Blood Ties

Prologue / Meet Princess Makoto Kino

The silence in the small dark room was nearly tangible and the room's two sole occupants did nothing to break it. The simply stared at each other from across the room, one with a disbelieving expression on his face, the other, a young woman, was merely thoughtful.

"I see..." he said in a serious tone that didn't quite mach the look of utter disbelief on his face, which went unseen in the nearly total darkness.

The woman sighed and began to pace the room, managing not to bump into anything.

"I'm asking you do this for me, not because I'm going to be queen soon, but because I know that you won't lie."

"But why choose me to write it? This is a big honor...but you're the princess. Why can't you....you know...ask somebody else to do this? Some famous bard or minstrel, or at the least one of your Royal Historians, your ah...highness," said the young man, tense with the burden that had been bestowed upon him.

"Don't 'your highness' me, please. I'm sick of all the 'you look pale, your highness' or the 'are you sure you are recovered, your highness?' " said the woman. "I will throw you from this window if you keep it up." It did not sound like an idle threat.

"Now," continued the woman, "I chose you because you aren't some famous minstrel or historian. Minstrels do nothing but change the truth, it's what they do. And any historian of any fame would love to get on my good side by adding embellishments. Some verses and lines are already being written about my epic journey. They're calling it "Makoto's Ride." I'm a beautiful six foot, sword wielding princess, who can talk with animals, banish demons, enchant men, and all other sorts of things, on a journey to fight good and evil."

Makoto laughed softly. "Bull. They can't get the details right since most of it happened in....a place far from here. They make up entertaining lies to fill in the gaps. It wasn't just my story either. My friends played a big part too. I wouldn't be alive still if it wasn't for them. But they are warriors so heroics are expected of them. But I am just a princess, and very good story fodder."

"So will you do it, historian?"

"For the real story? First hand? Of course!" he said quickly.

"Good. But we must finish this before sunrise."

"Why before sunrise?"

"Because the universe might end tomorrow. Darkness is coming. Rei read it in the sacred fire. That's why I want to tell the real story before I leave for battle. I won't do anybody any sort of good, fighting with a heavy conscience. My surviving companions still bear some of the physical and mental wounds of the journey. I don't want to reopen old wounds and cause them further pain; I've done enough of that. So it's my job to tell this story, even if it may hurt me too."

There was another pause of silence as the historian digested everything. It was all happening so fast. One minute he was in his rooms at the Academy, the next he was being whisked away to the palace by a lone rider with an eye patch, and now he was in front of the princess, ready to get the interview that his contemporaries only dreamed about.

"One thing before we begin though, princess. Can we move to a better lit room? I understand that you wanted this interview to take place in the dark, but if you want me to get your story right, I must take notes. So..." he trailed off.

The fireplace came to life with a roar and candles set at the small table blazed to life. At once the room was flooded with light. And the historian, staring at the princess, gasped. "Dear Goddess!" he whispered, staring speechless, at her.

The firelight danced across her skin, making her appear as if she were glowing. No. Her skin shone with a light all her own. She was glowing, a soft golden light. The historian could make out a pattern on her skin, almost like small scales. He squinted. Those were scales.

"Dear Goddess," he repeated, stupefied by her appearance.

Makoto blinked and that was when he noticed her eyes. They had a nearly serpentine slit and were tri colored, molten gold, jade green and emerald to shame the brightest gem. Her eyes filled with light, and it was like staring into the heart of a storm, flashing with lightning, and a faint echo of thunder. Instead of rain it was power that fell from her, and the historian gasped.

Her curly hair was up in a simple ponytail, but every strand appeared like dark spun amber. It moved as if caught if an invisible breeze, one that the historian imagined he felt. The dress she wore moved in that breeze, a long gown the green-gold color of new leaves.

She was nature personified and the historian was caught in her thrall.

"Do you see now?" she asked softly.

The historian didn't answer, couldn't answer. Makoto cursed and closed her eyes. Moments later, the historian shook himself out of the thrall. The glamour was gone and the princess no longer glowed with an ethereal light nor radiating power. She was just a woman, just the princess; tall, proud, and a little pretty, not the beautiful creature from before. Only her eyes remained, those two tricolored serpentine orbs, but they no longer glowed. He had the strangest feeling of being deprived of something wonderful.

"I'm sorry. This power is so new and I wasn't exactly given an instruction manual on how to use it," she gave a small laugh. "I sometimes forget the effect it has on most people. So, do you still want the interview?"

