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Chapter 25
Nick
The emperor’s eyes widened and he fainted. Matthew ran to his side. Alia glanced at me. “We have to find her, she is our sister!” she whispered. Sam nodded.
“You heard what she said; it means that Matt isn’t the heir!” I almost grinned.
“Maybe we can help Sora!” Alia’s excitement was overflowing. I nodded.
“Do you think that it’s possible- to save people in the clutches of darkness?” Sam whispered. Alia and I shrugged simultaneously.
“There is a chance,” I said.
“A small chance,” Alia added.
“But only if we can find her.” I finished.
“You two really scare me when you do that.” Sam floundered. Alia and I laughed.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦Shishou♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
“Come on in.” Koneko grinned and held open the door. “Dad, Rai, I’m home!” she called and a lioness padded up to us. Her grey gaze widened as she fixed her eyes upon me. A sandy blonde haired man entered after the lioness and riveted his eyes on mine. “Sorry I’m late, I stayed with the haienas, but I brought comp-” Koneko started, but her father finished for her, tears filling his grey eyes.
“Yozakura.” He embraced me warmly.
“Mama?” Koneko’s eyes widened.
“Ahhh, my Shishou, you look just like your mother.”
“Who are you, and who is Yozakura?” the lioness purred at my question, I noticed that she was the one in my dream.
“Shi-shi, we are Raion, your father. Yozakura is you and Koneko’s mother.” The lioness, which Koneko called Rai, said happily and licked me affectionately. I was stunned, for many reasons.
“Kisa called me that once…” Raion glanced at Koharu, inquisitively. She stepped forward.
“Hello, Raion, my name is Koharu, my ‘mother’ is Yuusuzumi, and she sent me to escort Shishou here.”
“Ah, one of Yuusu’s creations?” Koharu nodded.
“Aijou has sent me a message,” Koharu's gaze darkened and glazed over. Then, in perfect imitation of Aijou, said, “Mama allowed Yuki to go to her Daddy. She might get there in a few days.” Koharu shuddered and her eyes turned back to their regular selves.
“Princess Yuki? How old is the message?” Raion asked with concern in his grey gaze.
“Message sent five days ago, it was delayed.”
“Oh dear, I hope she hasn’t shown him her wings…” Rai said sorrowfully.
“How do you know about Yuki?” I asked, suspicious of the Takitanians surrounding me.
“Why, you and the girls always played together when you were toddlers, Yozakura and Tsubasa were best friends. In fact, it was Sora who gave you the nickname Shi-shi, you really loved it.” Rai said softly. The memory of Yozakura must’ve hurt pretty badly.
“So, wait a second, Shishou is my brother?” the two Raions nodded.
“We have to find Yuki! She could be in huge trouble!” I said, and then a soft voice piped up,
“Mama, we have to help the princess, let’s help my brother get to her.” It was the kitten, Neko. ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦Yuki♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
I fell, face first at the rocky top. Exhaustion and the lack of will made it difficult to do anything. A boy slid easily down to me and extended his hand. I grasped it like a lost hope. “Ayame republic.” I coughed, blood dripping from the cut on my lip. He nodded and pulled me up. I groaned, the pain of the flight and the confrontation burning me. A small otter slid down next to him.
“Yuki!” Alia called. I whirled around to meet the exited gazes of my siblings and Sam.
“As in Princess Yuki?” the boy asked in amazement. I nodded, painfully slowly. “Then can you take a detour?” I looked at his face, instantly suspicious, but he held an innocent gaze.
“To where?” I asked.
“To Yuri republic, my home, and the home of our stargazer Milo.”
“What’s that?” I croaked.
“We can show you.” The otter said happily. “And will your friends be traveling with you?”
“We would be honored.” Alia said smoothly. It truly showed through that she was royalty. “Now, what may I call you?”
“I am Toya, and this is my doushi, Akita.”
“I am Alia, Yuki’s sister.”
“My pleasure, Princess.” Toya kissed Alia’s hand, and she blushed.
“What exactly is the Yuri republic?” Sam asked meekly.
“Ah, never heard of our great land?” Toya grinned.
“None of us have ever been to Takitanima, Toya.” I said softly.
“Then let’s talk as we walk, we have a long way to go.” Toya said and led us to the mouth of the waterfall. “Welcome to Takitanima.” The fresh scent of roses washed over me. A centaur greeted us.
“Welcome to Bara Republic,” he started.
“We’re on our way to Yuri.” Toya stopped him.
“Oh, proceed.” The centaur stared longingly after us.
“He has been there all day, poor guy.” Akita explained sadly.
