Get Backers: Golden Bells

Author's note: Yes, this was partly taken from some story the brothers Grimm wrote. I don't remember the particulars, but there it is. I tried making it more morbid than the original… well, brothers Grimm are pretty morbid, XP, and ended up with something reminiscent of Kaori Yuki sama. Hehe. Oh well, let me give you the second part.

Through having but once lifted my eyes to look upon a woman, through one fault apparently so venial, I have for years remained a victim to the most miserable agonies, and the happiness of my life has been destroyed forever.

Clarimonde, Theophile Gautier

Part 2: The Story of the Ten Murders

All night long, as the seamstresses braved the night with their failing eyesight and a couple of lamps, the shogun's daughter had been busy as well.

She ordered Ren, the maid who carried the tea to the table to stand guard by her doorway that night as she took her guitar from the cabinet. Then, she chose the finest and strongest string and detached it from the pegs, making sure that she made no noise. Swiftly pulling strands of her own long hair, she braided them with the string so tightly they made a fine strong line. After tying each end of the string to the chimes she wore at her hair, she silently retired for the night. Tomorrow night, she would set the plan in motion.

By morning, the seamstresses had finished almost half of the shogun's daughter's kimono. And the shogun himself had seen Katsuki in her rooms to remind her of her promise. To all these she nodded quietly, fingering the chimes that hung at her hair.

Before the moon arose that night, the shogun's daughter entered each of the dressmakers' rooms and strangled every fine worksman with the string attached to the chimes.

Satisfied that nobody will be able to continue the delicate work on the kimono, Katsuki returned to her rooms to find out that the maid, Ren was already there, and she having heard the tinkle of the chimes, guessed what the shogun's daughter had done. The shogun's daughter realized the trouble she would be in if the household knew her crimes. And she knew that she must somehow bring Ren to her side. And so she smiled at the poor maid in her own vague way and whispered such words of love and endearment the puzzled Ren was assured that her mistress was not human at all and incapable of any unspeakable crime; that she was a goddess, and the goddess chose her as her confidante and lover. And blinded by love as she was, as well as her mistress' incomparable beauty, fooled herself into thinking the crimes then committed as a necessary sacrifice rather than the evil they really were.

But Katsuki did not feel safe. And she was not satisfied.

……….

When the shogun found out the murders the next day, he hurriedly sent word to the last seamstress not to come to his house at all, but rather, finish the kimono in her own home. He knew whom it was who committed the crime, but he was so enamored of his daughter to let anything hamper his marriage to her.

Weeks passed by slowly, and the shogun's daughter was relieved that her father had stopped mentioning marriage to her, thinking that he had seen sense at last or at least had been so affected by the unresolved murders. And so she went about her duties as if nothing had transpired.

Until the day came when the tenth seamstress had finished the kimono and had sent her son to the shogun's house to deliver the package to her overlord's daughter. And that was how the shogun and a lowly seamstress had outwitted the shogun's sly daughter.

The goddess was in her rooms when Ren came in, as bidden, and at the sight of the kimono of such beauty, exclaimed her awe and admiration. Sitting down next to her lover to better inspect the finely made dress, to touch the fine white fabric with only the barest hint of purple shadows and the lifelike cherry blossoms, to compare it with the most reverential of tones to sakura scattered on newly fallen snow, she asked, with all due respect for her mistress to try it on.

Katsuki smiled at her, bidding her ardent servant to give her the mirror behind her that the shogun had given as part of the dowry.

And as the maid turned around to do her bidding, the shogun's daughter stood up from behind her, close to tie the string around her neck. Close to tighten the pressure and kill her. The maid dropped in a heap by the goddess' feet, not seeing her gentle smile as she took off her clothes and replaced them with the maid's own frayed ones. Not even feeling the loving kiss the shogun's daughter pressed against her cold lips before wrapping the kimono in a bundle and thus, the goddess left.

Ai: now, isn't that morbid, even if it's pretty short? XP. By the way, vampire fans out there, try reading Clarimond. It's great, really, especially if one's a sensualist, which I am.XP. nothing of Dracula's scary lizard like escapades, and it doesn't even entertain lesbianism like Carmilla's story did. Try downloading it, anyway.