i. age one
The chilly October air was rent with an ear-piercing roar. Nine tails the color of burnt sienna whipped across the sky.
Those fox tails had within them the ability to destroy mountains and create tsunamis with just a single flick. But on that night, the demon fox did not destroy mountains. It destroyed the forested village of Konoha and almost everything within it. The carnage was only put to an end by the sacrifices of the Yondaime Hokage and the jinchuuriki from whom the Kyuubi had somehow escaped, and the chilly October air was rent once more, not with an ear-piercing roar, but with the cries of a newborn child calling for his departed mother.
He was also a sacrifice – the new jinchuuriki – the power of human sacrifice.
How many sacrifices were made that night, Hyuuga Hiashi did not know. The villagers? The Hokage and the jinchuuriki? Not to mention the child himself.
After all, as soon as the fox was jailed in his body, the boy's fate was as set in stone as any Hyuuga Branch ninja. Caged fox or caged bird, they could not hope to be free from the burden that life had tied to them from their first breaths.
ii. age five
Hinata clutched the torn winter scarf tightly in her arms as she made her way home.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage, ya know!"
But his jutsu was a dud and he was knocked out cold in about three seconds. Yet he said those words with such force and conviction that Hinata couldn't help but believe him. He had what the Hyuuga clan would call a clear mind.
Clear mind…
Whenever she would be tested in the jyuuken practice spars, her body would freeze up and her mind would turn to mush. She would falter in her movements and stumble and trip, and then the cold gazes of the Main Family ninja would bore into her.
Her mind would become a murky mess of fear and she would inevitably lose the match. Whether she would actually be able to become the future heiress was clouded in doubt.
As she reached the overly large wooden doors of the Hyuuga compound, her bodyguard Ko came rushing out.
"Hinata-sama!" he cried out in relief. "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you."
He knelt down at her eye level and began busily brushing the snow off her winter clothing. "What have I told you about playing in the snow, Hinata-sama? You'll catch a cold – "
He paused as he finally took note of the tattered scarf in her hands.
"Hinata-sama, where did you get that from?" he asked.
"Oh...um, someone gave it to me," she mumbled, looking down at her feet.
Ko frowned as he inspected the scarf. "This person gave you a destroyed item instead of an intact one?" he asked disapprovingly.
Hinata eyes widened. "Oh, no, it's not like that at all, Ko!" she said, leaping to Naruto's defense. "Some older children called me a white-eyed monster and he tried to help me. But they beat him up and...and ripped up his scarf."
Ko's face softened as he processed the new information. "Is that so? He seems like a kind child."
"He said that his name was Naruto," Hinata said with a slight smile.
Ko froze. The blood slowly drained out his face, giving it an ashen gray hue.
"Don't you think that's funny, Ko? Like the fishcake that people put on ramen," Hinata continued, rather oblivious to the abrupt shift in his behavior.
Her bodyguard did not respond for a good few seconds. The only sound to be heard was the blustering winter wind.
"Hinata-sama...stay...stay away from that child, all right?"
Little snowflakes danced to the ground, some of them landing on Hinata's shiny black hair, speckling it white.
"Why, Ko? Have you met him before? You just said he was a kind child."
"He is..."
"What?"
"Don't accept even water from his hands, for it could turn to poison."
"Huh?"
Ko ushered the protesting Hinata into the compound, and for more jyuuken training to follow.
Hyuuga Hiashi sighed as he watched the pair from a distance.
It wasn't that he personally believed all of the rumors floating around regarding Naruto – he had enough sense to distinguish the bijuu from its human vessel. The same couldn't be said about quite a few members of his clan, or for that matter, the villagers at large.
"He's an omen of ill luck. Don't let him into your store. Your business will crash and burn."
"It's said that the demon fox can cause paralysis when you glance into its eyes. Don't look directly at him."
"His laugh sounds like the barking of the fox itself. He's incredibly frightful, child, don't get too close to him."
"I heard that the Hokage let him into the Academy this year. If that boy becomes a ninja and destroys everything, it'll be on the head of that senile old man."
"Don't accept even water from his hands, for it could turn to poison."
