(A/N) What is it about soulmate stuff that makes everyone be just like 'ooh, this is interesting, here lemme read it'? Whatever, enjoy!
Hinata didn't know why she continued trying to live up to her father's expectations. He didn't care, her parent marks showed that. She had her mother's mark, a white lily, but didn't have her father's, which she knew from Hanabi was a lynx. The sparrows playing with lions on her back showed siblinghood with Neji, and the familial mark on her stomach displayed the same lion, which was her personal mark, lying down with a large beetle of some sort, and two dogs, with red snapdragons growing around the three.
When Neji drew farther away because of the death of his father, Hinata chased him down again, not willing to lose her fated sibling. She had lost her mother, she wouldn't lose him too. They may not be biological siblings, but they had matching sibling soulmate marks, and Hinata wasn't about to let one of the people fated to be close to her fall away.
She succeeded, holding him close as he cried, hidden in a grove of trees they had played in as younger, innocent kids. She was three, he was four, both children forced to grow up too fast.
Hyuuga as a clan tended to develop their marks early, familial marks appearing closer to two, rather than the normal four, and romantic marks appearing before teenage years set in. Hinata had been no exception, the mentor mark setting in a month before school would even start for her, the image of a lion surrounded by mist and senbon gracing the back of her left hand. She started wearing gloves that next day. It looked like her mentor would be someone from Kiri, at least to her, and she didn't really feel the need to advertise that.
She started school and figured she may have found two of her family. The first was Inuzuka Kiba, a loud boy that quite happily showed off the tiny puppy he'd finally gotten from his mother because he was a full-fledged Inuzuka now. His puppy closely resembled one of the dogs on her familial mark, just much smaller. The second was Shino Aburame. The Aburame clan had bugs, including beetles, that lived in their bodies and used them as a hive. With Kiba, Shino and her would make a good tracking team, which was probably why her familial mark was them and a third person. It was probably her genin team and sensei.
Hinata wasn't dumb, she was well aware that her father did not think her intelligent or strong enough to be on a frontlines team like Naruto, a source of admiration for her, would be on, not like what Sasuke, an Uchiha to the core, would be on. If she was reading class dynamics right, Naruto and Sasuke would be on a team with the top Kunoichi that wasn't Ino or Hinata, as both had already been tapped for other teams. Ino had been tapped for the newest iteration of Ino-Shika-Cho, a combination that had worked very well in the past. Hinata herself had probably been tapped for a tracking team, with Kiba and Shino as her teammates.
She tried approaching Shino first, sitting down in the seat next to him nervously, and staring at the kaleidoscope patterns forming on his desk by way of his insects moving around. It was quite pretty.
They remained sitting in companionable silence for most of the year. Neither one was inclined to speak, so they didn't.
"You'll be working with the person sitting next to you, either side, you may pick, to research your personal soul marks, and see if you can figure out what it could mean. Remember, this is just extra credit, and it's alright if you can't find anything, or don't feel comfortable telling the class what your mark is." The teacher started writing on the board at the front. "If you have an animal, try looking at what that animal is associated with, or what it means. If you have a flower of some sort, try asking the kunoichi teacher about the language of flowers. For any other kind of symbol, look at professions and specialties of civilians and ninja respectivly."
Hinata glanced at Shino hopefully, and he nodded stiffly. Hinata smiled, settling in her chair. She could ask Neji, he'd done the same project when he was her age, last year. She remembered the girl he'd partnered with, Tenten. She had a kunai with some sort of symbol on it, and her and Neji shared a familial mark.
She wouldn't have much of a problem with her father, as the Aburame were another of the Noble clans, so having Shino over to do the project would probably be seen as fostering relationships with the Aburame clan.
"W-we can go to my house a-after school, to work on the project." Hinata offered quietly, barely able to hear herself over the clamor of the others in the classroom claiming partners. "M-my cousin N-Neji probably s-still has the books h-he used on his p-project last year."
Shino nodded. "That would be logical. Why? Because I do not own any books like that."
That settled, they both settled into their seats quietly, resuming their pattern of not speaking.
Afterschool, Shino and Hinata dropped by the Aburame compound to request permission to stay the afternoon, then to the Hyuuga compound to do the report.
