Like a ghost in the white light of
the morning,
Dancing in the shadows...
Are you there?
And a shadow, like a sadness
Falling across the garden...
Are you there?
For Eternity...Days and Days
Part 1
12/20/96
by: Jennifer L. Mondazzi
"You know, you really should be more careful when dealing with one of
them," Karen chided the younger girl, who sat stoicly on the chair in
front of her. Arashi-san remained silent, refusing to answer, her back
ramrod straight in the wooden chair.
Kneeling at the young girl's feet, wrapping her wounded ankle, Karen
formulated the plan carefully in her mind.
She had seen how the young priest often looked at the Shrine Maiden,
the love glowing in his eyes. Still, Arashi had refused to return
Sora-chan's harmless flirtations, keeping her distance from him, as if
afraid of what his nearness. In addition, the young woman's rigidity
and closed attitude had made it increasingly difficult to get near
enough to her to put any kind of plan into action to win her favor.
Then, she had gotten into that skirmish with that female Dragon of the
Earth -- Satsuki-san was her name.
True, it had been purely coincidental that they had passed each other
on the street like that, however, as Sora-chan pointed out, it had
definately been purely predictable that the Dragon of Heaven would
choose that time to blow off the growing irritability she had been
feeling.
It seemed that the coming day was making all of them anxious.
As Arashi-san sat quietly in her chair, unmoving, uncompromising,
Karen decided that now was the perfect time to play the matchmaker.
"Ne, Kishuu-san, do you think Sora-chan would be interested in someone
like me?"
Thunderous silence stretched between them. Karen took it all in
stride, continuing to wrap the girl's ankle, and refusing to meet the
obvious glare that she could feel bore into her. After several seconds
of no answer, Karen looked up, putting on her best "poker face".
"Well, do you think, he'd think of me in that way?"
Looking into the younger girl's eyes, Karen knew the bait had been
taken. Her fellow Dragon's jealousy proved what Karen had suspected
all along.
"No, I don't." Arashi's tone was hard. Karen's face dropped, and
she became the actress she had always longed to be.
"Why not?" she asked, standing over the girl, exposing her smooth,
well-muscled thigh "accidentally". "I'm told I'm beautiful, and I know
how to pleasure a man. Maybe that's what Sorata-san needs -- a soft,
loving woman."
Arashi's obvious aggitation over the woman's words made Karen almost
squeal with delight and give the whole thing away. She struggled hard
to control the bouts of giggles threatening to burst and ruin
everything.
Arashi tried to stand, to get away from Karen-san's sickenly sincere
eyes. She managed to stand and limp over to the window opposite the
table, and stared out into the nighttime skyline of Tokyo, watching the
lights flicker on and off, attempting to calm her anger. The night was
still young, and not everyone in the mansion had fallen to sleep yet.
She could hear their restlessness, their tossing and turning, their low
voices talking in earnest, and knew that she would be very much like
them if she attempted to lay her head down.
No, she couldn't sleep even if she wanted to. Karen's words had
struck a jealous streak in Arashi that she didn't like, and she knew
she'd brood about it for a while. The older woman's voice, in the
background, continued on about how Sorata - Sora-chan, she called him,
was such a good catch. How she would just love to be alone with the
man for a few minutes. Arashi's jealousy grew, and she knew she had to
get away from Kasumi-san.
Turning suddenly, she marched towards the door, hoping to go back
outside to breathe in the clean, crisp night air, praying to clear her
head of the taunting words in her mind.
Karen sensed she had gone too far when the young Miko suddenly turned,
standing taller, and marched, straight-backed all the way to the door,
planning to leave. She had to say something. One last thing to reel
the girl in.
"Ne, Kishuu-san," Karen continued in the dreamy-sounding voice, "If I
had a chance for Sora-chan to carry me with a wounded ankle, I wouldn't
struggle. His big, strong arms around me...."
Arashi fled.
When the door shut behind the young maiden of Ise, Karen burst out
into giggles, tears openly running from her eyes. The young girl would
not sleep this night.
A sudden shadow was cast on the wall in the hallway, heading in the
same direction as the quickly fleeing girl. A fresh bout of giggles
consumed Karen and she fell to her knees, clutching her stomach. She
doubted that Arashi-san would escape the promised day without at least
one good kiss.