And here's another chapter of Tsubasa Grimm chronicles. Today let's take a look at the tale of Rapunzel, shall we?
A long time ago there was a kingdom that was ruled by a King named Eriol and a Queen named Tomoyo. Despite the peace and prosperity of their kingdom they were sad because they had no child to become heir to the throne. Desperate, they sought the assistance of a wizard named Fai who told the King and Queen of a magical cherry blossom tree that should the queen eat a flower from the tree she would be able to bear a child but warned them of a witch named Yuko who was often seen near the tree.
Eriol sent three of his best knights to retrieve a flower from this magical cherry blossom tree and in three days the knights Kurogane, Kusanagi and Shogo returned with a flower from the very tree Fai spoke of. After consuming the flower the Queen soon discovered she was pregnant and soon gave birth to a beautiful girl with light pink hair so the queen named her Sakura after the very tree that allowed her to have the child.
However, the witch Yuko soon heard of the queen's child and of the three knights that had stolen a flower from her tree so she decided she would not let these thieves go unpunished so she used her magic to find each of the three knights and changed each of them into the animals that she thought suited them best. Kurogane was changed into a black horse because of his noble demeanor and his rash personality. While Shogo on the other hand became a grey dog because of his loyalty and his desire to be surrounded by others. And finally Kusanagi was changed into a chameleon because of his quick wit and his sly fighting style while the witch Yuko made her way to investigate this child that had been born because of her tree's flower.
Yuko soon discovered that the child had even more magical power located in her hair than that of the entire tree so she stole the child and used her magic to transport them to a tower far away from the castle. However, unknown to the witch she had also brought Kusanagi who had used his newfound ability as a chameleon to make himself invisible and watch over the young princess in the years to come.
For sixteen years Kusanagi watched over Sakura as she grew older and more beautiful as the witch Yuko made sure that Sakura's pink hair grew longer and longer until it was longer than even the tower's height. In that time Kusanagi had managed to investigate the entire tower and soon discovered that the only way out of the tower was through a window that was too far up for the princess to climb down unless she used her hair like the witch had done when she wanted to leave or enter the tower.
Kusanagi had tried many times to convince Sakura to leave the tower by leaving pieces of the outside world such as leaves or flowers around the tower but every time Sakura asked her 'mother' if she could leave the tower with her Yuko would only tell her that the world was full of horrible things that would try to harm her and her only safe place was the tower.
Kusanagi had begun to give up hope until one day the witch Yuko had left saying she would return in four days in order to obtain some supplies a thief named Syaoran had managed to climb up the tower in an effort to hide from a group of soldiers from the very kingdom that Sakura had been stolen from. When Syaoran had climbed up with his stolen goods in a sack he was quickly knocked unconscious by none other than Sakura who had then tied up the boy with her own long hair.
Sakura investigated the very sack that Syaoran had been clutching and Kusanagi was shocked to see jewels that had belonged to the King and Queen and even the tiara that rightfully belonged to Sakura in that very sack. However Sakura had no idea what the jewelry was for so while she was investigating the tiara Kusanagi had decided to reveal himself to the young princess and pointed to her head to which she put it on and it fit her perfectly.
Sakura began to question the chameleon's strange and almost human-like behavior but just then that the thief Syaoran had begun to awaken from his brief sleep to which Sakura quickly put the jewels and tiara back in the sack and hid the jewels as Syaoran begged Sakura to let him go free. It was then that Sakura came up with a plan to allow herself the chance to see the outside world so she struck a deal with the thief, if Syaoran agreed to escort her for three days then Sakura would give him back his sack full of jewels. Naturally, Syaoran was completely against the deal saying that the king's men were after him but the thief decided he had no choice but to agree to her deal on the condition that they make sure to avoid the king's soldiers to which Sakura agreed.
After untying him Syaoran and Sakura were both able to use Sakura's hair to escape from the tower and they traveled through the woods on the first day while Syaoran made sure not to reveal themselves to any remaining soldier from the kingdom. In that day Sakura asked Syaoran many questions about the outside world and all the monsters that were in it but Syaoran just laughed asking the young girl where she even heard that kind of nonsense.
Sakura explained that her mother left her up in that tower told her about all sorts of horrors that existed in the outside world that all wanted to kill her especially for her hair but Syaoran explained that there was no such creature that existed like the ones she described. Sakura pondered this for most of the day until they came across a sign that led back to the very town where the castle was located. Syaoran insisted that they go anywhere else but Sakura would not let the thief talk her out of it so the thief agreed to go to the town on the condition that they go the following morning to which Sakura agreed.
As the sun began to set Kusanagi had secretly been following the princess and as the two made shelter he ran off down the road towards the castle hoping to both bring the thief to justice and bring the princess back to the castle where she belonged.
The next morning Syaoran and Sakura awoke and were about to leave for the town when Syaoran had decided to cut his hair very short to hopefully help make himself look more inconspicuous and suggested Sakura do the same and cut her hair short but Sakura told him she would only braid her hair and nothing more. As the two made their way towards the town Kusanagi had run into Kurogane who was still a black horse but luckily since they were both animals they could understand each other as Kusanagi explained that he found the princess and a certain thief.
