Chapter Text
Sasuke was bored. He was in class barely listening as Iruka droned on about something everyone in class would already know if they bothered to read the course material. Itachi had been acting weird ever since he asked him that weird question a few weeks ago. He still didn’t understand why Itachi had asked him that. How does one escape isolation? The answer was obvious, right? He watched the kid with bright blonde hair do it everyday, and he watched the Hyuga girl try to gather the courage to do the same. He didn’t mind the isolation himself. He enjoyed spending time with his family, but he didn’t feel the need to be around people all the time. Still maybe it wouldn’t hurt to make some friends outside of the clan. He assumed that was what Itachi meant since his older brother had a best friend in shisui.
“Ok class, listen up, this is important.” He stopped his internal musings to glance up at their teacher. “We are going to be doing something a little different next year. This year every assignment was individual, but there have been some changes to the standard curriculum that I’m actually really excited to be part of. So since we’ve got a little over a month left before this year is out I’m going to give you the time to get to know your classmates better. Next year and hopefully going forward there is going to be a much bigger focus on group assignments, being a ninja involves a lot of teamwork, so getting early practice on working together is essential.” He sighed, he wasn’t looking forward to having to work with most of his classmates, hopefully they would at least be productive. “Now I said I’d give you guys time to get to know each other in preparation for that, and I meant it, but don’t forget you’ll have to study for the finals. So make sure you're forming proper study groups.”
He sighed. Really it wouldn’t be the end of the world. There were a lot of clan kids in his class, and while some of them could be annoying he at least knew all of them were competent. He’d form a group with them. If he was lucky the Inuzaka and the Yamanaka would stay out of it, they were both so noisy. He walked towards the Aburame and the Hyuga that happened to already be sitting next to each other. That was convenient, they would be his first choice for team mates. Nara was smart and quiet, but lazy. The Akimichi was kind and strong, but not particularly bright. “Study with me.” It was a little more direct than he meant it to be, but he didn’t feel like wasting time.
They looked at each other in surprise, the Hyuga turning slightly red at being directly addressed. “Y-you want to s-study with us?” The Hyuga seemed surprised for some reason. Did she not realize she was an obvious pick? Before he got a chance to respond, the Inuzaka jumped in. “That’s a great idea! We clan kids should stick together! Mom is always telling me I should get along with the other clans!” He thought that the Inuzaka should perhaps not have let his ulterior motives shine through like that, but no one else seemed to mind. In fact the other clan kids approached to stand in a circle with him at the table the 2 he had actually wanted to group with watched on.
“Oh same. Dad is always talking about clan relations and stuff! Is it ok if Sakura joins our group though, she’s my bestie.” The Yamanaka joined in matching the Inuzaka’s energy. Maybe he should actually learn their names, referring to them by their clans was starting to get exhausting even in his own head. He had started this whole thing. At least Technically, but he was already starting to regret it.
“Oh yeah Sakura’s grades have been really good right? I bet she’ll help a lot.” The Akimichi voiced his agreement as everyone nodded along. At least the Nara looked as miserable about this as he felt. He tuned out most of the conversation from there, but it was obvious that everyone was agreeing to form the study group. The Aburame and Hyuga had stood to join the rest of them, and the Nara immediately slid into one of their seats and laid his head down. He found himself watching the Hyuga. Her clan was very similar to his, he wondered if she felt the same kind of pressure he did. He doubted it though, she didn’t have to be compared to a genius like Itachi.
He did a quick scan of the room watching groups form. The blonde kid who was always trying to make friends kept getting kicked out of the other groups. He didn’t really understand why. The kid was loud, but nice enough, and while he wasn’t the smartest he didn’t shy away from the work. It didn’t take him long to notice that the Hyuga kept glancing at the kid, and she looked as if she was the one being rejected each time. He frowned, he didn’t really like the downtrodden look on her face. “Hey Uzumaki.” It took him a second to realize it was him that had spoken. Everyone froze as the boy who had frantically tried to find a group and everyone else glanced at him in surprise.
“Stop flailing around, and come here.” He watched the other boy’s eyes light up as if he had done something amazing instead of just not so kindly inviting him to join their group. He also chose to ignore the grateful look the Hyuga sent him, even though it made him feel vaguely uneasy.
