Five Years and Three Months
"Woah," Mae gasped watching Obito and his teammates spar with their sensei. She was hiding behind a bush in one of the training grounds. She had followed them after she saw them meet up on one of the bridges and wanted to see what kind of teacher their sensei was. She was also trying to hide from her uncle but that's not important.
"He's so pretty." Mae whispered watching the grey-haired kid go toe to toe with the teacher. She watched as Obito came charging in making the grey-haired kid huff. She started giggling when Obito started yelling at him.
"Why don't we take a break you three? It seems we have an audience." Their teacher said smiling. Mae gasped and duck down further behind the bush when their teacher turned her way.
"What do you mean sensei, I don't sense anyone around?" she heard a voice say. Mae covered her mouth and hoped they wouldn't notice her, "No but I heard someone laughing. And I see a little head poking out from that bush."
Mae's eyes widened and duck down even further, 'oh no,' she thought, 'if he finds me, he'll make me go back to my uncle,' She turned and went to crawl away but ran into someone's legs. She looked up and saw Obito's teacher smiling down at me. "Well, who do we have here?" he asked.
"I'm sorry!" Mae yelled bowing her head, "I wanted to see how you guys were training!"
"Woah, calm down," He said chuckling a little, "You're not in any trouble. But you really shouldn't be here, you could get hurt." Mae looked up at him and pouted, "I just wanted to see Tobi."
The man titled his head, "Tobi? You mean Obito?"
She nodded, "Yeah!" Mae stood up, "Tobi is gonna be the best ninja in the world!"
"Mae? What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with your uncle? Hiashi-sama is gonna be mad you skipped out on training again." Obito said walking over to them. Mae blew a raspberry and cross her arms, "I don't wanna train with him! He's a giant butthead!"
"Hiashi Hyuga huh? You really shouldn't call him names, he's helping you become a strong ninja." Obito's sensei said. Mae frowned, "Yeah but-but still! He's mean."
She heard a scoff, "Who cares if he's mean, he's willing to train you. You should be happy with that."
Mae looked over and saw the grey-haired boy glaring at Mae with his arms crossed. She stared at him with wide eyes and then smiled, "You're right! I'm gonna train extra hard with my butthead uncle and then when I'm a strong ninja we can get married!" Mae said smiling up at the boy. She ignored Obito's booming laugh and the teacher and girl's quiet chuckle.
The boy's eyes widened, and he made a choking noise, "I-I'm not marrying you."
Mae smiled, "Well not now, but after Tobi becomes hokage and picks me to be his guard then we can!" Mae frowned, "But I should know your name if we're gonna get married."
"N-" He was cut off by Obito, "It's Kakashi Hatake!"
Mae started giggling and twirling around, "Mae Hatake sound nice!" She ignored Kakashi choking.
She felt someone put a hand on her shoulder and looked up at their teacher, "I hate to stop this conversation, but we need to get back to training."
Mae looked up at the teacher hopefully, "Can I stay and watch?"
He gave Mae a small smile, "Sorry, but you are supposed to be with your uncle, correct? I don't need him to come yelling at me for keeping you."
Mae's shoulders slumped, "Alright, I'll see you later Tobi," She went and gave him a hug. She then ran towards Kakashi and hugged him ignoring his protests, "Bye Kakashi! I'll see you later, too!"
She left while waving at everyone as she went. 'I hope uncle won't be too mad.' she thought to herself.
----
"I told you time and time again how important this training is!" Her uncle yelled. Mae frowned at the ground as she tuned out him yelling. 'I was too hopeful' Mae thought.
She clenched her fists in her lap, feeling like the yelling is a little unreasonable. Sure, she skipped out on her training but it's not like she does it all the time, she just wanted to see her cousin. It's not like she gets to see him a lot since he became a Genin, not that she's blaming him, but he's the only one besides Hizashi and her mother who don't treat her like an outcast or a freak. As much as she likes Mikoto, Mae can tell she doesn't love her like her mother and stepfather do.
Mae winced as she felt a hand hit the back of her head, "Are you even listening to me child?!" Her uncle yelled.
"Sorry, Uncle," She murmured.
Hiashi sighed, "Speak clearly when someone is talking to you."
Mae nodded, "Of course, sorry uncle," she said louder.
He nodded, "Good now go meet Hizashi, you kept him long enough." Mae nodded and stood up. She bowed to her uncle and then left the room going to find her stepfather out back.
When she got there, she saw him doing his warmups, she frowned and walked over to him and bowed in front of him, "I'm sorry for making you wait, it won't happen again."
She heard him sigh before a hand patted her head, "Stand up for me flower," Mae raised up and looked at her stepfather who was smiling softly at her, "I understand you would rather be doing other things, things children your age do, but because of who you are and who you might become, you should not skimp out on your training."
Mae looked down at her feet feeling bad about being late and how her stepfather was gently scolding her, "I wish you didn't have to train so much, and you had time to be a child but unfortunately with the world we live in it isn't quite possible."
"I'm sorry," Mae muttered and eyes burning with tears, "Now none of that," Hizashi crouched in front of her, "Let's get started and maybe we will be able to finish early, and I'll take you to see your brother." Mae looked up and saw her stepfather smiling at her. She jumped into his arms, hugging him tight and muttered an okay.