Chapter 1 (Sasuke POV)
The girl that now stood in the doorway had medium-length black hair and eyes of the same color. She appeared to be very shy…until that man left the room. Then she straightened her back, let her arms fall to her sides, and wore a fixed expression akin to a scowl. My eyes widened in surprise and the corner of my mouth twitched in amusement. No one had more attitude than me…except maybe Uzumaki Naruto…and here she was, rivaling Uchiha Sasuke's attitude. Interesting.
I put my elbows on the desk and locked my fingers together, touching them to my lips in a relaxed manner.
"Hn."
Iruka suggested that she go find a seat, and immediately I saw the fearful gleam in her eyes return as she turned her head to look at the class. I kept my eyes on her, interested because she didn't answer him but instead walked right on up and sat down in the empty aisle seat next to Yamanaka Ino. Only then did I remove my gaze from her dark head. Ino would have thought I had been looking at her, and I did not want that thought to cross her mind.
"Hey," I heard Ino say. There was no answer. What was her problem? Why wasn't she saying anything? Finally I risked another look. The new girl was writing on a small pad of paper. I was confused. Why write a response when she could just respond verbally? Maybe she was too shy to talk.
"Wow," Ino said. "I've never met anyone like that before…"
What was she talking about?
"Okay, class…let's continue the unit on weapons with an opening demonstration exercise. Any volunteers?"
A few raised their hands eagerly, but I didn't move from my position. Naturally, Iruka called on me, ignoring the raised hands of others. He always does that, since I'm the best in the class. Sometimes it gets annoying, but it's amusing to see others' reactions whenever it occurs.
"Sasuke, why don't you demonstrate for us?"
"Hn," I replied. I stood up and walked calmly down the small, gradually descending flight of stairs to my left (I was sitting on the far left end) to where Iruka was.
"Here are eight shuriken," he said, handing them to me. "Since you seem to be the best at this…" Ha. Of course I was. "…I want you to aim and throw like you mean it. I'll let you pick your opponent."
"Wait, I get an opponent? What am I supposed to do, kill them?" I asked disbelievingly. What kind of demonstration was this?
"No, you throw, they block. Any injuries should be minor, and in which case the student will be taken to the clinic…healing shouldn't take too long on something of this caliber."
Well, if that was the case, I already knew who I wanted to go up against.
"Shizuka. Can she do this?" I asked.
"Er…Shizuka-chan? Do you think you can do this?" Iruka asked her directly.
Slowly she nodded, and I smirked only slightly. This would be a test of her skills, to see how good she was. My eyes followed her every move, every step she took, every swing of her arm…finally she faced me, her expression unreadable. Iruka patted her on the shoulder.
"All you have to do is dodge or block the shuriken. Don't overexert yourself, after all, you're just visiting today…according to Hiaruke-san."
She nodded again, and readied herself by easing into a defensive fighting stance. I, too, changed my pose and held up the shuriken, arms crossed. Iruka glanced at both of us, then backed out of the way.
"Ready? …Go!"
Immediately I threw one at her—the first test—and she jumped up to evade it. Upon landing she bent backwards lowly, back parallel to the floor, dodging the next. Not surprised by this, yet a bit frustrated, I tossed two this time, which she caught on two fingers and sent them flying back at me. I was forced to throw two more in order to deflect them, which left me with only three shuriken left.
I paused. I had to think here…what move should I make next? Obviously she had been taught superior defense skills, so I couldn't just keep blindly throwing the weapons. I would have to strategize.
I shook my bangs out of my eyes and took a step forward. In that instant Shizuka, in one swift movement, had me pinned to the wall with one hand clutching the last remaining shuriken like a dagger to my neck. I watched in dismay as the two I had thrown hit the opposite wall. She didn't move, apparently still anticipating something further, or else an interjection from Iruka. Either way, her expression was steely and blank, and I realized it hadn't changed once during the bout we'd just had.
Dang…she was good.
"That's all right, Shizuka-chan, you can let him go now…" Iruka said finally. I remained tense until after she had dropped the shuriken to the ground. My eyes shifted to meet Iruka's, which were wide with amazement.
