Cherry Blossoms and Chakra Strings: Home Grown Strife

Been working a bit in the background and the next chapter of Eating Your Weight might come a bit earlier than usual. No promises!

Anyway, enjoy this Hikari interlude! Or don't. It's not a very happy chapter.

~~~
Hikari's morning had always been one of routine. Since they were a child, discipline and etiquette had been pounded into their head. Do this. Don't do that. Only do this when that happens or that time comes. Rules to follow and faux pas to shy away from, that was what Hikari's so called family had done their best to beat into the young Hyuga.

Such treatment at a young age was bound to leave scars and while many of them were written on the canvas of Hikari's body, many more were ingrained into their very soul. They changed the way that the Hyuga saw the world, fractured the rose colored glasses that kept all children safe from the horrors that surrounded them. Fun became synonymous with wrong and the pains of intense training became right, and though it was never said, Hikari knew that all of this was in the efforts to mold them into the perfect tool to replace the one that was lost so many years ago.

And yet despite their father's wishes and their mother's unwillingness to get in his way, few of the lessons actually stuck. At least, not the important ones. Hikari learned from a young age that their individuality was something to be cherished, and one part of that was the routine. It was something to cling to between the gruelling lessons and beatings. Something that was Hikari's and Hikari's alone. Something that he couldn't take away like he took so much else.

Pale scars and paler skin were covered as bandages were wound tightly across Hikari's chest, winding down their abdomen before disappearing under the folds of their clothes. Dark strands of hair were bound tightly in even more bandages, trapping the silken strands and keeping them from swaying freely. If they were left to do as they pleased, they would surely cause problems. That had been a lesson learned the hard way.

Pale, baggy eyes stared back at Hikari in the mirror as the Hyuga finished their strict ritual getting ready for the day. The stripe of green seals tattooed into their skin, always there in the back of their mind, was thankfully hidden from sight by the headband that had always been employed for the purpose.

Hikari stared at themselves in the mirror for a moment, taking in the person that they had become despite others wishes. They weren't sure they liked what they saw but it was them. And that was all that mattered.

A sound from another part of the house made Himari flinch. Taking a deep breath, they finished the rest of their routine quickly, getting dressed and packed for the journey ahead. Hopefully it would be a long one.

Sneaking through the house had become second nature to Hikari by now. They knew exactly which places in the layered mats squeaked and which ones would support their weight without making a sound. The shiki screens were always tricky, but there was a trick to them that Hikari had long since learned. The Hyuga snuck through their home like a ghost, all the whole hoping to stay just as unnoticed as one.

Unfortunately, as usual, hoping only lead to disappointment.

As Hikari stepped into the main room, they froze, their throat going dry as they were met with a tall, slender man in fine robes sitting in the center of the room. A tea set sat in front of him, incense burning in its holder off to one side as he clasped his hands together in ritualistic prayer, before his eyes opened as he registered the interruption.

His lips thinned as he saw Hikari standing there, “Daughter.” He said curtly, and Hikari almost flinched at his tone, averting their eyes from his piercing gaze, “You are leaving again. A mission?”

Hikari's throat tightened, “Yes, Tou-sama. We are reinforcing a team in the Land of Waves. I expect to be gone for at least a week. Possibly more.”

“Reinforcing?” He repeated, sounding displeased as he snuffed his incense, “They are sending a genin squad to handle whatever situation calls for immediate reinforcements? They should be sending someone more qualified.”

His words could be misconstrued as concern were they spoken any other way, but Hikari had long since come to know what the man actually meant when he said that. He didn't think that Hikari was strong enough.

Hikari kept their head down, refusing to meet his eyes, “I am under the impression that no other teams were available. According to sensei and Lord Third, Team 3 is considered one of the more effective genin squads. We are cleared for chunin level missions which this constitutes.”

The man clearly wasn't happy to hear that. Then again, when had he ever been happy as far as Hikari had been involved? They couldn't remember.

“I see. I did not realize that standards had fallen so far.” He poured himself some tea, keeping his eyes off of his daughter and deliberately not seeing the reaction his words had provoked, “An Inuzuka with a dead teammate’s sword and not an inkling of traditional kenjutsu knowledge, a rogue puppeteer taught by one of our greatest enemies, and a man who couldn't even keep his students alive during a standard mission. A squad such as yours would have been considered canon fodder at best during the last war.”

Hikari's teeth ground together but they kept their composure as best as they could, “My team has overcome more than our fair share of trials. We are strong, even if you do not think so.”

The man's eyes slid over to Hikari, full of dispassion and borderline apathy, “Am I supposed to take your word for it? You are a disappointment in and of yourself, my daughter. Your potential was once great, but time and time again you waste it by spoiling my teachings with inferior techniques.”

Hikari's desire to learn other fighting styles and more importantly, their comparatively large repertoire of ninjutsu, had been a point of contention between the two of them for some time. While their father wished for Hikari to stay true to Hyuga tradition and use techniques only born of the Gentle Fist school, they were members of the Branch Family which meant that the techniques they had access to were few and far between. Add in the fact that the Hyuga name was known far and wide across the Elemental Nations, and Hikari knew that it was in their best interest to learn as much as they could, even if it didn't come from the clan archives.

“The Hyuga have been prominent in every war since Konoha’s inception, Tou-sama.” Hikari explained fruitlessly, “Our enemies know every technique that our clan can bring to the table. I am only doing what is required to survive.”

“And your Gentle Fist has suffered for it. When was the last time you practiced your palm strikes, or any of the Eight Trigrams techniques? Do not lie, I could see the sloppiness in your forms the last time we sparred. You have not been keeping up with your training outside of this house.”

