Itachi was never more sure of anything in his life: Shisui was hiding something. Oh it wasn't obvious or anything, after all, the older Uchiha was very good at his job, meaning he was also skilled at hiding his secrets. But Itachi was best friends with the mercurial boy for many years, and he knew when Shisui was not telling him something.

It all began the week before, when Shisui (while slightly tipsy), admitted to partaking in a bet in which he could not flirt for two weeks. Itachi knew that his friend was friendly, in fact Shisui was one of the most known and well-recognized ninjas in the entire village. However this came at a price: they all knew of his deadly reputation. There was a reason as to why most believed that the young jonin was to soon be their next Hokage. So no one was quite idiotic enough to have the audacity to, in Shisui's words, call him an "incorrigible flirt".

This all meant one thing: The person who initiated the bet with the prodigy was either super close to Shisui (Itachi doubted this because despite all of his so-called friends, Shisui was only truly close to Sasuke and himself), or the person was just an idiot who somehow hadn't learned the wisdom in not making a foolish bet with one of the most successful assassins in the village. Itachi was unsure as to which was more unlikely.

After that night, he began to notice an odd pattern. Shisui would sleep in his own home, but would leave early in the morning, only to come home late at night. At first Itachi believed that Shisui was doing this in order to train in secret, despite the Hokage's adamant refusal. However, now the famed ANBU operative was suspicious. Has Shisui taken a lover?

Naruto cursed for the thousandth time today as she threw another kunai at the stationary target. After a week of theoretical lessons, curtesy of their enigmatic substitute teacher, her class was finally able to apply their new-found knowledge on kunai practice by launching projectiles at the wooden board kept in the Academy Training Field. Usually Naruto loved Practical days, they were the one day where she could unleash all of her frustration by pounding into one of her idiotic classmates. But today… well it's a lot to explain.

The horrible day began at dawn. Naruto had woken up early in order to finally enact the prank against the Hokage that she has been planning for the last week. It was surprisingly difficult to purchase three flamingos in the Fire Country, but Naruto didn't let a silly thing such as illegal animal smuggling get her down. This prank was going to be epic.

Obviously, because Shisui is an injured jonin with zero regard for his own ailments, he was already sitting on Naruto's couch reading a book, having come here to rest after his morning training session. While he usually slept at his place in the Uchiha Compound, he tended to leave as soon as he wakes up. Apparently his Aunt Mikoto loved to fuss over his injuries, and Shisui wasn't about to stick around and wait for her to wake up. Fortunately, he now had a new place to hide out, thanks to one blond Uzumaki.

Refusing to acknowledge his presence, Naruto went into the kitchen to fill her bucket up with raisins and paper clips. The Uchiha closed his book, and turned his attention to the jinchuriki.

"Whatcha doin?"

Shooting the boy a glare, the Uzumaki conceded to telling her friend at least the bare minimum, "Pranking the Hokage."

Shisui chuckled, "Is that the best idea?"

"Of course it is. How dare he saddle you with the position as an Academy teacher?"

Shisui's eyes widened in surprise, "You're pranking the Hokage on my behalf?"

Naruto fought to keep her blush down, "No you idiot! I'm pranking the Hokage on my own behalf. Thanks to him, I spend most of my day in your presence. It's very annoying."

The Uchiha fought down his chuckle, "It's ok Naruto, I believe you." It was obvious that the jonin did not, in fact, believe the young Academy girl.

Naruto muttered a curse, before going back to the task at hand, "Stupid narcissist."

Shisui, haven given up the pretense of reading, stood up from his position, watching Naruto over her shoulder, "Say, why do you have raisins and paperclips?"

"The paperclips are for the fish."

"Mhmm… and the raisons?"

"They are to lead the trail."

"Interesting… What about that can of blue paint sitting inconspicuously on the counter over there."

Naruto quickly shot a look at the paint, realizing that she forgot to hide it, "To paint the flamingos of course."

"Flamingos?"

"Did I stutter?"

"You do realize that flamingos are illegal to breed right?"

"I'm not leading a bird orgy, I'm just pulling a prank."

It took all of Shisui's will power to not burst out in laughter, "Mhmm, yes I see… Quite an interesting prank you got there. One more question… Why is Tora the cat sleeping in the sink?"

Naruto grinned evilly, "That's the best part of the prank. Have a problem with it?"

Shisui raised an eyebrow conspicuously, "No no, carry on."

Naruto laughed menacingly, taking her paint, raisons, paperclips and Tora with her. Shisui shook his head as he went back to his book. Really, it was better that he didn't know. Plausible deniability went a long way these days.

Needless to say, the prank was epic! The consequences for said epic prank on the other hand… were decidedly not. The Hokage, while suitably surprised, was quite vindictive. Especially towards an Academy student who had managed to embarrass him while reading his old student's prized novel.

Watching the Hokage's brat of a grandson was a lot of work. The kid was only six, and while young, made it his life mission to make Naruto's day a living nightmare. He ran everywhere, making a mess of everything he could get his grumpy little hands on. He especially seemed to love making Naruto run in circles, cleaning up his mess only to turn and find a new one. If it wasn't against everything she stood for, she would have murdered the little brat by now.

