I've been working on this story for a few months, and have gotten quite deep into it. I'm very happy with how things are going, yay! Anywho, this continues with my love for Japanese mythology. I hope you will like it, too!

WARNING: This story is yaoi. If you are offended by homosexual pairings, then please leave. Flames will not be tolerated. This is your last and final warning!

EDIT: I want to add that I am a silly American, so my Japanese knowledge comes from piles of research. With that said, if anything is off, please feel free to email me your concrit!! I want to make this as accurate as possible. Thank you for the concrit I have received thus far! I'm gonna fix 'em! Yosh! -punches fist in air-

Enjoy. :)

Foxglove no Murasaki

By, Breanna aka PinkLemonade

Prologue:

Mirrors

For many years, a link of small islands in the East China Sea have been the center of dispute between neighboring countries, Japan and China. They go by two names, one for each country; Japan knew them as Senkaku, and China knew them as Daiytou. Ownership of these islands have been the bulk of the argument between the countries. Though Japan has current ownership, China and Taiwan carry significant roles.

Senkaku/Daioyutai remains unto this day uninhabited, a collection of volcanic islands.

Early in the morning of November 5th, 2006, a simultaneous eruption broke out on each island. The damage had caused chunks of land to break off the coasts of most of the islands, and cause a large wave (too small to be called a tsunami) to just barely hit the edges of Okinawa. Luckily, the damage was minimal and no one was killed or seriously injured.

Scientists accepted by both Japan's government, the People's Republic of China and Republic of China in Taiwan had gone to the island for a couple days to do research on the unusual earthquakes that hit the islands, starting at the exact same time, and ending at the exact same time. The answer was left unknown.

Masumoto Higari was a very famous anthropologist in Aoyama, Japan, the owner of a popular museum located in the same district. He was a rich fellow, and known for going miles upon miles out of his way for his studies. Matsumoto had charted a ship to Ishigaki November 4th to study newly founded remains of what looked to be an ancient civilization possibly before the start of the Ryukyu Kingdom. He left the 4th to catch a flight from Aoyama to Kagoshima, and from Kagoshima to Ishigaki.

However, due to the earthquakes, the boating territory between Ishigaki and Senkaku had been closed. Matsumoto had no choice but to postpone his trip, but not for long. Due to his connections with certain higher-ups he preferred to keep nameless, he was able to catch a boat given the "OK" to sail through the debris filled waters by the government on the 6th.

As soon as dawn broke, Matsumoto and his colleagues continued their trip to Ishigaki. Ishigaki itself was the closest island to the Senkaku Islands, with only 170 km between.

Around noon, Matsumoto and his crew found themselves almost two hours away from Ishigaki, but one hour from Senkaku Islands. Everything had been going accordingly to plan. Matsumoto had been discussing the underground routes needed to be made in order to dig in further to find the source of this ancient civilization they were to be studying in a few more hours.

However, the boat came to a sudden thud, then a halt, the engines grinding beneath their feet. Matsumoto and the others went on deck to see what exactly was going on.

"We seemed to have gotten ourselves caught on a rock," the captain answered Matsumoto's query. The anthropologist looked over the side of the railing. They were sandwiched between a thick crevice of a large volcanic rock. Matsumoto was fascinated by the structure of the rock, that he didn't even notice his colleagues had gone with the captain and other crewmates to help push the boat free.

"It looks like a piece of Senkaku from the earthquakes the other day," Matsumoto muttered to himself.

His eyes wandered over the rock as he moved down the deck, to get a better look at it from every possible angle. That's when the scientist froze, eyes widening. Lying with its face towards the sky under a thin pool of the ocean water was a beautiful mirror, its left side wedged the rock. Sunlight bounced off its clear, silvery surface; red tressels braided and hanging from the bottom of the mirror rocked to and fro in the water as tiny little fish swam by.

Matsumoto was completely intrigued and enthralled by the beautiful object. He glanced to and fro; it seemed safe enough. Without a word, he quietly slipped into the water, standing on the rock holding his ship hostage. The water swept barely past his stomach and he shivered at the cold temperature.

