ja ne,
- Rob

rob@mitsukai.com
Mitsukai!- www.mitsukai.com
Tokyo Teleport - www.tokyoteleport.com
Megami Studios - coming soon
"'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,' -- that is all
Ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know."
- John Keats, Ode On A Grecian Urn

===============================================

everblue.... 
By Rob Barba
Characters (c) 2000 Robert R. Barba/Mitsukai Digital Design

    "You idiot!  How the hell could you do this to me?"
    "Look, Kogimi, I really thought you would like this place.  It's
nice and quiet, and certainly peaceful."
    "But there are no clubs around here!  And what's this - hot springs?
Do I look like an old man to you?  Really, Hikomei, I wonder why I even
bother with you sometimes.  I should be enjoying the nightlife of Osaka
or maybe some overseas vacation spot like Shanghai or Hawaii, not some
little out of the way place in the backwoods!"
    "Kogimi," Hikomei sighed, "it's a nice enough place, peaceful and
just the spot to get away from everything.  Also, I thought that coming
out here and getting some peace and quiet would be nice for us.  After
all, we're getting 
married in about three months, and--"
    "Remind me again why I'm marrying you?" Kogimi snarled, wheeling and
turning on him with eyes filled with the purest anger.  "Oh, that's
right - I love you.  It's a shame that *you* don't think a little more
about *me*, though!  I can't stand this place!  It's so boring!"  Angry
as all get out and completely unaware that she was making a scene in the
small Japanese rural town, the girl strode off, storming towards the
ryokan.  As she walked away, she shouted back, "This had *better* be
worth it, or I swear I'm on the first train back to Tokyo!"


    Hikomei sighed again, running his hands through his dark mane of
hair.  Not for the first time, he wondered how Kogimi stayed with him,
since she seemed so volatile lately and all she wanted to do was argue.
Granted, people told him that she had many faults, but he never believed
it, not his Kogimi.  It was simply too impossible to comprehend that his
flawless ideal could ever be as dark and cruel as many of his friends
claimed.
    He continued to see the same woman he had when he met her at a
stable near Tachikawa three years ago.  She was so beautiful then, so
maddeningly gorgeous that from where he stood, his heart was caught and
never, ever let go.  She was an equestrian for a living, one of those
women who rode show horses in parades or in tournaments; he'd only been
there to do some research for a short story he'd been writing.  But it
became more as he tried to talk to her and was so flummoxed by her
beauty that he could not speak at all.  That caught her attention, and
he asked her out, to which she agreed.
    That had been three years ago.  Now, they'd been engaged a year, and
in three months were to wed.  But something was wrong, and he couldn't
put his finger on it.  She seemed so mad lately, and nothing he could do
would help at all.  Surely it couldn't be because he hadn't sold a novel
yet - after all, it took time to get into the writing business.  Maybe
it was because her equestrian career was taking off, and she was getting
to travel all over the country for performances.  It might have been
because of a thousand things that he might not be aware of.  Or could it
be he wasn't devoting enough time to her?  He did all he could, and
every penny and iota of energy he could devote to making her happy he
did.


    As he picked up both his bag and hers, he walked across the bridge
spanning the river and headed towards the peaceful little ryokan.  He'd
been told about this place by a friend who felt the pair needed a couple
of weeks together alone, to sort out what little difficulties they had
before they became man and wife.  The inn was special, nestled in the
farthest part of the small lakeside town of Kawaguchiko, under the shade
of Mount Fuji.  It had stood the test of time, and many a famous face
had stayed there, despite the inn's strange quirks.  It was a
beautifully rustic place, and the hot springs there were a gorgeous
sight that many a visitor enjoyed and returned to the inn for.  Along
with the ancient landmarks and the quiet little town nearby, most people
would consider the town a wonderful place to venture to.
    The few problems were in the way the ryokan's rules were set up.
The reservation had to be for a two-week period, quite different and
much longer than what was normal for the average Japanese inn.
Additionally, it was separated from the rest of the town by a small
bridge that led the land to the large rock outcropping where it sat.
Lastly, the grounds of the place were said to be haunted by a zashiki
bokko, a benevolent ghost who protected the old inn for reasons unknown
- probably a myth, but local tales were what made life so interesting,
and for an author such as Hikomei, tales were always important.

***

    "Welcome to our little inn.  We hope you'll enjoy your stay," the
old woman at the counter said, though Hikomei could tell that her
pleasantry was faked, and the reason for that was Kogimi, who was
walking around the lobby, her face engraved with a look of disdain.
    "I'm hoping to enjoy my stay here," he replied.  "I've heard a lot
about this place from friends and such.  Is it really true that this
place is haunted?"  Behind his back, he could just feel the vitriolic
stare of Kogimi as she stood, not believing her beau could ever ask such
a stupid question.
    The old lady nodded in kind admission.  "Yes, we have our bokko
zashiki hina over there in the corner.  The doll's been at the inn since
time before time, protecting it as it always has."
    "A doll, you say?"  The young man turned his attention to a doll in
the corner, noting the object seated gently on a small stand.  A replica
of a beautiful young woman frozen in the eternal youth of artifice, the
doll was dressed in a beautiful gray kimono.  The artesian who created
the doll had to be a master, as the figurine looked, if he had to guess,
about his age or so, and she seemed to be smiling with a pure, confident
ease that seemed to be unnatural 
for pieces made during the earlier periods.
    "Yes, there's a legend about her and how she got here, and what her
purpose is.  I'd tell you, but it might take quite some time, as it's a
long story."
    Hikomei found himself immediately entranced by the doll.  "Excuse me
for my forwardness, but I'm an author.  If you don't mind, I'd like to
hear it sometime, if I could.  I find the idea of a guardian ghost doll
interesting."  Turning back to the old woman, he smiled and said, "Of
course, if I write about it, I'll change some of the details so you'll
keep your privacy.  I would hate to see a place this wonderful ruined by
novelty."
    For a minute she stood before him, gazing at him with her piercing,
knowing eyes.  Then the old woman smiled and answered in a warm voice,
"We appreciate it, young sir.  When I have a chance, I'll make sure you
know the story of the doll.  In fact, if you and your la--*LOOK OUT*!!!"
The last was intended as the petulant Kogimi, chattering on her cell
phone, steered unintentionally on a collision course with the doll.
    "...and then Fujiko dumped that boyfriend of hers," Kogimi
continued, oblivious to the world.  "Figures she'd do that, since she's
such a bitch anyway, and--oops!"  The young woman stumbled forward into
the small display stand, flailing her arms and trying to reach for
purchase where there was none.  Finally she failed and tripped forward,
knocking over the stand and sending the doll tumbling to the floor,
while she bounced off the wall and was no worse for wear other than a
slight tear to her blouse.
    The whole of the room went quiet at the sight of what had just
occurred.  The innkeepers stared in shock at the audacity of the young
woman knocking over the physical shell of the guardian spirit of the
inn.  Some of the other guests of the inn looked bemused, unable to
believe the uncivilized behavior of the bratty young woman on the
ground.  Hikomei merely shook his head in chagrin, unable to believe
that she was making such a display.
    "OOOOOOooooh, I *hate* this place!  Ugly looking ryokan, ugly
looking doll, ugly everything, and *you* wanted to come here!  Look at
my blouse, it's torn!  Do you know how much it's going to cost to have
it repaired?  Why did I ever agree to come here?"  Busy canting her
mantra of bitchiness, she saw the key to their room in the hand of one
of the assistants.  Snatching it from the young girl with a viciousness
that bordered on the obscene, Kogimi snapped, "Grab our stuff and let's
just get this over and done with!"  Before he could even bother
answering, she bolted up 
the stairs immediately.
    Unable to believe what his fiancee had just done, the young man
immediately went over to the toppled display, gingerly setting the aged
stand to rights and with great care, gently dusted off the doll and
carefully placed it on the stand.  Looking at the figurine, something
moved within him and he bowed to the inanimate object, whispering, "I'm
sorry this had to happen.  You have my sincerest apologies."  Facing the
innkeeper, he added, "I didn't expect this, and I'll pay for any damages
that she's caused."
    The old woman nodded, seemingly in approval.  "I appreciate that,
but you weren't at fault, and the doll knows that.  Trust me, your
willingness to be straightforward with our zashiki bokko is appreciated
by all.  Now, why don't you go take care of your lady friend and we'll
deal with the rest of the mess down here?  She strikes me as someone who
doesn't have an appreciation of her surroundings as you do."
    Nodding his thanks, he picked up the bags and headed up the stairs,
off to find his ill-tempered fiancee.  So far this vacation was turning
out to be a disaster, and the kami only knew what result would unearth
itself by the time this was all over.

***

    Kogimi was furious.  How *dare* he treat her this way, bringing her
to this stupid little roach nest of an inn, after the years together
that she'd put up with all of his eccentricities?  Why couldn't he have
been more fun like he was at the beginning of the relationship, when
they used to party and go places?  Granted, they still went out a lot
and partied, but it didn't feel the same anymore.  She was a woman of
the world, riding her way to a bright future.  Already, she'd been asked
to perform for the Prime Minister, and the guy who'd been the government
representative, Kenzo, was really cute, too.  She'd gone out with him
regularly since, and was really attracted to him.  He was everything
Hikomei wasn't, and to be honest, Kenzo was better in bed.
    But was she ready to get rid of the relationship she had for three
years?  Granted, Hikomei didn't do the job for her as much as he used
to, and she was wondering what she'd seen in him.  Admittedly, he was
dashingly cute, and there was a trace of a roguish person in him still,
but the fact was that he'd turned into a boring, neutered soul.  He
wanted to be a writer, but he wasn't living!  What about all that
partying, all the fun they used to have?  All he was doing now was
trying to get published, and he never thought of her anymore.  He just
couldn't understand that she wasn't the same dull and dreary person
she'd been when they'd met; she had a more cosmopolitan attitude of the
world now, and he was letting his life pass him by while he worked on
that "magnum opus" of his.  What a joke. 
    ((He'd better convince me that there's some reason for me to stick
around,)) she thought, ((or not only am I catching the first train back
to Tokyo, I'm also taking a walk from our life.  If he'd been a better
lover, I wouldn't need to look elsewhere, right?))


