…Peaceful Green Love…
Chapter 10: Momo, Kurenai to Midori
Once upon a time, in a small town in Rukongai are three sisters named Momo, Midori and Kurenai. They had no parents and lived as beggars.
One day, Midori picks some fruits in the forest. Squeezed inside a bush is a gorgeous red scroll. She pulls it out then shows it to her sisters.
"Momo-neesan! Kurenai-neesan! Look! Look what I found!" shouted Midori.
"Such gorgeous scroll! We can sell it!" exclaimed Kurenai.
"Yes it is gorgeous!" said Momo.
Midori, out of curiosity, opens the scroll to see what is written inside. Momo and Kurenai peek in as well. Suddenly, a bright white light embraces the sisters and pulls the sisters in the scroll.
"WAAA!!!"
The three sisters fall down to a solid ground. Covered in wonder, they looked around to see the new view. They fall into an unknown forest that even had trees they never saw before.
"Where are we?" asked Momo.
From a distance, sounds come closer. A dressed rabbit with a big clock in his hand passes through the sisters. "I'm late! I'm late!" He hops faster away from them.
"Wait! Wait Rabbit-san!" Midori runs after the hopping rabbit. Momo and Kurenai follow her.
Unfamiliar with the territory, they entered a dark forest. Due to the darkness, they fall off a small cliff. The sisters roll down and down, unknown what is in the lower land. When they landed at the lower grounds, light is shining.
"Guests! Guests! Help yourself, my dears!" said a voice. A man with a tall hat is sitting under a gazebo. On top of the table he is sitting is a set of 4 people's tea.
The sisters sit as the man directed. Each of them is served with a cup full of heavenly aroma tea. The pleasing scent of the tea let them drink without doubt.
After a few sips of their tea, "Umm… Mr…"
"Mr. Mad Hatter is my name." He said.
"Oh. Mr. Mad Hatter, where is this place?" asked Momo.
Mr. Mad Hatter places his teacup into its saucer. "My dear… they're gone again. Is this place cursed?" his face express wonder.
No wonder he said such things. The three sisters shrunk into finger size figures. A strong wind blows them away.
"Kyaa!" screamed the sisters as they are carried by the wind.
Far, far away where a queen lived. She stands in front of her magic mirror. "Mirror Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" chanted the queen.
"It is her." Replied the Mirror. Its viewing surface showed the most beautiful girl.
"WHAT! NOT ME! CURSE YOU! YOU'RE TELL ME LIES! IT'S ME YOU IDIOT!!!" the queen violently throws her Magic Mirror. The Mirror glass shatters into pieces.
In a palace far away, a prince pounds in his bedroom balcony. "If I could have that Magic Mirror then I won't have to have hard times in finding my true love." Murmured the prince.
"She's waking up! She's waking up!"
Midori wakes up from a soft white bed. She looked around; she is in a wooden house. Looking beside the bed she is in are little men.
"Who are you?" asked Midori.
The man with the red vest comes forward, "we're dwarfs in this woods."
"We found you nearby so we carried you here." Said the dwarf with the green vest.
Remembering what happened before she become unconscious, she should be finger sized but now she is back to normal. "Umm… I'm supposed to be this small…" She describes the size with her fingers. "…Now I'm back to normal. Did you helped me?" she asked.
"Yes we did! The medicine made from the Orange mushroom works perfectly for shrunken humans!" said the man in orange vest.
"Umm… where are my sisters?" Midori remembers that her sisters are also affected by the tea's shrinking.
"Sisters? You have sisters? I'm sorry but we didn't saw any." Said the man in yellow vest.
"Why do I have to do this?!" screeched Kurenai. She is currently cleaning the floor with a mop. "Why should I clean the house?!"
She found herself in the household of an aristocrat. The mistress let her in but in exchange for her services for life. Kurenai have no choice but to do what her mistress said.
Meanwhile, Momo finds herself still in the finger size body. Her surroundings are full of huge mushrooms and grasses. Insects crawl past her and small patches of light dances around her.
A butterfly lands on a mushroom and stares at Momo. "Little girl over there, you must be lost." The butterfly asked Momo.
Momo couldn't believe; a butterfly just spoke to her. "Eh? Y-yes I am lost. Could you help me find my sisters and going back home?"
"I could only tell you how to change back to your original size. Take the red mushroom to grow big while take the blue mushroom to grow smaller. I advice you to take both." Said the butterfly. He soon spread his wings and flies to the open air.
Momo follows the butterfly's advice. She takes a big chunk of the red mushroom and the blue mushroom. She eats the red mushroom. Soon, she grows rapidly. The rapidness is fast that even after she grows to her normal size, she continues to grow. Now she's as tall as the tallest tree in the forest.
She soon takes the blue mushroom to shrink. It did take a nice effect; she shrank back to her normal size. But she is no longer in the middle of the forest but somewhere different again.
Her surroundings are now a pure green-grassed meadow. The place is so quiet; not a single move occurred. Momo quietly walks through the meadow. A cool breeze blows her hair.
Then a figure suddenly attacks from the grassy meadow.
"Kyaa!" screamed Momo.
