In the centre of the roof-top gardens at the Zen Building is a shrine to Buddha.? Nestled between two sacred lotus ponds and beneath two flowering bougainvilleas, which had been trained into trees, was a small bamboo structure.? Inside the structure, at the top of a set of three tiers, is a small figure of Buddha, seated on a sacred lotus flower.

Today, the bamboo structure was covered with flowers of all kinds and even more flowers, including a single sacred lotus bloom, sat on the bottom most tier inside the structure.? Buddha himself was wearing a necklace fashioned from coral-tree blooms.? The air around the shrine was thick with the mingling scents of so many flowers and from the sandalwood incense that had been burning steadily since dawn.?

Riley had cancelled all of her classes for the day because the Hana Matsuri is as important a day to Japanese Buddhists as Christmas is to Christians.? It is the day that Buddha was born, a day for celebrating his birth and for celebrating the Buddha nature of all sentient beings.

At a little before noon, Riley wandered into the Bodhi Tree Cafe, carrying a small bouquet of lilies, and waited for Daniel's customers to finish their lunch.? When they'd left, she gave Daniel a smile and handed him the flowers.? "Ready?"

He took the flowers and put them carefully in a small vase, placing them on the counter near the till.? Then he turned back to Riley and smiled.? "Ready."? He'd already put a small sign in the front window, informing customers that the Cafe would be closing at noon today.

She gave him an impish smile and said, "Race ya!" before sprinting out of the Cafe's door and up the first flight of stairs. He laughed, running out the door after her.? She was faster than he, but he had an advantage on stairs; he could clear the whole flight of steps in one leap.

"Cheater!" she called out as he leapt past her.? She had him on the straight-away, though - the hallway on the second floor between the two sets of stairs.? She raced past him and bounded up to the third floor, taking the stairs three at a time, her long legs eating up the distance.

"All's fair in love and war...and building racing," he replied, falling behind in the hall, but reaching the stairs in enough time to launch himself straight over her head, looking down and sticking out his tongue at her before hitting the ground and rolling to his feet, never losing his step.

"Argh!" she cried out and redoubled her efforts.? He might have hit the third floor landing before her, but she'd catch up and hopefully even surpass him before they made the steps that would lead them to the roof.

He laughed out loud when she shot past him in the hall, enjoying the game immensely.? Reaching the final set of steps, he paused briefly, then leapt, timing it perfectly so he landed at the same instant she reached the top.

She was panting when she reached the top and gave him a look that said she knew he'd thrown the race, but didn't care too much.? Impulsively, she kissed him, fisting her hands in his shirt and pulling him against her roughly. He made a soft growl of pleasure, returning the kiss with equal fervor, chest heaving with the combination of exertion and sudden passion.? His fingers dug into the muscles of her back with enough force to have bruised a human.

Riley broke the kiss and with a little smirk, skipped away, pushing open the door from the stairwell to the roof.? She jumped over the threshold and smiled triumphantly.? "I won!"

He clutched his chest in mock agony. "Beaten by womanly wiles.? How shall I ever live that down?"? Then he stepped onto the roof as well, looking at the incredible array of flowers she'd set up.

She giggled and led him over to the shrine.? On the ground in front of the bamboo structure, was a small basin filled with a flowery-scented tea and a wooden ladle.? She carefully knelt in front of the shrine and nodded to a spot next to her.? "You can monkey-see-monkey-do, if you want, or you can just watch."? She shrugged a little and said, "Either way is fine."

He knelt next to her, tucking his heels under himself in the same way she was.? It was an unfamiliar position for him, but feline flexibility made it easy enough. "I'm no monkey, though," he grinned.

She smiled softly and chuckled.? "Oh, and if you have any questions about what I'm doing or why I'm doing it, just ask."

"I will," he answered with a nod.

She nodded and turned back to face the shrine.? Standing gracefully, she closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her centre, and put the palms of her hands together.? She raised them above her head, touching the outsides of her thumbs first to her forehead, then lowering them to her throat and then lastly, lowering them to her heart.? Then she knelt again, placing her palms flat against the ground and leaned forward until her forehead touched the ground as well.? She did this three times.

He sat quietly, watching her perform that ritual.? He felt that it would be inappropriate to mimic without knowing what it meant or believing in it.? Perhaps later he would ask her about it, but for now, he just observed.

Kneeling once more, she moved the basin of tea closer to the figure of the Buddha and took a ladle of it and poured it over the statue.? She gave Daniel a little sheepish grin and explained, "I'm really supposed to be doing this to a figure of Buddha as a baby, but I don't have one.? So I'm making due."? She handed him the ladle then.?

