Chapter 2: Two Months, Two Friends
Week 2: The Robot Behind the Prodigy
Itachi Uchiha, Kenma realized did not rise to his position from talent alone. He trained as if a war would break out at any second and with the discipline of an army of monks if those monks were also monsters with human skin on.
It was gruesome, and for the first time, she understood what the standard of a genius was.
The practice was broken down weekly. In their first session, he evaluated her taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu, breaking down her glaring flaws in one fell swoop.
"You lack stamina, your foundations are shaky, and your chakra control is average. Passable, but not anywhere near other Uchiha your age," he said as if he were talking about the weather.
It hurt. Really bad.
She remembered zoning out and ignoring the rest of his comments, leaving the training ground with a "Figure it out," after he had asked, "Are you upset?"
It took her several days to come to grips with his evaluation and contact him again.
Embarrassingly, the motivation to contact him came when she got tripped by some older Uchiha kids on her way to class, and she remembered why she even made the deal in the first place. That was after getting into another fight and upgrading from bruised ribs to fractured ones that Hyuga sensei had to heal.
She swallowed up her pride and demanded he continue their lessons. In response, he had handed her a training regimen as if he was waiting for her to approach him the entire time.
From there, they'd train together almost everyday- most of the time doing their own thing and then occasionally sparring. She eventually got used to his blunt critiques, realizing she might as well just take his comments like they were coming out of a well-intentioned robot.
"If you adjust the position of your elbow, you'll have more control over where the kunai will land."
"You're leaning too heavily on your left leg, redo that kata."
"Your balance is off."
"These two movements are not separate, connect them."
"The speed of your seals are too slow. You need to review the 12 seals."
"Throw with your arm, not your wrist."
"You overreached with your right arm, do it again."
And every training session ended in, "That's good enough."
Once you get past the fact he barely speaks, had facial paralysis (from what she's seen) and talked with almost no inflection, Itachi was not a bad guy. She still disliked him on principle, but he helped her and that put him above every other Uchiha she's met.
Week 3: A prodigy's Best Friend
She met Shisui, suddenly and without warning. He was another hot topic of the Uchiha clan and three years older than them. Two geniuses were friends. This did not shock her.
"Wow, Itachi," he said one day, jumping down from a tree with a box of dango in his hand and his hitai-ate tied around his forehead. She didn't even notice him. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend." Looking her up and down, he clearly recognized her, but smiled anyway. "And it's her, cool. You're famous," he said like she didn't already know that and shoved a hand in her face. "Nice to meet you. I'm Itachi's best friend, Shisui Uchiha."
Kenma looked at his hand, but didn't take it, instead turning to Itachi for some sort of direction on how to deal with this weirdo.
Shockingly what she found was a wrinkle on the-robot-in-human-skin's forehead. "Don't introduce yourself like that," he said. With Inflection.
"Funny how you didn't reject the part where I called her your girlfriend." Shisui laughed.
"I'm not his girlfriend."
"She's not my girlfriend."
They said at the same time which drew their eyes together in shock and only made Shisui laugh more.
He jumped on the both of them, locking his arms around their shoulders and pulling them in. This also meant the dango box was lightly scratching her cheek. "I'm joking, I'm joking. No way this robot is dating anyone, right." This he directed at Kenma which made her wonder how much of their training he'd been there for and also if he had the power to read minds.
Because as far as she knew, she never voiced that thought out loud… Unless she did, and Itachi never reacted which means she didn't know she did.
Either way, the way Shisui acted so familiarly with her made her uncomfortable, and she shook off his arm without a second thought. If there's anything Kenma was good at, it was drawing lines.
"I should get going. My mom is probably expecting me." She bowed slightly in Itachi's direction, purposely ignoring the newcomer and said what she says at the end of every training session. "Thank you for your help."
Itachi responded with a shallow bow in kind, which was where it would normally end before Shisui elbowed him conspicuously (if he was even trying to hide it, Kenma had no idea). "Um," Itachi hesitated. "Have a safe trip home."
Shisui elbowed him again and shook the dango box, which prompted Itachi to grab it and offer it formally to Kenma in a deeper bow. "Take this as well…For your hard work."
"NO, you idiot," Shisui grabbed the box and whacked Itachi's bowed head with it. "He meant to ask. If you wanted to join us for some dango."
Kenma took several silent moments to process the scene in front of her before she snorted. If anyone were to ask her, Shisui's puppy dog face was not the deciding factor, but it was entertaining.
"Sure," she said reluctantly, but it was a yes nonetheless.