“Bara is home to livestock, mostly horses and cattle, but some are lucky to spy deer, but that’s unusual, the things are so shy.” Toya said. “They are really strict, and always follow the rules, unlike the free spirited Yuris!” he snorted. “Never have any time for fun. To the east is Sakura. Sakura is home to many African animals, but mostly lions and hyenas. Akeru is their ‘Dreamer.’ She’s a real sweetheart; she holds her haienas close knit, unlike Kohaku, the Hippoklipta of Bara. She has it really military styled.” I thought about Dannen. How was he? I knew that somewhere in the Takitanima, he was safe and with Shishou. That thought soothed me. “Farther east is the Ayame republic, home to all birds, but they are pretty open, there are lots of mixtures of animals there. Queen Tsubasa was a great leader until she died and her sister took over. Don’t get me wrong; Mitsukai’s good, but nobody could match Tsubasa. South of Ayame is Rairakku. They aren’t doing do well since the dragon attack, so there’s only a handful of bats left.” This got raised eyebrows and amazement from us spectators. “The Shadowielder, Naito, has a sister who is promised to Stargazer Milo. But she is only eleven right now, and Milo is fourteen.”
“Your leader is only fourteen?” I spurted.
“Yeah, he is the youngest current leader. Milo became Stargazer when he was twelve. Anyway, I feel sorry for them, Hinata is a lover of the night, and she is really dark, like gothic dark. And Milo is really free spirited, and he loves the sun, so they totally clash. At least Naito won’t let anything happen to Hinata, they are the perfect siblings, some days you would think that they were each other’s doushis! South to Rairakku is Chuurippu. The Takitanians there are very loyal, tons of dogs and cats. Neko is their Alpha. He is obviously in love with Mistress Saikoro of Hasu. If they got married, then they would have a powerful leadership together. Hasu is a few miles west of Chuurippu. It’s made up of tons of fish folk and arctic animals.” Nick prodded m with an elbow.
“I’d bet you’d love that place.” He grinned and I returned his smile.
“Someday,” I promised softly to myself. I really wanted to meet the other leaders, they sounded intriguing. And I bet that they’d give anything to meet me, too. I allowed the thought to run through my head, smiling absently.
“Yuri’s to the west of Hasu, just across the lake, you can get a great view of Hasu from our house.” Toya continued, and we continued to walk, keeping pace easily. I wondered when we would get to Yuri and Milo. “We are the playful otters and rodents of the Takitanima. It doesn’t get much better than that, and we are due south of Bara. So the lot of us makes up the seven republics of Takitanima. Any questions?” Toya grinned. It was so easy to let myself flow around them, it wasn’t like the time I met Kisa. How I missed her. She was my sister, and I could only hope and wish that she was safe, and that Kiru was taking care of her.
“Yeah, why do only a few people have doushis?” Sam piped up.
“I guess that you either got it, or you don’t. The goddess Inari chooses.” Toya shrugged.
“How long does it take to get to Yuri?” I voiced my thoughts.
“About a day.”
“How about we speed that up?” I asked, grin flashing across my face. My wings ached, but they needed the exercise. I grasped Nick and Sam’s hands.
“Do you know how hard that will be?” Toya asked, eyes wide with understanding.
“I lived in Antarctica for fourteen years of my life, and I have experience carrying polar bears.” Toya nodded.
“Okay then, I’ll take Alia.” The humans exchanged confused glances.
“Hold on.” I told the boys and hauled them into the sky and raced Toya and Alia to Yuri. It was hard, harder than I had anticipated, but I endured. Akita slid on her belly, easily sliding far ahead of us. Toya and I were at disadvantages, we both had extra weight, and Toya couldn’t slide ahead with Akita because of Alia. Besides that, he was an otter running on dry land. I imagined that that would be challenging. By the time we had broken twenty kilometers, we were both sweaty and my wings and arms ached. I landed next to him.
“That was amazing!” Sam said excitedly. Nick agreed with him.
“My turn next,” Alia flashed me a brilliant grin.
“Can I fly?” Toya smiled like an excited young child at Christmas.
“Okay, after a quick breather, boys can run and I’ll take Alia and Toya. If Akita wants, she can be after them.”
“That would be lovely.” Akita mumbled. The ten minutes passed quickly when Toya and I raced in the river. After a few rounds, we had to call a tie, and got ready to leave again. I flew straight up, raining water upon the boys below us. Alia squealed in delight. The breeze played with my wings, this was a lot easier, flying with Alia and Toya. The otter was very thin, and so was my sister, while Sam and nick had muscles from working on the boats. As usual, Akita slid ahead of us, but this time, it was easier to keep up. I tried a flip, getting jealous glares from Nick and Sam. We laughed at their tiny bodies, our shadows darkening their path. I lowered myself until Alia and Toya’s feet skimmed the water’s cool surface. Then I rose into the clouds until mist dripped from our eyelashes. Their faces shone brightly. I did more aerial moves until I landed. Alia hugged me.
“That was wonderful!” she gasped, and Toya nodded, breathless. “Promise me that someday we’ll do that again!” I grinned.
“Maybe we can skydive someday.” I added to her thought.
“Yes!” her eyes glittered. “Man, I have the best sister in the world!” Nick and Sam trotted up to us, sweat dripping from their tired bodies. Nick collapsed in exhaustion.
