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Mikan Nogi, the only daughter of Yuka and Izumi Nogi and sister of Ruka Nogi, just turned seven and do you know what she got for her birthday? She got to move to another kingdom, another scary and unknown town, and the best was that she got to leave all her childhood friends she had, just because her father, Izumi had a job transfer to work for this so-called 'fantastic' Imai Kingdom. Yup, best birthday present ever.

"I don't wanna go~!" Mikan cried to her mom.

"You don't have a choice," Yuka retorted as she packed the fragile porcelain they kept.

They both were in the kitchen packing up the remaining silverware and valuable items in boxes, well Yuka was doing that while Mikan just whined to her that she didn't want to leave her hometown. The whole house were filled with boxes, with everything packed inside them. Today was the day they were to leave, and Mikan was going to give it her all.

"And besides you'll love it there. You'll get to make new friends, see new things, and there'll be a bunch of new foods that you'll absolutely love." Yuka reasoned as she finished the box and picked it up from the counter and headed toward the living room. Mikan followed at her side.

"But I don't wanna make new friends! I like the things over here! and I love food they make in THIS TOWN! I love the people, the stores, the trees, even the DIRT!" Mikan ranted, trying to convince her mother, but Yuka just chuckled.

"You're so funny, you can't love dirt." Yuka set down the box on top of a pile of crates.

"But I can, Oka-san!" Mikan pleaded. Yuka turned around to face her much beloved daughter, and knelt to the ground, so they were at eye level with each other.

"We're moving Mikan, no matter how much you try to tell us otherwise." Yuka said as she placed a hand on Mikan's shoulder. She gave Mikan a smile.

'I guess I'm at my last-' But Yuka interrupted Mikan's thoughts, "And don't even try to use puppy eyes on me, they're useless." Mikan gave a frustrated huff, and began to pout, knowing all her tactics were a bound failure.

"You know Mikan, the movers are going to be here soon. Can you call your brother for me?" Yuka asked as she stood up from the ground and began to walk away to the kitchen. Mikan replied in a quiet, 'Hai' and stomped over to the front door. She turned the knob and cracked opened the door before taking a deep breath.

"RUKA-NII, WE'RE LEAVING NOW! AND IF YOU DON'T COME NOW, THEN WE'RE LEAVING YOU!" Mikan yelled, putting all her anger and frustration in it. She gently closed the door before she let out a big sigh and walked back to the kitchen.

"Feeling better?" Yuka teased as she leaned on the counter.

"No." Mikan replied sourly.

Yuka smirked as she watched Mikan pout. It reminded her of how she pouted about moving to the Hyuuga Kingdom when she was Mikan's age, and now how she's glad that she did because if she didn't then she would have never met the love of her life, Izumi.

Mikan looked at her at the funny face her mother made, "Why are you smiling? It's not funny." She crossed her arms over her chest and turned her back to Yuka. She began to pout, again, as she rolled out her lower lip.

"I'm not laughing at you, Mikan." Yuka explained, 'But you are acting like a brat.' She told herself as she stared at the back of Mikan's head.

"Were, too." Mikan argued back.

"Fine. Want to know what I was thinking about then?" Mikan slowly nodded, but still didn't turn to face her mother.

"I was thinking that maybe in the other town ... you just might find your prince charming like how your Oka-san, here did." Yuka teased as she watched her daughter's ears flush red. Mikan whipped her head back to her mom, sending her brown curly pig-tails flying.

"Oka-san!" She yelled. Her bright red cheeks framed her innocent baby face. Yuka couldn't help but grin, she loved embarrassing her daughter.

"Mikan!" Yuka imitated. Mikan turned back around and covered her burning face with her tiny hands.

"O-oka-san so embarrassing." She muttered through her hands. Yuka chuckled.

Suddenly the sound of the front door slamming and a pair of rushing feet were heard, and the steps coming closer. Mikan jumped but Yuka remained still, not even looking to where the sound was coming from.

A nine-year old Ruka appeared at the kitchen door, soaking wet and gasping for air. His white collared shirt and brown knee-length pants was drenched with water and so was the tips of his blonde hair. It looked like someone poured a bucket full of water over his head but instead of soaking all his hair, like rest of his body, it seemed to only get the ends.

