Disclaimer Shadow-chan wishes she owned Yu Yu Hakusho... Then maybe there wouldn't be as much chaos in the world.
After years had come and gone, Alisha still couldn't bring herself to go anywhere outside of the castle, especially since she knew well enough who her escort would be in such an event. As such, she kept herself locked away in her room, training and honing her skills as a fighter, and studying and learning as the Princess. Though all the while, the only ones permitted into her room were her elder sibling, Kanryu, and her ningen mother, Ira. Yoko still went to the castle, aiding Ira as best he could, and though it clearly hurt him that Alisha wanted nothing to do with him, he never spoke a word of it. One day, Ira finally questioned her daughter on the matter.
"Alisha-chan?" came Ira's voice as she moved the wood-and-temper-glass sliding door aside, stepping into her daughter's rather large, dome-like room. She had definately aged: her once beautiful complexion now lined with wrinkles, her face a bit sunken-in. She'd grown frail as well -- but then again, fifty years had passed; what could one expect?
"Mother? You're still so weak! You should return to bed, go get some rest.." Alisha whipped around to face Ira after having thrown Kanryu against the opposing wall. Ira had aged, but due to being a half demon, Alisha only seemed eleven years old. In another ten years or so, she'd look and act twelve, or rather look twelve yet be wise enough to have been thirty. She had still been training with Kanryu when her mother walked in, and just as Ira had grown frail, Alisha had grown powerful.
"Alisha-chan, I wish to speak with you. In solice, if that is fine." Ira suggested, her tone with the girl hardly as kind and warm as it had normally been.
None the less, Alisha nodded. Kanryu had already started out of the room, muttering curses under his breath. Once her older brother had left, Alisha looked back to her mother and blinked somewhat dumbfoundedly, though she remained silent, awaiting an explaination from Ira.
"I believe you know why I wish to speak with you?"
To that, Alisha hesitated a moment before shaking her head twice. "Iie, that I do not know...I was hoping you would explain that to me, I still have another fortnight of training left for this month, and then I am to study..." she started, only to have herself cutoff by her mother's raising of her hand, palm facing Alisha to silence her in the same way a Queen would to her servant.
"You have progressed well, I admit, though your studies are hardly the issues at hand." Ira paused, lowering her hand and looking at the Chinese-Japanese kanji on the wall. "Why have you been constantly refusing both on-field training and contact with any others aside from your brother and myself?" When Alisha didn't answer, Ira continued. "What you have is a gift, child... And you cannot even so much as tap into your true strength - do not argue - you may have been able to defeat your elder brother in a skirmish, though in a true battle, by this time you would be dead thrice times over, if not more so." Her tone was strict and demanding, and Alisha flinched. Not even when training with Kanryu did she flinch -- Though her mother's tone had made a shiver coarse through her spine.
"You came not to wish me luck nor to congradulate me of my accomplishments, yet to punish me for being focused? I am trying, you realize that...But then how do you wish me to gain true hold of my power if I do not train and study both?" Alisha asked a bit coldly, though it hadn't been intended.
"You have not yet witnessed your father's own fighting skills, have you? Had you not been locked up within this room of yours, maybe he ought teach you a thing or two. As well, you may wish to venture out into the real world once again--" With that said, Alisha's expression changed from one of confused worry to one of slight anger.
"I will not, so long as he is set to be my escort." she growled lowly, ears falling back a bit near flattened on her head, tail stiffening.
"Another reason for my coming, daughter..." Ira sighed. "I do not see why you seem so very hateful toward the same young kitsune of which you were so thrilled to see as a young child. You would refuse to leave with anyone else, and you would remain out for hours at a time with Yoko-chan...What has happened?"
Alisha remained silent, then sighed, wandering off to a side-room to her bed chamber. "If you insist upon my outgoing for a bit, fine. But in return, you must promise to rest and get better, an illness at your age is not exactly a good thing." she sighed softly, and Ira nodded before walking from the room. Alisha shook her head to herself. "It is a mistake, though..." she murmured under her breath before vanishing into the room, closing the door behind her.
Ira walked off down the hall, staring at the wooden floor as she did so. Hardly a mistake, Alisha...Hardly a mistake... she thought solumnly. The call of her name tore her gaze from the ground to look at the young boy infront of her.
