𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 ― u. itachi

6 ➸ Fallen Soldier

"Shisui of the Uchiha is dead, did you hear?"

Yuriko stopped writing, her focus on the problem in front of her dissipating once she heard the news from the boy behind her.  His jeering baritone made frustration well up inside of her.  If what he was saying was true, why was he laughing?  Who would laugh over someone's death?

Weren't you supposed to mourn?

"Yuriko."  Akari muttered, eyeing the female's now broken pencil.  "Focus."

She was right.  These practice sheets were important.  And she had no reason to be thinking about the Uchiha.

Itachi didn't count.

Like a curse, he'd been running circles in her mind like a little demon.  Their aimless interactions from months ago super glued into the back of her head. They taunted her, messed with her head in the most delicious ways possible.

Was it weird she wanted to relive that moment again? The female wasn't sure. A part of her said told her it was fine, comforting the feelings she felt with a dazzling creek with crystal clear water under the bright summer sun.  The other part of her, however, had told her she finally went mad.  The other side of that crystal clear creek was muddied, scary creatures littering the bay.  But who was to blame that side?  It was an Uchiha that she had in her head.

Her conscious associated the Uchiha prince with a rose.  Beautiful and alluring, it wouldn't be until she grasped firmly onto him—his thorns digging deep into the delicate skin of her palm.

The female's jaw dropped.  Her head spinning and her pride being crushed into fine sawdust.

3rd: Amari Yuriko - 122/130

"To be fair,"  Akari spoke, "You weren't focused at all for the last half of the test."

1st: Serinuma Akari - 129/130

"True,"  The blonde giggled, turning to her redhead friend.  "Good job, Akari."  There was nothing but good intentions behind her words.  Yuriko wasn't that kind of person.

"I'll beat you on the real one though."

But she was always up for a challenge.

"Ha!  We'll see!  My ego has been skyrocketed!  I won't lose!"

::

His chest ached.  It burned with the raging flames of despair and anger.  Under the inky blue sky, the boy laid in a bed of soft grass.  He was tired.  He wanted to be free.

How he could blamed for his own cousin's death was beyond him.  Itachi closed his eyes, before opening them to reveal a new of crimson eyes.  It stung and strained his eye sockets, but he let the blood red clash with deep blue that surrounded him.  Wisps of white left his lips as the cold air nipped at his pale face, a tear being shed.

His focus was directed to the soft giggles he heard from beyond the bushes.  Itachi rose an eyebrow, sitting up.

"Kazue, careful!"

At the sound of the quiet cheerful voice filling his ears and dancing laps around his head, Itachi felt his heart pick up its slow pace.  He stood up, silently stalking to where he could hear her voice.

"Make it glow, Kazue!"  Not even a moment passed until her heard soft clapping.  Itachi had already had concealed his chakra long ago, but he worried he'd get caught because of the noisy rustle of the leaves.

Peeking his head over the bushes, his eyes widened.  There were luminous spheres of green floating over the lake and all around.  What were they?  He had wondered.  He wasn't aware of Kazue having a kekkai genkai.

But then again, he never really cared about the average boy's statistics.

"You do it, Ko-chan."  The boy said.  "I showed you how."

"No!"  She softly whined, shaking her head.  "It makes me weak."

"C'mon."  He chuckled, dimple saying hello.  "Just one—last time you made like four, obviously you're gonna get tired."

"I don't wanna, Kazue."

It was definitely wrong he was spying.  Most would think it wasn't like him—and it wasn't.  But he got curious, too.  So curious that he didn't give a care in the world if he was acting out of the ordinary.

His eyes widened for a fraction of a second upon seeing the blonde concentrate, then see a green glow from her palm, forming a solid sphere.  It left the centre of her hand and floated along with the many others the boy had made.

"See? Not hard at all."

She pouted, pointing at the green sphere. "Why is it so small?!"

Itachi's lips twitched upward, the harsh creases on his face relaxing at the sight of her. She was refreshing, he thought, looking at her joke around with the other boy.

She seemed so normal and Itachi couldn't help but wonder what "being normal" felt like. He wondered if a day would come, where he, too, could experience the kind of refreshing freedom Yuriko's aura bleeds.

Unbeknownst to him, she touches his soul. It leaves him with an ache whenever he looks at her longingly; the itch to be near her and soak up her aura like a sponge, wanted to swallow him whole.

It's odd, he thought, these feelings.

But when he was met with Kazue's sharp emerald irises, it was like he's thrown back into reality—his sad reality that he'll never get to be near her.

How he knew he was there? Itachi didn't know. Perhaps, he thought, backing away from the bushes and running off into the forest, Kazue was more than the average shinobi—that the boy with the laid-back personality and loud laugh, the boy who seemed far more talented than a mere chuunin, was hiding something.

Oh, well. What will be, will be.