Kapitel 25: Chapter 25: Dreams of a Future

"I told you, I am fine." protested a white faced Ryouka as Shin and Atsuki laid her down on her bed and wrapped her in blankets. "It's just seasonal cold." she tried to explain as Atsuki fed her some homemade bone soup and Shin massaged her legs. "You don't faint from seasonal cold mom. I've been telling you to stop taking extra shifts but do you listen, Nope. If you leave again, we're tying you to the bed." Shin scolded the woman as she was being spoon fed the soup, which much to her shame was actually a hundred times better than anything she had ever made.

After "forcing" the woman to drink the entire bowl, the boy left the room and drew the curtains close, "Now rest for a few more days, doctor's orders." Shin closed the door and the boys went to the lounge where Shin read up some fuinjutsu scroll while Atsuki did the dishes.

"What's for dinner?" Shin asked while unfurling the scroll. "It's 10 in the morning, you mean lunch." Atsuki rolled his eyes as he washed the bowl and picked up some of Pineapple's treats and sat next to her while trying to bribe her. "Whatever, it's food. What's for food?" Shin asked as Pineapple took the treat, scratched Atsuki's hand and walked towards the door.

Atsuki held his scratched hand and looked at Pineapple with sad eyes, "Why won't you love me!?" "Maybe she can sense the stupid in you." Shin retorted, ticking off Atsuki. "Why you-" *Ding Dong* Atsuki's words were cut off by a doorbell and Pineapple scratched the door while meowing. The boys looked at each other wondering who it could be before Shin got up to open the door.

As Shin opened the door and the bright sunlight of the highnoon flooded his eyes, he could see a head full of spiky black hair and pitch black eyes. It was a girl wearing a smile and a black and red outfit. The girl waved her hand and smiled, "I brought cake!" while showing the small shopping bag from which Shin could see the outline of a box.

Shin saw that it was from his favorite place and raised an eyebrow as he questioned her, "Why?" "It's a bribe, I want you to train me!" The girl said with a smile. Shin smiled back at her and shook his head, "If you think I can be so easily bought, then I am afraid that you are-" "It's chocolate." the girl interjected as Shin snatched the box, "Absolutely the correct, when do we start." The boy spoke in a serious tone.

An hour later inside one of the many mini forests in Konoha, Yukia was looking at Shin, the two had eaten their Vanilla and Chocolate cakes beforehand. The two had yet to begin but the girl was well aware of the boy's capabilities but it had been a long while since they had fought so she wanted to test the waters first.

Yukia drew some Shurikens from her pouch and threw them towards Shin before bolting towards him with a kunai, wanting to close the gap between them. Shin ducked while deflecting the Shurikens at odd angles, making them fly up and behind him, hitting the trees around the clearing. Yukia found his movements weird as the boy could have easily dodged by side stepping to simply deflecting them instead at such odd angles.

Nonetheless, the girl pushed ahead and tried to strike his head with a kunai. The boy deflected with his own before blocking Yukia's low kick with his right leg. The girl slashed at Shin while the boy stepped back and roundhouse kicked towards her head. Yukia ducked and tried to low kick his leg, wanting to take advantage of his high kick but lunged back on instinct as Shin's foot smashed the ground where she had just been. Shin had fainted the roundhouse kick and changed it to an axe kick when the girl had ducked.

Shin threw his kunai at the girl, proceeding to send a set of Shurikens at her, making her constantly jump back before she finally caught a break and jumped up a tree. Yukia didn't stay idle, instead weaving her hands and spitting out a massive fire ball towards Shin. The boy used 'Earth shore return' jutsu to raise a wall, giving him enough time to slip away.

As the fire died out, Yukia grabbed a Kunai as she looked around the clearing, the remains of the broken wall of earth signifying Shin's successful escape.

She closed her eyes for a second and reopened them, only this time the eyes had changed from a pitch black color to a blood red with two tomoe in her left eye and one in her right. Her eyes caught a shadow as it flew upwards, over the canopy of the trees. Yukia had to squint her eyes due to the sudden direct exposure to the sunlight but she was still able to catch the sight of a few objects coming towards her.

Yukia jumped from the tree and heard multiple shurikens hitting the tree bark, she looked up at Shin and saw him weaving hand signs. She recognised the hand seals and panicked as Shin took a deep breath. She immediately threw tagged kunais at Shin which exploded just as he let out a ball of fire. The two jutsus combined and created a big explosion, making the girl duck down and falter from the shockwave.

Yukia looked up in shock as she saw a burning shadow fall to the ground, "Oh no Shin!" She ran towards but stopped a few steps away as she realized that it was a log. She sighed in relief before looking around the clearing, searching for Shin when she suddenly felt herself being dragged into the ground as Shin flickered next to her, holding a Kunai to her neck while another Shin appeared from the ground.

