It had been about four days now since Itachi returned to the village with the small girl Mara. And she had adjusted well to living with him and his family. When he would get up in the mornings she would still be asleep, at least that's what he thought the first morning. But after he was settled on the back porch to meditate she soon showed up. She sat next to him and stayed quiet, though Itachi knew she was there. When he was done she spoke.

"What are you doing?"

"I was meditating."

"That looks boring."

"It can be, sometimes."

"Can I try with you."

"Yes."

Since then they both got up in the morning just as the sun was rising to meditate. As for her sleeping arrangements Itachi had set up Sasuke's room for her. Sasuke was always gone so he never used it. But she did not stay in the room for long and ended up sleeping in his room with him instead.

"Mara."

"Hmm,"

"How about we go for a walk in the village? I need to drop some things off at the weapons shop."

"Okay."

Itachi put away the scroll he was reading from.

"Give me just a moment to get the things I need."

Mara nodded her head at him as he walked out of the room. It did not take him long to gather the weapons he needed to be worked on. He figured if he was going to return to active duty as ANBU it would be best to get these things ready.

"Let's go Mara."

He said once he returned to the room. She got up and followed him to the front so they could leave. Itachi sat to put his shoes on and Mara did the same. He watched her for a moment before he tried to help.

"I,I can do it."

She pushed his helping hand away.

"Okay."

He'd begun to have a hard time not babying her, he wanted to help do everything for her. And sometimes she let him, but with small things like now she'd push away his hand.

"See."

With a smile she looked up at him while showing that she put on her own shoes.

"They are on the wrong feet."

"Oh,"

Itachi smiled kindly at her and helped fix her shoes. Thinking maybe he'd help her by putting which foot went in which shoe.

"It's okay, shoes can sometimes be tricky."

He stood and grabbed the small bag of weapons he needed then offered her his hand to hold. The Village was in a state of peace but with his reputation and past he knew is enemies were never far behind. He would keep her close to him, safe from danger.

Their walk through the village was calm and quiet. They stopped at a few little shops as they made way to the weapons shop. When they finally arrived Itachi spoke to her.

"Stay close to me in here, okay. There are some pretty dangerous weapons and I don't want you to hurt yourself."

She nodded in understanding to him before they entered the shop. She looked around and saw a bunch of different weapons. She continued to hold Itachi's hand as they walked through the shop.

"Ah, Itachi what do I owe the pleasure of you walking into my shop today."

"Hello TenTen. Is your father in?"

"Not right now. He'll be back later."

"I need a few of my weapons to be worked on. I will be returning to active duty soon and I will need these."

Itachi put the bag on the counter. Tenten pulled it closer to her so she could assess the weapons inside.

"Hmm, well dad's pretty booked up with orders already but for you I think we can have it ready in two days time at open."

"That would work perfectly as I wont be leaving the village for a while still."

"Great."

Mara pulled a Itachi's arm to get his attention. This action caught TenTen's eye and she looked over the counter to see a small girl with bright blue eyes and black hair.

"Oh, who's this?"

"This is Mara. My daughter."

TenTen looked back at Itachi with a face of shock.

"Huh, your daughter. You have a kid?"

Itachi gave a light laugh before answering.

"Yes, she is mine. Mara Uchiha. Say hi Mara."

The little girl looked at Itachi then to TenTen.

"Hi Mara."

TenTen face palmed herself.

"Yeah that's your kid. It's nice to meet you Mara I'm TenTen. When did this happen?"

"Well she's five, so about five years ago."

"And you were just hiding her this whole time?"

"I had to wait till it was safe enough to involve her in my life."

"What about her mom, is she around?"

"Unfortunately no. It is just Mara and I."

"Hmm, sorry to hear that."

"It's okay, we don't mind it being just us."

Mara looked to Itachi and smiled at him. Yes, just the two of them. That's all they needed. And he planned to officially name her his heir before he went on a mission that required he be away from the Village for an extended amount of time. He wanted to be sure she was well taken cared of if something were to happen to him while on a mission. Though now that he had Mara he did not so much feel the need to take on the more dangerous missions like before.

"She has such piercing blue eyes, it's a shame when she gets her Sharingan they'll turn red and black."

"I am hoping that doesn't happen."

"I'm hungry."