Nonetheless, Matsumoto swam a few feet closer, until he saw his wriggling and quivering reflection inside the mirror. After examining it quietly for another minute, he carefully took hold of it, helping to pry it out of the rock with a pen in his breast pocket. A few moments later, with a grunt, he managed to yank the mirror free, holding it up to his face.

The mirror was medium sized, oval in shape, surrounded by a golden frame, red tendrils of thread hanging from the bottom. Matsumoto smeared his thumb along the wet surface of the golden frame, noticing strange, peculiar symbols along the sides. Before he could try reading them, he heard the captain shout, "All clear!" and the engines hum and growl.

Quickly crawling back onto the boat not a moment too soon as it moved forward again, Matsumoto was surprised to find a towel held to his face. He looked up; it was his partner, Daigo, smiling down at him.

"Never one to sit still, huh?" Daigo chuckled. Matsumoto smiled and took the towel, wrapping it around his shoulders. "I didn't have the heart to yell at you--you looked so fascinated by that thing you just found."

"I'm sure you'd jump in for something as lovely as this? Especially if its from the Senkaku Islands," Matsumoto replied.

Daigo stroked his chin. "You also thought that rock was a piece from Senkaku? Ah, but from an island no human has ever lived on before, what would a mirror of such caliber be doing there?" he inquired. "Maybe dropped or left by someone who came to the island to protest or what-have-you."

"Not sure," Matsumoto muttered, "but regardless... this looks pretty old, but yet... It doesn't seem to have been effected by the elements. No rust, nothing."

"Maybe someone lost it? You know, from a boat out here?" Daigo suggested.

"I don't know..." Matsumoto replied, eyeing the mirror. "All I know is the symbols inscribed on the mirror are ancient Chinese. I can't tell if there's a dialect."

"What does it say?"

"My Chinese is pretty rusty... and these symbols are written... oddly... So, it's somewhat hard to make out," Matsumoto answered. Nonetheless, he tried, eyeing the symbols with burning eyes. A minute later, he sighed and slapped a hand on his wet knee. "I can't make heads or tails of it, really. The only symbol I recognize is 'yau'... 'divine protection' or the sort."

"Any idea if you can figure out the age? Time it may have come from?" Daigo asked, now deeply interested.

Matsumoto thought quietly for another minute. "This'll take some time... It looks to be made in China, but it has kanji mixed in the symbols as well. See? There's small kanji written under the incoherent symbols. Hard to make out those, too, they're so small."

"Well, we'll look into it later. First, Ishigaki."

A week later, Matsumoto and the others had made their way home. Upon doing research, there was little uncovered about the mirror except one thing: it was made in 1602. The mere amount of this mirror alone was outrageous. However, Matsumoto had been a serious collector of ancient artifacts, so much so he dedicated five rooms in his mansion alone to his collection.

The mirror, which he dubbed the Volcanic Pearl, was hung the highest among his first room of collections.

December 4th, 2006

"Early this morning, at 4:31 AM, the little town of Shukunegi of Sadogashima experienced an unusual earthquake. What exactly made this earthquake unusual? It happened only under and around the Ogi Folk Museum. Miraculously, this famous tourist site remained stable, and nothing inside or out was damaged! Except for one single item..."

The TV flashed from the quirky brunette news reporter to that of a triangular shaped mirror with a golden frame. The mirror, however, had been shattered and broken.

"This mirror is one of the oldest artifacts in the museum. It was founded in 1840 by a local villager in the ruins of a temple nearby, said to be made in the early 1600s. A few of the local villagers have fled to temples and monasteries once news of this strange occurrence happened, predicting the worst: is the earthquake only breaking a single, ancient mirror once believed to belong to a god of destruction an omen? For Shibuya News, I'm--"

The TV flickered to a blank, black screen.

"That's kinda odd. I guess."