He sighed once more. Regardless of such rumors that made this Naruto child sound like some kind of yokai, there were many more absolutely mundane reasons for staying away from him.
He was loud, he was uncontrollable, he was excitable, he was mischievous – or so he'd heard from gossiping clansmen and villagers.
In short, he and the Hyuuga were like oil and water. Oil and water did not mix, and neither should the Hyuuga and the jinchuuriki child.
Sometimes, fate didn't let two opposite entities meet.
It wouldn't end well.
iii. age twelve
The jinchuuriki child (Naruto, his mind corrected) was all of twelve years old and he had defeated the Hyuuga clan's prodigy, Hiashi's own nephew, Neji.
Between the Oto and Suna ninja invading Konoha, Orochimaru impersonating the Kazekage, and the Sandaime's assassination, it took a good long while before the Hyuuga clan's grapevine shifted its talk to the jinchuuriki – Naruto.
He deserved to be known by his name. A bizarre name (why his parents named him after a ramen topping was beyond Hiashi), but his name nonetheless.
But when the clan got around to talking about Naruto, they just wouldn't stop.
"How is it even possible to open up your tenketsu after they've been sealed?"
"That was Kyuubi chakra. How did he learn to use Kyuubi chakra?"
"Did you hear what he said about the Hyuuga? About Hinata-sama?"
It had already been two weeks since the Chuunin Exams, and if anything, they were more interested in him than before, especially since he had apparently defeated the Suna jinchuuriki with a toad summon of Jiraiya-sama (when did he meet Jiraiya-sama?), and had been missing from the village for the past few days, with no one the wiser as to where he went.
After his talk with Neji, Hiashi's mind had been roiling about restlessly.
The boy's words kept ringing in his head at the most inconvenient times – when he'd be taking a walk around the house, when he was in meetings with the other clan members, and even in his sleep.
"I refuse to be defeated by someone who believes in resigning himself to fate!"
"How could you understand anything about my fate? About bearing an inescapable curse?"
"Actually, I understand it pretty well...And?...So what?"
"When I become Hokage, I'll change the Hyuuga!"
Naruto's words about Hinata struck Hiashi like a bolt of lightning, completely blasting away every other thought in his mind.
She was suffering just as much as Neji, trying so hard to change herself and earn respect, that she continued to fight even while coughing up blood.
Naruto was just like Hinata, a daughter he'd written off as superfluous to the clan.
And yet…
The mystery of Naruto's whereabouts was solved a few weeks later, when he returned with not one, but two Sannin in tow.
Apparently, it was thanks to him that the long-lost Tsunade-sama would become the Godaime.
That day, Hiashi made up his mind.
As he guided Neji and Hinata through the elegant, fluid motions of the jyuuken, he allowed himself to smile, just a little.
There would be no Main and Branch Family among the Hyuuga any longer.
He would not resign himself, the clan, his daughter, or his nephew to the chains of fate.
And he didn't need to be the Hokage to change the Hyuuga.
iv. age seventeen
Neji was dead.
He failed Hizashi.
Hiashi hadn't cried in years. But when he gazed at the pristine white marble neatly engraved with his nephew's name, he felt his eyes burn and a dampness dripping down his nose and cheeks.
His vision blurred and he continued to stand in front of the grave long after everyone else – even Hinata and Hanabi – had left.
He was just about to head home when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder.
"Whoa there, are you okay, old guy?" asked a very familiar voice – familiar despite having only exchanged a smattering of words with him during the war. Hiashi hastily brushed his tears away.
Sure enough, as he turned around, bright blonde hair sparkled at him cheerfully, the golden rays of sunlight giving it an ethereal shine. He was carrying a bouquet of sunflowers. Odd.
"Naruto?" he croaked.
The young jinchuuriki-turned-war-hero stared at him curiously. "Have we met before, old man?"
Hiashi vaguely registered a sense of amusement that Naruto thought a mere forty-six-year old man "old." But maybe he thought everyone over the age of twenty-five was "old."
"Oh! I think I've seen you before." Naruto leaned in much too close and scrutinized every wrinkle and line on Hiashi's face, his mouth scrunched up in a frown of concentration. "Hinata kinda looks like you!"
