Tamaki blocked the window. "What is this?"

I hoped Tamaki would move to the right. I wanted to catch a view of outside.

I yawned. "Last night's homework?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course, it's last night's homework. But look at the grade." She held the paper to my face.

"B minus?"

"Why is it not an A!" she said.

I shrugged. I thought B minus was okay.

Tamaki gave me a weird look.

"I'll do better on the next one," I said.

"You say that, but it's never A. My mum will not be happy if I get C again," Setsu said. Dai nodded. Ayame looked at everyone, confused.

"If you don't like it, then you do it," I said. "I start ballet today, so I don't know if I have time anymore."

Tamaki huffed. "And you call yourself an Uchiha."

"So what," I grumbled.

"So," Dai said, "you should have no problem doing both."

"I don't know," I said. "The stuff is getting hard. Last night, I stayed up late to finish."

"Tch, you're lying."

"Huh?" How was I lying?

Dai folded her arms. "Stop pretending."

"Um, I don't think she knows..." Ayame whispered.

"What? What don't I know?" I asked.

"Are you kidding? Okay, let me tell you. Every Uchiha that has passed through this school is a genius. Well, maybe except one or two weirdos. But most of them are," Dai said.

"Yeah, like that Shisui person. He was said to be stronger than chuunin, and he hadn't even graduated yet!"

"Or Itachi. Remember, Ayame? He was in our class for a month last year. I heard he completed school by winter."

A nod. "Yes, he always sat alone at lunch and read books."

"Were you friends?" I asked.

Ayame blushed and looked away, shaking her head.

Tamaki scoffed. "Well, I hate him. He was making the rest of us look bad."

I frowned. Itachi annoyed me sometimes, but he was a nice friend. He even helped me with homework whenever my dad or Aunt Mikoto was too busy. And Shisui? Come on. They were pulling my leg. The guy was an idiot.

"Well, Itachi is cute though," Dai said.

Setsu giggled. "Yeah, he is. Ayame always went red around him."

"GIRLS." Tamaki smacked them in the head.

"Psh, Tamaki, we know you liked him too," Dai said. "You only hated him after he said no to you."

"Yeah, Tamaki, you were so in love with him."

Tamaki flushed. "Was not! He looked lonely, so I asked him if he wanted to eat together."

"And he said no," Dai pointed out. "So you hated him from then on and came to us."

"Did not."

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"I did not like him!" Tamaki yelled.

"'Oh, he's so cute and smart. He always gets perfect grades and cute. And oh his family is so famous and rich. I wish he would come over here and ask me to marry him. Then I'll be Uchiha Tamaki,'" Dai said in a high voice. "Who said that last year?"

"I-I was joking! Why would I like a jerk like him?" Tamaki stuttered, going red.

"His eyes."

"His hair."

"His money."

"..."

"..."

"What? Have you seen that district? My mum talks about it all the time," Setsu said.

Ayame sighed. "And his voice..."

"And he's the top of the class- no- school."

"And money!"

All the girls giggled.

Ayame turned to me. "What about you, Ayae? Do you like him?"

Everyone else turned to me too, curious.

"W-what?"

Dai clicked her tongue. "Come on, you know who he is. We see you with him every morning. He drops you off."

Tamaki stopped. "He... does?" she asked.

I scratched my head. "Um, well, yes..."

"What's he like?"

"What does he say?"

"How's he doing?"

They leaned forward. I shrunk in my seat. "Um, well, he doesn't say much..."

They fell back. "Figures," they said.

"So, do you like... like him, Ayae?" Tamaki asked me.

"Yeah," I said. "He's my friend!"

"Tch, doubt he thinks that. And we're talking about like-like. Do you like-like him?"

I gulped. Honestly, I did not know the difference. Was like-like as twice as big as like? Gah, why was there a math problem here?

"I don't think so? He's just a friend."

