Innocent traitor

Hey everyone. I hope you like my new story. Not humor like a lot of my magi stories, (sorry, I wanted to try something new) It's kind of long and complicated. Some chapters won't make sense until the ones in the future come out. Set after Hakuryuu and Judal turn to the light, which I'm hoping they do. Thank you for reading, and enjoy! (I don't own magi…yet. MWAHAHAHAHAH! No, I don't, I just own this story.)

"What do you have to say for yourself huh? Are you proud of yourself?" the 6th princess of the Kou nation screamed at Hakuei. It took all her willpower to not scream back.

"Why are you yelling at me? I haven't done anything wrong." This only made the princess and her sisters even angrier at their cousin.

"You didn't do anything? Really? What kind of an explanation is that, we all know who your mother is?" Hakuei had to take a deep breath not to yell at her step sister.

Her mother, Gyouken ren, was recently proven to be the leader of the worst criminal organization in the world. Then, to make matters worse, her brother Hakuryuu and oracle Judal tried to start a civil war by killing her. Now she was missing, leaving the Kou Empire in havoc. Yes, they had been able to turn Hakuryuu and Judal back to the good side, but that didn't leave the people happy. They hated Gyouken for what she did, and hated Hakuryuu for hurting so many of the soldiers. But the people all felt it was wrong to hate him, since he was a prince. And Gyouken was missing, so they couldn't do anything about her. The people were angry, and they needed someone to blame.

So why not Hakuei?

To people who didn't know her, it made perfect sense. She was the daughter and sister of the two people that they were angry at. How could she live with them all this time and not realize how evil they were? Maybe she was a monster to. Most people had no problem with blaming her. Not many people liked her before they found out about this. She was a princess who wanted to become a general, completely ignoring the duties of a princess. Unlike most, she was outspoken, hated slavery, and always was trying to get stronger. Those were things that a kou princess should never do. As a friend, she was amazing. But as a princess, she was a failure. Which gave the people a target.

"Hey, what are you doing?" the four of them all spun around to see Kouha, the third prince, running at them with their sister Kougyoku and her brother Hakuryuu on his heels. Kouha was angry, with his sword out and a fire around him. "Leave her be!" at the sight of him the three sisters became afraid. Not wanting to get caught, they hurried away before Kouha could get to them. "Hey! Get back here you cowards!"

"Kouha, its fine. Just leave them be." her youngest cousin glared at her, conveying that it wasn't.

"Those cowards don't even stay around to face up to what they've done," he grumbled, shaking his head. "They just pick a fight when they get the chance, but when they have a chance of losing they run away. The little rats." Kouygoku nodded, but nervously. Even if she was angry at them she didn't want to say anything as harsh as that.

"They are angry Kouha. They have a right to be." Kouha didn't agree, shaking his head. At least she still had some people on her side. All of the princes, Kougyoku, Seisyuun and the Kouga clan, knew that this wasn't fair. They trusted her, she had fought with many of them in a lot of battles. Why would they stop now, just because of something that she couldn't control? "I would want someone to blame if I were them."

"Yeah, but you would blame al-thamen, not someone that was innocent." She couldn't argue with that one. Kougyoku went over and put her hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" Hakuei smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I am fine. It's alright, it doesn't bother me anymore." In honesty, it had never been too much of a worry. As a princess she was always under criticism. When she was little she grew up almost thought of as the unwanted child, being the only girl and a princess trying to become a general. This wasn't anything new. Besides, those three in particular seemed to love to make a mess of everyone's lives. They were the homecoming queens that no one liked and never grew up.

Turning to her brother her heart fell when she saw him staring at the ground ashamed. "Hakuryuu, this isn't your fault. Don't feel bad." She tried to go over to him but he flinched away.

"Yes it is. If I hadn't gone…"

"Insane?" Kougyoku helped. At her words Hakuryuu became all the more depressed and looked down.

"Yes. If I hadn't lost it and fallen before, no one would be blaming you for this." Hakuei shook her head in an attempt to reassure her brother.

