Summary: All of the world's unproven things could be explained in concepts: fate, freedom, fear, love...and a girl obsessed with birds made Hizashi question everything he believed in and made him believe. He didn't question it, he just let it be. After all, change is just a concept too.
Word Count: 6612

There weren't just the bandages to tell them apart.

Identical twins shouldn't look so identical, with the same exact length of hair, posture, eye colour, skin tone, face shape, and voice. Yet at the same time, they shouldn't be so distinguishable by a single glance. From the back, you may not tell the difference between Hyuga Hizashi and Hyuga Hiashi, but one look in both of their eyes and they were about as similar-looking as a kunai and a shuriken.

In Hizashi's eyes, one would see a little joy, kindness, bitterness, and pain. There's a saying that the saddest smile the brightest, and he was sad. In the academy, he excelled in his classes, graduating with one mark higher than his brother. He remembered coming home that day and overhearing his parents, who neglected him even though he was just as much their child as Hizashi was, scolding his sibling.

At first, he was about to defend his brother, knowing that he didn't deserve any of the yells for not fulfilling the role of an heir and being bested by a branch member. After all, Hiashi was only 12 years old and even if they had been separated, burdens of leadership shouldn't be placed on a child. Yet the unlucky branch member remembered the pain of the cursed seal placed on his forehead on his fourth birthday and the love he lacked from his parents. He would prove them wrong one day.

The team he was assembled to was announced the next day.

His first squad member was Asuka. Just Asuka without a last name. He didn't know much about her, other than the fact that she was shy, was an orphan, and loved birds. She was constantly drawing them on her notebook in class or gazing out the window to observe them. He was sure she wouldn't be a problem to his progression, considering she had average grades. It was probably because she spent most of her time bird-watching rather than doing anything else. She was also the prettiest girl in their class and the only girl who wasn't obsessed with Hiashi (because the other girls thought that the future leader of the Hyuga was husband material). Though she didn't have any features that immediately set her apart, (dark brown hair like his and light honey eyes), her features were perfectly shaped with high cheekbones, large almond eyes, soft eyebrows, small button nose, and lips that rested in a natural pout. Funny, because she was probably the girl his brother had his eyes on and the only girl he wouldn't get.

The second was Ryoku Kenji, last in their class not because he lacked skill, but because two months before graduating, his home was burnt down by rogue-nin and parts of his house collapsed onto him, disabling the use of both his legs and one of his thighs. They put him on prosthetic limbs and he was severely behind on his studies when he returned to school after multiple surgeries but managed to pass. Hizashi didn't know if he wanted to be on the same team as someone who couldn't even run properly but he kept his thoughts to himself. He wasn't one who judged by appearances alone.

Finally, there was their jonin leader Katate Kazane. Kazane-sensei approached them and to their surprise, she waved at them with a prosthetic arm. All three aspiring ninja stared, wondering how a jonin would be able to perform ninjutsu or genjutsu with only one hand. She didn't tell them how she lost it, but took off her arm and threw it towards them, which took them by even more surprise. Ninja wasn't supposed to be surprised, but their teacher threw her arm at them.

Kazane-sensei started off by asking them about their likes and strengths. He told her that he was able to use his Byakugan since age seven, which she didn't seem impressed by. Asuka said she liked to and was able to run quickly and jump high because it gave her the sensation of nearly flying. Kenji only bowed his head and replied that he didn't have any strengths, only weaknesses which he wanted to overcome. It was clear that he was referring to his disadvantage in moving because of his prosthetics.

"Well, in order to pass, you will not be relying on any of your strengths." she began. "As for you, Kenji, you will be relying solely on your weakness. You aren't to use any ninjutsu or genjutsu, the only method you can use is taijutsu."

She raised two fingers and suddenly, Asuka had dirt enveloping her feet, causing her to be immobile. "You are to fight in one spot. You are not to move."

There was no time to be impressed at a one-handed jutsu, only fear.

