Hey guys….!!! I'm back…!!! Yay for me ha ha ha… ok being serious now… I'm am soooooo very sorry for not updating in like for ever… I will admit that I have been slack and so I do apologise… but here is the 8th chapter… I hope you find it rather satisfying after having to wait so long…!!! Thanks to all those who have reviewed and liked my story…

FALLING STAR90- lol you will have to wait to find out what happens… I cannot give to much away ha ha =]

MERCY THE FALLEN ANGEL- lol I'm glad you liked it and I hope that this chapter is even better!!

KAZUMI KAIRI OR KAIRI CHAN- You will just have to continue reading to find out..!!

UNIVERSAL FIGHTER- I'm glad you liked it thank you very much

SAMURAILORDZANDGODDESSES777-lol very sorry I haven't updated and in answer to your question… no I haven't heard of either the anime or manga…. Enjoy!!!

Chapter 8- Ones True Sorrow

Shuuko paced the balcony adjoining her room, a worried frown marring her youthful face. She had been afraid of Misaki's reaction, and yet she had been more concerned about what her late husband would think of her if she didn't follow his wishes. She sighed heavily as she plumped herself down into the chair. Her priorities were in the wrong place. Misaki was her life, how could she even consider following through with this. She closed her eys and breathed deeply.

" I will not force her to do it," she stated to herself as she opened her eyes and began lifting herself from the chair. As she was walking towards her door, it opened slowly. Misaki peered into the room shyly.

" Hello mother." Shuuko ran to her daughter and pulled her into a tight hug.

" Oh Misaki I am so sorry! I should never have agreed to this. I will talk to Sayaka we will work something out," Shuuko said as she kissed her daughters head and knelt before her. Misaki smiled timidly.

" No mother. It's quite alright. I will go through with it. But I will not marry him before I am sixteen that is my only condition," Misaki said wisely as she held her mothers hands. Shuuko looked at her daughter stunned.

" You are willing to marry him?" she whispered. Misaki nodded.

" Are you sure? You don't have to do this…" Misaki held up her hand and cut her off.

" I know mother, but to be honest we both know that father wanted this, and I don't want to go against his wishes," she said smiling happily.

" And besides, he is quite handsome," she added softly, looking around the room for any signs of eavesdropping. Her mother laughed while Misaki blushed. Shuuko stood and pulled the young princess into her embrace.

" You cannot repeat that to anyone either," Misaki mumbled into her mothers dress. Shuuko smiled down at her daughter.

" No of course not. You are amazing Misaki, do you know that?" she whispered kissing the girls forehead. Misaki smiled. Shouko burst through the door.

" Has anyone found her…oh Misaki!" Shouko began and then ran to hug her young niece.

" You had me so worried!" Misaki blushed.

" I'm sorry aunt Shouko," Misaki whisasHasjwqdjljwdqlnpered. Shouko scowled.

" Enough with the aunt business, how many times must I tell you?" Misaki and Shuuko laughed.

" I think I should go and apologise to Oujirou and Sayaka. I believe I was quite rude in running out on them earlier," Misaki began looking towards her mother.

" Yes that would be a good idea and I will accompany you," Shuuko smiled at Misaki as she headed towards her mirror checking over her appearance before the pair headed for the door.

" Oh Shouko would you find Hikaru and inform her that we have found Misaki please," she said over her shoulder.

" No problem."

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" You don't have to worry about that Tamayo, I would never dream of hurting Misaki in anyway," Oujirou told Tamayo smiling happily.

" Oh I know that, just making sure you know that we will be watching you," she said seriously before looking at his face and laughing. Kotarou shook his head.

" Don't worry about her. She is crazy, but anyway I do hope it works out for you and Misaki," he said smiling at the older boy.

Oujirou, Kotarou and Tamayo walked towards the main hall. They chatted about their lives getting to know each other better because with everything that had happened, Oujirou hadn't made much progress with the rest of the group.

" Oujirou, we have found the princess. She is in your mothers study and I believe they would like to talk to you," wizard called out to his young charge as he saw him in the hallway. Oujirou turned around quickly.

" They found her? Is she alright?" wizard smiled.

" Well why don't you go to you go to your mothers study and find out," wizard laughed, as he began walking away.

