Author's notes: Last chapter everyone! Sorry for the long wait but it's finally here and I can finally label this fic as FINISHED! Thank you for reading and reviewing! ^_^

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Look at you, look at you,

Pale and ivory-skinned, oh

Look at you, looking so sad, so queer

Promise

Not to retreat to the darkness…

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Twins run in the genes of the Head family.

Hinata gave birth to two healthy boys, Hizashi and Hikaru.

Neji let Hiashi have the honor to be the first to hold Hizashi, the firstborn, while Neji held Hikaru. The pride and joy in Hiashi's eyes couldn't be hidden as he beheld his grandchildren. No matter that the parents bore the seal, and the children would someday bear that accursed mark someday. Hiashi knew that he would treat these boys no less than Hanabi's future children.

Hanabi is also happy with her nephews. She'd never liked children, but she has a soft spot for the twins. She and her father would often drop by Hinata and Neji's house just to spend time with the babies.

Everything was going so well for Hinata and Neji. Their family is healthy and stable, and they couldn't be happier. As new parents, the future seemed so bright and promising for their baby boys. They had no worries; not even the imminent prospect of the branding could cast a shadow on the parents' outlook.

Around the time that the twins were eight months old, however, tragedy struck. One that would shake not only the small branch family, but the foundation of the clan.

Hanabi had been on a mission. She returned severely injured, her life hanging by a thread. Everyone feared for the worse. The Hyuuga feared losing their heiress.

Hinata was still on maternity leave then. When she heard the news from her father, she rushed with him to the hospital, leaving the twins in Neji's care, who was also on leave at that time. Upon seeing her severely battered and wounded sister confined in the Intensive Care Unit, with tubes and bandages all over her, Hinata broke down. She couldn't help weeping as she approached her sister's bedside and took her small hand in hers. Grief was apparent in Hiashi's face as he placed a hand on his eldest daughter's shoulders wracking with sobs.

They could only pray that Hanabi would make it.

And she did, thankfully. Though barely.

Hanabi survived and got back into shape, but she was not spared completely. Her internal injuries were dire, and she was left unable to bear children. Though she made a full recovery, she would carry the effects of that near-death situation all her life.

So though the Hyuuga regained their heiress, they were left with the dilemma of succession. Their heiress could not continue the line. The next one in line for succession would be Hinata, but she had been branded, and there was no going back from branch to main.

The council thought of only one solution: they would take Hinata's firstborn child and raise him as a member of the Head family while the younger twin would be branded at the age of three like all others.

This ensured that the succession was still maintained in Hiashi's lineage.

Hinata and Neji are summoned to the council chambers and they are told of the decision. Neji gritted his teeth, head bowed down, his nails digging into his hakama. Surprisingly, Hinata is the one who levels her eyes in defiance at the council, and says loud and clear, "No."

"What did you say?!" An elder rose from his seat. "How dare you disrespect this honourable council with your impudence! Know your place! We have spoken, and we did not ask your permission, but your compliance."

"And I do not comply," Hinata holds her ground, her head raised high even as she and Neji kneel in front of the council. "I refuse to give up my son and my right to be his mother."

"Neji!" An elder barks. "Keep your wife in line!"

Neji doesn't say a word. His tension can be seen by the way he grips his knees. He has lived a life of subjugation, and he is resigned to the fact that they have no choice in the matter; the elders will do what they will. But Hinata will not stand for this injustice, and she doesn't ask Neji to stand up for her or to voice his agreement of her declaration. She knows that in this moment, she must be brave for the both of them.

Another elder speaks up, His voice is calm but cold and deadly. "Do you not recognize the great honor we are bestowing upon you, Hinata? Your bloodline will continue in the Head family. Your son will one day be the Head that you never were."

Hinata glares at the elder, a show of bravado and bravery. "I would rather we all be relegated to the branch family than be separated because of prejudice and politics!" The rebellious fire in her eyes blazes, unabated by fear and intimidation. "For the last time, I repeat: you will not take my son from me!"

The elder that Hinata addressed calmly stands up and Neji's eyes widen in fearful realization just a fraction of a second before the seal is activated.

For the first time, pain is invoked through Hinata's seal.

The agony rips a loud cry from her throat and brings her to her knees. It is like being struck by lighting; it is like poison gas making its way all over her body, slashing her insides; it is like magma running through her blood vessels, burning her. Pain is the only sensation she can perceive from all five senses. She doesn't even become aware that Neji has knelt beside her, trying to hold on to her wracking body on the floor. She doesn't hear his shouted pleas for the elder to stop, doesn't feel his tears making its way down his cheeks as he begs for her life and for mercy.