I hoped that I gave the right answer. Should I change it? All my friends said they like-liked him. But then again, they hated him too. Would that cancel out part of the like? I was too confused.

"You sure?" Dai asked.

"No...?"

Tamaki smiled and her hands on her hips. "Good, Ayae. You are too good for him. That jerk."

"He's not a jerk, Tamaki. He's just shy and doesn't talk much. I don't think-!" Something hit my head.

The thrower was that annoying boy again.

"Stop that!" I said.

He tossed another paper ball.

"Cut that out!"

"Back off, Ginjiro!" Dai told him.

He did not. "Leave, Uchiha scum."

What was it with people here and the Uchiha? They either loved them or hated them. Or, they could be like my friends and be both.

"You," I told the boy. "I don't know what your problem is, but stop throwing SHIT at me! I had enough of your CRAP! How would you like it if you got thrown with stuff every day? Huh?"

"Ahem."

"WHATtt... oh." Oops.

"What did you say, young lady?" the geezer wheezed. Our teacher was old but still scary.

Busted. My friends quickly buried themselves behind worksheets. They did not want to get in trouble.

"I believe a day's detention is in order here."

My mouth dropped. Detention? But I did not do anything wrong!

"But he was throwing things at me!" I pointed to Ginjiro.

"Then he will serve in detention with you."

That was worse! I did not want to be stuck together with him! "That's not fair!" I stomped my foot.

"Two days."

"What! But-"

"One week. If you enjoy raising your days to two weeks, just say another word."

I shut my mouth. I gave the boy a nasty look. He grinned.

"How about one month?" he told the teacher.

My jaw fell to the floor. ONE MONTH? School would be over by then.

The teacher did not find that funny. "Two weeks. See you both here."

The geezer went back to his newspaper.

I went back to my seat too.

"I can't believe you cursed," Setsu whispered.

"Sorry, Ayae. That boy is annoying," Dai said.

"Well, at least we know she's one of those weirdos," Ayame said, giggling.

"Huh?"

Ayame spoke up. "You got detention, right? How many Uchiha you know got detention? I bet your family will be mad."

"I hope not." I buried my head in my arms. This was not my fault. Surely my dad would see that. Maybe he could even tell the teacher.

Tamaki slid her homework back to her. "Say, Ayae, you don't have to do my homework anymore. Seeing as you got detention, you probably won't have time," she said.

Everybody else took their homework back too.

"Yeah, I think I can get higher than B minus," Setsu said. "Have I told you that my parents would be really mad if I got anywhere near C?"

I was glad my friends were not mad at me anymore. Tamaki still looked at me a few times.

At the end of school, I was about to leave. Then I remembered. Detention.

I groaned. I was a good girl. I did not belong in detention. The boy waved at me mockingly.

"Next time, I'll get you expelled." He passed me to grab a seat.

In his seat, he leaned back. He put his cap over his face, as if to go to sleep.

I could not believe it! I wanted to go there and stomp on his foot.

Unfortunately, the teacher was here. "Sit down, Ms. Uchiha."

I did. I took Tamaki's seat by the window.

Outside, my cousins were waiting. Shisui was looking left and right for me. I peeked at my teacher. He was reading.

I waved at the window. Hopefully, my cousins would see.

Itachi pointed to my window. Shisui saw and shouted something. Too bad I could not hear. The idiot.

After three whole minutes, Shisui realized that. So he moved his hands too. It made him look like a clown. And I still could not tell what he was saying.

Itachi decided to walk into school to get me. That would be bad. The teacher would see. I could get in more trouble.

I shook my head. NO NO NO STOP, I mouthed.

Itachi stopped, now below where I was.

I was glad that the teacher and the pesky boy did not pay attention. I tore the corner of my homework. I wrote, 'You idoits! I am in detension. U will git me in truble. Pleese wate!'

I crumbled the paper up and threw it out the crack of the window. Itachi caught it.

Itachi showed Shisui the note. Shisui started laughing again. He took out a pen from his backpack. Itachi snatched the pen from him.

