ok this a different type of fanfiction than the ones i did before it's also the longest one so far so hangin there, this is not really going to follow the events of the episode, by the way it's supposed to be episode 7 also i'm going to introduce Nanase and Yakumo earlier in the series because i wanted to give them more character development and the easiest way to do that was for me to do that without adding millions of characters or taking away any was this, so bare with it you'll understand soon. oh, and please don't forget to tell me what you think ,it'll help me out in the future!
for once kieko was the first one up for school, she felt weird, usually the boys were up making a ruckus by now,"i should enjoy it while i still can"she said to herself as she sipped on a fresh cup of green watched the little clouds of steam erupt from it, she loved fresh green tea it was ,since she was dressed and everything, she thought that she may as well start getting her lunch took a package of 'baby star ramen' and a box of 'hello pandas' and put them in her lunch box, why would she need to make it when this stuff was pre-made and twice as good?besides she was horrible at cooking and she knew it,Ran then jumped on to the counter and started to purr loudly, kieko scratched behind Ran's ear causing her to purr even louder, she loved the sound of cats purring, "could you go wake up the boys for me Ran?"kieko asked nicely, "kay" Ran answered. Ran stood up and sailed off the counter,she then trotted off to the boys' room. kieko looked out the old kitchen window "I love mornings everything is crisp and fresh,I just love it, so did …" her thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash coming from the boys' room.
within seconds zero popped into the kitchen, still buckling his belt he rummaged through the cabinets,and grabbed a piece of bread. kieko stood completely still,why was he so frantic? why did he always have to be on time for class? she watched the scene with interest as zero rushed to make his lunch and get things together,ichi then walked in and poured a cup of the green tea kieko had made earlier, "how weird, i always thought that ichi would be the one who would freak out if they were late to class, but it was zero. why did he care so much? it's not like he was going to need a diploma from another world to pass the magic exam,or would he?"kieko pondered. "don't mind him kieko, he's just not used to sleeping in so late"ichi explained. "hey kieko, i have a question"zero said in a serious tone as he stuffed the bread into his mouth, he looked almost deep in thought kieko looked at him "hmm?" she responded not sure what to think,she'd never heard his voice so sincere even with the his face stuffed like it face grew sypathetic,then it washed over with a false anger,"WHY DID YOU WAKE US UP SO LATE?!" he yelled, "yep, that's more like the zero i know" she thought to herself. she gave no answer,"WELL?" zero asked. kieko remained silent (ok there is a point in time when someone is mad for something stupid, and you just want to make things worse to mess with them) zero hated it when she ignored him "hey pay attention to me when i talk to you!"he yelled,but kieko decided to toy with him a bit longer and still said gave a slight smirk as she slid her lunch box in to her school bag.
"ichi…"kieko said, ichi then turned to see kieko with a wondering look on her face "what is it kieko?" he asked nicely "what day is it?"she asked,"Wednesday"he replied, kieko looked out the window and gave a low sigh. she then turned back to the two boys, "I have to make a detour to school today" she said under her breath."WHAT!?" zero yelled "we're already going to be late to school today, now we have to take a detour?why!?"he asked impatiently " i promised hoshi's father that i would take her to school,it's been about a week since i last saw her so i jumped at the chance to do it without asking you, gomen"kieko explained,her expression softened. ichi then smiled "it's alright kieko, we don't mind" he said, zero looked at him confused, but instead of protesting he decided to go along with it. after a few minutes zero, ichi, and kieko were out the door and on there way to hoshi's house. to the boy's surprise they were there within a few minutes, hoshi was only a few streets down from kieko's house. hoshi's house was relatively large, much bigger than kieko's, it was a very traditional japanese home,paper walls and everything else that made it so minutes later, a young girl popped out of the house carrying a bag of candy and a school bag the girl ran to kieko's side as she lifted her of the ground and squeezed her tightly, kieko then let the girl down and gave her the sweetest smile she could manage.
