It happened while they were playing at the park.
The cloud of children was so thick Mikoto had given up and told them the spot to come back to when they were done playing. She pushed Sasuke on the swing, and he sat in her lap as they went down the slide. They went up and down on the seesaw, seeing who could kick the highest.
Then she spotted another kid in the park hiding under the play-set. He was wearing a hat to cover his hair and a scarf with goggles. It wasn't so out of place, given it was fall. She was violently reminded of Shino, expect this wasn't him. The kid looked like he wanted to jump in, like he wanted to play, but for some reason he was too afraid.
That didn't stand with Miko. She grabbed Sasuke's hand.
"Miko, what?" Sasuke asked.
"Look, he's sad!" She pouted.
"Let's go!" Said a determined Sasuke.
The boy was so focused on the giant groups of kids, he didn't notice them approach.
"Hello!" Miko chirped. Sasuke waved. The boy jumped, then looked at the two like he couldn't quite believe them. She saw the shirt he was wearing, and felt gratified to know he was wearing clothes provided to orphans by the Uchiha.
He shuffled in his crouch, kicking wood chips around.
She offered him her free hand.
"Do you wanna play with us?" Sasuke gave a warm smile and nodded, offering his own hand. He gulped, trembling, before reaching out and grabbing their hands. They pulled him up and then suddenly they were all standing in a circle with hands clasped.
"What do you wanna do first?" She asked.
He twitched, before jerking his head towards the slide.
"We could do a train!" Sasuke said excitedly. The new boy didn't know what a train was, so she explained it to him. Two or more kids sat at the top of the slide, and wrapped their legs around the person in front of them and placed their hands on their shoulders. They stayed connected until they got to the ground.
The boy loved it. He had sat in the middle because he was scared, but once they reached the ground he started laughing hysterically. So they went down again. And again. He didn't talk much, but from what she did get out of his was that he was her age, liked pranks, and was already at the academy!
"You must be very smart!"
He giggled shyly.
They ran around until the park was mostly empty. Mikoto was sitting on a bench and eating an apple, one eye on them, another on her book. She had just shown him the monkey bars and everything was going good.
Until it wasn't.
His finger slipped and he knocked his face before landing harshly. Sasuke ran to Mikoto and she went to see if he was okay. The boy was curled up into a ball and clutching his face, scarf tussled and goggles skewered. It was only for a second, but she caught sight of whiskered cheeks and bright blue watery eyes. She froze before forcing herself into action.
"Are you okay?" She held out her hand.
He flinched.
Mikoto came running with Sasuke not far behind. He wasn't hurt, just startled from the fall. Miko and Sasuke held out their hands and helped him up. It was time to go now and he obviously felt the same. She watched his back as he walked away.
"Goodbye, Naruto." She whispered.