Sakuchii: The longest chapter ever. Ahh! I just love this chapter!
Aiko: And here I wonder just why do you love it?
Sakuchii: That's a secrect!
Yukiko: (ignoring the other two) Who's in charge today?
Kazemaru: Sakuchii doesn't own Inazuma Eleven or the charas on it. She only owns her OC's and all the other OC's belong to their rightful owners.
AikoxYukiko: KAZEMARU? :O
Chapter Ten: The Scars Of Heart
~ Part II: The Unforgotten Promises ~
A dark figure arrived at the fortunetelling shop and stopped right before the door. She took of her hood while revealing her snow-white colored hair and the same colored eyes. The future Queen of Unicorn kingdom, as well as the great sorceress of Excaty sighed loudly and raised her head. "I guess that it's this place…" she said and then walked to the door and knocked it.
In no time it opened and a really tired looking indigo haired girl with her face burning hot peeked from behind the door. "Ah, Yukicchi! Come in, come in!" Aiko greeted her friend happily and told the girl to come inside. "It seems that Yuuacchi arrived before you," Yuki heard the indigo haired girl telling while she took off her cloak.
"Nii-san? Why is he here?" Yuki asked and Aiko flashed the girl perky smile which made the former girl to sweat drop. Why did she even bother to ask? After all she knew the reason for it…
Aiko took Yuki to the living room where a boy with jet black hair and snow white eyes, just like Yuki's, was sitting on the couch and waiting for the girls. "Now that you're both here we can finally start," Aiko said happily and then left to bring some tea for her visitors. She sat to drink her tea and there was a deep silence was between the three of them but gladly it was broken by Yuuya who moved a little to get into better position.
"So, what exactly happened here for you to get those three scars on your cheek?" Aiko burst her tea as she almost choked. She glanced around to make sure that Haruya wasn't anywhere near and then after a short pause continued.
"Just a little go I had fever because of over-using my powers… and then just a little things happened," Aiko explained not really wanting to tell that Aphrodi had been with her and that the real Haruya might have appeared, "And that made Haruya to loose the control of his powers, and he transformed to his Ookami-otoko form. I somehow managed to calm him down, but in the end he still attacked me and left these three scars." the indigo haired girl explained and drank a little from her tea. Yuki and Yuuya glanced at each other with widened eyes.
"Then why not healing it? I'm sure that you as one of the great Chaos can do that little…" Yuuya suggested but Aiko closed her eyes and shook her head. Then she stared at Yuuya with sincere amber colored eyes. "If I did that then there would be no point… Those scars shall remind me to be more careful… especially since the guys around me get jealous so easily." the girl laughed while showing her tongue and Yuuya facepalmed while sighing. He shouldn't bother to say anything to this girl.
All of a sudden Aiko's face got all serious and she then placed her cup on the table. "So Yuki, you were in the castle, right?" the girl asked and Yuki nodded her head. Aiko then closed her eyes and paused for a while, "Say… Did you feel anything strange there?" the girl asked and Yuki stopped for a while to think about it… Had she felt anything un-normal there?
"I have to tell that there was something… but it's still faint. If something happens right now I'm sure that we could win against it." Yuki admitted but then smiled happily and a light smile appeared on Aiko's face too. It was good to hear that they still had some time before the attack was done, "That just so great to hear."
"I wouldn't want to interrupt your conversation but I have to say that it's just a little bit too silent here… Where is everyone?" Yuuya suddenly spoke and Aiko told that it was nothing. After all everyone had the right to say what they wanted to.
"Ah, well Yuki-chii and Osamu-kun are currently of shopping and they took Fuu-kun and Mido-chan together with them," Aiko explained about her sisters plans as they were getting cut with the food. She also added that the four of them should be coming back soon, "Aphrodi decided to head towards the palace, because as he's personally invited to the princes birthday party he needs arrive to greet the prince and the other quests. I guess it's formality here to arrive like months earlier before the actual party." Aiko chuckled and Yuki just nodded her head, since what was the girl was talking about was the truth. The earlier you came to the party, the more respect people would have for you… or so Ichinose had told her.
"And as for our trouble maker… I guess that he's still sleeping in his room. It always takes a lot time to recover the energy back after loosing the control of your powers like that… After all that also drains both your mental and physical energy." the indigo haired girl then explained while a light crimson appeared on her face and Yuki smirked. It was so obvious that she really cared for the red-head who was sleeping in his room.
"And what about that kid?" Yuuya asked and Aiko tilted her head. Who was he talking about… didn't she mention everyone who was living in this house. "I mean the fourth kid… the one with the cat's powers." Yuuya tried to explain, but it was hard as he didn't remember the boy's name at all. Aiko thought for it for a while and ended massaging her head to finally get about who the jet-black haired boy was talking.
"HIROTO!" Aiko yelled and Yuuya nodded, "That was his name!" he said while clapping his hands but stopped when noticed the indigo haired girls worried look which seemed as if she had seen someone getting attacked just before her eyes.
"Yuuyacchi you take Haruya… no matter if he wakes up but we can't leave him alone…!" Aiko explained while putting on her cloak. She then threw Yuki's cloak to the girl, "I'm sorry for this to happen, but need to go find that kid. I won't forgive myself if something happens to him." Aiko said as quickly as she could and then rushed out of the shop, which was also her home.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she cursed herself for not being more careful. The image of a light red hared woman with emerald green eyes appeared before her and the woman was smiling at her. "Please you two, take care of him… You're the only ones I can count…" "Yes, Kiya-sama!"girls answered to her…
"Please Hiroto… be okay…" Aiko prayed and yelled the boys name with all she had. Yuki and Yuuya who was holding the sleeping Haruya on his lap followed her closely. "I won't forgive myself if something happens to you."
