They all piled into the cars again, though Natasha had been pulled into the car Wataru, Subaru and Masaomi were in, Ukyo staying home after wishing them well, (and subtly warning her to be extra cautious) and sending them off with a wave.

When they'd arrived at the many steps to the shrine gates, Wataru raced ahead with an elated shout, his arms held out like an airplane as he clattered up the stone, "Come on-! Come on-!"

"We're coming, your highness-!" Natasha called up brightly, taking her time to scale the steps with even strides, the train of her kimonos slipping behind her in a smooth swath of silk.

She and the boys made it to the festival gates and Wataru at the top of the stairs with little difficulty, the only incident being when Hikaru had asked about Ukyo being missing. Masaomi explained that he'd rather not participate in such an obscene activity and that he'd rather stay home and clean, and Natasha burst out laughing, nearly tripping over her geta and into Natsume, who clutched at her waist to keep the girl from tumbling down the stairs as she roared with laughter.

The image of Ukyo as a housewife in a frilly pink apron did not escape her thoughts; being provided by the sealed presence in her mind. The presence that now could adapt to her seals so they were constantly fucking improving…

"Easy there.." Natsume muttered, helping her back upright before giving her a pointed look, "You could have broken your neck.." she rolled her eyes, still shivering with giggles, and gave a half-hearted apology, though he kept a tight hold on her hand, since she'd wound an arm around one of his as support as they walked up the rest of the way. The others eyed them from around their huddle, but made no move to counteract the actions.

She could feel Hikaru's 'look' blazing into her temple but she choose to ignore it..

When they reached the top platform, they paused to gather their bearings, and Natasha reluctantly released Natsume's arm, though he squeezed her hand briefly in what she assumed was reassurance, before letting them drop to their respective sides. Masaomi, being the eldest, was the first to state his plans. "I'm going to go say hello to Kaname's superior," he addressed the group, then turned a bit toward Natasha, "so everyone's on their own from here on out.."

"I'll make sure Wataru and myself do not get lured into alleys with promises of sweets," Natasha raised her arm with a hand over her heart, a solemn look on her face, until a hand pinched her side, and she yelped, shooting Natsume a put-out pout/glare, "Hey- You ruined the mood-!"

"Please don't joke about getting kidnapped.." he deadpanned.

"Oh don't worry," she sent him a sweet smile, the dark, malicious aura that curled around her person as suddenly as a strike of lightning sending shivers down the elder brothers' spines, "If someone so much as looks at Wataru in a negative way, I will have their most desired limbs strung from very high tree branches.."

"You seem very protective of Wataru," Hikaru hummed, almost smug as the chill died down and he locked eyes with his sister, only to get her full attention, and a purely honest nod of confirmation. "Of course. I love Wataru, therefore, he is under my responsibility to protect.. I don't give empty threats.. I say only what I know I can and will provide without hindrance or fail. Anything less is pathetic and I refuse to sink low enough to exaggerate or bluff."

"..."

There was a sudden, collective quiet among the brothers, before Natsume let out a loud, long groan, and passed Natasha, ruffling her hair as she passed and earning a hiss of annoyance as she struggled to fix the clip he'd mussed, "Remind me not to annoy you.."

"Don't worry Natsu-nii-chan," Natasha grinned, flashing him an almost feral smirk as she skipped around his walking figure, halting him in his tracks as she eyed him with a smug glare, "I love you just as much as I love Wataru-chan.. So you are included on that list.."

Seemingly too giddy to stand still any longer, Wataru skipped over to his sister's side, and grasped her hand from beneath her long, wide sleeves, "I wanna go to the festival with Onee-chan-!"

"Is that alright with you..?" Masaomi asked hesitantly, furrowing his brown in concern as he met the younger woman's eyes, "This is your first festival, right? I don't want to just pin you with babysitting duty.." Natasha perked up from cooing over Wataru's adorable-ness to fix him with a look that outright expressed her confusion. That wasn't the line, was it..? ..Hnn.. Oh well

"I'd love to join Wataru for the festival," Natasha flashed the eldest a sweet grin, white teeth almost shining as she bent slightly to cuddle into Wataru's hair, "I mean c'mon~ who could resist those puppy-dog eyes~?" "Yay~!" Wataru cheered, giggling as he threw his arms around his sister's neck, "I get to go to the festival with Hime-sama~!"

"Hime..?" Natasha repeated, slowly, as she blinked down at the bunny-wearing child. Wataru nodded quick and fast as he looked slightly up at her, due to her slightly bent height, "Uh-huh-! Uh-huh-! 'Cause Onee-chan looks just like a princess-!"

"More like an angel-" Natsume chuckled, only to grunt at the sharp, but blunt blow that struck his side, giving a suspicious look down at the silver haired female who had raised her eyebrows at him, startled, four feet away.

