To Shae Vizla, thanks for the review and I'm glad that you liked the recent chapter. Regarding Misaki and Itachi, they will end up being good friends. How good of friends, well only time will tell. Misaki had been worried about connecting to her much younger peers and Itachi is about as adult-like a child can get. She will be good for Itachi in the sense that she will help him feel more comfortable around his peers. But she is also going to be very between raising haku, taking care of herself, school work, training, etc so she won't have a lot of time to help too much with socializing.
To Moonlily13, thanks for the review :) sorry I should've been clearer but Minato is already dead. Even if he had still been alive, there isn't much as a seven year old that Misaki could've done to change or affect his fate. In the canon, the sealing of the kyuubi happened when Itachi was five. At point in the story, the sandaime is the hokage again. Naruto and the rest of the rookie nine are two years old, Itachi and Misaki are seven, and Haku is four. I haven't made a final decision on who Misaki will ends up with but Itachi is one of the options. As for the Uchiha massacre, I already have in mind what I want to do for regarding that. Misaki's presence will change things but I don't want to spoil it by typing it out here. If you would like hints or to know, I can always tell you via pm but I recommend waiting.
To Shadow of God, thank you again for the review. Misaki is not a genius but she is actually a prodigy. She has not had anyone to compare her progress to so she just hasn't quite realized it yet. I'm trying to not make Misaki too overpowered but in Harry Potter, Draco was noted to be a very talented and powerful wizard only second in brilliance to Hermione. With her intelligence, her past life's magic adding to her chakra pool and her talent she might just end up choosing to take the graduation test this year and graduating as she is already on par with this year's graduating class in some fields. Thanks for the reminder; I realize that there is no real gap in physical strength between men and women in the Naruto world but while Tonomi did start Misaki on physical conditioning, Misaki hasn't learned any chakra reinforcement yet and I'm basing the difference in strength purely on size and age difference. I'm writing off of the premise that before chakra enhancement other than some physical training there is probably little that very young children can do to augment their strength as muscles take years to build. As Taro had more years of physical training, he hits way harder than Misaki. I also had Hana hit harder than other children her age because as an Inuzuka she has had more physical conditioning then the rest of her classmates. Yeah, I have noticed that in some fan fics that some people seem to struggle with too young of children graduating.
To sweetandsimple1, thanks for the two awesome reviews :) I try to proofread my chapters to avoid grammatical errors but I'm sure I definitely missed some xD I'm glad you like my story though. They might meet in the future, but if they do it will be very far in the future. Also thanks for the suggestion, I had read somewhere that the crossover section is buggy so I decided to just post it under the regular Naruto section despite it being a crossover.
To the guest and visitor, thanks for the reviews! Glad that you guys enjoyed reading.
Chapter 7: Secrets Revealed
Misaki watched as the minute hand of the clock slowly inched towards the number twelve. Although her first day in her new class was interesting, she couldn't wait for school to be over. After the bell rings, she was about to make her way out the door when Akira-sensei called her to his desk.
"Misaki-chan, with all the things going on earlier, I forgot to inform you but for second year students and above there is a mandatory hour long Kuniochi class for girls after school ends." He said apologetically. "I know you have a younger brother but I will go inform the preschool that he needs to stay with them for an additional hour. Their daycare services last until five o'clock. If you wish, you can write a note for me to give to him."
Disappointed that she had to wait another hour before picking up Haku, she quickly wrote out a note for Haku before making her way to her kunoichi class. Sitting at the edge of the room in the one of the last empty seats, Misaki expected to be bored as she had been in most of her academic classes.
To her surprise, she actually liked the kunoichi class and found it interesting. The kunoichi teaching the class, Rukia-sensei, was an easy-going woman in her early twenties. Rukia-sensei started off the class by reviewing fire country culture before teaching them the different meanings of flowers. After which she artfully arranges an amazing looking flower arrangement.
Misaki had always enjoyed learning new information and beautiful things so learning about the different aspects of fire country culture and the art of flower arranging was interesting to her. While she didn't plan on being an infiltration specialist, she could see how flower arranging would be useful in conveying hidden messages.
