Sorry for taking so long to post this chapter! I was really having some major writer's block. Was trying hard to link my idea to the story and finally everything clicked! Hope you all like it.

Warning: I have slightly altered Persona's alice, it's so that I could fit it into the plot. Hope you all are all right with it!

Chapter 31

After eating their lunch, both parties left the toy store and to the young children's surprise, Mr Bear tugged on Keiko and Tetsuya's hand, and asked to be carried. With the thorough explanation from Kaname, both Keiko and Tetsuya learnt how to better look after Mr Bear. Hearing that Mr Bear wanted to come along, both children were very happy and agreed to take turns looking after the self-moving soft toy. Tetsuya being a gentleman, decided to let Keiko keep the bear first.

"Come on Bear!" Keiko called out to the dark brown teddy bear.

Mikan turned her back to her child, took out the mission card which she was given by the queen and read through it one more time. Giving instructions to the coach driver, they boarded the carriage and went off to their next destination. According to the coach driver, it was a place near the edge of the Kingdom and if they were to travel at top speed, they would only reach there by 5pm. Looking at her pocket watch, Mikan noted that the journey would be about a 2 hour carriage ride.

"Keiko, if you're feeling tired, please take a nap. We still have another hour to go." Mikan softly told her daughter as she was playing with Bear.

"All right Mama. Bear, let's take a nap!" Feeling a bit tired, Keiko laid her head on her mother's lap and clutched bear as she drifted off to sleep.

Tsubasa who was sitting opposite Mikan, turned his gaze away from the window and regarded the sleeping child. He had a bad hunch and his intuition was never wrong, but this time he could not place a finger on what was bothering him. Sure the Goshima guard that Luna has had his sense all hightened, but right now in front of him, this child was giving me some unsettling vibes.

"Tsubasa-senpai? Are you all right?" Mikan looked conernly at her commrade.

"I'm fine. Just thinking about some things."

"Kuonji's plan?"

"Yeah. We know that he desperately targeting you because of your alice, but with Keiko's alice, could he possibly shift his focus onto her?"

"It's a possibility that we can't rule out."

Tsubasa remained silent. Hotaru had threatened him, Sumire, Koko, Ruka and Natsume, ensuring that none of them told Mikan about Kuonji's clues of a child. Last night after Mikan had fallen asleep, the gang were summoned by Hotaru and Natsume and what they heard brought chills down Tsubasa's spine.

"What's so urgent that you had to call us out at 2 in the morning?" Sumire whinned.

Hotaru merely brought out her Baka gun 5.0 and lightly placed it on Sumire's shoulder. That kept the girl quiet while the rest of the group tried to rub the sleep away from their eyes.

"There has been some strange activity and we suspect its Kuonji." Natsume reported.

"How is it strange? He just uses bandits to commit massacres within villages." Ruka questioned Natsume's claimed.

"If it were that, I wouldn't call you out at 2 in the morning." Natsume said irritably. He has not had a single night of decent sleep due to all the activity that Kuonji was causing. The situation was getting so bad that even his father had to leave the confinments of the palace and do daily patrols around the borders. Neighbouring kingdoms around Firenze were on their edge, afraid that the commotion would spill over into their land. His father patroling and going on small diplomatic meetings were only a show to the others that he had control of his kingdom. What his father did not know was that the mastermind is not his typical subject trying to turn over the kingdom.

The group waited patiently for Natsume to begin speaking and stared at the sleep deprived prince. "The villagers who agreed to take arms against the bandits are now taking back their words. They refuse to fight and in doing so, more blood has been is that the bandits are no longer the ones commiting the massacre."

Tsubasa was now highly irritated by the prince's convoluted way of trying to break the news. "What is going on? Why are the villagers doing that? Didn't we have an agreement with them?"

Koko who was leaning against the fire place in Natsume's room did not need Natsume to explain any further. He was reading Natsume's thoughts all this time and what he read, he did not like one bit. Seeing that Natsume was having a hard time phrasing the words in his head, he spoke up. "The dead are the ones that are doing the killing."

"What?" The group turned and looked at him.

