Chapter 1: The Fateful day
"What's going to be her name?" the whole hospital room went silent, within it resided the head Family of the Hyuga clan, the mother, Hitomi, had just gone through labor.
"Hm..." Hiashi entered a state of deep thought, although his wife told him several names she deemed good throughout these 9 months, he never got time to decide any of them due to his responsibilities as the clan head, while he's busy thinking to himself, his now elder daughter fixes her gaze on her newly born sister, she was mesmerized by the cuteness of the baby, she felt a similar feeling to watching a beautiful display of fire Works...that gave her an idea.
"What about 'Hanabi'?" said Hinata to her parentes, at first they were surprised that Hinata came out with a name so quickly, they thought about it for a moment and decided, "That's a wonderful name Hinata!" said Hitomi followed by "Hanabi it is" from Hiashi.
She had failed again, she failed to beat her cousin Neji, and it happened in front of her father and fellow members of the main branch...how could she embarrass herself and her Family like that? How can she recover from this? She went to her mother for consolation; Hinata was crying on her lap, getting headpats from her mother to calm her down.
"It's okay Hinata, we all fail every once in a while" She said calmly hoping to cheer her up, unfortunately she was met with the opposite, "T-this is the third time i've lost to him without any progress!" Hinata exclaimed through the sobbing after raising her head "I couldn't even bear to look at father's disappointed look, i'm a joke to him...".
"Enough! Your father doesn't hate you and even he tried to i wouldn't allow it" Hitomi's sudden response startled Hinata but eventually manage to make her smile, "Look, i just want you to know that no matter how bad things get, we still love you...even if your father has a hard time showing it" and with that mother and daughter find themselves in a hug.
Hinata may have doubts about her father, but she was sure that her mother would be there for her no matter what.
two years after Hanabi was given birth
"GAAARCK!" Hitomi cough blood on her tissue, a month ago caught wath seemed to be a simple cold but the symptoms became worse and worse with each passing day until it was discovered that what she had was untreatable, on her side of the hospital bed was 7 years old Hinata who had gotten there with Ko, Hanabi was safe at home with her caretaker Natsu, meanwhile, Hiashi was busy with his usual work but she knew the real reason he wasn't there was because he couldn't break himself to see her at this state and break his serious 'mask'.
"Mother...*sniff* are you really going to die?" Hitomi turned to her sobbing daughter upon hearing the question, she remembered that besides her uncle Hizashi Hinata has never experienced the death of a close relative before, she had to make sure that Hinata would be Strong enough to handle this and not hold her death for an long time, she cracked smile and said "A start that shines twice as bright burns half as long, and i've shone very brightly..." Hinata began hugging her dying mother very very tightly "And even after a star fade, their light persists...which means that even after i'm gone, i'll still live inside your heart, my daughter".
Hinata would beg Ko and the hospital to sleep with her mother tonight, as the illness wasn't transmitable, her wish was granted, however she wouldn't be awake by the time her mother drew her last breath.
Hinata was practicing her palm strikes in the training grounds within the compound, ever since her mother died a year ago she trains to take her mind to somewhere else, Ko was also there to view her training but she could tell he was mostly looking at the plants and butterflies around the training grounds, before she could switch to running laps she heard the noise of a door opening, when she turned her gaze to where the sound was coming she saw not only her father, but also her grandpa and...Hanabi?
"What's the occasion?" she asked, being completely oblivious to what was going on; Even Ko stood up to get more context. Hiashi started "Hinata, your sister has been improving a lot at rapid rate, so we would like to...well-" he was then cut off by the previous clan head "to test both of your skills on a casual match.".
"A match?" She asked before turning her attention to Hanabi "But she's only 3 years old!" she exclaimed.
"It's just a casual match Hinata, nobody is ginga to get hurt" the way Hiashi said this response was rather too calm...like he was forcing it to hide his uneasiness. Before she could ask or say anything about it she noticed that Hanabi went to the center of the training grounds and excitingly said "les' go sis!", with that she couldn't just reject the match, it was an obligation now.
as Hinata went to stand besides Hanabi, Ko and Hyuga parents went to the background to watch their fight, once it was all said and done Hiashi shouted "Start!"
Hanabi waves through muliple hand-sighs until veins started to pop around her eyes "Byakugan!".
"Huh!?" Hinata was surprised, Hanabi could do that already?
"Unbelievable, Lady Hanabi was able to unlock the byakugan at such early age? Most of us only accomplish this around age 6 or 7!" Said Ko in disbelief, which made Hiashi focus even more seriously.
