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Monika noticed the twins walk in she scurried up quickly to her feet. Dusting off her kimono. "ha. Sorry girls, I was yelling at Aisuru, he was just being an idiot again. Its nothing bad really, he just gets under my skin sometimes." she said then quickly tried to change the subject "uh accessories..uh um..." she thought a moment "sorry, I actually don't have anything... I've never been a big fan of accessories, I have really simple tastes." she said.

"hey wait!" Aisuru yelled and the man from before came down the stairs dress in a semi formal striped shirt with a collar, and black dress pants. The sleeves were rolled up and the pants were a bit tight making them look more like skinny jeans. He had slightly long hair, and big vivid eyes "A bit small but I think I look great," he smiled widely "hey monika what do you think?" he asked

Monika looked him up and down 'cute as ever I guess' she thought then shook it out of her head "you look fine, did you have to pick Aisuru's only set of nice clothes." Monika teased

"hey!" Aisuru protested, "here you forgot socks" he said in his calm voice handing the rabbit a pair.

"thanks!" he said enthusiastically. Then noticed the twins "hey " he smiled kindly "I've never seen you two before, you must be the cats," he bowed "my name is Hikaru, rabbit of the zodiac, age 21, taller than most. I'm very happy to meet you two." he smiled kindly once more, joking a bit with his introduction.

"uh Hikaru, why are you here? I mean you weren't even thinking its cold out there, your health obviously got the better of you." she said

"ya I know, sorry" he said with a guilty face "good thing you found me out there though, or I would have been a gonner. Hey its golden week right? Monike is this your date?" he said looking at Aisuru

"wah! uh nono I was planning to go alone-" she said before Hikaru cut her off

"great! then we can go together." he smiled happily "it'll be fun, we need time to catch up of things, I mean its been so long." he smiled then grabbed her hand "see you guys later! we will be headed down that one street where all the festivities are being held." he waved taking Monika with him.

"hey wait just a secon-" Aisuru tried to protest, but they were already gone. he crossed his arms "I don't like him," he said out loud. He turned to the girls a moment "hey aren't you guys missing stuff?" he mumbled. "be right back" he walked up stairs and came back down with a box. He opened it and it was assorted with clips and various other accessories. "don't go thinking I'm a creep, these were my mothers." he noted to them "They were something she really like so I've kept them, but i'll let you use them." He pulled out one golden clip, with a lily sprouting out of it. 'I'll keep this one' he thought to himself as he put it in his pocket. He paused "your dates will be coming soon.....so..what do you think of that rodent..." he noted speaking of Hikaru. Aisuru glared out the door as if Hikaru was still there.

"the twelve animals of the zodiac, who had a race, were ordered from first to last. First being the rat, and last being the boar..." a narrator said






aisuru sent his unhappy stare over to soniya "I guess he's ok, just, i don't know." he sighed calming down "oh well. I'm sure if monika thinks he's a good person, he can't be all that bad right? Aren't pigs suppose to be good at knowing people?" he sighed "never mind." he went upstarese without waiting for an answer.

"Their also suppose to be a perfect pair with the boar, goat, and dog." two voices said in unison. The twins from earlier said as they entered the building with Yamamoto behind them. They smiled "because we work at the festival store it pays to know a bit of horoscopes, myths and so on." on twin said while the other continued "It's good for the business." They smiled wearing traditional japanese costumes of their own, the two were identical, and it seemed as though their voices were in sync with one another. Just about impossible to tell the difference. They had chocolate brown hair and forest green eyes. "Cant remember if we introduced ourselves properly. I'm Sora" one twin smiled "and im Umi" the other did the same.