"And you, Hizashi," she flicked her fingers again and darkness clouded his vision. He couldn't see anything. "You will be fighting blind. If I see any veins protruding from your eyes, you automatically fail."

He tried to stay calm. He always relied on his eyes. How could he fight without them? What really was a Hyuga without their eyes?

"Your goal is to immobilize my hand. The boundaries are here. Don't cross them. You have until the stars come out."

And with that, she threw several kunai into a large circle in the clearing, and Hizashi took some weapons from his pocket and threw them towards her. He could hear them miss their target and he leapt off, doing his best to use his other senses to try and navigate himself. It was hard, not knowing exactly what his target was doing, having to react the last minute when he could hear a swish of air, and not knowing if he even caught his target or not. He didn't even know how his teammates were doing.

From what he had heard, Asuka had dodged everything and used a couple of clones to distract their sensei and threw several weapons in the direction. She was mostly defending the two, using whatever she could to knock away dangers. When she was targeted, she easily leaned back and knocked away anything that came close. Kenji on the other hand, even though he wasn't fast, happened to be strong. He didn't land any punches, but his chakra control was good enough to cause a couple of dents in the ground. While listening to the sound of his teammate's attacks, he didn't catch the sound of fist swinging towards him until Asuka screamed.

"Hizashi! Duck!"

And he responded. He responded quicker than any other sound would to provoke him to, reacting to her order in an instant. Their eyes couldn't meet, but an idea formed in both of their heads.

"Swing! Duck! Kick! Left! Duck! Jump! Right! Swing! Behind!" he coated his hands with chakra and swung blindly, hoping to accidentally strike or come into contact with a tenketsu. "Do that chakra swing again! Chakra forwards! C-Right! C-more right! C-L, C-R-R! R!"

Suddenly, his female teammate was his eyes and he was her movements, trusting her command fiercely as Kenji covered them with strong punches. Her letters were quick and he got the hang of it immediately, as it was the only thing he could rely on. He hoped desperately that he would soon strike an arm, as it was the only hand that could perform hand seals.

Suddenly, he felt a metal hand come into contact with his face quicker than he could comprehend, and pain rushed to his face. Hizashi felt so helpless and he hated being blind. How could he—

"C-U"

Channelling the chakra to his hand once again, he sliced upwards so fast that he almost hit himself in the face. Yet he felt it cut through something, something similar to a wire. And it really didn't do much until he felt a hand reach forwards and grab the part attached to the wire and pull back quickly. Everyone was silent.

"You all pass."

Hizashi's vision was suddenly restored and it was already sunset. When he looked around after processing the light, he noticed the metal hand in Kenji's grip.

"Not only have you considered the fact that my prosthetic is still a hand, metal or not, you also learned to overcome your weaknesses and work as a great team. I look forward to teaching you three. Dinner is my treat tonight."

The three collapsed in exhaustion and he met Asuka's brown eyes again, thanking her silently for helping him considerably during the fight. She smiled, no teeth, but it was warm and sincere. No one smiled at him like that before. Even at twelve, his breath caught in his throat, finally seeing what all the boys in his class had seen in her. He possibly could be screwed.

In the following year, they trained hard.

Kazane-sensei pushed each of them, especially Kenji, who needed to overcome his disability quickly. He was now almost as fast as Hizashi's average pace. Their teammate finally found a strong point, and that was his chakra control. Because he had a physical disadvantage, it forced him to work on traits he could control and studied medical ninjutsu at night.

Asuka became even faster, running so quickly and jumping so high it really did seem like she was flying. She possessed wind release and occasionally used it in desperate times to practically make certain people "ride the wind". Despite her love of the jutsu, it used up a lot of chakra. It happened to be pure luck that when their team defeated a B-rank rogue-nin, captured him, and found a summoning contract with ninja swifts.

