Well, thanks for all your support, Inu-chan! And Celebrindae…and Kia, for putting up with my endless questions. I'd also like to thank the bicycle bell in Celes Remix, and Tsubaki for hiding my black ink-pen! ^^;; I hope this is as perfect as I thought it would be.

Gray: o.o?

Kel: Yes, Gray. *feeds Pac-man to Gray*

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~Aitsu Mune~

Chapter Two: Ittai

The small girl twirled in front of a full-length mirror, proudly examining her work. It was later in the day, nearly sundown. After taking her leave from Master Giwaku, Rei had immediately set to work on her new gown, made from the precious childhood blanket. It had taken much patience and many prickings of fingers with a needle, but here it was.

It wrapped tightly around her torso like a traditional kimono, but billowed out and trailed behind her. There were no sleeves, but what material remained had been fashioned into a cape that draped over her shoulders. She smiled, twirling faster and faster, not really caring about the mirror anymore, and -

CRRASSSH! She toppled into the grand mirror, sending it shattering to the hard wooden floors with a careless leap. A middle-aged youkai bustled in, forked tongue flicking out into the air every few moments. She sighed, flicking a wrist at the shattered mirror. Rei watched in astonishment as it began to repair itself, piece by razor-sharp piece.

"Sssssseven yearsssss bad luck, Misssss…" The snake-woman shook a scaled finger. "What would you do withhhhhout me?"

"I suppose I'd have lifetimes of bad luck." Rei replied cynically, grinning up at her caretaker. "Thank you again, Aeijero."

"Little Misssssss isss very welcome." Aeijero bowed and exited the second of the house's two rooms, heading for her own chambers. What notions that child had, one of these days she was going to get herself into serious trouble, with no one to help her. "Poor Misssss Merliliti." She mumbled to herself, checking her scaled complexion in a small hand mirror.

Meanwhile, Rei had left the house in search of friends. The village was crawling with them, for there was hardly a soul that she could not somehow befriend, however begrudging they were at the idea.

"Halloooo…" She poked her head into a number of corners around the village. There had to be someone who was going, too… "Sabishii!" She called into a large wooden house, much more carefully built than the other huts and sod houses.

There was no reply, but the girl knew Sabi too well to think he wasn't home. She stepped into the residence, skipping around a table. "Sabi, c'mon!"

A rustling sound came from a pile of blankets shoved into a corner, and a teenaged boy poked his head out. He had long forest green hair that was put painstakingly into several hundred small braids, each with a tiny bell affixed to the tie. He had bright golden eyes, clouded with sleep. A single white horn stuck out of the top of his forehead, slanting backwards.

"What ees eet now?" He yawned, showing fangs in dire need of a good brushing. "Every other day ees Sabi dis an' Sabi dat…" The demon spoke in an odd sort of accent, something like a cross between French and Jamaican.

"The party!" Rei cried, dragging him to his feet. It wasn't easy, as he was much taller than her and very unwilling to stand. "Aren't you going?"

"Ah, no." Sabi shook his head, the many braids making light tinkling sounds as they shook with it. "Ah'm not much for parties, you know dat."

"Awww, Sabishii!" She pouted, looking up at him. "It'll be fun, but you can go home if it's not."

Sabi thought, before sighing in defeat. "Ah guess you've beat me, once more."

"YAAAAY!" Rei grinned and dragged him out of the house as quickly as possible, before he could change his mind.

"Ay, slow down!" He stumbled after her, having to bend nearly in half to avoid having his arm yanked off by the short girl.

"Hurry!" She began to skip, seeing the shadow of Kajou's hut not too far away.

"Yeah?" Sabi yanked his arm free of Rei's grip, bounding ahead of her easily. "Ha!" He turned, sticking his tongue out at her before running some more.

"Heeeeey!" Rei scowled, running after him. "No fair!"

"All's fair when there's a party!" ((A/N: Guess who's tired of typing Sabi's accent? x.x)) He laughed, his emotions a complete turnaround from when Rei had dragged him out of the house.

Rei grinned, stopping. A moment later she vanished, reappearing right in front of Kajou's door.

"Now who's the cheater?!" Sebi cried, panting to a stop before her. "There's got to be a rule against that somewhere."

"Well, too bad for you." Rei flipped her hair, walking inside.

The party was already in full swing. Youkai of all kinds were in attendance, and she could spot a few Hanyou in their own little corner, ignoring the others and being ignored in turn. Chigiri was a tolerant village, but it was inevitable that the natural separation of the two races would activate at such an event. Kajou was nowhere to be seen, at least from where she was. Rei picked a spot on a soft rug to watch the proceedings, especially amused by Sabishii's attempts to engage in conversation with a particularly attractive girl.

