Hey, folks! Thank you SO MUCH for dropping in to read my story! I know I'm supposed to be writing Taboo, but with the Beauty and the Beast craze going on right now, I can't get this story out of my mind. I will write this as quickly as possible so that I can get onto writing Taboo.

This is a fractured fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast taken from the original versions (Villeneuve and Beaumont). It is set in fictional Japan during the 18th century. It was important for me to write this story without symptoms of manipulation, emotional abuse, or Stockholm syndrome. There were many romance stories I used to be drawn to without realizing those toxic ingredients were the driving force. Life has made me a little wiser (albeit humdrum), so I hope in this story I am able to capture two beings' love for each other in its most simple and healthy form.

UPDATE April 7: I changed some small details for better cohesiveness. I felt some parts were too wordy or needed more explaining.

Once upon a time there was a warrior king who ruled a small kingdom with his warrior queen. They had one son and ruled in peace; until a few kingdoms in the east wanted to unify all kingdoms throughout the land to make one government. The warrior king and queen did not want the people of their kingdom to suffer the tyrannic laws the new government posed. So they went to war.

The queen laid her head against the king's chest. "Don't you dare leave me," she uttered through clenched teeth and tears. His only reply was a violent cough, but she held him tighter still.

A white gloved hand touched her shoulder. "Your majesty, you should not be here."

"How dare you touch me!" She pushed the doctor away so forcefully that he fell backwards onto his rear. "I may be queen but I am a wife first. My husband lies here dying and you tell me I should not be here?"

The man stood slowly and spoke carefully. "I fear for your health, my queen. What if you contract the same illness he did? What if it passes to your son?"

"Please, your highness," begged an advisor, "our country needs you. We are still at war."

It was then the king took his final breath. All were silent as the doctor confirmed his death. Laments surrounded the once mighty king, but his wife did not have time to mourn. The queen dried her reticent tears on her husband's yukata before rising to her feet. Head held high, she declared, "I am Queen Yukishiro Kayo and I will win the war in the stead of my late husband, the great King Yukishiro Nozomu. Prepare my armor and swords." Then, "Bring Lady Tomoe and Prince Yukishiro to my chamber. I require a private audience." This command was addressed to the advisor.

Soon, the queen was greeted by her young son and beautiful handmaiden in her room, as per her request. Seeing her in battle gear, Enishi ran to his mother, pulled on her hakama and cried, "Where are you going? Where are you going?"

"Yukishiro Enishi, this is not how a prince behaves, particularly a gentleman." The chastisement, though gentle, proved effective. He straightened and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. The queen knelt down on one knee. "The King is no longer with us, so I have to leave to direct our armies."

"Father is . . . dead?" Silent tears rolled down youthful cheeks. This time he was not stopped.

The queen held his thin arms. "I know you are only ten, but I need you to be the man of the House of Yukishiro. Can I rely on you?"

He nodded, trying his best not to sob. It was a futile effort when his mother embraced him. He wept into her shoulder while promising to protect the palace.

The queen looked to her handmaiden, a fairy granted to their household generations ago. "Tomoe, please watch over him as a sister while I am gone." Please keep him safe .The quiet fairy forged her promise with a hand over her heart and a small bow. And then the queen left.

Over the next five years, Prince Enishi ran the kingdom with the help of his keeper, Tomoe. In fact, it was she that he spent most of his leisure time with when he was not in meetings with his advisors, studying with his tutors, or training with the guards. It was she whom he could complain to or laugh with. It was she whom he loved the most.

One day, Enishi called for Tomoe in the queen's garden. The fairy came to find the prince on his hands and knees digging up dirt. "Enishi," she gasped, "what are you doing?"

"I'm planting roses for mother. They are her favorite."

"But she only left a few days ago. She won't be back for at least another year, unless the war finally ends."

"Sooner than that, I hope." A final pat to the ground and Enishi stood and wiped his hand and knees. "I'm joining the army."

Tomoe's pale face became even paler. "What?"

"I can't stand the thought of mother being out there when I am young and healthy and trapped within these walls. I'm a man now and it is my turn to lead the armies. I shall send the queen back as soon as I gain proper training."

The fairy surveyed the boy's frame. Short, wiry, but his chest stood out and his chin held high like the true Yukishiro he was. She sighed. "All right then." Her delicate hand reached out towards him as soft sparkles of light left her fingers.

Enishi jumped back. "No," he said in a voice so stern that she stopped immediately. "No magic. I will do this on my own."

