Wah minna sorry for another long wait but here's chapter 20 part 1!! Enjoy~
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Chapter 20 part 1
Jurina woke up early so she wouldn't be seen by Rena. She went to the spot where Rena was said to be found on that day. Looking back at the memories she had seen, she looked for the path that Rena had taken when going down the mountain. Jurina searched the memories and then she found it where Rena had fallen and the path she had taken from there. She looked at a rock and noticed scuff marks on it probably from when Rena initially fell. She touched the rock and saw some of the path that Rena had walked. Looking up, she saw tall grass that swayed with the wind making it hard to see. However she noticed that there was a certain part of the grass that was shorter than the rest. Jurina was able to conclude that the shorter grass was the grass Rena had walked on and walked over and later grew back. Jurina walked into the grass and followed it all the way up to the clearing where there was nothing but dense trees. Jurina knew she was going to have trouble navigating through such dense forest and so she decided to try to search the memories once again. It was dark but Jurina was able to make out the figures of all the trees and there was one tree that she saw that would be very recognizable. It was a forked tree where the tree looked almost like a Y. Jurina looked around and far in the back was the tree.
Jurina made her way over to the tree and when she touched it she was able to pick up a couple of memories. She saw Rena rest against the tree and then continue to move towards the path she had just come from. Jurina looked at the spot where Rena came from and managed to look a little further ahead. There was a river up ahead and Jurina guessed that Rena had crossed the river to get down the mountain. Jurina took the same path and sure enough there was the river and the waters were moving rapidly moving down the mountain. The waters were moving so fast that if you fell in you would surely be carried by the current. The last thing Jurina wanted was to fall into the water especially after seeing all the debris that were drifting with the current as well. Seeing there were stones she could step on, Jurina didn't want to take the chance so instead she stepped back and then charged forward. One good jump was all it took and Jurina leapt all the way across the river landing safely on the other side. Rena looked ahead and saw a clear dirt path leading up the mountain. Jurina knew she was getting close and so she straightened her clothes and continued to move forward.
(Over with Rena..)
Rena woke up and saw Jurina was already gone. Yawning and stretching, Rena prepared herself for another long and hard working day. She got dressed and started to leave the room when suddenly she felt someone tug on her and pull her back. She looked over and saw that the person holding her was Tomochin and Rena was very surprised that Tomochin would do something like this. Tomochin shushed Rena so she wouldn't say anything and led her outside. When Rena stepped outside she felt a brush of cold air hit her body and send chills down her spine. Rena wanted to go back inside where it was warm but Tomochin wouldn't let her. Instead Tomochin took Rena to a shed that Rena never knew they had. When they walked in Tomochin released her grip on Rena and then Rena asked,
"Why did you bring me out here?"
"No reason I just thought we could talk." Tomochin said.
"Talk about what?"
"Stuff. I thought it would be interesting to bond with each other since we don't really know each other. Plus I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you so roughly when you accused my sister of being a traitor.."
"Ah that's alright I understood why you did those things. There's no need to apologize."
Rena turned around and attempted to leave but Tomochin stopped her. She insisted on talking to Rena and so Rena had no choice but to sit and talk with Tomochin. Once again Rena thought it was very strange but there was nothing she could do.
"So how have you been?" Tomochin asked.
"I'm good and you?" Rena responded.
"I've been doing alright."
It was obvious that this was just idle chat and Tomochin had something hidden. In order to get what she wanted to know though she was going to have to play twenty questions with Tomochin and find out what she's hiding.
"How is Chiyuu by the way?"
Tomochin looked at Rena with a surprised but saddened look and said,
"She's.. doing fine.. Atsuko has her in lock up still and under observation. She wants to make sure that Chiyuu is completely cured before we finally release her."
"How much longer will that take?"
"I don't know but I hope soon.."
Tomochin tried to look away from Rena now trying to divert her attention elsewhere. Rena was curious as to what was wrong and so she started to ask more questions. She knew she had hit something with Tomochin but the question was what?
"I bet you miss her a lot don't you?" Rena said.
"Yes I miss her.." Tomochin said softly.
"Really? You don't sound like it. To me you sound like you don't miss her at all.."
"What did you say?!"
Tomochin stood up and knocked the chair back. She tackled Rena onto the floor and pinned her arms back. She had the same look she had back then and looked like she was going to kill Rena. However that look of rage soon turned into a look of sadness. Tears started to form around her eyes and she slowly fell moved down onto Rena. Holding her tightly Tomochin said in a shaky voice,
"I miss her so much.."
Rena knew this is why Tomochin had called her and now all she wanted to do was try to help Tomochin the best way she could. In the meantime though she wondered where Jurina was since she didn't see her in the morning. Rena hoped that whatever she did she was ok.
