CHAPTER 9
Mei stormed out the elevator, she walked straight passed everyone as she went into one of the bedrooms and slammed the door.
"Whats with her?" Chester spoke as he looked to the rest of the group.
"First lovers fight probably" Harumi spoke as she stood up and made her way to the room that Mei just entered.
"Lovers? Who?" Chester asked as he looked at the remaining women in the room.
Azula shook her head as she spoke.
"Your still as oblivious as ever I see"
Matsuri stood up as and headed for the elevator.
"Suri, where are you going?" Gaia asked her daughter
Matsuri spoke without turning around.
"I'm gonna go check on Yuzu-onee"
Once Matsuri reached the level she wanted she knew exactly which room her best friend would be in.
She stood on the outside for a bit as she watched the young Princess crushing every target going her way.
Sweat was already running down Yuzu's face as she continued to throw punches and different manoeuvres in the air.
'I'll give her a bit more time' Matsuri thought as she took a seat and watched her friend from the other side of the glass.
Back down on the lower level Harumi slowly entered the room, it was freezing, she crossed her arms over her chest as she tried rubbing her sides in an attempt to keep warm.
"M…..Mei, what happened? You wanna talk about it?"
Meis mind was all over the place and her heart was so confused right now.
She slowly turned her head to her best friend as she spoke.
"She said we cant be together"
Harumi sat next to her and gave her a side hug as she spoke.
"I'm sure she didn't mean it, maybe-"
Harumi was cut off as Mei spoke.
"No, she did mean it"
Mei thought back to what had just happened just five minutes ago.
Yuzu pretty much confessed to her but at the same time told Mei that they couldn't be together.
"What did she say? Why can't you be together?" Harumi was just as curious as Mei was.
She saw how close the 2 had grown in one week and she knew that they felt something towards each other, so why would Yuzu turn Mei down? It was the first that Harumi had ever heard something like this, usually there were people left, right and centre that would throw themselves at the raven haired beauty.
"All she said was that we can't be together" Mei's voice was starting to crack.
Harumi placed her hand on her chin as she was thinking, then after a few seconds she thought of something that she thought would help.
"Hey, why don't we just ask our mum's? I'm sure they know something, right?"
Harumi gave Mei a reassuring smile as she waited for some kind of response from her friend.
Mei nodded as she let Harumi lead her back out into the main room where the 3 older women were talking with Chester.
"Mother?" Mei spoke softly as she approached her mum and the others.
All eyes were on Azula as she looked at her daughter and spoke.
"Yes Mei?" She could see the tears already starting to form in the corner of her daughters eyes as she waited for Mei to speak again.
Mei took in a shaky breath before she spoke again.
"Do you know why Yuzu doesn't want to be with me?" Mei then looked at all the adults in the room as she spoke again.
"Do any of you?"
"Ohhhhh" Chester spoke as the older three women just rolled their eyes at him.
Azula, Gaia and Suki all gestured for the girls to take a seat.
Gaia gave Azula a small smile before she spoke.
"I think first you need to understand Yuzu a bit more"
"Was that guy really Yuzucchi's uncle?" Harumi quickly butted in which caused her mother to shoot her a death stare for being so rude.
Gaia nodded before she started to speak again.
"Yes Harumin, he is Yuzu's fathers brother. He is also the one that murdered Yuzu's mother and father before we came here"
Harumi instantly felt guilty for bringing up the subject so carelessly. She went to say something but Gaia spoke again.
"Yuzu was brought up from birth as a Princess and her whole life she has been moulded into becoming the future Queen and leader of all the realms" Gaia looked at Mei who was staring intensely into her eyes and gave a small smile before she spoke.
"Much like how you have been groomed into becoming the Heir to the Aihara house or the Taniguchi house" Gaia moved her hands between Mei and Harumi.
Suki then spoke as she knew that there may be a bit of confusion as to what a 'princess' is exactly,
"You see Harumin, Mei. Being a royal from the Kingdom Rudo is much different from the Princess stories Azula and I have read to you when you were little"
Suki looked to her friend and Azula gave a slight nod before she started to speak.
"Its not all rainbows and happy endings. Its endless hours, days and sometimes weeks of ruthless training. Physical and mental. The entire Kingdom and all the Realms for that matter rely on the Throne for stability, security and order. The lives of billions are in her hands"
Azula lent forward and had a sip from her tea as Gaia started to speak.
"Yuzu has been constantly criticised since day 1, on everything. Then schooling was no different, teachers and students would just be nice to her because she was royalty. She has been betrayed so many times by people and now even her own family"
Mei felt like her heart was breaking in 2, she knew that Yuzu must have went through some tough trials. But losing your parents in the same day and by your own uncle's hand must have been traumatising.