"Indeed," Hiashi said quietly. "She is my daughter."
Naruto's eyes widened and he finally stepped back and let Hiashi have his personal space. "Wow, um...pleased to meet you, old man – I mean, Hinata's dad."
Hiashi politely inclined his head. "Pleased to meet you too...Naruto."
Naruto gave him an uncharacteristically shy smile, then turned his attention to Neji's grave. He sank into a deep bow and placed the bouquet on top of the stone.
Hiashi's mind drifted back to the conversation that Ko and Hinata had, years ago.
"He seems like a kind child."
That was right.
He was a kind child.
It was late afternoon and the Hyuuga compound's presence was graced with an odd – and increasingly more frequent – visitor.
Hiashi always knew of the exact time he would set foot on the compound, because for some reason, it always coincided with numerous excited shrieks of glee. The shrieks of glee of the preteen Hyuuga children, anyway.
At some point, Hinata had taken to bringing him to the Hyuuga compound, and it seemed like they had lapped up his presence like life-giving oxygen.
By the second or third of his visits, Hiashi was quite certain that all of the Hyuuga had met him and were dazzled by his strange quirks and habits. Hiashi had even spotted Ko keeping up an animated chatter with the hero of the war. The same Ko who had warned Hinata that water from Naruto's hands would become poison.
As for Hiashi, he had no idea what Naruto's strange quirks and habits were, and being an aloof introvert, did not wish to seek out the large crowds of hyperactive children that Naruto inevitably drew into his orbit whenever he would come over for a visit.
The matter was taken completely out of his hands one day, however.
He was taking a peaceful morning walk around the garden when he spotted a mop of spiky blonde hair.
Hinata had brought him along again?
Naruto was kneeling, watering can at his side, gently patting the rich soil as he planted tiny seeds into the earth.
"There you go," he muttered soothingly to the ground...no, seeds. He was talking to the seeds. "I know that the terrain here is different from Kumo, but I think with this soil, you'll be okay..."
Hiashi cleared his throat. Naruto whirled around in surprise.
"Oh, hi there, Hinata's dad!" Naruto said with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his head.
"Good morning, Naruto." Hiashi took a few moments to fully absorb the incongruous scene in front of his eyes.
This hobby and that person…
Maybe oil and water did mix, once in a blue moon?
Naruto shifted nervously, clearly mistaking his thoughtful silence for displeasure. That would have to be fixed.
"Walk with me," Hiashi requested, slowly making his way to the edge of the courtyard. Naruto followed tentatively, his gait oddly reminiscent of Hinata at her shyest.
Hiashi took a deep breath. Small talk was never his strong suit, and here he was.
"Do you...like gardening, Naruto?" he asked. Naruto stared at him in something like bemusement, or perhaps amusement, and Hiashi felt like slapping himself. Of course Naruto liked gardening. He was talking to the plants not five minutes ago.
"Yeah!" Naruto said cheerfully. "I've liked it since I was a kid, ya know."
Hiashi was fond of gardening as well. The garden was the Hyuuga clan's pride and joy. Hmmm. Maybe Naruto had much more in common with the Hyuuga than Hiashi had ever realized. Maybe Naruto was actually secretly poised and elegant…
"What are your other hobbies?"
"I like training and eating ramen!" Naruto said.
Never mind. Naruto was clearly in no way poised.
Training...maybe he was elegant in regards to training?
Another round of questioning shot that theory down miserably. Apparently, Naruto had succeeded in performing the Summoning Jutsu only when Jiraiya-sama threw him off a cliff.
Hiashi fought down the unexpected surge of concern that had welled up in his stomach when Naruto recounted the tale with a hearty laugh.
Maybe...maybe it would be a better course of action for Hiashi to talk about his own hobbies.
"I find that training goes very well when I practice my calligraphy beforehand, Naruto," he said.
Naruto looked at him like he was an alien. "Calligraphy?"
"Yes, calligraphy. Have you tried it before?"
"Nope," Naruto said. "I don't have any washi or fude or..."
"You don't?"
"Yeah, yeah, I don't have those tools and no one ever taught me how, ya know?"
