There was silence hanging in the air between Victor and Erik as they walked the familiar path to Electra's room. Their minds were both plagued with worry and doubt. Erik couldn't help hoping that all went well with Arianna. It was true that Darius would be with her but the image of Kray leering over her continuously kept popping up in his head. She shouldn't have come, none of them should have. It never was necessary for them to find him. It was peculiar. Erik didn't give a damn for him either but he wasn't really here for Kray but for something he had. A braid of Arianna's hair. It might seem ridiculous to some and Erik, too, felt that it was foolish to come all this way just for something so meaningless. But it didn't matter how many times he tried to reason with himself. He had to have it.

Victor was naturally worried about Erik. He was angering too many people. Why was he so careless? It wasn't enough that his family hated him and everyone associated him with death and sin, oh no, he just had to anger his relatives in the zodiac as well! God knows what punishment Electra would see fit but, Victor had to admit, whatever it was it was probably something he deserved. Oh it was awful to think that way but although Victor cared for him like a friend and brother, he sometimes felt that he'd like to slap him once or twice. It didn't help his worries and frustrations, to Selena storming out of Electra's room, glaring daggers at Erik. Her face was red and their were bits of silver stuck to her face. He frowned at seeing Erik grinning at the sight. Victor drew in a shaky breath, his hand coming to his chest.

"What have you done this time?'

Erik shrugged carelessly. "Nothing." Victor suddenly felt very tired.

"Erik, I can't put up with this. Do you like getting into trouble or just shortening my life line?"

"For God's sake, you're not even thirty!" Came his rather loud reply. Victor was taken a back by the look in his eyes. It was fierce and accusing.

"Let's just go see Electra." He said, after taking time to gather his words. He opened the door and at seeing Electra his mouth dropped open and he instinctively drew his hand over Erik's eyes. Electra wasn't wearing much more than a black silk negligee which showed every curve in her body. Victor started stammering apologies.

"I'm so sorry. We should have knocked." And he edged toward the door but Electra stopped him.

"No, you're right on time."

"Is that the way you dress for all your appointments?" Erik asked dryly.

"No." Electra said sweetly. "You're just not so important that I have to dress up for you, that's all." And she rose, giving full show of herself. It seemed that the roles had switched on Victor and Erik. Victor the older of the two was staring wide eyed and open mouthed while Erik didn't even look interested, although it was the first time he had seen a woman so scantily clad.

"You may go now Victor." She said, as if he were a mere nobody. Victor did as he was told saying a quick prayer for Erik on his way out.

"Scorpion, I haven't been hearing good things about you. First you ruin my portrait, attack Tidus and severely insult Selena. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Innocent." Erik responded, holding his ground. Electra smirked.

"There's nothing innocent about Scorpio's. Nothing but evil and sin. I'd just love to know what's boiling in that mind of yours right now."

Erik nodded. "You would if I was thinking what you want me to but I'm afraid you underestimate me."

Electra snarled and lifted her hand as if to strike him but decided against it and let her hand fall to her side. Erik smiled slowly in that familiar show of patience and superiority causing Electra more anger.

"Scorpions always bring out the evil in people." She muttered scornfully. "Well, what the hell am I supposed to do with you?"

"You didn't have anything in mind?" Asked Erik, looking thoroughly amused as he surveyed the surroundings. Electra dumbly looked about. The lights were low and grew brighter in her room where she had wine. There was the also her own appearance to consider. She wasn't intending to go to far though. Only to tease his mind that's all but the atmosphere didn't seem to affect him. As a matter of fact, it seemed like he had expected it!

"Don't flatter yourself!" She snapped. She had to admit, however, that she was in an embarrassing situation. Realizing that Tidus had left his paints and brushes, an idea popped into mind.

"I'll have to take time in considering a fitting and fair punishment for your insolence but until then the task at hand is to keep you out of mischief. Well, since you destroyed my painting I'll give you a chance redeem yourself by painting my portrait yourself, this time! Tidus has told me you have a fair amount of talent."

"You didn't seem to like my earlier efforts." Erik stated matter of factly. "Besides, your setting was destroyed so you'll have to choose a different one."

"I have just the place." She said, regaining her confidence. She led him into her room, thinking to herself how clever she was! Her first attempt had failed but he couldn't fail to ignore her now that he'd be painting her in detail and in better light! When she told him of her proposition he stared at her skeptically.

"Dressed like that?"

