Chapter 17: Lavender and sky blue eyes
'Inner thoughts'
°Telepathy°
・
Yukino's POV
Coming from the village with a basket in my arms, I headed to the entrance of the Uchiha district that I have become extremely familiar with while looking at the small list of items that I was in charge of gathering. Looking up from it I saw Itachi in his Anbu outfit at the gate talking to a silver-haired guy in a similar outfit. The former sensed me and turned to look at me. Being recognized I speed up to talk to him before he left for another mission. As I got closer I noticed the drastic change in height. "Itachi?" I asked. 'How? I… mean what?' I thought confused it looked like him but the height was just off. It has been a while since I saw him due to the change of guardians watching over me and the afternoon classes. 'No, it could be him.' "what did he eat there…" I said without realizing.
"Just food that the Anbu supplies," he smiled slightly.
Realizing that I said what I was supposed to be thinking I immediately ran through things I could talk about to change the subject. The male next to him that has been silent finally spoke through his black mask. "Sister?" he glanced at me and then Itachi.
"She's not," he responded simply. "Yukino-chan, can you please tell Kaa-san that I won't be able to come home for dinner."
"Okay," I responded watching how the two boys already began to leave, before remembering something. "Umm… Itachi?" I asked before the raven-haired male could leave. "Sasuke asked me to tell you if you could teach him new things the next time you come home."
"Tell him he doesn't have to wait for me to learn something new." He said leaving again.
"Okay bye!" I waved as he left, "Come back safe!" Once they left I turned around and headed into the Uchiha district. Passing the gate I began walking next to the buildings I concealing myself in the shadows. Each step was light and quiet and with each step, I avoided the other members as I made my way to Mikoto-san's house.
Returning back to the house I saw a girl with long brown hair standing by the door about to knock. Curious as to what she would do I walked quietly behind her, "Hi?" I watched carefully as she jumped up startled, "Are you looking for someone?" I asked with a smile.
"Ah. Yes, do you know if Itachi-kun is home?" She asked.
"He won't be back today," I told her, the moment I said this she looked disappointed and was about to leave when I remembered who she was. "You're the one that likes Itachi!" I exclaimed loudly and the moment I did her face went red. She started stuttering not knowing what to say. "You're Uchiha Izumi right?" I asked her.
She exclaimed stuttering "Y-yes!" 'So she is the girl Shisui told me about.'
"Good. Want to come in?" I offered once her face cooled down enough.
Konoha Academy
"For the following week, you will be working on flower arrangements with someone. So find a partner," Suzume-sensei said and not long after she did everyone had rushed to their preferred partner. Looking around I saw the dark blue haired girl from last time looking around as well, 'Now's my chance!' I thought sliding out of my window seat to head to the opposite side of the room.
"Hi!" I said finally in front of her, "I'm Yukino, do you want to be partners?" I asked quickly holding in every bit of hesitation I had.
She looked at me and gave a small nod while playing with her fingers. "S-sure… I'm H-Hinata Hyuga," she barely stuttered out in a really quiet voice. 'Hyuga… why does it feel like I heard that before.'
Hearing the teacher clap her hands together everyone turned to look at the front. "Now that you all have you partners sit down, please" I saw Hinata move to the side allowing me space to sit and I took it gladly. 'New potential friend!'
It took a while for everyone to listen, when everyone was seated down the teacher gave her instructions, "Now speak with your partner and come up with what message your bouquet would convey."
Turning to her I could see that she already had an idea in mind, "W-we could maybe… do friendship as a theme… if you like…" she whispered while looking down at her hands.
"Sure! We could use bellflowers, daffodils, and cherry blossoms," I said clapping my hands together thinking of all the available flowers in the garden, "Which ones would you like to use?" I asked as she lifted her face with a small smile.
"W-we could use… violets as well,"
"Violets… okay!" as I said this she seemed less tense than before.
"Listen girls I'm giving you this week to work on your flower arrangements on your own. When you come back you will each present what your arrangements mean" Not long after she said this the bell rung signifying that the class was over as she picked up her book to leave to her next class.
Hearing the slight whispers next to me I saw the girl attempt to speak, "W-we could work in my house…" she said quickly closing her eyes shut. "I'll have to ask my father for permission first." She said looking away.
