Yin and yang in threes make eight trigrams:
Heaven, earth, fire, water, thunder, mountain, lake, and wind.
Eight trigrams in twos make sixty-four hexagrams.
The third hexagram: earth over wind, Pushing Upward.
Hinata is a quiet toddler.
Despite not talking much, she has an extensive vocabulary for her age and just the slightest hint of a childish lisp. Her first word was "Mama", and her first full sentence was "Thank you, Ko". That, more or less, gives you the right idea as to who her two favorite people are.
As soon as she learns to walk, Ko takes her on walks around the garden, to strengthen her arms and legs. She won't be strong enough to start training until she's about three and a half at the earliest, and then only with simple kata. She's still growing, and any strenuous exercise could damage her young bones. What's more, the Byakugan can only be activated by a child with some chakra control, and by all accounts children below the age of three are more or less incapable of molding chakra.
The Hyuga have been training children as soldiers for generations; they have the process down to a science.
The consensus, among the elders of the clan, is that Lady Hinata shows great promise. Her quiet disposition is supposed to be a sign of a calm and measured temper; this is always a good sign. The Hyuga clan is one ill-managed by a hothead, and Hiashi's firm reserve has served them well. They believe she takes after her father in all the ways that matter, though of course she is her mother in miniature, with the same long eyelashes and fair skin and heart-shaped face.
Like her father, she rarely smiles.
It isn't that she's unhappy- more often it's because she's shy. Her smiles are reserved for the people she knows and likes- most often her mother, whom she adores. The Lady Hyuga and the young Lady Hinata can frequently be heard giggling late at night, when Hiashi is too busy to disapprove of his wife reading bedtime stories in silly voices to the clan heir.
When Hinata turns two, her parents take her to meet the Lord Hokage.
Ko dresses her in a neat white kimono, prim and proper as the Hyuga heir should be. Her hair is combed and trimmed for the occasion, falling around her chin in the front. She doesn't quite know what's going on, but her father is there and so she is quiet and obedient. She scarcely speaks even when spoken to, and then only after encouragement from her mother.
She and her father are mirror images, her mother says, laughing. Watchful and grave.
Hinata holds Ko's hand tightly.
What Hinata doesn't know is that their visit is traditional; that her grandfather and grand mother, thirty-four years prior, took their twin sons Hiashi and Hizashi to meet the Hokage. Both of them, because there was always a chance that the elder son might die from some childhood sickness, and so Hizashi wouldn't be sealed until he was no longer needed as a spare.
Hinata does not know that thirty-four years ago was the last time her father and her uncle were considered equals.
Instead, she holds still and silent as Ko adjusts her sash.
Hinata's mother brushes rouge on her cheeks.
It isn't to accentuate her beauty- no, it is a calculated move. Two years later, long after her fever is gone, she still bears the signs of protracted illness. The rouge will help to hide her persistent pallor and thin cheeks. She dabs pale cream under her eyes to hide the dark circles there, and smears wax mixed with red powder on her lips to make them less thin and pinched. The other clans will have representatives at the event, and they cannot be allowed to know that she is weakened.
She can't be absent today, and so she dons her mask.
The Lady Hyuga smiles at Hinata and tweaks her daughter's nose, glancing in the mirror one last time to make sure the shadows under her eyes don't show.
Hinata knows her mother is beautiful.
It isn't just the embroidered silk kimono or the jade hairpin or her soft white hands that haven't touched a kunai in years. It isn't even her long eyelashes or shining black hair or her heart-shaped face, though to be certain the Lady Hyuga is known to be strikingly elegant.
It's that she smells like jasmine and her voice is musical, and she always leans down to look Hinata right in the eye when they talk. It's that her laugh is soft and rippling, and when Hinata squeezes her hand she always squeezes back, and that she always pretends to get it wrong and kiss Hinata's ear or her elbow or eyebrow instead of her cheek.
Hinata reaches up and takes her mother's hand.
Hinata is tired and confused and she doesn't like her kimono, and she wants to go home.
She's frightened, too. She's never seen so many people in one place before, and they all have odd eyes with holes in them. Most of them are dark- black, even, like mama's hair! She's never seen anyone with black eyes before, and they're all looking at her and she doesn't know why. There's a hole in their heads and she's looking into the dark inside, and it's scary and ugly. It isn't only black, and there are other people with green and blue and yellow rings, but all of them have black holes in their eyes.
The only thing that keeps her from bursting into tears as they walk into the reception is her mother holding her hand and smiling at her soothingly.
Hiashi frowns at his wife's light spirits, and the quirk of his mouth clearly shows that he doesn't think she's taking this seriously.
Instantly, the Lady Hyuga is the perfect blank-faced diplomat, solemn and dignified- though she sneaks Hinata a wink when Hiashi turns his back.
Hinata smiles and hides a giggle.