"No, they would be blaming me even if you had done nothing. This isn't your fault, really." Hakuryuu couldn't respond, keeping his eyes trained to the ground. Hakuei wished that her brother wasn't feeling this guilty. Yes, he had done stupid stuff, and yes, he fell. But he came back, and he'd been trying to fix all his mistakes ever since he came back. Part of her wondered if he would be happier if people were blaming him instead of his sister, the one person he really cared about. But they couldn't. In that country, it was considered treason to speak against the prince. But the princess was fair game. Even if he hadn't done anything wrong, a majority of the people who were angry were angry at her mother, so she would be blamed no matter what he did.

Kougyoku also sighed, wishing she could take back what she said but couldn't. Instead she tried to lighten the conversation. "I wish Judal was at least acting as guilty as you are. He's just going around causing mischief and laughing like the whole thing never happened." That did help him. Not what she said, but Judal acting normal. He was the only one who looked on the bright side of the whole thing. The organization who had kidnapped him and killed Hakuryuu's brothers was gone from the kingdom, and he was ecstatic. Finally, he was free. Also he did it out of respect to Hakuryuu, who just wished he had never made the mistake he had. He wanted everything to go back to normal, so he tried to act normal. It didn't help as much as he hoped, but it was something.

"Judal's a different kind of person. I'm sure he's feeling guilty in his own way," Hakuryuu tried to defend him, and Kougyoku just shrugged. She was just happy the worst was over. At least, for the majority of her family. There was still Hakuei to worry about.

She smiled, then turned to the group that had come to help her. "What are you three doing here anyway? I thought that you were going to greet the countries as they came to discuss al-thamen." Since all three of them were generals now, they were included in the discussions from now on. Hakuei should have come, but Kouen and Koumei worried about her safety.

"The meetings are getting boring. And kind of…personal." Hakuei frowned at Kouha.

"What do you mean?" her younger cousin hesitated, glancing at Hakuryuu nervously. He nodded for him to continue, but he did slowly so he didn't say anything wrong.

"They were discussing Hakuryuu and Judal. It was just casual, something to bring up when they had nothing else to talk about, but we decided it was best only brother En and Mei stay for that." Hakuei felt her chest go tight at that thought. It was a discussion she knew was going to be coming, but she hoped it wouldn't come so soon.

"What…options were they considering." Nervously Kouha had opened his mouth to speak, but shut it just as quickly. Even though it was irrational, he felt that when he said their options out loud, they would become inevitable. That wasn't fair.

"They decided not to execute us," Hakuryuu answered for him and they all turned to him. He held his head high, not wanting to back down from whatever punishment he was given. "All the countries agreed to call us on temporary insanity. After they last few months they-well, most of them- have agreed we have proven ourselves not to be a threat anymore. But some wanted us to go to prison for our actions. Some thought that we should be banished from Kou…" he hesitated with that last one. The thought of being forced to leave his country horrified him. It was the last thing he had left of his brothers. But realizing everyone was waiting for him to continue, he shook it off. "Others thought that we should simply have our titles taken away from us. A few number actually wanted to reward us for exposing them and destroying the queens rein. We left before we heard any other theories."

All three of them waited patiently for Hakuei to process the given information. For a few moments she didn't know how to take it. She hoped that her brother wouldn't be banished from his country. It was the same fate that mister Alibaba had, and though he had been able to regain his empire, because of the differences in their situations she didn't think her brother would get that far. Imprisonment wouldn't be that bad. Judal might get very bored, but he'd find ways to keep himself preoccupied. Taking away his title would be hard, but she knew that he could easily work his way up again. Rewarding them was definitely not the right action. It was true that they had exposed the organization, but they almost sent the whole country into civil war, as well as hurt many innocent people along the way. Some of them were still recovering from the mind control of Hakuryuu's djinn, which he had released back to his dungeon as soon as he recovered. Take that all away, she was grateful that her brother wasn't being killed. That, more than anything she couldn't bare.

"That's…good news I guess," she slowly replied. "Better than what I thought it would be." Hakuryuu nodded sheepishly.

"Well, King Alibaba and sir Aladdin stood up for me, and both of them are pretty influential characters." Kouha decided to but in.

"Yeah, even though Alibaba was the one who accidentally spilled the wine all over the leader of the Toran natives robe. The beginning of the meeting was really awkward." Hakuei laughed, and it quickly became contagious as the others began to laugh along with her.

