Rima didn't struggle when Kukai tied her legs and arms. She'd never felt so defeated in her life.

A few minutes later, Rima was loaded into the truck. This time, she was watched by Kukai, the girl from before and the purple-haired guy.

She guessed the extra security was so she didn't try escaping again. It was unnecessary, in her opinion. She didn't have the energy now and her arm still hurt pretty badly.

For the first time, she looked at her sore arm. She was shocked at how terrible it looked. The scraped had long stopped bleeding and purplish bruises were forming all over the arm. It also looked like there were small pieces of gravel stuck in her arm as well.

When Rima had been brought in, the Purple-haired boy been surprised how dead her golden eyes had looked. He didn't really know why, but he wanted to see that sparkle in her eyes again. Like the one she had when she was laughing at him.

Though now, she looked beaten. She glanced under her cape and frowned, dropping the material again.

He was curious to what made her frown even more. After a few minutes of gathering his courage, he stood up and sat next to her.

He grabbed the edge of her cloak and moved it aside. The sight underneath nearly made him gasp.

"Amu, pass me the first aid kit." He demanded, hoping that all the things he needed were in there.

The girl, now known as Amu, rummaged inside her own backpack and pulled out a white box.

The kidnapper disinfected a pair of tweezers and started pulling the tiny rocks out of her arm. He then cleaned up all the dry blood and wrapped a bandage around her bruised arm.

Rima didn't react to him at all. She just turned to him after he was done and gave him a weak smile.

"Why did you lie to her?"

Rima looked up to see Kukai looking expectantly at her. She shot him a confused look so he continued.

"Why did you tell Yaya that I was your friend?"

"I didn't want her to feel guilty for telling you where I was."

Purple-head was astounded. She'd been in trouble, yet she cared to not hurt a person's feelings… Since when had people been so considerate?

After a few minutes of silence, the truck slowed to a stop.

"We're here." Amu announced, as if Rima actually cared. Kukai pulled off the bandanna around his neck and covered Rima's eyes. She made no outward motion of noticing but walked when Kukai prodded her in the back.

Some time later, the bandanna slipped off Rima's eyes and she looked around. The room she was sitting in looked like an abandoned storeroom with little tid-bits lying around and dust covering most of the surface. Amu was sitting on an upturned box.

"When are you going to let me go?" Rima asked dully.

The rosette girl looked up from her book.

"Well, we got in contact with your parents and when we get what we want, you can go. We want this to be as peaceful as possible.

Rima knew that she should've been mad but her curiosity got the better of her.

"So what do you people want anyway?" This seemed to upset Amu.

"Well, I don't know what goes on in the in your castle but us ordinary people are having a hard time finding food because all the food we have is being confiscated in the King's name!" Her voice rising, she took a deep breath and composed herself. "We'll give you back if the king gives up his throne." She went back to reading her book.

Rima was shocked when she heard this: She knew her father was a good King who would never steal the people's food. If only he was feeling well enough to tell these people off…

Wait, her father wasn't in power in recent days…

"So how long has this been going on?" she asked in what she hoped was a sympathetic tone.

"It started about a month ago. I don't understand what the King was thinking; he used to be such a fine Ruler. Now everything's going downhill."

Her father had been sick for a month. So Kazoumi was the one responsible.

"Well, you're trying with the wrong people. The King has been sick so I doubt he's had any control of what was going on in the first place."

Amu looked up from her book.

"So who has been in power recently?" she asked her.

"I'll tell you as soon as I go to the bathroom…" Rima twisted her legs like she had to go to the toilet.

Honestly, she just wanted to try and escape again. She wanted to help Amu with her cause but she thought that they were going at it the wrong way. She'd deal with Kazoumi herself when she got back to the castle.

Amu stood up and walked Rima to the bathroom a few floors up. Rima walked in and locked the door hastily.

After scanning the bathroom a little, she concluded that the only window she could possibly leave through was parallel to her upper body. She had no idea where it could lead to but she wanted to try anyway.

Rima pulled the handle but it seemed stiff from disuse.

"What are you doing?"

Rima nearly jumped out of her skin. She turned around slowly.

And there stood the purple-haired guy. Rima's eyes widened when she noticed that he only had a towel wrapped around his waist.

All doubt that Rima had about his masculinity flew out of the window when she saw his six-pack.

"Umm… uh… I was just checking my hair" she turned to the mirror and started plumping her curly locks. She could see her cheeks getting pinker and pinker in her reflection.

"I see…" The guy didn't seem convinced. "So how's that going for you?" He ran his fingers through his long hair, looking annoyed.

"Umm… Good. I'm done now." Rima tried hard not to look at him. Her heart was beating painfully fast and she didn't like it at all.

"Okay then. Get out!"

She didn't need to be told twice.

Hi. Thanks for reading my story.

And to all you lovely reviewers, thank you so much. It's your reviews that make me wanna write instead of completing my homework.

Please continue reviewing :D

Till later... Sir Sleeps-a-lot