Mother did not understand anything. Ever. The tournament was over and the new king, that crying demon who was Father's friend had summoned all of the leaders of the various territories of the Demon World together. Usually Mother was insistent that Hikari was not ready to undertake any official leadership roles for Alaric until she was older. That Father should do that in her place. Yet now Mother insisted Hikari go to the meeting with the king. It made no sense. Hikari figured Mother knew she did not want to go to the meeting, so that was why she was making her go. Small favors that Father convinced her to let him go with her since he was in charge of Alaric until Hikari came of age.
Hikari was quiet and sullen as she and Father journeyed to the meeting room with the new king. She hoped he would not cry in front of her. She really hoped he would not cry. It was bad enough seeing him cry and yell at Izo on screen, she definitely did not want to see it up close and personal. What if he yelled at her for something she did or say? Or even just for her being in the room with all those mature, adult demon leaders of the other territories. She was currently the only underage leader in the Demon World. It was an odd position to be in.
Hayate, no, King Hayate, had finally stopped grieving over killing Yomi. It took the better part of three days though. He had washed the black dye out of his hair and had his long, natural blonde hair pulled back into a thick, fishtail braid. He looked tired, but authoritative.
When Hikari and Father arrived in the meeting room, they were the last to arrive. Ruefully, Hikari thought Father could have been on time if Mother had not bothered insisting Hikari be there, even though she had insisted she did not want to go.
King Hayate sat at the head of the table with filled seats of the other Demon World leaders around the long, rectangular table. The new prince, Prince Takashi sat on King Hayate's immediate left. The two remaining open seats were right next to the king, between him and the new leader of Gandara, Shura. Shura looked about the same age as Hikari, but she knew him to be older than she was. He hardly seemed to age, Father had once said. Shura, and his father, were demons who lived centuries so long as they were not killed off. Shura was clone/son of Yomi, so he could live for centuries, too, if he was careful.
Hikari felt like she was breathing too loud, with a cold sweat trickling down the back of her neck and the insides of her palms. She felt like every single demon in the room could tell, or smell, how she was feeling right now.
Father waited for her to lead the way. Trying to remember to breathe through her nose and not her mouth, Hikari walked briskly over to the seat closest to Shura and sat down. She did not look up at anyone or anything in the room. She felt like she was sitting too close to Shura, but did not dare scooch her chair farther away for fear of making noise and drawing anymore attention to herself.
Father sat next to her and to King Hayate's right. There were papers and a pen set in front of both of them, but even as Hikari read and reread the first page, she could not figure out what any of it said or meant. She did not turn from the first page for fear of making a sound that would draw the gaze of another demon in the room down on her; especially King Hayate's.
Hikari jumped embarrassingly when King Hayate's voice boomed out for the start of the meeting. She looked up at him, but only at his chest so there was no chance at making eye contact. She would look like she was paying attention without drawing attention to herself or cause her to get called on to speak. If it could work with her mean teachers in school, then it had to work for King Hayate. She hoped.
Hikari tried to follow what King Hayate was saying and explaining, even tried to turn the pages in time with Father. Hikari watched out of the corner of her eye when Father took notes, face unreadable. She could hardly read his scribble without turning her head away from her own papers. She felt like she should be taking notes, too, so by the third page, she started to. Yet her notes were just a catch of one or two phrases King Hayate had said. She knew she must have missed things that were significant.
Hikari felt herself panic when they reached the last page, a draft of a blood bond treaty for her. She sideways glanced at Shura's paper and then Father's. Both had the same one too. This one she read over thoroughly. An oath of fealty to the new king and accept that the role of the King's Steward, as the competitive role for the world now instead of the king. The king would now be a hereditary role. The oath required them to accept it or forfeit their lands and titles. If they did not sign it, they would automatically lose their lands and titles. Hikari had no clue what to do, but felt Father would advise her to sign it.
As Hikari looked over the pen, noticing it had a sharp tip capped on the other side. She uncapped the pen, ready to prick her finger. Surely there was no risk she get a blood born illness after one little prick of her finger. Mother would have thought otherwise.
