Once upon a distant time there lived an empress whose beauty and compassion was said to have been unequalled. She enjoyed fan-dancing and ikebana, both which she practiced with the utmost grace and achieved truly spectacular results. The empress ruled a land of matriarchal beliefs and her role as the empress had been passed down to her from her mother, who had received it from her own mother who in turn was bequeathed it by her mother and so on, so on. This empress was married to a well-bred man of high standing whom she had met at her coming of age ceremony and they had fallen in love and arranged to be married after a year of courtship. Years had passed and they were both happy, though they did not have children.

One day, the empress' elderly advisors requested an audience with her. She was getting no younger, they said, and an heir was needed to continue the royal line. If something were to happen to her, what would become of their nation?

The empress later sat in silence, alone in her chambers as she arranged her beloved flowers into beautiful assortments of lilies, greenery and little orchids. The doors to the outside garden were fully slid open, revealing the midnight black sky and allowing the night breeze to blow gently in. As her mind wandered in contemplation of her advisors' counsel, her delicate fingers slipped and the clippers meant to snip the stalk of a lily had cut her finger instead. The empress watched, almost in fascination, as her ruby red blood dripped onto the pure white petals of the lily.

The empress sighed, "Ah, if only I had a child whose hair was as black as midnight sky, lips as red as blood and skin as white as lilies. What a beautiful child that would be!"

The gods must have been listening to her that peaceful night, for it was not long before the empress discovered that she was with child. And when the day of the birth came, the people of the land cheered with joy when it was made known that the empress had given birth to not just one child but a pair of twins; one boy and one girl. The empress smiled and cried for joy when she beheld both her children for the first time; both twins had been blessed with hair was as black as midnight sky, lips as red as blood and skin as white as lilies.

However, the festive mood was darkened by the passing of the empress a mere week after their birth. Her husband had been stricken with grief and taken ill. He also departed a few days after the death of the empress, leaving the twins without a mother nor father. The elders quickly selected Yukimura Koudou of the royal branch family to act as the children's caretaker while they temporarily took charge of managing the affairs of the land, waiting for the little princess to grow up and take over her rightful place as the empress.

Koudou, who was really their uncle and closest living relative, grew to love the two children very much and raised them as his own. Over the years Kaoru, the male twin and the elder of the two, had shown to be of a rather silent and reserved character while his sister, Chizuru, possessed a bright and amicable personality. As they grew older still, Chizuru's beauty only became greater despite her young age and she began to look more and more like her late mother each passing day. Being the princess and future empress to head the country, many doted on Chizuru and showered her with attention and adoration. Her charming smile and endearing nature only added on to the people's love for her.

Through it all, her twin brother Kaoru watched with envious eyes. Just because she was a girl and he a boy, she deserved all the attention. Just because of a difference between genders, he was deemed less worthy than her. While the young Kaoru was not neglected and had everything a little boy his age could ever ask for, the obvious discrimination upset him terribly. However, little Chizuru was ignorant of the whole thing and loved her brother dearly, which only made Kaoru even more resentful; he felt as though she was mocking him! But he kept up his smile and charades and pretended to be happy while from a young age, jealousy began to grow in his heart.

Now, within the castle's secret treasure rooms was an old and worn mirror which was shaped as round as the moon and as large as a straw hat. It hung on the wall at the far end of the main treasure room, hanging off a nail from its narrow silver rim. The only decorative feature it possessed was an odd engraving of a pair of glasses at the top of the silver border. It looked to be a wholly unremarkable mirror but only Kaoru knew the mirror's true capacities.

Every year upon the day of their birth, the young prince would descend to the treasure room alone, making sure none was following him. He would find the mirror and beat away the layer of dust on its surface with his yukata sleeve. Then facing the mirror, he would speak in a loud and clear voice the very same words he had discovered inscribed onto the back of the mirror years ago.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

And the mirror – for it was a magical mirror – would unfalteringly reply in an oily voice, "You, my prince, and your sister, the princess, are the fairest of all."

This used to please the young prince, as he had finally found something that his sister was not better than him at. However, upon the dawn of their sixteenth birthday Kaoru had gone down the secret staircase to visit the mirror as he had every other year. Like every other year, he dusted down the magic mirror. Like every other year, he asked it;

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

This time however, unlike any other year, the magic mirror gave a different answer and replied as oily as ever;

"Prince, you are full fair, it is true, but Chizuru is the fairest of all."

Now at sixteen, Kaoru had grown into a fine young man. His features were soft and gentle-looking. His had perfect manners and carried himself with the pride of a swan. He had plenty of admirers; from commoners who would sigh every time they were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of him to the daughters of noblemen who had set their sights on courting him. Chizuru had also turned into a happy young lady whose beauty was so great, that men were said to fall head over heels in love with her upon first sight. Her skin was flawless, smooth and white as a lily's petals in full bloom. Her blood-red lips were always smiling at whomever she passed and her dark hair shone and seemed to sparkle like many, many stars in the midnight black sky. Her large eyes gleamed like melted caramel upon burnished copper. She had truly become a most beautiful princess and was thought to have even exceeded her late mother in that aspect.

But when Kaoru heard the words of the magic mirror, his face turned red with rage. "Why?!" he shouted, "Why must that ignorant girl best me every time?!"

