Well, here's part 3...and as always, feel free to mail...queen2126@hotmail.com
-Queen
Miyako- Modern day Kyoto, capital of Japan in the Heian period, 11th century
Amida Buddha- Buddha of Paradise, where people could be reborn through their
faith
Koto- 13 stringed instrument
Shoji- paper door
Waka- poem
Sakura- cherry blossom
Monogatari- a telling, a story
Tatami- a mat made of rushes or straw
Murasaki- lavender
Furin- a windbell
Cicada- a noisy insect, associated with summer
The Bloom of the Mountain Cherry
Chapter 3- Sorrow, Whose Tears Cry the River
My own life is so tenuous I hardly give it a thought, yet to know the demise
of another is piercingly sad.
-Murasaki Shikibu
The turning of the tide of sleep was vastly different in this night. Used
to the gentle vision blurring and soft smells that accompanied her to Kami's
world, the feeling of being ripped apart from within forced a scream into
her throat, which was swiftly joined by the keening of other women, who tore
at their hair. Eyes impossibly close to the screen she stood before, Ami
spun, finding herself in a shuttered portion of a room, several serving
women sitting on the floor just below her. They wailed and cringed, high
keening noises coming from them as though in pain.
"Kami-chan?" Ami spun around, in search of her friend. The women paid no
attention to her, and she tried to step between them, to seek out Kami.
"Demons!" One of the women sobbed, comforted by the shoulder of another.
*Demons? No! Please, please, I can't be too late....*
Ami stumbled in her haste, tripping over the skirts of another woman.
"Excuse me, please, where is..." *I don't even know her true name...* ."the
lady of the house? A girl, about my-" Ami stopped, then waved a hand before
the eyes of the woman, who looked through her. *They can't see me....*
There was a screen separating the wailing women from the rest of the
room,
lilies with tiny fireflies dancing around them decorating it. A soft orange
glow from a candle flickered on the screen's opposite side, causing the
black silhouettes to dance. Other shadows moved before it, human bodies of
different sizes and shapes. Casting a glance swiftly, Ami judged that it was
nearing evening, by the narrow slats of light that cut across the floor
through the closed window. From the other side of the screen, Ami heard a
chant go up, a sharp, staccato mantra that cut into the air.
Edging her way past the moaning women, she slid herself around the
separating screen, and what she saw made her heart nearly stop.
*They got her.*
In the room's center, Kami lay on a futon, her black hair undone from its
loops, swimming out around her head in snaking curls. She was pale, very
pale, her skin nearly transcluscent and flecked with perspiration, heavy
bangs matted to her forehead, thin blue veins visible under her eyelids. A
blanket had been placed over her, and one of her hands peeked out from under
it.
An old priest, grizzled, had begun this chant, holding a clove-scented
fan.
There was a girl, young, maybe eleven or twelve, who sat upon a dais in the
front of the room. She was thin and slightly dirty, with rumpled hair and
empty eyes. Her orange gown and and white pants stood in stark contrast with
her black hair. There was the faint smell of poppy seed burning, hanging
sweetly in the air. As the priest chanted, she began to shake, her body
writhing into convulsions as the priest drove out the demon that had
possessed Kami.
In the corner, an elderly, white haired man sat, deep pockets of flesh
around what would have been twinkling eyes. Kami's father, Ami believed,
since he sat wrapped in a shawl, though the evening was not so cold. It was
the way of things, in such a period without science, to believe that illness
was the work of a demon in possession of the person's spirit. The priest
would banish it, attempt to identify it.
*What demon has done this to you?*
Ami knelt down beside her friend, taking up her thin hand. It was clammy,
and shook with chills. Checking her pulse, it was rapid. Blinking, Ami
brushed back the hair from Kami's forehead, and placed a hand there.
*She's burning up.*
Kami's breaths were short and sharp, and there was a scream from the
medium. The goal of the priest was to drive the demon out of Kami, and into
the girl for banishment.
*She's not possessed, she's sick... But they don't realize that. If her
fever doesn't come down soon, she'll die.*
Kami's blood was filled with flames, her body's attempt to burn out the
sickness that had invaded in the damp, warm summer months when illness
spread through the lands like the plague it was. But now the heat was
burning her from within, and she was shaking and pale.