-OO-
Crown princess of Atlantis kingdom, Umi Miu was taking a walk together with her personal butler and best friend Kaede, who took her to the city's marketplace which was the busiest place in the capital. In the marketplace, Miu saw what the typical life of those who were on the lower class was like.
Those dirty looking clothes that they have, or the fact that kids were running and playing around like idiots, Miu didn't get it at all. Why would people allow something like that happen to them?
She didn't know that the reason was, because the merchants of this city didn't how could you live any better… they didn't have the chance to live like the prince in the castle… they just had to work in order to live and make sure that their kids survived as well. That was how the live worked for them.
Miu sighed loudly, but when Kaede turned to look at her with questioning face, she immediately put on a smile. She didn't want to worry her butler over nothing. As Miu walked in the crowd she suddenly heard someone talking to her.
"Onee-tah, please have an apple!" a little kid with dirty hands, bare feet and bed hair was offering the crown princess an icy-blue apple, which was Snow kingdoms specialty. You couldn't find and buy these bluish apples anywhere else than in the capital city Yukidamura.
Without thinking Miu took the apple and glanced at Kaede, who nodded and gave the little kid money for it. The kid smiled happily and ran away to his mother who patted his head and said that he did a good job. Witnessing this all made a light smile appear on Miu's face. She then turned to look at the icy-blue apple and carefully slid her finger on top of it, while making sure that the peel didn't break. This color… the color of the apple… it reminded her of him, Miu thought as she closed her eyes.
~ Flashback ~
The eight years old crown princess of Atlantis cried and sobbed loudly as she was lost in the woods. Just a little while ago she had been together with her parents, and her personal butler but then a really cute looking animal had caught her interest and she had followed it into the woods. Before she had known, Miu was completely lost.
The brown haired girl regretted the fact that she hadn't listened to her mother's words, and followed the strange animal. The Queen always reminded her that no matter what she should stay near her parents or at least should have Kaede with her. Now, her parents were nowhere seen and she also didn't have Kaede with her.
Miu tried to dry her eyes with the already dirty hands. Her most favorite dress had ripped of in many places and her knees were hurt for falling down so many times. The princess was covered in both mud and blood and her appearance was so different that you would never guess that she was the princess… that if she hadn't been wearing the pendant of royal family.
"Okaa-san! Kaede-kun!" Miu yelled in desperation and felled down on her knees when she heard no answer. She had been wandering on the forest for hours already and was exhausted and hungry. She couldn't take it and just wanted someone to come and take her back home, to where her mother and Kaede where.
All of a sudden, when Miu was thinking of getting up to continued to look for home the young crown princess suddenly heard a deep voice murmuring at her. When she looked up, the girl saw a black colored wolf with golden colored eyes staring right at her sapphire colored eyes.
The girl screamed in panic which made the wolf angry and it backed off to get into its attack stance. Miu had frozen up to that place because of the fear and she couldn't move her legs and even forgot to breath. Kaede had once told her to be especially carefully with wolves, since usually meeting up with one would mean that you're as good as dead. But Miu didn't want to die just yet. She still had a lot of things that she wanted to do, like meeting the person she loved, or getting married, or taking over her mother as the Queen of the Atlantis.
The wolf showed its teeth to Miu and murmured in anger. Then it finally started to run towards the girl and jumped up in the air to attack the crown princess. Miu screamed with all she had and closed her eyes while apologizing to her mother for not listening to her worlds, and to Kaede that she won't be coming home anymore.
Just as the wolf was touching Miu, suddenly three strange figures appeared in front of her. One of them created a big shield in front of her and a bright light was seen as the wolf hit it. The wall creator nodded and then started to run towards the wolf followed by another person who chanted some strange words. In no time another bright light appeared and when it disappeared no one was seen in the place where the wolf and the two boys just had been.
The crown princess who hadn't seen anything of this happening because of closed eyes finally opened them when not feeling the wolf's teeth in her skin. The first thing that she saw was a boy figure in a dark blue cloak. His beautiful eyes were teal colored and his icy-blue colored bangs could be seen under the hood. "You okay?" the boy asked while kneeling before the girl and taking hold of Miu's hand.
Miu blushed hard and shyly nodded her head while not taking of her eyes of the boy. How could someone so good looking live in this world? And how could he be there in the right moment just to save her from that angry wolf? The wolf… Miu remembered and looked around but saw nothing. What had he done to it, the girl who didn't know what really had happened thought.
"Ah, I need to go now…" the boy suddenly said and massaged his head while looking around. The smile and embarrassment from Miu's face faded away and she looked at the boy with sad expression. Why he had to leave her so soon and just when they had met each other…?
"Follow this path and keep following it until it changes into a road. Then turn to right and walk till the end of the road… there you will meet up with your personal butler and he shall take you to the castle." the icy-blue haired boy suddenly told while pointing at the path that took them deeper into the woods and told Miu the directions to home.
"Tha- Thanks." Miu thanked the boy and after that he just ran away to the complete opposite direction while not even bothering to bow. The brown haired girl was left there all stunned, but she was happily. After all she had finally met her first love.
~ End Of Flashback ~
Miu had found Kaede soon as she followed the boy's directions. After that she had sent her best guards and men to find this strange icy-blue haired boy with teal colored eyes, but all of them had failed. It seemed as if he had completely disappeared from her life.
The crown princess sighed and decided put the apple to her bag, but then someone dumped into her and she dropped it. The apple rolled next dumpers legs and he took it and cleaned the dust with his sleeve and then raised his hands towards Miu. "Here, sorryh for dumphing in youh." the boy said while apologizing and Miu took the apple with a smile on her face.