After finding a tree with ample shade to rest under, they sat down, Shisui in the middle, and Itachi and her at either side of him. He opened the box, revealing misshapen dango balls, melted together from both the heat and rough handling.
"This looks appetizing…" Shisui trailed unconvincingly.
"Eat it," Itachi commanded. Clearly unbothered by the desserts' state, he took a stick which was attached to another. It looked ridiculous in his hands. "This is your fault anyways."
"Ugh," running his hand through his messy hair, Shisui groaned. "I pictured this being a cute little picnic. I was so excited to meet your little disciple."
Kenma couldn't school her features as her face contorted into disgust, "Disciple?" It was partially true, Itachi did teach her, but to be referred to as a disciple when they were the same age… It was too much. Shisui didn't care.
"This guy's been ditching me because he said he was training with someone. I was SO curious. Then I find out from Sasuke that he's teaching some girl. Imagine how I feel! My bestie is getting a disciple before me and hiding her. Though, if you think about it, Itachi is kind of like my disciple."
"Oh," Kenma said under her breath. She decided to cut out the weird parts of his response and focus on how odd it felt that Itachi had been prioritizing plans with her. They did train together a lot, but to hear it verified…
She was touched and a smile creeped its way to her lips. "If you're not having any, I'll take it," she said referring to the dango. "By the way, I'm Kenma. I'm no disciple and definitely not a girlfriend.
Leaning backwards, Shisui let her snatch the box atop his outstretched legs and smiled. "Take my share if you want. I don't really like dango anyways."
"Then why'd you buy it?"
He shrugged. "Itachi likes them."
They turned towards the subject in question. He had finished his merged two shares and was staring at the box, intentions obvious.
"We can split his half," Kenma offered.
Itachi nodded, the softest of smiles on his face she had only seen glimpses of when he was with his brother, and it took the breath right out of her. "Thank you," he said.
For the first time, she really saw the human behind the monster-robot-monk, and it felt like a start.
Week 5: Jealousy, Jealousy
Kenma felt good about her progress. Her practical scores were going up, and she was losing less spars.
Mizuna sensei even acknowledged her improvement. By some stroke of luck or because her sensei felt bad for landing her in the nurse's office after that nasty spar with Naoya, she hadn't gotten paired up with him or any other Uchiha since.
But Kenma was sure, if she was in top condition, she could take any of the Uchiha's in her class on equal footing. She was only waiting for the opportunity to show them just how much she improved.
She also felt like her relationship with the Uchiha heir wasn't so bad. Sure, most of their non-training related conversations happened when Shisui was around, but he acknowledged her before and after class everyday. He was even nicer about critiques, offering positive reinforcement after Shisui told him off.
"Wow," she said once, when he complimented her shuriken throws, "Can you say that again, so I know it really happened?" He scowled at her for this, but repeated his praise regardless.
Kenma feared she was getting too comfortable despite the looming expiration date of their mutually beneficial relationship, but she didn't have the energy to lie to herself.
Kenma never really had friends, but she thought Shisui (and Itachi) were the closest she had ever gotten.
It was nice and comfortable. She was used to Shisui crashing their training session, taking them out to eat on his measly genin budget, and making jabs at Itachi with her. She was even used to Itachi's silence, occasional annoyed grunts and overall stone cold demeanor because underneath it, he had moments of softness too.
Even if for now, it filled an emptiness she had never really wanted to acknowledge. Friends were nice.
The change was even noticed by her mom when she pulled her aside (too seriously) and told her how her happiness made her happy.
Which was as uncomfortable as it was sweet, but everything felt like it was going too well. A gut feeling, a sad one, but it was all too true.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘ ༓ ∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
"Kenma Uchiha," Urara said. Her arms were crossed, and she was standing right in front of Kenma, blocking her path after appearing out of nowhere. "Is it true that after school you train with Itachi-kun."
Kenma rolled her eyes and shoved her way past the girl before several others sprouted in her path, encircling her with the precision of a well practiced choreography.
"You're not going anywhere until you answer our questions!" Urara yelled.
"Ok fine," she said. "I don't train with Itachi after school."
"You're lying!"
"If you're so sure, then why did you ask?"
"I wanted to see if you'd tell the truth. Obviously, you didn't." She tutted and stuck a finger in Kenma's face. "Let's talk. Girl to girl."
"Not much of a girl-to-girl," Kenma pointed out sarcastically, quirking her head at the others surrounding them.
"It's just a phrase!" And she groaned as if Kenma was the one who blocked her in the middle of the road. "What are you to Itachi-kun?"
