Disclaimer:

Me: Sam, would you like to do the honors?

Sam: Sure. *takes microphone from me* This idiot is too stupid and dumb to own something as genius as Gakuen Alice. She's also too slow to actually come up with an original story line and had to borrow from the awesome Korean drama, Goong also known as Princess Hours. Oh and did I mention how moronic she is fo- *I grab microphone back from her*

Me: Thank you Sam, I think they get the idea. Onwards to the actual thing at hand:

~;~

Mikan found it hard to breathe again. She wanted to take it back, why had she said that? She didn't know why but just thinking that Natsume was a possible culprit sent metal shards through her heart. It just couldn't be him, he wasn't like that. It had to be someone else. Maybe a maid from his room jumped on her balcony or something and entered her room like that. It could be anyone; there were thousands of people in the palace, what are the chances that it was her fiancé out of all of them?

Mikan grimaced, when had this happened? Why did she want to deny that it was Natsume behind this? She bit her lip and looked at Hotaru. The cold girl seemed to understand the look that Mikan displayed so openly in her eyes, Hotaru looked pained as she said, "You've started to care for him." It was a statement, she didn't need to question; the evidence of the statement was written all over Mikan's face after all.

Mikan turned to deny her firmly but it all died in her throat as the image of last night passed behind her eyes, Natsume sitting on her balcony, the wind playing with his hair, his face open and vulnerable under the starry sky. Her heart raced just thinking about it. She looked at the floor trying to organize her jumbled thoughts. It couldn't be him, this was Natsume, sure he was rude and mean to her but he was still kind under all the layers of coldness.

Hotaru looked ahead at the wall as she spoke, "Stop. At this point you'll end up falling for him." Mikan snapped her head towards the stoic girl, "That's not true. I care for him as a friend; he just doesn't seem like the kind of person to do this." She explained but Hotaru just looked at her dryly.

Mikan chewed her cheek, there was no way, the auburn haired girl shook her head from side to side, she had promised herself never to fall for any man, to ever allow herself to care for another, she already knew how it all ended. She had watched her mother cry herself to sleep enough nights to know that love ruins a person, that it breaks them until they can never be whole again.

Mikan looked up at her friend with hazel brown eyes filled with terror. "No, I-he was just nice and he helped me. That's it. I won't like him, I promise." She didn't know if she was talking to Hotaru or herself anymore. A new kind of fear started developing in the corners of heart, fear that she might start trusting, that she could break into unfixable pieces. No, she would never, she knew how fragile feelings were, and she wouldn't allow herself to have anymore.

Hotaru took her friend's hand, "Its not like I don't want you to ever fall in love, I do. But I want you to love the right kind of person."

Mikan nodded, her guard had been down for too long, it was time to put up the doors that she always had around others. She needed to take precautions from now on.

Hotaru squeezed her hand a little and then let go. She looked back at the laptop and went back to business, "Since you deleted the email and it's impossible to retrieve now, we'll have to find another way to find your mother's location. I'll have to look into it; maybe we can track her cell phone. Do you know her number?"

Mikan nodded, she wrote the only cell phone number she knew from memory on a scrap piece of paper and handed it to Hotaru, "I doubt she still has it, she didn't want me to contact her." Mikan added softly, she was still thinking about their conversation for her heart wouldn't retain its original beat. It was still beating over time with this new knowledge she had just gained.

Hotaru took the piece of paper, "It's the only clue we have so we'll start with this. I'll take care of it later; right now show me the email you got from that unknown sender."

Mikan opened her email and opened the file with the picture. Hotaru scrutinized the picture with her normal cool expression, "It's your mom and the king? Do you have any idea why they're together?" Hotaru asked.

Mikan shook her head, "No, but I don't think this means anything bad, Hotaru. Mom and dad would both talk about their childhood friends; maybe they knew the king from before."

Hotaru narrowed her eyes and continued to glare at the picture, "Then why didn't your mom tell you? Why would she hide this? And why would this person send you an email of them, what are they tying to prove by this?"