"D-don't ... leave ... without me ..." Ruka said in between breaths.

"We're not going to leave you, Ruka-nii." Mikan chuckled.

"B-but why did you say-"

"Mikan said that out of anger, Ruka." Yuka explained. "She was being a brat about moving to the Imai kingdom." Mikan gave a sour side glance at Yuka.

Ruka turned to Mikan and gave her a mean look, but she just chuckled. She ran over to Ruka and began to swing and tug on his dripping sleeves.

"Gomen Ruka-nii~." Mikan said playfully as she smiled at him. Ruka pouted and turned his head so he couldn't see her face, and vice versa because he was also blushing.

"Please forgive me , dear Ruka Nii-sama!" She said as she let go of him and backed away before giving him a formal bow. Ruka glanced over his shoulder to look at bowing Mikan, but still didn't turn to face her, still not forgiving her.

Yuka snickered, her children were an odd bunch, even though she adopted Mikan. "Yea, come on Ruru-chan~." Yuka teased, knowing he hated that nick name she gave him, "Forgive her."

Ruka glowered at her mother but gave in to her request because it was either give up now or face the other side of his mother. He turned back to Mikan and sighed.

"You're forgiven, Mikan." He said simply before turning to his mother and giving her an Are-you-happy-now look. Yuka gave him an airy chuckle and nodded. Mikan straightened up and ran to her brother, throwing her arms around his and head on his shoulder.

"Hehehe, Yay!" Mikan as her grip tightened. But with the sudden contact with his freezing wet clothes made Mikan flinch and let go of him and question: "But why is Ruka -nii wet?" She said as she titled her head to the side, cutely. Ruka instantly whipped his head the other way, trying to hide his face.

"I-i was saying goodbye." He whispered, embarrassed. "And I tripped in the stream."

Mikan gave him a confused look, "But why were you in the forest when all your friends are in town" Recalling that the only nearby stream was about a five-minute walk in the forest, two by running.

"I-i"

"Ruka has friends other than humans, you know Mikan." Yuka said as she entered the conversation once again. "He was saying good-bye to all the animals." Yuka explained.

Mikan beamed and began to hug her brother, not caring if she got wet or not.

"Ruka -nii's such a good person." She said hanging off her brother's shoulders. Ruka blushed, "Whatever."

"Ruka go and change your clothes, I wouldn't want you to get a cold." Yuka ordered as she looked and pointed to the door, "And Mikan stop hanging on him." So Mikan followed orders and Ruka exited the room.

Soon Ruka came back with a pair of nice warm clothes on, a white long sleeve tee-shirt and black knee-length pants.

A little later on the movers and Izumi came and began to move all the boxes and crates in a carriage, while Mikan and her family went into another, all much to Mikan's dismay.

The ride from the Hyuuga Kingdom to the Imai Kingdom was about a day's journey at the normal speed of forty miles per hour, but of course by the power of Alice. And throughout the ride, Mikan sat by the window either staring through it, bored, or just sleeping because of her boredom. But just because she was staring outside didn't mean there was anything interesting there. Majority of what you would see was forests that was about a few hundred acres, barren meadows, and maybe once in a while a few loner houses.

The trip was so long that they had to sleep a night on the carriage, without halt. And finally in the morning they had reached the Imai kingdom.

"Waaaahh~!" Mikan awed as she looked through the glass carriage window. Their carriage rid right through the central square of the city.

Several of the shops, market places, and food stands were all squished inside there, all fighting for the most costumers and money. You would think this competition would make everyone sour towards each other, but actually it was the opposite, it actually grew their relationships and made it stronger. By helping each other out and buying from one another. It was a strong rivalry type of friendship, and this kind of friendship held the kingdom together, and was evident.

Even Mikan could sense this friendly atmosphere, which she loved and reminded her of her hometown.

Many of the shops sold items that Mikan had never seen before, like different types of fish, jewelry, and clothing. Though there was that really caught Mikan's eye was a light pink-ish cloud like food. The food looked so enticing to Mikan. She watched as other people began to eat the item and smile, and that only increased her hunger for the snack food.

She turned to her mom, who was also looking outside the window from her seat.

"Okaa-san, what are those things they're eating?" She asked as she pointed at the snack food through the window.

"Howalon." Her mom replied as she watched Mikan's expressions.

