The wind flittered gently over the hills, warm and fragrant in the night.  It was an hour past sunset and the sky had fallen into deep shades of blue and purple.  It was Yuki’s favorite time of night.  Scores of paper lanterns shuddered in the breeze as they hung tenuously from the thin trees along the riverbank.  Reaching up, Yuki secured the last of the small lanterns and stepped back to assess his work.  The lanterns swayed with the wind, but they held fast.  He smiled.

It was a good night for the Festival; the skies were clear and the air was inviting and warm.  Although Yuki was looking forward to the bustle and liveliness of the night ahead, the young man with the silver-tipped hair always enjoyed the quiet moments just beforehand.  Every year he volunteered to hang the lanterns at the furthest point upriver so he could enjoy the view in solitude.  Stepping down the embankment, Yuki gazed down the length of the waterway.  The ordinary river was transformed.  For a full mile down river the light of the lanterns set the water glittering like a yellow snake slithering elegantly through the heart of the village.

Yuki took a moment to study the lamps nearest him and his eyes sparkled as he watched the little, wavering glow of the fire crickets within.  He loved noticing the small, subtle differences in the light.  Most people assumed all fire crickets glowed a sunny yellow, but Yuki had come to understand that each shade was slightly different. Some were more green than yellow and others had a faint orange hue, depending on the insect’s stage of life.  Yuki often felt it was unfair to capture the lovely insects just for the sake of the Spring Festival, but he couldn’t argue with the overall effect the lanterns had over the village.

The night deepened, but Yuki lingered by the river.  There would be a steady stream of games and festivities throughout the evening; there was no need for him to hurry.  A rustle in the grasses above the embankment interrupted his quiet reflections, and Yuki wondered if Li-han had come looking for him.  Couldn’t the younger boy give him a moment’s peace?

Trudging back up the incline, Yuki was fully prepared to give the boy a thorough tongue-lashing, but the figure that rose before him in the tall grasses wasn’t who he expected.  In fact, it was the last person he would have thought to see, especially on this night.

“Onmoyo,” Yuki said, startled.  The boy recovered enough to remember to kneel in respect.  It was the village Seer, a young man Yuki had known by the name of Shoji before he was called to service two years earlier.  Though it had been a great honor for Shoji, Yuki had been saddened when he heard the news that his friend had been chosen as the new Seer.  It meant the boy would rescind his name and identity and they would no longer be able to associate freely.  Yuki had often wondered what their relationship would have become had it been allowed to blossom.

Onmoyo smiled at his childhood friend and pulled him to his feet.

“No need for such formalities,” he told the boy with the unusual black and silver hair.  The Seer had always admired his natural beauty.

“But… Onmoyo,” Yuki stammered.  He couldn’t seem to form his thoughts into words.  It had been quite some time since he had last seen his former friend and he was struck by the changes that had come over him.  This was no longer Shoji, the young boy Yuki had stomped through the mud patties with and wrestled in the river. No, this was a man, a Seer, the Onmoyo.  Not only had the dark-haired young man become taller and his shoulders broader, he also had obtained an air of surety and authority.  Up until that moment, Yuki had thought of him as the Seer in name only.  Now he knew differently, and the realization made him feel very small and very distant from the stranger before him.

Onmoyo looked down at him with kind eyes and guided Yuki to the edge of the grass.  “Why don’t we sit awhile?  I haven’t had a chance to view the lanterns yet.”

The Seer shifted the thick layers of his silk robes and settled gracefully upon the grass.  Yuki sat down next to him obediently, but he could not sit still.  His thoughts wandered.

“What is troubling you, Yuki?” the Seer asked, noticing the way the younger man shifted uneasily beside him.

The sudden use of his name made the boy blush.  It seemed inappropriately familiar, or unfair considering Yuki could no longer address his friend by his given name.

“You still blush so easily,” Onmoyo said, suppressing a chuckle.  “Come, tell me what’s on your mind.”

Fidgeting with the silver ends of his hair, Yuki began, “Well, the night is getting on and…”

“Yes?”

“Shouldn’t you be looking for the Spring Maiden?”

Onmoyo said nothing and Yuki could not read his expression in the shifting light of the lanterns.  Worried that he had overstepped his boundaries, he added quickly, “I didn’t mean to be presumptuous!  I’m sure you are aware of your duties better than I.  It’s just th-“

His ramblings were cut short when Yuki felt the other man’s hand cover his own.

