One's Duty [Nejiko, Hiashiko]

[weighted_wings]

[takes place a few days after Nejiko & Yuugao get back from their mission, which since it's so freakin' long is still being beta'd. >.>]

march year 19

Nejiko showed nothing as she walked to Hiashiko's study. She had been summoned and that was all she knew, though it was enough to know that whatever the reason behind the summons, it could not be

Comments

[hyuuga_hiashiko]

Over three years ago, Hiashiko had a private conference with her niece, in the aftermath of an almost-wedding. Their conversation had been brief, but it had been honest and dropped without another allusion. Over three years ago, Hiashiko told her sister's child that she did not wish to see her miserable

[weighted_wings]

Glacial temper blazed bright as summer ice in Nejiko's eyes even as her mouth instantly dried out. She knew instantly that this wasn't Hiashiko's choice. Talks along this subject had happened and were waiting for Nejiko to make the final decision. But now that decision was ripped from both of them, torn by the Elder Council.

With effort, she kept her eyes focused on Hiashiko. To focus the temper on Elder Hinata was to invite her tenuous control on her killing intent to waver, and she damn well knew what would happen if it did. Fury towards Hiashiko would not be out of the ordinary, and therefore marginally acceptable. Hopefully her aunt would know that the anger was not directed at her.

Protocol, her mind hissed. "The Elders are most generous, but I must refuse both their offer and their call to my duty."

It cost her dearly to keep the snarl and the sarcasm and yes, even the smugness out of her voice. She couldn't afford to show a lack of control, couldn't afford to be anything less than perfect.

[hyuuga_hiashiko]

Nejiko's anger spun lightning into the air, and Hiashiko wondered just how well she could contain--too much to ask to control--her niece's fury. There was no need for this to end with Elder Hinata feeling Nejiko had threatened her and Nejiko screaming upon the ground. Damage control was all she could hope for, to race before the raging fire in order to head it off.

"There is no call higher than duty, Nejiko, and it cannot be refused." It was what bound Hyuuga, what made them who they were, all of them, from the Elders to the Branch. "If you cannot make the choice, the choice will be offered to your mother." An old custom, for the arranging of marriages, particularly when children were involved and could not be trusted to make a wise decision on their own.

[weighted_wings]

Nejiko almost snorted--yes, because she could so imagine Hizashiko being willing to go along with this crap. Instead she bowed in apology. "Obasama, you are correct: there is no call higher than duty and it cannot be refused." She straightened, eyes gleaming hailstones. She was no stranger to duty; she was fanatical in following the course of where duty would take her and was abhorred by others' shirking of same. "However. I am also ANBU. My first duty is to my village and to my Hokage. Am I to assume that a significant portion of this call to clan duty is to ensure the production of my heir?"

[hyuuga_hiashiko]

Nejiko could see to the heart of matters. "It is."

The Council can go to hell.

[weighted_wings]

"Then my original answer remains unchanged. I cannot commit myself to this clan duty absent the express permission of Hokage-sama." Thus the Council could sit on it for all she cared. Not that she did, for all the amusement it could bring.

This is something we can agree upon

[hyuuga_hiashiko]

An intricate dance, and the one who could do it best was the Elder standing before her desk. Hiashiko nodded, conceding the point, but had to continue. "Hinata-sama has informed me that the Elders are currently putting together a petition to gain the permission of Hokage-sama."

Hiashiko disliked feeling like a figurehead, but that was, in essence, all she was at some times. Like this time, when she had been neatly caught by surprise and had no choice but to parrot what Hinata had told her.

It's always scary when that happens.

[weighted_wings]

Let them. "As is their right," Nejiko said smoothly despite the visible temper in her eyes. "If the Elders so wish, I will deliver the petition to Hokage-sama, myself." And thus give herself the chance to speak with him before he could read it.

"Very well," Hinata spoke, voice and body language betraying practically nothing.

Nejiko picked up on the eldest woman's fury and ire simply because she knew to expect it in the wake of the refusal. She knew of Elder Hinata more by reputation than anything else, though she had also learned the woman's face. Every Hyuuga learned who the members of the Elder Council were, on sight. Hinata was one of the higher-placed individuals, which had been another indication that this...meeting...likely would not turn out well for Nejiko. This was the woman who, now, had a final say over whatever else Hiashiko might wish to say or do.

And because Nejiko had no choice, she turned to give Hinata the proper respect due a speaking Elder, donning a mental version of her ANBU mask in order to keep her

Do you think the world will end?

[hyuuga_hiashiko]

Decades of practice allowed Hiashiko to keep her face smooth, her expression unconcerned. She didn't miss the way Nejiko's hand pressed against her leg, and a small part of her was impressed with Nejiko's level of control. This young woman had improved much since the days of her furious childhood, and here it served her well. Hiashiko had no illusion how Elder Hinata would react to the merest hint of a threat.

Hinata had boxed in Nejiko well, and under different circumstances Hiashiko would have approved of the manuevering. "I have nothing else for Nejiko at this time," she answered. It rankled that Hinata asked her, almost as an after-thought, on the off-chance she might actually have something of use to say. Hiashiko looked to her niece. "A messenger will be sent to you when the petition has been completed."

...doesn't look like.

[weighted_wings]

"Hai, Hiashiko-sama," Nejiko returned respectfully as she bowed to the appropriate depth, again to Hiashiko first then to Hinata, before exiting the study.

She wouldn't be hard to find. Restricted to the compound as she was, anyone who knew her would know to look for her at the outdoor training grounds.