    A minute later, the object of her thoughts came into the room,
hefting the luggage.  "Sorry I'm running a bit behind, love, but these
bags are a bit heavy."
    She favored him with her most vicious scowl.  "You stayed behind to
help them with their mess, didn't you?" she accused.  "You shouldn't
have to clean up their mistakes!  That's what they have servants for!"
    Setting both bags down, he responded gently, "But love, you were the
one who knocked the stand and the doll down--" 
    "So now you're siding with them?  What kind of fiance are you to
take their side against me?"
    "But-but-bu...oh, never mind," he commented, realizing he wasn't
going to win this argument.  He never won arguments with her.  Then
again, until recently he'd never had arguments with her, either.  "Just,
please, forget it, okay?  I'm sorry, and I won't do it again."
    "Somehow I doubt that."  She went over and grabbed her bag, then
went back to where she'd been standing from him, a symbol of the rift
that had grown between them.  "So, what's there to do in this hick town,
anyway?"
    He sighed.  "Well, there's the city center, the gondolas that take
you to the top of the nearby mountain, we can take a rowboat out onto
the lake, and things such as that."  
    Her attention was piqued instantly.  "They have a city center here?"
That meant they had stores, and stores meant shopping.  She still had
his credit cards - why should she use her own money, after all? - and
the urge for her to spend was so great that had she been a character in
an American cartoon, her pupils would have changed into yen symbols
right then and there.
    Not noticing her sudden fit of monetary rapaciousness, he gave her a
soft smile and added, "But personally, the thing I noticed most was the
garden path they have on the other side of the other side of the islet.
I was thinking that we could take a wal--"
    "What, another walk?  So you can do more 'research' for your next
short story?  So you can commune with nature and talk to the cicadas and
birds?  Interview them for their opinion?  Sorry, but I don't think so."
    "But Kogimi, I wanted to be--"
    "I don't care why you want to," she snarled.  "It certainly isn't
for me!  All you think about is you, you, you!  You mistreat me so damn
much, and I wonder why I even stick around anymore," she seethed.
Grabbing her purse, she stormed out of the room, shouting back through
the open door, "Go ahead and take your little walk alone; I'll be
visiting the stores downtown.  I'll be back for dinner...or whatever
passes for it at this hovel."
    As her footfalls rung out from the steps, he looked at the space
where she'd been just a couple of seconds before.  Unconsciously, he
answered in a whisper, "But I wanted to take a walk with you...because
you always used to love walking together...."  Hikomei slumped to his
knees, feeling that the gulf that lay between him and his betrothed was
now wider than ever, and it could end up a gulf too insurmountable to
bridge.

***

    A half-hour later, he found himself seated on a stone bench in one
of the clearings, sitting with laptop open and staring at the stone
lantern nearby for inspiration.  But no inspiration arrived, as his mind
was roiling from something that he couldn't deny any longer: there was a
rift between him and the woman he loved, and that rift was tearing him
apart.  What could he do to prevent it?  She'd changed so much, and the
sweet loving girl that he'd been with for so long had in a manner of
months changed into a woman that he didn't know.  How had it happened?
He'd tried to be the best future husband he could, devoting every
portion of his soul into his work, so he could build a life for them
together.  But now that life was beginning to crumble, and despite his
best efforts, he couldn't understand why.  He was completely and utterly
in the dark, with no chance or hope of seeing the light.
    Hikomei closed his laptop and buried his face in his hands.  He was
completely and utterly confused, wondering what had happened to the
woman he loved?  Was she really even the woman he loved still, or had
that woman never existed?  It only seemed like yesterday that they'd
kissed, drinking in the depth of each other's love and sighing the
sweetest emotions.  But that time seemed so far away now, as though it
were something out of a history book rather than something that had only
happened in recent memory.


    "You seem so sad."  Hikomei looked up, and standing on the pathway
by the bamboo glade was a beautiful young woman.  She was the
oft-spoken-about vision of loveliness, with long black hair and soft
blue eyes; any Japanese person with blue eyes was rare and most likely
the result of some gaijin blood in their heritage.  Yet she seemed so
delicate and fragile, the ideal Japanese girl, if one was to go by the
stereotypical sense of beauty, with no sense of the foreign at all.  She
wore a simple white blouse with a sweater, and her dark skirt seemed to
have a sakura imprint on it.  Looking at him, she said, "It's not good
to be in such grief.  You shouldn't be so down.  A handsome man like you
should be happy and enjoy the fruits that life has to offer you."
    He stared at her, not believing what she was saying; in fact, he
couldn't believe what he was seeing.  Something about her rang at the
core of his soul, as though a dream of his had come to life.  The merest
flash of fantasy flitted in his head like a butterfly for the tiniest
breath of a moment, and he found himself imagining her, if for just a
brief instant, as a vision from the past, the afterimage of a beautiful
princess in one of his works.  
    He looked at her still, not knowing how to answer.  Finally and
unsure of what to say, he responded, "Oh, I'm not sad.  Just thinking."
    "Well," she said, making her way to the stone bench, "you do look
down, and it doesn't suit you.  You probably look so much nicer when you
smile."  Despite himself, a rictus managed to break onto his face, and
she favored him with a winsome pert of her own.  "See?  Just as I said."
    "Who are you?" he asked, not unkindly.  Though he didn't realize it,
the question sounded more along the lines of ((Where have you been all
my life?)) than a simple request for identification.
    The girl sat down on the stone bench, still looking at him with her
pure blue eyes and that enchanting smile of hers.  "My name's Aoi.  I
was told I'd find you here, because you wanted to know the story of the
ghost doll.  It's a fascinating story, and I've found it interesting to
hear since I've been here."
    The words snapped him out of his reverie.  "The ghost doll?  Um,
sure!  Yes, I'd really like to know the story behind it, if you would,
Aoi-san.  I'm Hikomei."
    "Hikomei," she repeated, as though savoring the name.  "A wonderful
name for a wonderful person."
    "Thank you; you're too kind.  But you're one of the servants?  I
didn't see you earlier."
    "I was there, you just didn't notice me.  You were too busy picking
up the doll and being kind in lieu of your friend, who should have done
that.  In any case, I overheard you talking to the innkeeper and asking
her for details.  Since I had nothing to do at the moment, I offered to
find you and tell you the story.  She told me you took a walk out here,
and as you can see, here we are." 
She smiled at him again and pressed her lips together in thought.  "But
you wanted to know the story of the zashiki bokko hina, rather than how
I knew you were here, right?"
    He nodded, hanging on the edge of her every word.
    She closed her eyes, reciting from the script of memory.  As she
did, images flowed in his mind, the words and cadence of her speech
bringing to life the ancient tale:


	    "Long ago, in a temple not too far from here, there was a
young miko, a shrine priestess whose beauty was known far and wide.
Though she served with honor, she was a dark soul, a spiteful girl who
cared about nothing but her own desires.  Despite her calling and her
so-called purity, she had two lovers, a young farmer, and the son of the
local daimyo.  Through deception and numerous falsehoods, she managed to
keep the knowledge of the two a secret from each other and the priest
who ran the shrine - a miko who is not pure is nothing but a harlot in
holy clothing.
	    "One fateful day, the farmer asked for her hand in marriage.
Flush with the prospect and the fact that the daimyo's son was elsewhere
on business, she agreed.  They were happily wed by the priest, and for
months they lived and loved as husband and wife should, a happy couple
that seemed to everyone to be the perfect ideal of a couple.
Additionally, though she could no longer be a miko, she still served at
the temple, assisting where she could and 
training her replacement.
	    "However, the daimyo's son returned, and finding that she
still wanted him, she continued her dalliances with him.  Meeting in
secret places and enlisting the assistance of her trainee, the former
miko soon wrapped everyone in a web of conspiracy, desecrating the
temple when she laid with the daimyo's son there, and continuing her
lies to her husband that he was the only one for her.  She also played
the daimyo's son falsely, coquettishly refusing his pledges of matrimony
under a guise of needing to take the time to ponder.
	    "But the gods know of evil and nothing can last forever.
Through all of this, the former miko's apprentice fell in love with the
simple farmer, and felt for his plight.  Wishing to end the betrayal he
didn't know he was enduring, she made plans to expose her mistress and
lover for who they were.  Bidding the farmer come to the temple, and
requesting the presence of the priest, she exposed the lovers for the
sham and sins they bore.  When she revealed them, they had been
pillowing on the altar space of the temple, in defiance of the holiest
of tenets.
	    "The farmer was completely heartbroken.  There, the love of
his life, his beloved wife, was rutting like some common skillful woman
with none less than the son of the daimyo.  Knowing that his heart could
not take the pain of her betrayal, nor would the daimyo's son allow him
to live to claim what that son coveted, the farmer took his simple knife
and committed seppuku on the spot, spilling his blood and entrails onto
the floor.  But even as he did that, his last words were not of hate or
betrayal, but of love for his unfaithful wife.  Then he breathed his
last, committing his sentence to death for the travesty of loving such
an unworthy, dishonorable woman.
	    "Stricken with grief and shock of what had happened, the
apprentice miko collapsed to the ground, holding the farmer in her arms
and pledging her eternal love for him.  To seal that love, she took his
bloodied knife and in one clean slash, took her own life across the
neck.  Though she could not be his mate in life, the final words on her
lips would be that she would be his love in the beyond, to always be
there for him.  A minute later, there were two corpses where there had
been two wronged souls.
	    "The priest, infuriated by the whole of the ordeal, used his
powers of the sacred, calling upon the gods to right the wrongs that had
been so committed.  Pointing his staff of office at the lovers, he
cursed them both to die and to return to the world of the living
someday, to correct the wrongs they'd done or face the prospect of
suffering eternal torment.  The two were wrapped in the spirit light,
and when the light had dissipated, a female dog and a male rat remained
of the two lovers.  They would be denied each other's company in this
life, and possibly the next.
	    "To the farmer, the priest blessed his body and prayed that
the innocent man would find peace in his next life, to find the love and
happiness that he so richly deserved.  Tapping the body with his staff,
the priest sent the farmer's body to the next world, where it would be
prepared for his eventual return.
	    "But for the apprentice miko, he had reserved the most
important role: for her silent love of the farmer, and her faithfulness
to die for him, the priest took her spirit and fashioned it into a ghost
doll, charging her to guide the path for the reunification of the
faithless wife and the faithful husband, and to also be wary for the
return of the daimyo's son.  Should the wife return to the husband in
the next life and choose fidelity that time, it would be up to the
spirit to ensure they did so, and she would be free to continue on to
the afterworld.  If the wife chose the daimyo's son, and was unfaithful
in the next life, both lovers would be punished and the spirit would be
free to wed the man she loved."


