Please see first chapter for disclaimer, etc.

Prompt: Tears

Part: 1/2

Special Thanks: goes out to thatCHICKyouUSEDtoKnow, rao hyuga 18, DarkAnonymous324, Zyrr, kimbi07, and SnowCharms for your reviews! You all keep me inspired and motivated with all your kind and thoughtful words.

Author's Note: Not sure where this idea came from, but I liked it so much, I had to run with it. This is a bit of a strange storyline, bu I really hope you enjoy it nonetheless. Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting my story, and I hope you enjoy!

*~Tears~*

Some were under the misconception that the Byakugan helped members of the Hyuuga clan see the future. This was entirely untrue, as he had told several people multiple times. Even though he lacked foresight, Neji couldn't help but feel that he already knew how things were going to play out.

Neji stood on a balcony high on the wall, overlooking a large, open battleground. Across the room, on a dais, sat the seventh Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto. He was leaning forward in his seat, blue eyes keen and focused, slowly scanning the groups of people standing above him.

Three matches had already been completed. Neji was familiar with only one of the fighters so far, a young woman who had been placed in Aburame Shino's genin squad. She had won with ease, beating another genin from Cloud.

Before him, the three genin on his own squad stood against the railing, watching the large board on the opposite wall. They were just as anxious as all the others to see what match would be called next.

The knot in Neji's chest tightened. Please, please no...

Kato Takeshi VS Hyuuga Hayato

A great sigh of relief left his lips. He didn't know much about Kato, other than that he hailed from Grass, but Neji was confident his nephew could best the other boy.

Hayato had taken more after his father than his mother, with dark auburn hair and a sturdy figure. Only his eyes, those easily recognizable as belonging to a Hyuuga, were inherited from his mother. He wore the red-and-brown color scheme of a noble Sand family, his headband proclaiming his affiliation with that village. Unlike his father, he wore no gourd containing sand. His fighting style was purely Hyuuga.

Neji briefly wished the Kazekage and Lady Hinata were here to see their son, but if Hayato managed to win his fight, they would see him in the next round. Temari, Gaara's sister, leaned against the railing casually, but her sharp turquoise eyes belied her interest in her nephew's match. It still puzzled Neji that Hayato had been put on his aunt's team - there would seem to be a conflict of interest there - but he also had to admit that no one watched out for family better than family. Especially when said family was considered royalty.

His nephew's competitor seemed somewhat scrawny in comparison, but he certainly put up a good fight. Neji watched interestedly as Hayato was pushed to the limits of his fighting techniques. The young man had grown a lot since the last time he'd visited the Konoha branch of the Hyuuga clan, Neji noted proudly.

As Kato was carried off on a stretcher and Hayato returned to his team, Neji refocused his attention on the board. In front of him, Uzumaki Minato, Nara Ryuu, and Umino Takara all clutched the railing in their hands as they leaned forward eagerly, all hoping their name would be the next to be called to the sparring floor.

Neji had been truly honored to have the Hokage's middle child, and only son, on his team. Minato's loud exclamation of disappointment when his name wasn't called was extremely reminiscent of his father's. On any other occasion, the similarity between father and son would have made Neji smile.

However, the Hyuuga hardly noticed his student's disappointment. He felt his breath hitch in his chest, unable to tear his gaze from the two names displayed on the board across from him.

Hyuuga Hanako VS Hyuuga Hisoka

His head snapped around to focus on first one figure, then the other, descending the steps to stand across from each other. Sarutobi Konohamaru, the referee, had spent most of his time animatedly overseeing the matches. But now even the happy-go-lucky chuunin seemed worried as he looked from one fraternal twin to the other.

As Neji looked down at his son and daughter, he couldn't help but see himself and his cousin Hinata. They had faced each other down on the very same floor the last time the chuunin exams had been held in Konoha. He recognized the expression on his son's face, in his eyes, as the same one he had worn all those years ago.

He had almost killed his cousin then. He had little doubt that Hisoka was intending to kill Hanako, his own sister, now.