Mikan looked closely at the picture, her mother looked so beautiful, there were no lines of stress around her lips, no dark shadows under her eyes from sleepless night and her skin looked so healthy, the color was pale but it seemed to shine. Mikan touched the face of her mother on the screen sadly as she said wistfully, "She looks so happy. She doesn't smile like this anymore Hotaru; do you think it's because of me that she's like how she is now?"

Hotaru snapped her eyes to the girl beside her, "What?"

Mikan didn't look away from her mother's smile as she answered, "think about it, Hotaru. Maybe it's all because of me? My dad leaving, my mom on the run, me becoming the fiancé so randomly. It's not like I doubted that my existence had no relevance to these events but Hotaru what if I started this whole thing? What if I'm the cause?"

Hotaru's looked at Mikan coldly and shook her arm so the girl looked at her, "Stop talking nonsense? What would you have to do with any of this? You were just a child when your father ran away; your mom didn't tell you anything."

Mikan smiled sorrowfully, "You know there were days after my dad ran away that I would sit and make promises. If he came back, I would be better, if he came back for me and mom then I would help in my chores more, I would be a good girl. But then there were nights when I held my mother's crying form and wondered with guilt if maybe the reason he left was me. I don't know what everyone is hiding but I'm scared to find out now, what if it turns out that I'm the root cause of all this chaos?"

The amethyst eyed girl moved so that she was sitting right in front of Mikan, "Stop. This isn't going to help us solve anything. You were always quick to put the blame on yourself since we were young but Mikan this makes no sense, how is it your fault if you were simply born?" The girl's tone took on an icy form and her eyes regarded the despondent brunette harshly.

Mikan shook her head, "I'm scared to find out what all of this means for me Hotaru."

"Then we'll stop, no one's forcing us to continue. For all we know, this could all mean nothing." Hotaru turned to close the laptop but Mikan's hand shot out to stop her.

"I can't stop. I don't know if it's important but I don't want to stay ignorant either. Not here, where there are so many secrets. If I can find out even a little bit about what this is, I can have some sort of advantage."

Hotaru pressed her lips together, "Then you have to promise me that you won't start rotting in guilt when we don't even know what part you have in all this. I told you, you have to be strong or at least try if you want to survive here."

Mikan couldn't make promises she couldn't keep so instead she said, "I'll put on the mask you told me to and I'll try to keep a level head." She insisted with her clear honest eyes.

Hotaru didn't miss that Mikan didn't promise but she let it go, she would try again later when the stubbornness had reduced to a lesser level, when the stupid girl wasn't caught on being noble.

Both girls turned back to the laptop then and Hotaru started typing strange symbols and letter again as Mikan watched.

~:~

"Why did you come out of the queen mother's room last night?" A voice from behind Natsume asked. The boy stopped cold, his insides going hard as he turned around slowly to look behind him.

Ruka stood with his arms crossed looking at his friend with a hard expression on his angelic face; Natsume looked behind him to make sure no one else was there and hadn't heard. The two boys were outside the east wing of the palace standing on the long wooden hallway that leads inside the palace.

When Natsume didn't reply and simply stood there with his hands in his pocket and a blank expression on his face, Ruka stepped closer. "Natsume, you hate her. We hate her. Don't you remember what she's done to Aoi? What are you doing getting involved with her?"

Natsume looks to the side, staring out into the palace yard, he didn't want to look into his friend's clear eyes; it made it hard to lie to him when he looked at him so sincerely. "Ruka don't get involved."

Ruka's eyes fill with anger and he steps closer to Natsume, "Answer me Natsume, what were you doing in the queen mother's room?"

Natsume sighs lazily and turns to the blonder boy with a sneer, "Go away Ruka, it isn't your business."

That had done it, Ruka had an easy going nature and his patience was infinite, it had to be for him to remain close friends with Natsume but the infuriating boy had even found the limit to infinity in Ruka's benevolence and fortitude with his irritating attitude. So no one could blame Ruka when his hand formed a fist and without hesitation collided with Natsume's jaw.

