Okay, this story originated as a fragmented dream I had recently, and even though only the basic idea remained in my head, it was enough that I couldn't fall back asleep anymore and had to start rummaging ideas for this, feeling compelled to put it all down in writing. My general plan is still kind of vague, but I have divided the story into ten sections of a Requiem Mass. Chapters are likely to remain short-ish, but be warned that over the course of this write up I am planning to drive poor Kaori-chan to the pits of hell and back again, which is why I brought Chihiro along to balance it out. Now all I need to be concerned with is to keep my inspiration up. Please enjoy if you so wish.

Original Characters © Kiyohiko Azuma, 1999-2002, 2009
Original Story © Berlioz II, 2008, Fully revised 2009

I. Requiem Aeternam

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.

Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.

Chihiro Inoue's life was pretty good. Well, it was pretty good for anybody in her current position anyway. After graduating from high school, Chihiro had settled for the simple life of a florist, her life being one of unremarkable ambition, but rather one of comfortable happiness. People liked her, she liked people, she was considered a reliable, valuable addition to the community. In short, she was generally happy with her life. She was making plans to one day start a family of her own, picturing perfectly what that life would include. She'd have a nice, pleasant husband, she would have three or four children to whom she could then teach about flowers and nature, have family get togethers, have fun with her friends, and after a life of goodwill and bright sunshine, she would retire and view the fruits of her labour with pride. Indeed, an unambitious life was an easy life.

That is until her house burned down.

It is funny to note how one little spark could just end it all overnight. In the ensuing flames, she lost everything but the pyjamas she was wearing and her own life. She continued to be thankful for that little, but it still hurt her immensely. After all, that little flowershop had been everything to her. It was her life. And now she didn't have any of that left. After the incident she cried for a long time, she pondered what she had done to deserve this, and she contemplated on stuffing herself with pancakes until she popped, but after getting past the worst of it, she decided that wallowing in self pity and pancake heaven was not the answer. For Chihiro could be assertive when she needed to be. Thus her next point of action was to start calling and pleading for her friends to help out, knowing that moving all the way to Sapporo where the rest of her family now resided was not an option she was prepared to take.

Even though she had many friends and was on friendly terms with all of them, in the end she knew there was only one person on whom she could count on in a situation such as this: Kaori Aida (or as she was more fondly referred to as Kaorin). Chihiro had known Kaori arguably the longest than any of her other acquaintances and they had always been close. She was not always easy to get along with, but Chihiro had learned to accept her friend's eccentricities and they usually got along very well. And that brings me back as to why Chihiro's life, despite all the hardships, was still pretty good when compared with some other people in a similar situation. Instead of ending up as some kind of a burden to her friend, Kaori had, as expected, welcomed her with open arms to her rather large mansion she currently resided in, an outside mark that she was financially well-off and considering she had nobody else but a faithful assistant living there with her, Kaori welcomed the distraction.

Kaori Aida had in the ensuing fifteen years since graduating from high school been taken heart and soul with her childhood hobby of music, a line of profession nobody had really expected her to take. Truth be told, she had actually always enjoyed writing little ditties here and there since a fairly young age and had continued with her covert studies ever since, though never really daring to reveal this to anybody out of fear of them ridiculing her and laughing at her meager accomplishments. But she had always felt it was really nothing more than a hobby, something not to be taken that seriously... that is until she truly started to look deeper into the music by the likes of John Adams, Dmitri Shostakovich, Gustav Mahler, and György Ligeti on a completely new emotional, spiritual and intellectual level, the new familiarity making something snap in her head which illuminated a path in front of her that gleamed with such brightness that even the stars she had adored in her high school's astronomy club dimmed in comparison. From then on she studied and studied and studied... every waking moment she could think of nothing but music that took on a form of one obsessive discovery after another. Enrolling into the Momongaoka Music University, she practically ate everything she was taught. Harmony, counterpoint, dissonance, atonality, tonality... they all were like different flavours of meats served on a giant smorgasbord of expression and power beyond her imagination.

At age 22 she graduated with the first degree of composition by writing her First Symphony, an ambitious undertaking that had nearly caused her to have a nervous breakdown. But she pulled through, and over the ensuing years continued pushing on her ambition to ever higher and higher levels, sincerely believing in the truth of her artistry. But as her ambition grew and her conviction fortified, it also made her already slightly wavering mental state tip a little over the cup towards madness. She still regained her normal sensibilities so it never bothered her day-to-day activities, but she was also getting more and more prone to having strong nervous attacks, easy frustrations, sudden surges of rage and passionate outbursts over one rant or another. It was as if the more she delved into herself, the more dark demons were being broken out of their shackles to invade her life, until she could no longer properly function in the outside world through her own admission, and thus ended up isolating herself into a life of solitarity away from people in general - like an eccentric millionaire the children would love to tell sinister ghost and murder stories about.

Chihiro had seen all of this happening in her friend's life; seeing her decline one step at a time toward something she wasn't wholly prepared to accept, but regardless Chihiro never abandoned her. No, she would always look with concern over Kaori, and even offered companionship if the occasion arose, always there to see over that she would never loose her way completely in the maze of her own thoughts. And Kaori always did appreciate this, often holding herself in debt to her friend's help, so when Chihiro requested her help, there was not even a second's hesitation in Kaori's agreement to take her in for as long as she needed to get back to her feet.

It had now been eight months since she had moved into the house and life had moved on at a fairly average stride. Kaori also seemed to be doing well, with her mind staying mostly in balance, save for only a few minor outbursts of more frightening air and one serious one. But otherwise Kaori seemed to enjoy having her friend living so close instead of always being surrounded by those accursed, stifling flowers her shop used to be covered with. Even her work on her Third Symphony seemed to go like a breeze, particularly when compared to her Second Symphony, or better yet her F minor Piano Concerto that made her almost rip the keys out of her grand piano. But now she seemed happy and content, full of enjoyment of life and Chihiro couldn't but be happier on her behalf.

That is until that faithful September day that nearly toppled Kaori over to the point of no return. That was the day she was commissioned a grand, commemorative piece for the unveiling of the "Statue of Woe", erected as a memoriam for all the tragedies the country had faced over its history. An ambitious statue for sure, with equally ambitious ideologies behind it, but one that was rammed through every deciding faction to get done by the beginning of the next year. For this occasion, Kaori Aida was chosen as the most fitting candidate for writing a grand musical piece to coincide with the occasion, the deciders liking her mix of Mahlerian grandioseness and passion in her music. It had taken her only a moment to consider the commission before agreeing to do it. With that, she solemnly walked to her study where Chihiro was happily reading a book on ornithology or something of the like. Instantly noticing that something was up from Kaori's serious look, Chihiro couldn't help but feel slightly nervous about what was wrong.

"I shall write a Grand Mass for the Dead." That was all Kaori said before walking away.

It was an announcement. A warning. This was important. This meant something. This was enough for even Kaori to give advance notice to her friend. She never did that for any lesser pieces, but this was large enough to make even the composer herself nervous. And Chihiro could feel her forehead to get sweaty.

"Oh boy, wonder what this will all result in," she thought with slight dread.

Well, here we go. Where we'll end up at I don't have a clue:) Feedback is always appreciated, of course.