Aracade, this one's for you mate...

I would like to state first off, I do have an issue with suicide, and would prefer to not get requests like this in the future. In fact, in chapter 2 of SR's Randomness (Team Seven: Always and Forever), I altered the original content of Sakura's suicide to the fight and death/kill by Madara Uchiha because of this issue. But... something about this review caught my muse's attention and I found myself writing it. I would like to apologize in advance if this subject matter offends you, and hope that you understand the true meaning of this one shot...

Second, please keep the requests coming otherwise, I may not take them all, but it has stirred up some activity with my muses, so we'll see how it goes, hmm?

A great and terrible tragedy had befallen all of Konoha, the likes of which paled even the great Uchiha massacre. On December the Twenty-seventh, at eighteen minutes past the eighteenth hour the entirety of the Hyuuga clan convened in a private area of their clan grounds. All save three.

The prodigy of the branch clan, Neji had been escorting the two heiresses Hanabi and Hinata while they went to a celebration of Hinata's eighteenth birthday. Fortunately for the three young shinobi they had not returned to the clan housing before an ANBU patrol noticed a sudden drop of chakra while on a routine patrol.

What they found was a stunning scene of mass suicide the likes of which had never before been recorded in the annuals of history. Every single one of them had drank some type of red liquid, then laid out on futons spread throughout the room. All but one, Hiashi Hyuuga was kneeling at the head of the room, a scroll on his lap.

They knew he was dead, as his head was currently sitting next to his body on a silk pillow.

No one could make any sense of the tragic loss of one of the richest, most powerful clans by their own hands. The Uchiha massacre could at least be written off as Itachi's insanity, but what could have possessed the entire Hyuuga clan to commit suicide like this?

In the quiet of the setting sun, three days later the answer came to light to a small group of ninja. Hinata Hyuuga was clinging to the somber and caring arm of Naruto Uzumaki, who she had requested be there to help her. Kurenai Yuhi sat behind her holding Hanabi in her arms, as the younger girl hadn't come out of a fugue state, save when she was holding Kurenai's young child. The two-year old girl seemed to bring out a caring side to the shell shocked Hyuuga. Finally Neji sat a microscopic distance away from the two girls, his eyes focused on them, while his fingers intertwined with Tenten. Everything about him seemed to be controlled and rigid as was proper for a Hyuuga, but for the past two days he'd been a mother hen to the two sisters, his own cheeks soaked with tears of his own.

Tsunade looked at the assembled shinobi quietly, her face more careworn and tired, since she'd never fully recovered from Pein's invasion of Konoha. Shizune had been very shocked when Tsunade turned down sake and gambling after recovering enough to go back to work, instead asking for some tea and a romance novel. She had also started pestering Naruto to become a jounin and get back to his dream of taking the damn job from her.

But that was a story for another time, when she could sit with a cup of tea in front of a fireplace, while the flames chased away the chill from her old bones. Today was something that made her feel positively ancient. She had been the first to unroll the scroll, and now it was her turn to present it to the family.

"Hanabi, Hinata, Neji..." she began, getting all the attention of the assembled ninja. "It is with a heavy heart that I asked you to come here... and I hope that this scroll does not burden you as it did me..."

Unrolling the scroll for the second time since it had been given to her she read it off softly.

My dearest Sunny Place, my dazzling Fireworks, and my Whirl of manhood,

It is with a heavy heart that I scribe this to you three, for by the time you read this, the entire world as you know it will have changed. And for this I must explain, and apologize. In the past few generations, the Hyuuga clan has changed from proud supporters of Konoha, into an insular shade of what we had been. You three have been brought up in hopes to alter this.

Hanabi, the dazzling Fireworks of my life, you are the youngest Hyuuga alive, and have been such for many years. This has been so because many of the branch families refused to bring up a child with the curse seal placed on their forehead, and I agree. You have such a brilliant spark in you, I hope that you let that burn brightly as a Will of Flames to support your sister, your cousin, and all of Konoha.

My darling Hinata, the Sunny Place of my heart, you remind me so much of your mother it hurt to be so cruel to you. When she died, I felt the world would end, and nothing could ever right it again. However, one night shortly after her funeral you in your innocence came to me with a nightmare, and I couldn't help but see your mother in you. It was at that time, I hoped to ensure that the Hyuuga would not crush you down as it had your mother. Sadly the only way to do this, was to become the demon you feared, and send you away with Yuhi Kurenai. I hope that your peaceful nature, and giving heart, will help guide the future Hyuuga clan.

Neji, son of my brother, you have caused my heart to Whirl with pride and joy as you continue everyday to excel and surpass my expectations. I could not have been more pleased with you if you were my own son. I know I may not have said it nearly often enough, along with so many other things, but your father loved you more than anything one could imagine in this world. When he left you, it tore him up so badly inside. Hizashi would have been so very proud of you, that I cannot express in words what he would have felt.

I am leaving to you three only a few things, that I pray you share wisely amongst yourselves. First, as I have seen the decent into madness that having an entire clan's lands filled with nothing but the ghosts of the past can cause. So instead of leaving them in your names, each of you are to move into a long abandoned five bedroom house on the very edge of the Hyuuga grounds. And then the land is to be sold to Konoha at cost. You have no need for money, so I ask that you sell to those that would use the land to better Konoha, and not just horde it as we had.

Second, I leave the ritual to remove the Cage Bird Seal, but not the way to apply it. I have personally destroyed any trace of that seal's creation. I wish for you to never bind yourselves to the folly that our ancestors had about separating the branch families and the main house. Instead I only ask that you all watch over each other, and guard your family as family is meant to.

Third, I leave perhaps the most intelligent words I have ever voiced...

"Let your heart speak in all that you do."

My deepest apologies for everything,
Hiashi Hyuuga.

As Tsunade rolled up the scroll and set it aside, the only sound in the room was the sobbing of Hinata and Hanabi into the shoulders of Naruto and Kurenai respectively. Kurenai's daughter Ai was hugging her aunty Hanabi tightly, looking worried as she was crying. Tsunade's eyes drifted over to Neji, to find him hugging Tenten fiercely as tears poured from his eyes.

Tsunade slowly unfolded herself from her seat, and walked over to the group of lost and confused people, and pulled them into a massive bear hug. No words needed said at this point, as Hisashi had stated. "Let your heart speak in all that you do."