Chasing After You || Itachi

Ch. 1 - So He Has A Girlfriend

Sigh.

Tora laid her head down on the smooth wood of her academy desk. As her instructor droned on and on about the history of chakra, she couldn't help but zone out. It was so hot inside the Academy, so she could only imagine how it felt outside. The only thing she could hope at this point was that Sensei would let them out early, because now was as good a time as any to take a nap.

It seemed like the teacher was reading her mind; well, either that or he was tired of wiping the sweat off his brow one too many times. Once he dismissed their class and left the room, Tora sat up and stretched. On the other side of the room, she could hear a bit of commotion. Darn it, she was too slow today. Turning her head, she watched as a couple females crowded around Itachi Uchiha, the top of their class and a member of one of the most prestigious clans in Konoha, and literally followed him out the door. Sheesh, the least they could do was fan him since they were radiating all that heat around him.

As she watched him leave, she let out a small regretful sigh. As much as she wanted to give him his personal space since it was so hot outside, she also wanted to be in that crowd in hopes that he noticed her. After all, he was the one who comforted her when she needed a friend; but the question was, did he remember that? Lost in her thoughts about the pretty Uchiha, she didn't realize that her best friend had come up behind her until one of her pigtails was yanked. Frightened, Tora jumped out of her seat and landed on the desk on her hands and feet, baring her sharp canines at the perpetrator.

"Are you ready to go now?" Hana Inuzuka was standing by the desk, smiling guiltlessly. She brushed her short, brown hair out of her face as the ends stuck to her damp neck. How she was still wearing that heavy orange coat in this heat, Tora just couldn't understand. "I've been calling your name for the past five minutes. Let's go to my house and eat popsicles."

Tora closed her mouth and pouted for a moment before getting off the desk. "So you pulled my hair? Hana Inuzuka is a bully." She teased her friend with a smile as she skipped out the room with Hana at her heels.

"Am not! You know, you should really pay attention more. You had your head down most of class." The Inuzuka mentioned as they left the Academy building.

Tora groaned, already annoyed with the conversation. Hana loved to study, whereas she liked doing things that were actually interesting. Listening to a lecture on the history of chakra for the fifth time in a row was not on her list of interests. "I'm trying to figure out how you can pay attention!" She leaned closer to the female and lowered her voice, as if someone around them was actually paying attention to their conversation. "You sit right next to the Itachi Uchiha. How are you not melting in his presence?"

Hana blushed, looking away from the female. "Well, um..." When her cheeks were almost as red as the Inuzuka clan markings on her cheeks, she pushed Tora away and took off running to her house, yelling. "Fine! Don't come over!" Tora laughed and followed after her, chasing her through the streets of Konoha.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Hana and Tora sat on the front steps of the Inuzuka household, each eating a semi-melted popsicle and trying their hardest not to let the sticky juices get all over their hands. Hana opted for a sweet strawberry popsicle, whereas Tora bit into a sour lemon one. There was laughter coming from inside the house, no doubt from their mothers as the two women had become very close friends over the years.

"They'll wake Kiba-kun if they laugh any louder." Tora commented as she ate another bite of her popsicle, causing Hana to giggle. The said baby was supposedly fast asleep in his crib on the second floor of the home. Since they didn't hear any crying, they assumed he was still asleep.