A/N: Honestly, I don't know much about "Yamani's" (or Japanese) so I'll be making up a lot of stuff in the Yamani Isles. Bare with me.

Chapter 8: Almost Close to Home

Lana's next attempt to tour the city alone did not go by well. Lana had thought that in Damien's presently weakened state, it would be the best moment to try for her next getaway. Sneaky it might be, but being a princess with three decidedly protective brothers and usually guards upon guards to keep an eye on her, she learned that sneaky was sometimes best in some cases.

Sadly, however, she had underestimated how well her brothers knew her. Their next discussion lasted hours and with each passing minute Lana grew more frustrated at her time wasted but they would not let up.

"So what then?" Lana asked. "Did we come all this way to play it safe, do nothing interesting at all?"

"No, according to you we came for adventure. That doesn't have to mean forgetting how to be safe," Damien said, his voice tight but nothing else.

"Lana, honestly, would it really be that bad. We would only follow you--" Vincent tried to make it sound insignificant.

"Wouldn't really be that bad! What 'wouldn't really be that bad' would be if I could do this alone. But no! The two of you--" Lana clamped her mouth shut and sat down on the bed in the room they were having their private fight. She breathed very hard through her nose.

Her brothers, who had seen her do this before, stayed silent knowing that if they said anything at this very moment it could very well ruin the point they were making instead of helping. The silence continued except for Lana's breathing and then finally that too eased and she closed her eyes.

She stood abruptly. "Fine, come, I don't care. Be ready to wake up early, we are going to explore the town from sunrise to sunset."

Her brothers watched her leave the room knowing that in her own way, Lana was satisfied.

Lana walked a bit ahead of the rest of the group and they let her. That morning Lana had seemed to have dropped all of her anger and had one of her usual chipper faces on. That was until she saw that all four men in her party would be coming with her on the outing. She had thought only one or two of them would be going, not all.

As they explained it, Damien said he would definitely go, no questions or debate. Vincent went out of curiosity, to see what Lana was so eager to see. Leon didn't specify exactly why he was going but he did wink at her. And everyone just supposed that Zain went along because everyone else was going, though he stayed silent.

So when Lana went out of her way to get some space, they let her have it within reason.

Lana rubbed her arm. Not moments later she rubbed it again. She resettled her shoulders.

Her brothers watched her continued antics questioningly.

She rubbed the back of her neck and then scratched her head. As Damien and Vincent watched they noticed something wrong in her fidgeting. Lana did not fidget. Even when doing something unimportant, Lana seemed to go with a sense of purpose.

The two males in the royal triad shared a look of identical thoughts and sped up. Each on went to a different side of Lana.

"Are you okay?" Damien asked, speaking low as to not be overheard.

"Yes," Lana said. SHe looked up into his still slightly pale face. "Why?"

"You're acting . . . odd." Vincent said.

"Really?" Lana asked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you keep--" Vincent twitched over-dramatically. "fidgeting."

"Do I?" Lana asked just as her hand rose to wipe away the odd feeling at the back of her neck.

"Hah!" Vincent exclaimed, catching her wrist. "Like this!"

"Oh." And that was all Lana said, dropping her hand to her side.

"Maybe you have lice or fleas or something," Vincent said. He started to search through her black locks. Lana swatted him away.

"I do not have lice!" She hissed. "Its just--" She paused trying to find the right words. "I keep on getting this feeling, like something on my skin or coming off my skin or—or that its not my skin at all."

Damien grabbed Lana's wrist and shook the lank hand. "It's still your body."

Lana looked down at her hand when, not of her will, it convulsed into a fist. She unfolded it finger by finger very slowly. By the time she had her hand unclenched again the feeling had left her completely. Odd, Lana thought as a shiver ran down her spine, very odd.

Just then a small young woman bumped into Damien on Lana's right side. She muttered something like 'sorry' in Yamani and continued on her way.

Lana paused for just a moment. She turned back and grabbed the girl's arm.

She was shorter than Lana by inches. Her long hair was an odd highlighted brown not often seen on Yamanis. The hair looked like it could be nice but it was knotted and uncared for. The face was small and pretty with a pointed chin. Lana looked into her dark eyes as the young woman tried to struggle away.

