The castle population was in an uproar, guards and servants running to and fro frantically looking for something.
"Kaori-dono!!" some called.
"Lady Kaori!!" Others yelled.
Kaori Ogensai, the head of the castle and the village down below, was missing.
The guards, the servants, even her younger brother were all running around chaotically trying to find the missing ruler. All without informing the people.
They didn't even try to look within the village people for their red headed Lady; they just assumed she never went down there since she didn't pass the guard at the top of the stairs, nor did the guard at the bottom see her.
No one ever thought to check the hidden panel Kaori had in her room, the one that led her to parts of the castle and to the village below.
"KAORI-SAMA!!" cried the throng of little children when I came around the corner.
I smiled at them. "Who wants to play a game?"
"Me!!" They cheered.
"Well then," I said as I put my hands on my hips. "You better start running or I'm going to get you!!"
The children screamed and laughed as the started running in different directions.
I took a deep breath and started to chase the children. This is where I wanted to be… Doing this was one of the few things that took my mind off the painful things in my life. I turned and chased after Umeko.
Umeko squealed and laughed as she wheeled around and ran off in a different direction.
"Careful!" I called after her as she narrowly missed being hit by a cart; Umeko just laughed.
I spotted Toshi out of the corner of my eye and rounded on him. "I'm going to get you Toshi-kun!!"
I laughed and chased the children around the village for hours. This is what I enjoyed the most… I loved being with the children…
"Kaori-dono!" A male's voice boomed; I froze.
"Damn it…" I cursed to myself but pretended I hadn't heard him and chased after Nami as she went around a house.
Suddenly an arm wrapped around my waist as I was inverted and thrown over someone's shoulder. "You've had the entire castle in an uproar, do you know that?"
"Probably." I replied as I huffed and rested my elbow against Seiji's back. "I was just having a little fun with the children."
Groans issued from the children's mouth as they watched Seiji carry me over his shoulder.
I smiled at them and waved. "I guess I got caught instead of you." I laughed as I tried to cheer the children up. "Don't worry, I'll be back later!"
They all waved. "Come back soon!!" some of them cried.
When I was out of hearing distance of the children I turned my attention back to the man that was still carrying me. "You're such an ass, you know that? I was just having some fun with the children."
"Yes but you didn't have to disappear on us like you did. Every one was going crazy. How did you get down here anyway…?"
"I flew." I replied snidely.
"You did not. Kaage is still in the castle."
"I have wings of my own you know." I retorted; that made him laugh.
"You can't fly with those. If you could you would have done it already."
"Jerk…" I grumbled as he carried me up the stairs.
"You could have just gone down the stairs you know. At least that way no one would freak out about it."
"Yeah but would anyone really let me go down to the village? I'm suppose to be their leader not their best friend."
"You're dad was both."
"But how often was he able to come down to the village? Not very."
"Point taken."
As he climbed the stairs, yes, still carrying me, I realized just how much I didn't even want to go back into the castle. I sighed as I resigned myself to my fate, knowing full well that I was soon about to get a lecture from Seiji or someone else.
"Oh dear god! You found her!!" Someone cried as they saw Seiji, and the backside of me, climb up the last steps. "Where was she?"
"Down in the village, just as I told you she would be. Little miss sunshine here pulled a vanishing act on all of us and won't tell me how."
I slapped him hard on his ass. "I am right here you jerk."
"Ouch!" Seiji bounced me on his shoulder.
"Oh don't! You're going to make me vomit all over your back!" I cried as I tried hard not to loose my lunch.
"It would serve you right." He retorted.
"Oh yeah, throwing up all over the backside of my capturer would TOTALLY teach me a lesson." I laughed then. "A lesson in revenge."
Seiji growled. "Well let's just see you do that vanishing act again when I'm guarding your door."
"You're such an ass." I whined since I knew full well I had no chance of opening up my hidden panel due to Seiji's hawk-like hearing abilities; he'd be all over me the moment I slid it open just a fraction.
"This just totally sucks…" I whined.