HINATA, DEEP IN THOUGHT

The training dummy was as lifeless as always, and Hinata had trouble picturing the flow of chakra though it.

The Hyuuga took her stance, and subtly peeked to her right, watching the chakra movement of another training ninja. It was easier to practice when she could imagine a live target in her head, rather than what amounted to a large marionette. She moved chakra to her palms, and charged.

Going through her usual training routine mechanically, striking at the dummy's arms, legs and torso in the same way as always, Hinata could see another ninja stare at her from behind. Some things never change. She had spent most of her childhood training under the disapproving glare of her father, and now she had to put up with similar glowering coming from those who hated her for being a Hyuuga.

It was understandable, of course. Most of the rebels had lost family members or friends in the coup, and with her being the former heiress of the family responsible for it… People were not exactly happy to have her around. Among the rebels that did not know her well, many believed her to be lying about knowing nothing about the coup, and some frequently petitioned to the council to have her thrown in jail because they thought she was a spy. There were other rebels who believed that she hadn't known about the coup, but thought that that made her a useless reject Hyuuga, not fit to be a ninja or have any responsibility. It was less hostile, but almost equally unpleasant.

There were many of us who didn't know. I can guarantee Hanabi didn't, because I spoke to her just two days before, and she wasn't anxious in the least. Hinata had known her sister well enough to see that the only things on her mind had been a set of exams that had been coming up. The rebel Hyuuga also refused to believe that too many of the low-ranked branch Hyuuga had known, the servants of the main family for example. She had witnessed their panic at the Hyuuga compound herself on the day of the coup, watching it through the walls of her bedroom.

Many of my family had to go along with it afterwards, not having known it would happen. Yet they might be killed anyway once we finally attack the village. It seemed very unfair, paying with your life for the crime not knowing about something. Some of the Hyuuga who hadn't known about the coup had no doubt been happy to exploit their family's new position in the village, but Hinata, perhaps naively, genuinely believed that she couldn't be the only one who hated the coup.

Hinata struck the training dummy's chest right below where the heart would be, forcing chakra to move from her palms to the dummy's wooden skin. If it had been a real person Hinata had delivered that blow to, that person would now be experiencing a heart attack. Behind her, a kunoichi walked up to the ninja who had been (and still was) glowering at her, and whispered something to him. Hinata could read from her lips, "Don't stare so openly. You should know by now that those freaks can see you even when they're not looking." The corner of the man's mouth twitched with maybe fear or disgust, Hinata couldn't quite tell, and he turned to look elsewhere.

This must be what it was like to be Naruto-kun back at the village, Hinata thought, not for the first time. Well… not really quite that bad. I have some friends here, at least.

Hinata took a step back, parrying an imaginary blow coming from her left. She then dove forward, striking just under the dummy's arm. Her jyuuken was rusty. It was very hard to keep up a practice routine that she had last received any feedback for four years ago, and by now she had already forgot what feedback she had been given then. Should Hinata be forced to fight another Hyuuga, even one of the lower branch members who never got the in-depth training that she had received as a child, she would need to use other techniques along with her jyuuken. Otherwise she wouldn't stand a chance. If the coup hadn't happened, she would have moved on to more complex training routines, but now she didn't know what her father might have had planned for her… And never would.

Perhaps the idea had been that she would not practice at all. On the day of the coup, Hiashi had stayed at home instead of going to the Hokage's council, and told Hinata they needed to talk. Hinata had thought at the time that it was about getting her branded. It had been obvious for several years by then that Hanabi was the heir that Hiashi and the rest of the Hyuuga wanted, and in order for her to become to the heir, Hinata had to officially step down.

But before they could meet up and talk, bombs had gone off on another side of the village and everything had descended into screaming chaos. The guards by her bedroom door had refused to let her go anywhere, so she had stayed in her room, crying, not understanding what was happening. Several hours later, Hiashi came to see her, scolded her for showing her emotions, and took her with him for a walk in the garden.

Nothing could have prepared her for what he told her next. If Hinata had been very upset before, she was nearly hysterical after being told what was actually going on. The Hokage. Her teammates. Naruto-kun. So many others who her father told her to assume were dead. Hiashi also told her that the reason she hadn't been warned beforehand was because Hinata had such an inappropriate (considering her position and rank in the family) amount of friends and people she cared about outside of the family. The clan leaders had been certain that she would have tried to warn and help her friends.

And I would have, no question of it. They were completely right to think I was a liability, Hinata mused bitterly as she struck the practice dummy's left shoulder hard enough to break off splinters. A few imbedded themselves into her hand, but she didn't mind, because she knew a way to push them out using chakra.