She said 'Itachi-kun' as if she was a bad actress saying the name of her lover in a cheesy romance teleseries. How did she get herself in such an embarrassing situation?
"We're training partners."
"Liar! You like him!"
"Why are you being crazy right now?"
She ignored Kenma and continued. "The only person we approve of being with Itachi-kun is Izumi-chan."
"I really don't care, can I go now?"
"She's talented and pretty. And everyone likes her, unlike you," she said, her nose pointed high up in the air. "So stop hanging out with him like a leech. You're not good enough for him. You're not good enough for anyone, and you'll never match up to Izumi-chan."
This was her last straw, and she punched Urara in the face, a one hit KO to the ground. Then she jumped in the air, simultaneously dodging all the other girls who pounced at her, causing them to collide with each other. She vaulted off their vulnerable heads and ran.
They followed her for some length, garnering the attention of civilians who yelled obscenities in their direction, but slowly the footsteps started to dissipate, losing more as she got further away from Konoha proper. She heard one last girl yell, "We're telling sensei," but she disregarded it.
The idiots could tattle to their sensei whatever they want. Although fighting outside sparring was strictly prohibited. At most, she'd be punished with cleaning blackboards or something. Afterall, Kenma was an expert in that field.
Plus, punching Urara would always be worth it.
Logically, she knew they were just stupid Itachi fangirls, and their comments were childish. She'd been called worse. And if she was upset by this then she was as childish as her brother thought she was, but she couldn't help it.
Izumi was a sore subject.
She was in the same grade, but a different class. A highly ranked and promising kunoichi.
Like herself, Izumi was only half Uchiha, but their status couldn't have been more different. She lived without any of the ridicule because unlike herself, Izumi was one of the youngest users of their clan's prized dojutsu the Sharingan. She even looked the part with long black hair and pretty delicate features.
She kept running until she ended up at the training ground at the edge of the village where she and Itachi usually met. There's an apology at the tip of her tongue. Itachi was always on time, but he wasn't there.
She waited at first. Two minutes.
Then she started warming up, counting an extra five seconds for every stretch. At the end of it, he still wasn't there. Undeterred, she started her katas, moved onto the few academy ninjutsu they'd learned and finally to shuriken throwing.
Two hours passed, and she figured he was not coming. A series of emotions pass through her.
She was bitter. Angry maybe from today's earlier provocations, but she knew it was more.
She was hurt that she started to consider them friends, and it left her being stood up like a fool. Did she hope to find comfort from Itachi? For him to reassure her that she was better than Izumi?
It was dumb. At the end of the day, their arrangement was just that. It was a give and take and most importantly, temporary.
Today was no more personal than the last.
She threw one last set of shuriken. Finally, she was able to hit the center every time, but the satisfaction that comes afterward felt empty.
"I don't care," she told herself as she forcefully pulled out her shuriken from the target.
She gathered her things and headed home. It was past the usual time. Her mom was probably worried.
The next day Itachi approached her. He's earlier than usual and was waiting outside the classroom when she came in.
"Hey," he said.
Squashing any hope that comes when he approached her, she gave him a stiff nod. What was she expecting? She shouldn't expect anything.
"I'm sorry about yesterday. I couldn't make it."
"It's fine."
"My brother," he started, but stopped, interrupted by her callousness.
"You don't have to make excuses. We don't have a set training schedule anyways. It's fine."
"I won't be there today as well," he said.
And she nodded. "Thank you for your help." Draw the line.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and then hesitated. She gave him a couple more seconds before she shrugged off his weak grip, and he let her go easily. Class went especially slow that day.
After school, unintentionally she learned from a group of younger girls that Sasuke was in the hospital. They were talking about it loudly near where she was standing waiting for her brother.
Something possessed her to ask the blonde and loudest one in the group why he was there. Kenma must have looked odd, several years older, demanding why Sasuke was in the hospital, but the girl enlightened her. A case of pneumonia.
She felt stupid.
And after ditching her brother and grabbing some snacks, she found herself at the hospital. Nervous.
Should she be here?
She shook it off, thinking about how she had gotten unreasonably mad at Itachi. Friends (even if he didn't consider her one) weren't selfish. She knew that, and it was selfish of her to get one-sidedly mad at him and then not even hear him out.
Sasuke meant the world to Itachi, and now he was in the hospital. He must be worried.
So she stepped through the hospital doors and lined up at the check-in desk to find what room Sasuke was in. They were about to deny her visitation rights because she wasn't family, but then she ran into Itachi.