He schooled his features out of the gap jawed expression and into a more professional look.

"Yes," he finally answered.

"I'll try to keep the weirdness down to a minimum. Believe me, I need this opportunity. It's more important then you can realize. Now, let's start," she said, taking the seat opposite to the historian.

"You weren't always...always like that, were you?" he began.

"No. I only found out I had that power a week ago, when my journey ended."

"How did...how did it happen?"

"It's not a simple answer and that's why I brought you here, to give you the true 'Makoto's Ride.' I'll try to explain some of my history as we go on. You need to at least know the facts before we move on to the day when Nanashi came and my journey really began."

"Nanashi?" asked the young man, curiously. He had heard of the mysterious warrior.

"We will get to him soon. Let me go on..."

"Of course," said the historian, clutching his ink quill eagerly.

"I remember the last day of peace I had, before I was pulled back into the world of intrigue, the world I hated. The sun felt so good against my bare skin. I had discarded my dress and stood clothed only in a silk under gown. The days were growing warmer as spring slowly slipped away. In that weather my lack of clothes was very comfortable, practical even. Of course it would scandalize my old etiquette teacher, most of the nobility, and Quatra. Especially Quatra. At that time, he was still recovering from the time that he saw me sunbathing...naked."

"Naked?" asked the historian, disbelieving.

"Yeah...see, my bodyguard was always a gentleman. He never did get unaccustomed to dealing with such a wild charge, even then, when he had known me for four years. It had taken him a week to look at me and even longer to do it without blushing. It still surprises me to think that he was one of the most skilled warriors in the universe, one of the few to bear the rank of Immortali. My blushing bodyguard, a fierce warrior. It's funny until I remember the many times that he acted the part of my protector, blades flashing in patterns too fast for the eye to follow."

"That day was so nice. I tried not to think of my old life. On earth, Quatra and I were free to be ourselves. People weren't scared of him, having heard the rumors that paint the Immortali as ruthless, Darkness worshiping creatures. Courtiers didn't whisper to themselves as I passed, eyes following me, waiting for me to make some mistake before they fall upon me like vultures to pick up the pieces. I was grateful that those years were behind me. On earth we could remain anonymous. I was just another country noblewoman, living in a modest manor, with a bodyguard, a maid, and a partridge in a pear tree. Everything was simple on earth. No court intrigues. No court duels. No Relena."

"A small part of me knew that I was becoming too comfortable in the peace. It was hard to think of my old dark life when I was wrapped in a comfy lifestyle for two years. I'm now twenty years old and in a week I would reach my majority. At twenty one years, I would claim my heritage. Many girls in the universe would kill to be in my position. But they don't know why I fled Jupiter though and how hellish my life had been. All they could see was the wealth and power surrounding my birthright." Makoto stopped.

The historian blinked, as if pulled from a deep thought. "Your birthright as princess? But why didn't you want to be princess? How could court be so bad that you'd exile yourself?"

Makoto appeared to be struggling to find the right words to explain a complicated situation.

"If I returned to Jupiter by my majority then I would become Queen. It really does sound simple, even now. But it wasn't simple, you see? I guess I have to explain from the beginning, with the scandal regarding my birth, and how a questionable parentage could turn a girl's life into hell."

"My mother was Sidonie Kino, princess of Jupiter. She was headstrong, independent, and not the kind of princess any sane etiquette teacher would approve of. I inherited a lot of those quirks from her, but none of her looks. My nanny (rest her soul) would entertain me, and tell me stories my mother."

"Sidonie had moonlight skin, flawless, perfect. Her eyes were the color of autumn leaves, her hair the color of spun red garnets. She wasn't tall but she carried herself proudly, enough to make people forget she was barely five feet. Poets drew inspiration from her, and I've been told that a poem was once even written about her eyebrow." Makoto looked into the fireplace, her serpentine eyes showing a trace of sorrow. She stopped speaking for a moment.

"Ah...excuse me," the historian said hesitantly. "You never knew your mother? Was she away often?"

"No...she died. But let me continue."

"The people loved her. King Amatheon doted upon her, his favorite child, and the only one he had with his first wife, of whom it was told he loved more then life itself. Yet one night, my mother, in her late teens at the time, ran away. What made her do it, nobody knows. She was gone for two months, and returned, pregnant with me. She never talked about what had happened. When people asked the name of the father, she smiled sighed. But the King would look bad if he didn't punish her, yet he couldn't do it, so she was sent away to a secluded castle, where I was born."

