Our new house was empty of everything but dust.
At the front door, I took off my shoes. I wrinkled my nose.
My dad went from room to room. He came back and counted our boxes.
"Ayae honey, did you see where the last box went?"
I counted the boxes myself. Four. Five. Six. Wasn't there seven? I furrowed my eyebrows. That was not right. We came with one more.
I ran to the front door just in time to see the driver leave. The back of the wagon was empty.
"No!" I told my dad. "What's missing?"
In the living room, the boxes had the words 'clothes', 'kitchenware', and 'furniture' in marker. In the bedrooms, the boxes had the words 'more clothes', 'papers', and 'books'. I could not put my finger on the missing box.
Then I remembered.
"The crap box!" I pounded my fist into my hand.
"What?" my dad called from the kitchen.
"The crap box," I said excitedly. "That one with the stuff from the attic, remember? That's the box we're missing!"
I ran downstairs. On the way, I bumped into someone.
"Excuse me, young lady?"
The stranger was a very old man. He wore weird clothes and had a fan shape on his collar. The fan shape was also on all the flags hanging outside this place.
To my surprise, there were more people in the living room. They all had dark eyes and the same clothes. I had no clue who they were. I was sure they were not there before.
"Who the hell are you?" I asked.
Everyone looked at me. I wanted to run back up the stairs.
My dad came from the kitchen. He was also surprised. He set aside his yogurt and fumbled with his glasses.
"Who are you?" he asked.
I giggled. He asked the same question!
The old man frowned. "Like father, like daughter. I am the head of the clan, and I was about to welcome you to our neighborhood. However, you do not seem to be familiar with politeness. And your daughter, such disgusting language and at such an infant age. Imagine what she would be like in—"
"Hey!" I said. "I'm not a baby! I'm almost eight! Are you saying we're rude? Well YOU are rude for coming into our house without knockin—"
My dad muffled me. His face was red in embarrassment.
"Ahaha! She doesn't mean it. You see, while we were traveling on the wagon here, which, by the way, was such a long ride, she picked up a few habits from the other travelers in the group, and as you can see, they, in a way, influenced her speech. She never knew any of those words before, oh no, she didn't, but you know, what can you do, children these days learn things fast. Anyway, I apologize."
"See to it that she is corrected. Children should not be heard," the old man said.
My dad scratched his head. "I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Uchiha Kenta, and this is my little girl, Ayae."
"Hi—" I got muffled again.
The old man pretended I was not there. He told my dad everyone's name. My dad shook hands and tried to remember all the names.
I was going to leave. But then I saw two kids in the room. Since they stood so stiffly, I mistook them for grownups.
The first was a tall boy. He stifled a chuckle when my dad misheard a name badly. He stopped when his own name got called.
"... and this child is Shisui. The younger one is Fugaku's kid, Itachi."
"Shisui and Itachi. Got it," my dad said.
The grownups moved on.
The kid who was chuckling saw me looking at him. He waved. I waved back.
Next to him was another kid. I was happy to see him because he was short like me. He had to be about my age. When he saw me, I smiled. I hoped he might talk to me.
But he just stood there and stared. Weird.
The kids here were not like the kids at the capital. Kids back home would run up to me at first sight, and we would play tag, or eagle-and-hen, or hide-and-seek. There had been no kids on the wagon. I missed playing with my friends.
The grownups finished welcoming my dad. They gave him gifts on their way out. My dad waved goodbye. Then he closed the door and locked it.
"Hey, daddy?"
"Yes, honey?"
"I don't like them," I said. "Can we move back? I promised Mayu that we would go to the playground."
"Didn't you tell her that we were moving?"
"Yes. She told me to go anyway."
My dad knelt by me. "Listen, honey, we aren't going back. This is our new home, okay? So please, please be nice to those people. They are our neighbors now, and they did a lot for us to have this home. So if you ever pass by them again, promise that you will go to them and say 'I'm sorry' for today."
"But—"
"No but!"
"But—"
"Promise daddy?" he asked.
I pouted. "Fine."
"Another thing. Do not ever, EVER say bad words again."
"What bad words?" I asked.
"You know, like crap and hell—"
"Ooh! Daddy said bad words!" I giggled and pointed at him.
My dad tackled me to the floor and tickled my toes. "You little genius, you knew I'd fall for that!"
Both of us got covered by dust. We laughed in the dust cloud. We did not stop until my dad coughed.
"You okay, daddy?"
"Yeah." He sat up. Then he jumped. "Oh, dear lord! Where did you come from?"
In the room was the kid from before, the one my age. In his hands was something in cloth.
"My mother wanted this delivered to you," the kid said. "She would have liked to meet your family but had other matters to attend to."
My dad took the gift. "Tell her I said thanks, um..."
"Itachi," the kid said.
"Right," my dad said. He sniffed the wrapped gift. "Hey, are these cookies? Ooh, give her extra thanks! We hadn't had a decent homemade meal for some time. Well, this isn't exactly a meal, it's more of dessert, but it's still made in the home, of course, unless your mother bought it at the store and, well, you get the point. Anyways, thank you again. By the way, when did—" My dad looked up. The kid was gone. "—you get here..." He turned to me. "Where'd he go?"
I shrugged. I saw the kid one second. I did not see him the next second.
Confused, my dad checked the door again. It was still locked.
Taking my hand, my dad led me into the kitchen. At the table, we unwrapped the gift from the kid. It was a box of cookies and a porcelain doll. I hugged the doll.
We went through the gifts from the other people too. We got china, incense, wall scrolls, and tons and tons of books.