Though it probably wasn't moral, Asuka forced a kunai to his neck uncharacteristically and demanded that he summon a swift, which he did. Kazane-sensei didn't stop her because they were all too shocked at her sudden change of temper. It took him quite a while to summon it because apparently, the ninja bird was forced into the contract. The swift took a liking to Asuka, probably because she was sweet, innocent, and looked at the bird with such admiration that she immediately agreed to form a contract. She spent the next month honing her skills in summoning the swift until she summoned one whose wing was bigger than her.

There were two rookie teams in the chunin exams that year: his team, and his brother's. As their sensei worked to train Kenji harder, he and Asuka sparred constantly. Both of their taijutsu skills improved rapidly and so did their long-range combat, as he learned from their final genin test that he couldn't rely solely on his Kekkei Genkai. His team would also practice combination jutsus, formations, and discuss strategies for going into the chunin exams. Their plan was to not speak unless spoken to and make sure they didn't leave an impression.

The written portion was hardly a problem for each of them. Their proctor was Orochimaru, who posed several questions based on morals and the shinobi code, making sure they could find several loopholes. Based on their wit and ability to take in every instruction, eleven teams passed towards the next exam, placed in the forest of death.

Each team then signed a waiver and listened to the instructions of Kato Dan, who gave each of them either a heaven or an earth scroll, explaining to them that they had four days to acquire another scroll and bring it to a temple in the middle of the forest. They were not to open the scroll until they reached the temple.

As soon as the horn went off, they ran off until they found a good place to discuss a plan. During this time, he kept his Byakugan activated in case any enemies approached them. They would make their way to the temple, they'd find the weakest looking team with their opposite scroll, and then complete the exam as fast as they could. Asuka would take the front as she was the fastest and reacted the quickest, he would take the back because of his Byakugan, and this would also protect Kenji, who was the only one who knew medical ninjutsu.

Unfortunately, they overestimated their opponents and by the time a whole day had passed, they decided to attack the first team they came in contact with, who also thankfully had the scroll they were looking for. It was a team from the Village Hidden in the Clouds, who didn't seem at all to possess incompetence. Yet filled with adrenaline, they didn't care.

Asuka started off with a simple wind jutsu, as Hizashi and Kenji threw on ridiculous-looking goggles from their pack to protect their eyes, swinging her cloak around to lift debris from the ground and leaves from the trees to promptly distract their opponents. Because the cloud-nin relied on lightning release, their opponents had a serious disadvantage against them. He used his air palm to push his target towards Kenji, who channelled his chakra into his fist, quickly knocking the ninja out cold. Meanwhile, Asuka was jumping around trees as the cloud-nin zapped each one she landed on with lightning, until she flew down right above him, swinging her cloak to ward off any other strikes or weapons, and kicked him towards Kenji as well so their second opponent was also unconscious. The last member of that team was now completely terrified so they spared a little mercy on him and disabled some of his tenketsu so he could at least look after his teammates.

They were the first team to complete the second task and went home to rest. They had a month to train for the final task: one-on-one battles.

Hizashi's first opponent was Inuzuka Tsume and her dog Kuromaru. She was Hiaishi's teammate and apparently, she and her huge dog did many quick and powerful attacks. Though he could always leap out of the way, he was starting to doubt how well he would be able to defeat her. He may be able to easily block a couple of punches but to block a 150-pound dog leaping at him and threatening to tear off his skin?

In total, there were twelve contestants who made it this far. He and his female teammate examined the chart and saw that if he were to proceed to the next round, he would be facing either a rain-nin or a sand-nin. Meanwhile, Asuka could face Hiashi if they both won their next round, something he was interested in seeing where it could go.

"Looks like you're gonna have a disadvantage in your match."

Hizashi's breath caught in his throat as she leaned her head over his shoulder to examine the sheet of paper. When he tried to control his breathing, he caught a whiff of her shampoo. When he tried to breathe in with his mouth, he could feel her breath gently brushing against his neck. It was intoxicating and hard to concentrate when she was just so close. Asuka was way too close.

