Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. All rights go to him except my oc.

At the moment Sasuke and Anika are about 5 and Itachi is 10. Hitsuji is 3 ½.

Strangers like Me

Chapter one- God Help the Out Casts

Anika woke up slowly and rubbed her eyes. What time was it? Looking around blurrily, trying to find the clock, she jumped out of her skin and screamed as her sister popped out of nowhere.

"Anika! Breakfast!" She grinned and ran out of their room and down the little hall into the kitchen. Anika sighed.

"Hitsuji! Don't scare me like that!" She yelled after her and got out of bed, smiling lazily after her sister. As she walked into the kitchen she saw her mother with her back to her, eating breakfast with Hitsuji next to her, shoveling food into her face. As she came into the room Hitsuji looked up, milk dribbling down her chin, and waving frantically.

"Hi Mummy. Hitsuji, you have some stuff on your chin." Anika said and she made her way to the table. Her mom kissed her on the head and got up, putting her bowl in the sink.

"You want some cereal Anika-chan?" Her mom asked, already getting out the bowl and her favorite cereal.

"Yes please. Thank you Mum." She said as she sat down, watching as Hitsuji got up and tried to put her bowl in the sink like her mother had but she couldn't quite reach. Hitsuji stretched up on her tip toes and made a grunting noise. To make her feel better, her mother picked her up by the waist and the little girl put the bowl in herself, feeling accomplished as she was put down on the ground again with a proud grin on her face.

Anika ate her breakfast quietly until there was a knock at the front door. She put her bowl in the sink and peered around the kitchen corner to see who it was. To her delight it was two very familiar faces.

"Konichiwa Shiro-san. I'm very sorry if it is too early to ask this of you but Sasuke was wondering if Anika-chan was home?"

"Oh, Itachi. You don't have to be so formal all the time. Please, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Mari? Of course Anika is home. Come on in, both of you." She stepped aside, letting both boys enter the house. They looked out of place in the Shiro house. They both looked so fancy with their nice clothes and shiny black hair next to the crappy furniture and scuffed up wooden floor. The Shiro family did not have very much money seeing as their father worked a couple of odd jobs in the market and their mother stayed home to take care of them.

Anika stepped out of her hiding spot and walked over to them as they made their way down out hallway.

"Hi!" She greeted. They smiled as she led them to the kitchen. Not that they needed her to tell them where it was, they were here all the time. In the corner of her eye she saw Itachi smirking. "What?" She quirked her head to the side and looked up at him.

"Nice pajamas." She looked down at her blue, tattered nightgown. Her grey eyes went wide and she blushed. Giving a squeak, she ran to her room and changed into a normal shirt with an overall dress over it, running her fingers through her curly hair quickly. When she came back out of her room Sasuke and Itachi were waiting for her as she blushed and looked at her feet embarrassedly. Itachi smiled and ruffled her chestnut hair.

"Come on Ani, let's go to the park." Sasuke insisted as he took her wrist and started dragging her towards the front door.

"WAIT!" They all halted in their tracks as they heard Hitsuji scream and run after them, skidding to a stop in front of Anika and pulling on her dress. "Can I come with you?" Anika looked from Sasuke to Itachi and back to Hitsuji's pleading eyes.

"Not this time Hitsuji. Maybe next time, okay?" The littler girl nodded sadly and walked back to her mother, who told Anika to have fun and be safe, and then led Hitsuji back into the living room.

With that, Sasuke led the way to the park, dragging Anika with him as they were followed by Itachi. Anika immediately ran to the swings, which where her favorite, and upon climbing onto one next to Sasuke yelled,

"Itachi-niisan! Push me!" with a big smile. Itachi chucked but complied, as he always did when she asked, which was often.

"You know how to do it yourself Anika." He said knowingly, making her pout and blush a little bit.

"But what's the fun in that? Sasuke knows how to do a lot of things and he still makes you do everything for him!" she exclaimed, going higher and higher. Sasuke glared at her and yelled,

"I do not!" and pouted at her.

"Sasuke, don't make that face. It might stay that way." Itachi said parentally. 'Now that sounded like something mummy would say.' Anika thought as she giggled. As if reading her mind Sasuke yelled back at his older brother,

"That sounds like something mom would say!"

In the midst of their bickering, Itachi didn't noticed the amount of force he put behind his pushes to the swing because she was going higher…and higher…and even higher…

"Itachi-n-niisan?..." Nothing.