All of a sudden her eyes widened as she saw a dark cloaked boy. Even though his face was covered with the hood she still could see his icy-blue hair and teal colored eyes. The boy who was giving her the apple, he looked exactly like the boy from her memories. But how could it be? It had happened years ago and this boy seemed to be even younger than the one back then. There's now way that they could be the same person.
"Fuu-kun," a female voice suddenly yelled and the teal eyed boy turned towards it while shouting happily, "Yuki-nee, I'm here!" he said. After a while a girl in dark brown cloak walked to Miu and the boy. She was carrying a basket, which Miu assumed to be for the food supplies. "There you are you little rascal, how many times I have told you not to run on your own. It would be really bad if someone caught you." the girl scolded the little kid as if she hadn't seen Miu at all. Only after the boy apologized to her and she patted his head, the girl finally turned to look at Miu.
"You are Umi Miu, I assume?" the girl asked and when Miu nodded the girl took of her hood while revealing her indigo colored hair and then continued, "It's been years since I last time saw you. You've grown up." Miu stared the girl in amazement after hearing her words. She didn't want to her "you've grown up" from a little girl, who was probably in her early teens or maybe even younger. More over, who was this girl?
"It's surprising to meet you here. I guess it's all because of Gouenji, huh?" the girl started to talk with herself, while ignoring Miu. The princess raised her eyebrow, how could this girl know even Gouenji? Who was this commoner girl? How dared she humiliate a princess while talking to her so casually?
"Ah, there's something I want to talk about…" the girl then said while her tone changed a little bit and her face got all serious. Miu gulped and nodded, anything was good enough since she sensed a really dark aura from the girl. The indigo haired girl took a deep breath and then continued with serious tone.
"It's about the little boy that you met just earlier. Due to circumstances that boy is currently in that form… just few years ago his appearance was totally different, though. Things are going little bit out of our hands, I would like to ask you to take of them… after all he's… your first love…" the girl explained as her voice faded away with the last words that she spoke. It seemed as if she didn't want to speak these words.
A deadly seconds passed by with a deadly silence between the two girls which was finally broken by Miu. "Are you NUTS? I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR MY LIFE FOR TEN YEARS AND NO ONE EVEN KNEW WHO HE WAS… AND NOW THAT TEN YEARS HAS PASSED YOU… A COMPLETE STANGER APPEARS BEFORE ME AND TELLS ME TO TAKE CARE OF A LITTLE KID WHOM I JUST MET… AND MORE OVER WHILE CLAIMING THAT HE'S MY FIRST LOVE. YOU REALLY ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND!" Miu, the calm and sweet princess of Atlantis finally lost herself when someone talked about the thing that hurt her the most. She was always afraid of meeting her love, even if she really wanted it… but when someone claimed that five years old little kid was the person that she had reached for ten years, she finally snapped.
When noticing that people were staring at her, Miu lowered her head, "I really hope that I won't see you again," and then took the hold of Kaede's hand and left the marketplace. She really had had enough for one day's walk. Now she just wanted to be alone in her room….
Yukiko stared with widened eyes as Miu left her and then sighed loudly, "Yeah, as if someone would believe a story like that…" she said sadly while turning to look at Fuusuke who widely smiled at her. She then kneeled before the boy and hugged him while burying her face into his shoulder. "Yuki-nee… what's wrong…?" the little Fuusuke asked and Yukiko just tightened her hold.
"Say, just when will we find the chosen one for you?" she finally asked while holding up her tears and raised her head to look at Fuusuke. The boy just smiled widely and slapped Yukiko on her both cheeks. "Yuki-nee smileh, smileh!" the boy told Yukiko while showing her a wide smile. All of a sudden he saw a glimpse of Osamu and Midorikawa and ran to them.
Yukiko stood up while smiling and then turned to look at Fuusuke who was now with Midorikawa and Osamu. All of a sudden her smile faded away and her eyes glazed while turning into colorless ones, "I won't let anything bad happen to you, Fuusuke…" she mumbled while staring at the icy-blue haired little boy.
-OO-
Hiroto followed the graceful looking girl who led him into her house. To the boy's surprise she took her near the noble family's area, but still stayed in the merchant one. This all meant that even though the girl was wearing so expensive looking dress, she still was only a merchant.
"Come in," the girl said all of a sudden and opened the door to her house. Hiroto glanced at the girl who was kindly smiling at him and while checking his surroundings, he walked in. The brown haired girl's house was huge, or at least that was the only word that Hiroto found to describe how big it actually was.
The house had two stories and even then the ceiling was more than three meters high. The living room was as big as the entire fortunetelling shop that he lived in and it had many different paintings, valuable set of objects and different books. Also one of the tables in the room had differently designed chessboards on it, together with tea sets.
"Please take your seat," the brown haired girl told to Hiroto and then helped the little boy into one of the chairs and moved it next to the table. She then took of the purple cloak that she was wearing and offered to took Hiroto's cloak too, but the boy refused, "Crys-nee told me not to take this off while with strangers." he told the girl while pressing the cloak closer to his body and she stared at him with widened eyes, but then smiled while sighing. Kids these days' surely were strange.
After that the silver eyed girl took her cloak to her room, which was on the second floor and returned back while trying to put on an apron. "I shall make you a great apple pie," the girl smiled at Hiroto whose stomach rumbled as soon as he heard the name of the food. The red haired boy blushed hard and apologized. The brown haired girl chuckled and said that it was nothing. "Then I guess that I should hurry or you will die of hunger." the girl joked and walked to the kitchen where she took out the icy-blue apples of Yukidamura that she had brought just earlier. She decided to use these apples for the best apple pie.