The conversation had been awkward, and the snacks she had bought suddenly felt like a bribe, but she powered through it. Kenma was capable of apologizing. She was.
"I heard what happened," she said. "Earlier today, I, uh, didn't know. Obviously." There was an apology buried in there if Itachi looked for it. She lifted the bag she'd gotten from the convenience store. "I wasn't sure what Sasuke liked, so I bought a lot."
Itachi let her squirm for a bit, but eventually when she finally had the courage to look him in the eye, he said "Thank you," with a slow and intentional sincerity. It was reassurance and an 'I forgive you' if Kenma looked hard enough.
She smiled.
Week 6: Shisui Sensei
When they arrived on the training ground, they got started with stretches and decided to warm up with a spar between her and Itachi. Shisui watched from the sidelines.
"Don't go too crazy," he said, and it'd be fine if it didn't have his 'sensei' tone written all over it. The joke from weeks ago had carried onto him declaring both her and Itachi his little disciples and acting like their teacher every chance he got.
Itachi glared at him, and Kenma told him off. "You're distracting, shut up."
"Don't forget to do the Seal of Confrontation," he sang shamelessly.
It took everything for her not to curse at him. It would only be feeding him, she reminded herself. Itachi seemed to have the same idea, and they did the seal.
The spar officially started.
Itachi's stance was closed off, and she went in for a frontal kick, hoping to get him to open up. He redirected it easily, throwing her off balance. But he doesn't act on this opening and lets her come at him again, probably not wanting the spar to end so soon.
She kicked him again, this time aiming for his side, he redirected this as well, keeping his stance close to chest. But Kenma didn't falter this time, landing on the one foot and twisting her body to push off into a back kick.
He stepped to the side, and she almost met his carefully placed punch where she was going to land, only just managing to fall into a backbend kickover to disengage. This time he didn't allow her to engage first, falling into a series of jabs and kicks.
Knowing when she was getting pushed into a corner, Kenma lets one of his kicks hit her side. Powering through the pain, she gripped onto his leg and made a short attempt to flip him. In terms of strength, she couldn't compare to Itachi, but she never expected to move him. Instead, his shock at her attempt becomes her opening which was her intention in the first place.
Letting go of his leg, she was able to kick his calf where she surprisingly met little resistance. He let her sweep him off his feet and mimicked her move earlier, landing on one foot and twisting himself into a back kick.
Having freshly experienced his response, she countered the same way. Stepping to the side and delivering a punch to his face where he landed with a smile.
He doesn't give her a chance to celebrate because despite how Itachi liked to play humble, he didn't like to lose. He stepped forward, flipped over her overextended arm, and wrapped his legs around her neck, easily flipping her onto her back. He stopped short of stomping on her face when she conceded.
Then he helped her off the ground.
His victory, one out of many, but she was happy that she landed a hit. It was more than any other spar so far, even if it was only because she threw herself into a kick to get an opening.
They do the seal of reconciliation, and Shisui who was watching the whole fight patted her on the back. Hard it sends her stumbling forward, but she doesn't get mad at him like she normally would.
"Nice job," he told her. "Reckless, but you finally hit him."
"Yeah," she said breathlessly. "I finally hit him."
They cheered, Shisui ruffled her hair, wondering how they should celebrate. "What do you want, BBQ, ramen, okonokiyaki? Actually, don't say BBQ, I don't have the money for that."
"I think I want BBQ," Kenma said.
He pinched her cheek, and she reminded him that she deserved to celebrate. Finally, Itachi interrupted with a dead fish look. "I still won the fight."
They blinked at him, and then Shisui slapped his back too. "Don't be a party-pooper, Itachi. Sensei's proud of you as well."
Itachi glowered, and the rest of the training session was unproductive. Kenma and Shisui mostly arguing about where they wanted to eat out.
Week 7: Sasuke Uchiha
There wasn't much to Sasuke for Kenma. He was Itachi's little brother and his biggest soft spot.
He was annoying. Cute too, but definitely spoiled. And he hated her, making it obvious everytime she stopped by to pick his brother up for training. She'd done this every now and again with the direction of Shisui.
(Once, she had been training alone, and he appeared as he was apt to do. She informed him that Itachi was hanging out with his brother to which Shisui ended up dragging her to his house. Then he barged in and sat right next to Itachi who was teaching Sasuke the leaf exercise like it was his own home. Since then, she's visited a handful of times, enough that Mikoto-san recognized her.)
