"Let's see, if we want to get ready for Tenjin Matsuri in just four days," Taki began as she slipped on her shoes, "We should probably go to Shinsaibashi-suji Shotengai." Martin, Diana and Java blinked confusedly at the small Japanese girl, whom looked like a pretty young boy at first glance.

"Um, kazuntight?" Martin said with a sweat drop. Taki had forgotten that her three friends had no idea what Shinsaibashi-suji Shotengai was, or where it was located.

"It's the shopping street." Tatsuki stated, "its the best known shopping area here in Osaka."

"Osaka?!" Martin seemed shocked, Tatsuki gave him a wide-eyed look of surprise; hadn't he known they were in Osaka? "I thought you lived in Tokyo!" The other teens around him anime fell. "What?"

"You think everybody who says there from Japan lives/ or used to live in Tokyo!" Diana said; giving her stepbrother another good whack over the head. "Not every Japanese person you meet is from Tokyo!"

"So how we get there?" Java the Caveman asked, he hadn't seen any vehicles on the shrine grounds.

"Subway tram, probably." Arashi stated from behind the group, "It's how most people get around in Japan." He looked. Taki seemed to be in thought.

"Well, it's not like we're so far out of the way, in fact, once we get down the shrine steps, we could probably walk to Shinsaibashi." She said looking at the agents she sweat dropped at their expressions, "Unless you want to take the tram." Their visages seemed to brighten immediately. Taki's eyebrow twitched in amusement, You would think taking the tram was the coolest thing in the world.

-

The Red Monarch

-

She sat on a patient's bed continually muttering incomprehensive things in Japanese, "She isn't responding to the treatment." Five and a quarter year old Tatsuki Miyabe could hear a few Center doctors talking from beyond the door no matter how hard she tried to block her senses. Her legs were drawn as close to her body as possible and her small hands clutched the sides of her head; her fingers becoming entangled in her long black hair.

She just kept seeing it, blood, blood and more blood, then, her parents' blood as their corpses fell to the ground in front of her. A Center agent had tried to protect her from her aniki, "You dare try and keep Suki-chan away from me?!" it had happened within a split second, her aniki came after the green-eyed agent who was trying to protect her and suddenly her parents had materialized in his path, attempting to stop him…

He didn't stop. Nor did he any remorse when he cut down his father and mother. An arm had shot out to shield the young child from seeing the bodies. "Get away from my Suki-chan!" Poles of electromagnetic energy shot up from the ground, piercing the foreigner through his body in many places and lifting him of the ground. His crimson life spilling everywhere, including Tatsuki; the little girl screamed.

Tatsuki's hands clutched the sides of her head tighter, her reddish eyes growing wider; her whole body became tense and she let out a high-pitched scream that could wake the dead. She could hear the Center agents running toward the room, and the door burst open and a man shout "Taki!" just as her miko powers burst violently from her small body trying to protect her from whatever danger she perceived. "Nggh…Taki, snap out of it!" the man said loudly, "Your safe now!" He wasn't trying to push his way through the barrier to get to her was he? That was stupid! He'd turn to ash!

She could hear his grunts of pain, "Colin! What are you trying to do, you're going to get killed!" he didn't seem to pay the woman any mind, "Colin!" she called out despite how futile it was.

Colin seemed determined to have his flesh burned off, "Taki!" He kept trying to reach the child, "Come on Taki, snap out of it, I know your better at controlling your abilities then this, I've seen you practice!" she was trying to get the power under control! "You can do it…" his voice sounded so close, a hand was placed very lightly on her shoulder. Stupefied, Tatsuki blinked and looked at the injured man barely standing beside her, with her mind free from the thoughts of her brother, the barrier disappeared. Colin smiled wearily, "You did it!" he said just before he collapsed in a heap on her bed. Tatsuki looked at the body on her bed with a horrified expression as the doctors and agents moved quickly to remove the man from her room and treat him. One person lingered behind the other Center staff, the older woman could barely manage to look at the younger girl, abruptly, and after an uncomfortable silence the woman left Tatsuki's room as well.

-

Tatsuki wandered the corridor looking for the man she had injured. He has to be in one of these rooms she thought. She pushed open one of the doors along the right side of the corridor, peering inside she did not see the person she was looking for. With a silent apology she closed the door and continued to the next room.

After a few more failures trying to find the person she was looking for, she finally opened the right door. Upon seeing him she blinked owlishly. It was the man she was looking for, definitely for she couldn't manage to forget what his face looked like, and yet he was different from before. Tatsuki thrust her pointer finger in his direction, "Your hair is pink!" she exclaimed. The man was startled by the young girl's sudden appearance and words but soon broke into a grin, that soon became a laugh.