An automatic instinct to protect Yuzu came over her and all she wanted to do in that moment was go back up to the blonde and hold her. The sound of Gaia's voice brought her out of her thoughts.
"Yuzu has lost so much already, I imagine that she doesn't want to lose anyone else. Yuzu has always had a big heart and was often told that she is too emotional" A smile came on Gaias face before she spoke again.
"But that is Yuzu, it is also something about her I hope will never change"
As they continued their conversation, there was another heart to heart conversation happening a few levels up.
"Water?" Matsuri handed her friend a bottle as she patted the spare spot next to her.
Yuzu didn't say a word as she accepted the bottle and sat down.
After a few moments of silence, Matsuri finally spoke up.
"Wanna talk about it?"
Matsuri waited patiently for the blonde to speak but she was met with silence.
She let out a small sigh before she spoke again.
"That bad huh?"
"I'm sorry" Yuzu kept her head down as she spoke.
Matsuri was a bit confused, she wasn't expecting an apology from the blonde.
"What for?"
Yuzu turned to her friend before she spoke again.
"You had to use the Sun stone that your Father gave you, I know it was your most precious treasure since he passed away" Yuzu didn't have enough words to express how bad she felt.
Matsuri's father had given that Sun stone to her years ago, it was the last one known in all the realms, the light could blind anyone within a certain period of time.
Yuzu never thought that Matsuri would ever consider using it, she was sure that the pink haired girl would rather die then use the stone.
Matsuri threw her arm over Yuzu's shoulder before she spoke.
"Yuzu-onee, your so silly. You and Mum are my most Precious treasures and here"
Matsuri pointed to her heart before she spoke again.
"This is where my Papa is"
Yuzu flashed her friend a smile, but the next question she was asked made that smile disappear.
"What did you say to Mei? She seemed pretty upset"
Yuzu sat there for a bit as she tried to think of the best words to use before she answered her friend.
After a few moments she finally spoke.
"I just told her the truth. That we cant be together"
Matsuri knew better than anyone that once Yuzu had made up her mind there is no changing it.
The 2 talked for a bit, Matsuri still tried to convince Yuzu, but it seemed that it was no use.
A few hours had passed, Gaia came up to get the girls for dinner.
"I'll be down soon" Yuzu gave a smile to her friend and Aunty before they headed back downstairs.
After another hour passed everyone was getting more worried about the blonde princess.
"She should be resting" Suki spoke as she stood up and was planning on getting the blonde until.
"I'll get her aunty" Suki turned around to see Mei, she had so much determination in her eyes.
"Are you sure thats a good idea Mei" Azula gave Mei a worried look.
But Mei had made up her mind, after hearing everything from her mum and Aunty's, Mei wanted Yuzu to know that she wasn't alone.
"I'll be fine mother" Mei entered the elevator and waited for the floor she wanted.
Yuzu had already pushed her body passed its limits over an hour ago. But this was the only thing keeping her mind clear.
She heard someone knock on the door but she ignored it.
Then the gravity was turned back to normal, Yuzu let out a loud sigh as she made her way to the entrance, she spoke with an annoyed tone as she opened the door.
"Matsuri I told you-"
Yuzu stopped talking as she saw Mei standing there looking at her with those deep violet eyes.
"Mei" Yuzu spoke softly as she waited for Mei to speak.
"No"
Was all that Mei said. Yuzu looked confused, she didn't know what the taller girl was going on about.
"No?" Yuzu asked as she waited for more of an explanation.
"No, I dont accept that we cant be together" Mei held Yuzu in her eyes, her heart was beating rapidly against her chest as she went to speak again.
"I Understand why you think we cant be, but Yuzu" Mei reached out and cupped Yuzu's cheek.
Instantly Yuzu melted into Mei's touch and her body wanted more, Mei moved closer as she spoke again.
"Cant you respect me enough to make my own decisions?" Mei never imagined that she would express herself like this, so openly to someone. But yet, here she was putting her heart on the line. She couldn't shake this deep connection that she feels with the Princess and she knew that Yuzu felt it as well.
"Mei I ca-" Mei placed her finger on Yuzu's lips before she could finish her sentence.
Mei could see the inner conflict that Yuzu was having within herself.
She slowly lowered her hand before she spoke.
"Yuzu, your always saving everyone and trying to help and protect everyone. But who will help and protect you?"
Yuzu stood there speechless as she listened to every word that Mei spoke.
As much as her body and heart wanted to give in to the raven haired girl, Yuzu knew that she couldn't be selfish, it wasn't a luxury she was aloud, all her frustration was finally at her limit and she let it all out.
"I cant protect you Mei. I'm a failure, I cant save my Kingdom right now, or maybe ever. I couldn't save Mama and Papa that day and I could barely save everyone at Harumi's house." Tears were falling fast as Yuzu continued to speak.