Natsume stumbled back more from shock then impact; he almost fell but managed to ground himself in the last second. He looked at Ruka ready to comment on his behavior but his friend wasn't done yet. He grabbed Natsume's shirt front and brought him close enough so that Natsume couldn't look away from his clear blue eyes, "I know your pattern Natsume, your pushing me away because you're doing something dangerous again, and you don't want me to be exposed to anything peril."

"It's not going to work, if you don't tell me what's going on with you, it doesn't matter. I'll just follow you into impending danger and be swallowed up with you. I made the mistake of letting you go by yourself once and I have to live with the regret of not only loosing you into it but loosing Aoi too for the rest of my life." Ruka let go of him but looked at him with eyes filled with years of sorrow and a face that held regret and repentance.

Natsume looked at the ground, "You don't understand, idiot. I can't risk loosing you too."

Ruka laughed bitterly, "You don't have a choice, I'm not ten anymore, I wont watch your retreating back the way I did then."

Natsume sighed in frustration and looked at his friend with eyes filled with anger, "Don't add to my burdens, Ruka."

Ruka shook his head and looked at him with firm eyes, "Its hell waiting for you. I'm following you Natsume; whether it's in the face of danger of if you're falling into a fiery pit, I'll jump in to follow you if I have to."

Natsume fisted his hair in growing aggravation, "Provoke me anymore and I'll just push you into it."

The blue eyed boy smiled then, but looked at his best friend with a stern face, "Go right ahead, but I'll crawl right out, I can be just as stubborn as you. You're not doing this without me, Natsume, if your going back into the queen mother's clutches then I'm offering myself up to her too."

Natsume turned to a different tactic, "Think of Hotaru, if you really love her then you wouldn't put her through this."

"I could say the same about your fiancé, your getting married tomorrow."

"Tch. I don't care for that ugly girl."

"Don't lie, this started again when she came into the palace, she's involved too."

Natsume grimaced, "The queen mother wants her."

Ruka raised an eyebrow, "And you're protecting her?"

Natsume looked away as he answered in a pained voice, "No, I'm protecting Aoi."

~;~

Hotaru looked at the computer in her hands with a dry expression, "Mark of Death? Seriously?"

Mikan smiled, "They're probably going for a dangerous and mysterious persona."

Hotaru snorted and continued to type, she frowned after a few minutes; Mikan noticed her expression had hardened, "What is it?"

"This email isn't traceable." Hotaru said with resigned exasperation.

"The person deleted the id after they sent the email?"

Hotaru narrowed her eyes at the screen, "no, we can still trace it back to the computer they deleted the id from. This email is protected by legal authorities. Whoever sent this email sent it from a secure powerbase, if I crack in; I could be breaking the law and could go to jail."

Mikan's eyes widened, "What? D-don't do that. It's fine. Can't we just email back and ask them who they are?"

Hotaru gave her a sideways look, "And the chances that we'll get a reply are?"

Mikan sulked, "Ok well, still it's not worth risking jail, so stop."

Hotaru continued to type and Mikan turned to her with terror filled eyes, "Hotaru!"

"Calm down, idiot. I'm replying to the email like you said, I'll add a tracer to the email so that when the email is opened we can trace it to the computer." She replied monotonously.

Mikan's eyebrows furrowed, "I thought you said that the computer's protected."

Hotaru didn't stop typing on the laptop when she replied to the girl, "I said I can't break in but if they open the email then they allow access themselves, its how you allow viruses on your computer."

Mikan nodded at this information and couldn't help but be impressed by the amethyst eyed girl. After a few minutes of insistent typing Hotaru finally stopped and leaned against the bed board sighing with accomplishment.

"What did you say in the reply?" Mikan asks. Hotaru turns the computer screen towards the brunette so she can read the single sentence Hotaru sent as a reply.

Who are you?

~;~

In a dark room at the very bottom of the castle lies a dungeon. There's no way out and no way in except through a secret passage from the queen mother's chamber. But there are only two people within the castle that know of its existence, and neither wishes to share that knowledge with others.

The room is a shallow area with no windows or doors. There is a bed, a doll and a single closet with tattered clothes and broken hair pins. There are no mirrors in this room.

