I stared at the flier in front of me. No. Way. No way, no way, no way!

"Tamaki! Where? Why? How—!"

Setsu muffled me. I could not get detention again.

The teacher was droning on about ninja applications. At first, the things he said were interesting. Now, everyone stopped listening. The teacher would forget and say the same things over and over again.

"I got free passes. Want to go?" Tamaki asked me.

"How did you get free passes to Princess Fuun?" I asked. "The second movie isn't supposed to come out until forever!"

Tamaki smirked. "My mom knows people. So are you coming?"

"YES!"

"Yes, what?" A red hat bobbled near the table. I scooted over so Ginjiro could share my seat.

Ginjiro scratched his head at the flier I showed him. "A movie?"

"Not any movie. It's Princess Fuun. You know, the cartoon on the Saturdays."

"Eh." He did not look too interested. All the girls, including me, gawked at him. "What?"

"Aren't you excited?" Dai asked.

"Not really. It's some girl show."

Tamaki scoffed. "Idiot. The show is for boys too. And adults. It's popular, and this is the only chance we might see it."

"What's it about?" Ginjiro asked.

"We don't know," Dai said. "But I heard that this one was shot all the way in Tsuki. They even had to take a long boat and sailed for weeks to the island. How cool is that? And I heard that this time, the actors were real ninjas, with never-before-seen jutsu!"

The never-before-seen jutsu part caught Ginjiro's attention. "Seriously?"

"Yeah! And I got free entry, and can take as many as I like," Tamaki bragged. "Want to come with?"

"Seriously?" he said.

I urged him to go. It would be great. He agreed.

"Great! The more people the better." Tamaki handed each of us a piece of paper. "The movie is playing at the FuwaFuwa Movie Theatre in Ookiiranpu. Your parents should know where it is, so ask them to come this Saturday. My mom is going, and so is Dai's dad. Setsu's going with Dai. Ayame's squeezing with me. That leaves Ginjiro and Ayae," Tamaki said professionally.

Ginjiro frowned. "Ookiiranpu? Isn't that far?"

Tamaki shrugged. "It's only a few hours by wagon."

"And walking?" Ginjiro asked. I understood him. Wagons cost a lot. Both our families did not have the money for one.

"Um, that I don't know. A few more hours?" Tamaki said, unsure. "Will you not be able to make it then?"

Ginjiro glanced at me. He would go if I go.

My mind was made up. "I can go," I said. "My dad will say yes!"

My dad said no.

"But why," I whined at dinner. "It's Princess Fuun, daddy!"

"No, honey."

"Why?"

Sighing, he put his chopsticks down. "Because I'm needed at the office this weekend. I didn't want to tell you till later. I was hoping you did not mind staying with Aunt Mikoto."

No, I would not have minded. But this was the movie of the year!

I slumped. Then I had an idea. "What if someone else took me?" I asked.

"Who do you have in mind?"

"Well, Ginjiro and his brother are going."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Well, first off, I don't know if I like this Ginjiro kid. Isn't he the one that got you in detention?"

"It wasn't entirely his fault," I said.

"And putting that aside, how old is his brother?"

I blinked and did some math. He was a senior, and held back one year, and graduation was at twelve...

"Fourteen?" I said. That sounded like an okay number.

"That is way too young. You need an adult, and one who I can trust."

Oh come on! I was almost eight!

Suddenly, the answer came to me. I nearly skipped. "What if Auntie took me?"

My dad chewed a piece of pork. I waited and waited.

Finally, he said, "Maybe."

I did a victory dance. Maybe meant yes!

However, we would first have to see if Aunt Mikoto was willing. So after dinner, we slipped on our shoes and walked over to their house. My dad knocked.

We heard footsteps inside. The door slid open. Aunt Mikoto beamed. "Oh my! Kenta, Ayae, what are you two doing here? We're just in the middle of dinner."

"Is this a bad time then?" my dad asked.

I peeked behind her and caught a glimpse of the kitchen.

"No, not at all! Come in!" Aunt Mikoto said.

My dad sheepishly stepped in. He gave her a box. "We brought you these. Your family might like it, since we sure pigged out. Right, Ayae?"

I laughed. "Right!"

The box had a half a cheesecake that my dad bought at the bakery. We loved sweets and had dessert everyday. No need to say, the missing half was eaten by us.

"Thank you very much. Would you like to join us, Kenta? Come, I'll get you some tea." Aunt Mikoto waved us to the kitchen.

Their whole family was there, even the dad. The dad was drinking tea. He heard Aunt Mikoto and asked, "Who was it?"

I was a little scared of the dad. He looked and sounded mean.

"Kenta and his daughter, Ayae, are here. And they even brought some dessert to share. Kenta, this is my husband, Fugaku. I'm sure you two have met before."

"Right, right. Nice to see you!" my dad said, laughing nervously. He held out a hand.

"Pleasure."

I plopped myself between Itachi and Sasuke. I squeezed in. They were quick to make room for me.

