Small Gestures
The eyes peeking at him, with timid curiousity, eyes of the Hyuuga. Moments later he was led away with his uncle. His uncle that looked so like his father, yet utterly and totally different.
His bearing, the power was coiled around him in ways that his father never did. This man was important, and Neji had felt pride for the Hyuuga, for he was a member of the Hyuuga.
Sometimes he wished that his father had prepared him for this day. Made him stronger than any young boy could be. In the end, he was resigned, to fate, that there was nothing could have prepared him for the Seal.
Many of the Branch House covered the Seal, Neji had not been alone in that aspect. Some revered it as a sign of the limitless Hyuuga power. Other feared it for the pain and anguish it could bring.
Neji was not sure what to think. He remembered those pale eyes, the small face, the bare unadorned forehead. She was of the Main House, the revered Hinata, the Heir. All Hyuuga of the Branch House knew it was their duty to protect those of the Main House.
It went beyond the founding of Konoha, when wars were tearing apart the ninja nations. The Hyuuga had watched, waited for a time.
The Hyuuga were patient, Neji had been told. The Hyuuga were cunning, they had been the first Clan to settle in Konoha, and thus they were held as an example for the other Clans.
The Uchiha were a mere offshoot of the Hyuuga, and Neji had listened with pale eyes rapt. Neji remembers his uncle frowning in direction of the Uchiha.
But the Uchiha were to be respected, because they protected Konoha's streets and were the police force of Konoha.
Years after his father had died, forced by the Main House and Neji had submitted to his fate, the Uchiha had been destroyed, by one of their own.
Itachi Uchiha, once held up as an ideal, the perfect ninja, Captain of the ANBU, and at the mere age of thirteen, was a S class missing nin.
He felt no sympathy for the now despised son of the Uchiha, but sometimes, he wondered...
Neji had walked into the Uchiha's Clan quarters, his foot steps heavy and loud in the silence. Blood splatters were still there, but the bodies had been moved. The Uchiha were deviants... This was their fate.
There was a survivor, Neji listened, the brother of Itachi. Hinata had gasped, her mouth mouthing, "Sasuke..."
Neji had shaken his head, loathing her interest in the wrongful Uchiha Clan. She was of the Main House, and should be strong, should be silent and should be wise.
She wasn't worthy of the Main House.
He ignored the irrational fury and frustration that had surged through him when her round pale eyes had murmured that Uchiha's name.
His hands had clenched, knuckles white. Hinata had watched, with Hyuuga patience. Neji had stalked off, remembering the blood and shame of the Uchiha, those who had challenged fate.
Later he waited, with the same Hyuuga endurance, as the young Sasuke grew and Hinata faltered. The anger mounted.