Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns everything about Naruto and all rights go to him, except my OC's.

Strangers Like Me

Chapter 11- Reflection

"I don't know why you bother being upset about that guy anyway Anika! He's a jerk!" Naruto said as everybody was conjugated outside, leaving the school for the day.

"Because he's my best friend." She muttered, looking down at the ground. He just crossed his arms and squinted his eyes.

"No, I'm your best friend. He's a jerk." His expression made her laugh which in turn made him smile as he continued, "I'm going to go paint the Hokage statues, wanna come?"

"No thanks Naruto." She answered, looking concerned. "Do you really think that's a good idea? You'll get in trouble."

"Nah! I'll be fine! I'm me, they can't catch me!" Naruto answered as he turned and jabbed a thumb at himself. "Anyway, I'm coming over for dinner tomorrow night, okay?"

"Okay Naruto. See you tomorrow." She said but he was already running off to do god knows what. She hoped he wouldn't get in too much trouble so that she WOULD see him tomorrow night for dinner.

Anika started to make her way to her spot to wait for Hitsuji so they could walk home together and opened her backpack to check if the tomatoes were still intact. She had brought Sasuke tomatoes every day for the last week to his new apartment. They had moved him out of the compound and into an apartment to keep him away from the place where so much tragedy had occurred. Sometimes she could only manage to get a couple of tomatoes to bring to him and sometimes she brought a bunch, seeing as she was taking them from her house and nobody ate them at her house but her dad and he was wondering where all the tomatoes he was buying went.

Suddenly Anika was pushed from behind, sending her backpack to the ground, a couple of tomatoes rolling out. She look back to see a couple of boys in the class above her looking down at her menacingly.

"Hey. You." The one in front addressed.

"Me?" She asked stupidly, pointing to herself.

"Yes you. Who else did I just push?" The boy asked, as if it was obvious. Well, it was obvious. She probably shouldn't have asked that. "Why were you talking to that kid?" He points in the direction that Naruto just ran off in. Hitsuji, who had just been walking out of the academy, had seen what had happened and was watching from a short distance away, close enough to hear what was going on but not close enough for Anika to notice she was there.

"What?" Anika asks, looking in that direction as well. "Naruto? He's my friend."

"Friend?! That's gross. You know he's cursed right? No one's allowed to talk to him, all the adults say so." The boy answered, a disgusted look on his face. "But that makes sense that you'd be his 'friend' because you're fat and ugly and nobody likes you either."

At that Hitsuji snapped, jumping on the boy's back and hitting him in the head. She was pretty strong for a little girl and what she didn't have in book smarts she made up in strength. Unfortunately for her, the boy was much older than her and had two friends who ripped her off and threw her to the ground. The boy Hitsuji had attacked kicked her in the stomach. By then Anika had gotten up, grabbing his arm and yelling,

"Hey, leave her alone!"

But he just punched her in the face. Before the fight got too out of hand though, a serious voice made them all stop. It rang out, clear and calm and forceful, commanding attention.

"Hey, stop it."

Sasuke just stood there with a calm face as all five of them stared at him. The boys stopped and decided these pathetic girls weren't worth their time and left. Anika just stared in wonder as Sasuke made his way over to her form on the ground. This was the first time he had shown her any kind of attention in weeks. He bent down and came close before she realized he was picking up a fallen tomato behind her. She looked chest fallen before he gently put the back of a finger to her already swollen cheek.

"Thanks for the tomato."

And then he stood up, walking away as if it never happened, leaving Anika to wonder if it ever did. Then he added, "And get that cheek looked at."

"Dad I'm fine! Me and Hitsuji were just training, that's all!" Anika explained as her dad put a bandage on her cheek after fixing up some minor scrapes on Hitsuji. Their dad looked at them skeptically but didn't question it. "Oh and Naruto's coming for dinner tomorrow night." She added in afterthought.

"Oh great. So now I have to cook for 5 people instead of 3!" Tomo joked. He liked Naruto. He thought the boy was funny and liked having the energy around the house to liven things up. Naruto really reminded him of old times back when Mari, Mikoto, and Kushina were friends. Shaking the thought from his head he packed up the med kit and went to finish dinner.

That had happened the day before she had gone to her mother's grave and Kakashi had agreed to train her in water jutsu. It was the reason she wanted to learn water jutsu so badly, to protect her friends, especially Hitsuji. Thinking back on that memory, Anika concentrated harder until she felt a surge of chakra come from her middle up through her throat and out her mouth. A spout of water came from her mouth and fell into the river under the dock at her feet but it was weak.

She sighed, frustrated, and heard Kakashi shift slightly behind her. They had worked on several things in the last couple of weeks. She had mastered chakra control surprisingly quite easily. Climbing trees had taken her about a day or two and from then on the they had been doing small chakra control exercises until they worked up to the Uo Tsuba jutsu. So far though she hadn't been able to get a full flow of water to come from her mouth. She couldn't get the water pressure right. It always came out as a dribble or a spout, never a full blast.

"I think we've done enough for today. I have a mission so I won't be able to meet with you again for the next three days." Kakashi explained, coming to stand next to her. At first Kakashi was rather cold and seemed kind of harsh but he was warming up to her now.

