Chapter 2

School had just ended for today. It had been long hours. The tension between the two grew more and more after every subject. It was like an indirect competition was being held. Itachi and the new comer seemed to be at par for the most. Both were sensibly good with their academic studies as well as for physical and mental abilities. Not an hour would pass when they won’t give each other a glare or two for being the way they were. It was evident that either of them had no intention of being surpassed by the other.

One by one the students started to leave the room after arranging their things and jotting down their assignment for the next day. It was about ninja tactics. Usually, Itachi would be the last to exit the room as he didn’t really like racing with the other students to go home. He didn’t found any use to be haste. Soon enough he was left inside the room, but to his annoyance, he was left alone with the new girl, Saiki Fuzen.

While he arranged his things, he constantly glanced at her from the corner of his eye. It had been an unavoidable gesture for the day. Every time he did this, he couldn’t help but feel a bit irritated. It was the first time he felt this kind of sensation. Maybe it was because of the threat she posed when it came to his stand in class. She was answering as much as he did, and when it came to physical activities like kunai throwing, both of them would hit the target with ease. He usually wouldn’t care about such trivial things, but somehow he couldn’t get his mind off it. There was a childish desire to keep on going in order to surpass this possible threat. In a more specific term, he didn’t like having her around at all.

Saiki on the other hand continued to scribble on a piece of paper as her things were already fixed. She was doing something random, a sketch of some sort. What it was still had no assurance of being determined as the angles and dimensions of the sketch were hard to figure out. Her optics would then be directed at the window which caused her to jolt up in haste. It was then that she stuffed her things inside her bag and hastily sprinted out of the classroom.

A slight blinking would ensue on the other’s part as he caught only a glimpse of her shadow as she ran. Itachi shook his head slightly before proceeding to exit the room when he saw something on the ground.

“What’s this…?”

He mused to himself as he picked it up. Eyes would slant slightly to see the name on the said object. It belonged to her. He was ready to throw it away, but then it gave him the perfect opportunity to look into this person’s environment. It only meant one thing. He was to return it to her personally…today.

Having left the room when everyone else was gone, Itachi started walking out of the establishment with the object that the girl had dropped earlier. Looking at it intently he tried to make out what it was. It was cylindrical in shape and every time he shook it, the contents would make noise. Upon further inspection, he found out that it can be popped open, and so he did only to find an assortment of pens and pencils with different colors and sizes. Just then from not so far away, he heard something. Crying and screaming. Rushing over to the direction of the noise, he came to stop at a house that seemed to be a bit smaller than what they had. And from there, his eyes widened slightly to see the girl getting beaten up by an older man who he deemed as the father. He remained hidden as he watched this assault. After what seemed like minutes, the adult had left, leaving the girl in tears. He then sighed slightly as he jumped out of the bushes. He held the pencil case out to her as he glanced side ways.

“Here. Don’t cry.”

He said as he handed her the girl’s belonging. She would take the pencil case and set it on the ground as she rubbed her eyes.

“I’m not crying…there’s just…something in my eye.”

She stated softly as she held back her sobs, feeling the embarrassment this little encounter was bringing her. It was then that she felt something being tossed at her, looking at the ground, a handkerchief lies on the floor. Puffy eyes would somehow look at the boy who had glanced sideways before. She had seen his eyes as they were cast at her direction, to be looked at slightly.

“Then wipe it…whatever it is that’s in your eyes.”

Came the calm and cool voice of the boy who stood before her. His glance had been slightly drawn to her form before he himself bent down on one knee to look at her curiously. She in turn would look up at him slightly as she wiped her tears away, blinking a little, as she watched him in the same fashion that he did. It was then that a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, two fingers which consisted of the index and the middle was applied to the young girl’s forehead. A slight wincing escaped her lips as she brought over a hand to the flicked area and a glare of some sort was cast upon the boy before it turned to a sheepish smile.

“You have zero lying talents.”

Itachi stated as he soon stood up and dusted himself. Afterwards, a hand was extended towards the young girl. A blank look was directed at the hand before she slapped it to the side slightly, a huff being sounded off as she rubbed her forehead again before she stood on her own.

“I’m capable of standing up on my own…thank you very much.”

Was the stubborn reply of the girl. With head slightly tilted to the left, Itachi kept his gaze on her once more before placing a hand over his mouth and mouthed a mock laugh which got the girl looking pretty much upset again.

