A/N: Sorry I haven't updated recently! This first week of school was LONG! It felt like a Wednesday on Tuesday, a Thursday on Wednesday, and a Friday on Thursday! But that was probably just because we had a football game on Thursday instead of Friday (the normal day), and everything seemed all mixed up. But am I ever glad that it's the weekend… well, it's practically over now, but at least I'm writing now, right? Oh, and one more thing before I continue on with the story… though it's nice that people are given the free will of stating their opinion in reviews, let's keep our flames to a minimum. It's one thing to critic a piece, but it's a whole different thing to totally trash talk it. I didn't even understand the last review I got. It's not very clear to me right now. Anyway, on with chapter eleven!
"Sir. We have captured the delinquents that had dared to try and overthrow your throne." A mysterious cloaked figure bowed on one knee to the dark image mounted on the black marble chair.
"The ones from last night?" An ominous voice radiated from the unseen shadow.
"Yes. They were only mere half demons. Our squad ambushed and beat them until they cooperated."
"Good, good. Did you put them in the dungeon?"
"Yes. What do you propose we do with them?" The henchman stood gracefully and smirked underneath their mask.
The man perched on his throne thought for a moment, then asked, "Tell me… who are these people that tried to interfere in my business?"
"I'm sure I don't know sir, but if your majesty wishes, then I'd be glad to find out for him."
"Hmmm… yes. Do that. I like to know the names of these foolish rebels that turn against me. At least they'll be remembered by someone when they die." He grinned maniacally.
"Very good, your majesty." The lackey chuckled at his highness's positively evil mind.
"Thank you, that will be all. Bring me the information as soon as possible."
"But what it they don't talk?"
"Well… if they don't, then "persuade" them to." The dark figure snickered with glee. He absolutely loved using his "toys" as a way to get what he wanted.
"No problem, your majesty." And in a flash, the cloaked henchman had faded into the shadows, leaving the evil king to have his jolly moment of particularly ruthless thoughts.
"So… the half breeds are beginning to complain about how I rule the land, huh? Think they can do better? Hn… what ignorant boobs (A/N: The definition of "boobs" as in "idiot" or "fool". Not as a female part of the body, kay?) . They're nothing but parasites to this world. The strong shall be the ones to govern over the weak. Strength will always prevail over weakness. That's how the world was built. And darkness only fuels this growing strength. That's why… I must cover this land in darkness and make sure that every last idiotic soul who opposes me shall pay the price at my hand." The king gazed out his jagged window into the barren wasteland that he reduced it to. "Maybe I should add a few more rules to the book. Enforce a few things here and there. Yes, that would do nicely." The dark lord laughed to himself and admired the way the town formerly known as Arbaphem was set up. Now it had a new name… Umbra. The City of Darkness.
"This way!" A short blonde man ran over behind an alley wall and peered around the corner to make sure no one saw him.
"Tohma! Wait up!" An equally short, yet brunette, man scurried over to where his companion was, his dirty pink stuffed rabbit trailing behind him on it's own two feet. Once the coast was clear again, the blonde lead the two tag-along's to the other side of the street and got behind another wall. The same procedure was repeated over and over again until they were near the castle gates to the demon lord's domain.
"Tohmaaa! Could you… slow down a bit? Me and Kumagorou-chan are… tired!" The child-like man behind him whined. "Isn't that right, Kuma?"
The bunny nodded his head in agreement and hopped up onto his owner's shoulder to rest.
"Hey! I'm tired too, na no da! I can't carry you like this!" The brunette slumped over.
His plushie's eyes shimmered with pleading tears, almost like he was saying, 'Come on! My poor little velveteen feet can't take it anymore! Do you want all my stuffing to come out?'
In the end, Kumagorou won with the same signature bunny eyes that his master always gave to people.
"Aww… alright. You can stay up there." He sighed in defeat while his stuffed rabbit raised his hands in the air with glee.
"Ryuichi. Keep it down a bit." Tohma informed as he saw two more guards being added to the other enforcements keeping watch at the rusted black gate. "Mmm… it's looks like we can't get in now. It looks as if they've tightened security around the castle grounds." Tohma's fist constricted in fury. Now how would they get it!
Ryuichi saw the platinum blonde's anger, and frowned putting a hand on his back. "Let's come back later, when we've thought of a better plan. I promise we'll get him back." The brunette attempted to pull him back from the wall, but found that the man's feet were planted to that spot.
