Dreams to Reality

by Livia-Sobriquet

Fifteen-year-old Emily is a self-proclaimed anime nerd who's obsessed with Naruto. But when she sees a boy who looks a lot like Sasuke, her life is changed forever. Could the Naruto world actually be real? ItachixOC slow burn, rated M for later chapters.

3. Chapter 3

p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Chapter 3: Fake Friends Respect/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emIt ain't about money it's 'bout being loyal/em/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em'Cuz I when I had nothing they stayed on my soil/em/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emThe grass might be greener on the other side/em/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emBut not for the ones who left me out to dry/em/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emI can forgive but I never forget/em/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emMoney is power but can't buy respect/em/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em- Fake Friends by Bazanji/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I kept an eye out for Sasuke, for any of the Uchihas even, on my way home from choir, but I didn't see any signs of them. I just needed a sign that it wasn't a dream, that they were actually real…/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Emily!"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I jerked and looked around. I had been daydreaming again. My friends were all looking at me like I had lost it. Maybe I had. Thinking fictional characters were real? It was probably just an elaborate dream I'd had, right?/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Except I still had the text from my brother Jake from the day I came home class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"It was real./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The Uchihas were real./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I chewed my cream cheese bagel, deep in thought./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Emily, did you even hear us?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Huh?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Told you she was spacing out," said Tammy matter-of-factly. She honestly pissed me off with her know-it-all tone. She was sassy like that. I didn't mind when it was directed at other people, but I hated when she directed it at me. It made me feel bad about myself, which often caused me to push myself harder in school so that she wouldn't have a reason to look down on me like that./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I couldn't tell any of them what happened with the Uchihas. First of all, I kinda swore secrecy to them, but even without that, who'd believe me?span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I took another bite of my bagel, thinking hard. The Uchihas were probably keeping an eye on me — I'd do the same if I were them. They're probably making sure I don't blab and are laying low. I sighed. I wondered if this meant I'd never see any of them again…/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I put my bagel down, suddenly not feeling hungry. emThat was probably a once-in-a-lifetime encounter and will never happen again,/em I I might as well just try live my life…/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"And so I did./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I threw myself into choir practice, though Ms. Evans, the choir director, never seemed to notice how hard I was working. I know I'm average at best, but I emwant /ema solo! Can't he see how hard I'm trying? It's not like our school wins any national awards or anything, it's just a fun extracurricular. We haven't even travelled to perform, we only do a couple shows a year for the student body and parents. A solo would give me the chance to work on my singing and would encourage me more! Doesn't she care about that….?/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as Jess started belting out emHurt/em by Christina Aguilera. She always liked to show off. Her voice isn't that emWOW/em either, but she likes to brag about how she takes singing lessons. She'll literally take any opportunity she has to mention things like, "My singing teacher says I have what it takes to be on Broadway some day" and things like that. I guess anyone can make it if they have money like her. I think her dad is some media mogul or something./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"As if on cue, all the choir boys ran to her like puppies to hear the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Again, I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I glanced at my friend Lucia. She gave me a look that read, emI want to vomit./em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Even if I had a voice like Jess' — which is emfine/em, by the way, it's nothing special, she can't even embelt/em like Christina — none of the boys would be interested in me. I watched as they all fought to compliment her. Jess was pretty, the type who would get solos not just because she had an OK voice, but because she looks like a star. Blonde hair that she curls into perfect beach waves, flawless tanned skin, high cheekbones, perfect teeth, full pink lips always with lipgloss, and clear blue eyes. Tall, slim with soft curves, built like a cheerleader. In other words, class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Looking at her just made my hair frizz./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Meanwhile, I'm short and have a belly and none of my clothes look good on me so I just dress in an oversized hoodie and sweatpants every day because I don't want people to look at my body because I know they'll just hate me, so I might as well blend in with the background. No one sees me. Sure, I have boobs and a butt, but that doesn't seem to matter, even when I wear something not baggy. I'm not as pretty or loud as girls like Jess. My hair is curly and either looks too frizzy or I put too much gel in it and it's super crunchy. I'm super pale because I spend my time studying or practicing for choir or re-reading/re-watching emNaruto/em, or reading other books, and I don't have time for athletics so you can see every pound I gain./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"No wonder why no boys like me./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"So I throw myself into my studies because at least I can do well in class. Sure, I'm not naturally gifted like Itachi, and I have to work hard for it — more like a Sasuke I guess — but my marks are almost the highest in my class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Emily, can you teach me the stuff for the English test on Friday?" Sara class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Me too, me too!" chimed in Amy./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I resisted rolling my eyes. A lot of my friend group doesn't pay attention in class and then expects me to teach them everything right before the test./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I shrugged. I guess it would help me review for the test if I taught them. Even if I secretly partly wanted them to learn their lesson for not paying attention. What would they do without me?