Mother just fled... jumped out the window and fled. She had tried to take Hikari with her, but Hikari froze up, wishing the moment Mother was gone she had taken her hand.
"The angel!" Prince Takashi exclaimed, rush passed Hikari towards the window. "I don't see her." He turned around, looking concerned. He really cared about Mother. She had been one of his heroes growing up.
Hikari shook her head, looking over at her... betrothed... She could hardly stand him. He was vain, he was arrogant, he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Yet watching him worry about Mother showed something different about him. Something caring. Something that could be caring. Something that...
"Father," Izo gasped behind her. Hikari turned to look at him.
He stood there by the table, holding the paper that bound her to the prince in engagement. Her stomach flipped at the thought of it. No choice in it... Not much of one anyway. Him or no one. Not the worst choice in the world, and yet... It was not fair.
Izo kept talking over her thoughts. "When did Ah- When did Yukina give you some of her blood? After you were attacked by that guy... that bomber... Karusu. You defeated him, but needed blood, so Yukina gave it to you. When?" He went over to Father, paper half crumpled in his hand. He showed the paper to Father, pointing at the date on it. "Before or after this date?"
Father looked so dazed, almost mournful. He would not look at Hikari even as she stared at him. She spoke for him, "it was before they married. He came back like two days later and they had their secret wedding. I'm sure that that's how Mother told us the story. Before." She felt self conscious with all eyes but Father's suddenly on her. She felt the sudden temptation to yell at him to look at her.
"What?" King Hayate asked.
Izo kept explaining. "Father signed this, but he signed it in both his blood and Yukina's blood. His blood was tainted by hers. He's not bound by it. Nor is Hikari. Yet, you and the prince are," he reasoned.
"That cannot be right," Queen Minha interjected. "Blood bonds blood. Both of their blood is on the paper, making in binding."
Izo sighed, frowning in thought. "Maybe," he preempted. "But I will kill the prince before he can wed her," he dead panned.
"Shut up," Father growled at him in panic. His hand rested on his chest for a beat. Then he looked confused.
Izo blinked, looking around the room pensively. He was counting silently to himself, mouthing numbers. "How long should the reaction take based on my refusal? For the three of us?" He asked the room.
"What reaction?" Hikari asked, confused.
Izo turned to her. "The two of us share blood with Father, so we are bound to any blood bond treaty he signs. My refusal should have triggered us, as well as Father." He turned to the king. "King Hayate, you should test your bond, your grace. Refuse to wed Hikari to Prince Takashi. Just so we can see what happens."
The king growled under his breath, mumbling something Hikari could not quite pick up.
"Doesn't matter. I won't marry the demon spawn, ugh," Prince Takashi said in a rush. He hissed through his teeth, but stubbornly kept his hands down at his side. His face was bit red.
"We're bound," King Hayate admitted, hand on his chest.
The prince let loose a series of moans and curses unfitting to his rank. Hikari watched him, shocked. He rounded on his Mother. "You cannot allow this!" he pleaded to her. "She's demon. She's wicked, wild. She's not a fit consort to a future king."
"You're not fit to be a king, anyway," Hikari clapped back at him.
Prince Takashi glowered at her, but said nothing. He turned back to his mother. "You told me once that Uncle Yasha and Kurama were looking for a dark crone. That they were unable to find one in Hayato, but they didn't look abroad." He went over to his mother, sitting down beside her, bemoaning his fate. "We need to find one. There are other countries in the world. There must be one somewhere in the world. Please, Mother," he pleaded. It looked like the tears in his eyes were genuine.
"We'll look," Queen Minha promised him in a soothing tone. She turned to Father, cutting him a cold look. "You knew, didn't you," she accused.
Father shook his head. Izo answered for him. "He couldn't have. Otherwise, why would he have bothered to try to find a dark crone?"
The queen herself looked crossed, but composed. "Lady Hikari," she said. "Do you mind if we meet privately as a family?" She gave her a sincere look.