As she headed to Haku's preschool to pick him up, Misaki mused over the day's events. She would definitely need to practice her projectile throwing skills and taijutsu. Where her classmates the day before had been struggling to hit the targets, her current classmates had a sixty to ninety percent of hitting the target and a twenty to forty percent chance of hitting the bulls-eye. With a forty percent chance of hitting the targets and having yet to hit a bulls-eye at all, she was the worst at throwing shuriken or kunai in the class.
Her taijutsu wasn't actually behind her classmates but she was not at the top of the class like she would like to be. Hakka-sensei had mentioned that she could try getting another shinobi to assist her with her taijutsu and opt out of her first two morning classes but Misaki didn't even know who she would ask. Either way, Misaki had already told Akira-sensei that she would be opting out of the two morning academics classes as she had realized after her taijutsu and projectile throwing classes that she could definitely use the extra two hours of training.
Her mother had not taught her all the katas for whichever taijutsu style she had been teaching her, so she would have to learn the standard leaf taijutsu forms from scratch or learn to integrate them into her current style unless she could find a shinobi willing to help her with what she already knew.
Just before she reached Haku's preschool, Misaki passed by a horrible fashion catastrophe of an outfit on a mannequin of a boutique that reminded her of the overenthusiastic but kind shinobi that had brought them to Konoha. Gai-san had said to use the mission assignment desk to find him if they needed any help. While he might not have meant it in a teaching capacity, the worst he could do was say no and if he wasn't well versed in taijutsu then maybe he can recommend someone that would be willing to help her.
Arriving at the preschool, Misaki thanked Tadashi-sensei for watching Haku and then they left to make their way to the mission assignment desk. After reaching the front of the line, Misaki politely said, "Excuse me shinobi-san, but I was told by Maito Gai that if I need to reach him to ask someone at the mission assignment desk. Do you happen to know where he might be right now?"
After an incredulous look and double checking that she for sure meant Maito Gai, the shinobi directed her to try training ground 20. As she and Haku approached training ground 20, all they can see was glimpses of two blurs meeting and bouncing away. The blurs stopped fighting and Misaki was able to see that the two blurs that had been fighting were Gai-san and Genma-san.
"Misaki-chan and Haku-kun, how have you guys liked living in Konoha so far? I'm glad you decided to take me up on my offer for assistance and congratulations on joining the academy! How can I assist you in fanning your flames of youth today?" Gai announced in his nice guy pose with a blinding smile as Genma waved at them in greeting. Knowing that Misaki-nee wanted to talk to Gai about academy stuff, Haku ambled over to Genma and started chatting with him.
"Thanks Gai-san, actually I wanted to ask if you would be willing to give me any taijutsu tips or if you could direct me to someone who would be willing to or has time. I was bumped up to this year's graduating class and while I do know the beginnings of the style of taijutsu my mother had begun teaching me, I do not know any of the standard leaf style nor the rest of the katas for my mother's style. My sensei told me that if I could opt out of my two morning classes and I should try seeking help from a shinobi."
"I could see why that would be an issue. Incorporating two styles into one is a difficult endeavor for someone with little experience with taijutsu. I am honored by your youthful request and as a taijutsu master I would be well suited to help you in your endeavors. However as a jounin, I'm quite busy with missions so I wouldn't be able to help you every day or even set up a routine schedule. But I cannot ignore such a youthful quest to better oneself in taijutsu! So long as long as you promise to put the full force of your youth into learning taijutsu and if you train here at training ground 20 every day between the hours of eight and ten I will try to make it when I can. I will endeavor to make it at least twice a week or I will scale the Hokage Mountain using only my hands and the power of youth! YOSH! Now show me your katas so I can figure out how best to help you fan the flames of your youth!"
Misaki gratefully thanked Gai as Gemna muttered something that suspiciously sounds like good luck under his breath with a wicked smile on his face. Misaki went through the katas she knew as Gai watched and repeatedly made sounds of "hmm" and "I see".
