PROLOGUE
There was once was a prince who loved himself. His beauty, his possessions, and his thoughts. Everyone else loved him, too. They were suppose to love him.
So, they all did, except for one woman.
The prince, soon to be king, lived in a huge castle. In the middle of it was a garden and in the garden there was a tree whom everyone call Gishinboku. It grew beautiful flowers and every one loved them, but the prince never seemed to notice.
That was until a woman wearing an old cloak knocked on the palace door and asked for a place to stay. She offered him one of the flowers. He refused her humble offering and turned her away.
Angered the woman removed her cloak to reveal a beautiful priestess named Kikyo. She told the new king that his son would some day have to pay for his unkind and selfish deeds, but he turned away and left her in the cold.
He later realized that his selfish actions only caused harm to others. He changed in mind and soon in heart.
The king fell in love with a young maiden named Izayoi. There was just one problem.
She was human.
He was demon.
The king did not care and the two were married and had a son. He, though, was far worse then his father ever was.
He not only loved himself, but vowed that he would only love himself, for he was a half-demon, but a handsome one at that.
Sadly, the king was killed in war, soon to be followed by his wife of her heart being broken.
One day there was a knock on the door and an old woman stood there with a cloak over her head. She held a simple flower and asked for a place to stay for the night, offering the flower as payment.
The prince rudely turned her away. Saying that if a peasant such as herself wanted a place to stay she should just look for a tree to
sit under.
The woman once again removed her cloak. She was very beautiful, but she looked very angry. The prince begged for forgiveness, but she was not merciful. She told him that he had become worse then his father.
And so she cast a spell on him that every full moon his beast from within would take possession over his body.
She warned him that he would have five years to find someone who could love him for who he truly is. The fifth time that the Gishinboku lost all of its leaves and flowers would be his last chance.
Or then he would die as nothing, but an unloved beast.
Every one knows the story of the beauty and the beast, but the way it is told has become untrue and twisted. This is the true story of the Beast and the Beauty...