Chapter 11.
A faint knock on the door was heard, before a motherly female figure made her way inside her daughter's room. She smiled warmly, seeing her princess looking outside the window full of anticipation. The fallen snow last night was pretty on the window, and the little princess touched the window a bit to feel its temperature, before retreating her hand as she shivered slightly.
"Nazaiya, are you ready?" the mother greeted, her warm smile still on her.
Looking at her mother, the kid's eyes sparkled. "Yes!" she said happily, running to her mom.
Before long, the two then made their way out of the room, walked through the long hallways, and came to a door that led to the back of the castle.
As the door was opened, little Nazaiya's eyes sparkled with anticipation. The sight before her was amazing, with the snow covering the huge garden, making the pavement white and as if welcoming to be stepped on by her. Snowballs flew in the air, but stopped when she was on the door.
"Ah, our Nazaiya is here! Come and play~!" a boy older than her exclaimed, reaching out to take her hand.
There was another boy who was a bit younger than the other one, also happy to see their little sister finally came to play. They were welcoming her, as if they had waited long to play with the little princess.
Little Nazaiya quickly stepped outside and ran towards her brothers, smiling from ear to ear as she did so. She was bare handed, and the moment she touched the bit of snow on her brother's gloved hand, she shrieked slightly.
"It's cold!" she shivered slightly, before her brothers laughed at her.
"Here's your glove, lil sis." They put it on her hands, which she stared at in amazement.
"Now we can play in the snow?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Yes, let's!" the boys nodded.
Their mother slowly stepped towards them, smiling blissfully as she watched her children play. She touched her little stomach and let out a happy sigh.
"You'll be joining your brothers and sister soon, little one…" she whispered.
The maids and butlers and the back were happily watching the family. The only missing person at that time was the King, who was busy with the kingdom affairs and such.
"The princess finally could play with the snow!" a young maid whispered excitedly.
"Yes, after being told that she can't be in the snow since she was a baby, it was proven that she was fine after all…" A middle-aged maid replied the whisper.
An old butler who stood nearby frowned. "No… She's not fine…"
"Eh?" the maids was confused.
Right before their eyes, the little princess suddenly froze when she was trying to throw a snowball to her brother. The snowball fell on her little feet, and her body shook greatly as she collapsed to the ground. Everyone gasped in surprise, before running to their beloved little princess. The queen was so shocked, she collapsed right after. A wave of regret washed through her, as her head was spinning greatly.
The little princess almost lost her consciousness, as she lay on the ground and was surrounded by worried faces. Just before she could close her eyes, she heard a faint whisper; a voice of someone back when she was still so small.
"The ice is your weakness, my dear. Never come in contact to it, else your fate will change. And from then on, nothing can stop the fate for spinning its wheel, bringing you to where you will be one day. And you will meet someone - whose fate is also... within your hands to change."
With that, her eyes gave up and her sight was dark. She couldn't remember anything afterwards.
Waking up from her sleep that morning, Nazaiya couldn't help but groan at the extreme coldness. The dream she had was hazy and felt unreal, but she knew that it all happened for real, a long time ago.
A few minutes passed after she blinked a few times to get rid of the sleepiness, she realized that she was sleeping in a room alone, and she felt really cold while sleeping even though she was covered with a thick blanket. Pulling the blanket to cover up her body, she stepped out of bed and went to the window.
For a moment, she gasped in amazement. The sight before her was fascinating. Seeing the village houses, trees and almost everything covered by snow, she couldn't help but smile. She then slowly put her hand on the glass of the window, before pulling it back because of the cold.
She remembered the dream she had just now, as she stared right at the palm of her hand. She could still faintly remember the feeling she had at that time, where she fell in love with the snow. The snow looked harmless, but it ended up being a weakness after all. She clenched her fist, knowing that the dream was just to remind her of her childhood when she was really happy. But that was back then.
Just then, the room door was knocked slightly. She turned around to see who it was, as a tall, blond figure came in with a smile.
"Good morning, Nazaiya-chan." Fai greeted with his friendly voice. "It's time for breakfast."
She slowly nodded. "Thanks. I'll be ready in a bit."
"Are you feeling cold?" the blond asked, realizing the girl being adorably wrapped in her thick blanket.
"Yeah," she glanced out of the window, "but the snow sure is pretty. Very pretty."
"Yes, it seems so." He replied simply.
"Isn't your place cold, Fai-san? I would love to visit there, and look at the wonderful snow." She spoke, taking off the blanket and put it back to its place on the bed.
For a moment, he was quiet. His smile was gone for a second, as well. "But I'm not sure if you can handle how cold it was there, Nazaiya-chan." He mumbled. "I'll wait for you downstairs with the others, then."
With that, Fai closed the door with a smile. Nazaiya stared at the closed door, blinking for a few seconds. Did she say something wrong, perhaps? Because the face that Fai made was… unreadable.
When Nazaiya was ready and joined them for breakfast, she quietly ate as she listened to them still talking about the princess. From the looks of it, looks like the villagers are suspicious of them more than ever. Although it seemed tough, she was sure that the day would be a long, tiring day out in the cold village.
She followed them quietly as they went to the mayor's house to retrieve a history book, going through the woods to find the princess' castle and everything, and going back to the village and back in the place they stay by evening. She wanted to touch the snow with her bare hand, but the cold was overwhelming her. She felt terrible, like a weakling, as if she wasn't meant for the beautiful, pure white snow. She remembered her dream a while back, and probably that was the cause. The ice is her weakness.