"You wouldn't take up arms against your family members right? These villagers are consumed with hatred against those that took away their loved ones. But, if their loved ones returned from the dead, as if they were never dead, you'd throw down your weapons and rush to embrace them. You'd forget that they're dead, or rather, refuse to accept their deaths. You'd think that hell itself spit them out." Koko looked into each of their eyes and all he could see was fear rising up.

Hotaru cleared her throat and continued explaining, "Shiki-san has tried to keep a large barrier around the palace and the places around it and so far there hasn't been any reports of attacks near the barrier's perimeter. However, as most of the massacres take place out in the rural areas, Yukihira-san has offered to travel to those places and help out. But that has not ended on a good note. You see, the dead only attacked the villagers when Yukihira-san drove his sword into one of the living dead. Word soon passed on and as long as no one attacked the dead, they would live peacefully with their families. As Yukihira-san is representing the royal family of Firenze, the villagers are now turning their anger and hatred from Kuonji's bandits to Natsume's family. They now think that the royal family is taking away their happiness."

"Crap. We're in a very bad position now." Ruka banged his fist against the wall.

Pondering over the information that he has heard, Tsubasa looked at his juniors and thought of a plan. "I'll discuss this with the senseis at my side and get back to you. Right now, just handle the problem of keeping the commotion to a minimal. Koko, I need you to come back with me to Mikan's room. We're going to need your…talent. We will keep Luna and Mikan safe while figuring out a way to stop the dead from rising."

The motion of the carriage stopping jerked Tsubasa out of his thoughts and he turned to look at the sleeping Keiko. He looked out of the windows and noted that the sun was already setting and they were at the mouth of a cave. Opening the carriage doors, he got down and helped the two ladies down. The coach driver led his horses to a tree so that he could tie them up and allow them to graze on the grass.

Hearing footsteps behind him as he was inspecting the forest growth near the cave's mouth, he gripped the sword that was hanging at his waist and drew it in one fluid movement. His perpetrator was now standing very still with the sharp blade of the sword at his neck.

"Please sir, I'm only here to inform Suni-hime of her next task." The perpetrator explained with his hands in the air. Studying the man, Tsubasa saw that he was a man with long hair and it seemed like he was a few years older than himself.

"Why did you come out from the forest then?" Tsubasa questioned him while pressing the tip of his sword deeper into the man's neck.

"Because I went out for a drink of water and saw your carriage approaching the place. I'm Tono, well Akira Tonochi, but you can call me Tono. Koizumi-hime has already gone into the cave for her test and you took a rather long time to reach, so I went out for a drink." Something about the man bugged him and he did not like the way he was behaving, but sensing that he was telling the truth, Tsubasa shethed his sword.

"She's over by the carriage."

Upon seeing the young princess, the man immediately rushed to her and dropped to one knee.

"So this was the unsettling feeling I had about him. He's an absolute pervert."

"Oh… are the heavens playing a trick on these eyes of mine? I've never seen such a beautiful angel before." Tono took Mikan's hand and gave it a soft kiss.

Mikan was taken aback. Firstly, she had never seen this man before and yet he called her beautiful. Secondly, even Natsume has not kissed her hand before.

"Ex…excuse me?" Mikan blushed. Keiko who heard the running footsteps, quickly hid behind her mother's skirt and looked at Tono shyly from the safety of her mother's skirt.

"You are excused my angel. My name is Akira Tonochi, but please, call me Tono." He proceeded to kiss Mikan's hand again but was stopped by Tsubasa smacking him in the head with his sheathed sword.

"Could you please keep any physical contact with her highness to the UTMOST MINIMAL?" Tsubasa chided the grown man. Keiko giggled as the older onii-chan get hit on the head.

The man got up and smirked at Tsubasa, "This is why you aren't doing so well with your lady. You lack the romantic sense." Hearing this from Narumi was bad enough, but from a stranger, that made his vein pop and he wanted to pound the face of this man very, VERY badly.

"I'm just joking. I'm sure you have your charming side. What's your name?" The long haired man flicked his hair behind his shoulders and waited for an answer.

"Tsubasa Andou."

"Well nice to make your aquaintence. You have a better aura than that Goshima guy by the way." Both men shook hands and Tono turned to look at Mikan. Clearing his throat, he began.

