Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. And if he did, I would feed him cough drops round the clock. Training under a frog hermit is no excuse for having a frog stuck in your throat.

Notes: I wanted to at least touch on one of these elusive training sessions, just to give an idea of Hanabi's potential, and how Neji doesn't quite know how to handle it (wouldn't be any fun if the genius knew everything). Hanabi and Neji will have roles in "White Dog Night," though for the most part their bond will only be apparent here.

Summary: Neji stumbles upon a hidden technique of Hanabi's that leaves him a bit unsettled.

Hyuuga Secret Arts

(Companion to "White Dog Night")

Part 2: The Art of Emptiness

A Naruto Ficlet by

Nate Grey (XMAN0123-at-aol-dot-com)

Something wasn't quite right.

Well, that was wrong. It was right, but didn't feel right, exactly.

Neji had been aware of this "problem" all along, but it had become more pronounced as the techniques had gotten more and more reliant on Hanabi being able to mimic his motions precisely.

She wasn't, though, and Neji wasn't quite sure why that was. It couldn't be a lack of ability, as Hanabi had had little to no problems in that area. And, again, it wasn't that she was performing the motions wrong, exactly. She just wasn't executing them the way that Neji was, and so while it seemed... off to him, he was hesitant to call her on it, since she probably wasn't even aware of it, and it might not have been anything that she could change so early in their training.

But another problem arose when Hanabi noticed the troubled look on his face, and instantly stopped practicing the moves he'd shown her. She was proving to be far too observant, and tended to have a one-track mind whenever something captured her attention.

"What am I doing wrong, Neji-oniisan?" she asked abruptly.

"You're not, Hanabi-sama," Neji replied at once. "That is to say, I recognize what you're doing as what I taught you, and yet..."

"It's different," Hanabi supplied.

He blinked in surprise. "Yes. You knew?"

"I suspected this might happen, eventually. But I don't know if it's something that should be corrected."

"Neither do I," he admitted. "It may just be that because I've never watched you this closely before, I didn't recognize this as your personal style. Have you always moved this way?"

"In what way, exactly?" Hanabi asked, sounding curious.

That was a difficult question to answer, and not just because he didn't want to seem insulting. Neji had always moved efficiently, never wasting any energy where he could help it. Hanabi's motions seemed more concerned with a kind of subtle grace, at least, on the surface. But there was something else beneath that, something he couldn't quite figure out. And if she wasn't doing it on purpose, he doubted she could explain it to him.

"It's hard to put into words, but I do have an idea as to how to better explain it." Neji nodded, mostly to himself. "I'll need you to attack me."

Hanabi obediently moved a few feet away, falling automatically into a Gentle Fist taijutsu stance, though she instantly lowered it when Neji didn't do the same. "You're just standing there," she observed softly.

"I'm aware."

A marked frown appeared on Hanabi's face. "But if you're not even defending..."

"The point this time around is to learn, not defend."

"But I could-"

"We both know very well what you could do to me," Neji replied patiently. "I'm willing to take that risk in order to better understand exactly what it is I'm seeing."

"But, Neji-oniisan, you-"

He shook his head, not sure how to feel about the obvious emotion he had never before heard in her voice. "Please, just do it. Don't concern yourself with what might happen to me. You should be more concerned with what might happen to you if we don't address the issue early on."

Hanabi resumed her stance, but the unease she was feeling didn't leave her expression.

That was no good. If Hanabi wasn't focused as she had been before, her movements wouldn't be the same. With a sigh, Neji took up a similar stance, knowing it was the only way to bring out the unusual motions he was looking for. He was only planning to use a very weak and basic defense at best, though, because he really did need for Hanabi's attack to be successful.

"Any preferences?" Hanabi asked, her voice sounding much more confident now.

"I think Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms would work best for our current purposes."

Hanabi gave no sign that she agreed or disagreed as she ran towards him, her face frozen in an intense stare. They had of course been using the Byakugan non-stop, and that was at Neji's insistence that one would never put away a weapon until the battle (or in this case, the training) was done. By now Hanabi had no doubt memorized the locations of his chakra coils, and could probably target them even without the Byakugan, but he didn't want to deal with the arrogance that might result from such praise. At present, Hanabi was confident in her abilities, but aware of and eager to learn the many things she didn't yet know.

Neji figured that he only needed to allow a little more than half of the sixty-four hits to land for a thorough observation, though if he let too many connect in an uninterrupted stream, Hanabi would surely notice and break off the attack. He had to block often enough that she didn't get too suspicious of his motives.

Had he known of the power dwelling in Hanabi's fingertips beforehand, he would've blocked every strike.

He merely avoided the first two attacks with quick footwork, and turned away the next two with his forearms. Then he allowed Hanabi to slip beneath his guard and deliver the first of the next four.

That proved to be a grave mistake.

Of course, Neji had experienced the attack before. In fact, he had even built up some resistance to it, having no doubt that he would do battle with another Gentle Fist taijutsu user at some point in his life.

This was entirely different, and no amount of training could've prepared Neji for what he felt when Hanabi's first blow connected.

It was as if everything had gone blank: his mind, his body, his entire being. Everything that composed Hyuuga Neji slowed to a stop, and then faded into nothingness. There was no pain, no fear, and no chance of escape. There was only complete and overwhelming darkness, and it swallowed him up before he could even think to scream.

