One Long Mission

The head of the Hyuuga Clan felt younger, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It seemed that here in Michi no Sato, his duties were relaxed, or maybe they were not here at all. It had been so long since he'd left on a mission, and since the death of his father, he'd become too valuable to be allowed to leave. The weight of the family was a blessing, a responsibility, and occasionally a burden. He sighed with relief.

There was a niggling doubt tugging at the edges of his mind. There was something decidedly strange about all of this, but he pushed the thought away.

A kindly lady villager had pressed a wooden umbrella into his hand, and he watched the snowflakes drift slowly to the ground, for a moment oblivious to anything but the beauty of being free, or at least bound to a duty of his own choosing.