Syaoran and Sakura arrived in the town where they were surprised to see a large festival going on in the town as they saw many girls with hair that was painted pink for the celebration. As the two walked around town the people explained that the celebration was for the missing princess that was born with pink hair. It was then that Syaoran had begun to question Sakura when suddenly a group of the King's soldiers had appeared and Syaoran quickly ran away and hid from the sight of the soldiers but lost track of Sakura in the process.
Now the thief could have easily left the town and return to the tower and attempt to steal the jewels back but the thief had grown attached to the girl and decided to look throughout the town for her until around sunset he finally found her in an alleyway. When he attempted to approach the pink-haired girl Sakura ran away from him thinking that he had purposely abandoned him but she accidently bumped into a wall that caused a potted plant to fall nearly on top of Sakura until Syaoran had managed to protect the girl just in time though the pot had given him a bad cut around the back of his head.
Seeing the boy's selfishness Sakura quickly unbundled her hair and sang a song (that was actually a spell Yuko had been using to keep herself young and beautiful forever) that caused her hair to glow a light pink and healed the injury the boy had. The boy was amazed at what his companion had just accomplished but before he could thank her they were both surrounded by a set of soldiers along with a black horse that had no rider and a dog that had the chameleon they had seen back in the tower.
"Thief Syaoran Rider you are uder arrest for kidnapping the princess and the theft of the royal jewels thanks to the information of our recently returned Captain Kusanagi," explained a knight as a few other knights began to arrest the brown-haired thief while the knights began to inspect Sakura's long pink hair before they determined that it was not painted and quickly bowed down to Sakura hailing her as the princess.
Sakura was completely confused and asked where this Captain Kusanagi was and for the safe release of her companion but the soldiers refused saying they must return her to the castle if she wished for a full explanation. Once the two teenagers were in the royal court in front of the King and Queen who were overjoyed to see their daughter again as they explained that Yuko had stolen her as a child and turned three of their best knights into animals pointing to Kurogane the black horse, Shogo the grey dog and Kusanagi the chameleon.
However their happiness was interrupted when none other than Yuko had appeared in the room using her dark magic as she spoke, "I leave you alone for two days my dear and I come back home to find this in your place," Yuko held up Syaoran's bag of stolen royal jewelry
"You will not take our daughter away from us again!" shouted Eriol as the soldiers that were guarding Syaoran left the thief alone to join in with Kurogane and Shogo who led the assault against the witch but were sadly turned into mice with a wave of her hand.
"Now daughter dear would you please come with me? Or perhaps I can end your other mother's life here and now!" Yuko ordered as she used her magic to create an arrow that was aimed straight for Tomoyo's heart Sakura ran to protect her birth mother but Syaoran, who had managed to slip out of the ropes that bound him, jumped in front of Sakura and the queen and the arrow struck him down instead.
"Syaoran!" shrieked Sakura as she ran to her companion's side as he lay dying from the arrow that had nearly pierced his heart.
It was then that Sakura looked back at Yuko and said with anger in her voice that she would go with her if she was allowed to heal Syaoran first to which the witch agreed but as Sakura pulled the arrow out and placed her hair on the boy's wound Syaoran quickly pulled out a knife, that he had used to cut the ropes he was previously bound in, and sliced off Sakura's long hair which began to turn plain brown as the magic in her hair disappeared which caused Yuko's age to begin to rapidly age until she was nothing more than dust and clothes.
With the witch was gone for good Kurogane, Shogo, Kusanagi and the other soldiers changed back into their human forms and were overjoyed about the witch's defeat but Sakura began to cry as her companion and beloved friend lay dying beneath her as he said in a dying voice, "I won't let her take you away," but as Sakura began to cry three of her tears turned pink just before they fell onto Syaoran's wound which began to heal miraculously.
"I-I'm alive? But how?" Syaoran questioned as Sakura began to hug him tightly as a man in white and gold robes began to appear who was none other than the wizard Fai as he spoke, "Well, your act of courage and selflessness did not go unnoticed by fate my young friend. The princess was born of magic and that being said when she saw someone she loved dying before her eyes the last amount of magic her body had left gave you back your life just like the magic from that tree gave her life."
And with that the kingdom celebrated the safe return of the princess. Syaoran received a full pardon from all of his previous crimes on the condition that he became a bodyguard to Sakura to which the former thief happily accepted and many years later Syaoran and Sakura were married under the very cherry blossom tree that gave the princess and the former thief a life that they lived happily ever after.
Okay so this chapter was REALLY late and it was mostly based off the movie Tangled rather than the actual source material but what can you do? If the story feels a little rushed then my apologies because my summer vacation is crazy right now so I'm trying to get one thing done at a time but enough of my excuses!
Did you like it? Hate it? Leave comments because they inspire me!