#hanakono

“They’re so gross,” Moegi sighs as she watches Konohamaru and Hanabi getting right in each other’s faces.

It’s been like this for years at this point, and it’s just getting old. Watching two people so clearly in love but just as clearly oblivious. Just circling the other’s orbit endlessly, making eyes and coming this close.

When Hanabi entered the academy, she was a loner. In her head, she imagined making friends right away. It would all comes so easy, she’d just put this big smile on her face that her sister always complimented, and the friends would just come rolling in. They’d sing her praises, call her cute and want her to come to every event and party anywhere and everywhere. She’d never be bored again in her life. Instead of just sparring all day and vying for whatever adult’s attention she could garner, she’d be at the academy, or a friend’s house, or showing a friend around the compound. Going to lunch, watching movies, attending festivals. It was supposed to be great.

It was just short of one year before the war kicked off that Hanabi managed to weasel her way into the academy, and it really wasn’t what she expected at all. Surprise, surprise, no one really wanted much to do with the Hyūga heiress. Turns out, people kind of look down on you when you’re considered royalty and you intrude on lower ranking society. She heard one of the sensei’s gossiping about her to another, claiming that she was roleplaying. That was just two weeks into her initial stint at the academy.

A few months in, she had already been given detention for knocking out another student. It wasn’t the first time, and it wasn’t the last time.

But it was the first time she was in a room with a certain other notable little shinobi.

“Hey,” she whispers when the sensei in charge of detention takes a bathroom break. The brown head of hair from the other side of the room turns to look at her, and deep blue eyes connect with hers. She smiles at him and he eyes her with nothing but suspicion. “You’re the Hokage’s grandkid, right?”

The boy rolls his eyes and lets out a puff of air, blowing his front bangs up. His headband lays on the desk in front of him and his scarf covers most of his chin. “What about it?”

“Konohamaru,” she says, confidently, slinking out of her chair to side step her way to one closer to him. His eyes follow her, ever suspicious, and hers never leave his. “You’re not s’posed to get into trouble.”

“Yeah, you think?” he scoffs, eyes rolling again. He leans his head back. “You don’t know much about me.”

“What’d you do?” Hanabi asks, tilting her head with excited curiosity. It wasn’t often other kids actually talked to her, so it’s nice that he is. Maybe he could relate to her.

“None of your business, brat.”

“Brat?!” she gasps, pushing herself in her seat backwards. Now that wasn’t what she was expecting. “Excuse you –“

“Hanabi!”

She jumps at her name being called, head spinning to see the old sensei standing in the doorway, glowering at her. She huffs, sliding out of the seat and returning to her original one.

“I don’t want to have to tell your father any more bad news,” the old sensei sighs as she falls back into the front seat. Hanabi frowns, deeply, because she really doesn’t want her father to hear any more bad news, either. She’s afraid she’s on the verge of losing her place in the academy, that her father would just tell her that this was enough play time and that it’s time to get back to business. Back to the bore and depression of being the heiress.

She folds her arms and leans back in her seat, resting her chin on her chest as she tries to occupy her mind with other thoughts. Like why that kid would call her a brat. Who does he think he is? Hokage’s grandson, sure, but she’s Hanabi Hyūga! You don’t talk to a Hyūga like that.

“Ouch!” she whispers, albeit loudly, when she feels a pinch at her arm. She shakes her head, looking side to side for the interruption, only to find a folded piece of paper on the ground next to her. Taking a moment to check to see if the detention sensei was watching, Hanabi confirms the sensei is deep in her book, and Hanabi plucks it from the ground. Darts her eyes up to Konohamaru, who was watching her from the corner of his eye, looking nonchalant. She feels her heartbeat pick up as she pulls the note into her lap and unfolds it.

whos your dad?