"Howalon?" Mikan repeated.

"Mm. Howalon."

Mikan beamed, "Howalon!" She repeated as she put her hands in the air in joy and looked back outside to steal another glance at the food. She turned back around to her mother and began to tug on her sleeve.

"Okaa-san, can we go eat some after this?" Mikan asked as she put on her puppy eyes. Yuka chuckled.

"Yeah."

"Yay!" Mikan turned around to the window and began to observe the city once again.

They soon arrived at their new house in the Imai Kingdom. The was similar to their old house in the Hyuuga kingdom, 2 stories, brick structured, and the same retro look. But a few changes in the design, unlike the old house, the entrance door was a double french doors. And when you entered the building there was a twin staircase, which was rare for a house to have, that came down from the upper floor where all the bedrooms were.

Though there were many other minor differences between the houses, it still had the feeling of home. And because of the similarities and differences, Mikan instantly fell in love with the house, like her father did when he through the process of the choosing a new house for his family.

The movers helped move and transport the crates and boxes in the house, while Mikan and Ruka roamed the house and tried to pick what room they would want as they room.

With all the boxes in the house and rooms picked, the movers left the family to settle in their new house, as they moved on to their new job.

The Nogi family spent the rest of the day cleaning and settling into their new house, placing furniture, wiping windows, putting clothes in drawers, and sweeping all the unwanted dust through the backdoor or windows. By the end of the day everyone was so tired they knocked out early in their beds and completely forgot about getting Howalon, all much to Mikan's dismay since she was the only one who remembered.

The next morning Mikan got up early to explore the town. She changed from her pink flannel pajamas to a long sleeve white shirt and a mid-thigh pale red skirt. Her shirt had a crisscross sewing at the center of the neckline, tying everything together, and revealing her collarbone. And to complete the outfit she tied her hair up in her signature pig-tails and wore high knee socks.

After dressing she ran over to Ruka's room, which was just a door down and sneaked in, making sure she didn't wake him up. Ruka kept all his curtains closed and barely even a ray of light shone through them. Oddly, he had always liked to sleep in pitch darkness.

That's when Mikan stepped into his room. She took extra caution making sure not to trip over anything. She extended her hands out in front of her, trying to find the fabric of the curtains, a wall or anything stable to guide her.

When her fingers grazed the curtains she smirked. She glanced over her shoulder to see Ruka's bright blonde hair through the darkness, just a couple of feet away from her. He was sleeping peacefully ... but not for long.

She grabbed two handfuls of the curtains and yanked them open, exposing everything to the light. Then Mikan began to clap her hand in an upbeat rhythm and dance around Ruka's bed. Ruka moaned and pulled the covers over his head, not wanting to wake up.

"Get up!Get up!Get up! Ruka-nii~!" Mikan cheered as she made another round around his bed.

This time Ruka groaned louder as if he was telling her to shut up and go away. He began to squeeze his pillow against his ears, trying to block out the annoying sounds. Mikan saw this and stopped. 'Finally I can get some sleep' Ruka thought, not knowing she was still in the room. He began to relax in bed, enjoying the moment of silence. But no, Mikan couldn't have that happen.

She began to shake his bed and blanket saying: "Ruka-nii hurry up and get ready to go! I wanna go and explore the town."

As the blanket moved the cold morning air began to be exposed to Ruk's body, leaving goose bumps all over his skin. He began to rapidly rub his limbs, thinking it would generate heat but nothing was working. He had no more fight left in him, so he gave in to Mikan's request.

"Okay, okay. I'll go." Ruka said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Mikan instantly let go of the blanket and clasped her hands together.

"Really?"

"Yes, really ... Now get out of my room." He said sleepily as he shewed his hand towards her. She skipped to the door opening it and going only half way through before saying:

"Love you Ruka-nii!"

Blush consumed Ruka's cheeks. He dove his face into the pillow. "L-love you too."

Ruka kept his promise and came out of his room, dressed and ready to explore the new town. He wore a long sleeve white button-up shirt and a brown vest over it. He had cuffed the sleeves to his elbows, and had black knee-length pants and combat boots too.

He entered the dining room and began to eat breakfast prepared by his parents who were already up and moving, going around the house checking everything. Mikan was also there, wolfing her food down.

