Dragonfly

Chapter Four: Hot Stuff

Okay-I'll admit one thing. Learning how to be a ninja was actually, like, crazy cool. The sky was pretty much the limit with techniques and other various specialties, and if you were good at moulding and balancing your chakra output appropriately you were guaranteed to be a success. With the proper guidance, of course.

Learning about Konoha's and the Ninja World's history was actually interesting, too. Everything was so much more in-depth than what was briefly given in the manga and for a passing moment-but only, like, one teeny-tiny second-I actually thought that maybe I did want to try for the rank of genin. Given my lineage and my current level of intelligence (even despite my bad handle on the local language), it would probably be cake. Maybe I actually could keep up with Shisui and Itachi instead of hanging back on the sidelines, and end up doing something that would make Satoshi and Emiko proud.

But, unfortunately, laziness and unwillingness that could give Shikamaru a run for his money won out in the end and the idea no longer sounded quite so appealing.

Nah. It just wasn't the life for me.

Plus, my classmates were all beyond annoying and they tried to actually become friends with me. I would have skipped classes if I had the option to do so, but the first time I did it and succeeded, Emiko immediately found out and made me de-weed the garden again. After yelling my ear off.

I didn't have many options left. So, to keep the kids off my back, I took to chasing them all around outside during recess while making ultra-threatening, slobbery kissy-faces. They were mortified.

"Run! It's Cootie Rika!"

When one shrieked it, they all scattered.

In my class year, there were about five civilian or clanless kids, a Hyuuga, three unidentifiable Uchiha cousins, a couple of Naras, and a Yamanaka or two, going by clan crests and appearances. No interesting canon characters at all, unfortunately. I really would have liked to traumatize some, if only just a little.

And you know what? I was really good at cornering them all and smacking kisses right on their fat little cheeks.

It earned me the reputation of creepy cootie-girl Rika and three hours of time-out in the corner during lessons, but it was totally worth it. They never bothered me again. Not for a while, at least. I mean, kids tended to wander back to things like moths to a flame.

"Rika, what did you do now?"

Naturally, word got out to Shisui and he brought up the topic while we were walking back to the clan district after school. We walked together to and from, just like Emiko said we could, and Itachi would be joining us sooner or later-and it could very well end up being Itachi and I alone walking together if Shisui graduated soon. How awkward.

Unlike Shisui, I hadn't really had the chance to interact with Itachi much yet aside from the time when the council threw Fugaku a congratulatory celebration for becoming the new leader and pretty much the whole neighborhood was invited. Didn't get much of an impression from the kid other than we were practically polar opposites, but I'd already known that much.

Wonder how he'd react to being kissed on the cheek.

"I didn't do 'nything, Shisui," I grinned, nudging at an abandoned tin can sitting in the road with my shoe as we walked.

"I really doubt that. I'm pretty sure Cootie Rika has to be you," he said pointedly. "There's not another Rika in the school." Quick to catch on, as always-didn't I mention he was smart? I kicked the can towards him and he intercepted it, momentarily distracted, but not distracted enough to just let the subject go. "Going around k-kissing your classmates isn't a good way to make friends, you know. I mean, would you like it if someone did that to you?"