"I-Itachi…?" They still didn't notice her or her rising panic.

"ITACHI. STOP." That got their attention.

They both stopped their arguing to stare at her and Itachi knew exactly what was wrong. He stopped the swing immediately and crouched in front of her.

"Are you alright Anika-chan?"

She took at shaky breath and replied,

"H-Hai. I'm okay. I just…" Before Sasuke interrupted her,

"You really need to get over your fear of heights if you want to be a ninja Anika."

"I-I know. Just…never mind. Wanna go on the slides?" She said, changing the subject. She just had an irrational fear of heights, was that really that bad? Okay so she was afraid of spiders too. And the dark…and loud noises… And a lot of other things but as she grew up, she would get braver, right? That's what happened when you got older. She would be better when she grew up like…like her mom or Itachi!

As she was lost in thought Sasuke and Itachi had gone over to the slide, leaving Anika at the swings. She decided to walk to the monkey bars, which were opposite the swings.

"Where are you going, Anika?" Itachi asked as he watched Sasuke with worried eyes as he almost fell off the top of the slide.

"Just over to the monkey bars. Sasuke, please don't fall and die on me!" she called as she ran over to said play equipment as he yelled something back about no promises. She jumped onto the bar; hanging upside down by her knees and smiled, blinking at her fuzzy vision.

'Was…somebody on the swings…?' She blinked a couple more times to clear her vision. Yes, there was definitely a blonde boy on the swings, probably about her age. He was all alone too. Maybe she should go talk to him? She was very shy but she was never one to let other people feel left out or forgotten.

Out of the corner of his eye Itachi watched as Anika got back on her feet and made her way back to the swings. As she got closer she noticed he had spikey blonde hair and startlingly blue eyes. She stopped in front of him but was not surprised that he did not notice because he was looking at the ground and she was naturally quiet.

She smiled and leaned down to look in his face, getting his attention finally. Now that she saw his shocked face, she looked from left to right and then down at her feet, not sure what to say. A bright blush forming over her face she said with a smile and a soft voice,

"H-Hi there. My n-name is Shiro A-Anika. What's y-you're name? If you don't mind m-me asking th-that is. I-If you do I-I can just go away if you-"

Her nervous rambling was interrupted by a laugh that started off quiet and then got louder as it went on, surprising her into silence.

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to be a great ninja one day!" he introduced himself. The exclamation made her giggle. She could tell she was going to like this one. He seemed like a good person.

Before she could say anything else though she heard Itachi and Sasuke calling her over from their spot near the slide, saying they had to go home.

"I have to go. Will you be here tomorrow?" she asked, wanting to talk to him again.

"Maybe. I'll see you around. It's a small village." He said with a bright smile and waved at her as he strode off mumbling something about ramen.

Anika ran back to the Uchihas and took Itachi's hand, starting on the way home with them.

"Who was that?" Sasuke asked curiously, almost judgmentally. Itachi stayed quiet.

"Some new kid I just met. His name's Naruto. He seemed lonely so I thought I would play with him." She answered, peering around Itachi's leg to look at Sasuke, who was doing the same.

"Would you like to come to our house for a snack Anika-chan?" Itachi finally spoke up, glancing down at the little girl.

"Sure!" She beamed. She loved the Uchiha's house! It was so fancy and their mom was so nice!

"Umph!" Anika yelped as she tripped over her sandal and fell on the ground with a thud. She turned to inspect her knee which had a scrap on it. Nothing horrible but it was bleeding quite a bit. As she began to cry, Sasuke came running to her rescue and upon seeing her knee said,

"Itachi-niisan!"

His older brother immediately came over and accessed the damage; from the girl's crying to his brother's worried face. He leaned down and got some bandages out of his pouch on his leg and wrapped it around the little girl's knee.

She stopped crying and watched as he patched her up with a small smile on his face. Sasuke kept looking impatiently between the two and when the older was done with the bandage Sasuke did something that surprised both of them.

He kissed her bandaged knee and smiled up at her.

"My mom always says it makes it feel better." Itachi let out a chuckle and Anika giggled.

"Come on. Up you go." Itachi said as he put Anika on his back and held Sasuke's hand. "Time to get you guys home."

"Thank you, Itachi-nii," Anika whispered.

"You're welcome, Anika." He replied.