Shisui, Itachi One-Shot: "Try, Try Again"
Title: Try, Try Again
Author: Rot-chan
Characters: young!Shisui and little!Itachi
Genre: Humor/Friendship
Summary: As Shisui put another brick on the bridge, Itachi wasn’t sure if he'd really succeed; after all, for half of the project he’d been either secretly playing his PSP underneath the desk or taking a nap. (Nice way to use your Gifted class time....)
Notes: It's based off of my 'facts' about Shisui at the writing comm. write_dattebayo, where you write facts about a favorite character. The fact was: "Fact 4: All throughout grade school, Shisui was known as ‘one of those gifted kids’. He was forced into the program by both of his parents and his teachers; but at least it wasn’t so bad, seeing as he got to make an indestructible bridge of toothpicks with Itachi at his side." And you were supposed to expand with one fact :') Based also on my trials as an elementary school Gifted kid, and being forced to do weird projects, haha.
Shisui should have never read David Copperfield out loud.
No - actually, that wasn’t his worst mistake. That would have been naming fifteen different constellations on the map during science, including O’Ryan and Scorpio. Or maybe it had been listing perfect squares up to 441 to his math teacher, along with a few neat Pythagorean triples.
But regardless of what his ultimate mistake had been, Shisui was now standing outside the guidance counselor’s office, after being told that he'd been sentenced to the ‘GIFTED’ room, otherwise known as classroom 103.
And everybody knew what classroom 103 meant - if you went there no one would sit with you at lunch because you were ‘a Brain’ (that, or else they’d spit in your lemonade when you weren’t looking), and no one would ever pick you to be on their team in P.E. baseball ever again either.
Shisui hoped he could go hide in the library, maybe the bathroom before the counselor could come back -
“Shisui, right this way! We’ll be walking to Miss Hiraki’s room,” the counselor said cheerily, seeming to appear from nowhere. She clutched his arm and pulled him along briskly when he refused to begin walking.
Then, he began dragging his sneakers.
“Shisui...” The counselor stopped when she heard the nails-on-a-chalkboard sound of squeaking shoes on linoleum, staring at him down her nose. He shifted his eyes. “Now walk properly, you’re in fifth grade already. That’s not how fifth graders walk.”
Shisui was very tempted to roll his eyes. “Yes, Ms. Ikoma,” he managed with a pained sigh, and trudged forward dramatically to his apparent life without friends.
When they got there it was suspiciously quiet. And...normal.
There were a lot of plants, and posters on the wall - and was that an iguana in the corner?
“This is your new class. You’ll come here three days a week, to spend some time with your other gifted classmates,” the counselor informed him in a way that sounded only a little rehearsed as they entered the room together. She walked over to the teacher and began speaking with her at her desk. Probably about getting him stuck in here permanently.
Shisui took a tentative step away from the door, testing the waters, as if the squiggly carpet beneath his feet would explode at any moment if he made one wrong move -
Then he heard a familiar little voice say, “Shisui?”
And who else did he see here in the Gifted class but Itachi, using a microscope at a desk with slides scattered all around him.
Shisui bounded over - and, glancing back and forth to make sure no one was listening - whispered very secretively, “Itachi - did they force you into this too?!”
Itachi blinked and asked, “What thing do you mean?”
Shisui sighed, “This GIFTED thing!” He looked around, noticing only five other kids occupying the spacious classroom. Itachi furrowed his eyebrows, looking innocently perplexed.
Shisui threw up his hands, exasperated, near pulling at his hair. “Auugh! Itachi, you just - you don’t get that -”
“Hello, Shisui.” Shisui almost jumped when Miss Hiraki put a hand on his shoulder, smiling down at him over huge cat-eyed glasses. “We are so glad to have you join our class. Welcome! Or as they’d say in Rome,” she held out her arm, palm down in salute, “Salve!”
Shisui stared.
