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The Silver Queen traveled to the moon twice a year as part of its regular trading route. King and his brother Jack would bring supplies from Earth, mostly food and spices, in exchange for Moon Rabbit Rice Cakes and Moon Maiden's Tears. At least, they were supposed to be tears from a Moon Maiden, although King had never seen one--apparently, it was forbidden for human men to gaze upon their legendary beauty.
Which made King wonder how they managed to reproduce, and if there were any Moon Men for the Moon Maidens to marry. No one had ever been able to give him an answer to that question, not even the Moon Rabbit, Hyourin, who acted as a trade representative on behalf of the Moon Maidens. When King had asked him about the Moon Maidens and the hypothetical Moon Men, Hyourin had given him a baleful glare and told him that it was none of his business. He did, however, acknowledge that he was the one who made the magical Rice Cakes that could cure any disease or injury.
This year, things started off as usual: they met Hyourin at the trading post and began exchanging supplies. But suddenly the Moon Rabbit looked up in surprise and gasped as a figure glided towards them. As the person drew closer, King could see that it was a woman dressed in loose, gauzy, silvery-white robes that seemed to glow with an inner light.
"Legend has it that the Moon Maidens weave silk out of moonbeams," Jack whispered to King, who was too awestruck to reply. Although most of her body was covered by the robes, the woman moved with an unearthly grace, her steps so light that she almost seemed to be floating instead of walking. And although she wore a veil made of the same material of her robes, it was thin enough that King could vaguely make out the features of the woman's face, which seemed ethereally beautiful and strangely familiar.
"My Lady!" Hyourin protested. "You know that it is forbidden for humans to look upon the Moon Maidens!"
"Hence, the veil, which prevents them from gazing upon me directly," the woman replied serenely, gesturing towards her face with one hand, the voluminous sleeves of the robe falling back slightly to reveal a slim, delicate hand with long, graceful fingers.
"You are splitting hairs, my Lady," the rabbit said reprovingly.
The veil made it difficult to be sure, but King thought that the Moon Maiden's lips curved upwards in a small, mischievous smile. "I will not be long," she assured him. "I only wanted to meet Rin's friends." She turned to King and his brother, and this time King was sure that she was smiling at them. "And the two of you must be Jack and King."
"It is an honor to meet you, my Lady," Jack said, bowing politely.
At the same time, King blurted out in surprise, "You know Rin? I didn't think she had ever gone to the moon! Or did you visit the Dream Shoppe?"
"Rin and I correspond through letters."
"Ah, I see," King said, recalling that Rin always sent an envelope for them to pass along with the supplies to Hyourin, but had assumed that it merely contained instructions about the supply order. He wondered briefly how and why Rin became pen pals with a Moon Maiden, but then grinned as the significance of the Moon Maiden's words belatedly sunk in. "Rin talks about me?" he asked eagerly.
The Moon Maiden laughed gently, a sound like the tinkling of silver bells, and replied, "Yes, Rin has told me a lot about you--and your brother as well."
The mention of Jack deflated King's sense of elation, but only a little bit. After all, they were brothers, so it was only natural that Rin should mention Jack as well. Besides, King figured it was a good sign that Rin mentioned him in her letters--and not just a little, but "a lot," according to the Moon Maiden.
"Rin's never said anything about knowing a Moon Maiden personally, but I'm really happy to meet you, too," King said. He grinned again and added, "And I always like learning new things about Rin! She doesn't talk much about herself--she's a bit mysterious, actually."
Hyourin looked a little puzzled and opened his mouth, as if to speak, but the Moon Maiden exclaimed, "Oh, please forgive my rudeness--I haven't introduced myself!" She bowed gracefully and said, "I am Tsukihime."
Hyourin's ears twitched in displeasure--no doubt he thought it was beneath the Moon Maiden's dignity for her to share her name with them. King had to fight the urge to stick out his tongue at the rabbit, mostly because Rin would have scolded him for being childish. It was a pity that she didn't seem to appreciate how much he had matured over the years, and still treated him like a child.
"My Lady," Hyourin said with ill-disguised impatience. "The trade has been completed, and we really should be getting back."
"Very well," Tsukihime conceded with a soft, regretful sigh. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Jack and King."
"It was nice to meet you, too, Lady Tsukihime," King replied. "Maybe we can talk some more on our next visit."
Not if I have anything to say about it, Hyourin was clearly thinking, although he remained silent--the way he glared at King and Jack made his thoughts plain enough.
"I would enjoy that," Tsukihime said pleasantly, ignoring Hyourin's disapproving look. "Please give my regards to Rin. And will you please give this to Rin as well?" From somewhere within her voluminous robes, she produced a cloth-wrapped bundle that was tied up with a ribbon--both wrapping and ribbon appeared to be made of white silk.
"We will," Jack promised, taking the bundle from the Tsukihime while King stared at it curiously.
"It looks like a present," he said, wondering if Rin's birthday was coming up. King had asked her about it before, but she had refused to tell him when her birthday was--or how old she was, for that matter. He had asked her that only once, in his younger days before Jack had told him that it wasn't polite to ask a lady's age. Rin hadn't seemed particularly offended by the question, though--she had just smiled and winked and said that it was a secret.