"Hey," I said.

"How come you here?" Sasuke whispered.

"Came to ask something."

"What something?"

"Oh, just things," I teased.

Sasuke pouted at not getting an answer. I turned to Itachi. "Hey," I said.

"Hello, Ayae," he said. I waited for him to say something else. He just picked up his tea and sipped it. Sasuke watched and copied him. Every time Itachi brought the mug to his lips, Sasuke brought the glass to his own. It was so cute!

My dad and I came at the right time. The family was about finished with their own dinner. Itachi's bowl was so clean it looked as if he just took it out of the cupboards. Sasuke's bowl had uneaten vegetables and specks of rice here and there. Their family ate different things than ours.

Aunt Mikoto came back with the cake, sliced neatly into six pieces.

"Mommy, what is that?" Sasuke asked.

"Ayae's dad brought a cake, Sasuke," she said. Aunt Mikoto gave the first piece to her husband. My dad said he did not want any, so she gave the next pieces to her sons. I shook my head as well, too full.

Sasuke dug into his slice. His eyes sparkled. Itachi waited for their dad to eat and then tried a piece too. He liked it too. He liked it a lot.

I grinned. "Amazing, right?"

"This is new," he said.

Giggling, I dug my finger in and grabbed a bite of his cheesecake for myself. The corner of his mouth twitched. "You know, Ayae, if you wish to have some, you could have a new slice."

"Nah, too lazy for plate," I said. Itachi's grin widened.

It was great. I liked seeing him happy.

His smile was wiped clean by a cough. Their dad excused himself from the table. Before he left, though, he glared at me. I got shivers up my spine, until I realized it was not me he was looking at. It was Itachi.

Itachi looked back and gave a small nod. With that, their dad disappeared upstairs.

As soon as he was gone, everything changed. The kitchen got louder. Auntie started giggling at my dad's jokes. Sasuke was all over the table. He whined for another slice of cake.

Sasuke really loved cheesecake. He already went through two slices and looked longingly at Itachi's slice. Itachi put his slice on his brother's plate.

"Hey, what gives? Don't you like the cake?" I asked Itachi, who was drinking his tea again.

"Sasuke loves it more," Itachi said.

"He had two," I said, serious. I believed in fairness.

"I know."

I pouted. "Itachi, there are no teachers around. The sharing rule won't get you brownie points here."

For the first time, I heard him laugh.

.

"So is there a reason for the visit?" Aunt Mikoto asked my dad.

"In fact, yes. You see, this Saturday I have some important work to do, but Ayae told me she was invited to a Princess Fuun movie."

"Princess Fuun? That's a famous one. I remember seeing the first one a few years back," Aunt Mikoto said.

"I saw the first with my wife and Ayae. The current actress is amazing, but I heard this would be her last movie before retiring."

"Oh my, I hope the series will not end if that happens."

Aunt Mikoto and my dad went on.

I nudged Itachi. He looked tired. His eyelids would drop, then become wide again.

I looked out the window. It was pitch dark. But my dad and Aunt Mikoto were too busy to realize. Sasuke yawned beside me. He played with chopsticks.

"Brother Itachi, who is Princess Funn?" Sasuke asked. He had heard a little of the adult talk.

"I believe she is the heroine in the Princess Fuun movie and series."

Sasuke looked in awe. Itachi gave a tired smile.

"Did you watch the first movie too?" I asked Itachi. "I liked the part when they found the jewels at the cave. Or when they fought the bad guys. Actually, I didn't like that part too much because I missed most of it. My mom made me close my eyes."

Itachi did not look like he understood.

"I… I have not seen the movie, so I am afraid I do not know what you are speaking of," he said.

My jaw dropped. Sasuke copied me. The chopsticks in his mouth fell out.

"But didn't your mom say she watched it…?"

"That's correct. Mother took a day off to enjoy the movie and left Sasuke in the care of Old Aunt Uruchi."

"Why didn't you or Sasuke go?"

"Sasuke was too young."

"What about you? It was an awesome movie! How could you miss it?"

"I was busy that day," he said.

He was crazy. What could he be busy with? Oh wait, I should know this answer.

"Training?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. "Actually, no."

"Then what!"

"I was preparing for the Academy."

My jaw dropped again. Sasuke copied me again.

"School? You were studying for school when school hadn't even started?"

He nodded.

I slapped my face. This was not okay!

"You have to watch this movie with me then," I said. "Not watching Princess Fuun will not do!"

"I want to watch too!" Sasuke said. "I want to watch!"

Aunt Mikoto laughed. "You want to watch the movie too, Sasuke?" She picked him and tickled his nose. "Well, maybe you can come too."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Okay."

Aunt Mikoto carried him to his room upstairs. After she came back down, she told my dad that she would be happy to take me to Ookiiranpu. "Is it at the famous FuwaFuwa Theatre?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Oh my, those tickets will be expensive then."