ichi turned away momentarily,he couldn't help it,every time she smiled like that he blushed. "hey! aren't you the scary witches that fell from the sky?"hoshi asked uselessly. kieko giggled at this,seeing as how they were the furthest thing from scary,ichi was really sweet and zero was a lot nicer then he seemed."scary witches?"ichi echoed humorously,"who are you calling scary!?"zero yelled, hoshi ran behind kieko and clutched her leg, "that one is really hot headed,huh?" she whispered to kieko. zero's face washed over with shock "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HOT HEADED!" he pouted."i mean you're scary!" hoshi yelled"WHY YOU!..." zero started as he reared up to start chasing her,but he was interrupted by kieko kneeling down and holding on to hoshi's shoulder "hoshi i think that was a bit rude,i think you should apologize" kieko said bluntly. zero put on a confused face and stared at her, why did she feel the need to make hoshi apologize it was obvious that it was just a joke. kieko stood up and directed hoshi to zero, "i'm sorry" she said pitifully. "you too zero"kieko informed, but her eyes were not on zero,they were on hoshi,whose face was laced with fear,hoshi had no idea who or what they were,all she knew was that they were really strong, and scary and she had made one angry"so she was upset, and kieko wanted to stop us from fighting before things got out of hand"zero thought to himself. ichi was amazed, kieko had immediately stopped the two from fighting, and without either one letting their emotions get the best of them, it was like a mother handling two fighting kids,"she'll make a great mom one day"ichi thought to himself, his face grew a light shade of pink. kieko took hoshi's hand and lead her down the walkway as the boys followed closely behind.
hoshi went to a large expensive looking school, it was covered in trees and had lots of flowers surrounding loved walking hoshi to school, in fact she loved being around hoshi in general, it was calming for her she had no idea three arrived at school they were greeted by a large group of girls,kieko hated crowds, "it feels like there judging my every move, constricting until there was no room left for mistakes"she thought to was surprised to see the girls all bow, she tilted her head slightly in confusion, "sumimasen!" they all said in unison, kieko looked over at the boys who looked just as confused, "last week we troubled you kieko, we would like to make up for it, will you have lunch with usto make up for it?" said the girl in front. kieko took a few seconds to gain her thoughts, she then bowed causing everyone to force a look of shock on there face, "no I should be sorry, i can't imagine the twins giving you anything less than hell for my own clumsy feet" kieko said apologetically. kieko didn't know what to say about lunch, she usually sat under a tree with zero, ichi, yumi and mika. she had no idea what the twins would do if they were eating with people they openly did not like. kieko stood up straight,she had to make them feel welcome or they might grow to hate her and she didn't want that, kieko gathered up all of her strength and put her best smile on,"i would love to have girls as sweet as you accompany me and my friends, for lunch"and to finish it off she smiled and used sparkle attack,it was super effective! (gotta love pokemon references!) half of the girls quietly swooned over her, while the other half stared at ichi's red face and zero's completely confused one.
before lunch the teacher asked to talk with kieko, so the boys had to go on without her to the spot. the teacher was very impressed with her improvement in class and offered her a spot as the new class rep, but she declined it, if she had accepted it she would have to stay for after school meetings, and make the boys wait. on her way outside kieko came across the post board and something caught her eye, it was a poster that was decorated with pictures of paper lanterns, a shine, and kimonos. the poster red; 'hanami festival!, join us as the local shrine and our beloved school collaborate to make the best festival of all time! the school will host a haunted house that will correspond with the regular shrine festival activities, that fall in the same days as hanami! and if you're still not convinced all proceeds raised at the haunted house will go to our school! please join us on saturday!'kieko stared at the poster as if it was gold, ever since the 'subway accident' kieko never went to another festival, not that she was avoiding it or anything, it's just that they were either too far away or she had to be somewhere else, but now there was no where to run, her schedule was clear, it was within reach, and most of all if she went she'd not only have fun but she'd be donating to her school, it was a win win. but she didn't know if she could handle that, the last time she went to a festival she lost so much, she couldn't afford to lose much more it would kill her. kieko snapped back to reality when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye, it was zero he was standing at the edge of the hallway trying to catch his breath, he had been standing there a while was he watching kieko? kieko turned to meet his gaze, he must have been deep in thought because he took a few moments to realize that kieko was looking back at him. when he noticed he started running and grabbed her hand, he dragged her behind him,(like how you fly a kite) "hey what do you think you're doing!?" kieko yelled as he zoomed down the corridor, "big trouble! the twins are about to throw down!" zero replied in a loud voice "what!?" kieko yelled in shock, she then made a b line for the courtyard.
