Author's Note: A dear friend of mine wishes me to continue this so I shall :D.

This and next chapters will take place in the past.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

Text is present Mei's thoughts

At 9 years old

Mei was sitting down in the classroom next to some other girls. She was busy writing something down but she could still hear her classmates gossiping.

"Did you guys hear about the new guy?" one said.

"I heard he's a monster."

"Someone told me he's actually a fish. You think he's gonna be in this class?"

It was then that their teacher walked in and everyone went back to their seats. Mei didn't bother to look up; nothing of interest anyway.

"Listen everyone. We have a new student today." The teacher announced.

Must be that guy they were talking about. Mei thought back to the conversation she overheard only a few moments ago. She remembered what they said about him being some sort of monster. Reluctantly, that thought made her look up. She was simply curious as to what he really looked like.

"Be nice to him. It is his first day, after all." The teacher then looked at the doorframe. "Come on now, meet your classmates." He said, most probably to the new guy. Everyone else was quiet, all wondering what the newbie looked like.

Mei heard footsteps, thinking back to what she heard earlier, '…actually a fish' Well, fish don't have feet, she thought. Then she saw him; dressed in a sleeveless black top and black pants along with the sandals very common among shinobi. He had his head down and was facing the teacher. The newbie sighed, slowly turned to face the class, looked up and-

'He's blue!?' Mei thought.

"This is Hoshigaki Kisame. And he's-"

"He's BLUE!" At first Mei thought that she said her thought aloud, but realized that it was someone else. There were the few who started to laugh while others stifled their laughter to not have their attention called. Mei though, pouted. She rather liked the color blue, it was her favorite color anyway.

"ENOUGH!" The teacher shouted. Everyone was silent, but some of the more stubborn boys kept grinning.

"…You will treat him with respect. Now, Kisame, you want to add anything? Say something about yourself, you know."

Kisame looked at his classmates, then lowered his head again. "There's not much to say, anyways."

"Ok then, sit wherever you want then we'll begin today's lesson."

As Kisame made his way through the classroom, the students started moving in a way there wouldn't be space for someone to sit down, like stretching out their arms more. They weren't very subtle in doing it either.

Mei looked to her right and noticed that the girls that were beside her a while ago were no longer there. 'Why didn't I notice that before?' and sure enough, seeing as all the other free spaces were now 'occupied', Kisame sat beside Mei.

The future Mizukage kept her eyes in front, noticing some of her classmates snickering at her. She glared at them in response. 'Bullies.'

Though once the teacher started talking, the class didn't bother teasing anymore and kept their attention on what he was discussing. Mei was about to write something again when she felt movement to her right.

The boy, who she now knows as Hoshigaki Kisame, was yawning and Mei couldn't help but giggle.

"It's your first day and you're already bored? I'm Mei, by the way; Terumi Mei." she asked.

Kisame didn't even turn to face her. "Hmph."

Mei frowned. "Hey! It's rude not to look at the person talking to you." Kisame didn't respond but that didn't stop her.

"I'm trying to be nice to you. Why don't-"

"You don't have to."

Mei raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Kisame, still not looking at her, replied. "I said, you don't have to be nice to me. It's useless."

"Why?"

Instead of hearing Kisame's voice, she heard her teacher's. "Everyone please! You have to listen to this. You'll need to know the basics for your….graduation." At the last word, all the students' became depressed. On the Mizukage Yagura's orders, graduation was a time for the students to battle one another to the death. Only the few who survived would graduate. It was something the students wanted to avoid but knew they couldn't unless the Mizukage had a change of heart, which seemed very unlikely.

After a moment of silence, the teacher spoke again. "I want everyone to have a chance. And as much as I'd like to not let any of you go through that, it isn't in my power… Anyways, where was I?"

As the lesson continued, Mei was still frowning. The graduation ritual was the reason why she didn't have any close friends in her class. She was scared of what would happen if she were to have to fight friends in battle, like not being able to kill them or if they would use their friendships against each other. Mei didn't want to deal with any of that so she chose to distance herself. As she thought of this, she looked at all her classmates, thinking of how much longer she'd see them.

Kisame glanced at the girl beside him, and saw the sad expression on her face. "Now you know why."

Once class was over, Mei decided to head to the docks for a while. It was a cool sight for it was surrounded by mist just like the rest of the village. Mei didn't mind, she found it soothing and she needed to relax after what happened in the classroom earlier.

Mei was at the end of the pier, her feet dangling above the water. "If I were Mizukage, that stupid ritual wouldn't even exist."

As she inhaled the cool air, she heard a splash. She looked at the water but could only see her reflection. Mei tried to get closer to the water when-

"SHARK!" she screamed then pulled away.

A shark had popped up from the water right in front of Mei. "How is a shark even this close to land?!" Mei was still shaking from the shock when she noticed something different about the shark.

She calmed down a bit first. "Wait." The fish was actually tiny, it was smaller than her anyway. Mei sighed. "Ok, so you're a baby shark then. Kinda cute, really." She dared to pet it when-

"It's not a baby!" Mei looked over her shoulder to see a figure coming closer. It was hard to tell who it was with the mist, but the voice was very familiar.

The figure was her new classmate, Kisame. "It's not a baby." He repeated.

Mei craned her head to look at the boy standing a few feet away from her. "But it's so small." She said.

Kisame then sat beside her. "Yeah, I'm working on that. And by the way, baby sharks are called pups."

Mei tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Some people don't know the term for young sharks and-"

Mei rolled her eyes. "I meant the shark! You know it?"

"I summoned that shark. But it's supposed to be bigger."

"Wait, this shark is yours?"

Kisame shrugged. "Like I said, I summoned it. Why?"

Without warning, Mei punched him hard in the shoulder. "JERK!" She glared at the boy.

"WHAT!?" Kisame said as he rubbed the spot Mei had hit.

"That shark nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"That's an exaggeration."

"You know what I mean!" Mei frowned and crossed her arms, still sitting down and now with her back to Kisame. Then she heard him laugh.

"Hey I was just training and the little guy swam away. You just happened to find him here."

"…Well, it's still your fault."

Kisame smirked. "Whatever, he did seem to cheer you up after you went all dark and gloomy back at the academy."

Mei's neck almost snapped when she quickly turned to face her classmate once more. "Huh?"

"I noticed your mood changed when the topic was about the 'ritual' but my shark here must've scared you enough to forget about it."

Mei didn't say anything in response and instead, continued staring at him. Kisame took that as his cue to leave.

"Ok, then." As he got up, the shark poofed away. "I'm behind on my training now 'cuz of you."

Kisame started walking away when he spoke once more. "I'll see you tomorrow, Mei."

The girl stood up and glared at her classmate. "Mei!? That's it? Not Mei-kun or even my surname?"

The blue boy, still walking, responded. "Not a chance...Mei"

Mei, at a loss for words, crossed her arms and was fuming as she watched Kisame go further away. "That guy…"

… was my first real friend.

Author's Note: Yes, I updated. I couldn't think of an ending to this so I took my time :/ but here it is! Don't forget to review, keeps me going :D