The weekend was a day off for the Ninja School, and Ayane stayed at the Hyuga Clan compound, not going anywhere.
In the Hyuga Clan, the Branch Family and the Main Family lived separately.
The Main Family rarely mingled with the Branch Family. To the Main Family, the Branch Family only needed to complete the tasks assigned to them diligently.
Among the current generation of the Hyuga Branch Family, Ayane was a remarkably gifted individual. Not only the Branch Family, but the Main Family also had high hopes for her future.
Whether as a guard for the Main Family or as an exceptional mother to give birth to heirs for the Hyuga Clan, her fate seemed decided from the very beginning.
"Ayane, someone from the Main Family came earlier. They hope you will become the maid caring for Young Master Hiashi's daily needs. For you, as a member of the Branch Family, this is a great honor."
Seeing the proud smile on her mother's face for having such an excellent daughter, Ayane only paused for a moment before obediently nodding.
However, would the Main Family really use the word 'hope' with its connotation of request?
Rather than hoping she'd do so, it was more of a threat and command.
After all, as a member of the Branch Family, she had no right to bargain with the Main Family.
She had already decided how to face the Main Family when she witnessed several members of the Branch Family who resisted, only to be tortured by the Caged Bird Cursed Seal to a state of living death.
"Young Master Hiashi is an excellent ninja; at fourteen, he is already a renowned Chunin in the village. Everyone says he could become a Jonin before the age of twenty."
Ayane sat on a cushion, her long, straight black hair draped over her shoulders. Her silent white pupils showed no excitement or joy; she just quietly listened to her mother's constant chatter.
Her mother was a more traditional woman, accustomed to adversity.
Perhaps because she had witnessed too much, her past discontent with the Main Family had, over thirty years, turned into awe and insignificance.
The Branch Family had no right to rebel against the Main Family.
The Branch Family was naturally meant to sacrifice everything for the Main Family—love, life, and dignity.
Everything the Branch Family had was bestowed by the Main Family.
Such traditional thinking had, over so many years, turned her mother into nothing more than a tool obeying the Main Family's orders.
Therefore, Ayane would never engage in meaningless debates with her mother.
Habits are truly terrifying things.
"Ayane, do not resent the Main Family. They consider the future of the Hyuga Clan. Our clan's Byakugan has always been coveted by outsiders. The Caged Bird is not a curse; it is entirely to protect the Byakugan from falling into outside hands. One day, others in the Branch Family will understand this."
"I understand, Mother."
Ayane did not hate her mother, even though she had become a tool of the Main Family.
However, Ayane could not agree that the Caged Bird was not a curse.
Perhaps the Caged Bird had a reason to protect the Byakugan, but those branch family ninjas killed by the Caged Bird—were they supposed to die silently and without dignity, slain by their own kin?
What wrong did they do?
Why does the village not intervene?
Ayane did not believe that the Hokage and other higher-ups were unaware of such things.
Such acts of harming comrades should rightly be jailed.
Hakushi was right; this village is twisted and dull. We are merely the most insignificant part of this twisted and dull village. Ayane remembered what Hakushi once said to her, feeling more deeply the helpless cruelty and distortion than at that time.
Therefore, every time at the school entrance ceremony personally hosted by the Hokage, promoting the Will of Fire, Ayane would feel out of place with the village, feeling strange and fearful.
What flows within her now is the blood that refuses to bow to such fate.
She wanted to become that bird flying freely in the sky.
Instead of a bird confined in a cage by the Main Family, with its wings broken.
One day, she would break free of the cage binding her and fly into the sky.
◎
Hyuga Hiashi.
That name was still very prominent within the Hyuga Clan.
He was the young master of the Hyuga Clan's Main Family, a talented Chunin of notable reputation in Konoha Village, even at a young age.
In this village, he was destined to become a figure admired by many.
Ayane never expected to become this man's maid, and it just so happened he was from the Main Family she despised the most.
However, considering that the guards of the Main Family had always been selected from the Branch Family, it seemed reasonable enough.
"Young Master Hiashi, I am Hyuga Ayane, starting today as your maid."
Sitting in the corridor of the courtyard, the handsome young man with long, straight black hair gazed at the pond in the courtyard with pure white pupils.
He only slowly turned his head after hearing a voice nearby, casting a glance at the pure girl who shared the same white pupils as him.
Her eyes showed no emotional fluctuation, but to call them a dead calm would be wrong. A gentle smile hovered on her face, with a hint of sadness in it.
"Do you hate the Main Family?"
Hiashi asked.
Ayane was slightly taken aback, not expecting him to ask such a question.
"I do."
To lie would invite suspicion, while honesty, at times, might lower the other's guard.
At least it would make interacting less hypocritical.
Hiashi nodded and started talking to himself:
"I hate them too. Because of these rules, Hizashi hasn't smiled at me for years. There is only coldness and hostility. Hizashi is my most loved brother. We used to play often, mock each other, and even ignore our status to brawl over snacks..."
"Is that so? Young Master Hiashi is a kind person."
Ayane said with a smile.
"I'm not kind, nor can I be. Three years ago, in a match with Hizashi, I deliberately lost, hoping the Main Family would take notice of him. But upon returning, our father used the cursed seal to make Hizashi cry out in pain, begging for mercy. Father told me that as the heir of the Main Family, I must constantly remind the Branch Family of their status, not to overstep, and to show respect to the Main Family."
Hiashi gazed at the clear blue sky, sighing with regret.
Ayane listened silently.
"Since then, I finally understood what rules are. In the strictly regulated Hyuga Clan, Hizashi... no, everything about the Branch Family is arranged by the Main Family. They cannot resist, and they lack freedom."
Hiashi stood up from the corridor, turning to look at Ayane again:
"So, it's understandable that you hate me and the Main Family. But remember, never show me hostility or a desire to kill, because I am the Main Family, your master from the Branch Family."
A caged bird that glares at its master in anger, displeasing its master, will invite merciless death.
This was what he meant.
Thus, the request for her to be his maid was a coercive act from the very beginning.
"I understand. I will mind my manners, Young Master Hiashi."
Seeing Ayane's insight, Hiashi nodded in satisfaction.
Hiashi returned to the room, taking out a birdcage containing a white bird.
Seeing this, Ayane's expression became a little unnatural.
Hiashi ignored Ayane's unnatural expression, softly murmuring:
"Do you know? I've never changed this birdcage, but I've gone through seven birds inside. This is the eighth bird, bought today for you."
"What about the previous ones..."
"I killed them the moment they flew out."
"Why did Young Master Hiashi do such a thing?"
"Before you, I've had seven maids by my side. Each of them was executed by my father for various reasons."
Hiashi hung the birdcage outside.
"I hope you won't meet the same end..."
This sentence seemed to be directed at both the bird and Ayane.