    "Did the spirits of the others ever return?" Hikomei asked,
breathlessly caught up in Aoi's tale.  It was worthy of a rewrite,
certainly, and while it wasn't long enough to expand as a novel, he
could include it in a collection of short stories that was sure to get
him published.
    Aoi smiled once more, but it seemed wistful and said, as though she
held true sympathy for the ghost doll.  "No one knows.  Only the doll
spirit can answer that, and as you can tell, she's not exactly the most
forthcoming of persons, ne?"
    "I guess not."  Hikomei scratched his head, wondering about what to
say next.  Finally, he settled on a "Thank you for your tale and your
time, Aoi-san.  I truly appreciate it."
    "Oh, don't be so formal!  Just call me Aoi."  As if trying to make
her point, she gazed at him with her namesake, the piercing blue eyes
that were not only the windows of the soul, but in her case the portal
to his own.
    "Okay, Aoi it is, then," he agreed, picking up his laptop and
standing up.  Checking his watch, he said, "Oh - the time.  I have to
meet my fiancee for dinner."
    "Fiancee?  She must be a very lucky woman to have someone like you,"
Aoi mentioned, "especially since you're a writer.  They say that those
who craft words are the ones who truly know what happens in this world.
I wish I had the chance to be one."
    "You write?" He looked at the woman still seated on the bench with
increased respect.  If she could weave words like she spoke them, she
could be a world-caliber authoress.
    "No, I only tell tales, though I have many of them.  But maybe I
have a way of doing that - if you met me here every day, and I told you
some of the stories I know, perhaps I could have my chance."
    He nodded eagerly.  How could anyone refuse an offer like that?  "So
I'll meet you here tomorrow at the same time?"
    In answer, she gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek, blushing as she
did so.  "Of course.  But you'd better go and meet your fiancee.  I'm
sure she'd be jealous if she saw us together, and I wouldn't blame her -
you're quite the guy."
    "Thanks.  I'll see you later, then."  Taking one last look at his
newfound friend, he tossed his laptop in his backpack and walked down
the pathway, back to the inn.    

***

    Kogimi was seething, barely containing her disgust.  The "city
center" looked like a backwater that this town was.  In a bigger city,
this would be nothing but a collection of neighborhood stores that
nobody cared about.  Yet because this place was so empty and worthless,
this ramshackle collection of knick-knack stores and second-hand shops
served as a sort of vibrancy of this burg...for lack of a better word.
    The woman sighed; she deserved so much better than this.  She
deserved the bright lights of the city, champagne wishes and caviar
dreams presented to her on a golden platter and a silver tray.  Idly,
she realized that if she went to Kenzo, he would give that to her.  He
was a special assistant to the Prime Minster after all, and he was no
stranger to the finer things in life, those very same things that she
was entitled to.  
    ((But I've had three years with Hikomei, and they haven't been all
that bad,)) she had to admit.  ((Granted, if he were to shape up and be
a proper fiance, maybe I wouldn't have to spend time with someone else.
But maybe if Kenzo were here, things wouldn't be so bad.))
    Suddenly she felt someone tapping her on the shoulder, and as she
turned, she felt the strong yet familiar lips of someone kissing her
with an insatiable hunger.  She eagerly joined in and a second later had
to break off from the kiss, reluctantly pulling back for air.
    "Hey babe, surprised to see you in town," Kenzo said, flashing her
his trademark grin that drove her into frenzy.  He was dressed in a polo
that showed off his lightly muscled frame, and he had that look of
success that he always had, that intangible look that made her desire
him all the more.
    "I might say the same about you," Kogimi commented off-handedly.
"But I'm here with a...friend, and what exactly are you doing here?"
    "Oh, the Prime Minister is looking for a small town to take a
vacation in," he answered, "and you know me.  Being a ministry aide, I
had to come check out this town myself.  It's a bit boring for people
our age, but it should do for someone like him and his wife."  Kenzo put
his arm around Kogimi and asked, "So where are you staying?"
    "Um, Hik...er, Hikaru and I are staying at this little ryokan on the
other end of town," the young woman improvised.  "She's, well, she's
working on some personal stuff, and I just thought I'd come along for
the ride."
    "Well, if you have nothing going on, maybe you'd like to have dinner
with me tonight?  I'm having room service brought to my hotel, and
perhaps you and me could enjoy that pleasure...and others besides," he
hinted.  "After all, you are my girl, right?"
    She said nothing to answer that, merely kissing him once more in a
sort of response.  Taking his arm, she said in an eager voice, "Lead the
way, my dear, dear Kenzo."
    
***

    Hikomei sat on the balcony of the room, staring at the fattened
marble of the moon as it poured light down on the quiet town.  The light
from the laptop's screen also shone, but it was a cold, fading light,
just like that in his heart.  Something was wrong in the relationship
that he and Kogimi had, and something today had changed, though he
couldn't pinpoint it.
    He looked over at the woman asleep on the futon, wondering why she
felt a thousand leagues away, instead of only a mere span of meters.
She'd skipped dinner with him tonight, saying she'd forgotten the time.
As the night wound down, they made love, but there was something
mechanical about it, as though she weren't really there, sharing their
love with him.  Also, there was something stronger about the musky scent
of sex this night.  He'd smelled that scent before, and it usually came
when they'd made love only hours after.
    ((But to have a scent like that, she'd had to have sex earlier.  But
for that, she'd have to have made love with someone else.  No, I must be
imagining things.  We might be having problems, but she wouldn't....
Would she?))  He looked at the still form of his fiancee, and despite
the fact that he loved her, he also couldn't answer that question for
the first time since he knew her.
    Unable to crawl back into bed with her due to that very doubt,
despite his love for her, Hikomei continued to stare into the night sky,
searching it for answers to questions never asked.
    ((Kogimi....))


    Standing in a nearby wooded part of the islet, Aoi watched as her
newfound friend continued his separation from the woman that he was to
marry, feeling a distance that may as well have covered time zones.  As
she gazed at him, she could feel his anguish, and she knew intently that
he was truly hurting, his pain so strong that even from where she stood,
she could feel it on an intimate level.
    Her eyes blue eyes red from tears, she whispered, "Oh, Hikomei, how
I wish you didn't have to hurt so...."

***

    Hikomei woke up the following morning, to find Kogimi already gone.
In her place was a small note that read, WENT TO CHECK OUT A SHOP IN THE
NEXT TOWN OVER.  WILL BE BACK TONIGHT.  The note was unsigned, and
didn't even carry the same tone of love as the others had.  It stunned
him - it didn't seem that long ago that she'd add little flourishes and
hearts to the note, and now she couldn't even bother signing it?
    There was a knock at the door, and he absently commented, "Please,
come in."  
    Walking in, holding a tray with tea and dressed in the servant's
kimonos, was Aoi, looking pretty as the proverbial picture.  "Good
morning, sir," she said in a chipper voice, before realizing who it was.
As soon as she did, her smile grew even brighter.  "Oh, Hikomei!  Good
morning to you!"  Seeing his mostly disarrayed state, she commented, "I
must have come at a bad time - you're not even dressed yet.  I'm so
sorry.  Is your fiancee in the shower?"
    "No," he sighed.  "She went out to the next town over to attend to
some personal business."
    "That's a shame," Aoi said.  "This is a lovers' ryokan, and people
come here to be together, not to be apart.  Which reminds me of the
story of the Princess of the Lake and her lover."  Sitting down, she
placed the tray down on the small table and poured him a cup.
    "Another story?" he asked.  "Do you have the time to tell it?"
    "Um, well, if I go ask one of the other girls to cover for me, I
think so.  I'll be right back."  She quickly raced out of the room, but
was back within the minute.  "It's okay, they've got it covered."  She
sat down again, and was surprised to find that he'd poured her a cup of
tea.  "Thank you.  You're so kind to a simple serving girl like me," she
said as she took the cup.
    He shrugged.  "You're no simple serving girl.  You're much smarter
than that."  She blushed, touched by his comment, but he continued,
"Seriously, I'm surprised you're here.  You seem like a bright girl."
    "I have a life here and a reason to be here," she answered, honesty
in her eyes.  "This is my home, and though I'm sure I'll move someday,
it hasn't come yet.  Besides, I'm hoping to meet the man of my dreams
here."
    For some reason, Hikomei felt slight depression at that statement.
"Oh.  So what does he look like?"
    "Well, sort of like you," she mumbled, blushing.  "I...I mean, he's
got the, um, same build as you, with the same dark hair, warm brown eyes
that would make a girl go wild, and kind heart that you have."  She
pouted slightly and admitted, "I'm envious of your intended.  She's the
luckiest girl in the world."
    "Yeah, the luckiest," he repeated, sotto voce.  
    Aware she hit a rough spot, she changed tactics.  "But enough about
that.  I promised you I'd tell you a story, and I will - but on one
condition."
    "And that is?"
    "That after I tell you the story, you're getting dressed, and we're
going out.  There's a new museum in the next town over that I'd like to
see, and I don't want to go alone.  Besides, it's always good to have a
friend to share the time with."
    "You can do that?  Won't you get in trouble from cutting out from
work?"
    "Nope, not at all.  I said my friends were going to cover for me,
right?  What I didn't tell you is that I asked them to cover for me for
the whole day."
    Hikomei grinned; she'd outsmarted him, though by no means was he
going to complain.  "I'm going to get dressed, and you need to change
out of your uniform as well, ne?  I'll meet you downstairs and you can
tell me the story while we're on the way to the museum, okay?"
    She rose to her feet, a clearly happy look on her face.  "See you
downstairs, then."


    As she stepped out of Hikomei's suite, Aoi began humming a little
tune of joy.  Walking past one of her friends, she instantly noticed the
other was staring.  "Is something wrong, Michiko?"
    "You look so happy!  Tell me, you met someone, didn't you?" Michiko
asked.
    Aoi looked at her friend.  "Oh, if you only knew...."
    "So which of the guys here is it?  Hiroshi?  Kenji?  Sanjiro?"
    "Someone better," the blue-eyed beauty told her friend.  "The sort
of person I've waited my whole life for.  But I can't talk, I have to
get ready for my date."
    "Good luck, Aoi!  Do your best."
    "Thanks, Michiko.  I will."
    
***

    "Mmm...you're so good, Kenzo."  Kogimi lounged gently against
Kenzo's chest, running her fingers across its bare form, feeling the
press of his body against hers.  She'd left Hikomei early in the
morning, and had Kenzo pick her up.  From there, they drove to the next
town, and rented a small sailboat to ride on the other side of the lake.
The sailboat had a cabin, and there was a lot more riding going on as
well.
    He kissed her tenderly.  "You know, does your friend really need you
to stay there with her?  I was thinking that since I'm on this 'arduous'
special assignment for the week, I could take a week of vacation
afterwards and we could 
go somewhere."
    "Like where?" she asked as she began to kiss him lightly on his
chest.
    "Oh, I've always heard Bali was a nice tropical place, and the best
spot for vacations, too.  The nightlife, walks on beaches, the works."
    Her eyes lit with an interesting sparkle; the Indonesian island was
a tropical paradise, and certainly worthy of a person of her tastes.
"That sounds good.  When do you want to go?"
    "Well, I'll be done with this assignment in the next six days, so
when it's over, all we have to do is to head back to Tokyo, and hop the
next plane down to Bali.  I'll make sure that I take care of the
arrangements tomorrow, and we can be ready to go in no time.  What do
you think?"
    "I think I'm ready for you again," she cooed in sultry tones,
reaching down.  Almost instantly he responded, and Kogimi chanted,
"You're nearly ready, but I think you need some assistance."  She gently
slid down towards the item in question, commencing once more with her
acts.

