Chapter 5: Tanabata Night

THIS TAKES PLACE SHORTLY AFTER VOL. 5

PLEASE RxR


Text Key:

'Thoughts'

"Talking"

Dreams

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Last Time

Mitsuru growled and flew up into the air, and began to speed away back towards the Moon Shine, but not before catching one last glimps of a young blond in a black kimono, weaving through the crowd...

end

Mahiru Finally made it back to the Moon Shine, thankful to get away from the curious stares of the tourists that seemed to swarm like ants. Once inside she looked around for any sign of Misoka, so she could tell him about the teardrop she thought she saw, but the only one in the bar room was Mitsuru. He sat on the stage to her left, proping himself against the wall and folding his hands behind his head. For a moment she thought he might be sleeping, until he opened one eye to glare at her. "What are you staring at?" he snapped. Mahiru was startled to see he was awake, "oh, erm,... nothing. By the way, have you seen Misoka around? I need to talk to him.

"How the hell would I know where the damn fox is? He's never around when you need him anyway." The tengu said sleepily, but keeping one eye on Mahiru. She sighs, deciding whether she should apologize for last night or just leave him be. Just as she was leaning towards the latter she noticed his face was bright red, and his bangs stuck to his forehead with sweat. "Are you alright Mitsuru? You look like you just ran a marathon. Do you have a fever?" Knowing perfectly well he wouldn't let her touch him she walked over and attempted to put her hand to his forhead. She reached down and stopped about an inch above his head, anticipating his hand to slap hers away, but when he did nothing Mahiru almost drew back in suprise. 'Maybe he's in a good mood... a really good mood.' she tried to explain his reaction in her head as she brought her hand to his forehead. But with her touch it seemed he just became hotter. "You're burning up! I'll get Misoka, he'll know what to do- keh!" she gave a startled whisper as he grabbed her wrist and tossed it back to her side. "Im fine, I don't need the damn fox's help. So mind your own god damn biusness." he snarled closing his eyes again.

"Ignore him Mahiru, plus, even if he wanted my help, I dont have a cure for stupidity." Misoka had just walked in, carrying a broom. Mahiru heard another growl as Mitsuru got up and began walking towards the hallway and the rooms, but Misoka was still standing in the doorway, blocking his path. "Move..." He stated viciously. "Oh Mitsuru, I don't know if Mahiru's told you, but were going to the Tanabata festival tomorrow, don't make any plans." with that he stepped aside and Mitsuru, glowering in return, storming off towards his room.

"Oh! Misoka! I almost forgot! Today when I went to my aunts house I thought I saw a teardrop of the moon. but-..." she trailed off, trying to find the righ words to explain what had happened. "what princess?" Misoka said, sounding a bit more interested. "Well, I think a squirrel or something may have gotten hold of one. I know how stupid it sounds, but when I saw it, it was up in a tree, and then it vanished..." she recounted the exact events, and by the time she ended Misoka seemed more entertained then concerned. "a squirrel you said, Princess?" he supressed a laugh. 'Spying are we Mitsuru?' Misoka pondered cunningly.

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The Next Night...

It was finally here, the seventh day of the seventh month, and the start of the Tanabata festival. From now until august seventh people all over japan would be celebrating the reunion of the two forbidden lovers...

"Look at this Mahiru! Look, Look!" Akira shouted as he set off another party cracker. It made a loud bang, sending streamers and glitter all over her, "Hey!" she laughed and set one off in his direction. The four memebers of the lunar race walked down the sidewalk towards the fairgrounds, each wearing a different brightly colored obi.- Nozomu wore a bold golden obi that had silver designs flowing around near the bottom and sleves of the men's kimono. Misoka on the other hand had a more subdued pale blue kimono, with simialr white and black designs.
"Ohhhhh! whats that!" akira pointed happily towards a street performer who was waving around a bundle of colored streamers. He himself was wearing a rather bright, yet still rich, green obi, complimented with golden under layers and designs. That only left Mitsuru, at first they had all expected to have to dress him themselves and drag him out the door, but he seemed to go without a fight... well, until akira set of a party cracker, much like he did to Mahiru... He just chased the poor werewolf around the biulding until he realized he couldn't catch him. But none the less, he was wearing a white obi, and at the base were raven designs that seemed to fly up the obi until they reached the trim, which were a turquiose color similar to his hair. He walked, arms crossed, and attempting to distract his attention to anything that wasn't a lunar princess.