Hiroto silently waited for girl to be done. It took her so long that the little kid already started to nod of as he was getting sleepy. "Ah, done!" he suddenly heard the girl saying and jumped up in startle, acting as if he wasn't sleepy at all.
When the girl brought the crispy just baked pie before Hiroto the boy drooled with hungry looking eyes. The brown haired girl who sat next to him giggled and told, "You can eat it… I hope that you will like it." she said and Hiroto turned to the girl with shining eyes. Then he turned his glance back to the cake and started to eat.
"GOOGDH!" Hiroto tried to say with his mouth full of the apple pie. He took another piece and his expression stayed the same as with the first one. The boy really enjoyed his food. "I'm glad that you like it," the girl next to him smiled as the hungry boy while staring at him with kindly eyes.
"So, what should I call you… It's kind of hard to look for your home when I don't even know your name," the girl asked, and Hiroto stopped eating his meal for a moment. He thought about it a while and tried to remember just what kind of names people used for him… Gran, Hiro-chan… Baka Hiro… "HIRO-SAMA!" the boy suddenly shouted happily and the girl's eyes widened a little in surprise.
"It's nice to meet you, Hiro-sama. Please call me San." the girl Ningyo San introduced herself to the red haired boy, "San-oneetah cookingh is so muchh better than Crys-nee's… that neetah cannoth cook at all." Hiroto mumbled while stuffing the food into his mouth. San wondered just who this person he called Crys-nee was since the boy seemed to talk about her a lot.
"So do you like this Crys-nee?" San asked a question without realizing anything. Only after a while she understood just how stupid her question was and that the boy wouldn't answer it seriously. "Of course I doh! I like Crys-nee and Pol-nee too, but Crys-nee the best" Hiroto answered to the girl as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Then he stopped for a while and his face saddened a little, "But Pol-nee hazz Gazel… and Crys-nee likes Burn the most… Hiro-sama is left all alone." the boy cried and San was amazed about the fact that even such a young boys feel jealous.
After Hiroto was finally done, San went to her room to take her purple cloak and then came back to the red haired boy. "Should we go to search for your nee-sans?" the girl asked and offered her hand to Hiroto who gladly took it while nodding happily.
The couple wondered around the capital city for a while, but then Hiroto sensed Aiko's weak yet worried indigo colored aura near them. "I found her, Crys-nee is near!" the boy yelled in happiness and started to run towards the faint aura. As it was growing stronger and stronger, Hiroto knew that he was near the girl. In no time, he saw the figure of an indigo haired girl running in the crowd.
"Crys-nee! I'm HERE!" the boy yelled with all he had and in no time the indigo haired girl noticed him and ran to the red haired boy. "Man you little jerk! Where did you run off to? Do you know just how worried we were?" Aiko scolded the little boy while embracing him tightly.
Hiroto wanted to say something, but the tears that flowed down his cheeks didn't give him the chance. "You have to promise not to run off on your own anymore, got it?" Aiko then asked while staring at the boy's green eyes and Hiroto nodded his head after what Aiko once more hugged him.
Yuki and Yuuya quickly ran to them while the older brother was holding Haruya in his hands. The red haired boy jumped off from Yuuya's lap and then walked to Hiroto. The golden haired boy raised his hand and slapped Hiroto on the cheek with all he had. The older trio gasped of this reaction and Aiko was about to scold Haruya for hitting others but Yuuya stopped her.
The boys needed to have "boy's talk" once in a while. "You daire to make Baka-neesan cry once moreh and the nexth time I will personallyh kiiillll yoah." Haruya threatened Hiroto and the green eyed boy shyly glanced at Aiko, whose eyes were all red from crying. He then apologized to Haruya and the boy happily smacked him on the shoulder. Aiko glanced at Yuki and the girls sweat dropped while Yuuya nodded his head in agreement.
"Should we head back now? It not good for you to be walking around in fever…" Yuki asked shyly and Aiko collapsed all of a sudden. It was like she had forgotten all about it while reaching for Hiroto and remember her fever and exhaustion only when Yuki mentioned it. Luckily Yuuya managed to catch the girl in no time and carried her back on a piggyback ride.
"We foundh them, San-oneetah, we foundh them!" Hiroto smiled happily when he realized that he was back with his family again. But when the boy looked around himself, he didn't see then brown haired girl anywhere near him. Just where could have the girl went to. "San-oneetah?" Hiroto asked once more, but didn't get any answer.
"Come on Gran, or we're goingh to leaveh yoah behind!" he suddenly heard Haruya yelling and while hesitating he followed the group. After all he didn't want to be left all alone again. What Hiroto didn't see or even feel was the dark figure of a silver eyed female that was hiding behind the corner of the house.
"This is for the best…" the girl sighed and then started to walk towards the marketplace, while deciding to visit her best friend and tell the girl about the strange thing that had happened to her, "This is for the best…" she once more mumbled.
-OO-
"We're home!" Aiko yelled happily while opening the door and letting Yuki, Yuuya, Hiroto and Haruya to enter the house. The kids laughed happily and quickly ran to the children room. The older trio hadn't expected at all that Yukiko and Osamu would had returned back home while they where were away, so it took everyone in surprise when the younger twin suddenly walked from the living room.
"Good day to you all. It seems that we have quests," Yukiko smiled while bowing at Yuki and Yuuya who did the same. Aiko chuckled a little, "Yeah, lot of things happened…" she said and then invited everyone to the living room. There their afternoon tea which had been made by Osamu was waiting for them.
