I entered my limousine and thought: Where the heck my driver went to in a time like this? but right afterwards I remembered that he had died in the accident 6 days ago Well I pondered for a while now I wanted to something more wildly . Thinking like that, I left the limo and hopped in Porche 911, I grabbed my sunglasses and wore them; put to play Born to be wild and soon saw Akira running to the place where I was supposed to be; he had the surprise of her life when she saw me in the driver s seat behind the steering wheel with a bad boy look in my face pointing the passenger s seat to her:
-Come Akira, we have a extremely urgent subject to attend, hop on.
-But Richard and the driver? she asked.
-I will explain it later! Get on we need to hurry! I hurried her.
Obeying promptly, she ran and with a jump that came from her feline agility, she sat in her place; she barely had time to fasten her seatbelt; right afterwards a loud roar from the engine of the car was heard, shifting to first gear instantly I made the tires screech, making us glue to our seats.
While still in the city I needed to watch my speed more carefully, as soon as we reached the reserved highway however, I began using all horsepower my car allowed me to; making turns almost sideways. Right after I began racing against time I felt Akira tensing up as a rock, I felt her paws holding my arm strongly and her nails lightly penetrating my clothing; I could feel she was afraid so I said:
-Akira-chan, I know you are very scared, but we have a royal emergency; I was summoned in a hurry for this urgent meeting about a problem I don t know much about, just that I need to be there in less than two hours because of that try to be brave, as I need to do this! So please if you are feeling very afraid just hold tight on me ok?
-A Alright Richard I trust you -Ok, highway guard 131 I said while pushing a button at the communications panel asking permission to use the royal private highway for an urgent meeting, Montecchio over.
-Highway guard 131, Montecchio copy replied one serious toned voice liberation pending family password, type it on your panel.
I typed the Montecchio family password and afterwards the same voice said:
-Password confirmed, access granted, use exit 130.
As I was almost at the exit entrance I needed to make a sharp turn with the car to the right, which made it almost spin out of control; if it wasn t for my driving skills we would have had an accident poor Akira, her fur was almost turning white. This was an empty road as only nobles could use it ad it would take straight to the royal castle, which was isolated from the main part of the city. I was driving was there was no tomorrow, easily hitting the mark of 155 MPH (approximately 250 KMH)!
Arriving at the palace, I used of a high speed maneuver so stop exactly on the parking slot reserved to our family, Akira was frozen immobile, so pallid as a white cloud I poked her lightly on her shaking shoulder; what made her come back to reality:
-Oh! Sorry dear I was I was - she said almost dropping tears of fear.
-Sorry my dear but it was needed can you forgive your Richard?
-Y Yes! she said nodding and wiping a tear with her paws.
I took her by the paw and we went to the main entrance; the doors were huge with more than 9 feet high (over 3 meters), adorned with the royal family insignia in pure gold; something really impressive even to a noble like me; we were blocked on the entrance by two human guards, that upon seeing us said:
-Stop, state your family name here in this place, put your hand here in the scanner, your retina here and lastly your personal password here; you know, usual procedures, sorry for the inconvenience.
-Don t worry, I comprehend this is your work I said going to the microphone Montecchio.
After the positive identification on my behalf; it was allowed me access to the inside of the royal palace, but after a few steps in I heard a surprise yelp; turning around I saw guards holding Akira, that had panic tears on her pretty face, she was asking for help, as she didn t want to be left behind in such a remote and unknown place to her. I came back to the entrance and asked the guards what was going on, when I was informed:
-Our records about your personal caretaker Nina does not match with the ones of this girl, thanks to that her access has been denied; only Nina can enter together with Montecchio the guards said.
-But caretaker Nina passed away not long ago I replied and remembered I hadn t registered her yet, but I could do it now!
-Then please register this girl, would her be a salary girl or a slave? asked one of the guards while typing some commands in the computer screen.
-Slave I replied.
-How is her complete name? asked while typing something.
-Akira, Hikari Akira.
-Alright he said still typing give me please, the owner possession document and we can finalize de inclusion of data and allow her access.
I froze solid upon hearing that AKIRA S PAPERS! I just remembered they hadn t arrived yet! And not having them at this exact time; for Akira being visibly a minor, would put me in a heap of trouble being possible I be arrested for kidnapping; one of the very few things that could jail a noble! Even if Akira said she was my slave I would only have the right to take around one if I had those papers, especially at that age! That is due because in the past, lots of nobles would get vengeance on their lovers that didn t want to submit to their will kidnapping their kids and enslaving them.
