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Disclaimer and blah, blah, blah... Seriously, why do I even bother?

Chapter Twenty Five

That morning, Shinju woke up at dawn as usual. Nobody else was, except for Gaara who was probably meditating at the time. Moments later did she realize that she had to meet up with the only Uchiha in Konoha, making her sweatdrop slightly at the memory of the scene. He most likely didn't even remember anything… Still, just in case, it would be best to meet him at the "usual place" as he puts it. Since it was easier to just leave the compound and not go to the restaurant area, Shinju went to the kitchen and took some snacks for breakfast before leaving.

The "usual place" was where both Hyuuga and Uchiha sparred every other day during the Academy years. It wasn't a well-known place, both having a preference to spaces where they would not be distracted by others and so on. Shinju couldn't see, but she guessed that it was probably a pretty sight before the Uchiha began to fight her there. At the time, he was mostly interested in her skills in weaponry and taijutsu. Despite her lack of other skills, she apparently proved to be enough of a challenge to have Sasuke, well, challenging her when she had the time.

At first, he was doing out of his own benefit, but slowly, it went both ways as both improved with each battle. They had to keep changing battle patterns constantly if they didn't want to be hit and never fought to the point of exhaustion. Since Shinju obviously had duties such as guarding the Hyuuga princess, Sasuke couldn't keep her too long. Even so, they made the best they could out of the situation and somehow ended up with Sasuke teaching Shinju how to do hand signs. How did that happen Shinju was still greatly confused. But, as always, she'll have to make the best out of the situation.

There! That was definitely Sasuke's chakra! So he really meant what he said… Shinju didn't know what kind of teacher one thought that he would make, but she knew that he wouldn't be as kind as Iruka-sensei. No. Way. In. Hell. They were pretty much strangers, but she knew enough to predict that it was going to be a hell of a lesson. Well… At least it only lasts seven days…

"Shinju," he called out. "You're early, I didn't know that you were this excited to begin." She could hear the smirk in his voice. "Sasuke, if you've forgotten, I am blind.'' Shinju pointed at her eyes (or where she thought they were supposed to be, anyway). "How could I tell what time it is?"

"You forget, it's because you're blind that I'm even doing this." Sasuke countered, as though he was right, which he was… but… "If I can't read the time on a clock, how can I know if I'm even on time?"

"Fine, fine," Shinju imagined Sasuke waving his arms around. "You win… this time."

Despite the challenging voice Sasuke used, Shinju just shook her head. She needed him to know some of the conditions to her training anyway… being her so-called new sensei and all… "Hiashi-dono said that I could only train in the morning and that I am to return to the compound shortly after noon to resume my other duties." Well, he didn't exactly say that, but what's the harm? I'll have to return to the compound by then anyways…

"Alright. That's means that we'll have to work extra hard to make this work since I can only train you for a week, may be even less." He went in front of the Hyuuga and took her hands. "I'll guide your hands to form a sign and tell you the name of said sign. You'll then repeat it several times without mistakes and we'll move on to the next one." Shinju nodded, noticing the change in the atmosphere.

"First, we'll start with the easiest ones." His hands were over hers, letting go of her right hand first and folding her left hand's thumb, ring finger and pinky. Then, he put her right hand over the index and the middle finger, wrapping said fingers. "This is "Rat"," Sasuke said. "Now, undo the seal and redo it five times." Shinju did so, with a little difficulty at first. "The next one will be "Tiger"," he decided. "It's like "Rat" a bit so try not to confuse them too much." His hands guided her own again and placed the fingers in the correct position. They repeated that a few times with "Snake", "Monkey" and "Boar". Of course, it didn't take too long and Shinju mastered them without too much difficulty.

"Now that we spent time on that, let's move on." Sasuke said after the last seal. "I'll be saying the sign's name and I want you to execute them as fast as you can. Now, "Monkey", "Tiger", "Snake", "Boar", "Rat"…" Shinju had to keep up as Sasuke's pace went faster and faster. Finally, after more than ten minutes, they stopped. Deeming that they practiced enough in that area, Sasuke once again challenged the blind girl in a spar. They didn't go all out as they wanted to keep part of their moves a surprise and it was only a spar after all. Clashes of blades, kicks, punches flew all over the place. Justsu were also executed (on the Uchiha's part of course) and it went on for Kami knows how long.

By the time they were done, both were panting and sweating heavily. Although it wasn't real training, that spar was very helpful to both. After they rested up a bit, Sasuke made Shinju do the hand signs again, faster and faster until he was satisfied and the speed and her memory of them, making them without any hesitation.

"It's getting near noon," the rookie of the year declared. "I'm getting something to eat. You?"

"Yeah. I should too." Shinju agreed eagerly as her stomach rumbled a bit, but not loud enough for anyone else than her to take notice in it. "I'll return to the compound for lunch then."

"You're coming with me so I can tell you how I intend to train you," Sasuke decided. "I'll tell you what to practice after the lessons too."

"You know that you're technically just mentoring me, right?" Shinju quirked an eyebrow.

She may not have been able to see him, but the Bunke member was quite certain that his silence meant 'You-know-I-don't-care-about-that'. Of course he didn't, that's why he was named Uchiha Sasuke. Without another word, he left her standing, obviously waiting for her to follow. When she did, they ended up having a race of sorts through the trees and finally landed near some restaurants and booths. Looking around, Sasuke led them to a restaurant that was empty.

After they got in, he was about to make them sit down when…

"Oi! Hyuuga-san! Look who we have here!"

Yay! A cliffhanger that's actually worth it! Guess who's screaming? You probably know anyway... So who's the mysterious newcomer then? Just so you know, a total of around two hours were spent on hand signs (Sasuke's somewhat a perfectionist) and the other three hours so were spent on sparring. No breaks. Sasuke's OOC once again, but it's also implied that he's the same a** as before. He's going to become more OOC next chapter. Trust me, you'll love it. I know that I had fun writing it.

After the chapter after the next one though, I'm currently out of ideas. So, if you want to see anycouple scenes between some characters and so on, now's the time. Sasuke will be spending his mornings with Shinju, I'm pretty sure that I will add some Kakashi-Kasumi interaction scenes, but I would like to have an opinion on what kind of interactions? A stroll in the park? A meeting in front of the KIA stone? You choose! I'll just see which one I like better. Since Naru-chan's away, I won't be able to develop NaruHina even if I wanted to... and GaaraShinju comes later on. I will not be spending seve3n chapters describing what happens during Sasuke's lessons though. That would be a bore, seriously.

Anyway, pairings...

Gaara/Shinju 4 (still in the lead... but I'd like some more votes anyway...)

Sasuke/Shinju 1 (if you want this pairing and haven't voted yet, please do so!)

Ino/Sai 1

Naruto/Hinata 1

I might make mistakes in counting the votes, but anyway, this is about it. I think that NaruHina is pretty much official and I really want some more votes because despite the number of views, the votes are only done by a handful of people.

So this is it! Onto the next chapter!