She smiles at the note, excitedly grabbing a pencil and writing out her response. Carefully, she folds it back up into a triangle, puts it on her desk, and lines up her shot. Square in the chest it hits him, and he lets out a little puff of air at the contact. Her smile gets bigger as he opens the note, the way his eyes get a little wider as he reads. Excitement grows in her chest as he quickly jots down his response, and within seconds launches it back at her.

meet in the courtyard after

Hanabi sucks in a big breath.

Friends!

It’s really happening! She’s finally made friends!

It’s her time.

The rest of the detention period, Konohamaru didn’t look over at her, even after she sent the note back with an excited confirmation of their proposed hang out. Over the next 30 minutes, she tried to keep herself looking casual, like it wasn’t a big deal. But her heart drummed with eagerness, and in turn, the clock ticked by at the pace of a snail. When that second hand finally landed on the 12, she shot up and practically threw her bag out of the classroom and she stumbled over her feet to get to the middle of the academy, where they were to meet.

A few minutes later and he’s strolling in, looking entirely casual about it all, as if he hadn’t just asked her to hang out! She rocks on the heels of her feet as he approaches her, knowing she looks far too excited. He stops in front of her, lookd her up and down, and rolls his eyes. Again.

“Heiress, huh?” he asks, readjusting the strap on his shoulder. She nods, excitedly. It was a wonder he didn’t already know, since everyone else had, but it was incredibly refreshing. “So you do like, special training?”

She pauses, swallowing as her smile drops, just a little, before she nods. “Uh, yeah. Yeah! Sometimes.”

“Can I come over?”

Her voice catches in her throat, but she still manages a squeaky, “Yes.”

“Alright.” He nods before gesturing behind him. “Let’s go.”

“Yeah, okay.” She nods back, forcing her feet forward. When she’s next to him, he turns to meet her, and they begin their trek to the Hyūga compound.

Don’t panic Hanabi. He’s the third’s grandson. Father is going to be proud I made friends with someone of such high caliber.

Not that she cares about the caliber of anyone. But this was a boy she was bringing over, so as least she had that in her back pocket. He’s not just any boy, he’s the Hokage’s grandson. It’s fitting for the grandson and the heiress to get on, isn’t it? Yeah, that’s what she’ll tell herself.

They fall in step together and Hanabi struggles to figure out what to say. She keeps pace with him better than she thought she might. He’s sweet, she thinks, because he keeps looking back at her and slowing his pace.

“You like it there?”

She hums, looking off to the side. What a nice question to ask. Brings a hand up to her chin and taps. “I like it enough.”

He snickers, and it’s a cute noise. Makes her smile a little bigger as she turns her face towards him.

“Something to say, Sarutobi?”

“Sarutobi,” he repeats in an amused voice. She bites her lip when his hands clasp behind his neck. “Just funny, I guess.”

“I’m funny?” she asks, giggling slightly as she skips forward, then turns so she’s facing him and walking backwards. She sticks her tongue out, trying to get a reaction from him, but he just peaks out of hooded eyelids towards her, wholly unimpressed. “Not even a smile?”

“Not one,” he says, shaking his head. She stops in her tracks, causing him to stop, too. He eyes her, an eyebrow raised and hands falling to his side. “What?”

“Why don’t you give me one of those award-winning smiles, huh?”

She doesn’t know why she says it, especially as harsh as she does. She curses herself for it, even. He blinks down at her, tilts his head, and then…his mouth splits into a smirk. A big one, one that makes her feel uneasy, in an embarrassing way. A way that makes her feel tingly and shy. She takes a step back. “Like this, Hyūga?”

Her heart is crammed in her throat cavity. It almost hurts. She turns her head away. “I-uh-I dunno.”

“How ‘bout I just see you later?”

The words are like a stab right through her sad little heart. Takes everything she has not to buckle, keel over, clutch her chest and just die.

Fatality.

“Sure,” she says, wholly unconvincing.

“I’ll see you at lunch.”

It’s so passive, the way he says it.

