And all the villagers ran away screaming

Chapter 1

(I would like to note that this is Chamkio and it is ENTIRELY based off Beauty and the Beast. I don't own that… I actually had a dream about it a few nights ago, so I'm writing out my story… And hopefully it will be funny in some ways… The title, for instance, should be at least a little amusing… Oh, and Chase and Kimiko are property of Christy Hui, plus any other characters I put in.)

A little village off in the middle of somewhere…

"G'morning!" a cheerful girl with black pigtails chimed to a man as she walked through town.

He smiled wide and called back as he pushed his cart, "Good morning to you too Kimiko! Tell your paw I said hi!"

She waved back to him and called to him, "I will!" Kimiko turned her head back to the front and she continued to walk to her destination. After going a fair distance to the center of town, she calmly stepped into a book shop.

The store keeper was pleased to see her. "Well howdy Kimiko! And which book are you looking for today?" he asked merrily.

Kimiko smiled and replied, "I'm looking for one with princes and princesses and monsters in it!"

The store keeper laughed heartily and took a book off his shelves. "I think this would be the book for you, little lady," he said, handing it to her.

"Thank you very much!" she said happily as she handed him the payment for her book. After that, she walked back out into the town and put her book into the wicker basket she was carrying. She had time before her papa expected her home, so she decided to go read her book in the woods near the village.

She followed a dirt path for what felt like hours, but in actuality had only been a few minutes. The path had hardly ever turned or winded, so it would be easy to find her way back. But she knew first hand, that she was miles away from town when she could no longer smell the food at the bakery. Eventually she came across a scattered bunch of wild rose bushes. Seeing as how they were in the middle of the pathway, she assumed that nobody was growing them. So, Kimiko carefully plucked the flowers from the thorned bush, a total of 20 in all, and continued to walk.

She had only been walking a little while longer when she came upon a large black metal gate. It was open and looked like it was impossible to close it was so rusty. She walked inside the gate and was met by an enormous palace. True it looked like it was uninhabited and had been for decades, but it was still a magnificent sight to see the stone gargoyles and stain-glass windows. She stood staring at it in wonderment before her eyes wandered to the ground. A little ways in front of her was a small graveyard. There were headstones carved into the shapes of angels and ones that looked like they belonged on a chess board. Kimiko slowly walked over to the headstones and was overcome with a wave of pity. Many of the names were eroded away, along with many of the dates; nobody had cared for these tombs in years. That much was evident.

She thought for a moment or two before placing a rose before each headstone. There were only 12 headstones, so she had several left. Coming to the last grave, she felt horrible sadness. The person who was buried here died at the age of eight years old. They had barely begun to live!

Thinking once more, Kimiko pulled her book out from under the roses in her wicker basket and knelt beside the headstone. She spoke to it, "Hey there, I thought you might like to hear a story…" The stone did not respond, but she had not expected it to. Kimiko opened her book and began to read aloud to the dead child.

While she read, she hadn't noticed a man watching her from the shadows of the palace. He carefully placed his hand against the palace wall and listened to her read. He kept himself hidden perfectly; even a bird merely three feet away from him had yet to sense his presence there.

Kimiko glanced up at the sky; the sun was to her right. She should be getting home soon. She turned to the headstone and spoke, "Sorry, I have to leave, but I promise I'll come by tomorrow and read some more with you, okay?"

She then hurried back down the path that she came as the man in the shadows watched in silence. It was curious to him that she would read to someone that could not hear, but she had given a gift. The roses she had left on his ancestor's gravestones sat as a tribute to their memory. One that the man in the shadows had tried to forget about…