She leaves, tonight
Escorted by no one, under the cloak of moonlight
For a rare nightly journey
Wearing black kimono with higanbana
Embroidered in it
Arousing curiousity and surprise
She wore the flower of death
To her, a symbol of her defiant sorrow
The which has tormented her
For years
Another key to her past.
Once, as I remember, one of my "lovers" asked me if why it was that the kimono I had made myself had the higanbana embroidered into it. That kimono is one of the few remnants of my bitter past and, frankly, during that time, less so than now, I had quietly wished for death, hoping it would take me away. Death never came, so the kimono symbolized my defiant sorrows. Of course, said kimono was also what I wore when I escaped from that wretched place.
I had done up my hair nice and adorned it with that cherished flower of death and put on red makeup. The night is when my face is not hidden and when I am not escorted. Naturally, I decided to take the child with me, just for this particular nightly journey. No one has ever accompanied me before on nightly journeys like this, yet, I made an exception. With her in my arms and under the cloak of moonlight, I ventured toward my destination.
My destination was a cliff overlooking a pond, "Moonlight Pond". Said cliff was also covered in flowers and it, along with the pond in which it had overlooked, is a rather scenic place. Of course, it was a place in which I had come to think and sometimes sing my songs of woe.
This cliff did hold some memories. Some sweet, some bitter, bitter memories I sincerily hoped would fade into emptiness. Some of the flowers in this cliff were once white, now they grow red. I first fled to here, after suffering catstrophic injuries, and, as I looked into the moon reflecting into the pond below, I had comtemplated jumping off, yet found myself in its embrace, thus resolving lie there until the pain subsided. Since then, the flowers grew red, as red as the blood that poured from my open wounds.
Of course, I did have someone special I've met near here, some years ago, and that was Ran. She doesn't remember this kimono or this cliff, but I do remember this is what I was wearing when I first met her. Of course, I had met her on one such nightly journey. Something told me to come here that night and I hadn't known what, until I had found her. She's grown, married, and now has children to call her own, leaving me to bring Reimu here.
Holding the sleeping bundle in my arms, I sat contemplating my memories of this cliff and the kimono I wore. Silently still, there remains defiant sorrows and some wishes of death. Perhaps, when time goes on, she'd probably don this kimono as well, wishing life hadn't been so cruel.