"My mother died giving birth to me. She defied my grandfather in bringing me into this world, and died because of it. Sidonie was alone in that castle, except for midwife. I can't imagine how she felt in her final hours, so alone...before she drew her last breath, she named me Makoto, strength of wood and wisdom."

"When my mother died, the King was mad with grief. He already was half a man with the death of his wife, the death of his daughter was too much. Before he died, to the surprise of the court, he acknowledged me, a bastard child, as his granddaughter and heir to the throne. Not only was I a bastard, but I was acknowledged over Ysandre. Sometimes I wished that he would have left me in that tower."

"Ysandre was..." trailed the historian.

"Ysandre was the most vindictive, hateful, and sadistic person ever alive. But she was my grandfather's daughter by his second marriage. She would be regent until I turned twenty one. But the regency wasn't enough for the ambitious Ysandre. She was a powerful person at court, and could lie easily. She could make night sound like day, and when words didn't work, she didn't hesitate to resort to physical ways of...persuading people. So she managed to circumvent Amatheon's will and set herself up as the Queen and sole ruler of Jupiter, her husband Baron Dorlan having died in a "mysterious" death years before. Ysandre set her daughter Relena, who was my age, as Princess of Jupiter."

"Surely there were people at court who would help you. Didn't the people care who would be ruling them?"

"There was nobody to help me. Ysandre was just that scary. The people...The monarchy tries not to interfere with the people too much, as a rule. We build roads, make improvements, and we receive tithes, but they are a free people. As long as the Emerald throne was filled, taxes were low, and the sun was still shining, they didn't care. Ysandre wasn't a bad queen really. She wasn't a good person, but she cared for the people in her own twisted way."

The historian's quill scratched furiously against the paper, as he copied down the details. Already, he had the beginning of an epic story.

"During all of this, I was coping with life as court and the label of "bastard." I learned to hide my emotions, but I never mastered the art of making half promises and veiled insults...But I survived somehow. The spoiled princess Relena definitely didn't make my life any easier; in fact, she was the reason why I left."

"Relena went out of her way to make my life a living hell. She said my hair was a peasant brown, tangled and common. My skin was tanned like the field workers and my eyes were a dull green. I was a tall woman that acted like a man. The calluses on my hands from swords training certainly weren't like her lily white hands. "Ladies should only use fight with magic," she said. While I'm not conceited, not all that Relena said was true. No poems were written to my eyebrow, but I did inherit my mother's eyes."

"Your eyes are beautiful," confirmed the young historian.

Makoto blushed and continued. "The few friends I had were told to stay away from me. All of the courtiers were turned against me. It wasn't hard considering that my parentage already made them expect only the worst things from me. I hesitated to let anybody close to me, as Relena had a habit of making their life hell as well. She justified it once by saying that she didn't want any bastard tainting her court, especially one she would rule someday. I now realize that Relena did all those things because she was jealous of me. Funny, isn't it?

"I guess you already know the stories of how the universe came to be, since you're a historian. But I like telling stories. Usagi always said I was good at it. That and cooking."

"A millennium ago, the gods walked the earth. They mixed freely with the humans, when they were not fighting amongst themselves or causing mischief. It was known as the golden millennium. But their time on earth was brief as the Mother Goddess called them back to the heavens. It was not meant to be. The Gods could interfere indirectly with the lives of mortals, but directly only caused chaos.

During their brief time on the nine planets, the amorous gods took on many lovers. Most mortal women were not strong enough to bear the divine seed of gods, and few managed to. On each of the nine planets, there were a handful who could boast of this. On Jupiter, the Gods of Wisdom, Hunting, and Earth, took a mortal lovers. Their children were gifted with many powers and were made kings and queens. The resulting bloodline still runs through the aristocracy today, though very diluted."

"I am a direct descendent of those gods. Their divine blood runs in my veins, purer then any other Jovian. Relena hated me for that. She was royal as well, but the blood didn't run so pure in her veins. I don't know why she was jealous of that though, since I didn't get inherit any magic abilities."

"Queen Ysandre had the ability to summon powerful earth elementals to do her bidding, the hand of summoning, and the hand of earth, the ability to control plants. Relena could summon the lesser elementals, the pixies, and the sprites. Her hand of power wasn't that strong, but she also had the abilities that all Jovians had, regardless of the amount of divine blood in their veins: neutralizing poisons and predicting the weather. All I had was those natural abilities and a longer lifespan. Relena and Ysandre have the longevity too, but I retain my youth when I age. My grandfather died at 200, looking like a man one-fourth his age. When Relena is 200 and in her final years, she will look like a crone. I will look about 30, assuming I live that long."

