"Aozora ni sen wo hiku
hikoukigumo no shiro sa wa
zutto dokomade mo
zutto tsuzuiteku
asu wo shittetamitai"
-Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
"The man who's a dreamer and never takes leave
Who thinks of a world that is just make-believe
Will never know passion, will never know pain.
Who sits by the window will one day see rain"
-The Greatest Adventure
Chapter 1
"There has only been one other day like today."
A lonely figure sat in the dazzling light that began to creep across the world. Perched upon her seat like an ancient willow over her whispering garden, her wrinkled eyes quivered into a squint as a wave of nostalgic joy flooded her heart. Memories of a golden and romantic youth now occupied her withered, but once vivacious mind. She was very old, but her face still possessed a vestige of stunning beauty. Delicate flowers shaped like stars, bursts of bright pink foliage wrapped in wild tangles of greenery swept amongst the blades of untamed grass at her feet. A towering tree shaded her gently from the first rays of the blushing dawn. As the old woman sat solitary and strong, peering over her vast and intricate property, a solitary tear rolled down her worn cheek as a once familiar emotion spread throughout her chest. She drew a deep rattling breath and gazed down into the green pool at her feet. The rippling and pulsing waters danced in the warm spring breeze, hosting a number of flower petals and fragments of the living earth upon its glittering surface. The rays of pink and yellow light flashed off the mirror like pond like fragments of silver. Growing drowsy with heavy emotion and the warm light of the sunrise, the old woman closed her weary eyes. She could still remember, all those years ago…
"I can still… see…that dawn…"
She had been sitting in the garden all night. A girl, only a few months shy of twenty years old, crouched near the edge of earthy-green bamboo grove with a exhausted but exhilarated feeling about her. Her ruby lips curled into a grin at the satisfaction of being totally hidden from sight. The pale blue sky offer an incandescent glow which powdered the calm world below with peaceful light. The slow rippling sound of the pond mixed pleasantly with the cheerful chirruping of the morning song birds. The whole garden seemed sleepy and still. The stone beneath the beautiful young woman's feet was laced and pattern with green moss. The whole garden was a very large place and encircled the shrine in which the maiden lived and performed her daily tasks.
A shining look of triumph and drowsiness was evident on the girl's face. She had finally discovered the perfect hiding spot behind the wall of bamboo. Last night she had crept into the garden while all the other girls were busy finishing up work for the night and wandered into the garden. She had plodded around the garden, feeling miserable. As she was about to give up hope for anything exciting to show itself, a fountain of joy sprang up in her heart like an old friend. Suddenly that romantic richness of adventure awoke from it's winter as the lovely young lady crawled on the earth and throughout the stalks and tangles of the bamboo. For a few moments she fought with the plants but finally emerged into a sort of miniature clearing, unseen by garden snoopers, but leaving the star-sprinkled sky unguarded to the misty eyes of the shrine maiden.
She hid away in her secret space for sometime in total silence, listening to the sounds of the evening and waiting for the rest of the Miko to begin their search. Eventually, she noticed the shadows of young, flustered girls padding quickly across the shrine against the shoji. Their silhouettes flickered and swayed as she watched their forms pointing and searching. She laughed delicately, like the sound of a tinkling bell. All at once with a noise of great crunching on gravel, heavy footsteps pounded just inches away from the shrine maiden's hideout. She got low to the ground and held her breath as a thick ankle slammed into view. Her eyes followed the ankle up to it's owner.
It was the priestess.
One hundred and ninety seven pounds of woman, complete with chiseled biceps, stood before the fright-stricken young lady. The priestess's eye flashed with rage as she scanned the garden like a wolf searching for a lone lamb. The bulky priestess pull her lips apart with a loud smacking sound and sucked a great deal of air into her lungs.
"OKUNI!!" She had bellowed, her lip curling up as she roared. "COME OUT!!!"
Okuni had frozen behind the bamboo. Had she been spotted? For a few moments that hung like a vibrating string on a koto, the powerful priestess stalked off, calling Okuni's name over and over.
From there on out it was easy. The night melted away to dawn and the moment Okuni had been waiting for.
And now she sat in the tiny grove, hidden away from all by the rustling leaves and wild rushes.
