Six-year-old Naruto had been sitting on the swing alone when she walked over.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you?"

He looked over, and gasped. Teal eyes and the prettiest face he'd ever seen with a head full of silk-like brown hair tied back in two long twintails stared back at him. The girl around his age raised an eyebrow, and he realized he was staring. He felt his face heat up; she was seriously pretty.

"U-uh, yeah! Sure!" he stuttered quickly, embarrassed.

She nodded, and sat on the swing next to him, and opened a book he hadn't realized she was holding. He opened his mouth to ask what she was reading, but -

A whisper from the distance, somewhere. "Someone's sitting next to him?"

"My mom said anybody hanging out with him is evil too."

"I wanna tell on 'er! My pop'll get her in trouble."

"Whatever, 'snot worth it…"

He snapped his mouth shut. She'll probably be gone tomorrow, he thought dejectedly, so I should just enjoy her being here for now, I guess…

They sat bathing in the sunset, only disturbed by the occasional rustle of turning pages, and the leaves blowing in the gentle breeze.

—

The sky was orange again, and Naruto sighed on the swing.

"Hello again."

Immediately, his head shot up and he stared in astonishment at the girl. After a beat, he grinned at her. "Hi!" He greeted her back, and she nodded in acknowledgment, her head already buried in the book. Taking that as encouragement, he asked, "So what'cha readin'"?

A few beats of silence passed awkwardly, but eventually she flipped a page and answered, "It's about chakra."

"Oh."

"Mhm."

"... So what's chakra?"

Did one of her eyes just twitch? "... You don't know what chakra is?"

A little indignation rose up in his chest at that. "No." Should he have known?

She sighed. "It's the energy that shinobi use to execute jutsu. Even us civilians should know that."

"Ninjas kill jutsus?!" Naruto's eyes widened. He hadn't known that!

For the first time, the girl turned away from her book and stared at him in astonishment.

She sighed again, and he stared at her in confusion. Did he say something wrong?

—

After the girl explained to him that, no, shinobi do not kill jutsu, and that to execute also meant to use or carry out, he asked her why she was reading about "chakra".

"I'm trying to figure out how ninjutsu works," she sighed again - Naruto noticed it was something this girl did a lot. "But there must be some kind of hierarchy of information availability; all the books I've been reading are woefully inadequate.

"I mean, all the information I'm getting is that chakra is…" she scrunched her face up funnily, "'a mix of spiritual and physical energy that can be utilized via handseals,'" she quoted the book in her hands, glaring at it with intense disdain. "And anyone with eyes can see that they need handseals to utilize. I'm trying to figure out how and why."

"..." Naruto didn't really know what to say at the sudden burst of information, but he decided it was best to try and understand the situation first. "Uh-huh… so basically, you wanna learn 'bout jutsu, but the library won't give you books that help you?"

"Mhm, that's about right," the girl nodded. "Some books mentioned that ninjutsu can be passed down in families, though it didn't say how." A scowl adorned her face, though from Naruto's perspective, since she was his age, it ended up being a cute pout. "Of courseI have to be an orphan…"

Naruto stared at her curiously. "You're an orphan too?"

"Yeah, I am - wait," she cut herself off, then squinted at him inquisitively. "You too?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "My mom and dad died in the attack from the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune."

The girl stared at him in thought. Then, she said, "Yeah. My parents did, too." A silence settled between them - a feeling between solidarity and a little awkwardness (or, a little of both?), with neither knowing what to say.

After a few moments of this silence, he decided that he had to break the silence, so Naruto spoke up. "Uh, well… You said somethin' 'bout jutsu being in families?" He latched on the only other thread of conversation.

"O-oh, right…" she stuttered a little before composing herself. "Um… so, from what I've gathered, each of the major clans in our village - Konohagakure - pass down their techniques to those in the clan, though I don't know if it's genetic, acquired, learned, or a mix of any of them," she began explaining, the earlier tension leaving her body. "The books given to me didn't say, only that they were 'secrets of highest caliber', or variations of that.

"Seriously… I need to learn how to use my chakra, but everything is inherited…" the girl grumbled, before letting out an argh! of frustration, and running her hands through her hair. Quietly, she mumbled, "I wonder if this is how that idiot felt…"

Curious, Naruto asked, "Who?"

She froze. Then, she straightened herself up and a neutral look returned to her face. "No one. Forget about it."

"O-oh, okay…" He decided to let it drop. There was something more important, anyway. "Hey, listen, you wanna learn to do jutsu, right?"

She turned to him again with a slight glare, and he flinched. "Yeah, essentially, I guess. Why - do you have any ideas?"

"Well… I'm gonna start the academy this year. Wanna sign up with me?"

"..."

"..."

"... The what?"

Naruto stared at her shocked expression in surprise. She didn't know?

—

The next day, in the middle of the afternoon, Naruto brought the girl to the academy, and as they stood in front of the building -

*SMACK*

- he heard her smack herself with a hard facepalm. "Ugh," she mumbled, "I did it again… I overlooked something so obvious…"

Naruto let out a laugh, and only grinned when she pouted at him. "C'mon," he defended himself. "I mean, ya didn't even know about the Konohagakure Shinobi Academy - even with those books!"

The girl let out a huff, but otherwise didn't bother to defend herself. "Whatever," she grumbled eventually. "When does the semester start?"

"Semester?"

"The school."

"Oh. In a month, I think?"

She let out a breath of relief. "Well, at least I didn't miss the mark." She looked up at the large building. "I'll go sign up, then."

When she moved toward the door, however, Naruto stopped in his tracks. While he was admittedly not the sharpest tool in the kit, he did know what would likely happen to the girl's application if he went with her.

"You're not coming?"

He shook his head. "Naw. Jii-chan helped me sign up."

The girl hummed curiously, but nodded in acceptance. "I'll see you around, then." She turned around and walked closer to the building, with a confidence and charisma to her steps that Naruto couldn't place. As she moved to open the door, he let himself ask something he'd been wondering over the three days he'd known the girl.

"Wait!"

"Hm?" she turned around, confused.

"Um… what's uh…" he stuttered, but pushed on, not wanting to let go of a connection willing to spend time with him. "What's your name?" The girl looked taken aback, and taking it as offense, he quickly backpedaled, "Well, I mean, you don't' have to say-"

"Rin."

"- Huh?"

She laughed, and Naruto reddened as she realized she was laughing a little at him, though not maliciously. "It's Rin. Tohsaka Rin."

After a pause, he smiled fuller than he had all week. "Okay! I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" he introduced himself, finally, after these three days.

"Hm. I guess that makes us friends, Uzumaki-kun."

His grin widened. "Yeah, Rin-chan! It does!"

A/N: A drabble, really. Marked as complete since I don't have specific plans to continue it, but if I do, I'll change it to incomplete.