Chapter 11

"Ohayo, Yuka-chan."

"Oh." Yuka looked behind to see who greeted her. "Shiori-chan, ohayo."

"You seem to be spaced out."

"It's nothing."

"Shiori-chan! Yuka-san!"

Both of them turned to look behind only to see Hachiko fall down again few steps away from them. Shiori stifled a giggle while Yuka immediately went to her to help her up.

"Are you okay Hachiko-chan?"

Hachiko only nodded as she took her glasses from Shiori. Yuka also helped her gather her stuff. "Thanks Yuka-san, Shiori-chan."

The three of them were about to start walking again when a voice chirped and was followed by a laughter from a group Yuka was definitely sure want to kick their asses just to shut them up.

"Look! Cry baby tripped again."

Yuka shot them a pissed off look. Some of the girls immediately hushed but Mari only smirked and continued her rant.

"My, my... birds of the same feather flocking together?" Mari let out a laugh.

"Are you referring to yourself and your circle of nosy friends?" Yuka replied casually with her arms crossed which earned a fuming Mari with clenched fists.

"Why you..."

"Yuka-san, don't." Hachiko whispered nervously as she hid herself behind Yuka and Shiori.

"Don't worry." Shiori just winked at her. "Yuka-chan can take care of them."

"I won't do anything Hachiko." Yuka replied back to them. Shiori opened her mouth as if to object but chose to shut it back while Hachiko nodded back to her. 'I promised Mito-san.'

While Yuka spoke with Hachiko and Shiori, Mari's fists clenched tighter as she felt she was being ignored by her mortal enemy for the nth time. "That's it!" She snapped. "I'm really gonna get you this time you freak!" She exclaimed as she dashed towards Yuka, who turned just in time to anticipate Mari's punch. But even before her fist reached Yuka, her hand was swatted away as someone passed between them. Mari and her girls all gasped simultaneously. Yuka was stunned but was quick to regain her composure as she realized who it was.

"Itachi-sama!" The girls cried out.

"Hn." Was the only thing he said as he took one last glance at them, well, probably particularly at Yuka, before he resumed walking ignoring everyone.

"You're lucky today you freaks." With that, Mari and her girls left giggling with their eyes gleaming in delight as they followed Itachi to the Academy.

Hachiko and Shiori both let out a sigh.

"That sure was close." Hachiko said as she adjusted her glasses. "I thought there'll be another detention for Yuka-san."

"I doubt that." Shiori piped in. "That Mari's just all talk for sure."

Yuka just nodded at them as they resumed walking as well. Soon, Shiori and Hachiko's voices were drowned away as Yuka fell deep on her thoughts.

'The hell was that?' Confused with her own thoughts, she scratched her head a little and looked up ahead. She spotted the blue and red fan insignia on the back of the black shirt of the Uchiha boy. 'Just like the first day huh?' She shook her head and let out another sigh. 'It's absolutely absurd to think about such things Yuka.'

"Ne, Yuka-san?"

"Hmm?"

"I heard your class will have a Taijutsu competition today."

"Yes."

"And is it true that your sparring partner is Itachi-san?"

She just gave them a nod, an answer enough for the two of them to clasped their hands and let out squeals of excitement which made Yuka wince a bit.

"That's so cool Yuka-chan/san!"

"Aren't you afraid of him Yuka-san?"

"Oh shut it Hachiko. Yuka-chan can definitely win against him."

Yuka just smiled at them as they began a little argument.

"We're allowed to observe your class later during the competition. Good luck Yuka-chan."

"Yeah! We'll be rooting for you Yuka-san!"

"Thanks."

Soon, the building of the Academy came into view. Yuka bid Shiori and Hachiko goodbye as they went separately to their respective classes. She stopped by the door of her class and took a deep breath before she pushed it open.

Fifteen minutes. One gruelling fifteen minutes of her life. They need to spar with their respective partners for fifteen minutes, rest for another few and then they'll begin the competition. Sparring is needed to prepare them, or get themselves fired-up for the competition as Mito-sensei put it.

Yuka sunk lower on her seat as she half-listlessly listened to Mito giving them instructions for the sparring and the competition. Can't they just skip the sparring part and head straight to the competition? She would've prepared herself mentally about it before the actual competition but she had somehow completely forgotten about the sparring that comes first and focused on the fight instead. And why the hell was she even feeling nervous? She groaned inwardly and was about to drop her head on the table when she heard Mito spoke.

"For the sequences of the fights, well, I've thought about how we'll divide the class."

The noise of excitement within the class subsided in a split second and was replaced with an air of tension.

"What do you guys think of sparring pairs as your first battles?"

The whole class froze. Yuka's chin resting in her hand slipped. Itachi smirked, wider this time. Seeing his class's reaction, Mito laughed as he waved a hand to them.

"Nah, just kidding. We'll be drawing lots again, with numbers this time. It will be held later before we begin the competition. The sequences will also be posted later on the training ground C of the Academy."

The whole class sighed in relief. Yuka felt like she wanted to hit herself. Itachi's smirk was replaced with an awful frown.

"Well then, everyone, move out!"

With their sensei's permission, they filed out of the room talking, laughing, while some bickering along their way, leaving behind the silence, namely two genins left at the back of the room. They were glaring back at each other as usual, but this time, Itachi was the one who broke it and spoke as he started to make his way towards the door. He paused by the doorway when he sensed she didn't follow.

"You heard Mito-san. Are you coming or not?"

Yuka let out an irritated huff she made sure it was loud enough for him to hear as she moved from her spot. "I don't know what's going in your mind about earlier but..." As she passed by Itachi on the doorway, she paused and glared one last time at him before she went out. "I swear I'm taking you down later."

'Where did she go?'