Then, before her eyes came a cascade of orange light. First it bathed the grounds and tips of leaves with welcome warmth, then poured over the rest of the quiet world. The glowing red disc rose steadily above the mountain tops and towards it's throne that was the morning sky. Okuni smiled, her sleek black hair framing her face and reflecting the orangey hue the sun greeted her with. For one moment everything was golden and Okuni was over come with a beautiful sort sadness and wished with a swelling passion that the world could always be this lonesome and lovely.
Okuni gazed at the wash of pastel colors that now streaked the sky behind the brilliant orange-red orb and was sure that there never was and would be again a dawn this beautiful.
What seemed like moments later, Okuni was ascending the creaky wooden staircase that lead to the maid's sleeping chambers. She was exhausted and felt weak, but couldn't recall the last time she had felt this content. As she put her dainty white hand on the sliding screen, a thick grasp enclosed her shoulder and spun her around in a whirl. With a shot of sudden adrenaline Okuni found herself staring into the livid face of the priestess.
"Out for a stroll, are we?" She asked with dangerously quiet anger as she tugged Okuni down the stairs precariously, her hand clamped painfully around Okuni's wrist as she struggled to keep up. Down the first and second flight of stairs they tumbled to the second floor where the priestess's rooms were. She flung one open with furious precision and tossed Okuni down to one end of the low, lacquered table that was in the center of the room. The China bowl filled with mandarin oranges trembled slightly as the young miko crashed-landed on the worn, olive green zabuton. Okuni quickly composed herself as the older woman deposited herself ungracefully across the table from Okuni. At first she stood staring and slightly shaking her head, her depthless eyes darting around Okuni's face. Okuni chest rippled with annoyance at this gesture and she blinked slowly back, trying hard not show any emotion.
"Okuni, Okuni, O-kuni… I just don't know what…" She inflicted this word with such volume Okuni jumped slightly. "…I just don't know what I'm going to do with you…"
Okuni stared blankly at her, her jaw dropping ever so slightly. The priestess began calmly again.
"It seems every other day now you're daydreaming, or chatting away or…. Sneaking off to GOD KNOWS WHERE!" Silence rang. She stared hard at Okuni and squinted her already narrow eyes. "With every year that goes by I feel like I'm losing more and more of you… You never want to work, you can never focus…. Half the time your stalking around looking for some sort of… foolishness that simply doesn't exist!"
Okuni bit her tongue and kept her face stony. Her heart was now simmering with anger. "Now… I want you to tell me what we can do together… to help you get your head out of those faraway clouds…"
"But, missus I-"
"No buts, young lady!" She rubbed her eyebrows. "If you weren't such a phenomenal performer…and if your family wasn't so heartily involved in the shrine facilities all over Izumo… you're punishment would be astronomical…. But seeing as all these things are true… for now…." She stared with an icy gaze that evaporated with a shocking suddenness. "Go get some sleep and be ready to work very hard when you wake up…"
Okuni sighed relief and gave a quick bow to the priestess as she began to retreat towards the stairs. Moments later she was sliding into her cool, dry futon as the spring heat just began to pour through the window. Okuni closed her eyes and recollected her perfect dawn with a faint smile on her ruby lips. She was asleep in minutes.
Okuni awoke what seemed like seconds later by a vigorous shaking which overtook her body. Her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright in bed, gasping. She saw before her eyes a smallish sort of girl with a forgettable face bowing to her. Her eyes flashed towards the window. Evening light was streaming in through the shades, creating a red and black lattice pattern on the ground. She turned sleepily back to the girl, who seemed to be speaking to her.
"…She said 'right away', miss Okuni!"
"Who did?" She inquired, stifling a yawn.
"The missus, miss Okuni!" She said brightly.
"Whaatt… why?" Okuni was still drowsy as she brought herself to her feet.
"I'm not sure, but hurry, miss Okuni!"