"I do know a style that would be well suited for you. It is not the style that I personally use but I have mastered it to incorporated parts of it into my personal style. My own youthful style I am saving to teach my future apprentice and also it would require the student to focus completely on becoming a taijutsu master. It doesn't seem likely that you are planning on going that route." Seeing Misaki nod, Gai continued, "As I thought. Now I want to see where your endurance and speed is at before I decide on an exercise regimen I would like for you to do daily."
Gai evaluated her speed and endurance before telling her the exercise routine he wanted her complete daily. Misaki thanked him profusely for all his help before she and Haku left the two shinobi to their training. As she was leaving, Gai informed her that he would be free tomorrow morning so tomorrow he would start teaching her the beginning katas.
Weeks passed as Haku and Misaki both settled into a daily routine. In the mornings, Misaki prepared breakfast for them and packed them each a nutritious lunch before walking Haku to his preschool. After she dropped him off, she headed to training ground 20 where she did an hour of her daily physical exercises and then either practiced her throwing skills, her kata, or learned new katas from Gai-sensei. True to his word, they usually met up twice a week with the few exceptions when Gai couldn't make it due to missions.
Thanks to Gai's instructions, Misaki had improved her taijutsu, speed, and agility. The first exercise routine had definitely been very difficult to get accustomed to but after that Gai increased the amount of conditioning at a reasonable rate.
Misaki hadn't realized just how insane Gai was about physical conditioning until a few weeks into his tutelage when she had asked him what he did daily to keep in prime condition. The sheer amount of physical exercise he completed on a daily basis was unbelievable.
One morning after training, she complimented him on his teaching skills and asked if he planned on taking a genin team eventually. Not only did Gai plan on taking a genin team eventually, but he already has a "light" physical routine planned out.
After hearing the regimen he had planned out for them, she felt a twinge of pity for whichever genin team received him as a jonin sensei. He'd be an excellent sensei no doubt and whoever was selected as his genin team would vastly improve under his tutelage.
But getting used to his version of light exercise would take some time. Between that and his youthful personality they would be in for one hell of a ride. Thankfully, even as he increased her daily physical exercise routine it was intense but not near the insanity levels of the "light" regimen he had already prepared for his genin.
After her morning training sessions, Misaki then headed to the academy where she joined her class for projectile training. She had been improving her accuracy with shuriken and kunai and had finally reached the point where she wasn't extremely behind her classmates.
She was still near the bottom of the class rankings when it comes to throwing shuriken and kunai but now she wasn't the worst. She could now hit the target eighty percent of the time and a bulls-eye around twenty percent. Misaki had always been a perfectionist and never had been at the bottom of any class; so at times the slow rate of improvement frustrated her.
Taijutsu class on the other hand, was much more enjoyable for Misaki. On Monday and Wednesdays, the academy teachers taught everyone the standard leaf taijutsu katas. The other three days were usually spent sparring. Her taijutsu wasn't as fluid as her older classmates but she's faster than most of them so she used speed and strategy to win. Among her class, she held the top kunoichi spot in taijutsu but overall she's fourth in the class. Itachi was ranked first overall with Hyuuga Masahi in second place and hana's cousin Inuzuka Shogo in third place.
The formats they used to spar in Taijutsu class vary from one on one to tournament style to teams. Once the teachers even had them all fight at the same time to simulate what an actually battlefield with multiple opponents would feel like. Although chaotic, it was the most fun Misaki had had during school. During the beginning of the mass melee, some of her classmates grouped up to try taking out people in the top of their class taijutsu wise. Masashi declined to work with anyone else and got knocked out a quarter of the way through the battle. Itachi, Shogo, Taro, and she ended up teaming up together against the rest of the class and knocking everyone else out.
During the first few weeks of taijutsu class, Misaki had sparred with each of her classmates at least once with the exception of Itachi. She had even sparred against Hyuuga Masashi, the Hyuuga that she had witnessed Itachi sparring against the first day.
Sparring against Masashi had been an interesting experience. It is the first time she has sparred against an opponent with the same speed as her. It was a good spar and Misaki tried her best but was ultimately unable to beat him without having a speed advantage on her side. While they have the about the same speed, he is stronger than her and his taijutsu is like water in motion. It was obvious he was extremely well trained as he flowed from one move to another without any hesitation.
