Characters are not mine, appreciate comments though.
Converging of Worlds
Sunlight shimmering golden and the earth singing her joy. The radishes sit upon their green thrones and
the sky, infinite in its glory. A small cottage sits alone, content in its solitude and before it, tall and
beautiful, her kimono, a myriad of colors and her raven hair flittering about her, stood his wife. He moves
his hand to her shoulder, praying that she turn around and needing to see her eyes, the color of ocean at
midnight.
He opens his eyes, another sleepless night, the same dream, the same unfulfilled longing.
"Good day father. Is mother around? I want to ask her about something?" the boy comes flashing his
smile.
"She's inside, how is the baby doing?"
"Oh she's doing fine."
"And your wife?"
"She's acting strange, that's why I came to see mother." The boy waves his hand as he enters the dojo and
he returns to his sweeping.
It has been a year since his marriage to Sano's daughter and it seems that the girl had her mother's
tendency to nag. He smiled, twenty-one and he had the whole world before him. Soon his daughter
will wed Aoshi's son. Everything was perfect.
He leans on the wooden handle of the broom and watches the silent dance of the delicate cherry
blossoms as they embrace the earth and become lost in its bosom. He breathes in the cool morning
air and turns his face toward the endless heavens. Closing his eyes he listens to the waking city and
feels the steady throb of the earth's heartbeat. And as he opens his eyes and greets the world once
more, he suddenly felt old.
He puts down the broom and head towards the beckoning shade of the cherry tree. He sits down
beneath her slim branches and rests his head on her trunk. Losing himself in her embrace.
Sunlight shimmering golden and the earth singing her joy. The radishes sit upon their green
thrones and the sky, infinite in its glory. A small cottage sits alone, content in its solitude and before
it, tall and beautiful, her kimono, a myriad of colors and her raven hair flittering about her, stood his
wife. He moves his hand to her shoulder, praying that she turn around and needing to see her eyes,
the color of ocean at midnight.
No not again. He whispers.
His aged hand stands poised above her shoulder trembling in the inevitable disappointment. He
looks at her veil of darkness and sees for the first time how far the years have taken him. His
callused hand no longer wore the softness of youth and his skin, tanned by the seasons seemed old
in his eyes. And for a moment he hesitated, almost ashamed to return to her with the burden of the
years bending his back. For a moment, he was afraid that she would not welcome his three decades
of unchanging love. For a moment he was afraid that she would not know him, that she would not
smile for him. Once he believed that not even death could keep them apart them. But then, what
about life? They had lifetimes in between them now.
He wanted to pull back his hand and wait for his body to waken and take him away from this pain.
He wanted to turn back.
And as he gazed at her hair billow in the wind he knew he would not leave there without seeing her
face, even if it was for the last time. Losing her was like a thousand deaths and each year without
her seemed like a thousand. He would not leave until he sees her one last time.
Please…please.
"T…Tomoe." He places his hand on her shoulder. She turns to look at him. Silence falls between
them. He sighs, she was just like he remembered her. Her eyes sad like the lamenting ocean.
It's been too long. And he hangs his head.
She lifts her hand to his cheek and as he raises his eyes to meet hers, the years seemed to melt away
and all he was, was the youth she once knew. All he was, was the man who loved her like no one
could. All he was, was the man she loved.
And she smiles.
Once there was a man who defied the world to love a woman he should not.
Separated by worlds, separated by time, separated by lifetimes.
And yet he holds her now, somewhere in the realm where dreams run free.
end