I don't own Naruto.

After school on Wednesday, a day after Shisui had asked Naruto to be friends, said Uchiha was waiting outside of the Academy by the swing Naruto often sat on.

Naruto didn't understand why her masked face immediately burned like peppers, but it was vexing nonetheless. Her shoulders hunched and she hiked her backpack further up her left shoulder where one of the straps was resting, while the other one hung, empty.

She scurried over, as fast as her long skirt would allow her to move.

"What are you doing here?" She hissed when she was a foot away from him.

Shisui grinned.

"Whaddyou mean?" He chuckled. "I came to pick you up of course. If we're gonna hang out, we have to get to know each other and stuff. So I thought I'd come see you since I've got time off."

"What part of don't want or need friends did you not get?" Naruto snarled.

He appeared way too amused for a person that was being glared at so intensely.

"C'mon Naruto what's the harm?" He asked, giving her a winning smile.

Too bad for him she was about as easy to persuade as a mule.

"You can't just show up here." Naruto huffed, crossing her arms. "Don't you get how creepy this is? I barely know you!"

"That's why I'm here," He said patiently. "So I can get to know you, and you can get to know me."

There was literally something wrong with him. Why would he want to know her? Why would he want to be her friend? Did he have any common sense at all? Was he really so oblivious?

'Wait…' Naruto thought, eyes widening slightly before she caught herself.

That must've been it. He didn't know. He didn't know what the grownups around the village seemed to know about her. The thing that made her a taboo presence that not even she was aware of.

"You know that even if you weren't stalking me before, you are now." The blonde growled.

Shisui just looked at her innocently.

'I'll show you…' The blonde thought. 'See if you can smile like that after I'm done with you.'

Naruto was sure that even if he never knew specifically what others seemed to, as long as he knew that there was something to be wary of, she could get him to back off.

"Okay," She said suddenly, eyeing him. "You wanna hang with me? Fine. Come on Uchiha."

Shisui perked up, obviously skeptical about her sudden change of heart.

'I guess he isn't as dumb as he acts is he?' She thought dryly.

Naruto briskly made her way into the center of the village, all the while Shisui kept pace with her at her side.

"Naruto where are we going?" He finally asked. "What's the rush?"

Just to contradict him, because yes she was a little petty like that, Naruto stopped abruptly.

People bustled about around her and Shisui as they stood in the center of the road, moving towards wherever it is they needed or wanted to be.

Naruto took a breath, and then she opened her shields, intentionally allowing her perception to widen, so that she could feel the emotions of others.

They were standing in the middle of the market district, so everyone that was moving down the road could pretty much see them.

And then when people began to recognize her, she felt it. Different levels of dislike, it prickled at her skin, giving her goosebumps. She could also read hints of curiosity and dismissal in the atmosphere, but she ignored those elements and searched specifically for what she had spent most of her short life running from.

A slimy, sludge like sensation slithered down her back, and something burned her.

'There…!' She thought, stepping into the path of a plump older woman dragging a small child along; probably her grandchild.

"Hello," Naruto greeted, as sweetly as she could muster without making herself gag. "How's it going?"

"Ugh!" The woman exclaimed, as if she had come across something nasty at the bottom of her sandal.

Naruto suppressed a shiver when the woman's cold eyes sliced into her face.

Disapproval. Dislike. Wariness. Sadness. Hatred.

"So you're having a bad day?" Naruto asked her kindly.

The woman harrumphed, turning her nose up at Naruto and storming away, muttering to her young charge.

"Stop staring at that girl Rina."

"Yes Nana." The child murmured.

Shisui looked at Naruto, his dark brows furrowing in confusion, but obviously offended at the woman's behavior on Naruto's behalf.

'Not yet it looks like.'

He didn't see it yet. But he would. She would make sure of it.

Naruto stepped in front of someone else when she sensed that same horrible emotion oozing out of him.

"Sup." Naruto waved.

"Move freak." He snarled, shoving past her and continuing on his way.

Naruto let it roll off of her back, until she felt something that was familiar when someone recognized her, but not entirely common.

It stuttered over her skin, unwelcome, a hair raising sensation that made her aware of her own heartbeat. Fear. This person was afraid of her.

The blonde stepped into an older man's path, peering at him through her shaggy bangs, knowing her unblinking stare came off as entirely menacing.

