Maiden's Prayer
- Chapter the First-

Light faltered through the windows of Jun's room, separated on the floor by the shadows of the window blinds. Outside, leaves rustled and danced happily. Night time had still become of the bitter sky above, and the only light emited was that of the moon and the stars surrounding it. No one walked the streets at this hour, for it was far to late for any good children to be about. People would step outside for a while, and walk back in their house from the chilly cold.

Surely, there was no reason for anyone to be stalking the nights at a condition like this.... There's no reason for any human to walk about, that is...

Shinku was clutching one of Jun's newest voodoo dolls close to her chest as she walked the stone sidewalk. It had been named Eisley. Shinku gripped it with her hands and sighed as the harsh night wind nearly shoved her to the side. The small doll staggered back to her path, taking seven paces before the wind finally died down. Although the wind had brushed against her face, she felt nothing. Shinku had lifted one porcelain hand up from its place on the voodoo doll to adjust her scarlet bonnet that lied on her head.

She continued walking to a park that had lied directly down the block from Jun's school. As she approached the gates, she stopped with a hint of nostalgia. In the day time, children would giggle and laugh amongst themselves. They would fight over whose turn it was to sit in the swings, and run from whoever was picked 'it' in a friendly game of Tag. The little children would slowly climb to the top of the stairs, and would have to be rescued by the older kids upon looking down. This is how it was in the daytime, at least.

At night, the park that was friendly in the light had now looked like a cryptic and dusky scene from a movie. The swings, empty, screeched as they teetered in the wind. The slides were empty, with no children pushing or shoving to get their turn. The monkey bars stood bare, and the wind hollered through the empty tunnels.

Shinku faltered as she walked over to an empty metal swing. She placed the doll on the black rubber seat, and stood behind.

"Human..." Shinku said as she slowly pushed the swing, "What must it be like to be human?"

Jun was a human. He went to sleep at nights, woke up in the mornings, smiled when he was happy, and frowned when something displeased him. He grinned when Nori said that she cooked his favorite meal, and yelled when it turns out she burnt it in the oven. He went to school, made friends, and was seemingly falling in love with the human girl known as Tomoe.

"What does it mean to be human? There has to be something... If there wasn't, why are they always so... happy?" Shinku resumed pushing Eisley on the swings. Looking down at the blue and green voodoo doll, she frowned as another question struck her mind. The blonde doll thought to herself for a moment, before pondering upon it even more.

"This doll... Is not alive. It does not talk. It does not breathe. It does not speak upon its own will and think for its well-being..."

The swing came to a halt as the voodoo doll fell to the sandy pit below it. Shinku kneeled down to pick up the doll, and brushed the sand off from its sides. Turning the doll to face her in her arms, she gazed upon the lifeless, glass eyes that stared back at her.

"It is not alive, and it does not do the things that humans do. But, if this is the case... Then, I am stuck between the two states of being. I am human; but, I am not human. I move, I hate, I pity. But on the other hand, I do not grow. I do not age; I will not die. I cannot know what the emotion known as 'love' is."

Shinku threw the doll into the sand, and stepped over it as she angrily stomped over to a wooden park bench. It was a little too tall for her to simply sit down upon, but Shinku managed to climb up the railings.

"Human, human, human..." Shinku sighed as she placed her porcelain hands over her eyes. If she were human, surely, she would be crying. Tears would fall from her eyes, and she would experience feelings of sorrow. "If I were human..."

The world around Shinku began to spin around her. Colors meshed together into one solid shade of black as the moon faded from her sight. "If I were human..." Shinku could no longer sit up straight. She fell from the elegant bench, her arms trying to keep her balance. Her hands lost their control and went limp by her sides. She couldn't move, and as she fell off the bench, onto the cold grassy earth beneath her. Her eyes fluttered as they tried to hold themselves open, but her body said otherwise. Looking up at the night time sky, she tries to reach towards the moon. Her hand cannot be lifted, however, and eventually lands on the ground with the rest of her. Shinku's eyes close shut, and her mind seems to be numb. She sputters out only the few words on her mind before her body shuts down.

"If I were human..."

To be continued in Chapter Two...

Hello, One Sided Pancake here, bringing you my first Rozen Maiden fanfiction. I really hope you enjoyed it, as it is fun to write, from the starts of it.
Please do review if you can, I'd really appreciate all criticism you have to offer.

_-_-_ OSP _-_-_