Chapter IV

Of Petty Fights and Betrayals

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"Show her the training rooms," Danzo dismissed. "Kabuto has yet to report to me."

The boy that had brought her there, bowed and nodded in affirmation. Silently, she followed him and glanced around attempting to get a better grasp on her conflicting emotions. He didn't seem to mind, or even look back once to make sure she was behind him. She was secretly grateful—sniffles and shaky breaths were best left ignored.

The—underground?—compound was spacious with catwalks connecting the numerous rooms. She was reminded of a tower, except it wasn't as deep and was wider to fit the rooms. Her mind was brought back to a magical castle that had moving staircases and a dark forest surrounding it. (Had it really been almost more than seven years since then?) One detail that she found rather grim was that there was no color; only black.

(—"Like the color of my soul."—)

Overcome with crippling sadness, she blinked rapidly and raised her arm to her heart. She clenched her dark shirt and gritted her teeth.

(Had she lost another to the hungry, churning sea?)

"These are the training grounds."

She stumbled to a stop, having not been paying attention, and mumbled a small sorry after bumping into the boy's back. He didn't reply.

After a pause that was filled with her staring at the large area—it had a tall ceiling and walls spaced apart by columns, he continued forward. "You will be told at a later date on which days you will be attending, but these will be where you come."

He was so… emotionless. A blank sheet practically.

A tap on her shoulder alerted her to the other presence. She startled, she hadn't heard anybody. To her surprise, it was Smiley. "I didn't hear you sneak up."

And didn't that speak volumes for how long he had been here?

"You will come here every Wednesday and Saturday for now." His eyes were shadowed, and her unease reappeared.

"For now?" She repeated hesitantly.

He nodded, "An academy student such as yourself wouldn't be able to logically improve as much if you came every day, thus only two days will have to do."

It made sense, she supposed, but what truly worried her was Smiley. And how had she not known about this covert (or was it? A councilman was the leader of it, so perhaps not?) division of what she was guessing Anbu as the boy showing her around had a plain white mask. It had no colors, just like the compound.

"Are…" she licked her lips, "Are you alright?"

"He is fine." The operative wearing the mask stated plainly. "I will find you next Saturday, now leave."

Then he was gone.

Kabuto seemed to relax slightly, and sent her a wry smile. "Guessing you don't know where the exit is?"

"Yeah," she rubbed the back of neck. Inwardly, she was relieved. Surely it couldn't be as bad as it had first seemed if he could still joke slightly. As he started leading the way, she attempted to create a mental map of what she knew of the building. "Thank you."

"Huh?" He snapped out of his reprieve. "Oh, it's nothing."

"So, um, how long…" She trailed off. They had never actually talked, now that she thought about it save that one time.

"Around half a year, I think." He shrugged. "So you named me Smiley?"

She cringed, "yeah. I know, I'm not the most creative."

"Well, I like it." He said firmly, "more than Kabuto."

She flushed, not accustomed to the praise. Hana had only indirectly complimented her during the spares earlier that night, and Tsubaki-sensei certainly wasn't one to hand out unnecessary praise. As for Itachi, well, he only served to grate on her nerves. "Thank you, Smiley."

Smiling, he flashed her two thumbs up. "It's… good to have someone act human around me again."

She laughed dryly, out of her class, she would call herself the least human. Sobering, she apologetically said, "I'm sorry. I—I was selfish and left you all alone there. You shouldn't have had to deal with that by yourself…"

"No!" he waved his arms in front of him. "No, I'm glad you're not dead like I thought you were. I'm glad that you took your own fate in your hands… I don't think I could've, or even can."

"Yeah you can," she encouraged, feeling the need to help the poor boy (who was lost like Itachi, so why wasn't she helping Itachi?). "Just don't do anything you don't want to do."

"But you said yes to Danzo-sama."

"And I regret nothing."

"…Thank you… Even my friends at the Orphanage wouldn't do anything… They would just stare."

"Oh—um, don't cry, please? Alright? …Good. I guess I just couldn't stand not being able to see you smile again, as cliché as that sounds. Wait—don't cry! That wasn't supposed to make you cry!"

