The year 1800 was life changing for Kitsuneme. Why, you ask? Because he fell in love for the first time. He hadn't felt anything like this in his twenty six years of life. He knew nothing about her but couldn't get her out of his mind.

It all happened while he was traveling to Bath. He was using a shortcut to get into the city and that's when he saw her. She was running in the meadow playing with a few children. The white dress she was wearing was pretty plain and her blue hair was tied up in a messy ponytail but for some reason that made her look even more charming. Kitsuneme spend a lot of time staring at her, more than it was appropriate. He wanted to go and talk to her and he would have done it if the whole thing wasn't so weird. What could he actually say? Hello, miss. I'm Kitsuneme and have been staring at you for about half an hour. Please, marry me. That wasn't how things were done. And besides he had to meet his friend Kokoroyomi and was really late. He glanced at the girl one last time and rode into the city.

The good thing about Bath was that you could easily meet a lot of people. After he'd told Koko about the girl in the meadow his friend said he had no idea who she was. However, he promised to take him to the Upper Rooms* where he was hoping they could run into her.

And that they did. Kitsuneme literally ran into her.

He hurried to apologize and when he saw who she was he could swear he was blushing no matter how stupid the thought was. She was wearing a red gown and her hair was tied up in a neat knot with some strands falling around her face. She was gorgeous.

She giggled and curtsied. ''I'm Nonoko Ogasawara.''

''I'm Kitsuneme. It's a pleasure to meet you.''

''The pleasure is entirely mine.''

Kitsuneme saw couples getting ready for a dance a held out his hand to Nonoko. "May I have the next dance?''

''Of course.''

It was clear for everyone that Kitsuneme and Nonoko fancied each other. They were together all the time and danced only with each other. Nonoko came from quite a wealthy family while Kitsuneme had almost no fortune at all. That's why there were people whispering behind their backs, saying that he was with her only for the money. They couldn't be more wrong. He had fallen in love with her before he even knew her name and ever since then his feelings had continued to grow. He knew she felt the same way and was hoping she would accept his proposal.

One sunny day, when and Nonoko were on a walk in the meadow where he had met her for the first time, he asked her.

''I know we haven't known each other for that long but I love you. Will you marry me?''

Nonoko was tearing up, she couldn't say anything so she just nodded her head. Kitsuneme held her hands and smiled sweetly at her. This was the beginning of their life together.

First he asked for his parents' agreement. They were nice people and wanted only the best for him so when they learned he really loved this girl they had no complaints. As for Nonoko's parents, at first they were a bit reluctant which was understandable because she was their only child. Eventually they grew to really like Kitsuneme and gave him permission to marry their daughter.

They married next fall and went to live in Kitsuneme apartment in London until they could find a better place. He did tell his wife when he had fallen in love with her and they both laughed a lot at how silly that was. It became an amazing How I met Your Mother story to tell their children.

*The Upper Rooms had opened in 1771. They were 'upper' in the sense of being situated in the higher part of the town. Evening balls were held there four times a week in the season.

Coping that right out of the notes of my Northanger Abbey book because I thought some of you may not know what is it.

Anyway that story was written a few months ago for the Gakuen Alice Writting Challenge on tumblr but for some reason I never uploaded it. It's the first story of the so called Austen verse. Obviously it's named after Jane Austen because the stories are inspired by her writing. All of the stories take place in the same period and are connected in some way. However, most of them can be read separately.