"This morning, the final task was for you child, but this test is for you. This is the absolute last test and this would determine who the winner is. Of course, the results would only be announced 3 days later. You have to walk into that cave and once you have reached the end, the little missy there would tell you your fortune. On a side note, you'll be walking through the cave alone. Your child and your bodyguard will see you at the end. When you're ready, enter the cave."

Mikan looked at the cave and since the sun had already set, the cave was emiting a scary aura. Taking a deep breath, she walked towards the cave and took one of the lamps that were on the ground. Behind her she could hear Tono talking to her child while Tsubasa was telling Keiko to stay away from Tono. As she was about to take her first step into the darkness of the cave, Keiko ran up to her.

"Mama, be careful all right? I sense something scary in that cave, but be brave and Keiko will cheer for you with Tsubasa onii-chan and Tono onii-chan. Here take Mr Bear, he'll be your companion in this test!" Giving her mother Mr Bear and a hug, she ran back to Tsubasa. Mikan turned around and Tsubasa gave her a wave, smiling at them, she braced herself and enter the cave. To her horror, the entrance to the cave was immediately blocked up by a large boulder rolling into place.

"All right, it's only me, the soft toy and this scary place."

The only light that was being emitted was from the lamp which she was carrying and Mikan only felt safe within the boundaries of the light. Walking further on, every sound, other than her footsteps made her jump up. Even though she had to do many missions at night, Mikan was actually still afraid of being alone in pitch black. The only comfort she had while doing missions at night was that there was light from the moonlight, and that no one knew she was there.

Suddenly, a white figure appeared in front of her and stayed there. Mikan lifted up the lamp higher so that the light would shine onto the figure but she regretted doing so. The figure was a woman with long black hair which covered her entire face, her white gown was stained with blood in the middle and her outstretched hands were pale with lots of blood. Mikan screamed and dropped the lamp.

Bear at this point, felt that Mikan was in immense fear and jumped off Mikan's shoulder, running straight for the figure. His eyes gave off that glitter whenever it entered into battle mode and began kicking the ghost. This seemed to make the ghost afraid and she soon disappeared. However, Mikan did not see all this as she cowered to the ground in fear, covering her eyes and ears with her hands. Bear turned around and walked back to Mikan, placing his small, soft paw on her face to wipe away her tears.

Mikan screamed and pushed bear away until he hit the wall, but the soft toy did not give up and repeated what he had done previously. Slowly, Mikan removed her hands from her eyes and saw that the only thing touching her was Bear. Looking around and realising that the ghost was gone, Mikan asked Bear, "She's gone?"

The soft toy nooded while wiping away the tears that were still streaming down Mikan's face.

"She disappeared when you attacked her?"

Again the bear nodded. Picking up Mr Bear, she placed him on her shoulder and bent down to pick up the lamp. Thanking him, she continued walking, this time a little less afraid because she knew that Mr Bear would be there for her.

Without sensing it, something landed on Mikan's shoulder and her reflex action immediately kicked in. Swinging her attacker over her shoulder, the whittish figure landed with a thud and disappeared.

"Tch, another ghost."

Every 20 steps which Mikan took, a ghost would appear and by this time, she and Bear took turns to dispel the poltoguist No longer afraid of these things because she knew that her daughter and friends were cheering for her, and that Bear would never leave her side, Mikan gained more courage with every ghost she managed to dispel.

Finally reaching a point where she could see light, Mikan looked and Mr Bear and took it off her shoulder to give it a long and warm hug.

"Look Bear! We're almost at the end, we're reaching!" Mikan exclaimed excitedly to the soft toy.

Deciding to quicken her steps, Mikan started running but was stop dead in her tracks as she eyes widened in shock. Standing in front of her, clad in a white shirt and black pants, was a lady. A lady which Mikan knew very well even though her back was towards Mikan. A lady which Mikan misses very much.

"Okaa-san…"

The lady turned around upon hearing Mikan calling out to her and at last her face was revealed. As Mikan had guessed it was her mother who was standing in front of her. Her brown bangs covered her forehead while her short hair framed her petite face.