It was when, on the peak of my despair that I heard the sound of paper ruffling on my suit pocket then I remembered that Dawn had given me an envelope I instinctively took it out and saw the slave dealers company insignia and I almost had a heart stop at that moment surely that could only mean one thing! Those where Akira s papers!
The famous statement that was very famous on TV nowadays came to my mind at that time They didn t count on my astuteness! I opened the envelope and inside there was her owner possession document! Name: *Hikari Akira*, date of birth: *07/04/2010* mother s name: *Hikari Mitsuki*, father s name: *Unknown*
Unknown father? I thought to myself as it was strange; according to Verona laws all kids have the right to have the father s family name and knowing their father, and even if he isn t a present kind of one, it was needed to be present in the birth certificate that could only mean two things: 1 Akira was the result of a rape, at a situation like that it was given the right to the mother to not search for the rapist and put his name in the certificate (as abortion was only allowed in case of severe risk to the mother s health) or 2 the mother, for some motive, didn t want the father s name on this kid and said she was raped and both possibilities scared me by the way
The guard took the paper and used the authentication machine, that verified the document being original and accurate to reality, and after inputting the last data on the server said directing himself to Akira:
-You were very lucky to get Montecchio as a master, would you please stand up here? he said pointing to a little box, in which Akira climbed se we can scan your retina.
-Can I dear? she asked.
-Yes Akira-chan, you can do anything they ask you to ok? So that will allow them to let you come in - I replied.
-Alright dear! she nodded.
-Always so careful and neat Montecchio, keeping the girl s documents well conserved differently from other nobles here said the guard, knowing I allowed them to talk to me, as I didn t see myself superior to them.
Right away her retina was scanned, taken her paw marks, given a personal password, one not even I was allowed to know, and lastly it was asked her to state her name; after all those procedures ended her entrance was allowed to the palace; as soon as she could she placed herself beside me and promised that she would never leave there, unless more mean guards ordered her to.
It was told me to wait on Montecchio s reserved waiting room; there was a big table in its center, with fresh fruit, sandwiches, milk and natural juices. I ordered Akira to eat whatever she wanted, because as far as I knew she hadn t eaten anything up to now, her little eyes sparked with happiness and joy when she saw the chicken sandwich beside the tuna one; with her paws on her cheeks and blushing slightly she pondered which to start devouring with that unbelievable happiness face.
After 20 minutes, a representative from the royal personal king guard came to bring us to the meeting, taking Akira totally by surprise with her mouth full with tuna sandwich; totally blushing she tried to swallow everything she had in her mouth, almost chocking in the process; helping everything to go down with a bit of warm milk.
We were taken to the royal meetings room, a place even more stunning than the rest of the castle, in its center there was a round table with enough space for 10 chairs; the kings one on the northern most part of it, and the other 8 nobles sat one at each side of the king in turns of importance, the more powerful the noble is, nearer to the king he would sit. So that was why the first at the king right side was the Capuleto s seat and at his left, the Montecchio s. together with the king, that would make 9 nobles, the missing spot was occupied with a representative of the commoner people, someone chosen by popular vote for two years to represent people in subjects that would involve them and had that same power of vote than the other nobles.
From the king, in anticlockwise where: The Capuleto representative (as Margareth was missing they sent a lawyer), at his side the Souza (we called each other by family Names), the Andrade and lastly de unpleasant Silva, that stayed beside the actual popular representative named Cardoso. If we kept going we had the Soares, the Bernardo, the Oliveira (the only nekomimi noble, female one) and me Montecchio at the King s left side.
The atmosphere was really cloudy in there, each noble took their place in front of their chair and as always waited the King to position himself in front of his own place; right afterwards appeared, from another room access across the room, your royal highness, with his 6 6 (190 cm) height, blonde with green eyes and dressed with the royal mantle made by the Oliveira, biggest clothing maker of Verona.
He had a serious look on him, something really bad must have happened, I only remember that serious expression once, four years ago when he had to witness the mass execution of terrorists that attempted to kill him even it was a position of power and wealth, he didn t like certain aspects of this function and from the looks of it that was one of those occasions. Jo o III then placed himself on his place and said afterwards:
-I, the king of Verona Jo o III, apologize for summoning you in such short notice; but I assure you this is indeed a serious matter and called immediate action said that and made a hand signal I declare the meeting open, sit down please.
All the nobles present sat down and as soon as everyone were comfortable, their personal caretakers also placed themselves beside them; all had attention focused on Akira, seeing as me out of any noble there had one almost a child, and nekomimi after the initial shock they changed their gaze to the King, that seemed to be pondering on how he was going to present the news to everyone after two long minutes, he stared each of the present people in the room and with a voice that sounded like a thunder announced:
-I brought you here - made a pause and said because a traitor lurks between us!