AN: Hey everyone! Sorry for the REALLY long wait. But here it is. Enjoy!
=Chapter Eleven=
That night, Amy was walking down the hall reading a small scroll that her tutor had given to her. It was a haiku that she was to recite to the tutor the next session. Except for one little problem. One of the kanji characters was a bit difficult for her to read. She always had trouble with it. Like one of those things that escaped people no matter how hard they studied or examined it. As the cherry-pink female walked down the hall, she passed by the old Court Scribe, carrying an ink and paper set.
"Amy-sama." he greeted with a polite bow.
"Konichiwa." Amy greeted back. Then a thought occurred to her. "Oh, could you help me with something?"
"Of course. What can I do for you, young Mistress?"
"Um, well..."
"Lady Amy! Lady Amy!"
The two looked up to see Cynder running towards them.
"Cynder? What's wrong?" Amy asked.
"May's still outside and she won't come back in." the fire-orange dad kitten cried.
The young flower's face became pale.
"She's what?!"
Out in the courtyard, May was still hard at work trying to build the perfect snowman. Her twin sister led both Amy and the Scribe to her.
"Oh dear, Mistress Blaze will be most displeased." the Scribe said.
"May!" Amy called out. "It's time to come inside!"
"Just a little longer, Lady Amy?" the emerald clad princess pleaded. "I'm almost done!"
"I'm sure you can finish it tomorrow, May. Now come inside before you catch your death of cold!"
"Oh alright..."
Reluctantly, May came into the palace, brushing the snow off of her. Amy went over to help.
"My goodness, May. You're frozen!" Amy exclaimed.
"I'm alright." May insisted.
Just as the four of them were about to leave, the emerald clad princess suddenly had an idea.
"Scribe? May I borrow some paper and ink?" she politely asked.
"Er, well I suppose so." the Scribe meekly answered.
He handed her his kit and she sat it down on the floor, got on her knees, and quickly scrawled out a note with her insignia.
Please don't touch!
-May
Then she took the note, ran back outside to the courtyard and stuck it on the snowman. Afterward, May came right back in, rubbed more snow off herself.
"Okay, now I'm ready to come inside." she said cheerfully.
The sakura hedgehog let out a sigh. If Blaze was there with them, she would've given May a tongue-lashing.
XXXXXXX
The next morning started off rather quiet. Both Amy and Rouge were the first ones to the dining hall, having morning breakfast and tea. A little later, Tikal came in with Satoshi and Cynder. Amy was struck to find that Blaze and May were absent.
"Where's Blaze?" she asked curiously.
"May came down with a fever very early this morning." Tikal said solemnly.
"Yes, she's sick." Cynder added.
'Oh no...' Amy thought.
"Does Lord Shadow know?" Rouge asked as she lifted her face from her teacup.
"Yes. He's with them right now." Tikal said.
The cherry-pink stared into her cup. Somehow she knew that something like this would happen.
"You best hurry Amy-chan." Rouge said, snapping Amy out of her thoughts. "Your lessons will be beginning soon."
"Yes, of course." Amy said.
xxxxxxx
A little later that morning both Amy and Damien were in the tutoring hall. From the very get go the young female could see and feel that the youngster had a worry about him over his younger half-sister. When they were alone, Amy took the opportunity to strike a conversation.
"How is May?" she asked.
"She's feverish." Damien said in a low voice.
"Oh dear..."
"She's not looking too well."
"I can't even begin to imagine how worried Blaze is."
"She's beside herself."
Amy made a face. She felt really bad for the lavender cat.
"Maybe I should visit her..." the sakura hedgehog said thoughtfully.
"You should wait until the Court Physician is though with May." Damien said.
"Oh, is he still with her?"
"Hai. And father is not allowing visitors while he's there."
There was a silence between them as Damien continued to write.
"When do you think is the best time?" Amy asked again.
"If you want my advice, I suggest waiting until tomorrow." Damien told her.
Amy got quiet again as she went into thought.
"Well, if you say so." she said.
It would help to cause more trouble than there already was. Still, she was very worried about May.
"I must wonder what possessed her story out doors that late at night." Damien murmured.
That caught Amy by surprise.
"How did you find that out?" she asked.
"She told us so herself." the prince explained.
"Well, she just wanted make her snow sculpture."
"It was still very foolish of her."
Amy let out a sigh.
"I know." she said.
XXXXXXX
Two days had passed any May's condition did not get any better. Her flu turned into pneumonia, making Blaze very, very worried. The mood of the palace turned somewhat dark. It seemed everyone was worried for the little princess. No one was still allowed inside of her room aside from her mother, Shadow, or Rouge. The only other person allowed into her chambers was Damien. The reason for this was because there was a precaution being taken so that the virus wouldn't spread around.