Since she'd handed it to him, he dipped the ladle into the tea and poured it over the statue as well. "I don't think Buddha would mind," he replied.? "He seems to be a reasonable fellow."

She chuckled softly and nodded.? Then she took the ladle back and filled it with the tea and held it out to Daniel once more.? "Drink some this time."

He took a drink of the sweet, flowery tea.? It wasn't anything he'd tasted before.? Then he dipped it once again, giving it back to her. "Interesting flavor."

She took the ladle from him and took a deep drink, practically draining it.? "It's hydrangea-leaf tea.? I have some of the loose leaves for you downstairs."? Then she reached out and took two incense sticks, handing him one.? She lit hers and then his and blew them out so their scented smoke would rise.? "Now you're supposed to pray, but it's okay if you don't.? You can just...? I don't know...wish for something instead."? There was a bowl of white sand with incense sticks thrust into it and she leaned forward and put her stick next to the others.? Then she settled back onto her haunches and closed her eyes, lips moving silently as she chanted a mantra.

He pushed his stick of incense into the sand and closed his eyes. He didn't really have anything to pray or wish for, he was pretty happy with things the way they were, so he just settled for thinking happy thoughts about the two of them.

She opened her eyes and smiled contentedly.? Then she leaned against Daniel, gently bumping her forehead against his.? "That's it," she said softly.? "Thank you for being here with me."

He smiled, opening his eyes and tilting his head to brush his lips against hers. "It was my great pleasure. Thank you for wanting me to be here with you."

She stood and picked up the basin, moving over to sprinkle some of the tea on the bougainvillea and then to dump out the rest under the trees at the edge of the garden.? "Hungry?? I have gyozas and yakisoba."

"Sounds good to me.? I haven't eaten lunch yet."? He rose and stretched, long and hard.

She watched him, sorta-kinda covertly from the corner of her eye and sighed softly.? Then she turned and started towards the door, carrying the empty basin and the ladle.? "If we were in Japan, there would be a big parade and then tonight, a big party with traditional dances and lots and lots of food."

"I'd like to see that, one day," he replied.? "For now, though, I would be happy to dance with you tonight, if you'll show me the steps."

She laughed.? "I don't actually know them," she confessed and pushed the door to the stairwell open.

"Well, we'll just have to make something up, then."? He grinned, holding the door open for her.

She gave him a flirty little grin and skipped down the stairs.? Tonight was as good as any other night; in fact, it might be the best.? New beginnings and all that...? It was something to think about at any rate.

He raised a brow at that grin, wondering what it meant, then headed down the stairs - much more slowly than he'd gone up them.
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She nodded and ate in silence for a while.? When she'd finished her soup, she toyed with her chopsticks.? "It's hard sometimes."

"What's hard?" he asked, pausing in his eating.

"Being a good Buddhist," she said quietly, picking up a dumpling but not eating it yet.? "Not letting the Three Poisons affect my Way too much."

"What are the Three Poisons?"

"Greed, anger and ignorance.? I don't have a problem with the former or the latter.? Anger, though..."? She trailed off and took a bite of her dumpling.? Anyone who had spent time with her at any point during the last ten or so years would know she had anger...and lots of it.

He nodded, having seen her temper firsthand several times now.? "I would imagine that would be the hardest one to beat.? Getting angry is such an instinctive response."

"Exactly.? It's just so hard not to feel pissed off, you know?? I honestly do try, but...? My temper gets the better of me.? I blame it on my Dad," she said with a little smirk.

"From what I've seen in the past weeks, you're getting better at stopping it." He liked to think that maybe he'd had a hand in making that so.

She nodded and finished her gyoza before speaking again.? "I think that's because I'm becoming more used to being what I am."

He smiled. "From what little I've learned about Buddhism, that sounds like exactly what you're supposed to do." He picked up one of the gyozas and bit into it. Yum.

She nodded and glanced sidelong at him.? "It's your fault, you know."

He blinked. "What's my fault?"

She turned to face him fully, setting her chopsticks down next to her plate.? "My increasing comfort level with my Cat.? Before I met you..."? She frowned softly, coming to the heart of the issue.? "Andy was the only other Cat I've really known.? And he wasn't exactly comfortable with it."? She swallowed and was given a brief respite when the tea kettle began whistling.

"You came into it the hard way.? I had it easy."

