"Strange."
"Right?" Izumi's smile twitched, her brown eyes, rare for an Uchiha, shined with worry and doubt.
Chewing the senbei Izumi had shared with him, Itachi gave a sideways glance at her, all the while thinking about what had just happened to Shisui.
Izumi sighed when Itachi-kun still didn't say anything. She said while feigning annoyance, "I thought Shisui-san would just outright reject her, you know. That's why he was chosen."
While he was a tad bit interested at the news of Shisui offering a date to the girl he had just rejected, Itachi was confused, "Why are you telling me this?"
Brows raised, Izumi soon gave a slight glare at him, "Geez, Itachi-kun, you're the one who told me Shisui-san is, er, um... wasn't interested in girls! So, I thought it would be safe..."
Itachi tried to recall the memory of him saying that. He couldn't, so he raised his eyebrow and said, "I don't recall such a thing."
"Well, you didn't exactly word it that way, but ―"
"Yo, Itachi! Ah, and Izumi-san, too."
Turning her head over her shoulder, Izumi gasped, "Shi ― Shisui-san! What a surprise," she patted her chest, jumpy at the thought of being in the presence of Itachi-kun's friend. She gave a nervous chuckle, all the while trying to be calm, an obviously failed attempt.
"Shisui," Itachi nodded to the newcomer, the small corner of his lips twitched upwards. But when he noticed that Shisui's eyes didn't strain away from Izumi's nervous form, he asked, "What are you up to?"
Turning his eyes to Itachi, Shisui uttered, "Hey, Itachi, you know our latest mission?"
Focusing his eyes on the jōnin, Itachi gave a small nod.
"That mission," Shisui let out a light chuckle, "is really interesting, after all."
"Hmm, is that so," not really interested in Shisui's attempt on being mysterious, Itachi looked at the senbei bag in Izumi's arms. "Izumi," he called out, eyeing the bag intently.
Izumi gave a small whimper, wanting to be away from the jōnin that just had arrived, "Here," she gave the whole bag to Itachi-kun, who accepted it without a word. Squirming in her place, she suddenly shot up, and announced, "Itachi-kun, see you later!"
"Oh, my," Shisui said, his eyes on the running girl, "Itachi, what did that girl tell you about 'our mission'?"
"Shisui, 'our mission' is actually 'your mission' that you extended to me because you can't stand following a girl 24/7 without a break," Itachi stated, a sigh escaping from his lips.
Plopping down beside Itachi, Shisui asked with hands behind him propping him up, "You're not interested, are you? That mission had just confessed to me."
"She told me."
"Izumi-san?"
"Yes," Itachi answered, delicately biting senbei, the sweet snack Izumi had given to him.
After a minute of silence, Shisui gave in, "... you won't tell me anything?"
"Ask Izumi."
"She's scared of me."
Itachi paused from savoring the sweet flavor of senbei in his mouth, and said, "Not a problem of mine."
"That's... cold of you, Itachi."
Itachi shrugged, eyebrows twitching and somewhat annoyed at Shisui that he was unwilling to tell what Izumi had told to him earlier. It's Shisui's own fault for interrupting his time of savoring his second favorite snack, with Izumi on the edge of the dock. He didn't really want to tell anything to the jōnin beside him, so he continued on being as silent as he could, even if the sounds of him biting the senbei cracker would sometimes be as loud as a thunder to his ears.
Shisui knew once Itachi set his mind on something, he wouldn't stray away from it. So, he gave out an exasperated sigh and uttered, "Fine, be that way. I'll just ask Izumi-san," he stood up and putting his hands on his hips, "Well, Itachi, you don't have to worry about that mission anymore. From now on, I'll do it myself."
Itachi looked up and raised his eyebrow at Shisui.
"Got it?" Shisui wanted a confirmation from Itachi, so he gazed directly at Itachi.
Shisui's eyes met Itachi's. With direct eye contact, Itachi knew what was unsaid.
"Do what you like," Itachi turned his head away.
With that, Shisui disappeared.
Eyes watching the peaceful blue skies above, he lightly took a bite of the remaining senbei cracker. For a second, Itachi tried to hold in a snort, finding Shisui's situation amusing.
Izumi knew she had to reach Naruto-san's apartment before Itachi-kun's friend had any inkling that she had anything to do with Naruto-san's 'confession'.
She ran with all she had, reaching the center of Konoha, where Naruto-san resided, in six minutes. Izumi knew where Naruto-san lived because she had frequently visited the place, being Naruto-san's closest friend in the Academy's graduating class.
