CHAPTER 24

OMENS OF ILL

The room fell quiet, nearly every eye on Ruby. However, nobody was more surprised with the revelation than Yukari. Her mouth hung open in shock, and her grip on Kasumi's shirt tightened so much her hands almost turned white. Ruby sat in the center of the room, nervous but determined in the face of all the attention. Her lips were clenched in a thin line and her eyes shone with willpower and the happiness of having a burden lifted.

Moka looked between the witch and the young girl. When she looked closely, there certainly were a lot of similarities between the two. Both had sleek black hair, their eyes were similar colors, and even their faces looked somewhat the same. In fact, Moka was surprised that she hadn't noticed the similarities when she first saw Yukari. The princess glared at them both in turn; this was a major problem, yes, but it was also distracting them from their original goal. Since Ruby was here, Moka was intent on utilizing the witch's magical powers.

"...Mom? Is she telling the truth?" Yukari suddenly asked of Kasumi, who had avoided looking at both Ruby and Yukari since the former entered the room. No response. "Mom?" Kasumi and her husband avoided Yukari's imploring eyes. "Mom! Dad! Answer me!" She commanded, tears starting to form. Moka couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl; how would it feel to find out that the people who raised you weren't actually your parents? And then have some complete stranger turn out to be your mother?

Reluctantly, Kasumi turned her head and looked at Yukari. She sighed. "Yes, it's true." She looked at Ruby. "That woman is your real mother. She gave you to us when you were nothing more than a baby." Yukari whipped her head around.

"Why?"

Ruby resisted the urge to look away, instead looking her estranged daughter directly in the eyes. "I was young and...I didn't know what to do. When I found out I was pregnant, I panicked. Witches weren't very accepted yet, and I had no way of knowing what they would do to any child I had. I didn't WANT to give you away, but I thought it would keep you safe. I gave birth by myself, and then I hid you. After a month, I went looking for someone to take care of you. I found the Aono's and well..." Rub gestured to the two adults, who had remained eerily silent while Ruby told her story. But she was not done yet.

"I always stayed close," Ruby continued, speaking p before anyone could interrupt her. "I presented myself to the Akashiya's, who took me in as their Royal Witch. I've alwas been close by, but I've been so afraid to get close to you." Ruby finally finished, looking at Yukari hopefully. The young girl slowly took a step away from Kasumi, then another, looking back and forth between her mother and the mother she thought she knew.

"You lied to me..." She warbled, sadness laced through her voice. "You all lied to me!" She turned and sprinted out of the room, sobbing. Ruby made a move to follow her, but Moka reached out and grabbed her by the arm. Moka recognized something in Yukari: the desire to be left alone. She herself had been like that for most of her life. Moka shook her head at the witch, who sagged in defeat, knowing that she would never break the vampire's iron grip. Moka thought for a second or two.

"Guards!" She called. The two guards standing outside of the room immediately entered, unperturbed by the overwhelming mess of emotion. Moka gazed at the Aono's. She felt bad for them; they had lost both of their children in a short time. She remembered how they had taken her in: they were good people, and they didn't deserve what was happening to them. She wished she could make them feel better, but she was horrible with feelings and helping people with them. The only thing she could think to do now was find Tsukune. "I want you to take these people to the dining hall and feed them dinner; after that I want you to do whatever they ask. Treat them with the same respect that you would treat me." The guards nodded. Moka gestured for Ruby to follow her and left the room.

XXXXXX

Moka cursed herself for calling on that idiotic werewolf Gin when she had somebody much better in the castle: Ruby. With her Crystal ball, she could easily hone in on Tsukune's position, and it would be easy to mount a rescue mission from there. Or at least that was the plan. Ruby was struggling to focus on the Crystal ball under Moka's scrutiny. They were in the witch's sanctum sanctorum. Moka was standing to the side, allowing Ruby to concentrate, but it was not an easy thing to do. Her emotions were all over the place, from jubilance ("Yukari has gotten so big! I'll bet she's made a lot of friends!") too sorrow ("She hates me now! What was I thinking, telling her that she's not really their daughter?"), and everything in between.

"Ruby!" Moka barked, losing control of her temper. "What's taking so long?" The witch shuddered: the last thing she needed was to get on the bad side of the Princess.

"Sorry Princess, I'm almost ready." All right Ruby, you have to focus! The Princess is counting on you! Ruby closed her eyes and cleared her mind, softly murmuring to herself the necessary incantation to see Tsukune. Slowly, she opened her eyes, now glowing with magical power, and gazed into the crystal ball. "I see… I see a castle. It is old, downtrodden. But there is an evil aura surrounding it. Someone…or something… sinister lives there." Ruby's eyes returned to normal as she straightened up, the crystal ball clearing up. "That is where Tsukune is."

Moka held her breath. It seemed almost too easy. "Can you tell me where the castle is?" Ruby nodded once. Moka smirked. Whatever was in the castle, they had made a grave mistake in kidnaping Tsukune. Moka was going to get him back.

No matter what.