Konohamaru looked up to Neji. The Hyuuga wanted to shake his head, but he knew that, ultimately, the decision to allow the fight to be stopped or to continue was not up to him. Yes, he was their father, but only the Hokage could stop a fight. And, even though Naruto seemed a little worried, he nodded for the fight to go on.

Neji's hands curled into fists, his grip so hard he felt his fingernails biting into the skin of his palms. He sensed Minato, Ryuu, and Takara staring at him worriedly, but couldn't turn away from his children to reassure his students.

Clearing his throat, Konohamaru stepped back and lowered his head. "Begin."

For a long moment, Hisoka and Hanako stared at each other silently. They had grown up together, learned all the Hyuuga techniques together, been as close as most twins were until two years ago.

Then everything changed, and Hisoka renounced Hanako as his sister, from then on having nothing further to do with her. Until now.

The girl blinked once, her hand sliding to one of the many scrolls dangling from her belt. "Hisoka ... brother..." Her wide lavender eyes glittered with tears.

"I have no sister." Hisoka's tone was as cold as his eyes.

Hanako flinched. Her hand shook as she detached the scroll and lifted it, unrolling it across her left arm. "Don't make me do this."

Hisoka's lips curled into a sneer. "Do you know why you have to resort to weapons for your attacks, Hanako? Your Byakugan is weak. Your Jyuuken is inferior, and your kaiten is too slow. In short, you are a failure as a Hyuuga."

This time, Neji flinched. Don't do this, Hisoka. Don't make my mistakes. He longed to stop the match, but now that it had started, he couldn't interfere.

He just wondered why Naruto was letting it continue, now that he had the power he'd been lacking so long ago...

"I am not a failure!" Hanako's eyes blazed with a rare fire, and at that moment she looked so much like her mother it made Neji's heart hurt. "I refuse to be a failure."

Her brother, younger by four short minutes, snorted. "Why do you think I was named heir, even though you are the elder child? It's not because I'm male, despite what some have said. It's because, in every way, I am your superior. And I will prove that, once and for all, today." His right foot slid back, hands settling into the familiar Hyuuga taijutsu fighting stance that all from that clan shared.

Out of the corner of his eye, Neji saw Lee's eyes narrow slightly. It had been the proudest day of his life, the Green Beast had said (with tears streaming down his cheeks), when Hyuuga Hisoka was assigned to his team. The son of his youthful rival being entrusted to his care, he'd announced, was the highest honor anyone could bestow upon him. But even though Lee, too, had tried, he'd been unable to change the boy.

Neji was beginning to wonder if anyone could.

Hanako shifted into her own, slightly different, style of the Hyuuga fighting stance. It was true, her techniques and chakra control were not as good as her brother's. But she'd more than made up for it with her amazing control of weapons, which was only equaled and surpassed by one woman: the infamous Weapons Mistress of Konoha.

Her mother.

"Byakugan!" both twins growled at the same moment.

The fight began.

Hisoka charged, right hand drawing back against his chest in readiness for the Gentle Fist. Hanako leaped to her right, scroll trailing behind her, as she bit her thumb and swept it across the symbol-covered surface. A hailstorm of weapons released themselves upon her brother, who easily avoided them all.

Hanako discarded her empty scroll, bending backwards so Hisoka's hand shot past her body. She used her momentum to vault herself into a backflip, driving the toe of her shoe against her brother's arm as her legs came up. He backed off, cursing, two bright red spots appearing on the underside of his arm.

Yes! Neji ground his teeth together to keep from shouting. She caught two of his chakra points. He did not wish to see either of his children hurt. Yet, at the same time, he wanted to see his daughter prove to his son that she would not let him continue to put her down, to treat her as worthless, when both had so much potential, as individuals and together...

The younger twin stared in disbelief at his arm. "You..." His chakra-enhanced eyes narrowed dangerously at his sister. "Lucky shot."

The elder appeared to have gained a little bit of confidence, her eyes once more sparking with fire as she freed another scroll from her arsenal. "Believe what you will, brother. But I will beat you today. I will prove my worth, as your sister and as a Hyuuga."

Hisoka shrugged. "Delude yourself, then. It will make it easier for me to win." He charged again, this time his left hand drawing back for the Gentle Fist.

