Chapter Two

The next year was the year when the others her age would attend their first year at Konoha Academy. She joined them happily, excited about beginning her ninja training. The day of the coronation was the day she first met Hyuga Hinata.

*Flashback*

"And so, it is my pleasure to formally welcome these young minds to Konoha's very own Ninja Academy! I hope to see them grow to make Konoha proud!"

There was a bout of cheers and applause from students and parents alike as the third Hokage finished his speech. Finally, all were dismissed to go about their lives accordingly, though most decided to stay and chat, the parents talking to old friends while the students attempted to make new ones.

In this crowd of busy bodies one girl stood, looking around curiously at her new classmates. That was when she spotted a black/dark purple-haired girl at the edge of the crowd, looking rather shy and quite nervous about how many people were there. Mari decided to go talk to her. She looked nice enough after all.

"Hiya there!" Mari beamed, giving the girl a friendly wave.

"H-h-hi," The girl mumbled back shyly, her whitish-purple eyes flitting between the outgoing brunette and her twiddling fingers. Mari noticed her hesitance, not to mention her stutter, and decided to tone it down a bit, her giant smile being replaced by a smaller, but equally friendly one.

"My name's Mari. Do you wanna be friends?"

Clearly shocked by her straightforward-ness, all the girl could do was nod politely.

"Awesome! Though it might help a little knowing your name," she gently teased, making sure her new found friend knew she was kidding around. The dark-haired girl blushed, seemingly embarrassed about having forgotten to introduce herself.

"G-gomen…m-my n-n-name is H-Hyuga H-H-Hinat-ta."

"Oooh! I like your name! Doesn't it mean 'a sunny place'?"

The Hyuga nodded timidly.

"Wow, you're lucky. You have such a pretty name. Mine just means 'obstinacy' or 'their rebellion.' Kinda weird, huh?" Mari chuckled, drawing a smile from Hinata, who seemed to be become increasingly comfortable with being around her. Suddenly Mari had an idea.

"Hey, my dad and I were going to go to Ichiraku's Ramen Bar to celebrate. Do you and your family wanna come with?" Hinata became nervous again as she glanced over to a man out of the corner of her eye. He was tall and stern-looking and had a dark tunic and loose pants. He too had dark hair (though Hinata's was darker and his was more brown than anything) but it was long, reaching around the middle of his back. Mari came to the conclusion that they were related and that the decision would lay with him.

"Is that your dad?" The outgoing girl asked curiously, ocean blue eyes sparkling with a calm sort of effervescence. The young Hyuga nodded hesitantly, a bit more nervously than before.

"Well, if you want I could go ask for you. That is if you guys don't already have other plans." She made sure to keep her manners about her just as her dad had taught her.

"W-well, I-I…We d-d-don't exactly h-have any-ything p-p-planned…" The Lolita pushed two of her fingers together shyly before her, hoping her new friend wouldn't judge her family for it. The brunette, however, was thinking of no such thing. As a matter of fact, before she could blink, Hinata was being dragged over to her father who was speaking with a few other men – fathers of their fellow classmates – by the excited girl.

The two stood there for just a moment, Hinata nervously, and Mari with a politely quiet patience, waiting for a slight lull in the conversation so she could interrupt without being quite so rude.

"Sumimasen," She began eventually, drawing attention to herself and the pale girl beside her, "Hyuga-san, my name is Hatake Mari. I was wondering if you would be okay with Hinata-san eating dinner with my father and I? You see, we would like to celebrate my admission and we were hoping Hinata's, as well as our new friendship. Your daughter is very kind."

The elder Hyuga's eyebrow rose in question as he gazed down at the two six-year-olds before him. The name Hatake struck him with curiosity. He knew Kakashi had taken in an orphan not too long ago and word had spread of the adoption. She was well known around Konoha for her polite manners and insistent formality with anyone but her father. He had seen the two on occasion at the market or at the training grounds where Hatake-san would show her how to throw a kunai – presumably after much insistence on the younger one's part. No one knew much about her abilities and as such he wasn't sure what to make of her proclaiming friendship with his eldest daughter. She did seem to set a good example though, that was something he couldn't argue with.

Still, the elder Hyuga was hesitant. He refused to have his daughter associate with anyone less than a genius. He knew he probably couldn't stop interactions in class, but anything else could be detrimental to her education.

It was within this small silence of thought that Hatake Kakashi himself walked up to the group.

"Hello Mari, I see you've made a new friend. Hello Hyuga-san," The silver-haired Jounin greeted the important council member.

"Hiya Kashi-tou!" Mari greeted him enthusiastically, causing the jounin's eye to curve into a smile.

"Hatake-san, I hear you have invited my daughter to have lunch with you this afternoon?" The elder Hyuga addressed the newcomer.

Kakashi shot a quick glance at Mari who looked up at him hopefully.

"Your daughter is welcome to eat with us any time Hyuga-san."

The stern man grunted in acknowledgement.

"Be sure she gets home by seven."

To put it simply, Hinata had been very happy to have her father's permission to spend the day with her new found friend. Mari was every bit as happy as she was. Over lunch and the following few hours they had talked about anything and everything that came to mind. Flowers, clothes, music, hobbies, the academy, family, and they even broached the subject of guys once or twice.

…

"So Hina-kun? You like anybody?" The laid-back brunette asked her shy counterpart.

"A-ano…" she mumbled, looking unsure of herself. Mari's eyes widened.

"You like someone don't you?" She grinned widely. "Well are you gonna tell me or do I have to guess?"

The Lolita blushed in response before speaking up.

