Chapter 7

'Ignore. Ignore. Ignore.' Yuka continued chanting on her head as she made her way towards the Academy. Troubles can be easily avoided, she just have to ignore the things that would engage her into such. But her luck soon ran out as a familiar figure before her came into a clear view. The raven-haired boy she was planning to oh so avoid and ignore is already walking ahead of her in just few steps. Yuka face-palmed herself.

'Talked too soon huh?'

Yuka, who was used to walking like a breeze, forced herself to the slowest pace she could so she wouldn't come in contact with him. But all her efforts to remain unnoticed were wasted as a high-pitched voice called behind her. It was the blonde girl.

"Hey you freak!"

A long, deep sigh escaped from Yuka's mouth. One more person to include in her ignore list.

"Hey you Yuka - freak!"

Some children walking along the same path were caught as well due to the intensity of the blonde girl's voice. And that also includes his attention. 'Great. This is just great.'

She stopped on her tracks and turned towards the source of the most annoying voice she had ever heard. She met the blonde's gaze with a bored look. "Are you talking to me?"

"Who else is the freak here anyway?" The blonde also stopped in front of her. She was with a whole bunch of girls, well with nine girls to be exact. "Just because you're being the smart ass in class means you can get away with your freakiness."

Yuka's mouth almost dropped at her statement. A smart – what? She scanned the faces within the gang of the blonde and saw one face she recognized to be in the same class as hers. She glared at the girl who cowered in fear and hid behind the other girls before she turned to the blonde.

"Honestly, I don't know what you're talking about. I was just doing what I had to do in class, unlike someone who doesn't know when to stop her big, nosy mouth always dipping to other people's business when she could just concentrate on her own studies." Yuka swore softly to herself. That was probably the longest she had said to anyone who got on her nerves.

"Why you..." the blonde glared at her furiously. "You wanna fight?"

This time, all the children near them had already gathered around as they sensed the tension between Yuka and the girls who were picking at her. Some were even jeering to start the fight already. Except for someone who chose to stand under a tree, looking as if he was completely uninterested, but his gaze remained fixated only to the girl with the blue and green eyes. 'What would you do now?'

"No." Yuka stated firmly which earned a couple of boos among the crowd. "Time is not to be wasted on people like you." She then turned around and started to leave. "Excuse me, 'cause I don't want to be late in class."

The blonde, already humiliated at their first meeting, became even more angered when she was ignored yet again. "Girls, go get her!"

At the blonde's command, her companions began to run, all poised to attack, towards Yuka. Meanwhile, Yuka let out another deep sigh as she felt the incoming attacks at her back. 'No choice but to fight them now eh?'

Yuka, without even looking, docked at the first two girls who made contact with her and swiped her leg to make them fall. Then she twisted herself and met the punch of another girl with her palm and used the same palm to push her away from her. She made another turn and met another girl with a high kick. Yuka then got up and slapped away the hand of another girl trying to punch her and retaliated with her own punch that sent the girl flying away to the feet of the blonde girl and her remaining friends.

The crowd were silent for a moment, trying to absorb what they had just witnessed. Then one kid suddenly clapped and others followed cheering at Yuka. Some were even hollering for more. But the blonde refused to admit defeat. She pulled out a sharp, brass knife out of her pocket and pointed it towards Yuka.

"I'll get you, you freak!"

Yuka was already prepared with a stance, ready to counter the blonde when she saw something blur in front of her stopping the blonde girl instead.

"That's enough Yuka, Mari!" Mito and another jonin-teacher appeared between Yuka and the blonde girl who was named Mari.

"Fighting with no good reason is never allowed within the Academy grounds." Mito took the knife from Mari. "And most especially bringing weapons like this when you're not even entitled to have one yet."

The other jonin-teacher turned to the crowd of children. "Everyone, please proceed to your respective classes now. We've been delayed too much already." He then turned to Mari and the other girls. "All of you, detention after class. Move!"

"Yes sensei." They all muttered and began walking away from the scene. Mari sneered one last time at Yuka before she turned and left as well together with their sensei. Mito then turned to Yuka.

"I know. I'll accept the detention. But they're being too much. And I don't even know the reason why she hates me that way when I just met her only in the first day." She crossed her arms and huffed. "And I only defended myself."

He tapped Yuka's head thoughtfully. "Come on, let's go to class."

Class that day went on as usual, except that Yuka had to stay a couple more minutes to endure a lecture about rules of the Academy together with Mari and her band of girls. Minutes she considers too precious to be wasted for her after class practice sessions. She stormed out of the room as soon they were done and quickly went to her favourite spot for training.