"What?"

"You have a disadvantage against Inuzuka Tsume. She's Hiashi's teammate. She knows how to aim at the weak points of a Hyuga. She can probably beat him in a match and if she can't, she'll have enough of an upper hand to defeat you."

"Your vote of confidence is deeply appreciated," he mumbled, slightly offended.

She laughed. Her laugh was like music, soft, bright, and sweet. "Hey, that's not what I meant!"

"Was it not?"

"No! I meant that we're gonna have to train pretty hard to make sure that whatever you do, it's better than what Hiashi can." she grinned.

"I'm only slightly better than him."

"Every technique?"

"Barely different enough to notice."

"You know all the jutsus he uses?"

"All the same."

Asuka snapped her fingers a couple times. "Are there any jutsus that the older Hyugas use in which Tsume probably doesn't have experience combating?"

"Of course," Hizashi scoffed. "You don't think my abilities are limited to the ones I have now, do you?"

"Ah, men. Always defending their masculinity, even when it isn't threatened." she sighed. Before he could interject, she continued. "Why don't you learn one of those?"

"Well, you see, those jutsus are reserved for the main members,"

The tension increased dramatically. Asuka was the only person he trusted enough to tell her about his situation. She was a great listener and didn't judge him, only his family. Yet he often had to make sure she kept all her opinions to herself because even if she was shy, she was very unafraid to speak her mind about topics she was passionate about.

"Will that stop you?"

And that's how Hizashi and Asuka ended up at the Hyuga compound, observing the older members spar. She often came over to train so no one thought anything of it as they climbed onto a tree and watched closely. It was a very dull battle. He could tell she was bored as they swung at each other and stuck out fingers quickly. She only caught interest again when one of the members threw several weapons at once and the other rotated, blue chakra spinning in a circle.

"Woah," she breathed in amazement. "What was that?"

"The Kaiten," he said longingly. "They call it the 'heavenly spin". I wish I could learn how to do that."

"You mean you will."

And it kept that's when they started to train.

They were extremely lucky when one day, he found his father teaching Hiashi how to do the Kaiten and he ran over to Asuka's apartment as fast as he could, dragged her over quickly and quietly, then used one of her birds to listen to all the tips they acquired. After gathering as much information as possible, he started to perform it.

In their training ground, he would practice the spin by pushing out chakra continuously from each tenketsu and spinning so it surrounded him in a dome. However, sometimes if his chakra control wasn't precise enough, he would spin out of control and land ten feet away from his lopsided crater. When he felt ready, Asuka would use her wind release and lift the debris, leaves, and rocks to hit him. She started out easy at first, only using a few twigs. As he got better and better, she would incorporate stones, then sand, then even knives. This also helped her accuracy with weapons while using her wind release.

Because not much was known about her rain-nin opponent, they overall made sure to push themselves physically. This improved their amount of chakra and stamina so they would last much longer in a battle. They also made sure to summon the swifts once in a while to tell prepare them and practice with them. Hizashi found that battling her when she was riding her huge bird Chūrippu, facing the wind release of her medium one Yuri, or even the unpredictableness of the smallest swift Suisen, who was by far the most vicious was incredibly challenging. Dealing with an animal would be a lot of help for his upcoming battle.

When he faced Tsume in the first round, he realized how accurate his teammate was. She was so immediately accustomed to his fighting style it was almost like she possessed the Sharingan. It was challenging, but the longer he fought, the easier he predicted her next moves. Realizing that she was slowly losing the upper ground, Tsume swallowed a few food pills, gave a couple to her dog and suddenly, they were much stronger. The duo started a crazy combination ninjutsu—fang passing fang, and he realized how much more powerful the next attack would be. A split second before he launched into his kaiten, he met Asuka's honey-brown eyes which he could read instantly. He could practically hear her in his mind saying "start showing off just a little".

