Rise of the Dark Angel
DG32173
Alright, here's chapter four. From here until Shadow returns to Hiei, Youko, and Koronue, the story will stay with Shadow. Shadow will not return to them for at least three chapters. You have been warned. This chapter will start off at the point Shadow goes into the inn at Lilieth.
Kurama: DG doesn't own YYH.
NOTE
(Author notes)
"Singing" (minus when in memories)
'Telepathy' (minus when in memories)
Memories POV change Scene change Scene change in memories'Thinking'
"Talking"
INDEX
Yuki: snow (Japanese) (The meaning is in the chapter, but I'll put it here to remind you)
Chapter 4
Returning and Refusing the Crown
Last time (from chapter 3)
'Come back soon, Shadow. We all need you. Especially Hiei.'
This time (based after chapter 2)
An hour after leaving the dojo, Shadow finds her way into the Inn in Lilieth. The fat innkeeper looks up sleepily, and possibly drunkenly judging by the half-empty bottle of Demon's Bane in front of him, from his position at the bar. "Why, miss, what is someone as pretty as you doing out so late?" he asks, trying to be coy, but only sounding like a sex-starved male whore.
"I am Princess Lunetta Avian, and I request the horse that was left here for me," she says shortly, not very happy with his tone.
Immediately, the innkeeper stands straight. "Oh, I'm sorry, Your Highness! Your horse is this way," he says, leading her to the stables. He leads her to a beautiful white mare that is only about two years old. "Are you sure you are willing to ride so late at night? I mean, that scoundrel Hiei and his friends live in these woods," he says, sounding worried.
"I'm not worried," she says, climbing onto the already saddled mare. "I can defend myself fairly well." She doesn't bother to say that she is a close friend of "the scoundrel Hiei and his friends".
"If you are sure," he says uneasily.
"I am, now move or I shall ride over your body," she says sharply. Needless to say, the innkeeper moved rather quickly for someone his size. She knees the mare, sending her into a sharp gallop. Several miles from the inn and the dojo, Shadow allows the mare to slow down to a brisk cantor. She gently strokes the mare's soft neck. "I'm sorry I made you run so long, friend. But I didn't want to be near that man anymore. And I have some friends I have to leave without even a goodbye. I just want to get to the castle and back a soon as I can," she murmurs to the horse. The horse whinnies.
Due to a part of her heritage that not even Hiei knows of, she can understand all animals, not just foxes. She hid her angel heritage from Hiei, even though she told him everything else. She just doesn't think he'd understand. "Thank you for understanding, friend. Do you have a name?" she asks softly, deciding that if she had to go to the castle with this beautiful mare, then she'd best make friends with her, since she'd be the only companion she'd have for most of the journey. Disappointingly to Shadow, the mare shakes her head briskly, as if disliking the situation of her own namelessness. "Well, I'll just have to give you one," Shadow says decisively. "How about Yuki? Your beautiful coat is as white as snow. Yuki is Japanese for snow." The mare whinnies, showing a great liking for the new name. "Then from now on, your name is Yuki. Answer only to those who call you by your given name and none other," she says, bestowing a name on the formerly nameless mare.
After a few hours of riding on forest trails leading south, the sun starts to rise as the forest starts to thin out. By the time the sun is completely in the sky, Shadow and Yuki have made their way completely out of the forest and into the grasslands.
After a few more hours, Shadow decides that it's time for them to find a place to stop and get some food and drink for the both of them. Thankfully, she had found a note in one of the saddle pockets. The note, written in her mother's distinct script, says that any who does not help her will be sentenced to torture and/or death without even a trial. Though Shadow would never tell her mother even if someone disobeyed the letter, she figures that the note will come to be quite handy.
Shadow hasn't seen her parents, much less spoken to them, in nearly twenty years. And if it were up to her, she wouldn't be heading for the castle to speak to them now. She would much prefer to have stayed with Hiei, Youko, and Koronue, living the semi-honorable life of a thief.
Shadow sees a town approaching in the distance. "Make it to that town, Yuki, then we will stop for food and drink and some rest. But we cannot stay for long," she says to her mare. She had decided that after she leaves the castle again, she will bring Yuki with her no matter who stood in her way. If someone tried to stop her from taking Yuki with her, she would make sure that the one who tries will be feeling great pain for several days as a lesson to all to stay out of her way who is not friend to her. She doesn't care if the one who would try to stop her were one of her own parents. Actually, if it were one of them, she'd make the pain several times worse.
Five days and several hundred miles later
Shadow rides Yuki right up to the gates of the castle. The guard looks at her. "May I help you, miss?" he asks.
"Princess Lunetta, reporting to see the King and Queen," she growls. She is not very happy. Each mile closer she'd gotten to the castle, a mile farther she gets from her friends and her real home. She hasn't been more than a mile from Hiei in the twenty years since she had left right up until the damned messenger found her. And she's not happy about that. She had grown so used to a slight buzz of Hiei's hidden thoughts in the back of her mind, and then two other slight buzzes of Youko and Koronue's thoughts, that she had grown not to notice them until they disappeared before she had even reached Lilieth. She may only be an mid A-class demoness, lower S-class at the very best, but she is one mighty powerful psychic. Only Hiei has been able to best her in the psyche area, and that was only after he had the Jagan implanted to keep watch over his twin sister. And just barely even then. He had been a good psychic before, but not nearly good enough to best her.
