Periphery

Sun lowering towards the horizon as afternoon turned to evening, the day remained bright despite the slight spring chill stubbornly clinging to the air. The academy doors swung open and closed. Everyone ran ahead.

Renri dragged her feet. She was sulking, wasn't she? Cleaning the classroom hadn't taken as long as she'd wanted. Her much too eager classmates wanted to join the other classes out in the training field as soon as possible. They hadn't even left her the excuse that they had done a poor job in their rush. They knew teacher would just scold them and send them back after this special training.

Twisting the hem of her shirt, she was definitely sulking. Prying her fingers away, she stopped herself. Bad. She wanted to be here.

Sensei had arranged something with a few other classes in an entire week of what he called team-and-community building. His trademarked idea. He also promised (or punished, they claimed) those with the highest scores per subject to then act as instructors for the rest of the class. If any of them made it to jonin, they would have to know how to train unruly children. Probably. Teacher made them do a lot of strange things supposedly in the name of comradery.

Flicker of a smile, she liked him. His emphasis on helping each other be better.

That flicker disappeared with a drop in her stomach, fingers again clenching at fabric. Cold skin, empty eyes, a distant memory engraved deep-

For all the potential blood and bruises, pain and tears, the alternative… It was better here, she weakly reminded herself. That's why she wanted to do this, to learn at the academy instead of alone.

A small clearing lined with posts, Renri stood off to side once she reached the training grounds. Glimmer of metal, her classmates were throwing kunai and shuriken at targets. An easy introduction to this week, since they'd practiced in class numerous times already. She assumed. She'd missed the first few weeks.

They had two teachers. Both from her age group. Today. Not every class Sensei had named was; presumably the older kids would be teaching more difficult subjects or be under more pressure to act as capable instructors. Because the expectations, here and now, seemed a little… low.

Both teachers had lines, but the mood was starkly different. Sensei Takuma stood off to the side with the other class's teacher, chatting while keeping an eye on the more boisterous group.

No sense practicing. She inched towards a few from her class that had already grown disinterested in the lesson. There. The illusion she wasn't standing alone, bored.

The more competitive students flocked to one of her classmates-deemed-teacher as he egged them on, trying to get them to beat each other with whatever point system he had made up. He would stop shouting long enough to give instructions as new kids stepped up to throw before resuming the mostly playful taunts. It looked like fun. Everyone yelled when one stuck in the target near center. Her classmate even managed to seem impressed before gloating his high score in this game was unbeatable. To be fair, he was top of the class with throwing weapons, tied with only one other.

Renri shuffled her feet. Could she win, if she actually tried? Alone, without comparison or critique, she liked to think she had the basics down. That maybe she was fairly good with kunai, at least. She practiced a lot when reading got boring. The distance the class stood, she could handle it without losing all force. Her aim for straight shots seemed better than most, too, if considering the scattering of weapons around the target- and stuck in the ground near the post. Some even sailed off into the field behind the targets. (Would they have to retrieve them later? If not, could she keep them? She couldn't make herself ask for a new set, sentimentally attached to her first now-battered set and embarrassed she'd taken such poor care of them.)

She shook her head. Nope. Not allowed. She would have to deliberately throw off target, anyway. Not worth the attention. It was fine. No disappointment. Nope. None.

Attention forcibly removed from friendly competition, she looked to the other group- line not quite the word. Calmer, by comparison, but that was because the group had likely dwindled down from a mix to entirely girls surrounding their unfortunate student teacher. Whispering and giggling, she frowned. Anyone more serious about the lesson had obviously abandoned this teacher because of the flock of girls more interested in asking unrelated questions. Very minimal answers from their perplexed target of interrogation kept the stubborn ringleaders talking.

The few from her class, they had good marks in throwing weapons already, so why practice when they had something better to do? No one stopped them. Teacher may, at most, lightly scold them afterwards.

Watching for a while, unable to hear, and even a few others broke away to wander to the other group. Talking to a stone wall managed to bore them into tedious practice.

She edged toward the group, internally screaming. She was meant to stand off to the side! But she couldn't hear… And, like most everyone else, she was curious. Despite being their age, Uchiha Itachi was some sort of prodigy likely to graduate early. And a lot of other adjectives ranging from very cool to really cute to positively stuck-up, but that wasn't the point. She swore.

Moving closer proved it was as unfortunate of a scene as she had imagined.

She wanted to chew on her lip, fiddle with her clothes and hair, do anything to release pent-up energy with nowhere productive to go- like throwing around knives, every thunk of metal in wood sounding mocking. Mariko shot her a dirty look for standing next to her, fidgeting away. Must be interrupting her glaring match with the boy ignoring the group.

He was not as distracting as everyone made him seen. Dark hair brushed from equally dark eyes, he listened more than spoke. Cute, probably, but she'd take the sharp pointy objects. Much more fascinating.