"S—sorry." He shot her a wobbling smile, "Danzo-sama doesn't approve of emotions, and you, well, you are so full of them. It's really, really nice."

It was needless to say that she was stunned into silence. (She didn't think she was nice. She thought she was mean, cruel, and distant.)

Three turns later and one seal, she was back out in the city with no one the wiser of her disappearance, four times as stressed, and one happily beating heart.

(He was nice and kind, after all.

Somehow, it made her sacrifice a little more manageable.)

.

She had worried that Mayu would do something stupid during her untimely disappearance. And, evidently, she hadn't been the only one worried.

"I almost went to the Uchiha compound to ask the Uchiha you're always complaining about where you were. You were gone for three hours past the time we set up for each other!" Mayu ranted. "You can't just—just vanish like that! I was worried, okay?"

"I get it," she said. "Now stop nagging me."

It had been pleasant to hear the other show her worry in shouting the first time. The third time however, not so much.

"Where even were you?" Mayu finally got around to ask the question she had been expecting since she had strolled through the door.

Tsuki didn't stop to look at the girl as she watched the water boil slowly. "I was sparing with a classmate."

"I thought you didn't have any friends."

(—"She got you there,—"—)

(Why couldn't she hear the name? Why couldn't she remember her name?)

"I… didn't." She blinked lethargically. Small bubbles rose to surface breaking the (her) face in the reflection.

(She wanted to remember.)

"Oh, so who's your friend now?"

The water was boiling now. The face was gone now (like her memories), the clear water turning foggy as it grew hotter and hotter. It was hypnotizing, the light refracting in the bubbles and—

(—"Oh hey, you read those too? I loved them, though the first one will always hold a special place in my heart. I'm — by the way. You?"—)

—it was overflowing, but she couldn't look away—

(—"—, pretty lame name right?" It was bright, almost too bright. "Though you can call me —, since I'm just as awesome as her."—)

—and why was that?—

(—"Maybe in your mind."—)

—she didn't know, but it was bright just like—

(—"And here I was thinking we were going to be the bestest of friends." It was like staring into the sun. "I see how it's going to be."—)

She was being shoved aside for the second time that night (and she still wanted to know her name). Crumpling to the floor, she stared listlessly at the blank ceiling.

"Hey!" Someone was shouting. Was it for her? "What were you thinking? You could have burned yourself!"

She pulled herself off the floor, her eyes unfocused. "…And?" Was she not supposed to harm herself?

(She had been so close to finding out her name. So close.)

"You don't do things like that, Tsuki." The girl—Mayu, was it?—said looking concerned.

Slowly, too slowly, her mind cleared, the fog vanishing back to the darkest recesses of her mind (the ever choppy sea loomed all to close), and with her newfound clarity, she glanced at her unblemished hands. Had Mayu not been there would she have burned them? Would she have stopped herself?

She didn't think so, but decided not to linger on the ominous thought. She could analyze her actions later.

"Are you back to being yourself?" Mayu—there wasn't any more hesitance this time around—asked. "Gosh… first you come home late, next you practically harm youself… what's next?"

"I'm sorry," she furrowed her brows. "It won't happen again."

The girl flashed a grin, her previous concern gone. "Don't worry, even if it does, I'll be here."

"That's… that's good." She smiled in return. "I'm glad."

Mayu's grin slid off and a look of pure astonishment replaced it. Suddenly, to Tsuki's surprise, she was all up in her face and poking her cheeks. "Who are you and what have you done to my Tsuki? Give her back! Now!"

Tsuki took a step back, "umm, it's me?"

"Pushhh, you can't even say it confidently." Mayu taunted, flipping her hair condescendingly.

"Mayu," why had she even decided to live with this annoyance? "Shut up."

The girl's jaw snapped shut with a click, but a smile remained. "So it is you."

"Of course it's me, idiot."

"Hey! I was taking precautions, just like you taught me—ouch, don't hit me."

"I taught you to be suspicious and to wait until you knew you could take them on if you were hundred percent sure. And to never reveal that you were on to them.

"You broke all three of them, Mayu."

"Awww… I tried so hard too!"

"No, you didn't. Now go get me a cup of tea, we have a new lesson to cover."

"But it's practically midnight!"

"No matter, get out your notebook."