"Of course," I said getting up and returning to the window seat before the boys returned. 'Maybe I should start cleaning the house just in case we need to go there…'
Next Day
The bell had rung for lunch and some students were leaving the class to eat in different parts of the school while some stayed in the class to eat. I was about to stand up to leave with my bento when I heard whispering behind me. Turning around I saw Hinata standing behind me muttering something.
"What?" I asked quietly to not draw attention to us knowing that she didn't like it when people focused on her.
"F-father said you can come today or tomorrow," She said swinging slightly the bento box she had.
"I'll go today, don't worry. I'll wait for you after school by the gates," I quietly told her as she nodded with a smile and turned around, noticing that another student was passing behind her I tried to stop her, by pulling her back but by then she had bumped into the blond haired blue eyed boy.
I saw as she stared wide-eyed at the boy dropping her lunch box. Watching as it was slowly falling I reacted instinctively and opened a small portal dropping the bento through, "S-s-so-sorry!" she stuttered out quickly while keeping her eyes tightly shut. Finishing she ran out of the classroom without her lunch. Quickly placing my lunch on the table I opened another portal dropping her lunch box on my hands and turned to the boy quickly.
"She's like that… what she tried to say was sorry," I appoligized grabbing my bento as well, "excuse me." I said as I ran past him to look for Hinata. Two days ago she did the same thing and ended up in a different class. By the time the bell rung she almost fainted out of embarrassment. Running quickly I was able to catch up to her and pull her to an empty balcony to calm her down. "Are you okay?" I asked seeing the girl's face still flushed.
"Y-yes." She said looking away.
"Here," Handing over her bento and placing it on her lap, "You dropped this."
"Thank you…" she said quietly as she started opening it.
Hanging my legs from the balcony I looked below to the floor below us to see Sasuke eating from the bento Mikoto-san made for him. 'I wonder was she made for him…' I thought while opening the one I made for myself.
"Yukino-chan…" hearing the quiet voice I turned to her, "is Sasuke-kun… perhaps someone dear to you?" she asked looking down at Sasuke.
"He's my friend," I answered while taking a bite of my lunch.
"Then… why haven't I've seen you two eat with each other?" she asked looking at me with a worried glance.
"I don't know… he just said that he wanted to do things on his own." I explained, "but he is only like that here. I don't know why." I said confused closing the empty bento box. "It is annoying, it is like I don't exist while at school, you know?" I faced the girl eating next to me.
"I know the feeling…" she quietly said looking down at her bento.
Konoha-Hyūga Household
I stared wide-eyed at the huge entrance leading to the huge house behind it. 'This is bigger than Mikoto-san's house!' The slight movement of the door caught my attention, patting my hair to make sure it wasn't messy I stood straight and looked at who opened the door. It only opened enough to show the person's face that opened it. "Hinata-sama, welcome home," the person with similar lavender eyes said as he greeted Hinata opening the door wider. 'Hinata's family must be important' I thought noticing how he called her. 'I need to behave then.'
"Thank you," she said quietly while going through as I followed thanking the person as well. "We will go-"
"Hinata," a voice said interrupting her. Looking back I saw a stern looking man with the same lavender eyes staring at us. Something about his stern look reminded me about Fugaku-san.
"Yes, too-san?" She asked timidly.
"After your friend leaves meet me in the training hall." He said.
"Training can we do it?" I asked excitedly. 'I thought she was to shy to do something like that.'
The man noticed my enthusiasm and sent Hinata ahead choosing to introduce himself. "My name is Hyūga Hiashi and you are?"
Remembering that the Hyūga was a clan I quickly chose that there would be no harm in telling him my full name. "Uzumaki Yukino," I said extending my hand.
Shaking hands he nodded in appreciation of my actions and manners, "I hope that you will become a good influence to Hinata. Go. She must be waiting." Remembering I quickly left catching up to her.
"Yukino-chan… what did too-san ask?"
"Nothing just to be a good influence on you. But you're already good so there is nothing you can take from me." I said while looking around the huge household.
"Thank you…" she smiled slightly playing with her fingers again.