Sasuke liked Shisui. Well, liked was maybe too generous of a description, but he tolerated Shisui probably because the preteen acted like a court jester at his disposal whenever Sasuke appeared.
On the other hand, Kenma added no value to his life, actually hindering it because he viewed her as competition for Itachi's attention.
In his mind, she was reduced to fangirl status. This she learned from Shisui who had told her it was the worst status Sasuke could give a person. He inherited the fangirl ire from his brother and was a victim of them in his own academy classes.
Fan culture ran deep in Konoha, considering how young Sasuke was.
"Ugh," the baby said. "She's here." 'She' was said like curse.
Peeking his head from behind her, Shisui cheered to prevent a war, "So am I!"
On his pudgy features the look of disdain he mustered up for Shisui was comical, and Kenma could tell he was trying to imitate Itachi. "Why are you never on missions, aren't you a ninja?"
"I actually had a mission today. Do you want to hear about it," Shisui said. He looked around high and low to see if someone was listening. Then he frowned. It was dramatic and unnecessary, clueing Kenma into his ploy. "I don't know if I should be telling you this."
"Tell me! Tell me!"
"Well," Shisui trailed, and then he dived into a dramatic story about princesses and evil doers and impressive world shattering jutsus. Kenma ignored him at this point, happy he was there to distract the munchkin.
"Are you free to train today?"
Itachi shook his head. "Unless we train here, no. My mother is visiting our aunt. I'm supposed to watch Sasuke."
"We can train here," Kenma asserted with a nod and shrugged. "Plus Shisui's here. He can watch Sasuke."
She said this just in time too because Sasuke, having caught onto Shisui's lies, was staring at them blatantly betrayed by their conversation.
"Nii-san," he whined. "What about me? You never train with me anymore. You've replaced me with-with-" his tiny face turned red trying to find something insulting to say and then settling a pointed finger in Kenma's direction. "with this ugly fangirl!"
Shisui gasped. He was somewhere between shocked and amused, but personally she had been hit by far worse.
Kenma was sure if Sasuke had the vocabulary, he would have said something crazy like 'whore.' That would've been worthy of a gasp, and she ended up snorting at the thought.
This reaction only made the situation so much worse because it happened just as Itachi chastised Sasuke's rude behavior.
Looking at her with red eyes and then Itachi, Sasuke yelled, "I hate you!" then ran to his room, slamming the door and leaving a deathly silence in his wake.
She looked to Shisui first, who looked to her as well, and she imagined that their horrified expressions mirrored each other. The four letter 'h' word… Simultaneously, they looked at Itachi.
Shockingly or maybe not shockingly at all considering his advanced poker face, he looked normal. A little pale, but his devastation was well hidden.
"You want to train?" He asked rhetorically before turning towards his yard. "Let's get started." He didn't wait for her to follow him, and she didn't dare to.
"Itachi," Shisui said first as Itachi rummaged around for the straw training dummies. Worry dripped from his tone. "I'm sure he didn't mean that."
Itachi tied a knot, securing the straw dummy to one of the poles, the wood cracked a little from the force. "Maybe you should talk to him," Kenma added.
Itachi shrugged, the motion felt incredibly forced even to her. "He'll come out on his own. Let's get started."
Sasuke doesn't come out…
The training session felt as if everyone was holding a bated breath. Everyone being her and Shisui. Itachi was so far into denial that she assumed he had entered the five stages of grief.
Sasuke didn't come out even when Shisui called it a day and knocked on his door to say he was leaving. Not even when Mikoto-san came back from her outing and started to clatter around in the kitchen.
He only emerged when Mikoto dragged him out of his room for dinner, a dinner Kenma had been forced to participate in by Itachi's well-intentioned mom.
Fugaku arrived straight from work, to sit at the head of the table. If he had recognized her he didn't say. He barely even offered her a greeting past the look he'd given everyone at the table before he took his seat.
Mikoto sat at the opposite end of Fugaku. Sasuke on one side, Itachi on the other and Kenma right next to Itachi.
Fugaku, either not noticing the tension or not giving a fuck (most likely the latter), opened the conversation to ask Itachi how his Great Fireball Jutsu was going.
This rolled into a demonstration. Standing in the backyard, Itachi looked as he always did. The wind swept his hair to the side, and after one breath, he performed a single hand seal. From his lips sprung a giant inferno. The demonstration was nothing short of amazing.
The flames he had conjured were radiant with destructive energy several times his size. Even from where she stood, Kenma could feel the heat it generated against her face. Sweat trickled down her forehead as he released the jutsu, leaving black ash where there was once a training post and life.