"considering you two seem more accustomed to english names, my name means sky in other words" Sora said
"mine means sea...but I don't think that's much of a name in english haha." Umi smiled "ready to go?" he asked ready to give the two their tour.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`


Monika was dragged out of the house, and now was walking around a street with hikaru, surrounded by blinding lights and smells. She tried her best to focus "Hikaru stop a second." she said and stopped moving "Why are you here I know when you wear masks, now whats wrong." Hikaru turn a bit surprised
"so you knew how I was feeling the whole time?" he snickered a bit dryly, "sorry, for hiding from you," he didn't look at her directly and then brightened up "hey ice cream," he smiled widely walking off.

Monika facepalmed.

Hikaru came back with one ice cream cone in hand "you didn't have to-" the cone was shoved in her hand. "so you going to talk?" she asked him, noming the soft served goodness. "Or you just going to keep it to yourself?" she asked.

"your giving me a choice? Knowing you, I thought you might have forced it out of me" he said, Monika whacked his arm. "of course I'm going to tell you, who else do I confide in?" his tone was a bit more serious now. they walked and found a bench, near an area where a shadow play was being showed.

"I had to run." he said "it was kind of coincidence that I found you. Lucky rabbit feet?" he joked "They know you ran off with the twins, god is kinda pissed..." his face was serious. Monika kept looking forward not changing her expression. Hikaru looked at her, and noticed a small mark on her cheek. "whats that."

"what." she asked plainly

"on your face. There's a bruise or something" he said reaching out to poke it.

She turned away quickly "nothing, really." she tried to think of an excuse or lie "I got in a fight with someone, they were trying to steal something from me." she failed.

"your a terrible liar." he said

"shut the hell up," she turned "you try and think of something off the top of your head" she said frustrated.

Hikaru grabbed her hands, and leaned closer to her face staring her in the eyes "Monika, your beautiful" he said her face went red "not really, you just have icecream on your nose." he said and wiped it off with a tissue

"you son of a-" she grumbled and gobbled the cone of her icecream. he laughed at her reaction

"see, that's a good lie you believed me, but it wasn't nice. Just be honest with me, no one likes a lie. even if your just trying to cover up something so I don't worry. They only hurt people" he said looking out at the shadow play. "I know you don't like to bother others with your problems but, I want to know anyways."

"What about you, your an actor, aren't you always lying" she accused. Hikaru shrugged.

Monika sighed, rubbing her cheek "I asked him if I could leave, to go shopping. That's when I ran, I took the twins, snake too but we were in a rush I got nervous, so I left her. It was a massive risk taking the cat with us. I made a promise to go back for her though, and everyone else. I want them to taste freedom. I figured because I'm furthest from god I would have a better chance with asking to leave." she smiled a bit deviously "and I did, I got away, that's why he's upset" her expression changed to worry though.

"he's not hurting anyone else don't worry," she turned to hikaru a bit surprised "ya he's upset but he's not taking it out on others...not sure what he has planed." Monika was relieved.

"good, it would have killed me to think that people were getting bothered more because of me...I wish I planned it out more, so that I could have gotten everyone out at once..." she paused 'he seems to have gotten around telling me what been on his mind.' she smiled 'Hikaru will tell me when he wants' she thought.

"I'm very happy, that at least a few of us got out." he said smiling. Monika was a bit surprised with his optimism.

"you being an idealist? thought that was my job." she said

"nope, just felt glad a moment there, you seem to bring that out in me." he said with a smile. "hey why don't we watch the play"

Monika stared 'don't feel like talking about anything serious?' she thought "fine" she smiled.



"but the boar had a secret...that it kept from god."

Sabrina clutched the emerald butterfly clip tightly, enough to leave a mark. She turned around slightly surprised to see the twins. She ran her thumb a little down from her lip to her chin and smiled. "I'll remember them." She said referring to the names just told.

Soniya grunted and crossed her arms as Aisuru left the room. "I guess he has some more things to do... Better not bother him? feh..." She turned around with a smile for the two twins. "I guess we should be going now then! We've never been to a festival, but I heard there is always a bunch of yummy foods! And plays! Hey Sabrina?" Sabrina was walking up the stairs. " I'll be there in a minute? I just..." Sabrina ran up the stairs before finishing.

