I'd like to thank my friend LexKixAss for letting me use her twins in my story. As always, Naruto belongs to Kishimoto.

Hinata meandered across the main house yard, a small basket with tools in her hand and a book tucked under her arm. Not an uncommon sight on the days she was in the village, especially since Naomi's pregnancy was revealing itself in force. Apparently morning sickness was a misnomer; Naomi got sick all throughout the day. Only a few things offered her any rest once a bought started, one of which was an herbal tea Yumi taught Hinata how to prepare.

"Off picking herbs again? Aunt Naomi must have locked herself in the bathroom with the way she goes through your tea."

"The kid's giving her trouble already. Must be from our side of the family."

Isamu and Osamu flashed their signature identical smiles at her, making them both connivingly handsome for Hyuugas. Not that she'd admit it, though; their confidence in their own social graces was already stronger than any other Hyuuga in the clan. Besides, with the way they read people, no doubt they saw enough girls thinking it.

Hinata paused just before the gate to chat, leaning against the same wall Isamu stood sentinel against. "She only locks herself away if I don't go picking. Honestly, she's not making pregnancy look very enticing. I know Grandpa will want me married and having an heir as soon as I'm back in the clan, but I think I may fight him on that one."

"Do," Isamu said, rolling his eyes. "You'll have enough to deal with when you come back without Hyobe-sama pressuring you into marrying somebody you don't even know."

Osamu snorted and sent his brother a look, but so quickly the only thing Hinata could read in it was the amusement. "Perhaps we shouldn't talk of marriage, Otouto. It's like a wandering disease. You don't get it until you talk about how everyone else has it." He looked back to Hinata to clarify. "One of our old friends from the academy just got married."

"But you two are only eighteen."

"That's what we said when we heard," Osamu said with exaggerated exasperation. "This is when we should be having fun, not getting married."

"Are you having fun?" Hinata asked. Only a hint of red came to her cheeks at the implication, and only because these were the twins and they would do the exact same if the situation was reversed.

Osamu let out a honeyed laugh that somehow felt very naughty to hear. "I have a wandering eye, myself."

"At least you don't have a wandering hand, Aniki, or we'd be in even more trouble," Isamu chided.

Osamu's gaze narrowed as he glared at his brother, then he smirked. "You wouldn't think it, but Otouto here's old fashioned. He's a one girl kind of guy."

The widening of Isamu's eyes spoke volumes on how much he didn't want his brother to keep talking, and after a long moment to tease him, Osamu raised his hands in yielding. Hinata wasn't sure what was communicated between them—their non-verbal cues were far too subtle and intricate to be read by the clan if they didn't want it to—but she could see the emotions and the playfulness between them, which made her smile. The twins never failed to amuse, even when it wasn't intentional.

"Well," Hinata said, changing the subject back, "at least right now all we have to worry about is keeping Aunt Naomi stocked with nausea remedies."

"Care for some company?" Isamu asked. "We've got our break coming up and a picnic in the woods sounds better than leftovers at home."

"Still leftovers, but it's all about location," Osamu agreed.

Hinata lowered her eyes, but only enough to try and show her displeasure at refusing and nothing more. It wasn't easy for her. "Actually, I'm meeting Neji-niisan and we going to practice a bit. Main family techniques."

The twins watched her carefully, silent messages passing beyond her ability to read. Then, just as she shifted from foot to foot in order to relieve some of the nervous tension building, they descended on her. Hinata stood trapped between two confusing hugs.

"We're so proud of you, Hinata-sama," Osamu said like a doting mother on the day her child became a genin.

"You finally learned how to lie properly."

Hinata waited—rigid—until the twins finally detached themselves, bright, broad grins on their faces. Why did they have to be so damn perceptive?

Osamu ruffled her hair once for good measure. "You weaved enough truth in there that we barely saw the deception. Anyone else would have bought it."

"And just for that, we won't pry into what you're actually planning." Isamu winked. "This time at least."

"Thanks . . ." Hinata said, brushing down her messed up hair. She wasn't sure if it was good or bad they knew she was lying, but not prying was good. It could be dangerous if they figured out what she was actually planning. She didn't want to get them into trouble over her. "I'd better get going."

