Characters: Tenten, Mito
Summary: Funny the things that inspire us.
Pairings: None
Author's Note: Since I have other theories on where Tenten got the idea for her hairstyle from, this is AU from my other works, but I remember seeing Mito and thinking "Hey, she kinda looks like Tenten with her hair like that".
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Twin braids tugging on her scalp, Tenten flips through a history book in the deserted Academy class room, summer sunlight filtering through the slightly dusty window. In her first year at the Academy, this is how Tenten spends many of her afternoons after class has let out and she doesn't want to head back to the foster home just yet.
Her small hands, already growing callused thumb through pages, until she stops, on a black and white print.
Though she doesn't know it and will never know thanks to the lack of description of her appearance, the woman in the picture in front of Tenten's eyes has bright scarlet hair and vivid blue eyes and the pins in her hair are solid gold, the furisode a pristine off-white.
Mouthing out the words with a small mouth, Tenten looks at her with intense interest.
Shodai Hokage's wife. How come I've never heard of her before?
Strong kunoichi. She looks strong.
Then, in a tone that practically reeks of disapproval, First jinchūriki host of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Who cares about that?
Tenten stares with sudden admiration at the picture of Uzumaki Mito smiling confidently back at her, a faint mischievous glance in eyes washed to gray by the black-and-white print.
What she's most interested in though, is the twin coils of hair wrapped above either ear of the Shodai's wife.
Tenten touches her own braids and, after a moment, smiles.
She thinks she's found a new hairstyle. Later, she reads more about Mito and even though Tenten later says she wants to be like Tsunade, she only says that because, in comparison, her grandmother is a virtual non-entity and if she said she wanted to be like Uzumaki Mito no one would know who she was talking about.