Awakening of the Rose Princess

How did it end up like this?

Anis was running away from the sound she heard just moments before coming from the opposite direction she was heading. Ninufu was all the proof that she needed to understand that she wasn't imagining the sound.

"I thought you zaid you needed proof that ze was the princess! Zen why are you running away?" Anis continued to run without glancing back. Though, she knew Ninufu wasn't even a foot away from her, keeping pace.

"Are you crazy!?" She replied. "Proof that what? Demons actually exist? And one that may be bigger and scarier than you? No thanks!"

Anis was nearing her house when suddenly she realized that she hadn't heard the growl for some time. She finally stopped running and collapsed on the side walk gasping to catch her breath.

"Thank god….I think… it's gone…" She said out loud in hopes to convince herself that that monster she heard was really gone.

"For now," smiled Ninufu. "But ze will be back. Zat is why you have to awaken as ze Rose Princess and –"

"Stop." Anis got back up to her feet and looked at Ninufu straight in the eye. "Just because you actually exist and you say that I am this princess of yours, doesn't mean that I agree to do it. Besides, I had enough excitement to last me a lifetime. Find someone else to be your princess."

Ninufu continued to smile at her. Was he ever upset?

"No one else can be ze princess. Only you. It's ze blood of your ancestors." Anis shook her head. Clearly, nothing she would say would reach the little bat like creature.

"Ok, so even if I was to accept this, what would I have to do?"

"Zasy! All ze would have to do is close za devil's door for good!" Anis stared at Ninufu without so much as a blink.

Was it serious?

"The devil's door huh? Yeah, sounds simple enough" she replied sarcastically. Ninufu just continued to grin at her.

Anis began walking again. Her head was starting to hurt. This day had been way too much. Ninufu was close behind, like he always was since she ran into him.

~~ X ~~

As Anis was nearing her house, she felt a tightness around her chest again as the pressure slowly started to increase. It was happening again.

"Great. Another attack" she said as she grasped her hands into tight fists, trying to ignore the pain that was ever increasing.

"Ah, so ze can feel it," Ninufu said, as Anis looked at him strangely. "Ze dark energy. It's cause of ze devil's door. The dark energy, it's zeeping from the cracks of ze door. Zat is why you have to fix it before it destroys you."

"Wait, are you telling me these attacks I've been having since my childhood are because of this door?!" Anis shouted, completely taken off guard with her newest bit of information.

"But of course! You are ze rose princess! You can feel ze dark energy and it will continue to get worse unless ze closes the door for good!"

"So, if I close the door, these attacks will stop? Ok, so what do I have to do to close the door?"

"Again, zasy! You have to collect ze Arcana cards. Zhey have ze power you need to close ze door. Once ze collects zem all, ze door will disappear." Anis stared at Ninufu, hoping to catch even a glimmer in his eye telling her that this was all just some ruse. But he didn't flinch.

"OK, so where is this door? And how do I collect these cards?"

"You have ze awaken as ze Rose Princess first. You can do this at ze door. It's at ze shrine! Come, let's go!" And with that, Ninufu started flying away and towards the direction of the city's shrine: The Higa Shrine.

Anis followed.

As she neared the shrine, she kept telling herself that this wasn't real. That she was actually dreaming and that at any moment she would wake up. But to her surprise, she never did.

She reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to the shrine and paused. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to walk all the way up to this shrine and somehow become this Rose Princess that Ninufu kept talking about?

But then again, what choice did she have? Her attacks were getting worse and nobody was able to help her overcome them. In fact, most people still believed she was lying about it. So it would make sense that her condition that was deemed unusual would be cured by unusual means? Heck, she had nothing to lose by trying.

She started making her way up the stairs.

~~ X ~~

Anis, with Ninufu resting upon her left shoulder, stood only feet from the entrance of the Higa shrine. It wasn't that big and certainly nothing impressive. Still, it was a shrine and Anis grew up knowing that a shrine was a special place for worship and miracles.

