Characters: Karui, Samui
Pairings: None
A/N: The first ten chapters were originally going to be part of a long (very long) oneshot, but I decided to break up each segment into chapters and use them instead. Because of that, these first few chapters may be rather short and/or just a little abrupt. Please let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
No matter what popular opinion claimed, Kanetsu Karui and Nii Samui of Kumogakure were not rivals, nor was Samui several years older than her teammates (Though for the latter, it was understandable how some might have come to that conclusion).
Karui and Samui met in the Kumogakure Academy during their second year in class. Two seven year olds on the training ground accidentally crossed paths after class.
Samui was the top of her class. Karui… was not. In particular, Karui had issues with theory of elemental ninjutsu, her head aching at the very thought of having to do the equations and read the history behind it. She was always more at home on the training ground with a kunai or a tanto or wakizashi (the students weren't introduced to katanas until their genin years, if their sensei so chose) clasped in her small hands, in physical exertion and sweat and blood. Not bookwork.
On the other hand, while Karui was popular with her classmates, Samui was something of a social outcast. Her taciturn and reserved personality was only part of it; being a member of the Nii clan she was the paternal cousin of Kumogakure's younger jinchuuriki, and familial association with Nii Yugito didn't do Samui any favors, even if she wasn't all that familiar with Yugito personally.
While Samui was outwardly quiet and markedly cold, she was also possessed of a keen sense of personal honor—a famous-infamous trait of her clan—and said personal honor would not allow her to sit by and watch another classmate suffer.
What followed was Samui's rescue of Karui's academic and shinobi career.
And once Karui got over Samui's outer coldness, they became friends, though Samui was never any less reserved than she was the day they met.