Itachi never meant to get attached.

But he kept coming over anyway.

The first time was confusing. Katsu looked confident at that time, leading him towards an alleyway. It was something he had never seen on her face before. She held out a device in her hands, motioning Itachi to come forward. Itachi did as he was told.

The first time, things got messy. He had followed her instructions, not knowing why he even agreed. Itachi expelled some of his chakra into the device Katsu had in her hands. Things did not go well.

The first time was…

Fun.

The device exploded into small pieces, smoke shooting out. Ash covered the two children's faces as the two stood there.

It was Katsu to first laugh. Her laughter was contagious one might say. The sound echoed through the alleyway as Katsu grinned. Itachi couldn't help the tugging at the corner of his lips.

He could remember every single moment.

"Did you see that! I expected it to not work but this!" Katsu smiled widely as she bent down to pick up the scraps, "Jeez! I really need to work on this."

Itachi helped her pick up the pieces of metal along with her. He couldn't really understand why she was so happy. Her project failed, right? Why was she laughing about it.

"Why are you laughing?"

Itachi couldn't help but ask. He was terribly confused by this girl.

Katsu looked up to face Itachi, tilting her head slightly.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Your project failed, correct?" Itachi's eyebrows furrowed, "Shouldn't you be disappointed?"

Katsu's grin dropped down slightly. Itachi began to worry he had said something wrong.

"I didn't fail." She simply stated, "This wasn't a failure, this was a success!"

Itachi was still confused. A success? In what? The machine didn't do anything except explode. Why was that a success?

"Look, you may see a failure but I see a success." Katsu crossed her arms, "Sure, the device failed on what it was made to do but that wasn't the main goal."

Katsu, picked up a burnt piece of metal off the ground.

"The main goal was to improve and now I know what to improve upon." Katsu turned to face Itachi, holding out the piece of metal, "See, the battery exploded after being overheated. Next time, I should probably get a larger battery to contain the energy from the chakra."

She handed over the metal, turning back to picking up scraps.

"Not much of a failure if I learned something…"

Itachi looked down at the burnt battery in his hands. Maybe He didn't know Katsu as well as he thought he did.

"Hey! Aren't you going to help out or what? Too good for cleaning huh?!"

Nevermind…

Katsu hadn't seen her father for months. Not that she cared much. She was used to doing everything herself. But today was the day he came back.

Katsu will never be prepared.

"Welcome home father."

The empty home became colder as the older man stepped into the household.

"Katsu." Her father stared coldly at her, "I hope your doing well in the academy."

That was it. No glad to be back or nice to see you again. Katsu really couldn't complain though. It wasn't like she was looking for a nice greeting.

"Yes father, I am doing well." She lied.

In fact, she was doing horrible in the academy. She was one of the worst in combat and strategizing. Yet, she was able not to get kicked out with her excellent skills in math and science. Though, those were considered useless in the ninja world.

"Good."

Her father walked away into his study. Katsu stood alone in the living room, her eyes glazing over.

She'll have to be more careful with her devices now.

Katsu was using Itachi. She couldn't help it. She needed his chakra in order to test her prototypes.

However, her jealousy stayed.

The sinking feeling in her stomach stayed. She hated every win he gained and felt worse every loss she had. Katsu had convinced herself that it was nothing.

But it was everything.

Yet she couldn't ignore the fact that she enjoyed his company. She enjoyed their time testing out her devices. It was fun to have a friend.

But Itachi wasn't a friend. The Katsu everyone knew was a friendless loner who knew nothing.

Itachi wasn't a friend. He was a tool she could use in order to finish her project. Just another step to climb. Nothing special and nothing needed. Just a easy way out.

Who would want to be friends with her anyway. She was a petty loser with no talents except play around with metal.

Why would Itachi even consider her anything?

After all, he was the prodigy that would someday overpower any enemy in his path. A weapon for the hidden leaf. A monster of a ninja.

He wouldn't make good friend material. Itachi was no friend.

At least, that was what she told herself.

A/N- This was definitely a more fun one to work on. Especially Itachi and Katsu's ending part. I want to establish Katsu's and her father's relationship more so that will probably come out soon. More Itachi and Katsu stuff is on it's way along with some stuff with Fujio.

Thank you Bungei for leaving a review! I'm glad you like my story! I hope you stick around for some time with this book!