This is the go-along story to Sakura Blossoms. Read both please as the third story won't make any sense if you don't.
Disclaimer – I don't own yugioh.
Chapter 1 – Serenity' POV
Soft laughter filtered through the door. Serenity let a smile grace her face as she listened to her younger siblings play in the garden. She herself was sitting in front of a small pond. Bamboo shoots filled the pool and koi wandered around peacefully. Serenity leaned forward letting her hair trail across the water. Tomorrow she would be presented at Akihito's court as a lady-in-waiting. She was a little nervous but over all quite excited for the trip. Serenity pulled away from the pond, a leaf in her hand, and stood up. She grabbed her hair combs and remade up her long hair. When loose it fell in silken skeins down to her thighs, which bothered her greatly. She sighed and wiped her face gently. Though the autumn sun hung low in the sky it was still quite hot outside. She stepped on to the warm earth, baking in the fiery weather, and walked across the garden to her house.
As she entered the modest but well designed building her mother quickly sprang on her, grabbing her arm and dragging her not too gracefully into her own room. There stood another woman, pins in her mouth and layers of clothing across her arm. She smiled through the pins and gestured to a stool set about two feet off the ground. Serenity sighed and pursed her lips into a tiny pout. She looked at her mother but she was of no help. The young girl shook her head, loosing some of her hair out of the combs that held them. Serenity stepped onto the stool and let her garment fall. The kimono dresser smiled and slid one layer of silky fabric onto her. Maneuvering it a little so it hugged Serenity's curves in the right places, she pinned it together. Picking up scissors and a needle pulled through with the same deep purple silk as the sheath Serenity was wearing, the woman began to work.
As she waited for the woman to finish, Serenity hummed quietly to herself a song her mother used to sing to her. The woman clicked her tongue at Serenity and the younger girl smiled sheepishly, a blush running across her cheeks as she turned her deep blue eyes downward. She remembered going to parties with her parents and having people stare at her oddly because of her eyes. When she turned fourteen her mother had told her the truth of her heritage. She wasn't born to Aoi Shinikami like she had assumed; instead, her mother had been a traveling woman from the far west. At first this made Serenity angry but after sitting near her pond for a few hours she eventually came to accept her fate. Her eyes made her stand out in a crowd even when she didn't want to. It wasn't anything she could change no matter how much she wanted.
A sharp prod brought her back to reality. Looking up she realized her mother and the other lady had been staring at her. She blushed again and stepped down, letting the first layer fall down her legs to pool at her feet. She quickly and quietly changed back into her clothing before skipping out of the room. Her last under-layer had been ripped when she decided to spontaneously take a walk through the surrounding forests while wearing it. Serenity couldn't understand why she always felt more peaceful around nature as opposed to around people. She knew that things in nature never discriminated against each other. Nature never went to war with each other. Well, except maybe plants breaking up rocks with their roots but that was the way of nature. Humans, on the other hand, killed just for the sake of doing it.
Following the twisting hallways up to her room she sat on the floor facing the window. She breathed in deeply. The verdant scent of Japan flowed around her and her eyes closed so she could focus better on it. "Tomorrow is the day," she said to herself, and got up after a few moments of deep breathing. She undressed and slipped under the bedding, drawing the covers up to her chin.
Chapter 2 – Serenity's POV
The wagon rocked as it rolled across the bumpy ground. Each time it pitched to the right made Serenity cringe. They were currently going down a twisting dirt path that hugged the huge hill on the left side and fell to the deep waters below on the other. Serenity rode up front with her father as her luggage all but filled the back. She didn't want to leave anything behind while she was away and so, with much arguing with her mother, they had decided to pack almost everything she owned. Mostly this consisted of clothing and various cosmetics to help her at court. Her parents were hoping she would find a rich young cousin of the Emperor and catch his heart. Thinking this, they had bestowed upon her gifts of glorious smelling perfumes and new face paints. She also had gotten a beautiful ivory set of combs to fix up her long hair. These were currently packed in one of the small ornate boxes shoved in the back of the wagon. Serenity yawned and curled up on the seat, staring off into the distance. Her eyes traveled across the river, far in the valley below, and she lost herself into daydreams.
Her head perked up as she watched three people on horseback. They had entered the gate in front of her wagon after breezing pass it in a cloud of dust. One man climbed down from his horse and patted it on the side before hurrying off inside the building. Serenity's father was talking softly to a guard positioned by the gate. Serenity herself was gazing steadily at the other man still on horse-back. He smiled her way before turning back to his female companion, who was just now climbing down from her steed. Serenity watched as the pair hurried away after the first man. The man who had smiled her way turned back at the door inside and gave her a quick wave.
In a few hours Serenity was settled on the outskirts of the Empress's ladies in waiting. She made small talk with a girl about two years younger then her who also had kept to the outer ring. Serenity knew the girl hailed from farther North and her name was Kaneko, but other than that she couldn't remember much. The young Shinikami girl's thoughts were turned toward the mysterious boy who had waved. She had only seen him one other time between arriving at the castle and meeting with the Empress. He had been walking in the opposite direction but had given her another charming grin as they passed each other. The boy had vibrant green eyes and black hair that wasn't set up into a bun because it was cut so that it didn't brush passed his ears. Instead, his hair stuck up in different directions. He had bowed quickly to her before wandering on his way. Ever since that time Serenity could not keep the stranger out of her mind and it was distracting her to the point of madness.
Serenity snapped back to attention as Kaneko touched her arm. She looked around and noticed they were one of the few ladies left in the room. "The Empress left a few moments ago. We can go to rest now if we want, Serenity," the younger girl said in high-pitched squeaking voice. Serenity smiled, bemused, and got off the pillow, wandering towards her room. She slipped into her bedding and blew out her candle before snuggling deep into the blankets. Serenity fell to sleep with the sounds of night birds and Kaneko breathing on the futon across the room echoing in her ears.