The next day's classes passed by just the same, Itachi tried to kill her during Kunai practice and she returned the favor back to him.

The major shift in the relationship came with the next exam on Wednesday. When Taki handed out the papers, Michi was prepared – she forced herself to feel excited about the exam and readied all her concentration onto it when she began…well almost all her concentration, she glanced across the room at Itachi a few times, making sure she was ahead of him.

When she finished the exam she stood up and Taki's eyes widened as he watched Michi walk towards him and hand the paper in.

Everyone in the room glanced from the blue haired girl to Itachi – he had always finished the exam first…always.

"Michi…" Taki began and then shut his mouth; he didn't want to make her feel embarrassed by asking if it's a joke. He grabbed her paper and quickly marked it, "A perfect hundred – about time," he handed it back to her but she didn't meet his eyes, instead she flashed Itachi a smug smirk as she grabbed her paper and walked out of class with an extra skip in her step.

She could swear that the Uchiha boy was plotting her death in his head.

She found that finishing first wasn't so bad; she got to be the only one in the courtyard, meaning she could lay in the grass and watch the clouds pass as she nibbled her sandwich in absolutely no hurry at all. Well that's what would have happened if five minutes later a boy wasn't sanding over her, blocking her view of the cloud that kind-of, sort-of, looked like a rabbit.

Itachi stared at her as if trying to communicate telepathically, and by his expression he was doing a hell of a lot of insulting.

"I think the word you're looking for is princess," she stated with a lazy smile.

He was really noticing her and Michi wanted to giggle at finally discovering something every other female in the Academy was trying to accomplish.

Suddenly a kunai came from his pocket at lightning speed and landed right under her armpit, "you're not worth my time," he said coldly as he turned to walk away.

And those words hurt a lot more than they should have.

She knew love was insanity; she had already punched him, tried to stab him, and why not try to blow him up?

Before she knew it she was doing the hand symbols for fire jutsu release – she blew out between her thumb and index finger at his back. He vanished a millisecond before the fire reached his location and appeared behind her.

His hand extended out into a shoto into the crevice of her neck but she ducked in time and went on her knees to do a sweeping kick to his legs. He did a back flip and evaded.

She grabbed the kunai he had shot earlier at her from the ground and threw it into his stomach. He pulled out another kunai from his pocket and blocked it out of the way and threw the one in his hand at her.

She twisted her body around, evading it and flowing in a spin in such a way that she was able to hook her finger into the moving weapon and redirect it during her spin back at Itachi.

He had dodged it and appeared beside her in lightening speed, placing an excellent side kick to her hip – too bad she was just as fast as him and side stepped his kick and went into a spinning reverse kick aimed at his stupid perfectly shaped head, he ducked down and directed an open palm into her midsection when he straightened up again.

She blocked it with her forearm and shot an inverted kick at the joint on the side of his kneecap, he twisted his leg in the last moment – avoiding the kick completely as he brought a right hook to her face.

She arched her back all the way, evading the attack and continued to arch her back till one of her hands were on the floor and then she placed all her weight on it as her legs shot up doing multiple kicks towards Itachi's chin. He back flipped out of the way, and both of them landed on their feet at the same time.

Three meters away from one another.

At the exact same moment, they begin to do the fire release jutsu hand seals and blew out with such accuracy that they looked like they were mirroring one another in movements. The initial contact was devastating, causing a powerful explosion between them and propelling both their bodies in opposite directions.

Michi's body went straight into the lockers while Itachi's flew into a tree. Neither was able to land perfectly and suffered injury.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!" Iruka, one of the academy teachers for the normal students screamed rushing onto the scene.

Michi groaned, a lock had indented itself into her back and it was probably one of the most unpleasant feelings of the day. She didn't feel the burn marks on her forearms yet.

Another academy teacher had arrived and was standing in front of Michi, trying to help her up.

"Burn marks on her arm, otherwise she looks fine," the man with a five o'clock shadow shouted towards Iruka.

"Same here!" Iruka shouted back as Michi watched him help Itachi up.

"What were you doing?" the unnamed teacher asked, Michi looked up into the man's light green eyes and smiled as she replied innocently, "playing."

The blue haired girl stood up completely and twisted her back from side to side – it really hurt.

"We have to report you, come on," the man said grabbing Michi's little hand. She mused at the size difference as he tugged her along. She turned her head around to see Itachi, cross armed glaring at her as he walked beside Iruka obediently.

"Itachi, follow Mench, I'll go get a nurse," Iruka said disappearing a puff of smoke as the other man directed them towards the Headmaster's office.

He knocked on the door and a raspy, "enter", was heard on the other side. He opened the door and let Michi walk in first, when the old man saw the blue haired girl he sighed and began his usual lecture, "Michi how many times do I have to tell you not to – Itachi? What is going on here Mench?"

Michi and Itachi took a seat in front of the headmaster's desk. He was one of the older ninjas, in his late 40's, but already sporting graying roots and a white beard.

"We found them in the courtyard fighting, both did a fire release jutsu and we found two sharp kunais in the area. One of the locker bays was completely smashed and the tree in the southwest corner of the courtyard suffered major damage and should be dealt with immediately," Mench listed the findings like a robot.

The headmaster lowered the glasses from his face and placed the book that was in his hand down on his rosemary desk as he stared from one Uchiha to the next.

"You're dismissed Mench," the headmaster waved him away.

"Yes sir, Iruka sent for the nurse – they both have burn marks from the explosion."

