ZODIAC
fireflew
CHAPTER ONE
The line outside her door of people coming in to see her reminds Mikan a bit of the time old animal race her grandpa had told her about when she was really young, before she'd met Hotaru. If she closes her eyes, she's five again… swathed in an old but comfortable sheet her grandpa has tucked her in with, and now he's holding her to his chest, her listening both to the steady beat of his heart and to his aged and strong voice telling the story.
"Once upon a time, Mikan, before God left this earth for the heavens, he held a grand banquet for all the animals in the universe. And during the banquet, he told the animals that as his last deed living amongst his dear, beloved friends, he would host a grand race: and that the first 12 animals who crossed the race line would come up with him to live in the sky, to live forever, to live in fame. All the animals were excited by this prospect, for their names to be uttered across eternity, for them to live equally with the God that everyone so revered, for them to be revered and respected themselves. It was an opportunity that sounded too good to be true. All the animals thought that, except for one.
"It was the cat who disagreed. Amidst all the excited chatter, the cat spoke up and to God. "I don't want that," the cat told God. "I don't want to live forever." The other animals were horrified. To deny a free life of happiness! To defy their god like that! They turned their backs on the cat, all of them: his friends, ones he had lived his whole life alongside. The next few days for them were filled with practicing for the race and ignoring the cat. The next few days for the cat were spent at the side of God, and coming at night to an empty home.
"When the day of the race came, all the animals fought their hardest to be one of the 12 awaiting with God on the other side of the riverbank. Family was forgotten, and it became each man for his own. Friend became foe. The rat charmed the ox as it rode on his horns across the river, taking a chance to jump off his friend's back once they had crossed the river. The snake hid in the hoof of the Horse, scaring it at the very end of the race to slither through the gates before him.
"In the end, the order was this: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. So God took all twelve of them with him as he left the earth he had bled on. And to ensure their names were remembered and read throughout time: God put them on a calendar, which is why we have years marked by those animals."
"But what about the cat?" Mikan asks.
"The cat?" her ojii-san repeats, brow wrinkled in confusion. "What about the cat?"
"What happens to the cat?"
"Well, he stayed on earth, and he had a family, and he grew old, loving God, and when he died it was at God's feet. He led an ordinary life."
"That's so sad!" Mikan cries softly and her grandpa gently sets her back onto the futon.
"Not necessarily," he told her, patting her forehead. "Think about it. Good night, Mikan."