All she did was sigh in response and he gave her a smile and put his hand on her head. She looked up at him curiously at he said,

"Practice while I'm gone and show me how you've improved when I get back."

That made her smile and he told her he was off and she could leave if she wanted.

"I think I'm going to stay for a bit longer."

With that Anika did the hand signs and tried again.

"You need a haircut." Tomo said that night, gently grabbing a long lock on Anika's chestnut hair and looking it over before looking over at Hitsuji. "Both of you do."

"I like my hair!" Anika said, clinging to her waist length waves.

"Nope, I'm cutting your hair. Come here." Tomo said, gesturing to a chair at the kitchen table.

"You're going to do it?!" Anika exclaimed, now starting to panic.

"Yes I'm going to do it! What's wrong with that? Now sit down!" Tomo said sternly, with a voice Anika couldn't argue with. With a gulp, the girl did as she was told and sat down as if she had just gotten the death sentence.

Tomo put her hair in a ponytail and got out the scissors.

"What the ponytail for?" Anika asked, starting to panic.

"Sit still. You don't want it to look bad now do you?"

She took a deep breath and with that, Tomo took up the scissors and started hack the ponytail off.

"Dad!? What are you doing!?"

"I'm almost done, don't worry."

Once he had cut the ponytail off the hair fell loosely around her shoulders. She immediately ran to the bathroom mirror and was horrified by what she saw. It was uneven and choppy and very unsightly to look at. Her beautiful, long wavy/curly hair was gone.

With that she ran into her room and slammed the door, jumping onto her bed and cried into her pillow. She didn't know how long she had stayed like that but apparently it was long enough for Hitsuji to get her grotesque haircut as well because she came into the room after a while to go to sleep.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think you would hate it that much." Tomo said, sounding completely sincere. "I thought your long hair would get in the way with your training. Short hair is just more practical."

Anika looked up from her pillow and sniffled.

"It's fine. Maybe we can get somebody to fix it?"

Tomo nodded and proceeded to say good night to both of his daughters.

The next day Anika went out with a hooded sweatshirt, even though it was summer and it was hot out. She didn't want anyone to see her hair until she got someone to fix it. Hitsuji didn't seem to care though; she walked next to Anika like nothing was wrong.

She decided she would go see what Hinata was up to today. So she walked towards the Hyuga compound and when she got about half way there she noticed the shy little Hyuga girl walking towards them.

"Hinata!" Hitsuji called, making the other girl jump and look over. When she saw who it was though she smiled and walked over to them.

"H-Hi guys. H-How are y-you?" Hinata said with a short wave.

"We're good Hinata." Anika answered.

"I-I like your hair cut Hitsuji-chan." Hinata said, looking down at the ground. That was clearly a lie but Hitsuji didn't see it because she said,

"Thank you!" with a grin.
"Why are y-you w-wearing that h-hood Anika-chan?" Hinata asked, pointing the strange clothing for the season.

At that question, Anika got uncomfortable and started pulling on the sleeve of the sweatshirt.
"Umm…" Anika was about to answer when Hitsuji decided it would be faster to just pull down the older girl's hood and just show Hinata.

"That!" Hitsuji said with a smile.

Hinata almost gasped when she saw that hack job of a haircut that was Anika's hair. Given, Hitsuji's was shorter than Anika's but it was the look on Anika's face that made Hinata sad to just look at the other girl.

"Oh, Anika-chan."

"I know, it's horrible." Anika said, putting words in Hinata's mouth.

"I n-never said that!" Hinata rushed, making sure Anika wasn't angry at her. She took the brunette's hand and led her and her sister towards her house.

"C-Come on. I'm s-sure my m-mom could fix it. She does my hair."

At that Anika started to panic. She didn't like new places or people; she got almost as nervous and shy as Hinata. "N-No, Hinata, that's okay. You don't have to do that. B-Besides, I thought I wasn't allowed at you house."

"F-Father is away on c-clan business so I'm s-sure it'll be fine." Hinata answered as they arrived at the Hyuga compound. It was huge. Huge and beautiful and intimidating. Anika did not want to be there but as the darker haired girl continued to lead them into the compound, Anika was lost for words.

It was a quiet, serene place that made Anika feel out of place, like she shouldn't touch anything or somebody would notice. The only people she could see where in group training. All in all, it was very different from the bustling and lively Uchiha compound. Or, how it used to be at least. The thought of that made her sad and she obediently followed Hinata the rest of the way to a giant building she assumed was the girl's house.

"Mother, I'm home!" Hinata called as she entered the house, her voice echoing in a way that made the house seem empty and sad to Anika and Hitsuji but the other little girl didn't seem to notice.

"Lady Hinata! I was looking all over for you!" a man came into view from next room looking frantic before catching sight of the heiress and seeming to calm down.

"I'm sorry. W-When we went for a walk we m-must have gotten s-separated." Hinata stuttered, looking at the floor. The man smiled at her and laughed.

