Disclaimer: The only things that belong to me are the plot, the original characters, and this particular representation of the Hyuuga and their politics.
Author's Notes: Undying gratitude to Kilerkki for beta-ing, link no miko for her continual encouragement (and lending of a name), and sna for her feedback. Additional love to all of those who have reviewed.
Sorry for the delay, but things got in the way: end of summer, muse problems, the first month of school, etc. However, Oracle has been completely outlined, and barring any huge changes, the story will clock out at nine chapters.
Oracle
Chapter Three: Navigation
On the morning of his twenty-eighth day, Neji is woken up by the sunlight streaming through the window and onto his face. His darkness doesn't change, but his face and neck are warm. A little over a week ago the changes in the lighting would have snapped him out of slumber before his face had time to get hot.
Neji sits up slowly, wondering what time it is and how much longer he has left in the hospital. He didn't sleep well last night, waking every few hours. Every time he woke up, Hinata's voice wavered through his mind.
"I couldn't just let you die."
She is too soft for the Hyuuga.
Neji reaches carefully with his right hand toward the small bedside table. He asked the nurse last night to give him something so he would be ready in the morning. His fingertips brush something soft, and he grasps it in his hand, pulling it toward his bed. With his calloused hands, Neji feels out the long strip of bandages before expertly wrapping it around his forehead and over the seal. His hands slow only momentarily as he realizes that he won't have the seal for much longer.
They do not bring breakfast this morning, but Neji doesn't mind as he finds that his appetite still hasn't returned. He waits, feeling the sunshine on his skin, thinking in the silence. It isn't long before Neji's door slides open and a soft, slow set of footsteps enters. "Good morning, Neji-kun."
Neji's eyebrows furrow slightly together. It is unmistakably a man's voice—an elderly man, if the slightly-trembling bass is anything to go by—but one he can't place. He doesn't hear a cane, so the man is capable of walking without assistance.
"Ah," the old man says, and Neji catches the faint amusement in the other's voice, "I can see you don't recognize me."
"No," Neji responds. His fingers are laced together, hands resting in his lap. He will not let this man get a rise out of him. Very few Hyuuga lose their mental capacities with age, and unless this man is one of the rare exceptions, Neji suspects that the choice of words is deliberately insulting.
"I am Hyuuga Hiroki," the man says, and there's a faint movement of cloth that suggests he has bowed to Neji. "One of the Elders."
"Hiroki-sama," Neji says respectfully, and inclines his head deeply in the direction of the Elder. Mentally, Neji reviews what he knows of the convoluted Hyuuga genealogy. "Then you are my maternal aunt's father-in-law?"
"That's correct," Hiroki says, and Neji hears the man take several more steps toward his bed. "Your first cousin, Hotaru, is my only granddaughter." He sighs then and his footsteps come right up to Neji's bed. There is a soft thump as something drops onto the foot of the bed. "In any case, I've brought you an undamaged change of clothing and sandals. Once you're dressed, I will escort you back to the estate."
Hiroki keeps his silence while Neji climbs out from under the thin hospital sheet and to the opposite side of the bed. His feet settle carefully on the sun-warmed floor; his legs support him without complaint, so he turns back to face the bed.
Neji's left hand stays on the bed while the fingers of his right hand skim across the bed sheets in search of the bundle of clothing. His hand runs into the sandals first, so he keeps searching. There. He grabs the fine cotton fabric, running both hands over the cloth. Neji's fingers locate the waistband and the pockets. It's no different than the hundreds of time's he's dressed in the pre-dawn darkness of his own room, he tells himself as he slips on the pants underneath his hospital gown.
He pulls the gown off over his head and places it carefully on the bed. He locates the remaining clothing—a happi coat judging from the length and cut—and puts it on as quickly as dignity allows, tying the sash around his waist. Briefly he wonders what color the clothes are, but decides it is irrelevant. The Elders will not draw attention to him by supplying him with glaringly colored clothing.
Hiroki makes a humming noise as Neji slips on the sandals. Neji's hands move once more to the bed, but this time to the opposite end, searching for the kunai lying beneath the pillow. Once he finds it, he carefully tucks the weapon into the sash near the small of his back. It reassures him, knowing he has a weapon within reach. Neji stands unmoving by the bed, uncertain as to what he should do next. The Hyuuga Elder takes that choice from him. A few quick steps and then the man is beside Neji. He stiffens automatically when a hand grabs him just above his right elbow.