"It is a gift from myself to Rin," Tsukihime replied, although to King's disappointment, she didn't tell him whether or not it was a birthday gift. Before he had a chance to ask, the Moon Maiden bowed, murmuring her thanks, and left with Hyourin.
The rabbit was obviously happy to be rid of them, but King thought that Tsukihime looked sad, although it was difficult to read her facial expressions beneath that gauzy veil. But maybe she was lonely cooped up there on the moon with no one to talk to but a grumpy rabbit.
When he voiced that thought aloud, Jack said, "Well, there are lots of other Moon Maidens living here, too." He paused for a moment, looking thoughtful, then conceded, "But maybe she wishes that she could travel beyond the moon and meet other people."
"We're lucky," King said, feeling a little shaken and unexpectedly humbled by the thought. "We get to travel between the worlds, and go to all kinds of places and meet lots of different people. It would be awful to be stuck in one place and never be able to leave it." He made a face and added, "Especially with a bossy bunny telling you who can or can't see."
Jack smiled and said, "Well, some people don't like to travel and prefer to stay in one place. But yes, I'm also happy that our work allows us to travel. Shall we head back to the ship?"
King agreed--a bit distractedly, because it occurred to him then that Rin never seemed to leave the Dream Shoppe. If he married her, would she expect him to settle down and live there with her? He tried to reassure himself that he could continue his trade work--after all, he'd be helping out with the Shoppe's business, bringing back the items that Rin needed. And besides, the frequent reunions would help keep their marriage passionate!
"It'll be like being newlyweds all the time," he chuckled to himself.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, little brother," Jack warned dryly.
"Rin will be mine someday!" King declared.
"Rin might have a thing or two to say about that," Jack muttered, but King pretended not to hear him.
***
Well, technically Jack was in charge of Ace's training, but King was a still a senior member over the newcomer, and helped to show him the ropes. After always being the youngest and being treated like a kid--especially by Rin--for years, it felt good to have someone else be "the kid" for a change. So King took great pleasure in telling Ace about how they'd met the Moon Maiden, and in Ace's look of awe.
"Wow, I wish I'd been able to go with you!" Ace said enviously.
"Maybe next time," Jack consoled him. "There are strict rules about allowing outsiders to set foot on the moon, and since it's only been me and King on the ship up until now, we were only authorized for two crew members to enter the trading post."
"Yeah, that sourpuss bunny is a real stickler for the rules," King added.
"Moon Maidens are supposed to be so beautiful that they don't dare let human men set eyes on them, for fear that they'll go mad with desire and try to carry off the Maidens," Ace said. "Are the stories true? Was that Moon Maiden--what was her name again?"
"Tsukihime," Jack replied. "It means 'Moon Princess,' if I'm not mistaken."
"Was Tsukihime really as beautiful as the legends say?"
"Well, we didn't go mad with desire," Jack laughed. "But maybe that's because she was wearing a veil. From what little I could make out beneath it, she did seem to be very beautiful. She was certainly graceful and elegant."
"She was very pretty," King agreed, then hastily added, "but not as pretty as Rin!"
"Now I can't wait to meet Rin, if she's really more beautiful than a Moon Maiden!" Ace said with a grin. He turned to Jack and asked, "Or is King just exaggerating?"
"Of course not!" King protested, although the other two ignored him.
Jack hesitated, then replied, "We'll be stopping at the Dream Shoppe next, so you can judge for yourself soon enough."
***
"I don't know," Ace said skeptically. "It looks more like she's warning you not to hit the building."
Now that Ace mentioned it, King supposed that Rin was waving in a manner that could be interpreted as "frantic," but he preferred to believe that she was just being enthusiastic.
"Nonsense, I have everything under control," King told his cousin confidently, and brought the ship to a halt just a few feet away from the walls of the Dream Shoppe. "See!" he shouted, smiling down at Rin proudly. "I didn't hit the Shoppe this time!"
"'This time'?" Ace whispered to Jack, who just sighed and shook his head.
King chose to ignore them and focused his attention on Rin, who crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. That seemed rather unfair to King, given that he hadn't hit the shop. And anyway, he had repaired the damage the last time, so what did she have to complain about?
He leaped down from the ship and flashed what he hoped was a charming grin at Rin. "What're you looking so sour for?" he laughed. "Aren't you impressed by how much my navigation skills have improved?"
"Not hitting my store should be a basic level of skill, not something special to be praised for," Rin retorted.
Meanwhile, Jack had dropped down a ladder and was climbing down at a more leisurely pace. "Give him a break, Rin," he said with a good-natured smile. "He is improving, and at least we won't have to do any repairs this time."
"Not having a gaping hole knocked into the wall is something of an improvement," Rin grudgingly conceded. Then her expression changed from sour to curious when she saw Ace climb down the ladder after Jack. "Oh, a new crew member?"
"This is our cousin Ace," Jack said. "We're teaching him the trade--it's sort of the family business. Ace, this is Rin, the owner of the Dream Shoppe."
"Ahem," a voice pointedly coughed from somewhere down by Rin's feet.
"Excuse me, Alpha," Jack apologized. "I didn't mean to leave you out. Ace, this is Alpha, Rin's assistant. Alpha, please be good to my cousin."
