Uneventfully Noisy Lives Patchwork !!L2MGExBJD0 2009/09/03 (Thu) 06:49 No. 1282 ▼ File 125196054588.jpg - (98.84KB, 485x650 , china007.jpg)
Just a series of short scenes I was inspired to write by reading through the UNL win quotes. New parts will come by every now and again.
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"You have a gift for... me?"
Meiling was stunned, to say the least. It was a rare enough occasion for the Chinese gatekeeper merely to receive gifts, but for her to receive a gift from one so esteemed as the princess of the netherworld was unprecedented! The parties at the Hakurei Shrine were always full of surprises, but... even despite the fact that she remembered her breathing, her hands trembled slightly as she accepted the wooden case that the ghostly, kimono-clad beauty held out to her.
"It's nothing much, really. I was looking through the storehouse, and I found this. I thought you might like it."
"Could I... ?"
"Please, go right ahead. It's yours now, after all."
Mindful of her shaking hands, Meiling carefully opened the case, feeling almost overwhelmed by the anticipation. As excited as she was, however, nothing could have prepared her for what she would find waiting within the sleek green container.
With a sharp breath, eyes wide with awe, she gingerly retrieved a large, folded hand-fan from the cushioned interior of the case. Even folded, the fan was a marvel - the handle, it had to be made of the highest quality jade she had ever seen, and the tassel... no, it couldn't be, but it was! There could be no mistaking it - it had to have been made from the hairs of a dragon's mane, and tied to the handle with a dragon's whisker at that!
Trembling with astonished wonder, she spread the fan open, and very nearly burst into tears.
The fan itself, a large dancing fan - heavenly cloth in brilliant, shimmering emerald! Painted across the fan, in a deep forest hue, was the most painstakingly detailed image of a long, serpentine dragon that she had encountered in her life, weaving through a cloudy sky. Lining the edges of the fan, intricately lettered Chinese poetry, and more of it than she could have believed!
"Oh, Miss Saigyouji! This is... this is incredible! I could never accept something so valuable!"
Carefully folding the fan back up and setting it in its case, she moved to return it, but Saigyouji merely pushed the gift back into Meiling's hands with a smile and a shake of her head.
"No, no, Meiling."
"But--"
"Meiling, listen," the ghostly woman urged, her hand raised in a silencing gesture. "Tools exist to be used. Tools that aren't used become youkai of resentment. It would be a shame to let such a fine artifact become filled with resentment. I told you once that Tai Chi Chuan went well with fans - I think that fan will be much happier to be given a dance each day, don't you?"
Meiling stared at the case in her hands. The fan was such a beautiful thing, and so valuable that it had intimidated her at first, but... to think of such a treasure languishing away, never seeing use, never to be seen slicing gracefully through the air...
"Yes. Thank you."
"Though, Meiling," Saigyouji added as she began to turn away, "if I could ask for just one favor... I'd like to see that fan put to use myself one day."
With tear-filled eyes, and a smile from the heart, Meiling nodded her head, and choked back a happy sob.
"Yes!"