/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"So I spent the next few lunch periods tutoring my friend group on the finer points of class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Well, apparently word got out that I was offering tutoring services, because the day before the test, Mina, one of the popular girls, came up to me at my locker as I was getting my things for first period./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Hey Emily!"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I blinked. "Hi," I replied, confused and a little cautious. She knew my name and wanted to talk to me? What was going on?/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""You're really good in English, right?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I shrugged. "I guess?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Can you emplease/em teach me?" she begged, making puppy dog eyes at me. I blinked. Maybe this worked on the boys in my grade, maybe that was the secret to getting guys to go out with class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Sure."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Thank you!" she squealed. "Meet me by my locker at lunch!"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emThat was weird…/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Well, I met her at her locker at lunch, and there she was with her books open and ready to study./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"So I started going over the story. "Okay, so the King of Denmark died, and his ghost is seen haunting the castle…" I began. I went through the first act without any issues, pointing out important lines that might be on the test. I was just getting to the end of Act II when a group of popular boys, most of them on one sports team or another, starting coming towards class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emUh-oh…/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"They all sat down around us and started eagerly trying to get Mina's class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Completely ignoring me, of course./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Um, Mina? So… in emHamlet/em," I weakly said, but the boys' voices drowned me out./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I tried feebly to get her attention a few more times, but she was so enraptured in the boys' compliments, she didn't even notice me./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I sighed, packed up my stuff, and left, feeling like I was punched in the gut. I hated feeling used like this. It's one thing to tutor my friends — it might be taking advantage of me, but they're my friends and I know they have my back if I need it. But Mina and I aren't friends and I was doing her a favour! She could've called off the boys, but she let them distract her, and now I just wasted most of my lunch period. I felt like an idiot. I should never have agreed to it in the first place. Not like I had anything better to do during my lunch, but still. I pulled out my phone and checked the time. We still had ten more minutes of lunch. I slouched down in front of my locker and glanced at the English books I was still holding. emMight as well do some last-minute studying,/em I thought, fighting the tears welling up in my eyes. I felt invisible and so class="Apple-converted-space" /span/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emNo wonder none of the boys like me, I'm such a pushover./em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Mina found me leaving math class later that afternoon and ran up to me. "Hey, Emily! I'm sorry about earlier, that was my fault." I blinked in surprise. "You know how dumb boys are," she said conspiratorially. "They just talk and talk and talk and fight for a chance to get your attention."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I laughed awkwardly. I couldn't relate. No one was ever interested in me, not like that anyways. Clearly I'm too ugly, or not skinny enough, or too short. I see all the way boys look at the popular girls. They're all tall and skinny and like to show off how emflexible/em they are thanks to years of dance lessons or gymnastics. The boys just eat that crap up and drool with wide eyes. I sighed. I guess I wouldn't want to date someone like that, but just for emonce/em I wanted someone to look at me that way…/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"––––––/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I ended up getting 98% on the English test. "Nice work, Emily," said my teacher as she handed my test to me. I smiled, but I felt empty. What did it matter if I aced my high school classes?span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I wasn't happy./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Even choir, which I genuinely enjoyed, was starting to feel less fun. I had been doing it since middle school, but never got recognized for a solo, and I hated the way the cool kids looked down on us. I thought the show emGlee/em would make choir seem cool — it certainly caused a lot of people to sign up the first few weeks of school every year, but they soon quit when they realized it wasn't as dramatic as the show and really was just about the singing./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I hated not feeling good enough. I even started practicing singing at home, but didn't really know what I was doing./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Mom, can I take singing lessons?" I asked one day at dinner./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"My parents looked at each class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Please," I begged. "I really want a solo in choir this year but I really think I need to step up my game! I swear I'll keep on top of my grades!"