Silence ensued after the teacher left and the headmaster seemed to asses both students before him.

"I won't ask why…hell I don't care why… Level Three Detention, today after school. I'm sure both your fathers will not enjoy the news."

Michi's face visible fell while Itachi remained expressionless – except for a tiny hint of distaste that was most likely directed at the blue haired girl.

The rest of the day went the same, though, Kunai practice was worse than usual – both had aimed at vital organs only and Michi had almost missed the kunai that was directed into her throat while Itachi had radiated so much hatred that the people next to him took an extra step away. Both their arms were bandaged up, and everyone knew that something had happened and that something had to do with the reason why the courtyard was off limits for 'construction'.

Gymnastic practice was becoming harder and harder as no one was able to escape clean of any damage.

Chakra control with Tsunade was more fun; she usually replenished all her students with her own chakra which not only made everyone feel better but it also made the class go smoothly. The Slug Princess promised next week to start training them on how to expand their chakra reserves. It seemed as though they were not going to be doing any of the conventional chakra control class assignments.

"Michi, don't forget to go to your Homeroom class," Tsunade said before both girls left.

"Professor Taki wants to talk to you?" Kari asked carefully, her best friend seemed totally worn out for some reason and she knew when not to push buttons. She had already heard the rumor of two upperclassmen fighting in the courtyard – putting two and two together wasn't that difficult.

Michi nodded at the Hyuga's assumption.

Then damnation came, Professor Taki remained expressionless as he lead both students into separate rooms on the top floor. Level three punishments was hell, it was a dark room filled with chakra and you had to sit there and try to not die.

The room wouldn't kill you per say, but it would come pretty damn close. Depending on the room you were escorted into, you would feel any array of punishments; being burned, being suffocated, being whipped all over the body, being eaten alive, being squished into the size of a pebble and more….

Ninja's were masochists.

Michi got the room where she felt like she was being squished into the size of a pebble, and Itachi got the burn room. Both remained silent during their punishment, sitting obediently in the middle of the room, exerting as much protective chakra around their bodies as possible to withstand the most damaging aspects of the pain.

An hour later, Taki opened both doors and his students barely shuffled their feet out. Both pausing and leaning against the wall once outside the room to adjust to their new surroundings where they weren't being tortured. After twenty minutes, Taki motioned for them to follow him.

The professor kept a slow pace as his students dragged their bodies behind him; both were drenched in sweat and had depleted all their chakra resources. Michi was silently blessing Tsunade to every deity she knew for replenishing her chakra before class was dismissed.

The stairs posed the most difficult challenge and neither Itachi nor Michi said anything mean to one another as it took nearly a half an hour for both to get down to the first floor.

"Your fathers are waiting outside," Taki said as he opened the door of the academy and let his students out.

Michi wished to go back into the level three punishment room when she saw her father talking with Fugaku. Itachi seemed to feel indifferent as they walked side by side, inches away from touching.

"Itachi, my boy – how was your first punishment?" Fugaku asked his son as he ruffled his sweat soaked hair.

Muigu picked up his daughter in his arms, "so princess, who kicked whose ass?"

Michi expected a lecture, a reprimanding speech, and a possible sleepless night due to her father's own punishment training. She did not expect her father to pick her up in her arms and call her princess – something he hadn't said since she was 4. She was so stunned she couldn't even form coherent words.

"Muigu, don't be ridiculous – my son obviously won, Sharingan and all, right boy?"

"It was a tie," Itachi muttered looking away.

"Looks like my daughter doesn't need the Sharingan to be a challenge to your boy there, eh?"

They began walking; Michi was still cradled passionately in her father's arms. She wondered if she died in the room, and her distorted imagination envisioned her Shinigami to be Taki, and now she was in heaven.

"No, no, I bet my son was a gentleman and didn't use the Sharingan," Fugaku countered as they crossed the street, "right Itachi?" his father asked rubbing his son's neck.

"Yes."

"Looks like we'll need more training," Fugaku continued giving his son a love tap.

"Itachi better watch out once Michi gets her Sharingan," her father nudged his best friend in the arm.

Michi looked out with her blue eyes, in a total stunned daze – she had forgotten what it was like to be treated like a semi-child by her own father. He hadn't even insulted her pigtails yet.

"Well she has some catching up to do. Itachi can hold the Sharingan out for three hours now."

"Don't you worry about that," Muigu replied with a loud hearty chuckle, as both of their children shot each other unreadable looks, "how's the baby doing?"

"Good, Sasuke looks just like his mother and whines just as much."

The men continued to walk together into the Uchiha compound talking about adult things and meetings – Michi and Itachi had no energy to feign curiosity about such matters.

"I'll see you Friday?" Fugaku asked as they said their goodbyes.

"Yes, my wife and I will be there along with this princess."

Michi and Itachi's eyes fell on one another and Michi could have sworn she saw his hand twitch towards his pocket as if to grab a kunai. She reminded herself to ask her father for his kunai – she wasn't going to be caught weaponless next time.

Muigu walked back to their compound still carrying his daughter in his arms, "you did a good job, headmaster told me you did the fire jutsu. He recommended that you switch partners with some other student during kunai practice but both Fuagku and I agreed that was rubbish. Uchiha's stick together."

She wondered if another hour in the Level Three punishment room was worth her father's semi-praise and acceptance.

"We're going to have to start meditating harder to try to make your sharingan awaken itself."

She decided it wasn't.

A/N: I hope you're enjoying it so far :) Please leave reviews ^^