After dinner, Mokona hopped on Nazaiya's shoulder just before she went to her room.
"Why is Nazaiya not talking much today?"Mokona asked worriedly.
"Still not used to the cold?" Kurogane asked.
She shook her head, before letting Mokona hop off her. "I'm fine."
"Nazaiya-chan," Fai called out, "is there something wrong?"
The said girl looked up at the blond, forcing a smile on her lips. "It's okay, don't worry about me. Good night."
With that, she went in her room, leaving the others in confusion in the living room.
The next day, Nazaiya woke up fairly early as the others. Realizing that Sakura was missing, they all gasped in shock. Syaoran was of course, more surprised and worried than anyone else.
"You foreigners, come out!" a loud voice came from outside suddenly.
Being fully alarmed, they heard someone stopping the one who was shouting. Probably the doctor, as they saw the doctor trying to stop the furious leader of the village who was stomping towards the group with his rifle. He pointed the weapon to the group, ready to pull the trigger.
"More children went missing! Seven of them this time!" the furious leader said through the hallway.
"Please wait!" the doctor defended, "none of them went out last night!"
"Where is the other girl?" The leader continued.
"She is missing." Syaoran replied.
"And you didn't notice that, doctor?!" the leader glared at the doctor.
"H-How could it be?" The doctor stuttered, looking down with regret.
Nazaiya stared at the doctor, suspecting him for a lot of reasons.
"Maybe the girl kidnapped her!" The leader said again. "Saying she saw the princess and all—"
Syaoran quickly kicked the leader's rifle away, sending it flying in the air. Kurogane caught it just in time, before taking the leader down and aiming the rifle to the leader's head.
"If you dare to use force," Kurogane spat, "you shouldn't complain if you were to die."
"Hyuu~" Fai cheered, "Kuro-pii is so awesome".
"Let go of me!" The leader struggled. "Aren't you guys supposedly involved?!"
Fai shrugged with a smile. "You won't believe us even if we say we're not involved, right?"
Nazaiya stood alone in the snow, right in front of the castle. After Dr. Hyde was revealed as the culprit of the kidnappings, everyone went to chase for him in the abandoned castle. Feeling weak for some reason, she decided to wait alone as to not let hold them back. Now she was waiting nervously outside, gripping on her coat and hoped that everything's fine.
As a sudden earthquake erupted on the other side of the lake, the castle looked like it would collapse any minute. Nazaiya held in her breath, waiting for everyone to come out safe from the castle. Suddenly, she saw a lot of people coming out of the castle and walked on the river. They were some of the villagers, children, and most importantly, Fai, Mokona and Kurogane. However, Syaoran and Sakura weren't with them.
As they came near, she ran to them and tugged on Fai's arm, asking where the two were. Sensing her worry, Fai patted her head like she was some kind of an animal. She was fairly shorter than Fai of course, as she was only slightly taller than Syaoran, which made her look like a kid for some.
"It's fine." Fai spoke with a smile, and Nazaiya blinked in confusion. "They'll be fine."
Though it took longer than expected, Syaoran finally came out just in time before the castle completely collapsed, with Sakura in his arms.
Right at that time, Nazaiya saw a glowing figure behind them, as if following Sakura. The glowing figure was Princess Emeraude, and she had a warm smile. Though Nazaiya could see her, the glowing princess only talked to Sakura, telling them that they were being followed by someone. And before Sakura could ask further, she lost her consciousness.
Back at the inn, they were talking in a room. Sakura was sleeping soundly, and anyone who seen her would definitely feel at peace. Nazaiya looked out of the window, seeing the happy faces of families reuniting with their children. The corners of her lips turned into a warm smile. She then finally turned her attention towards the guys who were talking.
"Since Princess Sakura was a child, she could see spirits." Syaoran spoke with a smile. "And even communicate with them."
"Wahh, can Syaoran-kun do that too?" Fai asked, tilting his head to the side.
Syaoran shook his head. "No, only the princess and the priest in Clow Country could do that."
"And Kuro-chan?"
"Who would want to see those things?" Kurogane answered, matter-of-factly.
"I don't have this power either." Fai shrugged. "How about Nazaiya-chan?"
Reluctantly, Nazaiya nodded. "I saw… the princess earlier as well…" she spoke, like she was scared.
"Eh?" Fai was surprised. "Then why didn't you say so, Nazaiya-chan?"
"It's not something I am proud of. Besides, the princess won't even look at me." She looked down, as if feeling uncomfortable. She felt like the ghost was very pure, nothing like the ghosts from where she came from.
A hand touched her shoulder, making her look up to the friendly face.
"That's an amazing ability, isn't it?" Fai asked, directing the question to Mokona on his shoulder.
"Yes, even Mokona can't see them! Only the black Mokona can see it." It puffed it cheeks in disappointment.
"The black meat bun?" Kurogane added, remembering about the other Mokona. "So you're useless after all, white meat bun."
"Hey! Mokona is trying the hardest!" Mokona jumped off Fai and tried to kick Kurogane with its little hands. Enraged, Kurogane took a pillow and flung it across the room. Though he was aiming at Mokona, the pillow's feathers spread across the room, and everyone dodged the little feathers.
Seeing the two, Nazaiya couldn't help but laugh. Fai eyed her from the corner of his eyes, a happy smile on his lips.
As if to run away from the rowdiness, Mokona jumped beside the sleeping Sakura, and notified everyone that she was now awake. Sakura then told them about when she saw the princess, and what the princess had told her.
Knowing that they were being watched by someone, Nazaiya's heart wasn't at ease. At all.
To be continued…