The gate opened as Kaoru approached; hearing her father's story had not prepared her enough, and she jumped in surprise at seeing the iron bars move by themselves. Once open, they were still again.
Kaoru took a deep breath, and walked through.
The sky was the color of twilight, and the air was warm. She was confused at first; she had thought it mid-afternoon, and knew for certain that it was the middle of winter. But she was walking into something foreign, something magic...what did normal laws care about a place like this?
She walked forward, and would not let herself be afraid.
The path before her stretched out, surrounded on either side by a large field. No wildflowers grew there; it was stark and empty. There was no movement of any kind, not even a wind to move the grasses. She kept her eyes fixed on the city in front of her. Most of the houses were dark, but as she approached she could see lights flickering in the windows, here and then gone again in a breath, almost too quick to be seen. She took hope from this; perhaps the city was not deserted, as her father had thought. Perhaps she would not be alone after all, with only a monster to keep her company...
She shook her head. That was not to be thought of. She hadn't even met him yet.
But soon, soon...
Not yet.
After about an hour's walk she entered the city proper. The houses were old, many of them verging on uninhabitable. The lights that had at first comforted her were now bewildering; they seemed only to exist in the houses ahead of her, and by the time she reached them and peered anxiously through the windows and doors, the houses would be dark once more. There was no sound aside from the slight tapping of her own shoes on the road, nothing to see but twilight's shadows. Sometimes, out of the corner of her eye, it would seem as though the houses were entirely translucent, that she could almost see through them to the great plains beyond...but whenever she turned her head to look, they were there, silent and formidable.
Kaoru twisted the fabric of her kimono around her fingers nervously. She had never seen- or even imagined- any place like this. This was a ghost village. She was an ordinary girl, with an ordinary life- what was she doing here? She shivered, tempted to turn back to the gate, even though she had promised. Not her father, not the Battousai, but herself. She'd vowed that she would do this thing...but she was afraid. However she tried to deny it, she was very afraid, wanting nothing more than to be home with the father and sisters she loved, in a place she knew.
Just as the thought crossed her mind, a light flickered on in one of the houses ahead of her. She approached, and the light did not fade away. She stood directly in front of the building. The light remained steady. Kaoru took a deep breath and put her foot on the first step of the porch. It was solid beneath her feet; she'd half expected her foot to pass through it. She walked up the remainder of the steps and slid the door open. She stepped out of her shoes and walked through the entrance.
The first thing she noticed about the room was that it was empty; Kaoru felt equal parts regret and relief that there were no other people. She looked more closely. It was a small house, but comfortable enough...she almost liked it, as she had not liked anything in this strange place. Lit candles were attached to sparsely decorated walls; only the occassional picture or calligraphy stood out against their starkness. The floor was covered with a tatami mat that scrunched beneath her bare feet. A table was laid out in the center of the room, covered with food. Any other observations fled at the thought of dinner; it was hours since she had last eaten. Without thinking she sat down and began to eat with a good appetite.
A thought tickled the back of her mind: she had heard more than one story of travelers who had eaten the food of a strange place and then been forced to stay there forever, enchanted. Her chopsticks hesistated for a moment. She forced the thoughts from her mind, instead concentrating on the fact that she was very hungry and would have to eat sometime. It was not very likely that she would ever go home again in any case...but she would not think of that.
She finished eating, and looked around the room once more. In a room off to the side she could see something that looked like the outline of a futon. Curious, she set down her chopsticks, stood, and went to look. It was a simple bedroom, much like the one she'd left behind; Kaoru's knees buckled slightly at the thought of rest. It had been a long, very long day, and she had not slept much since her father had come home with the news that either he or she must be sacrificed to a monster known only from old stories. She bit her lip, torn between the need for sleep and the desire to know a little more about the situation she'd gotten into.
There was a whisper of sound behind her; she turned to find a chair sitting beside the doorway. Folded on the seat was a lovely pink kimono decorated with white leaves; a red obi rested on the arm of the chair, the ends just touching the floor. She was sure neither chair nor kimono had been there when she entered the room. Kaoru frowned, uncertain; the obi moved slightly with a breeze that Kaoru could not feel.
