Hello, everyone! Due to popular demand by the reviewers of 'Not To Be,' I am back with more Itachi and Izumi goodness. There isn't enough ItaIzu work on here, so I decided to contribute. This will be somewhat of a writing challenge for myself. 100 oneshots of varying genres and ratings. The first theme is 'Introduction.' I hope you enjoy!

I do not own Naruto.

1. Introduction

Tick… Tock…

Itachi Uchiha eyed the clock at the front of the classroom, willing the hands to move faster. There was only five more minutes until lunchtime, and the six year old couldn't wait. It wasn't that he hated his classes or anything; he loved learning new things. The problem was that his classes were just way too easy! Why did his sensei have to explain the proper way to throw a shuriken over and over again? Itachi knew how to throw a shuriken before he even entered the academy.

Sighing to himself and looking around the room, the raven found that most of his classmates were either whispering to their friends or flat out sleeping. No wonder his sensei had to go over the same thing all of the time. Only half listening to the lecture, Itachi observed a girl writing something in her notebook. He recognized the girl as Izumi Uchiha, one of his fellow clan members. They'd seen each other in the Uchiha compound all of the time, and were now classmates. However, they'd never actually spoken. Itachi briefly wondered why that was, since the girl always seemed to sneak glances at him.

Based on the movements of her pen, Itachi could tell that Izumi was doodling rather than taking notes on the lecture. The raven shook his head in disapproval. The girl was an Uchiha, and if she was serious about being a ninja, she should be paying attention. The sound of the lunch bell interrupted his thoughts, and he quickly gathered his bento before heading outside for some fresh air.

It was truly a beautiful day outside, and Itachi couldn't help but let a small smile grace his features as he took in the blue skies and chirping birds. Finding a shady spot underneath a cherry blossom tree, he took out his chopsticks and dug into the meal his mother had prepared for him. In between bites, he watched his fellow classmates play tag and talk amongst themselves while enjoying their lunch. During his time at the academy, quite a few students had tried to befriend him. However, Itachi preferred to keep his circle small. There just weren't many people he clicked with, and most of his classmates eventually gave up on trying to make small talk.

Suddenly, the raven spotted three boys approaching him from the corner of his eye. He gave a small huff of annoyance, knowing exactly what was about to happen.

"Oi, Uchiha! Why are you sitting by yourself? Still have no friends, huh?"

"It's probably because he's a freak. He barely talks to anyone! It's like he's a mute or something!"

"Ha, good one! What about the fact that he's growing his hair out? What a sissy!"

Yep. There it was.

Itachi had no idea why certain classmates of his felt the need to bully him every chance they got. His only guess was that they were jealous of him consistently being at the top of their class. Their words didn't hurt at all, as he didn't have an interest in what others thought of him. He hadn't even taken the time to learn their names. It was more annoying than anything. All he wanted was to enjoy his lunch in peace, but that clearly wouldn't be happening.

Just a short distance away, Izumi watched as the scene unfolded right before her eyes. Honestly, the nerve of those boys! She'd never spoken to Itachi before, because quite frankly, she was too shy. However, she didn't need to speak to him to know that he had done nothing to deserve being bullied. He was known as the prodigy of the Uchiha clan even at his young age, and was very well mannered from what she could tell. He was a genius, and she was afraid that she'd say something stupid if she tried to befriend him. Though as she watched her classmates continue to berate him, she found that she couldn't simply stand by anymore. She had to do something.

"Hey! You three leave Itachi alone! What in the world has he done to deserve this treatment!?" Izumi exclaimed, running over to the scene.

The oldest looking boy who seemed to be the leader of the group turned towards her with a scowl. "Mind your own business! This kid never talks to anyone, so he's clearly stuck up and thinks he's better than us!" He barked.

Izumi couldn't help but roll her eyes at the childish assumption. "Stuck up? Maybe he's just shy! Seems to me like you're just jealous!"

Itachi took in the scene in front of him and cocked his head to the side, intrigued. No one had ever made the effort to stick up for him before, not that he needed them to. Even so, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't grateful to the girl. The raven watched as the argument between the bullies and his unlikely savior continued to escalate, and barely held back a gasp as the leader pulled out a shuriken.

Quickly reaching into his own shuriken pouch to deflect the weapon, Itachi was shocked as Izumi beat him to it. In the blink of an eye, the girl had pulled out her own shuriken and perfectly deflected the one hurling at Itachi's face. What in the world had just happened?

'I guess she's serious about becoming a ninja after all,' Itachi thought with a small smile.

"So now you need a girl to fight your battles for you!?" The leader yelled, clearly furious.

"Will you give it a rest!? Leave Itachi alone already before the next shuriken I pull out ends up where the sun doesn't shine!" Izumi growled.

The boys collectively gulped, and decided they'd rather not anger the girl more than she already was. With an angry huff and a comment about 'feisty Uchihas,' the bullies finally took their leave.

Izumi stuck her tongue at the boys as they walked away, momentarily forgetting that the prodigy of her clan was sitting right in front of her. Remembering where she was and blushing in embarrassment, she sat down next to Itachi with a smile.

"Um, hi there. Are you alright? I hope I didn't make too much of a scene… It's just, watching those jerks speak to you like that made me really mad and I couldn't just stand by and do nothing! I mean, who even does that!? Is that any way for a shinobi of Konoha to act?" she rambled, inwardly facepalming at herself.

Amused by her antics, Itachi simply smiled back. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you sticking up for me. No one has never done that before. You're Izumi, right?"

Surprised that he knew her name already, the girl simply nodded. "Yes, I'm Izumi Uchiha. Of course, everyone already knows who you are. You're the talk of the Uchiha clan, as well as the academy," Izumi gushed.

Itachi looked away in embarrassment, not sure how to take the compliment. The two sat together in silence for a couple of moments, but it strangely wasn't awkward. The raven looked over Izumi's shoulder to find that her bento was laying facedown, forgotten in the grass. Well, that certainly wasn't acceptable.

The girl noticed Itachi looking behind her, and frowned upon realizing she'd dropped her lunch in her rush to stop those jerks.

'Guess I'll be going hungry for now. I need to stop being so clumsy,' Izumi thought, her stomach growling.

"You dropped your lunch because of those bullies, right? You can have some of mine. I have an extra pair of chopsticks," Itachi said, grabbing the chopsticks and holding them out to her.

"Oh, thank you! I really appreciate it," she replied, accepting them with a smile.

As the two ate their lunch in a comfortable silence, Itachi found himself glancing at Izumi every now and then. She certainly had guts, and knew how to throw shuriken like a champ. It was then that he decided to make it a point to say 'hi' to her the next time he saw her around the Uchiha compound.

Who knew that an encounter with bullies could begin a beautiful friendship?

There you have it! I am still trying to get back into my writing groove after not publishing anything for a while, so hopefully you enjoyed. If you did, please leave a review and save this to your favorites! I've had more inspiration lately so I will strive to update this often. Also, I have opened up commissions! You can find more information on my profile and pm me for details. Thanks for reading! :)