“Yeah…” she sighs, slouched over, pathetic and little. Wonders why she’s like this, why she can’t just be normal. Why can’t she ask normal questions, like “how was your day?” or “any missions coming up?” or even “how’d you do on your exams?”

‘Give me a smile’ Hanabi? Give me a smile?! Really? Freak.

Hanabi groans, loudly, kicking the dirt under her sandals. Doesn’t help when Hinata giggles at her, peaking around the corner without an ounce of mischief in her step.

“Big sister!” Hanabi cries, shoving her palms into her eyes in shame. “Stop watching meee~”

“I apologize,” Hinata calls out, stepping from behind the gate. “I don’t mean to embarrass you.”

“Yeah, right,” Hanabi huffs, crossing her arms.

What a miserable day.

In the morning, Hanabi practically drags herself to school.

There’s nothing to look forward to, only things to dread. Like the look on Sarutobi’s face, or maybe the lack of a look when he won’t even look at her. How is she supposed to make friends when she screws it up immediately? No one is going to want to be around her once they find out the Hokage’s grandson rejected her as a suitable person to be around.

In the classroom, Hanabi scans the layout. Nothing’s changed, everyone’s still sitting where they usually do, and the spot around her is still empty. The one seat that’s still empty is where Konohamaru sits. She glances up at the clock, and there’s not more than a minute until instruction is to begin.

So maybe she lucked out for one more day. Maybe she could do damage control. Could try to make some new friends quickly, before he could come back to tarnish her name, because of course that’s what he’s going to do! Trust no one, like father always said.

Hanabi swings into her usual seat, preparing for another unsuccessful day, until the door slams open. With seconds to spare, Konohamaru comes skidding in and she wants to scream, so she does so in her head. But then, he stops and darts his eyes over the classroom until they land on her. She immediately shrinks in, eyes getting bigger as he beelines for her. She braces herself as if he’s going to hit her, hit her for being such a loser.

No, instead, he slides into the seat next to her and settles in. It takes her a moment to process, but she realizes she’s safe and wills her body to begin to relax. Their sensei comments on his seat change, asks if there’s trouble in the notorious trio, and she forces herself to focus. Konohamaru scoffs, not giving a real answer, and she just sort of gawks at him. Forces her mouth shut when he glances at her from the corner of his eye, then shakes her head and refocuses her attention ahead.

He’s messing with her. She crossed some sort of line and now he’s messing with her!

The entire lecture, she isn’t focused. Not learning a thing. Just keeps checking on Konohamaru, who is still next to her, because of course he is, it would be weird if he changed his seat. He’s probably waiting for a good time to declare that Hanabi smells horrible, and he needs to move back to his old seat. Humiliation! It has to be his angle. But the entire time, he’s just slouched over his desk, scribbling on a blank piece of paper, doodling, sometimes on the desk itself, sighing, practicing jutsu symbols with his hands, dragging a kunai across the desk, kicking his feet. Everything under the sun possible that doesn’t involve paying attention to the lecture or looking at her.

She needs answers.

When they’re dismissed for break, she stays in her seat and stares at him, waiting for him to get up. While other kids shuffle by, he kicks out his legs and leans back, stretching his arms behind his head. He glances at her, then does a doubletake. She raises her eyebrows when he snickers, tilting his head at her.

“Get a good look, Hyūga?” She feels the heat rush to her cheeks as she immediately whips her head back. “Going to break?”

“Are you?” she asks, trying not to let nerves betray her voice. She sees him shrug in her peripheral. Then, she slaps her hands on her desk and shoves her seat back, gets to her feet. She starts her march out of the classroom, wills herself not to look back to see him he’s following her, but luckily, she can already hear him getting out of his seat, too. She smiles a little when he jogs to catch up to her. Still, anxiety hits her gut and puts her on edge. She sucks in a breath, and without looking at him, says “I thought you didn’t want to be around me.”

“What?” he asks right away, something like genuine confusion in his tone. “Why’d you think that?”