and a soon as she located the spot what zero said was was true, "stop lying to me! no way kieko would let a large crowed like you sit with us at lunch! she hates crowds!" yumi shouted, "well, believe it! she invited us this morning!"yelled a girl in the crowd, only half of the girls actually came though,"now yumi, mika they were invited by kieko" ichi tried to reason "yeah right! you're just covering for them because their in your fan club, you letch!" mika cried, all of the girls gasped and were about to give her a smack down but kieko stepped in between them, "EXPLAIN!" they all yelled simultaneously "mika, yumi,i did invite them, i wanted to get to know them, i'm sorry i didn't tell you about it earlier that was my fault, but you were very rude at least you could have heard them out before you treated them like that, and what you said to ichi was unacceptable" the twins looked like they were about to cry,suddenly they pounced on kieko hugging her begging for her forgiveness almost like children do, "i'm not the one you should be apologizing to" kieko said bluntly, *after the apologises* as everyone sat down to eat their lunch, yumi looked at kieko and asked "what are you holding, kieko?" kieko didn't realize it but she had grabbed the poster from the board, "huh? oh it's…"kieko stammered. "it's a poster for the shrine festival!"one of the girls yelled "so kieko do you plan to go?"asked one of the girls noseily. "well I…"she was then cut off by a horde of questions and comments "who are you going with?" "it's gotta be zero right?" "no shes definitely going with ichi" "i thought it was a three way relationship" "what kind of kimono are you going to wear?" "can i go with zero if your not?" "i'm going to look so fabulous!" "i heard the haunted house will have real ghost!" kieko never got a chance to answer any of the questions,but even still they continuously asked questions all through out lunch, even though it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to give an answer.
after lunch kieko thanked the girls for joining her (even though it was more trouble than it was worth), and she went to her next class keeping her eyes on the flyer. but before the boys could join her the mika and yumi stopped them"zero, ichi we need to talk to you" mika said as kieko walked away, "what is it?"ichi asked, "it's about the festival" yumi stated "hold on,... you're not falling for us are you?" zero teased "f*ck off, were talking about kieko" mika yelled defensively. "you remember the story we told you?"yumi asked calmly while looking at the ground. ichi nodded his head, "well… truth be told she hasn't been to a festival since then, she says that they just happen at the wrong time or to far away it's always something along those lines, but didn't you see the way she was hesitating? i think shes afraid to go"yumi trailed off "we want kieko to be able to face her fears without having a problem, as i'm sure you do as well. we know she can't do it alone… but we can't ask her to go she'll know what were doing and decline"mika said sadly "so if you would… could you... ask kieko to the festival? we think if someone who genuinely wanted to take her asked, she might agree,so if you would please … help kieko."yumi stammered "well, that's very noble of you girls to consider kieko like that, zero if you're up for it?"ichi stated "of course, we said that we'd protect her, i thought that helping her was implied"he replied. *after school on the walk home* ichi and zero eyed each other, as if talking it out how they were going to do it in their heads,kieko bowed her head during the walk home, she finally gathered up all her courage and began to speak "ichi,zero?" kieko asked hushedly, "hmm?"ichi replied "what?"replied zero, she clutched the flyer in her hand tightly, she then fidgeted it in her hand for a bit then looked them in the eye "do you guys… want to go to the festival?" kieko blurted out, her cheeks were flushed red,"kieko... of course we would"ichi stated with a smile "why wouldn't we?" zero asked sounding relieved probably because he had no idea how to do it himself, kieko turned away her face was hot and she knew if either of them saw she be even more embarrassed. "thanks" she answered under her breath
