Disclaimer: I do hereby disclaim any rights or responsibilities to the Naruto universe. All of that belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Note: I've always wanted to do a drabble series.

EDIT: I'm doing some serious revamping. I'll be going through the chapters and re-writing them.

So, let's begin . . .

Illusions

This is Konoha.

This is Konoha at peace. Everything is beautiful and lush, thriving ten years after the Fourth Great Shinobi War had nearly destroyed the world. Here is a place that is full of happy people, of children not dying, and of parents coming home.

Yes, this is Konoha at peace.

And this is also all a lie.

No matter how much they smile and pretend everything is all right, the shinobi can sense that this so called peace is tenuous at best. They can sense that they are akin to a boulder balancing at the very tip of the mountain, waiting to fall into the abyss that is war once more. Yet they do not speak of it - perhaps do not even know the words for why they feel so anxious. They cannot name the shadows that are creeping at their back . . .

. . . but Uzumaki Naruto can.

He can name every single one -

Rebellion.

Anarchy.

Civil unrest.

The Fourth Great Shinobi War, it seemed, had killed thrice as many civilians than shinobi. Villages full of regular people had been razed to the ground while their inhabitants had been slaughtered like pigs, unable to protect themselves from men and women who had the ability to set the air on fire and destroy mountains with simple utterances - all because they had happened to stand in the way of the shinobi war.

And as shinobi basked in their new found peace, civilians were busy burying their dead in mass graves.

Still, this was all little known information to the general shinobi population. It seemed the only ones who cared were the elite of the shinobi villages – the kages who listened to reports of gathering civilian forces armed with mysterious weapons.

Naruto decides that, despite his and his friends' best efforts that another war is coming. This is why it must remain strong for the oncoming storm.

This is why he must remain strong; why he must remain incorruptible, powerful, a perfect figure of morality and strength. Essentially, the perfect hokage, for a country is only as strong as its leader.

These are the thoughts that race through his mind on the morning that he is sworn in as the Rokudaime before the entire village. Thousands of faces gather before him, looking up with hopeful smiles that he will finally, finally, be the one to lead them to the peace and prosperity they deserve. Of all these faces, there is a particular one in the crowd that he is actively trying to avoid.

"Are you ready?" asks Tsunade, pulling him out of his reverie.

"Yeah," he replies, hands a bit shaky. He's never been this nervous before, and he can't tell if it's because this is the day he's been waiting for his whole life, or because of the news that he had been given just last night.

"Don't worry, brat, you got this," whispers Tsunade before pulling away with a smile. She turns to face the podium and steps up to it to officially begin the inauguration ceremony. A wave of applause welcomes her, and she calmly waits for it to die down before taking a deep breath.

"Today, we step toward the future," she says proudly into the microphone. "Today, we welcome a new hokage. Today, we continue a never-ending journey to create a better Konoha . . ."

Slowly, Naruto zones out as Tsunade continues her speech. He stands a bit behind her, waiting to be brought forward. Briefly, he glances from the corner of his eye to his wife of four years. Man, he thinks, she's absolutely beautiful as she listens intently to Tsunade's words, eyes shining brightly with so much pride and love that he wonders just what in the world did he do to deserve her.

His stomach knots with pure dread.

Sakura-chan.

His love, his dream, and the most important person in his life.

And yet.

And yet.

Involuntarily, his gaze flickers to the crowd. As fate would have it, he spots her immediately among the thousands of faces. Hinata. The compassionate, kind, and perpetually caring Hinata. Sunlight reflects off her skin as she watches the proceedings with a soft and gentle smile. As usual, she is simply happy that he is happy. That will always be enough for her.

Unable to help himself, his gaze drifts lower from her face.

From her face to her hands . . .

Her hands cradle her swelling belly, barely perceptible beneath her kimono.

Suddenly, his heart aches.

Arrival

Screams echo throughout the Hyuuga compound.

Hyuuga do not trust hospitals. Not since the fourth clan head, Hyuuga Houkan, nearly had his eyes stolen from him by a supposedly honorable and elite doctor nearly eighty-seven years ago. Houkan had obliterated the man's heart, but that day, they learned not to trust anyone but each other. Since then, it is the clan law that all the clan's children must be birthed within their family walls as to protect their precious lives from those who would seek to have their eyes.

Hinata obeys and gives birth at home, deep within the compound.

There is a flurry of Hyuuga women rushing to and fro with bowls of water and clean towels. The air is thick and heady with the smell of blood, and the sharp scent of medicinal herbs. Hinata is in the middle of it all, a writhing figure on a pallet of white sheets. She wears nothing but a pale yukata that has plastered to her skin, nearly translucent with her sweat.

"Here, Hinata-sama, drink this, it will ease the pain," says one of the nursemaids, suddenly pouring a vile of pink liquid into her mouth. Except, it doesn't ease the pain. Nothing will ease the pain. Hinata feels as though she is being torn apart, that everything around her is red and dire and red again.

Briefly, she wonders if she is to perish on the delivery bed as her mother had before her.

Needless to say, it is a difficult birth.

But only because Hinata is making it so.

"Please, Hinata-sama, push now!" pleads the midwife, a matronly branch member who looks up from between Hinata's legs with a look of pure panic.

"I – I can't," Hinata says, and she thinks of giving an explanation but another scream rips from her throat. Her body hurts. Hurts. Lightning is zipping through her bones. Pain like this shouldn't exist. Can't exist. Heavens, she's dying.