Hikari remained silent as the man slowly stood, favoring his right side as he got to his feet. The shoji screen behind Hikari slid open and closed, and they didn't have to look behind them to know that their mother had decided to make a quiet appearance, no doubt hearing the argument from across the silent house.

Hikari bowed as their father turned to them, “My other duties have kept me busy.”

“Your duty is to the clan, first and foremost.” The man didn't even let Hikari speak their thoughts, bursting into a rant at the drop of a hat, “Our way of life is built on staunch discipline and tradition. We may be members of the Branch Family, but our clan is still the strongest in all of Konoha and we have to uphold that status! Straying from the path set before you undermines everything the Elders do, everything this clan stands for!”

Hikari didn't even know what the clan stood for. They didn't even know what their father stood for, most of the time.

As Hikari went to explain their reasoning, to try in vain to make the man see that they knew what they were doing, the older Hyuga went a step too far in his anger. Giving his daughter a disgusted look the man said the one thing he shouldn't have.

“Hiroki would be ashamed of you.”

The words pierced through the deliberate calm that Hikari always applied in the man's presence, and with that single sentence, Hikari's carefully bound control snapped. Years of anger came crashing down on their shoulders, drowning the young Hyuga in emotions so intense, they could barely see straight, and what they did next was not a conscious action in the slightest.

Porcelain shattered and ashes spread across the floor. When Hikari came back into themselves, their ears were ringing and they were holding a kunai that they didn't remember pulling out directly to their father's throat.

Time seemed to stand still as the cold length of metal pressed into the man's neck, and their gazes were drawn onto one another inextricably, one shocked and somewhat fearful while the other carried that same shock, but it was completely drowned by an exhausting amount of anger.

Hikari's voice shook as they stared their father down, holding his life in their hands, “You do not get to tell me that my brother would be ashamed. Hiroki was the only good thing to come from this family, and you are the one who got him killed. He had no business being on that mission, but you pushed him to take it in some vague attempt at earning ‘glory’ for our family. Well, he's certainly glorified now–with his name on a headstone and his eyes in the hands of some bloodline thief!”

Tears pricked Hikari's eyes, “I did my best to be what you wanted, but I will never be him and I don't want to anymore. I am not some faceless doll you can plaster your own perfect version of me on. I am a person, and you are going to learn that or I am going to make you.”

There was a tense standoff as Hikari's father registered her threat and Hikari could see the man's mind working behind his eyes, trying to figure out how to get out of this suddenly deadly situation. The man has been a shinobi for a short time, but despite his lambasting of his daughter, he himself had never made it past genin before enduring an injury that sent his career to an early grave. In truth, Hikari was more than likely stronger than him, but years of trauma and negative-reinforcement had made them hesitant to try anything like this.

“Hikari…” Yet another first. Hikari slowly looked behind them at the hand on their shoulder, before following the arm all the way to the worried face that looked so much like their own.

Hikari's mother was a passive woman, the picture perfect definition of seen and not heard. In the years since Hiroki’s death, that had only become worse. Hikari couldn't remember the last time the woman spoke without being addressed first, much less directly to them.

Hearing their mother's voice address them directly for the first time in what felt like years snapped Hikari out of their rage. They stared at the woman, completely baffled, before slowly shifting their attention to the kunai in their hand, still held against their father's neck.

The weapon dropped from their grip like it had burned them, clattering to the floor beside the remnants of the broken tea set as the Hyuga realized what they had done.

They stared at their father, watching with wide eyes as the man slowly climbed to his feet, “I…I didnt–”

“Get out of my house.” Hikari flinched as the man glared at them, stumbling only to be helped by his wife, “A child who raises her hand against her own father is no child of mine. As of today, both of my children are dead and I am a failure.”

“Tou-sama… I'm sor–”

“OUT!” He gestured wildly, shooing Hikari away under some vague threat. The tears in the young Hyuga's eyes rolled down their cheeks as they stared at the man, his chest heaving with anger. Their mother was refusing to look at them, staring at the floor with a blank expression as she helped her husband stand on his own two feet. She would not be going against her husband's wishes, even now.

Which meant that Hikari had no choice but to leave.

The Hyuga stared their parents in the eyes, trying to find anything to indicate that they would change their minds, any hint of the familial love that they had always been told should be there. There was none to be found. Perhaps there never was.

Faced with the realization that they were losing the only home they had ever known, Hikari did exactly as years of cruel training had taught them. They buried every single iota of emotion deep inside the growing out in their chest, locking it away as their face became carefully blank.

They bowed low at the waist, their voice a dull monotone, “I understand, Tou-sama. May I have a moment to collect my things?”

The man, seeing some semblance of the power he had lost drifting his way, had mercy on his one and only daughter even as he tossed her away, “You may. I expect your presence to be completely stripped from my home by the time your mother finishes cleaning up the mess you made.”

“Thank you.” Hikari said simply, turning to leave the room. Their mother didn't meet their eyes even as Hikari reached down to pick up her discarded kunai while the woman cleaned up the mess. The woman kept her eyes downcast, completely busying herself with the menial task.

Hikari didn't say a word as she left the room back to the one that was once theirs. The seals that Sakura gave them would fit their meager belongings so there was no worry of leaving anything behind. Nor were they truly worried about where they would be staying now that their family has abandoned them completely. They weren't the first Branch Family member to be basically ousted from their home. There were measures in place for such unfortunate occasions.

Hikari still wasn't sure they would take them though. After all, how could one stay in a house where their presence was no longer even begrudgingly tolerated, much less an entire compound.

