Chapter 2...

I don't own Princess Tutu or any of its characters. I do not claim any of it.

So how was my first chapter? I hope you liked it. Well, I don't have a lot to say right now, but uh....here's chapter two! Enjoy!

After Ahiru finished telling Fakir of the dream she had had involving Princess Tutu, he sat down at his desk and began thinking with his arms crossed. Ahiru stayed silent, for fear of interrupting Fakir's train of thought but as the silence drew on, Ahiru felt a bit awkward. "Um, Fakir?"

Fakir seemed to snap out of his focus and let out a sigh. Getting up from his chair, he walked over to the small dresser on the other side of the room and pulled out a white night shirt. Tossing it on the bed beside Ahiru, he said, "With what little information we have right now, I don't know what to think about your dream or why and how it is that you're a girl again. That's why, I think that we should focus on what we can do at the moment, starting with getting you something to wear." He pointed at the shirt and continued. "For now, you can wear that shirt. I'll go out to Raetsel's place and see if she would let you borrow anything."

Fakir turned around and headed for the door and as he left, Ahiru said, "Thanks Fakir." Suddenly he paused in the doorway. He stood there for a few moments, seeming to consider something, and then said, "....Welcome back, Ahiru." As Fakir closed the door on his way out, Ahiru smiled at him. Then, she turned her attention to the shirt beside her and slipped the blankets off her shoulders. Pulling the shirt over her head she looked down at herself to see that on her, the shirt was more like a night gown. Ahiru let out a little breath and looked out the window.

"I'm back."

Fakir was quick to return with a simple light blue dress and once Ahiru had slipped into it, they both decided that they should have something to eat. After Fakir had prepared their small meal and they were both seated at the table, they began discussing what should be done next. "I suppose we'll have to re-enroll you at the academy." At this, Ahiru was practically squealing with delight; On the inside, of course.

"Um, but...does that mean I'll have to move back into the dorms again?" At this, Fakir raised an eyebrow at her and Ahiru blushed. "Well, you see, I've been living here for a while now as a duck, so I just think that it would feel weird to suddenly go back to the dorms again." Fakir stared at her for a moment and then smiled slightly.

"Well, if I explained it to Charon, I'm sure he'd be fine with you sleeping here. We could put you in the spare bedroom upstairs." Ahiru smiled and continued eating her breakfast. "Of course, we'll have to clear it with the new headmaster."

"The new headmaster? It's not Neko-sensei anymore?" Ahiru asked. Fakir nodded. "That's right, I never told you, did I? Well, after the Raven was defeated, everyone went back to their true forms. All the people who used to be human turned back into humans and those that were animals to begin with returned to being a normal animal. As such, Neko-sensei returned to being a cat."

"Oh...I guess I really have missed a lot haven't I?" Ahiru frowned for a moment but then shook it away. "So, when are we going to the academy?" she asked in a more cheery tone. Fakir, who noticed the momentary lapse in Ahiru's bright demeanor, nearly sighed. "I suppose we should go tomorrow morning before classes start. Besides, I doubt anyone's at the academy on a Sunday."

"I guess you're right." Ahiru giggled. As the two finished breakfast, they stood up and began cleaning up the dining space. As Ahiru bustled about, carefully bringing the dishes to the sink, Fakir took a quick glance at her. Ahiru looked almost exactly the same as she was before except for the fact that she might have grown an inch or two. However, this was to be expected since it was only a year that had passed and, frankly, Fakir was glad. It meant that he hadn't missed much.

As Fakir stared at her, Ahiru noticed eventually and asked, "Fakir? Is something wrong?" Fakir jumped and then shook his head. "No."

"Then why were you staring at me for so long?" she pushed. Fakir forced down the urge to glare at her for her prying attitude and began washing the dishes. "I...I was just thinking that we need to get you a set of your own clothes." He thought up quickly.

Ahiru looked down at Raetsel's dress and picked at it. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I bet Raetsel would want this back eventually." Fakir nodded as he continued washing dishes. "I wonder if I'll be able to find my old clothes again. I really liked that sweater..." Fakir smiled slightly as she began thinking about it.

"Well, we'll head out after I finish up here. But I don't have too much money right now so we can only really buy one set of clothes and something to sleep in, alright?" Ahiru turned her thoughts back to Fakir and nodded with a bright smile.