The most satisfying part of spinning like that was the shock on his brother's face as he stopped spinning. In the next moment, Hizashi charged towards his opponent as fast as he could and immediately disabled all of her chakra points, winning the match.

To determine who would fight against him, a Sand-nin and a Rain-nin battled, the Rain-nin defeating the Sand-nin after sinking all of her sand with water. Asuka's match against the winner's teammate proved to be a very interesting match as she won by using the wind to control the water her opponent summoned, riding on waves with excellent chakra control Kenji and him taught her to do themselves. A smile spread on his lips, knowing that a month ago she would have difficulty even standing on water.

Meeting in the contestant podium after being checked for injuries, they discussed their matches with Kenji, who was quite nervous about his upcoming battle.

"For a few minutes there, we really thought you were screwed." Kenji teased.

"I didn't think she would know your moves that well," admitted Asuka. "Good thing we prepared, otherwise I really think your disadvantage would have ended up in defeat."

His twin's match was up next. It was a short match especially considering the fact that Hiashi's opponent decided to go head-first with taijutsu, and ended up disabled very quickly. Asuka would have to go against him, and he was slightly jealous.

"Wait, Tsume had an advantage because she was familiar with the Hyuga fighting style, which means you will too," he said.

"Also means that he's gonna be extra careful," she said, analyzing her opponent, who unlike them, was without a scratch.

"You just have to end him quickly," Hizashi said encouragingly. "Don't be too hard on him."

"Just a little easier than I go on you?" she teased. "That's still pretty bad."

"Just don't aim for the blind spot unless you have to," he said. "That's kind of cruel."

He expected a laugh, but she just frowned. "It wouldn't be as cruel as how you're treated."

It wasn't often when she looked so angry, but there she was, upset because of his situation, not hers.

"It's not like he's the one who does anything," Hizashi spoke softly. "He doesn't know how to activate the seal yet."

"Yet," she said bitterly. "Tell me, does he stand by and watch without any sympathy?"

"Asuka…"

"I'm sure he's been cruel to you too. Don't say he's never used his status selfishly."

He didn't really know what to say. It was unfamiliar seeing someone care for him as much as she did, and while it sent a warm feeling through his body, he ached for more.

"Please don't be angry, it's not his fault. It was just fate."

"I'm angry at the concept of fate. For everyone's fate. We never get to choose if we even want to live."

"The concept?"

"The concept that we can't change anything. That we're subjected to a destiny and there isn't anything we can do about it. I hate the concept of not being able to choose, which is why it makes me so angry that you're treated this way."

She sighed, looked to her side where Hiashi was, and he was watching them interact very closely. It was clear that he was jealous of their relationship, after all, the heir of the Hyuga Clan was used to getting everything he wanted. A glare sent his direction was warning him not to get too close. He chuckled to himself. How could he stop himself from getting close when she was the one who always insisted on helping him and sharing the pain?

"Only if I have to," she said. "Any last-minute weaknesses I'm not to pursue?"

He shook his head and faced the podium again. His brother's other teammate, a guy with slicked-back black hair, a heavy fur coat, and fingerless black gloves won against a contestant from the Sand, which left Kenji's battle next.

Asuka cheered, hollering out Kenji's name as he prepared himself, carefully analyzing his teammate. The last Sand-nin didn't seem that threatening. She was small, likely not very strong compared to Kenji, and therefore couldn't have a lot of chakra. However, this also meant that she would likely be very fast, which would put Kenji at a disadvantage because of his legs.

He started off by punching the ground with his fist full of chakra. Most of the others were shocked by his strength and his teammates hadn't realized how far he had come that month. There were rumours that he had received many tips from a medical ninja named Tsunade, who was known for her super strength and used this to his advantage. His opponent quickly dodged the ground ripping open towards her and bounced off a nearby tree to attack him from above. It worked in his favour, as his reflexes in his upper body were superior, demonstrating amazing taijutsu. He punched at her, his fist full of chakra, and everyone thought she would be done for good. However, she was able to dodge a direct hit, so she was only knocked back.