~~~

Hikari arrived at the training ground only a few minutes later, their tears having been wiped away by the wind as they raced across the village at dangerous speeds so they could put as much distance between themselves and their former home as physically possible.

The rest of Team 3 was already present and waiting when Hikari arrived, each of them ready to get on the road and only waiting for the Hyuga to arrive. Hikari plastered an apologetic smile on their face as they approached, “I apologize for the delay everyone, I got a bit held up."

Hikari did their best not to let the situation at home be a burden on their team. While it wasn't ideal, they knew that it could be far worse than it already was. Yet despite the fact that the Hyuga had never explicitly told any of them what was going on, each member of Team 3 managed to find out one way or another.

It was possible that Iwabi knew from the start, and Jin always had a habit of finding things out when he wasn't supposed to. Tsu had taken a bit longer to catch on, but she eventually figured it out. The Inuzuka clan was fiercely loyal and could always be counted on to sniff out anything wrong with those they thought of as such.

It had taken quite a bit of convincing to keep Tsu from trying to barge into the clan compound and start an inter-clan incident, but the Hikari had managed it. If just barely.

Since they already had some sort of idea what Hikari was alluding to, Tsu and Iwabi got their meaning immediately and accepted the explanation without question. Sakura, having no clue whatsoever, did not.

“Is everything alright, Hikari?” The girl asked, emerald eyes filled with earnest concern.

Hikari's feelings for Sakura were complicated, though certainly not in a bad way. More… confusing. From the day they met, something about the pinkette interested them though they weren't sure what. To be honest, they still weren't. What they were sure of, was that even though they had only known each other for a couple years, Hikari would count Sakura among her closest friends. Just as close as Tsu was or Jin had been, and though they dared not speak the thought aloud, there was a chance that they could grow even closer.

But if that were to come, it would be in the future. As it stood, she knew little about Hikari's family, yet despite that she showed a great deal of concern, likely knowing something was wrong without even being told. Just like Jin.

It was touching, but Hikari wouldn't willingly burden her friend with the knowledge. Ignoring the clenching in their chest as Sakura stared at them, Hikari gave their friend a gentle smile that they hoped wasn't as plastic as it felt, “I'll be fine, Sakura.”

As always, it was mostly true.