She sighed and moved forward. She wanted to know what was to become of her. If they had provided her with a beautiful outfit for her execution, well then; it could do no added harm for her to wear it. Her life was no longer hers; it had been given in exchange for her father's. She would do whatever this strange place wished of her.
It was strange to wear a kimono, like stepping back into her old life, before her father's business had collapsed...once she had owned many- even a few made of silk- but that was long ago. They had all been sold with the rest of the family's possessions, and since then she had made do with cheaper clothing. It took a few minutes for her fingers, numbed by the day's experiences and by a year without practice, to tie the knot in her obi.
She dressed as quickly as she could and and left the bedroom, pausing in the doorway as she saw the table had been cleared. The plates and food had all vanished, replaced by a single candle flickering in a glass holder. Kaoru shook her head, not willing to puzzle out that bit of strangeness just yet, and walked back through the front door, down the steps. She couldn't help shivering a bit as her feet once more stepped onto the abandoned road. At random, she picked a direction and set out with determination, trusting the city around her to lead her where it wanted.
She walked for several minutes, looking around her. There were no more lights flickering, now; the houses were still. The sky above was still the color of twilight, though she was certain that several hours must have passed since her arrival.
A sudden breeze caught at her hair, brushing against her skin gently. The smell of it made her gasp with sudden feeling.
Flowers. She was sure of it. Flowers would be a welcome sight in a place as lonely and unfriendly as this. Kaoru walked a bit faster through the streets, searching desperately for the source of the breeze. She stopped abruptly as she turned a corner and saw a figure standing in the street ahead of her.
It was a woman; her back was to Kaoru, so she couldn't see a face. The woman had long dark hair cascading down her back. Her kimono was white, embroidered with lavender flowers. Her obi was deep blue. Kaoru stepped forward, one hand reached out and her mouth opening to speak; before she had a chance to say a word, the woman turned and looked over her shoulder. Her face was young and beautiful, the features delicate. Her eyes were very sad. Even as Kaoru completed her step, the woman faded before her eyes.
Kaoru's breath caught in her throat with grief; the woman's face had been sad, but not unkind, and it would be so good to know that there was another person here to talk to, anyone at all...she rushed forward, looking around for any glimpse of the woman. She turned another corner, searching, and stopped at the sight of something else.
Spreading out before her was an orchard, seperated from the city only by a small fence with a gate. Hundreds of cherry blossoms in full bloom swayed easily in the breeze. The sight of the bright pink petals cheered Kaoru enormously, and she walked through the gate without hesitating, eager to be near them.
She walked under the trees, cupping her hands to catch the falling petals, holding them up to her nose and breathing in their scent with a sigh. Now she would not be lonely; she had the trees to keep her company, to provide a relief from the endless succession of empty houses. And she would find the woman again. Perhaps she was only hiding somewhere deeper in the orchard.
But even this thought could not comfort her for long. There was still too much unknown, and she had yet to meet her captor. She still did not know what her future was to be, or if. The Battousai had promised her father that no harm would come to her...but what was the word of such a monster worth? Surely it could not be trusted. Perhaps these last few moments with the flowers were all she had, but she could no longer enjoy them.
She let the petals fall between her fingers through the ground, and walked on. A sixth sense led her through the orchard, until, beneath a tree just ahead, she could see a shadow. Not a woman's shape.
She would not let herself be afraid. She thought of how angry she had been upon first hearing that someone had threatened her father's life, just for the loss of a few flowers. That thought- that waste, which had brought her here to this moment- was enough to drive away any fear. Perhaps her father had stained his honor by taking the Battousai's flowers without permission, but this was a high price to ask them to pay.
She walked forward and stopped in front of the shadowed figure, hands clenched tightly at her sides.
The man looked at her for several minutes, then bowed to her. "Good evening."
"Good evening, mikoto-sama," Kaoru said quietly.
"I am no lord," the man returned. "I am the Battousai; call me that, please." There was silence between them for a moment. Kaoru looked at the ground, her toes scrunching in her sandals. She did not have anything to say.
Finally, Battousai spoke again, his voice falling into the silence like hard drops of crystal. "Did you come here of your own free will?"
Kaoru nodded, mute.
