Author's Notes: Thank you for reading the Vines series up to this point. This next chapter, Jealous Gemini, is the point where more familiar canon characters will start to appear and trickle into the main storyline.

I hope you enjoyed Nawaki's arc, and hope that reading more about the Hyūga twins (who are actually major characters in this series) will compel you to continue reading.

You have been wonderful readers and I count myself as very blessed to be entertaining you. I love writing for readers like you.

"Face it, son. Mitsumi's not changing her mind about that resignation. Your team's gone."

All Kazusa wanted was to throw some good news her child's way, though she was struggling to find any. Between losing one teammate and the other one deciding she wasn't cut out to be a shinobi anymore, Fugaku truly was an island.

Fugaku poked at his steamed fish, not even bothering to glance up at his mother. He reached for the steaming hot cup of tea and sipped it slowly. "Maybe I can start taking more missions with the rest of the clan," he proposed. "You said it yourself. I don't have a team anymore."

The last time he visited the Shinohara home, it quickly turned into a shouting match. Fugaku made a remark about how he'd still be there if Mitsumi changed her mind. Mitsumi's response involved pushing him and firmly insisting that she was serious about quitting. He wanted his friend back, but all she wanted was to be left in peace.

Sarani placed a piece of fish in his mouth and huffed out a faint sigh. "Fugaku, you'll be permanently tethered to the KMPF soon enough. Then you'll have all the time in the world to go on missions with Yashiro, Sanjo, and everyone else. Don't be in such a rush to get there. Take your time. Live a little."

That last statement left his hand shaking in frustration, making it difficult to hold his chopsticks. "…yes, otou-san. Whatever you say."

His tone sounded resigned, which wasn't what Sarani hoped to hear. He turned to face his wife, choosing to ignore how much of her mouth was stuffed with rice and fish. She could be such a glutton sometimes. Everyone else would sit there and savor the taste of the food, but not Kazusa. She inhaled her meals, barely tasting them at all.

"Maybe I can join one of Kaede's uncles on a sabotage mission," Fugaku offered. "Those pay nicely and Muraki-oji seems nice enough. Besides, maybe it'd be good to do something that'll put us closer to stopping this awful–"

"I'm not putting you in harm's way until I trust you not to blow yourself up," Kazusa interrupted. "You're depressed."

"My best friend died!"

It didn't even sink in that he'd come to think of Nawaki as his best friend until after he lost him. Sure, Tohru was great and all, but Nawaki somehow managed to worm his way deeper into the Uchiha boy's heart. He also succeeded in taking a huge part of that heart with him when he died. The grief still felt too intense for him to believe that part would return to him. It felt gone forever.

"And you're just like me in this regard. When I'm upset, I throw myself into my work. The harder it is, the less I have to feel. That's what you've been doing, isn't it?" Yes, it was. She had him all figured out and Fugaku felt ashamed that he'd been so transparent. "We had an idea, if you wish to hear it."

"Sure. Why not?" Fugaku grumbled. Nothing would make him feel better, but maybe his parents had some great idea on what could at least make everything feel tolerable again.

"The Hyūga Clan's heir apparent and his twin brother recently became genin," Sarani remarked, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. "Their jōnin mentor, Aburame Buyo, is a close friend of mine, not to mention my old teammate. He mentioned that he only agreed to take the twins, meaning he has a vacancy on the team. I mentioned your situation, and he's amenable to taking you. Are you interested?"

"I—"

"Buyo's a very talented jōnin, Fugaku, and he's taking that squad leader position permanently. You didn't have one of those with Nawaki and Mitsumi. This will feel more like a real team."

'Nawaki and Mitsumi were a real team,' Fugaku thought bitterly. 'And if we had more time, we could have been the greatest.'

They hadn't needed a sensei, he felt, especially after his promotion. Lately, however, he felt more like a child than ever before: as if he were nothing more than an incompetent boy playing dress-up in a chūnin vest. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to take a step back and focus on building a new set of bonds, especially under the tutelage of one of his father's friends.

