Hanako, Shisui and Itachi stopped walking when they reached a clearing in the middle of the woods. That's where Shisui finally put the dripping girl down. The trees were so high that they even covered part of the sunlight, and Hanako admired some rays that managed their way through the leaves and reached the ground. A soft breeze blew and some dry leaves fell slowly until they reached the ground.
"Let's do something." Hanako heard Shisui's voice and turned to look at him. "Something that will help Hanako dry up," the girl scoffed and looked away.
"What exactly?" Itachi asked with a raised eyebrow. Shisui brought a hand to his chin and seemed to ponder for a second until he came up with an idea. He looked at the other two children with a playful smirk and wiggled his brows in a funny way.
"Let's play hide and seek." Hanako looked at him strangely while Itachi only rolled his eyes. All this for playing a game? The girl furrowed her brows, it actually didn't sound that bad at all. She smirked.
"Alright, I'm in!" The girl turned to look sideways at Itachi, who didn't say anything. Shisui sighed at his attitude.
"Come on, Itachi. I know you play all the time with your little brother but you've never played with us." Shisui crossed his arms over his chest.
"I thought children games bored you," Itachi commented while raising an eyebrow, looking at his friend.
"Just one game," Shisui smiled sheepishly as he stuck out a finger. Itachi rolled his eyes.
"Fine..." Shisui smiled.
"But no cheating!" Hanako added, looking specifically at Itachi who only nodded.
"Okay! Hanako, you're 'It'." Shisui bumped the girl's shoulder and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"What?" Hanako looked around her surroundings, but found no one. She sighed. "Well, it looks like I don't have a choice." Since everyone was already hidden, she proceeded to seek. Suddenly, she felt a chakra on her back. When the brunette turned around she found Shisui staring at her and with his arms crossed and a serious face.
"You didn't count. Now, that's cheating." He pointed at a tree trunk. "To one hundred." Hanako only rolled her eyes and walked towards the tree to start counting.
"One, two, three..." She kept counting out loud until she reached one hundred. Then, she pushed herself away from the bark with a sheepish grin. "Ready or not, here I come!"
Just immediately, she heard a twig break close to her position and smirked. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on their chakra. For her surprise, there were more than two chakras in the woods. Hanako furrowed her brows. All the chakra she felt belonged to only one person. 'Clones'? Hanako started walking to where she felt one of the chakras and found Itachi behind one of the trees.
"Found you!" The girl smirked but he just looked at her.
"Maybe," now it was his turn to smirk as he made a seal with his hands. "Or maybe not." He disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Hanako clicked her tongue. 'That cheater!'
* * *
Shisui watched Hanako intently from the top of a tree, she had found one of Itachi's clones.
"Itachi," Shisui called him softly, making sure Hanako wouldn't hear them. She had counted up to fifty already, meaning they were running out of time.
"Would you mind explaining why suddenly you wanted to play this?" Itachi inquired but Shisui only sighed.
"There's something I want to confirm," Shisui looked at him with seriousness in his eyes, "but I need your help to do so." Itachi raised an eyebrow.
