Trey or A Tale Of Three Clans

Chapter 1

Shino sat quietly on the rocky outcropping staring out at the darkening sky. Deep in thought he leaned forward one slender hand propped up underneath his chin. His right elbow resting heavily on his right knee.

This was his favorite spot, this hidden nook of vermillion and gold colored butterflies, ruby red lady bugs with onyx spots, and large jade green grasshoppers, their rose underbellies pulsing through their paper thin skin. The outcropping rose like a tiny island in a sea of emerald, grassy, greenness. The multitude of yellow wildflowers gave off a subtle, stress releasing fragrance that blended with the faint musk of the moist earth underneath. The flowers gaudily waved at him in the late afternoon breeze as they were accosted by honey bees still diligently going about their work in the warm summer air.

Shino let his eyes follow the hovering, erratic flight of the black and yellow bees. He had been watching them since the late morning. He breathed in deeply through his nostrils then released the carbon monoxide in a hard burst from his lungs. The air was fresh. It was clean. There was no need for frustration. He cast his eyes up to the heavens and for the one thousandth time reminded himself that he was an Aburame, the Aburame heir to be exact. That meant something. He reminded himself that it was well and good that Kiba was away on a mission with his mother. When the Inuzuka returned everything would have been sorted out and settled.

His teammate would be deeply angry, but better that than that the entire Inuzuka clan be directly insulted. The result of such a lost of honor would not be pretty. Two words summed it all up: clan war. Once Kiba calmed down and thought the issues through with a clear head, he would see that his actions were proper and necessary, not for himself alone, but for their team. Kiba would thank him. The kikaichu under Shino¡¦s skin became overly excited at that thought. Shivering, Shino sought again to find his inner calm. Steepling his fingers, he consciously slowed his heart rate and his breathing and let nothingness fill his mind. He was a jounin leaf shinobi and an Aburame. He was a master of the art of waiting.


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Hyuuga Hinata shut off her Byakugan. Shino was still sitting like a stone Buddha on that damn rock. He had been sitting on it all day while she had been shut up in the Hyuuga mansion two miles away, a bundle of jumpy nerves and skittish senses. This was the time when she needed to be with her teammates the most, when she needed to hold them close. But Kiba-kun, her Kiba-kun, was away on a mission, and Shino had made it clear that it was best that he not be seen with her until all negotiations were completed. She did trust Shino. He was their Hokage acknowledged team leader. Of course that was minus the early years when he and Kiba-kun had competitively jockeyed for the position. But she had found out why that competition had ended two years ago when¡K Hinata¡¦s face burned bright with embarrassment at the explicit memory. She shook her head. This was no time for daydreaming. Literally her life was at stake.

She sighed in frustration, unable to stop herself from pacing the floor of her bedroom. It was just so hard, hard being a Hyuuga and even harder still being the Hyuuga heiress. It was her birthright, yet over the years, no matter how she tried, no matter how she persevered, nothing she did was good enough, nothing she did was right. And neither her father, or Neji, nor even Hanabi would let her forget it. She had never been able to change the disapproving scorn of the Hyuuga elders either. It was an open wound that could never heal. Gods! Nevertheless she still loved her family.

Bright tears hit the familiar planks of the polished ochre wooden floor where not so much as a speck of dust or a scuff mark could be found. This room, her room, had soaked up enough tears both on the floor and on her bed to water a thousand verdant gardens. Yet as she glanced around her spacious, lovely room with its painted wall scenes of Hyuuga kunoichis, her ancestors: training, fighting, sharpening weapons, arranging flowers, caring for small children and dancing, all with grace and big round pupil-less Hyuuga eyes, Hinata felt the press of her noble and illustrious ancestry resting like a millstone on her slim shoulders. It was crushing. Tormented, her throat constricted. Her lips trembled. She stared at the sheer ivory silk curtains billowing at the large open windows, before giving her attention to the ivory and ochre comforter adorned with embroidered, pink, sakura petals covering the baby soft ivory linen sheets of her bed. There was a small black lacquered table on the other side of the room where a perfectly weighted and polished set of kunai rested in its ochre leather case awaiting her use. Under the table, and on the floor, stood a large, coppery brown, woven basket. Medical scrolls, gilded in gold, were vertically arranged in it for her reading pleasure. Ivory paper lanterns hung from the ceiling concealing the light fixtures. Her eyes wandered to her black lacquered bureau on the other side of the room - it had once been her mother¡¦s - with an overlarge, shiny mirror hanging above it. Her favorite brushes, combs, gold and ivory hair pins, and jade barrettes were precisely arranged on its surface.