Fighting against Shogo similarly resulted in defeat. Misaki found that he was slightly faster than her and Masahi but he lacked the deadly grace inherent in Masashi's every move. While he lacks the grace and accuracy of Masashi, he made up for it in ferocity and the excellent teamwork he had with his puppy. Given a few years, Shogo and his dog would be a taijutsu force to be reckoned with.
About a month after the Academy's first day, Misaki finally got the chance to spar against Itachi. Even though she knew he was much better than her at taijutsu, she had been improving through her lessons with Gai and still wanted to gauge her skills against him. Plus even if it was a crushing defeat, it would be fun to spar against her friend.
Ten minutes later, Misaki lays on the ground exhausted. It wasn't quite a crushing defeat. She managed to land a few good hits on him but it was a pretty one-sided spar.
Itachi was by far the fastest and best taijutsu user in their grade. Like Masashi, he fought with no movement wasted and razor edge precision. However while Masashi was fairly predictable, Itachi was unpredictable. He had fast reaction times and made excellent split second decisions.
All in all she had actually yet to see something that Itachi had difficulty with. He excelled at taijutsu, projectile throwing, academics, tactics, and while she had yet to see how he did with genjutsu or ninjutsu she had no doubt that he would probably excel at those as well.
The only thing he seemed to struggle with was interacting with their peers. But in all fairness that could be due to their peers as well as him. Most of their classmates saw him as the Uchiha Prodigy or Uchiha Heir not Uchiha Itachi. After taking the time to get to know Itachi, he was still scarily intelligent but he was also kind and interesting to talk to.
Over the past few weeks of school, he had become friendly with Hana and Taro. Misaki had actually been surprised with how easily Taro conversed with Itachi. Then again she had never met someone as jovial and easy going as Akimichi Taro so she guesses that it wasn't too surprising.
After lunch, their class either worked on genjutsu or chakra control. During genjutsu class, they were taught the basic ways to identify and dispel a genjutsu. Genjutsu class was followed by a short thirty minute lesson on ninjutsu, which so far had covered the types of elemental chakra and review on hand seals. Though Misaki already knew henge and the replacement jutsu, the teachers had yet to teach any E-ranked jutsu. At the end of her day, Misaki attended kunoichi class before heading to pick up Haku from his preschool.
Misaki generally spent most of her time after school with Haku. Even though she was a pretty social person, at the moment she only has three very good friends, Itachi, Taro, and Hana, and a few school friends. Though Haku was an obedient and good child, taking care of herself and another kid was very time consuming. Between taking care of them, spending time with Haku, training, homework, and housework she quite frankly just didn't have the time for anyone or anything else.
Luckily she didn't worry about making time to hang out with Itachi after school because he was almost as busy as she was after school. Though he didn't have sole care of his younger brother like she did, his free time after school was limited. On the seldom times that he was free, they did grab sweets or train together but more often than not he was busy.
As the Uchiha clan heir, his father had a rigorous after school training schedule for him as well as multiple lessons ranging from diplomacy lessons to even tea ceremony lessons. She had once asked Itachi what lessons he takes after school and he had given her a dry look and had said the better question was what lessons I don't have to take after school.
Whereas she usually hung out with Itachi and Taro during school hours and didn't usually hang out with them after school, conversely it is the opposite with Hana. She did make time to hang out with Hana after school as they rarely saw each other during the academy. As a fourth year with mandatory kunoichi classes, she ended school an hour later than the first years so by the time she ended classes for the day, Hana was already gone. Besides even if Hana ended classes at the same time of her, before anything else she needed to pick up Haku.
Sometimes they caught glimpses of each other as they passed in the halls but other than an occasional wave and smile that was the limit of their interaction at school. Usually she hung out with Hana when Haku had a play date with one of his preschool friends or Haku came along with them when they hung out.
The first time Haku met Hana, Misaki found out that he had a pretty intense love of soft and fluffy animals. She had always known he liked animals from seeing him coo over the occasional cat or dog in the streets but when one of Hana's puppies gave him puppy kisses and lolls over onto his back for a belly rub, she could swear Haku literally had hearts in his eyes. It was simultaneously really adorable and slightly scary.