"Like it?" he asked mischief inherent in his forest green eyes, "I get bored of my hair color every so often and dye it." he said, the young girl just continued to stare.

"dye…it?" her eyebrows scrunched in thought, probably trying to understand what he said, "So…your hair changes color when you eat healthier?" she asked totally confused.

The man sweat dropped, "No…(at least I don't think it does) you're confusing the word 'diet' with the phrase 'dye it' meaning to dye."

"So…" Tatsuki seemed to be more confused, "you kill your own hair?"

The man's sweat drop became bigger, "No…well, I suppose when you dye you're hair you're killing it…" he muttered to himself, "I meant I recolor my hair every so often, Taki-chan!"

Tatsuki gave the man a hard stare, "That's not my name." she said.

"Hm?"

"My name is Tatsuki, not 'Taki' and definitely not 'Taki-chan'." She said, her reddish brown boring into his . The man put a thumb to his lip, oblivious to the five year old's hard stare.

"It's just a nickname Tatsuki-kun, no need to get your feathers ruffled." He said with an irritating smile on his face.

"I don't have feathers."

"It's a figure of speech…" He sweat dropped again.

--

There was a collective, "Whoa," from the agents. Taki tilted her head to the side, furrowing her brow to see what was so impressive about the shopping street. The one street was lined with many shops of all kinds, colorful neon signs hung from the sides of buildings and the place was packed with shoppers, window shoppers, and people who were just out for a stroll. "So uh, what's first?" Diana asked she looked like she had ants in her pants.

"You guys need traditional Japanese clothing. (Or maybe just some costumes, no one will really care.)" Tatsuki said, walking down the street looking for the nearest kimono tailor. The others stayed close to Tatsuki, so not to lose her, "Here's a good place." She suddenly said, "Nakamuraya always has good kimonos." The truth was, all the kimono shops where just as good, Tatsuki just liked Nakamuraya.

Sorting through the many men's kimonos that where dumped on top of him, Martin turned to Taki, who was casually browsing through brightly colored summer kimonos for girls. "Are you gunna get a kimono, too, Taki?" he asked, wobbling slightly, apparently a lot of kimonos piled on top of each other must have been heavy.

"No, I already have something I'm going to wear to the festival." Taki said.

"I think I've decided." Diana appeared holding a women's summer kimono in various shades of reds, whites, and pinks, and Taki could see that there was some print in black, though from the perfect folded state of the kimono, Tatsuki was unsure of what it was a print of.

"You think you've decided?" Martin commented snidely.

"Shut up, Martin." Diana responded.

"I think it's beautiful, Diana, it'll compliment your eyes nicely." The stepsiblings sweat dropped, Tatsuki didn't even seem to have glanced at the kimono. "I wonder how Arashi is doing with helping Java," she suddenly wondered out loud. Martin looked annoyed, Tatsuki came back from her musing, "Is something wrong Martin? Why haven't you picked a kimono out yet? (Is it really that hard to chose?)"

-

"I don't understand." A navy blue longhaired man whispered to a small, concealed device. "What exactly am I looking for here?"

"Ugh, Takumi how many times do I have to tell you before you understand?!" the angry voice of Takumi's boss slithered through the earpiece. Takumi felt the vein in his forehead beginning to throb, "Keep your eyes peeled for Miyabe Tatsuki and Komatsuzaki Arashi. Capture Miyabe alive, but you can kill Komatsuzaki in whatever manner you like."

Takumi paused for a short period, "Isn't Komatsuzaki-kun on our side?"

"Komatsuzaki betrayed us. Kill him on site, got it Yamada-kun?"

"Hai, hai." Yamada Takumi accepted his orders without further questioning and sprinted off, keeping a look out for his former partner.

-

Arashi was having a difficult time finding an appropriately sized formal kimono for Java, but this was to be expected, not many Japanese men were like Java. Arashi let out a long sigh. "Java find one that fit Java!" the caveman said jovially. Arashi looked over to see that Java had indeed found a kimono that fit him. It was navy blue in color with patterning in shades of gold.

"Thank goodness." Arashi said with a weak smile. "I was beginning to lose hope."

Tatsuki appeared behind Java, "So you finally found one?" Taki smiled "That's good, what about you Komatsuzaki-kun?"

"Yes, I've found one." Arashi said, slightly disappointed that Tatsuki continued to refer to him by his surname.

"Great, now we're just waiting for Martin to choose a kimono…"