"Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender's green
When I am king, dilly dilly,
You shall be queen
Who told you so, dilly dilly,
Who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,
That told me so'"
He gently stroked a blond topknot of his little girl's hair after he finished singing the lines of the sweet lullaby. The child folded her arms and pouted as she sat in her bed.
"Papaaaa, please...one more time!"
"No, Usagi. That's enough. We need to sleep now...tomorrow will be a big day for our whole family and I don't want you to stay up all night."
Usagi looked thoughtfully at the bouquet of red roses that stood in a vase beside her bed. It was she who had chosen these flowers at the "Kino" flower store when she and her father were looking for a suitable gift for her mother this afternoon. She couldn't help but take them. The roses had literally smiled at her and it had looked quite as if the flowers were meant for her and her father. The little brunette daughter of the shopkeepers had insisted that these red roses were the right choice for the occasion. Although she was not much older than four and even shorter than Usagi in height, she already had cute pink rose-shaped earrings that she had envied the little blonde girl for at first sight. She herself also wanted pierced ears, but so far she could not convince her parents of this intention.
But hopefully at least to one thing she could move her dad. At least for tonight. She tugged on her father's arm and looked at him with her bright, sky-blue eyes
"I'm not tired at all! I'm too excited! Please, Daddy, just one more time, it's my favorite song and not even Mommy can sing it as great as you."
The little four-year-old girl was now making big, begging eyes at him, and finally Kenji gave up. He sighed deeply while casting a quick worried glance at his watch.
"Alright, but after this you will sleep, is that a deal?"
"Deal!" She smiled happily at her father, and while he repeated the lullaby, she snuggled under her purple buny blanket, closed her eyes, and slowly drifted off into that wondrous, mysterious dream world that only children were allowed to enter.
Where all was well and everyone she met there brought the bedtime stories and lullabies they had heard from their parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts all night to this special place.
Usagi was really looking forward to bringing the Lavender song again today. This had been her absolute favorite song of all, and no one else could sing it better than her father with his dark and warm voice... except for one person she had recently started to encounter regularly in her dreams, who also sang her favorite lullaby in a sweet but lighter voice than her dad.
Usagi was more than excited to break the news to him that her mother had been taken to the hospital this morning and her father had told her that her brother would probably be born tonight. She had absolutely no idea how it all worked with having children, but she was glad that her dad had promised to stay home with her and take care of her.
Therefore, tomorrow would be a very exciting day for her and all these thoughts around the fact that she would soon become a big sister, she wanted so much to share with him.
Usagi was now standing in this beautiful green clearing in the wonderful fir forest that she had known for some time. There were never any monsters here, only good children and animals around her, with whom she played and laughed a lot in her dreams. She also liked to just dance through the night to the sweet music of lullabies that the other children brought from home. Sometimes they also made up new songs. About friendship, love and family, So they all felt that their parents and loved ones were somehow always with them in their dreams. It was such a wonderful place where everyone felt safe and carefree. A real little dream paradise.
One day she met this quiet and sad boy here, who was a little older than her. She neither knew his name nor where he came from. Usagi had felt that he was very alone, and so she had left the round of her friends and had gone over to the lonely, black-haired boy.
At first they didn't talk, but she had always just taken a seat next to him and spent some time with him without saying a word. All she had done was hum the lines of her favorite song, and after a while he had actually joined in. From then on, he kept appearing in her dreams in that beautiful fir forest, so Usagi assumed that he enjoyed her company and liked her.
A few dreams later, he became talkative, literally thawed out and began to tell her his life story... he talked about a car accident and that he had lost his memory since then. He was really alone a lot, because unfortunately his parents could not be saved in the accident. Then in the hospital he had met another boy who was also alone, but he couldn't come with him to this dream place because he couldn't dream at all. So he had no family to bring a lullaby to this dream place, nor did he have friends to spend time with in his dreams.
