Itachi had been fourteen at the time. He came home from school to find his mother stand in their large, airy kitchen, drying a plate. She smiled warmly at Itachi when he came in to greet her.

"You like her?" she asked.

Itachi was taken aback. "Who?"

"The girl you've been walking home with the last month." His mother pointed out of the window to where they had said goodbye seconds ago.

"Oh..." Itachi hadn't really thought about it. She went to the class below Itachi and had started taking company with him one day, explaining she lived a few blocks down from Itachi's family home. She was warm-hearted and chatty and smiled a lot, and Itachi found he didn't really mind her company because it didn't really require that he talked and she barely asked any questions. She would just go on about anything herself. But did he like her? Itachi didn't think so. At least, not in that way. "How do you know if you like someone?" he asked his mother, sincerely.

His mother looked a bit puzzled at first, but then smiled warmly. "Well, at first you get butterflies in your stomach whenever you see them. Then you look forward to seeing them, and if you don't, you become disappointed. Then they become this intricate part of your life."

Itachi thought about it. He didn't feel any such thing when he walked with the girl home. "I don't think so, mum", he just said.

He and the girl had kept taking company home for a couple more weeks, until she stopped joining him. A month or so later, Itachi had found out she was the girlfriend of one of his classmates, actually a male friend that he didn't say much to in school but played online games with at home.

Itachi felt nothing regarding the girl having a boyfriend.

But he did feel incredibly possessive about his friend.

Itachi didn't understand.

Itachi had never been in love. He didn't really bother. He was happy focusing on his studies. He was a model student, always receiving the highest mark, which had earned him a scholarship to go to the fine university he was now attending. He felt quite bad about it as his family was quite wealthy and could've afforded to let him go anyway. But he had accepted it, happy to see the pride on the faces of his mother, father and little brother. But he had never had a relationship or been intimate with someone. And it didn't bother him much.

Itachi woke up the next day feeling a tingling sensation. It took him a while before he understood why. It caused a great smile on his face and instantly check his phone, something he never did directly in the morning. He saw two messages, one from his mother and one from Shisui.

Mother, yesterday, 11.00 PM: "How was your first day at university? We are all so proud of you! Love, mum"

Me, 07.01 AM: "It was good, mum. Sorry for not calling. I will call tonight. Say hi to dad and Sasuke from me."

He smiled when he saw Shisui's message.

Shisui, 05.30 AM: "Good morning, sunshine ;)"

Me, 07.02 AM: "What are you doing up so early?"

Shisui, 07.05 AM: "I went for a run. Kinda sweaty now ;;;) Gonna take a shower brb"

Itachi swallowed. The thought of a sweaty Shisui going into the shower... What is wrong with me?

Shisui, 07.15 AM: "Did the thought of me in the shower make u lose your ability to text? 😘"

Me, 07.17 AM: "The thought of running at five thirty made me kinda die."

Shisui, 07:17 AM: "So... Zumba tonight 6 pm?"

Me, 07.18 AM: "Fine..."

Shisui, 07.18 AM: "REALLY? WOW YES! THANKS ITACHI I promise I will make it worth it!"

Me, 07.20 AM: "You owe me one..."

Shisui, 07.21 AM: "I promise ;)"

Shisui, 07.22 AM: "BTW there will be some other people from class and some old friends that are also in uni there with us hope that is ok"

Itachi couldn't help but feeling slightly disappointed. But at the same time slightly relieved; if there were others Shisui would have less time to look at him. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

Itachi took a quick shower, brushed his hair and collected it in a large hair clip. He put on a pair of tight black jeans and an oversized, dark grey sweater, took his bag and went to uni. Once on campus, he found he was looking around for his new friend, but he didn't see him. He didn't know where on campus Shisui would have his classes when they didn't have the same ones. In the lecture theatre, however, he could hear some of his classmates talk about him.

"Hey, where is that guy from yesterday... Shisui, was it?"

"Oh yeah, him! He's in IT and programming so we have separate lectures today. He's so nice"

"And really smart! One of my best friends went to the same high school as him; he's here on a scholarship."

"Wow, impressive!"

So that explains how he's here despite his family being poor...

The day was slow but interesting. The professor revised the more advanced parts of high school mathematics for the students to be on the same foundation for further, more complex analytical methods. When classes were over at 4 PM, Itachi checked his phone and saw a message from Shisui.