As I was looking around I spotted in the distance boy with long brown hair sitting on the veranda by himself eating. "Who is he?" I asked watching how his hair moved with a slight breeze. 'He's like a princess' I thought watching how beautiful hair moved.
She curiously looked up and noticed who I was talking about. "That is Neji nii-san"
"Your brother?" I asked pulling my gaze away from his hair.
"N-no. My cousin," she said correcting me.
"You must be close to be calling him that."
She shook her head slowly, "no, not anymore." feeling that this was a delicate topic I chose not to ask anymore.
Glancing at the boy and accidentally making eye contact I looked away quickly. I smiled appearing as if I was talking of something else. "S-so you are the only child like me, huh?"
Again she shook her head, "I have a sister 5 years younger than me, her name is Hanabi." she smiled softly once again.
"That's great I bet you are going to be a great older sibling like Itachi." I grinned widely.
・・・
The room we entered had the flowers in their own piles and an empty basket for them. The daffodils and violets were bright and beautiful. The bellflowers and Sakura were only ones missing, however. "There are no Bellflowers or Sakura." Hinata said looking up "I'm sorry." She said looking down at her lap.
'There is still one place that has both' I remembered. "There is still one place," I said, "do you want to help me look?" I asked remembering how big the botany was.
"Yes." She nodded and stood up again.
"Close your eyes," I said, when she did I focused on the area in front of her and created a portal her size leading into the center of the botany. Sighing I grabbed her shoulders and gently pushed her in. Once inside I sighed, "you can open your eyes now." 'Now where were the flowers…' I heard her gasp and caught a glimpse of her looking around in surprise.
"H-how?" She asked staring fascinated at all the flowering trees.
"With my eyes," I said pointing to them before running ahead and standing on the short stone wall separating the paths and the plants. "Welcome to my garden," I said extending my arms showing her the realm full of plants that Tsukiyomi gifted me for my birthday. From the height, I was in I was able to catch a glimpse of the flowers that we needed through a couple of branches. "I found them," I hopped off the wall and looked for the scissors and basket to take with me.
The flower patches and cherry trees were still in full bloom to my astonishment. 'Does the time not pass here?' I always seemed to ask myself whenever I entered. Hinata walked over to the flower patches touching a couple to see if they were real, "Yukino-chan is this much fine?" I heard her ask.
Turning to look at her I saw a couple of bellflowers in her grasp. "Yes," I said. Placing the basket down next to her I leaned in close to cut the stems.
Snip.
With the flowers cut she placed them gently in the basket while I ran to the cherry trees. Climbing one successfully I cut off a couple of complete blossoms. Dropping each flower down gently, Hinata caught them with the basket she was still holding carefully. Moving slowly to not drop a single one. With everything we needed in the basket, we headed back to the center by following the bending path. Placing the scissors back in its place we took the basket back with us. After a while of talking, we began arranging our bouquet.
・2 days later・
Presentation day arrived and our flower arrangement was finished. We had rehearsed what we would say taking turns so the focus wouldn't stay on one for too long. "- and Yamanaka Ino" not listening to the other name I saw the same girl from day one in front of the class with the flower arrangement in her arms.
Feeling a light tap on my arm I turned to the shy girl looking ahead. "That's Ino, she works at the Yamanaka flower shop," Hinata whispered quietly. 'No wonder her flower arrangement looks so pretty.' I nodded noticing how she still looked as confident as she did the first day.
When they finished they sat back down taking their flower arrangement with them. "Now Yukino-san and Hyuga Hinata." The teacher said turning to look in our direction.
Holding our project I placed it on the pedestal and we each took a side before facing the class. "Hi I'm Yukino," I said pointing to myself, "and this is Hinata." I motioned to the shy girl beside me.
"T-this is our p-project," she stuttered as loud as she could. "It has bellflowers, violets, daffodils, and sakura."
I continued the moment she finished, "Our theme is friendship. Sincerity," pointing to the violets, "feelings of kindness," pointing to the cherry blossoms, "respect," pointing to the daffodils, "and finally trust," I finished by pointing at the bellflower.