Isamu and Osamu waved her off with a cheerful, "Have fun."

Hinata didn't like lying, especially to people who could read her so well, but if there was one thing she did learn from her grandfather, it was that sometimes necessity trumps emotion. It wasn't easy for her, but she'd gotten much better at it since her first sealing. Once far enough from the compound, Hinata dropped the calm necessity and let her nervousness filter through her body, tightening the protective hold on the book. Everything ingrained in her told her she was being foolish and stupid, but she also knew she had to do it. There was no other way to learn what she needed.

She headed out of the village, further than necessary for mere herb picking. She'd chosen the spot carefully so that a sweep of the village with byakugan wouldn't catch her unless someone specifically extended out to the area. It also did have some of the herbs she needed so that on the off chance someone was nearby she still had a legitimate reason to be there. A few cursory passes with byakugan let her initial fear ease, and she went about picking while she waited for Neji. She wasn't sure how long it took for him to join her, but a fresh coat of sweat from the humid air was dripping down her face when she finally heard his voice.

"So what's the reason you don't want anyone to catch us?" Neji said idly, dropping his bag next to her basket.

"Why do you think I don't want us caught?"

"Because half of those—" he pointed to the herbs she'd collected, "—grow in your garden, and this isn't too far from where I first started learning kaiten. I chose it for the same reason."

Hinata pulled off her gardening gloves and tossed them into the basket. She would have been proud that they weren't shaking if she could have felt anything past her trepidation. "Can you sit down? I need to ask you something."

Sensing her agitation, Neji followed her request in silence. That left her to fill the gap, something she really didn't want to do. Taking a deep breath, Hinata let the sensation of the thick, wet air filling her lungs focus her.

"I have a request that you are in no way obligated to do. I won't be mad or disappointed, and I'll never bring it up again if you say no."

"Hinata, you're worrying me. What's wrong?"

"It's not that something's wrong," she said, struggling to keep from stumbling over her own words before she explained everything. "It's only that I can't trust anyone but you with this request, and it's not one I should be making."

Before he could ask any of the questions vying to be asked, Hinata pulled the large book from beneath her basket. Placing her hand over the top, green chakra lines of a seal brightened over its otherwise unremarkable garden cover.

"That's one of your mother's books. Why does it have a seal on it?"

"To hide this." She opened the cover to reveal a hollowed out hiding place with an old scroll safely tucked inside. When she picked it up, chakra lettering glowed across its surface before fading away at the command of her chakra. "It's the instructions to the seal."

Neji always had good posture, but when she said that his back straightened as if some infinitesimal distance more would give him the control those words had taken. His gaze flashed away from the scroll, an act more instinctual than intentional. Hinata was the only one besides Hyobe allowed to see that scroll, and for all he ignored main and branch differences, Hinata could see the discomfort being near it caused.

"Does Grandpa know you took that out of the village?"

"Grandpa doesn't know I have it," she admitted.

"You stole it from him?" The shock was so profound he stared at her, not caring she held the scroll. On his face a competition waged between the horror that would occur if Hyobe ever found out, and the pride that Hinata had actually done it. After several minutes with no winner, Neji simply asked, "Why?"

"I needed it. I've been studying seals for a long time now—I'm rather good at them—and there's information about the inner coils system that can only be found in this scroll. But even this only goes so far. I need . . ." She paused, lowering her eyes to the ground. A part of her hated herself for even thinking of asking. "I need to see it. To see how the chakra moves through the inner coils system."

There was quiet between them as the meaning settled on Neji. The two had suffered through the tensions and awkward distances that separated main and branch family, and though they'd both understood and accepted her role as sealer, it was not a topic either willingly spoke of. It existed, but it wasn't a concern they had to deal with except on those rare occasions that a child needed to be sealed, which hadn't happened since her first sealing.

"You want to activate my seal."

"I don't want to," she quickly corrected. "If there was any other way to get what I needed, I'd do it, but there's no other information. Activating the seal is the only way to learn about how it triggers the chakra and interacts with your pathways."

Neji didn't show the hate or disdain others in the branch family would being asked to submit to the seal, but he did not readily accept her request either. A trained expression remained on his face as he absorbed her words and contemplated a response.

"Why do you need to know all this? What are you trying to do?"