"Yes of course! It's not unusual, I just want to always remember how beautiful I am now." She replied not noticing his eyes roll. As he set up the easel and she positioned herself, Arianna and Darius were on their way to the Sohma main house.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Is it me or is this saying 'keep out'." Arianna questioned the towering figure beside her as she looked over the towering fortress in front of her. She watched wide eyed as the gates separated. The first thing she noticed were the long rows of houses. The second thing was the white- haired boy she had ran into in the woods. He bowed politely and Arianna tried to curtsey in return.

"Greetings. I am Hatsuharu Sohma and I am to take you to see Akito at once."

They followed without saying a word, Arianna's heart beating rapidly in her chest. This was it! She silently prayed that all would go well. She tried to distract herself by looking at the screen doors until they stopped in front of one. A man came out and nodded to Hatsuharu. Arianna entered the room and heard the door close behind her. Darius would be waiting outside, there was nothing to be afraid of. Meanwhile Hatori was thinking over yesterday. It had been an extremely interesting day; Hatsuharu had been in danger, they had found that there was another zodiac, and even more so, Tohru had exclaimed her immediate distrust in someone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(They had all stared at Tohru who wore a worried but certain expression on her face. She had said that she not only distrusted their visitor but that she disliked him! Was such a thing possible?

"Miss Honda?" Inquired Yuki, seeking a reasonable explanation for this unlikely behavior. Kyo wasn't too anxious about it. He agreed with her!

"He said he was looking for someone." Gasped Tohru but it still was unclear. Upon discovering the existence of another zodiac they had all forgotten that he had mentioned it.

"Why should that be any reason to distrust him, Tohru?" asked Shigure. She caught them all off guard as her lower lip trembled and tears formed in her eyes.

"Oh, Shigure, I'm so afraid! I think he's looking for Kumi Kuri!"

This too, did not register in their minds immediately. Hatori and Hatsuharu didn't even know who she was talking about. Shigure explained trying to sound light hearted.

"Oh, he's just Tohru's boyfriend that she met at work!"

"Shut up!" Yelled Yuki and Kyo in unison.

"What makes you even think he knows him?" questioned Hatori quietly.

"Well, he had her picture!" She rubbed her eyes and continued to explain. "Kumi Kuri showed me a picture once of a girl he likes. She's really pretty and he keeps it framed on his desk. I thought it was really sweet and I even showed him Mom's picture too. Well, he had her picture too and he looked really angry that I'd seen it."

"But that doesn't mean that your friends in danger." Explained Hatsuharu but Momiji spoke out.

"No, Tohru's right! I saw a picture in the purse and it was Kumi alright, but there was a black line across it.")

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He had told Akito all of this but he had said nothing except that he wished to see for himself. And now a girl was going in to see him not knowing what he was like. Hatori hoped for the best.

It was dark in the large room. Dark and empty.and quiet. Arianna felt a chill and looked around. Should she just wait here? Just then, a slow and icy voice called to her sweetly. The voice seemed to come out of no where since Arianna saw no one in the room but on second glance she saw someone in the shadows. As they both stepped into the light streaming through an opening in another screen door both looked at each other in confusion. Arianna was standing front of a tall boy with dark hair and eyes. He was very pale but also young and nice looking. This couldn't be him, could it? He wasn't what she had been expecting at all. To him, neither was she.

"You're the head of the zodiac?" He asked distastefully. No, she wasn't what he'd expected. He wasn't even expecting her to be female. There wasn't any sign of power or confidence in her presence either. Her family must be starved of proper guidance and control. That wasn't such a bad thing actually. He was quite pleased at being the stronger of the two but something at the back of his mind told him to be wary of her and he knew why.

She reminded him of Tohru.

He thought he'd be sick at the very thought of that girl who had intruded in on their lives. He had trusted her and allowed her to stay with Shigure, Yuki, and Kyo but he hadn't expected that she'd have such an effect on them all. She had spread her false sweetness like a deadly disease that must be stopped before it destroyed everything. He could still remember the last time he had seen her crying pitifully and begging to stay, saying words of utter sweetness and innocence. For a moment, Akito had almost felt touched by her gentility, but that was all the more proof of how dangerous she was. He had to build up a shield against her. Against her kind words and innocent eyes which only hid lies.

And now, here before him was a girl reminding him of her. She had wide innocent eyes like Tohru and wore something that he thought Tohru might have worn. Luckily, there were some differences that would allow him to converse with her without wish to strangle her for her likeness to his enemy. Her hair was curled and her lips were fuller than Tohru's. And most important, she didn't have those disgusting ribbons in her hair like Tohru. He had grown a great dislike for ribbons after meeting Tohru.

