Chapter 1

Kaoru had learned to enjoy her insanity. It was far better than reality.

She wandered aimlessly through a field of swords. They had all been thrust tips down into the soft earth; their tattered and worn hilts glowing red thanks to the setting sun behind her. Over head, screams rose and fell like thunder and bloody rain fell from a cloudless sky. she clenched her hands, resisting the urge to shudder. The sound of snapping greenery reached her ears. she looked down and realized she clutched a handful of dandelion flowers; their stems broken and bleeding crimson blood all over her hand. She dropped them with a gasp, their fuzzy heads filled with seeds scattering as they fell.

"Make a wish, sweetheart. Make a dandelion wish," a familiar voice whispered. Kaoru dropped to her knees amongst the broken flowers and the swords standing silent around her.

~

There were so many chains. Their weight made her breathless as they pushed her rentlessly into the floor. Only her head was left free. She heard the sound of slow footsteps drawing closer. Then a pair of boot clad feet came into her limited view. Kaoru twisted against the chains, making them rattle, trying to look up. she finally managed to turn her head at the needed angle. Her blue eues found the smirking face of her victim as he raised a gilded sword. The weapon had Commander Katsura's crysanthmum stamp on it. As he raised the sword for the beheading blow, light flashed off the golden stamp. To her, it looked like a yellow dandelion.

~

Bright, hot orange flames danced without patters or music, save for the crackle of wood. They licked closer and closer to her feet. She curled her toes away, trying to ignore the slowly intensifiying sensation of burning. The pain was just like the flames, bright and hot. Kaoru didn't cry out. She learned to never cry out. There was a grunt, and suddenly the searing heat turned into biting cold. she looked down at her hands. A crown of flowers fell from her head and landed on the burning ground. Dandelions. A bucket fell at her feet. She realized she had been painted blood red. 

~

Kaoru forced her eyes open, and instead of recedeing the sensation of being wet and cold remained with her. Her eyes fell on a pair of sandled feet just outside her cell, a bucket thumped down next to them; a few drops of water trickling down the side.

"On your feet, Kamiya," the guard ordered.

Kaoru forced herself to obey. She slowly and painfully tested her limbs, sending her chains clattering. Her previously flithy, matted hair was now a filthy, matted, sodden mess that slid around her shoulders and back in a way that had her biting back the urge to gag.

The guard grew impacient and opened her cell. She had just barely made it to supporting herself on her hands and knees when he roughly grasped her by the upper arm and jerked her too her feet. Her body, unused to the acticity made its protests known, but Kaoru ignored them and let the guard drag her from the cell. It wasn't hard, she probably didn't even weigh a hundred pounds, despite being soaking wet. The guard forced her to find her feet, then let her go. Kaoru felt herself setle into a semi-upright position that she almost had forgotten her body could manage.

The guard prodded her in the back, sending her shufflig forward. She was so busy concentrating on walking, the jeers of the other prisoners didn't bother her at all.

"Ho! Ho! Someone's headed for the gallows!"

"Swish! Crack! Pray your neck breaks, bitch!"

The guard pulled out his sheathed sword and slapped at few bars, no doubt breaking a few fingers. From the corner of her eye, Kaoru noted the deep grey color of his gi, coupled with the black hakama. He was one of the captians that guarded the line.

"Silence on the line," he roared, "I'll favor the next bastard that speaks with the nine 'o tails!"

They shut up. Kaoru iddn't blame them at all for their compliance. Whippings on the capital crime's line were brutal. And yes, she knew from experience. She contined shuffling forward; her chains making it impossible to take long strides.

So, her excution day had arrived. Kaoru sighed at the thought. Finally.

The stairs were harder, and the guard was impacient; but she made it up out of the dungeons by her own feble power. Her first breath of air, not tainted by the filth, and rot of the dungeons was beautiful beyond words. The guard suddenly took the lead, dragging her along by her chains. She noticed that she left a trail of filth and slime behind her. Kaoru felt her lips twitch in an attempt at a smile.

Then...they passed a window.

Kaoru felt tears well up in her eyes. It was the sight of the sky that did it. That perfect expanse of perfect blue. Wonderful and encompassing and...perfect. Her eyes took in the sight of the spring flowers, realizing dimly that she had been in the Commander's dungeon for almost a year now. A breeze blew in through the window, and chilled the water and tears on her face.

Wonderful.

She was jerked forward by the guard, and stumbled. She regained her footing, a sudden, wild, and fierce hope welling up inside her.

She hoped the gallows were out underneathe that blue sky...