Kiri tore through several plates of his own dinner. His mother watched in surprise, and his father frowned.

"I don't think you've ever eaten so much in one sitting." Kurama commented. "And that's saying something, because you usually eat 4 or 5 plates. You must have really been busy."

"I haven't eaten anything today." Kiri muttered. There was a dead silence, as the parents thought this over.

"Nothing?" Kurama asked. "That's an impossible feat for you, Kiri. Considering you eat twice your own weight in a day and-"

"And don't gain a pound." His mother cut in.

"-AND..." Kurama repeated. "I've never seen you skip a meal in all of your born days, so I don't believe it."

Kiri mulled this over. He had completely forgotten about breakfast or lunch. All of them had, really. He had been so excited about seeing Chetara, he hadn't bothered with breakfast, and they were so busy having fun they didn't bother with lunch. Kurama was right, Kiri had never skipped a meal. With his supersonic metabolism, he could eat anything and as much as he could hold without gaining a pound. His mother always joked about him eating as much as a small elephant. The meal skipping today had caused him to be so weak, on the way back, he wasn't sure if he was gonna make it home.

"Whatever. Don't believe me. I don't care." Kiri said, filling another plate and starting to eat it down.

"You are so skinny." His mother complained. "Like the other day when you walked into the living room and said that thing you said, and left, my guests thought I was starving you."

Kiri grinned.

"I remember you walked in and said, 'Hey, mom, I'm gonna go-'"

Kiri cut in, trying to spare himself his father's wrath. "Your food's the bomb today, mom. Of course it's always awesome."

"-Oh, thank you! I tried a new recipe today. You like it?"

"Yeah, it's great." Kiri grinned. "Well, I'm full. Gonna hit the straw now. Bye."

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Ari and Chetara were sitting in their treehouse. Chetara was eating some of the fruit they'd grabbed, and Ari was mooning over Artemis.

"You'd better eat," Chetara pointed out. "We haven't eaten anything all day."

"I'm not hungry." Ari sighed.

"You're gonna wind up eating twice as much tomorrow, and we don't have the wares for that." Chetara pointed out.

"Fine," Ari took an apple and started eating it. "Better?"

"Yes," Chetara finished hers and yawned. "Today was tiring, I think I'm gonna go to bed."

"Yeah, even though it's only like 8:00," Ari yawned. "I'm tired too." She finished her apple and went to bed, too.

------------------------------------

The next morning, everyone was gathered at Ari and Chetara's treehouse, waiting for the two girls to wake up. Kiri sighed.

"Can't we just wake them up?"

"I guess we could." Artemis frowned, thoughtfully.

"It is very early." Ayla smiled.

"They probably don't get up until 10." Koenma frowned.

"We're not gonna wait four hours!" Kiri announced. They fell silent.

"Well, wake them up." Kazuka said, waving his arm at the treehouse. "Cuz I'm not doing it."

Kiri sighed. "Hold on."

A few minutes later there were two shrieks and then a furious Chetara came to the door of the treehouse.

"Kiri!" She yelled, furious. Chetara climbed down and Kiri ran. Chetara tossed fireballs at Kiri's back and then started to chase him. Chetara chased Kiri quite a distance away, before returning.

"That jerk, nearly gave us a heart attack." Chetara growled. Ari came down, a bit wide eyed.

"Well, it's not as much fun happening to you, is it?" Ari asked Chetara, who growled.

Everyone stared at them. "What happened?"

"This branch grabbed my wrist." Chetara explained. "Ari's too, only they were shaped like actual hands with fingers."

Kiri came to the edge of the clearing, trying to look casual.

"Once I saw that it was a tree, I knew Kiri did it." Chetara growled.

Kiri took a step forward, casually. Chetara glared at him, and turned her back to him. Kiri sighed, and walked over there. Chetara wouldn't even look at him. Ari chuckled.

"Well, if it helps, not like you'll care, but I'm not mad. Chetara does that kind of stuff all the time." Ari smiled. Kiri nodded.

Ari yawned, the shock had worn off. "What time is it?"

"...6:00 A.M." Artemis blushed.

"Wow, alright." Ari yawned. Kiri put his hand on Chetara's shoulder. She brushed it off, and took a few steps away from him. Kiri looked puzzled. He walked over to the other side of the group and watched her.

"She's mad at you." Ayla whispered.

"I know." Kiri whispered back. "But, uh...why?"

"You scared her, and made her look like-" Ayla fell silent as Chetara glanced over there, and then away again. "-A fool."

"...so she's mad?"

"Yeah. If you were anyone but Kurama's son, everyone would hate your guts for some of the tricks you pull. But because of who you are, they can't get revenge, or even act mad." Ayla whispered. "She doesn't care about your background, so you'll have to apologize this time."

Kiri bit his lip. "How do I do that if she won't even look at me?"

"Just walk over, apologize and hope she forgives. She doesn't have to look at you." Ayla smiled.

Kiri ambled over to Chetara, a bit nervously. "Uh... Chetara?"

She tossed her head slightly.

"I'm sorry." Kiri bit his lip. Chetara looked at him; the picture of depression. She sighed.

"Fine, come on. We have 12 hours to hang out today, right?" Chetara sighed. Kiri cheered.

"Yes! Let's go!"

Ari laughed. Artemis chuckled.

"Well, she got over that quick." Kazuka commented. Ayla and Koenma laughed.

"Wait," Ayla frowned. "We don't have 12 hours! We have that dumb dance/ball thing today!"

There was a deep and lasting silence. "...dance?" Ari frowned.

Artemis shifted his stance nervously. "Yeah, our parents think we need to go out and meet other people. So they have dances and balls and stuff."

Kiri sighed. "Great! I hate those dumb suits we have to wear."

"And dresses." Ayla commented. "I hate those."

Chetara and Ari exchanged glances. They frowned then smirked in thought.

"When is this dance thing?" Ari asked.

"It starts at 6 and it takes us 3 hours to get ready so we only have 9 hours to play." Ayla frowned.

"Where is it being held?" Ari asked.

"My house." Ayla sighed.

"Is it invite only or can anyone come?" Chetara asked. "Just wondering."

"It's open." Artemis frowned, then laughed. "Why? Want to come?"

"..." Chetara frowned. "Actually, we have something to do today, come to think of it. At noon."

"Oh, that's right!" Ari said, in mock annoyance. "I forgot all about it."

"So we only have 6 hours?" They asked, depressed.

"Yeah, we're sorry." Ari sighed.

Chetara shook her head. "Well, we'd better start having fun now."