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Find me a list of singing teachers and their rates and I'll take a look," my dad said./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Okay!" I said brightly./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; text-align: center; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"––––––/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Turns out, singing lessons are a lot of work, but I loved every minute of it. My teacher taught me to warm up properly (because apparently a minute of scales in choir wasn't enough to warm up) and immediately identified some bad habits I had, so we quickly got to work on making sure I wasn't straining my voice trying to belt the high class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I was in the middle of practicing some belting exercises in my room when my phone lit up. My dad texted me saying his coworker was coming for dinner next weekend or something. I ignored it and continued practicing. My singing teacher told me I might be a full soprano, not a mezzo like I thought, so I was determined to work hard to expand my range and show I deserved a solo./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I completely forgot about my dad's text until Saturday, when I asked my mom if I could go to the mall with my friends. I decided I'd earned a break from studying and there was a new movie out that they wanted to see./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Dad's coworker's coming for dinner, with his family" she reminded class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I groaned and texted our group chat back saying I couldn't go. "I didn't realize that was today."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Put on something nice, please," my mom said, looking at my emvery stylish/em gray hoodie and matching oversized sweatpants. "They'll be here for six-thirty."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I rolled my eyes. "Okayyyy."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Fine, if my mom wanted me to dress up, I'd show her dressing up. My dad had a pretty high position at work, so every now and then we'd have some other manager types from his work over. It was always a whole production and it felt like my family had to network with them too. It all felt so fake and I hated it, but I played the role of dutiful daughter, feeling disgusted. I never wanted to work in the corporate world because it all felt so shallow. Is this what being an adult is actually emlike/em?/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I showered and tried a new technique for curly hair I found online. I scrunched product in, hoping it would make my hair look cute and keep my large curls structured but not too crunchy or frizzy. To be safe, I put my hair back in a half ponytail, securing it with an oversized silk bow barrette. If the technique didn't work, at least my hair was away from my face. I looked at myself in the mirror and didn't like how all my hair was away from my face. I gritted my teeth and pulled out a couple strands to frame my face. Better./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I put on a short-sleeved dark purple floral-patterned skater dress that actually somewhat flattered my body and added a pair of black sheer tights. The tights would at least help smooth my stomach area. I added a gold layered necklace and put in some match dangly earrings. I looked at my reflection, wondering what else was class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I quickly added some pink semi-sheer lipgloss and some mascara. I looked skeptically at my reflection. Did that make a difference?/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I was about to reach for eyeliner too when my dad called me to come downstairs. It was 6:25. emThey're not even here yet,/em I grumbled in my class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I emerged from my room, almost bumping into my twelve-year-old brother. Jake was in a button-down and chinos and looked as annoyed as I felt about this whole thing./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""I hate these dinners," he said to me./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Me too, it's so fake," I agreed./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Apparently this coworker had kids. Usually it was just a couple and they were always so class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Jake and I made our way downstairs right as the doorbell rang./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emLet's get this over with, /emI thought, taking a deep breath. I was ready to put on my biggest, fakest smile —/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"And in walked the Uchiha family./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I nearly emscreamed. "Wha —/em?" I breathed and quickly caught myself from yelling, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I just emstared/em as the introductions were being made, and weakly smiled as I was introduced. None of them showed any signs of recognizing me, just nodding politely towards me. The adults went to chat in the other room, and Jake, excited to see someone close enough to his age, asked Sasuke if he wanted to play video games. Sasuke shrugged and said, "Sure" sounding bored./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Leaving me and Itachi standing in the front hall./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"My heart thudded./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""I'm sorry for putting you under a genjutsu the last time we met," Itachi apologized quietly./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I was so stunned at actually seeing them all again, I didn't say anything for a minute. emWait, Dad said his /emcoworkerem…/em "Are you guys keeping actually tabs on me, or does your dad emactually /emwork with my dad?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Both," replied Itachi to my surprise. "My father did some research on you after you left." I was angry, but then realized I probably deserved it. I emdid/em stalk Sasuke, after all. "It transpires that they actually do work together, and my father made an effort to get to know yours better to find out more about you."