"Come now," Hiroki says, and Neji hears a trace of amusement in the gravelly voice. "Surely you're not going to deny an old man some assistance on the long walk home." Hiroki threads his arm about Neji's elbow and then pulls slightly on the younger man. Neji feels his anger growing—the man is mocking him by claiming he needs Neji's support when it is really the other way around. The Hyuuga are not a physical clan, and to have an Elder cling to a member of the Branch family under the pretext of support shames them both.
The first few steps Neji takes are hesitant, despite the guiding pressure on his arm and his resolve to act as if nothing has changed. His feet move tentatively and he resists the impulse to stick out his free left hand to feel for obstructions. He knows that Hiroki won't intentionally run him into anything, but he finds himself distrustful all the same.
Hiroki makes a tsk-ing sound. "Walk normally, boy. You might be blind, but the rest of your body works just fine."
Neji bites back the angry words threatening to break out. But his steps lengthen and his shoulders straighten all the same.
Hiroki starts humming again, and Neji can hear the self-satisfaction in the man's voice.
The check-out process finishes quickly, and then Neji is out in the morning streets. He breathes in the summer air, catching the scent of the roses planted at the hospital entrance. Another tug on the arm and Hiroki leads Neji away.
They walk in silence for several seconds. Neji's brow furrows as he tries to gain his bearings. He concentrates, focusing on feeling the sunshine on his skin.
"Where are you taking me?" Neji asks quietly after a moment.
"Hmm?" Hiroki sounds bemused. "Where do you think I'm taking you?"
Neji points his free hand to the left. "The estate is to the southwest from the hospital's main entrance. We're heading southeast."
"Yes, we are, aren't we?" Hiroki muses and keeps walking in the wrong direction. Neji has no other choice than to be pulled along or stop dead in the street and demand petulantly to be taken home. Even if he were inclined to make demands of Elders, Neji wouldn't do it with witnesses—he can sense the presence of civilians and the scattered chakra signatures of off-duty ninja close by.
Hiroki does not seem as if he will answer the question, so Neji uses the silence to explore his remaining senses in the outside world. Taste doesn't help much to tell him what's going on in the world around him; smell isn't of much use either for he can't smell with the intensity or depth of an Inuzuka. Touch is perhaps his best sense thus far—he can feel the warm sunlight on his skin and the sandals are thin enough that he can tell when he steps on a pebble.
Neji and Hiroki pass two women talking animatedly. He can hear their words easily and their footsteps if he focuses. But it is his ability to sense chakra that reveals the presence of the child in one of the women's arms. These women are definitely civilians; their chakra is weak and undisciplined. In contrast, Hiroki's chakra, while weak, is tightly focused.
Once the women are out of earshot, Hiroki speaks again. "Hiashi-sama is meeting with Godaime-sama this morning," he says, and the lightheartedness is gone from his voice. "They captured the Kumo-nin that blinded you."
Neji keeps his breathing even and slow as Hiroki continues. "Hiashi-sama is seeking compensation from the Raikage, but I doubt Godaime-sama will push for it. The Raikage claims that your capture was the independent action of missing-nin." There is contempt in the Elder's voice. "Godaime-sama has at least promised to give custody of the prisoners to us once Interrogation is done with them."
Neji's anger is much greater now, and he finds that his fists are clenched so hard into fists that they're threatening to tremble. Twelve years ago, the Raikage tried to obtain the Byakugan, and Hizashi died because of it. Now the second attempt to steal the famous bloodline means death for Hizashi's son.
He tries to force the anger and bitterness away. Neji knows there is nothing he can do to change the past or his future. "Why are you telling me this?" he asks, his words short and harsh.
If he hears the suppressed emotion in Neji's voice, Hiroki gives no sign of it. "In a week you will be called before the Elders to inform us how you wish to die." His tone is even and unconcerned, as if he is discussing the execution date of a condemned traitor. "Provided the method doesn't prolong your life beyond your allotted time and is within reason, we're bound to honor your request."
"I bargained with them. I—I'm not the Heir anymore. It was the only thing I could think of that they'd accept."
"Anything I request?"
"Within reason," Hiroki says, and the amusement is back in his voice, a vocal smile. He pats Neji's right arm a little, akin to the affection a doting grandfather would bestow upon his only grandchild. "Let's head to the estate now, shall we? I dare say we've prolonged our walk enough."
