Chapter: 3

Kept Apart

Finding The Opening To You

Broken smiles, of a broken childhood, and raised to be the queen of something she never wanted. That was the life she faced, that was the life she wanted to leave behind. She remembered crying hours, running her hands through her bubble gum colored hair, but now she's just to weak…she came to the conclusion a long time ago

There was nothing left but to submit…

Submit and escape…

The pink haired girl bowed her head.

"I want you to be able to control Hao, as his fiancée, you should have no trouble in accomplishing that. I want you to go after him!" Asakura Mikihisa, lord and head gave her the order. Of course, she did not want to, but what other choice did she have.

"We have no doubt that he will be showing up to the palace in Izumo soon, so, it's up to you to go there, and be dominating. The second born also has a fiancée by the name of Anna, she controls and trains him as far as we have heard" Yoken spoke as he stood next to his son, an angry expression on his face. "Hao needs to learn his place, and as his soon to be wife, you have to make sure he learns it, and soon!" he was demanding her, they both were. They were sealing her fate and she had no right to object her lords.

"Yes, my lords" she said in a low and meek voice, even if she meant to be stern. Silva being witness to all this shook his head and stood in front of the small woman.

"Are you both mad! Hao will not hesitate to kill her if given the opportunity!" Silva argued, making the scared woman behind him even more scared. She flinched and fear washed over her eyes. What was she going to do? Was she really going to be capable of controlling someone as wild as Asakura Hao himself?

"Don't argue with us Silva, you know better than anyone that a vampire would not attack its intended mate!" Yoken argued.

"As if Tamamura is his intended mate!" Silva yelled once more "I doubt that such a person even exists!"

"Silva, hold your tongue!" Mikihisa spoke this time, a mask covering his face. Mikihisa of course had a beautiful face, but he delinked it, so he would wear his mask.

"I will not, if it means saving the lady's life, can't you see, are you both blind!" They glared at Silva. He was not really related to any of them, he was more of Hao's guardian when he was younger, but Hao had soon left. Silva then left in search of him, and they all learned soon that he had become the guardian of the second child, but that child too had ran away after a while. Now Silva was bound to stay here.

"If you care for her life so much, then Tamamura, you can take him with you on your journey. He will be your guardian now"

"WHAT!"

"Yes, as you say my lord" Tamamura said like a small play doll with no life. She glanced at Silva, her dark violet eyes glowing and then he was under her spell. For someone so meek and un-brave, she had great powers and a locked in temper that could match Lady Ana's any day. Thing was Tamamura had more heart, and she could feel other's pain, after all she was half vampire and half witch. Anna on the other hand was full witch, but even so, she never wanted anyone to be in pain.

"Alright, Go to the land of Izumo" She nodded her head.

"Yes my lord" and with that she turned on her heals, and began to walk to her room. Silva followed her, step for step. She grimed once she was in the safety of her room, a frown marring her beautiful face. She started to quickly pack a bag of the things she would need, for light traveling. "What am I going to do, there has to be something that can be done. All Hao wants is to not be forced to kill his twin, or be told what to do..." She sighed and shook her head.

Soon she was packed, and she spread out her hands Soon a shower of Sakura blossoms danced around her and surrounded her, soon turning into a harsh tornado and vanished within it. All the way to the land of Izumo.

Twins…

Exactly what did it mean? To be a part of someone else, perhaps. Was he just half of the person he knew as himself? Maybe not. He was still an individual, someone born with a built in playmate. One he never got to meet, and one that it seemed impossible to meet. The night was fresh and clear, starts cover every inch of it and somewhere out there, his twin was watching these same stars as him. Yoh sighed as he closed his eyes…

Suddenly, something deep within him pulsed, and stole his breath for a second. He sat up, clutching his chest, tears at the edges of his eyes. "What was that?" He whispered to himself and looked up, his eyes widened as clouds moved over the sky and covered the moon, but not completely. The light penetrated the cloud and then light rain reached down to touch his cheek in a single drop. "It's raining," he said, breathless.

His eyes closed once more, and for the first time in so long. Yoh cried.

As he opened them again, the night was clear again and the sky was once again cloudless. It made him feel confused… "What was that?" he asked to himself.

"Yoh" Wiping away the tears, Yoh stood up and got ready to greet Ana. The blond female was soon before him, in her small black dress and a red scarf around her pretty neck.

"Yes Anna?" He asked a smile on his lips. Despite the fact that he was not fond of her, he was still polite to her.