After that meeting, Hana with her puppies became one of Haku's favorite people to spend time with second only to Misaki herself. To Haku, even the friends he had made in preschool pale in comparison to the amazingness of Hana and her dogs. When Hana brought them to her house and introduced them her mother and brother, Haku was about two steps away from never wanting to leave Hana's clan compound.
One day as she was sitting on the porch at Hana's house watching Hana and Haku roughhouse with the Haimaru brothers, Tsume pulled her aside to talk to her.
"I know what you're doing is hard." Seeing the question in Misaki's eyes, Tsume gave an apologetic shrug as she motioned for Hana to bring Haku into the house. "Most shinobi and kunoichi are gossips. The one who processed your citizenship application is an incurable one with low alcohol tolerance."
Horrified, Misaki sat there numb and speechless as she realized the implications of Tsume's words.
"I'm not bringing this up to bring up bad memories. I'm just telling you that the information is out there. You deserve to know." Tsume placed a comforting hand on Misaki's frozen shoulder before fiercely saying, "All I can say is I'm sorry that you guys had to endure that from him. Pack should never turn on pack. When Kiba and Hana's father passed away and I had to raise them without him, it was a struggle even though I was an adult and I had a whole clan to help me. Raising a kid is hard, especially as a kid yourself. Your loyalty and dedication to your brother is commendable. I'm no good with flowery words and shit but basically if you need help just ask."
At Tsume's words and offer of help, Misaki burst into tears, the first tears she had cried since leaving Taku. At first she had held back her tears to be strong for Haku, but after a while all Misaki had felt when she thought about it was numbness.
When she had been interrogated by the immigration worker, she had relayed her story to her. But to the worker, her life had been a list of facts to be checked through for lies. She had understood knowing it was the kunoichi's job. Misaki had sat numbly in the metal chair across from kunoichi as she cross-examined and dissected Misaki's life. Not once had any words of sympathy spilled forth nor any comforting gestures but worse than the lack of sympathy or comforting gestures was that this woman spilled her secrets to strangers.
"Thank you for telling me and for your kind words. Most of all thank you for your offer. If there comes a time when I can help you, just ask. What did she reveal? Do many people know? I don't want to be surprised again later." Misaki said after she was finally able to stop crying.
"I hate to break it to you but most shinobi know. I don't know about civilians. Even before your past came out, you were the genius child prodigy suspected to be on par with one of the greatest Uchiha prodigies to be ever born. Even if you aren't or won't ever be on par with him, people think you have the potential to do so. People know that your father stabbed your mother before dying by her hands. They know that you are a young girl of only seven years of age who was resourceful enough to escape the bloody mists with her four year old brother before making the journey here. That's it. Unfortunately, you're infamous among the shinobi in Konoha right now, not even counting the fact that you guys are possibly two of the last remaining Yuki clan members."
Misaki processed Tsume's words before looking around and realizing that as she had been crying the sun had set. Thanking Tsume profusely before declining her offer for her and Haku to stay over, she collected Haku and they left for their apartment. Despite Tsume's kind offer, Misaki just wanted to be alone.
The next morning after crying her eyes out all night, Misaki felt emotionally drained but much better. She hadn't realized how tightly she had been wound until she had burst into tears at Hana's house. It was only after Tsume said pack doesn't do that to pack that she realized that she had never let go of the anger she had been holding in since she saw Yoshirou's face among the armed villagers. Her other parents who admittedly weren't "good" people had chosen to defy an insane, murderous dark lord risking their lives for their child's safety. Yoshirou had always preached about decency and family. Which made it even worse that he consciously chose to throw their family to the wolves. The bloody hypocrite. She had finally let go of her anger last night as it was holding her back from moving on. While she still had a little residual anger only time would be able to erase that.
About two months after the start of the Academy, Itachi approached his and Misaki's tree with a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. It was lunchtime and while normally he enjoyed the reprieve from training and the opportunity to converse with Misaki, today was not a normal day.
