Chapter 2: For the Clan

He sat down on the wooden porch, with a small white towel resting around his neck, while a few droplets of water still dripped from his hair and down his tired face and naked torso.

He looked around the unattended garden, trying to empty his head from all thoughts. He soon found out that even trying to do so was merely impossible. That old, dusty house that he once called home, was in all truth nothing but a graveyard in his eyes.

After pledging his loyalty to Konoha, Kakashi made sure to restore the name of the Uchiha clan and to give him back the Uchiha compound, which was now nothing but a small ghost town. He never seemed to care about it though. These past four years Sasuke would make sure to stay away on missions that each lasted months on end. He barely ever got back to the village, and for those few days that he had to return from time to time, he would just use the old house of his family as a place to just spend the night. But as he sat there now, at the place where his father and Itachi would once sit and play shogi, looking over at the overgrown bushes of the garden his mother used to love, he realized just how much he couldn't bear this place.

It was not his home, not anymore. Dust lay over every surface like dirty snow, while old teacups silently stood on a coffee table thickly encrusted with dried up mold. The walls that were once decorated with colorful dragons and sakura trees that glistered under the heavy sunlight that fell through the open Shoji doors now seemed grey and dull in his eyes. Nothing was the same, but here he was, the last standing Uchiha who was supposedly going to rebuild his clan from the ashes and place the Uchiha back to their old glory. Even Kakashi had suggested that he takes a wife and begins a new life. Sasuke let out a small laugh under his nose. After this discussion with his former sensei, Sakura had magically started appearing more and more at the Uchiha compound. Sometimes he would be the one opening the door and listening to her endless nerve-wracking talking, and other times he would just return home after months to find his kitchen cabinets filled with food that Sakura had placed there by getting into the house with the second keys that Naruto had lent her. Only she dared not touch anything else inside the house. He had once caught her trying to clean up the place, make it more 'homey' as she had said, and he had ended up trying his hardest not to kill her then and there. It wasn't like she wasn't a good woman or a pretty one at that, but he would never see her as his woman.

Still sitting on the old wooden porch that made weird noises every time he made the slightest of moves, Sasuke took a small folded piece of paper out of his pocket. He opened the paper for the millionth time since his last mission only to see that it was blank. He was at a small village located in between the land of Iron and the Land of Earth. He was supposed to gather information considering a secret meeting between one of the greatest clans from the Land of Iron and men sent by the 5th Tsuchikage. After the 4th Tsuchikage's recent mysterious death, both Kakashi and Gaara had started suspecting that something was off. But when he was sent on that 4th month S-Rank mission, the least he expected was to find a Hyuga shinobi amongst those gathered for the meeting.

Once the man walked away from the place where the meeting took place, Sasuke made sure to follow him, all the while masking his chakra signature and keeping a safe distance from him. He wasn't going to corner the man while they were still near the Land of Earth. Once they passed the borders of the Land of Fire though, a few days later, Sasuke Uchiha didn't bother trying to hide much longer. In a matter of mere minutes, the stupid Hyuga had fallen right in the deadly claws of the Uchiha, but before Sasuke could interrogate him, the man slit his own throat. His body fell lifelessly on the ground, with the brand on his forehead immediately sealing forever the secrets of the Byakugan. Sasuke cursed himself for being so stupid as to be fooled by a branch member of the Hyugas. But Hiashi was no fool. He was planning something big, and he would make sure that those plans would not fall on the wrong hands if the one he sent was caught.

Unfortunately for the Uchiha, the only thing he found on the dead man's attire was that blank note. He was sure though that it was something more than that. He had felt that the note was under some weird Jutsu, but even when he tried decoding it with both his Sharingan and Rinnegan, he still couldn't make anything out of it. Again Sasuke thought of how methodically Hiashi had planned everything.

Of course, he suddenly thought. The note would be made so that only a Hyuga would be able to read and decode it. He folded the paper again. He hadn't told anything considering the Hyuga to Kakashi as of yet, and he surely wasn't planning to do so. Hiashi had already reported the death of Mashu Hyuga. The man had supposedly been killed by rogues while he was legally away from the village to deal with some clan matters in the Land of Tea.

Kakashi didn't need to know. Not yet. The only thing that old man had to do now was to simply send him on another long mission of that kind. After that, he knew exactly what had to be done.

