The Prank
Naruto snuck down the stairs, taking careful steps so that the wood didn’t creak under his feet. He usually wasn’t up so early and wanted to surprise his sister. Hence, he was channeling all his stealth abilities.
“-not like you don’t experiment.”
Huh?
‘Shisui-nii?’ the blond toddler wondered, standing on tiptoes to look over the banister. It was strange for the Uchiha to be over at any time before breakfast.
Hikari’s eyebrow was twitching as she glared at the Uchiha, whacking his hand when he tried to ruffle her hair. “Will you ever stop being stupid?”
“It was a calculated risk!”
“Yeah, one that almost got you killed!”
Case in point, the singed clothes the Jounin was currently wearing.
“The seal did exactly what it was supposed to do, Hikari-chan.”
“Then I suggest that you find a better way to do it.”
“But I like this one! And you can just fix me up anyway.”
“Argh!” Hikari threw her hands up in frustration, spinning on her heel and stomping off towards the kitchen. One could almost feel and see the waves of annoyance rolling off her. “I give up! Go and shower; you’re stinking up my house!”
“Fine, fine.”
Naruto’s brow was furrowed in thought and confusion. His sister’s voice sounded angry and the way she stomped away was similar to what she did when she was upset.
So that meant Shisui was being mean to Hikari.
‘Bad Shisui-nii,’ he thought in anger, not caring that he was in perfect view when said Uchiha started climbing the stairs. Instead, Naruto glared when the older boy waved at him, aiming a vicious kick to his knee before running off.
Shisui scratched his head in confusion as he watched the blond child dash downstairs, wondering what had provoked that unwarranted assault on his person. The kick hadn’t hurt, since the kid was only three and couldn’t use chakra yet nor was he strong enough.
Shrugging off the strange occurrence, he disappeared into the bathroom, putting it out of his mind. He headed towards a cabinet near the sink, absently reaching for a shelf which had his name on it. The cabinet itself had been installed after Shisui, Itachi and Tenzo became frequent visitors to the Uzumaki house, half the time in a messy state from training.
Hikari had eventually gotten fed up with doing their laundry and prepared the cabinet with labelled shelves, containing clothes for them. That way the boys had a change of clothes and Hikari didn’t have her usual laundry routine disturbed.
After checking that he had his set, Shisui undressed and stepped into the shower, humming under his breath. “Do I have time for breakfast here…?”
“HIKARI-CHAN!”
“Why are you yelling?”
The redhead sighed, spinning on her heel to face her friend who came skidding around the corner into the kitchen. She did a double take when she saw him, not reacting when Shisui almost crashed into the table.
“Help me!”
Hikari blinked once, twice, then pinched her arm to check if she was dreaming. Nope, she wasn’t.
Shisui’s pout deepened when the girl started laughing, holding onto the counter to keep her balance. It wasn’t funny!
“Hikari-chan!”
“Sorry, sorry, it’s just…” Hikari trailed off, making a valiant attempt to stifle her laughter as she waved a hand in the Uchiha’s general direction. “What did you even do? Take a dip in paint?”
It might have been the truth; Shisui was colored a bright blue from head to toe, apart from his dark clothing. When the light from the window hit him, he shimmered, revealing that there was actually some glitter mixed into the dye on his skin and hair.
All in all, he looked like a popsicle.
“I only showered,” Shisui glowered, arms crossed over his chest as he tried to show his displeasure. “I love a good prank now and then, but I really don’t need this right now! I have a debriefing with Hokage-sama in thirty minutes and then a meeting with Fugaku-sama! I can’t go around the village like this!”
Hikari snickered, completely unconcerned by the glare sent her way. “This one is not my fault,” she said with a smirk. She walked closer to him, poking the bare skin of the boy’s arm to feel the dye. “Hmm, seems like this needs to be washed off with alcohol.”
“What?!” Shisui shrieked in panic, starting to flail around. “So my only options are to look like a human popsicle or stink of an alcohol dispensary?!”
The girl rolled her eyes and flicked his forehead, snapping, “Aren’t you a shinobi? Use a Henge!”
“I suppose that would work but it won’t fool Hokage-sama and Fugaku-sama. What if they ask me to drop it?!”
“Well, for the entertainment you’ve provided, I’ll give you a seal-based Henge,” Hikari smirked when Shisui gawked at her. She sauntered off into the living room and came back in a few seconds with a piece of paper, which she promptly slapped onto the Uchiha’s forehead.
“There, you should be good until it wears off.”
“And when is that?”
“About three to four hours? That should be enough time for you, right?”
Shisui sighed. He would just have to hope that all important engagements were done within that timeframe. “Let’s hope so.”
A quick breakfast and ten minutes later, Hikari saw off her friend as he ran to get to his debriefing with the Sandaime. Thinking back on the prank, she mused, “Hmm, that wasn’t one of my leftover pranks, so that leaves only one culprit. But why did he do that?”
Unfortunately for Shisui, that wasn’t the only prank he suffered that week.