One graceful leap brought Hanako out of the danger zone. Executing a lithe dancer's spin in mid-air, she unrolled her new scroll, grasping the handle on the end as she allowed it to form a swirling cage around her. Tossing it into the air, the Hyuuga heiress slid her finger along the surface as it spun up and she down, releasing another barrage of weapons upon Hisoka.

A quick shift of his weight allowed Hisoka to swirl into his kaiten and deflect the weapons. It wasn't perfect, since he was not able to emit chakra from two of his points, but it was enough. Hanako landed in a crouch as her empty scroll fluttered to the ground behind her.

Two groups away, Neji saw Ino, Hanako's team leader, grin briefly but triumphantly. It was obvious that she had the utmost faith in her student. Beside her, Hanako's teammates were cheering loudly, showing their own support. Hisoka's were oddly silent, both looking troubled by their comrade's attitude.

Hisoka eased out of his spin and stared at his sister, watching her warily as he waited for her to make her next move. Hanako's fingers skipped across her scrolls, her lips moving silently as she identified each one to herself. All the while she didn't stop looking at her opponent, her wide lavender eyes watching to see if he was going to initiate an attack.

"You had might as well back out now, Hanako. You won't beat me."

Hanako's fingers curled around one of her larger scrolls, detaching it from her belt. "I don't have to beat you," she whispered. "I just have to prove to you that I am not a weakling."

"Tch." Hisoka charged her as Hanako opened her scroll, left hand driving straight toward her chest.

He wasn't even trying different attacks. He was determined to get to her through the Gentle Fist, confident that that was all it would take to bring her down.

Hanako, move! Neji wasn't sure if he shouted it or not; even if he had, his words were drowned out by his daughters' teammates.

As if she'd heard her father, Hanako did move. She dove to the left, scroll once more trailing behind her. Hisoka, surprised by his sister's speed, was unable to avoid all the weapons that flew at him. A shuriken grazed his shoulder, snipping off a lock of his trailing hair on the way past.

Furious, he whirled on his sister again. "This ends now!" he shouted. This time he did not return to the Gentle Fist stance. He slipped into another, lower one.

Eight trigrams, sixty-four palms. Neji knew from personal experience that it was an almost impossible move to avoid. Hisoka and Hanako, along with their cousin Hayato, had both been taught the technique at a much earlier age than usual. He was beginning to wonder if entrusting them with such a dangerous technique had been such a wise decision.

If Hisoka managed to close all of his sister's chakra points, the match would be over.

Hanako froze, empty scroll still dangling from her hand. She silently watched her brother coming, standing absolutely still until Hisoka was almost upon her. And then she screamed, the sound one long, piercing note that caused several in the audience to cover their ears.

Silence.

It took Neji a few moments to realize that his daughter had stopped screaming, and that all motion on the floor beneath him had suddenly stopped altogether. Leaning over the railing a little more, he blinked twice, rapidly, trying to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

Hisoka stood absolutely still, his arms extended on either side of his sister as if preparing to embrace her. His eyes were open wide, staring unblinkingly into Hanako's. A great tremor suddenly shook his whole form, and his shoulders hunched as his head quickly dropped, mouth gaping wide. Gack! He choked, blood trailing over his lower lip and down his chin.

Two tears trailed down Hanako's cheeks. Her hand fisted, gathering the fabric of her brother's shirt into her grasp. Drops of bright crimson dotted the sleeve of her white top, and ever-so-slowly, her head tilted down to stare at them in what looked to be utter disbelief.

Minato tugged on Neji's sleeve, at last drawing his attention to his students. "Hyuuga-sensei," the boy whispered, "what just happened?" The shocked confusion in his eyes was mirrored in those of Ryuu and Takara.

"I don't know." Neji turned back to his children, trying to make sense of the sudden twist the fight had taken. Hisoka had looked to win the match with the eight-trigrams technique, but somehow, Hanako had dodged his attack, using his own momentum against him as she used the Gentle Fist.

Hisoka's knees buckled. A sob escaped his sister's lips as she let go of him, watching as he fell to all fours at her feet. "Hisoka..."

