Prologue – The Tale Retold

In the heart of a human is concealed the yin and the yang, the balance of light and dark. In each of us lies the potential for evil, and the potential for good. The side that eventually wins within us is decided by the choices we make; the life we live. When a child is born of two truly good hearts that purely yearn for one another, that child becomes a beacon for good in the world, and a powerful warrior against evil. However, if evil touches this child, it can also become a powerful villain.

7,000 years ago, it is said that such a child was born. This rare, beautiful gift became a sorcerer of pure evil. He wandered the earth, bestowing pain on the masses, giving in to his selfish ambitions. He caused the Great War that split the once peaceful land into four countries at war. He wandered the world, striking fear in the hearts of every man, woman, and child. Great armies fell at his feet. This man represented the yin.

Finally, another child of true fate was born; a woman. She was a healer, a mage who cured the sick and gave food and assistance to the poor. She lived only for others. In her travels she met the evil man, who had caused so much pain, and vowed to stop him. For years she studied the art of holy magic until the day she met him again. A great battle ensued and the world was shaken to the core, however in the end, she was triumphant. The woman had sealed the sorcerer, a man who became known as the great dark Lord Tenkou, into a book of ancient magic. However, to be certain that the seal was never broken, she too was forced to remain in the book, keeping watch over the evil Lord and his minions.

The world, after the reign of darkness that Tenkou wrought upon them, was ravaged and war torn. With the the last of her strength, the wise, holy woman broke the world of the past into a separate dimension, sealing it so that what remained could be allowed a fresh beginning. With this act, she slept for 5,000 years. The woman's name was Mistress Taiitsukun.

Once in a millenia a child such as this is born. A child such as this lives in the city of Tokyo today. She is the Hope.


Pregnancy, for Miaka, had been an interesting experience. She had sworn that she was the only female to go through as much discomfort, and after a while, Nakago began to believe her. Certainly, if it warrented so much bloody complaining, it was quite an ordeal. She had experienced a number of confusing emotions after she discovered the truth of her condition. She had experienced joy, of course, because she had been given the impression that she might not be able to have children, but also immediate fear. She had said to him a number of times that she wasn't ready for this kind of committment and that patience wasn't her strong suit. Nakago pointedly told her that if she didn't like committment, and especially if patience wasn't her strong suit, she shouldn't have married him.

The miscarriage hit her hard. She became reclusive, thinking that it was her fault, that because of the accident all those years ago, her womb had been damaged and that she had caused the death of her child. Nakago was guiltily thinking the same thing. After all, the explosion that injured her had been intended for him. But he had comforted her and she had moved on and conceived again, and this time the child had been a beautiful, healthy baby girl. As she grew, Nakago noticed that there was something extraordinary about his daughter. Aside from the fact that she had melted the parts of his heart that Miaka had not quite managed to thaw (though he admitted even those were few and far between), there was something else about her.

The child was stunning and charismatic in a way he wouldn't have thought possible for any offspring of his. His progeny was bold and fearless, though she did have a particular weakness for sweets and hamburgers. Her hair was white-blonde, so that she had a long silver halo at all times and her eyes, Nakago thought with pride, were his. They were the exact shade of his at the lightest his ever were, except when angered, which caused them to turn deep and dark like the depths of the ocean. They were, however, wide and round like her mother's. Her features closely resembled Miaka, in fact. Her mouth was small and pouty and her nose was slightly upturned and tiny. Her limbs were long and willowy despite her petiteness. She was a beautiful child.

Nakago moved to the balcony of his high rise, high luxury apartment, staring out at the city in thought. Eyes were not the only thing father and daughter shared, he thought wryly. The day that she had said to him, pushing her bedroom door shut with her little hands, "Daddy, you should keep your nose from where it belongs or it might get broken," he had never been more annoyed, or more proud. She had his sharp wit, though she also had her mother's lack of physical coordination. She was intelligent and beautiful and perfect, but that was not the strange part. He thought with a smug smile, that any child that shared his genetics would have to be stunning and brilliant.

The strange part was her insight. Yui had come around one day while Miaka was out, looking for consolation. She had just discovered that she would be joining Nakago and Miaka in the land of parenthood, even though she was most certainly not married to Tetsuya, and Nakago had allowed her in to wait for Miaka. With the awkward silences that came between short formalities, the child had come to Yui, sat on her lap, and said that she was glad she would have a friend soon. The child was only two at the time. Yui realized that now she and Miaka had something else to share, and thanked Nakago gratefully, leaving much more cheerfully than she had come.

There had been other occasions in which the child had demonstrated her unusual abilities to empathize without intending to, or even, in some ways, to fortell. The day that Chui was critically injured in a car accident, she, when Miaka visited Tamahome's father, went to the injured teenager and told him that, he believed the words where, "If you think you aren't going to walk, you won't, but if you think that you are, you will."

Chui had begun physical therapy a month later and by the following year he was walking without crutches for Yui and Tetsuya's wedding.

Nakago was very much aware that his and Miaka's relationship was unique, and that it had created a unique person because of it. He couldn't help but wonder what role she would have to play in the storm that he had first felt brewing nine years ago.