“Yuki,” the Seer said in a soft, smooth voice that made the boy at his side quiver, “I have already found my partner for the Spring Rites this evening.  You needn’t worry.”

“But…shouldn’t you be with her?” Yuki’s tone was barely above a whisper.  The knowing, amused look in Onmoyo’s dark eyes was making him squirm.  He didn’t understand what was happening.

Seeing the young man’s frustration, Onmoyo decided to be frank.  “Don’t you see, Yuki?  You are to join me in the Rites tonight.”

The boy’s blue-green eyes went wide.  “T-that can’t be!  The Rites require a woman!  The Spring Maiden!”

The Seer shrugged, unruffled.  “The partner has only come to be referred to as a ‘maiden’ because the person chosen is typically female, but there have always been exceptions.”

Yuki was shaking his head, bewildered and a bit frightened.  “It can’t be right…” he said in a hushed voice.

“Are you so sure?” Onmoyo said with a wily grin. “The identities of those chosen for the Spring Rites are never revealed.”

“Yes, but, “ Yuki spread his hands in a helpless gesture, “everyone knows who was chosen, even if they don’t come right out and say it.”

“People think they know.  Sometimes they are right.  Sometimes they are wrong,” the other man said plainly.

Yuki did not look convinced and Onmoyo grew serious.

“In the end, it does not matter whether you believe me or not.  You have been chosen.  Do you wish to refuse your role?”

This was Yuki’s only route of escape, but it was not a pleasant one.  If he refused, he would have to go before the Council of Elders to explain his actions.  What could he possibly tell them? ‘I was scared’?  ‘I was confused’?   As far he knew, only one person had ever refused to take part in the Spring Rites, and was many years ago. A young girl of questionable age had believed the Onmoyo was abusing his power in order to seduce her.  She had been vindicated and a new Seer had been installed.  Yuki had no such grounds to refuse.

“I don’t wish to deny my role,” he said finally.  “But why does it have to be me?” he added softly.

Onmoyo leaned toward him and caressed one tender cheek with the tips of his fingers.  “Because Fate has willed it so.”

“Maybe I don’t believe in Fate,” came Yuki’s stubborn reply.  His heart was beating fast, his pulse racing higher as Onmoyo drew closer to him.

“You will…”

The Seer wasted no more time on words.  He closed the space between them and pressed their lips together in sweet union.  Yuki was immediately swept under the man’s spell; he sighed in rapture and opened his mouth willingly to Onmoyo’s exploration.  He had very little idea of what would be expected of him that evening. The secrets of the Rites were closely guarded, though it was common knowledge they were of a sexual nature.  The Spring Rites had begun centuries earlier and were a means of rejuvenating the spirits of the field to ensure a prosperous and plentiful year.   Everyone knew that the best way to harness energies was through the esoteric arts of sex.

Just when Yuki was about to lose himself completely in Onmoyo’s heady kisses and beg for more, the man pulled away.  Had he done something wrong?  But no, the Seer was smiling.

“Forgive me, I am getting ahead of myself,” the young Seer confessed.

Yuki was about to ask what he meant when several men stepped out from the tall grass and bowed down before them.  The young man recognized them as acolytes in the Seer’s Temple.  Most of them were not much older than himself.

Onmoyo addressed them, but Yuki could not catch his words, or else they were in a strange language he did not understand.  Then the Seer turned back to the young man waiting by his side.

“It is required that you go through a purification before the Rites can be performed,” Onmoyo explained.  “Don’t worry,” he said with a small laugh at Yuki’s unnerved expression, “it is not as bad as all that.”

Feeling somewhat childish for his trepidation, Yuki remained stoically silent as the acolytes lead him down near a shallow spot along the riverbank.  When they started to undress him, however, he balked.

“What are they doing?” Yuki asked, looking back up to Onmoyo who was still sitting on the top of the incline.  The boy didn’t bother addressing the acolytes directly; he knew they were under a vow of silence until they became full members of the Temple.

“It’s a purification,” Onmoyo called down to him, “they need to bathe you.”

“Oh,” Yuki replied sheepishly, then turned to the acolytes and said quietly, “sorry.”

The young men around him gave no reaction to his outburst or his apology.  They were focused on their duties, first and foremost.