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I forgot these people would do things like class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I forgot that Fugaku was the head of the Konoha police class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Of course he'd do whatever he needed to find intel on class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""I hope you didn't dig up anything too embarrassing on me," I joked weakly./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Itachi smiled./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emDamn, he's got a beautiful smile. What I wouldn't give to see that smile every day…/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""We're only watching to ensure that the information you have doesn't fall into the wrong hands," he said, adding, "This dinner invitation is just a friendly gathering. I hear our fathers have become fast friends."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Yeah?" I replied skeptically./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Yeah," he reassured me. "We're not here to threaten you, Emily."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I took that in. This was just too weird, but hey, dinner with the Uchihas? Seeing them again after believing I'd never see them again? I'd take it!/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I looked up at Itachi. He was emtall/em. He was wearing navy chinos and a white button down that showed off his slim, athletic frame nicely. emReally/em nicely./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emDon't drool, Emily./em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""I'm sorry for everything you've been through," I blurted out, just to have something to distract me from checking him out. "You didn't deserve the hand you've been dealt."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Itachi said nothing, his face unreadable./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""You were used by Konoha your whole life," I continued quietly, making sure the adults were out of earshot. "You could've become rude and disrespectful and turned against them, and it would've been understandable. But you've taken everything thrown at you with dignity, and…well, that's pretty admirable," I finished feebly. I felt a little awkward, since Itachi was still watching me silently. It was a little disconcerting. I reached for something else to say. "Do ninja villages have therapists to deal with all the PTSD and grief that ninjas experience?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Thank you," Itachi finally replied quietly. "There aren't many."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I raised my eyebrows. "emReally/em? Wouldn't it be such a lucrative career path?" Before Itachi could even respond, I blurted, "Well…um…if you ever need someone non-judgemental to talk to, but who understands and knows exactly what you've been through…you can always talk to me."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I immediately cursed myself for being so stupid. I feel like that's the best way to make any Uchiha run in the opposite direction. Itachi doesn't strike me as the type to talk about his feelings, emespecially/em not to a practical stranger./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"As it was, he gave me a polite smile. "Thank you," he said softly./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I went beet red. His stare is so emintense./em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I was thankful for my mom calling everyone into the dining room for dinner./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I was seated between the Uchiha brothers. It was weird being this close to them that I could feel the heat radiating off their class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I was emhella/em self-conscious./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I focused on making sure the food made it from plate to fork to my mouth without spilling food all over myself. I didn't want to embarrass myself more than I already had in front of this family./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I worried that someone would let something slip about meeting me before, but I shouldn't have been worried. They're professionals. It was weirdly a normal get-together, and emmuch/em more interesting than dinners with my dad's other coworkers./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""And what grade are you in, Emily?" Mikoto asked me politely, breaking through my thoughts./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I looked up from my plate. "Oh! Ten."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Oh, you're a year older than Sasuke."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emHmm. So that puts Itachi at around nineteen or twenty, /emI class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The adults mostly talked about work, but I was too distracted by making myself emnot/em look like an idiot to really pay much attention until the topic shifted to a recent political scandal and Itachi spoke from my left, giving his two cents on the situation./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I really hadn't paid much attention to what was going on, but my parents seemed surprised and commented on how bright he is./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"This, of course, prompted Fugaku to reply, "Well of course he is. Itachi is incredibly gifted." And continued talking about how much of a genius he is./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Itachi's face was blank, but when I looked over at Sasuke on my right, I saw him sulking./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I glanced at the adults, making sure they were still deep in conversation, and leaned over to mutter to him, "Piece of advice? Keep training. Push yourself harder. Learn what you can from this one —" I nodded towards Itachi, who gave no sign that he heard the conversation, though I'm sure he did. "Watch what he does, copy it, and master it. You'll get there. You do get there."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""What do emyou /emknow?" he snapped at me. It was wild to see the physical resemblance between him and Itachi./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I raised my eyebrows at him. I forgot how rude he is. "Why would I lie to you?" I answered. "I know what happens, remember?