***Two weeks later***
(Ami's pov)
A few days after Amu left, my brother and I no longer felt sick. We did, however, feel a little off. There are times that I can feel energy flowing through my whole body. It was so strong that it felt like it would burst out at any moment. If this feeling doesn't go away soon, I don't know what I am going to do. Sora has been feeling itchy, like really really itchy lately. He said that his hair is starting to grow longer too. I just knew that we used to be sick and that now we aren't. I wonder what happened to make us better.
My parents spread to everyone in the lands that Amu died in the battle against the red eyed man and everyone in the palace was forbidden to speak to anyone of what really happened in the battle. I was very upset because I didn't understand why my parents would lie like that.
What was this stupid diet they were making everyone eat? They announced that instead of having a funeral for my sister that they were going to have a three-day celebration of life. They explained the rules during the celebration. No one was allowed to go under any type of shade. Meat was forbidden (I hated most vegetables!). We got to have fruit though, at least they were sweet. The celebration was to last from dawn until dusk.
In addition to this, everyone had to sleep in the tents provided like one big happy family. My parents denied any food served when the sun went down and went so far as to have it locked up. This "celebration" was set to take place in 2 days. The worst part was that attendance was mandatory. It didn't matter if we were sick, attendance was required.
"Haha?" I said as I walked into the room.
"Yes Ami?" she replied.
"I know that no one else can talk about this, but since I am your daughter, what happened with Amu?" I asked her.
"Do not talk about her" my mother said with anger. "She is a monster. You had better hope that her test was true for you and your brother. I will not tell you what happened. Just trust me. She is dead to this family."
"Haha, she told us you asked her to leave. But she didn't tell us why, please Haha. Why did you make her leave?" I asked her crying. "I miss her. Sora misses her. Please let her come back?"
"NO! You don't know what she is!" my mother yelled. "You no longer have a sister. I refuse to have that monster carry on my bloodline."
"But –" I started to say.
"– No! There will be no more discussion of that nonhuman monster again!" she cut me off. "Please go play with your brother something then pack your things for the celebration of life festival" then she turned around and walked away from me.
I walked out of the room crying.
"Ami?" Ran said as I passed her. "Are you okay? Do you miss your sister again?" she asked me and hugged me gently.
"Ran? Why did Haha banish my sister?" I asked her.
"Come on Ami, I don't know but maybe we she left clues somewhere" she said. "Let's go to your sister's room. I'm sure that we can find some clues in there" then she took my hand and we headed to her room.
When we got there, we found Sora with Miki and Suu already there.
"Hi everyone?" I said. "Are you curious too?"
"Yes, Haha and Chichi are hiding something. I can smell it!" Sora said while scratching his newly grown hair.
"Look what she had in her desk" Suu said as she pulled out the red rose petal.
"How long has this been here and how is it still alive?" she wondered out loud.
"That's from our garden" Sora said as he touched the petal. "Our sister was always special. Maybe she something in her that made our parents hate her" he suggested.
"I understand now why she told us to remember her kindly" I said sadly. "Ran? Miki? Suu? Please continue trying to find out was is going on."
"We'll help you get dressed for bed Ami" they said as they ushered us out. Sora went to his room, and they followed me to mine.
"Ami? Where is your gem?" Ran asked me.
"Gem?" I said. "What gem?"
"The gem you were supposed to get when you turned seven. Your sister –" Ran stopped talking when Miki touched her arm. "Oh no! Please don't tell anyone. Including your parents."
"I promise" I said. "I don't trust them anymore anyways. Maybe that's part of the reason they banished her." I commented sadly.
They finished helping me and left the room. Tomorrow I would need to talk to Sora but make sure that he did not tell our parents. I knew that we couldn't trust them anymore. Then I promised to myself that one day, I would find my sister and apologize to her for what our parents did. I will respect them as king and queen, but I had lost any and all respect for them as my parents. They might as well consider me someone else's child. I no longer saw them as parents. I fell asleep with these thoughts, hoping that if something happened to Sora, that I'd be able to protect him against my parents.
In the morning, everyone got all their things together and we all travelled to the location for my sister's celebration. It was during these three days that I noticed everyone was being watched by my parents and their soldiers. We had games, contests and all the fresh fruit and vegetables we could eat. Sora and I hated that we couldn't have any meat but that was the rule, so we had to obey.