Itachi wrote something down. Shisui peeked over his shoulder. He then shouted something and tried to take the paper away from Itachi. Too late. Itachi already threw the note.

The note landed on my desk.

'You have two minutes to come down, or we'll leave.'

At first, I was in awe at his pretty handwriting. Then, I was in horror.

A second paper ball landed on my desk. This one was from Shisui.

'Jeez, ignore that last one. He's kidding. Of course, we'll wait for you. You have three minutes.' At the end was a smiley face with a tongue out.

My eye twitched. I will kill them both. I narrowed my eyes at them. They both backed away.

'U meenies!' I threw my note at their faces. I missed. Damn.

'Your calligraphy is atrocious. One minute.'

I banged my head on the desk. Maybe I could jump out the window. The teacher might not even know.

'I CANT!'

"What are you doing?" the teacher behind me asked. I jumped in my seat. "Stop making funny faces in the window and sit by the door."

The brat smirked at me.

Mad, I did as told and slumped in my new seat. All I could do was stare at the clock.

Then I remembered something.

"SHIT! BALLET!" I jumped up from my seat. Then I clapped my hands over my mouth.

This was going to be a long day.

.

I swear the clock did not move.

I tapped my eraser. I hated the brat. He still had that stupid grin on his face. Sometimes, he would throw something at me. Mostly paper. I ignored them and picked the pieces out of my hair.

I was more worried about ballet.

The detention was over. I ran out of the room. I had less than five minutes to get to the dance hall.

There was no one outside. My cousins left me.

I stomped. "They are so dead!"

Sighing, I hung my head. I began walking down the road.

"You know, squirt, at that pace, we would have mistaken you for a snail."

Shisui was lying down on the grass. Itachi poofed next to him. "Avoid making us wait for you again, Ayae. We would not be so lenient in the future."

"Sorry!"

I followed them. Then I remembered.

"Let's go!" Shisui said. "I'm already an hour late, man! My mom is going to chase me down and fry me!"

"My ballet lesson!" I said. "I have it today! It's already starting. I can't miss the sign up! I can't!"

I showed them a crumpled pink slip from my backpack. It had the address of the dance hall.

"You are joking." Shisui slapped his face. "You get detention on the same day you have your dance thingy? If you haven't noticed, I have a mom at home who will skin me alive if I skip out on her oh-so-wonderful dinner made of god-knows-what meat."

"We are already late," Itachi said. "It's not going to make any difference at this point, so we might as well take her to the dance hall."

"Really? Thanks, guys! I owe you one- wait!"

"What now?" Shisui said.

"I left my new shoes at home..."

Shisui hit his head over and over again. "Okay, okay. Fine. No sweat. Itachi, go to her house and get the princess her shoes. Come on, squirt, I'll carry you to the place."

"Carry me? The place is a kilometer away!"

Shisui rolled his eyes. "Hello? Who do you think you are with here? Ninjas, squirt, ninjas. Piggyback. Now."

I jumped on his back. He sank, his legs wobbling.

"DANG, squirt. You're heavy!"

I pouted. "Shut up, ninja boy. Go!"

And then, he did something I was not expecting. He jumped. Ten meters in the air.

My voice got just as high.

"PUT ME DOWN, PUT ME DOWN, PUT ME DOWN NOW!"

Shisui dropped me off on a roof.

"Oh my LORD." Shisui clapped his hands over his ears. "Calm down!"

He covered my mouth. I screamed into his palm. My legs were shaking. I grabbed the roof tiles as hard as I could.

"How can such a loud noise come out of your body? Calm down, squirt! It's fine!"

I looked down and shook my head. Tears came out.

Shisui was baffled. "Hey, now don't cry. Listen, I'll set you back down if you would just stand up and let me-"

I shook my head again. No! I wanted to go down. Just not the way I came up!

Itachi hugged me from behind.

"You are hurting my ears," he whispered.