"Don't worry, Tamaki said we could go for free!" I said.

I turned to Itachi. He was in a daze. Closer, I tilted my head and saw shadows under his eyes too. He looked super sleepy.

"Hey, are you tired? You should go to bed," I said. He did not reply. "Itachi? Are you—"

He fell.

I screamed.

Aunt Mikoto and my dad turned their heads. They rushed over. I tried to pull Itachi up. I yelped when something shocked my hand.

"Itachi!" Aunt Mikoto bent to pick him up. She pulled back her hand too.

"Are you alright, honey? What happened?" my dad asked.

"I—I don't know! He looked sleepy and then he just fell!"

Aunt Mikoto tried to pick Itachi up again. I heard crackles of electricity. She ignored the shock and carried him to the couch.

Then she saw something that made her really mad.

To us, she said, "Itachi is tired, and I guess he was pushing himself to stay awake. Perhaps it's best that you and your daughter leave now, Kenta."

My dad was worried. "Are you sure? Should we call the hospital?"

"It's fine. Itachi is just tired," she said.

My dad was not sure.

"He's fine, Kenta." Mikoto smiled politely again. She was lying. Around Itachi's wrist was that bracelet. Aunt Mikoto was trying to pry it off. My dad was confused. Itachi had just fainted. The last thing to do was to take off jewelry.

"Mikoto, if there is anything wrong, I insist that I help," my dad said.

Any cheerfulness from dinner was gone. The bracelet would not budge, so Aunt Mikoto gave up and said, "Then please stay here and watch my son. Don't touch him. I'm going to get his father."

She cursed his name on her dash upstairs.

My dad grabbed my shoulders and pulled me close to him. "Are you okay, honey?" he asked. I nodded. He sighed. "This is my fault. I got carried away talking. I guess we overstayed our welcome."

The night was dark now. I stared at Itachi and frowned. Even in his sleep, he looked hurt. His breaths were shallow and uneven.

My dad bent down to check his forehead for a fever. He pulled back his hand. "What the—?"

The bracelet. The problem had something to do with that weird bracelet. I just knew it!

I tugged out of my dad's grip and knelt by Itachi's side. I needed to take off the bracelet. If I did, Itachi would wake up.

A hand firmly gripped my wrist. "Do. Not. Touch."

Itachi's dad let me go. Scared, I stepped away.

I ran back to my own dad. Aunt Mikoto shooed us toward the door.

"I am very sorry for this. Please, come again some other time," she said. She hurried back to the living room.

I stalled slipping on my shoes. I peeked in and watched Itachi's dad do something with his hands. The bracelet snapped into two. Just like that time in the studio, the bracelet fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

My dad was already outside. He waved at me to hurry. I slid the front door shut.

Before the door closed, I saw Itachi's dad carrying him upstairs. He did not look happy. He said a word.

Weak.

.

Itachi was going. He was going, even if I had to drag him there.

"You. Are. GOING!" I tugged on his arm. He was not heavier than me, so why was he not budging?

"Please stop trying to dislocate my arm..."

"Then go with us!" I said.

"Jeez, if she wants you to go, then go. I agree. When was the last time you ever did something fun?" Shisui said.

"It's Princess Fuun for crying out loud!" I was going crazy. "THE movie!"

"Oh, I saw that!" Shisui said. "The second one's out already?"

"See? Even Shisui has seen it. You HAVE to come with us!"

Aunt Mikoto had agreed to take me to Ookiiranpu with her sons. Sons. Plural! Two!

My friends had screamed when they heard Itachi would be coming. Ginjiro did not look as happy. Still, Ginjiro was glad I was going. We made plans to meet up a third of the way, where our roads crossed.

I invited Shisui too. Sadly, he was busy. "Sorry, police work," he said. He went on to talk about job stuff that I did not understand.

But Itachi had no excuse. His excuse was, "We have a spar this afternoon." Itachi looked at Shisui as he said it.

"Err, now we don't! Have fun at the movies." Shisui put emphasis on the word "movies". Then he jumped onto the roof and was gone.

In the kitchen, Aunt Mikoto was packing a backpack with food.

She picked Sasuke up and set him on the table. "Okay, now promise mommy. You are always going to stay next to me, Brother Itachi, or Sister Ayae, okay? No wandering off."

"Okay."

"Always?"

"Always."

"To who?"

"Mommy, Brother Itachi, Sister Ayae."

"Very good!"

At the door, I kept trying to tug Itachi outside. Itachi would have to face the truth. He was going. His mom threatened that he would. And she threatened his dad too.

Aunt Mikoto knelt down next to us. "You two ready? It's going to be a long walk."

"I'm good," I said.

"No food? Bathroom?"

"Nah."

"And you, Itachi? Feeling better?" she asked.

My eyes fell to the bracelet around his wrist. Itachi was wearing it again.

"I'm fine," Itachi said.

"Are you sure?"

"If I say no, am I excused from going?"

He was fine.

