Chapter Eight: Underneath

"Gai-san is in your class?" His family name sounded just like an English word she was familiar with that suited the boy a little too well. As such, Yuina decided to call the boy by his given name if only not to be reminded of the kid's regimen of exhaustion every time she spoke his name. Enthusiasm was good, but somehow it was like watching an advert.

"He was on the waitlist and got in. The first thing he did was claim me his rival and charged at me," Kakashi recounted as the two walked towards the Academy.

"Ah." Yuina didn't know what to say to that.

"I won of course."

Kakashi wished he and Yuina were in the same class. Their sensei was making them start from the bottom mfsigeaning a lot of katas and hand seals. In the few weeks he's been attending they only sparred once and it was only meant as a lesson to explain why learning kata was so important. If he was going to be bored he may as well spend time with someone who entertained and challenge him. Even if he has won nearly three quarters of the time. He had gotten a few praises, but he didn't understand. There was nothing challenging to praise.

"So, I was thinking…" Kakashi looked over his shoulder as Yuina's voice hesitated. "We should eat lunch separately for a bit."

Kakashi stopped. No. Please. He was bored enough already.

"You should make friends." Yuina's words echoed their father's words and he felt betrayed.

Yuina didn't know how close people could become when there were power struggles and threats of loss or betrayal, but she hadn't heard of any disaster death stories about the academy. Even if it was just acquaintances, even just temporary, Yuina wanted Kakashi to be able to connect with people. Even if the world was cruel she wanted him to experience lots of happiness, and that meant expanding his world in the few ways she knew how.

So as soon as they reached the entrance she ran off before Kakashi could protest.

"Aha!" Kichiro leaned over the desk to brush Hyuga Nao's bangs. "I knew it! He lied to me!"

"Who lied about what?" Morikawa Mayumi asked. Yuina noticed that Morikawa would always spend as much time with Kichiro.

"This guy I know said all the Hyugas have markings on their forehead. I said no way, because I would have noticed if Nao-chan had one," said Kichiro excitedly as he had won an award.

Morino Ibiki, who was currently sitting adjacent to Yuina, leaned his forehead against his palm.

Yamanaka Miruku, who had walked in at the beginning of Kichiro's shouting, elbowed the boy before wrapping an arm around Kichiro's head and dragging him off.

Hyuga seemed slightly frazzled from someone touching her, but otherwise didn't react.

It wasn't really a secret, but it wasn't something people liked to gossip about. For most, it was old news and a fact of life, which is why the class seemed divided between in-the-know and clueless. For Yuina, it was a reminder that even within Konoha's walls it wasn't safe. Clans had a lot of autonomy and it showed with the Hyuga clan. Yuina couldn't ever imagine wanting to cause harm to her family.

Sato-sensei entered and class began.

Hand seals.

Fingers. People had ten of them and the number of bones meant it was possible to manipulate them in various forms in a condensed manner. It's the easiest and most effective way to centre and manipulate chakra.

That helped.

Something others before her clearly discovered otherwise it wouldn't be so widespread.

She had thought on it a little before as Sakumo taught her some basic ninjutsu, but she hadn't had the chance to revisit her thoughts and compare them to her previous assumptions and notes.

Now that they were practicing the motions she had time to think about it. The only thing she needed to do is practice making the signs faster. It was better to start slow to ensure the proper shapes were formed otherwise it leads to failure and a lot of wasted time.

Yuina learnt the hard way when she learnt to play the piano in her teens. Skipping learning chords and scales hindered her development and playing pieces at their intended speed meant little if it sounded horrible from hitting the wrong notes.

Some of her classmates were slacking off. Others were slowly going through the motions.

Yuina couldn't blame them. It was a boring repetitive task. She just didn't want to waste her class time. She rather practice there, even if it let others know what she could and couldn't do, then be bored all day only to go home and train on what she could do now.

She thought she would be happier when they moved on to their next lesson but Yuina was quickly proven wrong when told the class was going to split up. The girls would join with the girls from the other first year class to do flower arrangements.