Tsuyoshi Kurosawa was a handsome eighteen year old, with short, messy and slightly spiked black hair. His eyes were a soft bronze of yellowish brown. Skin a slight taunt brown, well built, healthy. He wore his school uniform: a pair of black pants and blazer with white trimming on the sleeves.

Tsuyoshi had that type of default look that made him appear as if he were annoyed or bored, but that was not always the case. However, as he sat watching the news at his table, eating natto for breakfast, it was the case. Another day, another lack-of a dollar; life went on like this and barely anything happened that was new or exciting.

The senior in high school got up, trashed the dish in the sink and grabbed his satchel. "I'm off," he grunted, though he got no reply. It was a bit of a habit he didn't care to change. For the past couple years, he lived alone in his parents' summer house in the suburbs of Shibuya. The high school he attended was highly recommended, and he left his home in Ueno just to attend.

Shibuya wasn't exactly his cup of tea. He was used to the quiet neighborhoods full of tall grass and trees, a lake next door and only a few miles from the famous Ueno Park. Though Shibuya was nice and active, he was never into the noise and shopping it boasted.

With satchel slung over his shoulder, he left his house and headed for a brief walk to school. It was the beginning of autumn; soon, it would be winter. The colors had drained from the leaves and the grass, leaving behind crisp browns and yellows.

Deguchi High School had been built over fifty-three years ago; it took over an acre of land, spread out with one main building and a cluster of outside, singular ones, surrounded by gates complete with a soccer field and various courts.

Deguchi was a bit unlike other common Japanese schools, however. Students only a spent a few hours in their homeroom class; for the other classes, they attended different classrooms, instead of staying in one for most of the school period. The school's founder had requested this type of regime instead of the regular pattern due to the massive size of the school itself. It also included a nice, big cafeteria.

However, another thing stood out about Deguchi. It had nothing to do with its system of education, but rather, its strange, unusual occurrences...

Tsuyoshi had arrived, as usual, fifteen minutes before school began. He promptly put on his school slippers then headed to his homeroom class, waving to one or two people. Taking a seat at his usual spot by the window, he was enjoying the view before he heard loud squeals behind him. One yellow-bronze eye moved back in his head to catch a glimpse of a gaggle of school girls.

They were all surrounding one girl. Seventeen, bright blue eyes, black hair tied back and a cute little mole next to the left corner of her lips. Tsuyoshi knew her as Kagami Numata; kind, gentle, just like her name. And, although he wasn't really interested in being friends with her, it was apparent she wanted to be... close to him.

"It looks sooo gorgeous!" one of the girls, Tomoya, squealed.

Another girl, Michi, snorted. "Forget what it looks like," she grumbled, before sighing heavily, "the price must be outRAGEOUS for that!"

"Are you going to sell it when you get it?" the third girl, Sakura, inquired.

"Ah, no no!" Kagami squeaked. She smiled tenderly at the photo. "I could never do that. Matsumoto-jiisan has no children of his own, yet. I thought he'd be giving the mirror to his future children, but he said that the mirror was put as mine in his will. He didn't even think twice before just giving it to me!"

"Aw, that's so sweet," Tomoya giggled.

"I'd be pretty pissed if I were you and he didn't give me somethin' like that," Sakura stated, pointing at the picture. "I mean, aren't you and your family really close to your uncle?"

"Yup!" Kagami giggled, rubbing the back of her head. "My papa and uncle are extremely close."

Michi stroked her chin. "Where'd that mirror come from anyway?"

Kagami clapped. "Right! Well, my uncle found it in a chunk of volcanic rock said to come from Senkaku because of the earthquake on his way to Ishigaki for business, see. So, it wasn't passed down from our ancestors, but it's still extremely valuable," she explained. "My uncle says that its origins are pretty much unknown except that it was made around the same year the Sengoku period ended."

"You could buy a billion houses with how much that's worth," Tomoya said.

"Ooor a harem," Michi giggled behind her hand. Her friends all joined in on the laughter.

