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UNDER THE MOONLIGHT

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[attr="class","nikki109"]When the moon shines bright, the best way to drown out thoughts of anger and sorrow is to drink until there is either nothing more to drink or the one drinking plummets into the peaceful embrace of slumber. [break] [break]
And tonight, in Amegakure no Sato, was a full moon. The night was young and oddly quiet, the sounds of usual chatter and movement almost non-existent. What had happened to all the people, the raven-haired girl would think to herself, as she sat comfortably on the tree branch of a cherry blossom tree, one of many that she had planted in the backyard of her home. It was her dream to one day plant all ten miles, having a forest of pink flowers for all to admire, and also to find a way to make them bloom all-year-round, instead of the few weeks in spring they bloomed now. It was rather disappointing that among one of the countries with the highest rainfall, it would not be enough to keep nature's beauties alive. [break] [break]

Maybe it was too much rainfall... [break] [break]

She had asked her parents to plant five big cherry blossom trees, an experiment of how well they thrived in the weather conditions of Ame. And just like she had read in the many botany textbooks, they managed to live for only three weeks in the spring. The rest of the days its flowers would hibernate, the tree growing regular green leaves instead. To say that she was sad was an understatement. Shizuka had a thing for flowers, almost as much of a thing as she had for alcohol, two hobbies that seemed to match her personality just fine -- she could indulge in both without the need to socialize. It wasn't that she wasn't fond of people, but there was always this awkwardness that she couldn't shake from her system when she met someone new. It soon became that others thought she was socially awkward because of this, and to 'fix' this so-called problem, she would rather limit her exposure to strangers. [break] [break]

Probably for the best anyway. [break] [break]

On this particular night, she had noticed that there was a full moon, for once the clouds would clear just enough for the moonlight to shine onto the streets of the village. It was a beautiful moon, slightly yellow in color, and a chance that she could not pass for a drink. She had brought out her favorite plum wine, with some sweet rice cakes for a snack and settled on the first branch of one of the cherry blossom trees. It would be quiet peculiar to those who didn't know her to see her be able to sit so comfortably on a tree branch, a skill that she had taken many years to perfect. As she rested her back gently against the tree trunk, her aqua blue eyes would travel to the full moon, a small sigh escaping her lips. [break] [break]
The house was deserted, as it always was, her parents often traveling somewhere and leaving her to tend to it while they had the time of their lives. But she didn't mind, the peace and quiet of not having people nag at you something she would not give up any day. Shizuka took a sip from her sake glass, a small little thing made of ceramic, with the image of a plum blossom tree etched to the bottle. The sweet and slightly sour taste of plum mixed with the liquor was addicting, having first tried the drink with her family at a local restaurant. Since then, she had been a regular customer of the restaurant, often buying bottles of plum wine to stock in her own house. No, she was no alcoholic, but she did enjoy the feeling slight intoxication gave her once in awhile. [break] [break]

Tonight was the perfect night for a drink; the full moon with flowers in full bloom. [break] [break]

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