Hiroki's humming is non-obtrusive background noise to Neji's thoughts.
"Your room," Hiroki says and finally releases Neji's arm. The sudden disappearance of his physical anchor is momentarily disorienting. Neji reaches out with his left hand, fingertips brushing the sliding door to his room. Instead of leaving his sandals in the entrance way, Neji carries them in his right hand. There is no way he can be sure to find his own shoes again if he leaves them with the rest. His hand searches for the crevice between the wall and the frame and gently guides the door open.
"Hiroki-sama." Neji's voice is quiet, but it is not the stillness borne of respect. "What are you trying to accomplish?" His hand has a secure grasp on the door's edge; its stability is comforting. "I will not let you use me."
"Use?" The amusement in the old man's voice is so thick that it nearly smothers his words. "What use is a blind Hyuuga to anyone?"
Neji's jaw clenches and he feels the cords in his neck tighten in response.
"The one I have a use for is Hyuuga Neji," Hiroki says, and although the mirth has faded mostly, Neji can still hear the traces of it in the Elder's voice. "You may not be able to see the picture the puzzle forms, boy, but you can still feel the shapes and put it together."
Hiroki's footsteps are slow and even as he leaves Neji behind. Neji steps into his room and slides the door shut behind him. Carefully, Neji bends down to place his sandals next to the door, up against the wall. It will be easy to relocate them if they are there.
The room is easy for him to navigate—it always has been. Neji knows without needing to see that directly in front of him is a clear path to his futon, which is right against the far wall. Against the right wall is a long, low bookcase with three shelves, filled with various books and scrolls. Directly opposite that is Neji's closet, and between that and the center of the room is a small table.
There is a mirror on the wall by the closet and a window opposite the door, but Neji has no use for them now.
He walks slowly, drifting to the left. Five steps and his right foot finds the thin sitting cushion. Neji lowers himself onto the cushion and rests his hands on the smooth surface of the table.
He needs to think. Hehas to think. What is Hiroki trying to do?
Neji finds that his right hand is slowly tracing nonsensical patterns on the cold table-top. He frowns and curls the offending fingers into a fist. It is a habit from childhood; he used to skim his fingers along the wall when he couldn't sleep. First manifesting itself after Hizashi died, it is something Neji hasn't done for years.
He remains in his room, alone, the gong in the courtyard between the Main and Branch Houses ringing out the hours. Neji can hear and sense other members of the Branch pass by his room, but no one pauses and asks to enter. It is a deliberate shunning by the Branch—that in the clan that can see everything, they do not see him. Any injured Branch member, upon returning, is always greeted by at least one relative, to see if the injured person requires assistance.
He senses another chakra signature approach his door and continue on without hesitation.
There is no point in dwelling on it further. His current status is somewhere between the two families and death.
So Neji turns his thoughts to Hiroki. A Hyuuga Elder, and one he knows almost nothing about. They are indirectly related and speak to one another only on rare occasions. Neji breathes slowly and regularly as he would if meditating, trying to recall everything he knows about the man.
Genealogy is the easiest to recall. Hiroki's only son married Neji's maternal aunt, a Branch House member. When their daughter was born, the Elders announced that the girl's lineage would be traced through her mother, and when she was four, she was branded with the Curse Seal, like all other children of the Branch.
Neji originally had his lineage declared through his mother, a Main House member. Only when Hinata turned three was Neji given the Curse Seal. His lineage remained maternal, allowing him to fulfill the requirement that the Heir's protector be less than a generation removed from the Main Family.
Neji's deceased mother and Hiroki's daughter-in-law were sisters, but the Hyuuga have long maintained the tradition of splitting siblings apart. Frankly, it is little short of a miracle that neither Hinata nor Hanabi were threatened with the being sent to the Branch before now.
Neji frowns. The ball of his thumb runs over the edge of the table as he thinks. Why did Hiroki walk in the wrong direction heading home? At best it delayed their arrival by a quarter of an hour. Was it some sort of test? If it was, what did the Elder gain from it? Or was it only to highlight what he told Neji?
He sits at the table for the next two hours, mentally reconstructing his interaction with Hiroki as faithfully as he can. Somewhere in there are the pieces Neji needs.
Shortly after the courtyard gong declares the thirteenth hour, two sets of footsteps stop in front of Neji's door. "Come in," he says, and the door slides open.