"You okay, Natsume?" Hikaru asked slowly, flicking his eyes from the unmoving female eyeing Natsume's torso, or the general area, with furrowed, narrowed eyes. "I'm fine.." the ginger mutter, rubbing his stinging side once and trying to convey his thoughts to female..

Dear god.. What just happened..?

Natasha opened her mouth to say something, then quickly shut it, shooting him a deadpanned look before she was pulled, quite insistently, by a pouting Wataru toward the entrance.

"C'mon Hime-chan~! Hurry-! Hurry-!"

"I'm coming, Taru', relax~!" Natasha sang brightly, breaking off into an uneasy giggle as she sent Natsume a stern look, eyes narrowing ever so slightly a the space beside his hip before she was brought to the present and sent a bright, beaming smile to the remaining of the boys, "We'll meet up with you all later~! Be safe, please~!"

"We will-!" Masaomi called back as they rounded a beam, and disappeared from view. It was silent for a few seconds, before Hikaru sighed, shaking his head slowly, "It looks like the thirteenth son is the most aggressive.." All four pairs of eyes immediately snapped to him, holding annoyance and trepidation. Masaomi hesitated, shook his head, and turned on his heel, his geta clopping on the stone as he headed for the main temple.

"Jeez.."


The ride to the human temple went relatively long, considering he was unable to do anything other than eavesdrop and avoid bringing attention to himself. When they had finally made it to the steps, he was charmed and invisible to everyone and anything, he would be surprised if even Arrow could fin him, at this point. Keeping close enough to watch his new ward and eye the many human males with mild distrust, he listened in on their words, once more, his expression neutral.

"So why didn't Kyo-nii come, again?" The long, red haired male asked an elder, ash-blonde one curiously.

The taller male glanced to him with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck in mild embarrassment, "Ukyo said that he didn't want to attend such an obscene festival.. He told me he'd stay back at the house and clean.." there was a moment of quiet, several of the males humming in acknowledgement before the lone female burst out laughing, her shoes missing a step as she tilted backwards on the steps. Fuck- Staff darted forward to several steps below her, only mildly surprised when the orange-haired human had caught the girl-mid-fall, an arm wrapped tightly around her waist and pulling her flush into his chest as she collapsed against him in a fit of laughter.

"Easy there.." the male murmured gently, his eyes trailing over her form, in search of injuries, soft and caring as he watched her giggle.

The other male's didn't seemed overly surprised by her sudden laughter, so he deduced it was a regular occurrence.

His eye twitched.

He hated this mission already...

Several counts passed when they had met at the top, but when the annoying, orange-haired male had muttered under his breath, he'd been legitimately shocked. Enough so that his elbow accidentally found the boy's ribs before he'd darted away, out of the sensing rage of the woman, since his brief loss in composure made it fluctuate. He watched his wards eyes dart around the area, and he could feel her spread her essence around, searching for him, before retracting as she relaxed, sharing a look with the ginger haired male as words echoed in his mind, as if they were spoken aloud, though it was clear who they were directed at.

What just happened..?


"Wataru-chan~!" Natasha giggled, eyeing the child's first cone of shaved ice, the flavor being cherry, as he licked at it happily, "How about we play a few games, ne?"

"Ooh~!" Wataru's eyes lit up like Christmas, and Natasha had to suppress the urge to nuzzle his face an inch his cheeks. She nodded quickly, darting her eyes around the vast numbers of stalls before lighting up at a ring tossing game. She turned her head down to Wataru, wiggling her eyebrows as she pulled out her purple silk money pouch, tossing it up and down playfully as she grinned, "What say you, Wataru, shall we win a bunch of stuffies for the boys..?"

"Yay~!" he cheered, rushing to hug her with one arm splayed out to avoid dousing her in red slush, "Let's hurry so the line doesn't get too long-!" Natasha giggled softly, shaking her head as he took her hand and practically sped toward the booth. It was empty, and when she'd gotten there, she knew why.

The damn thing was rigged..

"Can I try, Onee-chan~!" Wataru bounced in place happily, ignorant of the suave smile that the booth owner was eyeing him with. It was too oily smooth for Natasha's liking. He seemed to have noticed her second, seeing as he was looking out for the children that would beg their parents to play, drawn in by the six foot tall fluffies and unable to make the five necessary rings for the only level of prize, save for the tiny little puppets he'd hand out for the extremely lucky ones..

When he had taken notice of the woman the salmon haired child (he internally questioned who let their kid dye their hair at such as age- then again his cousin's was neon purple so-) had brought over, his eyes traveling up the arm of a quite obviously expensive kimono, trailing past the delicate designs, to see alabaster skin, smooth and littered with soft freckles across her nose and cheeks, and a small, heart shaped face. She bore no beauty marks, but her eyes were ringed lightly in coal, a small, pouty mouth the color of rose buds pressed gently into a soft line. Her eyes were big, golden things that seemed to shine in the light of all the lanterns, and the lamps surrounding the entire festival seemed to give off an ethereal glow to the woman.