Shin had created a shadow clone when he first made the earth wall to defend against Yukia's fireball and had hid his real self underground. "You lose." Shin spoke in a calm tone, he had never taken the girl seriously afterall she was only level 25 with a +10 from the Sharingan. This outcome was preordained in Shin's mind but Yukia was not happy at how easily she had been defeated and instead chose to pout in protest.

Shin saw the red eyed girl's angry pout and started to laugh as his shadow clone puffed out to existence. "What are you laughing at!" The girl protested while wiggling to get out of the ground. Shin wiped his tears while crouching down to her, "Nothing, just, you look exactly like a red panda." Yukia was both confused and offended, "I don't look like any panda! What even is a red panda!?"

Shin stared at her with wide eyes, "You've never seen a red panda?" The girl looked away and nodded, "So what? It's just a big panda that is red right? Wait… are you saying I'm fat like a panda!?" The girl stared at Shin with her red eyes but that only made Shin laugh harder. The boy flicked her forehead, "You Uchiha's are adorable, always emotional. Meet me at the Konoha zoo tomorrow, I'll show you a red panda." Shin flickered away from the clearing, leaving behind a head poking from the ground. Yukia's face seemed to match her eyes in color as she looked to the ground while muttering, "...Adorable…" Her thoughts raced as she tried to decipher the hidden meanings behind Shin's words, "Adorable? Tomorrow? Zoo? Adorable? …is… is it a… date?" Her brain started to overheat as it went into overdrive by overthinking over the meaning of Shin's invitation.

As Shin left behind a spikey haired tomato in the training ground, he started to walk back home, wanting to get some of Aunt Amai's rice cakes for his mother when something caught his eye. 'Do people just stand on roof tops all day?'

On a certain rooftop, two young boys, teenagers, stood close together as they looked down at the village. "I will do anything to protect this village." one boy said to the other as he smiled. The wind blew between them, carrying with it the dancing leaves and the laughter of the people. The two boys looked at each other and then to the village as they made vows to protect it at any cost.

The scene was beautiful and cool, so cool that someone couldn't help wanting to become a part of it. "You guys are standing on the rooftop, looking down at the village and looking cool, yet… you didn;t even invite me!" A disapproving voice came from behind them as they turned around. "Haha Shin, it's been a while. How have you been?" Shisui asked with a simple smile. Shin smiled back," Great, you know, keeping busy."

The boys wasted some time with idle chatter as Shin invited them for some tea. The trio soon went their separate ways as Shin ran into Atsuki and they returned home. Shin bough some Rice cakes from the shop next door and the night passed by and the morning came again, time flowed steady as ever, an unrelenting river of happenings, aloof at the disconcerted with the effects of its currents.

......…

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Shin asked his mother as he saw them off at the door. "Oh it's nothing, besides, Atsuki will be there with me." Ryouka assured Shin. "Alright, take Pineapple with you, I'll see you guys later." Shin spoke and Pineapple jumped into Ryouka's arms while snuggling her.

The woman scratched the purring cat and left the house with Atsuki, giving Shin a knowing smile before leaving, "Oh, Don't worry about us. You just enjoy your date." Shin rolled his eyes, "It's not a date mom!"

......…

Halfway across the village, in a certain house in the Uchiha district, a girl had littered her room with different dresses, clothes and kimonos all the while complaining about having nothing to wear. Her mother, a long black haired woman, looked at her daughter with a wide smile as she tried to match different articles of clothing from the pile on the bed, "So its a boy from your class?" "What? No, I mean yes… he graduated early." the girl replied distractedly as she just decided to go with her usual but got stuck on which shoes to wear.

"Oh! You mean it's that genius boy that hangs out with Itachi? I hear he's a prodigy like Itachi. I guess birds of a feather do stick together." the woman commented before throwing a white and red shirt at Yukia, "Wear this one, Leave early and remember to smile ok? Don't talk with your mouth open and don't act like a tomboy like you do at home! Boy's like delicate girls!"

The mother dressed up her daughter all the while drilling her with dos and don'ts and bathing her in perfume and smearing lipstick and blusher on her face, kicking her out of the house 2 hours before the agreed upon time. "Have fun on your date!" she yelled at her leaving daughter, making the passersby chuckle at Yukia as she yelled back at her mother, "It's not a date mom!"

Her mother however was getting ready for her mother's tea party where she would be sure to "accidently" slip up about how her daughter was now dating one of the most promising Chunin in all of Konoha. "How do you like that Mikoto! Always so smug about your son, well my son in law is no lesser!" Unknown to any of the parties involved, the woman had dreamt up the whole future for the pair.