"But your powers, they're not from your bloodline?" asked the historian.

"No...well, sort of. We will get to that later," she said with a small smile. "Relena's hatred of me extended beyond blood and into the territory of teenage crushes, which is the deadlier of the two."

"You see, Kings, Queens, Princes, and Princesses of Jupiter (or any other planets) are entitled to their own small contingent of personal guards. But there was no King or Prince, only Ysandre, Relena, and me. Ysandre had the Queen's Guard, and Relena had her Ravens. At the age of 16 I got Quatra, and even he was given to me grudgingly. While I wouldn't trade him for the world, and he is the equal to 5 Ravens, it would have been nice to have a little more protection."

"One day, when I was only 15, I tripped (or more then likely was tripped) and happened to fall into Heero Yuy's arms. The twenty year old captain of Raven Captain made no attempt to comfort me, but he did help me up. That was enough to give Relena another reason to hate me. I had "flirted" with her longtime crush, who did not return her love. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and boy did I know it."

"Murder is punishable by death in the Emerald Kingdom. That didn't stop Relena from trying to get me killed. She rested in the comfort that her mother was Queen and was blind to the many faults of her daughter. I still don't know how a person could be that blind and be Queen."

"Anyway, there is a system of solving feuds on Jupiter, the court duel. It was old and archaic before Relena brought it back 'into style.' In court duels, battles were fought between two courtiers with grievances against each other. The challenged was allowed to pick the weapons, metal or magic. Duels were fought to first, second, or third blood, depending on the seriousness of the accusations and feuds. Occasionally there were duels fought to the death. Until Relena discovered court duels, there hadn't been a duel to the death in decades, but her hatred of me was that great. During all of this, Ysandre had turned a blind eye."

"Winning my first duel was just pure dumb luck. I drew first blood, only because the Raven who challenged me tripped on their shoelace. Poor Glais. He never did live that down, and eventually was forced to move off planet."

"While I was not untrained during my first battle, I will not pretend that I was a master swordswoman, or even competent. My swords teacher only humored me. He didn't believe that princesses could make good fighters, and my interest was only a ten year-old's whim. Drustandidn't give the same attention that he did his other students, and I was too young to realize it. In the five years I spent under Drustan, I only learned the basics. But I love to fight so I learned the basics very well."

"I was no mage. I had no magical powers. In fact, I couldn't light a candle to save my life. A few of Relena's Ravens did know some pretty powerful spells. I was in trouble."

"Fortunately I turned 16. The Queen gave me Quatra as a birthday present or her idea of stirring the waters for entertainment; probably both. My new bodyguard wasn't what I expected. I had expected him to be cruel and condescending, just like many of the Queen's Guard, or Relena's Ravens. He was the opposite."

"Quatra was twenty one when I met him. His gentle brown eyes were the first thing I noticed about him. My nanny always said that you could tell a lot about a person from their eyes. He had short curly blond hair and there was something gentle about him. It was a big shock to me that he was an Immortali, one of the best swordsmen in the universe. He even was titled, the younger son of a landed lord."

"My bodyguard was like a godsend. I had to wonder why my "dear aunt" sent me such a perfect bodyguard. It took me a month to realize why. Quatra had the personality and ability to suit me perfectly, but he was a political disaster. He was too trusting, too honest. It was as if he was born without a political bone in his body, even though he was raised at court for part of his life. He became my friend, but he was political liability. But I still owe him my life."

"For two years, I faced Relena's hatred, her revenge. She would order her Ravens to taunt me, goad me into a duel. I fought over twenty duels in those two years, from when Relena accused me of trying to steal Heero, to when I had enough and...ah...ran away. I wouldn't be alive really except for Quatra's training. He corrected the small mistakes in my swordsmanship that Glais had allowed to pass, small mistakes that would be potentially fatal in battle. I was taught new techniques and my level of swordsmanship rose. That's not to say that I didn't lose duels, and I did, but those were only blood duels and I survived, but with more scars."