I got quiet.

"Great, she listens to you," Shisui mumbled. "At least she stopped liquefying my brain cells to mush."

"Y-you. You should have told me you were going to do that before you decided to go FLYING," I said shakily.

"How was I to know that you'd react like that?"

"Enough," Itachi said. "Shisui, get the shoes. I'll take care of this. Go."

"Are you sure-"

"Go!"

"Jeez, when did you become the boss," Shisui said. He jumped to the next roof and one after that. He was gone.

"Get me down," I whined to Itachi. One of my hands was still grabbing a rooftop tile. My other hand grabbed his wrist.

"Let go," he said.

"No, get me down!"

"I assure you, I will, if you would let go."

I did not want to. I held him tighter.

He sighed. "Suit yourself."

Itachi moved himself. He lifted me up. The moment he did, my hand had to let go of the tile. I squeezed his wrist harder.

"Close your eyes."

"What?"

"Just do it," he said softly.

I blinked. I did as told.

"Hold on ti- Don't," he said.

I felt wind brush my face. My hair fluttered. But it was not as scary as the first time. The ride was almost fun, if I kept my eyes shut.

A few seconds later, I heard him again.

"You can open your eyes now."

I opened my right eye first, then my left. We were on the ground. The dance hall was in front of us. Relieved, I went to the building. I felt a tug and looked down. My hand still glued onto him.

"If you do not mind, I would like to have my hand back."

I peeled my hand off. There were red marks on his wrist. "Sorry!"

I went for the door again. Itachi stood at the road.

"Um, can you come with me?" I asked Itachi. "I'm nervous."

I was happy when he did. The dance hall was a grand room with waxed floors and walls of mirrors. The place was warm. It reminded me of the capital.

Sitting on the floor was a group of girls. They gathered to listen to the teacher. She had hair that was pulled into a bun and strange, pale eyes.

"Are you Ayae?" the teacher asked me.

I nodded.

"Kind of you to join us. We were just introducing ourselves. I am Ms. Hyuuga," she said.

Everyone introduced themselves. I did too.

"I want each of you to dance today, so I may assess your ability," Ms. Hyuuga said. "Do not worry if this is your first time. I will not reject anyone, as long as she is willing to learn. Now everyone, go and change."

I followed the other girls into a changing room. They undressed and helped each other fit into shirts and leggings. A few of the older girls helped lace ballet shoes for the younger girls. I grabbed my own clothes from my backpack.

I had a white shirt with orange petals and dark-orange tights. My mom got me this outfit years ago. It was big on me at the time. Now, it fitted perfectly, even though the colors got faded.

I brought the shirt to my nose. Strawberries, oranges, with a pinch of fuchsia. Mom. I clapped my hands together for a quick prayer.

Everyone finished changing. They tugged the last fold in their clothes or stretched a rubber band to tie their hair. But I still was not ready. My foot was bare.

Luckily, back in the studio, Shisui was leaning against a wall. He swirled my shoes. "Oh princess, I have your slippers. Shall we try them on?"

I plopped on the wooden benches next to Itachi. I slipped the shoes on. They fitted snugly. The lacing I had a little trouble with, so Shisui did them. "Ah, perfect fit," he said. "Glad to see you're not screaming anymore."

I stuck out my tongue. "No thanks to you!"

He shooed me. "Yeah, yeah, you go and dance now. Let's go, Itachi. My mom's still waiting with her butcher knife and skillet pan."

I stopped. "Wait, you aren't staying?"

Shisui blinked. "Well, no. Isn't someone coming to pick you up?"

"My dad... but-"

"See ya then!" Shisui waved. An elbow met his stomach.

"We are staying," Itachi said.

"Why?" Shisui complained. He held his stomach. "You heard her, her pop's picking her up."

"She wants us to stay," Itachi said. I was glad Itachi said that. But I did not like his tone. He made it sound like I could not handle myself. I can. Company just never hurt.

