A/N: This was read through, or so-called read through. I changed a few VERY IMPORTANT points, like the Christmas Eve thingo. I completely forgot about the fact that Japanese people are buddhists. Bear with me.

And here goes the story that purple snowflakes OH EN EE typed. Some people insist that we are one and the same. But we aren't. We are completely different people and we can prove to you (: My name is Melody.

And I'll try to give you longer chapters! (: This is a kind of um, prologue, so once again, bear with me.

Little Star Girl

One

Undefined

She was there, a girl no older than thirteen, crouching in the corner of an alleyway. Her breath condensed the surrounding air, misting it up. She looked ready to collapse any moment, but her filthy frozen fingers held stubbornly tight onto a dirty basket which contained only some crumpled paper stars, but the way she treated them was like they were some family heirloom. I almost snorted as I held up my hands and interlocked my fingers behind my skull.

She huddled close to her knees, her brownish bangs fluttering in the direction of the horrid wind, her tiny face exposed to such bitter cold. Her clothes were almost thin as paper.

I touched my face with my well-gloved hands, feeling the warmth of my cheeks, my face well protected by my scarf. If she really was only thirteen, then I was older than her by two full years.

To my eyes, she looked so little and unprotected.

Twilight was approaching, and everyone else was hurrying home for their sumptuous dinner. Nobody did as much as shoot a pitying glance in the direction of the girl.

I debated between walking away like the rest of the people, and just dumping her some spare change for the sake of it.

At long last, the nice part of my brain got the better of me. Well, I might be grumpy and maybe even a little snobby at times, but I wasn't so bad as to see someone in such a state and not help. Plus, she wasn't even a beggar; she was doing proper business.

I walked cautiously towards her, watching all sides of the street in case any of my family – and I did have a large family – walked past and reprimanded me for even making eye contact with lowly, filthy people like her.

She must have seen me approaching, because as soon as I got to the other side of the street near the alleyway, she struggled up from her crouching position and asked me in a faked cheery voice if I wanted to buy some paper stars for Christmas presents, but her tone was hasty and pained. She sounded almost strangled.

I fumbled in my pocket, fished out some notes and dumped it in her basket, and prepared to walk away as if nothing had happened at all.

But no, she wouldn't let me.

"Mister, mister!" she hushed, her tone full of pleads. I stopped walking and turned to her.

"What do you want? Aren't the notes enough for you? One can't be so greedy, you know!" I replied huffily, starting to feel a little grumpy. But then I saw her large, sincere green eyes and softened, just a tiny little bit.

"Okay, fine, speak your mind, make it snappy."

"Well, I just wanted to say, um…" her cheeks were even redder than when they were from the icy cold, and her body seemed to stiffen from my unpleasant attitude, afraid that I might hurt her or something. "Um - My daddy said, never to take – take money from a stranger – with - without giving him what he paid for -" she sniffled as she counted the notes with her fingers that were turning blue, and handed me every single paper star that once belonged in that dirty basket. "The – the notes Mister – Mister gave me just now – are – are more than enough to – to pay for these paper – stars –"I scowled. I didn't like people addressing me with 'Mister's.

She finally got the courage and stared me in the eye with those innocent emerald pools of hers, now misty and welled up tears were visible, probably because of my accusation of her being greedy.

"They're enough for – for – for two baskets of – of paper stars-"she sniffed, sneezed, then looked up at me apologetically. "I'm so – so sorry, Mister – I was just hope – hoping you would – would come by tomorrow to co – collect your other basket of paper stars…" her voice trailed off, and she looked at me with an expression of sorrow and hope.

"Well, I can't say I promise," I felt my grumpy mood returning, and snapped. "What's the big deal even if the money paid ex –"it was time for my voice to trail off as soon as I saw tears trickling down her face and I felt my heart skip a beat. One of the things I resented most to see was girls crying in front of me. That REALLY got me on my nerves.

"Uh, hey, don't cry, calm down, calm down, please!" I said in frenzy, searching for the right words, but my mind was a total blank. I couldn't think. I couldn't even hear the words that flowed from my lips of their own accord.

"That wasn't what I meant, okay? What I meant was – was, uh, I might not have the time tomorrow! Um, I mean, I mean! My parents might not allow me out tomorrow night, you know what I mean? It's Christmas eve." I gestured wildly with my gloved hands, then tried to reassure her by putting my hand on her shoulder, and repeating 'I promise I'll show up tomorrow'. Then I felt it.

She was shivering. How could I not have noticed? How could I not have known? I reached for the button of my winter coat, for I wore another sweater inside. I was ready to tackle the cold, and she so was not. As soon as I let go of her shoulder, her head fell quite limply onto mine.

I removed the coat from my body onto her tiny, freezing one. She looked up in surprise, touching the coat gently.

"But – but – but I can't take something so valuable from a total stranger, Mister!" she squealed, and I grasped her arm firmly to stop her.

"No. You can return me tomorrow. So I'll definitely come back, right? That's my way of reassurance. So hush now, stop crying."

But apart from all the pre-festive noises, her sobbing could be heard.

"I'm sorry - to trouble - you with all this, Mister –"she said in between hiccups. "But – my family does – does not celebrate on – on New Year's Eve… We – we grieve… Mummy – died on New Year's Eve…" she continued to sob, though now quietly.

"But you've still got your daddy, right?" I tried making her feel better, thinking about my own deceased father. Well, I don't really feel sad nowadays. I've still got my mum. Who was really overprotective, but still a comfort sometimes; when I felt like jumping out the window, that is.

