Neji Hyuuga sighed.

Class had been released for the lunch period and he was practicing on the training grounds, as was his custom. Unfortunately, a group of girls now sat in his periphery, giggling amongst themselves as they watched him move through the Gentle Fist's kata. They were an unwelcome distraction, and several times he found himself fumbling.

"Excuse me, Neji-san?"

He whirled around, a growl on his lips. "What?"

The girl in front of him was not one of his usual admirers. Short and slender with wild brown hair and eyes as dark as his were pale, Hanako Hatake took a step back from his ire, her straight brows creasing in concern.

"Sorry to interrupt your training," she said, drawing idle lines in the soil with her foot. "I just wanted to say thank you for bringing me the work I missed while I was sick. I really appreciate it."

Ah. Yes, he'd forgotten about that. He wasn't sure why Iruka-sensei had asked him to do it when she had friends in the class, but he'd done it, regardless.

"You're better now."

She smiled, the expression clear despite her mask. "Un! Ah, I wanted to give you this, as thanks!"

She held out a sleek box, the kanji for thank you written across it in her neat, deliberate hand. He took it, ignoring the angry hiss from his fanclub.

She smiled up at him again. "I'll let you go back to your training, then. Thanks again!" She turned and skipped away, joining the class failure with a laugh as they headed back to the classroom. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen the failure on the training grounds as often as he once had. Perhaps he'd seen the error of his ways and accepted his fate?

Amused, Neji opened the box, expecting food of some sort—his admirers never gave him anything else, regardless of how many times he tossed it out, uneaten. Inside lay a set of hand wraps and a booklet titled 'Taijutsu of the World: Pocket Edition'. The surprisingly considerate gift caught him off guard, and he found himself following after her to give his own thanks in return.

It was only proper, after all.

Inside the classroom, she and the failure were hunched over the textbook for their next lecture, voices low and focused. Lee noticed him first, unfortunately, and a wide grin crossed his face.

"Ah, it is my rival, Hyuuga-san!"

Hatake looked up from the book then, eyes wide. "Eh? Neji-san? Is something wrong?"

"Does something need to be?" He asked dryly.

She shook her head in chagrin. "No, sorry. It's just that you normally spend the whole break training."

He nodded. "Yes, I wanted to thank you for the gift. It was...unexpected."

She broke eye contact and smiled at the ground. "Yes, well. I wasn't sure what you like, beyond taijutsu...Would you like something else?"

He shook his head. "No, this is fine. Thank you." He turned on his heel, fully intending to train for the remaining lunch period, but Iruka-sensei stepped into the classroom, signaling the end of the break. Instead, Neji returned to his seat with a sigh. The gaggle of girls had followed him back to the room and quickly dispersed to their own seats, sending heated glared Hatake's way. She ignored them, already re-engrossed in her conversation with Lee. Iruka-sensei walked up to them and Neji fully expected the chunin instructor to settle them down for the lesson. He was surprised, then, when their teacher crouched down and joined them, pointing to something in the textbook which had both children nodding. He smiled at them ad ruffled their hair before returning to the front of the classroom and writing on the board.

"Sensei," Hatake called out, her voice still a bit rough from her illness. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course!" Iruka-sensei's expression was eager and bright. "What is it?"

"What exactly constitutes a clan?"

Neji narrowed his focus onto the conversation, striving to hear them above the sounds of children returning from play.

"Well, there are a lot of things, actually. Why the sudden interest?"

"Hatake is a clan," she said simply, fiddling with the hem of her mask in a nervous gesture. "But there are only two people in it. At what point does a family become a clan, or vice versa?"

The Hatake were a clan? Neji knew he wasn't the only person in the room not to know that, but that didn't lessen the blow to his pride. As a member of one of Konoha's most influential clans—even just the branch family—he was required to know and understand the political landscape of the village. Any misstep could have serious repercussions, after all.

Iruka-sensei nodded. "Well, there are certain population requirements when applying to establish a clan, but clans that have been in the village for at least three generations don't have one."

Hatake nodded. "That makes sense. How many clans are there in Konoha, total?"

"Oh, wow, give me a second," their sensei started mumbling under his breath and few students laughed at his expense. "Around sixty, I think?"

A large part of the class made sounds of appreciation and surprise. Even Neji had to admit he hadn't expected such a high number.

"Do they all get a seat on the council, then?" Hatake continued. "I can't imagine that's very efficient."

Iruka-sensei laughed. "No, no, they don't. The council has its own set of criteria that most clans don't meet. Now, someone remind me where we left off yesterday. We're already behind!"

Neji watched as Hatake sank back into her seat, clearly dissatisfied with the answers their sensei had given her. How odd. If the Hatake were truly a clan, as she claimed, then wouldn't she already know all that? Neji's own lack of knowledge notwithstanding, surely her family would have told her everything she needed to know.

Then again, he'd never heard of the Hatake before she joined their class. Maybe they didn't hold enough political clout to worry about such things.

The question nagged at him for the rest of the day, taking up space in the back of his mind until Iruka-sensei called everyone outside for physical training. It was the last class of the day, and most of the other students dragged their feet and complained. This time, however, many of the girls seemed oddly inspired.

"Sensei," one of them began, eyes locked on Hatake where she stood beside Lee. "Can we spar?"

Several of the other students groaned, but the girl's friends all managed to shush them through some kind of female-exclusive hive-mind. Iruka gave them a strange look, but consented, leading the way to the academy sparring arena. Immediately, the girl who'd suggested it jumped into the center of the ring and pointed at Hatake.

"Hey, Ugly, I challenge you!"

As Neji watched Hatake enter the ring under the jeers of students and their sensei's scolding, he had a sneaking suspicion he knew what this was about.

Hatake consistently maintained one of the lowest taijutsu scores in their year. Though she wasn't the worst, she was so far below average that the only people who willingly sparred with her were equally terrible. Her challenger looked far too eager for this to be a normal spar, and Neji sighed.

The Nara had it right, women were troublesome.

As soon as Iruka-sensei said 'go', Hatake leapt back into a defensive crouch, her hands held in loose fists in front of her face. Her opponent followed quickly, swinging her fists wildly without landing a hit. This continued for too long, in Neji's opinion, with both girls showing very little skill. Iruka-sensei stepped forward to call the draw, taking a moment to berate both girls for using class time to fight out their differences. Hatake's eyes were lowered despite her innocence, and Neji resolved to make it up to her, eventually. Preferably when his fans weren't around to see it.