A/N: I... DEEPLY apologize for the late update, but I've had literally no time to even switch my laptop on, leave alone write :S

And very, very sadly, it's going to be like this for a while. Aside from stuff at work being a mess, I've also got my voluntary placement to Japan- which is great, but it means that I now have an excessive amount of forms, etc, etc to fill out, as well applications for university and dance lessons and extra choir rehearsals (it's that time of year again...)

Anyway, the reason for my apology isn't just for this lateness, but also because it will continue to happen, no matter how much I don't want it to. On the plus side, the next chapter is the MAIN STORY! Yessssss! Progress! Of some kind, anyway :P

Disclaimers:

June: Mammon, baby! That's your cue! :D

Mammon: Muu... I'm not really a baby. Anyway, this brat doesn't own anything. Bye.

June: Hey! You're supposed to say WHAT I don't own! Mammon! I paid you for this!

Mammon: *in the distance* Not enough...

June: *deep sigh* Alright, I WILL get them done next time! Enjoy!

Prologue IV- Goodbye

It was almost the end of winter. After having woken up in her bed, Poinsettia profusely apologised to her second mother for being such a bother and for having forgotten to make the cabbage rolls for her. She had simply laughed and hugged her, thanking her for looking after her son. The weeks rolled by and Poinsettia was lucky enough not to get ill and her mother still had yet to notice her absence from the villa. Xanxus' mother, on the other hand, was not quite so lucky. She hid her illness from the children, however, and life continued as normal.

She still came over to their house, and his ma began to teach her how to cook. She was taught little techniques that could never be learnt from a book, and his petite squirrel seemed happy to have an actual teacher that was willing to teach her. His ma also seemed to notice that she liked to hide things when she wasn't using them, but like him, she didn't comment on her strange little habit.

Xanxus hoped that the peaceful days they were living in would continue forever, but he could feel that they were about to come to a rather abrupt end. He was right.

They met like they always did, near the fence. But the moment he saw her, he knew something was wrong. Her pose wasn't as straight as it usually was and her shoulders were slumped, almost as if she felt cold.

"Hey!"

She looked up at him with sad green eyes and possibly for the first time, she didn't smile. There was only one question that rang through his head and he had to get it out.

"What's wrong?"

"We're going back home..."

"Your home's here." He bluntly said.

"No... I mean back to Japan... To my tower..."

He stared at her. He felt the wind blow past him and watched as it pulled at some of the loose strands of her hair. He knew it was cold, but his body felt colder than the chilling wind.

"When?" He quietly asked.

At that question, he could see her almost tear up.

"Tonight." She whispered.

The way she had said it told him it was final. There was probably nothing he could do but let her go.

His silence unnerved her. She had hoped he would give her a positive reply, some form of hope she could hold on to. She didn't want to go back to feeling alone. But it wasn't in Xanxus' character to give a happy-go-lucky response. That was her part to play.

"Well then, we'd better make the most of it, right?"

She looked up at him and he grinned at her. She was taken aback by his reply. Did he want her to leave? Did he not like her anymore? Looking carefully at his eyes, she could see he felt hurt and could see the pain building up deep inside. He was doing this for her sake, and she was going to make the most out of it. Wiping away the built up tears, she replied.

"Yeah! Let's go!"

They spent the rest of the day having fun. Or as much fun as they could manage in the cold months. They laughed together, they screamed together, they rolled down frost-bitten hills together, neither caring whether they got ill or not and neither willing to cry.

Eventually, the time came to say goodbye.

"Bye."

"Yeah..."

Was all that passed between them. After that, she was gone.

It was a Tuesday and one of the less busy days at the inn. So when Xanxus got home at five, his mother was home too. She saw him come in and before she could ask, he answered her unspoken question.

"She's leaving. And she's not coming back."

His ma watched as her son's back retreated into his room. He usually didn't close his door unless he was going to sleep, but he shut it gently this time.

'Oh dear...'

Their separation didn't have any good vibes surrounding it.

Their separation didn't seem final. If it wasn't final, then what was the point in her leaving?

Well, what could he do? Her mother was bossing her around and he couldn't step into her family issues like that.

Frustrated, he wanted to do something to take his mind off of her. He suddenly thought of the only thing that could- his school homework. There usually wasn't very much set, but Xanxus had left his school work alone for so long that it had built up into a pile that could take him a good few hours to do. He got out his pile and began to work away, hoping it would dull or irritate him enough for him to forget about her for a little while.

Two and half hours passed before Xanxus showed hide or hair to his ma. When he did, he looked fine. This, however, was what worried her.

"Hey ma, have you seen my language book?"

Language book? Was Xanxus actually doing his homework?

"Um... It was on your stool, the last time I saw it..." Where Poinsettia last left it...

"Thanks."

