The Academy
The moment the academy came into Izumi's line of vision, she swore she could feel her stomach squirm, the amount of nervousness she was feeling overtaking her body.
Outside of the academy, a crowd of parents and their children eager to enter had formed. Loud chatter filled the air, mixing and mingling in the crowd. It was hectic to say the least.
Miho leaned closer to her daughter, giving the girl a smile. "Go on in, sweets." Her mother's soft voice reverberated in Izumi's ear, words of reassurement giving her confidence.
The brunette shuffled on her feet, gaze focused on the huge building ahead of her. She could do this, probably. A breath rushed past her lips, she squeezed her cerulean eyes shut for a moment to calm herself. I can do this.
Fuji placed his hand on the shoulder of his daughter, giving her a gentle nudge. "We'll be waiting for you."
The thought brought Izumi comfort.
━━━━
Inside the academy, things were vastly different from what they were on the outside. Calm and peaceful was no more and was replaced by the hectic and ecstatic rambling over children of many ages, all trying to find their way around and express their opinions at the same time. Izumi almost felt queasy at the sight.
Most of the faces she saw were unfamiliar, she wasn't even to associate anyone with people she may have seen at one point, possible relatives of her future classmates. Many had their clan's symbol stitched on some part of her clothing, though Izumi failed to recognize the symbols. Now she regretted dozing off when the clan elders had introduced the other clans' symbols to the Yamanaka children. Neither could she spot anyone from her own clan. Izumi herself wore the intricate design of her clan's symbol with pride on her clothes: on the back of her light blue kimono-top, the Thunberg's bushclover of the clan was stitched on delicately with white thread. Izumi's dark brown hair was pulled into two high pigtails, leaving her back uncovered and the handy-work to be seen. Even a personal touch could be found on her clothing, several dandelions stitched on the long sleeves of her top, in the same shade of white as the symbol on the back, symbolizing new beginnings.
Then she caught a glimpse of gravity-defying silver hair, Kakashi. His name instantly popped into her mind, rightfully so since the boy who kicked her ass regularly indeed stood across the room, engaging in a conversation someone Izumi didn't know the name of. Embarrassingly so, she had almost forgotten that they were in the same year. After all, the boy always appeared much more mature than she, carrying himself like a person three times their age did. Regardless of that, there he stood with a bored expression painted on his uncovered features, the same expression most likely hiding underneath his black mask. The brunette snickered a little at that. His gaze wandered a little from the boy in front of him before it caught hers. She sent him a small wave and smile. He nodded at her in acknowledgement.
In her mind, Izumi mulled over whether to free him from his misery of being caught in a conversation with the boy in a green jumpsuit or to leave him to his boredom. She decided on the latter. A little revenge for the bruises she had received from their training. She snickered yet another time before breaking their eye contact and moving away to look around the room once more. Kakashi appeared a little disgruntled at her lack of her help, acting like he had expected for her to come up and greet him, though Izumi didn't notice.
Next, her gaze caught the intricate swirls and design of the Nara clan's symbol, one Izumi has grown familiar with due to the ties of the clan to hers. The brunette felt excitement coursing through her veins at the recognition of someone from the Nara clan. Just as quickly as the excitement sent a near shock through her, it dropped yet again at the sight of the scowling face of Nara Sen. From what Izumi knew, Sen was about 2 years older than her and just like Izumi was, niece to the future clan head. Izumi's conversation with her father about their fates had come to her mind. It meant that both of them shared a similar fate: they wouldn't be their generation's InoShikaCho. Sen took that fate more seriously than Izumi and the other ill-fated child, Akimichi Chihiro, his future clan head's nephew, did and indulged in the Nara-laziness more than her relatives. It wasn't that the Nara was nice company either as she was known for her brash and often condescending behaviour, though what stood out about her the most was her undeniable intelligence. Brains like no other, people said about her and Izumi knew that to be true.
She faintly remembered the numerous play dates their parents had organized in order to strengthen the connection between the three children. This was most likely to soften the blow of their misfortune. So close, yet so far, Sen's mother had muttered during one of the many meetings. Chihiro's father had hummed in agreement and so had Izumi's. It appeared that their parents were unhappy with the shortcoming but never blamed it on their children who weren't to blame (rather, the clan elders were).
"What are you looking at?"
Of course, it was Sen to break Izumi's thought process. Izumi merely blinked at the older girl before she noticed that during her thinking, she had subconsciously moved closer to where the Nara was seated. She found herself still partially lost in her thoughts and unable to form a coherent reply. Sen merely raised a dark brow at the intrusion and resulting silence.
"I'm looking for a seat." The brunette began shifting in her spot, feeling as though Sen was picking her apart limb by limb in the way Sen's green eyes stared into her own cerulean ones.
"There are plenty of empty ones around you."
Izumi frowned at that. "I'm aware."
"Then why don't you sit down on one of these?"
"I don't want to."
"Why?"
"Because I'm looking for a good seat."
"A ... good seat?" Now Sen looked intrigued by the peculiar girl positioned in front of her. Sen straightened herself in her seat, emerald-green eyes taking on a curious glint as they carefully inspected Izumi yet another time, this time taking closer attention to overseen details: her drawn together brows, the way her hands most-likely subconsciously fiddled with the sleeve of kimono (a nervous habit perhaps? Sen mused.) and the unsure posture of the girl.
Izumi smiled, "The best seat, if possible!"
If possible, Sen became more intrigued. "You're weird," And annoying. She knitted her eyebrows together, but in the best way possible. Then she shrugged, relaxing back into the slouched position she had earlier, making eye contact with the brunette. "but I have met weirder people."
"Well, good. Because you aren't going to get rid of me that easily." It was then that Izumi had decided to seat herself next to the Nara, who almost snapped her head to the side in surprise. "I guess we already know each other, I'm not sure if you remember our, eh-"
"Playdates?" Sen offered. "I do, they were boring, unnecessary."
"I'm Yamanaka Izumi, it is nice to meet you outside forced playdates." Izumi stretched out her hand to the raven-haired girl and plastered an even wider smile on her honey-lips.
A small smirk played on Sen's lips. "Nara Sen, pleasure." She drawled lazily and reached her own hand out towards Izumi's.
And they shook hands.