I tossed another piece of junk. "These gifts are lame."
My dad told me we should be thankful. But he thought the same too. All the gifts were lame except the doll and cookies.
The cookies were super yummy. My dad dipped one of the cookies in his unfinished yogurt.
"Useful or not, these gifts are expensive," my dad said. "We would have to show respect and do the same."
"Why not give the gifts back to different people?"
"Smart! I should have remembered who gave what. Oh who was there again? Yashino? Or was it Yoshino, and that Tekka lad..."
I giggled.
Days later, our missing box sat on the front steps of our home. On the box was a note saying, 'Is this pile of garbage yours?'
We unpacked the box with the rest of our things. There were lots of pens without ink and old notepads. At the bottom were stuff that I had outgrown. We decided to bring those to a charity.
Before we left the house, I reached for my doll. I loved my doll and brought it everywhere.
My dad was carrying the big box, so when he spoke, I saw cardboard instead of his face.
"Have you given her a name yet?" He was asking about the doll.
I shook my head. "Not yet."
"Let me know when you do!"
I nodded.
We walked together down the district. The streets were wide and tidy. Pretty lanterns hung around all the houses. Everything was quiet.
It was so different from the capital. At the capital, the streets were narrow. The apartments were tall. You would always smell roasted potatoes or fried food. There was no place that did not have a million-billion people.
At the gate, a guard stopped us.
"What's in the box?" the guard asked.
"Oh, um, well, we just moved here, and we have some things we no longer need, so we are going to donate it to the orphanage here. There is an orphanage here, right?" My dad tilted his head away from the box so he could look at the guard.
"We will give it to them for you," the guard said. He reached for the box.
My dad moved and slammed the box into the other guard. "Oh no, no, no. No thank you! We can do it ourselves," my dad said.
"We can deliver it more efficiently. It would be our pleasure," the guard said. He reached for the box again.
My dad slammed the box into the other guard again. "We can do it. It's okay," my dad said.
"I assure you that it will be delivered safely," the guard said, annoyed. He grabbed the box. My dad pulled back. I snickered when the grownups played tug-o-war.
"Listen mister... whatever your name may be. My daughter and I want to be more familiar with Konoha, and I wish to show her the school here. Since the orphanage is right next to it, and we are heading there anyway, we will be bringing this, thank you!"
My dad won.
The guard was angry. "Listen," he said, "I was given orders to make sure all objects that move in and out of this district are under regulations. Now hand me the damn box!"
I pointed at the guard. "You cursed!" I gasped.
My dad smiled. "Good job, sweetie."
The guard exploded. "WHY YOU—"
"Is something wrong?"
The new voice spooked everyone.
Behind us was the kid who gave us the doll and cookies. I never saw him come. He just appeared. I had to rub my eyes.
The two guards went stiff. The one yelling at my dad looked like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Ah, Itachi. Good evening. Nothing is wrong. How is your father doing?" The guard no longer acted all tough and mean.
The kid did not blink. "Fine," he said. "But they seem dissatisfied with something."
The guard sputtered. "Oh no, I was just explaining Uchiha policy to them."
My dad sighed. "Apparently, we can't bring items outside of the district. Oh well, we shouldn't argue in front of the kids, I can—"
"I've heard of no such policy," the kid said.
The guard winced. "They are new orders..."
"Does that mean you will have to confiscate my items too?" The kid showed his backpack. "My father will be displeased if I showed up without my weapons."
"Of course not!" The guard was in a sweat.
"Then I do not see why this 'new policy' permits me to bring kunai and explosive powder, while they cannot bring what appears to be ordinary toys."
The kid dared the guard to keep going.
The guard sputtered again. In the end, he gave up and let us through.
The kid walked with us. We were headed the same way.
"Hey, Itachi, right?" my dad said. "Thanks for your help. You see, we are new here and, well, you would already know that, how silly of me, since you were there at—"
"You could have given him the box," the kid said.
I looked up from my doll.
"What do you mean?" my dad asked.
"You could have dropped it off, but you chose to carry more weight. Why?"
"Oh, it's actually pretty light, and it's no problem for an adult like me. They are mostly just toys, so I really won't be tired from—"
"Why?" the kid asked again.
My dad looked at him through his glasses. I stopped too. I looked back and forth between the two of them.
"I have my reasons. You wouldn't understand ye—"
"Try me."
My dad smiled. "Let us just say it's much more to give gifts in person. The toys aren't what's important. What is important is to be there and talk to them. See their smiles when they receive something. They want direct love from another person. That's why we must go. Right, Ayae?"
I nodded. My dad was always right.
"I see," the kid said.
Just when I thought the kid was about to ask more, he walked away. "The orphanage is down this street. Turn a right by the bookstore, then a left at the second intersection. I must leave now."
"Oh, okay. Thank you!" my dad said. He nudged me.
"Thank you," I said.
The kid looked at me. "Her name is Utako."
I blinked. "What?"
"The doll."
And then he disappeared.
I closed my mouth. My dad shook his head.
"That is one cool trick," he said.
I nodded.
"This isn't the first time he did that."
I nodded.
"Think I can learn how to do that?"
I shook my head.
"Aw, come on! I can be like… ninja dad!"
I shook my head harder. He laughed.
"Yeah, you're right. I'd get a heart attack."
We followed the kid's words. Sure enough, we got to the orphanage. Well, after twenty streets, a billion turns, two dango sticks, one bathroom stop, and one block of being chased by an angry grandpa.
And of course, my dad fell onto the ground after lugging the box through all that.
