Rush

The Broken Seal

BACK AT IT AGAAIN!!! Did you miss me? Here you go!! 

Ume

I had to tell them what was going on... so I took a breath and sighed, "See girls it all started three years ago, Mei's father sought me out after searching for us for a long time." I looked to my daughters, they looked confused. I looked to Shō for help, he looked straight at Mei, almost like he was telling the story right to her.

"The Aihara family has had enemies for centuries, unfortunately, it was just after you were born Mei, that they decided to attack us and there were casualties, most of their.."he paused trying to word it correctly without shocking them, "most of their group died. And they've been seeking revenge ever since."

Shō looked at me and continued. "Our whole family had people that we call protectors, people like Ume and now, Yuzu." He looked at her and we both saw her eyes widen. "See while I was searching for someone for us I wanted to find the most powerful protector known. For you and Yuzu, I didn't think it was fair for her to have to deal with our families problems. And no it's not fair to Ume either but she agreed to help us Mei. That's one of the reasons I actually left, to protect all of you. I figured they would come searching for me and leave you alone. I never thought they would go after you."

I looked at Mei, she had a concerned and confused look on her face. I cut in, "I thought I could have protected both of you, I never thought I would fail you, I'm sorry Mei. And I'm sorry Yuzu, I didn't want you to have to be involved in this, not yet anyway, see when you were younger I sealed your powers so you could be a normal happy child, with a regular life. I wanted you to experience life the way your father and I didn't get too." She looked down at the mention of her birth father, a few stray tears falling from her eyes.

" I promised myself long ago nothing bad would happen to you, after your father died protecting us, I sealed your powers and swore to never use mine until the seal broke when you turned 18. That's when I was going to explain this to you, after you graduated high school.. unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, it broke early. Which is what I wanted to know, what happened to you Yuzu?"

She looked around sheepishly, "w-well... I don't really know how to explain it, I only just remembered what happened when I woke up. It played in my head like a movie. All I did was go for a run and was walking to cool down a bit and then I heard a scream. I went to see what was happening and I saw Mei hurt.. I didn't remember what happened after that until not long ago when I woke up. I somehow knocked them all unconscious and disarmed the one with the knife. After that I saw papa, he tried speaking to me but I just picked Mei up and brought her here. The. You tried to heal her and that didn't work, I remember she.." Yuzu trailed off, looking down hiding her tears.

"I What? What happened to me? Yuzu?" I watched Mei gingerly touched Yuzus hand. She looked at Mei, then to me, I just nodded and said, "Go on Yuzu, tell her what happened." I watched her eyes tear up more as she balled her fists and stared deep into Mei's eyes, "Yo-you died M-Mei, you left me! I felt your heart stop!" Mei looked shocked but remained silent.

'Why does she keep wording it like that?' I wondered to myself, 'it sounds like they..' I let my thought trail off as I watched to see if my hunch was correct. "Yuzu sweetheart, what did you feel when that happened?" I questioned her.

"We-well I felt sad, and then I felt like something in me broke and the next thing I knew I had colours swirling around me and Mei, almost like they were connecting us together and.. I kinda just felt like it would work, that she would come back to me." She blushed, 'ahh I see.' I smiled, "so baby girl what you mean is when your true love died you broke a second seal?"

"Well.. yeah I gu- WHAT? Mamma why would you ask that like that?" Both girls clued into what I had said and blushed, "Mei, what do you remember?" She looked up still red faced and replied, " I remember the alley up until I guess I blacked out, then all I remember is hearing Yuzus voice calling me, all I remember wanting was to follow her voice and when I opened my eyes I saw her. Then everything went black again, so I guess I passed out. Then we were sitting on the bed and you and my father came in and Yuzu got really bright and was standing in front of me.. so to calm her down I hugged her." I watched in Awwe as I realized what happened.

"I think I've figured out how your deal got broken, I should have thought of this.. but I never thought.. I didn't think it was possible." I said to them all, they sat patiently as they waited for me to explain.

I looked between both of the girls and smiled, "What happened was.."