Hikari froze, unable to help but look up as some of the demon leaders in the room speak up in outrage over the treaty. She stayed her hand, watching everything and everyone carefully. King Hayate was being civil, even as a few other demons were shouting at him.
Hikari watched out of the corner of her eye that Shura pricked his finger and signed the paper quietly. Hikari glanced back over at Father. Father silently and discreetly pushed her paper down towards her, hinting nonverbally for her to sign it. Hikari pricked her finger, hiding away her desire to flinch when she did it. She hoped she would not get an infection from it. Mother would have insisted she clean it, but she felt like a prick would not be that big of a deal. She signed the paper quickly and then pushed it away from her.
The angry demons were still arguing with King Hayate. King Hayate took it like a stone wall, unemotionally. He dismissed them calmly. How could this man be so calm right now, but so emotional when he killed Yomi?
Father grabbed her paper from her in a rush and passed it to King Hayate. That drew attention to her, much to her dismay. King Hayate commented that Alaric's leader was willing to sign the treaty, being young and half human. She tried not to look frightened or intimidated. She hid her hands under the table, fidgeting with them and the hem of her shirt. Shura passed her his paper. She was unsure what to do with it at first. Father grabbed it from out in front of her and passed it to King Hayate. That turned the attention away from her and onto Shura thankfully. King Hayate told the other leaders that if they did not agree to sign like the two of them did, they could leave.
Leave a few of them did, angrily. Hikari wondered what the outcome of their actions would be. She looked down, deciding she did not want to know.
Everyone else is the room signed and passed their papers over to King Hayate. Hikari watched out of the corner of her eyes to see how the other demons who signed their treaties reacted. Some of them were hard to read.
After that, all but Hikari, Father, Shura, and Prince Takashi were dismissed by King Hayate. Hikari wished she could leave, too.
King Hayate turned to Hikari just then, "Lady Hikari," he addressed her. She looked up at him nervously. "Have you seen the rose gardens out in the yard at this castle? Apparently the former queen really enjoyed them." She stared at him, possibly a little to long, before shaking her head. He turned to Prince Takashi, who himself looked sullen and grumpy. "Takashi, why don't you take her to see the rose gardens?"
"I don't know where they are," Prince Takashi retorted.
King Hayate responded, "you saw them yesterday with your mother." King Hayate was a little short with him over that.
"I don't remember where that is," Prince Takashi responded, just as short with his father. Hikari could not imagine being that rude to Father over such a simple conversation.
King Hayate turned to him, telling him firmly and slowly, "ask one of the staff to show you the way." Prince Takashi did not respond, but did not move at all. "Is she going to have to lead you all the way there instead?" King Hayate was almost growling when he said it.
Father tapped/kicked Hikari softly under the table with his foot on her foot. She jumped a little, moving to stand up noisily. She did so, stepped around, and pushed in her chair quickly. She kept her hands on the top of her chair though, not sure what else to do. She looked over to Prince Takashi, waiting for him to stand up, too. He growled under his breath, kicking his way out of his chair and headed for the door without bothering to push his chair in first. He was so rude that Hikari did not want to follow after him. She did anyway, because she knew Father and King Hayate expected her to. She left the room calmly and quickly, shutting the door nicely behind her.
When she left the room however, she had to sprint after Prince Takashi in his wave of unexpected grumpiness with her.
He rounded on her silently when she caught up to him. He stared down at her from their height difference ruefully.
When he did not say anything, she asked him, "so how much farther?" She did her best not to appear intimidated by him.
He hissed under his breath, turning away from her and walking off. This time he moved at a more leisurely pace that she did not have to jog or run to keep up with.
She was half surprised that he actually did lead her to the rose garden. "There it is," he told her in a lack luster tone. He gestured over to it without much emphasis. "I should you. Now go see it."