Just when Hinata feels she'll go mad from the pain, it stops. She slumps on the ground, unconscious. Neji holds her body tight to his, crying as he calls out to her.

The elder who has activated the seal is now the one on his knees, hollering in pain. The fingers he held up for the hand seal is now broken, courtesy of Hanabi. She had just arrived with Hiashi, having been secretly informed by a concerned branch member of the undisclosed meeting that the council called for with Hinata and Neji. Hanabi had an ominous feeling upon learning of it, intuitively knowing that she could not brush off the branch member's claim. So she went to her Father, informed him about it, and he agreed that they should see to the matter, and they both set off to the council chambers.

"I believe this meeting does not have my approval nor my awareness of it." Hanabi coldly announces to everyone in the room. Hiashi is kneeling next to Neji as he checks on his eldest daughter.

Such is the political upheaval within the clan that the Hokage himself has become involved. It is known that the Hokage should not partake in personal politics within clans, but this is an exception, since Hiashi and Hanabi themselves, the head and heir of the clan, have requested the Hokage's involvement in clan affairs.

The Hokage dispatches an ANBU team to investigate, and they uncover a conspiracy of the Hyuuga elders for plans of a coup d'etat, along with clear evidence of their abuse of powers and funds. A murder plot on Hinata and Neji is thwarted in its planning stage.

The elders have been exposed. The Hokage deems their ploy to kill two recognized, high-ranking shinobi as treason to Konoha itself.

According to the Hyuuga constitution, such an incident allows emergency powers to be granted to Hanabi, meaning that the council will be indefinitely stripped of its executive, legislative, and judicial powers, and only the Head can make decisions regarding the governing of the clan. Martial law is imposed in the Hyuuga compound and it will go on until order in the clan politics is restored.

Hanabi decides to use this to her advantage to enact a new proclamation that will change the Hyuuga forever. She gathers everyone in the massive meeting hall of the Hyuuga where they hold general assemblies or celebrations.

"Each Hyuuga with the byakugan shall receive the caged bird seal." Hanabi declares as she stands in front of the whole clan.

Gasps of fear, shock and outrage filled the room. Some stood up indignantly, some disbelievingly looked to the sides to whomever they were seated next to, some stared wide-eyed at the heiress.

Those who reacted greatly were the members of the main family. The branch were surprised, but since they already bore the seal, the announcement didn't hold much change for their situation. They only felt shock because this was a breaking of an age-old tradition as old as the foundation of the Hyuuga itself.

"This will be to protect the lineage of the byakugan. If we think about it, main branch members who are on the field as shinobi are those who are susceptible to giving away the secret of the byakugan to rival villages."

Neji and Hinata are also shocked; they had not seen this coming. But they do not protest, not because they feel resigned as branch members, but because they have faith in Hanabi's decision.

And so does Hiashi. Hiashi himself endorses Hanabi's course of action; his support for Hanabi's first act as the Hyuuga Head cannot be disputed, adding more shock to the clan.

Later that night, after the ruckus has died down, and Hinata and Neji, along with the twins, are staying at the Head family mansion, Hinata asks Hanabi what prompted her to take such an action.

"The seal can't be undone," Hanabi announced. "I've been studying it since I learned the jutsu, looking for a way to undoit. But it can't be done."

Hanabi explains how her extensive study of the seal has revealed that attaching the seal is like hooking a parasite to the brain stem. And the result of taking that "parasite" away would make the host catatonic, dead to the world but still breathing. The seal melds with the consciousness of the individual. Removing the caged bird seal would be like sucking the person's soul out of the body.

But Hanabi shows no sign of resignation as she continues. "Which is why I've thought of a different solution to end the discrimination between main and branch."

No one could have predicted such an alternative.

Hanabi's drastic move could have impeached her, but she is the only one with the power to make decisions regarding the clan. So as not to come off as a dictator, Hanabi imposes democracy. Every Hyuuga, both main and branch, ages twelve and above, will cast a vote on whether they want the mass branding to be official.

75% of the votes are in favor. Thus, Hanabi's declaration is made effective immediately. Hiashi teaches the jutsu for the caged bird seal Hinata and Neji so they can help in the process of branding every member of the main family. On the day of the mass branding, Hiashi and Hanabi are the first ones to take up the seal. The rest follows, yielding to the finality of their fate to bear the brand as well.

And thus, in the years to come, the Hyuuga clan would also be known by the green marking upon their brows along with their pearlescent eyes. They would eventually believe that these honourable marks were inborn; the sealing ceremony only revealed that which was already etched on their foreheads, akin to invisible ink rising to the surface. To the future generations, to bear the caged bird seal was a symbol of the prestige of having the prized byakugan.