Well, there's a pouting child with a familiar face half visible through one of those windows, shoulders hunched up around his ears as he stares moodily at the night.

Yeah. That looks good. She climbs up the wall and taps on the glass.

He startles.

But after a moment he opens the window, cautiously.

"Don't shout, okay," she says, then drops the camouflage.

He nods, slowly.

"Who are you?"

Well, there goes that vague hope. Poof.

"My name's Elieyha. I'm from the future. And Suna. Can I come in?"

"...Sure," he says, sounding a bit skeptical.

She clambers through, lithe as any ninja. Her clothes support her assertion that she's from Suna, at least, loosely draped and not at all in the Fire style. She has a jar of sand strapped to her back, and looks to be about the same age as Sasuke.

"How are you from the future? Why find me?"

"It's kind of a long story." She finds a likely-looking clear spot on the floor and sits down. "But I met you- or I guess a version of you, a little less than ten years from now, during the chunin exams. Lots of stuff happened and I wound up moving to Konoha because I didn't like being in Suna. We were roommates. Then one day I woke up and I was back in Suna and also in my younger body. So I left again."

"Huh. What about my sister?" He guesses he can imagine moving out of his parents' house and getting a foreign roommate, but Hisame'd probably follow him. Just. Knowing her.

"...You didn't have a sister."

"I do right now. Why wouldn't I then?"

"I don't know. Everything else has been the same."

"Maybe I just wasn't talking about my family," he says, slowly.

...how much of this does she want to into right now? None.

"Maybe."

"Did you want to stay with me again or something then?"

"That was the gist of my plan." Insofar as she had one.

"...I'm not going to be able to hide you from my family, I don't think." And he shouldn't, anyways, even if a secret is a tempting idea. "And they'd tell the Hokage. Maybe."

"This is the Third? I don't know him as well as the next one. I can tell them about Suna. If your family would be on my side, them knowing would be better."

"I don't know if they would be." He furrows his brow. "My sister would. I could probably get my brother to help, too, but he'd be more likely to tell the Hokage."

"The Hokage will be told eventually. I just want it to be at least a bit controlled."

He nods. "I can maybe get my family to do that. They don't always like the Hokage."

She nods. "Probably in the morning."

"I can hide you until then from everyone other than my sister."

"Thank you."

He nods. "I'm gonna get my sister now."

"Okay. I will wait here."

He nods and leaves. He's gone for at least a few minutes.

This is going absolutely swimmingly. She really should have maybe made some contingency plans. Or any plans at all. But she just- couldn't stay in Suna. Hopefully Kankurou understands the note she left well enough to keep things confused until the situation here shakes out one way or another.

She has value though. A cooperative jinchuuriki. People will want her. She can use that.

He comes back, seeming a bit put-upon.

And a girl their same age - approximately five - bounces back into the room with him.

"Hello!" she says, quietly. "I'm Hisame!"

"Elieyha."

"That's a pretty name!"

"It's the only one I've ever had."

"I haven't had any other than 'Hisame,' really, unless unflattering nicknames count."

"Sometimes people call me Elieyha of the Desert. That mostly hasn't happened yet."

"My brother didn't explain much about you! What do you mean, hasn't happened yet?"

"I'm from the future. And maybe another world, as well."

"Neat! Why do you think another world?"

"The Sasuke I knew didn't have a sister. Just an older brother."

"Aw, just Itachi? How boring. He's a pacifist, I think. Horrible influence on Sasuke."

Sasuke has his eyes closed and appears to be counting to a large number in his head.

"He gets pretty good at killing people for a pacifist."

"Hm! It's boring if he's forced to - people shouldn't be what they're not - but I guess it'd be nice if he unwound a bit."

She shrugs. "I don't know him that well."

She nods, bouncing. "But you know Sasuke? What's he like when he's grown up?"

"Focused. Protective. Serious."

To her brother: "Sounds like you stay pretty boring."

To Elieyha: "Does he stay so shy?"

"He's... introverted."

"Somehow I'm not surprised! I'm a menace, myself."

"People don't usually describe themselves that way."

"Most people are pretty boring!"

"I guess so."

"You're not. You're the most interesting thing that's happened ever."

"Ever is a long time. The most interesting thing you've seen, maybe."

"Ever so far, and that's only been five years. I suppose technically the Nine Tails attacked when I was a baby, but I don't remember that so it doesn't count."

"I'd forgotten that happened."

"I guess it wouldn't have affected you all the way in Suna."

"It might have made some people a little more nervous around me. Not that it really mattered. I'm a jinchuuriki."