"Nice to meet you!" Alpha declared, sticking out his small black paw, and Ace bent down to shake it politely.
"It's nice to meet you, too," Ace said. "And I look forward to working with you as well," he added, holding out his hand to Rin, who hesitated for a moment, then shook it.
"We should get along well enough as long as you don't steer the ship into my store," she said with a small, wry smile.
Ace laughed, but gazed at Rin with a bemused expression on his face--dazzled by her beauty, no doubt. King hoped that he wasn't going to have a rival for Rin's affections, and resolved to make it clear to his cousin that Rin was his. He'd been courting her for ten years now, so he had prior claim, after all. Besides, he tried to reassure himself, Rin wouldn't be interested in some kid. He ignored the little voice in his head that reminded him that Rin had dismissed him as a kid, too--that was years ago, and he was much more mature now. Rin may not have noticed it yet, but surely it was only a matter of time. Surely this time she would finally accept his proposal...
"Hey, stop daydreaming and get to work," Rin's curt voice interrupted his reverie. In a slightly kinder voice, she said to Ace, "Alpha will show you where to unload the merchandise."
King sighed. Maybe getting Rin to take him seriously was going to be harder than he'd thought. In an effort to show off his maturity, he kept quiet instead of retorting, and concentrated on unloading the merchandise they had collected for the Dream Shoppe. Unfortunately, Rin didn't stick around to watch, so the effort was wasted.
Alpha escorted them to the storeroom and then left, and as soon as they were alone, Ace asked, "You were messing with me, right? Is this some kind of practical joke on the new guy?"
"Huh?" King asked, staring at him in confusion.
"Oh, come on!" Ace said impatiently. "The joke's on me--I admit, I fell for it."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," King told him.
"You were going on and on about what a beautiful girl Rin is, but 'she' is obviously a guy!" Ace shouted.
"Are you blind?" King asked incredulously. "Of course she's a girl! Don't you think she's beautiful?"
"Well, he's awfully pretty for a guy," Ace conceded. "But her...his...chest is flat as a board. Rin can't possibly be a girl!"
"How rude!" King exclaimed. "Just because she doesn't have big...I mean, just because she isn't full-figured, it doesn't mean that she's not female!"
Ace blinked and stared at him for a moment before asking, "You really do believe that Rin is a woman, don't you?"
"Of course I do!" King snapped. Then he and Ace both turned to Jack and began speaking simultaneously.
"Rin's a guy, right?"
"Tell him that Rin's a girl!"
Jack hesitated, then said carefully, "I think that Rin is Rin."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Ace demanded.
"Does it really matter what gender Rin is?" Jack replied. "Deep down inside, isn't Rin the same person whether Rin is male or female?"
"I think that may be a little too profound for me," Ace said doubtfully. "I guess that his--or her--personality would be the same either way, if that's what you mean. But it might make a difference romantically speaking, depending on whether or not King likes boys as well as girls."
"Would you like Rin any less if Rin were a man?" Jack asked King, who frowned, wondering why his brother was being so cryptic. Why didn't he just confirm that Rin was female instead of asking all these roundabout questions? Surely it couldn't be that he agreed with Ace that Rin was a guy! That was a preposterous idea, and besides, King had been referring to Rin as a girl for the past ten years, and Jack had never said anything to indicate that he disagreed. Although...now that King thought about it, he couldn't remember Jack ever referring to Rin as "he" or "she"--he always used Rin's name instead of a pronoun.
Did Jack think that Rin was male? But if so, why hadn't he ever said anything to King about it? Then King shook his head, as if to shake such silly thoughts out of it. Jack was much too smart to mistake the lovely Rin for a man; he was probably just being nice and humoring Ace so that their young cousin wouldn't feel like a complete idiot when he finally found out the truth.
King was about to tell Jack that his question was pointless because of course Rin was a girl, but Rin appeared before he could manage to get the words out. She looked around approvingly, seeing that everything had been put away, and said, "Thanks for your hard work."
"You're welcome!" King replied, although Rin had been speaking to Jack. They'd all been working together, so King figured that all three of them were included in the thanks.
"No problem--it's best to work these two hard to keep them out of mischief," Jack chuckled, slapping both King and Ace on the back. Ace just grinned good-naturedly, but King glared at his brother. After all, he was much more mature and never got into mischief anymore...well, not much, anyway. But then Rin laughed at Jack's joke, and even though it was at his own expense, King's mood lifted because Rin looked so beautiful when she laughed.
"By the way, this is for you," Jack said, handing Rin the silk-wrapped bundle that the Moon Maiden had given them. "Lady Tsukihime asked us to give it to you."
Rin's lovely eyes widened in surprise. "You spoke to Lady Tsukihime?" she asked incredulously. "In person?"
King nodded, eager to share in the story and--not so incidentally--catch Rin's attention. "Yes, she came out to speak to us, although Hyourin made a big fuss about it, saying that humans aren't supposed to look upon a Moon Maiden! She got around that rule by wearing a veil, but even so, I could tell that she was really beautiful." He paused and added loyally, "But of course she wasn't nearly as beautiful as you, Rin!"
