Chapter One
***************In the Hyuuga Kingdom**************
Natsume barged into the room, bashing the dark oak doors open. The darkness of the black room quickly subsiding from years of experience as his angry gaze locked on its target. He quickly strode towards the long wooden table in the middle of the room, heading for the man who sat at the head. The sound of his black leather boots filled the silence of the council meeting he had just interrupted. The members shrank in fear in their seats as Natsume walked by who didn't even spare a glance at the squirming council members.
"What is the meaning of this?! Ordering that another prison be built?! Why?! Isn't the amount of slaves digging up your gold in the Ardward prisons enough?! Half of the people there are innocent!" Barely controlled anger laced his voice as his crimson red eyes glittered as he stood before his father.
"Watch whom you're talking to, boy. You may be his son but that is no way to address the King of the Hyuuga Kingdom." A voice rasped.
Natsume's burning gaze shifted to the man seated on the king's right hand side. Minister Kurosawa. The weasel haired man stared back at Natsume, amusement glittering in his small beady black eyes. Minister Kurosawa shifted his gaze back to the King and so did Natsume. The King's cold steely gaze locked with his son's.
"The slaves in Ardward are either fae, helpers of the fae or family of the fae." His voice boomed around the room and the flames of the torches flickered.
Natsume's eyes narrowed down to slits. "This is what this is all about?! The fae?! Youbanned all magic! Hell, you got rid ofall magic! What chance does a fae have against you?! They can hardly protect themselves from the guards that whip them!" He voiced his frustration and ran a hand through his dark as midnight, raven coloured hair.
"If I didn't keep them in a prison then they would strike back and have a rebellion. It would be a massacre. I would have been slaughtered and as my heir to the throne so would you. You of all people should know that, Natsume." His own cold scarlet eyes met the crimson ones of his son's. Each had an unmatchable fury contained within.
"The Yukihara's would never have allowed it." His father's eyes flashed with a warning.
"The Yukihara's are all dead." His father mirthlessly laughed, the sound echoing around the chamber.
"Only because you killed them." Natsume replied bitterness leaking out.
"That may be true," Minister Kurosawa's raspy voice filled the room, "but their daughter's body was never found." He looked towards the King for permission to continue before going on, "If the legends are true, they say that for every fae slaughtered, the families of the slaughtered go stronger and that they absorb the deceased's magic. It that is indeed true and that the daughter of the Yukihara's didn't die, and then she would have absorbed both and all of her parent's powers. If she survived then she would be a threat to the King. If she did survive then anybody that took her in as she was dying would have recognized her and the guards that went to every house, sorting through all of the owners belongings, would have killed that person and the daughter. But there are rumours that shouldn't be possible. They say that she still lives and is arranging an underground army of fae and plans to launch an attack on the-"
"Minister Kurosawa that is enough." The Kings voice echoed yet again around the silent chamber as the other members of the council just watched in a terrified silence. "Please refrain from filling my son's head with foolish nonsense on a little girl who doesn't exist. How you got that information, I don't know, but if I hear that you've been telling other people this, you'll be joining the prison that you created. This meeting is over. You are all dismissed." He stood up and the rest of the court followed.
Natsume lingered in the back of the room and narrowed his eyes as Minister Kurosawa approached him.
"They saw that she her voice is melodic that any man who walks by as she sings, falls for her. I don't exactly remember her name but it was a fruit. Maybe it was apple. She was called the apple in her mother's eye. I don't know if this will help you at all but they say that she's hiding in the border of the Old Yukihara Kingdom." His raspy voice explained quickly, his eyes flicking from the door back to Natsume's.
"And why are you telling me this exactly?" Suspicion was evident on Natsume's face.
A look of pure bliss the ministers face, "As much as I like this position as the King's minister, it doesn't change the fact that he is a ruthless, bloody murder. I should know as much, he killed my love." The bliss disappeared and pain etched it's self across his face before being replaced with anger. "Well, I'll take my leave then." He smiled, his crooked yellow teeth shining. "If anyone can do it, it's you." He left, his red and black ministers cloak flowing out behind him leaving Natsume alone with a thousand thoughts running through his head as he made his way back to his room.
