Once upon a time, in a world where all humans could still see the animals in their human forms without any kind of help,

Where the animals were not called " Pets", but family.

There lived a young prince.

Wild and unruly, he turned the palace upside down with his limitless energy, playing pranks and ignoring his studies.

To all of the kingdom, he was a little terror.

What they didn't know, was that the young prince simply didn't know how to express himself. He'd been stuffed into a study room from birth, learning proper etiquette, the proper way to rule the kingdom.

He'd been stuffed up for so long, and he was too shy to go up to someone and to explain how he felt, and he didn't want to let the kingdom down should he fail to meet up to their expectations.

….so he didn't deal with it.

He ignored it all, shirked his responsibilities, if only to avoid responsibility and his own inner feelings.

But all THEY saw, was a rampant, spoiled child.

Well, maybe not everyone.

Every hundred years, the Kami would come to visit the humans, whom they already felt unsettled feelings for, as these beings were unlike any other beast on the planet, and they knew not how to deal with them.

On that particular day, hundreds of the prince's advisor's begged the child to behave, to make a good impression on beings that could make them so much more powerful.

Pressure formed onto the young boy's shoulders as every servant in the palace begged him, and his mind became fuzzed, reeling from all the pressure that was on him at that night.

He was tired from all the hiding he did, from all the studies he was forced to do, and he quickly became frustrated.

With no way to release his anger, he began to take it out on the rose bushes, paying no heed to the cuts that formed on his hands.

" Child, why?" Came a soft voice from behind the young prince.

Startled, he jerked around to look at the intruder.

It was a beautiful young woman, tall and pale, she held an air of regality wherever she went.

" Why would you do such a thing?"

Her large, green eyes held golden specks inside of them, but also held great sadness at the site before her. No, not for the boy, but for the now shredded rose bush.

Stepping to avoid the boy, she knelt by the bush.

" Poor thing, to be torn in such a way." she spoke as she began to trim the now dieing part of the bush, and attached a stick to steady it.

The boy watched her the entire time, watched her fix the bush, and wished that the beautiful woman would fix him too.

" Why would you do such a thing?" she asked again, he attention now fully on him.

And it all burst out.

" I don't want to be the prince! I don't want to study all day, I want to play! I can't stand them all expecting so much of me, when I know I have not what it takes to be a great ruler!"

" They all want me to be something I know that I'm NOT!" he shouted as tears began to stream his eyes.

The woman frowned.

" If you believe you were not meant to be a prince, than what do you believe you were born to be?" she asked.

The boy looked down in shock, then a thoughtful look came across his face and he looked at the rose bush that he had destroyed, sadness now painting his eyes.

" I….I want to be a protector, I want to protect people….I didn't mean too." he finished his sentence, pointing to the bush.

By then the young woman held a thoughtful look in her eyes, brushing back a stray strand of long, coal-black hair.

" Then I will teach you."

And with that promise, the beautiful woman taught the prince to channel his anger through other, more productive, means.

She taught him that, to truly protect, you must protect ALL of the living beings around you, even the smallest of lives, even the simple lives of rose-bushes.

In time, the boy truly became in tune with nature, and he grew into a young man, while she stayed just the same.

" Why do you not age, my friend?" the young man asked as he watched two songbirds fly with the breeze, tweeting with great joy.

" Dear human, I do not age, for I am immortal, and only die under extreme injury, illness, or dark curse."

The prince was surprised, but happy, to hear this. It meant the world would always have such a creature to help beings like himself find their way.

Years past, and the young man grew.

He protected all of those around him, young and old, human, and non-human, all the people around him felt at their safest around him. He'd learned that, being king meant that he could surely protect even more lives around him, and he strived to become the best king that history would ever see.

Then came the time for him to choose a bride.

But he did not like any of the women his parents found for him, the spoiled princesses who displayed themselves before him, begging for the power that marriage to him would grant them.

He could not bring himself to marry without love, and he had fallen long ago, without really realizing it, with the one that showed him what it took to become a truly amazing king and protector.

So he found her one day, ring in hand, and proclaimed his love to her, red hot blush on his face as he tried to keep his composure while stuttering up a storm.

But all she did was tilt her head, eyes blank.

" I do not understand this emotion, this ' love', as you human's call it."

It was then that, heart-crushed and barely able to think past the pain that flared in his heart, he realized that, while she had taught him so much, he had something to teach her as well.

So as a tear slid down his cheek, he smiled at her, and made her a promise.

" Then I will teach you."

And so he did.

The next two years were spent with him bringing her sweets, as he knew Kami ate sugar constantly.

