Once upon a time there lived a widowed man and his daughter. The man had recently lost his wife so he was all alone. He felt that his daughter Shiki needed a mother since she was only a little girl. One day the man met a beautiful woman named Morrigan. Morrigan had two daughers whose names were Lilith and Jedahbelle. Morrigan and the man got married but soon after the wedding, the man died under mysterious circumstances. Poor little Shiki was all alone and now her stepmother began to show her true nature. Morrigan, Lilith, and Jedahbelle made Shiki do all the cooking and cleaning and they whipped her when she refused to do so. Shiki grew up and she became more and more beautiful which made Lilith and Jedahbelle treat her badly since they were so jealous of her. They made her wear a plain tattered black dress and black boots and they smeared cinders on her face to make her look truly pathetic. It didn't work though since she was still very lovely. "Get your lazy butt over to the marketplace"yelled Morrigan "We're all out of tea and cookies". Shiki sighed sadly and was on her way to do the shopping. Meanwhile King Sogetsu and Queen Irene were planning a grand ball so they could celebrate the return of Prince Asura. "Let's invite all the girls in the kingdom"said King Sogetsu "Maybe then we can find a girl who'll be willing to marry Asura". "If we're lucky then we can find someone to marry that crazy brother of yours instead"said Queen Irene"If he keeps coming over so frequently then I'll have his head chopped off!". "Take note of this Pageboy"said King Sogetsu as Pageboy Shizumaru ran over with a quill and a bottle of ink "Tomorrow night we'll have a grand ball and every girl in the kingdom will be invited". The Pageboy took note of it and then started out to make all of the invitations.

      "So baby what's your sign?"slurred the town drunk Haohmaru"Are you a Pisces? A Libra? A Capricorn?". Shiki pushed him away as she walked into the bakery to get some cookies. "What will you have today Shiki?"asked Gaira the baker "Bread, muffins, cookies?". "I'll take two dozen cookies"said Shiki as she looked around for awhile. She began to daydream and she wondered what it would be like to find the right guy, a guy who understood her. Shiki was very beautiful but she was strange at times and it scared away all of the guys. "I wish I could just find a man who's just as misunderstood as I am"thought Shiki "I hope I can find him someday so I can get away from Morrigan". Gaira interrupted her thoughts as he handed her the bag with the cookies inside. "Only you understand me"said Prince Asura as he stroked the soft feathers on his pet raven who was perched on his shoulder "You're the only one in this entire kingdom who understands me". Prince Asura was heading to his cousin Sogetsu's palace in a black carriage which was being pulled by black horses. Prince Asura was a dark and very mysterious man. He had long black hair, dead white skin, and he was always clad in black. No one understood him and alot of people feared him for being so "eccentric". "We're almost at the palace your highness"stated Hanzo the driver. Hanzo was just as dark and mysterious as the prince, so they both got along very well. Prince Asura slumped down in his seat and closed his eyes for the remainder of the ride. "What too you so long!?"yelled Lilith as she snatched the cookies from Shiki's hands "A girl could starve waiting for you!". Morrigan, Lilith, and Jedahbelle began to greedily eat the cookies and they guzzled down the tea. They didn't leave a single crumb which made Shiki glad that she had snuck a cookie into her pocket before the greedy trio ate them all. "Now go clean the house and do the laundry"snapped Morrigan "Afterwards you can start to prepare our lunch". At that moment the doorbell rang so Shiki went to answer it. "A royal message from the palace of King Sogetsu and Queen Irene"said the young blonde haired messenger accompanied by a dog. "Thank you"said Shiki as she took the message and closed the door. She was about to open the message when Jedahbelle snatched it out of her hands and tore it open. "Ahhhh!"squealed Jedahbelle with delight "The King and Queen are having a ball tomorrow night!". Both Lilith and Jedahbelle immediately ran upstairs and began to look through their wardrobes to see what they could find for the ball. Shiki didn't get excited though since she knew there was no way that she would ever get to go to the ball. "It's just some stupid royal ball"thought Shiki "There's going to be nothing but snooty uptight people there". She then headed off to go about her daily chores.