Even short one-word answers, the girls surrounding Itachi ate it up as encouragement. It wasn't fair. To him. Probably. Acting as a student teacher couldn't possibly have been a punishment. Maybe for her classmate, but not Itachi. And a reason more than dodging trivial questions while preforming small feats of skill on command, look of utmost boredom on his face as he was forced to participate. The very point of his participation flew right over their heads!

She was projecting, wasn't she?

Yes. Yes, she was. Her classmates were just as curious as her, but their questions different. It seemed an ongoing theme with their interactions.

Her tongue refused. She wanted to ask him. To have his reputation- she wasn't immune to listening to rumors, despite disliking them- as so insanely skilled since stepping foot in the academy… The little tricks done between questions, kunai effortlessly thrown and caught behind his back, spun on a finger in a controlled blur, flipped between hands without hesitation, she wanted to ask. Three kunai squeezed into the bullseye on the far target behind him, she really wanted to ask.

Nerves kept her silently picking at her sleeve.

Again, she had the basics down. To ask anything more… At least, if she wanted to ask in a way that wasn't to make him preform a trick but teach it. To her. The girl that hadn't thrown a single thing after arriving late. No way. She would have to show she understood the basics first. And then some. That would get attention. Attention was bad. Look at what attention earned him!

He stood with an audience of her class alone, numbers dwindling, harsh words spoken behind his back. His classmates seemed to ignore him entirely, already through with him.

She looked back to the other group. Longingly, probably.

The competition had turned into two boys facing off with their "teacher" calling out targets. Distant posts. Points on the ground. The pace picked up, a shout, a throw, and repeat. It looked like even more fun.

And this is why she preferred kunoichi class! Flower arranging didn't leave this twist of disappointment and frustration as she-

A glint in sunlight.

Clash of metal against metal. Two boys got bored of watching, swinging kunai for each other. Another clash. Force wrong. Fingers slipping from the handle, angle of deflection-

She flung herself to the side. Her eyes snapped closed.

Sharp sound, no pain, her eyes opened as gasps filled sudden silence. Her feet touched the ground as Takuma-sensei released his hold on her collar. They now stood a short distance away. Mariko landed beside her, stunned quiet.

Of course. They wouldn't let anything bad happen. Not even to her. Renri stared at the ground with everyone else. The teachers wouldn't let anything bad happen, but that didn't mean they couldn't stop it themselves. After all, they were comrades to protect, not just competition to eliminate. Even at the cost of a little pain, she wanted that to be true. A little stab to her shoulder over a cut to Mariko's face, she wanted that to be a worthy trade.

Two kunai. The first, lying on the ground. The second, the tip through the ringed handle of the first. Angled from the direction of the throw, her eyes followed with everyone else's. Itachi's hand lowered.

Voices distant, all the praise aimed at him with fading shock, but dark eyes remained on her alone.

He saw.

She couldn't read his thoughts, no reaction in a rather blank expression. The attention was enough. The precision and reaction time to do what he had done… All she could do was throw herself between and hope.

With most attention thankfully shifted elsewhere, she hid her face behind her hair as she walked. Her face felt like it was burning. So jealous. Her reaction was probably all over her face. Her heart was certainly pounding in her ears. Two kunai in hand, she went to the other line first. She returned it to her classmate, his confused look serving as her thanks, before he yelled at his friend for messing around. Mariko's lip still trembled despite the sharp glare she aimed at Renri.

"These aren't toys," the other class's teacher reminded, the beginnings of a lecture, "they are weapons made to hurt. If you aren't careful, you could hurt yourself, or, worse, your comrades. Always pay attention to your surroundings."

Her classmate deflated when the lecture turned onto him, as he was technically playing the instructor role.

Quietly, as the crowd around Itachi parted, she sneaked by her classmates. Too stunned and busy listening to the teacher, they hadn't rushed him yet to fawn over him. Still a bit jealous. It would take a lot of effort to learn to do that. She offered the kunai. She probably had a stupid blush with how hot her face felt. Her mouth refused to open. She wanted to know how so bad.

She lost her chance.

He nodded in thanks as he took the kunai, expression unreadable.

"Thank you," she forced out in a whisper, grateful. Small cuts still hurt. Even if the teachers had been there to prevent any sort of major accident, she was grateful he moved to help too.

She quickly retreated to the sidelines. The teachers decided to dismiss class a few minutes later after outlining the lessons for the rest of the week. They claimed the easiest was today. Some would be during class hours. Others would be after regular classes again. At the end of the week, they promised something fun was in store.

Renri resolved to practice on her own afterwards. Like always.

A/N: This story will be cross-posted on Ao3 and FF, but the Ao3 version will be more polished (like edits for grammar and wording, nothing major). The story will get more canon divergent as time progresses, but this first part will mostly follow the Itachi light novels. I will reference canon events, but not re-hash them blow by blow. Most often the POV character will be Renri (main OC) or Itachi.

Thank you for reading!