*Saturday evening* kieko and the boys sat at the dinner table drinking tea and watching T.V. "what shops do you want hit first?" zero asked casually "maybe a wind chime shop, they might have some with sutras and charms on them, that would bring some good energy into the house"kieko stated, "you seem to love this house kieko, routine cleaning,sutras, you take care of it very well"ichi stated. "of course i do, i grew up here. it's sheltered me and ran ever since we were little, it's all we got so the least i could do is take care of it"kieko said as she stared at the sleeping cat,suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Zero would you get that for me?" kieko asked "sure"he responded, as zreo opened the door he was greeted with the twins eagerly awaiting for someone to open it. yumi wore a pink kimono with purple flowers lacing the sides, and a dark purple ribbon across her waist. while mika wore a kimono with the exact opposite color scheme, but it was a very beautiful set of kimonos despite how plain they were. and they were holding a large cardboard box. "where's kieko?"yumi asked "in the kitchen why?" the girls rushed past him without saying a word, they pushed their way into the kitchen snatched kieko up and pulled her into her room and closed the door,"is a hello not necessary any more!?" kieko yelled as they plopped her on her bed, "sorry for the intrusion, but we need to see what you're wearing to the festival" yumi stated "your looking at it"kieko replied "oh no, mika you were right" yumi said mika then pulled out a long cloth from the box, the boys stood outside the door confused at what had just happened. out side the door they could hear the girls muffled voices; "hey what are you doing with that?" "relax it'll help you with your figure" "who said i wanted help with my figure?" "what if you see that girl rokka? don't you want to show her up?" "no not really" "well, too bad!" "hey, stop that! it tickles! ha ha ha" "sit still will you!" "you're still to flat, how about we tighten that?" "hey wait...oof i now know what road kill feels like" "maybe if we put that here" "hey watch where you touching!" "oh, come on were all girls here!" "i still like personal space!" ichi looked over at zero "close your mouth" he whispered warningly "well, you're almost done" "all you need to do is hold this... now you are the perfect traditional Japanese girl" and with that kieko's door swung open, revealing a more than satisfied looking mika and yumi. but as they moved out of the way kieko moved behind the door to avoid anyone from seeing her, the kimono they picked out was embarrassing it was too tight and a bit girly for her taste, but the girls assured her she looked had to take their word for it though and she stepped out of her room.
she WAS beautiful, she wore a black kimono with light pink cherry blossom flowers falling across the dress making it perfect for hanami, they were accompanied by several smaller white flowers that made the kimono almost look like one from a fairy tale, and around her waist was a beautiful red ribbon that tied in to a bow at her back. in her hand was a matching fan that was laced at the end (here's an idea of what it looked like- albums/ww99/heartfreak33/Anime%20Girl/black_kimono_ ) the boys stared at her,"wow kieko you look really nice!" zura stated .zero smirked like he had just heard a funny joke "what the hell are you wearing?"he teased, the twins glared at him resembling angry dogs, zero backed off immediately."well i think you look beautiful" ich complemented, kieko blushed "thanks"she said sheepishly. suddenly ichi's phone rang, ichi pulled it out of his pocket and flipped it open, as he read the caller ID a light smile sprawled across his face, "it's sarasa"he told zero,"no way we haven't talked to her in like forever" zero replied. kieko couldn't help but wonder who sarasa was, but she didn't want to pry, so instead of listening in on their conversation kieko decided to start one of her own. kieko turned to the girls and smiled "you're mother really did out do herself with this"kieko stated "she and mika spent all night on it"yumi informed "wow mika, the stiching on this is wonderful" kieko said sweetly, mika hugged kieko awkwardly with one of her arms crossing from kieko's right shoulder to her left under arm, and the other arm sucreing kiekos right arm to the side while her left arm stuck up in the air "you're so cute in that thing!"mika cried "air!" kieko pleaded. mika took a step back "well, mom and i can't take all the credit, yumi has been working on this design since they first announced the festival at the student council meeting." mika said "wow i don't know how you did this it's beautiful"kieko praised,Ran walked into the hallway and stretched, she looked at kieko then at the girls, "i see you three are all dressed up, you look lovely did you mother design them?" Ran asked. "actually ran, yumi designed them and mom and i made them" mika said softly. yumi bent down and petted the cat behind the ear, the action made Ran purr loudly. "well you two are becoming the sic freed and roy of the fashion industry aren't you?"ran said lovingly.
