Chapter 6: Births

Two years pass since that unforgettable night in the forest. Natsu was always haunted by the dreams of his true form but the night had long been forgotten and seemed like a dream to him and the older children...

Summer drew near and yet another Sohma was to give birth to a child. There were two zodiac children left to be born, the sheep and the tiger. Many were anticipating the sheep to be born first, for he always was older than the tiger. Of course, the line never had to be exactly the same, for this generation of Zodiac had the rat as female, and the rat was never to be female...

Several people rushed around to attend to the pregnant woman, Hina Sohma. The rest of the zodiac sat outside of the room, all but the cat who hid himself away from the older children, especially the rat. Miki's purple eyes looked up at Masa and she tugged onto her shirt.

"Is this one a member of the zodiac?" she asked softly. Masa smiled down at the seven year old girl.

"There is a big possibility, she is a month early... That most of the time calls for a zodiac child but we have had month early pregnancy's and they were not children of the zodiac... we just have to wait and see," said Masa, patting her gray wavy hair. A person walked out of the room quickly, and there was a soft cry from inside the room. The person returned quickly with a blanket and another cry was heard. The zodiac members waited patiently to hear some obscure language or a scream from the mother.

"Oh my goodness, he's soooo cuuutteeee!" they heard from inside the room. Ryu stood up and the rest followed, and they entered the room. Miki ran up to the bedside of Hina, and stood on her tiptoes to see the child. There in the mother's arms was a small little sheep. Hina squealed softly and hugged the child.

"He is just so cute!" she said. "Satu is the cutest little baby ever! I love him!" The rest of the zodiac just stared as Hina held her son close to her. Miki turned around to notice strands of orange hair disappear from view. She blinked. Why had the stupid cat not come to see the new addition to the zodiac?

Natsu ran down the hallway and entered one of the vacant rooms. He fell to his knees and pounded the ground. How could Hina love her child so much? Why? Why was he the only one who didn't have parents to love him? Was it because he was the cat? Was the cat cursed to not have a loving family? Tears filled his eyes and fell to the ground as he pounded the ground. Why.... why was he so alone?

Fall came and school started once again. Since her first day of school, the other children slowly began to warm up to her, especially the ones who really didn't like Kimi in the first place. Kimi transferred to a public school her first grade year and after that Miki was left in peace with her new friends. The school was putting on a little play written by the teachers for each of their classes in kindergarten, first, and second grade. Miki was excited because she was cast as the lead character in the play that her grade was putting on. She told her parents everyday leading up to the big night about it so they could come and see her. She didn't know if they listened or not but she went on with the day as they had been.

The big day had finally come, and Miki was bouncing around everywhere and was in a delightful mood. Miki skipped to school in the morning, Seiko trying his best to keep up with her.

"Miki! Miki you silly girl, slow down!" he exclaimed, grabbing her arm lightly. Miki giggled, turning around to him. She smiled and hugged onto his arm.

"You are going to come and watch me tonight, aren't you?" she asked, smiling brightly. Seiko was caught off by the question, but smiled down at her.

"Of course I am Miki, I wouldn't miss it," he said, patting her hair. Miki smiled, and skipped off again, Seiko trying to keep up as usual.

The night came and Miki stood in the dressing room in her first costume, a peasant clothing. She was a peasant girl who is actually a princess and is found to be the lost princess. She is then trained to be a princess who is kidnapped by an evil force. She has to fight against the force with her street smarts and get back home in time to be crowned princess or her stepmother will be crowned instead. The teacher walked into the dressing room and clapped her hands.

"Children, its two minutes until the start. Please take your positions and wait for the curtain to be pulled. Break a leg kids," she finished, smiling down at her students. The children quietly skipped out of the room and Miki grabbed ahold of the teacher's skirt.

"Teacher, do you know if my family is here?" she asked. The teacher shook her head.

"I don't know if they are or not, but hurry up Miki, you don't wanna miss your entrance." Miki ran out of the room and took her first position.

The curtains opened and the play began. Miki stepped out and looked around the audience to see if she could spot anyone from her family. She spotted Masa and Seiko... and that was it. She felt her heart being crushed... her parents didn't even bother to come... She began her lines and she fought back her tears. She must keep going...

Masa wiggled in his seat as the play went on. He watched as Miki trained to be a princess and walked out onto the stage dressed in a beautiful white dress.

"How much longer is this going to last?" whispered Masa. Seiko put a hand over the dog's mouth.

"Hush.. its almost over then we can go home..." Seiko whispered back.

Parents walked out of the hallway with their children clinging to their hands. Miki slowly walked out of the classroom, her book bag over her shoulders.

"There is our little princess," said Seiko, leaning against the wall near the classroom. Miki's eyes widen and she ran towards him. She hugged onto him and smiled.

"Did I do a good job?" she asked. Seiko patted her head and nodded.

"Of course. Masa enjoyed it too... didn't you Masa?" asked Seiko, looking at the dog. Masa nodded.

"Of course. You made a beautiful princess. The others missed a great show." Miki's smile slowly faded away.

"Why didn't they come see?" she asked, pulling away from the horse.

"Nikaniki went into labor... Ryu called us right as the show ended and said that the Tiger was born. His mother was scared at first, but she warmed up to him. Kiyoshi will have a nice home... hopefully." explained Masa. Miki gave a little nod and grabbed onto Seiko's hand and they exited the school to return home.

They entered the house to see several people walking around quickly.

"What is going on?" asked Masa, grabbing the arm of one of the attendants.

"Nikaniki is in bad shape..." said the attendant, rushing out of Masa's grip. Miki watched as Masa and Seiko rushed off to help, leaving her alone once again.

"Wait! Don't leave me!" she shouted, running after the two males. Seiko turned around.

"Miki, this isn't the time for your to interfere, you should go to bed, you've had a long day," he said, turning back and running down the hallway.

Miki slowly sat down out of the way and watched them run around. The day was horrible, the only good thing was that Masa and Seiko came to see her...

"I'm sorry I didn't get to come see your play." said a voice. Miki looked up and saw Haruko standing there.

"It's alright... not even my parents came to see it," explained Miki. Haruko smiled down at her.

"I bet you made a beautiful princess." Haruko slowly walked away. Miki sighed and got up. She was going to bed... She made her way to her bedroom and saw her parents laughing with each other in their room. She stayed quiet and walked into her room. She crawled under the covers and slowly closed her eyes.

A baby softly cried in the arms of his father. Ryu stood by the bedside of the figure laying in the bed. He put their hands on their stomach and walked over to the father.

"I'm sorry..." Ryu whispered. The man's eyes began to fill up with tears and he held his son close to him. Kiyoshi wiggled in his father's arms as Ryu pulled a sheet over Nikaniki's limp body...

Authors Notes: This chapter was a little boring... I know... but it needed to be written so I could introduce the last two zodiac to be born... and now they are all born! Yay! I also wrote this chapter so you can see where Miki will get her new nickname Princess... it comes from the play she was in! I promise, after this chapter it will pick up... and after the next chapter it should pick up more and more! :) Again, please excuse the boring-ness of this chapter... lol.