Kunai switched for plastic ones.
Clothes dyed a mottled green.
The classic water bucket atop the door.
Shoes glued to the floor.
But the most recent one took the cake.
He had ended up being doused in fluorescent yellow paint, along with what seemed like a crate of hideous, sparkling rhinestones. That one took a dip in the Naka river to wash off and thankfully, Itachi was the only one to witness it.
“Someone seems to have it out for you,” the younger Uchiha remarked, sitting on a rock as he watched his best friend grumble to himself and dunk his head under the water. “This is the second prank today.”
Shisui gave that comment the look it deserved and ran a hand through his hair, checking his reflection in the water to be sure that all the paint was gone. There were still a few rhinestones stuck in the curly strands, shining obnoxiously in the sunlight as if they were mocking him. He viciously tugged at them, not caring if he pulled out some of his hair along with the rhinestones.
“What I want to know is who is behind them. It’s not someone among the Jounin or else they would have done the pranks in full view of everyone.”
“True,” Itachi agreed. So far the only locations the pranks had occurred were Shisui’s house, his usual training locations and Hikari’s house. “Maybe we should ask Hikari?”
“What, you think she’s the one doing this?”
“No, but she may have an idea.”
“I do have an idea.”
Shisui gaped. “Then why didn’t you say or do anything?”
“Because I was wondering which one of you would cave first and the pranks weren’t malicious,” Hikari replied with a half-smile, snapping her book shut and getting to her feet. “Since you’ve asked, let’s put a stop to this.”
She led the boys upstairs and to the room next to hers, leaning against the open doorway. “Care to tell me why you’re pranking Shisui, dear brother?”
Naruto’s head shot up, expression looking distinctly like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar when he processed what she had said. “I don’t know,” he hedged, not meeting her eyes.
“Really? I think you do,” Hikari coaxed gently, smiling to let him know that she wasn’t mad. He wasn’t a bad child and he probably had a reason for his actions, no matter how childish -or not- it might be.
The blond boy squirmed under his sister’s unrelenting gaze and finally burst out, “He was mean to you!”
Hikari and Shisui, who was standing behind the girl, blinked. “What?”
“He was saying mean stuff to you and you were mad at him!”
“Uh, what?”
The redhead shook her head to clear her thoughts, frowning in confusion. “When did that happen?”
Naruto sulked, shoulders drooping as he dropped his gaze to stare at his hands, counting on his fingers. “…five days ago.”
‘Five days ago? Ah.’
“I remember that now.”
Shisui spluttered, trying to protest his innocence as the girl stepped inside Naruto’s room and sat on the bed. He took a step inside too, but his progress was halted by the dark, but frankly adorable, glare the blond shot his way and the Uchiha decided to stay in place until the misunderstanding was sorted out. “Hikari-chan, an explanation, please?
“I think Naruto is referring to our conversation that morning, when you came over after experimenting with an explosive tag, specifically after I told you not to,” Hikari replied drily, staring pointedly at Shisui then at Naruto. “I vaguely recall a sneaky child eavesdropping.”
“Not sneaky!” Naruto yelled with a pout but only earned himself a fond pat on his head.
“What part of that conversation could be taken as a…fight…wait…” Shisui trailed off, rewinding the events of that day and trying to remember exactly what they had said. Analyzing his words and Hikari’s reactions from the perspective of a child, he could admit that it probably looked like a quarrel.
Laughing at the older Uchiha’s distress, the female Uzumaki gently grabbed Naruto and set him on her lap. “Sorry to burst your bubble, Naruto, but Shisui and I weren’t fighting.”
“Really?”
That skeptical gaze was far too cute!
“Really. I was just scolding him for being careless, just like how I scold you when you do something you shouldn’t and get hurt.”
“Oh.”
Naruto’s expression transformed from surprise to understanding and settled on guilt. He scrambled off Hikari’s lap and using her legs as support, slid to the floor. Standing in front of Shisui, he ducked his head apologetically, “M’sorry, Shisui-nii…”
Heart melting at the sad and pathetic sight, Shisui scooped up the toddler and hugged him close. “Since you’re so adorable, I’ll let you off,” he chuckled, rubbing their cheeks together and making Naruto giggle. “Aren’t you a good boy? Protecting your sister’s honor like that!”
“Still, I wonder what prank made you snap,” the redhead remarked, resting her chin on her palm as she regarded the scene. “Pretty sure it would have been funny as hell.”
“I could show you,” Itachi piped up, a mischievous glint in his usually impassive dark eyes as he locked gazes with Hikari. “I was there for it.”
“Oh? What did it include?”
“Paint and rhinestones. A lot of them.”
“This I have to see,” Hikari rubbed her hands gleefully, springing off the bed when Shisui squawked indignantly and tried to grab her. She cackled at the older Uchiha’s distress and snatched Itachi’s hand, dragging him out of the room behind her. “I don’t mind if you use a Genjutsu, Itachi, but show me before Shisui catches us!”
“Don’t you dare! Itachi!”