“What’s so funny!?”

She asked, stomping her feet of the ground once before pouting at him. The look in her eyes suggested irritation, and this amused the young boy yet again. Index was then pointed at her after her inquiry, as he soon stopped his mock laughter.

“Hmph…and that’s just mean…”

She retorted, arms being crossed above her chest as she turned side ways so that her irritation was less seen by the boy. He would merely shake his head at the fickle attitude of the young girl and soon, palms would be applied atop of her head and a slight ruffling of the female’s tresses would commence.

“Hey, hey! Quit it!”

Saiki stated all defensively as she tried prying his hands against her hair. The smug smile on his face didn’t make the matters better, relatively speaking as it just irked her all the more. And then she heard him chuckle again slightly.

“Victory for me today it seems. I’ll play with you again tomorrow, by that time you should be able to take revenge on me. Got it?”

“Oh how I loathe you…”

No words were exchanged afterwards, only a subtle smile from the boy as he gave the young girl a pat on the head before walking off once again. Although she did get that feeling of disliking him, he was also the first person to actually approach her in such a bold manner. It was kind of intriguing. Now if she could just tell whether he was a friend would be a hard part, especially since he was acting like her rival as well.

Itachi at that moment was having the same thought. He hadn’t really brought himself into liking her, but she was more or less welcomed to play as a challenge to him. She was in one way interesting; having techniques which weren’t far from excellent, but still needed honing. Although, he believed that she wasn’t really smart. She was just a bit wiser than most, thus able to assess situations unlike his other classmates and that was good, maybe someone he could be in par with would be beneficial to him in achieving further excellence. Plus she was childish, up to an entertaining extent. Somehow he saw what he didn’t have in her. A sense of slow growth wherein she could enjoy the world, while he was simply aiming for excellence due to his father’s expectations.

Chapter 1

School had just started a few weeks ago, and a certain young boy who was at the age of seven had already been the talk of the academy as well as the town. He was a genius! He wasn’t only good in his classes and academics, but he was also good when it came to physical activities and mind games, certainly, everybody bet their money on him to be the number one rookie for the year and the next years that are still to come.

During the ninth of June, the first son of the proud parents, Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, had been born. A healthy young boy who looked like his father at the most was the pride of the clan starting from that day. During the early stages of his childhood, he was trained in order to be the best in order for him to uphold their clan and be a worthy possessor of their Kekkei genkai— the Sharingan. For years, when he had begun to understand the things around him, he was trained under the supervision of his father. Always aiming for perfection and excellence was the upbringing that he received. Once he had been able to retain this at the back of his mind, he was able to attain it. It was a natural talent, the genius this boy had, and for that he was viewed to be the best. A member of one of the most influential and most feared clans in Konohagakure no Sato, he was know by the name of Uchiha Itachi.

Everyone fell silent as the classroom doors opened only to reveal the quiet young boy. There were no traces of emotion in his face nor was there care lingering in them. His focus was great as his silence masked his true personality and being. The moment he took his first step inside the room, the girls in his class became a little bit flustered and red. Almost every one of them wanted to share their seats with him. He would always avoid it though. Sitting at the back of the class, alone, minding his own business as he listened to the teacher that spoke. But this time it seemed that he wouldn’t be able to escape their clutches seeing that his usual table and seat at the back was occupied. The face was unfamiliar to him which brought about a slight curiosity that he shrugged off whilst he walked towards his desired seat. He didn’t like the thought of sitting next to anticipating girls that would probably just gawk at him as he concentrated on his academic work, nor sitting beside other boys who flaunted and boasted the little talent that they had which would end up as an unwanted nuisance to try and bring him down…all that…he found very useless. Deciding to just stick to his usual table, he strode gracefully towards the back and stopped at his usual desk. He looked at the person sitting on his spot blankly, his eyes scanning and observing the person in every way that he could.