"I-I j-just met him, Mari!"

"Ooooh! So you've got a crush on him?"

"W-well… he's r-really n-nice, but no one r-really s-s-seems to l-like him that m-much."

Mari's smile disappeared, replaced by a look of sincere curiosity.

The two were sitting in Mari's room; both perched on the girl's bed as they watched the peaceful sky out of Mari's window. It was already about five in the afternoon and it had only been six hours since the girls had met, yet they were acting as though they had known each other their whole lives.

"Why not? Did he do something wrong?" She was a little confused as to why Hinata would like someone like that seeing as she was so sweet and shy, but figured if the girl liked bad boys she wasn't really one to stop her. She'd just be sure to be there and beat the guy up if he tried anything funny.

"N-no." Her perfect brow scrunched up in thought. "A-at least I d-don't think s-so." Both girls frowned as they thought about it. Weird, someone not being liked for no reason.

"Well…what did he look like?"

"A-ah," Hinata blushed again, causing Mari to giggle at her friend's expense.

"That cute, huh?"

Hinata could easily be described as a ripe tomato.

"M-Mari!" Said girl just chuckled as she turned to watch a bunny-shaped cloud fluff its way across the sky. A small silence settled and Mari gave her the opportunity to start up the conversation again. Hinata soon enough took the opportunity.

"W-well… he has b-blond hair and b-blue eyes th-that are l-l-light-ter than y-yours." That was understandable, as Mari's eyes were an unusually dark shade of blue. They changed depending on the lighting but were mostly a deep, calming ocean-like color that sparkled nearly all the time.

"H-he also…" Hinata paused, "h-he had th-these m-marks on h-his ch-ch-cheeks t-too. Like w-whiskers."

"Whiskers, eh? That sounds pretty cool if you ask me." Hinata nodded.

"Do you know his name?"

"W-well, s-some p-people were s-shouting 'N-N-Naruto' really l-loud when h-he t-tipped the p-punch bowl o-over at the c-cor-ronation."

"Naruto…isn't that an ingredient in ramen?" Mari thought out loud.

The two girls drifted into thought for a moment longer.

"Well I'd like to meet this guy, he sounds interesting."

"Who sounds interesting?"

The two of them turned to see Kakashi standing in the doorway, smudges of flour on his clothes. He never was very neat when he cooked, but he was a good cook.

"Just some guy Hinata said she saw at the coronation today. I thought I might like to meet him. Is dinner ready?"

Kakashi chuckled. "All your favorites kid." Mari positively beamed as she rushed to hug him, catching him off guard.

"Arigatou Tou-san!"

He hugged her back and ruffled her hair. "Not at all."

Soon enough, all of them were sitting down to a delicious dinner of rice and dumplings with tenpura. For dessert Kakashi had a surprise.

"OMIGOSH! CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!" Mari squealed at the top of her lungs when the home baked treat was placed on the table.

Everyone who knew Mari knew that she had one single weakness when it came to food.

Chocolate chip cookies.

To her, they were the greatest things ever invented. Gifts from God, fallen to earth in all of their warm, chewy goodness. It would amaze some people how far she would go just to get one and how happy she was once she got it.

Needless to say, Mari immediately glomped her dad, mouth full of cookie already as she mumbled numerous thanks. Hinata giggled as she munched happily on her own cookie. The more time the girls spent with each other, the closer they got.

That wasn't about to change anytime soon either.

*End Flashback*

Mari chuckled to herself as she remembered those days. She padded across the hardwood floors to her dresser and pulled out her outfit for the day before heading across the hall to take a shower in the bathroom that she and her dad shared. The hot water woke her up and quickly relieved the tension of sleep from her muscles as she lathered apple-scented shampoo into her waist-length, dark locks. She quickly scrubbed down with apple scented soap, and dried off, leaving her damp hair down to air-dry.

She got dressed next pulling on white shorts (that had tons of pockets) that came to just above her knee, a long-sleeve fishnet undershirt, a short-sleeved, dark green V-neck top with a golden dragon curling around the torso, and tied an oversized black hoodie around her waist like she always did. Next she slipped on her metal plated, dark green fingerless gloves and her ninja boots. She loved this outfit as it was one her dad helped her to pick out for her tenth birthday.

She walked back to her room before strapping on her weapons pouch and wrapping both of her lower legs (to just before her knees) with bandages. Hurriedly, she ran a brush through her still damps hair a few times before skipping downstairs to the kitchen where Kakashi was making onigiri for breakfast.

"Ohayo Kashi-tou!" She greeted cheerfully. Her dad glanced at her with his visible eye and smiled.

"Ohayo Mari. Looking forward to going to the academy?"

"Yup! Another year closer to becoming a ninja!"

"And your last year attending too."

It was indeed her last year attending the Academy. Both of them knew she would pass the test with flying colors. She had, after all, maintained her place as the second best student in all of the Academy. She was right on the heels of Uchiha Sasuke, one of her classmates, but one she never really associated with before.

As for the fact that she was still only ten? Well she would be turning eleven during the school year so she wasn't far behind her classmates in age.

A/N: I know this seems like a really bad place to leave off but I really wanted to update tonight. You know, before the weeks start up again. And look! It's longer too! Hope you like it, though it still isn't much. It's moving really slow right now but that's just because I want to get some key things written down so please be patient! We'll get to the awesome parts soon enough. Trust me, this story WILL blow your mind!

Read and Review please?

And thank you to Kattz for adding me and my story to Favorites and reviewing!

You guys all rock my socks!

~Peace :D