"Come inside," she said in a hostile manner "your friends are in the plaza" Yoh looked at her confused and then she was gone, in a flash of blue light that was created from her beads. A witch with style, Yoh had to say.

It was the middle of the night and the streets of Northern Lights were empty. All life had left it, and there was no light around for him as he walked under the harsh rain that drenched him completely, even in his warm poncho. But he had to travel this rode if he was ever going to find what he was searching for "Lord Hao, it is raining too much!" The little girl beside him suddenly giggled and twirled in the rain "Opacho likes it"

Hao smiled sadly "I am glad you enjoy it Opacho" And then it suddenly all disappeared. He stopped walking and looked up at the sky when he felt something in his chest pull, hard. It was almost as if it had stopped raining, but the cold wetness of it kept him there. He shook his head and kept walking forward. He had to find Izumo, and meet his twin before any one of them decided to land the first punch. "Let's hurry," he told the small girl who was facing the crying sky and trying to capture the drops into her mouth.

"Yes, my lord!" She started to lead the way again, skipping as she did so. Hao looked around, wondering exactly the opening to come into Izumo without being noted would be. "This way my lord" Opacho called and he looked at the shrine.

He nodded his head and walked inside. Once they were there, Opacho stopped all her movement and looked at the statue there. It was in the image of a beautiful woman, one he did not recognize, and it was a marble white. That was not what got his attention though, the red ruby in the middle of her forehead did. He gazed at it and Opacho turned to smile at him.

"It's here! It is called the iron maiden Jane, she is usually protected, but there seems to be no one here right now" Opacho said, she looked around as if waiting for someone to attack them, but Hao could see that the small witch didn't feel anyone or any danger. He himself looked around and felt nothing…it was strange. No one ever left gates ungarded. Opacho turned to him and tugged at his poncho "The stone changed to your color my lord, it recognizes you"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hao asked.

"It means that you are welcome to come into Izumo" Opacho said and then bounced her way near the stone. Hao followed her and walked near it. He was still not sure on what he needed to do. So far, as Opacho had said the stone recognized him, no one had been alerted. That could be the answer to why there was no one here at the moment "Okay" Opacho said, "Ask it to let you in" Hao nodded his head and walked closer.

"Let me into Izumo" Hao said, and the stone started to glow. Opacho clung to her master's side, and then she started to chant a spell.

"Augh" she faltered.

"What's wrong?"

"There is a strong witches spell on the gem, it has like it will let you in, but not without the proper words" Hao frowned. "Also, it's a way to trap you my master" She said. She was angry, who ever caused the spell wanted to seal her master away, but she was not going to allow that to happen.

"Can you find a way around it or a way to break it" Opacho nodded her head once again.

"Let me try" She said and then closed her eyes as she started to say something in a low voice "welcome the prince as he returns, allow the gates to open once more" In a different language.

In the land of Izumo

"Yoh" Was the greeting as he got inside; the summer night was nice around the plaza. The winds seemed to dance around the dashing screens of fire that rose on each edge of the room. Yoh always found this place to be somewhat calming for a plaza, where people just hanged out. And as Yoh had heard before, there was going to be a party here soon. That saddened Yoh a little, since it felt like it was going to disrupt the atmosphere.

Yoh finally looked at his friends and grinned "Hey guys" They all frowned at him though, making him feel uncomfortable. After a while of trying to act laid back, he decided to just give up and turned his back on them. He was about to leave when one of his friends told him something that made him falter in his steps.

"Don't turn your back on us, your highness" Ryu said, the first one to try to break the tension. "You will regret it if you do"

"Don't" Yoh spoke, his tone becoming serious "Refer me to as someone higher than anyone else" Yoh suddenly looked up when he saw the blond puppet the belonged to Anna as it stood before him. "Hanna" he said. Behind him, all his friends flinched, that was one puppet they were scared off and they could not figure for the life of them how Yoh was able to talk to it.

"Guess what!" The boy said.

"What"

"You are going to have some training, right now!"

"Huh"

"And your friends are going to be all your targets" the boy grinned and Yoh looked over his shoulder to all of them. That was what all the tension was about. He shook his head and was about to tell Hanna something when the puppet jumped up and patted him on the head, it then pushed him forward. "Go on; attack them with all you got!"

"This is some sort of joke right…" Yoh backed up "Guys"

"It is not you knucklehead!" Ren hissed, displeasure dripping from his voice "Now prepare to get demolished!" Ren made the first movements, running towards Yoh with a feral intent to rip out his throat. Yoh moved to the side, nearly losing his balance as he crouched down on the floor and then he jumped up when Ren's weapon came down just a couple of centimeters from him. Yoh was shocked when his other friend brought out his weapons.