"Certainly, my queen," Hikari agreed, feeling the desire to seek out Mother.
Hikari watched as the guard at the door rolled her eyes, and stepped away from the door. Father was the first one out of the door.
Hikari was not far behind him, at least at first. He sped away at his own speed. Hikari paused in the hallway, trying to sense for Mother. She heard Izo behind her, but paid him no mind. She wanted her, right now. She needed her. She sensed her in Kaze's nursery, jogging there herself.
She ran there, feeling ready to shut down herself. Before she even got to the nursery, however, she could hear Father shouting. She rushed into the room, halting in her stride at what she witnessed. Mother was not moving in Father's arms. He was yelling at her, begging her to wake up. Asa stood near by, looking gravely concerned. She held a crying, cranky Kaze in her arms. He was fighting against her, wanting Mother most likely. Hikari felt panic creeping up in her. Just when she needed Mother the most, she was dead...
Izo appeared next to her, like a ghost from nowhere. "She's not dead," he told her loud enough, certain enough. Hikari looked up at him, breathing becoming ragged. "She's still breathing. She's in a trance," he explained calming, but his own face looked ashen.
"Why... why is that a problem, but not a problem?" she asked, feeling herself ready to choke up.
"If it's the Great Hawk Spirit calling her into her realm, we don't know when she'll wake up," Izo explained. "Or... if she'll wake up."
Father growled, ripping off his head band. "Give her back, you bird bitch," he demanded. "Give her back!" Kaze was crying louder now. It was such an awful, shrill sound. "Calm him down!" Father griped at Asa in his frustration.
Hikari sighed, moving quickly into the room. She stepped over to Asa, hands held up to take Kaze from her pseudo-grandmother. Kaze practically leapt into her arms. She held him close, feeling her own set of tears starting to fall. She shushed him soothingly, the way she had seen Mother do before. Numbly, she sat down on the chair next to his crib. She watched Father continue to demand Mother awaken or the Great Hawk Spirit release her. His Jagan Eye glowing a violent, bright purple. It pulsed with such unrestrained energy that it made the hairs on the back of Hikari's neck stand up. Kaze in her arms was already quieting down, but shook. He was like Mother, sensitive to the feeling of demon energy.
It was growing too difficult to watch. If it was not for Kaze in her arms, she would have left the room. Father screamed wordlessly, shaking. His hands were on either side of Mother's head. Then he just stopped. His eyes closed and his body collapsed to the floor next to Mother's.
Asa was quick to kneel down, checking on the two of them. "Just unconscious," she ruled with a sigh. "What has happened?" she asked, desiring to understand what went down in the past hour. Izo was quick to explain in a clear cut manner. "How could he do that?" she murmured. She looked down at Father, running a gentle hand through his spiky hair. "I don't believe he'd do that."
"He did it, the blood bond treaty," Izo countered. "I do think he regretted it."
Hikari rose up from the chair. Kaze was calmer now. He was exhausted from all the crying he did in his confusion. Yet when she went to lay him down in his crib, he clung to her anew. She groaned under her breath, annoyed with him. Her world just got turned upside down and all she wanted was her mother. She pulled Kaze back up, letting him stay in her arms.
"We should at least take them to their bedroom," Hikari commented. "I bet Father will wake up first, if Izo is right and Mother is trapped in a trance caused by the Great Hawk Spirit." Hikari, stepped over to them, feeling a strong desire to kick Father where he lay. "Can you...?" she asked Asa and Izo, nodding down at her parents.
Izo stepped over to the two of them, a tight look on his face. He bent down, picking up Father, surprisingly, throwing him over his shoulder. Asa did the same the with Mother. She watched the two of them wordless walk out of their unconscious parent in turn.
When they left the room, Hikari sighed, still clutching Kaze to her. She plopped herself back on the chair, unsure what she should do next.
It was hours before both of her parents were awake.