"I-I'll find N-Neji-nii-san, i-if you don't m-mind waiting a m-moment," Hinata stuttered. Her stuttering was always much worse while she was at home, something she had decided to work on once she got the stutter gone at school. Neji was mostly convinced it was a verbal tick she wouldn't actually be able to get rid of, but Hinata ignored that.
Shino nodded his acceptance, sitting down on the floor of her room. Hinata slipped out, going down the hall to find her cousin. He was in his room, which was lucky, he was often training around this time, doing his own homework.
"N-Neji-nii-san?" Hinata asked softly.
Neji looked up, and started collecting his homework pages immediately. "Yes Hinata?"
"O-Oh, you don't h-have to do th-that," Hinata said, waving her arms in front of her. "I-I was j-just wondering w-where your b-book was. Th-the one for th-the soulmark p-project."
Neji didn't stop collecting his homework, stuffing it into his bag, then slinging it across his body, striding across his room to collect the book he had bought for the project when he had it. "I was wondering when that project would happen for you. I'll help you with it. Who's your partner?"
"Sh-Shino Aburame," Hinata replied meekly, following her cousin back to her room.
Shino greeted them both with a nod when they walked in. "Hello. You are Neji, I presume?"
Neji nodded. "I am. Here is the book you needed, if you have questions, you can ask me, I did the project last year." He pulled his bag off, spreading out on the floor and pulling out his homework again.
"H-he g-got a really high score," Hinata told Shino. "H-he could probably help."
Shino inclined his head. "I do not mind. Why? Because another source of information will be helpful."
Hinata pulled a pillow from her bed, gingerly perching herself on it. She drew the book towards herself and opened it. "M-my symbol i-is a lion. F-father teases me a-about it b-because l-lions are usually s-symbolic of c-courage and I-I am a-anything b-but."
Neji tilted his head for a moment, glancing up from calculations about kunai distance. "I looked through the Hyuuga archives, there's an advanced skill that is called Twin Lion Fists, maybe it's symbolic of that?"
"B-b-but I'm not v-very skilled," Hinata protested. She wasn't! Her father always said so! How would her mark be symbolic of an advanced skill?
Neji pointed his pencil at her. "But you could be." Hinata blushed at his words.
Shino adjusted his glasses. "He is correct. Why? Because you are only five, same as me. We have far to grow, and much time to learn techniques."
"I'll show you the scrolls later," Neji said. "They look like they're for a far more flexible and acrobatic person then me."
Hinata flushed deeper, and nodded quickly, turning back to the book and almost hiding her face behind it.
"My soulmark is a large beetle," Shino said, moving onto an actually relevant topic. "I believe it is symbolic of my clan and the beetles that I use now."
"There you go," Neji said, glancing up from his homework again. "That's pretty much it. You should be fine with that."
Hinata seemed to have recovered, setting the book in her lap. "O-oh, i-is that r-really everything?"
Neji shrugged. "I mean, if the project hasn't changed, yeah. Most people have more difficulty working out their marks. And it is only supposed to be extra credit to kick off the soulmarks unit."
Shino inclined his head, reaching for his bag. "Since I was scheduled to remain here all afternoon, do you mind if I stay and complete the rest of my homework."
Hinata blushed lightly as both boys looked to her.
"It is your room Hinata," Neji pointed out when she looked pleadingly at him. "Your room, your choice."
Hinata blushed a bit harder, but nodded, looking around for her own bag. Neji helpfully handed it over.
They continued working on their homework through the afternoon, until Shino had to leave.
"I will see you at school," Shino informed Hinata. "Good night."
"Good n-night," Hinata replied, waving timidly.
(A/N) Yes, the Uchiha massacre will happen, no, this is not NaruHina, I have a different pairing in mind, yes those markings are all applicable. Also, I just kinda assumed what Neji would be doing as homework. And what they would be doing as homework. Yes, Tenten has a kunai with her personal hiraishin mark on it, it is symbolic of the fact she'll learn Hiraishin later. Yes, Hinata's twin lion fists thing is why her mark is a lion. The two dogs are Kiba and Akamaru, and the red snapdragons are Kurenai. Snapdragons can mean deception, so that's why I picked them. Red for Kurenai's eyes. Anyone want to take a guess as to who is supposed to mentor Hinata?
Also, there's a poll, go see it?