*Gods, she's dehydrated! Why aren't they doing anything for her?*
The wails of the medium grew more insistent, and as the serving women
waited, their anxiety grew, filling the air with the sounds of groans and
half-smothered screams. The chant grew louder, as the priest called for the
demon to abandon its host.
*They don't understand!*
Ami moved away from Kami, and went to kneel before her father, who was
watching distantly through his own sick eyes. Pleading, she tried to catch
his attention. "She's sick! She needs water, and a doctor!" There was no
response, and Ami found herself screaming, hoping that maybe if her words
were loud enough, they would pierce whatever barrier stood between them. "Do
something! Get a doctor! A healer! Please!"
There was only stillness.
She spun away, running to the priest, trying to grab at his clothes to
catch his attention, but as he moved about the room, her hands fell into
only empty air, and grasped at nothing. The screams intensified from the
medium, as the demon began its transfer from one host to another.
Ami tried to slap Kami's face. "Wake up!" Kami merely stirred in her deep
sleep.
*All this time, I thought it a monster. Unless this is the monster. None
of
this makes sense. None of it. Why? Why am I here? Kami! Don't die! Please
don't die! If her fever does not break, she will die of it!*
The screams of the medium grew frenzied as she thrashed on the dais.
*Cold.*
From the around the room, the walls shuddered as wind raced around them.
In
the wails of the women, this set them to a greater pitch, frightened by the
reaction of the world outside.
*Cold.*
From within her, Ami summoned the magic that she was given, the deep
currents of water that she claimed as her power. Kami's face was placed
between her long hands, Ami's fingertips on her temples.
*Cold.*
The evening had taken upon itself a freezing wind, which whipped the
clouds
in the sky into a frenzy. Black clouds, heavily laden with rain, came
rolling out onto the horizon, a whirlpool of mist in the sky. The terror of
the sudden blackness and wild weather swept the world around them into a
state of shock, which was shattered when the lightning in the sky came
crashing down around them, splitting the willow tree that graced the
courtyard. Such a terrifying event broke the ghastly stillness of the place,
and men could be heard outside, working their way to the flaming tree with
buckets, hoping to douse the flames before they set the mansion on fire.
*Cold.*
Into Kami's blood flowed blue whitewater, cold and clear, pure energy.
Though the world around them had broken into a mad dance, the world within
the walls still existed in the exorcism, multiple keens screaming over and
into the wind.
*Cold!*
The windows were blown out, rains whipping into the room, soaking those
who
were within, and with a gasp, Kami's eyes were flung open, rolling, as her
lungs gasped for air as there was a final scream. Then there was silence,
and Kami's body went limp in Ami's hands.
The sound of her scream was a spear of ice into the chill air, and she
tumbled from the warm safety of her bed. Eyes blinded to any light, she
fumbled out of habit for the door, wanting air, wanting space. Only a few
steps into the living room of her apartment, Ami collapsed onto the floor,
and another pent up scream escaped. Moments later, she heard the scurrying
footsteps of her mother, and a set of arms were wrapped with familiar ease
around her shoulders.
Then she cried until her mother's sleeves were soaked with tears.
Ami didn't go to school that day.
There was too much grief, for the death of a girl she barely knew. A
girl,
whose name she didn't even know, but who she felt was her sister. There was
no sleep for her then, and no way to escape what she feared.
*She summoned me. And I failed her, as well. She summoned me, and I
stupidly thought it was a monster, some enemy to face. I let her die. I
should have looked for signs of disease, sickness, not monsters. Stupid!
Stupid! Can't I do anything right? I poured my energy into her, and I
failed, again and again. Stupid!*
Her mother had tried to call off work, but when Ami had feigned sleep,
she
had relented, and had gone to help her patients. Ami had said nothing of her
dreams, only that they were nightmares that had seemed too real. She wasn't
ready to share it. She wouldn't speak of it again. Ever.
The looking glass in her room reflected a face that was tired and
blotchy,
speckled from the tears that had welled up in her eyes. She sat before the
mirror, thinking maybe she could see something. See what, exactly, she
didn't know, and it didn't really matter. She would know when she saw it.
And still, she found nothing. Her head lowered as did her gaze, falling to
the small object that rested between her hands. The narrow henshin pen was
lengthwise from her, the star end of it pointed away. It was her Star Power
henshin pen, which she no longer needed. She had kept it, even though she
now had her Crystal, which was so much stronger. Ami blinked once, and
picked it up, turning it over and watching it, almost as though it could
give her an answer.
