Next chapter – finally:)

I really like this fic. It's fun to write because I love world building and there's nothing like an OC-insert to point out things that would be totally obvious and ordinary to a normal Konoha citizen.

No team 7 in this one though – sorry!

They must make for a strange sight, she thinks. Three prodigies sitting under a tree, not talking to each other. The teachers are certainly looking at them as if they are already anticipating some sort of catastrophe.

Hisana is reasonably proud that their catastrophes are usually confined to training ground four, where they have been attempting to integrate Shiki into the fragile balance of their technique. It's been a bust so far, mainly because the Nara has no taijutsu skills to speak of.

"I trap people," she explained patiently for the hundredth time. "It's what Naras do. They come too close, I trap them, one Akimichi or another bowls them over."

"This could severely hinder your career," Shizuha pointed out.

"Have you ever heard of a Nara doing any high profile missions? We rarely go farther than chuunin. The only Nara jounin I know of is the head of our clan and knowing him, it was more of an accident. I'm probably going to be an Academy teacher or some such."

That was three days ago.

"You could try a weapon," Hisana ventures.

"That would mean looking for a mentor," the Nara complains.

"It is highly probable that you jounin instructor will be able to provide you with assistance," Shizuha interjects. Shiki gives her a lazy thumbs-up.

"Awesome. Remind me again next year then."

She closes her eyes, but before she can nod off Hisana gives her calf a half-hearted kick.

"You wanted 'in', now you're 'in'. And that means no slacking off, Nara."

"Fine, fine. You find me an instructor and I'll do it."

Which is, of course, not how it works. No self-respecting ninja will take on a student who couldn't even be bothered to ask for training themselves. Shiki's self satisfied smirk says she knows it too.

Nara Shiki's slacker tendencies aside, classes and her social life are working out pretty well so far. Team 7 is not in any danger of self destructing at any given moment anymore and the two friends she's – accidently – made are enough to keep her busy for now, so Hisana has gone back to comfortable disregard and ignorance of her classmates and the general populace. It's all in all a nice way to live, she decides.

There's no way to know who of them might become important, who of them might be her genin team at some point and who would be a complete waste of time, so she's waiting it out until graduation. It's probably not the best method, but neither of the girls makes any move to do better and so she feels a little vindicated.

"You're all from the Noble Clans," Sakura reminds her one day. "Everyone wants to be friends with you, so you don't need to bother. But you also have to be careful."

"She is correct," Shizuha says, flicking her glasses further up her nose. "Otou-san cautions me regularly to be mindful with whom I associate. There are many … social parasites."

"Which is why I don't bother at all," Shiki adds. "Our clan basically comes with friends pre-made. Dad just grabbed his old teammates and said 'Guys, I made a girl – you know what you have to do' and that was that."

Hisana snorts.

"Really?"

"Yeah, Yamanaka Inoto-san insists that's pretty much exactly how it went down."

"We usually stay among ourselves," Shizuha muses, "which makes you an oddity."

In hindsight, this should have set her alarms off so hard.

"Sasuke, what is this?"

There's a fancy scroll lying on their kitchen table. It has strange ornamental seal on the side – in gold – and is bound together by a fancy looking crimson cord.

"A strange guy dropped it off," he says, trying for non-chalance and missing by a mile. "Glasses, high collar; I didn't ask."

Aburame.

"Hisa-nee, what is this about?"

She unwraps the cord and presses a small burst of chakra into the pretty gold seal, just like they taught her in the Academy. It glows and reveals a pictogram of an insect.

"Is this a formal summons by the Aburame clan?"

Sasuke sticks his head out from under her arm.

"Don't be so nosy," she chastises absentmindedly.

It is indeed a formal summons. Tea it says, but she is pretty sure 'tea' is not actually what it's about.

"You better wear a Kimono," Sasuke smirks. "I remember those 'teas'. Okaa-sama and Otou-sama had them for Nii-san's teammates."

Her eyes snap upwards. She can't help but intently search his face for something, but there's only the smirk and a strange sort of wistfulness. Does he really not know anything?

