ff.net's worst nightmare has returned once again to haunt the readers! Bwahahaha! Okay, just kidding.

I don't own the beautiful cast of Dakkanya and the cute little story of toot don't want to spoil it for you

A Fairy's Tale

By Li Pei Fen

Once upon a time, in a far, far away kingdom in Japan, there lived two married men who wanted to have a child for a long time but had none. Then one day, one of the men, named Ban, believed he could have his wish granted at last.

Their humble home had a small window at the back which overlooked a splendid garden filled with all kinds of pretty but evil-looking red and black flowers. In one corner, Ban could make out a small field packed with the most alluring pizza-looking vegetables he had ever laid eyes on. He had told his husband, Shido, about how he believed he could bear a child only and only if he would have a bite of those mysterious vegetables.

Shido had explained to his wife that it was impossible. There was a high wall that surrounded the garden. And worse, the owner of the fields was none other than the much feared Akabane, a horrible, evil wizard from an unknown land.

Ban's craving for the vegetables grew stronger and stronger as the days went by. His husband was getting worried every time he saw Ban sitting idly by the windowsill, staring at the vegetables. Until one day, his longing for the vegetables became unbearable, so much so that he got sick and had to rest in bed for a very long time.

One day, Shido decided that he must give in to his wife's wish. He planned carefully on how he could get the vegetables from the evil wizard's garden without being noticed. Then, finally, while Ban was sleeping in the middle of the night, he got up and tactfully crossed over to the garden beside their house…

In the morning, Ban found out that, indeed, the vegetables were pizzas, his all-time favorite. The wizard must have been using magic to turn his vegetables into a field of freshly heated pepperoni pizzas and eat them to his black heart's content. But more importantly, he had recovered from his sickness after Shido had fed him the pizza.

But on the next day, Ban's yearning for the pizzas did not stop, but instead became more severe. Shido had no choice but to go in to the garden once again.

When he arrived there, the evil wizard had been waiting for him already. "So you're the one who's been stealing all my pizza!" Akabane said. The scalpels that protruded from around his knuckles frightened the poor man. He explained to him everything, about his wife's craving and how he believed they would have a child if he brought him the pizza.

"Very well," Akabane said, smiling mischievously. "You may take all the pizza you want, but when you finally have a child, you must give me the baby,"

The man, wanting his wife to be eternally happy, hesitatingly agreed to the condition. He went back and told Ban everything, much to his disappointment.

On January 1st, the evil Akabane came to claim the baby. The old couple thought they could escape from him, but the wizard was powerful and he had used his powers to know when the little baby boy he had expected had been born already.

They had no choice but to hand over their poor little darling. All they could do was pray for his safety.

The dark wizard had named the boy Kazuki, inspired by the crescent moon that had been very evident on that cold night when he was born [1].

Kazuki grew up to be one of the prettiest boys Akabane has ever seen in his whole life, and to think that he had traveled the world before, meeting plenty of young girls everywhere. In wizardry, long hair was beautiful and to have it grown straight and healthy was an honor. Therefore, he had purposely kept it that way, combing it for him every single night before the little boy when to bed.

When Kazuki reached the age of twelve, he had grown to be so beautiful a man that Akabane decided not to let anyone else see him. He locked him in a very high tower in the middle of an inhabited forest, shutting him from the rest of the world forever.

The tower had no door, so when Akabane wished to see Kazuki or give him food, he would simply call out, "Kazuki, Kazuki, let down your hair," and the boy would obediently lay his very long hair out the window, letting Akabane use it as a rope to climb up.

Kazuki's hair grew into a very long brown lock, as fine as coffee beans ground and spun to make a long, fine brown thread. Every time Akabane called out his name, he would fasten his hair to one of the window hooks and let it fall down to the ground.

A few years later, a prince from a very rich and known kingdom was riding through the forest one day. As he passed by an old tower, he heard such a glorious sound, seemingly that of the fairest princess that ever walked the land. He drew up his horse to listen to her melodious voice.

Of course, the beautiful sound was no less than Kazuki's sweet feminine voice filling the whole tower and inviting small forest birds to sit on the window sill of his tower, listening to his voice. He had always been a lonely boy all his life, not being able to see anyone else but his horrible "owner", so singing was the best he could do to keep himself happy.

The prince was so drawn to the princess's voice that he came back every day to listen to it. He was burning with eagerness to see the face of his mysterious princess, but didn't know how to. The tower had no doors, and having checked it all over, guessed that it was built to be that way so that no one could enter.

His heart ached upon realizing that his princess might be very lonely, with no one to speak to, and no one to love her. And, out of his luck, he saw a very frightening witch approach the tower and called out, "Kazuki, Kazuki, let down your hair." Then a long rope of the finest material would descend from the window and the witch would start climbing up to the top.

The very next day, he came back and imitated what he saw the other day. He called, "Kazuki, Kazuki, let down your hair…" and Kazuki, being too distracted by the colorful bird that had entered his room, failed to notice that Akabane sounded different today and let down his hair automatically.