"C-come on guys, let go and get something to eat. I'm sure you are all hungry after your long meeting." She got a lot of reactions out of that.

"Oh yeah, I'm starved!"

"Let's get something yummy, like a dessert!"

"I wouldn't mind some cookies if we have any."

Hakuei laughed at the eagerness of her siblings. "Alright then. I'll see if I have any cookies left." And suddenly, they were all full.

"Er…I'm not that hungry."

"I don't want to ruin my appetite for dinner."

"How about we hold off for a bit." With a huff she put her hands on her hips and glared at them. They all hung their heads in shame, but didn't take back what they had said. They could be really inconsiderate at times. Her food was perfectly fine. But they were safe for now.

"I didn't cook them. Does anyone want to take back their answer?" surprisingly, they all did.

"Yeah, let's get food!"

"I'm sure a few wouldn't hurt."

"Well, if you insist."

"You three are ridiculous," She told them as they all snickered. Turning she led the three of them down the hallway towards her room. "I think I left them in my room. And I am getting better at cooking you know. Seisyuun ate some chocolate that I cooked yesterday and he said that it tasted great!"

"Oh, so that's why he isn't allowed out of the infirmary for the week." Like a child she stuck her tongue out at her younger brother as she approached her room.

They arrived at her room and she reached out to grab the door handle. "Ha ha ha. Very funny Hakuryuu. Just because you can cook the best cake in the country doesn't mean you get to go around telling everyone about it. Just wait, someday I'm going to make a cake better than you, and you'll be sorry."

"I'll believe that when I see," she opened the room and all of them gasped. "It."

Her room was a wreck. All of her drawers were taken out and the contents thrown everywhere. Her bed was torn apart, the blanket she had sewn shred to pieces. Any scrolls that she had had been destroyed, some burned in her fireplace, all of them unreadable. Cloths that had been in her closet were cut with shaky hands, jagged edges revealing the amateur attack. Paintings that had been decorating her room were stolen, and the few that were left were crumpled up into balls. Shelves were broken, weapons scattered on the floor, and even her sewing set was missing. On the mirror, the only thing that had been left in one piece, had writing in black ink that spilled down making the words hard to read. but not impossible.

Get out of the Kou Empire while you still can, traitor!

"Cowards!" Kouha shrieked, stomping his foot on the ground. "Who the heck did this? They will pay for this!" his siblings were all to stunned to respond. When they managed to, both Kougyoku and Hakuryuu turned to their sister first, worried about her reaction. She didn't say anything. Her face was stuck in a mask of complete horror, seeing everything that she owned torn to shreds. The painting that she had made when she was younger, weapons she had taken to battle with her, even the dress that she had been given when she was a child. Everything, not a single piece had been spared. At least what she could see.

With shaking hands, she walked over to hear bed, carefully dodging the pieces on the floor in her path. Leaning down, she picked up what was left of the blanket that was on what was left of her bed. It had been torn in two, paint covering it and burned at the edges. She had hoped that it would be alright. She had hoped, maybe, they had missed it.

But she wasn't so lucky. It had been her baby blanket, the first gift her brothers had given her. Neither one of them had known how to sew, so it had become just a messy square at first. But out of guilt, her brother Hakuyuu had learned to sow so that he could fix it. When Hakuei got older, he had taught her to. Over the years the two of them had worked together on it, trying to fix it and make it better. By then it was a large blanket, far too big for the bed itself. It was one of her favourite namesakes of her brother. But now, all those years of work.

Was gone.

"Who did this?" Kouha yelled again, enraged by the sight. "Was it my sisters? I'll make them pay for this!"

"It couldn't have been them Kouha," Hakuryuu said numbly. The guilt that he felt while looking at the scene was crashing down on him. It took all his strength to contain it. "This took too long. They ran away only a few minutes ago." Kouha didn't respond, a look of vengeance in his eyes.

"Someone has to pay! I'm going to tell Emperor Kouen, we won't let them get away with this!" turning on his heels, he ran out the door before anyone could stop him.