"Oh yeah?" she asks nonsensically. Her mouth feels dry.

"They want to know why you're interested in one of them. I heard they don't even usually work with outsiders because most people can't stand their kikai."

"Well … then you better help me buy one. I don't know a thing about formal kimonos."

Or kimonos in general, really.

Despite Sasuke's repeated protest, there's nothing much he can do to deter his cousin and so he ends up dragged along for the ride. He huffs and complains, but finally insists, that she buy a half-formal, light blue one with white flowers because 'now you look like Okaa-sama'.

For a lack of experience Hisana can neither confirm nor deny that, but in Sasuke's choice she looks less like a doll and more like a proper person.

The saleswoman who got involved about half way through doesn't look very happy about it. "Uchiha-san, the pink one suited you so well! You have such pretty pale skin, like a doll …"

Hisana's carefully maintained blank façade slips into an unwilling grimace.

"Thank you Oba-san. I prefer this one."

The woman looks as if she's about to protest, but Sasuke cuts her off.

"Hisa-nee, I will gather your things while you change."

They both resolutely turn around, Hisana vanishing into the dressing room, Sasuke marching ahead to the cash register. The saleswoman follows him helplessly.

Hisana glares at the mirror the whole time while undressing. It's true, she'd admired her face the first few times she looked into the mirror. It's nothing to be ashamed of, she thinks, a little embarrassed anyway. Sarah's face always looked a little too masculine, with a square jaw and a prominent nose. She wasn't ugly, but men didn't usually look twice at her.

Part of her now takes a certain amount of glee in knowing that they would, this time around. A bigger part of her though feels vaguely threatened and a little helpless. It's already hard to be treated like a child when you're actually not. The last thing she needs is for them to take her even less seriously because she looks cute.

Everything about her face is exaggerated; the big eyes, the lips, the eyelashes. She scowls at her face – the same expression Sasuke wears when cornered by Ino and her friends. She thinks of cutting off her hair, to make her look a little more edgy maybe. But her hair is actually what she still likes most about her new self. In addition, she doesn't know how it might behave once she chops it off. A brief flash of herself with Sasuke's weird hair nips the idea in the bud.

It's not as much of a problem with her peers. Chances are they've seen her beat the stuffing out of someone, and all little girls look kind of cute, so she's not that special. The teachers see her as a prodigy, like all Uchihas, so they don't care either. But older ninjas aren't easily impressed, so her face still overrides whatever impression her abilities might have made. She doesn't even want to think about the civilians. The thought of staying small and doll-like for the rest of her life is strangely upsetting. In her mind team 7 outgrow her like weeds while the faces of her friends watch from far above.

"Hisa-nee, are you done? I made Oba-san open a tab for us."

The sneaky brat.

"You have a kimono."

Shizuha doesn't even bother to make it sound like a question.

"I do."

The Aburame nods.

"We will expect you at seven this evening."

Shiki watches them with mild interest.

"Nara-san, please expect an invite soon as well."

"Ahhh … how troublesome."

Hisana smirks.

"Do I need to expect one from your clan too?"

Shiki snorts and waves her hand dismissively.

"Only if you're really unlucky. If Kaa-chan finds out about you, you might get lunch out of it though. But you're probably going to meet my brother, because he's a busybody."

"Isn't being nosy too troublesome?" Shizuha's face is carefully blank, but her nose twitches suspiciously.

"Yeah. That's why they joke Kaa-chan had an affair with Inoto-san – Tou-chan's best friend. I like to rub it under Shikano-nii's nose whenever possible."

"You're a sadist."

The Aburame clan compound looks nothing like the ghost town that the Uchiha left behind. It's significantly smaller, of course, but the biggest difference is the whole make up of the place. After stumbling though town in her kimono for half an hour, one tiny, wobbly step after another, she almost walks past it. There's a nice ornamental archway, adorned by the same stylized bug as the summons scroll, but there's nothing flashy about it and it's not walled off like the Uchiha compound. Instead it parts a waist high, rickety but pretty stone wall, half hidden by trees. There's no guard posted, but there are people milling about. It's strangely tranquil.