She gave him a lop-sided smile and poured hot water into two cups, adding loose tea leaves to each and sliding them across the counter.? "Yeah, I guess.? Did you ever get frustrated and angry when you were learning how to be a man?"

He took the cup and toyed with it, swirling the liquid and watching the leaves move. "Yes, plenty of times. Learning to speak was a pain in the arse."

She laughed and moved to sit on her stool again.? "See what I mean?"? She ate another gyoza, chewing thoughtfully and swallowing before saying softly, "Thank you."

He started to say that he hadn't really done anything, but stopped, realizing that it wouldn't help, so instead he just said, "You're welcome."

She smiled and went back to eating, applying herself to her lunch with gusto.? She was famished and this would be the only meal she'd get all day.

He turned back to the food, finishing off his gyozas, then sitting back and sipping the tea, watching her.

She finished her meal and then sat back, cradling the cup of tea in one hand.? "You need to talk more, listen less.? I always feel like I'm yakking your ear off.? Tell me more about your life."

"I like listening to you talk.? Besides, I've already told you most of it."

No, there's more to it than that.? Surely you have anecdotes about learning to be a person.? Just learning how to eat with a spoon and a fork's gotta have tonnes of silly stories."

"It was the mental and verbal learning that gave me the most trouble. I mean, sure, I had some trouble with my human body at first, but as you know, we Cats are very graceful creatures.? It didn't take long before I had complete control over myself again.? Speaking, and thinking like a person, now that was a whole different story."

"You should tell me some stories then.? And more about your parents.? I have closets full of stories about my Mama-san alone."

He stood, picking up their empty plates and bringing them to the sink before coming back and taking her hand, leading her to the couch, where they sat and he told her stories about his parents and what it was like to learn to be human.

He slipped one arm around her shoulders, pulling her tighter against him. "A bit odd, actually. I had a very strange encounter at the Inn when I came looking for you."

"Oh?"? She tipped her head up and looked at him, her caramel gaze full of curiosity.

"Mhm.? Some strange Cat was there, and tried to attack a girl I met a day or two after I arrived." He paused. "You're so lovely, do you know that?"? The way she sat there looking up at him, it almost made him shiver.

"Lovely, huh?? And what happened to the girl and the strange Cat?"

"Yes, lovely.? Well, apparently, she works with horses all day, so she smelled like one, and the Cat, who, by the way, didn't seem to be a shifter like us, thought she was dinner."

She nodded, putting her hand flat on the top of his thigh.? "And...?"

He glanced down at her hand, then back to her eyes, barely suppressing the urge to just grab her and kiss her. "Um...and it leapt at her.? She screamed, and I went outside to see what was going on.? It backed off as soon as I came out.? Then it got odd.? The cat kept like, bowing to us something, but got mad when Aliss--which is the girl's name--tried to go back inside."

Her brow arched.? "Would this be the same Aliss who was mentioned alongside your name in the GangStar?"

"Yes, the same one who was there when I had to embarrass myself to Mindy." That was not an especially pleasant night.

She smirked.? Her hand crept higher.? "So you were coming to the rescue of a fair maiden?? And then what happened?"

He shivered slightly, and lost his voice for a moment. "Er...well...then Aliss went back inside, and I went towards the Cat, but he ran off.? Oh, and Vex came out onto the porch too, in human shape, before I moved toward the Cat.

"Were you rewarded, as the knight in shining armor?"

"I got a cup of tea out of it, if that counts.? The poor girl is either deathly shy, or just thinks I'm scary.? She practically choked to death when I asked if she was okay, and then, when I slapped her back, she just about had a stroke and ran off to the loo."

"That's not much of a reward."? The hand crept higher and she scooted closer still.

"Ah...no...."? He growled softly, shifting a bit on the couch. His fingers squeezed her shoulder almost painfully hard, and his other hand crept up to her side.? Giving up on words, he leaned in and slowly kissed her lips.

She met his lips, kissing him softly, her hands coming up to cup his cheeks as she swung her leg over him, settling down in his lap.

This was what they called the point of no return...and he didn't want to go back. His kiss grew in intensity, hands pulling her body against his, still growling softly.

She pulled away and sat back a little, staring into his cool, grey eyes.? She bit her lower lip and said softly, "Take me to bed, Daniel."

He paused for a painfully long moment, trying to get the words out. "Are...are you sure?"? He knew how messed up she'd been from her last relationship.

She nodded slowly and slid off his lap, taking his hand and pulling him gently to his feet.? "Positive," she whispered.

"Your wish is my command, sundari," he whispered, standing and scooping her off of her feet before carrying her to the bed.