She was sitting in the corner of the classroom after Kabuto Sensei's chemical biology class. The classroom was not an ordinary classroom because it was a classical stadium in an amphitheater style that accommodated a hundred of girls. As soon as Kabuto sensei's lesson was that over, Hyuuga was writing down the given homework assignments on her notebook.
"Hey!"
When the Hyuuga girl carefully raised her face and pointed to herself, asking the three girls "Me?" they sniggered and crossed their arms.
"So the rumors are true! You're a Hyuuga!"
"I told you! She has those beastly eyes!"
"They used to be powerful, but now they live like animals. My father is the clan head of Sato and he told me all about it." A girl whose last name is Sato explained with automatic promptness like a dictionary without feelings.
Hyuuga's naivete and pure heart made it difficult for her to realize right away that they were ridiculing her in front of class. She didn't do anything. She rarely even talked, except when the senseis called the attendance roll. What could she have possibly done that could've made these strangers already hate her existence?
Unaccustomed to such undeserved cruelty, Hyuuga blinked and stammered as she asked, "Yo-you you kno-know me?"
They stared at her with wide eyes and turned to each other. And then they cackled like hyenas, slapping each other on the shoulder. At that moment, Hyuuga can swear that those cute girls looked grotesque and evil.
"Well, I guess we should thank your father for bringing up such a daughter. It means one less rival for us."
Suddenly Hyuuga felt a quick surge of rage as she heard Sato's words. She can just squeeze her eyes and wait for the insults leveled against her to go away and fade in the air. But to hear that about her father, who loved her and was a honorable man till his death was more than she can bear. Her fists trembled as she bowed down her head and bit her lips.
"Oh, don't flinch like that, Hyuuga. Those things you have on your face give you away anyways."
Hyuuga can pretty much infer that "those things" meant her pupil-less eyes that hold no color or brilliance like the others. Desperate, she looked around the lecture room for help or at least some understanding, compassionate soul. But even though they can clearly hear the three girls' snide comments, the girls just averted their eyes and pretended to not have heard or seen them. Her only friend, Haruno was talking with Kabuto sensei who complimented on her extraordinary progress in chemistry.
"Oh, don't be mean, Ito chan! I really should thank my father. At least, he didn't die, leaving me to be some barbarian."
When the door slid open and Sasori sensei came in, looking as mummy-like and deformed as ever, the three girls, Takahashi, Sato, and Ito went back to their seats. Hyuuga breathed a sigh of relief. She never knew she would be this happy to see Sasori sensei.
Like Hyuuga and all other Waker's Pearl candidates, they had to forget their first names and be called by their last names.
It was soon animal anatomy and psychology class led by an Akatsuki member named Juugo, a class Hyuuga actually enjoys but isn't really good at, when it comes to memorization of body parts.
Plus, she was already so rattled by the unexpected assault on her and her father who was ridiculed as "incompetent" for raising a loser like her.
Would it be weird to say that she was more scared to talk with these smiling, innocent looking girls than the White Zetsu or even Sasori?
To the little Hyuuga who lost her name, the girls' bright smiles hid a glinting dagger that tore at her crippling skin and drew out thick, hot tears.
After Juugo sensei's class, it was lunch time. Soon a throng of girls gathered around the three musketeers who were the cause of Hyuuga's heart break and silent tears. Like a widespread fire, soon the coldness of their scrutinizing eyes transferred into the other girls as they whispered about things and giggle as if they just shared the funniest joke.
She was pretty sure that they were talking about her, because they didn't even care to turn their gaze away politely when she caught them in the middle of gossiping. She was the one to turn her heated face away in unknown embarrassment, and the girls would guffaw as if she was dancing without clothes. They were like wolves who can easily sniff out the weakest in the pack, and they spotted her delicate heart and vulnerable self esteem.
The Hyuuga girl was never good at making conversation with girls in her tribe back home. She would hesitate because of her fear that she will bore her peers with her mediocrity. Her topics like the sweet smelling grass that delivers gooey pus that healed a baby bird's broken wing were too bland to attract an attentive ear. So her wavering personality made her always miss the right time to say something. It was a matter of time when she became alone when the other girls frolic in the meadows and pick flowers and play. That was why she enjoyed ceremonial work, because she can participate without having to say anything.
But there was something much more vicious about these girls who were the Waker's Pearl candidates. The girls back in the tribe would leave her alone. But Hyuuga cannot dispel this fear that her fellow candidates were plotting an insidious mischief.
Then she heard a familiar voice.
"Hey! Cut it out!"
It was Haruno. The girls who were chattering and murmuring about things Hyuuga would rather not know hushed. Haruno was already the senseis' favorite because of her diligence and brains in class and talent in controlling chakra in the training grounds. Since the senseis were the ones who gave out grades and estimated each candidate's progress, Haruno was both admired and envied as the candidate with the highest potential. Also, everyone of course knew that she was the only one to be brought to the Realm by no one else other than the First Waker, Uzumaki sama. Nobody even got close to having a one on one interaction with any of the Wakers.
"It looks like you're definitely living up to your aristocratic names, Sato, Takahashi, Ito!"
"Ha...Haruno."
"What will happen if I tell one of the senseis that you're disrupting the class atmosphere. That'll make you look really good, huh?"
As Sato passed Hyuuga, she shoved her back with her right shoulder and whispered in her ear, "Keep hiding behind Haruno, Hyuuga. That's how pathetic you are."
She may be weak. She may not be as smart as others or strong or fast. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have pride.
"Hyuuga, wait!"
She ran off, and as she kept running, she could hear the girls' laughter and Haruno calling her name. It didn't matter to her that she was going to miss lunch. It would be torture to go to the cafeteria when every girl saw her weakness already. She wasn't so hungry anyway. So she plopped herself in a corner of the botanical garden of the palace and cried and cried.