He disappeared into his room again to look for it. His stool was normally placed in the corner just behind the door. When he looked there, he found it wasn't in its usual place. There was only one other place where he could think it would be.

Crouching down, he found the stool with his book on top of it underneath his bed. Just where she would leave it. His little squirrel.

He must have surprised his ma, because she jumped when his door was slammed open. Looking up, she found her son standing with the stool in one hand and his language book in the other.

'Did he just kick the door open?'

"Xanxus...?" She was unsure what to say to him. She couldn't say it was alright, because it wasn't. Looking up at his eyes, she found there was no need to say anything. Rather than finding a broken will, she found a strengthened one, one that was firm and determined.

"Go get her back."

This seemed to strengthen him even more, and she was glad that it did.

"I will."

With that, he dropped both the book and the stool and ran straight out of the house. She looked at both the items on the floor and sighed before she smiled gently. She was surprised that her son had found someone so special to him so soon. It wasn't until he had come into her life that she felt she had found someone special, but it made her happy.

'Yes... You get her back and keep her.'

She could scold him for kicking his door open when he came back, and Poinsettia could scold him for throwing books on the floor when she came back with him.

Xanxus ran as fast as he could. Which, for a boy his age, was actually pretty fast. He knew the way, although he hadn't ever been to her house before. She had told him of it many times, and there was no way he could miss it. It was cold and completely dark, even though it was only nearing eight at night. Having a brief look at the clouds told him that a blizzard may well be on its way. The sky was already starting to sprinkle snowflakes onto the landscape. Ignoring them, he continued to run. Past the lake, past a third of the farm until he came to the fence that he always found her sitting on. There was a path near it leading into a field. He continued to run along the path until he came across a hill. Over the hill was where her house was supposed to be. He climbed up the hill until he came to a large clump of trees, and from there he could look down into the small valley where the house and truck was. He decided to take a quick breather to build up his strength. He might have to fight his way out with her, and that wouldn't be easy with adults. He could manage the bullies at school, but that was because they were stupid. Her mother obviously wasn't stupid and would not let her daughter go that easily.

'A truck, huh?'

There were bound to be more people than just her mother waiting if the truck was there too. He needed to plan this carefully, and to do that, he needed to get closer. Walking down as quietly as he could, he used the trees for cover until he got to the truck. Peeking around the corner, he saw the river of red hair that identified Poinsettia. Standing next to her was a woman with curly black hair that reached just past her shoulders. Her back was turned to him, so he couldn't see her face. She was talking to a man- a brutish looking man that would be better described as a bear.

"Is that all, Selene?" The man asked.

"Don't be so rude when you speak to me, Mr Stabbington. You know of my status and I expect to be treated as such."

The man grunted in response, which Xanxus took to mean his way of affirming her response.

'Hold on... Why does Stabbington sound familiar?'

Xanxus looked carefully at the man, and noticed the shabby ginger hair and hard brown eyes were oddly familiar too. Before he could put a finger to exactly why, the man moved away as the woman Selene spoke again.

"Poinsettia, go inside and get ready to leave. Your luggage has already been loaded, so we're the only cargo left to board." Her voice was falsely cheerful, but Poinsettia didn't seem to notice at all.

"Yes, mother..." She sounded miserable. Why was her mother making her leave if she obviously didn't want to?

"Now, now, dear. I'm sure you'll see all of your animal friends that you made here again."

"You forgot the trees, too."

"Ah, yes. The trees as well."

It took Xanxus a moment to work out what was going on, and he grinned proudly when realisation hit him. Clever girl... Acting in a childish way and making up such lies meant that she had protected both him and his ma. It also meant that this Selene person didn't know of his existence. Taking her away from her mother might be cruel to the girl, but he could do it much more easily now. He would make sure this turned out well for them both.

Poinsettia ran inside the house, leaving no one outside but the bear man and Selene. Yes, they were two adults, but Xanxus, if he used the flame he had hidden up until now, could definitely take both of them out. Getting ready to attack, he didn't hear the footsteps behind him that were muffled by the thin layer of snow until it was too late. Taking a painful hit to his left temple, he fell to the floor and rolled to the side to find out what had hit him. When he looked up, he suddenly realised why 'Stabbington' had seemed so familiar.

"Chronus and Brutus."

The Stabbington brothers were well renowned for being tough bullies in town among all the younger kids. The man he saw must be their father. They didn't only look brutal, but they fought brutally too. Xanxus had only faced them once before, and could only beat their brute strength using his flames. But now, they had the advantage over him, and there was little to nothing he could do.

He stood up anyway, only to get a punch to the stomach that floored him once more. The boys weren't just bigger than him, but several years older and much more experienced. There had been a rumour that went around saying there father had taught them how to use axes like throwing knives. Looking at their hands, Xanxus could see that both boys held an axe each. One of them had obviously used the back of one to hit his head earlier.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

Selene turned around and although his vision was beginning to blur, Xanxus could tell one thing that concerned him immensely.