"I'm going, don't hurt yourself, sweetheart..." Okuni spoke a little snobbishly. The truth was she was always none too friendly for the first few minutes of renewed consciousness. She flattened her sleep-fouled hair to it's usual sleek shape. She splashed her face with water from the basin and drew herself to her feet. After sweeping down the three flights of stairs to the ground floor, Okuni padded around the inside of the shrine looking for signs of the priestess. She could her chanting from the room near her as she stepped through the wooden halls, stained with orange light. Out in the courtyard another Miko was blessing a sword with her sacred paper while only a few feet away the line up to the collection box and bell was completely non-existent. As she stared off at the strips of delicate clouds that painted the sky she nearly crashed into the priestess again.
"Ah, Okuni! I've been looking for you…come with me onto the veranda…" She cupped Okuni into her strong arm. Okuni could feel the powerful bicep on her back as the priestess shuffled her through a wide tatami room and onto the veranda which bordered the private meditation garden. Okuni was ushered onto the veranda where the priestess pulls her down to the edge of the handsome wood porch. Okuni sat, swinging her legs off the high wood. The priestess smiled sweetly into the garden. Okuni frowned at her, wondering why she was displaying this uncommon gesture.
"Why are you smiling in such an unconvincing manner, missus?" Okuni said with mild revulsion.
"Okuni-Chan, don't be so rude! We have a respected visitor!" The priestess said hastily, gesturing to the center of the garden. Okuni's heart leapt for a moment and she turned her head to the center of the garden where her eyes were captured with the image of a well-dressed stranger. She gave him a smile like the painted countenance on a Noh mask, accompanied with her bell-like laughter.
"Forgive my rudeness, my lord." She bowed low, raising up with the same unreadable facial expression.
The man before her was richly dressed in silver and royal blue. The crest on his chest bore the three leaf design. She eyed it and look up to his kindly face.
"I see you serve Lord Tokugawa, my lord." She said respectfully. He gave a deep chuckle.
"My dear, I am Tokugawa!" He gave her a warm smile. Okuni was dumbfounded and gave another hasty bow her arms shaking a bit. She had not expected to see one of the most important people in all of Japan sitting with a calm dignity in the everyday stillness of the shrine.
"Oh, sir… it is a great honor, indeed… a great honor. If I may serve you in any way possible, please do not hesi-"
"Well, that might just be the reason I'm here. I'm searching for a young, pure shrine maiden of extraordinary talent to serve under me in Miyako."
"I-in the capital? But, sir… how did you come upon our lowly shrine in this uninspiring prefecture of Izumo?" Okuni continued humbly.
"I've heard tell of a young girl who's very skilled in singing and dancing… and beautiful to boot…" He spoke with a wry smile, his eyes crinkling amiably. Okuni blushed very subtly, but the priestess was the next to speak.
"Oh, you couldn't mean our useless Okuni, now. She is a very clumsy girl with no talent whatsoever, my lord." She said, blatantly not meaning a word of what she was saying. It was almost impossible for her to keep the greedy grin off her face.
"Nonsense, she is ravishingly lovely. Now, if you decide to lend her to my cause then you can expect great news to float back in no time at all." Okuni saw that by "great news" she was thinking "money". Her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly at the older woman.
"Well, I'm sure that little Okuni-Chan would never turn down so generous an offer as this, but why would you want a shrine maid in your servitude, my lord?" Tokugawa gave his trademark chuckle and rose, picking his helmet up from the table.
"In our city of Miyako many people are depressed at the war. I want someone to help boost their spirits and also… I've heard tell of many dark rumors of ghosts and possessions around the city. I need a Miko of powerful fiber to help rid our fair streets of these nasty stories… and I'm more than sure that this young lady is what our people need… I expect to see you at the castle in Miyako very soon now… Just find that Yamashiro prefecture and you'll find you're way easy enough! Good day, madam… Okuni-Chan." He gave a tip of the head to each and stepped lightly from the room, his deep blue cape fluttering with a crisp snap behind him.
Okuni stared down the hallway as he went. When he was out of sight and earshot, she turned back to the priestess. A wide, toad-like smile had appeared on her face.
"How nice it will be! Right, Okuni-Chan?" She spoke sweetly. Okuni sighed. "I know just how to make you into a stunning young woman…"
"And how-"
"You'll go to Yamashiro and serve under him in Kyoto… and once you've got enough money for us to build a brand new shrine here in Izumo, you may return home." Her yellowed teeth were still quite visible as Okuni tried not to sneer back.