On the bed lies a young girl, age close to fifteen. She is beautiful with a mess of raven hair and soft features that curve and shorten at just the right angles. Her body a thin mass filled with grace, her eyes a deep red which have lost their light but still continue to shine.

She is a princess without gowns or jewels. She is a daughter thought to be dead. She is a beloved sister whose sight has been lost. She is a prisoner in a dark and empty room. But before all this, she is a child who hasn't seen the light for almost a decade, who hasn't had contact with another human for so long she's forgotten that others beside her exist. She is a human whose world is as big as four walls, a leaky roof and windowless space.

Her time passes differently then it flows for the rest of the world for in a room where the sun never shines and every sky is as dark as the moonless night, day seems like night and dawn never turns to morning.

~;~

Knock Knock.

"Come in." Mikan says for the third time now. She frowns at the door when another knock comes. Was this somebody's idea of a joke?

Hotaru had gone back an hour ago with promises to be back early at dawn tomorrow. Mikan insisted for her to stay the night but when Hotaru reminded her that she had better computer equipment and modern technology at home to trace her mother's cell phone and see if she can find the location of the unknown sender Mikan had nothing to say back to that. So she let her go.

The bride to be was lying in her bed snuggled under blankets with her second cup of hot chocolate and munching on a chocolate chip cookie happily not thinking about the impending threat of a wedding to a possibly evil prince when insistent knocks keep coming from the door.

At the fifth knock Mikan sighs with defeat and gets up from her warm bed and walks towards the door. She opens it expecting maybe Youichi or even Natsume annoying her but she finds no one. She looks around confused and then spots a maid knocking on the door next to hers.

It was her fiancé's room. Mikan groans, the door was about ten inches away from her own, how was she supposed to know the difference between someone knocking on her door or her fiancé's. Maybe she should talk to the queen about her living situation here...

She's about to walk back inside when another knock comes and Mikan stops and turns to the side. The maid looks embarrassed as she knocks on the door yet again.

She looks uncomfortable when she catches Mikan staring at her but she bows in apology and continues to knock, this time talking hastily as well, "Your highness, please, you missed lunch and break fast. The queen won't be happy if you don't have anything for dinner either."

Mikan leans against the door watching this exchange curiously. The maid seemed to visibly sweat under Mikan's gaze, she knocks on the door furiously, "crown prince, your highness, please." She stresses the last word with a sideways look at Mikan.

The brunette idly wondered what she had done to make this maid so mortified and when no answer came after what seemed like the hundredth knock, Mikan decided to free the maid from her shambles.

She walked up to the maid stopping a foot away. She smiled politely while young maid looked back at her blankly, "Here, I'll take it." She says gesturing to the tray in her hands.

The maid didn't hesitate at all and practically pushed the metal tray into Mikan's waiting hands. Mikan looked towards the door and then back at the maid who had started retreating, "is the door locked?" She asked.

The maid shook her head, "no, but we can't go in without the crown prince's permission."

Mikan nodded and wished the maid a good night and was awarded with a bow in return. She looked at the white door in front of her and took a deep breath. She knocked once and waited approximately five seconds before she threw the door open.

Natsume wasn't in the room. She looked around expecting him to be hiding but the room was empty with no sign of the beautiful prince anywhere. Mikan sighed; of course, even he had enough human feelings to not ignore a poor maid's calls. She was surprised by how relieved she felt by knowing that the boy wasn't completely inhumane.

Stop it, Mikan chided herself. Don't be an idiot; you know what it means to have feelings. One day he'll leave her too; they always do. She put the metal tray on the prince's bedside table and turned to leave but something on the balcony caught her eye, her heart almost stopped when she recognized the messy raven hair and proud back.

Her feet carried her to the balcony door without her permission. She realized that the sliding glass door that led outside was half open and again without her brain's agreement, her limbs carried her out into the open balcony.

Natsume didn't turn but Mikan saw the slight tense ripple that went into his shoulder as she stepped up next to him by the balcony railing. She looked up at the sky not knowing what to say to him.