"Brother Kouha, wait-"

"Let him go Kougyoku," Hakuei told her. She sounded so dead, so defeated it made them want to cry. Both of the others turned to see her, but she hadn't moved from her position. Her eyes were locked on the blanket in front of her, tears threatening to pour out. "It won't matter whether Kouen hears about this or not. He won't be able to find who did this. They left no evidence behind." They didn't bother to tell her that they hadn't even looked. They knew Hakuei didn't need to hear that.

Hakuryuu, trying to find a bright side, walked over to where her sister sat. Getting down on his knees he went under the bed to see if there was anything left. Luckily a small wooden box had been spared. In it was her djinn, a map of the stars she had her elder brother had made, a pair of masks she and Hakuryuu had made, a hat Hakuren used to wear all the time, and the certificate proving she was a general. "At least they didn't get everything." It took her a moment to look away from the crushed memories in her hands. At the sight that something was still intact she gave a small smile. Reaching out Hakuryuu handed the box to her and she hugged it to her chest.

Stomaching her emotions, she stood up. "…It looks like I'm not going to be able to stay in my room for a while. Let's see if there's another place I can stay." Her two siblings glanced at each other, then turned back to pay attention to Hakuei.

Kougyoku came up with a suggestion. "I-If you want you can stay in my room. Until they fix your room that is," she added to try and encourage her, but Hakuei shook her head.

"Thank you for offering, but think about it. They will probably try to destroy your room if I stay there." Kougyoku wanted to tell her that it wasn't a problem, but Hakuryuu gave his own advice first.

"How about you stay with the Kouga nation for a while? You can trust all of them, and they stay up late to protect," he stopped when Hakuei glared at him. His sister didn't like being protected. Even if it was necessary, she thought it made her vulnerable. It wasn't just weak, but being vulnerable was one of her greatest fears. She couldn't stand that. "-Make sure no one comes into your tent." It wasn't a bad idea. She missed her friends from the tribe, since she didn't get to see them very much anymore.

"That sounds fine. I guess I'll get," but looking around, there was nothing of hers she could get. All she owned was with her or in that one box that she held. Everything. All of what she owned. "…I suppose I'll just go get them." without another word, she placed the box on her bed, walked past her silent siblings and into the hallway. Heading down the hall on her way to the area of land that was set of for their tribe, Kougyoku got up to follow but was stopped by Hakuryuu.

"Wait. We should let her have some time along."

"But she-"

"She doesn't look mad, but she is. And I think she needs some time to let out some steam." She opened her mouth to object, but slowly closed it again. Hakuei was his sister, she would know her better. Standing up, he asked her, "Do you mind helping me look to see if there is anything left? Maybe there are some scrolls that they missed." She nodded, and hurried to search through the wreckage. Glass was spilled everywhere, and it was only thanks to her long dress that she wasn't cut. Still standing her cousin walked over to the bed, and picked up the box she had forgotten. Glancing over, he saw the blanket that had been torn, and held it up to examine it further. Shaking fingers ran over the cloth gingerly, the yarn splintering with every touch.

"…This was her favourite…"

Loud footsteps echoed through the hallways as Hakuei headed walked through. The Kouga tribe was in the other direction, and she knew that. But judging from the way that her hands were shaking she guessed that she wasn't in any mood to be speaking to them. Blood was pulsing through her veins in anger, so much so that she couldn't hear the few people walking around her. In the distance she noticed a few people watching her, but she didn't pay them any mind. As she continued to walk the number of people began to become less and less, until she found that the sound of her footsteps was the only thing to be heard. Once she realized that she stopped. Spinning on her heals, she headed over to the side of the hallway. Underneath a large window that gave a look of the garden that was now vacant was a small bench made of stone, old and cracked over time. Hakuei headed over to the wall next to it.

And punched the wall.

"OW!" she shrieked, her calls echoing through the hallway. Biting her tongue to keep herself from yelling she hugged her hand to her chest, waiting for the throbbing to stop. It had turned a little red, with a few small cuts to add on to her scars she already bared. But she didn't stop, and angrily she allowed herself to kick the wall with her feet, again and again until her toes started to numb. Once or twice she even punched it again, but since she had nothing covering her hands the pain was worse for them. "Stupid, stupid jerks! Idiots, bullies, monsters, creeps!" she yelled at the wall in her anger, even allowing a few curses to spill out as she did. For a long time she just stayed there, punching and kicking at the wall that didn't even flinch at her pain. "What did I do? That was my brothers, my favourite one!" no one answered her questions as she kicked at the wall again and again. When she was finally out of steam she rested on the bench, pulling her knees up to her chest. Folding her arms on her knee she dipped her head so that it was covered by her arms and hair and just, breathed.