After he had been divested of his clothing, the acolytes, still wearing their long, unadorned robes, led him into the water.  The river water was cool and sent a shiver through Yuki’s slender body, or perhaps it was merely the feeling of Onmoyo’s eyes upon his naked skin that made him shudder.

From hidden folds within their robes, the acolytes pulled out several of soft, absorbent flower petals, the like of which Yuki had never seen.  They were a vibrant shade of pink and each one was nearly as large as his palm.  As the young men soaked them in the flowing water, the petals filled the air with a sweet, heady scent that went to Yuki’s head and left him in daze.  When the acolytes began to rub the supple, wet petals over his naked skin, Yuki involuntarily let a dreamy sigh escape his lips.  He’d never felt anything so unbelievably, velvety soft in his life.

His initial embarrassment left him and Yuki became totally pliant beneath the other men’s hands.  They smoothed the petals over every inch of his skin, cleansing him and letting his body absorb the potent aphrodisiacs inherent in the flower’s silky petals.  Yuki didn’t know the effects of the Ahla flower, all he knew was that he felt wonderful.

By the time he was led back up the bank, Yuki felt as if he were floating across the ground.  All his worries (and most of his inhibitions) were forgotten.  He stood naked and ready before the Seer, who viewed his glassy eyes with delight.  The effect of the flowers would wear off quickly, but it would quell the boy’s nerves at the start.

“How are you feeling?” Onmoyo asked.

“Heavenly,” Yuki replied, grinning widely.

The Seer smiled and took his hand, leading them through the high, waving grasses toward the harvesting fields.  Just before they reached them, the two young men stopped at a small clearing, a circle of shaven grass that had evidently been prepared for the occasion.  Yuki flexed his fingers and rubbed his hands through his hair.  His dreamy elation had now given way to a burning need that spread through his body and gathered between his legs, making him restless.  Looking down, he realized he was sporting a proud and prominent erection.

With increasing impatience, Yuki watched the Seer slowly seat himself in the center of the circle, his elaborate robes spreading around him over the ground.

“What happens now?” Yuki asked, unable to contain himself as his blood coursed through his veins with fiery intensity.

“We must solidify the connection between us.”

Although he wasn’t sure exactly what Onmoyo meant by these words, Yuki prayed that it somehow involved releasing his pent-up desires.

“Come here,” Onmoyo said firmly, pointing to the ground before him.

Yuki complied, his heart racing. He was now standing so close to the man before him that his weeping shaft was mere inches from the Seer’s lips.

“You are in great need, are you not?” Onmoyo said with a sly smile.  The man was obviously enjoying himself.

“Yes,” Yuki confessed, nodding vigorously.  He was too far gone to feel any shame at his admission.

“Then let us begin,” the Seer said, and Yuki felt the words vibrate against his pulsing member.

In the next moment, the boy’s head fell back and he let out a deep groan.  Onmoyo had opened his mouth and enveloped his swollen, aching shaft, sucking him eagerly between his lips.  Yuki had never felt anything so intensely satisfying.  His eyes rolled back as the other man’s tongue worked him over.  Every movement was exquisitely sensual, every touch serving to send the young man soaring higher on the wings of ecstasy.

“Oh, gods!” Yuki choked out.  His hands twitched at his sides, unsure whether it was appropriate to clutch at the Seer’s head until Onmoyo guided his hands into his hair.  Yuki sighed as his fingers tangled in the long, midnight-black strands.  Instinctively, he swayed his hips forward, pushing his cock deeper into the man’s mouth.  The Seer accepted him without protest and Yuki, his passions racing madly, lost control of his ascent and suddenly burst forth against the man’s throat.

Yuki’s release was so powerful, and caught him so off-guard, that the boy had to cling to Onmoyo’s shoulders to steady himself.  When he slipped out of the man’s mouth, he saw to his surprise that his arousal was not completely spent, but remained semi-erect despite his climax.

Onmoyo held the boy in his arms as Yuki slowly came back to his senses.

“Are you alright?” the Seer asked after a moment.

“Yes.  I’m ok,” Yuki said, sitting up.  His head was slightly clearer now and he was aware enough to be embarrassed about coming into his former friend’s mouth.  “I’m sorry about…” his voice trailed off.

“No need.  It is part of the ritual that I take your essence within me, and that you take in mine as well.”

“O-oh, I see,” Yuki replied, his cheeks burning as the realized what this meant.  He heard movement behind him and, looking up, saw that they were not alone.  Surrounding them were the acolytes that had bathed him.  When had they arrived, Yuki wondered?  Or had they been there the entire time?