"Be safe!" Yuka yelled as she waved to her children as the ran out of house. "And don't talk to too many strangers Mikan!" Izumi said as he put his arm around his wife.

"OK!" Mikan yelled back.

And soon the two kids were out of their parents sight and into the heart of the kingdom.

"Do you think they'll be alright?" Yuka asked worriedly as she turned to her husband. Izumi smiled back to her.

"Yea. Besides they have each other, if Mikan gets into trouble Ruka will find a way to get her out. And the same goes for Mikan." Izumi reassured. "They'll be fine." He said as he began to rub his wife's shoulders.

"All we need to do is relax and make sure they come home on time. You know how Mikan can be."

"Yeah."

"Ruka-nii look! Look!" Mikan cheered as she stood in front of a shop, looking through its big wide glass window admiring the beautiful dresses and jewelry.

The two had run up and down the main streets of the central kingdom, exploring. Constantly stopping and looking at anything that seemed new or interesting to them.

"Don't they all look so pretty?" Her eyes twinkled as she began to eye out each dress individually. But Ruka only took a glance before answering her back with a small smile.

"Yea." The dresses or dresses in general didn't spark his interest, being a boy and all.

He set his eyes on what he was staring at before, a small white rabbit. The small animal was in a silver bar cage at what it seemed as a local pet shop. There were a bunch of other animals too, at the shop. Though the shop wasn't an enclosed shop that had a wide large window and selves meant for showcasing, like the one Mikan was looking at. It was more of a large stand that had a bunch of caged and fenced in animals.

The individual who seemed to own the stand had a parrot on his right shoulder and was constantly saying a bunch of statements to attract costumers.

Ruka began to listen to what the man had to say since the man's information seemed to be directed at the white rabbit this time.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, what we have right here is no ordinary white rabbit from the forest. This rabbit is a snow rabbit from all the way from the North Kingdom of Andou." He started off as he pointed to the caged rabbit.

"Though it is not pure snow rabbit. It is a hybrid of the snow rabbit and the emerald eyed spring feet rabbit, which is also from the north."

Ruka looked back at the pet in its cage. Indeed it had the main features of the two breeds of rabbits, pure white fur, emerald eyes, and long feet. Ruka awed at such a rare creature, for sure it costed a bucket load of money.

The more he looked at it, the more he wanted it.

He began to listen to the man's speech again.

"And today I'm going to sell this rabbit for" He paused for effect, "270 silver scons!*(see bottom for explanation)" Ruka almost fell over.

Sure he knew the rabbit was going to be expensive but 270 SILVER SCONS was a lot for a little boy like him could ever get his hands on. Ruka's face dropped, he had no sure chance that he would ever have that rabbit as his or even see it again. Since rabbits were a popular household pet just like cats and dogs.

He suddenly felt a light tug on his right sleeve, he turned to see what it was. It was Mikan.

She had just finished looking around the shop and finally got bored with it and wanted to go to a new store or place. She looked at her brother with her innocent, round green eyes. When he returned her stare she said:

"Ruka-nii, can we go now? I wanna see more stuff."

Ruka looked back at the rabbit once more and bit his inside lip, before replying back to her.

"Okay."

"Yay! Come on Ruka-nii, let's go!" She cheered as she pulled his arm forward. "We can also come back and look at the rabbit later." she whispered as she winked at him before running off in the said direct. She began to smile and chuckle a bit as she ran.

Ruka widened his eyes. He was left stunned. How did she know? Was she watching? He started to burn up at the possible scenarios.

"M-mikan!" Ruka yelled. He broke out into an all out run, trying to not trip over his feet.

Just a bit after the two siblings left, the owner of the stand put the cage the rabbit was in, on the ground and replaced the empty place with another caged animal.

Just a few moments from then a sudden cry from one of the kingdom's guards was heard.

"Stop!"

"You can't run forever!" said another voice, a guard's voice.

A little person came running though the crowd, from the direction the orders were heard. From what most people perceived the small being was a little girl, though it wore a body long, black cloak and a large hood that covered its face. Every time the being would put another foot forward to run, you would get to see a glimpse of a small girl's light blue skirt and a Mary Jane style black shoe, accompanied with long white socks.

And just a few seconds after seeing the young girl, they saw the two guards at her heels, chasing her.