“Hey wait a minute, Sakura I get since she’s super smart, but why Naruto? He’s the dead last!” He glared at the Inuzaka. Couldn’t the mutt just keep his mouth shut. Now he had to say something to justify the decision he hadn’t even consciously made. The boy, Naruto, he supposed. Slowed down outside of the group, his smile dimming.
“You’re not exactly top of the class either Inuzaka.” He didn’t have a good reason, so he used a skill Itachi used all the time. Redirect. “Maybe you shouldn’t be throwing stones in that glass house of yours.” The Inuzaka flushed whether in rage or embarrassment he wasn’t sure, and frankly didn’t care. Naruto resumed his walk to join the group sticking his tongue out at the Inuzaka. Thankfully the rest of the group were laughing at the Inuzaka’s attempts at a comeback and had already stopped thinking about Naruto’s inclusion. The bright smile the Hyuga gave him eased some of the tension he hadn’t realized had formed. Maybe this new group thing wouldn’t be so bad.
***
Sasuke was thankful for the quiet of his walk home. The group had eventually calmed down enough to actually study some, not that he really needed it. Still the whole thing was far noisier than he would have liked. Especially with Naruto and the Inuzaka who’s name he now knew to be Kiba constantly butting heads. At least he had learned most of their names from them speaking to each other. Unfortunately The Aburame, and the Hyuga had not been directly addressed, and since everyone else seemed to know names he refused to ask. He’d just have to wait for roll call tomorrow.
Speaking of the Hyuga, she was the only annoyance to the quiet of his walk home. Their homes were in the same direction, though his was much further. Yet she had never been near him for the walk home before. She usually stayed behind to watch Naruto, or that’s what she always seemed to be doing anyway. Now for whatever reason she had decided to walk home with him, and kept glancing at him like there was something she wanted to say. It was the 7th time she had lifted her head to speak before shyly dropping back down that he’d had enough. “Just say it.”
Her head shot up to look at him. Though he continued to face forward as if he wasn’t focusing on her annoying behavior. “W-What do y-you m-mean?” He sighed in aggravation. She couldn’t seriously think he hadn’t noticed. Maybe Naruto was too oblivious to notice her obvious attention, but he certainly wasn’t. He imagined most people had noticed her obvious infatuation with Naruto, but most people probably didn’t pay her enough attention to register it. He wondered if that’s why she was so bad at hiding her thoughts, because she had never had to, no one paid attention anyway. That thought made his chest twist in sympathy. He knew what it felt like to be ignored, his father had Itachi to focus on after all.
He turned to her with a raised eyebrow. She flushed, presumably embarrassed to be so easily read. “W-well I… I w-wanted to thank y-you.” He wasn’t expecting that. He hadn’t done anything for her, had he? Was she thanking him for asking her to join his study group? Surely not, she was the obvious choice, it's not like that was special. Surprisingly she seemed to catch his confusion even though he was sure his face was still neutral because she continued even though she looked like the embarrassment was actually hurting her. “F-for inviting N-naruto and I. M-most p-people look o-over us, b-but you d-didn’t.”
“Tch, don’t thank me for something as basic as that.” It was like being praised for showing up to class on time. He didn’t need praise for doing the bare minimum. “You’re more competent than most of the class, and I was tired of watching him flail around.” Her eyes widened in surprise as if he had said something unbelievable. He grunted and faced forward again, picking up his pace just slightly. Annoyingly the Hyuga matched his quickened pace, but stayed just behind him where she had been for the entire walk.
“D-do you r-really t-think so?” It was soft. So soft he had almost not heard it. Tch why did she need so much reassurance. She was in the top 5 in the class in almost everything. The only reason she wasn’t above him in taijutsu was because she had a bad habit of hesitating in spars. She was as dedicated to her training as he and Naruto were theirs. Yet she kept acting like she was inferior and everyone else should see her like that. It pissed him off.
“Tch I don’t say things I don’t mean.” He was relieved to see the Hyuga compound. It had been a long time since he had felt so glad to get out of a conversation. He felt the Hyuga’s gaze follow him until he was out of sight.