"Poor Sabi." She shook her head, grinning. "Kochou's already got a lover." But how was he to know, really? He never left that house of his unless she came along to drag him out of it. Shame, really, he was a likeable person. She was about to go tell him to stop bothering the poor girl before he got socked for it when a conspicuous whisper made her stop half-standing.

"You really shouldn't be here, Lord…" A diminutive-looking sort of dretch was seated on a stool, his back to Rei. She stumbled to her feet, stealing closer. "If your father finds out that you're shirking responsibilities…"

"Oh, be quiet." A person she couldn't see spoke. Rei stood on her tiptoes, peering over one edge of the long counter that served as a bar. "You're always talking about my father, George. Why not enjoy ourselves?"

The dretch-looking thing sighed. "Very well, sir, but I'D rather not get in trouble." And with that, he was gone. Rei dashed to where he had been, leaping up into the seat and finding herself face-to-face with…

"A baby." She tilted her head, not noticing his startled yelp. "How adorable! I'll take you home and call you Pierre and we'll be best friends!"

"We shall certainly NOT." He replied indignantly. How he managed to talk through his pacifier was a mystery for the poor girl.

"I'm…sorry. Hey, you're not a baby." Rei wrinkled her nose. "Babies don't talk."

"That one does." Someone hefted her out of the chair, lifting her onto high shoulders. Very high shoulders.

"Kajou!" Rei cried, not at all pleased. "Stop iiiiiiit…."

The giant giraffe youkai only laughed, taking her hands to steady her. His neck was no larger than a normal person's, but he was extremely tall. Furred horns that stuck out of long golden hair brushed the ceiling with soft scraping sounds. A ropelike tail stuck out of the back of his sienna kimono, which draped over two cloven hooves that replaced feet. His eyes were large and brown, but not as large as Rei's, or as bulbous as Master Giwaku's.

"Don't hassle Koenma." He laughed, making no move to release her.

"That's all right." Koenma took a gulp of wine, waving his hand dismissively. "Children are great. Great drinks, by the way, excellent…" He nodded, looking towards the door to watch more people arrive.

"If you say so." Kajou gave him an unsure look, setting Rei back down in her chair.

She promptly stuck her tongue out at him, grinning obnoxiously. "Ha."

Kajou rolled his eyes, moving to talk to other guests.

"I'm not a kid." Rei watched Koenma sullenly. "I'm one hundred and eight, but I'm turning one hundred and nine next month."

"That's nice." Koenma drained his glass, refilling it from the decanter that rested on the table.

"You don't believe me!" She slumped in her seat, staring at Koenma. "No one ever does, bakas."

Normally the Reikai lord wouldn't have pursued conversation with such an annoying person, but something seemed different about her. (It was just all the wine going to his head, of course, but we don't want to let him know that…) He leaned back, an intrigued look on his face.

"You certainly don't act your age."

"Well, neither do you!"

"You don't even know how old I am!" Koenma leapt up, barely managing to be any taller than he was sitting.

"Well, I'm sure you don't act it." Rei rolled her eyes, flicking a shrimp tail at him.

"That's it…" Koenma spat out his pacifier, stuffing it in his pocket. "You're goin' DOWN."

"Oh yeah?" She jumped up, grinning. FINALLY, she was going to have some fun! …well, fun with a baby, but she'd take what she could get.

"Ergeh…yeah." Koenma jumped off his chair, wobbling. Rei giggled.

"Funny drunk baby!" She skipped around the table, helping him to his feet. "You can't catch me and make me act my age!"

Koenma staggered, waving a fist after Rei as she skipped around the table. No one paid the two any mind; they had long since gotten used to Rei's strange antics. As long as nothing burned down or died, they were kind enough to ignore whatever kind of havoc she was wreaking.

"I'll..get you…" The Reikai lord staggered after Rei for the better part of five minutes, somehow never spiilling a drop of his wine. He finally had to rest, leaning against someone's leg as if it were a piece of furniture. Rei skidded to a halt across a patch of hardwood not covered by a fancy rug, turning around in dismay.

"Are you tired already?" She whined, leaning against another leg. "You're no fun." Wasn't there anyone around here who wasn't too drunk to move?

"You should…work for me." Koenma commented sluggishly, placing his glass on the floor. Rei quickly snatched it up, taking a large gulp to drain it. "You could…outrun…peoplllllzzzzzzzzzz…" He landed on the carpet with a soft thump, unconscious.

"Noooooooo…." Rei moaned, poking him with a cocktail shrimp. "No fair, cheater."

The cocktail shrimp didn't seem to mind.