Hinata opened the scroll over the grass. The old parchment was thick, and despite its age, the text was still dark. She knew every brushstroke, every mistaken drop of ink that bled out in splotched circles. Originally she'd only wanted to create the chakra suppression seals, but the longer she examined it, the more she enjoyed the study. Maybe it was still a feeling of accomplishment leftover from her time with Hyobe. He praised her so much, and for a moment seemed to love her even. Hinata loathed how she craved that time back.

Or maybe it was the sense of control she had working with seals. It wasn't the brute force needed for many techniques like the kaiten. Seals took time, detail, and a finesse that she appreciated. With byakugan and the seal instructions, Hinata could explore avenues non-Hyuugas couldn't. Kurenai encouraged her as much as she could; there was even talk of getting her more specialized tutelage. What would her family or the clan think if they knew what interests the seal gave her? With her team she could talk about it easily, but to a Hyuuga she couldn't hide the shame that ate away at her.

"The seal is meant to protect the clan, so why can't we bear to see it? The very mention of it silences people. It's this taboo forced on the clan, instead of a source of pride that we're protecting each other. It's because the clan fears what the seal can do. I want to change that."

"You're trying to change the seal?"

Tears fell freely down her cheeks as she finally voiced emotions she'd been hiding for so long. "I'm trying to make the seal something better. I don't want to give the baby something it'll grow to be ashamed of. I don't want to hate myself for being skilled at placing it. I don't want it to be a secret bottled up inside the clan anymore. That's what hurts us: hiding it. I have five years to find a way to do that before the baby must be sealed."

Any other day, Neji would have reached out to her and try to comfort his crying sister, but he remained where he sat. Beyond the fog of tears she could see the sympathy he didn't outwardly offer. This was something she must come to terms with, and he was letting her find out what that meant.

"It's always been said that changing the seal is impossible."

Hinata wiped the tears from her face. "That doesn't mean it's true. Maybe it's only impossible because every accepted it was. I want— I need to try. But I won't force you to help if you don't want to. I won't do that to you."

Neji was placid again, thinking. Hinata did her best to clean up her face and settle the emotions that had overflowed her control. It wasn't easy saying those truths she'd hidden from even her team.

Neji locked his gaze on hers. When he spoke, a practicality he showed better than her steadied his voice. "I don't want you to use the seal on me. I don't think you know what that's going to do to you. It was hard enough for you to place the seal. To use it on me . . . I don't think you can handle it."

"There are times where it's not a matter of if I can do it. I have to," she said, parroting one of the few pieces of advice Hyobe gave her that she actually believed. "If I don't, no one else will."

"It may hurt me physically, but Hinata—"

She stopped him, her face a messy, but resolute expression. "Don't say no because of me. If you're going to say no, say it because of you."

Neji's jaw tensed in a way Hizashi's often did when he was upset. "I can handle pain, but it's not worth putting you through that for a chance."

"I'm not a child you have to protect anymore!" she snapped, and the emotions she struggled to push inside whipped back out. "It is worth everything for the clan to stop hating itself. I want to help in a way I can. Either you believe I can be the clan head you've told me I am or I'm still the little girl hiding behind you."

Even as distraught as she was, the shock on Neji face was obvious. They did not fight like this. When they disagreed, Hinata was more prone to self-deprecation and passive aggressive attacks than direct confrontation; Kiba scolded her constantly for it. But she believed in this. Hinata never would have even asked if she didn't believe something would come from it. The older they got, the more their relationship had to change—at some point she had to become the clan head—but it was difficult to see it happen. She needed Neji, she always would. Right now though, she needed his support more than his protection.

Neji said nothing for several minutes. She didn't know if he was thinking or merely giving her time to compose herself again. When her breathing had evened out and the escaped tears were brushed away, he looked up at her.

"I do believe you will be a good leader one day, but you are my sister and it's very hard to not protect you. I don't want you to use the seal for you and for me. The seal . . . the seal is something Grandpa uses to keep himself above the branch family. We've never treated each other like that. I don't want to think of you like him. I don't want to lose the relationship we have. Using the seal . . . I don't know what that will do."

