Author's Note

So I decided that I wanted to write another story out of a dream that my friend had. :D
I really liked the idea of the overall dream and I'm adding the Jade spin on it!
I hope you all like it!
~Jade

Setsuna's POV

A princess is to be seen and not heard. A princess is supposed to think, but never act upon those thoughts. They are taught to be proper and elegant, and never to be unreal or act out of terms. By those standards I'm am not a princess, but unfortunately I am.

My name is Setsuna Sakurazaki, and I am the only living heir to the throne of demons. My father, naturally, had put in place every protection on me that he could think of, from guards outside my door, to magic placed on the windows so I can't escape. Every security measure that one parent could hope for.

He used to tell me that I was special, and that nothing anyone could ever say to me would make that any different, but I knew he was lying to me. On top of being a half-breed I also the only living demon to ever be born with snowy white wings instead of the coal black ones that everyone else in my tribe sported. 'The Crow Tribe!' How wonderful.

What I wouldn't give to be away from this place, to be unsuppressed by my father overly tight grasp. I was so tired of always being watched, by the guards, so tired of having my father breathe down my neck about being the "Perfect Princess".

The only time that I actually got a break from my father was when I was with my friends. He respect the privacy of my own friends, but certainly not my own. I was to be handed off to my friends at the front entrance of the castle and then they would return me back to the caste at nine o'clock sharp, no excuse for being late or my father would ring the bell, and all hell would break loose, literally.

"Here you go Princess Setsuna." said the guard in an unusually chipper mood. "We'll see you back here at nine." He said before he handed me off to my friends. I looked at them for a moment and pure relief flooded my senses. It had been another brutal day full of marriage talk, and royal princess training.

"Hey Setsuna, long time no see.." said Asuna. Asuna Kagurazaka, that is. She had long red hair, that was clipped into pigtails by two bells. She was more on the muscular side, and was taller than I was. Not really a surprise there though, everyone is taller than me. Her eyes had to be the coolest thing about her though, one of her eyes were blue and the other was more like a cyan color. "Ready to get going?" She said as she gestured to the gates, and snapping me out of my trance. I nodded and she led the way to our normal training spot.

It had been nearly two years since Asuna and I decided to start training in the woods, far away from the demon village. It used to be just the two of us, but somehow the other girls in town caught whiff of it and asked it they could join us. After much confusion and fighting of how they came to know about this, we gladly accepted them into the group.

There became as certain type of, what's the word, routine to it. We would all meet in the clearing of the woods. Then we would split up into partners and do our warm-ups. After that we would do our own thing until about an hour before we had to go our separate ways, and we would start our weekly tournament. I never got to participate.

At first none of us knew what we were doing, that is until me and Asuna "persuaded" a guard to teach us a few things that we passed on to the group. Everyone did their best to keep the entire thing on the down-low while still trying to learn everything they can about swords play and combat, without drawing to much suspicion to themselves.

The group did well for themselves, we learned everything we could and sparred against each other, careful not to leave bruises or cuts on each other in case another adult, or person in generally was to see it. Especially if my father was to see it. He would personally skin Asuna alive for letting anything happen to me, and for that reason, I was rarely allowed to spar with anyone.

I spent a lot of the time while we were training in a secluded corner of the woods, it was near a waterfall and a slow moving river. I liked being around there, alone with nothing but my sword and my thoughts. Asuna and the others left me alone until it was time for us to return back to the castle.

Asuna had never really seen the demon side of me, none of them had. It was like my own little secret that was tucked away never to be seen. I'm sure they all knew about the famous half-breed princess, but they never asked about it. I was glad that they never asked too, it was some what of a touchy area for me.

My mother had been a human, who fell horribly in love with my father, the King of Demons. She was only sixteen when they met, he was in his early twenties, and still is to this day. You see my father ages at the tenth of the rate of a normal human, I on the other hand, age at a normal rate.

They had married less then a year later, and had me about two months after the honeymoon, I was raised by father, because sadly my mother died during childbirth. I can't say that I'm sad about it, I never met her, but I can't help but think that my father would be a happier man if she was still around.

"Gah! Why should I care?" I said out loud as I gripped on my sword so hard that my knuckles were turning white. I swung the sword as hard as I could into a nearby tree, embedding it into it. I let go of the hilt of the sword leaving it in the tree. I walked away from my sword and towards the waterfall.

Everything seemed amazing today, the outside world seemed so much greener, seemed so much more inviting. The walk to the waterfall just reassured in my mind that the castle was the worst possible place for me. Every rock seemed to be perfectly in their place. Every bird was chirping with such enthusiasm, and such happiness that it made my heart swell up with joy.

I started the climb up the boulders to my usual spot right besides the waterfall. It was so high up that I could be alone, and it secluded me and my wings from any point of view. I got up to the top with ease, now knowing every foot hold and place to grab onto for grip. When I reached the top I quickly stripped off my top and released my wings from their unwilling prison. It had been so long since I willing let my wings out. I smiled as I felt the familiar sensation of warmth starting in my stomach.

