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10.

Surveying the surroundings with the air of an almost desperate man, Kyoya hid a sigh of relief when he realized that, finally, he lost the persistent animal who, for the life of him, couldn't get the hint.

Kyoya tried to put off the oddly persistent girl - Inuzuka Hana with his behavior as much as he could without resorting to violence, but unfortunately, the small animal was earnestly pertinacious.

The girl seems to instinctively know where he is and what he would do that it took almost an hour before he shook off her trail. Apparently, the small animal got it into her head that he - Hibari Kyoya, all-around carnivore extraordinaire - was shy and in need of caring.

How she arrived in that conclusion was beyond him, but Kyoya will surely bite that girl to death when...she's older.

Curse his weakness for adorable small animals!

(...and his carnivorous mother who, along with the equally fierce head of this clan, would surely punish him if he went out of line in this foreign territory!)

The only consolation was that the girl, at least, didn't have a boxing club like that loud-herbivore - Sasagawa Ryohei - who similarly attached himself to Kyoya like a barnacle in the past. That yellow-herbivore eventually grew on him after a lot of exposure, but he had Kusakabe to filter most of Ryohei's visits before.

Without his minion, Kyoya feared that it's only a matter of time before he snapped.

Yawning absentmindedly, Kyoya climbed in one of the trees in the backyard to nap on one of its branches. Although he hated to admit it, hiding from the small animal was a strain on his three-year-old body and he's in no mood to look for a better spot.

The last thing on his mind before he went into oblivion was how he wished for a new Kusakabe in Konoha.

He's quite sure that with the man's efficiency, Kusakabe could deflect even his mother's fussing.

-----

Toddling smoothly towards one of the trees in the Inuzukas backyard with a book safely ensconced his right hand, Uchiha Itachi sighed in relief as the sounds from the birthday party get fainter and fainter.

It was difficult to hide the book he pilfered from one of their bookshelves in his yukata but after appropriately deducing that he wouldn't probably enjoy the party, he decided it was worth it.

(Even if he suspected that his kaa-san most likely wasn't fooled and only let him keep the book because she thinks its adorable. Perks of being a toddler, he guessed. Itachi just hoped she wouldn't say something to Tou-san.

He didn't really like disappointing the man.)

Making himself comfortable in a tree that provided a quite pleasant shade, Itachi sighed and tried to lose himself in the literary work he brought. It was interesting - about a ninja named Naruto who persevered to be a hero. However, it wasn't enough to hold his attention when, after a while, his mind kept going back to brooding about life in general and how...

...How he wished he could have a friend.

Even just one would be enough! He's not greedy!

Unfortunately, because of who he was, it was not to be.

It made Itachi sad sometimes. He couldn't connect with other children his age since he didn't share the same interests and those older who did, have an issue with his age. The kids in the clan deferred to him too much due to his status as heir, and made him uncomfortable and discomfited more than anything.

He didn't fit. Itachi tried already and he really didn't.

Curling in on himself, Itachi was prepared for another round of brooding when he was abruptly startled out of his stupor by a remarkably loud high-pitched voice. "Shikari-san! Shikari-san! Where are you?"

"Shikari-saaaan~" The voice - which appeared to belong the birthday girl, Hana, after a quick observation from Itachi behind his tree - sing-song again. "Woo-hoo. No need to be shy! Come on, we have to cut the cake. It's really yummy and good."

Glancing around warily when he felt the tree he leaned on tense as if reacting to the call, Itachi let out a yelp when he realized there's a girl about his age sitting on a branch looking at him with the same amount of caution. They stared at each other for what felt like several weighted minutes, before they were interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Itachi barely had any time to stop the girl from what seems like jumping off to another tree to avoid the Inuzuka heir before he took a deep breath and stood in front of Hana-san to get her attention determinedly.

"Ano. Inuzuka-san, Shikari-san's not here." He piped up mildly, pointing to a random direction. "I think I saw her run in that direction earlier though."

Hana glanced at him suspiciously before muttering grudgingly, "Thanks."

Itachi let out a sigh of relief when the Inuzuka heir was out of sight before yelping again when the girl from the tree jumped down beside him.

The girl focused on him intently before patting his head. "Nara Shikari, small animal."

Small animal? Itachi frowned. "Uh. My name's Uchiha Itachi, Nara-san."

The girl smiled contentedly before walking away. "Small animal. You're my pet now."

Itachi faltered. What?

When he didn't react the girl, Nara-san, looked at him exasperatedly before dragging him away. "Come on. Follow me. The persistent one said there's cake."

Itachi hesitantly followed, unsure if this is what it means to have a friend.

(Fully unaware at the moment, that this - this was when the chaos started.

Itachi didn't regret a single thing though and, honestly, wouldn't exchange it for anything in the world.)