He was still a bit shy by nature, not that it showed often, with how persistent and steadfast he was, so he couldn't bring himself to sing for her for quite awhile.

He grew large trees, planted many seeds, if only to make her happy.

He convinced her to come into the village with him, in disguise, to show her both the good, and the bad in people.

He showed her families, she could understand the love between parent and child,

brother and sister, but her race merely procreated out of necessity, it was the love between the parents that confused her. So he paid special attention to showing her the kind of thing they did for each other. Wrote her poems to express his love, as he explained many young lovers often do.

Time past by, and she, slowly, began to understand, and began to fall for the persistent young human, though she still did not truly understand it.

Then came the day when he proclaimed his love for her once again, but her eyes grew sad.

" My dear human, I cannot accept your proposal. In truth, I have been betrolled since birth, and family will not hear of union with a human."

They both grew sad, their meetings growing more solemn even as smiles graced their features.

The Kami found herself wishing she could accept his proposal. She found herself sending fond glances in his direction, watching as he tended to the creatures of the forest. Found herself noticing the blue of his eyes, the silky look of his dark hair, which had never been cut.

Another year past, and, during one of their meetings, something horrible happened.

Whilst walking through the plains, they saw a young boy run past them, screaming for them to run, whispering about how he was sorry, that it was a mistake and he hadn't been in control of his actions.

The ran in the direction he came from, and saw the crumbled remains of a large boulder, one that sealed away an evil spirit.

It dove for the female kami, leaving maniacal laughter in his wake.

But the prince dove for her as well, and the spirit hit him instead, sending his body into shock as he spasmed on the floor, hand clenching his heart as he wailed in pain.

Looking upon the human she had known for so long, she began to feel her own heart ache, so she laid her own palm upon her heart as she began to sob, eyes filling with tears.

And she could understand, she could understand what this love was, why human's seemed to fight so hard for it, why'd they die for it.

So she bent down to him and willed the spirit into her own body, its evil curse filling her own body as her human recovered and stared at her in disbelief and fear.

" Give it back!" he begged.

" Give it back!"

But she would not, and he had not the power needed to extract the spirit.

" My body is stronger than your own, I will survive if one of my own comes to purify it."

And so the prince laid her underneath a tree, hiding her to keep her safe as he went to get someone.

But before he could take one step away, cold, golden eyes caught his gaze.

" What have you done?" a voice snarled as a pale, effeminate face came to view.

Like the prince, this man's hair was long, almost reaching the floor as he stood straight as a needle, snarling down at him.

" Worthless human! What have you done!" the man growled out again.

" I-I…She needs hel-!" but he was cut off as the man, no, the Kami lifted him from the ground, string up at him menacingly.

" Please!" the prince screamed, " she needs help!"

" What have you done to her? What have you done to my finance!" he shouted out of rage, more over the fact that a human would be the cause of death to a kami, than the fact that she was in pain.

Blood began to ooze through her skin as the spirit wreaked havoc on her body, but, while the prince was all too aware of her pain, this Kami was not.

It was then he remembered the second set of promises they made for each other.

(flashback)

" Will you, help my, my friend?" he remembered asking.

" What is it, dear one?" she had answered.

" Will you teach all humans…..what you taught me?" he begged.

" The world would be a much better place if only humans could under-"

" Yes." she had said.

" What?" was his dumbfounded response.

" Yes, but under one condition." she said as she turned to look him in the eye.

" What? What condition?" he asked.

" You must teach my kind about love."

He had only smiled, and nodded in response.

(End Flashback)

This was why, why she wanted him to teach them all as well, they all had no idea, no conceivable idea about what love was. They were a powerful, but unfeeling race, and she understood this problem.

It all made sense now, humans felt too much, and were practically powerless, while it was the opposite with the Kami.

They had so much to teach each other….

" Please, set aside your angry feelings, try to see the truth, we have to help her…" he remembered her telling him something similar while he was still young and filled with rage.

" Worthless human." he simply stated as he slashed open the man's chest, watching him fall to the ground, clutching his chest, watching his own blood spill onto the floor as he heard his Kami scream out for him, even through all the pain he knew she was in.

The cuts were deep, and his vision began to blurr as he begged the male Kami to heal her, and quickly.

However, as the kami began to stalk towards his fallen kin, a voice shouted out.

" He's killed the Prince! The Kami have killed the Prince!"

And that was when it started, more humans began to come to the scene, the young boy who had released the spirit leading them, a guilty and frightened look upon his face.

" I'm sorry," he said, " I didn't mean to, it's all my fault."