***

    The face on Hikomei's watch cracked completely and without warning,
the anodized glass fractured in half, sending stinging microslivers onto
his arm.  Like a man bitten, he shook his hand violently and
instinctively, as miniature beads of blood appeared.  He gripped his
arm, wincing more from surprise than from pain.
    Aoi dropped her soda in surprise.  "Ara...are you okay?"  Reaching
into her purse, she pulled out a handkerchief and quickly applied the
makeshift bandage to Hikomei's wrist.  "There, all better," she said in
her best nursing tones.  Guiding him to a nearby bench in the park they
were walking through, she asked, "What happened to your watch?"
    "I don't know," he remarked, his voice bewildered.  "It was fine
just a second ago...."  Looking at it, the watch was still working
nominally, but now the numbers were faded a bit and the LCD screen was
clearly cracked.  With some attention, it could be repaired, but it was
more likely going to be permanently broken beyond repair soon.  "I know
Kogimi's going to be angry; she's the one who bought it for me."
    "It looks expensive."
    "It *is* expensive.  Personally, I would have lived with a normal
watch, but she wanted me to have something that has more functions than
the space station.  How many watches do you know that have a barometer?"
he moaned good-naturedly.  Aoi giggled a bit at that, and he smiled in
return, the girl's cheer being that infectious.
    She looked at it intently, and the smiles and laughter faded into
seriousness.  "You know, some people would say that's an omen.  I mean,
I've never seen a watch explode suddenly."
    He gave her a weary look.  "Yeah, but if that were the case, then I
would have to believe that there was something wrong with the
relationship she and I have."
    "But isn't there already?  I don't mean to pry, but this is the
second day you've been here at the ryokan, and you're with me, instead
of her.  From what I know of you so far, you're a good man.  But I can't
help thinking about her side of the story."
    Hikomei looked at the other girl as though he'd been painfully
slapped.  Looking for a way to get out of the conversation, he peered
around and found the nearby public restrooms.  "Excuse me."  Racing
towards them, he hoped that she didn't see his eyes welling.  There was
something about her words, spoken in innocuous honesty that cut far too
close to the bone, that rung in his ears like a stereo blaring at full
volume.
    As he raced for the sanctuary of the facilities, Aoi could only look
at his retreating form, her lip beginning to tremble with the shame of
the sorrow she'd inadvertently inflicted on him and the pain of watching
him go through hell.  "You don't know, or you won't see.  You believe in
her so much, and she's poisoning you."  Aoi looked up to the skies,
tears welling in her blue eyes.  How could someone as kind as he
continue to have such faithful love in someone so undeserving?
    ((How can you believe her, Hikomei?  How?))

***

    Hikomei was already asleep by the time Kogimi showed up at their
room.  Or so it seemed.  In truth, he'd been only pretending when she
came in, completely drunk and whistling some strange tune he'd never
heard her whisper before.  Slurring something sub-audible, she threw off
her clothing and crawled into the futon next to him, completely blasted.
She "woke him up" deliberately, not even bothering to explain where
she'd been as it is difficult to explain when one's mouth is busy.  As
the night previous, she was far more aggressive in her 
lovemaking than he'd ever known her to be.  
    As she lay sated on him, she whispered something he couldn't really
decipher: "knz".  Was it a name?  A place?  Hikomei didn't know.  But
what was worse, and it was something he hoped he was completely
imagining, he could have sworn for a second that he caught the scent of
a man's cologne on her body.  Hikomei never wore cologne, especially not
something that smelled like a scent favored by men.
    ((I must be imagining,)) he thought, shutting down the gnawing doubt
at the back of his mind.  ((No matter how many problems we've had, she
wouldn't cheat on me, would she?
    Yet the darkness of the nighttime room gave him no comfort as he
held the one he loved dear... ...and yet felt like he was holding a
complete stranger.


    Elsewhere in the ryokan, the doll twitched slightly.  Something had
awoken it from its ages-old sentinel slumber recently, and that event
was the force of betrayal.  The zashiki bokko hina blinked its painted
eyes, gazing at the ryokan it had been tasked with defending for so
long.  Though times had clearly changed, some facets of human nature
never did, and that was the sign that it was needed.  Additionally, the
events occurring could be *the* situation, the fork in the road that
would lead to eternal peace for the spirit.
    Soon the answer would come.  Soon it would come, and the spirit
would be called upon to do its deed.

***

    For a change, on the third day, Kogimi wanted to do something with
Hikomei.  For reasons inexplicable to him, the morning started off with
sex, but she was far more gentle and pliant, almost as though she was an
entirely different person last night.  
After that and a quick breakfast, the pair decided to go out.  As both
left the ryokan for the day, Hikomei caught a glimpse of Aoi while she
was sweeping the engawa.  She glanced at him and the look in her eyes
was unusual, something he'd seen before but couldn't quite place it
other than sorrow.  Something was clearly bothering his friend today,
and it twinged at his soul to see her so sad.  However, as much as he
wanted to go to her side, he knew that to do so might set off Kogimi's
jealousy and he wasn't prepared to do that.  Having to reluctantly
satisfy himself with the promise to help her out later, he and his
intended set out.
    They'd agreed on going out, unbeknownst to him, because Kenzo had
been busy with official duties, and thus left Kogimi to decide if she'd
agree to go on the vacation.  To her, however, it was another choice.
It was the choice between the faithful and boring Hikomei or the chance
of the future with the much more flashy and entertaining Kenzo.  To a
degree, she'd already made the choice, she realized, but she at least
owed Hikomei a small (if likely to be lost) chance to redeem himself.
After all, though it wasn't her fault that he couldn't keep up with her
social climbing, that didn't mean that without a tweak or two, he
couldn't do it.
    They'd chosen a ride on the sky gondolas to the top of the local
mountain, then for a walk in the forested park, followed by a quick
perusal of some of the historical sites.  Kogimi knew that it was partly
because of his research and partly because of the low wages he made as a
clerical assistant; there was no way he could afford the sailboat
rental, the car rental to go to another town, or any of the other
pleasures that Kenzo had so willingly provided her with during his time
here.
    During the entire trip there, they made it mostly in silence.
Something about that bothered Kogimi.  There had been a time when they
were willing to share everything with each other, every thought and
dream.  But since she'd changed her goals in life and he hadn't, he
became more boring to talk to and he tended to piss her off a lot - why
couldn't he just understand common sense?  When they did manage to have
a peaceful conversation, he managed to prove more and more why she
needed a cultured boyfriend, one that was capable of withstanding the
tremors of her new life.  Someone like Kenzo, who was clearly already
there thanks to his life of privilege.
    She deserved so much more out of life than some uncultured idiot
like Hikomei, and if he didn't shape up soon, three years or no, she'd
move on to greener pastures with gusto.


    Finally, they disembarked the gondola and stepped out onto the
station.  The arrival center was the remnants of an old, crumbling
hotel, cordoned off by chain-link fence for the safety of the public.
In one corner of the dilapidated ground was a small house, likely the
domicile of the person who ran the upper gondola station.  The area was
empty and rightly so; who would ever come here for entertainment or
enjoyment?  Granted, there was a time when she would have, but that was
before she developed truly refined tastes, the sort that truly marked
her as a woman of the world.
    Meanwhile, Hikomei was truly at peace.  Staring at the vista of the
expansive forest, the lake and Mount Fuji in the distance, he clearly
didn't see the look of disgust on Kogimi's face.  To him, the beautiful
blue sky and the lush green of the forest, intermingled with the purple
mountain majesty of Fuji-san, meant to him a sign that everything was
going to work out, that though their relationship was crumbling, it
wasn't so bad that it couldn't be shored up in time, and everything
restored to it proper place and time in the universe.


    *"HIKOMEI!!!"* Kogimi all but screamed in his face.  "I hate this
place!  Why did you bring me up here?"
    He reeled as though he'd been slugged.  "But-but-but you always said
that you wanted to see Fuji this way!"
    She wheeled on him, disgust glittering in her eyes.  "Yes, but I
wanted to see it from a helicopter or something, not in front of the
Hotel Condemnation!"  She stabbed a finger angrily in the direction of
the derelict building, snarling, "I think I'm going to get tetanus just
from looking at the thing!  How could you do this to me?  Why couldn't
you have found a nice restaurant on a hill overlooking this?  No,
instead I get an inconsiderate fiance like you mistreating me!"
    "Kogimi-chan...."
    "Don't 'Kogimi-chan' me!  You constantly hurt and wound me by your
thoughtlessness!  You probably wanted to look around this place for some
ideas for your silly stories, all without even thinking about me!"
Regardless of whether there was no one around or not, Typhoon Kogimi had
hit full strength and was slamming against the shores of his ego.  "Why
do I even put up with you anymore!  Take me back to the ryokan, now!"
    "Okay," he sighed, not wanting to deal with the argument that would
happen otherwise.  In one fell swoop, she'd managed to do further damage
to the relationship, and even insulted his writing ability, the very
thing that he counted on to make a life for them together.  If she could
so brazenly insult them, she had no faith in them, and by extension him.
Which could also mean she had no faith in them, either - and he didn't
mean the writing.
    His heart thudding in his chest and threatening to shut down, he
nodded sadly, turning around and heading back towards the gondola
station.  If he had faced her, he would have seen a viciously victorious
smile on her face, glad that she'd won this latest round against a
fiance who was more and more becoming a lover in title only.