The teacher nodded and wrote something down while wondering at the same time how we got bellflowers if it wasn't Autumn, "Great! Now…"
・・・
Looking at our grade the next day I happily clapped my hands together. In first place was the Yamanaka girl and we placed second place which was great in my opinion.
"Hinata look!" I said running to her showing her the paper with the teacher notes as well as our grade. A big red 90 was on the corner. "It says 'needs work in centering' that's great Tsukiyomi always tells me I need work in this." Handing over the paper she began reading the good points.
"I'm glad we did well." She quietly said with a small smile.
The sound of the bell ringing alerted us of the period change, "Taijutsu training is beginning. See you at lunch." I waved going back to my seat. 'After school, I have to study again, visit Izumi, see if Shisui returned, then check on the silkworms, and after that, I have to look for a cooking book.' I thought looking at my desk listing how I would manage my time.
Fox's POV
Outside of the classroom, a white fox had been watching the classes being taught at the school. 'You have to be kidding me' she yawned 'this is so boring…' she sighed leaning against the tree. 'Why did I volunteer at this stage of life?'
・
Flashback
"This is… nice?" The woman said looking at the young child's home. 'Why is it a tree? Why not a normal house.' She thought judgingly.
Crawling into the house she looked curiously at the belongings. Checking first through the clothes and materials near her bed, 'A satchel, a cloak, a white dress,' she was about to leave it and go look somewhere else when she spotted a slight bump underneath the dress. Lifting the dress she spotted a fat green frog wallet, a kunai with a green ribbon, and a jar with little balls inside. Quickly snatching the wallet she opened it thinking it would be filled with money when suddenly a couple of pearls and sapphires flew out.
Stunned for a moment she shook her head and looked back in the wallet to see that her eyes weren't wrong. Grabbing the pearls and sapphires that flew out she placed them back inside the wallet shaking her head. "What is she?" She asked herself placing the wallet back and grabbing the bottle. Unscrewing the bottle she looked inside and sniffed slightly pulling back immediately. "Cough what cough is this, poison!?" Taking one ball out she held it between two fingers and snapped her fingers with the other hand.
Closing it the jar she extended her hand with the pill. At that moment a black fox appeared, "please analyze this." She said with her hand extended. The fox nodded not saying a word and transformed into a young human girl, taking the ball gently in a napkin that it pulled out of its clothing before disappearing.
She had been there waiting for the whole day for the girl to appear but nothing happened she even stayed awake all night. Closing her eyes she tipped forward before she bolted back up. Hearing a cough behind her she turned and looked sleepily at who it was. The black fox from yesterday stood watching her along with one of the white foxes in a red scarf.
"She wishes to say that the analysis is complete." The white fox said relaying what the other fox was thinking. "It seems to be a plant-based toxic, it doesn't seem severe to the point of needing help, she informs." The black fox nodded silently confirming what was said.
"Thank you," The silent fox nodded disappearing along with the other fox. "Tsu is so old fashioned," sighing she leaned back to finally sleep when she heard a rustling noise coming from outside, rubbing her eyes she quickly fixed her robes and hair.
"Uh… you're the lady from the library…" the girl that crawled in said upon seeing her.
Ignoring the last bit she whipped her hair back giving the girl a regal-like appearance of herself. "Greetings in case you haven't heard I'm your new guardian."
"Then why didn't…"
"Tsukiyomi tell you?" She finished for her while fishing for the frog wallet, "Well it is because she wanted to see what you will do in her absence." Finding it, I saw her flinch as I placed it on my on my lap. "One question," putting her hand in the bag she took out a single pearl, "how did you get all this?"
Taking the bag and pearl from me she placed it back inside before closing it, "When I cry," she responded.
"Tears? Oh, I heard of a story like that before." My ears twitched as I sat back up. "It was before my time but from what I've been told it was a curse."
"A curse?" She asked looking at her with wide eyes.