"Mikan… I missed you so much."

"I thought you're… you're dead?"

"Well apprently I'm not." Yuka smiled at her daughter.

"No. I saw you die with my own eyes. You left me when I was 11."

"I survived. Somehow. Come here Mikan." Yuka streched out her arms, waiting for Mikan to embrace them.

Mikan very much wanted to run to her mother, she wanted to hug her mother and cry into her arms, but she took a step forward, she felt something pulling her dress. Looking down, she saw Bear clutching on to the hem of her skirt.

"Bear it's ok, it's my mother, she didn't die!" Mikan said out loud but the soft toy refuse to let go and instead glared at the woman. "Bear let go, I haven't seen my mother in a long time." Bear merely shook its head and this caused Mikan to become irritated. She brushed aside Bear's hands and walked towards her mother.

"That's my girl, come here." Yuka warmly said.

"Okaa-san, you don't know how much I have missed you, you missed out on so much of my life."

"You don't know how much I've missed you Mikan… I've always been looking for you." Mikan finally gave her mother a hug and began sobbing into her arms. Her mother stroked her head and tried to calm her down.

"Why didn't you come to see me? You knew where I would be right? Why didn't you contact Narumi-sensei?"

"I couldn't find you in Nula. I searched everywhere in Nula.

"I wasn't there. The senseis moved me from one kingdom to another to be continue your work, your work as Shadowfox."

"I thought you would still stay in Nula. You shouldn't have taken on that role, you should have just continued being a princess."

Mikan was puzzled, she knew her mother would not approve of her taking on her persona as Shadowfox but she knew that her mother would never abandon the people of this world. Something was amiss. Mikan tried to push herself away from this woman, she wanted to see her mother's eyes when she told her not to be Shadowfox anymore, but her mother refused to let her go.

"I want us to be together Mikan. Together finally, together forever. Just let me hold you a little longer."

"Okaa-san…?"

"I'm sorry." Mikan felt one of her mother's arms leave her body and saw it raised above her head. She knew what was coming next and shut her eyes.

"At least I'm killed by my mother's hands and not Kuonji's."

Anticipating the knife to be driven deep into her body, she instead heard a loud clang and wriggled out of her mother's grip. Mr Bear now stood in front of Mikan, acting as a shield.

"Why you little irritant… I'll rip you apart!" Mikan's mother now went beserk, reaching for the dagger which Bear had kicked out of her hands and charged straight for Mikan.

"Okaa-san, why are you like this?" Mikan easily dodged her mother's attack.

"Your mother is dead Mikan. You saw her die by Luna's hands. NO! She's alive. She's standing in front of me! She rose from the dead! Someone brought her back from the dead! Who are you kidding Mikan? She's dead. NO ONE can bring back the dead. Snap out of it otherwise you're going to die!"

Yuka tried again, charging at Mikan and this time sucessfully slashing Mikan in the arm. Mikan knew what she must do no matter how painful it was. She had to accept the truth that her mother was dead. Whoever was standing infront of her could be her mother, but she did not have her mother's soul. No mother would attack their child. Reaching into her boots, Mikan pulled out a small dagger, closed her eyes and threw the dagger with all her might. The small dagger lodged itself into the chest of the woman and with a loud clang, she dropped the dagger and fell with a thud to the ground.

Mikan could not stop weeping, even though she knew this woman was probably her mother in body, killing her with her own hands was not easy. Standing up, Mikan walked towards her mother's body and saw that she was still alive.

"I'm sorry Mikan… I didn't want to do it but I had no choice… those words that I said… they're not mine… Someone called me up from the underworld, I was dragged back down to earth by someone… Forgive me Mikan and please, take care of yourself. You're in danger… I'll always be by your side. Dry your tears and be strong… Continue being Shadowfox, continue keeping the people safe, continue being safe." With her final breath, her mother brushed away her tears and died.

"Suni-hime?" Looking up, Mikan saw a 13 year old boy with brown hair and piercing blue eyes. "I'm so sorry, about the ghosts I mean, I was instructed to send them out."

Mikan took one final look at her mother and turn to regard the boy who was towering over her. "The ghosts? You can control them?"