.
At the orphanage, my dad was surrounded by kids.
I explored around. I slipped up the stairs and across the halls. I peeked into each room. Most rooms were empty. I opened the door at the end of the hall.
Sitting in a crib was a toddler with the bluest eyes ever. Wah, he was so cute!
I jumped when he spoke.
"Nar'to."
I glanced around the room. I hugged my doll tighter. "What?"
"Nar'to," the toddler said again. He pointed to himself.
"Naruto," I said. I pointed at him.
He nodded.
"Oh, okay! Ayae." I pointed at myself.
He looked confused.
I said my name again. "Ayae."
Nothing.
"Ayae. Me. I'm Ayae."
Still nothing.
"You. Naruto." I pointed at him. "Me. Ayae." I pointed at me.
The toddler blinked. Then he pointed his finger at me. "Nar'to."
"Huh? No, you are Naruto. I am Ayae."
"Nar'to!" Naruto jumped. He pointed at me again and again. "Nar'to, Nar'to!"
I hung my head.
"Ayae! Where are you? We are going now!" my dad called.
At my dad's voice, I stood up.
"Bye-bye, Naruto," I said. I got tugged back.
Naruto had stuck his hand out the bars. He was grabbing the rim of my doll's dress.
"Hey, let go." I pulled. He would not let go. "Come on, Naruto. I have to go."
Naruto whined. "No go."
"I have to go! Stop! You'll rip the dress!" I could not get his fingers off the dress. I stomped on the ground. "Get another doll! This is mine, Naruto!"
"Ayae, honey, I thought I told you, there is no mine, only ours." My dad entered the room.
I rolled my eyes. "Thank you, zen daddy," I said. "Naruto won't let go of my doll."
"NARUTO!" A shriek sent me backwards. Next to my dad was a lady. "Give that back now!"
Naruto let go of the hem.
"Oh my goodness, I am so sorry, Mr. Uchiha. And you little girl, hope you weren't hurt?" the lady asked me. I shrunk. I did not like the way she stood over me.
"Everything's fine. The little one just wants to play with the doll," my dad said. He made funny faces in front of the crib.
Naruto laughed. He reached his hand out again.
"Say daddy, Naruto."
Naruto did not.
My dad kept trying. "Come on. Say daddy. Daddy. Come on!"
The lady gasped. "Mr. Uchiha!"
"Da," Naruto said.
"Yes! There you go!" He tickled Naruto on the belly. Naruto fell on the bedding, giggling.
"Da! Dada!"
My dad stood up. "I must say, you have a bright child here, ma'am."
The lady frowned. "Yes, Naruto sure is... special."
"Okay, Naruto. Dada has to go now. It was a pleasure to meet you," my dad said.
The lady rushed us out. Before she shut the door, I looked back. Naruto still had his hand out. He looked sad.
On the road, I had Utako in one hand. I took my dad's hand in the other.
The walk to the school was not long. We came to a building that was white. It had red doors and orange roof tiles. It was also huge. I had to look all the way up to the sky. One... two... three... I counted four floors.
Inside, the halls were empty. On a wall was a 'code of conduct'. Rules: No loitering. No talking while the teacher is talking. No drawing on desks. No food or drinks while class is in session. Tardiness is never excused. Respect everyone and their belongings.
I gulped. I did not know that many rules even existed.
I tugged my dad. "Daddy, do I have to go here?"
"Relax, sweetie," my dad said. "School can be scary at first, but it'll be fun, you'll see."
"But I don't know anyone. And this place is so big. What if I'm lost, and no one finds me, and I die, and then—"
"Whoa, don't let your imagination get carried away. Listen." He bent down to look at me. "If you go, just one day, then you don't ever have to come back here again. If you want, that is. But promise daddy that you will try it first. Give it a chance."
I shook my head.
"Don't you trust me?"
I nodded.
"Then trust me that you will be okay. I was a kid once and went to school. I made it, didn't I?"
"But—"
"And if you do this, then someone will get an ice cream cone today."
"But... no fair! Okay, chocolate."
"That's my brave girl." He patted my back. "Come on. Let's get out of here. It's giving me the heebie jeebies."
"DADDY!"
.
On Saturday, we unpacked the last boxes. We shopped for food.
On Sunday, my dad had to go somewhere, so I stayed with a relative.
The relative was the one who sent us the cookies. She was one of my aunts, Aunt Mikoto. She was a housewife, so she was okay looking after me. Her husband did not look happy about it. But he would not be home when I stayed, so it was okay.
That morning, Aunt Mikoto cooked me a delicious breakfast. We chatted at the table. I liked her. She always smiled, like my mom. Though, I was sure my mom had bushier hair and spoke much, much louder.
"How old are you, Ayae dear?"
"I am seven and a half."
"Oh? I have a son about the same age. His name is Itachi."
"I know him."
"You do?"
"Yes, he's the kid that gives my dad heart attacks."
Her lips twitched. "Oh my. What happened?" she asked.
"He poofed out of nothing! Like a ghost!" I wiggled my fingers to show the creepiness. "It was scary."
She laughed.
"Auntie?"
"Hm?"
"Thank you very much for the doll," I said. I lifted Utako from my lap.
"Ah! No problem. When I heard a girl was moving into our neighborhood, I thought of her. Her name is Utako."
"Mhm! I know. Itachi told me."
Her eyes widened. "He did?"
"Yeah. Utako is a nice name, Auntie."
Her face turned pink. "Yes, I guess it is. I didn't realize Itachi knew. I've never told anyone I kept such an old thing."