She used to do this a lot more, when she was younger. As a princess, she wasn't supposed to show any anger or…'distasteful' emotions in public places. But she had a temper, and was very outspoken. So Hakuyuu had found other ways for her to get her anger out, which included finding a secret spot to vent. Many times she came down there, hiding from everyone as her anger took over. Back then, her brother had grown to disapprove of it. After she had gotten very angry her hands would bleed and she would be in the infirmary for days. He wished that she could just be honest about she felt, at least to someone. Often he allowed her to vent to him, screaming at the air while he would quietly listen, or find a punching dummy for her to attack until she was too tired to move. After he passed, she had no one else to speak to help her anymore. Over time she began to contain her emotions better, though she was still very outspoken and bluntly honest to people. Punching the wall was just hurting her, and finding a punching dummy was no longer an option because of all the people there. So this was her only option.

Traitor of Kou? No, she wasn't one. She had never done anything but try to help her people, even if they didn't see it. Freeing slaves, finding more soldiers, making friends with other nations, standing up for the lesser people's rights, she did all she could. And what did they do? They hated her. They destroyed everything that she owned, hurt her family, yelled and avoided her in the hallways. Part of her wished that it was only because they didn't see what she was doing. But that wasn't it. They saw how she was trying.

That meant that either they didn't care, or hated her for it.

The last one was more likely. What she did was to defend people that the majority didn't care about. The rich, powerful, people that mostly roamed the palace were completely against her ideals. Not to mention a princess, completely ignoring what a princess was really supposed to act like. Polite, quiet, obedient, submissive, charismatic. Or as Hakuei liked to call it, naïve, weak, pawns, 'perfect little china dolls.' She wasn't any of those things. She never wanted to be. Everyone else expected her to be. Now the actions that her mother and brother had done just fueled their hatred. Gave them a more justifiable cause to hate her, 'the witch's daughter.' How long would this continue? For her whole life all that people did was seem to point out the flaws in her, picture her as a worthless mistake. For how long? Would they ever accept her? And if they didn't, what then? Would she ever find a place that she could call home, that she could trust people, that she could be herself? Where? When? How much longer?

After debating these topics in her head, slowly the anger that she held began to die away. Sighing she looked up and out the window, checking to see how long she had been waiting there. It was still sunny outside, but it had gotten a little darker. She judged about an hour had passed. Maybe more. As she was about to move, she placed her feet on the ground and pain shot upwards. Wincing she pulled them back up on the bench. They would take some time before she felt well enough to walk in them. It might get dark by then, and she doubted she would get to the Kouga tribes area before they were all asleep. Curse the overly populated and far too large palace. Groaning she lay back on the bench, deciding that she could spend the night on the bench. She had done it before, as long as no one decided to walk past. But she doubted anyone would. The only way that hall went to was the dungeons, and as far as she knew, there was no one there. Pulling up against the wall she pulled her head up to rest her chin and arms on the ledge of the large hole in the wall she called a window, watching the scene outside of it.

It was just the garden, mostly. Lots of flowers, a few trees, and pathways for people to walk through. Above that was the clear sky that slowly began to darken, showing off the stars that danced and gleamed in all their glory. The sight made her want to smile, but she was just too tired. What is interesting though was what was right across from the window she looked out. The garden that she watched was surrounded by buildings, so across from her was another hallway. This one had no windows, but the walls were very short, and the roof was very high. Some said that they were windows, but like the one that she looked out, had no glass or insulation to them at all. When she was little Hakuei preferred to think of them as the 'perfect place to meet.' It was sarcastic of course, since in reality it wasn't perfect for whoever was meeting there, but a dream for her. She could see and hear whatever the passerby was saying, which made it perfect if she ever needed to eavesdrop on others. As a little girl she heard a lot of gossip she shouldn't have heard as a princess. In fact, she had been the first one to hear about the newest princess Kougyoku, when she accidentally overheard the old emperor arguing with her mother. Once she had discovered the true nature of her cousin Koumei's sleeping habits, when he fell asleep there and stayed there for longer than she did.