" I will see you guys later," Oujirou said to Kotarou and Tamayo before hurrying in the direction of his mothers study.

He practically ran the whole way, and for the first time in his young life, he didn't acknowledge the maids as they said hello to him. They stared after him in shock as he continued on his way. He burst through the door to his mothers study to find the two queens seated, and laughing while Misaki was also seated blushing furiously.

" Oh Oujirou there you are. Well don't just stand in the doorway, take a seat," Sayaka smiled as she saw her son. Oujirou nodded his head and quietly made his way to sit beside Misaki, the only spare seat. She smiled at him apologetically as he sat down.

" What's this all about?" he asked his mother. The queen smiled.

" Actually Oujirou it was my idea," Misaki said softly from beside him. He looked at her stunned.

" I wanted to apologise for my earlier behaviour. It was rude of me to run out on a meeting the way I did, and I'm very sorry for having done so," she smiled sadly looking at the ground.

" Its quite alright Misaki, we all understand how you feel," Sayaka replied smiling.

" I know and I thank you for being so understanding."

" Misaki we don't have to go through with this if you don't want to. We will find a way out of it," Oujirou said taking Misaki's hand in his own. She turned and smiled at him.

" No Oujirou we can't. We have already tried finding a catch in it, while we were waiting for you. But there is none. And I decided that I will go through with the betrothal, my only condition is that we wont be married before my 16th birthday," she said blushing at her last comment. Oujirou looked at her stunned.

" You want to marry me?" she nodded her head. He engulfed her in a hug. The queens smiled.

" We will announce the betrothal tonight at dinner," Sayaka said happily.

" Do we have to announce it at all?" Oujirou moaned. Misaki stifled a giggle earning her a glare from her soon to be beau.

" Yes Oujirou we do. Unless you want to go on pretending that you are still the kingdoms most eligible bachelor and there fore have all the females scrambling for your attention still?" His mother asked in mild sarcasm. Oujirou's face noticeably paled.

" Ugh no definitely not!" The group laughed at his outburst.

" Come, dinner must almost be ready. We should go and freshen up and relax. We will see you two at dinner," Sayaka said as Misaki and Shuuko began to walk from the room.

" Yes I very much need to relax. Until dinner then," Shuuko said laughing as Misaki waved shyly before walking out the door behind her mother.

Sayaka and Oujirou watched as the pair left the room, and then turned there attention to each other. The queen was smiling at him lovingly. She stood up from her chair and made her way towards him.

" So Oujirou, has this congregation allowed you to make friends?" she asked as she sat on the edge of her desk. He smiled happily.

" Yes definitely! Although I've only really spoken to Misaki, but I spent some time to day with her friends, Kotarou and Tamayo. They seem very protective of her," he stated thinking back to the earlier conversation. She smiled at him as she pushed off from the desk and stood in front of him.

" Well we should also go and relax for a bit before dinner, no doubt there will be a lot of attention on you after dinner," she smiled as she held out her arm for him. He was laughing as he stood and they walked from the room together.

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After the incident this morning, regarding Misaki, Hikaru had been relieved when she had been informed that the young girl had been found. She made her way to the fountain that Misaki had taken quite quickly to. She sat on the fountains edge, and like most who sat here, she dangled her feet in the cool water looking up at the statue. She remembered back to when she had first met Misaki.

The young princess was only just six years old. She was a joyful little bundle and even though at the time Hikaru had been twelve, it was intended that she become the princesses' guardian. Misaki had never seen her as anything more than her friend.

" Misaki this is Hikaru. She is going to be staying here with us for a little while," the king explained to his young daughter, clinging to his leg as she stared at the girl before her. She then giggled. Misaki walked up to her and smiled, her head on an odd angle to the side.

" Why do you have pink hair?" she asked innocently as she looked at Hikaru with a questioning look in her eyes.

Hikaru laughed as she remembered the innocent question and look that had been on the princesses' face. It was something that no one had expected the young girl to say.

" So that you can find me in a crowd of people if you get lost," Hikaru replied. Misaki smiled.

" Does that mean you want to be my friend?" she asked excitedly. Hikaru looked towards the king and queen. They smiled encouragingly.

" Of course Misaki, I would love to be your friend."