"Maybe he saw you with Utako, but you didn't know he was there. He does that a lot."
"Could be." She tucked back a strand of hair and looked down at the table. I found it weird. She looked happy and sad at the same time.
"Well, Ayae, Utako is yours now. And I'm sorry it's such an old thing. I know children nowadays are all about the newest things."
"Oh no, no! I like Utako. I like her a lot. Thank you for giving her to me, Auntie!"
"You are very welcome," she said.
We heard a thump upstairs. Aunt Mikoto ran up. She came back down holding the hand of a toddler.
"Who's he?" I asked.
"This is my child, Sasuke. Sasuke, say hello," she said.
"Hello," Sasuke said.
"Hello," I said.
Aunt Mikoto placed Sasuke down at the table. She reached for the cupboards. She filled a cup with milk from the stove. To me, she asked, "Would you like anything to drink, dear? Tea?"
I shook my head. I did not like tea. I asked for milk too. She nodded and got another cup.
Sasuke drank. He looked at me. He drank some more.
"Who are you?" he asked after he finished.
Aunt Mikoto answered for me. "Sasuke, this is Ayae. She is our guest, and she will be staying with us."
Sasuke said nothing.
"Are you still hungry?" Aunt Mikoto asked him.
"No."
"Would you like to go outside and play with Ayae?"
He shook his head.
I pouted. I liked talking to Aunt Mikoto, but I wanted to go outside and play too.
"Where Brother?" Sasuke asked.
"I'm afraid he's not home," Aunt Mikoto said. "He is training with Father."
Sasuke whined. "I want play with Brother Itachi."
"Why not with Ayae? She would like to play with you."
Sasuke looked at me.
"Itachi," he told her.
Aunt Mikoto sighed. "Why don't you go back to sleep, then? I'll wake you up when your brother comes home."
"Okay."
The two went up the stairs again. Restless, I left the table.
I explored the house. The house had pretty things. On the wall was a sword. It looked super cool.
"Why are you here?"
I knew that voice.
I still jumped.
"Oh, hi!" I said.
"Ayae's father has kindly asked me to watch over her, and I've agreed. Itachi, why are you home so early?" Aunt Mikoto stepped off the stairs.
Itachi looked at his mom. "Father sent me to tell you to cancel dinner for today. He will be with the officers to discuss their current case. He also asked if you could prepare lunch. There will be another training regiment and..."
I could fall asleep listening to him talk.
Aunt Mikoto's scream woke me up.
"Itachi!"
"Is something wrong, Mother—"
Aunt Mikoto pulled down his collar. There was a really, really, really nasty bruise on his shoulder. She caught me staring. "Ayae, go to the kitchen, okay?"
I did as told.
I had a bruise once. I had fallen in a game of chase and hit my knees on the ground. I knew that it hurts a lot. He must be hurt too. He was not crying though. He acted like there was nothing wrong. Weird.
At the table, I played with the rim of my cup.
I could hear them.
"Tell me what happened. Now."
"We were only training..."
"Only training? Only training? I sent my son out there to be under the good care of his father, not to be beaten to death. When Fugaku gets back, I—"
"Mother, please, I'm fine." Itachi got quieter.
"Come here. Where else does it hurt? You know what, take off your shirt."
"Mother!"
Curious, I peeked back into the living room. I found them wrestling on the floor.
"You liar. What is this?" Aunt Mikoto showed his arm to him. I could not see. I took another step. The floorboards creaked.
"Ayae! I told you to wait in the kitchen. No matter. Dear, do me a favor and go into the kitchen? Below the sink, there is a drawer. Inside is a white box. Please get that for me?"
I nodded. Like she said, in the drawer was a box. I pulled the box out.
I handed the box to Aunt Mikoto. She was still pinning Itachi down on the floor.
"Thank you, dear," she told me, smiling. To Itachi, she said, "Now, you. You will not be leaving today."
"But Fa—"
"But nothing. Leave, and I will track both you and Fugaku down. Trust me, you would rather anger him than me."
Itachi listened.
Aunt Mikoto opened the box and got to work. I was curious, but Aunt Mikoto told me to not look. I peeked from the corner of my eyes though. She was rubbing some cream on him. She got out bandages.
Done, Aunt Mikoto told him to stay. She went to make us lunch. She asked me to watch him and to call her if he tried to leave.
I took this as a chance to make a friend.
"Hey," I said.
Itachi did not say anything. He did not move. Maybe he did not hear me?
I crawled closer and plopped by his side. "Hey," I said again.
He looked at me this time. Then he looked up front again.
Confused, I followed his gaze. He was looking at a wall. I leaned in and whispered, "You know, I don't think the wall is going to move."
He still did not say anything. He was probably shy. There were kids like that back at the capital.
"How'd you get that?" I pointed to the bandages under his collar.
He looked uneasy.
"You fall?" I asked.
"No."
I beamed. "I fell once and got a bad booboo," I said. "It hurts a lot, doesn't it?"
"The pain goes away."
I did not know what to say to that, so I talked about something else. "How old are you? I'm seven. Well, seven and a half."
"I turn eight this summer."
"Cool! Are you going to be my classmate then?"
"Pardon?"
"I'm going to school Monday! I don't want to go. It looks scary. Maybe we can go together!"
I waited for his reply. I knew slow kids needed a lot of time to reply. Either that, or he forgot. I met kids like that too.
"No," he said.
"You don't have to go? How lucky!"
"No, I have graduated from the Academy already."
I blinked, confused.