There was a lot she could say about the arrangements. First, why? What was flower arrangement supposed to accomplish. Second, why just the girls? If it was for some sexist reason then she believed the academy should take into account that there was a transformation jutsu. Third… No that was all. Just why?

Various flowers were put on each round table. The flowers were the same at each table, so without thinking she sat in the closest available seat.

"Hello. I'm Rin." She peaked around the flowers to ensure she greeted everyone.

"I'm Mai." The girl next to Rin said. By process of elimination, they must be from the same class. "I'm so happy! I love flowers." Mai picked up some kind of white flower and smelled it.

"Nice to meet you both. I'm Kurenai." Yuuhi had quickly become friends with Sarutobi and were frequently together. That was probably why she looked a little intimidated right now.

Choose a few to trust and stick to them.

"I'm Nao." She seemed to daze in and out.

Only she was left and she had a dilemma. They all introduced themselves by their first name, but she's been calling everyone by their surnames. She could call Nao by Hyuga, and Kurenai by Yuuhi, but then she would be calling her classmates by their family name while she called strangers by their given name. Not that she spoke much to Hyuga or Yuuhi, but culturally she had been taught to consider this a social faux-pas.

Was this some kind of infiltration class under the guise of flower arrangement? Chat with the others and try to get them to leak information about themselves? It made more sense than having a flower arrangement class, but if so it lacked an initial lesson to learn from. It also still didn't explain the gender divide, but hard press she could probably explain it that since it didn't rely on physical strength old-fashioned shinobi considered it more of a woman's role. Maybe they were supposed to know flowers were code and Yuina didn't because her mom was dead.

Whether it was or not, she could play the game.

"Hatake Yuina." People already knew her name and this let them call her whatever they wanted.

"Hatake? Related to Kakashi?" Mai said.

See, she was even digging for information? Why else ask about Kakashi as an ice breaker? Kakashi had told her that he usually kept to himself, and this type of question wouldn't allow the conversation to open up.

"He's my brother." Again, it was common information. "Do you have a favourite flower, Mai?" Yuina needed to change the topic off herself. Mai seemed happy to answer.

The chatted as they made small flower arrangements. Yuina's was certainly the worst.

"It helps if you choose a flower for a centerpiece," said Rin. She moved a few flowers around, and while it still wasn't great it was a lot better than the mess she made.

"You're good at this," said Yuuhi.

"I know!" Mai says as she finishes her arrangement. "If one flower in your arrangement symbolizes you, which would it be!"

Symbolism? Yuina knew nothing about flower symbolism. Was she supposed to?

"It's who I want to be, not who I am, but I like thyme," said Yuuhi looking at her small purple flowers.

"I choose peony." Rin points to the pink flower. "For love and happiness."

"Oh! Whose that love for?" Mai eagerly looked to her classmate.

Rin's cheeks faintly tinged pink. "I mean love for life, friends, and family. My life is fully of love and happiness."

"Boring."

"What about you, Yuina-chan?" asked Rin.

She could either admit she knows nothing about flowers or pick a random flower and hope they interpret it on her behalf.

"This one." Yuina pointed to a white flower. Admitting to Sakumo her shortcomings helped her grow. She wasn't so sure she wanted her classmates to see that side of her.

Er… did she choose something bad?

"Nao! Your turn!" Rin said cutting Mai off.

It eventually came time to return to their original classes and they told each other goodbye.

Yuina stayed in the back with Hyuga. "I'm late but are you okay? Kichiro wasn't exactly tactful this morning?"

"It's fine."

It really wasn't. Hyuga's were controlling hypocrites like a good chunk of people. If they were so worried about their eyes then why were the Main Branch exempted. If you're going to make those kind of twisted decisions it should be all-or-none. Though, all will inevitably lead to problems with newer generations who didn't consent. Maybe that's why they ensured there was a way to try and force obedience. Yet by waiting for the next heir to bind a generation, it allowed the possibility for their eyes to be stolen making it questionable as to why do it at all.

Perhaps they were more similar than Yuina wanted to admit. How could she be mad at complacency when she herself was doing the same?