*I failed. Again and again, I fail. It's the little things. Not being a
second faster. Not being a little stronger. Push Usagi-chan out of the way.
Mamoru won't be there every time. He can't be. No one's completely perfect.
Pour energy into Kami. I don't know anything about her. Did she pull me into
the past? Does Pluto allow such things? Kami, who are you and what did you
want with me? I'm so sorry. I can't ever seem to be what I need to be. Not
to others, not to myself. I can't stop being a senshi. My Mercury Crystal is
in my heart, my soul. I cannot cut it out. I don't want to. I want...I want
what you wanted, Kami-chan. To live above the clouds. Does that make me
selfish? To wish to be a part of something so important? To feel like I'm
worth something?*
Ami stood up, the henshin pen still in her hands, and walked to the
window.
She opened it, and pushed her head outside, feeling the salty sea breeze off
the bay in the distance, which sent her hair eddying around her face. She
looked down. Her apartment was several stories up, and the drop to the
concrete was dizzying.
*It would take only a moment, for the Silence to come.*
Usagi and Minako came knocking on the door. Well, actually, they rang the
doorbell repeatedly, by pressing the button down until Ami was so irritated
by it that she finally roused herself out of her apathy, shut the window,
stuffed her feet into slippers, grabbed a robe and shuffled to the door.
After the nightmare of the night, she felt so empty she was hollow, as
though every bit of energy in her had been drained away, leaving only an
empty shell. There was no sleep, and she did not wish for it. It would have
been simple, to have asked her mother for some sleeping pills, which would
create a nice, drugged stupor.
*It's my own fault. My punishment for being such a coward as not to
finish
things.*
"Yes?" Ami asked as she opened the door to see the two blondes.
Expressions
of worry were written clearly across their faces.
"Ami-chan? Can we come in?" Usagi asked, her voice quiet for once.
*They won't leave. What does it matter?*
She silently stood aside, and the pretty soldiers of love and justice
filed
into the room, settling themselves on the couch, their identical uniforms
and expressions making them look more like twins than usual.
Minako spoke first. "Are you feeling okay? Mako-chan said she'll cook you
something if you're sick."
"I'm fine, Minako-chan. Just worn out."
They looked disbelieving.
"Rei-chan would have come, but she had to go help her grandfather," Usagi
began, "and Mako-chan...she wanted to, but-"
"It's okay, Usagi-chan. You didn't need to come."
They looked at each other, and then at Ami. Their blue haired friend was
haggard, her hair messy, robe hanging over a rumpled nightgown. She was
pale, and her eyes were puffy and red.
"Ami-chan, you can tell us if there's something wrong," Minako told her,
looking at Ami, who settled herself on a chair across from the coffee table.
"The five of us, six...ten," Minako looked a little sheepish as she mentally
tallied up the senshi of their solar system, Inners, Outers, and those from
the future. "...any of us. We've been through so much together. You know
we're here if you need-"
"I'm fine, Minako-chan. Really." *They won't go away until they have some
explanation.* "Last night, I was brought word that...an old friend of mine
just died."
The faces of the two other senshi altered subtly, and Ami knew that was
the
explanation they wanted. Some reason to think that simple, reliable, brainy
Ami was missing school, a shocking thing for her.
"I didn't think you had any fr-" Usagi started, but was slammed in the
stomach by Minako before the whole sentence was finished.
"What she means is," Minako corrected Usagi, who was rubbing her stomach
and giving Minako a death glare. "We didn't know you were really close to
anyone other than we senshi..." Minako stumbled a little, hesitating. "That
didn't come out very well either. I mean, Usagi has Luna, and Naru-chan too,
not to mention Mamoru. I have Artemis, and-"
Ami was shaking her head, the waves of her hair falling against her
cheeks.
"It's okay, Minako-chan, really. I understand."
*I always understand, don't I?*
"We're just worried about you. What was her..." Usagi paused. "It was a
girl?"
Ami nodded.
"What was her name?"
"I called her Kami."
Usagi got up and gave Ami a hug. "We'll come to the funeral with you.
Okay?"
"There is no funeral."
They blinked at her.
"No funeral?" Minako looked confused, then her face softened with pity.
"You got word too late?"
Ami just clutched the folds of her robe in her hands, her knuckles
turning
white as she rolled the fabric in her hands, letting Minako think what she
wanted.
