Hiashi Hyūga sat in the middle of his father and twin brother, Hizashi. Women from the Branch set their meals and drinks on the table in a practiced and methodical set of motions. He caught his father's leering eyes following one of the girls. She set a bowl in front of him and turned to walk away. When the old man reached out to touch her, she kept her eyes down, said nothing, and stayed still. Hiashi begrudgingly allowed it.
He had little choice.
When the women had gone, the three men began their meals quietly. Eating called for perfection. And the twins did so with practice. In their youth, their father would beat them if they scraped their chopsticks against a plate or made a noise when they chewed.
"Rule by example," his father had said then after leaving his lip bloody when he'd gulped too loudly. "If you expect silence and perfection, then that is what you must embody. If you want pigs to run around this house, then they will do so after I die."
He passed that same lesson to his daughters.
His father patted a wet napkin against his mouth as he finished his meal and set it to the side. He would make no sound until he was ready to speak. Hiashi and Hizashi finished their meals soon after and mirrored their father's motion.
Now, they would speak.
"You attended the funeral for the Uchiha's eldest boy?" his father asked.
Hiashi shifted his eyes to him. "Yes."
"And did he believe this story that Neji was brought along as Hinata's bodyguard?"
The question had weighed on Hiashi's mind. Fugaku Uchiha was not blind or a fool. Even in grief, he was perceptive and sharp. In their exchange of words, he had been short, but maintained the formal pleasantries that they had established. But, when his eyes went to Neji, there seemed to be a glimmer of recognition. But, he had said nothing.
"If he did not, he said nothing to indicate that. I would presume he would be shrewd enough to hold that close to his chest," Hiashi answered.
His father nodded. "He needs us." Pride flashed across his face, lightning in a midnight storm.
"He'll try to renegotiate the terms of the proposal and our alliance," Hiashi said. He knew enough about Fugaku to know that the man was quick to pivot and attempt to close wounds if he could. He suspected that within a few days that emissaries bearing the Uchiha's crest would schedule a meeting with him.
"Then, how do we proceed?" Hizashi asked.
His father's icy white glare went to him. "You will be silent," he said sharply. "The head speaks and thinks. The limbs do as they are commanded." Hizashi stared into his empty bowl. Hiashi blinked from his twin to his father.
"The question," he said. "Is not unfounded. When Lord Fugaku arrives to renegotiate the terms of our agreement, it would be wise if I have an answer that we have agreed to."
The elder let a smile cross his face. "You will agree to what he asks."
"What purpose does that serve?" Hiashi asked, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Have you been sitting in rooms filled with sweet smelling vapors and soft pillows so long that you've forgotten what it means to be a shinobi?" his father snapped. "Deception is the purpose, you fool. Deception. All that the Uchiha wants now is the security of knowing that his clan's future is set. He believes that because of his title, he has leverage. But, the womb and blood he desires is in the Hyūga's possession."
Hiashi bristled at the reference to Hinata. He said nothing about it. "I believed that you did not approve of my decision to remove Hinata as heir."
"I thought it was as short-sighted as it was stupid, but it was your error to make. I did not want you to betroth her to the younger Uchiha child either. If it had been his eldest boy, then at the very least, the deal would be void today," his father said. "But, I see the potential and raw ability in Neji, just as you do. I see Hinata's recreance, just as you do."
Hiashi looked to Hizashi and read the question that was plain on his face. He turned his gaze back to his father. "Then, if I am to accept a renegotiation of the betrothal to Sasuke Uchiha, how then do we maintain our bloodline's purity? It was your suggestion that Neji and Hinata marry. There is no precedent in our clan's history for a woman to have two husbands."
His monotonous sarcasm was not lost to his father. "Gods be damned if there was," he said with disgust. "No. They will be man and wife. The purity of noble blood along with the inherent talent. The obstacle to that will be remedied. The Uchiha will be distracted and focused on preparing his boy to lead. Distracted by security and stability."
Hiashi narrowed his eyes. "And then what?" he asked.
His father's milky eyes floated to him, lazily, haphazardly, as if the question he asked had the moral complexity of wondering what color the sky was. And he said, "We kill the boy."