During the three days, my parents asked everyone to say their favorite thing about Amu. My parents even got up and pretended to cry over their loss. They said she was such a lovely young girl with a bright future, and they were extremely saddened by her death. They shed tears to prove how upset they were. Then they said that because Amu was killed, Ikuto left for his home since his betrothed was now gone. Everyone in the kingdom turned the days into a celebration of life for Amu and farewell to Ikuto, hoping that he would be able to find someone else for him to marry one day. Sora and I played along; we knew that if we didn't, we would get into severe trouble. We hated pretending but there was nothing that could be done. We did however pretend to be too upset to speak on our sister's and Ikuto's behalf, claiming it was too hard to talk and since we were 9 years old, they bought it.
When the three days were over, everyone went back home. Sora and I didn't say anything to our parents and stormed into our own rooms. It was our birthday in less than two weeks. I wonder how they were planning to make that day special. I honestly didn't care if they did. The funny thing was, is that neither did Sora.
*** The twin's birthday ***
"Ami!" I heard a panicked voice say. "Help! I don't know what happened. What's going on?!"
I woke up to a boy with brown hair all over his face and body with long teeth staring at me.
"Sora?" I asked. "Is that you? Why are you covered in hair? Your eyes changed color too. They are a beautiful gold, true but still. Are you okay?
He started crying, "I don't know what happened. I went to bed normal and woke up like this. Should we go to our parents? Or should we go to the palace doctor?" he asked me and fell to the ground shaking from his tears and fear.
I got off my bed and knelt on the floor and hugged my brother. "It's okay Sora. I'm here. I am never going to leave you and I refuse to let our parents do anything to you. Maybe this is why Amu was banished" I said thoughtfully.
"No!" Sora cried. "They will banish me too, and you'll be left alone, and I will have lost everyone I care about!"
"I will go with you if they try to make you leave" I said sternly. "You are my brother. We already lost our sister; I refuse to lose you too. I love you Sora. Let me get dressed. We will go to Haha and Chichi together."
Sora left the room and Suu came in and help me get dressed.
"Suu, please pack two bags of clothes. One for me and one for Sora. I think I know why my parents banished Amu. I think they will try it with him too" I said sadly. "I refuse to let him be alone. Please bring them to the start of the forest and make sure they don't see you. You can get Ran and Miki to help if you want. But please, if you value your life at all, do not let them know what you are up to" I explained. She agreed and left the room.
When I walked out of my room, I saw Sora sitting on the ground. He looked like a big dog. His shoulders were shaking and the hair around his eyes were soaking wet.
"It's okay Sora. I will not let them do anything to you" I said as I sat beside him and put my arm around him.
Then I stood and walked around the corner. I saw a servant approaching the hall to my bedroom and where my brother was still sitting, so I walked up to her and requested that she let my parents know that we weren't feeling well. I asked that she inform them that we would be down for lunch. She acknowledged me and left to give my message to the King and Queen.
Around 11 in the morning, Sora and I went to find my parents in the garden.
"Hi Chichi, where's Haha?" I asked. Then I saw her stand up from the bench that was under a tree.
"What's up Ami?" she said. Then she stopped and smiled. "Happy birthday! Where's Sora? I want to tell him the same thing" she said happily.
"He's here, but he's scared" I said looking at them.
"Why?" my mom said.
"Well –" I said while motioning my brother to come stand next to me. "He woke up like this" I told my parents while holding Sora's hand.
"What are you?!" she screeched. "You aren't human either?! What is wrong with your bloodline Tsumugu?!" she yelled.
"Mine?! Why is it my bloodline that is messed up creating monsters?" he half yelled, and half cried at Midori.
Then he looked at Sora, "What you are doing son?" my father asked. "You are in line for the throne! What did Amu do to you?" he asked.
"Amu? She's been gone for a month; she didn't do anything. Sora is still human. But what do you mean 'either'?" I asked my mom.
"I refuse to comment on your sister. But congratulations Ami, for an additional birthday present, you are now an only child. Sora you are banished from our kingdom. I will not have a hairy freak in our family or on the throne. We will set into motion a law stating that you our only child and Princess will inherit the throne." she told me. "Sora, you have 1 hour to leave, we will drop you off at the edge of the forest. Be ready and if you ever come back you will be killed."
"No! Haha! He is my brother. He is my twin! You already kicked out our sister. You will not take away my brother too!" I screamed at her and my father.