"Yo." She greeted quietly.

The old man jolted, holding his suddenly quaking hands up in a disarming manner as he looked anywhere but into her eyes.

"L-look, I don't want any trouble, alright?" He stuttered.

"What's the matter?" She drawled. "Don't wanna stay for a chat?"

"P-please! I don't want any t-trouble!" He exclaimed, sweat lining his receding hairline.

When Naruto continued to stare, he simply flinched again and practically ran to get away from her. She didn't turn to see him flee.

Naruto continued to do this, stepping before people and greeting them kindly for several minutes until her behavior caught the attention of the people and vendors loitering about.

"What is that girl doing now?"

"Hey, isn't she the…?"

"Shh! We're not supposed to talk about it!"

"That girl is bad news."

"Bad luck."

"You should stay away from her!"

"You don't have to tell me twice…"

Naruto closed herself off, shutting herself away from the truth in the hearts of the people around her, hiding behind her shaggy bangs and her shields as her lips pursed behind her mask.

When the blonde composed herself, she looked up, right into Shisui's eyes.

"You get it?" She asked quietly, but she knew he could hear her just fine.

She knew he noticed the way the people walking down the street parted around her like a river around a rock.

"If you won't listen to me not needing or wanting them, then maybe you'll listen to the word shouldn't." She said. "I should not have friends."

Shisui just stared, speechless, though his expression wasn't exaggerated in any way. It was just calm in a grim sort of manner, like he realized something was helpless and that reacting strongly would make no difference.

'Good.' The blonde thought. 'That's what I wanted. I wanted him to look at me like that. I wanted him to know.'

Naruto gave a self depreciating grin. And though Shisui couldn't see it, she knew he noticed the way that her eyes crinkled at the corners, and the way her cheeks rose. She knew he would be aware of the fact that grinning at such a time could not mean anything good.

"After all," Naruto went on. "I'm bad luck."

With that, she turned around and went home.

It was Thursday, the very next day, and once again after school.

Naruto left the Academy once again with no detention, intent on making her way home to review some fūinjutsu notes she'd been studying after she realized she wasn't going to get to test out the chakra storage seal. She was curious about forming her own seal. The fifth journal encouraged her to brainstorm making her own seal that wasn't too over thought. Something simple that would help her personally and wasn't too complicated. This exercise would help her in the long run on forming more complicated theories of her own and creating her very own master seals.

She was so in her head about her new ideas that she didn't even notice when she strolled past her favorite swing and someone called her name.

"Hey anybody in there?"

Naruto gave a short, startled shriek at the voice right next to her ear, moving before she even knew what she intended to do. The blonde blinked and found her wrist caught in a firm hold. Once again her bokutō was held harmlessly between her own body and Shisui's.

He snorted, raising a brow slightly.

"Startled you huh?"

Naruto sputtered.

"N-no!"

"Uh huh, and you just attack people for no reason right?"

"S-shut up!" Naruto blushed. "I'll kick your a-"

"Okay, good to see you too buddy!" Shisui chirped, interrupting her.

The blonde huffed and snatched her wrist from his grasp, flipping her sword around and sliding it into the back of her jacket. She hunched her shoulders slightly as she began walking again, as if trying to hide between them. But this didn't hide the flames caught on her ears.

Shisui laughed quietly at her, walking beside her calmly. The duo got a few paces down the street away from the Academy before Naruto realized what was happening.

'Wait. Wait a minute… What the!?'

The blonde moved so that she got in front of Shisui, whirling around so that she could face him and force him to halt his stride.

"You…!" She began, feeling so hopelessly frustrated and confused that her face went entirely red with the force of her emotions. "What are you doing here?"

"What? I can't walk around the village?" Shisui asked innocently. "I live here too you know."

"Don't give me that you, you weirdo!" Naruto spluttered, gesturing at him violently. "You know what I'm talking about so stop trying to be cute."

"I'm not." He said, suppressing a grin. "I really was just taking a walk and the next thing I know I'm here."

So that's how he wanted to play it? Fine, he could play by himself because Naruto wanted no part of it.

"Fine." Naruto deadpanned, managing to compose herself. "You're right. You live here too. You can walk around and go where you want. So I'm gonna do the same thing and go away from you."