"I see." Hiashi stood there awkwardly, remembering the malicious gossip and isolation that the villagers – including the Hyuuga – used to mete out to Naruto. Obviously, until the boy became a genin, no one would have ever taught him anything beyond whatever was the syllabus in the Academy. He felt the urge to slap himself again.
"Do you want to learn calligraphy...Naruto?" Hiashi asked quietly.
"Oh...um, okay." That nervous tic showed itself again. Naruto rubbing his head in embarrassment. Even Hinata had outgrown her finger-poking habit.
In another age, Hiashi might have scolded Naruto for openly showing such insecurity as he used to scold Hinata. But he would never make the same mistake twice.
Teaching calligraphy to Naruto was hard.
He had lost his right hand during the war. Naruto had gloomily informed him that he could barely hold a pen for five seconds without dropping it. He was also unable to eat properly because he couldn't hold chopsticks either. Hiashi wondered out loud how Naruto could continue being a ninja after affliction with such a debilitating handicap, and Naruto had angrily said that he would become Hokage at all costs, and had almost gotten the hang of one-handed seals and would be able to use all of his jutsu very very soon, ya know.
Concern with a dash of guilt bubbled up in Hiashi's stomach. He felt like slapping himself for the third time.
Within a few hours, Hiashi had been forced to amend his goal from "teach Naruto calligraphy" to "help Naruto hold the paintbrush without splashing ink all over the floor."
Hiashi breathed a sigh of relief as Naruto finally succeeded in making a single, clean stroke on a spare ninja scroll that he'd carried along with him.
"Let's take a break, shall we?" he said quietly, motioning for Naruto to follow him.
The kitchen was thankfully empty as the clan head gingerly peered inside, saving the pair any awkward questions. Naruto followed Hiashi on his tiptoes, as though he was afraid of getting scolded for coming inside.
Hiashi scanned the area and finally found what he was looking for – a bowl of takoyaki. It would be easy for Naruto to eat them with just his one hand. They could afford to take a small break before his left hand was forced to undergo more training.
His thoughts began to wander as they sat down at the low table and began to eat.
Naruto sure was like Hinata in all the ways that counted. Whenever he thought about the past, guilt always bubbled up in his stomach like a frothing wave. If only he hadn't written off Hinata in the beginning, if he'd come to believe in her then as he believed in her now...how different would things have been?
Who was there to believe in these two all of those long, lonely years?
Each other. They always believed in each other, a niggling voice in his ear whispered.
A lump welled up in his throat and he choked a little on his takoyaki. Naruto jumped up upon hearing Hiashi's coughing fit.
"Hinata's dad, are you okay?" he asked worriedly, pounding on Hiashi's back and dislodging the bite that had gotten stuck in his windpipe. "Hang on, just a moment..."
Naruto returned with a cup of water in his hand and tipped it down Hiashi's throat.
Ko's words to Hinata from long ago flashed through his mind.
"Don't accept even water from his hands, for it could turn to poison."
The water from Naruto's hands was sweet, soothing, and refreshing.
Hiashi smiled at the boy.
Later that night, he wrapped up a bemused Hinata in an uncharacteristic hug.
After all, he didn't need to be the Hokage to change the Hyuuga.
A/N: Had this finished a while ago, but I wanted to post it today because it's our favorite Hyuuga, Hinata's birthday. :)
I did the Roman numerals thing 'cause I've seen it before and it looks cool. :)
I notice that a lot of people don't seem to like Hiashi at all because of the way he treated Hinata, and you know, I understand that.
Yet a lot of people still enjoy characters like Neji, Gaara, Zabuza, Obito, Pain, even the Kyuubi, and those characters have done a lot of pretty horrible stuff too, and it's because they changed and grew throughout the course of time, and people accept that and appreciate it. But many people don't extend that grace to Hiashi, even though it equally applies to him as well.
I've seen him portrayed as this awful person who marries Hinata away against her will, kicks her out of the house, does not accept Naruto over time, and kidnaps children and tortures animals (okay, kidding with those last two, ha ha).
But I think it's clear that Hiashi wouldn't do things like that, because he changed and grew throughout the course of time, and I accept that and appreciate it.
Anyway, I'll end my word vomit here...Please review, though! :)