The boy leaned closer to his companion and asked in a hushed whisper, “Will the acolytes be watching?”

“It is important that there be witnesses to the Rites.  Their participation is necessary.”

“Participation?” Yuki repeated questioningly.

Onmoyo heard the distress in the young man’s voice and reached out to cup his smooth face with his hands.  “Don’t worry,” he told him, “I am the only one who will be touching you tonight.”

The Seer’s words—as well as the lingering influence of the Ahla flower—went a long way toward calming the boy.  However, Yuki was still self-conscious of the acolytes’ gazes when Onmoyo began to shift aside the layers of fabric that lay across his lap until his straining erection was reveled beneath.

The man appeared to be floating in the midst of the grass; his lengthy robes pooled around him and hid every part of his body, with the exception of his face and now, his boldly displayed manhood. Yuki found the overall affect strangely arousing.  He also noticed that the intricate, embroidered designs that were woven into the Seer’s clothing created a new pattern when Onmoyo rearranged them about himself.  What had appeared to be random shapes now came together to form a circular design that emphasized the man’s genitals.

“Yuki.”

Onmoyo’s voice broke the young man’s stare and their eyes met.  Without speaking, the Seer reached out and brushed a thumb across Yuki’s lips, pressing lightly for admittance.  The boy opened his mouth compliantly and when he had sucked the digit into his mouth, Onmoyo tucked a finger under his chin and gently pulled his face toward his waiting groin.

Though the experience was new to Yuki, he discovered that he was more than willing to draw the handsome man’s cock into his wet mouth.  The skin along Onmoyo’s shaft was warmer and far softer than he expected.  He began caressing the sensitive skin at the base of the man’s arousal simply to feel its silky texture beneath his fingertips.  Because he was a novice in the art of fellatio, Yuki explored the Seer on instinct alone, dragging his tongue along the length of his erection to taste his skin and to feel the heated pulse of the man’s shaft against his lips.  The young man didn’t realize that his untrained, tentative caresses were extremely arousing to his partner.

Yukio heard a moan and glanced up to see Onmoyo gazing down at him through hungry, narrowed eyes.  The young man shivered under the Seer’s dark, intense gaze and hesitated under his overpowering stare.  Onmoyo’s strong hands came up to press Yuki’s head back down.

“Don’t stop,” the man commanded in a husky voice.

The lusty tone sent a flame of arousal spiraling down into Yuki’s belly, and he returned to his ministrations with renewed vigor.  The Seer’s hands tightened and his hips shoved forward, pressing the head of his sex against the boy’s throat.  Though Yuki kept himself from gagging, he was taken aback by the other man’s demanding rhythm.

Onmoyo couldn’t help himself, the boy’s mouth was so hot and wet and inviting.  He plunged in again and again until finally, his passions crested in a wave of unmitigated pleasure.

Try as he might to relax his throat, Yuki could not swallow all of Onmoyo’s copious spurts of semen.  The hot fluid dripped from his chin as he abruptly pulled his head away and gasped for air.

“I—I’m sorry,” Yuki said, hanging his head.  The young man was worried that he had tainted the ritual by not taking all of the Seer’s essence within him.  Onmoyo’s long fingers tilted his chin upward and wiped away the remains of his come with one long sleeve.

“No need to apologize,” Onmoyo said softly.  “I should have given you warning.  I forgot that you might not be accustomed to such… situations.”

Yuki should have been put at ease, but the dark-haired man’s grin made his cheeks redden deeper in embarrassment.  It did not help matters that the acolytes chose that moment to suddenly step forward.  Yuki had forgotten about them and as he watched them draw closer, their long robes flowing along the ground, he became keenly aware of his own nudity.

The acolytes said nothing, but Onmoyo rose to his feet as they surrounded him.  The Seer stretched out his arms and Yuki watched as the men slowly and carefully disrobed him—layer by layer—until Onmoyo’s slim, toned body was completely revealed.  Yuki’s eyes drank in the view of his former friend’s pale skin glowing faintly in the moonlight.  His breath quickened and he wondered what was to come next in the Rites; he was dying to be touched.

The acolytes drew back into the long grasses and Onmoyo stepped slowly and purposefully toward the boy trembling in need before him.

“Yuki, you are beautiful,” the Seer said with sincerity.