She didn't really care if her eyes turned puffy and she was developing a headache as she sat there.
But she felt a presence and as she raised her eyes, she saw a tall man who stood against the sunlight. Her tiny crouched form drowned in dark shadows.
A few minutes ago
Uchiha Sasuke finally got the annoying Deidara off his back. He vaguely wondered about Deidara's obsession with giving fashion recommendations that he didn't even ask for and stalking him with a camera in his spare time when he is not making clay puppets.
"You always wear black like you're going to a funeral! Do you know what a blasphemy it is?"
Now that Uchiha thinks about it, there were rumors that Sasori was making real-life size figurines and occasionally invites Deidara to ask for the doll's wardrobe advice.
Who knows if they have a creepy rendition of an inanimate Uchiha Sasuke in their basement.
Unaware that his cold, beautiful master was slowly fingering his katana Kusanagi, Deidara went on to enumerate the types of colors and fabrics that would enhance his alabaster skin, chiseled jaw and shapely throat, and eyes that shone like volcanic glass. It was such a waste to an artist like him that someone with Uchiha's aesthetically pleasing face and proportions would go around sulking in his minimalistic black suit.
"Deidara."
"Huh? What?"
"Your camera is missing its lens."
"What?! Hell, fuck?! How did that happen? And I just paid my two months salary on my baby! Fuuuccck!"
And off the beauty and fashion obsessed clay puppet master nin vanished to search every nook and cranny for his overpriced camera lens that can even capture the subject's "pores."
When Deidara was out of sight, the Uchiha slowly withdrew his left hand from underneath his long cape and looked inside his palm with emotionless eyes.
Crack-
And there went Deidara's two months' worth of Akatsuki pension. As soon as he wrapped his long fingers around the glass, he immediately pulverized the 3mm glass lens into shimmering dusts of crystal with little effort. He shook the pixie dust off his hand and idly looked around.
He must've gotten quite soft, he thought. If it was the past Uchiha who had yet to kill his brother, he would have thoughtlessly driven the blond Akatsuki into a paralysis with his sharingan.
Sniff-
As he turned, his long black cape whirled, and far away in the corner of the glass walled botanical garden, he saw a tiny girl. She was burying her head in her arms that were propped on her bony knees.
It was lunchtime for the Waker's Pearl candidates, but she looked like she has been sitting there by herself in the corner for quite a while.
Could it be that she found out that this is one of his secret places to hang out by himself? Then that was going to be very problematic. If it was just her, he can place a genjitsu that manipulates her memory, but if she already dispersed this information about the Second Waker's hiding spot...He would have to move the botanical garden to a completely different location where none of the teenage hormone crazy girls or deranged puppet molders can find him.
But he was not willing to easily relinquish his favorite spot to catch up on reading and occasionally nap under the sunlight that penetrated through the glass ceiling.
So he stood right in front of the little girl, patiently waiting for her to show some reaction that can tell him the next course of action.
And when the little girl finally noticed his presence and raised her head, his eyes blinked wide in surprise.
Shining, wet ivory eyes with a light purple sheen. If there was such thing as lavender pearls, he was sure that they would look like the orbs of the obviously distressed child.
It was the Hyuuga he saved from wild wolves and brought to the Realm himself. It was his first and so far his last time to ever personally escort a candidate to the Heart of the Realm. Usually the Akatsukis would be in charge of that burden. They did it for years, even before he became the Waker himself. He didn't recognize her first because she got a short bowl hair cut with slightly long side hair that framed her round face.
Now the question was...did this Hyuuga know who he was? If she did, then...
"Me..messenger sama!"
"Hm?"
She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeved arm.
"Messenger sam-sama, did Zetsu se-sensei a-ask for me?"
"...No."
"The-then, I-I'm so sorry, but...c-can you tell nobody that you sa-saw me here?"
Uchiha was actually quite surprised, pleasantly surprised by the Hyuuga girl's little request. That was actually what he wanted to ask her. Even for someone as remorseless as Uchiha, it didn't feel right that he would place a genjitsu on a girl whom he brought to the Realm himself and was miserable for it. He was going to see if she was the type to go around and run her mouth about how she saw the Second Waker in person before he decides what to do.
"...I won't."
He said briefly.
"A-a-arigato gojai...gojai..." But she couldn't complete her words because suddenly seeing the man who saved her from the darkness made her heart well in relief and cry again.
He didn't say anything as he stared down at her.
Since he did bring her because of her ocular powers, he did feel a little guilty for her current predicament. It was obvious to anyone that the six year old didn't decide to be the Waker's Pearl candidate out of her volition, but he still brought her because if he didn't, she was likely to die in the mountains where she was abandoned anyways.
Now he was wondering if he should've just let her follow her parents.
And as her sniffling calmed down, the sound of her hiccups abated and silence fell in the botanical garden.
The little Hyuuga expected herself to be alone and then carefully raised her red eyes. But the presence of a large, warm body made her look sideways. And she saw Messenger sama sitting by her side on the stone tiles and saying nothing.
'He...He's still here?' The girl wondered as she stared up at the tall man's profile. The filtered sunlight fell on his midnight black hair, his high ridged nose, and aristocratic cheekbones, as he sat still like a statue. His eyes were closed, and the sunlight cast a long shadow underneath his eyelashes that looked like crow feathers.
"...What are you staring at?"
"Ah!"
'How strange...How did he know...'
"How-how did you?"
"You make it obvious. Anyone can tell." He said in his low, slightly gravelly voice that took away the harshness of his rather curt personality.
