This'll be a short one – sorry guys ^^

Look for you're weekly vocab lesson!

-Umeboshi

Disclaimer: Takeuchi Naoko has no time to sue me, she's a busy woman and I CARE about her time, oh yes I do, so I won't give her a reason to either.

Chapter III – Kuro Hana

Rei:

            The sun was setting slowly, leaving a brilliant wash of colors behind the darkly lit buildings. Setsuna-san and I wandered through Ueno Kouen, my feet beginning to ache as we watched the hotaru slowly light up in the distance. I pointed, "They're rare now, you don't see them very often."

She didn't say anything in response, but I knew she was watching them with sadness.

Unintentionally my hand slipped into Setsuna-san's. She had long hands, graceful and slender, yet hiding taught muscles, as did the rest of her body. The nails were all filed to an elegant point, a blackish scarlet brushed on in smooth and even coats. At first her hand spread in shock, and then instinctually it encircled my own work-hardened ones. As my feet tired, I sank back against a bench bringing her down with me.

The weight of my head seemed to increase, pulling it down onto her sloping shoulder. I felt her pointy chin rest atop my mess of black hair. Her fingers slowly and hesitantly lifting and running through my hair. My head lifted, as if propelled by a separate force, placing a kiss on her thin scarlet lips. Inside of me I knew something was beginning to crumble, whatever I had just done, it had broken something sacred and unspoken that I did not know of. I wondered if the heavens had somehow forbidden the senshi to love one another, but Minako-chan and I often whispered stolen words of comfort to each other when we felt all else failing. I felt her drawing back, her hand sliding out of my hair, the tangles slipping back into place, and then just as quickly she pressed her mouth more tightly against mine. Her lips warmer and fuller under mine than I could have imagined.

 My chin resting on the tips of her slender white ivory fingers, and her narrow tongue gently gliding along the inside of my warm mouth. I placed my hands on the back of her head, releasing the chilled odango. With numb fingers I pressed the back of her neck, drawing her lips against mine with more force. We drew apart, her eyes glittering with an inhuman light. I wondered if she could feel the crumbling inside her as well, but when I met her gaze I saw only the black-glass like stare that made me shiver and want to hold her closer. I stood and she followed, this time it was I that led her across Ueno Kouen and back to the jinja.

            Ojii-chan could not be found anywhere, he seemed to have disappeared into the mystery of his rooms, and I thanked the heavens for this. The tatami beneath my feet seemed to quiver with the same anticipation that leaked from my every pore. I could feel her eyes boring into my back as I lead her through the fusuma and into my room. The futon was made; another dark rose nestled in the curves of my comforter, the same color as her lips. I drew her long body down against mine onto the futon. My hungry body responding to her long searching fingers.

We were both naïve as children, shivering under icy hands as they struggled with damp clothing. My swollen lips brushed against her neck, loving the faultless ivory skin as her heartbeat reverberated through the small room. "Aa, iie!" Her voice broke through the sound of our heavy breathing. "I can't do this." A look of determination, cold as steel came into her eyes, although she wouldn't meet mine. I felt myself color in frustration.

"What exactly do you want me for, Meiou-san? Why have you come here? Was it to torment my mind? You are here for something and I will know what." I tried to look as stern and determined as she had, but by her smile I knew I had failed. She lifted a long hand, pulling it through my thick hair and pulling me back down to her.

"Rei-chan, there are some things I can never tell you. I am here for a reason, hai that you knew, but what I cannot say. There is a chance that I do not even know what exactly it is. You must trust me when I say I love you, for that reason I forsake things that I have stood by for all eternity." With that pronouncement she leaned over, her hair falling in a dark curtain around my face. Her lips found mine with an eagerness I thought I could not match, and her hands cupped my face, drowning me in the darkness I had only dreamed of.

. . .

I rested on a black rose, the legs of a dark gray and scarlet spider wrapped around me. A slow humming wound around me like the delicate film of web that encased me. I was drowning in sticky sweetness. Soft hands brushed over my skin and in the distance a woman cried. Someone was calling my name, but it was far too much energy to respond. 'Don't cry Okaa-san. Everything will be alright. I'm not dying. Why are you crying Okaa-san?' The voice was mine and yet not. A little Rei. A last bubble of brilliant light rose above me. I could leave the syrupy sweetness now . . . but it was too late. Honeyed darkness enveloped me. Okaa-san, 'You are lost to me forever Rei-chan. You have forsaken your princess. You can never come back, you are a kuro hana now.'

I heard a soft feather of early snow falling on the roof of the jinja. Someone traced patterns in the frost on the windows. I peered through my eyelashes, the room was full of a cloudy half-light. Setsuna-san's figure shaded the pale glow of the falling snow. I had fallen into the spidery world of this shadowy woman.