Minako and Usagi stayed a bit longer, trying to cheer Ami up. And as it
was
with the two girls, their happy talking about their lives eventually got Ami
to smile, especially when Minako tried to tell Ami that life was like a box
of kleenex, and she didn't know what she was going to get. Though that time,
Ami suspected that Minako did it on purpose, getting the saying wrong, just
so Ami could correct her. When they left, Ami felt a little better. She had
also noticed, that despite the wrapping on Usagi's wrist, the black eye was
now nothing more than a memory, healing swiftly.
And since she was feeling better, Ami tried to read, settling herself
down
on the couch, 'The Tale of Genji' in her lap, the stained glass reading lamp
casting a mosaic of pretty colors onto the walls. And as it was when a
sleep-deprived person tries to read in a quiet home, her eyes closed, and
the mosaic became a living waltz of light....
The room was bare of any furnishing, save a single pillow, where a woman
sat in a square of brightness, her hair shorn at the ends, cutting off just
at the shoulder. Still, her robes were colored, not yet the ash grey
clothing of one who has taken the vows of a nun, though she sat slumped and
seemed sad. The woman's back was turned, and with a distant feeling, Ami
reached out her hand, placing it on the woman's shoulder, looking down. The
head turned, and blind eyes looked up to meet hers, the lavender faded,
replaced with a hazy white.
"Kanashimi-chan?"
Then the mosaic of light that had brought her there enveloped her again,
and her eyes opened to see the furrowed brows of her mother.
"Ami-chan?" Dr. Mizuno asked, when her daughter grabbed her arms in
shock,
a timid look of hope beginning to spread on her face.
*She's not dead.*
Eluding her, sleep hovered on the peripherals of her vision, cruelly
teasing. If she turned her head quickly enough, sometimes she believed that
she could see the glitters of light that came with the transition to Kami's
world. *I still have a chance. She's not dead. But a chance to do what? If
she's well, then everything's solved. It was so selfish of me, to think that
I could do this alone. But I still feel like there is something that I am
missing. If Kami is well, then is everything all right? Am I just deluding
myself?*
From outside her room, the moon glowed, a tiny sliver of new birth in the
cloak of the night. It was a delicate slipper, with the grace of a ballet
dancer's pointed toe. And in the quiet, dim light of the moon, a sakura
petal floated past her window, followed by another, and another. And it
seemed to her that a person ghosted on the currents of wind, slipping into
the shadows of her room and moving through the shades that the dresser,
bookcase, or desk cast. And the figure approached, unseen, since the soldier
of water had closed her eyes at last, and had drifted into the haze of
sleep.
She floated wide in the space, the layers of Whitewater drifting loosely
around her, as the stars strained in their brightness.
*Where am I? What place is this?*
Laughter turned her head, and she saw Kami, standing beside her, though
in
her room, existing in the shadows. "You wonder far too much, Kanashimi-chan.
Come, it's time you see my sadness, and why I fear for your sorrows." She
extended her pale hand, and Ami took it, finding herself suddenly alone in
the darkness of a moonless night.
There was rain, and much of it. It pounded down on her head and
shoulders,
the skies letting loose their pent up tears, letting the earth soak up what
the clouds could no longer hold. Ami hugged herself, for the water was cold,
and it bled through her the layered robes she wore. Dark blue hair ran slick
black as she tried to see through flashes of lightning what Kami had brought
her to see. Her teeth began to chatter with cold, and she heard the rushing
of water. She turned slightly, but froze as her foot began to slide. She
stood on rock, and it was slick with the rainwater that was pounding down.
She withdrew a step, for the river below rushed high.
"Look there," Kami whispered, pointing, and Ami was at first startled to
see the girl there with her. But she followed the length of arm, looking up
to the mansion. "See?"
As it is in dreams, nothing seemed to be as it was. With unreal clarity,
Ami witnessed Kami, her eyes sightless, crawl uneasily along the floor of
her room, slide open the shoji door, and shut it again as the rain masked
her sounds. In the wind, the sound of a furin could be heard, ringing, the
one that hung by Kami's door. Her shorn hair pasted itself to her head, and
dripped down as she wobbled to her feet, took several steps, then careened
off the path. Ami started forward, wishing to rush to help her, but the Kami
that stood with her took her wrist, preventing it.
