is flushed.
"You're a real ninja now. Of course I'm going to cry! I'm so proud of you, and I know mom and dad are too." She pulls her brother into a tight hug. After a few moments, she lets him go, wiping the tears from her eyes and putting a smile on her face.
"Now dig in, I worked too hard for you to eat cold soba!" Tsubame says cheerfully before a thought occurs to her. "Oh, who's you're instructor?"
"Some weird guy," her brother starts, and she feels her heart begin to sink. "He was dressed in a green spandex suit and has really bushy eyebrows. He screamed about 'youth' the whole time and cried a bit. He said his name is Maito Gai."
Tsubame has to stop herself from audibly groaning. Then again, she can't really say she's surprised. Fate had a certain way of screwing her over after all.
A/N: There we go, so I added some backstory to why Gai has a crush on Tsubame, an idea which hit me in the middle of class the other day. Anyways, I'm still looking for a beta reader so I apologize for any grammar/spelling mistakes because there's probably a few in there. Please review/favorite/follow!