      The next evening Morrigan, Lilith, and Jedahbelle were ready for the ball and they were just awaiting a carriage to come pick them up. The doorbell rang and the driver, a man named Patsurabu stood there waiting for them. "Good evening ladies"said Patsurabu as the trio walked out to the carriage "I'll be your driver tonight". Once they got inside, they drove off and headed to the palace along with hundreds of other carriages. Shiki went up to her room in the attic and just looked out of her window at the brightly lit castle in the distance. "They can enjoy their crummy little ball for all I care"thought Shiki "I don't care at all". Suddenly a bright light appeared and flew into her window. Shiki gasped and jumped back for a moment since she didn't know what it was. The light turned into a very strange looking woman with long pink hair. "I've come to help you Shiki"said the woman "Now you can go to the ball". "Who are you and what are you doing here?"asked Shiki as she looked at the woman who was clad all in pink with a pair of pink wings on her back. "My name is Kibagami Madonna"said the woman "And I'm your fairy godmother and now you can go to the ball!". "I don't care about the ball"said Shiki "It looks so boring". Kibagami Madonna looked mad and said "Yes you do and you want to go". "No I don't"said Shiki "It sucks". Kibagami Madonna got really mad at that point and yelled "YES YOU DO AND I'M GONNA MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!". Shiki quieted down as Kibagami Madonna pulled out her magic wand. She wove her wand and Shiki's tattered black dress was transformed into a long fancy black dress with a red rose around her neck and her boots were transformed into glass slippers. Kibagami Madonna then transformed a leftover cookie into a carriage and some frogs into horses who would pull it. Kibagami Madonna and Shiki then went outside where Kibagami Madonna transformed Jedahbelle's cat named Charlotte, into a tall blonde woman clad in black as well. "She's going to be your driver tonight"said Kibagami Madonna"But I'd watch out since she'd never had any experience driving before". "You'd better takes this first and make sure to read it"said Kibagami Madonna as she handed Shiki a hanafuda card. "Wait a sec"said Shiki "What does this-". Kibagami Madonna had vanished into thin air and there was no sign that she had ever been there. Shiki got into the carriage and Charlotte drove off in the direction of the palace. "You have until midnight"said Shiki as she read the card.

      "This ball is so boring"thought Prince Asura to himself as he bowed to all the girls that King Sogetsu was introducing him to. Queen Irene was off at another part of the ball introducing girls to Prince Kazuki in hopes of getting rid of him. There were lots of people at the palace and they were all enjoying themselves. Kyoshiro the royal entertainer and his musician Mizuki entertained the crowd while Lady Jem sang for everyone. "I wonder if Sogetsu will have any luck finding a wife for Asura?"said Count CK. "I wonder if Irene will be able to find a wife for Kazuki?"asked Countess Momoko "But Asura looks like he's dead so it'll be harded to find him a wife". "Oh look!"said Countess Momoko "Duke Sakaki and Lady Magnuna are here! Lets go say hi!". "Okay take a deep breath"said Shiki to herself as she walked up the stairs of the palace "Just stay calm and ignore the snobs". Shiki took one big breath as the doorman opened the door and let her into the palace. Shiki looked around at all the well dressed people at the ball. "My lady"asked a well dressed and extremely handsome blue haired man "May I have this dance?". Shiki looked at him and said "Are you talking to me?". "Ooh what does she think she is?"huffed Lady Neko "How can she ignore Count Tachibana?". "Maybe she doesn't know who he is?"replied Lady Mikoto "I've never seen her around here". Shiki saw she had no choice so she danced with him for awhile but luckily for her she managed to lose him somewhere in the crowd. "Boring snob"thought Shiki "This place is more boring than I thought". Shiki made her way to a dark corner and sat down since she felt very out of place. "Boring party isn't it?"said a voice coming from the shadows. Shiki turned around and found herself face to face with Prince Asura. "Oh!"thought Shiki "He's so gothic! He's like something out of my scariest nightmares!". Prince Asura was busy hiding from the obsessive Lilith Aensland and her sister Jedahbelle. Prince Asura was smitten by Shiki's beauty and by the fact that she obviously wasn't an average girl. So Prince Asura and Shiki spent most of the evening talking and they were surprised at just how much they had in common. "I've finally found a woman who understands me"thought Prince Asura "I never would have thought she existed". Suddenly the clock struck midnight and Shiki remembered Kibagami Madonna's warning. Shiki jumped up from her seat and ran through the crowd like a bat out of Hell. She pushed over a few people and finally she was out of the palace. She ran down the stairs and in the process lost one of her glass slippers. Prince Asura ran out after her and attempted to stop her but she had already vanished into the night. "Was she real?"thought Prince Asura "Or was she a ghost?". He looked down and noticed the glass slipper. Now he was certain that Shiki was real and that she was the woman he had been searching for all of his life. Prince Asura didn't lose any time and he went back into the castle. "Grand Duke Strider"said Prince Asura as he pulled aside the Grand Duke "Get out there and find the woman who owns this shoe". Grand Duke Strider was afraid of Prince Asura so he did exactly as he was told and he immediately set out to find the mysterious young woman. "Well this is lovely"thought Shiki as she ended up walking all the way back home carrying a cat in one hand and some frogs in the other, wearing only one shoe. Shiki felt bad since she never found out who the mysterious man at the party was.