Ami looked at the one who held her and, and despite her own chill and
wet,
Kami remained dry, her long hair uncut, hanging around her feet in a black
sweep of waves, the loops still behind her head. She still wore
Chrysanthemum Rain, and her eyes were still pale lavender.
A thought occurred to Ami.
*No.*
As the Kami who was blind stumbled her way down the path, Ami felt
herself
drawing away from the one she stood beside. Kami's desperate stumbling run
would have been comical to one with a twisted sense of humor. The blind girl
continued to trip her way along, falling and muddying herself in the
thickening dirt, grasses clinging to her robes as she felt her way forward,
a hand out for balance and warning. Ami knew she was crying.
*Someday, she wished to live above the clouds.*
Again, Kami fell, this time hitting a rock, and laying still for a moment
before she brought herself to her knees. She felt her way up again, and she
desperately worked her way along the narrow path that she and Ami had
traveled only a dream or two before.
*I do not know what illness struck her, but it left her without vision,
both sight and dream.*
It was a path Kami knew well, and she had always believed she could walk
it
blindfolded, for it led to her favorite place by the willow over the river.
The river that was rising in the rain, and she now did walk it blindly,
though without anything covering her eyes.
*How can one who cannot see live among the clouds?*
Kami at last grasped a low branch of the willow tree, her small fingers
clasping tightly around it.
*Without sight, how can she play the koto?*
Kami appeared to be looking at the river that was sweeping its way
towards
her, and she dropped to her knees, edging closer to the steep bank that drew
closer to its edge. She knelt on the rock now.
*Without sight, how can she paint the lovely letters of poetry?*
She placed a hand into the water, and the icy roaring waters stung it,
forcing her to snap it back as her skin was bitten.
*Without any of these things, how can she live?*
Kami staggered to her feet, holding Chrysanthemum Rain tightly about her.
She tilted her head up to face the sky, and for a moment there was
lightning, illuminating the earth around them. And when a second strike
broke down across the river, its thunder drumming in Ami's ears, Kami stood
no longer on the riverbank.
Her vision was filled with blackness, and as she tried to reach out, she
felt her nails scrape along the rocks that surrounded her. Sight was gone,
but other senses were sharpened, the screams of the river drowned her ears
in chaos, and pain broke her body as it crashed between the stones, tangling
in the weeds. Though she tried, Ami could not breathe, and her lungs filled
with water, smothering her even as Kami was smothered.
*Kami, I think I understand now.*
The roaring of the waters covered her.
*You gave up.*
She felt her body being carried more quietly along, tumbling slowly in
the
water.
*You gave up, and you're showing me why. You were never haunted by a
ghost.
You were never in danger of anything. It was me. All this time, it was me. I
wanted to protect you. But in reality, you are protecting me. From myself,
isn't it?*
She came to a drifting stop in the water, and Ami felt herself tangled in
the reeds, her hair floating in a halo about her head. And at the same time,
she was Kami, her hair long and entwined in the broken reeds, lying in the
congestion that the river had deposited downstream, her body broken and
tangled, her eyes closed even though she still saw.
*How long ago this happened to you, Kami-chan. How long have you waited
for
me, or someone like me? I can feel hands now. They found you, didn't they,
Kami? Found you and took you back, buried you and gave you a funeral. I can
see them, a fisherman, looking to earn his bread, shouting up at others.
They lifted you out of the water. You look like a child, Kami-chan, so doll
like, since you are so delicate. *
Air returned to her, and Ami breathed again.
They sat, much as they did when they met, under the willow tree, in a
surreal brightness. Though this tree was a mountain cherry, and its blossoms
white and falling. Water dribbled over the stones in the river, calm and
restful, peaceful rather than wrathful. Ami looked at the brush she held in
her hand, and then took up a piece of paper while Kami picked up her
inkstone, rolling it. She smiled at Ami, and shook her head. "You look as
though you are unsure if you dream or not, Kanashimi-chan."
"This is still a dream."
Kami laughed. "Yes, I suppose, though this is where I exist now."
"Can you move into others dreams? Like mine?"
Kami paused, uncertain, and loaded her brush with ink, gently tracing the
characters of kanji onto the reused paper. "I don't know."
Ami looked at Kami, and truly wanted to know.
"Why?"
"The most dangerous demons are the ones we create for ourselves. They
cannot be fought with weapons, magical or technical. They must be fought in
other ways. There are so many dark dreams, in this time."
Ami set down her brush, and looked at the calligraphy Kami had painted on
her paper. "It's lovely, Kami-chan."