"Of course, by now you probably know that some humans can be quite selfish." She said closing her eyes and thinking of the story she had been told. "My predecessor told me of a woman whose tears could turn into gems, there were other things she could do but I forgot." The girl interested at this unusual tale, sat down to listen, "The woman was kind and used the gems she made to help, the only way to create said gems are through genuine tears, whether it is of joy or sadness. So, of course, she could only produce so much." I leaned back and glancing at the girl. 'Something about her seems familiar…' Sighing I continued, "but that didn't stop people from asking for more. Blah blah blah. Skipping towards the end, she died over exerting herself and no one wanted to help her. Unlike the gems she gave away, the people she gave them to were than trash, that saw her as an easy way to get money. Her soul was in such shattered that the earth swallowed her body hiding it somewhere to prevent anyone from using her. Moral of the story is if you are useful in any way some people will try to take advantage of it, so don't let anyone figure out what you can truly do."
"You told me the same story once." Looking up I saw a familiar white-haired man sitting by the entrance of this crowded home. The girl flinched surprised and looked up at the sudden guest.
"H-hi!" She waved shyly.
"Kuzunoha, here will be your new guardian," he said glancing at me.
"Oh. What about my training?" She asked.
"It is up to you."
Flashback end
・
Yawning, even more, I decided to head to the girl's second home to see what I could do for fun. Stopping I glanced back at the girl and a familiar feeling came to me once again. 'Maybe I'll remember once she matures.'
・・・
The door's lock clicked open as I peered from the kitchen island to look into the hallway. "So how was training today?" I asked bored out of my mind.
"Fine. I'm a fast learner, once someone shows me how to do something." She replied.
As she stepped into the kitchen I saw her place down a brown paper bag on the floor. "what's this?" As I asked pulling on the edge of the bag to peek inside.
"Ingredients." She walked over with an apron on looking through the items. 'She's like a tiny adult. Cute but weird.'
"So… just so you know if I'm ever not around you could exchange your gems for money at a jeweler," I said watching her place the items into the fridge. She stopped and looked at me tilting her head. "Nothing," I said looking away. Turning my head a bit I watched curiously as she took out a tiny stool and placed it by the island before going to the fridge. Taking out a couple of ingredients she placed them down on the island before getting down and looking for a bowl.
"What are you making?"
"Croquettes," she said cutting x's into a potato before placing it in the bowl satisfied.
"You know you are supposed to boil them." I pointed to the stove. She nodded once continuing. "Who is it for?"
"Me."
"Can you make me one?" I asked feeling my stomach rumble. The girl nodded pointing to her pile. "Don't you ever get bored? With the studies and rules?"
She shook her head, "I'm happy this way."
"Why don't you just let this go. Go. Go have fun with your friends, run around, scream. Let it out and have real fun." I said expanding my arms wide. "There is more to life than studies and training." She glanced at me and laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. Shrugging I looked out the window. 'If she wants to learn they maybe I should teach her something…'
Yukino's POV
I looked at the sky letting out a huge sigh before looking at the two boys about to fight. Sasuke stood confident glaring at the blond haired boy. Recently it seems that the boy had begun challenging Sasuke over and over again only to lose. "Start," Iruka-sensei said as the two boys began the match. I stood watching with everyone else already predicting what would happen. First, a punch and Sasuke would dodge. It happened, but the boy was surprised when it didn't land stumbling in the process. As he was about to turn Sasuke quickly swept his legs tripping him. "Sasuke wins," Iruka-sensei said noticing how the boy was out of the circle. After a while of coaxing, they both did the sign of reconciliation and returned to sidelines. "Yukino-san and Haruno Sakura, your turn."
Heading to circle I stood inside it making the seal of confrontation. The pink haired girl looked through her bangs covering her eyes partly as she did the sign as well. "Start." Pumping some chakra to my feet for a boost. I stopped in front of her taking hold of her arm. Using one of my feet to spin around I lowered myself down before flipping her over my shoulder. All in a couple of quick seconds. 'That worked' I stared in disbelief at what I did ignoring the surprised gasps. 'I thought Kuzunoha-san was lying when she said it' Remembering my fallen opponent I leaned over her extending my hand. She took it as I pulled her back up. Standing back in our starting positions we did the seal of reconciliation symbolizing that we were still comrades.
That peaceful moment didn't last long as the blond haired boy stepped forward and yelled. "Sasuke! I want a rematch!"
"Naruto your turn went already, it is someone else's now." Iruka-sensei turned pointing at his clipboard.