Usagi still didn't know what his name was, and she hadn't told him her name either, knowing that it wouldn't matter at this dream place where only children were allowed. But what grew in them both dream by dream was a song, a duet, that after a while they began to sing together in almost every dream. One day Usagi had decided to call it "You are just my love", as she felt that this perfectly suited the feelings they seemed to carry very deep inside for each other. Wherever this strong bond between them seemed to come from. Besides, she was absolutely sure that this would be the boy she would marry one day... apart from her dad, of course.
Tonight she was going to tell him the news about her little brother, who would be coming into this wonderful world shortly.
When the black-haired boy appeared, Usagi jumped up from her colorful flower meadow bed, hopped over to him and called out happily
"Oi! I really must tell you some great news!"
She fairly gasped when she finally got to him, but was suddenly interrupted by a strange rattling sound coming from some bushes a bit away from them.
As they both glanced at the source of the noise, a white winged horse with a golden horn suddenly appeared, strutting straight out of the undergrowth.
Usagi and the boy were slightly surprised by the sight, but the magical creature seemed to be as friendly as the rest of the people and animals in this lovely fir forest.
"Please, do not be afraid of me." The magical creature spoke in a warm, gentle voice. "I am pleased to finally meet you both."
"Who are you?" The boy glanced at the white-winged unicorn and eyed it slightly critically.
"I am and always will be your friend, your supporter, and your assistant when you need me."
The magic horse spoke as it slowly continued to approach the two children until it was close enough and finally came to a stop.
"Long ago, there was a world called your home. Now that you have been given a new chance to relive that precious life, and the two of you will meet again in the future, I have been instructed to give you the items that will help you find your way back to the real you."
As if by magic, a golden sparkle filled the air until something materialized before the children's astonished eyes.
"What is that?" Curious, the boy looked at the golden star-shaped gem that had landed in his hand.
The magical horse gave him a long look and finally explained what special thing he had received.
"This is a gift from the past. A star locket that will help you in darker times of your life. Its melody will always remind you of something good, it will tell you to stop and think twice instead."
"Thank you, I will treasure it." That was all he could say back in his trembling voice.
Usagi also glanced at the gem, now clutched tightly in the boy's hand.
"And what do I get? I mean, I want something too." Usagi now pouted slightly and crossed her arms.
The magical horse gave her an understanding, warm smile in return, and suddenly a bouquet of red roses appeared before the little girl.
In the middle of this flowery arrangement was a bright red rose with a golden glow. It looked quite different from the others, and Usagi immediately pulled it out to get a better look at it.
"Is that even a flower?" she asked the white horse. It just smiled at her.
"You are a gift to everyone in your life. Please never forget that."
With those words, the magical creature was gone in an instant, leaving behind two stunned children who were now looking at each other in complete surprise.
After a while, during which neither of them had said anything, the boy began shyly
"You said earlier that you had great news..."
Usagi promptly collected herself and smiled at him with the biggest smile she could dream of. Instead of giving him an answer, she suggested
"Can we exchange our gifts?"
The boy first gave her a stunned look, but then began to laugh so loudly that his laughter filled the entire fir forest. After a few moments he had recovered from this outburst of positive emotion and smiled at the little girl, who was still impatiently waiting for his answer.
"I'm sure that one day there will be an opportunity for both of us to exchange them."
"Deal?" Usagi grinned at him, grabbed his arm and said.
"There's still some time left of that night. Let's go back to the others and play until morning, shall we?"
"No," he replied with a knowing smile on his lips, "there's something I'd like to do with you first..."
After saying this, he took her hands and began to dance in a circle with his little dream girlfriend. She, in turn, let him twirl her around, but made rather big eyes at his unpredictable and actually quite uncharacteristic behavior. The boy, however, simply kept his warm smile on his lips, and while he spun around with her, a familiar song escaped his lips, and his sweet voice filled her whole dream world.
"I love to dance, dilly dilly
I love to sing"
As Usagi joined in this beautiful melody, she added with a smile
"When I am queen, dilly dilly
You'll be my king"
...
,Lavender's green, dilly dilly,
Lavender's blue
If you love me, dilly dilly,
I will love you
Who told me so, dilly dilly,
Who told me so?
I told myself, dilly dilly,
I told me so'