Hanabi was shaking Neji hard when he finally regained consciousness. She instantly backed away, as if her very touch might harm him again.

"I told you to defend," she muttered uncomfortably, looking away. "You shouldn't have just let me hit you like that. I landed twenty hits before I realized you were unconscious."

Neji blinked several times before slowly pushing himself to sit up on the floor. Most of his body still felt numb, though the parts that weren't just felt strangely cold. He carefully touched the spot on his chest where she'd first struck him, and shuddered when the coldness instantly began to spread there. He looked over to find that Hanabi was staring at him as if she expected him to die any moment.

"Did you find out what you wanted to know, at least?" she asked.

"No," Neji replied quietly. "Nothing I wanted to know." He couldn't help staring at her with a newfound sense of awe.

Hanabi avoided his eyes again, shifting her weight anxiously. "Does it hurt?" she whispered.

"No. No, it definitely doesn't hurt. Pain, I could've handled. This was... entirely different." He paused, and something clicked in his mind. "That's why you move that way. To keep it inside."

She nodded. "I accidentally used it on otou-sama once. He wouldn't let me out of my room for a week. After that, he wouldn't let anyone else train with me. He taught me how contain the power. I don't think I'm the first Hyuuga to have it."

"Why show me?" Neji asked.

Hanabi blinked slowly, as if she couldn't believe he'd just asked that. "You noticed it, even when I kept it in. I saw no reason to hide it from you any longer. You are my sensei now, Neji-oniisan. You should know such things, should you not?"

Not for the first time, Neji wondered just what he'd gotten himself into when he'd agreed to train his youngest cousin.

"We are done for tonight?" Hanabi suggested, noticing he still hadn't gotten up.

He managed a small nod, but she stayed right where she was.

"Do you want help?" she asked, gesturing at his legs.

Neji shook his head automatically, even though the cold sensation prevented him from moving his legs more than a few inches.

"Do you need help, then?" Hanabi offered again.

He almost refused again, but the look on Hanabi's face stopped him. She almost seemed to be silently pleading with him to accept her help. Perhaps she was just feeling guilty, but they both knew she would not offer a third time.

"Yes," he admitted at last, and she quickly moved forward to help him stand.

"You don't have to worry," she added, keeping him steady with an arm around his waist as they moved to the door. "Now it only comes out when I want it to."

"And how do you do that? What is it that activates this... power?"

"Nothing," Hanabi replied at once.

Neji stared at her, waiting for an explanation.

"It's what I think of when I use it," she continued. "Whenever my mind is blank, that's what I see and feel: nothing. Only darkness. It becomes my weapon, you might say."

"It is... a formidable technique, and one you were wise to hide," he remarked. "I do not believe it will prove problematic for our training, either."

"Except that you will require plenty of rest tomorrow," Hanabi added. "I assume you will spend the day in bed."

Neji frowned at her. "And why," he said slowly, "would I do something like that?"

"Because if you do not spend the day in bed," Hanabi replied calmly, "I will know about it. And I will see to it that you end up spending a week in bed, instead of a day."

It had been some time since Hanabi had last threatened him, and Neji wasn't sure how to feel about that. Lately, she had been less and less demanding, and he had assumed that she was just becoming more relaxed in her role as his student. Of course, the fact that she was a quick learner made their progress swift and easy, so he hadn't needed to correct her more than a few times. Even though, according to the terms of their contract, she could no longer wave the threat of the Cursed Seal over his head, this new technique was disturbing enough that Neji was in no hurry to experience it again.

That didn't mean he had to go along with her wishes quietly, though.

"That's twice today I've sensed concern in your tone, Hanabi-sama. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were starting to grow fond of me."

This brought Hanabi to an abrupt halt.

"You are wrong, Neji-oniisan," she said quietly, yet loud enough that he could not miss her words. "You are a tool, one of many means to a certain end in my life. When I determine you are no longer useful to me, I will push you aside until you can again serve my purposes."

"Then I will await the day when you have need of me again, Hanabi-sama," he replied with a smirk.

She said nothing as they continued walking, but Neji was amused all the same. He had expected Hanabi to say something like she had, although he'd assumed she would simply toss him away and never look back. The idea that she intended to keep him around now, however... it was probably an improvement.

And perhaps Hanabi was no longer quite as empty as she seemed to think.

End of Part 2.

Endnotes:

Hanabi's 'empty technique' isn't canon, and consequently it's a bit hard to classify. As she implied, it should be viewed largely as a bloodline limit, though nowhere near as common in the Hyuuga Clan as the Byakugan. The technique affects opponents much like genjutsu would, but as physical contact is required, works best when coupled with taijutsu. Instead of channeling chakra into her opponent (as one normally would with Gentle Fist), Hanabi transmits emotion, which in this case manifests itself as overpowering darkness in the opponent's mind. Hanabi believes that she's using a lack of emotion in the attack, but she's actually drawing on a very powerful emotion for her, albeit a negative one which can be mistaken for the former. Currently, there is no actual pain involved, just blacking out for a period, and prolonged feelings of numbness and cold upon waking up.