" The very bestest of friends. You promise?" Misaki asked shyly. Hikaru nodded her head. And Misaki had engulfed her in a hug.

The best of friends they still remained. And yet here she sat berating herself. She should have been aware that today would have a huge impact on her. The kings' death had been so hard for the kingdom to come to terms with. But for Misaki it was so much worse. Hikaru had tried explaining to her many times that she was not the cause. But it didn't matter how much they tried, she would never forgive herself. She heard a rustling behind her and turned to find wizard entering.

" Well hello again Hikaru, do you mind if I join you?" he asked smiling.

" OF course not wizard."

" So I guess you haven't heard the news if you've been hiding out here," he began. Hikaru turned towards him.

" No what would that be?" she asked curiously. He smiled.

" Well it seems Misaki has accepted the betrothal. Sayaka and Shuuko are going to announce it tonight at dinner," he informed the stunned woman.

" She accepted?"

" It seems that way, she had one condition though, they will not be married until after she turns sixteen," he added looking at the statue. Hikaru laughed.

" She's always thinking ahead. But I suppose that may have been the only way she could accept it. Wow my Misaki is engaged," she said happily. Wizard laughed.

" Well not quite engaged, he still has to do that formally but destined to be engaged, yes." They laughed. A comforting silence enveloped the pair, as they sat together, enjoying the sounds of the fountain. Wizard looked across at Hikaru and frowned. He noticed a faraway look in her eyes that also held immense sadness.

" Hikaru, may I ask you a question?" she looked towards him warily and nodded her head.

" Tell me to butt out and mind my own business if I am out of line, but how exactly did your king die? And why does Misaki believe it is her fault?" he questioned timidly. Hikaru looked surprised by his question, and then sighed.

" I suppose this was bound to come up at some stage," Hikaru whispered closing her eyes, as she breathed the air in deeply.

" He had just returned home from a trip, Misaki had missed him terribly. She was definitely daddy's little girl," Hikaru began as she opened her eyes and smiled.

" Satoshi had only been home a few days, and he had promised to take Misaki out riding. She loved it so much. He had given me the day off and told me to go shopping and relax, whatever I felt like doing. He believed it still to be a job for me, having to look after her, but I enjoyed the time we had together. She was my best friend after all. But I did as I was told because I knew that he wished for some time alone."

" He sounds like he was a very pleasant man to work with," wizard voiced. Hikaru looked at him and smiled warmly.

" Oh he was very much so. Anyway they had planned to go riding for most of the morning and come back for lunch. They had stopped in a meadow not far from the castle grounds on there way back. He was going to pick some flowers for Shuuko. But something in the bushes near where Misaki sat on her horse, frightened it and it took off with Misaki frantically trying to hold on. He had quickly got back on his own horse and dashed as fast as he could after them," Hikaru explained her voice becoming pained. Tears began welling in her eyes. Wizard noticed this and moved closer putting his arm around her to comfort her.

" Its ok if you don't want to tell Hikaru, I understand it's a hard thing to deal with," wizard soothed trying to calm the woman down. But she shook her head and continued.

" As Misaki horse had bolted it had begun running towards the castle grounds. Some of the guards noticed and had gone out to see what was happening. But Satoshi's had managed to catch up to misaki's horse and had just grabbed the reigns, when…" Hikaru shuddered remembering.

" Out of nowhere an arrow had been shot, it hot misaki's horse causing it to fall and fling her as it did so. At the time no one realised this of course, as they were too worried about Misaki. Satoshi had quickly jumped of his horse and ran to her side."

" Was she injured?" wizard asked concerned.

" Only a little, a few scrapes here and there," Hikaru replied, wizard could see the reluctance to continue in her eyes. She closed her eyes then, as she placed her head in her hands.

" It was then that a second arrow was shot and had hit Satoshi in the centre of his chest…"

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Oh am I bad for leaving it there??? Lol I am so sorry… but it is Christmas so I thought I would give you a little bit of something… =]

So there you have it the beginning of satoshi's death…

But of course there is more to it than that… misaki's version anyway…

Hope you liked it please review

Cheers angel

"Misaki! Where are you Misaki?"

" Daddy help me! I can't stop!"

" Hold on! I'm coming!"

" Daddy!"