Somewhat to his disappointment, Rin didn't show the slightest sign of jealousy, and in fact, barely seemed to hear what he'd just said. Instead, her attention was focused on the package that she gingerly accepted from Jack, cradling it in her arms as if it were something very fragile and precious. "Thank you," she said quietly, her lips curving slightly in a strangely sad and nostalgic smile.
King had seen Rin angry (usually with him) many times, and had seen her laugh and smile often enough, but he had never seen that wistful look on her face before, and he found it rather disquieting. "How did you become friends with a Moon Maiden, Rin?" he asked in a more subdued voice than usual.
Rin blinked, and her demeanor suddenly changed back to normal. "That's none of your business," she said tartly, but then softened her words with a smile. "Well, it's getting late," she said briskly, changing the subject. Technically it was always twilight outside the Dream Shoppe, but it was getting close to dinner by King's inner clock, and his stomach rumbled loudly on cue. King grinned sheepishly, and Rin winked at him and said, "So why don't you all stay for dinner?"
"Sure, Rin, I love your cooking!" King declared enthusiastically.
Jack laughed and said, "Looks like we'll be taking you up on your generous offer, then."
***
Ace is an idiot, and blind to boot, he decided, but found his irritation subsiding. After all, if Ace was thought that Rin was a guy, at least it meant that Ace wouldn't be competing with him over Rin's affections.
After dinner was over, Rin politely invited them to stay "the night" (or at least, what passed for the night in this realm)--an invitation that Jack accepted with equal politeness. King, of course, was overjoyed, but tried to play it cool and merely smiled and said, "Thank you."
Actually, in the past when he was younger and less mature, he had sometimes accidentally-on-purpose ran the ship into the shop just so that he would have an excuse to stay for a few extra days making repairs. He decided that it was a good sign that Rin was inviting him to stay voluntarily. (Okay, not just him but Jack and Ace as well, but it was still a good sign.)
Alpha took them to the guest bedroom, where normally there were two beds for Jack and King, but this time there were three even though Rin had not known before today that Ace had joined the crew. Then again, this was a magical store, so perhaps the Dream Shoppe had conjured up an extra bed for the unexpected guest.
His brother and cousin were soon snoring contentedly, but King found himself unable to sleep, still distracted by Ace's idiotic notion of Rin being a guy. After tossing and turning for several minutes, he got out of bed, thinking that perhaps he would get a snack or a cup of cocoa. Maybe that would help him sleep, or if not, at least kill some time.
He was heading towards the kitchen when noises coming from upstairs caused him to stop and frown as he strained to hear. It sounded like the faint squeaking of floorboards and thumping noises like footsteps--but muted and in oddly rhythmic intervals. King wondered if a burglar could have broken into the store--it seemed unlikely, but he decided to check anyway, just to be sure. And if by some chance he did manage to stop a robber, that would make him a hero in Rin's eyes!
So he quietly snuck up the stairs, following the noises as they got louder, until he reached the attic at the very top. He cautiously pushed the door open, and saw that instead of being used for storage, the room was empty--empty, that is, except for Rin.
King had always thought she was the prettiest woman he had ever met, but tonight she looked so ethereally beautiful that it took his breath away. She was dressed in the same type of gauzy robe that that Lady Tsukihime had worn, and the silvery highlights in the white cloth shimmered like moonbeams in the pale light of dusk that filtered through windows. Rin danced with inhuman grace, looking like an angel or a goddess as she leapt and twirled and spun, seeming to almost float in the air before her bare feet landed on the floorboards again, causing the soft thumping and squeaking that had caught his attention.
Her eyes half-closed, Rin didn't seem to notice King as she continued dancing to some inner music that only she could hear, humming a hauntingly sweet but melancholy tune under her breath. King just stood there spellbound, almost afraid to breathe. He felt slightly guilty for spying on Rin in what seemed to be a private and intimate moment, but at the same time, he couldn't bring himself to look away.
King had no idea how much time had passed; he was so enthralled by the beauty of Rin's dance that it could have been a few minutes or a few hours, and he felt like he could have watched her forever. But at some point, she stopped humming and the dance ended as Rin sank gracefully to her knees, the skirts of the robe spreading out on the floor around her like a pool of moonlight.
A faint sigh of regret escaped from King's lips, and Rin looked up, startled. "King!" she exclaimed accusingly, and suddenly she was no longer the ethereal goddess, but the familiar shop owner Rin that he knew and loved.
"I didn't mean to spy on you or anything," King hastily explained. "I couldn't sleep, and I heard noises coming from upstairs, so I went to check it out and...well, you know."
"You saw me dancing," Rin said, sounding more resigned than annoyed now.
"I know I should apologize for intruding," King said. "But I can't honestly say that I'm sorry because that was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life." He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to anger her by prying further, but his curiosity got the better of him, and the questions he'd been repressing came pouring out of his mouth: "Did Lady Tsukihime send you that robe? Is she the one who taught you to dance like that? Are you a Moon Maiden, too?"
Rin sighed and shook her head, but then her lips quirked up in a smile and she looked more amused than exasperated. "Well, I guess I can't blame you for being curious," she conceded. "Let me change out of this, and we can talk over a cup of tea."
To King's shock, Rin started to pull the robe up over her head right in front of him. "Rin!" he exclaimed, so startled that his voice came out as more of a squeak than a shout. King was a gentleman and his intentions towards Rin were honorable, so he turned around to give her some privacy--but couldn't resist taking just one quick backwards glance...
