MIKAN

They always say you should love your family, unconditionally, no matter what. Well that's a stupid notion. Whoever came up with that saying clearly had no idea what it was like to grow up in Mikan Yuikihara's shoes. The shoes of a princess, born out of wedlock, to a palace tutor, and born from the infidelity of the Queen.

Mikan's status as the disgraced princess gave her a little bit of leeway around the palace. Servants and maids sympathized with her, while all others in the court stuck up their noses at her. Although, since her blood was half royal, she had certain obligations presented to her. Which often times led her to precarious situations. Like the current one.

Mikan found herself staring down the palace wall. Her eyes scanned down the wall until they could only see black. The rocks that made up the tower she was on vanished into nothing. She knew what was beyond that nothingness, it was water, the ocean to be precise. The one thing she wasn't sure of was how far down it was until the rocks actually met the restless waves, but she imagined it was far. Her stomach lurched. She was scared.

She climbed up the ledge of the tower and held tightly onto one of the flagpoles that was flying the palace colors: black and crimson. The only appropriate colors that show the true nature of the palace. It's no rumor that the walls are filled with blood, because it's true. The flagpole was cold and slick with moisture from the nearby water. Her knuckles were a pale ghostly white that somehow managed to be illuminated in the overcast sky. The wind whipped her clothes around her body, making them hug her form.

Mikan was not really sure what her next step would be, literally and figuratively. Was she going to jump or was she going to go back to her room and pretend like the last three hours didn't happen? Her mind was not really working. It was a blank space. She tugged at a familiar chain around her neck with her free hand and tightly held onto a ring that was strung around a thin golden chain. It was something that always tied her down, kept her calm, and rational.

She could step forward to a most certain unknown or backwards into the bitter familiar. The unknown would probably last only a few seconds, calculating the fall, the plunge into the water, and the time it took before she failed to struggle to the surface. She hadn't even calculated if there were any rocks down there, she had no idea, but if there were, then it would likely be the last few seconds of her life.

Backwards though, that would lead her back. Back to where she came from, back to the palace. Back to suffocating walls, restricting rules, ruthless guards, watching eyes, disapproving looks, and disgusting royals.

She turned around on the ledge to look back at the door she had emerged from earlier. The one door that would lead her back in. She silently laughed to herself. She was being crazy. The palace was home, regardless of its flaws, and hidden secrets. She had to live there. Her grip loosened on the flagpole and she was ready to walk back in, to return to her bed.

The door flew open with a bang, and the clatter of guards in armor echoed in her ears. Her breath caught in her lungs. A small gasp escaped her lips and her eyes widened. Everything moved slowly. She felt as if she desperately grasped for the flagpole, her fingers missing it twice, and then she looked up. There in front of the guards was the man she had run away from, the man that haunted her in more ways than one. Her wide eyes met his and a small smirk played across his features.

"Princess Mikan!" Delayed more than it should have been, his voice carried down over the ledge as she fell down the side of the palace wall.

Pin pricks. That's what it felt like across Mikan's whole body. All the air she had ever breathed in to her entire body had left when she collided with the water. She floated, stunned before she realized that she could feel her body hurting, and calling out to her. She was still alive. Stupidly, she opened her eyes only to have the salt water sting them. It was dark, only a small flicker of light caught her blurry eyes. She kicked her legs and swung her arms toward the light. She broke the surface, gulping for air, and was tossed around by a wave. She went under and choked on the water that entered her lungs unwillingly. Resurfacing again, she gained her composure. She bobbed with the next wave and stared off into the distance. In front of her she saw the pale lights of the shore. It must have been from the lower town. She didn't bother looking back towards the palace. If she couldn't see down before, there's no way she could see up that high either.

Mikan thanked the heavens that she knew how to swim. Those lessons that once seemed pointless, and that were just used to kill time were finally paying off. She front-crawled it towards the lower shore. With every stroke she felt like she had made no progress. The adrenaline in her body kept her going. Her breathing grew harder with every stroke and she had to stop multiple times to shake the water from her eyes.