When she started on a jutsu which seemingly would target the ground, causing him to have to leap, also risking her seeing his prosthetics, finding his weakness, he punched the ground again before she could do anything. Kenji started a barrage of weapons towards her and charged with a katana in hand, battling her until she was at her breaking point. It seemed hopeless for the small girl until she seemed to notice a gleam of metal on his leg, She quickly formed hand seals in the air and pushed fired towards him. It wasn't accurate, but since his legs were metal, it heated up anyways and pressed against his limbs, causing him to holler in pain.

Though he had enough time to counteract it with water, the moment of distraction was enough for her to send a punch and knock him out, disabling him. Asuka sighed, in disappointment, knowing that he was very close to winning. However, their teammate fought well and they were still confident that it was enough to make chunin.

Hizashi's battle with the rain-nin ended as soon as he was in range to strike 64 of his opponent's tenketsu. Thankfully, his position also placed him in the person who would sit through a match so he could rest. He jumped up into the contestant podium and Asuka congratulated him. He wished her good luck.

He wondered how she would face Hiashi. It was clear she wouldn't face him head-on, but it wasn't like there was any other option. As soon as the match started, she flew off, before even giving him any time to activate his Byakugan. He saw her from the corner of his eye making familiar hand seals before shoving her hand onto the branch of a tree. There was a poof, and he saw her smallest bird summoned. She started whispering to it and he couldn't read lips, but he did catch three words: first thoracic vertebrae.

Asuka then jumped off the branch and faced him once again. Meanwhile, her swift flew off, no one suspecting a thing. The two circled each other, examining their opponent closely, trying to figure out the best way to attack, or the best way to defend.

"I'll go easy on you." Hiashi teased. "Tell you what, I'll only disable 32 of your tenketsu instead of 64."

"I won't need it," she said. "I was told to go easy on you before our match, in fact."

"By who? Hizashi?" he snarled, "Ignore him, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I've been trained by the main house to learn all their secret techniques."

"We know," she said sweetly. "He appreciates your lessons."

Hiashi's face went pale and she waved to him up in the stands. The branch member of the Hyuga clan also paled in embarrassment.

"The tips your father offered you were very useful by the way. It would have been impossible to master the kaiten without them. How would anyone be able to master the ultimate defence by just observing?"

"You—you helped—"

"Well, I guess I did. Maybe you should go to him for some pointers. I'm sure it will help to receive some tips from someone who recently just learned the kaiten."

"Don't you dare underestimate me!" he cried and charged at her headfirst.

It was suddenly vicious taijutsu battle and Hizashi waited, knowing that even if she knew how to defend herself, she wouldn't last long. When his brother stuck out two fingers to strike the chakra point on her shoulder, she ducked easily, knowing exactly where he would aim. However, to everyone's surprise, she stuck out two fingers as well and aimed at the tenketsu from underneath his arm, with perfect accuracy as well. Did Asuka learn the secret techniques of the Hyuga without the Byakugan?

The silence in the area was deafening and Hiashi paused in confusion and shock, only to realize that it was only a decoy. It was too late to react when she kicked him in the chest and he flew back, angry that he fell for such a stupid trick. Hizashi resisted a laugh. Of course, she was clever enough to aim directly at a chakra point, making him think part of his system was disabled, and aim a hard hit.

She started with long-range combat from there. First, she swept as much debris and sand as she could muster, throwing her weapons in there for good measure, circling it around him so it would possibly blind him or injure him. He did a good job defending himself, knocking most of it away apart from the sand, which only got in his eyes a little. She continued to surprise him with attacks from every direction, using techniques that even Hizashi, her own teammate, would have trouble anticipating. Asuka nearly caught him in a cleverly placed trap by disabling it herself, only escaping it too because she was quick enough to run out of the way so it almost hit him instead.