"What's that?"

"It means I have a Tailed Beast inside me."

"Cool! Which one?"

"The One Tail. Shukaku."

"What's he like?"

"He's an arrogant bastard."

"Yeesh." She makes a face.

"Not pleasant to have in one's head."

"He should be nice to you at least."

"He's the sort who likes to spread his shit around with a shovel."

She giggles. "I'd be nice if I was in someone's head! Even if being a nice menace would be hard."

"It's too bad you're not a Tailed Beast, then."

"Being a Tailed Beast would be fun! I could step on people! Though it'd be annoying if people kept trying to capture me."

"You can step on people now. You just won't squish them if you do."

She giggles. "I could! But squishing them'd be fun."

Elieyha smiles.

Sasuke has his head buried in his hands.

"You two are gonna encourage each other, aren't you..."

"Sometimes a girl has to make her own fun."

"I don't think Hisame's elaborate murder plans are very fun. Also they wouldn't work. You could train? Or read? That's fun."

"We'll see what happens tomorrow."

"Hisame wants to be a missing-nin when she grows up so we know a lot of ways to get out of here, if you need to run," he says.

"I also said T&I maybe!"

"T&I makes you take orders. You'd stab your boss on your third day."

"I think if you tried to be in T&I they would ask your brother about you. And then he would say you also considered being a missing-nin and then they wouldn't let you be in T&I."

"I do understand what lying is, you know."

"That doesn't mean you're any good at it."

Hisame laughs. "He's terrible at it!"

"Exactly."

"I should take him with me when I defect, then, so he doesn't get in trouble for not telling anyone my dastardly plans."

"Better that than leaving him out to dry."

"I'd never betray him like that."

"Good."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes. A brother and a sister. Both older."

"Are they nice?"

"My sister is. My brother is too clever to be nice."

She laughs. "I'd like to meet them, some day!"

"You'll probably have the chance to, eventually."

"Good!"

"Can you tell me about your parents?"

"They're boring. Mom's all folded up inside, like she used to be bigger. Dad's really strict and mostly pays attention to our brother because we're not geniuses."

"Hmm." Does Sasuke have an opinion on them?

He just shrugs. "I don't think they're boring, and I think dad's mostly busy."

Well, they are five. Probably haven't been to the academy yet.

She nods. "I guess I'll meet them tomorrow."

"Probably, yeah."

"Do you- need to sleep?"

"I can stay up."

"Okay. I don't sleep."

"Cool! I wish I didn't have to sleep. Sleeping's boring."

"I mostly spend the extra time reading."

"I would, too. Hisame'd probably spend it getting in trouble."

"You can get in a lot more trouble before anyone notices if most people are sleeping."

"Exactly!" Hisame chirps. "Best trouble-making time."

"But that also makes it good for reading. Fewer interruptions."

"I won't cause any trouble while you're trying to read, then. Promise."

"Very kind."

"I try to be! To people I like, at least."

Elieyha nods. "I don't see any point in being nice to people you don't like."

Sasuke hums. "I don't think it's important to be polite to people but you shouldn't, like, hit them. Or bite them, Hisame."

Hisame giggles.

"Who did you bite?" she asks curiously.

"Most recently or ever?"

"How about chronological order?"

"Well, I apparently bit my mom and Sasuke and Itachi a lot as a baby... That I remember - we went to the park and there was an Inuzuka there and we had a biting contest. Mom was really sorry at the boy's mom but she thought it was funny. Then I bit Itachi 'cause he wouldn't play with us, then I bit Itachi a different time 'cause he picked me up when I didn't want to be picked up. Then I bit that weird kid, Naruto, 'cause he was being annoying, then I bit Itachi again for telling me not to bite people..."

"That's an impressive list. Naruto's another person I know from the future."

"Neat! Does he get less annoying?"

"He's friends with Sasuke."

"Aw, that's cute! I should shove them together next time we see him."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate it." At least one of the hes, anyway.

"Naruto might."

Heh.

"You guys do realize I'm standing right here, right."

"Yes?"

She reaches up to pat his head. "We'll wait for you to leave the room before plotting against you next time."

He swats at her.

"Does it really count as against if it's to his ultimate benefit, though?"

"Is Naruto actually a good friend, though?"

"Yes. He's loyal, and funny, and cares about people." And he's a jinchuuriki like me, she doesn't say. That's his secret to tell.

"Huh. I guess it might work."

"And you need more friends anyways."

"That too."

"Is there anyone else Sasuke becomes friends with?"