Other girls might have preferred him to be more soft spoken since he had such looks and beautiful voice, but Hyuuga actually liked it. It reminded her of her father's personality very much.
"Usu-usually pe-people leave me alone wh-when they see me like this."
"Do you want me gone?" He asked, but he made no move as he stared down at her.
"No-no-no, Messenger sama! Of course not! It's just that..." Tears started to fall on her little hands. "I do-don't know why, but I-I can't sto-stop crying when someone's nice to me. So it ma-made them go away..."
She forced a smile but the tears were still there.
Speechless at the little girl's words, the tall young man finally opened his lips, "I'm...being nice?"
At his incredulous tone, the girl widened her eyes and looked at him eagarly, "Ye-yes, Messenger sama! I-I'm still crying, bu-but you didn't tell me to shut up or-or leave!"
After listening to her, he then nodded in quiet acceptance as if she finally made sense. "Your standards are quite low."
"Ye-yes?"
"You missed lunch." He said it without a tone of accusation. He was simply stating a fact.
"Oh, yes..." She didn't tell him the reason why she skipped going to the cafeteria and decided to cry in the botanical garden. And he didn't prod her for answers or explanations. The little Hyuuga can't help but start liking this strange man's company more and more.
Maybe, hopefully, maybe, this tall, mysterious, and handsome messenger sama will tolerate being with a sore thumb like her!
Strangely, him not asking for an explanation made it easier for her to tell him her sad story.
"The-there were some girls...and they said something about me not having a family..."
She didn't know what else to say. And her stupid tongue just won't let her speak quickly enough! She was sure she was boring her company.
Her eyes flickered in surprise as the man broke the awkward silence, "It...sounds unpleasant."
She weakly shook her head.
He looked down at her. "What did you say to them?"
"Umm...Nothing, messenger sama." She didn't even realize that her stuttering got a lot better. "I," she laughed soundlessly, but it looked a lot sadder than her tears, "I...was never...good at ta-talking back."
He then shifted his gaze to a running stone fountain in the middle of the garden and nodded. He didn't tell the girl, but he actually thought she had pretty good vocabulary for a ten year old, and she talked and responded like a lady of high bearing despite her nomad childhood.
But it didn't mean that he was going to in any way interfere for her. Being a Waker's Pearl means living a life of survival, so she should get used to such petty bullies now or later.
He rose from his seat and gently tapped the dust that floated in the air from his knee. As he rose to his full height, he looked down at the girl from the corner of his eye. "I got to go."
"Oh, yes, messenger sama! Th-thank you for being with me!"
"...Next class should be Deidara's."
"Oh, proper etiquette and tea class! Yes, it's actually my favorite class!"
"...Really?"
"Yes! De-Deidara sensei can be-be a harsh critic and he does-does hit us, but I really like his teaching!"
"...Sooka." The tall man looked like he was making a remark to himself.
"I...I better go! Thank you so much, messenger sama!"
The little girl smiled brightly at the man who was still handsome despite his glum expression.
"...Matte."
As she turned to face him, she saw him throw an object toward her. She made a very clumsy catch, as the round soft thing slipped from her grasp, but she avoided dropping it by hugging it with her elbows.
She looked at the thing; it was delicately wrapped in pink parchment paper and decorated with painted hearts. Her eyebrows rose in surprise, since she never imagined Messenger sama to carry around such feminine object in his dark, bulky clothes.
When she tentatively raised her eyes, he nodded, giving her permission to open it.
She unwrapped the gift, the first gift she ever got, and she gasped. She covered her open mouth with her right hand as she stared wide-eyed at the content-a freshly baked seed bun with homemade red bean paste, and a bread she didn't see before that had a swirling pattern. Her button nose approached the swirling bread and sniffed; it smelt like sweet spices.
The tall man turned his back on her and spat out the words, "I found it on the ground. Take it or throw it away."
"Me-messenger sama, but..!" Even though she was hungry, she couldn't possibly accept such gift when it was kind, patient messenger sama who she should thank.
Then they both heard a young girl's voice from the entrance, "Hyuuga! Where are you?"
"Haruno!"
Hyuuga turned and Haruno was running towards her. Haruno was surprised. She didn't see Hyuuga smiling brightly like that ever.
"Hyuuga, what are you doing here? Deidara sensei is going to be furious if he finds out that you're going to be tardy!"
"Ah...Haruno, I," Hyuuga turned her head back to give her final thanks to the kind messenger sama, but her eyes widened in shock.
"Hyuuga, what are you looking at?" The pink haired girl impatiently looked at the spot where her eyes were glued, but there was nothing.
"He's...gone."
"What?"
"No-nothing, Haruno chan! Let's go!"
She hurriedly rewrapped the two precious bread rolls with the parchment paper and tucked it to her chest.
"What is that, Hyuuga? Did someone give it to you?"
Haruno asked as they ran along the hallways. Hyuuga was really thankful for having such a kind friend like Haruno. Just because Haruno was the star student, it didn't mean that she will be safe from Deidara sensei's hysterics if she comes late to class. But she was risking getting a beating with a stick just to look for her.
"Ye-yes, he-"
"Now there you are!"
Her mouth clamped shut and the two girls froze as they saw Deidara seething before them. He was already in a foul mood since he cannot find his precious camera lens that he saved his pension for. And he didn't even get the chance to use his baby on the Uchiha!
"You have the audacity to be late to my class. Haruno, that's ten points deduction of "Personal Conduct" for you!"
"Aww, Deidara sensei!"
"Enough. Go to class, Haruno," His keen eyes shifted to the shivering girl, "Hyuuga! What is that you have in your chest?"
"Ah..." She recoiled, but she wasn't fast or nimble enough to stop Deidara from snatching off the pretty package and look into the contents.