"If you don't mind," Lana held out her other hand expectantly. The Yamani looked at her for a moment, searching for a possible way to get out of this. Lana tightened her grip just a bit but her expression never changed. She stopped her struggling and sighed. She handed over the purse she had stolen.

"Would you like to explain why you took the money?" Lana asked.

"Not everyone is rich." The girl said without emotion. "and without money how can I eat?"

Lana pretended to weigh the words for a moment. Then said. "True enough. Here." She took out some money from her own purse and gave it to her. "There's enough there to last you a few days, maybe more if you use it wisely."

Lana released her. She looked down at the money for only a split second before running off.

Vincent moaned. "Such a soft touch!"

"Oh hush. We ended up losing less than if she had taken Damien's purse completely. Besides she deserved something if Damien didn't even suspect." Lana said.

Leon made a face. "You shouldn't have given her anything. Common theft should not be rewarded."

Lana smiled brilliantly and didn't say another word. Zain looked back at the girl for a moment before turning and following his group.

True to her word, Lana kept them going until the sun started to set. They visited roadside vendors, small shops, large shops, anything and everything that captured Lana's fancy. When one of them thought about complaining Lana smiled and told them they were free to return to the inn at any time. For whatever reason none of them turned back.

It happened near the end of the day. Just as Lana promised, they were headed back towards the inn but got caught up in a crowd of people.

"What's going on?" Vincent asked in common meaning he was asking one in his group.

Lana and Damien both shrugged so he turned his gaze to Leon and Zain both of them made some sort of motion to show they didn't have the slightest clue either.

Lana pushed her way near the front. The people of the town had created two crowds on either side of the main road. Lana turned to the old woman next to her.

"Excuse me, what's going on here?"

The old woman, whose gaze had been locked down the road like so many others, glanced at her. "Princess Nozomi is passing through this town."

"Do they do this often?" Lana asked wondering why the name sounded vaguely familiar.

The woman shook her head not bothering to spare another glance. "No, she's . . . I believe on her way to Karucia for the arranged marriage."

Lana paused at that. Emereth's betrothed? That could be why she recognized the name. She waited with the rest of the crowd, letting the question of where her brothers were in the crowd fall away from her mind.

It wasn't too long before people began to talk louder and louder and bowing like a wave in the sea of people came her way. Lana peaked as far around the people as she could. It was easy to see the only people walking down that road.

A lacquered royal cart, or gosho-guruma, rolled down the main street. It was pulled by many young, strong men. More men, she guessed were guards, littered the walking space in front of and behind the holding place of the princess.

Lana smiled. It was an odd feeling to see someone who would be going back to the land she had come from, and not just that but someone who would see her family.

Suddenly, she was being pushed forward by the crowd of people behind her. The guards acted immediately, trying to hold back the excited people. The opposite side of the road moved forward too and more guards were spared holding them back. Most of the people looked just as surprised as the guards. When the masses continued forward the guards started knocking them out, one by one.

And that's when they struck.

Black clad figures came down from the rooftops. They landed near the gosho-guruma that held the princess. When they landed they looked like nothing more than black shadows on the ground. They took out the first two men holding the princess.

Lana tried to move out of her position so she could help but she was in the main throng of people being forced forward. Lana yelled, warning them of the danger at their backs but her voice was lost among the people.

"Will you shut up!" The guard brought down a wooden stick towards Lana. She grabbed his hand and twisted the weapon from his hold before she jabbed it into his lower abdomen. He fell to the ground groaning. Taking out one guard would surely be forgiven. Lana leaped forward, hitting the ground and rolling.

She kicked where the shadow creature's knee should have been if it were a human. She came into contact with something much like the stick she had taken from the guard. The shadow went down.

More of the shadow creatures fell down from the rooftops. Lana wasted no time in seeing their origin.

The men holding the gosho-guruma dropped it roughly and also fought of the shadow creatures. They would fall and after that, the eyes simply seemed to lose sight of them but it didn't matter because more rained down from above them.