She was washed with relief as she approached her so-called sanctuary. A peaceful and quiet time for her... finally. Much to her dismay, as she was about one foot away, she heard two voices. What was strange is that the voices seemed familiar to her. She moved towards the clearing cautiously, hiding in the trees. When she was close enough to see the face of one person, Yuka's face lit up in delight and dashed out of her hiding place.

"Shisui-kun!"

"Ah! Yuka-chan!"

"It's good to see you again. You've been gone for quite a long time."

"Yeah I just got back from a mission. I heard your parents are out as well."

"Yes, they are. And I don't know when they'll be coming back. Do you know when will your next mission be?"

"I'm not sure but I think I'll be free only until tomorrow."

"I see." Yuka pondered for a moment then flashed a wide grin to Shisui. "Can you help me train today then?"

"Sure thing. I'm actually..."

"Ahem."

Yuka and Shisui's conversation were cut off with the cough and both turned to its source. Yuka's smile turned into a frown when she saw the other person. It was none other than Itachi.

"And what are you doing here?" Yuka snapped at him.

"Why? Do you own this place?" Itachi retorted back to her.

Shisui placed himself between the two as Yuka poised to attack Itachi, while he stared defiantly back at her. "Hey, chill you two. No need to fight."

They both glared at Shisui instead, and then turned with both of their backs faced at one another. Yuka let out a sigh. "It's good to see you again Shusui-kun. But I'm afraid I have to take my leave." She sent one last glare at Itachi before she jumped and disappeared among the trees.

"Bye Yuka-chan." Shusui called out to her before he turned to Itachi who was starting to leave as well. "Hey Itachi wait up."

"I thought you're going to introduce me to someone who's proficient in training." He stopped on his tracks and turned to face Shisui. "Is it that girl?"

"Yes it's her." He laughed softly. "I didn't have an idea that the two of you already know each other."

"She's in the same class as I am."

"Did you two have a fight?" He shifted his gaze to the direction where Yuka went. "She seems pretty irritated at you."

Itachi thought for a moment before he looked back at Shisui to answer. "A little misunderstanding, I guess."

A mischievous grin formed on Shisui's lips, but Itachi immediately cut off his thoughts. "It's not what you think it is. I just got her pissed off at me."

"Oh, too bad." Shisui crossed his arms. "And here I was thinking of training you two together."

"Hn." Itachi faced Shisui again with curiosity in his eyes. "How did you two get to know each other?"

"I'm quite close to Ai-san, her guardian whenever her parents are gone. Sometimes she brings her around to train. Yuka's actually a good girl you know. Her eyes are not that horrible really. I don't understand why people hate her for that."

Itachi nodded. "Me too."

"Anyway, want to go and have snacks before we train?" Shisui placed an arm around Itachi. "There's still time. My treat."

"Sure."

Itachi took one last look to where Yuka went as they walked off.

It was almost sunset when they finished their training and were on their way home, when Itachi and Shusui passed by the town's training grounds. There was no one but one girl left training there. She was blindfolded while holding four kunais on both hands. And they came just in time as she prepares herself throw her last set. Shisui signalled Itachi to conceal his chakra as they approached the training grounds closer and stopped on a distance close enough to have a good look at her.

With both arms crossed on her chest, she took a deep breath then jumped straight up. She flipped over in the air and did a spiral turn before throwing the kunais. She landed on the ground in a kneeling position with her back faced on the targets, while at the same time the kunais she threw hit right on the center of the logs, where there were kunais already planted on the same spot. The girl then stood up and wiped her face off some sweat before she removed her blindfold. Her eyes slowly opened and revealed blue and green eyes.

"Told you she's good." Shisui whispered softly to Itachi.

"Hn."

Shisui clapped his hands. Yuka was surprised at first upon hearing the clap but then smiled when she recognized who it came from. Her brows immediately knit together when she caught up Itachi on her sight and she even rolled her eyes on him. 'Of course, they'll be together.'

As Yuka reached out to pull one kunai, something whipped past her face. She froze. Another kunai hit the log, just mere centimetres away from her hand. She swiftly turned back and saw Itachi smirk. Her brows furrowed closer. 'Why you...'

"Let's go Shisui. It's late." With that, Itachi began to jog away.

"Don't mind him. He's just really like that. See you." Shisui waved a hand at Yuka before he left, whom she returned with a nod.

"Jerk." She said to herself as she pulled out the kunai that Itachi threw. "I'll get back at you someday."