A Growing Affection

Chapter 85: Hinata's Fiancé

"Silence," he ordered his comrades, and then Hyouta leaned forward, reaching for the cloth-draped box.

"I  feared you might say something like that, so I have come prepared," he  informed her superiorly, removing the shroud. Unveiled, the top of the  case was marked with a large X with a hooked line on either side.  Everyone in the room knew the symbol all too well.

"It seems I  cannot allow you to leave this room without the Caged Bird Seal, girl,"  Hyouta Hyuga stated with grim satisfaction. He lifted off the cover of  the wooden container, revealing the brand recessed in shaped, black,  silk pad.

"I do not think we should place the Seal on your  forehead, but the secondary marking place on your spine will suffice,"  Hyouta decided, reaching for the chakra-bonded iron. One of the elders  shifted his shoulders uncomfortably, as if feeling something on his  back.

"I wonder, if this was what Itachi felt," Hinata said, her voice hoarse with disappointment.

"What?"  Hyouta looked up from the brand at her statement, but fell back when he  saw Hinata crouching over the box, staring at him with her sad, silver  eyes surrounded by bulging, pulsing veins. Her left hand hung down, a  cloud of chakra spinning lightly over it; ready to coalesce into a  Rasengan if needed.

"Suigin?" the elder gasped as he fell back on  his butt. He had neither seen nor heard the girl move, though Hiashi and  Hiroko had both noticed her movements, if barely. And they all  recognized that she had activated her Byakugan without using words or  her hands to focus her energy. Still crouching, Hinata took a step  forward, moving between her grandfather and the brand.

"So, you  intend to turn traitor, to slaughter your clan?" Hyouta asked with all  the bluster he could muster. He had not seen the second level of  Byakugan since his grandmother Hoshi's death. Part of him wanted to  believe it was a trick or illusion, but he knew better.

"I do not  intend to kill you, grandfather," Hinata said gently, pained that he  could think that, "You misunderstand me. When I mentioned Itachi, I was  not speaking of his feelings when he executed the Uchiha clan. I meant  the point when he realized his clan was to far lost in past glories and  self-importance to recognize how stagnant they had become."

"How dare you!" Hyouta sputtered, and Hinata regarded him with deepening pity.

"Grandfather,  I possess the Suigin Byakugan, a fact which was apparently a mystery to  you," she shifted her attention to her father without taking her eyes  off her grandfather, and Hiashi Hyuga shrugged, "which means you think  too little of me to read the clan leader's reports. That in turn means  you do not know that at this point I can easily counter the primary  techniques of our clan. So I doubt you can stop me from leaving. If you  try, I will incapacitate you."

"Arrogant child," Hyouta's hand  darted up, aiming the Gentle Fist at her heart, a potentially lethal  move. Hinata in turn released her partial Rasengan and aimed both of her  index fingers at his forearm.

"Enough!" Hiashi shouted, before  either of them could strike. They paused, and the chief elder seemed to  return to his senses. He noted that Hinata would have shut off the  chakra in his arm before he could have hit her, but ignored the fact as  he settled regally back into place. Hinata took a step back, glancing at  her father, but not releasing her Byakugan.

"Hinata, please sit  down," Hiashi's request was firm but understanding. She gracefully  knelt, but her eyes still remained silver, and her posture said she was  ready to strike or run.

"Lord Hyouta," the clan leader addressed  his father formally, "Based upon your statements, I believe you feel  Hinata may not be fit to lead the clan. Is that accurate?"