The man swallowed quickly, straightening out his posture automatically and placing his most suave, polite smile on his face as he eyed the clearly well off woman. The child (he was starting to question if it was even a boy), started to examine the prizes with severe intent, all the while babbling to the dainty, postured woman at his side. She looked damn right regal..

"What can I do for you miss..?" he asked brightly, his voice cracking only once on the word 'do' before he silently cleared his throat and shot her a bright smile. He was by no means an idol, but he did have his looks going for him. She seemed to ignore him for a moment, her eyes staring at the sign on the wall in blue painted kanji.

Small- One ring

Large- Five rings

"How many of the big animals should we get, Wataru?" the girl spoke suddenly, and he caught his breath in his throat. Her voice was smooth, and gentle, with undercurrents of authority and something more.. Pure… beneath it…

It took him a few seconds to process what she had said before he could blink enough to see the Salmon haired child looking each large stuffy (clearly bigger than him-) hanging from the rafters around the booth, leaving the floorspace and front open for the participants to toss rings into the fifty or so beer bottles spaced out deliberately along the bench near the center back of the booth.

"Hmmm," the little boy furrowed his brow, and pointed to several of the animals, "How about.. The bunny for Masa-nii.. The bear for Azu-nii… The monkey for Kana-nii.." His eyes lit up brightly, and the vendor shivered slightly when both the woman and the child seemed to grin mischievously at the stuffy hanging up in the order, "-the shark for Ukyo-nii.." (-how many siblings does this brat have-) "-the fox for Hikaru-nii.. The raccoon for Suba-nii.. And the kitty for Natsu-nii-!"

"Sounds great," Natasha sent the child a bright smile, leaning down to ruffle his hair and place a gentle peck on his forehead before tilting her head, "Would you like to throw the rings..?"

"Aah-!" the vendor seemed to snap to his senses when the young fairy (she hardly looked human- there was something ethereal about her-) stepped forward with a coin purse, her eyes on the lack of prices listed. "This is a.. Very difficult game.." (-something told him not to push it with her, there was something dark and something bright there-) "-maybe I should bring the bottles forw-"

"You will do no such thing."

The woman's blunt, blatant disregard of his anxiety sent him pausing, closing his gaping mouth as he eyed her with confusion. "That would hardly be fair, to any of the past or future patrons of this booth, I cannot ask you to cheat, for whatever reason you may seem to think is wise.." She wanted the small, tiny boy to win.. Seven.. Giant plushies- (that are still bigger than both of them-) by ringing Thirty five consecutive rings onto tiny-ass beer bottles..

Was she nuts..?

The look in her eyes told him she was dead serious, and he had to blink slowly to keep from leaning against the wall of the booth from a head rush of adrenaline and slight fear. She just gave him a smile..

If she's crazy with those looks..

Well..

"Sure.." he murmured, unsure as to why she was focusing so intently on the bottles, before sending him a sweet, innocent smile, his ears flushing slightly when she held up her purse with a soft bat of her eyelashes, "I don't seem to see a price.. What is the amount needed for thirty-five rings..?"

"Uhm.." he hesitated, before giving her a small, hesitant smile, "3500 yen, miss.." (it was normally 4000 but when she locked her eyes on his-) "100 yen per ring.."

She set out the money with ease, and he counted it with a furtive eye before tucking it away, counting out each and every ring with extreme care before placing them in a small wooden flat box, and sliding it onto the counter in front of the kid.

The kid was practically vibrating in place as he grasped a few of the rings, taking them in his hands and moving to pull it back to-

"Wataru."

The clear voice of the woman halted the kid like a bell, freezing him over for a half second before he turned to her expectantly, tilting his head in an almost cute manner. "Hai, Onee-chan..?"

(So not only did he have a full litter of brothers he had a stunning little china doll for a sister-)

"Hand me those rings, please?" she asked sweetly, and the vendor flinched, biting his lips as the child eagerly handed her the projectiles in his hands, and she brought them up to her lips, closing her eyes as she pressed a feathered kiss to each of the four rings, and held them back out to him with a blissful smile. "Here you go.. A bit of luck never hurt, right?" she pulled out a large recording camera, fitting it around her hand as she waited.

"Thank you, Onee-chan-!" the child chirped, carefully inspecting the small, red plastic rings, before turning to look at the bottles and pulling his arm back.

The vendor took a good step back when the kid had hurtled the ring, having to dart sharply toward the wall as it flew past him, where his shoulder had been, knocking into a rafter beam, (the aim was so off he wanted to laugh but then again that girl was there-) and plinking onto one of the bottles, his lips twitched as it clinked against one lip, then another, bouncing its way along the line with a soft clink every time, before it reached the end of the line.