The tip of a knife points at Momo. Her legs are fixed on the grassy ground and couldn't move. Her body is trembling terribly.
"I, the hunter, will take your heart for my queen." Said the man. He points his knife closer to Momo.
Momo is speechless. Still trembling from fear.
In the 7 dwarves' house…
"Since everyone here helped me, I will help you with the house chores for you today." Smiled Midori. "You may go to work."
The dwarves leave Midori do the chores and went to their work site.
Midori starts cleaning; dusting and wiping the shelves, sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, washing the clothes and bake apple pie for everyone. While making her apple pie, a man ridding a brown horse comes by.
"To the maiden living here, an invitation to the palace ball." The man gives Midori a scrolled paper. He soon leaves to his next destination.
"Why am I not allowed to go to the ball?!?!" screeched Kurenai. She kicks the broom. The broom falls to the mop and hits the bucket of dirty water.
"KURENAI! IT'S STILL DIRTY! CLEAN IT AGAIN!" shouted the mistress.
"Yes! Clean it again!" said the daughters.
Kurenai grins but she has no choice but the follow the orders.
Back to the frozen Momo…
The man retreats his knife. "Such beauty like you shouldn't be killed… instead, I will give you this invitation to you. Please go as far as possible, young lady." The man kneels.
Momo takes the invitation then runs away as fast as possible. She reads the invitation while running. "A ball party?" she tucks in the letter and continues to run.
The night comes by, the palaces of the price lights up the whole city. Ladies from different lands attends the party, hopping it will be her hand the prince will ask for. Each lady wears a spectacular beauty of ball dress.
The first sister who comes to the party is Kurenai. She wears a nice red ball gown. Next comes Midori, wearing a green gown with ribbons. Last comes Momo; she gets off a pumpkin carriage. Her dress is pink and white with broaches of roses.
"Momo!" called Midori. Beside her is Kurenai who's waving at her sister Momo.
Momo immediately goes to her sisters and feels glad that her sisters are not hurt at all. They decide to stay at the party to enjoy the luxury services that they never had when they were at Rukongai.
The three sisters didn't join the dance, as many of the ladies in the ball are eager to dance especially with the prince. They continue to chat with each other about when they got separated after they drank the shrinking tea.
The prince neither chose any of the ladies in the cramming dance floor. He instead set his eyes on a lady wearing a pink and white dress, which is Momo. He approaches Momo with delicacy to capture the heart of hers.
"May I dance with you?" he stretches his arm.
Momo simply looks at the prince. She doesn't know what to do so she looks at her sisters. Her sisters nod to her, the message "go on" is sent to her. Momo accepts the price's hand. As Momo follows the prince to the center of the dance floor, both her sisters giggle.
The lightings set its focus to the pair in the middle. All the other people in the dance floor stop dancing and set themselves aside. The music stops then changes to a new one. The prince leads his dance partner to the dance. Momo dances with the prince, her ball gown skirt dances as well to their movement.
The people around the dance floor exchange faces and awes at the dancing pair. Both Midori and Kurenai giggle and swing their chained hands. (Eh?! Is this possible!!!) Time ticks to midnight. The clock bell rings.
Ding! Dong! Dang! Dong!
Momo breaks the dance. "I'm so sorry! I have to go now!" She runs away from the dance floor and leaves the prince.
"Wait! At least tell me your name!" the prince tries to run after Momo but the amount of people around the place made him impossible to go after her.
Midori and Kurenai manage to go after Momo… somehow. Momo hops into the pumpkin carriage. Midori accidentally slips her foot; one of her shoe came off her foot. Kurenai pulls Midori into the carriage since they have no time to waste. The magical pumpkin carriage leaves as the door close shut.
They arrive at the seven dwarves' hut when the pumpkin carriage transform back to its original form. Midori requests her dwarf friends to let her sisters stay for the night. The dwarfs agree and soon they all went to bed, exhausted from the ball.
The next day, the three sisters decide to leave the dwarves' house and build their own so they wont give the dwarves any hospitality anymore. The dwarves suggest to build their new home near theirs so they could help the sisters.
Few days after, the house is built and new furniture is placed in. A simple small house for the three sisters in the new world, this will be their new life. They will no longer be in Rukongai to continue live in poverty.
Today is wonderfully beautiful day; the sun is shining, the birds are singing and the wind is whispering. Midori decides to bake some blueberry pies for them and the dwarves. Kurenai and Momo are tiding up the house.
"La, la, la, la, la…" Midori sings as she makes her pie.
A figure of an old lady peeks into the open window, looking at the happy Midori. She asks Midori, "Are you alone? Would you want some apple?"
Midori looks at the apple the old lady is holding. "I'm not alone, my sisters are inside. Such delicious looking apples!"
"Isn't? Come, have some!" the old lady offers her apple to Midori.
Midori accepts the apple. She looks in the house, "Momo-neesan! Kurenai-neesan! Come here! Look at these tasty looking apples!" she calls her sisters.
Momo and Kurenai come down the stairs. They both liked the apples and get each themselves one. The three sisters bid goodbye to the old lady and continues to do their work before the old lady came.
