(Disclaimer: Ikigami manga belongs solely to Mase Motoro, but Sasuke Mura and the other unknown characters I am writing about belong to me. The story is just based on the plot line of the manga. If this disclaimer is wrong, then please do not sue me.)

(Disclaimer: The Twelve Kingdom Characters belong solely to Fuyumi Ono, but Mariette and the other unknown characters I am writing about belong to me. If this disclaimer is wrong, then please do not sue me.)

Chapter 4: Festival

The streets were filled with people in Kimonos, and game and food stands. Colorful lanterns that eliminated the streets in the night were suspended in the air by wires. The children laughing and everyone giving compliments under the full moon, it was the perfect night for a festival, but there were also soldiers in bullet proof vests guarding all the entrances to the festival. The people seemed to ignore them, but some couldn't help but stare at them in concern. Even though the soldiers were on guard, they had no idea of the new guest in an alleyway.

Mariette groaned as she opened her eyes slowly. As her vision adjusted she noticed a small cat looking at her. Mariette gasped in surprise causing her cat features to pop out. The cat jumped up in surprise and rushed out of the alleyway. Mariette sat up and looked at her surroundings filled with confusion.

"Where am I?"

Mariette got up with her tail swaying back and forth and her cat ears twitching. She peeked out of the alleyway and gasped. She saw the festivities in the street and sunk back into the alleyway.

"Where is this? Where is mommy?"

Mariette was shaking. Mariette's stomach growled making Mariette blush.

"I'm hungry," muttered Mariette. Mariette swallowed her fear of her new surroundings and walked out of the alleyway. Mariette walked down the street examining each of the stands. She spotted a sweet bun stand and jumped to it with her tail swinging about. Mariette sniffed the sweet buns and smiled.

"These are well made," said Mariette. The old man at the stand smiled down at her and asked, "Would you like one?" Mariette nodded and dug in her pocket. She pulled out a single gold coin and showed it to the old man.

"Is this enough?"

The old man looked at the gold coin filled with confusion.

"Is that all the money you have?"

Mariette shook her head and pulled out more gold coins from her kimono pocket. The old man shook his head and said, "I can't accept that currency." Mariette sighed and looked at the gold coins in her hand.

"I guess my money is useless here," said Mariette. An eight-year-old brown haired boy, wearing a Yukata, suddenly ran to her side looking up at the old man.

"One sweet bun please?" asked the boy holding up a dollar. The old man nodded and gave the boy a sweet bun, while taking the dollar. The boy smiled as he looked at the sweet bun. Mariette felt her mouth water at the sight of it. The boy was about to bite out of it, but Mariette, not able to contain her hunger anymore, pounced on him and took the sweet bun with her mouth. Mariette immediately leapt off him and dashed down the street with the sweet bun in her mouth. The boy growled and chased after her.

"Give that back you!"

Mariette continued to run ignoring the boy. Mariette bit out of the sweet bun as she ran and sighed in relief.

"Yummy," cheered Mariette. Mariette suddenly visualized Yoko telling her to never steal and stopped in her tracks. The minute she stopped she was tackled from behind by the boy she stole from. Mariette fell forward holding up the sweet bun that had a single bite in it. The boy was breathing heavily as he held Mariette down.

"Got you now, you thief," said the boy. Mariette pushed the boy off her back to his surprise and looked at him with lowered ears. She presented the sweet bun to him and said, "I'm sorry for stealing your food. I promise never to do it again." The boy stared at Mariette and then took the sweet bun. He took one glance at it and then handed it back to her.

"I don't need this, you can have it," said the boy. Mariette looked at the boy confusingly.

"But you bought it with that green parchment, so it is yours," reasoned Mariette. The boy glared at her.

"Well I already told you that you can have it. You already ate some of it anyway," stated the boy. Mariette gasped and looked down at the bun.

"I see. Because I already ate it, you can't have it anymore," said Mariette. Mariette began to tear up making the boy gasp.

"I'm sorry. I should have remembered my mommy's words earlier," cried Mariette making the people passing by look at her. The boy waved his hands at her frantically.

"Calm down, I'll just get another one and then we can share. Does that sound nice?"

Mariette sniffed and nodded. The boy sighed in relief and made his way back to the sweet bun stand with Mariette tailing behind him sniffling.

The boy bought another sweet bun and then sat in a bench with Mariette. He munched on his sweet bun and looked at Mariette who was eating the stolen sweet bun.

"So what's your name?"

"Mariette."

