I do not own Naruto~

Warning! Perverted things intended in this chapter!

There were countless people around them, and she held onto her mother's hand tightly, afraid she'd get lost.

"I won't lose you," her mother assured her.

"I wanna go home," she whined in return. Festivals just weren't her thing. All the noise and people...

"We just got here," her mother soothed. "Try to have fun first." She pouted, looking down at the ground. "You might make some new friends."

"I don't want new friends," she whined again. Mari sighed.

"Don't you want to get a souvenir for Daddy?" she asked her. Three year old Ayano nodded eagerly. "Then we'll go look for something together, okay?"

"Okay," Ayano replied cheerfully. They made their way through the crowd, looking at various stalls that lined the streets. The goldfish stand caught her attention, and she tugged her mother's sleeve, pointing to it.

"Can we get Daddy a goldfish?" she asked. Mari smiled.

"If we can catch one," she told her. Dodging people that were crowding around the next stall, which had some sort of dancing skit, they walked towards the stall. The price to pay was twenty ryou, and Mari payed extra just in case Ayano didn't get it on the first try.

Grabbing the odd paper tool, she carefully put it in the water and tried to corner the fish. But the moment she tried to pick up the fish the paper broke, and she pouted. She had it in the water too long and it got soggy. She tried again, this time with a new one, and had it hover over the water and herd the fish. She quickly stuck it in and pulled out the bright orange fish.

She turned around, grinning in victory to show her mother.

She wasn't there.

The people that were watching the dance in the next stall were crowding around the area, pushing the other people away. She stood up in alarm, dropping the goldfish back in the bucket and searching the faces for her mother's.

"Momma?" she called. She didn't hear anything. "Momma!" Still, no reply. She pushed through the crowd, calling for her mother, but not finding her. She got to where the people had thinned out and looked around her. She couldn't see her anywhere. Tears appeared in her eyes, and her breathing got heavy. "Momma!" Frantic, she started running around the crowd, trying to spot someone she knew. One of the customers had a dog with them, and Ayano accidentally stepped on it's tail, causing it to turn and bark at her. She whimpered in fright, and ran away from the dog as it's owner tried to quiet it.

She then noticed that she wasn't anywhere near the goldfish stand, and she started crying again.

"Momma," she whined, sniffing. She wandered over to a random building and crouched down, huddled against the wall.

Suddenly, she heard someone walk to her, and looked up to see if it was her Momma.

A small boy stood there, around her age, looking down at her curiously. He had short black hair and onyx eyes and wore a casual t-shirt and shorts.

Ayano sniffed again, looking back down. She was cold, and her stomach rumbled uncomfortably.

A hand touched her hair, and she looked up in surprise. The boy had his hand reached towards her, worry in his eyes.

"Did you lose you're Daddy?" he asked. Ayano whined pitifully and nodded.

"I can't find Momma," she cried. The boy blinked, and then pulled her up.

"I lost my Dad, too," he told her. "Let's look for them together!" He smiled reassuringly at her, and she let a small smile grace her lips as she nodded.

"Un!" she agreed. He grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the crowd.

"Don't let go, 'kay?" he told her. She nodded, and gripped his hand tighter. They walked through the crowd for a while, trying not to bump into anyone and keeping an eye out for their parents. Ayano noticed they were walking to the area where she had last seen her mother.

"Do you see your Momma?" the boy asked, turning to look at her. He had an excited shine in his eye, as if he was having fun. She looked around again and shook her head. Her eyes started getting teary and the boy frowned and reached over to pat her head. "It's all right, it's all right, we'll find her," he assured.

"How come you don't look lost?" she asked. He blinked.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Why aren't you sad?" she tried again. He cocked his head to the side.

"Dad's no fun at festivals," he admitted, scrunching up his nose. "I wanted to have some fun." He gazed off into the distance. "Is that you're Momma?" She immediately began searching for her, and saw her looking the crowd and asking people questions, frantic.

