Thank you all for your reviews! I'm really flattered that you like the fic so much.

Another quick question: Your thoughts about Meika and Shisui's third teammate? I have some ideas for a sensei, but I'll welcome the suggestions there too.


Meika grunted as she blocked Shisui's kick with her shin, her bones reverberating from the impact. She lashed out with her left hand, the sharp-edged iron ribs of her tessen glinting in the afternoon sunlight as the fan came dangerously close to slitting her friend's throat. Shisui managed to tilt his shoulders just so, and avoid the impact, but the following jab with the closed fan in her right hand caught him in the ribs.

Shisui flinched, cursed, and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Meika stilled.

She was breathing heavily, her skin caked with sweat and dirt, a deep ache in her muscles and strain in her tendons. But she was also grinning ear to ear, high with adrenaline, her heartbeat a thumping staccato that she had missed until their sparring sessions started. Meika hadn't even realised how much the lack of challenge had weighted on her, until Shisui offered to help her train.

They were just about evenly matched. Shisui had the height and reach on his side, and he would always be physically stronger than her simply by being a male. But Meika was fast and agile, skilled with her tessen – Mikoto was a capable teacher when she had the time – and she had years of combat experience to draw upon, even if most of it wasn't really applicable.

Shisui was a challenge.

It had galled at first, tying in a fight with a seven years old boy, but she was in a body of a little girl, and Shisui trained as much as she did. It was… reasonable to assume that he would be able to keep up. Though, she was sure that in a life or death situation, she would be the one left standing, if only because of her instincts and knowledge from her last life.

There was a slight displacement of air as someone appeared right behind her, a trickle of Shisui's water-smooth chakra teasing her senses, and her muscles tensed as she leapt to the side, avoided a jab to her neck and snapped her tessen open to deflect the simultaneously thrown shuriken. One managed to slip past her guard and slice a deep line over her fingers. Meika twitched, gritted her teeth and ignored the blood dripping down her palm as she swung her leg to kick him in the chest.

Another swirl of leaves – and she was really starting to hate that technique – and a volley of thrown kunai from her left made her jump in the air to avoid them, her chakra pumping through her limbs as she augmented her strength. Shisui was already waiting for her up there, his foot outstretched for a kick, and if she were a normal Academy student she would have been unable to avoid it. But Meika smirked, snapped her tessen in his direction, pumping chakra through the conductive metal, the bolt of pale blue lashing out fast enough that he had to abort the movement. It was a waste, but Meika couldn't do the elemental manipulation just yet so the raw chakra would have to do for the time being.

They both landed simultaneously with soft thumps, facing each other, breathing heavily.

Shisui relaxed first, his hands dropping to his sides, the kunai disappearing in the pouches. "Hime," he said, grinning. "Did you just attack me with raw chakra through your tessen?"

Meika returned the grin and dropped down to sit on the ground, snapping her fans shut and placing them in her sleeves. When she had been Harriet, kimonos and yukatas seemed unnecessarily cumbersome, but now, when Mikoto insisted she wear them, she realised just how much weapons she could hide in them. It made her giddy. "Okaa-san said they are chakra conductive. They're not really made for raw chakra, of course, but since I don't know any jutsus yet, I can afford to lose some of my reserves."

Shisui wandered over, allowing himself to fall beside her on the grass. "Well, it was a good move. Sure surprised me."

Meika's smile gained a satisfied edge. "Good. Then nobody else will expect it either." That it was because Shisui knew her best was left unsaid.

Her best friend shifted where he sat, drawing a kunai and a whetstone before bowing over the weapon. "Do you think you'll join me in my class soon?" he asked, voice hopeful. Shisui was a cheerful boy, easy to befriend, but she knew that his genius isolated him within his class, just as well as hers did. It must be trying to a young boy, being resented and put on pedestal just because he did everything better.

Meika sighed, drawing her fingers through her sweat-soaked hair and pulling it up in a messy bun. "Shouta-sensei says that my evaluation is next week. We'll see then."

Shisui patted her back comfortingly. "Don't worry. You'll do great."

Meika didn't worry, not really. She knew that she would get promoted to the next class. Her academic scores were excellent, her taijutsu and genjutsu leaps and bounds ahead of her classmates, and they only now started teaching them the basic academy three jutsus. It would take something drastic to happen for her not to advance.

"I know," she said, and hesitated. "If we really graduate in a year, there's a good chance the war will still be going strong."

She could feel Shisui stiffening beside her. "Yeah," he said, voice soft.

Meika sighed. "Itachi is worried."

"Of course he is," Shisui snorted. "That boy worships the ground you walk on. If you're hurt, I don't know how he would react."

Meika winced. She didn't know either. "Well," she said. "We'll just have to survive then, won't we?"

"Yeah," Shisui said, and there was nothing of the fun-loving prankster she had first met in his face. The war had made them grow up more quickly and it showed. "We will."


"Do you think she's ready?"

Kushina looked up from the storage seal she was currently painting, hands steady and eyes curious. "Why are you asking me that? Meika-chan is the most kickass little brat I've ever seen! She's ready, dattebane!"

"Don't call my daughter a brat, Kushina," Mikoto snapped, but it lacked the usual strength. She really looked worried. "She's good, I know. Her tessenjutsu is exceptional for her age. But… she's only five, Kushina. That's… very young."