Except for Sasuke, we all carried a backpack and set out.

As soon as we left the Konoha gate, Sasuke ran ahead. I was just as excited. I could not believe how much forest there was outside. I looked at everything from the puddle below to the butterfly above.

Sasuke reached out to pull a plant on the ground.

"Sasuke, stay away from that!" Aunt Mikoto yelled.

Itachi caught him. I passed by the plant and laughed. I knew that plant! Good thing Sasuke did not touch, or we would be itching the whole way there. Sasuke kept on running ahead. Itachi followed closely behind. I chatted with Aunt Mikoto.

"Are those your friends, dear?" She pointed to two people down the road.

I perked up.

"Hey! GIN!" I ran.

Ginjiro was with his older brother because his parents worked all day, every day. But his older brother was free. He was going to big cities for work anyway, so he had no problems taking Ginjiro to Ookiiranpu.

Sadly, not everyone got along. Ginjiro's brother and Itachi stayed away from each other. Sasuke also grew shy and went to his mom. I wished everyone would be friends.

Ginjiro and I went back to running. We would pick a mark on the road and race there. Usually, whoever called it first got there first, so we had no idea who was faster.

An hour of racing later, everyone else was far behind us.

"Hold on, let's wait for them." I breathed deeply, my hands on my knees.

Ginjiro leaned against a tree. "Yeah."

When Itachi got close, I ran to his side. "Come, I forgot to introduce!"

I led Itachi to Ginjiro. "Ginjiro, this is Itachi. Itachi, Ginjiro."

The two looked at each other. They did not say anything to each other. I felt I did something stupid.

Finally, Ginjiro scoffed. "I already know him."

"Well, not in person. Now you do!" I said. I knew I could not do anything about Ginjiro's brother. But I could still convince Ginjiro that Itachi was okay.

"Pleased to meet you," Itachi said. It was a start. They never shook hands though.

I waited for friendship to happen. They were both boys, after all. Boys befriended other boys.

Instead, Ginjiro decided to be bad. "Yeah, you don't know who I am, but I can't say the same."

I wanted to bang my head against a tree.

"I know who you are," Itachi said politely. I regained hope.

Ginjiro raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

There was a tug on the corner of Itachi's lips. "Of course," he said. "You were Ayae's detention partner."

Itachi could not have used a worst tone if he tried. Ginjiro snarled. I jumped between them before bad things happened. I rushed to tell Ginjiro that Itachi was only telling the truth. I did tell Itachi about detention. And I did bring up Ginjiro's name before. I told him that Itachi did not mean to make fun of him in any way. Itachi's grin told me differently, so I shut Itachi up the nastiest glare I had.

Ginjiro was not happy that I had spoken to Itachi at all. "You never told me you were close with him."

"Itachi is my friend." I could not lie, especially not with Itachi next to me. I would hurt his feelings. But Ginjiro did not like that.

"Since when?" he asked.

I bit my lip and shrunk inwards. Itachi was my friend before Ginjiro was. I did not want to say that.

In fact, I did not want to think more about this. I should not be feeling bad for making different friends. So, I planted my feet in the ground and said, "Ginjiro, I like you. But I like Itachi too, even if he sometimes says mean things. He is nice once you know him. So can we please be friends together?"

It did not look like that would happen.

I stomped on the ground and angrily puffed my cheeks. "If we can't all be friends, I'll... I'll...!" I deflated. My voice broke. "I'll cry!"

Itachi and Ginjiro both reached toward me, froze, then looked at each other.

Minutes later, I walked down the road with a fat smile, one boy in each arm.

.

"Mine!" Sasuke said.

I handed him the rice ball. He munched happily.

I was glad for the lunch break.

After a morning of walking, I had been so tired. My backpack felt heavy. I thought my shoulders would fall off. But I did not complain because no one else did. Ginjiro said nothing. He just switched shoulders. Itachi walked like he was not carrying anything at all. Ginjiro saw, clenched his jaw, and walked faster.

Itachi easily kept up. Every time they exchanged a glare, they would go faster. I wanted to die but kept my mouth shut. Anything they could handle, I wanted to prove I could too.

Finally, Sasuke saved me. He started whining, so Aunt Mikoto suggested lunch.

Ginjiro's brother did not join us. He did not want to see the movie. He did want to get to Ookiiranpu early though, so he dropped Ginjiro off with us.

I peeked into Ginjiro's backpack to see what he had packed.

"Hey, what flavor are those?" I asked.

"I don't know. Mum packed these," Gin said. He took a bite of one of his rice balls and grimaced. "Fish, as usual."

"I'll trade! I've got bean."

"Gladly."

I tried one of his fish rice balls. "It's a little salty, but it's good!" I said.

"Tell me if it's still good after eating it every day of your life."

I shrugged and took more from his box. He helped himself to mine. We traded drinks too because he wanted my grape juice and I wanted his apple juice. Neither of us liked tea, so Itachi drank his.