"You know that snacking is strictly forbidden!" He was about to toss the bread on the ground and stomp on it with his heel, but he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder.
Hyuuga's pure white eyes widened in surprise. Haruno already went inside class, so she didn't get to see the sight of a black crow that gracefully landed on Deidara sensei's left shoulder and pecked on his temple. In its black beak was a piece of paper wrapped in a red thread.
"What the..." Deidara shot alternating glances at both the crow on his shoulder and the wide-eyed Hyuuga. He then cleared his throat with a slight cough and took the piece of paper that the crow delivered to him.
As he skimmed through the strip of paper, he gave the little Hyuuga a curious look. Then to Hyuuga's surprise, his expression softened a lot although he didn't seem so happy when he crumbled the paper and swallowed it.
'It must be really important...I heard that sometimes ninjas have to swallow confidential documents, but I never..."
"Hyuuga!"
"Ye-ye-yes, Deidara sensei!"
He tossed the wrapped bread rolls back to her.
"Go to class. You will also get 10 points of deduction from your "Personal Conduct" grade."
Her eyes looked like they were going to pop off. That was it? No corporal punishment? AND he was going to let her bring the sweets in the Etiquette class? Did Deidara sensei eat something weird during lunch time?
"What are you standing there for? Do you want me to take it back?"
"No-no-no, sensei!" And in fear that he'll change his mind, she ran into the Etiquette classroom.
Soon class started. After giving them a detailed demonstration, Deidara made the girls brew a cup of white tea in front of class, one by one.
He took a sip of the thirty nineth girl's tea.
Then, whacck!
"Ahh! Deidara sensei!"
His infamous cherry tree stick slapped the tender palms of the thirty nineth girl.
"You forgot to warm up the tea cup, Hamura! How many times did I tell you that you should pay attention to the china as well!"
He then wrote on his notepad, "Twenty points off for Hamura. Next!"
"Deidara sensei!"
"What?!"
He snapped back in irritation.
Takahashi raised her hand, "I saw Hyuuga eating something in class!"
All eyes went to Hyuuga who blushed profusely and shivered, bread crumbs on her pouty lips.
Deidara's eyes, outlined in dark kohl, narrowed like a pather's. "Hyuuga, you must be awfully confident of your brewing skills. Come over."
As she nervously swallowed a lump in her throat and approached Deidara, she heard stifled giggles from the girls who were lined behind her.
Deidara stretched his hand out and ordered in a haughty, cold voice, "Your tea."
As she shivered, she bowed and followed Deidara's demonstration of brewing the white tea as faithfully as possible in front of everyone.
Her teacher's face didn't betray any expression as he watched her every move without words.
When she was done, she handed the cup of white tea to her sensei with both hands.
His eyes that looked like they were going to snap into batshit crazy at any given moment widened in pleasant surprise as he took a sniff of the tea.
When he drank it, he merely closed his eyes. To the surprise of everyone present, his lips curved into an elegant smile.
"This is a pass. Good job, Hyuuga."
She can feel the uncomfortable heat spreading all over her face. She can feel her own blush. Did she just get complimented? By a teacher? In front of the girls who always looked down at her?
"Bu-but, sensei! Hyuuga just ate sweets in class!" The same girl who taddletaled on her, Takahashi raised her voice in disbelief and indignation.
Deidara's eyes snapped in the direction of Takahashi, "If your in class conduct is so impeccable, why did you botch the tea's peach flower flavor?"
"Tha-that!"
"Wasn't it because you were busy passing notes in class that you didn't care to sort the tea leaves?"
"Se-sensei!"
"Hyuuga made up for her misconduct in class with her tea. It had all the right notes and flavors intact, and the temperature was just right."
But he didn't forget to turn a sharp eye at Hyuuga, "But Hyuuga, Takahashi is right. Don't count on your luck too much. I might not be so generous next time."
"Ye-yes, sensei!"
She bowed gratefully, her back bent in a perpendicular angle to show her gratitude.
When class ended, the excitement still didn't vanish from her eyes. She got complimented. She! She was good at something!
And that was how she survived her first week of being the Waker's Pearl candidate.
But her real suffering happened that night.
"Where did you leave your shoes?"
The barefooted little girl raised her tear drenched face from her cupped hands and stared up into a pair of pitch dark eyes. Their black fire was so different from her weak, white fog.
The tall man noticed how he happens to bump into this little thing at her most inconvenient moments. It was like her misfortunes drag him to make his undesirable debut in her sad, lonely life.
It was late at night when owls croon in the distance that he stumbled onto the Hyuuga once again. It was strange. She should be on the candidates' bedtime curfew, but she was out, shaking in the cold and dark. He activated his sharingan and saw what the dark had obscured from normal sight-the back of her heels were bleeding and caked with dirt as if she was dragged out of her room and her barefeet scraped the floor. She was also in her flimsy white nightgown.
Impatience evident in his voice, he asked again, "Where did you leave your shoes?"
"I-I..I...didn't le-leave the-them, me-me-messenger sama…"
His frown deepened. Her stuttering got a lot worse.
After a moment of silence, he asked, "What happened?"
Convulsive tears racked her entire body, but she found it difficult, no, impossible to get the words out. The shock of what just transpired in her bedroom was too much that her already delicate, fragile heart was shaking with self doubt. She wished that this was all just a nightmare.
But somehow, despite it all, the tall Messenger sama remained rooted and made no move to walk away from this girl who was making things a lot more dramatic and difficult than he wanted. The little girl peered up at him as the tears that blurred her vision dropped down her cheeks.
Under the full moon that glowed with pure, shimmering light, the tall black haired man stared down at her with dark eyes devoid of emotions or judgment.