“You ditched out on me,” she says quickly, looking at him now, “yesterday. You didn’t want to go to my place anymore.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t wanna be around you,” he says with a shrug and it irks her that he’s treating this like it’s no big deal. It was a big deal. To her. “Just thought – I dunno.” She furrows her eyebrows at his lack of coherent answer.

“You dunno? What don’t you know?”

“If I knew, I’d know, wouldn’t I?”

Hanabi puffs out her cheeks, frustrated. He glances at her and laughs, reaches out to poke one of the cheeks, causing her to recoil. “Don’t touch me.”

“It was begging to be popped.”

She bites her tongue, glaring at him, unsure if she still wants to be friends with this boy now. He flashes her a lopsided smile, maybe the one she was asking for yesterday, and she softens a little. It just slips out. “I was hoping we’d be friends.”

They both stop in the middle of the courtyard, and she eyes him. Is it possible to feel bold and shy at the same time? Maybe overconfident and nervous. She crosses her arms behind her back, and he shoves his hands in his pockets. Looks her right in the eye but doesn’t look too serious. Playful, or mischievous might be a better way to describe it. “You? Be friends with me?”

“You’re too good?” she asks, rocking on her feet for a moment. His loud laugh catches her off guard. Still, she waits for him to answer.

“You’re serious?” he asks, looking taken aback now. She shrugs, confused. “I didn’t think someone like you would wanna be friends with me.” She squints and he groans. “Don’t be dumb about it. You’re that Hyūga leader’s daughter. Like, the one who’s gonna take over. Why would you want friends?”

Ouch. “Why wouldn’t I want friends?” she asks back, leveling her tone as best she can. “I’m a kid, like you. What kid doesn’t want friends?”

He looks up for a moment. “Thought they’d, I dunno. Knock that out of you, or whatever. Not to get close to people.”

Oh.

Ouch.

“They try,” she whispers, looking away now. Suddenly the air feels so heavy around her, and she feels her face harden. “Never mind. We’re good.”

Moving quickly, she turns on her heel and leaps away, aiming for the nearest tree branch, but she’s quickly yanked back down before she can land. She scrambles to land on her feet, but instead gets swung around, and lands flat on her stomach, but not on the ground. Air is forced from her lungs and she throws her head up to see what she’s landed on. Konohamaru lays underneath her, a grimace on his face and his back on the ground. She looks at him belligerently, ready to lay into him.

“Let’s be friends,” he grunts out through gritted teeth, the fall clearly taking a toll on his back. The words stop her, and instead she just blinks at him. His painfully squinted eyes finally relax, and his grimace turns into a reluctant smile. She bites her lip, and he says, “You look dumb right now.”

That would bother her if he hadn’t just offered to be friends, so she just plants her palms on the ground and heaves herself off of him, then offers one of her hands to him. He ignores it, hopping to his feet with ease.

“You told me not to touch you,” he says, matter-of-a-factly. She rolls her eyes and dusts her hands off on her robe. “But part of being friends with the Konohamaru Sarutobi does, in fact, require some touching.” She makes a face at him and he waves his hands in front of him. “Not – not like that. Get your mind right, Hyūga.” She crosses her arms, nodding at him to go. “Sparring. I wanted to come over ‘cause I wanted to see what kind of training you guys do.”

“Oh, great!” she exclaims sarcastically, throwing her hands up in the air. “Ulterior motive!”

“Hey, hey, hey!” He puts his palms up defensively. “All great friendships have give and take, and I’m on a mission, y’know. To become Hokage, and wouldn’t it just be great for the leader of the Hyūga and the Hokage to get on?”

She groans. "You think I care about that? About being a leader?” He raises his eyebrows. “You know what? Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

Before he can say anything else, the bell rings and she’s swiftly walking away.

Stupid! Stupid, always so stupid, like they say at home. Stupid.

Hanabi spends the rest of the day avoiding making eye contact with Konohamaru, and when they’re dismissed, she bolts out of the classroom, detention-less for once.

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