"If anything were to happen to any of you I would-"
Mei pressed her lips onto Yuzu's before she could finish what she wanted to say. As she pulled back Mei looked Yuzu straight in the eye as she spoke.
"You dont have to do everything alone anymore, you have me"
Yuzu placed her hand on top of Mei's as she spoke.
"If I lost you Mei-"
Mei cut Yuzu off again as she spoke.
"You feel it too, dont you? This pull between us, I cant explain it but I know we are meant to be together"
Yuzu stared straight into Mei's beautiful purple eyes. She knew exactly what Mei was talking about. It was just like her parents had told her a few years ago. The more she seemed to fight it the more that the student president seemed to be on her mind.
Yuzu didn't want to resist anymore, her body was feeling fatigued, she placed her other hand on Meis waist and slowly lent forward capturing those soft pink lips with her own.
Mei quickly wrapped her arms around Yuzu's neck as she deepened the kiss.
They kissed each other with all the passion that they had.
-clap,clap,clap-
Yuzu and Mei both turned to see who it was.
"About time, geez" Harumi spoke as she gave a wink to both girls.
"Talk about the ultimate tease you 2" Matsuri was standing next to Harumi with a devilish grin.
"I…ummm….we…" Yuzu was trying to find the words, but nothing was coming to mind.
Mei gave Yuzu a quick kiss on the cheek which caused the blonde Princess to blush.
All the training finally hit Yuzu as she fell to one knee as the rest of her body shook.
"Yuzu!" All three girls were at her side. She quickly shook her hand in the air before she spoke.
"See you make me weak in the knees Mei" Yuzu gave Mei a wide smile.
It took a few seconds for the words to sink in to Mei, after she realised what Yuzu said she tried to give a stern look as she spoke to her.
"This is serious Yuzu, your body is fatigued, you should have been resting instead of working out"
Yuzu slowly stood back up but it seems that her body wasn't quite ready yet, her legs went to give out again but a pair of soft hands held her up.
"I got you" Mei spoke as she looked straight into Yuzu's eyes.
Matsuri and Harumi helped Yuzu back into the elevator. As they were waiting to reach the floor were they were all staying in Mei saw tears falling from Yuzu's eyes.
She wiped them away with her thumb before she spoke.
"Yuzu, whats wrong?"
Yuzu smiled at the three girls before she spoke.
"Nothing, i'm just so lucky to have you all in my life"
"Group hug" Harumi squeezed them all into a hug. Mei wasn't one fond of physical touch from other people, but right now she felt relieved that everything seemed to be settled between her and Yuzu, she still had a lot of questions but she thought she would save them for another day.
As soon as they reached the floor, all the mothers and Chester rushed to Yuzu's side. She quickly dismissed them and said she just needed a sleep, which Suki stated she had told the blonde many times before but would not listen.
After a nice long shower and eating almost all the food in Chester's fridge Yuzu finally got to lay back down in bed.
She let out a long sigh as she closed her eyes, then she felt someone starting to lay down next to her, she opened her eyes to see Mei.
"Mei?" Yuzu asked as she saw the Raven haired girl laying down and getting ready to go to sleep.
"Yes?" Mei asked
"What are you doing?" Yuzu didn't mind having Mei next to her, in fact she was loving it but being this close to her was making Yuzu's heart beat like crazy.
"We are all in here since there is only 3 rooms"
Yuzu looked to the other side where 2 other futons were set up which she guessed were for Harumi and Matsuri.
'How did I not notice before?' She thought as she heard the door open and Harumi and Matsuri walked in ready to go to bed.
All girls said goodnight before sleep quickly took over them, it had been a long day for Yuzu and she knew that tomorrow would be even more stressful as they would have to start making a counter attack plan.
The next morning Mei woke up to see that Yuzu was no longer in the room. She quietly exited the room as she tried to not wake Harumi and Matsuri.
"Morning Mei" Azula greeted her daughter as she walked into the kitchen.
Mei scanned the room to see that Yuzu was not in there either.
"If your looking for Yuzu, she is doing a physical test upstairs" Gaia spoke as she had a sip of her tea.
"Thank you" Mei politely bowed and headed straight to where Yuzu was.
'Why does she always have to overwork herself' Mei thought to herself.
Meis eyes widened as she saw Yuzu in the Gravity room with Suki and Chester speaking to her through the main control room.
"O.k Princess we are adding 50 more, that will take you to 200 times Gravity"
Chester started to turn the dial, Mei watched as Yuzu's body was being pushed down slowly.
Sweat was dripping down Yuzu's toned body, Mei felt her throat get dry as she watched the Blonde starting to move a bit faster around the room, each of her muscles in her body tensing as she moved aroung the room
Mei sat quietly as she watched Suki and Chester put Yuzu through a number of different exercises.
