The Golden Princess

Caught

I was watching the Ninja train from the balcony of my room. They were all pretty good. But my eyes mostly stayed on the Earth Ninja. There was a knock on my door and I went to answer it. "Hutchens, is something wrong?" I asked.

"Please come downstairs. Your parents are talking to Harumi and I believe you should be there," he said and walked away.

I hurried downstairs and bumped into Harumi. "Rumi, what's wrong?" I asked her as we both started downstairs.

"Hutchens caught me feeding the poor," she muttered.

"Oh. They can't get too mad at that."

"I was with Lloyd," she added in a quieter voice.

"Oh." I thought for a minute then came to a decision. "I know how to fix this," I announced.

She looked at me. "How?"

"Watch." We stood in front of our parents.

"It was very irresponsible of you to leave the palace," Father said.

"You could have been killed," Mother said.

"Actually, she couldn't have and she was being responsible," I said calmly.

Both our parents looked at me. "What are you talking about?" Father asked.

"She took the Green Ninja with her to make sure nothing bad happened. I believe that is responsible. She was helping people which is something even I want to do but am not allowed because you keep us locked in this palace. So that's being a good person." I looked at them. "You raised us well and she took what you taught us and used it outside in the real world. She shouldn't be punished because of that."

"I don't care. I want both of you to stay away from the Ninja and let them do their jobs," Father said firmly.

Harumi ran out of the room. I glared at my parents. "It's not like all the Ninja need to be around that stupid mask. Two to three would be enough. You're being unreasonable and I hate it. I wish you'd just let us go out and help people." I turned on my heel and left the room. I slammed my bedroom door behind me and went straight back out to the balcony. Why can't my parents see reason? Why must they keep us trapped here?

"Hello, princess," a voice said from above me.

I looked up to find the Earth Ninja there. "Hello, Mr. Brookstone," I said.

He jumped and landed beside him. "Is something wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing you can help me with." I was breaking a rule talking to him but I couldn't tell him that. This is the first time I've ever talked to someone who didn't live in this stupid palace.

"So something is bothering you."

"Maybe." I thought for a minute. "Actually, there is something you can do."

"What?"

"Is it possible that you can get Mr. Garmadon to come see me? I have to explain something to him." I paused. "You can come back with him."

He nodded. "I'll be back in a few minutes." He went to leave.

"Wait," I said as a thought occurred to me.

He looked at me. "Yes?"

"If you hear me talking to Harumi, my parents, or Hutchens can you wait until they leave? I'm kind of breaking the rules at the moment."

He smiled. "Of course." Then he was gone.

I turned back to my room Was it clean enough? Wait, focus, I told myself. You aren't going to entertain them or anything. You just need to tell the Green Ninja what happened and why Harumi acted the way she did when she saw him. I turned back to the balcony and saw both of them land. "Hi," I said to the Green Ninja.

He inclined his head. "Cole said you wanted to see me?"

I nodded. "It's about Harumi."

"I heard the discussion," he said.

I shook my head. "You didn't hear all of it."

"I heard your parents say that neither one of you are allowed to be anywhere near us."

I winced. "Okay, yeah, you heard. But Harumi technically did nothing wrong. We've been trapped inside this palace since the Emperor and Empress adopted us. They won't let us out even though we love helping people. It sucks. They make up all these rules and we are expected to abide by them." I looked both of them in the eye. "I am tired of staying here and I don't care anymore. I'll break all the rules and, after you two leave, I'm going to go to her and explain that she should too. Maybe that way they'll let us free."

Lloyd watched me for a minute. "It's not a good idea. You both could get hurt." He looked away. "Like Rumi could have last night."

I glared. "No, she couldn't have! You were there and would have stopped anyone from attacking her! Don't sell yourself short, Green Ninja. You are perfectly capable of protecting people." Also, did he just call her Rumi? I thought I was the only one who usually called her that.

"The princess is right," Cole said. "You would have stopped anything from happening to her."

There was a knock on my door and they both made a movement to leave. I rolled my eyes. "Stay," I said sharply. I opened my door and found Harumi there. "Come in, sis."

Harumi came in and her eyes widened when she saw the two Ninja. She looked at me. "Since when do you break the rules?"

"Since today," I said proudly. "We can both do it and see if they let us out of here."

She smiled. "I never knew you were this good at making plans."

I shrugged. "It comes and goes." I turned to the two Ninja. "So? Do you get it now?"

"You'd react differently if it had been Hutchens or one of your parents," Lloyd muttered.

I shook my head. "No, I actually want to get caught so they know I'm serious." I sighed. "But I guess you two better go since you have a mask to protect."

They both left. Harumi laughed. "You are such a schemer."

I grinned. "So what do you say? Want to help?"

She nodded. "Absolutely."

And that was that.