The Shēngxiào
生肖
A/N: Greatly inspired by the anime Fruits Basket and the Chinese Zodiac itself. I apologize if the story I used is wrong, there's many versions, this is the one I learned.
Characters rightfully belong to Himaruya, I own nothing but the idea.
Also, I'm using human names and so Taiwan is Mei and Hong Kong is Li. I'm sure you all know the others.
The four little Asians were jumping around the living room, throwing pillows and crayons at one another in some odd little game they made up. The scenery outside the household was dark, stars littering the foggy sky above that winter night.
Yao, the eldest of his siblings, had been cleaning up the kitchen from a late dinner and was finally done. He walked in and quickly had to duck, almost getting hit with a flying pillow case.
The Chinese man sighed, witnessing the new mess his siblings had created. They had a ground-breaking record. Yao had never seen anybody destroy a room in less than five minutes like his siblings could. They simply had too much energy. Well, at least three did. The second eldest, Kiku, wasn't much of a fuss as the others, but he did like to draw on the tables and walls and knew good hiding spots.
Yao looked down where the youngest of the Asians lay yawning quite tiredly. Li. Yao bent over, pulling free the blanket Li had been nibbling on. He had a habit at grabbing things or putting items in his mouth. Supposed every toddler did but while Li looked like a newborn, he was almost five if in human years.
"Aiyaa, don't put that in your mouth, aru,"
"Yao," Li yawned as he was lifted up, managing to mutter out, "Sweepy."
"I know you are. It is time for bed, aru," Yao leaned Li against his left shoulder so as to keep his right arm free specifically to grab at the collar of the third oldest, Im Yong Soo.
The Korean began to whine in protest, the odd face in his stubborn curl creating a somewhat disapproving scowl. "Aniki, let go!"
"Come now, it's time for bed. You played already."
"No! Play more, aniki!"
"Li is sleepy and so am I. I simply won't sleep with you three up."
"But we not weady fo' bed," Mei, the second youngest, frowned from where she stood on the couch, the pillow that had previously been used as a shield against Yong Soo's crayon attacks was now being held limply in her tiny hand by her side. "Not ti-ered,"
Yao pondered this, "Not tired? Well…" and an idea came to his mind. He smiled, "Have I ever told you about the Shēngxiào?" The confused faces on the youngest three told that they had no idea what their brother was talking about. Although, Kiku looked up attentively away from where he had been carving bunnies, puppies, and kittens into the wooden coffee table.
"Ah, you remember, right, Kiku, aru? I know I must have at least told you."
Kiku nodded, "Yeah, the story of the twelve animals."
"Twelve animals? Which twelve, da ze?"
Yao looked down at Yong Soo. He had found the Korean almost three years after discovering Kiku. He remembered telling Kiku about the tale of the twelve animals, most likely known as the Zodiac by Westerners, one night when the Japanese toddler couldn't sleep.
"It's a folklore about twelve animals, one representing one month." Kiku briefly explained, returning to completing the whiskers on his bunny carving.
"I wanna know d' stowy!" Mei said, dropping her pillow and rushing over to Yao.
"Me too!"
"Me fwee,"
Yao agreed, "Alright. How about we all sit down and I'll tell you it as a bedtime story? But if I tell you, you must all go to sleep afterwards."
Yao got no vocal response. Instead, Mei and Yong Soo went over to the mess of pillows and made themselves comfortable before the couch. Even Kiku dropped his artwork-slash-vandalism and scooted over to a large pillow missing its case and a tear on the side caused by rough swinging. Yao walked over, sitting on the couch before them, balancing Li on his lap.
"Alright, this takes place long, long ago. Before people were even around," the wide, concentrating, innocent eyes Yao received from his siblings had him grin, "Long ago, the earth was only with animals. A powerful being known as Buddha, was unfortunately soon to be leaving the earth, and so decided to hold a banquet."
"Banquets originated in Korea, da ze!"
"Shh!" Mei scolded.
"So Buddha informed all the animals, 'I will be leaving soon. So I am holding a banquet. The first twelve animals to arrive will be rewarded.'" Li smiled at the voice Yao used to speak in Buddha's voice. "Out of the many animals, more were excited than others. One of the excited animals was the Cat. He thought going to the banquet sounded fun and he wanted to be rewarded by Buddha. The Cat had been talking to his friend, the Rat, about the party. All the animals knew about Buddha's great get-together and they all had a say."
Despite now yawns emitting from his other siblings, they still kept wide awake, very interested in this ancient fairytale.
"Now the Rat, he was a tricky little fellow. He enjoyed doing things his own way, the ways that worked well for him. Though, the Cat was also intelligent and quick and the Rat feared that. So, the Rat said, 'Why do you say the banquet is tomorrow? It is the day after, silly kitty.'"
Mei giggled at the squeaky voice Yao spoke in, trying to imitate a mouse's possible high-pitch speech.
"The Cat was surprised but believed the Rat and nodded. He thanked the Rat for telling him that and then hurried off to bed."
Now the smile that had been on Mei's face had faded.
"The next day, the animals set off to Buddha's party. The Rat getting a ride by his other friend, the Ox. When they came close, the Rat leaped off the Ox and was the first animal to be rewarded by Buddha followed by eleven other animals: the Ox, the Tiger, the Rabbit, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Ram, the Monkey, the Rooster, the Dog, and the Boar."
"Dragon, da ze!" Yong Soo smiled, waving his arms to mimic said creature, "Rawr!"