Kagami found her attention dwindling towards Tsuyoshi. She excused herself from her friends, quietly approaching him from behind. She took a deep breath, then cleared her throat. Tsuyoshi blinked, looking back. Kagami blushed, smiling widely. "Good morning, Tsuyoshi-sempai," she said, bowing.

"Mm'morning," Tsuyoshi grumbled.

"How're you doing?" Kagami asked, foot twitching. "You look good this morning. I mean, you have a healthy flush in your cheeks. Well, I mean, you know..." she trailed off, embarrassed.

"I know what you meant," Tsuyoshi assured blandly.

Kagami blinked then laughed. "Right! Sorry for rambling," she apologized. She scrambled for a topic to converse, since Tsuyoshi seemed... unable to think of anything himself. She then produced her photo of the mirror and held it up to Tsuyoshi. "You're also in my History class, right? We've got to do a report on a piece of history, and I thought, maybe, if you didn't have a topic--since I all ready do--you might consider doing one on this? It was made in 1602, and, well, what do you think? It might be a challenge!"

"No thanks," Tsuyoshi replied, "I've all ready got a topic."

"Oh, really!?" Kagami beamed again. "I'm doing mine on the Amenonuhoko! What's your topic?"

"Hidari Jingoro's numeri-neko," Tsuyoshi answered, simply.

Kagami's grin twitched. "That's a bit... unexpected," she retorted. She figured Tsuyoshi would do something on the famous Kusanagi sword that slayed the evil Orochi dragon... Not a portrait of a sleeping cat. But, she found that soft side of him cute, though she'd never tell him that.

Kagami continued: "Well, if you need any help, I'd love to--"

"Eeeek!!"

Kagami and Tsuyoshi's heads snapped up. Tomoya gasped as the tall bookcase by the door suddenly came crashing down towards her. Kagami widened her eyes when she found herself pushed aside; in a flash, Tsuyoshi was running to save Tomoya, who was frozen in fear as the bookcase came closer and closer.

BAM!

Books scattered along the ground as the wooden bookcase hit the floor, the front shelf breaking from the hard impact. The entire class was in awe and shock, staring at the sight before them. Kagami expected to see Tsuyoshi wielding a blushing Tomoya in his arms, but in actuality, he hadn't gotten there in time. Tsuyoshi was only an inch from the bookcase, staring blankly at what everyone else was.

Tomoya was in the arms of someone, however, and luckily missed the blow. She opened her eyes and gasped. Holding her was a student she had never seen before. He was tall, lanky and lean, like he could be stretched every which way. His hair was a soft platinum blonde, almost white, with long bangs and hair brushing along his neck. His eyes were a mesmerizing bluish-silver, and his pretty-boy smile made Tomoya more frozen in awe than she was in fear earlier.

"Well, hello little lady," the boy chuckled, "just call me the Silver Bullet."

"Who... who are you?" Tomoya swallowed, cheeks burnt red.

The boy chuckled and stood her up. He bowed all too dramatically; standing straight again, he placed a hand to his chest and made a proud expression. "I, you lucky lads and lassies, am Yukio Satoshi!" he declared. He bowed a little and winked at Tomoya and her friends crowding her. "You can call me by my pet name: Yukishi."

Tomoya and the others giggled and blushed.

Satoshi turned and grinned softly at Tsuyoshi. "By your fast reaction, you must be the current Prince Charming!" he said. Tsuyoshi merely blinked. "You know my name, what's yours?"

"Kurosawa Tsuyoshi," Tsuyoshi replied.

Satoshi laughed loudly and clamped Tsuyoshi's shoulder. "I just saw one of yours movies! Ummo, ummo, what was it called..." Satoshi paused, looking this way and that, tapping his chin. Tsuyoshi narrowed his eyes. Satoshi then snapped his fingers and grinned, declaring, "Rashomon! I love that movie!"

"I'm not Akira Kurosawa," Tsuyoshi grumbled.