“Well then, why don’t we get your space set up,” Miss Hiraki said as she gathered a few books off one shelf, and grabbed a name tag off of her desk. “And you can introduce yourself to the class, if you feel like it....”
Shisui watched her incredulously as she began to write his name in bubbled letters on the name tag. That was the first time he’d ever heard a teacher say that.
Shisui gazed around. There was a human skeleton and a model the heart sitting atop the radiator. Posters about ‘genres of literature’ and ‘advanced math made interesting’. (Shisui had come to find that anything marked as ‘made interesting’ or ‘painlessly fun!’ turned out to be quite dull.) And of course, that lizard thing in the corner he just couldn’t get past.
Shisui felt listless. What was he supposed to DO here, exactly? Stand around and watch Itachi be immersed in the worlds of bacteria, amoeba - whatever you look at in a microscope? Watch while some kid made a poster on the Monarchs of England in the back of the room?
Before he could even get a chance to complain, Miss Hiraki was at his side once more, armed with a keen smile and a project sheet.
“Here’s something I thought you might like. You did the science fair project on bridges last year, correct?” Shisui nodded, wary as he took the worksheet.
‘An Indestructible Bridge...of Toothpicks?’ He read, along with an obvious unspoken ‘what the hell is this about?’ He’d already done this last year, made an arch that had withstood the weight of two bricks. What did she think he’d....
Miss Hiraki continued. “Actually, I was impressed with your project from last year. Pretty good,” she smiled. “B-uuut, as we always say, every time you do it, do it better. I want you to try it again - but challenge yourself this time. Make it withstand more weight. Surely you can handle three bricks?”
Shisui bit back a scowl. Was this lady...challenging him?
Oh, she totally was.
Well, bring it Miss Hikaro, Hiraki, whatever her name was, Shisui was going to make this stupid toothpick bridge a second time and prove he was smart enough without this ‘Gifted’ class, end of story!
***
On the first day of the project, when Miss Hiraki had given him flat toothpicks, glue and twine, Shisui found, infuriatingly, he was...stuck.
Last year’s project had been a piece of cake - all he did was model off bridges with a traditional arch, secure both ends onto a board of styrofoam, and let the glue dry. The bridge had looked pretty good; a little messy from all the glue, but it was the weight it held that mattered.
OK, so admittedly he did have a little help, but he’d come up with how to make the bridge withstand the test bricks on his own. So what if he employed his dad to help him finish the last two sections of the arch? (Besides, at the time Shisui had some real black mail on him - he’d caught him watching rugby on the flatscreen when he should’ve been sorting through the stuff in the garage.)
But for whatever reason this time, he just couldn’t think of anything great. Shisui frustratedly crumpled his sketch, buried his head in his arms. No use, he figured - this Miss Hiraki was gonna have a good laugh when she found out her newest Gifted Recruit turned out to pale in comparison to that kid who was so into the history of the English monarchy, and -
“Shisui, are you tired? I don’t think you are allowed to sleep in school,” a tiny finger prodded him. Itachi.
Shisui sat up in a sort of disgust. Had he seriously been, like...jealous right now? Of those other kids, those braniacs?!
No, of course not. He was just competitive, that was all. Shisui turned towards Itachi with renewed resolve. He could certainly get Itachi to give him some ideas. Plus, it helped that even though Itachi was only in third grade he was already doing sixth grade math. (There were some perks to having a whiz kid for a cousin, as a matter of fact.)
“Itachi, did you hear about the really NEAT project Miss Hidako - Hiraki gave me yesterday? No? Oh, then let me tell you all about it....”
***
On the third day, by using his usual persuasive skills and charm - or maybe due to the fact that Itachi didn’t mind helping people with pretty much anything - Shisui now had an assistant at his side.
Itachi found some interesting photos of bridges in a few library books, gave Shisui some ideas on what the design could be like to hold up the weight. Shisui was now drawing a few sketches at their table.