Then, in the midst of the creatures that her race had deemed dangerous, evil, and disgusting, she walked. Her head held high, Mahiru watched the colored lanters dance with the natural structure of the city. For the first time in a while she was happy. The black folds of her kimono rolled around her feet as she chased Akira down the street; he began to run backwards, keeping her just out of touching reach. But, unfortunatley enough, our werewolf friend has the attention span of a gnat. Akira stops suddenly, but Mahiru who had been running full speed, wasn't so graceful. In an instant she bounced off akira and landed on the sidewalk. "Gah! Mahiru! sorrysorrysorry!" he helped her up, and then continued to stare. Mahiru followed his line of sight to a cart across the street, filled with colored pieces of bright paper, or tanzaku.

(a/n the colored pieces of bamboo paper or tanzaku are an imortant part of the Tanabata celebration. You write your deepest desire on the card and hang it from one of the specially erected bamboo trees found all over the city during the festival, in hopes it will come true. sry, couldnt think of how to write it in the story XD)

"Oh! We have to get some! for the festival!" he bounced up and down impatiently waiting for the others to catch up. Nozomu nodded when he saw what they wanted and handed akira some money. He was soon back with a handful of colored paper, giving one to each of them along with a festive pen. Mahiru took the blue tanzaku and tucked it into the folds of her kimono and did the same with the pen, which had star designs etched onto it.

"ahhh, there it is..." Misoka said, beginning to cross the street to where the once dormant fairgrounds exploded with colored lights and glitter. As they walked under the shrine they looked up to see it covered in bamboo and lanturns. Mahiru Felt a hand on her head," So princess, what do you want to do first?" Nozomu said cheerfully. The panda look came over her as Mahiru looked around unitl something caught her eye. A man on stilts was walking around inside a ring of children and teenagers who were sitting crosslegged below him, he wore so many colors he seemed to almost melt into the tanabata festival. "There!" she pointed at the man. The all began to walk over towards him, except for one of their party. Mahiru sighed shortly and ran over to Mitsuru. "Oh come on already, you know you want to." grabbing him by the arm she pulled him (half dragged) over to the ring. As the man began to speak Mitsuru could feel his heart begin to beat for the girl next to him, and Noticing she wasn't letting go of his arm made it all the worse...

"A long time ago, before you or I or any man living today, the story of the Weaver Princess Star Shokujo, and her lover the Herder Boy Star Kengyu, began their epic love tale... In the heavens Shokujo would sit at the bank of the milky way and weave the Celestial king's garments, but one night, she met with the herd boy star Kengyu and fell deeply in love with him. The king, who had been so happy with the princess' weaving decided to reward her and allow her to marry the handsome young herd boy. But the princess soon found that her love for Kengyu surpassed her love of weaving, and the herd boy found his love for Shokujo surpassed even his love of herding. Soon The princess was found neglecting her weaving duties as well as the herd boy neglecting his cattle, letting them roam free. The king soon became angered at this and banished each to a separate side of the Milky Way, and like a raging river it bound them to the fate of only seeing one another once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month. And even then, should the river be covered by clouds or the moon not illuminate their path, they could not meet, and should be sentenced to another year without the sight of one another. In fact, the first time the princess was to reunite with her lover, she was so doubtful she would see him, that she cried bitterly into the night. The sound of her weeping aroused the black birds form their nests and to comfort the princess they outstretched their wings so she could climb across them as a bridge. So Pray tonight for their safe journey, and wish upon your own dreams. For remember, just as the princess and the black birds, nothing is to impossible, if your heart truly desires it. "

The man smiled and threw confetti over their heads before walking around the grounds, teetering on his stilts. "Well, its your turn Akira, where do you wish to go next?" Misoka said standing up. It didn't take long for him to choose," There! please, please, please!" He said, pointing over to a table where a man was selling colorful toys ans party favors. Nozomu shrugged and began to follow the puppyish werewolf over. Mahiru began to get up to when she noticed she was still holding Mitsuru's arm, doh "Sorry Mitsuru" she let go quickly and placed her hands in her lap. But instead of making a mean comment he just shrugged it off and got up,'that was a close one' She relaxed a little, but only for a moment, when Mitsuru did something very unlike him,- He held out his hand for her. Guessing this was definitley a one in a million chance she didn't want to miss it. Taking his hand she let him lift her back to her feet," Thank you" She then expected a 'dont get used to it, or whatever' but once again he surprised her, he began walking over towards the group, not letting go of her hand. 'Imaybe he is sick.' She griped his hand back and followed him, unfortunatley he let go of her as soon as they got within visual range of the rest of the group.

"Mahiru! Look!"Akira sported a small wooden cat, its body had been painted blue with star designs on it. He pulled the string attached to the bottom of it and the little neko raised its paw and opened its mouth...

-Why don't you talk to her?-

'because'

-You still dont have the stupid idea that you don't like her?-

'No'

-The why not?-

'Because I-...'

