Chapter two: The Projects
~Sasuke POV~
"Kaa-san, we're home!" I yelled through the house as Itachi and I walked through the front door. He closed the door as I went straight to the kitchen where I could smell dinner cooking.
"How was your first day of school?" our mother asked as she set down a plate of cut tomatoes on the table.
"We have a couple of new students: Yoruichi and Kimiko Yuhi." I sat in front of the plate and picked up a piece of the fruit. "I had to give them the tour." I bit into the piece, enjoying the sweet taste of it.
"Itachi…."
"He volunteered." My brother sat next to me and fixed his ponytail so that it would be neater. "No one else wanted to give them the tour, so he decided to step up and do it himself." He glanced at me with pride in his eyes. "Which is why I am proud of him."
"That's good." She placed a plate of dango in front of him. "What are these two like?"
"You're going to meet one today soon," we said at the same time absent-mindedly. Then we froze, after school snack halfway in our mouths, and looked at each other. "Who are you having over?"
"Kimiko and I have a Biology project."
"Yoruichi and I have an AP European History project." We narrowed our eyes at each other.
"I call the library!" we declared at the same time. Our mother giggled as we glared at each other. I spoke up first.
"We need almost the entire science section."
"We need cultural influences on different European dances plus the computers plus the open floor to practice for the entirety of this month, depending on how long it would take for us to do this. AP History outweighs Biology Honors, foolish little brother."
"Why don't you both just share the library? It's big enough for all four of you." We blinked in realization then grinned sheepishly at each other.
"Oh yeah, there's that too," I stated.
"Finish your snacks, you two."
Five minutes later, the doorbell rang just as we finished our snacks. I stood up, gave my plate to my mother, and walked to the front door. Upon opening it, the younger of the two Yuhi sisters grinned at me.
"Hey, Sasuke-san!"
"Welcome to the Uchiha estate, Kimiko-san and Yoruichi-san. I hope you got here easily enough with no trouble."
"This is a three story, three building estate with grand gates and the biggest yard in the city outside the academy. It's kind of hard to miss it," Yoruichi informed me, pushing off the porch post that she had been leaning against with her arms crossed over her chest. I let the girls in before closing the door.
"You have a point." 'Even if you said it in a very annoying way.' "Right this way, please. Itachi and Kaa-san are waiting in the kitchen." The two followed me to the kitchen, and my brother and mother looked at us.
"Welcome to the Uchiha home. You two must be the Yuhi sisters my sons were talking about," she replied with a smile.
"Hai. My name is Kimiko, and this is my older sister Yoruichi."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Uchiha-sama," the elder said pleasantly. Itachi and I raised an eyebrow as she bowed respectively. This girl, the one who is mean and rude when she wants to be and overly sarcastically mannered almost all the time, has actual respectful manners?
"None of that, dear. Just call me Mikoto."
"Hai, Mikoto-san." After declining her offer for study snacks, we all went to the library. I led Kimiko away from our siblings and to the science section. She spoke up as we set up base.
"I can see why some people say you resemble your mother mostly. Though more say you're an Itachi-chibi, which I agree with."
"I know. What do you want to do our project on?" She opened her notebook.
"Well, we have to do some kind of presentation that creatively compares or contrasts animal life to human. Why don't we compare the life of a gazelle to the stereotypical high school pretty girl?"
"Explain." We sat across from each other.
"Well, everyday a gazelle gets hunted down by cheetahs. The gazelle knows it's weaker. It's not quite as fast. And it's not as strong. So it must always be on alert, always ready to outsmart the cheetah in order to survive. A pretty high school girl is often stalked after the same way."
"So what you propose is that I act as a cheetah and you a gazelle. And essentially I'm hunting you."
"Hm, I guess Konoha's Elite students can keep up with Erito's best," she teased.
"I'm letting that slide for now." She giggled.
"So, do you have…?"
"The Uchiha library has thousands of books. Answer your own question."
"A ladder for short girls like myself?" She grinned as I sweat dropped. And here I thought she was questioning our catalogue.
"There are rolling ladders at each shelf that you can use. Why don't you focus on books about the life of a gazelle? I'll focus on that of a cheetah." She nodded and walked to the G section of this section of the library.