"I'm done with school," he said.
"Oh," I said, disappointed.
I waited to see if he wanted to say anything else.
Nothing.
Talking to this kid was hard! I missed the capital already. There, the kids would chat with me until it was time to leave.
I thought of something.
"Hey," I said. "What's your favorite color? Mine's yellow. No wait! Green. Yeah, green is pretty. Well, so is pink. I like pink, too. Oh well, you don't have to tell me if you don't have one. I had a friend who could never make up her mind, so I know what that's like. Do you have a favorite animal then?"
"No."
"Favorite food?"
He looked at me strangely.
"Flower?"
He stared at me like I was a book. I did not like that, so I turned away. I craned my neck to see what was going on in the kitchen. Aunt Mikoto was chopping something green. I hoped that was not going into my lunch. I did not like green foods. I liked the color green. Just not green foods. Maybe yellow was my favorite after all.
"Why don't you talk to me?" I asked him. "You are boring, you know that?"
"Why do you talk to me?" he asked.
"I'm asking questions! I want to know more about you!"
"I doubt you care about such arbitrary information," he said.
"Huh?"
He got up.
"Wait, what are you doing?" I asked.
"My turn to pose a question. Would you tell?"
"What?"
"If, say, I left now, would you tell her?" He nodded toward the kitchen.
"I don't get it. Why do you want to leave?" I was insulted. He was the boring one. I should be leaving, not him!
"You wouldn't understand. Neither does my mother. So, would you tell her?"
I crossed my arms. "I'm not a tattletale!"
"Good." He walked toward the door.
"AUNTIE! ITACHI IS TRYING TO GO BACK TO HIS DADDY!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.
Itachi whipped around. He gave one of the most frightening looks ever. I wanted to run out of the house.
Aunt Mikoto was in the room. There was fire in her eyes. "Sit," she said, pointing to the floor.
Itachi did. A minute later, he got tackled by Sasuke, who woke up thanks to my scream.
Itachi was mad at me. I did not care. Whistling, I helped Aunt Mikoto make lunch for the four of us.
.
You know when someone annoys the bejeezus out of you, and you just want to give them a big, fat punch in the face?
Well, I had that someone. His name was Uchiha Shisui. We walked for less than twenty minutes, and I was ready to throw Itachi at him.
"Do ya? Do ya?"
"For the last time, no! I do not know the square of pie. I don't even like round pies, let alone square ones."
Laughing, Shisui slapped his knee. "How about the three hundred sixty one chakra points in the human body? By name and location?"
I was annoyed. Shisui kept asking and asking. But whenever I answered, he only laughed harder.
"Shisui, I would stop," Itachi said.
"Okay, okay. I'll stop. Happy now, squirt? But seriously, to think there's an Uchiha, an actual living, breathing Uchiha, who is not a smart-ass. I like you already!" He patted me on the back.
I did not know if I got insulted, so I just huffed and walked faster.
"Hey, squirt!"
And I was not squirt! I was not short!
"What!" I turned back to see they were on a different road.
"The beautiful building of education is thattaway!"
I groaned.
Shisui stopped before the school. "Here we are! Ready to take off, squirt? Or you want us to guide you in too?"
I stomped my feet. "No! I can do it myself!"
"Good good! Miss Uchiha Ayae, time to get off the Shisui-Itachi express! We'll pick you up at four, give or take. If we don't come by seven, it means we forgot, so don't bother waiting!"
What! No! If they did not come, how would I get home?
Itachi elbowed Shisui in the ribs. "We will be here at four o'clock," Itachi told me.
Phew. But then I saw his raised eyebrow. I gulped. Maybe I should not have gotten him in trouble yesterday.
"Hmph! Whatever!"
I made myself not look back.
"Good luck! Don't forget what eight times three is!" Shisui called out to me.
I got to the door of the school and looked back.
Yesterday, my dad came back with good news. He found a job! But that also meant he could not walk me to school or back. Luckily, Aunt Mikoto had set me up with the Shisui-Itachi express.
But now that Shisui and Itachi were gone, I felt lonely. I wished that they had walked me inside.
No, this was no time to be shy!
I pushed open the door. Bright lights hung above. People moved everywhere. I joined the crowd.
The bell rang. Within minutes, the hallways were empty. I panicked. I looked at the note in my hands.
"106."
The closest classroom had a sign that read 123. The next one was 122. Then 121, then 120.
Oh no. By the time I found classroom 106, the class would be over! Nearby, I saw an older boy. For some reason, he was not in a hurry to go to class. I tugged his shirt.
"Hi, could you tell me where 106 is?" I asked.
"Where do you think? Down this hall." He jerked a thumb behind him.
"Oh, okay!"
He grabbed my shoulder. "Wait. What's your name?" he asked. He was looking at me funny.
"Ayae," I said.
"Last name?"
"Uchiha," I said.
His frown grew. "Thought so. Let me see that."
I gave him my note. He scoffed and gave it back to me, turned upside down. "It's 901. Not 106. Lower floors are for us. Punks like you are on the top floor."
He was right. Turned upside down, the number was 901, not 106. Well that was embarrassing.
"Thanks," I said.
He chuckled. "No problem. You should hurry up, or you'll be late. Tell me how it goes, okay, punk?"
He patted my shoulder and left. The people here were nice.
I ran back down the hallway. I saw a staircase earlier near the door.
I got to the top floor, breathless. I looked and looked, but there was no room 901.
Confused, I peeked through the window of the nearest classroom. Maybe the teacher there would know where room 901 was.