Miss Hiraki walked over. She saw Shisui had decided on a suspension bridge, twice the challenge that an arch had presented him.
“Looks like you two seem to be doing a good job together. Just don’t forget about our discussion, Itachi,” Miss Hiraki said nonchalantly as she continued on.
Shisui paused, looking from the teacher to Itachi. “Discussion?”
“Oh....” Itachi shifted a little anxiously. Shisui narrowed his eyes as his cousin avoided his gaze - he was definitely hiding something, all right.
“Spit it out Itachi,” Shisui said almost warningly, giving him a half-hearted glare that he knew should break him instantly - and of course, it did.
“Miss Hiraki told me....” Itachi glanced at her before whispering in Shisui’s ear, “Not to help you cheat.”
Shisui sat back. Help him...cheat? What a freaking insult! He stood, snatched up the toothpick boxes then dumped them out on their work table. Itachi blinked.
“Itachi, start grouping these by the dozen, OK? We’ve got work to do.” Itachi simply nodded, watching Shisui is awe...or maybe confusion at such a visceral reaction over a project about toothpicks....
***
About a week and a half later, a small suspension bridge was in the middle of the classroom preparing to be tested.
“Isn’t this great everybody? I presented Shisui with the challenge to build a second indestructible bridge, and we’re going to see if it’s as sturdy - or sturdier - than his first,” Miss Hiraki said, as she pulled not two, but three bricks out from underneath her desk.
Shisui smiled, completely at ease as he took the first brick and carefully placed it in the center between the two supports. (Everyone ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ for a moment appropriately.)
Next, the second brick. Shisui carefully laid it atop the first. And finally, the third brick - and even Itachi wasn’t sure if Shisui would really succeed; after all, for half of the project he’d been either secretly playing his PSP underneath the desk or taking a nap. (Nice way to use your Gifted class time....)
But, to everyone’s surprise it withstood the last brick. Miss Hiraki clapped as everyone followed suit. Shisui felt triumphant, seeing she looked so obviously impressed.
Shisui said, “No big deal,” trying not to come off as the smartest kid in the class (as he so obviously was, but didn’t want to crush their feelings, duh).
“Still feeling bad about Gifted?” Miss Hiraki asked, as she led him back to his desk. Shisui sat down; he casually toyed with the cover of his 8th grade literature textbook.
“No, not really - I mean I didn’t even care about it that much to start with, you know....” he trailed off with a shrug, as Miss Hiraki simply smiled and walked back to her desk. Being a teacher does require overlooking a few things.
Itachi went and sat beside Shisui. He’d abandoned his textbook - and appearing slightly interested in his class material - in favor of drawing doodles on his assignments planner.
“Shisui - do you think we could maybe do Gifted homework together?” Itachi asked politely. “Maybe you can help me with the literature portion tonight.”
Shisui finally allowed himself to smile, for real. “Sure, we can do some Gifted stuff together, I guess.” He felt almost flattered.
“But Itachi,” Shisui ventured out of sheer curiosity, “Haven't you ever heard of, y'know...skipping homework?”
Itachi looked genuinely confused. He replied, “What do you mean?”
Shisui smiled. “Oh, it’s pretty easy actually - I could start by showing you how to do it tonight, as a matter of fact....”
*~End~*
[End Notes: So Shisui’s a total bad influence, a genuine Gifted kid but hates regular schedules :’D I modeled him after myself in grammar school actually, LOL. Basically if you saw through it, his Gifted teacher knew he was reluctant about being in Gifted but coaxed out his natural abilities with the project. Also...I know David Copperfield is a hard book for a 12 YO, but Shisui was smart enough to read it well and get most of it. [[And it’s actually the book Holden Caulfield hates in Catcher in the Rye 8’)]] And I definitely saw Itachi as the kind of kid who'd been so into school that he'd never skip homework, haha. Poor Itachi. Thanks for reading! Comments are lovely, and appreciated.]
