: : Caged Fate : :
: By : Akikazu :
: : Chapter Four : : Caged By Responsibility : :
Mahiru looked up at the house, and knocked on the door. She didn't know how she had gotten to be standing on this particular doorstep, only that a light had enveloped her and then she was no longer with Mitsuru.
'Mitsuru.'
A chill ran through her body. Mitsuru blamed her for their parents' death and in a way he was right. A horrible sensation of guilt built within her.
A cold wind brought her out of her misery and drew her attention to the still closed door. Sighing she prayed that someone was home and would open the door.
She knocked on the door again. After a minute when no one answered Mahiru turned the doorknob, it turned easily. Since the door was open Mahiru walked into the small house and looked around, she didn't want to be outside in the on coming night.
Shutting the door behind her, she walked into the hallway and deeper into the house. No rooms opened to the hallway, instead doors separated them, Mahiru opened one of the doors and went inside the room. She found herself in the house's living room, the furniture was covered in white cloth and dark spots stained the ground.
She backed away in horror, eyes never leaving the largest dark stains on the ground. She was in the house that her and Mitsuru's parents had died in.
A man's body lay crumpled on the ground. His green hair was matted with blood and his eyes were shut, closed against the world. Near by a woman head lay disconnected from her body. Her mousy brown hair was askew and her amber eyes were wide with horror. Blood still dripped from their bodies, warm and red it changed to fire as it hit the ground. The fire started burning away at the wood beneath them.
Mahiru collapsed onto the ground and buried her face in her hands.
"No, no, I'm sorry. So sorry," she cried.
The image disappeared from her mind and Mahiru let her hands drop as she got back to her feet. Looking elsewhere she saw the white cloth that covered the couch. Mahiru inched to it and pulled off the cover. Her eye's widened at the sight it uncovered. There was a hole in the couch, barely there, but she knew what caused it.
A woman with golden hair was crumpled face down an arrow suck out of her back, feathers fluttering slightly like a proud flag. On the other side of the couch a man lay face up, hands crossed over his chest ceremoniously. Blue-purple eyes stared unseeingly up at the ceiling. Blood spilled from their bodies, but unlike before it fluidly fell to the floor and froze. The blood made a red sheet of ice below the bodies.
"It's all my fault," Mahiru whispered.
Mahiru let the cloth fall back over the couch and backed out of the room. She stopped at the doorway and hesitantly looked at the window. The window frame was still intact, but the glass was completely gone.
"Mitsuru I'm so sorry, I killed your family," Mahiru whispered.
She turned and left the room closing the door behind her.
Mahiru found her self in the hall but she was no longer alone. Two figures slowly approached her, and Mahiru had to blink sure to be her eyes weren't deceiving her. The figures were defiantly not human.
The one on the right appeared to be a male, he had red shoulder length and his eyes glowed with an interesting mixture of red, purple, and gold. But that wasn't what made her think he wasn't human, the thing that had draw her to that conclusion was the fire that surrounded him. The first covered him head to foot little flames jumping away from him only to dive back to him and rejoined what it had escaped from.
Turning away from the fiery figure Mahiru looked at the other figure, it was a female and quiet the opposite of her companion. She had blue hair that flowed down her back and down to her waist, looking like a shimmering waterfall as a stray sunbeam hit her. Sadness reflected in her sea green eyes, but they maintained a calm look. Instead of being surrounded by fire the woman was surrounded by a mist, occasionally some of the mist would change into a large snowflake, but the snowflakes melt soon after they were formed.
By the time Mahiru had finished examining their appearances the pair stopped in front of her.
"Who are you?" Mahiru asked.
"Lingering spirits," the woman replied.
"Here when the wind, lightning, and two human's died," the man added.
"You were here when my parent died?" Mahiru questioned.
The woman nodded.
"We have taken them, the one's who lingered in the room, put their bodies to rest," the man explained.
"We took from you, Princess from the cage, and so we will return," the woman continued.
Mahiru cocked her head in question.
"We have died a month past, but we lingered her in wait for you. You will find all we could give in that room," the woman pointed at a room at the end of the hallway.
Mahiru looked at the door and turned back to the couple.
"What are you called?"
"I am called Kouryuu and she is called Mei Lin," the male answered.
"I'm Mahiru."
"We know of you Princess from the cage, you must go now. When you leave this place we will take it as we depart from this plane," Kouryuu said.
