"Hiashi's out of commission until his leg heals," Hizashi explained, knowing full well Fugaku was about to ask him why the other twin didn't report for duty. "Do you know anyone who would be willing to work with us on a few missions until he recovers?"
This was problematic, but not exactly unprecedented. Fugaku knew all about being on-call. He and Mitsumi both served such a role before Nawaki came along. He knew a few other people like that. "There's a girl in my clan training to join the Konohagakure Military Police Force. She already cut ties with her team."
That caught Hizashi's attention. "Don't her parents have to sign off for her to do something like that?" He was even more curious when Fugaku nodded his head. "They were fine with it?"
"They didn't even hesitate," Fugaku admitted. "Both of Yuka's parents are Police Force Lieutenants," not to mention Kazusa's left and right hands. "Even my mother didn't try to talk her out of joining." If anything, he suspected she welcomed Yuka with open arms.
"How old is she?"
"She's a year older than me," and she had a reputation for being strong, proud, and competitive. "So if you don't mind working with a thirteen-year-old girl who could kick your–"
Hizashi laughed, giving Fugaku an elbow to the ribs. "I'd like to see her try."
…
It didn't take much imagination to figure out where Uchiha Yuka went to train. Her parents emphasized that kendo was a skill they very much wished to pass down to their daughter, so they enrolled her in a dojo three times a week to practice with a master expert. Every match, she became quicker and deadlier…and prouder, considering she'd invited Mikoto along to watch the spar.
Just in case things turned ridiculous (as Yuka loved to gamble), Fugaku asked Hizashi to accompany him along for this request. Mikoto merrily waved at the two boys and gestured for them to watch the match with her.
"Are you Fugaku-nii's teammate?" Mikoto inquired, beaming as the boy nodded. "Nice to meet you! I'm his favorite person in the clan. Yuka-senpai's, too." There was an impish smile on her face as she noticed Fugaku squirm. "I'm everyone's favorite."
"She's not," Fugaku whispered to Hizashi, who found it difficult to contain his amusement. "Mi-chan's–"
"Enough with the chit-chat already. You're distracting me!" Yuka playfully barked from the center of the room. She performed a couple of fascinating maneuvers with her wooden practice sword, clearly showing off by spinning and twirling the practice weapon with the dexterity of a master. Mikoto was entranced, eyes locked on Yuka's every motion.
Fugaku observed with his sharingan on, knowing damn well Yuka didn't know he'd activated it. Hizashi noticed, however, and nudged him. A devious little smile threatened to break through on his face because he could already see where this was going.
"So," Yuka called out as she briefly propped herself up with her practice sword. "Why is Kazusa-taichou's beloved son here? Did you come here to watch me win or simply to throw off my A-game?"
'Arrogant girl,' Fugaku thought, but that was part of her charm. Yuka was ambitious. He liked that. Not to mention she dressed and acted slightly older than she actually was, which also intrigued him. The pierced ears, heavy eye makeup, dark lipstick, and dyed blue streak in her hair gave her a trendier appearance than Kaede, who was more traditional and delicate.
As cool as he thought she looked, her confidence burned the brightest. "I came here to ask if you'd want to temporarily join my team. Hizashi's brother broke his leg on our last mission and needs to recuperate before he returns to service."
Yuka didn't answer right away, mostly because the dojo master came at her with his sword. She blocked it, swearing something under her breath about distractions. "Did you talk to your old teammate first? She's able-bodied and–"
"I'm giving Shinohara her space." It was the kindest thing he could do for Mitsumi, he felt. If all his presence did was cause her further grief, then he needed to give her time to mourn without him around to make things worse.
"GO, SENPAI, GO!" Mikoto cheered, shaking her fists with excitement.
The finale was enough to leave Fugaku speechless. Yuka and her master charged at each other, ready to clash. She hit the old man's practice sword with enough force to splinter it, breaking it in two. From there, she spun around and got him in the lower back. She was fast, dangerously so.
"I'll admit it. I'm impressed," Hizashi confessed. "Her Taijutsu is very impressive."
"So's my Ninjutsu!" Yuka boasted, holding her sword up in the air. "I bet I could match your Gentle Fist with this thing! Wanna give it a go?" Hizashi folded his arms and scowled. Clearly his admiration for her took a huge blow by hearing such a rude, boisterous suggestion.
Fugaku stepped forward, feeling his own ambition threatening to boil over. "I want to propose something else. Give me a practice sword."
"Get it yourself. I'm not taking orders from you until you're clan head," Yuka retorted, pointing to the corner of the dojo. "Go on. They're right over there." Fugaku moved to grab two, offering Yuka a new one to practice with, and made the stance. "The hell, Fugaku? You don't practice kendo."
"I know that, but you make it look so easy," he teased, knowing that insulting the difficulty of her mastery would rattle her. Yuka's eye twitched. "How about we place a wager on the outcome of this match? If I defeat you, you'll take Hiashi's place on my team until he recovers."
Yuka's entire face seemed to go alight, flush with an opportunity to fight the future leader of her clan. "Deal," she agreed, "but if I kick your ass, you're taking me on a date."