I slid open the door. The whole class turned to me. To my surprise, the students looked much older. The classroom was also scary, so huge and spaced out.
"Um, I'm lost," I said.
The teacher put a scroll back down on the podium. He took my note. "How old are you?" he asked.
"Seven." And a half.
He frowned. "This says 106. You are attending the second grade, correct? First and second grade are on the first floor. The third floor is for the upperclassmen."
I blinked. But the boy I met said the opposite.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know."
The teacher helped me to the right room. 106 looked friendlier. The room was smaller, and the kids were my age. Instead of the giant desks I saw earlier, there were round tables. Everyone was scribbling on papers.
"Pardon, this girl had faulty directions. I will leave her in your care now." The upperclassman teacher closed the door behind him.
My teacher was an old geezer. He set down his newspaper and squinted at me. "Eh? Girl, are you Uchiha Ayae?"
The class stiffened. I took a step back at all the glares.
"Yes," I squeaked. "I'm Ayae."
"Come here." My teacher waved me over. "You're late. From now on, you are to be here on time, understand?"
I nodded.
"Class, this is Uchiha Ayae. It's late in the year, but she just transferred from the Fire capital. Please give her your utmost respect and welcome her," he wheezed.
"Welcome, Uchiha Ayae," the class said dully. Something told me they did not like me much.
The teacher handed me a piece of paper and told me to sit. He did not say where, so I had to choose. I thought about taking the closest table, but the glares got scarier. At another table, the kids closed in to block the free seat.
"Another one of you?"
"Here to make us look bad?"
"Why don't you graduate already?"
"Go home!"
Someone threw a paper ball at my head.
The ball bounced off my head and landed at my feet. I got confused, then mad. I picked up the ball and threw it back at the boy who threw it. "You're mean!" The ball missed him.
I stomped off. I did not want a fight.
I looked for another table. By the windows, there was a girl with brown hair. She sat next to more girls. The brown haired girl saw me looking at her and gave a small wave. I walked over.
"Can I sit here?" I asked.
The girls turned to the one closest to the window. She had pigtails. The pigtailed girl nodded.
The others scooted over so I could sit with them.
"Hello, Ayae. My name is Tamaki," the pigtailed girl said. "And this is Dai, Setsu, and Ayame."
"Hi."
"Hello."
"Hi, Ayae."
"Hey," I said.
The table got quiet. Finally, the girls stopped staring at me. They went on to chat about something I did not understand. The rest of the students looked away too. The teacher read his newspaper.
The worksheet the teacher gave me was math. I breathed. Math. Okay. I knew how to do this.
I poked the girl with the brown hair. "Ayame?" I hoped I got the name right. "Can I borrow a pencil?"
Ayame looked like she did not understand me. Dai, the girl next to her, nudged her in the arm. Ayame snapped out of it. "Yeah, sure. Here."
Ayame showed me her pencil case. I chose a green pencil with a big eraser on the top and thanked her.
I began the worksheet.
2 + 2 =
Four.
6 + 3 =
Eleven... no nine.
1 + 9 =
Ten. This was not bad at all.
4 x 3 =
Twelve?
7 x 7 =
I blinked. Okay, did not know that. Seven times seven meant seven groups of seven, right? On the corner of my paper, I made tick marks. Then I counted the marks. I lost track the first time I counted. I got fifty the second time, so I wrote down fifty.
12 x 11 =
Oh boy. I did more tick marks.
The girl named Setsu peered over my shoulder. "What are you doing?"
Before I could tell her, the bell rang. The pigtailed girl grabbed my wrist. She pulled me out of the room. "Come, Ayae! It's recess!"
Everyone ran outside. I loved the playground.
"Whee!" I kicked my feet up in the air.
"Ayae!" Dai called. "Want to play hop-scotch with us?"
"Mhm!" I jumped off the swing and joined the girls. Ayame was drawing boxes on the ground with a piece of chalk. We were about to start when a pebble hit my head. The thrower was the same boy who threw the paper ball.
He reached for another pebble. I jumped out of the way. "Hey! Stop that!"
Tamaki crossed her arms. "Go away, Ginjiro! Stop being annoying and leave Ayae alone!"
The other girls backed us up. Outnumbered, the boy scowled and left.
"Let's go. It's lunch time," Tamaki said.
"Come with us, Ayae. My mum made me rice balls today. I'll share with you!"
I followed my new friends to the picnic tables. They chatted about television shows and the newest hair clips.
"And they were so pretty. I wanted to get one, but my mom said no. I'll ask dad again. He'll buy me it. He'll buy me anything I want," Dai said.
"You mean these?" Tamaki showed us hair clips with big flowers on them. "I bought them yesterday."
The other girls stared in awe. Dai and Setsu fought over who got to touch it first.
The bell rang again. We went back to class. I did more of the worksheet. I barely finished when we got another one. It was on vocabulary. We had to write each word out many times. It was not hard because you wrote the same thing.
School was not bad. We just did worksheet after worksheet. The teacher read newspapers. Once or twice, he would tell the class to quiet. Everyone would hush. But then someone would make a noise. Then the room would go back to whispers and talking again.
The girls were fascinated when I told them about the capital. No one except me had been there before. By the end of the day, I had a crowd listening to my stories. I liked that, especially when they went "Wow!" or "Ah!"
The bell rang. The teacher dismissed us. He said that unfinished worksheets were homework. I did not mind. The only worksheet I had left was a coloring one. I had to match colors with numbers.
"Will you tell us what happens next tomorrow?"
"Yeah, will you? Will you?"