Kazuki was very flabbergasted upon seeing the prince since he had never seen anyone else before. But the prince was so kind and handsome that he couldn't help but welcome him in his tower.

"My name is Juubei; I am a prince from a nearby kingdom. I've never stopped coming here since the day I heard your lovely voice… Tell me, princess, what might your name be?"

"Oh, wow! A prince! I knew it! I knew a prince would come to me someday! I've read all about them in fairytale books Akabane-san lets me borrow..." he said excitedly. "My name is Kazuki…"

"Kazuki? But that is a boy's name…" Juubei said, confused.

"I am a boy, silly," he smiled. "Excuse me, but, might you be a girl? I've never seen one in my entire life…"

"A boy?" Juubei asked in disbelief. He looked Kazuki up and down. He was certain Kazuki was wearing a dress, had long hair, and he did sound like a woman…"

"Yes… Well, that's what Akabane-san told me. He wore something like a skirt too, so I guess men wear skirts… However, I didn't know women wore such strange clothes… and I'm sorry that you have such short hair… was it an accident? It must be shameful to walk around with short hair at a young age…" Kazuki asked, as if finding Juubei the strange, unearthly one.

Juubei was disheartened that Kazuki had been kept away from people too much. He then explained things to Kazuki. "In the real world, girls wear dresses and skirts and boys wear pants, like these," he gestured to his trousers. And usually, it's the women who have long hair. Plus, men don't have chests," he said, as if explaining to a child.

"Chests? Juubei-sama, don't you have a chest?" Kazuki asked, surprised by the statement. He stepped forward and put his hand cautiously on Juubei's chest, worried that his hand might sink to nothing if he touched the cloth around the chest area too forcefully.

His expression lightened evidently as he realized that his hand was not resting on air. He put his hand on his own chest and compared it with Juubei's. "It's the same… I can feel your heart. You have a heart…" Kazuki said, smiling. "I thought you didn't have one since you said men didn't have chests… but you have one exactly like mine. I don't understand…"

"No, that's not what I meant," Juubei said, laughing quietly. "Chests… uh, how do I put it…? Uhm… well… have you seen oranges?"

"Yes, Akabane-san grows some in our garden before…"

"Well, picture this… women have two oranges on their chests… get it? Of course, it's not always that size, but it's that shape…" Juubei felt uncomfortable talking about this to a complete stranger.

"Oh," Kazuki paused to make a mental picture in his mind. "I see… that must be hard…" he snapped out of his reverie just as quickly as he entered it and said, "Prince—"

"Call me Juubei,"

"Juubei, could you tell me more about other people? I've read about them, but the books didn't have pictures, so I never knew how princesses looked like. The books say they're beautiful, and have wonderful dresses. Oh, how I wish I could wear those clothes…" Kazuki said dreamily.

"Kazuki… are you sure that… you're r-really… a boy?"

"I-I don't know… Akabane-san tells me I am, but when I read about girls in books, I feel I look more like them… what do you think? You've seen lots of girls or even princesses before. Maybe you could tell if I'm a girl or a boy…?"

"I'm not sure if I can do that…You look and sound so much like a girl, I can tell you that. And you're the most beautiful one I've ever seen. But you don't have a …chest… d-do you?" Juubei asked apprehensively.

"I don't. See?" he grabbed Juubei's hand and put it over his chest.

Juubei felt his blood rising from his feet to his head quickly. He twitched inwardly out of sudden anxiety, expecting to feel two small oranges under the dress. But to his surprise and relief, it was flat.

"Well?"

"Maybe you are boy… I'm still not sure…"

"What else do men have that women don't, then?"

"Hmm…It isn't always so, but men are sometimes more buff than women… I mean, we have muscles and are almost always more hairy…especially on the legs and arms. And the hands are different, too. Most women have longer, thinner fingers than men… And almost 99% of women our age nowadays have thin waists…thanks to corsets, that is… but not thin as in simply /thin/ …they have shape. Like that of a bottle that's thin around the middle section…"

Kazuki's look of amazement was slowly disabling Juubei to continue talking. Kazuki was smiling and he looked happy, yes, and it was all that was needed to make him stutter like an idiot. But to be more precise, it was his actions that disturbed him.

Kazuki was standing so close to him that he could almost feel his body heat. After he spoke, Kazuki had stepped closer to him and studied his body intensively. He felt Juubei's muscular chest and arms and checked for hair. And he held up Juubei's hand and aligned it with his, looking for any similarity. Then he started studying himself. He felt for the shape of his body, the waist area, especially. The twisted expression on his face told Juubei that Kazuki was unsure if he was going to be sad or happy.

"Juubei, how come I don't feel like I'm a man…?"

"I don't know either. I doubt that you are, anyway. But I don't care… I fell in love with you the moment I heard your angelic voice!

