Fate Beckons
Chapter 19(Epilogue): Eien no Ai (Forever Love)
5 years on
Haru (Spring)
She smiled as she watched the petals fall from the flowers of the sakura tree outside her window. Spring again...but this time it would be different. She wondered what the surprise--or not-so-surprise since she was expecting it--would be this time.
5 years ago, Aoshi had proposed. It was three years later that they married, among the lanterns of summer on the 7th day of the 7th month.
"Qi1 yue4 qi1 ri4 chang2 sheng1 dian4
Ye4 zhong1 wu2 ren2 si1 yu3 shi2
Zai4 tian1 yuan4 zuo4 bi2 yi4 niao3
Zai4 di4 yuan4 zuo4 lian2 li3 zhi1..."
(On the seventh day of the seventh month, in the Palace of Longevity
In the middle of the night when there are no whispers
In the sky, may we be birds that fly wing to wing
On earth, to be intertwining branches...)
On that day in the sky, as legend went, the Weaving Maid would be reunited with the Cowherd Boy again after a year's separation. Aoshi and Misao had deemed it to be a suitable wedding date, as then would their love be as eternal as that of the Weaving Maid and Cowherd Boy...or as the famous Tang Dynasty beauty Yang Guifei promised the Emperor in a dream in the famous poem 'Chang2 Hen4 Ge1' (Song of Enduring Sorrow)
Song of Enduring Sorrow. It had been almost a decade since she had first learnt it, but those four lines that vowed of unending love had always remained in Misao's mind through all those years. It was fitting that she and Aoshi had actually made it part of their wedding vows.
Staying up together through the night, they saw the Weaver and the Cowherd constellations [Don't remember the actual names!] of stars meet across the Milky Way to be reunited once more. At that moment, they too came together in union...the Unmei pendants glowing in hope for the future. Past, present and future combined with only one aim--of everlasting love through eternity.
The previous spring, after Aoshi had graduated, they moved to Kyoto where they had always felt an affinity with. The love had started there--it would continue there too. The moment everything had been settled, they had rushed to the garden, where another promise waited to be kept.
Hannya's mask, the diary Shikijou loved writing in, Hyottoko's favourite lighter, the army uniform Beshimi had taken so much pride in...all lay under the earth in memory of the four beloved friends, both of the past life and the present. The sun had never stopped shining on the garden even on the rainiest days.
Misao smiled as she recalled the past years. If in my previous life that tragedy hadn't happened, perhaps we would have been as happy, or even happier...if that were possible. But Fate, as if making up for lost time, had again given them another blessing. Misao smiled as she patted her gently rounded belly, remembering the exhilarated look Aoshi had on his normally emotionless face when they had discovered she was with child. She was surprised that he had not fainted there and then, but knowing Aoshi, even if he was about to faint he would keep himself from doing so!
Had it really been 8 years since their reunion? Time had passed in a blur of happiness...sometimes she still could not believe that it wasn't just a blissful dream, but reality.
Smiling, she closed her eyes, reminiscing about the past. How Aoshi had tilted her head up to meet his eyes, to watch their coldness melt into burning passion and love...the passionate wedding night that could still make her blush...
Looking into the mirror nearby, she saw a smiling young woman, with eyes shining full of contentment, cheeks red and rosy. Earlier that morning, Aoshi had looked at her fondly and remarked, "You've grown more beautiful, my little wife." She had hit him on the shoulder in jest--in Mandarin, little wife, or 'xiao lao po', means 'mistress', or concubine!
"Misao...Misao..." a familiar voice called. Then, a flash from the mirror. Misao's eyes widened as her reflection changed into that of a young woman with the same face, but with hair in a braid instead of in a loose knot. It was the face she had so often seen whenever she looked into the mirror in her dreams of the past.
"Hisashiburi ne," [It's been a long time hasn't it], the reflection asked, smiling albeit sad eyes. The voice sounded far away, as if it were coming from another dimension.
"Hai," Misao replied. It was true that she no longer dreamt of the past but instead of the future ever since the day Aoshi proposed to her in the garden. Had it really been 5 years since then?
"I'd like to thank you for finding happiness...the happiness we never found in our past life." The reflection began to fade.
"Where are you going?" Misao asked.
"Nowhere...I'm in you. We're one and the same person, in different times..." At last, even the voice faded away, leaving Misao to stare in wonder.
A kick in her belly. The look of wonder in Misao's eyes changed into that of surprise and excitement. The first time she felt any movement from the little one within! She had to tell Aoshi--he had made her promise to tell him if she felt the baby move.
Hand on her waist, she walked to the doorway and called out happily. "Aoshi!"
-----
A few months later...
Aoshi held his newborn son in his arms fondly. Barely a day old, the infant was a livewire, kicking around--hard. Somehow, he still couldn't believe that the child was a part of him, but it obviously was, right down to the greyish blue eyes.
"You're hogging him!" Misao, still a little tired, pouted. Smiling, Aoshi handed the child back to her.
"What should we name him?" she asked, cuddling the precious bundle. Aoshi moved closer, looking intently at his face.
"Hmmm...something that sounds okay in both Japanese and Mandarin..." Aoshi frowned for a while.
"I'd like him to be brave, how about "Yuuki"? Misao asked.
"Sounds good. Yuuki it will be." The exhilaration that washed over Aoshi was unequalled by anything in his life. That very moment he had heard the child's first cries, all his previous victories and happy moments became nothing compared to what he felt right then...except maybe that day, five years ago, in the garden.
My happiness is complete, he thought, smiling as he bent over the two most important people in his life.
-------------------
A month later
"Say 'daddy'! Come on!" Aoshi held his little son up to eye level and mock glared at him. This little...bundle of joy (or rather mischief) had lightened him up considerably over the past month.
Red eggs lay on the table nearby. Somehow, Aoshi's maternal grandmother still insisted on carrying on with tradition--hence the red eggs to celebrate the child's first month.
Misao pouted at Aoshi. "He's only a month old--he's not going to say anything yet!" she chided.
"Well, he's got to start early."
"Have it your way...just don't be disappointed."
Little Yuuki gurgled in agreement. Misao's eyes softened, and she slipped the "Un" pendant over her head. Aoshi looked at her questioningly.
"Remember what you told me when you gave me this?" she asked. Aoshi nodded--how could he forget?
I want you always to remember what 'Ummei' means to us. Whenever you miss me, think of that, because someday, the two halves will certainly come together again, then Fate will have completed her job.
"I think fate more or less has...with Yuuki. He symbolizes the sealing of our fate, in a way," she continued. And Aoshi realised how true the words were.
"From now, the pendants will come together again...it will protect him and remind him of how his parents came together." He slipped his own pendant away from the chain, and onto Misao's. The two halves clicked together, and then, as if it were a miracle, fused together, side by side to form a whole. Unmei.Just like it was always meant to be...and nothing could separate them again...
Life comes and goes, but an everlasting love will withstand its tribulations, overcoming the odds to fulfill Fate...for eternity.
Owari
Notes: Finally! I hope this finale wasn't too cheesy or corny or anything.
Actually I finished this long ago but did some finetuning--I told myself, this
final chapter has to be the best, and I hope it is. As to why I didn't post this
earlier, schoolwork and training has taken up a lot of time so I'm sorry to all
my readers who were just aching for the last chapter!
Thanks for reading and reviewing, and for your support!
