Lost Again
“Shiryu!” I heard someone calling. Turning, I saw familiar black eyes, black hair pulled into a ponytail, and a familiar smile. “Oh, gotta go, Kiba, Hinata!” I hugged them both, smiling widely. “I gotta go home.”
“Bye, Seishiryu!” Their voices echoed behind me as I took off.
“Hi, Itachi!”
He smiled, placing a warm hand on the top of my head. “Hey, little sister. Ready to go?”
I nodded. “Yea, I guess. We were just training together again.”
He held his hand out. “How did your day go? Learn anything new?”
Another nod. “We were talking about Chakra! Iruka-SenShi said that there were many ways to use it, and he started to explain some things, but said some of the ways to use it were out of our experience range. He said that we could walk on water some day. Can you walk on water?” I looked up at him, eyes wide.
He smiled. “Yes, I can. Sometime, I'll show you, okay?”
“Will you teach me to do it?”
A nod. “Of course.”
“He also said that we could walk up walls. Can you do that?”
He nodded. “Yes, of course. I'll teach you that, too.”
My eyes widened as I tried to picture him walking up walls. “Like a spider, right?”
He laughed. “Something like that, sure.”
"Is it hard?"
"At first, but it gets easier as you get stronger. What else did you learn?"
"We learned about hand signs, and what origin certain ones are from. We learned a lot! Then he had us go outside and practice some. How many do you know? Do you know them all?"
"I'm sure there are some I don't know, but I know a lot."
"He was showing us how to do them, and he got faster and faster. I bet you can do it faster, though!"
He laughed again. "You'll get fast at it, too, soon enough."
As we walked, I talked, bouncing up and down as I did. I'd learnt a lot, and wanted to talk about it all, and as I talked, I got more and more excited.
He led me into the gardens, and I paused my side of the conversation as my eyes caught onto a familiar woman. She had her back to me, but I knew her anyway. Their mom was back! I squealed. "You're back, you're back!"
Sasuke was already outside, bouncing around her, helping her by handing her this and that, and taking this and that. He stopped when he saw me and waved. "Hey, Seishiryu! How was training?"
I ran over, and his mom stood, turning to smile down at me. "It was fun! Kiba showed me his compound. They have a lot of dogs!"
She laughed. "That's what the Inuzuka Clan is known for. Their abilities with canines."
I stood in front of her, remembering what Sasuke had told me a couple days ago. "S-so how was your trip?"
She smiled. "It was very fun. Did you like camping with Sasuke and Itachi?"
I nodded. "Yea! We saw a meteor shower, and I got this." I paused, reaching into the bag Itachi and Sasuke had helped me make out of the fabric. It had been sewn so it wouldn't just fall apart. I pulled out some dust, held it in my hand. It was silvery-white, and glowed dimly, like millions of tiny, little stars.
"Oh, wow. What is it?"
"It's Star Powder. I can do this with it!" I stared at it, focusing, and it rose slightly, gave a soft, weak swirl, and fell. "I've been working on it, and I still gotta practice, but I can control it! At least a little."
"That's awesome." She knelt, studying the powder. "How did you get it?"
"She brought down a giant star from the sky!" Sasuke said, bouncing up beside her. "It was cool, and scary! I thought we were gonna be crushed, but she controlled it, and made it land, and then it turned to dust and she could control the dust! It was really cool!"
She smiled again. "I guess you were named after more than just the stars in the sky, huh?"
I nodded, beaming. "I've always known I could do things like that, but I didn't know I could bring down a giant star like that. It was accidental, but I made sure nobody got hurt!"
"That's good. Maybe you can show me some time." She reached out to me, smoothing my hair back. "Do you want to help me garden?"
I nodded again. "Yea, sure!"
It was growing dark. I was just staring at the sky when I heard him calling to me. Glancing back, I stood. "Hi, big brother. What's up?"
He smiled slightly. "It's getting dark. We should get inside."
"Right. Sorry." I followed him, silently, studying him. He seemed different, concerned. Like something was wrong. We passed a big building, with stairs leading to the front doors, and he stopped when he saw a crowd had gathered around the outside of the building. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, until they saw him standing a few feet away.