From the Gravity room to test her strength, speed room for her speed, weapons room to test her with nearly every type of weapon you can think of and then the last one, hand on hand combat with Chester himself.
Azula had told Mei when she was younger that Chester was very skilled in Martial arts and that was the main reason why he mentored her and Harumi in self defence.
But after the events from the other day Mei now knew that Chester wasn't just good at hand on hand combat but that he is the number one fighter and has never lost a fight ever.
Apparently even though he was born and raised in the Kingdom Rudo, he never showed any signs of having any powers or abilities.
He was treated as an outsider and eventually left that realm and came to earth, he soon got involved in Kingdom matters again when he discovered that there were a lot of outcasts that had run to Earth.
And so he became a type of protector for them.
Mei took in the sight of Yuzu, she was already breathing heavy as she took her stance, they had been testing her abilities for hours now and Mei knew that Yuzu must be extremely tired and probably over exhausted by now. They had put a blocker up so now Yuzu couldn't use her powers which made Mei even more concerned for the blonde Princess.
Chester would defiantly have the advantage since he was used to not having powers, Yuzu on the other hand had come accustomed to using her powers in a day to day life.
Suki saw the concern in Meis eyes as she spoke "We need to get the Princess ready for anything, we dont know what kind of tricks the enemy will have. Plus its good for her to not rely on her powers 24/7"
"Shouldn't we let her rest a bit Aunty?" Mei asked Suki who seemed to be writing down a few notes before she turned to her niece and spoke.
"In reality Yuzu wont be given breaks Mei. She needs to push her body to its limits so that we can see how far she can really go."
Mei understood what Suki was saying but she couldn't bare the sight of watching Yuzu get beaten up without being able to defend herself properly.
Chester lunged forward fast, he quickly landed a few blows and knocked Yuzu to the ground.
The fight went on for a bit, with Yuzu meeting Chesters every hit.
She knew she couldn't hold out much longer and his attacks were fast and precise.
After about an hour Yuzu was left on the ground breathing heavily as she stared at the ceiling, a smile grew on her face as she heard Chester speak.
"Good work Princess" After that they both lost consciousness.
Outside of the room everyone was now gathered and had been watching the last 15 minutes of the fight.
"I cant believe it" Azula spoke as she looked at the 2 fighters laying on the floor.
"So its a draw then?" Harumi asked as she waited for an answer.
"Shouldn't we go help them?" Matsuri asked as she looked at Yuzu laying on the floor.
"Its fine, they are just exhausted" Suki wrote a few more notes down before she made her way to the 2.
A FEW HOURS LATER….
Yuzu jolted up and quickly looked around the room.
"Yuzu?"
Yuzu turned to the source of the voice
"Mei" Yuzu gave her a smile as she tried to get up, Mei was quickly at Yuzu's side as she tried to get her to lay back down.
"Its fine Mei, I feel great" Yuzu kept the warm smile on her face, Mei couldn't help but smile back.
As she opened the door she was greeted with everyone except for Chester sitting at a table having something to eat.
"Princess how are you feeling?" Asami spoke as she got up and started to place some food on a plate for Yuzu.
Yuzu and Mei took a seat as they all ate in silence for a bit until Yuzu decided to break it.
"How did I go aunty?"
Yuzu had a serious look in her eyes as she looked at Suki.
Suki gave a wide smile which seemed to ease the blonde for a bit before she spoke.
"Actually, really well. Your strength has increased to 200 times gravity. Your speed is extraordinary, I couldn't actually get a proper reading on you because you were moving to fast."
Yuzu nodded as she waited for her aunty to continue.
"Your skills with weapons is also very impressive but it seems swords are what you find easiest to handle" Suki then looked at Chesters closed bedroom door before she spoke again.
"And your fight with Chester was great, I mean. I never thought you would be on the same level as him just yet"
Yuzu gave the entire table a smile, but the next sentence that left Suki's mouth made Yuzu lower her head as a few thoughts came to mind.
"Ume and Rohan really did make sure you were well trained in all areas"
-Ding-
Everyones head turned towards the elevator.
"Everyone is here, so who could that be?" Gaia spoke.
Yuzu quickly got out of her chair and stood ready as she waited for the doors to open.
Once the doors were finally open everyone's eyes widened in shock and confusion.
"Grandfather?" Mei spoke as she looked at the man exiting the elevator.
TO BE CONTINUED….
OK THIS ONE IS A BIT LONGER, SO I HOPE YOU WILL ALL ENJOY.
THAT YOU FOR ALL THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK EVERYONE, I LOVE YOU ALL.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO LEAVE YOUR FEEDBACK AND AS USUAL HAPPY READING AND HAVE A GREAT DAY :)