-WHAT?-

'because I... think I might... l-l-ove her.

-Ooook, maybe you are sick...-

'Oh fuck off already, I can't love her'

-You're not queer are you? right!-

'Wha! NO! I can't love her because... because she-'

-looks really hot in that kimono-

'ARG! will you shut the hell up! I can't love her because she's- the Lunar Princess for heavens sake!'

-and this complicates things, how?-

'she's a princess, and I- Im a monster, just a servant. a lowly tengu, that's why I signed on for this stupid mission! to become stronger! and be worth more to the lunar race, not just a tool for those fucking palace idiots. I can't let things like this get in the way.

The voice didn't answer back, but he didn't really care. "So... where did you go yesterday night?" Mitsuru snapped out of his thoughts and back to reality, he had fallen behind the rest of the group, who at the moment were examining a table of brightly colored foods. Misoka had noticed his chance ot talk to Mitsuru alone, and told the rest of them to start eating without them. "None of your god damn biusness..." Mitsuru said, leaning one shoulder against a nearby tree. Misoka smiled at this and walked to stand beside him,"Oh really?... hmm..." Mitsuru knew the fox was up to one of his tricks again and decided to stop the game before it went too far," And what the hell do you mean by 'hmm'?" he imitated Misoka's tone.

"I may not have my powers anymore, but it desn't take mind reading to know what you're thinking. You brought Mahiru back from wherever she went last night, and then followed her the next morning." Misoka looked pleased with himself, but Mitsuru just scoffed at the accusations. "And what, pray tell, gave you that idea?" He turned to watch Nozomu, Akira and Mahiru walking over to sit at the benches. "Well, lets say I checked up in Mahiru's room after Nozomu told me she was gone, only to find her sleeping in her bed. Her window had been opened and I believe your molting, if tengu's molt that is." Misoka laughed as he remembered walking in to find black feathers all over the room, including very curious places, such as on top of Mahiru. Mitsuru began to protest, but Misoka cut him off. "Oh, and Mahiru gave me quite a strange report the other day, something about a squirrel getting hold of a teardrop of the moon. I must say Mitsuru, you make quite a large squirrel."

Mitsuru got up from the tree and walked up toe to toe with Misoka, towering over the smaller boy. "And what if I did?" Misoka didn't flinch, or even back away, just looked up at the tengu. "Its not a matter of 'if's' any more Mitsuru, but 'what' will you do with your feelings for the princess?" Mitsuru stepped back, enraged, hurt, confused, and for the first time in his life... speechless. His eyes lost their intimidating glare and he stepped back into the shadows. No one noticed a black shape lift into the air, above the lights of the festival, except one person,... Mahiru.

"Mitsuru!" she yelled and raced off in the direction he had gone. Nozomu and Akira began to chase after her, but Misoka stopped them with a hand. "Let her go, I want to see what will happen. "Princess!" Misoka yelled over the crowd, and she turned to look at him,"We'll meet you at the entrance in an hour!" she nodded and continued running. 'oh... Mitsuru you idiot... Do you have any idea what you do to me every time you do this?' She came to the edge of the fair grounds, where a small path had been cut through the bamboo thickets that grew there, towering over her like a slender forest. She walked along the path until it opened up into a small clearing. Sighing she sat down in a heap and tucked her knees to her chest. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her side. Reaching down she pulled out the wooden Tanzaku and pen; her head still down in her knees she held them out with her free arm. "If I truly desire it..." getting up she quickly scribbled something on the tanzaku and hung it from one of the bamboo branches around her. It seemed so out of place, being the only blue in the forest of pale green, and she walked back over to fiddle with it again. When she was satisfied with it she began to leave, looking back once more as a breeze swept through the bamboo and played with the folds of her kimono.

Unknowingly, lurking in the shadows of the bamboo forest was the very tengu she had been searching for. He watched as she hung something among the bamboo and began to walk away. He didn't have the courage to show himself, no matter how badly he wanted to just touch her. Withought thinking he waved his hand subtly and a gust of wind shot towards her, rotating each hand he caressed her with invisible touches until she finally turned and walked out of view. 'you deserve better...' When he was sure she was gone he got up and walked over to where she had been hanging somehthing. Taking it in his hands he saw it was the blue tanzaku Akira had given her and on it was written-

'Let him know

He's not alone

Let him see me there

and take my hand

Let him love me,

The girl behind the princess'

Mitsuru read it a few times before noticing she had tied something to the back of it,- an ebony feather...

Thought that would be a good place to end this chapter, tell me what you think. and remember, the more you review the faster I'll write! XD until next time duckies...