Tale 21: The Fruit of the End

For hours after Krai's disappearance, Leia released all of the emotions that she had kept deep in her heart, pouring them out through tears and sobs. The group that came out to search for her had arrived just in time to hear the important parts; Krai protected Leia from her fate.

Kamui and Subaru stayed with her in the cave, letting her pour out her restrained emotions while the others were ordered to go back to the Tokyo Government Building in case the People of the Towers came to wreak havoc, and on the way back, they noticed something different.

The familiar hissing sound that the acid rain inflicted upon the objects on the ground along the way back to the Tokyo Government Building had slowly ceased to sound and the rain no longer hurt.

Slowly, the rain started to cease pouring down from the sky, and the dark and gloomy clouds no longer hovered around the sky. Instead, the nostalgic feeling of sunshine and heat coursed through everyone's skin.

The rate of acidity in the rain decreased drastically after Krai's death. Supposedly the truth that she was assigned as the Guardian of the Earth is real, and that she has finally starting to heal the world from its absence of a Guardian. And briefly, for a second, Leia saw her look-alike twin in one of the vast clearings of empty lands, grass and sprouts starting to grow; life was once again restored to the lands and Earth, and as a start of appreciating the life that Krai and her sisters had given her, Leia smiled to the new Guardian of the Earth.

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People of the Tower and the People of the Source finally came to a decision that humanity, or in a more precise word, what was left of the remaining humans in Tokyo, should be united in order to live through the future, and so, since the Tokyo Government Building is by far the most habitable place for humans, the People of the Tower moved in.

As for the water supply left in the Reservoir, no one needed to worry about it anymore. Apparently, right underneath the floor of the reservoir was another reservoir which contained clean water supplies, untouched by the acid rain. But all of this happened soon after Krai died, and a crack had just suddenly appeared on the floor of the reservoir and started to pour water back into the reservoir, as if to give back the water to the humans that she had taken earlier.

"So, everything's starting to go back to how it was 10 years ago." Kusanagi said out of the blue. Everyone was standing outside of the Tokyo Government Building, breathing deep fresh air that smelled so nostalgic.

"Yeah." Yuuto mumbled, looking dazed.

"I'm glad the acid rain ceased to fall." said Kakyou, eyes looking over all the sand dunes around Tokyo and the gradually sprouting shoots.

"Yeah." Yuuto mumbled again, still looking dazed.

Kusanagi and Kakyou looked at each other, confused as to why Yuuto was in this state.

"Just imagining this place full of greeneries makes me happy." exclaimed Kazuki, jumping around in happiness. Although he is sad with what happened to Leia's siblings, his mood quickly returned to its usual goofiness and giddiness over the lands slowly healing from the acid rain.

"Yeah." Once again, Yuuto mumbled. Everyone was certain that his mind is somewhere else, and so they gathered quietly and planned to make a fool out of him by making him say something that is rarely said by him.

Satsuki went first. "Yuuto, I want you to be my baby's daddy."

Eyes still dazedly staring over the sand dunes, Yuuto replied unconsciously, "Yeah."

Truthfully, everything that they had said afterwards, starting from Satsuki, were total lies, made to test whether Yuuto was truly and certainly dazed or not, and when he replied with the same answer, everyone got braver.

Next was Kakyou's turn. Normally, he wouldn't participate in something as frivolous as this, but he was nudged by Kusanagi repeatedly in the ribs that he said what he had been itching to say years ago. "Say 'yeah' if you're gay."

"Yeah."

Tiptoeing towards Yuuto with a goofy look on his face, Kusanagi said, "Admit it, you're a fool."

Nodding unconsciously, Yuuto mumbled, "Yeah."

Grinning widely like an idiot, Kusanagi exclaimed to the little crowd of people mainly consisting Kamui, Subaru, Leia and Fuuma, and the rest of the Towers, now that they're on good terms, they take great fun talking with each other. "Heard that everyone?"

Just as Yuuto was going to mumble another 'yeah', Kazuki, Kusanagi and Satsuki exclaimed in his ears as loudly as they could, "YEAH!!!"

Everyone let out loud barks of laughter after they witnessed Yuuto finally snapping out of his zoned-out status, falling hard on his bum.

"What were you thinking about that made you zone out like that?"asked Kusanagi, helping Yuuto up by offering him a hand.

"No, it's just that, well, I-"

Sorata joined in the fun by laughing aloud when he saw what expression Yuuto now wore on his face, "Man, you looked so guilty! What did you do? Did you overhear love confessions or something?"

To their surprise, Yuuto actually fell into a shock.

Eyes widened in surprise, Kusanagi said to his best pal, "Whoa! You did?! Who!? Which couples escaped our eyes!?"

Upon hearing the said accusation, Yuuto glanced towards Kamui and Leia, and everyone followed his gaze. The limelight now currently shines on Kamui and Leia.

"So? You're the new couple here, yeah? Cool." Fuuma said to Kamui, nudging him on the ribs, which earned him a glare since Kamui has decided to hate anyone that has anything to do with the one eyed creep, aka Seishirou.

"We're planning to leave after making sure everything is alright," was what came as a reply from Kamui. Everyone sobered up at once.

Kazuki looked up to Kamui and asked, "Why?"