Author: Rot-chan
Characters: young!Shisui and little!Itachi
Genre: Humor/Friendship
Summary: As Shisui put another brick on the bridge, Itachi wasn’t sure if he'd really succeed; after all, for half of the project he’d been either secretly playing his PSP underneath the desk or taking a nap. (Nice way to use your Gifted class time....)
Notes: It's based off of my 'facts' about Shisui at the writing comm. write_dattebayo, where you write facts about a favorite character. The fact was: "Fact 4: All throughout grade school, Shisui was known as ‘one of those gifted kids’. He was forced into the program by both of his parents and his teachers; but at least it wasn’t so bad, seeing as he got to make an indestructible bridge of toothpicks with Itachi at his side." And you were supposed to expand with one fact :') Based also on my trials as an elementary school Gifted kid, and being forced to do weird projects, haha.
Shisui should have never read David Copperfield out loud.
No - actually, that wasn’t his worst mistake. That would have been naming fifteen different constellations on the map during science, including O’Ryan and Scorpio. Or maybe it had been listing perfect squares up to 441 to his math teacher, along with a few neat Pythagorean triples.
But regardless of what his ultimate mistake had been, Shisui was now standing outside the guidance counselor’s office, after being told that he'd been sentenced to the ‘GIFTED’ room, otherwise known as classroom 103.
And everybody knew what classroom 103 meant - if you went there no one would sit with you at lunch because you were ‘a Brain’ (that, or else they’d spit in your lemonade when you weren’t looking), and no one would ever pick you to be on their team in P.E. baseball ever again either.
Shisui hoped he could go hide in the library, maybe the bathroom before the counselor could come back -
“Shisui, right this way! We’ll be walking to Miss Hiraki’s room,” the counselor said cheerily, seeming to appear from nowhere. She clutched his arm and pulled him along briskly when he refused to begin walking.
Then, he began dragging his sneakers.
“Shisui...” The counselor stopped when she heard the nails-on-a-chalkboard sound of squeaking shoes on linoleum, staring at him down her nose. He shifted his eyes. “Now walk properly, you’re in fifth grade already. That’s not how fifth graders walk.”
Shisui was very tempted to roll his eyes. “Yes, Ms. Ikoma,” he managed with a pained sigh, and trudged forward dramatically to his apparent life without friends.
When they got there it was suspiciously quiet. And...normal.
There were a lot of plants, and posters on the wall - and was that an iguana in the corner?
“This is your new class. You’ll come here three days a week, to spend some time with your other gifted classmates,” the counselor informed him in a way that sounded only a little rehearsed as they entered the room together. She walked over to the teacher and began speaking with her at her desk. Probably about getting him stuck in here permanently.
Shisui took a tentative step away from the door, testing the waters, as if the squiggly carpet beneath his feet would explode at any moment if he made one wrong move -
Then he heard a familiar little voice say, “Shisui?”
And who else did he see here in the Gifted class but Itachi, using a microscope at a desk with slides scattered all around him.
Shisui bounded over - and, glancing back and forth to make sure no one was listening - whispered very secretively, “Itachi - did they force you into this too?!”
Itachi blinked and asked, “What thing do you mean?”
Shisui sighed, “This GIFTED thing!” He looked around, noticing only five other kids occupying the spacious classroom. Itachi furrowed his eyebrows, looking innocently perplexed.
Shisui threw up his hands, exasperated, near pulling at his hair. “Auugh! Itachi, you just - you don’t get that -”
“Hello, Shisui.” Shisui almost jumped when Miss Hiraki put a hand on his shoulder, smiling down at him over huge cat-eyed glasses. “We are so glad to have you join our class. Welcome! Or as they’d say in Rome,” she held out her arm, palm down in salute, “Salve!”
Shisui stared.