"Yes, mister, I do," she wiped her tears on the sleeve of my coat. "That is why I – I love him very much…" her sob now broke into a full howl as she jumped onto me and squeezed me so tightly I could suffocate.

My eyes widened in total surprise and I felt the dreaded heat spread across my cheeks as she wet my sweater and continued to hug me. She didn't seem to notice or even mind that she was hugging a complete stranger, because she was so overwhelmed by sadness.

At last, she calmed down a little as she released her tight grasp on me and I heard her sincere apology in between constant sobs. "Arigatou for listening to my family state! I really shouldn't bother you, mister!" she squeaked.

She was really cute, in some way, I thought randomly.

NOW WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? I scolded myself. If my family knew I let a complete stranger plus filthy little girl hug me, they would probably ALL blow their tops, and that would be worse than a volcano eruption. I'm serious.

I pulled back the sleeve of my sweater and glanced at my watch. Six thirty. The two words didn't process in my brain until…

"DAMN IT!" I let out a pained howl as I removed my gloves and scarf and passed them to the girl. "Hey now, girlie, I'm sorry but I gotta go, no kidding. You gotta return me my coat tomorrow, but the gloves and scarf; it's my Christmas Eve present to you, okay? Bye for now, stop crying!" I hastily shot out those words and ran home before she tried stopping me again because "she couldn't receive a gift like that from a stranger without proper reason", trying to sneak upstairs without being noticed. But how could you not be noticed when you had a coat, a pair of gloves and a scarf missing? Plus, my exposed hands and neck were quite frozen now, so my movement wasn't just as swift.

I opened the front gate, willing for it not to creak as much as usual. Then I tried opening the main door a crack, and squeezed myself through –

"LI XIAO LANG!"

"XIAO LANG!"

"SYAO-CHAN!" about eight voices erupted with my name at the same time, well, in different ways.

I could confirm six of the eight voices though; the one who boomed my full name was obviously Okaa-sama. The four people who called me Syao-chan in unison had to be my four irritating sisters.

The only person who called me Xiao Lang… It was definitely cousin Meiling.

Oh great. She was here to visit again. That means the other two people who shouted Xiao Lang were her parents.

On my not responding, they were silent for a few seconds, as if waiting for my answer. But I was dumbfounded and stood rooted to the spot, "sweatdropping".

Then they erupted again; there were so many different voices I had to scream at the top of my lungs in order to hear myself, let alone let them hear me.

"WILL ALL OF YOU JUST STOP IT?" I shouted, trying to quiet them down. "All right, since cousin Meiling is the youngest here, being only fourteen, we'll let her speak first."

Upon hearing that statement, she pounced on me and hugged me so tight I was suffering from that suffocating sensation the second time in a day. I pulled away from her embrace and folded my arms impatiently. "How many times did I tell you not to do that?" I stared right into her eyes, embarrassed and angry with the affectionate outburst.

She muttered an apology as my sisters spoke up.

"Ooooh, our li'l bro got himself a girlfriend!" Feimei squealed delightedly.

"Yea, yea, Syao-chan has a GURLFWEND!" Shiefa squeaked in this babyishly disgusting voice. I almost puked right there and then.

I saw Fuutie whisper something into Fanren's ears, high-fived, and then winked at each other. The living room was revolting as it was noisy; I tried creeping up to my room unnoticed.

I was just about to climb the second flight of stairs when Okaa-sama walked past me in a breeze and blocked my way. I had no choice but to immediately stand as straight as possible, like a wooden block. "Okaa-sama." I said obediently.

"Why did you return so late? Why were you trying to get back to your room? Without greeting Aunt Leefay and Uncle Leo, even! And WHAT IN LI CLAN'S NAME HAPPENED TO YOUR COAT, GLOVES AND SCARF? Did someone rob you or something?"

I couldn't exactly figure out what she was saying, so I made up a how-I-tried-climbing-the-monkey-bar-in-the-playground-but-found-it-difficult-so-I-took-off-my-scarf-and-gloves-and-coat-to-make-it-easier-to-climb-but-when-I-returned-they-were-gone-so-I-spent-a-lot-of-time-trying-to-find-them-but-in-vain-but-I'm-exhausted-so-I-wanted-to-get-back-to-my-bedroom-as-soon-as-possible long tale. She looked dazed and suspicious, but gave me the benefit of doubt and let me go to my bedroom.

I collapsed onto my bed, heart thumping wildly from all those lying. Tomorrow when I got back my coat, I would just tell her I found it back again.

My left arm now supported my head. I KNEW why Meiling's parents came today. It was to discuss about our engagement; and the marriage that would take place two years later, when we were both sixteen and above. I wasn't remotely interested.

I opened the door a crack to listen to the conversation being exchanged below.

"Ahhh, yes, Leefay, if it could take place on a New Year's Eve, that would make it all the more significant. Yes, yes, that's a pretty great idea you have." I could hear Okaa-sama saying. Then someone else said something. Leefay giggled and Leo roared with false laughter.

I slipped back into bed, my brain whirling. New Year's Eve… when that girl's mother died, wasn't it? That was pretty sad though, to remember how your closest relative died every year while everyone else was celebrating.

The words her father had spoken to her… somewhat messed up the definition of rich and poor. I might be rich, but I had treated the girl like she was begging; I hadn't considered how much it would have hurt her by dumping her some money and not buying her stuff. While her father and she, on the other hand, might be THAT poor, but he wouldn't take stuff for free just like that… And the girl… She was so pure and innocent.

Her father seemed like a pretty wise man. Maybe he could help me someday, or even teach me how to meditate, if I were lucky. I had to meet this man.

And I didn't even know their names.