"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Abraham Lincoln

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Chapter Three: "Family"

House Hyuuga was split-level. That was the way eight-year-old Hyuuga Hanabi knew it. The Main House were the heirs, entrusted with guaranteeing the purity of the bloodline. The Branch House were entrusted to protect the Main at all costs, and somewhere down the line they'd become nothing more than glorified bodyguards and servants. It was kept that way to ensure the Hyuuga line would remain strong and that nothing tainted their blood. It had worked, and the Hyuugas had remained pure ever since they had implemented the system after the unfortunate incident involving a weaker Hyuuga girl and a fire jutsu expert that resulted in the formation of the all but extinct Uchiha clan. The eldest male Main Hyuuga became the heir, and if none was available, the title went to the oldest female. Unless specifically born into the Branch House, women were not thrown there for weakness or being younger, as political marriages helped cement the Hyuugas' importance in the shinobi world. But the heir, Hinata, was weak. That couldn't be allowed. Hanabi was strong, but she could not be the heir because she was the youngest. That too could not be allowed. Neji, born into the Branch, had excelled in all of the clan's techniques, but he couldn't possibly be the heir because of which house he'd been born in. That wasn't just "not allowed," that was downright unthinkable.

What was also unthinkable was the situation young Hanabi found herself in. Earlier, the last of the Uchiha had left the Leaf, and the Fifth sent a squad of genin out to retrieve him. Among them was Neji. She didn't know all the details, but they'd barely come back alive. Medic teams had to carefully and quickly transport Neji and another boy back to the hospital, and jounin Hatake Kakashi had been seen carrying home Uzumaki Naruto. Upon hearing of this, Hinata had begun to worry about Neji's and Naruto's conditions, and Hiashi decided that the three of them would make a visit to the Hidden Leaf Hospital to check on Neji. And that was something Hanabi couldn't understand.

Father has changed since the Chuunin Exam, she reflected. He had become far less strict in the days following Neji's loss to Naruto, though what brought that about, Hanabi didn't know. He didn't scold Hinata as much as he used to, and when Hanabi failed at something, he simply affirmed that she would "do better next time"—without any reprimand of any sort.

But, if he's changed enough, maybe I can ask, she mused. "Father?" He looked over at her, and Hanabi momentarily felt her sister's usual nervousness. "Father, why are we here?"

"He is family," he answered.

"But, Father…"

"Branch House or not, he is family. And family must stand together."

Hanabi held her tongue after this. What her father said was true; in fact, it was the entire basis of the clan system. Relatives were more likely to protect each other when in danger, and they often had common goals. Family techniques and bloodline limits bonded them together in ninja villages, and they fought to protect these bonds. When one member of the clan was threatened, the rest came to his aid. The clan was a group identity—once you were part of one, you thought of the group first, and the individual second.

But when that doesn't happen and the clan is betrayed, we need to ensure that we're not betrayed again, she thought. That was the basis of the Branch House and the seal on their foreheads after Hyuuga Hikaru ran off with Uchiha Taisuke. Hikaru's family had betrayed them, so their descendents and all younger male Main Hyuugas were punished for her foolish actions. Neji's mother was a direct descendent of Hikaru's family, and his father was the younger Main Hyuuga. He had to wear the seal, but ever since the Chuunin Exam, Hanabi's father no longer seemed to believe in the necessity of the Curse Seal.

Hanabi looked over at her sister, who was recovering from the shock of seeing Naruto heavily bandaged and half-conscious. Hinata had fainted and spent the past ten minutes trying to get over the shock and the embarrassment. She saw Hanabi looking at her and smiled, commenting, "It'll be okay, I promise." Hanabi blinked at this—how could her weak sister insist that things would be all right, moreover, promise that they would be? Everything was changing, and like any good Hyuuga, Hanabi hated it.