"What did Auntie make you?" I asked Itachi. His lunch had rice with cooked vegetables.

I ransacked my backpack to see what else my dad had packed. To my surprise, there was a bottle at the bottom.

Ketchup? What was my dad was thinking! It was probably an accident. This morning, my dad had been scrambling. He was nervous about his big meeting. He even put eggs in his coffee and drank it all.

"What's that?" Ginjiro asked.

"Ketchup," I said.

"What the heck is cat-sup?"

"Uh, it's like… smashed tomatoes," I said. "In a bottle," I added, shaking the bottle.

"Then why don't you call it that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because smashed-tomatoes-in-a-bottle is so much easier to say than ketchup."

People of Konoha were so stupid when it came to food. Back in the capital, there were all sorts of strange and yummy foods! But here, my dad and I had spent two whole weeks searching stores for simple things like spaghetti noodles. Konoha had ramen noodles, udon noodles, soba noodles, bean noodles, and even rice noodles. But not the most basic noodle of them all: spaghetti noodles!

And when my dad told the store lady that we put things on our omelets, like mushrooms and peppers, she looked at us like we were crazy. They never put anything on their omelets, except maybe rice or noodles. I thought she was crazy.

"Can you really eat that?" Ginjiro asked.

What else would you do with it? Smear yourself and pretend you are covered in blood to freak your parents out? Been there, done that.

I peeled off the lids of all of my food containers. Nothing needed ketchup. I convinced Ginjiro to put it on his food instead.

"Try it! Go!" I dared him.

He added ketchup to one of his rice balls. He looked unsure. "Are you sure you can eat this?"

"Yes!" I said. He actually took a bite before spitting it out. I rolled on the floor, laughing.

"You set me up!" he yelled. "This tastes nothing like tomatoes."

"Because it's not tomatoes! It's ketchup! Say it with me, ketchup!"

"Ugh, I need to wash my mouth." He gurgled on grape juice.

Sasuke heard us and hopped over. He took the rice ball dipped in ketchup and bit in. He gleamed with joy. My jaw dropped. Sasuke really loved it. He even wanted more.

I had forgotten about Itachi. He was eating by himself. I grinned and whispered to Ginjiro, who was more than happy to go with my prank. We sneaked toward his food with the ketchup bottle.

"Forget it," Itachi said.

How did he know!

I unfroze and sat upright.

"Want ketchup?" I asked sheepishly.

"No, thank you."

"Are you sure? It's really good. Your brother liked it!"

"My brother has… exotic tastes in food." Eyes closed, Itachi chewed on steamed vegetables.

"But—"

"And I don't," he finished.

That did not stop me. With a nod from Ginjiro, we jumped into action. Ginjiro snatched Itachi's boxes. I uncapped the ketchup bottle and fired.

The plan almost worked.

Almost.

Ginjiro ended up with hands the color of his hat. Itachi had swiped his lunch back. He was now walking away, a chopstick brought to his mouth like there had been no interruption at all.

Itachi was no fun.

I smeared ketchup on my hands too. Then we both chased after Itachi like zombies. He had get dirty like the rest of us.

We ran in circles. I tackled. I almost caught him. But Itachi slipped away. He even picked up some rice.

"Stop showing off and come here!" I plunged into the earth. My face planted into the grass. I sighed and rolled over. Ginjiro could not catch him either. Itachi was too fast. Whenever we thought we got him, he poofed away.

Ginjiro fell next to me. "I give up!"

"Me too. Okay, okay we get it!" I yelled to the clouds above. "You win, Itachi!"

At that, Itachi appeared above me. The food in his hands was gone. He finished eating.

I groaned. "You happy now?"

"Quite," Itachi said.

"Help me up?" I shoot a hand up into the air. He took it.

I grinned. Gotcha. "Now!" I held him tightly and smeared ketchup on his face. Ginjiro dived for the ketchup bottle and squeezed. Itachi and I drowned in tomatoes.

I high-fived Ginjiro. We did a victory dance.

Itachi lifted a ketchup-stained bang. "Clever."

I thought Aunt Mikoto would scold us for our mess. She did not.

I did not bring any napkins to clean up, so Aunt Mikoto gave us a towel. For a makeshift handkerchief, Itachi ripped the sack that held his ninja tools. Shuriken fell out. I wondered why he brought them. It was not like we would get kidnapped by evil kidnappers who kidnapped people.

Sasuke crawled over. Curious, he brought a hand to Itachi's face and wiped some ketchup off. He put his fingers in his mouth. He really liked ketchup. Happy, he yawned and took a nap.

Aunt Mikoto carried Sasuke. We set out walking again.

An hour later, I realized how sticky ketchup was. Annoyed, I tried to dig the dried ketchup out of my nails. The ketchup also smelled awfully sour. I reeked. So when we saw a tea shop on our way, we rushed in.

The shop only had one bathroom though. We had to share one tiny sink.