And saw Rin gazing back at him calmly, bare-chested and clad only in a pair of trousers. That chest was, as Ace had said, flat as a board because--again, as Ace had said--it was obvious now that Rin was indeed a man.
"You...you...you...you're a guy?!" King stammered.
"You only just now noticed?" Rin asked wryly as she--he--put his normal clothes back on.
"But I thought you were a girl!" King wailed. He couldn't believe that Ace had been right all along! And what about Jack--had he known the truth all this time, and if so, why hadn't he said anything?
There was a very odd look on Rin's face. With her--no, damn it, his--features all scrunched up, King thought that Rin was mad at him. But then he realized that Rin had been trying to hold back a fit of laughter when it came bursting out a few seconds later.
"I'm sorry, King," Rin gasped when he finally managed to stop laughing for a moment. "But you should see your face!" But when Rin saw how hurt and confused King looked, he calmed down and repeated in a kinder voice, "I'm sorry, King. I know this must have come as a shock to you."
"That's the understatement of the year," King said ruefully. "So...are you a Moon Maiden? Or rather, a Moon Man, or whatever a male Moon Maiden is called?"
"There are no male Moon Maidens," Rin replied quietly.
"But then...where do Moon Maidens come from?" King asked, his curiosity reasserting itself in spite of the shock he'd just suffered.
"It's a long story," Rin said, smiling sadly. "Well, the story of where Moon Maidens come from isn't really that complicated, but my own story is. Do you want to hear it?"
"Yes, please," King said, trying not to sound too eager. "If it's not too personal."
Rin sat cross-legged on the attic floor, and King sat down beside him. "Lady Tsukihime is my mother," Rin said.
"But you just said that there were no male Moon Maidens!" King protested.
"I'll explain if you stop interrupting me," Rin said sternly, and King fell silent. "My mother is a tennyo, what humans refer to as a Moon Maiden or Celestial Maiden. There are no male tennyo, so they reproduce by, er, mating with human men."
"Then all those stories about Moon Maidens coming to earth--!" King started to exclaim, then smiled sheepishly when he realized he had interrupted Rin again.
"Yes, you're right," Rin said, smiling at King instead of scolding him. "There are legends about Moon Maidens coming to Earth, to dance in the moonlight in some secluded forest clearing, where a human man sees them and becomes enthralled by their beauty. They take off their hagoromo, or magical robes, to bathe in a lake or river, and the man steals one of the robes, without which the maiden cannot return back home to the moon. Having no other choice, the Moon Maiden agrees to marry him in the hopes of someday getting back her hagoromo. So she lives with the man for a time and has children with him, but eventually she finds where he hid her robe and returns back to the moon. The legends are partly correct--the Moon Maidens come down to Earth to mate with human men and bear children, but they do so willingly. They mostly have girl children, whom they take back to the moon with them to be raised as tennyo. More rarely, boys are born, and are left with their human fathers because men are not allowed to live on the moon with the tennyo."
"So...your mother is a Moon Maiden and your father is human?" King asked.
Rin nodded. "My mother came to Earth many years ago, as the tennyo do when they wish to conceive a child, and she met my father, who was a farmer in a remote village. Normally these unions are brief liaisons that last only until the Moon Maiden has given birth to a child, but my mother fell in love with my father, and she remained on Earth with him until I was about four years old.
"At the time, the country was in a constant state of war while various warlords battled for dominance. We were living in a remote country village, but eventually the battles spilled over into our town, and my father was killed by some rampaging enemy soldiers. He wasn't trying to fight or resist them--he just got in their way, and they cut him down. He had been out in the fields when he saw the soldiers coming, and was rushing home to protect me and my mother...or so my mother told me. I was very young, and my memories of that time are a bit hazy."
"I am so sorry, Rin," King whispered.
"It's not your fault," Rin said kindly.
That was true, but King still felt badly about Rin's tragic past--when suddenly it occurred to him that Rin seemed to be describing the samurai era. He had only a vague grasp of Japanese history, but hadn't that been at least a couple hundred years ago, maybe more? Just how old was Rin, anyway?
"With her husband dead, the other tennyo came to take her back to the moon with them," Rin said, continuing with his story.
That caught King's attention and distracted him from his thoughts about Rin's age. "But you're a boy, and men aren't allowed to live on the moon with the maidens...er, tennyo."
"Exactly," Rin said, nodding. "My mother didn't want to give me up, especially after losing my father, and moreover, my father was an orphan with no siblings, so he had no family members that could care for me if she went back to the moon alone. The villagers were kind and would probably have taken me in, but my mother didn't want to leave me with outsiders, however kind they were. And besides, an extra mouth to feed would have been a burden to the villagers, with their crops trampled by soldiers on horseback, and many of their homes burned down by the invading army. So can you guess what my mother decided to do?"
"She disguised you as a girl!" King exclaimed.
Rin smiled. "Yes, so perhaps I shouldn't have laughed at you for mistaking my gender. At that age, boys and girls look pretty much the same at first glance, aside from differences in clothing and hairstyles. And to be honest, even the male children of tennyo tend to look, well..."
"Pretty?" King suggested.