"Momma!" Ayano called. Mari's eyes went to her and she seemed to thank the gods before she ran to her daughter and knealed before her, pulling her into her arms and away from the boy.

"I'm sorry, baby, I'm so sorry, I won't lose you again," she cooed to her daughter, hugging her.

"Momma," Ayano cried, clinging to her. She glanced back at the boy and and saw him smile and wave, his eyes still having that fun glint, before walking to a man that seemed to be searching for someone, too. Then man looked down and saw him, then sighed in relief and ruffled his hair with a smile.

After waking up from the dream of that memory of long ago, Ayano recognized the boy and wondered what happened to that happy glint in his eyes.

-xXx-

"Ayano, come on, we're going to be late!" Mari shouted up the stairs.

"You know," Ayano sighed as she trudged down the stairs. "I'm feeling extremely imposing about this whole birthday dinner business."

"We aren't imposing," Mari replied. "Mikoto-san and Itachi-san and his little brother are worried after you're little disappearing stunt you pulled today."

"His name's Sasuke, you know," Ayano pointed out. "And what do you mean stunt? I was sick!" Well since she had someone like Itachi backing up her excuse, she was going to overuse it until it ordered a paycheck. Which was impossible, of course, but still.

Lord, what would people think if they could get in her mind.

"Speaking of being sick..." Ayano trailed off suggestively.

"You're going, even if you are sick," her mother retorted, knowing she was faking it.

"But what if I threw up all over Mikoto's husband?" Ayano smirked. That would definitely convince her mother.

Who had stopped completely in the doorway, horrified at the thought, for a full five seconds.

"...Okay, time for some pepto bismol," she exclaimed, turning around and going for the bathroom's medicine cabinet. An expression of horror dawned on her daughter's face.

"No, I'm fine, I'm fine!" Ayano exclaimed hastily. "Not the pink liver soup! I'm not sick anymore! See, feel my forehead!?!?"

"Don't be such a drama queen!"

And after some dramatic events, with one including a koala bear and a chainsaw(wtf), the two were on their way to Mikoto's house for dinner.

"My stomach's rotting," Ayano groaned, clutching said area.

"The medicine will start working soon," Mari assured.

"It was the medicine that did it!" Ayano hissed. In her hand she held a bag from the bakery, a present to Itachi from Uruchi. It was banana bread, and the smell of it would have normally made her mouth water, but now it made her feel even sicker.

"I'm going to burn whoever invented pink liver soup," Ayano groaned pathetically.

"Stop acting so pathetic," Mari just happened to point out. Ayano stuck her tongue out at her in return. "I'll cut that tongue off."

"But then I can't pleasure Itachi," Ayano whined, inwardly laughing her ass of at Mari's reaction, which consisted of her face going beat red, then purple in anger, and then the most personally-offended expression she had ever seen.

"WHAT!!!??" she screeched, attracting the attention of a few people on the street. Ayano laughed openly, clutching her side.

"I'm joking," she gasped out between laughs.

"You better be," Mari seethed. "Because if he even touched you, so help me-"

"But we're getting married, Mom," she interrupted. This was going perfectly. "And he's the heir to the clan. He's going to be doing more than touching me." The grin she was trying to mask forced it's way through to her face.

"Not if he wants to stay male," Mari growled.

"Um..."

Ayano's head snapped so quickly in the direction the voice came from she nearly got whiplash.

At least she had the decency to blush before collapsing in a heap of laughter and giggles.

"Hi-'snicker'-Itachi," she forced out, before laughing again. Mari had a look of horror on her face, and Itachi had a noticable blush.

"My mother saw you two arguing outside and wanted me to see if everything was alright?" The statement came out as a question, and he obviously looked ready to bolt.

"We're fine," Ayano snickered. Mari still hadn't spoken, and Itachi unwillingly turned to her.