"And so, Buddha's party was great fun and the twelve honored animals had a very nice time. Everything was happy, until the next day when the Cat discovered the Rat's trick. He became very upset and was deemed forgotten."
"That why cats and rats no like each other?" Yong Soo wondered, a curious look on his face.
"Some people think that, aru." Yao said, shifting the half-asleep Li to prepare for getting up.
"Wait, stowy over?" Mei asked, her frown deepening as Yao stood up.
"Yes, Mei-Mei. Now it's time for you all to go to b–"
"No! It no over! Not happy ending!"
Yao sighed, his arms occupied by rocking a now sleeping toddler. "Mei, I didn't write the story. That is the ending. That is the story."
"Bu', the Cat so sad!" she insisted. "He was twicked! He shoul' be a monff an' a year!"
"It's alright, Mei, it's just a little story. Now, come, it's time for bed."
Mei watched as Kiku and Im Yong Soo stood and followed Yao out of the living room. She pouted a moment longer and reluctantly went to her room with the image of a cat on her mind. How could anyone be so mean to a kitty cat?
Mei wondered so when she crawled into her bed, pulling close her Hello Kitty plushie. She held it tightly. "Kitties are a'posed t' be cuddled." She mumbled, rubbing her face on the toy's fabric. It was very soft, what she would imagine an actual cat's fur to be.
Mei rolled over, looking over to her paint-covered walls. Yao didn't appreciate when they doodled on the tables or hallway walls, but surprisingly he didn't mind them to draw all they liked in their rooms. They could 'vandalize' whatever they liked. He thought it as a way for them to express their country culture.
Mei stared at her wall covered in childishly-drawn pink blossoms and even a portrait of her family along with other girly things little girls her age are found of drawing.
That's it! Mei smiled, sitting herself up. I know how I can make the Cat not so sad.
~.~.~.~.~
Yao was in the kitchen frying up some breakfast. His hair was down and so all over his shoulders. Kiku was helping to set the table, while Yong Soo reminded Yao every five seconds that he was hungry and he would die if he didn't eat something soon. Li eventually had enough and threw his spoon at his elder brother.
"Ow!"
Li babbled in response, turning away and reverted to chewing on the edge of his napkin.
"Is Mei-Mei up yet?" Yao asked, turning the breakfast food around in the pan.
"I didn't see her," Kiku answered, setting down the glasses. "She's probably still sleeping."
"Sleeping originated in Korea, da ze!"
"Lie," Li gurgled, the napkin still in his mouth.
"I'm not lying, it did, da ze!"
"No,"
"Yes, it did!"
"Nuh uh,"
"It originated there!"
"I no bewieve,"
"Well it the truth, da ze!"
"I no buy it,"
"But it–!"
"Meow!"
Li and Im Yong Soo silenced their arguing, Yao and Kiku turning around from their work at the counter. In the doorway, Mei – still cladded in her nightwear like the others – was on her hands and knees, a crawling position. And on her face were cat features. Her little nose was coloured black with three black lines on each cheek representing whiskers.
"Aiyaa," Yao gasped, walking over to his little sister. He kneeled down to her near-height and realized the black markings on her face had been done with paint. "Mei, you painted on your face, aru?"
"Meow," was his only response.
"'Meow'? Mei-Mei, what are you doing, aru?"
"Kitty!" Li smiled, dropping his napkin.
"Oh," Yao nodded, "now I understand. You're pretending to be a cat."
Mei nodded, "Meow." Yao chuckled at that and stood up, deciding to play along for his sibling's sake. "Alright, little kitty, breakfast is ready so come eat." He patted his leg as if speaking to a real cat, then went to fill his siblings and himself a plate.
Mei crawled over and took her usual seat, trying to sit like a cat.
"Are you doing this 'cause of the story?" Yong Soo inquired.
Mei nodded once, "Meow."
"But, Mei, it's just a folklore. Nobody hates cats because of that story," Kiku tried to explain. "You don't have to pretend to be one."
"I want to be one!" Im Yong Soo suddenly blurted out, shooting to his feet. "'Side, animals originated in Korea, da ze!" If Yong Soo was paying attention, he would have noticed Li rolled his eyes.
"Of course," the Japanese child sighed.
Yao took a seat, setting down the plates. "Hm…so I am going to have two cats in my house today, aru?"
Yong Soo reached out his fingers and dipped them into the sauce on the table. He tapped his nose and then ran three fingers down each cheek so he resembled a cat much like Mei. The Korean smiled and said, "Meow!"
"Me meow!" Li whined.
"Alright, aru. After breakfast, we can all pretend to be cats." Yao said.
And exactly like that, they all got a painted nose and whiskers for the day, pretending to be cats. Even Kiku joined in afterwards though he and Yao were the only ones who said other words than just "meow" all day unlike the younger three. They took it quite literally, curling up during naptime, licking their hands, even playing with the yarn kept in the cupboard. It was all fun, but Yao wished he had remembered to wash his face before answering the door to Arthur and Alfred later that day who both had very questionable looks.
"Um…is it some cat festival today?"
A/N: Sucky ending is suckish! :D This was just random as y'all can tell from the ending. I just like these Hetalia families very much. Now this ain't supposed to be historically accurate so please don't correct me by saying "Alfred wouldn't have been there when Japan and such were young" or "the kids were too close together" etc. I know, I just wasn't following history. Just to make up for my lacking on FF ^^;
…Reviews? No flames please and thanks for reading ^^
Meow~ :3