"Dammitt! Dammitt all!" Tohma cursed under a harsh whisper. "Why? Why did they take him away from me? Out of all the people, why was it him!"
"Calm down Tohma."
"He was the only one I had left… the only one… and those bastards snatched him from right under my nose. Why didn't I stop him? Why wasn't I strong enough to fend them off? How could I let him go!" The man slammed his hand into the crumbling brick wall and shuddered out a sob.
"…Tohma… it wasn't your fault. Me and Kumagorou were there. We helped fight too, but… we were all too weak against them. They had more men, and we only had us. It was an unfair match, Tohma. Don't blame this on yourself."
"But… he was right there! I could have grabbed him and took off. But my arms couldn't reach. Why?"
"The boy should have known what would happen if he acted like that. It was partly his own fault for getting involved in such a movement."
"It's NOT his fault. It's all this damn systems fault. All those guards… that bastard of a king. He's no king… he's a coward who hides in darkness, afraid of what the world really has to offer him." The platinum blonde gritted his teeth, but loosened up as he felt reassuring arms being wrapped softly around his front.
"It's okay Tohma-chan. Everything will turn out alright. You shouldn't always expect the worst. He may still be alive. He's a tough kid. Hn, you know that better than anyone else."
Tohma part laughed at Ryuichi's comment.
The brunette helped his friend stand on two feet and held his hands comfortingly as he spoke. "Don't loose hope. That's what got to some of the people in this town. That's now why they have become like demons, their hearts have lost all reason to have faith and truly live. We'll find a way to get him out of there."
The younger man smiled at him. "Thank you Ryuichi. Without you, I don't think I could go on in this world. You're the only friend I have now."
"Hey no problem buddy! Me and Kumagorou will be here no matter what happens! And besides, we don't want to see our friends Tohma-chan turn into a flesh-eating demon!" He whimpered and pulled his bunny onto his head. "That would be scaryyy!"
"Yeah, me neither." The blonde shrugged and headed back home with Ryuichi, feeling a little bit better after their talk.
"Let's see… "Juniper berries"… "J"…" A very worn out librarian searched for the "J" section in the confinement of books that were surrounding him. The castle held one of the most largest libraries in the city of Umbra. "J j j j j j j j j j… Ah! Here it is! Juniper…" The red head placed the book snuggle into the tight fitting shelf, demounted the rolling ladder, and plopped down into his desk chair to relax. "Phew! I put away about 576 books today. That's a new record for me!" He sighed with satisfaction and flung his feet onto the desk, letting his mind wander.
He recalled the old days, when everything was (somewhat) peaceful and he was spending time with his family and friends. His old library was so quaint and resourceful. While the one he worked at now was too boisterous and dark. Of course, when you are in the service of the dark lord, everything is dark, right? He had gotten himself captured that. When he had to leave his best friend behind in that cold, empty tower. Maiko had barely escaped while the red head held off the shadow demons. But no later had they caught him that they presented him to the new king of Arbaphem. By the looks of it, he could tell that he wouldn't like what was coming to him. Though surprisingly, the librarian didn't receive the punishment he thought would befall him. The dark lord appointed him as the historian of the castle, keeping records on all the new things that go on in town, and writing the history of these dark days. The king seemed to like him, so he granted the red head eternal youth, keeping him young forever. It was both a good and bad thing. A bad thing because the man didn't know if he'd want to live through such times like these his whole life. But it was a blessing because… that way he'd be able to see The Salvation bring them back into the light. At least that's what he hoped…
His thoughts about his genki little friend were interrupted by a loud clicking of the library's double doors opening. A large, shadow concealed figure loomed into the room, the hood of the cloak pulled up securely over the unknown face.
"Librarian! His majesty wants you to write a new article in your history books."
"Yes sir. What does his highness wish for it to say?" Another day, another article.
"It shall be about the new rebellions springing up by half breed filth. A band of roughians recently attacked the castle grounds a few days ago."
"I'll get right on it." This was a sign of hope to the historian. People were finally coming out of their corners and starting to fight back. He knew that they wouldn't be able to take it any longer sooner or later. And as he pondered over this subject, the henchman at the door disappeared like he'd never been there in the first place. "Sigh… if only I could do that. Then I'd be able to get out of this accursed place." The red head thought solemnly as he began jotting down his new article of history.