He sent for a maid to deliver messages to his closest friends to meet him in his room. He opened the door and made sure to leave it unlocked as he sat on the edge of the chest at the foot of his bed contemplating what Minister Kurosawa had just previously told him, as he eagerly awaited the arrival
Could it be true? Could the princess of the Old Yukihara Kingdom still be alive? He massaged his temples. There could still be hope. How long ago was that story? About 10 years ago? That means that she's around the same age as me. So we're looking for a girl who's around the same age as me and has a name similar to apple. What did the Yukihara's look like, again? Natsume walked over to his bookshelf scanning the spines until he came across the one that he was looking for. THE YUKIHARA LINEGE. His eyes scanned the book's yellowy pages until he came upon a picture of the Yukihara's carrying a baby. The baby had fuzzy chestnut brown hair and wore a smile that stretched from ear to ear. Her eyes. He couldn't quite place it. It was a mixture of a light brown and a dark gold. He continued studying the picture as a knock sounded at his door.
"Huh?" a gasp escaped Natsume's mouth. That's right he'd invited them over. "Come in."
The door opened revealing four males around the same age as Natsume. They were all blondes beside a lone raven haired boy.
One was blonde with ocean blue eyes; he wore a blue tunic over white collared long-sleeved undershirt with black pants boots. He was the stable boy. "Was there a reason you called us? Are you feeling ill, Natsume?"
His voice was sweet and his expressive blue eyes showed concern.
"No. I'm fine, Ruka. You are all familiar with the Yukihara's legacy's story, right?"
All of them furrowed their eyes. "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"
Another one of the blondes spoke up. He wore an expensive looking purple tunic over a light blue collared long-sleeved shirt, white pants and black drees shoes. He had a pair of round circular glasses resting on his nose. He was the chief-adviser-to-be when Natsume gained the throne.
Natsume stared at him. "Yuu, what if the stories were true?"
"Which one are you talking about? Besides, the stories you hear from the gossips are never true. Especially when it's about the Yukihara's." A male with dark blue hair and a star under his left eye answered. He had navy dark blue eyes and wore a white long-sleeved undershirt underneath a black blazer with a navy blue lining.
"Tsubasa's right you know." The last person who hadn't spoken yet said. He wore a red, yellow and blue jester suit complete with the hat, shoes and bells. He was a jester.
"You do realise that you can't believe any gossip without verifying it right." Ruka said turning to Natsume.
"That's exactly what we're going to do. Tomorrow morning we'll leave to go to the border of the Old Yukihara Kingdom." Natsume declared.
"Eh?!" All boys shouted at the same time.
"But, we can't go outside in these clothes. We'd be spotted immediately." Pointed out Tsubasa who was staring at Koko's jester outfit as he shifted his feet causing the small yellow bells on his hat, shoes and waist to jingle.
"I'll order for someone to make you some commoner's clothes."
"Why? What are you trying to do?" Yuu asked curiously.
"I'm think it's time I tried to find the lost Princess."
"What?! But why?" Koko asked surprised.
"I don't think that my 'dad' should have the throne. It belongs to the Yukihara's and if I can find a way to dethrone him, aka: finding the rightful heir, I'll use every lead I can get. Even if they all come to dead ends, I least I can tell myself that I tried." Natsume replied nonchalantly.
"But what if we don't find her? We don't even know her name." Yuu spluttered.
"We'll come back and pretend that we never went looking for her and went to visit the commoners as a practical fieldtrip. And anyway her name is something fruity."
"What like Yuzu, Airi, Kyou, Momoka or Umay?" Koko snorted.
"Exactly." Natsume replied.
Ruka looked at Natsume, observing his reactions. "We don't know what she looks like." He stated as his friends eyes found his.
"That's where you're wrong." His eyes glinted like they did when he was excited. "I found a book that has pictures of the girl." He gestured to the book in his hand. He opened it to the page of the picture of the family and everyone saw the smiling baby. "She looks just like her mother. If she still looks like her mother then there's a possibility that we can still find her."
Everybody sighed in defeat as Natsume smirked triumphantly before leaving to pack their bags for the big journey that lay ahead of them tomorrow.