With ease he had demonstrated his mastery of the advanced jutsu and reiterated the deep chasm between them. This time, she didn't feel much jealousy. It was overshadowed by awe and pride. This was her friend.
He was amazing.
Fugaku hummed, and she turned her attention to him. He didn't look particularly amazed, but he had a satisfied smile on his face. "Good job, you're progressing nicely," he said. "Have a seat."
Suddenly, she understood where Itachi got it from.
Itachi bowed. He didn't look particularly happy with the praise, and Kenma didn't think she would be either. Progressing nicely?
He outclassed every 9 year old out there. He wasn't just progressing nicely, he was fucking insane.
At least, when she looked at Sasuke his eyes were alight with the same amazement she must've been sporting as well. Fugaku had unknowingly fixed the rift between the two brothers, or maybe he had done it on purpose.
She sighed,maybe he was good for something.
Then Sasuke said, "Tou-san. I've also been practicing my chakra control. I'm getting really good. I can hold the leaf on my forehead for 1 minute."
"Is that so," Fugaku said, taking a bite of his food.
He broke the illusion in Kenma's head in an instant. The man couldn't have sounded more disinterested, but Sasuke persisted. "Do you want to see it?"
"Maybe after dinner," he shut down.
Even Sasuke could say nothing to that, directing a downcast expression at his plate, before Mikoto interrupted.
"Sasuke's doing very well in class too. They say he'll rank first just like Itachi."
Kenma noticed, Fugaku neither agreed or disagreed with that statement, only humming to acknowledge that he had heard what Mikoto said.
Sasuke stayed silent the rest of the meal, and so did Itachi. Kenma hadn't said a word from the beginning, so that wasn't any different. But this had to be one of the worst meals of her life, right next to the one where her mom told her and her brother their dad died.
Thankfully, it was cut short when Fugaku had been called away for police matters, and she was given her exit opportunity.
After thanking Mikoto, she said her goodbyes to Itachi, and possessed by an angel or something, she kneeled down to Sasuke's level and apologized for taking so much of his brother's time.
"I'll be out of your hair soon. Remember, he only promised to train with me for two months. There's only a week left," she whispered, "And, if you ever want to show me your chakra control let me know. 1 minute is really impressive."
"Really," he asked.
"Really."
He gave her a suspicious look when she walked away, but she decided to smile. He was just a kid, and clan head's kid or not, Sasuke clearly had his own struggles too. Who wouldn't with Itachi as a brother.
Week 8: Curiosity Killed the Cat
Kenma was in Itachi's living room when she learned Hinata Hyuga, the young heiress of the Hyuga clan, had been kidnapped. It was mid-day and the weekend before their last week of training.
Itachi had left for a bit, exchanging quiet whispers with his mom, before he walked up to her and flat out told her. He doesn't ease her into the news, he delivers it as he would deliver news about the academy getting a new teacher.
"The Hyuga heiress has been kidnapped."
"What?" She asked.
He began to repeat it, but she stopped him, suddenly caught up. "Okay, okay. How do you know?"
"My father, he left suddenly and my mother let me know. She wants us to stay in the compound if we're training."
"That's it, shouldn't we like hide away and swallow the key? You're also an heir, what if they're kidnapping little future clan leaders"
He gave her a measured look, and she backtracked. "Okay, I guess you're you, but still."
"It's your last week," he reminded her.
"Well, what about me? I'm a kid, I'm at risk."
He gave her another measured look, and this one was offensive.
"If they're not targeting clan heirs, they're probably targeting dojutsu users. I haven't activated my sharingan and neither have you. We're fine," he said logically. "It'd be a waste to lose another day of practice."
Kenma still felt off about it, and she imagined if her mom knew about this, there was no way in hell she'd let them wander off into a training ground.
Itachi threw a bone. "I was going to teach you the Fireball Jutsu."
She caught it. "Okay, what are we waiting for?"
And they said bye to Mikoto who seemed as concerned as Itachi, which was none at all. At least Sasuke wasn't whining about joining them. He was taking a nap after eating too much watermelon. Kids.
They made their way to an Uchiha training ground, whispers followed them, and she decided to muffle the murmurs by asking about Shisui. She hadn't seen him for a couple days.
"He's on a mission," Itachi said. Then his eyes wandered to the skyline, and he shrugged. "He could be back."
Kenma nodded. Wishing that the training ground Itachi was leading them to wasn't so far, she tried to keep the conversation going. "Who do you think did it?" She cleared her throat, whispering. "I mean kidnapped the Hyuga."