Itachi soon realized that it was about lunch time for her. He said his goodbyes to TenTen, who promised his thing would be ready in two days. While they walked Mara had a happy skip to her walk. She seemed to like food very much, any chance she got to eat she took it as if that was her last meal. Itachi assumed it had something to do with how she and her mother had lived previously. And so he did nothing to hinder her want to enjoy food. The reach the restaurant of choice for food and were sat fairly quickly as it was not too busy. Mara was even given a place mat she could color on with the provided colors.

"Daddy,"

Itachi looked to Mara still a bit surprised every time she said it. After their first full day together she asked what she should call him. Itachi thought she should just call him by name or whatever she felt most comfortable with. After some thought and a little sneaking around she ended up listening in on a conversation Itachi was have with Fugaku a man she now called grandfather.

"She will be perceived as your daughter. I do think that is best. We can say she was kept in hiding till the time was safe enough to bring her into the village."

"I do agree, for the most part she does look like an Uchiha aside from having blue eyes."

"Then it is settled, first thing next week I will have official documents drawn up and Mara Uchiha will be the name we put on them."

Shortly after that Itachi found her outside the door and took her back to the room to sleep for the night. It did take her more time to get used to Fugaku but she soon found he was just a big softy despite his hard look.

"Do you think they will give me different colors. I like these but I need more."

"We can ask once the waitress gets here."

"Okay."

A moment later a woman walked up and she seemed oddly familiar to him. Like he'd seen her somewhere or maybe they'd gone to the Academy together.

"Hello I am Yoite,"

"Sarutobi,"

"Yes that would be my surname."

Now he remembered, she was the Third Hokage's oldest granddaughter. Her brother was that odd kid Konohamaru the one who followed Naruto and Sasuke(when he was in the Village) around like a puppy.

"Uchiha-San, your staring."

"I, I, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I uh, I um."

"Don't get out much?"

"N-no unfortunately I do not."

What was going on, this woman was making him stutter and feel nervous. He never acted like this before, certainly not with a woman. He'd been with women enough times that his partner Kisame called him a man whore pretty often. He was a man after all, what did that big ass fish think anyways. It wasn't his fault Kisame couldn't get any.

"I do apologize. It is not often I see someone I went to the Academy with, even though it was briefly."

"It's fine. I actually get that a lot from old classmates. Are you two ready to order?"

"Ah, yes. She will have,"

"I wanna do it."

"Okay."

Mara looked at Yoite then back at her menu and to Yoite once more.

"Um, I'll have Ramune soda in watermelon. And miso soup."

"Okay, and what an I get you Uchiha-San."

"I'll have the same miso soup with a black tea."

"Alright I'll go put in your order."

Before Yoite could leave Mara called out to her.

"Um, excuse me."

"Yes dear?"

"Can I,"

She was nervous, Itachi could tell so he whispered to her.

"Do you want me to ask?"

She nodded her head.

"She wants to know if she can have more color options to color with."

"Of course. I will get you the best colors, be right back."

Yoite left their table and Mara breathed out heavily.

"That made me nervous."

"It's okay. Anything you need help with I am right here to help you."

"I know."

Mara leaned a bit over the table to get closer to Itachi.

"Did she make you nervous too daddy? You were stuttering."

"I was surprised. It has been a very long time since I last saw her, we had maybe been a few years older than you. And I really don't get to see my old classmates."

"Oh,"

Yoite returned with the colors for Mara as well as their drinks.

"These are pretty. Thank you."

"You're welcome dear. I should have your food out shortly."

"Thank you,"

"Not a problem."

Yoite left once more with a smile for them both.

"She seems really nice."

"Most people are. Especially if they work in the customer service industry."

"What does that mean?"

"It means she sees a lot of people all day, everyday. And she is always nice to them."

"Daddy, what was that TenTen was talking about. The Sharin-sharin."

"The Sharingan, that is a special technique that I use in battle with my eyes. We can talk about it more later at home. I can show you some books that are easy for children to understand."

"Okay, I like books."

Their food arrived and Mara gladly dug in, she sure was hungry. Itachi had made up his mind. She would be given child friendly books about the Uchiha. Just because she was not actually an Uchiha did not mean she could not learn about them. She also had proven to be fairly smart, Mara understood just about everything he talked of. She even listened with great intent when Fugaku or Mikoto would speak of things around the village. Mara was indeed smart enough to start the Academy now but he wouldn't do that to her. He would wait till she was eight like a normal child and not force her to advance as quickly as he had.