"There was an ANBU girl on his team but I don't know if we'll be able to find her."

"Can't be too many ANBU that age. We should try to track her down."

"I don't think they would like that. In a 'kill you to get you to stop' sort of way."

"Awwwwwww... That'd make friendship hard..."

"Just a bit."

"Maybe once I'm a super awesome shinobi, then! Or I can bug Itachi. He's not in ANBU but people sometimes think he should be."

"Itachi might be able to find out," she allows.

"He's annoyingly fond of rules, though."

"That could be a problem."

"We'll just have to be extra persuasive!"

"I think I'll leave that to you two."

She nods. "What can you tell us about her?"

"She's quiet. Likes big swords. Has a hard time making expressions."

"Huh. Can see why she'd be Sasuke's friend."

"They're similar in some ways."

"Yeah. Probably good for him not getting annoyed at people."

She nods.

"There were some others in his class, mostly clan kids. I don't know them that well."

"I don't think he's likely to have become super social, so probably didn't have too many friends, anyways. Three's a lot for him!"

"Yeah."

"And we shouldn't find him too many. Wouldn't want to overload him. Still, he needs some."

"He already has a headstart with you."

"I suppose! I'm never sure how much family's supposed to count, though."

"More than none, I think."

"I guess if you can have really bad family then you can have extra good family."

"That's only fair."

She nods, bouncing a bit. "What do you like to do other than read? Any games?"

"No one ever wanted to play with me."

"That's sad. We should teach you some!"

"Okay."

She runs to get a board game they can play.

"-Is she going to wake anyone up?"

"I don't think so."

"Good."

And then Hisame returns with a stack of board games! In one, you draw and play cards, which represent commands you can give little toy soldiers on a battlefield strewn with assorted stylized hazards (everyone decides orders at the start of the round, without seeing each other's orders or hands, so there's a lot of chaos; Hisame likes this one best). In another, you try to solve a murder mystery, with the culprit randomly determined, by guessing what clues everyone else has. In a third, you claim territories and then have your armies fight over them, and you can gain new armies at the start of every turn depending on how much territory you hold.

Elieyha is better at the second than the other two.

Then they can play until Hisame starts yawning and drifting off to sleep.

Should they move her to a bed?

"Probably, yeah. I should sleep, too..."

"Okay. Can I stay here or do you want me to go somewhere else?"

"You can stay here. Do you want a bed?"

"That would be nice."

He nods. "You can take that one near the window. I'll sleep with Hisame."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Books are over there but they're mostly for us, and I dunno how much of a kid you are, and I can't get adult books without someone waking up and wondering what I'm doing. Still, there's a couple like really dry shinobi guides dad put in our books hoping we'd be smarter."

"I will take a look."

"Alright. Night."

"Good night."

She takes a selection of books, including one of the "really dry" ones to the bed to read.

And he and Hisame go to sleep.

(The dry book is, in fact, remarkably dry, and the other 'children's' books are disproportionately about history and science - it's possible their father's not selecting for intelligence but diligence or obedience with the boring stuff, since at least one of these children is reading way out of their age range.)

That might make sense. And is not exactly a hopeful observation for her chances here. But, she'll leave tomorrow's problems until tomorrow gets here.

Which it eventually will.

Hisame's the first awake, though she wakes up her brother in getting up.

"Morning, Elieyha!" she chirps.

She closes the book carefully.

"Good morning."

"Do you wanna talk to our family today or keep hanging out here?"

"I should probably talk with your family."

"Okay! Got a way you want us to introduce you, a story you want us to tell - ?"

"Maybe leave out the future part. If you can."

"We'll try! Why us then? I can help make something up, I'm good at stories!"

"Maybe because the Uchiha are the largest single faction in Konoha and you're close to my age?"

"How'd you know about me and Sasuke, though?"

Shrug. "Suna has spies?"

"Maybe we found you and I dragged you home! Suna spying on us sounds like it's vaguely alarming."

"That might be better, then."

"Yeah. And then it's our idea to keep you."

She nods. "That should be safer."

"Yup!" She bounces. "I really wanna keep you, you're great."

Small smile. "Thanks."

"Are you ready now? We can get breakfast!"

She takes a breath. "Okay. Let's go."

And the three of them can be off to downstairs!

"Mooooooom, Itaaaaaachi, we found a friend!" Hisame calls excitedly, running ahead of them.

"Yes, honey?" a woman's voice calls, sounding like she's facing away. "What'd you find?"

Elieyha makes a little bit of noise as she walks downstairs.

"...Who is that."

"We found her outside! Can we keep her, please please please!"

