Once Upon a Time…

Summary:

When you reach a certain age, a character from this book will come to life and you'll have to help him understand the theme of his story. Your job now, Naminé, is to help Prince Roxas understand his theme — love.

(N) a (m) I (x) a (s)

—1—

She still remembered that one day when she had first laid eyes on that mysterious book. It was very thick and looked grand — the kind of look that gave you the feeling that it's special, that it's important — and yes, she wanted to know so badly what was inside. As curious as a four-year-old could get, she asked her mother about the book (because the book was in one of the 'restricted shelves' in the living room).

"Mama?" she asked, and the woman turned away from the newspaper to look at her. "I've been wondering a lot about that book," she said, pointing. There was a pause, where her mother looked from her face, to her pointing finger, and lastly to the book. She blinked a few times before putting down her tea cup.

"Well," she said in a weird voice, "that belongs to your father. I believe he'd left it behind. Maybe you should ask him about it sometimes."

"Oh…" At the sound of the word 'father', her heart began to lift: she loved visiting Papa and his wonderful personal art gallery in the basement. Mama and Papa had a divorce, and she honestly didn't know why they should do that — Mama was a kind person and Papa was simply amazing. "Then can I bring the book to Papa's this weekend?"

"Hmm, sure," her mother replied, not looking at her. She took the book and ran upstairs into her room to read it. She eyed it for several minutes — feeling really stunned — because she was very sure that the book was magical. She finally sat down on the floor, placed the book carefully in front of her, and opened it.

The book appeared to be a very old book, and yet it had been very well taken care of: none of the pages were torn, and there weren't any peanut butter stains or anything. What made Naminé adore the book more was the fact that the words in the book looked as if someone had written them — it didn't look like it was typed out.

On the very first page was a dedication. It read:

To my darlings

Whoever this book was dedicated to, Naminé was sure that they (since the word 'darlings' was used) were very special to the author. She turned to the next page: the index.

CONTENTS

The Door to the Other World ...…2

The Tale of the Twelve Sacra Cousins ...…24

Don't Follow the Music! ...…48

The White Carriage ...61

And on and on the titles went. Each story title interested Naminé, and she couldn't wait to read them all (one story was entitled 'War of the Keys') — she eagerly turned to the next page — The Door to the Other World — and then—!

Her bedroom door burst opened. Her mother stood there, looking out of breath.

"Oh, hello darling," she said quickly as she got in. She eyed the opened book. "Have you started reading?"

"No—"

"Good!" Naminé's mother said almost at once, bending down and snatching the book from the floor. The woman closed the book and hugged it tightly. Naminé frowned at her mother's behaviour. "I don't want you to read this."

Naminé felt confused, and then a little furious. "But wh—?"

"Because!" her mother said, raising her voice. Naminé's confusion doubled. Her mother then softened her expression, and knelt down. "Because," she repeated, gently this time, "I think your father will be mad at me for letting you read it alone."

"But why?" Naminé asked. Her mother smiled, and turned the book around so that she could show Naminé the back cover. She pointed at the bottom right corner: there was a name there. Matsuda.

"Matsuda?" Naminé read. "That's father's name!"

"Yes, indeed," said her mother, smiling still. "This book has been in your father's family for ages. So it's his now — that's why I think he'd be upset if I let you have it without his permission."

"Oh," said Naminé, "that makes sense. Why didn't you just say so earlier?"

Her mother straightened up and walked towards the door. "I'm making some lemonade after this. Join me?"

Naminé couldn't help but wonder why her mother had avoided her last question, but she didn't repeat the question. She just replied that she would love to help her in the kitchen.

—X—

Weekend came, and Naminé was so excited to see her father. She couldn't wait to ask him if she could read the book — her mother had hid it away from her and she had looked, but simply couldn't find it. Nonetheless, today…today, she was going to read it.

"Mama!" she called excitedly as she looked out of her bedroom window. "Mama, Papa's here! Mama, hurry, open the door!"

Naminé leaped off her bed to brush her hair, and then she grabbed her little bag (which contained her sketch book and her drawing tools) before going downstairs. Her mother had already opened the door, and the adults were having a very formal and polite conversation. Naminé stood beside her mother.

"Morning, Papa!"

"Hey!" her father greeted as he knelt down. "Good morning to you too — how are you lately?"

"Great, as usual," she said. "Papa, I found your story book!" she then added, unable to contain her excitement any longer. Her father's eyes sort of widened for a while, and then he looked up to meet her mother's eyes.

"My story book?" he repeated. Naminé nodded.

"And I said she can read it with you," her mother said, handing her father the magical-looking book with a funny expression. It looked as if she was mad with Naminé's father for possessing the book. "So, I hope you two will have a great time together. Give me a call when you're ready to come home, okay, sweetie?"

"Okay," Naminé said. Her mother kissed her on the cheek, and then she was off with her father.

—X—

"Mama doesn't seem to like the idea of me reading this book," Naminé said. The two of them were in the car, and her father stole a sideways glance for a moment.

"Oh?" he simply said.

Naminé examined the name 'Matsuda' at the back cover. "Maybe because it's your family's book, you know. I'm not a Matsuda, so maybe that's why. Can I flip through the book?"

"Why, sure," her father said, surprised at the sudden change of topic. And so, Naminé flipped through the pages. There were a total of twenty stories in the index, and again, she couldn't wait to read them. She flipped through the pages, taking in the illustrations as she went on. Her thin smile soon disappeared and she later frowned.

She flipped through the last pages again and again. Her father seemed to have noticed her behaviour.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he took a left junction.

"The pages," Naminé replied shortly as she examined the last pages again and again. "They're empty!"

This was indeed true: there were about twenty to thirty blank pages at the back, but the weirdest thing was that the page numbers were there...but the stories weren't there.

"Papa, what's wrong with the book?" she asked, looking at her father. The man looked at her with this weird expression — he seemed reluctant to answer her question. "Papa?"

"I don't know," he said at last as the car stopped in front of a rather huge house. "It's been like that for a long time — I've asked your grandfather too, you know, but he said he didn't know as well. Come now, let's get inside."

Naminé trailed behind her father, still frowning. There was something funny about this book: first, her mother didn't let her read it on her own, and now her father was avoiding her question…

However, Naminé's curiosity faded away as her father showed her his newest paintings in his art gallery, and she forgot all about it once she started reading the book.

But her father would soon explain everything to her, and when that day comes, she would most probably wish that she had not noticed the book in the first place.