Akito smirked slyly. Slowly, like a predator that approached its prey, he walked towards me and laid the gun next to my feet. Too shocked to move or make a sound I watched as he knelt down next to the woman he just shot. Paralyzed by shock, fear and disgust I just watched him take his ex-lover in his arms, carefully as if she was a porcelain doll.

I felt like gagging as he smiled to the corps. I clasped my hand for my mouth but since I had barely had anything to eat this night, I couldn't throw up. The door to the salon was thrown open with a wide swing, guards with their weapons in their hands overlooked the scene with horror on their faces. As if in a daze I watched Akito's smile fade to be replaced by a grieving expression, there were even tears rolling down his face.

The guards noticed the gun next to my feet and I realized too late what it implied. Just then Akito decided to confirm the assumptions of the guards. He bended over the dead body of his so-called mother and cried.

"How could you?! Haruhi!" He yelled. I must admit, he was really a great actor. "How could you betray us?!"

Now the guards charged at me. Pointing their guns at me. "Hands up."

"N-no, listen!" I tried. "This is all a misunderstanding! It was A-Akito who shot her!"

The guards exchanged a glance before charging forward. Skilled as they were, they are royal guards after all, they had pinned me down in the blink of an eye. "L-Listen to me! I'm innocent!"

"How dare you say that?! Haruhi!" Akito yelled and he gave me a hateful look. "I will never forgive you. Guards, take her away and lock her." They nodded and yanked me up, cuffing my hands behind my back.

"I didn't do it! Listen to me!" I yelled but was ignored. They pushed me forcefully to the door.

"You will pay for this, Haruhi, I swear." Akito said and threw me a victorious smirk behind the back of the guards. He formed the words 'You lose' without sound and smirked satisfied as I was dragged out the room.

Outside stood a small group of people, curious about what had happened. It were mainly maids and butlers but there were also some nobles from the party who hadn't gone home yet. Between the crowd stood Kazuma-sama. Our eyes locked for a moment and he stepped forward to stop the guards.

"What is going on?" he demanded to know. The guards exchanged a glance again, hesitating whether to spill the 'truth' or not.

"We're not in the position to tell you that, sir." One of the guards politely avoided answering the question.

Kazuma-sama met my eyes again and I saw a spark of hesitation.

"I didn't do it, Kazuma-sama! He had been plotting it all along." I whispered so only Kazuma-sama could hear. "Kazuma-sama, remember my request, my friends will know how to help me!"

One of the guards tugged me by my cuffed arms, I hissed when pain went through my hands.

"Hey!" Kazuma-sama scolded them. "There is no need to be violent, whatever the princess did, she still hasn't been proven guilty. Treat her with more respect." I sighed relieved that he didn't doubt me. He bended down and whispered silently so only I could hear.

"I already fulfilled your first request, Haruhi-sama, it will depend on what it shows me whether I comply to the second one or not." I nodded, slightly hurt that he didn't trust me by my word. "Thank you." I muttered and got taken away by the guards. I could feel Kazuma-sama's eyes on my back until I turned the corner, and disappeared out of his sight.

…

I sat on the small bed of my cell. After the guards had taken me away they had locked me in some room until police arrived and they had put me in a cell. The shock was clearly written on their faces when the guards told them how they had found me, Akito and the corps in one room. Although they treated me slightly better than the guards, I could still feel the hatred radiate from them.

That's what happens when you murder the most popular woman of the country. You're bound to be hated by everyone. I had been in the cell for four days already and each time they came to bring me food they would glare at me. When the door to the police office stood open, I could hear the radio.

Of course it only broadcasted the story of how the lost princess had murdered her aunt. Some called it revenge for the dead on my own mother, other called it a plot to prevent Akito from taking the throne. Honestly, I didn't care about the public opinion. All I worried about was my nii-chans and how they could be influenced by this, and of course I worried about getting myself out of this mess.

Not only my life was a mess for the moment, but I, myself, felt like a mess, I hadn't been able to shower for three days and I have been bathing in sweat every night because of the nightmares that wouldn't end. The scene of Akito shooting that woman kept on replaying in my dreams but sometimes it would shift to that stormy night when my mother was killed.

Sometimes it wasn't the fake Aneko that was shot by Akito but my mother, my niichans or me. The dreams of Tama-niichan and the others being killed were the most frightening ones. I would wake up crying and trembling all over. After the fourth night I didn't even bother to try and fall asleep.

At night, there are only two policemen to guard me instead of four. Most of them ignore me but there is that female police that would come from time to time to chat with me, she probably pitied me. Sadly it wasn't her shift tonight. To avoid getting bored I had started repeating formula that we had seen in classes mathematics, or I would repeat my vocabulary out loud, to get myself distracted from the loneliness.

So on the fourth night when it was already dark outside, I was repeating my formula from chemistry when there were some sounds coming from the office next door. I could hear a voice yell: Hands up! And a couple of shots until two thuds followed.

My body tensed as I stared at the door. Obviously someone had broken into the office and had fought the policemen. Question was: who knocked out who?

The door was pushed open, revealing a familiar face.

I'm sorry that i stopped updating without any notice but I suddenly got caught in this tempest called "exames" and couldn't find time to write or update.

I've decided not to write a sequel, since the story would get too long and I felt that it would get boring if I made it too long, I also wish to focus on idea for another fanfic but before I publish it I want this one (and my other ongoing fic) to be finished so I won't make a sequel.

I only have one more exam to go before my holidays start so the updating will be more frequent again :) Thank you for being patient ^^