Frozen

~Cursed Magic~

Spring had arrived in the Soul Society. Flowers bloomed, cherry blossoms blossomed, the sunlight was warm as can be, children laughed as they played in the warm air.

And the Winter War had finally ceased. Now, there was peace; now, everyone could finally relax and not have to fret over anything; now, there were no worries.

Everyone went on to do what they would normally do: certain lieutenants drinking to their hearts content—maybe even a captain or two—captains filling out paperwork, sparing or training, and overall, enjoying the temporary peace.

~:~

Twenty-one years ago to the day. . .

In the spring of the Soul Society, a mother bore a child. This child, a beautiful baby girl, was born into a noble clan (noble enough to be royalty even): the Osaka Clan.

In celebration of her birth, the monarchs invited all of their close friends and family to their castle to honor the young heir. There was music, light, and people danced, laughed, drank, and had fun. And for that one moment, everything was perfect, until the sun sank from beneath them.

After everyone had left and it grew calm in the house hold, a thick fog rolled over the shiro*, obscuring everything from sight. Suddenly then, the entry doors flew open with a powerful force, letting the fog roll in as well.

In walked a woman with wavy shoulder length black hair, almond shaped icy blue eyes, thin blood-red lips, and an evil aura surrounding her. She wore a black dress with a sweetheart bodice (that showed much of her cleavage), and a sheer midnight cape that trailed behind her (very plain, I know).

This woman was the sister of the head's wife and aunt to the newly born child.

"Kurage?" the female monarch asked as she descended halfway down the staircase which led to the ballroom, "What are you doing here?" She had heard the doors slam open and a guard notified her and her husband that her sister had inhibited the outside security and broken into the castle. She said she'd handle it.

The woman, known as Kurage, glanced around the ballroom, then back to her younger sister and said in an innocent voice, "Why, I came to see my niece, of course."

The siblings made eye contact, icy blue against evergreen, and the younger of the two flinched when she heard that evil intent in the elder's innocent voice, but didn't let it show.

"I'm sorry," the younger took a step back up the staircase; "But, you can't see her."

"But why?" the darkly dressed woman asked. "How could you not invite me to celebrate her birth?" she asked with both an angry and forlorn voice, "She's my niece!"

"And she's my daughter!" the younger snapped. "Leave Kurage, never return, I don't ever want to see your face here again! Guards!"

"I ask to see my niece and you refuse," the elder said, staring darkly at her younger sister, whose eyes grew wide with fear as the fog inside the large room became black with green lightning bolts flashing in it. "I come here in peace and you call guards to throw me out again, well then, I wanted to avoid this, but I guess I'll just have to see her by force!"

Kurage thrust her hand forward sending three electric bolts towards her sister (who began running up the stairs) which turned into snakes and wrapped around her body, causing her fall onto the second level of the castle. She let out a scream as her body hit the ground.

"Where is she!?" Kurage demanded as she climbed the stairs as well and stood over her younger sister, who kept her mouth shut. "Tell me now!" she yelled as she raised her hand that grew a green ball of electricity which she threatened to strike her with.

All the younger did was close her eyes and wait for the impact of it. "You're weak," the elder of the sisters said. She was about to strike her with the electricity in her hand, until, "Megumi?"

The younger sister's eyes flew open at her name and familiar voice and she saw her husband standing there with a shocked face.

"Hachiro! Run!" she yelled.

Hachiro, the head of the household, took one look at his wife's pleading face that said to leave her; another at Kurage's and fled down the hall towards his and his wife's room where their child was.

Kurage took one evil glance down at her sister, smiled sinisterly, and went after her sister's husband.

"No!" Megumi shouted as she tried to free herself of her binds. She then heard the sound of feet rushing towards her.

"My Lady!" one guard exclaimed as eight rushed up the stairs to her side.

"Go! Down that way! She's after her!" the woman said.

"You six go!" one ordered and did as he commanded. "You stay with me and help me free her!"

"Right!" he said as the two of them began working to free the nobleman's wife.

The other six ran down the hallway after Kurage who entered the room where the child was and slammed them shut before they could get near. Locking it to make sure they couldn't get infiltrate the room.

The noble man went to grab his child from the bassinet, but Kurage struck him with her electric ball, making him slam against the wall and fall to the ground.

Kurage then strode toward the bassinet where her niece was lying wide awake.

Large eyes, the same shade as hers—an icy blue—stared up at the evil woman who stared menacingly calm at her.

"What a beautiful child," Kurage complimented and stroked the soft cheeks of the child's face.

"Don't hurt her! Please…" the father begged as he tried to stand. Kurage shifted her eyes toward him and knocked him out with another ball of green electricity.

"Now, what shall I do?" the dark haired woman inquired to no one in particular as she picked up her niece and held her over the bassinet.

