In Their Shadow

Chapter 31

'Why? Why has it been so easy going so far? I don't like this. Its almost too easy...' Yuma thought warily.

Naruko and Sasuke sat around the fire they had made, roasting fish over the fire. Naruko looked over at Yuma with a frown.

"Why does he never sit with us, jerk." Naruko pouted.

"Leave him be Naruko. He's not hurting anyone." Sasuke said.

"Nope! I'm gonna go talk to him." Naruko said standing up from the fire, leaving a annoyed Sasuke behind her.

Yuma was staring at the moons reflection in the water when she sat down next to him, snapping him out of his train of thought. He frowned at her prescence while letting out a sigh.

"What is it Naruko?" He asked.

"What? I can't sit down and try to talk about things with my teammate?" Naruko asked with a smile.

"You do know we're not friends right? I might've promised to hang out with you guys more and try to get along, but that doesn't make us best buddies. We're just acquaintances." Yuma said, making Naruko frown.

"And how do you expect us to become friends if I let you be grumpy by yourself all the time huh?" Naruko asked sarcastically, as Yuma rolled his eyes at her.

"What do you want to talk about anyway?" He asked.

"Well, I just wanted to say sorry for earlier." She said, looking down at the water in embarrassment.

Yuma's brows lifted in confusion, not understanding what she was talking about.

"Sorry for what?" Yuma asked.

"Its just...I know I can be a little dumb sometimes, I have a hard time reading the mood ya know. You were probably really worried and trying to come up with ideas on how to pass this test. Meanwhile I'm acting all cocky and completely ignoring how you must be feeling."

Yuma went quiet.

"Its just...Ya know, since I was little I've always been surrounded by people as strong as or nearly as talented as me. For the longest it was just me and Sasuke Ya know...I guess because of that, I don't really know how to behave and act around people who weren't so lucky to be born as gifted." Naruko said, shocking Yuma.

"So, I just wanted to say i'm sorry for not understanding how you feel. As you're teammate I promise to try to understand your feelings in certain situations!" Naruko declared with a smile.

Yuma blushed.

"Uh, well, you don't have to feel sorry. I certainly don't make it easy with how reclusive I can be..." He said scratching his chin, trying to look at anything and anywhere other then Naruko.

Naruko giggled and stood up, walking onto the waters surface before turning to him with a grin.

"You're right about that!" She giggled.

Yuma froze, his heart beating softly in his chest. His face became really red as he realized how long he had stared at her.

"Well...While we're at it, I should say sorry too I guess..." Yuma said, looking at the grass.

"Huh? For what?" She asked.

"I...Shouldn't have called your dad an idiot. That was wrong of me. If anyone said that about mister Danzo I would've got mad too. I'm sorry." He said.

"Its fine Yuma, I know you didn't mean anything by it." She said with a smile.

"Also...About the things I had said back at the wave...I never apologize to you for calling you a monster...I'm sorry about that, you don't look anything like a monster...You're um...too cute to be called something like that." He sputtered, unable to control what he was saying, eyes going wide in embarrassment when he realized he had called Naruko cute.