"H-How?" Blood spattered onto the floor as he uttered that single word.

Hanako shook her head once. "All this time, you've blamed me," she whispered. More tears shivered down her face, crystal droplets that shimmered in the overhead lights. "But it wasn't my fault, Hisako. Y-You blamed me, a-and I-I've been so angry, unable t-to show you that i-it wasn't true. Y-You called me w-weak and useless, and I'm not!" Her last sentence ended in a shout, the words flung into her brother's face like another blow.

He cringed, visibly shaking with the effort it took to get back on his feet. He swayed for a moment unsteadily, glaring from beneath his brows. "If you hadn't argued with her that day, she never would have accepted that mission. She never would have left us, and she never would have died!"

"N-No!" Hanako's hands curled into fists at her sides. "It wasn't my fault! I begged her not to go!" Fear flashed across her face, eyes darting to the side nervously, uncertainly.

Neji gripped the railing in both hands so hard the metal groaned in protest, trying not to buckle under the weight of realization that suddenly slammed down on his shoulders. All this time ... he blamed her! That's why...

Three distinct memories flashed through his mind, one after another, each worse than the last.

Tenten shoved another scroll into her pack, jaw set in a familiar expression of repressed anger. "It's an S-rank in the Land of Clouds. I don't know how long I'll be gone."

Neji reached out for her. "Tenten, please don't-"

She cut him off. "The Hokage offered me the mission and let me have a few days to think about it. I decided today that I would accept it." She didn't look at him as she swung her pack over her shoulder.

He caught her arm, spinning her to face him. "Are you leaving because of what Hanako said earlier?"

His wife's eyes flashed dangerously. "Try to stop me again, and I swear, Neji, you will regret it." Ripping her arm free from his grasp, she left without another word, without even kissing him goodbye.

It was the last time Neji spoke to her, and vice-versa.

Neji watched silently from the doorway as Hisoka hugged his mother tightly about the waist. "I'll miss you," he whispered.

Tenten kissed the top of his head. "I'll miss you, too. But I'll be back before you know it."

Hisoka stepped back, furiously rubbing his arm across his eyes. "You're not mad at Hanako, are you?" he whispered. Even in his sadness, he was trying to stick up for his sister.

"No, I'm not mad at her." Tenten ruffled her son's hair. "I love you, Hisoka. Be good for your father until I come back, all right?"

He nodded seriously, then stepped back so his four-year-old brother could be swept up into his mother's arms and kissed. "Bye, little 'Zashi," Tenten said, kissing the tip of his nose.

Hizashi giggled and wrapped his arms around his mother's neck, too young, really, to understand what was going on. "Bye-bye, mama. See you soon."

"See you, too. Be good." Tenten kissed Hizashi's cheek, then set him down. Then she looked up and spotted Neji in the doorway. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but she turned away from him before he could.

Neji watched, heartbroken, as Tenten followed the path away from the Hyuuga estate's main house to the gate. Right before she reached it, Hanako appeared out of nowhere, stepping into her mother's path. Even from that distance, Neji saw the tears on the little girl's face. He was too far away to hear what was said, but he saw Tenten shake her head once, kiss the top of Hanako's head as she had her other two children, then push open the gate and leave.

Naruto's usually cheerful face was twisted in an expression of grief and guilt as he stared at Neji. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. "The ANBU team came back with the report. They saw her, but-" he drew in a deep breath, lowering his eyes "-were unable to retrieve her body."

Neji shook his head. "She's not dead."

The Hokage raised his head sharply, eyes narrowing. "Neji-"

"I refuse to believe she's dead. Unless I see her body, I won't." I can't. He'd been consumed with guilt for the past two weeks since she'd left. She'd been angry at him, and he hadn't been able to talk her down...

If she really was dead, that would be the end of it. He would never be able to apologize to her. Never be able to hold her, to kiss her, to be able to tell her that one last time that he loved her, so, so much...

"I sent Shikamaru, Sai, and Kiba, three of my best ANBU. I'm sorry, Neji, but their intelligence is ... final. They are absolutely certain. Tenten is gone."