The girl swiftly moved against the crowd, who was moving the opposite direction, taking advantage of her small frame. Unlike the guards who were easily stopped and had a hard time cutting through. Being constantly confronted with people, the guards could only get a few feet from her, at least, but never to touch her or even to grasp her cloak.

"You aren't going to get away!" The guard threatened.

The direction the girl and the guards were running was dangerously close to the pet stand and many other stands. If she would ever steal anything, it could be done without problems - that's if she was a thief.

"Dammit!" The girl cursed as she dodged the upcoming people.

She began to scan the area while she ran. her gaze seemed to stop at the pet stand. She looked back at the guards one more time, before advancing toward the stand. The guards, who noticed her look back, yelled:

"Freeze! Stay where you are!" and like naïve children, they followed her right into her trap.

She began to intentionally slow down; letting the guards the catch up. Once they were at the distance she preferred, she began to go into a full sprint. With her eyes set on the location, she smirked.

When she finally came face-to-face with the pet stand she unexpectedly pulled out the rabbit cage all the way into the street and continued to run. The guards had literally FALLEN into her trap. By pulling out the cage, the guards had tripped and crashed into the stand, knocking down other cages and getting tangled within each other.

The little girl smirked again as she watched the accident take place, before running off into the crowd.

A string of curses and groans were heard from the guards. The owner of the shop started panicking, now that his stand was destroyed and he had a couple of guards on his hands.

Ad for the rabbit cage it took a beating after being tripped over and kicked. The rusted lock that kept the rabbit trapped inside, had broken and the door was swung open. And without any witness the white rabbit had slipped out.

"I'm so glad that I got to move here!" Mikan let out a contented sigh.

The siblings were siting on the central kingdom's fountain. It was a big, beautiful fountain located a little off the main square. The two kids had explored and before they know it was already sunset. The sky was a nice orange and purple mixture and the town seemed to light up with all lights the shops had. Though there was many shadows it didn't seem scary for them to be alone, it only made the kingdom more magical, in their eyes.

"Oka-san and Otou-san are probably waiting for us." Ruka said as he got up. "Come on, let's go home."

Mikan began to pout but also got up "Okay" She began to walk.

Ruka let out a small smile knowing he didn't have to drag her home and followed her. Just then something caught his eye. A white flash. Even though it was just a half second and in the corner of his eyes, he caught it. He immediately turned his head to an empty alley but saw nothing, so he just brushed it off.

Ruka and Mikan were walking down the streets, trying to find home.

Ever since he had the incident with the white flash, Ruka's been on his toes, like it was just around the corner or alley. He knew he was being watched by someone or some thing. He just knew it! His nervousness almost brought him to insanity, looking around every second or so, like it was going to pop out and get him.

And Mikan was not in oblivion either. She had noticed his strange behavior awhile back. And frankly, it made her uncomfortable and uncharacteristically irritated. She swiftly turned around, while walking backwards. Ruka flinched.

"Ruka-nii, are you okay?" Mikan scrunched up her eyebrows as she looked up and spoke. "You're acting weird."

Ruka gave her a crooked smile. "N-no, nothing."

Mikan gave him a questioning look before turning back around. "Okay."

They continued walking the streets. Though the feeling didn't leave him, he tried to conceal it, with Mikan being suspicious and all. After a couple of minutes of being on his toes, he seemed to calm down. And tried to convince himself that he was just tired and he was hallucinating things.

As for Mikan she was humming to one of the songs they had heard a group of street musicians play. Her natural skip in her step made her curly brown pig-tails swings as she walked.

Ruka watched her from behind, focused on her pig-tails that ironically reminded him of the white rabbit's ears. 'I wonder how's the rabbit doing now?' He thought. 'Did someone buy it or is it still there?' As his thoughts wandered so did his eyes.

So emerged in his thoughts he barely noticed the white occurrence in the alley beside them. But lucky for Mikan, she did. She instantly stopped and whipped her hands out.

"Ruka-nii" She started to look around, "Did you see that?"

"No ..."

"Really? I swear I saw something!" Ruka broke out in cold sweats.

"You're probably just seeing things..." He said trying to keep his cool. Another flash came from the alley on their right.

"Look!Look, there it is again!" She spun toward the corner but nothing appeared. Mikan pressed her lips together. "Awwe, we missed it!"