Just as Fakir had said, he took her out to find her some extra clothes and much to Fakir's relief, it hadn't taken too long. Ahiru was rather quick to pick what she wanted. She had even found an outfit that resembled her old one, a yellowish turtle neck that was short sleeved this time and a pair of yellow shorts. They had also bought a pair of generic brown loafers as well as a plain white night gown. All in all, Fakir was also relieved that their purchases were pretty cheap. When Fakir had commented about it, Ahiru simply answered, "Well, I guess I'm not very picky." Typical.

Once they had arrived back, it was an hour or two past noon and Charon had decided to come home early. When he saw the two walk in through the door, it was clear that he was quite surprised to see a girl following behind his introverted son. "Fakir, you're home..." Charon smiled comfortingly at Ahiru. I guess Charon doesn't remember me...Ahiru thought sadly. "So, who might this young lady be?"

"This is Ahiru. She's a...good friend of Mytho's. You remember him, right?" Charon nodded immediately.

"Ah, how could I forget the Prince. I really do think that he should visit more often, but I suppose being a King now he has many duties to fulfill." Charon turned towards Ahiru and extended a friendly hand out towards her. "It's nice to meet you, Ahiru. But, what brings you here?"

"Ah..." Ahiru's eyes looked to Fakir for guidance. Ahiru didn't want to say something wrong in case Fakir already had a story planned.

"Mytho sent her here. He said that when he returned to his kingdom, he found that she was in hiding. Apparently some people were after her and he thought that the safest place at the moment for her would be far away, here in Kinkan. So he was wondering if we would take care of her for the time being."

"Oh, I see." Charon stared at Ahiru with wonder. He wondered why such a small girl who looked so innocent would want to be killed. "Well, it's a little last minute, but I think it should be alright for you to stay with us. I'll have the extra bedroom ready for you by tonight."

Ahiru smiled. "Thank you very much, Charon! Oh, and I promise I won't be any trouble!" Charon chuckled as he began making his way up the stairs. "Oh, it's no problem at all, Ahiru." Ahiru watched as Charon disappeared up the stairs and then sighed.

"Charon doesn't remember me..." Ahiru said sulkily. Fakir frowned and then sighed with a shake of his head. "Come on Ahiru, let's go help Charon with the room." Ahiru nodded and followed Fakir up the stairs. Fakir was right to have told Ahiru to help with the extra room because it was actually quite cluttered. The floor was gathering a thin layer of dust and the brown dresser on one side of the room had cobwebs hanging off it. The bed, since it was not in use, was simply a mattress and there were papers and cardboard boxes everywhere. Not only that, there were weapons and pieces of armor that lined one wall and Ahiru made absolutely sure to stay as far away from them as possible. However, once Fakir, Charon and Ahiru were through with it, it looked like an actual bedroom instead of a storage room.

After smoothing out the sheets on her newly made bed, Ahiru flopped down on it with a sigh of relief. "Wow! That took forever! I'm bushed." Fakir smirked and shook his head at her. "What are you talking about? Me and Charon did all the heavy lifting." Ahiru lifted her head and glared at him.

Fakir headed for the door to hide his growing smirk. "I'm going to see if dinner's ready." he said as he descended the stairs. He peered into the kitchen where the dining table stood and found that Charon was just setting the plates up. Fakir went back to the stairs and called, "Hey, Ahiru! Dinner's ready." Fakir waited a few moments before leaving the stairs to take his seat but when no reply at all came, he made his way up. "Ahiru?"

"Ahiru, what are you doing? I told you, dinner is-" Fakir paused in the doorway. Ahiru was curled up on the bed with her head snuggling into the pillow. It seemed that Ahiru really was tired from fixing up the room as she hadn't even taken the time to change into her night gown. Fakir smiled at her sleeping figure and quietly walked over to the dresser where the lamp that Ahiru had asked Fakir to keep, stood illuminating the room. He blew out the candle inside the lamp and went back downstairs to eat.

Ahiru woke up in a place filled with darkness, just as it was in her previous dream. Sitting up, she asked herself, 'Is this another dream?'. She stood up and brushed herself off. Looking around she grew worried. Nothing was happening, no one could be seen and the darkness still remained. "Hello? Is anyone here?"

