February 10 - Uchiha Obito

"Really, kid, you don't need to do this. Hey, you need to go meet your ninja team or whatever, right?" The elderly woman ambled along down the street as she spoke.

The young Uchiha waved off her protests, hoisting the grocery bag up further on his shoulder. "No, it's okay! Minato-sensei can handle Kakashi and Rin-chan until I get there. He handles everything really well."

"Well, your team should be doing all the grunt work around the village for D-ranks right now, right? Go with the other brats and maybe you'll actually get paid for carrying an old lady's vegetables, instead of trying to rush off with my carrots without my permission! You're not getting a cent from me."

"Aw, Haruko-san, I don't need money!" replied Obito cheerfully. Truthfully, he didn't care about getting money in return for his good deeds. Besides, Haruko-san always gave him the most amazing orange candies when he managed to deliver the carrots to her doorstep without jostling them in the bag. Maybe he could give some to Rin-chan! He might even hand one over to Kakashi, if the jerk wasn't too much of a jerk (so, in other words, if Kakashi somehow developed multiple personality disorder for a day, maybe).

Haruko-san grumbled all the way down the street and around the corner, but Obito knew that she appreciated his efforts anyway. She wouldn't feed him candy if she didn't!

All in all, his morning was excellent thus far. He wasn't that late to meet his team, Haruko-san would probably give him some sweets for his trouble, and a light spring breeze was meandering down the road…

Then it sent a chill down the back of his neck.

"Kid? What's the matter with you?" Haruko-san paused at the side of the road when she realized that her companion had come to a dead halt behind her.

"Monster." Obito stood stock still in the road, teeth bared at the apparition before him.

It glared back and yowled.

"…Kid, it's just a cat." Haruko-san gave him a distinctly unimpressed expression.

"No, no, you have no idea what this creature is capable of. I met it in front of my clan compound before, and then somehow one of my house's doors was open for hours later, and the whole place was freezing! My mom blamed me! It's the bad luck of this black cat."

"You probably just left it open and forgot about it like the child you are."

"No, I'm sure it wasn't me! I haven't forgotten to close the door since that one time in the summer when a whole pack of squirrels snuck in somehow and destroyed the laundry. Anyway, I'm not taking that chance again! Here, I'll run to your apartment the other way with your groceries instead, okay? It'll be safer. It can be like training! Here I go!"

"You brat, come back here! Give me my carrots!"


"So, hey, I know it's kinda late and all, and you probably had enough time to even go out for lunch and come back before I got here, and you look kind of scary and pissed off at me, but it wasn't my fault, I swear! This old lady who lives near me needed help with her bags, and then a black cat crossed my path and I had to go the long way, and then there was this—"

"Where the hell have you been?" snarled Kakashi, leaping to his feet.

Obito gave him a sheepish smile and held out a hand in offering.

"Candy?"

-mm-

Notes: This scene comes from a very simple idea... "Obito is late for his team meeting, once again."

My Haruko shares her name with one of my favorite characters from the lovely manga, Saturn Apartments.

I love cats.

Thank you for reading! Next up is Hanzou.