"How old are they?" Fugaku already felt resigned to this idea. Whether he wanted it or not, his parents would push for it, considering how much clout and influence the Hyūga Clan carried. He may as well give them what they wanted. "They aren't little kids, are they?"

That gleam in Sarani's hopeful eyes only grew. "Hiashi and Hizashi aren't that much younger than you. I've met the boys before. I think you'll like them."

"Besides, it's super important that you like Hiashi." Kazusa stuffed her face with a steamed red bean bun and smirked. "If the Hyūga heir wants to be your friend, go for it. They have more money than we do."

"Kazusa, you're…" Sarani sighed, slowly shaking his head. "You are so transparent sometimes. I was only suggesting this because Buyo made the offer." She swallowed and made a playful face at him. "So, how about it, son? How would you–"

"It's worth a try, I guess…?"

Fugaku couldn't help but shake the feeling that he'd taken a huge leap backwards to agree to work alongside two lesser experienced kids. Just how green would they be? He'd be starting over, and it left him wondering how much this would set him back. What if Kaede's team caught up to him because he'd be wasting all his precious time on D-Ranks?

He hadn't gone into this totally blind. The village bent over backwards to accommodate the Hyūga Clan. They were affluent, highly respected, and no one wanted to be on their bad side. Yashiro had even made remarks before that the Uchiha Clan were expected to turn a blind eye to anything ugly going on within the Hyūga district.

…which was precisely where he'd been instructed to meet the twins and his new mentor: a lanky Aburame man with a rather impressive set of dreadlocks. The twins were late—which Fugaku made a passive-aggressive mental note of—but at least Buyo was present.

"You're Uchiha Fugaku? Sarani's son?"

"Yes, sir." Fugaku gave a polite bow. "I apologize. My father says you two are friends, but I've never met you before."

"We used to work together on hostage negotiation and Search & Destroy missions."

In short, Buyo was a bounty hunter. That immediately caught Fugaku's attention and left him feeling a tiny bit more excited than he originally anticipated being.

"Are we going to do one of those!?" He could be hopeful. Buyo quickly crushed that hope by shaking his head. "That sounds amazing, though! You hunt down rogue ninjas and execute them. Isn't that ANBU-level work?"

"Not always," Buyo admitted. "They don't send ANBU out to handle lower-level fugitives, especially not during war time." Most of the people he handled were shell-shocked shinobi who wanted to defect from the war rather than continue. "You're a chūnin, right?"

Fugaku nodded. "But my original teammates were both genin. We didn't have a permanent jōnin squad leader, so we only managed a couple of C-Ranks. I'm interested in doing more."

"Someday, maybe. But Hiashi and Hizashi are neophytes." When Fugaku blinked slowly, clearly unfamiliar with that word, Buyo reiterated. "Newbies."

"I want the experience," he chose to confide. "That and my parents really pushed for it." They wanted him to grow and build some long-lasting bonds. The village cheated him out of a "real" team once before. This was as close as he'd probably ever get. "I'm looking forward to working with you, Buyo-sensei."

Buyo said nothing in response. He merely nodded and rubbed the fabric on his right sleeve. Something squirmed underneath.

Honestly, Buyo didn't have to talk, considering Fugaku spotted a pair of eleven-year-olds rushing toward them. 'Oh, great. They're doing that obnoxious thing where they dress alike.' He was already annoyed.

They appeared to be racing each other. One boy tripped the other, leaving his twin behind to hit the ground and scuff his clean face against the rocky earth.

"Hey!" This was uncalled for. Fugaku didn't know these boys, but he quickly made his way over to the fallen twin. "Are you alright?" The boy waved an arm at him to indicate he'd get up by himself and gave Fugaku a small, frustrated grimace.

The unscathed twin (not to mention the little cheater who won the race by playing dirty) stepped closer to Fugaku. "What's wrong, Uchiha-san? You don't play rough with the kids in your clan?"

That did not look like playing.

The Hyūga boy then held out his hand expectantly. "I'm Hiashi. Hizashi's fine. Aren't you, Hizashi?"