    As they approached the gondola, the pair encountered one of those
old ladies who did palm reading.  Since it was a Western mystic art,
usually those old ladies who practiced it did so in the darkest night,
usually in shadow-soaked alleys and niches, with only the flicker of
candlelight to keep the luminance; it was purely for show and they
played it to the hilt.  For one of them to be performing her arts in
broad daylight was different, and to be honest, it caught Hikomei's
attention.
    The old woman sat with her small table and two chairs, the faded red
cloth failing to give the scene a more sober appearance.  Behind her was
a sign that read simply TWO HAND READINGS = 1000 YEN.  The old woman
herself was a tiny frail thing that had managed to live through the
years with dignity and grace.  Somewhat cheerfully hunched over the
table, she gave the pair a smile and in a creaky voice asked, "Would you
care to have your fates read?  They remain on your palms, where the gods
put them for the wise to know."
    Hikomei smiled, sitting down at the chair.  Though he could sense
Kogimi's anger, his interest was caught and he definitely wanted the
experience.  Fishing a 1000-yen note out of his wallet, he gave it to
the elderly woman who snatched it up in an instant then took his hand
gingerly.  "Well, honored elder, what do you see in my fates?"
    The old woman ran her fingers across his palm, "hrm"ing and "ooh"ing
and the usual sounds of intrigue and interest when dealing with that
typical situation.  After a minute or two, she stopped, pointing to a
couple of wrinkles on the young man's hand.  With a twinkle in her eye,
she answered, "You're destined for greatness, do you know?  You will
create great things, and your name will be known far and wide."  She
paused, looking once more at his hand and continued: "You will also have
the love of a lifetime, the faithful affections of a woman who will
always be there for you."
    Kogimi groaned, unable to believe his stupidity.  "I can't believe
that you're listening to that!  It's nothing but a pat speech she's
memorized!"
    The old woman fixed Kogimi with an even stare.  "Young miss, if you
truly believe so, then you will find out exactly what the truth is when
you sit down.  After all," she said, releasing Hikomei's hand to its
owner, "it's your turn."  With a magnanimous gesture, she motioned to
the seat where he was sitting.
    "You've got to be kidding me," the young woman snapped.  "As if I
would ever do that!"
    "Kogimi-chan, the rules said two for a thousand yen.  You don't want
to deprive the woman of her work, do you?"  That seemed to be enough to
get her to sit down and endure the trial of having her palm read. 
    The woman took the girl's palm and began to do the same thing that
she did to Hikomei's palm earlier.  After a minute or so, she set down
and fixed Kogimi with an even stare.  "According to your fates, you will
receive the reward you so richly deserve."
    She smiled slightly.  That had to be good, right?  Yet, there was
something in the woman's eyes that hinted otherwise, something that just
didn't seem to click with those words.  Why had he gotten a lengthy
speech, and she'd only received a few terse words?
    The girl sighed.  ((The woman's addled, and probably thinks Hikomei
reminds her of her husband or something.  It probably doesn't matter
what she says, anyway, because I *know* I'm destined to receive that
reward.))  She took one look at her fiance, who was thanking the woman
for her time and something in her mind clicked.  Maybe it was something
that was at the edge of realization, but it was the truth, regardless.
Kogimi couldn't stand being near someone like him anymore.  Maybe once
that was true, but she had become more civilized, and he continued to
enjoy living like one of the commoners.  It was as if two caterpillars
fell in love and after the chrysalis stage, one discovered it was a
beautiful butterfly, while the other was a plain moth.
    A butterfly such as she had become would be wasted on him, and he
could even possibly drag her down back to his level.  She no longer
wanted to live that sort of disgusting, common life.  She had other
things to do with her world, and that life would include Kenzo, a man
who truly appreciated the kind of woman she had become.


    "Well, since you're so busy flirting with that old bag, I guess I'll
just go shopping then," Kogimi announced imperiously, walking away from
the two at a brisk pace.
    Quickly Hikomei said his thanks and goodbyes to the old
fortuneteller and moved to Kogimi's side.  "What is that supposed to
mean?"
    "It means that I'm tired of all this!"  She raised her hands in
exasperation, and she began to tremble in anger, approaching rage.
*"YOU TREAT ME LIKE SHIT, AND I'VE HAD IT!!!!!  IF YOU DON'T SHAPE UP
AND SOON, I'M BAILING!!!!"*  Not bothering to watch where she was going,
she knocked over a little girl as she headed towards the gondola
entrance, barely making an effort to grunt, "Out of my way, brat!"  As
the girl stumbled to the floor, Kogimi petulantly sat on the bench,
giving dark stares to anyone who would dare to remonstrate or even
attempt to talk to her.
    Not at all pleased with his fiancee's attitude, Hikomei bent down
and helped the young girl to her feet, wiping away her tears and handing
her the dusty doll.  "Don't cry, hime-chan.  Everything's going to be
alright, okay?"
    The girl sniffled once, sobbing and clutching the doll to herself as
though it were her lifeline.  Finally, the child looked at him with a
smile and said, "You're a nice man.  Thank you very much!"  Reaching
over, she gently pecked him on the cheek, then spun and looked at
Kogimi.  Pulling on one eyelid and sticking her tongue out, she shouted,
"An' you're a mean ol' lady!"
    "And you're a rude little brat!  Someone needs to teach you some
manners!"  Kogimi rose to her feet, ready to chew out the kid; she
didn't care whose it was.
    Fortunately, the old woman's voice came from around the corner.
"Aoko, come child, we have other things to attend to."
    Aoko called out, "Hai, obasama!"  Staring darkly at Kogimi one final
time, she reached over and hugged her samurai in shining armor,
chirping, "Thanks again, mister!" before running off to join her
grandmother.
    Hikomei could only smile at the child's bubbly and carefree attitude
as she left.  He wished he could feel that again; it had been so long
since the last time he had.  There was something slightly familiar about
her, though, as if she'd seen the girl somewhere before, and that Barbie
doll she carried looked somehow reminiscent.  But the really odd thing
was that both toy and owner made him think of Aoi, for some reaso--  

THWAP
	
    *"OW!"*  He rubbed the spot on his face where Kogimi slapped him.
"What was that for?"
    *"That,"* she said, her voice full of venom, "is for being the
spineless jellyfish you are.  You let a kid insult me for crying out
loud, and all you did was hit on her, you damn rorikon hentai!"
    "Well, you were the one to push her and didn't do anything about it.
And she's just a kid, what kind of person do you take me for?"
    "She's just a brat, and you helped her."  Kogimi's eyes narrowed in
anger.  "But if you feel so strongly about her over me, maybe you'd best
sleep alone tonight, 'cause you sure aren't going to be in my bed!"  She
turned away from him, her thoughts turning once again to why she
continued to put up with him when she knew Kenzo was a much better find.
    He rose from the bench, walking a few steps to lean on the railing.
The ride down from the mountain was spent in angered silence, and when
they reached the floor, she began to walk away from him at a fevered
pace, determined to lose him in the crowd.  He tried to follow, to
apologize, but he lost her two blocks later.
    As he headed back to the ryokan, his heart heavy, he began to
realize he was losing her in other ways as well.

***

    When Kenzo returned to his room, he found Kogimi there, wearing
nothing but a smile.  "My, aren't we eager?" he teased, beginning to
undress.
    In response, she slid off the bed, slinking towards him as sultry as
she could, sighing in a breathy voice and caressing her body to ready
him for their pleasures.  Moving closer and nibbling on his ear, she
cooed, "I wanted to be with someone who really loves me for a change."  
    Kenzo wasn't sure what Kogimi meant by her cryptic comment.  A
couple of minutes later, he didn't really care, either.

***

    "I was wondering if I'd find you here," Hikomei commented.  It was
ten in the evening, and Kogimi hadn't bothered to come back yet; he
wondered if she was going to come back at all.  Ever.  But that was his
personal problem, something he had to deal with.  To him, a more urgent
concern was finding Aoi.  He hadn't seen her at dinner that night, and
she hadn't popped in, even to say hello as usual.  He eventually asked a
couple of the workers of her whereabouts, but they were tight-lipped
about her, until a girl named Michiko told her Aoi had some cleaning to
do down in the lobby.
    "Oh, hi, Hikomei.  Are you okay?  You look so sad."  The girl was
busy cleaning something with great care, and he wondered what it was.  A
second later, Aoi moved her soft cloth, revealing the spirit doll
underneath it.  "Oh, the doll.  I don't mind cleaning her, since she's
protected this place for so long she deserves to be as clean as any of
us.  But you must think me silly for doing something like that."
    "Of course not," he answered.  "You're always nice like that, Aoi,
it's what I like about you."  As he spoke the words, something about
them seemed odd to him.  "Like" didn't seem to be the correct word
there, as though it was out of place somehow.  Maybe something else was
needed, but he wasn't sure.  "Anyway, I saw you looking so sad this
morning, and I wanted to see if you were okay."
    "You came looking for me?  I'm touched.  Thank you very much."  Aoi
blushed, even in the moonlight.  "But I'm okay.  I just had...a sad
feeling this morning, and I feel awkward about it."  Done cleaning the
doll, she gently set it down, whispering to it, "There, now you're the
belle of the inn again."
    "No offense meant to the doll spirit, but I think you're the belle
around here, Aoi," he said with a slight smile.  "You're also a very
good friend."
    "Thank you."  Aoi blushed, and somehow that seemed to make her all
that much more attractive for it. "But you didn't answer my question.
Are you all right?"
    "I'm fine, really."  His face still seemed troubled, however, and a
second later he amended with, "No, no I'm not.  The relationship with
the girl I love is crumbling around me, and I'm not sure if I can save
it.  Sometimes I even wonder if I should.  She seems to hate me so much
nowadays, and I don't know why."  He buried his face in his hands,
adding, "This is all my fault, and I don't even know how it happened."
    "Don't blame yourself," Aoi said, reaching over and hugging her
friend.  "You're a nice guy, and it's not your fault.  Sometimes things
change, and they're not always for the good.  But it all balances out in
the end, and everyone gets what they deserve.  Remember what I told you
about the legend of the doll spirit."
    "Yeah, but she never reunited with the man she loved," Hikomei
pointed out.
    "That's where you're wrong," Aoi said, leaning up and kissing him.
Surprised, he soon found that he was willingly responding, and a barrage
of sensations flooded into his mind, all of them the best he'd felt in a
long time.  But two other facts of nature immediately came to mind, and
with great reluctance he broke away from the kiss, looking at Aoi.  Then
at the doll.  Then at Aoi.

    The faces were one and the same.  

