Written for this week's Togakushi Shrine challenge. Hinoto and Kanoe were not always they way we see them in X. Once upon a time, they were little girls...
Like yin and yang, they curled up together, dark hair and white flowing down their backs, sweeping over the bed behind them. Kanoe was extra careful not to hurt her older sister as she rested her head on her atrophied leg. Hinoto had her head on Kanoe's hip, since her body was smaller despite being older. They hardly looked like sisters at all.
"I had another bad dream, Oneesan."
Hinoto closed her eyes, frowning slightly. I did as well, she said in her telepathic voice.
"Everybody in the world was gone, and I was all alone." It was the best her six-year-old mind could describe it. "Everything fell apart, and everybody died, and I was the only one left and nobody was there to talk to me. Oneesan, don't ever die." Tears were spilling down her cheeks, into the long white nightgown that covered her sister's form. Kanoe's gown was dark blue...in the darkness it looked black. In all things, it seemed, they were treated as opposites except by each other.
It's okay, I'm here, came the soothing reply. Hinoto lifted a delicate hand painfully, trying to show some reassurance, but it was impossible for her. She dropped her hand sadly, looking at it with frustration. Every day it became more difficult to move her limbs...every day it became harder to do anything at all but dream. Even her sight was fading, so all she saw was what appeared through other people's eyes.
Hinoto sighed and tried to think of something. Perhaps...a story? Maybe that would quiet her sister.
A long time ago, there was a magical princess. She was locked away in a dungeon so that the king could use her magic for himself. Because she was a princess she was given everything she could hope for, and was kept comfortable, but she could never be free.
"Was the princess named Hinoto?" Kanoe asked eagerly. She idolized her sister, and already thought any princess should be her, in every story that was told.
Hinoto smiled. Yes, she was. She had servants to dress her and bring her anything she wished, and they always kept her company when she wished it, and they would give their lives to save her. They were the noblest of warriors as well, who would do anything...except grant her freedom. For, they were her captors as well.
Every night the king would come down the stairs to her ornate dungeon and kneel before her. "Tell me all you have dreamed, great Princess Hinoto." She would then tell him about other kingdoms and all that would befall. She told him about traitors within his court, and corruption in the streets. She hoped that this would prompt him to make things better...and sometimes it did.
Too often though, it did not.
"He must have been a very foolish king," Kanoe said, eyes narrowing and mouth forming a little pout. "Anyone who would not listen to Princess Hinoto is a fool."
He was a great fool, but Hinoto did not care about him. For, she saw that one day a prince would come, and try to destroy the kingdom and everyone in it.
"Oh no!"
Yes. And the prince would use Princess Hinoto's gifts for himself. But, there was nothing she could do except try to tell the king how to stop it. The king was too proud to think that a prince without a kingdom could bring him down though, so he continued to not listen to Hinoto. Eventually the princess decided she would rather follow the strange prince anyway, because at least he respected her magic enough to want to fight to get her.
But, that's not what happened at all.
The princess had one companion that the king did not know of...a little girl in the kingdom who was not a princess.
"Can she be named Kanoe? Please?" Kanoe's eyes were wide...she never wanted to be a princess for herself. It was okay as long as Hinoto was, but Kanoe liked to be able to run outside and play with other kids even if she got scraped knees and elbows. Princesses couldn't climb in trees and other fun stuff.
Of course she can, Hinoto said with a smile. And, she was Hinoto's only true friend. Since Kanoe would die if the prince killed everyone in the kingdom, Hinoto was afraid of what was to come. They knew each other because Kanoe could enter Hinoto's dreams--
"Just like me!" Kanoe said excitedly.
Yes. Just like you. One day, Hinoto thought of a way she might be able to save her friend. "You must go to the prince and convince him that you are on his side. Do whatever he tells you to do, so that he will not hurt you."
Kanoe did what she was told, but when the prince began to destroy the kingdom it scared her. She begged and pleaded for the prince to spare the lives of her friends and family, but he said he was on a holy mission to cleanse the land. He could not spare even one.
Hinoto paused. She'd been taking bits and pieces of her dreams and putting them in the story, but she didn't want to use anything that would happen next. Her intent was to reassure her little sister after a night of bad dreams, not make it worse.
When Hinoto saw this in her dreams, she came up with a plan. She told the prince that Kanoe was a lost princess, and he would never conquer the kingdom without her at his side. So, he was tricked into having an ornate wedding...and because of the nature of weddings he fell in love with Kanoe. He saw how sad she was when she saw her family, thinking it would be for the last time, and he felt bad about what he had to do. These were people who loved each other very much. How could he destroy them?
He prayed to be released from his mission, and Kami-sama saw how pure his love was. The prince was told to return home, where he would become a great and wise king of his own kingdom. He left with Kanoe, and they lived happily ever after.
Kanoe murmured sleepily, "I like that ending much better, Oneesan. Thank you."
Hinoto did too. Maybe it wasn't the best story in the world, but that was okay. As long as Kanoe was happy, and could go back to sleep, it didn't matter what happened to the captive princess, or even the rest of the kingdom.
The end.