Yuuya glanced at the four cups and grinned, "I guess that I won't be drinking here anything else but tea…. But that's no wonder when you're going ti live with persons who have tea fetish." the smoky black haired boy joked and Aiko turned red from anger. Couldn't the boy, who was going to say in their house until the crown princes birthday and wedding, be just a little kinder to his hosts. So what if they liked tea.
"Calm down Nee-san," Yukiko put her hand on Aiko's shoulder to stop the girl before anything had happened, "You still haven't recovered from your fever and also… Yuuya was just joking, right?" the indigo haired girl told to her sister and then turned to Yuuya while smiling kindly. The boy could clearly see her vein popping hard and he gulped while nodding his head. Right now he didn't want any trouble.
"So, Yuki… How have the things been now that you're married. If I remember right, the wedding wasn't a long time ago." Yukiko asked as the four of them sat to have their tea. Yuki blushed hard, but before she could say anything Aiko spoke, "Right, right! Congratulations to you, even though it's just a little too late. I'm really sorry for not be able to come to the wedding, even though you personally invited us… " the indigo haired girl said and then apologized.
Yuki shook her head, "No, I don't mind it at all. I really understand that things must be hard on you at the moment… being stuck in that body and taking care of those four… so you must be extremely busy…" the girl answered to Aiko while panicking at the twins smiled miserably. "Yeah, if only things were differently…" Yukiko sighed making Yuki to panic even more…
"No it's not like I meant that I wanted things to be different so that you would have been able to come… It just that I really wished for you to come… but no I understand that it was impossible… I … I …" there was suddenly all silent and the other three turned to look at Yuki who was crying like a little baby. She tried to hold on her tears which wouldn't stop at all and rolled down her hands and cheek, making everything wet. The girl hiccupped few times, and the Okazaki siblings sweat dropped while Yuuya just smiled at his sister.
"We understand you completely Yukicchi. I would have gladly been in you wedding if only the time and the moment had been different. You should curse that prince of your for having his birthday so early." Aiko chucked a little and Yuki glanced at her while looking just a little hurt. Yukiko rolled her eyes and facepalmed.
"Speaking of the prince… Is Ichinose okay with the power that he received? Do you still know that what's his speciality?" Yukiko asked, hoping to change the topic into something more "happy" than the previous one. She didn't want to anyone cry or die in front of her eyes at the moment.
"He's been okay after completing La contra di hosta… and his powers are rapidly growing, but sadly they are still so weak that I'm not sure of his specialty…" Yuki told and Aiko nodded her head. It was extremely rare for normal human to even get magical powers, more over from the magical ritual so it was no wonder that the boy took his time.
Even she who was one of the strongest sorceress' alive had her own difficulties. It took her five years to find out that she was able to use telepathy and ten more years to be able to use it somehow normally. To tell the truth, even now she needed training to get even better so that she could finally master it.
"Well, be glad that you got elderlys'… Ahaahaa…. I mean Ayzel's praying and that he accepted Ichinose, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here as the wife of the man that you love." Yukiko smiled and Yuki blushed hard and covered her face with her hands to hide her embarrassment. Yuuya who was sitting next to his sister rolled his eyes while mumbling something about Ichinose. A light smile appeared on Aiko's face as she stared at the siblings…. Yuuya surely was one over-protecting bother.
"Speaking of Ayzel… isn't Fuyu-chan currently with him…? If I remember right, she supposed to take his place after her training ends." Yukiko suddenly remembered and everyone turned to look at Yuuya whose eyes widened in shock. What did they need him for? Why was he the one answering to that question… he knew the reason… but still… the smoky black haired boy sighed,
"You're right, she's is with him at the moment. The girl apologized for not be able to come a greet you and also she told to be nice to you guys…" the boy told, as if he didn't really want to talk about that topic at all… "And you're right, Fuyuka will take after him when that old geezer, who never ages… dies… or at least retires from his post." Yuuya then continued and a smile appeared on the twin girls' face. The both giggled non-stop while Yuki and Yuuya glanced at each other in confusion.
"He is jealous…" Aiko started and her younger sister followed her example, "Yuuya is jealous because his woman is with another man… all alone with that man…" Yukiko couldn't stop laughing and tears of joy started to roll down her cheeks as she put her hands on her stomach.
Yuuya's face turned all red from anger and he stood up from his chair and slammed his hand on the table. "I'M NOT JEALOUS!" he shouted in anger, but even this didn't stop Aiko and the girls' kept laughing Yuuya sighed and shook his head while literally falling down on his chair. He then glanced at his sister who had her hand placed before her mouth and kept mumbling "jealous… jealous…" while laughing.
"Not you too…" Yuuya sighed in disbelieve and shook his head even more… Then he glanced at Aiko and Yukiko… he and his sister… they had both been influenced by this duo, who were daughters of the strongest mage ever.
-OO-
"That was a nice shopping. We managed to buy everything that we need for a week," Ohiyoko smiled at Atsuya as the boy was carrying four different baskets that were all full of food. The boy glanced at the food and doubted it a little, in the castle this amount of food would only last for one dinner. Though, he decided not to say anything about it so that he wouldn't hurt the ivory haired girl's feelings.
Just as the couple was near Ohiyoko's house Akira suddenly ran from it right to his sisters arms and embraced the startled girl. "Akira, what…" Ohiyoko couldn't end her sentence as she was lost in words. The smoky black haired boy raised his head from his sister's chest and stared at her with his all red and watery smoky black colored eyes.
"Konesaan… Akaasan… Akaasan she…" the boy tried to explain but his hiccupping and sobbing averted Ohiyoko to hear what he was saying. Still, she understood his most important message… their mother… something had happened to her… and she was in danger.