"Since this creep is here (Kamui jerked his thumb at Fuuma. Fuuma glared at him: "I have a name you brat!"), the other creep (Fuuma rolled his eyes: "The name's Seishirou Kamui, Sei-shi-rou.") will soon catch up to us, and we need to return back to where we came from."

"And Leia-"

"Leia will come with me," said Kamui, eyes strayed towards where Leia stood, beside him.

Smiling at him, Leia said to the small crowd. "I've decided to leave. This place, this world, they held many memories for me, but the memories I have does more harm to me than good."

Flashback-during when Yuuto overhears what Kamui had said to Leia-

Yuuto was skipping, yes, skipping, down the stairs. The recovery of the Earth had somehow lightened his mood and he felt strangely happy. His skipping came to a stop when he heard someone in one of the many halls in Tokyo Government Building talking. Taking a quick cover behind a thick column, Yuuto squatted down and prepared to eavesdrop.

"Come with me," aid a rather familiar voice, which he seldom heard, but he knew at once who the voice belonged to.

"I…its too sudden…I don't know if I should…"

"Just come with me. I'll protect you, I'll give you everything you ever wanted and I'll make you my queen, just come with me."

"Kamui, you have to understand. I've lost everything I ever had over this short amount of time I've stayed with you, and somehow, even though there's nothing much happened between us, I felt contently happy."

"Then-"

"Kamui, please, listen to me."

"As you wish."

"A part of my heart died a little when I lost my home and my parents to the fire years ago, and part of my heart died again when Freya left me. Now, with Krai no longer living, my heart shattered. I don't think you would want it-"

"No!"

A brief look of surprise crossed over Leia's eyes, and Kamui immediately apologized.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't raise my voice like that…it's just that…"

Kamui ruffled his hair in frustration(A/N:Dare you imagine that? *Wicked laugh*)

Grasping her shoulder as gently as he could, Kamui said to her, "Leia, I want you to understand this, no matter what happens, no matter how shattered your heart is, no matter what your past is, I'll accept them wholeheartedly."

"Kamui-"

"I know this may sound ridiculous to you, but to me, now, both you and Subaru are my everything. You are my bride, and I want you to be happy. I know that this place holds more sadness than happiness for you; I want to take you back with Subaru and me. Let's leave this place."

A single tear escaped Leia's eyes "Kamui…"

Grasping Leia's hand gently, Kamui kissed the back of her hand lovingly, savoring the smooth, cool skin beneath his lips. For a while, the look on his face touched Leia's heart. The eyes he had for her explained what words can never describe, for the love he had for her deeply reflected on his amethyst eyes.

One leg kneeling on the ground, Kamui said what he had wanted to say the moment he made her his bride,"Come with me my bride, and let me protect you for eternity. I'll make you my queen with my love."

End of Flashback

"The time has come for us to leave; I thank everyone for the kindness that you have shown to us." Said Subaru politely, bowing his head a little as a sign of respect.

"I say, you're far too polite here, Subaru-san. Kamui's the one that worked the hardest among us to protect the water, without him, we're history," said Kusanagi, nudging Sorata in a friendly way.

"Come see us again if you drop by in this world." Kakyou said, which earned him several raised-eyebrow looks.

"Definitely." said Leia, smiling sweetly to Kakyou. Kusanagi slapped a hand over his mouth to hold himself from saying "cute".

The portal (or whatever it is) to another world opened from underneath Kamui, Subaru and Leia's feet. Kamui offered his hand for Leia to hold, which she took gladly. It was the first time that she had been given the privilege to travel to another 'world', and was thrilled at the idea after she had moped around for a while. Giving everyone a last wave, Leia said to the little crowd of people that came to send them on their way to another world, "Thank you everyone, for everything."

"Remember to drop by for a visit!!!" exclaimed Kazuki.

Leia smiled at him, "We'll see each other again someday."

Leia turned her attention to Kamui and Subaru, both smiling at her.

"Ready for the journey, my bride?" asked Kamui, kissing the back of her hand lovingly. Leia replied by smiling, "Most undeniably."

The End of Guardian Princess

Written on: 13thof May 2009

A/N: Finally finally! Guardian Princess is Complete! I apologize for the horridiously long time it took me to upload this when I had all the free time I had these past few months (I'm currently waiting for the 24th of October, the time for me to leave home with my pillows and bags to live in the University Apartment[it's just a name, not a real apartment for University students] for the nursing course I'm taking in Masterskill College, Sabah Branch.) And so, I've finally finished this, and then I'll be working on to my next story, Expect the Unexpected, a D. fanfic consisting of Satoshi and my OC.

And here!(held up a glass of champagne) I thank everyone and my beta reader (who just loves the name Vampire...[I mean, who wouldn't?]) for being patient with my clumsiness in writing and updating Guardian Princess and the time it took for me to complete it. I love your support, and I really really, REALLY appreciates all the comments left for my story, not to mention all those people out there who add my story to favorites or alert or me as their favorite author, for whenever I felt down for the day, all I have to do is just surf up the net for fanfiction, read all those comments left for me in Guardian Princess and straight on, it brought a smile to my lips. I am truly happy for that, and for that alone, I thank everyone for staying with me till the end.

Sincerely from the bottom of my heart,
Artemis615