"Forest Circle Dance"
----------------------

The boy drifts along, pulled by a force unknown, yet familiar. He moves aimlessly, a
lost drone without a hive; a soul in a world that he no longer belonged to or wished to
belong to. Darkness encloses his soul, a soul that is lost, though not forfeit.

The wind blows, and in the trees to the side, a flash of white. A giggle. Soft. Carefree.
Mischievous. It's as if a child is at play, but no child would be in these woods...a
child...

A small, petite figure in a white kimono steps out of the woods in front of the boy,
smiling. She opens her eyes, golden. Mysteriously deep...the eyes of a young girl, but
yet, of the ageless. The boy looks at her, speechless, but not without thought...

"Her golden eyes...they are mysterious..."

The boy watches her, trembling. He wasn't trembling at the girl, but at what had brought
him here, this dark night...

"They'll close the gateway to your tears...stopping the flow, of the hourglass of time..."

The young girl circles, still smiling in her mystery. The boy closes his eyes, falling to
his knees. This was who he had been seeking. She was the One. The One who could
change everything...

"Severing the string, known as anguish..."

The girl moves in close. He can feel her presence. He can feel her breath. He can
feel her lips. And then, he can no longer feel anything at all...

"The sound and the rhythm, disappear..."

Her voice, soft and tender, echoes in his ears.

"This is the realm...of eternal sleep..."

The boy opens his eyes, and the landscape has changed. The sky is red, as red as the
blood that had purchased his freedom. He stands in woods, with fruits of glass, red and
black, hanging in defiance of gravity from trees that otherwise appeared without
substance, ebony and scarlet.

The girl whispers into a strange handball, and then laughs, her happiness echoing in
this, the starkest realm. She extends her hand, waving it, almost seductively, beckoning
him to her. He obeys, willing. Desiring...

"Go on...come to her..."

The boy closes his eyes once more, and the girl takes his hand, holding it with the delicate
care of a gardener and her most cherished, dearest flower. The boy doesn't speak, and only
thinks one thing...it was the one thing that had brought him here...

"The young girl will take your hand and lead you to the one you most want to see..."

The boy drifts along again, lead by the girl. No sound. No feeling. Soon, they reach
where the girl wishes to take him, and she releases his hand. The boy opens his eyes,
absorbing the sight of his beloved‚ who had been killed a month earlier in a car accident.
She smiles at him, her eyes twinkling, so full of youth and life, as if she had never been
taken away...

"...and you'll no longer need anything else..."

The young girl whispers into her handball once more, and giggles again.

The boy looks at his beloved. He worries, ever so briefly, if this is just another
avenue to agony. How long would he be allowed to stay? Would he be forced
back into his previous existence once again, alone? He looks at his surroundings...

"Red and black..."

The boy wants to be assured - wants comfort - that this will be his new reality.
A world of tranquility...with the one he loves...

The young girl appears to notice his moment of concern. As if reading his very thoughts,
she smiles reassuringly. Her voice soothes him as as she speaks, removing his doubt...
bringing to him the comfort his soul desperately longs for...

"You can sleep for as long as you want...here..."

The boy shivers, and then embraces his beloved. Together again. Forever...

The young girl starts to walk into the woods, leaving the couple to themselves. The white
kimono of the girl swirls around her, fluttering again in an unfelt wind. Her voice rings
out softly before she vanishes.

"This is the realm...good night..."

Fanfic Copyright 2001 Kevin Turnquist. I don't own Vampire Princess Miyu (I wish!) so
all references to her, the song "Rinbu no Mori," etc. are the property of the respective
copyright holder.