"But I want to fight the strongest!" The boy exclaimed crossing his arms and glaring at the raven-haired boy.
"Actually Naruto, Yukino here has the best grades out of the whole class," Iruka-sensei said with a smile. "which makes her the strongest. Are you going to fight her?"
The boy flinched glancing at me, "It would be unfair." he crossed his arms looking away.
After a while of thinking something came to his head by the way his face brightened up. "I don't think so." Iruka-sensei turned around, "Yukino-san since Naruto wants to fight the strongest do you accept his challenge?" Looking at his eyes I could see that the answer he wanted desperately was a yes so I nodded. "Great! Naruto you got your wish." He waved Naruto over to the center while the pink haired girl left, quickly joining the other students.
"Fine…" he muttered, as he was reluctantly going to the center.
"Wait," a voice said. Looking toward the source of the voice I saw Sasuke raising his hand. "I've seen Yukino-san in training so if she fights she will end up hurt." he stared at me right in the eyes. The fact that he didn't acknowledge me as he did out of school sort of hurt.
"I'll be fine. I learn new things on my own, unlike others." I muttered accidentally showing my anger. Turning away I faced the boy in front of me. "Can we?" I asked to which he responded by shrugging. Doing the sign of confrontation I stood waiting to see what he would do. 'Calm down, breathe in don't hurt him… just push him out.'
"Start."
Noticing that the boy was going to sweep my legs like Sasuke did I jumped over, "Ah!" he exclaimed almost doing a split. Remembering something that I've seen from one of Shisui's spars, I watched him stand back up before quickly going for a sidekick. I was going to hit his side when he stumbled back and fell down. Surprised I wasn't able to position my foot on the ground properly so I stumbled to a stop. Immediately backing up we stood facing each other walking around the rim of the circle watching to see what the other would do. Running towards me I stood waiting for the right moment, as he closed in I jumped using his shoulders to push myself higher and over him. Landing on my feet I turned to look at my opponent stumble out of the circle.
"Yukino-san wins again," Iruka-sensei said jotting a couple of things down on his clipboard. "Naruto, you can fight Sasuke the day you beat Yukino-san in a match," Iruka-sensei said pointing me once again with a smile.
・・・
Walking back home I stretched my arms before yawning, the sun has already set and the area was slowly becoming darker by the minute. 'I took longer than I did in this seal than all the others' I yawned once again looking for a bench to sit on to rest for a bit. 'Oh, the park. I could go on the swings.' I thought, pushing my legs to move faster.
The creaking of the swings brought my attention as I looked curiously to who was on it. Freezing at who it was I walked around back the little park and hid behind a tree. Itachi sat on the swing silent like always while the familiar blond haired boy that I took down in the morning stood on the swing declaring loudly about his pranks. Curious as to what was happening I formed a link to Itachi's mind finding out more about the boy. The happiness that the boy always showed was a facade, to hide his loneliness within. But something else caught my interest Naruto had the Kyūbi inside him and because of it the people hated him, it was also the reason why the village had a hatred towards the Uchiha. They were the suspects in the appearance of the Kyūbi within the village. With this information, it became hard for me not to think to prevent Itachi from suspecting that someone was listening to his private thoughts.
°The village had been built sacrificing people like Naruto. The village officials had sealed the disaster in Naruto, and directed the dissatisfaction of the people somewhere else with their persecution of the Uchiha clan, in order to skillfully keep the village running.°* This thinking coming from Itachi became hard to swallow knowing how much he knew of everything. °Deliberately producing a darkness to hide their own darkness... ° Frowning I slid down, sitting by the tree trunk, ignoring the throbbing pain I started to feel in my head. Looking up I saw how the boy tried snapping the older boy from his deep thoughts.
After successfully bringing the boy back they exchanged a couple of words before Itachi stood up to leave. The boy jumped off the swing pointing to Itachi and yelling loudly, "My name's Uzumaki Naruto! I'm gonna be Hokage someday!" This declaration brought a smile to Itachi's face as he said a couple of words I couldn't hear. His mind showed what he must've said. His dream and determination renewed with his interaction with the boy. Giving him the energy to continue towards his own dream. Finally letting go of his mind, I sighed shaking my head at the throbbing feeling. Looking at the lonely boy I made a mental check to keep an eye on him.