    "You're the doll spirit," he gently accused, somehow not surprised,
though he wasn't sure why.
    She nodded in the affirmative.  "Yes, and I've been waiting so long
for you to return to me, my beloved," she responded.  "I'm also--" she
changed forms in a flash, and the child he met this afternoon now sat
next to him, "--capable of changing into--"  Another pulse of magic, and
the old fortuneteller was now his company, "--whatever shape I need--"
A third transformation, and she was gone, but the doll itself that had
laid on the silk cloth by her side stood up and waved, "--to protect my
home and my friends."  A final change and the doll was gone, replaced by
Aoi again, now wearing a kimono like her doll form.  "But I've been so
lonely, waiting for you to return to me, and now that may never happen."
Tears welled in her eyes, and great sorrow clouded her face.
    The look in his eyes registered disbelief.  Not that he could
disbelieve that Aoi was the legendary zashiki bokko hina herself, but
rather what she was implying, that he was the farmer from old,
reincarnated to return to her.  "But I *can't* be your old love, Aoi.  I
don't know the first thing about farming!"
    "You're not supposed to remember your past life," Aoi answered,
leaning against him.  "But I can, and you haven't changed, not where it
counts.  You're still the sweet, faithful and loving man I knew back
then, but the difference is now you use a computer and paper instead of
a rake and plow."  But a tear rolled down the ghost's cheek as she also
added in a heartbroken voice, "and you still belong to her.  Worst of
all, I'm duty bound to unite you two if there's still a way."  There was
no mention of the rest of the legend; she didn't know if it was going to
come to pass.
    Confusion registered in his eyes.  Not only was he a reincarnation -
which he couldn't believe - but if that was the case, Kogimi was a
reincarnation of his unfaithful wife?  ((But, I have to admit, at least
she's not cheating on me in this life, if we really were reborn.  I
think.))  "You'd do that for me?"
    "I have to, I'm bound by honor."  Aoi's eyes reflected an ancient
and endless pain.  "It hurts, Hikomei, it really does, but that's what
love means sometimes.  Sacrificing everything for love and loyalty."
She kissed him again, the tears running down her cheeks freely now, as
she exclaimed, "No one has ever loved you like I do, no one has ever
been as faithful.  But I will do as I was bid, because I love you."
    Hikomei looked at Aoi and found an understanding of his emotions.
He was attracted to her and maybe falling for her a bit as well; none of
this, however, made his position any easier.  "Aoi, you're dear to me,
but I can't leave Kogimi.  I don't know if she loves me any more, but I
still love her, and as long as she's stayed faithful to me, I can't
abandon her."
    "But she treats you like dirt!  I've seen it!  She even slapped me,
then berated you for helping me!"
    "But you don't know her good side.  I've seen it, and though it
seems as though lately it's a lot harder and harder to see, it's still
there.  As rocky as our relationship has been lately, it's not as though
it's unsalvageable.  We came here to repair it, and the fact that she
came means she still loves me."
    "I guess you're right," Aoi replied, her tones mournful.  "But it
just doesn't seem fair.  I've been waiting for you forever, and now
this...."
    Hikomei nodded, taking her face in his hands.  "Aoi-chan, if things
had been different, I would love to be with you.  You're so perfect, and
you make me happy.  But I still love Kogimi."  He leaned in forward to
kiss her, and the ghost closed her eyes, waiting for the caress of his
lips.  Instead, she felt them against her forehead, and another part of
her eternal soul fragmented.  Standing up, he looked at her and said,
"Look, I'm rather tired and want to go to bed.  Can we continue this
tomorrow?  I have a feeling that Kogimi won't be around, and we can go
somewhere."
    She thought for a second.  "How about the caverns?  There's a hot
springs cavern near here, where a lot of people go.  There's also some
private spots in there where people can talk."  At first, Hikomei
thought she was being sly about her intentions, but he looked into her
blue eyes and saw honesty in them - it was the first time in a while, he
felt, that he saw that in a woman's eyes.
    "Okay," he yawned in agreement.  "I'll see you in the morning,
then."
    "Oyasumi, my dearest Hikomei," the ghost said with a sad smile
before vanishing, leaving the doll behind.
    Hikomei looked at the doll, then picked it up, gently carrying it
back to its stand.  Kissing it gently on the head, he whispered,
"Oyasumi, Aoi-chan," before heading up the stairs to his room.

***

    The next morning, as Hikomei walked downstairs, there were sparse
people around, and he wondered where Aoi would appear.  As he walked
into the nearly empty lobby, he was caught off-guard as the doll waved
and winked at him, then leapt into his arms, morphing into Aoi.  She
remained weightless for a second or two as he adjusted, then her weight
kicked in as he set her down.  "Aoi!" he playfully scolded.
    She smiled, laughing softly.  "You don't know how long I've always
wanted to do that."  She snapped her fingers, and a pulse of light
appeared behind her; Hikomei looked and discovered a replica doll now
stood where Aoi had been for so long.  Meanwhile, the ghost girl had
taken the time to chat breezily with the owner, to which Hikomei found
that rather odd.  Did they know the secret of their mysterious employee?
    "Aoi's more than just a worker here in the ryokan," the innkeeper
explained, seeming to read his thoughts.  "She's part of the family.
She was here when I was born, when my father was born, my father's
father, and ages back.  If there should be anyone who claims ownership
of this place, it should be Aoi, but she's just always been content to
protect and live here."
    Aoi smiled at the innkeeper.  "No, the inn's been in your family
even before I was around.  I'm just happy to live here."  Leaning
against Hikomei, she asked, "Shall we go?"
    The young man favored the ghost with a smile that warmed her ancient
heart.  "Of course, Aoi.  Of course."

***

    Kenzo and Kogimi looked at each other for what seemed like the
longest time.  It was clear on the look of Kenzo's face that he had some
news to tell her, but she had no inkling at all of what that could be.
Additionally, he chose a rather odd spot to do it.  For the majority of
the morning, he'd been gone on ministerial duties, while she lay in the
bed, sated and feeling great.  She'd ordered room service, and partook
of all the luxuries that she knew to be her gods-given right, things
that Hikomei had denied her merely by staying in that ramshackle old
ryokan.  It was a "quaint" place in the same way that rabid dogs were
"cute", but she deserved red carpets and crystal chandeliers, not ragged
tatami mats and dilapidated paper lanterns.
    When he returned, though, it was clear that something major had
occurred, but he didn't tell her what.  Instead, he quietly changed and
suggested they take a walk.  So they went to the Lovers' Cave, a local
attraction that was part museum and part shadowy romantic spot.  They'd
taken in both of the aspects, but somehow to Kogimi it felt different.
It felt eerily for a second as though she were with Hikomei and not
Kenzo.
    However, her train of thought was interrupted as he finally
addressed her, leading her to a stone bench in one of the well lit areas
of the cave, the rest of the surroundings bathed in the dim, flickering
lights.  "Um, Kogimi, I'm not sure how to say this, but I got word today
from the Prime Minister.  He's been so impressed by my work that I've
been...promoted.  I leave for my job in a little over a week, so I'm
going to have to cancel our vacation plans.  I'm going to be assigned as
the assistant consul general to Los Angeles."  After what seemed like a
grand pause, he added, "I'm telling you all of this, Kogimi, because I
want you to come with me."
    There was no word to describe the sudden and complete shock she
suddenly felt.  ((Me, going to Hollywood?  To live there?))  She was so
out of it, she almost missed the rest of his words.
    "Kogimi, these past few months that I've known you has been like a
dream, the kind I never want to wake up from.  I must be completely and
totally crazy to say this, but I want you in my life for a long time."
He fished a small box out of his pocket and opened it.  "In fact, for
the rest of it, if you'll say yes."
    Kogimi's mouth went slack in surprise.  The ring was big.  *Big*.
The diamond on it sparkled brighter, the gold in it shined redder than
the engagement ring she had secreted in her pocket.  By comparison, the
engagement ring that Hikomei bought her looked like nothing more than a
trinket that one received in a box of children's cookies.  Kenzo's ring
was probably worth more money than Hikomei would ever make, and it was
certainly a clue about the sort of life she would have available to her,
a life that she certainly deserved.
    She paused and in holding out her hand.  She was already an engaged
woman, and to be doing what she was doing was already scandalous should
others find out.  Then again, it didn't really matter, did it?  She was
entitled to a life of joy and wealth, and that was something Hikomei
could never give her; he wasn't the ambitious type.  She deserved her
dreams, and if it meant doing things that were unusual, so be it.
    Kenzo caught her pause.  "Well, unless you have other things that
are keeping you tied to Japan...."
    "No, not any more."  She smiled, realizing something for the first
time in her life.  Holding out her hand out she accepted his troth,
becoming finally engaged to the right man for her.  Now, there was only
one last thing for her to do, and that was to get rid of the problem in
her life.  She loved Hikomei, but she now realized she was just too good
for him.  He deserved someone of his own class, some peasant girl who
wasn't sophisticated enough to understand he was a loser.  Leaning and
kissing the right man of choice, Kogimi now knew she was finally on the
path to the right way of life.
    "I love you," she told Kenzo as she broke the kiss.  "I'll always be
with you, my dearest."


    In the distance, there was an unearthly scream, one of pain and
abject horror.  Both people jumped, caught off-guard by the sound.
    "What was that?" she asked, gripping onto Kenzo like a lifeline.
    "Probably just someone scaring someone else just for fun," he
answered in reply.  "I was in these caves this morning while checking
them out for the Prime Minister, and they're completely safe.  There's
no way at all that anyone could be hurt in them."

***

    Standing in the darkness only scant meters from Kogimi and Kenzo,
shaken to the core, Hikomei witnessed his love's betrayal.  He became so
numbed, he hadn't realized that the inhuman scream that had echoed in
the cave had been his own.  He fell back, slumping into the wall and
dropping to the floor, not even having the strength to stand.  The young
man was in complete and total shock, shivering like a live wire and
muttering, "Kogimi...why?  Why?"
    The knife in the back appeared in his mind's eye, the metaphor
burning through him worse than any real knife could.  He knew their
relationship was rocky right now, but this...this....  His mind shut
down, unable to comprehend the onslaught of watching the woman he loved
most in the world in the arms of another man, a man she promised herself
to despite her own vows to him.  Vows that were now clearly lies, slaps
in the face for all he'd done for her.  Somewhere in the back of his
mind, he could feel the world laughing at him, viciously pleased at the
birth of a new Pagliacci.  He felt his heart burst, and somehow he knew
he was dying.  If he wasn't dying, he began to wish he were. 
    ((Kogimi, our relationship isn't that bad, is it?  It isn't so bad
you've fallen into the arms of another man....  What have I done?  Kami,
what have I done?))

    A pair of arms wrapped around him, but he couldn't feel them.  Nor
did he feel the tears of Aoi as the ghost girl tried to comfort her
brokenhearted friend, watching him repeat fate once more.  "Oh, Hikomei,
I didn't know this was going to happen.  I didn't know any of this.  I'm
sorry you had to see this."
    In a zombie-like state, he rose back to his feet, his eyes showing a
man destroyed.  Barely acknowledging her as she looked up at him, he
said, "I'd...like to be alone right now, Aoi.  I'll see you later."
Hikomei then shuffled off, the look on his face barely one of composure,
clearly one that said he was holding together only by the proverbial
thread.  Within a minute more, he was swallowed up by the darkness, the
black as dark and cold as his hopes and dreams now were.
    Aoi watched him leave, tears running down her cheeks.  At the back
of her mind, she understood everything now.  History had repeated itself
once more, leaving her love a broken man again, making her watch him die
once again, this time in spirit rather than physically.  ((I wish I
could take your pain from you, I really wish I could.))
    But she knew she couldn't.  She knew the truth: the farmer's wife
had been unfaithful to him with the daimyo's son, and now centuries
later, the spirits of the same two repeated the same course of events.
However now there would be a different ending to the tragedy, and the
zashiki bokko hina would be called upon to do her true calling: not to
defend the place that she'd called home for so long, but to be the
instrument of divine punishment for the wife's repeated transgressions;
and to be the one to heal her would-be lover's wounded heart.
    Watching Kogimi and her new fiance continue to kiss while oblivious
to everything around them, Aoi's face became a mask of rage, her eyes
glowing with electric sparks of divine retribution.  Turning, she walked
through the nearest wall, preparing for the events of tonight.  When it
was done, wrongs would be righted for good.
    