Mikoto gasped, covering her mouth. Her eyes were wide open in mock-terror. Inside, that child was wickedly amused. Hizashi, on the other hand, rolled his eyes and muttered something about bossy girls being a major turn-off.
Fugaku saw this as an opportunity to teach Yuka a lesson in humility, but also a chance to see how well he'd come with using his sharingan since August. "I'm ready whenever you are."
"Your move, your highness," the Uchiha girl jeered, blocking his first action with ease. "Aw, you're predictable! I could probably take you down with one arm tied behind my back!" And to be a pain, she blocked him again. And again. "Tell me when you start taking this match seriously. Then I'll give my all."
Hizashi watched the toy swords fly, finding it difficult to keep up with Yuka's motions. That girl had studied this for years, apparently. Fugaku looked to be an ill-matched amateur by comparison, but Hizashi knew his teammate well enough by now to know how this would end…or at least what Fugaku's strategy was.
"Ne, Hizashi-san? Who are you rooting for?" Mikoto asked, tugging on the boy's black sleeve. "Fugaku-nii or Yuka-senpai?"
"I believe in my friend, Mikoto-chan. What about you?" The little girl gestured for him to put his ear to her mouth so she could whisper something. "…ah. I see. That's why she's acting that way…"
"Try harder, would you!? You're insulting me!"
"Then how come you haven't hit me yet?" Fugaku countered. Now was the time to take action. Yuka was good and annoyed by now. She'd attack, he'd match it with the sharingan, and show her that–
Shit. She had it, too.
…
Hizashi wandered off to get Fugaku an ice pack for his bruised neck. Yuka straightened up the practice swords, shaking her head and murmuring her annoyances under her breath. Fugaku clearly heard "cheat" and "easy win" and "crutch" in Yuka's half-private conversation with herself.
The older girl eventually marched over to the two boys, arms folded. "I'll back up Hiashi until his leg's better," she conceded. "I know I said I wouldn't do that unless I lost, but…" The girl shrugged her shoulders. "I want you to know that I'm deeply disappointed in you."
"Why? Because you won?" It was slightly disturbing how a little makeup could make Yuka's eyes all the more scary when she glared. Her eyes narrowed even more and Fugaku noticed a slight snarl come from those plum-painted lips. "What is it?"
"You cheated," she hissed. "I intentionally keep my sharingan off unless I'm in real combat, and do you know why?"
No, but he had a feeling she was going to tell him anyway.
"The sharingan's a crutch. Any Uchiha who solely relies on it won't remember how to perform what they copied in the past if they're blinded or compromised. It cheapens all the hard work and effort we put into muscle memory. I've studied kendo since I was in kunoichi preschool and you treated it like a joke."
Her fingers were cold when she placed them to his face, lifting his jaw so he could look her in the eye. "You'll be leading our clan someday, but let me make something clear. I'm only going to kneel to an admirable leader, not some sneaky cheat who looks for easy ways to win."
"I take this to mean you don't want me to take you on that date, then?"
"Oh, you're still doing that, but it's going to be three times more expensive than I originally planned."
…
She was the highest ranking female officer active in the KMPF. Yuka carried the armband of a police lieutenant and wore it with great pride, having climbed the ranks to take over the Vice department. Most of the men were intimidated by her and walked in the opposite direction if they saw her coming. Fugaku didn't. Typically, the two of them would smirk at each other, grumble a couple of insincere insults under their breath, and part ways.
Today, he'd invited her to meet him outside to propose something during her smoke break. "Those are murder on your lungs," Fugaku pointed out.
Yuka snorted out a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Dying's part of the whole shinobi experience, Fugaku. I don't think a little cancer stick's gonna be what kills me. What did you want to discuss?"
"Yukari." Her daughter, in other words. "Yashiro brought to my attention that he'd like to see her marry into my family someday." Just to mess with her, he added one teasing quip to see her reaction. "I told him Sasuke's too young."
"You're fucking around with me again." Whenever Yuka was irked, her tone tended to carry a slightly threatening edge to it: like a cat growling that it was tired of being picked up. If a joke went too far, she could be downright terrifying. It was one of many reasons their relationship didn't last. "You want to put her with Itachi?"
"I'm on the fence about that," he confessed. "Yashiro's more for it than I am, but he had my ear." Fugaku didn't know how to break it to her, but Yukari didn't have all the traits he wanted in a potential daughter-in-law. She was a nice girl and very pretty, but not very bright. A girl like that was going to be an ill match for his son.
"Were she more like you, then perhaps, but…" He shook his head. "I'm giving my son the option to select his own wife, provided she's within the clan. I refuse to give your daughter preferential treatment, just because she's yours."
"You mean to tell me she'll have to win him over in her own right?" Yuka took a long drag from her cigarette, letting the tobacco smoke fill her lungs. "Good."
Her reaction amused him, as did other parts of her personality. This woman, perhaps more than anyone else in the clan, had always believed from the bottom of her heart that merit paid off in the end. Hard work, talent, dedication, and effort would be put into consideration and the most qualified and deserving person would come out on top.
But it hadn't been Fugaku who proved her wrong in this regard. Mikoto was.
"Your boys deserve the best. If my daughter isn't the best, then she shouldn't have either one of them. Was there anything else?"