・1 Week later・
"Mmm… Your lunches are the best Yukino-chan!" The blond haired boy exclaimed digging into the lunch I made for him.
"Slowdown, you'll choke," I said noticing how much food he was putting into his mouth.
"Fwood won'd choke mwe- ack" Taking the food from him I began patting his back as he swallowed the food down, "I'm fine." He said weakly.
"I'll go get water." Getting up I took my canteen and began to head to balcony door glancing back, "Don't eat my food." He flinched shocked that I knew.
"What if a huge bird comes and eats it? I can't stop it." he raised his arms like wings to make the image of a huge bird. Shaking my head with a small smile on my lips I turned to leave.
Running to the nearest fountain I fumbled around with the canteen trying to get some water in. I pressed the button but nothing came out. Giving up on it I ran to the next water fountain. Placing the canteen I pressed the button and held it. While I was waiting I remembered how once Itachi asked Sasuke to become friends with Naruto, he seemed upset with the idea but I was glad that Itachi still believed in the boy, which resolved me to pursue the boy to hang out with him with the intent of friendship.
Feeling that I had enough water I stopped and ran back to the balcony. Slamming the door open I saw him drop a piece of chicken back into my lunch box in surprise.
"Uhh… you were gone for a long time," he looked away. Ignoring his attempt to eat my food I showed him the canteen. "No thanks. See I feel better now." He grinned.
Looking at my lunch box I could see that certain pieces were missing. "Did the bird come here again?" I jokingly asked.
"No. I got hungry for waiting." He looked away, "anyways if I asked you would've said yes." He turned once again and took back the piece he was holding earlier. "Mmm…" he said biting into it. Shaking my head I looked at him saddened a bit.
"I won't have time to hang out with you after school for some time."
"Why?" He asked.
"I want to spend the time I have studying if I do that I will have more time to spend later." I looked ahead determined on how I would do that. Thinking of everything I had to do I inwardly sighed and bit into a piece of chicken.
"Again?" He asked leaning against the floor and looking up. "Ah. I know!" He bolted up excitedly. "I can watch how you train… if I can or we can hang out in the mornings." He scratched his cheek embarrassed a bit by his outburst.
"No one asked to watch before…" I realized "I'll have to ask." 'Not even Sasuke asked before.'
"Really?!" He looked at me with sparkles in his eyes, "Yes! Now I will be able to beat Sasuke easily." he yelled catching the attention of a couple of kids below including Sasuke. Noticing that Sasuke heard him he began laughing quietly "He, he, he…" that mischievous glint in his eyes becoming visible.
2nd home
Sighing I faced the young twin messengers in front of me. "You can do it~" Kuzunoha-san waved from her lawn chair holding a sake bottle in her hand. Next, to her, the blond boy sat on a lawn chair like hers watching the match with a huge smile on his face. Both chairs were facing us and had a small round table separating them. Since there was a visitor over the twins and Kuzunoha-san hid their ears and tails looking like normal people.
Both were experienced fighters from what Kuzunoha-san told me but they weren't the best which made them good training partners. Standing in front of the pond I looked over at both twins. The right twin was a smiling young girl that looked around Izumi's age and the left twin was a boy with a permanent frown. I blinked and both twins were gone, surprised I stood up straight making my first mistake. Lowering my guard. At that instant, I felt a singular hit on my back sending me directly into the pond head first. Knowing by how hard the water hit my face I guessed that both twins hit me at the same time with a kick.
Still being under I felt two arms pull me up. Spitting out the pond water I wiped away the water from my eyes thanking the twins. "You need to keep your eyes on your opponent," the boy said letting go and wiping away some water from his sleeve.
"Or you may be eating dirt the next time." The girl chirped in shaking her sleeve. In the background, Kuzunoha-san was hugging Naruto cooing at how cute his whiskers were while the other tried pulling himself away from the drunken vixen.
Both twin messengers faced me and hopped over the pond landing on the opposite side once more. "Do we continue?" Both asked facing me once more. I nodded going back into the same stance as before. "Alright."
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Naruto and Itachi meeting in the Itachi midnight novel page 58.