I smiled and nodded. The crowd around me left. Everyone grabbed their stuff and sent me a "Bye, Ayae!" or "See you tomorrow!"
I was going to leave too. Tamaki stopped me.
"Hey, Ayae, I have to go to flute practice today," she said.
"You can play the flute? That's so cool!" I said.
She grinned. "Yeah, so I will be out all day. Can you do me a huge favor?"
"Sure!"
She handed me her papers. "Can you do my homework?"
I got confused.
"We're friends right? It'll be easy for you! And all you have to do is copy the answers!"
Hm, why not! I took them.
"Oh, here's Dai's and Setsu's. They are busy too, so I told them you can do it for us. Because you are so smart."
I beamed. "You think I'm smart?"
"Of course! You don't mind, do you? It'll be good for you! Since you missed so many days of school and all, extra practice can't hurt."
"I don't mind!" I placed the papers with my own in my backpack.
Tamaki gave a big smile. "Thank you, Ayae!" She waved. "I knew you'd be a great friend!"
Outside, the Shisui-Itachi express waited.
Shisui ruffled my hair. "How was your first day of school, squirt?"
"It was great! I had fun and met nice people. And an annoying boy who kept throwing stuff at me, but he stopped when we threw stuff back. And the teacher was okay. He did not teach much though. It was all paper after paper after paper, but I like him better than the other teacher. And also, I—"
"Whoa, whoa. Slow down, squirt. Wanna know how my day was?"
"No."
"Are ya sure?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I'll tell you anyway. So today, at the squad, our teacher made us do all these ridiculous laps—"
"AND I was lost at first but—"
"Then we had to help this old farmer guy with his plowing—"
"Turned out it wasn't 901 after all. So I was right at the start—"
"I think my ear was swollen after that. Doesn't she know that pulling someone's ear hurts? There's nerves and—"
"And Tamaki was like no way. And I was like yes way. So another kid joined in with Tamaki and said no way. And—"
"Followed by sparring. I vanquished them all, no problems—"
"Worried because I didn't want to lose Ayame's pencil. We found it though under the table, and I don't think she was mad—"
"Stuck in a tree. Stuck in a damn tree! That was like the twentieth time we had to get that blasted cat—"
"Her mum made the BEST rolls I've ever had. Well, not as good as the ones back at the capital. Maybe close to it—"
We kept telling our own stories and not listening to the other one. I still wanted to punch Shisui. Itachi did that for me when Shisui told me how a client thought Itachi was a girl.
.
After three weeks, I liked both Konoha and school. A few times, I had trouble with worksheets. But that was okay. My dad was happy to help me.
Tamaki and I became best friends. I kept doing everyone's homework. It was fun. I got to color more.
Every Saturday, my dad and I went to meet more storekeepers. We would talk about his new job or my new school. Last week, he bought me a bracelet. All the girls had been talking about it. I got it too late though, because everyone moved on to some ring. I gave the bracelet to Utako as a pretty necklace.
Every Sunday, I stayed with Aunt Mikoto and Sasuke. Itachi was not there much. I never saw his dad.
The one Sunday that Itachi did stay home, he was sharpening a kunai. I sat next to him. I was sharpening my red colored pencil. I had wood shavings. He had metal shavings. Close enough. We were pretty much doing the same thing.
I was getting frustrated though. The pencil tip kept breaking off. When the tip snapped for the fourth time, I gave up.
"Auntie, do you have a red colored pencil?" I asked. Aunt Mikoto was in the kitchen, making dinner.
"Ask Itachi!" she said.
"Can I borrow a red colored pencil?" I asked Itachi.
He did not look up from his kunai. I was not surprised. I already knew he was weird.
"Why?"
"Because mine broke."
"Why."
"Because the pencil is bad."
"Why."
"Because it doesn't like me and stops me from doing homework."
"Why."
"Because there's a lot of homework."
"Why."
"Because I have to do it four times."
At this, he raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because everybody is too busy! Now do you have a damn pencil or not!" I covered my mouth and peeked at the kitchen. "Oopsie." Luckily, Auntie did not hear me curse. That would be bad.
Itachi looked at me for a long time. He went back to scraping metal.
"No."
"But— Then why didn't you say so— You should have just— GAH! Forget it! You annoy me!"
"I said one word," he said. "You should not be angered so easily."
Was he insulting me? I wanted to throw my pencil at him. But that would be wrong.
I threw it at him anyway. I missed.
"Poor aim."
"Can you please shut up!"
"Limited vocabulary," he noted.
I was mad. I wanted to tackle him. I did. He grabbed my arm.
"Owie! Stop. Stop that! It can't bend like that... at least, I don't think it can."
"And you do not know how to pick a fight. Give up on being a ninja. There's no hope for you."
I blinked. He let go.
I rubbed my arm. "What are you talking about? I don't want to be no ninja."
"You... don't?" It was his turn to be confused.
"Why would I? It's stupid. People will punch me, and why would I want that? I don't even see you have fun. Besides, playing ninja is for boys, and you get all dirty and stuff." I stuck out my tongue.
His lips twitched. He was smirking. "You were never expected to be one," he said. "Your father..."
I flailed my hand. "My dad! You kidding! He wants me to be like him. An in-ven-tor. He makes cool things, like a light that turns on when you open the fridge. So you can see where all the stuff is! But to tell the truth, I don't want to be that either."
"Oh?"
"Nah, I want to be a ballerina! You get to wear pretty clothes, and all you do is dance all day. Let me show you!"