The boy cocked an eyebrow at her and asked, "What about your last name?"

"Last name?" asked Mariette in confusion. The boy nodded and added, "Everyone has a last name." Mariette thought awhile and then said, "My mommy's last name before was 'Nakajima,' so that's my last name: Mariette Nakajima." The boy chuckled and pointed at himself.

"Well my name is Robert Count, but don't tell others that OK?"

Mariette nodded at Robert and nibbled on her sweet bun with her tail swaying about. Robert looked at her cat features and asked, "Why did you Cosplay for the Moon Festival?"

"Cosplay?" asked Mariette with a tilted head. Robert pointed at her cat features and said, "Your cat ears and tail. They look almost real." Mariette giggled.

"They are real. I'm a half beast," stated Mariette cheerfully. Robert blinked in confusion.

"Half beast?"

Mariette nodded and said, "I'm also a black Kirin like Taiki from the Kingdom of Tai." Robert looked at her for a long while and then asked, "What are you talking about? What's the Kingdom of Tai; what's a Kirin; and who in the world is Taiki?" Mariette looked at Robert confusingly.

"What's with those questions? Isn't this common knowledge in the Twelve Kingdoms?"

Robert sighed and said, "Are you playing make believe? There's no such thing as the Twelve Kingdoms." Mariette was completely shocked. Mariette shook her head and looked up at the night sky. She saw the glowing full moon and the stars and clenched her fist.

"Where did my home go?"

Robert stared at Mariette bewildered. Mariette suddenly ran off down the street. Robert gasped and ran after her calling her name. Mariette continued to run screaming, "Mommy where are you?"

Mariette suddenly collided into one of the soldiers causing her to fall over. The soldier looked down at her and asked, "What are you doing?" Mariette looked up at the soldier with confused eyes.

"Who are you?"

The soldier stared down at Mariette so hard that it seemed that his gaze would pierce her. Robert ran to Mariette's side and said, "What are you doing? This place is off limits." Mariette blinked in confusion.

"Off limits?"

Robert nodded and bowed to the soldier.

"I apologize for her actions," said Robert and then began to walk away.

"Hold it!"

Robert and Mariette flinched. The soldier approached them and asked, "Can I see your identification tags?" Robert nodded and handed a tag that he had in his pocket. The soldier looked at it and nodded. He handed the tag to Robert and said, "It was just a precaution, Kai Ochia." Robert took the tag back quickly. Mariette looked at Robert and said, "But I thought you said your name was…"

Robert covered her mouth causing her tail to swing about frantically. The soldier looked at Mariette next and said, "I need to see your tag too." Mariette pushed Robert away from her and looked at the soldier confusingly.

"But I just got here. I don't have anything like that," said Mariette. The soldier's eyes narrowed and immediately grabbed Mariette's small wrist causing her to gasp. Robert gasped and tried to pry the soldier's hand off.

"What are you doing to her, you jerk?" demanded Robert. The soldier pulled out his radio and clicked a button.

"I found a kid who might be a possible Ikigami Resistance member," the soldier said through the radio. Mariette cried as she tried to pull away from the soldier. Robert glared at the soldier and said, "Leave her alone." The soldier glared down at Robert.

"I have no business with you anymore, so go or I will take you in along with this girl," warned the soldier. Robert clenched his teeth.

Mariette clenched her teeth thinking of Yoko and Keiki and screamed, "I want to go back home!" Mariette gripped the soldier's hand and lifted him off the ground to his surprise. She tossed him into the air making him scream. The soldier fell back to the ground and crashed into a game stand.

Mariette and Robert stared at the fallen soldier in confusion. Robert looked at Mariette and asked, "How did you do that?" Mariette laughed uneasily and said, "I have no idea."

"You there!"

Mariette and Robert flinched and looked up only to see soldiers running at them. Mariette gasped and began to run with Robert behind her. Robert caught up to her and grabbed her small hand.

"This way," said Robert as he dragged her into the tree covered area. They continued to run hearing the soldiers running behind them. Robert pulled her behind a huge rock covering her mouth. The soldiers ran pass them. Robert sighed in relief and looked at Mariette, who was shaking.

"How is it that you don't have an identification tag?" asked Robert. Mariette began to cry making Robert sigh. Robert petted her head telling her to calm down. He then took her hand and said, "Because you beat a soldier of the Ikigami Company and had no identification tag, you will most likely be pursued, so come with me." Mariette nodded and followed Robert wondering where she was going next.