Ohiyoko ran inside while leaving Atsuya to deal with her sobbing younger brother. Akira kept crying but as soon as the presence of his sister was gone, he immediately recovered and attacked Atsuya while glaring at the pink haired boy. "This is all your fault! It's because you were with Akaasan just while ago that she's not breathing anymore. It's your fault that Akaasan died!" the boy cried while attacking Atsuya non-stop and the pink haired boy avoided his every attack.
After hearing Akira's words his eyes widened and he glanced at the house. Soon a loud scream was heard and Atsuya immediately, without any second thoughts ran in side the house and Akira followed him closely. "Ko-chan!" "Koneesan!" the duo yelled at the same time as they entered the room where the ivory haired girl was sitting on the floor and had her face covered with her hands. "Atsuya…" the girl mumbled between her breaths as a lake of tears flowed down her cheeks. "Mother… she… she's not breathing…"
Atsuya turned to look at the still body of the ivory haired woman and closed his eyes while kneeling next to Ohiyoko. "It's alright… I'm sure that you will be just fine." he whispered in the girls' ear and Ohiyoko turned to Atsuya while resting her head on his chest. Then she wrapped her hands around Atsuya and mumbled, "Can you promise that to me?"
Atsuya's eyes widened for a while… her words, they were similar to her mothers. Atsuya once more glanced at the ivory haired woman and her words echoed in his mind "I want you to take care of Ohiyoko and Akira after I'm gone. They are both still so young and I want them to have better life than I had. I'm counting on you."
The boy then closed his eyes and embraced Ohiyoko, "Yes I promise… I promise that nothing bad will ever happen to you." he told and a light smile escaped from Ohiyoko's lips.
-OO-
Time had flied fast in the Okazaki residence and it was getting late already. Yuki stood up from her chair and bowed at everyone. "It was so nice to see you all again. I missed you so much… but I think that it's time for me to get back to the palace or Ichinose will get worried." Yuki thanked everyone and the indigo haired girls stood up while nodding their heads.
"It was our pleasure to meet you at a critical time like this. And I really hope that after this war is over we will meet with each other more often." Yukiko smiled while embracing Yuki and the princess did the same. Aiko smiled at the two, but then her face suddenly darkened and she turned to Yuki.
"I really didn't want to get you in this mess of ours… but since you're currently the only mage inside the castle, I guess that I have no other choice." Aiko told while sighing and Yuki looked at her with kind yes, "I want to help you two as much as I can." she smiled kindly and a little hope appeared in Aiko and she smiled at the princess.
"Razel, Tori and Hikari-chan had informed me that Sister, Princess and Spy…. and three of them are on their way here. If Tori's calculation was right the former two should arrive here with in ten hours and the third one later this week." Aiko started to explain and glanced at her copper-eyed younger sister who nodded understanding.
"So we want you to look around the castle and then when Spy arrives here you shall tell her everything that you know. You don't have to mind to tell something that she won't understand… just tell everything that you know… we will tell the details to her," Yukiko continued. There was a moment of silence after what Yuuya suddenly spoke, "We need every little detail that you can suck out of the palace… Especially about that Migeo guy." he told.
Yuki's eyes widened for a moment and she turned to look at Aiko and Yukiko who were both shaking their heads. It seemed as if Yuuya had said something he shouldn't have… "Wait? Migeo is still alive… and he's inside the castle?... But why?" Yuki asked and Aiko's face darkened a little.
"These bodies we're stuck are the prove, that the war is not over yet. Migeo, just like we are, is currently gathering his strength for the second climax." Yukiko explained and her older sister continued after her, "And the second climax is said to happen 'when the brothers meet for the second time'." Aiko said and Yuki nodded while understanding. So that's why they were kept so far away from each other.
"That's fine with me," Yuki told as she put on her cloak. She smiled at everyone in the room, "Then I shall be waiting for your Spy to appear in the palace. I'm sure that I will recognize her when she comes." Yuki said and told goodbye to everyone.
After Yuki was gone Aiko sighed and turned to Yuuya, "And… what are you going to do?" she asked and the boy smirked. "I guess that I will have a short nap… wake me up when it's dinner time…" the boy said and Aiko shook her head… Somehow she had expected for this.
"No I mean… Where are you going after this… Are you going to return to Fuyuka or what?" the girl put her question that way so that Yuuya couldn't give her any other answer than the one she wanted. Yuuya thought about it for a while and then finally answered.
"I guess that it's no use to back right now… So I will be staying here with you guys. After all you need someone older to look after you little kids…" he smirked and Aiko's face was burning hot red and she tapped her leg onto the floor. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A KID?" she yelled but Yuuya just showed her his tongue.
"But the truth is that you just want to stay next to your sister… SISCON." Yukiko got Yuuya on his own game and the boy turned away from the smirking girl while yawning loudly. When the older boy was gone in the bedroom what was going to be his from now on the smirk from Yukiko's face suddenly disappeared, "Don't forget that things will only get harder from no own… The second climax is near…"
-OO-
Yoshino knocked on the door which was to the Teikoku kingdoms crown prince's room. "Come in," she heard a faint voice answering. The tomboy opened the door and was surprised when she saw Kidou standing in the middle of a chaos.
The crown prince had taken off his crown and was standing in the middle of table row. On the table there were lots of testtube's which all had different colored liquid inside. There were all the colors from smoky black to flaming red and then back to ivory white.
"What are you doing… With all these, I mean?" Yoshino asked as she closed the door behind her, while making sure that no one saw her. Kidou raised his head from his work and then took off his goggles.
"Ah, Himi-chan," the crown prince answered and the girl standing before blushed hard. She still hadn't got used to the nickname that the crown prince had made up for her. Kidou stopped his work for a while and then sighed," I'm still working for that color… so that we could dye that pauper's hair with it…. But it's so damn hard as his hair seems to be rebelling against us…" the boy told and Yoshino listened to him while nodding.
