The Prince and Me

Chapter 10

Things That Are Lost

A week went by, but none of them heard anything from Umi. Umi made it a point to not get his girls involved so he handled everything on the frontlines of the battle. Meanwhile, the girls were just doing anything to occupy their time. They got even closer to each other which made Kotori happy. It almost felt as if she had a sister. She totally disregarded the Queen's age, but she somehow acted very young and very relatable to her. This made things a lot better for them. Their conversations were always fun and never awkward.

As the day came to an end, the front door opened which made the two of them extremely happy. They ran to the entrance and saw Umi standing there. He looked so tired and so beat up. However, he kept his promise to come back. They slowly walked towards him and he slowly raised his head.

"Princess, mother… I'm home."

"Umi-chaaan!" Kotori ran to him and jumped into his arms. He grabbed her out of the air and spun her around. "I missed you so much. I was so worried about you."

"I missed you too, but I told you that I would make it back to you."

"Yes, you did say that."

"I'll never break my promise." He squeezed her tighter and closed his eyes. For some reason, this embrace was unlike any other. Kotori felt so warm and having her in his arms made him feel so safe.

"I hope my mother wasn't too mean to you."

"Of course not. Your mother is a sweetheart. We had such a good time together."

"That's good to hear. How are you mother?"

"I'm fine. Kotori-chan kept me company. She's a sweetheart herself."

"How's father?"

At that moment, the two of them were completely silent. They wanted to talk about something else since he just got back from the battlefield. Unfortunately, Umi only had the intention of asking that and nothing else. He didn't tell them, but as he was fighting, he couldn't stop thinking about his father. He wanted to be by his side in this time of need, but had to serve his kingdom. Now that he was back, he would continue to be there for him.

"How is he?"

Kotori didn't respond. His mother just shook her head. That's when Umi couldn't hold it anymore. He broke free of Kotori's hug and headed upstairs. The two of them tried to stop him, but it just wasn't enough. He arrived at his room and bashed through the door. Right as he entered, he saw their doctors cleaning up their equipment.

"What the hell are you doing? He needs that." Umi's voice started to grow louder while everyone else was completely silent. "Mother, what are they doing? Tell them to stop."

"Umi, there's something that we need to tell you."

"No." He turned around and headed to his father's bedside. He knelt down and grabbed his hand. "Father, I've returned." He immediately knew something was wrong. His hand was cold and he couldn't hear any breathing from him. "Father? You're asleep, right?" Umi gently put his hand on his father's shoulder to try and shake him, but it was no use.

"Umi-chan, please hear us out for a second."

He suddenly turned and looked Kotori right in the eye. His own eyes were red and tearing up. This was a sight that Kotori had never seen before. This made her speechless once again. Without saying anything else, he got up and stormed out of the room. The two of them watched him leave and didn't know what to do. For the both of them, this was the first time they had ever seen Umi lose control of himself. He was normally so strong. This was such a change of character that it was just too much to handle. However, they did know that this was bound to happen. His father was on the verge of death and this death alone would take a huge toll on Umi. Now that it has happened, things were already so different.

…

The days seemed to drag on and Umi secluded himself from the two of them. The death of his father hit him a lot harder than anyone expected. Umi tried to stay strong, but he couldn't do it. He loved his father and to see him go was something else.

His mother also took it very hard. This was the one thing she wanted to avoid. She wanted her boy back. She wanted to see his smile again. Unfortunately, it would be nearly impossible to feel better. On the other hand, Kotori was determined to make him feel better. She just didn't know how to go about it. It was just a struggle to find him since the castle was so big. Whenever she did see him, just the sight of his blank face made it incredibly hard to express her feelings to him. She wanted to help him with all of her heart, and she wasn't going to let anything stop her. Finally, when she walked into her room, he was standing at the balcony all alone. This was her chance to make him feel better.

"Umi-chan, may I come in?"