"I wasn't expecting you to come from behind me; I would've thought you would use your own balcony." Natsume muttered not looking at her.

Mikan didn't look at him as she responded, "What? You were thinking about me?"

Natsume turned to her now, and Mikan reciprocated his move watching as a shadow of a smirk plastered on his face, "I was. I wanted you to come out." He admitted.

Mikan raised her eyebrows but kept a straight face, ignoring the wild beating of her heart, "Honest today, are we?"

Natsume shrugged turning back to the open sky as he spoke, "You'll be my wife, and doesn't trust come first when maintaining a relationship?" Mikan didn't look away from him, her face twisting into anger at his statement.

Mikan fisted her hands. Liar, you're the one with the secrets and suspicions. She wanted to say but instead said, "Who says I want to have a relationship with you?"

Natsume looked at her from the corner of his eye as he moved several feet away so that they were on opposite sides of the balcony, Mikan looked at him in confusion and Natsume smirked at her as he replied, "Don't want to take any chances, you've already punched me once for stepping inside my room on your own will, I don't want to be abused any further because you feel like coming out into the balcony."

Mikan huffed, "Don't try to be the victim here; I've been verbally abused by you countless times." She reminded him.

Natsume looked back at her and slide back, this time turning his whole body so they were completely facing each other, "Can you keep a secret?"

Mikan was taken aback, that had come from no where. She looked up at the boy's surprisingly sincere eyes and answered almost hypnotically, "yes."

The boy looked at her with such intensity that Mikan was sure she would burst into flames at any moment, "If one day you were given enough power to ruin a person you hated, would you do it?"

The flabbergasted girl looked sideways at the balcony railing to organize her thoughts. What kind of question was that? And how was that considered a secret? She looked back at the boy and saw the raw emotion he was trying to hide. It was right there, hidden behind curtains of nonchalance in his eyes. He was desperate. He wanted an honest answer from her, it shouldn't have surprised her so much but it did, why was he asking her of all people anyway?

Mikan knew he wanted her to give him answers, but she didn't know what exactly he wanted to hear from her. She took a deep breath, this question wasn't hard and she knew the answer, her father had given her this lesson at a very young age.

"If one day you're handed a vast amount of power, don't ever misuse it." Izumi had told the little girl with brown pigtails playing under the sun.

She had turned to look at him with curious wide eyes, "Power, daddy? What's that?" The girl had asked.

Mikan smiled as the answer came to her, she said it out loud from memory in answer to the question the boy had asked her, "Don't ever misuse it. Even if you have enough of it to destroy someone's life, don't do it. Because power is strong but the user who holds it is weak. Power can corrupt but it can also save, power is a choice, so choose well."

Natsume continues to look at her and Mikan starts to feel uncomfortable under the gaze, she shifts her feet and mutters, "my father said that." She tells him.

When he doesn't answer Mikan looks up at him to see that his face is mere inches from hers, "waoh," she gasps and stumbles back a few steps until her back hits the wall beside the glass door. She finds Natsume's hands trapping her as he flattens his palms on the wall by the sides of her face.

Mikan is at a loss of words as the infuriating boy tilts his head to the side, almost playfully. No way, the crown prince of Japan can be described in many words, he's annoying, irritating, pig-headed, lazy, stubborn…and much more, but he is not playful.

And Mikan almost celebrated mentally when he sneered at her, of course you idiot prince, keep your moronic façade in check, "So you wouldn't ever even try to hurt someone you really loathed if you could?"

Mikan looks at him dryly, "Did you not hear a word of my philosophical rant? No, you idiot, you'll hurt yourself more in the end."

Natsume leans closer so their noses are almost touching, "And what if that's something I can bear with? What if that would be a small price for me to get revenge?"

Mikan didn't know how to answer that, she was having trouble thinking straight with Natsume invading her personal space, "Uh, revenge is never the answer, you should forgive and forget?" She had a feeling she was talking nonsense but she was having too much trouble managing her jumbled thoughts to notice.

