Empty Room
A pale girl was standing in a doorway of a dark room. She hesitated for a minute before she entered the chamber, her bare feet soundless on the tatami mats. She approached a wall where a scroll was hanging.
In the mirror the girl held the painting on the scroll reflected - a proud looking woman in a patterned kimono, her fan opened, her lips curved in a smirk, her red eyes full of longing. There were wilted flowers under the painting, ones the girl had brought the previous visit.
"Sister."
She sighed and looked around the empty room. Then she gently put her mirror down and walked to a shoji door leading outside of the palace. She opened it soundlessly. A cool breeze played with her white hair when the girl looked outside and in the darkening evening sky.
She heard a rustle and looked around - just in time to see the wind scattering the flowers across the floor. It could be her imagination but just for a briefest of moments the painting looked as if the woman was smirking playfully and the longing in her eyes was replaced by satisfaction.