"I was going to say 'beautiful' or 'elegant,'" Rin said, giving King a stern look, although there was a glint of amusement in his eyes. "But close enough. So my mother dressed me as a girl and told her fellow tennyo that I was her daughter, and no one thought to doubt her word. We were careful to keep up that secret once we were living on the moon--I was taught to dress, move, and dance like a girl. Even after I left the moon, the habit remained with me, so it really isn't your fault that you mistook me for a woman." He smiled faintly. "Although I admit, I got some amusement out of your misperception."
Despite his smile, there was a distant, unfocused look in Rin's eyes, as if he were looking back at his memories instead of King. "You're not living on the moon anymore, obviously," King said hesitantly. "So does that mean that your secret got out?"
"It got more difficult to keep the secret as I grew older," Rin said gravely. "And the other tennyo began to think it was odd that I was so solitary and never bathed or undressed in front of them. I tried to be careful, but eventually someone walked in on me when I was changing my clothes, and there was a huge uproar. I was about your age at the time."
"So they made you leave?" King asked, feeling angry and distressed on Rin's behalf. "But that's so unfair! You weren't doing them any harm, and you dance as beautifully as any Moon Maiden!"
"You've never seen a real Moon Maiden dance," Rin reminded him, but he blushed slightly and seemed flattered by King's words...or was that just King's imagination?
"Well, yeah," King admitted. "But your dance was so beautiful--I can't imagine that even a tennyo could do it any better! And I did meet Lady Tsukihime, and you're at least as beautiful as she is! Though I guess that's not surprising, since you're mother and son."
"You're very gallant, King," Rin laughed, but his expression turned more sober as he continued with his story. "It may be unfair, but it is the law of the tennyo that no men may dwell on the moon with them."
"Wait a minute," King said, frowning as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "Sorry to interrupt, but...isn't Hyourin male? Does he not count because he's a rabbit?"
"I suppose so," Rin replied. "He has always been there, for as long as anyone can remember, to act as a guardian and intermediary for the Moon Maidens. And being a rabbit, he doesn't have any...ah...romantic interest in the Moon Maidens, so there is no danger of strife arising through lust or jealousy, as there might if human men lived among them."
"It still seems unfair," King insisted. "You're not an outsider, you're one of them...well, you're half tennyo, anyway. That should count for something."
Rin sighed sadly. "My mother wept and pleaded that I be allowed to stay, and the other tennyo were sympathetic, but the law is the law, and in the end I had to leave. However, the problem was that I am not fully tennyo, but I am not quite human, either. With my father dead, I had no place to return to on Earth, and moreover, I had acquired too much magic while living with the tennyo to fit into normal human society. Or it might be that I was born with more magic than the male children of tennyo normally inherit...we don't know for sure, but my mother thinks it was the latter. And although they would not break their rules for me, the tennyo and Hyourin were not without compassion, and arranged for me to live here at the Dream Shoppe."
"But why a Dream Shoppe?" King wanted to know.
"I didn't want to just sit around and feel sorry for myself," Rin replied quietly. "So I decided to put my magic to good use and help other people find happiness."
Happiness for others, but not for yourself? King wondered. Aloud, he said, "Even though it was human soldiers who killed your father?"
"There are cruel and evil people on Earth, it is true," Rin said. "But there are also good and kind people like my father. And I have met many more of them through the Shoppe." He smiled and added, "And occasionally, I have a non-human customer like Hazuki."
"Hazuki?" King asked.
"A tree who fell in love with a human boy," Rin replied matter-of-factly. King wondered for a moment if he was joking, but on the other hand, he'd seen stranger things than that at the Dream Shoppe, so it was probably true.
"But what about your happiness, Rin?" King asked.
"I am happy," Rin replied, with what seemed like genuine sincerity. "I find satisfaction in my work, and while I do miss my mother, we're at least able to correspond through letters. And I have friends like Alpha, and you and Jack, so it isn't as if I'm alone."
King flushed with pleasure and pride. "Of course I'll always be your friend, Rin!"
"Even though I'm not a girl, as you thought I was?" Rin asked. He was smiling and spoke in a teasing tone of voice, but King thought he detected a hint of anxiousness in Rin's eyes. And then King thought about what Jack had asked him, if he would like Rin any less if Rin were a man. And he also remembered Jack saying that Rin was the same person, regardless of whether he was male or female.
It was true that King had never had romantic feelings for a guy before...but then again, he hadn't really had feelings for any girl other than Rin, either. Rin was his first love, whom he'd been instantly smitten with back when he'd been a little kid tagging along with his brother. Even though Rin had dismissed his feelings as puppy love, King's affection had never wavered throughout the years. And finally he understood what his brother had been trying to tell him.
"I like you, Rin," King said firmly. "I like how beautiful you are, and when I was a little kid, that was what first attracted me to you. But as I grew up, I also realized that I liked your kindness, and the way that you made your customers' dreams come true. I even liked the way that you scolded me when I would ram the boat into your shop--by accident, of course! I like everything about you, Rin--none of that's changed just because it turns out that you're a guy instead of a girl." He took a deep breath, then summoned up his courage and asked, "So will you marry me, Rin?"