"Honey, she might have family. Do you, dear?" Mikoto asks Elieyha, sounding pleasant.

"I am Elieyha of Suna. I ran away from my family."

"They're meanies! And she's smaller than a wolf, which was the only thing you said for not bringing stuff home - "

She pats her daughter's head. "I suppose I did. We're going to have to talk this over with your father, though, okay? A human child's a much bigger commitment than a wolf, honey." Especially a foreign one who somehow made it to Konoha from Suna, and apparently coincidentally latched onto her children in particular.

Elieyha makes a formal bow. "Thank you for your hospitality."

She lightly bows back. "You're quite welcome. You do understand we have concerns, but, for now, let's get you fed."

She nods.

She describes what they're having for breakfast as she serves food, to check if Elieyha is allergic to or simply dislikes any of it.

She is fine with the menu.

Mikoto serves the meal.

"Why did you come towards Konoha?"

"It was closest. And more different to Suna."

She nods.

"Most children, no matter how skilled, would have had trouble making that journey alone."

"I'm not most children."

"You don't seem to be, no."

"I'm the jinchuuriki of the Ichibi," she volunteers.

She nods. "Thank you for telling me. Have you noticed Suna following you?"

"Not yet."

"How long ago did you leave?"

"Three and a half days, now."

"You're fast."

"I have a lot of chakra."

"That would help."

She probably should have lied about how long it took her to get here, oops.

She'll just... stop digging this particular hole any deeper unprompted.

Mikoto turns briefly back to breakfast.

"What are your goals here?"

"I hadn't... really thought that far ahead."

She nods. "You want to avoid returning to Suna, though?"

"Yes."

"You're not gonna make her go back, right, mom?" Hisame asks.

Mikoto hums. "I'll do my best, honey, but I can't override the Hokage, you know."

Elieyha is unsure if she can constructively advocate for herself without sounding suspicious. She'll default to staying quiet.

Mikoto lets her.

After breakfast, Elieyha is brought to the Hokage's office, there to present her case.

She sticks to the same story she told Mikoto.

He's kind, and gentle, and grandfatherly, and trying to spool as much information out of her as possible.

He can have whatever he wants to know about Suna.

Which is quite a lot, for now.

And her own motives here?

She wants to live somewhere that won't assassinate her about it.

He nods, pokes her on that a bit - but does, eventually, let her go.

Does she have preferences on where she wants to stay?

She already knows Hisame and Sasuke.

He agrees that she can stay with them, if their parents will have her - perhaps a bit too easily, but it's hard to tell with him.

She's hardly going to make a fuss about being given what she wants.

Then she can be dismissed without trouble.

Off she goes.

She doesn't check very hard to see if she's followed.

Hisame and Sasuke are waiting for her with their older brother.

"How'd it go?" Hisame asks.

"He didn't throw me in jail, and he said I could stay with you if your parents agree."

"Great! And they will. Wanna go ask? Dad's at work right now, I think mom's doing some clan stuff..."

"Okay."

She tracks down their mother, first, who agrees easily enough, and says their father won't want to be bothered at his work.

"Well, do you wanna do something until dinner, then?" Hisame asks. "Father won't be back until then. We can go to the park! Or the library!"

"The park sounds nice."

"Awesome!"

She leads the way, dragging her twin brother at a few points. The park she picks has fewer children and more shadowed, peaceful woodland paths with willow trees and water features along them. It's quiet, except for the sound of a flute and the low murmur of the village in the distance.

"Quiet here."

"Sasuke likes it a lot. There's also one that's better for meeting people if you'd rather."

"I think this is better for now."

"Oh, good! What do you wanna do?"

"Dunno. What kind of games do you play?"

"My brother and I play assassin a lot! One of us has to ambush the other. Usually it then turns into a tickle fight. Sometimes we also skip rocks, or climb trees, or race, or see who can find the most cool rocks..."

"Assassin would be fun."

"We'd need to figure out how to do it with three people..."

"Still just one assassin and they have two targets."

"Or everyone's an assassin going after the other two."

"We should get to recruit whoever we catch. Or be allowed to switch sides, if we've got three sides."

"Only after you get caught, though."

"Yeah! And if you switch sides you still technically lost, so."

"Right."

"Split up and start on a count of thirty?"

She nods.

"Rules are no injuries we gotta see a medic over and no recruiting bystanders, and Itachi counts as a bystander."

"Can we involve bystanders without recruiting them?"

"Sure! No hurting them either though."

"All right."

"We're good to start, then?"

"I am."