"When I said I wanted to be a medic-nin, I didn't mean staying up sooo late."

"It'll pay off in the end, and move faster Mayu! It's going to be six in the morning by the time you're done."

And thus went her night.

(She still didn't know her name.)

.

The next morning she found herself squished between two very different people. Said people being Hana and the Uchiha.

It was about as terrible as it sounded, which is to say, very. She thought about switching seats with perhaps Izumi, just to rile Hana up as revenge. However, that would require actual effort and putting away her interesting book—Wink, Poppy, Midnight. Thus, she endured it and managed to tune them out—somewhat, at least.

Unfortunately, now was not such a time, and the words on the page seemed to mean nothing as she only had ears for the new petty argument that had risen up between Hana and the Uchiha. She wished for the headphones that hadn't yet been invented.

"…ink you're so smart and all that, but you're not, and you won't ever be." Hana snapped, leaning over the desk to point her finger in his chest.

"The ranks seem to say otherwise," Itachi calmly remarked, his dark eyes remaining impassive.

Tsuki had no issue viewing him as the killer of his entire clan save his younger brother that had been born recently.

The young Inuzuka snarled, her canine flashing dangerously. In return, Itachi stiffened momentarily and his hands had closed the book that he had been reading.

Deciding she had already dealt with enough and wanting to be able to read in silence once more—she wanted to know who the liar was dammit—she waved her hands in the air like she could dispel the almost tangible tension in the air and cleared her throat. "Just shut up already, I wasn't able to sleep well, and I want to be able to read in peace. Thank you."

The blessed silence lasted about five minutes before spiraling back to throwing words like weapons, which, she supposed, they were.

"Quiet!"

Of course, Tsubaki-sensei would be the one to shut them up. Why she thought otherwise, she wasn't sure. If it hadn't been for own demise by her hand, she would have declared her teacher as a God-given person.

"Today, we'll be doing a partner activity about the Hokage's as review for the test we have tomorrow. I will be the one providing the poster boards, so once you've gotten into groups, come see me and I'll hand one to you." She instructed clearly as she passed out the rubric for the project. "Remember, be creative."

Itachi handed her two sheets and, taking one as her own, she passed the last one to Hana who took hers with a grimace. Obviously she hadn't had a great experience with them in the past.

"I'll give you ten seconds to pick out your partner so be fast. Make sure to stand besides them." She finished. "Ten."

Hana turned to her with a grin, "Want to work together, Tsuki?"

"Nine."

She had a feeling she didn't have much of a choice. "Su—"

"Eight."

"As two intellectuals, we should work together." Itachi interrupted rapidly.

"Seven."

"Too bad, she's already working with me." Hana smirked. "Go find some loser to work with."

"Six."

"Has she already acquiesced to your demands?" The Uchiha inquired and Tsuki sighed, why couldn't they get along? A five was shouted in the background. "Because I don't believe I've heard her say yes."

"Four."

"Only because you interrupted her like the rude person you are." Hana couldn't seem to resist and she couldn't lie. It did feel good to see someone else seeing him as an arrogant asshole (a child). "So Tsuki?" Hana looked back for an affirmation.

"Two."

"Yea—"

"Are you certain you won't regret it?" Itachi asked, looking slightly desperate.

"One."

"Oh my gosh, just let her speak Itachi!" Hana growled as she marched up to him. "We're partners already so scat!"

"Zero." Tsubaki-sensei clapped her hands and let the class quiet down before continuing. "Alright, let's see here. Ureshi and Izumi, Sakuno and Takeshi, oh my, Hana and Itachi…"

The rest was a blur if only because she was internally dying of laughter. Their faces of bewilderment and shock seemed to have been copy and pasted in her mind as all she could see was them. Today might be so bad after all, she thought with a smile.

At least, until she realized what it meant for her. Working with a random stranger that probably didn't know jack shit.

…

She was going to fucking murder them, and enjoy it.

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Some angst and fluff in this chapter. Hopefully, you like it. If not, tell me what I can do to make it better.

Thank you ShizuSasori9, Myllinu, and OneWhoReadsTooMuch for reviewing! Also thank you to all the people who follow and favorite, I appreciate every single one of you.

See you soon (maybe)!

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