the boys finished their phone call, "so you guys are like dressmakers or somthing" zero blurted out "well, not really just act as apprentices for our mom, she makes a lot of traditional Japanese clothing and adds a modern twist to it, but she has only so many ideas so we help her out by designing some of the dresses and helping stitch them together" yumi informed "wow that's amazing" ichi said. "mom's gonna put a stand up at the festival" mika added. Ran looked out the window, it was nearly sun down, she slowly directed her head back to the group of chattering teens. "its almost time, you ought to get going before the shops get crowded" Ran smirked, "thank you very much" the girls said in unison as they bowed. on the way to the festival zero noticed something; kieko was walking weirdly, he didn't know how to describe it but it seemed like she was reluctant to go, even now that everyone was here to help her out, zero sighed to himself "kieko sure knows how to make a guy worry"he thought to himself. when the five of them reached the area where the festival was being held all eyes were glued to the beautiful decorations all around the shrine and school, lanterns flickered along the sides of the shops, the shrine was light up with festive candles, and the trees were blossoming. zero looked back at kieko to see if she was alright, he was still worried about her, but when he turned his head to see her he did not expect to see what he saw,kieko's face was illuminated by the lanterns dim light,her eyes were sparkling almost like the stars themselves, and she wore an amazed smile that was full of wonder, slowly but surely a light tint of red started to cover zero's then took the palm of his hand and pressed it to the back of his neck, he then let out an audible sigh "i'm guessing subtle wasn't part of the plan her was it?" he joked but hardly anyone was paying attention, they were too captivated by the breathtaking scenery.
only seconds later son and forte appeared from the crowd, "son ,forte?"kieko gasped the boys took a defensive stance the boys were ready to fight, kieko was genuinely worried, if there was a magic fight here lots of people might get hurt in the crossfire, and dressed the way she was, she wouldn't be able to run and lead them away from the area,kieko was terrified, what would she do? "hey look frote it's kieko!" son screamed "we won't let you touch her!"zero cried "calm down zero, son just really wanted to check out the cake shops" forte said a wave of relief hit kieko, the twins looked at them as if they did something wrong, "mika yumi?" kieko whispered to twins then walked up to them there arura became extremely dark, "so you are son and forte"mika whispered "you are the ones who made kieko fall from the car, and the building?"yumi asked "yeah, why?"son replied cheerfully "son i think we should go"forte said nervously "but why fo?" the girls were now growling, "son just trust me on this" he said with his voice wavering. "ok fo" she then started to wave good bye, "bye every one!" she screamed as forte dragged her away from the guard dog like girls. "mika, yumi let's make this a trip without incident"kieko said with her banges covering her eyes zer looked over at kieko and gave a look of concern, "what do you want to…"ichi was suddenly cut off by a tall pink haired girl jumping in to his arms "ichi my love!"the girl squeaked, everyone turned their heads to see rokka squeezing the life out of ichi, soon Go appeared from behind rokka "lady rokka, your father would not appreciate your association with this filth" Go informed, everyone was confused was he referring to all of them or just ichi? even so that was a bit hated what he said but forced herself to ignore it, kieko scanned the area then spotted something. the girls were about to start yelling at Go but they stopped when they heard the sound of foot steps, they turned to see that it was kieko, she was walking away, and towards the shrine. the girls stopped and stared at kieko, she was very traditional, she was raised to be so, but even knowing so they did not expect to see her to do this.