Yesterday when he had arrived home after eating dango, his mother had greeted him with a slightly perkier than normal smile before slyly asking about his day and if he did anything interesting after school. Itachi had given her a faintly curious glance before responding, "School was as usual, Okaa-san. After school, I stopped for a snack and then came home." Knowing something is up but not what, Itachi tried to change the subject. "How's Sasuke? Is he awake right now?"
"Oh? That snack wouldn't have happened to be dango, would it?" Mikoto asked innocently. As soon as his mother mentioned dango, Itachi froze and then flushed bright red. Crap, someone must've seen.
Seeing his blush, Mikoto continued with a playful grin on her face, "I just put Sasuke down for a nap but nice try. Yuna-oba told Shintaro-oji who told Shisui-kun who told me that she saw little Itachi-kun and a female friend having dango together. Of course I told Shisui-kun that it had to be a new friend because my precious little Itachi-kun would never hide a friend from his darling mother." She paused as her lips trembled and jewel-like tears shimmered in her eyes before turning to him, "You wouldn't hide a friend from your poor mother would you?"
Itachi gave up. He already knew that he cannot win against his mother and he knew what she wanted, so he just nodded. "Yes Okaa-san I will invite her over." Instantly the jewel-like tears that had been shimmering in her eyes disappeared and the mischievous grin reappeared as she cooed, "Why Itachi-kun, what a great suggestion! I can't wait to meet my baby's first female friend."
Itachi internally sighed. He hadn't told Shisui about his fledgling friendship with his classmate so he hadn't known that he had wanted to keep it a secret for a little while longer. He hadn't been trying to hide his friendship with Misaki per say, it was just that spending time with her was one of the few reprieves he had from his duty as the Uchiha heir. He could be himself around her. Their friendship was one of the few precious things that were truly just his.
He had known that once his parents learned of their friendship they would want to meet her and his family can be intimidating to say the least. Misaki didn't seem like she scared easily but she was his first friend outside of the clan and he had wanted to protect her from their scrutiny.
Aside from the intimidation factor, his father had been deeply interested by the fact that there was another prodigy his exact age in his class. He constantly asked what her ranking was compared to his and how she measured up to him as well as pushed him to make sure he stayed stronger than her. As soon as his father realized that his new friend was her, he was bound to want to see them spar, converse with her to gauge her intelligence, or to question her to determine her "worthiness".
Itachi knew that his father would be impressed by Misaki's talent and intelligence as well as cheered by the fact that she was nearly on par with but not stronger than him. In his father's eyes, he was mostly sure that he would approve of Misaki and think that she will make an excellent sparring partner. But he was not one hundred percent sure and he had also wanted to spare her the interrogation for as long as possible.
Itachi already knew that his mother would like Misaki. His only concern with his mother was whether or not she would bring out any of the huge albums of baby pictures that she is so fond of sharing with everyone.
Looking across to Misaki from where he was sitting on his normal branch, Itachi glumly asked, "Are you free today? My parents would like to meet you."
Misaki raised an incredulous eyebrow at the seriousness in his voice. "Sure. Is that why you walked over here like you were meeting your executioner?"
"Aa, it's just… if my father is there don't be surprised if he interrogates you." Itachi finished solemnly.
Misaki nodded before she processed Itachi's words. "Wait… what? Repeat that again?"
"Not literally interrogate you but my father is likely to question you. He has been extremely curious about the other prodigy in my class. I apologize in advance." Itachi repeated patiently as if what he was saying was nothing out of the ordinary.
Misaki blinked twice before confidently telling Itachi, "Don't worry about it. I'm not worried. If your father questions me, I'll answer any of his questions."
Afterschool, Misaki picked up Haku from the preschool before dropping him off at Hana's house. After Itachi had asked her to meet his parents, she asked Hana if she would mind babysitting Haku for bit.
At home Itachi wondered if perhaps he should have mentioned to Misaki that his dad was the police chief. She had said not to worry but he was worried. His father could be quite intimidating and he took a long time to warm up to people. Even if she impressed him, he still might not like her.