“Well then, why don’t we get your space set up,” Miss Hiraki said as she gathered a few books off one shelf, and grabbed a name tag off of her desk. “And you can introduce yourself to the class, if you feel like it....”
Shisui watched her incredulously as she began to write his name in bubbled letters on the name tag. That was the first time he’d ever heard a teacher say that.
Shisui gazed around. There was a human skeleton and a model the heart sitting atop the radiator. Posters about ‘genres of literature’ and ‘advanced math made interesting’. (Shisui had come to find that anything marked as ‘made interesting’ or ‘painlessly fun!’ turned out to be quite dull.) And of course, that lizard thing in the corner he just couldn’t get past.
Shisui felt listless. What was he supposed to DO here, exactly? Stand around and watch Itachi be immersed in the worlds of bacteria, amoeba - whatever you look at in a microscope? Watch while some kid made a poster on the Monarchs of England in the back of the room?
Before he could even get a chance to complain, Miss Hiraki was at his side once more, armed with a keen smile and a project sheet.
“Here’s something I thought you might like. You did the science fair project on bridges last year, correct?” Shisui nodded, wary as he took the worksheet.
‘An Indestructible Bridge...of Toothpicks?’ He read, along with an obvious unspoken ‘what the hell is this about?’ He’d already done this last year, made an arch that had withstood the weight of two bricks. What did she think he’d....
Miss Hiraki continued. “Actually, I was impressed with your project from last year. Pretty good,” she smiled. “B-uuut, as we always say, every time you do it, do it better. I want you to try it again - but challenge yourself this time. Make it withstand more weight. Surely you can handle three bricks?”
Shisui bit back a scowl. Was this lady...challenging him?
Oh, she totally was.
Well, bring it Miss Hikaro, Hiraki, whatever her name was, Shisui was going to make this stupid toothpick bridge a second time and prove he was smart enough without this ‘Gifted’ class, end of story!
***
On the first day of the project, when Miss Hiraki had given him flat toothpicks, glue and twine, Shisui found, infuriatingly, he was...stuck.
Last year’s project had been a piece of cake - all he did was model off bridges with a traditional arch, secure both ends onto a board of styrofoam, and let the glue dry. The bridge had looked pretty good; a little messy from all the glue, but it was the weight it held that mattered.
OK, so admittedly he did have a little help, but he’d come up with how to make the bridge withstand the test bricks on his own. So what if he employed his dad to help him finish the last two sections of the arch? (Besides, at the time Shisui had some real black mail on him - he’d caught him watching rugby on the flatscreen when he should’ve been sorting through the stuff in the garage.)
But for whatever reason this time, he just couldn’t think of anything great. Shisui frustratedly crumpled his sketch, buried his head in his arms. No use, he figured - this Miss Hiraki was gonna have a good laugh when she found out her newest Gifted Recruit turned out to pale in comparison to that kid who was so into the history of the English monarchy, and -
“Shisui, are you tired? I don’t think you are allowed to sleep in school,” a tiny finger prodded him. Itachi.
Shisui sat up in a sort of disgust. Had he seriously been, like...jealous right now? Of those other kids, those braniacs?!
No, of course not. He was just competitive, that was all. Shisui turned towards Itachi with renewed resolve. He could certainly get Itachi to give him some ideas. Plus, it helped that even though Itachi was only in third grade he was already doing sixth grade math. (There were some perks to having a whiz kid for a cousin, as a matter of fact.)
“Itachi, did you hear about the really NEAT project Miss Hidako - Hiraki gave me yesterday? No? Oh, then let me tell you all about it....”
***
On the third day, by using his usual persuasive skills and charm - or maybe due to the fact that Itachi didn’t mind helping people with pretty much anything - Shisui now had an assistant at his side.
Itachi found some interesting photos of bridges in a few library books, gave Shisui some ideas on what the design could be like to hold up the weight. Shisui was now drawing a few sketches at their table.
