[University] Have a Meeting There were plenty of ways to introduce yourself to someone. Apparently one of them was to careen into someone via skateboard.
It was the skateboard’s fault, in his defense! He’d been going fast but stable, and then he’d tried to turn, and had hit a huge bump in the concrete... Shisui went flying one way, the skateboard the other, and the only thing he could think was ‘oh shit’ and then about the fact that there was currently a pair of breasts going at mach five towards his face and that this was the best way to start a college school year.
At least he wouldn’t break a bone. Shisui tried to brace himself and hoped the girl would too.
Itachi reacted instinctively to something flying at her. The object was too big to block, so she reacted accordingly. Possibly, it was faster than should be physically possible. Itachi swept to the side, shoving out an arm to push herself more away and redirect the projectile. She was still knocked down (too light, not enough chakra in the feet to stick), but she didn’t get smashed into the ground.
Itachi hit the ground heavily on her side, rolling into a crouch before she even knew what hurt. She pressed a hand to the ground and steadied herself, eyes narrowing into slits as her eyes darted around to see what had just happened.
With a grunt, Shisui managed to tuck her fingers and arms in so she got nothing crushed, but she still went rolling. Managed to fling an arm against the ground to stop herself from going, and then she opened her eyes.
The world jolted. Shisui stared at the woman in front of him, and suddenly her eyes burned. Sitting up, he looked at the other with wide eyes. Love, panic, desperation--
“Eetoooooooow.....” And then parts of his body started hurting, and the feelings broke.
Itachi slowly rose to her feet, smoothing out her skirt. She walked over and knelt beside the boy, frowning. “How badly are you hurt?” She should apologize for throwing him, but he had launched himself at her first.
Shisui wrinkled his nose and shook out his hands, as if those were the problem instead of his armpits from the mastectomy... “Not bad, just scraped,” Low voice for a woman, slightly on the high side for a man, but he spoke from his chest. “Sorry, ow. Here I thought I was damn good at that thing...” But he wasn’t, and now things hurt because he was too skinny and hospitals were awful things.
“If you think you can fly, perhaps you should speak to the guidance counselor about changing occupations. I don’t think Biju offers a super hero program,” Itachi observed dryly, giving her time to look the other over. Male, yes? Male, but edging feminine just a bit. Really, Itachi should be on the fence, but some part of her screamed MALE.
And her heart was pounding hard enough she felt a little shaky. Itachi swallowed and took a deep breath, going as far as closing her eyes.
“Skateboard. Even I’m not that delusional,” And he was going from a journalism major to theatre education. Or something, what the hell. Shisui blinked as the other closed her eyes, and put a hand on the woman’s arm. “Hey, you okay?” She didn’t look it, but Shisui didn’t feel it either. Rattled with pain and odd emotions and sparks of adrenaline.
Itachi yanked her hand back, unsettling her balance. He sat back and lashed out, kicking the other in the thigh with a foot. The blow wasn’t hard, but Itachi gasped, eyes going wide--because why had she done that?
“I’m sorry.” Itachi hissed. Her hands were shaking. Leaves in the wind.
Shisui flinched, but she’d already retreated a foot away. She didn’t know how, she was just drawing back from the kick and then he was a foot away, crouched.
PTSD? Shisui shifted back farther, holding his hands up bent at the elbows. “Look--just--sorry, I won’t touch you again. Sorry for bothering you,” And then suddenly, she felt offended. Freaked out and betrayed. Why did she want to touch the other?”
“No, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened.” Itachi hardly noticed the quick retreat. She stood and walked over, offering the other a hand up. “Adrenaline. I spent too many years on the mat.”
Itachi smiled, trying to be charming and harmless. She didn’t think she did it very well, but she could try for it.
And Shisui spent too many years on the concrete with metal on some part of her body, playing or not, and her reaction wasn’t to stab Itachi. Stupid martial artists. He didn’t want to touch Itachi, but he took the hand anyway and tried not to think about its heat. “Whoops. But still, sorry, man, I kinda did fly into you. My bad,” And he hurt like hell, but at least he had gotten a glance at a nice-ish pair of breasts! Nice meaning having any.