Rin's eyes widened in shock, and he stared at King, speechless, for what seemed like an eternity. Then Rin smiled tenderly and said...
"No way! You're still too young for me, brat."
"You meanie!" King shouted. "How can you say that to me after I poured my heart out to you like that?"
Rin burst into laughter, and King glared at him. But he couldn't stay angry for long when Rin was laughing so merrily, without any of the sadness that King had seen in his face when he had been talking about his childhood and how he had been separated from his mother. He shook his head ruefully, then laughed along with Rin.
"You really are mean, you know," King said affectionately.
"Well then, how about you ask me again in another ten years, when you've grown up a bit?" Rin said with a smile. "Maybe I'll have a different answer for you then."
"Ten whole years?" King complained, but Rin just kept smiling at him, and he knew that Rin wasn't going to change his mind. He probably still thought of King as a kid, and that King would eventually outgrow what Rin thought of as a crush. So King would just have to prove to Rin that he was serious, no matter how many years it took.
***
"Well, you're getting better with your landings," Rin conceded.
"I haven't hit the Shoppe in years!" King said indignantly.
Rin started to argue further, but fell silent with shock when he spotted the robed and veiled figure standing on the deck of the ship.
"Mother?" he whispered.
King lowered the ladder and helped Lady Tsukihime to descend it, moving slowly and carefully so that her feet wouldn't get tangled up in her long robe. When she reached the ground, Tsukihime pushed back her veil and revealed her face, tears welling in her eyes but smiling with joy as she said in a tender and loving voice, "Rin."
"Mother!" Rin exclaimed, rushing forward to embrace her. They laughed and cried and hugged for a few minutes, while King, Jack, Ace, and Alpha waited a short distance away to give them a semblance of privacy.
"How did you--?" Alpha started to ask, but King smiled and laid a finger across his lips, wanting to wait until he could explain things to Rin first. Alpha nodded in understanding and patted King's arm approvingly with a small black paw. "You did good this time, kid," he said.
"I'm not a kid," King objected, more out of habit than anything else, but smiled as he watched Rin's reunion with his mother.
"How?" Rin finally asked, turning to face King while still holding his mother in his arms. "How did you manage to bring her here?" A note of apprehension crept into his voice as he asked, "You didn't kidnap her, did you?"
Tsukihime laughed and King grinned. "To be honest, I did consider it," he replied. "But I figured that Hyourin and the other Moon Maidens would come after us, and this would be the first place they'd look."
"I told him that the only way that I could leave the moon permanently would be if I were no longer a Moon Maiden," Tsukihime added. "In other words, to give up my tennyo powers."
"But that was easier said than done," King said, continuing the story. "It's not something she could give up just by wishing for it, so I spent years searching for an object that could absorb her magic, and finally, I found it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet pouch and carefully took out a large pearl that was about the size of an orange. It glowed and shimmered with the same silvery, iridescent light as the Moon Maidens' robes.
"We found it two years ago in the lair of a Sea Dragon, but it's taken us all this time to negotiate a trade," King explained. "He didn't want to give it up at first, no matter what we offered in exchange. But then Hyourin actually helped us out--he gave us some Moon Rabbit Rice Cakes to cure the dragon's sick child, and in gratitude, the dragon gave us the pearl. When I first met Hyourin, I thought he was kind of a jerk, but he's actually a decent guy when you get to know him."
"He wasn't deliberately being cruel when he made Rin leave the moon," Tsukihime said in her gentle voice. "He felt very badly for us, but he is bound by the rules, as are we all. When you found a way to help us be together without breaking the laws of the tennyo, Hyourin was happy to help."
"I get that now," King replied.
Rin asked his mother anxiously, "You gave up your magic for my sake?" He looked more closely at her, and King knew that he saw that while she was still beautiful, she no longer had that ethereal glow that the true tennyo possessed.
"Most of it," Tsukihime replied serenely. "Enough that I am no longer considered a tennyo, and I can no longer fly to and from the moon, even with a hagoromo. My dancing can no longer bespell men with anything other than my physical grace and skill--not that I have ever wished to do so since I married your father all those years ago. But I retain just a touch of magic...enough to live and work at the Dream Shoppe with you." She reached up to caress Rin's face gently with her hand. "I do not need my magic, Rin. To be able to live with you again makes me happier than anything else in the world."
Rin covered her hand with his, holding it against his cheek reverently. King began to feel a little uncomfortable, as if he were eavesdropping on a private moment between mother and son. He was about to tell the others that they should slip away and give Rin and Tsukihime some time alone, when Rin looked up and glanced over at King.
"You really did all this for me?" he asked quietly. "Worked for years to reunite me with my mother?"
King nodded. "Sorry I didn't tell you about all this sooner, but I didn't want to get your hopes up in case things didn't work out."
To King's surprise, Rin released his mother and came over to fling his arms around King, hugging him tightly and whispering with fervent gratitude, "Thank you so much, King."
"Ah...you...you're welcome, Rin," King stammered. Rin smiled and planted a kiss on King's cheek before returning to his mother. Ace grinned and gave King a thumbs-up.
