Standing up wearily, the heiress slowly made her way over the the edge of her cave. Placing one hand at the top of the large, rusted pole, she slowly ran it down the entire length, feeling the jagged, rusty edges gnaw away at her palms.

Wiping away the cold sweat at her brow, she nervously traced the back her neck for the seal she vaguely remembered being burned upon her flesh. The skin at the base of her neck, directly over her Byakugan's blind spot was sore and irritated.

She knew it wasn't that easy, but still, she formed the appropriate hand signs and muttered a weak

"Byakugan"

Almost immediately, she found the support leave her legs as her body crumpled to the ground. Searing pain, spreading from the seal, circulated to every part of her body.

The pain, however, vanished almost as suddenly as it had arrived.

Well, molding chakra wasn't such a good idea

Hinata rose once again and peered out the bars confining her. Although visibility was almost zero outside of her enclave, she was able to make out seemingly endless rows of cell, each as rustic and forbidding as the next.

Sighing as she collected herself upon the beaten mattress, Hinata rested her head and stared at the ceiling, vaguely remembering the seal on her neck as she drifted into unconsciousness once again.

Time was hard to grasp. What exactly was it? Had it been days? Weeks? Maybe even months. All she knew was that time was moving, indifferent to her. She had been frozen. Monotony tuned out the changing days. To the point where she knew time passed ,maybe in some distant land, but not here.

The only source of excitement was her only means of survival. She had to salvage what she could, from moss,mold and, if she was lucky, the occasional rodent, as a last ditch effort to cling to her pitiful life. She knew she had a purpose, a reason for being, and to die in this hell hole definitely wasn't it.

Her life hadn't exactly been an envious one. Second best, to her younger sister. Weak, to her cousin. Overlooked by the only one she had eyes for. Ultimately forgettable. Although her entire life until this point had been to avoid the truth, imprisonment had a way of being out those undeniable facts of life. She was completely and utterly replaceable. Their would always be another teammate, another Hyuuga, another girl who could beat her at her own game.

Of course it would have been conceited to think that her life was miserable, she knew the extent of her suffering. Compared to others, her life had been seemingly pleasant. But, that did not hinder the fact that this was her reality, and therefore only she knew the complete extent of her own suffering. Though it may have deceived others, her pleasant exterior did not mirror her interior. She had put her mask as a duty to others, because someone as insignificant as herself shouldn't be important enough to negatively effect the lives of others. Even if it meant serving as a tool of comparison, she willfully carried out her task with pride, knowing that it may as well be her only purpose.

In all honesty, she had known this from the very beginning, but without others to distract and compare herself to, the conclusion had seemed oddly clear. In fact, this predicament may have been crucial in reaching this answer. With nothing left to do but think and reflect, one couldn't help but divulge deeper into their mind than ever before. She was the weird girl. The shy girl. The weak girl. And, more recently, the missing girl. No tears were shed, of that she was almost certain. Maybe she was over exaggerating, but in no way was her disappearance anything more than the small ripple caused from a small stone thrown in the ocean.

But she knew she was capable of more. It lay waiting for her. Locked behind fogged glass. It was there, and she knew it, but what and how to reach it was still shrouded beneath a veil out of reach. This couldn't be it. She was could be more than this. For too long had she been the tool. Compared to others, yes, she may have seem weak, but to herself, she was all she had. The self-satisfaction of being important and valued that had been deprived of her all her life had suddenly been yearning to break free.


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