Arianna gaped at him a moment only too aware of how ridiculous she must seem. He thought she was their leader! Than this must be him but she didn't know he wanted to see Electra. Would he be upset? She'd better explain but it suddenly hit her that she hadn't asked Erik how she was supposed to greet him! She did a clumsy curtsey and stammered an explanation.

"Um, no, I'm sorry! I'm Arianna Primavera. Uh, I was sent by my kind and generous leader, Electra, to represent her seeing as she was regretfully unable to come."

Akito stared coldly down at the Arianna but quickly wore a smile on his face. So, she wasn't anyone of great importance but that was alright. He could probably learn a lot more from her and so easily too. It was all so perfectly simple. All one had to do was flatter a woman and she'd let her guard down. He held out his pale hands to the kneeling girl and bid her to rise. Then, with the greatest act of courtesy, he bowed and introduced himself.

"It is with great joy that I welcome you, Miss Arianna. I am Akito Sohma, head of Sohma family and I hope to look forward to a close friendship with you."
Akito did his best to suppress a cackle of triumph as her body relaxed and she smiled at him. She opened her mouth to respond but before she could, the screen door opened and two servants entered the room and began setting a table. She looked at him questioningly and he explained ever so sweetly.

"I had hoped that we could share a meal while we discuss things." He said, leading her to the table.

Although this was a sweet gesture, it only worsened the knot in Arianna's stomach. True, it was a relief that he turned out to be so nice but she could still botch the whole thing up. She had never really tasted Japanese food other than rice and wasn't too eager to try any now. She couldn't just not eat but what if she tried something she didn't like and spat it back out. She was mortified at the thought. Akito didn't fail to notice her renewed stiffness but didn't let it worry him. They sat on the pillows at opposite ends of the table. Arianna looked down at the food before her. She noticed tea. She hated tea. (Erik should have come,) she thought.

"Um, I'd just like to apologize again for the confusion earlier." She blurted out. He looked up and felt a twinge of annoyance but he continued to smile.

"Not at all. I'm very pleased to have met you." He paused before asking, casually. "Now, why don't you tell me something about your family." There seemed nothing wrong with that, Arianna thought. That's what she was supposed to do, wasn't it?

"Well, while your family is possessed by the spirits of the Chinese zodiac mine is of Nature's zodiac. We are a peaceful people who do what we can for our Mother Earth. Supposedly, we're said to have descended from supernatural beings who controlled the seasons but for some reason were punished by being stripped of nearly all their powers and placed under the curse."

"Yes, but if I may ask," Akito said slowly, secretly taking interest. "Some of your twelve are represented by symbols not animals. What do they transform to, I wonder."

Arianna took a sip of tea. "Oh, well, they don't really do much but change color and float blindly on air."

This answer surprised him but he did not show it. "What do you transform into, if I may ask."

She blushed a bit. "I was born under the symbol of Taurus.the bull."

"Must be an interesting experience for you." He said. She was very informative, this silly girl, he thought. It didn't seem like her family would be a threat. Then again, he had thought the same about Tohru Honda. He coughed.

"Oh! Do you have a cold?" Arianna asked in a concerned voice. Seeing as he'd just been thinking of Tohru, his voice quite naturally snapped at her.

"That's a very insolent thing to say! Being the leader of the zodiac I carry the full force of the curse and am always weak. Either you're very impolite or ignorant."

She said nothing but looked at him in confusion. "Then I must be ignorant, sir. I honestly had no idea. And to think, Electra always seemed very healthy."

"What?" He snapped a bit louder. Was it possible that while he suffered, their weak little leader lived without illness? He felt anger rising inside of him and did his best to restrain it from lashing out.

"Our leader, Electra, always seems very lively, throwing parties, and visiting us all. Perhaps she hides it from us."

Akito's hands formed into fists beneath the table. He was finding it harder to control his anger. She spoke with such warmth for her leader! When he passed away, his family would probably rejoice. But he had to be calm, he could always express his anger upon someone later. Right now he had to find out more about this family and most importantly the amount of power they held. An idea formed in his head.

"Let us not think of such a depressing subject. I am most eager to meet all of your family and soon. So, I suggest we hold a gathering of some kind. Let me see now.ah, yes, I have it. Miss Arianna, was it? Please extend my invitation to all your family for a masquerade here in about a week?" He smiled as a look of excitement spread across her face.

