Sitting in front of the mirror, Momoko brushed her hair out, finally feeling much better. While it had felt as though she were dying for the past couple of days, it seemed to have finally faded away. Now she could finally get to more important matters.
But what were these matters?
Was getting home, to her world, one of these?
As the comb slid down the long heavily matted strands of hair, Momoko stared at her reflection which still looked ill and pinched. What would she get if she went back into a world in which she was unwanted and easily tossed aside? But her husband didn't, at least. Certainly he was probably unhappy with his situation...
Momoko looked at her reflection again, bumping her knee against the table, making the mirror wobble slightly. Heterochromia made her features unbalanced, her skin forever had it's sickly pallor. The loose red robe she wore looked baggy on her, hiding the skinny and unattractive features beneath the red threads. She was a mess of jagged edges underneath. She gently set the lovely comb down onto the table top. She looked at her hands, flexing the fingers slowly.
Did he hate her?
The thought made tears spring from her eyes. She did not have the lovely blue eyes, the athletic figure, the charming voice, or the attractive face that Ryuuzaki did. She always had the feeling, somewhere, that Roka loved Ryuu. Momoko tried to hide it away, pretend to not show it, remain silent about it. She would smile and act cheerful for Roka's sake. But did it really matter when he had distanced himself? Suddenly feeling hopeless, Momoko covered her eyes to hide from her own sickening reflection.
Momoko felt as though her entire 'world', what she had dreamed and wished for with all her heart, was gone. "R-r-rokaaaaaa...." She wailed, the word making her throat throb. "Please don't hate meeee.... pleeeaaassseee..." She continued, her voice a horrible noise.
A soft thump brought her hands away from her eyes, and she looked to see what made the noise. Gasping, a black haired figure was half way out of the mirror, it's long clawed fingers grasping tightly onto the table. Momoko sat frozen, feeling suddenly as though she were in a bad horror movie.
The black haired figure looked up, her face a twisted pale mess, with two gaping holes for eyes. A wicked smile spread upon that awful visage, and Momoko suddenly fell backwards with her hands wrapped around the wrists of the stranger which in turn had wraped those awful fingers around her throat.
Momoko scratched at her attacker, ripping at the flesh on the arms. The hands just tightened their grip on her, and suddeny lifted her head up, before smashing it back into the ground. Momoko kicked at the strange girl, even as her head was smashed into the ground another two, three, four, five times. Finally, a kick sent the grotesque girl tumbling off her. Feeling light headed, Momoko still managed to stand up and stumble away. Taking a few deep breaths, she watched the monsterous girl stand up, her arms hanging limply at her side.
"Why live?
Stunned once more, Momoko backed into a wall, putting her hands against it and feeling her hand touch something, a shaft.
"You have nothing to live for."
Gripping the shaft, Momoko bit her lip as she watched the girl begin to advance again.
"Your heart is weak and torn. You're a stupid ugly girl who no one can stand. No wonder why Roka loves Ryuu, you're just some ugly doll.
Momoko put her hands on the shaft and dragged it from it's spot on the wall, swinging it in a half arc and cleanly sliced the strange girl in half. But the girl didn't bleed, nor did she snap in too, instead like smoke she began to fade.
"But you already know this, don't you Momoko? Hurry up and smash yourself to bits. Please. It'll be a relief to everyone if you just hurried up and died."
And with that, she was alone again. Dropping her weapon, Momoko tottered back to the mirror. A grey shadow seemed to flicker behind the mirror, watching it wobble, Momoko stood still as it started going forward, forward, overshadowing her...
Waking up again, Momoko panted heavily as she looked around. She was back in bed, except something was pulling at her hair? Sitting up, she turned to look at the source of the tugging. It was Lady Jian, her own grayed hair carefully tied up. "Good morning there dear, it seems the mirror fell on you. It's been wobbly for years, but we thought we fixed it." She sighed.
Momoko nodded her head understandingly, feeling a slight itchy sensation on her arms. Rolling up the sleeves, she saw the numerous cuts, all shallow. Green splotches had spread on her flesh, bruises. Her throat did not hurt, so she wondered if she just had an awful dream of some sort while knocked out.
She wished Roka was there with her.
He might like it too, the world she was in. Except he wouldn't have his ipod.
She giggled at that.
"Hm, something funny?" Lady Jian asked smiling.
Momoko shrugged.
Lady Jian continued brushing Momoko's hair. "Such long hair, it's very lovely. When I was your age, I always kept it short, I wanted to be one of the boys." She chuckled. "Of course, that was back during a dark time. Now things are brighter."
Another hour passed, and after Lady Jian had played with numerous styles, she finally left it loose, and allowed Momoko out into the gardens after repeatedly asking her if she was absolutely CERTAIN she felt fine.
The halls around her were plenty lovely, almost similiar to her own home in a way. The gardens themselves were pretty, with a few large trees and bushes with flowers. It was apparently open to the townspeople as well, as a few meandered in and out, since the garden lacked walls.
Momoko settled beneath one of the trees, opened her palm and stared at it. To her shock, a quivering little flame appeared, tiny and fragile. Putting her other hand around it to protect it from the breeze, Momoko held the warmth close to her. Even if she were useless to everyone else, maybe she could still be useful to this little flame sitting in her hand?
Nearby, another grey shadow jiggled behind a bush, before disappearing.