Pride shone through a smile she only had for him. "Go then, my prince. I shall await the queen and safeguard the castle until your return."

Prince Yukishiro was true to his word. He joined the army and soon replaced his mother. The queen returned to a kingdom jubilant at her arrival. The fairy also kept her promise, but she was limited in her powers. She could not provide enough harvest for the villagers and the armies. She could not stop the people from blaming the queen and late king for their recent poverty. She could not stop the same illness that took her king from now taking her queen. The only thing she could do was to wait for Enishi to come home.

Finally, the war came to an end, and after fifteen long years, Prince Enishi returned to the palace. Yet nothing was the same. There was no one in the villages to celebrate their victory, no guard to greet him at the gate, and the castle grounds were unkempt. Tomoe came rushing to him and saw that he, as well, has much changed. Now tall and broad and very handsome, in spite of the dirt and blood on his clothes and face, he looked very little like the boy who left her in the queen's garden. He embraced her quickly and heartily before setting her down and asking, "Where is mother?"

Tomoe looked away. "The queen has passed."

Blood drained from his face. "What?"

"She grew sick."

"No. Surely it cannot be."

"I sent a letter to you two months ago, but it must have not reached you. I'm sorry, my king."

"Do not call me that!" he spat as he ran to his mother's chambers. She was not there. Instead, her royal kimono hung majestically at the foot of her bed. Enishi knelt in front of it and wept bitterly.

"I'm so sorry," he heard a soft voice from behind him. Exhausted from war and grief, he buried his face in Tomoe's lap and cried.

Enishi stood in his mother's garden. Most of what was left was dried bush and weeds. Yet the scarlet roses he planted thrived. He heard Tomoe approach him from behind but he did not turn.

"As your mother grew ill, her interest in everything waned." She stood next to him. "Except for your roses. She loved you." The pain she saw flashing through his dark eyes unsettled her. "Perhaps you would like breakfast now. You've been sleeping for three days. I imagine you are starved."

"The cook is still here?"

"Thankfully, yes. Not everyone left us. Only the most faithful remained. Myself included."

Enishi gave her a smile, or whatever it was he managed. "Thank you, Tomoe. You have been most loyal indeed, and for that I owe you a great deal." Did the fairy just blush? Surely not. He heaved a great sigh to the sky above. "I don't want to be a king. I'm not ready to do this alone."

"You don't have to do it alone." Tomoe grasped his hand. "I'm right here."

"Again, thank you. I'll have to rebuild this kingdom. If only I had a queen."

A pause. Then, "I will be your queen."

Enishi almost laughed. "How I missed your mockery, Tomoe."

"I do no jest. I will rebuild this kingdom and rule by your side." Her look was grave. There was no hint of humor.

Enishi sobered. "Tomoe, you know that I can't marry you. You're my sister."

"Not by blood. We can wed as long as you wish it."

He could not believe what she was saying. He removed her hand from his. "I do not wish it! It would be incest!"

Her voice rose with his. "It would not!"

"We were raised together like true siblings. I cannot see you in any other way."

"But we are not siblings! I am a fairy. You are a human. It cannot be clearer!"

"I am not going to marry you and that is the end of it!" he roared. Her look of hurt made him feel regretful. More quietly, he said, "I will go break my fast. If you don't mind, I will find the cook alone."

The fairy was wise enough to give him space; however she was convinced that he could fall in love with her as she did with him. Later that evening after all retired to their rooms, she made her way into his chamber while he took a bath. She ensured that she looked more tempting than usual, and waited eagerly for the prince to enter. When he did, she was not greeted with the lust she expected.

"What are you doing here?" His voice deepened with annoyance. He noticed that she looked different . . .and that she wore only a thin white yukata.

Words escaped her for a moment. Then she replied, "I thought we might discuss more of what I mentioned this morning."

"I told you that we are no longer discussing this."

"Be reasonable, Enishi." Tomoe rose to stand beside him. "A king needs a queen, and you said yourself that you don't want to do this alone." She whispered in his ear, "I will be a good wife to you."

Enishi shuddered and crossed to the other side of the room. "You will never be my wife because I will never marry you. You are trying my patience, Tomoe. Return to your room at once." His tone left no room for negotiation.

How could this be happening? "I waited so long for you."

"Then you wasted your time."

It was now Tomoe's turn to be in disbelief. When did he change from a sweet boy to a hardened man? "I thought you loved me."

"Only as a brother loves a sister."

"Stop saying that! We are not related!"

"To me, we are. I will never see you the way a man sees a woman." Enishi turned away from her.