The guard immediately opens the gate and lets her pass through, not bothering to say another word, for fear of another lashing from her sharp tongue. She and Yuki go through the gate and head for the castle. The guard had somehow let her parents know, as they are waiting almost impatiently on the steps of the castle.
"Lunetta!" her mother cries, reaching to touch her leg as Shadow rides Yuki towards them. Shadow has Yuki back away from her before the hand gets within a foot of her. Her mother seems startled. "What is it? Is something wrong, Lunetta?" she asks.
"My name is Shadow, and it would be wise to remember that," Shadow says, staying in Yuki's saddle. Her father and mother stare at her, unable to believe that this saucy, spiteful woman had once been their loving and polite daughter.
"Lune- … Shadow, where did you go? Why did you leave?" her father asks softly, fearing to bring out her temper.
"I left because I do not wish to rule over a single servant, much less an entire castle of them," she growls. "I left with a friend and have made more friends with him. If that is all, I wish to return to them."
Her mother looks at her sorrowfully. "Your brother is the one who insisted that we should find you. You should at least go see him before you leave," she says.
Shadow freezes in the middle of turning Yuki around. Her brother. The only being she had cared for in the hellhole that was her first ten years of life. "W-where is he? Where is Damion?" she whispers.
"He should be at the stables with the horses," her father says. "The entire castle has remained the same since you left. He insisted that you would return and that you would need some familiarity."
Shadow nods and rides Yuki towards the stables. As she approaches, she sees a tall young man with long black hair tied up in a ponytail in the stable yard stroking a young black stallion gently on the neck. His back is to her as she rides up. He turns when he hears the hoof steps behind him. He raises chocolate colored eyes to meet hers and drops the empty pail he had been holding. "Lunetta?" he whispers, almost disbelievingly. Of course he wouldn't believe it is her. He hasn't seen her in over twenty years.
"It's Shadow now. And hello again, Damion," she says softly.
"Mother said you would have changed your name," he says, his voice shaking slightly. Shadow practically throws herself off Yuki and runs forward to hug her older brother. He wraps strong arms around her small body. Though ten years older than her, Damion had always acted the part of a twin brother to her during her ten years at the castle. "I've missed you, sis," he murmurs into her hair.
"And I've missed you, Damion," she says softly, pulling back slightly.
"If you have lasted this long outside of the castle, I assume you have friends waiting for you," he says. "You must miss them."
She nods, surprised. "I do," she says softly. But as she had drawn within fifty miles of the castle, she had realized that she has much more of herself to discover and consider and settle many more things before she can go back to them and tell them everything. She knows she will have to tell them everything when she goes back. But she wouldn't be able to without a bit of time to herself. She had not been alone for more than a few hours in her entire life, not including the past few days since she had left the dojo. First, she was surrounded by maids, nannies, her brother, and, rarely, her parents; then she was with Hiei and, later, Youko and Koronue. She needs some time to herself. Which she won't get if she goes directly back to the dojo.
Her brother looks at her. "You can't go back immediately, can you?" he asks. "But you won't stay here either."
She looks at him and nods slightly. Damion and Hiei had been the only two people in the world, of either gender, who have been able to figure her out by just her expressions and the tones she speaks with. "I need some time to myself. Surprisingly, in all thirty years of my life, I haven't been alone for more than a few hours, not including the past few days of traveling," she says softly.
Damion looks at her and smiles. "I just wanted to know you were alright. That is why I wanted Mother and Father to search for you," he says. "Now that I see you are just fine, you can go back to your life on the outside. After all, you aren't going to rule Makai. Just stay safe, Shadow. You know I love you. Though I will miss you greatly, I won't stand in your way of trying to live your life for yourself. Take the mare with you. It seems she's become attached to you, and there are plenty of other horses here. Oh, and here," he says, pulling a small silver, oval-shaped locket from his pocket and gives it to her.
She clasps the locket around her neck and smiles. "Thank you, and I knew you'd understand," she says. "I'll miss you, Damion. I'll be sure to write to you to update you once in a while. I promise."
"Be sure that you do," he says. "Now go, before I change my mind and make you stay," he teases, pushing her toward her horse.
"Like you could!" she laughs, climbing onto Yuki. "Goodbye, Damion. May we see each other again, one day, and on our own terms," she says smiling. She goes to turn Yuki but pauses. "Tell Mom and Dad that I say goodbye. Tell them I'm sorry for how I treated them, that I hadn't expected to be called back after so many years. And tell them that I love them," she says to her brother. He nods and makes a shooing motion. "Okay, okay, I'm going!" she says, laughing. She rides Yuki out of the castle and smiles slightly at the guard at the gate. "I'm sorry I was rude earlier. Just tired from the long ride," she says to him.
He nods. "Understandable, Your Highness," he says.
She holds up a hand. "It's Shadow now. Shadow Silversong," she says. The guard nods with a grin. She smiles back and rides Yuki out of the castle and away from the capital city. In the outskirts of the city, she opens the locket and smiles when she sees a picture of a much younger Damion twirling a five-year-old image of herself over his head on one side and a picture of Damion by himself, as he currently is, on the other side. "Thank you, Damion," she whispers.
That's it for the fourth chapter of Rise of the Dark Angel! Thank you so much if you've read this far. Chapter five will be up soon.