Ginjiro and I bumped elbows and slashed water at each other. Beside us, Aunt Mikoto wiped Sasuke with a damp towel. Itachi waited behind and changed clothes.

The bathroom was small. So after Ginjiro washed his hands, he left to give us room. Finished with Sasuke, Aunt Mikoto left too. She went to thank the store owner and buy desserts. That left Itachi with me.

Itachi and I were the worst off. Not only was ketchup on our hands, faces, and hair, it was on our clothes too. I could wash my hair. But I could not scrub out the stains. My clothes had ugly orange patches and wetly clung to my body.

Itachi saw my frustration. "Would you like to change?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I have another set of clothes." He nodded toward his backpack.

Two sets of clothes? I did not believe him until he showed me a scroll. In a puff of smoke, things came out, including a comb on top of folded clothes. I was in awe.

Cross-dressing it was!

Itachi was my size, so his shirt fit. I lifted the shirt for a smell. The awful sour was gone, thankfully. Instead, I smelled nice, woody and sweet, like a flower. The pants were okay too. The comb did not help much. My hair was too tangled, so I used my fingers.

Once out of the bathroom, I showed my new clothes to Aunt Mikoto.

"Well?" I asked.

She smiled.

But then Ginjiro saw me. He nearly dropped his ice cream.

"Oh, HECK NO!"

I sighed.

By evening, we reached the city. Outside FuwaFuwa were Tamaki and Ayame. They chatted on a bench. Between them were ice pops and rice cookies.

"Hey! You made it!" Tamaki said. She skipped off the bench and ran to us. "Good evening, Mrs. Uchiha!" she said.

"Good evening. Are you Ayae's friend?"

"Yes! My name is Tamaki. Kobayashi Tamaki."

Aunt Mikoto looked surprised. "Your surname sounds familiar."

"Perhaps you know my husband." Tamaki's mom stepped out of the theatre. She looked as dazzling as the first time. "He is the co-director of another movie called Night's Combat, ranking only second to Princess Fuun." She shook Aunt Mikoto's hand. "You must be Ayae's aunt. I am Tamaki's mother."

"You seem familiar as well," Aunt Mikoto said.

Tamaki's mother chuckled. She said she may have played a few roles here and there. They left for the theatre.

We kids stayed outside.

"Dai and Setsu aren't here yet," Tamaki told me. Then, she looked at Itachi. "Hello, Itachi, right? You might not remember me. I was in your class last year."

"I remember," Itachi said. Tamaki's eyes sparkled. She led him to the benches and reintroduced Ayame.

Ginjiro and I followed. Tamaki offered cookies to us. I took one. Ginjiro had enough sweets. Itachi said no too.

The rest of the wait was chatting. My shirt got brought up. I said mine got stained by food. Ayame teased me when I told her it was Itachi's. She lifted the shirt up for a sniff too and giggled.

At the other side of the bench, Tamaki sat with Itachi. She would ask him things like how was life after school. Her questions were strange. She talked differently, like an adult. But Itachi talked like that too, so it was okay.

I was happy they got along. Because Tamaki had kept saying Itachi was a jerk, I worried she would act like Ginjiro.

Dai and Setsu came over carrying a life-size bag of popcorn.

"Sorry we're late! Went to get some snacks." Dai pointed to the cartload of food by her dad. "Dango, anyone?"

At the mention of more sweets, Ginjiro excused himself to go puke. I helped myself to a bag of BBQ chips. Ayame helped Dai's dad carry the humongous bag of popcorn.

In the theatre, we took the middle seats. Important people sat at the front, like Tamaki's mom and Aunt Mikoto.

Dai's dad looked over us. He was okay. He was funny and loud, not strict at all.

Choosing seats was like musical chairs. He could not see. She could not reach the snacks. He wanted to sit by the aisle. She wanted to sit in the center. It was chaos.

Finally, we split into two rows. In the front row were Ginjiro, me, Itachi, and Tamaki. The back row was Dai's dad, Dai, the popcorn, Setsu, and Ayame. Dai got to cradle the life-size bag of popcorn. The seating was nice for me too because I just had to stick my hand behind me to grab some.

I was excited for the movie. We had thirty more minutes until it started. Ginjiro kicked his feet up and slipped his cap over his face. Dai argued with her dad that, no, he could not have the popcorn next to him. Setsu bit into a bag of shrimp crackers. She could not open it, so Ayame offered to help. Tamaki and Itachi were talking.

And me? Five minutes before the movie, I already finished my bag of BBQ chips.

.

"Princess! Alert the village! The Princess has been captured. Quickly, we must..."

"Hey, hey, pass the shrimp crackers?"

"Who stole my soda!"

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Shh…"

"It's over here."

"How can they be that stupid? They were followed since…"

"Oh. Thanks."

"Shh..."

"Get your hand out of the popcorn, now!"

"Can someone please pass the shrimp?"

"Hold your horses. Setsu, give him his crackers."

"Pst, Ayae, Ayae!"