Inside the houses are scattered higgledy-piggledy, sharing back yards and or facing each other across small ponds. The whole place is illuminated by fireflies, and the crickets are so loud they nearly drown out the sound of children chasing after them. Here and there adults are drinking sake on front porches to make sure that no little wannabe ninja drowns in the ponds. Most of them are still wearing sunglasses, even in the rapidly fading sunlight, but she can feel them watching her too.

"Excuse me-" she tries to address one of them, helplessly lost.

"Uchiha-san," the woman says in a pleasant voice. "I will show you the way."

The thought that they all know why she's here is a little eerie, but the Aburame is relaxed and nothing about her behavior seems suspicious. She leads her off the paved road and down a worn path through the grass.

They pass beehives on the way and young men planting colorful flowers now that the sun is down. It's still warm but none of them have taken off the high collared shirts or their glasses. There are more children and more fireflies until they reach a house at the edge of the compound. Shizuha is waiting on the front porch.

"Uchiha-chan," she greets, uncharacteristically reaching for Hisana's wrist and squeezing it. "I apologize for not coming for you myself. It did not occur to me."

She's wearing a nice black kimono with lime green dots and a decorative string of tiny green glass pearls dangles from the leg of her glasses.

"Thank you Shimi-ba-san."

The older woman nods and leaves without a further word.

"Come, I will introduce you to my parents."

The Aburame bear the same strange likeness that all the greater clans seem to share among each other. Aburame Shimi could have been Shizuha's mother just as much as her actual mother. It's probably the glasses, she thinks, trying to match Shizuha's mouth and chin to her father's and failing. They'd look more like proper people if she could see their eyes. They are very pleasant though.

"Uchiha-san, Shizuha tells me your grades are exceptional. Have you given any thought to an early graduation?"

Aburame Shigure's greatest likeness to his daughter is the way they tilt their head inquisitively.

"No, I haven't," she admits freely. "I have Sasuke to think about. As a genin I would have less time for him."

"That's admirable," he says. "Family is very important to us as well."

There's something in his tone. Hisana is sure she isn't being paranoid. But it doesn't sound like a threat and more like a gentle reminder of why she's here.

"I'm actually very selfish," she says in the same careful tone. "I'm not good with letting go of people."

It's a strange evening with Shigure not quite interrogating her and Shizuha's mother, Shiria, carefully and silently watching them, only periodically refilling their teacups. It must be going well though, because Shizuha's face occasionally slips into something pleased before she remembers to control of her features. When the tea is gone and the sweets are eaten it's approaching ten. Shiria puts her hand on her husband's shoulders, and his mouth, opened to pose another question, abruptly shuts.

"It is late," she says, a pleasant slightly foreign lilt to her voice. They are the first words Hisana hears from her all evening. "I am very glad that you accepted our invitation. Please forgive our initial suspicions."

Hisana can't quite suppress a grin.

"So you aren't suspicious anymore?"

"Oh yes," she says, "very suspicious. Please continue to accept our invitations."

"A continued relation with our daughter will be satisfactory," her husband agrees.

It's easily the strangest evening she's ever had.

Shiria fills a small bag with colorful candy.

"For your cousin", she says. "Upon further association we would welcome an introduction."

Shizuha leads her through the confusing, winding paths of the compound. The way back is a different one than Shimi-san showed her; she doesn't get another glimpse at the beehives.

"It was a nice evening," Shizuha says, as they stop in front of the archway. "I am very pleased you came. Okaa-san and Otou-san are also pleased."

"You said outsiders are unusual around here, but I didn't really understand until Shimi-san knew right away who I was."

She nods.

"Yes, we are not very popular. Those who do not mind the kikai and are not bothered by our straight forwardness do not find us … fun."

She says this so matter-of-factly that it makes Hisana a little sad. She reaches for the girl's wrist, like Shizuha did earlier this evening, and squeezes it.

"I will bring Sasuke the next time."

On the way back home a kikai sits on her shoulder and only takes off when Sasuke opens the door for her.

"You're late Hisa-nee."

So she is.