“Move…”

He said calmly as he fixated his gaze at the person who was merely looking straight forward. Soon enough the person faced him slowly and glanced at him, meeting his gaze. Although he didn’t show any sign of being startled, he was, partly. It would have been the first time that he saw a girl that had the same facial expression that he had. Charcoal colored eyes held its own depths that would easily distract one who was not in focus. She had a different kind of charm that lingered about her features. The way she looked and the way she had moved was somehow enchanting, as if she was art in motion. Without much of a hesitation or second thought, she moved towards the center of the bench and kept silent while looking back to the front. She merely remained quiet and didn’t even utter a single word. She wasn’t like the rest of the girls in his class. She seemed to have no interest. That was a good thing for him. It meant that there was no distraction that would hinder his study.

Soon enough the teacher entered the classroom. Classes were about to begin for the day. As the teacher entered the premises, the students went back to their respective seats and held their tongues. The youngsters knew how to behave and had respect for the ones in charge. Their attitudes seemed promising, the only thing that they lacked was the right amount of skill to graduate from the academy; although, this was only the start of the year. They have approximately ten months in order to prove themselves worthy of graduating and becoming future shinobis of the hidden village of the leaf.

“Everyone…”

The teacher, once he got behind his desk called for everyone’s attention. He then gestured for the unfamiliar girl at the back to step upfront. Slowly, the girl stood up from her seat and gracefully walked towards the teacher wherein she faced her new classmates who looked at her as if she was an unwanted presence inside the room. She on the other hand, while seeing this, averted her gaze towards something else. She didn’t really take kindly to those who stared at her as if she was a monster of some sort.

“Now everyone I would like you to meet our new student in the academy. Her name is Saiki Fuzen. She’s kind of shy and doesn’t talk too much, but be kind to her okay?”

After the introduction made by their teacher, Saiki merely nodded once then went back to her seat. She found such kind of things as a waste of time. Upon sitting down, she sighed softly and resumed to look forward, not glancing at the boy beside her, not finding the need to do so anyway.

From the corner of his eye, Itachi looked at the new comer. Intriguing… He thought as she sat back down and sighed. She had somehow reminded him of how he was when first introduced to the class. He had a blank look on his face and never even said a word. Even after he was introduced to everyone, he only nodded as a response. They had the exact same reaction, and truly, that seemed a bit nostalgic for him. It wasn’t long before he shrugged the thought out of his head and focused his attention at the teacher who had begun to give out his lecture. Most of these things he already knew, why he listened was mainly to gain additional information.

Saiki was listening for the same reason. Apparently, she already had some knowledge about the lesson. Once in a while she would scribble on a piece of paper, not really focusing much on what their sensei was saying.

“Okay. Can someone tell me what a ninja should remember while doing a mission?”

The teacher suddenly asked as he looked at the students who fell silent. He scratched at the back of his head as he saw their reaction. No one intended to raise their hands to answer. They stared at him blankly and dumbfounded, it was as if they never expected him to ask such questions during that time. In other words, they were caught off guard.

“Come on. You can give at least one…anyone???”

He asked again, looking quite hopeless that no one would really be able to answer his question. It was a rather simple one. A basic question that keeps the students in track of what they have to remember if ever they are on a mission.

“Ninjas are tools that should feel no emotion or remorse for the enemy. This is one way of avoiding death on the battle field.”

“That’s absolutely correct.”

The teacher then looked up and acknowledged the one who spoke. He already knew that the Uchiha had spoken, but he heard another voice that mixed with the young boy’s.

He couldn’t help but feel the tension as he saw the Uchiha and the new comer glaring at each other. They had both said the same thing in unison. It was rather hard not to notice.

At the moment their words ended, they found themselves staring intently at each other’s eyes. The intensity was there, and it never left. What kind of coincidence was that? Having both the same answer, it was just not right. Where they really thinking alike? No it seemed to be impossible. No one person thinks alike.

Soon enough, the teacher trotted towards the two students at the back, followed by some bewildered stares from the other classmates. He tried to stop the two’s intense glaring at each other which resulted to him getting both of them to throw a glare at him. Feeling the heavy pressure between the two, he backed away. The moment he did, the two glared at each other again, then, an audible “hmph” was heard before the two broke the eye contact. Both facing at a different direction, they crossed their arms and with one quick glance, their eyes slanted as if a subconscious challenge was forming.

Prologue

Snow fell almost uncontrollably that day. They were on a mission it seems. There was no need to rush…there doesn’t seem to be any threat that lingered about. If there were, they would have noticed it by now, or if ever there was, it wouldn’t take them long to dispose of the fools.

“Was it all worth it?”