My eyes were glued to the screen. I grabbed the bag of shrimp from Setsu and dropped it on Ginjiro. The pieces spilled all over him. My other hand dug into the bag of popcorn.

"You got shrimp over me!"

"Not like it's real shrimp."

"SHH! Hush!" The annoyed audience glared at us.

Our group shrunk.

I kept putting popcorn in my mouth. I could not even taste it anymore.

"No! Don't go into the damn forest by yourself—!"

I clapped my hands over my eyes. I heard thuds. I did not like thuds.

I squirmed in my seat and looked away from the screen. Ginjiro was picking up shrimp from his lap. He kept saying he had to go to the bathroom. But he didn't because the fighting finally started.

I turned to my other side. Itachi did not even blink at the scream from the movie. Tamaki held onto Itachi's arm.

Behind me, Dai's dad was slurping his drink far too loudly. Dai was switching between chips, corn, and soda. Setsu was wide-eyed, her hand looking for something to eat. Ayame was nervously biting into a pack of strawberry cookies. The popcorn slouched, dwarf-sized.

When the fighting scene ended, Ginjiro ran to the bathroom. I happily went back to the movie again. Luckily, no one got hurt.

Ginjiro came back and asked me what he missed.

"They're going back to the boat."

"Oh, okay. Where did scar-face go?"

"He got away."

Throughout the show, Ginjiro and I whispered more. Dai kept complaining about the movie. That got us more glares.

"That's a cool move. Think it's real?" Ginjiro asked me.

I leaned in and whispered, "Maybe. Looks real."

"That's what you say about everything."

"That's why the movie is good."

I was looking for the popcorn again when an ambush onscreen made me jump. My hand flung up. Popcorn showered over everybody. Most of it landed on Setsu's lap. The bag would have fallen too had Dai not caught it. Dai slapped my hand away. No more popcorn for me. She gave me sticks of squid and pointed sharply up front. I gulped and nodded.

I sunk back into my seat, squid in hand. I shared a few sticks with Ginjiro and nudged Itachi.

"Hey, want some?" I asked. Itachi picked a piece of popcorn out of his hair and brought it to his lips. He shook his head. His eyes never left the screen.

I went back to the movie too. The princess was escaping with her comrades. There was a secret passage. More fighting. Dai and Setsu squealed during the kiss.

The movie finished with the princess and her friends back together again. The credits rolled.

I let out a breath. That was good.

"That's it? WHERE'S THE WEDDING?" Dai shouted. The movie was over, so the audience did not hush us anymore. A few even chuckled.

Beside me, Ginjiro stretched. On my other side, Itachi helped Tamaki up.

"That was good, wasn't it?"

"She performed well."

"The actress?"

Itachi nodded.

Once outside, we winced at the sunlight. The back row carried our garbage outside. The life-sized bag of popcorn was deflated, mostly because of me. We shoved the empty boxes, plastic wraps, and other junk into the garbage cans. I patted myself clean of crumbs.

Aunt Mikoto and Tamaki's mother walked side by side like two best friends from school.

Tamaki's mother invited everyone to dinner at a restaurant. The other adults agreed.

The restaurant was nice. It was dim, with red lanterns and dragons. I felt out of place though. Other customers were in fancy suits or kimonos.

Since booths only seated up to four, everyone played musical chairs again. The adults took one booth. Setsu and Ayame sat in one. Ginjiro and Dai joined them. I sat next to Tamaki. Across from us were Itachi and Sasuke. No matter what, Sasuke clung to his brother.

A waitress asked what we would like. Tamaki ordered the dishes and rice. After all the snacks, I was not hungry. But I got the tofu specialty because Tamaki told me I had to try it. Sasuke said he wanted whatever Itachi wanted. Itachi ordered noodles for his little brother.

Tamaki suggested the tofu for Sasuke too. "He doesn't like tofu," Itachi said.

The waitress left. I realized that Itachi did not order anything for himself.

"Itachi, what about you?" Tamaki asked before I could.

He said he was not hungry. I grew suspicious.

When the food came, Itachi got weird. He excused himself for the bathroom. Sasuke pouted and said he wanted to go too. He changed his mind when he saw plates of delicious food.

At Sasuke's plea, I put chicken on his bowl of noodles.

Over the food, Tamaki played a game with Sasuke. She would ask him things about Itachi, and if Sasuke knew the answer, he got a point. Sasuke liked her game.

As much as I loved gossiping about Itachi, I was more worried about him. I was already half a bowl down.

I kept playing with my tofu until I had enough. I said I had to go to the bathroom too. On my way, I bumped into a waiter. I asked him which way to the bathroom. The waiter pointed to a door in the back. I thanked him and scurried over.

I opened the door to find a hallway. On one side of the hallway was the girl's bathroom. On the other side was the boy's bathroom. Pausing, I knocked on the boy's.

"Hey, Itachi? Are you there? It's been a while."

No reply.

I knocked again.