My mom pulled my arm off him with enough force that I was knocked down and my hand landed on a small stick on the ground. "You will come to understand one day and accept it Ami" she said angrily.
Without realizing it, I picked it up the stick while standing up defying my parents and started crying and screaming.
"NO! HE'S MY BROTHER!" then I felt the energy flow throughout my body again but this time it flew from the end of the stick in the direction it was pointing. The energy that shot out hit the bench where my mother was sitting and set it on fire. My parents stared in shock of what just happened.
"You're not even human!" she hollered at me.
"Forget the 1-hour timeline, you are both gone!" my father yelled in anger. "Leave now! Never come back!"
We both walked out of the garden crying but holding hands united, as our so-called parents screamed at each other how the other's bloodline was cursed. They were screaming about their ex-children were nothing monsters and freaks of nature. When Sora heard them call us monsters and freaks, he cried harder.
"It's okay Sora, at least now we know why they kicked Amu out" I said letting go of his hands and putting my arm around his shoulder. "I don't know what will happen, and I don't know how we will survive, but we can hope that maybe Amu is in the forest somewhere, right?"
"I don't think that Amu would every truly abandon us" Sora said sadly.
"Come on Sora, I'll protect you too" I replied.
Less than 20 minutes, Sora and I found ourselves crying quietly and walking into the forest looking for the two bags I asked Suu to leave for us. As we entered the forest, we saw Ran, Miki, and Suu come out from behind the trees. They decided that if we were banished as well, they were coming with us.
(Amu's pov)
For the past month we have been training with Kukai and Utau. I was now able to control my abilities easier. Making solid objects was easy for me to do now and it no longer exhausted me to do it. Kukai loved the latest sword that was made and even formed leaves into a sheath for him to keep the blade from accidently cutting anyone. Then he took the sword and hung it from his hips. The color was still red, but I learned how to change the colors and changed the hilt to a radiant orange.
What I thought was awesome was that Ikuto was truly able to move things with his mind. Currently, he could only move small and medium sized things, but it was still cool to see!
I sat there thinking about how much our lives had changed in the last month when I saw Ran Miki and Suu following my sister and a boy covered in hair walk into the trees and they were both crying while holding tightly to each other's hand.
"Ami?" I yelled. "Is that you?"
I saw her looking around trying to find where my voice was coming from. So, I jumped down from the trees and landed on the ground near her.
"Amu!" she cried and letting go of Sora, she ran into my arms. "I missed you. We need help. Something is wrong with us. Sora woke up looking like a human puppy or something and I started a bench on fire" she said through her tears. "I think Haha was right. We are freaks and monsters and worst of all, a danger to everyone."
"There is nothing wrong with you Ami. Or you Sora. We were gifted with abilities that are natural. We get to use our abilities to save and protect people. This means that we aren't freaks, monsters or dangerous, as long as we use them for good" I told them gently. "I'm going to show you why they told me to leave okay? But you have to promise not to get scared okay?" I asked then she and Sora nodded. With their understanding, I showed them my fangs and the black streaks in my hair. "I'm a vampire."
They both gasped and Sora ran up to me as well. They both touched my fangs and asked if they hurt. "No, they are just like regular teeth, I promise I will never hurt you. I'm not a freak, a monster or dangerous. Like you two, I am special, and I choose to use these fangs for good things."
I hugged Sora who looked relieved that he wasn't the only weird one of the family and I asked him how he was adjusting to his new normal.
"Do you mean that I will always be hairy?" he asked me.
I smiled at him and hugged him again then said, "No when you learn to control it, you will look normal again. Just like these guys" I said pointing to Kukai and Utau.
"Hiya Sora!" Kukai said. "So that you aren't too confused, let's wait until we get to our den and we will discuss what is happening to you and your sisters okay?"
After I hugged my friends, I took my siblings' hands and led everyone into the forest safe haven and to the den.
Author's notes:
Nikki: Thank you for your review :D I hope this chapter was good.
sweetXDmelody: I figured instead of leaving them all the same, it would be fun to let them try something new. I plan on incorporating most of the group into this story. Thank you for your review.
One final note for this chapter, I will try to update on time next week, but something happened here for my family and made it where I had to take on extra work which leaves less time for me to write this story. I may need to go to every 2 weeks for this book. My other story "Amu's Façade" will update as normal since it is basically complete. Please understand if this story goes from weekly to bi-weekly updates.
Sam