Hizashi made it back to his feet and brushed himself off. He also plucked a lodged piece of gravel off his face. Fugaku heard the boy grumble something that sounded very much like a couple of choice profane words, but he nodded.

Fugaku's initial impressions of the twins weren't flattering. Hiashi seemed like an asshole and Hizashi seemed like a doormat. At least Buyo appeared to have the patience needed to handle such an energetic pair. Then again, was that so much of a shock? If he was his father's friend, then maybe they'd share a similar temperament.

Just as soon as Hiashi's attention turned elsewhere, Hizashi reached for a rock and appeared to be contemplating chucking it at his twin. "Go for it," Fugaku whispered in the boy's ear. "He deserves it. He tripped you."

"He's family," Hizashi responded with a resigned, frustrated laugh as he put the rock back down. The brief fleeting glimpse of anxiety on the boy's face didn't go unnoticed. "Sometimes brothers do that. Do you have a brother, Uchiha-san?"

"I'm an only child, and it's alright, Hizashi-san. You don't have to be so formal with me." Though he now suspected Hizashi started doing it because Hiashi was being formal. "I'm Uchiha Fugaku, your new teammate."

"The Police Chief's son? That makes you the next in line to lead the Uchiha Clan, doesn't it?" Hizashi sounded simultaneously impressed and disappointed. "…I see. So you're an heir apparent like my brother."

"Why should that make any difference? I judge people by how they treat others, not by their title." If he could trade partners during practice battles and get along with a prick like Shimura Mikuro, then he could work with anyone.

The hell did this kid think he was going to do: get cozy with Hiashi and gang up on him? Please. Hyūga Hiashi was just like everyone else in this world; he'd have to earn Fugaku's friendship. "I'd like to get along with the both of you."

"I'd like that, too," Hizashi admitted sheepishly.

"Excuse me. Buyo-sensei?" Hiashi was still trying to sound overly formal. The more he talked, the more Fugaku couldn't shake the feeling this kid wanted to put on airs and sound more mature than he actually was. "What is our mission for today?"

It didn't matter. One mission, eleven missions. One thing always remained the same and Fugaku felt the heat in his blood every bit as intensely as he did the first time a classmate slighted him.

The twins were remarkably good with Taijutsu, especially the Gentle Fist moves passed within their clan. As a result, Fugaku's own physical moves had to catch up in order to match them. Despite being genin, both boys were formidable opponents and worthy of his respect. They'd climb the ranks quickly.

And yet only one of them had proven worthy of Fugaku's respect and friendship. Hiashi treated his twin like a subordinate. Hizashi gave up his favorite part of his lunch because his spoiled brother was still hungry. He carried Hiashi's things at the end of the day because Hiashi was too tired to do so. If Hiashi yelled at his brother, Hizashi merely stood there, took it, and murmured the same things.

Yes. Of course. You're right. I apologize, Hiashi-sama.

But right below Hizashi's calm surface, Fugaku saw a soul every bit as angry as his own. Hizashi clearly wanted to punch his brother in the face and fight back but chose to swallow his anger rather than unleash it. Maybe that was why Fugaku grew to only like the younger twin.

Despite his best efforts to not play favorites, and despite what his mother wanted to happen, Fugaku couldn't bring himself to like Hiashi. Was he a formidable opponent and capable of doing a good job during a mission? Yes. Was he a valid contributor to the team? Absolutely. Would he grow up to be a very powerful shinobi someday and someone Fugaku could tolerate for public graces in the future? Undeniably so.

But tolerance was a far cry from camaraderie.

"I'm not even sure if Hizashi-kun's father will permit him to come without his brother," Sarani sighed, laying out a second futon. They had a third one in storage somewhere, just in case Hiashi showed up. "Your mother wanted to know if it would kill you to have them both over here. You'll have to negotiate and conduct business with Hiashi-kun someday, not his brother."

"I know that, but that doesn't mean I have to do it right now, does it? I only invited Hizashi," Fugaku growled. "Why does everything have to turn political with you two? Can't you just be happy that I made a new friend?"