"It's alright Lady Hinata. You know that if we get separated to come straight home so that's why I was waiting for you here. And who are they? You're friends?" He asked, finally acknowledging the Shiro's. Anika almost wished he hadn't though because she automatically got extremely awkward, pulling at the sleeve of her sweatshirt and biting her lip, looking at the ground and blushing.

"Yes. This is my friend Shiro Anika. She's in my class at the academy and this is her younger sister Hitsuji."

"H-h-hello." Anika stuttered out, venturing a look up at the man. All he did was look back at her amusedly.

"Hi!" Hitsuji greeted loudly with an enthusiastic wave and a huge grin that rivaled Naruto's any day. At that the man laughed and waved back.

"It's nice to meet you both."

"Where's Mother?" Hinata asked.

"In the living room." He replied.

"Thank you." And with that Hinata grabbed Anika's hand again and lead her and Hitsuji down a hallway and into a big room. In it was a beautiful woman with long blue-black hair and white eyes. She was sewing something and humming to herself. She looked so peaceful and gentle, like a porcelain doll.

"Hello Mother." Hinata announced her presence, this time without her stutter they noticed. The woman turned and looked at the quizzically before smiling and gesturing for them to enter the room.

"Hello Hinata dear." She said, her voice just as soft as Hinata's herself but it was more smooth, like velvet. "Who is this?"

"This i-is umm…Shiro Anika and Shiro Hitsuji?" Hinata said now, hoping she wasn't going to get in trouble for having her friends over but her mother kept on smiling and looked the girls over.

"Since I've heard Anika is in Hinata's class and you seem too young to be Hinata's age, I'm guessing you're Hitsuji?" Her mother asked, directing her questing at Hitsuji, who nodded and looked very impressed. Hinata's mother just laughed a bell like laugh and said,

"That's a very interesting haircut you have their Hitsuji."

"Yeah, my dad did it. I don't think he knew what he was doing." The girl admitted honestly with a sheepish smile which made the woman laugh again.

Anika, who had stayed silent this whole time said,

"Y-Yeah, he did m-my hair t-too," before taking off her hood to expose her hair.

"Do you think you can fix it Mother?" Hinata asked. The woman pretended to look as if she was thinking it over before she said,

"Yes, I think I can fix this. Let me go get the scissors."

When Hitsuji's hair was finished it was a pixy cut, which surprisingly didn't look bad on the little girl. Anika's hair came a little past her chin with her bangs parted in the middle. She wasn't happy her hair was short at all but if it had to be short at least it didn't look bad anymore.

She smiled at Hinata's mother and said a polite thank you before bowing, pulling Hitsuji along with her. She didn't want to seem rude or ungrateful. Mrs. Hyuga just laughed her bell like laugh and said,

"It was no problem; you're both very nice children. Feel free to come back." But with a scared look from her daughter added, "…when my husband isn't around. He doesn't take very well to the children's friends coming over."

So with another thank you and a promise to come see her again, the three children left to go to the back of the house which was every bit was nice as the house was. It was a big training area in which Hinata's cousin Neji was training at the moment. When he noticed them there though he came over and said,

"What are you doing here?"

Well Anika thought that was rather rude but she kept her mouth shut and decided to answer the question but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. She was nervous. She had known Neji was a year or so older than them and he had a reputation of being kind of cold but she didn't expect to run into him and she was thrown off guard.

Thankfully Hitsuji came to her rescue and answered firmly,

"We're here to hang out with Hinata-chan."

Neji just turned his glare, which had stayed on Anika until now, to Hitsuji; scrutinizing her.

"T-These are m-my f-friends Shiro A-Anika and Hits-suji." Hinata answered, looking at the ground near Neji's feet. "I-I thought maybe w-we could train for a l-little bit…"

At that Neji's harsh gaze snapped to Hinata's and she jumped as if afraid he was going to hit her or something.

"Oh, I know who they are. They're the Shiro trash that aren't allowed to be here. The family they were disowned from had an ocular prowess and it died out a couple a generations ago. Overall, they're just washed up losers; nothing worthwhile." Neji sneered, looking back at the other girls like they weren't worth his time. "Does your mother know they are here?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Tch. Whatever then. Have fun 'training'. God knows you need it, pathetic losers." And this that Hinata's older cousin walked back into the house.

As Anika watched him go she felt like she was going to cry though, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She wasn't trash and neither was her sister. She wasn't a loser. What was he talking about though, what ocular prowess? Like the byakugan or sharingan? She would have to ask someone about that or go to the library later. But either way there was no changing the fact that her mother was disowned from her clan and maybe people of prestigious clans would always look at them like that. The way Fugaku used to. Thinking of the Uchiha's again, she decided to think about something else and turned to Hinata, who was apologizing profusely for her cousin's behavior.

"It's okay. I'm used to it. So, training?" She hadn't meant for it to sound so bad but it kind of did when she put it that way. If Hinata noticed, she pretended not to because she answered,

"Right, training. I thought we could help each other train in taijutsu."

Anika agreed and Hitsuji took a seat on the porch and watched as minutes turned to hours of endless taijutsu taining. Taijutsu was by far Anika's worst type of jutsu so it helped to train with Hinata. All in all, Hinata was a great friend and Anika and Hitsuji were grateful to have her.