*~:When It Rains Tears, I'll Spill My Heart For You:~*
*~:Age Seven, Academy Days:~*
Two bright-eyed little girls, one slightly older than the other, sat one row away from each other in the academy. Iruka-sensei's lesson on how to throw a kunai seemed to be putting the older one to sleep. The younger one sensed this quickly and folded a tiny note into a ninja star shape and threw it at her.
The older girl groaned when the note hit her in the forehead.
*~:~*
Yuuki,
If you keep sleeping in class, Iruka-sensei said he'd report you to the Hokage and you don't want that! Come on and focus! This is actually pretty interesting.
~Luffy
*~:~*
She pulled out a dull pencil and scribbled back on the paper in her normal chicken scratch and folded it, in the wrong way, into a paper ball which she tossed back at Luffy.
*~:~*
Luffy,
Come on! You and I both know I don't want to be a ninja. I'm only doing this because I have to live up to my father's expectations. If I don't want to be a ninja, why should I be good at it?
~Yuuki
*~:~*
Luffy sighed and smoothed out the paper, shaking her head while making a tsk tsk sound. Luffy was unlike Yuuki in so many ways, yet they were similar as well. Luffy was bright, intelligent, aspired to be a great ninja, while Yuuki was lazy, dim-witted, and only aspired to see her father say "I'm proud of you." But there were both similar in how they both wanted to please their families and just be accepted.
But they had a long way to go; especially since they were only seven at the time.
Luffy began writing in her normal neat print.
*~:~*
YuuYuu!
Don't lie; you know you want to be a ninja, too! I've seen the way you train yourself, strain so hard just to hit the target. I don't wanna be a kunoichi without you! You're like my big sister!
~Luffy
*~:~*
As soon as Luffy tossed the note back, a shuriken sliced through the paper, sending shreds of white splattered with gray were floating to the ground. Yuuki readjusted herself into an alert crouch. Iruka-sensei stood in front of the class, an angry scowl glued to his face. "What did I say about note passing, you two?!" The rest of the class adjusted their focus onto us.
"Uh…" Luffy stammered, nervous of all the eyes on her. And Yuuki, being the protective older friend, she stood up.
"I was passing the note. Don't blame Luffy. She was only an accomplice." Yuuki didn't care about the glares being sent to her from some of the other kunoichi.
She jumped on top of her desk, taking picking up the pieces of note shreds. She cleared her throat as she started putting pieces together, "Dear Yuuki, I say that we should practice our shuriken tossing after Iruka-sensei lets us out of class! ~Luffy." She smirked, "Dear Luffy, That would be wonderful! I can't wait until Iruka-sensei finishes the lesson so we can train together. ~Bubbles."
"Bubbles?" Sasuke murmured, his hands folded in front of him.
Sakura and Ino giggled at the nickname. "Who goes by 'Bubbles'?" said Sakura. "That's so stupid!" replied Ino.
"I do, and if you've got a problem with that why don't I teach you how to throw a fucking ninja star!" Yuuki was used to using vulgar language.
"MIYABAII-SAN! WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!" Iruka tried stopping her rant, but once she got started there was no stopping her, so he had to take her out of the class; literally dragging her by the hood of her clan sweatshirt as she was shouting, "Shut the hell up Sakura-whore!"
Luffy, who stayed in class, was being pinpointed as well by Sakura and Ino. "Why do you even hang out with her? She's such a brat!" Sakura said.
"She's a freak is what she is. She thinks she's so great and brave just because she's half a year older than us. It proves she's stupid if she's still taking ninja classes with us," Ino scoffed.
Luffy's anger was beginning to build deep inside of her. "You have no idea what it's like for her! Have you ever even wondered why she's still doing it?! She could've quit when she wanted! What kind of shinobi would talk about a fellow ninja like that?! You don't deserve to be kunoichi!"
Sakura and Ino stared wide-eyed at the poison that had been spit at them. Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Choji stared at Luffy as well. Nobody had ever heard an outburst like that out of her, but it certainly wouldn't be her last.
As soon as class let out, Luffy headed on her normal path home, but today, Naruto was walking with her instead of Yuuki. Yuuki had probably already gone home, but Luffy was still eight, and Naruto had thought she'd enjoy the company home.
They talked about random stuff on the way: how they both loved ramen from Ichiraku's, how they both hated cats, and how Luffy thought Sasuke was stuck-up and didn't live up to the recognition he got. By the time he'd walked her up to her door, he'd already been stricken with her! (Enough to get over his Sakura crush!)
Luffy's father had been watching her through the window, though, and pulled her in roughly as soon as Naruto turned away. He screamed at her about how Naruto was a bad influence; a monster because of Kyuubi. Luffy screamed back, just as loud, and threw a fit about it before running off to her room, crying and feeling bad for Naruto.
Meanwhile, Yuuki was still at the academy, sitting on the fence, watching as the sun slowly set. She sighed, thinking about how her family was at home, waiting for her older sister, one of the most memorable kunoichi, to get home from a mission.
Chinatsu was treasured, held securely in the Miyabaii family as an heirloom. If anything happened to her, even just one tiny scratch, Yuuki's mother and father would freak out and start doing everything they could to help Chinatsu. But if Yuuki came home, mangled and bloody, her family would just bandage her up and set her back out, telling her she needed to be more like Chinatsu.
She drew in her breath sharply and swung her legs. Might as well enjoy my childhood while I can, she thought. Suddenly, she felt a presence beside her. "Hey," a voice called out.
"Hi," she replied, eyes still set on the sun.
"Mind if I join you?" She looked up to see Sasuke, almost smiling, and nodded.
"I don't care. I'm going to have to leave soon anyway. My parent's are probably worried," she laughed, "Oh wait! I'm not Chinatsu."
Sasuke scooted a little closer to her, "What do you mean?"
"I'm nothing like my older sister. She's a legendary kunoichi. How the hell am I supposed to live up to those expectations?!" She shook her head and pulled her knees up to her chest.
"That sounds like my family. It's all about Itachi. Itachi did this, Itachi did that, Itachi was the leader of the ANBU at age 13! I can't live up to him. I know how you feel, Bubbles." She smiled a little at the nickname she'd given herself. He smiled back at her.
After that, they'd stayed quiet. Just sitting there, enjoying the sunset and each other's company. Yuuki yawned and stared at the moon, "Hey Sasuke?"
"Yeah?" he said, wearily.
"What do you really want to do? I mean… do you really want to be a ninja?"
"Well, yeah, I do. I want to be stronger and better than my brother someday. Why?"
"Oh, just wondering…" she yawned again, leaning into him. He smiled and laid his head on top of hers, enjoying the sweet scent of her lilac soap. She didn't say anything for a little while, and when he looked down, sure enough her eyes were shut and she was sleeping soundly. He didn't wake her up, nor did he move. They stayed like that, all night long.