Honestly, he never expected he'd have as much in common with that boy as he did. The handful of times Hiashi stayed at home to train and Hizashi came to complete a mission without him, he and Fugaku had a grand time.

He'd never managed to coordinate his moves so well with a teammate before. Perhaps a part of it came from the fact he now had the sharingan, but he couldn't pin it all on his dōjutsu. The fact of the matter was Hizashi was a remarkable coordinator, capable of filling in the gaps of any strategy Fugaku proposed. They'd even taken Buyo-sensei down together once.

"We're very happy. It's just–"

"You guys did the same thing every time I invited Nawaki over," he murmured, trying to do some last minute clean-up around the house.

The Hyūga estate was one of the loveliest and most affluent in the whole of the village. The clan head, Taiyō, lived in luxurious quarters with beautiful gardens and private ponds. By comparison, Kazusa's family lived in a stuffy old two-story house that used to belong to her father. It wasn't that big, nor had the smell of cat pee ever truly dissipated. But not for lack of trying. Fugaku really wanted to impress his friend at least a little.

"I lost count of how many times it turned awkward, just because someone had to bring up his grandfather. Please don't do that with Hizashi."

"Did I do that or did your mother do that?" Sarani's brow furrowed. He knew that Nawaki was still a landmine in his son's soul he needed to tiptoe around or risk an explosion of grief.

"…mostly okaa-san," Fugaku confessed, "but you acted like you were uncomfortable. Is there some deep underlying blood feud between us and the Hyūga Clan, too?" He wanted an answer. "I want this friendship to work. I want it to last."

Didn't his family realize how lonely he'd started to feel outside of the clan? Within the confines of his own flesh and blood, Fugaku never felt alone. Mikoto kept asking for help practicing her Academy skills, and her brother seemed nice. Yashiro stepped forward as a sort of mentor/confidante combination, which was most welcome. Sanjo continued to treat him like a favorite little brother. Kaede cared enough to stop by and offer to listen to him if he needed to talk, though Fugaku still preferred to spill his heart to Yashiro. Kaede gossiped too much.

Outside, he'd watched as most of his friendships failed to stand up after one person died. Tohru stuck around, but it was increasingly becoming harder to relate to him when he continued to sit in the comfort of the Academy. Mitsumi's depression made it increasingly harder to reach her, all to the point where Fugaku feared his presence did more harm than good. As for Neyuki, he had to interact with Mikuro to get to him and would rather not do that.

Hyūga Hizashi marked a fresh start. They hadn't shared an Academy classroom together or started on the same team, but that was alright. Away from his brother, his true personality managed to shine through and Fugaku couldn't help but enjoy that.

"No. There's no blood feud between our two clans. We supposedly share a common ancestor. There's no other clan in the whole of this village we're closer to than them…at least in blood." Sarani put his hands to his back and sighed, glancing around. "How about I tell your mother what you want to do about dinner? It's only–"

"Sukiyaki," Fugaku insisted impishly. "If Hiashi finds out later, I want to make him jealous." Despite his father keeping a calm face in front of him, he could hear the man lose that composure as soon as he left the room. Sarani laughed as he reiterated this to Kazusa.

Hizashi arrived by himself, impish delight present in his pale eyes. He didn't even attempt to hide the smile on his lips when he bowed in respect toward Sarani. "Thank you for having me over, Sarani-sama. I'll be a considerate guest."

"You can be at least a little loud and rowdy, Hizashi-kun," Kazusa teased lightheartedly from the kitchen. "If I can't hear you, I'll have to assume you and my son are up to something!"

The Hyūga boy placed his shoes by the door and offered a small gift to Sarani. By the time Fugaku finished tidying the upstairs, he spotted his new friend and quickly made his way downstairs. "Hello, Fugaku!" Right away, he noticed the Uchiha boy looking around suspiciously. "You can relax. My brother didn't come with me."

'Thank the gods.'

"Does he know you're here?" Fugaku asked warily. "Is there any chance he'll invite himself over?"

