They were five when they first met. She noticed him first, stood outside the academy doors, because it was rather hard to miss the bright silver hair. In the next moment, he turned towards her, eyes scanning the area like it was a battlefield, and all of a sudden his hair was the second most unusual thing about him.
"Why on earth is a five year old wearing a mask?," her mother asked, incredulity coloring her tone.
"Oh, Kakashi was rather insistent on it for his first day at the academy. Beats me where he got the idea though." Sakumo's warm voice answered with more politeness than the question deserved. To her credit, Saito Manami had the decency to look slightly ashamed; but only slightly. Trying to salvage the situation, she tried to make a joke.
"Maybe he hopes it'll become his trademark one day. When I was younger I was convinced my hairstyle would be carved onto the mountain."
A short laugh, then a pause.
"This must be your daughter," Sakumo continued, when the silence threatened to become awkward. "Maybe she and Kakashi will become good friends."
"Oh, of course. Masako's always been good at making friends. In fact, the other day –,"
But Masako would never find out what she had done the other day, as she was finally ushered into the academy. Beyond relieved, she said her goodbye and rushed inside; adults and adult small talk were still inexplicable to her, and she had little patience or understanding for the usual polite exchanges. Secretly, however, she wondered if what Sakumo had said would come true. She had always had a keen interest in unusual people, and a masked boy definitely fit into that category – perhaps he could be a co-conspirator in her mischief. Blissfully anticipating the fun that they could have (along with a few of the as-yet nameless faces she had seen in the corridors), her mind worked into overdrive as she imagined the next few years at the academy in the span of two minutes.
Masako had no idea that she was about to experience disillusionment for the first time in her life.
He encountered her a little while later, after she sat next to him with a small smile and a wave. Five minutes later, he found himself distracted by her restless fingers drumming on the desk, softly tapping out a rhythm that only made sense to her. To others, she was seemingly engrossed in the instructor's explanation of chakra, but the scribbled note on her paper told him otherwise.
Hi, I'm Masako.
A sidelong glance, but no answer.
Your mask looks nice.
She watched him hopefully out the corner of her eye, trying to decipher the furrow in his brow as he read and reread her note. Was it confusion? Or intrigue? Finally, he scrawled back a response.
I know.
Masako was disappointed and slightly bemused by the lukewarm response, but it wasn't in her nature to be so for long. She nudged the red-eyed girl on her other side instead, and soon the pair were giggling like old friends.
When class was finally finished, she tried again. Falling in step beside him, she asked, "Kurenai and I were going to ask if we could go to the new ramen stand tonight. Come with us?"
"I'd rather not. You two laugh too much. If I wanted my ears to bleed I'd just do it myself."
And with that, he walked away, leaving a fuming girl in his wake.
"And he's so rude, Mama! He told me I laugh too much! He didn't even say bye or anything! And then he, he - Kurenai, tell her what he said," Masako cried, turning to her friend.
Manami didn't have the heart to tell her daughter that on top of the indignity of her laugh being insulted, Masako's hair had been swimming in her ramen the entire time she had been unburdening her grievances. The practical Kurenai just shrugged and wisely busied herself with sipping her broth.
"I don't like him at all," Masako said, as gravely as a five-year-old could, "In fact, I don't care if Idiot-face wears fifty masks, I'm not going to speak to him ever again."
And with that proclamation, she turned to Kurenai and the two chatted blithely, her wounded pride forgotten in the excitement of recounting the rest of the day's events.
Years later, when Manami first saw the stone likeness of her son-in-law's face on the Hokage Rock, she almost laughed herself sick. When questioned, she said, "You know, before Kakashi was the Sixth Hokage, or the Copy-Nin, or Kakashi of the Sharingan, I heard him called by another name…"