Even after he was dismissed from the Hokage's office and went home, deep down, Neji still didn't believe it. He had debated whether or not to wait to tell their children, but they had been asking when their mother would come home. He couldn't allow them to retain their hope, on the slight chance it was false.

Hanako had wrapped her arms around Hizashi and hugged him tightly, both of them crying. Hisoka had simply stared at his father blankly for a long moment, glanced at his twin sister, then turned and walked away, eyes dry but filled with anger.

Neji was pulled back to the present when Hisoka shouted again at his sister.

"If you hadn't been so fixated on wanting to go to Suna to train with Aunt Hinata, Mom would never have been hurt so deeply that she accepted that mission!"

Hanako shook her head. "No, no! It wasn't my fault! She - she said she forgave me, that that wasn't why she was leaving!" Her eyes were haunted, filled with the pain and grief she'd been living with for the past two years.

"Of course she'd tell you that!" Hisoka coughed again, swaying unsteadily but refusing to fall, to give up, to lose the match. "But it's all your fault that Mom is dead, and it always will be!"

That's what drove them apart... Neji had never been able to wrangle a confession out of either twin about what had made them stop being so close. He knew that Hisoka had been the instigator, and that Hanako was hurt by her brother's distance. But Neji had never once considered that Hisoka blamed his sister for their mother's death.

Perhaps he had been so consumed with his own grief and guilt that he had not seen it.

"You're wrong!"

Hisoka swayed, slumping to his knees. But he refused to stop glaring at Hanako, eyes filled with the hatred that Neji recognized from when he would look in the mirror when he was younger. "Prove it!" he snarled.

Next to him, Neji heard his students' breaths catch. One of them - it was either Ryuu or Minato, he wasn't sure which exactly - moved to climb up on the railing to jump down.

"Stop!"

All eyes were drawn to where the Hokage stood in the narrow space between Hanako and Hisoka, one hand held out toward either twin. Murmurs of surprise rustled through the crowd: there had never been an instance where the Hokage stopped a match.

Ever.

Hard blue eyes shifted from one Hyuuga's face to the other. Naruto considered them both for a long moment, regarding their expressions, both twisted with anger and pain. Lowering his arms, he shook his head. "Both contenstants are disqualified."

Hisoka and Hanako stared at the Hokage in openmouthed surprise. Naruto looked at them both, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and turned away from them. "There is no excuse for a brother and sister to try to kill each other. If you cannot see past your own hatred for each other to conduct yourselves with discipline and honor befitting shinobi, neither of you deserve the title of chuunin." He took three steps, then sighed deeply and turned back. His gaze shifted between the twins before lifting to where Neji still stood on the balcony, hand fisted in the back of his wayward student's shirt. "Hyuuga Neji. Come down here, please."

Neji let go of his student - Ryuu, he saw, which surprised him - and descended the steps. Hisoka had gotten to his feet again, and Hanako had moved to help him remain standing. Perhaps it was shock, or perhaps he was finally starting to cool his temper. Either way, Hisoka was accepting his sister's help, at long last not pushing her away.

Naruto stepped closer to the three of them, tilting his head as he pitched his voice so low only the three Hyuuga could hear him. "Despite what I told you two years ago, Hyuuga Tenten is still very much alive."

*~To Be Continued~*

Author's Ending Note:Please don't kill me! While I did not originally intend for this piece to be a two-parter when I started it, ultimately, it has turned out this way. The next posted chapter will be the second half, I promise. (I also promise to try not to take too terribly long to update!) In the meantime, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this piece!

Footnote: One thing I want to make clear, just in case I didn't explain it well enough in the story: there are no longer "main" and "branch" clans, proper, in the Hyuuga family. When Hinata married the Kazekage and moved to Suna, she took half of the clan with her, leaving Hanabi in charge of the Konoha branch. Even though they are known as the "Suna branch" and "Konoha branch," the curse mark has been removed from those who had it, and is no longer placed upon the next generation. Thus, Hisoka, Hanako, and Hizashi do not have curse marks, and never will, even though the twins were born before the (peaceful) split happened and the curse mark was abolished. (Despite similarities, this is not related to any former piece in this collection, or my seperately posted oneshot, Desert Rose.)