"I was about to say!" Satoshi laughed, still clamping his shoulder. Tsuyoshi's brows knitted deeper. "You're really young for someone to make movies in the 30s or whatever it was!"

"Poor Kurosawa-sempai," Kagami snickered.

Satoshi slowly looked behind Tsuyoshi at the young girl. Kagami noticed his gaze looked a bit more like a leer. She blushed, glancing at her feet. "Excuse me, Rashomon-san," Satoshi said, walking over to Kagami. Tsuyoshi glared back at him as he stopped before her. "Well hello there, lady-san. What's your name?"

"Ka-Kagami... Numata Kagami," Kagami swallowed.

Satoshi swept closer, taking her hand. "It's lovely to meet you, Numata-san. Allow me to call you by your first name: Ka-Kagami-san," he purred, kissing her knuckles. Kagami paled, then blushed again, nodding.

"He looks European," Sakura whispered. Tomoya nodded, still starry eyed.

"Actually, I'm pure Japanese!" Satoshi stated, surprising Sakura. "I was born and raised in Tokyo, a new resident to Shibuya!"

"You might get in trouble for the hair color, though," a boy across the room informed.

Satoshi beamed and turned, gliding like a ballerina over to the boy. He cupped his chin and got face to face with him. The boy could only blush, also effected by his beauty. "My, my, I've got that covered. Don't you fret, young man," he assured, letting his chin go and bopping his nose. The boy just cupped his nose and stared at the ground, unable to muster a single word.

Satoshi swept back over to Kagami, taking her hands. "You don't think my hair stands out too much, do you?" he asked, eyes wide and quivering and wet. Kagami could only gape, mouth opening and closing. She, too, was speechless. "You're a sweet talker AND a cutie! Awww!" Satoshi rubbed cheek to cheek with her, causing Kagami to almost melt.

Tsuyoshi watched as all the students crowded Satoshi, asking him various questions. He was loud and expressive, and quite open. He would hug Kagami then ruffle a boy's hair; apparently, he knew nothing about personal space.

However, for some reason, there was something that made Satoshi... interesting to him. It was odd, considering barely anyone ever caught Tsuyoshi's attention. Especially people like him. Either way, he just shook it off and sat back at his desk, waiting for school to begin.

Deep down inside, Tsuyoshi had a feeling things were going to change.

T/B/C

Yar. That be the prologue. Yippy! Just a quick one to introduce you to our main characters for the story. :D And, as usual, it comes with NOTES!

NOTES:

Senkaku/Daiytou Islands: I don't even know how to go into this, it's so complicated. :sweat: I love wikipedia, so if you want to know more about this subject, go to its article of the same name(s). Also, I call the islands Senkaku because the story is in Japan, not out of personal preference.

Shukunegi of Sadogashima/Ogi Folk Museum: Sadogashima is an island in the Chubu region of Honshu. Shukunegi is of course a town, and the OFM does exist.

Ueno: Part of the Taito Ward in Tokyo.

Amenonuhoko: This spear is a sacred treasure in Japan and part of its creation.

Akira Kurosawa/Rashomon: Akira Kurosawa is one of Japan's best known and famous movie directors; one such popular movie of his is "Seven Samurai", which was later made into an anime known as "Samurai 7". "Rashomon" is another one of his famous films; it is a movie based on a rape-murder story told from four or so different view points. It stars famous actor Toshio Mifune.

NAMES:

Kurosawa Tsuyoshi: Tsuyoshi means "strong," while as Kurosawa means "black swamp." So his name would read: "strong black swamp." Yeah, only his first name has a connection to his personality; I just wanted to use the name Kurosawa.

Numata Kagami: Kagami means "mirror," while as Numata means "little dear." Her last name is connected to her personality, while as her first name is relevant to something else.

Yukio Satoshi: Satoshi means "witty; clever," while as Yukio means "get what he wants."

Come see this story again :) C/C and reviews are always welcome. If you find you really need to flame me, be respectful and do so at CrowTChickATaolDOTcom.