I did the steps that I learned back at the capital. "See, this one is a swan!" I jumped and bowed.
He did not look amazed like I thought he would.
"You have to clap," I said.
He did. "Your art form is rather rough."
I huffed. "I'll get better. Not like you're so great."
He took a rag to wipe his kunai.
"See? All you do is mope all day. I bet you don't even like being a ninja."
"I do not."
I pouted. He made no sense. I sat back down and picked up my homework. "Then why do you it?" I asked.
"Power," he said.
"That's lame."
He shrugged.
"No, like really lame. Who'd want to waste all their time—"
He threw the kunai at me. It was so fast, I heard wind against my ear. The kunai hit the wall behind me.
My heart skipped.
"Say that again?"
I shut up.
Then, "Lame. A huge waste of time. You know why? Power makes bullies. And no one likes bullies. Take my dad. Sure, he's not fighting bad guys. But without him, you can't tell the tomatoes from the ham, and your hand ends up in leftover broccoli soup when all you want is a nice late night snack."
He did the staring thing again. I had been here far too long to fall for that. "You don't scare me," I said, grinning. "In fact, I know your weakness, ninja boy."
His eyes widened and then narrowed. "You lie."
"Would I lie? I know I got more power over you."
"You are bluffing." He pretended hard to not believe me.
"Nope." I smiled.
And then he knew. Too late.
"AUNTIE! ITACHI IS BEING MEAN—!" He muffled my mouth.
Aunt Mikoto marched into the room. She found him on top of me. He wanted to shut me up. We rolled.
I bit into his arm. He fell back, as if I became a piranha.
"What did you do?" Aunt Mikoto asked Itachi.
I pointed to the wall. "He said mean things to me. And then, when I told him to stop, he threw that at me! I got so scared. Please help me." I sobbed.
I hugged tightly onto her waist. Aunt Mikoto saw the kunai in the wall. Her lips thinned.
"Itachi, you have some nerve bullying a little girl. You are prohibited from leaving the house tonight. Apologize."
"She—"
"Now!"
"I'm sorry," he said quickly.
"Not to me, to her," Aunt Mikoto said.
Glaring, he turned to me and said, "I'm sorry, Ayae."
"He doesn't mean it! Did you see how he glared at me? Make him stop, it's scaring me," I whined to Aunt Mikoto, just to annoy him more.
Aunt Mikoto hugged me tight. "Itachi? Mean it," she said.
"What does she want me to do? Get on my knees?"
Oh yeah, I got him mad.
I smirked. "Yeah, do that."
"Why you little—" He gritted his teeth.
"Don't even start. I'm just as tall as you!"
He snapped.
"Enough!" Aunt Mikoto said.
We both froze.
"You! Apologize! And you too! If you children will not stop fighting, then I'll send you both to the corners of the room until you learn to get along."
"But I have homework!"
"One..." Aunt Mikoto counted.
"I must prepare for my mission."
"Two..."
Itachi and I looked at each other. He frowned. I pouted.
"Three..."
I was not going to apologize until he did.
"Four..."
He was waiting for me to do something first.
"Five. You, corner. You, corner."
I dragged myself to my corner and plopped there. I leaned against the couch. He sat by the plant. I frowned when I saw he was not mad anymore. It was more fun when he was.
But no. He breathed and started to meditate like a monk. I tried to be quiet too but got restless.
"You know, you could have just apologized," I said.
He kept his eyes closed. "The fault was not mine."
"Well, if you did, we wouldn't be in this mess."
"We would not be, if you never opened your mouth."
"Hmph!" I crossed my arms. "And you could have just lent me a color pencil."
"I told you I did not have one."
"Could have told me that earlier!"
"It is not my responsibility to take care of your school supplies."
I would snap back if I knew what he was saying. "Well, you're mean."
"And you are becoming quite annoying."
"I am not annoying!"
I got a look.
"I am not!" I said. "What have I done that is annoying?"
I should not have asked because he stopped pretending to be calm.
"Oh? Let us review, shall we? You talk nonstop every morning. You ask me ten times a day on redundant materials. You make me miss training, not once, but twice. You upset my mother and enrage my father, whom I am not eager to meet today. Finally, you mock me, saying that years of my life have been wasted, and I have nothing to look forward to for the rest of my future except hate and contempt. As if I did not know that."
I was taken aback. "I never said that last one."
"It was implied."
I winced. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to make a friend. I didn't mean to hurt you..." My voice cracked. My eyes stung. It was the first time anyone talked like that to me. He made it sound like it was all my fault.
Aunt Mikoto walked back in, patting her apron. "Kids, you ready to— Oh Ayae! Why are you crying, dear?"
"Nothing," I hiccuped.
"What did you say to her, Itachi? I can't believe you made her cry," she said.
I wiped my face. "No, Auntie, I'm sorry. Please don't get mad at him."
"Come here, dear. Let me clean you up." She took me upstairs to the bathroom.
I got cleaned up. Then I went back to my homework. Itachi went back to cleaning his supplies. We did not look at each other anymore.
I thought that was it. It was just who he was. If he did not like me, then he did not like me.
But then, the next morning, he gave me something. A new red colored pencil.
"If you enjoy talking to me," he said, "I cannot stop you."
I stared at the pencil and then at him. He was serious. I nodded and smiled. He was nice after all!
Then someone put a hand on each of our heads. "Aw, that's so cute." Shisui messed up our hair. "And red? What a nice touch. You guys are just plain adorable, you know that? Aw, just aw..."
"SHISUI! GO AWAY!" We gave him a double punch.