He glanced at the clock when suddenly he realized he didn't give Misaki directions to his house. It would make a terrible first impression if she was late. In a state of panic he raced out of his house. He was about to exit the clan compound in search of her when he passed by her standing at the entrance. Meeting her mirth-filled eyes, he blushed lightly in embarrassment knowing that she could tell he had just realized that he forgot to tell her his address and been about to race right past her.
As she greeted both of his parents respectfully and they all sat down for tea and snacks, he noticed the way she was carrying herself was slightly different than normal. Itachi had noticed that she usually had good posture and confidence but this was different. There was a certain elegance and artful grace to her movements and gestures that didn't stem solely from shinobi training. She was exuding a calm confidence without seeming overly arrogant. If Itachi didn't know better, he would think that she had been born and raised in a noble clan, trained from birth to deal with situations like these.
As her father not so subtly questioned Misaki, Itachi witnessed a different side to Misaki that he had never seen. He had always known that she had strong people skills as he had seen her soothe fellow classmates or stop arguments skillfully.
But never on this level, Misaki was very eloquent and a witty, skilled charmer. She was sweet without being a pushover, firm without being overly obstinate and bold without being disrespectful. Her answers and responses were just the right mix of politeness, charm, and silk covered steel.
She wasn't attempting to manipulate or lie to his parents but with how expertly she won them over, he wondered how skilled she was at manipulation. If she wasn't already, with her charisma she will be a very persuasive manipulator in the future which will be a very useful and deadly skill.
As his father laughed at something Misaki said, Itachi could see why she hadn't been worried earlier. Misaki was completely in her element as she flawlessly charmed both of his parents. Though someone who didn't know his father well might not be able to tell, Itachi could tell that he was not only impressed by Misaki but that he actually liked her.
After Misaki declined her parents' dinner invitation and she left to go pick up Haku, his father turned to him with one corner of his mouth still turned slightly up in a semblance of a smile before saying, "I approve. She's a very intelligent girl with a good head on her shoulders. She'll make a good sparring partner and friend. Bring her over for a spar sometime."
Hearing his father not only approved of Misaki as a good sparring partner but also as a friend, Itachi smiled happily as he played with Sasuke.
A few days after Misaki met his parents, it was Itachi's birthday. He had the birthday party his clan threw for him on his actual birthday, June 9th, so he didn't celebrate with his friends until the day after.
Misaki was throwing him a birthday party at his apartment and told him to bring whomever he wants. Now that the clan already knew about Misaki, Itachi decides to bring his best friend, Shisui, with him.
"So your friend really made a good impression on your parents. During your birthday party I heard Mikoto-oba gushing about how sweet, intelligent, and charming she is to Yuna-oba. I can't wait to meet the girl who befriended and melted your icy heart." Shisui teased as they made their way to Misaki's apartment.
Itachi shot Shisui a dark look. "Don't think I've forgotten that you're the one who told my mother. You know how she gets."
"Itachiii, how could I ignore the fact that you were on a cute play date with a classmate! Your mother would have found out from Yuna-oba eventually, I just happened to get delicious cookies and brownie points for telling her." Shisui whined as he placed an arm around Itachi's shoulders. "Besides it all turned out for the best, right? Since your parents like her, you can train or hangout with her during your free time if you want. Heck, didn't your father even tell you to invite her over for a spar? If Fugaku-oji is inviting someone over during your precious training time, he definitely likes them."
Itachi sighed. Shisui was right. "Just don't do anything embarrassing, ok?"
At Itachi's words, an evil grin appeared on Shisui's face. "AWWW, does Itachi-chan not want his big bad cousin to embarrass him in front of his little girlllll friend?"
"She's not my girlfriend." Itachi face palmed. He shouldn't have said anything. He knew how Shisui got.
"Maa, Itachi lighten up. I won't embarrass you on your birthday. After that, of course, as you know it is free game." Shisui replied as they reached the front door of Misaki's apartment and knocked.
Misaki opened her apartment door and Itachi introduced her to his cousin before they walked in. Hana, Taro, and Haku were already in the living room. Once everyone was seated at the table, Misaki brought out a pretty white cake with eight candles on it. After they sung Happy Birthday and Itachi blew out his candles, Misaki sliced a piece for Itachi. As she was about to cut another slice for the next person, Shisui craned his head curiously as he inspected the cake. "I think there's something wrong with the cake. There's a hole in the middle. Is there supposed to be a hole in the middle?"
