Savior
By Dan'yu
Hyuuga Hiashi was dying. There was no one that could refute that one, simple fact.
No one wanted to. Nearly all the family had come to hate him.
He had grown embittered in his years, complete with a volatile temper and taste for sake that rivaled even the Godaime. He drank himself into oblivion, and his drunken rage he took out on anyone who dared to be in his presence. Servants passed through the corridors with heads bowed in forced submission, legs limping or faces swelling with marks of hand. It was ironic that in situations like those, the servants who served in the near slavery of the Main House often found themselves caught by one raven-haired young heiress.
The old cook in the kitchens knew the power of the medicines given to her for her arthritis and she would comment to the kitchen girls about how kind the lady had been and how gentle her eyes.
Hayate, a young messenger boy who had his leg broken after falling down the stairs in his haste to avoid a beating, would later tell his friends with a heated blush about how beautiful the lady was, how nice her smiles. And how brave she must be to convince the surly man Neji to carry him back to his family's rooms in the Branch family housing.
Sachiko, one of the Main House maids, would gossip with her counterparts about the bruise that had swollen on half her face one afternoon as Hiashi-sama threw his trey back at her, and then Hinata-sama had caught her in the halls, placing a salve in her hands with quickly spoken instructions on how to use it. She noted how shy the kind lady had seemed, and how much of a wonder it was that she was not unnerved in the least about the way her protector, Neji-san, had lingering behind her the entire time with frightening scowls, reminding her of a hovering carrion bird with his angry eyes and pure black garb.
The Main Family turned their eyes away from the shy, awkward Hinata. The Branch Family adored her.
And those who rose from their beds with the early rising of the dawn would see a splendid sight, something denied to those of the Main Family with their blinded eyes and decaying ideals. In the first hours of the morning, as the gray skies opened to allow the faint spills of amber light to grace the earthen surface, deep in the hidden gardens in the middle of the expansive Hyuuga estate, there the lady and her protector trained, surrounded by fragrant blossoms and ivy-covered walls, safe from prying eyes and yet open to adoring stares.
In those few, sparse moments when only loving eyes watched her, Hinata shed her mantle of self-conscious fumblings and her true colors shined through, as her slender form moved through the complicated katas of her art with fluid grace. Neji would sit nearby, his long hair combed back and hitai-ate missing to lay bare to the cool morning air the mark that branded him, shame and anger absent from his visage as he watched his lady in rapture.
Anyone watching would have commented in wonder as his gentle smile and softened expression, how quietly proud he seemed, how warm his small smile was in those moments as she made a small mistake or miscalculation, and he slipped his arms around her, adding silent strength to her grace as he guided her through the form again. Any observer watching could see the way her eyes closed and she concentrated solely on his touch and wordless guidance, leaning into him ever so slightly, as he embraced her ever so tighter.
Those who chose to see saw their Hinata-sama and her lover, their savior and their protector, two halves of a whole to compensate for what the other lacked, to enrich what the other already possessed. Those who chose to remain blind did not see, only chose to see a failing heir and an embittered guardian. Those who did not see would one day be blind-sided, as this pair took their rightful place and led their clan to salvation.