Thanks to everyone who has waited for this story to be updated . . .
It probably won't be awhile until the next chapter, but here is chapter 3!
Enjoy~
Ikuto hadn't seen Amu since he was eight. . . He was now ten.
If he could focus on his political studies, his parents would be happy and then he would be happy. Or, at least, that was how it used to be. Now, all he thought about was the girl with pink hair, and the knights called her 'Amu'. Everyday, Ikuto made it his mission to go to the tree, but she was never there.
Ikuto sighed.
"What is the matter, Ikuto?" A princess, he was forced to meet, asked him politely.
He glanced at the girl out of the corner of his eye, "Nothing."
She sat straighter and then looked down on him. He, in turn, looked away from the wooden table and faced her.
"Am I not good enough for you, Prince?" She spat.
In truth, she was two years older than Ikuto and he hated it, but that wasn't the reason he was being so withdrawn because usually he would pretend to enjoy their company and tease them. However, today his parents caught him as tried to leave his room and miss the appointment with this princess- his punishment; he was forbidden to go the tree. And worse, he had a guard that watched his every movement.
"That isn't it." Ikuto answered finally as he looked away.
"Then what?" She asked and Ikuto could tell she was getting tired of this.
"I just don't want to be here." He stated.
She looked at him; she was appalled. She stood up and slammed her hand down on the table in between them.
Ikuto waited for her to say something, but she merely stomped off acting like her age. That was another thing that got on Ikuto's nervous, when princesses came and acted like they were already adults. They expected him to act that way too, but Ikuto hated it. He was ten, not twenty.
Ikuto didn't chase after the princess, like she had hoped and so when word reached his parents' ears, they paid him a visit. Luckily, he hadn't moved from his spot at the table.
"Ikuto." They scolded.
"I don't want to be here." Ikuto grumbled and looked out the window across the table.
"And so you want to go to the tree?" His mother asked and Ikuto cast a glance in her direction to tell her she was correct.
"Then were you protecting the refugee with full knowledge that we were looking for her?" His father demanded to know.
Ikuto turned to him fully and asked, "Who?"
"The girl with pink hair, we found her this morning at that tree you always visit." He father realized he said too much and clamped his mouth shut.
Ikuto, on the other hand, had to do everything in his power to remain calm and act as if it didn't faze him. So instead he asked, "What did she do anyway?"
"You're too young to understand." His mother stated quickly.
Ikuto stood abruptly, "I too young to understand, but I'm old enough to get married." Ikuto looked up at his parents, "Tell me where the sense in that is?"
They looked at him sadly and then complied, "Fine we will explain the basics."
Ikuto followed his parents to the library.
Meanwhile, a girl, who was technically 8 years old, but looked 12 years old, was jumping up to higher branches in the weeping willow tree where she had met the prince.
"Hinamori." The knights kept exclaiming, but then suddenly the sound of movement vanished. They could hear her hopping on branches before, but now there was nothing, except the summer breeze.
They walked to the base of the tree and looked up. She was no way to be found.
"Do you see her?" One knights asked.
"She isn't over here." They all said after one another.
They sighed with frustration, "How does she keep escaping?"
"Could she be a mystic?" The youngest knights asked.
"Boy, that's just legend." The older ones mocked him.
The younger knight glanced back at the tree and for a second he thought he saw her laughing at them, but she vanished.
The other knights noticed his hesitation as they mocked, "Get your head out of the fairytale books, boy."
They laughed and the younger knight half-heartedly laughed with them.
As the knights walked further and further away, Amu jumped out of the trees beside the weeping willow.
"Retards." She whispered after them, "I can't control my wings yet."
Amu came to this tree everyday around lunch because that was the only time her parents were away. It was one of the rules they set out; don't go onto the palace property. But, how could she keep from breaking that rule when the boy's smile and blue eyes found a way into her mind.
She sighed as twenty minutes slid by. She had to get going, but as she anxiously waited for the hopeful arrival of the prince, someone emerged from the forest. She was small and looked to be about 6. She looked lost and scared.
"Excuse me?" Amu whispered gently.
The girl turned her head and violet eyes shone at Amu. Immediately she knew this was the princess, Utau. Everyone knew about her, just like they knew about her brother, but everyone knew Utau because of her fascinating eyes and her groundbreaking voice. She was 6 and managed to have a voice like none other.
Utau looked at Amu, "I-I'm lost."
Amu smiled, "Let me help you find your way back to the palace."
Utau smiled at Amu and then eagerly took her hand. They walked down the path the knights had gone down and after a moment Amu decided to ask, "How did you manage to get lost?"
"My maid was taking me for a walk when one of the new knights came and took her away." Utau mumbled quickly like she talked about some secret. "Then I saw Iku, and followed him, but then the knights caught him and I couldn't keep up when they took him back the palace."
Amu smiled at the short of the prince's name, Ikuto. After a couple of moments the princess turned to Amu, "Do you know where you are going?"
Amu looked at the princess, "I thought I did."
Utau gripped Amu's handed tighter and then looked at the bushes as they rustled frantically.
Four men came out and Utau hid behind Amu.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" The largest man asked with a bloodthirsty tone.
