• Darkness. All that she could see was darkness with the cell. A tiny window lit the dark room from a high up all, the cold bare walls dripping with the stench of mold and water leaking through the rotting wooden seams. The moon hung in the barred window, creating a small circle of light upon the lone figure chained to the opposite wall. Her vision blurred as she opened her eyes half way, a dull crimson compared to the once brilliant blood red that they had shown. Several wounds punctured her small, light, pale frame—a gash in her side, a blow to the head, torn flesh from her leg, and many other marks from swords, daggers, knives and even the straw sandles of which her captors kicked her with. Her matted and torn hair, still the color of the bright silver moon, lost its shine just like its owner's eyes. Her head hung back against the wall, at an angle as though as to why she was inquiring, but the look on her face would even make the most heartless man cry.
    “Broken....” she whispered, her voice raspy, each breath being drawn in with heavy labor. “I... am broken.”
    The door in the shadows to the left of her slid sideways, revealing three men in heavy samurai armor, gleaming black and white with gold lining in the moon. The more-ornate looking one of the three kneeled down and glared in the girls face, then grinned, yanking on the chains. The girl winced, having both arms partially torn from their sockets, made the pain unbearable for her body.
    “Don't you die yet, youkai. You know what you are. You are filth, and a traitor to the empire. What you did with our princess... it's unspeakable,” the man spat with disgust at her feet as he said this. “However, you shall be joining her in hell. May the gods have mercy on you, for we sure as hell shall not.”
    With this statement, he nodded to the two men. The walked over, unlocking the chains from the walls causing the girl to collapse with a gasp of pain. They smirked and grabbed the back of her head and dragged her along the hard wood floor.
    From her wounds trailed fresh blood, the girl, however, refused to struggle. She coughed slightly, blood sputtering from her mouth onto the ruined ornate outfit she usually wore that was now stained with older blood and ripped to shreds. The entire time she had been in their “care”, she had been raped, abused, spit on and even drug around by limbs while her trial went on to find her guilty on all charges. She smiled, looking up at the passing windows at the memories she shared with the princess: their fist kiss, the night they admitted their feelings for each other, and even the night they came to know each other under a moon such as this in the field below the palace.
    Reality set in then she was dragged over a lowered doorway, causing her to cry out in pain when her head hit the stone beneath her. A new trail of blood was left behind her head, the samurai grunting in disgust. She was thrown on the ground and her clothes ripped from her frame. In shame, she covered herself and looked about her, the blurred visions of people standing behind see-through screens, the kimono-ed women hiding their disgusted faces in their fans. The lord of the castle stepped forward, unrolling a scroll from his sleeve and began to read. “Bring forward the accused.” From another room, a girl with long black hair and silver eyes looked frightful as they pushed her onto the ground, laughing when she began to cry as the tattered kimono was ripped from her body. The crimson-eyed girl gasped, but did not move as they laughed at her.
    “Father!” begged the princess, her silver eyes reflecting the shock and wariness to the figure with the scroll. He ignored her as he continued to read.
    “For the heinous crimes of incest, raping and poisoning of the princess, betrayal to the Lord of the Castle, the Crown, and the Emperor, the Lord's cousin himself... you are hereby charged with treason. The penalty for such a thing is death for both parties. Let it be known that on this night of the full moon, the second month after the late rice harvest, that the traitors were executed.”
    The lord rolled up the scroll, his eyes scanning over the two girls. Just barely 13, the two, and yet now he had to send them to the death. He grunted in disgust.
    “Kill them both,” he declared, waving a long-sleeved hand to the two girls in the middle of the courtyard.
    “Father!” begged the raven-haired princess, tears slipping from her eyes as she was dragged over to a stone block and forced onto her back, her hands and legs tied outstretched from her. “N-no! Father! Mother! Please! I am sorry! I renounce my love of her. I renounce the love of that youkai! Please! Save me! Please!” But no one came to her rescue this time.
    One of the guards walked over with a long sword, dipping the blade into a burning pot of coal and then thrust into her stomach, twisted and then ripped up to her throat. She cried out in pain, her shrieks only died when then guard plunged his hand into her chest cavity to rip out her heart, which gave a few small beats and then ceased.
    Throughout the ordeal and hearing the princess's cries, the youkai shook her head. Fresh tears streamed from her eyes as they drug her over, and she cried out in broken-heated agony when they pulled the princess's heart from her body.
    “Hime-sama!” the youkai cried, only to be smacked and forced onto the ground. The silver-haired youkai wailed in agony for the princess. The crowd was quiet while the sobs rang through the night. After a few moments, she looked up the lord's wife.
    “Mother,” she said, her eyes filled with hate. “Mother... how could you let them do that to your daughter? How can you let them to this to me. You promised my father you would never let them kill me. You loved me once. You loved her once. She was my half sister. How can I help who I love?” growled the youkai.
    The lord's wife scoffed. “Knowing your own sister in such a way is unorthodox. You are a disgrace. There will be other children, perhaps even a boy. They are more valuable anyhow. You are no daughter of mine, and neither was she!”
    The youkai cried out in pain again, closing her eyes as more sobs shook her body. The guards held her as she was forced onto her knees, pulling her head back by her hair. She made no noise, not a sound. She took in her last breath as she could see the guard coming forward with a sword. She looked up to the moon, tears still streaming down her pale, blood-stained face. “It's tea time, Hime-sama....” she whispered, as things when dark instantly.
    Her head fell to the stone floor, eyes open and looking at peace. The people behind the screens shook their head and returned to the safety of inside the castle.
    Somewhere, in the skies above, two souls mingled and danced in the moonlight, chasing each other like that night a year ago under the full moon when they came to .now each other.