"What if this person took away someone you really love?" Mikan blinked, her thoughts returning to her. She found it odd to hear the word love from Natsume's mouth; she had thought he didn't know the existence of such a word with his personality.

She puts her hands on his chest and roughly pushes him away, he falters on his grip and Mikan steps out of the cage his arms had made. She gives him a pointed look as she answers his question, "I still wouldn't do it. And you shouldn't either. There are other ways to get back what's been taken from you then to ruin others and steal it back." Mikan turns around ready to head back.

Natsume calls after her and she stops in her steps when she hears him, "If-if one day I betray you, will you forgive me like you said?"

She knew what this meant, she turned around to see the expression her fiancé was making, but his face was impassive with the same look of detached interest he always had. Mikan turns back around and answers him, "Yes, I would, because you would have a reason to betray me, after all." She didn't know where that came from but after she said it, she knew her words were true and she meant them. She may not have known the boy for too long but from what she could tell, the crown prince was a sincere person.

She steps inside the room and just before she makes a beeline for the door she leaves the crown prince with words she knew she's going to regret the next day, "But if there is ever another way, I hope you take it, I've started trusting you and I've been disappointed too many times in life, so I hope you don't break the fragile trust I've drained out for you."

With that she walks out of the room and the boy falls to the ground. He sighs deeply as he leans his head on the railing and puts an arm on his folded knee.

"Silly girl," he mutters as he runs a hand through his hair in growing frustration. The girl was so stupid; she was so foolish and innocent. It made Natsume want to yank out his hair when she ignorantly danced around the castle with her big shining eyes lost in a fairytale.

The dark haired prince sat outside for a long time, his heart beating fast, he wanted to throttle the girl for the effect she was already having over him. He pressed his palms to his forehead and sat under the sky thinking of the girl's words. He had once wanted power to protect those he loves but when it was power that took them away from him; he couldn't help but greed after it. He wanted it, he wanted his revenge and he could only have it if he had power.

When he closed his eyes, a pair of hazel brown eyes drifted in and out of his vision. She was wrong, what did she know? She was just a little girl who knew nothing of the cruelties of this damned world. She was an idiot.

But try as he might the boy couldn't forget her words. She said she trusted him despite his distance and suspicions; she put her faith in him. The boy's shoulder sagged, he didn't want this from her, he didn't want her trust or friendship, it was heavy and it weighed him down. It fogged his mind so much that his real purpose seemed lost in the haze and all he could see were a pair of wide shining eyes from an annoying girl who was starting to step into his heart without his permission. It was distracting. She was distracting. And he couldn't afford distractions.

He didn't know how long he sat there, he didn't know why he sat there, he told himself the night air was comfortable, that it helped him breathe, that it could be the calming darkness around him that made him feel secure, but he knew those were all excuses.

He found himself looking at the balcony besides his when his eyes weren't closed and he wasn't imagining wide hazel eyes. He couldn't help gaze at her glass door from time to time.

He wanted her to come back outside.

He just may be more foolish then the girl after all, for he spent almost two hours sitting on that hard, cold floor, waiting.

Yes, he was a world class idiot.

~;~

Mikan walked back to her room and shut the door behind her. She leaned against and took a deep breath to calm her wild heartbeat. She looked around the room for a distraction, she thought about going back to her laptop but then she would have to open her email and she wasn't so sure she wanted to deal with what was or wasn't in her inbox.

Her eyes landed on the balcony and she wondered for one short moment if she should go out there to check if the crown prince was still there.

She looked away quickly before her thoughts landed her somewhere dangerous. She opened her door and walked out of her room shutting the door behind her.

She wandered the hallways, unsure of where to go. Her mental map of the castle had improved but she wasn't taking any risks, she had a wedding to attend tomorrow and her presence was kind of important to the media even if it wasn't really to the groom.

She walked down the long hallway and the staircase. She didn't want to accidentally end up in the throne room but the only way she knew was to the living room where the royal family ate their dinner.

She contemplated where to go for a moment, if the living area was to the right then perhaps the left side lead to an exit somewhere. She didn't stop to think what else could be found other than the exit as she turned to the opposite direction and headed out in search of an exit.