Miss Hiraki walked over. She saw Shisui had decided on a suspension bridge, twice the challenge that an arch had presented him.
“Looks like you two seem to be doing a good job together. Just don’t forget about our discussion, Itachi,” Miss Hiraki said nonchalantly as she continued on.
Shisui paused, looking from the teacher to Itachi. “Discussion?”
“Oh....” Itachi shifted a little anxiously. Shisui narrowed his eyes as his cousin avoided his gaze - he was definitely hiding something, all right.
“Spit it out Itachi,” Shisui said almost warningly, giving him a half-hearted glare that he knew should break him instantly - and of course, it did.
“Miss Hiraki told me....” Itachi glanced at her before whispering in Shisui’s ear, “Not to help you cheat.”
Shisui sat back. Help him...cheat? What a freaking insult! He stood, snatched up the toothpick boxes then dumped them out on their work table. Itachi blinked.
“Itachi, start grouping these by the dozen, OK? We’ve got work to do.” Itachi simply nodded, watching Shisui is awe...or maybe confusion at such a visceral reaction over a project about toothpicks....
***
About a week and a half later, a small suspension bridge was in the middle of the classroom preparing to be tested.
“Isn’t this great everybody? I presented Shisui with the challenge to build a second indestructible bridge, and we’re going to see if it’s as sturdy - or sturdier - than his first,” Miss Hiraki said, as she pulled not two, but three bricks out from underneath her desk.
Shisui smiled, completely at ease as he took the first brick and carefully placed it in the center between the two supports. (Everyone ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’ for a moment appropriately.)
Next, the second brick. Shisui carefully laid it atop the first. And finally, the third brick - and even Itachi wasn’t sure if Shisui would really succeed; after all, for half of the project he’d been either secretly playing his PSP underneath the desk or taking a nap. (Nice way to use your Gifted class time....)
But, to everyone’s surprise it withstood the last brick. Miss Hiraki clapped as everyone followed suit. Shisui felt triumphant, seeing she looked so obviously impressed.
Shisui said, “No big deal,” trying not to come off as the smartest kid in the class (as he so obviously was, but didn’t want to crush their feelings, duh).
“Still feeling bad about Gifted?” Miss Hiraki asked, as she led him back to his desk. Shisui sat down; he casually toyed with the cover of his 8th grade literature textbook.
“No, not really - I mean I didn’t even care about it that much to start with, you know....” he trailed off with a shrug, as Miss Hiraki simply smiled and walked back to her desk. Being a teacher does require overlooking a few things.
Itachi went and sat beside Shisui. He’d abandoned his textbook - and appearing slightly interested in his class material - in favor of drawing doodles on his assignments planner.
“Shisui - do you think we could maybe do Gifted homework together?” Itachi asked politely. “Maybe you can help me with the literature portion tonight.”
Shisui finally allowed himself to smile, for real. “Sure, we can do some Gifted stuff together, I guess.” He felt almost flattered.
“But Itachi,” Shisui ventured out of sheer curiosity, “Haven't you ever heard of, y'know...skipping homework?”
Itachi looked genuinely confused. He replied, “What do you mean?”
Shisui smiled. “Oh, it’s pretty easy actually - I could start by showing you how to do it tonight, as a matter of fact....”
*~End~*
[End Notes: So Shisui’s a total bad influence, a genuine Gifted kid but hates regular schedules :’D I modeled him after myself in grammar school actually, LOL. Basically if you saw through it, his Gifted teacher knew he was reluctant about being in Gifted but coaxed out his natural abilities with the project. Also...I know David Copperfield is a hard book for a 12 YO, but Shisui was smart enough to read it well and get most of it. [[And it’s actually the book Holden Caulfield hates in Catcher in the Rye 8’)]] And I definitely saw Itachi as the kind of kid who'd been so into school that he'd never skip homework, haha. Poor Itachi. Thanks for reading! Comments are lovely, and appreciated.]