Chapter Ten

Slumber Party?

When Yuki answered the door, all she could see were legs and white plastic bags. Her friends' faces were hidden by the things they carried. Chuckling a little, she moved out of the doorway and called them inside.

"Hey, what are you two planning? My sister and I have homework to do!" she giggled at them. "I hope you're not planning to throw a party in this big empty house." Her words had hidden meaning, and their years spent with her told Ema and Mizuki exactly what their best friend meant by them.

"Oh, never," Mizuki said sarcastically. "I just thought that eight bags full of food meant a light snack for the bottomless holes that are my friends." Ema and Yuki always amazed her with how much food they could eat.

"Oh, no! We have too much," Ema added in mock dismay. "I'll go and get Shorty and the others. Seems we have to have a party. Do you have any spare rooms for the boys to stay in? We could have a slumber party!"

Yuki rolled her eyes. "In this house? Of course." Her bank had over a million U.S. dollars in it, and the house her sister chose was too big for the two of them. It had three large bedrooms and a large dining room that was closed off by sliding screen doors. The facilities included two small bathrooms and one large one with a huge bathtub.

"First, can we get decorations? I need sparkles!" Ema added to her earlier question and bounced up and down a little. "Can you come, Yuki? Pleasepleaseohplease?"

She looked at her friend happily, and Yuki gave in. "Mizuki, would you mind going to gather all of them?" She checked the clock on the wall, it was past seven. "Tell 'em to come by at eight, I need time to prepare."

Mizuki nodded happily, and Ema walked with Yuki to the party supply store a few blocks away. After only a short time, the house was set up and ready.

Mizuki knocked on the door of the house. It looked ordinary from the outside, but there were signs of alchemy if you searched for them. She knew she had come to the right house, and was pleased that the address on the school directory was correct.

When the door opened, a small boy with darker blonde hair stared curiously at her. When he turned to get the other person in the house, probably Edward, Mizuki noticed that he had short hair, unlike Ed's.

"Brother, there's a girl here who has blonde hair! She looks like she's as old as you are, is she a classmate?" he called. When he reached the first open door, he turned to look in and was nearly knocked down.

"What? Why?" Ed asked suspiciously. Turning to see her, the surprise he felt shown on his face. "Mizuki, why are you here? Did something happen?"

"No, but we're having an overnight party at Yuki's house. It's plenty big enough for the boys to sleep in a different room, so we felt like inviting everyone," she explained. It was normal for her to explain most of their small groups ideas, since Yuki hated doing it and Ema never remembered enough about them.

"Oh. Should I go now, or what time?" he asked slowly.

Mizuki sighed. "Yuki said eight, but lots of them are probably going to be late. I'd say we can have about a fifteen minute buffer for arrivals. We're gonna invite everyone, so be ready to have a long night."

"Oh, thanks. I'll see you and the others later, then," Ed replied, still confused.

"Bye," Mizuki called, turning to leave. She had about five other places to go, and she wasn't sure about the ninja branch of their friends. Did she have to go to more houses, or one big dorm?

Yuki always gave her the most challenging things to accomplish. She had to get to each of the houses before eight pm, and it was rapidly approaching seven thirty. That left about half an hour to finish and get back.

She almost decided against it, but she needed to use her powers. If anyone saw it, the result would be disastrous and definitely get her in trouble at school. She needed the time-saving, though, and gave in after reaching the next person's house.

It was the mysterious Azu-chan and her group of friends. Mizuki had heard a little about Azu's background from the girl earlier, and remembered what she had told the pyromaniac at that time.

After her parents disowned her, Azu-chan had lived with her grandparents for a while and enjoyed it. It was a simple life, but then her friends came along and she became the public leader, while Hana was the one who really led them.

They decided to move in together after Azu's grandparents got stricter about her living habits. The others enjoyed the time spent together, and it had worked out well with their small group.

After thinking on that, Mizuki wandered up to the front door and rang the doorbell that they had. Within a split second, the door was flung open and three girls she had met the day before stared intently at her.

"Be at Yuki's house at eight to eight fifteen. Slumber party, there will be boys, but in a separate room. Don't worry, there will be food supplied." After giving them the message, she hurried away. The girls made her feel cautious and slightly paranoid.

Finally arriving at the place where Naruto stayed, she was pleased to find that it was indeed a large dorm for all the shinobi staying in town. The bottom two levels were meant for the teenagers that were in middle school or high school.

Asking the front desk to deliver the message she wrote down, Mizuki decided that she didn't need to personally deliver each and everyone's invitation. It saved a lot of time for her, and she left for Rin and Yukio's house.

They lived at a church in town, and she heard that the head priest, their adopted father, had recently died. They were left with the remaining family they spent most of their lives with, though, and they weren't lonely at all.

The two of them welcomed her warmly, but Yukio refused her invitation. He told them that he needed to study for an upcoming exam that he wanted to take, so Mizuki didn't try to convince him. There would be enough people, regardless.

There were only two places left after that. The pirates' house, and the Fairy Tail guild hall. She knew that most of the younger wizards lived in the guild hall, so she knew that she wouldn't have to look far for Natsu. And the others, of course.

Ace and Luffy were happy and ready to accept, but they had to keep it a secret from their grandfather, Garp. He was also the student counselor at their school, and Mizuki knew that he wouldn't accept boys and girls staying in the same house overnight, especially the group they had assembled so far.

So, Mizuki left with the guise of asking Ace about his fire, and comparing colors and abilities. It fooled Garp, because she was such a good actor, but Luffy almost burst out in laughter at one point.

Finally, Mizuki left and reached the last place. Fairy Tail was an inn on the outskirts of town and it was very large. She was pleased to find that everyone was in, and the few problems that she had anticipated weren't bothering anyone.

When she got back to Yuki and Mai's house, it looked interesting, and very sparkly. It was decorated in bottles full of glitter, posters of drawing Yuki had done, streamers, and the food was laid out on the kitchen table. It was awesome.