The young man shook his head in protest, but Onmoyo stilled his movements by reaching out to tangle his hands in Yuki’s long locks.  The Seer’s fingers caressed the silver ends of the boy’s otherwise dark hair.  “You are beautiful,” he repeated.  “I have always wanted to touch your hair, to run my hands through the strands and watch them turn from black to snowy white between my fingers.”

No one had ever spoken to Yuki in this way before.  No one had ever made him feel that his unique features were anything other than an oddity.  Now it made him feel… special.  Yuki smiled and his body swayed ever so slightly toward Onmoyo’s chest.  The Seer immediately caught the younger man’s unconscious gesture of consent and his fingers moved to the base of Yuki’s skull, tilting his head so that he could smother his mouth in a sweet, heady kiss.

Within seconds, Yuki was awash in a sea of bliss, his body melting into the taller man’s frame.  As Onmoyo drifted his hands lower to explore the contours of his companion’s body, Yuki wrapped his arms around the Seer’s body and pressed their heated skin against each other.  The younger man didn’t know what was coming, but he knew that his body was still unsatisfied, that it yearned for something more— something that would reach deep inside him to caress a hidden place that was waiting for the Seer’s knowing touch.  The boy’s desperate whimpers spiked Onmoyo’s already racing lust and he pulled Yuki down into the grass so he could crush his body beneath him.

“Shoji,” Yuki moaned, “I need something, help me!”

The Seer heard the boy call him by his given name, but he chose to ignore this slight breach of etiquette.  He had more pressing issues to attend to—like exploring every inch of Yuki’s soft skin with his tongue.  As Onmoyo nipped impatiently at the boy’s shoulders, he felt his erection grow painfully hard and he knew it was time.  He could only hope Yuki was ready to accept him.

“Yuki, I need you as well,” Onmoyo, said, his voice thick with desire.  “Turn over,” he commanded.

The young man complied, kneeling with his back to the Seer.  Immediately, Yuki felt Onmoyo’s hands shove his knees apart and press his chest down into the ground.  To his surprise, Yuki found the other man’s aggressiveness unbelievably arousing.  When the Seer’s fingers slipped between his ass cheeks, Yuki’s excitement outweighed any fear and he encouraged the Seer with unrestrained moans, rocking his hips back expectantly.

With as much care and patience as he could muster, Onmoyo tested the boy’s entrance, slipping one finger, then two, inside his tight channel.  The sudden invasion caused Yuki’s body to tense, but he didn’t pull away.  Although it felt strange at first, Yuki knew he wanted whatever Onmoyo was about to give him.  Every minute he felt his energy increasing and his pulse racing higher.  Somehow, the young man knew he was becoming part of something greater than himself, and he did not wish to turn back.

Yuki felt the Seer remove his fingers and press his throbbing manhood against him from behind.  Onmoyo leaned over him, pushing his chest up against the boy’s back and letting his long, dark hair fall around Yuki like a curtain.

“Yuki,” Onmoyo whispered, speaking his name like a sacred prayer.

“Please,” the boy whimpered in return.  The anticipation was too much. Any moment, he was going to lose his mind.

In the space of a breath, Onmoyo pushed forward, impaling Yuki on his eager cock.  Both men felt a rush of elation and completeness as their bodies finally joined in union.  Though Yuki knew he should be feeling more discomfort, his body felt distanced from the pain—the last remaining affect of the Ahla flower.

The Seer shuddered with delight as Yuki’s body yielded beneath him.  He focused his energy and pulled back before pumping into the boy’s body in earnest.  Every time he pressed inside Yuki’s body he felt his vital, sexual power increase.

As Onmoyo drove into him again and again, Yuki cried out in ecstasy.  Panting, he lifted his head in an attempt to catch to his breath.  When he looked up, the boy’s eyes widened.  Although the acolytes were still standing round them, they were no longer impassive or unresponsive.  The men’s robes had been brushed aside and each of them was stroking his exposed member as they worked frantically towards release.  So this was how they ‘participated’, Yuki thought, just before all thoughts were purged from his mind as Onmoyo abruptly increased the strength and power of his thrusts.

A fog of euphoria swept into Yuki’s brain and he knew only one thing for certain: he was entering the heart of the ritual.  With every thrust into his body, the Seer was indoctrinating Yuki deeper into the secret tradition of the Spring Rites.  The air thrummed with sexual energy and Yuki knew that any moment Onmoyo was about to fill him with his potent essence just as the fields would be filled with seed in the coming weeks.

