Here Comes The Moon

The void of night awoke Masa. Looking over to his right, Hisaka was gone. The bed's emptiness had jarred his slumber. He expected himself to panic, to return to the days of the Sinking Feeling, before Hisaka. Instead, his mind went into a free fall, abandoning any cares, entering a state of rest. It will be alright. The entirety of his being wished to return to his slumber, not wondering where Hisaka had gone. He lived resignedly in a time of trust.

In a quiet pond, a pebble is as a boulder when tossed within. So Masa's movement, though slight, made ripples of uneasiness he could not deny. He got out of bed, putting on his summer yukata, and ventured forth against his desire.

She was nowhere in the house. It bothered him that this did not bother him. Why didn't he enter into a state of anxiety? Did he not truly care for her? Was he just using her as an escape? Had the dream been too good to be true, after everything that had happened?

The honeymoon phase had ended. No longer fresh, the marriage was ripe to mature to the next phase of growth. Masa had never been down that road before. With his hand in hers, the universe was their natural playground. It seemed obvious this was intended for them all along. In the misery of his previous life, he'd felt that was his just desserts for crime or crimes committed. In pure unworthy faith he'd asked to meet a soul like Hisaka. That he actually did was both shocking and expected.

"Must I live at the mercy of small minds?"

But had he been alone too long? Had he been selfish to bring her back to the rural life he loved so dearly? Surely, her love of nature was not an act and she loved the majesty of the mountains and the prehistoric scents of the fields as much as him. But she'd come from the city and Masa's experience was that urbanites often worship at the temple of prosperity as a singular goal. Hisaka was from a rich merchant family. Did some part deep inside still yearn for that world? Her towering purity made her a god in his eyes - and she was presently nowhere to be found. Masa stepped outside onto the back deck.

Go back to bed, you idiot. It's Hisaka! She has never let you down in even the slightest way. The stars are laughing at the sight of you wandering around.

Masa's sudden self-consciousness was belied by a flicker of light from the tea house in the far corner of their garden. His lips released a small smile.

OK, now will you go back to bed, baka-san?

He bargained with his better angel he'd move quietly so she'd never know of his checking on her. Unfortunately, he would know. But Masa backslid to his former ways of not facing the life before him.

The stone pathway was cool and smooth under the floating Japanese moon. The urge to stand on the path and enter timeless eternity was overpowering, like a lost childhood dream. So he did, Masa raising his hands to the sky in communion with streaming emanations, and if the archangel Gabriel appeared or the sky lit up with thousands of flaming meteors or a UFO landed welcoming him aboard, he'd have thought nothing of it. He was alive on a dying planet and the whole of the world should celebrate a victory to be shared.

We die for no reason. I was dying for no reason.

Uncontainable joy flowed through his arms, encircling the globe, skyrockets as night. Feeling himself once again, Masa continued to the warm glow of their tea house. He was fortuitous in his juvenation, for that gave him the strength to face the vision he found.

"Ura Kage!" he whispered in awe. Double shadow.

Hisaka was sitting forward writing calligraphy, a favorite practice of hers, in front of a lone candle, but she cast two shadows on the wall. She was a god with two souls. Masa had her soul of the sun's day, he knew. But of the moon? Was that soul his too? He'd never come across someone of Hisaka's breadth to cast a rear shadow. His rapidly blinking eyes could not confirm what he was seeing. Then she stopped writing, sitting back on her haunches, as if she'd realized something. Hisaka spoke softly, staring at her handiwork.

"Arigato! Arigato! I could never write like this before. This is the best of my life. Together we soar. I am so proud."

As Masa crawled forward even with her, Hisaka did not turn her head. They each wept healing tears as a single shadow danced on heaven's wall.