THE SHARED PILLOW TREE
****************************************
CHAPTER ONE
*******************

By Uiler

Archiving: Any ML archives yes.  For others, I won't
say no, but please
ask first!

WARNINGS:  Shonen-ai alert.  That is, homosexual
relations.  There is
nothing even remotely graphic in this chapter.

Note: Pang Zhang == Subaru
      Wang Zhongxian  == Seishirou

This is inspired by an old Chinese story called the
"Shared Pillow Tree"
about two male lovers Pang Zhang (an exceptionally
beautiful young
scholar) and another scholar called Wang Zhongxian who
"were as
affectionate as husband  and wife, sharing the
coverlet and pillow with
unbounded intimacy for one  another."  When they died
they were
buried together and to the surprise of the mourners
two tree with their
leaves embracing arose.  This image of trees 
embracing each other was a
common motif in ancient Chinese literature .  This
story was inspired by
speculation on the  relationship between the  peach
tree and sakura (they
have similar flowers, are closely related and  mean
similar things in
China and Japan).  This is a "how the Sakurazukamori
and Sumeragi come
about" fic.

Note I did not translate the poems and sayings.  The
Jin Yong poem was
from a translation off the net, the author of which I
do not know. The
others (and most of the historical information) comes
from "Passions of
the  Cut  Sleeve"  by Bret Hinsch.  Everything is also
extremely
historically  incorrect so  don't complain to me that
Pang Zhang and Wang
Zhongxian lived in  the Chou dynasty and they're
reciting poetry from the
Tang.

Finally, I went a bit insane in this first chapter. 
The following
chapters will have a more sane writing style though in
those I have
still tried to make the language more formalised to
fit
with the setting. You'll see what I mean.

Spoilers:  Currently nothing but the end of Tokyo
Babylon.  But if you're
watching/reading X it's already spoiled anyway so...

**************************************************************************
O mortals, what is love? that binds beyond life on
earth?
to all corners, in pair we fly...
braving summer and winter, by and by...
union is bliss, parting is woe, agony is boundless,
for a lovelorn soul,
sweetheart...
give me word, trail of clouds drifting forward...
and mountains capped with snow, whither shall my
lonesome shadow go?

Translated from:  Return of the Condor Shooting
Heroes, Jin Yong

In years to pass, many would murmur about the beauty
of Pan Zhang.
His  statue was that of a young pine tree, swaying
gracefully in the
wind.  His  skin  was whiter and softer than that of
courtiers who are
never  seen without a puff pad in their hand.  The
features on his
youthful face were of such exquisiteness and fineness
that many
mistook him for one of the heavenly beauties.  And his
eyes were such
a clear shade of jade that to look upon him  was to
look at a jade
mountain and to be dazzled.  He was surely what they
meant by
"a man of  jade".  Even the beauty of Mizi Xia and
Dong Xian could not
compare to that of this "mei ren".

However Pang Zhang was a shy retiring youth.  His love
was that for
books  and for nature.  He would spend many an hour in
his room
studying the works of the Sages.  The times he was not
studying
he was on one of his many walks  through the forests
surrounding his
home, contemplating nature.  It is said that his
beauty and gentle nature
reminded the forest animals of that of the  heavenly
maidens and they
came from all corners of the forest to see him, eating
 from his hand. Ah!
Was there ever such a youth as this Pang Zhang?

Yet for all his modesty, word of his beauty and his
writings spread to all
corners of the Middle Kingdom, like the fragrance of
the peach blossom
drifting on the wind.  One day the news of his beauty
and writings
reached one Wang Zhongxian, a scholar of much note who
had bested
all his fellows in the  national examinations that
year and was soon to
be granted a place at the royal court and an audience
with the Son of
Heaven  himself.  Many marvelled at Wang Zhongxian's
accomplishments  at such a youthful age for 'twas said
by the sages
that he had only  lived twenty-odd years at the time
he took the
examination. How learned was Wang Zhongxian!  How
great was
his wisdom!

Wang Zhongxian was much entranced by the stories about
this gentle
beautiful youth who was reputed to be more beautiful
than Mizi Xia and
Dong Xian.  Many of his fellow students sighed over
their wine and
wished for a picture of this lad even if twas only a
charcoal sketch on
rough paper.   For they reasoned, surely the light
from such a jade
man would shine even from the roughest paper.  For did
the Sages
not say that the beauty of Pai Kei was such  that
"even in coarse
clothing and undressed hair he was always attractive"?
Wang Zhongxian determined to visit this lovely youth
and sketch his
features for his fellow students.  He was not to meet
the Emperor
for several months  yet and thought to use his spare
time to assist his
fellows.  Ah!  How generous was Wang Zhongxian!  How
great was his
sense of brotherhood!

Wang Zhongxian wrote a letter to Pang Zhang.  He soon
received a reply
saying that such a humble unknown scholar as he, Pang
Zhang would
be greatly honoured to receive such a renown scholar
as Wang Zhongxian.
He could come at any time for Pang Zhang rarely left
his home and was
welcome to stay however long he wished.  He looked
forward to his visit
for it was said that amongst the current scholars none
had such knowledge
of the Classics as Wang Zhongxian and as unworthy as
he was he would be
most grateful for any knowledge imparted by him.

Thus with this letter in hand, Wang Zhongxian set out
for the home of Pang
Zhang.

GLOSSARY
***************
"mei ren" == "beautiful person".  Today exclusively
used for women, but in
ancient times could also be used to describe men.

"man of jade"  was a common phrase in ancient China
for describing male
beauty (ala bishounen).

Mizi Xia and Dong Xian - both extremely famous male
beauties who found
favour with various Chinese rulers.  From Mizi Xia's
story came the
phrase "half-eaten peach" to describe male
homosexuality.  One day he
and the  ruler of Wei were walking in a peach garden. 
He took a bite
from a peach and finding it delicious gave the rest to
his lover.  The
king praised  him for his sincerity in his love for
forgoing his own
appetite and to think of only him.  However, later
when Mizi Xia's
looks had started to fade, the king of Wei used this
same incident to
criticise  Mizi Xia for giving him a half-eaten peach
and he was
executed. Confucian scholars used this incident to
show the dangers of
winning favour with Chinese rulers for to be the
favourite of an Emperor
is like "riding a dragon".  The Confucian scholars
disapproved of
nepotism, especially the court practices of giving
favour to men on the
basis of their looks and willingness to distribute
sexual favours instead
of merit and wrote that "a beautiful lad can ruin an
older head".

>From Dong Xian's story came the phrase "passions of
the cut sleeve". His
lover was the Han Emperor Ai (6BC-1AD).  Their
relationship is detailed
in "Records of the Han".  One day the Emperor was
sleeping in the daytime
with Dong Xian on his sleeve.  He wished to rise but
because he did not
want to disturb Dong Xian he cut off his sleeve.  This
became quite a
fashion in court as many courtiers started going
around with cut sleeves.
However this relationship also came to a sad ending. 
When Emperor Ai
died he tried to hand the throne over to Dong Xian.
The bureaucrats rebelled and forced Dong Xian to
committ suicide and put
an infant on the throne who was soon also done away
with.  Emperor Ai
was the last adult emperor of the Western Han dynasty.

Many later poems and stories dealing with male
homosexuality in China
often started with comparing the beautiful boy to
these two
characters.

Pai Kei was a scholar-official who lived from
237-291AD and yes this was
actually written about him.




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