"Ze door is just beyond here" Ninufu said, pointing to the door of the shrine.

"So I just got to go in here, become the Rose Princess and collect the Arcana cards so I can close the door and then this will all be over with, right?" Ninufu nodded. "Well here goes…"

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

Anis jumped three feet in the air. She was not expecting anyone else to be here. She turned around to see a young male dressed in a robe holding a broom in his right hand staring directly at her. It took a few seconds to realize who this person was.

"Kaede? What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean what am I doing here? I live here." Anis looked confused for a second as she let what Kaede said sink in. The Higa Family Shrine. Higa. Kaede Higa.

"This is your family shrine?!" She couldn't believe it. This door that she supposedly had to fix was located in Kaede's family shrine? This had to be a bad joke.

"Yes. Now what are you doing here?" Kaede gave no warm smile nor did his voice carry any sympathy or grace. It was sullen and to the point. He was no different here than he was at school.

"Well you see…" Anis began. Just then, Ninufu flew in between Anis and Kaede, waving his arms in front of her.

"You can't zay! You can't tell any one! It's za secret!" Anis's heart dropped. What was Ninufu thinking? It was hard enough to try and come up with a story about her purpose in being here. Now she had to try and think of an excuse for the appearance of Ninufu!

Anis quickly grabbed the bat-like creature and struggled to hide him before her back. Ninufu fought back, trying to free himself. "Stop Ninufu!," she whispered. "I can't let Kaede see you!"

"What are you doing?" Kaede asked questioning. "This is sacred ground. If you are only here to fool around, I will kindly ask you to leave this premise at once."

Anis gave him a weak smile. This gave Ninufu a chance to escape Anis's clutches and fly up high where she couldn't reach him.

"Human can't zee Ninufu! Only ze princess can zee him!" Well, THAT would have been helpful about five minutes ago. Anis signed.

"Kaede, it might seem strange but I am really here to visit the shrine to pay my respects," Anis started. She really had no clue about shrines. In fact, this was the first one she ever visited. "And so, I will only be a few minutes and then I will be on my way again. So please, don't make me leave yet."

Kaede stared at her for a few minutes before he, himself, signed.

"Alright. I will be out here sweeping. I will give you a few minutes but then you have to leave." And with that, he left Anis and continued to sweep the leaves from the stairs.

"OK. Now that he's gone, let's do this" Anis said.

She walked into the shrine with Ninufu close behind. It looked old and worn down, yet sturdy. The floor was bare besides a few mats laid in front of a monument of some god. Flowers were placed on the bottom of the monuments feet.

"Ze door is just right zhere!" cried out Ninufu. He seemed overly excited as he flew up to the momument and turned to face Anis again.

"Wait, I don't see any door…" she began. But just as she had spoken the words, a blinding light surfaced from behind the monument and within seconds, a stone door had appeared.

Anis was awed by the sight as she focused in on the door, the so called Devil's Door she would be in charge of fixing. It was made of stone and had a lot of markings on it, none of which made any sense to Anis. These markings were also glowing a pale yellow light as blue and red streaks of energy were criss-crossing the path of the door.

As soon as the door had been completely summoned, Anis could feel one of her attacks coming on. This time, it was much stronger and caused her to fall to her knees grasping for air. She clung at her chest as tears ran down her face. This was by far the worst attack she had ever experienced.

"Ze dark energy, it's escaping. Zat is what's causing you such pain" Anis continued to stare at the door through blurred vision thanks to the tears she was trying to hold back. So, this was the cause of all her pain.

"Ninufu, what do I have to do to become the princess?" Anis struggled to find her voice through the pain. But she knew she had to do this. Whatever doubts she had before vanished as she looked upon the Devil's Door.

"Just accept ze role you are to play." Ninufu replied. "Do you aczept?" Anis shock her head. Ninufu looked at her again. "You must zay it. Do you aczept, Rose Princess?" Anis, still on her hands and knees, looked back up at Ninufu.

"Yes, I accept"

And with that, the Rose Princess was born once again.