Later, Momo and Kurenai finished their tidings. Midori now is waiting for her pie to finish baking. A handsome and gorgeous carriage stops in front of their house. A man knocks the door of the house. Kurenai opens the door.
The man tells Kurenai to fit in the glass slipper to identify the prince's true love. Kurenai agrees and lets the man in so her sisters could do so. Inside, Momo is washing the apples so they could eat the apples.
Kurenai sits in a chair. She tries on the slipper as the man holds on the precious slipper. The slipper didn't fit. Momo comes in the room and tries on the slipper but it was never hers. She goes back into the kitchen to call her sister Midori.
Midori comes in the room slowly. She wipes her hands in her apron and sets the apron aside. She sits down to the chair then slowly fits her foot into the glass slipper.
The man widens his eyes "It-it fits… Miss, you are the prince's true love! Please come to the palace."
Midori removes the slipper, "No… it's not me… the prince's true love is not me but my sister Momo!" she opposes the man.
"The slipper fits exactly to your foot. There is no mistake. Please come with me." Offered the man.
"Ah! I think my blueberry pie is done. Please excuse me…" Midori leaves the room.
"Miss!" called the man.
"Kyaa!" screamed Midori.
The scream startled everyone. Kurenai dashes into the kitchen. She gasps, her hands on her lips. Midori kneels down beside the body… the body of her sister Momo. The apple she was eating was laid beside her.
"Momo-neesan! Momo-neesan!" Midori shakes her sister's body.
Footsteps sound in the scene. A young man well dressed comes in. "What happened?" asked the prince.
"Your highness!" cried the man.
The prince gasps. His true love is dropped dead in the house. His mind is bewildered; his heart has shattered. "I am too late… If I had found her earlier…" he murmured.
The prince gives Momo a beautiful bed for her to sleep. Flowers of different colors have been placed inside like a display. The dwarves visit Momo in her sleep. The prince, Midori, Kurenai and the dwarves mourn over the sleeping beauty.
The prince faces Midori, "Midori, since you're the owner of the glass slipper…" the prince holds Midori's hands, "please marry me for your lost sister."
The warmth of the prince's hands made Midori's cheeks go pink. She looks at her dear sister. "Momo-neesan…" she whispered.
Suddenly, the ground shakes. Loud sound comes closer and closer. Soon, a huge carriage stops in front of them. A well dressed man steps out of his seat. He had a marvelous jeweled crown on top of his head, which we assume he is a king. "Are those girls are from another world? Come to my place!" said the king.
"What do you want?" asked Kurenai with a doubtful way.
"I want to conduct an research! With such wonderful specimens came in this world, it's a waste that you all die without me knowing the truth of your bodies!" his voice boomed in the forest.
"Research? Specimen? That is not the right way to do to a human, King of Hearts!" shouted the prince.
"Resisting? It wouldn't matter. Prince Hajime… I don't need you so butt yourself out. Guards, seize the girls!" he orders his men to capture the sisters.
With all the men with arms around, the sisters are captured easily. The prince tires to rescue the sisters but with such power and number, he didn't win.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" laughed the King of Hearts.
The dwarves attack at the guards of the king and somehow manage to beat them. The prince gains spirit to retrieve his bride and her sister. He draws his sword then constantly attacks each of his enemy.
Soon, he points his sword to the king. "Release them immediately!" demanded the prince.
The king favors more to his life; he sets the sisters free. He grins over the lose then goes home to his own palace.
Few moments later, a pink glowing light comes down to the forest. A fairy covered in pink light introduces herself. "I am a fairy. I may help you revive your lost sister." She said.
"Is that true! Please tell us!" Midori eagerly asks the fairy.
"The poison apple's antidote is… the person's true love's kiss." Said the fairy. She floats around the open air as her light glows.
"The person's true love's kiss…" whispered Midori. She looks at the prince and begs, "Please Hajime-oujisama (Prince Hajime)… please wake my sister!"
The prince didn't need begs from the sisters, he didn't hesitate. All he need to do is give Momo her true love's kiss. To him, Momo is his only true love. He kneels beside Momo and glares at her slumbering face. He closes his eyes and lowers his faces. His lips come closer and closer to Momo's.
The wind blows gently, lights passing through the gaps of the tree flickers and dances down to the ground. Silence has taken over the whole scene. Moments later, the girl who was asleep a while ago wakes up. The first person she sees is the prince. Her eyes are filled with tears. The prince wipes away the tears with his finger then embraces her.
Both Midori and Kurenai feel extreme happiness. They danced around of joy. The dwarves join in the dance with claps of their hands, making a simple tune.
The three sisters are now residents of this world. Momo marries Prince Hajime and lives happily ever after. THE END
Sorry for the long wait... still have computer "POOF!" and until now (I somehow managed to get a this one). Even the PC gets well again... this is a bad season coz I have enemies. Everyone wants to use the computer. Well, I will be updating slower than usual.
Anyway, how's the play? Tell me if it's corny but the play is really meant for the children in Rukongai. For HitsuHina fans, I didn't wrote they actually kissed... It's a play so don't expect them to do a real kiss in front of many souls! Next chapter consists the post Gekishoubai, which includes the cast. OTANOSHIMI NI!