She reached a back door in the side of the wall at the end of the hallway and by the position of it she inferred it could only lead outside. She twisted the knob and almost bumped into a tiny body when she walked out.

She stopped in time and looked down at the familiar little boy, "Youichi, what are you doing here?" She asks in surprise.

The boy looks just as surprised to see her, "What are you doing here? I thought you were sick?"

The girl bit her cheek and answers almost defensively, "I asked you first," she said childishly.

The little boy blows out a long breath making his long bangs blow skyward, "I'm on a secret mission," he tells her smiling proudly.

"Uh-huh, so what is this place?" Mikan says looking around the area, it seemed familiar, there was a green field and a familiar ranch house building, she tried to get a closer look at it but it was hard to see in the dark.

Youichi looked offended as he spoke, "Aren't you going to ask what my mission is, you stupid girl."

Mikan ignores his use of her loving name and answers still looking around, "If it has to do with hiding from your maids and ditching nap time then spare me, please."

Youichi huffs and looks at her with an annoyed face, Mikan's lips twitches as she looks at him from the corner of her eye not turning her face away from the open field.

"I'm going to ride Miraku." He tells her.

Mikan turns to the little boy and raises her eyebrows smiling down at him, "Miraku? Is that a name?"

Youichi folds his arms and looks at her with a pointed face, "I didn't name him that. He's Oni-chan's horse." He says and starts walking towards the ranch.

That's why the area looked so familiar to Mikan; it was where she had played polo with Natsume and Ruka. And won, she smirked at the memory of the crown prince's shocked face when she had made the winning goal.

She follows the younger prince as he makes his way to the horse stable, "Why do you want to ride his horse? Aren't there others?" She asks with curiosity.

Youichi glowers and answers in a tight voice, "Because he doesn't like me. He doesn't like anyone but oni-chan. He's the fastest horse we have and he won't let anyone near him but somehow oni-chan became friends with him."

Mikan follows the little boy inside the stable and walks next to him as he ignored all the other horses and goes straight to the door at the end. He unclasps the door quickly and takes a deep breath before pulling the door open to reveal a familiar black horse to Mikan.

The dark beauty looks up from where it lays munching on an apple. The horse gets up as his eyes adjust and he finds the two bystanders looking at him. Youichi gulps and walks inside the area, he looks at the horse once before all but running at it yelling as he pulls its mane and jumps on its back. Mikan watches horror as the horse neighs loudly and jumps ready to break out of the shelter and throw the small boy off its back. Mikan panics for a moment before running up to the horse and grabbing his head. She takes a deep breath and the horse stiffens, she shushes him looking closely into its black eyes and petting his face gently. When the horse relaxes she looks back at Youichi and with a murderous look commands him in a cold voice, "Get off. Now."

Youichi is blue in the face as he slowly slides off the horse and stumbles to the floor. He looks up at Mikan with sad, fearful eyes. The princess to be beckons the horse to sit back in his original position and Youichi takes this time to walk out of the horse's compound. Mikan follows him out and locks the door of the horse's room.

Once the door is locked she turns to him with cheeks red with fury, most likely scaring all the other horses in the stable, "What was that?"

Youichi doesn't look so much like a crown prince as he does like a little boy caught in a rebel act when he shuffles his feat nervously and looks down, not meeting Mikan's gaze. He answers softly, "I-I just wanted to ride him."

Mikan presses her lips together to control the storm of words threatening to spill, "What you did was really dangerous, you could've hurt yourself, you know."

Youichi looks up at her and Mikan sees the desperation in his big eyes, "I didn't mean for that. I just wanted to show everybody."

Mikan narrows her eyes at him and Youichi seemed to visibly shrink back. She sighed, "Who were you trying to show? What were you trying to prove, Youichi?" She asks a little gently this time.

The little boy's lips tremble slightly and Mikan feels her heart squeeze, he looks back at her with his big eyes, "Daddy and Momma, they both get mad at me because I'm not a good boy. I'm not allowed to call them that anymore, I have to say 'My king' and 'My queen' like oni-chan does. I don't listen to them and Oni-chan doesn't play with me anymore because he doesn't like me. I'm not as smart or as strong as him so if I could ride Miraku, I thought they would all be happy with me." His voice starts shaking by the end of the sentence and it breaks on the last word.

