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: This took a long time to write. Various reasons. If you want in-detail thoughts about this chapter, please see my livejournal (link in profile), entry #393.

As always, much love and gratitude to my beta, Kilerkki, who is awesome and very patient with me. Thanks also to link no miko and iamzuul for their constant enthusiasm. And, of course, thank you to the readers, who have given me inspiration and made me smile many times.

Oracle

Chapter Five: Fulcrum

Neji bows, pressing his hands to the floor, forehead nearly touching the ground. He must show humility, must be humility, must make up for a decade of haughtiness and pride and scorn for the Main Family within these next minutes or it is all lost.

There are six other people in the room. Only two chakra signatures are familiar: one is the tight but fading strength of Hiroki, the second is the familiar power of his uncle. The other four are unknown, although he knows at least one of them—the one behind him—is no one important. Most likely it is a lower member of the Main Family, here to attend to the Elders at the meeting or to open and close doors. The Elders rotate nightly to serve on Hiashi's council, and beyond Hiroki, Neji does not know which Elders are serving tonight.

He can feel a seam beneath his hands where two tatami mats intersect. It is a subtle sensation, the smallest of cracks between one piece of flooring and the other. But it is there, another testament of his increasing dependency on touch. Part of him wonders just how much of the texture of the world he missed before, as focused as he was on sight.

Hiashi's chakra is directly in front of him, which puts the Clan Head in the center of the arc of what has to be Elders. The furthest right is Hiroki, but the one in between and the two on the left are absolutely foreign. Neji has no doubt that if he saw them, he could identify the others. He will have to settle for not knowing.

His uncle allows several seconds to pass by, but Neji doubts it is to savor this moment of submission. He knows his uncle is not as petty a man as he once thought. The Elders are another matter entirely, and this moment is for them. Most of them, at least.

"We recognize your presence, Neji," Hiashi begins before the silence can stretch too thin.

Neji straightens from his bow, but stays kneeling. It is his turn to speak now, his only chance to make anything worthwhile from his blindness.

"I have considered my fate." Neji practiced this voice. It is not his customary confidence. It is humble, but it is not weak. "And I ask for just two things." He refuses to lets his hands grip the fabric over his knees. "I ask that I be allowed to reclaim my honor and bargain with you."

The silence is long enough for Neji to breathe in once. It is long enough for the Elders to exchange any number of glances and soundless signals.

"What honor?" This voice is breathy, wheezing faintly from illness or the failing lungs of age. It comes from the chakra to the left of Hiashi. "None of the Cloud-nin that assaulted your team are at large. They are either dead or captured. Your honor has already been reclaimed."

Neji keeps his shoulders from tensing. "One of those captured was the one who blinded me. She did it while I was drugged." He remembers the pain, the fire flashing through his skull, the lightning flooding down his spine. He remembers screaming even though he had no breath to give it voice.

"You wish to kill her then?" A new voice, a sharp voice, but grating like broken pottery. "Or simply put out her eyes?" This voice is between Hiroki and Hiashi and is laced with scorn.

Neji does not remember taking breath, but he has breath enough to speak. "I ask that I be allowed to fight her. If I lose, I will die in battle. If I win, I will have my honor again before I die."

"Hokage-sama has not turned the Cloud-nin over to us." It is a woman's voice, unexpected and on the far left. "We don't know if we'll even obtain custody before your appointed day."

"If you're trying to buy yourself more time," Sharp's voice breaks in, "this is a poor attempt. You are living on bargained time, and it is an honor beyond your station. You should have been dead already."

The beast, ever-coiled in his stomach, stirs. Neji does his best to keep his voice meek. "I ask for no extra time. All I ask is to bargain on the outcome of the fight."

"We will not overrule Hinata-sama's bargain," Woman says. "You cannot have her reinstated."

"There is nothing I could do to repay the days I have been given." Nothing he can do to change Hinata's choice, her damning choice, her unwitting forsaking of his hope. She gave him time to—what?

I couldn't just let you die.

But she will. Her bargain did not buy his life; it bought him only time. What does she expect him to do with this month? Just one month in exchange for her future. An absurd bargain even from her perspective, Neji realizes. How can his single month be worth more than all her future years and the potential to change this clan?