"Yes, my alice allows me to do so. I have the Ghost Manipulation Alice. Come, you are rather late and mistress was getting worried." The boy took Mikan's hand and tried to urge her forward but Mikan smacked his hand away.

"So… you called out my mother from her grave? What kind of trick is this? I know this is a test, but how could my mother's best friend do this to her?" Mikan shriked.

"Your mother was not my doing. Someone else is controlling the dead. Please hurry, my body is unable to retain this form for long and in my other form, you would not reach your destination."

"I don't believe you."

"Whether you believe me or not is up to you, but my mistress can vouch on my behalf."

Taking her hand once more, the boy dragged Mikan through a series of tunnels till she entered a chamber deep within the cave. Inside sat a young lady with greyish shoulder length hair, a white cloth was on her head which hid most of her face, but when she heard the duo entering the chambers, she looked up to reveal her bright brown eyes. Her lips were painted bright red and her skin was white as snow. Sitting behind a small table, she motioned to Mikan to sit in front of her.

"Mistress, I have brought the princess as instructed, my powers are running out, so I'm going back to my other form." Letting go of Mikan's hands, the 13 year old boy disappeared with a poof and beside her stood a 3 year old boy.

"Youichi, please secort our guest here please." The young maiden spoke.

The young Youichi pointed to the small pillow in front of the desk and clumsily tried to pull Mikan there. Mikan smiled at the young boy and picked him up while walking to her place. Placing the small boy down, she sat on the pillow.

"Let me see your hands Mika Suni, or should I say Mikan Sakura." The young maiden instructed.

Placing her hands on the table for the lady to examine, Mikan asked, "I'm sorry to ask but who are you?

"I am Yura Otonashi. I am a famous priestess in this kingdom, no doubt unknown to you foreign princesses."

"How do you know my real name?"

"You can't hide anything from the spirit world. From your expression I see you want many answers, I shall answer them. Firstly, that woman is indeed your mother. Her body is real but because she was brought out from her grave, her body will decompose here. Secondly, my helper, Youichi will bring her body back to her grave and bury her again. Thirdly, you will not be able to see her. This is because her spirit has specially told me not to let you. Her body will return to its original state as when it was found and that itself is not a pretty sight."

"How do you know what are my thoughts?"

"Your spirit tells them to me. You see, I'm a priestess who can speak to spirits and forsee the future. If you want to know the person behind these attacks, they're a man named Kuonji. Now I know you want to know how he's able to bring back the dead, I'll tell you that after predicting your future."

The priestess stopped talking and looked carefully at both Mikan's hands before letting out a long sigh.

"Which do you want to hear first? Your future? Or your enemy's tactic?"

"If you can read my thoughts, why do you still ask me such a question?" Mikan asked the girl.

"Because, as a human, you have free will. Your spirit can tell me many things, but only you can decide what you want to hear."

"Tell me my enemy's tactics."

"You know a man name Persona, or Rei Serio right? You know his alice?"

"It's the mark of death alice. The more marks you have, the faster you die."

"Correct, but his alice also allows him to call up the dead from their graves. He is able to control their bodies by calling back their spirit and controlling it. Because his very alice deals with death, everyone who has died is at his disposal. This alice is rare and dangerous, as legends have depicted, it was given to a man who would do the God's biding. Some call him the grim reaper, some call him the angel of death. Hence, his alice is as real as the legends say. However, he is not that one that called your mother. This person, Kuonji is the one who is abusing this alice. He has a large alice stone from that man which is in his body."

"Didn't my mother insert a nullification stone into his body? Why can he still use an alice?"

"That's because the stone your mother inserted was only large enough to prevent him from using his own alice. This stone is so large that he can over write the alice stone within him."

"Won't Persona be risking his life if he gives Kuonji such a large stone?"

"Yes he is. But Persona doesn't know this for he is young. He has a life filled with so much lies and deception that he can only trust those around him. As the spirits are telling me, Persona is dying slowly. Everytime he produces an alice stone, his life is shortened. Because his alice was given by God, he must bear responsibility over it and overusage is his punishment."