***

    It was the early evening, the moon shining on the whole of the land
when Hikomei came into the room, slightly drunk and not caring about
anything.  His world was over, and now it was bathed in night and dark
worse than the starry blanket above.  Chains of agony weighed him down
and there would be no future for him anymore, nothing at all.  He wasn't
exactly sure it wouldn't get any worse.
    Sitting in the room, packing the last of her bags, was Kogimi.  She
looked so beautiful, more so than he had ever seen her before, but that
beauty was now an icy beauty of hatred, the look of the yuki onna as she
destroyed another man's life.  She looked at him and made official what
she'd already done hours earlier.  "Hikomei, I'm leaving."
    "I know."
    "I can't take this anymore.  I love you, I really do, but you're no
longer my type.  You didn't keep up with me."  Her voice was too calm,
too pat for there to be any real emotion behind her words, he knew.  How
long had she memorized these lines, how long had she waited to say these
words that she now spoke?  "Even if you try to catch up, all you'll do
is drag me back down to your level.  I deserve better, and you deserve
someone of your station."
    "So you chose to find someone instead, is that right?" he said, his
tones flat and emotionless.
    Her eyes narrowed in anger.  "What?  You think that I...?"  She
cleared the distance between them in three strides and slapped him as
hard as she could.  "How dare you!  How *dare* you accuse me of cheating
on you when you know I would never--"
    "I saw you, Kogimi," he said, his voice broken and his heart
stinging worse than the slap did.  "I saw you when he proposed to you
and you accepted.  You weren't wearing my ring.  You're still wearing
his."  He grabbed her hand and raised it to her face; sure enough, there
it was, still on her finger and glittering its proclamation of
betrothal.
    She snatched her hand back.  "Yes, yes I did, and I'm happy I did,
too.  In fact, I'll tell you now: I've been with him every night we've
been here, and he's better than you are!"
    A tear rolled from Hikomei's eye, sliding down his cheek to impact
to the ground, a relative distance below.  "Why, Kogimi?  Why did you
destroy in a matter of months what it took us years to build?  Why did
you throw away our love?"
    *"Because love isn't enough!"* she snarled.  *"Because he's
everything you'll never be!  All you want to be is some starving hack
writer, while Kenzo is a man of importance and fortune!  A year from
now, I'll be basking in the luxury I deserve, and you'll still be in
that same squalor and filth you call your life!
    *"You should be glad that I even bothered to go out with you!  Yes,
I used to be the same as you, but thank the kami I had a chance to see
what real life is like, with real money, and I WANT THAT LIFE!
    *"You'll NEVER give me that life, and you'll NEVER HAVE ME!
GOODBYE, LOSER!"*  Reaching in her pocket, she took his engagement ring
and threw it at him, the diamond cutting across his face and drawing a
streak of blood.  Striding over to get her bag so she could leave for
good, she then moved to the door and said her final words, lines that
ironically were probably the most honest thing she'd said to him in
ages. "Hikomei, for what it's worth, I do love you.  But you'll never be
good enough for me, and I can't wait anymore."  Nothing more to say, she
stepped out into the hallway, leaving both the room and his life
forever.


    Hikomei looked at the space where the most important period of his
life ended, and whispered, "I love you, Kogimi.  Sayonara," unable to
believe he was saying the words he never thought he'd ever have to
utter.  Wracked with grief, he then passed out, his body painfully
crunching against the wood of the floor.  But that pain would never
equate to the agony he was feeling now, the suicidal thoughts running
through his mind.  As his consciousness shut down to save him from
insanity, he remembered a conversation they had only a week ago;
ironically, it was about a couple they both knew, in similar straits.
Though Kogimi had never meant it to be prophetic, it turned out to be
very much so: ((They say that in a relationship, only the girl feels the
pain when the guy leaves.  But when I saw Ashitaka after Fujiko left
him, I knew that was a lie - a man can hurt just as deeply as a woman
can, and a woman can be just as cruel and callous as any male.))

***

    Kogimi walked down the steps towards the foyer, feeling finally
free.  She had the right sort of fiance she needed now, and she no
longer had Hikomei in her life.  She wasn't worried about how he'd fare;
if he was any kind of man at all he should be over her in a day or so.
If not, that was his fault for being so much in love with her.  ((No
person should ever get that much in love, and I'll never be that stupid
to feel that way about anyone!)) she vowed.
    As she stepped into the lobby, she noted that the place was
completely darkened.  It was also deserted.  Not deserted as in nobody
was around, but in the sense of a haunted, abandoned place.  The
surroundings appeared to be much older now, and were in some cases,
completely decrepit.
    There was a soft giggle behind her, coming from no one she could
see.
    "Is anyone there?" she said, adjusting her bag.


    "You hurt him."  The voice sounded like nothing she'd ever heard
before.  It had a reverb to it, a thousand notes all slightly off key
and singing as one, merging into a single sonorous tone.  "He loved you
and you betrayed him in the past, rutting like a dog while you were
married.  One thousand years later, you've done it again, you whore!"
    Kogimi looked around for the origin of the voice.  "Who's there!
Who the hell are you to talk to me like that?"
    "You stabbed him with a knife sharper than steel.  You've even done
wrongs to me, and you and your lover will now pay for your crimes
against heaven and earth."  The voice now had an origin and Kogimi
wheeled ready to punch whoever dared to accuse.
    What she saw filled with shock.  Still speaking to her in the same
unnatural, derisive tones, was the doll she had knocked over earlier in
the week, the so-called guardian ghost doll of this place.  It stared at
her with glowing eyes, its tiny mouth moving with the words of hate and
pointing a small arm at her in accusation.  "You unfaithful bitch!  You
didn't learn the last time, and you haven't learned now.  Now you will
pay the ultimate price for your crimes, you and yours!"
    To Kogimi's horror, the doll hopped off its stand and began to grow
to full size, the object becoming the same height as her within a matter
of seconds.  
    "Wha-what are you?"  Kogimi whispered, her mind unable to scream.
    "I am your doom!"  The doll, now completely human in scale, began to
crack and splinter, blood and gore flowing from the cracks.  As it began
to crumble, the doll reared back its head and laughed, the banshee
cackle burning through the ears of Hikomei's former lover.  At last, in
a grisly burst of red, the doll detonated, showering Kogimi in waves of
blood and a larger creature clawed its way out of the remains.
    Covered in the horrific remnants of its arrival, the oni looked at
Kogimi with a dark hatred.  Arching its back and screaming into the air
with a monstrous roar, the oni faced the woman and raised its hand back
in a killing stroke.
    Reality kicked in for Kogimi and screaming at the top of her lungs,
she ran out the door, throwing her bag at the monster and racing for her
life.
    The oni laughed at her, a cruel chuckle that seemed to say it all.
*"You can run all you wish, but you cannot hide from your fate, Kogimi!
I am the Zashiki Bokko Hina, and you will pay for the crimes you have
committed!"*


    Racing out of the inn, Kogimi expected to find herself in the outer
grounds of this islet.  Instead, she found herself in hell.  Spread out
before her instead of the normal forest pathway, bridge to the main bank
and the outer grounds of the ryokan, all covered under the starry
blanket of night; was instead a world transformed.  In place of what she
knew had to be out there, was a blasted, tortured landscape, filled with
beehive rock stalagmites, sulphrous pools of a sickly yellow something;
and sparse clumps of weeds growing in Escheresque gnarls.  Looking at
the new surroundings she was caught in, she screamed, *"Where the hell
am I?  Can anyone hear me?  Somebody help me!"*
    The roar of the oni tore through the air once more, and Kogimi ran
in a random direction not waiting to see if she was being followed or
not.  Fearing for her life, she moved as fast as she could, almost
feeling the claws of the beast behind her, knowing that at any moment
unless fate intervened, she was going to die. Her hearing, caught up
listening for the approaching footfalls of the demon, amplified every
sound and made her wary for any single noise that came across her
hearing.  Her eyes, searching for the creature that hunted her, were so
tied up in that function that she never saw the object she tripped over
until it was too late.
    Spilling onto the ground, she turned to quickly look at what it was
and found, to her horror, that it was her beloved Kenzo.  His face was a
mask of shock, a death rictus as his blank eyes stared beyond her and
into a frightening infinity.  The rest of him was torn open, his
entrails spilled onto the ground along with his blood, all done by a
gore-sheathed fan spread out and lying on the ground next to his
remains.
    Kogimi screamed in shock, her eyes not comprehending what she was
seeing.  She understood even less as Kenzo's corpse stood up, his face
morphing into that of Hikomei's.  Moaning in her ex-fiance's voice, the
creature said, "You've done this to me, my love.  Come, enjoy your
handiwork!"
    She didn't stick around to enjoy anything, instead crawling away as
fast as she could and scrambling to her feet, turned to run.  As she
returned to the upright position, however, she could see the oni in the
distance, racing towards her as fast as it could, murder in its eyes.
Also now joining the chase was the creature that looked like a dead
version of Hikomei, now transforming into a near (if dead) identical
version of herself.   The ghoulish Kogimi screamed at the living one,
"This is what you really are, Kogimi, this is who you are!"  The
creature reached into itself, tearing out more and more of its insides,
then reached up to its face and clawed out its eyes, laughing all the
while as the gore spilled everywhere.
    Not wanting to see anymore, Kogimi shut her eyes, unable to
withstand the onslaught of horror any more--


--and when she opened them again, she found herself in an ancient
temple, frozen in time.  Nothing moved, and everything was silent.  At
the far end of the temple, standing still as statues, she could see five
people, but they didn't hear her nor answer her calls.  Confused and
afraid she was still being hunted by the demon, she walked forward and
ran straight into herself.
    Standing completely in the nude and clearly having just had sex in
this sacred place - ((I'd never do that!  Then again, it could be fun,))
she thought - was Kogimi, her hair different, set in a fashion that was
in vogue in the feudal age.  Standing next to her was Kenzo, his hair
also in a feudal set, an arrogant look on his face that she usually
found attractive, but for some reason she thought was disturbing this
time.  Both of them were looking at something on the ground, and Kogimi
followed the line of sight to its conclusion.
    There, dead on the ground in a pile, were two people, a priest
hunched over them and looking at the feudal Kogimi and Kenzo with eyes
of rage.  Somehow this man seemed faintly familiar to him, as if a
dream, a faint trace of a glimmer in her REM.  However, the two corpses
piled at the bottom seemed too familiar, all too real.  At the bottom,
his blood pooling around him like a funeral shroud, was a feudal
equivalent of Hikomei, dirty and in tattered clothing, and dead by his
own hand.  Laying on top of him, though, was a face that tore into the
deepest corners of her nightmares, since the very day she was born.
    "It can't be...it can't be...."