Hinata closed her eyes and nodded. She didn't know if she was disappointed or relieved. Most likely both. His fears were not unfounded; they were her own. But for the chance at real change, she would have risked it. "I understand."

Standing up, Hinata began rolling the scroll so it could be hidden again. She didn't look at him, whether from the shame of asking or her failure to convince him. Whatever the reason, the air was thick with far more than humidity now. It'd be good to see her team to compose herself before returning to the compound. She'd go to Shino. He wouldn't pry into what happened the way Kiba would. Just comfort. She needed that right now.

While she worked, Neji didn't move and his eyes remained low. Before she closed the book over the scroll, he spoke again. "Do you really believe it can be altered?"

Hinata ran her thumb over the scroll, once more sealed by chakra only she and Hyobe possessed. "I believe it's my duty to make the attempt."

"And what if you can't do it in time to seal the baby?"

"Then I'll keep trying," Hinata said. "I'm good at that, if nothing else."

A little chuckle escaped Neji's restraint as he sat there with not another hint to his thoughts showing. As much as she wanted to leave, something in his voice kept her there. Her fingers curled around the edge of the book's cover, keeping the seals from reactivating. And they waited. In an awkward silence that hung as heavy as the wet air around them, both listened for the moment the tension would break.

Slowly, as if each movement screamed into the air, Neji untied his forehead protector and laid it on the ground in front of him. "I don't want you to use the seal on me, but you're right. There's no one else in the clan you can ask, so do what you need to. We've weathered similar problems before and come through it together. I guess it's time I trust you as my clan head, as well as my sister."

Hinata set the open book down and knelt in front of him. "Are you certain?"

Neji nodded, running his fingers over the bare seal. "Do what you must. For the clan."

"Thank you," she whispered, barely loud enough to be heard beneath the cracking in her voice. "It's best if you lie down to avoid too much movement."

Neji did as she requested while Hinata shook out her gardening gloves. They may be more concerned about the emotional and mental troubles the seal would cause, but Neji would still have to deal with the physical pain. Drenching the slightly soiled cloth in the lukewarm water left in her bottle, Hinata maneuvered into place next to him. She wasn't sure if he wanted it, still Hinata reached down and took his hand.

"I'm sorry."

"I know." Squeezing her hand back, Neji closed his eyes and prepared himself as much as he could.

What was she supposed to feel? All that was inside was a consuming terror that left her free hand shaking as she activated byakugan and focused on the coils system in Neji's skull. She knew where the seal connected to the system and, in theory, the pathways that should glow with chakra, but how those interacted with the seal itself she could only know when the chakra moved.

"One. Two." She took a deep breath and exhaled long and slow. "Three."

It was not a rush of chakra as she'd expected, but a furious build-up directly beneath the seal, which made it glow and brought on the pain—and the screams. The coils system couldn't hold that much chakra in one place. It burned fast and strong through the occipital pathways to the brain stem, all the while continuing to build beneath the seal.

Neji's hand ripped from hers and he yanked at his hair to avoid clawing the seal itself. Hinata refocused. He wouldn't be able to handle much more. The chakra coalesced around the brain stem. There was no immediate damage, but with nowhere else to go, the chakra that had been expanding from the seal swelled. Hinata deactivated it and the chakra build stopped. Slower than she would have liked, for it was no doubt the source of the residual pain, the chakra began to seep through the confines of the seal's connection to be reabsorbed back into the rest of the coils system.

Below her, Neji moaned on the ground, hands grasping as close to the seal as he could without actually touching the tender skin. Swiftly, Hinata placed the wetted gloves over his eyes, which he pressed down on so the water dripped across his face.

She did that to him. She knew it would hurt, but to see him writhing on the ground—because of her . . . Hinata scrambled a few feet away and threw up. Her body heaved with every moan and remembered scream that echoed between her ears. She could still feel his hand clenching tighter and tighter. How could Hyobe use it so easily? How could she have used it, even for this?

Because she had to. Hinata forced her body to relax, breathing in and out in a measured rhythm until, finally, she sat back on her heels and felt calmed. Disgusted and horrified, but calm. She crawled back to Neji and retrieved the scroll. At the end of the roll she'd tacked on blank paper to add her notes.

This was for a purpose; she had to make it work.

Or it wasn't worth the pain.