(Over with Jurina...)
Jurina made her way up a very steep hill to the top and when she looked up she saw the thing she had originally came to look for. There on top of the hill was the house she had seen in the memories. She walked over to the front door and found it was left slightly open so she was easily able to walk in. She walked inside and stepped in where she was welcomed with the scent of rot. Jurina walked around and found the source of the stench and it was the dead body of Rena's grandmother. Nature and other elements had gotten to it and so the body had decayed to an extent. Feeling bad, Jurina took a blanket and carefully wrapped the body and then carried it outside. She placed it against a tree and then quickly dug a grave for her. She placed the body into the ground and buried it. Using a large stone as a grave, Jurina placed it in front of the grave and said a little prayer. Then she went back inside the house where she started to explore its insides. She walked into a small kitchen and a bedroom. She saw there was only one bedroom so Rena and her grandmother must have shared a room. Jurina saw old pictures of Rena when she was little with her grandmother growing up. Seeing little Rena made Jurina laugh a little however she wanted to get what she had intended to look for. She wanted to find out more about Rena.
Searching through different drawers and dressers, Jurina looked for anything that could tell her about Rena's past. She found many old clothes and toys but nothing leading to the parents. The grandmother must have gotten rid of all their things making things harder for Jurina. She tapped into the memories of the items there trying to find something that could help her. She walked over and sat on an old rocking chair where she could sit and think. However instead, Jurina got a flash of the grandmother rocking back an forth while holding Rena when she was kid. Jurina realized that maybe if she touched things Rena's grandmother had touched then she may be able to find what she was looking for. Jurina started to touch all different kinds of things and got useless but cute memories. Then eventually she came across a memory that led to something interesting. She saw Rena's grandmother pull up a floor board and pull out a box. Jurina found that floor board and so she pulled it up and found the box. She opened it and found old pictures of Rena's parents and old documents of her parents birth and where they were from. She even found Rena's birth certificate and there was a footprint of Rena's tiny foot back then. While looking at at the picture she heard shuffling coming from something behind her. Jurina looked behind and saw a squirrel sitting on the floor staring at Jurina. Jurina moved and the squirrel ran moving the carpet a little bit.
"Ah stupid squirrel.."
Jurina got up and walked over to the spot where the squirrel had disturbed the home. She picked up one end and started to move it. It was then she noticed something under the carpet. It was dark and dry and Jurina didn't know what it was. At the same time though she realized this was the area where Rena's parents were killed. She looked back at the dark spot on the floor and realized that the carpet was covering an old bloodstain.
(Over with Rena...)
Rena and Tomochin had an intense conversation for a good two hours before Rena was finally able to settle Tomochin's problems. Feeling better and more positive, Tomochin left giving Rena free time to try to look for Jurina. She hadn't seen her all day and was wondering where the young ruler was. She started to walk around when suddenly she felt something cold from behind her. She was going to turn around but before she could do anything, everything went dark and Rena couldn't see a thing. When she opened her eyes she saw only darkness and a couple specks of life. She got up and started to walk around and then suddenly a figure appeared in front of her. That figure was Yuki and she said,
"I need to borrow your body for a while Rena."
"Why?" Rena asked.
"Mayu is mad at me and I want to know why. She won't let me in though so I'm going to use your body to get close to her."
"Mou why can't you use Atsuko or Tomochin's body?"
"Because they hate it when I use their body so just go with it alright? I promise I won't do anything bad."
"Ok fine.. Just I don't want to die thanks."
"Sit back and watch."
There was a hole and through it Rena could watch every movement Yuki made. She watched her walk down the hall to the dungeon and over to Mayu's room. She raised her hand and knocked on the door three times. The door opened a little and there was Mayu standing there.
"What do you want Rena?" she said harshly.
"I wanted to see if you were doing alright. Yuki told me you were upset so I thought we could talk." Yuki said using Rena's voice.
"Well alright.. Just give me a minute."
Mayu opened the door and Yuki stepped in closing the door after her. She walked over and watched Mayu jump onto the bed burring her face into the pillow. Yuki sat down next to her and asked,
"What happened?"
"Stupid stuff between Yuki and I.." Mayu said.
"Like Yuki being a baka.. She really is sometimes."
"What did she do?"
"Well.. All week I've been keeping her side of the room clean because she always comes to bed late and throws her dirty clothes everywhere. I've been cleaning and folding her clothes and even organized them! I make the bed and even clean the sheets every time she stains them with blood which is almost every night because she always forgets to shower. I do all these things for her and not once had she even stopped to notice or say thank you. She just comes home and says, "I'm tired" and sleeps without saying goodnight to me!"