kieko tossed a coin in the offering box, rang the bell,knelt down,and started to pray. mika and yumi walked over to her and did the same, "let's pray together!"yumi stated kieko looked up from her prayer,and she gave the warmest smile she could give "thank you" she said. you have no idea how much this means to me, this was a tradition my mom and i had,mom called it purification of the soul she was all about this kind of stuff y'know? it was funny dad wasn't as in to it as us but he always did his best, it was really funny when he kept messing up the words"kieko said happily, tears started welling up in her eyes she didn't know if it was because she was so happy to have friends like those or if she was a little bit upset from the memories but she didn't care, she was too happy to care. mika's heart was so touched by this that she just couldn't take it "kieko…(enter girly squeal here) WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO CUTE?!"she screamed, she then picked her up like how a toddler would a puppy, and spun her around yelling about how cute she was. yumi starred and tried to act mature but to no avail, she joined in the hugging and squealing and spinning. kieko handled it well she had a slight blushed faceand let them do what they wanted, she looked back at the shrine and starred suddenly she remember something "gomen, but i didn't finish the prayer" she said. zero starred as well he never thought kieko was the type of girl that would be so nonchalant about the girls treating her like that, she was so mature when she acted, it was nice to see she had a playful side. zeros face got a bright red what was he thinking? "it was nice to see she had a playful side"!? what was that supposed to mean? he asked himself as if he had an answer. he gave a huff of breath, ... at least she was having fun, he would feel terrible if she wasn't. he watched as the girls smiled and hugged her even more and eventually let her go to continue the prayer.a thought came to mind, if she was so happy when they prayed would she be even happier if one more person did? would she like it if he prayed? he decided to give it a shot. he walked over to the shrine, what would he pray for? he wondered, he was curious to know what kieko praying for?
she still didn't notice him standing next to her. as zero watched the girls pray he noticed something about kieko, it was one of those childish things that were cute no matter who did them instead of a normal prayer that was usually kept to oneself, kieko mumbled her prayer aloud, she said them with such a soft spoken voice that he couldn't make out the words but he knew whatever it was, it was something with alot of meaning. zero knew what he was going to pray for,he knelt down and bowed his head. kieko looked up in surprise, it was one thing for mika and yumi to pray with her but it was a completely different thing for zero a guy who she had met only a month ago to start praying, why? she had no idea, but it was one of the nicest gestures someone could have done for smiled and continued her payer, the others were done way before kieko, but she had so much to say so much time to make up she finally finished she looked up from her prayer and stared at the shrine,"thank you"she said as if it was some type of code word the lights grew brighter, and they people around her grew happier. her group of friends looked around in a frantic "wow that was so perfectly timed you'd think kieko did it"mika said "it was like a cue in a movie"rokka added the other stood there staring in amazement, kiko stood up and turned around "wow it got really pretty all of a sudden"she said with a warm smile, ichi blushed rokka saw this and glared at awkward silence was broken by the sound of rumbling earth, "it's an earthquake, protect me ichi-sama!" rokka yelled. "so familiar…"kieko said in a soft spoken voice as she looked off into the and yumi gasped and lunged at kieko as if to keep her from floating away, "what?"kieko asked as she squinted off to the side, everyone except her and the twins were laying down covering their heads. but kieko didn't even look, whatever she was looking at she must find it much more important than her well being ichi thought. "kieko get down it's an earthquake!"zero yelled kieko payed no mind to him,she instead raked her mind for the answer as to why this was so familiar. "for once listen to me!"zero yelled kieko turned her attention to him, "i remember" kieko whispered, not even seconds later kieko and the girls were engulfed in a large swirl of dust, and it was so thick that she could not be seen. zero tried to reach his hand out to her but he grabbed at nothing,the second the dust cleared ichi and zero jumped to their feet because kieko yumi and mika were no longer standing there.
to be continued in part 2