But the baby . . .

The baby can't come yet!

Just a little bit longer.

She had to have faith.

Absolutely delirious, she barely notices as her sister appears beside her until she feels warmth on her cheeks. Hinata blearily opens her eyes and sees Hanabi smiling down at her, cradling her face. In the barely contained dismay of her sister's white gaze, Hinata can see herself as a sickly looking thing, with all the blood drained from her face and drenched in perspiration – more ghost than woman.

"Hinata, come on, what are you doing," whispers Hanabi gently, frantically, "come on."

Hinata tries to smile at her sister, to reassure her that she's okay, that everything will be all right, but mid-smile there is once again nothing but painpainpainithurtssomuch. Spasms rack her body and the smile is long forgotten, now turned into a grimace.

"Sister!" cries Hanabi.

"You must push, Hinata-sama! Your body cannot take much more of this!" cries the midwife.

Taking a cue from the midwife, Hanabi snatches her sisters hand up and begins to whisper in her ear. "Stop waiting for him, Hinata! We sent for him hours ago! He's not coming!"

No, Hinata wants to say. He needs to be here! But all that is coming out are moans of pain.

"Do you want this baby to die!? Do you!? Because if you wait for that useless man any longer that is what is going to happen! Do not let that happen!" Hanabi yells, barely audible over the commotion of it all.

Everything quiets.

A revelation.

With all her might, Hinata pushes.

.

.

.

On the 21st of June, after seven hours of hard labor, Hinata's baby is born into the world just as the sun begins to rise. It is a little girl with red cheeks and a strong pair of lungs that she uses to cry, and heavens, heavens, she is the most beautiful thing that Hinata has ever seen. Tears come to her eyes, and soon she is sobbing over this squalling bundle of joy. The nursemaids pass congratulations around the room. Hanabi smoothes gentle circles over Hinata's back, while their father stands at the foot of the bed, looking unsure as to how to laud his eldest daughter on bringing a bastard child into the world.

Hinata doesn't mind. She's just glad that Hiashi is even here.

This is the greatest day of her life, Hinata thinks as she intimates herself with every facet of her precious daughter's face. She's so happy that she almost forgets that Naruto is nowhere to be found.

Almost.

Punishment

She is Hyuuga Himawari, which is very fitting considering that her hair is as gold yellow as the sunflowers that she is named after.

She is the reason why her mother can no longer be the future Ninth Head of the Hyuuga Clan.

She could also be the reason why her mother will lose much more than that.

"Hinata has dishonored the entire clan!"

"Brand her and that child with the seal!"

"We cannot allow her to have such freedom to shame the Hyuuga!"

Hyuuga clan meetings are usually quiet and dull affairs, but the topic of the former heiress and her bastard child seems to bring out the passions in the elders. Not particularly good passions either. There are sixteen of them sitting in a circle – twelve main branch councilmen, Hanabi, Hinata cradling Himawari in her arms, and a very disconcerted looking Hiashi at the head of it all.

The conference chamber was filled with the cacophony of yelling, bursts of outrage, and downright insults, all of which were directed towards Hinata. She in turn bears the punishment quietly, frowning down at her mewling baby whose loud blonde hair doesn't quite match with her muted pearl-white eyes.

She deserves this, Hinata thinks, not even bothering to stand up for herself.

She deserves every bit of this.

Hanabi, however, disagrees.

"SHUT UP!" Her sister yells, slamming her palm to the ground. The forcefulness of it subdues the entire council into a shocked silence. Hanabi continues even as their father sends her a disapproving glare. Her sister has never been so disobedient before.

Then again, Hinata defines the term disobedience by having an illegitimate baby with no husband in sight.

"How dare all of you!" Hanabi seethes, meeting the eyes of each and every single councilmen. "My sister, your former heiress, had the dignity to peacefully forfeit her title on her own volition, and yet you want more? Now you wish to place the seal on her and her daughter!?"

"I will have not stand for it! I will not! As future head of this clan, I demand that my sister be given amnesty-"

"Hanabi."

It is Hinata who interrupts this time, an even more shocking event than her sister's previous outburst, except she speaks as softly as silk. "Please . . . allow me."

They share a look. Reluctantly, Hanabi huffs and leans back just as Hinata bows forward.

"Honorable council," says Hinata, picking her words carefully, "forgive my trespasses, for I know they dishonor our family. My crime is of the highest multitude, and as such, I will gratefully accept the seal for I know that I deserve nothing worse than death."

There are no disagreements from the council. They agree that she deserves to die. Hinata cannot deny that it hurts, yet she continues.

"However, I ask that my daughter and any other children I have after her remain free of the seal. She is guilty of nothing save being born to a weak and sullied mother."

Murmurs fill the room.

.

.

.

Within the week, the Hyuuga Juinjutsu is carved into her head.

Hinata bears the pain without as much as a wince.

Hanabi stands in the corner of the room, looking on completely incensed as she bounces her niece in her arms.

She understands her sister's anger, really she does, but Hanabi doesn't understand why Hinata must do this. Hanabi doesn't understand that Hinata really has sinned in more ways than one. If being marked means that her daughter will not have to be, then Hinata will receive the curse a thousand times over.

Being clan head, being a strong shinobi, being with the man she loves - all of it now pales compared to her daughter.

Nothing is more important than Himawari.

Nothing.

Updated: 04/05/2014