Against the World
"The clan precedes the individual. Or so they say."
-x-
Being the first of a line to develop a bloodline isn't all it's made out to be. There's so much pressure and so little choice.
-x-
2i
(Two Times the Square Root of Negative One)
Yamanaka Hikari and Yamanaka Inoshi didn't know just how special their little girl was at first. They loved her dearly of course, but it took time before they noticed that her eyes seemed a bit strange, even for a Yamanaka. They didn't think much of it, at first. Certainly, her blue pupils seemed to grow and shrink sometimes, beyond the norm, but it wasn't so obvious they did so when she was young.
But as she aged, they noticed her pupils would shrink more and more, becoming just pinpricks of blue on black. So they kept her home, away from others, until they understood what was happening with their daughter's eyes.
But then she began speaking, and they found she knew things they'd never told her. She would respond to things they hadn't said aloud.
Hikari and Inoshi were ecstatic. Their little girl clearly had a doujutsu! She could read minds!
So they tested her, and the limits of her ability, which they hoped would only grow with Aiko.
And then, when she was four years old, they presented her to the head of their clan.
-x-
Yamanaka Inoshi wasn't always resentful of his older brother. They used to be quite close, in fact.
Unlike some clans, where the firstborn inherits the clan headship regardless of aptitude, if the head had more than one child, the Yamanaka clan chose the one they thought was best suited to leading.
And that was Inoshi.
That was Inoshi, until he wasn't.
That was Inoshi, until he burnt out his chakra coils, and it was decided that a cripple couldn't lead the clan.
His older brother didn't even have the grace to pretend he was sorry to become the heir. Inoichi was happy. He'd always envied his little brother, he'd always wanted to lead the clan, even though he was already busy with his position as head of intel, which he'd only been chosen for because he'd been passed over for the title of heir.
But now Inoichi was able to have his cake and eat it too.
Inoshi couldn't help but feel his brother was happy that he was now a cripple, and he hated him for that. He hated his brother, because it was his fault Inoshi was like this.
There was little Inoshi regretted more than saving his brother's life.
So to discover that his daughter (who was denied the right to the name Inoko, as she was not of the main family) had manifested a doujutsu—the first in their clan to display the beginnings of a bloodline limit, it was sweet, sweet victory. It was vindication. See? It said, they chose wrong.
-x-
It was a topic of debate for years, and even after Aiko became a ninja, the topic was not settled, and it would not be for years to come.
Should Aiko replace Ino as the heiress of the clan?
Aiko's blood tie to the main family was just as close as Ino's, and only her grandfather's choice in heir distanced her from the title of heiress, and even then, if it weren't for her father's unfortunate circumstances, she would have been the heiress. Furthermore, barring Inoichi siring another child, she was second in line, should anything happen to Ino.
And of course, surely the leading family should be those with the bloodline limit, at least until it spread throughout the clan.
But the head fought against the replacement of his heiress. There was no guarantee, he argued, that the ability would be passed on to Aiko's children. And if it wasn't, then they had messed with the succession, depriving his daughter of her birthright, for nothing. For a genetic fluke.
Inoishi, with the support of many clan elders, continued to argue in favour of his daughter. Even if it doesn't appear in Aiko's children, it's possible to appear further down the line, and isn't it best to keep that potential in the main family as much as possible?
The argument would rage circularly for years, and eventually be put to the side while they decided instead to focus on improving the chances of passing the trait on. Inoichi wasn't stepping down any time soon, and his job kept him in village. There was time.
-x-
Yamanaka Aiko hated her bloodline limit. She hated being unable to look people in the eye without knowing their thoughts. She hated that she was not granted the ignorance everyone else was, that she knew what people were thinking. She hated the pressure they put on her. She hated the lack of freedom, the lack of choice.
By the time she was ten, the clan elders already sought to find her a suitable husband among her clansmen. By the time she was eleven they had narrowed it down to a handful of individuals, all of whom were at least ten years her senior.
Aiko did not want a husband.
The men the selected were optimal matches for passing on her doujutsu to her future children, based on genetic testing and analysis of herself.
Aiko did not want children.
Her parents and most of the elders were pushing for her to be named heiress, so that one day she would lead the clan.
Aiko did not want to lead the clan.
But she had a bloodline limit, so what she wanted did not matter.
-x-
When Hikari married Inoshi, she'd believed that she was marrying the future head of the clan.
Their union was not a love match, and she had little say in the matter. Her parents had pledged her to the heir, hoping to elevate their status within the clan, the head accepted, and so neither she nor her husband could protest.
It felt like it was for nothing when her husband was replaced as heir. Were she not already pregnant when it happened, she would have petitioned the elders for an annulment.
But the moment she held her daughter in her arms, she knew she couldn't regret it. Her daughter deserved the world. So when Hikari discovered her precious Aiko was the first Yamanaka to develop a bloodline, she knew it was fate. Her daughter deserved the world, and with this, she could have it.
-x-
The question was, what else could this new Yamanaka doujutsu do?
While reading surface thoughts was certainly useful, it was far from the abilities of the village's other doujutsu.
It would be years before the village had their answer, years before Yamanaka Aiko reached her full potential. But oh, how great she would become.
Her eyes may not have the combat prowess of the sharingan, or the insight of the byakugan, but they would be just as dangerous.
-x-
Notes: A bit of insight into the Yamanaka clan. I hope this explains the behaviour of Aiko's parents, Inoichi, and Ino back at Aiko's birthday.
Because, you know, the Uchiha and Hyuuga aren't the only fucked up clans. They aren't the only ones with drama.
And yes, there will be more to Aiko's doujutsu than mind reading.
In other news, I forgot to mention it last chapter but I have fanart! Two pieces by the lovely anja-nuehm over on tumblr! They can be found in the databook on AO3. All my love to this amazing, talented artist!