The moon lit his translucent, fair skin on a mystical aura that set his entire being apart from the world, and Hyuuga thought how she has never seen someone who looked so good under the moonlight. The humidity of the night air and the cold temperature enhanced the man's natural beauty.
He didn't say anything, but fear of loss seized her when he turned his back on her. He took a few steps. He stopped when she made no movement to follow him, but continued to walk when he heard her timid footsteps on the pebbled path. It took her a few minutes to realize that they were going to the direction of the infirmary.
Then slowly the fog that clouded her mind cleared up, and she remembered step by step what had happened before she got chased out of the dorm.
"Hyuuga, it seems that we were a bit wrong about you."
"Wh-wh-what?"
"You are not useless after all. You got picky Deidara sensei to acknowledge you."
It was the same three girls who picked on her-Ito, Sato, and Takahashi. There were other two girls, Fumiwara and Hamura.
"Oh-oh, a-arigato!" Hyuuga's round cheeks blushed into a color of fresh autumn apples at the unexpected compliment. Maybe they weren't so bad after all?
When Takahashi said "I'm sorry about ratting out on you, Hyuuga," she almost could cry of happiness.
"So…" with a drawl, the tallest girl Sato began to go right to the point, "we were thinking that maybe you can teach us one or two about making tea."
"I-I-I would be delighted to!"
Unsuspecting, Hyuuga gladly opened her room to the five girls who went in.
Treating them as perfect guests, Hyuuga pulled out a small table and cushions and pillows for them to sit on. While she went in and out of her room and the communal bathroom and fountain to prepare the tea, the five girls sat in the middle of her singular room and surveyed her plain furniture-bed, desk, and chair. When she finished setting up the table, they were strangely quiet, seeming to glance at each other without saying a word.
Even when they didn't even say "thank you," Hyuuga didn't suspect anything unusual or off-putting about them.
"What is this?"
Hyuuga felt momentarily stung when she saw Takahashi suddenly open her mini refrigerator and pull out the pink parchment package. Even though she had nothing to hide, it didn't detract from the discomfort of having her privacy violated so casually. She tried to think that Takahashi did it out of desire to help her set the tea, but was it really necessary for her to pull out her things and show them off to everyone else?
"It's...its'..."
"Wait a second!" A girl named Fumiwara jumped up and seized the package from Takahashi.
Takahashi growled, "Gosh, Fumiwara, what is wrong with you?"
Instead of answering her, Fumiwara whirled and yelled at the surprised girl, "Hyuuga, how did you get this?!"
Shocked by the series of events, Hyuuga went back into the state of panic-freezing into silence.
Full of rage, Fumiwara almost raised her voice into a terrifying screech. "This is the exact package I gave as a gift to the Second Waker sama!"
At her words, Hamura glared at the Hyuuga who couldn't do anything but shudder, "What? Then there is no way you could've got this!"
"You stole this, didn't you?"
"Say something, Hyuuga!"
"I-I…"
She hated that whenever she is stuck in a fight-flight moment, her body and mind would always succumb to the worst option-freeze. Whenever she freezes, she just wishes time could flow by but just because she remains still doesn't mean she is not screaming at the pain of their words.
"It seems that she won't confess unless we do something drastic."
"It's your fault, Hyuuga. You have nobody to blame but yourself!"
And like that they pushed the girl off into the dorm hallway, out of her own room and locked themselves in.
"L-l-let me in! Pl-please le-let me in!"
She pounded on her door, her own door and even pushed on it, but it won't budge. She hated her weakness, she hated her pushable tiny frame, she hated that the best she can do is implore them to show mercy.
Then like a shining angel, someone appeared by her side.
"Hyuuga, what is going on?"
"Haruno, I-I…"
"You better come out, before I blow up the door and beat you into pulp!"
As soon as they recognized the famous voice of Haruno, who earned the nickname "Fighting Lotus of the Realm," the five girls begrudgingly opened Hyuuga's door.
Haruno raised her voice in disgust, "Wow, there were five of you?"
Ito kept her purple eyes fixed on Haruno, ignoring the shivering Hyuuga, who is actually the center of this conflict, "Haruno, we have our reasons."
Takahashi decided that it was the best time to side with Ito, "Yeah, Hyuuga stole Fumiwara's gift! She's a rotten thief!"
Fumiwara had tears on her fair, freckled face and burst into a convulsive sob. Hamura held her by the shoulders, consoling her "Don't cry," "don't cry." It was actually quite a tender scene.
"It was a gi-gift for Se-second Waker sama, bu-but Hyuuga stole it!"
Haruno tried to talk back when she was shut down when Takahashi showed the decisive proof-pink parchment paper wrapped seed bun roll and cinnamon rolls.
"...Where did you find this?" Haruno enunciated each word as she dared any of them to lie to her.
"In Hyuuga's mini fridge!" Fumiwara then turned her tear filled eyes toward Hyuuga who winced at the sound of her voice, "Say something, Hyuuga! Don't just stand there like an idiot!"
"Hyuuga…" Haruno turned to the shivering girl, her emerald eyes both stern and concerned, "Is it true?"
Hyuuga entreated Haruno, her only friend, to believe in her, "I-I didn't! I did-didn't steal an-anything! I-it wa-was a gift!"
"She's lying through her teeth, Haruno!"
"You're a despicable, compulsive liar! Who would give a present to a loser like you?"
This statement was from the same girl who told Hyuuga in the beginning that she actually might not be "useless."
"And how did Fumiwara's gift to Waker sama end up in your room?"
"Yeah, who gave this so-called "gift," Hyuuga? Give us the person's name!"
"He…!" Just when Hyuuga raised her voice to tell them that it was kind messenger sama who gave her the gift, she stopped.