"He'll find out tomorrow," Hizashi confessed, practically beaming. "I begged my mother to let me do this by myself. She gave permission." The thrill came through in his words. "And she's going to keep my little secret."

'Your family's so strict. All I have to do is let my parents know if I'm going somewhere else.'

It left the Uchiha boy grateful for his parents. They didn't indulge him, but they respected him as a person. They treated his wants and goals as every bit as valid as theirs, even though he wasn't yet an adult. They were all about independence and self-reliance.

"Sukiyaki's ready," Kazusa announced. "Please, eat everything. This doesn't make good leftovers."

The family sat together, leaving a space so the two boys could sit next to each other. Hizashi excitedly watched as the food bubbled in the broth on the tiny stove. Before too long, a whole slew of questions left his mouth. How did Kazusa-sama and Sarani-sama meet? How long has Sarani-sama known Buyo-sensei? Which deity does the Uchiha Clan worship at the Naka Shrine? Did they know that the Hyūga and Uchiha Clans shared a common ancestor?

Honestly, it was the most Fugaku had ever heard this kid talk and he tried his best not to laugh. What's more, he caught sight of something with his father. The way Sarani looked at Hizashi and smiled so warmly made it clear he approved of this new friend. He liked the boy. Kazusa appeared to feel similarly, but not entirely.

Her eyes betrayed her. She still hoped these feelings would come through for the Hyūga heir, not his twin.

"That was a great dinner. I really like the way your mother cooks. Hiashi would've enjoyed it too." And he clearly wanted to rub it in his face when he went home tomorrow. "Too bad he wasn't here, huh?" That didn't sound terribly sincere.

"No Hiashi-sama this time?" Fugaku teased, nudging his friend's shoulder.

Hizashi narrowed his eyes, a low chuckle leaving his mouth. His shoulders shook when he did so. "Well, he isn't here, so…"

"You won't be offended if I ask you something, will you? Something's been bothering me." This had gone on long enough; somebody had to address it. At the very least, Fugaku wanted an answer. Hizashi shrugged, insisting he didn't care. This was his friend; he could ask whatever. "I don't understand why you put up with his crap. You're both sons of the clan head and it's not like Hiashi fights better than you do."

Already, he could see Hizashi glancing down, cheeks turning red. "You even said you had to keep your visit here a secret. Not only that, but my mother keeps pushing me to be nicer to him when I can't even bring myself to like him. I don't see what difference it makes if I like you better or–"

"It makes a world of difference, Fugaku. And I can't stand up to Hiashi."

"Sure you can! You're more committed to the missions than he is. You've completed more. Buyo-sensei says you're really talented and I'm inclined to agree. I've never been able to team up with one person and get so much done before! He has no right to treat you like a piece of–"

"Actually, he does." Hizashi bit his lip, face scarlet, and proceeded to pull his hitai-ate off so Fugaku could see his brow. There, burned into it in a noxious shade of green, was a brand. "I know you don't know what this is or what it means, but it's the sign of my clan's branch family. They brand us to serve the main family…which my brother belongs to because he was born first."

This time, Fugaku was at a loss for words. All he could do was stand there, appalled, with his mouth half open in shock, disgust, and horror. "Is it a–"

"A curse seal? Yes. And it can't come off unless I die." So even if something were to happen to Hiashi, this couldn't be reversed.

Now it made more sense to him. That whiff of disappointment he caught from Kazusa, her constant pushing for him to go after the other brother's friendship…even that tiny glance of pity in Sarani's eyes for this boy…

'They knew about this and didn't tell me. They knew.'

He had no idea he'd get this angry, but he wanted to do something–but nothing could be done. Perhaps the Yamanaka Clan head made him uncomfortable with the severed head incident, but talking to Old Man Osamu was nothing compared to this. The Hyūga Clan were supposed to be an illustrious, highly respected family. This was barbaric, not to mention all kinds of cruel.

"…this is unforgivable. I hate your family."

"Yeah…heh…that makes two of us. Your clan doesn't have any ugly practices and rituals hidden away somewhere, too, do they?"

"Us? Gods, no…"

Not that he knew about, anyway.