"How do you know?" With shaking hands, Tomoe began to untie her robe. "How do you know you cannot see me as a woman?" Her voice became thick with sob. "Am I not beautiful?"

Out of compassion, Enishi turned around only to see her pale shoulders, breasts, hips and legs. Her yukata pooled at her ankles. Anger replaced shock. "Have some dignity, woman! You make not a fool of me but yourself." He began to leave the room.

"Why, Enishi?" Tears poured from her dark eyes. "Why won't you have me?"

"Because I only love you as a sister, in spite of how beautiful you try to make yourself."

His truths were a stab to her heart. She never imagined that he would hurt her so. "So I am not good enough for you? Because I am able to create my beauty? Who are you to look down on me?" She raised her chin at him in spite of her nakedness. "You are a king of a deserted kingdom."

"And you so desperately want to be queen of said kingdom," he jeered.

"What of it? Have I not earned it? I aided your great grandfather, your grandfather, your father; I supported you as you grew up. I protected the castle while you were gone playing soldier when you should have been learning to be king. It was me by your mother's side as she lay in her death bed. It was all because I love you!"

"I don't want your love!"

Her mouth dropped open. He drove another knife in her.

"You do not respect the decisions I made on behalf of our kingdom," Enishi continued. "You rush too quickly to be queen when the dirt on her grave has not even settled."

"It's already been two months!"

"It was yesterday to me!" Enishi breathed like a wild dog, blood pounding in his ears. Thoughts whirled around him before they quieted into a singular theory. Before he could stop himself, he asked in a low, threatening voice, "Did you kill her?"

It was the final knife to shatter her heart. "What?"

Enishi immediately felt sorry. "Tomoe, I-"

"How dare you?" her voice shook above a whisper. Then she screamed, "HOW DARE YOU?" Her bare arms stretched out towards Enishi and he suddenly was suspended in air. He could not move. He could not speak. He could only watch the beautiful fairy with her raged face. "I have given all of what I am to you and your family, only to be repaid by your unkindness! For that, you shall be rewarded an eternity of loneliness." With a great shout, she twisted her hands and transformed the shape of the new king. He landed to the floor with a resounding thud.

Enishi shook the dizziness from his head. He brought his hands to his face, but they were now massive paws with clawed fingers. "What-" His voice sounded like a growl. "What have you done to me?"

"You have become the beast that you are to me. There is no one to help you. The servants are all but pieces of this castle now. Good luck finding your queen, King Yukishiro." The fairy knew she used most of her magic to create this curse. Her supple skin turned thin and wrinkled. Her face showed the hundreds of years she lived . . . but she did not care. In fact, she was pleased. She sauntered back to her robe and slipped it on when she heard the unsheathing of a blade. She gasped and spun around. Enishi had stabbed himself in the stomach and sliced through his torso. Red soaked into the white and grey fur that now covered his body. "No!" Tomoe cried. He collapsed and she ran over to his side. "You fool! You cannot die that way. You can only feel suffering and pain."

Enishi could barely breathe. "Just . . . kill me."

Tears filled Tomoe's eyes. "Am I so horrible that you would rather die than marry me?"

"I want . . . love." He could feel the sharp blade against his organ with each word. "You don't . . . love me." He pulled the wakizashi out of himself with a mighty shout of pain. Blood spilled out like wine from a glass.

Truth, again, was not on Tomoe's side. Was he right? If she really did love him, how could she have committed the worst thing she could possibly think of? She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. Instead, she held out her trembling hand, and once again sparkles of light left her fingers. Enishi scrambled to get out of the way, but he was weak and it was inevitable. "I cannot undo what has been done. You shall remain a beast for eternity. But the spell can be broken. You can revert to your human form once you love someone and she loves you in this form and is willing to be your queen. She must not know about the curse otherwise all is for naught. Do you understand, Enishi?"

Dark eyes pierced her with no reply.

Tomoe slowly stood, understanding that any love she had from his was lost. Her decrepit bones made it difficult to walk, but she managed to reach the vanity on the other side of the room. She touched a hand mirror and ring, watched them glow, then continued her exit. As she limped through the halls, she filled each room with beauty and riches. Staggering outside, she noticed the exquisite roses in the queen's garden, and brought the rest of the palace grounds to life to match their loveliness. Finally, she reached the grave of the king and queen and knelt before them. A dagger produced from her fingertips, and she sliced her throat open. Her body fell forward. She could feel the warmth of her blood as it pooled around her head. Then she whispered, "I'm so very sorry."