"Of course there is a hole. It's a chiffon cake. There is always a hole in the middle, sometimes with cream inside." Misaki nonchalantly replied as she continued slicing pieces for everyone else.
"Huh, what's a chii fon cake? I've never heard of it before." Shisui replied as he continued to inspect the cake fascinated.
Misaki was momentarily speechless. Did they really not have chiffon cake in this world? Had the people of this world really not discovered nor been able to enjoy the deliciousness of a fresh moist and airy chiffon cake with fresh cream. Perhaps it was just that Itachi's cousin was an uncultured heathen. But looking around the room at the other confused faces, she realizes it wasn't so. "Hmm, must not be common in this area, I guess? Just try it, it is really good."
Itachi took a bite out of the chii fon cake and savored the rich chocolate flavor of the moist and light cake topped with delicious fresh cream. He was amazed how well the chii fon cake and fresh cream go together and how delicious the cake was as he made quick work of his slice. Looking around the room he saw similar expression of delight on everyone's faces. Taro had even already finished his slice and gotten a second one.
As Taro started on his second slice, he stopped eating long enough to ask, "Where did you buy this cake from? It's delicious. I have to tell my parents where to get it from."
Misaki was about to explain but Haku beat her to the punch as he chirped out, "That's silly, nee-chan didn't buy the cake. She made it!"
Four pairs of surprised eyes turned towards Misaki as her friends and Shisui complimented her baking skills.
"So is there really is supposed to be a hole in the chii fon cake? Or was it an accident? You know, if you don't end up being a ninja, I'd definitely suggest going into baking."
One of Misaki's eyes twitched at Shisui's comment as Itachi bopped his cousin on the head as he deadpanned, "Please excuse my cousin, he has always been a little weird."
She laughed at both of their comments and Shisui's pout before drawling out that yes, she was sure about the hole and that it was actually pronounced chiffon.
As Misaki was about to ask Itachi what he wanted to do, Shisui pulled out a deck of cards. With a mischievously smile on his face he asked, "Have any of you ever heard of a game called poker?"
An hour and a half later, only Shisui and Misaki were left in the poker game. They had been using candies and snacks as poker chips. Taro had chosen to scarf down his poker chips as he was playing so he had been the first person knocked out. Hana had been the second. As for Hana… Misaki felt that for her own sake she should probably never play poker for serious stakes. Between no poker face and a penchant for impulsive bets, Hana playing poker was a recipe for disaster. Like taro, Itachi had also chosen to eat his pile of "chips". He had eaten them at a slower rate and managed to win a few hands and replenish his stash. But as he was more interested in sampling and eating the various sweets and snacks than winning, he eventually got knocked out too.
Misaki had a large pile of "chips" and shisui currently had no chips left. There was an ace of hearts, a three of spades, an eight of clubs, and a pair of tens on the table. Shisui had gone all in on their current hand and Misaki had called his bet. Shisui flipped over his cards. "Read them and weep. Ten full house."
Seeing his cards, Misaki's poker face dissipated as a shit-eating grin appeared.
"An ace full house!? You started with pocket aces? So you had trips as soon as the flop came out… I can't believe I just lost in poker to a seven year old." Shisui wailed at the sight of her cards and Misaki's smug grin.
After the poker game, Hana and Taro headed home and it was just Shisui, Itachi, and Misaki. As they were about to leave, Misaki offered them the leftover cake to bring home to their family.
"Thank you, my parents will enjoy it. My brother does not like sweets though." At Misaki's appalled expression, Itachi continued in all seriousness, "I know, I don't understand it either. When I found out, for a split second I wondered how it's possible that we were related."
As Itachi headed home with Shisui, he couldn't shake the small smile that kept appearing on his face. Despite having much larger or grander birthday parties before, that was the first time someone outside the clan had thrown one for him. Celebrating his birthday surrounded by friends was a memory he would always cherish.