“Bring…me…” Sam gasped for air. We laughed.
“If you’re still alive, maybe.” I grinned.
“Never, I repeat, never challenge me to a sprint across that distance again.” Nick said to Sam. Sam grinned. With only a few miles to our destination, Akita and I did some extreme works of aerial art. I did it mostly to tease them, but I enjoyed it almost as much as Akita did. We flipped, spun, and nosedived, anything I could think of. It was fun to loosen up around them and play like, well, play like an otter. I dove into the cool water and emerged, spinning. Akita smiled at me, her brown fur soaked.
“I’d give that a 9.”Akita said happily. “My home is only a mile away from here, if u set me down, I can alert stargazer Milo of your presence. Before the week is up, the whole of Takitanima will know of your existence in Yuri.” I set her down, not knowing if everyone knowing about me was a good thing. “Goodbye, Princess Yuki.”
“Please, just call me Yuki.” I called after her vanishing body. I stepped into the river, washing away the accumulating sweat. I might as well look presentable if I was to meet Milo. I sort of thought of him as my cousin. I mean, we were both royalty, right? I took out the two sapphire beads that separated my two long strands of hair in the front from the shoulder length strands in the back. My hair grew like wildfire; I would need to cut it soon. I set the beads on the sandy shore and dove into the water, furiously combing at my hair with my fingers. I wasn’t one to normally care about my appearance, but I would be dining with a king, so I might as well look good. I got out of the water and shook off, destroying the almost-neat hair. I heard a small giggle and turned to meet Alia’s bright blue gaze.
“Yuki, you might need a real comb for that.” Of course Alia was looking perfect, her night black hair tied back to reveal her beautiful eyes. I wished that I had blue eyes like her. She looked like a true princess. Me, I looked like a girl who was just leaving Antarctica via hurricane. Alia pulled out a small comb out of a pocket in her skirt. I guess she needed to have perfect hair constantly.
“Where did you get that?” I asked suspiciously as she started combing my hair.
“My hair gets messy every three minutes.” She grimaced and I immediately felt horrible for thinking those things. I guessed that even perfection had its drawbacks. “You should grow your hair out, then I could mess with it more.” She added. Maybe, I thought silently. I realized that I hadn’t used my mind-reading ability in a while, but they were so nice, it felt rude to prod.
“Please tell me about father, what is he really like, Alia?” I changed the subject.
“He is, well, father. Since Matt is his heir, he never really cared about Nick and I. Mom said that he became angry at the world when Tsubasa died. He didn’t care about anyone or anything.” She stopped combing and buried her face in my hair.
“Alia?” I asked gently.
“Dad never cared.” Nick said softly. “Nor did mom. She was just happy to have Matt. She spoiled the brat until he became boring and rude to everyone.” He spat. I wondered how long the boys had been there, listening in quietly. I silently thanked whatever god or goddess was in charge that nobody could read my mind.
“Oh but nobody ever cared about the twins, we just stood around, taking everything.” Alia hissed. I could sense a battle in both of their minds, a fight between them and themselves.
“So I wandered around Japan and China while Alia stayed in her room, living off of anything that could take away her mind.” Toya and Sam stood quietly and awkwardly.
“Would you like to go inside?” Toya asked in the growing silence, propping up a trap door leading into a tunnel.
“I think that that would be best.” I said softly. Alia wiped away the tears that had sneaked away from the mental battle.
“Yeah.” Alia agreed. There was a ladder leading the way into the hole. I folded my wings into my body to allow me to fit through. At the end of the short tunnel, there was a door that opened to a small home. It was breath taking, shells and sea urchins were made into beautiful ornaments and scattered around the room, making the room feel like it was under the waters of the lake. A glass wall revealing the aquatic life proved my theory further. Way off into the distance my bird eyes could make out a tiny dome in the watery distance. Toya took a pair of binoculars off of a shelf and passed them to me.
“That, Princess, is a part of Hasu. It is only a few kilometers away, but that’s because it’s an outpost, a little city closer to Yuri. Hasu is made out of hundreds of domes scattered throughout the lake, but the main city is just off the shore separating it from Chuurippu. That’s where Mistress Saikoro lives.” He whispered in my ear. I looked through the binoculars at the underwater city. It was beautiful. It was an air pocket with watery roads leading to mini-domes. I saw a large white bear paddling serenely and…merpeople? I didn’t know that they were real. Then again, before I came to Takitanima, I didn’t believe in centaurs, and besides that, most people didn’t believe in angels, so I guess that anything is possible. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” I nodded and passed the binoculars to Alia. She gasped in amazement
“I wish that I could see it up close, maybe even walk in the streets…” she breathed.
“Someday we’ll go.” I promised her. She passed the binoculars to Nick.
“This place is much cooler than anyplace I’ve ever seen.” He said, wide-eyed as he gave Sam the binoculars.
“This is Takitanima, what did you expect?” Toya laughed.
“A volcano.” Nick admitted sheepishly. Toya thought about it.