He didn't respond. Kotori wasn't going to back down though. She stepped inside and slowly walked up next to him.

"Are you okay?"

"Mmm."

"Listen, Umi-chan… Your mother and I are very worried about you. We haven't really seen you around lately and when we do, we just never hear from you."

"I'm fine, princess."

"I'm sorry, but I can't believe that." She turned to him and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"You are not fine. Where's the dashing level-headed Umi-chan that I've been with for all of this time? Where's that man? I want to see him again."

"Kotori, I'm fine."

Her eyes widened as tears started to roll down her face. She suddenly threw her arms around him and squeezed him as tight as she could.

"You just called me Kotori. I know you're not alright." She wanted to squeeze him more, but she was already doing everything she could. "I know there's not a lot I can do for you, but I can offer you this. I love you. I want to make you happy." She took a deep breath and let go of him. "My body is yours. You can do whatever you want with me."

Umi finally reverted his eyes to her and Kotori immediately saw all of the pain in those eyes. It made her tear up even more. Finally, Umi rested his hands on her shoulders and spoke actual words to her.

"Your body is mine."

At that moment, Umi forced a kiss onto her lips which took her by surprise. The weight of his body forced her back into the room. He continued to push her back until she fell back onto the bed. When he crashed on top of her, he ripped her clothes off and started to kiss all around her body. Although Kotori told him that this was okay, she could barely handle it. His gentleness and kindness were all gone. It was almost as if he was a completely different person.

"Umi-chan…"

He didn't listen. He continued to ravage her body until it wasn't enough. Her pants were still on and to him, that was his paradise. As he reached down to rip them off, Kotori, tried to fight him off, but it was no use. He inched closer and closer until something finally snapped in his brain. His body froze which allowed Kotori to cower in fear. When he looked up, he saw tears rolling down her face and that's when he knew that he went too far. He tried to reach out for her, but she just cowered even more. There was nothing he could do or say that would ease the situation.

"I… I am so sorry."

Umi stormed out of the room with nothing but shame lining his face. He didn't know what he had done, but he did know that he made Kotori cry, and that alone was bad enough. He managed to escape to some far corner of the castle while Kotori was trying to hold herself together.

What just happened? Why did he do that? That wasn't the Umi-chan that I knew. Is this my fault? Is he hurting? Can I help him?

All of these things were running through her head. However, she didn't have the time to make out what everything meant. She pulled herself together and walked over to the closet where Umi's mother left her some clothes that she could wear if she wanted to. Once she was done changing, she went on the hunt for Umi one more time. As her search went on, she only had one thought in her head and it was to find Umi. Yes… She was afraid of what might happen, but that didn't matter. She wanted to make sure that he was alright. Right now, his happiness was the most important thing to her.

It seemed as though time went on forever as Umi seemed less likely to be found. After some more time went by, Kotori came across a long hall that she had never been to. She saw one person standing by the window and knew that that was Umi. She took a deep breath and held her ground. This was the best thing to do and she was going to do it.

"U-Umi-chan!" She called out his name and eventually, he turned his head in response. This told her to take some more steps towards him. "A-Are you alright?" She kept her eyes on him as he bowed his head. This told her to take more steps again until she was right in front of him. At this point, Kotori was so nervous that something else might happen, but what happened next completely took her by surprise.

Umi dropped to his knees and started to cry. Without wasting any time, Kotori wrapped her arms around his body and did her best to console him.

"Sshhh, sshhh. It's alright. I'm here."

"Aaaahhhhhhh!" Hearing his voice break through the silence was something else. It wasn't his normal voice. There were obvious hints of weakness and vulnerability. Kotori knew that this was her chance to take the reins.

"Let it out. I know it hurts, but you have to do this. If you keep holding this in, you'll only end up hurting yourself." Kotori continued to hold him in her arms for quite some time. She had no idea how much time went by. All she knew was that this was a side of Umi that she had never seen before.

End of Chapter 10