"It was in my last month at court, before I decided I had enough, that I was challenged for my first and last duel to the death. I admit, I was more then a little cocky, since I won my two previous duels, and conveniently forgot the ones I lost. Birdie was respected among the Ravens and with good reason too. She was a mage. Not only that, Birdie had the hand of claws. It wasn't that rare an ability, but I had never seen it before. If her delicate white hands touched my body, it would be as invisible claws shot out. Invisible claws that cut through flesh like knives, and could be wrenched through the body without the resistance of metal."

"I was in deep shit. I had no magical abilities and was up against the unknown. I remember that day clearly. Jupiter was in winter and thunderstorms occurred frequently and without warning. It was dangerous to be outside on the dueling grounds, which were located atop a small hill without any cover. Birdie would hear none of postponing the fight. We fought."

"I nearly died that day. My body was scored with knife wounds and I could barely stand. Birdie was the second in command of the Ravens, and I could see why. I had only managed to slice a long gash on her thigh. She had been limping, but otherwise she was unhurt. I on the other hand could barely stand."

"I remember the savage grin on her face when she cornered me. Weaponless, I could do nothing to stop her. In those moments I felt my death coming. If I died then Relena would have won. There would be no contention for the throne."

"My last memory of that day was a bright light and a loud noise, then everything went black."

"Quatra told me that lightning struck Birdie. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Again, I won by a fluke. I've always been lucky, but that was just ridiculous."

"That night Quatra and I fled Jupiter secretly. It was just by chance that we found ourselves on earth. Earth was the easiest planet to immigrate to; their star gates weren't as restrictive as those of other. But I was happy there on earth, where nobody recognized me as princess, and gives me odd looks as I pass. I was just Makoto."

The princess turned her strange eyes on the historian, who was scribbling furiously on the parchment. "Now I hope you understand my reasons for leaving Jupiter. I left because I was sick of the duels, sick of being tested, sick of court life, court lies."

The historian looked up from his parchment. "I thought that royal Jovians who left Jupiter for a long time fade away since the element earth is so deep in your blood."

"Myth. I didn't wither and die. Jovian blood does run through my veins and it compelled me to return. All I dreamed about in my final week on earth was Jupiter. The trees, the animals, they all ran through my dreams. I resisted the call, but it was getting harder to."

"But if you returned to Jupiter, couldn't you have just lived on a farm or something, and abdicated?" he asked.

"I thought about doing that a lot. But then, even if I returned, Relena would've had me killed, just for being alive. I had to return, not just because Jupiter was calling me back. It was more then that. The Emerald throne is something sacred and I couldn't let that usurper remain, let alone give Relena the chance to be Queen some day. Jupiter would fall into Darkness and it would be my fault for not doing something when I had the chance..."

Makoto's shuddered, imagining a world with Relena as Queen. "Now that is my history in a nutshell. The real story begins now..."

Author's Notes: That's it for the prologue. First person is difficult to write, I see now. In regular fiction, it's fine, but in fanfiction it's easy to get characters OOC. I think that's what I did, just a smidget. But this is after the trials that Makoto experienced so it's understandable that she matured. She still is the loveable tomboy that happens to have special powers. But before you accuse me of making her really OOC, remember that this is set in the feudal European styled Silver Millennium, where there are nobility and lots of etiquette and whatnot. I did have to urge to make everything Japanese, but I remembered that we didn't see anything but castles and elegant dresses in the flashbacks of the anime, no kimonos and Japanese houses there. So the whole setting and culture will be sort Feudal European (my take on it), with the names of the anime characters as the only thing Japanese (there was no way I could change that).

If you can tell, I revised the story a lot. Names of characters have changed, and I styled the story sort of after Interview with a Vampire, with the whole interview thing. You also might see some influence from Laurell K. Hamilton's Meredith Gentry Series. I read that book when I came before I started writing this story so the sadistic queen and love hexagon thing comes from there. Everything else is a product of my imagination!

The grammar is much improved and I've virtually eliminated plot holes. You might, however, see the whole story revised later, as this format makes it impossible to switch to third person. If I don't get used to it, that's what will happen. Sorry. Now the plot from the previous version is still pretty much the same. But my last version, frankly, sucked big time. I found a lot of mistakes and lots of stuff to change. I don't think anybody will miss it.

Aren't you glad I finally got this out? I promised myself that I would update it by my birthday, and here we are. Today is my birthday. I'm seventeen! Woot! As a present, won't you review? I really need feedback. Tell me if she's too OOC. If there's not enough interest, I won't be motivated to update often and you will have to make do with my two month updates (and this story is probably one of the few Makoto/GW stories still going). So please, review! [Special thanks to M.A. and Liz!]