"Okay, and - start counting!"

And she runs off.

Elieyha heads for the trees.

Sasuke seems to be heading for one of the brooks.

Once under cover, she concentrates a moment, and two dribbles of sand spiral out of her jug. The resulting piles she shapes into clones of herself. Not quite perfect, because while the prodigy is out of the bag, there's no reason to overplay it.

Once done, she sends one after Hisame and one after Sasuke.

They're findable, and close to each other - they seem to be going after each other first, Sasuke apparently trying to lure Hisame into revealing herself in one of her own ambush attempts.

Her clones attempt to sneak up on each sibling separately.

Neither of them notice, wrapped up in stalking each other.

If they can get close enough, the clones pounce.

Hisame shrieks when pounced upon, flailing.

Sasuke actually tries to escape quietly.

If Hisame hits the clone very hard, it'll fall apart.

Sasuke might be able to get away from it.

Hisame does, in fact, hit very hard.

Sasuke's only going to get away if Elieyha lets him.

The clone on Hisame collapses in a pile of sand.

Sasuke is caught.

"You're good." He doesn't seem more than a bit put out at being caught - mostly curious.

The clone doesn't speak. He might notice it's starting to flake away on the edges.

...Hm.

What happens if he keeps running away.

It chases him.

Does it continue flaking?

Slowly, yeah.

He isn't able to keep away from it before it finishes flaking, and reluctantly says, "Fine. Do you want me to help get Hisame?" when he runs out of breath.

It nods.

"If we don't let on that you caught me, she'll try to ambush me again to go after you together. I can let her ambush me, then you can grab her."

Nod.

And he goes to find his sister, letting her find him in turn -

She tackles him, apparently falling for the bait.

And the real Elieyha swoops down upon her.

She goes down shrieking, but presumably real Elieyha doesn't turn to sand upon being hit very hard.

She does not, no.

Sasuke helps hold Hisame down.

"I give!" she says, laughing.

"I think that means I win."

Hisame jumps to her feet. "Yeah!"

"You're good."

"Thanks."

"Next time we should start me and Sasuke versus you."

"That might be more fair."

"Maybe we'll beat you."

"You can try."

"It's not good to underestimate your opponents, you know!"

"That's what clones are for."

"Testing us?"

"Estimating your opponents."

"Pretty much the same."

"Right."

"What do you wanna do now?"

"Dunno, really."

"We could get food or something."

"Sure."

"What do you wanna try?"

"What's good?"

He shrugs.

"I like yakiniku!"

"Let's do that, then."

"Great! The best place for that's this way, come on!"

Off they go to yakiniku.

Hisame seems to be friends with the proprietors, or at least familiar with them.

It's one of the restaurants still open in Elieyha's time proper - a pretty nice place, good food and not too crowded at non-peak times.

Oh, good. Of course, she can't let on that she remembers.

"What's food like in Suna?"

"Not a lot of meat. Spicy, but not like peppers."

"Sounds yummy."

"It had its moments."

"I think I'd like Konoha food better, though. Still, I wanna travel everywhere some day."

"I haven't been to Lightning or Earth."

"Maybe me and Sasuke and you can be on a genin team together and travel there!"

"That would be fun."

"I'd really like being on a genin team with you!"

"Thanks."

"You seem like the type to graduate early, which means me and Sasuke need to study more..."

"I can help you."

"Thanks!"

"When do you start the Academy, in Konoha?"

"Usually seven, but there's tests you can take to start early if you're super smart."

"Do you want to start early?"

"...Dunno."

"Dad would be happy if we did."

"You don't have to."

"Why would we wait if we could apply early?"

"Once you go into the Academy you can't really be a kid anymore."

"I bet they'd be making us follow all sorts of rules."

"Villages like their ninja to follow their rules."

"Aw, that's no fun."

Shrug. "That's life."

She pouts.

"Once you get higher-ranked, there's more leeway. A lot of jounin are- strange."

"I'll be the strangest!"

"There's a lot of competition."

"I'm good at winning."

"I bet you are."

She giggles.

"She's a really sore loser, though."

"Could be an asset, in this particular case."

"Make her even weirder every time she's out-competed?"

"Yep."

"I can recruit my friends, too, for weirdness ideas."

"That might give you an advantage, if you're several people of weird all in one."

"Weirdness fusion! We'll have to recruit more weird people to be our friends, too, if we fall behind."

"It can be a self-sustaining reaction."

"Get so weird we attract more weird people to us!"

Hee.

"Wonder who the weirdest people in our generation are - other than us, of course..."