Hinata retaliated by also activating her Byakugan, for a few seconds they had a staredown before Hanabi began charging at her sister, a barrage of palm strikes was thrown at Hinata, she was able to dodge and/or block all of them, in her mind Hinata was proud that her sister was able to get this Strong so quickly but she started to wonder what was even the point of this test if she's clearly stron-"GAH!" Hanabi had sent a strike much faster than the previous ones, she wasn't able to see it.
"You were wide open!" Hanabi said with a naive enthusiasm, does she even know what the gentle fist does to one's body? Hinata recomposed, 'She must have done that slow barrage to make me think little of her and drop my guard' a faint smile appeared on Hinata's face, she really was impressed by her sister, but then it suddenly fadded in favor of a serious look, she couldn't afford to hold back nor to embarrass her herself infront of her father and grandpa.
Both sisters charged at each other, their barrage of attacks clashed and with each collision of their palms a visible wave of their chakra spreads through the air, they kept going for a long minute until both sisters found an opening in each others' attacks Hinata ended up hiting Hanabi in the right shoulder but in doing so she let herself wide open for Hanabi to sweep her legs and while she was falling Hanabi hit her in the temple.
An loud thud echoed through the air as Hinata fell limp on the ground, Hanabi was panting and the 3 Hyuga men were in awe of what just happened, then she proudly announced "I win! *pant* I won!" followed by "Sister...?".
Hinata woke up in an unifamiliar nursing room and a painful headache, on closer inspection she not only noticed that this was a nursing room from the main branch section of the compound but also that she's bandaged up around her temple and forhead.
"Huh? Were all the other nursing rooms occupied? I don't remember anything about setting matches this early!" she comments before storming out of the room, from there her deductions were proven correct as she passed through multiple fellow clansmen from the side branch, although something about them was...off; They were either looking at her weird or trying to hold their laughter, then realization hit her...she lost to her 3 years old sister. She blushed in embarrassment and shame then sped pace up, sure this was bad, but it's not the end of the world...right?
She finally reached the training grounds she just was a few moments previously, upon opening the door she saw Natsu, Hanabi's bodyguard, sitting on he side while Hanabi and Hiashi talking until they immediately turned their heads to her, going by the shuriken and kunais on the floor, it seems he was training her aim; Hiashi recomposed himself and said "You can go to the bathroom" then Hanabi left the training grounds, Hinata approached her father and excused herlself "Sorry i'm lat-" only to be cut him "Why are you here?", Hinata was confused for a moment then answered "To train...? We always train at this time of the day!".
Hiashi sighed the continued "You're not receiving daily training from me anymore, you've been demoted", she looked at him visibly confused, then he elaborated "My father and the elders of the clan saw Hanabi's huge potential despite her age, they wanted her to be the heir instead of you, i set up this match so you could defend your title, but you failled..." Hinata stared blankly at her father for a good minute until she naively laughed "Oh father, i didn't know you were the kind of person to make april fools jokes, you almost had me!" she continued to laugh until she noticed Hiashi was frowning rather than laughing, even Natsu looked embarrassed by what just happened.
"Have not seen what's under those bandages yet?" this question would haunt Hinata for years to come, she slowed unraveled her bandages and once she was done she grabbed the nearest kunai and saw, despite the poor reflection from its iron, what she feared the most, the mark of the side branch: the manji.
Her hands were trembling as her grip on the kunai slowly loosens until it audibly drops on the ground. "No...y-you can't do this to me! I am the first child! I-i-i...I CAN'T BE THE FIRST HEIR TO BE DEMOTED!" she cried on her knees while grabbing his legs, but Hiashi remained unfazed. "What is done is done, Hanabi will be the heirness and you shall become one of her guardians...you may learn from this experience to become stronger and not leg behind her too much".
Hinata let go of her father, she was no longer able lift her head up, as the tears dropped directly on the soil she claims "I *sniff* did my best!"
Hiashi took one last sigh and turned to the green haired woman. "Natsu, take Hinata to her new room in the cadet distriction, she's clearly too much of a mess to walk there on her own right now".
"Yes, lord Hiashi", Natsu grabbed Hinata's hand and gently guided her to her new bedroom, from there Hinata barely left her room beyond necessities like going to the bathroom or meals, and each time she went out she made sure that she didn't encounter anyone, she couldn't bear to show her face for the rest of the day.