The door began pounding as the guards tried to break it open. There was only a limited amount of time before they would break down the door (she hadn't placed a strong lock on it, just strong enough to do what she intended to have done).

Kurage placed her niece back in the bassinet and began enchanting a spell.

A blue light swirled over the child as her hair color changed and her skin grew paler.

With the spell now complete, Kurage rushed towards the window of the room, and blasted it open just as the door flew open.

She stood on the windowsill as she saw her sister rush passed the guards towards the bassinet; her eyes grew wide with revelation. "What did you do?" she asked her sister.

"Like it?" Kurage smiled deviously, "I've placed a curse on her." She said it like it was nothing. The guards prepared to attack the evil sorceress, but were stopped.

"Don't attack!" Megumi ordered her guards, "What kind of curse?"

Kurage's smile widened, "Your daughter is cursed with the power to control ice and snow. Her heart is cold as ice; she will never be loved nor will she love anyone in return.

"And her powers will only grow stronger the older she becomes, and there is no way to lift the curse."

Megumi's eyes grew wide with fear, "No. . ."

"See ya around sis," Kurage cachinnated evilly as she disappeared from the room, the fog dissipating as well.

Megumi fell to her floor. Her daughter now had platinum blonde hair, aside from the cocoa brown they both used to share, paler skin, and the inside of the bassinet was frozen with ice. Her eyes weld up with tears as she muttered no over and over again, praying it was not true.

A guard tried to comfort the new mother, but she just ordered them to leave.

They did as she commanded and she wept next to her new child. Her first day as a mother and already her child was harmed.

A groan was heard at the end of the room and Megumi turned her head to see her husband stand up, clutching his head and using the wall for support.

"Megumi?" he asked worriedly when he saw his wife's tear streaked face and walked towards her, "What's wrong?"

"Hachiro. . ." the young mother couldn't bring herself to say anymore as she thrust herself onto her spouse and held onto him. He held her close as she wept onto his clothes and told him what happened.

When her sobbing stopped, Hachiro told his wife that no matter what, they would take care of their daughter, whether she had the power or not, they would love her dearly.

A few minutes went by; both were lying in their bed and Hachiro had an arm draped over Megumi's waist. His eyes were closed, but he was not asleep. He then muttered into his wife's ear, "We still haven't named her yet."

Megumi turned her head to look into his now open eyes, then twisted her body to face his. She placed her left hand on his chest and said, "Well, I've been thinking about it, and I've concluded to one."

He grabbed her hand and she looked into his grey irises, "And that is?"

"Well, I was thinking. . . Mizuki," she answered.

"Mizuki," he echoed; she nodded. A genuine smile spread over his lips and he kissed her ardently then said, "It's perfect."

Megumi smiled and snuggled her head into his chest. He kissed her forehead and rested his chin on her head. They both were nearly asleep when Megumi began to chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Hachiro moaned.

"We're gonna need a new door," she answered.

Hachiro peeked over his shoulder to look at the broken bedroom door and sighed, "Eh, we'll worry about that later."

"Okay," Megumi sighed and they both fell asleep soon afterwards.

~:~

Kurage returned to her secret hideout (which is a deep cave in the mountains somewhere covered by vines with think thorns on them).

The sinister woman twirled her hands around to create the fog—that loomed over the castle not two hours ago—then threw it in the air, spreading her arms out to cast it around.

An image of her niece appeared. The young child was sound asleep, as were her parents.

This family would suffer for exiling her all those years ago. They would suffer the consequences and she would use force if she had to take what is "rightfully" hers.

She laughed menacingly; everything would go according to plan.

A/N: Okay, after seeing the movie "Frozen" I was incredibly inspired to write this. If you haven't seen the movie yet and are planning to, I suggest you not read (the rest) of this as it will contain a lot of similarities later on in the story—basically some spoilers. For those of you that have seen the movie, you basically already have an idea as to what will happen in this story, I'm sure.

It won't be exactly like the movie, but it will resemble it a lot. Anyway, I hope this chapter is good, I changed it quite a lot until it cam out just right as I had originally made Kurage unrelated to Megumi, but as I was writing this, I thought it would make it a little more simpler if the two were related.

Oh and I put a little * where it said shiro because (in case you don't know) a shiro is a type of building in Japan. If you go on Google and type in 'shiro castle' the castles in Japan with come up in the images. And I know Osaka is a city in Japan, I just really like the name of it (it was the first castle I heard of, sue me).

Reviews are welcome, tell me if there are any mistakes (because I would really like to learn from them to improve my story) if you have any questions, and give me some advice, I'll gladly take it... just don't say anything hurtful. If you have a negative comment, PM me, okay?

Oh, and Happy New Year! (a little late I know, but it's the thought that counts) and Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

—akafyi