Some changes she supposed were all right. After the Chuunin Exam, Neji seemed to have finally accepted his fate as a Branch House member. He was still too good a fighter for that House—fate had played a cruel joke on him, after all—but he no longer gave off the aura that he deserved to be in the Main House more than Hanabi and Hinata. And he was somewhat easier to tolerate. Hinata could talk to him without stammering as badly as she used to, and he was far kinder to them than he'd been in the past. He'd even offered them both tips on their fighting styles, pointing out where they'd missed steps. Even though Hiashi was training him, he'd dropped hints that Hanabi should train under Neji, and that if Neji became a jounin by the time Hanabi graduated from the Academy, Neji should be her sensei. That she wouldn't mind too much—a Hyuuga, even a Branch Hyuuga, would understand how she needed to fight, and Neji would still be able to protect her according to clan laws. But still, things were changing too much and too fast for her to keep up with. She couldn't help it; she dropped her head in her hands.

"Are you okay, Hanabi?" Hinata checked. She didn't want to answer. "What's wrong?"

"I don't like this," whispered some unwelcome part of her soul. It couldn't have come from her. She tried to push it back, but it kept coming back up.

"What don't you like?" Hinata asked. "If it's the hospital, I suppose we could leave…"

"Not this," that other part of her insisted. "Everything's changing. I hate it."

"Everything has to change, Hanabi," Hinata replied. Why did she have to be strong at a time like this? Didn't she realize she was part of the problem? "It's just how the world works."

"I don't care!" she shouted, and centuries of Hyuuga laws and traditions shattered with her cry. "Nothing's right—don't you see it?" That alien part of her took over completely and urged her to rage and storm, to shout at her sister and father every sin against the Hyuugas they and Neji had committed. It made her want to track down Uchiha Sasuke herself and put the curse seal on him as punishment for his ancestors' sins. It made her want to go into the room down the hall and kill Uzumaki Naruto as he lay in his bed.

"Hanabi, that's enough," Hiashi replied suddenly, sounding much more like his normal self. It got Hanabi to calm down and stop clenching her fists. "The Hyuuga have traditionally resented change. Our culture has existed since long before the Hidden Leaf was founded. Great clans and cultures have risen and fallen since then, but the Hyuuga have always thrived. The world may fall down around us, but we are always as we always were. But perhaps that isn't right."

"What do you mean, Father?" Hanabi asked.

"We only allow one male heir, so we exile the younger ones to the Branch House. In theory, it ensures that the Hyuuga rule passes down without bloodshed, but it causes the Branch House to gain more and more. The curse seal prevents our family's secrets from going into enemy hands after death, but we only seal the Branch, reminding them that their fate is to die with nothing while we Main prosper. It has caused bitterness and strife throughout the clan, and I fear that it has gone on long enough."

He turned toward them and realized this was the first time he'd ever really looked at his daughters. Every time before, he merely saw their outermost layers, his assumptions of who they were and who they would become. But now, he saw them. Both Hinata and Hanabi were watching him carefully—Hinata with quiet understanding, a gentle heart that might actually complement the Gentle Fist; and Hanabi with the slightest dawn of comprehension. Hiashi suddenly realized how grateful he was that Naruto had beaten Neji; if he hadn't, these changes in Hanabi wouldn't have happened. She would have turned out exactly like Neji, until one day she too came face-to-face with a loud-mouthed outcast who was trying to change his fate. Naruto had helped Neji change his fate, but it wouldn't be enough to change the Hyuugas'. That, Hiashi supposed, would be up to Hinata and Hanabi, who had seemed to change theirs—Hinata at the Chuunin Exam, and Hanabi right now, from her father's words.

The clan will be in good hands, then, he decided. It didn't matter who was the heir and who was stronger. The Hyuuga had relied far too much on strength and isolation to preserve their traditions. So too had the Uchiha, now that he thought of it. If the Hyuuga were to survive another few centuries, they needed wisdom to guide them. Hinata, Hanabi, and Neji had that wisdom. They would be the ones to change the Hyuuga for the better.

Apologies for the short chapter and long wait—I have had other projects to work on, and the Hyuuga clan is not the easiest in the world to write for. Since there wasn't much on Hanabi's character and the Hyuuga seem to be adverse to change, I figured this characterization for her would work.