"I… Is there something that I can help with?" Yoshino asked as Kidou put his goggles back and continued his work. The boy though about it for a while and then gave something to the girl. "Take this and mix it with the liquid that's on the large bottle." he told and Yoshino nodded. She was so happy that she could be help to the person that she liked.
"This?" Yoshino asked as she was already pouring the liquid into the other bottle. Kidou looked up from his work and suddenly his eyes widened, "No! Not that one… If you do that then there will be…" Kidou panicked and Yoshino glanced at him with confused face.
All of a sudden the girl saw someone running towards her and pushed her away while making Yoshino to drop the testtube that she was holding. The liquid from the testtube spilled on the floor, coloring it all black. Meanwhile the bottle started to bubble hard and after going all crazy, it finally exploded.
"An explosion…." Kidou continued his sentence as the glass had scattered around the room. Yoshino finally dared to open her eyes and when she did so the girl found herself laying on the bed of the crown prince with him being on top of her.
"A.. U… I'm sorry…" Yoshino apologized as she didn't know what to else say. After all she wasn't all so good with chemistry or other things. Maybe she had just been in his way? She couldn't forgive herself for being so careless and giving trouble for the boy.
"Himi-chan you okay?... You're face is red..." the girl suddenly heard Kidou asking and then she felt something hot touching her forehead. Soon she finally realized that the boy had placed his forehead on her and was staring at her with those red eyes of his.
"Kidou-sama you…" Yoshino said as her face turned all tomato red and her heart was beating even faster and stronger. If he would now test her pulse he would surely say that there was something wrong with her.
The hotness from her forehead suddenly stopped as Kidou raised his head and glanced at Yoshino while raising his eyebrow. The girl couldn't take it and closed her eyes while covering the embarrassment of her face with her hands.
"Haven't I told it to you…?" Yoshino heard Kidou's faint voice, which was covered with all her heart beating asking. All of a sudden all the noise stopped, but suddenly she felt something breathing into her ear. "That it's Yuuto," the boy said and then kissed Yoshino on her forehead while smiling happily.
As nothing happened for a while Yoshino finally dared to open her eyes, which immediately met up with Kidou's red ones, "Yuu…" the girl stared and Kidou smiled while nodding his head. This was the best way. "-to...ooo?"
"ONII-SAN!" the couple suddenly heard a loud voice yelling as Haruna walked inside while searching for her brother. The princess of Teikoku suddenly stopped as she noticed her best friend laying on her brothers bed… and more over, her brother was on top of the girl…
"KYAA! NII-SAN YOU PERVERT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO YOSHI-KUN!" Haruna screamed with all she had and quickly ran to Kidou and Yoshino. The couple glanced at each other and their faces turned bright red. "No wait Haruna… this isn't what you think!" Kidou tried to explain but his younger sister wasn't listening to him at all.
Just as Haruna was going to smack Kidou as hard as she could, a hand suddenly stopped her arm and the girl startled. Between the crown prince and the princess was standing a young man in a butler costume and he was holding the princess' arm.
"Please don't act so soon, Haruna-sama. I'm sure that there's reason for this all." Teikoku kingdoms head butler Sakuma Jirou told with calm voice and then looked around him, "Because of this mess, I guess that there has been an explosion and Kidou-sama protected Yoshino-sama so that she wouldn't get hurt, am I right?" Sakuma explained and then winked and Kidou and the boy nodded his head.
Haruna sighed loudly and then smiled, "If that's the case then I have nothing to worry about." the girl said and then continued, "I just wanted to tell that it's dinner time," the princess told and then left while dragging Yoshino with her.
As Kidou and Sakuma were left alone in the room, the formed one sighed and fell on his bed while massaging his forehead. "Thank for saving me. For a moment I though that I was a goner." the crown prince laughed and Sakuma just nodded his head, "It was no problem at all." the butler told.
"But please next time do think when and where attacking Yoshino-sama. I'm sure that it's hard to keep your desires inside yourself, but next time you won't get as lucky as this time." Sakuma continued and Kidou's face turned all red. Even his butler was thinking that he was a pervert. What had he done to get that title?
"THAT'S NOT IT!" Kidou yelled and then followed his butler who was just waving his hand, telling about that days' dinner and completely ignoring the crown prince.
-OO-
"…and Snow Kingdom is the center kingdom of this country." Hitomi explained to Shirou while pointing at the map. The gray haired pauper did his best to put some notes down, but it wasn't any good as he didn't know how to write. To Hitomi his "notes" were just like a little kids doodling.
"And as we're in the middle of this country that would make the possibility of Yukidamura to be the city where the meetings are held really high… As it's the neighboring country of the six others, it's fast for them to come here…" Shirou mumbled while writing down that.
Hitomi's eyes widened in shock. The intelligence of this boy was clearly something else. Not only he was a fast learner but his world view was also far better than Atsuya's. The girl didn't even remember just how many years she wasted while telling the crown prince that the advance of the Snow kingdom was that it was in the middle of everything. And due to that it was the fastest way to have the meetings in Yukidamura.
But this boy, he understood that everything on his own. A light smile appeared on Hitomi's face, as she for once saw the boy sitting before her in a completely new light. For some reason, she was excited to know just what more will she learn about the boy.
Just as Hitomi was about to continued, the couple suddenly heard a light knock on the door, "Yes?" Hitomi asked while both she and Shirou turned their heads towards the door. A young errand-boy walked in and bowed, "Hi-hi-hi HIS HIGHNESS wishes to see you, Atsuya-sama." the boy stuttered and Hitomi turned to Shirou with widened eyes.
