"Misa." I greeted, drawing the girl's attention.
She turned around from her conversation with two of her clanmates and smiled when she saw me. "Hello, Kagen." Her eyes tracked down to the bouquet in my hands and she frowned minutely. "What are those?"
Great. Mom had set me up with a 'fuck you' flower. I thought dad had said these meant 'thank you'. Maybe the Hyugas just had a problem with hydrangeas? In for a penny…
I held the flowers out to her. She took them after a moment's hesitation, looking up at me questioningly.
"Those are a thank you for helping me improve so much. I really appreciate everything you've done." And I did. I nearly had Flowing Fist down thanks to her help. I still needed to train with it obviously, but I had all of the elements of the style honed. All that came now was applying them to actual combat.
"I…"
That was weird. I'd never heard Misa stutter before.
A faint dusting of red colored Misa's cheeks as she turned her head away from my gaze. "I appreciate all of your help as well."
…Kami damn it. Mom! You set me up! And you helped, dad!
The flowers were not a gesture for Thankyou. I should have known. I was fooled even when I had an IQ of a Nara. Giving flowers to a girl was a universal gesture that everyone knew about but apparently I had thought that the culture in this world would have been different.
"I'm glad we could help each other." I told Misa with a small smile before abruptly turning around and retreating towards my isolated seat. I sat down and let my forehead fall onto the table.
Okay, apparently Misa had a crush on me. That was…something. I really didn't have the time or the energy to deal with that.
I'd assumed that my classmates would take my self-imposed isolation as an insult and I wouldn't have to worry about stuff like this. I guess that's my fault for approaching Misa and suggesting we train together literally every day after school.
Maybe I was overreacting? It was possible she just appreciated the gesture from a friend who helped her rise in the class rankings?
I turned my head to look at her. Misa and the two Hyuga girls she was with quickly looked away, giggling. The two male Hyugas were glaring daggers at me. I sighed as I flipped my head around to stare at the wall.
Well, there's that hope thoroughly squashed. I needed to deal with this soon. It wasn't fair to Misa to drag things out.
It wasn't that I didn't like her, she was nice enough and had helped me more than I could easily quantify, but she was a kid.
I was a grown man stuck in a kid's body. The women I found attractive would be creeps if they were into me, so I'd put thoughts of romance out of mind until I was at least a teenager and my hormones hit me.
The door to the classroom opened with a great slam as Akira-sensei literally kicked it open.
"Brats! All of you follow me!" Sensei turned around and left without another word.
I stuck my hands in the pockets of my tan jacket and followed her. It wasn't like I had much of a choice.
Akira-sensei led us to the small sparring area we used in almost every class. She was waiting for us with her arms crossed over her chest. Her intense gaze washed over us, passing from one student to the next as she looked us over.
"The half-year mark for this school year is in two weeks. Rankings need to be finalized by the end of this week, so we're going to have a tournament. You won't be restricted to just taijutsu for this tournament. Use whatever you have at your disposal to win. The rules are still the same. No fighting to intentionally hurt your classmates. No stepping out of the ring. Questions?"
An Uchiha kid raised his hand.
Akira-sensei raised an eyebrow at him. "Sora."
"May I use fire jutsu?" the boy asked.
Akira-sensei shrugged. "I'm supervising. I won't let anything happen that has the potential to really hurt anyone. Feel free to use whatever, but if I pull you out of the fight, it means you're dead and you lost. Got it?" She narrowed her eyes at us. Many of my terrified classmates nodded their heads frantically.
"Good. Let's get started. Sora, since you seem so eager. You'll start. You and…" Akira-sensei looked around at us. Many kids flinched away from her gaze.
When her eyes landed on me, I didn't move, just kept my hands in my pockets. She smirked, "Kagen. You're fighting Sora."
I sighed as I walked into the ring opposite Sora, he had an excited grin on his face. I had yet to beat him in a single taijutsu spar throughout the year, but we weren't fighting with just taijutsu, were we?
I guess it's time to put an arrogant Uchiha to his place. Is this my face slapping young master arc?
"Don't use any jutsu or you'll lose." I said simply, my hands still in my pockets. I decided not to use jutsu until he used one. Since I was so generous, I decided to give him a chance to win the match.
His grin turned vicious. "Don't worry. I won't hurt you." That level of bloodlust was unbecoming of an Uchiha. Actually, what was I saying? Madara, Obito, Sasuke – bloodlust was practically their brand. Sora was a chip off the old block.
"Make the seal of confrontation." Akari-sensei said.
I held out my hand, and Sora huffed as he walked out to make the seal. He returned to the edge of the circle once that was done.
"Begin." Akira-sensei said, sounding bored.
Sora brought his hands up in front of him, fumbling through hand signs as fast as he could. Snake. Ram…
That was when he stopped
"Shadow possession complete." I said dryly as I leaned back, Sora copying my movements exactly.
The guy did not even notice my shadow as he was too busy remembering the hand signs of his jutsu.
I took two small steps back, and Sora copied my movements exactly. And he was then our of bounds.
"Shocker. The winner is Kagen Nara." Akira-sensei said, still sounding bored. It was as if she knew that I would win.
---------Author Notes--------
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