"I think the princess and a maid." Another, smaller, man added.
These people had eyes that displayed how twisted their minds were as they reached from Amu and Utau.
"Wait." The largest bellowed.
"Hold the princess for ransom." The man looked over Amu and her skin crawled.
Amu bent down to Utau, "Close your eyes and plug your ear. Go to your happy place and no matter what happens do not open your eyes until I tell you to."
Utau looked at her as the men pulled her away.
"What can we do with her, boss?" The men were already letting their hand roam.
"Utau, close your eyes." Amu's tone became older and more mature. She couldn't control her under-developed wings, but she could control the power she had.
Utau huddled in a ball, closed her eyes and plugged her ears.
Amu eyes glowed and eerie blue. She skin became ice cold to touch and the men flinched away.
"What?" They stammered and Amu turned to face them. They flinched again at her eyes.
A shiver slowly crawled through Amu's body. Amu knew what she doing, but she didn't know the consequences. She was calling upon the one power her mother forbid her from using because the angelic mystic could destroy the world with her ice power and the devilish mystic could destroy the world with her fire power. And slowly through the generations the knowledge of mystics nearly vanished- some pockets of people still believed they existed and they were called slayers- but the mystics learned how to conceal themselves in society.
"She-she's one of them." The largest spat with disgust.
Amu smirked as she leaped for the man, but half way through the leap she fell to the ground. Her mother's voice raced through her mind, "I'm sealing your powers, young lady. Do not give yourself away."
Amu cursed. She forgot her mother had placed a spell on her that alerted her mother when Amu was channelling her powers. The spell immediately sealed Amu's powers.
"Is angel all out of power?" The largest picked up Amu by her hair.
Amu tried to laugh, but the men tossed her to the ground.
"Scar her." The men said smugly.
"I'm only eight." Amu begged as the men pulled at her clothes.
"And that means you might die half way through." One man whispered into her ear as he ran his tongue over her neck.
Utau gasped and Amu looked at her. Fury built up in Amu, this would scar Utau more.
"Close your eyes and plug your ears." Amu screamed, "No matter what."
Amu gasped as a cold blade ran down her arm. Blood spilled from the crack in her arm.
"Stop." Amu scream and struggled, but this only made the blade go deeper and in a more zigzag pattern down her fore arm. She could feel her powers pushing against the seal.
Amu was topless, and Amu realized that they weren't going to rape her because they found pleasure in blood, not sex. They slid a blade down from her collar bone to the side of her chest and down to her stomach. They did this to both sides of her body.
Amu cursed as she cried, "Stop."
She felt the powers building up as they started to add some cuts to her back. The only problem with this seal was that Amu couldn't reach her mother's mind to tell her what was going on.
The largest man walked up really close to Utau and pulled her to her feet.
"Open your eyes." He growled and she did.
"No." Amu screamed, but it was too late Utau opened her eyes and she stared in horror at Amu. The man holding Utau gestured to switch places and the smaller man held Utau up, but Amu didn't let that happen.
She slouched over gasping at the pain that suddenly became too real. Suddenly, the blood on her skin froze and the men dropped her.
"Hold her, she won't scared us a second time." The largest man pulled out his knife.
Amu's powers broke through the seal.
"Close your eyes." Amu screamed and Utau did as power surged from every open cut on Amu's body. A light blue and white light burst from Amu's body and knocked back the men.
They were only knocked out because Amu used too much power to break the seal.
"Utau." She whispered quickly.
Utau was about to open her eyes.
"No." Amu quickly placed her hand over her eyes, "As long as your eyes are closed I can't hurt you."
Utau nodded and Amu quickly picked her up. Amu didn't look twelve anymore, she looked fourteen because it was one of the effects of using her powers; aging. Only until she reach sixteen did the aging affects slow down.
Amu ran to the palace and suddenly her feet knew exactly where to go. She got to a garden entrance.
"Utau." A maid gasped. Amu was still glowing ever so slightly.
Amu placed Utau on the ground and turned.
"Wait," The maid tried to stop her, "The king and queen have been looking for her. I sure they would like to thank you."
"That would be the last thing they would do to me." Amu smiled sadly, but the maid didn't see it as Amu raced into the forest.
"Amu." Her mother's voice growled into her head. "Get back home, now!"
Amu flinched but raced straight home going through the forested areas because she was still shirtless.
When she got home, her mother gasped at the sight of her, but quickly grabbed a shirt. However, she still had something important to tell Amu.
"Quickly come inside." Her mother's voice didn't sound angry anymore, but there was anxiety.
Meanwhile, back at the palace, the king and queen frantically looked over Utau.
"You're freezing." Utau's mother gasped.
Utau shrugged as she shook, she didn't acknowledge the coldness in her bone, only the fear in her mind. She couldn't remember what the girl, who had saved her, looked like; only her voice.
No matter how many times the king and queen asked Utau, she could recall who had saved her. After awhile they gave up asking because as much as their daughter's safety was important, they had a kingdom to run.
There you have it!
Actually, I might add one more chapter soon because
as I was reading it over I decided it wouldn't be nice to have you guys wait
on such a sour chapter.
Read and
R
E
V
I
E
W