"Seishiryu," he said softly. "Go on home. I'll be there in a minute."
I nodded, started to move away, until another man came up behind me, grabbing my shoulder. "Don't you think she would be safer here, Itachi?" The voice made my shoulders tense. He sounded like he was enjoying something. "I think she should stay. After all," his voice sounded optimistic, happy, but still so . . . wrong, "she's part of the family now, too, isn't she?"
He gave me a pained look, glancing back at the man behind me, but as he opened his mouth to answer, another voice rang out. "There he is! Itachi, we need you to give us your answer. One way or another."
The crowd moved toward us, surrounding us quickly. "We need a leader. Are you going to help us or not?"
He hesitated. "I'm not the man you want for the job."
"You're the best person for the position. We need someone like you in this."
"After all, Itachi," the voice behind me spoke, "if it's not you, then who would it be?"
"I can't help you."
"If not you, I'm sure someone who has less . . . morals would love to take the offer." The hand tightened. "After all, I know there are many who would love to take the job, who won't cut corners, the way I know you will."
The look he gave me made my breath catch. He looked about ready to run, to cry, to fight. He looked like he was in pain, and angry, and afraid, all at the same time. And I had the feeling, he wasn't the one he was really afraid for.
"Do you want to let your whole family down?" he asked again. "Isn't there someone else you would give your life for, someone for whom you would do anything to ensure survival?"
The words sent chills down my spine, and I knew he was talking about his little brother. I started to move forward, and the hand tightened. It made me wince and cry out in pain.
"Think about it, boy. There are plenty of other young men who would love so very much to take this offer, so many people who would love to see this family gone. Don't you want to protect them from those people?" I could feel his nails digging into my shoulder.
The entire time he'd been speaking, his eyes had been on me, and he'd flinched with every sentence. I'd never seen him look like that before. It made me want to run out to him, to help him, but I didn't need the hand on my shoulder to stop me. I felt afraid. Like something was wrong. Like something was going to happen.
Like I was about to lose everything again.
Tears still wet and shining on my face, I followed the silver-haired man to the door. "Don't worry, kid," he said softly back at me, "you'll never be homeless in the Leaf. No matter what happens."
"What about Sasuke?"
"He's being given an apartment."
"Why am I being brought here?"
"Because you have Hyuuga blood, they offered to let you stay here."
I stared at the ground, watching my feet move. "Is he gonna be okay?"
"He'll be fine, once he wakes up. He wasn't seriously hurt."
The look in his eyes. I couldn't shake it. I could've sworn I saw tears in his eyes. "Why'd he do it?" I asked softly.
"Sometimes, there are no answers for the tough questions."
He knocked on the door. Seconds passed before a man opened it. When I looked up, my eyes widened. I took a deep breath.
Papa. H-he looks just like papa! The same eyes stared down at me, but his eyes weren't as lighthearted as Papa's. His were stoic, harsh, almost. But his face, and his hair, though longer than Papa's, it was the right color. As I stared at him, he looked down at me, and I looked away. Those eyes . . . they're not Papa's.
"That's the girl?"
"Yup. The Hokage is grateful to you for taking her in."
"If she's a Hyuuga, we don't have much choice but to take her into our home, do we?"
Hinata appeared behind him, peering out. She smiled at seeing me, but the smile dulled when she realized why I was there. She backed away as the man moved away from the door, giving us more room to come through.
I immediately linked hands with her, needing the touch of a familiar, friendly hand.
She smiled at me, the smile dulling again. "I-I'm sorry."
"It's okay," I said softly. "I-I'm just glad to be here."
"We'll take her before the Elders and see what they have to say, as a final check. If you would wait here, Kakashi-San."
Kakashi nodded. "I'll be around."
"Seishiryu," the voice drew my attention to the man. He gestured me closer. "Come. We'll take you to the Elders. Hinata, stay with Kakashi."
