In the Clouds

[Senju Shizuka]

Stifling a yawn she put back the book. After having stared at the same page for about ten minutes Shizuka knew that today wouldn’t be the day she would finish the essay on the lightning element. Luckily she still had a week to get it done, so, promising herself not to try to do it the day before, the little Senju zigzagged between the racks full of books and headed a level down. From the rays falling in through the windows she judged that there was still some time to goof around before heading back home for dinner. It’s why she was heading toward the ‘fun’ part of the library where more interesting topics could be found. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she thought to see a familiar face passing by outside.

Without wasting any time she sprinted, to the librarian’s horror, through the hall and was out of the building before anyone could scold her for running. Going around the library, she looked in the direction the man must have gone in. From the sight of it he wasn’t too far away and so she took her time wondering if she should yell for him or try to ambush him. Deciding that yelling would get her more unwanted attention, Shizuka set out toward Arata.

Having hung around him since she was pretty young she had always found him to be a pleasant company. From her experience he was mostly calm, easy-going, and had something about his presence that put her at ease. They didn’t even have to talk a lot, just hanging around each other was more than enough for the young Senju that liked her surroundings to be quiet and peaceful.

From one corner to the other she slid, pressed her back against the stone, then peered around to see if he had noticed her yet. Somehow this childish game of hunting felt right. There was a warm buzz going through her body; she found herself smiling ever so slightly.

Her dad had told her that there had been a time and a place where Senju and Uchiha hadn’t gotten along. Fortunately this wasn’t the case here and now, so she kept up her pursuit until the distance between the two had shrunk quite a bit. A part of her didn’t expect to be able to catch him off guard. He was a genin for a reason. Still, she hoped to at least get a hold of him even if he would see her coming.

A tree became her cover, but not for long. Quickly climbing it she followed one of the ticker branches before pushing off and jumping toward the tall, dark haired Uchiha. “Booh~”, the word was far from a scream, more of a loud whisper in all honesty. She landed a couple of feet from her friend, rolled closer and tried to get her leg hooked up behind his in order to trip him. The smile from before had grown into a mischievous grin.

“You working today?” the girl with the piercing green eyes wanted to know.

 

[Uchiha Arata]

'The branches almost make up the human body huh? The medical branch the nerves.. the main branch the body.. the anbu the knife or the poison.. it makes sense. Yeah I can follow that. Then ninjutsu.. my chidori is powerful and all, even sensei had to get out of the way instead of handle it nonchalantly. But the problem is it's way too straight forward, my body still needs more training as well as my chakra control in able to handle the chidori better. For now I need to make diversions or distractions for it to hit. Clones are a viable option.. perhaps that lightning beast jutsu would be useful.. '

The Uchiha strutted past the library and continued on down a stone path with heavy thoughts. The boy was wearing a navy blue T-shirt with the Uchiha crest enlarged on his back, displaying it proudfully. With that he had on a pair of black shorts and black sandals. On his left wrist was a black wristband. The young Uchiha's hands were stuffed in his pockets as he strutted down the path. The boy had a lot to ponder on with his recent "1 on 1" studying with his sensei. He was indeed an interesting man. His eyes were even more interesting though. Just one look and Arata was left with an array of emotions. Confusion, anger, even a bit of joy that he too could attain it, all these emotions were part of him for that moment. The rippled eyes with multiple black tomoe scattered through it was almost mesmerizing. What did he have to do to attain such eyes?

Despite the shocking events Arata was focusing on improving himself, getting stronger, breaching his limits and surpassing them. The way he was now, he wasn't even walking. He was crawling, but not walking yet, and not even close to running. Even though he was deep in thought he couldn't help but notice the unusual rustling of leaves from the trees, it surely wasn't windy enough for the noise that was able to be heard. 'Just what is it now..?'

Jumping out was no other than a young Senju who was attempting to "spook" him. Of course Arata simply stood unamused and unimpressed, however the Senju then attempted to trip him. Was he just going to let her do this? Um. No. reacting rather quickly Arata pivoted using his other foot and swung his body around in a circle and was about to attempt to drop a spinning elbow down to the back of the Senju's head, however Arata figured it would be too much and raised his elbow up and opened his hand, instead he caught her head with his hand and pushed her face down towards the ground.

"Well, well.. look what we have here. What brings you here today Shizuka?" Arat gave her a small smile before letting go of her and standing.

[MFT]

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Of course she missed. He was way too fast for her to catch. That didn’t stop her from trying, though. About to turn she found his palm pressing on the back of her head, holding her in place. With every passing moment her face was coming closer to the ground but then Arata let go, and she straightened back up with a fake pout on her lips. “Heey, you don’t need to push so hard~”, the little Senju protested, trying to grab his arm in the process. It was another failure, so she gave up, for now.

“I was at the library, but things got boring, hmm, then I’ve noticed you passing!” Nodding while gesturing at the library’s direction, she then turned to study him once again. It had been some time since they’ve done something together. Older, working, ninja were always so busy. The Uchiha appeared to be no exception there.

“We need to make an essay on the element we’re working with, for me that’s lighting.” Lazily rolling her eyes while narrowing them a bit, she showed him the amount of enthusiasm she had for the task. Pretty much none. “There’s still time for that, so I’ll do it later.” Shrugging off Academy worries, Shizuka wanted to know about Arata’s adventures. Surely they were far more interesting than her troubles in class.

“Have you been on a lot of missions lately? Did you get to travel outside of the village?” Excitement was boiling over and her eyes shone brightly at the idea of all those juicy details she could only get from those who were allowed much more than she was. A part of her, to her own surprise, wanted to jump up and down while tugging at his sleeve, but she refrained from doing that. For one, it would look silly and he would definitely make fun out of her for ages, and two, doing so actually cost energy.

“By the way, was your genin exam really hard?” This, now this was something she was very interested in. Having been thinking lately about what it would be like to graduate, Shizuka was actually considering putting some effort into her training and classes. The curiosity that mixed with the idea of getting a larger area to roam in, well, it was a strong motivator to get stronger aside from the bullies picking on her from time to time.

 

[Senju Shizuka]

Not every question could have been answered, and while did feel slightly disappointed about it, she did understand that a Genin was quite busy. There were things he should be doing now and she was keeping him from them. That’s why the small Senju didn’t pout too much when the Uchiha boy continued with his journey after switching a couple of words. Perhaps another time in another place they would get to have a better conversation, one more at ease and with no pressing matters which had to be done.

“Take care!” She let him know, eyeing his headband with a bit of envy. When she would wear that surely no bully would mess with her. Aside from that, it would also give her interesting missions to do.

Skipping past the library she briefly considered going back to her task, but didn’t. The day was still young and locking herself up inside for any longer would be a crime. Even if her teachers wouldn’t say so.


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Topic Exit
Ooc: it’s been a while^^ and you didn’t post after the pm, so I’ve figured they can meet up another time, should you want to. Thanks! Byebye~