It suddenly occurred to King that if he asked Rin to marry him now, Rin might actually be grateful enough to say "yes." But just as quickly, King dismissed that idea. He had done all this because he had seen how sad Rin was to be parted from his mother, and had wanted to make him happy and fulfill his wish, as Rin had done for so many others. Somehow it seemed wrong to take advantage of Rin's gratitude; his joyful smile was reward enough for King. Besides, he wanted Rin to marry him out of love and not just to pay off a debt.
So King did not propose, and simply joined in the celebration that Rin threw to welcome his mother to the Dream Shoppe. A few days later, King left with the Silver Queen to resume their trading voyage.
***
"You had no trouble getting the Moon Rabbit Rice Cakes and Moon Maiden's Tears?" Alpha asked, a bit anxiously.
"I have them right here," King assured him, carefully setting down the crate that contained the precious cargo. "There's nothing to worry about; Hyourin and the Moon Maidens aren't angry that Lady Tsukihime left. They knew how much she missed Rin, and they're glad that she and Rin can finally be together again. In fact, they sent some letters, telling you all the news from the moon."
"Thank you very much, King," Tsukihime said, smiling warmly as she took the letters from him.
Ace nudged him in the side with his elbow. "Don't you have something for Rin, too?" he asked with a grin.
King glared at his cousin. He did indeed have a special gift--and a question--for Rin, but he would prefer some privacy in case he was rejected again as usual.
"Come on, Ace, let's get these supplies into the shop," Jack said, winking at his brother. Ace reluctantly obeyed, and Alpha and Tsukihime followed them into the shop, leaving King and Rin alone outside it.
"I, uh, have something for you, Rin," King said awkwardly, handing Rin a small box with a velvet ribbon tied around it. He'd had a speech planned out in his head, but somehow those smooth words had vanished when Ace had started teasing him. Oh well, he thought, letting out a small sigh of resignation. Rin wasn't the type to be impressed by smooth words, anyway.
"It's not even my birthday," Rin said, smiling mischievously as he accepted the gift.
"I know," King replied. "But when I saw it, I thought it would perfect for you." He added nervously, "I hope you like it."
Rin opened the box and took out the ring that rested inside: a simple silver band set with a round moonstone. The cloudy white gem seemed to shimmer with an iridescent glow that reminded King of the Moon Maidens' magical robes.
"It's beautiful," Rin said, with what sounded like genuine pleasure. "Thank you very much, King."
"You're welcome," King replied, gratified and relieved that Rin liked his gift. But still a little nervous, as he tried to muster up the courage to make his proposal.
"However," Rin added, and King felt his heart sink, "one wonders if this is really just a thinking-of-you gift, or if it signifies certain intentions on your part?" He raised a questioning eyebrow, smiling pleasantly--but that was not reassuring, as he had also smiled at King the last two times he had turned down King's marriage proposals.
"It's a gift for you to keep, regardless of what your answer is," King said, a bit defiantly. "But..." He took a deep breath before continuing, "But I hope it will be your engagement ring."
To King's surprise, Rin grinned mischievously. "Well, you certainly took your time about proposing," he said.
"You're the one who told me to wait ten years!" King said indignantly.
"And since when have you ever listened to me, brat?" Rin laughed.
"I have too!" King insisted, knowing his response only made him sound childish; Rin always seemed to know how to push his buttons. But that was part of what he liked about Rin, he supposed. "I worked hard to become a good sailor, and I haven't hit your shop since I was a little kid! And I've waited these past ten years--twenty, if you count the previous ten--to show you that I'm serious about you, that this isn't just a childish crush."
Rin's expression softened as he replied, "It's true that you have matured, King. To be honest, I was surprised that you didn't propose last year when you brought my mother home. I was so happy that I might have agreed out of sheer gratitude."
King flushed. "Well, I won't say that the thought didn't cross my mind," he admitted. "But...that wouldn't be right, for you to marry me out of obligation or gratitude. I brought Lady Tsukihime home because I wanted you to be happy, that's all. I want to marry you, Rin, because I love you and I hope you feel the same way about me. But if you say no, I'll wait and ask you again in another ten years!"
Rin burst into laughter. "You're determined as ever, King! But you know, you don't really have to wait that long."
"Is that a 'yes'?" King asked hopefully.
"Yes," Rin replied, smiling at him warmly.
With trembling hands, King took the ring and slipped it onto Rin's finger; it fit perfectly. He stared at Rin's smiling face in wonder, hardly daring to believe that his dream had finally come true. And while he was standing there in a daze, Rin leaned forward and kissed him--a real kiss this time, not just a peck on the cheek. Rin's lips were soft, and the kiss was slow and sweet and tender--as perfect a kiss as King had ever dreamed of during the past twenty years.
When they finally pulled apart, King murmured, "Someone pinch me to make sure I'm not dreaming." Rin immediately obliged, taking hold of a good portion of his cheek and pinching it hard between thumb and forefinger.
"Ow!" King yelped, glaring at Rin accusingly.
"But you said to pinch you," Rin replied with a look of wide-eyed innocence.
"Rin, you're such a meanie!" King shouted.
"But don't you love me anyway?" Rin asked with a mischievous wink and smile.
King's anger instantly melted away, and he swept Rin into his arms and said, "Yes, I love you, even if you are a bit mean to me at times." He grinned and added, "At least married life with you will never be dull!"
"Never that," Rin agreed, and kissed him again.