Now not this too… They still haven't managed to find the prince and now his highness wished to see his own son. Even if they had managed to hide the fact that the prince was missing, Hitomi was sure that they couldn't deceive Fubuku-sama just like that.
"Pl- Please tell him that- we- will come soon," for the first time in life, after getting the role as the personal maid Hitomi stammered. For the first time in life time she wasn't sure just what she was supposed to do next. The errand boy bowed while looking little confused and then left the room.
When Hitomi and Shirou were the only ones in the room, the girl sighed loudly and fell on her knees. "What to do now? All the cover that we created for you… It'll be all gone once his Highness will see you. He will surely notice that you're not the real prince. I… really fail as the personal maid. Gomen… Otoo-san, Okaa-san, you Highness." the girl continued mumbling between her breaths and shook her head.
Shirou walked around the room for a while and then turned to the girl while kneeling before her. "Then why don't we tell him the truth," he asked and Hitomi turned to look at him. She saw the gray haired boy smiling at her and then he continued, "Someone really important to me once told me … 'If lying is no good anymore, then tell the truth'" the boy said and offered his hand to help Hitomi up.
The girl patted the dust out of her skirt and then raised her head up while getting back to her maid-mode. Shirou smiled lightly and followed the maroon haired who led him to the kings' room. As the pauper had gotten used the to the princes life, he knew what to do and had little more confidence in himself.
The boy smiled the whole time and greeted everyone whom they met. He even heard one of the maids whispering, "Hey did you notice that the prince had changed just a little bit… It must be because of Hitomi-sama."
Hitomi too kept her smile on her and walked non-stop, but didn't really hurry. After walking for many minutes, and turned from many corners the couple finally arrived at the kings' room. Hitomi knocked the door lightly and as the answer was heard she opened the room.
"You highness… Atsuya-sama has arrived," Hitomi told while glancing at Shirou who nodded. He would be the one to tell the truth about what happened. The boy then entered the room and Hitomi closed the room after him.
The room was big and it was mostly colored in light colors, such as light blue, gray and white. In the middle of the room there was a big bed on which the king was sleeping. Shirou glanced at the bed and then turned to Hitomi who nodded. The boy remembered her words which she had told him before entering the room.
"You have to remember that the king is currently in a very weak state. He has been suffering for an un-known disease and even our best doctors don't now how to cure him. His state had been like that for six years but it finally seemed to be stabilized… Oh and right, when you go greet the kings, please call him father. That's how Atsuya calls him."
Shirou tired to keep the girls advice in his mind as he walked towards the king. When he got closer to the man lying on the bed, he understood that the king was maybe in the middle of his thirties, not much older than that. He was surprised about how young the king actually was because he had always thought that the king was some kind of old man.
The other thing that surprised Shirou was that the king, whom he met for the first time, had the same kind of black marks on his face and other parts of his body that hir "parents" and step sisters had when their bodies were found. The only thing that was different was the fact that they weren't as big as the latter ones had had.
How could… Shirou thought and shook his head. Why was this strange disease haunting him where ever he went to? It had been in the city and now it was in the palace too… Why? The boy thought in disbelieve as he started at the sleeping body of the gray haired king.
The king heard Shirou's steps and opened his eyes when the boy was standing next to him. Shirou got all surprised when his eyes met up with the same colored ones. Not only they had the same hair color, but their eyes were the same colored too.
"Atsuya-kun," the king smiled happily and Shirou panicked. He didn't know how to act before such a great person and managed to completely forget what Hitomi had just advised him to do. The boy glanced at the king and after a short pause finally spoke,
"Otou-sama."
-OO-
"We're finally here!" Mai yelled in happiness when the girls entered Yukidamura. Hanaka smiled at the girl who ran inside the capital and fell on the ground when her legs betrayed her. The duo was exhausted from the long trip… it had taken almost a month for them to walk to Yukidamura.
"It is nice, isn't it? This capital is so fine looking." the princess spoke as she walked next to the black haired girl. Mai raised her head and nodded, "This city is so awesome!" she said and Hanaka giggled. Well, it was Mai's first time in the capital, so no wonder that she was so excited.
"Now, we have to find Kaze-kun and Ryuu-kun." the blonde haired princess said and then took an invitation letter from her pocket. It was the invitation for Snow kingdoms Fubuki Atsuya II birthday. Hanaka glanced at it and then sighed. Why even this thing had to be on her way? It would be rude for her not to go, so she had no other choice but to pay visit in the palace.
"Though, I think that it'll be hard." Hanaka suddenly heard Mai speaking and she returned back to earth. "After all we have no clue where Ichi-kun… or even Ryuu-kun is." the girl continued with sour tone and Hanaka had to admit that the girl was true. Had she really been crazy, thinking that Ryuuji would be alive?
While the girls kept staring at each other with silence around them, suddenly a ball rolled towards them and it stopped right next to Mai. A group of children and older teens ran after it and then the girl's heard someone shouting. "Can you please pass the ball back?"
Mai took the ball in her hands, "Her….e…" she was about to say, but stopped when she saw a familiar figure of a blue haired boy with his hair being tied up on a high ponytail and one of his brown eyes being covered by his bangs.
"Mai?" the boy asked in disbelieve as he took the ball and backed off. The black haired girl felt her whole body getting goosebumps as she head the familiar voice speaking her name. Tears dropped on the group as she answered with surprised voice, "Ichi-kun?"
Sakuchii: OMG! I dunno what to say...
Aiko: I'm speechless too?
Razel: I APPEARED! XD ...
Yukiko: Now there's one happy one!
Sakuchii: See you all next time in the last part of "Scars of the heart" :)
~ deshii