It was all clearly going in her favour until suddenly, she slipped. She slipped. His teammate was graceful. She was practically able to fly, so there was no way she could have slipped. But she did.

And this gave Hiashi enough time to get her in range and disable 32 of her chakra points.

He covered his mouth with his hand, severely disappointed in how close she was to defeating him. Hizashi was so excited to see the look of defeat in his brother's eyes when he lost, and now, it was just the same arrogance on his face. Asuka fought well. It was sure to give the Hokage a good impression.

"I told you I would go easy on you," Hiashi smirked. "Only thirty-two. You probably wouldn't be able to stand with all 64 disabled."

Asuka groaned and tried rolling away, but he smiled. "I expected you to actually try to get up. Looks like you can't even stand with 32 disabled."

The proctor was about to stop the fight until she used one hand to perform several seals.

"Maybe you can beat Hizashi, but that doesn't mean you can beat me. You out of everyone should know that you can't use any chakra now. Yet you still perform hand seals. One-handed ones. Too bad you'll never get the chance to show them off."

Hizashi agreed silently. Asuka knew perfectly well that there was nothing she could do once her points were disabled.

"Funny you say that because I was never able to beat Hizashi. He knows me too well. He knows exactly what I'm going to do next, which means that he's always anticipating my next move. Yet also, it's because we don't spar with the intent to kill. This fight, I fought you harder than I've ever fought before. I will use anything to beat you." she said, panting heavily. She quickly grabbed a kunai from her holster and threw it, but it missed severely.

"You missed. Maybe I could give you some pointers." he teased, eyebrows raised, lowering his head to look at the kunai by his feet, "You underestimated me."

Suddenly, Hizashi realized what she was doing. He grinned, shaking his head, ignoring the glances the others sent him. The moment she threw the kunai, Hiashi looked down and the back of his neck was exposed and facing the sky.

"No," she coughed, forming more hand seals slowly. "I didn't underestimate you at all. In fact, you are right."

Her opponent's eye widened in confusion.

"I wouldn't be able to stand with 64 of my tenketsu disabled. I know I can't use chakra. I won't be able to show off any one-handed seals, also because I don't know how to do them. My sensei does. I didn't underestimate you, Hyuga Hiashi. I don't underestimate anyone. That is because I never overestimate myself." Asuka said softly. "You're only wrong about that and one other thing: I didn't miss."

And in that second, barely anyone saw it coming. A swift dove down quickly and slammed right into Hiashi's first thoracic vertebrae and he started to fall over. The bird then dug into her holster and pulled out some wire, wrapping it around him. His body was tightly bound together and he finally hit the ground, grunting in pain.

"The White-Throated Needletail, a species of swift, is the third-fastest bird on the planet. It also is considered the fastest in flapping speed, travelling at one hundred and five kilometres an hour. This is my summon, Suisen. She travels at one-fifty." Asuka then stood up perfectly, towering over him. "She was also my back-up plan, in case I needed one. Thankfully, we can also communicate by hand signals, so she knew exactly what to do."

Suisen chirped up. "For a person with a blind spot, you should probably move around a little more. It was very easy to remain out of sight."

"I'd never aim for Hizashi's blind spot, even if we were up against each other during the exams. Yet you are a different story. And also, I kind of had no other option."

He growled. "You were able to stand this whole time! You knew about my blind spot! That's—that's completely unfair!"

"Everything in a match is fair. In life-or-death, you should be able to combat any factor. What really isn't fair is the way you treat your brother. That's a factor you can change." she said. "Proctor, please tell me this match is over?"

"The winner is Asuka." the proctor said, still in shock.

Cheering overtook the stadium and she waved Hizashi down. He released her chakra points and helped her to the medical station to restore a little energy.

"You fought extremely well."

"Technically, I didn't aim for his blind spot, Suisen did," she said softly, a pretty blush forming on her cheeks.

