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.