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Sasuke scowled but didn't say anything./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"After that, I was too shy to strike up conversation with either brother. I felt like I had already made myself look like an idiot in front of Itachi, and Sasuke seemed too class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"But all too soon it seemed that the conversation was winding down and Mikoto said they should get going. emNow? That seemed so fast! When will I get to see them, to see Itachi, again?/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"They all stood up and started to head to the door./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Itachi?" I called./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"He turned around./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I moved closer, making sure no one could hear. My parents were busy saying their goodbyes, and Sasuke seemed to be in the hallway too. I asked the one question ever emNaruto/em fan would ask in this situation, the one I was kicking myself for not asking before./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Can you teach me to become a ninja?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Why?" he replied. His tone was neutral. "If you really do know about everything I've experienced, what would make this life desirable to you?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Damn. He's got a point./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I stalled. "Well, you know, to get in shape and all." That wasn't a lie. I'm sure ninja training is a emgreat/em workout. I continued, thinking out loud, "Also, unfortunately, every young woman needs to know self-defence. I used to take karate, but I quit because I didn't really feel like the things I learned would actually help me if I was attacked, you know? So it would be great to actually be able to defend myself if I needed to."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Itachi was silent, so I went on, thinking hard about how to convince him. He's a pacifist, right? So maybe I can appeal to that side. It's worth a try. "emAnd/em, if you can train me to be useful, maybe I can make a difference and help. I know the big picture of things that happen and I want to help prevent the Fourth Great Ninja War from happening, or help stop it if it does end up happening."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Fine," he replied after a slight pause./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emWait, what?/em "emReally/em?" I had to keep myself from screaming in class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"emOh my God…!/emspan class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Thank you thank you thank you!" emCalm down, Emily! Be cool! /emBut I was too excited. "I promise I'll work super hard and I won't abuse anything you teach me and I'll totally make it worth your time!"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""You're serious about this?" he asked./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I nodded eagerly. "I took karate for, like 8 years or something. I know the basics and then some, but I'm willing to work hard and learn everything!"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Itachi studied me. "It won't be easy," he told me seriously. "Normally someone your age might be already be a chūnin or, in rare cases, a jōnin. I can accelerate your training in some areas, but it will take time to build your strength and develop chakra control."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""I don't care, I'll put in the work," I said determinedly. I wasn't about to waste this opportunity!/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"We negotiated a price and that was it. I didn't care, I'd pay anything (read: ask my parents to pay anything) for a chance for emUchiha Itachi himself/em to teach me how to become a ninja./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"He took out his phone. I was surprised to see it was an iPhone. I thought he'd be an Android guy. "Can I have your number?" he asked./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Heat flooded my face and I almost class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""I'll text you a time and location once I find a suitable space," he class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Hold on," I said, feeling suspicious. "You're not just saying you agree to this and then you'll genjutsu me again or something, and not actually end up training me, are you?"/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Itachi raised his eyebrows very slightly. It was interesting to see that the Uchihas emdo/em actually emote, it's just a lot more subtle than most people. "No. I'll actually train you. I'll have to look around for a gym we can use that has enough space and equipment."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Oh./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I felt bad for not trusting him./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I gave him my number and took out my phone to take down his. emOh my God, I have Itachi's number!/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The second the Uchihas left, I turned to my parents./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Itachi said he'd give me self-defence lessons and be my personal trainer," I said, trying to contain my excitement./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"My mom was thrilled that we hit it off (same, tbh), though my dad was concerned whether I'd have the time, having just started singing lessons./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;""Oh I'll make the time," I reassured him. "And I'll make sure I keep on top of school and choir, don't worry."/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"They agreed to let me try it out for a year and then I had to find a part-time job to pay for class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"I couldn't believe my luck./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The Uchihas had made contact (even if they were tracking me) and I managed a way to keep Uchiha Itachi in my life./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 9px; line-height: normal; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Could things get any better?/span/p