One afternoon, it was lightly snowing. Amy went to a smaller building adjacent to the palace which was a small Shinto temple and shrine. There with a set of prayer beads, she muttered a little prayer for the ailing princess. Afterward, she returned into the palace. Once inside, and into the halls, her ears twitched to the sound of soft crying. Following the sounds, she soon found Cynder leaned against a pillar and sitting in a crouched position with her face buried in her lap.
"Cynder?" Amy called out. "Kega wanai ka?"
The fire-orange clad kitten shot her head up in surprise and quickly wiped her face.
"Oh! Yes, I'm alright." she stammered.
The cherry-pink frowned. She knew that act all too well. Of course Cynder wasn't all right.
"Are you sure, Cynder?" Amy asked.
"...y-yes, I'm s-sure." Cynder choked.
The poor thing looked as if she were ready to crack again. Amy went over to her and sat down beside her, pulling her into a hug. That's when Cynder broke into tiny little sobs again. Amy just held her and patted her back gently.
"Shh, soko ni, soko ni aisuru..." Amy cooed.
"Oh, Lady A-amy, I'm afraid. W-what if May d-doesn't get better?!" Cynder wailed. "I-I don't wanna l-lose wanna my s-sister! T-they won't even l-let me see h-her!"
"I know, Cynder. I know. I'm worried too. I think everyone is worried. But there iis/i a reasonable explanation as to why she's being kept isolated. Your mother and father just don't want you or anyone else catching her illness."
"I d-don't care if I get s-sick. I just w-want to see h-her. I wanna t-tell her that I k-kept her snowman s-safe."
"Don't worry Cynder. I know she'll grateful for that."
The little princess sniffled as Amy continued to rub her back. She then helped Cynder wipe her tears away. Unbeknownst to them, Damien who had been walking through the halls and overheard the two.
"Come now, Cynder." the young flower said gently. "We wouldn't want May to see you like this, right?"
"N-no." Cynder agreed. "She'd get as upset as me.."
"Come on."
Amy stood up and took the lavender kitten's hand. As they left the room, they met up with Damien.
"Oh, hello Damien." Cynder said while rubbing her eyes.
"Is everything alright?" Amy asked.
There was a short pause. Then Damien bent over and picked up his little sister.
"Hai." he said as he patted Cynder's head making her smile a bit. "I won't have you both worry over me as well."
He gave Cynder a little peck and put her down. Then he went on his way.
"Sayonara, Damien." Cynder said as he left.
Amy was smiling. She never saw that side of him before and she thought it was touching.
XXXXXXX
Later that afternoon, Amy was alone in her room again. She decided to make May another kimono. Instead of using the usual emerald colors, the sakura hedgehog used all sorts of colors that were complimentary to green. Amy wanted to make it as a 'get well' present. Hopefully she would be allowed to give it to her as soon as she was finished with it. Then, about a half hour later, there was a delicate rap at her bedchamber door.
"Hai?" Amy called out softly. "Who is it?"
"It's me."
"Tikal?"
The terra-cotta echidna slid open the door and closed it promptly thereafter. She seemed to have a frantic expression on her face.
"What's happened?" Amy asked anxiously.
"I was able to see May." Tikal rasped.
"And?"
"The Court Physician says she appears to be improving."
"What do you think?"
"She's looks like she's getting better. Poor thing still looks very feverish though."
"Cynder's very worried about her."
"I know. I'm also concerned about Blaze. She's never left May's side for a moment."
"Well, May's her daughter. I don't think she would anyhow. I know I wouldn't."
"But she hasn't eaten for days either. Lord Shadow keeps insisting that she go feed herself, but she just won't."
"Poor Blaze. I feel so bad for her."
'I also wonder if Shadow's worried.' Amy thought. 'I can imagine he is.'
"Tikal, I know May's supposed to be in seclusion, but do you think I can go see her?"
"Well, I don't know, Amy-chan. I was just lucky that Lord Shadow asked me to be with Blaze. You might have to wait a little longer. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I just wanted to give May this as soon as I'm done with it. Just to get her spirits up."
Tikal went over to the cherry-pink female's loom and saw what she was working on.
"Oh, Amy-chan, that's really pretty!" the female echidna exclaimed. "I'll bet May would love this."
Amy went a little red with pride.
"Arigato." she said with a smile.
Translations:
Kega wanai ka? = What's wrong?
soko ni, soko ni aisuru... = there, there little one...
The rest you should know ;)