Kushina put her brush down, careful not to smear her work. Mikoto was hesitating and that meant the situation was serious. "Some shinobi graduated even younger than that. Look at Kashi-chan. Genin at five, and he's doing well enough!"

The look Mikoto graced her with was drier than air in Suna. "I'm pretty sure that Hatake Kakashi is no one's example of a well-adjusted shinobi."

Kushina grinned. "I don't know. I've heard some of the Council find his by-the-rule behaviour praiseworthy." And didn't that show just how out of touch with the general populations the old geezers really were?

Mikoto snorted. "And did any of them have to serve with him and fear for their safety because the child might prioritise mission over their lives? I know that Minato acts as a buffer most of the time, but sooner or later someone's going to get hurt."

Kushina's smile dimmed. That was true enough. Konoha was a village that prided itself on its teamwork, and even if Danzo and his ilk liked their subordinates emotionless, the general shinobi population needed to know that they can depend on their comrades. Kashi-chan was good and talented, and Kushina liked the brat, but if he continued on like this he would lose what little friends he had in service.

"Meika's smart little thing. She won't turn out like that."

"She could turn out worse," Mikoto said, her smile gaining a sardonic edge, she was twirling her senbon between her fingers, round and round and round, a nervous gesture that she only allowed herself around her friends. "Fugaku is satisfied."

Kushina frowned in thought. "Is this about Fugaku? You don't want him to be satisfied?"

Mikoto shrugged delicately, fingers stilling for a moment before resuming their motion. "I think… I think that he wants to use her to better our position in the village. Her, Shisui and Itachi." There was no mistaking the worry in her voice.

"He would be stupid not use them," Kushina pointed out reasonably. To have three prodigies in a single generation was a thing a clan can boast about for decades. And if he wanted to place them in favourable positions and make them work for the betterment of the family… It was just common sense in shinobi villages, really.

Kushina may be a goof and a prankster, but she had been a member of a clan once. She knew very well what clan ambition may do to its children.

"Yes," Mikoto sighed. "He would."

Kushina pressed her advantage. "And Meika-chan is too clever for her own good sometimes. She can take care of herself. And she has that friend of hers to help her." Kushina liked Uchiha Shisui. He was a boy after her own heart, a true prankster with enough imagination to think of some truly great things and enough smarts to pull them off.

And he got Meika-chan to relax a little every now and then, which was a huge plus in Kushina's book.

Mikoto closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her composure slipping back, her face becoming its usual serene mask. "Well said, Kushina. It seems that you can actually make sense from time to time. Congratulations!"

Kushina straightened in her seat, offended. "I can make sense, dattebane! I make lots of sense all the time!" she said, and then, before Mikoto could express her incredulity, continued on. "Say, Mikoto, what can you tell me about that incident with hot pink underwear and the Uchiha Elders? Please tell me it was my cute goddaughter who did that. Please."

Mikoto's lips twisted slightly at the corners. Kushina grinned at the job well done.


Shisui was practically vibrating in his seat, the excitement shooting through his body, making it hard to sit still. He could see from the corner of his eye a few of his more observant classmates looking at him in curiosity, but he couldn't make himself calm down.

Today was the day. Today, Meika-hime was going to join him in his class.

He was so excited!

Their sensei, a brown-haired, no-nonsense kunoichi that ruled the class with an iron fist, entered, and Shisui grinned when he saw a small, dark-haired form trailing after her.

"Settle down!" Kotone-sensei snapped, and the amount of noise suddenly dropped as the students quieted. Sensei nodded in brisk approval. "Today we have a new classmate joining us. You will behave properly." With that curt warning, the kunoichi turned around and beckoned Meika closer. "Come here and introduce yourself."

Meika took a few steps forward and some of his classmates shifted uneasily. Shisui could only imagine what they thought. Meika-hime was small and slight, even for a kid, and she was dressed in a pretty yukata, hair piled in a bun, a polite smile on her childish face. She looked like a kid playing at being adult, and it made them all uneasy.

Shisui was willing to bet that she was hiding a small armoury in the numerous folds of her clothes.

A deep gash on his shoulder blade, courtesy of a well-aimed swipe of a tessen, ached in remembrance and Shisui grimaced.

Yeah. Not defenceless at all.

Meika bowed shallowly, just on this edge of politeness. "Hello. I am Uchiha Meika. Please take good care of me."

The class erupted in noise, the confusion and interest of other children raising.

"Another Uchiha? Do you think she knows Shisui-kun?"

"She's so small. She must be weak."

"A prodigy? She can't be older than five."

"Shisui-kun! Shisui-kun! Do you know her?"

Kotone-sensei slammed her fist on her desk loudly and snapped, "Silence!"

The class fell silent and Shisui sighed in relief. He really had no wish to answer all those questions.

"Meika-chan, go find yourself a seat. Everyone else, open your books on page…"

The class rustled as the books opened, quite a few of Shisui's classmates keeping the eye on the new arrival. Meika, for her part, ignored the stares with an air of quiet amusement and climbed up the steps to seat herself next to Shisui.

Shisui grinned at his best friend, delighted.

They were going to have so much fun!