The question was asked to no one but the mirror answered, "Well now Your Majesty, Her Majesty the princess was destined to be a most gracious and comely woman, just like your mother. Any peasant that has read the fairy tales of old would know that." Kaoru just gave another scream of fury and stormed up the staircase, leaving the magic mirror chuckling to itself.

The young prince stalked down the corridors of the royal quarters, his hakama and haori billowing behind him as he seethed with anger. A pair of young servant girls in plain yukata who were sweeping and wiping down the engawa quickly shuffled aside to make room for him as he passed, bowing. Even with their faces hidden, he could see the redness of their ears from blushing. After he had turned the corner, a cluster of giggles and sighs reached his ears. Kaoru sighed himself, torn between irritation and pride. It was no secret that whoever beheld either of the royal siblings would immediately be enchanted by their grace and loveliness. A trait inherited from their mother.

Stopping at a pair of sliding shoji doors, he roughly slid them open and let himself into his private chambers before shutting the doors a bit more forcefully than was really necessary. With a huff, he settled himself down on a silk cushion to the side of the room; elegantly seating himself despite his anger. Almost immediately, a hidden sliding door to his left slid open revealing Prince Kaoru's faithful attendant.

Amagiri bowed, his ruby red hair falling forward as he did so. "Does Kaoru-sama have anything he requires of me?"

"Yes." Kaoru snapped irritably. "Listen well. Once the palace's celebration of my and my sister's birthday tonight is over, I want you to take my sister out into the garden on the pretext of picking flowers. From there, you will take her on your horse deep into the forest behind the castle – make sure nobody sees you, I want this kept an absolute secret. Once you are there and surrounded by darkness that no one can see you even if they did follow, I want you to kill her. Carve out her maiden heart and bring it to me in a jewelled box as proof of your deed."

Silence was his only answer at first.

"Do you understand, Amagiri?"

"Absolutely, Kaoru-sama. But will al due respect Kaoru-sama, nobody is allowed to pick flowers from the palace gardens-"

Kaoru's eyebrow twitched in anger as he recalled that age-old rule. "She's the princess, she can do whatever she wants and nobody would look twice."

"My apologies Kaoru-sama, is it not strange to go picking flowers during the night-time-"

Kaoru threw up his hands into the air in exasperation. "Bah! Just get her in the forest and make sure she's dead before first light tomorrow! I don't care how you do it, I just want it done without anybody knowing!"

Yet again, Kaoru was answered with only silence.

"Is that understood, Amagiri?"

A hesitant silence before his attendant's reply, "But Kaoru-sama, if I may ask, why do you wish to kill your sister? The people love her, she is to be the heir and successor to the throne and is a lovely and kind-"

"That is exactly why I wish her disposed of." Kaoru cut him off dispassionately. His hands fisted his expensive kimono, causing the luxurious silk to wrinkle. "And it is me you are loyal to, not to her nor the Elders – me."

Silence.

"Is that understood?"

"… Understood, Kaoru-sama."

Chizuru hummed happily to herself as she strolled through the garden, savouring the many scents and fragrances of the flowers. She still wore her celebratory kimono – one with several different coloured layers of the garment which dragged across the ground and a colourful layered, intricate obi in a delicate bow at her back. Flowered and tinkling hair ornaments still decorated her hair. The celebrations were over, the guests long gone and the birds had long since settled in for the night. But the bright colours of the garden flowers still showed in the starlight and her demon eyes provided her with good enough night vision to pick her way through without tripping over anything. Amagiri followed silently behind her, keeping a respectful distance from the princess but the constant rustling of his long clothes brushing the grass let her know he was always there.

Chizuru bent down to cup a red lily in her hands and relish in the feel of its petals on her skin. She had to admit, she was rather surprised when her brother had suggested she go to the gardens for a walk to relax her mind after the hive of activity today and sent Amagiri to escort her. In hindsight though, she supposed it was a good idea after all. Chizuru smiled as she straightened up again. She should take more evening walks in the gardens next time.

"Chizuru-sama."

The Yukimura heir turned to face her brother's attendant, who was bowing to her with one knee on the ground. They were rather far away from the castle now, at the very fringes of the grounds where the gardens ended and endless sea of tree barks and forest canopies began. Startled, she exclaimed, "Amagiri, you need not bow when you speak to me. Please, rise and speak."

The large man rose to feet but his head remained bowed and his eyes hidden. "Hime-sama, please forgive me for what I am about to do."

Before the princess could so much as ask him what he meant, he had snatched her up – layers of kimono and elaborate obi and all – and raced towards the edge of the dark forest.

A/N: Ah, posting new stories when I'm not done with on-going ones yet. I ought to be sh- -is sniped and falls dead-

Only joking.

Anyway, this was the Hakuouki parody I've been talking about on my profile. Please note that I have yet to watch or play Reimeiroku so characters from there are not going to be appearing here. I tried going for a more fairy tale-like approach at the beginning but I just couldn't help adding more and more details until what was meant to be a one-shot is now... a God-forbidden multi-chapter thingy! -legasp-

Anyway, there's chapter 1! The 'dwarves' will likely be appearing in the next chapter. And I'm pretty sure I know you know who the 'dwarves' are. ;]