Bold= Jutsu
I had one hell of a headache. That was the first thing I noticed when I regained consciousness, before I had even opened my eyes. It wasn't as bad as when the seal was activated, but it still hurt like hell.
I groaned and placed a hand on my forehead, then opened my eyes. I was back in my own room, laying down on my bed. I turned my head and saw Hikari sighing in relief.
"How are you feeling?" she asked. I sat up slowly.
"I feel like this is going to be a long fucking day," I said. Hikari made a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sob.
"Well at least you're your usual self," she said.
"What time is it?"
"Noon," said a voice from the corner. I looked over and saw Neji leaning against the wall.
"Neji? What're you doing here?" I asked, turning my legs so they hung over the side of my bed.
"I promised you that I would comfort our Mother until you recovered. I did just that," he turned for the door, "Now if you'll excuse me I must be on my way to the academy," he left the room. I turned back to Hikari.
"Did he actually comfort you or did he just stand next to you and talk about fate?" I asked.
"Have some faith in your nii-san Hizashi. He needed my support just as much as I needed his when you started screaming," said Hikari. My eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"It's true. His breathing was slightly panicked, he kept twitching and when he grabbed my hand he was squeezing it just as often as I squeezed his," said Hikari, "I know he doesn't show it often but he does care about you. Today was a prime example of that."
Twitching and slightly panicked breathing? That was equivalent to Naruto using an inside voice for a whole five minutes. Maybe there's hope for my nii-san after all.
I rubbed my forehead, trying to feel the seal.
"Can I have a mirror?" Hikari sighed, then handed me a mirror that was on my bedside table. Evidently she had thought I would ask that. I looked in the mirror and saw the seal. It was the standard Caged Bird Seal, a green 'X' in the middle of my forehead with a squiggly line on either side of it. Exactly what I was expecting.
But that didn't make it any less shocking to see it on me. To know that at any time a Main family member wanted to they could torture and kill me.
"You shouldn't worry too much," said Hikari, I looked up from the mirror, "The seal is only used when there is reason to believe that the person in question is thinking of, or committing treason. You blatantly disrespect the Elders, but that's not enough to warrant activation of the seal."
I let out a long sigh of relief.
"That being said, you won't get away with it as easily as you used to. Now that your training in the art of Gentle Fist has begun they can punish you by assigning you a particularly difficult training partner," said Hikari.
"Tone down the attitude, got it. So, who's going to teach me Gentle Fist?" I asked.
"I will teach you the basics, then you will move on to a Hyuuga member who still serves as a shinobi," said Hikari. I nodded, then furrowed my brow.
"Wait, YOU'RE teaching me? No offense Ma but I thought you were a servant, not a ninja," I said. Hikari smiled and closed her eyes.
"Byakugan!" The veins around her eyes bulged and a circle appeared in her eyes. She held the jutsu for a few moments, then released it.
"I was a ninja for twenty years then after a particularly intense battle my chakra reserves were damaged badly enough to force an early retirement. I've been a servant ever since," said Hikari.
"How was your chakra network damaged?"
"Severe chakra exhaustion. As I said the battle was long and intense. And then there was the fact that I was further drained of chakra from an insect user."
"How bad's the damage?" Hikari sighed.
"I can only maintain the Byakugan for about five minutes, and that's without also engaging in Gentle Fist. At present I can fight like a 'proper Hyuuga' for about three minutes before collapsing with exhaustion."
"Will it ever get better?"
"If I were to train properly it's possible I could get my former strength back," Hikari looked at me intently, "But right now my job is to be you and your brother's Mother."
I smiled, got off my bed, and gave her a hug. She returned it without question.
"Thanks Ma." We separated.
"So when do we start?" I asked.
"Right after a quick lunch, is ramen okay?"
"Sure."
Hikari and I walked to the dining room then she left for the kitchen. She came back a few minutes later with two bowls of Naruto's favorite food. We both sat down and ate it very quickly. I really wanted to start training and apparently Hikari did as well. When we finished we put our bowls in the kitchen then I started for the door.
"Not so fast Hizashi," called Hikari.
"I thought we were going to start training."
"We are, just not at the training ground yet." I sighed.
"Boring chakra control first?"
"Bingo, meet me in the living room," said Hikari. I sighed, and walked to the living room. Hikari was sitting on the ground meditating.
"Mirror my position and clear your mind," said Hikari. I sat across from her with my legs crossed and made the ram hand sign.
"Now breath slowly. Empty your mind and feel the chakra flowing through you."
Empty my mind, empty my mind. How hard could that be? Very hard evidently, thinking to yourself means your mind isn't empty. I know that. Then why do you keep thinking? Because you keep asking me questions. We're the same person dumbass now stop thinking and empty your goddamn mind!
...
...
...
Woah.
I felt it. I felt my chakra flowing through my body. It's almost impossible to describe what it felt like. It was like I had a second set of veins that brought warm coffee to every inch of my body. Warm and soothing yet energizing and exciting at the same time.
"Do you feel it?" asked Hikari, breaking my concentration. I shook myself.
"Y-yeah... Wow."
"It will be a long while before you will be able to gain enough control to perform jutsu. We will focus on basic control for now. we'll also need to work on the Byakugan hand signs, and your overall physical ability."