Pulling my hand away, I followed the man deeper into the building, past a little boy not much older than myself, training in the yard. We passed him, and he glanced up to see me. We kept going until we were in another, small house. It was a bit darker, and we weren't alone. Several older men and women moved about.
"This is the girl? She doesn't look much like a Hyuuga."
"Nonsense. She looks like you. A little."
"She's got the Hyuuga eyes, but there's no way she's full Hyuuga."
"We should place the seal on her, if we bring her in."
"We are forbidden from doing so, as even if she is a Hyuuga, she is not part of our main branch. She is part of another branch of Hyuuga, from another village. She's not our branch."
"But you're sure she has Hyuuga blood?"
"We had her tested. Her blood matches Hyuuga blood.”
“We should still seal her.”
“We've been ordered not to give her the seal, due to hers being a different branch, and due to the contract between her family and the Uchiha."
"The Uchiha are as good as extinct. What does that matter?"
"It matters because the one with whom the contract was signed is still alive. The contract is still binding. As long as that is binding, she is not our branch. She's as good as Uchiha now."
"Then why is she here?"
"Because she is still Hyuuga. She needs to learn of her people, and learn of her talent."
"How do we know she even has the Byakuugan?"
"She activated it during the massacre. It's why the Hokage brought her to us. We are to teach her what she needs to know."
"So she's here. At least for now, she's here."
"I still say she should get the seal. We don't know that she won't betray us."
"We're not her family to betray. She is not our branch; We have no authority over her."
"We were also ordered not to give her the seal. You heard the Hokage. That contract binds her to the Uchiha."
"So the Uchiha can gain our Byakuugan with their breeding! We need to come up with a way to break that contract. The Byakuugan is our Kekkei-Genkai. Giving her to them is as good as giving our power away!"
"That is not our decision."
"I suggest you find the contract, and a way to break it."
"If you find a way," I said softly, at first. Everyone turned to look at me. "I-if you find a way to break it, I will allow you to place the seal on me, without complaint. I do not want to marry him. I want nothing to do with that. I do want to know what my father was, and who he was, and that means getting to know the Clan he was born into. Doesn't it? So if you accept me, and if you find a way to break the contract, I bow to your will to do with me as you please."
Silence. Murmurs. Moments passed. "Fine. We'll scour for a loophole in the contract. If we find one, you will receive the mark."
"Give her a room. Let her share one with Neji. That's good enough for the half-breed."
"We put a mark on her, that's going against the Hokage's will."
“The Hokage doesn't always know what's best for our Clan. Letting a rampant Hyuuga run around could prove disastrous.”
"And marking her could cause war."
"With whom? The nonexistent Uchiha Clan? There's nobody to stop us if we marked her. The Hokage would be upset, but he would understand once he got what we were doing. Protecting our namesake."
"She's not our namesake to protect."
"If she is Hyuga, then she is our namesake to protect. Whether she has our last name or not, it makes no difference. None."
"We're not putting a seal on her. She's here to learn, and she will be safe."
"Fine. Take her away. Let her stay in Neji's room."
I was ushered out and I saw the same boy a few feet away. He was staring at me.
He looked away when he saw me staring back.
"Neji, take Starlight to your room. She'll be staying with you."
The boy jogged toward me, nodding. "Hi, I'm Neji." He watched the man walk away, then said, "Don't let them put the seal on you. I heard what was being said. Don't let them do it."
"B-but why?"
"It's horrible," he said softly. You don't want that."
"Hey, so, uh, you're Neji, right?"
A nod. "Yes. And I assume you're Seishiryu."
I nodded. "Yes. I'm Seishiryu."
"Don't let them put the seal on you. It turns you into their slave. Don't do it." He took my arm. "They're never going to accept you, either. They will always view you as the outsider, especially if you let them put the seal on you."
I followed behind him, wondering how I'd get myself out of this one. I wanted to know more about my father. Obviously they knew who my dad was, so how did I find out more about him? If I could find out the truth about my father, maybe I could find out who killed him.
In order to find out more about the man who murdered my family, I had to find out more about my father. If that meant being their slave. . . .
Then so be it.