He took a moment to respond, and looking at the clouds, he softly said, "Kumo. They were here on delegation. My father suspected them first."
Kenma gasped. He probably should not have said that, and on second thought, she definitely should not have asked. She looked around to see if anyone had heard, and was glad to see no visible reaction.
Kumo or Kumogakure the Village Hidden in the Clouds, established a peace treaty with Konoha at the end of the Third Shinobi War… An incident like this could cause another war, and it wasn't even that long ago since the last one ended.
Then a person landed behind them, putting arms around both their shoulders. She yelped, startled at Shisui's (because it can only be him) sudden appearance.
"You shouldn't have told her that," he said. This told Kenma that he'd been listening into the conversation the whole time. The sneaky rat.
She pushed his arm off her shoulder and glared at him. Unashamed, he gave her a pleasant smile. "It'll make her worried."
"I'm not worried," she protested because he was too on the nose for her liking, and hell, if she'd give him the satisfaction of being right.
"You looked pretty worried to me Ken Ken."
"Ugh, ew, don't call me that."
"There's no point in hiding it," Itachi responded, successfully cutting off the childish bickering. Kenma was so focused on trying to trip Shisui that she only now saw the somber look on Itachi's face, a face that looked now more than ever aged beyond his years. "Everyone knows this won't last."
"Itachi…" Shisui trailed, but Kenma used his distraction to elbow him in the stomach.
Shisui made a funny noise from the sudden exhale she forced on him, causing her to laugh, and he responded in turn by kicking her feet out from under her.
Itachi called them childish, but at least now, he didn't have the sad look on his face. Good, it was getting too serious.
The rest of the walk was spent with Shisui going into detail about his most recent D-rank mission, specifically his complaints about it. She heard it all from her brother before, but she let him go off, offering the occasional agreement which only spurned him on further.
Itachi for all intents and purposes didn't seem like he was listening at all. She couldn't imagine how Shisui survived with a best friend like that, but in a way they complimented each other. Somberly, she realized after this week, it would return to just them.
She had no reason to hang around Itachi anymore and in extension Shisui.
As they approached the training ground, Itachi and Shisui went silent. Shisui stopped, "I think someone just passed overhead," he said, eyes following the treeline, seemingly wherever the ninja had just passed.
Shisui looked between her and Itachi and clapped. "How's your tree jumping?"
"What, no," she said. "You're not thinking of following them."
"I don't think they were Anbu," Shisui said in-lieu of responding to Kenma's valid concerns which only added to the madness. He smirked. "This is a good opportunity."
"They're probably searching for the Hyuga girl. What if they find them-what if they are the enemy-nin-"
"There's teams all over Konoha, searching for them. What are the chances? But, it's possible…" He thought about it for a second, tilting his head slightly and turned to her. "Just call for backup, we'll leave behind a trail. We've done this loads of times."
"You've done this before?!"
Instead of responding, he leapt onto the closest branch, and against her better judgment, she followed closely behind him, Itachi next to her. (He was good at getting with the program)
"What do you mean you've done this before?"
She could hear the irritating smile in his voice. "It's a good way to train your tracking and stealth skills."
She hopped onto the next branch, and looked to Itachi hoping to find reason there. "What if you get caught? The consequences."
He shrugged. "We're children."
"Did Shisui tell you that?"
Itachi didn't respond which meant Shisui did, in fact tell him that. This made her want to follow them even less, but she didn't like the thought of leaving Itachi alone with the crazy even though it seemed like they had experience.
"Your footsteps are too loud. You have to pad them with chakra," Itachi said.
On second thought, Itachi can handle himself.
⋅•⋅⊰∙∘ ༓ ∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
They're hopping through trees for a long time and at some point, she knew they had made it past Konoha's borders. As per her instructions, she was leaving behind kunai every couple of meters. She needed to be reimbursed heavily when this was all over.
It was becoming increasingly obvious that they weren't following a run of the mill Konoha-nin on a run of the mill Konoha mission. Shisui didn't say a thing, neither did Itachi, but they were too silent for it to be anything else.
She didn't spot the girl immediately, too focused on pushing through and not giving away her panic-at this point it was hardly practice, she was just trying to keep up with the other two Uchihas.
Distracted, Kenma almost ran into viewing range, but Shisui stopped her in her tracks, physically pulling her backwards and covering her mouth with his hand. Then he gestured to the scene.