It is something to ask her at a later time, when he is not gambling with his death. "If I win the match, I ask that Hotaru, daughter of Horyuu, have her lineage traced through her father—"

"—Hideaki, son of Hiroki." Sharp's voice is razor wire, invisible and deadly. "Do you really think to manipulate us so easily?"

Neji barely has time to contemplate tensing before Hiroki speaks. "It's the better choice."

"One which would transfer control of the Branch to your line instead of Hiashi-sama's."

The conversation shifts away from him, and Neji cannot help but feel relief from the ease of pressure. Relief, and shame that he needs the release, finds a strange comfort in the Elders ignoring him. As far as he knows, he is no longer the center of their attention, no longer the object of eyes he cannot see.

"Besides," Woman says, "the girl is young and not especially talented. There is no reason she should be favored over other, more qualified candidates."

"Like your great nephew?" Hiroki's voice is amused. "Still chuunin at twenty and still far from advancing."

The debate is close to erupting when Hiashi speaks. "Why Hotaru?"

Despite the simplicity of the question, Neji can feel the weight Hiashi gave the words. He knows that his answer will sway his uncle.

"She is between Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama in age," Neji begins. He can feel the Elders' eyes again, judging, searching for something to tear him apart with. "She would serve either well, no matter who was chosen as Heir." The beast moves again, snaking tendrils around his insides. "There are many advantages to having the Heir's protector be the same sex as the Heir."

Neji refuses to soften his next words, despite the meekness of his affected voice. "And although she is not the best among the Branch, Hotaru-san would still surpass Hinata-sama as a protector for Hanabi-sama."

It is an unkind assessment of Hinata's skill. In time, Hinata could prove a competent protector, but he does not have the time to find out.

The silence lingers and Neji finds that the first finger of his right hand is beginning to trace tiny circles against his knee. He forces himself to still.

"My problem is not what you're bargaining for." The wheezing voice is speaking for a second time. "It's that we have no incentive for agreeing." There is a rustle of fabric and a faint creaking as weight is shifted. "If all goes well for you, Neji-kun, you will have reclaimed your honor and determined your replacement. If you lose your match, you will still have your honor . . . but we will have nothing."

Neji keeps his shoulders from tensing. "I was told that any manner of death I requested would be approved."

"Provided it was within reason." There is no satisfaction or gloating in the whistling breath. "And expecting anyone to agree to a wager without the chance of winning something is not reasonable."

Not all of the Elders think the prospect of Neji potentially humiliating himself in his last moments is enough of an incentive. "What is it that you would like to win?"

"Are you seriously considering bargaining with him?" Sharp asks with a now-familiar mixture of condescension and anger. "There is no possible way he could fight. We would gain nothing, and he would make this clan look weak."

"Not unless it was a guarantee." When no one interrupts, the Elder continues. "I, for one, would personally consider the continuation of Neji's bloodline worth the price of his honor and the chance of Hiroki's granddaughter leading the Branch family."

The beast tries to strangle Neji's breath.

"Even if we could decide on a woman to bear his child tonight," the female voice says, "he has only twenty days left, beginning tomorrow. That's hardly enough time to ensure conception."

Hiroki speaks. "We could extend—"

"There's no need for extensions." Despite its pleasantry, the breathy voice is firm. "Godaime-sama and the hospital staff are fully capable of collecting . . . genetic samples and giving them to females we select. Shall we vote?"

There is a pause—Neji guesses that some sort of signal passed among them—and Hiroki is the first to speak. "I think this is a fair bargain and a suitable manner of death."

"I don't," Sharp says. "This is nothing but a blatant attempt at manipulation, and I am not blind enough to fall for it."

Neji doesn't let his body react to the insult, although the beast roars inside, threatening to tear him apart. But he must be passive, must be silent, must quietly ignore the mocking of his death. He lived knowing he could die for a greater cause, and despite the inevitability in this case, it is no different.

He hears a whisper of fabric behind him, but the movement of an attendant is of no consequence when his fate is being decided.

"I would vote for almost anything to have this bloodline continue."

"And I think you've placed too much faith in his genetics," says Woman. "There's no way to tell how much of it was his ancestry and how much was his personality."