Ruka gave her a dry laugh, "S-stop being so funny Mikan!"

"I'm not trying to be funny, Ruka-nii~! I really something back there." She pointed to the street behind them. "Come on, let's go see!" But Ruka blocked her way.

"Let's not." Mikan looked at him confused.

"And why not?" She asked curiously.

"B-because we don't know what it is ... and besides what if we find nothing, we would have just wasted out time instead of going home. You're eyes are probably deceiving you." He tried to convince her using one of his strongest voices at the moment but she just shook her head, not wavered by his words.

"There's something, Ruka-nii and I wanna find out!" She tried to rush passed him but he caught her wrist. Mikan looked at him annoyed and yanked on her wrist.

"Ruka-nii let me-"

"Mikan I don't think-"

Suddenly the occurrence came again in from the alley and seemed to popped out towards them. Mikan widened her eyes seeing the attacker and tried the avoid it but with Ruka on her wrist, only brought him head first with the monster. From the sudden surprise and impact he unconsciously let go of Mikan and fell to the ground.

Her large cloak didn't make her sight unreasonably worse or anything horrid, but it did keep her 180 vision away from her and it was kind of hard to run in. Occasionally she would catch herself tripping over it or a few things that didn't come in view.

Curing, the girl whacked the cloak for its inconvenience, though she shouldn't have since it was not befitting of someone her age to be saying things like that. She wasn't even double digits yet. But then again, she did a lot of stuff most people her age wouldn't even dare do. Like getting chased by guards, trolling those guards and having an illegal but not illegal weapon on hand.

But aside from these things, the girl was no thief. She regarded stealing like lying - hateful and betraying - but there were also times where she found fit that "borrowing without asking" would be needed. The thief idea was just a cover-up from the guards to conceal the real reason why they pursued her. If anything the girl was a runaway.

She stopped at an empty alley to catch her breath. She had lost the guards awhile back but there was no guarantee that they would not find her again. They were like blood hounds with a killer sense of smell, always finding her, no matter how much she tried to hide.

The girl looked over her shoulder once again, making sure the coast was clear for her to go out again. With her breath now steady, she smoothed her cloak and sleeves before coming into the clearing. She tried to step lightly making little noise as possible since her shoes would normally 'clank' against the cobblestone street. The street was nearly empty, too. That wasn't a good sign for her either, no one would be there to stall her pursuers.

The girl quickened her speed feeling like she was being watched. It was as if the shadows were closing in on her - or were they? Alices were nothing to underestimate or joke around about, when talking about power and capabilities. She turned around nervously. So she was being stalked.

One of the guards was at the end of the street, rushing toward her. 'The silent approach, eh?' she thought. She abruptly stopped and put her left hand on her right, making a shucking action. She swiftly turned around, twirling her cloak, revealing her violet eyes, short black hair and Lottie styled clothes to her pursuers.

Zoning in on the guard, she looked the target into the eyes while she raised her metal clad arm. The girl confidently smirked. And with one go she released a sphere into the air at amazing speeds through her weapon. The weapon practically screamed through the air. She didn't even wait for it to hit when she sprinted away from the scene.

The shot blew the man off his feet like an extreme dodge-ball match, hitting him in the pit of the stomach. He flew backwards and landed on his behind, knocked out cold. But he wasn't alone, his fellow guardsmen follow in pursuit of her.

"Wahhhh!" Ruka yelled.

The being had knocked him down on his back and the unfamiliar weight on his face didn't feel pleasant either. Not even mentioning the big round green eyes that had been stuffed in his face. The sudden noise made the being jump from his face to the ground. Ruka immediately hopped up from the ground and ran to Mikan. He grabbed her hand and started to run for his life. But Mikan didn't budge. She yanked his hand, making him face her unreadable face.

"Ruka-nii, it's a rabbit." she said plainly.

Scons - The source of money the kingdoms use. It's like dollars, yen, pounds, won, yuan, etc.

Hey, sorry I didn't update for a long time. I had some computer problems so i wasn't able to do so. (also sorry for the grammar or spelling mistakes ... if there is any) oh and sorry for the lengthy chapter.

I'm looking for a Beta Tester! Please tell me if you know one or are one, so I can get connected! Thank you!