THE WORLD OF NARUTO BELONGS TO KISHIMOTO (He's the man!)...Shiro's mine though :3 PROLOGUE
With the sun on her back, Shiro Uchiha flew down the busy streets of Konohagakure. People went about their daily chores, barely paying attention to the black-haired girl. She pulled to a stop in front of the Academy where a pair of men were taking down a banner congratulating the new gradutes. Heart dropping to the pit of her stomach, she realized that she had been too late. She missed graduation; She had been looking forward to it, all week.
Sighing she was just about to turn back around, her failure heavy on her shoulders when someone called her name.
"Shiro!"
She raised her head to see a brown haired boy with pale, almost purplish eyes standing just outside the Academy.
"Neji," she croaked, remembering how she had pestered him to come to her graduation. He came but she didn't.
Neji just shook his head at her, his eyes stern and cold. She could almost hear him scolding her for being so careless. When she neared him, the edge of his lips tilt up to a slight smile. Her heart somehow inched back up. Gesturing for her to follow, Neji went back inside the Academy.
Confused, Shiro did. Inside, she watched as Neji stepped into the stage.
"What are you waiting for? Come up here."
Shiro almost smiled then, knowing what her friend was trying to do. Up there, clutched in his hands, she saw the steel of a head protector glaring up against the light. Her steely gray eyes lifted to see ivory eyes looking back at her with a proud glint in them. Neji recited some words—Shiro took them in like music in her ears—and afterwards, he leaned over to tie the head protector around her forehead. The sigil of their hometown, Konohagakure, sat proud in her forehead.
"Congratulations, Shiro."
Though Neji's face is as calm as the surface of a lake, there was warmth in them. Warmth he allows only her to see. Her heart lurched, both from happiness and pride.
"Thank you, Neji," she whispered with a thick voice. She tiptoed to press a light kiss on his cheeks and then embraced him tight. Neji stiffened—she heard his heart beating fast and frantic—but returned the embrace.
They were walking downtown, passing by a famous food stall called Ichiraku ramen when someone called Shiro's name. Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino stepped down the stools of the ramen shop.
"Shiro," the pink-haired Sakura began. "We didn't see you at gra—" She stopped, seeing the boy accompanying her classmate.
"Hyuuga Neji," Ino gasped, blue-green eyes wide with shock. Composing herself, she ran her hands through her hair as if they're unruly. Shiro noticed the flirtatious gleam in her eyes which she ran over Neji.
He merely glanced at her, then turned to Shiro. "I need to take care of some things. I'll leave you here with your..." He trailed off, eyes fleeting to the blond haired shinobi obviously flirting with him. "..them."
Shiro nodded silently and watched him walk away. She felt someone nudge her by the arm. "Neji, eh?"
"He's a fr—"
"He's really handsome," Ino swooned, cutting her off. "And last year, he's the number one rookie."
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Sasuke's more handsome," she interjected, referring to their batch's number one rookie.
"I think Neji's more good-looking," Shiro found herself arguing. Ino winked at her while Sakura rolled her eyes again. In her peripheral vision, she sees Naruto, who had been sitting at one of the stools, eyeing them with suspicious eyes. Remembering how Neji often refers to him as a 'dropout', she flashed him a genuine smile. Then Shikamaru, his lazy eyes roaming about, and his bestfriend, Choji, with a pack of chips in his hands, stopped by the arguing Ino and Sakura.
"Women," he snorted as he and Choji took a seat on one of the stools. Shiro did the same, leaving the blonde and pink-haired girls to themselves. Shiro sat beside them and ordered a fully-loaded ramen.
Which is why she had returned home late. The walk home brought her in front of the place that used to be the sector of Uchiha clan. Still is, she corrected herself. A portion had been given to other citizens but their old house was still theirs. The place was solely for the Uchihas. Not since that night.
"You're back." She was in the process of removing her shoes when his voice came.
Uchiha Sasuke, her only family, stood by the kitchen with a glass of water in his hand. His dark eyes regarded her with coldness and a tinge of irritation; the only emotions he could coax out of her twin brother. She forced herself to smile. "We're finally genins, how nice is that," she commented.
Sasuke snorted and passed by her, probably heading to Naka shrine. She knew it was unhealthy, his feeding off on his hatred but he would not hear anything she has to say.
The front door closed behind him, leaving her in a cold and lifeless house by herself.
"I'm home," she whispered to herself—trying the feel of it— as she had so many times before. However, looking at the sparsely decorated, almost empty room, she knew this was no home. She untied the head protector from her head. Running a hand through the engraved symbol of her village, she thought of her best friend, Hyuuga Neji.