Finally she gazed at her reflection in the mirror. In the last couple of years some villagers had quietly taken to calling her the Hyuuga beauty behind her back. Though she still wore her heavy bangs, her thick, glossy, blue-black hair had grown past her shoulders and down to her elbows. Right now she chose to wear it loose. And, although she once had been short, she had grown taller and could no longer be called petite. She had filled out in a most embarrassing manner. She was all ripe rounded curves, from her high generous breasts to her flaring hips, bisected by a tiny little waist. Her skin was pale, like porcelain, as was normal for a Hyuuga. Her face was a perfect oval and her nose was classic, also normal for a Hyuuga. But her defining feature was still her large, long-lashed eyes. Her lavender tinted, white, silk kimono adorned with falling green embroidered leaves, matched her lavender tinted, white, perfectly round, pupil-less Hyuuga eyes. It didn¡¦t take the byakugen to see that perfection lay in all things Hyuuga. They had always been considered a stunningly flawless, looking clan, male and female alike. If the overheard tales of a few gossiping, older kunoichi were to be believed, her regal father, the stern Hiashi-sama, at the age of forty-five, was still considered a ¡§hunk.¡¨ She had to confess that she found that image disturbing.

Yet, until two years ago, those who thought that she was beautiful had not cared to voice the sentiment. Back then she had thought that she looked like a ghost, a member of the walking dead with her wide, white eyes, white skin and black hair. She had also spent much time concealing her overly developed breasts and her curves under her old bulky parka convinced that she was unpresentable.

After all Naruto had not chosen her. He had chosen boyishly slim, sleek, pink-haired, small-breasted, large fore-headed Sakura. The bitter, bitter sting of his rejection¡K She nearly gagged at the bile the memory invoked. Furiously, she wiped away the crystalline tears on her cheeks. Only her teammates, her dear teammates, had saved her, had taught her to see what they saw, had given her a new radiant confidence. If they hadn¡¦t she would have given up. And that was a fact.

But today she was to be disgraced. She had let down all the Hyuugas. Her clan did not tolerate imperfection or lack of restraint in their kinsman and certainly not in their heiress. The one task that they all were certain that she would perform perfectly, she could not. Her fate was in; she dare not call him her father, her clan leader¡¦s hands.

Whatever happened she knew now that she was a woman, and not just a cipher. She had found her ninja way. The familiar tingle of passion ran down her body at the thought. Her chin rose in determination as she continued to stare at herself in the mirror. She may have let down the Hyuugas but she would never let down team eight.

The sudden, sharp rapping at her bedroom door made her jump in fright. Frantically, she snatched up a small towel and dried all remnants of her tears. She bit her lips to bring color into them, judging that to put on even lip gloss would exacerbate what was to come. Swallowing hard she approached the door and opened it. The young maid was already bowing low before her. ¡§Hiashi-sama requests your presence in his study Hinata-sama.¡¨

¡§Thank you,¡¨ Hinata responded so meekly that the maid was forced to look up to confirm that the Hyuuga heiress had actually spoken. Hinata straightened her back and held her head high as she followed the maid silently down the hall. She was a leaf kunoichi. She was strong enough, and for the very first time the Hyuugas would know it.



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