Mikan kneels down so they she was at eye level with the little boy, she grabs his shoulders and he looks back at her. Her heart almost breaks when she spies thick tears on the corners of his eyes. She smiles gently at him, "Youichi, your mom and dad wouldn't be happy if you hurt yourself, they would be sad if you got hurt. And as for your idiotic brother, he's a jerk but he must have a reason for being a specifically ruthless jerk to you."

Youichi just looks at her with ad despondent face so Mikan gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze, "Remember when I told you I beat your brother in Polo? I did by riding that horse."

Youichi's eyes widen and his features morph into shock, "Your rode Miraku?"

Mikan nods smiling heroically, "Yeah."

Youichi looks at her in admiration, "But how?" he asks his voice filled with confusion. "No one can ride him and come out alive," he exaggerates.

Mikan laughs lightly and ruffles the boy's head, messing his hair. "I don't understand actually. Why doesn't he allow others to ride him?" She asks.

Youichi shakes his head and fixes his messed up hair, "No one knows. Daddy told Oni-chan and me when we were little that it was a princess who rode him. He was a wild horse and she tamed him but he didn't let anyone near but her near, that's why she named Miraku, for miracle. It was a miracle that anyone could ride him. And now Oni-chan can ride him and you too, for some reason."

Mikan taps her chin thoughtfully, "How about I help you then?" She says brightly.

The little boy looks at her in surprise, "You? How?"

"Well since I can ride him and he's not uncomfortable with me, I think with a little practice, we can get him to like you too. He's an animal after all, so we can train him to like you." She says smiling at the boy.

The small prince looks up at her almost shyly and nods; Mikan gets up before she gets tempted to hug the tiny boy and most likely stop his blood circulation.

"Come on then, it's late and you've got an important job tomorrow as the ring bearer." Mikan reminds him.

The boy follows her as she makes her way out. She turns to him and smiles as she turns the knob of the horse stable.

Only to find it locked.

Mikan looks at the steel knob in confusion. She tried again, but it doesn't budge. She turns back to Youichi in confusion but he's not looking at her and instead is staring straight ahead with a frightened expression on his face. Mikan follows his gaze and realizes why when her own features twist into fright.

The small window above the door had fogged up most likely from the night's dew but that wasn't what had her and the small boy petrified in fear. A dark shadow stood just outside the door, his silhouette visible through the window as he walks up close to it. Mikan stumbles back as the figure brings its hand up to the window.

Youichi grabs her hand and she notices his arm shaking. Mikan grasps it tightly in hers and turns back to the window to witness the dark figure scrawling letters on the fogged up window. Mikan feels her body tremble as the figure finishes and does a mock bow to her before disappearing into the night.

She looks at the window and reads the sentence her teeth chattering from either the cold or the fear, she wasn't sure which but the tremor that went through her after she absorbed the words scrawled on the tiny window could only be due to fear.

Congratulations on the wedding, Princess Mikan.

~;~

A/N: Hehe, sorry everyone and especially BambiFor3v3r, I know you said you hate cliff hangers but I couldn't resist! It's not too bad though…please don't kill me. Anyway, ta-da! It's a quick update, this story has me invested and I can't wait to spill the beans about everything but I must be patient. I love reading your theories about the story, its so much fun, and it actually gives me new ideas ;)

And before I forget, the stuff Hotaru was explaining to Mikan about tracing emails is not true. Or well I don't know if it is, I was just making it up as I go. Also, gabsterela, I believe it was. Your question will be answered in the next chapter! :D

Oh and as a side note, I've been getting reviews from people to add to Sight. As of right now I don't think I can especially because that story was meant to have an open ending but I might change my mind later on if I'm too bored or I get some bright idea to end it on a better note. But for now I have my hands full with this story and well life in general, I guess. Well, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Do tell me if it's moving too fast though!