"Oh! That is a brilliant idea! Of course I'll only be too happy to tell them."

"And may I also suggest," he added. "That you wear masks of the spirits you represent, full costume is not necessary."

"Once again, a wonderful suggestion!" She said brightly. "I suppose that those who are possessed by symbols can get regular masks and paint their symbols on. Maybe wear their color too."

"Precisely, what I had in mind." He murmured. Arianna was bubbling with happiness. She hadn't messed up and everything was going perfectly. And most importantly, Erik would be proud of her, wouldn't he? She gladly drank the poison called tea at the thought of him, a blush creeping along her cheeks. Akito didn't notice. Not many would, considering her cheeks were naturally rosy but what he had noticed was the time. He was expecting another guest soon and had forgotten all about him. Yet as if on cue, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," he said with a bit of annoyance. He had too much to do today and it was making him weary. Hatori entered with Darius behind him.

"I'm sorry for the intrusion Akito, but it seems your guest must depart early." Hatori explained.

"Why? Is something the matter Darius? Oh, forgive me, Darius this is Akito Sohma, the head of the Chinese Zodiac." Darius nodded with almost military respect.

"I apologize, sir, but something has occurred that requires we leave but I can not say what." He said monotonously. Arianna felt her stomach twist into knots. Her mind was immediately filled with all the things that could possibly have happened, each one more horrible than the next, causing panic to well up inside her. Was Erik alright?

"Well, of course if she must leave then I shall not detain her." Akito said, with the same level of courtesy. "I just hope that whatever's happened is not so serious that you can not keep our appointment in a week. You see, I've just invited your family to a masquerade."

"A masquerade?" Asked Hatori skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, Hatori." Murmured Akito, with a steely undertone. "I thought it would be a nice way for the twelve members of each family to get to know one another."

Darius allowed himself to smile. "I'm sure it won't interfere." He turned to leave but Arianna paused in confusion.

"Twelve of each? Wait a minute! I'm sorry, sir, but I'm afraid I didn't mention this. Our family has thirteen."

"Thirteen? But there are only twelve symbols." He said a bit impatiently.

"Yes, but Gemini are twins." She answered then added, "sir."

"I see, well what of it? The thirteenth has always been excluded according to tradition, I imagine it is the same with your family." Akito said decidedly. He didn't like the look on her face after saying this.

"Yes it would I suppose. The thing is we do not know who was born last of the twins so we do not know who the thirteenth is. Their mother took her secret to the death because she didn't want to see her children." She bit back what she was going to say but couldn't help muttering bitterly. "Of course there is a rightful member of the zodiac treated like the cursed thirteenth." She felt Darius' hand grasp her shoulder tightly.

"Please excuse her, sir, she doesn't know what she's talking about." Darius said steadily.
Akito felt disgust at her feelings yet he allowed himself to say. "I suppose we can allow an exception just this once." She looked so stupidly happy.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." She whispered as they both left. The moment the imposing gates closed behind them Darius did not hesitate to scold Arianna.

"What were you thinking?" He bellowed, grasping her small wrist in his massive black hand. "You could have ruined everything and for what? A treacherous scorpion."

Arianna panicked. Did he know? Mustering up all her ability to act she snapped back. "Darius! I grew up with Romulus and Remus, they're like brothers to me! I never want to see them treated like Erik has. I don't care who he is but our behavior towards him isn't right and you know it! We're family! Why don't we act like one?" She felt tears welling up in her eyes. She had never said anything like that to anybody. Yet even though she said that to hide the fact that her main concern was Erik she realized that she had meant all she said. For the first time in her life she saw Darius look understanding.

"I'm sorry. I forget how young and naïve you are." He let go of her hand. "I can understand how you feel but you shouldn't worry. Even if we knew who was the thirteenth it doesn't matter. It's good that you feel compassion for people but you don't know Erik or what he's like." She held her breath. No one knew about her frequent visits to see her two persecuted cousins. "Don't misjudge our family, Arianna. We'll only exclude those who deserve it, not because of their birth."

"But what has he done to deserve it?" Arianna asked timidly.

"We'll find out when we get to the hotel." He answered. Arianna looked at him in surprise. So it did concern Erik. She felt sick.

"What will happen?" She asked weakly.

"Electra has called us to judge him." He murmured.

"Is that serious?"

"The judicial counsel hasn't been called in over 200 years." He said gravely.

"That is serious." She replied numbly.

"In a way, Erik's on trial." He explained.

But what for, they wondered..