The girl was tied up, blindfolded and covered in dirt. A short distance from her was a masked ninja, no visible village symbol, but it was clear he was the enemy. He was attaching a note to some sort of bird summon.
She swallowed down her shock, happy that Shisui's hand was also muffling the noise that came out of her mouth. When she finally calmed down, he used the Konoha standard sign language they learned in class a few weeks ago to say something.
Itachi responded in kind.
The two kept signing at each other, an entire conversation, but she could only pick up a couple of words. Which to her seemed like the most important ones, "trap," "three" and "east."
She felt like she was playing a puzzle, but the danger of their message gets across. She thought about the best way to sign them 'What do we do,' but realized she didn't know any version of that phrase and settled for spelling it out.
They put it together pretty quickly before she could even finish, and Shisui started to sign out a response.
Her heart was racing. Trying to pick up anything of what he was telling her. And, she promised to the heavens regardless of how today ends, she'll spend every hour of every day becoming fluent in sign language.
The one and only word she picked up was "Konoha."
Which was a fuck ass useless word.
Then too fast for her to process, Shisui pushed her, his eyes had flashed red as a kunai whizzed past where her chest would've been. She fell backwards, Itachi catching her arm before she hit the ground in shellshock, and she heard Shisui yell, "Run now!"
He didn't have to tell her twice. Still holding onto her arm, Itachi swung her to the next branch and released. She wasted no time finding her footing, expecting Itachi to join her side, but instead she heard the clang of metal against metal and saw him engaged with the enemy nin who had closed the distance in second.
He was planning to kill her. Her weakness had spurned him to attack her.
Shisui responded immediately and kicked the enemy to the ground. As he fell, he threw several shuriken in her direction, blocking Shisui's continued assault at the same time with ease. She focused on his eyes, the only thing not obscured by his fabric mask. Belatedly, she fumbled for her weapons pouch.
Too slow.
Itachi blocked the shuriken for her, sparing a glance her way before jumping down after Shisui who was fully engaged with the man.
Fuck.
Shisui and Itachi exchanged blows with the shinobi, faster than she'd ever seen them move before.
As a team, they were coordinated. Shisui slashing low when Itachi kicked high. But, she couldn't forget the man's eyes, his eyes were alight, like he was enjoying this, and she could imagine the vicious smile concealed under his mask.
"I didn't know Konoha sent kids into battle." Amusement coated his voice. Her heart felt like it was going to sink to her stomach. "Feels just like old times."
Neither Itachi or Shisui responded. She was scared. She would've been dead two times over if not for them, but she needed to focus. She made her way towards the Hyuga girl. Undoing the hastily laid ninja wire traps around her.
At the same time, the enemy nin met Shisui's kunai with his own, and with his other hand, he pushed Itachi backwards to focus all his attention on Shisui.
One slash, blocked. Another, formed a bloody gash on Shisui's arm forcing him to drop his kunai. Finding his footing, Shisui dodged under the shinobi's arm, feinted a punch before sinking into the ground and pulling him under.
Simultaneously, Itachi ran through his hand signs, opening his mouth and breathing out a Fireball Jutsu, stronger than the one she had seen weeks ago. It eclipsed the enemy, who was digging himself out of the ground. Itachi followed it up by raining hundreds of copies of shuriken throughout the area, the obvious attack obscured by the mass of his flames. Even if the man escaped the fire, he'd be hit by shuriken.
Kenma finished the last bindings on the girl, undoing her blindfold, when Shisui grabbed her. One shun-shin later, they were several meters away from the clearing. Itachi followed close behind.
"He's still alive," Itachi said.
As if summoning him the enemy nin re-emerged, shuriken had dug into his skin leaving him a bloody mess and his mask had burned off to reveal the hitai-ate hidden beneath. Kumogakure.
She didn't have time to process the implications before Shisui threw Kenma and in turn the Hyuga out of his arms and into Itachi's. He smiled at her as brightly as he did the first time he met her and it looked like a goodbye, as the man pushed his hand crackling with lightning release against Shisui's back.
She watched him writhe in pain, seizing where he stood.
She couldn't differentiate between her screams and his. Blood pumped to her head and her eyes burned in fury, she curled into herself protecting the tiny girl in her arms.
Her eyes burned, she tried to claw at them, but someone, Itachi, held back her hand. "Your eyes," he gasped, before wiping her tears away. He spoke calmly, and someone else peeled the girl she was cradling in her arms away. "It's over, Kenma. Shisui is safe, you're safe."
She passed out in his arms, seeing only Shisui's last moments.