And then the battle began.

Humans leapt towards the unfeeling being, soldiers, potter, blacksmiths, everyone, as they had all loved the Prince who was once so spoiled, but who now kept them all safe and protected.

The battle lasted hours as the two lovers still lay dieing on the floor, both sides of the battle to blind with rage to notice.

The entire Kami village jumped in as well, and, one by one, they all began to fall. Humans and Kami alike littering the floor.

" This is all my fault." said the young boy as he walked over to the tree that concealed the two bodies.

" Than make it better." came a hoarse voice.

The boy jumped and looked in horror at the bloody bodies before him.

" Yes, make it better." a female voice followed the first.

" Become king," the man, the Prince, he corrected himself, said, " I want you to become king."

" Bu-but you-"

" I am dieing, but I am happy," he said as he entwined his fingers with those of his beloved.

" We are happy with what we've done, though we could have done much more. We want you to continue what we had begun. Try to create peace, it will be hard, and it is a lot to ask of such a young a sweet little boy."

" But we think that you can do it."

" When the battle is over, do your best to keep them away from each other, there will not be true peace and understanding between these two races anytime soon. But try to keep them at bay."

And so a new Prince was appointed.

And as the war raged on, all that was left was one Kami and a small group of humans, all battered and beaten beyond belief, the lovers past on , hands held together as they embraced. The young boy saying a small prayer to the ones who have given him a way to repent for what he had done, what he had unknowingly started.

As they died, a figure appeared out of the mist, angry and shining red.

" SILENCE!!!!" it screamed.

And they all stopped in their tracks, frozen by her power, it was the goddess of marriage arrangement, Nu Wa, and she was not happy.

" You have defied my will and destroyed the intricate I had planned out. They were to be you salvation, your teachers, and you killed them with your arrogance," she said as she gazed upon the now lone Kami, the same one who killed the prince.

" And your selfishness." she looked to the humans.

" So now, this is your curse. Let the human hearts, their greatest asset, corrupt them from the inside out, making them ugly and unable to give love even when they want to. Easily corrupted, may they cause harm even when they mean to do well. Their hearts will make them cruel, and they will grow blind to the creatures around them, causing them to become unsympathetic."

The Kami looked smug.

" And YOU!" Nu Wa said, vice filled with acid as she pointed to the lone figure on that side of the field.

" You, and all of your descendents, may you all watch as the humans become more wretched due to your own mistakes. Watch them destroy the world that you love so much in their agony, their hearts, now so unable to be completely full and contented, they will destroy all that you hold dear. May your nights be filled with dreams of every living thing the humans destroy, may you feel their pain and sorrow. Their deaths are your fault, you caused this. Because of you, humans will never feel whole again, so they will destroy this world, tearing through it to fill the void that cannot be filled with anything other than love."

" Until the next pair are born, the ones who will either break this cycle, or destroy the world in their unwillingness to accept each other."

" As is the punishment the Gods set upon you."

And So the battle was over, the Kami left, never to be seen again, even when the young boy, now fully grown and the King, requested that they make peace, sending various animals to send the Kami the messages.

The boy was a gentle, kind king, he did all that he could to create peace, but as the darkness of the curse coiled around the humans hearts, they became more corrupted, and he noticed. As every attempt he made at peace failed, so did his health, until he died.

What the world didn't know, was that it was the hatred and ill-will that caused his failing health.

It was their hatred for each other that killed him as the Kami denied his last request for peace, raising his own offspring off of his hatred for the humans.

And as the king died, a large flower, which had grown from the, untouched, grave beneath the Great Red Tree, which had gained its color and nourishment from the lovers that died beneath it, bloomed.

Out of this single large blossom, was born a child.

Dark hair and blue-eyed, just like his father.

The child born from the blood of the lovers, born years after their own deaths.

He was their child, half-human, half-kami, he would never realize his kami half.

Raised by the animals who had loved both the human prince and female kami, he would be found, fully grown, by English travelers years afterwards, and live his human life there.

He'd live, completely unaware of his lineage, and marry a beautiful fair-haired woman. In love and happy, he'd have children, who'd have children of their own.

Until, finally, the next pair was born

-

" AHHHH!!!!" Leon screamed as he bolted upright.

Putting his hand through his golden hair, he thought about the dream he just had.

" What the HELL?" he said aloud to his dark, moon-lighted apartment.

-

O.K., I'm K.O'd, 10 pages in one sitting, but I had to get this out, it's been killing me in my mind since I first saw the series.

What do you think, this is my version of what happened between the Humans and the Kami.

~Sapphirefoxgirl~