"Ira-sama! There you are, I was worried! What are you doing up already, you should be resting!" Yoko seemed panicked, two heavy red blankets in his arms. He'd been bringing them for Ira, and now seemed a tad bit confused.
Ira smiled gently. "I will be fine, Yoko-chan...Do not overwork yourself, you are too young for it." she sighed. "We shall talk again in my room, come along," she beckoned, Yoko nodding and following the old woman down the hall to her chamber. And so, she began telling Yoko of her conversation with Alisha while he began rearranging her room for her. Though by the end of the speech, he had frozen and was staring at the door.
"I cannot...She would not allow it, Ira-sama...She hates me anymore.." he sighed, shaking his head lightly. Only, Ira smiled softly.
"She had opposed my judgement, hai...But at the same time of her stubborness, she has not suggested you not accompany her. Whatever happened those many years ago, the both of you should get over it and go on with your lives..." she insisted, and so Yoko left the room to wait for the Princess.
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The sun was shining high in the sky, the skies themselves clear of any bad omens or clouds, though the occasional twittering of small robins could be heard, as well as seen once or twice. The village was in total silence, the ningens going on with their somewhat normal lives, ignoring the fact the the Princess and her escort were so near them.
Even they walked in silence. Not a word had been spoken between them since they left the castle, and Alisha aimed to keep it as such. Though Yoko had other plans, and would wait until they were further off from the village. Five minutes passed, and he finally took up the chance to speak.
"Alisha-san, please...Why do you not speak to--"
"You know why! There was absolutely no reason to have slaughtered them like that, you did not need to kill them! Does my mother not know of this? My father? Yoko, do you have no concience at all?" she snapped, stopping their 'leisurely' walk to glare at him icily.
Youko froze, looking at her and having every right to fear her tone and glare, though kept his own defense. "Iie, your parents know not of it, at least as far as I believe. And hai, I do. I have not forgotten, and clearly neither have you. I apologize for what I have done, but...You cannot hold this grudge against me forever, can you?" he asked quietly, almost in a pleading tone for her to forgive him.
"I can, and I intend to. Just because mother wanted me to get outdoors a bit more does not mean that I wish to do so, much less that I want to walk about with a murderer such as yourself." she snapped coldly, beginning to walk off again. Youko stubbornly followed, and for a while they argued, then silenced themselves as they saw the sky begin to grow dark. They then headed back toward the castle, and when they got there and had meandered about the halls, the both of them stood in shock, awe, and sorrow at what they heard.
Kulone, Alisha's father and so being the King of Icile, was half-leaned against a wall, fist ground into it with a rather large indent in the wall. His eyes were sealed shut in anger and his claws flexed. The man was rather lean, being tall and lanky, but having a good build to him and very strong. His raven hair was tied back in a ponytail, which still went to about his waist, and the moonshape scar on his forehead was glowering a bit. Kanryu was in Ira's bed chamber, though Alisha and Yoko didn't know what he was doing.
"Papa?" Alisha started quietly, walking to her father, "Papa, what happened? Is Mama alright?" she asked a little shakily. She'd taken up the childish names once more. Kulone didn't answer for a moment, then finally opened his eyes, glaring at the wall a moment before looking to his daughter. His eyes were like cold ice, a somewhat electric blue color, though the look was hard as ice.
"A bit ironic...She wanted you to return to the outside, and yet she died whilst you were gone..."
Alisha froze, eyes going wide as she shivered a bit, shaking like a leaf. She wanted to cry, or scream, something...But the air had left her lungs and her throat was constricted. Her ears fell flat on her head, and then she bolted into Ira's room, staring at her brother a moment, then looking to her mother's cold form.
Kanryu was knelt beside Ira's bed, looking at her intently. As Alisha walked over, he sighed lightly and looked to her. Alisha took her mother's dead hand in her own, tears welling in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "Mama...I'm sorry..." That was all she could manage.
Yoko kept back, watching in silence, and then turning away and leaving the castle for good. Well, for now anyway. He'd placed Ira's death as another thing that was his fault, but in the years to come, he'd force himself to forget it all. And he'd help Alisha forget as well.
But for now, the Higurath clan all stayed silent in weeping over their Queen's death. The fact of the matter was, now Alisha really did need to study...Seeing how she'd be taking her mother's place, only as Princess for now...But sooner or later, she'd need to take up position as Queen.