"Do you hate me?"
The words were not crystal this time, but softer...rain instead of ice. Kaoru frowned, defiant. She would not be afraid. "All I know of you is that you told my father he would die unless I took his place; why shouldn't I hate you?"
Softer still, this time. "I did not threaten him. I only said that if you did not come, he would have to return to face me. I never said I would kill him when he came."
She gasped. "You mean...you would have let him go? Then, why? Why ask for me at all? Did I come here for nothing?"
"I had to." A breath. "I'm sorry."
Kaoru's head whirled. "I don't understand."
His face was shadowed by the branches of the tree he stood under, but she could see his expression. To her astonishment, he almost smiled, meeting her eyes for just a moment. His shone amber, gleaming brightly in the dusk. His voice was edged with regret. "No, I would imagine not. Again, I am sorry."
There was a long moment of silence as Kaoru tried desperately to think of something to say, a question she might ask. "There are... lights...in the village," she offered tentatively. "Are there other people here?" She couldn't bring herself to describe the woman she had seen.
The Battousai shook his head. "I have never seen anyone else. But there is a...a magic, if you will, at work here. You found a house set up for you, I believe? With dinner waiting?" She nodded. "You can stay there, if you wish. Don't be afraid; there is nothing in this city that can harm you. Not even I can harm you, whatever you might think of me."
Kaoru bit her lip, not willing to look at him.
"I swear it."
"I believe you." And suddenly, she did. There was an air about him... this man was dangerous, yes. He could kill her as easily as blinking. Of that she was sure. But she was also certain that he did not lie, that he would never lie to her. With that realization was born something else: a wary trust, stretched thin between the two of them.
"My name is Kaoru," she offered quietly. Surely it could not harm her to give him her name. And if they were the only two people in this place...she wanted to be called by her name. Even if it was by this man.
"Kaoru-dono." Battousai closed his eyes briefly, as though that one word was a burden too heavy for him to bear, a gift he could not accept.
While his eyes were closed she was able to examine him, for just a moment. The dark clothing. The long red hair, pulled high in a ponytail. The delicate features so sharply in contrast with the angry crossed scars on his cheek. She shivered at the sight of them; there was something about them that frightened her, even more than the sound of his name. She looked away quickly, before he had a chance to catch her staring.
"Kaoru-dono."
His voice sounded as though it had the beginnings of a question in it; she glanced back at him, twisting her fingers nervously together in the folds of her kimono and hoping that he couldn't see them.
"Will you marry me?"
The wind was rushing in her ears; the ground was falling to pieces beneath her feet and she couldn't speak because of the terror choking her. All the memories of the stories came back to her, all the tales of the monster who had killed more men than could be counted, every story that her older sister had ever used to scare her with. She gasped for breath, trying to force her way back through panic.
She thought of small things, simple things. Her fingers, wrapped in the cotton material of her kimono. It was soft, familliar under her touch. Familiar, ordinary...unlike everything else in this strange city she'd found herself in, where ghosts walked in the streets and kimonos appeared out of thin air, where the Battousai had just asked her to marry him..."Oh god, what can I say?" she murmured helplessly. She had not intended for him to hear, but he did.
"Your honest answer. Nothing else."
"No!" The word broke from her throat with a vehemeance that startled her, even though she knew she could have given no other answer.
"Please don't be afraid." He did not sound surprised. His voice was unhappy, but she could not find it within herself to feel sorry for him. "You can go now, if you wish. Good night."
It sounded like a dismissal. She wanted it to be a dismissal. She backed up a step, then another. He did not move, did not even look at her. Her courage broke; she turned around and fled, running as quickly as she could back towards the village. Automatically her feet retraced the path towards the house she'd found her supper in, half an hour ago, a thousand years ago. Only after she had passed the doorway did Kaoru collapse to her knees, her entire body shaking and her face covered in tears.
Yes, it's completely necessary that he propose. If you've read the original story of Beauty and the Beast (NOT the Disney version, though I like that one), you'll know why. If you haven't read the original faery tale, just take my word for it that 1) it's necessary, and 2) why it's necessary will be explained later. =)
Thanks to B.Na, who gave me a lot of helpful comments on this chapter. =)