Hikari looked over at it the rose garden. It was a widely expansive area for the garden. It housed more than just roses, too. Yet roses were the dominate plant she could both see and smell. There was a fountain dead center. Two other demon couples were in the garden as well, but at the far end. Hikari could not make out what they looked like from so her vantage point at the front end of the garden.
Hikari started to walk a few steps into the garden, but stopped when she realized Prince Takashi was not following her. "Come on," she said to him, not really sure what his problem was.
"I was told to show you, and I did," he said, arms crossed over his chest. He did not seem willing to move one more foot.
"What your problem?" she asked, half trying not to let her tone have a bit to it.
He stared down at her, hard, looking as if he debated even talking to her anymore. He clicked his tongue against his teeth. "How old are you?"
"Fourteen," she responded, not sure what he meant. She noticed he seem older than her, about nineteen or twenty for a human. Then again, he was a demon, so he had to have been much older than that really.
"Young. For both of your races," he gritted.
"Older than you act," she responded with a spark of fire in her voice.
His nose twitched at her. "Do you know what this is meant to be?" He gestured over to the garden with his hand.
"A garden," she responded. "Apparently not a very good one if it's got your leg all in a knot."
"Huh," he sighed at her. "Use your brain. A male and female demon walking together in a romantic garden. What do you think is supposed to happen?"
She stared up at him, almost dumbstruck when the realization hit her. "I... a date...?" she questioned.
She felt a little unprepared; unaware of what this was supposed to be. Did Father know what it was supposed to be? Would he have sent her off like that if he did?
"Yes, a date," he snapped down at her. "With a child..."
She took offense to that. "I'm and not a child," she snapped up at him. She stepped back over to where he stood, coming to stand right in front of him. Too close for her comfort, so it would be the same for him now. She looked him up and down ruefully. "I fought in the tournament. I bet I could take you."
He side stepped and then back away from her. "You lost to your brother almost immediately. You're a young, foolish child if you think that you would last much longer against me."
"I fought in the tournament, you didn't," she pointed out. "I bet you were too scared, so that's why you didn't fight."
"I would have fought if I had been allowed," he growled over to her.
She picked up on that. "Why weren't you allowed to fight? Did daddy tell you not to?"
He wrinkled his nose and stood up straighter. "I'm sole heir to the Hayato clan, and now it seems to the Demon World. I'm much too important to risk in tournament where I could die."
"You're much too full of yourself," she thought out loud. "Come on," she said, drawing herself into a fighting stance. "Let's spar. I promise not to kill you," she suggested.
"You'll only end up hurt and possibly crying," he told her dismissively. He walked over to a nearby wooden bench and slumped himself down on it.
She stomped over to him, standing in front of him. She felt her eye prickle, but she ignored it so he would not notice it. "I would not," she said, stomping her feet by his foot for good measure.
"You look ready to cry right now," he accused.
She was ready to shut him up, and words seemed like they were not going to work anymore. She punched him in the shoulder.
"Don't start what you won't be able to finish," he warned her in much too soft a tone to be taken seriously.
She punched him again, this time on the other shoulder. He stood up and shoved her hard on her on the shoulders. She fell back on the ground on her backside. He stood over her, looking like a mean dog more than anything in that moment. She kicked him in the shin stubbornly.
She rushed herself to her feet. She jumped at him, trying to tackle him. She failed miserable, but she did get him to engage her in a fight. It ended up with the two of them fighting throughout the front of the garden.
She had no clue how long she had been fighting with him before she felt someone else come up behind and yank her away from Prince Takashi.
"Oi, let go!" she shouted as she watched Prince Takashi get pulled away by his mother's guard. Ayane she thought her name was.
Hikari rounded on the person holding her, slamming her fists against this person's upper arm. Too late did she realize it was Mother... She felt like all the blood had drained from her body.
Mother grabbed her by the forearm, half dragging, half leading her from Prince Takashi. Her grip was strong and firm. "And just what do you think your doing?" Mother asked venomously. She looked at the top of her head. "You've got bramble tangled in your hair."