"Aika! Get up! You useless girl! You brat! Stand on your legs, they still work! Do you want me to break them? Get up!"

Pain.

Red, red pain.

Blurry, blurry pain.

Cold. Cold and white.

Snow. I fell in the snow.

Struggling. Collapsing.

Screeching. He was screeching at me.

Red, red hand. Coming down. To hit again.

More pain.

Red, red pain.

I jolted upright, inhaling sharply. I...fell asleep. It was only a dream. A dream of the past. My lower lip trembled as I sat up. I went outside after Miki told me to finish sweeping. It was nice out, a warm day.

But I couldn't shake how very cold I was.

But then I closed my eyes, and I saw my ninja again. And it was all okay. My ninja would protect me from that scary man. He won't ever hit me again, not when my ninja comes. I thought maybe Amaya-chan was my ninja. What if she was? Was she going to save me? Me, and Miki-niisan, and Taki-Aki, and Occhan, and the boy who lives in the closet?

I'm not supposed to know about the boy who lives in the closet. He's a secret.

It was a cold day. Over a year since we had moved into occhan's new house. It was also a very special day.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Aikai-chan!" Occhan was sick, but still he was smiling. But who doesn't smile on Christmas Eve? "You get to sleep now, so Saint Nick has time to come."

"But I wanna see him this year!" I moaned. "I wanna stay up and see him!"

"But Miki already went to sleep!" Occhan protested. "Come on, Aika-chan, it's time for bed!"

"That stupid seahorse is always doing whatever you say!" I huffed. "Why do I have to do whatever he does?"

Occhan closed his eyes and scratched his head. "Well, Miki is a very grateful little kid."

"Besides, the clones aren't going to sleep yet!"

Occhan laughed, his laugh was like bells. I liked his laugh. It meant everything was okay. "Taki-Aki aren't clones, at least I don't think so. Maybe they're robots!" I giggled with him that time. "Besides, they're older than Miki and you. When you're thirteen, you can stay up an hour later too." Occhan came over and picked me up, making me giggle harder.

"Come on, to the bedroom!" He carried me the whole way, and even put me in the bed. For a while we just sat there, giggling softly. He put his hand on the side of my face. I kissed it, and gave him my nicest smile.

"Good night, Occhan. See you tomorrow, on Christmas," I yawned. He ruffled my hair and left.

I laid in bed for at least an hour and a half before getting up and creeping down the hall, being extra careful as I passed Miki-niisan's room. I sat down at the top of the stairs, when I heard the door open.

Was it Santa?

I stepped slowly down the stairs, staying on the second one to the bottom. I peeked around the corner, trying to catch a glimpse of the stranger at the doorstep. Being a rabbit had some super good advantages. I had really good hearing, and was able to listen in on Minoru talking to the stranger.

"Well, what's this, carolers? This late at night?" Occhan cooed darkly.

"Give me..." The man's breath kept catching. "Give me...finish...job..." I leaned a little farther, hoping to see the jolly man in red himself.

And oh, was he red.

I felt my heart beat faster. This person...he had only one leg. And where his other leg should have been, it was just red. It was red all over the floor. It was red out in the snow behind him. It was red all over his body. Occhan wasn't looking at his leg though. But Occhan was crying.

I held in a frightened gasp. Occhan was always so happy. Even now he was smiling while tears ran down his face. He outstretched his arms, and the red boy collapsed into them. Occhan rocked back and forth, holding the small person close.

"Shh, come now. You're safe now. I know, I know, I made a bad joke. It's alright now. You're going to be okay." Occhan talked, but it was only for his soothing tone. The boy let out a shaky sob. I couldn't turn away. I was scared, but I couldn't turn away.

Suddenly I was attacked from behind. An arm wrapped around my waist. I went to scream, but my attacker covered my mouth. "Hush," He whispered, and then I knew I was in no danger. It was Miki-niisan. He rescued me.

We went back up into his room. We sat down on his bed. He looked at me with his big sad eyes, but the only thing I could think about was my dress. It was the color of that boy.

I stood up slowly. He just watched me. I untied the white ribbon that hung around my waist. I slipped out of my red dress and let it fall to the floor in a heap. I took a step away.

"I don't like it anymore," I whispered. "I don't like red anymore." I shivered a bit. Miki yanked off his white shirt and threw it at me. I stared at him. He flopped down on his side and rolled over, so his back faced me.

"Try not to freeze to death, will you? Just put it on," I slipped it on obediently. "And, try to get some sleep. Remember tomorrow's Christmas. So do yourself a favor and have some good dreams." I smiled and ran out of his room, cuddling up back in my own bed, pushing away thoughts of the red boy.

That was the first time I saw the boy in the closet. Occhan didn't talk about what happened that night the next morning, or ever. When I asked him what the one locked room was, he told me it was a closet.

But once, a month later, I opened it.

I stepped one foot into the darkness. "Hello, little one," His voice caught me off guard. I recognized it instantly as the red boy. "Who are you?" I couldn't see him, he was hidden in the dark.

"I-I-I'm Aika," I whispered, the strength leeching from my body.

"No, I don't care about your name. Names are little lasting. What zodiac animal are you?" His voice was tired.

"Th-the rabbit."

"The rabbit." He repeated, rolling the words on his tongue. "I like rabbits."

"What are you?" I questioned back. He laughed. It scared me, I flinched. It was a scary laugh.

"You're a brave rabbit, that's for sure. I'm the rat, the one closest to the king. The one who tricked the cat. I'm the rat." Once I listened, I could hear a nice, strong voice behind the fragile, raspy voice. What was once behind what is now. "I like you, a lot, Aika. I'll call you Aika, because that's what you told me to call you. Do you like presents?"

I nodded a little bit. "Good, because I've got a present I'd like to share with you. A small, paper white arm melted through the darkness. He opened his fist, to show me a shiny little metal star. I instantly grabbed for it, with renewed curiousity. He let out another hideous laugh. But this time, it sounded kind of familiar. I laughed a little too.

"It's a ninja star." I gazed in wonder. He let it drop into my hand. "It's yours now. Who knows, maybe the ninja it belonged to will come and find you." My eyes widened. "Don't worry, Aika, ninjas are the good guys. If the ninja comes for it, maybe he'll rescue you too. Take you to someplace better."

I shook my head. "Not without Occhan! And Miki and the clones..." I gripped it harder. "...not without anybody. Not even you. If the ninja comes, we'll all go. I'll make sure we don't leave you behind." I could hear him smile.

"Thank you, Aika. I'd like that a lot."

"Aika-chan! Where'd you go off to?" Occhan's voice rung out and bounced around the room, caving in on us.

I gave one last glance to the shadows I had been speaking to before yelling, "Coming!" And that was that.

I never told Occhan where I went. And he never told me what happened on Christmas Eve.

And I never stopped waiting for my ninja.

"Um, excuse me," A tall man in a suit snapped me out of my memories. "Is this the residence of Taki Sohma?"

I eyed him and frowned. "That depends. Who are you, and what do you want with Taki?"

He sighed and took off his hat, revealing jet black hair. "I'm Tadao Kurosawa, and it's about his father."