She remembered Zetsu sensei's words, "No matter what, don't ever let them known who brought you here. "
Then another thought passed like a flying sparrow. If they find out about messenger sama...does that mean messenger sama will get in trouble for bringing her to the Realm? Will he also get in trouble for helping her and giving her a present that was the source of all her pain right now?
What if the object of these girls' wrath and hatred becomes messenger sama? The only one who didn't find her habit of crying an annoying sign of weakness?
Haruno's voice then snapped her out of her thoughts. "Say something, Hyuuga! Who gave you the gift?"
Hyuuga who was bowing her head finally raised her face and looked Haruno in the eye.
"Haruno…"
Haruno never really thought that Hyuuga was capable of such expression. The little girl who always averted her eyes and could never complete her sentences without stuttering or fading away suddenly looked like she had something to protect. What could it be?
Meanwhile, Hyuuga was thinking, 'Is it weird that I feel the need to protect? Me, who can't barely make three shadow dopplegangers? Me, who struggles with textbook examples of chakra utilization? Is it weird that I want to protect...messenger sama?'
"I...I ne-never li-lied, Haruno, but…" she lowered her pale white eyes to the ground, "I-I c-can't tell you either."
Before Haruno can intercede, Takahashi stepped in and pushed Hyuuga to the ground, "Liar!"
Then suddenly the five girls started ganging up on the little girl and dragged her across the hallway where other girls came out from their own rooms and started staring.
The hallway wasn't that long, but to Hyuuga, it felt like a million years, being forced to stand on her feet and dragged like a cow to a slaughter house. The five girls were all ganged up on her, using their hands and feet to push the little girl as if they were rolling a boulder out of their dorm.
Long story short, they kicked her out of the dorm and locked the entrance door on her. When one of the male Akatsukis heard the commotion and raised his voice, "What is happening?" Hyuuga ran away from the dorm compound. Not because of any fault she committed, but because of the overwhelming shame she felt at her state of being dragged out like some livestock and fear that she will be interrogated this time by a teacher.
She finished her story when she was done with wrapping her scratched and bleeding heels with a clean gauze in the infirmary. She breathed a sigh of relief, letting her tired legs rest on the clean infirmary bed.
She wasn't sure if messenger sama was listening to her, because he was staring out of the window. The moon was being generous with its light by pouring its heavenly beams on his face, dark hair, and broad shoulders. When she didn't say anything more, he turned to her and stared with large, indecipherable dark eyes. His pale lips that illuminated under the moonlight made his face look both serene and otherworldly.
He finally opened his mouth and asked with his low, calm voice "Why didn't you tell them the truth?"
"I...I didn't want to get you in trouble, messenger sama. After all you did for me, I-"
Suddenly in a flash of an eye, the tall man appeared in front of her face, sitting on the mattress. She stared into his hypnotizing dark eyes as he let out a guttural voice that sent tingling shivers at the end of her hands and toes.
"You? You, get me in trouble?" His voice was both amused and derisive, doubtful of what she was saying.
His translucent, shapely lips drew into a devilish smirk, "Do enlighten me. How could you get me in trouble?"
"I…" Hyuuga's snow-white eyes reminded him of those of a frightened kitten.
But he wasn't prepared at all to hear what she was going to say next.
"Ze-Zetsu se-sensei told me that I should never tell anyone a-about you, messenger sama. So I…"
Hyuuga started poking her index fingers together and glance at a far corner of the infirmary.
"I didn't want anyone to think that you sto-stole from one-one of the Waker samas, so…"
When she trailed off as she often would when she is put to spot, the tall man stared down at her, deep in his own thoughts.
Unquestioning loyalty. Willingness to sacrifice herself.
They were traits that he personally disdained but were nonetheless desirable in a Waker's Pearl. If only she had more faith in herself...
"What if," he sat down on the infirmary mattress right next to the girl.
He then turned his face toward her so he was directly looking into her eyes, "What if I did steal from one of the Wakers?"
Her eyes expanded like pure white ceramic saucers. He smirked. Now what was she going to do, he wondered. Somehow he developed this weird penchant for tormenting the little girl because she is so naive and teasable.
"My-my…" she gripped on her nightgown, and surprisingly she resumed in a calm tone, "My fa-father told me-me to ne-never go back on my words."
"So-so I wo-won't tell them about you, messenger sama."
He was speechless for a second.
"Bu-but!"
She resolutely turned her face away as she kept playing with her fingers, "Pl-please don't do that aga-again, messenger sama! St-stealing is...is-is ba-ba-bad!"
He crossed his arms and tilted his head to the other side as he continued observing her as if she was some new phenomenon like a blue sunrise or a roaring bird.
His silky dark hair slid from his forehead to the side of his temple as he peered into her blushing face.
When she tentatively glanced at his direction from the corner of her eye, she yelped "eep!" and quickly covered her red face with her hands.
She didn't know that this handsome messenger sama was staring at her so intently like she was something both interesting and weird.
He sighed. What was he doing to a little kid? He rose from the mattress, "I said "what if," remember?"
"So-so-so you didn't steal anything, messenger sama?"
"No." He said just that and nothing more as if additional detail was something that stretched beyond the borders of a land called "Necessary."
He walked toward the infirmary door, and Hyuuga followed him. Soon they were outside in the dark again.
"I-I-I'm glad, messenger sama!"
The man frowned as he looked down at her from the corner of his eye. What did she have anything to be glad about? It was he who got her in trouble in first place. If he didn't give her the stupid pastry given by another fangirl, she wouldn't be out in the night, downtrodden and barefoot.
But the girl's nonsense didn't stop there.