As she stayed there, not many people passed through that hall. A few servants talking about which of the visiting kings were more attractive. Some soldiers arguing over who had better aim with the bow and arrow. Once a few children came running through trying to be the first to get the runaway cat that screeched through the hallway. She sat there, listening to them all, allowing their words to dull into just a low sound. It was calming, the ease of which the people would talk. As if they didn't have a care in the world. Slowly she pulled her head away from the ledge and simply leaned against the wall, allowing the thought of sleep to take over her.

Until someone new came along.

"I really don't know about this my king," a voice Hakuei did not recognize spoke in the hall. Carefully, she looked over the edge just enough so that she could catch a glance. "Are you sure you want to go this far?"

"Yes, I'm sure," the man's companion, or king as he called, responded to him. His voice was much deeper, almost melodic with the natural way he spoke. Just like all kings did, with authority and confidence.

"Your highness, I strongly advise you to recall your judgement," another voice replied. "This isn't a good idea, for you especially. Considering your…history, don't you think this will just bring you pain?"

"Of course I have considered that," the man at the head told him, though Hakuei had to strain to get a good view. The whole group was just entering the hallway, and there view was blocked by a group of trees with branches hanging too low. Considering that she didn't know them, maybe it would have been better for her to try and drone them out, and not listen to their conversation. It probably had no interest to her anyway.

Then again, she was incredibly bored, and always wanted to find out who was residing in the palace. Her curiosity to hear what was going on had been the bane of her brother's existence when she used to try and sneak into the meetings. Pulling herself up so that she was on her knees, she used her hands to hold her up and strained to try and see around the trees.

The man continued, "But after this long…all this time, and I really can't take it anymore. It's just been too long. And this is the perfect time for me to set things straight." The man who had spoken before sighed, while the other man remained silent.

"Your majesty, I understand this is something that has been bothering you for years, but is now really a good time? With al-thamen, and the Kou Empire in a wreck…" Her heart tightened at the reality of this strangers words. Her country was in a wreck. And it would take forever for her to help rebuild it.

"No, that is the exact reason why this is the best time," the leader argued, and Hakuei shot up. Was this going to be an attack on her country? What was this stranger planning? As the three continued to walk closer and closer, Hakuei waited impatiently for them to emerge so she could discover her possible enemy. Of course, she could be overreacting. Many countries have tried to help her country in the havoc, or tried to make stronger treaties with them. Either way, she felt it was her duty to discover who this was, and decide for herself.

But then the footsteps abruptly stopped.

"My king?" the one man asked curiously. There was no response, and Hakuei slipped over to the other edge of the bench to see what had happened. Still, the strangers couldn't be seen. She almost wanted to leave her spot and run after them to see the face to face, but she knew that by the time she got there they would be long gone. Annoyed, with her eyes she searched through the branches, hoping to steal at least a glance at the group. There feet could be seen if she looked over the wall, two pairs covered by cloaks and the other pair sporting brown leather sandals. There were edges of white cloaks, the gleam of golden armour, and the small outline of short white hair. Frustrated, she leaned closer, her legs on the bench the only thing keeping her from falling off the edge. Why have they stopped, she wondered. There was no reason to, what were they talking about? Did their king think of someth- but even her thoughts were cut short as her eyes widened at the sight she saw through the trees.

A pair of golden eyes had caught her.

She gasped, and slipped down to hide under the ledge. Her breathing became erratic, and her heart raced in her chest. Calm down, calm down, she tried to tell herself. This wasn't something Hakuei had ever planned for. No one ever saw here hiding up there. No one even looked in that direction, so used to all the empty hallways that they assumed no one was there. But this stranger had noticed. Her secret place had been discovered. What if he came up there? The last spot of privacy that she had would be taken from her, her only hideout left. Forcing herself into silence, she waited, trying to hear what their next actions would be. For a moment, there was nothing. Then she heard the sound of footsteps, walking in the other direction. Hakuei's didn't dare to look up as the sound got softer and softer and softer…when she finally thought they were gone, she heard the king give one last comment.

"I will not back down on this. It's set and done."