"You must be really lonely… That horrible witch has kept you to himself… there's so much more out there! And I can show you everything. Come with me, princess—I mean, Kazuki… I'll take you with me to my kingdom, and we can get married," Juubei knelt down in front of Kazuki. "I know it. It's as if I was destined to meet you. I must have been born to love you… born just for this purpose,"

"Oh, Juubei, you're so old-fashioned…" Kazuki blushed silently. He turned his head towards the window to hide his face from Juubei, and while doing this, he saw that the sun was setting already.

"Oh no! Juubei, you must go or Akabane-san will catch you! He arrives around this time to bring me my supper… Hurry, I don't want to lose you yet, my prince!"

"Is that so?" Juubei asked sadly. Then he looked up again with a flame burning brightly in his eyes. "Surely, my princess… I will have to leave you now to save our love! However, I shall return for you tomorrow, so you must think about my request. I have to go now, but don't worry, I shall love you no less tomorrow than I did today,"

Kazuki placed his hair around the hook of the window and let it down. "I shall think about it, my prince! Now, hurry…!" he said urgently.

Juubei rushed to the window and turned to face Kazuki again. Without saying anything, he brushed his lips gently against Kazuki's soft rose-colored ones in a loving manner.

Kazuki didn't know how to react, being the never-before-kissed person he was. But it certainly felt good. His heart leapt as he experienced the feeling of exhilaration coursing through his body like his own blood. He liked it. He wanted more, to taste more of Juubei through his mouth. But Juubei parted and bid farewell one last time, then he descended down the golden rope, disappearing into the night.

Prince Juubei returned to Kazuki regularly from that day on and asked if he would marry him, but he said he couldn't, for he didn't have any way to leave the tower. Then the prince promised him that he would bring a ball of silk so he could weave a ladder and escape with him. "After that," Kazuki said, "I will marry you, I promise,"

One day, Akabane climbed up to the tower to pay Kazuki a visit, as usual. Absentmindedly, Kazuki had blurted out, "Why is it that you pull on my hair more painfully than my prince does?"

Shocked, Akabane said, "How dare you trick me! All this time you have been letting someone in this tower?" then he cut off Kazuki's long hair, and used his magic to send him off to a far-off land.

He tied Kazuki's braids to the windowsill and waited for the prince. When he arrived, he said to him, "Your little songbird is gone, and you will never ever see him again!"

The prince was disheartened at the thought of not being able to see Kazuki again. He was beside himself with grief so it was easy for Akabane to push him off of the windowsill and he fell into the thorny bushes below. The barbs had scratched his eyes severely and he was blinded! How, now, could he ever find his sweet Kazuki?

Years, months, days, hours and minutes have passed in vain as the prince wandered by himself through foreign lands, weeping. Oh, how he wanted to see his Kazuki again!

Then one day, by chance, he heard a beautiful but sad song being sung by someone within his earshot, meaning she was near. Without having to think it over, he was a hundred percent certain that it was his Kazuki singing. He ran and fumbled about in search for the origin of the voice. He called out, "Kazuki! Kazuki!"

Kazuki had recognized the voice of his Prince Juubei and rushed into his loving warm arms. "Juubei! What happened to your eyes?"

"It was all my fault, Kazuki. I did this to myself. I have to pay the price…" Juubei explained sadly and exhaustedly.

"No, it wasn't, Juubei," tears were welling up Kazuki's eyes, and Juubei knew it.

"Don't cry for a man like me… It was my fault; I didn't know how to defend myself from the witch…"

Then, a miraculous thing happened. While Kazuki was crying, his teardrops had landed on both of Juubei's eyes and suddenly, he could see as he did before. Happily reunited with his love, he journeyed with Kazuki to his kingdom.

His family and the whole kingdom had welcomed the prince's new lover with open arms and they got married. Whether or not Kazuki was a woman was out of the question, and nobody minded his gender confusion. Only Juubei will know the true answer on their honeymoon, and they will live happily ever after.

end

Author's notes:

[1] Kazuki means "crescent moon" in English. I'm not 100% sure about this, because the way "Kazuki" is written in Japanese Kanji literally reads "Hana Tsuki" or "moon flower". Anyhow, I believe it means "crescent moon". Correct me if you must.

2. Before you send me a review telling me that they were all out of character, let me justify myself first. I'm following the Rapunzel story. If I used too much of their real personalities and mannerisms, then this would be better off called "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" for some killing-each-other scenes. ()

3. Don't kill me for making Shido and Ban Kazuki's parents. Before I did this, I was actually considering making a love story about them. They're cute together. You just have to look closely…

4. Don't you think Rapunzel is such a cute story for them? Kazuki does have long hair and Juubei did get blind, eventually… And Kazuki cried for him, too, ne? Here's a pic to go with that

http : dakkanya. n e t /View/Screenshots/ep19/sgb-ep19kazukijuubee002.jpg

Just erase the spaces I randomly put... and add the double "/" after the h t t p :

There. Did you like it? This story is actually a birthday present for my good friend, Eunice. Love ya, girl! Muwah! Oh, and…

REVIEWS PLEASE!!

–Pei Fen 052504