"How long before I start learning the katas?" I asked.
"At least three months, then another month before you start sparring," said Hikari, "But again, you're technically eligible to spar now. So the Elders will likely force you into one if you make them mad enough."
"I got it, I got it. So what now?"
"Now you should probably start to memorize the hand signs for the byakugan. It will be awhile before you're able to activate it but the sooner you start learning it the sooner you'll master it," said Hikari, she stood up and readied her hands, "The signs are horse, ram, boar, hare, rat,..."
My eyes got wider and wider as she quickly weaved the thirteen different hand signs needed to activate the byakugan. This was going to be a very long day.
Mid-afternoon
It's amazing how sore fingers can get. Forcing them into the unnatural positions of hand signs was difficult enough, but when you factor in the fact that I had to do them one after the other AND doing them quickly... Well lets just say its not very easy. Hikari had left to attend to the Elders soon after she had finished teaching me the signs and told me to practice on my own. I had spent an hour weaving them over and over again when there was a knock at the door.
I flexed my tired fingers and went to answer it.
"H-Hi Hizashi," said Hinata.
"Hey Hinata. Are, are you doing alright? You look paler than usual," I said.
"Y-yes I'm f-fine. H-how's the...?" she gestured to her forehead. I sighed and lifted my hair out of the way to show her the seal. She started pressing her fingers together and looking at the ground. I removed my hand from my forehead and placed it on her shoulder. She looked back up.
"It's not your fault Hinata. You're still my nee-san." She smiled a little and nodded. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled out some string.
"I-I, um, wanted to h-help you with your training," said Hinata, "Have you started practicing the hand signs yet?"
"Yeah," I flexed my fingers again, "It'll take awhile to get used to."
"W-well, when I was learning the hand signs, this helped me train my fingers to move fast enough," Hinata started to fiddle with the string in her fingers and after a few seconds she had a cat's cradle. I raised my eyebrows slightly.
"Well can you do it again? And a little more slowly this time? Then can you walk me through it when I'm holding the string?" Hinata's smile widened.
"Sure thing nii-chan," she teased.
Good god I'm rubbing off on her, and that sounded so wrong.
"Please don't call me that. It'd be like me calling you Hinata-sama," Hinata's smile vanished, "Not that I'd ever to that." Hinata breathed a sigh of relief.
"O-okay, watch closely. First you d-do this..."
It took Hinata ten minutes to teach me to do it properly. And just in time too, right when I had gotten it down Hiashi had come and taken her for more training. I had spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between doing the cat's cradle and weaving the hand signs. Doing the cat's cradle was actually pretty helpful, I was able to move my fingers in weird ways but I distinctly knew when I screwed up. I wonder what Neji'll have to say
I heard the door open and close. Speak of the devil.
"Hey nii-san, welcome home!" I called. He didn't answer. I heard him moving a few things in the kitchen before he walked in the living room and sat on the floor next to me. He glanced down at the string in my hands.
"What are you doing?" he asked in his usual monotone.
"Cat's cradle." I flipped through the motions. Neji raised an eyebrow.
"Is there a particular reason you're playing more childish games when you should be training?"
"One, we're BOTH still kids and two this actually helps me with my fingers," I undid the cradle then did it again, "I need to train for the hand signs and this helps out."
Neji looked contemplative.
"I suppose an activity like that would improve finger dexterity. Perhaps there's hope for you yet," he got up to leave, "I need to practice the katas," he turned for the door.
"Ya know there's hope for you too," I said keeping my eyes on the string in my hands. Neji paused.
"What do you mean?"
"You actually felt and showed some emotions today. Don't deny it. According to Mom you squeezed her hand just as much as she squeezed yours when I started screaming."
"HOW CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT SO CASUALLY!?" shouted Neji. I looked to him in shock. Neji NEVER shouted, ever.
"The Main family forcefully sealed you into their servitude in one of the most painful rituals there is and you mention it the same way you'd talk about the weather."
"I never talk about the weather."
"That's not the point! The Main family just made you their slave, caged you like a bird, and you're not angry at them in the slightest? You're not angry at the people who killed our Father?"
Hiashi actually wanted to go himself but Dad insisted on taking his place. And if I told him that, him not believing me would probably be the best case scenario.
"The caged bird seal is only activated if there's reason to believe that a person is about to commit treason. And all servants willingly volunteer to serve the Elders. We are a ninja clan the village as a whole expects the clan to produce a lot of shinobi. The Main house doesn't force us into anything," I said.
"They murdered our Father."
"You know about the political bullshit around the death of our Father as well as I do. They didn't have a choice." Neji didn't respond.
"Before you say anything about the Main Family not caring about us," I gestured to the string, "It was Hinata-nee-san that taught me this." Neji narrowed his eyes. Then walked out of the room before I could say anything else.
I sighed, shook my head, placed the string down, then went back to weaving the hand signs.
It was an uneventful evening. Hikari came back, the three of us discussed our day. She said liked that I was practicing with cat's cradle. Then she prepared dinner and had us wash up after we ate. Then we all went to bed.
In the morning I woke up, yawned, then turned on my side. I saw Boar watching me from the door.
"Well... You're not creepy in the slightest."
Please review