Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. All rights go to him except my oc.
Sasuke and Anika are still 5 and Itachi is 10. Hitsuji is still a lovely 3 ½.
Strangers like Me
Chapter Two- Hakuna Matata
As they made their way to the entrance to the Uchiha compound, Sasuke opened the door to let Itachi carry Anika through.
"I can walk you know!" she insisted with a pout. She hated feeling helpless.
"I know you can. You're a big girl but I don't want you to fall over again and hurt yourself even more because you know what happened last time." Itachi reminded her with a smirk as they stopped in front of the Uchiha's house. She blushed and snuggled her face in the crook of his neck, which made him chuckle.
"Mom!" Sasuke exclaimed as he dashed forward and gave her a hug around the waist. "I'm hungry. Can we have something to eat?" Her laugh sounded like a bell as she replied,
"Of course you can.", with a bright, soft smile. "Come on you three, come into the kitchen and I'll see what we have."
"Arigato Mitoko-san!" Anika said brightly, getting down from Itachi's back. Fugaku happened to be coming down the stairs so she hid behind Itachi and waited. Everybody bowed to him, including Anika. She didn't like him but she wasn't about to be rude. When he saw her behind his eldest son he glared at her and announced suddenly he was going to go over and have lunch with Shisui and his father that day so he would not be joining them and left the house.
Anika relaxed once he left but didn't let go of the grip she had on Itachi's shirt. She didn't know why Uchiha-sama hated her so much, it was just the feeling she got around him and it made her nervous.
Mikoto tried to cover up the awkward encounter with pulling some left-over dango out of the fridge.
"Here you go. How about some dango?" she asked as got it ready and put the plates in front of the three. Mikoto did the dishes as Sasuke told Anika about this cool shuriken move he had seen someone do when he was spying on the training grounds one day. Anika on the other hand was only half listening. She was half wondering what she did to make Uchiha-sama hate her so much. Deciding it probably wasn't even her fault because he was mean to everybody, she listened to Sasuke's story instead.
Itachi hated seeing Anika look so puzzled and worried because he knew why Fugaku hated Anika so much. It was because of Anika's mother. Her mother was the nicest person Itachi had ever met but unfortunately, not everybody saw it that way.
Growing up, Anika's mother was Mari Okonawa of the Okonawa clan. It wasn't a very famous clan but it was well heard of in Konoha at least. Growing up, she was Mikoto's best friend; they did everything together. She was a wonderful ninja and even made it up to jounin level but as she got older she fell in love with a man named Tomo Shiro who worked at a Deli in the market. Her family did not approve of the relationship and disowned her so she married Tomo and started a family with him.
She kept in contact with Mikoto of course but many of the 'upper class' like, her family, the more snobby Uchiha, or even some of the Hyuuga had stopped talking to her. Now they struggled with financial needs and raising two kids, even with Tomo working 3 jobs.
Itachi shook his head and reached for another dango but realized he had eaten them all. Looking down at his blank plate he looked over at Sasuke who looked stuffed and Anika who had one left.
"I'm full. You want it nii-san? It's your favorite, right?" she asked, handing it to him and smiling. He smiled back and took it from her, looking it over for a second.
"You're right. Thank you."
"No, I want it!" Sasuke yelled, reaching a hand out for it just at Itachi was about to put it in his mouth.
"I just asked you and you said you couldn't eat another bite." Anika said, confused. Sasuke glared.
"Yeah but I don't want him to have it!" Then she laughed, gently taking the three pieces of food off the stick and splitting it evenly.
"There. Happy?" She said expectantly, staring at Sasuke with a smirk. He grinned and popped it into his mouth.
"Yes. Yes I am."
"Thank you for walking me home! I'll probably see you tomorrow!" Anika said as she tripped over the first step on her porch, catching herself and grinning as her friends walked back to their house.
She ran into the house and found her mother in the living room and her sister in their shared room. Deciding to greet her mother first she walked to the living room and sat next to her on the couch.
"Hi mom!" she said and she jumped her in a tight hug. Mari laughed and hugged her back.
"Hey honey. How was your day?" she asked as she started picking up toys around the room, no doubt left there by Hitsuji. Hitsuji always left a hurricane like trail behind her.
"It was good. We went to the park and went on the swings." Best not tell her about my incident. "And then I met this kid Naruto. He was all sad and alone and I was really nervous but I went up to him all by myself and talked to him, just like that!" She was proud of herself. It wasn't every day she was that outgoing. The mention of Naruto caused Mari to temporarily stop what she was doing, like she was going to say something but decide better of it and continued picking up toys.
"And then I fell on the way home but it was okay because Itachi-niisan fixed it." She pointed to her bandage, which Mari came over and looked at but probably deemed fine because then she went back to picking up toys. "And then we had dango and played board games and had a nap and and and…."
"Okay there Anika, don't get too ahead of yourself. Why don't you go get washed up for dinner, okay?" Mari asked, pushing a defiant curl behind Anika's ear and smiling down at her.
"Okay mum." She said, going to wash her hands.
"Is Anika-niichan home?!" I heard Hitsuji scream from our room.
"Yes." Mum replied.
"YAAYYY!" was all I heard before I was tackled to the bathroom floor with still wet hands, water flying everywhere.
As Mari was putting the dishes away from dinner Hitsuji and Anika were heading to the bathroom to brush their teeth before bed time. Anika has explained all about her day to her sister but the smaller girl just could not suppress the amount of questions flowing out of her mouth.
"So you saw a boy at the park?" Anika nodded so Hitsuji continued; though Anika had a sneaking suspicion she would have continued either way.
"What did he look like?" she questioned. Anika sighed.
"I told you! He had-"
"Did he have blond hair?" Hitsuji interrupted.
"Yes. And blue-"
"What color eyes did he have? Was he short? Was he tall? How long was his hair? How do you know he was a boy? What if he was a girl who just looked like a-", and at that point she tuned out the smaller girl's questions and concentrated on brushing her teeth. Her sister had the annoying habit of asking a million questions, even if she knew the answers. She had to ask, just to make sure her answers were right. It was cute and almost endearing if you didn't know her all that well but then the questions got too personal. It was like she had no self-control over anything she did.
When Anika finished brushing her teeth she put her tooth brush away and looked over at her sister, who was still talking with her toothbrush flopping lazily from her mouth. Sighing, Anika took the toothbrush from Hitsuji and finished cleaning the girl's teeth.
"There you go." She said as she finished, handing the toothbrush back to its owner and heading back to their room. Upon entering said room, their mom was already there waiting to say good night to them before they went to bed. Snuggling into her mom's chest and closing her eyes, Anika yawned and sighed tiredly.
"Good night Mum." She mumbled, climbing into bed and getting under her covers.
Hitsuji came trotting in after that, jumping into their mother's arms and saying good night to her. Mari put her into her bed, tucking her in and placing a kiss on her forehead before coming over to Anika and doing the same. As Mari left the room, she left the door a bit open and looked at her girls with a small smile playing on her lips.
"Good night girls."