"What?" I said. "So she rivals my skill, big deal." But really I was amazed as well. Here this girl was, none of us even knew her, and she was already so skilled, as if she had been trained painfully well in her previous home. I myself had had much of the same, however, I hadn't started it until after I was seven. The tragedies of my past had given way to current temperament and increased strength.
"A-anyway… Wow. That was an excellent display of skill, Shizuka-chan… Keep it up and you may very well surpass Sasuke," Iruka praised Shizuka. "You did very well too," he added, as an afterthought, to me.
I scoffed. This runt…what did she know anyway? I guess it just means I'll have to train harder.
--
I left the building and turned to head home, only to run into none other than Shizuka, standing there alone. When I hit her, she whirled around and bowed. What that meant I really didn't know, but I took it as a 'I acknowledge you; I'm sorry' and simply gave her a curt nod. But then she grabbed my arm and pulled out her pad of paper, scribbling something on it, and thrust it in front of my face.
'I'm really sorry for being in your way. Could you tell me where I am, who you are, and where Sabishi-san is?'
"Who, that guy you were with earlier? He said he had to go talk to the Hokage…as for where you are, you're at one of the ninja academies in Konoha…and I am Uchiha Sasuke," I replied somewhat awkwardly. Why was she so fascinated with writing notes? More importantly, why was she asking me random questions after I nearly knocked her over?!
Snatching the paper back, she wrote something else and placed it in my hands. 'Ah, I see. Thank you. Who was that sensei?'
"Umino Iruka. He's been teaching there for years." What is up with all these random questions?
Another sentence was written, and this time I accepted the tablet. 'I'm sorry if I embarrassed you back there, with the shuriken.'
"Oh, that's fine. It was just surprising, that's all."
'No, but I didn't mean to…' I didn't let her finish writing. I snatched both paper and pencil out of her hands and demanded, "Not that I can't read or anything, but why won't you just talk?! It would be so much easier to just hear what you're saying instead of having to read it."
She got tearful, and reached for the paper. Reluctantly I let her have it back, and pushed the pencil into the palm of her hand. But the next words that came to life on the page both alarmed me and made me feel guilty:
'I don't talk because I can't. And of course you would hate me for it; you come from a clan with special abilities and great legend, I'm nothing. And all Uchiha clan members are like that, proud, arrogant fools. I should have known…' At that I got angry. 'And it's because I can't talk I'm regarded as a curse, handled delicately because others are afraid I will break. No one loves me, no one cares, except Sabishi-san, but he's only here on orders as an ANBU of our village…I can't talk, and that's why you get angry. They all do.'
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know. You should've told me earlier, then maybe…"
A sharp shake of her head meant she didn't care. Or that I was wrong. I couldn't decide which.
"Shizuka…why do you stereotype the Uchiha clan? What did we do to you?"
'You did nothing. It is what you did not do.'
And with that, she ran away.
--
As I lay in bed that night, I found myself thinking about her…Shizuka…her name corresponding to her condition. She was silence. She was unable to speak. It just didn't seem right. Remembering what Ino had said to her—"I've never met anyone like that before…"—I realized I had never met anyone like her either. And, come to think of it, what was so bad about the condition that brought such nasty treatment from others? After all, she wasn't rude or impolite, and she didn't look repulsive…
No one loves her…
"Hn," I declared to myself, and buried my face in my pillow. Yet, still… How awful. To feel so alone…I understand what that's like. But why does she hate my clan? Now that was a question that puzzled me. Obviously something had to have happened. Or else she wouldn't have said every member was a proud, arrogant fool.
I rolled over so that I was lying on my right side, and scowled at the wall. I had said something pretty offensive too.
"Dammit," I whispered to myself. How am I supposed to get to sleep if that girl won't get out of my head?! I thought heatedly. Finally I just closed my eyes and let my mind wander wherever it wanted to. I found that thinking of my annoying fangirls was boring enough to tire me and at long last I went to sleep.