She reads their lips (she's not very good at it yet) and it echoes a vaguely remembered episode.
The whole clan is definitely watching this.
Hizashi knocks out Hiashi.
She watch the aftermath and then Hizashi is walking back home in an even gait you'd think he hadn't just offered himself up to such an obvious conspiracy (how could anyone have snuck into the Hyuuga clan compound, only the Hyuuga knows the tricks to hide from Hyuuga eyes, they're the ones that applied every anti-Byakugan seals in the village-).
She's kind of starting to hate Hizashi.
Which is selfish. Because then if not her, then it'll be the actual-three-year-old Hinata who will loose her father and be left alone to fend for herself with such a heavy responsibility. Or Konoha will go to war and many other fathers will die leaving behind their four year old daughters.
(Why does someone have to die?)
Maybe that's why she Recalled, to prepare her for this, so that she'll actually be able to take care of herself, a twisted sort of pity from the fates-
But she's his daughter!
Shouldn't he think of her first!
She hugs him when he kneels in front of her, a small, sad smile on his face. It's the first time she'd seen a fragile expression on her father's face.
It-...
She hates it.
She cling to him, letting the tears run free and finally allowed the despair and anguish to tear out from where she had stashed it months ago. Her emotions choke her, hiccuping and making ugly sobs, she can't quite breathe.
"Otou-san!"
It's all she can say.
Why? She knows why. She knows the many 'whys'.
Because her father loves his brother, and the clan, and her.
She. Hates. It. All.
XxXxXx
Everything was a blur.
But sometimes, in the weeks after, they'd come back to her more vivid than ever. People who greeted her whose faces don't matter to her but she will be able to draw if she wants and will recognize, down to the words they said and the emotions they conveyed.
She hates herself.
Because didn't she give up too easily? Hadn't she let it all happen? But she was powerless.
Excuses.
Too late.
Remembered too late.
She was asleep the day her father had left to be delivered to Kumo, possibly won't be afforded even a proper burial shehatesKumo. No one says anything that hints to it, but she suspects she was knocked out.
On her futon, a box had been left, seventy nine kanzashi of varying levels of quality and age. Even if she hadn't wanted to, thanks to her Byakugan, she still would've ended up seeing inside anyways.
Various clan members provide her meals, and she staggers out of bed because it's the least she owes her father. She can't kill herself of starvation when her father died so honourably hestilldiedandhonorwillneverbeasuitablereplacementofherfather-!
She still trains.
It- it helps her vent, among other things, and she hates the wood her palm meets rather than-
Throughout everything, through every action, she has her Byakugan in use.
Focusing in something else, something distant from the now and here, completely unrelated to her life and her tragedy, helps numb the pain.
Her range just manages to reach the Shodaime Hokage's stone face, she sometimes find herself getting lost in the little details, the devotion and care poured into it's creation apparent-
Oh, huh, that kid just confessed his feelings but, yup, the guy is about twenty years older and it definitely doesn't fly-
So that's how dango is made, the mochi though-
That's a really pretty kimono, and if even Nagi can see that she wore it just to spite that other girl, then they definitely can too-
Is that Naruto-?
On the second week after -after-, her neighbour Tokuma sunshins in their -her, backyard right after she delivers a particularly volatile jyuuken strike and splinters a part of the log, leaving her hands bleeding. Fortunately, it wasn't bad in the 'damaged chakra pathway irreparably' and more of a 'accidentally did something she didn't mean to and wasn't prepared for the consequence but nothing permanent'.
She cries. A lot.
Only partially because of the physical pain.
He takes out the wood pieces, cleans her wounds, gets her to Natsu to be healed, and then leaves her in front of the main family door where Hiashi is standing.
She doesn't look at him.
She shouldn't have allowed herself to fall into this grief. It's surprisingly difficult to climb back out.
Surprisingly cozy too, in that 'It's not a nice place but I've gotten to know it and now I don't want to move' way.
"Hi... He mentioned that you wanted to attend the academy. I have signed you up for this year. Classes will start in three weeks time."
(A tiny part of her that can still be bothered to care and act sane is speechless.
Presented with a grieving four year old, and the Hyuuga clan's solution is to toss her into a program that's aimed to desensitize little kids from death and instill/brainwash patriotism into them possibly to a suicidal degree.
Granted, the reason might also be coming from the less 'taking advantage of grieving genius child' angle and more to give her an immediate purpose.
Still. Shouldn't a stable frame of mind be one of the bare minimum requirements of something like this.)
XxXxXx
"Excuse me. Please spar with me."
The two Hyuuga, chunin and genin, look at her. Then look at each other.
She doesn't know either of their names nor can she be bothered to. Even if a part of her feels bad, it's a very small part.
Nagi isn't even sure who she's asking. Either one will do.
-she land on her back, rolling, and she twists and stop her momentum just to deliver another series of consecutive hits.
She puts up a good fight, the chunin tells her, but she doesn't win.
'Excuse me, please fight me'.
The Hyuuga clan at large gets to hear a large variation of the same request in those three weeks.