Mahiru bowed to them and scurried to the room where they had directed her to. Mahiru opened the door and found the room to be empty. Then she noticed that there was a lump under the white cloth that covered the bed.
Cautiously she lifted the bed cover and gasped softly. A little boy that appeared to be only a year old was curled up on the bed. He had Shoulder length blue hair and was looking up at her with teary red-purple eyes with little flecks of gold.
'He must be their son.'
"Are you going to kill me?" The little boy asked softly.
"No, but I would like to take you out of here," Mahiru answered.
"They died, I saw it. The men in shiny clothes came and shot them with pointy sticks," he whispered.
So men in armor came and shot his parents with arrows, they died just like mine. Mahiru reached over and pulled the little boy into her arms.
"It's okay, the men in shiny suits shot my parents with pointy sticks too."
"Really?" The boy stared at her wide eyed.
"Yes but that was a long time ago, I know another boy whose parent died like that too," Mahiru replied.
"Are the shinny men going to come back and get us?" There was a horrified sound in his voice.
"I won't let them get you, I promise."
"I'm Sano, are you going to be my mommy now?"
Mahiru stared into the boy's hopeful eyes in surprise. He wanted her to be his mommy? She was only fourteen, she couldn't be a mommy! But despite her protest she found herself nodding at the little boy.
"Yes I'll be your mama from now on," she announced.
The boy smiled tentatively at her and hugged her, Mahiru hugged him back and sat on the bed. She pulled the cloth over both of them and settled down for the night.
"Alright Sano, we'll stay here for the night, but in the morning we'll have to go."
"Okay Mommy."
Sano yawned and curled to her sleepily. Mahiru held him close and they fell into a sleep free from the nightmares that plagued many in such situations.
: : Akira : :
"Has anyone found her yet?" Akira asked the bat.
"Sorry Akira, no sign of Mahiru, but Misoka wants us to report back to the Moonshine for the rest of the night," Nozomu said through the bat.
With a defeated sigh Akira ran back to the bar, the faster he was there the faster he could get back to searching for his sister.
A strong wind passed him and Mitsuru landed on the balcony, he didn't spare Akira a glance as he went inside and straight to Misoka.
"Where did you check Mitsuru?" Misoka asked.
"I looked at all the beach in a five mile radius," Mitsuru replied.
"Okay, you can go now," Misoka dismissed.
Mitsuru turned away and locked himself in his room, a second later Akira came through the front door.
"Report Akira," Misoka ordered.
"I check the area near the MFD headquarters and I went down the and up the river," Akira answered.
"Turn in for the night Akira we'll go out an hour after dawn."
Akira nodded and ran up the stairs. Nozomu appeared at the top of the staircase just as Akira started up.
"Misoka, I check the parks, gardens, the zoo, and the carnival. I going to bed now," he shouted down the stairs.
"Okay," came Misoka reply.
Misoka looked out the window in deep thought. It was hard to track down a girl who had never been outside before and because they barely knew her it was near impossible. The only person who stood a real chance was Mitsuru, but he was the one that had Mahiru disappear in the first place.
'This is frustrating.'
With a heavy sigh Misoka got up and headed for his room, if he was going to complete this job for the antsy werewolf he needed to sleep.
: : Two Hours After Dawn : :
Mahiru was awakened by Sano jumping on her stomach.
'I hate mornings. I hate 'em terribly.'
Opening her eyes she looked up at Sano. He smiled cheekily down at her and kissed her cheek.
"Morning Mommy," he said cheerily.
Mahiru covered a yawn and kissed his cheek as she sat up.
"Morning sweetheart, ready to go?" Mahiru asked.
"Yup, but it's going to be cold Mommy. What are we going to do?"
"We'll take some of these cloths, okay."
Sano grabbed a cloth and handed it to Mahiru. She bundled him up and lifted the little boy into her arms.
"Let's get out of here," Mahiru said.
Mahiru walked out of the house with Sano clinging to her. As soon as she was across the street from the house it collapsed.
Sano and Mahiru watched as ice froze over the house causing it to collapse. Then the icy melted away and the ruble went up in flames.
"Whoa," Sano breathed.
"Yeah," Mahiru agreed.
"That was so cool!" Sano shouted excitedly.
Mahiru laughed at his reaction. They watched as the fire burned higher and brighter, but it never endangered the houses next to it. The fire never even touched the plant in front of the house.
'It was Kouryuu and Mei Lin.'