One of the shadows fell on her in a swallowing black void. Lana gasped for air only to choke on nothing. She reached out and took hold of something very thin. She did the only thing she could think of and pulled it over her knee till it cracked. The blackness dispersed. Lana had no time to relearn how to breathe.

The guards finally joined in but that only added to the chaos. With them in the brawl, the crowd was free to push forward, which they took advantage of.

Sweat ran coldly down her spine. Amidst all of the confusion her body stopped, mer muscles ignored her orders and fell limp.

The feeling that her body was not her own returned. Her head turned like a doll's on strings. One of the guards had fallen at her feet, a glaive in his hand.

Lana's left hand reached out and grabbed it. From there, Lana's own consciousness moved back as another presence moved forward. She felt her body move, chopping, slicing, breaking. She also felt something else, a . . . a joy not her own.

Her Gift pulled out from its core. It wasn't the same as when she called forward some of it for spells, it was being stolen from her, used outside of her will. But it was still her body, still her magic. It flowed into her left arm. The arm shoved the glaive into the ground and with it more of Lana's Gift.

All of the shadows stopped completely, frozen not matter what their position. The people of the crowd paused in surprise.

That foreign joy sang through Lana's bones as her Gift spread through the ground and found people. At that moment, Lana could pinpoint exactly which people had the Gift and which didn't. Then her Gift did something Lana could only describe as twisting. It did something she had never known, never done, never thought of. When her Gift twisted the shadows vanished just as the ones that were hit did except this time it was all of them and no more appeared.

It was also at that moment that select people in the crowd and even one or two guards fell to the ground groaning, some even screamed. One scream in particular caught Lana's ears. It was one coming from the gosho-guruma.

Lana came back to herself and her hold on the Gift broke. The screaming stopped with it. She ran to the gosho-guruma but by the time she got there the door at the side opened and a young woman stepped out.

Even though she was gasping Lana noticed how beautiful she was. Black hair, as black as her own, was pulled tightly away from the oval face and decorated with flowered hair ornaments. She wore a smooth cream silk kimono with a rich brown obi. Swans flew up from the hem stretching delicate necks. One of the layers of her garb at her neck (that Lana admitted not knowing the exact name to) drew the eye with its deep orange color.

Princess Nozomi fell from the carriage. Lana reacted quickly and caught her.

"Sorry," She said softly in Yamani. "I don't know what came over me. The pain . . ."

She retracted from Lana's hold and stood straight. She stood scant inches below Lana, tall for a Yamani. It was then she caught the light brown eyes of the princess.

"I saw you," Princess Nozomi said. "when I peaked through the window. I believe it is you I should thank for fighting those things."

"Nonsense, your men fought." Lana said.

"You gave them time to react." Princess Nozomi said. "What is your name?"

"Lana," She answered instantly without thinking.

"Lana," The princess tried it out for size. "I have nothing to give but my thanks--" She stopped herself holding up one slender finger which she used to reach inside her sleeve. She pulled something out. "and this."

The Yamani princess placed something rather heavy in Lana's hand. It was a cuff bracelet made of gold with many delicate designs that would take Lana time to sort through.

"It was mine, now it is yours for saving me." That was all the princess said.

Her people ushered her back into the gosho-guruma. Watching her ride away Lana had the urge to yell for her to stop just so she could have a few words. So that she could tell her to tell her family that she was alright. But she wouldn't.

She watched the Yamani carriage continue down the main street of the city. Some went back to their homes and others helped the wounded. Lana was amazed at how efficient they did it all.

A hand came down on her shoulder, Lana jumped in surprise.

"Wow!" Vincent exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me you could fight with your left hand, too?"

Lana looked down at her left arm. The muscles already felt tired from the movements they had performed.

"I can't," She whispered.

A/N: OKAY! Wow. Long time no see, eh? I'm really going to try and get the next chapter out soon, it's probably going to be a short one but no worries! I believe I've got the next two or three chapters planned out. (so hopefully, no writers block.)

Once again, please Review! (Unless I've taken too long to update and everyone's given up! Lol. Which isn't entirely impossible.)