As if answering her, a single spotlight appeared a few paces away from her. In the middle of that spotlight was Rue in the royal dress that Ahiru had last seen her in. The elegant dress seemed to sparkle in the light but it could not keep Ahiru's attention away from Rue's face. She had a look of terror in her eyes and her mouth was moving, but only slightly. Her lips looked as if they were forming words but no sound at all came from them.

"Rue? W-what's wrong?" Ahiru frowned. She moved towards her friend, wanting to comfort her but when she stepped forward, Rue fell to her knees and held her head in her hands. Her lips looked as if they were screaming now and her eyes were closed tight. "Rue...?"

Suddenly, Ahiru gasped when she felt an arm snake around her waist and hold her close against whoever it was behind her. Another gloved hand appeared from behind her and took her chin, twisting her head to look behind her. "M-mytho!?" Ahiru was almost glad to see him but when she saw his attire she began to feel uncomfortable. Her prince was not wearing his signature princely clothes, but the clothes of the Raven Prince. In his eyes, she could see that they were intense and held an evil glare in them."Rue doesn't love me anymore..." he said in an suspiciously calm tone and before Ahiru could reply to that, his hand moved her head to face Rue once again. As she stared at Rue's despairing figure in the spotlight, she felt Mytho's breath on her ear as he leaned in close. "She refused to get me any hearts to eat." At this, Ahiru stiffened and gasped as a sharp pain began piercing her chest.

Ahiru looked down at her chest and found Mytho's hands digging into her flesh, reaching for her heart. Ahiru was shocked by Mytho's actions and too consumed by pain to even think to scream. All she could do was turned her head to look at him, his mouth turned up in an evil grin and his eyes seemed uncaring. Then, as she began to fall unconscious, Mytho released her and she fell to the ground. As she laid there, she felt an emptiness in her chest and was barely able to force out her last words. "Mytho...why?"

"Ahiru! Hey, come on! Wake up!" Ahiru woke up with a start, panting and sweating and clung onto the closest thing, or rather person, she could find. For a moment though, she had no idea where she was but it soon came back to her that she had awoken in her new room. "F-Fakir?" Ahiru asked carefully as she gripped at the front of Fakir's shirt for comfort. Fakir had a worried frown on his face and asked, "What's with you, moron? You probably woke up the entire town!"

"M-mytho, he-" Ahiru began to cry and tremble as she remembered what had happened in her dream and at the reality of the pain. She wrapped her arms around herself to try and keep herself from shaking but with no success. Fakir really began to worry. It was clear that she was very distressed.

"Ahiru." He said, gripping her shoulders. "What happened?" Ahiru did her best to compose herself but the tears kept flowing. However, she had managed to stop shaking and lifted her head to speak. "I had another dream...but this time..." Ahiru shook her head with disbelief. "I saw Rue, and she was in despair. She was screaming, I know it, but I couldn't hear her...and that's when..." Ahiru gulped.

Fakir shook her gently and pushed her on, "What happened next, Ahiru?" Wiping away her tears, Ahiru answered , "That's when Mytho appeared behind me. But he wasn't himself! It was like when he was possessed by the raven's blood. And he told me that Rue didn't love him anymore because she wouldn't give him any hearts to eat." As Ahiru continued, her voice grew quieter and quieter and her trembles started up again. "And then...he...h-he ripped out my heart!"

As Ahiru began to shake again, Fakir found that he was speechless. What in the world had caused Ahiru to have such a dream, involving the Prince no less! But as she began to sob quietly, Fakir knew that although it could mean nothing, it was truly terrifying to her at the moment. So, with just a little bit of reluctance, Fakir pulled Ahiru in and wrapped his arms around her. "Ahiru..."

Well, there's chapter 2! Sorry if it seemed kinda weird at some points. Also, in the dream, where Mytho rips out Ahiru's heart, uh well, I got that from this fanart I saw in a youtube video. It was basically a slide show to the song 'Yochou' I think it is? Ah, for those that don't know, 'Yochou' is a song from Princess Tutu. It usually plays when dealing with dark secrets or stuff to do with the ravens, I think. I thought that it would really help convey my ideas for the plot. So, uh, since I've got nothing else to say, please comment and review!

Oh and, if you would like to see the picture, I'm not really sure if I should be posting links here so just go to deviantart and either look for InuLeeli or go to youtube and search, 'Princess Tutu OST- Yochou'. So...oh! And if I don't get anything posted by then, merry christmas!