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The snows are falling down, in flurries of drifting flakes. Naruko huddles into her warm, plush scarf and threadbare, scratchy jacket. It's cold! It'd be cold even if she wasn't still wearing summer shorts. She makes her way towards the playground, planning to hide along the edges, or maybe in the ground, sometimes it's warmer there. There's a girl crying, surrounded by a ring of boys, Naruko runs over, yelling as loudly as she can, "LEAVE HER ALONE!"
The girl is Hinata-chan. Her sister is Hanabi-chan. Her cousin is Neij-niisan. Hinata-chan is Naruko's first friend! Hinata-chan calls her Naruko-chan! Naruko glows inside, some inner warmth that counters the chill seeping into her from the winter weather.
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The academy is great! Naruko adores it. She spends the day learning how to be a super cool ninja. She'll be an awesome ninja, like the Hokage! Jiijii is nice enough to her, but she wants a family that's really her own, not one that's borrowed in fits and starts of minutes here and an afternoon there. Naruko doesn't quite know how to get there yet, but she does know that she'll have Hinata-chan by her side. Her first friend.
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Hinata-chan is what makes the sucky kunoichi lessons in the afterschool club all the girls have to attend. Otherwise, it's being stuck for even more time with Ami and her friends. Ino and Sakura are alright, Naruko thinks. Not too bad even if they like to do things like talk about "Sasuke-kun," just like Ami and her group does. Naruko thought Hinata-chan might not want to be her friend anymore, when there were other options. No one whispers about the others! Hinata-chan had said that they were best friends though! Naruko is so happy.
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Team assignment day Naruko hates. Hinata-chan is on a different team! It's not fair. It's not! Hinata-chan was her first friend, why do they have to be on different teams like this! Sakura-san is so happy, but Naruko thinks Sasuke-san's mood is more like hers.
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Naruko races down the barrier as soon as the match is called; Hinata-chan is coughing up blood. She gets downstairs right as the medics rush in to take Hinata-chan away. Naruko feels her rage shift into clarity. She drags her hand against the floor, gathering up as much of Hinata-chan's blood as possible. And upon her bloodied palm, Naruko swears vengeance.
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Naruko thought she would relish the moment surprise and shock crossed Neji's face, when he realized that Naruko would beat him. That Naruko would avenge the cruelty he'd shown Hinata-chan. That's not what she gets. What she gets is a glimpse into a boy hurting, because he lacks family too.
Naruko fights him to the last, because fate is not written in the stars but by choices made. She wins, because that arrogant boy thought she was fated to lose.
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The arrogant boy comes to save them this time, and Naruko burns a little because her teammate is gone. She thanks him perfunctorily all the same, because Hinata-chan still loves her cousin, and it would distress her to know that Naruko would never forgive him for what he'd done.
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The city, it's gone. Hinata-chan jumps in front of her--no stay away! Another form moves, fast even to her, and suddenly the two weave into Hyuuga juuken together in front of where Naruko is pinned, helpless, to the ground. No! Nononono. Not Hinata-chan! Not even her ass of a cousin!
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Another time, another place, but still the same two forms weaving into harmony together, in front of her, protecting her. Naruko cries.
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A kind word, after a miserable day, from someone she had thought she'd always hate.
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A spar that brings back memories. Some of them bitter; some of them sweet. Some of them with the echo of tears in her eyes.
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Hinata-chan suddenly had to attend a clan function, Naruko isn't quite sure what, so she expected to try the new sweets store alone. It's okay! She can come with Hinata-chan some other time. Once she gets there though, Neji-san is standing stoically outside the store.
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There are two conversations Hinata-chan has about love, with two different people.
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NARUKO WAKES UP.
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(Naruko glazes up, into eyes pale like the moon, and hair darker than the night sky. Naruko looks up, at someone who she had thought of as Hinata-chan's Neji-niisan. She looks, as a hand gently cups her cheek, and slowly, oh so slowly, those eyes stay open, cataloging her reaction, as he leans down. Naruko closes her eyes to the moonlight, and feels a kiss pressed to her upraised lips.)