***One the border of the Old Yukihara Kingdom***
A girl with chestnut brown hair tied with two ribbons into pigtails, sat at the edge of the ravine contemplating a tough decision. She began picking the pink flowers off the ground that grew around her and placing it into her lap. Her slender fingers played with the soft petals of the flowers as her brown eyes sparkled. She stared at the ravine, its water gently flowing and the grey pebbles glistening beneath the surface. She leaned back and bowed her head until she was lying down, the lush grass ticking her neck and scratching at her arms and legs where her blue dress stopped. She lifted a flower above her head, from her lap and slowly began picking off the petals.
"Yes. No. Yes. No. I will. I won't. I will. I won't. I will." her sweet voice filled the crisp spring air around her, floating away like a leaf caught in a breeze. She sat upright, "I will! I'll go after Grandpa!" She sat back down and shielded her face from the bright sun. She contemplated what she should bring. She only had one horse. Even though the chestnut brown stallion was quite strong, she knew it wouldn't be able to carry much with her added weight.
She closed her eyes and savoured the moment of the sun shining on her face and the sound of the water from the ravine before standing up. She quickly brushed the remaining flowers and stray blades of grass off her dress before heading back to the cottage unaware that flowers that had just bloomed in a perfect ring around her were beginning to fade until there were none left to show that there had ever been there at all.
She entered her house and made a beeline for her bedroom. Mikan laid her spare clothes on her bed. Before putting some items back in the closet after considering that she didn't need them. She stretched her arms before getting back to the task at hand. She had filled up half of a small satchel with clothes and toiletries. She then gazed about her room before picking up a necklace that lay on the bedside table. It was an old gold locket that opened up to show two pictures. On the left was a picture of her mother and on the right was a picture of her father. They were both wearing crowns and big silly grins on their faces. A small smile graced her lips. It always amused her to think that even though at the time both her parents had been grown up, that they still dressed up as kings and queens. Under the portrait of her parents were their names. Yuka and Yuki. It saddened her to think that this was the only memento she had of them after they had been killed in a fire. She remembered it clearly, even though it had only taken place when she was a baby.
*Flashback*
Baby Mikan laughed clapping her hands in a jovial manner as her parents danced to the music that the musicians played with ease. After a while, her eyes grew tired and slowly fell as sleep enveloped her.
She woke to the rancid smell of smoke and unbearable heat of the fire. She started crying but her parents didn't wake up. Suddenly an explosion ripped through out the house as some of the roof beams collapsed. The bed was thrown across the room before hitting the open door. The baby was thrown in the other direction and crashed through the open window which surely had been closed before. The baby was thrown across the grass as the cool night air relieved her hot skin. Silently the baby fell back asleep unaware of the burning of her parents body's and the soft chuckling of a shadow as it left into the forest to report back to someone that the family was all dead.
*End Flashback*
She quickly pulled away from those thoughts and reminded herself that if it weren't for her grandpa she wouldn't still be alive. Although her grandpa wasn't really her grandfather, their relationship was one of a granddaughter and a grandfather. Her grandpa was her reason for doing what she was about to do. Every two months her grandfather left to go into a town to get more provisions. He usually stays there for a week or two but last time he went he stayed there for about a month. He still hadn't come back. Mikan was getting really worried about him so she decided to go to the town to look for him. Every year on her birthday, her grandfather would take her to the town and see her best friend, Hotaru.
She closed her satchel and went outside to the small stable. Her chestnut brown stallion greeted her with a neigh.
"Hello, Hinata." She greeted back. Hinata nuzzled her neck in reply. "Tomorrow we are going to go to the town and see Grandpa and Hotaru-chan again." Mikan whispered into his ear as she refreshed his water and bucket of oats. She looked away from the horse and to the stall next to it as she frowned. That's where her grandfather's horse, Sora, was kept.
Mikan exited the stables and returned to the house. She entered the kitchen and began preparing some meals for tomorrow's journey. She got out a loaf of bread and began slicing it before cutting up some cheese as well. After she finished she grabbed some water containers and headed outside towards the ravine to fill them up. After she finished she went back inside and placed all the provisions into a small reed basket before proceeding to bed after blowing out the single candle.
