The World's Similarities

But no matter how he looked, there didn't seem to be anyone over there. The corner of that alley mouth was empty, snow grains swirling in the cold air before falling back to the ground. Had he imagined it?

Little Sasuke frowned slightly and drew his gaze back. He set the matter aside for now and turned around.

"Hey, are you okay?"

He walked up to little Naruko, his eyes quickly sweeping over her. "Can you get back by yourself?"

"Of course I can!" Little Naruko immediately straightened her back, her voice filling again with stubborn defiance. "You're always looking down on me like this. If the ground wasn't snowy and slippery, I definitely could've dodged. I—hiss..."

But before she could finish her bravado, she moved her hand and tugged at the wound on her palm. The pain made her bare her teeth, and she sucked in a sharp breath.

Little Sasuke's gaze immediately fell to her palm. The edge of her palm had some broken skin. The wound wasn't deep, but it covered a fair area, and tiny beads of blood were seeping from the scraped surface, exposed to the icy winter air.

It must have happened when she was pushed to the ground just now and braced herself, scraping her palm against the rough frozen dirt and bits of gravel.

Little Sasuke's expression darkened slightly. He reached to his waist and took several clean tissues from the small ninja-tool pouch no child his age should have been carrying around. Then he pulled her hand over and gently pressed the edge of a tissue beside the wound, wiping away the oozing blood and the stuck-on dirt bit by bit.

"Wipe it first. Come on, we'll go together."

"Together?" Little Naruko blinked, the forced bravado on her face suddenly replaced