Shisui sighed. "Fine, fine. We'll stay, whether you - or I - like it or not. I mean, what else can I do after an entire day's worth of exhausting missions? Psh, who needs sleep nowadays." Before I could argue, Shisui pushed me toward the dance group. "Go. Don't mind us idiots sitting here."

I joined the other girls. One by one we danced for Ms. Hyuuga. I was second to last on the list, so I saw everyone else first.

The first girl was cool. She was three years older than me. Her dancing made me nervous about myself.

The second girl was like me. Her dance was not as good as the first one.

The third girl was younger than me, about six. Hers was bad.

The fourth girl did not know anything! It was her first time and she was too embarrassed to do anything.

The performances went on. Watching, I felt good. I was better than most of the girls my age. The older ones were better than me, but that was okay.

"Uchiha Ayae, you are up."

The last girl sat down. I got up and moved to the center.

"Whenever you are ready," Ms. Hyuuga said.

Taking a deep breath, I spread my arms and began. In my head, I played the music that I usually danced to. Step. Step. Twirl, spin, step.

Ms. Hyuuga smiled. "Have you done ballet before, Ayae?"

I laced my fingers together behind my back. "A little."

"Your dance needs refinement, but I see potential. Well done."

I beamed and sat down, happy.

"Finally, Ms. Yuuhi. Class, Ms. Yuuhi is in her final year, so I would like you all to pay close attention and learn something from her," Ms. Hyuuga said.

A girl, so much older than everybody else, stood up. She was a teenager, with wild hair pulled into a messy bun and beautiful red eyes.

Her dance was amazing! She looked so delicate yet strong in her glide across the room.

I was not the only one in awe. All the students stared. Shisui had a goofy grin.

Itachi was super focused. His eyes followed every move, each sway of her arms and twirl of her legs. I got a bit jealous. Itachi did not give me that kind of attention when I danced for him.

The Yuuhi girl got the loudest applause. She smiled and bowed back.

"Wonderful," said Ms. Hyuuga. "We conclude today. I look forward to seeing each of you again."

The girls broke into chatter and rushed into the changing room. I went to my cousins.

"Hey, squirt, you think I can watch every one of your little dance lessons from now on?" Shisui patted me on the back. I beamed until he added, "That Yuuhi chick will still be here, right? Because damn is she hot."

I pouted.

"Ayae." Itachi waved me over.

"Okay," I began, "I know I'm not good right now but-"

"Ayae," Itachi said. "Come here."

I moved closer. If he said something mean, I was close enough to punch him.

To my surprise, he had two orange ribbons in his hand. Behind me, he combed my hair with his fingers.

"Your hair was in the way. I noticed all the other girls had theirs tied. You should do the same. Then the audience can better see your movements," he said.

When he was done, there were two braids at my side. I was speechless.

I touched the ribbons. "Where did you get these?"

"Rule 121. A ninja should be able to retrieve any resource at any moment in time."

"Oh." I pretended I understood.

"Yes, great," Shisui said. "Straight from the codebook. Wonderful you can recite that. Now, if you two are done, can we please go home? I am going to get my spleen sliced!"

To my disappointment, Itachi sided with him. "We have overstayed our limit. Ayae, your father will arrive in a few minutes."

"See you later, squirt!" Shisui said. "And if you ever by any chance know if Ms. Yuuhi has any plans for this weekend, let me know!"

With that, they disappeared.

I touched my hair again. Only mom had ever braided it. Whenever I tried, it ended in a mess. That Itachi had done it for me was really nice.

I readied to leave for the changing room but stopped. In one of the mirrors was a reflection of outside. Standing in the Konoha streets was Tamaki. She stared at me.

Her eyes made me jump. They were so cold. But when I turned around, she was waving to me, smiling.

"Hi!" she called to me. She pulled on her mom's sleeve. "Mom! Mom! This is the friend I was telling you about. Ayae!"