She recalled Aisuru grabing a Golden Pin. 'that one was for Monika I bet... ' She looked around her room and found some paper and pens. She wrote a letter in English.

' Aisuru,

I'm rooting for you and Monika.
If you give up on her, I'll give you extra regret!
That pin, give it to Monika!
I know she'll love it!

Best of Luck ~Sabrina '
A drawing of a cat stood beside her name. She quickly folded the paper into a crane and ran to Aisuru's door. she slid the paper between the wall and door. She admired her work before running back down the stairs to meet Soniya, Sora and Umi.

"Took you long enough? I think I poured out all of my festival desires here because you took so long!" Soniya laughed and grabbed her sister's arm and lead her to the door.

"Did you know that the zodiacs hold a race every year? Once every 600 years that changes though..."

Monika
Sora
Umi
Aisuru
Hikaru


Sora and Umi smiled taking the twins and leading them to the festival. They showed them all the events taking place, and explained everything. "so?"
"What do you want to do?"
"as you can see there's so much."
"we could buy masks"
"or catch gold fish"
"but above all"
"we know the best spot to see fireworks."
they said speaking like they were one person, and finished off each other sentences.

aisuru sat on his bed, staring at the clip, opening it and closing it. He pictured his mother wearing it. Smiling and laughing. His memory broke when a paper crane popped up from under his door. He inched over to it, as if the thing would combust and unwrapped the bird. He read the note and snickered at the cats attempt to act like an adult. Throwing the paper on a night stand he fell on his bed "silly kitty, you don't understand that when it comes to sohma's their very strict about love. Hell, she would be safer going out with a rabbit than me." He looked at the crane and watched it shimmer. "Monika did say that she wanted to be alone," she sighed not knowing what to do. He glanced over at the unraveled crane note, and got up off his bed.



The boar desperately wanted to be friends with God, and so every time the animals would race, the boar would lose. But this was not because the boar wanted to be last, no, the boar was saving their energy. So that once every 600 years, the boar would run faster than any other animal and try to be the first one to get to God's table. The boar would run so fast, that they would begin to fly and run into the sun! The boar wouldn't be able to stop running, and began running around the sun, until it ran out or energy. A week later, the boar would come back down to earth, and its fur would be golden like the sun. In all its attempts to be first at Gods table, the boar ended up being last, and late by a week's time, and for that entire year the boar would be gold. the narrator finished off.
Monika scoffed "if only they knew." she said
Hikaru smiled "I think it was nice, reminded me of you haha. Didn't think you had a thing for God." he nudged with a tease, she smiled
"abusive relationships aren't my thing, I prefer the nice guy, or the cool guy, or hmm i dunno, as long as I like them in the end. And the boar wanted to be friendssss sheesh. Get it right Hikaru"
"so what your saying is you like sweethearts like me? heheh"
"I didn't say that and you know it." she crossed her arms
"Oh so you don't like me?" he said pouting
"I! I didn't say that eithe- Stop! goofing around with me! Your going to make me indicisive."
hikaru smiled and grabbed her hand again "Let's go buy some masks! They always look so nice," he said excitedly, before sneezing.
"you ok?"
"yachoo!" he sneezed again,"flowers," he pointed to a small stand selling them
"its so far away, they still effect you that much? Your allergies have just gotten worst since you were little." she shook her head, "you really should have brought pills with you" she said with concern.
"have they really gotten worse? I'm fine no worries?" he said talking himself out of yet another situation with Monika. They looked at the mask stand, seeing all the colorful decorations. Monika picked one up and put it on. And hikaru smiled "I like it. its very artsy" he said, and paid the merchant.
"hey stop buying me things..." Monika protested, "I feel bad about it, you should focus more on, yknow other stuff."
"You know me I've been saving, I have enough to spend a little on you. I don't really mind that much." he said as they walked off. "I say we do goldfishing next!"