After scolding her once again for acting upset, Hiashi had told her that she was to become Hanabi's spare, essentially. In the aftermath of the coup, Hiashi would become the Hokage and Hanabi after him, and Hinata would be left unbranded in case something happened to her younger sister. In order for the Hyuuga to cement their hold on the village, one of them would have to take over the leadership of it, and no branded Hyuuga could ever rule. This, Hiashi had explained, was because if knowledge of how to use the brand seal fell into the wrong hands, the seal could be used to attack the one bearing it. Thus, only Hiashi, Hiashi's very elderly father, and Hinata and Hanabi remained.

The position of Hokage was generally awarded to the strongest, most respected shinobi in the village, those who the public supported and wanted as rulers. Hiashi had never been particularly well liked anywhere in the village, and even inside the family he had had a reputation for being weak because of some issue concerning the Uchiha. Had things gone his way, Hiashi would have become the first honorary Hokage of Konoha, but that dubious honor had ended up being Hanabi's.

As it had turned out, not even being one of the masterminds behind a successful armed uprising was not enough to convince the branch family and the elders that Hiashi wasn't weak. After Hiashi had finished explaining things to Hinata, a group of branch members had come up to them – and murdered Hinata's father right in front of her.

It was for the best, they had said. Hiashi wouldn't have made a good leader, they had said. Hiashi had wanted to continue the branding tradition, while the branch wanted (as a reward for participating in the coup) the freedom to stop branding their children. If they made Hanabi into the Hokage, they could control her, they had said, train her into their puppet, they had said. Hinata had better not make trouble or talk to her sister or else she would end up like Hiashi, they had said, and started arguing amongst themselves if they should kill Hinata anyway to silence her.

Hinata had heard all of this, while she had stared blankly at the blood running from her father's slit throat. The girl had felt rather like her brain had burst out of her ears, not understanding, not listening, not seeing what was in front of her. Only when one the branch-nin had grabbed her by the shoulder and started dragging her away had she started to scream.

It was then that Itachi had appeared. It seemed that he had been there long enough to understand that she was innocent of the coup, and wanted to help her, or possibly to somehow use her, who knew. The Uchiha had made very short and brutal work of the branch members there, and then asked if Hinata wanted to run away from there with him or to stay. Hinata had been crying so hysterically at that point that it had taken him several tries to get her to understand what he meant. When she finally got it, she had seriously considered staying behind. Her father needed her, surely. Someone needed to bury him and cry over his grave.

But the Uchiha had also said that she would likely be killed for knowing too much if she stayed, and told her that she could help others who had also suffered in the coup. Her teammates names had come up.

They are alive? Hinata had wondered. Hiashi had said they were targets for assassination, but maybe they had got away.

"We're out of time. Are you coming or not?" The Uchiha had asked in a tone that had sounded more like are you coming willingly or do I have to kidnap you. Hinata had taken a last longing look at her father, and then agreed.

And so, four years later, she was now the least popular exile of the entire community. One drunken murder attempt against her had come and gone, as well as petitions to execute her, imprison her, or to use her body for medical experiments to determine the weak points of the byakugan. Funnily enough, the only one out of those three that Hinata had originally expected was the last one. Even when Itachi had carried her away from the village she had wondered why he would rescue her. Her father had told her to assume that all of the Uchiha were also dead, so no doubt this surviving one had all the reasons in the world to hate her family. The possibility that her eyes would be used for experiments or be harvested had crossed her mind, but she had been too tired to care. Let them take my eyes if they want. Use them to kill those who betrayed my father.

Other rebels liked to claim that she had no reason to be on their side, that she had not lost anything in the coup, and that she must have no honor to turn on her family. Hinata begged to differ on all accounts, always for the same two reasons. My father. My sister.

The former heiress did not believe for a second that the coup had been Hiashi's idea. The man had simply lacked the imagination to start something like that. Hinata wanted to find whomever had come up with it and put the idea into her father's head. And, when it came to Hanabi, she had heard it herself; the elders and the branch were using her as a puppet to push their own agenda.

When the rebels would attack the village, she would have to try her utmost to convince them to take Hanabi captive rather than assassinating her. Maybe it was a lost cause, but she would try. About three years ago Hinata had insisted on having an audience with the rebel council and shakily stammered out her plea for her sister's life, as well as relaying her own experiences about Hanabi likely not knowing about the coup beforehand, and her being used as a puppet. The stunt had earned her even more mistrust among the rebels, most of whom hated Hanabi for being the Hyuuga-run Konoha's figurehead, and the council had exchanged worried looks and given no promises. But Itachi Uchiha had stared at her expressionlessly and commented that everyone among the rebels knew that Hanabi Hyuuga had been a mere child at the time of the coup, and still was. That was about the best Hinata could have hoped for.

Hinata finished her routine and fixed her sore hand. It was about time for her to go.

-exile-

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