However, instead, she did her duty like a good future ninja. Really, this was all Shisui's fault. He should have warned her about the repercussions; after all, he was the only role model the young girl had. Of course she would have listened to the boy if he spoke up about his concerns. Now she just had to repeat that to herself a few million times, and perhaps she would start to believe it. No regrets though, the prank was still awesome.

After her adventure babysitting young Konohamaru, Naruto made her way to the Academy, where Shisui was still substituting, a week after his first day. Having Shisui around as their sensei was an interesting experience. As much as Naruto hated to admit it, the Uchiha was extremely skilled, and a pretty decent instructor. To everyone else at least.

While the girls all loved him, and all the guys began to respect him, Naruto and Sasuke were left as the only two who would rather kneel over in death than admit Shisui had taught them a single thing. This led to a brief alliance, as neither wanted to lose face to the idiotic jonin.

Naruto was not happy about this. She hated that Teme, and the fact that the emo bastard was her only alliance in this was enough to make Naruto want to swallow a bucket of knives. But still, Naruto survived. Barely. The Academy girls seemed to get in their heads that Naruto was trying to steal the Uchiha for herself, despite the Uzumaki practically screaming that it wasn't her fault that Shisui paired the two up for some stupid assignments. Obviously, this fell on deaf ears. Sasuke, with a smirk so infuriating it was almost as bad as Shisui's, merely turned a blind eye to Naruto's suffering. The fan girls were too busy yelling at Naruto to fight over him, so he would take that as a personal victory.

After getting verbally assaulted by both Ino and Sakura, Naruto was happy that the bell rang for lunch time. She quickly made her way to the swing set, only to find it taken by the Mutt and his pet dog.

"Kiba, you have three seconds to get off that swing or so help me Kami, I will kill you myself." Naruto threatened, her hand tightening its hold on a kunai.

"Make me, Idiot." Kiba taunted, grinning at the enraged blond.

Before Naruto could so much as launch herself at him, Shisui put a hand on her shoulder, "That's enough Naruto. He had it first."

Naruto shot her friend a look of pure betrayal. Shisui would have winced, if, you know, he wasn't a super cool awesome ninja. Instead he morphed his features into one of indifference, before leading Naruto into his temporary office inside the classroom.

The minute they were alone, Shisui's entire countenance changed, a grin spreading across his fine features, "Sorry about that Naru-chan! You know I can't pick favorites! Plus, everyone would make fun of me if it got out that I let two Academy students fight on my watch."

Naruto shot him an incredulous look, "Seriously? Sakura and Ino fight everyday!"
Shisui chuckled nervously, "Fan girls don't count, they're a breed of their own."

Naruto nodded solemnly, agreeing with this nugget of wisdom. Taking a seat on top of his desk, Naruto asked, "Hey Shisui, how's the bet going? Flirt with anyone yet?"

Shisui sweat dropped, "Nope! None, no flirting done by me. At all. Nope. None."

Naruto narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Right…"

Thankfully for Shisui, the bell rung at that exact moment, "Let's go Naru-chan, time for class!"

The rest of Naruto's classmates were already seated by the time Shisui and Naruto exited the office. Taking her previous seat between the Uchiha and the Yamanaka, Naruto couldn't help but smirk at the sight of Shisui becoming serious once more, putting up the front of a dedicated teacher.

Ino, always eager for gossip, leaned towards her fellow blond, "Hey Naruto, what were you doing in Shisui-sensei's room?"

Naruto shot Ino a look, before schooling her features into plain boredom, "Oh that? Shisui and I are lovers, he was just letting me get some extra credit."

Sasuke surprised burst of laughter on the other side of her brought a smile to Naruto's face. Oh, she knew this was going to someday come back to bite her, but Ino's slack-jawed expression and Sasuke's now silent laughter made it worth it.

Unfortunately, if his narrowed eyes were any indication, Shisui heard it as well. Oh well, Naruto was nothing if not unpredictable, really her friend should have seen something like this coming from a mile away.

This brought Naruto to her current predicament. Despite pulling two hilarious and successful pranks, it was still a pretty horrible day for the young girl. It was made worse by the fact that no matter what she tried, she just couldn't hit the damn targets! Naruto cursed again as her kunai missed the target entirely, instead burrowing itself neatly in a nearby tree. Shisui watched over her with a critical eye, analyzing everything from her form to her breath. He walked over to the tree, yanking out her kunai before turning it over in his hands and examining it.

"Oy! Shisui what are you doing with my kunai! They cost me a fortune!" Naruto exclaimed, marching over to her roommate in agitation. She thanked Kami that most Academy students were much too involved in their own progress to pay attention to the dobe talking to their instructor.

Shisui raised a brow, "Naru-chan, where did you get this?"

Naruto tilted her head in confusion, "What do you mean? I got it at the Academy store for essentials, just like everybody else."