She turned away and began her trek towards home.

"C'mon Naruto why do you have to be so mean?" Shisui complained, exasperated, as if he was as fed up as she was.

The nerve. But at least she was finally getting him to react as anything other than patient and amused. Maybe if she got on his nerves enough he'd take a freaking hint, or a slap to the face. Anything that would work really.

"Because I'm mean!" Naruto spat, stopping again and facing him. "That's just how I am. So no matter how curious you are, how patient you are, or how nice you are, I'm not going to be different. Don't you get it? I'm a mean, violent, and rude person! I like being alone. I want to be alone. It's better for me and for everybody if I just stay that way. So could you just knock it off and let me?"

At some point, she'd begun shouting, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to look at him, so she had trained her eyes on his feet as her posture became more and more defensive, her hands curled into trembling fists at her sides. At some point she had squeezed her eyes shut, and her shoulders had hunched to protect her.

Naruto didn't care if she was causing a scene. She didn't care if some of her classmates looked back at her, or if some shook their head, witnessing her being hostile to yet another innocent person.

Naruto's eyes were still screwed shut, and her lips were pinched, trembling behind the cover of her mask. She heard Shisui shift, and she grimaced, as if she expected him to strike her, but she was surprised to feel a warm weight on top of her head.

Naruto's eyes flew open, and she looked up, as the Uchiha had a few inches over her, surprised to find him giving her a soft look as he slowly patted her head.

The only person who had ever patted her head the way Shisui was doing was her Jiji. And it had always comforted her, or made her feel warm when he told her 'good job'.

Shisui wasn't saying 'it's okay' or 'good job', but even still Naruto felt warm and comforted.

This stranger, looking at her in a way that she couldn't really understand, and patting her head so gently made her feel better than anyone had in a long time.

Naruto moved swiftly, as if she was going to punch him with all her might, but at the very last second, she stopped herself, so that her fist connected softly with the center of his chest. The whole time, he hadn't flinched, and his soft expression changed, one eyebrow raised as if daring her to hit him, but not threatening her in any way.

He'd known as soon as she'd moved that she wouldn't hit him. The prick.

'You just think you're so smart don't you?' Naruto thought, not truly miffed.

They both stood there for a moment, Shisui's hand on her head, and her fist pushed against his chest.

Naruto took a deep breath, tearing her gaze away from his to look down and blink away the humiliating stinging sensation in her eyes.

She pulled her fist away from him, gently knocking his hand off of her head, looking up and away from him as she crossed her arms.

"Don't touch me." She grumbled, most definitely not pouting. Seriously. She did not do that. It was gross.

Shisui smiled and pulled his hand back, shoving it and his other one into his pants pockets.

"Alright alright." He murmured. "You win Naruto."

"If I won you'd be in Kumo and would never come back." The blonde muttered, walking off.

"You know, that really hurts Naruto." Shisui said, his tone not at all wounded. "I'd think you didn't like me."

"I don't." She huffed, walking just a bit faster.

"Oh but I know better." The Uchiha chuckled, skipping a bit to catch up.

"You don't know anything." Naruto complained. "That's the problem. You're an idiot who doesn't know when to quit and you have zero common sense."

"Maaaaybe," Shisui sang, his tone telling of his amusement. "But you still like me don't you? You think I'm interesting."

"No, I don't." Naruto denied, feeling her ears heat. "I can't stand you. You're annoying."

"And interesting."

"No."

A huff.

"Yes."

A grin.

'This moron is really something else.'

And so, "Shut up Shisui." was her response.

"Ah ha!" He exclaimed, alarming her so much that she looked at him and his wide grin as he pointed at her. "You said my name instead of calling me one. That's progress. You like me Naruto."

"No I don't!" She squeaked, picking up her pace. "Shut up and piss off would you?"

"No way." Shisui laughed, delighted. "You like me so I can't leave now."

"Kami, why do you torture me?" Naruto whispered, looking up as if directly addressing an entity hidden in the clouds.

Shisui just huffed in good humor, keeping pace with her as she made her way to the training grounds.

Naruto… she did not understand what was happening, and she didn't know if she wanted to stop it.

'Just this once.' She told herself. 'I'll let him stick around just this once.'

Naruto wondered why that felt like a lie.

She also wondered why she didn't really mind the truth.