Mikan stared at the priestess in shock. How could the man who have tried to kill her die so easily? It disturbed her. Something inside of her wanted to let Persona die for all the horrible deads that he has done, but at the same time, she wanted to save this man.

"What is my future?"

"The future is never really clear because it is determined by your choices and actions. As such, it's fuzzy. However I can tell you that your child will be in danger. She will be used as a pawn in this game you play with Kuonji. The people around you will not be able to help you. Also, people around you will die."

"Is that all you can see Otonashi-san?"

"Unfortunately yes."

"How is it you know that they will die?"

"Because in your future, I saw the black wolf, an omen of death. Not only did I see one, I saw 3."

"Do you know who will die?"

"As I said, your future is fuzzy and dreams don't play out like a staged play. There are signs and omens which represent things."

Mikan removed her hands from the table and clutched them on her lap. The thought of people dying frightened her. She had already lost her parents, she did not want to lose anymore people. If she could, she would prevent the deaths of those dear to her, as said by the priestess, her future was determined by the choices and actions she took.

"If you have no more questions Mikan-san, I will escort you to your child and your body guard. They have been worrying for you."

"One more questions Otonashi-san, what was Luna's future like?"

"That I cannot disclose, it is a pact that we make with the spirit world. We are not allowed to reveal someone else's future otherwise we would lose this gift that we have. But I can tell you that it was not a happy one either."

Both of them got up from their seats and Mikan admired how gracefully the priestess walked. Despite living here alone, she was well mannered. Young Youichi decided to tag along, holding tightly onto the hands of Otanashi-san. A panal of rock moved to the side as the priestess neared it and it revealed a room which was comfortably furnished.

Seeing her mother walk through the doors, Keiko rushed to her mother and took her hand. Realising that her mother was with a lady, she curtsied to the priestess and smiled to the small boy.

"How was it Okaa-san, did you pass the test?"

"I think I did." Mikan replied.

"She did, your highness." The priestess spoke to the 8 year old child. "Tsubasa-san, please escort her highnesses out to the carriage and be careful on your way back. The roads here are getting less safe. I will get Tono to follow you till the edges of the barrier."

Tono came out from the shadows whinnig, "Awww Yura, must I?"

"Yes. You don't expect Youichi to do it do you?"

"Damn that Youichi, always hiding behind that 3 year old façade. Fine let's go."

The group followed Tono and left the cave, leaving Otanashi and Youichi behind. Transforming back to his 13 year old self, Youichi spoke up, "Something's bothering you. What is it?"

"That child of Mikan's is dying. I saw it in her future."

"Then why didn't you tell Mikan-chan?"

"Because the death she had, would break a mother's heart. I couldn't."

"I understand. It's hard being a priestess who can see the future."

"Youichi, you need to do something. Take Yuka's body and place it next to Izumi Yukihira. Make sure no one follows you."

"So I don't take the body back to her original grave?"

"Yes. She heeded my words when she first saw me. I told her not to bury her body if she died, near Izumi as I forsaw it being used for this purpose. If she were to be burried near him, Mikan would not be able to kill both her father and her mother. Besides, she made me promise that if her body were to be used to harm Mikan, I was to ensure that Mikan killed her personally and then return her body to lover so that they can finally be reunited."

"The two lovers can finally be together, but sadly only in death."

"Hopefully, Natsume-san and Mikan-san are able to be together, living till death parts them."

RAH! Done! :D Sorry for any spelling and grammatical errors. It's really late and I spent 5 hours (not staright though but on the same day) writing this. Did a brief read through only.

On to replies:

Blueberryxn: heh thanks! I hope my writing doesn't sound fragmented and choppy. I find that's the case with many fanfics.

Lessthenthreeanime: I brought in more characters! But I think this is the end to bringing in more characters cause the story is ending. On a side note, the new gang (tono, youichi and otonashi) will show up more!

RandomDalmatian326: haha, it's not Luna that is cheating. I think you know who the real person behind all this is.

akjupiter: maybe~ don't want to spoil the story for you. :)

Shimmering: Thanks! Do give any feedback which crosses your mind!

Shizun Yuuka: Thank you! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Stephy73: yup! Bear is an important character, so please watch out for him!