Of Princess Kaguya and Lady Tanabata

Oneshot

帰るさの　みゆきもの憂く　思ほえて
そむきてとまる　かぐや姫ゆゑ
Kaeru sa no　miyuki mono uku　omooete
somukite tomaru　Kaguya-hime yue
My journey back home has become so sorrowful I can't help but stop and look back, all because of Kaguya-hime

Mikazuki-dono.

Have you any idea the feelings you roused in me the very first moment I laid eyes upon you, the way you mesmerized me, captured my heart, took my breath away the second you made your presence in my life known?

How can I forget the very first memory I have of you when I had been newly granted this human form, of that elegance dance you did among bamboos under the moon? So graceful, so lovely, the way you moved as though gliding across still water, as bamboo leaves caressed you and the moon bathed you in its silver splendor. Sasa no ha, sarasara... You are the most beautiful sword among the tenka goken, so the common knowledge goes. No, you are more than that. You are the embodiment of beauty, the very picture of divinity, of ethereality seemingly belonging to another plane of existence.

It is even better that you are Mikazuki. Not Mochizuki, not the moon at its fullest perfection, but Mikazuki, the moon at its most beautiful. The beauty of incompletion, of the beginning and the end. For a moment, it seemed to me you were no longer a fellow sword; you were a divine being to my earthly, the Kaguya-hime to my hopeless suitor, a faraway fantasy no Penglai treasure tree branch or fire rat fur coat can buy that will soon forever leave the face of the earth. All I knew for the split second you finally noticed me and greeted me with your smile and that subtle moonlight in your eyes was that...

I am hopelessly in love with you.

oOo

秋風の　吹きにし日より　いつしかと
我が待ち恋ひし　君ぞ来ませる
Akikaze no　fukinishi hi yori　itsu shika to
waga machi koishi　kimi zo komaseru
You (Hikoboshi/Niúláng) have finally arrived now that I (Orihime/Zhīnǚ) have been longing for you since the autumn wind blew.

"Forgive me for my intrusion, but may I ask what wish have you decided to write on your tanzaku?" Juzumaru said, gently setting down his brush by the plate of ink so as not to bristle the hair. Being a Buddhist man of little desire, it didn't take long for him to come up with a Tanabata wish, or a wish for any other occasion; even if it was a New Year wish or a wish upon the rare shooting star, it would always be to be able to lead those in need to the path of enlightenment. But not so for Mikazuki, with his piece of paper still blank, his brush still having not touched the ink and a passable idea for a wish still having not yet crossed his mind.

"This is a once-in-a-year chance, and I want to make sure my wish counts." Mikazuki said. "Besides, there's no need to hurry. I have plenty of time to think of one, as the tanzaku won't be hung up soon in the middle of this heavy rain."

Outside, the downpour pounded the Citadel roofs, showered upon bushes of blooming hydrangeas.

"Ah, the tears of joy of Hikoboshi and Orihime." Juzumaru commented, "To have only one evening each year to reunite, this once-in-a-year chance must be beyond precious for them. Happy to see each other, yet also aware that time is running out, it truly is at once beautiful and tragic."

A short while later, Mikazuki said, "Aren't we the same?"

"What do you mean?" asked Juzumaru.

"We may seem to get to be by each other's side longer than Hikoboshi and Orihime do, but the days we get to spend together is, in the great flow of time, little more than one evening. Our time together is, as you once said, the paper flower to their real; theirs withers in one season, ours stay fresh until the end of the year, but will eventually burn, dissipate in water, or be torn to pieces. So, shall we enjoy and cherish what little time we have together?" he said and moved closer to Juzumaru, "My Orihime."

As their lips brushed, an idea sparked in Mikazuki's mind, and so among the multitude of tanzaku that decorated bamboo plants in the Citadel yard once the rain stopped was one that said may my lover and I get to meet if only for brief moments in our next lives, like the lovers in the sky do every Seventh of July.

---

Poem 1: from the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
Poem 2: Man'yōshū #1532 by Yamanoue no Okura
Translated (and annotated) by me.