      Grand Duke Strider spent most of next day going door to door trying the glass slipper on every girl he could find. "This shoe is too big"said Maid Rimururu as she tried it on"It's not mine". Maid Nakoruru's feet were also too small for the glass shoe so the Grand Duke had to go to the next house. He didn't have much luck at all since all the girls in the town just didn't seem to fit the glass slipper. "This is crazy!"thought Grand Duke Strider "You'd think that at least one girl would fit this shoe". By the end of the day Grand Duke Strider was feeling a little sick from smelling so many feet. "Finally the last house in town"thought the Grand Duke as he went up and rang the doorbell on Morrigan's house. Shiki opened the door, let him in, and offered him something for his stomach since he was looking a little green. Grand Duke Strider accepted a glass of water before proceeding to try the glass slipper on Lilith and Jedahbelle. "This shoe is too big"cried Lilith"Maybe my foot shrunk overnight". Stider had told them that whoever fit the shoe would get to marry Prince Asura so Lilith really wanted to fit it. "Step aside"said Jedahbelle as she pushed her sister out of the way"Let me try on that shoe". Strider tried to put it on her foot but her foot was way too big for the shoe. "I'll make this shoe fit"thought Jedahbelle as she curled up her toes and tried to cram her foot into the shoe. It didn't work though since she ended up getting a foot cramp instead and she fell to the floor screaming form the pain. "I guess you're next"said Grand Duke Strider as he looked at Shiki "Maybe you can fit this shoe". Shiki knew this was her shoe but she didn't want to marry some stuffy old prince. "No way"said Shiki "I don't want to try on that shoe after everyone else in the kingdom has". Grand Duke Strider knew that if he came back empty handed, then Prince Asura might do something unpleasant. "Please"cried Grand Duke Strider "My entire career and the fate of the kingdom depend on this". Shiki couldn't stand his wailing and crying so she agreed to try it on. Surely enough the shoe fit and Grand Duke Strider began to dance while Morrigan, Lilith, and Jedahbelle looked at Shiki in disbelief. "No!!!"cried Lilith "I wanted to marry Prince Asura!". Lilith and Jedahbelle began to cry, scream, and stomp their feet from rage as Grand Duke Strider left for the palace with Shiki. Imagine Shiki's reaction when she discovered that the mysterious man she met at the party was really Prince Asura. So King Sogetsu and Queen Irene rejoiced since they found a wife for Prince Asura and they found a nice girl named Ryoko from Prince Kazuki to marry. Shiki and Asura ended up getting married in Asura's castle which was located on top of a cliff. They then lived happily ever after and ruled over their own kingdom of darkness.


The End