Tamaki's mother had red lips and thick eyelashes. On her ears were pearls. Nested under her arm was a leather purse. I thought she looked like a celebrity.

I never guessed Tamaki had such a cool mom.

Tamaki entered the studio and ran to me in a hug. Following her was the sound of heels echoing in the big room.

"Ayae!" Tamaki squealed, clapping together her hands. "What are the chances I see you here! How was detention? Was it bad? Tell me all about it. You look so pretty right now! I love your hair!" I was taken aback. I swore a second earlier, she looked as if she would never speak to me again.

Tamaki introduced me to her mom. Her mother smiled like an actress on an interview. "Pleased to meet you," she said. Even her voice sounded nice.

Tamaki and I chatted. I told her about my awful detention. I told her how the brat kept throwing paper at me. Tamaki giggled when I showed her the look on the brat's face when I threw stuff back full fire.

Then Tamaki's mom said they must leave.

"A few more minutes, mom?"

"No. You two can catch up later," Tamaki's mom said.

"Bye! See you tomorrow!" Tamaki said.

"See you!"

I bumped into someone on my way to the changing room.

"Sorry!" I said.

It was the Yuuhi girl. She had one of those ninja headbands and a gear bag over her shoulder. Her hair was loose.

"No worries," she said.

I got to changing. Just as I finished, my dad came into the studio.

"Sweetie! How did it go? Sorry I'm late." He gasped for breath, his red faced and his glasses askew.

A hand fell on my shoulder. "She did exceptionally well. I hope she will continue lessons here," Ms. Hyuuga said.

My dad nudged up his glasses. "Oh! Are you the instructor?"

Ms. Hyuuga smiled. "Yes, my name is Hyuuga Kagami." She held out a hand.

"Kenta, Uchiha Kenta" my dad said, shaking her hand. "It is great to meet my little girl's dance teacher. You say she is doing well? Ah, I knew it. That's my pumpkin. Yup. Yes, you can definitely count on her being here. Right, honey?"

I nodded.

"See? She's got her mom in her. And I am absolutely confident that you will provide the very best. After all, you look like someone who's got a talent for dance, and you are very beautiful as well," he said, still shaking her hand.

Ms. Hyuuga laughed. "I am flattered, Mr. Uchiha. May I have my hand back now?"

"Ah, yes, of course! Sorry!"

"Ayae here will fit in just fine," Ms. Hyuuga said. "And support from her parents will definitely help."

"Ahaha! Right!" my dad said. "Her mom used to always help Ayae with this. I just carried the shopping bags of all the clothes they bought!"

They talked. Well, Ms. Hyuuga talked. My dad rambled. They talked for a long, long time.

At first, they said good things about me, so I was okay. But then, they moved on to things like, "Do you like dumplings?" So I got bored.

I started whining but got ignored.

Finally, I dragged my dad out of the room.

"And, I guess I'll see you next time? I guess?" he asked on his way out. He held onto the door frame while I tugged him. My feet slid in place on the streets as I heaved his arm over my shoulder.

"Till next time, Mr. Uchiha."

"Bye-" My dad tripped on the ledge of the door and fell flat on his face. I slapped my face. I picked him up. My dad scratched his head, laughing nervously. "I'm okay!"

"Bye bye." Ms. Hyuuga chuckled.

We left.

I liked walking with my dad. I did not like pulling him away from moving carts and getting yelled at by angry pedestrians. He had a goofy smile.

"Daddy?"

"Daddy..."

"DAD!"

"Huh? What? Yes?" He snapped out of it in time to not hit a pole.

"You're acting weird." I tucked on his sleeve so he would miss the lady with a big basket of fruit. "Are you listening?"

"Oh! Sorry, honey. Hey, did you do something with your hair?"

I told him that Itachi braided it.

"That's nice," he said. Then, "Say, isn't Ms. Hyuuga nice?"

I sighed and pulled on his arm, so he would not be killed by the cat that just had his tail stepped on.