"Arigatou, Kanashimi-chan. Though I hope I will not have to call you that
anymore."
"I don't think you will, but I think it would be wrong if you didn't."
"You will live above the clouds for me? Record all the beautiful things
you
see? I never did get to see any of it. I would like to know what a crystal
palace would look like." She painted another stroke on the paper, and the
sakura from above obscured it with a petal. They fell from above, and the
sunlight streamed through the branches overhead, causing Ami to lift a hand
over her eyes to dim the brightness of the world.
"Ja ne, Kami-chan," Ami told her, and Kami smiled as Ami's eyes opened to
the dawn of a new day, and this time, the girl who dreamed did not bury her
face.
Epilogue-
Usagi linked her arm through Ami's and kept her paper hidden behind her
back, refusing to let her curious friend see the score she had earned on the
social studies test. The lunch bell had rung, and students poured out into
the hallways, eager for the midday break from scholastic servitude. Heading
out to eat, Ami and Usagi met up with Minako and Makoto, who were angling
for one of the student-free areas under a shady tree. Somewhat cooler there
than under the blazing sunlight, the three faced Usagi, lunches at their
knees.
"Okay, Usagi-chan," Makoto said, folding her arms. "Out with it."
Usagi hesitated, pretending as though she had to choke back tears. She
took
a deep breath, then whipped out the test paper, which was marked with a big,
fat red ninety percent at the top. Makoto and Minako screamed at once, while
Usagi laughed hysterically. It seemed a miracle had occurred in Juuban that
day. Usagi had not only passed, but had aced it. Ami laughed at her friends,
who were congratulating Usagi, even going so far as to tell her that Rei
would just die when she saw it.
"This calls for a celebration!" Makoto decided, producing her lunchbox.
She
opened it, and pulled out her homemade rice balls. "Rice balls for
everyone!" There were four in the box, and Ami suspected that she would have
been sharing anyway. But if anything, Usagi's surprise and happiness made it
all taste even better.
Still laughing quietly, Ami settled in to listen to the usual chatter of
the Inner senshi on lunch break, which was periodically broken by Usagi
talking with her mouth full.
Out of her bookbag, Ami slipped 'The Tale of Genji.' With the worries of
the last few days, or rather nights, she had not had as much time to read as
she had wished. 'Genji' was a long book, and she wanted to get it back to
Setsuna over the weekend. Opening it as she shook her head at a bad joke
told by Minako, her hand brushed aside the bookmark of folded paper.
Hesitating, she unfolded it, hearing the way the paper crackled as she did
so. Seeing it, she read,
'Yo no naka wo nani nagekamashi yamazakura hana miru hodo no kokoro
narisheba'
Written in her own hand. Ami had placed the quote there, thinking it apt
since she read a book by the same author. Below it, she had scribbled the
translation Setsuna had given her last week.
'Why do we suffer so in the world? Just regard life as the short bloom of
the mountain cherry.'
*Kami told me that day was not a day to write sad things. And at first, I
did believe this poem to be very sad. A poem about the shortness of life.
And maybe it is short. But even at the same time, it is very beautiful,
blooming. It was my own fears that held me back, and that was what made me
weak. It was the same for Kami, not being able to fulfill her dream. She
didn't want me to give up mine, simply because I had lost sight of my dream,
and lost confidence in myself. I look up at my friends now, Usagi-chan,
Mako-chan, Minako-chan, and I know that Rei-chan and the others are out
there as well. I look at them, and I know I am strong, not because of them,
but for them. And that is where my strength must lie. Arigatou, Kami-chan,
whoever you are. The source of my sorrow was myself.*
Well...how was it? ^^; Like it? Hate it? I suppose I should say, that much of
the knowledge in this story is from a book called 'The Tale of Murasaki' by
Liza Dalby. All the translations, Japanese and English, of the waka are from
this book. I highly recommend it. Also, I refer to the book 'The Tale of
Genji' throughout the fic.... 'The Tale of Genji' (or, in Japanese, 'Genji
Monogatari' ) is an 11th century novel, written by Lady Murasaki Shikibu. It
is believed to be the first of its genre.
I hope you liked it...soooo...mail! Mail! Feed the inbox!
Ja ne, until next time!
-Queen
queen2126@hotmail.com
(
geocities.com/tokyo/shrine) (
geocities.com/tokyo)