            The sun was setting slowly, leaving a brilliant wash of colors behind the darkly lit buildings. Setsuna-san and I wandered through Ueno Kouen, my feet beginning to ache as we watched the hotaru slowly light up in the distance. I pointed, "They're rare now, you don't see them very often."

She didn't say anything in response, but I knew she was watching them with sadness.

Unintentionally my hand slipped into Setsuna-san's. She had long hands, graceful and slender, yet hiding taught muscles, as did the rest of her body. The nails were all filed to an elegant point, a blackish scarlet brushed on in smooth and even coats. At first her hand spread in shock, and then instinctually it encircled my own work-hardened ones. As my feet tired, I sank back against a bench bringing her down with me.

The weight of my head seemed to increase, pulling it down onto her sloping shoulder. I felt her pointy chin rest atop my mess of black hair. Her fingers slowly and hesitantly lifting and running through my hair. My head lifted, as if propelled by a separate force, placing a kiss on her thin scarlet lips. Inside of me I knew something was beginning to crumble, whatever I had just done, it had broken something sacred and unspoken that I did not know of. I wondered if the heavens had somehow forbidden the senshi to love one another, but Minako-chan and I often whispered stolen words of comfort to each other when we felt all else failing. I felt her drawing back, her hand sliding out of my hair, the tangles slipping back into place, and then just as quickly she pressed her mouth more tightly against mine. Her lips warmer and fuller under mine than I could have imagined.

 My chin resting on the tips of her slender white ivory fingers, and her narrow tongue gently gliding along the inside of my warm mouth. I placed my hands on the back of her head, releasing the chilled odango. With numb fingers I pressed the back of her neck, drawing her lips against mine with more force. We drew apart, her eyes glittering with an inhuman light. I wondered if she could feel the crumbling inside her as well, but when I met her gaze I saw only the black-glass like stare that made me shiver and want to hold her closer. I stood and she followed, this time it was I that led her across Ueno Kouen and back to the jinja.

            Ojii-chan could not be found anywhere, he seemed to have disappeared into the mystery of his rooms, and I thanked the heavens for this. The tatami beneath my feet seemed to quiver with the same anticipation that leaked from my every pore. I could feel her eyes boring into my back as I lead her through the fusuma and into my room. The futon was made; another dark rose nestled in the curves of my comforter, the same color as her lips. I drew her long body down against mine onto the futon. My hungry body responding to her long searching fingers.

We were both naïve as children, shivering under icy hands as they struggled with damp clothing. My swollen lips brushed against her neck, loving the faultless ivory skin as her heartbeat reverberated through the small room. "Aa, iie!" Her voice broke through the sound of our heavy breathing. "I can't do this." A look of determination, cold as steel came into her eyes, although she wouldn't meet mine. I felt myself color in frustration.

"What exactly do you want me for, Meiou-san? Why have you come here? Was it to torment my mind? You are here for something and I will know what." I tried to look as stern and determined as she had, but by her smile I knew I had failed. She lifted a long hand, pulling it through my thick hair and pulling me back down to her.

"Rei-chan, there are some things I can never tell you. I am here for a reason, hai that you knew, but what I cannot say. There is a chance that I do not even know what exactly it is. You must trust me when I say I love you, for that reason I forsake things that I have stood by for all eternity." With that pronouncement she leaned over, her hair falling in a dark curtain around my face. Her lips found mine with an eagerness I thought I could not match, and her hands cupped my face, drowning me in the darkness I had only dreamed of.

. . .

I rested on a black rose, the legs of a dark gray and scarlet spider wrapped around me. A slow humming wound around me like the delicate film of web that encased me. I was drowning in sticky sweetness. Soft hands brushed over my skin and in the distance a woman cried. Someone was calling my name, but it was far too much energy to respond. 'Don't cry Okaa-san. Everything will be alright. I'm not dying. Why are you crying Okaa-san?' The voice was mine and yet not. A little Rei. A last bubble of brilliant light rose above me. I could leave the syrupy sweetness now . . . but it was too late. Honeyed darkness enveloped me. Okaa-san, 'You are lost to me forever Rei-chan. You have forsaken your princess. You can never come back, you are a kuro hana now.'

I heard a soft feather of early snow falling on the roof of the jinja. Someone traced patterns in the frost on the windows. I peered through my eyelashes, the room was full of a cloudy half-light. Setsuna-san's figure shaded the pale glow of the falling snow. I had fallen into the spidery world of this shadowy woman.

Translations language wise and explanations:

Hotaru – (NOT the character from BSSM that we all know and love) fireflies

Kuro hana – dark flower