The other side of the shore welcomed her with a mouthful of sand. Mikan spit it out in large coughs. She turned over on to her back and stared up at the night sky. For some reason, the stars seemed a little bit brighter on this side of the water. They sparkled like they were actually proud to be above this side of the kingdom. The sand against her back stuck to her like a second skin and her heart thrummed in her chest. She sat up quickly, making herself go dizzy. She looked around to gain her bearings. It looked like she was in the lower ring of the kingdom, so in terms of ground, she had the inner city and its wall, and the lower ring separating her from the palace. Thank the gods. Royalty avoids the lower ring at all costs.

She stood shaking the sand carelessly from her body. Quickly, she started to make her way to the edge of the houses that lined the shore. They were all tiny and misshapen, but it gave them character. They all had very little lights on, but still she searched for the darkest one out of the bunch. Finally satisfied with her find, she quickly made her way over to the building.

Upon closer inspection, it looked like a shed of some sort. The door creaked open to reveal a pile of hay and a random assortment of tools. It would have to do for the night. She stripped off her soaked clothes and stood in her underwear. She would have to find new clothes and fast. Her garments might seem basic, but they were still probably higher quality than the lower ring could afford. A dirty tarp in the corner caught her attention, grimacing at its state, she reluctantly spread it over the hay and fashioned herself a bed.

The night did not bode well from Mikan. She lay on her makeshift bed, and twitched at every little creak and whimper that her shed made. She awoke early in the morning, having only gotten a few hours sleep, at best. The cool morning air had chilled her to her bones. Her clothes lay in a cold, wet heap on the floor. She had to find something new to wear.

She glanced from her wet clothes to the tarp she used as a bed. Her options were limited, wear the wet clothes, or fashion the tarp into something. She opted for the wet clothes thinking they would stand out less than the tarp. Her first goal for the day was to find something new to wear anyway.

Stifling the groans from her empty stomach, she cautiously made her way out of her shed. The sun was just barely peaking over the horizon. Good. The early hour would provide some time for her to find new clothes. She wandered around the street of houses that was nearby. They all looked like they were falling apart, held together with the smallest of bindings.

She walked for some time, trying to get her bearings. There seemed no logical order to the layout of the lower ring. There were dinky houses everywhere. They all looked different, and there were no signs anywhere. She laughed to herself. It's not like she had a destination anyway.

The sun was just leaving passing the horizon when she finally came across a bit of luck. In the distance, she saw it. A clothes line. On it hung what looked like a woman's nightdress, little girl's clothes, and a pair of boy's slacks. She pulled the slacks, and dress off the line.

She ran into an alley and checked to make sure no one was around. There, she quickly pulled on the slacks, they bunched a little at her ankles. She tore the nightdress with her teeth to make a new shirt. It was sheer and not ideal, but it would have to do. She tucked the makeshift shirt into her new slacks.

She would have to find a jacket, and new shoes to complete the look. Possibly a hat too, if she was dressing like a boy she should complete the whole ensemble.

The morning dragged on, and Mikan watched as the inhabitants of the lower ring began their day with haste. They flocked to the streets. Most carried items, she imagined they sold somewhere. She started to follow an older lady, who left her house carrying a basket of flowers. Mikan hoped she was going somewhere to sell them. The lady turned the corner, and Mikan gasped.

They had turned down what appeared to be a market street. The street was packed with people hustling about, and selling merchandise. Food, clothes, flowers, utensils, knickknacks. Everything. It had a chaotic feeling to it, but it flowed as well.

"Fresh bread!" yelled a little boy, no more than 7 years old.

Mikan stared at him in awe. The boy caught her glance, and shuffled away. Mikan's stomach groaned in protest. She had nothing to bargain with. Her shoes were damaged from the water, and the only thing of value she had was the ring around her neck, but she would never part with it.

She would have to get crafty. So she did. She managed to steal a pair of boots from a little girl selling used clothing, she got a hat from a stand in the corner, and a jacket hanging from a hook in a pub. She tucked her hair under her hat, and she truly felt disguised as a boy.


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Hi all. I'm back with my second fic! Please read and review. Let me know what you think. Thank you.