"I assure you, Mari-san," he began stiffly. "That I have never and have no plans to do anything to your daughter," he promised, obviously not comfortable.

"I'm very sorry, Itachi-san, I didn't mean-" Itachi held his hands up.

"Let's just not talk about this, and not tell my parents seeing as it's a bit inappropriate," he suggested. Mari sighed in relief. "Just...please let's go in the house before my mother suspects something?"

"Of, course," Mari agreed instantly, obviously embarrassed. Ayano was still on the ground, stifling her giggles with a hand pressed to her mouth. Mari walked ahead, Ayano thought so that she wouldn't seem like a suspicious parent and prove what she meant earlier.

When Mari was gone, Itachi turned to Ayano.

"Really?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised. "Was that absolutely necessary?"

"Hey, it was going fine till you showed up," Ayano defended. "I was so close to getting my mom to hate you, too..." Itachi stiffened.

"We might as well give up," he sighed. "My-"

"Excuse me!?" He glared at her.

"Didn't we agree to not interrupt each other?" he deadpanned. Ayano frowned and stayed silent. "As I was saying, my mother somehow got my father into this, too, so we're basically screwed." She scowled.

"Is he that stubborn?" she mumbled. He sighed.

"As a mule, an has the attitude of one, too." Ayano blinked and then grinned, getting it. She stood up, dusting herself off and remembering she had the delivery. She held it out to Itachi.

"It's from Uruchi," she told him. "She says 'Happy Birthday, sorry we couldn't come but we had too much work to do'. Which basically means that I'm gonna have a lot of deliveries tomorrow, so if our parents manage to come up with some unexpected-but-expected excuse to get us to see each other, then too bad." He took the bag and opened the box, looking at it.

"Tell them I said thank you," he replied. "And that their delivery girl is adequate enough at delivering orders without messing them up." She glared at him.

"Exactly, 'delivery girl.' Not 'messenger girl.' You tell them yourself. And I'll remember that I'm 'adequate enough' at delivering the next time your mom orders pie." He ignored her, which of course only angered her more, and led her inside.

There were a small amount of people there compared to the amount Ayame Ichiraku would have at her parties, but Ayano preferred the limited number of people should she embarrass herself. There was herself, her mother, and Itachi, and then there was his brother and parents, and the boy she recognized as Shisui.

"Glad you could come," Mikoto was saying to Mari. "This is my nephew, by the way," he motioned to Shisui and said his name. He looked rather uncomfortable in the spotlight. She couldn't help but smirk at his expense, since he had tried to trick her the other night, and when she glanced at Itachi, saw he was smirking too.

Of course, they were shooed out into the backyard after they arrived, so the parents could talk, and Ayano and Itachi were told to keep an eye on Sasuke and Shisui, who of course protested at this but was shoved out the door by Itachi.

"Maybe you could gain some maturity, and then I won't be babysitting you, older cousin," Itachi pointed out, though he had a joking tone in his voice. Ayano snickered as she closed the door behind her. Shisui glared at both of them.

"Oh, ganging up on me, huh?" he asked, before and evil smirk made it's way to his face. "I'll be sure to remember that next time you two are hiding and 'pleasuring' each other while the parents are in the next room." He smirked pointedly at Ayano, who blushed an ungodly shade of red, while Itachi growled at him. She had no clue how he did that, but it was cool and scary at the same time.

"Hold him down, and I beat him with a stick?" Ayano suggested, willing away the blush and looking at Itachi.

"Why, of course," he instantly agreed. Shisui's face immediately paled.

"Oh, come on, I was joking!" he objected.

"Shisui," Itachi growled out. "...you're annoying."

"Looks like we finally agree on something," Ayano noted. Itachi snickered before diving after Shisui.

Woot! Maybe they don't entirely hate each other now :D

Review and you get a hug from Gaara dressed up in a panda suit.

Oh, and about the stubborn as a mule comment, if you didn't get it, Itachi basically called his Dad an ass.