A/N: Here is the english version of my story "un conte japonais".
This time I wrote in my native language first and then translated it in english. This is a difficult exercise as I can write more sophisticated sentences in french. I hope my english is not too bad ^^'
Once upon a time, in the city of Kyoto lived a magistrate named Fujino.
He was a rich and respected man, and had a daughter who made him very proud. Since her earliest childhood the young Shizuru impressed the people close to her with her intelligence and her quick and penetrating mind, while her beauty was increasing year after year despite her disability. Indeed the young girl was blind. A white veil covered her eyes, and no one knew the real colour of her irises.
That did not detract from her qualities. The girl had a pleasant conversation, played koto very well, sang wonderfully well in a grave, deep, moving voice which contrasted surprisingly with the airy tone of her voice when she was speaking. She also excelled at strategy games, such as chess or go game. Special pieces had been made for her so that she could distinguish them by touching them. She impressed her opponents with her extraordinary memory, which allowed her to know at each moment the state of the chessboard in its entirety.
As for her white eyes, they seemed capable of seeing deep inside the soul of her interlocutors. It was impossible to lie to her. Moreover, her handicap did not prevent her from moving with grace.
The girl had long, slightly wavy chestnut hair which cascaded to her lower back, a fringe that swept her forehead with irregular locks, a fine waist and a promising chest. With a constant temper, she always had a sweet, charming smile. Jealous people said that the gods had made her blind so that she would remain humble, for one cannot attribute so many qualities to a single person without the latter having to pay the price.
All this made her be courted since she was 12. However she systematically rejected all her suitors. If we tried to betroth her without her consent she let herself waste away and fell ill until her father broke the betrothal fearing for her life.
When one asked the reasons for her refusals, she replied that she would recognize the person promised to her by voice, and that for the moment this person had not yet presented themselves to her.
Her father then brought princes and nobles known for their beautiful voices from all over the country, but in vain. He even resolved to introduce to her some famous singers, preferring a son-in-law of modest extraction, but no son-in-law at all, but the beauty remained indifferent. The clear voices of the teenagers, the grave voices of the more mature men, nothing found favour with her.
One day a girl named Kuga Natsuki was sent to the Fujino residence to serve as a lady-in-waiting for Shizuru.
Natsuki was an icy beauty who barely smiled. Long raven-coloured hair framed her fine face. Her emerald eyes seem to distrust everyone. She was quite bad-tempered and touchy and her parents hoped that Natsuki's good manners and her sense of honour would prevail and lead her to moderate her temper, and that she would not bring dishonour to her family.
When the two girls were introduced an attentive observer might have said that at Natsuki's first words, Shizuru's cheeks tinged with pink. But of course no one could know that her heart had begun to pound.
The two girls quickly developed a deep relationship. It was rather surprising as their temperaments were very different. Shizuru liked to joke and she particularly loved to tease Natsuki. This one always reacted with an exasperated sigh of "Shizuru!" (at least when they were alone, because such familiarity would have shocked other people). However the chestnut-haired beauty slowly broke the defences around the heart of the girl who was nicknamed the "Ice Princess" by her relatives. Moreover Natsuki treated Shizuru as her equal and with simplicity, far away from the sycophancy of servants and courtiers, so that Natsuki quickly became the only person able to see Shizuru without the mask of politeness she wore permanently.
The day she became 17, Shizuru announced that Natsuki was the one destined for her and that she would not marry anyone else.
For the father: astonishment and incomprehension. Shizuru could not be ignorant of the fact that Natsuki was a girl too. Unless Natsuki had lied about her identity? Fuming at the thought that he might have been fooled and that a rascal might have stolen his daughter's honour, he would surely have killed Natsuki if Shizuru had not stepped in and sworn that Natsuki was indeed a woman and had never touched her inappropriately.
This barely calmed the magistrate's wrath who decided to send the young nuisance back home; but before he could separate the two lovers Natsuki gently kissed her beloved on the forehead and murmured words that only them could hear. At this moment the white veil on Shizuru's eyes disappeared. The girl saw the word for the first time with her eyes as red as the passion she felt for Natsuki.
Everyone shouted at the miracle, no one thought of separating them anymore. And their wedding, as beautiful as unique, will forever stay engraved in the memories.