Tokyo nights.

Tam' and Cam.Prt one.

Tsubaki was about to charge the woman since she was not saying anything when she spoke up. "Okay I'll tell you a story. Would you like some tea while I tell you the story?" Tsubaki lowered his katana raising his eyebrow in shock. You serious?" He asked softly. The young woman nodded and gestured for him to sit Tsubaki hesitated at first then sat down. 
   "What kind of tea do you like?" She asked. "Green tea." He replied. The woman made him some green tea and made herself a cup of coffee then handed him the tea and sat down with her coffee. "So the story...?" Tsubaki said curiously. "Ah yes the story. I can tell you all sorts of stories. I know many. How about Tam' and Cam? It is an old Vietnamese fairy tale. Quiet dark,but very interesting. It is somewhat similar to Cinderella but darker and more unique." The woman stated looking at him.
   "Fine tell me the story and if I don't like it I will kill you. Understood?" Tsubaki explained. The woman nodded and replied "Deal."

   The young woman looked around thinking how to start the story then smiled. "Many years ago in Vietnam there was a man his wife and beautiful young daughter named Tam'. But sadly his wife died while the daughter was still a baby. Soon he remarried to another beautiful woman and had a child with her named Cam. Now Tam began to grow up fairer and more beautiful then Cam,and Cam's mother was upset about that. One day Tam' and Cam's father died leaving them alone with the second wife, Tam's stepmother."
   As the young woman told the story Tsubaki slowly began to get bored thinking this was simply  another boring version of Cinderella and wouldn't have any interesting twists in it. But, out of respect of the deal he would let her finish her story.
   "Tam grew up being abused physically and emotionally by both her stepmother and Cam.They would feed her very little and make her do all the work and wear old ragged clothes. Despite this Tam' grew into a virtuous beautiful young lady. It almost seemed the worse she was treated the better she grew up...But she could only handle so much abuse before breaking down.
    One day the mother ordered both her daughters to go fishing and promised whichever one caught the most fish would receive a new dress. Never having had a new dress Tam' tried her hardest then ever before in catching fish while Cam did nothing but play. Tam' caught many fish and looked over seeing her sister caught none. Tam' was positive she would have a new dress soon and was happy. When Cam saw Tam' had so many fish she devised a plan. She told Tam' that she better wash herself since mother would be very mad at her if she came home so dirty.
     Tam' not seeing any reason to doubt her sisgter obeyed. As she did so Cam stole Tam's fish she caught and ran home to claim the new dress while Tam' washed herself in the river. When Tam's was clean and saw her fish bucket was empty she  realized what happened and broke down crying. While she cried a vision of the goddess of mercy appeared before her eyes and asked her why she was crying. Tam' explained the whole situation between sobs. The goddess told her not to cry and check the bucket again. Doing so Tam' saw there was still one fish left.
"Now bring this fish home keep it in your well and feed it daily. And it will be your friend and companion." The goddess explained. Tam' did so and brought the fish home. Every night she would sneak out with half of her serving of rice and feed the fish. And every night the fish got bigger and happy to see Tam'. It was as if they were friends. To prevent her sister or step mother from finding the fish she taught it to only come up when she sang a certain song.
   Noticing how happy Tam' had been lately her stepmother spied on her one night and discovered why. The next night for supper they were eating fish and the stepmother mentioned that she had found it in the well. Realizing what she meant Tam' broke down in tears yet again knowing her friend was now dead,and that she had eaten it. The goddess of mercy appeared again and told her to bury what was left of the fish in four jars each at a foot of her bed. Tam' sadly did as she was instructed but did not know why."
   Tsubaki was sipping his tea tilting his head. "Okay so this story may be a little more interesting than Cinderella...but still. It is just a mere fairy tale." Melancholy thought to himself.