CLINK-!

His jaw fell slack as he stared at the ring hanging around the neck of the far left bottle. He blinked slowly, turning and finding the thought to realize the kid was cheering in excitement, bouncing around the fairy-like woman with a grin that could split his face. He blinked slowly, watching as a few passersby seemed drawn to the attention, and peaked over curiously, a few taking note of the large number of rings on the counter, and the cheering child.

The woman stilled the child after a minute or so of his excitement, instead moving up to the small box of rings and pulling them into her arm, lifting several more rings and pressing soft, chaste kisses to the plastic and setting them out on the counter.

CLINK-!

CLICK-!

CLINK-!

The vendors shoulders dropped lower and lower as several rings flew through the booth, no where near any of the bottles, before ricocheting off of the walls, the beams, the prizes, one even bouncing off of his shoulder to align onto a bottle.

The crowd seemed to grow exponentially around the attraction, some people holding their breath in awe while others cheered loudly for the spectacle the child was performing. A few younger males had commented on the way the fairy-woman was kissing the rings for luck, and pleaded suavely for her to do the same for them, only to receive a distraught expression from said woman, and a low, apologetic bow.

"My sincerest apologies.. But my services are reserved only for my brother, tonight.."

There seemed to be light and glitter surrounding the woman as she turned a soft expression to the crowd, a large number of people either grouping together to blush and admire her while others merely stared in awe at the petals that seemed to envelope her aura. If he squinted his eyes enough, he could swear he could see roses surrounding her.

CLINK-CLINK-CLINK-CLINK-!

He would have forgotten about the child tossing the rings (-despite spending the better part of four minutes dodging the projectiles-) had the crowd not became instantly silent, staring at the booth with disbelief.

He turned his head slowly, as if on a rusted axle, and stiffly walked over to the bottles, lifting each one off of the shelf before placing it on the front counter in front of the couch. Two, four, six.. Eighteen, twenty, twenty-two.. Thirty.. thirty-two.. Thirty-four..

Thirty five…

The uproar was instantaneous, and the fairy sent him a slow, smug smile, filled with a strange level of knowing and expectation.

"Wataru," the girl turned a sweet smile to the gaping boy, jarring him out of his revere as the crowd applauded his amazing feet, "I believe that is seven prizes.. Pick what you would like, yeah?"

In the end, she'd apparently recruited a few festival attendees to bring the giant stuffies to a house near the mountain, giving them the address and a certain time to deliver them, before returning to following the small bundle of joy as he started to run around her in circles around a giant pink bunny with white ears, face and tail, with a big, stitched red heart on it's chest in a shiny material. "Masa-nii will love it-! Won't he, Onee-chan-?!"

"Of course he will," the woman smiled, patting his hair as she loaded it with ease onto her back, the slight tilt to her posture not taking away from her regal aura, "Shall we go the next game..? You're out of ice, too.."

"Yay~!"

The two were gone in less than ten minutes, and the vendor was left staring after the two as they exit the crowd as if the sea were parted by Moses himself. The rest of the crowd stared in awe for a while, before a number of them rushed to follow, urging their companions to do so as well, to witness the "trick-shot kid and the princess doll" play more games.

He stared dumbly down at the meager 3500 yen, stuffing it in his box.


Nene wasn't particularly surprised to find the little dimension hopper in Fratres Certamen, in fact, she was expecting it. She recalled the changes that have already happened, small things with little consequence, at least so far. First and foremost being 'Ema' getting turned into a short little slip of a punk with a fiery disposition and a backbone to cut steel. To say she was pleased was an understatement. The boys, she observed from a safe distance -no way did she want to be zapped by those sutras- were being properly disciplined by the silverette's silver tongue.

Nene chuckled, brushing the pitch black bangs from her eyes and leaning against the beam of a stall. She was enjoying the show that the girl was putting on, thankful for the fresh reprieve on the usually droning existence that is wrought with immortality. She was becoming bored of being on the side-lines.. She needed to pick a side and get with the program already.. Perhaps getting assigned a charge or leading a regime could bring her out of her two and a half century funk. Now the question was, heaven or hell?

she glanced around the backstage area of the shrine festival aesthetic stage, her eyes landing on the willowy form of Asakura Futo in the corner, surrounded by half a dozen or so stylists as they tweaked his hair, his clothes, and his vocal coach guided him through his warm-ups. She smirked to herself, a slight upturn of her right lip, and she ducked beneath the watchful eyes of her 'manager'. Really, simple illusions were much too child's-play for someone with millenniums of experience beneath her belt.

Soon, she resisted the urge to give a low, predatory chuckle to scare the young-looking stagehands darting around her on caffeine-based fuel. Soon she would get that girl's attention, and she would be apart of the game, again..

.

.

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