"Oi, Neji," one of the people calls while stepping into the room, an amiable bark echoing the greeting.
Neji's eyebrows furrow together. "Kiba." Although he is on fairly good terms with the Inuzuka, Kiba has never come to visit Neji. The Inuzuka always goes to the Head Family's living areas to meet with Hinata, his teammate.
The door slides shut behind the second set of footsteps. "Neji."
"Shino," Neji acknowledges, and his sense of uneasiness increases, twisting about the tiniest thread of what could become anger. If the two chuunin are here to express some misguided form of pity, he will show them just how useless he is. And if Hinata told them to come—
"Sit," Neji says, and his voice is just a little short of giving an outright command. Neji can feel the three chakra signatures—two human and one nin-dog—as they cross to the opposite side of the table he is still sitting at. He hears them settle on the floor, the wood creaking nearly inaudibly at the new weight. There is a rustle of clothes, and then several tiny clicks, which Neji surmises are Akamaru being placed on the table. He wonders if the dog's nails are ever trimmed and how much damage they will do to the wood surface.
Kiba is the first to speak. "Hinata told us what's gonna happen to you and to her." His voice is quiet and angry. Akamaru growls a little at that. "We're not gonna let her get marked."
Neji feels his beast twitching again. "How?" The tiniest flash of hope is quickly suppressed.
"The only reason you've got to die is because you're a danger to your clan, right?" The Inuzuka's voice is building in energy and pitch. "If you're not a threat—"
"The Heir still would need a protector," Neji cuts in. "Neutralizing me as a threat wouldn't change that." Anger is beginning to filter into his gut and it takes effort to keep his hands from clenching.
"We know that," Kiba said, annoyance plain in his words and tone. "So me and Shino are gonna teach you how to fight."
". . . what?' Neji freezes.
"You're a genius, right?" Kiba's voice is an odd mixture of excitement and impatience. "Seeing's not the only way to find an enemy. I can teach you how to increase your sense of smell and hearing, like my clan does."
"Aburame sight starts deteriorating in our twenties," Shino's calm voice is a marked contrast to his teammate's enthusiasm. "It is one of the side effects of the kikai."
"All you've gotta do is show those old bastards you can fight," Kiba says triumphantly. Akamaru yips in agreement. "Then you won't die and Hinata won't have to get sent to the Branch House."
"Who told you that?" Neji has found his words again and the monster is moving once again, working its way through his abdomen. Neji knows his clan history better than the two chuunin. There was never an exception to this law, not even when Hyuuga Hiroshi, the Heir over half a century ago, was blinded on a mission. Hiroshi lost sight in one eye and almost all of it in another. The clan had required him to breed, and when conception was confirmed, Hiroshi slit his own throat.
"One of your Elders," Shino answers. "Hiroki-san implied that this would work."
Neji's hands are squeezing the edges of his table, His thoughts are spinning furiously, trying to assimilate the new information. What does Hiroki stand to gain by misleading Hinata's teammates? If the Elders then wouldn't make an exception for the Heir, there is no way the Elders now would make an exception for someone they particularly despise.
And then . . . the pieces start taking on defined shapes.
"Have you told Hinata-sama about this?" Neji asks slowly.
"No," Shino says. "We came to you first."
"She's been with her dad all morning," Kiba complains. "So we thought we'd tell you."
Neji takes a deep breath and forces his fingers to relax and drop into his lap. "Don't tell her." She'll know it's not possible. He needs more time to think and make sure Hiroki's plan is what he thinks it is. The shapes of the pieces are more distinct now, and they're coming into place. Just a little more time . . . Neji's own plan is forming in his mind.
"Why not?" Kiba's voice is puzzled.
"They'll be watching her more closely now." Neji forces the beast inside him to stay still and for his voice to remain calm. "Most of the Elders want her sent to the Branch House, and if they know she is trying to prevent that, they will have her marked immediately. In order for this to work, we must keep it secret from her."
It will come down to the pieces, he thinks as he talks further with Hinata's teammates. He must fit them together and use the Elder's puzzle for Neji's own ends. And if Neji's use of the pieces accomplishes Hiroki's part of the puzzle, so be it. Neji has a goal of his own—one where he has use for a blind Hyuuga and inflexible tradition.
To Be Continued
in
Chapter Four: Intuition