Itachi levered the other up easily, since she was only an inch shorter and probably weighed almost twenty pounds more. Itachi’s body was dedicated to movements and efficiency, though the skirt with biker shorts underneath were her concession to the heat.
“No harm done,” Itachi dimpled slightly. “I’m Itachi, by the way.”
“Good,” Shisui bobbed his head, because it was good. It was very good that she hadn’t got hurt. “Shisui,” He flashed a wide grin at her--maybe too wide. “Okay, now you have to help me look for my skateboard... Or not.” It was right up against the building wall, nose-first into it. Shisui made a horrified face and went to get it, catching Itachi’s sleeve and giving a little tug to take her with him. He didn’t think about it.
“I know.” Itachi replied without thinking. Somehow, she thought she had actually known the others name, oddly enough. She couldn’t. Not really. Itachi turned and followed, slipping her sleeve from Shisui’s hold with a little annoyance. She didn’t like people assuming she would follow and be docile because of her gender but...
That wasn't what that tug was, was it?
Shisui blinked, but said nothing. Let Itachi pull herself away as he went to pick up the skateboard. “Right, no touching the martial-arts person, sorry,” He picked up his board and scrutinized it for damage. It didn’t look too bad, not even scratched wood! He nodded and ran his hand on the edge anyway, checking for a dent.
“How long have you been skateboarding?” Itachi asked as she hung back and watches Shisui’s movements. Now she look the boy over, gauging him. He was thin--angles and bone in a sick way. Itachi frowned a little at that, resisting the knee jerk reaction to tell him to drink. Why? She didn’t normally care what people ate or didn’t eat.
And his hair...
“For as long as I could breathe?” Shisui hoisted the board under his arm, and shrugged. “Nah, since I was a teenager. I can ride pretty well, I’m just not good at the tricks.” Actually, she was, and she had the urge to show off to Itachi, but that would be stupid. She would fall off and hurt something even more.
“So you were suicidal early,” Itachi smiled, inordinately pleased with that. She crossed her arms, suddenly self conscious.
“...Um?” Shisui decided that Itachi was morbid. It fit, it seemed. Yes. “Nope. I am just, apparently, blind. Or that bump rose out of the ground on its own. I haven’t had a crash like that in ages, thanks!” It was somewhere between teasing and defensive--strange of him.
“I meant for skating in general...” Itachi waved a hand towards the board, cheeks pinking. “Not the crash. I suppose you can’t help that.” From what Itachi could tell, people who skated fell all over.
Shisui just stuck her tongue out. That’s what she’d meant; she was good enough that she hadn’t fucked up in a while. “So, you a student here?”
Itachi nodded. “Second year. I assumed you are one as well?” Itachi cocked her head to the side, ponytail sliding over her shoulder as she snuck another glance over Shisui. Her mind tried to tick more towards female, but it was quickly rerouted to male.
“Yeah--I’m a year behind you, though,” She technically was in second year, but with the hospital visits and the switch in major and Shisui taking advantage of the fact that this was a four-year school, she was in her ‘first’ year with a light load of classes, at least for this semester. No, she couldn’t go on two hours of sleep anymore. “What’re you majoring in?”
“Dance and Forensic science with a minor in Criminal justice,” Itachi explained calmly. She had to get special permission to get a minor with a double major, but she’d managed to convince them that it was needed. It took up her elective spots, mostly, but it seemed they thought she would be well rounded enough.
If she hardly ever slept, who cared? That meant she hardly ever dreamed.
Itachi looked Shisui over. “I’m guessing...art, theatre, or history as your major.”
“Woah, I guess you’re not one of those college people who likes to party all the time,” Or maybe sleep, but that was mean. Shisui grinned. “Got it in one. Theatre major, minor in Child Studies.” She had a year of journalism under her belt, though it was mostly the base classes.
“I’ve been accused of being an overachiever,” Itachi admitted. She glanced at her watch, which said she still had plenty of time to get to class. “Maybe we’ll get to work together with a production. The dance program gets called in to play extras sometimes.” Or the dancing mob, or things like that. Or they taught theater majors how to dance, which was fun.