"Itachi?"

Well, this was awkward.

I could not go into the boy's bathroom. But I needed to know if he was inside. Maybe I missed him on my way here.

A few knocks later, I thought about going inside. Maybe just a peek...

I nearly tripped when the door opened.

"Ayae?"

I backed up, my face red. "Sorry! You didn't come back. I came to see if anything was wrong."

Itachi looked at me carefully. "I apologize if I made you concerned."

"So you okay? If you're still sick…" Maybe it was the lighting, but he looked pale.

"I'm fine," he said.

We went back to our table. Sasuke clung to his brother. "You gone too long!"

"I'm sorry, Sasuke," Itachi said.

I whispered to Tamaki. I told her Itachi had not eaten anything since lunch. She was shocked.

"But we had so many snacks! Was he being polite?" she whispered back. "Maybe this is below his tastes..."

I glanced at my tofu chicken. You kidding? If I had not been so full, I would be scarfing these bowls down. I would even take home the leftover sauce.

Tamaki and I glanced over at Itachi. We got a plan. Tamaki would order the food. And I would stuff them in his mouth.

"Ooh, I bet you would love the fish here," Tamaki told Itachi, smiling. "Their salmon is good. Hey, mister, mister. Yeah, can we get the smoked salmon?"

The waiter handed me my glass of juice. "With the spicy sauce?" he asked Tamaki. He blinked at our table. From end to end was the whole menu.

"Hm, Itachi, do you like spicy foods?" Tamaki asked.

"Please, this is too much."

"Don't worry, you can just taste it. If you don't like, you don't have to eat it," Tamaki said. Ignoring him, she turned to the waiter and said, "We'll have it with the sauce on the side."

Sasuke loved it. He grabbed a bite from each plate. If he did not like it, he would spit it out. If he did like it, he would take the plate for himself.

Itachi did not follow his brother's example. He just ate rice. Past the tofu I gave him, he did not even touch any of the plates that were stacking up. Tamaki thought he must not like the dishes, so she ordered new ones.

When the fish came, Sasuke and I both took a piece. Ginjiro came over. He gawked at the food. Dai jumped over too. She snatched whatever she could carry back to their table. Everyone loved what Tamaki ordered for Itachi. Except Itachi.

"Jeez! At our table, we only got sushi and buns," Ginjiro said. "What is this here? A buffet?"

I rolled my eyes. "Thank Tamaki."

"Can I join in? The girls there moved on to girl-talk."

"And here, we got Itachi-talk. Welcome," I said.

"I don't know which is worse," Ginjiro said.

"Just eat the food." I gave Ginjiro my seat.

I wandered to the adult's table and sat in the empty chair. They drank sake. I wrinkled my nose at the smell.

The adults noticed me.

"Don't mind me," I said, pretending to be adult-like.

Aunt Mikoto patted my head.

I listened to the adults talk. It was boring.

"Once again, I am grateful."

"It's no problem for us. After all, we've had nothing but free time on our hands, especially after my daughter enrolled in the Academy."

Aunt Mikoto chuckled. "Well, I'm not out of the clear yet. I still have little Sasuke to take care of."

They went on. I looked instead of listened.

Tamaki's mother looked like she was wearing expensive things. The restaurant looked expensive too. Tamaki's family must be rich.

Aunt Mikoto was rich too. Everyone in school would say how rich the Uchiha clan was. They said Itachi's family was the richest.

"Your son seems to be well and successful. My daughter told me that he is already a genin?" Tamaki's mother asked, interested.

"Really now! If only Dai has that kind of determination."

"Yes, he is. Sasuke also..."

I ran back to the hullabaloo of my friends. The sake smell became too much.

To my surprise, musical chairs happened again. Tamaki was now sitting next to Itachi. Setsu and Ayame sat across.

Dai left, probably to the toilet. Sasuke and Ginjiro were at the "girl's table". They were still eating. Ginjiro got a plate of everything from the feast. Sasuke was picking at the sushi. I made Ginjiro scoot over.

"So, my bro's waiting for me back at the FuwaFuwa place," Ginjiro said in between mouthfuls of duck.

"Huh?"

He swallowed. "I have to go soon."

I pouted.

He finished his last plate, patted his stomach, and waved bye.

The next people to leave were my family. We thanked everyone. Secretly, Aunt Mikoto paid for the bill. We ordered fifty plates. That would be a big burden on any family.

The rest of the girls stayed. They said they wanted to go to the Ookiiranpu market first.

"Aw, so soon?" Tamaki said, disappointed. I could not tell if she was talking to me or Itachi.

The sky got dark. Sasuke had fallen asleep again. Itachi piggy-backed him all the way to the city gate. Once there, Aunt Mikoto got us a carriage back home.

But even with the carriage, the travel took a long time. Even the bumps in the road were soothing once you got used to it. Full, I got sleepy.

I leaned on Itachi's shoulder and dozed off.

Next thing I knew, I woke up in my bed.