Her father is speaking- a loud, low rumble from far overhead. "The clan is well and stronger than ever," he says curtly. "The new generation shows great promise. And how does your clan fare, Fugaku?"
"It doesn't do to say too much about inner affairs," replies another. "But surely even you, Hiashi, have heard how well Itachi is doing."
Hiashi's curt frown sours further- a barely restrained grimace. "I have, yes."
"He is all we could hope for in a successor." The man glances down at Hinata, looking at her but not meeting her wide-eyed gaze. "Yours is less impressive, but she may amount to something in time, I suppose."
Hiashi opens his mouth, a venomous rebuke on his tongue-
The Lady Hyuga smiles placidly, her pale eyes inscrutable. "And how is your younger son, little Sasuke?" she asks in light tones. "I hope Mikoto is doing well. Hinata would have been in his class at the Academy- but her training, of course, will be supervised by the clan. Unlike some, we don't entrust our heirs to outsiders."
Hinata's mama is all steel under her silk.
"Be that as it may," Fugaku mutters.
"The Uchiha clan does not believe themselves above standard training," says a woman with dark eyes and a thin smile, approaching. "The Hyuga have always been unique in their insistence on remaining insular to the functions of the village." She smiles. "Lady Hyuga."
"Ah, Lady Uchiha!" Hinata's mama's smile is genuine now.
"Shall we speak elsewhere?" Mikoto suggests demurely. "I'm sure the men have very important business to discuss. I wouldn't want to interrupt them."
"Of course," Hinata's mother says serenely. "Hiashi."
Her husband dismisses her with a wave. Yui takes her daughter's hand and leads her over to a corner. Mikoto follows, nodding politely to Hiashi and touching her own husband's elbow in farewell.
The moment they're out of earshot, they both start laughing.
"It's wonderful to see you," Mikoto says fondly. "You've scarcely been seen in the village since the ambassadors came in April. I thought for certain you'd gone out of the country sightseeing and Hiashi was covering it up."
"Clan matters," Hinata's mother says smoothly. "It couldn't be helped."
"Not to mention your little angel here." Mikoto leans down and grins at Hinata. "Hello, there, baby."
Hinata squeaks and ducks behind her mother's leg, pressing her cheek against the soft fabric.
"She's a little bit shy," Yui murmurs apologetically. "Don't take it personally. I think it comes of spending so much time in the compound."
Mikoto tuts reproachfully, straightening. "I was teasing earlier, but you really don't get enough fresh air. Even the children of the clan head need to run around and play every once in a while. Sasuke just lives for going to the park every week. It isn't fair of Hiashi-"
"Mikoto," Hinata's mother says in a warning tone. "Hiashi is only doing what's best for the clan."
The dark-eyed woman looks like she wants to protest, but shrugs, looking glum. "It seems like that's all that matters these days, isn't it? Everything for the clan, the clan. Things just aren't the same without Kushina around to yell at us to lighten up."
"Yes, well. Her clan died out when she was a child," Hinata's mama points out coolly. "She could hardly understand."
"That's probably true. My heart breaks for her, though. All she ever wanted was a family, and then- well, you know what happened to her son, right?"
"Gossip is beneath you, Mikoto," she reprimands gently. "Tragedies like that should be left alone."
"That's true. But still. A fate worse than death."
"Some sacrifices have to be made," the Lady Hyuga says quietly, "And we can only be happy if our children are spared."
Mikoto frowns. "Yui, you aren't made of stone."
"How is Sasuke doing? I hear Itachi quite dotes on him," Hinata's mother says firmly, and it is clear the conversation is over.
As it turns out, Mikoto says, Itachi adores his little brother even more than toddler Sasuke admires him. She'd never worried about Itachi resenting his new sibling, he was so mature even as a child- but they get along so wonderfully the only real problem is convincing Itachi to stop giving Sasuke his dessert, since it only makes the toddler excitable before bedtime.
"Itachi is wonderful about it all," Mikoto concludes. "He never complains, even when he comes back from training and Sasuke's after him to play the moment he walks in the door."
Yui smiles and nods.
Smiles and nods and tries not to think about when she was a young girl from the branch family, watching the two sons of the clan head playing in the courtyard- one with a headband tied, for the first time, over his forehead.
"Hey," Hiashi had said then, young and reckless and grinning. "We're still brothers. It doesn't mean anything."
And the younger twin had shoved his older brother into the koi pond. He folded his arms triumphantly. "Of course not. I'm still more talented."
"But not better looking!"
Yui smiles and nods as Mikoto chatters on.
The Lady Uchiha is fortunate, Yui thinks. She need never sit in the dark agonizing over the prospect of a second child. She need never fear for her cheerful, lively second son, that he be branded and sealed and subjugated for the sake of the clan. She could have a third child, even a fourth, without consigning them to serve their siblings.
We can only be happy if our children are spared.