"Stop it!" Yoh hissed, he had never expected this to be what had welcomed him back home, well at least when it concerned his friends since he had not seen them in some time. Anna had said that they were all here; he just thought they talked and catch up. He never expected to fight them.

"Come now Yoh, you are making this all too easy!" Ren sneered.

"Hey!" Horo yelled all of a sudden "Allow me to come into the action, Yoh I will defeat you!" Horo collected magnetically blasts into his hands, collecting the water in the air to create ice into the palms of his hands. Long Icicles, sharp as knifes and Horo was ready for his first attack. "Hyaaaa!" he said as he lounged the icicles, and then with his already, drawn weapon moved to land a hit on Yoh.

Yoh just kept dodging and moving in a way that was confusing them a little, but they were not going to admit it "I am sorry for this my lord" Ryu said, as he too went to attack the person he admired, and loved the most. Yoh was the master he would die for, and if he must battle him to help him improve and defeat his evil brother, then he would. Anything to see his master come out on top and rule this land!

"Ouch" Yoh said loudly as he was hit by Ryu's wooden sword, that had come out of nowhere. Yoh was down, on his stomach. His head lifted to see that they were all coming to him and that was when he vanished. Loud crackles and crashes filled the air as Yoh manifested himself once more, but this time at the balcony top, where he sat at the railings of the stairs that led to the huge palace.

That had been close, Yoh thought to himself.

It took them a while, but they soon spotted Yoh "Hey, how'd you do that?" Horo yelled, "That is so unfair!"

Yoh was angry now, he jumped down from where he was and the others prepared, but he was gone before he reached them. "Where'd he go" From behind, he kicked Ren and sent him flying into Ryu who somehow managed to hit his head with his own sword. Yoh swiftly moved and managed to hit Horo on the side as well, just as the blue haired vampire was moving over to him.

"Damn, that hurts!" Horo yelled.

"This is getting ridiculous"

"Yes, Ren, it really is" Yoh said, as a swirl of leaves surrounded him "Why don't we just drop all of this and go outside to watch some clouds"

"Never you dolt!" Ren hissed, feeling even more annoyed that Yoh was enjoying this ordeal more than he was "We will finish this, until none of us stand! GYAAA!" he yelled and charged towards Yoh. The leaves sharpened and then shot towards Ren, cutting him and pinning him to the floor. Ren gasped. He was no longer able to move, and before his eyes, darkness seemed to consume him. Before he knew it, he blacked out for a while.

"Ren!" Horo yelled, and then charged towards Yoh as well. He was furious and he was going to make the Asakura pay. Horo smirked when he got closer and closer, he was going to hit Yoh and take him down.

"Say your prayer Asakura-AAAAAH!" A dark hole appeared under Horo's feet and he sunk down into it, only his head to be seen. "When did you learn to use this kind of magic?" Horo was envious. Yoh looked down at him, with a soft look on his face, a smile that sent chills down Horo's spine. Yoh looked so kind and soft, and yet it looked like he could promise pain.

Ryu ran towards him but dropped to his knees yelling a loud "IM SORRY!" The grown man sobbed, "I never meant to hurt you my lord, please punish me, whip me, and do anything to punish me" Yoh sighed and shook his head.

Ren had blood running down the side of his lips, the metallic taste in his mouth being the first thing he felt as he came back to. He slowly started to sit up breathing heavily "Is that all you have Yoh, you are still weak!" Ren laughed and was about to get up and run towards Yoh when the ground around him vanished. Yoh looked away from all of them. He was well trained, but he never acted on it, he always just wanted to keep the peace. He never wanted to hurt anyone. A hole soon appeared around Ryu and he trapped him as well. He knew that trapping them like this diminished their power.

"I am going to go see Anna," Yoh said, he grinned then "I hope you enjoy being heads for the mean time" He walked out of there, with a hard look on his face. First she threatens Manta's life, locks Admidamaru in a spell card, and then she tells his friends to attack him. It was enough already, he could only take so much from the woman who wanted to be his wife.

He did not love her.

Therefore, in his logic, he could not marry her.

Before he completely can leave the plaza, she stands there in front of him, and this time she has a pink haired girl with her. "Yoh, this is Tamao Tamamura, your twin brother's fiancée, she believes that he will be coming soon. Also, it is going to be your welcome back party tomorrow night. We need to prepare a ball in your honor."

