Ten Miles of Red Sakura Blossoms

Chapter Thirteen

AN/: Unedited. I'll only roughly edit from now, on because real life is taking its toll and I need more r&r.

*Notice how Ye Hua's name was simply 'Ye Hua' on the rock of three lives, yet the name beside Feng Jiu's was titled as Wen Chang 'Dijun'? Why did he have a title? What made him great enough to share a title that, as far as we know, has only belonged to Dong Hua Dijun? *Suspicious.* Anyway, please enjoy! :)

Feng Jiu wasn't able to sleep that night.

Her heart was hurting. She had never in her entire life, been more confused than she currently was. Dijun hadn't said a word of explanation to her when he had escorted her back to Tai Chen palace either. He had only ordered a maid to tend to her needs, and told her that he wouldn't be joining her for dinner.

Her room was quite comfortable at least. It had many cushions and drapes, and many interesting antiques and books to admire and entertain herself with. It seemed almost as if the room had been designed to accommodate a particular person; but whoever that person might have been didn't matter to Feng Jiu, because the room suited her tastes quite well. As if it were always meant to be hers.

Yet she felt unsettled as she lay down on her bed that night. Unease had begun to overwhelm her. It screamed to her, that this was not where she was meant to be; she did not belong in Tai Chen palace. She had tried to brush it off at first, and at first it seemed to ease away, and then, suddenly, it had returned with urgency the moment she had begun drifting off into slumber.

So, she left her room. She had tried to leave her room through the door, but her maid had refused to get her leave her room, and had even threated to call Dijun on her, as if she were a misbehaving kit who was sneaking out after curfew. The absurdity of the thought alone greatly amused her, and while she smiled to the maid and pretended to return to her bedroom, she instead filled her bed with pillows, and snuck out from her room through the window, in her fox form.

Her amusement was quickly lost, however, as she wondered the grounds of Tai Chen palace; so lost in her thoughts as she was. It seemed to her that Dijun had gone out of his way to accommodate her short stay. Wherever she explored there were cushions, scratching posts, and other foxy accessories that she would have enjoyed playing with any other day.

She tried to make sense of everything that happened that day, by going back into her recent memories and recollecting them in precise, chronicle order. She tried not to think about her mother's death. She thought about what had happened before everything around her had changed. Before the banquet. Before Chang-er arrived at her den.

Chang-er had become a good friend of hers, yet she was never able to stay for the night when she visited him, due to his underworld duties. Chang-er worked closely with Xie Gu Chou; while Chou Chou sent good souls back to the world of the living to be reincarnated, Chang-er was in charge of punishing the evil souls who sinned, and purified them with holy fire until they were once again pure enough to be sent on to Chou Chou.

Feng Jiu had hated Chang-er before she had ever met him, because to her; he was the wrong person destined to be her fated partner. She loved Dong Hua Dijun, and she had already given her heart to him. She would, and could not accept any one else.

Chang-er, however, was a man who could best be described as an 'un-hate-able' god. Like Dijun, his hair was silver, just like starlight. His eyes were bright red, yet they weren't frightening, they were...lonely, and so very sad. His face and demeanour were kind and gentle, and his voice sounded somewhat musical. He was humble, and very polite. The mortals had vilified him and called him by many names to taunt him, yet they also feared him, if not more so than Dong Hua Dijun.