The Uchiha felt his blood boiling while he curbed the urge to set everything ablaze. Instead, the young Uchiha plastered a grin, unhooking his own kunai holster from his leg.

"Here you go Naru-chan! The kunai you're using now are a little worn down, but mine are top of the line. You can keep them, I have loads at home."

Naruto, for the first time since this horrid day began, grinned up at her friend, "THANKS SHISUI!"

"Of course." And then, in a quieter voice, he muttered, "Anything for my lover."

Naruto kicked him in the shins for that specific comment, blushing as Shisui just wouldn't stop laughing. As the girl turned back to her task, now finally able to hit the targets, Shisui let his grin drop. The kunai sold to Naruto were nothing but scrap metal, absolutely useless as weapons. It's no wonder she hadn't been able to hit any of the targets. Once this was all over, Shisui was going to have a nice chat with some shop owners.

The Uchiha were fucking crazy, and were put by Kami on this planet for the sole purpose of torturing Naruto with their sheer presence for all of eternity. At least, that's what Naruto declared, very loudly, when she walked into her home to find a pale-skin raven haired boy sitting on her couch; one who was most definitely not Shisui.

The boys eyes widened in surprise, obviously not expecting such a violent and odd response, "Are you not scared that I broke in?" He asked.

Naruto shrugged, throwing her jacket on the table, before making her way into the kitchen to make ramen, "Not really. I'm sort of used to it by now."

"That's… disconcerting." The boy admitted, watching the girl boil water.

"You're telling me. Anyways, who the hell are you?"

"Hello Naruto Uzumaki. My name is Itachi Uchiha. I'm a friend of Shisui's." He answered.

"Itachi… Itachi… Where the hell have I heard that name before?"

"I believe you are in class with my brother."

"OH! You're the Temi's brother!" Naruto realized.

Itachi raised an eyebrow, "The Temi?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, your brother's a bastard. But I've come to the realization that all Uchiha's are, so I guess it's not really his fault."

"And you are an expert on Uchiha I presume?"

"Welp, let's see… I've only met three of them. Out of the three, one enjoys calling me Dobe and leaving me to get yelled at by his rabid fan girls, while the other two enjoy breaking into my apartment. That's pretty bastard-like, don't you think?"

Itachi smiled, "You're the one who made a bet with Shisui about flirting."

Naruto's eyes widened, "He told you about that?"

Itachi nodded, "He wanted me to know so that I could act as a reminder."

"How'd you figure it was me? And frankly, while we're on the subject, how the hell did you find my apartment?!"

"I traced Shisui's chakra here. He's been coming here often enough for me to pick up on it. As for how I knew you issued the bet, well, let's just say it's very rare to find someone who would so boldly challenge Shisui."

"Why? The guy is an idiot. Has a bunch of broken ribs and a torn torso, yet he still insists on training."

Itachi was pleasantly surprised by this girl. When he first found the apartment, he was quite confused as to why his friend would spend so much time with the resident jinchuriki. She was smarter, and quite honestly much more funny than he expected. Plus, her manner of speaking was so curt and direct. It was refreshing. As Uchiha's, and elite jonin, both boys were quite accustomed to people mincing their words in their presence. This girl just didn't care enough to do so.

"Ah yes, he is quite an idiot. That's why I told the Hokage about it."

Naruto almost dropped her bowl in shock, "You told on him!"

Itachi nodded with a smile, "Well of course. Shisui is my oldest friend, I wouldn't want him to get hurt."

Naruto snorted, "Bullshit, you just wanted to see what the Hokage would come up with as punishment."

"I'll admit I was curious, the Hokage has quite the imaginative mind. I was not, however, prepared for Shisui to be assigned to the Academy, as Sasuke's teacher no less."

"Yeah the bastard was super shocked when Shisui walked in. Almost made the whole thing worth it. Almost."

"I must say Naruto, I am quite confused as to how your friendship with Shisui started."

"I'll tell you the entire story if you want… For a price."

Itachi smirked, oh yes, he quite understood Shisui's fondness for the girl, "Name it."

"I have some questions for you about Shisui and Sasuke. I want them answered."

"Deal."

"Very well. It all started when Shisui came back from his long-term mission…"

By the time Naruto had finished her tale, the two new friends were seated at the dining room table, finishing their bowls of ramen.

"I must say, that is quite the story. Thank you for telling it to me."

"Of course. You are Shisui's lover after all."

Itachi shot her a look. She was adamant in calling him that, ever since midway through the tale, he admitted to being Shisui's closest companion. Naruto took that to mean that they are now lovers. "Don't call me that."

"Why not? Is it because you're embarrassed? I would be too, if I were so publicly linked to Shisui." Naruto grinned. Oh they both knew that the Uzumaki was kidding, but man was she going to milk this nickname for all it was worth.

"You have a very unhealthy obsession with aggravating high ranking ninjas."

"It's a gift, truly. Anyways, now it's your turn."

"What would you like to know?"

"My first question is pretty simple: Did Shisui already lose the bet?"

Itachi grinned, this was the start of a beautiful friendship.