The Lesser

Sometimes Hanabi would look up her tiny little nose at her elder sister and in Hinata's head would echo the words: "I'm better than you."

Sometimes she'd watch Hanabi's tiny form fly across the room, body arched with deadly precision, and then would come "I'm faster than you."

Sometimes blood would splatter across the scuffed floor, as Hanabi and Father traded blows. "I'm stronger than you."

Sometimes Neji would smile his almost-smile, as he explained the finer points of how to kill a man to understanding ears, followed by a pretty mouth that would quietly drop suggestions into the mix. "I'm smarter than you."

Sometimes Hanabi'd return home; long hair tangled and legs scarred, her white eyes reddened and body bruised. As she limped past her elder sister, the stench of death wafted from her. "I'm prettier than you."

Sometimes she'd just sit, calmly sipping tea in a white kimono, in a white room, with her large white eyes staring at nothing. Hinata would serve the tea, because that was what she did, and in the silence she would hear: "I'm better than you in every way. And yet you still love me. And for that, I will never forgive you."