I loved to be up flying, but with my white wings, I was never allowed outside the castle with them out. Many people in my tribe had wished me to be exiled the second I was born. but my father gave me the benefit of the doubt and decided to keep me alive. Lucky me..

"Setsuna!" yelled a voice from down below. I panicked and dove towards the side of the boulder face, grabbing my shirt and throwing it on, while jumping off of them and landing gently in front of the now stunned Asuna.

"What?" I started. "What happened? Who got hurt?" I spit out quickly, making my wings disappear behind me in a quick and unsettling motion. Asuna looked at me for another moment before she opened up her mouth to speak again.

"You..." She said slowly gesturing toward my back. My face started to heat up. I blew that secret all too quickly.

"You can't tell anyone..." I said to her quickly trying to cover this up. She just nodded up and down at me. "Now what did you want." I said putting back on my stone cold expression.

She put on have usual smirk and grabbed me by the hem of my shirt and started to pull me. I started to argue with her, but I realized that we must have been late. As we passed the tree where my sword had been embedded into it, I yanked it out and ripped out of her grasp, pointing the sword at her.

"If you want me to come willingly you'll have to disarm me Kagurazaka." I said with a serious yet playful expression on my face. She looked at me and placed a hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Come on now Sakurazaki, you know just as well as I do that I would win. So save me the trouble of wiping the floor with your sorry butt and lets get going." She said to me not moving a muscle until I agreed to go with her. 'Too easy' I thought to myself as I got into my usual fighting stance.

She sighed and unsheathed her sword and pointed it at me. She nodded and lunged forward. She went to slash upwards but I easily deflected it back at her. She flinched, and I took the opportunity make my move, I slashed sideways at her and she jumped over my blade. I jumped backwards and avoided her next slash.

"You've gotten better." She said simply. I smirked at her and started to rush her. She was ready to block the attack, but she wasn't ready for my next move. I flipped over her head and landed behind her. I placed my sword at her as she swung around, the tip of my sword was placed on the base of her neck.

"You give up yet?" I said with a smirk. She smiled at me and dropped her sword to the ground. I released the sword from the base of her neck and turned around. "I suppose we can go back now." I said as I started to walk away. I heard the quick click of metal and I spun around with my sword up, I just barely blocked her attack.

"Are you insane!" I yelled at her quickly. "You could have killed me!" I yelled again. She smiled at me.

"Never underestimate you enemy Sakurazaki, that's rule number one!" She said as she pushed her sword harder against mine. We were locked onto each others blades until I summoned all my strength and pushed her back off of me. I smiled.

"Same goes to you Kagurazaka." I said with all the fierceness and strength that I could mutter. I sprang forward and attacked again. She slashed back at the same time causing my arms to shake through, I flinched backwards, my vision went black for a minute and I my head hit something hard and I fainted.

When I finally came to, Asuna was in the midst of a battle with three guys armed with swords. I jumped to my feet and ran to her side, slashing down one of the guys in the process.

"How nice of you to finally join us!" She yelled as she placed her back to mine and started to fight the guy behind me. I looked around quickly, it wasn't just Asuna and I fighting these guys, it was everyone in our group.

"Sorry about that." I said with a smirk as I deflected the guy to my rights blade. I was very glad at that moment that my hair was up in my usual side pony tail because my hair would have been flying every where. The next guy came flying at me from my left, I hit him in the back of the neck with the hilt of my sword. Asuna was buried deep with enemies, I turned to them and slashed three of them down with one blow.

Asuna smiled at me and laughed. "Never underestimate your enemies." She said again.

"Rule number one.." I finished as I turned my back to her and blocked another guys blade and locked him on my blade as Asuna finished the job. Asuna quickly dove into another battle. I looked for another enemy, but most of them seemed to be handled already. Then I saw him, I ran for him. He saw me in an instant and ran the opposite direction. If a chase is what he wanted a chase is what he was going to get.

I finally caught up to him as I swung my sword forward. In less then a second, the man had turned around grabbed his own sword and disarmed me. He lifted his foot up and kicked me in the chest. I fell to the ground instantly, gasping for any air that I can suck in. The man slowly made his way towards me. I reached out for my sword. It was my only hope, just a few more inches...

He kicked the sword out of my reach and turned to me. He lifted up my chin, grasping onto it like it was metal. He lifted me up, and my body turned to flames. I screamed in agony. I looked into his eyes, they were cold and dead. Completely uncaring for the surrounding world or people.

"Say goodbye to your precious kingdom princess." He said as he threw my chin onto the concrete. My vision instantly went fuzzy. I looked up at him and made a last ditch effort to get up again. He grabbed my sword in his hand and looked at me. "The irony." He said as he whipped the hilt down on my forehead, and with that I blacked out...