"Let me out of here! I said let me go, you rascals!" A fuming young lad shouted throughout the dungeon. "I have never been treated with such utter disrespect! How dare you do this to me!" Of course, it'd been quite a few years that'd he'd been treated with this crudeness, but the boy convinced himself that he was still the Duke of Arbaphem, formally known as Fujisaki Suguru. As the aqua haired teen kept banging on the bars of his cell, the comrades that were seated behind him were becoming aggravated at their group leaders constant noise making.
"Cut it out, Suguru! They won't let us go if you keep screaming like that."
"Yeah, I mean, these guys are black-hearted! You don't exactly get special treatment from them."
"What do ya expect? The top floor suite?"
"Grrr! You guys aren't helping at all!" He ignored their comments and kept ramming his fist on the think steal poles that separated him from the dungeon halls. "They should at least give us some decent food and drink! Do you expect me to eat this… this slop!" Suguru pointed to the mound of green and brown sludge that had been plopped onto a plated for he and his friends.
"Umm… well, I think THAT guy expects you to." One of the men shakily gestured to the cloaked form that had suddenly appeared at their dungeon cell.
"Good morning, my pets. I hope you've found out hospitality very acceptable." The figure sneered.
"You call this service! Of course I didn't expect much from such dirty creatures as yourselves." Suguru insulted.
"And didn't expect you all to be so stubborn in our attempts to capture you. It amazed me that you all managed to lay one scratch upon a guard of mine." The silhouette chuckled.
"We were just outnumbered, that's all! If we had more people to help us then it would have been no problem!" The duke bragged. His comrades rolled their eyes.
Oh, is that so? Well then, maybe you can demonstrate for me? Oh, but wait! Everyone else out there is a bloody coward! They wouldn't help someone like you! How could I forget?" The henchman laughed out loud.
"How dare you mock me!" Suguru was MAD now. "You're nothing but a pompous, arrogant, flesh-eating little devil!" The boy yelled into the figure's face. His friends scooted back, afraid of what the demon had to offer of that comment.
"Hm…" The cloaked form chuckled. "That may be true, but… don't you recognize me, my old friend?"
"I have NEVER associated with demons!" The young lad scoffed at the petty assumption.
"Why, I'm hurt… how could you forget such a beautiful face such as mine?" The voice that emitted from the dark mask now became more feminine, which confused the other's greatly. Was this guy in puberty?
"It's me, Suguru." The henchman slid off the mask, revealing a very attractive woman with lilac hair and ruby red eyes.
"No… it… it can't be… No-Nori-" The teenager stuttered at the person he saw standing before him.
"It's been a while… my dear Fujisaki Suguru." She smirked, eyes glowing with fire.
"N-Noriko…"
A/N: Oh my! So they finally meet after 100 years… what stuff will they have to catch up on? Maybe the next chapter will tell! I don't know. Ch. 12 may be all about Shuichi. So keep reading! I will not be able to update as much now since school has begun. Sorry! But I will type as much as I can in one night and try to get up the next chapter as soon as I have time! After school band practice is EXTREMELY time consuming… anyway, thanks for your support, and please keep reviewing!
DEAR REVIEWERS
Bloody Dead Rose- Yes, many of you keep asking how Yuki will keep himself from becoming an old man… by using aging cream of course! JK! Since that stuff wasn't invented yet, some kind of powerful spell thingy will be the "salvation" to Yuki's young figure. That's all I'm gonna say. Otherwise I'd be giving away a lot of the plot for him.
Mitsubishi Eclipse- Thanks for saying my plot was funky! That's a different way to put it smiles.
-Cookie- l Tohma 911 l- Um, I don't know whether to say "thanks", or "what?". Did you like it, or did you not? You're making it very confusing right now. I don't particularly like flames, and I'm sure other's agree with me, so is that what you were trying to write? Was this a flame, or what? And why are you bringing DatenshiBlue39 into this, huh! Anyway, I respect your opinion either way, and hope you keep reading my story. I'm glad you have an open mind and express what you think, but please don't make it so confusing next time. My brain hurts after a while…
Xunxin Kohaku- No, please don't cry! I'll update soon, I promise! School is just a big obstacle right now! And my sister keeps using the computer, so it's hard to get time on this thing! But I won't give up!