It is a valid point, Neji realizes as the vote ties and his fragile hope sways. How much of his talent surfaced because of his hatred of the Main Family? How much of his strength came from his desire to surpass them all? Under other circumstances, could he be content with what Fate handed him, yet another Branch Hyuuga?

"Are you being manipulated, Neji?" Hiashi, again, as solemn as he was before.

There is no hesitation. "No, Hiashi-sama." He chose his fate: the chance to change the Hyuuga.

"Then I accept your bargain, provided we can gain custody of the Cloud-nin in time."

Neji bows, pressing his forehead to the ground, pushing away all his feelings but the budding of hope. "Thank you." The sincerest gratitude he ever expressed.

Hiashi dismisses him, and Neji rises to his feet. He hears the door open, the rubbing of wood against wood, and exits the room.

The door closes shut behind him. Immediately after, there is an explosion of murmuring. The last thing he hears is Sharp's voice rising above the others as Neji strides out into the cooling night.

He isn't certain what time he wakes, other than it is early—earlier than usual. Neji remains still on his futon, listening. There are no noises outside his window, and he cannot sense foreign chakra in his room. He dismisses the thought of a dream—all his dreams are ones he could not forget—and expands his senses, searching for anything that will explain the sudden awakening.

There are four chakra signatures within ten meters: three stationary, one mobile. The mobile one is to his left, outside the walls of the Branch quarters. Most likely someone on patrol. Two of the stationary chakra are muted and where they always are when his neighbors sleep.

The other chakra is outside his room, to his right and in the hallway. It is right in front of his door, sitting against it undoubtedly, and it is familiar.

Neji soundlessly leaves his futon and crosses to the door. He doesn't open it, but when he speaks he hears a faint gasp, the startled intake of breath. "You should be sleeping, Hinata-sama." Part of him did not expect her to; he knows she found out about what happened.

"I-I know. I'm sorry." She can move without much noise; he knows it is only because of his newly-acquired dependence on hearing that he catches the sound she makes as she stands and faces his door. "But I . . . I wanted to make sure I c-could talk to you. I've tried be-before, and . . ."

He was either out with her teammates before their meeting, or else he was with his, training. "Would you like to come in?" Better to deal with this now than to tell her to wait and have her possibly follow him to his meeting with Kiba and Shino.

"Please."

Neji opens the door and steps backwards, out of her way. He frowns a little when he senses her chakra come only a few centimeters in, barely far enough to close the door behind her. "What is it that you wish to talk about?" Moving to his table, he sits down on one of the cushions and is grateful when she follows his lead.

She is silent for a while, and Neji imagines her fidgeting although she makes no noise. He wonders how long she was outside his door and what time it is. The person on patrol wanders by again, closer than before. Neither of his neighbors are awake yet, or if they are, they're good enough shinobi to pretend they aren't.

"Why?"

It is a question he wants to ask her, but she asked it first. A single word with an answer that is more complicated than he knows how to fully express, but he tries. "I know you can change this clan, Hinata-sama." He pauses and then, for the first time, voices the words he kept to himself. "And I will do anything to ensure that the Branch has no reason to breed another person as I used to be."

A person with talent and motivation, yes. But a person overflowing with condescension and rage and bitterness and despair and hatred, every millimeter as arrogant and fate-bound as the worst of the Main Family. He sees himself a little clearer now, ever since his world began to change in the aftermath of his first Chuunin Exam. He can predict how that Neji would end, and the thought that he nearly became that way fills him with disgust and a hint of terror.

That is what the beast is, the thing threatening to consume him from the inside: the person he was before. The person without hope.

He falls silent; she knows almost as well as he does what he was like before.

There is a shaky breath—he has but a moment to wonder if she's crying—before he realizes that the person on patrol is pressed right against his wall.

Neji is almost to his feet when the curse seal flares.

He screams, hands reaching up to claw at the flames searing his eyes and charring his mind. He pitches to the side, but the pain of him landing on the table and falling to the floor does nothing to detract from the exquisite agony.

There is a roaring in his ears and he thinks he hears Hinata, but he's jerking wildly, his bones are on fire and he chokes on his screams and there's lightning in his blood and it won't stop it can't stop please just make it sto—

To Be Continued

in

Chapter Six: Regression