Shisui: 02.14 PM: "Zumba! Zumba!!! ZUMBA!!!"

Itachi smiled and shook his head before walking home for a snack and to change before meeting Shisui and his other friends for Zumba.

What the actual hell...

Itachi had come to the gym that was newly built and very modern. He wasn't unfamiliar with gym buildings in general; he trained about three times a week but he would lie if he said he liked it, he just knew it was good for him and he tended to become too thin if he didn't build some muscle. But even he could see this gym in particular was very well-equipped. He had gotten a one-year membership in the reception, then shamefacedly asked for a ticket to the Zumba class and walked, clad in shorts and and a grey t-shirt that he thought contoured him nicely, to the area where the Zumba class would be. And what he found made him absolutely dumbstruck.

Shisui was already outside the room with his friends, one of which Itachi recognized from his new class, but some were new. Shisui and himself excluded, they were five; three boys and two girls. But what chocked Itachi was Shisui's outfit. He looked absolutely flamboyant clad in obscenely short, turquoise shorts, pastel leg warmers, a white Nike sweat band pulling the hair out of his forehead and a grey, obscurely tight tank top that literally said "ZUMBA! ZUMBA! ZUMBA!" Itachi just stared, mouth agape.

"What the actual fuck?" he couldn't help but say.

He saw Shisui flinch at the sound of his voice. Itachi could've been mistaken, but he thought that Shisui actually was lost for words for a fraction of a second, eyeing Itachi up and down appreciatively. But it was over too quick for him to be sure.

"Yo, Itachi!" he grinned. "Everyone, this is Itachi from mathematical engineering. I need him for notes so don't scare him away!"

Everyone swallowed him up in a warm welcoming that overwhelmed Itachi a little. At least they wore normal training clothes... The three men introduced themselves as Chris, Bjorn and Lucas. Lucas was in Itachi's program but he didn't recognize Chris and Bjorn, nor the girls.

"I'm Lauren!" said a curvaceous girl with sun-bleached, shoulder length hair and a red loose tank top and black tights. "I was Shisui's girlfriend in New Zealand but now I live here to study arts!"

Itachi was taken aback at this. A girlfriend... That would explain the expression on Shisui's face when he had talked about his gap years.

"Hehh hehh..." Shisui laughed a little uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head in that way of his.

"And I'm Pia!" said the other girl, who was tall with long, dark hair and oriental facial features. "She dragged me along!" She pointed an accusing finger at Lauren, who stretched out a tongue at her.

"Don't worry about Shisui's clothes!" said Chris, laying an amicable elbow on Itachi's shoulder. Which must've looked funny because he was at least twice as broad as itachi but quite a bit shorter. "We're old mates, he's always like this."

"Yes", said Bjorn. "If we didn't know he was such a ladies man, we would've thought he was into men!"

"Not that we would mind!" Chris hurriedly added. "We would still love him. But..." he winked at Itachi and toned his voice down to a theatrical whisper. "He loves the ladies."

Itachi felt like himself become more and more stiff with each part of the conversation. The rest of the exchange ebbed out, was absorbed by the walls around them.

"Knock it off!" he could hear Shisui say, somewhere far off in the distance.

"Itachi..." Itachi didn't notice. "Eyy, Itachi!" A friendly box on his arm. It was Chris. "Let's go kill this Zumba class!"

Itachi smiled tentatively and followed through the door, which the instructor had opened without Itachi noticing. He felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice cold water on him that had washed all of the reasons for him to be here. He was reminded of his mother, how she had pleaded for him to try to be a little bit more sociable.

"Just try the first few weeks. If you don't like it, you can just stop." A warm, worried smile. "These people will be with you for years. They have the potential to become important."

Itachi thought about that now, trying to force himself to enjoy his time with these new people that apparently knew his new-found friend Shisui so well. But it was hard to muster. The class was almost full with twenty-five people attending, so Itachi hoped to blend in the back.

"Allllll right!!" A person screamed into the sound system. Itachi looked to the front, where a man even more flamboyant-looking that Shisui stood. He was tall and well trained, with a tight green bodysuit and yellow leg warmers. He had a black bowl cut and the largest eyebrows Itachi had ever seen. "Welcome to Zzzzumbaaaa! I'm Guy and together we will sweat for an hour to preserve the power of our youth!"

The others in the class hooted. It was going to be a long hour, thought Itachi.