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Her body moved slowly and rhythmically in the centre of the wooden dojo. Her hands seemed like feather wings under her long kimono sleeves as they were raised above her head and then brought slowly at the height of her chest. Suddenly two small fans appeared from within her long sleeves and opened in between her fingers as her hands were once more extended. Kicking her right leg forward with pointed toes and flexed calf muscles, the dark-haired girl pivoted in a revolving whirl of sharp precision and accurate grace. Slowly but steadily her movements became faster and with more dynamic than before, and what seemed like a ritual dance in the eyes of many, had turned into a secret training session for her.

Ever since she had accepted her position as solemn heir of the Hyuga clan, it had been forbidden to her to keep up with her training as well as her role as a ninja of Konoha. The Hyuga Heirs had always been like that, trained like soldiers just to prove their worth and establish a powerful, strict and untouchable persona not only among the Hyugas but among the people of Konoha as well. After taking on the role of the clan leader though, their body was considered sacred - the 'heart of the Hyugas' as the called it - and was supposed to be protected from any kind of stress. Even Hiashi only engaged himself in hand-to-hand battle when he had to train his daughters or when in danger. No matter how much she tried to let that part of herself behind her though, she couldn't do it. The little girl that had at first strived to be stronger to prove her worth to her father and then to prove her equality to - her then sweetheart - Naruto, had turned into a kunoichi that fought only for herself and for the people of Konoha.

Lost in her thoughts she didn't realize that a seventeen-year-old woman had slowly and silently entered the dojo.

Hinata's movements immediately ceased as she sensed the aura of her sister in the room.

"Good morning", Hanabi said happily as she took a seat at one side of the dojo.

Hinata smiled. Hanabi had always been the only person she would allow to leave her guard down. Everyone else's stare she would feel from miles away, but her sister could sneak up to her and she wouldn't even realize it. Hinata took a seat beside the girl.

"Good morning to you too, imouto." Hinata said with a wide smile as she took a long strand of brown hair out of the girl's face. She looked at her lovingly. "How are you feeling today?"

"Great!" she said somewhat enthusiastically, her head never turning to meet the stare of her sister. Her eyes stayed locked ahead at no object in particular, rarely blinking. Hinata' s smile turned sadder for a moment. She lightly touched Hanabi's cheek and her sister immediately reacted to the feather touch, cupping Hinata's hand with her own.

Hinata looked into her sister empty eyes that seemed to have been covered by fog, but Hanabi couldn't really look into hers. Shadows of light and dark were all that Hanabi's eyes could detect anymore.

It had been an easy B-rank mission that she along with Konohamaru had taken on almost one and a half years ago. They were supposed to track down and eliminate a group of rogues from the Cloud that had been terrorizing and attacking villages in the land of Fire. What neither she nor Konohamaru had expected was to fall right in one of their traps and for one of the rogues to try and steal her eyes, as she lay bleeding heavily on the grass. Before he could do so though, his lifeless body had already fallen on the ground by Konohamaru's katana. No matter what both Tsunade and Sakura did to save the young girl's eyes though, the damage that bastard had caused was permanent and Hanabi was cast aside by both their father and the clan and doomed to a life as a failure.

"A Hyuga with no eyes is no Hyuga"

Her knuckled turned white as she gripped the fabric of her Kimono tightly in an attempt to not break something.

"You have been training again", Hanabi said softly, "and in secret once more".

"You know the rules, Hanabi-chan"

"I know that you are making a mistake!"

"Hanabi please-"

"No matter your pleads, my mind won't change on that matter", sad Hanabi, with maturity above her years.

"Hanabi-", t Hinata tried to speak again, but her sister immediately interrupted her again.

"Train me", she simply said, taking Hinata completely by surprise.

"What?"

"I'm blind, for the most part. And I know I will remain blind for the rest of my life. But I am a kunoichi of the leaf. A jonin of this village. I want to fight again, even if that means I have to learn everything from the start...", Hanabi said, her hands trembling. "... please..."

Hinata touched her hands to stop the trembling. She looked at her for a few silent moments, smiling proudly at her sister. She got up, helping her do the same. They walked towards the center of the dojo where they stood. Hyugas were like birds, their mother had once said, if caged they eventually fall sick and die. She got in her fighting stance, not caring one bit if any Hyuga eyes were on them at that moment, and touching Hanabi' s hands she guided her movements.

She wouldn't let that very bird have a fate like that.

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3 Months Later

The matriarch of the Hyuga clan sat gracefully in her chambers, opening a scroll that had just arrived from the land of Earth. She read the scroll carefully twice, making sure that her eyes were not failing her, as a servant girl stood before her waiting for her orders.

Finally letting the scroll on her lap, Kitsume Hyuga raised her wrinkled eyes to look at the girl.

"Call Hiashi-sama for me. The marriage proposal we were hoping for has finally arrived", she said with a devious smile.