Rena saw some tears forming in her eyes but tried to hide them. Rena saw Yuki's vision start to blur for her own tears were starting to form. Inside she heard Yuki say to herself,
"Damn I'm such an idiot.."
Yuki moved a little closer to Mayu and started to rub her back as she hid her face in a pillow to try to stop the tears. Rubbing her back gently, Mayu looked up and looked over at Yuki with a glare in her eyes. She sat up and said,
"Thanks but I'm alright. Now if you excuse me I have to do the laundry. That baka sister of mine already went through a weeks worth of clothes in just two days."
Mayu got up to take the clothes and then Yuki got back up and said,
"Let me help you."
Yuki grabbed the basket Mayu was going to grabbed and helped her carry it up the stairs and outside. She set it down and got the water and soap. Mayu brought over two stools and together the two did the laundry together. Yuki pulled out one of her own shirts and saw all the blood stains on them. As she started to wash them she noticed that they blood was incredibly hard to get out. Yuki scrubbed and scrubbed but had no luck. As she continued to scrub furiously, she heard a giggle coming from Mayu.
"Like this baka."
Mayu took Yuki's hands and moved them in a circular motion making the stains come off almost instantly.
"Wah thanks Mayu!"
"Idiot~"
When the two finished washing, they hung the clothes up to dry and then went back into the palace where they talked for a while. Mayu had told things that she had never told Yuki and Yuki herself was surprised to hear those things. She learned how Mayu got lonely when she left her and how much she worried about her when Yuki was out on her missions. She also learned how Mayu had her own internal anxieties and worries and when she was alone she struggled with them. There were times she thought about ending her life but she remembered that Yuki was there fore but at the moments she wasn't there she felt alone. Now knowing this, Yuki vowed that she would do her best to try to help Mayu and be there for her. After that, Yuki left Rena's body and came back to Mayu in her own. She walked over to Mayu and shut the door behind them. Even though Rena didn't see anything, she could hear the both of them crying and each one of them saying they loved each other. It was then Rena knew that Mayu and Yuki had made up.
With that done, Rena went back up to walk to her room when suddenly the door busted open and in came Jurina with a panicked look on her face. When Rena tried to ask her what's wrong, Jurina grabbed Rena and quickly ran down to the dungeon. Jurina dragged Rena into a room and shut the door locking it tight. She then threw Rena onto a table and strapped her arms and legs down. Rena wanted to say something but before she had the chance too, Jurina gagged her. She saw Jurina run to the side and start to search for something mumbling things she couldn't understand. Then she came back and in her hand was a large syringe with black fluid in side. She placed it against Rena's arm and said,
"I'm not going to let them take you away from me!"
Then Jurina injected Rena with the black fluid and Rena felt as if fire was being injected into her body. She felt every single drop of the black fluid shoot into her veins spreading throughout her body. When the syringe ran out, Jurina grabbed another one and did the same thing injecting Rena over and over repeatedly. She did the same thing seven times and each time Rena cried her heart out in pain as her whole body burned and trembled in pain. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and Rena passed out from the pain.
"Everything is going to be ok.. I'm not going to let them take you away from me.. I won't let them!"
Jurina was scared and nervous fearing the worst of the worst. After seeing what she had seen at the house, she knew it was only a matter of time before Yuko found out and then she would come and take her away. Thinking back to the moment, Jurina couldn't believe what she had seen. When Jurina moved the carpet she saw the black spot she had seen in the memory but as she pulled the carpet back further, she saw the blood wasn't black but red. The blood was red which meant only one thing.. Rena was not a black blood or a blue blood but a red blood and in this world, red bloods are forbidden. If a red blood is ever found they must be killed immediately. Jurina herself had killed one herself and it was quite a challenge. She thought they were all dead but after seeing Rena she was wrong. By law Jurina was supposed to kill Rena but she couldn't do it. Not after all the time they had spent together and all the moments they had bonding. Rena had become someone Jurina had cared deeply about and couldn't afford to lose. Therefore she was going to do everything she could to protect her even if it takes drastic measures.
"I'm sorry.. Rena.."
What she had injected Rena with was a serum that was supposed to turn any blood into black blood. However it was still under development and wasn't fully approved by Atsuko and Mayu. However Jurina couldn't risk it and so she had no choice but to use it now. She didn't want to lost Rena not after all the things they went through together. Jurina was willing to do anything for Rena even if it meant killing getting hurt. She just didn't want to lose Rena and so this was her only hope in any chance of saving her. All she could do was wait and that was something Jurina could not afford. Jurina loved Rena and she wasn't going to lose her no matter what.
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What's gonna happen in part 2? Find out next time!