Monika stopped "now your just trying too hard to not talk about the past..." she looked at him concerned "Hikaru...what happened..." he turned to look at her a big shocked "Was I really trying too hard?" he snickered "some actor I am huh?"
"You didn't turn into your zodiac sign because it was cold did you?" she asked, and he looked away admittedly.


"Once every 600 years when the boar try's to get closer to God, and gets burned by the sun..."

(i realllly gotta involve you in the drama lol. and actually give the twins characteristics. )

Sora and Umi looked at each other confused then winked. "Well we can just split up."
"I'll go with Sabrina to the mask stands"
"and I'll go with Soniya for food and fireworks"
They looked at one another again nodding.
"meet back-"
"at the hill"
nodding the both ran in opposite directions, Sora grabbed Sabrina's hand leading her to the mask stand and Umi took Soniya's taking her to the food salesmen.

Umi

After getting almost absorbed into the crowd of people Umi turned to Soniya. Thinking she was concerned he addressed her "Please don't worry about what my brother and I want." he said bluntly in an understanding tone. "We see the festival every year, our grandpa owns a firework store. So we usually come and help him sell things, it's no big deal." he explained still leading soniya by the hand "To us it was odd to hear of someone who had never seen a festival before. Today we are your tour guides." he said gettingout of the crowd and turning to her. He kneeled on one knee "so tell me what pleases you your highness?" he said sweetly with a smile. Then pulled some sort of doughnut on a stick, dipped in chocolate. "for you. These are quite famous, i guess its cause their easy to eat." he noted.

Sora

"your cute, just thought I'd warn you" sora said as they got out of the other end of the crowd, before explaining his bluntness "You two obviously don't get out as most people, you should be careful. Lotsa weirdo's that would take advantage of you. You know?"he said "especially your sister, she's a bit of an air head at times. No worries though, Umi's with her, he's nice. He'll make sure nothing bad happens" he smiled with a thumbs up reassuring that they would be fine. "Stands' just past these few kiosks." he said getting on with his business. A lot more to the point and less poetic as his brother.






"...the zodiacs become out of alignment, and all fall away from god..."

Monika sat on a bench and stared Hikaru into sitting. He held his head in his hands. Hikaru's eyes became very serious and saddened. "I ran, that's all you need to know. I ran and I am never looking back there. My allergies have been getting worse you know, it's due to my bad immune system. God has been getting worse as well. He's not happy. Monika, you've started a chain reaction. You leaving, it was...it made him..." he paused "I'm not really sure how to describe it."

Monika noticed a scar on Hikaru's arm from under his sleeve. Monika sighed closing her eyes 'he was hurt' "i'm sorry. I was stupid, this is my fault." they sat in silence a moment before she continued "If I go back...do you think he'll be happy? Maybe..." Hikaru stood up in full enragement "I will not allow that. Monika you don't understand, you've started something, we're starting to break away slowly. Maybe, maybe we could break it."
"don't be stupid" the words flew from her mouth "we can't, no one can"
Hikaru paused then pulled Monika up from her seat. "I will break it. I'll break it for you. I will get you your freedom." he smiled "that way you won't have any doubts for your feelings of Aisuru." still smiling he pulled her into a tight embrace. "that is why you haven't started tackling the guy right? hmm?"
Monika's face was flushed for a moment "I! I don't... I don't like him. Besides, I just-" she tried to think of something to say but she couldn't think of anything. "I'm sorry I ruined your night didn't I? bringing all this drama back to mind, while you were trying to get rid of it." he smiled and let her go of the hug. She took in a small breath. "for all I know you could be avoiding the conversation once again." Hikaru smiled taking the mask that sat on Monika's head and placing it over his face. Slouching over to be face to face with her.
"You'll never know"

'everything is easily covered up with a smile. It's just easier to wear a mask, to prevent everyone from getting hurt' hikaru thought.

"...and the boar falls from the sky, dragging the zodiacs down to hell."