"You don't have to defend yourself," he said softly. "Nothing is fair in the shinobi world, right?"

"Yea, that was a little harsh." she chuckled to herself, rubbing her neck. "God, I'm sore everywhere."

"Where?"

"Everywhere."

"Be more specific."

"Well, behind my neck and shoulders—what are you doing?"

Hizashi pulled her long hair back and massaged her shoulders, pressing his thumbs to her neck.

"Giving you a massage."

He felt her skin heat up and a smirk crawled up his face. She leaned back into his hands and sighed. "Th—That feels good."

"Good."

"You don't have to do this."

"You have a match after this. You'll need as much energy as you can get," he told her.

Her match against Hiashi's last teammate ended up with her going unconscious and he didn't even have time to check on her before having to go against him in the finals. His opponent, though strong, had used up almost all of his chakra so Hizashi defeated him quickly. He won the tournament.

His team was crying out in the stands for him as loud as they could and he waved at them before the proctor announced him as the winner. They all personally congratulated him and went out for dinner. It was a great night. He found himself smiling more than ever before, happy with how his whole team performed. Their sensei even cried a little bit, but she denied it.

He insisted on walking Asuka home that night and they both walked slowly, unhurried. The twelve-year-old tried not to stare as the moonlight reflected off her eyes and her hair floated with the breeze. They talked for a while, about how they felt about the tournament, their teammates, the other contestants, and themselves. He was disappointed when he reached the door of his apartment and smiled goodbye. She slowly turned the doorknob and opened her door, but paused.

"Congrats again," she said softly, just before planting a kiss on his cheek.

Hizashi swore he must have stood facing her closed door for a solid minute, eyes wide in shock at what just had happened. Had he imagined it? It was too quick to be true. Yet his face burning up could not have been fake, and he walked home in a daze.

His parents were mad at Hiashi when he got home, but he went his own way towards the branch compound, ignoring them. He was in too much of a good mood to care. Yet after a shower and fresh clothes, his mood was ruined when his twin knocked at the door.

"Hiashi-sama," he greeted politely, though he hoped his voice wasn't stained with coldness. "Can I be to your assistance?"

"I'd like to have a word with you."

"Yes?"

The heir to the Hyuga Clan pushed past him and crossed his arms as Hizashi closed the door.

"Stay away from Asuka."

Suddenly, he started coughing at his brother's statement. "Excuse me, what?"

"You heard me. Stay away from her. She was the reason I didn't win the tournament, and if it weren't for you, she wouldn't have humiliated me in front of everyone. You've been telling all of our clan's secrets to her. It's your duty to protect them."

"She's my teammate," he growled. "She will always be my teammate. You can't expect me to stay away from someone who will have my back for the rest of my life."

"I can. I can make you do whatever I want—"

"This isn't about your defeat to her." he interrupted.

"You must be out of your mind."

"I am not. You like her. She was the only girl back in the academy who didn't think you were their future prince charming. She's a challenge, a conquest, and you thought that if you could beat her, or even just beat enough people, she'd admire you or date you. But she defeated you, she purposely tormented you, and you realized that she'd much farther from your grasp than you expected. Asuka would rather me, the second-born branch member than you, the spoiled heir, isn't that right brother?"

"You—"

"You are in control of me and if your command is to stay away from her, I cannot follow that command because the shinobi way is much more important to me than the clan. I will still be her teammate and I will still help her train, let her help me train, and have her back. However, if it means this much to you, I will not make any advances onto her because I am a branch member, cursed to serve you.

"So you admit it, you're interested in her."

"It means nothing if you're interested in her as well, Hiashi-sama."

"You better your word, brother."

That night, he had trouble sleeping.

Author's note: See the Team Gai parallels? Two members with a little bit of a disadvantage, two members who train together vigorously because their sensei must invest in the other student, and the reference to Neji's genius when Asuka says that it would be impossible to learn the Kaiten only by observing? Please review! Part 2 will but up when edited!