When the Seer’s unrestrained cry of rapture ripped through the night air, Yuki heard the same pleasure echoed in the voices of the acolytes as they spilled their milky seed over the waiting earth.  Inexplicably, Yuki felt the other men’s ecstasy rush through him as well, as if at the moment of climax their energies had become one.

The shared experience overwhelmed him. His senses were overloaded in rapturous bliss, and without the need for further stimulation, Yuki’s straining shaft exploded, coating the ground beneath him.

For several moments afterward the young man could not speak, but finally the haze of delirium lifted and Yuki opened his eyes to find that he and Onmoyo were now alone.  The Seer had taken him in his arms and was watching him with gentle eyes.  Yuki was surprised to see the stars above him and hear the crickets chirping in the fields, as if it was a night like any other and nothing extraordinary had occurred.

“Are you feeling alright?” Onmoyo asked, brushing the hair from the boy’s eyes.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Yuki replied, sitting up.  Upon moving, the boy discovered that he had been draped in a soft, woven blanket.  He should have felt grateful to have something to guard his naked body from the cool night air, but instead he felt an uncanny pang of loss.  The covering seemed to be a yet another sign that the world had returned to normal.  He no longer felt like the beautiful young man who had been chosen for an esoteric ritual.  No, now he was just ‘Yuki’.  No longer did he possess the freedom to bare his nude body shamelessly in the fields. Common custom had returned, and it was necessary to cover his nakedness.

“Yuki,” Onmoyo said, calling the boy’s attention back to him.  “The night isn’t over yet.  Come lie with me.”  The handsome man stretched out over the grass and opened his arms invitingly.

Yuki was more than happy to comply.  Lowering himself next to the taller man, he curled up against his side, sighing with contentment.

“You feel the change, don’t you?” the Seer asked when the night had grown quiet around them.

“W-what do you mean?” Yuki asked tentatively.

Onmoyo turned to him and the boy could see his eyes reflecting the glitter of the stars overhead.  “During the rites, you touch other forces—spirits of the Earth far stronger than ourselves.  When it is over and the spirits withdraw, the world loses that special glow.  It can sometimes leave one feeling… empty,” the Seer explained.

Yuki did not reply right away, he lay in silence, tracing patterns across Onmoyo’s chest.

“Perhaps I do feel a bit… melancholy,” he admitted.  Then the boy broke down and finally asked the question that had been lingering in his mind since the moment his former friend had kissed him.  “What happens after tonight?”

“Between us, you mean?”

The younger man nodded.

Onmoyo held Yuki close as he spoke, but the words were not those of a lover.  “Let me tell you first that I do not decide who my partner will be for the Spring Rites, though I was pleased that you were chosen for me this evening.  If we became lovers and tried to recapture what we had tonight, I think you know that would be a mistake.  I’m afraid things would not be the same between us.”

“But…”

This was not the answer Yuki wanted to hear, no matter how much truth was behind the Seer’s words.

“There is someone else meant for you, Yuki,” Onmoyo said, looking down into the young man’s sea-green eyes.  “I will not stand between you, no matter how tempted I am to steal you away for myself.”

The Seer’s words and the heat of wanting in his voice placated the young man in his arms and Yuki relaxed.  Onmoyo’s face spread into a devilish grin.

“For tonight,” the man said, rolling over to cover Yuki’s body with his own, “let us enjoy each other while we can.”

Their lips met, and the two young men spent the remaining hours of the night exploring each other and discovering hidden realms of pleasure.  When the sky grew pink in the East, they took turns dressing one another and parted in silence.

What would the future bring them?  Onmoyo might have some insight, he was a Seer after all, but Yuki had no such gift.  As the young man stepped through the dew-laden fields, he breathed in the fresh morning air and decided not to worry about what the day would bring.  For now, it was enough that he had been able to experience something as wondrous as the Spring Rites with someone as captivating as Onmoyo.  It was a secret he would keep close to his heart for a long time to come, but there was more in store for him in the years ahead.  Onmoyo had told him someone was “meant” for him, but Yuki no idea who it would be and didn’t suspect that it might turn out to be a person he already knew quite well.

The sun rose above the hills and as its bright rays fell about him, Yuki stepped unknowingly onto a new path towards his waiting destiny.