    "You'd be surprised what is, and what isn't," an accusing voice
responded.  Kogimi looked up and saw a replica of the dead woman,
standing in the same kimono that the doll wore.
    "Aoi," Kogimi whispered, fear etched in her features and her voice,
surprised she knew the woman's name.
    "No, I'm real, despite what you think.  In a sense, more so than
you," the ghost snarled, crossing the room with lightning speed and
slapping Kogimi hard across the face.  Kogimi turned and instinctively
returned the blow, but it passed through Aoi like nothing.  Aoi, in
turn, clamped her hand around Kogimi's throat, a murderous look in her
glowing, unearthly eyes.
    Kogimi frantically tried to tear away the crushing hand at her neck,
but her hands passed through Aoi's even as the ghost's grip grew
tighter.  Fearing her death, Kogimi gasped, "Please...don't kill me."
    "Why should I care?" Aoi intoned.  "You hurt Hikomei.  He loves you
so much and you stepped all over him!  You merciless whore!  He would
have done anything for you, and your selfishness has destroyed him,
twice!  At least this time he has a chance to heal."
    "Why, are you going to do something about it?" Kogimi asked.
"You're a ghost!"
    "I know."  An enigmatic smile appeared on the face of the guardian
ghost, and for a second, it appeared beatific.  Unceremoniously, she
threw Kogimi against a far wall, then wiped off her hands.  "Don't
worry.  I'm not going to kill you."
    Kogimi gasped for air, gulping it down in constant breaths.  As she
had a chance to speak again, she fixed an imperious stare on the ghost
and answered, "then you can have him, and I can go to Kenzo, and
everything will be fine."
    "Oh, believe me, things will be fine," Aoi replied, a wicked grin
crossing her face.  "But you're not going to walk away from this one
unscathed.  Personally, I wouldn't care, but I am the guardian ghost of
the ryokan, and you brought disharmony into my home.  Furthermore, you
harmed Hikomei again, and it's my duty to teach you a lesson."
Approaching Kogimi with a deliberate slowness, raising her hand towards
her, that appendage glowing with a dark, ethereal light.
    "I-I-I thought you weren't going to kill me!"  The girl scrambled
against the walls, trying to find a way to escape, but every direction
she traveled in only brought Aoi closer.
    The ghost smiled.  "I said I wasn't, and I meant it."  But as she
placed her hand on Kogimi's forehead, the ghost intoned with the fury of
centuries, "However, there are worse things than dying.  *Far* worse."
    There was a flash of black light and blood, and Kogimi screamed with
all the strength of her own soul.

***

    Hikomei woke up softly in the middle of the night, trying to clear
his head of the dream he had.  In it, he saw the end of his beloved
Kogimi.  Maybe it was a symbolic result of what had just happened hours
ago.  She was gone now, gone forever, and though he didn't feel it, he
began to realize he was actually better off without her.  The woman that
she'd been had changed from the woman he wished to marry into someone he
no longer knew.  Had they stayed together, divorce would have been the
likely result, and though he loved her enough to carry on, her
faithlessness indicated she would have bolted at the first opportunity.
    Rubbing his eyes, he then came with a sudden clarity.  When he last
remembered, he had passed out on the empty room, a place not readied for
sleep, much less him crawling into the peaceful world of bed.  The
futons hadn't been set up, and no one had come in to set him up for
sleep, so how--
    "I see you're awake," a beautiful voice said from the darkest corner
of the room.  "Don't get up, beloved, you'll only hurt yourself.  You
had a nasty fall when you passed out, and I was worried about you."
    Hikomei knew that voice instantly, and it warmed his heart even more
than if Kogimi had decided to return to him.  "Aoi?"
    Out of that dark corner the light of the laptop screen came on,
revealing in its pale glow the face of the ghost girl.  "Of course it's
me, Hikomei.  I'll never leave you."  Rising from her seat, she walked
over to where he was, and he noted that she wore nothing but a bathrobe.
"As long as you'll have me with you, my love, I promise I'll never
leave, and after centuries of being able to keep promises, I'm pretty
sure you can take that at face value," she said, leaning forward and
kissing him.  This time Hikomei joined fully into the kiss, much to her
delight.
    As they broke free, Hikomei looked at her with tender eyes and
smiled.  "You knew I was falling for you, didn't you?"
    To his surprise, her answer was to undo her robe, revealing nothing
underneath.  "Yes, and now we can show each other how much we love, my
sweet Hikomei."  Casting the clothing aside, she gently helped him with
his own and drew closer to him.  "We were destined to be together, my
dearest love," she said in a breathy voice, "and now we have that
chance."
    As the pair made love during the course of the night, Aoi opened
herself to him in the fullest way she could.  As they found the clouds
and rain, she revealed her mind to him, showing all of her memories of
him the way he was and what she'd seen of him now.  She showed him her
centuries of waiting, her life as an extended part of the innkeeper's
family, and through it all her never-ending faith that they would be
together.  As the hours of their consummation continued, their minds
became as one, and two souls that had been separated for spans of time
became linked together in a bond of love that few had ever shared, save
in myths.


    Morning came, and Hikomei found Aoi still in his arms, resting
gently on his chest, her head rising and falling with his breath.  It
would be where she would always be now, by his side.  He didn't question
how or why, he just knew, and that filled him with a joy and peace that
he hadn't felt in what seemed like ages.  The events of the night seemed
like lifetimes, thanks to her sharing every memory and part of her with
him, and the young man now knew he could not live his life without this
woman at his side, ghost or no.
    Aoi sleepily opened her eyes, looking at Hikomei.  Reaching up, she
kissed him gently on the ridge of his jaw, whispering, "Hello, my love."
    "Ohayo to you as well, sweet Aoi-chan," he said, holding her
tighter.  "So what do we do now?"
    "We wait three months," she answered, "just like you planned,
right?"  She reached up to caress his face, and in that action he noted
that she wore his engagement ring, the one he'd given to Kogimi.
Somehow, it seemed even better on her finger, perfect and beautiful and
even more ideal there than anywhere else.
    He nodded, knowing that this would be better than he believed.  He
would be married in three months, and it would be to someone he loved
and now was certain would love him as well.  "Are you sure that you want
to wait that long, Aoi?  You did wait for me for an awfully long time,"
he teased.
    She gave him a sunny smile, one that warmed his heart and worked
strongly to heal the pains and agony of his final times with Kogimi.
"I'm a patient woman.  If I can wait for you for as long as I have, I
think I can live with three more months."  Having said that, she
stretched up and kissed him, whispering, "Ai shiteru, Hikomei."
    He returned the kiss, eagerly.  "I love you too, my dearest Aoi."

***

    "...and the ghost and her lover found peace and happiness forever,
and for all time," the innkeeper read, finishing the book.
    "Wow," Michiko gasped, blinking her eyes as she woke from a dream,
wiping a tear from her eye.  "That's so beautiful.  I wish I could find
a love like that."
    The innkeeper grunted, setting down the book and brushed her graying
bangs from her eyes.  "It's only a book.  Things like that don't happen
in real life."  Turning to someone by the counter, she asked, "Speaking
of which, aren't you gonna sign the thing?  It might be worth a fortune
someday."
    Hikomei took the book from the innkeeper, searching in his pockets
for something.  Finally he turned to Aoi and asked, "Dear, I think I
forgot my han and pen again."
    Aoi smiled at her husband.  "That's okay, anata.  I remembered them,
but you'll have to take Hinako so I can get them out of my purse."  Aoi
handed their baby daughter to her husband, then began looking in her
purse for the missing items.
    It had been two years since the events that had occurred, and in
that time, life had been more than a blessing for the pair.  Not only
had the pair found love and started a family, but between Hikomei's
writing talents and Aoi's thousands of stories, the pair had become the
most popular husband-and-wife writing team in Japan.  Their first work,
Zashiki Bokko, was currently the best-selling book in the nation, and
there was even talk of making it into a movie - not bad for a
"fictional" story about a man and a ghost that fell in love.
    Despite their success, Hikomei and Aoi continued to return to the
ryokan often to see the people that had become her family.  Now that
she'd been freed from her curse, she had a normal life again and wanted
to enjoy that feeling to the hilt, including her adopted relatives.
More importantly, she wanted her daughter to never know the pain that
she'd felt as the doll spirit, but to know the love and joy of life
itself.  Hundreds of years went into the creation of this child that was
so dear to her and her husband and Aoi was going to give baby Hinako
everything she could.
    Both of them signed books for the innkeeper and Michiko (who,
strangely enough, met Hikomei's younger brother at the wedding and now
was dating him), then grabbed their bags and headed to the room they
always used when staying at the ryokan, their home away from home.


    A couple of minutes later, a second couple came into the ryokan, the
wife reading a copy of the book.  As they stepped into the lobby, she
poked her head out of the book, looking around in amazement at her
surroundings.  "Wow...so this is the inn the book's based on.  It's
described exactly just like here!"
    "Yes dear," her husband sighed.  Evidently he'd heard this a dozen
times.
    The innkeeper, smiling with a twinkle in her eye, welcomed the new
couple to her inn.  "You'll be glad to know, ma'am, that the authors are
even here right now, as guests," holding up her signed copy of the book
for emphasis.  "Maybe if you get a chance to run into them, they can
sign the book for you."
    "Really?  That'd be great!" the wife chirped.  Looking around the
lobby at everything, she finally worked up the nerve to ask, "So is the
story of the zashiki bokko hina real?"
    "Dear, it's just a story," the husband chided gently.
    "No, it is real," Michiko chirped up as she grabbed the keys to the
couple's suite.  "It's just not the whole story.  From what I was told,
the ministry official, unable to find the girl he proposed to, thought
she ran away and left for America without her.  The doll decided that
the official was innocent, that he likely didn't know of the girl's
crimes and couldn't be blamed for courting what he thought was a single
young woman.  As for the girl herself, after she confronted the ghost,
no one knows what happened to her."  Michiko held a straight face for a
second and said, "Just kidding.  Seriously, all Aoi and Hikomei did was
to spin a modern version of the old tale of our doll."  Michiko pointed
to a familiar corner of the lobby.
    The husband and wife wandered over to the corner, staring at the
glass case.  In the case was a doll, standing in the center of what
looked to be the remains of an extremely expensive engagement ring, the
loop broken in two as though something incredibly strong had torn the
golden metal.
    The doll itself was rather odd.  Designed in an anatomically correct
fashion rather than the traditional cherubic Kyoto style, it looked very
modern, wearing clothing that was the height of fashion about two years
ago instead of the timeless kimono.  The doll looked very realistic,
more so than a mannequin, and had it been life-size, it could have been
easily mistaken for a normal person.  The doll stood there, a playful
smile upon its lips, and eyes that seemed to express the emotions of
eternity.  The couple looked into those eyes and knew that this was no
sham, that this doll was truly a spirit.  Pulling away and heading back
to the counter, they quickly grabbed their bags and followed Michiko up
the stairs to their room, wanting to get away from the doll spirit as
soon as possible - especially her eyes.
    Eyes, that if one looked deeply enough into them, would see the soul
of Kogimi screaming in eternal punishment.

...end.


author's blues....

This story has a lot of value to me.  Initially a mixture of the tale of
the zashiki bokko hina, as well as a distillation of the end of my
relationship with my fiancee of the time, this fic was a balm to me in
my time of need.  Over time, the meaning of the fic has changed slightly
and what was once a necessity has now become a starting point for
another series.  Aside from their cameo in _White Butterfly_, there will
be more of Aoi and Hikomei in the future.

Additionally, for those interested, I'll be compiling a history of the
Zashiki Bokko Hina on my website and how it varies in the tales told
about her.

-Rob
02Apr30



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