She's not your mother!

Selene didn't have any features that even remotely matched Poinsettia's the way a mother and child's should. Her hair was black and curly, while Poinsettia's was red and wavy. Her face was oval, sharp with high cheekbones, while Poinsettia's was heart shaped, without such high cheekbones and had an overall gentle look about it. Her eyes were narrowly shaped and steely silver, unkind, while Poinsettia's were doe-like, a grassy green and sweet. Even though there weren't many similarities between his mother and himself, there were a few that people could easily list off just through appearances alone. One was the determined look that both shared in their eyes, although Xanxus' had always been much stronger. He also had the same nose shape and strong jaw that his mother had.

Selene's fingers were nothing like Poinsettia's either. Poinsettia's fingers were long and delicate, and her hands were gentle. Selene's were also long, but her fingers were cruel as they reached out to grab his hair and pull him up so that she could look at him squarely in the face as she crouched on the ground.

Harsh silver eyes stared into his, looking for any signs of fear, but crimson eyes only reflected defiance.

"So you're the little rat that's been corrupting my little girl, are you?" She purred at him.

"She's not yours!" He growled back.

"Oh? And she's yours now, is she?"

At this, Xanxus remained silent. No, she wasn't his, but he would have liked it if she was. Selene seemed to pick up on this.

"You've grown feelings for her? How cute. You need to throw those away if you wish to survive, little man." She hissed the last part and Xanxus felt like spitting in her face to get her to move away from him. She smelt of lilies, and although the scent should have smelt nice, it overpowered him to the point where it made him feel sick.

"What do you want with her? She's just a girl!"

She laughed.

"Just a girl? Oh, no, dear. Let me tell you a little bit about her, seeing as you'll never see her again. Her parents stole something very precious from me. And now, that girl holds what they stole inside of her. I need the little princess to live. That's all."

Stole? What could they have stolen that a mere girl could hold inside herself? And princess? Was the girl a princess? It would make sense if Selene wanted a ransom, but she seemed to want more than that.

She's using you!

Xanxus couldn't make sense of it anymore. All he knew was that Poinsettia was in danger and he was the only one who knew enough to do something about it. He thrust his head forward head-butting her chin, effectively loosening her grip on his hair which enabled him to bite her hard enough for her to let go of him completely. Kicking backwards, he felt his foot connect with something that was definitely human flesh and was satisfied when he heard a grunt. But before he could move towards the house to get to the girl, something solid crashed down on to his head and he almost lost consciousness.

Lying on the snow covered ground, half-conscious and bloody, he could only pick up small parts of what followed.

"Little rat!" Selene hissed as she kicked his side. Her kick was surprisingly strong for that of a woman.

"What do you want us to do with him?" One of the brothers grunted out. It was probably the one he kicked.

"Take him away. There's no reason to kill him. He won't be able to touch the little princess. Let him wallow in the futility of his feelings for the girl for the rest of his pathetic life." She unpleasantly purred her orders.

Xanxus wanted to fight back, but if he did that right now, they would only beat him back down again. If the brothers were going to drag him off, he could take them out before coming back for the other two. He felt muscular arms lift his limp body from the ground and drag him away. After counting to twenty slowly in his head, Xanxus lit both his hands with his flames and punched outwards towards the brothers. Neither being prepared for such strength and heat were taken out immediately.

He was barely conscious, but if he didn't get back Poinsettia, he would probably never see her again. If he could take her away right now, then he could find a way to keep them alive in the future. No matter how hard it would be, they would find a way.

Somehow, he managed to make his way back to the house, only to find the lights off with the truck gone. If the truck was gone, then so was she. Searching his surroundings, he tried to find any sign of the truck, but it was nowhere to be seen and his vision was blurring severely. Had he gotten lost and taken too long? Or had they left so fast that there was no way for him to catch up, even if he tried?

"POINSETTIA!"

That was the first and the last time he would ever say her name. In frustration, he slammed his fist against the tree he was leaning against, and his flames of rage snapped the thick trunk in half, causing it to crash to the ground.

It had been almost two hours since Xanxus had left to find Poinsettia and his mother was beginning to worry. Even if he couldn't bring her back, it shouldn't take him this long to come home. Just as she made the decision to try and find him, their front door creaked open and a seemingly unconscious Xanxus stumbled in. As she went to meet him, he fell straight into her arms. She noticed that there was dried blood on him in several places, but what worried her most was the strained look on his face that signalled he had given up.

A/N: Oooooooh... They got split up :( As ever, please tell me if you find any mistakes!

By the way, you guys, did I do something wrong in the last chapter? Barely anyone reviewed D:
In any case, I hope you all liked this chapter (yes, I know, their seperation is hard to like but still... It has to happen) and look forward to the next one! :D