The fire was dieing down and they were about to leave when a voice stopped her.
"Mahiru!"
Akira in human form with a tail and ears ran to her and hugged her. Misoka, Nozomu, and Mitsuru followed after him.
"Hey! You're squishing me!" Sano complained.
Akira jumped back and stared at the little boy in her arms.
"Heh, heh. A lot happen before you guys found me," Mahiru said.
"Mommy, who are they? Do you know them? Are they dangerous? They're dangerous aren't they. They're working with the shiny men. Mommy we have to leave before they shoot us with pointy sticks!" Sano shouted the last word.
"Mommy?" Nozomu questioned.
"No she's MY Mommy!" Sano protested.
"Mahiru what's going on?" Akira asked confused.
"Who's Mahiru, Mommy?" Sano added.
"I'm Mahiru sweetheart," Mahiru turned to Akira, "This Sano, he my son. His parents were killed by the MFD, but they said that they took from me and so they had to return." Mahiru looked at Mitsuru, "they died in there, were our parent's died."
"Why is the house burning Princess?" Misoka asked.
"His parents burned it."
"Mommy you're a Princess?" Sano broke in.
"No that's just a nickname sweetheart," Mahiru informed him.
"Let's return to the Moonshine," Misoka ordered.
Nozomu drove the van up beside them and everyone got in, Misoka replacing Nozomu behind the wheel.
"Mommy where are we going? Are they taking us prisoner? Don't worry Mommy I'll protect you!"
"It's okay sweetheart, these are my friends, and that one's your Uncle Akira."
"Really my uncle is a shiny man?"
"No these people aren't shiny men, but the shiny men are trying to get they. You see that guy with the green hair," Mahiru pointed at Mitsuru and Sano nodded. "His parents were killed because they were trying to keep me and my parents safe."
"Wow, is he a hero Mama?" Sano struggled to look at Mitsuru. "You protected my Mama from the shiny men, you're my hero! What's your name?"
Mitsuru glared at Mahiru and turned away. Sano curled back up to Mahiru.
"I don't think the hero likes me Mommy. Is he going to make me go away?"
"No Sano because if he tries to make you go away I'll stop him," Nozomu answered.
"Who are YOU? Oh I remember now, you tried to make my mommy your mommy."
"Um, no. Mahiru is just my friend, I'm Nozomu. I'm a vampire," Nozomu flashed Sano his fangs.
"YOU BETTER STAY AWAY FROM MY MOMMY! If you don't I'll freeze your ears and set your bottom on fire!" Sano threatened.
Everyone in the car laughed as Sano made a lump of ice fall on Nozomu's head.
"So your son is from the Lunar Race?" Misoka asked.
"I suppose, his parents defiantly weren't human," Mahiru answered.
"Nope, my other Mommy was an Ice demon, with minor water control, and my Daddy was a fire demon. He made the house explode!" Sano added.
"Wow, you know the green haired guy, is a tengu," Akira supplied.
"Whoa that's so cool, my other Mommy and Daddy said that tengu could control the wind and lightning." Sano turned to Akira, "what are you?"
"I'm a werewolf," Akira answered.
"Okay, but only because you're my uncle. But you better not try and eat my Mommy!" Sano looked at Misoka. "How about you?"
"I'm Kitsune."
"Okay you can do whatever because Kitsune don't eat people. Not like Vampires!" Sano finished with a glare at Nozomu.
Misoka parked the car and everyone got out as Sano started lecturing Nozomu on why eating people was bad. Oboro ran out to greet them worry evident on his face.
"You have to go somewhere and hide, they're searching all the houses for the Princess," he said.
: : End Chapter : :
: : Author's Note : :
I like how this chapter turned out. I really like Sano too, he so CUTE!
Anonmous I want to know where i can get the four and five volumes! Tell me, I beg you!
Anyway every fifth chapter, excluding the prologue, I will answer questions.
Here are the rules.
1- I will answer only five questions
2- I will answer the most asked questions
3- You can review as many times as you want, with the help of the anonymous review and asked the same question however many times you want.
4- I will answer any question to the best of my ability no matter if it's about the story, my personal life, life in general, or homework.
Okay people. So review and ask cause it's for the next chapter.
: : A Note From Kejie : :
You should ask Akikazu something extremely embarrassing, like where babies come from!
: : Next Time : :
Mahiru goes into hiding
Mitsuru becomes Mahiru's bodyguard, well sorta
Sano meets a shiny man