Shisui thought she could see that easily in Itachi, her being an overachiever. “That would be cool! I know I can’t dance for anything, so you guys might need save me from that humiliation.” Singing was a whole different thing, though. Oh, he could sing damn well, even if he switched between a male scale and a female’s.
“You don’t really have a dancer’s build,” Itachi admitted. Shisui wasn’t very coordinated looking. He might be fast--was fast, Itachi thought, but dancing?
Shisui would look like a marionette being badly manipulated.
Shisui just laughed a little. “Yeah,” He hesitated, and then glanced at Itachi’s hands. Made half a move to pick one up before he glanced back up at Itachi. “Can I?”
“Uh...” Itachi blinked. “Sure?” Itachi slowly offered her hand out. “Why?” That should have been her first question.
“Just wanna know what sort of hand a fighter and dancer has,” Shisui took her hand in his--long slender fingers with callouses along the brink between palm and digit, as opposed to his own were short and small with callouses all over. The year and some, coupled with the hospital visits, had done his hands well in terms of softening the callouses... But they were still there, catching against Itachi’s skin as he traced them.
“You have long fingers--a musician type. Or maybe a dancer, but I don’t think it matters there. But these are string fingers--harp or maybe guitar. Something with direct contact. Piano even, or a reed instrument. I can’t see you in brass, though, or percussion,” He traced her thumb. “Whatever you play, though, it could draw the spirits down themselves. Your dancing could make them stay, I’m sure. And your fighting would bring them under your power.” He handed her hand back, with a grin that said he knew how cheesy that speech was.
The hand--such an intimate spot, actually. Such a sensitive spot when someone was mapping the dip of your hand and callouses. The hair on Itachi’s arm stood on end, and she began to feel uncomfortable. Her gut had an odd twist in it, and she could hardly bear to watch the dance of fingers over her hand.
She knew the words were cheesy--were ridiculous, but there was a music in them. A rhythm and a fateful truth.
Itachi listened, then gave Shisui a flatly critical look. “Are you flirting with me?”
Shisui’s smile just got wider, and his answer was blithe. “Yes.”
“Why?” Itachi could guess why, but she didn’t like playing the dating game with people. They got jealous of her pursuits, said she didn’t spend enough tiem with them, and there were other things she found distasteful about the entire business. She didn’t tolerate physical intimacy well.
“Because I just met you, and it’s the law to flirt with someone you meet for the first time who doesn’t try to stab you,” More because Itachi was an interesting person, and Shisui, Shisui wanted to see how she ticked. He wanted to see her reaction with everything. See it while he was still alive to. “Didn’t you get the memo?” He wasn’t looking for anything serious. It would be mean to shove yourself, a kid who might die soon and couldn’t do much outside of class but study and eat, onto someone. Wouldn’t it? Yes.
“I’m not good with casual relationships,” Itachi replied flatly, pulling her hand loose. “I have to get to class. It was nice meeting you, Shsiui.” Itachi didn’t know who soured the feeling in her stomach. Was it because she felt she had been dismissed? Did she think someone else had felt the odd connections she felt?
His smile dimmed down to something sad, a little raw. “I’m not either.” It had been friendly, silly, intended to see what happened rather than anything with an aim. “Bye, Itachi.” Shisui stepped back a little, to give her room to go.
Itachi paused because this felt wrong. She turned her head a bit, mouth half open to say something. What, she didn’t know. Something. Anything.
Shisui, what are you talking about? Why are you leaving?
Itachi should have walked away, but she couldn’t make that step. It just felt...more than felt. More than something--more than sense. She didn’t want to flirt and play. She wanted. . .
Acknowledge me.
Itachi felt, with a lurch, a strong surge of emotion. Desire. Longing that made her suddenly sick as she looked at Shisui. Try harder. Itachi suddenly felt she couldn’t breathe. Her hands were cold, and she could hear a pounding in her ears like waves on the shore.
“I’m sorry!” The words came out strangled and heartfelt. Wrenching as Itachi felt tears jump into her eyes. She whirled on her heel and ran.