She had never discriminated the older girl for being five years older than every student in the graduating class. Izumi didn't know why, but she was interested in Naruto-san's most unique feature ― the red hair. It enraptured her attention the moment she saw it and because of that, she was now friends with Naruto-san.
Of course, now she liked Naruto-san's personality and all, but the red hair was just the trigger.
Once she arrived in front of the door, she was about to knock Naruto-san's door. But the door opened before she had even the chance to.
"Izumi!"
A shudder ran through her body, Izumi's body shaking at the angry yell Naruto-san had let out. She hadn't had the time to resort through her many thoughts before she was pulled into the apartment.
"Naruto-san, I'm sorry!" she burst out and tried to hold in her tears, "I didn't mean to!"
Naruto took a look at her face before uttering, "What's with you, Izumi? Are you a moron? Of course, I know that! It's just ― geez, why didn't you attend the meeting? I was ambushed with so many girls ― some of them tried to fight me for 'Shisui-san's honor'!"
Izumi deflated, her head down, "I... I just... I was... I mean, I was scared you won't be my friend anymore... even now. I was the one who recommended Shisui-san. And... it's my fault for trusting my source."
"Izumi, stop blaming yourself. Your source is Itachi, right? Heh, because of that, I don't blame you," Naruto snickered, the back of her hand trying to hold in a laugh that was trying to escape. But soon, her shoulders sagged, "What am I gonna do now? I've got a date ― a date I don't really want to in the first place!"
Izumi tried to form a reassuring smile, "Um, I'll help you..."
Naruto squinted her eyes at her, "Hey, you said you're family with that Shisui guy..."
"Y-yeah! My family ties are closer to Shisui-san than Itachi-kun. But that doesn't mean I'm close with Shisui-san, though! What's with it?"
"Can you just tell the guy the truth? I don't know him at all. Tell him to cancel the date," Naruto squeezed Izumi's shoulders, her face twisted with fright, "Please, Izumi. I don't want to scare him off, dattebayo."
"Naruto-san, I can't really do that, Shisui-san's too intimidating for me..." Izumi blinked, staring at her blue eyes, "wait, by any chance, do you like Shisui-san?"
Naruto's jaw dropped down and promptly glared at Izumi.
"Huh? What do you take me for?" she hotly stated, indignant.
"Oh, that's a no, huh," for some reason, Izumi wasn't sure if Naruto-san was honest just now. But she let it slide, "So, when is the date?"
Naruto's expression set into a deep scowl, "That Shisui guy said..."
"How about tomorrow?"
"Eh?"
Naruto blinked, trying to take in that she was about to go on a date with a stranger. Well, even if she knew the guy's name long before she was pressed to do this confession, she hadn't known his face and what kind of person he was.
Hearing from future-Itachi the small details about Uchiha Shisui made her respect the guy in front of her... just for a little. Now, she didn't really know how she felt towards this guy because she didn't expect for him to reject her and then ask her for a date.
Naruto definitely didn't know what this Shisui guy was thinking. Rejecting a girl and then offering a date? Was this normal?
"I don't really have anything to do tomorrow. What about you?" Shisui stepped forward, closing in on Naruto who tried to subtly back away from him.
"I..." Naruto held in a dismayed sigh and answering with an exaggerated wide smile, "I also don't have anything to do tomorrow."
The jōnin ― how did this younger guy advance into that rank, she really wanted to know ― in front of her sent a small smile, "Really? Well, tomorrow it is, then."
Naruto frantically nodded, anything to get away from this guy. Sooner was preferable than later.
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow, eh..." Izumi tapped her chin, her face set in a deep frown.
Naruto rolled her eyes, "I'm glad, though. With this, I can just say to him that he's not what I'd imagined or some shit like that. That'll work, right?"
Izumi scratched her cheek, "I hope so."
In the end, they shared a forced smile and simultaneously, they sighed.
"I don't blame you, Izumi."
"... thank you, Naruto-san. I'm happy to hear that."
"Well, let's forget about awful girls, confessions, Uchiha guys and stuff!" Naruto cheerfully smiled, "Izumi, have you had lunch today? You see, I've ordered too many ramen takeouts..."
How the heck did this story has received so many reviews (like, how?!) when chapter one is only two hundreds or so words? I don't even have a plan to continue and the reviews just made me feel bad, enough for me to force myself to write this chapter (this is actually a good thing as I like being forced, idk why, I won't be productive about something I really want to do, as I'm lazy, unless someone or something forced me to do it...). I don't really know what I'm doing, so with my limited knowledge in English and poor writing skills, this is made. I hope you'd enjoy this, even with the many mistakes I'd made.