Hana hurried out into the forest outside her home, clutching a bundle close to her chest. She glanced side to side, short brown hair whipping her face at her quick movements. She sighed in relief upon seeing no one around, the red triangle tattoos on her cheeks relaxing from their pinched position.

Everyone had gone to the doctor's for the kids' checkups. Hana had been allowed to stay home, her next appointment being a few weeks away. Her mother had told her that if she so much as thought about leaving the compound, she would be grounded for a month.

Technically, she wasn't leaving the compound.

Her best friend was living in their forest, after outright refusing to be adopted by Kakashi like the other kids. The Hokage had almost made it a mission, Itachi had told her. But when he left he came straight to her, and since then no one had been able to find him.

He was one of the best Genin there were.

Today was one of the only days she could see him, bring him food, and convince him to come into the house and wash up. Every other day someone was home watching her.

Hana found her way to the clearing they had been meeting in, already expecting the young Uchiha standing in front of her.

"Itachi," she said. "I brought you some more food. There should be enough to last you until next week."

"Thank you, Hana." The raven said, accepting the basket Hana offered to him. He turned and placed it on a high branch, ensuring that no animals would get to it while he was gone.

"Itachi," Hana started, but Itachi cut across her.

"I know, Hana. You want me to come in and get it washed up, have a proper meal." Itachi was shaking his head, but even as he finished the sentence, he was moving towards the house.

The Inuzuka smiled and followed her friend.

The house was quiet, sounding strange as their footsteps echoed on the wood floor. Hana was used to the sound of children and her mother and Kakashi; this silence was freaking her out.

She led Itachi to the kids' bathroom, the one only she used. "Here," she said, shoving a towel and a change of clothes into Itachi's arms. "And you better wash real good!" she called through the closed door as Itachi locked it.

She walked back down the stairs, into the kitchen and to the fridge. She knew what Itachi liked, having been close friends with him because of their parents. The only problem was, she didn't know how to make anything. She settled for pulling out the leftover ramen from last night's dinner.

Hana heated up the soup that Kakashi liked so much, pouring it into a bowl and leaving it on the table for her friend to find.

Itachi would find it and eat it, knowing that he had to hurry if he wanted to stay hidden.

/\/\

Kakashi carried Naruto and Sasuke carefully, not trusting his slowly emerging parenting instincts in case he accidently dropped one of them. Tsume would kill him if he did.

"Tsume," he called. "Are you sure we should have left Hana alone?"

"Kakashi," Tsume started, but abruptly froze. She sniffed the air, tilting her head back. Her already slit eyes narrowed even further, and she hurried forward with Sakura and Kiba. "Something's not right," she growled.

Kakashi picked up his pace, trying to keep up with the older woman's strides. She slammed the door to the house open, startling Hana, who was sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Mom!" she shouted in shock. The young Inuzuka scrambled backwards, towards the kitchen.

"Where are you going, young lady?" Tsume snarled. Kuromaru appeared and barked something to Tsume. The Tokubetsu Jonin's eyes narrowed, and her gaze turned to the ceiling as she sniffed the air.

"Who else is in this house?" Tsume hissed at her daughter, who shrank back in fear.

"Y-You, me and everyone else," Hana answered, still shuffling backwards.

"And who is everyone else?" Tsume asked, a sadistic smile crossing her features. "Because the last time I checked, we didn't give you permission to have a friend over. Did we, Kakashi?"

Kakashi started at the sound of his name. "Uhhh…no."

"Exactly. Hana, who else is in this house?" Tsume repeated.

"I-" Hana started, backing up into the wall. She whimpered, slit irises sliding back and forth as she searched for a way out. A young boy, not much older than Hana, stepped up next to the young Inuzuka. He looked familiar, but Kakashi couldn't recall where he had seen him before.

"Itachi?" Tsume asked, momentarily forgetting her anger. "What are you doing here?"

Itachi gave a small smile that didn't look real, and tilted his head to the side. "I'm here because your daughter has been kind enough to provide me with food while I hide."

"SHE DID WHAT?" Tsume exploded, startling Naruto and Kiba into tears. She did nothing about them, just dropped them on the floor for Kuromaru to watch.

"Hana, can I talk to you in private?" Tsume asked through gritted teeth, reigning in her anger long enough for her to drag her daughter out of the room.

Kakashi stared at Itachi, finally remembering where he had seen him before. When he had first come over to the Uchiha complex, having been sent to get Fugaku for a mission, he had seen Itachi. He had been three at the time, and he was still smiling like a child stood. The child in front if Kakashi now didn't remind the nineteen-year-old of the young Uchiha he remembered at all.

Kakashi decided to ignore the Uchiha as he set the two kids he was holding down next to Kuromaru, going into the kitchen to drop off the bag of groceries that had been slung over his shoulder. Now that he thought about it, he could remember that over the past few weeks, they had been going to the grocery story more often. He hadn't thought much about it, seeing as they had four babies, a six-year-old girl and two adults to feed.

He apparently hadn't noticed that they weren't buying baby food, though; they were buying things that babies didn't eat, and that Tsume, Hana, and him didn't eat enough of for them to be going to the store every week to buy it.

Seeing as he was an ANBU level shinobi, he should have noticed.

Oh, well, he thought. I guess I should make sure Tsume doesn't kill Hana.

A/N: Itachi! Hinata-chan, if you're reading this, don't worry about Itachi. I have good plans for him. Anyways, I feel that this chapter could have been better. But I'm tired of having unfinished chapters lying around, and I decided to just finish this and post it. If you see any mistakes, I'm sorry. I have so many stories right now, I keep mixing them up. If you read Family Love, the latest chapter is proof of that.