Bit of a lighter chapter this time haha.
He trains with Itachi at every opportunity. Weeks pass and his progress is noted by his teachers, however begrudgingly.
It's hard to hide perfect scores and genius level intellect for a long time, especially when there are so many people watching, waiting.
He knows a lot more about the history of the village now. The Uchiha are part of the village founders, but their relationship with other clans is rocky thanks to the nine tails attack 5 years ago.
It doesn't matter, though. Shouto has lived a reclusive life before. He doesn't intend to do it again, not by a longshot.
Which is why he's about to make a strange request to Itachi.
"You want me... to teach you how to be nice?"
"Not just nice... approachable, even."
"I see." Itachi's face doesn't change. "I have someone for you to meet, then."
They walk through the compound for a few minutes before Itachi knocks on someone's door. The house is large but Shouto suspects that it's largely empty, considering the fact that only one light is on and it's well into dinner time. Plus, all the other Uchiha houses with more than one person in them usually make more noise by now.
The door creaks open to reveal a person slightly taller than Itachi, older too, by the looks of it. He has neck-length, messy hair and bright eyes.
"This is Shisui." Itachi introduces.
Shouto bows. He'd have to be stupid to miss the strength that this guy is casually exuding. "Uchiha Itsuki, Shisui-san. Good to meet you."
"You've brought me a mini-you?" Shisui says, delight colouring his voice.
Itachi doesn't deign Shisui's question with an answer, so Shouto has to reply before it becomes awkward.
"I come from Kirigakure, Shisui-san. I've been training with Itachi because I'd like to further my learning beyond what the Academy is teaching me."
The Academy is shit, but he can't just say that.
Really, all those teachers have more trauma than Before Shouto and that's really something. He's not sure why anyone would look at them and think, "yeah, that person should teach" because anyone with functioning eyes could see that they're biased beyond belief thanks to whatever war they served in.
"Well, I'd never be one to deny a little tyke like you some knowledge. What do you want to know?"
"I'd like to learn how to be... friendly." He says "friendly" like he's never said it before, and he honestly might not have.
"Well, you've come to the right guy! I'm charisma personified."
"Shisui is very humble." Itachi says dryly.
Huh, somehow Itachi's sense of humour is both exactly what Shouto had expected it to be but completely surprising.
Either way, Shisui does seem like the perfect candidate.
He leads them inside his house and they sit in the living room.
"Itachi, stay here for this, you might benefit too."
Itachi almost looks indignant at that, but Shouto honestly can't tell.
Shisui clearly can, if the way he laughs at the minute change in Itachi's expression is anything to go by.
"Okay, so you meet someone new for the first time and they introduce themselves, what do you say?" Shisui asks. "Here's an example, Hi! I'm Shisui, you are...?"
"Hello. I am Uchiha Itsuki. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Oh no." Is all Shisui can manage to say to that.
"Not good?"
"Oh, you sweet summer child. We have to fix that."
Shouto feels like he ought to be offended, but even Itachi is looking at him like he's said something wrong so maybe Shisui is on to something.
Still, he doesn't think it was that bad.
Right?
~~~
"You're going for approachable, right?" At Shouto's nod, Shisui continues, "Great, so you want to sound like you absolutely want to be wherever you are. Like you're having the best time of your life at all times."
This reminds Shouto of his Before class on how to be more presentable to victims and the press. Shouto pulls any knowledge he can remember from then and tries to apply it.
"Replace 'hello' with something less harsh, like 'hi,' or 'hey,' or something. Add more conjunctions. 'I am' becomes 'I'm,' that sort of thing. Makes you sound less stiff."
Shouto nods.
"Hi, I'm Shisui, what's your name?" Shisui asks.
"Hey, I'm Uchiha Itsuki, but please, call me Itsuki." Shouto hesitates but Shisui nods encouragingly. Itachi is staring at him like he's another person. "Nice to... meet you?"
"So close! Add more confidence, more suave, more... exclamation points. Also drop the 'please.'"
Shouto pauses and alters it in his head. "Hey, I'm Uchiha Itsuki, but you can call me Itsuki. Nice to meet you!"
"Bingo."
~~~
"Someone asks you about your interests, how do you respond?" Shisui asks.
Shouto thinks about it seriously. Usually he'd respond with something generic that he doesn't really care about, but he's since learned that he has to believe in what he's saying in order for other people to.
"I enjoy training with you and Itachi."
"Aw, sweet." Shisui puts a hand over his heart and smiles at him before sculpting his expression into something more serious. "Okay, drag that out a little. Go into more detail. Why do you like training with us? What do you do when you train with Itachi? Also you can say 'like' instead of 'enjoy,' or you could even say 'love,' if you really want to."
"I like training with you and Itachi. It's very educational. I'm currently learning how to hit multiple targets at once."
"Oh boy."
~~~
A week of relentless teaching and correcting, Shisui says that Shouto is finally ready to make friends. Which is technically the goal of what Shouto is doing, but only technically.
"Alright, final test." Shisui says gravely. "Hey, I'm Shisui, do you want to be friends?"
Shouto responds with much less hesitation than he had a few days ago. "I'd love to be friends! I'm Itsuki. What do you like to do? I like training in my compound."
"That's cool! I also like training. It's super fun to learn new stuff. Do you want to hang out later?"
"Sure. Outside the Academy?"
"Alright, see you there!"
"Bye bye!"
Shouto clears his face of any artificial emotion and looks up at Shisui for an evaluation of his performance. Shisui is smiling almost maniacally and Itachi, who'd popped in for the latter half of their lesson, looks terrified.
Well, as much as Itachi can look terrified.
"That was perfect, kiddo. You're a force to be reckoned with."
Shouto plasters a smile onto his face and stares directly into Shisui's eyes. "Thanks!"
"Oh god, what have I done?" Shisui mutters.
YOU ARE READING
The Fire of a Not-Uchiha
Fanfiction"He has a second chance now, but it's not the second chance he wants. He wants to be able to say goodbye to family, to thank Aizawa sensei for helping him when he needed it, to call Midoriya nosy, but also to hug him and thank him." OR: Todoroki get...