The allotted fifteen minutes for each pair to prepare for the competition is almost up, with Itachi still walking around looking for her. Like he even needs to. But his feet seem to move themselves going around the Academy.

To see her...

Why would he want that? For curiosity's sake of course. Yes, it has been a while since he had been this curious about something. The rare two-colored eyes... And now he finally has the chance to closely observe her eyes.

'But where is she first?'

'Are you running away from him Yuka?'

"The hell would I know." Yuka answered to herself. She had been sitting atop the building while watching her classmates sparring below. She should be doing the same but she just couldn't stand being around him. "Ah, I better go down. The time's almost up."

"There you are."

She would've have made her landing as smooth as she wanted but instead she stumbled awkwardly on the ground. Her eye twitched as she slowly turned her head towards the direction of the voice. Speak of the devil, here it is.

"So what if I'm here?"

"Are you running away from me?"

Déjà vu?

"You're thinking the impossible Uchiha."

"Are you avoiding me then? Sensei instructed us to warm up before the competition by pairs, yet you stayed on the roof all this time."

"I don't need to. And like it even matters to you as well."

"Hn. Sparring wouldn't hurt your pride now, wouldn't it?"

"Sparring before the competition is just a petty excuse to observe our skills, no? Of course, I don't want that."

"Keeping all your aces on your sleeves?"

"Just don't want to spoil the fun later." She turned her back on him and started walking away. "See you. And don't lose."

"I should be the one saying that."

That made Yuka stop and sharply turned her head and glared hard back at him that if looks could kill, it would've done so. Itachi just replied back with a taunting chuckle and brushed past her, walking ahead if her.

'One of these days, I really might just try to kill you for being such a jerk.' She thought as she followed suit.

Yup, it's not just her eyes that are fascinating about her, even her temper is quite entertaining too.

"Yuka-san!"

She turned to see Shiori and Hachiko approaching towards her. Classes handled by the jounin-teachers who were assisting the taijutsu competition of Mito's class were allowed to watch or stay on their rooms to do self-study. Of course, none would want the latter, and so, a crowd equivalent to three classes were present within the training ground C.

"How is it?" Shiori asked.

"It looks like I belong to block B. I got an odd number. All even numbers are on block A."

"Ah. I heard from our sensei that she'll be one of those who'll handle that block. And I think it's going to be held over there."

"Let's go then."

"Eh, Yuka-san?" Hachiko asked as they walked towards the designated area. "What number have you got?"

Yuka gave them first a grin before she answered.

"I got number one."

"Participants numbered one and three, kindly step inside the ring please."

"Yuka-chan! Go for it!" Shiori shouted from the crowd while Hachiko bade her good luck.

She nodded back at the two of them before she stepped inside the ring drawn on the ground. Yuka then looked opposite her, to her opponent. A boy, about one foot higher than her, and a larger body.

"Rules are simple. Pin down your opponent for ten seconds or take him down for good. Anyone who goes out of the ring loses or is disqualified. No other techniques are to be used, just pure taijutsu. You have five minutes kids." The sensei-referee raised a red flag. "Begin!"

As soon as the flag was drawn down, the two of them gave a bow at each other first then proceeded to their own fighting stances.

"So I get the chance to fight with the infamous weird girl." The boy spoke haughtily. "I don't have any resentment towards you, but hear this. Five moves."

Yuka's brows furrowed.

"I'll be taking you down in five moves."

"I'll make it three." She challenged back with a smirk. Before the boy could even react, Yuka was already in front of him and punched him on the stomach.

One.

Taking another opportunity from his recovery from her punch, she followed it with an upper cut.

Two.

And lastly, she made a somersault, landing a kick on the boy that sent him flying outside the ring.

Three.

"How's that for five moves?" She spoke to herself as she kept her sight on the boy being checked by the other sensei. The referee took one of Yuka's hands and raised it as he announced the result of the fight. The crowd who were momentarily frozen with what they just saw then burst into cheers.

"Hotaru is out of the ring, Yuka wins first round!"

Meanwhile...

"Kyaaaaaaah ~ !" Shrill girl screams permeated the air as the first round match on block B ended as well.

"Winner, Uchiha Itachi!"

Since his next match will be after a couple more rounds, Itachi hurriedly left the ring for: one, to avoid those annoying screaming girls who never cease to follow him; and two, to see how the fight was going on the other block. Not seeing her on the block where he was assigned to means that she belongs to the other. Good. That also means a bigger chance that they'll face off on the last round.

After some pushing through the crowd on block A, he spotted her resting by a nearby tree with two girls chatting excitedly with her. Ah, so she had made a very significant improvement by making friends. He started to walk towards their direction, but carefully avoided to be seen.

"That was definitely awesome Yuka-san!" The girl with glasses started.

"Yeah! Did you see how shocked everyone was?" The taller girl spoke as she handed Yuka a bottle of water. "The fight ended that fast."

"Well, he started it." She opened the bottle and drank. "He even said he's going to finish me in five moves."

"Done with your first match as well huh?"

Yuka choked on the water she was drinking while Hachiko and Shiori backed a little as they saw him approach closer.

"Are you seriously trying to choke me to death Uchiha?"

"I didn't know you were jumpy."

"Hmph."

From a distance, they heard faint girly screams of 'Itachi-sama where are you?'. Itachi sighed. Not those annoying girls again.

"I don't know what they see in you, but..." Yuka peeked behind him to see a crowd of girls who were now running towards them after spotting him. "Better make a run for it."

"Don't lose." He said quietly as he jumped up the tree.

"Yeah. You too." She whispered back as she watched him leave. "Let's go back and watch Shiori-chan, Hachiko-chan." They both nodded at her as they left the place as well.