"A-a-and…"
He emitted a sigh that ruffled his dark strands. What now? Thank him for making her a social pariah within a week?
"Th-thank you…for not stealing…"
If she was more eloquent, she would've have worded it differently. Because what she really meant was 'Thank you for not breaking my trust. For not demolishing this beautiful picture I drew of you. Thank you for being the best person I can possibly imagine you to be. Thank you for not disappointing me.'
And the man barely silenced the sound of his breath caught up in his chest, when the little girl said this, without stuttering.
"Thank you for everything."
He always thought that her stuttering was annoying, and she would be a lot less annoying if she stopped stuttering.
Now he wasn't so sure anymore.
Because when she speaks without stuttering, the way she talks is sweet, indulgent, but it had this unmistakably sorrowful note of finality he can't put his finger on.
Now he would rather have her stutter and blubber like the little fool she was.
He made a noncommittal grunt and walked in the direction to the dorm. When she followed the messenger sama, she saw Haruno and Zetsu sensei(s) waiting for her in the entrance.
She rushed forward to Haruno who caught the sight of her and ran towards her.
"Hyuuga, where were you?"
"Ha...Haruno..."
"Little poo, don't ever run off into the dark like that again, okay?"
"Sum..Sumimaseng, sensei..."
When Hyuuga looked behind her, she saw nothing.
Looking at the chaos that is Hyuuga's room, Haruno asked "Are you sure you don't need my help, Hyuuga?"
Hyuuga was kneeling on the floor, picking up books that the bullies unceremoniously pulled from her drawer and thrown to the ground.
They truly knew how to ravage her room. They probably suspected that she had more things that she stole, but left when they found nothing.
Even her blankets and pillows weren't immune from their toxic suspicion and grabby hands.
She made a feeble smile, "I-I'm o-okay, Haruno. I-I can manage on my own."
"You sure?"
"Ye-ye-yes. Do-don't worry."
"Zetsu sensei is still mad that you won't tell him anything, you know...I can tell him what those hussies did to you if you want."
"No-no-no, Ha-Haruno! I-I re-really app-appreciate it, bu-but I-I don't want-"
Hyuuga already has been bullied before, so she knew that an adult, even a well-meaning teacher, can exacerbate the situation with bullies if he gets involved. If Zetsu sensei explicitly takes Hyuuga's side and scolds the girls, they will never forgive her for inflicting such humiliation on them. They still believe that she stole Fumiwara's gift to the Second Waker.
In the other hand, if he somehow implies that Hyuuga might be at fault, the bullies would feel more empowered to torment her.
Haruno sighed and combed through her light pink hair with her fingers, "Okay, okay...If that's what you want, I guess."
Thinking that Hyuuga might want some solitude, Haruno finally relented and turned, "Okay...well, you know where my room is, right? Just let me know if you need anything."
Satisfied to see the Hyuuga nod, she closed the door behind her, and Hyuuga can hear the sound of footsteps retreating down the hallway.
When Haruno finally left, Hyuuga sighed as she took in the sorry state of her bedroom. She would have to stay up for another two hours to repair her room and restore her destroyed homework assignments.
Then zsuuuu-
She froze.
She thought she saw something dart underneath her toppled desk. Like something skirting on the carpeted floor.
'Oh no,' she gasped, 'did the bullies leave something as a pay back? A scorpion? Or...'
Her tiny hands and knees trembled as she crawled to the desk. Underneath the desk was a textbook that was splayed open.
And underneath the textbook was a long, scaly tail.
"!"
She forced her mouth to clam shut with her hands as she saw the tiny reptile disappear underneath the book and then poke its triangular face outside the pages.
"A...lizard?"
It was a tiny white lizard with a long tail and beady green eyes. When it revealed itself under the florescent light, the white scales gleamed with minty green and at times orange pink depending on how the light hit its slithering body. The skinny creature was as long as her entire hand, from wrist to the tip of her middle finger.
Hyuuga approached the lizard till their noses were almost touching, "Whe-where did you come from?"
As if telling her to not fuss him with questions, the lizard merely stuck out its thin pink tongue and quickly lapped on the tip of her nose.
She stood up and laughed, "He-he-he, it tick-tickles!"
The lizard cocked its head to another side and kept staring at the little girl with its beady green eyes that looked like it was trying to communicate something.
"Haha, nobody is supposed to keep pets here, unless they are jutsu-related you know."
She then tried to pick up the lizard, "I should take you to one of the senseis..."
But to her surprise, the lizard leaped from her hands and jumped onto her mattress.
"Heyyy..."
Although she gave her best look of disapproval, the lizard made no move to vacate her bed. It groggily opened one green eye before settling itself onto the folds of her cotton pillow case that was ripped off from her pillow.
She sighed and went to her toppled desk and placed it back to where it was. Then she placed her desk lamp that fell to the ground on top of the desk and took her seat to work on her homework.
Click
But the desk lamp won't turn on.
Click click click click
No matter how she tried to turn the desk lamp on, it won't work. She checked the outlets, but they seemed fine.
It seemed that the shock of being tossed to the floor broke the desk lamp.
Hyuuga sighed, but she knew she had to redo her homework or else she'll get in big trouble.
After thirty minutes, her eyes started to turn red and tear up in exhaustion because she was squinting too much.
There was just not enough light for her.
Then suddenly she felt the creature crawl on her jammies and slither around her little neck. Its tiny pink tongue softly hissed and lapped on her round cheek.
Petting the reptile's head with her index finger, she whispered, "You weren't asleep?"
The creature blinked its green eyes at her, and she giggled and kept talking, "It's hard to focus. My eyes are really tired, and my lamp is broken."