"What" Was all Yoh was able to say.

The pink haired girl eyed him, his short hair, his serene eyes, his features so much softer than Hao's. It made her nearly blush when he spoke and then his eyes looked at her. Yoh on the other hand forgot what he was going to tell Anna and his attention focused on the new girl.

"You are my brother's fiancée, you must know him!" He said, happy. Anna was about to say something but Tamamura said if first.

"I don't know him so well; I grew up around him since I was eight. He then ran away," She shrugged. "Since then, I've only seen him once and he attacked us"

"What's his name?" Yoh asked with excitement, that was all he wanted to know. That was all that it would take for the clouds to point out the way of his brother as well. Nature itself spoke to Yoh, and he knew…he just needed his twins name though.

"That's enough"

They all turned around with a gasp to face Yoh's grandfather. Yohmei. "Go to your room and get some rest Yoh, I will speak with Tamamura" Yoh was about to argue but when he saw the anger in his grandfather's eye he nodded his head and then walked away. There was no arguing with the old man, especially when Yoh was aware that he had crossed the line in asking for his twin's name. It made him feel like life was unfair. All of this was so insane, he needed an escape.

Yomei turned his sharp eagle like eye to the girl with pink hair and Anna understood to leave. She had been dismissed when the man waved his hand towards her in a shooing motion. When they were all alone and he knew no one could hear them, Yomei spoke to the young girl "Now, tell me, is he really coming"

Tamamura nodded her head even though she could also feel herself shaking "Yes, Lord Mikihisa and Lord Yoken asked me to come here and try to stop him as well as to warn you of the danger he might pose. Since not even they can control my fiancée" she said, "He might want to break the witches seal to come here, he had made it clear that he wants to see his twin brother"

"There is no way that he could break that sort of seal is there?"

"No, but if my lords were worried enough to send me here, then we might want to do something because Ha…well he, read master Yoken's mind and he might know a way to get in" Yomei nodded his head at the same time thinking that his son in law was an idiot.

"We can't let him in Izumo, and soon we'll have to go and send Yoh to look for him, but war cannot be started here" Tamamura nodded her head at those words. She had to be strong, and she had to learn how to control Hao.

That was why she was also going to get some training from the full witch, Lady Ana.

Back to Northenlights

Hao watched as Opacho's eyes went from their doe black color to a blank state and she concentrated hard as she chanted her counter spell. He knew that it would be bad for him to break her concentration, for it could crush her mind right now that she had so much pressure on it. He could hear the rain outside soaking the ground still, coming in a loud and heavy fall. He could feel something within him grow restless as he gazed at the statue that held the passageway to get into the land where his twin was currently in.

What was it that they were hiding so much?

For all he knew, the boy looked like him. The fire within his eyes blazed and the room became brighter as Opacho's chanting came at a faster pace. Words were jumbled to nothing but low murmurs and he could feel something fill the room, a pressure that somehow finally exploded around them. Hao watched as Opacho's eyes became half lidded and all magic seemed to dissipate all of a sudden. "I didn't break it," she said.

Hao walked over to her, and picked her up.

"Couldn't you?" he asked. She shook her head, her eyes still blank with no real way to see out of them, but he knew that she still could.

"I could, but then they will suspect Master Hao. We can pass now though, but we only have a small window of a minute" he nodded and turned to the statue.

"Let me into Izumo," he said, this time in a flame tongue that no one else would understand. A red warm opened. Hao quickly ran through it, and then he was quickly sucked into it, as it pulled him all the way to the other side, to another world.

Opacho gasped.

She had been knocked out in the process, but they had made it, and the seal was still on. No one would or could suspect that he was here now. Clutching the small girl close to him, he looked at the land he had never had the pleasure to see. The land where he would find his twin brother.

"Well, it's now or never" he said to himself, his wings coming out of his back and he flew into the warm black sky that was filled with stars and seemed to wash away with clouds.

Yoh had finished bathing when he felt something in the world change. He glanced out the window of his balcony and looked at the sky; it remained a constant dark color. "Tomorrow" he said, "Tomorrow should bring something new, I just know it"

'Not only that...I can feel it'

Hey there everyone! I hope you are still liking the story. I have so many things in my plate, and Also I just checked out some books. I'll up date again as soon as I can...Well, I might as well add another Chapter to This love, to keep you guys a little off what will happen next. Well, see you around!

Please review.