When she smiled and turned her gaze to the reptile, she froze on spot in sheer terror. Her lips slightly opened. She would have screamed but the sight of the reptile's pink jaw opening in a yawn paralyzed her.
And then the creature dug its bluish fangs at the side of her temple, right next to her left eye.
"Ah!"
When she stood up, she was actually more affected by the surprise than the actual pain of the tiny fangs that punctured on the side of her temple.
She felt tiny drops of blood trickle down from the side of her face, "Wh-why did you...?"
But when she opened her eyes, she gasped. Before her fatigued, blurry eyes opened a whole different world-white silhouettes of moving figures and furniture in other rooms against a black background. Danaka in the room next to hers was lying on bed, stretching her legs, and other girls in other rooms were doing various activities like combing their hair, reading, or even violating curfew by gossiping with their hall mates. The black background was crisscrossed with strange neon green cubic lines, and she can see what's going inside other rooms in its entirety.
Hyuuga remembered what her father told her before he passed away, You're a Hyuuga, and one day you will wield your own byakugan. And you will know when you have finally activated your own byakugan.
"Is this...an illusion? Or is this really," did she dare say it out loud, "my byakugan?"
She felt for the side of her temples, and she felt slightly protruded veins around her eyes. It wasn't some trick her mind was playing on her. For the first time in her life, she has activated her byakugan. The veins that snapped in protrusion around the side of her eyes were proof.
When she emitted a sigh to ease the tension around her eyes, the vision before was gone, and once again she was enclosed by the ivory walls of the room. Colors came back. She collapsed back in her seat when she was hit by this epiphany. She successfully activated and withdrew her byakugan.
Her fingers carefully touched the spot where the lizard bit her. The blood has stopped dripping, and all she can feel are two minuscule puncture marks, the size of needle points, indented near her eye area. Nobody can really see it unless the person pushes away her dark bangs to take a closer look. The wound was negligible.
"Wow...this...is real…I'm a byakugan user."
While she was zoning off, the lizard slithered up her right leg and settled on her lap like a lap dog. Its green eyes eagerly glittered as if it was waiting for her appraisal.
Thanks to this reptile's vampire kiss that mysteriously turned on her byakugan's switch button, she would never have to depend on a flashlight or a desk lamp again.
She absentmindedly stroked the lizard who hissed in pleasure and whispered, "Who are you?"
"I completed my mission. The Hyuuga's bloodline limit is activated."
A serpentine voice resonated in the man's ear through a telepathically transmitted chakra sound wave.
Uchiha closed his heavy encyclopedia of bloodline limits and dojutsus.
Of course, the creature would succeed. Uchiha never permits failures from creatures he summoned himself. And it was no ordinary lizard, the one he sent to the Hyuuga's bed chamber.
The creature can unleash extraordinary potential in even the most hopeless looking case by channeling its special chakra through its fangs. The creature happened to tap into the Hyuuga's hidden potential as a dojutsu user by biting on her chakra veins and opened its passage to her bloodline limit.
It took a pretty half of a day for even him to discover, capture, and seal this haughty, priceless lizard under his dominion. Not to mention that many have failed to even catch a glimpse of the draconic creature.
"You want me to keep updates of the Hyuuga, you said."
It was more of a statement than a reaffirmation of an order.
Uchiha made a dismissive shrug even though the creature can't see it, "I have a debt to clear out."
The serpentine voice chuckled in amusement, "The Shadow Waker? The avenger who sold his mortality and soul to kill his brother owes something? And none other than to a orphan?"
A blood red light passed across his dark eyes, as he gave a silent warning to his bestial slave. The icy tension informed the creature that it better not push its luck against this stolid man who is actually the most feared man in the Realm and alternate universes.
"As you wish...master"
And the voice turned off, and the man closed his eyes and lied back on his chair.
Present in Konoha
It was a pleasant summer afternoon, and after seeing Sasuke off, in other words, seeing Sasuke get dragged out of the house by Naruto, Hinata decided that she should spend her own time practicing by herself.
In a wide courtyard that was situated at the back of the Uchiha Mansion, Hinata was practicing her taijutsu skills on a few wooden dummies that she borrowed from Neji. Due to her shy nature, she really liked this particular courtyard because black bamboo shoots conveniently hid the interior view even for people inside the Uchiha compound. The wind sha shaying by the tall, slender bamboos also offered a sound-proof environment where she can make as much noise as she wants, by breaking the dummies and crying "Ha!".
Up to this day, she was still embarrassed when anybody hears her "battle cry" when she is practicing by herself. Nobody really cared, but to her, the embarrassment was enough that she can't focus on her solo training if she thinks anybody is paying attention to the way she squeaks or goes "Ha-cha!"
During their first year of getting to know each other, fourteen year old Sasuke once asked her why she has the tendency to cry "ha-cha!" when she practices by herself and not when sparring with him. Even though he wasn't saying it to necessarily make fun of her, Hinata blushed so hard and then insisted on practicing in the "Black Bamboo Courtyard" where she won't even let Sasuke come in.
Speaking of Sasuke...
It was a great relief to Hinata that Sasuke didn't know anything more about the Waker's Pearl than the basic information told through fairytales and legends.
She kept a close eye on him, but her keen insight into people's emotions and living with Sasuke told her that he was like every other person in the Shinobi world. Like others, he thinks a Waker is just a master of the mythical genie in a divine pearl. And he certainly doesn't know about the Realm, because if he did...she doesn't even want to think about it.
She was just happy he can finally be free from his ancient past that tormented him so much.
Then Hinata blushed as she remembered what Sasuke said to her back in the mountains streams in the Forest of Death.
Where did you leave your shoes?
'Just like 5010 years ago…' She thought. The wind that blew by played with her long indigo hair.